One of my all-time favorite single cartoons has Billy Winslow standing at the drug store soda fountain watching the waitress load up his ice cream cone. Just as she begins the process, Billy seizes the opportunity of perhaps frightening the server into put more on the cone than usual. So he turns to his Great Dane pet and says, “Bark now, Marmaduke! Bark now!” Billy didn’t want just a child-size portion, he wanted an overflow portion! He wanted that ice cream to fill the cone and run over!
Question: When you attended church yesterday, was your worship child-size portion or did you worship out of the overflow? What I mean is, did you come to church expecting to meet with God? Were you excited about joining with other believers in corporate praise? Did you sing to Lord with all your heart, give to the Lord with all your heart, serve the Lord with all you heart? Did you hunger to hear the Word, and then respond to what God said to you? Did you leave the service saying, “I have seen the Lord! I met with Him today! Here is what He said to me.”
Could much of Psalm 96 been written to describe your worship from yesterday?
O sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
4 For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.
8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
13 Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
My challenge to you today is to so spend time in the Word this week sitting at Jesus’ feet letting the Holy Spirit teach you (Matthew 11:28-30; John 16:13-15), listening to worship music though out the week, talking to others about your God and your Savior, meeting with Him on your knees, mediating and memorizing the Word so much that when you come to worship next Sunday, you don’t need Marmaduke to bark. You are more than ready to worship out of the overflow. You don’t need someone or some group to lead you into worship. You have lived a life of worship all week that is so rich and God-glorifying that Christ will be magnified by your overflowing worship!!
See you next Sunday! I’ll be ready to shout to the Lord, give Him praise, listen to His voice through the preached Word, and join you in preparation for that eternal day of worship and praise! Let’s come with an “ice cream cone that is running over!”
From A Pastor's Heart 