The Bride of Christ: Lessons from Psalm 45

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Seasonal Changes
• 4:25 Book Signing Announcement
• 5:46 Introduction to Psalm 45
• 8:48 The King and His Bride
• 13:03 Leaving the Past Behind
• 17:29 You Are Worthy
• 19:52 Final Prayer and Farewell

Transcript

Audrey: 1:14

Hello and welcome back to Grace From my Home. I'm Audrey McCracken and I'm so glad to be back with you again this week. I hope that you're doing well. This week it has been a little more mild. The weather has cooled down just a little bit. It's not in any way cool or cold, but it's not in the 90s. So for South Carolina in September that's pretty good. This week at the coffee shop we released our pumpkin spice lattes and so it was nice to have weather that wasn't in the 90s for that.

Audrey: 1:47

Before I started at the coffee shop, you know I liked pumpkin spice. I understood people liked it but I didn't realize how important it was going to be. Liked it, but I didn't realize how important it was going to be. For probably a month we've had people calling us asking when are you going to release pumpkin spice? And so this year we tried to get it out early. We tried to get it out there before anything else. Even our other fall drinks Most of them are not ready yet but we got that pumpkin spice out there because apparently it's a big deal and it's nice, you know, it's nice to feel that change of season. You know we've had a great summer but kids are back in school and it's just, it's good to. I love a change of season and, guys, you know, yes, there are some seasons I love more than others, but I just love the change of season. I just I love that feeling. It's like something new, you know, something fresh and you know the old season, with all of its good, with all of its bad, it's over and now it's time to put our eyes on the future. So this week that's what's going on in my world.

Audrey: 2:55

This coming Saturday I'm excited to announce that I'm going to have a book signing at Awaken Coffee Bar for my new book. I'm going to have a book signing and a meet and greet at Awaken Coffee Bar in Mullen, south Carolina, from nine o'clock until 1030 Saturday morning, and it's for my new book, seek First 31 Quiet Moments with Jesus, and I am super excited about it. I have invited everyone and I'm inviting you now. I would so love to meet you. If you live in or around the Mullins area. I would so love to meet you to sign your book, to talk with you, just to get to know you. That's my favorite part of doing. What I do is the people that I get to know and serve. So if you're entering around the Mullins area this Saturday from 9 am until 10 30, I'll be ata waking coffee bar, talking and signing books and just getting to know people, and I'm super excited about that and you're invited Today.

Audrey: 3:54

I got probably one of the best compliments I've had on my book A friend who is a regular at our coffee shop. He bought three copies and he gave them to his wife, his daughter and his granddaughter and he told me this morning that his wife and his granddaughter are reading theirs together. It's like they're time together in the morning and that so blessed my heart. I just can't tell you what that did to my heart, because that's why I wrote it is to give people an opportunity, an excuse, a reason, a help in drawing closer to Jesus, and if we can do that with each other, all the better.

Audrey: 4:33

This week I want to talk with you about a psalm that I was reading today, psalm 45. About two weeks ago I shared with you a message on Christ's return and how, in Matthew, jesus is teaching his disciples how to prepare for his return. First he's telling him that he's going to return and then he starts to tell them how to prepare for his return and when he returns for us, he's calling us his bride. And he told the story of the 10 virgins and how there was a wedding feast, there was a wedding party and there were 10 virgins and those were the like I guess you would call them what we call bridesmaids today. Right, they were getting right, they were getting ready, they were helping the bride to get ready for her big day. And Jesus talked about how the bridegroom came to get the bride and five of the bridesmaids went in with them because they were ready. They were prepared, they had their lamps full of oil and they had brought extra oil. And five did not because they were not prepared. And the moral of the story was be prepared, be ready for Christ's return, because he's coming back for his bride and we, my friends, are his bride. And Psalm 45 is a wedding song and it alludes to or foreshadows Christ. And I just want to share it with you today because I think it's beautiful and I think it's a wonderful reminder of the King that we serve the Lord, that we serve, that we are his bride and we are preparing for a day. We're preparing for eternity with him, not just one day, but there will be a day when he will return for his bride, and that is you and me.

Audrey: 6:19

Psalm 45, it talks, it opens up talking about a king and this king is preparing for his wedding. And it tells us a little bit about him In verse three it says in verse three it says gird your sword on your, this man, this king who was preparing that. He rules in righteousness and he rules in meekness and truth. So he's a good king, he's a righteous king. And then, when you skip on down to verse six, it says your throne, o God, is forever and ever A scepter of uprightness, is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, god, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows. So it's alluding to Christ. Jesus Christ is the anointed one and he is the son of God and he is the king that it's talking about here.

Audrey: 7:34

And it goes on to say in verse eight all your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia Out of ivory palaces. Stringed instruments have made you glad. King's daughters are among your noble ladies. At your right hand stands the queen in gold and orpher. And then it switches. It switches from talking about this king who is a righteous ruler, a good king, a strong ruler. It moves and shifts from talking about this one, who was anointed to in verse 10, it switches to the bride and it says listen, o daughter, give attention and incline your ear. Forget your people and your father's house. Then the king will desire your beauty because he is your Lord. Bow down to him. The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift. The rich among the people will seek your favor. It starts talking about the bride, and she is a king's daughter, she's a princess, and it's telling her here forget your people and your father's house.

Audrey: 8:43

At the time that this was written, it was customary for kings to marry princesses from other kingdoms, and so that princess would be expected to leave everything she's ever known the land where she was raised, her father, her brothers, her sisters, her mom, everything she's ever known and come to a new place to become the queen of that kingdom. And then it goes on in verse 13. The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is interwoven with gold. She will be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, will be brought to you. They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing they will enter into the king's palace. Doesn't that remind you of the parable of the 10 virgins, and how they're all proceeding to the wedding feast together. And she's dressed beautifully. She's prepared for this day, she's ready for this day.

Audrey: 10:00

And then in verse 16, it says Also customary in this time when this psalm was written, when the princess from another land would come, she would be allowed a time of mourning Because she was leaving everything and everyone she knew. There would be a time period where the king would not present himself to her. She would have a time to prepare herself for leaving her old life and coming into her new life Almost a mourning period of my life, as I know. It has changed and now I'm moving on to the next phase of my life. And so in this psalm she's been encouraged leave your father's house and come to something new. And so in this Psalm she's been encouraged leave your father's house and come to something new. And then it even says in verse 16, in place of your fathers will be your sons. You shall make them princes in all the earth. So in place of her father she will receive sons. So she's going from being the child, the daughter to being the queen, the mom, the one who is mature, the one who has decided that this is the life I'm going to live, and I'm going to live it well.

Audrey: 11:24

And this was a wedding song, and let me tell you what it speaks to me that when we grow up, when we become Christ's, when we become the bride, we are letting go of things. You know, there are things in the past that we have to let go of, and sometimes they're not bad things, sometimes they're good things. But we're going into a new life, into a new time, into a new season, and in order to go successfully into that new season, we have to let go of the things that were in the old season. And we have to mature and our eyes have to go from when we were the princess, when we were the favored one, when we were the one who was dressed beautifully and taken care of by all of the maids and the bridesmaids, and we have to move on from that time to now. It is my responsibility to father the kingdom Now. It is my responsibility to become the bride, to become the wife, to become the one who is mature and the one who is no longer mourning the past, but has accepted her future and is moving forward, but has mourned the past, has put it behind and said OK, now I will do what I was created to do. I will rule and reign with Christ. I will be not just a young maiden, a young girl, but I will be a woman of wisdom. I will be a woman who has sons and daughters, people who I'm teaching the things God has taught me. You know, I'm becoming who I was created to be and that's in partnership with Christ. I'm married to Him.

Audrey: 13:17

Not too long ago, recently, I was speaking to a young girl who has a past and she's struggling with her past because you know your past. It likes to cling to you, you know, and the enemy likes to make sure that it clings to us and he likes to bring it back up. You know, we try to walk forward and he likes to stand behind us and say but I remember when you did this and this is who you really are because you did this, and remember when, when you chose this, and he wants to hold us back and tell us that because of our past, then we are disqualified for the future that we could have had or that God has for us. And I remember I sat down with this young girl and we were talking and sharing some, and I shared with her. I said, listen, there is nobody, no man. Shared with her. I said listen, there is nobody, no man.

Audrey: 14:16

And one of her concerns, like it was when I was her age, like so many young girls, is I want the man, I want the husband, I want the life partner that God has for me. But her fear was how can I find a godly man with a past like mine? And this is what I shared with her. Honey, you are the bride of Christ. Jesus. Christ himself has chosen you to be his. He has washed you. He has washed you with his own blood. He has paid the ultimate price for you. He washes you clean and whiter than snow. He has dressed you in beautiful garments. He is preparing you for a wedding feast, for a wedding day that is out of this world and if you are good enough for Jesus, there is no man in this world who is too good for you.

Audrey: 15:10

And you could see it break off of her. You could see that fear and that dread and that worry and that anxiety. But what if? What if my past is going to limit me? What if it's going to? What if my past is going to limit my future? And, guys, we are the bride of Christ and not just so we can show off right, not just. You know, any bride knows that the wedding day is the wedding day and we can enjoy the pictures. But there comes a time when we become the wife and then we become the mom, and then that's where the real work is right. But God has prepared us to walk with him. He has prepared good things for us to do and we get to work with him. We're a worker in Christ and we're building the kingdom with Him. Isn't that good? We are the bride of Christ. He is coming back for us and we will rule and reign with Him forever and he is the anointed one and we're his bride and he has good things planned for us.

Audrey: 16:16

I love the Lord. I love that he created me on purpose, for a purpose. Now, I'm the kind of person I need to see the meaning in things. I don't always find the meaning in things. God doesn't always allow me to see the meaning in things, but I am a creature that enjoys seeing the big picture. It's like if I can see the why behind the suffering, then it's so much easier for me to enjoy the things that are uncomfortable or unpleasant, if I can remember that there's purpose behind this pain, it does somehow it eases the pain or at least allows me to hold on and bear it, because I know that I'll be so glad that I held on and that's the hope that we have in Christ.

Audrey: 17:02

And you know, there is a he's telling a beautiful story. We're part of a beautiful story. It's an eternal love story and you are chosen, my friend. You are chosen to be his and you get to choose to be chosen. Right, we choose to be chosen and I choose Christ, I choose Jesus, and I hope that this encourages you this week. I hope that this story reminds you that God has good plans for you, that he selected you, that he washes you clean, that he dresses you in beautiful garments and that he's got good things. But you've got to get out of the past. You've got to say OK, I'm ready for the future, I'm ready to take on the responsibilities that he's put me here to shoulder, I'm ready to do my part. And, guys, we do it for him. We're not doing it for anybody but him. And when we are doing it for something else or for someone else, he has a great way of bringing us back to reality and tapping us on the shoulder and say wait a minute Now, who are you serving, who are you trying to please? And he knows how to talk to us. He knows how to get our attention and I'm so glad he does. And after serving him now for close to 30 years, I got to say he is awesome. He gets better and better, sweeter and sweeter as the days go by.

Audrey: 18:22

I love you, I pray for you, I do, I pray for you guys who listen and I would love to hear from you if you've never reached out to me but would like to. I respond to every email, every text. Just look in the show notes of this episode and you'll see many, many ways of how to contact me and I will respond. And, like I said, if you are in or around the Mullen, south Carolina area, this Saturday, which is Saturday September 6th, I will be at Awaken Coffee Bar from 9 am until 10.30 am signing books, talking to people, and I'd so love to meet you. Before you go today, I'd like to say a prayer for you and send you off with blessings.

Audrey: 19:04

Father, I pray for these precious ones. I pray, lord, for these who are looking for you. They're seeking you, lord. They're trying to prepare as best they know how for your return and I pray, god, that you would show them the way that you would open their eyes to see that even now, in their daily life, lord, they are preparing for you. That, lord, right now, they are preparing in the things they do and the ways that they respond to your spirit. Lord, that they are preparing for your return. That Lord, they're weaving their wedding dress. Lord, that they are preparing for your return. That Lord, they're weaving their wedding dress, lord, and it's going to be beautiful, and I pray, god, just for hope and comfort and that you would speak to them whatever you want to say in this message and in this word today, god, we thank you that you are faithful and you are kind. In Jesus name, amen, god bless.