http://www.trinityopcnovato.org Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web. This site provides information about the Christian ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church, OPC. This site also broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA. Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives. Thu, 16 May 2013 20:57:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Copyright © by W. Reid Hankins and Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2011 info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins) info@trinityopcnovato.org (Rev. W. Reid Hankins) Religion & Spirituality:Christianity 1440 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/tpc-vertical144.jpg http://www.trinityopcnovato.org 144 144 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?feed=podcast Sermons and Sunday Schools Serving Novato, Marin County, California and the World Wide Web. This feed broadcasts the latest sermons and Sunday schools from Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Novato, CA. Our sermons seek to exposit Scripture, preaching Christ and the cross, and understanding the impact and demand of the Word on our lives. Church, Novato, Marin, Hankins, Sermon, Christian, OPC, San Rafael Rev. W. Reid Hankins Rev. W. Reid Hankins info@trinityopcnovato.org no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/11/18/lord-god/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/11/18/lord-god/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2012 01:31:37 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1872 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/11/18/lord-god/feed/ 0 0:37:47 Thanksgiving sermon preached on Psalm 100 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/18/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 100 11/18/12 “Know that the LORD, He is God” Thanksgiv[...] Thanksgiving sermon preached on Psalm 100 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 11/18/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 100 11/18/12 “Know that the LORD, He is God” Thanksgiving. This Thursday our nation has set aside that day as a day of national thanksgiving. Being thankful is a good thing. In fact the Bible describes one characteristic of the ungodly as people who are unthankful. As a church, and as a nation, and as individuals, we should be thankful people. This is true in general. We should always be thankful. But certainly it is appropriate to set aside special times and seasons where we particularly thank God for all his many blessings. And yet, whenever you make something an annual holiday, the temptation is to miss what it really should be about. That certainly is a real possibility with Thanksgiving in our nation. And so we’ll think a little bit about that at the end of our message today. But I’d like to inform that thinking with Psalm 100. What a fitting psalm for before a season of thanksgiving. This is the only psalm that is titled specifically a “Psalm of Thanksgiving.” There are many thanksgiving psalms in the Bible, but this is the only one donned with that title. Well, as we study this psalm today, observe with me the basic structure. You can divide the psalm into two parallel halves, verses 1 through 3 and verses 4 through 5. Each half contains two parts: a call to thanksgiving, and then a reason or rationale for that thanksgiving. And so in the first half, verses 1 and 2 are the call to thanksgiving. Verse 3 gives the reason for that call. And in the second half, verse 4 is the call to thanksgiving, and verse 5 gives the reason for that call. And so given this structure of the psalm, we’ll organize our sermon much the same way. Two main points for today. First, a call to thanksgiving and praise. Second, we’ll consider the reasons for that call. At the end we will then spend some time applying this to us and our upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. So let’s begin then with the call. We find in this psalm seven commands. Seven verbal imperatives. Six of those seven are words that call us to thanksgiving and praise. These six verbs of command are equally divided between the two halves or sections in this psalm. Verses 1 and 2 the commands are, shout, serve, and come. Verse 4, the commands are enter, be thankful, and bless. All of these are different ways this call to thanksgiving and praise is being expressed. Six different explicit commands to such worship. We have an obligation to thank God and to praise him. These six commands describe the nature of this thanksgiving and praise. I could go through each of these six verbs individually, but what I’ll do instead is to group them into two sets. One, we see that there is a dimension of corporate worship to this thanksgiving. And two, we see that there is a call, for what you might say, to raise the volume of our joy as we thank him! We’ll flush those both out. First, this call is a call of corporate worship. Specifically, what we are to recognize is that this is worship language. And it’s a worship that is put in a corporate sense. And so notice that verse 1 begins by calling all the lands, all the earth, to this thanksgiving. There is an obligation for all to give this worship to God. Now that doesn’t mean that everyone necessarily answers that call. But the obligation and call is issued nonetheless. Verse 3 then talks less universally. There’s a reference to God’s people, the sheep of his pasture. That would have referred originally to Israel as a nation. Now, in application, it would include all God’s people in Christ. And so we see to whom this call is made. The world in general, but more specifically God’s people. Verse 2 uses the word “serve”. We are to serve him with gladness. Some translations say “worship” instead of “serve”. T[...] Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/blessed-man/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/blessed-man/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:33:06 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1581 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2012/01/08/blessed-man/feed/ 0 0:43:11 Sermon preached on Psalm 1 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/8/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 1 1/8/12 “Blessed is the Man” Here we have Psalm 1. A ps[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 1 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/8/2012 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 1 1/8/12 “Blessed is the Man” Here we have Psalm 1. A psalm that serves as the entrance into the entire Psalter. A psalm long recognized for its beauty both in terms of its poetry and content. Standing at the beginning of the Psalter, it calls us to the way we must approach the psalms. It calls us to the way we must approach all of life. We cannot truly worship God without going down the path of life commended in this passage. And so what we have in this psalm is a theme found in several places in Scripture. It’s the theme of two ways. There are two ways you can go in life. Two directions. Two paths. Which will you take? One leads a good way. The other quite the opposite. Jesus spoke of such a choice too in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus spoke of the two ways. One way, he said, was wide and broad, but it leads to destruction. The other way, Jesus said, was narrow and difficult, but it leads to life. This is what this psalm presents to us. Two different ways. As in the words of verse 6, it’s the way of the righteous, versus the way of the ungodly. This will what we’ll consider today. We’ll consider first what these two different ways entail. Second, we’ll consider the outcome of these two different ways. Finally, we’ll consider how to live out Psalm 1′s admonition. But before we dig into this psalm, let me offer a helpful side note. What we have here in Psalm 1 is an idealized picture of how God’s way is the best way, and ultimately the only real way of any true value. We should not understand this concept simplistically. Some who have understood passages like this simplistically, have come up with a prosperity theology. That effectively says if you but order your life in God’s way, you will have health and wealth and virtually no problems and only prosperity in this life. That, however, doesn’t fit with the reality of life or the Biblical witness. Just read the books of Job and Ecclesiastes and you’ll find that things are a little more complex than that. The Bible is clear – sometimes in this world, the wicked seem to prosper for a time and the righteous do suffer for a time. We just studied that a bit in our series through Malachi. A Biblical worldview has to accommodate that, and in fact the Bible does accommodate that in its teaching. That being said, Psalm 1 doesn’t deal with that fact in any detail. And since we’ve dealt with that subject a decent bit recently, I’m not going to delve into it very deeply today again. Rather, I will just say that Psalm 1 presents that the way of the righteous is ultimately the best way. That’s true, even if the way of the wicked might at times in this life seem more advantageous. The point of this psalm, and Scripture as a whole, is that it is not ultimately the best way. Rather Psalm 1 says that if you want it to go well with you, then go God’s way. This we will see in our passage for today. So, then, let’s begin first by comparing the two ways. What does each way look like? The psalms are divided up into three sections. Verses 1-3 deal with the way of the righteous. Verses 4-5 deal with the way of the ungodly. Verse 6 is a final summary verse. Let’s look first then at the way of the righteous. What does that way look like? Verse 1 starts the description. Interestingly, it begins by telling us what righteousness does not look like. It does not look like the way of the wicked. Verse 2 will then tell us in positive terms what the way of the righteous does look like. This might seem strange at initial glance, to start with what righteousness is not, but it actually does make sense. It follows the common pattern of life[...] Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/09/25/high-praises-god%e2%80%a6-two-edged-sword/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/09/25/high-praises-god%e2%80%a6-two-edged-sword/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:15:48 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1488 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/09/25/high-praises-god%e2%80%a6-two-edged-sword/feed/ 0 0:35:52 Sermon preached on Psalm 149 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 9/25/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 149 09/25/11 High Praises of God… and a Two-Edged Sword At fir[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 149 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 9/25/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 149 09/25/11 High Praises of God… and a Two-Edged Sword At first glance this a psalm that might sit a bit uneasy with many people in our country today. This is a psalm that joins both praise and war together. The first half of the psalm focuses on the praise. The second half on the battle. Verse 6 joins these two ideas together. Verse 6, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.” Of course, our nation does have a history for seeing a connection between these two ideas. Some of you might remember the song sung during World War II, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.” That was a similar joining together of praise and battle. When a military chaplain prays for the troops before they go into battle, there’s usually a related idea there too. Well, that is essentially what this psalm is. It’s a psalm that could have been sung before a military battle. And yet that doesn’t quite say enough about this psalm. This psalm isn’t just a prayer before a big battle asking for safety and victory. It’s a psalm that anticipates victory for God’s people. It’s a psalm that praises the victory in advance. Victory is a certainty in this psalm. That’s why this psalm calls for praise to the LORD. And so this psalm could have been used by the nation of Israel before any number of battles that they might have faced. Now remember what Israel stood for; that will especially help us to set the context for this psalm. Recall that Israel as a political nation was also the visible church of God at that time. Back in those days, if you asked where God’s church was, you’d point to Israel. Now, sure we have evidence that God worked faith and worship in a few outside of Israel at that time. But for the most part, the nation of Israel, was the visible church. God had chosen to set them apart from the rest of the world. The rest of their world in their rebellion worshipped man made idols. So there was a clear antithesis between them and the rest of the world. They followed God. They were the place that worshipped the one true God. The rest of the world was full of their false religions. In the hostilities between God and man, Israel was on God’s side, and the rest of the world was against God. Consequently, there were certain times in the Biblical history of Israel where they found themselves in what could accurately be described as a sort of holy war. This was not the normal operating orders for Israel. Don’t miss that. They in fact were not allowed by God to just go out war mongering and looking to attack anyone they wanted. The primary time when Israel was told by God to go out and attack a nation was when they were entering the Promised Land. There God told them that he would specifically use them to bring judgment against a few select nations because of their continued egregious sins. God at the same time gave them different instructions for a number of other nations around them, to instead try to make peace with them. Compare Deuteronomy 7 say with Deuteronomy 20, for example. Never did God tell Israel to just go wipe out every other nation. And yet God did use them as his arm of judgment on a few select groups of people. And so those are examples of battles where it would have been quite appropriate for them to have sung this psalm. And so we’ll spend some time today understanding this psalm first for Israel, and then for us in the New Testament church. Psalms like this must be understood in light of the context we find ourselves in, within God’s overall plan for human history. And yet a psalm like this still has a very important message for us today. Ultimately, this psa[...] Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/09/18/lord-rejoice-works-praise-lord/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/09/18/lord-rejoice-works-praise-lord/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:24:48 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1483 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/09/18/lord-rejoice-works-praise-lord/feed/ 0 0:42:51 Sermon preached on Psalm 104 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 9/18/2011 in Novato, CA. Note: The first portion of the audio was inadvertently cut off. We apologize for the inconvenience. Re[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 104 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 9/18/2011 in Novato, CA. Note: The first portion of the audio was inadvertently cut off. We apologize for the inconvenience. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 104 09/18/11 May the Lord Rejoice in his Works: Praise the LORD! We have here another beautiful psalm that gives praise to our God. This is psalm that praises God as the creator of all things. It is especially a psalm that praises God as the sustainer of all things. God creates and sustains all things. Creation and providence are the works of God whereby we know him through the nature around us. While many in this world celebrate Mother Earth, or maybe even make creation somehow divine, this psalm disagrees. This psalm praises the God who is distinct from his creation. A God who was active both at the beginning when he made all things, and a God who continues to be involved in all aspects of his creation to preserve and govern it. God’s works bring praise to the author of this psalm. And that is why we will study it today as well. To call us all to praise God with our whole selves, as our creator and sustainer, as well as our redeemer. This is a praise that is to always be present in our lives, just as God is always present in our lives to sustain us and uphold us. I’d like us to begin today by surveying how this passage presents God’s work in creation and providence. One thing you may have noticed as we read through this psalm is that it echoes a lot of Genesis chapter 1. That’s the chapter at the very start of the Scriptures that details how God created everything in 6 days, and rested on the 7th. There so much here from Genesis 1, that some commentators have suggested that you can outline this psalm from the days of Genesis 1. Well, when you start to try to do that, you realize pretty quickly that there would be so many exceptions then imposed on the structure of this psalm, that such a theory loses credibility right away. But the idea is helpful. What instead seems to be the case is that the author of this psalm is providing a reflection on Genesis 1. It’s like he is meditating on the contents of Genesis 1 and that then has become his praise. That makes sense with what the verses 33-34 even say. At the end he says he will sing praises to the LORD and asks that God will be pleased with his meditations. Well, this psalm seems to be one of those meditations; meditating on Genesis 1. The psalmist is considering not only the creation of Genesis 1, but how he sees God continuing to care for that which he put into being at the creation. So then notice all of the details from Genesis 1 here. On day 1, God had created the light and the darkness. Light is referenced in verse 2, and darkness in verse 20. He goes on to describe the change back and forth between night and day as something important to creation – that’s something important in Genesis 1 too, the repeated refrain of each day – there was evening and then there was morning. On day 2 of creation, God divided the waters, created a firmament or expanse. That separated the waters on the earth from the waters above the earth. Well, that division of waters on the earth and the clouds in the sky is subtly described in the opening few verses here as well. On day 3, land and water are specifically separated; that is discussed in verses 6-9. That same day vegetation was created, which is referenced in verses 14-17. On day 4 of creation, the sun and moon are created for controlling the times and seasons. That’s referenced in verses 19-23. On day 5, the sea creatures were created, they are referenced in verses 25-26. On day 6, the animals and man were created. They are referenced especially in verses 24-28. It’s on that 6th day that God appointed food for all the creatures, which is a subject dealt with in ve[...] Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/16/delight-god-worship/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/16/delight-god-worship/#comments Mon, 17 Jan 2011 01:47:36 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1167 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/16/delight-god-worship/feed/ 0 0:40:34 Sermon preached on Psalm 84 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/16/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Novato, Marin County, CA Psalm 84 01/16/11 The Delight of God in Worship Wh[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 84 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/16/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Novato, Marin County, CA Psalm 84 01/16/11 The Delight of God in Worship When you are hungry, it’s hard to ignore your body’s desire for food. When you are thirsty, it’s hard to ignore that craving as well. Hunger and thirst are both mental and physical cravings for something we truly need. The sensations of hunger and thirst can be powerful. They help us to survive, even. Well, this psalm describes a craving and a desire. It’s a craving and desire to be in the House of God. It’s a passion to be with God and to worship God in his holy temple. C.S. Lewis rightly referred to this as an “appetite for God.” As the Bible tells us, man does not live by bread alone. That physical hunger and thirst alone is not enough to meet our basic needs. Man also has a need to be in communion with God. This psalm expresses that fundamental need. And so we’ll be studying this psalm today as the third and last sermon in our short miniseries on worship. Two weeks ago we talked about the Glory of God in Worship. Last week we talked about the Fear of God in Worship. Today I had originally planned to talk about the Grace of God in Worship. In fact, that’s still a large part of what we’ll be talking about today. But I retitled the sermon after further meditation. I changed it from the “Grace of God in Worship” to the “Delight of God in Worship.” The point I wanted to make with the original title is that we come to worship God in part because of the grace that God gives us as we worship him. I wanted that to be another motivation for us to prioritize this time each week. That’s certainly true. And yet as I reflected on Scripture about that, I was reminded of one way in which Scripture expresses that. It expresses that in passages like this, where the delight of being in worship and communion with God comes out. This “appetite for God” is partly the result of the grace of God in worship. The result of God’s grace coming to us in worship is this craving and desire to be in worship. That’s what I always wanted to highlight today. And so I changed our messages’ title to help bring that out. I hope you see the contrast to this message, compared to our last two messages. When we discussed the glory of God and the fear of God, we rightly said that we should prioritize worship because of who God is. Who he is, his greatness, is the chief reason for our weekly worship of him. Exalting God is the chief reason to be here. And yet, as true as that is, there’s another real reason to be here too. We come here too because it is so good for us to be here. God blesses us so wonderfully as we worship him. The result should be such delight from us to be here with him! That’s the wonderful balance expressed in the first catechism question – what’s man’s chief end? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. Our first two sermons on worship focused on the glorifying God part of our worship. Today’s message focuses on the enjoying God part of our worship. Let’s dig into this passage and get a taste of this truth from this wonderful psalm. Here in this psalm we see the psalmist expressing his strong desire to be in the house of God, that holy tabernacle in Jerusalem. It’s a psalm of pilgrimage to worship God in the tabernacle. Many think that this psalm may have originally been about King David, and possibly also written by King David. You’ll note that in verse 9 it asks God to look upon his anointed one. That’s certainly referring to the king of Israel. As you read this psalm, then, what comes out is that the king of Israel is not currently in the tabernacle, but is longing to return [...] Psalms, Worship Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/09/fear-god-worship/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/09/fear-god-worship/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 01:35:46 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1163 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/09/fear-god-worship/feed/ 0 0:35:42 Sermon preached on Psalm 111 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/9/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 111 01/09/11 The Fear of God in Worship: “Holy and Awesome is H[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 111 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/9/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Psalm 111 01/09/11 The Fear of God in Worship: “Holy and Awesome is His Name” Today we continue a short three part miniseries on worship. Last weeks’ message was on “The Glory of God in Worship.” Next week we will consider “The Grace of God in Worship.” Today, however, we’ll consider “The Fear of God in Worship.” Now I recognize that in today’s age the concept of the “Fear of God” is not very popular among man. People don’t want to fear God. If they believe in God at all, then they usually want God to be their best friend, or maybe even their lover. But not someone they should fear. Now, I could have easily titled our message today the “Reverence of God in Worship,” and given essentially the same sermon. The word “revere” and the word “fear” are actually close synonyms to each other. And yet ty experience shows that for some reason, people today tend to have less of a problem with the idea of revering God, than with fearing God. When I talk about fearing God, it often raises lots of questions from people. When I talk about revering God, people usually have no problem with that. Probably because people in their minds they might tend to lighten what “reverence” is all about. It’s probably just a sort of holy respect in many people’s minds. And so I intentionally named our sermon today about the “fear of God.” Technically, “reverence of God” would have gotten at the same idea. But I think we need to really recognize the importance of actually fearing God, in the biblical sense of such fear. OPC minister and professor John Murray said, “The fear of God is the soul of godliness.” If that’s true in general for godliness, how certainly it’s true when it comes to our worship of God. We can’t properly worship God without a right sense of fear of God. Now let me right away get an important clarification out of the way. There’s one important sense in which Christians ought not to fear God. We should not fear God in terms of judgment. 1 John 4:18 says that perfect love casts out fear. You see, there are different senses to the word “fear.” Christians don’t fear that God will judge us. We know God loves us and has saved us. Faith in that love casts out that kind of fear. And yet 1 Peter 2:17 still tells us to fear God. There’s a fear of God that’s not about fearing judgment, but that appreciates all who God is. We can fear God in a way that recognizes his awesome and even terrifying power. The very fact that God could have brought judgment upon us, could certainly install this same kind of proper fear of God. Christians should always have this right sort of fear of God. Fear that recognizes that God is God, and we are not. Fear that recognizes how everything is in his hands. All is in his control. He has the power to do whatever he wills. This fear is a sort of holy respect, but it’s more than that. Its constantly recognizing the almightiness of God in a way that stands in awe of him. His greatness should grip you in a way that can be called “fear.” I don’t want us to lose that word. For Christians, this is not a negative fear. It’s an amazing fear. It’s even a good fear. And it’s the one enduring fear we will always have in our life. This passage talks about the fear of God today. And it relates that fear to our worship of God. Three concepts are actually prevalent in this psalm. The fear of God, the praise of God, and the works of God. Those three ideas are connected in this psalm. The psalm starts and ends with a general reference to praise[...] Psalms, Worship Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/02/glory-god-worship/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/02/glory-god-worship/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 07:32:54 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/?p=1128 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2011/01/02/glory-god-worship/feed/ 0 0:37:06 Sermon preached on Psalm 29 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/2/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Novato, Marin County, CA Psalm 29 01/02/11 The Glory of God in Worship Today[...] Sermon preached on Psalm 29 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 1/2/2011 in Novato, CA. Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Novato, Marin County, CA Psalm 29 01/02/11 The Glory of God in Worship Today we begin a short miniseries on worship. This series will be a trilogy – a simple three part series. Today’s message will be on “The Glory of God in Worship.” Next week will be “The Fear of God in Worship.” The last topic will be “The Grace of God in Worship.” And so today we’ve just read a psalm about the glory of God. It’s a psalm that calls for God to be glorified. Before we dig into this psalm, I think it would be helpful actually define in broad terms what it means to glorify God. Well, the word “glorify” comes from the word glory. So to glorify something, is to give glory to something. To give glory to something then is to attribute honor and praise to something. It’s to exalt something. It’s to draw attention to its beauty and majesty. It’s to highlight its value. You can glorify something in a false way. Like false flattery. False flattery is giving glory and honor to someone who is undeserving of it. That’s glorifying someone, but the glory you are attributing to that person isn’t true glory. The glory you’re attributing to them is a lie. But not so with God. When we talk about glorifying God, we’re talking about exalting him before all with the glory that is actually his. We honor him, and praise him, for who he is. For what he’s done. For our special relationship with him. Write those down. When we think about what we are glorifying God in, think of those categories. We can glorify God for who he is, for what he’s done, and for our special relationship with him. Those three categories can give you an endless source of content for which to glorify God. How you glorify God can be done in different ways. You can glorify him in your efforts to live godly. If that’s done in response to his majesty, it glorifies him. You can glorify him through your evangelism, telling others of his glory and his plan of salvation. Those are just two examples. But probably the most natural way to glorify God is through our public worship. It’s that aspect of glorifying God which we’ll be considering today. As we look at this psalm, we realize that it is especially calling us to glorify God in public worship. And so we’ll think about this psalm from that perspective. As we look at this psalm, we’ll see that it talks about God’s glory poetically. It gives a poetic picture of God’s glory through the context of a storm. This psalm shows how God’s glory is seen in a powerful storm, full of thunder and lightning. Evidently this has been a psalm typically read to children or even congregations during a big storm. The storm points us back to the glory of God. Let’s dig in and analyze this psalm, and think about how it calls us to glorify God in our worship. The first section of the psalm is in verses 1-2. This is a common thing we’ll read at the Call to Worship in our Sunday service. Simply put, it’s a call to glorify God. It makes this call very poetically, using typical Hebrew repetition and parallelism. Verse 1 repeats the call twice. It uses the same command “give” twice here. Some translations use the word “ascribe”. I prefer that translation, but it’s the same idea. Give, ascribe, unto the Lord glory and strength. It’s a call to acknowledge and identify the glory of God to all. It highlights his strength here too, which is yet another thing that brings glory to God. Verse 1 had parallelism in it, repeating the call to give glory to God. Verse 2 is now a parallel of verse 1, and it has parallelism within it as well. V[...] Psalms, Worship Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/04/05/the-king-of-glory-shall-come-in/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/04/05/the-king-of-glory-shall-come-in/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:07:36 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/?p=335 http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2009/04/05/the-king-of-glory-shall-come-in/feed/ 0 0:39:15 Join us as we examine Psalm 24, a song of the great advent of God to his people, in light of Palm Sunday and the work of Jesus Christ. Passage: Psalm 24 Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Tr[...] Join us as we examine Psalm 24, a song of the great advent of God to his people, in light of Palm Sunday and the work of Jesus Christ. Passage: Psalm 24 Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 04/04/2009 in Novato, CA. Manuscript: The King of Glory Shall Come In Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2008/03/16/o-lord-save-us-a-palm-sunday-sermon/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2008/03/16/o-lord-save-us-a-palm-sunday-sermon/#comments Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:35:56 +0000 Pastor Reid Hankins http://www.novatoopcsermons.org/2008/03/16/o-lord-save-us-a-palm-sunday-sermon/ http://www.trinityopcnovato.org/2008/03/16/o-lord-save-us-a-palm-sunday-sermon/feed/ 0 0:36:06 Our sermon for today is on Psalm 118, which was the psalm that was taken up on the lips of the Jews and applied to Jesus during the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday.  In our reading from Matthew we saw that the crowd of Jews exclaimed, “Hosanna,” mean[...] Our sermon for today is on Psalm 118, which was the psalm that was taken up on the lips of the Jews and applied to Jesus during the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday.  In our reading from Matthew we saw that the crowd of Jews exclaimed, “Hosanna,” meaning, “save” or “save now”.  They exclaimed “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!  Hosanna in the highest!”  And so as we celebrate Palm Sunday today, and remember the start of what is often called the Passion Week or the Holy Week, it is quite fitting that we consider this psalm today.  This psalm was in the back of the minds of those who cried out to Jesus on that Palm Sunday some 2000 years ago.  And so as we look at this psalm, we’ll learn a little bit more about what may have been in the mind of those Jews who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday.  But more importantly, as we analyze this psalm and understand its meaning, we’ll see how it ultimately finds its fulfillment in Christ and the cross. Passage: Psalm 118 Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div. Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 03/16/2008 in Novato, CA. Other Scripture Readings: Matthew 21:1-17; 1 Peter 2:1-10 Click here for the manuscript. Psalms Rev. W. Reid Hankins no no