Skip to content 2. Hark Worship is Right a Sacrifice a Choice Apr 5 · 37 min ...more
2. Hark Worship is Right a Sacrifice a Choice
April 5, 2023 · 37 min
Series Hark April 5, 2023 · 37 min · Hark
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Beth Jones is a Bible teacher and founder of The Basics With Beth, a non-profit Christian teaching ministry dedicated to helping people learn the Bible basics.
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Preparing the Way for the Lord 0:00 Hey guys! This is Beth Jones and I am so glad you have tuned into the Basics with Beth podcast, and I'm so pumped up about helping you get the basics of the Bible. Or, as we like0:11 to say around here, get the basics. Live the life and do the stuff. I know you are gonna be so encouraged by today's podcast, and I really pray you enjoy0:23 every minute. If you'd like to know more about the basics and what we're doing, just head on over to the basics with beth dot com to get all the deets. And in the meantime, enjoy today's0:35 podcast. Welcome to week 2 of Hark. We're in this series this month of December, and we're just looking at some things from the Bible as it relates to Christmas, as it relates to, us0:47 hearkening and listening to what God's trying to say to us as a church. And as we began last week, it really seems like God has a message for our church about praise, about worship, about thanksgiving, about joy,0:58 about rejoicing and gladness, good tidings, all of those things, and we're gonna get into it today. So if you got your Bibles, go ahead and pull them out and, let me pray and then we'll jump right into it. Father, thank1:10 you so much for your word. Lord, thank you that you're trying to get some things over to us. You're trying to help us. You're trying to help us connect with heaven, connect with you, deepen our relationship with you,1:22 lord, to experience, as we talked about last week, your presence, your manifested presence in our lives. Lord, your companionship and your fellowship, we all want that. We want Jesus to1:34 be born in our hearts during this holiday season, Lord, just like he was 2000 years ago. And also to experience your presence, your good gifts, your good things, your tangible goodness inThe Power of Praise and Worship 1:46 our lives. And I pray, Lord, you'll help us today to communicate this message with your anointing, that I'll speak words that come directly from you, lord, and that it'll minister to each and every person that's1:57 listening, that's hearing this message, whether at the cathedral, whether in Battle Creek, whether online, or whether in central campus. And we trust you for it in Jesus' mighty name, and everybody that agreed2:08 said, amen. Okay. Got your Bibles. Isaiah 40 verse 3. We're gonna review a couple of verses and sort of pick up where we left off last week. So, Isaiah2:20 40 verse 3, this is talking about John the Baptist when Jesus came to the earth the first time. And as Christmas is approaching, of course, we're gonna be celebrating the birth of Jesus and but it's not just a historical2:31 event. I mean, he wants to be born in our hearts daily. He wants us to experience his presence, as I mentioned, and his his companionship and his presence, his manifested presence in our lives as well as his2:43 presence, his gifts, the good things that he's purchased for us on the cross. And so John the Baptist was announcing his coming, and here's what it says, prophetically in Isaiah 40 verse 3. It2:54 says that there would be this voice, keyword voice, of 1 crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.3:07 Well, we know then later on, John the Baptist came along and fulfilled this verse, and so it says a little bit more about John the Baptist. In Luke chapter 3 verse 4, it says about him that he was the voice. Again,3:19 keyword voice. God is really into our voice. He's into a corporate voice. Christianity is not a silent religion. And I know the enemy tries to silence us all3:31 the time, but this is not a silent faith. There's a voice of 1 crying in the wilderness, and John the Baptist said, prepare the way of the lord. Make his path3:42 straight. Every valley shall be filled in, brought up filled in. Every mountain and hill shall be brought low. Crooked places will be made straight, and rough places would be smoothed out3:54 so that all flesh shall see the salvation of our god. So, you know, back historically, what they used to do when a king was traveling from 1 city to another, he was going to arrive in another place, they4:06 would send out their advance team. They send out the advance man and the advance team and they would get everything ready for the king's coming. And literally, you know, these these scriptures aren't just poetic. I mean,4:16 literally, this is what happened. They would go and they would find the pathway. They would prepare the way for the king to go to that city, and so they'd find the the route they were gonna take and then they would would4:26 begin to bring up all the valleys. They'd pull out big boulders and big rocks and they'd fill them in. They'd bring up the valleys. They'd knock down the mountains, the hills, the things that were obstacles to get in the4:36 way. They would make the crooked path straight. They'd get the best line for the king to come to that particular place and they'd make all the rough places smooth. Again, taking out all the rocks and pebbles and just4:48 getting things smoothed out. And the reason they did that was so that the king could come to the place that they were, again, with his presence and his presence. Well, so then in our lives, it's the same thing. There's a4:58 principle here that god wants us to get. We're gonna find out how is it that you do this. How is it that we, in modern times, can prepare the way for the Lord? How can we make a highway for our God to get into our5:10 lives, to come into our lives in a tangible, relevant, practical way that we're experiencing God, we're experiencing the king's arrival? Well, it's kind of similar. We have to bring up the valleys, the5:22 valleys of of discouragement, the valleys of despair, the valid the valleys of hopelessness. We've got to bring up the valleys. We've got to knock down the mountains, and this is a big 1 in our5:34 culture. We've got to knock down the mountains of pride and self consciousness. We're so self conscious sometimes that others conscious we forget to be God conscious. So we've got to knock down5:45 mountains of pride and and ego and self consciousness. We've we need to make these crooked ways and oftentimes in our lives, the crooked ways have to do with with, you know, religion and being5:57 politically correct and flesh, you know, just what we want. It's like things just get crooked. I mean, it just gets confusing and crooked and crazy, but god wants those things straight so that he can come into our lives.6:08 And then the rough places, you know, everybody, we've all been through rough times. You know, you've been through, you know, a broken heart. You've been through a time of hope deferred, makes the heart sick. And so we've6:19 all had rough patches, but God wants to smooth those things out in our lives. And so what we wanna talk about is how does he do it? How is it that Jesus is born into our lives, he's coming into6:31 our lives with his presence and his presence in really practical ways? Okay? So, that brings you kind of up to speed. Let me give you 1 more verse. We talked about this 1 last week, Psalm 68 verse 4. This was6:43 kind of where we got to last week. How do you do this? How do you prepare the way of the Lord? How do you make a highway for our God? And we said from Psalm 68 verse 4, we're told how to do it. It tells6:55 us sing to God. Sing you don't have to go get into the asphalt paving business. You just sing. With your voice, you lay out pavement. With your voice and our hearts7:07 connected to our voice, we lay out a highway. Sing to God, sing praises to his name, cast up a highway for him who rides through the deserts. His name is the7:18 Lord. Be in high spirits and glory before him. So we talked last week about how it is we can we can cast up a highway for the lord so that from his throne in heaven, he literally, in the7:30 invisible realm, you know, literally literally can dispatch the 18 wheelers from heaven and come down on that highway that we've cast up all the way from heaven's throne right straight to our hearts, the way of the Lord7:42 we have prepared through singing to the to the Lord, through praising God, through rejoicing, through giving thanks, through all of the things we discussed last week. We create this highway for god to really tangibly7:53 show up in our lives. But I want you to look at 1 other thing in this verse because this is where we're gonna kinda jump off today. Notice not only, you know, from his throne in heaven does he do these things, but also8:05 notice he is the 1 who rides through the desert. His name is the lord. So in our lives then, you know, some of you again, you're going through a desert place. Maybe8:17 economically, it feels like a desert. Maybe with your job, you feel like you're you know, I'm in a desert. Maybe when it comes to the relationship you have with your kids, you know, it doesn't feel like things are8:27 blossoming. Maybe in your spiritual life with the lord, you just feel dry. You know, some of you I mean, we but we, you know, we live this life too. We know what it's like to walk with the Lord for decades, but8:39 to go through dry patches where you don't sense his presence. You don't feel the joy of the Lord. You don't get all crazy excited about reading the Bible, but you do it because you're supposed to read the Bible. Those8:50 are desert places, and he's telling us he's giving us a huge help. He's saying, look, I ride through the desert. And if I can find somebody that has cast up a highway, if I can find somebody that has9:02 prepared the way of the Lord, I can ride right on through your desert right to your heart and I can rejuvenate you. I can still bring my presence and my presence into your life even if you're in a desert,9:14 even if you're in a place that you just need, you know, you need the Lord to revive you. I mean, Psalm 1 19 is loaded with all kinds of scriptures about God wanting to revive us. And 1 way he does is as9:26 we cast up a highway for him even while we're in a desert. Listen, he knows how to find you and he will find the way of the lord you have prepared through singing, through praising, through rejoicing, through9:38 giving thanks, and all of those things. Alright? So what I wanna talk about today then because I know as we got into this last week, we began this, you know, some of you, you're versed in all of this. You love it. You're9:49 eager. You're on the edge of your seat. You can't wait to praise the lord. You love worship. Others of you are still trying to figure out what is the deal with worship. Why do we do it? Like, you know,10:01 we've heard this many times over the years from people. In fact, we get emails from people. They say, hey. I really like your church, but I'm 1 of those people. I just like to stand there. Is that okay? Well, on 1 hand,10:12 yes, it's okay. Anybody and everybody is welcome to be here, but it's not okay for you. It's okay for us. We don't mind because we're still gonna enter in and enjoy the presence of the Lord. And it's okay that you're10:22 here and that you just stand there and you don't really engage. That's okay. Totally okay. But it's not okay for you because then you're not getting the benefit that the Lord wants you to have. He's not riding on the10:33 highway to your life in a really powerful way because there is no highway. You've not prepared the way for the Lord. And so, you know, I wanna wanna share some things that I hope will help some of you, some of you that10:44 maybe are just a little more reticent when it comes to, expressions of worship. Now we're not saying you gotta get all crazy and start doing, you know, handsprings down the stairs or cartwheels in the front of10:56 the church. We're not we're not even suggesting that. A lot of that's just drama and flesh and people trying to be somebody. What god's looking for is your heart, but ultimately your heart expressed11:08 through your voice is how you prepare the way for the Lord to get to your life. So 3 things we're gonna talk about today. We're gonna talk about, 3 reasons that we do give God11:20 praise through singing, through praising the Lord, through being thankful, and through rejoicing, you know, expressing joy. Like, 3 reasons we do that. Okay? Number 1 reason, it's11:32 right. It is just the right thing to do and we'll see that. Number 2, it's a sacrifice. These are sort of 3 ways and 3 reasons. It's right to do it. It is a sacrifice and it is a choice. And I think11:43 maybe some people that they don't realize that. They might think, well, I have to wait till I feel, you know, this goosebump. Very rarely do you feel the goosebump before you start. You just by faith choose to worship11:55 god for who he is and for what he's done and all of the other things that go with it. We I call it the creamy place. You know, you get into that creamy place of his presence, the goosebumps, the peace, the joy,12:08 the chains falling off, the the oppression and the depression lifting, I mean, literally lifting right off from your life. All of those things happen once we choose to worship the lord, to praise12:20 the lord, to thank the lord, and all of those things. Okay? So number 1, we give god praise. We give god songs. We give god thanks. We give god rejoicing because it's right.12:31 Alright? So number 1, Psalm 33 verse 1. Listen to what it says. It says, rejoice in the lord, good people. It is only right for good people to praise him.12:43 Play the light the leer and praise the Lord. Play the 10 string harp. Do you know what the 10 string harp is now these days? This is your 10 string harp. This you know, you don't have to do the light bulb thing, but this12:54 is your 10 string harp. This is how you praise the Lord with your 10 string harp these days. You lift your hands to the Lord. Sing a new song to him. Play it well and sing it loud. You know, some people say, I don't like13:05 all that loud worship. God does. I know it can get too crazy and it can be, you know, it can be inappropriate, but I'm telling you, heaven is a loud place. And God likes it when with our voice, we are worshiping13:17 him and thanking him with a loud voice. You know, just like with, you know, in husbands and wives or or, with your kids or people you care about, you know, people don't always like it if you go, I love you.13:29 And they're like, what? What did you say? I love you. I I couldn't hear you. What what did you say? I I told you. Oh, I love you. Well, they're you're like mumbling. They don't even know what you're saying. If you wanna13:39 tell somebody you love somebody or you wanna say thank you to somebody, give a voice to it. Make it loud, and that's what god wants. He just wants to hear us. He wants to hear this voice preparing the way. So it's good13:50 and it's right. Now sometimes people say, well, this whole praise and worship and rejoicing, all that just seems like is God narcissistic? Is he is he an egotist? Is he is he, arrogant? You know, is he, like, just14:02 is God full of himself? Well, of course, we know that he's not. You know, that is really not an appropriate question, and yet people ask it because it doesn't make sense sometimes to the human mind. But let's just look14:13 at it for a minute. Let's just look at some some logical thoughts because at the at the end of the day, god is self sufficient. He doesn't need our praise. He doesn't need our worship. We need to praise the lord14:25 and we need to worship him, but he doesn't need it. He is self sufficient. But it it's like this. It it's it's wired into us. If you create let give you this example. Let's say that, you know, you're gifted to do14:37 something. You you've you've built something that's beautiful. You've engineered something that's amazing. You're an artist. You've painted something. You've sculpted something. You students, let's say you have a projectChoosing to Praise in All Circumstances 14:46 in school and, man, you've just blown it up with that project. And let's say you did an excellent job. You you created a proposal at work. You came up with this innovative idea and you proposed something amazing. And so14:58 let's say that you all of us did our thing, and let's say that, like, we won the prize. Like like, we were voted number 1. You did the best. It was amazing, this piece of art, this proposal, this15:10 project. So let's say that we won, but when it came time for the awards, when it came time for the praise to be given, what if they gave the praise to the guy next to us? What if they gave all the credit15:22 to the per to the girl next to us on the other side? Well, it would just not be right. Would it It just wouldn't be right because they weren't the ones that did it. We give the credit, we give the praise,15:34 we give the honor to the 1 who did it, to the 1 who created it, designed it, made it, accomplished it, and the only 1 that is worthy of that kind of praise is the Lord. He is the creator,15:46 the most high God above him. There is no other. So it's not like he's an egotist, it's just it's just reality. It's just the right thing to do. Give credit to the 1 who made it all.15:58 Alright. So that's 1 thought. CS Lewis said this in 1 of his books called Reflections on Pray on Psalms. He said this, he's observed that all enjoyment in life spontaneously overflows16:10 into praise. In other words, you know, husbands and wives automatically praise 1 another. Parents automatically praise their kids. No one's forcing them to. No one's saying, well you need to praise those kid. You need to16:22 you need to rejoice with those kids. No. When you have a baby and you begin to have children, now all of us have our moments, but when you pretty much their whole life you're just you're just so delighted with them.16:31 You're praising them. If you travel to the to the ocean or to the mountains or or you're outside on a starry night, no 1 has to prompt you and go, oh, be in awe of the stars. No. You just16:43 are. The enjoyment of things causes you to spontaneously praise, whatever it is. Look at that beautiful mountain range. Look at this amazing beach and ocean. Look at those16:55 trees. I mean, we just do it. It's just automatic. We do it for things we enjoy and maybe where the praise and giving thanks to the Lord, you know, maybe where that gets plugged up is we don't enjoy God17:06 enough. Because at the end of the day, if we don't, like, praise our children, if we don't if we look at a beautiful sunset, we it's almost like for the completion of the enjoyment of the17:18 sunset, we can't just sit there on the beach and watch it. As enjoyable as that is for the complete enjoyment of it all, we have to say something. We have to say we have to say to those around us,17:30 look at that sunset. Isn't that beautiful? Like it's just in us. It would be weird if a bunch of people got on a beach and sat in complete silence and watched the sunset and no 1 ever17:42 expressed any praise or thanks or rejoicing or gratitude. That would just be weird. It would also be weird if they didn't say to 1 another, look at that. Isn't that amazing? Because we praise things that17:54 we enjoy. So when it comes to praising the Lord, it's just weird. If you're a Christian and you never praise the Lord, that's just weird. Like you've got to enjoy him and it's even more weird18:06 if a bunch of Christians get together in silence and never say to 1 another, how great is our God, look at how amazing God has been, he's so good, he's so faithful. That's like normal. And all18:18 the people said, amen. Okay. Now here's 1 final thing on this. The intensity of a person's praise or their rejoicing or their thanksgiving is a heart indicator. You know,18:29 Jesus said this. He said, whoever's been forgiven much loves much. So sometimes what we really need is we need a revelation on how much we've been forgiven. I mean, we have been we are flat out18:41 sinners. We were lost. We were guilty before God. We deserve the wages of sin is death. We deserve that. But God was merciful to us in the degree of of how forgiven we realize we have18:53 been is is how much we love. So maybe, you know, for some people it's just like you gotta you gotta regroup with the Lord and go, God, I'm sorry. I have not even been aware of how much you've forgiven me. If I look at19:05 how black my slate was and you've made it as white as snow forever, you are worthy of my praise. It's just right to praise the Lord. And all the people said Hey. I19:17 hope you are enjoying today's message and I wanted to interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement. I wanted to offer you a free book that will19:28 help you grow in your relationship with the Lord. Just click the Free Book Button on the Pray dot com App or go to The BasicsWithBeth dot19:40 com to get your free copy of the 7 Basics. These truths will definitely set you up for an intimate and successful19:52 relationship with the lord. Now, let's head back into our regularly scheduled program. Now, if you don't like praising the lord, listen, you're gonna hate heaven. Can I just say you're not20:04 gonna like heaven? Earth is a warm up for heaven. It's right to praise the lord. Here's another verse for you. Go over to, Hebrews 13 15 to give God your20:16 songs, your praise, your thanks, your rejoicing is a sacrifice. Hebrews 13 15 says, therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That20:27 is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. So when it comes to this whole idea, you know, it's it's something that we have to do as a sacrifice. You don't always feel it. Sometimes you feel20:39 the exact opposite. Sometimes you wanna be mad at the Lord. Sometimes you wanna be frustrated. Sometimes you wanna be discouraged. Sometimes you wanna grumble and complain, but the sacrifice is I'm gonna give that up.20:51 I'm gonna give up the complaining, the gossiping, the murmuring, the anger. I'm gonna give up my selfish desires. I'm giving all that up, and I'm giving you a sacrifice of praise. The writer of Hebrews says to do21:03 it continually. All the time, this is what we do, and it's the fruit of lips. Again, it goes back to the voice. To sing songs to the lord, to praise the lord, to give the lord thanks, to21:15 rejoice, it has to do with our lips connected to our heart. It's not a silent proposition here. Giving thanks to his name. God's looking for an audible. A lot of things with God are21:27 voice activated, just, you know, FYI. In fact, most things with God are voice activated. Honestly, they really are. So, Habakkuk. Go to Habakkuk 3 verse 15. We're talking about to21:38 praise the Lord and to give thanks and all is a sacrifice. Habakkuk 3 15 says this, says though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, though the labor21:50 of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls yet I I mean, this is a bad this is a bad scene. This is a bad22:02 situation. He says pretty much everything's bad. Nothing's working out. My income is terrible. Nothing's blossoming. There's no fruit. There's no animals, no livelihood, no increase. I have22:14 no income. Yet, I will rejoice in the lord. I will joy in the god of my salvation. The lord god is my strength, and he22:26 will make my feet like deer's feet and he will make me walk on my high places. This takes faith to do. When everything's going the opposite direction, when everything's not going your way, that's the22:38 time to say, yet I will rejoice. Because as we're rejoicing, as we're praising the lord, as we're making that highway for the Lord. What he's doing on the back end, what he's doing is he's strengthening us.22:50 He's strengthening us with our with wisdom. He's strengthening us with energy and and ability and I mean, he's strengthening us on every level. But then it says he makes our feet like deer's feet and it then takes us up23:01 to our high places. You know, deer, those of you that are hunters, you know, the deer, I mean, they're known for for their their hind feet. They're known because they're fast, they're swift, and they can leap. A23:13 deer can leap like 8 feet just at a at a dead standstill. They can just boop. They can leap. They can go fast and they can pivot. On those front feet, they can make a quick pivot. You know, we all know. We've seen deer23:24 dart out in front of a of a car on the highway. He says, look. I'll make your feet like a deer's feet. I'll I'll help you to be swift. I'll help you to jump over these obstacles. I'll help you to pivot. Things aren't23:34 going your way. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna help you to make a pivot. And then I will take you and I will lead you to walk on the high places. God's not gonna leave you in the dumps. He's not gonna leave this scene23:46 where the fig tree is not blossoming and where things are going bad. I mean, that's a season, that's a moment. He's not gonna leave you there if you will give him the sacrifice of praise. If you will say, god, yet I will23:56 rejoice and I'll praise the lord. Alright? Number 3, giving god our songs, our praise, our thanks, our rejoicing is a choice. Ultimately, it's a choice. Psalm 34 verse 1 says,24:08 I will. That's our will. We choose it with our will. I will bless the lord at all times. How many times? When will I do this? At all times. His praise shall24:20 continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. So together then, oh, magnify the Lord with me.24:32 Let us, all of us, let us exalt his name together. There's something about it when you make a choice and when you say, god, I will praise the lord. I will bless the lord.24:44 Oh, my soul. I will bless the lord. His praise will continually be in my mouth. You know, we've had many seasons just like you guys where we didn't feel like it. I remember we were in a24:56 season, I was pregnant with Eric. We lived in we lived in the shack, the cave, and the sulfur pit. So this was in the cave season. And I was pregnant with Eric. We have 3 other kids. They're all little. We don't25:08 even have enough beds for everybody to sleep in. We look like somebody told us. Actually, they told us this. They said, you guys look like a scene from Grapes of Wrath, which I'd never seen, but I pictured it. They said,25:18 you guys look just ridiculous. And, you know, here we are, we're believing God, we're just getting the church started, we're trusting the Lord, you know, we're taking him at his word, but we're in a season where the fig25:28 trees were not blossoming and things just didn't seem good. And, you know, you're pregnant, you're not feeling great. And, I remember being so discouraged. I mean, so discouraged, just in tears practically, you know,25:39 days on end. And I said, Lord, what do we do? And I tell you what, he took me over to first Peter. There was a song playing on my CD player and it came from first Peter. He took me over to first Peter. It was a song25:49 about praising the Lord. And the Lord just told me, he said, what you're gonna do is you're gonna praise the Lord. You're gonna give me praise. Well, I didn't feel like it. I felt like slapping somebody. I felt like25:59 quitting. And the lord said, no, you're gonna give me praise. Just I'll get your feet up on the high places. Don't worry about that. I'll get you where I need to get you but right now, it's a choice. Right now, you have26:10 to choose and it's a sacrifice and it's right. You just have to praise me. So I put that song in and I'd sing that song, you know, with as much of my heart as I could, you know, not too enthusiastically at first and26:22 then I'd hit, you know, rewind or play again. I'd sing that song again. I'd walk around that house. We still look like the grapes of wrath, but I'm singing my praises to the lord. I'm giving him thanks. I'm rejoicing in26:34 the lord by faith because it's my choice. Well, you know, the end of the story is it was it was a very short little season. We've been blessed beyond measure. God's taken us to high places, but, you know, I could have26:44 flunked that test. I could have stayed in the grips of wrath, I'm sure, for a bit longer. So it's a choice. Alright? Look over to Psalm 1 0 4 verse 33. Praise the lord. That's what it says. Praise26:56 the lord. And then he goes on and says, I will again, it's our choice. I will sing unto the lord. Some of you I know. Well, I don't sing. I just I'm not into all27:08 that. Well, you've got to get into all of it because it's a choice. If you want to prepare the way for the lord to come into your life, if you want all of these valleys to come up, mountains to come down, crooked ways to27:19 be straight, and rough places to be smooth in your life, you have got to choose to sing to the Lord. As long as I live, he said. How long now how long am I gonna have to do this? Like, how long will27:31 this worship set be? Look, this is as long as you live. This is when you're coming and when you're going. The psalmist said, evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and give God my praise.27:42 This becomes your lifestyle. This becomes your DNA. You're just the kind of person that's always got that song in your heart. You've always got a an attitude of rejoicing and thanking God. It's the spirit of faith.27:54 I will do this. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while how long? While I have my being. So look. Here who who qualifies for this? Okay. Here's who qualifies. Now if you do not fit28:05 these things, you do not qualify. But here here's who does. If you are breathing, you qualify. If you are living, you qualify. So pretty much that would, I think, include28:17 everybody everybody because unless you're living and if you're not breathing, then I guess, you know, you're in heaven, hopefully, not the other place. So how long do you praise the lord? How long do you do this? IHow to Worship: A Practical Guide 28:28 choose to do it as long as I live while I have my being. It is a choice. Okay. Now I'm gonna wrap up with this. Usually, the question comes up, how do I worship? I mean, okay. I I'm convinced I need to do this. I'm gonna28:39 bust out of my comfort zone. I'm gonna this is gonna be kind of my new lifestyle. The old stoic, hands in the pockets, not looking too enthused, that person is gone now. And now28:51 this is the new me. I'm gonna be a little more enthused here. I'm gonna get my heart and soul into this and I'm gonna obey the bible and worship the lord, but how do I do it? Okay. Psalm 100 is a great29:03 super great place to start. It says, make a joyful shout to the lord all you lands. Serve the lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the lord, he is29:14 god. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his29:26 courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name for the lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations. This has helped me. The Psalm 100 helps29:38 me all the time. It helps me to kinda know the protocol, the order of things. How is it I come into the lord's presence? How do I prepare the way of the lord and cast up this highway? I see 3 things. These 3 things have29:50 helped me. Okay? Starts with the gates. It's there I'm gonna enter the gates. I'm just coming to the gates of god's presence of being with the lord. I'm coming to the gates. You know, you can make it real practical and30:01 go, okay. I'm coming to the parking lot at church. I'm coming to the gates. You know, if you wanna make it real practical, like, for your experience as you as you attend church. But this isn't just for church. You30:11 understand? This is for your life. This is for your car, your prayer closet, walking down the hallways. This is for everywhere. But I'm coming to the gates, and and how do I come to the gates? I come with30:23 thanksgiving. Enter his gates with thanksgiving. So I just start my praising time, my time with god. Like, god, thank you. Thank you for this day. This is the day the lord has made. Thank you. I will rejoice and be glad.30:35 Thank you for my family. Thank you for the fact that I'm breathing oxygen. Thank you god that I can see. Thank you lord that I have a job. Thank you lord. I mean, whatever comes to your heart and mind, we enter his gates30:46 with thanksgiving for what he has done and for who he is. Then it says, come into his courts. Okay? So you're just getting a little closer. You're coming into the courts of30:58 god, of his presence. You come into his courts with praise. Again, if you wanna make it practical here, you know, just so you guys have some reference points, when you pull into the parking lot whether you're in Battle31:09 Creek or the Cathedral or you're just, you know, leaving your driveway at your house, those of you watching online, that's your gates. Start off your day with thanksgiving. Start off that entering with thanksgiving. But31:20 then as you get a little closer to the lord, as you get, you know, into the building, let's say, you get to the atrium or something, consider that the the the courts. And just get a heart of praise, just like, yeah, I31:30 just am gonna praise the lord. Praise the lord. Whoo. Praise the Lord for who he is. He's almighty God. He's all powerful God. He's faithful. All the things you know about who31:42 he is, you praise the Lord. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. You're getting closer, but then notice what it tells us to do. It says, come before his31:53 presence with singing. In the Old Testament, you know, to get into God's presence, you had to go into the holy plate, the most holy place. In our case, you know, in our lives as you get closer to the32:05 lord you start with thanksgiving, you go into praise, but then you ultimately come before his presence with singing. You begin to sing a song out of your own heart, a song you just make up out of your heart, or a song32:17 you know. But you just begin to sing unto the lord and he loves it. And he does things when we begin to sing that we're preparing the way, he's riding in the desert, he wants to come into our32:29 lives and as we make that highway available through thanks, through praise, through singing, man he'll show up in your life. You know, in making it relevant here at church, you know, as we get into the sanctuary,32:40 we come in here we're like, god I'm coming into your presence with singing. When that band gets up there and hits the first note, I am all over it. I I don't care who's around me because old stoic me, old unresponsive,32:53 you know, me is is no longer existing. I'm coming into your presence with singing. And you might not be able to carry a tune in a paper sack. I can't carry a tune in public, but in my car I can. You33:04 know? And so don't worry about that. Just sing before the Lord and enjoy his presence and he'll show up. Alright? So, you know, the Bible, there's 9 different words that are translated as in Hebrew in the Old Testament.33:15 9 different words translated as the word praise and we see it, you know, with singing, rejoicing, giving thanks, all of those things. Here are the 9 words. I would venture to say all of us will do any 1 of these things33:26 today and in this life of praise and thanks and rejoicing with the lord. Okay? So they'll have these on the screen, but the first one's halal. It means to rave and be clamorously foolish, just33:38 being nuts for the lord. Number 2 is tehila, to praise the Lord in song. This is another way that the Bible tells us to praise and and rejoice before the Lord. Yada.33:50 Yada yada yada. To praise the Lord with extended hands. Well, I don't know if I'm 1 of them hand raising people. Look. Yada. Look at your neighbor and say yada. You you gotta do it. You gotta lift your34:02 hands. Yada means to praise the lord with extended hands. Number 4, barak, to praise on bended knee. Number 5, zamar, to sing and play a musical34:14 instrument. Our whole team is zamaring. They're all like zamar people. They play instruments and they worship god on their instrument. Todah, to offer praise as a sacrifice of34:26 thanksgiving. Some of you may have to do that today. Maybe a toda for you because it's a sacrifice. Number 7, to rejoice and celebrate. You're just happy, rejoice, and celebrate. Number 8,34:37 to adore. Oh, come. Let us adore him. And number 9, shabach, to praise in soothing tones. Doesn't always have to be loud and crazy and34:49 like, There there are times and even in our worship as you know and in your own private worship, there are those moments, it's just soothing tones with the lord, just calm waters of praise and rejoicing and thanksgiving35:01 and singing. Amen. So we're talking about hark. Week number 2, God, we're listening. We're listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We're hearing how it is you want us to prepare35:13 the way of the Lord, to come into us personally, his presence, and then his presence, his good gifts. You're riding through the desert, Lord, and and and we need you to come to35:25 us today. We need your help. Let's pray. Father, we do. We need your help today. We need your presence in our lives, Lord, and we need your companionship and we need your fellowship and your35:37 encouragement. And Lord, some of us here we need good things, we need presence, we just need a gift from you. Lord, as we prepare the way of the Lord today, as we lift up and cast up the highway35:49 to our God, I thank you, Lord, that you will ride on it. I thank you, God, we'll experience your tangible presence and goodness in Jesus' name. And all the people said,36:01 amen. Thank you so much for listening to today's message. I really hope you were encouraged. And if you were, I would love to hear from you. Please email36:12 us to let us know what the Lord is doing in your life and don't forget to get your free copy of the 7 Basics book by clicking the free book button on the pray36:24 dot com app. Also, if these messages are encouraging you, would you like to help us help more people learn the Bible basics? You36:36 can. By making a donation of any amount, you will partner with us and help us keep these programs going to people around the world. It's easy to become36:48 a partner. Just click the give button on the pray dot com app or go to the basics with beth dot com to make a donation. Together, we can continue37:00 to help people learn the Bible basics. So, thanks again for tuning in today. I can't wait to see you right here on pray dot com37:12 next time.In this video 0:00 Preparing the Way for the Lord1:44 The Power of Praise and Worship14:44 Choosing to Praise in All Circumstances28:20 How to Worship: A Practical Guide
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