CELEBRATE HIS GREAT NAME!

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August 18, 2013 Providence

CELEBRATE HIS GREAT NAME! Psalm 145:1-7 INTRODUCTION: On a hot Saturday afternoon 40 years ago, a beautiful young bride and a hopeful young groom shared their vows and entered into a covenant to be husband and wife. Cathy and I have been married 40 years today…and God’s great mercy and grace have been on display in our lives ever since. Three amazing sons, three extraordinary daughters-in-law, three wonderful grandsons and two more grandchildren on the way—Cathy and I have so much to celebrate! We will never run out of reasons to give thanks to our gracious Savior, Jesus Christ, for all eternity. Psa. 145:2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. That is as it should be. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Therefore, as two people in love with Christ and with each other, Cathy and I owe a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid. But we will do all that He empowers us to do not only to be thankful but to give Him thanks…wholehearted thanks…for all He is, all He means to us and all He has done. As another ministry year ends and a new one begins, we at Providence take time to celebrate. Not that we do it very well…not that we do it often enough…but we must give wholehearted thanks for His blessings on this church family and those we influence for His glory! THESIS: Hearts that belong to Jesus Christ overflow with praise and thanksgiving as we celebrate His goodness and faithfulness in our lives. I. SPIRITUAL CELEBRATIONS OFTEN PROVE DIFFICULT FOR US. --Let’s be honest…we are more likely to celebrate our favorite team winning…or celebrate a birthday or anniversary…or celebrate a new job or salary increase…than we are to celebrate the gracious goodness or our great God! --Why do you think that is? There are some good reasons and some wrong reasons that seems to be the case! A. DIFFICULT FOR GOOD REASON --It is hard to celebrate with abandon if we believe that there are good reasons to keep ourselves in check. --As good as these reasons sound on the surface, they close the door on legitimate reasons to celebrate the greatness of God. 1. We want to be humble and never appear to take credit for what God does. --True as far as it goes, but does not give us room to humbly praise Him in a way that does give Him all the glory! 2. We want to be focused on who God is, not just what God does. --Again, good idea but the Bible is filled with examples of praise for both! 3. We want to be respectful and reverent toward God and think that restraint is needed for that.

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--The idea that all interaction with the Lord is best kept in check to demonstrate reverence is flawed both biblically and rationally—again the Bible is filled with examples of extravagant praise! B. DIFFICULT FOR WRONG REASONS --But even if there appear to be some good reasons to hold back, often our reluctance to celebrate God’s great goodness in our lives stems from wrong reasons. 1. We miss the wonder of His grace behind a wall of demands and entitlements. 2. We allow self-consciousness to inhibit us instead of God-consciousness to release us. 3. We look past what is and become obsessed with what is not and might never be. II. SPIRITUAL CELEBRATIONS ALWAYS CULTIVATE GRATITUDE --When Brian walked you through the encounter in Luke’s gospel that Jesus had with the 10 lepers he healed and cleansed, the shock of seeing only one return to give thanks hits each of us with the question—would I have been the one who came back? --Unless we make it a conscious practice to celebrate God’s great name and to be on the lookout for evidences of His power and love, signs of His glory and mercy, we will miss them. A. WHEN SHOULD WE CELEBRATE? Psa. 145:1-2 I will extol [exalt] you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

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Every day I will

ILLUS. I have not been very good at this. All my life, I have tried to take a low key approach to big events, special occasions. th When our kids asked Cathy and me what we wanted to do to celebrate our 40 anniversary, we honestly told them – “This is not a big deal…not like 25 or 50. We will probably just go out to dinner together, but thanks for asking!” They ignored us!! Last night all of them were here and other family members drove in to join us to remember, to give thanks, to celebrate this great gift of covenant union God gave us. Here at Providence, I have been an advocate of taking a low-key approach, far too often to the detriment of a spirit of gratitude and praise permeating this place with all that God has done and is doing! Well, the more I have read the Scriptures, the more convinced I have been that I have been wrong!! We NEED to celebrate more, we NEED opportunities to come together as a people and embrace each other with expressions of gratitude spoken, prayed, written, pictured and sung together. Be patient with me and give yourself some room to grow as well—but we are going to get better at celebrating with grateful praise—just as David did in Psalm 145. 1. Every day look for reasons to praise and bless Him --If you are not in practice, you won’t be very good at seeing His hand at work. --But once you get into the habit, you will find that your excitement grows as your eyes open to the wonders of His grace all around you!

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NOTE: The more you see of His amazing power, greatness and abundant goodness, the less you will care about the picky concerns that absorb so much of your thought life and rob you of so much of your joy. 2. Forever and ever you will praise and bless Him --If you do not celebrate the grace of God now, and if you have a hard time coming up with reasons to give Him thanks and praise now, why do you think you want to go to heaven—that will be the primary occupation of all who dwell with Him there! ILLUS. So if you are not interested in going to the symphony now, why would you think that you would want to do that forever? If Nascar racing has no appeal to you, why would you ever want to be at a place where that is the main attraction all the time? Lots of people talk about wanting to go to heaven and being with the Lord forever and ever—praising and blessing His name. But they are not interested at all in joining their voices in the daily rehearsal going on here on earth every day until that day when we go to be with Him forever. One of the marks of genuine conversion is always a hunger and desire for more of Jesus Christ—and that always leads to a yearning to celebrate all that He means to those who are made new and whole in Him! If you have been born to eternal life, you are expected to live with an eternal perspective in all things…so now, as you will forever, find the joy of remembering and celebrating and praising. B. WITH WHOM SHOULD WE CELEBRATE? --Celebrating God’s grace and faithfulness is always a personal matter—but it is not exclusively a private matter! ◆ Exalt Him in the quiet place alone… Psa. 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth… Psa. 145:1-2 I 2 will extol [exalt] you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. --If I will not praise and thank Him privately, I cannot do so publicly! ◆ Exalt Him together with… Psa. 34:3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! • The assembly of the congregation and mighty throngs Psa. 35:18 I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you. • The elders and leaders of the people Psa. 107:32 Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him at the seat of the elders. • The household Psa. 78:4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. • Each successive generation Psa. 145:4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. III. SPIRITUAL CELEBRATIONS ALWAYS GROW OUR UNDERSTANDING AND DEEPEN OUR FAITH. --Those who celebrate with praise and thanksgiving always increase their trust in the Lord.

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--Those who increase their trust, multiply their peace. --Those who multiply peace, find inexpressible joy. --Spiritual celebrations cause us to recall what we know about God Himself…for from His innermost being flow rivers of living waters that refresh and cultivate fruitful lives. A. WHEN WE CELEBRATE WE TELL GOD WHAT WE KNOW OF HIM --Hear the psalmist exalting and giving thanks to God—watch how seamlessly he goes from recounting what God does to what God is like! ◆ The Lord is… • • • • • • • •

Gracious and merciful – v.8 Good to all – v.9 Powerful in mighty acts – v.6, 11 Everlasting in dominion – v.13 The Sustainer of the fallen – v.14 Righteous and kind – v. 7, 17 Near and ever-present – v.18 Satisfier of desires – v.19

B. WHEN WE CELEBRATE WHAT WE KNOW WE WANT TO DO IT MORE AND JOIN WITH OTHERS Psa. 145:21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever. --Not only do I want to keep speaking words of praise and thanksgiving, I want to join my voice with “all flesh” as often as I can in blessing “his holy name forever and ever.” --Like anything else that is worth doing well, celebrating with adoration and praise, with thanksgiving and awe, takes practice. --The more we join together in corporate times of celebration, the better we will become at expressing what is really on our hearts. --The better we get at doing that, the more we will want to do it—together and in our own places of private praise. NOTE: Soon, we will find ourselves fulfilling the prayer request tucked into the Christmas carol, “Away in a Manger,” ‘’…and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there!”. --What better way to be fit for heaven than to become faithful on earth in offering our praise and expressing our gratitude for all that our God is to us and for the sweet, matchless grace of Jesus Christ who alone can make us “fit for heaven” or earth! CONCLUSION: Stories of God’s faithfulness to us over the past year can be found everywhere. Today we want you see and hear about some of them. What we do not want to do is miss the opportunity to invite you to join your voices together in giving thanks to Jesus Christ who calls us to come to Him with hearts filled with gratitude and lips overflowing with praise. Here are three things you can do, starting this very day, to cultivate the habit of praise, to develop a practice of giving thanks and to learn the value of building a culture of celebration!

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• Make it a matter of focus in your daily prayer time to give God thanks and to take time to remember the myriad of ways He has blessed you. • In your family, discover the power of praise and thanks by developing the practice of celebrating the goodness of God in the lives of each family member. • Here at church, even if there are things that do not meet your expectation, look around and find the vast array of reasons to bless the Lord and give thanks for evidences of His grace at work here. Do you get excited when you consider the greatness of God? Are your recollections of His faithfulness fresh and new every morning? As a starting point, today you have been given many reasons to celebrate. Here is one more story for your encouragement!

August 18, 2013 Providence Baptist Church © David Horner, 2013 Sermon outlines are copyrighted in the event of future publication. They may be used for preaching and teaching purposes but may not be published or sold.