Unceasing Praise: The Heart of Worship

Big Idea: Praising God transforms our hearts, strengthens our faith, and nurtures our community, reminding us of God's sovereignty and love in every situation.

Psalm 150:1–6 “1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! 3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

Hebrews 13:15 “15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

Introduction: One of my very favorite things to do is to sing to the Lord. More than that, I love to sing with other people. I love to hear a congregation singing collectively.

It is a release from this world, and a peak through the keyhole into what we are truly meant to do.

Each voice is unique

We all have a story

We all have burdens

We all have joys

We all have a soul, that is collectively made to sing!

I wept at the beauty of your hymns and canticles, and was powerfully moved at the sweet sound of your Church singing. These sounds flowed into my ears, and the truth streamed into my heart.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Our hearts must open to praise Him well.

I pick on the songs at times, not because I do not value them, but because they do not serve to inform your theology, but only to accommodate what we believe.

My mind and heart filled with truth, are then prepared to praise the Lord well.

This shift is why a man will go from silent in a pew, to singing at the top of his lungs.

1. Praise in Every Place

Psalm 150:1–2 “1 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!”

We praise God because He is worthy of our praise!

Jeremiah 32:27 “27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”

Isaiah 40:28–29 “28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”

Exodus 15:6 “6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.”

Ephesians 3:20 “20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,”

What mighty deeds has the Lord accomplished in your life?

Close your eyes and contemplate this with thought with me…

What has the Lord done?

Pieces broken, things that seemed so scattered, and he used them in a way we never imagined.

Gods excellent greatness!

Regardless of your location, God is precisely where He is supposed to be.

Application: Wherever you are at, you can praise Him.

Seriously. Anywhere.

God is sovereign in all situations.

Through Christ's example, we see how worship is not limited to location but springs from the heart, uniting us with God's limitless power and glory.

What resides within me is what spills out, regardless of circumstance.

2. Praise with Diversity

Psalm 150:3–4 “3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!”

Do I expect each of you to go out and buy a musical instrument?

No!

Do I long for each of you to prayerfully seek and consider what spiritual gifting God has given you and to worship with them? Yes!

Have you ever had an acquaintance that held out on some form of a talent that you didn’t know that they were capable of?

All of a sudden they just start doing something, and you ask “Where did that come from?”

Church, I know within each of you is something incredible!

Psalm 139:14 “14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Vivid

Dynamic

Unique

Q: Are you tempted to withhold out of fear?

Church, we have an area that I believe MUST be improved upon. I need every single one of you INVESTED.

We are each a vessel made to perform worship differently, but each has a specific purpose.

Illustration: An early student learning the flute for example..

It is…. Awful.

Beautiful.

Different story, there has been a selection of instruments that they want to play.

Practice

Ability to read the music

The direction of the conductor is at least somewhat understood.

Expound: So much to learn about ones self through music, so much more within the church.

Pedro Eustache @ Sing! 2019

Explain who he is….

Passion of the Christ

Mastery

Beautiful notes

Desire to go

True excellence

Full comprehension of the instrument and total ability to perform

What are we?

Why isn’t praise discussed?

Can I add, you cant sing corporately with the body from home.

Hands up in praise, maybe the person beside you has tears on their cheeks?

Something unique and powerful is occuring within this room.

We build a church culture that is either stagnant and cold, or moving and warm with our affection for Jesus.

3. Praise in Unity

Psalm 150:5–6 “5 Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

Singing is a privilege reserved for the saints of God who have experienced the joy of salvation.

Warren W. Wiersbe

It is not just my opinion that everyone should praise the Lord. The Psalmist closes his Psalter with the doxology that everything with breath PRAISE THE LORD!

Jesus wants us unified.

John 17:20–23 “20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Our church’s culture:

Loving

Unified

With direction

With intent

Compassionate

4. Praise as Continual Sacrifice

Hebrews 13:15 “15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

The words we say, and our actions are the fruit!

The not wanting to praise illness….

“My dear Wormwood: Music and silence—how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since our Father [Lucifer] entered Hell . . . no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise–Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile—Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires.

We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anything like it. Research is in progress.” - C.S. Lewis The Screw Tape Letters

Quiet Contemplation + Melody

We begin to think, and when we are in silence the Spirit moves

Allow yourself some time to reflect on what the Lord has truly done for you this week?

Your response will be astonishing.

Linzee’s Wisdom

My business and my continual running had noise in my life that was a distraction from what matters

Colder

Feeling isolated

Feelings of frustration

Infrequent self-reflection

An illness starts to spread from the mind to the heart..

‘But how can I make melody in my heart?’ asks somebody. ‘I don’t feel like singing.’ My dear friend, consider him till you do!. Singing to the Lord, 58

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

We reflect, read and pray…

Isaiah 51:11–12 “11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,”

Q: Where are you at today? What are you in the midst of?

Sing to Him!

Praise Him with your actions!

Respond with true adoration!

Encourage your congregation to see every moment as an opportunity to praise God, regardless of circumstances, drawing strength from Christ, who models relentless praise even through suffering.