Sermon for 10/31/21 13 Minutes "Praise Him"

Psalm 146

This morning I'll be reading Psalm 146,,, all ten verses. And I'll be reading from the King James Version Bible. Psalm 146 Brody reads the scripture

Psalm 146 KJV 1900 1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. 2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. 3 Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God: 6 Which made heaven, and earth, The sea, and all that therein is: Which keepeth truth for ever: 7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: Which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners: 8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: The Lord loveth the righteous: 9 The Lord preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow: But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. 10 The Lord shall reign for ever, Even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord. God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ----------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday we looked at Mark 10:45-52 and we seen how Bartimaeus received his sight,,, but more importantly,,, we seen him begin to follow Jesus,,, and we know that is the most important decision that any of us can make.

We also talked about how Bartimaeus could have missed his blessing if he would have waited for Jesus to return.

It could be the same for us,,, because we never know when our last day will be,,, or when Jesus will come back as well,,, so we need to remember,,, that "Today Is the Day" for you,,, just as it was for Bartimaeus,,, if you have never received Jesus as your Savior.

This morning we will look at Psalm 146.

This psalm is the beginning of another group of praise psalms,,, or,,, hallelujah psalms,,, since each begins and ends with that phrase,,, depending on whether it's the King James Version or another translation.

In case you remember in my sermon on Psalm 111,,, (on 8/15/21),,, I mentioned that was one of the Hallelujah psalms as well,,, and I thought that I should give a little more information to help clear up any questions that you might have since I've used almost the same introduction for both sermons.

According to the book by Richard Chaffee,,, there are four collections of Hallelujah Psalms,,, they include the Covenantal Hallelujah Psalms,,, 105-106,,, the Passover Hallelujah Psalms,,, 111-118,,, (the group that I mentioned in that sermon on psalm 111),,, the Great Hallelujah Psalms,,, 135-136,,, and the Doxological Hallelujah Psalms,,, 146-150,,, that includes the psalm that we will look at today.

So lets look at this psalm and see how it can help us in our walk with God this week. ----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 1 says: 1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Any time that the Israelites,,, that had a true relationship with God,,, were given an opportunity to worship,,, this was a phrase that they,,, and us today,,, should not hesitate to use!

Without God,,, we are nothing,,, with God,,, we have all we need!

So “praise” should always be important in our lives.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 2 says: 2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.

As long as he is able,,, the writer of this psalm states that he will praise God.

If we are honest with ourselves,,, how many times a day do we praise God?

How many times in a week?

Just on Sunday?

Or,,, do we even praise Him on Sunday,,, or just go through the motions?

I’ve discovered that the more time I spend praising God,,, the less time I have of any type of bad feelings or disappointments.

When I praise God at any time,,, whether I’m feeling happy,,, sad,,, confused,,, whatever the case may be,,, I must look up to truly offer praise to God,,, and when I do that,,, my focus turns to God,,, where it should be,,, at all times.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 3 and 4 say: 3 Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish.

We are told to watch out and not seek help from man,,, in whom there is no help.

Then we are told why when he writes,,, 4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish.

Mortal men will not always be able to help.

They could have plans to truly help but perish in the night,,, so we are warned to put our trust else where,,, as we see in the as 6 verses.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 5 says: 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God:

John Wesley’s Commentary said that in Psalm 144:15 the Hebrew word ʾasherey,,, so often translated as “blessed,,,” is here rendered as happy.

So,,, the man who puts his trust solely in the God of Jacob,,, who gives salvation,,, or,,,(help),,, is truly happy.

That man is anchored in hope.

And it should be the same for us!

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 6 says: 6 Which made heaven, and earth, The sea, and all that therein is: Which keepeth truth for ever:

In contrast to man,,, who perishes in death,,, the true God,,, the “One” we need to trust,,, He,,, is the creator of all creation,,, heaven,,, earth,,, and sea.

And most importantly,,, He keepeth truth for ever: ,,, unlike mortal man,,, that can be here on earth one moment and gone the next.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 7 through 9 say: 7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: Which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners: 8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: The Lord loveth the righteous: 9 The Lord preserveth the strangers; He relieveth the fatherless and widow: But the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

God helps the oppressed,,, feeds the hungry,,, releases prisoners,,, gives sight to the blind,,, protects the strangers,,, leads the orphans and widows to security,,, but,,, since God is “just”,,, it says that the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

Also my Faithlife Study Bible says the word “righteous” at the end of verse 8 is translated from the Hebrew word “Tsaddiq”,,, (tsa-diq),,, and this refers to people who are marked by loyalty to God by keeping His covenant,,, and doing such a wonderful job of it,,, going above what needs to be done at times,,, so that they stand out,,, and they are recognized.

As we see here,,, The Lord loveth the righteous:

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 10 says: 10 The Lord shall reign for ever, Even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.

Our Lord and God shall reign forever,,, this will never end.

God is the same as yesterday,,, the same today,,, and He will be the same tomorrow,,, He never changes,,, and He is always there,,, unlike man who can leave this world at any time.

And then the writer of this psalm ends the same way that he began,,, with the words,,, Praise ye the Lord.

So we begin in praise,,, and we end in praise.

The same way that we should begin and end,,, each and every day.

----------------------------------------------------------- So we can see from these verses that praise is very important.

But,,, maybe not for the reasons that you think.

You might think that God needs our praise,,, and it’s true that God does want us to praise Him,,, and we will spend eternity praising Him,,, remember,,, 1 Corinthians 2: 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.,,, so we have plenty of reasons for praising Him,,, but while “we” need to praise God,,, and God wants our praise,,, our praise of God lifts our eyes and helps us to focus on Him.

It helps us no matter what we are going through,,, whether it’s good,,, or bad,,, praising God forces us to see all that God has done for us and by doing so,,, our burdens are lifted,,, whatever they may have been,,, no matter how heavy they were,,, they are always lighter after a few moments of serious praise to our Lord and Savior!

So just as I told the children,,, after God has chosen us,,, cleaned out all of the “gunk”,,, given us His light to shine for all to see,,, we should do our best to praise God for all that He has done for us,,, and will continue to do for us,,, always and forever,,, as we spend eternity with Him!

----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------