Below is an excerpt of the sermon…

If you have your Bibles, let’s look at Psalm 66, if you will. And we’ll be in the book of Psalms for maybe four more weeks. Four, maybe five weeks. We’re just hitting some of the highlights Psalms that I think are just so meaty and have so many practical lessons for us. The book of Psalms, of course, is written by several different authors. We think of Psalms as written by David. He did write probably 100 psalms or so. And then you think of Moses. He wrote some. A fellow by the name of Asaph. A fellow by the name of Heman. That’s what my wife calls me sometimes. No, I’m kidding. But this psalm we do not know who the author was. It doesn’t really matter who wrote this psalm. We just know it’s God’s Word. Some, some of the books of the Bible, we’re not sure exactly who wrote them. The authors are kind of up in the air who it could have been, but we know it’s God’s preserved Word.

And so, we’re going to pray and look at this. And the theme of this chapter is this: Trusted with a Trial. Trusted with a Trial. Now, you know, what a major and a minor trial is. You know, the difference: if it’s a major trial, it’s what I’m going through, if it’s a minor trial it’s what you’re going through. And sometimes that’s how we see things. So, that’s the theme of this chapter: Trusted with a trial. Let’s pray. Father, bless this time. Open our hearts help us to learn something more about You and more about ourselves in Jesus name, Amen.

Notice here, how it starts off. He starts off saying in Psalm 66:1 “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:” The theme of Psalms is praise, and the word praise… We don’t we don’t use it a lot, we use the words “brag on.” So, that would be our word. We don’t go around the house saying, “Praise daddy. He has a job, Praise dad, he’s a hard worker.” We don’t say, “Praise mother for this wonderful meal. Praise her.” And sometimes we’ll use the words “praise God.” But, really it just means to brag on specifically. Specifically.

Notice here He starts off and says, “Make a joyful noise unto God.” Why is that verse in the Bible? That’s for people who can’t sing very well. So, where He says singing to the Lord, some people can sing, some people just kind of make a joyful noise. I remember one man was in the choir years ago and he said, “Pastor, some people think I can’t sing.” And I think he kind of wanted me to defend him. It was like, he’d find one note—”Great is Thy faithfulness. Oh God, our Father…” And he sang bass. You know, it’s just that same note. I mean he found a note and stuck with it. So, some people can sing and thank God if you’ve got a gift and you can hit those notes, and people love it when you sing. And then thank God for those who make a joyful noise. And so when we’re in the pew and everyone’s singing, if you’re not a great singer, you’re still supposed to make some noise. You can go to a ball game. My wife and I got to see some of the the championship the other night where Baylor, the Baptist university beat Gonzaga. But anyway, on the screen it said, “Make some noise!” So here we are. Here’s fans and they’re telling them to make some noise. You know, there ought to be noise in the house of God because it’s an exciting place. You go to a bar, there’s noise. You go to a rock concert, there’s noise. You go to a funeral, it’s dead. Go to a doctor’s office, quiet. But when God’s children are together, there will be some noise. There will be some singing. There will be some fellowship after church after church. Sunday morning, people were in the auditorium. Just talk, talk, talk, talk talk. They were in the lobbies, talk, talk, talk, talk talk. They were under the porch, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And that’s how it ought to be.

So, He says, singing to the Lord. He said, “Make a joyful noise, all ye lands…” Singing for the honor of his namesake.  Now, what do we have to sing about? The Bible says in Psalm 40, we’re not going to look at all the references. It says “He has put a new song in my mouth.” And what is that new song? Well, what was the old song? Think? Think for a moment. Think of the unsaved world that we have. For most people, what is their music? What is the song about? It’s all about them. Me, my broken heart, what I’ve gone through. It’s all centered around me. But when we get saved, our song is all centered around him. It says, “He has put a new song in my heart.” And if it’s in the heart is going to come out of the mouth, and many shall see it. And what is that song? Praise unto my God. Praise—bragging on God. So that’s the difference. And so, that’s what he’s talking about there.

So, sin stops the song. If you’ve ever gone to church camp and you’ve gone with the teenagers, on the way there is just kind of normal and some have good attitudes and some don’t. But all the way there three hours is: If we are stopping eating McDonald’s, “I hate McDonalds. How come we can’t stop at Burger King?” And it’s like that? Well, “Because there’s no Burger King here.” And then they go, “I need a bathroom, I’m thirsty. So and so is touching my stuff.” It’s whining, griping. It’s these attitudes. But when you come home from camp, some kids have gotten some hearts right and some things between them and the Lord are right. You can’t shut him up. They’re singing all the way home. They’re singing this song and that song. How come? Because sin stops the song.