Tag: Praise

Marmaduke Size Worship

by Dale, posted in Church, God's Word, Worship

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!”

Give Him Praise!

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Praise & Worship

While reading Psalm 149 yesterday morning, the following stood out to me, Let the high praises of God be in their mouth (149:6a).  What does the psalmist mean by high praises?

  1. Praise is speaking or singing specifically of the greatness of God, Who He is, His attributes. Since He is the transcendent God, the God above all gods, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, then I must give Him the high praise, the highest praise.
  2. High praise means that my praise must be elevated. Weak, timid praise does not glorify my God.  I need to elevate His praise in my heart, before the hearing of men, and in priority.  Charles H. Spurgeon said, “We praise a great God! We should, therefore, praise Him with high feelings, feelings wound up to the highest point of high delight and high desire!  Our praises should climb up to heaven’s gate—running up Jacob’s ladder even as the angels did—till we cast our praises right at the foot of the eternal Throne of God.”
  3. High praise must be in my mouth. This means “in their throat.”  Our praise should come from deep within us, from a heart that adores our God and loves Him with my all!!

Psalm 149 begins and ends with these words:  Praise ye the LORD!  How do you begin your day and how do you end it?  What is found in your mouth in between the beginning and the end?  Let the saints be joyful . . . let them sing aloud . . . let the high praises of God be in their mouths (149:5-6).

A Glorious Sunday Morning!

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Church, Joy, Music, Praise & Worship, Salvation, Thanksgiving

My hope is in the Lord,

Who gave Himself for me,

And paid the price

Of all my sin at Calvary.

Chorus:

For me He died;

For me He lives,

And everlasting life

And light He freely gives.”

This was the first song we sang as a congregation yesterday morning.  Having been out of church for the past two Sundays (Chronicled in last week’s posts), my heart rejoiced as we declared our faith in the cross work of Jesus Christ!  (Romans 3:21-25; 5:6-11; Colossians 2:13-14; 1 Peter 1:18-19)

Next, we declared our position in Christ as complete because He has done all that is necessary for a sinner to be delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of light (John 19:30; Colossians 1:12-14).

Complete in Thee! no work of mine

May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine;

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,

And I am now complete in Thee.

Chorus:

Yea, justified! O blessed thought!

And sanctified! Salvation wrought!

Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,

And glorified, I too, shall be!

We concluded our congregational singing with “His Robes for Mine.” The lyrics of this hymn describe the exchange that takes place when in my sinful state, by faith I receive Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), the Righteous One (1 John 2:1), and for all eternity my standing before God is that I am accepted (Ephesians 1:6), clothed in Christ’s righteousness (Romans 3:23-26; 5:9-11; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

His robes for mine: O wonderful exchange!

Clothed in my sin, Christ suffered ‘neath God’s rage.

Draped in His righteousness, I’m justified.

In Christ I live, for in my place He died.

Chorus:

I cling to Christ, and marvel at the cost:

Jesus forsaken, God estranged from God.

Bought by such love, my life is not my own.

My praise-my all-shall be for Christ alone.

What caused such rejoicing in my heart was threefold:

  1. The doctrine in the lyrics resonated in my own heart because I know Christ as my very own personal, Lord and Savior (John 1:12; 3:16; Romans 10:9-13; 2 Timothy 1:12).
  2. There is something special about corporate worship that cannot be duplicated in the world (Psalm 100; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:12), especially through doctrinal hymns and songs.
  3. The preparation of my own heart before coming to church. As I sat in the quiet of our family room, the sun pouring in, I read Psalm 147 and especially these words recorded in verses 1, 7a:

Praise the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

Yes, it was glorious Sunday morning of worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24), and in anticipation of what it will be like for all eternity.  What a glorious forever day that will be!!

Oh, The Majestic Greatness of God!

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, God's Creation, Joy, Praise & Worship

David, declares under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as recorded in Psalm 19:1-6,

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
6 Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Jaw Dropping Photos From Space – This showed up on the internet two days ago.  You do not want to miss this!

Look out your window and praise Him today and throughout the day!

Nothing Ever Can, Nothing Ever Will

by Dale, posted in Christian Living, Hope, Joy, Music, Praise & Worship, Suicide

After a long week of sharing my heart and hopefully some help concerning the subject of suicide, I want to end the week on a high note; a note of hope; a note of promise!  We have been singing this song in our congregation since the middle of June.  The lyrics have stirred our hearts, given us hope, and pointed us continually to Jesus Christ!  Rejoice in the truths, raise your hands in praise, and drop to your knees in submission to our God Who always wins!!  Worship here: Nothing Ever Can, Nothing Ever Will

 

“Nothing Ever Can, Nothing Ever Will”

Ross King

1) Every power on earth and in heaven

Is a shadow in His light,

No authority, law or government

Challenges His sovereign might.

 

His reign and rule have no boundary,

All that is, His hands have wrought.

Nothing ever can, nothing ever will

Overcome the Lord our God.

 

2) We are well aware we were orphans once,

Bent and broken in our shame,

Then He sought us out and adopted us,

Now we bear His royal name.

 

Every sin or crime we have ever done

Is no match for Jesus’ blood.

Nothing ever can, nothing ever will

Overcome the Lord, our God.

 

3) We are rescued out of darkest night,

Freed from Satan’s evil hold

And the kingdom of our Savior’s light

Is our soul’s eternal home.

 

Though the enemy tries to steal and kill

What the death of Christ has bought

Nothing ever can, nothing ever will

Overcome the Lord, our God.

 

Bridge

Our God is victorious,

He always wins! He always wins!

In love He reigns over us,

He always wins! He always wins!

Our God is victorious,

He always wins! He always wins!

In love He reigns over us,

He always wins! He always wins!

 

4)  We, the Church, declare: Jesus Christ is King,

For He conquered death once for all.

We will live in light of His victory

Following His gospel call.

 

And when the story ends we know Jesus wins,

For His power cannot be stopped.

Nothing ever can, nothing ever will

Overcome the Lord, our God.

Nothing ever can, nothing ever will

Overcome the Lord, our God.

304 Songs In June

by Dale, posted in Music, Praise & Worship

While checking my email, I saw a subject line from Pandora entitled, “304 songs in June.” I clicked on the post and was informed by Pandora how many songs I listened to during the month, which was my go-to-station, and that I like 61 songs enough to give them a thumbs up!  Sometimes it’s a bit scary to know that the internet sometimes knows more about me than I know of myself. 🙂

Let’s make a spiritual application here for a Monday.  When the month of July comes to an end, how many songs will you have sung to the Lord?  What will have been your go-to-station—music that fed your soul or your flesh?  How many songs will you have given a thumbs up of rejoicing; hands raised in the air?  God wants to hear you sing!  He’s listening!

Psalm 95:1-2  Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psalm 100:1-2  Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!

Psalm 147:1  Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

Acts 16:25  At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

God Wants To Hear You Sing