Power of Praise

Text: Psalms 100:1-3

Psalm 100:1-3 1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Introduction:

There are some in the congregation who do not enter into worship.

·     I’m sure there are others that enter in to worship out of routine.

There was a preacher that was trying to sell his horse.

A potential buyer came to the church for a test ride.

"before you start" the preacher said," you should know that this horse only responds to church talk. Go is praise the lord and stop is amen."

So the man on the horse says " Praise the lord," and the horse starts to trot. The man again says "Praise the lord," and the horse starts to gallop.

Suddenly there is a cliff right in front of the horse and the man yells "Amen!!!" The horse stops just at the edge of the cliff.

The man wipes the sweat from his brow and says, "Praise the Lord."

Today I want to talk to you about the reasons why and how we should praise God.

A. Reasons to Praise God

1. God is worthy of our praise and worship.

Psalm 18:3 3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

Revelation 5:11-12 11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

Praise and thanksgiving - is verbalized faith.

·     If you thank God after the fact, that’s gratitude.

·     If you thank God before it happens, that’s faith.

If we don’t know how to worship, begin to praise from the Psalms.

·     It is a book telling us how to praise God.

2. We are called to praise and worship God.

1 Peter 2:9 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Psalm 150:6 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

3. Worship changes us.

Jeremiah 2:5b They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

We become like that which we worship.

·     If we worship superficial things, our life becomes superficial.

·     If we worship perverted things, our life becomes perverted.

·     If we worship evil things, our life becomes evil.

·     If we worship the true God, we become godly.

4. Worship brings us into presence of God.

Psalm 22:3 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.

B. How to Praise God

1. With our voice.

Psalm 63:3 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

Acts 16:25 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

2. With our body.

Psalm 63:4 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 95:6 6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

3. With music.

Psalm 150:3-5 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

4. With our emotions.

Psalm 47:1 1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.

C. Jesus last command: “Worship God”!!

ILLUS. - Veronica Hynes carries around a taped message that is very precious to her, because that message was from her husband Captain Walter Hynes of ladder company 13, New York city Fire Department.

Captain Hynes, and his crew raced to the world trade center on September 11, 2001, When the second hijacked plane flew into the south tower.

Just before he dismounted his fire truck, he called home and left this message: "Honey, it’s bad, it’s real bad!! I don’t know if we’ll make it out. I just wanted to tell you that I love you and the kids. Pray for me and the guys!!"

Veronica Hynes takes comfort that she has those last words from her husband, because he was thinking about his loved ones in his final moments!!

If you knew that death was emanate, and you had a chance to leave behind a final message, what would you say, and who would you say it to?

·     I find it interesting that most famous last words, even though not usually profound, focus on those things that are of greatest importance to the person dying.

·     Now, when it comes to the final words of Jesus,

·     His last words were not the great commission,

·     His last words are found in

·     Revelation 22:7 Behold, I come quickly!!

Those words, are the most important words Jesus ever spoke,

·     because He was thinking about you and me, when he said them.

Conclusion:

John 4:20-24 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." 21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Jesus was trying to teach us to worship only God

·     Because He knew we would be disillusioned by anything else we put our faith in!!

The OT is a book of “commands,” and the NT is a book of “principles” and if we follow them, we can live abundant, fulfilled lives!!

An important principle in Revelation 22:11 which says,

·     Revelation 22:11 11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."

 This passage is addressing a misconception some people have that says,

·     I can live any way I want to, and then right before I die, I can repent and everything will be cool between God and me!!

·     That is the stupidest and most irresponsible theology we could have,

·     because that philosophy says,

·     God has a different set of rules for every person!!

We need to make sure that we consistently Worship and Praise the God we claim to love.

·     Not because we claim to be a follower of God,

But because we truly love God