I Will Bless The Lord At All Times

I WILL BLESS THE LORD AT ALL TIMES

Ps. 34:1-10

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. A man from the city bought a farm and saw a beautiful horse on another guy’s farm. He bargained with the farmer, an old deacon, and the farmer finally sold him the horse.

2. The city man jumped on the horse and said, “Giddyup!” The horse didn’t budge. The old deacon explained, “He’ll only go forward if you say, ‘Praise the Lord.’ To stop him, you have to say, ‘Amen.’”

3. Keeping this in mind, the new owner yelled, “Praise the Lord!” whereupon the horse took off with great speed.

4. Soon horse and rider were headed for a cliff. He went through a dozen phrases before he finally remembered to say “Amen!”

5. The horse came to a screeching halt right at the edge of the cliff. Relieved, the rider wiped the sweat off his forehead and exclaimed, “Praise the Lord!”

B. OPENING TEXT

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. 6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Vss 1-4, KJV; Vss. 5-10, NIV 1984)

C. THESIS

1. Many Christians suffer defeat because they don’t know the power of praise. David had discovered it and it changed his perspective on troubles.

2. As a matter of fact, David found praise to be so empowering that he declared that he would continually praise God, no matter what circumstances he faced.

3. So let’s take a few minutes and look at David’s revelation, “I Will Bless the Lord at ALL Times!”

I. MODERN SITCOM PHRASE & REAL MEANING

A. YADA, YADA, YADA

1. A few years ago the hit sitcom Jerry SEINFELD coined a new phrase that came into popular use. Elaine Benes, the character in SEINFELD played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, said this classic line:

2. “Yeah, I met this lawyer. We went out to dinner. I had the lobster bisque….Yada, yada, yada. I never heard from him again.”[urbandictionary.com]

3. Since being used on this & companion sitcom “Nanny,” “Yada, yada, yada” has come to mean “boring or empty talk,” something similar to yackity-yack or blah-blah-blah.

4. Both sitcoms had Jewish actors and writers. In old times the phrase had a glorious meaning, but after centuries had devolved down to meaningless words.

5. “Yada” is actually the Hebrew verb (in the Bible) that means “praise, (give) thanks, or confess.” It’s the most common word for “thanks”(39x), the 3rd most common word for “praise”(46x), and a main word for “confess”(18x).

B. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “PRAISE GOD?”

1. DEFINITIONS

a. Praise means to "speak well of, to glorify especially by ascriptions of perfections."

b. Praise is exciting! After all, when you come before the Living God, it’s a moment that’s awesome, exciting, enthusiastic, and even scary, if you really take to heart Who God is.

2. OTHER “PRAISE” WORDS. Other Hebrew words used in the book of Psalms are:

a. Tehillah – laudation by hymn, to praise.

b. Zamar -- to "touch."

c. Halal -- "to shine, to boast, to celebrate clamorously."

d. Towdah -- "to extend the hand (in worship), to adore;" used especially of a choir of worshipers.

e. Shabach -- "to address with a loud voice."

f. Barak -- "to kneel, to bless God."

3. Praise is the joyful experience of coming before God's presence to worship him, of touching Him and Him touching you!

4. In Psalm 34, David praises, blesses, boasts in the Lord, magnifies the Lord and seeks Him. Then David talked about all the blessings that come from trusting in God! (Take fears/ helped/ delivered/ taste & see/ lack nothing.)

5. As some of the other words for praise indicate, praise should be a celebration; at times a noisy one and at other times a quiet and reverential.

6. WHY DO WE WORSHIP GOD?

a. Because He is worthy of our praise.

b. Because it’s pleasing to God because it’s right.

c. God inhabits our praises (Psalm 22:3).