Music: What We Know Today Has Degraded From The Original. Part 7 of a series

Music: A Seven Part Sermon on How What We Know Today Has Degraded From The Original Pt. 7      By Kelly Durant

 

Psalm 149:3 Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. Psalm 150:3

Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp!

Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

 

2. Sound penetrates deeply into our bodies. There are ‘good vibrations’ and there are bad ones, there is ugly irritating noise, and there is beautiful soothing harmony. For example, imagine right now someone scratching their fingernails on a chalkboard; now consider this, no one ever made a song using that sound! Two seconds of that and you want it to stop!

 

God’s sound creates! John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Sound, vibration, and the Word is God’s essence and from Him spawns all creation. Contemplate on all the waves of “the Word” we know, they create light, sound, material matter, and all micro and macro forces and orders are maintained and established by God’s eternal vibrations.

 

Sounds produced by beats (timbrels & drums), wind instruments (trumpets & others), strings (lute, guitar, & harp), and by the amazing human voice in song (may) make harmonious music! A captivating activity! According to the verses in Psalms 100, these noises (noises, LOL!) are made by God and are to be produced by us making praise and joy in reverence to His majesty. 

 

3. Why is music considered to be a part of the ‘sacred sciences? Because of how deeply it affects our spirits, music is spiritual! Music is either positive of God, negative from Satan, or a neutral wave with no effect on our being. What we tune into, and most everyone listens to music, wires our brains to be ‘one’ with the composer. That can be a very good thing or a very bad one!

 

You have heard ‘you are what you eat’, well it is the same with the consumption of music, ‘you are what you tune in to’. If you are praising God all day in song, it is for sure you are giving no time to Satan to come in with evil temptations and thoughts. In today’s world, you can choose amongst a million songs and genres that appeal to your tastes and preferences of instruments and voices and we should tune in to God’s music in moderation.

 

All music should glorify God because if not, it is glorifying some person making a name for themselves. There are too many famous people who love to be praised for their musical productions, and they do not glorify God nor thank Him for their talent as they want to be a ‘rock god’! What a waste, what a disillusion! They live in luxury, debauchery, and then pass away forgotten.

 

4. Have you heard it said that ‘if you will not learn an instrument on earth, how do you expect to play a harp in heaven’? That position is harsh because not everyone has a musical ability. What we do have is a voice that should always praise God for His mercy and goodness to us and to all generations.

 

No matter how your voice sounds, it was created by God to praise Him!  Psalm 100 ‘Make a joyful noise unto the lord’! Psalm 150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

 

God doesn’t care if you sound pleasant or not, he cares about you participating in His joy! When people gather to make music, the atmosphere is charged with joy and good vibrations. When you hear a band of 3 or a band of 30 (like in the Salvation Army bands) you get an uplifting effect. A connection and a unity for everyone in the meeting place! 

 

5. We know that some people get to hear music all day while others only a little. In King David’s time and until the recent past, music was special as you heard it only in gatherings and festivals by live performers. When something is rare, it is valued. Saul got to hear a lot of David’s music, and in heaven I want to hear him play! And you? The music of angels must be overwhelming!

 

1 Samuel 16:23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.

 

I know there are people out there similar to Saul. They are not fully in tune with God’s will, and they often feel down, discouraged, and condemned so music is a great thing for their broken spirit. Church is important as we get to praise and unite in song there. Very few families sit in a circle and sing together anymore. I did with my kids though, and I took them performing in hospitals, orphanages, and rest homes. We can share music even though we are not perfect as most people don’t require perfection.

 

6. Today however, music is often too prevalent being on our car radios, in stores, and playing in people’s earbuds from their iphones. Many people have the radio on for 12 hours a day so they are getting an overload of sound, music, and news chatter. Commercials in particular irritate the psyche! Remember Jesus often went to pray where He was alone in silence. 

 

The negative factor of the world’s worldly music is it can be replayed in the brain at random and it can become a huge distraction and background annoyance, almost like a torture. As in the movie, ‘Ghost’ you do not want to hear, “I Henry the 8^th I am…Henry the 8^th I am, I am…” all day long, over and over! Each one of us must strive to tune in or tune out what penetrates our ears, hearts, and minds. At random music resurfaces from our memories. Notice how powerful a grip music has on the brain! Music often in our memory is playing in the background, and are you aware of the message in the song?

 

Here is God’s standard…Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. I repeated and memorized scripture all day when I was younger to overcome the background music in my head from my childhood and teenage years. Playing guitar as I did, or any instrument, causes music to more engrained in the mind. Musicians are often ‘special’ not tuning into reality and the world around you as most people do!

 

7. Reminded of our upbringing, who grew up with a record player or a tape recorder? As a 4 year kid I was changing out 45 vinyls for hours all day long! Tennessee Ernie Ford and many artists got played so much that I never want to hear them ever again, ha! After all the music industry being exposed like it has this year, I hope every music fan will agree, “We’re not gonna take it, anymore” and reject, despise, and delete from devices all the billionaire producer’s productions who worship Satan, traffic and abuse aspiring young artists, and participate in demonic possession through music. 

 

It has been said that to be a professional at something you need 10,000 hours of experience. You could say I was a professional music listener with my 10,000 hours in by age 12! Today the kids are getting in 10,000 hours of screentime getting programed by the world and by age 12 or earlier and they are like wet cement that has dried hard as a rock molded by the world’s misguided, ungodly messages creating ungodly annoying behavior. 

 

We can be thankful that today there are many hymns we know and cherish, and we know they were for the most part written by men and women of a pure heart serving God. There is a lot of modern praise music as well that is catchy and uplifting. Since the ‘80s, I think it is good that most churches have accepted modern praise, but some do not sing any hymns at all anymore! They are losing some great timeless creations by doing that!

 

8. Let’s look at Christian music deeper taking note that not all of it is good as the singers or composers may be (or became) prideful and corrupted. I read articles that it came to light with some ‘Hillsong’ groups that their worshippers (?) do not even believe in God! It seems in today’s world we must research everything to know from what source it has come, a good one or a bad one.  

 

Music, used as God intended, was made to comfort the soul. Recalling that King David played his harp for King Saul, and it eased his troubled spirit, it would be nice if music today were applied like this! Considering this, you should only select music to listen to that brings you peace, joy, and love!

The interaction of sound waves also are mathematically perfect as seen in sea shells.

 

For a few hundred years certain ‘blue’ flat notes were considered to be of the devil. I personally don’t think we should let the devil own anything! God should and can be praised in all kinds of music. Focus on the words, are they true to the Word of God with good theology? Are they glorifying God? The world’s music, in general, boasts about sinful activities, heartbreak, and tragedy! 

 

9. One of the grandsons of Adam, Jubal, created some of the first musical instruments and compositions about 6,000 years ago! God gave music to us as a gift as we learn that it has been around since the beginning. The group Kiss sings, “God gave Rock ‘n Roll to you” but recall not everyone using God’s name is referring to our Father God of Jesus, “by their fruits, you will know them”! I do pray for this world’s musicians to turn to Jesus, but few have!

 

As we learn in the Psalms, God wants us to praise Him in song! I think everyone should sing when we praise, no matter how you think you sound! It is not about you; it is about God’s exaltation! About how you love Him and want to praise Him!  And those that can keep a beat, will always note that we have tambourines available. That is a beautiful history within the Sal Army!

 

Conclusively music is therapeutic. It is an emotion enhancer. It can also be used to arouse violence! But music correctly used produces a calming effect and it works good on all of us as we are not always joyful, but sometimes sad or disturbed. Observing this power, we understand why music falls within the category of science and is in the spiritual realm making it sacred as well. So, “I’m gonna sing, sing, sing, I’m gonna shout, shout, shout, I’m gonna sing, I’m gonna shout and praise the Lord, For when those gates are opened wide

I’m gonna sit by Jesus’ side, I’m gonna sing, I’m gonna shout, and Praise the Lord!!” And you?

The Palm Sunday Prophecy (Fulfilled)

The Palm Sunday Prophecy (Fulfilled)                                                By Kelly Durant 3-24-24

 

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

 

2. How many of you have been around young people when they get excited about their favorite group coming to town? I recall Renee a few years ago talking all the time about the British band ‘One Direction’, how I had to take her to see them, how they were the greatest, and on and on! (She will probably hate me now for mentioning it since that was ages ago in her mind!) The visit of a rock star, a movie star, a sports star, or of someone of political fame seems to always draw cheering crowds. People love to celebrate those that bring them some kind of inspiration or some kind of words of hope in this life! Isn’t that true? The sad part about praising people though is often people cheer only to get a huge let down once their true self is exposed!

 

Let’s go back about 2,000 years, who were the rock stars then for the people of Jerusalem? It certainly wasn’t any political leader with ties to Rome! They were the enemy, the cruel oppressors! As with many of the world leaders today! Music, sports, and movies were not marketed so what was left? Any prophet or teacher that could bring them hope, a hope of establishing them into power, to be free from the dominance of man, a supernatural person that could bring them honor, salvation, and healing! That was Jesus for them then but He still brings hope, happiness, and inspiration not only just to Jerusalem but to all in the world! The final fulfillment of a world full of love and peace will be in the New Jerusalem Kingdom of God when Jesus returns! 

 

Like an urban legend news about Jesus in Israel had spread from town to town and it spread into Jerusalem that He was the new savior, an amazing miracle worker, a wise teacher, and He even was fulfilling the prophecies of being the expected Messiah! For years and years the Jews were desperate for the Messiah to come and the Rabbis combed over each and every prophecy and the common man got the news that Jesus fit the description of what Zechariah prophesied! And Jesus was arriving in Jerusalem, how world-changing!

 

3. Every Palm Sunday year after year we face the reality that Jesus through His birth, life, and death fulfilled many dozens of prophecies! This is why I could never be a non-believer: the dead Sea Scrolls and unexplained fulfillment of prophecy prove there is a supernatural God behind the scenes who cares for each of us. The prophecy I am focusing in on today is a little one in Zechariah 9:9 but it has great implications.  The Jewish Rabbis and students were familiar with all prophecy; throughout the ages they each learned that the Messiah would fulfill every detail mentioned by every major and minor prophet throughout all the sacred scrolls recorded by their ancestors.

 

So what can we do with this one verse today? Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. 

 

This is a very specific verse with 5 points of fulfilment. For those who think the Messiah has not come, then they should rethink how difficult each of these points are to duplicate in concert with one another, especially if you were to try to replicate it in today’s world. The prophetic points are 1) Rejoicing, a shouting and worshipping of happiness for His arrival 2) The entrance of the awaited Messiah specifically going into Jerusalem 3) He is exalted as the King, an implication that He is recognized as the King of the Jews, the chosen Messiah 4) He is just, having salvation, and lowly, all of which means He is a humble man who is fair to all bringing salvation of the soul 5) And finally He is riding on a colt, which is a very unusual specific action strange for an honored King. 

 

4. Let’s explore this more in depth. Matthew 21:1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’

6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him[d] on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

 

This report written by Matthew includes the prophecy we are focusing in on today. It is the record of how Jesus obtained the colt (notice that no one yelled out, ‘hey you are stealing my colt’! I doubt that today any person would even be able to go into modern day Jerusalem on a colt with all the traffic! Before I get into the 5 points, let’s consider all the details here. 

 

A separate prophecy was being fulfilled here as well, the one of shouting “Hosanna” at the sight of Jesus. That was a praise to Him and a recognition that He was of the required lineage of David. (Psalm 118:25) Amongst the studious Jews there was no doubt, Jesus was the Messiah. 

 

5. One more thing before getting into the 5 points in the verse. Stand up everybody, yes get up, now take off your tunic or coat…now imagine spreading it out in front of a man on a colt! What an expensive and radical gesture to show honor, right? The rocky and muddy streets of Jerusalem were not too pretty! I doubt the dirt would have even washed out after the tunics got hoof prints and mud embedded in them. 

 

Now imagine laying down the palm branches…this was a gesture of bowing down to share a small gift, a token gesture of honoring a person with the green carpet treatment (before the red carpet came into fashion, ha!).  The entire city was there to see what was going on!

 

As mentioned here in verse 10, “all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” The ones who knew “who He was” were shouting and praising God with all their lungs! The rest of the city had never seen such a welcoming! The welcoming of a Roman leader was done out of formality and obligation, but never had people seen such a positive welcoming like this one!

 

6. So the rejoicing of the people of Jerusalem was unprecedented! This praising is the first point, now on to the second one, how is it that this explosion of praise happened in such a small city as Jerusalem? Why didn’t God and His Son not decide to enter into Rome, the capital of the world at that time?  First of all, Jesus was a Jew who came to reach those of God’s own house first, but we know now that His love was intended to extend into all the world, to every tribe, tongue, and race as well. (As it soon did and continues to do) Jerusalem historically is a sacred city, a chosen city, the City of David, the place of peace and blessings. 

 

There were many prophecies over Jerusalem, one is that they were being like a rebellious chick that the Father wanted to protect under His wings but they refused and rebelled (Psa 91:4). Jesus knew the Jerusalemites would reject Him despite their initial praise and acceptance. Notice what Jesus cries out here,Matthew 23:37  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”  God wanted them to see the light! They were given the first chance with the sign of loud rejoicing.

 

Jerusalem was where the blessings flourished with God’s chosen bloodline, but it also was where God’s blessings of peace (Salem=peace) ceased. Jerusalem about 40 years after Jesus entrance fell to their enemies, and then many times over were invaded and occupied by others dozens of times over in the past 2,000 years! Jerusalem has seen more war than peace and this conclusively is connected to their rejection of the King or Prince of Peace! (See Isaiah 9:6)

 

7. Now on to point 3, (‘Behold your King’) He was exalted as the King of the Jews there on that first Palm Sunday. The whole city proclaimed it! What was written on His cross by Pilot? Matthew 27:37 “And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” At first they accepted Him as King in truth, but later they retracted their praise accepting the lie of the false leaders instead!

 

The act of crying out the word “Hosanna” was special as it was a Hebrew word to express a deep worship and praise. No Hebrew should have worshipped any man this highly, only God, so the fact that all shouted “Hosanna” to Jesus indicates that they knew He was the true anointed Messiah or King. Otherwise, what they were doing would have been considered blasphemy!

 

We know today that Jesus, by His life, death, and resurrection is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords! In Jerusalem they worshipped Him as King fulfilling prophecy, recognizing Him for the fulfilment of the prophecies and for the miracles He had done. For a moment they instinctively knew He was King! But Jesus was not finished in demonstrating His power and authority. The ultimate miracle proving His worthiness and Kingship was His resurrection!

 

8. Point 4, The Messiah needed to possess certain characteristics, those of being just, having salvation, and being lowly. For one, Jesus was not elitist, claiming to be of blue blood, or of a special class imposing His superiority and arrogance (contrary to the world’s rulers back then and today). He was the most fair and loving person ever offering justice and equality of salvation and healing to everyone without discrimination. How shocking He was as He even offered healing and salvation to the despised Sumerians and gentiles!  Today he still saves “whosoever will”; all one needs to do is worship and accept Him as savior and as the Son of God, as the King of Kings! 

 

Lowly means humble and Jesus was the ultimate example of it! It hurts me to observe some Christians today who desire riches, praise, or arrogant power. They are damaging the cause of Christ and in my view do not know Jesus! Jesus served all without discrimination not just Jews. He mixed with publicans and sinners, forgave prostitutes, washed the feet of His followers and did unprecedented acts of humility that no other priest or man of God had ever done before. 

 

For me any follower of Jesus must exemplify humility! Some pastors will not even take out the trash!  Serving one another in love to me proves the authenticity of Christlikeness in a person!   

 

9. The final 5^th point, Jesus rides in on a colt to fulfill this prophecy. How many of you ever rode on a colt, raise your hand? We all know that donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn, right? They will buck you off!  How would a small colt act then with a big 180 pound body  (about Jesus size?) on it? The expected is for it to kick and fight don’t you think, especially if no one had ever ridden it. 

 

The Roman rulers would ride into cities on elegant horses or in carriages so to imagine Jesus, who is being hailed as King to be on a humble small colt is actually laughable! What humility he had! Jesus didn’t need to always use words to teach with, His actions taught us volumes as well.

 

The other lesson here is that Jesus obviously was not wealthy to purchase a nice horse or animal, but rather He got this colt by appropriation and it appears by the verses the appropriation of the colt was by divine design. Matthew 21:3 “And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” No one said, “Hey you’re stealing my colt!” When God has a job for you, it will all happen in His design, He always supplies by surprising ways, and it may be with something that ministers to your humility.

 

10. As we celebrate today with our palm branches as was done over 2,000 years ago, let’s focus in on what it means for us personally. We are to obey Jesus in all His ways. Here are some questions I have for you just based on the 5 point prophecies in Zechariah.

1) Do you get excited, worship and rejoice when Jesus becomes the subject matter of attention? All nature praises Him! Luke 19:40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

2) Is the spirit of the true Jerusalem worshippers where there is unity with others, present in your heart? Revelation 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (a future Heavenly Jerusalem awaits as we learn here from Revelation)

3) Is Jesus the King of your life? In other words, are you not ‘living as you please’ but living to please Him with Him ruling all things in your life? Romans 14:11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.

4) Are you fair to all? Do you serve in humility without discrimination? Do you offer others salvation as Jesus did?  How humble and lowly in heart are you? Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

5) And finally, to suggest you mount on a colt to imitate Jesus would not serve much of a purpose!  But think of it this way, do you do actions that may put you a position to appear ridiculous to the world? Will you do that if your deeds are humbly fulfilling God’s purpose? 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time

 

Jesus entry into Jerusalem brought us all these lessons! Let’s pray that we can be as He wants us to be on this Palm Sunday and for the rest of our lives! Praise Jesus, and love Him for His Kingship, salvation and humility! Do you know Him? Let’s pray…

Palm Sunday: Get Excited and Praise Jesus!

Get Excited and Praise Jesus!                                     Kelly Durant  3-25-18  (4-1-12)

Luke 19 ³⁵And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. ³⁶And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. ³⁷And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; ³⁸Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. ³⁹And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. ⁴⁰And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.

2. Have you ever noticed how popular “America’s Got Talent” is? The reality is God made you and me with an insatiable appetite to be entertained and to want to cheer someone on! People love saying, “Wow, did you see that?” We all like to get “oo-ed and awe-ed”! Or people in the sports arena, they love to be able to yell and cheer on the winner! Goooooooal! It is our human nature to want to get excited over the amazing skills of others! Or those that overcame a hardship or disability.

Today is Palm Sunday and Jesus just got on a colt and he is riding down from the Mount of Olives into the city. And what is happening? The people are recognizing the honor due Jesus. They are taking off their coats and laying them down in honor of Him! And they are yelling and praising Him! He is the star turning heads!

What really got people questioning things was what people were yelling, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest”. That was what the angels praised when Jesus was born! Remember that? It’s as if people had gone crazy shouting for Jesus! Jesus even said the rocks would scream if the people were quieted!

3. Let’s think about this for a minute. Do you think the people of the city had ever done this to honor a Roman Patriarch coming into the city? Or to honor one of the High Priests or Pharisees with their usual sour and condescending attitude! I doubt it! This was a first time event! Something like this had never happened before! It was honor of the first degree! And whom were the people honoring? Who were they shouting, “Hosanna in the highest!” to?

A humble looking man sitting on a colt! People were excited saying, “Wow, that is Jesus the King!” Jesus was not in a polished chariot, not on a large white horse, not surrounded by the usual pomp and procession of the wealthy. I think some people must have been very confused!  What’s all the loud noise about, all the praising and cheering? So much yelling for a man on a little donkey!?  What is up with that?!

4. But Jesus at that moment, passing by all those people, was with His face shining the bright light of God’s glory! I bet it was like a mass hysteria, like Holy Spirit goose bumps, or God-bumps, as they are called. Are you familiar with God-bumps? 

It is when something strange or unexplainable happens and you know God is close by! Maybe like when you were delayed out the door by some wrong number leaving work and it turns out that the car in front of you crashes and you realize you would have been in that car had it not been for the 30 second delay of the phone call?! God-bumps you get when you perceive a divine presence is near! Something supernatural is happening! Those in Jerusalem felt God-bumps on that day! It was scary but felt good! No one can deny the presence of God!

Can you imagine Jesus smiling and waving at the crowd and at the same time, as if by some mysterious, mystical power, all people just wanted to praise the Lord out loud when they saw Him! Have you ever been around a few thousand people yelling at the same time? It was a shocking sight and sound, it’s impacting, and it was eye-opening! And all of these thousands of people of Jerusalem were praising God! It was as the noise of an entire stadium cheering Jesus on! And Jesus’ presence today can still make us be awestruck! 

5. What a strange feeling and occurrence! Imagine, all the townspeople lined up to see this one man parade (well, he did have the disciples behind Him)!  The people imagined they were going to see some super type of man, but no one is very handsome on a short humble ugly donkey, yet a supernatural divine charisma did not leave them disappointed! When they looked at Him and they suddenly felt overwhelmed with these powerful emotions that made them feel like jumping up and down and praising God!

Have you ever felt overcome with good emotions? Try to recall, maybe like the time you first prayed to accept Jesus in your life. Or maybe the first time you felt the Holy Spirit touched you in some way. Or recall that feeling of an unexplained divine presence that protected you from death, all of these feelings that make you want to just praise God for his goodness! This was what people the people were intensely feeling. It was unexplainable! It is supernatural! It was like a force overtook them and they just wanted to shout and praise!

If you want to experience Jesus glory, you must praise Him, not just on a Palm Sunday, but every day! Praise Jesus and see what happens! Praising Him connects you to His Spirit!

6. For you to feel just a little bit of what all the people of Jerusalem felt, you are going to have to do what the disciples did and that is praise and bless Jesus as king, wish his peace on others and give the glory to God for Him!

Praising Jesus is a must for everything living and even non-living, like the stones! If we do not praise, as Jesus said, the stones will even cry out! And who did not praise on that Palm day? The self-righteous, self-satisfied, dead-spiritually, controlling, demonic Pharisees! They were not praising Him but rebuking Him and were considered by Jesus, according to this context, to be more dead and harder than the stones!  Consider these verses on praising God which is synonymous to praising Jesus as Jesus says, “I am my Father are One”,  

Psalm 118:26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. (A prophetic passage of Jesus entering into Jerusalem)

Psalm 69:34

Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moveth therein.

Psalm 22:23

Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. (We are the seed of Israel by adoption and by the acceptance of Jesus)

Psalm 109:30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.  (This applies to all multitudes, the ones in Jerusalem and in every gathering)

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. (Amen, give thanks to Him always!)

How many times have you been sick, or not had the rent money, or felt like dying due to some big problem and you praised God all day and God solved the problem? I can tell you at least a few dozen times in my life I praised God on the 1^st day of the month with no rent money and he supplied by a miracle! A stranger that showed up! There is power in praise! Praise Him always through the good and bad.

7. The benefits of praising Jesus are the following (repeat):

You practice humility as you exalt Jesus

You forget about your worries and troubles   

You get clean & ecstatic inside attracting God’s Holy Spirit   

You experience the glory of God, similar to what it is like in heaven   

You get engulfed in the love & unity of those praising around you

You cause your body to heal of illness by releasing good chemicals 

    

Los beneficios de alabar a Jesús son los siguientes: 

-Practicas la humildad mientras que exaltas a Jesús

-Se olvida de sus preocupaciones y problemas 

-Se siente limpio &  extático por dentro atrayendo el Espíritu Santo de Dios

-Se experimenta la gloria de Dios, similar a lo que están en el cielo 

-Se olvida de si envuelto el amor & la unidad de los que están alabando a tu alrededor 

-Se induce a su cuerpo a curarse de las enfermedades por sustancias o químicas buenas

 

8. What about those who do not praise Jesus:

-They disrespect the pull of the Holy Spirit, which is unforgivable blasphemy

-They become like the Pharisees, dry, angry, and murderous

-They become self-focused, obsessed with material, or earthly things

-Their spirit becomes arrogant and God and everyone becomes their enemy

-They become depressed and their body becomes sick

 

 ¿Qué pasa con aquellos que no alaban a Jesús: 

-Ellos le faltan el respeto al Espíritu Santo, lo cual es blasfemia imperdonable

-Ellos se vuelvan como los fariseos, secos, enojados y sanguinario 

-Ellos se vuelvan ego-céntrico, obsesionados con lo material, o las cosas terrenales 

-Su espíritu se vuelve arrogante y Dios y todo el mundo les tienen por su enemigo 

-Ellos se vuelvan  depresivos, y su cuerpo se vuelve enfermizo

 

9. So let’s praise Jesus more, amen? Only he is worthy to be praised, right? Only He can do the miracles and heal and provide! Only He gave his life as a sacrifice to ransom the souls of all people in the entire world. Only He can make us feel love and the glorious power of God in heaven!  If we don’t praise Him the rocks and all of the creation of nature will praise Him! His creation cannot deny his glory, it bursts forth in shouting! Let’s finish by reading the final Psalm together…

 

Psalm 150: 1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

 

Praise Jesus today! Don’t be indifferent to a love that came to sacrifice all to save your soul! Get filled with heavenly bliss that comes from praises!

Thanksgiving Days & The Sacrifice of Praise: It's God’s Idea!

Thanksgiving Days & The Sacrifice of Praise: God’s Idea  

By Kelly Durant  11-23-14 Re 11-20-22

 

Ps 107:22

22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Ps 50:14   

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

Jonah 2:9

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

 

2. It’s our Thanksgiving Day Sunday! It is obvious from the verses of today that giving thanks to God by sacrificing was God’s idea a few thousand years ago, long before the forming of this country! The verses of Psalm and Jonah today are around 3,000 years old, so we conclude that God wants His people to take special days of sacrificing reverencing Him doing it together with others.

 

Do you know how the U.S. Thanksgiving Day began? It began with a group of Christian Immigrants, immigrants just like you and me! Plymouth, Mass. 402 years ago was inhabited by Native Indians, and then one day a ship of Englishmen landed to set up a colony. This happened in 1620 as they were escaping religious persecution in Europe. Under the tyranny of King Henry VIII just a few decades earlier and even afterwards an estimated 70,000 lost their heads for not submitting to the abusive dominating monarchy that imposed their church hierarchy system on them. Are you thankful you have not lost your head due to an abusive authority? In history and even today millions have lost their heads, or lives, over religious and governmental persecution!

 

The problem is these desperate immigrants arrived too late in the year to have a harvest of food that would keep them alive throughout the cold winter. But thank God the Natives, or Indians, had compassion on them and gave them food in a special fall festival. One of the most common foods then was turkey, along with corn, and other vegetables, it was fall harvest festival. Historically, most cultures celebrate the beginning of spring, and this coincides with Easter and Passover; and to celebrate in the fall as well as did the Jews celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and the Torah, while Christians have come to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. 

 

Thus, the tradition of eating turkey! Many more of those immigrants would have died if they had not been helped! Half the colony later did die of hunger anyway! It was Sqanto, a native slave of the English who taught them how to raise corn and fish eel. He sacrificed his time and food to help these immigrants who were ignorant of living from nature since they came from large European cities. God bless the natives!

 

3. But many people have immigrated to many different lands throughout history so what makes this thanksgiving festival so special? 

These Christian immigrants took the time to rejoice, and have a party and celebrate, and praise the Lord and thank Him for freedom, life, and new friends, that’s what is special! It is a sacrifice to create a big celebration, many of you here sacrificed to make our lunch special, and sacrificing your self is what pleases the LORD! Psalm 54:6 I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.

 

Before it was common that the government authorities, and all the townspeople, would get together to celebrate expressing their faith and thanks to God in the public square. Never succumb to secularists that in this country that insist you must keep your faith private and secret! To the contrary, celebrate as is traditional, show God your thankfulness and be public about it anywhere, and everywhere! Be generous and share with others! How ironic that in this country today some people even get arrested for sharing food publicly with the needy! Christians traditionally have fed the needy in shelters and on the streets and we should not allow lawmakers make our traditions un-compassionately illegal.

 

Over 200 years ago congress recognized the importance of the Thanksgiving Day observance, and President George Washington issued a national Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789. He wrote, "Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country”...

He understood the basics of being Christian and he recognized the need to set aside a day to show God that we as Americans are thankful for this land under God!

 

Ps 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

 

4. Thanksgiving Day in reality is all about thanking God for maintaining your life and for sharing with others your thankfulness! (repeat)

 

In the verses of today we observe that David and Jonah, and we know well that all men of God, have always made a special event out of praising God for victories, protection, and supply! The problem in the world today is there is not much of an ‘attitude of gratitude’ anymore! For the past few decades unthankful Godless people have been rudely drowning out the thankful polite people! There are many sins in this nation and many people in the media are like rotten apples that incite bitterness over the past, and they promote hate between races, and insult the goodness of God’s people. But on the first Thanksgiving Day the natives and the Pilgrims were both good people being good to each other! 

 

In our community you would assume people would come to worship and thank God for their blessings but instead often they offer only negative comments (the opposite of praise) about personal frustrations or unhappy situations, and this makes God very sad and angry! God allowed a whole generation of Jews who escaped Egypt with Moses to die in the desert because they were unthankful to Him! 1 Corinthians 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 

 

Thankful people are happy people who recognize God as their provider, and they are blessed by God, and they make others feel good nearby them! Unthankful people disturb the peace and bring others down and they are on the path to their own destruction!

 

5. Just think, this country now has 63 million Hispanics, and about 40 million have arrived within the past 30 years. I personally have a hard time understanding why most all of them are not going to the church of their choice giving thanks to God?! I think I read about 15% do start going to a church of some kind but that is too few! In their countries about 80% go to church! You and I need to awaken more thankfulness in these new immigrants! We already have too many arrogant, Godless, unthankful people in all sectors of society! Let’s encourage new ones to thank God! 

 

Most immigrants, like the first European ones, recognize that they are strangers in a strange land, and they could literally die if they were not having God on their side providing, protecting, and guiding! I know when I moved around in South America I literally cried out to God every time to provide and protect my family because arriving somewhere not knowing how the system functions, not having friends, not speaking the language, and arriving with almost no resources is a situation that will make one desperate and thankful for every place to stay and every plate of food!

 

You who are here today to thank God are special to God!  I am thankful to God for you, and always we must be thankful for our Christian brothers and sisters, because you are the special ones of God! Being here to thank God today is comparable to being with the one leper that was healed that came back to give thanks. Ten were healed but only one returned and expressed thanks! Eternally we praise God and Jesus in recognition of thanks. Sadly, in infamy, there are the unthankful nine others. Never be one of them!

 

6. In order to show you are thankful, you must sacrifice something for God’s work from time to time. You must make a commitment and then keep it.

If you are thankful in life in general, you are always praising and happy, you are willing to do anything, and willing to give up anything to show God your love and appreciation, and thankfulness to Him!   As David the Psalmist words it, Ps 50:14

14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

 

We should all be dedicated to God’s work and to God’s people to have a proof of our thankfulness! Some people serve in shelters, and some give food to their hurting neighbors during these holidays, but really you can show thanks anytime!

Serve others with a need! Invite them to eat and tell them about your love for Jesus!

 

It is the tradition of many countries, even here, that when someone has been nice to you and done something special, you invite them to eat with you. Everyone likes to eat, right? What a great way to get to know someone and learn to love and like them!

 

7. Jesus commanded his disciples to travel and basically immigrate or integrate as they preached. No one can understand the full extent of being thankful for a bed and food unless they have had to be at the mercy of others for it! I have been in this situation many dozens of times in my life! Matt 10:9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. 11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it.  In other words, bless those that bless you!

 

Back to our U.S. lesson in history, imagine these defenseless Pilgrims in a new land with no homes except the ones they could build before winter, and no with no food stored for the winter either! Just think if right now I were to tell you, you are condemned to die in two months! In two months, your life will be over, you will die a slow death of starvation!

But then if suddenly there appeared a group of strange people of another race unexpectedly putting food on your table, just think how happy you would be! The reality is some of them survived in that Plymouth colony throughout the winter yet quite a few of them did die!

 

We praise and thank God this time of year (but we should every day!) and celebrations are good for all of us! And let’s also recall we must thank the native people for supporting the immigrants because your great-great grandparents were able to arrive here and work and have a life! All of us should thank all immigrants here including Latinos, Blacks, Irish, and Asians all of which helped build America’s major cities, railroads, and farmlands. The ones before us suffered painfully through extreme hard work and hard times, and their great grandparents suffered as well! People use to die at age 40 something, remember?  We have a super nation full of prosperity with wealthy cities, superhighways and mega factories all due to the labor of the many races that make up the population of The United States! 

 

8. Thankfulness to God involves being thankful to those different from you, by accepting and loving them, and respecting them. God’s glory invokes praise for His creation of the entire diverse human race, and the maximum thankfulness we can show Him is to love Him and love one another as Jesus commanded!

 

Because the lives of those few hundred immigrants that were saved almost 400 years ago, we now have a great nation today with many millions of immigrants who are Christian! This is still the most generous nation on earth because many thankful people still have faith in God and want to give back to their communities.

 

Did you know Jesus said He would celebrate a meal with us sort of like Thanksgiving? Let’s look up, Rev 3:20-21

 20'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Even Jesus offers to eat, fellowship, and celebrate with us! But the food Jesus is offering is not physical food, it is spiritual which is more important! 

 

It is sad to see people with hungry bodies, but we must also see that many people are dying of starvation spiritually! Many of your friends and family are weak and dying inside due to not understanding the roots of why we give thanks to God! Tell them the story of Jesus and take opportunity to emphasize the story of the Pilgrims. It is your and my job to tell everyone about God’s food, this bread of life, that He offers so ‘whosoever will’ can live forever! It is our job as Christians to teach others to always be thankful to God for even a cup of water! We must be a light to others in this work of feeding the sick and the suffering! Physical food is just a temporary aspect of life but spiritual feeding is what will keep us motivated to be alive!

 

Now, let us conclude that as we are thankful today, that we will recognize that it is by God and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit through which comes our Salvation. Any of us can die at any moment so being alive today let us, as in the book of Jonah, do our part to be fair with God and honor Him for his goodness and be sacrificial; Jonah2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

 

Ask yourself right now, have I shown thankfulness and sacrifice to God lately as I really should by being loving and doing something kind for someone else in need as happened on the first Thanksgiving Day?