Scripture
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about Me in the scroll. I desire to do Your will, my God; Your law is within my heart.”
~Psalm 40:7-8, NIV
Quote
Let yourself be moved by what Christ did for you until your duty becomes your passion.
~Timothy Keller {concept, edited by yours truly}
I read the Psalms daily and have being doing so for some time. I need the Psalms like a fish needs water; they help me in my daily worship and prayer time. I would feel a tremendous loss if they were taken from me. I mentioned last night in my sermon, BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART, that when we narrow our focus to Jesus and live for Him alone, we will begin to see Him everywhere and in everything, excluding evil of course. When I opened this Psalm early Sunday morning and read these verses, I sat in stunned silence. My mind was screaming WOW! It was a moment of shock and awe, moment of worship. Divine sparks were flying in so many directions I was afraid I would miss one. First: “Here I AM.” I AM is the sacred name: it speaks of God’s eternal and self-existent nature. Jesus is the great I AM. Second: “I have come,” which speaks of the incarnation. Wow, the Eternal ONE came to us! Third: His coming was a fulfillment of prophecy, “It was written about ME in the scroll.” But the one that I really want to emphasis is the last: ” I desire to do Your will.” Jesus had a passionate desire to do the will of His Father. God’s law was embedded in Jesus heart. There was no conflict between Jesus heart and mind, He was perfectly integrated which is not true of us. Whereas we struggle with obedience, it was natural for Jesus. Hallelujah what a Savior. He fulfilled all the laws demands and set us free from the curse of being imperfect and unable to meet the laws demands. We are not free from the law, just from the curse of not measuring up to the laws perfect standard.
Folks, I am telling you; I almost shouted as I read these verses and all I could see was Jesus-Jesus-Jesus. I know David wrote them but I don’t see David when I read them, I see Jesus. By the grace and power of God, Jesus has overshadowed David and instead of seeing David, I see Jesus. What a prayer this inspires: oh that God would so overwhelm and overshadow me that folks would see Jesus instead of Jack. Do you think this is possible? I think there is only one way it can happen: God’s grace and power. His grace is so powerful, He can make it happen. LORD Jesus help me bow the stiff necked I and bend the stubborn knee, that it might not be I that lives but Jesus living in me.
I did something yesterday I have not done in weeks, I attended the Pastor’s conference and received a blessing. I did not watch the Auburn game live Saturday night because I retire early on Saturdays but June taped it for me and I watched it last night. Kansas was stunned. I think most of the audience was stunned. Bill Self is a great coach but he was stunned. I am telling you, these guys can go all the way and I hope they do. Of course, I am an SEC fan next to being an Alabama fan and I am pulling for all four SEC teams. By the way, if I was on the board of Trustees at Alabama, I would vote to do away with men’s basketball. We need to give it up. We sure don’t need to hire Rick Pitino. I guarantee you I want watch if they do. If he will confess to killing the baby and give a few million to a RIGHT TO LIFE organization, I would consider him: otherwise no. I would take Billy Donavant or Frank Martin.
Ken told a story yesterday at lunch about a Missionary in Africa. The LORD had spoken to him and told him to go to a certain village and preach the gospel. Before he could get to the village, he was met by a group of armed Muslims. They ordered him to turn around: the leader said, “We will not let you preach the gospel in this village.” The Missionary said, “I sorry but the LORD told me to come here and preach and that is what I must do.” The Muslim said, “I will kill you.” The Missionary said, “You can’t do that,” and proceeded onward. The Muslim said, “Why can’t I kill you, I have a gun.” The Missionary said, “Because I’m already dead,” and he kept walking.
Bob Costas on the NFL...”The NFL gets to be as high handed as it wants to be. They get their way on everything. They are a sports juggernaut, an entertainment juggernaut and a cultural juggernaut.” Costas left NBC because they refused to allow him to be critical of the NFL; he is now with the MLB network. Way to go Bob.