Brown's Daily Word 11-14-08

Good Morning,
Praise the Lord for this Friday. Praise the Lord that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Praise the Lord for He has turned the Sabbath in to the Lord's Day. Sunday is the " The Lord's Day'. It is the day of Resurrection, "the Little Easter" Let us plan to be in the Lord's House, this coming Lord's Day to worship the Lord, with the people of the Lord.
One of the very familiar and the favorite Psalms is Psalm 100. "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. 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. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations."
God gives seven specific instructions to you and me through Psalm 100. Shout, worship, come, know, enter, give thanks, and praise. There are seven commands. If we really delve into it and see what's there, Psalm 100 is actually a scriptural blueprint for worship. It teaches us and leads us into the place of true worship. Psalm 100 is also an overview of the traditional Hebrew Psalms of Ascent, Psalms 120 to 134 - the psalms that the Hebrew people sang whenever they journeyed up to Jerusalem for any of the feasts or festivals. The people all started off from their own homes and towns and, as they met up on the roads leading from every direction to Jerusalem, they all sang these songs. When they joined together before they entered the Tabernacle, they were all singing from these particular psalms.
Verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 100 give us the correct protocol for coming before the King of Kings, and if we miss verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 100, then we've missed it. The Hebrew people shouted to declare who God was. After they came through on their way to Jerusalem, there was nobody left standing at the side of the road who didn't know who their God was. They made it clear. They shouted and they praised the Name of God. Also, they were singing Psalms of Ascent, and this singing prepared their hearts for worship when they arrived at the Temple. You'll notice if you are reading from the King James that it says, "make a joyful noise unto the Lord". That is where we all need to begin. Whenever we come into church, whenever we gather together to worship the Lord, we begin with a joyful noise - you and me singing makes a joyful noise! Singing provides unity in the hearts of people and leads eventually to the act of worship. When we all come into church from wherever we live on a Sunday morning we need something to draw us together and help us to focus us on the King of Kings. The thing that draws us together is singing thankfully, praising the Lord. It leads us into worship.
In every service of worship, God's plan is to bring the people into His presence. The focus and end result of every single service is worship. Bringing people into the presence of God to worship Him.
We are excited about this weekend. The Continentals will be with us, presenting Dreamer. The presentation will be at The First Presbyterian Church of Endicott, on the corner of Monroe and Grant. The concert will start at 7 p.m. Those of you live in the area, please join us. The ministry of the Continentals has been the part of our lives since 1979. Janice and Laureen have traveled with them. In fact, Laureen toured several times and Janice was a keyboard specialist for Dreamer in 1994.
This Saturday we will have our annual Thanksgiving Banquet starting at 5 PM. We have been blessed with many wonderful cooks in our church family. We will be serving the full turkey dinner with the trimmings. We will also be taking meals to many shut-ins and those are recovering at home recent hospitalizations. Our friend, Pastor Brian, from The Elmira Christian Center, will be bringing the message for the gathering. Our Missionary friends Kevin and Lynnette Van Wagner will also be with us this weekend, sharing during our Sunday School hour. We serve an Awesome God.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsakLlfmtY