What a great God we serve
Category: Worship & Praise
Key Passage: Psalm 95:2
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Brother Dumpur came to me, and he said, you know, you’ve got a lot to be thankful for. He said, you’re sitting up there, your wife’s on one side, playing the organ, and your son’s on the other side leading the singing, and you’ve got a lot to be thankful for. And I truly do have a lot to be thankful for.
But it’s all so bad when your son’s nudging you on one side, your wife’s nudging you on the other—man, that’s just trouble. I tell you what, now, you know. And I’m teasing, of course. Psalms 95. If I tell you the verse, you’ll be looking; you won’t listen to me anymore.
Psalms 95. We’re going to start in verse number two.
I believe the Lord led me along this line this week, and then Brother Marlin sent me a text with these verses in it. I said, well, that’s confirmation. This is what the Lord wants. It just takes me a while to figure out how to do what he wants, amen. And pray the Lord guides that also.
Would you please stand as we read God’s word together, Psalms 95 and verse number two.
Psalm 95, verse number two, the Bible says, “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.” We just say a word about that. Two weeks ago, we covered it: Thanksgiving versus being thankful. Two different things, both good. But sometimes it’s very hard to be thankful during tough times, but you can always give thanks.
Sometimes the thanksgiving leads to being thankful. But he’s using that word on purpose. God always says what he wants and means what he says. He says, “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.” Now, I’m glad he said joyful noise.
I was teasing my wife. I’ve been shifting gears all morning—who’s going to do this and sing specials and all those different things, Brother Anthony’s out, buses, Sunday school classes, all those different things. I said, man, those people don’t want me to sing a special, that’s for sure. And that’s true. Many of you say, “Yep, you’re right, preacher.” I’m into that right there: joyful noise. I’m glad he said a joyful noise. We can all make a joyful noise. By the way, it did say joyful.
You say, what does that mean? It doesn’t matter how it sounds, but how’s your attitude? Joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God.
Let me all say, “For the Lord is a great God.” Amen. We’ve got to get our “Amens” going a little bit this morning. “For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.”
Now, I just say a note before we pray and get going. It doesn’t mean that God believes there are a lot of gods. He knows there is the only God there is—one true God—but he’s talking about man’s perspective. He actually uses that last “god” lowercase ‘g’. He’s writing here; Psalms is Israel’s songbook. The nation of Israel, and all those nations around there, worshiped a lot of false gods. He’s kind of speaking from man’s viewpoint: for the Lord, as Jehovah there, is a great God. That’s the thought.
And a great king above all gods. All these idols they worship—Baal and all these different things. Our God’s a great God. He’s a king above all gods. That’s the thought there. It just felt like the Lord wanted this. Sometimes the message is like this: it’s just as important how we say what we say. Sometimes it’s just good for God’s people just to thank God that we serve a great God.
They say if a rooster won’t crow on his own henhouse, something’s wrong, you know. And praise the Lord, we can crow about our Savior. We serve a great God. We’ll let the Lord have just a little while to preach on that: Our God is great.
Several years ago, I went with another pastor, a good friend of mine, and we went soul winning down real close to Middle Tennessee State University, mostly witnessing to college students. Not all of them, but the prevailing attitude was this: “Well, thank you for coming by. But I’ve been to religion class. I’ve studied the religions of the world. Yes, we did study Christianity. Thank you for stopping by. Have a good day.”
Every once in a while, I would have someone that might give me a little more time. In particular, there was one young man that had that philosophy. “Well, I’ve studied Christianity. I’ve studied them all in religion’s class. My professor told me about this.” Basically, he said, “Well, what’s better about your God? Why is your God great?”
If you would, I’d like to just maybe have a little bit of a conversation with that man for just a little bit this morning, try to answer that.
Sir, I’m glad you asked. I’m glad you gave me a minute to explain why our God is the great God. I appreciate you letting me do that. Let me talk about religion. Since you’ve studied in religion’s class, you’ll know I’m telling you the truth on these different things.
If you go to a place in Saudi Arabia—they often call it Mecca or Medina—you’ll find the tomb of a man named Mohammed, born in 570 AD. They think he died June 8, 632 AD, I believe. You’ll find this tomb there. If you’ve studied the religions, you’ll know that Muslims have the five pillars. One of those pillars, the main thing they’re supposed to do, is make a pilgrimage. They’re supposed to save their money, their resources, and once in their life at least, they’re supposed to do everything they can to go to Mecca and see the body of Mohammed. They all know that’s where it is. That’s one of their high pillars: to travel on that pilgrimage to see his body laid there. You’ll know that from your religion’s class.
Not only that, but you could go to a cemetery in Nauvoo—I believe that’s how you pronounce it—Nauvoo, Illinois. You can go there, sir, and there’s a cemetery; it’s the Smith family cemetery. You can find where a man named Joseph Smith’s tomb is there. They have a tombstone. I’ve seen it online before on the web. Joseph Smith. If you’ve been to religion’s class, you understand he is the founder of the Mormon religion.
Sir, you remember that he was murdered by that mob, and the little place where he was printing the newspaper was burnt down because they were printing stuff against him, and that mob attacked him. But the thing is, sir, you can go there, and there’s his tomb, his headstone, and that’s where he lay. That’s where Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, lay. Nobody debates that. It’s a little bit of a relic to them, a privilege for them to go there and see that.
Since you study the religions of the world, you’ll know that you can go a little bit outside the city of Pittsburgh. I see we have a Pittsburgh Steelers fan back there—a couple of those. My wife’s on board there, unfortunately; I’m working on her. But Tennessee balls doesn’t help me out a whole lot, or the Titans. You understand what I’m saying there. Anyway, you can go outside the city of Pittsburgh, and you can find a grave of a man named Charles Taze Russell. His body lies there. He’s the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. You’ve probably studied that in your religion’s class. He’s the founder. Some might call them the Jehovah Walt’s Witness, but they’re called the J.W. You’ll find his tomb; he’s the founder of that religion. Charles Taze Russell, you’ll find his body outside the city of Pittsburgh in a grave there.
Sir, since you study the religions of the world, you realize you can go to the Vatican. The vast majority of the bodies of the popes of the past lie there in St. Peter’s Basilica. The vast majority. You can go there and find those bodies. In fact, where St. Peter, they say, was the first pope—you can go there and find where his body lay. By the way, they say the Pope can resolve your sins, so I would say that would be the leader of the religion since he can dissolve sins, you know. But you can go over there, you can find out where his body lay. This is not any secret; you probably studied it in your religion class.
Do you all agree with me in this conversation so far or not? I do. Buddha was cremated, so that’s a little bit tough, but they do think they have his tooth relic. You can go look that up and check it out; it’s very worshipful for them. Confucius—his body lay in China. Since you study the religions of the world, you’ll probably realize you can go to China and find out where his body lay.
But, sir, if you studied much at all about the truthfulness of true Christianity, you understand you can go to Jerusalem. They have two different places where they think our Savior Jesus Christ lay. But, sir, if you know the truth of the matter, you’ll realize that on top of that, it says that is an empty tomb. Our Savior is risen. Never has there been a founder of a religion who said, “Listen, I’m going to die one day, I’m going to rise again,” and then did it. Friend, we serve a great God. Praise the Lord, I serve a risen Savior. I don’t pray to someone whose body everybody goes over that tomb and looks inside a glass case. I don’t do that. I serve a risen Savior that hears the prayers of his people. Friend, I’m just saying we serve a great God. It’s all right for God’s people, in a proper way, to say, “Praise the Lord, I serve a risen Savior.” I’m not ashamed of that.
Two little boys were slaves of an Arabian man. He had taught them to believe in Mohammed. They were told about the tomb in Mecca, Medina. Yet they had walked through the village there, and the missionary was there. I stopped to listen to that missionary for a while. The missionary said, “Oh, Jesus was God in flesh. That’s what we celebrate Christmas about. Jesus was God coming down to mankind, Immanuel, God with us. He lived on this earth for 33 years, and then Jesus went to an old rugged cross, and he shed his blood, and he lay in a tomb for three days. But on that third day, oh, he was risen! He loves you boys, and he died for you on the cross. He’s a risen Savior.”
Those little boys just soaked it all in. They just took it all in. That night they lay in their hut and were talking. Let me read through what those little boys said. One little boy said, “Hey, our master tells us that Mohammed is dead, that his body is kept in a coffin. But the missionary tells us that Jesus, the Son of God, who came to die for us, rose again and is alive.”
One of the little boys said, “I think I would rather believe in the living one.”
Hey, what’s so great about your God? Never has there been, never will be, a God that said, “I’m going to die. I’m going to rise again,” and he’s proven to the world that he did that. I love the song, “I Serve a Risen Savior.” He’s in my soul today. I know that he is living, no matter what men may say. I see his hand in mercy. I hear his voice of cheer. And just the time I need him, he’s always near. Praise the Lord, I serve a risen Savior. He’s a great God.
We ought to spend our days thanking God because we serve a great God. Just thank you, God. You’ve been so good to me, and I’m so grateful. If I get to serve the great God, giving him thanks will make your life a whole lot better. You’ll still have problems, oh yeah, but you have a little hope.
If I’m going to give thanks all the time, my circumstances change, and it’s just like everybody else—sometimes real good, sometimes, well, you know, on the other side of there. But there’s something that’s consistent in a Christian’s life: God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “If I’m the Lord, I change not.” Now I get my eyes on him, saying I’m going to give thanks because I have a great God, and you always have a great God.
Sir, first of all, I’ll tell you why ours is better: I have a great God because he’s the only one that’s risen—the only one. Let me give you another reason, sir, if you’ll just give me a little bit more time, to tell you another reason why that separates true Christian Bible Christianity from the rest. Let me tell you something else. Since you started the religions of the world, you’ll know this: in Islam, to make it to paradise, you do your best to keep those five pillars I mentioned. I can’t remember them all. You try to please Allah by at least keeping those five pillars.
If you’ve been around Catholics, you’ll hear many different things. Some will say the sacraments. Some will say if you commit a mortal sin, you must repent, have faith, and go to confession. Some will say that if you’ve not been good enough, you’ll have to go to purgatory for a while. Friend, if you study the religions, you’ll get a lot of different basic answers.
If you ask a Jehovah’s Witness—I remember witnessing to one—after talking for about an hour, I asked, “Sir, tell me, according to Jehovah’s Witness, how do you have eternal life?” Basically, at the end of the day, he had to say it’s basically worshiping God according to their Kingdom Hall, and being faithful and obeying their things.
If you take all those religions—whether it be Islam, keeping the five pillars, or the Catholics, keeping the sacraments and not committing mortal sin, or Jehovah’s Witness, worshiping God according to their belief—here’s the thing, sir, about true Christianity, Bible Christianity: Salvation is never anything you earn.
Bible Christianity: God says you’re a sinner; you’ll never earn it. I don’t demand you earn it because you cannot earn it. I love you so much; I earned it for you, and I’m just going to reach out and give it to you. It’s amazing. The most important thing in the world, God Almighty says, “Hey, I bought it for you. I’m going to give it to you.” That’s why God in his word says, “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus.” It’s just a gift. Friend, I serve a great God because he gives out salvation.
At Christmas time, we like to receive. But when it comes to salvation, praise the Lord, I get to receive. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” Even in believing on his name, it’s nothing anybody can do, sir. Every religion in the world will tell you you earn it by their system, their rituals, but the Bible tells you that you receive it. He loves it; he gives it to you. Our God is great, different than every religion in the world. All the other religions will teach you just keep working at it, just keep going through the process. God says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Jehovah’s Witness man, I mentioned it—at the end of the day, I had to say, “So what you just told me is a good work.” He didn’t want to admit it, but at the end of the day, he had to say, “Well, it is a good work.” Paul, the Bible is so clear: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” Friend, our salvation is not anything anybody earns besides Jesus Christ. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Just Jesus, that’s it.
Sir, you see, we have a great God because he gives out salvation. You won’t find that in any other religion. They always try to earn it, and that’s why they’re never really sure because you’re never really sure if you’re good enough. God sent his Spirit to convince the world of sin because they believe not in Jesus.
Sir, I’ve told you already: we serve a great God because he’s the only one who gives out salvation. Let me share a couple of others, sir, if you would, just for a minute. Here’s a wonderful, amazing thing: when Jesus gives you salvation, he comes inside of you to live, and then he gives you power to change. That’s what our Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
You can still sin, but when you see it, it’s not quite like it used to be. Something inside you says, “Hey, you know that ain’t right.” Us Christians call this thing conviction. It’s kind of like Jimmy Cricket—you know that? Hey, you know that ain’t right. Is that right, Jimmy Cricket? Thank you.
Friend, when you get saved, God moves inside of you. He gives you the power to grow. Winning doesn’t save you; Jesus won already. It gives it to you, but it empowers you to grow.
Robert Ingersoll in the late 1800s was known as a great agnostic. An agnostic is somebody who doesn’t know if he can really believe there’s a God or not. He was going to tour America giving speeches, and he wanted to debate with a preacher. The preacher said, “All right, I’ll debate with you if you do one thing. I’ll bring a hundred people that Jesus Christ saved and changed their lives—alcoholics, wicked, loose women. I’ll bring a hundred of those people that had their life changed by Jesus Christ when I got saved. If you just bring one person whose life was messed up, and then they converted over to agnosticism, and that changed their life for the better—you just bring me one.” Friend, Robert Ingersoll didn’t show up that day.
Oh, friend, I serve a great God because he’s the only one that died for you and I and he rose again, and he gives out salvation. And friend, he’s the one who, when he gives you that gift, can change your life.
My dad, before I was born, I’ve heard him say it many times, he smoked and drank and all the rest of that. He was functioning; he went to work every day, but he pretty much every day got into trouble with drinking. He tried to quit all that, and he just didn’t do it, couldn’t do it. One day he had a revival, and praise the Lord, Mom had been praying for him, and he got saved. That afternoon he rode down the road, took that bottle out from underneath the seat, and tossed it out the window into the river. It’s gone, amen.
He went to work on Monday after he got saved, and Dad said, “I came home from work, and I don’t know why I was so tired than usual. I realized everywhere I went at work today, I told everybody about getting saved by Jesus Christ.” Why? Because God had moved in there and changed his heart, and God is a mighty God that he saves somebody and then changes them from the inside out. Oh, I serve a great God.
I love the story about the missionary who went to the jungle where there were cannibals—people that would eat people. That missionary, God blessed his work there, and he saw people get saved. God moved inside; God enabled them to grow, and that group became good Christians. A little while later, a professor studying different peoples of the world went over there to study those natives, those cannibals. He found out a lot of them had gotten saved and were telling him about Jesus Christ. He didn’t like that. He went to those natives and said, “Oh, don’t you fall for this thing about Jesus Christ. Don’t believe that missionary.” And those old cannibals said, “Sir, if it wasn’t for that missionary telling us about Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ changing our lives, we had eaten you a long time ago.” Hey, I serve a great God for it. I have plenty to give thanks for because I serve a great God. He’s king above all gods.
Sir, he’s the only one that rose again. He’s the only one that gives out salvation. He’s the only one that gives you the power to change. He is the power to change. And then, sir, can I just say this? He’s the one that gave us a living book, “which liveth and abideth forever.” It’s called a more sure word of prophecy. See, sir, some people just tell old tales and fables; they change. But I’ve got it in writing right here, sir, and this book has never failed me one time. It’s always been true. I’ve staked my life on it. I’ve staked my marriage on it. I’ve staked my child-rearing on it. I’ve staked my finances on that book right there, and never has it failed me one time.
I had the privilege this week with a man named Randy—Randall, they called him, his real name is Randall. Years ago, he was sitting in that back chair right there, where you’re sitting now. I think it was the first time we had an evangelist, Oliver Razor, preaching during the invitation time. Old Randy stood up back there, and I had witnessed to him many a time: “Look, get saved. Let me talk to him for hours.” Randy stood up and walked down that aisle. I’ll never forget it.
He had gotten cancer and had been fighting it for about six years now. His wife called the church this week and said, “Can you come by? Randy’s nearing the end.” I went back over there, and she said, “Come on down to the bedroom.” The hospice had him at home. When you go into the bedroom, the skin is just hanging off. You’ve been there; you’ve seen it. Randy was very open. Some people are, some aren’t, but he was just very open about being about to die. He didn’t mind just kind of—let’s get where the rubber meets the road. It was such a blessing to me, as so many people at that point needed reassurance.
The key is I had my New Testament in my backpack. I pulled it out. “Sir Randy, let me show you a verse over here from the Scripture.” We went over to John 3:36, which I believe I’ve talked about before. Sir Randy, there are two categories in this verse. At the end, I want you to put yourself in one of these categories. Here’s the first one: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” We went through it. Believing on is more than believing God; believing on—like I can believe that’s your chair, but I’m not believing on it until I sit down on that chair. Right now, I’m believing all the way on it. If it falls, I’m going to break my neck. That’s the first guy; he got everlasting life.
Second guy: “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” That’s going to be hell, wouldn’t it? Randy, which one are you?
We talked about that that morning. He walked all the way down. “Do you believe on Jesus?” It was such a blessing. I got such encouragement out of that day, just brightening up a little bit. He didn’t really answer me. It’s what he said: “You know, you’re just bringing wind in my life right now.” I think he wanted to say it was bringing life, but he knows he’s dying. He says, “It’s giving me something right now.” It wasn’t me; it was that book right there. He’s nearing the end, and he needed reassurance from somebody who’s on the other side and wrote back and told us how to get there. He was sitting there thinking, “That right there—that’s what I need.” He was a blessing.
Then we went over to John 14: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions.” I said, “Hey, Randy, you’re about to beat us home.” His wife and I were there. He said, “You’re about to beat us home. I’m a little jealous of you. You’re going to get to see that mansion you got there.” He’s a little country man, you know, he’s a tall fellow, but I said, “Hey, some people say, ‘I don’t want to mention I live out in the country.’” He said, “Randy, I always tell him, who do you think made the country?” He liked that. He said, “I need that.”
Then we went over there and talked for just a moment about 2 Corinthians 5:1: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” When that day comes, boom, you’re right here, gone. He said, “I got it.”
His wife told me he said, “I want you to do two things. Once you get the hospice details sorted, and once you get Pastor Paul…” He told me, “I’m good now. I’m weak. I just kind of need to rest now. You gave me what I needed; I’m ready to go now.” Such a blessing. That book—it wasn’t anything about me. Anybody else that had that book could do the same thing: just go over there and say, “Hey, let me give you something that this old world can’t give you. It’s called God’s Word.” Oh, friend, I serve a great God that he gave me His word. You can stake everything you have on that book. It’ll never let you down. Oh, I serve a great God.
Yes, because he’s the only one that rose again. He’s a risen Savior. He doesn’t make me earn it; you never could earn it. He gives salvation. When he gives salvation, he gives you the power to overcome and win by his Spirit and his Word. And then, not only that, he gives you his written Word that you can bank on every time. I serve a great God. We ought to give thanks to our great God. It’s a wonderful way to live your life; it’s the right way. You say, “I like to go and be a shining light to those around me, living like that, giving God thanks.” Happen through the dark days, just giving God thanks.
Now very quickly, let me just talk to you briefly about how to do it, and I’m done. That was the introduction. Now we get to the message.
Number one is just very briefly: How do you give God thanks? It’s all about what you think. Philippians 4:8. “Finally, my brethren, whatsoever things are true…” Verse number seven: He’d give you peace and keep your hearts and minds. Finally, let me give you the last thought: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report.” Here’s what I’m trying to get to: “If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Friend, if I’m going to be living my life giving thanks to our great God, it’s going to be about what I think about. The Bible, for the most part, never really tells us, “Don’t think on this.” It tells us, “Think on this.” Because as long as you say, “I’m not going to think of it,” you’re going to think on it. But you start thinking on God—there are six categories God gave in Philippians 4:8—you think about those things.
It says to take an inventory of these six categories in your life. There have been times, and I’ve got it on my phone—I’ve got a list of things I need to think about, good things, because man, my mind wants to go to the negative. I’ll just write them down. If I’m going to be a guy that gives thanks to God for him being a great God, king above all gods, I’m going to have to work at what I think about.
Number two: It won’t happen by coincidence, not by accident. You’ll have to do it on purpose. If you’re going to be a man or a lady or a teenager that spends your time giving thanks to your great God, you’ll have to do it on purpose. Because you and I have this thing called the sin nature, the Adamic nature. If I put my mind in neutral every single time, there might be a hundred good things and one bad thing, and my mind will go to that one bad thing. Don’t look at me like that; you’re the same way. So you’ll have to do it on purpose. You’ll be glad you did it, but you’re going to have to work at what you think about. You’re going to have to do it on purpose.
Here’s the last thing, and we’re done: God moves in when you’re praising. Thanksgiving leads to thankfulness, which leads to praise. Psalm 22:3: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”
If you’ve been around here for a while, you remember illustration number 78. I was walking down the street one Saturday morning with a group from our church where we tried to tell people about Jesus to get people saved. I was walking down the left side of the street. Mary Dempsey was over there with somebody else. I heard Mary Dempsey talking to someone trying to come to our church. She said, “Oh, you got to come to our church because you have to hear our preacher preach. He’s a good preacher.” Believe it or not, Mary Dempsey was saying these things. The more I heard her bragging on the preacher, I needed to go down the street to witness, but my legs kept taking me this way. I needed to make sure those ladies were okay.
If you will, God’s the same way. God inhabits the praises of his people. You have to work at what you think about. You’ll have to do it on purpose. But when you spend your days giving him thanks to our great God, he moves in.
Original File: What a great God we serve - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday AM 112220