Don't Keep Worship to Yourself

Have you ever thought to call the entire world to worship God?

What if God asked you to call the world to worship Him? 
What would you do? What would you say? 

The Psalmist who wrote Psalm 100 seems to have had that assignment. Look at who he is encouraging to "shout for joy to the Lord... all the earth."

What an assignment...
Overwhelming to say the least...
Let's look at three descriptions this Psalmist used to worship God and describe God.

Ps 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.

1. "The Lord is good." v 5.
In verse 3 we see the Psalmist declare the position and role of the Lord, "The Lord is God." The Lord is the One and Only Creator who oversees all of His creation. This Creator, Involved God is "good." This describes His character. The Hebrew word for "good" is "towb" which means "pleasant, agreeable, bountiful, delightful and good." 
Do people in our neighborhood and work places see God like this? Or do they seem Him as angry, stomping around heaven looking for someone to unleash His wrath?
No, God is "pleasant, agreeable, bountiful, delightful and good." Our world needs to hear and experience Him.
We at Southtown need to embrace that the Lord is good and is taking care of our personal needs and our church needs.

2. "His love endures forever." v 5
"Chesed" is the Hebrew word. There is no English word that we can use to describe this characteristic of God. Chesed is one of the most important Hebrew words in the entire Old Testament because it seeks to sum up the entire character of God.
Think about Ruth's other-worldly love she had for her mother-in-law... chesed.
Think about Jonathan's other-worldly devotion to David, willing to give up his birthright to be King... chesed.
Think about God's instructions to Hosea to love and marry a prostitute... chesed.
Think about God's overwhelming patience, love, care, power for David even in David's lust, abuse of power, lust, murder and even more lust... chesed.
Think about God becoming human in the person of Jesus Christ... chesed.
God knows all of who we are and what we have done (anyone knowing this, would reject and run from us) yet God shows us His other worldly kindness. A love that we do not deserve. A love that is more beautiful, satisfying and life altering. His love never runs out.
We need to daily experience this from Jesus. Our world desperately needs a taste of this, of Him. Are you going to be like the Psalmist tell them?

3. "His faithfulness continues to all generations." v 5
God does not show favoritism. He loves each person, each family, each generation as if there was no one else on the planet. Are you experiencing His faithfulness to you personally? Are you experiencing His faithfulness to your family personally, your church family personally? I know He is faithful to Southtown and is walking through our financial challenge with us right now.
Our world does not know about loyalty, faithfulness, keeping our word or promises. Oh how the world would change if they knew this amazing faithful God.

Who is going to tell them?
Who is going to show them?
Who is going to help them experience this Psalm 100 God?

It is the mission of the church to do this.

Receiving and enjoying all of who God is and seeking to share that with others,
Pastor Chris

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