Psalm 150, verse 1. Hallelujah. Praise God in
His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens.
Praise Him for His powerful acts. Praise Him
for His abundant greatness. Praise Him with trumpet
blasts. Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise
Him with tambourine and dance. Praise Him with
flute and strings. Praise Him with resounding
cymbals. Praise him with clashing cymbals. Let
everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
Let's pray. God, we thank you for this psalm
of praise. God, you are worthy of our praise.
Sometimes we may need to be reminded of that,
God, and the stresses and the burdens and the
worries of this world. Sometimes we just need
to be reminded of your greatness, dear Lord.
Sometimes you remind us in mighty ways, and sometimes,
God, it's in the smallest of things that you
help us to know that you are there for us and
care for us and provide for us. And so, God,
I pray that we know that you're a God we can
seek when we are in need, but that, God, we do
not forget to praise you for all the blessings
that you have blessed us with. I pray that your
Holy Spirit would be among us today, that you
would just help our hearts to praise you today.
Maybe we come in here with worries and distractions
and stresses and pains, but I pray in these few
minutes that your Holy Spirit would be among
us and that we would rejoice in you in this place.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Beautiful psalm of praise. Just excitement. Just
reading this psalm. It starts with a hallelujah.
It ends with a hallelujah. And there's a lot
of praise in between. There's an excitement.
I don't know who this psalmist is. I don't know
when this psalmist was written. But there's an
excitement in the writer of this psalm. a follower
of God who is praising God for his goodness,
for his power, for his mercy, for everything
that God is. The psalmist here is praising God
in his greatness. Now, I don't know when this
psalm was written. It very well might have been
written at the Vacation Bible School, for all
I know. I don't know. But I think that that's
kind of the heart. I think of everybody that
had part in this Vacation Bible School. I think
that it was a lot of praise this week. There
was a lot of rejoicing in the Lord this week.
There was a lot of excitement this week. It is
probably my favorite week of the year because
there is nothing more beautiful than to see a
church full of children who are laughing and
playing and learning about the Lord. And that
alone is worthy of our praise to the Lord today.
then we would praise the Lord that we have the
privilege and the opportunity to do Vacation
Bible School every year. It is a lot of work,
a lot of effort, but it makes a difference. You
know, I remember when I was really young going
to Bible school. Some of you probably do too.
Bible school these days looks a little different
than it did when I was a kid. Even back that
long ago, I remember when I was really young.
bible school here at enterprise we didn't have
any decorations that i recall and our snacks
we had two of those little circle cookies with
like flowers you put them on your finger and
you get a little cup of cup of juice or kool
-aid or whatever about that big and that was
snack time and now we're full -blown meals and
and i mean everything is just decorated to the
t i'm not i'm not complaining i think that's
a that's a beautiful thing but but i thank the
lord that we get to have the Bible school here
every year. I praise God that we're doing that
again. When I was really young, we had Bible
school here, and then we went for a long time,
and we didn't have Bible school here. And I remember
the lady that really got it kicked back off to
kind of get us back in that flow. And some of
you will know her, and some of you won't know
her, but her name was Miss Margaret Garrison.
I'm going to reminisce for a few minutes, if
y 'all will just humor me this morning. Ms. Margaret
Garrison decided, I believe this was 2001, she
decided that we needed to have Vacation Bible
School at Enterprise. Now, Enterprise really
has always kind of had the same problem, and
that is we just don't have a lot of kids. And
at that time, we had very few kids, maybe less
than now. And she decided that we needed to have
VBS, which I thought was quite silly. Now, I
was a teenager at the time. I was 19, I think,
at the time. And she decided that we needed to
have VBS. And she, for whatever reason, God only
knows, she said, I want you to help me. She asked
me if I'd help her. Now, what in the world a
19 -year -old boy has got any business trying
to do Bible school? I don't know. But she said,
well, you be my assistant director. I didn't
have a clue what it meant to do assistant director.
I didn't even know anything about Bible school.
Here was our setup back in those days. We had
this little projector screen that we would pop
up and we would stand right here. And then right
down here on the front, we had an overhead projector.
A lot of you gun folks don't even have a clue
what that is. It's a big light that projects
into a mirror that projects onto a screen. And
we had these clear, these little clear plastic
sheets of paper, kind of is what they were. And
you took your marker and you wrote on there what
you wanted to show on the screen. And Lifeway
would send us... some little you know black outlines
of pictures and the verses and the pledges and
so we'd say one pledge and we'd flop that plastic
off and flop the next one on there and uh and
that was our opening assembly and it wasn't much
to it it was it was really rough but i think
we had about maybe maybe 12 kids that year I
can tell you the theme that year was truth trackers.
That was the theme that year, truth trackers.
And we had maybe a dozen kids, and it was pretty
lackluster. I'm going to be honest with you.
It was pretty low energy, but God was good to
us, and we did it again the next year. It was
Amazon Outfitters. I won't go through the last
20 years of Bible school, but that's what it
was, Amazon Outfitters. I still remember the
song, Amazon Outfitters. And I don't remember
what comes after that, but I remember that hook.
And so it's amazing how these songs stick with
you. And that's part of what's good about VBS,
is the stuff that sticks with us. But we continued
to do it, and Miss Margaret didn't do it anymore
after that, and then my mom took over, and somehow
I still got to be assistant director. But I was
so proud, because I'm kind of technological,
I was so proud when I discovered that the association
building, had a real video projector that churches
could use. And I said, this is fantastic. And
so we would borrow that projector, and that thing
was horrible. It was the worst picture ever.
It was so fuzzy. And we were still using VHS
tapes at that time. You kids don't even know
what that is either. And it was just so crazy.
And so we moved. We switched our screen to this
side, and I put this projector up. And I had
all these cords just running way back to the
sound system that we had and duct tape to the
floor. And I thought, we are really doing it
now, y 'all. We are having it. vbs and and we
continue to grow and get more and more kids and
and this went on for several years and we we
we we finally kind of figured it out i think
by like 2007 2008 we kind of got it we kind of
began to figure out what was working and how
to reach kids, and how to make it exciting. And
my mom started getting decorations from other
churches, which was the best idea ever. We'd
just get their leftovers, and we started decorating
more and more. And then by the 2010s, God had
blessed us tremendously. We had some real high
-tech equipment. We even bought our own projector
here at the church. And, man, we were high -quality,
high -tech. It was great. We worked our way up
to about 60 kids there in 2012, 13, 14. In that
age range, we had a church full of kids. And
then our help kind of began to decline a little
bit. And some of our teenagers that had been
helping grew up, moved away, went to college.
And 2016 was the last year we did VBS. And so
we had a bit of a break for about seven years.
And last year, I praise the Lord for this, Dana
said, I think we need to have VBS again. Of course,
we had the same problem we had when Miss Margaret
had that idea in 2001. We didn't have many kids,
but as the movie says, if you build it, they
will come. And so Dana worked really hard and
really took the decorations to the next level
and did a great job promoting last year. And
we got all our old stuff back out and started
getting things set up. And praise the Lord, God
blessed us with a bunch of kids. And then we
had it this year. And it really is fantastic.
Because last year I think we had six kids that
trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord, put their
faith in Jesus. This year we had three young
men that trusted in Jesus and accepted him as
their Savior, put their faith in him. And that's
what it's all about. That's what we do it for.
I look back at my life, and maybe it's just me,
I don't know, but I would like to hope that some
of the other teachers and some of the kids that
get to take part in something like this remember
the things that they are taught. These kids,
look, we talk about the decorations and the videos
and the dancing and all those things and all
are fun, but make no mistake. These kids are
learning these Bible stories. They know. Their
teachers are so good. I was so impressed with
the quality of answers, the best quality of answers
that we've ever gotten at a family night, Friday
night. When I asked those kids questions and
would call on different ones, they didn't just
give a couple of words. They gave real, deep,
well thought out. good answers to these questions.
They understand these stories. They have learned
about Jesus. And they know important truths that
we need to know and be reminded of. That Jesus
cares for us. That he has not forgotten about
us. That we go through storms in life and Jesus
shows up for us in our storms. That even if we're
in sin and not doing like we should, Jesus loves
us and wants to forgive us of that. Jesus wants
to use us to serve him. And what a beautiful,
beautiful truth that we see all throughout the
Bible of God's love for us. And that's worth
rejoicing in. That's worth praising God over.
And all this week, we came into this building
and we praised God every day. Friday night, we
left this building praising God for a good week.
Now all this week, Every year we like to try
to pick something that maybe the kids can kind
of relate to to use our offering for. And this
year we decided that we were going to give all
of our VBS money to... Food for the Hungry. Some
of you may know it. It's a Christian organization
that focuses on getting food and water and even
educating kids in poor areas. And not just trying
to help the kids, but trying to help the families
to be able to have means to support themselves.
And it's a really cool thing. You can look it
up after church if you'd like. But we decided
we were going to give all of our offerings this
week to Food for the Hungry. We were going to
have a competition. This is something we had
never done before, but we decided to have a competition
between the boys and the girls to see who could
take up the most offering this week. And it was
not even close. The girls just totally outgave
the boys all week long. I mean, it was a landslide.
I mean, every night when the kids would bring
the buckets of money back after offering, I mean,
the girls were just like, it was heavy, and the
boys, it was just... It just wasn't much in there.
And so we kept on taking up our money all week
long. And going into Friday night, we had about
$600 that we had taken up throughout the week,
which I think is the most that we had ever taken.
Praise the Lord. It was fantastic. And so we
get to the family night. And, of course, you
got all the parents and all the grandparents
here. And I'm telling them. I'm telling the grandparents
as they come in, and apparently I'll help the
boys out now. The boys are way behind. Try to
help them out so it'll be a little closer. I
want it to at least be respectable. You know,
I don't want the little boys to get beat by a
lot. And so we took up our offering, and while
we were continuing our little program, they went
back in the back, and they counted it, and they
came back out, and they told me the numbers,
and I was in shock. That just... Just Friday
night alone, the boys took up $729. And just
one night, just the boys. For our whole week
of offering, we took up $1 ,645 .22. Now that's
worth praising God over. These are the kind of
things that we need to say, Hallelujah! Sometimes
I think we just need to let loose a little bit.
Maybe I need to start coming in here on Sunday
mornings like we do at VBS and I need to say,
how y 'all doing this morning? And maybe y 'all
would say, we're doing good, yeah! But probably
y 'all would just look at me like, he's kind
of crazy. But maybe we need some of that excitement
like a child. Maybe we lose that some as we grow
up. We kind of go through the motions. Maybe
we need a little more of that excitement. Maybe
we need more of Psalm 150 in our life. Maybe
we need a few more hallelujahs in our life. God
is worthy of our praise. He's done so much good
stuff in our lives. And if we would just stop
and realize that there may be more that he does
and blesses us with than we ever have imagined.
And he's worthy of our praise. And so when I
got the word on that offer and I said, this is
unbelievable. This is unbelievable. Think of
all the kids that are going to benefit from this
money that was given this week. I mean, this
is going to feed a lot of kids for a while. That's
unbelievable. So I thank you all that helped
and put money in, and all the kids and grandparents.
It was fantastic, but that's only part of the
offering story. The competition was not just
to see who could make the most money, but the
competition was this. If the boys ended up taking
the most money, they would get to pick a female
Bible school worker that was going to have to
kiss a pig. And if the girls took up the most
money, they were going to get to pick a boy Bible
school worker that was going to have to kiss
a pig. So I was really thrilled whenever that
money come through and the boys really showed
out Friday night because I figured they were
going to pick me. But they didn't. They didn't
get a chance because the boys won. And so the
boys got to pick one of the adult workers to
kiss a pig. And it was a tie between Miss Donna
and Miss Macy. And so there you go right there.
Macy and Donna got the privilege to kiss the
pig. Thank you to Susan and Al for providing
the pig. The pig was well cleaned. It was a cute
little pig. But it was a good laugh and a lot
of good fun. And we had a good time. I had a
good time, and I think I can speak for everybody
else. And I think we had a lot of fun, but I
think we learned about the Lord. And I think
that these things that these kids learn and us
adults learn in Bible school, I think they stick
with you. I thought about this this week. This
is kind of silly. But there's this little key
chain, and some of you may remember these from
2011. Big Apple Adventure. B -B -B, B -B -B,
Big Apple Adventure. Y 'all may not remember
that song. I remember all these songs. I don't
know why. But our thing that year was New York
City. And we had these little taxi cabs. And
it's a little flashlight. It's a keychain flashlight.
And would you believe that since 2011, this thing
still lights up. Every time I use this spare
key, I always push it. I'm always amazed. That
14 years later, that this light is still shining.
And I thought about that this week. You know,
I think VBS probably has that impact on the lives
of some of these kids. That years and years down
the road, that something they learn about the
Lord, that their light is still shining. At least
I hope that's the case. I hope that's the case
for all of us. That even though things like DBS
come and go, every time we come together to worship
the Lord and look at His Word, hopefully there's
something that sticks with us. There's something
that's in our heart. There's something that the
Lord can recall to us. There's something that
He reminds us of that we can depend on Him in
our times of trouble and that we can praise Him
for being a good God and for taking care of us.
And so this week, we spent a lot of time in the
classes the students did learning about Jesus.
And that's what we come here for. That's what
we come to celebrate. We can come here today
and celebrate because Jesus Christ gave his life
on a cross and was raised again so that we could
be forgiven of our sins. And that's our mission,
brothers and sisters in Christ, is to get that
message, to get the gospel, to get the good news,
to spread it around the world. And a good place
to start with that is in the lives of a child.
Because the scripture says, bring up a child
in the way they should go, and when they are
old, they will not depart from it. It's a lot
of hard work getting ready for VBS. And every
year leading up to it, there's always a little
bit of dread. It's like, oh, I have to do all
that. But then the closer that it gets, the more
exciting that it gets. And all it takes is one
night. All it takes is one little kid to run
up to you and give you a hug. And it changes
everything. And then you get that for five nights.
And you get the same little kids every night
to come up to you as happy as can be. They're
praising the Lord when it's time to praise the
Lord. They're learning their scriptures. They're
learning their mottos. There was one little girl.
She'd come up to me multiple times a night. Little
bitty girl. And she'd say, magnify God. That
was our motto. Part of our motto. Magnify God.
She'd come up to me with the biggest smile on
her face. Magnify God. Do we have that excitement
for the Lord in our life? Maybe we do or maybe
we don't. But we should. We should be just like
the psalmist of Psalm 150. There's a lot of good
that God has done in our life. A lot that he
blesses us with. And VBS this week is just one
thing. That God is worthy of our praise. So I
don't know when the last time you gave the Lord
a good hallelujah was. But perhaps you need to
give the Lord a good hallelujah in your life
today. Let's pray. God we come to you. We thank
you for your good word. We thank you for this
good week dear Lord. We're just celebrating today
your greatness. Just like this psalm says, God,
we just are praising you because you did such
great and mighty works this week through the
workers and through the students and just everything
that took place, dear Lord. I just thank you
for being good to us. I thank you for this church.
I thank you for the people and their dedication.
I thank you for the hard work. And I thank you
for these children who came this week. I pray,
God, that you just would bless them, that you
would help them to... remember and to just recall
the things that they learned this week, that
they would recall the stories about Jesus, that
they would recall the love of the people in this
place for all them this week. I pray that you
would just protect these children and encourage
them and their families and their parents, dear
Lord. And God, we just thank you. We just praise
you today, God. I pray that you just would continue
to bless us and take care of us as a church.
Use us to be a a light for this world, dear Lord.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.