Psalms 58

11 So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”


How many of you like rewards programs.
1) earn $5 Extra Bucks Rewards for every 10 prescriptions filled.
2) JC Penny says You'll earn a $10 card for every $100 spent
3) Papa Jones says - Earn 1 point for every $5 you spend online 
4) Regal cinemas says - each time you buy a ticket, you earn reward points and you can redeem them for Popcorn next time.
5) Costco, Sams club, BJs, every one says you spend monthly 250 - annual you ear 60$.
6) Kohls occasionally gives 30% coupons.


Rewards, Rewards,Rewards.
The world attracts people with rewards programs.



But this verse 11 says, Surely there is a reward for the righteous.

The Lord gives rewards for the righteous.
The Rewards

Gods plan for your life when you die on this earth.
But Gods plan goes on for eternity



Let us look at the Rewards that are that for believers

1 Corinthians 3:8-11

 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Rewards are the way Jesus feels about you for your love to Him.

Your salvation is built on Lord Jesus.

But you have to build on top of it.

Every one's work will be tested.
This work will be your choices, your little things.

Parable of the  talents. 
When the person who was given 5 talents brought five other talents, then the Lord says Well Done.
There is a reward.

Matthew 25:
 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Every little thing that we have and how we use it, it matters.

every choice, even your money how we use it matters, and it will be rewarded.

because what do you have that you have not received it.

and if you have received it, are you not the steward to take care of it.

And even the money that you use will have big impact in coming life.

The Exchange rate is BIG.

Fire does not hurt gold, silver.

Fire consumes wood, hay, straw.




We should know that you have work in millennium rule.
the 1000 year rule in new Jerusalem.

Dont be shocked when you see God face to face.
We should ask God, shock me now to show my faults , blind spots, that i can reject wickedness.


Some will be called least in the kingdom, some will be called great in the kingdom.

Matthew 10:

40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”


Heaven is full of rewards.

Wickedness - Righteousness


David uses highly descriptive language comparing the wicked to snakes, serpents, cobras, and lions, and prays to God to "smash their teeth in their mouth, shatter the molars of young lions…His arrows, may they be as if crumbled to pieces"

Saul used wicked judges to label David as traitor. and out of that agony, David writes this psalm.

Characteristics of Wicked one:
1) Their heart is corrupted - 
                    The thoughts of the wicked are corrupt.
                    They continuously think bad about others. 
                    They hearts are lustful. They want what others have.
(David earned reputation by his victory of goliath.
But Saul demands reputation).


2) The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

Esau, was estranged from the womb. 

The wicked's nature is lies. and their father is devil.

David uses highly descriptive language comparing the wicked to snakes, serpents, cobras, and lions, 

We know that the sins that are committed by a person not only affects that man, but the household and there by coming generations.
The decision that you take will impact even next generations.

And when a person commits wickedness, even the children are impacted.
so, is God partial? is God just?

Ezekiel 18 : Reveals the heart of God for mans life.
This chapter talks about Righteousness and wickedness.


Ezekiel 18:20-24

20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

24 “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness

Look at the heart of God, Even though a father might be wicked, but the son can get away from that wickedness, when the son or daughter chose to go for Righteousness.

When a person believes in Christ, he is choosing righteousness.
And that belief is not a one time activity, but that belief is throughout your life.

A person does wickedness because he does not believe.
wickedness in persons lives reveals that he does not believe.

So your generational transfer of curse can be broken when you chose Righteousness.


God does not have any pleasure when a wicked person dies.
The last verse says
 V 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”


Church, can you turn to righteousness. In the end
In the end what matters is Righteousness, Everyone has to be presented blameless before the Father.

When you hear this psalm today, Can you choose righteousness in every walk of your life.

In your heart, can you reject wickedness and choose righteousness,
The righteousness you received from the Lord, can it be manifested in the Words that you speak?

This morning , let Christ be glorified because the Church chose righteousness.

Find yourself

Praise the Lord Everyone.

Hope you are all doing good. Its so wonderful to see all of you in this Zoom meeting. 

I will share my screen, and show you few Women.

Tell me something what you know about the following Women

1) Serena Williams - Tennis Champion

2)  Elizabeth || - Queen of England

3) Oprah Winfrey - Famous TV Host

If I ask you to say something about Esther . we  all might say Esther was a Queen. Earlier when we were asked to Identity these women, we Identified  them by their Success.

We rarely Identify how that person built their life to achieve that Success. We don't talk about their hardships , their Challenges and their response in their Challenging time. 

Today Let us look at the life of Esther.

We know that Esther was Queen. We talk about her success.But we don't talk about how her life was built.

BACKGROUND

I will give a quick background  about Esther's life.

 a) King Ahasuerus was looking for a New Queen in place of Vashti. 

 b) All the Beautiful young girls from the kingdom were brought into Custody of Hegai  , King's eunuch.  Esther was also one among them.

 c) Esther was a Jewish girl, brought up by her uncle Mordecai.

This is her background, 

ESTHER'S LIFE

A) OBEDIENCE 

Now let us read Esther Chapter 2:V 10

10 Esther had not [k]revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.

GIRLS TALK

Here we see that Esther had not revealed anything about background. 

Usually When girls meet together , it is very natural for them to talk about their backgrounds, the place they come from, their roots etc.

we all know that when we women meet, many times we tell about ourselves, our background and our interests.

ESTHER'S TALK

Many people might have questioned about Esther's family when she was brought into Hegai's custody.

It is difficult to NOT talk about her background , especially if she was going to become the queen of the kingdom.

It is easy to speak a lot, but it hard Not to speak.

Especially if someone tells us not to say something, as a woman it is very difficult to keep it in our heart.

ESTHER's OBEDIENCE AND REASON

But if  we look at Esther's life, she  was someone who was raised under a Covering. that Covering was her uncle Mordecai.

Here Mordecai was a man of God , who can be seen here as a Shepherd in Esther's life.

Esther  was an obedient girl who submitted to her authority.

She knows what submission means, she knows what obedience means.

She knows when NOT to speak and She also knows when to speak, because her Shepherd was continually guiding her with his word.

So, this verse 10 says Esther did not reveal her background because She heard the Word from Mordecai and she received the Word and she obeyed the Word.

There is another place where Esther revealed her Obedience 

Let us read Esther 4:8 NKJV

He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people.

Here Mordecai sent a Word to Esther to reveal her background  before king and Save her people.

Conclusion for Obedience

Every time the word came from Mordecai, Esther has shown her Obedience to his word.

When the Word come to us, obedience will reveal our love  towards God.

Esther's life was built on her obedience. She obeyed her shepherd's word before becoming queen, and even after she became queen.

Everyone see the success of Esther as queen, but many do not realize her obedience.

The first aspect that we can learn from  Esther's life is her obedience to the Word.

____________________________________________________________________

B) CHOICES

Let us look at another aspect of Esther  - how she built her life.

After 6 months of beauty preparations are done for the girls, each of these girls had to go before the king.

and each girl was given a Choice to take with her whatever she desires and go before the king.

For example, 

     if a girl desires to take ornaments of gold, diamonds etc before the king, she would be given that. 

     if another girl wants to take expensive and beautiful clothing, that will be given to her.

so every girl can make a choice according to their desires.

ESTHER's CHOICES

      Now Let us read what Esther choose to take before king when her turn came.

Let us read Esther 2:15 NKJV

 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

when Esther's turn came, She DID NOT choose according to her desire , 

She requested NOTHING of her own desires or likes.

She put away her own will when making choices,  but she made her choice based on the advice of Hegai.

Hegai knows the heart of king  and what pleases the king and Esther was willing to take Hegai's advise.

Hegai represents the role of the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit  knows the heart of God,and reveals heart of God.

In our lives, we are always faced with situations to make choices.

Some might make their choices according to their desires and own will, but we, as daughters of Most High , our Choices should always be according to the Counsel of the Holy Spirit.

CONCLUSION OF CHOICE - SUCCESS, FAVOR

We talk about Success of Esther as Queen, but we rarely talk about the Choices She made. Her choices were not like all other girls. 

The Choice she made, brought favor before all and  She ended up being the Queen of the kingdom.

____________________________________________________________________

C) IDENTITY

Now Let us look at the final aspect of Esthers life.

Today many in the world are going through Identity crisis. Many people do not know what their true identity is.

Some are struggling to even know their true gender is.

Some are struggling to see where they belong.

Identity crisis is the one of the biggest reasons of many problems that we see in society today.

Do you know what your identity is?

You may say "I know I am Christian" "I am a believer"

But when you face challenges Is that identity revealed?

Example of President's Children

If we see the  children of the president of a Country , they  will Carry their  Identity wherever  they will go. whether it is  School, or work place they will Carry their Identity as a president's Children.

The actions of the Presidents children will either bring honor or dishonor to the president.

Similarly, a believers actions or response will either bring honor or dishonor to our God.

Let us read Esther 4:V15

15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in [c]Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”

Esther's Identity and Responsibility

Esther was in a palace. She was in the position of a queen, and there were pleasures in the palace  and She was surrounded by maid servants.

Now when she was faced with the challenge,  She did not identify herself with the position or with pleasures , but  Esther understood that her true identity is  Child of God.  

She Identified herself as Jewish girl,  with the Jewish people and that identity  brought a great responsibility of saving God's people.

Your Identity brings responsibility.

Even though it was a very difficult matter to go before the king without kings invitation, she was willing to risk her life to carry out her responsibilities because she knew her identity.

Believer's Identity and Responsibility

We live in a world where we face constant challenges at schools, home, workplace and in relationships.

One day, a believer girl came to me and asked me, Am I looking like a movie star, then I told her, you are more precious than a movie star.

Many times we try to identify with celebrities, but do we know we are bought by the precious blood of Christ and our identity is in HIM only.

Those who know their Identity, they will know their true responsibility.

Woman's Responsibilities

If we see a  Woman she has so many responsibilities.

a) As a Daughter she has Responsibility towards parents.

b) As a wife she has Responsibility towards husband.

c) As a Mother she a responsibility towards child.

As believer and as a Daughter of Most high we have Responsibility to carry his Identity Wherever we are.

The Word says in John 1:12.

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name".

God gave his Identity to us.

*****As a daughter of Most high our Response matters in every situation.

*****Esther Recognized her Identity is  Daughter of God.

***** Esther understood her Responsibility is to save God's people.

*****Her response was She did fasting and prepared herself to go before the king.

****Esther responded in godly way.

When we go out into the world, it is our actions that will speak louder about our Identity and to whom we belong to.

 As a believer If you know your Identity is in Christ, you will know your responsibility. 

Your response in every situation will reveal what your identity is. 

Our Godly Response will always Bless us and make Blessing to Others.

so to summarize what we learnt today from life of Esther.

a) Obedience to the Word - Esther obeyed her shepherd's Word before going to the palace and even after she entered the palace.  

Place, Position, situations , people did not stop Esther in obeying the Word.

b) Choices Matter - Esther choices are not from her own desires, but she chose nothing except what Hegai advised.  What a blessed choice that Esther made.

c) Identity -  Esther realized her identity as Child of God. She identified herself with jewish people and that brought a great responsibility upon her and she was willing to even die for her people. 

Esther found her true identity.,

Can we also find our true identity. We are the daughters of Most High. 

Let us build our lives on the Obedience to the Word, Making Godly Choices and realize our identity and our responsibility.

Amen.

SS preteens 0530

Bible Lesson

https://vimeo.com/showcase/7173665


Scripture
Luke 11
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for [e]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”


ASK

Sometimes we try to keep within ourselves, but the Bible say  ASK

Jesus says ASK

John 4:9
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

1 Samuel 1:20
20 So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name [f]Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”


Proverbs 30:7,8,9
Two things I request of You
(Deprive me not before I die):
8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
9 Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God.

James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Also Ready to be Asked.
1 Peter 3

 15 But [d]sanctify [e]the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Psalm 57

To the Music Director again the Tune of this song should be set to
"Do Not Destroy"

Your tune should instruct the Church members  to Build others , and not Destroy others.

Even to the hearers of  this Psalm, and the ones who are meditating, your hearts should be tuned to theme of  " Do Not Destroy"

Build,  Do Not Destroy.

Destroying something or someone is pretty easy.

Destroying a building is very easy. But Building something takes time, energy, effort, hardship.

It is easy to destroy someone with your words, but to Build a person it takes time.

The Lord Jesus had to spend time 3 and half years to Build His Disciples.
The Lord has to spend time with Samaritan woman to bring out life in her.
The Pastor has to spend hours to build someone.
and how much time does it take destroy another?

As you listen to this Psalm, Set our hearts to Build Someone.
I will commit myself to Build someone.


V 4 My soul is among lions;
I lie among the sons of men
Who are set on fire,
Whose teeth are spears and arrows,
And their tongue a sharp sword.

David was among people who want to destroy him. 

Tongue is compared to sharp sword, and teeth are spears and arrows.

Your tongue is a potential Sword and your teeth are Spears and Arrow. Destruction.

The Bible also says A good reports brings health to the bones.

Psalmist's response for all calamities around him is this.

V 2

I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.

Psalmists view of God is this. God who performs all things for me.
What is your View of God?

Do you only know God as someone who can provide to you in your needs?
DO you only know God as someone who can heal you in times of sickness?
Do you only know God as One who gives eternal life?
Do you only know God who gives your job promotion?

In which Box  are you containing God?
When Solomon built the temple, and on the day of dedication, he said,

1 Kings 8:27
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 

heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You.

You cannot Box God in your compartment.
Today I want to you to stretch your faith to know God out of your Box.
To experience God out of your box, does not happen automatically. But You must be a Seeker.

V8
Awake, my glory!
Awake, lute and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.


God is a rewarder of those who seek Him diligently.
Psalmist says I will awaken the dawn.
Psalmist stretched himself to wakeup the morning.

The Woman with the issue of the blood stretched her faith and saw the deliverance.
Zaccheaus stretched his faith and climbed onto a tree and saw the salvation.

The Problem Israel had throughout the wilderness was that they were containing Him in a box just to provide their needs. They never knew God out of that box and many perished because of that.

Psalmist says I cry to God who performs all things for me.

To truly enter the land of Canan means , Donot limit God to the Box. But Experience HIM.

SS Preteen 05/23

Songs

Worship -

Reckless Love - Abi

Goodness of God - Joanna

Be Brave to Share about Jesus.

Acts 7

Even in the midst of challenges, can you share Jesus.

Stephen shared about Jesus even when facing death

Judges 6 talks about Gideon.

But he was scared man, but God calls him a valiant man.

You are who God calls you, not what you think about yourself, and not what others say about you.

Judges 6

12 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”

15 So he said to Him, “O [d]my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

What are some of the fears and you still kept going?

Sometimes, we have fears, but the presence of Holy Spirit keeps us going.