The Heavens Declare
The Heavens Declare • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewCreation declares God's glory, God's law revives my soul, and through my life I praise Him.
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ME
ME
It’s great to be here with you this morning BG First!
Fun fact about me:
I was almost born in Bowling Green.
My parents, brother and sister lived here in the early 80s while my Dad worked at Bi-Rite Foodtown grocery store.
They all moved to Nashville a year before I was born.
So I was *this close* to being a native of Bowling Green!
*Gulf Shores Beach Pic*
For my entire life, I've gone to Gulf Shores, Alabama for vacation and holidays.
My grandparents moved to the Gulf from Monterey, KY in the 1970s along with my aunts and uncle.
I came along in the 80's, and my parents starting taking me down to the beach as a baby.
I have so many incredible memories there.
Family, food (like enough food for a small army), church, and singing (My Dad was a Southern Gospel singer his whole life and his family all sang together growing up)
And now, I take my family there
Because I have family there and have a free place to stay
The beauty of the Gulf puts me at ease like no other place on earth
To hopefully create some memories for them
And when we go to the beach, I cannot get away from the vastness of the ocean and the beauty of the sky.
As I look out I am reminded that there is an orchestrator behind all this.
A Masterful Creator of all things who spoke: and the sky, water, stars and universe came into being.
Every morning on my couch, I open up the YouVersion Bible app, spend time listening to and speaking with my Savior, and dig into His Word.
It revives me, it sets the tone for the day, and it shows me where I need correction.
And as I learn from the sweetness of the Word of God, I am prepared to live each day to praise Him.
Just as there is beauty walking through the sand and looking out across the beauty of God's Creation at the Gulf, there is beauty in the early morning hours as God speaks life and truth into me through His Word.
WE
WE
*Title Slide*
We all have someplace we just love going to.
A place that brings us relaxation, puts us at ease, and reminds us of God’s glory.
Maybe it’s your front porch or back deck, your favorite fishing spot at the lake, the mountains, the ocean, or the desert.
Our world isn’t perfect because it has been messed up by sin.
But even so, God’s Creation shouts out His praises each and every day.
Not just the earth, but the sun, moon, stars, and galaxies beyond what we can count declare the Glory of our Mighty and everlasting God.
But while all those created things declare God’s glory, there’s only one created group of beings He wants praise and glory from above all else: You and Me.
One way we worship Him is praising Him in song.
And we thank you, Steve and the praise team for leading us into the throne room of God as we praise Him together this morning.
But an even more meaningful way we worship God is with our very lives.
God says He inhabits the praise of His people.
This morning, I’m going to challenge us all to live a life of praise and honor to our incredible Creator and Savior.
GOD
GOD
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
I love handmade stuff.
There is a desk at my home that my dad made in shop class at Owen County High School back in the 1960s.
I typed this message at that desk.
It’s special to me because Dad put it together… and even more special now that he’s in heaven.
That same heaven Dad’s in was handmade by the God of all creation.
In Psalm 19:1–2, David describes how the sky proclaims the glory of God. It is as if day and night and all of creation is speaking to everyone about God.
Paul may have had this psalm in mind when he wrote in
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Ever since its origin, creation has revealed the mind of God.
Creation exists as an invitation to dialogue with God. Certain things may be clearly seen, but only if we are willing to see.
And God’s greatest creation is you and me, for we are made in His image:
Never has there been and never again
Will there be another you
Fashioned by god's hand
And perfectly planned
To be just who you are
And what he's been creating
Since the first beat of your heart
Is a living breathing priceless work of art
-Steven Curtis Chapman, Fingerprints of God
Look at your neighbor and say “I see God’s Fingerprints on you!”
Something to keep in mind: Those people that you can’t stand at work, school, the person that cut you off this morning on the way to church… they were made in the image of God too!
In light of this, maybe we can treat them a little kinder when they get on our last nerve!
Their words aren’t heard,
their voices aren’t recorded,
But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
God makes a huge dome
for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun’s a new husband
leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete
racing to the tape.
That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies
from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts,
warming hearts to faith.
In the original Hebrew these verses were written in, the psalmist doesn’t write down “the sun,” but rather “sun.”
Why is this?
In ancient times, many people close to and within Israel actually worshiped the sun.
The psalmist’s few lines regarding Sun…are not randomly selected material for mere illustrative purposes. Instead he levels a strong polemic at one of the strongest and most attractive deities of the nations, strips it of its divinity, and presents it as Yahweh’s creation, at its best extolling the glory of God! In the process he calls into question all man-made arbiters of truth and right that do not find their source in God.
-David L Thompson
Their is one true God who is worthy to be praised and adored. And there will never be another.
The heavens sing of God but the music lacks words. It’s as though the heavenly choir hums or whistles its song.
Kind of like the Andy Griffith theme song: y’all remember how that goes?
God’s world tells his glory!
But we were uniquely made to worship Him with music, words and our very lives:
Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
Hallelujah!
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
You can’t leave the church behind when you walk out of these doors because you ARE the Church, the Ekklesia, the bride of Christ.
Yes, you are to praise the Lord in this house while you are in this gathering, but that’s only practice for how you are to live your life as an offering to God when you walk out of here.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
When we think of laws, often it seems restrictive or ridiculous.
“Why should I go 70 on the highway when 85 would get me there quicker?”
“Why should I pay taxes to a government that wastes it?”
Man’s law isn’t perfect… not even close.
YOU CAN’T THROW FLOWERS AT A PUBLIC SPEAKER
No matter how captivating their speech may be, Kentucky law says you cannot throw flowers at a public speaker. You can stand, you can applaud, you can even shout “Amen!,” but apparently tossing a fragrant rose is a step too far.
You also can’t throw rotten eggs or tomatoes at speakers – no matter how bad their jokes are.
Ladies, you want to wear a hat? GET YOUR HUSBAND’S PERMISSION FIRST!
Women in Owensboro may be fashion experts, but if they find a hat they particularly like, they need to obtain their husband’s say-so before making the purchase.
NO ICE CREAM CONES IN YOUR POCKET
Before automobiles changed the way we traveled, most of our ancestors got around on horseback. Along the way, some would-be travelers would spot someone else’s horse, and try to lure it away by putting an empty ice cream cone in their back pocket. True story.
Because of that, a law was written – one that still applies today – that forbids you to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket.
No snakes — or any reptiles for that matter — are to be in religious ceremonies.
Snakes and other reptiles got banned from religious ceremonies back in 1942. I am grateful that Nazarenes never, ever did that! If touching a snake was a requirement for ordination, I NEVER would have made it!
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Creation can reveal God’s glory, but only God’s Word can make possible a personal knowledge of the Creator
-Steven J Lenox
Psalm 19:8 (CSB)
The precepts of the Lord are right,
making the heart glad;
the command of the Lord is radiant,
making the eyes light up.
To say that the precepts of the Lord are “right” is to say that they are characterized by integrity and are therefore a source of joy since in them lies the secret of life as God intended it to be.
God’s law is right and full of integrity because He is holy and just and pure.
Christ came and showed us what that looked like in the flesh.
And so as a follower of Christ, I am to be full of integrity and holy as He is.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
I have found that oftentimes in the church integrity is replaced by “personality.”
Is someone has an engaging personality and can make people laugh, often they become “successful” in church circles.
There’s nothing wrong with being funny witty and all that in and of itself.
But if there isn’t godly character within a person, all that means NOTHING.
Some of the most artificial people I have found have called themselves Christians. They honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him.
Thankfully, the most genuine people I have found have called themselves Christians and lived it out daily.
God has called us to be a holy people, and we can only live as holy people with His Spirit having full control of us.
Sanctification. Being set apart to God.
And once we are set apart, we are to grow in this holy living by the sweetness of the Word of God:
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
*Alphabet cookies and honey illustration*
There is a Jewish practice dating back to the Middle Ages for children first learning the Hebrew alphabet. A board with all the letters displayed is smeared with honey. The child licks the honey off each letter, experiencing the truth that God’s word is sweet as honey
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
The Word of God is more precious and worth more than any rare metal we have on the planet.
It’s sweeter than cold Banana Pudding on a hot July afternoon.
(and it won’t spike your blood sugar!)
If there’s ever a time that God’s Word doesn’t seem sweet to you—like when a preacher says something and steps on your toes and you get offended… the preacher probably ain’t wrong if he’s sticking to God’s Word.
You might just need a heart check because you may have become bitter.
Rev. Kenny Greenway is one of my favorite evangelists.
I love how he will say something really harsh (but true) that has the potential to upset someone, and then he will just smile real big with his eyebrows raised!
The psalmist finishes this chapter with a powerful but simple prayer to God:
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Growing up, whenever I would hear my Dad pray at church, this was his “go-to” verse.
He was “praying the scriptures.”
(If you don’t know where to start while praying, speaking the Word of God is a great place to begin.)
I have found that if you listen long enough to what comes out of a person’s mouth… it reveals their character.
If they are cursing, gossiping, making crude jokes..they’ve got a heart problem.
What they have been meditating on in their hearts ain’t exactly pleasing to God.
I have also found that those who speak with godly wisdom, build others up and have self control over their tongues have a clean heart.
What they have been meditating on in their hearts is pleasing to the Lord.
I know this because of experience in 18 years of being a pastor and watching people’s lives, and because I know that I said and thought a lot of crazy mess before Christ changed me completely.
Meditate:
Think deeply or focus one's mind for a period of time.
The psalmist’s testimony or prayer anticipates agreement between his inner being and his outer life, between thoughts and behavior. No more words at odds with secrets of the heart. No more longing of the heart unrealized in deeds. The poet rises to lofty spirituality, his inner and outer life in concert and acceptable to the Lord.
The last word in the psalm is thus the key to its beginning. Because the psalmist rejoices in an intimate relationship with God, a relationship based on God’s acceptance of him, he can look out on a world which he believes to be God’s world and sing his song of praise: “The heavens are telling the glory of God.”
-Robert Davidson
As his Rock the Lord will provide him a place to stand while life’s currents rush at him.
As his Redeemer, the Lord will liberate him from bondage to sin from which he could never free himself.
Creation declares God's glory, God's law revives my soul, and through my life I praise Him.
Creation declares God's glory, God's law revives my soul, and through my life I praise Him.
YOU
YOU
ALBERT EINSTEIN ON CREATION
In his book on Albert Einstein, author Walter Isaacson told of a dinner party in Berlin where everybody assumed Einstein was an atheist and he said, “No, I have a deep feeling of faith, a deep religiosity that comes from my appreciation of the way the Lord made the universe;” and everybody was stunned.
He said he was like a child walking into a library, and you see the books and you know somebody must have written them, and you see them ordered and you know somebody must have ordered them, and there’s a sense of awe that’s manifest in that, where you kind of understand that there’s an order underlying everything and the more you appreciate it, the more humble you become in the fact of it…
Isaacson continued: “In some ways, (Einstein’s) belief in God, that God had created an orderly universe, informed his science. He believed that underlying everything, there are laws.”
When you look outside this week, you will see this beautiful Creation that God has made . I hope that when you do, you are humbled and in awe of our all-powerful God.
When you are alone spending time with the Lord and digging into His Word, I pray that He will revive your soul. A daily revival in your own home.
And being renewed in the Spirit, I pray that you will praise the Lord with a lifestyle of holiness, reflecting the very image of Christ and living in freedom.
You can be free from the bondage of the sin that every human being is born into by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within YOU!
That’s the Full Gospel- not only being saved from the penalty of your sins, but free from the power of sin in your everyday life.
We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
-Nazarene Articles of Faith
You, along with all creation, can be made free to worship the God of the Universe.
WE
WE
May we, as a church, go and live in this freedom that Christ has made available to us.
In a world held in bondage to sin, may we proclaim Christ’s freedom to the captives.
And as the heavens declare the glory of God, may we declare this truth:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
*Questions*
What is the sweetest thing you like to eat? Can you imagine Scripture being that sweet?
Have you ever experienced a moment in nature when you felt you could sense God? What was that like?
How does the Word of God instruct, correct, and teach you about following Jesus?
Do you think by reading and declaring God’s Word, your desire for him could increase? Why and how?
*Prayer*