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The Trip of a Lifetime

By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor
First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort

Psalm 25:4-5

 No doubt you have taken some very interesting trips down through the years.  Some are definitely more memorable to me than others. 

As a child, I remember going on a family vacation to Washington D.C. and as we were waiting at a traffic light across from the Lincoln Memorial, fire shot up through the hood of our car.  On that same trip I developed a classic case of chicken pox.

Another trip that is most memorable was to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our honeymoon.  As wonderful as that honeymoon trip was there is yet another trip that has even greater significance to me.  It began on May 16^th 1965 when I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive my sin and to come into my heart.  This is truly the trip of a lifetime.  As Ira F. Stanphill puts it in his chorus “Happiness is to be forgiven, Living a life that’s worth the living, Taking a trip that leads to Heaven, Happiness is the Lord.” http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/happiness.html

 David the psalmist is referred to by God as “a man after My own heart who will do all My will” in Acts 13:22.  Listen to the heartbeat of a man after God’s own heart: “Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me,  For You are the God of my salvation; On You I will wait all the day” (Psalm 25:4-5, NKJV).

I. The Psalmist's Request of God
"Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,. . ." (vv. 4-5a)

 This is one way to pray for your self without being selfish!

 The substance of your petition denotes your fellowship with God.

 “Andrew Murray says, ‘Humility is the disappearance of self in the awareness that God is all.’”  Clyde Cranford, Because We Love Him: Embracing a Life of Holiness (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc. 2002), p. 188.

 The size of your petition denotes your faith in God.

 “Thou art coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring;

For His grace and pow’r are such, None can ever ask too much.”

--John Newton (1725-1807) “Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare”

Text from: THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941)          

  “The prayer of Psalm 25 complements the wisdom of Psalm 1.”

-- P.C. Cragie, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

II. The Psalmist's Relationship with God

". . .For You are the God of my salvation;. . ." (v. 5b)

 The psalmist does not merely have a religion he has a relationship with the living God. 

 Do you have a settled conviction that you have a scriptural conversion? 

  Can you say with Paul the apostle, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed unto Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12b)?

III. The Psalmist's Responsibility to God
". . . On You I wait all the day." (v. 5c)

 It has been said, “Teach a man his rights and start a revolution; teach a man his responsibility and start a revival.”

 What is it to wait on God?

 Matthew Henry writes:

1. It is to live a life of desire towards Him.  Our desire should be, not only towards the good things God gives, but towards God Himself.

2. It is to live a life of delight in God.  Desire is love in motion, as a bird upon the wing.  Delight is love at rest, as a bird upon her nest.

3. It is to live a life of dependence on God, as the child waits on the father.

4. It is to live a life of devotedness to God, as the servant waits on his master.

5. And it is to make His will our rule; for our practice or for our patience, as the will of His providence my ordain.

THIS WE MUST DO EVERY DAY AND ALL DAY LONG.

The Biblical Illustrator, ed. Joseph S. Exell The Psalms Vol. I (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, n.d.), p. 498.

By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor
First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort
P.O. Box 7111
8353 Spanish Fort Boulevard
Spanish Fort, Alabama 36577

Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice

(North Charleston, South Carolina: BookSurge Publishing, 2004)

fkirksey@bellsouth.net

(251) 626-3070 or 626-6210

© April 18, 2005

All Rights Reserved