Untitled Sermon (5)

Explanation

This morning, I want to ask you a question. Why do we sing? I have been around singing, or as we say in my neck of the woods sangin’, my whole life. I remember as a kid of a southern baptist preacher, we would go to sangin’s at least once a month. People would come together on a sunday evening and just sing. Someone may stand and give a testimony and then we would sing some more. I dont hear of this happening anymore. Im sure it does happen in small pockets, but it is cettainly not as popular as it once was. I am not promoting that we do less preaching. I am by all means the biggest fan of preaching the gospel of Jesus. It must be done and it needs to be done more in our churches. But what I am saying is that preaching isnt the only way we encourage in the word. Preaching isnt the only way we share the gospel. And preaching isnt the only way we speak of God’s goodness.We do it in song as well. There is an emotion that is invoked in song too.Singing helps us communicate about God emotionally what we already know mentally. But when I was trapped in fear and stuck in my apartment, depressed and contemplating my own life, it wasnt a sermon that got me through it. When I was in the worst season of my life and felt as if God had abandoned me, it wasnt a sermon that got me through. When I would stare at my ceiling for hours and not sleeping for days and consumed with fear, it wasnt a sermon that got me through. It was a song. it was a song that God put in my heart. Maybe it was a sermon or scripture for you, but for me it was a song. I would lay there and put this song on repeat and play it over and over and over again. The bridge is what I sing to myself and it would say this “In all of my life, in every season you are still God and I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship” Those were some of the hardest words I would ever sing, but I knew it was true and so I sang it over and over again. It was with the work of the Spirit, biblical truth and counseling, and that song which pulled me through the darkness I was in. Music and singing is a beautiful thing and it is a gift from God. Many of you know this and have lived it. Lets start this morning by proclaiming the gretness of God and sing How Great is our God.

We sing because he is worthy of Worship

We sing because he is worthy of Worship

The first song in all of scripture is found in . Honestly, I have never done much study into this until studying for this sermon. But, if you study scripture long enough, you learn and realize that there isn’t one thing recorded in scripture that is a mistake. When God works, He doesnt work by luck or coincidence. He works with great intention and purpose. A little side note. You can find comfort in that this morning. If you are hoping I am going to say that scripture says you cant make mistakes, then you are mistaken..... What it does say though is that we may make mistakes, but God never does. If we are trusting Him and following after His will, it may be difficult, but it is with purpose and intention. So exodus 15, you have the Israelites that have just escaped from the grasp of the Egyptians. They walk through on DRY ground and the see the enemies of God swallowed up into the WET sea. You know what the Bible says they did when they were delivered or even more specifically says they saw the Mighty Hand of the Lord. It says they sang. They didn’t sing to a crowd or for a performance. They didnt sing to impress someone. BUT THEY SANG TO THE LORD. And this is what they sang.

We see on display the amazing display of God’s power here. We read this story with a lens like everyone does. But think for a moment what it must have been like to see this happen first hand. You have been enslaved by the egyptians for years and years. You have lost all hope that God would ever deliver you or even that there was a God. You have been surrounded by the little g gods of Egypt for years and probably many picked up a lot of egyptian practices which would come back to bite them in later chapters. Moses comes along, makes things worse for a time but then FINALLY delivers you. Your making your way down the path of deliverence. And notice when they left egypt, there was no song recorded. They complained and were upset at times and there was no singing. But the moment they saw the worth and the power of God, they couldnt help but sing. We see this in other parts of scripture too. One of my favorite stories in scripture involves Peter. This was early on in Jesus ministry and listen to this interaction. You dont have to turn there. (NIV) 1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” When you see Jesus for who He really is, you cant help but worship. Something that is easy to miss is that when Peter first talks to Jesus. He calls him the greek word επιστατα meaning Master. Then Jesus shows His power, and Peter falls to his knees, recognizing the worth of Jesus, and he calls him the greek word κυριος meaning Lord. We sing not because we can carry a tune or because we want to impress someone. The main source behind the reason we should sing is because He is worthy. and just like the song in , we will sing this next song declaring Who is like the Lord. The answer.... no one. None are like Him.

SING “Build My life”

We sing because we are Grateful.

This is another reason why Christians do and certainly should sing. We have so much to be thankful for. And yes I know that some of you are walking in the hardest time of your lives right now and some of the darkest seasons. Yet I see you here week after week singing praises to our God. Why? Why are we grateful? Why do we say thank you to a God that the world sees as mean and hateful. It doesnt make sense to so many. It didnt make sense to many when Paul and Silas were singing in the jail after being beaten. But why do we sing. Because we know we have much to be grateful for. We know what was given for us and we know WHO was given for us. You see, I believe that the attitude you have is the fragrance or your heart and it comes out of your mouth. Honestly there are some people around here that have some bad spiritual breath at times. I know I certainly have some stanky spiritual breath at times as well. But I also know that if we change our attitude to gratitude, then we begin to get this minty fresh spiritual breath that starts running all over the place. And before you know it you got people coming up to you asking for some of your mints because they like the way it smells. Gratitude is contagious. And the Lord loves it when his Children sing to Him with an attitude of gratitude.

Complaining is like throwing up, you might feel better but everyone else around gets sick!I am so excited to be heading back to Nicaragua in a few weeks. It is a place that is near and dear to my heart. I do remember the first time I went there, we were at a church we had built called Monte Horeb. This was outside of Leon Nicaragua. These are remote villages with nothing. The wealthiest of homes would be concrete with cheap tile about the size of this front row. Most homes were made of plastic sheeting averaging a space of 10x10. I remember at a sunday morning service they were taking up an offering and the sing the same song every week when taking the offering. They would collect pennies at a time and they would sing in Spanish over and over again thank you god thank you god. I couldnt believe it. I was crushed in my own selfish heart. I came home and wept again and again when I would see running water or that I have more junk stored under my stairs then most do in entire villages. We have so so so much to be grateful for. Christian in the United States should be the loudest singers in the entire planet. They ought to hear us across the planet singing of God’s great love and his blessings he has given us. There are so so so many verses on thanksgiving and gratitude. So that we can all have lunch today, I will selfishly share with you my 3 favorites. I love the Psalms and David reminds us of gratitude so often he wrote Give thanks to the lord for he is Good and His love endures forever. But my 3 verses I want to share are from the new testament. The first is from Hebrews. There is a beautiful passage and I challenge you all to study this. This passage talks about how we as believers have not come from the mountain of fear but we have come from the MOuntain of Joy or MT Zion and that we are sprinkled with the blood of God which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. He says the next time He speaks that he will shake the whole earth and the heavens and all that can be shaken will be destroyed. but here is the grateful part (NIV) 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.” We ought to be grateful that we are grafted in to his unshakeable kingdom. We do not have to live in fear of man or the Law, but we get to ride on the tail of Jesus and His righteousness. The second, and not to steal Bryans thunder who is about to preach on 1 Thessalonians is from chapter 5. It says this. (NIV) 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Paul, wiriting to one of his favorite churches, commends them through this book but ends with a great and simple nugget of truth. I get asked a lot what is the will of God for me. So many teenagers and college students and even adults get tied up in trying to follow this mystical arrow that God is pointing for all of us. I am not saying that God cannot work that way, I am just saying that is not the norm. I would much rather teach people to follow and obey what God has already laid out for us then to teach people to sit and wait for some new revelation amen? The answer is simple. Whatever you do, REJOICE ALWAYS PRAY CONTINUALLY, AND GIVE THANKS!Third is colossians 3:15-17 (NIV) 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. We sing because we are grateful. You cant think of something? I have trouble believing that, but go ahead and sit and start counting. As this next song says “for all your goodness I will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my heart to find”

SING 10000 REASONS (BLESS THE LORD)

We sing because of the redeeming work of the gospel.

This one certainly ties in to gratitude, as we are certainly grateful because of what Jesus did on the cross. But when talking about why we sing, I believe it is important for those who have been redeemed by the work of Jesus to sing, shout, and declare the life transforming power of the Gospel. We have a reason to sing and one of those reasons is so that others will hear and see the goodness of God.There are reasons why there are passages like this in scripture. (NIV) 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.. But when we receive God’s comfort (which we know ultimate comfort only comes from the saving power of the gospel) it is given so that we can share it with others.The gospel is worth singing about. Here is why. I just spoke about being grateful. Yes we are grateful for the gospel. But I am also thankful for and here is my list and in no certain order:My wife, Tripp, Emma, unnamed baby who we are definitely calling Omega, my church, my friends, football is back baby!, the cubs winning the world series, music, coffee, coffee, and more coffee, chocolate cookies, education, clean water, places to bathe, the times when middle school boys actually decide to bathe, moms meatloaf, modern medicine, my health, my gym, and did I mention coffee. I am thankful for all of those things and many more. And each one is honestly worth singing about....... but guess what. When my own sin, or Satan himself decides to take away:My wife, Tripp, Emma, unnamed baby who we are definitely calling Omega, my church, my friends, football , the cubs music, coffee, coffee, and more coffee, chocolate cookies, education, clean water, places to bathe, the times when middle school boys actually decide to bathe, moms meatloaf, modern medicine, my health, my crossfit gym, and did I mention coffee. Guess what the one thing is that can never ever never ever never ever be taken away. It is Jesus and the life transforming power of the gospel!The Psalmist even knew this as he declares in (NIV) 5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. In other words, Jesus you are all I need and all I have. meditate on two things.Being grateful for the work of the gospel and how it is more than enough to meet our every need. How can we sing the gospel, declare the gospel, or live the gospel to someone this week?

Lori PLays Piano

Take Comunnion

SING death was arrested

Conclussion

Before we leave this morning I want you to think on this. God has given us the gift of music. Not all of us have the gift of maybe publicly singing ha but we all have been given the gift of music. Music connects what we know mentally and helps us express it emotionally. There is no scientific study that gives us the answer to Why we sing!. And that my friends is because they are looking in all the wrong places. The answer is written all through scripture. If you open God’s word and read of the life transforming gospel and it transforms your heart, you will then quickly see why we sing. And if this morning you find it hard to sing, as we all go through those seasons. An incredible song writer and singer named Bob Kauflin who has written many songs we sing here like All I have is Christ says this“Confess your weakness, confess your inability, ask God to reveal his glory to you in Jesus Christ, and start singing the truths of God’s word. Most likely, it won’t be too long before your perspective changes, and you’re not thinking about whether you feel like singing anymore. You’ll be thinking about how worthy Jesus is to receive the praises of his people.”And then I will close with this. I do not know what heaven will exactly be like. I know you find that hard to believe, but I dont. We will sing all the time or live differently, I dont know. But John gives us a glimpse of what the throne of God is like and boy is it powerful. Singing is so great that it even fills into eternity. There wont be a need for preachers anymore, Bryan and I retire in heaven ha. But there certainly will be singing. Here is a look at this powerful picture of what takes place in heaven. (NIV) 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped. And on that note lets sing together.

SING agnus dei

DISMISS