There are several ways that we could make decisions on grandmother's party and worship, and I think you will find some similarities. The urgency of grandmother's party isn't the same as pleasing God in worship, but I think some analogy may help some of the younger children here. If we're trying to decide what to do in worship, we can have a popular vote. and decide that this church is going to be ruled by a majority. And we want to give this vote to the Christians throughout the community. We want to know what they want. We'll have a majority vote on what we should do in worship. That would be one way. That would be one way to celebrate Grandma's birthday. Say, you know, what we really need to know is what the neighbors think she would want. Let's ask the neighbors to see what they want. That would be one way. A Gallup poll may be taken, find the national trend and find out what happens on 100th anniversaries to other places. And then we'll take them and use them with grandmother's area. Sometimes churches determine their theology the same way. Find out what all those other so-called Christians are doing and we'll do that. When I pointed out the old method when grandmother was just a young girl and they took that calf and put their full weight on him and then his blood was shed for him and his sins. And today we have no calf. We're asked to bring no lamb. We're asked to bring no pigeons. We're asked to bring our hearts. And Jesus Christ has paid for it all on the cross. It's a little bit like the little girl that showed up at the house, and Grandpa was going to go to church with them, and she and her mother were talking to Grandmother downstairs. As far as Grandpa, he said, well, he's upstairs putting on his tie. Why don't you go up and tell him we're ready to go? So she trotted upstairs and sat there on the bed, bouncing up and down, watched Grandpa in the mirror doing his tie, and saw her in her nice new dress and nice new shoes, and Grandpa tying his tie. She said, Grandpa, she said, did God make you? Well, sure, honey, he sure did. And then she looked back in the mirror, looked at herself, said, Grandpa, did God make me? Sure, honey, he sure did. Have you noticed he seems to be doing a better job lately? Well, as far as not having calves and bulls to take care of, we thank God, he seems to be doing a better job lately. But he's the same person God is doing it. He said it'll be that way. We'll talk about when that all ended in just a moment. Two major camps came out of the Reformation. They saw the cluttered worship services, they saw the cluttered buildings of the Roman church, and they came out determined that the Word of God had another plan. The first one, and some would say, would come out of the people to say, I know what we can do for grandmother's birthday. Let's have her write down everything she doesn't want us to do. Did you know there's a large camp of people today are handling worship the same way? That if God did not forbid it, it's allowed, is the way we put it. Anything goes as long as God didn't forbid it, you can have it. So if grandma didn't forbid it, well then we can have the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in, or whatever else we've planned to do for grandmother. But the other camp, coming in at the same time, and a young fellow by the name of Calvin brought this particular perspective out. And those are those children sitting around, why don't we ask grandmother what she wants? What would be her preference? Let's find out. This is her party. This is her celebration. We want to please her. And so we were the camp that are asking God, God, we want to worship you. What do you want? What's your request? And Calvin put it this way. Whatever God does not commanded is forbidden in worship. One of the verses that he included with that was what things whoever I command you observe to do it. Thou shalt not add to nor diminish from it. Deuteronomy 1232. So there's all kinds of ways to find out what Grandmother wants, and you saw the ridiculousness of some of them. Well, we'll seek to learn from Grandmother's 100th birthday. How could we celebrate for her honor? We're seeking to see God's honor in life, and what we plan to do is to take the five various events in worship and see parallels in scripture, see parallels in music, see parallels in prayer, see the parallels in offerings, see parallels in the conclusion or the testimony, the application at the close of a worship service. Well, Grandmother, how is it that you know so many recipes? Oh, I've got them all written down here. This is my Bible on recipes. And no, that's not confused with the Bible, but she said, these are the ones I follow, and I've followed them for years. But we want to be like you, Grandmother. We want to know what they are. So it is with the scriptures and the Word of God. We want to come to worship. We want to honor you. We want to know how you did it. And Grandpa, this scrapbook, Her scrapbook tells her she likes quilting and a host of other things, and she doesn't like loud music. We learned a lot of things by her just learning. And the scrapbook goes back and talks of grandmother's Old Testament, or the olden days when she was a young girl. You've probably all heard about the 12-year-old boy that gave his grandmother a ball club for her birthday. Gave his grandmother a ball club. What do you suppose he had in mind? Often we don't ask what will please her, we ask what would please us. Because grandmothers are known to share things that they own and maybe I'll get to use her new bowl club. We're not in a mystery to know what she wants. At least we weren't at the celebration of Mrs. Wilson's 100th anniversary. She said, the only thing I would like to be sure is here, there is about 20 of us there, the relatives of the daughters and grandchildren and all our children. Said, I'd like them to sing for all the guests that are here, and I'd like them to sing the 100th song. That's what I'd like. Well, that's her request. You know, God has the same request. With all of the soloists available, with all of the great bassos, with all of the bands, when they built this building, they said, well, the stage is supposed to reach out through both these doors, because they have room for your band. Well, we're a band of people. We don't need a mechanical band. But this is a verse from Hebrews 13, where God says, I'll tell you what musical instrument is the only one I'm going to mention in the New Testament. You want to be a New Testament Christian? Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That's worship. That is the fruit of our lips. Hebrews 13, 14. Grandmother said, I want to hear the family sing. That's what's pleasing to God. God simply says, use the instrument that I've given you, the fruit of your lips. It's pleasing to me. It doesn't make any difference whether you carry a tune well or not. It's still pleasing to me. I don't know whether any of you happened to notice in the newspaper yesterday, I don't go there for my authority very often, but Leola Wanks was written up, it's a regular, this area. Ask any mother what she would like for her birthday and chances are she will tell you her best gift would be a visit from her children. That's what she wanted, the children there. She wanted them to participate. Leola Wakes, who celebrated her 85th birthday, will receive just such a gift when her nine sons will be featured in a musical celebration on 6 p.m. Saturday at the Mount Comer Church. And then she adds, it's such a blessing. They think enough of me and love me enough to come whenever they are called. And so those nine sons, age 96 to 51, age, excuse me, age 66 to 51, all came and they're all pictured there with her in your paper Saturday. They asked her what she wanted. She said, I just want the kids home. I'm 66 years old. I'd just love to have you here. God is looking for people. God is not looking for gadgets. You don't have to go to a hardware store to do what God wants you to do. You have an insert in your bulletin here. And so let's hear what, when we come to please God, what he's said he would like to see in worship. and the scriptures are right there with it. The Psalms are given by divine inspiration, they are thus the inerrant word of God. We quote, the spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my, that's David's tongue. Inerrantly inspired, nothing no poet since then can compose. Two, Psalms were appointed by God to be used in His service of worship. Come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms. God, what do you want? I wrote it down. I'll tell you what I want. You don't have to guess. Three, Jesus used the Psalms in worship. After singing a hymn, they went into the Mount of Olives. That's the great Hallel, referred to Psalms 113 through 118, sometimes called the hymn. Fourth, Christians are given express authority for use of the Psalms in New Testament worship. And this is very interesting, that we didn't overstretch our bounds in pointing out Calvary and the blood atonement of the Lamb, because you're gonna find Jesus, if you study the Old Testament well, and look at the implications that are coming in atonement, but Christians are given express authority for the use of psalms in New Testament worship. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Nothing yet has been written by any man that is equal to take it and admonish somebody else with beautiful poems by godly people. Nothing comes close to God's inerrant word, and he said it first. Other writings or songs can never be placed as an equal to it in the inerrant scriptures. The sum of thy words is truth, and every one of them, thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. And Jesus Christ is conveyed through the Psalms These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. The music, then, God looks for family. That's all. And God's satisfied that he gave you all the musical instruments you need for the New Testament. That's the fruit of your lips. So that's all you'll be doing in singing and praying to him in the church here today. Just use the instrument God gave. And there are many ways in which, other ways that we might seem parallel. Let's go on from music to prayer. Requests and thanks are the two things. Now, those people that misunderstand election, misunderstand predestination, they say, then why do you pray? You have no need to pray. God's already decided. Because God told us to pray. Why do you go to Grandmother and ask her requests? She's honored by them. She's honored that you asked. You come and what's your favorite school teacher, Grandmother? She's honored that the kids are interested and ask. Oh God, who is this in this photo, Grandmother? She's honored. She's expecting requests to come to Grandmother, not requests in the great world situation. They just want to get acquainted with Grandmother. And so you don't come to church to get acquainted with all the world situations, you get acquainted with the Lord Jesus in worship. And then gratitude, thanks to grandmother. And then the daughters speak up at this point, the sons saying, thank you for staying up with me. Through the measles, they didn't have shots then, 100 years ago. In the dark rooms, you were there by my side. And Thanksgiving began to pour out for many. God asks us to pray, thanking Him. God is honored in prayer, requesting of Him. He treats us as a son that wants to know the answer. We do. We owe thanks. And yes, God notices whether we did or not. Remember, Jesus healed 10 lepers. And we thought the story was over, but no, it wasn't because the next day one of the lepers came back and said, thank you, Lord Jesus for healing me from leprosy. And I'm sure Jesus threw his arms around him. But then what did he ask? Isn't anybody else thankful in this group? Anybody else coming to the Lord because it's pleasing to God to be thankful? And they come and thank God for other members in the congregation, thanking God for the pastor who preaches the word of God. It's a biblical thing. It's an analogy to Mother's 100th anniversary. Her offerings. Presents your bodies a living sacrifice. God expects you to be here. When grandmother, through the children, sends out an invitation to the celebration, she says, no gifts, please. That's the offering. What does she mean? You might as well stay home. No, not at all. She means you come for sure. Just don't worry about bringing an offering. God is not impressed by what you put in the offering plate. God is impressed by whether you're here with a good spirit. Two little boys burst into grandmother's house, and they knew that she was there because her light was on. And they burst in, and they said, Grandma, we've been to the circus. We saw the bears, and the tigers, the lions, and the elephants. And Grandma, you have on your coat. Are you going somewhere? No, she said, I'm coming home. I just haven't taken off my coat. Where you been? I've been at the prayer meeting at the church tonight. These little boys are very quiet for a little bit. Finally, one spoke true American. Boy, grandma, if you ever go to a circus, you never go back to prayer meeting. You know, people have decided on churches because it's more like a circus. They have kids our age, you know, that's a big thing. They offer this kind of joint insurance program and this kind of thing. They offer all these entertainments and big singers come in from the distance. If you've ever been to a circus, you'd never go back to prayer meeting and some have never been back to prayer meeting because they're looking for some kind of a better entertainment. Offering, you offer yourself, your attitude. No gifts, please. She expects you to be there. Last is appreciation for the special celebration. What would 100th anniversary be without taking time to say thank you? What's a worship service without taking time that God gave you healthy children gave us healthy children, that God has placed us in a biblical church where Jesus Christ is honored, where he's presented as the Redeemer through the blood atonement of his cross. But the Bible says we need an appreciation for grandmother. Come and hear what God did for my soul. And so we do testify to what grandma's celebration, what she's done in our lives. We thank her for it while she's around to hear it. Many are buried under the sod before we get around to us saying thank you to them. And we also come to the house of God for the same reason. to just thank God for the health, for the strength, for the assurance that truth is truth in Christ, that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Him. That's true. We thank God for that church. As I sit around sharing Thanksgiving, there are other, beside family that are there, one older man, and he's 50, said, I'm Will, I live on the farm next to her. I said, one of your sons isn't here tonight because we went swimming together and they told us to stay out of the river, the current was too strong. I went in first, I got in the middle and I couldn't get back and so Will came in to get me. He got me to land, but he didn't get back and he was carried downstream. Come and hear what God did for my soul. Come and hear what the redeemed are doing for my life. Come because it's pleasing to God and it's pleasing to man as well. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. As I said, that's a book saying thank you. It's a thank you to a grandfather who reared nine children with a fourth grade education. They came to the Lord Jesus Christ and loved him. It's a testimony to my father who took three pieces of wood and made them into arrows by the grace of God. Come and hear what God did for my soul, and that's what we do, Sabbath after Sabbath. Each day, each Lord's Day, we have a service honoring God. We seek to please Him. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. We seek to show appreciation. We call it a worship service, a worship service. How will you show your appreciation to God? And how does study of analogy of grandmother's 100th birthday apply? Pleasing to her. Whom did you come to please? Oh God, we pray this day that God would honor the preaching of the word and that the blessing of living a life that's not involved in what pleases me where I will prosper, where I will somehow be recognized with greater status, but oh Lord, how is what I'm doing pleasing to God? And Lord, where there are those that should be involved in the weekly meeting of pleasing to God, that you would convict and cause them to reexamine their priorities of where their Sabbath days are going and would bring them into a place where people are singing to the real audience. The almighty God who went to Calvary and we lean our full weight on him and they crucified him. And he said, it is finished. It is finished. It's all through. Thank you for redemption in Jesus Christ. Amen.