{"id":12431,"date":"2022-07-24T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&#038;p=12431"},"modified":"2022-07-26T10:12:52","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T14:12:52","slug":"serving-our-lord-with-joy","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/sermons\/serving-our-lord-with-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Serving Our Lord With Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-gdm-google-drive-embedder-viewer\"><iframe width='100%' height='100' frameborder='0' scrolling='yes' src='https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1YgNnn4TxN4EyL7Wcv69WNsANwwjiRVH7\/preview?usp=drivesdk' allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n<h4><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Read<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Psalm 100<\/p>\n<h4><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Consider<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">One of the privileges of Christ followers is to serve our God, our Lord and Savior. The Psalmist said in Psalm 100:1-2 <em>\u201c<\/em><em>Shout <\/em><em>for joy<\/em><em> to the\u00a0Lord, all the earth.<\/em><em>\u00a0 Worship<\/em><em> the\u00a0Lord\u00a0with gladness<\/em><em>.\u00a0 <\/em><em>Come before Him with joyful <\/em><em>songs<\/em><em>.<\/em><em>\u201d<br \/><\/em>Some translations translate the word \u201cWorship\u201d as \u201cServe\u201d. We should come before our Lord with joy and gladness and sing and serve with our joyful hearts.\u00a0 Singing is not a self-enjoyment act but a joyful expression of who God is (Praise) and what God has done in our lives (Thanksgiving).\u00a0 In other psalms, psalmist said singing a new song.\u00a0 A new song probably is not just a new melody but new lyrics and stories to give thanks to what God has done in our lives. Everyone should have new stories of what God had done in their lives as God always works in our lives.\u00a0 It is our pleasure to find out what exactly they are.\u00a0 Psalmist gave us few reasons in Psalm 100:3 why we should joyfully sing and serve our Lord.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>Know that the\u00a0Lord\u00a0is God<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">If we acknowledge God is God, we acknowledge He is in control and has the best in store for us.\u00a0 There will be times we are going through troubles and challenges, acknowledging God is the sovereign God will give us peace and joy to live. On the other hand, if we are trying to control our destiny with our limited wisdom and knowledge, we will always feel anxious and lost the joy of our everyday life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>It is he who made us,\u00a0and we are hi<\/strong><strong>s<\/strong><strong>;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">I still remember the kid\u2019s song with lyrics \u201cGod made me, God made me, I am so glad that God made me\u201d.\u00a0 We should be glad that God made me.\u00a0 Not only \u201cGod made me fingers and God made my toes\u201d, but God made us with His purpose for our lives.\u00a0 One of the bigger questions in humanity is \u201cWhat is the purpose of life?\u201d.\u00a0 With God our creator, we are rest assured that we still have peace and joy amid the uncertainly because we know that God is revealing His plan to us in His timing.\u00a0 Our role is to walk closely with Him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>We<\/strong><strong> are his people,\u00a0the sheep of his pasture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">We are God\u2019s people and God is our Lord of our life.\u00a0\u00a0 God is a God of covenant, and He will keep promises to His people.\u00a0 He is a provider of our lives and in Him, we lack of nothing.\u00a0 Imagine children in the household never have to worry anything as the loving and gracious parents always provide what they need.\u00a0 It is the same God will do to His people.\u00a0 The Psalmist at the end said,<br \/><em>\u201c<\/em><em>Enter his gates with thanksgiving<\/em><em> and his courts\u00a0with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the\u00a0Lord\u00a0is good\u00a0and his love endures forever; his faithfulness\u00a0continues through all generations.<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Our God is good and faithful.<br \/>Look forward to worshipping with you this Sunday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px; text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">Rev. Julian Wong<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Pray<\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for being my God, my creator, my King and my shepherd.\u00a0 I humbly come before you with thanksgiving and praise as you are the only One I trust.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Lord, please give me the courage to navigate the challenges in life as you are the sovereign God who is in control.\u00a0 May the peace and joy of the Spirit dwells in me when I face the uncertainty. May you give me the discerning hearts and minds to experience His provision.\u00a0 I praise God for who You are.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">In Jesus name, I pray, Amen.<\/p>\n<h4><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Diving<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Deeper<\/span><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Write a new \u201cSong\u201d to God.\u00a0 It means examine the most recent encounter with God.\u00a0 Write a paragraph to give thanks to God.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Are you serving with joy? Why or why not?\u00a0 Tell your honest answer to God<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">What areas are you serving God with most joy?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">How can we live closer <strong>WITH GOD<\/strong> in our lives?<br \/>How are we being <strong>TRANSFORMED<\/strong> to be more like Christ?<br \/>How is the Holy Spirit empowering us to imitate Christ in what we <strong>DO<\/strong> this week?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 100<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":12432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[55],"ctc_sermon_series":[],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[518],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12444,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/12431\/revisions\/12444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=12431"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=12431"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=12431"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=12431"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=12431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}