Greatly To Be Praised

feels good to be in the house of the lord this morning doesn't it amen amen he is worthy well i'm not brother spa in case you've noticed he's out today and he asked me to tag in a little bit for him so he that endureth to the end shall be saved so we will see now thank you all for being here thank you to our guests who are here today we're glad to have you thank you to all those who are online joining us welcome to abc so this morning we're going to continue to study in god's word for life called greatly to be praised so that's the next lesson in our material and the big idea for today's lesson is that i will praise and bless the name of the lord so there were two psalms provided for this i'm going to read through both of those the first one is psalm 96 and it says this starting in verse 1 oh sing unto the lord a new song sing unto the lord all the earth sing unto the lord bless his name show forth his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people for the lord is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the nations are idols but the lord he made the heavens honor and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary given to the lord o ye kindreds of people give unto the lord glory and strength given to the lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth say among the heathen that the lord reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved he shall judge the people righteously let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad let the sea roar in the fullness thereof let the field be joyful in all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the lord he for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth this psalm is attributed to david

it was one of those psalms that was used and that was saying whenever the ark of the covenant was brought into jerusalem and put into the tabernacle of david we can see this psalm repeated in first chronic first chronicles 16 starting in verse 23 where it says sing unto the lord all the earth show forth from day to day his salvation declare his glory among the heathen his marvelous works among all nations for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he also is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the people are idols but the lord made the heavens glory and honor are in his presence strength and gladness are in his place given to the lord you kindreds of people give unto the lord glory and strength give unto the lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come before him worship the lord with the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth the world also shall be stable that it be not moved let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice and let men say among the nations the lord reigneth let the sea roar and all the fullness thereof let the fields rejoice in all that is therein then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the lord because he cometh to judge the earth it's a little bit different right but it's very very similar can you imagine being there that day when david the king of israel is walking before the ark making those sacrifices worshiping the lord and just giving it all he can as he brings it from obed edom's house and puts it into this tabernacle that he made for the lord can you imagine how neat that would have been to be there i mean this was the same arc of god that held the promises throughout the years right i mean there were specific directions given on how to build this thing from the lord himself there were specific things that were placed in that ark right we had the the tablets of the law that the lord used his finger to ride on to with moses we have a golden pot of manna in this thing that's lasted for a long long time right all the

way back from the wilderness time and there's even aaron's rod that butted with these almond leaves and everything i mean this is this is a very uh amazing thing in the life of the israelites and the lord is finally having it's a symbol of his pro his presence and his promise and it's a place that they're bringing it for a permanent residence where they could come and worship the lord and they and there was very specific things that the lord wanted done around all that right the old testament is full of those kinds of experiences and it must have been amazing to just behold this as the glory of god was brought you know it's been through the philistines right it came back on some oxen and it's being brought into the house that david built for it pretty amazing experience and then we read in psalm 100 the second passage where it says again make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye lands see serve the lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know ye that the lord he is god that it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name for the lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations hallelujah hallelujah his truth endures to all generations his mercy is everlasting we've got a lot to be thankful for you know psalm 100 is titled a psalm of thanksgiving and it speaks of an invitation to the whole earth to not only worship god but to know god you know our god is worthy of worship wouldn't you agree we just sing about it right you are worthy right our god is worthy of worship we believe that god is worthy for so many reasons right so many reasons david reminds us what to do in our worship in psalms 96 1-3 as o sing unto the lord a new song right sing unto the lord all the earth sing unto the lord bless his name show forth his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the heathen and his wonders among all the people david encourages to do

the following verse one he says sing unto the lord right even if it's a joyful noise like i do sometimes you gotta sing unto the lord right god loves to receive the rejoicing and the praise of his people expressed in a song there's a whole book in the bible dedicated to songs to the lord the lord loves to receive the worship and praise through the song the worship portion of our services here at apc they're very special to me i have an opportunity to focus on the lord and get something and also give something to him during that time there's just something about the atmosphere when we begin to sing into the lord something changes is it the music no it's the spirit of the lord that comes in and says hey you're worshiping me there's two or three gathered in my name right here i want to be among that i want to be a part of that right when we worship through song we are in unity that's a great opportunity for apostolic unity when we're worshiping the lord through song we're in unity our very thoughts are on the lord when we're singing into the lord our very minds are focused on the lord when we're singing to the lord in our worship services even our mouths are in sync with the words that we see on the screen or maybe we have in our heart as we join together in worship to the lord that's unity right there we're all in one accord can you imagine what could happen if we all got in one accord in one place in unity to the lord right verse two he says do both of these every day first bless his name the word bless in this verse comes from a word that means to be adored or to kneel as people of the name of jesus allow me to encourage you to bless his name every day let's bless the lord's name every day we have plenty of opportunity to do that throughout the day little opportunities here and there let's bless his name every day let me encourage you to not only bless it but adore it love that name you know give him worship every day give it that deep love and respect that it deserves when we come and we

can do that every day throughout our day no matter what second he said in there show forth his salvation every day not only do we bless his name every day we show forth god's salvation every day the word show in this verse speaks about cheerfully announcing the good news or telling somebody that sounds like an apostolic doesn't it cheerfully announcing the good news and telling somebody when we cheerfully share the good news of god's salvation we are worshiping the lord when you tell that person that you may be witnessing to a little bit more about salvation or a little bit more about how the lord has changed your life you're worshiping the lord it doesn't have to be standing clapping shouting hooping and hollering that's a way to do it but you can you can show forth his salvation every day you can share and bless the name every day so let's share that good news of the gospel of jesus and the salvation that he brings every day right he also says to declare his glory among the heathen our witness to those that need to hear the gospel is another way to worship god so i encourage you share his glory with the people share his glory the glory here refers to god's splendor and his copiousness now that's a word that my dad would have loved to hear me say up here it was copiousness he just was he if you would have known him you would have known he'd love little words like that but it means more than adequate supply and abundance right our god he's got that he's got it he's more than abundant he's more right the cattle of a thousand hills that's the glory of my lord right my god can handle anything can your god do that what's the splendor of your lord right when you tell people about our lord and savior jesus christ do you give a picture of this god that's powerful and mighty and able to take care of any need in your life right yeah he had he can he can take care of anything he is more than adequate he has more than adequate supply of salvation of healing of miraculous works he can do it so declare his glory aren't you glad of that glory right declare his wonders

among the people he said in verse three when we declare his wonders what are we sharing we're sharing how marvelous god is he's just marvelous right we're sharing how wonderful god is we're sharing how surpassing our god is right we're sharing how extraordinary that our god is he can do over and above and beyond anything that you can ask or think these are just some practical ways that we can worship god right so let me ask you this what is your favorite way to worship god what is your favorite way to worship god have you thought about that do you have a go-to to where you can just declare his glory bless his name show forth his salvation i picked up something from my grandmother years ago i don't know i guess it was through osmosis but every once in a while i'll just say i love you lord all right or thank you jesus it just it just comes out it just overflows sometimes sarah will say what are you doing i said i'm nothing you know i'm just praising the lord you know you know just driving down the road ah thank you jesus sometimes i may throw in a little grunt you know thank you lord you know thanks for letting me get up this morning thanks for letting me tie those shoes oh thank you lord you know no all right that but you know what i'm giving the lord praise right i'm giving him honor yeah i know we're talking about shoes and you know grunting and getting old a little bit but no i'm talking about every day recognizing and remembering just every once in a while you got to let it out all right so what's your favorite way to worship god think about that what's your favorite way hallelujah there you go brother i'll take that i tell you i love to worship god in the presence of his people i have a hard time sitting over there sometimes i do but sometimes i just can't i got to stand up i got to walk down here is anything different here than it is back in my pew absolutely not the lord's the same there as he is here but there's just something about it sometimes i get distracted i don't know about you all right that's

i get distracted by by what's going on in the peripheral vision so sometimes my favorite way is to get up front get my mind focused on him and just give it to him raise my hands if i got to but just give the lord all that he deserves right declare his glory every day every day you know god established a certain way of worship in the tabernacle of the wilderness he wanted it none exactly this way if you're reading through your bread program you probably struggled through that last couple months but that's what he wanted exactly this to be done if you're going to worship me there's very specific steps and there's very specific methods that you have to do it right the book the books of moses detail that they they tell you what's required the person that's there bringing the sacrifice and they tell you what's required of the priest what they have to do at that worship session so their sacrifice had to be won without defect you couldn't come bringing a sacrifice that wasn't the best the lord the person that was offering the sacrifice would lay their hand on the head of the animal and kill it the priest collected the blood and the person offering it cut up the sacrifice into pieces with specific portion portions to be used in specific ways the priests doing the same the priests would put the sacrifice on the altar and the fire of god would consume it right god demanded not only specificness but he demanded holiness and strict obedience to those rules along with a pure heart in order to worship that's how it was in the old testament however in john chapter 4 we read a little bit different story where jesus further explains this he further explains what worship is to us and the record of the story of jesus with the woman at the well jesus replies and responds with a huge revelation in john chapter 4 23 when he says but the hour cometh and now is thank you lord that now is that time right when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seek of such to worship him right god is a spirit he says in verse 24 god is a spirit and they that worship him

must worship him how right in spirit and in truth he changed it you have to do it in spirit and in truth the word spirit here is pneuma that's one of the few greek words i can say brother carden pneuma all right it has a couple different meanings one meaning is that is the spirit of a person or their soul another meaning is a movement of air a gentle blast or maybe of the wind like the wind itself that you see or a breath of nostrils from the nostrils or the mouth this reminds me of another story about jesus one chapter earlier in john chapter 3 where he's talking to a man by the name of nicodemus in the middle of the night and he says this in john chapter 3 verse 5 jesus answered verily verily i say unto thee except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit marvel not that i said unto thee you must be born again the wind bloweth where it listeth and now here is the sound thereof but can't tell whence it comes and where it goes so is everyone that is born of the spirit the word wind there is that exact same greek word i can say pneuma right worshiping god is something that we can do today we just got to follow the wind the spirit as it flows as it moves right we don't have to do it with all those old testament ceremonies and rituals anymore instead it's through the power of the new birth and it's through the infilling of the holy ghost that we can worship god today we can worship him in hebrews chapter 4 15 and 16 it says this for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities that's how it was in the old testament right but was in all points tempted as we were yet without sin verse 16 let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need it's through the power of the holy ghost that we can find grace and

mercy in our times of need through our worship to the lord i want to say that one more time it is through the power of the holy ghost that we can find grace and mercy in our times of need through our worship to god we can come boldly to that throne of grace it doesn't mean that we we don't have reverence when we come boldly right we still have to have reverence psalms 96 9 says that worship is connected to a holy reverence or fear of god when it says o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth david saw this fear of the lord as a positive thing right since god is so powerful he's he's a mighty ally that we have david says in psalms 33 behold the eye of the lord is upon them that fear him upon him that hope and his mercy psalms 34 7 says it assures us of this the angel of the lord encampeth around about them that fear him and delivereth them that holy reverence to god is not i'm afraid of lord of the lord you know that fear is not i'm afraid right we should have maybe a little bit of that but it's more of a reverence to god we can worship the lord in fear and it not be a bad thing it's our reverence to him because you know what it encamps around us psalms 34 7 said that it encamps around us and it delivers us but worship goes much deeper than just reverence it goes much deeper than shouting and singing and clapping and dancing for david said in psalm 96 o worship the lord in the beauty of holiness it could be argued that holiness brings an even more glory to god than our praise and worship at church here on sundays and wednesdays for it is possible to sing and shout unto god on sunday but then go out and live in a way that is undermines our supposed high reverence or regard for the lord for if we truly have fear that awesome reverence and respect for god it will not only come out in our praise but it will manifest itself in a way which we live day by day those who truly love live and all of god

will regularly ask themselves this question is whatever i am doing pleasing to god and honoring honoring him ask yourself that question throughout the day is whatever i'm doing pleasing to god and honoring him for you know god is greatly to be praised all right psalms 96 4 the psalmist wrote for the lord is great and greatly to be praised much has been said and written about the difference between worship and praise these are clearly and closely related and are sometimes interchangeably some say that worship is what we do because of who god is and praise is what we do in response to what god has done others would say that worship is directed toward god alone for him to hear while praise is what we tell others about what god has done whether we are aiming our praises to god directly or praising him to others that are around us we certainly have a lot to praise god for wouldn't you agree let's read psalm 100 again and see if we can find a reason to worship and praise the lord make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye lands serve the lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know ye that the lord he is god it is he that has made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name for the lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations the psalmist gives us here in verse 5 three reasons to worship the lord number one the lord is good can i get an amen the lord is good think about that for a moment how important is it that the lord is good god is all-powerful right he's omnipotent he's all-knowing all seen imagine if he was not good how terrible would that be right what would happen how in the world would we survive if the lord of the universe was not good right but instead over and over the bible assures us that the lord is good he gives good gifts to his children the bible tells us right he sends rain a symbol of blessing on the just and the unjust he makes the

sun to shine on both because he wants all the people of the earth to know that he loves them james 1 17 says for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow or or of turning every good thing in life comes from the lord folks every good thing in our life comes from the lord you know praise the lord as the common greeting that we have here at abc among church folks but perhaps we maybe have come a little too familiar with that term right we just praise the lord hey can you go get me copies of them right i'm guilty of it oh praise the lord what are you doing on thursday right next time someone says praise the lord to you maybe praise him and see what they do say yeah he is great he is good right the lord is good right shock him just see what happens report back next week and brothers falls here take some time today and count your blessings all right think about how many times god has been good to you and and what he's brought you through right can we praise the lord for he's good right so here's a question for you what is one thing that you can praise the lord for today the holy ghost hallelujah salvation yeah there's two folks what's one more thing forgiveness health huh have you experienced that provision blessings financially health right his word my goodness what's i just asked for one thing right that's what happens when you get to praising the lord you get caught up and you get carried away and you realize there's not just one thing i can do because the lord is good i can't i can't limit him to one thing right the lord is good second thing he told us to do yeah there you go let's just praise him for a minute thank you jesus for your goodness we love you lord thank you for your salvation lord jesus hallelujah thank you lord for your mercy the next thing he said because your mercy is everlasting it never expires oh my goodness milk it expires and it's worse when you get one that's on your birthday you know it shows the

expiration date of your birthday right that's just the worst thing but milk it expires yogurt expires that that meat i bought to smoke and put it in the refrigerator and forgot about it expires it sours right but not the lord's mercy it is everlasting it's new every single morning every day you wake up you get new mercy every single time every single time isn't that awesome time and time again david would sin and fall every time i mean just we read about david he sinned and he felt he said he felt but he always turned his back his turn back to god he always turned back to god he always got up again he always repented right he always found that god's mercy was just standing there waiting for him it was everlasting the same can be said for you god's mercy is everlasting we often stumble and fail we often fall down and mess up and there's this non-stop war between our flesh and the spirit because you know we we want to do right but sometimes we don't and so there's just always this thing we're not perfect but we're redeemed right we're not perfect but we're loved right we're not perfect but we're forgiven and made righteous through the blood of jesus christ thank god that his mercy is everlasting third thing he said there in psalm 105 is god's truth endures to all generations i'm thankful for that i'm a recipient of that any time that we talk to others about god we prove once again that his truth endures to all generations you are fulfilling scripture when you tell someone about the goodness of god when you tell the truth of the goodness of the lord and his salvation you're fulfilling that scripture his truth is enduring to all generations we serve the same god today that david served those thousands of years ago the same god today that abraham served those thousands of years ago jesus christ is the same yesterday today and forever a continuity of truth comes down to us through the ages of time and through the pages of the bible that are unshaken by the ravages of time critics have come and gone but god's word remains right governments and empires have risen and tried to eradicate the bible at times but they've fallen away

and his word still stands his truth right philosophers have tried to suggest alternatives about what morality is impurity is and how that it just doesn't quite fit with the times but their philosophies they fail right they go away only the word of god can create a change in your heart only jesus can change your life my friend as the old song once said right god's truth endures to all generations and nothing can keep it away from them his truth is marching on given all this what should our reaction be well our reaction should be that i will praise and bless the name of the lord david had that suggestion in psalm 100 verse 4 when he said enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name when we come to church we should come with words of thanksgiving and with praise on our lips and thankfulness in our hearts every day that we live every day that we encounter the lord we should do so in the presence of prayer and in praise we should bless his name for all he's done and give him glory so how can you give him glory is there anything good that we do giving glory through it right is there any achievement that we may attain give him glory through that achievement use that talent that you may have and give glory to god through that talent so praise him bless him worship him in preparing for this lesson i couldn't help but think about the songs that i i grew up with and maybe you thought of a song or two while i was reading the scriptures um we could echo psalms 96 verse 1 and we could sing sing unto the lord a new song singing to the lord all the earth singing to the lord a new song singing to the lord all the earth for god is great and greatly to be praised god is great and greatly to be praised and then sometimes you gotta no no no no no no no no huh as a kid i love that song i still do enjoy it it makes me think of that israelite you know kind of taunt you know the music's got that feel and um you know it just makes

me want to be over there in jerusalem or something my wife's afraid to go maybe one day she'd let me go without her but i would love to sing that when i'm there you know uh maybe in another service we would skip around down to verse 4 of 4 of psalm 96 when we would sing god is great and greatly to be praise god is great in my soul god is great and greatly to be praised god is great in my soul now we left israel and we moved to the south on that one that's got a gospel phil all right that was made in judah south israel uh see that's a joke geographically all right and then sometimes maybe we would echo psalms 104 when we were seeing i will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart i will enter his courts with praise i will say this is the day that the lord has made for he has made me glad he has made me glad i will rejoice for he has made me glad and sorry you can't sing he has made me glad he has made me glad i will rejoice for he has made me glad now i admit as a kid i was confused about the guy wearing navy plaid i didn't understand it it didn't make sense to me but we were praising the lord for that navy planet guy uh that's just what it sounded like i know but after paying attention for a few years and then when we got the words on the screen or when someone shared the words with me i realized that he has made me glad you know i have a reason to worship and praise the lord he makes us all glad it is joy and speakable and full of glory right god truly is great and he truly is greatly to be praised right so remember this god is worthy of all of our worship right he deserves it no matter what we face god is to be feared over all the gods of this world there's no one higher or greater than him we're to worship him in the beauty of holiness god is greatly to be praised because of why because he's good because his mercy is everlasting and because his truth endures to all generations

thank you god let me encourage you continue to worship and praise god because he is great and he is greatly to be praised would you stand with me as we transition to our break and everything let me encourage you god is great and he is greatly to be praised thank you let's give him that praise real quick thank you lord jesus you're worthy and righteous and mighty oh god we love you so much you are great and greatly to be praised jesus we thank you jesus for you have truly made us glad thank you for your goodness thank you for your mercy and your truth god we love you jesus we praise your name in jesus name amen