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Psalm 100. We'll do the whole chapter, all five

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verses. Psalm 100. The superscription labels

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this as a psalm of thanksgiving or perhaps a

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psalm of praise is another way that the word

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for thanksgiving could be interpreted there.

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Psalm 100. Let's read through the text and then

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we will pray and get started. Shout triumphantly

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to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with

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gladness. Come before him with joyful songs.

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Acknowledge that Yahweh is God. He made us and

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we are his. His people, the sheep of his pasture.

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Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts

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with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his

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name. For Yahweh is good. And his love is eternal.

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His faithfulness endures through all generations.

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Let's pray. God, we come to you and we thank

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you for these words. We thank you for these good

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songs that we get to sing. And I pray, dear Lord,

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that we would praise you. And that we would thank

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you. That we would not ever forget your eternal

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love and your enduring faithfulness, dear Lord.

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I pray, God, that you just... be with us in these

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few minutes, that your Holy Spirit would be among

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us, that you would help me to preach and teach

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in a way that brings glory to you, that we can

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leave here tonight rejoicing in you, dear Lord,

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just as the song we just sung, the psalm we just

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read, dear Lord, that we would be those who rejoice

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in you in that way. And I ask these things in

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Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as you could tell from

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the last song that we just sang, it's pulled

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very closely from Psalm 100. You see a lot of

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that same language. Serve the Lord with gladness.

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Enter his courts with praise. It's just a psalm

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of thanksgiving and praise. But there's also

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a call to action there. And that call to action

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is not just to praise the Lord, but to serve

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the Lord. And this is something that we see in

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Scripture that God calls us to as he calls us

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to serve him. Well, how do we serve the Lord?

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Well, I think that the way that we serve the

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Lord is by serving others. It's not that there

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are things that God is right before us and we

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do things. but we do things for God by doing

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things for others, and Jesus is our example of

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that. Now, it's getting close to the Easter season,

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and maybe with Easter approaching, you're reading

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some of those stories and some of those chapters

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about Jesus in that last little bit of time,

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and if you do, you'll remember right before Jesus

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went and was nailed on the cross that he had

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that last supper with his disciples. And you

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may remember that he began to wash their feet,

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that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, knelt down

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and did the job of a servant. A servant is one

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who serves others. A servant is one who considers

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others as more important than themselves. Now

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that's a pretty crazy thing for us to think about.

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that a servant is one who considers others more

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important than themselves, and that Jesus Christ

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said, I did not come to be served, but to be

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a servant of all. Now, he is the Son of God,

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but he considered it more important to serve

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us by giving his life on the cross so that our

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sins could be forgiven than for him to live in

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comfort. and to live pain -free, and to live

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free of suffering. Instead, he subjected himself

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to the suffering and the pain, and even doing

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the dirtiest work. Jesus always did the dirty

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work, so to speak. Jesus did not just sit on

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a gold throne in the middle of Jerusalem and

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bark out orders. Jesus was always boots on the

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ground. It ain't no telling how many miles that

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Jesus and the disciples that followed him and

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all those that came after. There's no telling

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how many miles that they covered day after day.

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Jesus didn't just say, here's how you need to

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do it. Jesus actively went out into the community

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among the people and he fed them and he healed

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them and he had compassion on them and he even

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washed their feet. And this is our example. So

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when we see calls like this in Scripture to serve

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the Lord with gladness, one, are we serving the

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Lord at all? And two, are we doing it with gladness?

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Sometimes we can do the right thing but do it

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with the wrong heart. I think it's possible for

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that to be the case. And it's always better to

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do the right thing than to not do the right thing.

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But even better than that is to do the right

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thing with the right heart. And to serve the

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Lord with gladness. And not begrudgingly. Not

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like oh I feel like this is what I need to do.

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But I don't really want to do it. Well I would

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never say just don't do it. I would say. Ask

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God to help your heart to change so that you

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would be one who serves the Lord with gladness.

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And so maybe this call to serve the Lord with

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gladness today as we come and as we sing these

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songs and we look at his word and we praise him,

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maybe this call of service today is something

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we need to reflect on and we need to ask ourselves

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and examine our life and say, am I serving the

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Lord? Am I willing to do the dirty work? Am I

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willing to go and reach the people that that

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nobody else wants to have anything to do with.

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That's what we see in Scripture, that Jesus associates

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with the sinners and the people that the other

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religious people didn't want to have anything

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to do with. And they even call Jesus out. How

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dare you associate with the sinners and the tax

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collectors, those evil people. How dare you do

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that dirty work. Jesus, you shouldn't be washing

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my feet. But yet Jesus said, I have to do this.

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And Jesus was showing us an example of what it

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means to serve. And he continued that example

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until he died on the cross. And that's the example

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that we are called to follow. So what of us today?

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Do we look more like Jesus or do we look more

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like the people who nailed Jesus to the cross?

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Because the people who nailed Jesus to the cross

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were not really those who were interested in

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serving the Lord with gladness. They were not

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interested in doing the dirty work. They were

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interested in doing the things that they wanted

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to do. They were interested in being put on a

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pedestal. They were interested in people looking

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at them and saying, oh, you are so holy. But

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what Jesus says, it's not about people looking

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to you. It's not about you looking as though

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you are above other people. It is about you humbling

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yourself to become a servant of all. And so many

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times there may be people in our life that God

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puts in our path. That we could serve them in

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some way. That we could help them in some way.

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And it might not always be easy. It might be

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scary. And we might have to get our hands dirty.

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It might be out of our comfort zone. But this

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is what Jesus calls us to. I suspect that it

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was a little out of Jesus' comfort zone to be

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beaten and to be mocked and to be nailed to a

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cross. And yet he did it because of his love

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for us. That's our example of service. So next

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time we have that opportunity to serve and we

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say, man, God, I'm too scared or man, this is

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going to be too hard for me or this is going

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to put me out of my comfort zone or whatever

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excuse we come up with, let us turn our eyes

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to Jesus so that we can see what it means to

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serve. Let us ask God to show us the opportunities

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that we have to serve and the people that we

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encounter. And when we see those opportunities,

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let us be those who serve the Lord. with gladness.

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Let's pray. God, we thank you for this beautiful

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psalm, just this beautiful psalm and the beautiful

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song that we sang, dear Lord, that just shows

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us and helps us to see that heart of praise,

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dear Lord, to praise you with song. And we pray

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that you would help us to be those who serve

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you with gladness, that we would always keep

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our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of

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our faith, dear Lord. That like him, that we

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would not be those who seek to be served, but

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that we would be those who seek to serve others,

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dear Lord. So I pray that you would help us to

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see areas of service in our life. Let us not

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come up with excuses as to why we're too good

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to serve or somebody's too bad for us to serve

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or it's too hard or whatever the excuse is, dear

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Lord. We can come up with them, but none are

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sufficient. If you give us an opportunity to

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serve somebody, then I pray that you help us

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to follow Jesus and do just that. We thank you

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for Jesus and who he is. We thank you for the

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love that he has shown for us. I pray that if

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there are any that are here tonight or listening

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online that do not know Jesus, I pray tonight,

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God, that they know that he is a Savior who loves

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them, who came to bring that compassion and healing

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and deliverance to love on us and to serve us.

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And he has done that. in the most perfect way

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by giving his life on the cross. And I pray that

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we would come to that realization, accept it,

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and repent of our sins tonight. And I ask these

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things in Jesus' name. Amen.