Luke 1:5

Luke 1:5 says, There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.  We are given a pretty good description of who Zacharias and Elizabeth were.  He was a priest and she was descended from Aaron, a priest himself. They were a religious couple.  Verse six adds, And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. Not only were they religious by their birth line, they lived up to God's calling.  They were both righteous before God.  We may be from the right family and righteous in our own eyes, but what masters is if we are righteous before God.  This can only happen by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse seven continues, And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.  They were old and without children.  We might think that God would have blessed them with children since they were righteous in His sight, but children are a gift of God.  We do not determine what God blesses us with simply by naming and claiming it.  Verse eight states, And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,  Zacharias was going about his duties as a priest.  He was not focusing on his own disappointments or desires, but was doing what God had called him to do.  We cannot allow our disappointments or desires to keep us from doing what God has called us to do.  Verse nine adds, According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.  His duty this day as a priest was to burn incense in the temple of the LORD.  Whatever God calls us to do each day, and as followers of Christ whatever we do should be under His calling or guidance, we must do it for His glory. Verse ten continues, And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.  The temple was filled with people who were praying.  When we are in God's house, before anything else, we should be praying for His guidance and to give Him thanks for all that He has done for us.  Verse eleven declares, And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.  While doing what he normally did as a priest,  Zacharias saw an angel of the LORD standing at the right side of the altar of incense.  We may never see an angel during a worship service, but we as Christians will always have the Holy Spirit, not standing by the altar, but living in our heart. Verse twelve adds, And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.  Zacharias was a priest and a righteous man in the eyes of God, but when he saw the angel he was troubled and became afraid.  I am not sure what our reaction today would be as followers of Christ, but I have a feeling that we would react the same way.  

Luke 1:1

Luke 1:1 says, Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,  Luke said many people had written about what Jesus did while in the world as a Man and the things that He did.  Luke said that these were things believed by us, or those who recognized Jesus as the Messiah.  When we read the accounts today, preserved for us in the New Testament, we must believe them to be a part of the family of God.  Verse two adds, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;  Luke said these other writings were delivered to those who believed in Jesus Christ, and were eyewitness accounts of what He had done.  They became the ministers of the Word, as we are to be today.  Verse three states, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,  Though Luke said it seemed good to him to write about what he had seen in the life of Jesus, I believe this was because the Holy Spirit was inspiring him to write his account.  Luke also said he had a perfect understanding of all the things that occurred in the life of Jesus from the beginning.  As followers of Christ today, we need that same understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what He did for us by His birth, life, death and resurrection.  Verse four adds, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.  Luke had said in verse three that it seemed good to write these things to Theophilus, which means friend of God, and now he gives him the reason, and that was so that Theophilus would know the certainty of what he had been taught.  We have Luke's letter today so that we might know the same the facts about Jesus with a certainty. 

Review of Psalms continued

Psalms also tells us quite often that God is the Crator of everything.  There was no Big Bang or slow evolution of animals into people, but there was simply God's word calling everything into existence.  Having created everything, God is still at work sustaining His creation.  God is so knowledgeable of the universe that He knows the stars by name.  We may look around us and be impressed or maybe even intimidated by the armies of some countries, but armies don't impress God.  There is no power that can stand against God.  God protects His people, those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, spiritually, and He expects us to give Him the praise and credit throughout this lifetime and our everlasting life as well.  No force in the world can ever separate us from God's love, but our own rejection of His gift of salvation can.  Psalms tells us that we are to praise God for Who He is, what He has done for us, what He continues to do for us, and what He will do for us in the future.  God chose the people of Israel to be His people, as He chooses everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ today.  God chose, delivered, and protected the people Israel,  but not all of them put their faith in Him.  God calls everyone to salvation, but not all accept His free gift of salvation.  If we have accepted God's gift of salvation, we should praise Him everyday.  Next we will look at the book of Luke.

Review Of Psalms

The first thing that we learn from Psalms is that we are to praise God for Who He is and for what He has done for us as His followers.  It is not dependent on who we are or how powerful we may be in the world.  David's was a king, who was also at times surrounded by enemies.  He praised God and gave Him the credit for protecting him in either case.  We need to praise God no matter where we stand in the in the eyes of the world.   We also learned that we are to joyously praise God when we gather together in His name, which we should do often.  I believe that we also see that we are to praise God continually, and not just when we are gathered together to worship Him.  David said we are to praise or worship God when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night.  As Christians, we need to seriously consider how much of our time each day is spent actually even thinking about God, much less praising and worshipping Him.  We learned that God uplifts the meek and seemingly powerless. We must all come to Jesus in meekness, recognizing our inability to save ourselves spiritually.   God has already provided salvation even for those who are considered the lowest by the world if the come to Him by faith.  Being poor or powerless does not gain salvation for anyone though, but only accepting the salvation of Christ does.

Psalms 150:1

Psalms 150:1 says, Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.  We come to the last psalm, and it is definitely a psalm calling on us to  praise God.  The people of Isreal were called on to praise God in His sanctuary because He is the Creator by His power which is displayed in the sky.  Matthew Henry says this was mainly written for the Levites, the priests, and as followers of Christ we are the priests of God today.  Verse two adds, Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.  We are to praise God for Who He is, the Creator by His mighty acts, and according to His excellence and not our own.  God alone is worthy of our praise.  Verse three states, Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.  Once more, there is a call to praise God through the use of many musical instruments.  I believe that God expects us to be a joyous, praising church, or fellowship of believers, today as well.  Verse four adds, Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.  Then verse five continues, Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.  Many instruments are named to be used in praising God, as well as a call for dancing.  I don't believe that we should make what we call worshipping God just entertainment, but I do believe that there is nothing wrong with praising God with the use of many musical instruments and even with some movement as we worship Him, though I myself might not be inclined to move very much.  Verse five declares, Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.  Since we as human beings have the breath of God in us, this verse would especially apply to us.  As followers of Christ, we are to always praise God.

Psalms 149:1

Psalms 149:1 says, Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.  The people of Israel were called on to sing a new song to God and to praise Him in the congregation of the saints.  Matthew Henry says the previous song was a song to the Creator, and this is a song to the Redeemer.  We sing praises to both, since they are One.  Verse two adds, Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.  This verse speaks of Israel rejoicing in Him that made them.  As Creator He made them, but as Redeemer He made them His people.  We must acknowledge God not just as the Creator, but we must acknowledge Him as our Redeemer through faith in Jesus Christ if we are to be a part of His kingdom.  Verse three states, Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.  This calls on the people of Israel to worship God with musical instruments and dance.  Sometimes, we may have gotten too somber in our worship of God.  Verse four adds, For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.  The people of Israel were told that they needed to joyously worship God because He took pleasure in His people and would beautify the meek with salvation.  Those who humbly come to God by faith for forgiveness and salvation will find it if they put their faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse five says, Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.  We are saints of God as Christians, and we should be joyful and sing new songs to God.  This verse tells us that we are to sing aloud unto God even when we are in our beds.  Verse six adds, Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;  We are to sing high praises to God based on His word, which is referred to as a twoedged sword.  We are to wield the truth of God as we sing a new song.  Verse seven continues, To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;  Vengeance and punishment are God's to execute, but I believe that how we praise God should lead lost people to Him.  Verse eight states  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;  God's judgment will one day bind all those, even those in power, if they do not put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Verse nine adds, To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.  God's judgment will come to all those who reject the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  As followers of Christ, we should always give God the praise for redeeming us.

Psalms 148:1

Psalms 148:1 says, Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.  This psalm, like all the last few, calls for us to praise God.  It starts with a call for the angels to praise God.  Verse two adds, Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.  The host of angels who did not rebel against God are called on to praise Him, and they do.  Verse three states, Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.  Then, there is a call for the  sun ,moon, and stars to praise God.  Though they cannot voice praises to God, the very existence and function of the sun, moon, and stars should bring praise to God.  Verse four adds, Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.  This is a continuation of a call for the heavens, even the water in the clouds, to bring praise to God.  Verse five continues, Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.  The heavens should bring praise to God because He created them.  Too many people who do not believe in God want to praise some cosmic accident for the creation of the universe, but as followers of Christ, we must always give God the praise for it.  Verse six concludes, He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.  Again, scientists attempt to determine when the sun will burn out and earth as we know it will cease to exist, but God said it will not pass.  Verse seven says, Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:  This begins the call on all of creation in the earth to praise God.  We may not have dragons, but ever creature that God created is called on to praise Him. Verse eight adds, Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:  The elements are all a part of God's creation and fulfill His word.  Verse nine states, Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:  God shaped the earth and placed all the trees on it, and for this we as Christians should praise Him.  Verse ten adds, Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:  Likewise,  God created all the animals of the world, and gave mankind dominion over them.  Every though some people claim otherwise, God also gave us animals to provide food for us.  Verse eleven continues, Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:  God created all the people of the world, from the most powerful to the weakest.  Even those who deny God and attempt to remove any reference to Him from society are still a part of His creation, as they will one day find out.  Verse twelve says, Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:  Verse thirteen adds, Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.  There is not an age when we should not praise God.  We should start praising God from the time we are old enough to understand Who He is and continue to do so until we die.  Of course, until we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord we cannot truly do this.  Verse fourteen declares, He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.  We are to praise God because He provides all that we need.  We as Christians are God's people, as were the people of Israel who put their faith in Him, and because He has forgiven our sins and given us everlasting life with Him, we should continually praise Him.