Psalm 95 - Why Do We Worship

well good evening morning star and welcome to another evening of worship and study and uh as i was putting the list together for this evening the lord gave me this inspiration that says why don't you scale it back tonight bring out the piano and have a couple of singers up here almost as if we were in a real intimate time of worship in your living room in a reality isn't that what we're doing so we ask that you just uh worship with us tonight may you have a real intimate time with the lord this evening in our time of worship and study so let's start this evening with the word of prayer heavenly father we just came before you and we just thank you for just everything that you've done in our lives and in a world father that is so confused and so much going on in the news and everything that we read and hear and we don't know which way to follow and which is which is it going to be today or tomorrow or father we just know that uh that you have all the answers and all we need to do is just put our trust in you and just rest in our hearts that you we and just know that your way is best so we ask that you would just meet us here in this time in our living rooms or wherever we happen to be this evening father just just spend this time with you and worship and study and we give this evening to you to you it's in your great name amen great is your faithfulness [Music] great is your faithfulness you never change you never feel oh god [Music] true for your promises [Music] so we raise our poorly [Music] is we raise our holy hands to praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] so we raise our holy hands to praise the holy one who was to come you were you were you are you will always be you were you are you will always be you were you are you will always be lord you are you are you will always be so we raise up holy hands to praise the holy one who was and is and is to come so we raise our holy [Music] [Music] so we raise our holy hands to praise the holy one who was and his end is to [Music] bless the lord o my soul oh my soul worship his holy name sing like never before o my soul i'll worship your holy name the sun comes up it's a new day dawning it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the evening comes bless the lord [Music] worship his holy name sing like never before [Music] i'll worship your holy name [Music] is [Music] bless the lord o my soul all my souls worship his holy name sing like never [Music] and on that day and on that day when my strength is failing the entrance near and my time has come still my soul will sing your praise ten thousand years and then forever sing it out bless the lord bless the lord all my soul call my soul worship his holy name sing like never before oh my soul i'll worship your holy name bless the lord bless the lord o my soul worship his holy name sing like never before oh my soul i'll worship your holy name i'll worship your holy name lord i'll worship your holy name [Music] and here i am to worship here i am to bow down here i am to say that you're my god you're all together lovely all together all together wonderful to me the light of the world you step down into darkness open my eyes let me see [Music] spent with you here i am [Music] here i am to say that you're my god you're all together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to me king of all days [Music] only you came to the earth you created all for love's sake be careful so here i am to worship [Music] together worthy all together wonderful to me i'll never know how much it [Music] upon that cross i'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross i'll never know how much it costs to see my sin upon that cross [Music] so here i am to worship [Music] here here i am to say that you're my god you're all together lovely all together worthy [Music] here i am to say [Music] [Music] you're my god you're all together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to me [Music] come let us worship and bow [Music] come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the lord our god our maker for he is our god and we are the people of his pastor and the sheep of his hand yes [Music] and we are the people of his pastor and the sheep of his hand yes the sheep of his hands when the music fades and all is stripped away and i simply come longing just to bring something that's of worth that would bless your heart i'll bring you more than a song for a song in itself is not what you have required [Music] you search much deeper within through the way things appear you're looking into my heart i'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you it's all about you jesus well i'm sorry lord for the thing i've made it's all about you jesus nothing could express how much you deserve [Music] will i bring you more than the song [Music] you search much deeper within through the way things [Music] and it's all about you [Music] it's all about you jesus [Music] and it's all about you it's all about you jesus well i'm sorry lord for the thing i've made cause it's all about you it's all about you jesus [Music] i'm coming back i'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you it's all about you jesus i'm sorry lord for the thing i've made cause it's all about you it's all about you jesus [Music] i guess my mind to calvary where jesus bled and died for me i see his wounds his hands his feet might save your heart that cursed his body back [Music] praise the name of the lord name of the lord our god who prays his name forever will sing your praise at break of tongue the son of him rose again o trampled death where is your sting the angels roar for christ the king praise the name of the lord of the lord our god who prays his name forever foreign your [Music] in praise of white the blazing sun shall pierce the night and i will rise among the saints my case transfixed on [Music] jesus [Music] we will sing your o praise his name forever lord oh praise the name of the lord we thank you father tonight for just this time of just sweet worship to you i pray tonight father that it was just a sweet aroma to you and as we reflect upon your word tonight father why do we worship what's it all about father i think that we've just experienced it firsthand just to spend that time with you the time for the holy spirit just to just to speak to our hearts to reveal our sins [Music] to show us those ways in our life that need correcting and even a heart that could reach out to others who may be hurting and just need a time of prayer and uplifting father we thank you tonight father for just using us as just vessels of honor for you and may you receive all the praise all the honor and all the glory we ask tonight father that as your word once more has opened up that you bless pastor gerard now as he comes to teach us from your holy word and it's in your great holy name that we pray and all god's people said amen well good evening church welcome to wednesday night bible study i'm pastor gerard pastor jack is on a vacation so it's my privilege to be able to stand in for him this evening and spend some time in god's word together with you let's go ahead and open up in a word of prayer and ask the lord to bless his word tonight lord we do ask that you would be with us as we take this time lord during again having to be online and away from each other here in church but yet together in our homes in our places of work wherever we might have opportunity to uh to tune into the study and let your hand of of love and compassion mercy and grace would be upon us as we look at this subject tonight lord of why we worship and truly we want to acknowledge that you are indeed worthy to be praised so be with us tonight and bless your word in jesus name i want to really be uh thankful for the worship time that we just had as as it was mentioned uh by tom that uh make things a little more intimate pretty appropriate for what we're going to look at tonight we're going to be in psalm chapter 95 so psalms 95 so go ahead and grab your bibles and turn there and we're going to look tonight at the subject of worship and why it is we do and how really we should worship the lord really worship boils down to something very basic and very simple although even having said that it's quite profound and that is that we come together as a church and we lift up our voices in song and we gather around god's word for one primary purpose and that really is identified in a single word it was the final word that god the father gave and that was his son jesus it is because of jesus that we come together it's because of jesus that we are able to live and move and have our being because of jesus we have salvation forgiveness of sins and so our response to that is to adore him to love him to thank him and to draw closer to him it's all about jesus as we just saying a little bit ago now the way that we achieve that goal of coming together is both through the teaching of the word as we do on sunday mornings and wednesday nights and various bible studies throughout the week study his word together study his word individually at home on our own as we as we pick up god's word in those times of devotion and just let the lord by his holy spirit speak to our hearts and enter into our lives in every aspect of what we do but we also achieve that goal through this thing that we call worship at the beginning of the service it's it's really not meant to be warm-up music it's not meant to be a time pad so that in case you're a little late you haven't missed anything in so many ways the time of worship is so important because it really is four and two god this word worship we get that from a com combining the two english old english words and that is worth and ship worth ship and it really means to reverence to bow before to kneel and prostrate in an act of homage the new testament word for worship is proskuneo and it literally means to kiss toward really if you think about it there's really no more vulnerable act that we have as human beings than that of of kissing someone or something that that act where we're we're willing to break down all those barriers and allow that person that kind of intimacy that kind of of relationship and so that idea of kissing toward in in worship to god i'm mindful of the woman that came before jesus feet it's found there in luke chapter 7 where she bowed before his feet there and was so sorry for her actions and we'll talk about her a little bit more later in the study but that literally her tears fell onto jesus feet and then she ended up wiping her her wiping his feet with her hair and then kissing his feet that that act of of of of kissing toward it was such a beautiful and intimate moment of worship that's exampled there in the bible so to give us some parameters about worship and some in a sense direction and guidelines we're going to look at psalm 95 together i'd like to read through the whole psalm it's only 11 verses and then we'll take a little time to to pick it apart verse by verse but let's read it together verse 1 of psalm 95 o come let us sing to the lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation let us come before his presence with thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with psalms for the lord is the great god and the great king above all gods in his hand are the deep places of the earth the heights of the hills are also his the sea is his for he made it and his hand formed the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the lord our maker for he is our god and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as in the day of trial in the wilderness for when your forefathers tested me they tried me though they saw my work for 40 years i was grieved with that generation and said it is a people who go astray in their hearts and they do not know my ways so i swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest quite an interesting compilation here there's a call to worship there's an acknowledgement of who god is there's a response that we have as believers in how to worship and then it ends with this interesting warning of the immediacy or urgency if you will to obey in worship because of the things that could happen in the example that we have from the people of israel but going back to verses one and two this is a really good way for us to start off it's a call to worship oh come let us worship or let us sing to the lord let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation that has come before his presence with thanksgiving let us shout joyfully to him with psalms you know we might not think of this i know we do this in church but even starting your own personal prayer time or time of reading god's word this is a great way to begin a great way to prepare your heart notice there isn't anything mellow or somber about this call it's pretty direct but yet it kind of tells us that it should be a natural response for us when we acknowledge and look at god's goodness what kind of things has the lord done in your life lately where he has answered prayer or where he has come through in an area that maybe you didn't even expect and yet in his goodness and his mercy he saw fit to bless your life what was your response to that was it to sort of just take it in stride oh well that's god that's my relationship with him and you know we're buddies it's all good or did it just overwhelm you to the point where sometimes even words couldn't express how grateful you were to the lord how every time you thought about that incident you just found a smile on your face simultaneously and being able to say within your heart of hearts lord that was you wasn't it that was you and i'm so thankful so grateful that you came through in my life in that way god's goodness and and notice too the direction that worship is to go towards so very often we might assume that worship is is for us as believers and certainly there's a blessing there when we lift up our voices together corporately when we have opportunity to be here in church or even in your homes i hope that as the worship happened before the study you were singing along not just staring at the screen we do that far too often anyway with other things but here's a chance for you to participate within your own home in worship and and to to sing those praises to god but they're to the lord they're for him as it says right there in verse one oh come let us sing to the lord from the very beginning we learned that that god is the primary focus of our worship he is why we worship in exodus chapter 28 verses one through four when moses was given instruction by the lord as to how to consecrate aaron and his sons for the priesthood this is what god says and notice in this passage these four verses how many times the lord says they are to be a minister to me as a priest here in verse 1 of exodus 28 it says now take aaron your brother and his son with him his sons with him from among the children of israel that they may minister to me as priests aaron and his sons nadab abihu eliezer and ithamar and you shall make holy garments for aaron your brother for glory and for beauty for you shall speak to all that are gifted artisans whom i have filled with the spirit of wisdom that they may make aaron's garments to consecrate him here it is again that he may minister to me as priest and these are the garments which you shall make a breastplate an ephod a robe a skillfully woven tunic a turban and a sash so they shall make holy garments for your for aaron your brother and his sons and here it is again that he may minister to me as priest god had called aaron and his sons to be priests to the people to represent god to the people to be that place where the people could bring their sacrifices but their primary ministry was to the lord i i tell the worship team this often we need to keep in mind that as we stand here on the platform doing worship leading in worship that we primarily are worshiping the lord yes it's for the people and we're leading the people but our ministry is to the lord and looking even in these first two verses at all the expressions of worship they're singing there's they're shouting shout with a joyful noise make glad shouts to the lord there's coming before him approaching him right come let us verse 2 let us come before his presence with thanksgiving here's an aspect of worship we don't think about too often the fact that yes we we can sing to the lord yes we can speak words of adoration to him but very often just coming to the lord coming into his presence acknowledging him in our lives bringing him into every situation that we encounter is an act of worship it's an act of submitting to him and submitting to his lordship acknowledging his worthship in our lives being willing to stop whatever we're doing at whatever moment of the day and bringing god in again reminding ourselves of his presence beautiful expression of worship there's bowing down as we'll see later on in verse six and seven kneeling and don't forget even the spoken word i know that some would say you know it's hard for me to worship because i don't sing well uh that's no excuse because if you look at the psalms and even as we read through the psalms that's the spoken word you can speak your adoration to the lord you can speak the honor that you want to give him you can remind yourself and the lord of the great things he's done in your life and and who you understand him to be as a matter of fact um there are other expressions in the bible of worship that we see that really help us along the way they help us to to realize that god requires certain things in worship when we come before him you know the word worship was first found in genesis 22 verse 5 that's where it first appears and it's the time when abraham has been called by god to sacrifice his own son isaac to bring him to that place that god had prescribed and literally build an altar lay his son there and take his life for the sake of his faithfulness for abraham's faithfulness to the lord and in genesis 22 5 as they've arrived there at the bottom of mount moriah abraham then says to his servants to his young men he says stay here with the donkey the lad and i will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you and that's the first place that word worship is found here the lad and i are we're going to go yonder and we're going to worship now isaac at this point a young man certainly capable of besting his father if you will and we'll see later that isaac willingly lays down on that altar but before they get there he listens to his father's words we're going yonder and we're going to worship and as they're heading up the hill isaac having been trained by his father over the years what worship was and the need for it he realized something and so he asks his father a very poignant question father i see here the wood and the fire where is the sacrifice you see isaac realized something that in order for worship to happen something had to die blood needed to be shed he realized that the parameters that god had set up from the very beginning back in the in in the time of adam and eve and we see that with cain and abel there is the requirement of the shedding of blood in order for sins to be atoned for for that remission and isaac knew that and so he asked that question because he knew that in order for worship to happen something had to die that doesn't change for us the good news is that death has happened you see we don't worship to shed blood we worship because of shed blood the shed blood of jesus christ the blood that he willingly shed on our behalf to remit our sins to bring us to a place of redemption and reconciliation with the father that work has been done that death has happened but what does jesus do having given his life as a sacrifice made the way possible for us to now unhindered worship our maker he calls us then to do something in return to take up our cross daily and follow him we're still needing to sacrifice it still has to cost us something you know david understood that he stood in that very same spot there on mount moriah some 1 000 years later which is now a fl threshing floor at this point and he makes this simple statement to the man who owned that threshing floor who wanted to give it to him but david's response was no but i will surely buy it from you for a price nor will i offer burnt offerings to the lord my god with that which cost me nothing so david bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver david makes this statement as well and a reminder to us worship needs to cost something what does it cost us well it costs us being willing to set everything else aside for a period of time and acknowledging who god is acknowledging that the lord our savior is worthy to be praised to give honor to walk in obedience toward him but you know we really can't worship god until we have a proper sense of who he is and i love the fact that the psalm now goes on in verses 3 to 5 and gives us some great accolades of god some of his attributes who he is let's look at verse 3 4 and 5 together for the lord is the great god and the great king above all gods in his hand are the deep places of the earth the heights of the hills are also his and the sea is his for he made it and his hands form the dry land in verse 3 we see the majesty of god in verses 4 and 5 we see the might of god it's interesting that verse 3 starts off with really talking about god in the heavens a spiritual world the spiritual realm but then verse four and five quickly reminds us of god's sovereignty in the physical realm here on earth the sea the land the hills that he formed them all as verse 3 reminds us god stands above all if you want to get to the highest point in all of existence simply go to god you can't get any further than that you can't get any higher than that god is above all both in heaven and on earth he's god and king he's sovereign a sovereign ruler as well as creator understanding that about him makes him worthy to be praised if we're in need we can go to the very top to have that need met when we're in a place of thanksgiving we can go to the very throne of god himself and bring our gratitude and adoration to him and he receives that from us but then we're reminded in verses 4 and 5 that we realize his majesty in heaven we need to be reminded again that he created everything all things everything that we can see touch feel smell all came from god's hand the deep places of the earth those places that are unseen bottoms of the ocean where man has not even discovered yet what's there it still blows my mind to no end to think that there are creatures there in the bottom of the ocean that god created that no eye has ever seen no no human eye has seen just for his pleasure just to make different things the hand that holds the places of the deep and the hills they're also his the mountains i just had the opportunity the last week to spend some time in yosemite national park and that canyon that valley is an amazing attribute to god's sculpting abilities these these massive granite surfaces that that just go from the the bottom of the valley straight up on for hundreds and hundreds of feet god formed all of that created it all in the beginning shaped it through the flood and over time has made what we see today and this even a cursed version by the way of god's perfect creation even the sea is in his hand he made it and he formed the dry land it's all god every bit of it is him you know another example that we see of worship being toward god now that we know a little bit of who he is and that he is indeed worthy to be phrased he is the god of heaven the lord over all and made all things our worship toward him look at what psalm 29 verses 1 and 2 says give unto the lord o you mighty ones give unto the lord glory and strength give unto the lord the glory do his name worship the lord in the beauty of holiness notice how many times in those two verses were called to give give to the lord the glory and praise that's that's due him his name worship him in the beauty of holiness what a phrase the beauty of holiness i don't know about you but to be honest with you god's holiness tends to to vary for me not that his holiness changes but my perspective or my perception on it does when i'm walking strong with the lord when i have had wonderful times of fellowship with him then his holiness indeed becomes something just so beautiful so appealing and attracting that you want to be in his presence you want to be there in that place of his holiness the beauty of his holiness but when i'm wayward when i'm strain a bit and walking in those places of disobedience as we all have a tendency to do suddenly god's holiness becomes something a little more concerning doesn't it because it becomes that absolute perfect standard that we realize how fall we help fall how short we fall how far we falter from that place of his holiness i'm reminded of being a young child and the response i would have to my father coming home from work because when i'd had a good day maybe i'd done well in school or i'd done something to help mom and please her and i knew there was some accolades coming my way i was looking forward to dad coming home to be able to report to him all the things that i had done and and to get those atta boys from him there are other days when the thought of my father coming home was horrifying because i hadn't had a good day or i'd done something that mom was going to now report to dad and i certainly didn't look forward at all to those moments we want to be walking in the beauty of god's holiness and his holiness does not change but our perception of it does and no better place to be than than to walk in that place of of rest and comfort and obedience that's really what it boils down to being obedient well what should our response be once we know and understand who god is and verse 6 and 7 tells us come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the lord our maker for he is our god and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand see our response to this should be in obedience obedience to praise him obedience to worship him and we're invited to adore and submit to him as a shepherd as one who leads us gently and lovingly with his tender love and mercy we need to be reminded of this folks god always wants the best for you he's not up there in heaven with his arms crossed and his brow furl just waiting for us to fail that's not god that's not the heart of jesus our shepherd his desires that we we do well we do great and he gives us everything that we need to succeed not only in life but to succeed as a child of god to be pleasing to him in every way he gives that to us and that's that's the kind of shepherd that he is and what does he ask from us he asks obedience he asks us to to to walk close to him in such a way that we'll instantly know when those thoughts come in that are not of him when those those those desires start to develop in the back of our mind that we know will tempt us away from the lord to be that close to him to then immediately set those things aside and continue to walk in obedience that's what he longs for us as our shepherd in first samuel 15 22 samuel says has the lord as great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams walking in obedience notice there in verse 6 and 7 come let us worship and bow down kneel before the lord our god our maker he is our god we are the people of his pastor the sheep of his hands you notice that we're called there not to say anything but to do something to act in reverence the hebrew lists these things in very quick succession when you read it there in the original so come let us prostrate ourselves let us bow down let us kneel there there's those actions of submission really to bow down before the lord in absolute reverence you know that's something that we don't um exercise much in our culture and in our society the act of bowing and think about it for a moment to bow before someone kneeling is to obviously get down on your knees but your body is still upright but from that position of kneeling if you're going to bow you're now going to on your knees take your face literally and put it all the way down to the ground that's a real position of vulnerability isn't it being willing to now you really can't see what's around you you have no protection in a sense your highness in the air and your faces to the ground and yet that's what god calls us to to have that level of trust in him that we're willing to within our heart of hearts bow before him let all of our vulnerabilities be exposed knowing that he will care for us knowing that he will take care of us as only he can you know at times there's points where even words fall short aren't they aren't there we really can't even express our feelings they don't do justice and we find ourselves just quiet before the lord realizing the things that he has done our worship becomes instinctual at that point it's it's almost like the very natural next step like job when everything had happened to him when he had lost all that he had including his children job came to that realization of god sovereignty that he still was sovereign even though all this circumstantial things had happened to him that were horrendous heart-wrenching but he realized as he stood back just long enough just pulled himself away far enough from the situation to be able to see god's sovereignty and that has helped me so many times through the years of being able to pull back from from the overwhelming circumstance that i find myself in the middle of and then god just begins to give me that big picture and begins to show me that he's still in charge that he is indeed sovereign over all that's going on in the time that we're living in now and i know my family is too we're all getting really really tired of this of having to once again do church this way but it has not changed god's sovereignty it has not taken him off of the throne and in realizing this as job did look at job's response in chapter 1 verses 20 through 22 then job arose tore his robe shaved his head and fell to the ground and if it were left there we'd say yeah that's grieving that's sorrow but the very next word there says he fell to the ground and worshipped he acknowledged god in the midst of all of this and what came out of his mouth verse 21 of job chapter 1 naked i came from my mother's womb and naked i shall return there the lord gave and the lord has taken away blessed be the name of the lord in all this job did not sin nor charge god with wrong that's worship that is being able to come to the lord in the deepest and darkest times and places of our lives where all certainty has flown out the window we hardly have anything to grasp onto we don't know what's coming next we have no idea what the future holds it's just at this point seemed dark and desolate and in those moments to be able to come before the lord and simply say you gave me life lord and when you're ready you'll take it away blessed be your name blessed be your name let us worship the lord and bow down for him as our shepherd as i mentioned like that woman that knelt at jesus feet as you recall that account she came before the lord knelt there began to weep and noticing that her tears were falling on jesus dirty feet because they hadn't been washed when he came in she's so embarrassed by that moment she not having anything to wipe those tears off of his feet took untied her own hair and took it and wiped his feet with her hair then kissing his feet she takes this fragrant oil and anoints his feet all of that was an act of worship and in that that woman was saying that she would grieved over her sin it made her weep and tearful to the point that those tears dropped down onto jesus feet she also acknowledged her sin and her desire to repent she came to jesus the rabbi the master whom she understood to be the messiah and in a sense saying if you will accept me i will i will do everything you ask i'll walk in your ways and then she adored him by taking this very expensive alabaster jar of perfume and and pouring it over jesus feet and you know what the wonderful thing about that story is she never said a word it was all done by her actions and jesus understood everything that she was expressing because she gratefully worshipped at his feet in this two verses of six and seven here it says let us kneel before the lord our maker i love that it is so healthy for us as believers to constantly be reminded of the fact that god is our maker we are here in flesh and blood because god decided to create us to make us a body a human being if you look at the creation account it's interesting to note that god in those early verses it says that he spoke he said let there be light he said let the the firmament be separated the the one from the other this the land from the sea all spoken but when it came to man and man being created it says that god fashioned adam out of the clay and breathed life into his nostrils when god got ready to create man he literally reached down and formed him out of the clay the dust of the earth and then breathed god himself breathed into adam's nostrils you know what that means the very first thing that adam saw as his eyes opened for the very first time was the face of his maker his god the one who had formed him so let us kneel before the lord our maker we are the sheep of his hand you know very often in those times david being a shepherd the time of the psalmist we're not really sure who wrote psalm 95 but this act of a shepherd very often at the end of the day the shepherd would have his sheep in a sense lined up and every one of them would pass before him under his hand and he would check them for thorns in their wool or for bruises they might have sustained on their journey that that passionate compassionate act of a shepherd to inspect his sheep to take care of them we are indeed the sheep of his hand god loves us he cares for us he leads us besides still waters and into green pastures he restores our soul and that should make our cup run over with worship and praise well then finishing off this passage the psalmist does something interesting takes a very drastic turn and sends out a warning this abrupt change but but as we already read in verse actually the last little phrase of verse 7 beginning in verse 8 today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as in the day of trial in the wilderness hear this abrupt change but it has a specific purpose it's warning us that we need to hear and listen to god's voice all of this leading up to this the invitation to worship the acknowledgement of who god is our response and obedience to come and to to bow and to kneel before him to to prostrate ourselves before the lord to act in obedience all of that needs to be heated and done so immediately today if you will hear his voice that is so crucial for us brothers and sisters because god is always speaking to us but are we always listening are we always hearing what he has to say and how does god speak to us through our times of prayer he whispers those things into our hearts by his holy spirit through our times of of sitting quietly at home at the beginning of the day when we open up god's word for ourselves no one else and allow the lord by his holy spirit to speak to us through his word haven't you noticed that there's those times when you're you're into a passage and it's the next chapter you're supposed to read in your reading program or whatever it might be and there's suddenly just a verse that that comes off that page and smacks it right in the face it ministers to your situation it's it's an answer to something you've been looking for that's that's how wonderful and how powerful god's word is why we should never neglect it we should always be willing to hear his voice because the more we ignore that gentle whisper the less we'll hear the more we will harden our hearts as it says in verse 8 do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness you see we we understand that worship begins then with listening rather than speaking so very often we want to just jump in and tell the lord everything that we have to say and good adoration praise to him what about taking a few moments before that and saying lord speak to my heart lead and guide me in this time of praise and worship jesus as you promise in revelation sing through your church let it be that sound of many waters that just thunders through our hearts that we in turn then reflect your goodness and your mercy and give our praise back to you you see this verse 8 here is referring to when the israelites were in the wilderness there after the exodus and this word rebellion in verse 8 and later the word trial and that as in the day of trial there those words rebellion is the word meribah and you probably remember what happened there the word meribah means contention and it was at kadesh barnea where they were and they began to to to rumble to the lord about not having water and god brought water out of the rock but moses was instructed to speak to the rock but he struck it instead it was also with kadesh barnia that the people rebelled against the 12 spies that came in believing the 10 who said yeah there's no way we can go in it's it's way too dangerous it's way too much for us to handle as opposed to the two joshua and caleb who said no this is called the promised land for a reason god is promising it to us and no matter what happens he will be with us and he'll see us through but they decided to go with the 10 and as a result god judged them like it says in verse 9 that when your fathers tested me and they tried me though they saw my works that generation that had been taken through the red sea saw the miraculous works of god not only delivering them on dry ground but then turning right around and drowning their enemy pharaoh and his whole army in that same sea they had witnessed that they had talked about it to their kids and yet they had forgotten and they tested the lord and did not want to go in to the promised land that word trial there in verse 8 is the word masa it means testing temptation we're there in the desert of sin again where god brought water from the rock he told moses to strike it and he did and god brought that water that place of testing that place of contention don't harden your hearts as in those days when we're walking with the lord and we have those places of rebellion and sin in our lives we need to heed that conviction when it comes because you know what happens every time we ignore that conviction it's like a little bit of our heart gets harder and harder and begins more and more to not listen and not hear and not obey and not repent do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion today if you will hear his voice the judgment came verse 10 40 years i was greed with that generation and said it is a people who go astray in their hearts they do not know my ways these were god's chosen people he had called them from the time of abraham to be a nation that would be a light to the world god's desire was once he had delivered them from egypt and brought them through the desert to bring them into the promised land to eradicate the evil that was in that land that it had its chance to repent for hundreds and hundreds of years and then from that small nation to be a beacon to the rest of the world and they did that from time to time but so often they walked in rebellion so often they grieved the heart of god they tested god they tried him they went astray in their hearts we need to be so careful here in our country a country who has been blessed and privileged with the principles of god so much of god's commandments are found in our constitution and yet as a nation little by little and more and more we are shedding god out church we need to be in prayer we need to be praying for our leaders for our nation for our communities for those that are responding to this pandemic in ways that are not godly bring that light be through jesus christ what god intends us his people to be and what is the result if we do that if we worship if we spend that time before the lord kneeling our natural response will be to share his love when god ministers to your heart in ways you can't even describe you will find ways to describe that to others you will share his love with those around you we need to do that you know we evangelize restaurants all the time don't we if you have a place you go where you love the food boy you're just waiting to tell somebody about it and you describe that food you describe the service you evangelize that place because you love it so much we need to fall in love with god that much and closing here in verse 11 what is the promise that we're given well it's kind of given in the opposite because of what the israelites had done and tested the lord in verse 11 it says so i swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest that was the judgment that came upon god's people but if we are obedient if we do walk in god's ways and if we do worship and adore him then that benefit of worship becomes ours the rest that we can enter god's rest that we can enter so worship is what well it's hearing the word of god and obeying the word of god and praising him for it true worship pleases god and when that happens he blesses us with the deepest and most gratifying way that our soul can ever ever experience now do we worship him to get that we shouldn't it's a great benefit but our focus still needs to be on him adoring him because if we worship to get we could leave empty-handed but if we give in our worship if we give him the honor and glory that he is due if we come and sing to the lord and shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation if we come before his presence with thanksgiving and shout joyfully to him with psalms then there is a rest that is promised for us a rest for our souls psalm 141 verse 2 let my prayer be set before you as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice paul in second timothy 2 8 says i desire therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting as we submit to god in truthful worship and we give him the honor and the glory that he is due do you know what the lord does he inhabits our praises we in a sense make a comfortable place for god to sit in the midst of our worship and guess what the enemy does in that case he flees submit yourselves therefore to the lord resist the devil and he will flee from you that's a promise that we have and worship is no better way or is the best way if i'd rather to say to be able to worship and submit to the lord then we can enter in his rest then we'll have a sabbath for our souls that's why we worship because he's worthy his worth ship is what brings us to that place of kneeling and bowing giving our lives to him once again let's pray lord we are so grateful for the things that you give us in your word and even just this one psalm that's so straightforward gives us what we need to effectively and obediently worship you may we be a people of worship lord may we be a people of your word because we know it is through your word we learn of who you are and as we learn who you are we also know that that extension that natural instinct and next step for us would be the obedience of worship to lay everything else aside and to acknowledge who you are in our lives so for all of us as we go from this study tonight and into the rest of the week may we find those times lord god those places moments where we can do just that worship you maybe in response to something something that you have done in our lives a remembrance that we might have of a work that you've done but that shouldn't always be the case lord we should worship you just because because you are god because you are the king above all gods and that you hold the places of the deep the hills having created the seas and form the dry land you're worthy to be praised and for all of you as we've gathered here around this word this psalm tonight if you don't know the lord i would encourage you come to that place of submission to him for the first time be like that woman there at jesus feet who bowed before him repented grieved over her own sin and realized that that she could be forgiven if she would be willing to turn from those things and she was sitting at the right place right there at your feet lord jesus the one who would indeed just time from there give your life as a sacrifice for sins no if you don't already know the lord that jesus died for those sins for you he gave his life for you shed his blood the requirement that god had for all sin to be paid for and in his death we now can have eternal life because the good news is it didn't stop at the cross three days later jesus rose from the dead and we're now invited to walk in that resurrection power you too can be forgiven of your sins you too can know jesus as your savior and you can have the promise of eternal life if you want that i know there's an opportunity for you to click on the links below and to know more of what it is to walk with jesus for all of us let us go forward from this place and be worshippers let the worshipers arise in jesus name amen god bless you guys and have a great rest of the week you

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Length: 78min 25sec (4705 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 22 2020