A fool says Psalm 14-15

I am writing today from Springfield and the Missouri United Methodist Annual Conference.  All of the Methodist Churches in Missouri will be represented here as we do the business of the church; adopt budget, ordain new pastors, set appointments, receive reports, elect delegates to Jurisdictional (where Bishops are elected) and General (where the Discipline is approved) conferences.  We will be here through Monday.  Duane Rathbun will be in the pulpit at Faith on Sunday.  He has shared his sermon notes with me and I believe that he will be a blessing to you.  Hope you are able to be with him.  Pray for the church as we do the business of United Methodists in Missouri.

David speaks wisely when he says The fool in his heart says there is no God.  Certainly, we all know somebody who is living like this is all there is.  How sad it will be when the day of judgment comes and the fool finally realizes that there is an eternity ahead and we will be accountable for the decisions and actions of our lives.  I find some comfort in that promise when I see the great evil in the world; child abusers, cheats, liars, those who take advantage of the poor, those who amass great wealth while ignoring the cries of the widows and orphans will all find that there is a God who will reign with righteousness and justice.  The fool will learn a very difficult lesson when he has to bend his knee to the One True God and atone for the sins that he refused to acknowledge.

In the 15th Psalm come the question: Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary and who may dwell on your holy hill?  Follows with lists of those who cannot and if I am honest I must confess that I am contained in those list of sinners, but my hope is not in my righteousness; my hope is in my Savior, Jesus who is the Christ!  I cannot stand before God on judgment day, but I can stand in the shadow of the one who stands at the right hand of God and find sanctuary there.  Praise God that he has found a way even for a vile sinner such as me to find eternal rest on his holy hill.

We know David as a great King, as a man after God's own heart, as a part of the linage of Jesus, but did you know he was also a prophet?  Look at Psalm 16:10 and see a piece of Old Testament Prophecy of the one who was yet to come.  "my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, NOR WILL YOU LET YOUR HOLY ONE SEE DECAY."  David is foretelling of a time when God will send one (Jesus) whom the grave will not be able to contain.  David is speaking of Easter long before the Resurrection.  Isn't that an amazing thing?

Hope you are having a great and God blessed day.