Hello Everyone!

 

What a great day of worship Sunday was.  The day was focused on just praising and giving thanks to the Lord.  How wonderful it is to continue to see new faces (and to still see all of the old faces!).  We praised the Lord in song with old favorites like "Blessed Be His Name" and "Praise Adonai".  The name of Jesus was lifted high and a joyful noise was made in His honor. 

 

Mark led us in announcements and a time of prayer.  He had Bill Sevy speak on the upcoming small group study, "Crazy Love".  It is a book that will get us out of our comfort zones and seek to walk the walk.  If you are not currently in a small group, please take this opportunity to join one.  This study could be transformational. 

 

Mark then introduced our own Olivia Belk, home for the weekend from Western Carolina University.  She spoke on the continuing development of her walk with the Lord.  It has been a trying time for Olivia.  She initially was going to go to Erskine College.  However, right before she was to go she learned that she won a scholarship to WCU.  So she went to Gaston College for a semester and then headed to the mountains for the spring semester.  When she got there she was surprised at the amount of occultism on campus and in the mountains (paganism, witchcraft, Wicca, etc.).  However, Olivia said that she decided she would be the light of Jesus at her school instead of running scared and hiding.  The Lord has blessed Olivia's commitment as the joy of the Lord is shining through her in an even greater way.  She spoke of how good it is to have the Lord at the center of her life and let Him be her All in All.  It is quite inspiring and a challenge to us all to see a young person be so in love with Jesus.  Thank you, Olivia, for your great testimony! 

 

Mark had me speak for a few moments.  We had met earlier in the week for prayer and Mark told me that he wanted to have a prayer time in the sermon on Sunday.  During our time, I shared with him what praise and thanksgiving in my personal prayer time had done for me.  He wanted me to share with the congregation.

 

I opened with 2 Chronicles 20:5-12.  It is about Jehoshaphat facing an overwhelming army and going to the Lord in corporate prayer.  The Lord encouraged them to stand and see the salvation of the Lord.  Then the king did an unusual thing - he sent out the praise team to battle first.  The Lord responded by routing the enemy army and gaining a great victory for His people. 

 

I then shared my views on praise and thanksgiving.  There are three reasons to give praise in my opinion:

 

1- The Lord is worthy of it.  We were made to worship Him forever and that is what we will do.  He is holy and perfect in all of His attributes.  He alone is worthy to receive glory.

 

2- It transforms us on the inside.  I gave a brief testimony of how the Lord had met me in my pit of depression 11 years ago.  After saving me, He led me to focus on praise and thanksgiving.  Over time, it has transformed me and made a dramatic difference in my life.

 

3- God may respond in our circumstances through praise and thanksgiving.  The story in 2 Chronicles shows God's hand moving in response to the praise of His people.  In the New Testament, Paul and Silas are praising the Lord in the Macedonian jail at midnight when God responds with a great earthquake.  Instead of bringing them freedom, it brought spiritual freedom to the jailer and his family as they were saved. 

 

This led us into a corporate time of just praise and thanksgiving.  Paraphrasing one person's quoting of Psalm 100, "we came into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise".  It was truly a time set apart to give honor to the Lord.  Some people read scripture.  Other people just praised the Lord and thanked Him from a humble, thankful heart.  All of the focus was squarely on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It is hard to fully put into words how blessed a time this was.  One person said after the service, "I am so uplifted after that time of praise that I am ready to conquer the week."  A great example of how, when the name of the Lord is lifted up, so are we.  Our attention is re-focused off of our circumstances and onto the Lord at the same time that our faith is exercised - a great combination.

 

We then ended the worship time with our closing song "Oh, How He Loves You and Me".  After our prayer time, He knows of our love for Him as well.

 

Your brother in Christ,

 

Deric Smyre