God's Return on His Investment

As our church has entered into our season of excellence, the Lord has led me to consider that our church cannot walk into the blessings that the Lord has for us in 2008, until we deal with and remove some issues of our character that has plagued us for many years. So for the next few weeks until we take ownership of our new location, I will be preaching messages that deal with our actions towards God and one another in order to bring us to the level that God desires for us to walk into our destiny.

With that in mind, I was led to deliver an attempt of biblical exposition on Psalms 116:12-17 that I called God's Return on His Investment. This text has been attributed by most biblical scholars to King Hezekiah due to his sickness found compariably in Isaiah 38. For God told the Prophet Isaiah to tell Hezekiah to get his house in order because he will surely die. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays to the Lord and God responded by adding 15 more years to his life. In his joy for the Lord's healing him from his sickness and granting him more time on his life, he pens this great Psalm 116 by telling Judah exactly how he feels about his God in verse 1, he says I love the Lord because he has heard my pleas for mercy. In verse 3 he talks of God's delivering him from his physical death and in verse 8 he talks of God's delivering him from his spiritual death. But in verse 12, he asks a great interrogative that each and every one of us should ask, what shall I render to the Lord for all that he has done for me. And the truth of the matter is that many of us should wonder what shall we give to the Lord for all that he has done in our oves. God is looking for a return on his investment in our lives. Here is the sermon outline...I pray that it will bless you as it has done for the First Mount Zion Church.

Thesis: we must be willing to give God all that we have as a proper response to him giving us all that he has.

I. Prayer of Salvation
-verse 13...I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord
-when we are saved it should inspire us to make a contribution to the Lord

a. contribution of restitution - v. 14...I will pay my vows to the Lord
b. contribution of respect - v. 14...now in the presence of all his people
c. contribution of relief - v.15...precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints

II. Promise of Service
-verse 16...O Lord, I am your servant...I am your servant, the son of your maidservant...you have loosed my bonds
-why would we make this promise of service to the Lord

a. Family - v. 16...I am your servant, the son of your maidservant
b. Freedom - v. 16...you have loosed my bonds

III. Praise of Sacrifice
-verse 17...I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving...and call on the name of the Lord