Sunday, May 10, 2020 – Welcome Home 1
Pastor Troy Brewer, OpenDoor Church, Burleson, Texas
PSALM 118 – THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE
According to independent research, the King James Version (KJV) of the Holy Bible contains 1189 chapters; Psalm 117 is the 595th; there are 594 chapters before Psalm 117, and 594 after it. Thus, it is 117, not 118, that is the center chapter of the Bible.
The KJV has an even number of verses (31,102) and, thus, does not have a single middle verse.
The “middle verses” are Psalm 103:1-2, with 15,550 verses before and after.
Psalms 103:1-2 (A Psalm of David)
Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
Psalm 118 does not name an author in its title, but there is reason to believe it was King David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel. Ezra 3:10-11 suggests that Psalm 118 was sung at the founding of the second temple, and when they sang it, they attributed it to David (“according to the ordinance of David King of Israel,” Ezra 3:10).
“Most probably David was the author of this psalm… It partakes of David’s spirit, and everywhere shows the hand of a master. The style is grand and noble; the subject, majestic.” (Adam Clarke)
Psalms 118
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel now say, “His mercy endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, “His mercy endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord now say, “His mercy endures forever.”
5 I called on the Lord in distress;
The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
7 The Lord is for me among those who help me;
Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
11 They surrounded me, Yes, they surrounded me;
But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
12 They surrounded me like bees;
They were quenched like a fire of thorns;
For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
13 You pushed me violently, that I might fall,
But the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live,
And declare the works of the Lord.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord,
Through which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise You, for You have answered me,
And have become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord, and He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise You;
You are my God, I will exalt You.
29 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Though this was likely David’s psalm, it was also Jesus’ psalm. “This is pre-eminently the triumph song of the Christ, He the ideal Servant, He the perfect Priest, He the Leader of the people. How much all these words meant to Him as He sang them on that night in the upper room.” (G. Campbell Morgan)
Matthew 23:39
“…for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
The Hebrew for “blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord” is the official Godly welcome of Israel.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
THE OFFICIAL WELCOME MATTERS
AS A PROPHETIC ACT
Jesus told Simon the Leper because he didn’t welcome him correctly and because Mary the sister of Lazarus did, that all the attention would go to her and the whole meeting was about what she was doing. (Matthew 26)
Jesus said in Mark 9:37
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
We have to learn how to welcome the things, the ways and the person of God into every single part of our life.
Definition of welcome
transitive verb: to greet hospitably and with courtesy or cordiality
THE WORDS WELCOME HOME ARE INTERESTING WORDS TO ME
I LOVE WORD ORIGINS AND THE MARVEL OF LANGUAGE
The word Window – Wind hole you build in the wall.
Thresh hold – the things you put at the bottom of the door to keep your hay on your dirt floor
GEEK– IN THE 1800S A GEEK WAS A SIDE SHOW CIRCUS FREAK THAT BIT THE HEAD OFF OF ANIMALS. While that was going on, another geek would be working the crowd. That were superior marketing people who knew what the world didn’t know in promoting the buying of circus products. AND THAT’S WHY IN 2020 THE WORD GEEK MEANS SOCIALLY AWKWARD AND TECHNICALLY SAVVY.
The origins of the word ‘language’ meaning ‘expression of word’ comes from “lingua” or “the tongue.”
Revelation 7:9
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, Kindreds, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands
A unified mass of humanity before the throne that John could not imagine the number of people or the diversity in that redeemed crowd. Yet they were unified, all clothed in white, all of them righteous and all of the worshipping Jesus with palm branches in their hands.
It gives 4 different categories of human beings
4 is the number for creation
4 lunar cycles
4 seasons
4 elements
4 directions
4 Gospels to all creation
On the 4th day God created the material universe on the 4th day
Nations: “ethnos” or racial ethnic groups
Kindreds: tribes and variations of every race
Peoples: great variation of classes, skills and abilities
Tongues: languages and accents
Everybody belongs there. That’s what Home is all about. See, Heaven is not the place you go after you leave home. Heaven is the home you go to after you leave this place.
But that brings me to the language of this brand new teaching series “Welcome HOME.”
The language in the title
Middle English, alteration of wilcume, from Old English, from wilcuma desirable guest (akin to Old High German willicomo desirable guest); akin to Old English willa, will desire, cuman to come — more at WILL, COM
“I will you come.”
WELCOME: to accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of somebody
“Welcome Home” is the phrase so let’s look at the word “Home”
Homes comes from the original understanding of belonging.
Middle English hom, hoome “dwelling, building, one’s native town or land,” going back to Old English hām “landed property, estate, dwelling, house, inhabited place, native land,” going back to Germanic *haima- “dwelling” (whence also Old Saxon & Old Frisian hēm “home, dwelling,” Middle Dutch heem, heim “dwelling,” Old High German heima “dwelling, homeland,” Old Norse heimr “abode, land, this world,” Gothic haims “village, countryside, [in compounds] home”), of uncertain origin
Haim Ham. Ham changed to HOM. Hom changed to
“at home.” So home is either what belongs to you and what you belong to.
When you say WELCOME HOME you are actually saying
Welcome Home
“I am so willing… for you to come here… and belong here.’
Friends I say that to you, and the staff and team say that today, because this is what the heart of Jesus is all about. This is what He says to all of us. Welcome home!
After several months of not having the freedom to gather as Christians or assemble together, we have finally been given back our rights to love God, to love each other, and join together in the same place, in a public setting and in broad daylight.
Welcome Home my friends!!!
Genesis 24:31a
And he said, ‘Come in, O blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and a place for you…’
Jesus says he goes away to prepare a place for you.
Don Piper in his amazing account called “90 Minutes in Heaven” says that when he died and went to heaven, every person who had influenced him for the kingdom or was instrumental in his faith met him at the gate and welcomed him into heaven.
Philippians 2:29
“Welcome him joyfully in the Lord.”
We are supposed to actually be happy to be together.
Hebrews 13:1-2
Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
1 Samuel 25:6
And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!’
Romans 15:7
Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.
AS MUCH AS WE WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE WELCOME HERE, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT JESUS IS WELCOME HERE.
The welcoming of the God the Father
Father your Kingdom come and your will be done
The welcoming of King Jesus
We seek the King and Kingdom and we officially and cordially welcome you here, Sir.
The welcoming of the Holy Spirit