Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 5/2/12

Brother Gary Wednesday Evening 5/2/12

The goodness of God: Genesis chapter 1, God said that everything that He made was very good. 

The very word Good is well described in the scripture:

The following Psalm was inscribed on a pillar.

Psa 16:1  Michtam of David. Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

We’ve all been in a position where we needed God to preserve us.

Psa 16:2  O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

Psa 16:3  But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

His goodness was that He was going to reach out in His goodness to the saints of God.  It is a prayer designed for those that were the sanctified saints of God.  There were those in the Old Testament referred to as such, in the New Testament, and today there are sanctified saints of God. 

Goodness here means beautiful, bountiful.  Where ever you are tonight or whatever this week or month has held for you, remember that Jesus Christ is the same now and forever.  His goodness is reserved for the saints. 

The beautifulness: as one would work through the loss of a child, God alone comes to one and as devastating as the situation is, He can come in His beautiful spirit.  As the song says, “When we have done our best…”  Not everything in life will turn out as a story book.  If you are rightly related to God then His goodness, His beauty, and bounty is extended to you.

Goodness means His graciousness.  His graciousness extends to me, a gentile so unworthy.  God has been so good.  He was so good to my parents.  They came to Montana without God and married in Montana, yet the faithfulness of God!  His bountifulness keeps giving back to His children.

Goodness means wealth.  The greatest wealth is not tangible; it is being rightly related to God and to one another.  Someone was telling me recently how lonesome they were.  We are blessed to have people that will come, people that we can fellowship with, and blessed to love one another.  I’m glad for the truth that we are ‘one with each other’. 

Goodness means well-favored.  God has a way of extending His goodness: favoring the saints.

Goodness means joy.  Everywhere you go you see situations that are so sad, young people seem to be throwing their lives away before they ever reach graduation.  They have no knowledge of virtue or of right. 

Psa 16:4  Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

We all make choices.  We make a choice of what God we serve.  If we choose to go after another God then we need to realize what that will pay.  When people reject God and truth, they can take on a religious profession and do lots of things, but if they don’t do what is right then none of that is anything to God.

It is a valuable thing to have God as our portion; no one can take it away from us.  We can have the Lord as our portion whether we are rich or are poor. 

Psa 16:5  The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

It is wonderful to have the confidence that God will look out for me and take care of me.

Psa 16:6  The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

If you and I stay believing God and trusting God then the lines will fall in a good place.  We have lots to look forward to.  We have an earnest of what is to come in the Holy Spirit and there is the whole 100% waiting for us.

Psa 16:7  I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

We are blessed to have the Lord talk to us.  We can take His Word in the morning and God is faithful to talk to us.

Psa 16:8  I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.  He is not standing still; He is going onward and forward.

Psa 16:9  Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

Psa 16:10  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Psa 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

God shows us the path of life over and over again. 

Psa 27:13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

David’s testimony: I would have lost my way if I hadn’t kept my faith in God. 

Expect good things from God.