Magnified! (VBS 2025)

Psalm 34

June 1, 2025 || Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL || James Jackson, Pastor

INTRODUCTION

Good morning! Welcome to church, and welcome to VBS week! If you have your Bibles please open to Psalm 34.

Can I say it? I love VBS. It is my favorite thing the church does all year! And I think this year is going to be the best ever. Pre-registration is DOUBLE what it was last year. Volunteers have stepped up like nobody’s business! The decorations are beautiful. Although, NGL,  the ants on the floor gave me the heebie-jeebies.

I love VBS because it’s FUN. Because the church is packed wall to wall with kids having a big time. Because we’ve got a mascot this year! And whether you have kids in VBS or not this year, I hope you will come to our family night on Thursday. It’s going to be a blast!

I love VBS because it teaches boys and girls about missions. We learn about missionaries on the field. And this year for our VBS offering, we are supporting a brand new Hispanic church plant here  in Autauga county. Many of you know Carlos  Lemus, our associational missionary for Hispanic work here in Autauga county.  Two years ago in the January 12 tornado, the building where they were  meeting was destroyed. But now they have secured enough funding to begin building, and just last week they dedicated the future site, and this week they will begin building the First Hispanic Baptist Church of Autauga. Last year we raised over $3700 to translate the book of James for a people group in South Asia that didn’t have access to the Bible in their own language. So let’s see what we can do for our own neighbors this year! 

I love VBS because it brings the church together. There’s nothing else we do all year that uses so many volunteers, so many hours of preparation, and so much room in the church.

Its so intense that a lot of churches wonder, is it worth it. I want to remind you, it is worth it!

It’s worth it because of this number right here:

65,000

65,000 is the average number of first time professions of faith ANNUALLY from kids who attend a VBS. That’s the average. You could fill a football stadium with kids who have had their eternal destination changed because of a little thing called Vacation Bible School.

So, yes, its worth it! And if you are volunteering this week, thank you! We are going to have a commissioning prayer at the end of the service for all of our volunteers.

And if you aren’t volunteering, please pray for this week. I’m telling you, I want us to be in the baptistry so often JonWorth grows gills.

Now let’s talk about this year’s theme. The theme is “MAGNIFIED! Discovering the bigness of God in the smallest of things.” Each day, kids are going to hear about how a  great big God loves little bitty people. Each days theme emphasizes both. Let me show you what that means:

Day One: Magnify God: God created everything there is, But He still wants to spend time with me

Day Two: Magnify God’s Care: God keeps the whole universe going , but He still cares about what’s happening to me.

Day Three: Magnify God’s Love: God is NOT OK with sin but He still loves sinners like me.

Day Four: Magnify God’s Forgiveness : Jesus came to save the world, and that includes me.

Day Five: Magnify God’s Faithfulness: God is Faithful with the big things in my life, and he will be faithful in the small things too.

Our memory verse for the week is Psalm 34:3

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

And now I’m going to teach you the motions. So everyone stand up, and let’s learn it together. [teach]

This morning, we’re going to study the Psalm this verse came from. It’s Psalm 34, so you can go ahead and turn there if you haven’t already. It’s one of the most encouraging Psalms in the entire book of Psalms.

And in Psalm 34, David is going to bring out three things:

When to magnify the Lord

How to Magnify the Lord

Why we magnify the Lord

As I was preparing I had a hard time figuring out how much of the Psalm to read, because almost every verse is highlight-a-ble. So I just want to start by reading all of it, because there is going to be something in it that will jump out to you too. So let’s look at it together:

Psalm 34 [Read]

Let’s pray.

One of the most amazing things about this Psalm is the context of it. Not every Psalm tells us who wrote it or what was happening when he wrote it, but Psalm 34 does. Look at the first part— what we call the superscript:

“Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.”

What’s that about?

THE CONTEXT

At this time, David was not yet king and he had to run for his life from King Saul.  The story is found in 1 Samuel 21. Saul was jealous of David because God had told Saul he was going to take the kingdom away from Saul and give it to someone more worthy. And after David killed Goliath, Saul knew David was the one. So he was determined to kill him, and David had to go on the run.

Where did he run to? He ran to Gath, in the territory of the Philistines.  Goliath’s hometown! I guess he figured Saul wouldn’t look for him there.

But when Abimelech (or Achish, as he’s called in 1 Samuel) found out this was the dude that had killed his champion, David figured the best way to save himself was to act insane around King Achish. So he started scribbling on the walls, and drooling, and just acting a fool.

So when Achish saw this, he was like, this is the guy that killed Goliath? No way!

This guy’s a few McNuggets short of a happy meal. The sign’s on, but the donuts aren’t hot. And he delivers one of the funniest lines in the whole Bible:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 21

15 Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”

So Achish kicks David out of Gath, and David escapes to a cave in the wilderness. And according to scholars, it was in this cave that David wrote Psalm 34

So with that in mind, look again at Psalm 34:1

“1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

So, when do we magnify the Lord? At all times! Continually!

That phrase “at all times” is so important, because there are times in our lives when praising the Lord might be the hardest thing to do in that moment.

Like, maybe, when you are in a cave hiding from a powerful king who wants to kill you. That puts a stretch on “at all times,” doesn’t it?

Praising the Lord in the good times is easy when all seems right in our life and world. However, what about during the dark nights of the soul? The moments where the Lord’s presence seems absent, when the Lord seems distant, when His plans don’t align with our plans, or when His purposes don’t make sense?

Through the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, we can affirm with David that the Lord is good!

David found himself at a time in his life when he was facing tremendous hardship and affliction that was met with God’s care, love, and faithfulness.

So, when do we magnify the Lord (at all times)

Now, let’s talk about How to Magnify the Lord. There’s no wrong way to magnify the Lord, but the text does give us some ways to go about it.

1.   Brag about him: Psalm 34:2 :“2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.”

2.   Worship Him with other people (verse 3— let us exalt his name together)

3.   Seek him and cry to Him. Psalm 34:4–6

“4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.  6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

4. Experience Him (v. 8)— Taste and see— we can know facts about God, but until we taste and see that He is good, we won’t really experience it.

And finally, Why magnify God? Psalm 34 gives so many reasons to magnify God:

1.He answers (v. 4) Psalm 34:4 “4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

2. He delivers —

•     from fear in verse 4, Psalm 34:4 “4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”

•     from our enemies Psalm 34:7 “7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.”

•     From trouble (Psalm 34:17 “17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”

•     from affliction,(Psalm 34:19 “19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Let’s talk a little about fear, because it’s used in two different ways— fear like to be afraid of, and then the fear of the Lord

3. Why magnify the Lord? He hears: Psalm 34:6 “6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”

When David says, “This poor man cried,” he’s talking about himself.

4. He judges: Psalm 34:21 “21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.”

5. He redeems (v. 22) Psalm 34:22 “22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.”

Invitation:

Go back to v. 22: Have you taken refuge in the Lord?

Are you humble enough to admit you’re poor, and you need God?

A, B, C’s

Response time

Commissioning of VBS volunteers