Summer in the Psalms (Week 4)
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Background
Background
We are wrapping up our series, Summer in the Psalms. Up to this point, we have looked at three Psalms that David wrote. First, we started in looking recognizing the Lord’s goodness, knowing Him as our shepherd/guide as well as our host. In our second week, we were in gazing through the lens of David’s sole desire to dwell in God’s house, to gaze upon His beauty, and seek Him in His temple.
4 One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
We specifically looked at three different areas we could apply the One Thing. We looked at how we can seek first His kingdom () in our THOUGHTS, our EMOTIONS, and how it effects what we DO.
HEAD, HEART, HANDS
4 One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Last week was a little out of the ordinary for Sunday morning sermon topics, as we looked at a Psalm of repentance. We went behind the scenes to , understanding the circumstances that setup this deep lament from David. We asked how could Scripture testify of David as a man after God’s own heart.
22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
giving us David’s heartfelt response to the prophet Nathan confronting him for his sin with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. We saw that even in some of David’s greatest moral failings, he was deeply remorseful that despising God’s word could mean exclusion from God’s presence.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
David’s One Thing was still driving him back to the good God he had experienced throughout his life. From shepherding sheep to sacrificing for his sins, David had encountered the Lord in a powerful and deeply meaningful way. This created in David a heart that was quick to REPENT. This created a heart within David that was infatuated with God and His presence, and above everything else wanted Him.
Today, we will build on these three weeks of Summer in Psalms and land this plane to wrap up our series. We will end with a short Psalm. One with only five verses. This Psalms as well, like , is commonly quoted. It is quoted before worship services, in prayer gatherings, and many other occasions.
When I was a kid there was a Christian show for children that made the Psalms famous, so to speak. It was a traveling show that taught lessons from the Bible and answered key questions with verses ALL SET TO SONGS.
It was Psalty the Singing Songbook. Psalty the Singing Storybook made all of this come alive. He was big. He was blue. And he was just for you (as a kid).
SLIDE
VIDEO
Without dressing up like Psalty today, I want us to travel further into the Psalms and look at a Psalm of praise, .
A Psalm for giving thanks.
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
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In this Psalm, we are reminded that the Lord is God and He is Good. How many of us already recognize that what the world need more of is genuine gladness. There is just a lack of real joy. is telling us to make the decision bring joy when we come to worship God, and to choose joy when we serve Him. This isn’t a phony, ignore real problems, and pretend like nothing bad never happens in life kind of joy. It is a recognition of someone greater than ourselves being in control and in charge. He is the Sovereign Lord.
This particular Psalm is most likely ending the Psalms prior that declared God’s (Yahweh’s) kingship (). acts more as a hymnic conclusion to this collection.
The structure is rather simple:
A. Call to Give Thanks (vs. 1-2)
B. Celebration of the Covenant (vs. 3)
A’ Call to Give Thanks (vs. 4)
B’ Celebration of the Covenant (vs. 5)
A Call to Give Thanks (vv. 1–2)
B Celebration of the Covenant (v. 3)
A′ Call to Give Thanks (v. 4)
B′ Celebration of the Covenant (v. 5)
In short this Psalm is telling us to make some noise for the Lord, come into His presence with celebration and singing. Have you ever been around folks that it didn’t matter what was going on in life they would never be happy ENOUGH.
You go out to eat…the food is not hot enough, enough portions, enough ice, fast enough.
The kids…never quiet enough, grateful enough, clean enough, smart enough. (this one is most true in my experience)
Their bank account…just NEVER ENOUGH.
But in God’s family, we have the opportunity to focus on something different. We can choose to make our noise around what He has done. We are all making noise, but it is a matter of what we decide to make noise about. Will you decide with me to let you noise matter? Because if you and I won’t the rocks will begin to make the noise for us. Things not created, not designed to give God glory that way will have no other option. He will be glorified. Will you be a part? Will you let your noise matter?
Know God.
He created us. We are His. His people.
We are His sheep; He is our Shepherd.
vs. 4 The Psalm transitions from the general to the specific. Make some noise. Serve with joy. Get into His presence through song. Recognize Him as Lord, as God. Find your identity in Him, as His.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Now a request a prescription even of what He desires us to bring is given.
STORY: Have you attended a wedding recently? In June, I went to see a friend, Kevin Tucker, who I met as a volunteer with me at KICKO when I was working with the middle/high school students. Kevin was one of those easy to like kind of guys. Great personality, great heart, kind, gentle, teachable. He found a great wife, and I was honored to attend their wedding. But before the wedding he text me to make sure I was coming. I had the card on the fridge, but I had forgotten to RSVP. But on that card was their tie-the-knot website, their registry locations, etc.
ELABORATE on today’s weddings. COFFEE BAR THOUGH. My wedding barely cost $2,000. Not because it was two centuries ago but because we were broke. My parents helped us out with that 2k but we didn’t have much to add to it. ELABORATE.
One of the things I didn’t realize that my wife was going to make us do at our wedding was open EVERY SINGLE gift that folks brought to our wedding. Who does this? We do…apparently.
REGISTRY ELABORATE (WEDDING/BABY)
Just give them what they ask for. Don’t get them what you think they really need or know they really wanted but didn’t ask for. Just give them what they ask for.
In this verse, verse 4, God gives us His registry list. Bring me THANKSGIVING. Bring me GRATITUDE & PRAISE. Just give THANKS & BLESS MY NAME. Don’t bring it because you think I need it or that it is going to change my ego. Bring it because I asked you to.
And I asked you to because I know that when you do and your heart is locked in with THANKING ME it is going to change your life. What I have asked for is going to revolutionize you. I am not asking for something for myself but instead for something that is going to change you.
Thanks and praise are related. We thank Him for what He has done, and praise Him for who He is.
Our thanksgiving recognizes the great things our good God has done for us. But our praise takes it one step further connecting what He has done to who He is. God only does who He is, and so do you. You only do things that truly represent who you are (whether we like it or not). If you don’t like what you are doing let God change who you are.
AND thanksgiving is not true thanksgiving when it is ONLY about the good things, when things are going great, but thanksgiving is its truest form when it is despite/in spite of our circumstances and based on who God is and forever will be.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
MUSIC/CLOSING
Thanksgiving
Gratitude Strategy
What is it the result of
what does it protect us from
Our thanksgiving recognizes that He has been involved in it all, that God has been using the mentors and positive relationships just as much as the jerks and irritating people to change us into His image. But we can begin to thank Him for the seeds that others have planted and sown that we are reaping the results of. We can see that He was working through folks that we asked Him to remove from our lives. He was using situations for His glory. We thank Him that they made us who we are today, prepared us for what He has us doing now, and trust Him for where He is taking us.
Wedding registry
Today's weddings, my wedding, recent wedding and registry
Thanking Him for...
Give a long list
The good things
Even the tough bad things
Camp:
PRAYER & RESPONSE
Prophetic teacher
May not fit a mold for teaching with so many points this many illustrations
I want to hear from the Lord and share that with you
It doesn't mean I can't grow and learn to better communicate
Not playing God card
Elaborate on God card
How many of you have ever tried to communicate something to someone and did not get the results you were hoping for?
I'm not talking about manipulation, communicating for a personal outcome or gain
I'm saying we communicated too brashly and it wasn't well received