PSALMS FOR CHRISTMAS: Christmas Celebration

Hi, I'm Shelby adding and this is Psalms for Christmas time, a podcast miniseries with pastor and author Dean Ortman.

Dean is written a book in the Lord.

I take refuge, 150 daily devotion to the Psalms in all this gift of any amount. Not only will your donation be matched will send you a copy of the dive deeper into the Psalms are your affections for Jesus Christ. To learn more about how to give his family life today.com sounds 95 outcome things of the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God and we are the people in the in this Christmas season. We know that were supposed to celebrate some people started the day after Thanksgiving. Some people started in early October and whatever your opinion about that might be. We all know that the end of the year leads toward celebration, but the Psalms, point us in some very specific directions to tell us to celebrate for a specific purpose were to be talking today about Psalm 95 with author Pastor Dean or Lynn Dean, how are we to celebrate as Christians, as were looking through the lens of the Psalm. Specifically, the Psalms 95 I love this song will come let us cling to the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, Presbyterians like acute learning was let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise and was songs of praise for the Lord is a great God of the great King above all gods. So the text always gives reasons, not just you go celebrate God know for years why the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods in his hand are the depths of your the heights of the mountains are his also seizes for he made it his hands formed the dry land is one or two verses more hero, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pastor and the sheep of his hand. So Shelby let's you and I agree together and all those who are listening and working to celebrate our way forward this holiday season.

No matter what. You know the Psalms.

Do not let us respond and say well I don't have really as many reasons that this season in my life. To celebrate, so I'll pass.

Maybe next year. Psalm 34 is similar to opens up I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth and a course that Psalm is written at a time when David is in profound adversity.

So we don't wait for our circumstances to get smooth for the seas of life to get home before we will then begin celebrating Ellis.

Be careful what we mean when we say celebrate, we don't me were walking around smiling and joking and laughing all the time. The heart might be breaking and we are celebrating we might be weeping but actually we are rejoicing our way forward. Why, for the Lord is a great God and a great King above all, God Psalm 95 says he is not only is he a great God out there, but then verse seven he is our God, that great God is mine and more wondrously. I belong to him. He is my shepherd, I'm the sheep of his hand, there I am in his hand everything that gets me have to go through him first so we are rejoicing our way forward, celebrating our way forward right now. And of course Shelby were doing that during this holiday season because of what Christmas represents, namely, God gave us a single glorious matchless reason to celebrate our way forward. When he came in the person of a little gurgling baby good news of great joy.

The angel said in Luke chapter 2 good news of great joy of celebration.

So let's not let the adversities of life, weigh us down so much that we are not also at the same time more deeply, celebrating the person in this might be feeling deep pain, sorrow, sadness pushed through and know that the Lord is with them and celebrate in that process. What an Apsley urgent question. A couple of thoughts: my number one get a Bible number two get up tomorrow morning with your coffee, your favorite urine and undistracted way and open it up and open your heart up accordingly.

Number three. As you inhale the Bible exhale prayer breathing involves both in communion with God involves both week. He speaks to us in the Scripture we speak to him in prayer.

Number four.

Get a friend of the same gender and open your heart up and told them where your real yet that is profound and powerful strengthening for us in this time say I'm is Christmas season and I do not feel that I can celebrate my way forward, and here's why. And if you are someone and someone else is saying that to you.

Your response them should not be advice. Your response should be.

Let's pray you listen to it, you let them be heard and then you don't fix them. Even if you think it's blindingly obvious what advice you give them you pray, you can actually exacerbate the loneliness if you try to tell them how to fix it is a let's pray.

Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. James 516 not confess your sins to one another and then counsel one another.

Pray for another that you maybe also get a friend. Fifth and finally, we will not move forward and celebration. In this time we are not part of a basically healthy local congregation that preaches the gospel.

That's a big part of it as well, so no secret Shelby just the things that everyone already knows, being sure that we operate in that way that Christianity is not at all the solo thing and the more we remind ourselves of that, the better off we'll be. And I think it was your dad Ray, who had said. Everybody needs someone in their life with whom they can be 100% transparent about how they're doing and that person not shy away from that they lean into it. Say hi love you. Your accepted your full in Christ Jesus. Thank you for being honest. Let's get on the solution started this and move through it. We all need to be honest Christmas sometimes can be so about the fake dressing of everything and things are really small in our lives. But Jesus is really big.

The fake dressing won't feel like it's one of the things we have to put on until an order to make Christmas special summer season. That was a great conversation with Dan. I really enjoyed that. If you want to go deeper. Dane is written a book called in the Lord hundred and 50 daily devotions through the Psalms. All this month during the month of December donation of any amount you give to family life, we will send you a copy of this book. Dane has written to learn more about how to give his family like today this podcast is been a production of family life accrue ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most