Introduction:
We Lift High the Name of Jesus Through Worship.
"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…the delight is incomplete till it is expressed." - C.S. Lewis
3 Things to Say on Your Way to Church (Psalm 146):
- I am Choosing to worship. (Ps 146:1-2)
- I am done trusting Man . (Ps 146:3-6)
- I am making worship Personal . (Ps 146:7-10)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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You know, we just got done singing together.
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We had this whole band up here, playing music, so we could sing.
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Doesn't that seem a little strange, when you think about it?
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I mean, we get up on a Sunday morning, We put on our spiffy clothes, well, maybe you did.
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And we dragged the kids out of the house, and we come to this auditorium, and all of a sudden we turn into a choir.
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I mean, there's some friends here, and there's some people here probably you've never met, complete strangers, but suddenly, in this room, we're all a choir. Like, why do we do that? Doesn't it seem weird?
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Well, it's really, I guess, not that weird when you think about how we use music in so many other contexts, right? Because singing, music, it's, music is this, it's this outlet of emotion. Music is the way that we express joy. And if you think about it, we do it all the time, don't we? For example, you go to a birthday party. What do we do at a birthday party? We take a cake and we light the cake on fire, and then what do we do? We sing it, Right? Happy birthday to you, now blow out the fire and make a wish or whatever. And that doesn't seem so strange. Right? Or what about you go to a baseball game. Remember back when we used to do those kinds of things? You go to a baseball game, sports people, in the middle of the seventh inning, what do we do? Seventh inning stretch, and what What do we do during the seventh inning stretch?
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Take me out to the ball game.
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Why don't we sing that before the first inning?
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The game's almost over, and we're like, oh, take me out to the ball game.
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We're here.
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But we get together and sing.
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I know, the Pirates game is usually over by the first inning.
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Look, I'm hurting with you.
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We get together with a group of people and we sing.
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But by far the strangest context in which this happens, by far, not even open for discussion or argument, is Christmas caroling.
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I never got that.
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We get a bunch of our friends, we show up at somebody's house, and we're standing in in their yard, and we start singing at them, like, "Hey, I know you're in there all warm and probably watching TV.
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Come out into the cold, because me and my friends are trespassing, and we would like to sing at you." I don't get it.
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But I do get the music thing.
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I don't get caroling, but I get music.
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Because music is a very emotional thing, right?
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On your way home, just flip through the radio stations, and I want you to think about the content of the songs.
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What are the songs about?
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Typically it's something very emotional, right?
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Love.
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Passion.
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Right?
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Heartbreak.
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She thinks my tractor's sexy.
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Okay, not every song.
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But, for the most part, music is about expressing emotion over something very deep in our soul.
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Right?
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Singing is emotional, and that's why singing is one aspect of worship We are very serious about it, our church.
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God's Word tells us that we are to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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And we can love God with our mind by studying the Word together.
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We can love God with our strength by using our physical abilities to serve our neighbor.
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But the question is, how do we love God with our emotions?
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The answer is music.
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God has given us music so that we can express love to God, so we can fulfill the command to love God with our very emotions.
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That's why we worship in song.
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I love this quote from C.S. Lewis.
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Listen to this very closely.
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He says, "I think we delight to praise what we enjoy, Because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment.
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It is its appointed consummation.
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The delight is incomplete until it is expressed.
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What he's saying is there's something about that act of expressing praise and enjoyment that completes the whole enjoyment process saying. In other words, to illustrate it, think about what do we do on a roller coaster?
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We don't just sit there and, "This is fun, this is fast, this is windy." What do we do on a roller coaster? We put our arms up and we scream and we laugh and we're, why do we do that? We're expressing the joy. Or when your favorite team scores, what do we do?
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We jump up and we cheer and we scream.
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Just imagine what we'll do when the Penguins actually win a game this year.
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But we express our joy that way.
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There's something in us that we can't help it.
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Or maybe with food, we have to express it.
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We can't just enjoy it.
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we have to express our enjoyment of the food, right?
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You're eating that brownie, and you're nom nom nom nom, nom nom, oh, it's so moist.
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And I say that because I know that word really bothers a lot of people, but it's so moist.
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And, but why do we have to express that?
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There's something about, as C.S. Lewis put it, it's like a consummation of our enjoyment to express that.
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So when we come in here, and we are expressing emotion with the vehicle that God has given us - music - worship lets us love God with our emotions.
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Worship lets us express our joy what God has done for us.
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Now, you have to understand, when we worship together, we don't just have this bucket of songs on little pieces of paper, and we just pick out some, and we're going to sing these ones.
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I want to show you today, briefly, we're talking about why we do some of the things that we do.
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I want to show you why we worship Bible chapel, the way that we worship, because there's some people like, "Why is worship structured that way, and why is there so many songs?" Well, typically, I'm going to draw you a picture here.
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I'm hoping you can all see this, and if you can't, you can squint or see if your neighbor has binoculars, or, dare I say, sit in the front.
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I know, I know, I'm sorry.
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Too far?
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All right, so this is going to represent the Old Testament temple, tabernacle, not to scale, okay?
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Don't be looking at the back of your Bible with those pictures like, "That's not exactly proportionate." Come on, show me some grace here, alright?
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Let's just say this is the Old Testament tabernacle temple.
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It was the building that God told Moses to construct.
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It was the portable version through the Exodus, and then ultimately Solomon built the permanent version, the temple.
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But it was very specific in that you had these courts, and then you get into the holy place, and this place here was the Holy of Holies.
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This is where the Ark of the Covenant was.
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The top, the mercy seat, and that's where the high priest went year Leviticus 16 to offer sacrifice for the sins of all the people.
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We have the altar out here, and then obviously the curtain would be right here.
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Man, that's practically a photograph, Jeff, I know.
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But typically, this is typical, okay, generally at Harvest Bible Chapel, we usually do like five songs, and the first song is usually usually what we would sing as we are going to worship.
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And what would we sing?
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There are songs that are called to worship.
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Hey, let's come together, let's sing, let's praise.
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So the one songs are typically like the call to worship.
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We are going up the steps, we are going to the presence of God.
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Hey people, let's worship.
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Those are the one songs.
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And usually in the middle of the set, The three songs are the songs that you sing in the courts.
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And what are God's people talking about in the courts of God's temple?
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These are songs of testimony.
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Here's how God has been good to me.
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Here's what God has done for me.
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Here's how God saved me.
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Here's how God provided for me.
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Here's what God has done.
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Those are testimonial songs.
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But when you get to the end of the worship set, typically, these are the fifth song in to the set.
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But when you get to the fifth song, you're in the Holy of Holies now.
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And I know we're not high priests and we can't go in there and Jesus tore the curtain down.
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Don't make this a theology thing.
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But the point is this, we are going into the presence of God.
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So usually by the end of the worship set, the five songs, we're not thinking so much about us and our benefit and, "Hey, let's come and worship people." At this point, we're saying, "Now, we are in the presence of God, and this is a pure ascription of worth." That's typically the flow of our worship.
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The people up here are leading us in worship.
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When I say leading, they are literally taking us somewhere, up the steps, through the courts for testimony, ultimately into God's very presence where we're thinking about nothing but His majesty and His beauty and His awesomeness and His incomparable qualities.
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And you're like, "Well, what about songs 2 and 4?" Look, I don't mean to be a smart-aleck here, but song 2 is just basically something between a 1 and a 3, and song 4 is something between a 3 and a 5.
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Okay? So, again, it's about the flow, generally.
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But that's why we worship - did I get that right there?
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Okay. That's why we worship the way that we do at Harvest Bible Chapel.
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We were made for this.
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Which is why pillar number two of Harvest Bible Chapel is lifting high the name of Jesus.
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I could be done now.
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But, we spent so much time last week talking about God's Word, I think we should spend some time in God's Word, don't you?
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So open up to Psalm 146.
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Psalm 146.
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And you know how it is, there's times that we come to church and we're just not getting it.
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And we're not feeling it.
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And we're wondering why everybody else is feeling it and we're not feeling it.
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So as we look at Psalm 146 today, I'm going to give you three things to say on your way to church.
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In other words, as you're walking through one of these doors, or you're turning on your computer to stream - that's on your way to church.
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When you're on your way to church, I want you to say these three things to yourself.
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And watch what it does to your worship.
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And this all comes from God's Word.
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The first thing you need to learn to say to yourself, number one, I am choosing to worship.
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I am choosing to worship.
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Look at verse 1, Psalm 146.
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It says, "Praise the Lord!
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Praise the Lord, O my soul!" Stop there.
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Praise the Lord.
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Literally, that's the word "hallelujah." It's a beautiful word.
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Hallelujah.
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It's an imperative.
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It's a word that's basically saying, "Hey, people! People!
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Come on! Let us go worship God together!
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Let's do it, people! Come on!
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Let's worship God together!" That's the word "hallelujah." And that's why when you get to these Psalms, Psalm 146-150, all begin and end with the word "Hallelujah." "Hey, hey, let's do this, people!" But then he says, "Praise the Lord." Look at this, "O my soul." He's rousing his own soul into action.
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Do you realize he's commanding himself?
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Do you see that?
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He's commanding himself to worship.
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Like, "I'm not really feeling it today." "No, no, no, soul. Listen, soul.
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This is what we're doing, soul.
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We are worshiping today. That's what we're doing." And what do we call it when we command ourselves to do something?
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We call that making a choice. Right?
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Making a choice.
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Look at verse 2.
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He says, "I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
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I will sing praises to my God while I have my being." Do I have a choice there? I will. I will.
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As long as I live. As long as I have my being.
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I'm going to do this.
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Please hear me, church.
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Worship is, yes, is loving God with our emotions.
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Yes, absolutely.
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But, this is where a lot of people miss it.
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It is a choice to love God with our emotions.
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Do you see that in the text?
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Here's the thing, because worship is so immersive, we often excuse ourselves from doing it.
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We come in here and it's easy for us to check out.
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I just don't really feel like it today.
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Had a hard day yesterday.
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Kids were little snots on the way to church.
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I'm just not feeling it.
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And we can excuse ourselves.
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We see this more and more in our culture.
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We don't feel like doing something, we just don't do it, right?
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We see it all the time in marriages.
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I don't feel like loving my wife today, so I'm not going to do it.
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We see it in the workplace.
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I don't feel like doing anything at work today.
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How many times have you heard that?
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I didn't really do anything at work today because I didn't feel like it.
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They ain't paying you for your feelings, pal.
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or school.
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Well, I don't feel like studying.
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I think we would easily acknowledge that marriage and work and school, these are all things that we must go after whether we feel like it or not, right?
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And I would suggest to you it's so much more with worship.
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So much more with worship.
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Sometimes you have to make the choice, and then the feelings catch up.
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A couple of weeks ago, we went to one of those big indoor water parks for my son's birthday.
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Some of you know how I feel about those.
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I'm not a big fan of them personally.
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giant indoor Splash Lagoon Kalahari things.
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It's basically taking a four-hour cold shower in a warehouse with 200 strangers.
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(audience laughing)
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It's not my favorite thing in the world.
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And when the trip comes, I'm just kind of like, dreading it.
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But you know what?
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I gotta confess to you, I had a lot of fun this year.
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Why?
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Because I talked myself into, look, it's not about how I feel about it.
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This is about my son.
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This is what he loves to do, so I'm going to go with a good attitude because this is for him.
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And just with that little adjustment in my head, I had a great time.
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And church, it's so much more with worship I think we need to take a page out of the psalmist's book here.
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He's like, "Come on, soul, we're doing this.
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We're doing this today.
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I know you had a hard day.
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I know you're sad.
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I know you're grieving.
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I know you're overwhelmed, but soul, listen, we are doing this today because it matters.
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Because it's important, and because..." Number one answer, He is worthy.
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We're doing it.
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no matter what happens, no matter how I feel, I choose to worship.
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So you need to go after worship that way, and you're going to find that your emotions will catch up with you.
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And, if you're willing to do that, I guarantee you, you're going to find that by the time the worship set is over, you're going to be disappointed that it's over.
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on your way to church, streaming at home, walking through the doors, first thing you need to say to yourself when you walk in, you say, "I'm choosing to worship today." Can you say that?
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"I'm choosing to worship today." Secondly, number two, something else you need to say that's going to amp up your worship, "I am done trusting man." "I am done trusting man." Look at verses 3 and 4.
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He says, "Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no salvation.
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When his breath departs, he returns to the earth on that very day, his plans perish." Stop there.
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Very clearly, he says, "Stop trusting princes." Princes?
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Prince Charming, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Prince of the New Power Generation.
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What prince am I trusting?
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He's talking about political leaders.
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He's talking about important people.
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People that our society deems are important.
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He says, "Look, your leaders, they can't save you.
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They can't.
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Even the best leaders that have the best intentions, the psalmist says, they're going to take those intentions with them to the cemetery." And people, we have this horrible flaw We look for saviors everywhere, except heaven.
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At this point, you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.
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Who puts their trust in people, really?
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Like, who really does that?
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I don't know who you think you're talking to, Jeff, but it's not this group, because who really puts their trust in people?" I would reply with, "Are you kidding me?
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"Have you been living under a rock the last few months?
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"Have you not witnessed this most recent election "in our country?" You're like, "Oh no, he's getting political." Look, this is what the text is talking about.
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We put our trust in princes, and that's what we saw.
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Can we step back?
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We're not making this a, well, okay, we're making a political thing, but can we step back Please, and just be honest with ourselves, and acknowledge that this is what we saw with the last election.
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From both sides!
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My guy has to get in, because if the other guy gets in, he's going to destroy the country, but my guy is going to save the country.
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True or false, both sides?
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True or false?
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True!
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True!
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Both sides!
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Can we not step back and realize this country has become so trusting and princes looking to people to save and God's Word says in whom there is no salvation they cannot save you.
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And I hate to tell you this, but people always disappoint you.
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Because we're people.
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If I haven't yet, I'm going to disappoint you someday.
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So will these wonderful leaders in our church.
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Not intentionally.
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But the best person you know is going to disappoint you in some way.
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to some degree, because we're people.
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Right?
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So what's the alternative?
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See the problem, when we come in here, and we're "yay, Republican, yay, Democrat," whatever name you're...
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When we come in here, we have all of our hopes tethered to a political person.
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and they got ready to worship.
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Verses 5 and 6, it says, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever." I love this, it says, "Blessed is he whose help is God," And then he says, "whose hope is in God." Help is God moving today.
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Help is God actively present with me, sustaining me, strengthening me, guiding me today.
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That's help. What's hope?
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Hope is the promise of His Word being fulfilled tomorrow.
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That's hope.
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God said it. I know He's going to bring it about.
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I'm trusting not princes.
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People always disappoint, but God keeps faith forever.
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Underline that in your Bible.
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We will have ushers at the door checking your Bibles as you leave to make sure that it's underlined.
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God keeps faith forever.
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So on your way to church, walking in the door, streaming us online, you need to say to yourself, God is my help. God is my hope.
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And I am man.
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And watch what that does to your worship.
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And finally, three things to say in your way to church.
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I am making worship personal.
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I'm making it personal.
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Look at this list. We're going to go through this real quick.
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I want you to look at this list.
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Verse 7, talking about the work of the Lord, it says, "Who executes justice for the oppressed." Have you ever been wronged?
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God's going to bring justice.
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Write that down. He's going to bring justice.
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He goes on, "Who gives food to the hungry." Have you ever been hungry?
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Physically? Spiritually?
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God will provide.
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The Lord sets the prisoners free.
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Have you ever felt trapped?
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Maybe it's not a physical prison.
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Maybe you've never been to Butler County Prison or Allegheny County Prison, but maybe you've been trapped in a prison of addiction.
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God brings freedom.
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Verse 8, he says, "The Lord opens the eyes of the blind." Again, physical blindness, spiritual blindness.
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God turns the lights on.
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We talked about that in our study through the Gospel of John.
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I love this next one.
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It says, "The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down." Now, when you first read that and think "bowed down," you might get your Sunday school thinking on like, "Oh, somebody praying." That's not what he's talking about.
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It's the person that's beat down.
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It's the person that's like, "I can't take another step.
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I'm done.
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I am so exhausted, and I can't do this anymore.
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God picks you up.
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God says, "We're going, and we're going together." That's just awesome.
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Into verse 8 it says, "The Lord loves the righteous." I thought God loved everybody.
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He does, but understand, God has a special love for His people.
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The same way you do.
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Your kids versus you love somebody else's kids.
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That's how it is with God.
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He has a special love for His kids.
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Verse 9, He says, "The Lord watches over the sojourners." Have you ever felt out of place?
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God is with you.
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He says He upholds the widow and the fatherless.
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Is that you?
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Sometimes you feel like because of life circumstances you don't have anyone?
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God has a special compassion for people who feel alone, abandoned, or forgotten.
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At the end of verse 9 it says, But the way of the wicked He brings to ruin.
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Are you wicked?
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Is somebody who has refused God's grace and you live for yourself at the expense of others?
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Well, I've got some news for you, but this isn't good news.
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The news for you is this, God hasn't forgotten you either.
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And you are on this list.
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And for some of us, maybe we're on this list in more than one place.
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And I could do a sermon on every one of these things, obviously, but here's the point.
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God did not create us in order that we would have to figure things out on our own.
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That's the point of this list, is to say God is active.
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And He meets you where you are.
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And He wants you to experience His presence, His provision, and His comfort.
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And when you personally know Him, and you know God's work, it naturally makes you want to express your gratitude in worship.
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You know, your level of gratitude in any context, your level of gratitude is always proportionate to the size of the gift.
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Right?
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I'm going to prove that to you.
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Livvy, I'm going to ask you, would you like some money?
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Smart girl.
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Alright.
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Well, you're alone because I got some.
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Here you go.
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Here you go.
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A penny.
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Are you thankful?
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She is thankful.
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She's not just saying that.
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She really is thankful.
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Watch this.
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Would you like some more?
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Check this out.
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Would you like a dollar?
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Here you go.
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Are you more thankful now than you were for the penny?
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You see?
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She's illustrating this point.
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The more gratitude you feel comes from the greater the gift is.
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I should have said that the other way.
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So you're thankful for the dollar much more than the penny.
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How would you like $5?
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Would you be thankful for that?
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Alright, check this out.
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Boom! $5.
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Now are you more thankful for the $5 than you were for the dollar?
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And you're way more thankful for the $5 than you were for the penny, right?
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$20. We're in the middle of a pandemic.
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So I'm going to have to owe you on that one.
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Unless, can somebody loan me $20?
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It's for a good cause. Nobody?
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All right, pandemic. Thank you, Darla.
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Thank you very much, Darla.
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Would you be thankful for $20?
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Now, were you more thankful for $20 than you were for $5?
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And you're sitting here like, "I never prayed so hard for Pastor Jeff to keep preaching in my life." You see the point?
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The greater the gift, the more thankful you are.
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I want you to think about this.
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Here's the point.
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the greater the gift, the greater the gratitude, right?
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I want you to think of the gift that you've received in Jesus Christ.
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I want you to think about that for a second.
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You're a lost, wayward sinner.
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And He came after you, and He said, "I love you." And I died on the cross to take away all your sin.
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You never have to feel guilt or shame for the rest of eternity, because your sin has been taken away.
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Jesus rose from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.
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He said, "You will never die." Yeah, your physical body might wear out, and your spirit's going to go to heaven instantly upon death here, but you're never going to perish.
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You have eternal life.
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And you have all of these blessings on the earth, right?
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The fellowship of the most amazing church family I have ever seen in my life, here in this room and watching through the stream.
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The blessing of the fellowship of the body.
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We have every provision from the hand of God.
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And one of the most mind-blowing things, do you know the Bible says that we are co-heirs with Christ?
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Do you realize what that means?
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Like, what does Christ stand to inherit?
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Everything!
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And the Bible says, "Us too!
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We are co-heirs with Christ.
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We will inherit everything!" And when I think about the gift that God has given us, and I could go on and on and on, all of these gifts that have come through Jesus Christ.
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How can I not worship Him?
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How can I come to church and hear the music and see the words and just stand here with my arms folded like this is for somebody else?
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Then you're not getting it.
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You're not getting it.
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Verse 10, he says, "The Lord will reign forever.
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Your God, O Zion, to all generations, praise the Lord." It comes from the very depths of your soul.
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Because it's personal to you.
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You're like, "Hey, I didn't come in here to sing about Charles Wesley's faith, or Martin Luther's faith.
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I came in here today to praise God for what He did for me.
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For what I see Him doing in my family.
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For what I see Him doing in my church family right here.
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That's why I'm worshiping.
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because this isn't some conceptual thing or just some ink on a paper.
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This is a living and active God who has showed up mightily in my life.
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And I am here to tell Him exactly how I feel about Him in a congregation of people who are saying the same.
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So when you turn on that stream or you walk in these doors, You need to say to yourself, "Hey, I'm making worship personal." I'm going to pray, and I'm going to give you one more opportunity to do that this morning.
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You ready?
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Get ready. Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we lift high the name of Jesus in worship.
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Father, I really believe that the worship service in heaven is eternal, because it is going to take us all of eternity to even list the reasons that you deserve it.
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For all you are, and for all you've done, Father, make us a people who say, "I choose to worship." Oh my soul, praise the Lord!
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God, make us a people that stop looking to Washington We can start looking to heaven.
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We're done trusting princes.
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We're trusting the God who keeps faith forever.
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God, let us make worship personal.
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Let us count our blessings.
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Let us recite the glorious deeds that You have done on our behalf, on behalf of this church.
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Father, the worship isn't just us trying to hit a note or keep a beat, but it's a very expression of joy.
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We love You with our emotions.
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We praise You in the glorious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Psalm 146
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why is music important for congregational worship?
How - specifically - can you choose to worship when you don’t “feel like it” (Psalm 146:1-2)?
How does trusting man (Psalm 146:3-4) keep a person from worshiping God?
Name one of God’s works or promises for which you are especially thankful for right now.
Breakout
Pray for Harvest to be a worshiping church - and for YOU to be prepared to come and worship on Sundays.