Welcome to the Wilton Baptist Church, where we worship God, walk with others, and win people to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm Pastor Steve, and our congregation is pleased to share this message with you today, and we pray it'll be a blessing and encouragement to you. Blessings as you listen or watch. If you would, turn in your Bible to the middle, the very middle, and that's Psalm 118, the very middle, verses are verse eight and verse nine. It's right in the middle of all the scriptures if you look at all the chapters and verse numbers. This is the very middle of the book. So Psalm 118, verse eight and verse nine. During the song service in a church, one young grandson, his name was Chandler, tugged on his grandmother's sleeve and whispered, she can't sing very well, can she? Knowing the woman had a deep love for the Lord, she said, Chandler, she sings from the heart. That's what makes it good. And he thoughtfully nodded and just went along with the service. And then later on that week, A few days later, as he and his grandmother were singing along with the car radio, Chandler stopped and looked up and said, Nana, you sing from your heart too, don't you? however you were singing with us and whenever you're in the car or wherever you're at, we can give our songs to the Lord. Our singing, our music, the art that we have can all be given to the Lord. Psalm 118 is a jubilant Thanksgiving song that was sung by worshipers in their procession to the temple. And it's the last of the halal psalms, which are the traveling songs of the people who would be traveling up to Jerusalem to go to the temple to worship the Lord at any of those three annual feasts that they hosted. And it contains an acclamation of praise, that's verses 1 through 4, and an acknowledgment of past distress. There's a petition or a prayer and deliverance by God in verses 5 through 21. And then, in the primary verses for today, there is the anticipation of a future day when the foundation stone would bring salvation. And these are songs that all of the Israelite children would know, and all of those, even in the days of Christ, would be very familiar with the song that we're about to read. Its human author is unknown, and who did God have write this down? Some would say David, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Haggai, these are some. Consensus is it's either It's post-exilic, so after their exile coming back, and I believe it would be during the time of Artaxerxes, and the one who wrote it then, at the time of the rebuilding of the walls, would have been Nehemiah. Nehemiah 8, some of the same verses are used in Nehemiah chapter 8, and there's a celebration that goes on. and it's called the Feast of Tabernacles. So this song was probably sung for the first time in 444 B.C. in Jerusalem as the travelers were gathering around, getting ready to walk up the steps of the temple. And this would be one of those songs to get things going, to start their ascension. to offer a sacrifice, a festival of tabernacles. This is also the song that Jesus sung in the upper room. When it says they sung a song, this is the one. And you'll see how fitting it is in the verses that we are about to read. So Psalm 118, When this actually took place, they're singing in anticipation of Christ's coming. When it actually took place, everything changes. So let's just read a whole chapter like we did last time, and then we'll take the second half for our message today. Oh, give thanks, yada, give thanks, praise, thanksgiving unto the Lord. for he is good." And when they would start to say this, this is the signal of the procession, okay? It's time for us to start walking and going, and they would sing this as they would go. Because his mercy endureth forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth forever. The word mercy has to do with faithful love, goodness, and kindness. Let the house of Aaron now say, this would be the priest, his mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth forever. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my part with them that help me. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. These are the two middle verses of all the Bible. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations compass me about. but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compass me about, yea, they compass me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They compass me about like bees. They are quenched as the fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation." The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles. The word tabernacles means tents. Like when they were wandering around in the wilderness, they dwelt in tents. They called them tabernacles. of the righteous, and the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death." You sense the hopefulness of, in spite of our facing physical death, we will live forever. And what a great truth that is. As Christians we can claim that promise. And now there is a kind of a call and a response in the following verses that would take place when they would be singing this. And it begins with the worshipers. As they get close to the gate of Jerusalem, and as they get close to the gates of the temple, they would call out in song. They would sing this out, and however the melody would go, "'Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go in to them, and I will praise the Lord.'" Again, that yada, that thankfulness, praise the Lord. this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter, I will praise thee, for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation." The word salvation has to do with a deliverer, the Yeshua. It's related to the name Jesus. Yeshua, the Savior, the Messiah. And then in response, the priest in the next three verses would say this, The stone which the builders refused has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." One of the most well-known verses of Scripture to which the worshipers then respond, Save now, I beseech Thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity." The word prosperity has to do with success. Send success. Be successful. And then they would say in response, the priest would say, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. The word blessed means to kneel or to be blessed in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. So they're responding back as these worshipers are coming in. God is the Lord which hath showed us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords even to the horns of the altar. And then in conclusion, The last verse is the way that the whole psalm begins. It's the same thing, but in conclusion, they would say the last two verses together. They would sing these together, all together. The priest, all the worshipers who've come, thou art my God, and I will praise thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Our God is good, and he's shown us the light, and that light, of course, is being Jesus. They take this sacrifice and attach it to the horns of the altar. They were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles at this occasion. The walls were rebuilt. They were coming in to worship the Lord at the temple once again, and it was an exciting day. It was a joyful day. It was an exuberant day in their lives. And here's how they would do this. Once a day they would encompass the great altar of the burnt offering in the outer court. They would walk around it and they would be singing this song and responding back and forth walking around it in that festival week. And they would do that for six days. And then they would march around saying, Hosanna, Hosanna. And then on the seventh day, they would march around the altar seven times, and they would sing this song, and they would shout out, Hosanna, Hosanna. And we know from the triumphant entry, and you've heard messages perhaps about this, but Hosanna means save now, the verses we just read. Save us now. Rescue us now. Deliver us now. And they would do this in anticipation of Jesus Christ coming. We have the privilege of looking back and knowing that Christ has already come. But they were looking forward. One day, as these worshipers were singing this song and walking around the temple, everything changed. And here's what changed. Jesus rode in on a donkey. everything changed. What they were anticipating, what they were singing about, what they were hopeful for, everything changed. And not many of them even realized that these verses that we just read were coming to pass. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord as he walked in to the temple once again and as he come in to Jerusalem. The practice looked forward. Everything, as we read in the last half especially of this chapter, is prophetic about the coming millennial reign of Christ when King Jesus comes. and sets up his kingdom. The first time he came, he did not set up a kingdom on earth. He said, my kingdom's out of this world. It's not of this world. And later though, in the future for us even, Christ will come back and people in Israel will say these verses once again. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. It would be after the battle of Armageddon when the earth splits, Jesus sets down on the top of the Mount of Olives. That's when the earth splits and he'll walk into Jerusalem. and set up his millennial kingdom, and the people will say these words once again. So it's very prophetic. It takes us to the cross, it took them to the cross, and it takes us to when Jesus sets up his millennial kingdom. Do any of you like camping? Some of you like glamping. And I think it's too cold probably even for glamping. It's getting too cold maybe for glamping even. But these folks would carry their tents with them for that 40 years in the wilderness. And during these times of the Feast of the Tabernacles, the Feast of Tents, these people, and remember they're gonna be there for seven days. Jerusalem doesn't have a hotel industry or a great big hospitality industry for all the people that would come in. They'd bring their own tents. And they would, in a way, reenact living in their tents like the Israelites did when they were wandering in the desert for 40 years. And so this Feast of Tabernacles is this occasion when Christ comes in. It kind of makes me think about how temporal and fleeting, how really we're just passing through life. And it's kind of a reminder of that. Even the most permanent of things that we look at is fleeting in eternity. So they bring their own tense in commemoration of God delivering the people. Friends, today we're gonna talk about singing praises to King Jesus. So message two in this series of singing praise to the Lord is sing praise to King Jesus. He's very evidently the king in this passage who's coming back one day for us. We should be singing. I hope that you'll sing songs throughout the week and on Sundays and in your car and as you're showering and whatever else you do. Sing songs that you enjoy. Sing songs with variety. Sing songs that are new songs. Sing songs that are old songs. Sing songs that are accurate in theology. New songs and old songs all need to be examined to make sure that it's accurate in theology. So let me ask you something. Is the world getting worse and worse? Is it getting worse and worse? Okay. Just because a song is an old song doesn't mean that it's accurate in theology. For example, we have a story to tell to the nations. I like that song, but it's amillennial. It's post-millennial rapture, and it actually indicates, and I'll read you the words here, it indicates that if we give the gospel enough, that the world will turn out really good because we give the gospel enough. and it actually is teaching something that is not a scriptural concept. So we have a story to tell to the nations, a story that will turn their hearts to the right, a story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light, a story of peace and light. For the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright, and Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth, the kingdom of love and light. So taking the gospel is gonna change the world and bring God's kingdom in. The fact is, we don't bring God's kingdom in. And this song actually indicates that the world will get better and better. This is amillennialism. It'll get better and better until Jesus finally is the king. But we know it's getting worse, and there's a rapture to take place, and there's a tribulation to take place, and then Jesus comes back. There's the Battle of Armageddon and then the Millennial Kingdom. It may seem kind of subtle, but it's not accurate in our understanding of theology. The world does not get better and better, not until Jesus comes and sets it right. Western civilization will not save the world. Eastern civilization will not save the world. It's indicated in that song that civilization can save itself. America cannot save the world. And for those who are kind of Christian nationalists, America will not save the world. The only one who can save the world is Jesus. He's the only one. That's what the Bible teaches. We kind of add things and think of ourselves more lofty than we should. And so it's not us, it's Christ truly. Now, as we're talking about music, music and singing are a form of art. God gave us creative ability. He gave us art to use for the Lord. And I've been thinking about this quite a lot recently, is that God is so creative, and we look at creation, we look at how He made us, and He gives us ability to create. Now, some are better at artsy stuff than others, but if we don't create new things and use the ability that God's given to us, We're not being and using the skills that God's enabled and gifted to us. And that would be a shame that we would live like that and not use the art and ability that God has given. We can become stale. But David talked about singing a new song to the Lord. And so let's be fresh, giving new songs to the Lord. Creating, editing, rewriting songs is what David talked about in Psalm 96. He took old songs. and we've demonstrated this throughout the last several messages, but he took old songs and rewrote them, rewrote these songs, and that's what he's talking about in Psalm 96. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. He took Bible themes, he took ideas about God, he took eternal truths, and he made a new song about it. He took some songs of Moses and rearranged them into a new song for a new generation. And then as you look at David's life, even like 40 years later, he took other songs from when he was a shepherd boy and made new songs. And some of the wording changes that God gives to him makes the melodies and the sound all sound different. And others that we've mentioned. like Asaph did the same thing as well. And so, sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Art is an aid in worship. We do not worship the art. Do not worship the art. Don't worship the artist, the ones who God gives the ability to create the music or the paintings or the poems. Think about how creative our God is. Eden was such a beautiful, magnificent, creative place in initial creation as God spoke and He created. The building of the tabernacle in the temple was ornate and artistic. And we've mentioned this two weeks ago. The tabernacle was not practical. I mean, carrying beams that weighed 200 pounds through the wilderness is not a practical idea. It's not. Things overlaid with gold, that's more than just survival. It was art. It was something to display the magnificence. and the majesty of God. And so the tabernacle wasn't practical. It was to not just see them through the day or like, hey, we need food to eat or we need clothing. It wasn't for the basic necessities. It was above and beyond. to give to the Lord the majesty due his name." So God is the artist, the master artist, the master musician, master craftsman, master writer, master designer, master architect. The beauty of the earth, the majesty of the heavens declare the creative power and might of our God. So with this chapter in mind, this beautiful Psalm of Thanksgiving, What do we praise the Lord for is our question. What do we praise the Lord for? First off, we have, we praise Him in His acceptance and for His acceptance. Notice how He accepts you and I as followers of Christ in verse 19. opens me the gates of righteousness. I will go in into them, and I will praise the Lord. This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter, I will praise Thee, for Thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation." Who's the door that lets us into eternity? It's Christ. Who's the gate that we go through? It's Jesus. And so we can thank Him that He accepts us. He accepts you and I. And in regards to this, verse 24 continues by saying, this is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And that all kind of is clumped together down to this, that I can give thankfulness to the Lord for his salvation, for his letting me in, and for accepting me. In Hebrews 9, verse 24, the scripture tells us, for Christ has not entered into the holy place is made with hands, it means a physical place, which are the figures of the true, the stuff that we see represents more eternal and long-lasting things, but into heaven itself. That's where Christ entered. Now to appear in the presence of God for us. Who went to heaven for us? Who's interceding for us? It's Christ. He went before us. And so there He is in God's presence for us. How do we get into the gates? It's His righteousness. And the word righteousness is found a couple times here. Open to me the gates of righteousness, and I'm going into this gate of righteousness. The righteous shall enter into this gate. Now, is this our righteousness? It's the righteousness of Christ. Think about the righteousness of God. God always does the right thing, the right way, at the right time. Always. He's always doing right. He is perfectly righteous, morally sinless. Does that describe any of you? Anyone morally perfect today? Oh, yes, yeah, me. Okay, stop lying. That's not us. We don't go in on, look at my righteousness. Ooh, look at me. It's not that. It's Christ and Christ alone. His righteousness is applied to us. Paul understood this as Philippians 3, 9 tells us, and we are to be found in him. not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law." Like, if I do this and do this and do this, then I'm earning some righteousness here. No, it doesn't work that way. But that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. By faith, when you trust in Christ, God applied his righteousness to you. and you are clothed, you are robed, you are surrounded by righteousness, and when God sees you, He sees Christ, and He sees His righteousness on you. We are adopted into God's family by God Himself, and it's by faith. Ephesians 1, verse 9, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. And so, let's sing about a good song for this, Just As I Am. Can you sing this with me? Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. We can thank God that he accepts us. I like songs that have doctrinal themes to them. and have like a statement of faith, creedal type songs. And the three Heath brothers sing at the Creation Museum and the Art Encounter a lot. And they explain in this song, how do we get this righteousness? How do we have this acceptance? They have this song, We Believe. In this time of desperation When all we know is doubt and fear There is only one foundation We believe, we believe We believe in God the Father. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit. And He's given us new life. We believe in the crucifixion. We believe that He conquered death. We believe in the resurrection. And He's coming back again. We believe. I like that. When I was a teenager, I grew up in Appalachia, Southern Ohio. When I was a teenager, we took a mission trip to Kentucky. And we went to Hazard County, Kentucky. There really is a Hazard County. And I didn't see any orange cars flying by, but we went to Hazard County. I grew up in Appalachia. That was real Appalachia there. And so we got there and we were doing whatever we were doing for that mission trip week. And we'd come to a song service and someone played the mandolin. I love it. They had a guitar and a banjo. And then someone played a door spring. a door spring. Back in the mountains, if you found anything to make music with, you would in poverty stricken areas. And so someone had a door spring, I just remember them, he was making this noise on this door spring. So I do like some bluegrass, some bluegrass. Like organ music, like I mentioned a couple weeks ago, like organ music may go a long way, but I do like the tight harmonies of well-done bluegrass. And there's a song that goes along with this theme of God accepting us, and it goes like this, and these guys have these tight harmonies and a nice twang about them, and I can't quite do it as good as them. Who can take the beggar man off the streets, give him clean clothes and food to eat? God can. I know God can. Who can take the hard turn to bitter and cold, make it brand new so it shines like gold? God can. I know God can. I like that. Yeah, it's fun. I had to practice a lot. We praise him for his acceptance. Have you been accepted by God? It's not your righteousness, it's only Christ. Number two, praise him for his sacrifice. Verse 22 and down to 24, it all goes together. The stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Friends, Jesus was rejected for you. We don't want him. We don't want this. The stone that the builders rejected, as they inspected it, as they looked at it, they kicked the stone out. They did not want the stone. It was refused. And this is because Jesus took our sin. He was the one that was refused, and he took our sin on our behalf, and he sacrificed himself under Zerubbabel. and Ezra, the Jewish people had been rebuilding the temple, and under the leadership of Nehemiah, they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. They restored the gates, the gates which, for the first time, they would have sung this song as they were going through. During these activities, it's an amazing concept, did they find any stones that were rejected, and did it remind them of these words that we just were reading and singing about? In Acts 4, verse 10 and 11, be it known unto all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you received, whom God raised up from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone. which the builders, which was said not of you builders, which has become the head of the corner." Ephesians 2 verses 19 through 22, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being a chief cornerstone. in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto the holy temple of the Lord, in whom also ye are built together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit." Verse 24 is regarded as a continuation of the choral praise of verse 22. And so the day is a festival in process. There's a joyfulness. It's a day of duty for joy, a joyful duty. I have a day that I am recognizing God's sacrifice. And it's my duty as a follower of the Lord to give him praise, to give rejoicing, to be glad about this. Many of the jubilant worshipers, no doubt, had plenty of private sorrows. They laid loved ones to rest. They had physical ailments. Some of them had life stages and job difficulties. And you think about in the very first time these people had been coming back post-exile, their families had been torn apart by war. captured, everything was just destroyed. And they come back and say, this is the day the Lord has made. We're going to rejoice and be glad in it. The day when that stone was rejected is the day that we could have eternal life because of what Jesus did on the cross. and it's a day for us to rejoice. I hope that when you gather for worship, when you get together with your church family, that you have some gladness, that you have some joy, that you have some exuberance about you. The joy of the Lord, it should be like, it should float like oil on stormy waves above our troubles. I have some joy because of what Jesus did. Are you joyful? Are you joyful when you think about the salvation that Jesus bought for you at the cross? Are you joyful as you gather for worship? Are you glad to be with your church in worship as we celebrate our Redeemer? There's a song, and can it be, can you join me in singing it? And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his pain? for me who Him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love, How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Thank God for His sacrifice for you and for me. Two Sundays ago at the church that I used to pastor at in West Virginia, The pastor, current pastors at church and his family woke up to hear the news. His 20 year old son had died in a motorcycle accident. 20 years old, young military man, just married just a few months, and he's dead now. The family has confidence in Christ because their son believed the gospel. He was accepted by the Lord. He believed and knew the sacrifice of Christ. He was a Christian young man. Could you imagine going through something like that? And some of you have. You can remain constant and continue to give thanks to the Lord and I read some of their posts saying we know we'll see our son again one day. Because of Christ. Because of his sacrifice. Praise Him for His acceptance, for His sacrifice. Praise Him for His blessing. Verse 25 through 27, save now. They're calling out for the salvation. Yeshah is the name. It's the root name for Jesus. Yeshah, save, salvation. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord, O Lord. I beseech thee, send now prosperity or success. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. God is good. He is the Lord, which hath showed us the light, buying the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. Save now, is a compound word, hosiana. which we transliterate into the word hosanna, save now. It's the equivalent, Hebrew equivalent to when in England they would say, God save the queen. It'd be similar like this, or God save the king, or God save the queen. And so they were saying this phrase, save now, every year, and then when Jesus finally came in, they said the same thing, and there he was. Many of them didn't even know it, save now. Well, when Jesus returns in the future, we know there's the rapture that'll take place, there's seven years of tribulation, and then he'll come to the Mount of Olives, and after the battle of Armageddon, he'll touch down there, he'll walk into Jerusalem, and then he'll set up his millennial kingdom. King Jesus will be king of the millennial kingdom. He is the eternal king after all. And in that moment, He has just rescued, I'm talking about in the future, in that moment, he has just rescued Israel once again. Because at Megiddo, the most perfect battlefield in all the world, according to Napoleon, who knew something about battles, that's where all the armies of the world will gather in the future. And Jesus comes back at just the right time, and with the word of his mouth, he speaks, and he saves Israel once again. And so then when he's walking into Jerusalem, how fitting it is, after all that transpires, they say, save now, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. See, he walks through the gates once, they were singing it, he's gonna walk through that gate again one day, and they'll sing the same thing. What a blessing this is. And notice how verse 26 says, Remember, this is the priest responding to the worshipers. They're pronouncing this blessing. They're saying, here's a blessing, and it's coming not from us, not from our authority as priests. It's coming from the house of the Lord itself. The blessing comes from God. himself. The word blessing means, by definition, it pertains to favorable situations, conditions, experiences enjoyed by the person or persons to whom the blessings belong. It can either refer to pronouncements intended to bring about these beneficial circumstances or that result in circumstances themselves. So, blessings. We have blessings. Now, sometimes we get out of the habit of looking around us and counting those blessings in the midst of our sorrow and pain and the suffering we may endure. Somebody wrote this song Blessings. We pray for blessings. We pray for peace. Comfort for our family. Protection while we sleep. We pray for healing. For prosperity, we pray for your mighty hand to ease our suffering. And all the while, you hear each spoken need, yet love is way too much to give us lesser things. Because what if the blessings come through raindrops? What if your healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights? Or what it takes to know you're near? And what if trials of this life are your mercies in disguise? Sometimes we miss the blessings, we look at the problems, but God's molding us and shaping us and drawing us closer to Him. His success or prosperity saves us. Jesus did walk out of the tomb. His sacrifice was accepted. It paid the entire price for us. His light shows us the way. There's so many verses about this. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart. In Luke 2, 32, Jesus is a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people. Israel, friends, it's your choice to believe in the light. It's your choice to accept Christ. or to reject Him. To turn from your sin and to say, yes, I can't save myself, but yes, Jesus died in my place and He rose again. I believe it. I'll trust that light for myself. His blessing, his sacrifice, rather, is final and it's accepted. It's the only time I can find where there's a sacrifice bound to the horns of the altar. And so this sacrifice is significant. It means something. It's lasting. There's not a need for another sacrifice. Jesus is that final sacrifice. A few weeks ago, I was in, months ago rather, I was at a really outstanding ministry conference that was a real help to me. And then I drove a few hours to another city to go to church on Sunday morning in Memphis, Tennessee. And I was standing at this church, there was 200 people in the choir. And the song leader stood up to lead. There was an orchestra. There were singers on the platform. And I was standing by the pastor. He's a well-known pastor in our country. And I was talking to him. I wanted to see this church. And we started to sing this song. It was Joy in the House of the Lord. And there were 7,000 people behind me. Just imagine this. There were 7,000 people singing this song together. And the pastor turns and looks at me and says, our music director is in stage three of cancer and he had treatment just two or three days ago. And this guy is exuberant, he's joyful, he's just oozing his gladness in spite of his physical pain and the problems that he's having. I'm not gonna sing the song they were singing, there's joy in the house of the Lord today. Went right along with his message for that day about our joyfulness. And that's part of what's in this passage as well. There's a lot of other songs about joy in the house of the Lord. But let me ask you, are you joyful today? It's a sin to complain all the time. If all you're doing is complaining, looking at the negative, just, oh, this is bad, and this is bad. I know life's bad. Everyone knows life's bad. Everybody already knows it. Now I'm speaking to myself just as much as anybody. It's easy to be negative. It's easy to see what is wrong, but we don't want to live with grumbling or trying to pick fights with people or just constantly looking at the negative. Don't be a sad Sally or a terrible, terrible Tom. Don't be like that. There's joy that comes out of the house of the Lord, and it should be in our hearts. Let it come out in your lips. Be thinking about it throughout the day, throughout the week. And as we gather, a healthy practice is to every day count your blessings instead of counting your problems. Count your blessings. Name them one by one like the old song says. So praise Him for His sacrifice. Praise Him for His acceptance for His blessing, praise Him for His relationship. Two more verses. They all would say this and sing this together. Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee. Thou art my God, and I will exalt Thee. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth. forever. Just like you were physically born into a world, you have physical human relationships, there must be a day when you are spiritually born and you have a spiritual relationship with God the Father, and that relationship comes through His Son, Jesus Christ. My God. This is very personal in verse 28. He's my God. I hope He's your God, but He's my God too. You could say, He's my God. Yes, this is personal. He's good to me. He's good to us. This is relational. He's good to you. And His mercy, His faithful love endures forever. That's eternal. That's eternal. This is our God. This is the one that we worship. This is the one that we celebrate as we gather each Sunday. Jack Hayford and his wife, Anna, were vacationing in Britain during the 25th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. And while they were there, The Hayford saw constant reminders of royalty. That, along with several visits to those old castles along the countryside, caused Mr. Hayford to sense what it might be like to be raised as a child in such regal settings. With this in mind, he asked Anna to write down a few of these words one day as they were driving. And he wrote down and she wrote down these words, majesty, worship his majesty, unto Jesus be all glory and power and praise. So the song majesty then was written. In this passage, King Jesus, is the one that we praise. Worship His Majesty. And as we conclude, ♪ Majesty, worship His Majesty. ♪ ♪ Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise. ♪ ♪ Majesty, kingdom authority. Flow from his throne unto his own, his anthem raise. So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King. This week, sing a song to Jesus. Play the radio to Jesus. Have some art and give it back to the Lord, Jesus. Let's take a moment and visit with the Lord as we consider this challenge of thanksgiving to God. I will praise God with the art of music. Whatever music I sing this week or the music that I play, I want to give it to the Lord. I'm gonna sing something or play something and give it to the Lord. Anyone like that? I wanna do that. This week of thanksgiving, I see several hands. Yes, whatever the songs is, let's give it to the Lord. Even if it's just playing the radio or streaming something. Number two then, I thank Him for accepting me and being my sacrifice. I thank Him. He sacrificed for me. I thank God for that. Anybody like that? Just give that thanks, praise to Him. Yes. A lot of hands. Yes. Let's be glad and joyful for this. And then number three, I will look for His blessings each day. Right now, I'm gonna confess the sin of complaining. There's joy in the house of the Lord. I've been blessed. I'm gonna give thanks to God, and I'm gonna look for His blessings. Hands are already going up. Anyone else? Yes, God help us. God help us be thankful, not complainers. And number four, may my relationship with God be more personable. He's my God. Let it be more relational, more personable, and more relevant each and every day. Anybody got challenged you with that? I see a lot of hands, yes. Maybe there's a friend without Christ. Today's your day to let God be your God, to choose Jesus for salvation. Talk to me following the service if you want to know for certain your sins are forgiven. You can believe today. You can choose Christ. Let's take a moment and pray. Father, we thank you for you being our God, the living God who has this relationship with us, who's called you to us. Lord, thank you for this song of thanksgiving that these travelers would sing it going into the gates. We thank you that you accept us. We thank you for that sacrifice where you paid for our sin by willingly giving your lives. This is just so amazing. Lord, thank you for your many blessings. And every day it's easy to complain or look negative at stuff, but let us be a joyful people who see Your hand at work in our life and who stop to say thank You. Lord, we offer up our singing, our music, our lives to You that we would glorify You and truly show You the majesty that You're worthy of. Bless this week as people gather and folks are traveling. Throughout the busyness of this week and this season, we pray for strength and we pray for encouragement, and we ask all of this with a spirit of thanksgiving in our hearts. We give you praise in Jesus' name, amen. Have a great rest of the week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and we look forward to seeing you next time. You're invited to be dismissed. God bless.