Heritage Message May 2005

Psalm 100

Introduction

- Rod Cooper - “I used to be the chaplain for the Astros and the Oilers

- I watched Earl Campbell run over everybody, his own men included, to get to the goal line.

-The place went crazy. People were giving high fives and jumping around.

- The same thing happened when the Astros hit a home run.

- “I'm not saying that when you come to church you need to give each other high fives or do cartwheels down the aisle, but worship is a time of anticipation and expectation. We come together because all week God has been knocking home runs and scoring touchdowns in our lives. Worship is a time to celebrate what God has done for us.”

- myself.

- I cheer, or watch people cheer at a sports event

- at church, I am quite subdued.

- What is the nature of your relationship with God? Is it serious, dutiful, strictly obedient, solemn or is it joyful, worshipful, celebrating?

- Psalm 100 - only Psalm - “A Psalm of Thanksgiving.”

- Since God’s goodness is seen in every land, it invites us to praise Him in every land.

I. Joyful Worship Psalm 100:1-3

A. The Call To Joyful Worship

- “shout.”

- I have not often shouted to the Lord,

- quietly so I would not disturb anyone.

- Bible says

- Shouting

- starts way down deep in our hearts.

- a conviction within us.

- the emotion and power of the conviction is not to stay in our hearts.

- Have you ever shouted to God?

            - serve the Lord.

- serve - to function as a slave or work for someone

- can also mean to worship.

- shouting involves our heart and our mouth,

- serving involves our heart and our hands.

- our convictions about God are to be acted upon.

- more than a thought in our minds,

- more than a feeling in our hearts.

- something we do - an expression of our love for God,

- George Bowen - God’s servant “eats, he drinks, he sleeps, he walks, he discourses, he finds recreation, all by the way of serving God.”

- one word which permeates these verses - Joy and gladness

- When we come before the Lord, is there a scowl on our face?

- Is there a frown on our mouth?

- Or is our whole being one big smile?

B. The Reason For Joyful Worship

- Why

- verse 3 which says, “know.”

- You don’t come up to a complete stranger on the street and sing his praises.

- “knowledge is the mother of devotion.”

- What is it that we are to know?

            - the Lord is God.

- idols, governments, military installations, terrorists and dollars.

- Charles Spurgeon says, “He is God - the only living and true God. Infinitely perfect, self existent and self sufficient and the fountain of all being…”

- He is our creator. - verse 3 - “It is he who made us.”

- Mother’s Day

- an expectation

- How much more

- Psalm 139:14 - “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”

            - spent the most time making - my canoe.

- pocket computer, - pictures of Carla, ---of my canoe.

- If he had a wallet, God would carry a picture of us in that wallet.

- “we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

-  the care of the owner for his creation.

- daughter - selling

-An act of the loving shepherd.

- James Denney - "The important thing in religion is not to believe that God is omniscient but to experience that God knows me. The important thing is not that God is everywhere but that wherever I am, God is with me."

            -We’re Marching to Zion -second verse - “Let those refuse to sing, who never knew our God. But children of the heavenly King May speak their joys abroad.”

II. Worship In His Presence Psalm 100:4-5

A. The Call To Worship In His Presence

- verses 4,5, - thanksgiving and to praise.

- Praise is acknowledging God for who He is.

- Thanksgiving is acknowledging the specific benefits

- words of approach.

- enter his gates and to enter his courts.

- verse 2, - “come before Him.”

- Old Testament

- tent of meeting and later the temple

- this was where God was.

- invited to come to the temple in order to meet with God

- This Psalm is one of many

- when Israel was in exile,

- Daniel

            - Today,

- the temple of His people.

- Ephesians 2:22 - “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

            - God is not confined to a temple.

- we can worship Him wherever we are.

- invitation to “enter” is wonderful

B. The Reason For Worship In His Presence

- reason to praise Him there.

- the Lord is good.

- because he does good things - acts which give life, which deliver from evil, and which empower the recipient with grace.

- because of his care for his people.

- How have you experienced the goodness of God?

- Kristen - job,

- His love endures forever.

            - lots of scripture

- awareness that we are sinners

- our sins are forgiven,

-free from the guilt of our sins

- from the consequences of our sins,

- personally experienced that “His love endures forever.”

- great reason to praise Him

- His faithfulness continues through all generations.

- “A changeable God would be a terror to the righteous, they would have no sure anchorage…”

- God is good today

- was good in the same way when Jesus died on the cross

- He will be good in just the same way when Jesus returns in glory.

- great-grandfather’s story - God’s faithfulness

- my grandmother’s story - God was faithful

- my mother’s story - faithfulness of God.

- personally - God’s grace - faithfulness.

- He is indeed faithful through all generations!

Conclusion

- the privilege of a relationship of intimacy and love with an amazing God.

- One writer says, “My 8-year-old daughter, Christina, didn't have any trouble completing the essay "about something you were thankful for" that her third-grade teacher assigned. Titled "Two People I'm Thankful For," she wrote: "I'm thankful for God and Jesus. I'm thankful for God because he created us. I'm thankful for Jesus because he died for our sins. God and Jesus are always there for us. They're just like any other friend. If you're thankful for pets, you're thankful for God and Jesus because they made them. God and Jesus are pretty neat alright!”

- As we reflect on God, may we join the Psalmist and not be afraid to shout, to serve, to praise and to thank our God.