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Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and everyone is already switching gears to decorate for Christmas. I don’t know what your favorite holiday is. My wife, Audrey, her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. Mine is Easter. I love Easter for many reasons:

  1. Easter reminds us that life has triumph over death.
  2. Easter reminds us that darkness has become light.
  3. Easter reminds us hopelessness has turned into hope.
  4. Easter reminds us that resurrection is possible from ruin.

I don’t know what your favorite day of the week is either. Mine is Sunday. I love coming to church to worship and praise God with my whole heart. Psalm 100 says, “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! (2) Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before Him, singing with joy. (3) Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are His. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. (4) Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. (5) For the Lord is good.His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation” (NLT).

Did you notice the command to “shout” in verse 1? Most Christians get more excited about watching and engaging in with their favorite sports teams than they do the Lord. Did you notice we are to worship with gladness and sing with joy. Many worship services are as dead as a corpse in a coffin. We give God nothing or we “worship” with a lackadaisical heart. 

I love hearing all the instruments praise the Lord also. Look at Psalm 150:3-5, “Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp! (4) Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe! (5) Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals! (ESV). Dance? Really? Trumpet? Really? Harp? Really? It sound to me that God loves musical instruments praising Him as well. 

Nowhere in Scripture does it say that the style or genre of music is what makes it “worship.” It is the attitude of the believer. That is why some like Southern Gospel; some like hymns; some like contemporary songs; some like Bluegrass style Christian music; some like Country/Western style Christian music. It the lyrics are bring praise to God, I will sing them with my whole heart. 

Today, as you read this. It is Sunday — the major day of worship for most Christians. When you go to church, give God your best — not your leftovers or nothing at all. In Luke 19:37-40, Jesus makes a point that if you and I do not praise God, the rocks and nature will. This passage is about when Jesus made His Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. Look at these verses: As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. “(37) When He reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of His followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. (38) “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” (39) But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke Your followers for saying things like that!” (40) He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (NLT).

This is why I believe the first responsibility every Christian has is to worship God. Worship helps us enjoy being with God. 

  • “C. S. Lewis said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” (C.S. Lewis, Reflections On The Psalms, May 1, 2012).

Here is what I have learned about worship:

  • First, it is not about me. It is about the Lord Jesus Christ. 
  • Second, worship is not defined by a musical experience. I often hear people comment on a song in worship such as, “We were really worshipping in that last song.” Worship is a heart issue, an attitude issue — not a specific music style. 
  • Third, worship is not something that starts and stops. We are to be worshipping God all and all week. Read Hebrews 13:15-16. 
  • Fourth, worship reminds me to be aware of God’s presence. Read Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8 and. Revelation 5:13-14. 

How about when you go to church, praise God like you do for your sports team or a child or grandchild you see in sports or a play or a musical. Let it rip because our God certainly does deserve it.

Verse to Mediate On: Psalm 75:1, “We thank You, O God! We give thanks because You are near. People everywhere tell of Your wonderful deeds” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I want to give You what You deserve — praise, honor and glory — but especially myself wholeheartedly. Please forgive me when I am anything less. I commit to You without reservation. I will not be outdone by some stones or rocks. Thank You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

Love you, Pastor Kelly

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