VESPERS!--PSALM 2:1-5    DO 1694  4/82

         1. Will somebody please lead us in prayer? (Fam: Thank You Lord! We thank You for Your Word, Lord Jesus, that strengthens us. Thy Words are Spirit & they are Life. (Jn.6:63) We pray You would bless this reading now & time with You. Help us to be good listeners & to learn. Do bless Dad, in Jesus' name. TYL!)
         2. We had a good little study last time. We don't have very long tonight, but we'll get in a few verses perhaps. Do you like to have these little Evening Vespers? (Fam: Amen!) Now Techi, you've got to sit down & be quiet, Honey. It's not time to play. You can sit here by Grandpa if you'll be quiet. Don't talk & interrupt Grandpa, just listen, because this is a very serious time when we're listening to God's Word & reading the Bible. Amen! PTL! TYJ! I hope you don't mind if I read to save time, & I'll probably stop sometimes to ask you a question. The first verse asks you a question right there!
         3. (Verse 1:) "Why do the heathen rage, & the people imagine a vain thing?" He's going ahead here continuing his, you might say, rhetorical question. (Verse 2:) "The kings of the Earth set themselves, & the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, & against His anointed." Now, he's really answering his question. What do they say?
         4. (Verse 3:) "Let us break their bands asunder, & cast away their cords from us." Why do they rage? Why do they imagine a vain thing? You've read a lot of it in the newspapers when they were raging at us & imagining all kinds of vain things about us. Well, it's a very common thing.
         5. It's happened to God's people ever since the beginning, probably since the first newspaper ever printed or the Daily Bulletin on the City Hall door! I wouldn't be surprised if the first one was against God's people! They rage & imagine a vain thing & they say, "Let us break their bands asunder & cast away their cords from us!" But how come? What do you mean? I thought we're the ones that are in bands & tied with cords? Huh? But they're the ones that are saying, "Let us break their bands asunder & cast away their cords from us." What is it they don't like about us?
         6. Why didn't the Scribes & Pharisees & religious leaders & religionists like Jesus? (Fam: Because of his freedom.) And what else? (Fam: Well, He told the people they didn't have to obey the laws any more & set them free from the Synagogue & the Law.) Yes, the Scribes & the Pharisees didn't like that--but the people liked it.
         7. But why does it speak of His enemies as being bound by Him & by us? He exposed them for one thing, right?--And what did that bring? I'll use a modern expression: It sort of "cramped their style"! Didn't that sort of put them under a bit of bondage to the Truth & sort of hog-tie them with the Word? Weren't they then sort of bound to obey?
         8. And weren't they then really tied up by His Words & they weren't quite as free to practice their hypocrisy & their self-righteousness any more without conscience & to be able to excuse themselves for it? Now they were exposed, & in so doing, He bound them & He limited them. He hindered them & He restricted their self-righteous ceremonial pharisaical operations. They couldn't get away with it any more.
         9. So what did they do?--They raged! They were furious & they imagined vain things!--Not only vain things about Him, but vain things about their own ability to get rid of Him & get rid of the bands & the cords with which He & His Word & the Truth & His disciples were binding & hindering the operations of the Enemy of the Truth.
         10. This is why our enemies get so mad at us, because we expose them with the Truth, & this hinders the Enemy & his ability to deceive. He's the hinderer who tries to hinder us, but when we expose him with the Truth of God's Word--as we have about sex & a lot of other things--whew!--It makes them furious because they're exposed and they can't stand it!
         11. There's no way they can fight the Truth but to try to kill the Truth-giver, & this is what they did to Jesus & His disciples & some of the Patriarchs & every Prophet of God & every man of God who's ever arisen to speak the Truth of God!
         12. It has really cramped the style of the Enemy! It has hindered & bound his operations & tied his hands from doing his dirty work!--Because he couldn't oppose the Truth, he couldn't deny the Truth! See? It's restrictive, it cramps their style, it hinders them, so they say, "Let's break their bands asunder & cast away their cords from us! Let's get rid of them! They bother us, they're hindering our work--our dirty work!"
         13. (Verse 4:) But "He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh!" These little pip-squeaks down here trying to hinder us & obstruct God's Word & persecute us & stop us--God laughs at them! It's like that vision the Lord showed me: They might as well run out & hold up their hands & try to stop the rain! (See "They Can't Stop Our Rain!", ML #128.) "He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision."
         14. Let me tell you, it's not too funny when God laughs! When God gets to the point that He laughs at His enemies, they're pretty close to the end--their end--& those who have opposed God's Children & God's Work have always come to their end. God has allowed them for a little while, He's allowed the persecution, as we brought out in a number of Letters.
         15. What is the main purpose of persecution? (Fam: To scatter.) Yes, well, one of the first things it does, is it helps to purify with the fire of persecution. It purifies & sifts the seed, you might say, & divides the weak from the strong, the sheep from the goats. But it usually never comes until what? (Fam: The job is done.) Yes, you've finished your job. You've made such an impact that the Devil is furious, & that's why they're persecuting!
         16. So one of the purposes of persecution, besides being good for you personally, is also to get you out of there!--Drive you out someplace where there's another harvest, to scatter you. Otherwise we have a tendency to get settled down and to get comfortable & it's hard to keep moving--as you guys ought to know! So the Lord just laughs at them: "The Lord shall have them in derision."
         17. What's derision, David?--It's to make fun of somebody. God makes fun of them because they're so silly & stupid & ridiculous trying to stop the Work of God & God's Children! They could never stop us, right? They're trying to stop God!
         18. When my Mother was lying on her deathbed after the Lord healed her, she told the nurse to get her some pillows & she was going to sit up, that the Lord was healing her. Instead of that, the nurse phoned the doctor & he said, "It's the deathwalk! Hold her down!" So the nurse came in & grabbed ahold of her two legs & tried to hold her in bed! Imagine, she'd been dying & now they were trying to hold her down!
         19. Mother said, "You'd better get out of God's way! You're just like standing in front of an express train! If you don't get out of God's way, He's going to run right over you!" If they don't get out of God's way He's going to run right over them!--And He's run over many an enemy & many a country that has opposed His children, & many a power that has persecuted His Prophets!
         20. God allowed it for a little while, while it was good for His children & it got them scattered out someplace else where they were needed, & some of them had been martyred as a testimony, it accomplished its purpose. But boy, did He sock it to their enemies for doing it!
         21. He let the Enemy accomplish his purpose, but then He rolled right over them & ground them to powder every one!--Mat.21:44. Just read down through history & the Bible! He lets His people suffer a little while, but it does them good & it does the Work good, gets it spread out more. PTL!
         22. (Verse 5:) For "Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, & vex them in His sore displeasure!" Then He'll really sock it to'm! Well, praise the Lord! That's a good place to stop because the next verse is kind of on a little different subject. That was a nice little short message to encourage you! PTL! Amen!
         23. That kind of a sermon you don't sit there & suffer & yawn & groan & grin & bear it! That's why Alf is saying "Amen" so loud over here! Best sermon he ever heard because it's probably the shortest one he ever heard! I don't blame you, Alf. Honey, that was good! I was enjoying your "Amen's"! Praise the Lord!
         24. Thank you for letting me use your Bible, Techi! You were an instrument of the Lord tonight. You were like the little boy with the loaves & the fishes. Remember when all the people were hungry, he gave his loaves & his fishes to Jesus, & Jesus fed the multitude with just that one little boy's lunch.--Jn.6:5-14.
         25. This was your little lunch & your loaves & fishes of the Spirit to feed you, but you let Daddy use it tonight just like the little boy let Jesus have his loaves & fishes, & it fed the multitude instead of just you! Isn't that good? Good girl! That was your lunch & you gave it to the whole Family tonight.
         26. (Techi: Did the little boy still have some?) Yes, of course! They gave him some too. He probably got back just as much & maybe even more than he gave to Jesus, I'll betcha! Imagine, 5,000 men were fed plus all the women & children, there must have been at least 15 or 20 thousand people there! (Techi: I'm not a boy, but I'm a girl!) Yes, but that's okay, He blesses girls too!
         27. And they picked up 12 baskets full of scraps afterward, think of that! Jesus wasn't for wasting things, was He? His disciples went around & picked up the scraps like Mother Eve & like Maria. If we ever eat out, after dinner she always scoops our leftovers into her little bag & brings it home to you to feed the disciples! The disciples were probably thinking about the times when they didn't always have lunch & they made sure they saved some for lunch the next day! So PTL! Amen? TYJ! Someone lead us in closing prayer.
         28. (Alf: TYL! Thank You so much for these little devotions we've had the past couple of nights, Lord, in Thy Word, & that we've been able to share these Psalms. There's so much hidden & behind them, Lord, we didn't even realise it! Thank You so much for Dad & Mama sharing with us & making it so much clearer & much more understandable. Jesus, we pray we'll continue to be able to do this, it's such a blessing to us & to all, Lord. Thank You for a good day, too, Lord, & we do pray for a good night's rest and sleep and safekeeping. Encamp Your Angels about the house & keep our security & all of us, in Jesus' name. Amen.)
         29. And have Thy way, Lord, about the World news & World events & this naval task force that's heading for war, Lord, unless there's some way to avoid it. (The War in the Falklands.) The World has been plunged into World War by just such small events as this! So we ask Thee, if it be possible, to give us peace as long as You can so that we can finish our job, in Jesus' name.
         30. As we pray our little prayer together: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I know Thee, Lord, my soul will take--to Heaven!" "May the words of my mouth & the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength & my Redeemer. The Lord bless thee & keep thee, the Lord make His face shine upon thee & be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee & give thee peace." (Psa.19:14; Num.6:24-26) Amen. That's the Patriarchal Mosaic blessing! You don't have to pray that with Daddy, I just bless you, see? The leader blesses you at the end of the meeting, the Lord's blessing. God bless you all!

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