The Vocabulary of Praise - Psalm 103

we have come to the end of a series

called the vocabulary of Praise where we

are trying to unlock new forms of

worship by studying the seven Hebrew

words for praise that are located in the

Old Testament and what a privilege it

has been to walk with you through this

uh journey of learning how to worship I

personally have learned a lot about what

God expects from me on a Sunday morning

at 11:00 when I come in here to worship

I've added a few of these things that

I've learned to my uh kind of my golf

bag of Praise I got some new clubs I can

use and so when it's time to praise God

I can pull out some different stuff that

I didn't have before and I hope that

that's been the same for all of you I do

want to give a shout out to Levi lco

great sermon series on this uh Church

online and also Chris Tomlin and Darren

Whitehead who wrote the book holy Roar

uh which has heavily influenced this

series as well so we're going to go

through these words one more time let's

go right this is exciting you shouldn't

be you should have all these basically

committed to memory by now right anyway

so I'll put them all in your notes for

you today because I am a a professor

after all and so um I know that uh notes

are important so I put all these in your

notes for you so you can kind of keep

your bulletin this week put it somewhere

and then when you want to go back and

look at some of these words uh that

you'll have that available to you the

first word we talked about was Halal

which means to boast or Rave or

celebrate even in the church of the

Frozen chosen where you have learned

that your only Chick-fil-A in town is

going to be closed for 6 months and you

are bummed out that's the look that you

walk in here with you just found that

out even in a church where it looks like

everybody just found out that terrible

news we can still worship God we can

Praise Him and celebrate him for the

Salvation that we have received because

we know when there is praise in our

heart there is a what in our

hands there's a sword in our hands some

of you are fighting battles right now

guess what you need sword you need a

weapon you know what your weapon is

praise praise is your weapon we talked

about yada which means to worship god

with extended hands because when you do

that you welcome God's power into your

situation you're saying hey God I love

you I worship you and I need you and

what happens God who's already right

beside you gets even closer than he was

before so I want to practice that this

morning because there's a young lady

named Claire who is fighting for her

life it's just Williams niece um and

many of you have been following this

story online and uh we just want to lift

her up in prayer this morning but you

know we can pray but we can also pray

with extended hands and I believe that

there is power in prayer when we

acknowledge god with extended hands of

worship as we pray so if you're

physically able would you join me this

morning just hold your hands out like

this expecting God to do something and

we're going to pray for this this young

lady Claire we're going to join the

hundreds and hundreds of other people

that are praying for her right now this

morning so let's

pray father God we acknowledge that in

this world we will have trouble but we

also acknowledge the fact that you told

us that we can take heart because you

have overcome the world you've said that

greater is he who is in us than who is

in the world we know Lord that you are

already going before us to prepare a

pathway for us to lead us toward success

Lord this thing with Claire is no

surprise to you you saw it coming a mile

away and you've already prepared the

doctors and the nurses and the

medications and everything that needs to

to happen in her life to to happen at

the right time lord and so I just pray

that God we would be able to access that

power that you've given us through our

praise and our prayers to to send the

the blessings her way right now that you

would heal her body that you would give

Supernatural insight and wisdom to the

doctors and the nurses that are tending

to her need needs to allow them to know

exactly what she needs so she can get

the care that she deserves Lord we thank

you so much that even in this time of of

uncertainty Lord that we have a rock a

stable rock that we can rest on to know

that you are in control and so for her

family and her friends that are worried

over her Lord I just pray that you would

give them that Supernatural peace that

goes beyond all human understanding help

them to see that you are at work in this

situation and we lord are expecting you

to move so we expectantly are going to

go ahead and just thank you for what

you're going to do in Claire's life

moving forward in Jesus name I pray

amen and I know there are many people in

this room that have needs and I just

want you to understand that praying like

that accesses this Supernatural realm in

a way that is just you can't even

explain it to people and how it works

but I do know this it works and so start

that as a practice maybe during the

worship block Maybe during your own

prayer life start to hold your hands out

and and think about what is my posture

of Praise while I'm praising Jesus we

talked about Toto which is very much

similar to yat but it it means something

very specific this is when you praise

God with your arms raised but the arms

are very specific you have an arm of

Thanksgiving and you have an arm of

confession and what those two arms work

like is a one-w punch that knocks out

the devil we also talked about shabbach

which is to passionately in a loud tone

declare the Lord's greatness as you

prepare yourself for a movement of God's

spirit God wants to move in your life he

wants to move in this community and

sometimes it is us in our worship that

keeps him from doing what he wants to do

we saw this in Jesus ministry his

hometown in Nazareth did not believe in

him Jesus wanted to make his hometown

Nazareth the the the where he did did

his first Miracles like he wanted that

to be the place he wanted to set up his

ministry in his hometown and the people

were like no we don't believe that you

really are the Son of God and so he had

to go elsewhere to set up his ministry

friends I don't want to be like Nazareth

if God wants to move here at saers Creek

in Camden County then I want him to be

able to move so I'm not going to do

anything to put up a wall for the

movement of God we talked about zamar

zamar is when you take these musical

instruments and you play them and you

make notes and Melodies and chords and

vocals you combine all of those things

together and they act as a a chariot

that raises your praise to heaven and

what happens when that when when your

praise goes to the ears of God all those

things that seemed impossible in your

life become possible with Jesus then

last week we talked about tea which is

to to Worship in a way of like lightness

you you carry so many burdens that life

places on your shoulders and now you

have an opportunity to take off those

those burdens and put on that light robe

that Jesus has for you he carries the

burdens and you receive his his

lightness his his righteousness and it

allows you to freely Praise Him and

today we're going to get to our seventh

and and last word in a minute but I I

want you to think about this how

different would your life be if you knew

the future how different would your life

be if you could predict the future if

you knew where you were headed well you

would probably make a lot of different

choices right now because you would know

what was in the future right so I I did

some research on this it's pretty crazy

in 1876 Western Union turned down the

patents to buy the telephone which at

the time would have cost them $100,000

and they said and I quote the telephone

is just an electrical toy with no

commercial value the telegram is the

future they're out of business um

1975 Kodak actually invented the first

digital camera but they kept it under

wraps because they were scared that it

would take away from the film Market

they went bankrupt in 2012 in

1962 there were four gentlemen George

John Paul and Ringo who had a try out

with Deca records and deca told them

this four piece groups with guitars are

finished Deca turned down the most

profitable successful band of all time

in the Beatles 1977 20th Century Fox

sold all rights in perpetuity to the

merchandise related to the Star Wars

franchise to George Lucas forget this

$2,000 they were like hey who's going to

want to buy a toy lightsaber who's going

to want a lunchbox with Chewbacca's face

on it I mean who's going to W an action

figure by the way since 1977 the

merchandise sells a loan on Star Wars

has been

$45

billion pretty good investment for old

George don't you think in 2000

Blockbuster remember Blockbuster I loved

Blockbuster Blockbuster could have

bought Netflix for 50 million at the

time Netflix was that mail your DVD to

you kind of situation so they're like no

we don't want anything to do with that

um today all 9,000 Blockbuster locations

have closed except for one um and

Netflix is valued at 00 billion I got

two more in 1997 Yahoo could have bought

Google for a billion dollars in 2002

Yahoo could have got bought Google for5

billion today Google is valued at 1.2

trillion dollars and then my personal

favorite 1998 Sony Studios could have

bought the entire Marvel Universe forg

this

$25

million but that was too much for them

they're like no we don't want all that

we just want Spider-Man we'll buy him

for 10 million and we'll save $15

million um yeah Marvel's worth $ 54

billion today look these decision makers

they had to operate on the info that

they had at the time they had to

speculate about where the future was

heading so I want you to keep all that

in mind as we get to our scripture today

and we're going to come back to it at

the end so our scripture today is Psalm

103 Psalm

103 we're not going to read it all we're

just going to read some pieces of it

verse

one says my soul bless the Lord and all

that is within me bless His holy name my

soul bless the Lord and do not forget

all of his benefits he forgives all of

your iniquity he heals your

diseases he redeems your life from the

pit he crowns you with faithful love and

compassion he satisfies you with good

things your youth is renewed like the

eagle of course it's the eagle is there

like no other bird that exists in the

Old Testament what about the buzzards

come on man I know they were there I

need some representation in scripture

this is ridiculous let's go to verse 10

sorry god um verse 10 he has not dealt

with us as our sins deserve or repaid us

according to our iniquities for as high

as the heavens are above the Earth says

so as grateful as great as his faithful

love is is toward those who fear Him as

far as the East is from the West he has

removed our

transgressions from us now verse 20

bless the Lord all his angels of great

strength who do his word obedient to his

command bless the Lord all of his armies

his servants who do his will bless the

Lord all his works and all the places

where he rules my soul bless the

Lord this is King David's magnum opus

Psalm 103 is what many consider to be

the Pinnacle of all the Psalms in the

whole Salter and what I love about it is

how it starts because David's thinking

was not right it this Psalm teaches us

how we should talk to ourselves he David

says Hey Soul bless the Lord and Soul's

like nah I don't want to I don't feel

like it today I'm a little grumpy I'm a

little cranky I'm a little I I didn't

get enough sleep last night the kids are

driving me nuts I don't even want to be

here in the I don't like that song that

Lynn picked this week I'm not blessing

the Lord sorry

Lynn I'm

not and then David though he he doesn't

give up he this is some some positive

selft talk he does not give in to his

Soul's demand because then he says Hey

Soul bless the Lord with all that is

within me that's the way we should talk

to ourselves

even when your soul doesn't feel like

praising what you need to tell your soul

is that you should you should bless the

Lord or sing praises to the Lord with

all that is within you what that means

is that even if you're not in a positive

state of mind you can still worship

Jesus nothing in the Bible says that we

have to bring nothing but positive vibes

to the worship you can bring exactly

what you're feeling all that is within

you

bring your struggle bring your lack of

motivation bring your anger your worry

be real in your worship because God

wants you to engage him with all of your

feels so David's like Hey Soul we can do

this we can do this we can be real with

God Hey Soul let's bless the Lord and

when he does that it ignites this this

praise from his heart that and he starts

chronicling all the things things that

God has done for him he's like God is my

healer and God is my rejuvenator and God

is my strength and God is my salvation

so he had to get himself right before he

could really enter into

worship but then when he enters in he

starts motivating other people to

worship with him now wouldn't it be cool

if over the last like eight weeks as

we've been studying this if you went

from a person who doesn't like to

worship to a person who encourages other

people to worship because that's exactly

what happened in King David's life right

here David's Soul was not in a state of

worship but through positive selft talk

reminding himself of who God is not

giving into his Soul's command being

real to God and His worship he is now to

a point where he is encouraging the

people around him to worship so wouldn't

it be cool if you were that person that

like tries to talk people out of

enjoying the worship service if you

became like David and became a person

that encourages others to actually

engage in the worship service see this

happens in verse 10 because he's been

saying I I I I I I verse 10 he has not

dealt with us as our sins deserve so

he's he's went from the singular to the

plural he's like now it's the time for

us to praise God together this is him

with his uh praise like tequila he's

taking off the The Heavy clothes and

he's putting on the light garments he's

taking Tak off all those burdens that

were keeping him from being able to

worship whatever they were and now he's

put on these light garments that God has

given him which allow him to move freely

in his worship he's worshiping God in

song with his faith family but friends

it does not stop there David doesn't

know when to hit the brakes because if

you go to verse 20 he's got his mind in

the right place now he's worshiping with

other people and encouraging them to

worship look what he does in verse 20 he

actually shouts out the

Angels he's taking his rightful place in

the universe do you understand he he's

he's identifying himself with who God

created him to be which is a coair with

Christ he gets to Reign and rule in the

future and what does he say he says

bless the Lord all you Angels bless the

Lord all you Heavenly armies bless the

Lord all you Heavenly servants that's a

bold move cuz like 15 minutes ago he

didn't even want to worship himself and

now he's telling the angels that they

need to get on board and they need to

start worshiping come on David can you

imagine heaven like that's what they do

in heaven I don't know if you know that

they they worship there so the angels

are already up there like singing

praises to God and David's like hey you

should sing praises to God they're like

yeah that's kind of what we do up here

man don't really need your encouragement

but love the spirit motivation whatever

look bless the Lord bless the Lord why

because one day you're going to rule and

reign with Jesus one day you will be

over the Angels one day you will take

your rightful place so what happened is

David put praise in his mouth and it

reminded him of his future he put praise

in his mouth and it reminded him of his

future but what kind of Praise was it

well this is where we get to our seventh

word the word is Barack Barack now

that's the English way of pronouncing it

the Hebrew sounds completely different

and I'm not able to to do it so we're

going to go with

Barack it's kind of like if you got

something stuck in your throat you know

and you clear like that's how they do it

and it's it's beautiful when they do it

I don't know I can't I practiced I could

not do it so we're going to go with

barck it means to kneel down to bless as

an act of adoration to salute to

pronounce good things upon the recipient

this word is used 327 times in your

Bible 289 times in the psalm and six

times in this specific Psalm 103 most of

the time in your English translation

you're going to read it as the word

blessed it's primarily used to signify

kneeling down before God in fact the

word Barack is the root word for the

Hebrew word kneecap so you literally

cannot kneel without thinking about

Barack about praise about worship so

what does it mean to kneel well it's

kind of like you know for those of you

that are married you when you proposed

hopefully you you took a knee why did

you take a

knee why because everybody else did

it all the wives are like yeah

why and what happened to that no you

take a knee you kneel because you're

showing that person how much you love

them how much you respect them you're

saying in this moment that hey I want to

do life with you I want to connect

myself with you for all of eternity I

want to bring honor and glory to your

name so will you please do me the favor

of marrying me see when you kneel in

worship what you're saying to God is I

love you I want to settle down with you

I want to submit to you I want to make

your name famous I want to do life with

you you also kneel when you talk to a

child right like little kids you know if

you're if you're want to get down on

their L you know you want to speak to

them so what do you do you just kind of

KNE and you talk to the kid it's a less

threatening position for them but in

worship this means Barack right it means

to to humble yourself to get on a

child's level remember what Jesus said

he said blessed are those that that that

come to me like children because the

kingdom belongs to people like that take

on that childlike Faith what it means

when you kneel before God you are saying

I am not as important as I think I

am I'm not as prideful as I should be I

am submitting myself I'm humbling myself

before you God you also kneel when you

beg when you beg now sometimes you you

beg for the things that you need we see

this in Mark 1 verse 40 says then a man

Mark 1:40

with Leprosy came to him on his knees

and he begged him on his knees that

means Barack so he begged Jesus if you

are willing you can make me clean moved

with compassion moved by that submissive

stance this man was taking before Jesus

Jesus reached out with his hand and he

touched him and he says I am willing be

made clean and immediately the leprosy

left him and he was made clean so what

do we do we kneel before God and we beg

on behalf of ourselves we say God I need

you in this situation I need you in my

life but that's not the only time we beg

we also beg for the lives of others see

Paul loved the church in Ephesus he did

more Ministry there than any other

church that he uh that he worked in same

way I love Carrie Baptist I love

Fellowship Baptist but my heart my life

my soul is here at solers Creek and so

if I ever had to leave this place there

would be a lot of weeping on my part

there'd be a lot of rejoicing on your

part but there'd be a lot of weeping on

my part because this is the people that

I love this is where I want to do my

Ministry this is where I want to raise

my family I just love this group of

people that God has called me to serve

and that's how Paul felt about Ephesus

but one day he was called to leave the

church in Ephesus and it says in

Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

3 he writes him a

letter his heart is broken he doesn't

want to leave but he knows he has to and

he says for this reason I Barack I kneel

before the father from whom every family

in heaven and on Earth is named I pray

that he may Grant you according to the

riches of his glory to be strengthened

with the power of your inner being

through his spirit sometimes you don't

know what to do for the people that you

love you don't know how to handle a

situation you're broken you're anxious

you don't know what to do and God is

saying just kneel before me because that

kneeling is like begging you're begging

the god of the universe to send his

Blessing to that person so you you beg

for your own life and you also beg for

those that you love it's also a form of

uh

adoration Brock is biblical shorthand

for the way that you show your

allegiance to God some people PL pledge

allegiance to all kinds of other things

but God says I'm the only one that's

worthy of your worship Isaiah was very

confused by this uh activity in the

lives of the early church the Believers

in the Old Testament of Israel they they

had a uh a tendency to like to make

things out of out of wood or gold and to

worship the things that they had made

and he says well he tells a story about

this guy who cut down a tree and he took

half of the tree and he he put it as

firewood over here aside so he could eat

his dinner and then he took the other

half of the tree and he made an idol out

of it and he began to worship the idol

and after he was done worshiping the

idol he went over here and he burnt the

wood to create his dinner and Isaiah is

like why would you worship the thing

that you

made you made the idol then you used the

idol to eat your dinner you are no more

powerful than the idol that you made

that Idol cannot possibly help you why

would you worship the thing that you

that you

made why would you trust in someone

that's not able to help you or provide

for you why would you give your entire

life to something that is not able to

carry the weight of your life for

example last week at Creek day I had a

plate full of food and I had somebody

called me to go do something I had not

eaten my food yet so I went over to

someone that I I used to love and trust

and I gave them my tray and I said will

you watch this tray and guard it with

your life and they said absolutely I

will watch this tray and I will guard it

with my life and I said good I'll be

back in 3 minutes so I go down the hall

I do what I had to do I come back and

there's my tray setting at the end of

the table with no one around it so I go

and I look at my food and I'm like well

why is my tray not being guarded and I

look up and the person that I had asked

to guard the tray was getting ice

cream true story so we used to be

friends I have an opening in my friend

group if anybody would like to

apply she has been kicked out

um but the point is why would you trust

in me why would you trust in humans why

would you trust in something that you

created a sport or money or why would

you put the weight of your life on

something that would definitely crumble

under the weight of your expectations

when you have God who is just waiting

for you to kneel before him to Barack

before him he's the only one that can

actually carry the weight of your life

he's the only one that can help you

every everything else is going to look

you in even if they want to help you

they're just going to look at you with a

blank stare and be like I can't help I I

don't know what to do that's not God

God's like hey I love you and guess what

I'm powerful enough to help you in this

situation so you kneel before him to

receive a

blessing what else do we we kneel to be

anointed think about it before King

David became the king what did he do he

knelt before the prophet Samuel and

Samuel anointed him gave him the power

that he needed to be the king before

Jesus went to the Cross what did he do

Luke 22 two says he went to the garden

and he took a knee before God he was

anointed before he walked into his

future and so for us what do we need we

need we have this big week planned ahead

of us all these different things that we

need to be involved in what do we need

more than anything else we need the

anointing of the power of God on our

lives to allow us to get through that

week and not only get through but

actually make a positive impact on the

week ahead of us this is talk it's a

humble position it kneels and it puts

you in a position to receive God's

blessing James chapter 4

James 4 · chapter mention

says but he that's God gives greater

Grace therefore he says God resists the

proud and gives grace to the humble like

you get that it's not a good thing to

have God uh opposing you right it's not

not a great place to be so how do we

avoid that we bar we we kneel before him

and worship we submit ourselves to him

so we don't just lift our hands in

joyous celebration and shout Praises we

also kneel before God to receive an

anointing when we started the series I

told you there is a season for

everything worship has its season and

now you're equipped to be able to

worship god with the appropriate word at

the appropriate time and all we want for

this church is for you to be able to

freely Express Worship in whatever way

God has put on your heart so for

instance if you're Pockets person be

Pockets person that's fine you can sing

songs with your hands in your pockets

it's no big deal if that's who God

created you to be and that's how he

wants you to worship then you feel free

to worship just like that and if Lynn

shames you for it you come tell me and

I'll take care of it cuz I spent most of

my life being a pocket person staring at

my

shoes you could maybe be the the T-Rex

you want to T-Rex are worshippers too

they're just kind of insecure

worshippers you know they're like you

could do that or you could just be full

out frisbee guy you know like worshiping

Jesus today worshiping Jesus singing the

song what if that's who God created you

to be worship as you feel led but don't

forget the one where God has called you

to kneel and worship now I get that

these pews are not set up in a very uh

good way for you to be able to

physically do that but that doesn't mean

that at your house when you're praying

or when you're listening to some worship

at your house you can easily find a

place to do just that we Barack because

it puts us in the right frame of mind

that's exactly what it did for King

David it's exactly what it'll do for us

so the first thing that kneeling before

god does practically for us is it

reminds us of who Jesus is the response

of bowing makes sense when we see Jesus

as our actual Lord as our actual King of

Kings Psalm 103 David says it best he

forgives all of your

iniquity everybody else holds it against

you when you sin you get a Scarlet

Letter on your back and it is very hard

to get rid of that especially in a small

town community like this but guess what

Jesus forgives all of your iniquity he

heals all of your diseases he redeems

your life from the pit

that means you don't have to worry about

going to hell for all of eternity

because he has redeemed he has purchased

you back from Satan through your faith

in Jesus he crowns you with faithful

love and compassion you are co-s with

Christ Jesus is the prince of God's

kingdom and you Reign right there with

him verse five it says he satisfies you

with good things I'm not going to read

the last one your youth is renewed Like

an Eagle whatever who cares um but all

the rest of that is so good isn't it

like when you see that practically Jesus

is a king who wants to bless you with

all of this and more it just makes sense

from time to time for you to take a knee

before him and just thank him for being

your lord and your

savior it also puts us in mind of what

Jesus has already done understand we

bless Jesus because he first blessed us

nobody comes out of the womb and is like

I cannot wait to bless Jesus nobody go

look at the nursery what happens when

you take Little Johnny's block he's

going to hit you upside the head with

another block we are sin they're they're

cute don't get me wrong we're very cute

when we're little but we're also very

sinful we come into this world with a

sin nature no one n it's what the

scripture says no one naturally seeks

God it is his irresistible Grace and his

love that impacts our life first that

draws us into a relationship with him

and it's been that way since the

beginning of time Genesis 1 ver 28 very

first use of Barack Second Use of Barack

in scripture says God blessed that's

Brock them and God said to them be

fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth

and subdue it speaking to Adam and Eve

he blessed them get this God know

before his creation and worship you're

like what no it's true God blessed them

so that we read in Genesis 12 all the

people on Earth will be blessed Brock

through you he blessed us so that we

could bless him and then in turn be a

blessing to

others if this church shut down for a

month and nobody noticed that it was

gone then we have failed as a church we

We Exist not only to sing praises to God

on Sunday but also to be a blessing to

other people blessing others is our

natural response to receiving a blessing

from God so it keeps us in mind of who

Jesus is BR keeps us in mind of what

Jesus has done and it also reminds us of

what we have coming what the future

holds so let's get back to that original

question ask what would you do if you

knew the future

like how different would things have

been for Yahoo and Western Union and

deca records if they had actually known

the future well they didn't they

couldn't so they had to speculate based

on what they where they thought history

was headed they had to make predictions

if they had known the future they would

have made different choices in the

present well guess what friends we

actually know the future Jesus is coming

back to the world that he created and

knowing that truth should change the way

that you make decisions today it should

allow you to resist the foolish wisdom

of the world around you that would

encourage you to trade your Birthright

for a bowl of soup or in Sony's case to

save $15 million and not purchase the

MCU that's foolish wisdom that's worldly

wisdom and so if we know the future then

we should change the decisions that we

are making today so where is history

headed history is headed to to the

throne of Jesus revelation

Revelation 7:9

7:9 after this I looked and there was a

vast multitude from every nation every

tribe every people every language which

no one could number standing Before the

Throne and before the lamb every people

group on Earth represented in heaven

they were clothed in white robes with

palm branches in their hands and they

cried out with a loud voice salvation

belongs to God that's aw

y'all celebrating their salvation who is

Seated on the throne and to the lamb and

all the Angels stood around the throne

and along with the elders and the four

living creatures they fell face down

that's another form of Barack they fell

face down before the throne and they

worshiped God saying amen blessing and

glory and wisdom and Thanksgiving and

honor and power and strength be to our

god forever and ever amen human history

is a bullet train that is heading to the

throne of Jesus

Christ that is our future so if you are

making decisions today that take away

from your relationship with Jesus or his

church or his word or his ministry

through you then you are making the

wrong decision because we know where

this train is headed it's headed right

to the throne of Jesus and it says in

Philippians

Philippians 2:1

2:1 that the na at the name of

Jesus every Barack every knee will bow

in heaven and on Earth and under the

Earth so if you can learn to kneel

before God now then you are going to

have a seamless transition into your

eternity if you can learn to to Bow and

kneel before God if you can learn to

just propose to him and say God I want

to spend eternity with you if you can

learn to be humble before him take on

that childlike Faith to humble yourself

to get rid of your self-importance and

to focus on who God is and who you are

in light of who God is if you can kneel

and beg not only for your blessing but

for the blessings of other people if you

can kneel and adore God Pledge Your

Allegiance to him if you can kneel now

and receive that anointing that it talks

about in Acts 1:8 says you will receive

Acts 1:8

power when God comes when the Holy

Spirit comes into your life and you will

be my Witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea

and Samaria and all the way to the end

of the Earth if you can bow before God

and receive those things then when you

get to Eternity it'll be a natural

transition for you you're like I've been

doing this my whole life and I'm going

to do it in heaven as

well but if you choose not to Barack

here if you choose not to kneel and

submit before God that doesn't change

Philippians chapter

2:1 it says that every knee will

bow every knee will bow even if you

don't want this to be your reality it is

your reality now here's the good

news L if you guys come up here's the

here's the good news God does not desire

for anyone to spend an eternity in Hell

separated from

him even though every knee will bow on

in heaven and on Earth and under the

Earth even though he has that power he

does not execute that power in a way

that is harmful to us Jesus went to the

cross he submitted himself to the Cross

so that you could be forgiven of your

sin Jesus lived a completely perfect

life here on Earth he upheld every

single law in

scripture and when he went to that cross

the scripture says he took on all of

Humanity's sin past present and future

so we have this sinless God who went to

the Cross covered in our

sin and he died on that cross but the

good news is that through 3 days later

he rose from the dead yes he was really

dead and yes he conquered death and

scripture says not only did he conquer

death but he also conquered

sin he appeased God's Wrath toward all

of our sin he substituted his life for

ours so that when we bow before God we

are bowing to Jesus our lord and our

savior and he did all of that

publicly so that you would know how much

that he loves you scripture says that he

did this for the joy that was set before

him on the cross which means that you

were the joy you were on his mind as he

willingly gave up his life for you so

what he wants you to be able to do is to

know the future to know that all of

human history is headed toward the

Throne of Jesus and he wants to make

sure that you are ready for that day day

that unavoidable day that every single

person will

have so if you'd like to give your your

heart to Jesus today it would be my

privilege and my honor to lead you in

doing that so would you be so kind as to

close your eyes and and bow your heads

and and quiet your

hearts that's why we do

this to just quiet your

hearts and think about it am I ready

to

kneel before Jesus one

day will that be a joyous experience for

me because I've already knelt before him

in this life and given my life to him or

will that be a horrifying experience

where I realized that Jesus really was

the king of kings and Lord of lords and

now it's too late for me to make a

decision any other

way if that's you today and you've

searched your heart and you realize that

there's never been a time where you've

fully knelt before God and confessed

your sin and received your salvation

then I want to give you an opportunity

right now at the end of this series to

worship God in the greatest possible way

that you could ever worship him which is

to give your life to him to trust in him

to have faith in him so this is what you

can do you can say it out loud or you

can just say it in your mind

but say something along these lines it's

not a magic spell it's just your heart

confessing what you're already thinking

but you say something like God I know

I'm a

sinner God I know I need a

savior and I believe that savior's name

is

Jesus I believe Jesus is God's

son I believe Jesus died on the

cross and I believe Jesus ra raised from

the

dead so

father God forgive

me cleanse

me heal

me I

give my life to

you symbolically I'm kneeling before you

and pledging my allegiance to

you friends the Bible says that if you

said that prayer and you meant it in

your heart and your mind that today is

the day of your salvation today is the

day the holy spirit of God came to live

within you and sealed your salvation in

such a way that the Bible says there is

no principle No Authority no power on

heaven or Earth that can ever separate

you from God's love so even when you

have a bad day even when you mess up it

doesn't mean you're not

saved God's love is perfect even when

yours

isn't so thank you Lord for the those

that gave their life to Jesus today and

I pray that you would encourage them to

to tell me or tell someone about the big

decision they made so that we can

properly disciple them and help them to

know more about what it means to be a

follower of

Jesus Lord I pray that you would

continue to move in this

community and all the Christian churches

around here that are preaching the

gospel Lord we just pray that you would

show up in an incredible way Lord that

your Holy Spirit would take root in the

hearts and lives of everyone that lives

in this community so they can know you

as their lord and savior and they can go

ahead and begin to Bow before you to

learn what it's like to have a perfect

king of kings and a Lord of lords that

loves them perfectly and cares for them

with all the power of the universe Lord

thank you for what you've done today

thank you what you're going to continue

to do in our lives