Compelling Reasons To Start Your Day Early With God.

 COMPELLING REASONS TO START YOUR DAY EARLY WITH GOD.
Meet with God before you meet with men.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland

God’s Word provides a daily prayer for God’s people: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90;14).  Moses prayed those words that may provide a fitting early-morning prayer to God for all of us. George Mueller once said: “I want to encourage all Christians to get into the habit of rising early to meet with God.”  The morning time, more than any other time, provides the best occasion to orient your heart and mind to God and His Word at the very outset of a new day. Abraham rose early to meet with God (Gen 19:27). Moses rose early and built an altar to Yahweh (Ex 24:4). Even the Servant-Song speaks of the Messiah as one who morning by morning is awakened and is taught (Isaiah 50:4).

In this brief write-up, I want to give a pastoral plea for you to start your day with God. I want to provide some practical and compelling reasons for you to begin your days early with God before you go to email, social media, and news. I will provide seven pastoral pleas and I will word them in the negative for greater impact.


If you don’t begin your day early and with God, then...
1. You fill your mind with the world before divine truth.  — You do not want your mind to sit idle from the early morning waiting for the things of this world to fill it. If you do not proactively and diligently fill your heart with divine truth, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life will not wait long before they will occupy your thoughts. Strive to fill your mind with Truth before the word seeps in.
2. You give an easy opportunities for anxieties to birth, fester and grow. —  If you do not start your day with God early and preeminently, then the cares of this world and the worries of your heart will quickly take root and occupy your thoughts. You don’t want the anxieties of this world to begin in seed form early in the morning, fester all day, and then grow into mind-consuming troubles. Rather, fill yourself full with the character & beauty of God.
3. You go against Psalm 119:147: seek the Lord early. — The psalmist made it his goal to rise early and cry for help. If you don’t come to God early, the world will come to you swiftly. If you don’t fill your heart with divine Truth then the world will fill you full with its lies, its temptations, its cravings, and its desires. Seek the Lord early and wait for His Words by eagerly, diligently, and passionately pursuing Him in His Word.
4. You contradict the example of Christ who woke early and went to seek God early.  — Even your own Savior, the blessed God-Man, rose early in the morning while it was still dark to get away and be alone with God in prayer. Strive to emulate your Savior.  If the perfect Son of God needed morning prayer and anchoring His heart with the Father, so must you and I also!
5. You miss the way to filter and discern what you see of the world thru the word (if you meet the world before meeting the Word).  — It is the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, which provides us an all-sufficient tool to wield off the temptations of the Evil one and His flaming arrows. If you don’t spend time in the Word first and in prayer, then you don’t have the proper filter in place by which you can sift through all the things that will bombard you in a given day. God’s Word gives you the lens through which you must test everything. Indeed, you are to abstain from every appearance of evil and hold fast to that which is good.
6. You will find it harder to focus and linger in heart and mind because of distractions. — If you try to put off having your time with God until later in the day, you will soon find it much more difficult to focus because of the many distractions that come from any number of instrumental means. Your phone may ding, the email may arrive, the calendar alert may sound, your thoughts may plague you, that meeting agenda will come to your mind that you have to prepare for. And on it goes. But if you start your day with God, you can take every thought captive later on throughout the day having rested your heart and soul on the steady Sovereignty of your heavenly Father.
7. You’ll be unfit to meet with men without having met with God first. — You will be much better suited and prepared to meet with men only after you have met with God. But until you have met with God, you are not be able nor equipped to meet with men. Commune with men less and more with God. Communing with Christ will guard your thoughts, your words, your reactions and responses, your actions and practices, and your daily conduct.


Seek to emulate the wise example of Robert Murray M’Cheyne. On February 23, 1834, the 20-year-old McCheyne wrote in his journal, “Rose early to seek God and found him whom my soul loveth. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”


To conclude, pastor Scott Hubbard provides a wise word:
"Nevertheless, the testimony of God’s people in Scripture and church history suggests that morning is, far and away, the best time for most of us to meet with God. Before the day’s tasks demand to be done, before the headlines bring the world into our living rooms, before our phones beg for our attention, and before the air around us starts humming with activity, we desperately need to hear from God. We need the first voice of the day to be his."

 

**Download the PDF article here

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Go and Compel Sinners To Come In!

GO AND COMPEL SINNERS TO COME IN! 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

The Scripture: 
LUKE 14:23
ἔξελθε εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ φραγμοὺς καὶ ἀνάγκασον εἰσελθεῖν, ἵνα γεμισθῇ μου ὁ οἶκος·
“Go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled.”

 

 

As I reflect on the duty and joyful privilege of man-fishing, I find it helpful to reflect and pray on the sweetness of Christ and the joy of calling sinners to flee from the wrath to come by looking to Christ the Lamb who bore divine judgment in the stead of hopeless sinners who repent and believe in Him. 

 

I.  the plan / the pursuit / the passion
1. GO OUT! - ἔξελθε- GO OUT / depart/ leave! “Go Out” / point from which you depart.
2. COMPEL! -  ἀνάγκασον- Compel! Force! Plead! Beg! Woo!  Draw!  To Necessitate; to Compel; To Drive To.  It is a very strong verb that demands compulsion, begging, wooing, entreating, pleadings.


II. the purpose!
    *God says: so that my house my be full!

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For me, personally, here are some of my goals & ambitions as I seek to proclaim Christ:

• I make it a personal goal to share the gospel daily (a child, a gas-station, a stranger, giving out a tract, a server at a restaurant, a student, someone waiting for a bus, etc.).
• I try to make an outing of evangelism/soul-winning each week.
• I want to explain the gospel and compel sinners to respond in repentance + faith.
• I want to give them a tract; follow-up; a website; my email.
• I offer them to get together and open the Bible and talk about these things.
• I willingly pray with them if they’ll allow me at the end of the conversation.
• I greedily want souls to know Christ, rest in His efficacious cross-work & have eternal life.
• I want Christ the Lord to receive the full reward of His labors. I know that He will. So my confidence in the absolute sovereignty of God encourages me and instills confidence as I go out and labor for converts.
• I believe with all my heart that God’s Word (preached, in written tract form, or verbalized in a conversation) shall never ever return void. He will use it in accomplishing and in the outworking of His sovereignly ordained decrees. 
• I personally believe there's something vitally important as a shepherd and leader to exemplify soul-winning for the believers I shepherd in the local church. I often take church folks out with me for evangelism so we can do it together and reflect on it together and sharpen each other. 
  

 

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:1 -- Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

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The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: the Guarantee, the Glory & the Assurance.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

It is of first importance, the Apostle Paul said. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead proves to be the bedrock doctrine of the Christian faith. One cannot read the Book of Acts without noting the constant theme of the Apostle’s proclamation, namely,  the resurrection of the crucified One and salvation that comes only through His Name.

This article provides some gleanings on the importance on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.


The Resurrection is the GUARANTEE of our life.
When Jesus Christ rose up from the dead, He guaranteed that all His people will in fact live eternally through Him. In Christ’s resurrection, all His people live. His bodily resurrection certifies His peoples’ future resurrection. Christ’s resurrection in glory assures His peoples’ resurrection in glory. The new body of Christ provides the template for the new bodies that God’s people will receive in glory. The resurrection of Christ guarantees our life -- only in Him

The Resurrection is the SATISFACTION of Christ’s atonement.
Infinite wrath came down upon the divine Son of God when He bore the curse of the Father’s wrath at Calvary. He became sin for His people and propitiated the Father’s righteous anger against sin. Thus, when the Father raised His Son from the dead, it proved that the Father was truly satisfied with the Son’s propitiatory work. Wrath has been appeased. Salvation has been won. The reality of the resurrection shows the sureness of the Father’s satisfaction of His Beloved Son’s atoning work for His elect.

The Resurrection is the TRIUMPH over all death.
Satan is the father of lies and the god of this age. He is the prince of darkness and the one who holds the power of death. Indeed, when Christ was raised from the dead, it presents the triumph of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory and the Prince of Life, over all powers of death and darkness. Indeed, Christ defeated the Evil One at Calvary. Fulfilling prophetic words even from Genesis 3, Christ bruised Satan himself on the head and gave him the fatal blow when he defeated death and conquered all evil when He displayed His power in the resurrection.

The Resurrection is the FULFILLMENT of biblical prophecy.
One thousand years before the Lord Jesus came into the world in human flesh, King David prophesied that the Lord would faithfully preserve and watch over His special one and not allow His chosen one to see decay. Even Isaiah the prophet made clear that the suffering Servant who would die as a substitutionary sacrifice for His people will prolong his days through the resurrection. Thus, that Jesus rose from the dead fulfills the glorious and sure Word of Jehovah who prophesied centuries ahead of time that Messiah would rise triumphantly from the dead!

The Resurrection is the SEAL of future glorification.
What will our future bodies be like in glory? How sure can we be that we will inherit eternal life? The resurrection of the Lord Christ provides the seal and certifying mark that we will be with Christ and that we will be made like Christ in His glorified form. His resurrection provides the confident certainty that we will be resurrected in a body that resembles His glorified body.

The Resurrection is the HEART of true hope.
All who have received the new birth by the sovereign grace of God alone are those who have hope -- a sure hope that comes through the substitutionary death and the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. It is a living and interceding Savior who reigns in heaven as He sits at the Father’s right hand that instills hope to the child of God.

The Resurrection is the UNIQUENESS of biblical Christianity.
One may scan the history books and travel the world today and count the innumerable religions and ways of life that will bring one great happiness and peace. But every founder and religious figure in the religion has one thing in common -- they’re all dead and they’ve all decayed. They’ve passed and they’re gone. But Jesus Christ is alive. This is the exclusive and distinguishing mark of biblical Christianity. Life can only be found in the living God. Victory over death can only be granted through One who Himself proved He triumphed over this great monster. Christ alone has done it and this is the unique, essential, foundational, and proclaimed message of Christianity.

The Resurrection is the COMFORT for our eschatology.
When loved ones die, the Apostle Paul exhorts believers to not grieve as the pagans do who have no hope. Rather, true believers have an indomitable comfort that springs from the resurrection life and soon-coming return of our Risen and living Lord, Jesus Christ.  Believers know that Jesus intercedes right now, at this very moment, in heaven for His own sheep and that He will return again to catch His people up in the clouds to be with Him forever. And believers ought to comfort one another with these words. It is the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ that guarantees this future, eschatological hope which plants great comfort deep into the hearts of believers -- even when undergoing great suffering in life.

*Download the PDF article here.

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The PRAISEWORTHINESS of God.

THE PRAISEWORTHINESS OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church

I will call upon the LORD who is "WORTHY TO BE PRAISED" (1 Samuel 22.4)!  God is worthy, infinitely worthy of all honor and praise!  The praiseworthiness of God speaks of the full honor and deserved worship given to our exclusive and preeminent God. God is to be praised! 

In heaven, the saints sing worthy is the Lamb to take the book for He was slain and purchased men for God with His blood (Revelation 5.9). They continue singing: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5.12). 

This kind of thinking should saturate the thoughts of God’s people. Our hearts should well up with bubbling praise and honor to our God who gives innumerable reasons to bless Him. All day, every day, throughout the day, whatever happens each day should not alter our praises of the Lord for He remains the same, unchanging, perfect, good and sovereign. Perhaps this is why the common refrain thunders forth so often in the Bible:  “Hallelujah" - Praise the LORD (see, e.g., Psalm 117:1-2; 135.1, 3, 21).

God is exceedingly praiseworthy because of His character, His actions, His creation, and His salvation.  Contemplate your God and praise Him for His infinite beauties of His character. His being, His attributes, His personhood, His glories, and His excellencies deserve the highest praises from His creatures.  Let your study of God lead to doxology and worship of your God.   Second, contemplate your God and praise Him for His actions in history, toward Israel, toward all nations, and toward you and me. Think of the greatness of His works as you survey biblical revelation. From His provisions, to His deliverances, to His electing people to work out His plans, to His sustaining of His people, we have plenteous reasons to stand stunned before our God and praise Him with a cheerful heart.  Third, contemplate your God and praise Him for His creation. He made all things with His spoken Word. Nothing rebels when God gives the sovereign word. His decrees stand fast. When God spoke, it was done. And also, contemplate your God and praise Him for His salvation. Think of the mercy of God that pitied you as a child of wrath, running headlong toward eternal hell, and He lovingly, particularly, sufficiently, and powerfully snatched you from the fire and saved you! There was nothing in you to merit this kind of rescuing love. But it was His kindness!  Praise be to the Lord!  It’s why David said “I will sing praise to your Name, O most High" (Psalm 9.2)

Today, let your heart well up with genuine and honest worship to your Savior as you say with the psalmist: “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live, I will sing praise to my God while I have my being" (Psalm 104.33; 146.2). And amazingly, this is not something that only you and I must do today for this praising God is something that God Himself jealously and passionately does! His own very glory He will not give to another (Isaiah 48.11). We must praise God because He deserves it, and in response to His actions, and because God Himself is passionately committed to His own honor and excellency, but we must also praise God as the goal and purpose of all that He does!  Let us praise God for all things, especially our salvation in Christ our Beloved Savior, and let us live to the praise of the glory of His grace (Ephesians 1.6).

 

 

**To read more from this blog-series on the Attributes of God, go here. 

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[RE-POST] Why I'm Relentlessly Committed to Expository Preaching!

 

Why am I relentlessly committed to expository preaching?
 Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church


Expository preaching allows God to speak to the people through His powerful & eternal Word.

Expository preaching means that God determines what will be preached since I work verse-by-verse through books of the Bible.

Expository preaching models for the flock of God how to study the Bible — carefully, intentionally, reverently, methodically, and prayerfully working through books understanding the meaning of texts as they're properly interpreted in the immediate context.

Expository preaching obediently follows the authoritative demand of God that He gives to all ministers of the gospel: "Preach the Word!"

Expository preaching provides the necessary venue for the Spirit of God to work by means of the preached Word that has centered on Christ and His gospel to bring sinners to salvation.

Expository preaching conforms the people of God into the image of Christ.

Expository preaching glorifies God since it is God and His Words speaking to the people rather than a man's opinions.

Expository preaching counsels the souls of believers to trust confidently in God's Word, to run relentlessly to the cross of Christ, to pray fervently in the power of the Spirit, and to obey swiftly what God has said in His Word.

Expository preaching magnifies the absolute sovereignty of God since the preacher has no inherent power to convert or sanctify the hearers but it is God, and God alone, by His marvelous grace, who works in the hearers through the proclamation of sacred Truth.

Expository preaching gives people what they MUST hear not necessarily what people want to hear. God determines what is said, what text is preached, and what points to bring out in the message.

Expository preaching feeds the hungry souls of born-again believers who, like sheep, need to be fed the precious, pure, and satisfying food of the Word.

Expository preaching produces effects that are outside of the abilities of the man who stands to preach since the true preaching event is in fact a divine event -- the voice of God thundering through the Word of God and the Spirit of God applies divine truth to the souls of hearers according to His sovereign prerogative.

Expository preaching is the primary vehicle through which the Spirit of God draws the lost to Jesus Christ as the herald opens the Word of God and preaches it with authority.

Expository preaching unquestionably reminds hearers that God is the authority and His Word is what rules over us and tells us what to do. The preaching event is never about self-help, pithy, crafty, entertaining, crowd-producing, cute sermonettes. In true preaching, God, from heaven, condescends to His people through the proclamation of the Word and meets with His people to show them Christ by the illuminating work of the Spirit. This is authoritative, God-centered preaching.

Expository preaching reminds Christians to trust in God's truth in the Word & not on a man's dazzling message. Let their faith be in Christ! 

 

 

Therefore, by God's grace:

I will EXPOSITIONALLY preach

I will BOLDLY preach 

I will REGULARLY preach 

I will PRAYERFULLY preach

I will OBEDIENTLY preach 

I will FAITHFULLY preach

 

Haddon Robinson sums it up concisely: 

Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept, derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical, and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through the preacher, applies to the hearers.

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The NAME of God.

THE NAME OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

Blessed be the NAME OF THE LORD (Psalm 113.2). The Name of God appears all throughout the Bible and speaks of His essential Being and perfect Nature in its blessed fullness. The Name of God signifies who God really is. The Bible speaks of praising the NAME of the Lord (Psalm 113.1; 148.13). This means that we must know our God and respond rightly in worship to who God is in the fullness of His glory. 

The Name of the Lord most specifically is Yahweh. He says that “My name” is Yahweh (Exodus 6.3; cf. 3.14-15). The Name of Yahweh speaks of His self-existence, His eternality, His power, and His Almightiness.  None can compare and none can outdo our God!  But His name is more than a “title”. It is a revelation of His nature and attributes. Often one’s name indicated one’s identity, and even one’s works and actions, or even one’s profession. The Name of God, to be sure, encompasses the grand glories and the infinite splendors of God’s personhood, works, miracles, and being! 

To worship and praise the “name of the LORD” means to celebrate HIs attributes, actions, power, and mercy. In the song of Moses, praising the name of the Lord is parallel to ascribing greatness to God (Deuteronomy 32.3). Elsewhere, the name of the Lord is parallel to the glory of the Lord (Psalm 102.15). To call upon the name of the Lord means that one prays to, cries out to, and begs God for a listening ear (Psalm 116.4). Proverbs 18.10 tells us that the name of the Lord is a strong tower.  

In the New Testament, believers are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 6.11). Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10.13). These truths speak of the fullness of who God is. Saints have been justified because of the fullness of the work of Jesus Christ.  To be saved, one must call upon the character, the work, the actions, the mighty saving abilities of God! 

Like Micah, we must walk in the name of the Lord our God forever (Micah 4.5). We must be ever living in the presence of the fullness of God’s glorious being. As the praises were uttered: “We thank you and praise your glorious Name” (1 Chronicles 29.13). Nehemiah extolled: “may your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise” (Nehemiah 9.5). God is so passionate about the worth and enjoyment of and exaltation of His Name that He makes for Himself a glorious Name (Isaiah 63.14). 

This means you must know your God rightly to worship His Name and character appropriately. It means you must bow humbly before your God when you know His Name truly. It means you must live obediently and reverently before your God for His Name is glorious! So you ponder the name of your God which leads to a blessed and happy study of the attributes of God and it leads you to sing with David: “I will sing praises to the Name of the Lord Most High” (Psalm 7.17). You can exalt the Name of the Lord through prayer and praise, hymns and singing, obedience and living (1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 92.1)!  Many people boast in anything or everything this world can offer, but we as God’s people who love God and know Him truly and trust Him supremely can say: “we will boast in the Name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20.7). 

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The WILL of God.

THE WILL OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church,  pastor

The WILL OF GOD is a multifaceted reality of God’s being that includes God’s thinking, choosing, and doing that flows from His omnipotence and His sovereignty. God’s will always is perfect and right and true and appropriate. God does what He wants all the time in accordance with His perfect will and sovereign decrees.  God raised up David, a man after God’s own heart who “will do all my will” (Acts 13.22). 

Consider how theologians have referred to the will of God in a few ways. First: the DECREED will of God. This is God’s sovereign, efficacious, unhindered, never-thwarted plans and decrees of God. The LORD does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115.3).  Second: the PRECEPTIVE will of God. This is the will of God that is revealed in His Word, the Bible. Teach me your statutes (Psalm 119.12). Teach me discernment and knowledge (Psalm 119.66). Teach me to do your will, for you are my God (Psalm 143.10). This speaks to the revealed will of God as found in the sufficient Scriptures. These are the things revealed so that we may know and do them and teach them to our children (Deuteronomy 29.29).  Third: the PERMISSIVE will of God. This is the will and plan of God whereby He allows and permits all that happens in the world to occur — even evil and lawlessness. God does not sanction sin but He has decreed it and He allows it (to further His sovereign and perfect will for His glory in His infinite wisdom). Fourth: the DESIRED will of God. God has desires and longings for His people to know Him, obey Him, trust Him, and be saved. God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth (1 Timothy 2.4).

The will of God most often refers to the sovereign, decreed, predetermined, unchanging plans and purposes of God that can never be thwarted. No angel, or army, or person, or circumstance can ever hinder God’s purposes. The will of God shall always be fulfilled for his sovereign purposes shall come to pass. He alone receives glory, ultimate glory, as He unfolds His perfect plan in human history. 

Also, we must strive to know and learn the will of God so as to obey Him.  This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4.3). The will of God in Christ Jesus is for you to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5.18). And God must be praised for He glories in His own perfect plans and will that will be accomplished, even through His creatures who obey and follow Him (Isaiah 46.10). 

This should lead to 3 responses: devotion, delight, and duty.  We must be devoted truly and fully to God’s Word. The will of God, the mind of Christ, the voice of God is found in the Word of God, the Scriptures. We must strive to diligently study the Word, be devoted to the Word, and hide it in our hearts. For therein will we learn and grow in understanding the will of God.   Second, we must delight in God. We must delight in our God who is absolutely sovereign and perfect. Nothing shall ever change or alter or thwart His mighty and majestic and foreordained decrees (Psalm 93.1; Job 42.2). How awesome to think of this God of Almighty power who is in control unswervingly! Third, we must seek to fulfill our duty in walking in obedience to God’s Will as revealed in the Bible. We must present ourselves to God fully as living sacrifices — to do His will (Romans 12.1-2). 

Rest confidently in your God and in His perfect will! Study His Word, the revealed will, and make every intention to know Him deeply, obey Him fully, and worship Him daily for His wisdom, power, glory, and strength!  Consider His will and be drawn to worship!

 

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The SPLENDOR of God.

THE SPLENDOR OF GOD

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

In a song of praise to God, David, Asaph, and the worship-leaders proclaimed: “Splendor and majesty are before God” (1 Chronicles 16.27)! THE SPLENDOR OF GOD emanates from the glorious Being of His majesty and power and holiness.  The splendor of God signifies His beauty and glory and worth and radiance! This wonderful reality evokes awe and humility on the part of the observers. 

One writer so aptly put it like this: Our God is not only great, but good. Not only big, but beautiful. Not only strong, but stunning. He is, in a word, majestic. The majestic splendor of God are radiances of the stunning power of our beautiful God. The splendor of God is joined with his majesty, strength, and beauty, all beheld in His sanctuary (Psalm 96.6).

As you reflect on God’s power in creation and His unrivaled ability to do the impossible by creating with His own absolute word, the psalmist exclaims: Bless the LORD O my soul, O LORD my God you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty (Psalm 104.1).  This splendor finds expression in the greatness of God and in the power of God.  The word for splendor often speaks of majesty, strength, glory, honor (thus, splendor). It often arises is passages juxtaposed with majesty. 

David says that He will meditate on the wonderful works and glorious splendor of God’s majesty (Psalm 145.5). That meditative splendor is seen in creation (Psalm 8.2). Indeed, the splendor of God even speaks of the Messiah who will rebuild the Temple and have royal, divine, majestic honor and splendor in the latter days (Zechariah 6.13). Everything discussed here can be summed up in the phrase: “awe-inspiring splendor.” 

When you gaze upon God the King rightly you should bow low in humble adoration with cheerful and submissive devotion. The splendor of God covers the heavens (Habakkuk 3.3). God actively, daily, consistently displays His most excellent splendor in the heavens with the moon and the stars which He sets carefully in place (Psalm 8.1). Oh to gaze upon the royal majesty of your King! 

The splendor of God should should affect you practically and personally in these ways.  First, it should instill hope. Your God always promises to bring good out of every circumstance and situation of life. You can hope not in self and in situations and in expectations but you can and should hope in God and in His steadfast and splendid character.  Second, it should embolden trust. Your God is not only powerful but He is good. This splendid and majestic God of royal power is absolute in authority and merciful in tenderness and good in His ways. Third, it should eliminate all fear and worry. Your God as the splendid Monarch over the universe governs all things well and is working out His perfect decrees in every single moment. Never fear or worry because it adds nothing, it does nothing, it accomplishes nothing, and it changes nothing. Fourth, it should evoke awe and humility and worship! Praise your King! 

Finally, the splendor of God must instill incredible trembling in the hearts of unbelieving sinners and willful God-rejecters. The proud may strut along fine now but soon enough they will hide in the rocks from the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty (Isaiah 2.10). In judgment against all arrogant unbelievers, God will arise and make the earth tremble in the splendor of His majesty (Isaiah 2.19). The greatest of God’s most splendid, majestic, and royal works is the coming to save guilty worms who deserve His very own wrath. What a Savior! Splendid and majestic is His work (Psalm 111.3). Seek Christ the King and bow low in humble trust in Him alone for there is no other name, under heaven, given among men by which you may be saved (Acts 4.12)! 

**More from this ongoing blog-series can be found HERE.

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