The Power of His Presence #2: Entering His Gates With Thanksgiving and Praise

The power of His presence is released when believers come to God the way Psalm 100 describes: with a joyful shout, with glad service, with singing, and with thanksgiving and praise. In this second message on the theme, the speaker, NTC’s longtime worship director, shows that in God’s presence there is fullness of joy, and that frustration and irritability start to fade once we stop living by our feelings and press into worship.

He finishes Psalm 100, then follows the theme through Jesus cleansing the temple, the children’s praise in Matthew 21, and Paul and Silas singing at midnight. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scriptures he uses (linked to the NKJV on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps.

Sermon at a Glance

This is the second of a two-part series the speaker shared at NTC Ministries at the senior pastor’s request, posted in November 2023. It runs about 52 minutes. He briefly reviews the first three verses of Psalm 100 from the week before and then moves into verse four, entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.

The message is personal and practical. He talks about golf, chores, the sound booth, setting up tables and learning guitar at 14, and he recounts a healing testimony he heard in Uganda. Throughout, his point is that worship is not a warm-up before the sermon; it is how believers come boldly into the presence of God.

When Life Gets Out of Balance

The speaker opens with something everyone recognizes: life gets busy. Mortgage payments, heating bills, relationships, raising a family, holding a job or running a business all take faith. Even good things can crowd God out. He loves golf, he admits, but Scripture says to have no other gods, and the moment a hobby starts taking time from the presence of God, he is out of balance.

When we get out of balance, he says, we open the door to frustration and irritability. Things that never bothered us before suddenly do, like rubbing a cat backwards. The answer is not more effort but more of God’s presence, because in His presence there is fullness of joy. Not an eighth full, not half full, but full.

He describes what that looks like. Someone who has been in God’s presence walks into church smiling, wanting to greet and hug people and share God’s love. The things that used to crawl under their skin simply go away. That is why the service begins with singing.

He grounds the gathering itself in Scripture. Where two or three are gathered in His name, Jesus is in the midst (Matthew 18:20). Recalling what the senior pastor taught the week before about synergy, he says believers working together toward a common goal carry greater power than individuals doing their own thing. Where brethren dwell together in unity, the Lord commands the blessing, life forevermore (Psalm 133:1–3).

Shout, Serve and Sing: Psalm 100:1–3

The congregation reads Psalm 100:1–5 aloud together. The speaker notes that God’s truth endures to all generations, so it did not stop in the Old Testament or the New. It applies to every generation until He comes. He then reviews the first three commands, which he treats as an order for coming to God.

A raised voice is not always joyful, he jokes, remembering yelling at his kids to get in the car. A joyful noise is more like a crowd when their team scores. That is why he encourages the church to lift their voices. He cannot make anyone do it, but the word says to, and when the word says to do something, it matters that we participate.

On serving, he compares it to chores. Parents give children chores not to crack the whip but to train them to be contributors, not drains. In the army of the living God, he says, if you are not helping, you are a hindrance. There is a place for everyone: greeting, the sound booth, children’s church, youth group, or behind the scenes. He thanks those who set up tables and chairs that morning, and he warns that the thought that it is always you doing the work comes from the enemy, not from God.

Satan, he says, lies and manipulates just as he did with Eve in Genesis 3, making disobedience sound reasonable. When we obey the word, blessings abound. We will still make mistakes, but God looks at the heart. Psalm 35:27 says the Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Now that believers are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, he asks, how much more does He want to bless us?

Serving is our reasonable service, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). It is reasonable, not unreasonable, because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). If he works in a negative environment, he prays and worships before going and asks God to wash him with the word when he leaves.

Coming before His presence with singing raises a question: if God is everywhere, why does He say come? You can be with God while hunting, fishing, golfing or gardening. But there is a synergy when believers gather with one mind. Come, he says, and think about His goodness, His unfailing love despite your mistakes, and the blood that covers you. Praise tills the ground so that when the word is sown, it rises up and bears fruit.

Fullness of Joy in His Presence

Verse three tells us to know that the Lord is God and that He made us, not we ourselves. The speaker admits he sometimes wonders why God needs to say it, until he catches himself thinking his own way will be easier. God wants steps of faith, he says, and whatever is not of faith is sin, because then I am living for my feelings rather than for Him.

We did not choose our looks, our parents or our place in history, but God made each person with a purpose and a great future. He reads Psalm 139:13–14, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God did not make a mistake when He made you. Satan, he says, lies to people and tells them they are not good enough, because he wants them out of God’s presence, where there is joy, peace and supernatural strength.

God’s ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9), so when He says to do something, the speaker says to obey rather than second-guess. He cannot even figure out how the cells of his skin hold together, so why not simply worship and let God be God?

Then comes the key verse: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). Marriage and children bring real joy, he says, but the Bible locates fullness of joy in His presence. We should become so familiar with it that we can see it on other people.

The hardest part is that the times we feel too tired, sad or angry to worship are exactly the times we need to press in. When we live by our feelings and emotions, he warns, we allow them to ruin our life. So when he does not feel like going to church, he asks whether that feeling could possibly come from God. It is not rocket science, he says.

Psalm 140:12–13 promises that the upright shall dwell in His presence. All you need is to ask God to forgive and cleanse you, and then come boldly. He urges the church to do it before bed, on waking, on the way to work, while getting the family ready and on lunch breaks, asking God to fill them with His presence. Jesus Himself only did what He saw the Father do (John 5:19), and He made time to get alone with the Father.

The Power of His Presence in Thanksgiving and Praise

Verse four says to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. The speaker models it: thank You, Jesus, for this day, for calling me Your son, that You are holy, that You are my healer and my strength, that Your blood covers me. If you do not know where to start, thank Him that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that by His stripes you are healed.

He then turns to Matthew 21:12–16. Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple, overturning the money changers’ tables. Drove out was not a polite request, he says. And Jesus answered with Scripture: “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” When Satan lies to you, the speaker says, pull out the truth the same way.

He also asks where the leadership was that allowed it. Perhaps they had good intentions about the money or helping the community, but Satan is skilled at manipulation, and we must follow the truth of God’s word instead. Like David, who told his wife he would become even more undignified (2 Samuel 6:20–22), he refuses to care what others think when he worships.

Then the blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple, and He healed them. Signs, wonders and miracles happen in His presence. The speaker shares a testimony from Uganda, where he was with his dad. A man hit by a truck while riding a motor scooter came to church with X-rays showing a skull fractured like a puzzle and his head visibly swollen. He could barely stand, but he knew he needed to press into worship.

The man testified that God healed him that night. The next day, he said, he returned to the same doctor for new X-rays, and the doctor compared them side by side and told him that, although fractures normally show for life, the new images showed no crack at all. The speaker shares it as a picture of what God can do: when your back is against the wall, press into His presence.

When the chief priests saw the children crying “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. Jesus pointed them to Scripture: “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise,” quoting Psalm 8:1–2, where God ordains strength to silence the enemy and the avenger. The children understood what the leaders missed: they were in the presence of the One who heals.

So when you feel attacked on every side, praise anyway. He uses the senior pastor’s picture of a train: “thank you Jesus” starts slow, like climbing a hill, then power rises up and you are running downhill and cannot stop. It is not vain repetition, he says, but remembering what God has done.

Worship Together, Even at Midnight

Like Joshua, he says, “as for me and my household we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Ephesians 5:15–20 tells believers to walk circumspectly, which he pictures as having eyes all around your head, and to understand what the will of the Lord is. Instead of being drunk with wine, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and giving thanks always.

That word “speaking to one another” means praise is meant to be shared in the assembly. Even a small offering of praise grows when believers come together. He knows this personally. At 14, the church’s bass player asked if he had ever thought of learning guitar. He never had. But the man had seen a vision of him leading worship. He has now been the praise and worship director at the New Testament Church since he was 19, over 20 years. It started small.

Separation from the local church, he warns, deprives a person of the relationship and strength believers need. He asks the congregation to turn to someone and say, “I need you.” Then he closes with Acts 16:25–34. After Paul cast a spirit of divination out of a slave girl, her owners had Paul and Silas thrown into the innermost prison, where it was completely dark.

At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening. They were not whining or begging; they were worshiping. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the foundations, every door opened and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer was about to kill himself, but Paul called out that they were all there. The jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” and his whole household believed and was baptized.

It was not because Paul and Silas were great singers, the speaker says, but because of the presence of God. When Jesus is lifted up, He draws people to Himself. Psalm 95:1–2 calls us to come before His presence with thanksgiving, and 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 spells out God’s will: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks.

Living in His Presence This Week

The speaker sums up the message in a simple rhythm: rejoice, pray, give thanks, repeat. He closes by thanking God that believers can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need. Here are practical steps drawn from the message:

• Check your balance. If a hobby or job is crowding out time with God, notice the irritability it brings and give Him that time back.
• Make the joyful shout yourself. No one can worship for you; choose to lift your voice in the next service, even if you do not feel like it.
• Find a place to serve. Greeting, sound, children’s ministry or setting up tables all count; reject the thought that your service goes unnoticed.
• Start every gate with thanks. Thank Jesus for salvation, healing and protection before you bring your requests.
• Press in when you feel worst. Treat tiredness, sadness or anger as the signal to worship, not the excuse to stay away.
• Stay connected to the church. Gather with other believers often, because praise grows when it is shared.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Part two: the power of His presence
• 0:59 Getting out of balance
• 1:56 Fullness of joy, not partway
• 3:11 Where two or three are gathered
• 4:11 Synergy and reading Psalm 100
• 5:10 Make a joyful shout
• 7:07 Serve the Lord with gladness
• 10:50 The enemy’s lies and Genesis 3
• 12:46 Heirs, not slaves: Romans 12:1
• 14:40 Come before His presence with singing
• 17:50 Know that the Lord, He is God
• 19:47 Fearfully and wonderfully made
• 21:56 Psalm 16:11: fullness of joy
• 25:06 The upright dwell in His presence
• 27:01 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
• 28:38 Jesus cleanses the temple
• 32:13 The blind and lame healed
• 33:21 A healed skull in Uganda
• 37:33 Out of the mouth of babes
• 39:53 The thank-you-Jesus train
• 40:45 Ephesians 5: psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
• 42:54 Learning guitar at 14
• 44:39 Paul and Silas: Acts 16
• 49:27 Rejoice, pray, give thanks

Frequently Asked Questions

If God is everywhere, why does it matter whether I go to church?

The speaker agrees that God is omnipresent and that you can be with Him while hunting, fishing or gardening. But he points out that Psalm 100 still says to come before His presence, and that Jesus promised to be in the midst of those gathered in His name. There is a synergy when believers come together with one mind, and Ephesians 5 describes believers speaking to one another in psalms and hymns.

Is repeating “thank you, Jesus” just vain repetition?

He addresses this directly. Thanksgiving, he says, is not vain repetition, because each time you are remembering what God has done for you. Using the senior pastor’s picture of a train, he describes how it may start slowly, like climbing a hill, but power begins to rise until you are running downhill and cannot stop, radiating the presence of God.

What if I do not have a talent to serve with?

He lists many places to serve, from greeting to running the overhead in the sound booth to working behind the scenes setting up tables. He never planned to play an instrument, yet a church member saw a vision of him leading worship and offered to teach him guitar at 14. His encouragement is to take a small step of faith and let God take it further.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Psalm 100:1–5 — enter His gates with thanksgiving
• Psalm 16:11 — fullness of joy in His presence
• Psalm 139:13–14 — fearfully and wonderfully made
• Romans 12:1 — a living sacrifice
• Matthew 21:12–16 — a house of prayer and perfected praise
• Psalm 8:1–2 — out of the mouth of babes
• Ephesians 5:15–20 — psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
• Acts 16:25–34 — Paul and Silas at midnight
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 — rejoice, pray, give thanks

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

Watch More Messages

If this message drew you closer to God’s presence, there are many more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep entering His gates with thanksgiving.