He would often say: “Here is the Key”, “Delight thyself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4).  It means that He will put into our heart the desire for the things that He wants you to have.  And remember…He wants you to have things that are best for you. “Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give tee the desire of thine heart.” I means to find your pleasure in Him. The heart that delights in the Lord finds its truest joy in Him.

If we delight (find our joy) in “things”…position or possessions, the results is frustration and unhappiness. “Delight in Him” means to find your joy in Him.  This brings happiness, peace and contentment. This is the cure for fretting (Psalm 37:1) “fret not”. To fret is to worry, to fume to fuss.

Delight in the Lord -This is the secret of trust (Psalm 37:3) “Trust in the Lord.” The farmer sows and cultivates , then he must trust God to sent the sunshine and the rain. What more can he do? I can trust completely in Him if I desire only what He wills.

Delight in the Lord - This is the result of surrender (Psalm 37:5) commit thy way unto the Lord and He shall bring it to pass. When I completely surrender myself to Him, then his will becomes my delight.

Delight in the Lord - This is the foundation of Peace (Psalm 37:7) “Rest in the Lord”. Rest means to hold still, to be quiet and content.

Delight in the Lord - This is the basis of being exonerated (Psalm 37:6) “and He shall bring forth thy righteousness.”  Sit still and He will clear your name.  We may be sure that if we look at His honor, He will see to ours.  Has someone misrepresented you, misused your name or falsely accused you?  Delight in your Saviour - “rest in Him, and He shall bring forth righteousness.”  There is usually not much use in our seeking to justify ourselves when falsely accused.  Someone has said, “your enemies will not believe your defense and your friends do not require it.”  The very effort lead to more anxiety, fretting and fussing.

Delight in the Lord - This is the cure for anger (Psalm 37:8) “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.” The psychologist tells us that anger is a defense mechanism usually based on the fact that we have taken. The best thing to do is to turn your position  and hour reputation over to Him.

Delight in the Lord - This is the key to patience (Psalm 37:7) “Wait patiently for Him.” Do not fret or fuss. He is able, just wait. Waiting is proof of faith.

Not only are we told to wait; but “Wait patiently.” Commit, rest, trust, delight, wait. This is the process of true Christian victory, to walk so close to Him, to be so yielded to Him, that He can whisper, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” You can be happy and content because your heart desires only His will for you.

Delight in His “presence” - Psalm 37:25-26

Whatever you think, both in joy and in woe, think nothing you would not want Jesus to know.

I pray that all of us will see that we are supposed to be tellers!  Tellers of the greatest deposit that has been made. God hss given us His unspeakable gift, the truth of all that God is and all that He is doing and going to do has been entrusted with us. 

First of all, notice with me that we should tell the truth about God.  The creator and sustainer of the universe, who has provided humankind with a revelation of Himself through the natural world, and through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Bible does not seek to prove the existence of God; it simply affirms His existence by declaring, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1).  God has revealed Himself through the physical universe (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:19-20). Creation reveals the results of a universal mind that devised a master plan and executed it.The greatest revelation of God comes through the Bible. Through the inspired written record, both the existence of God and the nature of God are revealed in and through Jesus. Jesus stated, “He that has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Second,  we should tell the truth: He is the Shepherd.  God is described in prophecy as the Shepherd who will feed His flock, gather the lambs in His arms, carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those with young (Isaiah 40:11-16), (Jeremiah 31:10) and (Ezekiel 34:11-16). Jesus applied this name to Himself (Luke 15:4-7), (John 10:11-16) making Himself equal to God; and Jesus is called the Great and Chief Shepherd by His followers (Hebrews 13:20), (I Peter 5:4). Think of the wisdom of God in announcing His Son’s arrival to shepherds. The Good…The Great…The Chief Shepherd has come down. The one who seeks, gathers, leads, protects, feeds, anoints, restores, refreshes, makes and fills to overflowing has come down: Surely we should tell about it!

Third, we should tell about the Greatest Servant.  The name servant identifies the divine Messiah and His saving ministry on behalf of His people God’s servant is described in terms that apply to Jesus. He is upheld and chosen by God; He delights in God; He has God’s Spirit. He has come to save that which was lost. “He took upon Him the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:17). He laid aside His garments and washed their feet (John 13:4). “Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” Matthew 20:28

Zacharias was told before anyone else that God was setting in motion his own visit to earth. Zacharias and his wife, Elisabeth, were known for their personal holiness. They were well suited to doing a special work for God. But they shared the pain of not having children, and in Jewish culture this was considered not having God’s blessing. Zacharias and Elisabeth were old, and they stopped even asking for children.

This trip to the Temple in Jerusalem for Zacharias’s turn at duty had included an unexpected blessing.  Zacharias was chosen to be the priest who would enter the Holy Place to offer incense to God for the people.  Suddenly, much to his surprise and terror, he found himself face-to-face with an angel. The angel’s message was too good to be true! But Zacharias did not respond to the news of the coming Savior as much as he expressed doubts about his own ability to father the child the angel promised him. His age spoke more loudly than God’s promise. As a result, God prevented Zacharias from speaking until the promise became reality. 

The record of the prayer in Luke 1 is our last glimpse of Zacharias. Like so many of God’ most faithful servants, he passed quietly from the scene once his part was done.  He becomes our hero for those times when we doubt God, yet are willing to obey. We gain hope from Zacharias’s story that God can do great things through anyone who is available to him.

Strengths and Accomplishments:    *Known as a righteous man:           
                                                      *Was priest for God               
                                                      *One of the few people to be directly addressed by the Angel                                                                 *Fathered John the Baptist

Weakness and Mistake:                  * Momentarily doubted the angel’s promise of a son in old age        

Lessons from his Life:                     *Physical limitations do not limit God                

Vital statistics:                                  Occupation: Priest              
                                                        Relatives: Wife: Elisabeth, Son: John the Baptist

Key verses:   “And they were both righteous before God , walking in all the commandments and ordinances                             of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both   
                      were now well stricken in years” (Luke 1:6-7)

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason.  The story ends like a bad dream.  He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as the pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.

Dr. Robert Astro, Gounder of NASA's Institute for Space Studies

Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."  Isaiah 7:14   "Immanuel" means "God with us."  Isaiah predicted that one of the major "signs" of the anticipated Savior would be His coming by means of a virgin birth.  Both Matthew and Luke provide detailed accounts of the virgin birth.  the Bible teaches us that Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit previous to any sexual relations.  God chose to enter this world through a biological miracle referred to as the "incarnation," which literally means 'becoming in flesh."

Jesus was not a new being, but an already existing diving being who actually became a man.  Jesus was more than a mere man who taught us about God.  He is the God-Man who brought salvation to men.  Before the birth of Jesus, the angel announced to Joseph, "And she shall bring forth a son; and you shall call his name Jesus; for He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21  The name "Jesus" means "Jehovah is salvation."  The mission of the Messiah prophetically and theologically required a miraculous birth.  Jesus did not inherits a sin nature from His Parents.  The virgin birth made it possible for the entrance of a sinless Son of God.  Only a sinless Savior could become our substitute and take away the sin of the world.

To deny the miracle of the virgin birth comes suspiciously close to denying that God exists.  The doctrine of the virgin birth has been attacked since the third century, largely by those that deny that Jesus was and is God.  Acceptance of the doctrine of the virgin birth was essential to the message of the early church.  It is the foundation of the good news.  The Gospel has it's power based upon this truth.  His birth, His life, His death and His resurrection are the essentials of salvation, redemption, justification, and out eternal security. 

Dr. I.M. Haldeman pastored the 1st Baptist Church of New York in the late 1800;s.  One Christmas Eve, Dr. Haldeman preached a message that he entitled "Virgin Born or Bastard?  In his message, Dr. Haldeman said: "To deny the virgin birth is to deny the Trinity, and it is not a light inconsequential thing to deny the Trinity at work in the birth and sacrifice of our wonderful Lord.

Look at what takes place when you deny the Trinity.  you deny and must cut out of the Bible this tremendous scripture..."who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God" Hebrews 9:14  It is indeed and immense scripture.  It means that the whole Godhead was engaged in the sacrifice of the Cross.  Without the virgin birth, Christianity has no authority.

He who denies the virgin birth, denies Bible Christianity, smites the mother of our Lord with shame, snatches the crown of deity from His brow, strips Him of His sinless humanity, makes His cross a blood-stained failure, and bids us to face eternity with no light for the darkness.

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought to always to pray, and not to faint.”   Luke 18:1

The always speaks for itself.  Prayer is not a meaningless function, or duty to be crowded into the busy or the weary ends of the day.  Are we are obeying the Lord’s command when we content ourselves with a few minutes on our knees in the  morning rush, or late at night when the faculties, tired with the task of the day, call out for rest.

God is always within call, it is true; his ear is ever attentive to the cry of his child, but we can never get to know him if we use  the vehicle of prayer as we use the telephone, as a few words of a hurried conversation.  Intimacy requires the development of a relationship.  We can never know God, as it is our privilege to know him, by brief, fragmentary and unconsidered repetitions of intercessions that are request for personal favors and nothing more. 

“The goal of prayer is the ear of God,” a goal that can only be reached by patient and continuous waiting upon Him, pouring out our hearts to Him, and permitting Him to speak to us.

     We are too prone to take God’s mercies for grated, to forget the wonderful benefits that come to our lives when we sincerely praise the Lord. Remember, we are not to praise the Lord because of what we will get out of it. We praise him because He is worth of our praise, and because worship and praise are the highest  activities of the Christian believer.

     The Christian who is faithful to praise the Lord does experience certain blessings that can come no other way. The Bible teaches that praise to God and the peace of God are inseparable. Be sure that you read Paul’s inspired words in Philippians 4:4-7. Another verse that goes right along with Philippians 4:4-7 and the 147th Psalm is  the 34th Psalm, listen to verse 1, “I will bless the Lord at all times; and His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” These great verses stir me to ask all of my church family to pray for everyone that is engaged  in a season of intense spiritual warfare and to pray specifically that they will have the power and anointing of praise upon them.

First, Praise and Peace are inseparable because Praise builds our lives-Psalm 147:1-2     Critizing and complaining always tear down God’s work. It takes very little effort to find fault with each other and with the church, but it requires a good deal of grace to praise God when things may not please us. When you and I sincerely praise the Lord, the Holy Spirit builds our lives and helps us to accomplish His work.

Second, Praise and Peace are inseparable because Praise unites God’s people-Psalm 147:2     Jewish men were required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. These were times of great national unity as they forgot their personal and tribal differences and assembled to praise the Lord. This explains why there is so much praise recorded in the Book of Revelation. When God’s people gather in glory, we will be united in praise and worship.

Third, Praise heals the wounds-Psalm 147:3-4     We must never forget the church is here to minister to wounded lives and broken hearts. There are many who need spiritual healing, and praise is a part of that medicine. Paul and Silas in prison sang praises to God, not only as a witness to the other prisoners, but as a medicine for their own lives. When we are hurt, Satan likes to infect our wounds with the poisons of malice and bitterness, but praise to God will immediately disinfect those wounds, no matter how deep they may be.

In our next lesson I want us to see three more truths from the 147th Psalm on the power and peace of praise. But until then remember the words of the Christian commentator Matthew Henry, “ A drop of praise is an unsuitable acknowledgement for an ocean of mercy.” In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels.

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of God, the pillar and ground of truth”  I Timothy 3:15

“I will build my church.”  It is the Greek word ekklesia (ek-klay-see-uh) from which we get our English word “ecclesiastical” referring to things that pertain to the church. The literal meaning is “A called out believing baptized assembly or congregation.”

Jesus spoke about “my church” in contrast to these other assemblies. This was to be something new and different, for in His church, Jesus Christ would unite believing baptized Jews and Gentiles and form a new temple, a new body. Jesus Christ is the builder of the church, the head of the church. Believers would meet in local congregations, or assemblies, to worship Christ, learn how to be disciples of Christ and serve Christ.

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he describes the church in three ways: 
We are the “Lord’s Building“
The church is the “Lord’s Body”
The church is the “Lord’s Bride.

”The devil is determined to demolish His building (Eph. 2:19-22), cause disease, dysfunction and discord in His body (Eph. 4:16-Eph. 5:30) and defile His bride (Eph. 5:25,29). He tries to accomplish this from within and from without. We must remember  that when the Church is least like the world, it does the most for the world. When the Church, trying to reach the world, became like the world, she lost her impact on the world. How tragic that we have cooperated with the enemy in breaking down our own walls! We have lost our own distinctiveness and destroyed our own defenses.

Knowing these truths, we are therefore obligated to attend the times designated and determined for the worship of Christ, the teaching and preaching of the Bible, and service! “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised) and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching (Hebrews 10:23-25).

It is apparent from these verses that some wavering believers had been absent from the appointed meeting times of the church fellowship. It is interesting to note that the emphasis here is not on what a believer gets from the assembly, but rather on what he can contribute to the assembly. Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works.

One of the main motives for faithfulness is the soon coming of Jesus Christ. In fact, the only other place the word translated “assembling” (Hebrew 10:25) is used in the New Testament is II Thessalonians 2:1, where it’s translated “gathering” and deals with the coming of Christ.

In the midst of weekly living with all of it’s worries, weariness and wickedness: Surly we can see the need to assemble with the called out!

We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Romans 12:1  We need to assemble to have the demands of discipleship described and defined for us. The business of life and the habits of the flesh can hinder our memory. When we assemble with the called out believing and baptized and worship in the truth of God’s Word, it is distinguished once again that Jesus presented to His disciples only two approaches to life:  

Deny yourself - Live for yourself
Take up your cross - Ignore the Cross
Follow Christ - Follow the World
Keep your soul - Lose your soul
Share His reward and His glory -Lose His reward and His glory

Whatever you do, don’t miss our appointment with being called out, and don’t fail to assemble with the Church!