Praise the Lord

“Praise the Lord”

Psalm 150

Introduction

Sporting Event

· Fans coming together sharing a common purpose

· Praising and celebrating their team – Loud cheers – Jumping up and down – Even painting their faces

· But what happens if they lose?

o They let you down and the praise immediately ends

· NOT WITH GOD – His work and character are unfailing

· Why can’t we have that same enthusiasm for God?

· May not want to run around with body painted up – Think you’re a nut job

· Who or what we praise is who or who we worship – It determines our priorities and what we value above all else

o We can worship earthly possessions

o We can also worship ourselves

o OR – We can worship God in praise

Matthew 6:24

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

· Psalm 150 – Psalm of praise

o For God’s powerful acts and surpassing greatness

· Psalm 150 is really a summary of the entire book of Psalms

· Considered a DOXOLOGY– A final exhortations or commands - Closing comments

· Typically it includes phrases like: “Praise be to God”, “Bless the Lord”, and “Ascribe to the Lord glory for unfailing character”

· It is also a summary of Psalms 146-149 that go into more detail regarding our praise to the Lord

o Just like Psalm 150, they all start and end with “Praise the Lord”

Main Text

As I read pay attention to how the psalm grows in intensity in praising the Lord

Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,

praise him with the strings and pipe,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Exegesis

· Psalm starts and ends with “Praise the Lord”

o Introduces the main theme of the Psalm

o It establishes our mindset as we read it

· Let’s define Biblical praise

o Honoring and glorifying God for who He is and what He’s done

o Praising God is an act of worship

Moves to – Where we praise God

“Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.”

· On earth, His sanctuary refers to the temple in Jerusalem where the people would go to worship God

o Think of this like a vacation home for God

· The permanent sanctuary is in Heaven where God is sitting on His throne

· There’s almost a sense that the author sees the earthly sanctuary as not big enough, not great enough for where we praise God – Add “IN FACT”

· Some scholars believe this refers to Angels praising God in Heaven

· Probably most known example of this is in:

Luke 2:13-14

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

· It’s my opinion that it’s referring to both man and Angels praising God on His Heavenly throne

VS 2 – Why we praise God

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

· The foundation of the Psalm – What the Psalm centers around

· It’s the reason for our praise

Last time I said that:

· We can tend to study Scripture focusing on ourselves – What we are supposed to do and what we get out of it

· The focus is not on what we do, but who God is and what He’s done

· How we respond to this is secondary, the product of THIS VS

· So where do we find God’s act of power and surpassing greatness? – Entire Bible – Show the Bible

VS 3-5 – How we praise God – (Psalm 98:4)

· Lifting our voices to God in song

· Reason we sing worship songs in service – Reason we have worship nights singing to God

· We call this CORPORATE WORSHIP – a Body of believers praising God with 1 voice

· Do you get the picture of a great fanfare – A great celebration?

Psalm 98:4

4 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;

break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

· They can’t contain their joy and praise so they “BREAK FORTH” in song

VS 6 – Who should praise the Lord?

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.”

· The Psalm now expands from the praise of God’s chosen people to every living creature on Earth

· Particularly every tongue, tribe, and nation

Psalm 86:9-10

9 All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.

10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;

you alone are God.

Let’s bridge the gap from then to us now

· This Psalm directly applies for us today

· 1 change is God’s great acts of power and surpassing greatness all centers around the Gospel

· The work of Jesus on the cross is God’s greatest act of power showing His surpassing greatness

· The “where” we praise God also changes – Holy Spirit indwelling in us means we can praise God anytime and anywhere

· IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS

Conclusion/Application

Quote: Pastor named - Paul David Tripp

“We are created to live in a forever relationship with a forever God forever.”

· To live in both the now and our future eternity

· We can tend to live only in the now

· But the now can never satisfy us

· When we live in the now, we can forget about God, who He is and what He’s done for us

· The earthly perspective of life causes us to be up and down in our emotions

· We experience moments of joy and hope and then moments of despair depending on the situation

· Having an eternal perspective allows us to have joy and hope regardless of our situation

· Praising God is the natural result of this eternal joy and hope

· Do you live with an earthly perspective or a heavenly?

What are practical ways that can help us break out in praise and worship to God?

3 Exercises to do this week – Same as last week

· As you do these exercises, keep in the forefront of your mind VS 2

2 Praise him for his acts of power;

praise him for his surpassing greatness.

1st - Write down all your reasons to praise God

2nd - Write down a hardship you’ve gone through in the past

· Then write down how God showed Himself to get you through it

· How He showed His faithfulness, goodness, and steadfast love to you

· This should lead to shouting our praise to God

3rd - Write down ways you can praise God through action

Also

· Read Psalms 146, 147, 148, 149 – They go into more detail regarding praising the Lord

· Psalm 146 – Praising God because He reigns and is sovereign over all creation giving us sure hope in Him

· Psalm 147 – Praising God because He sustains, provides for, and cares for all creation

· Psalm 148 – Praising God for His work in creating the world and His majesty

· Psalm 149 – Praising God because He blesses His chosen people and executes divine judgement on the wicked