Sunday Morning, August 30, 2020 AM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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All right, good morning everyone.

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Good morning. Glad to have you all here at Sunnyside Baptist to worship with us this morning.

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As we get started, a few announcements for the week. Come back this evening for evening service.

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There is no nursery tonight though. Also Wednesday, Wednesday's a big day this week.

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TAG ministry starts back up for our kids. That will start at 6 .30 p .m.

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The kids will go straight to the TAG room down the hall and get started on that. Before that though, there is a meal, but it's only for those families who have kids in TAG, and that's at 5 .45

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in the fellowship hall. So meal is only for those

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TAG families. That's this Wednesday. And then next Monday, obviously Labor Day coming up.

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Few more announcements. Our fighter verse for the week comes from the book of John, John chapter 8, verses 31 and 32.

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So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

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So meditate and memorize on that this week. Those who are wanting to participate in Operation Christmas Child, or maybe learn a little bit more about it, there is going to be a little bit of a workshop at Emmaus Baptist Church.

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It's down on, I think it's southwestern and 164th. That's going to be on September 12th from 9 .30

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to 11 .30 in the morning, workshops that talk about ideas, about crafts, and things that you can do for that shoebox ministry of Operation Christmas Child.

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If you were coming in on the back music stand back there, there were notes for the sermon, but there was also a

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Bible reading plan. The new Bible reading plan starts out September 7th.

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That's a Monday. So feel free to pick one of those up. September 6th, that's next

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Sunday. That's promotion Sunday for a lot of our kids in Sunday school. So they're going to be moving on to the next class, but if you're a parent who maybe has other plans, be sure and talk to your child's

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Sunday school teacher, either current or where they would be going into. Brian has an announcement for us real quickly.

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Good morning. So sometimes we all celebrate birthdays, right?

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So this morning, if you would stand, and Wylene, this is for you, at where you are watching us from.

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So we're going to sing Happy Birthday to Wylene. Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear

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Wylene, happy birthday to you.

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Well we sure miss Wylene and her talents on the organ. Hope that she can rejoin us soon.

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Offering plates on the back. Also nursery is available this morning. Any other announcements that I'm missing at all before we get started?

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Okay. Well we're going to prepare our hearts for worship this morning, and then after,

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Jerry Brown will lead us in prayer. I have an announcement.

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I will soon be married to a great -grandmother in the

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March time period, thanks to Grayson and, who wrote her name?

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Renee. So that'll be another milestone for our family.

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Let's pray. Father, thank you for today, and for our church gathering, just that we have the freedom to come and to worship you, to carry our

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Bibles, to mention your name and praise you.

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Just thank you for the freedom we yet have. I pray for our country, for our president, that you guide and protect him, that his advisors would give him true, godly advice, and that you would work through him to bring our country back to where you wanted it in the first place.

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Just pray you protect your hand over all our people, especially in this so -called pandemic era, that we would remain free from the curse of that virus.

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Just thank you again for today. Pray for Michael, for clarity of mind, that he would just share with us what you've shared with him, and that we would speak to each one of our hearts individually, and it would draw us closer to you.

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In Christ's name, amen. It's good to be back with Sunnyside this morning, and I just want to tell you

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I appreciate your prayers while I was out of town. I really appreciate also your prayers for my mom, and it's you remembering her today.

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So thank you very much, Sunnyside. I made a whole list of things that Brother Michael blessed me.

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Just thank you, Sunnyside, for having church available and live stream. So while I was gone,

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I was able to see Brother Michael and you guys singing and preaching. But one point that really spoke to me was when

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Brother Michael shared, Christ is our joy in the now, and our hope in the not yet.

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So if you would stand with me for our call to worship together this morning.

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Our passage this morning is found in Psalms chapter 46, 8 -11.

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Read with me together. Come behold the words of the

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Lord, how he has brought desolation on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

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He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire.

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Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

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I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.

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The God of Jacob is our fortress. Our first song this morning is on page 8 of our

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Blue Hymnals. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty. Praise to the

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Lord, the Almighty. The King I so praise in glory is

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Thine. Help and shout to His temples all near.

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Join me in glad adoration. So wondrously reigneth.

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Shelters thee under His wings, yet so gently sustaining.

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Best of us sing how thine all glories have been.

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Rented in what He ordained. Praise to the

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Lord who doth prosper Thy work and defend

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Thee. Surely His goodness and mercy peer daily attending.

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Wonder, wonder what the

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Almighty can do if with His love

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He be friendly. Praise to the

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Lord, O let all that is in me adore

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Him. All that hath life and breath come now.

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Praise the Lord. We're reading Deuteronomy chapter 16 this morning.

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Deuteronomy chapter 16, starting in verse 1. Observe the month of Abib and keep the

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Passover to the Lord your God. For in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

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Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God. From the flock and the herd in the place where the

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Lord chooses to put His name. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it.

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That is the bread of affliction. For you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. That you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt.

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All the days of your life. And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days.

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Nor shall any of the meat which you sacrificed the first day at twilight. Remain overnight until morning.

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You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates. Which the Lord your God gives you.

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But at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall sacrifice the

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Passover at twilight. At the going down of the sun. At the time you came out of Egypt. And you shall roast and eat it in the place which the

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Lord your God chooses. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. Six days you shall eat unleavened bread.

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And on the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.

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You shall count seven weeks for yourself. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.

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Then you shall keep the feast of weeks to the Lord. Your God with the tribute of a free will offering from your hand.

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Which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. You shall rejoice because the

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Lord your God. You and your son and your daughter and your male servant and your female servant.

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The Levite who is within your gates. The stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you.

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At the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt.

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And that you shall be careful to observe these statutes. You shall observe the feast of tabernacles seven days.

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When you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your wine press. And you shall rejoice in your feast.

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You and your son and your daughter. Your male servant and your female servant. And the

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Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates. Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the

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Lord your God. In the place where the Lord chooses. Because the Lord your God will bless you. And all your produce and all the work of your hands.

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So that you surely rejoice. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the

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Lord your God. In the place which He chooses. At the feast of unleavened bread. At the feast of weeks.

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And at the feast of tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. Every man shall give as he is able.

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According to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you. You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates.

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Which the Lord your God gives you. According to your tribes. And they shall judge the people with just judgment.

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You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality nor take a bribe.

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For a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise. And twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just.

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That you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not plant for yourself any tree as a wooden image.

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Near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God. You shall not set up a sacred pillar which the

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Lord your God hates. This is the word of God. Let's pray.

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Father thank you for another Sunday to come into this place to worship you.

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To turn our eyes to Christ. And to focus upon your word. May we submit to it in all its wisdom and its direction.

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And may you please bless Michael as he comes to preach your word Father. And we thank you for your church.

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And for Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

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I also wanted to say I just really appreciate Brother Brian leading music while he's away. And a couple of songs really spoke to my heart.

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It was Holy, Holy, Holy. And Is He Worthy. Yes Christ is worthy.

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Amen. Our next three songs is in our little black hymnals. Hymns of Modern Nation. So if you would turn to put a finger in all three pages.

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Number 20, number 67, and 126. We'll be singing

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Bow the Knee. Which is a Ron Hamilton song. And Jesus is Lord.

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And We Will Glorify which is a Twilight Paris song. And one other note is on this first song

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Bow the Knee. When we get to the chorus there's an echo part. So feel free to do the echo.

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And we'll sing to the Lord together. What a privilege to come into God's presence.

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Just to linger with the one who set me free.

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As I lift my eyes and see His awesome glory.

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I remember who He is and bow the knee.

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Bow the knee, just bow the knee.

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See Him high lifted up and bow the knee.

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Kneel before Him, adore Him. As you lived, love

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Him, worship Him.

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With His voice He spoke and all things came to be.

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Before Him they said bow the knee.

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Bow the knee, O Son of God.

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The King whose glory fills the heavens.

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Yet Israel's gone to taste His living bread.

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Jesus is Lord, whose voice sustains the stars and planets.

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Yet in His wisdom laid aside

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His crown. Jesus, all men are suffering.

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He came, O Christ, to bring salvation's plan.

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Jesus is Lord, the tomb is gloriously empty.

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Nourish this King of love.

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The price is paid, the chains are loosened.

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He'll be there and we can lie into the arms of God.

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Jesus is Lord, a shout of joy, a cry of anguish.

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As He resurrects the dead and redeems us all.

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In every eye and every heart we'll see

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His glory. No judge will ever take

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His children away.

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We will glorify the King of kings.

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We will glorify the Lamb. We will glorify the

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Lord of Lords, who is the great I Am.

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Lord Jehovah reigns in majesty. We will bow before His throne.

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We will worship Him in righteousness. We will worship

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Him. He is Lord of Heavens.

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All praise to Him. Let's pray together.

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Father, I thank You for gathering us together today. What a joy it is to know that as we come together in the name of Jesus Christ, that we have communion with Christ You, our

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Savior, our Lord. What a joy it is to gather together and sing

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Your praises, to hear Your Word read and to read it together, to pray together, to intercede for one another, and to receive a message from Your Word.

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What a joy this is. So we thank You for Your many graces that You pour out upon us here in this time and on this day.

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I pray that You would teach us from Your Word, that by Your Spirit You would bring us into submission to Your Word.

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Oh Father, make the text about Your Son clear to us by Your Spirit, that we would worship, that we would respond in confessing our allegiance to Christ, our

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King, rejoicing in His goodness and His righteousness, and knowing the depth of His salvation, how it penetrates to our deepest person.

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You are remaking us into the image of Your Son. We give You the praise.

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Help us to worship. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, good morning.

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You would open your psalter to number 111. Your psalter is not next to your pepperer.

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It is in the middle of your Bible. Psalm 111.

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So I pray and study in preparation for the next book of the

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Bible to preach through. We'll be focusing our attention on Psalms 111 through 118.

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All of these psalms teach us how to praise the Lord. They teach us why we should praise the

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Lord. They are excellent in guiding us in this holy purpose for which we were created, for which we were redeemed.

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Now, Psalms 113 through 118 comprise the

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Great Hallel, as it was known among the Jews. It was the great hymn that was sung in connection to Passover.

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It is most likely the hymn that Jesus and His disciples sang after they had their meal together before they arrived at the

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Garden of Gethsemane. Psalms 111 and 112 preface the

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Great Hallel, and each one of those, both of those, are alphabetical acrostics, 22 lines following the

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Hebrew alphabet. And so they teach the ABCs of praise, or rather the

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Aleph, Beth, Gimels of praise. Basic understanding of what it means to praise the

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Lord. So this morning we're going to look at Psalm 111, and I don't believe we will make it very far, but we need to give some thought to what it means to praise the

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Lord. Just the basics. The initial understanding of what it means to worship

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God. Now, Psalm 111, because it's an acrostic, it is a teaching tool that undoubtedly rabbis would have used and mothers would have used to teach the children to praise the

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Lord. This is a psalm that would have been memorized by little Jewish boys and little

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Jewish girls for generations, including our Savior Jesus Christ. The Aleph, Beth, Gimels of praise.

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And so as we look at this psalm, we see that it's very general. It talks about the works of God as a whole.

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It's not specifically or historically tied to any particular moment in Israel's history or perhaps some significant event in David's life, as many of the psalms are.

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But it teaches us how to praise the Lord. In fact, it animates, it excites the worship praise, the worshippers' praise of God by presenting to us

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His works, the quality of God's works. And so the basic thought is this.

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To excite God's worship, examine God's works. That's the basic thought of Psalm 111.

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To excite God's worship, examine God's works.

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So if you'll stand with me, I'll read the psalm, Psalm 111. These are the words of our

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Lord. Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly.

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Great are the works of the Lord! They are studied by all who delight in them.

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Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made

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His wonders to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear

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Him. He will remember His covenant forever. He has made known to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.

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The works of His hands are truth and justice. All His precepts are sure.

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They are upheld forever and ever. They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people.

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He has ordained His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the

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Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do

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His commandments. His praise endures forever.

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These are the words of our Lord. You may be seated. If I want my children to play a game with me, it's a very simple process.

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I put all the pieces of the game out on the table, and they gather around.

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Hey, that looks interesting. That looks fun. If I want to teach my children geology,

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I'm going to put rocks into their hands. And if I want them to love music,

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I will fill the spaces of my home with music.

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And if I want to excite my children to worship God, what might

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I do? How does God excite

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His children to worship Him? Well, this is just basic stuff, isn't it?

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This is the alphabet gimmels of praise. What does He do? He lays before our attention

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His works. Look at everything that God has done.

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Look at what God has done in history. Look at what God has done in creation. Look at what God has done in salvation.

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Look at what God has done in the testimony of your life. God lays before us His works to excite us to His worship.

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Now, some may wonder at the need to even learn how to worship and to praise.

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After all, we are created in the image of God. We are created in the image of God.

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We are created as worshipers. The worship switch is hardwired on.

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We can just never turn it off. So why do we need to learn how to worship and praise

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God? Why is that even a necessity? Shouldn't it happen naturally?

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Well, if it wasn't for the fall, if it wasn't for sin, then yes, of course. There would be not as much instruction and need to know how to worship the

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Lord. Since we cannot comprehend Him, even Adam and Eve needed some instruction, some direction on how to praise and give thanks to God, to pay attention to all the bounty that God had made for them, instructions for them to spread out throughout all of the earth and to bring

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Him glory in whatever they did. But we have extra need for instruction, extra need for training.

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And what does it mean to praise God and worship God? Because as creatures made in God's image, yes, the worship switch is hardwired on.

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Yet, fallen in sin, we often worship the wrong thing. We often worship the wrong way.

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Sometimes in basic discipleship, a well -meaning mentor will say to a young Christian, Well, there's no wrong way to pray.

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Just go for it. When Jesus gave basic instructions to His disciples, He mentioned more than one wrong way to pray and then gave them a model by which to pray.

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The same is true of worship. We should put aside any thought that says, Well, there's no wrong way to worship

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God. Just go for it. Aaron's sons found out the hard way that there is a wrong way to worship

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God, more than one wrong way to worship God. So we need to learn.

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It's not a matter that we can just feel our way through it. And we'll see that as we go through Psalms 111 all the way through 118.

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Lots of instructions about how we are to praise the Lord and why and what that looks like. It's not something that just occurs naturally.

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But for some people, that's their understanding of worship. I wonder if that perhaps may be one of your assumptions, that you just have to feel your way through it.

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And if you don't feel it, then it didn't happen. It didn't happen some. But see, praise and worship for a lot of Christians amounts to a teenage romance novel.

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That the feeling has to emerge, the same kind of feeling as you know, that the giddy butterflies that one would feel when the most popular vampire at school says,

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Yeah, like I'm totally into you. Praise and worship for a lot of Christians is something that they believe must happen to them.

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They think that praise and worship is something that must happen to them, like a wonder -filled car wreck where God totals your soul.

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And yet, the Scriptures have instructions on how to worship God. There's intentionality, there's planning, there's focus, there's spiritual disciplines involved, there's education, there's care taken in the worship of God.

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A lot of thought and planning goes into the worship of God. And there are moments, there are moments when

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God in His holiness and His power and His glory runs someone over like a dump truck.

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Isaiah, for instance, who was caught up in a vision in the holiness of God, and in woe is me, I am undone.

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But God doesn't roll over His saints when you get the right mix of the bass at 70 kilohertz and 160 decibels and a five -word mantra that is repeated over and over until the drool is a steady dream at the right side of your mouth.

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That is not how God makes worship happen to you.

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Praise is God's gracious choice, as the hymn says. What does that mean?

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We were created for praise, we were redeemed for praise, we are destined for praise.

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Psalm 148 .5 says, Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.

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All of His works. Isaiah 43, verse 21.

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The people whom I formed for myself will declare my praise.

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Psalm 102, verse 18. This will be written for the generations to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the

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Lord. As those who have been made in the image of God, those who are being renewed into the image of God, those of us who are booked for an eternity of worshiping

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God should know our stuff about praising God. We should know what it means to praise

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God. If you sit down in a room to talk with a surgeon, you want him to know his stuff.

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If you talk to someone about repairing your car or repairing your house, you want them to know their stuff.

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We have been made to worship God. Created in God's image.

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This is the most important thing that we do, is worship God. It will be the most important thing we do for all of eternity, is worship

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God. We should know something about how to praise and worship God. We begin with verse 1.

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We consider the works of the Lord in worshipful company. Verse 1 of Psalm 111.

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Notice how it starts. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly.

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Here's the best place to begin in learning the basics of praise. To begin with the very first word of praise.

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From that word of praise, consider who, how, where, and what to praise.

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In verses 2 -9 we'll hear the why. Actually, verses 2 -10 we'll hear the why of praising the

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Lord. But for now, just the basics. The very first word of praise is this. Hallelujah.

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Hallelujah. That's the very first word of praise. It's right there at the beginning of Psalm 111.

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English translations often just say, praise the Lord. But it's one word in the

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Hebrew, and you know it. You knew it from a little child probably, singing hallelujah or alleluia at Christmas.

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Or singing hallelujah in the children's choir. And you've heard the word hallelujah uttered in a variety of contexts.

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That is the very first word of praise. And the word here is universal in its usage, and it is specific in its meaning.

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It's very specific in its meaning. Hallel means praise.

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As you remember, I said the great hallel, the great praise, or the great hymn. Psalms 113 -118, the hallel.

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That word in the Hebrew means praise. And notice how it ends, hallelujah.

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Which is the shortened form of the specific name of God, Yahweh. Hallelujah.

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Hallelujah. So it's praising the Lord. It is praising

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God. The word hallel essentially means to be clear. It means to be clear.

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In sound and in sight. So, think of a clear note.

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The clear tone of a church bell. Or the pure notes from a well -played clarinet.

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Think of clear and brilliant colors flashing from a diamond turning in the light.

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Or the blue of a rain -washed sky. Or the prism of hope, the empty war bow that hangs there.

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This is an idea of clarity in both sound and in sight.

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That gets us to what hallel means basically, but it's more than that. It means to shine clear.

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To be sent forth in clarity. And so the idea is to make a boast. To make it clear.

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To put it out there for all to read. To put it out there for all to hear.

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To put it out there for all to see. This happens a great deal amongst humanity.

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When we are proud of something, we put it out there. We make it obvious.

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Hey everybody, look at this. Or pay attention to this. Isn't that the nature of praise?

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Monuments praise an ideal. Or praise a person.

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There are names on buildings. There are dates on buildings. Things are put out in the open.

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It's a boast. It's a praise of something about some event. Or some idea.

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Well, this is what hallel means. This is what praise means. Now when you take the word hallel and you join it with yah, hallelujah.

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What does that mean? It means that you are being clear about the God of the scriptures. It means that you are being clear about the

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God who was revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.

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When you praise the Lord, it means that you are shining the truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

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You are boasting about your creator. You are boasting about your savior. You are boasting about your sovereign

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God. You are putting the glories of God out there for all to read, to see, to hear.

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Why? For all to celebrate. For all to celebrate.

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Hallelujah. Hallelujah is definitely a

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Hebrew word, but it's meant for all the nations. Isn't it interesting that hallelujah sounds the same in all the different languages?

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It is the Rosetta Stone of the new creation. It is the signpost in every land pointing the way to the new

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Jerusalem. It was to the Jew first, but it's also for the

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Gentile. Hallelujah sounds forth from Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

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The innumerable multitude from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will gather around the throne of the

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Lamb and cry out, Hallelujah to their maker, to their Messiah, to their master.

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And they will do so with one tongue and in one spirit. They will not need a translator.

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This word hallelujah begins Psalm 111. And yes, it doesn't begin with an aleph.

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It stands outside of the alphabetical acrostic. It stands outside of it.

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It introduces the whole matter. It is well that it stands outside of it.

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It stands alone just fine. It headlines all of the articles that follows.

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It is what binds all of the pages together. It is the string upon which the 22 jewels of praise are strung.

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This word stands alone and does so very well on its own because it functions like a liturgy, a sermon, a song, and a prayer.

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It is a robust worship service in and of itself. Hallelujah. We receive it as an exclamation.

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We receive it as an invitation. We receive it as a command. We receive it as a prayer.

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Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. It can be proclaimed as a sermon.

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It can be harmonized in a song shouted by the saints and prayed in a thousand dialects.

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And it will be, without shame, unconfounded, world without end.

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Spurgeon says of this word, this command, praise the Lord. He says, do it now. Do it always.

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Do it heartily. Do it unanimously. Do it eternally. Even if others refuse, take care that you always have a song for your

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God. Put away all doubt, question, murmuring, and rebellion, and give yourselves to the praising of Jehovah, both with your lips and in your lives.

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Praise the Lord. That's the first word of worship. The first word of praise is hallelujah.

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It's interesting to read the beginning of Psalm 111 in different translations because we're coming to the second word of praise and it's translated variously.

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King James reads, praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart.

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English Standard Version. Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the

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Lord with my whole heart. Christian Standard Bible says, hallelujah.

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I will praise the Lord with all my heart. And, of course, the New American Standard we've already read.

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Praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart.

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Clearly, there's some distinction, some even slight distinction between the first word of praise and the second word of praise.

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Between hallelujah and this idea of giving thanks or offering praise to God.

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It is observed by more than one older commentator that the very first word is kind of a command.

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Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord, the worship leader says. And then he says, I will praise the

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Lord. And so he is exemplifying that which he instructs.

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He is going to show how it is to be done. Praise the Lord. I will praise the

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Lord. Now watch what it looks like. Here's how we praise God. Here's how we worship

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God. This second word shows us at the beginning of something about how we are to praise the

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Lord. Notice it says, I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company of the upright and the assembly.

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Two ideas here. If we're going to praise the Lord, it ought to be thorough and it ought to be always.

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It should be thorough and universal. Consider the thoroughness of the praise which is exemplified here.

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He says, I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. This second word is not hallelujah or halal.

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It's yada, which is built on the Hebrew word for hands. Built on the

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Hebrew word for hands. And that's why some translators trying to distinguish the second word of praise from the first one has this idea of giving thanks.

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Why? Because the hands are in view. To be offering something to God.

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The idea of giving thanks or offering worship to God is the picture here.

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So there is the idea of the worshippers voice of praise offered along with his hands and notice it's with the whole of his heart.

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It's important that we see that the physical and the spiritual are not divorced in worship. When God made us in his image, he made us body and soul one whole.

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So it's with everything. We don't praise God just in our spirits. We praise God with all of us.

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It's our whole person. Bring your whole person to praise the

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Lord. The physical and the spiritual are not divorced in worship.

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All of the worshipper is involved. The emphasis I think though, just as it is in the teachings of Christ, is upon the heart.

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Isn't the emphasis upon the heart? With my whole heart. He's offering worship.

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He's giving thanks. The hands are in view here. But he's doing so with all of his heart.

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What is the importance of the heart? It is that venue of worship upon which God alone may look. Man looks on the outward appearance.

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But God looks upon the heart. And when it says that he offers his worship, he gives his thanks, he gives his praise to God with his whole heart.

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That should give us some pause. That should give us some pause. Especially as we think about the fact that God looks upon the heart.

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What does he see? I'm supposed to offer worship to God with my whole heart.

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And this is where God is looking. I wonder what he sees. That should give us some pause.

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For he sees that the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth. It says in Genesis 8.

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And the fact of the matter is, if all the fountains of the great deep bursting open, and the flood gates of the sky opening, if 40 days and 40 nights of rain, a year -long flood, and the drowning of all human life except for 8 people, if all of that didn't change the fundamental wicked orientation of man's heart, then laser lights, fog, and pyrotechnics aren't going to stimulate the least righteous flutter.

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What does the psalmist mean when he models the praise of the Lord by offering worship with all his heart?

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He cannot mean, I'm bringing my wicked desires to bless God. He cannot mean, my evil thoughts glorify

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God. Or my sinful lusts are honoring to God.

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No, that's not what he means. But he's coming to the Lord as a believer. He is modeling worship as one who has been born again.

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The heart of the believer has been changed by the grace of God. A power greater than the global flood has washed over the sinner's heart of stone.

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Something more powerful than the global flood has to change a person's heart.

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And what greater power is that? What larger miracle is that? What greater transformation is that?

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The work of the Holy Spirit to take out a heart of stone and create a heart of flesh. And not sinless as we will be in our resurrection, but opposed to sin even as breathing is opposed to death.

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Not free from every corruption, but free from all condemnation.

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The heart that God has given us in our salvation is meant to be used in his adoration.

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And this is most necessary and sustaining. Does this resonate with your heart?

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Psalm 63 verses 1 through 5. Here is an evidence of one who is worshiping

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God with all their heart. Does your heart resonate with this? Oh God, you are my

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God. I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for you.

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My flesh yearns for you. In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

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Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary. To see your power and your glory. Because your loving kindness is better than life.

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My lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live.

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I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul is satisfied.

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As with marrow and fatness. And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

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A kind of praise and a kind of worship that is nourished and satisfied in the very process.

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A rejoicing and a praising of God. We are to offer worship to the

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Lord with all our heart. All our heart. What does that mean? It involves all of us.

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It entails our attention. It means our attitudes. It means our assertions.

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It means our affections. An undivided heart it means.

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All the heart means that it is undivided. Not with like part of it and holding part of it back.

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We are to worship in a way that is simple and whole. Not full of reservations.

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Full of qualifications. Full of equivocations. This is the great challenge.

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Is it not to worship with the whole heart. And not always qualifying everything.

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Why would we do that? We have reservations in our worship. Do we not?

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We have reservations about ourselves. We have reservations about our God. Psalmist says,

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Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. I will offer worship. I will offer thanksgiving.

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I will offer praise to God with a whole heart. With all my heart. Meaning I will not hold on to reservations concerning myself and concerning God.

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With a whole heart. Not with part of my heart. We have reservations about ourselves in worship. Do we not?

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I will worship as long as it doesn't make me uncomfortable. I mean because obviously discomfort and worship can't go together.

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Those are diametrically opposed. If I'm uncomfortable, I'm not worshiping. That's a falsehood of our day.

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Pretty sure Isaiah was worshiping. And pretty sure he was very uncomfortable. I'll worship as long as I don't make anybody else uncomfortable.

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Because if I'm worshiping God and I'm praising God, but that makes somebody else a little squeamish and kind of embarrassed for me, then

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I can't do it. Really? I'll worship

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God as long as it's not too difficult. I mean if it's challenging, then I don't want to do it. I'll worship

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God if it's not too odd. This is weird. I'll worship

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God if I can do it without it being upsetting in any way. You know, worship of God for a lot of people is just like oatmeal.

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It's not too much of anything. I'll worship

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God as long as I get to use the style that I'm comfortable with. And as long as nobody criticizes me,

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I'll worship God. The psalmist, when he says, I'm worshiping God with all my heart, he's saying, I'm not making reservations here.

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I'm not saying, I'm not making qualifications here. He's not saying, I'll worship God as long as my prerequisites are met.

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He says, I'm worshiping God with all my heart. We have reservations about ourselves.

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That's why we may not worship God with all of our heart. And we have reservations about God himself, the very object of our worship, the very focus of our praise.

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Many people have reservations about God even as they attempt to worship him. And why would anybody have reservations about God?

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Well, apparently, God did a very, very unscientific thing when he made the world in six days.

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I mean, it just, it doesn't fit with any of our models. And to worship a

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God who made everything in six days, that's just ludicrous. Obviously, he had to use some other process that is more logical and more well -defined.

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I'll worship God as long as I don't have to believe that he made everything in six days, like he said it so plainly in Genesis 1.

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I'll worship God as long as the flood wasn't worldwide. Surely, when it said that it was 15 cubits above the highest mountain and all living things on Earth died, that it just meant a regional flood.

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Surely, that's what it meant. I'll worship a God that does a regional flood, but not a global flood. I'll worship a

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God, you know, who allows a people to emerge from the other

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Canaanite tribes with myths about how they slaughtered wholesale all the Amalekites.

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But, you know, I'm not going to actually worship a God who ordered that and said it was good.

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I'll worship God with all my heart, except, you know, I totally disagree with those things he said about slavery.

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You know, how he made a whole system of slavery and said, here's how you do slavery in a good way and a righteous way.

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Here's how you enslave your—here's how slavery works if you're a Jew in one way, and if you're not a Jew and you're like someone from a different people group, then slavery works totally different for you.

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I'll worship God, but not the God who talks about that stuff and then says it's righteous and just and we ought to—his people should follow his law.

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I'll worship God as long as, you know, as we all agree that he's not really sovereign over the distribution of resources, because obviously it's inequitable.

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I'll worship a God who's, you know, just as pained as we are that rivers and resources and countries are misshaped and misaligned, and people get born in poor countries, and God is just alarmed by that as we are.

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I'll worship a God as long as he thinks like me. People have reservations about God because he says things like he's to be more feared than men.

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He's to be feared rather than men. He's to be feared rather than death itself.

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People have reservations about God because he offered up his son, Jesus Christ, as a bloody sacrifice, atoning for the sins of wicked men and women.

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People have all sorts of reservations about God. Well, as long as we can say something else about Jesus' death on the cross, and he was identifying with the oppressed, then

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I'll worship God, but I'm not going to get into this bloody atonement stuff. All manner of people, and we often will make reservations about ourselves or about God in our worship of him rather than, you know, without limitation on me, without reservation about me,

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I'm just going to worship the God who is revealed here, whoever he is, because he's worthy to be praised. That's the kind of worship we are called to.

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That's the basics of worship. That's the alphabets, gimmels of worship that we start there. Hallelujah, I will offer worship with all my heart.

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Now, where? Among whom? He says, in the company of the upright and in the assembly.

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In the company of the upright and in the assembly. In this initial declaration, hallelujah, we have a compulsion.

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People are being compelled to praise the Lord. Everyone is compelled to praise the Lord here. And so the psalmist says,

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I do so with my hands and my heart, and I'm going to make known the praise of God to others.

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This is not an entirely private matter. Yes, with all my heart. Yes, with my hands.

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Yes, it begins here, but it's not an entirely private matter. And it's not only a public matter.

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Praising the Lord is not something to radically individualize, and it's not something that is only for show. It is with the whole person among God's people.

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So the psalmist calls for everyone to praise the Lord. He makes himself an example. He will worship with his hands and his whole heart.

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He will do so personally, and he will do so with the few, and he will do so with the many.

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The word for company here, the company of the upright, means a smaller group. The word actually demands we understand some sort of close fellowship, some sort of intimate group, people that you know really well.

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And then the next word, assembly, has the idea of a large crowd, a much larger group, where intimacy is not expected, but it's not totally lost, but you're in a bigger group.

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He says, whether I'm with a small group of people who know me very well, and I know them very well, or whether I'm with the larger group, if I'm worshiping

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God in either way, I'm going to praise the Lord. I'm going to praise the Lord. No matter if he's alone with his thoughts or running with his crew or lost in the crowd, he's going to offer worship to the

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Lord with all his heart. The people that the psalmist is thinking of right here are the people of God.

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He calls them the company of the upright. They are upright, they are just, they are straight, is the idea.

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They are following after God. The assembly, the congregation, this larger group, is the gathering of the people perhaps to one of the three feasts that we read about this morning.

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The large group of the Jews coming together to Jerusalem for a large gathering to worship

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God. But either way, the psalmist adds his voice. He adds his voice.

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He adds his hands. He adds his heart to theirs, and together they sing

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Hallelujah. Christ not only saves sinners, but he purchased for himself a bride.

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Let us sing his praises, therefore on lonely commutes, and give him glory in our gatherings, and honor him in our worship services.

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You know, the whole idea here in Psalm 11, after this very, very basic definition of what praise is and what it looks like, is that we would consider the works of the

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Lord. That we would consider his works in creation and his works in his covenant.

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That we would consider how he has made everything, and the good news of redemption and Jesus Christ.

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Where better to see and hear the works of God in Christ than in the company of the upright?

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Or in the assembly of the people of God? I mean, where better to go? What will excite us to the kind of praise that we've talked about in verse 1 when we see the works of the

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Lord, when we examine the works of the Lord? And this is something that we so desperately need.

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And when we come together, we should not forget. We should not forget that the worshiper in the company of the redeemed worshippers is already reclining in a single, one trophy room of God's glorious works, belonging to an endless gallery of such displays.

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You are among the works of God right here. Born again, men and women alive, once dead in trespasses and in sins.

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Each one of us with a host of things we can give thanks to God for, for what he has done and bring glory to his name.

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That's why we come together. Because we want to encourage one another in the goodness of God.

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To declare the sovereignty of God. To stir one another up to the praise of God.

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Therefore brethren, this is Hebrews 10 verse 19. Therefore brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh.

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And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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What is the preacher to the Hebrews saying here? He's talking to those who are tempted to go back to the old ways.

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Back to the ceremonies of Judaism. And he's saying, look, no. No. When we come together in Christ, we are clean.

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We don't need those ceremonial washings anymore. When we come together in Christ, we have the

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Holy Spirit. We are made holy. We are made clean. Coming together is not an unclean thing to do.

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Coming together is not an unlawful thing to do. How can it be called unclean and unlawful when we gather together in Christ?

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Something to consider for our day. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

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Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and to good deeds, not forsaking our assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the more as you see the day drawing near.

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There are always, in every generation of Christians, there have always, from the very first till now, there have always been many reasons to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

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But there is always one prevailing reason why we must not forsake our assembling, but continue to gather together.

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The glory of Jesus Christ. The glory of Jesus Christ. So, hallelujah.

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Let us offer worship. Let us offer praise to our God with all of our hearts, whether we are on our own or in a smaller group or when we come together in our assembly.

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Let us praise the Lord. Father, we come before you this morning and we do offer you praise.

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You are worthy to receive it. Lord, I pray that you would teach us what it means to praise you and what it means to worship you.

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This is what we need. This is what we need for our times.

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The praise of you and the worship of you is never out of season, for your faithfulness and your goodness never fail.

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We offer these praises to you in the name of Christ. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?

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We're going to praise the Lord once again. I believe it was, as the chief end of man is to glorify

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God and enjoy Him forever. And so if you will, glorify the

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Lord together with joy in your heart. We'll sing verses one and four. We will glorify the

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King of kings. We will glorify the Lamb.

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We will glorify the Father.

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In the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all. We are dismissed.