Praise God To Others (2)

Last we put our study in Isaiah on hold until January so that we could do a study that will help us end this year in a better place and to start the new decade in a healthy way.It’s a study about Praise.What we are doing is looking at Psalm 145, the only Psalm that is called a Psalm of praise and studying it to see what we can learn about what Praise is and how do we do it.And our first lesson that we learned last week is that Praise is not about the fast songs we sing at the beginning of our service.Matter of fact praise has nothing to do with singing. We can sign to praise but on it’s own that’s just music.What we learn from Psalm 145 is the praise starts with us extolling God?Last week I asked if anyone had used that word in the last few days, weeks or even months and all of you said no.Anyone use it this week?Anyone do it this week?David made a choice to extol God.This means he lifted up who God is, He acknowledged God’s proper place in His life and in this world.Which is God is up here and we are here.That is where praise starts. It’s when you make the choice to acknowledge in some way God’s proper place in your life.Then, David went on to make confessions or proclamations about His God’s character.God is good, God is loving, God knows everything, God can do anything, He is holy, God is forgiving, gracious and merciful.When we do this it takes what we think about to a different place.Which is important.What we think about and talk about have a huge impact on how we feel.If all we think and talk about is our difficulties the life is taken right out of us.Praise changes this. What we looked at last week helps with the what we think about which eventually makes it to our hearts.Today we will build on this as we continue in the PsalmLast week had a lot to do with thinking and focusing on God and responding to God based on what we think and know about Him.Today we move to what we talk about.In our Psalm we will see that praising God is not just what we do to GodBut we also praise God to others.Our take home for today is to learn to start talking about God or praising God to others and not just talk about our problems.There is a powerful reason for this.Before we jump into our Psalm I want to share why today’s message is so important if you want to end your year well and start the new decade off in a good place.I feel we often take for granted the power of our words.And I don’t mean power to create and make things happen.What I mean is what is taught in Scriptures like Proverbs 10:11 A

Proverbs 10:11 ESV

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Proverbs 17:22 ESV

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

These verses are so powerfulOur words and our conversations can have a huge impact on others.When we talk about the right things our words can be a fountain of life.Then Our words can help others have a joyful heart which we are told is good medicine. Or our words can be used to take the life out of others and be used to take their joy away.This doesn’t have JUST to do about what we say about them it ALSO has to do with what we talk about.If we just talk about our problems or the troubles we are living through that can just be draining to us and others.EVEN WHEN WHAT WE TALK ABOUT IS TRUE.Of course the best example of this in the Bible is the story in Numbers when the spies went into the promised land and came back talking about the troubles there.Talking about the truth of what they saw.If you don’t know the story let me give you a brief background.God miraculously delivered close to 2 million people out of slavery in Egypt.He was going to take them into the promises land.So at one point Moses sent 12 men into spy out the land. It was to See what the land was like that God was giving them.They went in as you know and came back with a report.Let me read that, most of you have probably read it many times.Numbers 13:25-33

Numbers 13:25–33 ESV

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

I hope you see what is happening here and the power of what we talk about.These men went into the land that God wanted to give them.And they did see it was a wonderful place.They came back and all they wanted to tell people was how hard it would be for the people to move into the land.What I want you to see from this picture and what I hope you can see just a little bit.10 people talking about something that was true and focusing on nothing but problemsAre you ready for this. 10 people led to the death of close to 2 million people. Can you imagine that.Because these 10 just talked about the troubles they were facing 2 million people were told they would die in the wilderness.So you see the mouth can be used as a fountain of life or it can be used to just drain the life out of others.I do believe there is a lot of that happening right now because of what we are all facing in the countryYes there is inflation, limited ZESA, water problems, fuel problems.As we talk about them too much we are not being a fountain of life.This is where today’s take home and our passage comes in.What are we supposed to do?It’s to Praise like David did. He praised God to others.In Psalm 145 we see David instructs us not just to aim our praise Godward, that is so important but is just the first part.Added to this we need to praise God to each other.We get to see what that looks like.If we would just change what we talk about, move from just talking about the problems we face to praising our year would end off better and our new decade would start off in a powerful way.Again, todays take home: Learn to Praise God to others.Psalm 145:3-13

Psalm 145:3–13 ESV

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.

These verse starts off with the statement, Great is the Lord.We need to learn to recognize His greatness.And the truth is our troubles in this world do not change the fact of how Great our God is.The whole section we just read is David telling us that we need to learn to talk about how Great God is.That is part two praise.Unlike the first two verses where our praise starts Godward this now changes and tells us we need to praise God to each other.Matter of fact get this, in the only Psalm called a Psalm of praise, there is 10 times more telling us that we should praise God to each other than to aim our praise to Him.LISTEN TO THIS. DO A RECAP

4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,

And shall declare Your mighty acts.

6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,

And I will tell of Your greatness.

7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness

And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom

And talk of Your power;

12 To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts

And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.

Isn’t that amazing.This is an example of The mouth of the righteous is a Fountain of LifeWhat makes our mouth a fountain of life?Is it giving our 2 cents about the problems we are facing? No wayIt is talking about the greatness of God, who He is and what He is doing.As we do this it is praising God and can be good medicine to others.Does this mean we ignore the realities of our problems.No. But as we focus on God, who He is and what He is doing it has this way of bringing life to us not draining the life out of us.Let me give you the application.These verses mainly teach us two areas that we are to tell others about that can be a good start.#1 is about God’s Mighty Works#2 is about God’s Character.There is more but this is a good start.What do we do?Let me give you a couple of examples.This week it we were told that we need to get ready to do without things like food, ZESA and medical care.Any of you talk about that this week?How did you feel after talking about it?Let me tell you how amazing our God is.We have talking about this Social Concern ministry for a couple months.As elders felt we need to do something about how to fund itWe thought a project - as soon as that was decided that is when we became aware of the tree at the publishing house.That can start that fund. How does God do that?It shows He cares. It doesn’t stop there.I got a phone call at the end of last week from someone is SAHe said he had a little money he wanted to donate to the church.He gave a nice chunk of money.After praying about it we are going to put this toward food to be able to help take care of the people in our church that are having trouble buying food.We will subsidize the eggs, since that is a ministry of BYO baptist church you can buy eggs for the rest of the month at half price.Chickens too, we will be buying some mealie mealOnly God could have done that. He saw the need before we even asked and provided it.That is how amazing our God is.WE can talk about the shortage of do what David says.WE should tell others about this.Our God knows all, God can move people that don’t even go to our church to help.See if we can learn to change what we talk about it can be a fountain of life to others and point them to our great God who cares.Homework: Keep reading Psalm 145At least talk about something God has done to 1 person this week.