Shout for Joy! Psalms 100

Shout for Joy!

Psalms 100

Question of the Day:  What is your favorite song and why? 

INTRODUCTION:  I hate that I am out of town again.  We had a  tragedy in our family.  My niece who was five months pregnant all of a sudden didn't feel the baby move.  This last Tuesday she had to deliver a still born little boy.  It has been a heart breaking experience.  So sad! In times like this it is easy to ask why?  Why, didn't you save him?  Why let this happen?  Why?  

I need this  Psalm!  This song! 

Listen: 

READ:

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

So today let's take this verse by verse.  

1. Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!

When was the last time you shouted for Joy to the Lord?  In VBS at UCSDA there was a song that the kids were supposed to shout in.  I remember at first when the MPA kids started shouting, I felt slightly uncomfortable.  We don't shout in church... but why not?

All the earth....

While in Alaska Chris and I were amazed at how everything in nature seemed to "shout for joy to the Lord".  

What have you seen or experienced in nature that seemed to shout joy to the Lord?

How many times do we shout to him, because we need something and not because we want to praise HIM?

2.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

As a child, I remember some of the churches where my dad was pastored, they wanted everything about worship to be quiet, reverent, serious, even sober.

When we come Sabbath morning to church with the weight of the world on our shoulders, do we worship Him with gladness?

What keeps us from doing this?

What does it look like when we are filled with gladness and joy?

3. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

What is the impact on our faith when we believe this verse? 

What is it like to be a sheep in His pasture?

What is it like to be adopted into His family?  

What is it like to be His?

How does knowing that our Lord is God change us?

  

4.Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Thankfulness is one of the most under used principals in Christianity. Being thankful heals us, strengthens us, keeps us on the right track, puts our minds in the right place, and so much more. 

What can we do to make sure we are being thankful!

I would like for you all to stop for a moment, and just share something you are thankful for this morning. I suggest you go around the circle.  

What are you thankful for?  

5. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Why should we be thankful?

"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever and his faithfulness continues through all generations."

This weekend as I am with my family and we are mourning the loss of a tiny little man, a little guy who never had a chance to live in this world, there is plenty of opportunity to question whether God is really good. When terrible things happen to us and yet we watch "miracles" performed for others, do we question this statement?

Have you ever questioned the "goodness of God" or His love?

"His faithfulness continues through all generations."

What does this say to us?

We are in a difficult time in history, or so it seems.

The world seems to be a scarier and scarier place ever day.  

How comforting is it to KNOW that God is still faithful, even in our time? His faithfulness wasn't just for Moses and his contemporaries.  It wasn't just for the WWII era people.  It wasn't just for my parents, or for Adam and Eve, or for the Waldensians. 

His faithfulness is for ALL GENERATIONS.  

Knowing this, believing this, how does it change how we view our world?

How does it change the view of our church?

What does this Psalm, say to you?

When we really believe things, when we really buy into something, it changes us. For example, back in April I decided that I had to start making some changes in my life.  I discovered somethings I needed to change in my diet.  I dove head first into the change.  I bought it!  I believed my need!  It has changed me in ways that are much deeper than just my physical being.  It has changed so much about me.

If we were to really believe this Psalm!  If we were to really let it change us.... what would our lives look like?

If believe it and live it, how will our lives change?

How will our church change?

This weekend as I mourn with my family, the words of this Psalm take away the need to ask why?  After all He is God, He is our Shepherd! He is faithful to all generations!  He is good!  I have so much to be thankful for! If I believe it, if I give Him praise and express my thankfulness for His faithfulness, I have to have peace in my sorrow.  I have to have comfort as I pray for my niece.  

What have you struggled with this week?  

Maybe it is a sin?

Maybe you have struggled with depression?

What have you struggled with?

Take your struggle and now wrap it in this song. What happens to your struggle?

READ the song one more time or listen to the song again.