The power of His presence is not something you wait to stumble into; Psalm 100 tells you how to step into it. In this message, Pastor Paul Hohman draws three action words from the psalm: make a joyful shout to the Lord, serve the Lord with gladness, and come before His presence with singing. Then he shows from Genesis 3 and Isaiah 61 why the enemy works so hard to keep believers hiding from God.
Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This message was preached at NTC Ministries and posted on November 14, 2023, as the church moved toward Thanksgiving. Pastor Paul Hohman, who also leads worship, opens by saying how much he loves studying and teaching the Word, and that every believer, not only those in the fivefold ministry, should be a student of Scripture.
He ties the message to Dr. Hohman’s recent teaching on the names of God. When God reveals Himself as provider, healer and strength, those names carry applications for our lives. Getting to know Him, Pastor Paul says, means coming into His presence, and the Word is the guide for how to do that. The Holy Spirit will never lead us away from what the Word says; let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4).
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Pastor Paul Hohman |
| Series | Standalone message, to be continued the following week |
| Main text | Psalm 100:1–3, with Genesis 3 and Isaiah 61:1–3 |
| Key theme | Shouting, serving and singing are how we enter God’s presence |
| Length | About 51 minutes |
Make a Joyful Shout to the Lord
The church reads Psalm 100 aloud together: “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.” Pastor Paul focuses on verses 1 through 3 and three key words. The first is the very first word, make. The psalm does not say come and watch a joyful noise, or sit and listen to one. It tells every believer to make one.
He defines make as a verb meaning “to cause something to exist or come about.” There is no joyful shout, he says, unless I create it. God wants it to come from my own being.
There are different kinds of shouting: his kids groan one way about chores and cheer another way about pizza and ice cream. The world shouts and complains as though volume makes it right. Pastor Paul’s answer is to shout to the Lord and then listen to what God says.
Is it okay to shout in church? Yes, he says, and to shout the name that is above every name. It can feel awkward, and his own flesh still wonders what people will think. But he sings and shouts for an audience of one. He loves the congregation, he says, but he needs God’s presence more than he needs theirs.
“All you lands” means every tribe and nation. Christianity is not praying a prayer for heaven and then living any old way. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10), and calling yourself a son or daughter of God puts a target on your back. That is why we need His presence, because there is power and strength there.
Serve the Lord With Gladness
The second word is serve. Some people dislike it because it sounds like slavery. Pastor Paul’s answer is that he is not a slave; he is a son, and a son wants to please his father. God does not need help, but we serve Him the way we would help someone struggling through a door with a heavy load.
We are part of a family, he says, echoing Dr. Hohman: a family that works together grows together. People who go off on their own often end up struggling and asking God why nothing is happening for them. Where two or three are gathered together in His name, He is in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20).
The word serve means to work or labor for someone, and it is not always easy. Household, job, business and children all take effort. Coming to church should not be the only service we give God, he says, yet for some the labor God asks is simply getting out of bed and driving to where believers gather to build one another up.
Psalm 35:27 says, “Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause,” and that the Lord “has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” That was written before Christ. Now believers are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), sons and daughters rather than servants. How much more, he asks, should sons and daughters take pleasure in serving God?
He links this to Romans 12:1: present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. A living sacrifice serves even when he does not feel like it. Holy and acceptable describes how we act in the community and at home, because we are the church when we leave the building.
He loves the word reasonable. What God asks is not unreasonable; it is doable, because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13), and greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
Come Before His Presence With Singing
The third word is come. Someone may say God is everywhere, so why go anywhere? Pastor Paul agrees that God is omnipresent. But the psalm asks us to move from where we are into His presence. Worshiping from bed in your pajamas with a quick “thank You, Jesus,” he says, is not presenting your body as a living sacrifice.
He compares it to walking into a house: if nobody seems home, it has no effect on you, but when you know someone is there, you offer them a drink and a seat. God is everywhere, but I need to be aware that He is here and that He wants to bless me right now.
That is why coming to church matters and why the church claps, shouts and sings. People clap at concerts with thousands of others, he notes, yet some come to worship God and stand holding up a chair because clapping is not their thing. To those who say he does not know how they sing, he answers that the Lord does not ask us to stand back and watch.
We are made in God’s image. Pastor Paul reads Psalm 139:13–14 in the NIV: God created our inmost being and knit us together in our mother’s womb, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made. You were made for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). Giving so little back to the One who handcrafted us, he says, is a slap in the face.
Psalm 100:3 says it is He who made us, and not we ourselves. God reminds us of that because we often think our way is better. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture, led by a Shepherd who wants us in the best lands. And we need one another: one can chase a thousand, and two can put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30).
The table below follows Pastor Paul’s breakdown of the three action words.
| Psalm 100 | Key word | What it means as taught | What it is not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verse 1 | Make | Cause a joyful shout to exist from your own being | Watching or listening to others worship |
| Verse 2a | Serve | Labor gladly as a son or daughter pleasing the Father | Slavery, complaining, or doing the bare minimum |
| Verse 2b | Come | Move from where you are into an awareness of His presence | Staying in bed and calling it a worship service |
Why Adam and Eve Hid From God
Satan, Pastor Paul says, is the one who tells you not to bother clapping because you are off time, not to sing because you are off key, and not to dance because of what people will say. To show how he works, Pastor Paul turns to Genesis 3:1–9 and reads it in the light of God’s presence.
Adam and Eve were God’s perfect creation, enjoying the garden, when the serpent arrived at the most inopportune time. He asked whether God had indeed said they could not eat of every tree. When Eve repeated God’s instruction, he told her she would not surely die. Satan takes a truth and twists it, Pastor Paul says: why would God destroy His prized possession after forming them from the dust and breathing His breath into them?
Then Eve saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and desirable to make one wise. She had seen it before, but now she looked through the lens Satan gave her, and he made it look like a Christmas tree full of presents. But God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9).
She gave some to her husband, and he ate. We do the same, Pastor Paul says, pulling others down with us. Church in my bedroom, church alone in my fishing boat, it’s fine. Yet Scripture says not to forsake assembling together, and so much more as we see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).
Their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together. Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. That was the moment to come before His presence with singing. Instead they hid among the trees. They had never done that before. The goal of the deception, Pastor Paul says, was not only to get them to eat a fruit, but to make them back away from God.
God called, “Where are you?” Not because He could not find them; He was asking why they would ever hide from Him. When anger, fear or shame grips you, that is when you need His presence most. We all make mistakes, he says, but do not let guilt keep you from church. Know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).
Fullness of Joy in His Presence
Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Pastor Paul asks whether it is important to come into His presence, and answers yes: leave the place where good enough feels okay. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power at work in us (Ephesians 3:20).
The times we feel too tired, upset, sad or angry to praise are the exact times to press in. He worships under his breath in store aisles and hallways at work, and it defuses situations that could escalate.
When you enter His presence, the peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7) comes in, and frustrations that were heaping coals on the fire melt away. People say peace is the absence of war, he notes, but peace is His presence regardless of the war around you. The more time you spend with Him, the more the Holy Spirit raises red flags when something is wrong.
If you have never experienced this, Pastor Paul says, start with Psalm 100. Instead of shouting in anger, give God praise. Find your car, your bathroom or your closet and tell Him you need Him. It is okay to be vulnerable, because He already knows your thoughts.
Psalm 140:12–13 says the righteous shall give thanks to His name and the upright shall dwell in His presence. If you do not know what to praise God for, he says, thank Him for who He is. If you have received Jesus, your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). Thank Him that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and rejoice in the day He has made (Psalm 118:24). He is a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).
The Garment of Praise and the Power of His Presence
Pastor Paul’s last passage is Isaiah 61:1–3, where the Spirit of the Lord anoints the Messiah to heal the brokenhearted and give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We do not know what people around us are going through, he says, so he needs God’s presence to rise up out of him and influence them, instead of letting a negative world influence him.
That is why he has church before he comes to church: every morning in the Word, in prayer and in worship. How can he lead others into God’s presence if he has not been there first? The congregation, he says, does not need him to sing a few songs; they need God’s presence.
He was grieved by a coach who thanked the Lord after a big game and then filled the same interview with language that could not be aired. We have to do better, he says, and he prays that if anything like that is found in him, God would forgive him. He wants people to see Christ in him, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
Then he notices the wording. Isaiah did not say sing praise or shout praise for the spirit of heaviness. He said put on the garment of praise. A garment protects you: a rain jacket in the rain, a windbreaker in the wind, a winter coat in a Northwoods freeze. This is not algebra, he says.
When depression, sickness, disease or the lie that you are a no-good-for-nothing comes at you, put on the garment of praise. It protects you from the enemy’s deception and manipulation. Greater is He that is in you, and you know the truth that sets you free. Praise, Pastor Paul says, is how we come into the power of His presence.
He closes by reminding the church that God’s presence can be with them anywhere, in an airport or at a restaurant, but it is up to each person to make the joyful noise. In prayer he declares that the hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord (Psalm 97:5), and he speaks blessing over minds, bodies, finances and relationships, calling it a time of refreshing in His presence (Acts 3:19).
Practicing His Presence This Week
Here are practical steps drawn from this message:
- Make the shout yourself. In worship this Sunday, sing, clap or shout to the Lord instead of watching others do it.
- Serve as a son or daughter. Find one way to serve God and His people gladly, without complaining that it always lands on you.
- Greet Him every morning. Start each day with good morning, Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit and King Jesus, and invite Him into your plans.
- Run toward God, not away. When guilt, fear or anger rises, treat it as the signal to come into His presence, not to hide.
- Put on the garment of praise. When heaviness comes, answer it with thanksgiving for who God is and what He has done.
- Gather with believers. Do not replace the church with a bedroom or a fishing boat; come and build one another up.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 The power of His presence
- 0:47 Let the Word guide us
- 1:35 Opening prayer and Psalm 100
- 3:29 Three key words in verses 1 and 2
- 4:28 Make: cause it to exist
- 6:23 Is it okay to shout in church?
- 8:24 Serve: a son, not a slave
- 11:40 Psalm 35:27 and Romans 12:1
- 13:48 Come before His presence with singing
- 16:06 Clapping, singing and the audience of one
- 18:32 Fearfully and wonderfully made
- 21:05 It is He who made us
- 22:13 Psalm 16:11: fullness of joy
- 24:21 Press in when you feel worst
- 26:18 Genesis 3: the serpent’s lie
- 30:38 Church in the fishing boat
- 31:48 Adam and Eve hide from His presence
- 34:09 Where are you?
- 36:23 Peace in the middle of war
- 38:14 Psalm 140: dwelling in His presence
- 40:11 Isaiah 61:1–3
- 44:48 Put on the garment of praise
- 47:36 Closing prayer and blessing
Frequently Asked Questions
If God is everywhere, why do I need to come into His presence?
Pastor Paul agrees that God is omnipresent, but says being aware of Him is different from knowing a fact about Him. Like walking into a house where you know someone is home, awareness changes how you act. Psalm 100 asks us to move from where we are into His presence through shouting, serving and singing. That is where we find His power, strength and fullness of joy.
Can I just worship God at home instead of going to church?
Pastor Paul says no. He calls the idea of church in the bedroom or alone in a fishing boat one of the enemy’s lies, and compares it to Eve handing the fruit to Adam and pulling others down too. Scripture tells believers not to forsake gathering together, and where two or three gather in His name He is there. A family that works together grows together.
What if I am too upset or angry to worship?
Those are exactly the times to press in, according to Pastor Paul. When feelings are overtaking you, staying away from God only lets them grow. He worships quietly under his breath at the store or at work, and says it defuses situations that could escalate. He encourages finding a car, a bathroom or a closet and telling God honestly that you need Him.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- Psalm 100 — make a joyful shout, serve, come
- Genesis 3:1–9 — Adam and Eve hide from God’s presence
- Isaiah 61:1–3 — the garment of praise
- Psalm 16:11 — fullness of joy in His presence
- Romans 12:1 — your reasonable service
- Psalm 35:27 — pleasure in the prosperity of His servant
- Psalm 139:13–14 — fearfully and wonderfully made
- Psalm 140:12–13 — the upright shall dwell in Your presence
- Hebrews 10:25 — not forsaking the assembling together
- Matthew 18:20 — where two or three are gathered
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
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