Pastor Dave Martin ~ Cross Creek Community Church ~ May 6, 2007
“Celebrate Jesus”
Celebration Sunday
Psalm 145
Explain offering & “Faith Promise” cards & going out front around 11:45 – 12:00 meeting early service folks!
I know I told this story before but it bears repeating!
Dwight Nelson recently told a true story about the pastor of his church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc.
The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could them reach up and get the kitten.
That’s what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He then figured if he went just a little further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke.
The tree went “boing” and the kitten instantly sailed through the air – out of sight.
The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, “Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping”, and went on about his business.
A few days later he was at the grocery store and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. The woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?”
She replied, ‘You wouldn’t believe this,” and then told him how her little girl had been begging for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, “Well, if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it.”
She told the pastor, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get down on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you wouldn’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.”
God tells us to ask and it will be given… we’ve been asking the Lord for awesome things… building/celebration
The Lord has been growing us in miraculous ways… We’ve outgrown our facilities… Lord, send us a… (Kitten)!
Welcome to our Celebration Sunday! Are you ready to Celebrate Jesus this morning?
(1Chron 16:8-36, Pew Bible page #297)
David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem then gave this “Psalm of Thanks” to the Lord.
The Ark of the Covenant symbolized the Presence & Power of Almighty God!
1 Chronicles 16:8,28-29,34,36 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done… 28 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, 29 ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness… 34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever… 36 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said "Amen" and "Praise the LORD."
· The people gave thanks, worshipped & they brought an offering… the people shouted out!
Special Offering
At this time - Special building fund offering / faith promise (first the children from downstairs then the adults)
Pastor Barry comes & leads us in prayer (then we will receive the offering then he’ll carry the offering out)
(Turn in your Bibles to Ps 145, Pew Bible page #447)
Three truths we can learn from David, he said…
I will Worship, I will Meditate & I will Proclaim – Then We Will Celebrate!
Celebrate Jesus…
è I Will Worship.
Psalms 145:1-4 1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.
· Worship is attributing ultimate worth to something (an object, a person, or even an idea).
· Worship is valuing one thing above all else. So when we sing praises to God, we are worshipping, because we are proclaiming that He has the greatest possible worth;
· His value is above that of gold, or silver, or jewels, or houses, or land… NOTHING can compare to Him
· We are testifying that His power exceeds that of every king, President, or dictator in history; that the glory of his holiness outshines the billions of stars in the universe.
· When we worship God, we are saying that nothing compares to Him. He is above all. He is greater than all. Everything in creation pales to insignificance next to the sovereign Lord of the universe.
Psalms 100:2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
· Worship with gladness not sadness… worship with joyfulness not emotionless – with your entire being
· David praised the Lord, the early church praised the Lord, Cross Creek will praise the Lord!
· Worship is Passionate not passionless… Celebrating our King Jesus! Worship is good for the soul.
· What we value most is what we worship and what we worship is what we become… choose right.
· Notice David said, “I will…” worship – worship involves a choice… we choose to worship the Lord…
John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
· Many ways we can worship… God only has two requirements, we must worship in spirit & in truth.
· God the Father is seeking worshipers… spiritual & authentic worship… genuine, real, heart felt.
· As you read further in Ps 145 we see a few reasons we love & worship the Lord… for He is…
The Lord is Gracious, Compassionate, Good
Psalms 145:8-9 8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
God is Good – All the Time – And all the Time – God is Good! He’s worthy of our worship!
A few years ago the Chicago Tribune reported the story of a New Mexico woman who was frying tortillas when she noticed that the skillet burns on one of her tortillas resembled the face of Jesus. Excited, she showed it to her husband and neighbors, and they all agreed that there was a face etched on the tortilla and that it truly bore a resemblance to Jesus. So the woman went to her priest to have the tortilla blessed. She testified that the tortilla had changed her life, and her husband agreed that she had been a more peaceful, happy, submissive wife since the tortilla had arrived. The priest, not accustomed to blessing tortillas, was somewhat reluctant but agreed to do it. The woman took the tortilla home, put it in a glass case with piles of cotton to make it look like it was floating on clouds, built a special altar for it, and opened the little shrine to visitors. Within a few months, more than eight thousand people came to the shrine of the Jesus of The Tortilla, and all of them agreed that the face in the burn marks on the tortilla was the face of Jesus (except for one reporter who said he thought it looked like former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks)!
I will worship the Lord – not some burnt tortilla, or possession, or activity – I will worship the Lord
è I Will Meditate.
Psalms 145:5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
· David said I will worship in vs1-4 and now in verse 5 he says, I will meditate on God’s wonderful works
· “Wonderful” – His extraordinary works… beyond human capacity works… reserved for God alone!
· The Lord desires us to meditate on His Works, His Word, His Ways, to meditate on God Himself…
· I become emotional & overwhelmed when I meditate upon what the Lord is doing at Cross creek
· So many lives being touched by Almighty God… The Lord’s fingerprints are upon so many lives here!
· This meditation isn’t the modern occultic New Age garbage we see today but focusing upon the Lord.
· Drawing away to get alone with the Lord thinking on Him is good for the soul… brings clarity of thought.
Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
· God told Joshua to get into the Word, continually meditate upon it and put it into practice in your life…
· God told Joshua you to be prosperous and successful… staying focused upon Him bears fruit.
Psalms 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
· In the midst of our hectic society, it’s often hard to be still. Our culture is screaming for your attention.
· Television, Ipods, YouTube, Internet, cell phones, activities, possessions, etc… clamoring for attention
· As the “sound/visual” levels overload our senses God says to be still, in quietness before the Him…
· “Be still and know that I am God”… learn to “get away”, to recognize His voice & respond in obedience
· Why should I worship, pay attention to & meditate upon Him… David says because He is
The Lord is Eternal, Faithful, Loving
Psalms 145:10-13 10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.
I will worship the Lord, I will meditate upon Him, and thirdly David says…
è I Will Proclaim.
Psalms 145:6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.
· Notice David’s attitude, He’s personally been radically changed by God, he won’t remain silent.
· David will proclaim the Lord’s great deeds! The power of His awesome works!
· I was asked recently by an unsaved man, “what’s the catch for our growth”… I told him, no catch but a person… His name is Jesus Christ… He is the one who forgives the sinner and changes lives… He is the one who builds His church and protects it from the evil one… He is the one who sets the captive free… He is the one who restores broken families… He is the one who produces peace & joy!
· That man stood there in amazement as I unashamedly boasted & proclaimed our great God!
· As this new building rises from the dirt, a greater tool to proclaim Christ reaching more & more people
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
· The power, the authority is not mustered from within but from above… In the power of the Holy Spirit
· God calls Cross Creek to be His witnesses in Trucksville, the Back Mt, Wyoming Valley… entire world.
Luke 14:23 "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
· Jesus is building His church… we must never just hang around and fail to go make disciples.
· The Lord tells us to “compel” them to come in so His house will be full… I will Proclaim my Lord God!
The Lord is Sovereign, Righteous, Near
Psalms 145:14-18 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
· The Lord is in control… (even His PennDot timing) He is perfect righteousness… He is Near
· Nothing greater than being in the presence of Almighty God… He is near… indwelling His children
I will Worship Him… I will Meditate upon Him… I will Proclaim Him to the world
David comes to verse 7… then we will celebrate! That’s what we’re doing today!
è We will Celebrate!
Psalms 145:7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
· Notice this entire chapter focuses upon the Lord… It’s all about Him not us…
· He provides it all, money, job, health, home, family, everything belongs to Him… He is LORD.
· We personally & collectively worship, meditate & proclaim Him – Now let’s celebrate!
Psalms 98:4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
· Many passages of scripture we see God’s people shouting & praising Him.
· Here in Ps 98 God tells us to shout joyfully to the Lord… make music & sing! (Approx 30X in Ps)
1 Samuel 4:5 And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook.
· The Israelites brought the Ark of the Covenant back into their camp… they shouted in praise!
· Representing the presence of God… they felt like they were invincible… God with us!
· Their shout that day was so loud that the earth shook! Wow, can you imagine?
Their shout struck fear in the hearts of the Philistines… the Philistines mustered strength and went on to defeat the Israelites killing 30,000 men, because of sin in the camp.
· In the midst of celebration & what the Lord is doing we must stay vigilant…
· Walking humbly before Him, not proud or arrogant… everything is from His gracious hand!
· Celebrate Jesus - We will celebrate, we will shout!
· Outside, at the end of our ground breaking, I will announce the total offering & faith promise…
· We will celebrate with a shout heard around Trucksville and possibly the world…
· A shout of worship & praise exalting our Awesome Lord & Savior, King Jesus… can you do that?
· When the shout goes up our worship team will blend in and begin the song, “Let it Rise”…
· Let the Glory of the Lord rise among us!!! OOOOOOOHHHHHHH – let it RISE! (with motions)
· Then we will wrap it all up with prayer and then our fellowship dinner! Get it? Got it? Good!
Thank you for giving to the Lord!
Let’s Pray
Join Us Today…
Ground Breaking Ceremony – 12:00 noon
Covered Dish Fellowship – Mary’s Place