I Will Praise Him
Notes
Transcript
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Read: Psalm 86:12 / Psalm 9:1
Read: Psalm 86:12 / Psalm 9:1
Scroll down to see passages.
Introduction:
Introduction:
C. S. Lewis most famous for his Chronicles of Narnia series also wrote some tremendous non-fiction. He was a great thinker, philosopher, and apologetic writer.
He was also very transparent and open with some of his struggles. His book Surprised by Joy shares his conversion experience. But in Reflections on the Psalms Lewis opens up about his struggles with Praise and Worship.
Lewis says, “When I first began to draw near to belief in God and even for some time after it had been given to me, I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made by all religious people that we should ‘praise’ God; still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it.”
Lewis later admits it wasn’t the praise and worship that was stumbling him, but rather his thinking that needed adjusting.
Lewis came to realize that Praise and Worship wasn’t to “get something” or even to “check off something on your to do list” but rather that in our praise and worship.... “God communicates his presence to men.”
When I get that - when I understand that Praise and Worship brings me into or rather communicates God’s presence to men - then my heart and mind says - “I WILL PRAISE HIM!!!”
Our passage says...
12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify thy name for evermore.
1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
What is praise?
Here are a few definitions I have found:
Praise is an act of devotion and adoration offered to God by His creatures for His being and attributes. (Maureen H. Box, Beacon Theological Dictionary)
“Praise” comes from a Latin word meaning “value” or “price.” Thus, to give praise to God is to proclaim His merit or worth. (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary)
To honor and ascribe worth to God. …regarded by the Bible as the response due to God from all creation because of his majesty and saving actions: it is the dominant characteristic of true piety. (Eerdmans Bible Dictionary)
To extol the greatness of a deity or the deity’s works as an act of worship.
With all of these definitions I also want to point out that Praise & Thanksgiving overlap but are different (we will probably deal more with this in another sermon)
Praise = Magnifying the person of God
Thanksgiving = Gratitude for His gifts.
There is also a difference between Praise and Worship.
Bob Sorge reminds us that while Praise and Worship are mutually cooperative activities and are frequently very similar in the way they are outwardly expressed - they are not one and the same. they are however, often impossible to separate.
Praise is preoccupied with who God is and what he has done. It focuses on both his incomparable character and his wondrous acts on behalf of his children.
Worship is more of homage - one has defined worship as “God’s Spirit within us contacting the Spirit in the Godhead.” I LOVE THIS!!!
Praise is a more outward expression Worship is a more inward devotion (although this term isn’t quite adequate to express it)
Praise can be more distant - one doesn’t necessarily have to have a relationship with God to praise Him. (Jesus said in Luke 19:37-40 that the Rocks would cry out in praise - rocks do not have a relationship with God. )
Worship requires an intimate relationship with God worship is a two way street it involves both giving and receiving.
One distinctive of praise is its extroverted nature. It is an expression, a verb, an action.
“In its most fundamental sense, praise could be defined as ‘raising much to-do about God.”
In the Bible praise is shouted, sang, clapped, marched, danced, playing instruments.
“He who has merely contemplated the wonders of God has not yet entered into praise. Meditation is not praise.... Praise begins with a mind set upon God, but then those thoughts must be put into action in order to qualify as praise.” Bob Sorge, Exploring Worship
Worship on the other hand can be silent or not even evident to an observer.
Praise is never a “my way” there is only God’s way to praise.
And according to God’s word praise must be declared or manifested.
8 O bless our God, ye people, And make the voice of his praise to be heard:
Praise is not praise until it is vocalized or demonstrated.
it is impossible to praise with the mouth shut, and the body slumped forward! In that posture we might be worshiping, or meditating, or praying, or sleeping, but we are not praising! - Bob Sorge, Exploring Worship
Our text says:
12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: And I will glorify thy name for evermore.
1 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
I don’t know about you- but I WILL PRAISE THE LORD
I won’t try to be a secret praiser - you can be a secret worshipper but not a secret praiser -
I WILL PRAISE THE LORD WITH MY WHOLE HEART!!!!
You take approximately 23,000 breaths every day, but when was the last time you thanked God for one of them? The process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide is a complicated respiratory task that requires physiological precision. We tend to thank God for the things that take our breath away. And that's fine. But maybe we should thank him for every other breath too!
Mark Batterson, All In (Zondervan, 2013), page 119
I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!!!
We have seen a few things about “praise” now over the next few Sunday mornings I want to look at a few Hebrew and Greek words that have been translated into our English Bibles as “praise”. I think this will give us a greater foundation and basis as we pursue this subject of Praise and Worship.
There are 313 instances in 268 verses of the word “Praise” in the KJV. However, several different meanings and ideas are represented in these verses. Now I will focus only on the ones referring to our Praise to God.
There are seven main Hebrew words that have been translated “PRAISE” we will look at over the next few times together. Today we will just deal with two-
yāḏâ (Ya- Dah) - it is the word used in our texts “I WILL PRAISE THE LORD” It means To Express praise -to make a public confession of the attributes and acts of power of God. - it’s focus is on the content of praise, spoken out-loud.
I read this morning in my devotions Daniel 1-2. In Daniel 2 you remember that King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream but couldn’t remember it. He called for the wisemen and astrologers to reveal the dream but they weren’t able so he was going to execute them all. Daniel who was not at the meeting - was able to ask for more time and during the night in answer to prayer God gave him the dream and the interpretation. What follows is a masterpiece of praise.
23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, Who hast given me wisdom and might, And hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: For thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.
that word THANK - is the Arabic synonym to our Hebrew word yāḏâ (Ya- Dah) - the word Praise is another word we will study later that means to acknowledge God’s high status. often done loudly.
This is also used in Psalm 67:3
3 Let the people praise thee, O God; Let all the people praise thee.
I WANT TO BE ONE OF THOSE “ALL THE PEOPLE” and I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!!!
in the KJV its translated as
Praise
give thanks
confess
thank
thanksgiving
thankful
The root of this word means to literally hold out the hand -
When is the last time you held out or rather up your hands in praise to God? It’s a great outward expression of praise.
It doesn’t always come easy - I remember as a young Christian struggling with raising my hand in church - but I decided one day I was going to do what the Psalmist said -
I WILL PRAISE GOD!!!
Now I know that raising your hands isn’t the only way to praise God - but it’s a good one!!!
You should try it more often.
You may not feel anything - that isn’t the reason why we are raising our hands -
no one else may raise their hand at the same time -we aren’t doing this for people
but you may find that in that moment - God communicates his presence to you!!!
I don’t know about you but I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!!!!
hālal - [haw-lal'] To boast, extol, sometimes seen as to be clamorously foolish. the root meaning is connected with making noise.
Only living people can [hālal] praise: Isa 38:18
18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
But the living can - and the Psalmist said he would praise the LORD daily -
2 Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
and he also tells us how many times a day he would praise...
164 Seven times a day do I praise thee Because of thy righteous judgments.
4 And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel:
36 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord.
1 Chron 16:36 “and praised the LORD” This wasn’t just a half-hearted hum-drum “praise the Lord” (say really slow and dull)
I imagine those hillsides rang with the shouts, applause, and other ways people lifted their voices, hands, and probably even danced in praise to God.
Psalm 149:3 Let them praise his name in the dance...
A good Presbyterian minister of Old Scotland, of the staid and orthodox type, had a poor old woman in his congregation who was in the habit of saying, "Praise the Lord," "Amen," when anything particularly helpful was said,
This practice greatly disturbed the minister and one New Year's day he went to see her. "Betty," he said, "I will make a bargain with you. You call out, 'Praise the Lord' just when I get to the best part of my sermon and it upsets my thoughts. Now if you will stop doing it all this year, I will give you a pair of wool blankets." Betty was poor, and the offer of the blankets sounded good. So she did her best to earn them.
Sunday after Sunday she kept quiet. But one day a minister came to preach who was bubbling over with joy. As he preached on the forgiveness of sin and all the blessings that follow, the vision of the blankets began to fade and fade, and the joys of salvation grew brighter and brighter. At last Betty could stand it no longer and jumping up she cried, "Blankets or no blankets, Hallelujah!"
Conclusion:
How about you this morning. Do you let something smother your praise like a blanket? I don’t mean you have to be obnoxious and disruptive - but it’s alright to let it out - to praise God.
The Psalmist said - I WILL PRAISE GOD with all of my heart!!!
Is your praise to God whole hearted? I can’t answer that for you only you and God knows -
but I promise you it will revolutionize your walk with God if you INTENTIONALLY PRAISE GOD
Feeling or no feeling
Good times or bad times
In joy or sorrow
Grief or pain
I WILL PRAISE THE LORD!
