[0:00] A very warm welcome to you all to our service today as we begin a new year. I wish you all a very happy new year and may we know the Lord's blessing and his peace and his help in the days! His faithfulness has been towards us and we give thanks for that and we thank him for his faithfulness and his mercies that are new each day and so may we know that loving grace he shows towards us continually.
[0:25] After the service this morning there's tea and coffee served in the hall so everybody's very welcome to come through for that if you're able to and then we have the no other notes it's just never just the usual services at the weekend as well there'll be the Gaelic prayer meeting tomorrow evening there's no prayer meeting this evening but there will be the Gaelic prayer meeting tomorrow evening. Well we're going to worship by singing to God's praise we're going to sing in Psalm 100 the first version of the psalm the tune is old 100 page 362 of the psalm books Psalm 100 the Scottish Psalter version the theme of our worship today is indeed worship set in the Lord before us at the beginning of a new year and this psalm speaks about the nations of the world declaring the glory of God coming to worship him all people that on earth do dwell sing to the Lord with cheerful voice himself with mirth his praise forth tell come ye before him and rejoice we'll sing the whole of the psalm to God's praise all people that on earth do dwell sing to the Lord with cheerful voice praise him and rejoice we'll sing the whole of the psalm to God's praise and the Lord with the Lord with cheerful voice we'll sing the whole of the psalm to God's praise and the Lord with singing the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of the singing of singing of the singing of singing of singing of singing the singing of singing of singing of singing of singing the singing of singing of singing of singing singing of singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing of singing singing singing of singing singing of singing singing singing singing of singing singing singing singing singing singing singing singing
[3:26] For like the Lord our God is good His mercy is forever sure His truth at all times firmly stood And shall come each truly to endure Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let us pray.
[4:19] Our Father in heaven we gather in your name today at the beginning of a new year thankful for these words that we have sung they remind us that we are not alone in this world but that we join in with a chorus of your people that nations of the world as a new year has begun although many have begun in celebrations that seem to have no thought of you we thank you that you have your people to all ends of the earth who have brought in a new year with a sense of adoration of who you are a sense of praise and worship towards you setting a new year that is before us Lord into your hands and that you would be the one who we begin looking to and the one who goes before us in it the one who knows the beginning and the end as we have been reminded of your word recently you are the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end of all things and we do praise your name oh Lord and thankful that we can come to you and sing to you with a cheerful voice and serve you with all our hearts the psalmist asks the question why why should we praise you in all of these ways and the psalm says the Lord our God is good his mercy is forever sure whose truth at all times firmly stood and shall from age to age endure and as we oh Lord see all that's ahead of us with so much uncertainty we thank you Lord that your truth is with us that you are with us that you are the one who has endured through all generations and the one whose truth endures to us today and going forward as well and we thank you that your truth is light to us that it sheds light on our paths and shows us the ways to go that you direct us by your word and by your spirit and we do pray to know that oh Lord as we go into all that lies ahead of us that we would know your light with us that we would know your mercy with us day by day and we do just praise you this day Lord that you are one who hears us that one who is with us one who hears our cries who hears our prayers who hears our groans who hears all that comes to our lips and even into our hearts and yet you remember us Lord in mercy and so we do praise your name this day help us that our hearts will be filled with worship and praise of you not just for this day but in all the days ahead
[6:57] Lord we know that even as we begin a new year we are so often reminded that there are these highs and lows in our experience that are prepared by you and known unto you even at this point there's nothing hidden from you and Lord as we do seek good upon us we do seek it for all around us for all the people of this world here in our own community Lord we do pray that as we look back and reflect over a year gone by as we do so Lord with much to give thanks for and much thanks for your grace in every circumstance we do look ahead as well Lord asking that your blessing your peace would be over us as a people and we see so much going on around us that seeks to take away from you and your cause we think of our Lord's day and how we treat it and how it's treated by others we do pray that you will guard it in our communities and help us to honour you on that day and every day that all that we would do would be for your glory and for your good teach us Lord that we need you in every way teach us Lord that whatever we do whether we eat or drink it is to be to your glory and we thank you that you have given so much that we should give thanks for even the simple things in life even the air that we breathe and the food that we enjoy the fellowship that we have with one another the family and friends that we have around us the work opportunities the homes our communities as a whole Lord there are so many things that we do take for granted and we just thank you Lord for every day we have to enjoy these things and so may our weeks be filled with praise and delight in you may our weeks and our months that lie before us Lord be times when we see in the midst of the changing seasons of nature as we go through winter as we see the darkness the gales the anxieties that they bring may we see the spring that reminds us of a new growth a newness of life reminding us Lord that you are the one who is able to take from darkness into light and that you are the one who is able to give life even in the midst of such difficult times and we thank you that your gospel is what gives life and we pray that all the seed that has been sown of the gospel over many years here and throughout our lands that it would bear much fruit in our midst we do pray Lord that we would see great summer seasons of harvest that we would see times of great growth and delighting in you and that we would see a great harvest coming of people coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that the world in which we live reminds us of the changing seasons in nature but also the seasons that we experience in our lives and even in our church experience too but yet we thank you that you are the one who is building his church and may you oh Lord build throughout our communities and throughout our land throughout the world may your kingdom come in power
[10:17] Lord we do remember so many with different needs today we know that there are those who rejoice in you and those who are sorrowing in you as well we know a new year Lord brings times of reflection times of remembrance times of thanksgiving and times of mourning and we do pray Lord for even those who are coming into the new year in the midst of loss and grief in their own experience and do pray comfort and help and strength towards them pray for those who are unwell and those who have family members who they are concerned for Lord we just commit each one to you thankful for the services that are provided to us in our health care in our homes even with family around us Lord to support us in times of need we do pray Lord blessing and peace towards those in these times of need we do pray Lord for today's of rejoicing as well that we would be glad in you and give thanks to you as we have so often in the past when we've seen even as we think of our own congregation here new members and even this past year as we think of seeing people coming to church and coming under your word in different ways whether it's in services here or on the Friday at the Free the 55 plus the work among our young people we thank you for every opportunity we have to serve you and we just pray blessing upon all of these things that we would see a stirring up in the gospel a telling of your goodness and mercy to those who we come into contact with that the nations and peoples would hear of the wonder of God of the wonder of salvation in Christ Jesus as Lord and we pray that you will help us as a people as a congregation here to be salt and light for you to be a people who worship you first and foremost but also then a reminder of the mission of the church to reach out to those who are in darkness we would bring that gospel hope into the midst of all our people and to all ends of the earth we do remember oh Lord your people far and wide today your church near and far asking that your blessing and the light of the gospel would shine brightly in the midst of our world
[12:42] Lord we do commit ourselves into your hands now that you would be with us in our worship in the singing of your praise in the reading of your word and in all that we do this day and in all our days may it be to your glory hear our prayers Lord and go before us now pardoning us in all our sin that's all we ask we ask in Jesus name Amen so again sing to God's praise we're going to sing in Psalm 145 and sing Psalm's version page 189 Psalm 145 we're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 9 the tune is even tied I will exalt you O my God and King forever I will praise your holy name I will extol your name forevermore day after day your praise I will proclaim we sing from verse 1 to verse 9 to God's praise we stand to sing
[13:44] Amen I will exalt you O my God and King forever I will praise your holy name I will extol your name forevermore day after day your praise I will proclaim great is the Lord most worthy of all praise great is the Lord great is the Lord his greatest love can search or comprehend the Lord and the Lord each generation will recapture your deeds and to the next your mighty ask
[15:06] Amen praise the splendor of your majesty the power of the works that you have done I too I too will meditate upon your deeds and your majestic acts I will ignore the Lord will make known they will rejoice Savior may obey and your abundant grace will celebrate the righteousness that will be the the righteousness that you have shown to them in grace and for some they will release the
[16:33] Lord is gracious and compassionate he his soul to anger rich in steadfast love the Lord is good to all that he has made and merciful to all on earth that you we're going to turn to read the word of God together now we're reading in the book of Psalms!
[17:25] Psalm 96 Psalm Psalm 96 you'll find it around page 599 of the church Bibles Psalm 96 we can sing the whole of not sing read the whole of this psalm Oh sing to the Lord a new song sing to the Lord all the earth sing to the Lord bless his name tell of his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations his marvelous works among all the peoples for great is the Lord and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols but the Lord made the heavens splendor and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary ascribe to the Lord oh families of the peoples ascribe to the Lord glory and strength ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name bring an offering and come into his name bring an offering and come into his name so
[18:26] Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
[18:39] Tremble before him all the earth. Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved.
[18:50] He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exult and everything in it.
[19:02] Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Before the Lord, for he comes. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness.
[19:14] And the peoples in his faithfulness. Amen. And may the Lord add his blessing to that reading of his word. Before we come back to look at this psalm together, we're going to sing another psalm.
[19:28] Psalm 98. The Scottish Psalter version. Page 360 of the psalm books. Psalm 98.
[19:41] We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 4. The tune is Argyle. O sing a new song to the Lord for wonders he hath done. His right hand and his holy arm him victory have won.
[19:55] The Lord God, his salvation has caused to be known. His justice in the heathen sight he openly hath shown. We'll sing from verse 1 to 4. We stand to sing to God's praise.
[20:08] Amen. O sing a new song to the Lord, our wonders he hath done.
[20:27] His right and land, his holy ark, in victory he hath won.
[20:43] The Lord God, his salvation hath caused it to be done.
[20:59] His justice in the heaven's sight, he openly hath shown.
[21:15] He bind for all his grace and truth to Israel's touch hath been.
[21:31] And the salvation of our God, all ends of the earth have seen.
[21:48] Let all the earth come to the Lord, send forth the joyful noise.
[22:04] Lift up your voice, bow out to him, sing praises and rejoice.
[22:27] We can turn back to our reading in Psalm 96. I'm just going to look at this psalm for a short time together this afternoon as we come with the theme of worshiping God.
[22:43] We read at the beginning of the psalm, Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Tell of his salvation from day to day.
[22:55] Declare his glory among the nations. Then down at verse 10, verse 9 says, Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before him all the earth.
[23:06] Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. There's so much in this psalm that just gives us a focus as we begin a new year.
[23:17] Because as we begin a new year, we often have that sense of examining our lives, looking around us, looking within us, and just asking certain questions about what is our main goal even for this coming year.
[23:31] What's your main goal for 2025? Is it to please yourself? Is it to find things in life that bring you joy and happiness that you find in yourself or in things around you?
[23:47] Or is your main goal in 2025, as we begin a new year, to have the Lord set before you and to be looking to him and to please him?
[23:59] Our chief end, as we so often read in the Shorter Catechism, the first question, our chief end is to glorify God, to give glory to him and to enjoy him forever.
[24:13] And we find that when that is our chief end, when that is our chief goal in life, that everything else seems to fall into place, everything else seems to come together.
[24:23] And so it's good for us as we begin a new year to begin it with that focus of worship and of praise to God. Worship is key.
[24:37] William Temple was once Archbishop of Canterbury, and he gave a definition of worship as this, as the quickening the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God.
[25:01] It's all-encompassing when it comes to worship. It's not just a little part of our lives. It's not just a part of our lives for a certain day of the week or a time of year.
[25:13] Worship is all-encompassing. Everything that we do should have that aim of being worship to God. And part of our worship is, of course, coming to him in praise, coming to him in song.
[25:29] And the psalms that we've been singing together already today, they are psalms with that focus of a song of praise being offered up to God. And the psalm often gives us reasons to worship God.
[25:42] And that's going to be our focus together just now as we think of worship. We hear the call of worship in this psalm, and we see the cause of worship in this psalm.
[25:56] And to bring these two things together to help us to have that goal, that focus for the year ahead, to have that call to always be a people who worship God, and to have the cause that we see the reason to worship God.
[26:11] And what that reason brings to us then is a desire for others to know the wonders of God. Bringing in a new year so often is a place where song and music takes part of it.
[26:25] I'm sure many of you, maybe yesterday or even today, have listened to certain songs or have heard songs being sung, whether it's in Gaelic or in English. Which so often the new year is brought in in that way, with song to the forefront.
[26:40] And there's a sense of it being uplifting, and a sense of joy in the midst of it. But it doesn't always have to be a happy song. Sometimes, whether it's in Gaelic or English, we hear many songs that are full of emotion, that are sadness and sorrows.
[26:57] Experiences that people have gone through, and stories that are told through song that sometimes bring tears to our eyes. Other times, it's more uplifting songs, songs that fill us with a sense of joy.
[27:11] But isn't it good for us to bring in a new year, not just focused on the songs of this world, but the songs of God, and the praise of God.
[27:22] And every worship service we have, every time we come to worship God, there is song in our hearts. We come to praise God.
[27:33] We come to worship God in that sense of song and joy to the Lord. Because if anyone has reason for praise, if anyone has reason to sing, it is the Christian.
[27:47] It is the songs of rejoicing in the goodness of God to us. And as we look at the Psalms, not just the one before us, but as you go through the book of Psalms, you find that the Psalms themselves reflect the experience that we go through in life.
[28:05] They are not just songs that are filled with joy and laughter. There is that in them. There are times of great delight in the Lord, and we thank Him for that. But there are songs, too, that have the reality of life, the struggles in life.
[28:20] We have songs of lament, as they're called in the Psalms, the Psalms of lament, that give us a focus when times are difficult, and yet we can still sing to the Lord.
[28:33] But there are times when we just sing of the wonder, the steadfast love of God, the mercies of God, the wonders of God. We've sung in each of the Psalms that we've had today, we've sung of that, and we see it in this Psalm before us as well, Psalm 96.
[28:51] It is a Psalm that just brings us to see the wonder of God. But the context of Psalm 96 isn't just standing alone in that sense of it's just about joy in the Lord.
[29:05] It's closely connected to the Psalm that comes before it, Psalm 95. They're like two Psalms that just come together. And if you read through Psalm 95, you see that it's the focus there in this outset is song as well.
[29:20] O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. So there is song in that one, but it's in a slightly different setting.
[29:32] Psalm 94 shows almost a time of singing in the rejection of God in the midst of looking back in the experience of God's people. You go to the end of the Psalm, you see that speaking about the wilderness years, the wandering through the wilderness for 40 years, the rejection of God.
[29:56] And so you see that there is rejection in that Psalm. And 96 then is almost like a missional Psalm, where it's calling people back to God. And in both these experiences, there's song.
[30:11] There's a reminder to come to the Lord in song in Psalm 95, when we're drifting away from him, because it gives us that focus. And perhaps at the end of 2024, maybe for some people, it was a sense of drifting away from God or difficult experiences, and yet we're called to come to God in song.
[30:32] And then coming into a new year, it may still be difficult. There may still be many trials that we have, but we can set the Lord before us with that sense of a mission focus and a worship focus.
[30:47] What's more important for us in 2025? Mission or worship? It's not a trick question.
[30:59] It's maybe a question, is there a right answer? Do they not both go together? But there has to be an order of these things. Is mission or worship that's more important for us going into 2025?
[31:13] Well, John Piper, the American preacher, he said this, missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't.
[31:27] The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. Mission exists because worship doesn't.
[31:40] And so therefore, we begin with worship. We worship the Lord. And then from that worship comes that sense of mission because we realize that the world in which we live, not all people, not all nations worship God.
[31:58] And so then their mission is to make known the wonders of God to others. So we are to be worshipers first and foremost. People who acknowledge our dependence on God and who seek his favor, seek his blessings upon us and come to rejoice in him.
[32:21] And then we say to others, come and behold the wonders of our God. And so let's begin 2025 with a focus on this psalm.
[32:32] And we're going to look at it just under these two headings, the call to worship and the cause of worship. And so the first thing we see here is the call to worship.
[32:45] It's no surprise to us when Psalm 96, among many other psalms, begin with these words, O sing to the Lord a new song.
[32:57] O sing to the Lord. The psalms were songs that were to be sung. They are songs that are to be sung. Songs of praise to God.
[33:11] As we mentioned before, there are many experiences in this world. We see it at New Year when people begin a new year with song, singing.
[33:23] There are certain songs that are always sung at this time. O lang syne is one. And you hear it just comes part of New Year. And people will begin a new year singing these certain songs.
[33:39] But what a difference it is is to sing a song to the Lord. To sing of the goodness and mercy of God. To begin a year looking to Him.
[33:50] Whether the difference is, the focus is not on ourselves or on our circumstances at all times, but on the Lord. To worship the Lord first and foremost.
[34:03] And the opening of this psalm, Psalm 96, has that focus for us. Sing to the Lord. And you see, sing to the Lord is mentioned three times in verse 1 and 2.
[34:19] Sing to the Lord is there before us. And there's nothing stale, there's nothing lilteless in this thing. It's a sense of lifting up our voices to God, recognizing who He is.
[34:34] That we can praise Him. And it's the first thing that we see here is sing to the Lord a new song. It doesn't necessarily mean a newly composed song.
[34:49] But just a reminder to us of the new song that the Lord gives to us. The way He changes our tune, as it were. The way He gives us something to sing in sense of praise to Him.
[35:05] That His newness is there for us each day. His marshes are new each day. You know, as we begin a new year just now, it's not just singing a song that we've sung a hundred, a thousand, a million times in the past.
[35:20] It doesn't matter how many times you've sung it, there's still a sense of newness to it. Sing to the Lord a new song because our circumstances are new.
[35:31] Our day is new. Our year is new. There is a newness in this song that it doesn't lose its appetite. It doesn't lose its sense of joy and wonder.
[35:43] But when we're singing to the Lord, there's that sense that it's new every time. Because we thank Him for each new day. We thank Him for each new year. We thank Him for each moment of grace that He gives to us.
[35:57] Similar to Psalm 40 that speaks of how He puts a new song in our mouth, a song of praise to God. It is the Lord that gives us that reason to sing, that new song that we are able to sing to Him.
[36:17] And so today, it's not an old song we're going back to. It's one that's fresh and one that's new for us today because we sing it anew. We sing it together.
[36:28] And maybe for some, it's singing with a new sense of delight, a new sense of joy, a new sense of thanksgiving, that the Lord opens our eyes to see how precious He is.
[36:43] Sing to the Lord a new song. Remember when the Lord was working in my own life, how the singing of His praise started to have a new voice to me, something that was new in it.
[37:02] And it was a strange place maybe to experience it, but it was standing outside the meeting house in Tolstachilish. It was at a wake on a summer's night.
[37:14] And there were so many in attendance at the wake. It's not a big meeting house that some were standing outside. And I was one of those who was standing outside. The Lord was maybe starting to stir in my heart, but I had no interest going there that I was there to praise God or to listen to His praise, standing outside just talking to others.
[37:35] But when the worship started, when the singing started, and it was coming out of the building, the door was open, and it was a glorious, still summer's evening, and the wonder of that praise just spoke.
[37:49] That there was something in these words, something in this singing that wasn't natural. There was a power behind it. There was a newness in it. And that's the new song that the Lord so often brings to us.
[38:04] When He starts to open our ears to hear the wonder of who He is, the new song that He is able to give us. And wouldn't it be wonderful if for all of us, in a sense, that new beginning this year would be with a new song, the Lord speaking to us in that powerful way.
[38:25] The second thing we see here, the second singing is, sing to the Lord all the earth. That there is a song for everyone. There is a song that leaves nobody out.
[38:38] It's a song here of the praise of God that is for the whole of the world. There is no one who is not worthy to praise God.
[38:51] There is no one who is unworthy of coming to sing praise to God. There is no circumstance that we find ourselves in where God cannot be praised.
[39:03] to sing all the earth is for everyone and in every experience. We sing a new song because of the song that Christ gives to us in our hearts.
[39:18] When we recognize who our Savior is, when we realize what has been done for us through Jesus Christ, for the whole world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
[39:35] There is an opportunity for all to praise God. That while we have this day, while we have this moment, as you go back to Psalm 95 and the end of verse 7, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah.
[39:54] Do not harden your hearts as those who did in the past, but today, hear his voice. Today, sing to the Lord all the earth.
[40:08] There is a song here for everyone. Like I say, in every circumstance. One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 73. It's a psalm you can go to because you see there the honesty of the psalmist.
[40:22] When there is trouble all around him, he's not afraid to come to God with that trouble, and yet he sees himself as a beast, as it were, before the Lord.
[40:35] He's angry almost towards him, and yet there's this turning point in the psalm in verse 23, Psalm 73, verse 23, where he says, Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
[40:50] You hold me by my right hand. You guide me. And then you see the longing in the psalms, Whom have I in the heavens? But you, O Lord, alone.
[41:02] So there is this wonder of a song for everyone. Everyone of us, whether we're sitting in here, whether we're tuning in online, the Lord is there to be praised and to be sung about all the earth.
[41:18] Then you see there's the third, Sing to the Lord, in verse 2 there. Sing to the Lord, bless his name, tell of his salvation from day to day.
[41:30] There is so much to sing about. And this is not just for one day, it's every day. Sing of his salvation from day to day.
[41:44] We can begin every new day rejoicing in the salvation that God gives. As we have that focus, we have that call to worship, we see we are a people who are to praise.
[42:01] When we come into the presence of God, when we come to worship him, we see all that we have through God.
[42:13] His salvation is there before us all. Even today, as we begin a new year, just with that sense of focus, not on ourselves, but on the Lord.
[42:26] The Lord and the salvation that he has given for his people. The salvation that there is in Christ alone. so we can begin by praising him.
[42:40] We have a call to worship. Psalm 96, in some ways you could call it a golden oldie. It's one we can go to again and again.
[42:54] But still today, it's a new song. It's a new song for us to come and praise him. It's a call for us to worship him as we begin a new year.
[43:06] As we set the year ahead before us, we begin with a call to worship. The second thing we see here in this psalm is the cause of worship.
[43:19] The natural question that comes from a call to worship as we are asked to come and worship God is why?
[43:34] Why should we worship God? Psalm 73 gave us part of that answer. Nevertheless, continually, O Lord, I am with thee.
[43:45] You're the one who holds me by my right hand. And there is a reason, a cause for worship. And so, so often in the psalms you find not just a call to worship, but the psalms they give us the cause of worship.
[44:03] You see that in the psalms that we've sung already today. There's that sense of coming before the Lord with great joy and worship and praise to him.
[44:14] But you see it in Psalm 95 there, verse 3. there's a call to come and worship God. But then verse 3 is for the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.
[44:28] There is cause to worship. And we see the same here in Psalm 96 as well. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
[44:43] For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. Splendor and majesty are before him.
[44:55] Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. There is cause to worship God. And so if we ask the question come and worship God and the people ask why even as they did in the day of the psalmist even as they do in our own day why should we worship God?
[45:17] Well here we have a response for great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. You see the people here as the psalmist is speaking of they had a problem and it's not a new problem it's not a problem that's gone away.
[45:37] What was their problem what's the problem for so many of us today? Well we see it in verse 5. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols.
[45:51] The people have other things they put in place of God. So many begin the year with no thought of God but worshipping the idols of this world self-made idols.
[46:08] they are worthless. That's what the psalmist says. They feared their gods. It wasn't a new thing.
[46:19] You see it running throughout the scriptures where people have their own gods and they would seek to satisfy their gods offer sacrifices to their gods in the hope of harvests of health of victories and battles of all kinds of things who would come and worship their gods in the hope that they would cause things to go well for them.
[46:48] But it wasn't the case and it will not be the case for us as well. We are not to look to the worthless idols of this world.
[47:02] Where does our help come from as we go into a new year? James in the New Testament speaks of it in this way. He reminds us where our help comes from.
[47:13] Every good gift, every perfect gift, it comes from above, coming down from the Father of light with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change, the one who doesn't change.
[47:30] The psalmist here is pointing us towards the true God. God but the Lord, he says, he made the heavens. He created all things.
[47:41] He made all things for his glory. He has made us with that purpose, with that cause in our hearts as well to be a people who worship him.
[47:53] And it's because splendor and majesty, all of these things, strength and beauty, they all belong to him. And you see it there in verse three as well.
[48:05] Declare his glory among the nations. His marvelous works among all the peoples. His marvelous works. Reasons cause to worship.
[48:16] His marvelous works. Have you seen his marvelous works? You have. We all have. We've seen it in so many different ways.
[48:29] You see it in so many different situations. Even the little things. Little things that make you just look and wonder at the amazing wonders.
[48:41] But do you recognize it's of God? You think of a spider's web. And you see it with just a little mist on it. And the sun starting to shine through.
[48:53] And you see the intricacy of it. The wonder of it. The wonder of God's creation. You think of a snowflake. How everyone is different.
[49:05] And if you look at it closely, even if you go under a microscope and look at it, you see the details in it. You think of the flowers. You think of the wonder of the sky.
[49:17] The sky at night with the moon and the stars. The enormity of it. The wonder of God's creation. You look at yourself. ourselves. We look at ourselves and we see the intricacies of our bodies.
[49:32] How fearfully and wonderfully we are made. And these are the wonders of God. And then you look at the God who made the heavens and the earth, the one who is behind all of these things and the power that he has.
[49:47] and the wonder that he would remember us. The wonder that he would promise to be with us. The promise that he will never leave us or forsake us.
[50:03] And the wonder of his grace and his mercy. The wonder of his salvation for sinners. The wonder of the cross.
[50:15] The wonder of what he has done for us there. As his son, our Lord, gave his life for us. The wonder of God.
[50:29] The wonders that he has done. Are they not cause for worship? Are they not cause to come and sing with praise to him the wonders that he has done?
[50:46] And if we see the wonders that he has done for us, the cause that we have to worship in that, does it not then lead our hearts to the cause of telling others?
[51:03] You see that run through this psalm as well. There in verse 3 it says to us declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous work, the wonders that he has done.
[51:17] In verse 10 it says the same thing, say among the nations, the Lord reigns. He is king. He is king over all.
[51:31] The wonders that God has done for us, they are the cause of our worship, and they are the cause to our mission as well to tell others.
[51:46] Missions exist because worship doesn't. And while there is no worship in the lives of those around us, it is our mission to make known the wonders of the Lord.
[52:02] And what greater way to make it known than to worship the Lord, to sing to the Lord. Somebody once said you cannot worship God as you ought until you know him as he is.
[52:19] And you cannot know the true God until you know him in his benefits. And you do not know him in his benefits until you know him in the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ, who died in our place, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
[52:43] Our mission begins with worship and worshiping the Lord in the splendor of holiness and recognizing what he has done for us.
[52:59] He has given us a new day. He has given us a new year, a time and a place and a people, to be a people of worship to him.
[53:15] So what is our goal as we go into 2025? To please ourselves or to please him. May it be that we please him and do so by worshiping him in the right way, by giving all praise and glory to him.
[53:39] We have a call to this and we have a cause for this. It is the Lord. I'll leave you with these words as we think of what we do for ourselves or what we do for the Lord.
[53:59] Dear Master, for this coming year, just one request I bring. I do not pray for happiness or any earthly thing.
[54:10] I do not ask to understand the way thou leadest me, but this I ask, teach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee. I want to know thy guiding voice, to walk with thee each day.
[54:26] Dear Master, make me swift to hear and ready to obey. And thus the year I now begin, a happy year will be, if I am seeking just to do the thing that pleaseth thee.
[54:42] What pleases the Lord more than worshipping him and setting him before us in all things and above all things?
[54:55] The Lord is worthy of praise. Let us sing a new song to him. Let us pray. Lord, our gracious God, we rejoice in the hope that we have in you, the hope and the wonders that you have shown towards us, and above all the wonders of your salvation, that you are one who has remembered us, one who has done us good, and one who has promised to go before us.
[55:26] And so, Lord, we do pray that you will be a God who leads us, thankful for the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus, and thankful for the mission that we have, to be a people of worship and to be a people of showing forth your praise to others.
[55:45] Lord, may this be a year when we seek to do the thing that pleases thee. Lord, hear our prayers and go before us now, pardoning our sin in Jesus' name.
[55:57] Amen. We're going to conclude by singing these words that we've been looking at in Psalm 96.
[56:11] In the Sing Psalms version, 96a, page 126. We'll sing the first three stanzas, verse 1 to 6. Psalm 96a, page 126, the tune is Effingham.
[56:28] O sing a new song to the Lord, sing praises to his name, and his salvation day by day let all the earth proclaim. We stand to sing to God's praise.
[56:38] O sing a new song to the Lord, sing praises to his name, and his salvation day by day let all the earth proclaim.
[57:13] His glory and his mighty peace to every land declare!
[57:32] How great and awesome is the Lord within the God's compare.
[57:46] name, and the Lord For cross and word and stone, the Lord made heaven's night.
[58:04] Of power and majesty are his, he dwells in glorious light.
[58:23] Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore. Amen.
[58:34] I'll go to the main door just now.