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Emanuel Evangelical
Lutheran Church
1001 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia PA 19147
Text
: 23rd Psalm One of the more renowned and enjoyable books of the Bible is the Book of Psalms. In it we find beautiful poetry, prose and song. The name Psalms comes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament where they originally referred to stringed instruments, then to songs sung with their accompaniment. The traditional Hebrew title is Tehillim, meaning Praises..While David is thought to be the Author of many of the Psalms, it is believed that he was not the sole Author of the entire book.. Psalms for the most part is a book of prayer and praise. It speaks to God in prayer and it speaks of God in praise -- also in professions of faith and trust . Listen to the profession of faith and trust in Psalm 27; The lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid. Listen to the pertinent prayer found in Psalms 25: Unto thee, oh Lord do I lift up my soul. Oh, my God I trust in thee, let me not be ashamed let not mine ENEMIES triumph over me. .IT is divided up into five different divisions and in it is contained the longest Chapter in the Bible -- Psalm 119. If I were to ask 50 people to recite a verse out of the Bible, I think it's safe to say that a good percentage of them would John 3:16 or The 23rd Psalm. How are your personal relationships? Well, preacher that's quite a personal question......Well, don't answer but think about it. How are your personal relationships? What are they built upon? What makes them tick? What puts the spice in your most personal relationship? Oh I know what some of y'all are thinking. "Come on now, preacher -- we are in church and we ain't supposed to discuss that kind of stuff in Church." Well, I beg to differ with you -- for in church we discuss the word of God and the word of God is Life. You see, there ain't no spice in your relationship that compares with the spice in the Book. How are your personal relationships? Are they perfect? In case you're wondering I am gonna get to my text but I'm gonna back into it. If you're like me, the strength of your personal relationships depends on the person that you are relating to. My personal relationship with my colleagues at school differs with my personal relationship with my wife at home. (Being the only full time male teacher there,I guess my wife says it better be different...) Do I find perfection in either place ? No. Do I find perfection in myself ? No. It amazes me when people say, "Me and my friend, well, our thing is so good that we haven't even had one argument." When I hear that, I want to say "Oh, be careful. Because as long as you're in this human frail body there are gonna come times when you just don't see eye to eye." Am I right about it? Times when the very foundation of your relationship is gonna be tested. If you ain't had no disagreements -- how do you know how strong it is? If your personal relationship is built on how good he or she looks -- be careful. Because one of these days if you live long enough, what used to sit up is gonna sag down. What used to be black and full is gonna be brown and thin. What used to be smooth is gonna develop some wrinkles. Y'all don't hear me... If the strength of your personal relationship is built on the principle that the grass on your side seems greener than the grass on your brother's side, be careful -- because the green grass on your side just might turn out to be Astroturf. Fake. Real grass has got to turn brown at some point.. You ask me how I know well. In Ecclesiastes it says that there is a time for everything and a season for everything under the heavens. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted . So if the green grass in your relationship ain't yet turned brown, if it's real .....it's coming. I'm gonna get to my text. The question was asked earlier: is your personal relationship perfect? Well, I submit to you that as long as we are in this human body...that there will never be a perfect relationship in the terms of perfection meaning spotless and without blemish. As we deal in our own personal relationships sometimes we look for water but the well is dry. Sometimes we look for greener pastures but we seem to be going around in circles. I don't know about you todaym Church. But every now and then, I stray from the path of righteousness. And I seem to have trouble finding my way back. I have to fall on my knees and say precious Lord Take my hand, lead me on let me stand, you know that I'm weak Lord you know I'm worn....and I know with blessed assurance that he hears my cry...you see, because I've got a perfect personal relationship with him. You ask me how I know? Because my text for this morning is from the Book of Psalms 1st division; 23rd Chapter.I read these words The Lord is my Shepherd , I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for THOU art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies, thou anointest my head with oil , my cup runneth over . Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The lord is my Shepherd, that's personal, he belongs to me. I shall not want. Even when the bread runs short I shall not want, even when the money runs short I shall not want, you see, because the shepherd's job is to feed his sheep when they're hungry. he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.I t's a proven fact that sheep are afraid of rough waters. Every now and then stormy waters are going to come in your life. But if you just keep your eyes on the shepherd. he'll lead you to calmer waters. Now this doesn't mean that you won't have to go through some rough ones to get there. You ask me how I know ,When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lotthou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul. He leadeth me in the path of Righteousness for his name sake. When I get on the path of wrongdoing , he leads me back on the path of right doing. Simply because he is God, and he is the right way, Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for though art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. My relationship with Jesus is so personal and so perfect that I ain't even got to fear death. Well, preacher, does it take all of that noise....well, maybe for some it doesn't but you don't know like I know what the Lord has done for me. If you go to a baseball game and your team scores a winning run or a touchdown you might scream and holler and jump up and down. Well, I was in a battle against the devil and he threw two pitches by me. The first one was called sin. It looked so good but when I went to hit it drooped down and I missed it. The second pitch was even faster; it was called deceit. I thought I could hit this, too -- but the devil is so tricky that even when you think you got him all figured out he'll slide some thing right by you. Strike two. I was on my way out. The devil saved his best pitch for last. It was called death. It was mean, and nasty, there was no way that I could handle it. But that was when Jesus pinch hit for me and he knocked death out of the park. And I got to tell about it. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies..thou anointest my head with oil , my cup runneth over. Even when I'm around my enemies, I ain't got to worry. Because right there in their presence, I'm seated at the King's table. And I'm an honored guest. You ask me how I know. Because the Bible says that he anointed my head with oil , and that is a custom that was reserved for honored guests. Am I right about it, Pastor? Surely Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the lord Forever. With the Lord my Shepherd leading me, he's looking out for me in front. He's got that part covered. But every now and then trouble sneaks on in from behind. But because my relationship is so perfect on his part, he left Goodness and mercy to follow me. So when trouble sneaks up, the goodness of the Lord is back there to help me deal with it. And even when I don't deserve it, His mercy is back there. Ahhh...he's even promised me a place to live. Right in his house forever. There may be some here today, who have accepted the Lord as their personal savior, but strayed from the flock. Come on back. If you can't find your way, just call his name .He'll come looking for ya.. You mean he'd do that for m, preacher? Yes he would . He'd leave the stable -- and go looking for the one that's lost. And I'll be through here in a minute A perfect personal relationship can be found in Jesus Christ. And just like he has a personal relationship with me he wants to have one with you. What is the secret to the strength of this relationship? Well , what's that's in the other verse that people often memorize? Come on, you know it. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life. It really is no secret...it's simply love. Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so...Not that our love for him is perfect but his love for us is. You ask me how I know. Well, there was a place called Golgotha on a hill called Calvary.......They hung him high, they stretched him wide , he hung his head...for me he died . That's love........But that's not how the story ends. Three days later he rose again . . .that's love. A perfect personal relationship. If you're looking for one, Jesus is the answer. |
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Perfect Relationship