Praise in the Park 2023

Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

· Introduction: Thanks again for coming out and worshipping with us tonight! On behalf of the Minister’s Alliance, thank you for being here! We’re so happy that you’re with us. At this time, we are going to open God’s word together. Tonight, we’re going to talk about Psalm 117.

o Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm and the shortest chapter in the Bible. It is 2 verses long, yet I think that there is a lot of richness theologically and PRACTICALLY that is packed into these two verses.

Charles Spurgeon says of it, “This Psalm, which is very little in its letter, is exceedingly large in its spirit. It is both short and sweet.” And what a sweet time of gathering for us to consider it tonight!

o If you have a Bible and want to turn there, or if you have a smartphone and want to turn there, that’s great, but I’ll also read this for us.

§ (Any announcements, read Psalm 117, pray).

· When I was a junior in college, I was rear-ended by a speeding semi-truck. It was physically very hard on my body- I broke a number of ribs, had to get shoulder surgery and many other things, but it also was very hard for me emotionally.

o I found myself discouraged because I was in so much pain, discouraged because I couldn’t be with my friends and discouraged because I had to stop doing so many things that I loved doing! However, during this time, I found myself growing spiritually!

o It was during this season that I began a spiritual habit that I continue to this day; reading a psalm first thing in the morning and a different psalm as I go to bed.

§ I find that personally, when I start my day and end my day in God’s word that the troubles of my day don’t seem quite so troubling! I also find that it is very helpful as I seek to keep my eyes locked on God throughout my day.

§ One of my favorite psalms to read in the morning or at night is Psalm 117! What a great reminder it is to me to fix my eyes on God and to PRAISE THE LORD!

· As we talk about this psalm, my hope and my prayer is that you find yourself wanting to PRAISE THE LORD! We’ll also talk very briefly about practically what that means on a daily basis.

· Verse 1 says, “Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!”

o The author here is giving a direct instruction, not just to Israel, but to ALL PEOPLE, to ALL NATIONS!

§ Often in the psalms the author is listed, but not here. Although we do not know exactly WHY the author wasn’t listed, we can easily see that the psalms are not primarily about their author, but are RATHER about GOD AND provide instruction to God’s people!

§ Here, the instruction is to PRAISE THE LORD! Specifically, the author says, “Hallalu,” which in Hebrew means not just to praise, but to SHOUT PRAISE! WE ARE TO SHOUT PRAISE TO THE LORD! WE SHOULD SHOUT PRAISE TO OUR CREATOR!

· WHO SHOULD DO IT? ALL NATIONS! ALL THE EARTH SHOULD SHOUT PRAISE TO OUR GREAT GOD!

· Another meaning of this word is to “boast,” which in this context means to have confidence! WE ARE TO BOAST NOT IN OURSELVES, BUT BOAST IN THE LORD! HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE LORD!

o THE LORD IS TRULY GOOD! THAT’S WHAT WE SHOULD BE SHOUTING! O, LET US SHOUT OUR BOASTS OF HOW GREAT THE LORD IS!”

o The next statement in verse 1 is, “Extol him all peoples!”

§ Extol is a very close synonym to praise! We are to PRAISE GOD! Who should do this? ALL PEOPLES!

· People from every corner of the world, people of all backgrounds, people of all ages! ALL PEOPLE SHOULD PRAISE THE LORD!

· Now, we know that all peoples from all nations should SHOUT PRAISE WITH CONFIDENCE to the LORD! But why should we do this? The psalmist gives us that answer in verse 2!

o The psalmist says, “For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!”

o Why do we praise the Lord? WE PRAISE GOD FOR HIS STEADFAST LOVE! We praise God because no matter what failings we have in life, HE NEVER LEAVES us and HE WILL NEVER forsake us!

§ We are to respond to God’s great love with PRAISE!

o The next reason is because, “THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”

§ The Lord’s faithfulness to us will continue forever and ever! It has been, it is and it WILL BE!

§ We see the Lord’s faithfulness very clearly when we consider Jesus.

· GOSPEL!

· God- OUR CREATOR, WHO LOVES US AND KNOWS US! COMPLETELY HOLY IN EVERY WAY!

· Man- US- Created in God’s image but guilty of sin- Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23- sentenced to death! We need a savior!

· Christ- JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR! CAME TO EARTH, LIVED AMONGST US, FAITHFULLY ENDURED THE PUNISHMENT OF THE CROSS DESPITE HIS INNOCENCE SO THAT WE CAN BE SAVED!

· Salvation! BEING MADE RIGHT WITH GOD! Able to spend eternity with God!

o If you have not experienced the faithfulness of the Lord through salvation, I want to encourage you to talk with myself, or Gregg, or Tim/ Ray, or David once we are done.

§ This is the most important form of faithfulness that we can EVER EXPERIENCE!

o What a GREAT REASON TO live out the command that the psalmist ends his psalm with- “PRAISE THE LORD!”

§ When we truly know WHO GOD IS and WHAT GOD HAS DONE, we naturally will be consumed with a PASSION AND A DESIRE TO PRAISE THE LORD!

· But, practically, what does it mean to praise the Lord?

o Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”- In turn, for us, in all that we do, PRAISE THE LORD! IN EVERY DAY LIFE, WE PRAISE THE LORD! Praise isn’t just singing, praise is about our HEART ATTITUDE! It’s having a focus not on the world, but ON GOD!

It comes out in singing, in speech, in our actions! Our Praise should be all around us! And praise is contagious! As we praise God, others around us will see it and will join in with us!

o As we live, if we are truly seeking to praise the LORD EVERY SINGLE DAY, we will also want to share this great message of hope with our world!

§ GREAT COMMISSION!

§ Let’s be faithful to respond to God both in praise and also through sharing our faith with others!

· Last year, at Praise in the Park, I gave us a challenge to share the gospel with one person that we know.

o Let me reiterate that challenge! Let’s make our faith not something that stays in this park, instead, LET’S TAKE OUR FAITH WITH US TO OUR FAMILIES, OUR FRIENDS AND OUR COMMUNITY!

o Let’s be praising GOD EVERY SINGLE DAY! IN ALL THAT WE DO, IN ALL THAT WE SAY, LET’S PRAISE GOD!