Magnificent Praise Series

I enjoy watching a ballgame on TV, once and awhile, but going to a ballgame in person is a completely different experience.

It is in person that you are able to hear the others cheering. It is in person that the players can hear you. It is in person that your cheers can mean something—at home you are just yelling at a metal box.

Now, of course, God hears us when we pray and praise him while we are alone—but Christianity was not meant to be an individual pursuit.

Throughout the Bible, God assembles His worshipers together.

The most obvious is the people of Israel, who He makes a covenant with Abraham to be there God.

The second is the church, whom the Bible calls the “Bride of Christ”. (see Eph 5:22–33 and Rev. 19:7-9).

There are many other incidences of groups gathering together to worship God. Some of these groups followed Christ when he was on the earth, some of them gather shortly after Christ ascended into heaven, and in Revelation 19:1,;

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude (the King James Versions translates this specifically as “people”) in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, (Re 19:1,ESV)

Gathering with other believers is Biblical and right.

We should make worshiping with other believers a part of our worship.

It is not enough to simply praise God on our own. We must take the example of Psalm 34 and turn to our right and left and say:

3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

and let us exalt his name together! (Ps 34:3, ESV)

In your quiet hour of prayer, before the day begins or when the sun is going down. Are going to remember how we are to praise the Lord?

Psalm 34:1-3 teaches us that we should praise him

1. Continually—all of the time, with each word we utter, His praise should be continually in our mouths.

2. Confidently—we are to boast in Him, and place our confidence in Him.

3. Collectively—we are to gather with others to praise our God.

This morning, you maybe wonder what the fuss is about. You came here for a word of hope in the particular storm that you are going through and all you hear is a message about praise and how we should praise our God.

This morning, I want you to leave here with a word of hope that Jesus Christ is worth praising because of what he has already done for you.

All of us are sinners. We have all done things and said things and even thought things that make God unhappy—the Bible calls this sin.

And the Bible says

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ro 6:23, ESV)

He is the free gift because, Jesus died on a cross in your place and in my place to pay the penalty ourselves. All we must do is accept this payment, from Him.

Does he make all the problems go away? No, but he will give you the guidance and the confidence to face the each day know that you are in His hand.

I invite you to come to know Him today. After the service, I will be able to talk with you more about it if you wish to make Jesus the Lord of Your Life.

Let Us Pray.