The Sons of Praise
1Ch 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
I. INTRODUCTION -- PRAISE
One of the things that has always set Pentecostal
churches apart from all other denominations is
the way that we praise the Lord.
We don’t praise God quite like some of these
other denominations.
We let God know how much we appreciate Him.
Amen?
We sing! We dance! We shout!
We raise our hands!
And we don’t care who’s watching!
Or what they have to say about it. Amen?
Because we come to Church to praise Him!
It’s a shame that all Christians don’t feel the
same way about praising God!
I’ve had people tell me that they couldn’t come to
my Church because we praise the lord in a way
that just didn’t seem traditional to them!
Well I’ll tell you that if traditional is what you
had in mind,
You come to the wrong place because our praise
is not traditional!
It’s Biblical. Amen?
Now last week I preached on Praising God
no matter what you were going through. Amen?
And we praised the Lord last week. Amen?
And in turn we had a God filled service. Amen?
Because He inhabits the praises of His people.
I believe that we were standing in His presence
right here in this very building. Amen?
And how many knows that we’re in His presence
this morning?
When we started praising Him this morning
We were inviting His presence in this place.
And How many know that the Devil can’t stand
it when we come into His presence?
Because He knows that with God’s presence
Comes His Power, and His Anointing,
And Blessings and miracles!!! Amen?
He knows that when the children of God come
into the presence of God that the miraculous
starts to take place.
And how many knows that the Devil doesn’t
want you to start experiencing the miraculous
because He wants you to live defeated lives!
Because if you go through life defeated not
only does it effect you but it ensures that you
won’t be the successful witness that God has
called you to be!
Well I am going to preach something to you that
I am certain that the devil does not want you to
know!
II. THE SONS OF JUDAH
If you have been around a Pentecostal church for
any length of time,
You’ve heard someone reference the fact that the
name Judah means “praise.”
If Judah means “praise” then what happens
when we look at the meaning of the names of his
sons?
When we begin to analyze the meaning of the
names of the sons of Judah, we quickly realize
that there are some things that praise in itself
will produce in our lives.
1Ch 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
A. Pharez
The name Pharez means a “breaking forth.”
PEHRETS is the Hebrew word and it implies a
place of victory.
I firmly believe that more times than once,
there have been saints of God who have walked
into the house of God filled with distress,
discomfort, and dismay.
But what we need to understand is that our
praise is tied to our release.
Because our praise gives birth to a breaking forth
It enables us to breach the walls of the enemy
And come into a place of victory! Amen?
The condition with praise is this:
If you want God to touch you, then you must
touch Him!
I am here to inform you that the devil does not
want you to understand one of the insider secrets
of praise:
The devil does not want you to realize that if you
break through, then God will break forth!
The devil does not care how many times you
come to church, just as long as the anointing
does not break forth!
The devil does not care how much we sing, just
as long as the anointing does not break forth!
The devil does not care how much we preach,
just as long as the anointing does not break
forth!
Jesus literally scalded the Pharisees in Matthew
23.
He told them that they were nothing but a bunch
of white-washed sepulchres, dirty cups, a den of
vipers, and a few other things.
They had structure.
They had their self righteousness.
They had their laws and rules.
But they had no praise in their actions!
What happens when one of Judah’s (praise) sons
named Pharez gets born in our lives? Something
starts to tremble and breakthrough!
All you’ve got to do is reach God with your
offering of praise. Amen?
Sarah offered her dried up, elderly body. . .
A son broke forth!
Moses offered a rod, a staff to lead sheep. . .
A serpent broke forth!
Gideon offered 300 men who had trumpets,
pitchers, and lamps. . .
A nightmare occurred in the enemy’s camp and
120,000 Midianites were destroyed.
Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey. . . A
whipping of 1000 Philistines occurred.
David picked up a slingshot. . .
He left behind a lion, a bear, and a dead giant.
The Bible and modern day life is full of even
more examples of people breaking through when
they broke forth in praise.
How are we going to destroy this spirit of the last
days that wants us to calm down, keep quiet, and
hide in a corner?
You must pick up the sword of the Spirit and take
it to the head of the serpent!
Cut him down with some “breakforth praise.”
It is time for freedom.
It is time for someone to let the Holy Ghost
breathe on them!
The devil will cause the hands that used to go up,
stay down. . . .
what used to be instruments of worship now
hang lifelessly by your side.
You really want to worship but you are
suffocated by your situation.
The devil will cause the voice that used to praise
God to remain silent.
The devil will cause those feet that used to praise
God to remain stationary.
The devil says act dead. . . because you are dead.
But if you will get those hands up,
get those feet moving,
and shake off the deadness then something will
begin to break forth!
If you will breakthrough, then God will break
forth!
B. Hezron
1Ch 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
Now we come to the second of Judah’s sons.
The name Hezron means a “courtyard.”
It literally means a place surrounded with walls.
I am convinced that praise will bring you to a
point of protection.
This is where faith comes into play. . .
no matter what you are facing and how scary
and unnerving that it may be, if you will praise
there will come protection to your life.
The mistake that hell made with the three
Hebrew boys was putting them in the fire
together.
Hell’s mistake right now is letting us come
together to worship.
Some of you are gasping in fear right now.
It seems like that you are in the fiery furnace.
Walls of flame all around,
but if you will just begin to praise the Lord,
He is going to show up in the middle of your fire.
See what you perceive as a place of danger,
God says, “It’s a place of protection!”
This is what praise will do for you.
-----
A fiery furnace became a place of protection for
three Hebrew boys all because they refused to
Worship a false God.
They chose to praise the one true God and He
showed up in the midst of their circumstance.
• If you will breakthrough, God will break forth (Pharez).
• If you will praise, the praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).
C. Carmi
1Ch 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
Judah’s third son mentioned in our text is Carmi.
The name Carmi means a “gardener of a
vineyard.”
Praise becomes a place of growth and production.
• If you will praise, it will help your faith grow.
• If you will praise, it will help your devotion to
God grow.
• If you will praise, it will help your consistency
in your walk to grow.
• If you will praise, it will help your knowledge of
truth to grow.
• If you will praise, it will help your
determination to grow.
In looking at some of the miracles of Jesus, one notes that growth began:
The bed-bound man at the pool of Bethesda. . .
Strength infused his body and he could carry his
bed and walk.
The man born blind. . . Sight came and he could
see where he wanted to go.
The man with the withered hand. . .
Muscles and bones begin to move in concert
together and this could lead him to a place of
strength.
The empty nets when they were cast on the other
side. . . Suddenly filled. . . What was empty now
had value.
The dead daughter of Jairus. . .
Raised from the dead. . .
what was dead was filled with life!
-----
In every single one of these situations,
the miracle produced strength.
Spiritual growth always leads to more spiritual
freedom.
That is what happens to us when we begin to
praise (actively) God!
What is somebody going to think if they see me
worshiping like that?
Worship isn’t going to run off anyone we want to
keep!!! This is a Pentecostal church!!!
You had better decide right here and now. . . .
The devil will not get my praise!
Do you know what caused you to like Pentecost
the first time you walked in?
• It was the freshness of freedom that you felt.
• You did not have to worry about somebody
shutting you down if you said Amen!
• You did not have to worry about the usher
coming by to take you out because you were
dancing in the Spirit.
-But now the devil says – I want your praise. . . I refuse to let him get my praise!
• If I will breakthrough, then God will break forth (Pharez).
• If I will praise, my praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).
• If I will praise, my praise will create a place of production and growth (Carmi).
D. Hur
1Ch 4:1 The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.
The fourth of Judah’s sons that we come to is
important.
The name Hur means “white.”
It gives the connotation of white linen which is a
point of purity.
Praise has the power to bring purity and holiness
into our lives.
When I start seeing people who are having
problems with holy living and trying to justify
some of their slipping and sliding. . .
I can understand that they are not having a
problem with holiness. . .
They are having a problem with praise!
That is why David said, Let everything that hath
breath praise ye the Lord.
He understood that when we begin to praise, it
helps our priorities.
David was a little radical but he was not going to
let anything rob him of his privilege of worship. .
. . That is why we need a worshiping church!
David lived with a deadening, critical spirit in his
home.
Michal, his wife, saw him dance before the ark
and she mocked him when he came home.
• “My, how dignified you looked today!”
• She made fun of him.
• She ridiculed him.
-There are some powerful principles here:
• The worldly spirit will always be critical of
devotion to God.
• The worldly spirit will always want to shut
down praise.
• The worldly spirit will never understand why
we are doing what we do
-Because of Michal’s actions, God dealt
harshly with her.
Her womb dried up she was unable to bare
children.
If you let a critical spirit of praise get a
hold on you:
• It will cause you to dry up spiritually.
• It will cause your spiritual womb to be barren.
There are some people here who have
allowed that spirit to get a grip on their
soul.
You must defeat that spirit today!
Quit saying “that’s just not my style”:
• It is not for you.
• It is for Him.
• It is for the King of kings.
• It is for our Lord and Savior.
• It is not by might nor by power but by my spirit
saith the Lord.
The devil wants you quiet because God
inhabits the praise of his people.
Some of you have been suffocating
spiritually.
Something ought to make you get up when
you feel the devil slide into your pew.
Our God is not a restricting God.
He who the son hath set free is free indeed.
Let me tell you how you know if the wrong
spirit has gotten a grip on your soul:
• If when the Holy Ghost starts to move, you feel
a tightening down.
• Right when you feel like breaking out, you get
shut down by a hindering spirit. That is the devil.
• When you feel like standing up and worshiping,
you feel a tightening down.
• When you feel like raising you hands, you feel a
squeezing in your heart.
• When you feel like getting out in the aisle and
dancing, you battle with your breath.
You ought to just take outright dominion
over that spirit.
If the demoniac of Gadara could drag all
his devils to the Lord,
then surely we ought to be able to let some
praise pour out of us right now!
The devil hates praise.
You know why? . . .
Because praise loosens his grip.
-Remember the “insider” secrets! Praise will cause some things to come to your life:
• If you will breakthrough, God will break forth (Pharez).
• If you will praise, the praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).
• If you will praise, the praise will create a place of growth (Carmi).
• If you will praise, the praise will help you fight off the spirit of worldliness (Hur).
E. Shobal
Judah’s fifth and last son is Shobal.
Shobal means “a place of overflowing.”
The Hebrew root word implies to us that it is as
the flowing of the train of the wedding gown of a
bride.
Praise is one of the preparations for a Bride.
When devil shows up it is usually in a praying
church.
The Bible says that when Paul and Silas went to
prayer, the spirit of the devil showed up.
The thing that hell fears is a praying church.
• The devil doesn’t care if you come to church,
just don’t pray.
• The devil doesn’t care if you give in the offering,
just don’t pray.
• The thing that hell fears is a praying,
worshiping church.
The devil does not want you to break free.
The last thing that he wants is for you to live in
the place of overflowing.
Isaiah 12:3 KJV Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
To live in the overflow is to constantly have
a flow of the anointing of the Holy Ghost.
That is what we need to further
understand about praise.
It helps us to gain a place of the overflow.
Reviewing the things that praise does in
your life and that the devil does not want
you to know:
• If you will breakthrough, God will break forth (Pharez).
• If you will praise, the praise will create a place
of protection (Hezron).
• If you will praise, the praise will create a place
of growth (Carmi).
• If you will praise, the praise will help you fight
off the spirit of worldliness (Hur).
• If you will praise, the praise will bring you to a
place of overflowing blessing (Shobal).
III. CONCLUSION -- GIVING THE DEVIL SOME OF HIS DUE
You ought to stand up and give the devil some of
what he has been attacking you with lately.
If his fight has been paralyzing to you,
you should determine in your heart that praise is
going to pour out of my spirit, not next week, but
now!
He is saying, “Don’t listen to that preacher!”
• Some of you know where you want to be. . . in
the place of the overflow.
• You remember being in the overflow before.
• But now the devil is taking your praise from
you.
• Some of you know what you ought to do. Some
of you know what should be going on in your
spirit. . . .
• It has been a while since you prayed in the
Spirit.
• It has been too long since you last spoke in
tongues.
• Your hands come up and you almost break
through, then the devil shows up and takes it
from you.
They said about Paul and Silas, “These men do
exceedingly trouble our city!”
We need to cause some trouble for Wilmington!
They need to know that this is the church where
God is blessing and where God is pouring out His
spirit.
This is the church where God is filling people
with the Holy Ghost, where the power of God
is flowing.
Give me three people that will worship in the face
of devil and we can shake the foundation of this
city.
The biggest misconception about worship is the
notion that worship is for us.
When I go to worship, I am to get something out
of worship.
Worship is not what I get, it is what I give.
John 4:23-24 KJV But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. [24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
What this means, is that you do not measure worship by:
• Your level of entertainment.
• Your personal satisfaction level.
• Your level of comfort.
What this means is that worship is not
dependent upon a place or the presence of
certain people.
It is determined by the presence of the
Holy Ghost.
At midnight Paul and Silas sang praises,
every now and then the devil makes a
mistake.
One of his mistakes was when he put Paul
and Silas in the same cell.
Jesus had already said when two or three
agree together. . . .
You better look out, Satan, Look Out.
For I come to you in the Name of the Lord,
Hell’s worst mistake was putting them
together,
do you know why hell wants you to stop
coming to church,
because we can agree together and chains
are broken, and captives are set free.
There are people in this house that have
yearned to be set free.
• You have yearned to break out of the rut of
mediocrity in your life.
• Some of you have said it is your personality.
• Some of you have said I am not that way.
• Some of you have felt out of place in worship.
Come on Church. . . Praise again. . . . Come on Church. . . Breathe again. . . Come on Church. . . Exalt Him!
• Worship again, men.
• Praise again, ladies.
• Breathe again, young person.
• Praise him right now!
• Get your praise back!
