I Will Praise You, O Lord

INTRO.- Praise. How important is it?

ILL.- I like this cute story. Everyone needs recognition for his accomplishments, but few people make the need known quite as clearly as the little boy who said to his father: "Let's play darts. I'll throw and you say "Wonderful!'"

God does the good stuff in life and we say “Wonderful! Praise Him! Praise Him!”

I Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

If there is one person who should be praised, it’s the Lord! And we know why! The reasons are plentiful.

ILL.- A British publisher finally decided to retire at age 70. He was given the usual dinner. His associates were happy for him and heaped elaborate praise on him. When the time came to respond, the old gentleman got up and said, “I had no idea I was held in such esteem. I shall stay on.”

Why is it that we wait for someone to leave to praise them? Why is that we wait for someone to die before we praise them for the good they’ve done in life? And why is it that we wait until we are ready to leave this world to give God more praise?

ILL.- Once there was a pauper who never played up to wealthy people. A rich person asked him, “I am rich. Why don’t you flatter me?” “The money you have is yours. You would never give it to me for nothing,” the pauper replied. “Why should I flatter you?” “Well, suppose I gave a fifth of my money to you. Would you flatter me then?” “That would be unjust. I still wouldn’t do it.”

“If I gave you half of my riches. Would you flatter me?” “In that case, I would be your equal. Why should I flatter you?”

“Well, suppose I gave you all of it. I’m sure you would flatter me then!” “In that case, I would be the rich one. There would no longer be any point in my playing up to you!”

Whether we flatter mankind or not, we have plenty of reasons for which to flatter and praise God!

PROP.- I will praise you, O Lord. How should we praise Him? I see some ways in this text.

1- I will praise you in my heart

2- I will praise you in the world

3- I will praise you in song

4- I will praise you in humility

5- I will praise you in trouble

1. I WILL PRAISE YOU IN MY HEART

And with all my heart. (in my heart and with my heart)

1 I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” One way to a pure heart is through praising God who is totally pure and holy. The more we adore Him praise, the more we will become like Him. II Corinthians 3:18

Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What we set our hearts on is what we treasure the most. Therefore, we need to set our hearts on the Lord.

Matthew 9:4 “Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?”

Just as we can entertain evil thoughts in our hearts, we can also entertain good and godly thoughts but only if we set our hearts and minds on Him.

Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

The problem of the heart is the heart of the problem. And we all have heart problems of this kind.

ILL.- E.M. Bounds emphasized the need for a ministry of prayer within the church when he wrote: "It may be laid down as an axiom, that God needs, first of all, leaders in the church, who will be first in prayer, men with whom prayer is habitual and characteristic, men who know the primacy of prayer. But even more than a habit of prayer, and more than prayer being characteristic of them, church leaders are to be men whose lives are made and molded by prayer, whose heart and life are made up of prayer. These are the men -- the only men -- God can use in the furtherance of his kingdom and the implanting of His message in the hearts of men."

If we all were to make prayer a priority every day, every hour of the day, it would change our hearts. It would make us praise the Lord more.

2. I WILL PRAISE YOU IN THE WORLD

1 I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise. I will praise before the so-called gods of this world. In the midst of the world.