Joy Of The Faithful

Introduction

Good Morning! One the best holidays for many is upon us in a few short days. When thanksgiving comes each year, people gather, people travel to enjoy time of feast and fellowship. For the sports fan, it’s a great time to gather with friends, perhaps watch some NFL. You know this year we’ll have a triple header going on. Or perhaps watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.

For many the Thanksgiving holiday extends from anywhere between one to five days. Many will board planes, trains and automobiles to travel to friends and families. In 2015 45 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving days. It’s thought that about 85% of Americans partake in the meal, spending just north of 1-Billion dollars. WOW, one thing’s for sure, that’s a lot of turkey. We sure know how to throw a feast!

A few months back, about mid year, some of you shared your gratefulness in how God has blessed you. I’d like to that again today. Let’s take a few moments, if you feel like sharing with your church family about something God has done in your life that brings you this morning with a thankful heart.

If we look back on the history of the Thanksgiving holiday it was founded on the basis of giving thanks to God. (Joy Fisher, a Baptist writer) its been said that "this holiday takes on a spiritual emphasis and includes recognition of the source of the blessings enjoyed year round – a loving God."

The writer of Psalm 95 opens our passage this morning with a song of joy to the Lord! I would like to invite you to join me in Psalm 95. We’ll be reading verses 1 through 6.

Psalm 95:1–6 NIV

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

Pastoral Prayer

Psalm 95 brings us in the subject of worship and the value of vocal praise. When we come into worship as a family, we do this because we love Him, we honor Him, we want to express our feelings with the best sound from our hearts. The word ‘come’ means to come into where God is worshiped. This is a call to everyone. It’s an invitation and YOU have in your hand a ticket. It invites believers to join in the worship.

Our passage this morning give to us a how and why. The first verse 1 and 2 gives us the how. How we should praise Him. When we have in invitation to enter His presence to sing praise, joy and thankfulness, we ought to praising cheerfully. The cheer we feel in our hearts spills over into our vocal praise of God. The joy we feel cannot be contained! WE LOVE HIM! WE WANT TO HONOR HIM! This makes us want to express our feelings to Him publicly. It makes us want to sing, no matter who’s around or what their opinion might be about our singing. I don’t have the best voice. Now sometimes when I’m singing, I might sound like a calf dying in hail storm. But that doesn't concern me. God made this earth suit in His image. He gave each one of us a unique voice to sing and praise Him with. God knows how you feel. So, sing your heart out!

This brings us into singing praise is the very character of God. There are so many dynamics to God’s character, I believe all the paper in the world could not capture God’s character. But! One characteristic of God that helps to bring comfort to our hearts is the security and safety of God. That’s what the metaphor use of the expression “rock of our salvation” means. God or Yahweh is a rock, a place of protection of stability.

Over in Exodus Chapter 33, that is where God gave Moses the green light to get going, pack up and leave Sinai. In the early verses of this Chapter, God gives the people promise after promise showing His pledge of security, safety and stability. If you look this Chapter up, and I hope you do! You will see, not once or twice or three times, but many times - where God says “I Will”!! God provides promise, but also a rock to stand on with the protection of the cleft and by the very hand of God.

Because of what God has done (we all were able to sample how God has touched lives) we come before him with thanksgiving. Our response of thanksgiving is rooted from the very presence of God in our lives. God is present in our lives every second. He is there when we wake up, in the car ride to school, work, or the post office. He is there when we’re on a walk, sitting on deck or on our porch - God is there. God is not an absentee landlord. God is there. That means God is personal. We come to God with praise and thanksgiving.

This is one the very first things we do! We do this because of the relationship we have with God. Believers today do this through the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:19 and following tells us that we can enter “by the blood of Jesus.” in fact Jesus says:

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This means famous kings, queens, actors, family and even our best friends must come through Jesus. He is the only way. Some pop culture can lead you to believe that there are other ways into the presence of God. Or that the good in your life can be horse-traded for passage, or that you can enter a place of “time-out” to redeem yourself. As some would like to believe, this is simply not true. This kind-of thinking can cost you to spend eternity separated from God. Jesus is the only way! Jesus has been the only way, and will be the only way!

We now get to the “why” we should praise Him! We praise Him because "the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods (little-g).” This speaks to His sovereignty. His greatness and superiority of all. This phrase would have helped those thousands of years ago, and in our current time, know that any other god(s) that are man-made are in no way superior to the One True God.

We celebrate in thanksgiving because He is the creator God. He is the foundation for worship and softness of the heart! Many even those who do not really study the Bible, know the famous words of:

Genesis 1:1 ESV

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Many people know this. If you go back to the creation account in Genesis Chapter 1, you will find the words “God said” sprinkled through out the chapter. You will find how God was involved in every element with in our known universe, right down to the human cell. Which is considered to be an engineering masterpiece in all the universe! This goes to show that:

Psalm 95:4–5 NIV

4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.

These verses draw attention to the awesome features of our world. They also serve as a visual aid, to something we can see, feel and understand. They speak to the reach of our Lord. The reach of our Lord Jesus Christ is both vertical and horizontal. He is the God of the valleys, the hills and caverns and peaks. He is the God where miners go deep into the earth. He is the God that is deeper than the deepest parts of the ocean yet to be discovered. In all these places, His power and presence is known. This means that God is capable of being everywhere at the exact same time. This is “to show the control that the Lord has over his creation.” Paul says in:

Colossians 1:16 NIV

16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

We have something interesting going on here! Bring up that next slide.

Colossians 1:16 NIV

16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

In Colossians 1:16 we have the word “created” and in Psalm 95:5 we have the words “made” and “formed.” These words are used to show God’s creative activity - Jesus’ creative activity. We see with just a few graphic strokes that our universe and world is not only hand-shaped but hand-held.

And verse 6 is our response.

Psalm 95:6 NIV

6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

Conclusion

Our passage becomes encouraging and more inviting. The writer uses the word “come” one more time. We are being invited “down in worship.” The This is why our worship offered to Him filled with energy, excitement, praise and thanksgiving! We are in amazing wonder with a humbled nature to “kneel before the Lord, our Maker.” Our whole person comes into worship! Praise means looking up, but worship means bowing down.

We worship before the throne of God and the One who sustains life, our provider, our protector, the One who gives us stability, the One who makes it possible to receive the forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

What are you thankful for today?

Do you need to come and give thanks for your family, perhaps your relationship with God, or perhaps your salvation?

You might be here this morning seeking to be part of God’s family.

You might be this morning listening to all this testimony of how God is involved in other peoples lives, and you can see how God has been involved in your life; is today the day you made a rededication?

Closing Prayer

As we dismiss for small group - Let us close with a hymn of Thanksgiving and prayer (Hymn 619)

Dear Father, our hearts are filled with thanksgiving;

We praise You and worship you;

We give You thanks today. Amen.