MONTVALE SENIOR FELLOWSHIP

Be sure to scroll down and read this month's Senior Devotional.

Next meeting 10:30am Tuesday

May 20, 2008

The monthly meeting of the Montvale Senior Fellowship was held on Tuesday February 19, 2008 at the church.

The meetings are open to anyone who wishes to come out and fellowship, sing, have a Bible study and a good lunch. You do not have to be a member of Montvale Baptist Church to attend. You do not even have to be a Senior.

We meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 10:30am (meal is usually about 11:30am).

Next meeting is scheduled for March 18, 2008. Lord willing we hope to see you there.

The ladies decorated the table for our lunch with the colors of Valentines Day.

Sister Barbara brought red table clothes and red and white flowers.

Senior’s Devotional Study for February 19, 2008

How Should We Serve the Lord?

Psalm 100:1-5

1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we

ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting;

and his truth endureth to all generations.

This is one of the briefest psalms, containing only five little verses.

But this psalm calls on all people to praise and worship the LORD, Yahweh, because He is God and because He is good. Anytime you see the LORD in all capital letters it means Yahweh. Praise means thanksgiving.

Although this Psalm was most likely used in the Temple with sacrifices of thanksgiving it is still very applicable to us today.

Yes, I know you are thinking, “Didn’t David write the Psalm to Israel?”

And the answer would be absolutely.

But by reading the words of the psalm you will readily see that the context is valid for all men of all ages.

Notice the last words of verse 1,all ye lands. It is a call for every nation on the face of the earth to make a joyful noise unto the LORD.

To make a joyful noise simply means to shout loudly with the praises of God Almighty. We sometimes or perhaps I should say most times do not do this.

When can we make a joyful noise unto the LORD? The first occasion which comes to mind is in the singing of hymns. Yes, in singing. You do not have to have a wonderful singing voice but rather a wonderful heart for the Lord. A heart that is truly thankful for all that God has done for you. When we honestly look at what the Lord has supplied for us, how can we not make a joyful noise?

He has given us life. He has supplies us with families, homes, all of our daily needs from food to medicines. The list of things God supplies for us is endless. And the greatest thing God supplies is a way of salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ.

If for no other reason that salvation we should always make joyful noise. I know many times we are very self conscious of our singing voices. We are concerned about what other people might think about the way we sing. We might feel embarrassed. The question is, “why do we worry about what man thinks?” When we sing we are singing to the Lord or at least we should be. And the Lord listens to your heart not your singing voice. David wrote earlier in the Psalms in Ps 19:14 to be exact: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Did you hear that, the meditation of my heart? Sing to the Lord with the love you have for Him. I am talking here of a sincere love for God. When you sing hymns sing with a grateful heart. You, as senior Christians need to be the example to the world. You are the leaders of the younger believers. You are the witness to the unsaved. I am not talking about having praise bands and contemporary music with jumping up and down and making all kinds of gyrating motions. I am talking about the sincere worship of God from the heart.

Even though you are in the congregation with other believers this is an individual time with the Lord. It is a special and unique time. Once you have overcome the intimidation of the world, that is to say you concern about you singing talent, you can then begin to serve the Lord. And not just serve Him but serve Him with gladness. There are a lot of people who serve the Lord and look as if they are being led off to work in the fields as a forced slave. They seem to be afraid to smile because someone might think that their work for the Lord was actually rewarding and enjoyable. And it is enjoyable to work in the service of the Lord. Let others see that joy in you.

David says, “Serve the LORD with gladness:”

It is an honor and privilege to serve the Lord in whatever capacity he calls you to serve. There are no small or insufficient jobs for the Lord.

The result of serving with gladness is that you can come before his presence with singing.

How many times do you catch yourself working in the yard, or around the house and find yourself singing hymns to God? Why is it that when you are alone you sing more joyfully than when you are with others? The reason is that you have no one, no human, to cause you to feel worldly and embarrassed. When you are one-on-one with God you actually make a joyful noise and sing praises.

You are singing from the heart, a heart of gladness. And you sing because you know that the LORD He is God. You may read this Psalm and not pick up on the importance of these words. The LORD He is God.

Do you suppose that we sometimes take God for granted?

Of course we do!

Do we often times not realize just how mighty and powerful and great and gracious our God truly is?

Yes we do.

Is it because we have no Tabernacle with God leading us with fire or smoke?

Is it because we have become too worldly and self-sufficient?

Is it because we have that Sunday morning religion?

It is because we often times forget a very important fact that David gives us next in this Psalm. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.

It almost seems as if David was seeing the world as it is today. We live in a world which thinks that it can make anything. A world which tries to erase God out of everything, especially Creation.

Our, so called, brilliant men of science try to present their false theory of evolution as fact. Their only goal is to erase God from the minds of the people of the world. Yet we are reminded, it is he that hath made us.

We are here by design.

We are here by the design of the Creator, God.

We did not just appear from a lesser form of life.

Try as he may, man cannot create life. Man can create havoc. And man did bring about death because of his sin. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. This gives me great comfort because a follower of Jesus Christ makes me one of His sheep. And that makes Jesus Christ my Great Shepherd as the author of Hebrews writes, Heb 13:20, Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

David says in Ps 95:7, For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. And, being His sheep we have the privilege to, “Enter into his gates.” You may remember the words of Jesus talking about the sheepfold: John 10:9, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

How wonderful it is to belong to the King and be able to enter through the gate.

When we enter into his gates we enter with thanksgiving.

Again we praise the Lord for what He has so graciously done for us.

We are even allowed to enter into his courts with praise.

As one who belongs to the King you can bring your praises right into His very courts.

This would be the very throne room of God.

We are told in Heb 4:16, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We can come boldly to the throne of grave, the very throne of God. We enter through our High Priest Jesus Christ and can make our petitions known to God.

And there is a very important lesson for us when we do approach the throne of grace. We are told to be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

You might well have noticed that we need to be thankful for all things God has given us. In fact we are told Phil 4:4, Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Another reason for us to be thankful is that the LORD is good. His goodness is seen in His steadfast mercy, his mercy is everlasting. God’s mercy is not something that is here today and gone tomorrow. God never quits on us, even though we do quit on Him.

And we know that everything we know about God from His Word is true because we read, “and his truth endureth to all generations.”

In other words, Ps 119:89, For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

So when the Lord wills that we should gather together again and we are given the privilege to sing praises to His holy name remember what God has done for you.

Remember Psalm 100 and make a joyful noise unto the LORD.

Let us come before his presence with singing.

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