Opened Scriptures Bible Studies

Good evening dear readers..... Tonight we will finish this little Psalm of praise and I hope that the truth we have looked at is a blessing and an encouragement to each of you. We will look at verse 4 and then verse 5. Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,  and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him,  and bless his name. We see glory gratefully given to Jehovah by HIs redeemed children.  In this post we will see the last three unique phrases that are used by the Psalmist.  “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving” is the idea of meeting the LORD at an appointed time and at the appointed place. It is a command about having an attitude of thanksgiving when we go to meet with Him. “Thanksgiving” is found 54 times in the Bible.  Thanksgiving means offering a confession or praise to God. Thanksgiving refers to songs of liturgical worship and hymns of praise.  A thank-offering or sacrifice of thanksgiving. It is saying back to the LORD what y

Good morning to each of you! I hope your weekend was enjoyable and that you were able to attend service with your church family. The Lord granted us a wonderful Sunday together as our Pastor is preaching through the gospel of John in the morning and the book of Philippians in the afternoon. Today, we continue moving forward in this brief Psalm that shows us the beauty of worshipping our wonderful God. We will look at verse 3. HIS SHEEP SHOULD KNOW HIM WELL.... Psalm 100:3   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. This verse begins with another unique phrase: "Know ye that the LORD he is God" .  Verse 3 contains a really strong encouragement to know our God. Regular readers of this blog know that this is a theme that I try to point out whenever it is in the text we are discussing.  Some people only have a "head knowledge" of God.   That is t

Good morning to each of you. It is a cool but sunny Saturday and we received about 1 inch of rain in the last 36 hours. God's perfect timing since everything is growing fast and the water was readily absorbed. Today, we will look at verse 2 of this beautiful worship Psalm. This verse has two unique phrases not used anywhere else in the Bible, so I would like to look at each phrase individually. Psalm 100:2  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.  Psalm 100:2 (a) Serve the LORD with gladness. Here is the first unique phrase. The word “serve” refers to labor we undertake that can be focused upon things, focused upon other people or focused upon the LORD. When the focus of our labor is the LORD, it is an act of religious service to worship Him.  This word does not carry any connotations of the people of God doing dreary duties or tackling tedious tasks.  It refers to serving the Lord as a joyful experience of liberation.  I think t

Good morning to all of you.... This morning I would like to bring something before us that is intimately connected with the primary reason God created man: to worship and praise our Glorious God. I want to speak with you about the attitude of our hearts in responding to Jehovah with true worship and praise. My focus is not on the style of worship and praise, but on what a heart genuinely praising God, looks like in the scriptures.  I would like to explore Psalm 100 with you. It is only 5 verses but they tell us much about true praise and worship, from God's perspective. Let us read the text together and then look into it verse by verse. Psalm 100:1-5  1  Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2  Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3  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. 4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,  and into his co

 Good evening to all.... We have received some much needed spring rains and it seems to be accelerating the spring growth. We have 2 little Moses burning bushes and their foliage leafed out in one day!  We were blessed last night to hear our Pastor preach on 1 Samuel 1 & 2, the story of an amazing mother named Hannah. It is an account that encourages all Christians, men and women. It is a story of a childless woman bearing hurt and sorrow, and being subject to ridicule by another woman who had children of her own. It is a narrative of Hannah casting all of her frustration, cares and concerns upon the Lord of glory and leaving it in His hands.  The sermon should be available to download and listen in a few days and I would encourage you to do so. The website is heritagechurchohio.org.  We are moving on to the last two verses as we work our way through this Psalm of David. Jehovah our Shepherd serves His sheep  table  blessings in the middle of life’s battles. Psalm

Good morning Dear Readers..... This morning is awash in golden sunlight and the air is full of birds singing loudly. We have some bushes we planted years ago called Sand Cherries. They are now blossoming with small flowers of pink and five petals. They have a dark maroon center with a dot of gold.  The flowers are very small, maybe one inch diameter and the color really pops against the deep burgundy foliage of the bushes. The best part in my opinion is the wonderful scent that the blooms exude. It is one of the finest spring smells because it is sweet, refreshing, yet not overpowering.   This morning, we will look at verse 4 of Psalm 23. In verse 3 we learned of our need for periodic refreshment and revival, and that Jehovah is ready and willing to do this work in our lives. He does this so that we are ready to resume serving His purposes for our lives and through our lives. Jehovah our Shepherd grants safety and comfort in all circumstances. Psalm 23:4 4     Yea,