IMPACTING LIVES

REJOICE EVEN IN PAINS (Hab. 3:17-19)    17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,  Nor fruit be on the vines;  Though the labor of the olive may fail,  And the fields yield no food;  Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,  And there be no herd in the stalls —   18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,  I will joy in the God of my salvation.  19 The Lord God is my strength;  He will make my feet like deer's feet,  And He will make me walk on my high hills.  The people of Israel had sinned against God and faced the consequence of their sins. They would face had times and be punished by the Babylonians for a certain length of time. In his prayer to God for help, prophet Habakkuk reminded God of all the good and awesome things their fore fathers had enjoyed in the past. He concluded by what we have as our text this morning that he would still praise and rejoice in God the maker of all things. Why? He knew God would make t...

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE (Ps.64:1-10)   Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.  Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.  They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear. They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see them?"  They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning. But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him! ...

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE (Ps.64:1-10)   Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.  Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.  They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear. They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see them?"  They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning. But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him! ...

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE (Ps.64:1-10)   Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.  Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.  They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear. They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see them?"  They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning. But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him! ...

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE (Ps.64:1-10)   Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.  Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.  They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear. They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see them?"  They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning. But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him! ...

DELAY IS DANGEROUS (Gen. 19: 15-17)  With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."  When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.  As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"  The Lord has instructed us that we should hold on to the Rock of Ages for there would be trouble in the world this month. One may then ask when we need to do that. The time is now because delay is dangerous. As we could see from the above passage, Lot’s wife looked back though they have been instructed not to and she perished. Not that she just looked but while others were going forward holding on to the Rock ...

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL REJOICE (Ps. 68: 1-6)    May God arise, may his enemies be scattered;  may his foes flee before him.  2 As smoke is blown away by the wind,  may you blow them away;  as wax melts before the fire,  may the wicked perish before God.  3 But may the righteous be glad  and rejoice before God;  may they be happy and joyful.  4 Sing to God, sing praise to his name,  extol him who rides on the clouds  —  his name is the Lord —  and rejoice before him.  5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,  is God in his holy dwelling.  6 God sets the lonely in families,   he leads forth the prisoners with singing;  but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.  The Lord God Almighty in His infinite mercy has declared to us to rejoice in Him as from this month, but we must not take this for granted and indulge in practices that will make Him to change His mind. We are...

RECITE THE RIGHTEOUS ACTS OF GOD (Judges 5: 1-12)    … When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.  My heart is with Israel's princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!  "You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets, and you who walk along the road, consider the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel. "Then the people of the Lord went down to the city gates.  'Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, O Barak! Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.'  The Lord God Almighty chose the nation Israel as His special people, they were redeemed, and we could even say that they were born-again. The first step to benefiting from God is to be born- again. When one is born-again, such has become a special person in the...