Let’s Celebrate
Who are we all hiding from?
It was the little boy’s first trip to church, and his mother had hurriedly put him through the correct ‘Sunday best’ procedure of thorough washing, dressing in smart clothes, and the inventing of a parting in his hair. previously unknown to his startled scalp. Having been warned to “behave”, which generally meant ‘shut up and don’t fidget’ they proceeded to the local church under the incessant clanging of its bell.
On entering the church, the boy was instantly curious, fascinated by this strange new world. The hushed voices the high arches, the slightly musty smell and the rows of empty wooden pews. Or were they empty! No, here and there a hat, the back of a head, a pair of hunched shoulders, would bob up or down, appear or disappear.
His mother led him in whispers to one of these dark tunnel-like rows, where she immediately knelt and bowed her head; he copied instinctively. The silence only lasted for a few more seconds, as the question that had been growing more and more urgent in his lively young mind suddenly burst out, ringing loud and clear through the ancient arches. “Mummy who are we all hiding from?”
For our adult minds we need to change this question to
- ”God, how do we worship you?”
- His answer Proclaim in celebration My sovereignty ----- Ps. 24
We have celebrations of victories
• Wars Won - Parades,banners,singing, cheers
• Games Won - Fans wild
• Graduation - Hats fly, parties
• Weddings - Couples praised
• New Babies - Showers, Congratulations
• New Year - Count down, hugs & kisses
Let’s Start Celebrating Our God Reigns
Archimedes- Give me a place to stand & I will move the world!
- Has to do with leverage - A point & a lever
- Praise is the lever
- God is the point
Rev. 19 Outcome Rev. 4 ---- The beginning
In Rev. John has every right to feel depressed
- Old
- Rejected by society
- Banished to a desolate outpost of an island
- His surroundings offered no hope
- His associates were the scum of the earth
- His friends were far away if they were alive
-The is church everywhere was being hounded and stamped out
- It was unsafe anywhere in the Roman Empire to be a Christian
- The man on the throne hated Christianity
- It was at this vantage point we come to Praise & Worship
- John sees Christ not meek & mild but strong and in authority
- What are you seeing as you look ahead into the mist of time
- My thoughts for tomorrow are often based on today’s happenings
- John you say had an advantage -- He had a vision of the open door
- We have more -- The word of God that lasts forever
- This open door that John had is also our open door
- Suggest entrance for all who will come by faith
- Faith is active & demonstrative & starts with worship
- Outside of the book of Psalms Revelation has more on praise than any other book of the bible
- In Rev. we are faced with another reality - Now 2 realms of reality
- Visible & Invisible
- All of us are like John with 2 realms of reality
- In the visible there is light & darkness
cold & heat
sickness -- pain -- death
- In the invisible it is Spiritual
- Heavenly
- to us it foggy, misty
- not very real
- So what is the test of reality?
- The ultimate test is survival
- The door that John saw open was the door between Heaven & Earth
- The aperture between visible & invisible the genuine reality
- We need to see the open door before us
Rev. 4:1
• Identification - Jesus
• Invitation - Come up here
• Explanation - I will show you things which must be here after
Rev. 4:2
Throne - What comes to mind is Control - Rule
-Authority
Rev. 4:7-8
- 4 Living Creatures Praise & Worship
Rev. 4:10-11
- 24 elders Worship & Praise
OUR GOD REIGNS
- Absence of Praise simply means someone has an inadequate view of God
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Q. What is the chief end of man
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever
- Amid all that tells you to Flounder
Run
Hide
Quit
- See the open Door
- See Christ biding you to come
- See God Ruling
Not wring His Hands
Not pacing back and forth
Not with furrowed brow
Prediction
If you will engage in a serious study & practice of Praise your life will never be the same
You will receive such a life & such a life that the day will be marked as special one when it was discovered
How?
1. Begin right where you are at now with music
Hymns may not stick - Chorus’s
2. Go to scripture with the study of Psalms and Rev.
Psalm 119:164
Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
Psalm 119:62
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
Psalm 55:17
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
Psalm 34:1
I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Jehoshaphat’s Praisers - II Chronicles 20
