King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Friday, May 06, 2022
Chapters: PSALMS 89, 96, 100-101, 105
Study: Becoming A Testimony of Christ
Hello My Friend,
Well, I finally finished the six weeks of training that it took me to be able to successfully begin my role as a Pharmacy Technician. I got to set up my very own desk, that even has my name on it. Now, I have another two months of studying in order to become registered with the state to be able to keep my job. And if you think that the most important job in the medicine world is the physicians, think again, it is the pharmacists that have to make sure that the medicines that the physicians give the patients do not interact with anything else or cause more harm. I find that when it comes to the world of medicine, it has as much learning and studying as the world of God. And God’s ministers are not just pastors and evangelist preaching the Word of God, it is an entire congregation of teachers, governors, congressmen, judges, cooks, construction workers, nurses, doctors, janitors, homemakers, and prayer warriors, just to name a few, looking out for the wellbeing of Christ’s sheep.
[1 Corinthians 12:12,18,23-25,28 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.]
When one of Christ’s sheep are down, so are the rest of us because we are all members of the same body, which is Christ. One day, all the pain, sorrow, and even death will be no more, we who put their faith and trust in Christ as their Saviour, will see an amazing end to all these things as we move on to our new lives in God’s kingdom. Until then, we are to travel along to whatever and wherever God takes us to be the ministers that He needs us to be to lead others to Christ before He returns. As we continue in the reading of Psalms, we are reminded of the covenant that God had made with David, there is also something else within this Psalm.
[Psalms 89:1-4,11,13-15 Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. 3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, 4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. 11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. 13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. 14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. 15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.]
[Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:] This reminds me of something that Jesus said, [John 10:15-16,27-28 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.]. Whenever I fail God, and beat myself up over it, God reminds me that I am one of His, and nothing can change that. The more important thing to know is that repentance goes a long was, almost as far as mercy and grace. And within the same Psalm we find another prophetic promise of Christ Himself and God’s mercies.
[Psalms 89:20-28 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: 21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. 24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. 28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.]
[But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him:] That same faithfulness and mercy that God had given David, and all his sons that would be born out of the lineage that Christ would descend from in the flesh, is them same that He passes down to all who are faithful to Him. David was by far perfect, he had a temper, loved women, and let his ego get the best of him a time or two, but He was faithful to God, and repentant when he did fail Him. Take note how the same Psalm reminds us of what happens when we fail God.
[Psalms 89:30-34,37 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; 31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. 37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.]
[My covenant will I not break,] God made a promise to give eternal life to all who believe in and accept His only begotten Son as their Saviour, period. We do not need to get baptized, commit to following some religion, or man made book posing as God’s Word, or even follow every command written in God’s Word. We do need to accept that Christ is the only way to God, and that we are saved by grace, and not of our works, [Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.]
Did you see that? We are Christ’s workmanship. And that is only made possible from the trips and falls that we make along the way as Christ gets us back up. I was watching a movie that was made from the God’s Not Dead series, these two were discussing that sometimes being a Christian is lonely. I feel that way with my job sometimes, in fact, I have a different lead and my desk is on the other side of the floor than the rest of my team. Once I got to my desk and started setting it up, I noticed something, I have the leads right there in my view if I need help with anything as well as the two ladies that helped us with our training. We are definitely not alone, it is Jesus who watches over us, and puts us right where we need to be, ready to assist us when we need Him, which is every hour of every single day. And now, we come to this Psalm that has brought me to tears.
[Psalms 96:1-10 O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. 2 Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. 4 For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 8 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. 10 Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.]
[the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved:] The one thing that I do not like about my job is that I have to assist patients who are taking medicines that attempt to alter their gender. You must address them as the gender that they have chosen to be and these are people who have diseases and the state, not my state, pays for the medicines, which are thousands of dollars. The world, thinks that they are in control, but it is God who is in control. Do you know what the strangest thing is? I do not see them differently than any one of us. They are sinners, just like the rest of us, as we all have some sin to deal with. Jesus would still save them if they came to Him, [1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.]
Most of the people who reject God are the very people who live in one or more of these sins that are listed here. The saddest thing is that they cannot see past the fact that God does love them and sent His Son to save them from their soul from their sins as well. The world does not get it, and quite frankly, neither do many Christians, our salvation is not about saving our flesh from death and hell, it is about saving our soul. Unless Jesus returns, we are all going to die physically at some point, and if we are living a life of sin, even after we are saved, we will die in that sin because it literally does cause a painful, and often slow death. Our soul, is another thing, it will spend an eternity in one of two places, heaven or hell. Of course, if we are saved, we will go to heaven because of the covenant that God has made, but those who never accepted Christ or have turned from their faith will spend an eternity in hell, [John 5:28-29 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.]
God, will also point out that those whom have done good are the ones who accepted Christ as their Saviour and kept their faith until their dying breath. In fact, if that is the only good thing that we would ever do, then at least, we did something right. Thankfully, God does have His faithful who study His Word on a continual basis, learn to do what is pleasing to Him, and start to resemble Christ as we do become who we get around. We are to never be ashamed of that fact, and if there is one thing that everyone in that building knows about me, it is that I am a Christian.
[Psalms 100:1-5 A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.]
[it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;] The most incredible thing of all, is that we, with all our quirks, with all our failures, and with all our trips and falls, God made us exactly who we are. And I am talking about our characteristics, and if there is one feature that I believe God has given me that sometimes I wish I did not have, it is that I have the ability to bounce back up whenever I get knocked down. Well, it is not me who gets me back up, it is Jesus, praise God! I can remember when I have had bad things happen to me, while I did suffer a little, I bounced with right back up, and moved forward, never really looking back, It is a reminder that we are to always move forward, and never look back, other than realizing that it was God who had been guiding us all along and preparing us for where we are today, [Philippians 3:13-15 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.]
And this is exactly why, we as Christians are careful to maintain good works, it is not for the sake of our salvation, it is for the sake of our wellbeing as well as giving honor and thanks to Jesus, who saved us. We can all join in with David as he vows to behave himself.
[Psalms 101:1-4,7-8 A Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. 4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.]
[I will early destroy all the wicked of the land;] How do we destroy the wicked of the land? We become testimonies of Christ living inside of us, and I do not mean that we appear to be holier than thou. I mean that we literally walk as Christ does, we are not judgmental, even when we cringe at what the world is doing, but we do practice righteous judgment, and do let them know that they are sinners and need Jesus too. And I will tell you something, I was not the one who put this message together, it was all God, I am still a day behind, I had read these chapters yesterday morning and just had the verses that caught my attention pasted into the pages. As I started writing this, each of those passages lined up perfectly, as we end with a passage from Psalm 105 that lines up exactly with what I had just said about becoming a testimony.
[Psalms 105:1-5,12-16 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. 2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. 3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. 4 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. 5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 12 When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. 13 When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; 15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. 16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.]
[Moreover he called for a famine upon the land:] I just realized something, Psalm 105 is a reminder of what God had done to Egypt when they had enslaved Israel, the pandemics, and famines that took place. It was God who hardened the Pharaoh’s heart to use these things to judge Egypt before the final judgment of death, and then Israel would be set free, [Exodus 7:3-5 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.]
Perhaps, this is what is going on today, in some, crazy and strange way, all this time, we have been blaming unfaithful or scared Christians for not standing up to their faith, but this may all be how God is judging the world for what they have done. Think about it, Christ’s anointed are the ones who accepted Him as their Saviour, it does not matter if they have been unfaithful to God, their own sin catches up to them, but they still belong to Jesus and He will forever protect them because of their faith in Him as their Saviour. While it is not idea to live a life of sin after we are saved because God will not be mocked, we are saved by grace, through our faith in Christ, and that alone means that He will also protect us for eternity.
[1 John 2:1-2,12,25 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You, for sending Your Son to take the cross that I could never bear, and give me a way to bear my own cross. Through my faith alone in Christ’s sinless death, burial, and resurrection, I am forever saved and nothing or no one can pluck me from Christ’s or Your hand for that matter. I am one with You because of my faith alone, and I thank You for all the times that You had been there for me, even when I had known Your Son as my Saviour. Since You created me, You molded me and prepared me for who I am today, and even with all my quirks, You continue to use me and that is something that I honor and cherish and hope to not only continue until my dying breath, but leave a legacy for others to continue. Lord, lead me and guide me, in this wicked world, keep me in Your Word and following it so that I can be a faithful and godly witness of Christ living in me, I will behave myself and stay away from those who are wicked and threaten my testimony, but I need Your hedge of protection to shield me as I am exposed to the world every day. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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