Posts Tagged ‘praise’

Psalm111

Psalm 111 Observations:

Verse 1:
1. Glory and honor are due unto God
2. Not just ordinary praise, but high praise given to God
3. This high praise comes from all of our being
4. Those who have been made righteous give this praise
5. God’s work in creation, providence, & redemption is exceptional

Verses 2-4:
6. God’s workings are so marvelous they cannot be forgotten
7. Those who love God delight in and seek out His wondrous works
8. The nature and character of God is justice and holiness
9. Memorials: eternal covenant, Law, Passover (Pascha), the Lord’s Supper, Baptism
10. God has tender mercy and is actively compassionate toward us

Verse 5:
11. The Psalmist reminds the people of God’s goodness
12. The God of peace, Who through the blood of the eternal covenant

Verse 6:
13. God’s powerful working is seen in the regeneration of our souls

Verses 7-8
14. God has always had a purpose and design for His works

Verse 9:
15. There is a transition from…
15. The Psalmist declaring the mighty works that Jehovah has done for His people
16. To Mt. Sinai and the commandments that He has given to them
17. “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”(Galatians 5:14)
18. “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
19. “but he became a priest with an oath when God said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.'” Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.” (Hebrews 7:21-22)
20. Jesus Christ is the surety, the guarantee, the insurer of the eternal covenant

Verse 10:
21. Holy and terrifying is His Name – Yahweh, Jehovah, THE LORD!
22. In vs. 9 awesome or fearful = to stand in awe, to be afraid, to fear, to inspire reverence
23. In vs. 10 The fear of the Lord, = fear, terror, a terrifying thing, to stand in awe
24. “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” (1 Corinthians 3:19-20)
25. Psalm 111 speaks of God’s divine attributes: power, wisdom, faithfulness, and goodness
26. Psalm 111 issues the need for our response to God by: deep inquiry into communion with Him, being in awe of God that He is God, obedience in trusting in and relying upon God, and that true praise and worship flow from our inner most being in the gatherings of the local church, in our special personal times of devotion, and at all times in our hearts

Download the message here.

Jesus

Once it was the blessing, Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling, Now it is His Word.
Once His gifts I wanted, Now the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing, Now Himself alone.

Once was painful trying, Now is perfect trust;
Once a half salvation, Now the uttermost.
Once was ceaseless holding, Now He holds me fast;
Once was constant drifting, Now my anchor’s cast.

Once was busy planning, Now is trustful prayer;
Once was anxious caring, Now He has the care.
Once was what I wanted, Now what Jesus says;
Once was constant asking, Now is ceaseless praise.

Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him, Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted, Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored, Now for Him alone.

Once I hoped in Jesus, Now I know He’s mine;
Once my lamps were dying, Now they brightly shine.
Once for death I waited, Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored, Safe within the veil.

All in all forever, Jesus will I sing!
Everything in Jesus, and Jesus everything!

~ A. B. Simpson

GAME-ADUP-PASS_THE_POPCORN_MOVIE_GUESSIN

What’s a worship service supposed to look like? I’m sure if we polled everyone, we’d get lots of different opinions – and strongly stated ones at that. But I think that a lot of us approach church a lot like going to the movies. It’s sort of a spectator and consumer activity to a lot of us.

Think of it like this: You go to the movie and buy your ticket. In church, that’s like the offering. Then you get your popcorn. In church that’s like the bulletin. So you settle into your seat in the theatre and listen to the music and passively watch those trivia questions on the screen before the show. In church, that’s like the prelude music and reading the bulletin while you’re waiting for the service to start.

Then, back at the theatre, come the previews for upcoming shows. In church, those are the announcements and for some of us, that’s the category that the music fits in as well – preliminaries – stuff you have to get through to get to the show you came for. And then in the theatre, at last, the movie comes on. In church, that’s the sermon. In the theatre, we had hoped to be entertained. Maybe we were moved, or maybe we laughed, or maybe we were scared.

And when the movie’s over, either we think it was a great or maybe it was a dud, and we let everyone we came with know what we thought. In church, we tend to have the same expectation, and we sort of give our assessment of the sermon in the same way. “That was a great sermon. That was a boring sermon. Man, pastor was meandering today, wasn’t he? I didn’t like the songs they picked this week, etc.” Then, after attending either venue, we go home and come back looking for a good show the next week.

For many of us, church is a weekly show we go watch. We pay our offering, as if we’re buying a ticket, and so we expect the kind of results we want. Our mindset is that we’re going to church to receive something. And certainly that’s an okay expectation on one level.

But ultimately, is that what a “worship service” is all about? I don’t think so. You see the very nature of the word worship, in all of its New Testament and Old Testament variants, is that it’s verb. It’s something we do. And that thing we do is never defined as simply “showing up” at a service called a worship service. If you’re going to be in a real “worship service,” it’s going to have to involve some people choosing to worship God.

Biblical words for worship have definitions such as “to kiss towards,” “to kiss the feet of,” “to bow down,” “to prostrate oneself,” “to ascribe worth to,” and “to serve.” Biblical worship is described as singing, shouting, bowing, kneeling, clapping, making joyful noises, dancing, sacrificing, giving offerings, and presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. These are very active, physical sounding definitions and descriptions that don’t come close to sounding like “show up and receive something.”

Worship isn’t a passive experience. Worship is a response to who God is and what he’s done in light of who we are and what we’ve done. And when we really start to grasp that truth, we will find ourselves, bowing and kneeling and lifting our hands and singing with our whole hearts and giving our offerings as sacrifices to the one who sacrificed his all for us. Just showing up and listening doesn’t look anything like biblical worship.

If you’re looking for good entertainment or just want to watch a show, maybe it’ll be worth your eight bucks to go the local theatre. But if you’ve gotten a taste of who God is and what he’s done in light of who you are and what you’ve done, I’d recommend heading to church and let God be your audience for a while. He’d love to listen and watch and he’s worthy of every expression of worship we can offer him!

~ by Dan Adler