I Will Enter His Gates

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! Psalm 100:4

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad; He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.

This Is the Day

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made.

Blessed Be the Name

Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! Psalm 113:2

Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord!
Glory to the name, glory to the name, glory to the name of the Lord!
Glory to the name, glory to the name, glory to the name of the Lord!

Behold What Manner of Love

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God...1 John 3:1

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.
Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us.
That we should be called the sons of God.
That we should be called the sons of God.

Worship: Are Sermons More than Just Talking?

Because we love God and value Him above everything else, we want to do what pleases Him. And so we look to the Bible to learn what we are to do when we meet with God to worship Him. From the Old Testament, we learn that God wants us to worship only Him, to reject images in worship, to treat His name as holy, and to set aside a day each week to worship Him. We also know from the way the Bible describes the New Testament church that when we worship, we should pray, sing, listen to the Word being read and preached, and celebrate the sacraments. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll think about each of these acts of worship. And we’ll begin today with preaching.

You might be surprised to know that many years ago, people listened to speeches for entertainment! Men, women, and even children would fill up lecture halls or big tents and listen to speakers talk for hours about science or farming or the latest news. When movies and television came along, people became used to watching the constantly changing pictures, and they lost interest in listening to long speeches. That’s why many people today think that speeches—including sermons—are old-fashioned or boring. They think people would like church more if they didn’t have to sit through a long sermon. But if we skip the sermon, are we really worshiping the way God wants?

The first thing we need to understand is that preaching is much more than just a lot of talking. There may be some people who stand in a pulpit and tell funny stories or give advice without saying much at all about the Bible. That is not the kind of preaching that pleases God. Biblical preaching does three things: it proclaims or announces the facts about God from His Word, it explains what those facts mean, and then it exhorts, or calls on the hearers to respond. Look up the following scriptures for some examples of true preaching by Ezra, Jesus, and Paul: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 8-10 and 9:1-3; Luke 4:16-22; Acts 17:1-15.

So in preaching, the preacher is actively proclaiming, explaining, and exhorting, and the congregation is actively listening, thinking, and deciding what to do. But Someone else is busy during preaching, too—the Holy Spirit! While the Word is being preached, the Holy Spirit is using it to lead people to faith in Jesus and to build up believers in their faith. God uses preaching to accomplish His purpose in His people. Read these scriptures and talk with your family about how God uses preaching:

1 Peter 1:23-25 – Peter says that it is because of the living and unchanging word of God—the word that was preached—that his readers were born again.

Romans 10:11-17 – Paul writes that people are saved only by believing, by calling on the name of the Lord in faith. But, he asks, how can they believe the gospel if they’ve never heard it preached? God uses preaching to deliver His gift of faith to His people.

Hopefully you understand what preaching is and why sermons are an important part of our worship. But you might also be thinking, “I’m just a kid. I can’t understand what the preacher is talking about, and it’s really hard for me to sit still and be quiet for that long.” Here are a few things for you to think about and to talk about with your family.

·       Your parents want you to learn to worship with the rest of your church family. They know that babies are too young to control themselves, but they also know what older kids should be able to do. They’ll know when it’s time for you to learn to sit during the sermon.

·       You may not understand the whole sermon, but you will hear some things that make sense to you. So listen for those things and repeat them in your head so that you remember them. Plan to talk about them with your family when the church service is over.

·       If you are able to read, you can follow along in your Bible as the Word is read during worship. Even if you can’t understand it all, you can think about the words you know, and ask God to help you understand it better.

God has done everything necessary to save His people, and He has chosen preaching as the primary means (the main way) that His gift of faith flows to us. God is glorified when His Word is faithfully preached and obediently heard.

Hymn of Peitition: “Speak, O Lord”

Barbara and David Leeman write in Hosanna, Loud Hosanna: Student Hymnal that Stuart Townsend and Keith Getty wanted to write a hymn to sing right before the sermon—a hymn that would be a prayer asking for God’s help to listen well. The title reminds us of the story of the boy Samuel who heard God calling to him in the night. Samuel was confused until his teacher told him to respond to God’s call by saying “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” 1 Samuel 3:9

“Speak, O Lord”

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of your holy word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfil in us
all Your purposes, for Your glory.

Teach us Lord full obedience,
holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise. Cause our eyes to see,
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail;
let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises;
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, ’til your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Stuart Townend & Keith Getty
Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music CCLI # 4615235
2 Cor. 9:13; Eph 3:18; Gal 3:11; Heb 5:12; James 2:18; Matt 5:6; Rom 1:5, 12:2

When we sing this hymn, we are asking God to help us listen well to His Word and to cause His Word to change us and make us faithful servants so that we can live to His glory.

Activity – Listening Takes Practice

We have thought about the importance of preaching, but preaching doesn’t accomplish much unless people listen. Many of us are surrounded by noise most of the time, so it can be hard to focus on just one thing and listen to it carefully. Parents, try some of these listening games to build your children’s listening skills. And be sure to talk with them about the special importance of listening to God’s Word, and how blessed we are to hear it read and preached every Sunday as we gather for worship.

1. Broken telephone game - Whisper phrases such as 'Polly played in a puddle'.

2. Simon says game - Simon says jump three times.

3. Musical statues - Freeze when the music stops playing.

4. I went to the zoo and I saw a...Zebra, elephant and a monkey.

5. Which one is the odd one out? - Apple, banana, leopard, pear and apricot.

6. What sound is that? - Blindfold your child and listen to various household sounds - a lid closing, a blender mixing.

7. Go on a listening walk - Listen to sounds in nature.

8. How many things did you hear? - Close your eyes, listen for 30 seconds, and see how many sounds you can recount in order.

9. Listen to stories - Play audiobooks or online stories without viewing the screen.

10. Give multiple instructions - Increase the number of consecutive instructions for older children.

11. Draw a picture with instructions - Draw a tree with 3 red apples. Draw a cat sitting under the tree. Give a cat a black tail.

List adapted from https://empoweredparents.co/8-games-to-improve-your-childs-listening-skills/