A GREAT DOXOLOGY

“O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth" (Psalm 8:9 NKJV).

This verse presents us with a great doxology about God. In it we want to note the following: submission to God, character of God, and place for God.

Submission to God – “O LORD, our Lord.” It is important to note that the first “LORD” and the second “Lord” are translated from two different Hebrew words. The first “LORD” is written in all caps to distinguish it as different from the second “Lord” which is the Hebrew word “Adonai.” “LORD” is the great Tetragrammaton and refer to Yahweh or Jehovah. The second “Lord” means master. The first “LORD” says who God is; the second “Lord” says who we are, namely, servants. The Psalmist thus submits to God by taking the servant position. Some folks will acknowledge God, but will not submit to Him. We will never find our place in life until we first learn God’s place in our life.

Character of God – “Excellent is Your name.” In the Bible a person’s name oftentimes represented the person’s character. Today, when we say a person has a good ‘name,’ it means he has a good character. So, the Psalmist here is praising God’s character. The character of Jehovah God is unequaled which makes Him far superior to the heathen gods. His holiness, mercy, love, power, and wisdom are in excellence beyond all human comprehension. Many folks disrespect the character of God and of Christ today. We need to get back to the Scriptures to learn that God’s character is “excellent.”

Place for God – “In all the earth.” Many folk limit God’s place to church; they do not want Him in the government or in the schools. Further, many folk limit God’s place to Sunday but not to the other days of the week. And some folk wear their profession of faith in God when they are with other Christians but not when they are with the unsaved. But our text says God is applicable everywhere. We need God on all days of the week. We need Him at work and at play. We need Him in government as well as in church.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“God’s work of creating is done; our work of praising has just begun!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Dishonor

In Rom. 1:24 we read, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves” (NKJV).

Dishonor (transform) is the Greek word amatízō (ἀτιμάζω = at-im-ad'-zo). It is made up of two words: “á” the alpha negative which means not, without, and “time” which means to honor. Thus the word means to treat with indignity or to cause to be disgraced or degraded. It is to treat shamefully, to insult whether in word, or in deed. It is to cause to have a low status involving dishonor and disrespect. Often this involved physical abuse. Amatízō in this passage is in the present tense indicating these people were continuing to dishonor their bodies.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah would be the David’s “Seed” (2 Sam. 7:12)

New Testament Fulfillment – Matt. 1:1

Bible Facts

The solution to suffering (Rev. 21). Neither evolution nor religion offers a solution to suffering. But God offers heaven as a gift to all who trust in His Son. In heaven, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

Bible Quiz

Where was Zechariah when the angel Gabriel appeared to him?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: What did John the Baptist say upon seeing the Lord Jesus coming toward him? “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

That’s in the Bible

"Sitting at the receipt of custom”

"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him” (Matt. 9:9 KJV).

“Sitting at the receipt of custom” - The expression “sitting at the receipt of custom” refers to a money handler or cashier. The name Matthew means ‘Gift of Yah (Jehovah)’ in Aramaic. He is also called by his other name, Levi, in Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27. This meant that he belonged to the tribe of Levi, a tribe set apart to represent the other tribes of Israel before God. This must have made his becoming a tax collector despicable to the Jews. Tax collectors took a commission on the taxes they collected, so most of them overcharged and kept the profits. Thus, most Jews hated tax collectors because of their reputation for cheating, their support of Rome, and their constant contact with ‘unclean’ Gentiles. A Jew who accepted such an office shamed his family and friends and was excommunicated from the synagogue. Nevertheless Jesus chose him. Matthew recognized that Jesus was not inviting him; Jesus was calling him. His radical obedience would cause a great change in his life.

Stories of Favorite Christmas Carols

Once in Royal David's City

Once in Royal David’s City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), was born in Dublin, Ireland, and began writing in verse from an early age. She became so adept that by the age of 22, several of her hymn texts made it into the hymnbook of the Church of Ireland. ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ was first published in 1848 in Miss Cecil Humphreys’ hymnbook Hymns for little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry John Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music. Cecil Humphreys, meanwhile, married the Anglican clergyman William Alexander in 1848 and upon her husband’s consecration became a bishop’s wife in 1867. She is also remembered for her hymn ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful.’ Aside from her prolific hymn writing, Mrs. Alexander gave much of her life to charitable work and social causes, something rather rare for women of her day.

A Little Humor

A little boy returned from Sunday school with a new perspective on the Christmas story. He had learned all about the Wise Men from the East who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. He was so excited he could hardly wait to tell his parents. As soon as he arrived home, he immediately began, “I learned all about the very first Christmas in Sunday school today! There wasn’t a Santa Claus way back then, so these three skinny guys on camels had to deliver all the toys! And Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with his nose so bright wasn’t there yet, so they had to have this big spotlight in the sky to find their way around!”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Jesus can change the foulest sinner into the finest saint!”