Restore
Our Fortunes
Psalm 126
22nd
Anniversary Message: 2019.06.02
By
Pastor Brian
Introduction
1. Do It
Again: I’ve seen you move. Come move the mountains. And I Believe. I’ll see You
DO IT AGAIN. Your promise still stands. Great is Your faithfulness. I’m still
in Your hands. This is my confidence. You’ve never failed me yet. And I
Believe. I’ll see You DO IT AGAIN.
2. This song
expresses trust and confidence that God will do it again in the midst of life’s
great difficulties:
a. The writer
is in a battle attacked by enemies and the walls were about to fall. He was
waiting for change to come.
b. All is not
right. He is in darkness at night wondering if Jesus is still enough.
c. A great
mountain is blocking his way. The song remembers that God has moved the
mountain before and now he trusts that He will do it again. God’s promise still
stands. He has never failed. He will do it again.
3. Remember
and trust. Praise and prayer. That is the message to us on this special
occasion of our 22nd anniversary of FBCC.
4. 22 years
ago, on June 1, 1997 Sunday, 280 of us including youth and children were sent
off at Houston Chinese Church to start a new church in Fort Bend county. The
following Sunday, June 8, we started our first worship service at William Trace
Baptist Church. FBCC was born. God is with us from the beginning. Now 22 years
have passed. And He is with us all these years through peaks and valleys. God
is to be praised.
5. We gather
together as a church every year on our anniversary to 1). Look back and
remember what the Lord has done for us. He is to be praised. 2). Look at where
we are and ask God to do it again. We celebrate and we praise God. And we also
bring a collective petition to God to restore us as a church
6. You may be
thinking that this is boring. The story of the church you may have listened to
it 20 times at every anniversary. You may be thinking that the church’s need
has nothing to do with you. No! No! No! Anniversary is important. The people of
Israel celebrated Passover every year to remember what God has done to deliver
them from Egypt. They told the story every time to the people and to their
children and their children, praising God for what He has done. It never gets
bored. The Bible tells us to remember what God has done. We are forgetful people.
And remembering has great impact on how we live today.
7. And the
need of the church is also your need. It has everything to do with you. You are
the church. Your needs are the church’s needs and the church’s need is your
need. Let us present these needs to God and ask God to do it again. Do it
again. Lord!
8. Our text
today is Psalm 126: A Praise and a Prayer. Remember and Trust. Let us read it
together.
9. The psalm
is divided into two parts. verse 1-3, a praise; verse 4-6, a prayer. The two
parts have a parallel structure: ABC (1-3)/ABC (4-6).
10.
Verse 1 and 4 have the same verb: Restore. Same 3
Hebrew words: Restore, the LORD, the fortunes. Verse 1 is presented as it
happened in the past. Verse 4 is in imperative mood. It is a urgent request to
the LORD.
11.
Verse 1 is the fortunes of Zion. The Jewish nation.
Verse 4 is our fortunes. The collective individuals. It moves from the nation
to us. Both verbs are followed by a simile (明喻). “Like we
were dreaming” verse 1. And “Like the watercourse in the Negev.” Verse4.
12.
Verse 2-3 and verse 5-6 Shouts of joy are repeated
three times (v. 2; v. 5; v. 6). Verse 2-3 there are two “then” expressing the
response to verse 1. Verse 5-6 2 “wishes” as the vision of the answer to the
petition. It is beautiful poetry in parallel structure.
13.
What the psalm is teaching us today on our 22nd
anniversary? Two things: 1) Let us remember the great things God has done for
us. 2) Let us ask God for greater things now. DO it again. DO it again.
I. Remember
the Great Things the LORD Has Done for Us. 1-3
1. Verse 1: 3
Hebrew words: Restored (turn back, revert); the LORD (the covenantal name of
God); the fortunes (a technical term that refers to a complete reversal of
fortune by God. A U-Turn of the bad situation. The same phrase is used in:
a. Job 42:10
“God restored the fortunes of Job 苦境中轉回（和）”. God gave
him twice as much as before. Job lost everything. Now God reverted his fortunes
and gave him 14,000 sheep, double as before; 6,000 camels, twice as before;
1,000 yokes of oxen, twice as before. 1,000 female donkeys, twice as before. A
complete reversal of his fortunes.
b. Jer 30-33
“God promised to Israel. I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob.”
(30:18). “I will restore the fortunes of the land.” (33:11; 26). Israel was in
exile. The land was in ruin. It was the land of the milk and honey. And now no
more rainfall. It had turned into a desert and wilderness. And The temple was
destroyed. But God promised that He would restore, revert, the fortunes of
Israel. The land was restored. Rain came again in the spring. The temple was
rebuilt, and the people returned. A complete U-turn of the bad situation.
2. It is also The
Gospel story: restoring our fortunes. We were created in God’s image, but sin
came into the world. We were disobedient. We suffer death and destruction. We
were separating from God. But God sent His Son to die for our sin. He was
raised from the death. God has restored our fortunes through Christ.
3. Part One of
The Psalm has a wide range of applications: Pre-exilic, In exile, post-exilic,
and for us today. Do you remember the days when we were far of but now are able
to draw near? We were not a church. Now we are a body of Christ at FBCC. Do you
remember the great things God has done for us?
4. The LORD
has done great things for FBCC.
a. Story 1:
$286,000 for 39 acres of land the Lord gave it to us on Dec 12, 1996. Now the
land is worth millions of dollars. A good deal does not necessarily mean the
work of God. But such an impossible deal is only possible by the hands of God.
The land is now at the center of the fastest growing areas in the nation. We don’t
have the foresight nor the wisdom to do this. God is to be praised.
b. Story 2: When
we bought the land, the land has only one egress, a narrow strip of frontage to
Highway 6. We were land locked. The frontage land in front of us does not
belong to us. But the Lord literally parted the land in front of us and makes
it into two pieces so that we can have a private road to the travel light. Now
we have a private entrance into Highway 6 safe and sound. It was so impossible
that we were like dreaming.
c. Story 3:
Adding the numbers of believers to us. Over 1,500 were baptized into the Body
of Christ at FBCC in the last 22 years. The LORD has done great things, saving
us.
5. What should
be our response? Remember and rejoice: 3 responses of joy:
a. Like we
were dreaming: So beyond explanation, even beyond anticipation. So impossible.
We were like dreaming. God has reverted our fortunes.
b. 1st
of 2 “then”: filled with joy and offered glad songs of thanksgiving. New songs
(Isa 42:10) for a new historical beginning when returned from exile.
c. 2nd
of 2 “then”: The other nations recognized and gave praises to YHWH. “The LORD
has done great things” (2x) for us. It is a transformative act of God. Praises
on the lips of the nations and in the mouth of Israel.
6. On this 22nd
anniversary, let us praise God for what He has done. Let us remember what He
has done. Shout of Joy to the LORD. “Praise the LORD.” 讚美神. Repeat
after me. He is to be praised.
II. Trust the
LORD Will Do Great Things for Us. 4-6
1. Now we turn
our attention to the present moments. Verse 4, “Restore the LORD our fortunes.”
The same 3 Hebrew words but this time it is in the imperative mood. It is an
urgent prayer as if we are commanding God to do something for us. Restore us
now. One more time. Do it again.
2. Are we
asking for too much and being greedy? Again and again? Not satisfied? The prayer
is set in real needs. The land was dried up and became barren. They were sowing
with tears, going out weeping. Life is hard and challenging.
3. The prayer
is in real day to day needs, asking for the transformative act of God to
restore their fortunes.
4. The
contrast: the renewal that comes like the farming
a. Sow in
tears and reap with shouts of joy
b. Go out
weeping and come home with shouts of joy
c. Bearing
seed for sowing and carrying the sheaves. Dying and reproducing.
5. The
movement is moving from real needs to the anticipated actions of God, a
preferred future. A picture that God restores our fortunes.
6. Are we in
real needs? FBCC’s present needs are great:
a. Discipleship
and spiritual growth, attracting people, keeping people and discipling people.
It is getting harder and harder. Evangelism is hard. We need God to act.
Discipleship is hard. People are busy. The church needs a focus. It is hard to
focus.
b. The
challenge to unity is greater now than ever before. More people, more diverse,
more challenge. We are so busy and we don’t have time to talk. Jesus prayed for
us that we are one just as the Son and the Father are one. Without unity, there
is no witness. Without unity, there is no power. Without unity, there is no
church. But the challenge is great. E.g. A Chinese church of 450 people united
for many years. Now it split into two because of a building project and
conflicts among the leaders. One is now 150 and one is 110. 200 people were gone.
c. Aging.
There is the great need to raise up godly next generation. Grow young
generations. Chinese speaking young generation from China and the English
speaking young generation. Huge challenges. We need God to restore us.
d. Facility
needs. We are running out of space and running out of parking. We are facing a
decision whether to build the worship center or not. A very important decision.
Last month the LORD suddenly made the land in front of us available to us to
buy. It is not just a good deal but an impossible deal that only in God’s great
timing that it has become available now. We pray that God is going to do it
again.
e. In mission,
I feel that God is leading us toward cross-cultural missions, going beyond the
Chinese. It is always one step ahead of us without us evening knowing the why.
How are we going to do it? Where is our missionary? Who can go? Restore us
Lord. Sowing in tears and reaping in shouts of joy. Going out weeping and
coming home with joy. By faith we lift our requests to God and by faith we see
the beautiful picture of tomorrow. God is going to do great things for us. The
desert is going to turn to watercourse. The sowing will lead to reaping.
7. There is a
sense of urgency of this prayer. Restore us NOW. Imperative as if commanding God to listen.
8. There is also a sense of belonging. It is restore US now, not ME. We as the community of faith together make the request to God to restore us. There is also the power of praise and prayer. God would like to us.
9. Would you join us in giving
praise to God for what He has done? Praise the Lord. Would you also join in
asking God to do it again with an urgent request to God? Restore us today.
Conclusion
A plea for renewal and the final
redemption with all of us reaping in joy.
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