All God's Children Praise The Lord

#Psalm 149 KJV; Despite our sinful natures God loves his children.

Joyful and Thankful!

Psalm 100 KJV; joyful and thankful for the end of my cancer treatment and prayerfully there will be no need for more in the future.

Sing Unto The Lord

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

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.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

                          (Psalm 100:1-4 KJV)

Today I will lead worship at Christ Lutheran for the last time as their pastor. I will be installing their new pastor, John Johnson. I am not really sure how I'm supposed to feel about today. I might feel sad over that fact that I am going into retirement and not seeking another call to another congregation. However, I know that as a servant of God, I will not stop serving Him, with gladness, in any and every way that I am able.

The service today will, hopefully, be full of joy. I will be reminding everyone at Christ Lutheran what God has done for us one last time. This time, I will be proclaiming the Gospel in a little different way than I have normally proclaimed it. I will be making a joyful noise. Instead of speaking; I will be singing. For those who have heard me sing, you know that I am not a great singer. I've been told by more than one person that I sing like a man. The electric piano has to go down an octave or two for my voice. Good or bad; it will be a joyful noise unto the Lord. 

Sing unto the Lord a joyful song; giving Him thanks for all that He has done!

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Whippoorwill's Joyful Noise

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

                                                                          (Psalm 95:1-3 KJV)

My new home is relatively quiet. I am in the country; but, not really. It is certainly not city dwelling. There are a lot of trees and birds around. There are also a lot of sounds. There is the sound of the television, usually way too loud and very rarely joyful. Almost daily, I can hear the sound of someone target practicing in the distance. The airplanes from the airport in Daytona Beach pass over the house almost continuously and then there are the helicopters that circle overhead quite often looking for someone in need of assistance. Most of these sounds I can ignore or maybe I've already gotten so used to them that I rarely hear them.

But, the sound that is so sweet to hear is the sound of the Whippoorwills singing before the sun rises and after it sets as I wander around the yard spending some quiet time talking with God. The sound of the Whippoorwills' music is not disturbing in the least. It is the sound of joy! "Wake up and rejoice,: they sing. "A new day has come!" And, in the evening, "Rest peacefully tonight in this place that the Lord has given you."  

Let us always rejoice for the Lord is a great God and He has done marvelous things for us!

God's Peace - Pr. J