The Heart Behind The Hallelujah

If you’ve ever wondered why your worship feels muted while your emotions feel loud everywhere else, Psalm 95 has something to say to you. We start with a simple but piercing question: what’s the heart behind your hallelujah? Because “praise the Lord” is easy to say, but a responsive heart is harder to keep, especially when stress, distraction, or disappointment takes over.

We walk through Psalm 95 and set it in its bigger biblical context inside the Psalms. After Israel’s kings fail and exile breaks their confidence, Book Four answers the question everyone is asking: who is still king? The answer is Yahweh. That changes everything about Christian worship. Praise is not hype or habit; it’s a grounded response to the sovereign God who reigns when circumstances feel out of control.

Then we bring it all the way home. God’s rule stretches from the deepest depths to the highest peaks, and even the sea, a symbol of chaos, belongs to Him. If God rules the sea, then no confusion, fear, or messy season is outside His hand. We also challenge modern forms of idolatry, the people, systems, and “trusted” powers we quietly place above God. Along the way, we use two vivid stories, a stadium that cheers for a moment that doesn’t change your life, and a shelter dog that celebrates being chosen, to confront how easily our praise gets out of proportion.

If you want deeper, louder, more honest worship rooted in God’s greatness, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review with what stood out to you most.

Transcript

Welcome And Community Announcements

Anderson George 0:02

Good morning, everybody. Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the spring. Whether this is your first time or your 50th time, I want you to know that you are welcome in this place. I also want you to know that I've said this before, but in my transition to the United States, God, even though he caused me to leave one family, he added me to the Mineral Springs family. And I'm thankful for the family that exists here. But I'm I'm extra happy on this morning. I'm extra glad on this morning because God has seen it fit to bring some home family, some Trini family, my way uh in Sissy. And so if you don't mind, I just want you to welcome the Emmanuel family with me. Uh, Trovell is uh the guy who looks like my brother, he is my brother from another mother. Uh, his wife and his two kids are here. They will be in Harding from the fall. So God has blessed me doubly to have my Mineral Springs family, but when I'm back in Sisi, I have a little Trini with me as well. And so for that, I am indeed grateful. I know that Daniel already said it, but I want to say it again if you haven't been yet here on a Wednesday at 6 p.m., you want to be here for midweek Bible study. Uh, we have had our first instalment of women's role in the church, and it was a ban. You don't want to miss the next two installments. You definitely don't want to miss it. If you are a woman, you should be here. If you're married to a woman, you should be here. If you know a woman, you definitely ought to be here. Let me also encourage you. We had a wonderful time this morning at Faith and Fuel. Um, our numbers are growing. That's good. Judy made some biscuits and sausages and cinnamon rolls, and it was absolutely delightful. You, if you hadn't had some, there may not be any remaining, but if there is, run quickly after the last amen and grab you a biscuit. Grab you a biscuit, grab you a sausage or something. Faith and fuel. Every Sunday morning, 9:30 a.m. We have our Bible discussion, faith, with some physical fuel. Let me also tell you, it's that time again, two Sundays from now. We will be having our family and friends Sunday. Two Sundays from now, it seemed like it was just yesterday that we had our last one, but it's coming up again, and I want you to do just as good as you did the last time. In fact, I want you, if possible, to do better. We were able to have a great attendance for our last family and friends. We had great food, and I'm hoping you could tell a neighbor, tell a friend, bring a neighbor, bring a friend, bring your dog if necessary. Um, yeah, bring your dog if necessary. Family and friends Sunday. We're going to have a good word, and after a good word, we're going to have good food. Amen, church.

Psalm 95 Read Aloud

Anderson George 3:50

Now for the word, meet me in Psalm 95. Psalm 95. I hope you don't mind. There are 11 verses in the psalm, and I'm going to read all of them into your hearing. Psalm 95. From verse 1 says, Oh come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms. For Yahweh is a great God and a great king above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are his also, the sea is his, for it was he who made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you would hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Masa in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, they tried me, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loath that generation, and said they are a people who uh in their heart, and they do not know my ways. Therefore I swore in my anger. Truly they shall not enter into my rest. If you've made all eleven verses with me, say amen. From this psalm, from this pericope of texts, I wish to speak from the Samonic title, The Heart Behind the Hallelujah. The Heart Behind the Hallelujah.

The Heart Behind The Hallelujah

Anderson George 6:28

It should not seem strange to us to read the word hallelujah or hear the word hallelujah. In fact, you can't go too far in scripture without finding some form of hallelujah. If you don't know, the word hallelujah just means praise Yahweh. And we're in the Psalm, and Psalm 150 ends by saying, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. In other words, let everything that has breath give hallelujah. But I want you to understand before we could truly talk about giving God our hallelujah, we need to properly situate Psalm 95 in

Psalm 95 In The Psalter Story

Anderson George 7:15

its context. Go back, Judy, don't show them that yet. They're looking at that and not at me. Um we need to situate Psalm chapter number 95 in its context so you can understand why the psalmist would say, Oh, let us sing for joy to Yahweh, and then says, Let us worship and bow down. Um and if you're taking notes, I want you to know that Psalm 95, or rather, I should begin by saying, What we call the psalms is actually a collection of 150, or depending on how you count, 151 individual written psalms that form the center of the Hebrew hymnal and the early Christian song book and prayers. In other words, if you were a Hebrew, this was what you sang in the temple. If you were a Christian, this is what you prayed and sang when you went to church. This was central to both Hebrew and Christian alike. Now, this Psalter, this collection of 150 Psalms, is actually divided into five books. I don't have time to tell you of book one, two, and three. So I'll tell you that Psalm 95, where our text is taken from, is part of book four. Book four begins from Psalm 90 and it ends at Psalm 106. Before book four is book three. Book three begins at Psalm 73 and ends at Psalm 89. Now you're looking at me funny. That's fine. What does books? I'm reading in mind. What do books have to do with this text? I'm glad you asked. Here's what happened: these books were arranged in a thematic type of way. Book number three, which is Psalm 73 to Psalm 89, was a book that spoke about the Davidic kingship that existed in Israel and how it failed. It ended in Psalm 89. Psalm 89 was a lament showing that Israel is now in exile because the kings failed them. And the question that they were asking is: would we ever see a good king like David again? Will there ever be another king to sit on the throne? Would Israel ever be restored? That's how book three ends. Will there be a king? What will happen to us? Book four, of which our psalm is a part. I love this. It begins obviously not with Psalm 95, it begins with Psalm 90. Psalm 90 is a song or a psalm of Moses. And I wish I had time, church. Of all the psalms, book four begins with a psalm of Moses. And the reason why it begins with a psalm of Moses is because this psalm goes back through to the beginning, and it says that Yahweh has always been king, he is king and will be king of Israel. So before you get anywhere in book four, the answer is there is still a king, and his name is Yahweh. That's the answer. Your hope is not in the physical line of David, it's in God who sits on the throne. So all of book four is answering the question, who is king? And the answer repeatedly is Yahweh. Psalm 93, Psalm 95, 96, 97, 98, and Psalm 99 are what we call enthronement psalms. What I mean by that is they are psalms that explicitly describe God as king. So all of book four, where this text is taken from, is highlighting there's a king who sits on the throne, and his name is Yahweh. Now that you understand that, what Psalm 95 does is Psalm 95 sits down in this context of Yahweh is king, and then calls for us to worship Yahweh as the sovereign king. Now

Worship As Celebration And Thanks

Anderson George 12:38

you can change Judy. Worship Yahweh as the sovereign king and respond to him in a way that blesses you. Let me say that again. Psalm 95 is about worshiping Yahweh as the sovereign king and remaining responsive to him. For that reason, this psalm is slabicated and divided into two parts. Part one is verse 1 to verse number 5, and part two is verse 6 to verse number 11. Part one is the part that says, You need to worship Yahweh because he is God. That's it. There's nothing special or more profound than that. Verse 1 tells us, let's sing for joy to Yahweh. And then verse 2 says, Well, part two of verse number one says, Let's shout joyfully to the Lord, our rock, and our salvation. If I had time, I would tell you that the way you really want to understand Psalm 95, don't have time, is that each first line tells you what the psalmist wants you to understand, and the second line expounds on it. Now you're looking at me funny, so I have to work on it. Come here, church. The first line, look at the text. Text tells us, Oh, come, let's sing for joy to the Lord. That is what He wants you to do. The second line magnifies it. How are we supposed to do it? Let's do it shouting joyfully. Why are we doing it? For the Lord is the rock of our salvation. You all seeing that? So he's saying, I need you to make a joyful noise. If I had time, I'll talk about making a joyful noise in church. It's all right to make noise in church, and if there was a reason to make noise, your reason is because of who God is. You should shout joyfully because Yahweh is God and He's King. So that's how it opens. Shout joyfully, worship, sing to Him. Come before His presence with thanksgiving. All of this is an idea of us being celebratory. When we assemble, we should be assembling with a spirit of gratitude, a spirit of celebration, because we know who God is. Let me say it differently. You should not be singing on Sunday morning simply because John got up here and said, We're going to sing, I will call upon the Lord. You should have more motivation inside of you that tells you, I will sing that I will call upon the Lord, because the Lord is who I need to call upon. The Lord is who I need. I've also seen who He is and what He's done. And for that reason, I will sing to encourage you to call Him just as much as I'm encouraging myself to call Him now. So this is a call to assemble and give God worship, but it's not an empty call. If you look at verse number three, it tells you why. Oh, you all miss it. Verse 1 says, Sing for joy, shout joyfully. Verse 2 says, Come before his presence with thanksgiving, shout joyfully, and then verse 3 says, For why should I make noise in church? Why should I sing like I mean it, mean it while I'm singing it? Why why should it be okay to say amen every now and then? Why should it okay to be happy in church while I'm singing about God? Here's your reason because he is a great God. I wish I had a church. You all miss it. It didn't just say he is God, it said he is a great God. The idea here of great is that his goodness, his sovereignty, sovereignty, his reign, his rule, his everything is so awesome that it can only be described as great. Great here is a Hebrew comparison that puts it above everything else. You bring every other God, he is greater. You bring every other king, he is greater. So the reason why you should celebrate now, now, now Israel is in exile when they either found the Psalm or penned the Psalm.

Singing Through Exile And Anxiety

Anderson George 18:12

Here's why this is important. Oh, you're looking at me funny. Working as slaves, not knowing if they're going to be delivered or when they're going to be delivered, and then they find this psalm so that they could sing it. The idea now is you could sing this to remind you that even though you are in Nebuchadnezzar's territory, God is still greater than Nebuchadnezzar. Your come here, watch this. Sometimes we get too preoccupied over what's happening in our physical plane, and we allow that to bombard our imaginations and our feelings, and that's why we have worries and anxieties and the likes. But if you could remind yourself every now and then, if you could sing joyfully every now and then and say there is a God, He is alive, in Him we live and we survive. From thus our God created, if you could just sing and remind yourself about who the God that you serve is, it will also remind you it doesn't matter what your problem is, what your anxiety is, how big it is, and who's behind it. God, Yahweh is a great God. Now, what I like about the text is it's not just trying to show you his divinity, it does that in the second half. In the first half, he's trying to show you the scope of his rule. When he says here that Yahweh is a great God, he's not trying for you to think that he's divine, he wants you to compare him to other things, particularly kings that you think are great. I know that's right because if you keep reading, it also says he's a great king. Oh, you're all missing. It's in the text. Watch this. Verse 3 for the Lord, and that's his name, for Yahweh is a great God. Well, how great is he? He's a great king above all gods. Now I know we've been Church of Christ for a while, so we know there are no other gods, there's only one. Here's what I'll tell you there's only one Yahweh. Every other thing is created and cannot compare to him. See, Yahweh himself, when leading Israel out of Egypt, he acknowledged the gods of Egypt, he acknowledged Baal to be a god. He he never said they didn't exist. Every time somebody worshipped another god, he just said, I'm greater. That's what he did. So when people worship Baal, you had Elijah coming saying, Choose who you will serve, and there's a great showdown between Baal and Yahweh. Egypt happens, and God said, I'll come in judgment of Pharaoh and all the gods of Egypt. Now you read the Psalm, and the Psalm tells you he is such a great God that he is a great king above all the gods.

Modern Idols And God's Greater Rule

Anderson George 22:23

Let me put this in context because I want you to get this. Kings used to boast about how great they are, how much territory they own. And in doing that, they would normally compare themselves to other territories, and because they were greater, would say those territories and their gods were lesser. You'll miss it. Because you know Egypt, let me come back to Egypt. Pharaoh did not listen to Moses. When Moses said, Yahweh told me to tell you, let my people go, because Pharaoh thought the God of Israel has to be smaller than him. If Israel serves Egypt, let me say it one more time. When Moses comes to Pharaoh and tells Pharaoh, Yahweh says, Let my people go that they may serve me. Pharaoh doesn't listen because Pharaoh believes whoever the God of Israel is, he must be smaller than his God, because their God allowed them to be slaves. So now you have kings who are comparing their authorities one to another. And the psalmist tells us emphatically in Psalm 95, Yahweh is a great God and a great king above all the gods. Now I want to make sure I bring this home to you because you may be saying, I don't serve Behal, I don't serve Ra, I don't have any idols. We may not have gods the way we read about them in the Old Testament, but we have set up our own systems and we've made them gods. And regardless of whether your system is a thing or a person, here's the psalmist still declaring, Yahweh is greater. Yahweh is greater, Yahweh is greater than Mineral Springs, Yahweh is greater than Arkansas, Yahweh is greater than the United States of America, Yahweh is greater than every governor, every mayor, every elected official in the Senate and in the House. Yahweh is greater than the president. Y'all get mighty quiet on inside here. It doesn't matter whose name you insert, Yahweh is a great king, higher and greater than any other.

One Hand Over Depths And Seas

Anderson George 25:05

Then it shows you his reign. Y'all made me, I worked too hard for that. I was planning to get to the second half by now. It shows you his reign by saying in his hand, it didn't say his hands, in his singular hand. Oh, let me try this side. Read your text. It does not say in both of his hands. Is the depth of the earth? Come here, church. I just told you kings would boast about how vast the kingdom is and how much rule that they have. Here is God boasting in one hand. I have the deepest depth of the earth. Now, what he's trying to show you is that he covers the entirety of all creation. So he begins by saying, In his hand is the depth of the earth, and then says, The peak of the mountains are his also. In other words, from top to bottom, he rules. From bottom to top, he reigns. It doesn't matter how low you go, how high you go, he is king above it all. Now, here's something that kings didn't often do. Kings would normally talk about the geographical territory in terms of land. The sea was normally considered chaos, chaotic, uncontrollable. So normal kings never claim to have territory beyond seas. I wish I had a church. Not only does he have it from top to bottom, from bottom to top, he then says it's wider than you could imagine. The seas that no one else claims. They're mine too. Because I made it now. Now, here's where you missed your shout, Mineral Springs. Yeah, that was an amen moment. Because I just told you the sea represented chaos and confusion, and no one claimed it. What happened when Yahweh said the sea is mine too, was him declaring that even what is beyond human authority, even what is beyond the gods of these men, is not beyond me. Now, here's why you shout, Yahweh just claimed that I'm God of the sea. The sea only goes as far as I tell it to, and it returns. Here's why you shout on that. It doesn't matter what's going on in your life, it's not beyond the control of God. It doesn't matter how much chaos you feel you're in, how confused your life may seem right now, no matter how messed up you may think or feel you are not beyond the reign and the rule of a great king named Yahweh. That's good to me. That's I don't always understand what's happening on my life. I may not even understand why tomorrow happens the way it does, but I have comfort in knowing, regardless of what happens on tomorrow, Yahweh has more control over it than me. So now let's read verse one and two again now. Understanding all that, make some noise. Sorry, that's the Anderson standard translation. So sorry, so your Bible says something like, Oh, come, let us sing for joy to the Lord. Anderson standard translation makes some noise in church because Yahweh is God and there's no one like him. Let me pause for Bible commush because you're looking funny. I don't know if it's because I have a rhythm section in the front that you're all not accustomed to making noise, right? Could be something else. Watch this. Here's the idea that behind every song we sing is my celebration, because I know who my song is about. It's it's I don't need to be prompted to celebrate and praise God. I don't need to be prompted to make noise in church because this noise, if you only knew the God that I serve, it should cause you to make some noise too. And you all didn't say amen. You all know the rule. That's five more minutes. But but let me let me let me use it this way.

Why Baseball Gets Louder Praise

Anderson George 30:53

I'm still trying to understand baseball. I I I think baseball is mighty confusing. And I'm I'm watching baseball on some sports channels, and I'm trying to understand, you know, strikes and walks and fouls and the like. Um, I haven't gotten it all together yet. But there's one thing that I think I understand. Every now and then, the batter, that's what they call him, right? The batter gets up to the plate and he hits the ball in such a way that it goes high and wide and far, and everybody in the crowd erupts with noise. Everybody erupts. How I feel about it doesn't matter. What I know is when he hits the ball a certain way, you guys make noise. Here's the thing that baffles me. Him hitting that ball hard, high, fast, and wide does not change your life. You go home at the end of that game, and you still had the same problems when you go home at the end of the game that you had before the game started. You scream. Y'all even sing songs, take me out to the ball game. Y'all have songs that you sing about this glorious moment. Y'all look forward to it, and then you come in church and say, Oh, how I love Jesus, and you could hardly hear anybody saying the noise you made at the baseball field was more than the noise you made in church. Here's why that baffles me. I just told you, whoever the batter is, he probably doesn't even know your name. One, and what he does with that bat and the ball didn't change your life. But I know a God who saw you in your mock and mire several thousand years ago. He was seated high but decided to come low, get to our level because he needed. He hung, he played, and he died, and then got up three days later and said, I did this so that you could have life eternal, life abundant, and life everlasting. And then you come to church and act like the baseball player deserves more praise than God. That blows my mind. Tell you one more story.

A Shelter Dog Teaches Gratitude

Anderson George 34:16

Next week, come back, we'll finish the second half of this text. I wanted a dog, and I remember telling my parents I would like to get a dog. Now, truth be told, what I had in mind was a nice-looking dog. You'll understand what I mean in two seconds, and I had breeds of dogs in mind when I told my dad I would like to get a dog. My dad responded to me by saying, Let's go to the shelter. Y'all miss it. The dogs I am thinking about don't exist in the shelter. I've not been to one of your shelters, but let me tell you what the shelters back home. The rejects are in the shelters. The dogs that have been through hard life, missing pieces here, full looking, rough. So dogs that look like they fought every world war, those are the dogs that are in my shelter. That's not the dog I want to take home. Don't judge me. I'm just I'm just telling you where I was. I'm okay with a stray now. Just you all calm down. Seeing you look at me is like, oh, you too good for straight. No, no, no, no, no. Hold on. So I go to the shelter because my dad, when when he told me, let's go to the shelter, I told him no, I I want a nice, purebred German shepherd that has never been marked by life. Come on, not in one of these ruts. He said, It's either we go to the shelter or you don't get a dog. So I go to the shelter. And the problem I have is the problem we all have. I wanted to choose the best out of the worst dogs. So I walked through each of the aisles, looking at every dog in his cage, and in my mind, I'm saying, not this one, he can't see out his right eye, not this one, he's missing a piece of air, not that one, I'm not sure his fill is going to grow back. I'm I'm being selective. Again, stop judging me. Wait until I finish my story. And I walked through all the aisles when I was done. It took about 15 minutes. When I was done, I remember telling the owner of the shelter, I didn't see a dog that I want to take home. And this owner pleaded with me, told me some of these dogs, if they don't get adopted, they'll be put down. So please, you would help a dog out, and it would love to be a part of your home if you could just choose one. Would you mind walking again? So I did. And as I did, I remembered how all of them looked. And I'm like, is there a better looking one than all the others? And I think I found one. And what happened next is really what the story is about. When this dog seemingly recognized that I was about to choose it, this dog was lying down in a cage and didn't move while I was walking. He looked like he didn't care about life. He was he was done. But the moment he thought he was about to be chosen, his tail started wagging. And then soon enough he got up. And now he runs to the edge of the cage, and and he's excited, his his two front legs on the cage, and and and he's shaking, and he's excited because he's about to be saved. Because we like to claim we're smarter than animals. But this dog had the presence of mind to celebrate being saved, to celebrate being chosen, and then I went to church Sunday and acted like God didn't do anything for me. And when I realized that, I then said I would never let a dog ever outpraise me again. Here's the Psalm saying, You should sing for joy, shout joyfully, because Yahweh is a great God, and He's not just great, no matter who you put him against, He turns up great over every king, and He's so great there's nothing outside the power of one hand. Imagine if he used two, nothing outside the power, nothing too deep, nothing too tall, nothing too wide, nothing too confusing or chaotic. That seems like good reason to make noise in church. That seems like good reason to say amen. That seems like good reason to have a hallelujah. That seems like good reason to sing celebratorily, because Yahweh is great God. Because y'all made me work so hard, I didn't finish my sermon. So come back next week and we'll talk about the second half, verse number six to verse number 11, because now that you know who he is, it demands a response.

Response Time Prayer And Invitation

Anderson George 40:39

So we'll talk about the response next week, but but now it's prayer time. Let's all stand, let's all stand. And something that I want you to get into your spirit, last slide, Judy. Something I want you to get into your spirit every time you hear a sermon, when it's done, it's time for you to respond. So it's prayer time, it's response time. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to sing while we're singing. If you have not always given God his due worship and praise, I want to pray with you and for you that from today we'll do better. Second group of people I want to pray for. If you recognize that even though, because it's possible, I was going to show this from the 6 to 11, it's possible that you could believe that God is God, that Jesus is the Son of God who lived, who died, was buried, and rose again on the third day, but still place confidence in things above God. If you recognize that even though you sing that your God is great, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing your God cannot do. You all know that song? My God is so big, so strong, and so even if you sing that, you don't always act like it. I want to pray that today nothing and no one will ever be greater than God for you. So two people we're praying for. If you haven't always worshipped God the way he deserves, as the sovereign king who rules everything, we're praying that today you do better. If we've placed things and people and systems above God, we're praying that today we put God as great above everything else and never remove that status from Him. So if you're subject to this message, now is your time. We're gonna sing. And if you need prayer, you come on. If you need to put on Jesus, you come on while we sing.