Psalm 100

Psalm 100 is a very short, but a lovely Psalm that gives us some insight, again, into the way we come before the Lord, when we enter into His presence. And when you and I come to Him in prayer, when we come to Him collectively in a church service like this, we're coming into the presence of the Lord. And that's what we have to remember. You're not coming into my... You're coming into my presence, as I'm coming into yours. But that's not the one that matters. It's His presence that matters. How do we do that? This psalm gives us some insight. It says in verse 1,

And again, this goes beyond the Jews. This is a universal call to all mankind. It says,

"Come into his presence with singing! Come into his presence with singing!" He's actually going to repeat it in just a moment. But notice it says, "Serve the LORD (also) with gladness!" There's a lot of reasons to serve, people. Dictators motivate service by fear. Democracy motivates service through the idea of mutual benefit. With our service to the Lord, comes about through gladness. Gladness in His loving kindness and so forth. Verse 3,

If anybody ever asks you, why does your church start off with music at the beginning? Because of the Psalm. It says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Enter, come in. That's when you're walking through the door. "Enter his gates with thanksgiving..." Alright? And here's the reason why. Verse 5,

---