1. Four Imperatives
of Worship

2. FOUR IMPERATIVES OF WORSHIP1.
Exalt His Name

3. Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord,
all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name.
The first imperative is to Exalt His Name. We see this in verses 1-2a: “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name.” We’re called in this passage to sing to the Lord three different times. When something’s repeated in triplicate its done to get our attention ­ much like the “Holy, Holy, Holy” of Isaiah 6.
Singing out to our triune God started way back at creation in Job 38:7 where we read that “the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.” There has been singing and shouting from the beginning of time and there will be more singing at the end of the age. Revelation 15:3 records the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.” Since the world was created with a symphony of joyful praise and all creation will break into song when Jesus comes again, we’re called to sing to the Lord in the meantime -- as we wait for His appearing.
Notice that we are to sing a “new song” to the Lord. This word can mean something that is brand new and can also mean, “delightful, precious and exquisite.” New hymns and new praise songs are essential to meet the ever-varying manifestations of God’s multi-faceted character. This expression “new song” occurs several times in the Book of Psalms indicating that fresh outbursts of rejoicing and reverence are important to God and helpful to us.
And so, we’re to sing to the Lord a new song. In the last part of Psalm 96:1, “all the earth” is to break out into song, exalting God for who He is and what He has done. This call to sing was not limited to Israel but is intended for the whole earth. The Book of Revelation gives us some further insight in 15:4: “Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”.
Psalm 96:1-2a (NASB)

4. FOUR IMPERATIVES OF WORSHIP2.
Extend His Kingdom

5. His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
That leads us to the second imperative of worship: Extend His Kingdom. Take a look at verses 2 and 3: “…proclaim His salvation day after day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.”
We’re told how to extend His kingdom ­ we’re to proclaim His salvation. We’re also told when to do it ­ day after day. And, we’re told where to do it ­ among the nations. Our message is the gospel, our method is to share the Good News daily, and our mandate is to take it to all peoples.
Because of what we’ve received, our method is to proclaim His salvation on a daily basis to those around us. When you fall in love with the Lord Jesus, which is one of the benefits of corporate worship, you will want to tell everyone. When you are full of His presence in your life you can’t help but share the Good News.
Our mandate as believers is to make sure this gospel message is not just shared with people we know, but that it goes out to “the nations” and “all peoples.” In short, we are called to become “world Christians” who focus and pray for world evangelization. Just as the nation of Israel was called to think beyond its borders, so too, we need to think beyond our ethnocentric parameters to see an entire world in need of Christ. Jesus clarified this mandate when He said in Matthew 28:19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”
Psalm 96:2b-3 (NASB)

6. FOUR IMPERATIVES OF WORSHIP3.
Express His Greatness

7. 4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;He is to be feared above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Psalm 96:4-9 (NASB)

8. 9 Worship the Lord in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; Bring an offering and come into His courts.
9 Worship the Lord in holy attire;
Tremble before Him, all the earth.
As we Exalt His Name and look for ways to Extend His Kingdom, we will be drawn into the third worship imperative ­ we will want to Express His Greatness.
God is not just a tribal god, but is King over all the nations. He is most worthy of praise. While some people worship idols, only the Creator God is worthy of praise. Have you ever thought about how much we like to praise people? Whether it’s a circus performer or the president of the United States, we love to applaud the attributes of others. And yet, this psalm brings us back to what’s most important ­ only God Himself is great and most worthy of praise. He is to be feared and honored above everyone and everything else. Verse 5 tells us that He has no rivals because He is the creator. As such we should worship Him with all that we have.
In verse 6, four attributes are personified as if they were attendants surrounding the throne ­ “splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” On my trips to Peru I often saw idols that were constructed by the Incas. Many of them were gruesome and ugly. Not so with the one who causes things to exist where there was nothing before. God is not horrid but is instead beautiful, arrayed in splendor, clothed with majesty, and armed with power and glory that is brighter than the sun.
The psalmist has renewed urgency in proclaiming the Lord in verses 7-9. Three times in a row he challenges us to “ascribe,” or give, to the Lord what is due His name. Because we recognize His greatness, majesty and strength, we will want to honor Him. It’s interesting that even though “the nations” are called to worship the Lord, it is the “families” of the nations that are singled out to ascribe glory and strength to the Lord. God has ordained the family unit as a special and unique creation of His ­ as parents, we must do all we can to make sure our families are honoring God through our times of family worship, interaction, and servanthood.
The last part of verse 8 gives us a practical way to do that. When this psalm was written people would take offerings to the Temple. This specific word refers to “thank offerings,” or those things that people would give out of gratitude to the Lord for all that He has done.
Psalm 96:4-9 (NASB)

9. 3 Unique Offerings 1. Our bodies (Romans 12:1)
2. Songs and hymns (Hebrews 13:5)
3. Our resources (Malachi 3:8)
1. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to offer our bodies to the Lord. Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. When we surrender fully to Him, we will worship Him through the offering of our lives.
2. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. When we adore God with songs and hymns, Hebrews 13:15 says that we are offering a sacrifice of praise.
3. "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You? ' In tithes and offerings. We also worship God as we offer our financial resources to Him and His kingdom purposes. We bring our tithes and offerings because we have a deep need to express something important to God. Malachi 3 teaches that when we hold back in our giving, we end up robbing God and missing out on His blessings.
When we surrender our lives to Him, when we offer a sacrifice of praise, and when we give financially, we are declaring that He is worthy. Verse 9 teaches that we worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness through our offerings. When we tremble before Him, we will want to give all that we can to Him. Why? Because He deserves it.

10. 7 "The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.”
Worship is both an obligation and a privilege.
God does not need our love and acceptance of him to make himself happy. Granted, he wants us to love him more than anything else and he wants us to be with Him more than anything else. Still, we must understand that we were created to worship. I believe this is why every civilization that has ever lived has had some idea of worshiping a god of some type. God didn’t create us because he was lonely, but he created us to be in fellowship with him, and so that we might bring praise to Him for who He is and what He has done. So, worship is what we were intended to do when we were created.
Not only do we have an obligation to meet together to worship, but also it is a privilege to worship Our reason for worship shouldn’t be because we have to, but because we want to, because God is good. It is a privilege to be able to worship God. Most other religions have a god that is distant from them, and in their worship they go through meaningless rituals in order to please that god. We though have a God that through our worship we can draw near to. Though God is the creator of the whole universe, though he is holy and has the power to give and take life, we have the ability to come into his throne room and worship him. Worship is not just an obligation, but is also a privilege. 
Isaiah 43:21 (NASB)

11. FOUR IMPERATIVES OF WORSHIP4.
Expect His Coming

12. Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
10 Say among the nations, “ The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” 11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Psalm 96:10-13 (NASB)

13. 12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it
12 Let the field exult, and all that is in it. all the trees of the forest will sing for joy. 13 Before the Lord, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
As we exalt His name, we will eagerly look for ways to extend His kingdom. This then motivates us to express His greatness. The final imperative is found in verses Here we read of the reign of the Lord and His coming judgment. C.S. Lewis points out that this psalm looks upon divine judgment as an occasion for rejoicing.
The word “judge” in verse 10 carries with it the idea that God sovereignly rules over the nations, and will judge everyone with fairness and equity. In verses we see that the whole creation, when pondering God’s rule, breaks out into joyful praise. The heavens will rejoice, the earth will be glad, the sea will resound, the fields ­ the corn and soybeans -- will be jubilant, and all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.
This psalm gives us great hope that Jesus is coming again. And when He does, He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in truth. He will dispense justice, will vindicate believers, and will establish truth forever. His kingdom will have no end.
In the mean time, we are called to wait and worship. We are also called to tell others about the glorious gospel before it’s too late. Jude 14-15: “…See the Lord is coming…to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly for all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” We also need to be ready ourselves so that we do not shrink away in shame when He suddenly appears.
Jesus is coming again. And that has obvious implications on the way we sing, on the way we sow, and the way we serve.
Psalm 96:10-13 (NASB)

14. ACTION STEPS 1. Read a psalm a day.
2. Listen to worship music every day.
3. Pray for 5 people every day.
4. Prepare for Jesus' return.
As we wrap up this morning let me give you some action steps; as well as some specific guidelines for how we are to worship.
1.Read a Psalm every day. If you start tomorrow morning with Psalm 1 and read a
different Psalm every day, and two on Sundays, you will finish the Book of Psalms
before the end of the year. This alone will help increase your passion for worship. You
might even want to read them out loud or sing them if you’re able.
2. Listen to worship music every day. Incorporate praise songs and Christian music
into your lifestyle. Some of you listen to other kinds of music or talk radio when
you’re in the car. Try listening to something that draws you into worship
3. Pray for 5 people every day. When we praise Him we will want to proclaim Him. As you pray, look for opportunities to care and to share.
4. Get ready for Jesus to come back. Make sure you’re walking with Him, and that there’s nothing going on that would cause you to be embarrassed if He came back tonight.

15. 2. With gladness and praise
How Are We
To Worship?
1. With reverence and awe.
Hebrews 12:28-29
2. With gladness and praise
Psalm 100:1-4
3. In spirit and in truth
John 4:23-24
1.With reverence and awe – Heb. 12: Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire. The word reverence means: A feeling of profound awe and respect and often love, an act showing respect. The word awe means: A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might. This makes clear the respect that people should have for God in worship. 
2. With gladness and praise – Psalm 110:1-4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.3 Know that the Lord Himself is God;It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.4 Enter His gates with thanksgivingAnd His courts with praise. The Scriptures teach that we are to come to God with gladness and in praise and we have reason to. During our worship we are reflecting on God’s character. We reflect on the fact that God is loving, graceful, fair, just and holy. We also reflect on what God has done for us in our lives. God has been good to us. On top of providing everything that we have in life, he has provided salvation for us.. If through our worship we want to stand and praise God, if we want to clap, if we need to cry, or shout, we need to realize that worship is a reflection of our hearts and we shouldn’t fear revealing that to God,
In spirit and in truth – John 4:24 - God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.“We are also told that true worshipers worship in Spirit and in Truth. The worshiping in Spirit implies the passion behind our worship, and the truth implies the use of our minds in worship. God wants our worship to be based on objective truth. He doesn’t expect in our worship to leave our minds at the door, but expects our minds to be engaged and active as we worship because we have reason to worship God.