Psalms 150
A Psalm of Praise.
Praise the LORD!Praise God in His sanctuary;Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds;Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound;Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.Praise the LORD!
NASU
God inhabits the praises of His people
- He will come and visit us as we pray and praise Him
- When we let go of all the stuff
- We hold on to
- To give us dignity and properness in worship
- We can actually enter the presence of God
- And He can work miracles in our midst
Is that what we want?
- To enter into His presence
- And seek His face
- To see Him face-to-face
- To hear His voice
- To see Him high and lifted up
- And join the seraphim proclaim
- “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty”?
I tell you that can be our experience
- Because we have been invited
- To come before Him and worship
- To come to Him and worship
- To come to Him bringing our requests and prayers
There is power in prayer and in praise
- But there are no magical formulas
- No rituals, no words
- That will guarantee access and response from God
- God looks at the heart
- He sees what motivates us to come
- And what is our real heart’s desire
- He will not give to us to spend on ourselves
- He will not enrich us to make us more comfortable
- But He will bless richly the one
- Who pours out his heart to the Him
- Who lays everything down
- And seeks only to know and serve
- The Living God
- God will honor those who honor Him first
- God will lead those who submit to His leadership whole-heartedly
Let us look at this power of praise and power of prayer
Read Ps 34:1-11
Ps 34:1-11
I will bless the LORD at all times;His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul will make its boast in the LORD;The humble will hear it and rejoice. 3 O magnify the LORD with me,And let us exalt His name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and He answered me,And delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were radiant,And their faces will never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,And rescues them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good;How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! 9 O fear the LORD, you His saints;For to those who fear Him there is no want. 10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing. 11 Come, you children, listen to me;I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
NASU
The Psalmist starts out by praising God
- Proclaiming the awesome wonders of God’s love and grace
- “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
- I will bless Him at all times
- Some of those times might be when things are going well
- When you see the blessing of God in your life
- When everything is going your way,
- Smoothly and life is good
Now we all know that days like that are mixed up with days that are not so good
- In fact with days when you wonder
- How you will ever manage to survive them
- The car dies, the kids cry
- The house is a wreck
- Work or school is a disaster
- You recognize those kinds of days
- You’ve been there, done that
- I ask you though,
- Did you praise God?
- In the bad as well as in the good?
- It could even be you failed to praise and thank God for the good days!
- And never thought to do more than complain on the bad ones
- “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
- What blessings we forego by failing to take God’s Word at its face value
- When we get so tied up, so distracted
- By the things going on
- And our circumstances
- That we fail to recognize God’s hand in our lives
- The grace and mercy He has given to us
- The awesome privilege to approach Him freely
- We miss out on the truly great things of life
- And settle for the weak and worthless
Look at vs 4-7 of Ps 34
“I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard Him And saved him out of all his troubles. The angels of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.”
Those who praise Him in season and out
- At all times and in all circumstances
- Will see the Lord’s deliverance
- They will know Him
- They will shine brightly out of their circumstances
- They will know the joy of the Lord
- Even in the pits of despair
- And He will never let them be ashamed
- He will save them out of their circumstances and troubles
- He will hear them and visit them with His salvation
- And deliver them from all their fears.
“Ok, John,” you say, “That sounds good, but I live in the real world.”
- What I am telling you is the real world
- More real than flesh and blood or brick and mortar
- Turn with me to Acts 16:16
Read Acts 16:16-24
Acts 16:16-24
16 It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."
18 She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came out at that very moment.
19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,
20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,
21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans."
22 The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.
23 When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;
24 and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
NASU
How much more real does it get?
- Paul is pestered by this girl who is hounding them
- And interfering with the work they were doing
- She did this day in and day out
- This day she was trying to interfere with them going to prayer
- They were on their way to the place of prayer
- When she cranks up
- How would you feel if someone went about
- Following you constantly saying, “These men are bondservants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
- Just think how distracting that would be
- How could Paul preach or teach
- Eat, walk, converse with this girl announcing, “These men are the bondservants of…”
- Paul finally says, “Enough is enough.”
- He gets annoyed and turns to her and says, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!”
- And the spirit did
- Only one problem though
- Satan doesn’t like it when you fool around with his things
- Paul and Silas end up being dragged through the streets
- By an angry mob
- They are brought before the city officials
- And accused of throwing the city into chaos
- Of course the mob is the only chaos going on
- But the reality of the situation does not matter to these men
- The girl’s masters are worried about money
- They are losing money because of what Paul did
- The city officials want peace and calm at any price
- The crowd speaks louder than the facts
- And Paul and Silas are ordered beaten with rods
- They were beaten severely
- And thrown into prison
- And Satan think he has prevented them from going to prayer meeting
Is this reality?
- Are their circumstances worse than any you have faced?
- How many of us can say our bad day
- Included a mob, a beating and a prison?
- It gets worse though for Paul and Silas
- The jailer is told to guard them securely
- So he throws them into the inner prison
- And had their feet fastened in stocks
- The inner prison was the darkest, dankest, dirtiest, most varmint infested part of the prison
- And Paul and Silas were fastened to the floor by the ankles
- They could not walk around
- Even move much
- They had to just sit there or maybe to lie down
- No latrine, no water
- Only dirt, grime, darkness
Have you been in worse conditions?
- Have you been there, done that?
Let’s read on starting with verse 25
Acts 16:25-30
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;
26 and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!"
29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
NASU
- After all they had been through
- After a mob, a beating
- Being in prison
- There are Paul and Silas
- After one of the worst days of their lives
- What are they doing?
- Praying and praising God
- At midnight!
- I guess they couldn’t sleep
- Maybe they were so sore and hurting from the beating
- Or maybe the stocks kept them from getting comfortable
- But there they are
- Strapped to the floor
- Backs bruised and swollen
- Bodies aching in pain and discomfort
- Praying and singing praises to God
And what else was going on?
- The other prisoners were listening to them
- Some may have wished that they would shut up so they could go to sleep
- But others were probably interested
- Curious ho w these two could sing praises
- After what they had experienced
And a great earthquake hits
- It is so strong that the foundations of the prison are shaken
- The building rocks
- The chains fall off people
- Doors open
- Strange earthquake though
- The building is shaken to cause the doors to break loose
- But the walls don’t fall
- The foundations are shaken
- But chains are unfastened
- I never knew an earthquake to undo locks on chains
- But here it does
I would say this earthquake had a unique cause
- God came down when prayer and praise went up
- God went to work in response to Paul’s and Silas’ prayer and praise
- Their prayer and praise moved God to act in a unique way
- And not just for Paul and Silas
- All the doors were opened and all the chains fell off
- That brought a crisis of belief for the jailer
- He prepares to kill himself rather than face certain execution
- He assumed that the prisoners would grab the opportunity
- But they don’t!
But Paul cries out, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”
- God moved the ground
- But we are all still here
- God also prepared the ground of the jailer’s heart
- He rushes in and asks, “What must I do to be saved?”
- God worked through the prayer and praise to reach the jailer
- Prayer and praise tills the soil of our hearts for the seed God wants to plant
- The jailer had to have been nearby for him to hear Paul call out
- He heard Paul and Silas as they prayed and sang praises to God
- And God used it to till up the ground of his heart
- And he asks, “What must I do to be saved?”
Let’s read on vs 31-34
Acts 16:31-34
31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.
33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.
34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
NASU
- See God wanted to demonstrate His power
- He wanted to display His salvation and mercy
- And He used the worst day Paul and Silas had had for a while to do that
- Demons who had tried to disrupt God’s work in the city were defeated
- They were utterly defeated
- Chains were broken and prisoners freed
- All in response to prayer and praise of two men
- In the midst of their worst experience of their lives
I am amazed at the continuity of God’s Word
- Ps 34:1-11 is a song about
- What Paul and Silas experienced
- Let’s go back there and look
Verse 1 “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord.”
- That is what Paul and Silas were doing
- Blessing the Lord, praising Him
- In the midst of the circumstances they were in
- Possibly they were using this very Psalm to praise God
- Both would have been familiar with it
- “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God.”
- “and the prisoners were listening to them.”
-
Verse 2 says, “The humble will hear it and rejoice. O, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
- The humbled men of that prison listened
- They heard the prayer and praise of two bruise men
- Praising God
- In spite of the beating, the stocks, the filth, the prison
- Praising the Almighty awesome God they served
Verse 4-7 says, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.”
- They sought God, giving praise and blessing to His name
- They sought Him
- And He delivered them from all their fears
- They looked to Him and found joy and peace
- They radiated the joy of the Lord
- It touched the hearts of those who heard
- Even the jailer heard and was touched
And God acted and the earth shook
- The doors opened, chains fell off
- The jailer goes to kill himself
- And Paul calls to him
- And he asks, “What must I do to be saved?”
- ‘The poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”
- Paul and Silas are kept safe and released the next day
- “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them”
- The angel of the Lord released locked doors and chains
- And protected them in an earthquake
- And the jailer- no one escaped
Can you imagine the prayer and praise that went up in the jailer’s house
- After they received Christ
- Could it have sounded like the next verses of Ps 34?
- Verse 8-9 say, “O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! O fear the Lord, you His saints, For to those who fear Him there is no want. “
Acts 16:34 says, “And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.”
- Wow!
- Paul and Silas pray and praise God at all times, continually
- Even when things seem to be at their worst
- God comes down and moves the earth
- And moves the heart of a man who needed Him
- Demons are defeated, stymied
- And chains are broken and prisoners freed
What are you waiting for?
- Seems to me God is telling us to seek Him in prayer
- And to bless Him with our praise
- Do you want to live above your circumstances?
- Do you want to see God do marvelous things?
- Seek Him at all times in prayer and with praise
- Let go of the things that occupy you
- That distract you from Him
- And enter into His courts with praise
Prayer
Invitation
