Out of 150 Psalms, Psalm 100 is the only one identified as “a psalm for giving thanks.” (Or A Psalm of Praise) Psalm 100 is a climax to the collection of “royal psalms” (93, 95–100). This Psalm sums up an emphasis on: God’s sovereign rule, His goodness to His people, The responsibility of all nations to acknowledge Him, …and the importance of God’s people exalting and worshiping Him. A.W. Tozer said, “Worship is the missing jewel in the church.” “God wants worshippers before workers; indeed, the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the art of worship.” (Tozer) How are we to offer Thanksgiving to God? v.1-2. Joyfully, v.1. Make a joyful noise, shout with joy! Rejoice! The Lord is King! This is a shout of triumph, like a battle cry. The expectation is that all the earth joyfully shout to God as King. Until all the Earth shouts joyfully for God their King, the church ensures that people all over the Earth do so. With Gladness, v.2a. Joyful is the action, gladness is the attitude in worship. Do not mix up the order here: The Psalmist is not saying that we worship by serving God and should do so with gladness. He is saying that worship is “serving” God and that we should do so with gladness. As we serve the Lord in our worship we are giving ourselves fully to Him. We can only do so with Gladness. Singing, v.2b. We offer Thanksgiving with singing! The gladness within you, should come out in song. We come into His presence in singing. Who is expected to sing? (All the lands) This reminds us that we should all be singing. This also reminds us that worship is evangelistic. Spurgeon said, “Never will the world be in its proper condition till with one unanimous shout it adores the only God.” Shout with joy and sing with gladness — This is HOW we offer Thanksgiving to God — worship Him. Thanksgiving Day to the church is a day of Special Worship. What is it that we are Thankful for? v.3, 5. Verse 3 gives us the tangible reasons for Thanksgiving. He is God. David’s writing this is a renunciation of all other Gods. He is God alone. Just as the Israelites worshipped in 1 Kings 18 after the showdown at Mt. Carmel by chanting, “The Lord, He is God…” So David’s writes here The Lord, He is God. “He is to be praised for who He is, not simply for what He has done. He is God! That’s enough.” He Made Us. We can give thanks as we rest in the fact that He is Creator. We are not autonomous. We are not self-sufficient. We are the creation and therefore dependent upon Him for everything. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity about the fulfillment we find only in God: “God made us: invented us as a man invents an an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering with religion. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” We are His People. We were not only created, we were redeemed! Of course the writing here applies first to Israel, “called out of Egypt.” But carries further meaning as it speaks to us. We can Be Thankful that we are His People. Verse 5 gives us the intangible reasons for Thanksgiving. He is Good. God is seen as “good” in His moral character. His moral character leads to His benevolence toward us. This is cause for Thanksgiving! His Mercy is Everlasting. God has made a covenant that He will never revoke nor abandon. He fulfilled this covenant in Jesus giving us an eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:15 “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” His Truth Endureth. God and His self-revelation (Word) can be counted on. Those before have counted on it. We count on it. Best of all (all generations) those after us can as well! I am SO THANKFUL that His truth endureth to all generations. Whether tangible, intangible, or both…we have cause for Thanksgiving! This is what we are to be thankful for. This is how we are to offer thanksgiving. Where should we give Thanks? v.4. Enter His Gates. Where exactly would this be, given an all-present God? In many ways this is a state of mind, a “place” of attitude (posture). We can go through the motions of worship and it be meaningless. Further, when we do that as a gathered church, will it ever translate to worship in all the rest of life? Entering His Gates can mean: The back doors of the church building. Your prayer closest. It is everywhere you find place to worship as you go through life. Enter those Gates (the presence of God) with Thanksgiving. Courts. Gates and courts is a reference to the outer gates and inner courts of the OT tabernacle or the Temple in Jerusalem. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, referring to the front gates that lead into the temple area. It is through these gates that expectant worshippers must enter to participate in public worship. They must also come into his courts with praise. Praise is the English word — the Hebrew word most literally is “glorying” — think boasting. This is what our Praise of God should look like. Our only boast truly is in Him. Be thankful to Him, Bless His name. At the heart of our worship should be thanksgiving. Our gratitude should spill over into blessing. Bless His Name. “To bless God’s name is to praise Him for who He is as He relates to us.” -Williams Conclusion: This is Psalm 100 — A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Ills: Matthew Henry, the Bible scholar, was once accosted by thieves and robbed of his purse. He wrote these words in his diary: “Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because, although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” Ills: Dr. Alexander Whyte of Edinburgh was famous for his pulpit prayers. He always found something to thank God for, even in bad times. One stormy morning a member of his congregation thought to himself, “The preacher will have nothing to thank God for on a wretched morning like this.” But Whyte began his prayer, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”