The Very Rev. Ken Weldon is preaching during the online service on March 29th, 2020 at St. John's Church Florence, SC.
I speak to you today in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Again, greetings and welcome. We are delighted to have you all here with us at St. John's for our Sunday worship. It is indeed an odd time that we would be coming to you this way. But we are grateful for the gift of technology which allows us to be together even during these times, to say the least.
Today what I want us to do is look at Psalm 95:1-7, which I just read to you a few moments ago. I believe that this psalm speaks to us where we find ourselves as individuals, as families, as a church, and as a world. I also believe that in this psalm there is for you and for me, and for all of God's people, a word of strength, a word of encouragement, and a word of hope. Three things that the world is desperately in need of at this time. Three things that we are desperately in need of at this time. Three things that honestly I, as your pastor and your priest, am desperately in need of at this present time: strength, encouragement, and hope.
So first, strength. As we look around us, around the world, around our country and around our community, even, we are in desperate need, brothers and sisters, of strength. As things continue to change and as this virus continues to spread, as people continue to get sick and even die, as millions in our country alone lose their jobs and their livelihoods--friends, we need to be strengthened. We need something steady; we need something we can rely on. We need something permanent. Brothers and sisters at this time and at all times we need Jesus Christ. The Psalmist says, "Oh Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation"-- the rock of our salvation friends. Our strength is not in ourselves. Our strength is in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he is our rock. He is our shield and he is our strength. Friends during these uncertain times, Christ and His promises should be for us, as the church and as his people, a source of immeasurable strength. Number one, we need strength, and Psalm 95 offers us strength.
Second, if you were like me, you need a word of encouragement. We need to be lifted up. We need to be raised up and pressed forward to fight this fight. We need, friends, encouragement. Most of the news that we are getting I fear is extremely discouraging. Most of what we're hearing is neither positive or good. "Things are going to get worse before they get better," is what everyone keeps saying in the news, in the media, from our politicians and our health care workers. Friends, during these times we need a word of encouragement. Verses 3-5 of Psalm 95 should be an encouragement to us as God's people. They are in stark contrast I believe to the news of the day that we're receiving from the world. The Psalmist writes, "for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all Gods." Friends, this is good news. God's goodness, God's strength, God's greatness, will ultimately win the day. The Psalmist continues, "in His hands are the depths of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his and he made it; in his hands form the dry land." Friends, the God that made the heavens and the earth, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, he is in control. He that formed the earth; he that made the mountains and the seas; he is a Great God, and the great king above all Kings. Friends, be strengthened by this; be encouraged by these words. They are the truth and they speak to us, to you and to me, as God's people.
And third and finally, as God's beloved Psalm 95 should be for us a word of hope. Paul writes in Romans 5 that "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us." Friends, because God's love has been poured into our hearts, Paul continues, "through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us," hope does not and will not disappoint us. In verse 7 of the psalm, there is great hope. The Psalmist concludes this portion of Psalm 95 by saying, "for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand." Brothers and sisters, be of good hope. Be strengthened; be encouraged. The God of gods--he is our God. The God that gave the blind man sight, the God that raised Lazarus from the dead, the God that raised his son Jesus from the dead--he will deliver you and me and his church as well. This great king, the king above all Gods, Jesus Christ--we belong to Him, brothers and sisters, and he belongs to us.
Friends, in the midst of these uncertain and unprecedented times, our hope, your hope and my hope, is in the living God, the maker of heaven and earth. Friends, he that conquered death and the grave, he is our God and we are His people. We are the people of his pasture. We are the sheep of his hand.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.