God Our Dwelling Place

Remembering
I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
Psalm 77:11

God's holidays – Leviticus 23:1-2

• The Feasts are central to the nation of Israel
  
• A key to our understanding God's dealings
  
• The feasts are central in Israel's life, culture and identity
  
• God established 7 feasts for His covenant people to observe.
  
• These were not suggestions or recommendations but commandments!
• The three purposes of the feasts – God's Great Gatherings
  
• To define Israel's covenant identity with God
  
• Established to strengthen Israel's spiritual devotion and renewal
  
• Established to give a prophetic revelation of God's redemptive plan for the ages

Psalm 90

• The Psalm was a prayer written in response t0 divine affliction
  
• The thought moves from:
  
  • Vss 1-2 God as the eternal God

The Lord Our Dwelling Place

• Verse 1 – the psalmist addresses God directly
  
• Here a great foundational reality is confessed.
  
  • Throughout her history, God has been home to Israel.
    
  • He is like a house, filled with comfort and security.
    
  • It is not the Promised Land or ever the temple that lets God's people be at home, but God Himself.
    
• Like the prodigal in Jesus' parable, to go home is to go home to the waiting Father!

Psalm 90

• The Psalm was a prayer written in response to divine affliction
  
• The thought moves from:
  
  • Vss 1-2 God as the eternal God
    
  • Vss 3-6 To man as finite man

In the light of who God is:

• The problem of man is expounded in verses 3—12.
  
• The thesis is immediately given in verse 3:
  
  • God "turns man to destruction and, at the same time, calls him to "return" or "repent."
    
  • The first sign of 'destruction' is our mortality (Vss 4-6)
    
  • The second sign is God's wrath against us, His "No" (Vss 7-12)
    
• There is a light at the end of the tunnel
  
  • The last word is God's mercy toward us
    
  • His "Yes" (Vss 13-17)
    
  • This is the content behind the call to repent.

Psalm 90

• The Psalm was a prayer written in response t0 divine affliction
  
• The thought moves from:
  
  • Vss 1-2 God as the eternal God
    
  • Vss 3-6 To man as finite man
    
  • Vss 7-12 To God angry with our sin

The Wrath of God

• Romans 1:18
  
• The root of the noun anger is "nose."
  
  • Psalm 18:15 – When God is angry He snorts like a wild horse
    
• He sees "our secret sins' (reference Matthew 5:21 ff).
  
• All of this meditation on our mortality (vv. 3—6) and God's wrath against sin (vv. 7—11) is designed for our instruction.

Psalm 90

• The Psalm was a prayer written in response to divine affliction
  
• The thought moves from:
  
  • Vss 1-2 God as the eternal God
    
  • Vss 3-6 To man as finite man
    
  • Vss 7-12 To God angry with our sin
    
  • Vss 13-17 Concluding that God will be merciful in our need

Return

• The psalmist implores the Lord to "return' in verse 13
  
• Moreover, the psalmist asks that God will now make His people "glad' to the same extent in which He "afflicted" them through the years in which they saw "evil'.
  
• He also asks in verse 16 for God's "work' to "appear' or "be seen" by His "servants.
  
• This psalm ends with the call for the favor of the Lord our God to be upon His people in verse 17.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

The Spirit As A Pledge
II Corinthians 4:16–5:9

The Feast of Pentecost

• Exodus 12
  
• Acts 2

Pentecost
Leviticus 23:1-2, 15-22; Acts 2

• Names:
  
  • O.T. - Hebrew = Shavuot = Weeks
    
  • N.T. – Greek = Pentecost = Fiftieth
    
  • The day following a week of weeks or the 50th day following Passover
    
  • The Harvest Festival
    
  • Exodus 12:37-41; 19:5-6

The Feast of Pentecost
The Harvest Festival – Shavuat – Weeks
50th day following Passover

Leviticus 23:1-2 = God's Great Gatherings

The three purposes of the feasts:

• To define Israel's covenant identity with God
  
• To strengthen Israel's spiritual devotion and renewal
  
• To give a prophetic revelation of God's redemptive plan for the ages

John 16:5-11, II Corinthians 4:16-5:9

Fish discover water last. --- French proverb

The Need for Prayer
Acts 9:10-11

God Answers Prayer

• Psalm 65:5a NLT “You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth”
  
• Faith is the only prerequisite for prayer!
  
• Matthew 28:20 NLT “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Prayer is our relational conversation with God expressing our heart in need and desire and learning to listen to Him as we grow in the knowledge of God and become aligned with His will.

Quiet time
A daily appointment with God

• Both Ananias and Saul were already praying!
  
• QT expresses that God is our source of strength.
  
• Prayer requires a definite time and place;
  
  • Preferably early in the morning
    
  • A time to start fresh
    
  • A time to shut out the noise of the world
    
  • A time to feed on the Word of God
    
• A time to unburden your heart and enter a conversation with the Father.

Heart-Felt Prayer

• Lamentations 3:41 “We lift up our heart and hands toward God in heaven”
  
• Matthew 6:7-8 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition”
  
• Matthew 6 – Jesus is revealing Kingdom principles – Practicing righteousness –
  
• Micah 6:8

Call on God from a pure heart

• II Timothy 2:22b NLT “Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”
  
• Psalm 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” 
  
• Hebrews 10:22 “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith”

Our prayers must also come from a believing heart

• James 1:6-7 NLT “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. “
  
• James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
  
• Faith is the only prerequisite for prayer!

The Jesus Prayer
“Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
have mercy on me,
the sinner.”

Five Finger Prayer

• Your thumb is nearest you;
  So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you.
• The next finger is the index (pointing) finger;
  Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal
• The next finger is the longest finger;
  It reminds us to pray for our leaders.
• The fourth finger is our ring finger,
  this is our weakest finger;
  It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain.
• And lastly, our little finger, the smallest finger of all;
  This should remind you to pray for yourself

Moments:

• Happy moments, PRAISE GOD
  
• Difficult moments, SEEK GOD
  
• Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD
  
• Painful moments, TRUST GOD
  
• Every moment, THANK GOD

P.U.S.H.

• P – Pray
  
• U – Until
  
• S – Something
  
• H – Happens

The Time Between Times - Part 3
John 20:19-23
The Kingdom is here, But not yet!

Four appearances on Resurrection Day!

• Mary Magdalene at the garden tomb
  
• Peter’s unrecorded appearance mentioned by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church in I Corinthians 15:5-8
  
• The two on the road to Emmaus
  
• The disciple in the upper room

The Time Between Times

• Between the Resurrection and Ascension!
  
• Between the inauguration of the Kingdom and the consummation of the age.
• Between the provision of the sacrifice, Jesus, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
  
• Between the fulfillment of Passover and the fulfillment of Pentecost (40 days)

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

• Romans 4:25
  
• I Corinthians 15:14,17

4th Appearance ~ The Disciples in the Upper Room
John 20:10-23

• The Time Between Times:
  
  • between upper room futility and gathered affirmation
    
  • between confusion and clarity
    
  • between fear and chaos and relief and revelation
    
  • between great sadness and great joy!
    
  • between disappointment and disillusionment to real hope
• Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples brings his gifts:
  
  • His peace – “peace, not as the world give, I give to you.”
    
  • The breathe of the Holy Spirit
    
  • The clarity of His commission
    
  • The authority to forgive

Every word of Christ which is received in the heart by faith, comes accompanied by this Divine breathing; and without this there is neither light nor life. Nothing is seen, known, discerned, or felt of God, but through this.
--- Matthew Henry