Let’s get our praise on!
Psalms 105 and selected verses
Good morning everyone…
Prayer-
Welcome to worship- a place where we can corporately show the Lord our love and express gratitude for what He has done for each of us.
The word worship by definition is to express reverence for God… the Almighty.
Worship is the formal act of a body of believers coming together to express their love for the Lord with offers of praise.
Adoration shown to God.
Worship wither public of private is our expression of praise to the Lord.
It is an act of worship when we express ourselves and make known to others that we are giving God worship and expressing how we feel about Him.
When is the last time that you expressed yourself and let the Lord and others know how you feel about the Lord?
Come on… this world has no problem letting the world know about their favorite sports team or how they feel about the team their kids or grandkids play on.
They have tee shirts, sweatshirts, hats.
They have pictures of their grandkids, even kids in sixth grade with their own baseball cards, trophy cases, videos.
When was the last time others knew that what get’s you excited is the things of God?
That what gets you praising is Jesus Christ!
That cell phone in your pocket is usually glued to our hand and stuck to your ear and if we run out the door in the morning and forget it, we will turn around if possible and go back miles to retrieve it.
We could not bear the thought of going all day without it.
What kind of world would this be if we all never left home without God’s word and would turn around because we didn’t want to face a whole day without looking and reading into his word for the day?
Some would say pastor- not everyone is comfortable praising and expressing themselves that way- I GET IT!!!!!
Whatever gets you excited gets your praise- at whatever level your comfortable with…the Lord should get the best.
People should not wonder if you love the Lord!
Some may say their denomination does not do that! That is not how I was raised!
I am not asking you to be charismatic if you are not charasmatic, I am asking you to be a Pentecost worshippers!
At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit of God fell on the 120 believers waiting in the upper room for the Lord to do something amazing, they were filled with His Holy Spirit and they worshipped and all the people that were around them knew that they were believers.
They had been around God
They did not have to wonder what happen to them, the people were more than willing to tell them.
Psalm 150 says
Praise the Lord in the sanctuary; praise him in the mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with tambourine and dancing,
Praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of symbols.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
You see we do not have to decide if the Lord wants our praise, we need to decide if we are going to give him praise! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Check yourself…if you got breath, give him some praise!
Every instrument that makes noise should be used to lift up the name of Jesus!
Why do we like our music so much? It speaks to our soul, the psalmist is telling us that the music that sets your soul to worship should be music that draws you into a closer relationship with the Lord.
Psalm 150 is not our text, it is a pre-text to the text, please turn to Psalm 105.
This is 45 verses long and we are not going to take the time to read it all but every word is important and I ask you this week to read the whole thing. We are going to concentrate on the first 5 verses and then jump around a little bit.
Psalm 105:1-5 Read with clarity
This Psalm is an exhortation to worship and trust God.
(V1) Give thanks- That should be like someone sending Morse code
I LOVE YOU LORD…STOP
YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING…STOP
I LIFT UP MY HANDS IN PRASIE…STOP
Giving thanks to Him for who He is and what he has done for us- Some of us have some powerful testimonies of what God has done.
Give thanks for who He is
Passion version
“Go ahead – and give thanks for all the glorious things he has done! Go ahead and worship him! Tell everyone about his wonders! Let’s sing his praises! Sing, and put all of his miracles to music! Shine and make your joyful boast in him, you lovers of God. Seek more of his strength! Seek more of him! Let’s always be seeking the light of his face! Don’t you ever forget his miracles and marvels. Hold to your heart every judgment he has decreed.”
MY Lord that is good stuff!
Passion is a word that will cause some to debate.
Passion for a team, passion for an animal, passion for a valuable piece of furniture is acceptable to society today but if you are passionate for the things of God- you are a fanatic and need to tone it down and control yourself!
It is one sided and the Lord is given the short straw. We are given a choice and this text is telling us to make the right choice- Give God what is due him and that is our thanksgiving and our praise.
People need to quit telling the believer that has a testimony of praise to settle down and keep quiet and the believer need’s to stop listening to them and offer up that praise.
Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
God is infinitely more glorious. He is both famous and worthy of our honor.
He is worthy of honor because God is all powerful.
He spoke the heavens and the earth into being.
He is holy and just. His judgments are fair.
He is wise and good and true, providing us with wise counsel that has withstood the test of time.
God is worthy of honor because He gives us life both now and in the age to come.
He has redeemed us from sin. He is victorious over death, promising resurrection from the dead for those who follow Him by faith.
Praising God is one way that we can honor Him.
When we sing songs of praise we are expressing our approval and admiration of God.
When we praise God with thanksgiving, we are showing gratitude for the great things He has done.
Psalm 95:6
"Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker."
Bowing down and kneeling before God demonstrates both our humility and God's greatness.
We are acknowledging God's authority over our lives and our willingness to submit to Him.
Psalm 66:1
"Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!"
When we sing about God's glory during a worship service we are honoring God publicly,
Reminding ourselves and others of God's goodness.
We experience the joy of the Lord and receive peace from the Holy Spirit as we praise God in song.
Praising God is important because it shows our submission to Him as well as our thankfulness for all He has done for us.
When we take the time to praise Him, we are acknowledging that He is worthy of our attention and adoration.
When we praise God we experience joy!
Psalm 100:1-5
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing”!
Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Give thanks for what He has done
The psalmist tells us to remember what God has done- how he use Jacob though he had to go through such trials and betrayal of his brothers that God put him in position to be a blessing to many during a famine to have him by a dream be in a position for God to use him.
References the exodus from Egypt where the plagues were put on the enemy to let the people of God go free and as the enemy pursued they were swallowed up by the rushing waters of the Red Sea held off by the mighty hand of God until the nation of Israel was safely on dry ground.
Our God deserves praise
Illustration-
The book The Hiding Place, is the story of Corrie Ten Boom, her sister, Betsie, and their father who hid Jews in their home during World War II. They were eventually found out and taken to concentration camps to live under despicable conditions. The sisters were placed in Barracks 28, where Corrie despaired of hope. Betsie suggested that they give thanks—that it would encourage their hearts. Corrie said that she could give thanks for everything but the fleas, which were everywhere and horrible to live with. As the days wore on, Corrie and Betsie had the freedom to talk to other prisoners, read the Bible with them, and minister without interference. Then one day a prisoner asked a guard to settle a dispute, and the guard said, “That place is crawling with fleas. I’m not stepping through the door.” Corrie realized why they had been given such liberties in that place—even the fleas were instruments of God. Who knew!? God!
“ Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of Jesus our Lord.”
When we praise God, we are letting go of the need to “see” first, and then submit.
We do it because we want to…we have the privilege. We can be in the Presence of Almighty God!
We don’t wait till we feel like it, feelings can deceive you- we do it out of obedience and the desire to please God.
We invite Him into the circumstance, and “get out of the way.”
Give thanks that we are His People
Apart of our life is lost if we do not share what God has done in our hearts-in our lives. What He has brought us out of.
“Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us—a crucified God—must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world.”- John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection is at the center of every believer’s life. His story is our story.
Psalm 105 begins with Give Thanks and ends with Praise the Lord!
That should be our lives too. Our dash of time here on this earth as believers saved by grace and mercy should be giving him thanks for what he has done and praising his holy name for who he is and that we are blessed to serve a God that loves us and cares for us!
Here is the memory verse that will keep us on track- verse 1- “Make known His deeds among the people”
Notice these writers of the Psalms have no problem lifting praise to God-
“Oh how I love the law”
“Thy loving kindness is better than life”
“Jehovah God is a sun and a shield, I love Jehovah”
Close-
Worship begins in the heart and is expressed in words of worship!
God should get your best! If you are going to get your praise on… then it should be directed at your Lord, the one that saved you and empowers you to live the life that He demands of us.
Before we pray could we just take a moment to let the Lord know how you feel about Him?
Lord I see you in this busy place!
Lord I hear you in this noisy place!
Lord I desire to know you better… help me to be able to do that!
Prayer-
