It's A New Thing

IT’S A NEW THING!

Psalm 98:1-9

S: Worship

C: Worship is exciting.

Th: Live the Difference

Pr: WE ARE TO WORSHIP WITH ENTHUSIASM.

?: How?

KW: Demonstrations

TS: We will find in our study of Psalm 98 three demonstrations of how to worship with enthusiasm.

The _____ demonstration is…

I. SING A NEW SONG (1-3)

II. MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE (4-6)

III. JOIN ALL OF CREATION (7-9)

PA: How is the change to be observed?

· Celebrate the person of God!

· Keep your perspective with praise.

· Keep singing about the new things God is doing.

Version: ESV

RMBC 08 August 04 AM

INTRODUCTION:

Sometimes, it is hard to generate enthusiasm.

For example…

ILL Notebook: Enthusiasm (boring lectures)

A professor at the University of Pennsylvania was known for giving boring, cliché-ridden lectures.

At the beginning of one semester, an innovative class breathed new life into the course by assigning baseball plays to each hackneyed phrase.

For example, when the professor said, "On the other hand," that counted as a base hit. "By the same token" was a strike out; "and so on" counted as a stolen base. Divided into two teams by the center aisle of the lecture hall, the students played inning after inning of silent but vigorous baseball.

On the last day of class, the impossible happened: the score was tied and bases were loaded. Then the batter hit a home run! The winning team stood and cheered wildly.

Though deeply appreciative, the professor later was quoted as wondering why only half of the students had been enthusiastic about his lectures.

Well, as we can see, enthusiasm doesn’t always occur naturally.

TRANSITION:

Today, though, we are going to talk about the relationship of enthusiasm and worship.

For…

1. When we “live the difference” it is observed in our worship.

When we “live the difference” the Holy Spirit makes in us, there is a difference in how we worship.

Did you notice the Scripture that we used for our “call to worship” today?

This psalm which is our study today is filled with enthusiasm.

It is as if the psalmist is ready to fly out of his seat as he is writing.

He is so excited that he can hardly contain himself.

And he gives us an excellent example, that…

2. WE ARE TO WORSHIP WITH ENTHUSIASM.

One of my favorite quotes about worship comes from Vance Havner:

“A lot of services start at 11:00 sharp and end at 12:00 dull!”

Well, worship is not to be dull.

This is why effort is put in the design of the services.

And though they rarely come out perfectly per the design…Scripture texts, music and their words, prayers, specials and the order they are put in, are carefully thought out, with the hope and desire that there might be something for everyone, across the generations.

This being so, we shouldn’t approach it carelessly.

When we gather for corporate worship, this is a time to offer God our best, not our leftovers.

If we come into our time together tired and distracted because we have not adequately prepared, we are not going to be able to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, which is our spiritual worship.

We are not going to be able to love and desire Him as we ought.

Sometimes, though, we really are caught in a rut.

One of the saddest things I hear from Christians is, “I have heard it all before.”

When a Christian says this, they have lost their enthusiasm.

They have lost their spiritual eyes.

They are bored and stuck.

They are frozen in their past.

And they need help.

They need a refresher when it comes to worship.

So, how do we accomplish this, then?

Well…

3. We will find in our study of Psalm 98 three demonstrations of how to worship with enthusiasm.

OUR STUDY:

I. The first demonstration is SING A NEW SONG (1-3).

Oh sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done marvelous things!

His right hand and his holy arm

have worked salvation for him.

The LORD has made known his salvation;

he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness

to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

1. We never need grow tired in our praise.

The psalmist doesn’t want us to miss this most important aspect of worship.

There is always something new to sing about.

Wait a minute, though…

When you read the psalms, don’t you find that the themes are repeated over and over?

There is a lot of talk about God’s faithfulness.

We read a lot about God’s love and righteousness.

There is a lot of victory over evil.

There is a steady diet about God’s salvation.