August 27, 2006 - Psalms 120-122 and I Corinthians 9
These three psalms were sung as people were going up to worship at the Temple. Psalm 120 is a call for God to deliver the psalmist from those who lied about him. Psalm 121 is a classic psalm of worship for God being our helper. Psalm 122 is a joyful psalm about going to the house of the Lord, and praying for the peace of Jerusalem. How did you worship God today? Did you go to a church building? That is good, but there are many places in the world where there are no church buildings. How can we worship without going to a building? There are many ways, but it must come from our hearts. We must sincerely cry out to the Lord for His help as the psalmists did. We must express our love and our praise. Only then have we worshiped whether we went to a building or not.
In I Corinthians 9 we have a very personal glimpse into Paul's heart. He was an apostle. He was sent out by God to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. However, some people did not respect him. Some people were slandering him, because he worked for a living and did not take money from the churches while he was with them. I believe all of the opposition hurt Paul, because he was just trying to help the people. He did not want to profit from them. He wanted to do whatever he could do to see as many people saved as possible. I think Satan does the same thing to pastors today. He tries to discourage them by opposition. He tries to get people to disrespect them, so people will not be saved. We must not let this happen. We must work together as believers so many people can come to know Christ.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 123-125 and I Corinthians 10:1-18.
In I Corinthians 9 we have a very personal glimpse into Paul's heart. He was an apostle. He was sent out by God to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. However, some people did not respect him. Some people were slandering him, because he worked for a living and did not take money from the churches while he was with them. I believe all of the opposition hurt Paul, because he was just trying to help the people. He did not want to profit from them. He wanted to do whatever he could do to see as many people saved as possible. I think Satan does the same thing to pastors today. He tries to discourage them by opposition. He tries to get people to disrespect them, so people will not be saved. We must not let this happen. We must work together as believers so many people can come to know Christ.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 123-125 and I Corinthians 10:1-18.