Pastor Tom Wallace shares an event that took place in his church, Bible Baptist Church in Elkton, Maryland.
"The Sunday morning service was just ready to begin when in came a man who had never attended our church before. He looked around with awe and amazement at the great number of people packed into the large auditorium.
He came slowly down the aisle looking from side to side and seated himself on the second row from the front.
As I preached he listened with the keenest of interest.
When the invitation time came, I said, "Now how many of you are not saved, but you would like to be, and you want us to pray for you? Will you raise your hand?"
He shot up his hand and waved it back and forth persistently until he was sure I had seen it.
When I asked those who would claim Christ to come forward, he literally bounced out and darted to the altar.
He stood stiff and erect.
I asked, "Sir, do you believe that Christ died to save sinners?"
"Yes, Sir. I want to do just that," he said rejoicing, with a beam of triumph about him.
When he came into the baptistry, I dropped him into the water and out again to walk in newness of life.
He came up out of the water clapping his hands, and shouting, "Hot dog, hot dog, hot dog!"
Our people roared with laughter.
I quickly asked them for silence as I explained that this poor man had not been around the church and didn't know about "Amen, Praise the Lord, and Hallelujah"; his word was "Hot dog," and he was praising the Lord with the only vocabulary he knew.
QUESTION: When was the last time you or I got that excited about our worship of the Lord?
As a pastor, I hear a lot of complaints from professing Christians on why they don’t come to church, and often the response is, “Church is plain boring.”
Gladys Dunn
Gladys Dunn was new in town and decided to visit the church nearest to her new apartment.
She appreciated the pretty sanctuary and the music by the choir, but the sermon went on and on. Worse, it wasn't very interesting.
Glancing around, she saw many in the congregation nodding off.
Finally it was over.
After the service, she turned to a still sleepy-looking gentleman next to her, extended her hand and said, "I'm Gladys Dunn."
I’ll be honest with you. I’ve preached sermons before where people surely must have thought, “glad it’s done.”
But listening to boring sermons isn’t the reason you and I come to church, is it?
We should be here to honor and praise His Majesty, His Holiness.
In fact, there is no other better reason to come to church than to give our thanksgiving and praise to Him
When you and I come to church, we should be so full of anticipation of praising God, that we can’t help but shout “hot dog” with all our being!!
King David knew what it meant to praise God!
Before David, when Saul was king, the Philistines had won a major battle against Israel and captured the ark of the covenant, the ornamented chest the people had made for God representing a symbol of His Presence.
Years came and went, Saul died on the battlefield, and David became King.
God blessed David. David led Israel's army to attack and conquer the Philistine army and recapture the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark was left at the household of Obed-Edom for a brief time, before it’s return to Jerusalem.
I wish I could have been there. There was some kind of celebration!
2 Samuel 6:14-15
David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
UNDERSTAND, DAVID DIDN’T JUST HALF-HEARTEDLY PRAISE THE LORD!
HE WAS DANCING!
HE WAS SHOUTING, AND CARRYING ON.
AND DAVID WASN’T THE ONLY ONE DOING CARTWHEELS IN THE STREETS THAT DAY.
“THE ENTIRE HOUSE OF ISRAEL” WERE SHOUTING AND BLASTING THEIR TRUMPETS!
Question: What are you implying, pastor? That we start dancing in the aisles, shouting “hot dogs” and carrying on like that?
No, but I truly believe you and I need get more excited about praising and worshipping God then we have been.
.
We need to begin afresh enjoying His presence
David penned a song. a "how to's" manual on praising the Lord. It could very well be nicknamed the “hot dog” song, for praising God is what it’s about.
It exhorts believers to get excited about the goodness of their Lord.
Psalm 100 is also a Thanksgiving psalm, as its title states:
Psalm 100:1
1 A Psalm for Thanksgiving.
This morning, let’s look at this “hot dog” song together, verse by verse, and discover five key elements needed to praise Him:
v. 1
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
If I’m going to praise the Lord, David exhorts me to:
1. Open up my vocal cords!
Shout to the Lord in happiness! Let the whole earth join in the celebration!
Seminary class
In seminary, one of the classes I had to take was Preaching Lab, a class designed to help students learn to preach.
In one lecture, the professor taught on the importance of breathing properly—through the abdominal, so that more air is pushed through the vocal cords, producing a stronger voice in delivering your sermon.
He went on to say, that if you didn’t breathed properly from the abdominal, you have a strong chance of injuring your vocal cords over time.
I discovered that professional singers learn the same breathing techniques.
I have good news for many believers today. Most Christians don’t have to worry about damaging their vocal cords singing praises to God in church.
Why? Because they don’t sing loud enough! They have never sung with gusto to the Lord in their life.
And some believe think they have a good excuse. They confess the reason they don’t sing loud is because they can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
Joe’s wife
Joe's wife liked to sing so she joined the church choir.
From time to time she would practice while she was in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Whenever she would start in on a song, Joe would head outside to the porch.
His wife, with hurt feelings, said, "What's the matter, Joe? Don't you like my singing?"
Joe replied, "Honey, I love your singing, but I just want to make sure the neighbors know I'm not beating you."
But who are we trying to please? Who are we singing our praises to?
It’s funny that at sports stadiums or in front of the T.V., we’ll shout our heads off til we’re hoarse if our team scores a touchdown, or someone hits a home run, but when it comes to singing to the most important person in life?.
We’re so afraid we’re going to offend the person in the next pew.
Let them be offended! We’re not singing to them. We’re singing to the Lord.
You don’t go to church to impress anybody with your musical or lack of musical talent.
You’re here to sing to an audience of one: David declares “Shout to the Lord.” Let Yahweh God hear you!!
Second piece of advice in the Hot Dog Song:
2. If I’m to praise God for who He is, I must put a smily face on my heart.
v. 2
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
God wants us to come before Him with gladness, with joy in our inner beings!
.
Proven Fact
DID YOU KNOW IT’S A PROVEN SCIENTIFIC FACT THAT WHEN THE YOUR INNER BEING IS HAPPY, SMILING FROM WITHIN, YOUR OUTSIDE COUNTENANCE WILL NATURALLY FOLLOW.
This morning, as we sang praise songs and hymns to God, some of you sung with little emotion.
In fact, a few of you might have even been frowning, which is worst!
Did you know its harder for you to frown than to smile?
Anonymous quote
Those who study the anatomy of the human body will tell you it takes 72 muscles to frown-- only 14 to smile!
If you think about all that God has done for you in this life, you can’t help but smiling on the inside, and crying out, “Hot Dog!”
The trouble we often have in church is that our mind wanders – and instead of thinking about God, we start thinking about ourselves and the problems we are presently in – family relations, health issues, financial concerns, all have a way of putting a frown on our face.
Charles Spurgeon
Charles H. Spurgeon, the great 19th century Baptist preacher, was lecturing a class of young preachers on the importance of making the facial expression harmonize with the speech.
"When you speak of Heaven," he said, "let your face light up, let it be radiated with a heavenly gleam, let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of Hell -- well, than your ordinary face will do."
When you praise God, brothers and sisters, let you insides smile. Forget about what’s going on around you!
DAVID SAYS "WORSHIP THE LORD WITH GLADNESS!!
Question: Did you know that gladness and laughter often go together?
Statistic
I came across an interesting statistic the other day: The average child laughs 400 times a day, the average adult laughs 15 times a day.
Question: What happens in life that causes adults to lose their laughter?
Do we quit laughing because we are old, or do we get old because we quit laughing?
Laughter
Scientists have been studying the effect of laughter on human beings and have found, among other things, that laughter has a profound and instantaneous effect of virtually every important organ in the human body. Laughter reduces health-sapping tensions and relaxes the tissues as well as exercising the most vital organs. It is said, that laughter, even when forced, results in beneficial effect on us, both mentally and physically.
If laughter is good for your physical health, shouldn’t you and I be laughing more?
Someone has suggested,
Laugh every day, it's like inner jogging.
If anyone should be happy and laugh a lot, its Christians.
Christians ought to be the happiest people on the face of the earth!
Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn (hi-den), the great Austrian composer, was once asked why his church music was so cheerful, and he replied: "When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen, and since God has given me a cheerful heart, pardoned me that I serve him with a cheerful spirit."
But what if I don’t want to be laugh and be happy?
Liz Curtis Higgs insists,
Being glad is a decision of my will, not an expression of my emotions.
You can will to be happy.
Third piece of advice in this hot dog song:
3. Know whose I am.
v. 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.
David says, “Know by experience that the Lord is God, that we are his sheep living in his pasture. The Lord made us! And he knows everything about us!
In fact, he never once us to forget that He is our Shepherd to meet our every need.
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians were impressed by the 23rd Psalm. They wanted to share its beauty and power with neighboring tribes, but it seemed impossible to overcome their mutual language barriers. Finally, a thoughtful Indian suggested they translate it into their universal sign language, which was done.
The sign language of Psalm 23, translated back into literal English by missionary Isabel Crawford, reads:
The great father above a shepherd chief is. I am His and with Him I want not. He throws out to me a rope and the name of the rope is love and He draws me to where the grass is green and the water not dangerous, and I eat and lie down and am satisfied. Sometimes my heart is very weak and falls down but he lifts me up again and draws me into a good road. His name is wonderful.
Sometimes it maybe very soon, it maybe a long, long time, He will draw me into a valley. It is dark there, but I'll be afraid not, for it is in between those mountains that the shepherd chief will meet me and the hunger that i have in my heart all through this life will be satisfied.
Sometimes he makes the love rope into a whip, but afterwards He gives me a staff to lean upon. He spreads a table before me with all kinds of foods. He puts His hand upon my head and all the "tired" is gone. My cup He fills till it runs over. What I tell is true. I lie not. These roads that are "away ahead" will stay with me through this and after; and afterwards I will go to live in the Big Teepee and sit down with the shepherd chief forever.
Question: What would our praise to God be like if we knew He was always present wherever we find ourselves?
Question: Would we worry as much? Fear as much?
One of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture is in Isaiah:
Isaiah 41:10
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
I must know whose I am.
You and I are a part of God’s family. Only when we truly understand that God truly meets our every need can we truly praise Him
Fourth piece of advice:
4. To sing “hot dog” to God, I must enter into His Presence with thanksgiving.
v. 4
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
Bob Greene
In his book Good Morning Merry Sunshine, Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene chronicles his infant daughter's first year of life. When little Amanda begins crawling, he records:
"This is something I'm having trouble getting used to. I will be in bed reading a book or watching TV. And I will look down at the foot of the bed and there will be Amanda's head staring back at me.
"Apparently I've become one of the objects that fascinate her... It's so strange. After months of having to go to her, now she is choosing to come to me. I don't know quite how to react. All I can figure is that she likes the idea of coming in and looking at me. She doesn't expect anything in return. I'll return her gaze and in a few minutes she'll decide she wants to be back in the living room and off she'll crawl again."
The simple pleasure of looking at the one you love -- What Bob and his daughter enjoyed -- is what we enjoy each time we praise God with thankfulness in our hearts.
There is all kinds of ways people come to worship the Lord, but if you or I don’t have a thankful spirit in our being, we will not do a very good job praising Him who has given us so much to be thankful for.
Daniel Baumann
Daniel Baumann has well said, "Worship is a stairway on which there is movement in two directions: God comes to man, and man goes to God."
This Thanksgiving, don’t forget to thank God who has given so much to us.
Last piece of advice David gives, and I’ll close:
5. Know that God's Love and Faithfulness lasts forever.
v. 5
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.
His love was the reason Jesus came to die:
1 John 4:10
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Spanish boy
A little Spanish boy in Vigo who became a devout Christian was asked by an Englishman what had been the influence under which he acted:
“It was all because of the odd sparrow,' the boy replied.
"I do not understand," said the Englishman in surprise. "What odd sparrow?"
"Well Senor, it is this way," the boy said. "A gentle man gave me a Testament, and I read in one of the Gospels that two sparrows were sold for a penny. And again in Luke, I saw, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies...?" And I said to myself that Nuestro Senor ('our Lord) Jesus Christ knew well our custom of selling birds. As you know, Sir, we trap birds, and get one chico for two but for two chicos we throw in an extra sparrow. That extra sparrow is only a make-weight, and of no account at all.
"Now, I think to myself that I am so insignificant, so poor and so small that no one would think of counting me. I'm like the firth sparrow. And yet, oh marvelous . Our Lord says, 'Not one of them is forgotten before God.' I have never heard anything like it, Sir. No one but He could have thought of not forgetting me.
Not one is ever forgotten, because God’s love endures forever.
And so does his faithfulness:
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.
We have looked at the hot dog song this morning, but let me be frank: You will never truly praise the Lord until you make the decision to accept Christ into your heart.
Jesus declared,
Revelation 3:20
20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.
You can make that decision today!
