Sunday April 21
“His Praise In the Assembly of Saints”
Psalm 149:1-9
1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,
7 To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples;
8 To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute on them the written judgment-- This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!
Psalm 149 is another of the five “Hallelujah Psalms” that conclude the Book of Psalms. Psalms is a book of praise, singing, worship, adoration, petition, pleading, praying and calling on the LORD for strength and protection. It is a book that we should be reading regularly on a daily basis. Over my fifty years of ministry, I have attempted every day to read at least five psalms to remind myself of the greatness, goodness, mercy and awesomeness of our God Who hears us, listens to us, and answers our prayers. Who is always with us, Who knows how we feel, and Who wants to encourage us in His Word! I love the Psalms and I trust that you love them too!
I’m prerecording this video chat in my office in Sneads Ferry NC, but actually today I am in the Baltimore Maryland area at the New Life Baptist Church. The reason is that for the last two years I have been the interim pastor of the Friendly Community Baptist Church in Burgaw NC. It is located about 50 miles from where we live, and we have been driving back and forth on Sundays and Wednesday nights to share God’s truth with this wonderful community of loving and friendly believers. I love being a pastor and it has been a great privilege to be the pastor of a group of people who love the Word, love to pray, love the Lord, and love to worship the Lord with their hearts.
We have experienced the wonderful presence of the Lord and watched Him do some great things in the lives of so many people with salvations, baptisms, and spiritual growth. The church has enjoyed growth with new members and growing attendance in many areas. At the same time, we have been looking for a pastor who would move to the area, and be a pastor who would lead our church, a pastor who would bring us God’s Word and His truth, and who would shepherd God’s flock. It has been a wonderful search as the search team, along with the deacons and church leaders have worked together in unity seeking God’s will and God’s man to become our pastor!
Praise the Lord! Last Sunday we had a church vote that was 100 percent to extend a call to Adam Kord to become our new pastor. Adam is a young man who recently graduated from Bible School and recently married Julie, a young lady from his home church here in White Marsh Maryland. Adam is a gifted preacher of God’s Word! He loves God’s people, loves God church, and feels that the Lord is leading him and his wife to accept the call to Friendly. We truly believe that the Lord has brought him and the church together!
I’m here this weekend at Adam’s home church, New Life Baptist, to participate in his ordination council on Saturday and his ordination service on Sunday evening, where we along with other pastors and church leaders will lay hands on Adam and Julie, praying over them and committing them to the Gospel Ministry! I’m writing and sharing this in our chat today to ask you to pray for Adam and Julie as they accept this call and will be coming to Burgaw NC in June to become the full-time pastor of our wonderful church!
Also please be praying for us as we travel back to North Carolina tonight, along with several other families from Friendly Community who have come to Maryland to be a part of this exciting service today! I am very excited and encouraged about all the Lord has done to bring all this together!
I finished the video chat for today reading Psalm 149 which is a great psalm that encourages us to worship together especially as a church of believers! “Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints” (v. 1).
By the way, this morning I will be worshiping with my sister and brother-in-law, Ronnie and Beverly Riggins, at their church, New Life Church, in New Cumberland, PA.
God bless!