Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Lectureship Books Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events 1991 1991: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text ACU Press Humberto Rivas Bill Long Andre Resner Edwin F. White See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man Recommended Citation ACU Press; Rivas, Humberto; Long, Bill; Resner, Andre; White, Edwin F.; Neller, Ken V.; Jackson, David; Willis, John T.; York, John; Meador, Prentice Jr.; Tate, Willard; and Woodroof, Jim, "1991: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text" (1991). Lectureship Books. 33. https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/33 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Lectureship Books by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. Authors ACU Press, Humberto Rivas, Bill Long, Andre Resner, Edwin F. White, Ken V. Neller, David Jackson, John T. Willis, John York, Prentice Meador Jr., Willard Tate, and Jim Woodroof This book is available at Digital Commons @ ACU: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/33 PRAISING GOD: THEMES FROM THE PSALMS PRAISING GOD: THEMES FROM THE PSALMS being the ************************** Abilene Christian University Annual Bible Lectures 1991 Published by A-C-U PRESS 1648 Campus Court Abilene, Texas 79601 COPYRIGHT • 1991 Abilene Christian University No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Abilene Christian University. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN: 0-915547-X9-1 TABLE OF CONTENTS THEME SPEECHES Praise and Thanksgiving (Psalms 30,32,40), Humberto Rivas 10 Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So, Bill Long 14 The Death and Rebirth of Praise . Andre Resner 30 Praise in Repentance (Psalm 51), Edwin. F. White 56 Safe in God’s Arms: Enjoying Comfort, Closeness, Confidence (Psalm 16), Ken V. Neller 68 God Is Great — What Am I? David Jackson 80 The God We Praise, John T Willis 92 Praise for His Steadfast Love (Psalms 107, 136, 119:41, 64 , 76, 88), John York Ill Hallelujah — Word of Praise, Prentice Meador, Jr. 122 FEATURED CLASSES Learning to Love, Willard Tate 138 The Church in Transition, Jim Woodroof 176 PREFACE The Lectures and the featured classes contained in this volume are those which were given at the 73rd Annual Bible Lectureship at Abilene Christian University on the theme: “Praising God: Themes from the Psalms.” Our worship ascends to the Father. We long for words of praise and adoration, but such words do not come readily to our lips. We rarely use such words in everyday communica- tion and we sometimes hear them used glibly by others. But our hesitation and reluctance rob us of an element of wor- ship that is extremely important. We know that our God deserves our praise. We want our lives to praise Him, but we desperately need to express that praise in public as well as private times of devotion. The focus of this year’s lectureship is designed to give us opportunities for praise including opportunities to develop our attitudes and language for more effective worship. The primary purpose of the Annual Bible Lectureship is to further the cause of Christ in the world. The Lectureship Committee seeks each year to bring outstanding men and women of God to the campus to speak on the most relevant and helpful subjects facing the people of God. It is hoped that these lectures will be helpful not only to those who were able to attend in person, but also through this volume, to thousands of others for years to come. Carl Brecheen Lectureshp Director THEME HUMBERTO RIVAS Address: Apartado Rivas Guadalajara, Jal. 45051 Mexico Family: Wife — Lety Sons — Julio Andres, 11 Guillermo, 6 Octavio, 4 Education: National University of Mexico Abilene Christian University University of Coahuila Degrees in Law and in Economics Work and Ministry: Humberto Rivas has worked with the Mexican branch of the Herald of Truth since 1970. He has held meetings and cam- paigns for the last 15 years in Mex- ico and is presently teaching a Sunday class for the young people at the church that meets in downtown Guadalajara. He is the son of Pedro R. Rivas, who began the first Church of Christ in Mexico in 1932 and started the small preacher training school there that still exists. Now, 500 congregations have been established in the coun- try — many of which were begun by men trained by Pedro Rivas. Abilene Christian University Lectures 11 Praise and Thanksgiving Psalms 30, 32, and 40 By Humberto Rivas “Till we all come...unto a perfect man...” Eph. 4:13 One of the most beautiful characteristics of the Christian life is the fact that those who are the children of God can rejoice even in adversity. But the most important reason for us to rejoice is the forgiveness God gives us when we accept our sinfulness and submit ourselves to His will. David had been through a series of very difficult problems caused by his enemies most of them within himself. He loved the Lord deeply, but his own human passions were an obstacle that did not allow him to be a better servant. Nevertheless, he was forgiven; and in that forgiveness he found many reasons to rejoice. David wrote Psalm 30 for the dedication of the temple, a temple that the Lord did not allow him to build, a temple he never saw, but that meant much to him. Being so, this psalm is a true summation of David’s relationship with God. One of the main discoveries he makes is that “the Lord’s anger lasts only a moment,” not so with His favor, because it “lasts a lifetime.” David had to go through the experience of feel- ing too secure to find out that we cannot take God for granted, that His blessings will be sent only to those that show Him an obedient love. When David is forgiven, praise and thanks- giving become the main themes of his life. 12 Abilene Christian University Lectures It is not wrong to feel secure, if that security is built on God’s love. In fact, the Christian must be a secure person trusting his whole life to the Lord. But the problems start when we try to outsmart Him who made us and begin to think, with Satan, that we can be gods. One way to find out how much we trust in ourselves is to ask us how much of our time and resources we use to buy some kind of security. But the main message in Psalm 30 is that if you are suffer- ing, God can turn a time of wailing into a time of dancing. In other words, if we surrender our lives to God, we will always have many reasons to rejoice in Him, reasons that we will never be able to purchase in any way. In opening Psalm 32, David uses some words that remind us of what he says in Psalm 1:1. He had been deceiving himself and, as a natural consequence, he had to go through deep suffering in which he felt as if he were dead. The man who thinks that he is “almost perfect” and “almost all powerful,” is prone to deceive himself. That is exactly what had hap- pened to David. Being a king must be very difficult for some- one who would also like to be humble at the same time. And humility is the attitude that lets us get closer to God and be forgiven. As long as we live in our sins, the Lord’s hand is going to be heavy upon us. We deny ourselves the privilege of having love, joy, and peace in our lives. David had to realize that only through the Grace of God can we be truly happy. In Psalm 40, David once again tells us that the Lord had lifted him out of a slimy pit. From this trash the Lord takes David to set his feet on a solid rock. The Lord’s love for David and for everyone who seeks Him is so great and amazing that He is willing to forgive David’s and our sins as soon as we truly repent and confess them to Him, asking His forgiveness. And God’s forgiveness is of such a nature that He is ready to lovingly welcome us, in spite of the fact that we don’t Praise and Thanksgiving 13 deserve it. How astonishing is the Grace of God! Any human action cannot be a work of merit. And in Psalm 40 we see the shadow of what became obvious in the work of Jesus the Christ: Salvation is a work of God through grace and not a work of merit through sacrifices and offerings. Faith shown through an attitude of believing and submissiveness to the will of God is the only way the power of the Lord is going to lift us out of a slimy pit. Once we have been lifted out, praise and thanksgiving are going to be so spontaneous and deeply meaningful to us that our lives will be filled with love, joy, and peace. One of the most difficult problems we have to deal with is the sense of guilt that some people cherish so much. We need to understand, with David, that God’s forgiveness is perfect and because of it we have been called to lead a holy life in which giving praise to our Lord is an essential part.