POWER THROUGH PRAISE
Ps. 33:1
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: REDNECK BLACK BOXES
1. The National Transportation Safety Board recently divulged a highly secret plan they had funded with the US auto makers for the past five years.
2. The NTSB covertly funded a project whereby the auto makers were installing black boxes in four wheel drive pick-up trucks in an effort to determine, in fatal accidents, the circumstances in the last 15 seconds before the crash.
3. They were surprised to find in 49 of the 50 states the last words of drivers in 61.2% of fatal crashes were, "Oh no, they ran the stop sign!"
4. Only the deep South was different, where 89.3% of the final words were, "Hey Y'all, watch this!"
B. TEXT
1. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness” Ps. 48:1.
2. “Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous: for praise is comely (fitting) for the upright” Ps. 33:1.
3. “And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord” Ps. 40:3.
4. “Let the people praise You, O God; let all the people praise You” Ps. 67:3.
5. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” Ps. 107:8.
6. “Seven times a day do I praise You because of Your righteous judgments” Ps. 119:164.
7. “Every day will I bless You; and I will praise Your name for ever and ever” Ps. 145:2.
8. “While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being” Ps. 146:2.
9. “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand” Ps. 149:6.
C. THESIS
1. Tonight I want us to talk about Praise & Worship. When we praise the Lord, God inhabits our praises.
2. It makes the devil mad, but makes God glad, when we come into the presence of the Lord.
3. The enemy knows that with God’s presence comes His Power, His Anointing, and His Blessings!!! Amen?
4. And then the miraculous starts to take place. And the Devil doesn’t want you to start experiencing the miraculous because He wants you to live defeated lives!
5. So we’re going to look at the 3 types of worship, the hindrances to praise, and then how we can let praise usher us into a walk of victory.
6. The title of this message is, "Power Through Praise."
I. THREE TYPES OF WORSHIP
A. PRAISE
1. Praise is excited, exuberant, and noisy. It’s characterized by rejoicing, singing, shouting, uplifted hands, clapping, dancing. Praise is Celebration.
2. The Houston Texans football team played the Tennessee Titans the other day. Fitzpatrick threw 5 touchdown passes and J.J. Watts was giving them grief. 3. Then Watts knocked the ball out of the QB’s hands, scooped it up and ran nearly to the goal line. Then Watts, as a receiver, caught a pass and went in for the touchdown. The place went crazy. It was celebration time. That’s what PRAISE is.
B. THANKSGIVING
1. Thanksgiving is different than praise because its motivation results from something God has done. How wonderful it is when a long sought answer to prayer arrives, and creates in us a tremendous feeling of thankfulness!
2. HUMOR
a. In North Dakota there was a clever old preacher who always amazed people, because no matter how bad the circumstances, he could always find something to give thanks for.
b. One cold December morning, he arrived late to church because his car got stuck in the snow drifts. The power went out and the piano player wasn’t there.
c. The parishioners were eager to see what the old preacher could come up with to be thankful for on that dismal and frigid morning. "Dear Lord," his prayer began, "I thank You, that not all days are like today.”
C. WORSHIP/ ADORATION/ LOVE
1. Then there’s worship. When you and God are alone together, face to face, and have shared a long and intimate relationship -- almost a romantic love is felt, except it’s reverential.
2. THE PROGRESSION OF WORSHIP
a. At the Temple in Jerusalem, Praise occurred in the outer courts. That’s where the sacrifices took place and the cleansings. That’s why Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”
b. Next the priests, with sacred garments, moved into the Holy Place to fellowship with God. There stood the Table of Shewbread and the Lampstand/ Menorah. They symbolized our fellowship with JESUS as the LIGHT OF THE WORLD and as the BREAD OF LIFE, which came down from heaven.
c. Lastly came the worship within the veil. The only offerings that penetrated the veil were the Blood of Christ, sprinkled 7 times, and the smoke of the incense on the Altar of Incense.
Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us we are not to stay outside the veil, but go boldly in to worship in the very Presence of God. Here the believer comes before the very Throne of Majesty and worships before the Living God in the Spirit.
II. REASONS WHY WE OFTEN DON’T PRAISE DURING THE TRIAL (HINDRANCES):
A. FEAR
1. When things really go wrong, it’s pretty normal to panic. Do any of you have "Panic Buttons?" -- Get the jitters, cold sweats, shakes, get frozen or flattened?
2. Fear can immobilize you; make you unable to take any action. Joshua, after the defeat at Ai, collapsed. In 7:10, God said, "Get up! What are you doing on the
ground? Israel has sinned!"
3. We need to reprogram our conditioned response.
B. EYES ON CIRCUMSTANCES
1. In the Bible, when the Israelites were invaded, their normal response was to count the number of their soldiers and compare to how many of the enemies there were. They looked to the natural.
2. When you get your eyes on your circumstances, you lose faith, because your focus is on the wrong thing/place.
3. We have to be realistic, but we also must trust in the Lord as our helper!
C. FORGETFULNESS
1. Israel forgot WHO’s on their side -- Almighty God!
2. They forgot WHAT God had done for them – all the times He’d helped them defeat their enemies.
3. They suddenly thought God had deserted them.
4. Don't we do the same?
a. We had victory yesterday.
b. But one difficulty and we think God's not in control anymore; God doesn't love us anymore. Neither is true.
5. But it DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!!!!
D. ILLUSTRATION
1. On February 9, 1709, Pastor Wesley (father of Charles & John) at Epworth, England, found that his house was on fire at midnight, in midwinter.
2. His wife burst into the nursery, grabbed the youngest child, and told the others to follow her. Everyone did but John, who was then 6 years old, and hadn’t awakened, and in the confusion was forgotten.
3. Meanwhile, John awoke, and finding it impossible to escape by the door, climbed upon a chest that stood near the window.
4. It was a critical moment. There wasn’t time to get a ladder; 2 men stood on each-other’s shoulders and John was rescued from the flames. Moments later, the roof fell in with a tremendous crash.
5. When the father saw that John was safe, he exclaimed: "Come, let’s kneel and give thanks to God! Forget about the burning house!"
6. The next day Samuel Wesley, found a charred page of his Bible which said, "Go sell all that you have, and take up your cross and follow Me." (Peter Kennedy)
7. How do you respond when troubles come?
III. PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCED VICTORY…
A. PRAISED BEFORE THE ANSWER CAME
1. 2 Chronicles 20; Jehoshaphat sent praisers before the Army.
2. Psalm 27:1-3; David didn't fear armies.
3. Joshua 6:20; Israel shouted before Jericho walls fell.
4. Acts 16:25-26; Paul & Silas praised before earthquake.
5. Some who praised God even when they thought He might NOT answer – 3 Hebrew Children.
B. POWER OF PRAISE
1. PRAISE OVERCOMES FEAR WITH TRUST
a. Fear and faith are opposites. Faith drives out fear. God told them not to be afraid or discouraged.
b. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind” 2 Tim. 1:7.
c. JOKE. A Sunday school teacher of eighth-grade boys asked his class to think of things they were thankful for. Most gave the typical responses: "Thanks that we're here together:" "Thanks for the hunting trip;" and so on. Then one boy said, "Thank you God that I was sick Friday so I didn't have to go to school!" That's turning things around!
2. PRAISE PLACES THE BATTLE IN GOD’S HANDS
a. God said, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
b. God told Jehoshaphat, "The Battle is not yours, but God's" 2 Chr. 20:15. Verse 17 says, -- "You will not have to fight this battle."
3. PRAISE IS A “MAGNIFIER”
a. David said, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” Ps. 34:3.
b. We’ve all seen magnifying lenses. They’re good for reading the fine print at the bottom of some contracts; or, for older people, to see the normal print.
c. It’s interesting that the Bible uses the same word "magnify" as a synonym for “praise.” When we begin to "magnify the Lord," Jesus is made larger or clearer to us and to others, and He’s brought near by our praise.
d. How about we magnify the Lord this evening, make Him bigger (to us) and see Him more clearly?
4. PRAISE IN ADVANCE DEFEATS THE DEVIL
a. To some, it may look like foolishness. But God wants you to rise to a "faith walk," a higher level of trusting Him. Praise is the spark-plug of faith; it moves you up to a level of victory over circumstances.
b. Verse 22 -- "As [Jehoshaphat’s army] began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against... [their enemies].”
* Their faith provoked God to action.
* The same thing happened when Paul and Silas
were beaten and were in the Philippian jail. As they sang hymns -- an earthquake shook open the doors and loosed their fetters.
* The closer we get to God, the more:
Our bands are loosed;
The closed doors fall open;
The ropes are burned off (3 men in the fire);
* The high praises of God… [“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand” Ps. 149:6] …not only loose you, but began undercutting your enemies. God is a liberator -- from bondage, sickness, lack, ignorance, weakness, doubts, and fear.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. So in conclusion, I want to encourage you to have the right focus in worship.
2. There was a woman on a short term missions trip to Kenya, helping the missionaries there. She was sent to a remote village where she attended a medical clinic.
3. As the native women outside the clinic began to sing together, she found herself deeply moved by their beautiful singing. The harmonies and rhythms seemed worshipful indeed.
4. She was so moved she began to cry. Since she wanted to capture the moment in her memories, she turned to her bi-lingual friend and queried, "Could you please translate the words to that absolutely beautiful song?"
5. Her friend stared at her and respectfully replied, “They’re singing, ‘If you boil the water, you won’t get dysentery.’"
B. THE CALL
1. Do you have a problem?
a. Let's pray about it.
b. Now let's praise God for the victory before it occurs!
2. Prayer.
3. Salvation Call.
