The Shining Face Of God (Harvest Festival Service)

SERMON OUTLINE:

• The world needs light (vs 1-2).

• The world needs Joy (vs 3-4).

• The world needs life (vs 5-7)

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• In Gloucester, England,

• There is an old-fashioned garden and orchard,

• In one corner of which is a little tombstone. On it are these words:

“DEC. 21, 1869

Here lies Tidman's missionary hen,

Her contributions, four pounds, ten;

Although she is dead, the work goes on,

As she has left seven daughters and a son

To carry on the work that she begun.

So be it.”

• The story behind the gravestone and inscription;

• Was a man called Tidman lived in a village nearby.

• He longed to do something for the London Missionary Society.

• His money was scarce;

• But he decided one of his hens should belong to the Society,

• And all the eggs she laid should be sold and the money given.

• Before she died the money amounted to four pounds ten shillings;

• But that was not all.

• She sat on eight of her eggs. They were hatched.

• These, too, belonged to the Society,

• And in time brought in a large amount of money.

• When the hen died the old man had her body embalmed,

• And buried it in the garden, and erected a little monument.

• He thought it might encourage others to do something similar,

• So even though the hen was dead,

• It was still be helping the Society.

• TRANSITION: As well as being a harvest psalm;

• “The land yields its harvest” (vs 6);

• It is also a call to mission psalm:

• The heart of God cries out:

• Vs 2: “All nations”.

• Vs 4: “The nations”

• Vs 7: “Ends of the earth”

Quote:

“It is not the Church of God that has a mission,

but the God of mission who has a Church”

Question: Why do we need to go?

Answer: According to this psalm is threefold:

(1). Because the World Needs Light (vs 1-2).

“May God be gracious to us and bless us

and make his face SHINE on us

2 so that your ways may be known on earth,

your salvation among all nations.”

• According to verse 1:

• The light of God is demonstrated three ways:

FIRST: “MAY GOD BE GRACIOUS TO US”

Ill:

• Dennis the Menace was a comic strip character in the Beano;

• In one story he is with his friend Joey,

• They are outside Mrs Wilsons house;

• And she has given them some freshly baked cookies.

• Joey says to Dennis;

• “I wonder what we did to deserve these?”

• Dennis replies;

• “Mrs Wilson gives us cookies not because we are nice, but because she is nice!”

• TRANSITION: God deals with people in grace;

• Not because they are nice and deserve it,

• But because he is!

Ill:

• Sometimes in life we experience grace;

• That is we get what we don’t deserve.

• I remember once getting in a coffee shop enjoying a mug of black nectar;

• When I suddenly realised my car which was parked in a car park;

• The ticket had just run out.

• Tough choice, finish my mug of fresh coffee;

• Or try to get to the car before a traffic warden discovers it.

• I ran towards the car and get there with a traffic warden standing next to the car;

• I said; “Please don’t give me a ticket, I am only a few minutes late!”

• The warden replied; “You are late but we allow a 10 minute grace period.”

• Now had I asked the warden, “Great, but what is grace?”

• She probably would have said:

• “I guess what it means is that even though you’re supposed to pay,

• You don’t have to.”

• TRANSITION: Now that would be a good definition of grace.

• God gives to us what we don’t deserve and he fits the bill!.

SECOND: “MAY GOD BLESS US”

Ill:

• "To be blessed" means 'to be favoured by God'.

• Blessings therefore are directly associated with God and come from God.

• So when you express a blessing on someone,

• Non-believers would see it as bestowing a wish on someone,

• Believers should see it as a mini-prayer for someone;

• We are saying/praying that the person will experience the favour of God in their lives.

NOTE:

• The Psalmist asks for blessing in verses 2-3;

• So that God’s ways may be known on the earth.

Notice that the Psalmist is not saying:

• He is not saying, "Bless me so that I can be comfortable."

• He is not saying, "Bless me so that I don’t have to work hard to make a living."