New City Church

Making disciples. Period.

214 Spencer Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI  49505
Sunday mornings at 10:00
Directions

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

for the North End Community Ministry / food pantry
visit http://necmgr.org or call (616) 454-1097

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Beliefs
      • Historic Creeds and Confessions
    • Core Values
    • Leadership
      • Council of Elders
      • Deacons
  • Experience New City
    • Worship
    • City Groups
    • Discipleship
    • New City Sisterhood
    • Serving the Body
      • Spiritual Gifts
    • Childrens’ Ministries
    • Youth
    • Membership
  • Resources
    • Sermons
      • Miscellaneous (various topical sermons)
      • From Garden to Garden: the Story of the Bible (a topical sermon series)
      • Real Jesus. Real Followers. (a sermon series in Mark)
      • A Brief Study of Spiritual Gifts (a topical sermon series)
      • Church Calendar (an on-going topical sermon series)
      • What Is the Church? (a topical sermon series)
      • Cosmic Christ: Divine Truth For Our Earthly Reality (a sermon series in Colossians)
      • Genesis: the Origins of [Re]Creation (a sermon series in Genesis)
      • Acts of Jesus (sermon series in Acts)
      • Spiritual Disciplines (a topical sermon series)
      • Jude (a sermon series in Jude)
      • A Cruciform Life: Being Shaped by the Cross into the Shape of Jesus (a sermon series in 1 Corinthians)
      • Christian Community (a topical sermon series)
      • Let’s… (a topical sermon series)
      • A Slaughtered Lamb Reigns (a sermon series in Revelation)
      • Together (a topical sermon series)
      • YHWH: Missionary to the Nations (a sermon series in Exodus)
      • Sexual Ethics and the New City (a topical sermon series)
      • In Christ: There Is No Other Gospel (a sermon series in Galatians)
      • What On Earth Is the Church? (a topical sermon series)
      • Come and Believe: the Gospel According to John (a sermon series in John)
      • Politics and Christian Unity (a topical sermon series)
      • Life As the Body of Christ (a topical sermon series)
      • Covenant God: the Foundation of Our Faith (a sermon series in Joshua)
    • Child Protection Policy
    • The Gospel Coalition
    • Desiring God
    • Urban Transformation Ministries
    • North End Community Ministry
  • Contact us
  • Sermons
  • Upcoming Events

Let’s praise God today

April 7, 2020 by J-T

Charles Spurgeon told the story of a farmer who loved his king. This farmer grew a large and wonderful carrot—the largest and greatest carrot he had ever seen. He decided to give it to the king. The king was so impressed by this act of love and generosity that he responded to the farmer by giving him the king’s land that was next to his farm. A nobleman who was there thought to himself, “If that’s the sort of gift the king gives for a carrot, what would he give me for something of real value?” So the next day the nobleman proceeded to make a big show of giving the king his greatest horse—a truly expensive gift. The king was wise and recognized what the nobleman was doing and simply said, “Thank you.” When it was apparent the nobleman was disappointed the king said to him, “Yesterday the farmer gave me a carrot but today you were giving yourself a horse.”

We do not worship God in order to receive from him. We worship him and we praise him because he is worthy to be praised. If he never gave us a single gift, he would be worthy of praise, yet has given us great gifts, including the faith necessary to recognize him as being worthy of praise, and so the response to what he has done ought to be to praise him for who he is. It is impossible to separate who God is from what he does as he is entirely consistent with his own nature, so we also praise him for what he does. Even when things are bad.

When Judah was in exile in Babylon king Nebuchadnezzar issued a royal decree that required everyone to bow down and worship his image. The penalty for failing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s image was death by fire. Three young men refused, knowing full well that their refusal could result in their deaths. Here is how they responded to the king:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Daniel 3:16-18 ESV

Whether God delivers us from our circumstances or not, whether our health improves or not, whether our financial struggles end or not, whether our relationships are restored or not, whether our loved one survives or not, our God is worthy of praise. Let us refuse to bow down to the idols of our culture and instead point those around us to Jesus our Lord by praising him and worshiping him alone.

As we pray today, let’s praise God for who he is. Let’s pray for his glory to be revealed through us and through the advance of his gospel. He is ever at work drawing men and women to Jesus; let’s praise him for his extraordinary kindness and mercy today.

Filed Under: Council of Elders

Give online

Search newcitychurch.org

Recent Posts

  • why do we worship together on Sundays?
  • let’s celebrate Christmas every Sunday
  • Moses and Mission BBQ and the Sabbath
  • how should we vote on Tuesday? quietly.
  • whence comes a peaceful and quiet life?

Location

Sundays at 10:00AM 214 Spencer St NE, Grand Rapids (on the corner of Plainfield Ave & Spencer St., just north of Leonard St.)

Mailing Address

214 Spencer St NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49505

Copyright © 2023 · Outreach Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in