Jul. 27, 2025

Background:

• How did you enter the Gate this morning: complaining, not speaking, cranky, not concerned about others, etc.?
• David wrote 73 out of 150 Psalms
• It is important for us to enter into the gates with the right attitudes and motives
• It is imperative how we enter - it is a command, a strong directive
• It is necessary to bring glory and honor to God

Key Sermon Points:

1. A call to praise the Lord

• Make a joyful shout
• Serve the Lord with gladness
• Come before His presence singing
• We are to come in God's house joyful and with the right attitude...the attitude of gratitude and ready to serve Him
• Praise is saying thank you to each aspect of His divine nature
• We ought to pray with thankfulness
• We ought to stop complaining about what we don't have and start thanking God for what we do have
• Our inner attitude becomes our outer expression (e.g. joy on the inside ought to show on the outside)
• When we praise God, we help ourselves by expanding our awareness of who He is
• We  have to remember from where He has brought us
• Praise takes our minds off of our problems and shortcomings to focus on God
• We can't change things...only God can change things
• We can't be quiet about what God has done for us
• Praise leads us from meditation to corporate worship
• We ought to participate in praise and worship
• Worshippers are to regularly come before God and magnify Him
• We must give praise to God with a deeper conviction knowing that the Lord is our King who lives forever
• Give to God homage that is due to a King
• We are to declare allegiance to God...without shame
• When God has delivered us from things, that's when that thing on the inside won't allow us to rest
• When we have experienced some things with God, no one can dictate to us how we should act as a result
• There is only one God over the Earth...and He alone is God!
• When we worship Him, it's not an intellectual exercise, it's our mind wanting to serve Him because our hearts have been touched!
• Worship is having an encounter with God
• Wherever God is..is Holy (Exodus 3:5)
• The sheep analogy is about care, protection, and  provision, guidance that sustains us (John 10:11-16)
• He keeps us from falling
• The Lord is our Shepherd

2. A call to thank the Lord

• We need to be thankful
• We became Christians because of God's grace (unmerited favor)
• We have not arrived, we are all struggling with something...but thank God for His grace
• We ought to be thankful for salvation (which is big)
• We have to be saved first before serving and giving
• If we have been redeemed by the blood, then we have to emulate the Father and the Son
• Whenever we go in the opposite direction what God would have us to do, we go down...but God hears our cries no matter where we are
• Sometimes we are hard-headed so God has to take us through some stuff in order to get us to Him
• Sometimes we forget all the things that God has given us
• We forget about giving to others, loving others, and being kind to others
• The Lord Jehovah is the name by which God reveals Himself to His people
• God is our Creator who made us; therefore, we are His
• God knows us, what we are capable of, what we have been through and how we will respond in different situations
• We ought to say Thank you Lord
• We ought to be thankful...the attitude of gratitude
• We ought to be thankful in ALL things
• Some are not thankful (Romans 1), but we should be
• We should not constantly complain