Praise the Lord: Part 2
Hebrews 13:15-16
Introduction:
1. Last Sunday night we saw seven Scriptural reasons we have for praising the Lord.
2. That means it does not matter whether we feel like praising Him, or whether we see a reason...we have every reason to praise the Lord, for He is worthy to be praised!
3. Praise should be natural to a Christian, but it often seems unnatural because it is improperly done or else improperly motivated.
4. Tonight we will take another glance at praise and see its responsibility, requirements, and results!
5. "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord; praise ye the Lord!"
I. The Responsibilities of Praise (v. 15)
A. Praise Him correctly (v. 15--"by Him").
1. Any praise that does not flow toward the Lord Jesus Christ is false!
2. Any praise not built upon the foundation of a relationship with Jesus Christ, and upon saving faith in Him, is futile!
3. It is correct to praise the Father and the Son through the Holy Ghost!
4. It is not correct to overly praise people for what they have done, though it is permissible to show appreciation for a job well done!
B. Praise Him consciously (v. 15).
1. Praise does not happen on accident!
2. Many of us are waiting for praise to bubble forth from us without our doing it on purpose!
3. We may have to wait a long time! Sometimes praise escapes my mouth before I know it, but only rarely.
4. Notice, this is a clear command to praise the Lord! The Lord does not command us to do something that we have no control over!
5. Most of the praising I do is 100% on purpose!
6. Let us decide that Jesus has been so good to us that we are going to make a conscious decision and effort to praise Him!
7. "By him, therefore, let us offer up the sacrifice of praise to God!"
C. Praise Him continually (v. 15).
1. Many Christians do a pretty good job at praising the Lord at church, but how about at home? Or, how about on the job?!
2. True praise is an everyday event (Psalm 34:1-3).
3. Is the Lord good to you all the time? Well, then, we have cause to praise the Lord all the time!
4. "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified" (Psalm 70:4).
5. "And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen" (Luke 24:53). We are now God’s temple, so we are constantly in the presence of God--Praise Him!!!
6. "In every thing give thanks . . ." (I Thess. 5:18).
7. "Rejoice in the Lord, alway, and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4).
II. The Requirements of Praise (v. 15b-16)
Worship is private and is the source of our praise.
Praise is public and is the surplus of our worship.
A. The Fruit of Our Lips (v. 15b)
1. I know preachers who believe you are not saved, or at least not very spiritual, if you do not hop and holler, jump a pew, run the aisle, and slide into the altar!
Ill. Scott Shubert at Lawtey Baptist Church:
A friend of mine went with me to a service that ended up "getting on!" At hand-shake he came up to me and said, "I sure am enjoying this service; it demonstrates the diversity of ways to praise the Lord! Some people shout, some cry, some say, "Praise the Lord," some clap their hands or stomp their feet, some of us are just sitting their quietly enjoying the Lord, etc...." Right about then, the pastor got up and began condemning all the non-shouters! He then got me to come sing--how ironic!
2. The Bible no where says that these things have to be present for a person to be praising the Lord.
3. True praise must involve our lips--singing or talking about God and how good He is!
4. Many passages concerning praise speak of singing and making a joyful noise.
B. The Fruit of Our Lives (v. 16)
1. A life full of worship and praise will work its way into your very lifestyle.
2. We must back up what we say with what we do!
3. Your talk talks, and your walk talks; but your walk talks louder than your talk talks!
4. Notice the passage says to "do good!" This means we should not only just cut out the sin in our lives, but replace it with Godly habits.
5. We should look for opportunities to do good things for God and people.
6. What if we lived a life that caused others to praise God because of our testimony?
C. The Fruit of Our Livelihood (v. 16)
1. The word "communicate" means "to give!"
2. One of the ways to worship and praise God is by giving our tithes and offerings.
3. You may say, "That does not make me feel like praising God," but it is a form of worship.
4. The Bible says, "Where your treasure is there will your heart be also."
5. Another aspect of giving as praise is that as you give, God will in return bless you--that will really give you reason to praise Him!
6. As we experience the Law of Sowing and Reaping in our life, we will begin to be eager to give to the Lord’s work, and will rejoice before He gives it back to us!
III. The Results of Praise (II Chronicles 20:21-22)
A. We get our eyes off the circumstances (v. 21).
1. They praised God for "the beauty of holiness."
2. They praise Him: not for what He was going to do, not what they thought He might do for them if they praised Him enough, not even for what He had already done! NO!! They praised Him simply because He is worthy to be praised!
3. They got their eyes off the problems and vicoties of the day and onto their beloved Lord and Master!
B. God gets His eyes on the circumstances (v. 22).
1. When we truly praise God out of a heart of thanks, because He is great, God will immediately respond to our situation!
2. He loves to hear us call upon His name!
3. Psalm 22:3 proclaims that He inhabits the praises of His people! He will show up in a mighty way when you begin praising Him in earnest!
C. The devil gets his hands off the circumstances (v. 22-24).
1. The devil cannot stand to hang around true praise and worship!
2. When we praise God in spite of bad situations, the devil cannot come close to understanding what is going on--consider the story of Job!
3. Praise confuses the devil--he ends up messing his plans all up in an environment of praise!
