Power of Praise

Acts 16:16–24 (NIV)

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

Personal story of being unjustly treated.

They must have been dealing with all kinds of emotions of frustration and anger. Their mission was stopped. It was obedience to God that got them there. They didn’t fall into sin or disobey.

They were not just ordinary men like men without a God, they are Christians, and Christians don’t complain/murmur/grumble.

It may have seemed like their mission stopped but their ultimate purpose had not.

Acts 16:25–26 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”

What kind of worldview, what kind of trust did Paul and Silas have that would lead them to respond to injustice and adversity in that way?

The Power of Praise

Brief discussion on intrinsic value / instrumental value. Praise is intrinsic value. Praise is an end because of who you praise - He is worthy.

God is worthy of our praise.

Psalm 29:2 “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”

Psalm 66:4 “All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.””

Revelation 4:11 ““You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.””

1 Corinthians 8:5-6 NLT “There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is on Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.”

Romans 11:36 NLT “For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”

Paul and Silas knew that their mission may have seemed stop but their ultimate purpose hadn’t! Whether in the cell or in the mansion, they would glorify God.

These Scriptures aren’t teaching us to praise because it benefits us personally (though it does), or because it defeats the enemy (though it does), the reason we live lives of Praise is because He is worthy of it at all times!

He deserves it!

Proper perspective

Space is a humbling experience. It puts everything into perspective and makes you realize how small we are in the grand scheme of things. - James Lovell (Apollo 13)

It took looking out at the earth from his spacecraft (lifted high) to gain a different perspective.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

There is a war for our attention in the earth. Meta made $134 billion dollars in ad revenue last year. We are inundated with ads on what we should have, what life should look like, what you are missing out on etc.

Even worse, because of the analytics of YouTube, Meta, X, etc. you end up in a news and information bubble where you are always right, called an “epistemic bubble.” Author McBrayer explains and documents that “the articles and stories most likely to get you to act are the ones that got people just like you to act. The result is a carefully crafted news bubble in which your Facebook feed and X feed expose you to controversial views you antecedently accept and exclude contrary viewpoints.”

We call these echo chambers.

Or we can be tunnel visioned - focusing our attention on our temporary struggles and problems and completely miss the big picture of what God might be doing in our life.

And given the reality of sin on this side of the garden of Eden, there is a fight and struggle against the inherit tendencies to fix our attention and focus on all the right things, which leads us to puruse and hunger after the wrong things.

What you focus on and give your attention to will grow. Like a magnifying glass.

Praise fixes our eyes and focuses our attention on God. Praise moves our attention to value and enjoy the immense qualities of God.

We praise Him for His Independence and His self-sufficiency

We praise Him for His Unchangeableness that He is our rock

We praise Him for His Omnipresence that wherever we are he is with us and will never leave us.

We praise Him for His Eternal existence that he is above and greater than everything temporal.

We praise Him for His Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding of all things - he knows best and does best.

We praise Him for His faithfulness and truth

We praise Him for His goodness, His love, His mercy, His grace, His patience, His holiness, His peace, His righteousness, His Justice, His salvation, His redemption, His absolute greatness.

Daniel 4:34 “At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.”

When we do, we experience a foretaste of what will be. What we see in our glimpses of heaven is a habitual knowing and praising the qualities of who God is.

Even now, we are invited to enjoy him wherever we are and in whatever situation.

Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

God moments happen (…Then/Suddenly…)

Paul and Silas… Then

Jehosaphat

Declared a fast and prayed… we don't know what to do but our eyes are on you.

Levite prophecies a “do not fear sandwich” you’’ see the salvation of the Lord

Inexplicably sends out the praise team. Instruments instead of swords, voices instead of shields.

It is our created purpose

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle - they all sought truth, and to align their lives according to the grain of true reality - that is true prosperity, that is true life.

The apostle John wrote that true health and prosperity was walking according to truth.

Praise aligns our lives with the truth. We were created and born again to praise.

Ephesians 1:11–12 “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

Praise is much like a magnet in relationship. It is a path to intimacy. It ministers and blesses the recipient. The greatest human need is knowing God, relationship with Him. We were made for relationship with him.

God did certain things for the end goal. [The end goal of relationship]

Ephesians 1:3–6 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight (A status and position necessary for relationship with Him). In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

You were made and born again for relationship with him

Your value does not stem from what you do for God. So many find our value or how important we are to God based on the size or quantity of our ministry and service. Yes we serve but that is not our primary mode of existence, God wants and loves you.

Praise is like a magnet. We understand that with our horizontal relationships.

Psalm 22:3 NLT “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.”

Praise creates intimacy with God. We enjoy him, he enjoys us. It pleases him.