Praise the Lord!
July 7, 2012
Text: Psalm 147: 1-6
1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
This morning all around the world, Christians have gathered together to worship the One True God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…the God that King David wrote so many of these Psalms about…the Lord, the One who sustains, who strengthens, the One who saves. Is that who you came to worship today?
All around the world Christians have made their way to meet together, with one purpose, with one goal, with one heart…with one spirit…the very Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit who unites us together when we come together to worship in spirit and in truth. Have you come this morning to worship in Spirit and in Truth?
All around the world, Christians have come together to Worship the Creator of the universe, some have made their way to homes in hiding, some to shade trees and lean to’s, and a few like us who have the privilege to come together in freedom, and in the open, and in an air conditioned building, where we can have church in the front of the building, or even in the back….aren’t we a blessed people this morning?
Friends, we are not going to focus on the minor problems that we face, we are going to focus on Praising God because of Who He Is, Because of His Great Love for Us….it might be easy for us to complain and say, how come this has happened to us again????? Why not us? What does God want to teach us as we go through some of these things? I want to challenge you to look for ways to grow your faith through the inconveniences of your life…God how can I learn from this… instead of the childish, why me?
I say, Let’s Praise God this morning…will you praise Him with me today?
Let’s look at the first verse in chapter 147 and see what we can learn together…
1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
The Amplified Bible says it this way…1 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God, for He is gracious and lovely; praise is becoming and appropriate.
1. We were Created to Praise God with all that is Within Us! v. 1
There is no doubt in my mind that God created us with this awesome capacity to worship Him, to Praise Him, to honor Him. It’s in our DNA, it’s wrapped up in who we are as humans to get excited and praise God and Worship Him. When God created Adam and Eve, they had this perfect, sinless relationship that was centered on worship of their God, their Creator. As we know, sin came and the fall has brought about a break in that perfect relationship, sin has in many ways moved our Praise away from God to other things, mostly to ourselves.
Have you ever been in a Stadium that was filled with 70,000 adrenaline filled, screaming, Razorback clad fans going crazy over their football team? It is wild. We were made to get excited and enthused, and to give Praise…the question is not are we going to praise in our lives, because I believe we all will and do…the question is who or what are we giving that Praise too?
Praise God when you get up in the Morning. Praise Him for giving you a good night sleep. Praise Him for keeping you alive through another night if you didn’t sleep that well.
Praise God on your way to work, Praise Him that you have a job. Praise Him that he has given you the health and the strength to help provide for your family. Praise God for the people that he has put into your life through your job so that you can influence them for Christ…Praise God that you can be a missionary and never leave the country, or even the state.
We were created to Praise God. I think we need to get beyond the idea of just praising God with the things that we do…even though that is part of it…we need to realize that we Praise God with who we are. WE Praise God with every choice that we make, because the choices that we make are what determine the people that we become. Who are you giving your Praise too? As Christians, when we are in intimate relationship with Him, it should be a no brainer who is going to receive our Praise. But friends, we all know it’s not automatic…it takes choice.
praise is becoming and appropriate of all people who call themselves Christian.
As we Praise God and Give Him honor and Glory, what does He do for His people? That’s a good question, lets look at what David tells us in verse 2-3…
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
2. God is always demonstrating His Love to His People…Always.
We got good news this morning, Our God is a Builder…when Jerusalem was invaded and no stone was left on another….God promised to build it back…God has always loved His people, in the OT that is represented to us through Israel and His unending love for them, even when they turned their backs to Him, He never forsake them.
You are apart of his World Wide Body this morning as we gather in the back of this church, you are apart of something that has been going on for thousands of years, God’s people Praising God because He is worthy of our Praise…amen?
I’ve been amazed at how God has opened doors these last two weeks for me to share with various people about what Jesus is doing in my life, and in the life of our church. I challenged you to set your phone alarms for 1pm everyday, to be a reminder to reach out to one person and tell them How Jesus is making a difference in your life. I have been able to talk with kids, teens, and adults in the last two weeks, it’s been awesome. If we will make ourselves available and mindful of our calling…God will build His Church…He is a builder you know…and what we can’t do, He can.
I have dreams about what New Hope might look like in the next 12 months, the next 5 years, and I believe with all my heart God will bring those dreams to reality, but the truth is He is the builder and He knows what is best, so I commit myself to follow His lead…. Remember that God is the builder, He is the Master Carpenter…we are his hands and feet.
One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible…v.3 “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
Friends, we all know from personal experience how God can heal the Brokenhearted, amen? Did God not find you in a place of brokenness when you came to realize that you needed him to save you? Some here have come from broken pasts, broken homes, broken families…just plain broken…but God in His Awesome Grace, pulled us up, He gathered all those broken pieces and he bound us up in His love and in His arms…and He performed a miracle of Grace….He restored us to Wholeness. Doesn’t mean were perfect by any means…just look at us….but we are forgiven and we know who we are in Christ…we are Free..amen?
If God has reached down and healed my Brokeness…do you think that maybe He would want to use you to reach out to people who are in similar situations in their lives…lost….living in pain and brokenness….God’s heart breaks for them, and so should ours. As a church, we need not only pray for these hurting that are around us, we need to move into action. Get involved, step into their pain and get involved in helping them find Jesus. Jesus is the only cure for a broken life.
Are you at a place in your Christian life where you can share Jesus authentically? If Jesus isn’t the very source of who you are, you might have a hard time telling others about Him in a real passionate way.
Nola and I have started taking these shakes to help us get healthy, and they are working and people are asking about them. Do you think I could really share with any integrity or passion if I wasn’t taking them and getting good results? NO…and people would see right through it.
Jesus needs to be everything, the passion of your life, the source of your strength…your joy, the one you want to get up and shout about, Praise. If we want to reach our broken world, we need to be able to share Jesus….not our religion, not our do’s and don’ts…but instead we need to share How Jesus has changed and transformed our broken lives into ones that are grace filled, filled with hope and Joy.
Does that describe your relationship today? Friends, we need to sell out for Jesus…He has got to be our everything in life….amen?
4 “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.”
3. God is in total control, TRUST HIM.
You need to hear me this morning. As everything in our world seems to be spinning more and more out of control, God is in total control. Do you believe that? Not one thing is going to happen that will be out of God’s jurisdiction, he knows the score and He will help us win in the end.
He has named every star in the sky, can you imagine that? Did you see the Moon this week. How can you look at the sky and see all of its splendor and not just Praise God and be amazed at His Greatness?
Friends, God hasn’t promised us that it’s going to be easy street in this life, in fact, He has been real honest…He told his disciples to pick up their cross and follow Him…that was pretty blunt wasn’t it? His Word describes our lives as foreigners living in a foreign land, aliens in some passages. Do you feel like an alien sometimes when you look around and hear what’s going on in our country? The good news is that God has promised us that He will always be with us, no matter what we might go through.
“The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.” V. 6
On those days when you think the evildoer is winning, when those who oppose Christ seem to be pulling ahead, don’t worry about it…God will take care of them and they will receive their just reward if they don’t repent and turn to Him. Our job is to be faithful and to represent Christ to everyone we come in contact with, Praising God, Trusting Him and Helping the Brokenhearted find healing….don’t fret over the score….we know who wins in the end.
Is Jesus your source this morning? Will you agree to Praise Him passionately everyday, with what you do and who you are? Will you be Christ to the Broken? Will you Trust Him for the final Outcome?
