Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In light of the upcoming Holiday, I wanted to preach a message encompassing the topic of thanksgiving.

In the first few verses of Psalm 103, David presents what I see as two ‘calls to action’.

Mind you, we’re reading this Psalm as it’s given unto us, but recognize that David is essentially speaking to himself first and foremost.

We see that He says ‘my soul’ and ‘all that is within me’

He’s giving this call to action to himself - but it’s for a purpose… for when we get to the end of this chapter, we see that now he’s calling others to do the same (v20-22)

The simple principle in this is that you can’t give someone else what you don’t have.

And so as we look at this message here today, I encourage you to make these calls PERSONAL - just as David did, so that you can exhort others to do the same.

The first call that we see David making is found in v1-2a, and it’s a Call for Adoration

I.

A Call for Adoration (v1-2a)

Bless (def-st) to bless God (as an act of adoration); (w1828) To praise, to glorify; to magnify

So when we are speaking about David’s pronounced ‘blessings’ unto the LORD, what we are speaking about is ‘an act of adoration’; that David is ‘praising’ the LORD; ‘glorifying’ the LORD; and ‘magnifying the LORD’ - from the place of ADORING the LORD.

Church, us Christians should adore the LORD.

The Psalmist began Ps. 116:1 “I love the Lord, because he hath heard My voice and my supplications.”.

Let me ask you this: When is the last time that you just stated unto the God in Heaven ‘I love you, LORD’!

As we consider David here as he is beginning this Psalm, ‘acting in adoration’ to praise, glorify & magnify his God we can glean a few things.

We see first, he is offering Continuous Adoration

Continuous Adoration

3 times in 2 verses David saying ‘Bless the LORD’; ‘bless His Holy Name’; ‘Bless the LORD’

David wasn’t satisfied with simply saying it once.

Nor twice.

But David continuously desired to praise, glorify & magnify the LORD!

And as we look through Scripture, we can see where David did so time & again:

Ps. 34:1-3 “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together.”

1Ch.

29:10-12 “Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.

Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”

Even in the hard times, David magnified the LORD:

(When fled from Absalom) Ps. 3:1-4 “Lord, How are they increased that trouble me!

Many are they that rise up against me.

Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God.

Selah.

But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; My glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

I cried unto the Lord with my voice, And he heard me out of his holy hill.

Selah.”

(When his child died) 2Sa.

12:20 “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.”

David’s life by & large was one of continuous praise & magnification of the LORD! - Which is the way it should be for you and I.

God is not good SOME of the time, God is good ALL the time, and all the time, GOD IS GOOD!

We had ought to keep that ‘attitude of gratitude’ morning, noon & night, for God is good!

We ought to praise God in the good times, and praise Him in the bad times, for God is good!

We should magnify Him in the lean times, for He can bring prosperity, and magnify Him in the times of plenty, for it’s by His Hand whereby we’ve recieved it - for God is good!

Our Adoration of the LORD should be CONTINUOUS.

Next we see the Call to be ‘Complete’ as well

Complete Adoration

‘All that is within me, bless His Holy name’

Concerning David, not only do we see Continual Adoration, but Complete Adoration.

David didn’t just desire to give God part of himself, he desired to give God is WHOLE-self.

Ps. 86:12 “I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify thy name for evermore.”

Ps. 111:1 “Praise ye the Lord.

I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.”

We need some David’s today!

We need some who will just sell out to God!

We need some who will stand up and say ‘Here am I, LORD! - Everything I have, everything I am, everything I give unto you!

Take my life, LORD!

God deserves more than a piece of you.

God deserves more than the scraps that fall from the table.

God deserved ALL of you!

We talk about the aspects of man that he has to give.

Your Time, Talents & Treasures.

We all have limited Time that we have to spend

We all have Talents - God given attributes & abilities

We all have Treasures - The dollars in your pockets

And we all have the choice of how we spend those things.

And so many of us want to take all these things that the LORD has given us and hang on to all we can - and then divi out a little here and there to the LORD (Ill.

‘If all goes right LORD, I can give you 5 minutes before I head off to work tomorrow…, God, you know I want to tithe, but I do have that cable bill coming up & you KNOW how I get if I don’t have my morning starbucks coffee… ‘God I thank you for giving me this great job, but you know the demands of it, I can’t possibly serve at this church…)

I There’s a difference between Complete Adoration - choosing to give God all of yourself to magnify & glorify and partial.

Whenever you are partially invested in Christ, we struggle as to what and how much of these things to give to Him.

When we are completely invested in Christ, we have no problem showing up to every service each week.

We have no problem serving in whatever capacity He asks, and we have no problem giving to Him sacrificially instead of superficially - and that is what we’re talking about here.

Not only Complete Adoration - but Consecrated Adoration

Consecrated Adoration

‘O my soul’

David is calling on himself to have a deep relationship with the LORD.

Everyone here has various types of relationships with people.

We have relationships that are superficial - and I don’t mean that in a bad way, I’m simply saying that these relationships are not necessarily deep.

We talk about the weather and things of that nature.

Then we have other relationships where we pour our hearts out.

We share intimate things.

Of all our relationships, we should not have a superficial relationship with the LORD.

We should pour out our hearts unto the LORD

We should have no problem claiming & proclaiming the name of Jesus

We should seek to spend time with Jesus

We should have a consecrated Adoration for the LORD!

So in v1-2a, we see David’s Call for Adoration.

Secondly, we see a Call for Reflection

II.

A Call for Reflection (v2b)

Reflect on… - in other words, remember WHY He’s WORTHY of our adoration!

Now that we’ve looked at the ‘WHAT’, we need to reflect on the ‘WHY’

And the first ‘benefit’ that I want to look at is of course the Benefit of Salvation

The Benefit of Salvation (v3a)

Ps. 103:3a “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;”

I don’t know where you stand today regarding your eternal soul, but I know this: If you have not salvation, you have nothing.

(Ill.)

My wife & I were talking this week and we began speaking of a man that was influence upon us when we were young (Jani Lane).