Happy Churchgoers

HAPPY CHURCHGOERS

PSALM 122:1

Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible.

Introduction: Most people attend church with about as much enthusiasm as going to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. Most pastors while preaching look out at faces that are emotionless and blank. Some obviously wishing they were anywhere else but in church. David said he looked forward with eager anticipation to being in God’s house. We need that same attitude that of being happy churchgoers.

I. Church attendance ought to be a Joy.

A. It ought to lift your spirit.

1. There are times when our spirit within has grown tired and needs to be rejuvenated and lifted up.

2. Corporate worship ought to lift your spirit as you lift up your voice with others in praise and adoration to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

3. Psalm 149:1 “Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the assembly of saints.”

4. In praising God one stops thinking about themselves. They start looking at our wonderful God and realize how good and how great and how loving He is.

5. A little singing bird was perched on a limb of a tree. The boy had the stone all ready to throw, but the bird began to sing. Slowly the stone was dropped, and the bird found its way to freedom. "Why did you not stone him?" asked a gentleman. "Couldn’t," was the brief answer, "’cause he sung so." And so for us the lesson is clear: Let us praise God! The enemy of our soul is read to "shoot" his arrows of doubt or fear. But as an unknown author penned: "The trial may be fiery, the march may seem long; let the glory in your soul sing His praise. The devil will flee. He does not like songs of praise." Gary Bowell p. 151

B. It ought to encourage your heart

1. People need people. Laurie was about three when one night she requested her mother’s aid in getting undressed. Mom was downstairs and Laurie was upstairs, and ... well. "You know how to undress yourself," Laurie’s mom reminded her. "Yes," Laurie explained, ’but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves." - William C. Schultz, Bits & Pieces, December 1990.

2. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

3. Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

C. It ought to challenge your mind

1. A woman was talking to her neighbor over the fence. "I really don’t know what you see in the church," she said. "Oh, you really don’t know what you are missing!" said her friend. "It’s such a wonderful rest after a hard week’s work, to sit in the pews and think about nothing!"

2. It ought to draw your thoughts back to and focus them on the things of God.

3. Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

4. "I have always liked the definition of preaching given by Professor Chad Walsh, ’The true function of a preacher is to disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.’" - John Stott THE PREACHER’S PORTRAIT

5. 2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

II. Church attendance is Necessary.

A. It is necessary for Fellowship

1. Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

2. A number of winters ago, heavy snows hit North Carolina. Following a wet, six-inch snowfall, it was interesting to see the effect along Interstate 40. Next to the highway stood several large groves of tall young pine trees. The branches were bowed down with the heavy snow -- so low that branches from one tree were often leaning against the trunk or branches of another. Where trees stood alone, however, the effect of the heavy snow was different. The branches had become heavier and heavier, and since there were no other trees to lean against, the branches snapped. They lay on the ground, dark and alone in the cold snow. When the storms of life hit, we need to be standing close to other Christians. The closer we stand, the more we will be able to hold up. -- Carl G. Conner

3. Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is…”