The Hinge
I want to share a teaching by my American pastor, Michael Miller
– Upper Room Dallas. This will be in the form of my notes taken from his
message. I rarely take notes word for word but rather put then into my
thoughts. Any text in brackets [] are my side notes. You can go to https://www.urdallas.com/podcast/
for the actual podcast.
Praise and worship has a hinge that opens the door to the
presence of God.
Jesus said in Matthew 22 that the greatest commandment is to
love the Lord your God. He did not say love Him by doing things for Him. Jesus went on to say that the second commandment
was to love others.
[Now in Matthew 24, Jesus does say to those who are to
inherit eternal life, “for I was hungry and you
gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger
and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you
clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in
prison and you came to Me.” This
strongly suggest doing unto others
as a way of ministering to the Lord.]
We, as the Church, have gotten this backwards. We get busy
ministering to others but neglect ministering to Him. [God, the Father, does
desire our attention.]
The best way you can love your spouse is to give them your
undivided attention. God desires that also.
To God, It is not about what we do but who we are.
It is easy to measure our doing for others but hard to
measure our love and attention given to God. [It is hard to measure love. I can
never fully explain why I love my wife; when I try, it just seems to limit what
can’t be measured.] How do you measure turning your attention toward God and gazing
into His goodness?
There is a real release of pressure when you do not have to
measure success. There is just a relief from the pressure of required
performance.
How do we minister to Him?
1 Chronicles 13:3 “and let us bring the ark of our God back
to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.” In this story of David returning the Ark, this
verse is the pivotal verse. This return and inquiring into God is the key to
success for Israel. A grace meets you when you give your life to returning to
God. Do you need a course-correction?
We must have His presence in front of us. What David did in
this act was to make God the center of everything for Israel.
(Pastor Michael goes into what this means in regards to
David’s leadership and how that can be seen in today’s church but I will not
cover that here.)
1 Chronicles 15:2 The priest were “… to carry the Ark and minister to Him forever.” In the New
Testament: 1 Peter 2:9 … you are a royal priesthood … [As
priest, the proper order is to minister to Him first and then to others. I know
we cannot properly minister to others without ministering to Him first.]
This is not about God’s need, but rather His desire for us.
[God knows that as we minister to Him we are transformed from our will to His
will.]
1 Chronicles 16:4 And he appointed some of
the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord,
to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord
God of Israel: (NKJV)
To commemorate (celebrate), to thank and to praise the Lord.
Then Chr. 16:7 Asaph (the leader) and his brethren were “to
thank the Lord”.
Okay, here is the hinge: To thank the Lord.
Give thanks; so simple. [It is very hard to develop this
lifestyle but the rewards are overwhelming. Your flesh will struggle with
sitting in a room and just thanking, praising and celebrating the Lord.]
Romans 1:20-21 For since the creation of the
world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [g]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him
as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their
foolish hearts were darkened.
They failed because they “were not thankful”.
Although the podcast goes on, I will stop with this
important point: Giving thanks is the hinge that opens the door to His courts.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
Psalms 100
Make a joyful shout to the Lord,
all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter
into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
The Hinge of the gate
to His courts is thanksgiving.
