A Living Hope

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Definition of Praise

In the Old Testament the words for praise have the meaning connected with making a noise that is associated with bodily actions and gestures and the playing or singing of music. It is showing honor and reverence to God and esteeming that He is worthy of our devotion. The one who praises does so with a heart full of gladness and thankfulness. Scripture is full with expressions of praise from raising of hands, shouting, and kneeling. They arise from the joy which marks the life of the child of God!

B. Legend Of the Origin Of Praise

There is an old Jewish legend which says that, after God had created the world, He called the angels to Him and asked them what they thought of it; and one of them said, “One thing is lacking: the sound of praise to the Creator.” So God created music, and it was heard in the whisper of the wind, and in the song of the birds; and to man also was given the gift of song. And all down the ages this gift of song has indeed proved a blessing to multitudes of souls.

II. GOD

1 Peter 1:3–5 (NIV)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

A. The Character for Praise

John 4:24 (NIV)

24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

1. Preparation for worship

Sleep and rest-Disiples couldnt stay awake an hour (Matthew 26:40)

“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”

forgiveness of others/no bitterness in our hearts- (Matthew 5:24)

Matthew 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

2. Honest Worship

When we sing “We lift our hands....we should really lift our hands

Isaiah says “They worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”...

We need to really mean and believe in our hearts the words that come out of our mouths

Just like any relationship…If you aren’t honest with each other than it’s naturally going to form this distance from one another

Worship in Spirit and truth is prompted and saturated in love. This kind brings the light of Gods truth upon ones heart and life!

B. The Garment of Praise

A garment of praise is Isaiah 61:3 (KJV 1900)

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, To give unto them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they might be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

An attitude that creates a lifestyle. Those who wear a “garment of praise” are always seeking ways they can honor the Lord. They are busy serving, loving, and praising the Lord for all He is doing in their lives. They want every moment on earth to count for eternity because they have discovered the joy of working hand in hand with God.

In Luke 4, Jesus quoted this passage from the book of Isaiah claiming that it was fulfilled in Him. This isn’t the first time in Scripture when we are given the image of “garments” or “robes.” The Bible describes God giving us robes of righteousness and garments of salvation in exchange for our filthy clothes. (Isaiah 61:10, Zechariah 3:4, Revelation 19:8)

But what I do find interesting in the passage above is the connection between praise and weakness. Is it possible that praise is the solution to overcoming tiredness,feeling overwhelmed, and the heavyness that comes with the burdens of life?

Praise is a powerful thing. Thankfulness changes hearts and renews minds. David repeatedly chose praise in the midst of difficult and trying circumstances. Paul drew his strength from God by praising His name and remembering His faithfulness in all things. Even while in prison, Paul and Silas chose to praise God in song instead of wallowing in their misery.

Praise works like a magnifying glass. It causes what you’re focusing on to get bigger, to be “magnified.”

David said, “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps 34:3-4 NKJV).

It’s a mistake to wait until you’ve no problems, fewer problems, or your problems are solved before you praise the Lord. Praise is one of the great scriptural keys to problem-solving because it gets your focus on God, the problem solver.

Charles Spurgeon said: “My happiest moments are when I am worshipping God, really adoring the Lord Jesus Christ…In that worship I forget the cares of the church and everything else. To me it is the nearest approach to what it will be like in heaven.” God has promised you “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

What would happen if every time we felt tired, weak, or emotionally drained, we took the time to praise God and thank Him for His goodness?

In Exodus 17 we see the Israelites fighting the Amalekites. God tells Moses to stand on top of a mountain. So Moses goes and takes his staff in front of all the people and lifts his hands. As long as His hands were raised his army, the israelites were winning but as soon as his hands lowered they starting losing to the Amalekites.

As you could imagine, Moses grew tired because of the length of the battle. So Aaron and Hur got a rock and had Moses sit down as they held up the arms of Moses.

This symbolizes that the battle is the Lords. That when we have no strength to fight and have been worn down by the duration of the battle that He will be our strength. All we have to do is praise Him! Lifted hands symbolize and say to God that the battle belongs to the Lord! So when we have no strength to fight or better yet when we fight in our own strength we can lift our hands and say “I surrender”. We can do that in our worship here at church. That’s what Moses did. He did it in front of all the people. He wasn’t ashamed of who His God was and neither should we be! He is worthy of our praise!

C. The Heart of Praise

1. Aggressiveness in Worship

Psalm 149:5–6 (KJV 1900)

5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: Let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a twoedged sword in their hand;

Praise is a natural and necessary response to fully enjoy the object that is praised. For example, when watching a football game on television, it is a natural response to praise a tremendous play. To shout WOW! after an acrobatic catch in the end zone is not only natural,

A song leader of a church remember a time where the congregation lost there awe and reverence of worship. He said...

2. “The pastor of our church, Mike, did a brave thing,” Redman recalls, “we stopped using the PA and projectors, packed away our instruments for a while and gathered in an room with nothing but our voices and Bibles—and, of course, our hearts. This led us into a whole new season. We stripped away anything associated with style, preference, or performance, and there was a real sense of discovering ‘the heart of worship’ again.”

His song, “The Heart of Worship,” describes what happened:

When the music fades, All is stripped away. And I simply come; Longing just to bring something that’s of worth, That will bless Your heart.

Redman continues. “It was a song written out of witnessing what God was doing with our worshiping community. As a church family we’d always given lots of time to responding to God through song. However, we’d lost something of the sense of bringing an offering.” Instead, a sense of consumerism had seeped in. Songs and style and personal volume preferences became priority instead of Christ and we lost the dynamic of worship being ‘the all-consuming response to the all-deserving revelation of God.’”