I VOW TO PRAISE YOU!

Psalm 100 (NRSV)

We are God's sheep

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

DEVOTION

With the exception of Psalm 23 & 150 I bet that today’s scripture is one of the best known—and best loved—psalms in the Bible.

I remember that as a little girl this psalm was often recited at the start of every worship service. It was meant to “put us in the mind and mood” of worship!

Nowadays, I don’t hear this psalm as much at the start of worship services and perhaps that explains why so many people look mad to be there!

Have you ever walked into a worship service and wondered why the people even bothered to get out of bed? I have been in churches where the atmosphere felt more like a funeral than a party!

I think of Sunday morning as an opportunity for God’s children to get together and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead! On Sunday morning, I jump up excited about the opportunity to go the “Sunday-Live” gathering where all of God’s children are rejoicing about God’s victory over sin, death and the grave!

Today’s psalm proscribes the exact attitude and behavior of God’s worshiping people. It says that we are to make a joyful noise, worship the Lord with gladness, and express our thanksgiving and praise as we bless God’s Holy Name!

We do this because God is God and God is good! We do this because God made us and we are God’s people. We do this because God showers us daily with steadfast love and faithfulness!

WOW, Hallelujah!

I don’t know about you, but praise is what I do!

In the Black Church tradition we say, “When the praises go up, the blessings come down!” Psalm 22 says, “God inhabits the praises of God’s people.”

In other words, our praise and worship matters! This Sunday, I hope that we will approach worship with a different attitude. We don’t have to go to church, we GET TO go to church! Let’s make it a Holy Ghost party worthy of the Name--and Victory--of Jesus!

Just think about this friends: God loves us so much that God gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life!

When our favorite football team makes a touchdown, we shout for joy! When our son or daughter scores the winning goal in soccer, we puff out our chests and boast about the victory. When we have a baby, we show the picture to perfect strangers in the supermarket. So why is it when we think about the victory of Jesus, we aren't shouting it from the rooftops?!!

Come on somebody! God is victorious in Christ and so are we!! That's something to shout about!

Will you praise God today? If so, please pray with me:

Oh bless Your Name God for there is none like you! I love you so much I can't even contain it! When I think about how good You have been to me, I can't help but clap my hands, stomp my feet, and shout with joy! Today, I pray that my whole life will be a "Hallelujah Praise!" Help me to take my joyful and thankful heart into the world and make disciples of all my friends! In Jesus' Name, Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

To listen to audio recordings of Pastor Yolanda's Sunday sermons, please visit http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/57814 or click the widget to the right on this page!

If you would like to put all of your hope in Jesus today, please visit my blog entitled, “Putting All Your Hope In Jesus” located at
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/04/putting-all-your-hope-in-jesus.html

If you have additional questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, "Come to Jesus"
http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/come-to-jesus.html

Pastor Yolanda is now publishing another blog entitled, “A Spoken WORD” in celebration of Holy Hip Hop, Gospel/Christian Rap and Spoken Word. Please check it out @ http://aspokenword.blogspot.com/

You are invited to follow Pastor Yolanda on Twitter www.twitter.com/PastorYolanda

Good News has now added a Prayer Ministry. http://www.kindlejoy.com/groups/goodnews

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From Pastor Yolanda's blog http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com