The Vocabulary of Praise - Psalm 98

[Music]

you're still the rock that I cling

to when everything else Falls

you're still the one I'm building the

reason never

lost

Reas never

lost you come through now like you did

then and and again Almighty foress might

time and time and time again oh time and

time and time

[Music]

again there's

you

as I up to where my help coming

from your my help's coming

from come through now like you did back

then Time and Time and Time Again Mighty

for my

defense time and time and time again oh

Time and Time and Time

[Music]

you put a new song in

myth me to sing

about set my feet upon their I'm

standing on your

goodness

God you put a new song in my

mouth give me something to say

about set myet

all I'm standing on your

goodness

God and you come through now like you

did back then Time and Time and Time

again Mighty foress my

defense Time and Time time again you

come through now you did back

then and and again Aly foress my

defend and time and time again oh Time

and Time and Time again oh time and time

and

again thank

you that's H

y'all it's a deep cut if you've been

here about another round of applause for

for God giving the talent to us to

experience what we just

experience hey thank you I was a little

worried about that

actually hey we're in a series called

the vocabulary of Praise we're going to

be in Psalm 98 today if you'd like to go

and join me

there goal of this series is to unlock

new levels of worship by studying the

seven Hebrew words for praise in the old

Testament I want to give a shout out to

Levi lusco for his series on praise and

also for Chris Tomlin for his book holy

Roar which has all seven of these words

in it uh if you want to do a deep dive

into every one of these words that's the

book to pick up uh the first word we

talked about of course was Halal which

is what we just experienced that's to to

to boast and to Rave and to be

clamorously foolish about how much we

love God look there's a time in every

church service where we need to be just

celebrating who God is even in a church

of the Frozen chosen where it looks like

half of you walked in here after eating

a lemon like we uh it's biblical it's

okay to to just let yourself go and be

excited about salvation because we know

when there's praise in our hearts

there's sword in our hand we talked

about yada yada means to extend our

hands in worship Jesus extended his

hands on the cross for us and so we

should also extends our extend our hands

in worship to him and when you do that

it calls God to your table it brings God

closer than he already is which is just

an incredible thought when you think

about how close he actually is to to be

even closer to God is just a magnificent

uh thought and then we have this these

other words uh TOA TOA is just kind of

the same but it talks about the raising

your hands one with Thanksgiving and one

with confession and when you do that

it's like that one two punch that takes

out your enemy and last week of course

we talked about shabbach which is to

praise passionately in a loud tone Tolar

declaring the Lord's greatness over you

as you prepare for a moment or a

movement of God your your praise

actually connects you to something that

God wants to do in your life in the

future or in the present it's taking his

timeline and your timeline and kind of

mashing them together so he can show up

in a strong way before we uh get to our

next word I do want to just take a

second to to pray and ask God's blessing

his his word

today lord it's our our prayer that you

would meet us where we're at that you

would help us to focus on you and what

you want to teach us today I thank you

for these four words of Praise that

we've already internalized you can hear

it on Sunday mornings Lord just as I I

sat back and listen to the people around

me singing and it's just so awesome to

realize that that praise can actually go

up levels and Lord it it feels like here

at saers Creek that our praise is

continually Rising to new and new levels

and we know when that happens Lord that

you connect us to these great movements

of God that that you want to happen

right here in our church and our own

individual lives and also for our

community so Lord thank you for the

ability to praise thank you for the the

band and the singers and the leaders

that that help us to enter into that

state of Praise And I pray Lord as we

dig even deeper into the words that are

set before us in the Old Testament that

you would just unlock new and exciting

ways for us to be able to praise you so

Lord thank you for what you're doing in

our midst and I pray that you'll

continue to work through us and in us as

we study your word this morning in Jesus

name I pray amen can you imagine a a

movie without a

soundtrack it's kind of crazy to think

about no I realized they did make movies

without soundtracks way back in the day

but movies just wouldn't be movies

without the score accompanying the movie

the number one selling soundtrack of all

time any guesses nope

no bodyguard remember that movie Whitney

Houston did the soundtrack of course

that's why it's like the best ever and I

I will always love you sorry I'm not

Jake all right they never invite me up

here I got more Don't Clap what about

what about Titanic Titanic like that

movie is nothing without the Selen Dion

soundtrack like near far wherever you

are you know what about Will

Wonka o

lo I got a bad feeling about you um what

those are the lyrics by the way uh Top

Gun would Top Gun even be a movie if we

weren't flying through the danger zone I

mean seriously like would anybody have

even watched that movie probably not the

the song made the movie Disney has built

its Empire on music kuna mat right like

they they they're billionaires because

of the music music in their masterpieces

look soundtrack Alters experience not

just in movies but in real life as well

Stephen Spielberg he said half the

credit for this is a quote from him half

of the credit for My Success should go

to the music producer John Williams

think about it

Jaws it's two chords it's an e and it's

an F but it made the movie John Williams

is a legend he's done he's done home

alone and Harry Potter and Indiana Jones

and Star Wars Spielberg said you

wouldn't know me if it wasn't for

him for those of us that are able to

hear life is not just about what you see

it's also about what you hear and what

you hear can change your life that's why

this is the third most common command in

all of scripture

the third most common command in all of

your Bible is to praise the Lord your

God the word praise mean making music

it's right there behind do not fear and

pray to God so do not fear pray to God

and praise the Lord your God with the

word praise meaning

music praise is worship through singing

and we're going to look at that in Psalm

98 if you join me

there sing a new song to the Lord I

always

wonder so so David here or actually we

don't know the author maybe David the

author of this Psalm was writing what a

new song so this was contemporary music

this was a modern song I wonder if at

his church if he tried to to to sing

this song which was inspired by the Holy

Spirit I wonder if he would have had the

same feedback that a lot of churches

give uh to to new songs but here we go

this is a new song to the Lord because

he has performed wonders so what do you

do God does great things in your life

what's that Natural Instinct I'm going

to if you're a musician you're like I

got to write this down I got to make a

song about this because God is just so

good so sing a new s excuse me sing a

new song to the Lord for he has

performed

wonders his right hand and His holy arm

have won a victory the Lord has made his

victory known he has revealed his

righteousness in the sight of the

Nations he has remembered his love and

faithfulness to the house of Israel and

all the ends of the Earth have seen

God's Victory let the whole earth shout

for Joy to the Lord be jubilant shout

and sing sing to the Lord with the liar

and the liar and melodious melodious

song verse six the trumpets and the

blast of the Rams Horn shout

triumphantly in the presence of the Lord

our King Let the Sea and all that fills

it the world and those who live in it

ReSound let the rivers clap their hands

let the mountains shout for Joy before

the Lord for he is coming to judge the

Earth and he will judge the world

righteously and the people fairly so as

this author looks out to the distance

he's saying well God is doing awesome

things now and he's got this great

promise for me in the future so I need

to write this down I need to make a a

new song out of this celebration

Psalm 98 has been called the magnificant

of the Old Testament the magnificant of

the Old Testament which is a reference

to Mary Mother of Jesus when Gabriel

came down to her and said hey I got a

mission for you uh you are going to have

a baby you're actually already pregnant

with the baby and guess what the baby is

going to be the Messiah now think about

that this is just a normal woman she's

planning her wedding she's just a a

teenager looking forward to this wedding

day and then this Angel shows up and

says says that he's got a mission for

her and that mission is for her to carry

the Messiah in her womb and Mary's like

well angel I don't know if you know this

Mr Gabriel but that's not how this works

because I've never known a man first

comes love then comes marriage then

comes baby in the baby carriage right

that's what she says to the the angel

but Gabriel is like look the holy spirit

is involved and when the Holy Spirit is

involved the possible becomes possible

so Mary like us is naturally looking at

the the barriers and I believe that even

if an angel like Gabriel came down to

tell us what's up we would probably do

the same thing she did and be like God

that sounds great but you don't know me

this is impossible for me you can't

possibly do that in my

situation so we need something we need

something to give us faith we need

something to help us see that the impos

possible is actually possible with God

we need something to to elevate our

faith to take our our thoughts and our

ideas to this spiritual Heavenly plane

to give us a a heaven focused

perspective and you know what God gave

us to do that he gave us worship

music because music elevates our

perspective to that spiritual plan

worship music gets our mind off of the

the why this won't work and elevates it

to a place of faith where we're like H

if God said it then it can actually be

true so Mary continues on her journey

she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth

who is also pregnant in a miraculous way

because Elizabeth was way past the time

where she should be able to have a baby

and when Mary shows up with Elizabeth

and says hello John the Baptist the baby

in Elizabeth's womb actually jumped he

jump he he he even in his womb he knew

the response to the presence of Jesus

was to H

and to yadada and to shabbach like he

knew that he needed with his little baby

head and his little baby toes he needed

to Praise Jesus in that moment and so

there's Mary and she she sees this

happening and she's so overcome with the

spirit that she writes one of the most

famous songs ever written the

magnificant and Scholars say that this

magnificant was inspired by the words of

Psalm 98 that's why Psalm 98 is called

the magnificant of the Old Testament

because it inspired Mary in this

moment this Outburst of Praise that she

just had to turn into a song this helps

us understand our fifth word in this

series which is the word

zamar zamar zamar means to celebrate in

song and music to touch the strings or

parts of a musical instrument to play

upon it zamar was in the heart of the

mother of Jesus as she wrote this song

as she carried Jesus in her womb she was

so overcome when she realized that the

impossible had actually become possible

that she put pen to paper and composed

this song a song based off of the words

of Psalm 98 which in verse 5 says this

sing or praise that's that's zamar okay

so zamar to the Lord with liar with a

liar and melodious zamar or song it's

talking about music vocals and

instrumentals coming together to produce

Harmony and an expression of passion

this word is used 45 times in your Bible

and in English you're going to see it

translated as sing song and

praise isn't it incredible that the

Bible tells us to worship with

instruments I've been in churches where

they think the drum kit is the devil and

they think the the guitars are the evil

one the enemy come to take them away and

I just want to to remind you to look in

your scripture because there are lots

and lots if you think that way there are

lots of examples in the Old Testament

about vocals and instruments coming

together to form worship songs you're

going to see liars and harps and

stringed instruments and drums and

symbols and that's just in the Old

Testament

New Testament we're commanded in

Ephesians

Ephesians 5:19

5:19 when we get together as a church

Paul commands us to speak to one another

in Psalms like Psalm

98 like in hymns and in spiritual songs

now notice this singing and making music

Paul like separated the two so we would

know that they come together as a a

package it's not just about vocals it's

not just Acappella it's not just about

vocals and an organ it's about making

music with your heart to the lord it's

taking the notes and putting them with

the words of the the scriptures and

coming together with these beautiful

songs that that raise your faith that

take your eyes off of what's impossible

and help you to focus on what is

possible God commands us to take these

notes and these chords and to blend them

with the vocals in such a way that they

create a chariot that carries Our Praise

to Heaven do you understand music is a

vehicle that carries your praise to

Heaven it's this beautiful gift that God

has given us to be able to thank him and

confess to him right to to be able to to

communicate with him not just through

prayer but Al also through song there's

just something special that happens when

we gather together and sing praises to

our god it elevates everything

praise will change

Destinies if you have someone in your

life that is headed down the wrong path

you may want to pay very good attention

to this part of the sermon because it's

your praise your zamar that changes

Destinies music will soften a Harden

heart Dr Martin Lord jodens shared a

story about a man that was uh walking

past his church on his way to the temp

's River to commit suicide this man had

given up on life and decided he just

wanted to he wanted it all to be over so

he's walking by the church and at the

moment he walked by the church he heard

the people in the church singing Because

the windows were open it was a warm day

and so he hears these people singing he

didn't hear one word of a sermon all he

heard was the music and in that moment

he decided that his life was actually

worth living that he didn't want to die

anymore this man went into the church

and he joined the church and he served

the church for years all because he

heard the people singing praises to God

praise music is a way of evangelism

these chords and Arrangements they they

demonstrate that there is an order to

the

world a lot of people think the world is

just crazy it's messed up it doesn't

make sense but these music is one of

those few things that that brings a

little bit of order to the world it

shows you that there's some organization

there that there's probably a creator

here Leonard Bernstein the composer of

uh many things but most famously

Westside Story uh is not not a Christian

not a Believer but he wrote these words

about

Beethoven he said Beethoven turned out

pieces of breathtaking rightness

rightness that's the word our boy has

the real Goods the stuff from Heaven the

power to make you feel at the finish

that something is right with the world

there is something that checks

throughout

that flows in its own law consistently

something we can trust that will never

let us down Leonard did not want to

believe in God but when he heard the the

things the compositions of Beethoven he

could not help believe that there is a

higher power that is organizing all of

this chaos on Earth we see it in Acts

Acts 16:25

16 verse 25 says about midnight Paul and

S were were praying and singing hymns to

God and the prisoners were listening to

them so picture that we got Paul and

Silas they're in prison they're chained

up and they start singing hymns and as

they sing it says suddenly there was

such a violent earthquake that the

foundations of the jail were shaken and

immediately all the doors were opened

and everyone's chains came loose do you

understand your zamar is not just for

you Paul and Silas were not just singing

for themselves they were singing for all

the prisoners that were around them and

when they sang those spiritual songs

when they made that music the chains

fell off the doors were open the praise

is earthquak bondage breaking Freedom

making for you and the people around you

so church let me encourage you don't be

selfish with your

praise you never know who's around you

what what do they see when they when

they look at you did they see someone

that's like hey this this hymn is old I

don't like this it's not what I grew up

with it's doesn't resonate with me

anymore I can't believe the worship team

actually picked that one out of the hym

book for this week is that what they see

on your face or do they see someone that

loves God so much that it doesn't matter

about the genre of the music what

matters is that there's somebody that

that that loves you and is control roll

in the world and and send his son Jesus

to die on the cross for and and it

doesn't matter what song is put before

you you just want to sing you just want

to praise is that is that what they see

because here's the thing if their heart

has been hardened to the gospel and you

you may not know their story but they

look up and they see you singing praise

to God it will remind them like it did

to Mr Leonard here that there is an

order to the world that there is a

creator that there is something bigger

than themselves to look forward to in

the future future it can open their

heart for the presence of the Holy

Spirit to swoop on it and provide them

with salvation so don't be selfish in

your praise because praise is not about

you it's about God and you never know

what might happen when you praise out

loud so here's the deal praise will

change your mood so maybe you don't care

about that one everybody you know is

saved they're all going to heaven it's

all good but but you probably know

somebody that's

grumpy you probably know somebody in a

bad mood go ahead and point at them if

they're here no I'm just kidding make

them in a worse mood we'll see if we can

fix it up real

quick praise will change your

mood so if you're in a bad mood right

now guess what music can change that

specifically worship music can change

that it's why we sing laas to children

to help them fall asleep when they're

fussy music changes moods and guess what

that never changes throughout your life

even when you get older music can still

either reinforce a mood or change a mood

we have this story in uh 1st Samuel

16 where King Saul is just completely

overcome by what the Bible says is

moodiness in verse uh 15 there chapter

16 it says so Saul's servant says to him

you see that an evil spirit from God is

tormenting you let the Lord command your

servants here in your presence to look

for someone who knows how to play the

liar so I want to point out first of all

that this evil spirit this bad mood Came

Upon Saul because of the sin that was in

Saul's life he stopped listening to God

he stopped caring about what God thought

he was just soaking up all the all the

praise on himself his ego became massive

and so this is what happens when you

become all about you not about Jesus so

anyway they they want to find someone

that can play the liar whenever the evil

spirit from God comes on you that person

can play the liar and you will feel

better so even thousands of years ago

they understood the power of music to

change moods so then Paul commands his

servants find me someone who plays well

and bring him to me and one of the young

men answered I've seen a I've seen the

son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how

to play the liar he is also a valiant

man a warrior eloquent handsome why'

they have to throw that in there and and

the Lord is with like David doesn't have

enough going on like positive in his

life he needs to be the handsome guy too

come on man

anyway David is just out there and he's

just being David he's just a Shepherd

boy taking care of some sheep and this

dude he goes above and beyond he's got a

lot of sheep and you know if a bear

shows up it's it's one sheep you know go

ahead eat the Sheep you know the lion

shows up it's all right I got 99 more

you can have the one that's not David

David's out there in the field is a

young man teenage boy and when the the

Bears show up when the Lions show up he

goes and literally fights the Bears and

fights the Lions and protects his sheep

when he's not risking his life for his

sheep he is practicing his craft he's

honing his musical skills he is

composing Psalms he is writing music and

he had no idea that that his making

music like anybody would even be paying

attention to him he he didn't know that

people were listening to the things that

he was putting together he he didn't

have a record deal he wasn't on the

radio I mean he he was just making music

because that was was something that God

put in his heart and when it came time

to pick a musician to come and soothe

Saul's mood they had no choice but to

pick David because everywhere these

servants went someone was saying hey

David the shepherd boy the son of Jesse

is amazing we heard him down at the

waterfront the other day that dude can

play like go get him because I'll

guarantee he'll be able to help Saul out

so just a little side tangent here if

God has placed something on your heart

doesn't have to be music but if God has

inspired you to do something and given

you a gift and a talent don't waste that

work on it perfect it because you never

know how God might use that gift to be a

blessing to someone else so we have

David and he's playing music to soothe

Saul's tormented Soul it's zamar it's

zamar and it

works it changing what he was hearing

changed how he was feeling

so some of you you need to go home and

you need to create a new playlist on

Spotify you need to change what you're

hearing because changing what you're

hearing is going to change how you're

feeling if you keep listening to

depressing music about loss and breakup

over and over and over if you keep

listening to music that leads you into

temptation over and over and over guess

what your your life is going to go in

those directions music has the power to

pull you in so so let's balance some of

that out and listen to things that are

worthy of Praise let's get some worship

music on that

playlist this was so important to David

that in S 2 Samuel 23 as David was

working on his his eulogy he knew he was

getting ready to to die he he wanted

them to them to include certain things

about him number one he said that he is

the anointed of God of Jacob and number

two he talks about how he meet the Lions

and the

Bears no that's not what he did number

two he talked about how he slew the

Giant Goliath and then had a raiding

party to go kill all of Goliath's giant

Brothers as well no that's not what he

put on there the second most important

thing to him behind being the anointed

of God of Jacob was that he was a sweet

psalmist that word is

zamist he was the sweet the Marist of

Israel yeah he he slew Goliath yeah he

killed some bears and some lions and

protected his sheep and did a million

other incredible things but the two

things he wanted on his in his eulogy at

his funeral service was number one he

want to give his dad a shout out he

wanted to give his family lineage a

shout out number one was he wanted to to

point out that God anointed him but then

number two is that he wanted people to

know that he made music why because

music changed people's Destinies it

changed people's moods he understood

that this worship music was one of the

most powerful gifts that he would ever

leave to this world and yeah we talk

about all the cool stuff that David did

but guess what when we read these Psalms

a lot of them were composed by David his

music his words they live on forever and

ever and they are still connecting

people to God

today praise changes your uh

possibilities Mary said here's what's

possible with me never known a man can't

be pregnant the angel said wait the holy

spirit's involved so guess what the

impossible is now possible because

that's what the Holy Spirit does makes

the impossible possible Right praise

makes your soul be like all right let's

go let's let's play ball you know let's

do this praise music has a way of

allowing you to walk out of this

building on a a Sunday and just be so

excited for the week ahead it it gets

you ready for all the possibilities that

are out there before you and things that

you thought were absolutely impossible

they become possible during our times of

Praise 2 Kings chapter

2 Kings 3 · chapter mention

3 so the king of Israel the king of

Judah and the king of Edom set out after

they had traveled their indirect route

for seven days they had no water for the

Army or the animals with them they were

going to die of dehydration then the

king of Israel said oh no the Lord has

summoned these three kings only to hand

them over to Moab so to make things

worse the moabites were getting ready to

close in and Destroy them but then

josaphat said isn't there a Prophet of

the Lord here he's like what is this a

nonprofit anyway

um you're welcome I'm a dad I'm allowed

let's inquire of the Lord through him

and then one of the servants is like

yeah but that's Elisha sha the son of

shifat who used to pour water on

Elijah's hands he's the one that's here

in other words Elijah ain't here we got

Elisha and Elisha is just the dude that

pours water on the hands of the Prophet

he's just the servant to the prophet

kind of reminds me of how people were

like that's just David he's just the

shepherd boy he can't possibly be the

king of Israel but here's the thing Levi

aluska points out if you're too big to

serve you're too small to lead another a

little sad note but if you're too big to

serve if you're too big to be the Elisha

then you're too small to lead but here's

what happened Jehosaphat affirmed the

word of the Lord is with him he is a

prophet so the king of Israel and

Jehosaphat the king of Edom they went to

him however Elisha said to the king of

Jo joram of Israel what do we have in

common go to the prophets of your father

and your mother because they had kind of

turned their back on on God and raised

up their own prophets who weren't really

prophets but the king of Israel replied

no because it is the Lord who has

summoned these three kings to hand them

over to Moab so we need your help Elijah

responded by the life of the Lord of

armies before whom I stand if I did not

respect King Jehosaphat of Judah I

wouldn't even look at

you I would not even take notice of you

then in verse

15 what's he do he says now bring me a

warrior bring me a soldier bring me an

Army we'll fix this thing no what does

he say he says now verse 15 bring me a

musician and while the musician played

the Lord's hand came on

Elisha Elisha needed to switch

frequencies in order to hear from the

Lord he was a little Disturbed he was a

little fired up he's in a presence of

somebody that he doesn't respect and

really doesn't want to help so he's kind

of in a bad mood himself and sometimes

when you get that way it's really hard

to hear from the Lord so he needs a a

change of fre quencies he's frustrated

so what does he do he calls for clarity

he calls for a new signal he calls for a

musician this is something that God

commands all of us to do he commands us

to praise him and when you praise Him lo

and behold guess what happens you hear

more clearly from God this praise music

gets your heart ready to receive a

message from God this is not just old

church tradition that we sing and then

we preach no no this is how God

organized worship to work from the very

beginning of time you get the musicians

they make the music you listen to the

words it opens your heart and then the

pastor or the prophet presents the

message the word of God sometimes God

just shows up in the Holy Spirit and

speaks directly to us not even from his

word but that's how the pattern

works these songs get us ready they help

us be more receptive in our hearts and

so Elijah hears from God and God says

tell them to dig some ditches now

imagine that you and all of your animals

are you're completely out of water and

you're going to die of

dehydration so in the middle of the day

what's the last thing you want to go

do dig ditches I work with the

Brotherhood that's all they ever let me

do is dig holes post hole diggers all I

ever get to do like five minutes of that

and I'm done for the day can you imag

imagine you have no water I got I drink

like six Gatorades when I'm with them

they had none of that they had no water

and God's like hey dig ditches it's a

test of their faith but when you're

praising you hear God very clearly so

there's no pushback here because

everybody heard the word of God the

musician laid the soundtrack and they

heard God's word very clearly that they

should dig ditches and so what do they

do they go and they dig the

ditches Matthew Henry says those who

expect God's blessings must prepare room

for

them so isn't it awesome that when you

pray is that zamar it just snaps you out

of the fog and brings your blessings

into Focus so you can prepare for them

because see God knew something that they

didn't know and that was that a big

storm was coming and when that storm

came it filled those ditches with water

and they were the only ones that had the

water so when the battle began those

soldiers were refreshed and ready to

fight because they had prepared their

hearts to receive the blessing that God

had for

them think of the great hymn the things

of Earth will grow strangely dim in the

light of his glories and

Grace when you praise it just lifts the

fog and helps you see clearly what God

is saying to you and your church and

your Community Praise gets us pumped I

got a Bono quote but you didn't know

you'd get that today we got Selen on

Whitney Houston and Bono in the same

sermon you're

lucky in the dressing room before the

show we would read the Psalms as a band

and then walk out into the Arenas and

stadiums the word igniting us and

inspiring us psyched or pumped that

means a change of

expectation the word of God through the

music of God changes your expectations

they did a study of uh at one of these

big universities

and and they had these people look at

faces on the screen like real fast they

would just like go up and they'd be gone

and they'd have to write down was that

was that face frowning or smiling then

they did the same study with the same

people in the exact same way except they

had music playing in the background as

they were looking at the screen and

overwhelmingly even when the faces were

frowning people were reporting that the

faces were actually smiling because the

music had changed something within them

it had changed their expectations

and what they found is that music can

change the way that you view your

life so isn't it so fitting that the

first day of the week God says hey on

the morning of the first day of the week

how about you all get together and sing

some praises to me so that I can change

your expectations for the week is that

incredible we didn't need a study to

show us that did we no God showed us

that Martin Luther said next to the the

the reformer he said next to the word of

God music deserves the highest praise

for whether you wish to comfort the sad

to terrify the happy to encourage the

despairing to Humble the proud to calm

the passionate or to appease those full

of hate what more effective means than

music could you ever

find God is worthy of Praise he is

worthy of all the hard work that our

musicians in our choir put get put

during the weeks to lead up to the

worship Services he is worthy of the old

songs he's wor worthy of the modern

songs he's worthy of the songs that

haven't even been written yet God I'm

going to sing to you because I need

perspective for my experiences that I'll

be having this week look my expectations

come from the soundtrack of

creation did you know there was a

soundtrack at creation while God was

making the world there was actually

music playing in the background it says

in Job chapter

Job 38 · chapter mention

38 God speaks in verse 4 through six

about questioning job where were you

when I did this where were you when I

made this and then in verse 7 he says

while the morning Stars sang together

and all the sons of God shouted for

Joy the stars and the Angels were

singing as God created the world that we

live

on Leonard Bernstein says good music is

the stuff of heaven right it's the good

stuff it's what Boven had praise takes

our thoughts to to angels and stars that

connects us to the Heavenly realms in a

an incredible way there was a soundtrack

to the to the past but there's also a

soundtrack to our future which is what

Psalm 98 was teaching us that praise

allows us to step into the future allows

us to see where we're headed it gives us

hope for for heaven as the psalmist said

in the end of the psalm there's a day

where the judge is coming and the judge

is going to judge justly and that's good

news for us that have given our life

over to Jesus

I spoke about Jaws earlier but in that

that movie the the shark was actually

broke for the entire creation of that

movie they they built this shark that

was supposed to do all this neat stuff

in the water and his name was Bruce and

uh Bruce never worked so they had to

come up with the plan B because they

didn't have an unlimited budget at that

time and so they're like well what what

do we do and there and step Spur's like

okay I got it never show the shark until

the very end the only thing that you

ever really see of of the the original

shark is that those those moments when

the music plays that dut dut right and

it's it's so crazy because it actually

made the movie a 100 times scarier than

if you saw that janky shark that they

had built originally it would have

ruined all the suspension of disbelief

and probably killed the film but because

the shark never showed up your

imagination fills in all of the the

voids right music evokes your

imagination

and it makes us think about how one day

the songs we sing help connect us to a

day where there's no more glitch in the

system no more janky

shark what we have is death no more

death and no more disease no more ugly

we we see the lion laying down with the

lamb it it changes our expectations of

where we're headed because you can get

through today if you know that you know

next week is going to be nothing but

Paradise zamar is our past reminding us

where we came from and it's also a

prophetic experience pointing to where

we are headed and this helps us overcome

the negative side of human

expectations we see walls Jesus sees

opportunity but when I was younger uh

music was very important to my

upbringing because I I struggled with a

lot of things like most people do uh

fear of man being one of them I was kind

of shy I was definitely not a confident

person and so there were times at night

where I would lay there and just not

want to go anywhere the next day uh

because I just didn't want to be around

people so I was kind of I was scared I

was scared a lot and one of the things

that changed my life is when my mom and

dad got me a boom box that I wish I

still had because now they sell for like

500 bucks on eBay um like a legit boom

box like you know the break dancers

would carry you know I had one of those

in my room and it was so cool because it

had it had a tape thing in it like tape

deck and I could play tapes and so I I

went to the store and my youth pastor

recommended uh DC Talk

anybody down with the DC Talk right all

right so um all right so now it's a

little bit embarrassing but then it was

cool it was all right and so I got that

that tape and I started playing some of

those songs like Jesus Freak and stuff

and and it was weird because every time

I would play those those Christian tapes

it it just something changed inside my

soul it didn't really matter how cheesy

the music was there was just something

that gave me confidence and now as an

older person I realized that was God

changing my expectations