WEBINAR 354 - Name the Day

i want to kind of finish up this text we've  been trying to get to for three weeks now   um and it's in psalm 92 that i want to finish  up psalm 23. the the reason is that these   these words what what david said and let me  emphasize them again in psalm 23 surely that's the   covenant oath of god surely goodness and loving  kindness shall pursue me all the days of my life   now if you go to the book of psalms you  will find loving-kindness all over the place   every other verse seems to reference  loving-kindness it was absolutely central   to david's life and to the others who wrote  various other psalms it was the key word to   their life in god and it it comes into the new  testament as we see in a moment but in psalm 92   it's interesting how they put it all together  as to how they lived it's the most practical   verse actually about it so let me read it psalm  92 it is good to give thanks to the lord the i am   to sing praises to your name almost high to  declare your loving kindness in the morning and   your faithfulness by night with the ten-stringed  loot that's a little bit bigger than your guitar   but it's the same neck of the woods and with the  harp with resounding music upon the liar for you   oh i am have made me glad by what you have done  i will sing for joy at the works of your hands   and right there in the middle to declare your  loving kindness in the morning your faithfulness   at night and i want to recognize this is the heart  of it and if we can get a hold of this i i am it   will transform your christian life and i mean that  very seriously um it begins by saying give thanks   give thanks to i am which we in the new testament  know as the father and the son and the holy spirit   and in the new testament this giving of thanks  it would take an hour by itself just to give it   his proper place but you might remember ephesians  5 18 where it says be filled with the holy spirit   speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and  songs given by the spirit singing making melody   in your heart to the lord always giving thanks for  all things in the name of our lord jesus christ   to god even the father that is central he said  as a believer you are filled with the holy spirit   you're overflowing with a divine joy  and you are as you go through your day   in whatever circumstances you find  yourself in the process of giving thanks   and so what it says in psalm 92 is carried over on  steroids into the new testament now let's get this   straight when the bible speaks of giving thanks  it has little to do with what we mean by that   when we say thank you it is usually if not always  in a response to something you've given to me   or done for me but in the hebrew language  and in the mood of the new testament   that that's pretty well i say never so they had  other ways of saying that when it says give thanks   it meant give thanks not for something but for  someone you if you gave thanks you were thanking   the person for being who they are it got down to  very intensely personal and what what a person   is who they are is revealed in what they do but  what they do takes you straight back to them as a   person in the biblical way of using it and so when  we say give thanks it's not merely saying sort of   thank you to a remote god to give thanks brings  you to the immediacy of the presence of jesus   that i'm not alone if ever the feeling  of loneliness or aloneness comes upon me   then giving of thanks in the biblical sense  brings me immediate face to face with the presence   of christ who never leaves me never forsakes me  that's essentially what it's about and so to give   thanks i say it again it's not just saying thank  you you saved me uh it's not just saying thank   you for you know good day whatever um there's a  place for that but what we're saying is we are   confronting can i say we are in the immediacy of  love himself and i cannot give thanks without that   i i know i'm speaking to love himself he's here  it is we are standing in the presence of jesus who   says i am the resurrection and the life i'm not  saying thank you that you rose again i'm saying   thank you you are here the dynamic presence  of the jesus who is alive and in that sense   uh he he not only is here but in the true  sense he is inside every one of us and we are   immediately within our very selves as well as a  group we are immediately present to him um and   that's what it is the giving of thanks it is the  awareness it is being sensitive to the presence   and with my whole heart saying yes to that  presence i'm trying to make a big difference   here between we go to many gatherings and there's  a lot of sort of praise the lord praise the lord   you know the person who used to cuss and  swear now they say praise the lord instead   and um it can be very annoying because it's a it's  a hollow thing it's just hollow you're you're just   saying words whereas the biblical meaning is  this is this immediacy of presence and i am   being drawn into that presence and i wouldn't be  thanking god that he is the way he is unless i was   jumping into that it's it's myself being drawn in  to the person he is it's recognizing this union   and the amen of my being to who he is do you get  it this is not just saying words it's as if giving   of thanks in itself is a current on the river that  is drawing me into the very heart and being of god   but when you meet someone who knows what it  really is to give thanks that god is who he is   you know immediately they  don't have to say anything   they're not saying praise the  lord over everything they just   exude it they they are living in a presence  and there is a thanks that rises inside of them   to the person in whose presence they live and of  course it changes your conversation that's why   you you you pick up on it first of all you think  what's different about this person well the world   is really um it has almost i've got to be careful  here i don't want to put people down but but it's   almost i'll allow that almost um a continual  canvas on which they paint life is negativity   it's complaint it's anxiety all of which  are a word you couldn't use unless you   had within you somewhere very deep declared the  unfaithfulness of god he's not he's not i i can't   trust him i i i don't know if he's listening  or not i don't know if he's with me or not   and so that comes out in terms of complaint we're  blaming god according to scripture your complaints   are always addressed at god he's he's not he's  not cracked up to what he's supposed to be   he's not doing what i thought he would  do he's not as nice as i thought he was   and it comes dripping out of my mouth like  poison and complaining complaining anxiety is   i look into my future and i i know god will  not be with me i know i'm alone there and   it's again a confession of the unfaithfulness  of god uh all those it's all the negativity   the expectancy of the bad the expectancy the  the person who sits back and says well it's   flu system on flu season i'm fixing to get it um  that that might sound just stupid it is stupid but   um it's it's much deeper than that it's saying  that he's not the one who quickens my mortal body   he's not the one who bore my sickness and my pain  he's not that that's all nothing uh i could keep   going but you get the point out of the mouth  of this world system comes the victim whining fearful all the other words and here in the  middle of it is someone who doesn't go there   and sometimes the it's what they don't say  because they're not pushy they're not religious   nuts who are going to say well i know um they  just is who they is and they're in the presence   and they don't say anything always but when  you meet them you know these people are   coming from somewhere where the rest of the world  isn't coming from the rest of the world is blind   to where they're coming from the rest of the world  has got a different language because thanksgiving   it it gives you a different conversation it  tones your words in a different way in fact   it introduces words that the world has not really  heard and so when it says giving thanks we're not   talking about it isn't that i'm someone that's  always talking about jesus i am someone who is   one with him i have said the enormous excited yes  to him and i've flung myself in abandoned trust   like a little two-year-old jumping into your arms  in the absolute confidence you're gonna catch them   and that's thanksgiving in all its  various faces it is launching myself   into the fullness of god well all of this as  i say it's not words anybody can say words   but to do and to say what i'm talking about you  had to have had the revelation of the holy spirit   and please don't think that's deeper life it's  only called deeper life because the church has   banned the holy spirit and therefore anyone who  gets involved thinks it's out there but in the   church of the new testament and the church that  followed the new testament afterward the first   four five hundred years the holy spirit was the  very key the breath the oxygen of the christian   life it was at the very beginning of the beginning  that they were introduced to the holy spirit as   the one who opened our eyes to this reality that  father father god is love and son of god god from   god jesus is that love enfleshed in with us and is  the holy spirit who is love dynamic love in action   who opens our eyes and causes us to see what  otherwise we are blind as bats we couldn't even   any idea that it was there but the holy  spirit does that and that word is that   hideous religious word repentance that  we've long ago thrown down the toilet   and we've replaced it with the greek word because  there's metanoia which actually means a radical   exchange of minds i see things i understand  things the holy spirit has quietly done that and paul prays for that even for believers because  it's not one thing you repent or you have this   metanoia mind change it is it's a moment of  total you'll never forget it in that sense   people say you know i got saved you you  wait woke up and you realize what a world   i'm in but that never ceases i i've been in  christ in sense of awareness of him for over   70 years now and yet still i pray that prayer  open my eyes that i might see clearly and and so   that is at the beginning of thanksgiving notice in  ephesians 5 it says be filled with the holy spirit   and then gives the various expressions of the  spirit but then it says in everything give thanks   that is is connected to being filled with the  spirit left to ourselves we're never going to   go through life recognizing that he is intimately  with us and is pouring his blessings upon us   we no we we need the holy spirit to open our eyes  to that continually and so what is thanksgiving   i mean it is all i just said but when you're  doing it what does it sound like thanksgiving   is a speaking forth sooner or later  and speaking forth also with others   and therefore when we gather like we do this  morning or other times even if it's a luncheon   um or just to get together our language what  we talk of and how we talk about things and   how we see things and what we expect of the future  and the present will give the game away we are   giving thanks we are recognizing there's more here  than cnn has ever dreamt there's more here than   fox will ever tell you you are in the middle  of the father and the son and the holy spirit   and as i say you don't have to be a religious nut  it's just the way you talk and it's the way you   see and it's the way you think and it's what you  don't get involved in because you see more than   the person around you it's a well the word for  this is confession thanksgiving is confession   and that too has been stolen by religion um  confession even in english go to a dictionary   it's a latin word con which means with a and  ves confess it means to say together with   and so confession is not confessing sin confession  is confessing who god is we said it before   confession is not telling god about your  sin confession is telling your sin about god   it is a total reverse um because confession is  saying together and primarily i say it together   with god i'm agreeing with him who he is and  my mind is blown because i've been shown by   the holy spirit who he is his love primarily  and everything that flows from that but then   you've seen that too and so we say it  together as leah was singing a moment ago then   others sang with her that's confession we said  it together we went along together and siri is   trying to say it together with me but um that's  not confession sir uh it's um no it's that that   saying together uh together we recognize together  we acknowledge it and we say so or is what is it   in the psalms it says let the redeemed of the  lord say so don't just have floating thoughts   say it and establish it this is the way it is and  that that's thanksgiving it's it's a confession   it's a declaring did you notice that that word  to declare it was in the psalm there it's another   way of saying thanksgiving you are declaring  i i've got news for the darkness i've got news   for the world and that news is centered  on who god is so i declare it in in ways   where it is uh opportune opportunity to do so  it means to put out in front so nobody misses it   it means to reveal take the cover off draw  the curtains back let the sun shine in   and you you you are revealing you are  declaring you are putting out in front   what you have learned from jesus because he  said matthew 11 no one knows the father which   is amazing because he is saying no one on the  planet knows the father except him and he also   said no one in the old testament had fully known  the father that's that's well that's another isn't   it that's another hour um but he said he's the  only one on the planet who knows the father and   then he goes on to say but also those that i share  this knowledge with will know him too which that's   what it means to get saved it's not you're going  to heaven when you die it is that here and now   there is the inner knowing the metanoia your mind  is changed you see god the father as he really is   and that's what we're declaring that's what  we're living with declaring it by the way we live   we're declaring it by our attitude to life  we're declaring it by our lack of anxiety   we're declaring it because we're  no longer victims of life that is   it's it's there all of that see  this isn't a boring recital of facts   just going through a long list of doctrinal  stuff this is heartfelt you're feeling this   it's it's got a lot of emotion attached to it i  mean you are declaring the best news the world has   ever heard and i say it again you're declaring  it by your attitude to life you're declaring   it by how you live not necessarily yakking over  the table to your neighbor it is living a life   before your neighbor they've never dreamed  of that is full of hope that it is full of   quiet faith that they they can't in in  today's world especially in today's world   and so i say it's it's best news you're not  droning on it's it's it's rising from within   you like a volcano deep within and that's why  if you notice when we read that text in psalm 92   he said i'll grab all my instruments and um he  names three of them that he's going to try and   play all at once he said you know give them to me  give them to me and that that's a man on fire now   that's the man that says i've got to let this out  that's thanksgiving um actually this word declare   that's a connection with thanksgiving was used  to announce a special guest at a dinner party   you know when you have a certain kind of  dinner party there's someone who announces   the guests as they come in and this was  the word they used and so we announced it   we've got the news we know what's going on and  we live it and we say so it is remembering that's   another big word that we've talked about before  which is is not like our western remembering   that this is actually bringing the past into this  present moment where all that the past was now is   and so to to remember means that he is  the i am he's not the i was he's the i am   here and now and all that he was he is and all  that he is he ever will be the unchanging god   he is now he is here in this present  moment as i walk through all the meandering   tunnels of life and so they expressed  it physically which we are want to do um   and i know just looking at the pictures there that  you do it too i mean there's there's hand raising   there's clapping um you might even get up and do a  jig and some might think how terribly irreligious   it is isn't that fun it's so irreligious  we've finally stamped religion on the head   because we go back to what the scripture says um  such a joy that is not only words it's not only   my life but i actually get physically involved  in showing it and of course what we do um this   morning the eucharist the word eucharist is  a greek word that's never been translated   it means the great thanksgiving and so  that is that is it in the eucharist we   meet the real presence of jesus and we are  giving thanks at many different levels it is   a good thing he said it's a good thing what's he  mean it's appropriate what else would you expect how can i put this when you  meet someone that you love   you you don't whisper in her  ear you make great pork chops um   you you do not zero on something that you do  did you follow no no yeah you're laughing too   much here you gotta remember what i said um that  that we don't um we are not essentially thanking   him for what he's done as if jesus made  salvation possible for us and so thank you   no we've gone beyond that we know he didn't  make it possible he is salvation and we are now   as you would expect your beloved to whisper  to you that you are beloved because of who you   are and so we are that that's that and that's  right that's appropriate what else would you   expect if two persons of us together and and so  it says it's a good thing it's very appropriate   that you simply tell this lord jesus christ  and the father in the holy spirit in every   word you know what an incredible wonderful  beautiful good god it's becoming you know   what's in other words it's fitting it fits it  you look right doing that what else would you   expect of someone that has seen so much  it's fitting fits you like a glove to be   giving thanks to god it's the right response to  love who created you and will never leave you   and so the word would mean it's agreeable it's a  glad thing um it's joyous it's an excellent thing   but also it means it's valuable it has  all the meanings when he says it's a   good good thing it has all the meanings of  a treasure of great worth of great value   do i have to underscore everything i've  said that anybody that can live like this   you are the richest person on the planet  i've seen more terror ridden faces   i've seen more eyes above the masks the the  sheer terror in today's world and to be able   to walk in the midst of that in perfect peace in  fact in a rising joy in the absolute confident   of his love you're a rich person it's a good thing  it's rich you have something of intense value   and it is right that the word there  means it holds everything together   that this is not a religious  thing you do on the side   this brings your whole life together to to give  thanks for what grows in your field to give thanks   for the god you meet in the kitchen to give  thanks for the god that you meet in the office   it brings it all together and now you must  emphasize that this flows out of your spirit but   renews your mind you will be a different  person mentally as you give thanks it's for your emotions and i i hope you get this  but that this thanksgiving actually produces a   chemistry in your brain that causes that sense  of well-being and joy that this this is this is   dynamic it flows out and of course i don't  think i have to say it we don't give thanks   to make an indifferent god notice us i i say that  because of where i came from in my distant past   where they thought if you praise  god enough he'll do something   because you know he's counting how many times  you said thank you and now you've got the magic   number he'll do it no this is not a work  this is this is not trying to convince god   that he's a jolly good god and have we bowed  low enough have we groveled enough to tell you   how great you are no actually it's the other way  around he gave us thanksgiving so that we would   notice him uh rather we would wake up is not he  needs to notice us it's rather we need to notice   him and thanksgiving as i say draws you into the  current being drawn into the very heart of god   um so what is thanksgiving it's a matrix  it's it's in there that i realize this union   it's in there i live this life which is in  the world but is not of it it's a divine   space i think i like that it's a divine space  i live in that space in which i am recognizing   and as i recognize thanks what an incredible god  you are do you ever thank god for squirrels um   because there's a time i wish you'd take them  away but you know i was watching the squirrel   the other morning from my porch and it was  just doing somersaults right across this   grass well why did god create a squirrel to do  some answers i think he was laughing with me   um he did it just for the sheer fun of making  this you ever thought about that the birds that   come and sit on your window and sing to you um you  ever have you ever thank god and thanked the birds okay i'll get off that but  it's the place of awakening   because that's where we become fixed you can  think a lot but it's when you say it and you   say it to the person and realize this is so  this is not a religious thought i'm having   this is soul and i am now thanking him for  who he is in all these different ways um   this is so important in that this was the  very first result rather the the loss of this   the loss of thanksgiving was the very first result  of sin this is this is not just a little hobby   that some charismatics have that this is well  let me read it it's in romans 1 and it's talking   about the fall of man into sin and it says that  which is known about god is evident within them   the the god does not hide himself the the worst  atheist has got to deal with the fact that he's   got to deny reality it's evident within them god  made it evident to them for since the creation   of the world is invisible attributes is eternal  power divine nature they've been clearly seen   being understood through what has been  made so that they are without excuse   then for even though they knew god they  did not honor him as god or give thanks   right there it says now now we see that  the division here what's happened to men   well it's going to take a long time to find out  what's happened to man but the first expression   of the fact he's gone hideously wrong and he  is in a deep darkness is he doesn't give thanks   that's amazing it says they didn't give thanks  rather they became futile in their speculations   i think the last six months we've heard the  greatest futility of speculations of persons   who don't know what they're talking about rather  than sinking deep down into the god with whom we   give thanks and it says and their foolish heart  was darkened with his absence of thanksgiving   immediately the vacuum is filled with  fear anxiety they can't exist together   thanksgiving and fear cannot exist together  take thanksgiving out and fear fills the vacuum well what's the content of thanksgiving he said  two words loving kindness and faithfulness that's   what you're giving thanks about that god is by his  nature loving kindness um what is loving kindness   it's a very difficult word to put into english   loving kindness is better than your  old bibles go back to the king james   the original king james they have mercy which  comes from the translation from the latin   of the roman catholic church and that so  misses the point it's like aiming at the moon   and going off into outer space um it doesn't mean  mercy it may be there's the element there but   this is a word that is rooted in covenant  that we spoke of when we talked about surely   uh covenant this word is actually  this word comes first in some senses   the persons who have come into this connection  of loving kindness then determined to make   covenant together and then out of the covenant  comes the fullest expression of this word and   loving-kindness is good it's good love and it's  not a human love it is a divine love a committed   love a covenant love that binds itself kindness  is love but it is love in its mode of being useful   i think we talked about that last week  kindness is being useful you you are there   just when the person needs you and they do  what just exactly what you need to be done   and as they leave you say there's a kind  person there's a kindness it was something done   in the point i had to say they were useful to  me at that moment and so it's love in coveralls   kindness is lovely blue jeans it's it's  love doing it's doing not talking about it   and so love and kindness loving kindness it's  it's as good as you get because that's what   the word means the word in the hebrew hasset  is a word i say that's connected to covenant   and it is covenant love bound love sworn  oath love that is doing what it said   it's it's love actually at work performing all its  promises doing it kindness it's loving kindness   in many modern translations you'll find it  uh referenced as covenant love that's good   uh a binding love that's good it's it's all  those ideas but what we've got to realize and one day i'll take the whole hour on this  but the covenant how can he god does not   has not made a covenant with us directly that's  a relief because a covenant has two parties   and a covenant can exist only as long as the two  parties are faithful the one to the other can   you imagine if god made a direct covenant with  us we would have screwed it up within a week   and that's why those dear people in many churches  who think it is between them privately and god   and that they're having to get  saved every week you know i know   it's it's so tragic it's laughable sometimes but  then it's too traumatic it's too terrible to laugh   about that these people really believe it it's  all on their shoulders so if i if i i get saved   on sunday morning i screw up on sunday  night i get saved again on monday it's   and i suppose you would have gone to hell in on  sunday night but it's that is so tragic nowhere in   the scripture does it say god deals directly with  us because and why it says because he knows us   and he says this is going to work and if i brought  you in as the second party it wouldn't work you   would screw it up so how does he do it right from  the beginning of the well before the beginning   that intention that i've spoken of before between  the father and the son and the holy spirit   that was their intention that god the son would  take hold of you and say we will do this together   the new testament calls it being in christ  that he now and understand this if you haven't   understood it already god the father we say  god but jesus the son of god is god from god   that is he's not a separate god rather he shares  the very deity of the father all the father is   he is and he comes out from the father and when i  meet jesus i meet the father except it's not the   father it's jesus but i meet the father when  i meet the father i meet everything jesus is   only the place that jesus has as the son of  god god from god is to tell us what god is like   he's the word he comes and he  tells us and he's the doer and so   do you realize god is going to make covenant with  god the father and the son are bound in purpose   and what's the purpose that the sun will take  a hold of you and saying i make covenant with   the father you get all the benefits but it  doesn't depend on you being faithful it depends   upon me being faithful do you get that they're  nodding here but do you get that do you get it   that i can't be faithful gotta face it stop  all your silly religious nonsense that i've   got all the faith in the world or you don't no  you you can't but what it is jesus is god who   joined himself to us humans so that when we  say jesus we mean the son of god god from god   who is actually joined our humanity and  the holy spirit without measure upon him   and so in jesus i meet the son of god and the son  of god is the voice of the father so i meet the   father and i meet the spirit who is the very  breath and dynamite of the father and the son and that one that one who is god inside  our humanity it says i take your place   and i will make covenant but i'll do it as a human   so god came got inside our humanity and  then as us made covenant with the father and you get the certificate to say you're in  it's okay do you remember abraham in genesis 15   that's where a human covenant that that's all  happened between the holy trinity but that was   shown to abraham on a very earthy human level you  can read it in genesis 15 and you'll understand   why many people don't understand what's going  on because it's kind of confusing because   god said he was going to make covenant and so he  said to abraham you know how to make a covenant   people back then as in third world today they know  how to make covenant and the animals were taken   and cut into so there's a pathway of blood between  them and making covenant you walk that pathway   and very walking in blood you were saying i will  keep my word even if it kills me i make this in   blood and you rehearse to the person you know  what you're going to do and and it shrouded it's   life and death it's a covenant to life but it's  shrouded in death because there's no limit to   which i will go i will not go i am i'll go all the  way to death to keep this covenant if necessary abraham made it well now abraham  should have walked through the pieces   of the animals and sworn to  god he would keep the covenant   and justice is about to do that god said let me  go and lay over there have a jolly good sleep it's   none of your business anymore yeah and it does it  says adam uh abraham went and he slept in in his   slept he had a divine vision of what was happening  and he said he saw this great flaming fire pot   and it walked through the pieces which is always  a symbol of god our god is consuming fire god   took abraham's place and god entered into covenant  with god only when they did so it was for abraham that jesus said thousands of years  later abraham saw my day and was glad   abraham saw what this is all about that god  has become human to take the place of every   human to be our representative and when  he he cut the covenant in his own blood   and carried us to the father that's the covenant  why do i say all of that because loving kindness   is the oath of god and he can't take it any  further god became us in order to carry us   to where he is and he did so with a covenant  oath that says i'll die to keep it what he did   and then it's a covenant in resurrection   i'm thanking god for that now that's rest  that isn't saying have i prayed enough   today to keep my salvation this is and have  i read my bible enough or am i backsliding   this isn't have i been good enough or do i  need to get saved next wednesday you know   all that is gone forever you'll never think  about that again you'll never think about   that again because your in-ness of the father your  in christ has been guaranteed by a covenant oath surely you're in and you're in  through nothing you have done   you're in not by your faithfulness but by his  that's loving kindness at work in you today   that is every step i take today  it's the consciousness it's not   me i'm not trying to earn this i'm not trying  to work this it's not a formula this is the   gift of god whose name is jesus and then the holy  spirit is the one that is working this in my life so the holy spirit is the new testament  loving kindness he's working this covenant out   in blue jeans he's he's right down  there where we are of course with that   goes he's not afraid to get his hands dirty and  i say that very carefully we've got this idea of   holiness that god is like some victorian lady who  anytime people swear he needs you know epsom salts   under his nose or something because he's passed  out or some ghastly god you can't even talk to   now the god i meet in the new testament  well the god i meet in the new testament   his best friends were the worst sinners in town  but really that's why all religion was horrified   at him because he hung out with all the wrong kind  of people who said all the wrong kind of things   who had the wrong kind of ambitions now the holy  spirit he never leaves us but jesus never leaves   us nor the father but the holy spirit's at work  in us applying this all the time to our lives   and whether the application is while you're  cooking dinner or whether it's when you're   working in the office he he never wastes a  moment it's it's always there loving kindness and and actually in psalm 63 david said because  your loving kindness is better than life   my lips shall praise you i'll bless you as  long as i live i lift up my hands in your name   what does it mean your loving kindness is better  than life well it would mean now i'm really living   this is better than just being alive or it  to use new testament language it would be   jesus saying i've come to give you life and  that more abundantly it's life on top of life   he said loving kindness now i'm alive i have  this inner relationship with the holy spirit   and i'm living life in in sync with the  holy spirit and he's teaching me lessons   he's opening my eyes i'm wowing my way  through the day other times i'm the one   doing the sharing where do i go here what do i  do here but we we're absolutely together in this and so loving kindness it's what  shall i say it's a never-changing love   unchanging it's the strongest love that  could ever be in your life because he   it's an oath he's god swore an oath upon  his own being that he would never leave you   never forsake you you can't get rid of him  okay that's shocking can't get rid of god   i can't stop him loving me any more than i  could start him loving me is am unfailing love   which gives us then that being the case it gives  us an assurance and a boldness that's unearthly   you you never question because it's not what you   do or have done or promised to do  it is what he has done who he is and so you'll always find in the old testament  when he speaks of loving kindness it speaks of   doing loving kindness keeping loving kindness  showing loving kind it's always action it's   an action word the holy spirit right now take a  moment to think about it right now as i'm speaking   the holy spirit is at work in you and there'll  be a word i say and all the lights go on say thank you not to me i realize that  was the holy spirit doing that and so um well the other word is faithfulness and the  two words are linked together faithful we've   really spoken about it they're very much together  faithful means you never leaves never forsakes   limitless loyalty utterly reliable that's what  it means in the psalms when the lord is my rock   it means immovable he's always to be  counted on never has to be questioned even when he's late he's on time he was late when lazarus was sick they  said come and heal him and didn't show   but of course he was right on time but anyway uh he's utterly it's impossible for god  to lie you see so that's my faith you say faith   my faith is resting on his faithfulness see  i don't turn inward for faith faith is not   inside of me because if you read what is it dale  carnegie in a thunder there's a whole bunch of   do-it-yourself books out there and they say it's  this magic inside of you but well maybe that's   okay but the the bible faith is not i don't look  inside of me for faith have i got enough faith the faith is your eye the eye of your spirit   right now i've just started to remember i've got  eyes i'd forgotten about it but talking about it   i now i think yes i've got an eye my eye is so  taken up with seeing though i don't think about   it i don't take my eye out to look at it to say  do i have enough eye um my eye just does its thing   and i see faith is the eye of your spirit it's the  gift of god that you now can see jesus and trust   him and forget about the i that sees him your  faith is reliance upon the faithfulness of jesus okay he says we declare his loving kindness  in the morning i like that it brings it down   out of some ethereal it says over coffee in the  morning declare his loving kindness and and i   don't need to tell you in the morning he's saying  daybreak sunrise um or before anything else now   don't confuse this with some religious bondage  that i have to read my bible every morning um   no it's not saying that it says awake to the  day with the realization of the greatness of god   awake to the day to realize the covenant and  that's why i threw in there over coffee because um   you can have coffee with the holy trinity and  do your declarations and excitement of what the   day holds because of that what it what he's saying  um before anyone else can do it you name your day   you ever thought of it like that the hebrew  people had a great deal of thought about   naming they said a thing didn't exist until  it had a name that was just the way they   but you you name something  and it has an existence and when it comes to a day if you don't name  the day then it is a fleeting shadow   and and you say where did the day go  it was i think it i i think i lived it   but it was it had no name i just um what  what he's doing here we named the day   by giving thanks for loving kindness and  faithfulness before any formation of the day   we we name it in order to form it it has  now a formed existence we gave it its name   think about this um it was the way  the hebrews named their children when my mother gave me well i guess my  father the two but um gave me the name   malcolm they had no idea what it meant it's  just when you have a name like smith you need   something of a name to go with it well actually  it's very fascinating what malcolm does mean but what i'm saying is that you buy books of  names you know watch name boy there's no   sense in our thing that i'm going to fashion  that child's life by the name i give it   whereas the hebrews would look  upon the name they gave as   almost prophetic we're now fashioning this  child according to this name and so we we almost name children by default or we name them  by because even the name you've got by the time   you're six they'll have given you a nickname that  really is about who you are you get it by default   you you fashioned the nickname by what you did  whereas they birthed you with the nickname they   said this is who you are and um it's interesting  if you go to the book of ruth naomi you've   remembered me if you go through her family and the  names they had they all got their name by default   they obviously weren't named until they were about  four or five years old and then whatever kind of   kid they were turning out to be they called  them that uh whereas when you come to daniel   and that's another story altogether he  that's a a war a fight for their name um   nebuchadnezzar called them shadrach meshach  and abednego which were three of the gods   of babylon and they refute that you  don't call me by the name of the gods   um daniel they called belty which was  the great god of babylon and he said   daniel um god is my you know it's it's big  and that's how they looked at their day   in fact um they began their day by anointing  themselves with fresh fragrant oil and going in   and sensing with the holy spirit and so we set  the day we set the stage this is the way it's   going to be and i can say it as boldly as that  because i'm speaking from within the covenant god   i'm not just making this up and saying shucks  it would be good if that happened it's rather   no i i'm speaking out from the god who has made  covenant and says surely then i say amen surely   this is the way the day shall be and they did that  this isn't the only text to go through the psalm   psalm 59 he said but as for me i shall sing of  your strength yes i shall sing joyfully of your   loving kindness in the morning you have been my  stronghold a refuge in the day of my distress   oh my strength i will sing praises to you that  is he in that case he's saying in the morning   he's saying this day the very strength of god  will be mine he looks out over the day he says   this is what you've been before of course and  it is what you're going to be you you are my   strength and stronghold and refuge psalm 5 says  in the morning o lord you will hear my voice   in the morning i'll order my prayer to you and  then he says all day long i will eagerly watch   excited as to how this is going to work out so we receive the day as a gift we  receive this space of time as god's gift   and then based on his covenant we named the day this might be a new idea to some of you  but um let it sink in it's by giving   thanks in the sense of the last hour to talk about  it's like putting a flag on the day and say this   this is where it's going to be i'm not going  to be kicked around i i mean you get up and   i'll say have your coffee but it's a matter  of that stillness before the day begins   don't wait till you meet i won't say her name but   if if you beat her if you meet him they'll  name the day for you they'll tell you what a   terrible day is going to be they'll even  meet you and say you look tired today yeah there's one in every house you  know um at least on every block but   do you follow what i mean someone's gonna name the  day someone is and we let it just go default it's   the way it is and if if it's not that turn on  the news and they'll shall name the day for you   uh and i'm not just ranting now that  this is the fact this is where we live   rather i now set the boundary lines this is the  way the day is going to be this is it that this is   who i am and i i declare it i'm not going to let  my feelings tell me who i am so that by afternoon   i'm living my feelings instead of my true identity  let's get this settled right from the beginning   um it's setting the lens so i'm  now seeing the day as god sees it   and i'm declaring it not trying to  make sense of it halfway through it's that verse in proverbs the fear  of the lord is the beginning of wisdom   the fear of the lord should never be interpreted  as being scared of god in action webster's   dictionary it defines fear as standing in or an  act of worship that's the essence of fear and so   the fear of the lord you are you are meeting  with this god right from the beginning   you're setting the tone and you are walking  through every minute aware of his presence   that's the beginning of wisdom can't learn  that in a university and of course as i said   before we live okay put it this way we live  on purpose then you ever thought of that   we don't live on by default we don't live just  because we're alive today we live on purpose   i'm alive and i live purposefully with intention  that's what it's going to be well and we live in   a world that names its day by its negativity i  i don't really need to get into that i think you   but how many people over the course of a  year how many people the moment you met   them they say in one way when it's going to be a  terrible day today i mean i hear it um how many   they name the month they say you know i know  it i can feel it i'm gonna i'm gonna get this   um and any crisis they always assume and they  name it in terms of a disaster what why wouldn't   it be fun to to assume that god just might do  some loving surprise um name name the thing   i i think you get what i'm trying to say um  name it by their negatives they're limited   hopes they they they have an energy field of  darkness around them so you can get into their   conversation and be sucked into it and before  you know you're naming your day by their misery it's but no some conversations that  go on i can't stay i'm sorry because   it's not worth the the energy field  it's i don't want that getting inside me   why why have a battle over it i'd rather  just excuse myself i can't handle that and otherwise just in our conversation  we don't go where they go we we   we are in let's just say it's a casual  way uh this is not preaching this is just   looking at life through the the lens of  the covenant that god has made in his love   and so we we refuse to be drawn into what  others name even their day let alone when   they try and name our day along with it  and we give thanks before the day unfolds and something happens then and this too deserves  an hour but in psalm 50 23 it says he who   offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving which  we're talking about honors me and to him   who orders his way a right that is with  thanksgiving i will show the salvation of god   that's a very difficult verse to translate and  some great scholars have translated it in this way of the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to such a  one he prepares a way along which i will grant   him to see the salvation of god it says you  you give thanks to god in all the way that   i've tried to say in the last hour give thanks  to god and this verse says then he will open   up the path before you and grant you to see the  salvation of god one true scholar translates it   i will grant him a rapturous vision a rapturous  vision of the full reality of my salvation   but then he says i'm sorry i'm overtime but it's  christmas so i've got to finish this it says at   night so that's what you do in the morning it  says at night i i would declare his faithfulness   which i find interesting the night is the  sum of the day now we've landed the plane and   he says well now you look back on the day which  also causes you to look forward to the next day   and you seal it up with the faithfulness of god  night in ancient times was scary that there was   never a positive time the shadows the darkness  their little tiny oil lamps is all they had   so it was a place of gloom and they  associated it with death and danger and demons   sickness if you're sick it's usually worse at  night time when thieves break in you know it's a   negative time you could say anxiety comes alive at  night our flesh senses take over we have the late   late movie playing in our head the disaster of  which we are the pathetic star going down you know that faithfulness is the oath of love  it is his sworn oath i will never   leave you nor forsake you and in this oath  he never cheats he never alters the language   it's never leave you never forsake  you never change the original document   and this is where he arrived about this time  last week we've got to do a whole hour on this   but we've got it in our western heads that god's  deliverance his loving kindness his faithfulness   is that he's going to make all  our enemies puff disappear go gone   and of course the ultimate answer would be the  rapture when we had the exit escape you know   and all those poor suckers who didn't believe  see they're getting what's coming to them now   um that's the that's the evangelical  church's position it's always escape exit and   poof to our enemies so i don't suffer you see  i don't suffer you try that come with me come   with me around the world let's go to third  world countries where i spend so many years   you try telling them that no there's no  trouble god delivers us out of it out of it   oh no no you you've mistaken the truth of god  with the american dream um no he he doesn't   necessarily he might it's full of surprises  but normally he walks with you through it   which means you are carried to a level of um  well i would say peace that is unearthly it's a   and joy when you shouldn't be having joy you in  fact you are celebrating this loving kindness   this faithfulness of god but you're going through  it david said yes even though i walk through the   valley of the shadow of death he didn't say i  get raptured at the beginning nor did he say that   you know the valley of the shadow of death will  suddenly disappear in an earthquake no he says we   walk through it we walk through it put my feet  on the cold earth go through the valley of the   shadow of death and as i said when he wrote psalm  23 it was under the most unspeakable circumstances   his own son trying to kill him and that's when he  says i have a feast in the presence of my enemies   i thought they'd been poofed away but no in the  presence of my enemies you're giving me a feast   and this loving kindness this goodness shall  pursue me all the days of my life whatever   they are so i just throw that in uh understand  we're going through and we're going through in   a strength that carries us it's in the midst of  the darkness that we discover his faithfulness   lamentations oh boy boy poor jeremiah really  he did i won't even go where he was lower than   the pits and inside in lamentations 3 17 he  says my soul has been rejected from peace   okay talk about i have forgotten happiness so i say my strength has perished and  so is my hope from the lord i'm done remember oh remember my affliction remember  my wandering the wormwood and the bitterness   okay jeremiah then he says  ah surely soul does remember   this i recall to mind therefore i have hope  the lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease   his compassions never fail they are new  every morning great is your faithfulness   that's the best way to get out of  the depth of darkness and depression   lamentation 317 our temptation is to lay in bed  at night and meditate on the unfaithfulness of god   that everything's going wrong i've no idea how  to fix this what will he do what will she say   what will happen here do what jeremiah did turn  your whole attention to the lovingkindness of god   let the faithfulness of god be your pillow lay  down and sleep in how great is your faithfulness well i'll leave it at that that's it's  getting really late now um more than overtime   so the lord bless you and this would be  the best christmas present you can have father we give you thanks in  the name lord jesus christ and we do bless all who have heard this in the  name of the father and of the son and of the holy   spirit and the holy spirit himself shall be their  teacher their mentor to open eyes and to bring us   to this life in thanksgiving anchored in your  loving kindness pillowed in your faithfulness let it be amen and amen

Channel: MalcolmSmithWebinars

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Id: 9tLL0n2IJTI

Length: 74min 27sec (4467 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 21 2020