{"id":1750,"date":"2020-08-04T06:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-04T10:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2020-08-04T08:27:23","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T12:27:23","slug":"the-joys-of-corporate-worship-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/the-joys-of-corporate-worship-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Joys of Corporate Worship Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Hymnal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Open your Bibles this evening to Psalm 43. Tonight, we return to our study of Psalm 42 and 43. These two psalms are two halves of a single psalm. Together they form a lament with 3 stanzas and 3 refrains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this psalm, the psalmist expresses sorrow. He is afflicted and oppressed. He is separated from the people of God. And he is providentially hindered from being in Jerusalem at a time when the nation is gathering to worship God. His heart longs to \u201cgo with the throng\u201d and join with the \u201cmultitude observing the pilgrim festival.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this study we are specifically interested in what we can learn about worship. What are the joys that come from corporate worship? What are the blessings that the psalmist longs for and desires to experience again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first stanza in Psalm 42:1-4 and its refrain in verse 5, we looked at the first joy of corporate worship: The Joy of Seeking God and Delighting in Him Together<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Psalmist longed to be in God\u2019s presence in the midst of God\u2019s people. His chief joy in worship was seeking God and delighting in God with the people of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When God brought Israel out of bondage and established them as a people, He promised to be their God, to be near them, to tabernacle among them. This great truth\u2014God dwells with His people<\/strong>\u2014fills the Old Testament and finds its fulfillment in the coming of Christ, the Messiah, who is Immanuel, \u201cGod with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presence of God with His people was the psalmist\u2019s greatest joy in worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second stanza in Psalm 42 (verses 6-10) and the second refrain in verse 11, we discover his second joy\u2014The Joy of Finding Strength and Encouragement in Times of Suffering.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalmist remembered the times and places where God had brought deliverance to His people. He was encouraged and drew strength when he saw and heard about God working in the lives of His people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also longed to return to worship so he himself could testify of God\u2019s goodness in delivering him from his trial. He desired that his own suffering be turned to praise and thanksgiving. He looked forward to the time when he could bring a peace offering of thanksgiving and testify to the gathered congregation that God had heard and answered his prayer. All the people of God would rejoice and give thanks when they saw him\u2014his joy and thanksgiving to God would be multiplied many times over in the context of corporate worship! His experience would bring encouragement and strength to others who were facing difficulty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This evening we are going to consider the third joy of corporate worship. It is found in the third stanza (Psalm 43:1\u20134) and the final refrain (43:5): The Joy of Walking Together in Light and Truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading this sermon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find more Sermons and Articles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open your Bibles this evening to Psalm 43. Tonight, we return to our study of Psalm 42 and 43. These two psalms are two halves of a single psalm. Together they form a lament with 3 stanzas and 3 refrains.  In this psalm, the psalmist expresses sorrow. He is afflicted and oppressed. He is separated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,6],"tags":[265,263,100,248,264,26,101],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-psalm","category-sermons","tag-finding-a-church","tag-joy","tag-psalm","tag-scripture","tag-truth","tag-word-of-god","tag-worship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-se","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1754,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}