I stand with joy Before the Throne to this I hope my hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to him when the race is complete still my li shall we and not I but through Christ till is I hope my hope is only Jesus all the glory ever more to when the race is complete still my li shall repat yet not I through Christ in me when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not high but through Christ in me yet not I but through Christ in me yet not I but through Christ [Music] in Lord we cling to Christ Christ Our Only Hope We cling to Christ Our righteousness Our Savior Lord we forgive you we we ask for your forgiveness and we plead and repent of the times when we cling to other things whether it be our own Works whether it be what we think of as our own righteousness for the the empty promises of this world we want to cling to Christ so Lord forgive us for that and I pray that you'd help us to be faithful to follow you relying on Christ and his work and not our own in Jesus name amen you may be seated one of the biggest holidays in our nation every year is the fourth Thursday of November Thanksgiving day and every year around that time often you'll hear you know somebody say something to the effect of well every day should be Thanksgiving maybe you'll even hear a sermon on on that and and realize okay there's some truth to that it's it's not wrong to set aside a day uh especially for Thanksgiving and feasting and and celebrating but there should be Thanksgiving all the time especially for Christians so as we think about this day and and our desire to give thanks to God for what he has done for our church we need to realize it's not wrong for us to set aside a day for a special Thanksgiving for God but it is wrong if Thanksgiving doesn't characterize us as a people and us as a church and there is a Psalm that was specifically written for occasions like today and that's what we want to briefly look at uh today turn with me to Psalm 100 Psalm 100 and as you flip through the Psalms I mean if you have the English Standard Version I bet your version is like this over many of the Psalms there's kind of like a bold header and usually that part that's you know whoever published your Bible they put that in there uh to to kind of summarize or let you know what the theme of that Psalm is going to be but then in my Bible under that in front of many Psalms there is this a brief statement that's in all caps there now that is what Bible scholars refer to as the superscription and there's some debate about whether that was originally put in there if it was added I I think they're original but whatever the case may be they are authoritative because Jesus himself refers to what we learn in these superscriptions right when he even ascribes certain Psalms to David but if you look there at Psalm 100 it begins with this superscription a psalm for giving thanks and since that is our our main goal today as we consider God's goodness uh to our church we're going to look at this Psalm uh this morning follow along as I read this psalm for giving thanks Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord all the Earth serve the Lord with gladness come into His presence with singing know that the Lord he is God it is he who has made us and we are his we are his people and the Sheep of his pasture enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name for the Lord is good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations so if you look at this Psalm of giving thanks it it really has kind of two calls to worship and then two parts that give a reason why verses one and two call us to give thanks to make a Joyful Noise and then verse three gives us some information on why we should do that and then verse four is another call to uh thanks and pray and then verse 5 is another reason to do that so first we're going to look at the calls and then we'll look at uh the reason verse one begins with Make a Joyful Noise it's the Hebrew word Rua or that's the root form of it the word used here is is Haru that sound like anything you might say in English hooray right something like that or woohoo or I I heard several of these kind of noises as people were getting into the baptistry this morning and they were introduced I heard people clapping and going W that's that's what this is talking about Make a Joyful Noise and then it says all the Earth everybody should be doing this and then it says serve the Lord that's interesting the word for serve there it's even used back in Genesis it's the word often used for tilling it has the idea of of work this is not you know just anything this is intense this is labor that is being described here but it says serve the Lord with gladness work for the Lord with gladness and then it says come into His presence with thanks or with singing and if you put that together then later with enter his Gates and his courts clearly the idea behind this Psalm is God's people gathering together in this context likely referring to the temple or the Tabernacle but here is appropriate I think for us even though this this building is not a temple it's not how we should think about church buildings today uh but I I think it's good for us on this day for giving thanks for God for providing even this space to us I think it'd be good for us just to think about that context for a little bit how we should approach gathering with the people of God so for the first point the first blank there on your sheet it's really the first half of the one point today fill this church with Lively worship and service fill this church with Lively worship and service the the mood in here as We Gather to worship God should be exuberant it should be vibrant I mean let's look more closely at verse four enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise so even this is how you should enter you should be uh showing up at church the the the praise should start before you even get here because you're ready to enter the church this this way I mean think of Thanksgiving enter his gates with Thanksgiving how are you going to get through the gates think of Thanksgiving almost as your ticket Thanksgiving is what will will will get you in that's the way you should approach it I even heard another Pastor put it this way and I thought it was it was clever you know we have our ushers at the doors here at the service and you're getting more used to them because we close these doors once the service starts cuz the way this room is arranged and they're like redirecting you around right imagine if the the the doors were always closed and as you came and the to get in the ushers were like what's the password you know imagine if it was it was like that imagine if you couldn't get in here unless you told the ushers something that you were thankful for right we need to enter his gates with Thanksgiving don't just show up to church expecting well what I hear at church will make me thankful no no show up thankful already don't just be expected to be called to worship and called to praise no that's how you should enter the building ready to praise and ready to worship it says give thanks to him bless his name and so there it's even good you hear this often I think from Christians at Thanksgiving time and it's good we need to be specific what are you thankful to God for that's two ways Thanksgiving often falls short Thanksgiving often fails to be specific and fails to be directed at someone the Christians we should be thankful for what God has done to God and that's how you should come to church and even it's all connected to his character when it says bless his name when you're blessing the name of God that his name really represents all that he is so you are blessing the character of God you are blessing the name of God and this is important Warren we in his commentary on Psalms even comments on how thankfulness keeps us from sin and that's helpful because you might be tempted to think man why is God so bent on us giving thanks why is he constantly saying hey be thankful be thankful I mean if you knew a human that was like that that was always telling you hey you better thank me you better thank me at some point you would say who does this guy think he is well let's apply that to God who does God think he is God right it's fitting for him to do that because being thankful is not just something that honors him being thankful is something that richly blesses us and keeps us from Temptation I mean even think of verse one Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord all the Earth what's the opposite of a Joyful Noise I mean it's the anopia of the the words used in the Bible for complaining grumbling like that is not a Joyful Noise being thankful will keep you from complaining serve the Lord with gladness being thankful will keep you from idolatry from serving something else know that the Lord he is God Thanksgiving will keep you from pride and verse four Thanksgiving will keep you from ingratitude and if you go all the way back to Genesis 3 ingratitude is part of what plunges us into the mess of sin in the first place as Adam and Eve by this lie God's holding out on you God God's pulling back something good from you thankfulness will help us fight that Temptation and so just to be very specific two things that church should be filled with even just every time we gather as a church based on this Psalm I would say are singing and smiling singing and smiling we should come in singing and there's a lot of commentary in our world on how people sing less and that's what just people expect you know people are going to sing Less in church because because that's what happens and then as I like to do sometimes I like to watch soccer in Europe and I turn that on and I'm like they're still singing all these fans are are singing over here for a game why shouldn't Christ why should Christians be losing their excitement to sing no there's nothing better for us I mean I I hope that the singing Here looks different I hope there's you know less alcohol influenced in the singing here than at a soccer game but but there should be hearty worship to God for what he's done and there should be joy and and and smiling right even serve the Lord with gladness you know serving the Lord isn't always easy and frankly it's it's easy to complain in whatever role you have right you know if you're serving in kids men well are they disciplining these kids at home why does it take them so long to make it from the auditorium to the class right there's so many things you could be tempted to complain about the tech team could complain why do we only get attention when something goes wrong right even pastors sometimes when pastors get together it it can get a little complainy because they just oh being a pastor is so hard and nobody understands that's not the attitude that we should have no matter how we're serving we should serve the Lord with gladness and now why why should we sing why should we Smile as we serve God even sometimes when serving God is is difficult well now let's get to the reason why look again at verse three know that the Lord he is God it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the Sheep of his pasture we belong to him and look at his character in verse 5 he's good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations so the second half of our point today and that second blank is because you belong to a good God so fill this church with Lively worship and serving because you belong to a good God verse three starts there by saying know that the Lord he is God I mean there when it says Lord in all caps that's referring to Yahweh the Covenant God of Israel he is the one true God and he is the creator that's another important thing if you take away creation you take away Thanksgiving because without a Creator all you have left to think is your lucky stars right which is nonsense without a Creator there is no true Thanksgiving and then it says it is he who has made us and we are his now the first verse says all the Earth so that there is something all inclusive about this but when it says and we are his we are his people the Sheep of his pasture that calls on language that the Bible uses especially in the Old Testament to refer to the people of Israel and in ways that would apply to us if we have put our faith in Christ in Deuteronomy 32 you know he says is God not your father who created you they're specifically talking to the people of Israel and then it gives us that imagery of the shepherd which is so well known in Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he is our protector and our provider or in John 10 Jesus says I am the Good Shepherd and there he says even I have other sheep that are not of this fold but I'm going to go bring him in so there's one flock and one Shepherd specifically I think speaking about Gentiles and they inclusion that we were once lost as Ephesians says we were once without God and without hope in the world but we who are far off have been brought near I mean and just think of the amazingness of that we have gone from orphans who were lost to adopted in to the family of of God I mean some of you you probably read you know the Box Car children to your kids right these four orphans living in this box car and then there's this Rich generous man who oh they learn is their grandpa and they are adop Ed and brought into his magnificent home and all the things that he owns now they have access to I mean that pales in comparison to the the Majesty of what you experien as a Christian you were a lost filthy orphan and you have brought in and now you have access to all that is God's and he is your protector and he is your provider what a good thing that is and then verse five really fills us in more on the character of God for the Lord lord is good when I've been able to travel to Uganda you know and you you you know this but I've seen it more in the church over there when when the preacher says God is good the congregation says and all the time is good and now when they do that in Uganda they add something that I don't I've never seen done in the states right that they do that same thing we did but then at the end they all together come in and say and that is his nature wow right right so let's try that okay God is good all the time and all the time God is good and that is his nature wow right that's that's how we should think about God that is his nature I mean God doesn't have a body but it's as if from his head all the way down to his toes he is good there's just goodness radiating from who he is that is his nature wow and so we should always thank God and we know that we usually say that God is good all the time all the time God is good when something good has happened but the whole point of that is all the time we need to see that more when it doesn't seem good in our lives we need to say that on days that are dark on days that are difficult but then it goes on to say his steadfast love endures forever and even that pairing for the Lord is good his steadfast love endures for forever you're going to see that I think it's 47 times in the Psalms that's used all over the place a lot of those are in Psalm 136 you're going to be challenged if you do the questions to write a little bit of your own version of Psalm 136 uh this week because every statement that it makes is followed with his steadfast love endures forever and the psalm begins with for the Lord is or give thanks to the Lord for he is good his steadfast love endures forever I mean it is fitting for that phrase his steadfast love endures forever like it does in Psalm 136 it's fitting for that phrase to punctuate every event of your life oh we've been trying for years but we're finally having a baby for his steadfast love endures forever or the girl I really thought I was going to marry just dumped me for his steadfast love endures for right what the good things and the bad things we should all be able to say for his steadfast love endures forever and the famous verse in the Old Testament that says the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning that's right smack dab in the middle in the book of Lamentations a book of crying a book that's following the the the the greatest destruction an Old Testament Jew could possibly think of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple that's the the the impetus for saying the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and then here again his steadfast love is linked with his faithfulness I feel like we've seen that a lot this summer Psalm 115 Exodus 34 the life of Abraham and his servant right we've seen the pairing of God's steadfast love and his faithfulness and here it highlights that his faithfulness endures to all generations we spent most of this year on Abraham who lived roughly 4,000 years ago and so if a generation is every 20 to 30 years that means where you're somewhere between 133 and 200 Generations removed from Abraham is God still faithful absolutely his faithfulness endures to all generations and for however long it is until Christ comes back his faithfulness will continue to endure and then will be shown even more when Christ returns and brings his kingdom with him yes it's it's good for us to take a Sunday to focus on Thanksgiving it's good for us as a nation to take a holiday to focus on that but that really should be every Sunday in this church that should be every day in our lives as we give thanks to God and I thought it's impossible to preach this Psalm and to speak on this topic without ending with a song so I want to invite you to stand together let me pray for us and then Johnny will lead us in one last song As we sing to the Lord God we do want to give you thanks today we want to give you thanks and praise for what you've done to provide for our church God more importantly we praise you for the work that you are doing to transform lives and make disciples through this church God we want to celebrate this morning that we are your people that although we are unworthy we are undeserving you have brought us into your family and we have all the the rights and priv VES of a child of God because of your magnificent Grace and God we we confess this morning that you are good your steadfast love endures forever and your faithfulness to all generations God as long as this building is used by our church for the purpose of ministry fill this place with singing and gladness God because you are so good we pray this in Jesus's name amen praise the Lord his Mercy is more stronger than Darkness new every morning our sins they are many his Mercy is more [Music] our nation all knowing he counts not their some thrown into US sea without bottom or Shore our sins they are many his Mercy is more praise the Lord [Music] his Mercy [Music] iser our they are many his Mercy [Music] is what would wait as we constantly Ro what father so tender is calling us home he welcomes the weakest the viest the poor our sins they are many his Mercy is more praise the Lord his Mercy oh stronger dark every our sin they are Mercy is what Riches whates of [Music] [Music] our they are many his Mercy is more praise the Lord praise the Lord his Mercy is more are many his Mercy is more praise the Lord his Mercy is [Music] more stronger than Darkness new every morning our sin they are many his Mercy is more our sins they are many his Mercy is more our sins they are many his Mercy is more praise God from whom all blessings flow praise all Father Son and Holy Ghost amen you are dismissed [Applause]