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Hey, church family.
Welcome to Wednesday Devo, or you might be watching it on Thursday morning,
but I want to talk to us about essential business.
You've heard this phrase like crazy, you know, determining what's essential,
like grocery stores and gas stations and what's not essential.
I don't know that list.
Now, one of the things that doesn't have anything to do with what we're going to talk about today
that I just want to encourage you on is that, as a little bit of,
1122 or more importantly as Christ's followers,
we want to make sure that we are leading the way
in being humble and supporting what our leaders are asking of us.
So let us do that.
But there are some things on the essential list that I don't know are,
like, you know, liquor stores and pot shops, but whatever.
Let me tell you one thing that is essential.
Worship.
Worship is essential to the life of the life of the world.
the believer. And the reason I want to bring this up is as our online services continue,
you know, it's not exactly the same. God's doing an amazing work in this time,
reaching more people than we do normally, and people are getting saved and baptized and
glory to God for all of that. But one of the things I notice in my own house, as we are doing church
together in my home, is that we've been a little bit lackluster on the praise and worship portion
of the services. And part of it is, you know, because we're watching it like on my phone,
or my laptop and the speakers aren't really that loud.
And so I can hear me sing too much, and I sing really loud,
and it's really kind of bad.
So what I want to encourage you to do as we participate as a church by worshiping
online is you need some times in your week where you are seriously worshiping.
And I'm talking about singing out loud to God like he gave his life for you.
I'm not just talking about casually watching it over on the side as you get ready for
the sermon.
Because praise changes the atmosphere.
It just does.
If you got your Bible, go to Psalm 34.
Psalm 34 is an instruction book to the nation of Israel on praise.
Psalm 34 is one of my favorite.
David was in a rough spot when he wrote these words.
And he writes this, Psalm 34-1,
I will bless the Lord all at all time.
I will bless the Lord at all times, what times, all times, like quarantine times and like crazy COVID-19 times,
that I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
That he's talking about like saying this out loud with your mouth. In fact, one of the things
that's beautiful about the Psalms is that when things are not going well for you, the Psalms show us that you should praise the Lord.
even if you don't feel like it.
And I don't mean that you should be fake about it because David was not fake about it.
In Psalm 22, the way David just begins to praise the Lord is this.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
And so maybe if you feel that way, what begins to happen is when you choose to lift up God
to worship him, that means it comes from the word worthship that God, just because I don't
understand my current circumstances, doesn't mean you do.
And you are worthy to be praised.
Therefore, I worship you.
What begins to happen is sometimes your circumstances don't change,
but your perspective of your situation gets completely turned upside down.
So he says, I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord.
Let the humble hearing be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together.
then he says, I saw the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
You see, what worship is doing in the life of David, it is the mechanism by which God is delivering
him from his fears.
We know we don't have to be afraid because of what Christ did on the cross.
He is the conqueror.
He is the victor.
The gospel sets us free.
But sometimes the way that we access the gospel is through worship and praise.
I sought the Lord and he answered me and he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed.
Do you know when Moses was up on Mount Sinai, we talked about that this week,
when Moses was on Mount Sinai and he was in the presence of God when he came down from Mount Sinai,
his face glowed.
It was radiant to the point where people looked at him and they thought something is different
because he has been with the Lord.
Listen, when you do this thing right, worship changes your face.
And look at me, church people.
Some of your faces need to be changed.
I mean, if you've got the joy of the Lord living in you,
sometimes you've got to tell your face.
And sometimes your face can look like you were weaned on a pickle
because you haven't spent any time declaring the goodness of God out loud
with other people, like gather the people in your home
and magnify the Lord.
come on, magnify the Lord with me.
Let us exalt his name together.
And listen, if you've got to figure out some way to make the speakers in your house loud enough
that you can sing loud enough to drown out your joyful noise,
maybe you need to do that.
He says, this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles.
Think about how good our dad is.
That he says, come on, I hear it when you cry.
I hear it when you ask.
hear it when you reach out to me. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and
delivers him. Listen, I'm not an overly charismatic person, but praise does something. This is what I mean
when I say praise changes the atmosphere. That as we are blessing the Lord at all times, as his praise
is continually coming out of our mouth, then something happens in the heavenlies where God sends
angels to encamp around those who fear the Lord. And angels,
deliver us through our worship.
Then a very famous verse,
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
Bless it is the man who takes refuge in him.
You see, worship is not a spectator sport.
That worship is a participatory activity.
And listen, I'm not talking about styles here, okay?
I know there's all kind of different personalities
and some of you or, you know, you raise your hand.
and you get real loud and some of you are real still,
but it has to be a personally experienced thing.
Have you tasted the Lord and seen that he is good?
Blessed are you when you take refuge in him?
That's part of what worship is.
Worship is declaring to God, God, I don't got this, and I need you.
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack.
The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Now, you may look at your situation and you say, I lack some good things.
Like I lack a job and I like money and I lack the bills to pay my rent, but that is not the good thing.
You see, those who put their trust in the Lord, that one day all of those things will be fulfilled.
Because the good thing that you get through the gospel of Jesus Christ is not simply temporary good things here.
on those earth. But the good thing that you get through the gospel of Jesus is Jesus himself,
and he is more than enough. He goes on and say, come, oh, children, listen to me, I will teach you
to fear the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, turn away from evil and do good,
seek peace and pursue it. Let me just tell you. It is hard to pursue evil while you, you,
you are continually praising God.
Says the eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous
and he hears and his ears towards their cry.
The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
So all the righteous people, talking to you,
God is looking at you and God is listening for you.
Now you may say, well, how is that possible?
Because I'm not righteous.
I mean, I've got all kinds of unrighteousness in my life.
life. Well, that is true, except for the gospel of Jesus Christ. What the Bible means when it says
righteous is not right living, not right activity. When the Bible says righteous, it means a right
identity in Christ, a right standing before God. And for all of us who have put our faith in Jesus
Christ, there was a double imputation that happened. There was a trade, a great exchange.
that God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us
that we would be made the righteousness of God.
So let me kind of translate a little.
The eyes of the Lord are toward anybody that has surrendered their life
to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and his ears towards their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
To cut off the memory of them from the earth,
when the righteous cry for help the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Are you in trouble?
Do you have troubles?
Then cry to the Lord.
Now sometimes he delivers us through it.
Sometimes he delivers us from it, but we have been delivered.
Verse 18 says,
The Lord is near to the broken hearten and saves the crushed in spirit.
So maybe that's you.
Maybe you're in a time of trial.
Maybe you lost your job.
Maybe you can't figure out how to make ends meet.
Maybe you're waiting for that check to come in.
Maybe you've got a loved one that is sick and you are crying out to the Lord.
And just know this.
God's timing is always perfect.
And God is for you.
He is not against you.
And God is near to you when you are brokenhearted.
Are you going through pain?
He knows what it means to go through pain.
He sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross,
to suffer and endure pain.
We do not serve a high priest that cannot empathize with his believers.
The Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted and he saves the crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Listen, there will be a day.
Maybe, maybe he will deliver you in this life, but I promise you, I guarantee you.
If you are in Christ, he will deliver you forever and ever and ever and ever.
by the stripes of Jesus, we have been healed.
And then if you ask, well, how can this happen?
You see, we have a great advantage over King David and the Israelites when we read Psalm 34.
Because what they didn't know, they didn't know about Jesus yet.
They believe by faith that God would send a lamb that would be slain for the forgiveness of our sins.
And what they knew by faith, we know by name.
we know that Jesus has already come.
This next verse is a messianic prophecy
that is quoted by multiple gospel writers.
It is talking about the cross.
You see, maybe when the folks reading this in David's time,
maybe they thought these verses were about them,
but honestly, the Bible's not really about you.
God is for you.
It's just not about you.
It's all about Jesus.
And he says this,
he keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.
He keeps all of his bones, not one of them is broken.
When Jesus was on the cross, he pushes up on his nail-pierced feet,
and he says, it is finished.
All of our sin has been paid for, paid in full by the blood of Jesus.
He says, Father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit, and he breathes his last.
And the son of God dies on the cross.
And in that moment, it is finished.
in the book of Corinthians, it says that Jesus is the yes and the amen,
the fulfillment of all the prophecies of God.
Therefore, when we pray in Jesus' name, this is why we say amen.
So all of these promises from God about delivering his people happen or fulfilled through Jesus Christ at the cross.
And then the soldiers go to make sure all the men on the cross are done.
dead. You see, because he was crucified, it's almost the Sabbath, and so they want to get him
off the cross before the Sabbath hits. And so what they did to the other people, and what they
typically did is they would break their legs so they couldn't hold themselves up on the cross
anymore, and they would suffocate faster. But when they got to Jesus, he was already dead,
and just to assure that he was dead, they took a spear, and they stabbed him under the ribcage.
It went to his heart and blood and water flowed. And the gospel writers say, this was to fulfill the
prophecy that he keeps all of his bones and not one of them is broken. In other words, the way that we
know that Psalm 34 can be trusted and true is because it is rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Affliction will slay the wicked and those who hate righteousness will be condemned. The Lord
redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
None of those who take refuge in God.
Though the enemy try to condemn you,
though the enemy whispers this lies in your minds,
part of the reason,
one of the reasons we shrink back
and we hold back in times of worship
is because all week long,
we believe the lies of the enemy.
And we feel this condemnation.
Condemnation is a building turn.
It means you're unfit for use.
And God goes, no, no, no, no.
You're not unfit for use.
You're my temple.
I'm going to make my permanent residence on this planet
and inside of you.
You're my son, you're my daughter.
And therefore now there is no condemnation
for those who are in Christ, Jesus.
And so,
for all of us who have been saved
by the blood of Jesus,
for all of us who have been redeemed,
and for all of us
who find ourselves in troubling circumstances,
which honestly is pretty much all of us right now,
may we take refuge in the Lord,
and may we bless His name at all times,
in good times, in bad times, at daytime, at nighttime.
And when we gather together, like he says,
come let us magnify the Lord together.
When we gather together for our online services,
don't skip the worship part.
Because it, I don't know,
it just unlocks something on the inside of us
that cannot be unlocked without making much of him
and worshiping him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength.
let me pray for you
God we thank you for the gift
that you have given us a worship
and God we thank you for the
incredible worship leaders
and talent that you have
blessed us here at 1122
with
but God you are not limited
to any buildings or any service
may you remind us of how
important how essential it is
that we worship you
that we praise you
that with our mouths out loud that with our mouths
out loud that with the postures of our body towards you, that we say thank you and that we love you
and that you are worth it and we don't deserve this. God, let us, through worship, taste and see
that you are good. And then, God, we trust all of your promises. God, we trust that you deliver. We
trust that you are our refuge. We trust that in you there is no condemnation. And we love you.
And God, we owe you our praise, though you don't need any of it.
We love you.
We pray in Jesus' name.