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: How It Should Be Done

We’ve been learning that in worship, God meets with His people to reveal Who He is, and His people respond in awe and gratitude. We’ve also seen that when God’s people—the church—gather to worship Him, they show God’s presence and glory to each other and to the world. When the church gathers to worship, God’s people grow in their faith, and they join the believers from every time and place along with the heavenly angels in the great “festival of glory.” Wow!

Another way of saying all this (if you’re really into prepositions) is that in our study of worship so far, we’ve looked at what happens between God and His worshipers, and we’ve looked at what happens among worshipers who are gathered. Today we want to think about what happens inside a worshiper, and we’ll do that by looking at a famous story about a visit Jesus had with a Samaritan woman.

But first, we need to think about the word “worship” which comes from the word worth (meaning value or importance) and the suffix -ship (meaning quality or condition). To worship someone or something is to say that that person or object has great value or importance. When you worship, you express who or what is valuable and important to you. We’ll come back to that idea in a moment.

Now, let’s turn to the story of Jesus and the woman of Samaria recorded in John 4:1-26. Talk with your family about where Samaria was, what Jesus was doing there, and why it was so surprising that Jesus would be talking to this woman whom He had never met before. In verses 16-18, Jesus tells the woman something about herself that a stranger couldn’t possibly have known. The woman gets the idea that Jesus has a special connection to God; how else could He know her secret? There was a question about God that had been on this woman’s mind, and now she is talking to a man who has a special connection to God, so she asks, “Where is the right place to worship God?” That might seem like an odd question to you or me, but in Bible times, the proper place to worship was a big deal (see Deuteronomy 12:1-14), and so this woman’s question makes sense. She was asking, “If I want God to accept my worship, then where should I worship?”

Jesus gives the woman an answer that is rich with ideas about God and His plan of salvation, but for today, we’ll focus on just a little part of it. In verse 21, Jesus tells the woman that soon the question of where people worship won’t matter anymore because, as He says in verse 23, God is concerned, not with where, but with how people worship. Jesus says that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Then He tells her that He is the promised Messiah, the One Who would reveal to people everything they need to know about God.

Look up these scriptures and talk about what it means to worship “in spirit and truth.”
• John 1:14 – Jesus came, “full of grace and truth.”
• John 14:6 – Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
• Ephesians 1:13 – The “word of truth” is the “gospel of salvation.”
• Psalm 51:10 – When God saves us, He gives us a “clean heart” and a “right spirit.”
• John 3:6 – “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
• Philippians 3:3 – True believers, “worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.”

It’s obvious that what we say or sing about God in worship must be true. If someone says false things—for example, that Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, or He isn’t really God’s Son—that person clearly isn’t a true worshiper. But worship isn’t just what we say or do on the outside. To worship in spirit and truth includes what happens on the inside, too. It is sad to say, but it’s true just the same that people can come to church every Sunday and sing the songs, read the prayers, give their offerings, and say Amen without really believing—deep inside—that what they say or sing is important or valuable. Isaiah 29:13 warns about people who honor God “with their lips” while their “hearts are far” from Him. We call this “lip service.” Ron Graham says that lip service means “saying YES with your mouth but saying NO in your heart and by your actions.”
If we want God to accept our worship, we must worship in spirit and truth, not just repeating some true things about God, but believing deep inside that the truth about Jesus is the most valuable, the most important thing we can possibly possess. A true worshiper comes with a clean heart and a right spirit and worships in the fullness of the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done.

Hymn of Worship: “Lord, with Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee”

The man who wrote the poem that became our hymn for today is famous for something else. You might have heard of Francis Scott Key as the man who wrote the words to our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But Key was also a devout member of the church and student of Scripture who often included Bible verses in his poetry and in his personal letters. This poem uses many references to Scripture to praise God. Verse 1 praises God for His salvation (Ps. 9:1; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 4:7). Verse 2 praises God for His hope (1 Pet. 2:25; Lk. 15:4-7; 1 Pet. 1:3-5). Verse 3 praises God for His grace (Jn 6:44-45; Titus 2:11-12; Rom. 3:23-26). And Verse 4 praises God for His love (Ps. 99:5; Ps. 18:1-3; 1 Pet. 2:9-10).

Scripture references from https://hymnstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/lord-with-glowing-heart-id-praise-thee/

“Lord, with Glowing Heart I'd Praise Thee”

When we truly believe the gospel, and value Jesus as a priceless Treasure, our hearts will glow with love as we worship our Savior.

Activity – No Lip Service, Please

Have you ever watched cheerleaders at a sporting event? With big smiles on their faces, they jump up and down, waving their pompoms, and shouting about how wonderful their team is. (RAH! RAH! RAH!) Wouldn’t it be strange if one of the cheerleaders, still saying all the words about how wonderful her team is, just stood still with a frown on her face and her pompoms hanging at her sides? (rah. rah. rah.) Would you believe that she really meant the words she was saying? Did her attitude and actions match her words?

Or have you ever seen someone at a birthday party really excited about a gift. He smiled really big and hugged the gift close to his chest and shouted “THANK YOU! THIS IS JUST WHAT I WANTED!” But then he opened a gift that he really, really didn’t like. He would get a disappointed look on his face and let the gift fall to the table, but his mom would give him that look (you know what I mean), so he would say in a voice that sounded like it hurt, “thank you, it’s just what i wanted.” Did his attitude and actions match his words?

Maybe you have said some things that you didn’t really mean. Maybe you were just trying to be polite, or maybe you were just joining in with the people around you, or maybe you just weren’t thinking at all. Sometimes when we gather with God’s people to worship Him, our thoughts can be on something else. We might sing a song of praise without even thinking about what we’re singing. Or worse, we can be in a bad mood on a Sunday morning, and we can hold on to that bad mood even while we’re saying a memory verse or singing a hymn.

God wants worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth, not those who just give “lip service,” Ron Graham says that lip service means “saying YES with your mouth but saying NO in your heart and by your actions.” Talk about what these two verses say about our attitudes and actions matching our words in worship.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing? Psalm 100:1-2

“. . .people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.” Isaiah 29:13

Role Play

Make two fists and clench your teeth together like you’re really mad. Sing the chorus to “I Will Enter His Gates” without moving your lips or teeth. (He has made me glad, He has made me glad.)
Do your attitude and actions match your words?

Now make the biggest frown you can make and rub your eyes like you’re crying really hard. Sing that chorus again. Do your attitude and actions match your words?

How can you sing that song the right way, to show that you really ARE glad to “enter His gates?”

What other songs can you think of that must be sung with the right attitude and actions?

Look up these verses and practice saying them aloud with the right attitude and actions:

Ephesians 5:22-23
Romans 15:13
Philippians 4:4 and 4:6
Colossians 3:16
Psalm 71:23
Psalm 51:2 (This one’s tough.)