Sermon Notes

A DEVOTION FROM THE PSALMS

TURNING IT OVER TO THE LORD

Psalm 54 teaches us that victory is gained only by turning everything in our lives over to the Lord. If we leave him out, we will never be victorious. If we turn only part of our life over to him, our Christian life will be a struggle, and probably not faithful or fruitful.

1. If we want salvation, we must call upon His Name (v1a)
2. If we want justice, it can be gained only by His strength (v1b-3)
3. If we want help and deliverance, we must get it from Him (v4-7)

Genuine worship and praise flow only out of God's presence and power in our life. If you want to experience that, you must turn everything over to Him.

DEFENDING YOUR FAITH IN GOD

This section contains a defense of the Christian faith. Keep these monthly notes for reference or use in sharing with others. (Ninth in the series)

Did God create the heavens and the earth? The Bible tells us He did. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). God tells us He created grass, herbs and fruit trees (v11). God created the heavens and all that is in them (vs14-19). God created fish and birds (v20). In v21, we have the creation of whales and other creatures living in the water, and every winged fowl, everything with wings like ostriches and emus that do not fly. God created land animals, cattle, creeping things and beasts of the earth (vs24-25). Then in vs26-30, God created man, Adam and Eve.

Man is God's greatest creative achievement. Man is made in the image and likeness of God himself. I may be getting ahead of myself here, but I want you to consider the complexity of man. Man’s body has about 30,000,000,000,000 cells. They come in four types: metabolic, sense, growth and reproduction. Scientifically man is classified as...

Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Euthera
Order: Primate
Suborder: Anthropoidea
Group: Catarrhini
Family: Hominidae
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens (Meaning to know. Scientists tell us we are the only creature that knows who we are. We have, or are a living soul).

All living creatures have instinct, which is derived through their preprogramed DNA. Salmon know to go upstream to spawn; the monarch butterfly knows to make its journey from Mexico to Canada; and the monkey knows how to get food, even learning new ways to get it (However, their learned behavior is not transmitted to their offspring). Scientists know that no other creature has a soul and self-consciousness. Man is the only creation of God that knows who he is, what he is, and where he is. Man has self-consciousness, and is the only creature that is conscious of the existence of God. Man could not have evolved!