Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

“Jehovah is Exalted Far Above All gods”   Psalm 97:7-9 7 Let all be put to shame who serve carved images, Who boast of idols. Worship Him, all you gods. 8 Zion hears and is glad, And the daughters of Judah rejoice Because of Your judgments, O LORD. 9 For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.   The theme of Psalm 97 is the exaltation of Jehovah and His re...

Psalm 97 was a reminder to the nation of Israel back in the Promise Land after their captivity in Babylon that their God was the “Lord of the whole earth” and He is greatly exalted. We read In verse 9, “ For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods”.   This verse could be considered the theme verse for the whole chapter and reminds God’s people that He has a...

1 The LORD reigns; Let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad! 2 Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Psalm 97 is in group of psalms that has no title (Psalms 93-99). Many commentators of the Bible would say that the writer is anonymous, and we don’t know who wrote it. But Spurgeon, who was great student of the Bible and espec...

"For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness,..."   Psalm 96 begins with telling us three times to “sing…, sing…, sing to the LORD…” (vv.1-2). We are told to “sing, proclaim and declare His salvation, His glory, and His wonders among all peoples.” (vv. 2-3).  We do this because “the LORD is great and greatly to be praised…” (v.4). Th...

9 Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness ! Tremble before Him, all the earth. 10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously." 11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; 12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the...

Psalm 96 is an invitation for all the earth to come and worship the LORD. Whenever we hear the “good news” of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ and we find forgiveness of sins and experience hope and a transformed life we have a “new song” to sing! Over the past number of years this psalm has also become a call to me to encourage and motivate every believer I possibly can, to become involved in...

Psalm 96:1-6 1 Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. It appears that Psalm 96 and Psalm 95 are companion psalms or songs that were an invitation to worship the LORD. Psalm 95 was an invitation specifically to the nation Israel to “come and sing and worship”, while Psalm 96 is an...

Remember we said that this Psalm is both an invitation and a warning. It is an invitation to worship our Great God and our Great King! (vv.1-7b). But it is also a warning that we should not “harden” our hearts and not hear the voice of God and obey Him. We don’t have any trouble seeking God when we are desperate. Such as when our health is failing, we don’t have money to pay the bills, our family...

Psalm 95:1-7a 1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms. 3 For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands...

Psalm 95 is a wonderful hymn that begins by giving us an invitation to “come” and worship (1-7a) but ends giving us a warning (7b-11). Psalms 93 and 95-100 are a group of psalms that are called theocratic psalms. They are about the kingship of God over His people Israel and His sovereign rule over all the earth. Some commentators believe these psalms were written or adapted for the dedication of t...

Psalm 94 deals with the unjust treatment of the poor and helpless by wicked and evil people. We live in a day when we don’t know who to trust. Not only do we see corruption and injustices around the world, but we are also experiencing it in our own blessed America. The culture today calls evil good and calls good evil. This is nothing new. Isaiah describes this very same thing in his own day in Is...

Psalm 94 is like so many of the other psalms that deal with the unjust treatment of the poor and helpless by wicked and evil people. Ever since the beginning of time we have had the universal problem and question of why do the wicked seem to get by with exploiting the righteous and good person or people. Why do the wicked seem to prosper and enjoying the “good life” while the good and upright pers...

Today Edith and I will be in Lynchburg Virginia and attending the 35th Anniversary celebration service of Thomas Terrace Baptist Church with my brother Pastor Mark Grooms and his wife Renee. A good number of my family members will be joining with us to be a part of this special day. I’m so proud of my brother and his wife and their faithfulness to the Lord over these past 35 years as they minister...

Today on Pastor’s Chat, I want to highlight a wonderful ministry that I’ve been privileged to be a part of for now over 20 years. My son, Jonathan Grooms and myself co-founded Global Partners in Peace and Development as a humanitarian non-profit organization to give God’s care to the orphan, the widows, the refugee, and the helpless and hopeless dear people of the world that the Lord leads us to h...

Psalms 93 emphasizes the sovereign rule of Jehovah, the King of Israel, in the affairs of the nations. It was perhaps written by one of the Levites who returned to Judah with the Jewish remnant after the Babylonian captivity. The Jews, led by Zerubbabel the governor, Joshua the high priest, and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were given permission to return to their own land, rebuild their templ...

You will notice that Psalm 93 does not have a title or inscription over it. We are not sure when it was written or who actually wrote it. Psalm 93 is the first of a series of remarkable theocratic psalms (the others are Psalms 95 through 100). These are psalms which magnify Israel's theocracy.   We are familiar with the standard forms of government we have on earth. We have autocratic governme...

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. ..   Have you ever noticed how God in the economy of time has divided it up for us. God created the physical and natural world with seasons. Our year begins with winter, which blends into spring, then summer and autumn, and th...

The title of Psalm 92 tells us that it is both a Psalm and a song of the Sabbath. Time and time again, throughout the Old Testament God makes it very clear that His people are to remember the Sabbath day. The Jewish Sabbath from the Hebrew word “shavat”, which means “to rest”. It was to be observed throughout the year on the seventh day of the week, which is Saturday. Believers today begin their w...

Psalm 92:1-15 A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath day.   “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night, On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound. For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hand...

Psalm 91 teaches us that the best and safest place in all the world to be is in the “secret place”, the “hidden place” , of fellowship, worship and communion with the LORD. As Brother Lawrence put it, we can “practice the presence of God” wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Yes, we should find and secure that quiet place of devotion and prayer every morning before we begin our day, but we s...

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.   Psalm 91 is about the “secret place” of fellowship, worship and communion with the LORD. When we by faith take the time to shut the door to the distractions of the world around us and enter into the hidden life of pra...

Psalm 91 is about the “secret place” of fellowship, worship and communion with the LORD. Interestingly, it is written by an anonymous writer. Remember when Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray that He told them in Matthew 6:6 “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will rewa...

Psalm 91 does not have a title that would give us information on the writer of this wonderful passage of scripture that has been a source of encouragement to hundreds of generations of God’s people who are facing imminent danger in their lives. It has been called the “orphan Psalm” because the writer is anonymous.   While people are divided as to the actual human author of this Psalm, one interest...

Moses, one of the world's greatest leaders and no doubt the most famous, often referred to himself as the “servant of God”. He is the best model of the servant leader in the Bible! Twice in these final verses he also refers to people of Israel as “Your servants”. A servant is someone who has no agenda of his own but lives to serve the will and wishes of his master and to please him. Moses lear...

In this prayer Moses shares with us how he learned to deal with the difficult challenges of life. In verses 1-2, he reminds us that we are pilgrims traveling through this world and that God Himself is our eternal home.   In verses 3-12, his prayer teaches us that we should be learners and life Is our school. Moses was "educated in all the learning of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22), but the l...