Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20260215 - Worship Matters - Psalm 145:1-5
Transcript
- 0:05Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
- 0:09Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
- 0:12resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
- 0:15into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
- 0:20dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
- 0:25Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
- 0:31Amen. Amen.
- 0:33Psalm 145. Worship matters.
- 0:35See, there's a lot of conversations about worship
- 0:39these days, worship music in particular, and who has the
- 0:44correct way of what worship looks like, which songs are the
- 0:48best, whether it's contemporary or we should do more hymns, Less
- 0:52hymns, faster songs, slower songs, the list can go on and
- 0:57on. That's not necessarily where
- 1:00this message is going to go. Rather, we're going to touch on
- 1:03four points on why our worship and the life of worship matters.
- 1:10But on a side note, just as you consider if you have opinions or
- 1:15thoughts regarding worship, worship music, songs, and how
- 1:20they're to be used within the church, I want you to just
- 1:23consider this thought that we must be very careful not to
- 1:28create spiritual standards out of our personal preferences.
- 1:34I'll just say that again, we must be very careful not to
- 1:37create spiritual standards out of our personal preferences.
- 1:42You see, worship music can be one more thing that divides us
- 1:48as believers, and I think the enemy would love to use this
- 1:52topic as something that would divide his church.
- 1:56And yet what worship is meant to be is it's meant to be a
- 1:59unifier. Worship unifies us.
- 2:03When we gather together, we are unified in lifting our voices
- 2:07together towards God, singing together, weeping together,
- 2:13rejoicing together. We can get a kind of a good
- 2:17illustration by sporting events. Anybody ever been to a sporting
- 2:22event? You guys can lift your hands.
- 2:24So this morning, just if you guys need to, you guys can start
- 2:26stretching. This is going to be a really
- 2:28interactive service this morning.
- 2:31And you guys are 945. So you've had some time to get
- 2:35coffee, you've had some time, hopefully to eat breakfast.
- 2:39So if you need to just start stretching, ask your neighbor to
- 2:42pull your arm. You know, anybody been to a
- 2:44sporting event this OK, All right.
- 2:48And so if you're at the sporting event and the home team does
- 2:52something good, what happens? There's some cheering.
- 2:56It's unified, there's some unity in the cheering, right?
- 3:02This is kind of a good illustration of like there's
- 3:05some unity within there. In Revelation 79 through 12 we
- 3:11get a small glimpse of what's described as unity within
- 3:17worship. It says after these things I
- 3:19looked and behold a great multitude which no one could
- 3:23number of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues standing
- 3:28before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes
- 3:32with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud
- 3:36voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
- 3:39throne and to the Lamb. All the angels stood around the
- 3:43throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell
- 3:47on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying Amen,
- 3:52blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power
- 3:57and might be to our God forever and ever.
- 4:02Amen. Worship is meant for us to be
- 4:08unified in and, and yet even in these sporting events, we can
- 4:12see that there's an opposing team, which means there's
- 4:15probably opposing fans. So even in that illustration,
- 4:18not everybody is unified in who they're rejoicing in and for.
- 4:23And that's the great thing about what God has called the church
- 4:26to be, is because we are called in unity with a voice together
- 4:33to praise the only name that is above every name, the only true
- 4:37and living God, the only way to salvation in Jesus.
- 4:42Can I get an Amen for that? We are called to be in unity.
- 4:46And it is such a sweet thing when the church gathers
- 4:48together, doesn't matter what background you come from,
- 4:53doesn't matter what preferences you might have, opinions you
- 4:55might have, doesn't whatever walk of life you come to come
- 4:59through. We see this in Revelation, every
- 5:01tribe, tongue and nation. And we get a small glimpse of
- 5:05that here in this room, unified together.
- 5:09We, we just sang together. It was a beautiful thing.
- 5:12Some of you have great voices, some of you have voices, but all
- 5:20of it, all of it is used to the glory of God.
- 5:24And so why does worship matter? And then why does our, why does
- 5:29our worship matter? Well, I'm going to give you 4
- 5:32points. The first point is this.
- 5:34Our worship matters because it's personal.
- 5:37Our worship is personal. Worship reminds our hearts to
- 5:42rightfully acknowledge God's place.
- 5:46Worship reminds our hearts to rightfully acknowledge God's
- 5:49place. He is Creator, He is King, He is
- 5:55good. He's always present, he's
- 5:58long-suffering and the list can go on and on.
- 6:02It's our heart responding to the goodness of God and our hearts
- 6:10know how to respond. If you think about that
- 6:13illustration again of the sporting event, if the team that
- 6:18is, the home team does well, typically that stadium or the
- 6:22arena, right, there's an eruption of noise, of joy, of
- 6:28rejoicing, of cheering, right? Our hearts know how to respond.
- 6:37Any anybody ever been in love like Valentine's Day was
- 6:40yesterday? Anybody better ever been in
- 6:42love? All you married people you like
- 6:44you, hopefully you're raising your hand.
- 6:47I am hopeful. But if I asked every married
- 6:51couple in the room to stand up front and then I asked you, how
- 6:56do you, how do you show love? How do you show love?
- 7:04I would hope that every couple there would be some sort of
- 7:09action and response to what that love looks like.
- 7:16You see, our hearts know how to respond to love.
- 7:20Our hearts already know how to to respond and when it when our
- 7:26worship is personal, our hearts respond to understanding and
- 7:30knowing the goodness of God. We see here in Psalm 145, the
- 7:34first 3 verses, it says I will extol you my God O King, and I
- 7:39will bless your name forever and ever.
- 7:42Every day I will bless you and I will praise your name forever
- 7:45and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to
- 7:49be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
- 7:54We see here that David is honoring and lifting up the name
- 7:57of God in very personal ways. He did it with a personal
- 8:02reference, my God. He did it with a surrendered
- 8:07heart, acknowledging who God is, my God, O King.
- 8:12And he did it unendingly. He said forever and ever.
- 8:18It's every day, it's every moment.
- 8:21Our worship is personal. Now worship can be what we do
- 8:27unto the Lord, but more specifically, speaking about our
- 8:32gathering together as a church, why are why is our response or
- 8:37our expression of worship so important?
- 8:43Well, our worship is first personal and then secondly, it's
- 8:48prescribed. Our worship is prescribed.
- 8:52It's biblical. God has given us a prescription
- 8:57for what worship should look like.
- 9:00God originated worship for us. There's many accounts in the
- 9:06Bible. We see in Job chapter 38, verses
- 9:094 through 7, an encounter that Job has with God.
- 9:13This is what God says to Job. He says, Where were you when I
- 9:16laid the foundations of the earth?
- 9:20Tell me if you have understanding, Who determined
- 9:23its measurements? Surely you know, oh, who
- 9:28stretched the line upon it to that where its foundations
- 9:31fastened, Or who laid its cornerstone?
- 9:35When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God
- 9:39shouted for joy, we see that from the very beginning, from
- 9:44the foundations, there was a response to God's greatness.
- 9:49There was singing at the beginning.
- 9:52The morning stars sang together the very foundation that God
- 10:00created. If you would turn your your
- 10:02Bibles to John chapter 4, we're going to see this encounter that
- 10:13Jesus has with a Sumerian woman in John chapter 4.
- 10:19Not only was singing or worship at the very beginning, Jesus
- 10:25says this to this woman in John chapter 4 verses 23.
- 10:30We could start there, he says, but the hour is coming, and now
- 10:35is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
- 10:39spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to
- 10:43worship him. God is spirit, and those who
- 10:46worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth, He tells.
- 10:54He gives this instruction. They must worship in spirit and
- 10:57in truth. There is no other way to worship
- 11:00God but in spirit and in truth. And so if we're considering what
- 11:05it means to worship in spirit, to worship in spirit those that
- 11:12are true whispers, you have to be born of the Spirit or you
- 11:17must be born again. This is the only way to worship
- 11:22God in spirit and the truth to be born again, to be born of the
- 11:25Spirit. In Romans chapter 8, verse 11,
- 11:28it says this, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if
- 11:33indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.
- 11:35Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
- 11:39And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin.
- 11:44But if, let me read that again. And if Christ is in you, the
- 11:47body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
- 11:50righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who
- 11:53raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised
- 11:56Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
- 12:01through His Spirit who dwells in you.
- 12:05For the believer, for the person that's been born again, He has
- 12:08given you His Spirit. Ephesians 2 tells us that we
- 12:13were once dead in sin. But you but me, us, He made
- 12:19alive those who believe and confess.
- 12:23Jesus is Lord, He made alive. And so the only way to worship
- 12:27God in spirit is to be born of the Spirit or to be born again.
- 12:31Otherwise, songs, they're just songs and singing is just
- 12:36singing. While those things could be
- 12:39good, it's not the prescribed way for true worshippers to
- 12:44worship. The Bible says true worship
- 12:48comes from the worshipper that worships in spirit and in truth.
- 12:53You can write these verses down about being born again in
- 12:58Christ. There is no other way to worship
- 13:01God who is Spirit if we ourselves aren't born in the
- 13:05spirit. If you're writing notes,
- 13:07Colossians 213, John chapter 3, three through 6, and Titus 35.
- 13:19So not only do we need to be born of the Spirit, to worship
- 13:23in spirit also means that we are concerned with spiritual
- 13:26realities and not merely just outward sacrifices or having to
- 13:33do with things that bring merit or we're being, we're OK with
- 13:38God, I'm OK with God. It says this in Ephesians 515
- 13:44through 21. See then that you walk
- 13:46circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time,
- 13:51because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but
- 13:56understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk
- 14:01with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with
- 14:05the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and
- 14:10spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to
- 14:14the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father
- 14:19in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one
- 14:22another in the fear of God. You see, this is what it has
- 14:28been prescribed through God's Word for those who would worship
- 14:32in spirit and in truth, not to just be born again, but to live
- 14:36a life walking in the Spirit. He says here, don't be drunk
- 14:42with wine, which is dissipation, which is just get your thoughts
- 14:46scattered, but be filled with your with the Spirit speaking to
- 14:49one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
- 14:53making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always
- 14:58for all things to God. And here's the reality.
- 15:02I don't know if you've ever considered that your heart has a
- 15:06melody. We all understand that our heart
- 15:09has a beat, but our heart has a melody and that as a spirit of
- 15:15God is working through through us and in us, our hearts make a
- 15:19melody unto the Lord and it's a specific melody.
- 15:22It's your melody. It's nobody else's melody.
- 15:25Only your heart has that melody. It's not my melody, it's yours.
- 15:30And each one of you can bring this melody unto the Lord.
- 15:33It's prescribed for us as we gather together to sing, to, to,
- 15:38to speak to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
- 15:40singing and making melody with our hearts.
- 15:44So there's not just a melody outwardly.
- 15:46It's not just songs being sung with our mouths and our voices.
- 15:50There is a melody in the room that only God can hear, and he
- 15:54receives them from us personally.
- 15:57It is your melody and it is yours, and it brings this, this
- 16:02amazing mosaic of melody, this harmony to the room.
- 16:09This is the prescription on how the church functions, not just
- 16:12in personal life, but also in the church's corporate life or
- 16:16as we gather together in Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 17,
- 16:21it says this, the Lord your God in your midst, the mighty one
- 16:25will save. He will rejoice over you with
- 16:28gladness. He will quiet you with his love,
- 16:32and he will rejoice over you with singing.
- 16:36Now this is this is speaking to the children of Israel, but I
- 16:40believe it's also for us that He will quiet you with His love.
- 16:45Have you come into the room today with so many cares and
- 16:48concerns? He will quiet you with His love
- 16:52as you consider His love towards you.
- 16:54His mercy, His grace, that God would send His only Son to
- 17:02become the sacrifice for sin, to pay the penalty of sin, which is
- 17:07death. He took it upon Himself,
- 17:10crucified on a cross, died on that cross, buried in the grave,
- 17:16and three days later he rose again to show us the power that
- 17:21is within the Spirit of God that now lives within us.
- 17:28He will rejoice over you with singing.
- 17:33You see, we reflect the God that we worship in our worship.
- 17:37He sings over us. Not only does He sing over us,
- 17:41He has joy. He rejoices in singing over us.
- 17:48So why would we choose not to respond in singing to Him?
- 17:54Now I get not everyone feels comfortable with singing.
- 17:59Not everyone feels like they can sing.
- 18:03But I want to encourage you, whatever is in there, the Lord
- 18:08is pleased with it. Whatever tuner melody you think
- 18:12you can or don't have, the Lord is pleased with it because it's
- 18:15your melody. It's the song that comes from
- 18:20you. And so it becomes a choice, a
- 18:25choice of preference. Because God is singing over us,
- 18:29our response should be to sing towards Him.
- 18:35So not only is our worship personal, not only is our
- 18:39worship prescribed, but the Third Point is it's practical,
- 18:46it's tangible. There's things that we're called
- 18:48to do as believers in our worship.
- 18:51Our worship isn't just a theological idea or thought,
- 18:55it's action. And in that action we have a
- 19:00responsibility to disciple and show the generations after us
- 19:05what true worship looks like. Not just a Sunday morning
- 19:10gathering, but what it looks like daily.
- 19:14What does your worship life look like daily?
- 19:17What are the songs that we're singing throughout the week?
- 19:20What is the melody of our hearts back in Psalm 145?
- 19:29In verse 4 it says one generation shall praise your
- 19:32works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts.
- 19:36I will meditate on the glorious splendor of all Your majesty and
- 19:41on Your wondrous works one generation to another.
- 19:47You see our worship and how we worship, how we view God and how
- 19:52we respond to God in our obedience and the actions that
- 19:56take place. That is inherited by the
- 19:59generation after us. The generation after us inherits
- 20:04the way that we do things. Now, if you're a parent, you
- 20:08understand this. Any parents in the room?
- 20:13You understand this because your kids will inherit what you do,
- 20:21not what you say, which is a heavy responsibility.
- 20:28And I would say with that heavy responsibility, I would
- 20:30translate that into the way that we worship.
- 20:33Our kids will understand what worship looks like by the way or
- 20:37the manner of how we worship. Is it surrendered?
- 20:43Is it wholehearted? Is it sincere?
- 20:48The people around us will see this and they will understand
- 20:53this and they can grow an understanding as we see what
- 20:58worship looks like from the book of Joshua 24 to Judges chapter
- 21:062. This is one generation and it
- 21:10says this at the end of the book of Joshua.
- 21:12Joshua ends with this. It says Israel serve the Lord
- 21:15all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who
- 21:20outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which
- 21:24had done been done for Israel. And then the book of Judges
- 21:30starts Judges. Joshua judges are books
- 21:33back-to-back. The book of judges starts with
- 21:37this. When all that generation, the
- 21:39previous generation had been gathered to their fathers, which
- 21:42means they're no longer present here, another generation arose
- 21:48after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which he had
- 21:52done for Israel. You see, we're just one
- 21:56generation away. We're always just one generation
- 22:00away from a generation not knowing what God has done.
- 22:05Has God done something great for you?
- 22:09Couple people, Has God done something great for you?
- 22:14Yeah, this is our testimony church.
- 22:18God has done great things because our worship is personal.
- 22:25You can think about. I want you to just take a
- 22:28moment. Consider.
- 22:30Consider what God has saved you from.
- 22:34Consider how God has changed you.
- 22:38Consider what life looked like a year ago, two years ago, 10
- 22:42years ago. Has God done great things?
- 22:47He surely has. And the generations following us
- 22:53will inherit the worship life that we act today.
- 22:59I'm going to try something with you.
- 23:05Give us a little illustration. I'm going to start a song.
- 23:09And if you know the song, just start, just start singing along.
- 23:13Just participate. OK, I'm telling you, we're going
- 23:15to be really. This is not this is not even the
- 23:17most interactive part. I told I warned you to stretch,
- 23:24but as soon as you catch the song, follow along.
- 23:27Ready. You guys ready?
- 23:29All right, here we go. OK.
- 23:42Yeah. You guys keep going.
- 23:43Yeah. There's a generation.
- 23:47There's a generation that has no idea what black and white TV
- 23:50look like. You guys understand that, right?
- 23:56My 8 year old has no idea what it looked like to watch a
- 24:01screen. To have to sit, to be ready to
- 24:06watch a certain TV show at a certain time is so uncommon to
- 24:15the generation. I'll try another one.
- 24:18All right, that this we'll try to go a little bit younger.
- 24:22As soon as you as soon as you remember it, just just follow
- 24:26along in West Philadelphia, born and raised on the playground is
- 24:30where I spent chilling out. OK, so, so the people that were
- 24:36whistling, they're gone. They're like what?
- 24:43But my 8 year old doesn't know that song.
- 24:47It's not, it's not, it's not anywhere in his mind.
- 24:51And yet somehow you've you haven't been thinking about The
- 24:55Fresh Prince instantly comes back.
- 25:01As a side note, just as much as our heart is to disciple the
- 25:05next generation, this world is trying to disciple us.
- 25:08The only reason you know those songs is because you've been
- 25:12discipled. It's in you.
- 25:17And and it's the same for the way that we worship.
- 25:20It is in US. We know how to respond.
- 25:27And so how we worship is important because our actions,
- 25:32you guys know this phrase, our actions speak louder than how we
- 25:37act and how we live and how we express is much more important
- 25:42than say you need to worship God.
- 25:45How we do it. You see, the deeper our
- 25:48knowledge of God, the deeper our worship is.
- 25:52And so to worship in truth, not just spirit, to worship in truth
- 25:56means you worship according to God's Word.
- 26:01We can easily have an emotional response during our times of
- 26:04worship. But what happens after the
- 26:06emotional response? There has to be a transformation
- 26:11that comes from knowing the Word of God, from understanding it.
- 26:18Charles Spurgeon says this of Psalm 145.
- 26:23The generations shall herein unite together.
- 26:26They shall make up an extraordinary history.
- 26:30Each generation shall contribute its chapter, and all the
- 26:34generations together shall compose a volume of matchless
- 26:39character. We're all in this together.
- 26:45The generations before us, we have learned and inherited.
- 26:49The generation that now is we're learning, and now the
- 26:54generations behind us are going to learn and inherit.
- 26:59And so I have a couple words for us, a couple practical ways that
- 27:03we worship the Lord. Or we can look at these as
- 27:05practical postures of worship and of praise.
- 27:10And the first word is this. If you're taking notes, the
- 27:12first word is yada. This means to show reverence or
- 27:19praise with extended hands. This type of praise is like
- 27:27shooting an arrow or throwing a rock.
- 27:31I, I've, I've realized that there are times when I'm leading
- 27:34worship and I lift my hands and I start doing this and I'm not
- 27:38raising the roof, which again, there's a generation that does
- 27:42not understand this, but it's because I'm, I'm releasing my
- 27:50praise to the Lord. I am confessing the name of God
- 27:56that he is Emmanuel. He's with us, He's with me right
- 27:59now. We see this in Psalm 42, verse
- 28:025. We also see this at the
- 28:05dedication of the temple in Second Chronicles 7.
- 28:09It uses the expression of praise.
- 28:11What's the Levites blowing trumpets and calling everyone to
- 28:14worship? And the praise that everyone is
- 28:17expressing is through standing and lifting hands.
- 28:20So Church, I invite you this morning, would you stand?
- 28:23And we're going to practically practice this.
- 28:27And it's not, you know, as the worship team is here and as the
- 28:30worship leaders, as we invite you to lift your hands.
- 28:32It's not some like arbitrary thing.
- 28:34It's not like at 10:44 we have to, we have to say raise your
- 28:38hands. This is an expression, it's a
- 28:42posture. This is what the Bible
- 28:45prescribes for us. So if you would just consider
- 28:50what God has done to you and lift your hands, you extend your
- 28:54hands, you can, it's like throwing praise.
- 28:59There's action. So we consider what God has done
- 29:02for us, who he is, and you just take a couple moments that
- 29:09instead of holding in this this praise, we start to express it
- 29:13outwardly as you're doing that. The second word is tada.
- 29:18It's similar to yada, but it's different.
- 29:21It means to show agreement by extending the right hand or in
- 29:25today's society, the closest thing we have is like a
- 29:27handshake to seal the deal or pact.
- 29:31The idea is associated with sacrifice.
- 29:34So we lift our hands as well as, as a, as a posture or a sign of
- 29:38surrender. And, and it's, it's exclusive,
- 29:42right? This, this posture is exclusive.
- 29:45It's not every time, there's not many occurrences where we lift
- 29:49our hands, right? Often times it's, it's at church
- 29:53or if you're getting pulled over by the police and you're getting
- 29:55taken out and you have to lift your hands, right?
- 29:58Either way, it's surrender, right?
- 30:01But it's exclusive. Who else do we do this for?
- 30:08Who else? Because who else is is worthy of
- 30:11this? Our hearts responding in this
- 30:14way. We see this in Psalm 50, verse
- 30:1623. You guys can have a seat.
- 30:18We see this in Psalm 50, verse 23.
- 30:29Psalm 50, verse 23, we see this kind of praise used.
- 30:32The next word is Barack. This flavor of praise is one
- 30:37that we commonly see around altars.
- 30:41It means to kneel down, means to bow low as a sign of adoration
- 30:47and reverence. It carries with it the idea of
- 30:51humbling yourself to a place that is lower than the recipient
- 30:57of your worship. And we see this in Psalm 95,
- 31:01verse 6, and it expresses this idea literally.
- 31:08So it's not a suggestion. When the psalmist writes, come,
- 31:12let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our
- 31:18God, our Maker. This isn't a suggestion, it's
- 31:22direction. And so this one might be the
- 31:26most physically uncomfortable, but it's biblical.
- 31:33And when's the last time that you, when's the last time that
- 31:37you just kneeled before the Lord, bowed before the Lord,
- 31:43laid flat face down before the Lord.
- 31:47So I'm not going to ask you to do that right now, but in our
- 31:50time of singing together at the end of service, this might be
- 31:53the time where God is just putting on your heart.
- 31:56It's time to not just feel it, to not just acknowledge it, but
- 32:03to express it that there is someone far greater than who I
- 32:10am. Consider this church.
- 32:14Consider this. The king is in the room and you
- 32:19want his attention. You want the King's attention.
- 32:22And here's the amazing part. You have it, you have it.
- 32:28You're in a room full of people, but you have the King's
- 32:31attention. You have his ear.
- 32:36Not only do you have his ear, you have his heart, and he is
- 32:39looking at you and he is receiving it from you.
- 32:44The King is in the room church. He's responding to you as you
- 32:48respond to him. The next word is tequila.
- 32:54This is praise demanded by qualities or deeds or attributes
- 32:57of God. This posture, this type of
- 33:02praise, is singing. But it's not just any type of
- 33:05singing. It's singing that bubbles up
- 33:08from our hearts. It's a spontaneous type of
- 33:12singing. These songs are unrehearsed and
- 33:15unprepared. They are straight to God.
- 33:19Psalm 22, verse 3. These are the types of praises
- 33:24that God enthrones or inhabits, which is an interesting thing if
- 33:30you think about it, because it's so specific that God literally
- 33:34lives in the spontaneous praises of his people.
- 33:41It's the thing that bubbles up within you that comes out, that
- 33:47spontaneous God, just God. Thank you.
- 33:50Thank you for saving me. It's in the moment, it's
- 33:53unrehearsed. We see this in Psalm 33, this
- 33:56type of praise, it says it's fitting.
- 33:58This type of praise is fitting for God's people, which means
- 34:02that it makes you look good. It makes the church look good.
- 34:08When the church praises God in this manner that it just bubbles
- 34:13up within you. It's not the lyrics on the
- 34:15screen, it's just what is within you.
- 34:19And so, Church, I invite you again, if you're able to, would
- 34:22you stand? And we're going to practice this
- 34:23today. And this is going to feel a
- 34:26little unspontaneous, but I'm going to, I'm going to ask you
- 34:30to consider again, the king is in the room.
- 34:34You want his attention. You want to thank him for the
- 34:39good things that he has done to you for you.
- 34:43So would you just close your eyes?
- 34:44Church, I don't want you to be distracted by the people around
- 34:47you, but I'm going to count to 3 and just with a loud voice,
- 34:51would you just offer to the Lord what is in your heart, whatever
- 34:56it is you're thankful for, whatever it is that you can give
- 35:00to the Lord today, offer it to him.
- 35:06So consider, consider the king. Consider the God who loves you,
- 35:10cares for you, the Good Shepherd, and I'm going to count
- 35:17to 3 and you just lift a loud voice and give him thanks, give
- 35:21him praise. 123 Amen, Amen. Let's try it again, church,
- 35:35because the way that we practice this is the way that we're going
- 35:38to live it. And again, church, the King is
- 35:41here. There's no need to be quiet.
- 35:48It's OK. This is a safe space.
- 35:52You don't have to feel like, well, we're going to get to
- 35:55another word here soon, but we'll just do it again.
- 35:57Consider what God has done. The count of three.
- 36:00Just lift up a loud voice. Church 123.
- 36:04Amen. Yes, Lord.
- 36:04Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your love.
- 36:07Amen. You guys can be seated.
- 36:11Next word is zamar. This literally means pluck to
- 36:13pluck the strings to celebrate in song and music.
- 36:18It's probably the most common form of praise we have across
- 36:21the world in our churches. It's singing songs put to music.
- 36:27But what's neat about this is also it just means to play.
- 36:30It just means to play music unto the Lord.
- 36:33Psalm 150. This Psalm illustrates a picture
- 36:38of instrumental worship. And so we don't have enough
- 36:42instruments in the building to give everyone an instrument, but
- 36:47you have a voice that's an instrument.
- 36:52You have hands that can clap, and that's an instrument.
- 36:58And my hope has always been, and we're still working on, I think,
- 37:01but I love this church. And if love hopes all things, my
- 37:05hope is that our church can be a clapping church and that we clap
- 37:09on 2 and 4 and not one in three, but that there is this sense
- 37:17where we we clap and we rejoice again.
- 37:20We know how to respond because we see it at sporting events, we
- 37:24see it at concerts. And so could you imagine a king
- 37:28who rejoices over us in singing? And we were just quiet before
- 37:34him? I mean, there's moments for it,
- 37:35but there should be rejoicing in the room.
- 37:39The next word is halal. It means to be clamorously
- 37:43foolish, to boast, to shine. This is the kind of praise that
- 37:48David exhibited when he danced for joy at the return of the Ark
- 37:53of the Covenant to Israel. It's also the form of praise
- 37:57that prompted his wife, though, to ridicule him for his lack of
- 38:01dignity. This is where we get the word
- 38:05Hallelujah from, and it means praise the Lord, but more than
- 38:11that, it means to be clamorously foolish unto the Lord.
- 38:15A heart that is turned towards God and not afraid to boast in
- 38:20and of God is a halal heart. It's not only demonstrative
- 38:26praise, but it can also be the force behind any of the other
- 38:30postures of praise. You can sing or shout.
- 38:34We even play an instrument as a halal, as a Hallelujah.
- 38:39We see this over 100 times in the Old Testament.
- 38:42We see this in First Chronicles 16.
- 38:44Four. There were actual appointed
- 38:47musicians to halal to praise the Lord in this manner before the
- 38:51Lord. In Nehemiah 12/24 we have an
- 38:55example of a call and response of what this kind of praise
- 38:59looks like. Shabak is the next word which
- 39:06means to address in a loud tone. It's typically associated with
- 39:10freedom or triumph. But it's more than just a loud
- 39:13shout. It's the idea of putting
- 39:15everything you have into it. It is an attitude of
- 39:20wholehearted praise. We see this in Psalm 63, verses
- 39:263 and four. We typically look at this Psalm
- 39:29as a soft cry of thirst in a dry place, but the words in these
- 39:34verses literally mean to shout praises.
- 39:40So again, as we sing together, as we have a time to respond, to
- 39:47do that with a loud tone is prescribed biblically.
- 39:53So it's practical. It's it's good for us to
- 39:56practice these things because if you have been set free, then
- 40:01you're free indeed is what the Bible says there is triumph in
- 40:05your life. And so our worship is personal.
- 40:12Our worship is prescribed. Our worship is practical in the
- 40:15last. The last one is our worship
- 40:19preaches. Our worship preaches.
- 40:27Back in the book of John chapter 4, we see Jesus having this
- 40:30encounter with this woman and he's revealing to her that he
- 40:36knows who she is. And as she acknowledges him as
- 40:41Messiah, it says that she goes into the city saying, come see a
- 40:45man who told me all things I ever did.
- 40:52And then it says many came to believe in Jesus in that city
- 40:57because of the testimony of this woman.
- 41:00They asked him to stay for two days.
- 41:03Many came to believe in Jesus. In the book of Acts chapter 3,
- 41:08we see a man who was born lame and he's healed.
- 41:16And as he's healed, it says he immediately went into the
- 41:20temple. And it says this, he stood up
- 41:24walking and leaping and praising God.
- 41:27And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
- 41:31Then they knew it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful
- 41:36gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and
- 41:40amazement at what had happened to him.
- 41:46You see, church, our worship preaches the manner in which of
- 41:51how we worship, it preaches and not only preaches to others, but
- 41:57it preaches to ourselves, David wrote in a song.
- 42:03He said, Why are you downcast, O my soul?
- 42:06Why are you disquieted within me?
- 42:09Place your hope in God. Our worship preaches.
- 42:12It tells the people that see us. This is who my God is.
- 42:17He is worthy of this worship, leads to evangelism, to sharing
- 42:22about the great God who knows everything about us and still
- 42:27loves us. You see, if we we are those that
- 42:32are true worshippers and we draw close to Him, we will know his
- 42:35heart and His heart will always be for the lost.
- 42:39His heart is always for people. You see, a whole generation of
- 42:44Sumerians changed because of this one encounter that this
- 42:49woman had with Jesus. A temple full of people filled
- 42:54with wonder because they saw a man who was healed miraculously
- 43:00and their lives forever changed because they saw what God could
- 43:03do. So how is this generation being
- 43:09changed by the way that we worship?
- 43:13How is this generation being affected by the life of worship
- 43:17that we live? Do we consider that worship is
- 43:26not just good, but it's important?
- 43:29It matters how we worship in the manner of how we worship.
- 43:34It matters. It's important.
- 43:36I'm going to close with this. It says Psalm 9.
- 43:38It's in Psalm 92, verses 1 to a Psalm, a song for the Sabbath
- 43:44day, that it is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing
- 43:48praises to your name almost high, to declare your loving
- 43:52kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night.
- 43:56Church, it is good to praise the Lord.
- 44:01It is good to sing praises to the to God's name, who is the
- 44:07highest name, Amen. Let's pray, God, thank you.
- 44:12Thank you for your love towards us.
- 44:15Thank you, God, that you're in the room with us.
- 44:18You're not some far away God, but you're here in the room with
- 44:21us, desiring or to speak to us, to work in us, to move upon our
- 44:26hearts. And I just pray right now, God,
- 44:31even as you've prescribed in your word, that true worship
- 44:34will come from worshippers who worship in spirit and truth that
- 44:37the that first prerequisite God of being born of the spirit or
- 44:41born again. Lord, I pray that anyone today
- 44:45who doesn't have a right relationship with you, today
- 44:49would be the day of salvation. And if that's you today, I just
- 44:54want to give a couple moments for you to respond in worship in
- 44:59the way of surrendering your life to the Lord.
- 45:03What must you do to be saved? Well, call upon the name of the
- 45:07Lord, and you will be saved. In what the Bible says, says
- 45:11that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and
- 45:13believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
- 45:17will be saved. For with the heart one believes
- 45:20unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
- 45:25salvation. Are you like that woman who God
- 45:29is telling you everything about you and he's telling you that he
- 45:32loves you or you are that you that that man that was lame from
- 45:36birth, you need healing in your life and you just need something
- 45:39miraculous from the Lord Is that you today and you just need to
- 45:44respond? If that's you, would you just
- 45:46stand a pastor or someone on our team is going to come alongside
- 45:49of you and pray with you. But I just want to give a couple
- 45:52moments if that's you today. God, you know every heart in
- 46:05this room. You hear the melody of our
- 46:08hearts. So now, Lord, receive all that
- 46:12our hearts can give to you as we worship in song, as we worship
- 46:18Lord, in expression. Confession, Lord, be glorified
- 46:24here in this place. Jesus, it's in your name we
- 46:28pray. Amen.
- 46:30We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
- 46:33delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
- 46:36For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
- 46:45To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
- 46:49live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church
- 46:54or download our free Calvary Church app.
- 46:57Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.