Summer Playlist: The Happy Dance!Psalm 100June 25th, 2023

Psalm 100

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100 Structure

• It begins with 3 worship movements prompted by one Divine Understanding.
• It concludes with 3 worship movements prompted by a second Divine Understanding.
• Divine understanding elicits worship movement.

DIVINE UNDERSTANDING #1

We are invited into an intimate relationship and a shared identity.

3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Yahweh is the most personal name for God. This name is an invitation to know Him as a…

• Relational God
• A Present God
• Unchanging God
• Wholly Other God
• Keeps His covenant God
• Full of mystery God

Knowing God Paradox

• We can know God!
• There will always more to know about God!
• We will never know all there is to know about God!
• What we know about God now is enough for where we are now!
• God makes Himself known to us!

Worship Movement #1 Shout for joy!

• There is nothing polite, moderate or measured about shouting!
• A shout is an unreserved emotional response.
• A shout for joy to the Lord isn’t a shout for personal attention, it is an unrestrained verbal expression of an almost unexplainable emotion.

Worship should transcend our personality and worship shouldn’t curtail our personality.

WORSHIP MOVEMENT #2

Worship the Lord with gladness

We sing and serve not out of duty or obligation, but out of the gladness and lightness in our hearts that is present because of our intimacy and identity with YHWY.

When we allow our circumstances/moods to dictate how we worship and serve it is a strong indication that we have lost sight of the BIG PICTURE of who we serve, what He’s already done and what He is capable of doing.

Not worshipping and serving with gladness is bad for business. It is not a true reflection of who God is.

Worship Movement #3

…come before him with joyful songs

DIVINE UNDERSTANDING #2

God’s love is enough and it is forever

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

The Lord’s goodness & love is His hesed – a covenantal, unfailing devotion, a kind and loyal love based in His goodness not in ours. A covenant is a self-binding offer – presented to someone to be accepted or rejected.

Worship Movements #4,5,6

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name.

Thanksgiving gets us in the door and praise moves us closer.

• Thanksgiving is a heart posture of recognition.
• Praise is the movement from posture to expression.

Forget about worship style – think about worship as adoration, as declaration, as proclamation and as understanding. Worship is always to be done with our whole selves – body, mind and spirit! God deserves nothing less!!

Psalm 100 Recap

Our Lord is God and deserving of our worship and service expressed with heartfelt emotion. We are known by Him and we can know Him. Everyone is invited into proximity with God and we are charged to lead the way in worship.

3 Personal Worship Questions

1) Does your worship express the joy of being in God’s presence and being one of His children?

2) Is your joy circumstance dependent or God-connected dependent?

3) Where does your worship lead people?