Introduce the video clip to CHC church – from Insanity of God!
Dmitri’s Song by Chris Long – the sacrifice and the true meaning of praise is revealed in Dmitri’s life and song of praise that he sang every day in prison at sunrise to Jesus! He did this for 17 years. Even with the persecution, the hostility to his song from other prisoners, to the beatings he endured from singing his love song to Jesus. He still praised Jesus with verses and songs he would write on a piece of paper and offer to Jesus on a pillar in his cell. He never stopped praising Jesus even under severe persecution.
It’s hard to imagine that in the midst of severe persecution and torture you can find joy in the journey, Dmitri found it through praise and even worship but in Insanity of God Dmitri and a host of others are shown as examples that joy is found through praise even in persecution!
Series: We need to find joy in the journey!
Thesis of series: Joy needs to be experienced in the journey of life! But Joy, like any other attitude, can come and go. It is not guaranteed simply because we are born again believers. We must put ourselves in the places where experiencing joy is a possibility. We need to go after and find joy in our journey of life even in times of hardship and persecution.
Introduction: Quote from Chuck Swindoll’s book “Laugh Again”: “I know of no greater need today than the need for joy. Unexplainable, contagious joy. Outrageous joy. When that kind of joy comes aboard our ship of life, it brings good things with it-like enthusiasm for life, determination to hang in there, and a strong desire to be of encouragement to others. Such qualities make our voyage bearable when we hit the open seas and encounter high waves of hardship that tend to demoralize and paralyze. There is nothing better than a joyful attitude when we face the challenges life throws at us” (Swindoll, page 19).
Studying about joy in Scripture, looking at verses which speak of joy, helps build an understanding of how to put ourselves in places where it is possible to find and maintain an attitude of joy in our journey of life. We need to position ourselves in 2019 to seek after and find joy in the journey of life. God desires to help us find that joy!
• We can find Joy through laughter.
• We can find joy in God’s Love.
• But we also can find joy in praise to the Lord.
Sermon: Find joy in the journey through praise!
Gods greatest desire is that we – you and I - would act like Him and live with Him. God placed His nature in us and as a believer His presence lives in us (Gen 2:8). He desires to interact with us through praise which encompasses prayer and worship as well. We can discover with the help of the Lord joy in the journey of life – even when we face illness, death, persecution, trials and hardship.
Thesis: We need to experience the Spirit of the Lord in praise which includes prayer and worship. We need to invite Him to come into these times of hardship in our lives with praise and worship. We need to do it both individually and corporately so we are strengthened with His presence. When we experience His presence through the dimensions of Davidic worship spoken about in Psalms our lives will be renewed and we will find joy.
Introduction:
A few weeks back I left off in 1 John 5 as I spoke on finding joy in the journey through love.
I want to summarize I John 5 for us today before I proceed with finding joy in the journey through praise – you may be thinking good he is finishing 1 John, some may not even care that I am addressing it, others are excited to hear the last chapter of 1 John? So, let me answer the why of this summary? What John shares in this chapter should compel us or even lead us to want to offer up praises to the One who deserves our praise: That person is Jesus! 1 John tells me why I need to believe and how I should believe and why I should praise Him (Jesus).
When we are possessed by God’s love – when we really believe in Jesus and His mission – when we follow His Word and teachings – when we know He was sent by God to pay the sacrifice for our sins so we could be free – when we love Him enough to praise Him - we will get the strength to not fear anyone or anything. This lack of fear will cause us to stand for Jesus message whether we live in China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or even in the United States. How could this happen you may be thinking? Because His love is more powerful than fear and that love will drive us to praise the One who set us free - we will love Jesus even in the midst of suffering and persecution and fear will not hold us in bondage – we will be free.
Nik Ripken stated, “Believers in persecution remind us of a possible lie inherent in Western Cultures. We sometimes thank God that we live in countries where we are “free to worship.” It is interesting that public prayers are rarely uttered thanking God that we are “free to witness”! Significantly, witnessing to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has little to do with political freedom. Believers are as free to share Jesus in Saudi Arabia as they are in St. Louis. Believers are as free to share Jesus in Somalia as they are in Kentucky. Being a witness for Jesus has little to do with political freedom. On the contrary, our willingness to witness has everything to do with obedience and courage” (page 30).
If we Believe in Jesus – we will want to obey His teachings – we will want to witness to others about how great He is and what He did for us - we will want to love and praise Him - 1 John 5 tells us why we will want to love Him and praise Him! Listen to Johns words – remember He was the closest to Jesus out of all the 12!
1 John 5:
Faith in the Son of God
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
7For there are three that testify:
8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
9We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
10Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Concluding Remarks
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that.
17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
John in Scripture or The Word or the Bible refers to himself as, “The disciple whom Jesus Loved” He says it no less than 5 times. Robert Crosby states in his book, “The One Jesus Loves” “John made reference to himself using not his given name, John, but his spiritual self-description “the disciple whom Jesus loved” Among all the Gospel writers, he was the only one who did so, and yet he is also considered the Apostle of Love or the Beloved Disciple.”
John was the closest to Jesus – He knew what it meant to Love the Lord with His whole heart and mind!
His words from 1 John 5 should grip our hearts – should open our eyes – should compel us to obey His commands. Love – experiencing God’s love – should change us to want to love God and praise Him and love others by sharing our God story about meeting Jesus to others! It should cause us to praise Him! A Believer according to John and the Bible does the following:
A person who believes in Jesus does the following:
• A believer will love others as Jesus did and they will also love God above anyone or anything else in this world.
• A believer loves God by obeying His commands – they love God so much they follow The Big 10 (The 10 Commandments) especially #1 “You shall have no other God’s before me.” #2 “You should not make yourself and idol … and bow down to it. #4 “Observe the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy…no labor no work…it is a day set aside for the Lord.”
• A believer is one whose faith will overcome the world – like Dmitri did!
• A believer will follow the Spirit of Truth and reject the lies of the world.
• A believer will know they have life – even eternal life and this will cause them to sing praises to Jesus.
• A believer knows if we ask God the Father for something in His Will - He hears us – this truth here should compel us to praise Him.
• A believer prays for people trapped in sin so they could be freed from sin!
• A believer does not practice sin!
• A believer does not worship and praise idols they only praise and worship Jesus.
These things spoken by John above all have to do with believing in Jesus as the Son of God and knowing He is the Savior of the world. The reality of believing should inspire – compel – lead us to praise and worship Jesus and act as a disciple of Jesus! When we do this we will find joy in the journey – we will find Love gives us joy and love drives us to praise the Lord which gives us joy in the journey.
I want to highlight another Hero of the faith from Scripture – His name is David! Listen to His words and listen to how He loves and praise the Lord.
Scriptures for finding joy in the journey of life through Praise:
Psalm 100
1Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 8:
1O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
2From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
5You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
7all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
9O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
I. David a man after God’s own heart – a worshipper of God! He found joy in the journey through Praise to the Lord!
a. Tradition states that King David gave us the Book of Psalms. Seventy-three of the 150 bear his name, and the unattributed ones are also from him (Talmud, Berakhot 9b). So, David is most likely the author of both of the Psalms I just read to you today – you may ask who was David?
i. David first became famous as a musician to King Saul after the Prophet Samuel anointed him to be the next King of Israel – he was just a young shepherd boy when we are introduced to him in Scripture 1 Samuel 16.
1. Saul is tormented by evil spirits because he rejected God’s way – he disobeyed God’s word and David would play and Saul would be comforted by the anointed music he played.
ii. David the boy is the one who kills Goliath and becomes a famous warrior.
iii. David the man is the one who slayed 10,000 for the defense of Israel and grows in popularity with the people of Israel.
iv. David the man is the one who ran for his life when King Saul decided out of jealousy to kill him.
v. David the leader of an army of mighty men on the run from Saul’s army fought for God and God protected them. He wrote some of His Psalms or songs while on the run from Saul.
vi. David is eventually made King of Israel.
vii. David the King of Israel worshipped God and set praise and worship in motion 24 7 for the Lord in the Tabernacle – a tent dedicated to worshipping God.
viii. David is said in the Bible to be a man after God’s own heart!
b. Ron Edmonson states this about our man David:
i. Acts 13:22 says, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.‘” The following words describe the heart of David as seen in his own writings: (All verses New International Version)
1. Humble – “Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.” Psalm 62:9
2. Reverent – “I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:3
3. Respectful – “Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.” Psalm 31:9
4. Trusting – “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1
5. Loving – “I love you, O Lord, my strength.” Psalm 18:1
6. Devoted – “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.” Psalm 4:7
7. Recognition – “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.” Psalm 9:1
8. Faithful – “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23:6
9. Obedient – “Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.” Psalm 119:34
10. Repentant – “For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.” Psalm 25:11
a. David’s example is a great road map for how we are to live our life. He found joy in the journey of life through praise and worship to God! In good times, in bad times in times of battle and times of peace. His joy came from his connection to God through praise and worship and prayer. (Note: Ron Edmondson pastors Immanuel Baptist Church. Find out more at: http://www.ronedmondson.com/about)
ii. David was an individual who loved God with His whole heart – He failed at times – He was not perfect – He fell into sin but in the end he returned to God.
1. David would have agreed with the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”
c. The Tabernacle of David reveals the heart of praise and worship he had for God: The following is from http://www.buildinghishouse.org/prophecy/david.shtml:
i. It was just a tent filled with the glory of God. It was just a tent, a regular old tent that had nothing but the manifest presence of God…This tent that sat high atop Mt. Zion had nothing in it but the ark of the Covenant – the Ark of God. (It was filled with the sacrifices of prayer praise and worship). There were musicians and singers worshipping God 24 7 for the purpose of honoring God for who He was. Just the ark (with God’s presence)! Just the glory! It must have been amazing to walk into.
ii. Thoughts on this section of Scripture in 1 Chronicles:
1. The Tabernacle of David was established to be a place where God’s presence dwelled in the midst of 24 hours a day – 7 days a week prayer/praise and worship setting. This prayer/praise and worship established by David lasted for 36 years straight. It is said that during this time revival and prosperity reigned because of God’s presence. It is said that Israel’s spiritual life was invigorated.
2. The worship on Mt. Zion in the Tent ended after about 36 years because Solomon had completed the Temple and then placed The Ark of God (Covenant) in the Temple’s holy of holies. The worship moved to the Solomon’s Temple along with the prescribed sacrifices. It remained there until the destruction of the Temple by Babylon. Prior to Jerusalem’s destruction Jeremiah received a vision to hide the Ark of the Covenant so that the invading army would not get it. Historical writings tell us that the Ark of the Covenant was buried some were in a cave in what is believed to be Ethiopia today, it disappeared after this in the time line of history.
a. Bob Johnson from: http://tabernacle-of-david.com/catechism.html states: The majority of the Psalms were originally sung as prophetic songs in David's Tabernacle. They account in detail the expressions of worship offered by the Israelites before the Ark of the Covenant. In addition, they describe the full range of human emotions revealed in the presence of God, from deepest despair to highest joy. The righteous kings of Israel that followed David reestablished Davidic worship within the context of Temple worship. These revivals of Davidic worship paved the way for spiritual renewal and military victory. These times of revival and victory were under Solomon (2 Chr. 5-7) - 101 B.C., Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20) - 896 B.C., Joash (2 Chr. 23-24) - 835 B.c., Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29-30) - 726 B.C., Josiah (2 Chr. 35) - 623 B.C., Ezra (Ezra 3:10-13) - 536 B.C. and Nehemiah (Neh. 12:28-47) - 446 B.C.
iii. Bob also notes: Even after David’s time, Davidic worship re-appeared in every subsequent revival mentioned in the Old Testament:
1. Abijah – 2 Chronicles 13:14-15
2. Asa – 2 Chronicles 15:12-15
3. Jehoshaphat – 2 Chronicles 20:18-22
4. Joash – 2 Chronicles 23:12-15
5. Hezekiah – 2 Chronicles 29:25-30
6. Josiah – 2 Chronicles 35:25
7. Zerubbabel – Ezra 2:65, Ezra 3: 10-13
8. Nehemiah – 12: 27, 36, 45-46
iv. Old Testament prophecies in Isa 16:5; Amos 9:11-12 specifically mention that in the last days this type of worship would reemerge at Jesus Second Coming. We are experiencing this move of the Spirit today through places like IHOP and our Sunday night Heart’s Ablaze services.
1. Isaiah 16:5: In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.
2. Amos 9:11-12: 11“In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, 12so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, “declares the LORD, who will do these things.
3. In Acts 15:16-17 this Davidic worship was fulfilled and set in motion by the church of Jesus Christ.
4. Acts 15:16-17: 15The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 16“‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’
d. Characteristics of David’s style of praise/prayer and worship:
i. Davidic prayer/praise and worship puts God in first place.
1. Colossians 3:2: 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
ii. Davidic prayer/praise and worship flows from our hearts out of love for God – true prayer, praise and worship flows from a deep intimate relationship with the Lord.
1. The Psalm’s which you have in the Bible where birthed from the hearts of the people as they worshipped before the Lord night and day in this Tabernacle.
2. David wrote most of them as songs and prayers to the Lord!
3. Davidic prayer/praise and worship is a conscious choice – no one can make you do it – you have to want to do it.
a. Hebrews 13:15: 15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
4. Davidic prayer/praise and worship is an expression of our faith – our trust in the Lord.
a. 2 Cor. 5:7: 7We live by faith, not by sight.
T.S. - Praise that attracts Gods presence must be done in spirit and truth. This means with sincerity of heart, with a passion for the Lord, with purity of motives and a humility before God. This pattern is seen in the 7 Hebrew words describing praise and worship to God. The following is gleamed from Joel Sans notes at www.destiny.co.za.
Conclusion:
The purpose or prayer/praise and worship is too experience the Spirit of God in our environment like we will in Heaven. When His presence manifested to us our thirst gets quenched, our hearts get renewed, restoration happens and our lives are energized.
Ps. 9:1-3:
1I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.
2I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you.
God wants us to interact with Him through praise-prayer and worship and yes it can be all wrapped together. It's the Davidic style of worship that God loves to bless and what He uses to bring the power of His restoration to our burdened hearts and lives.
The NT says we are too:
• Sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
? Eph 5:19; Col 3:16
• Sing in the Spirit
? 1 Cor. 14:15
• Lift holy hands in prayer
? 1 Tim. 2:8
• Offer to God sacrifices of praise
? Heb. 13:15
• The book of Revelation records scene after scene of Heavenly worship that includes shouting - Rev. 19:1; and vibrant “Hallelujahs” sang out to the Lord - Rev. 19:7
• Rev. and Psalms tell us that we will sing new songs to the Lord as we worship Him with all of our hearts.
* Rev 5:9
* Psalm 149
• Bowing is also spoken of and expected.
o Rev. 4:10
Closing Video: Jaye Thomas IHOP
What we need to know and do!
• We need to experience the Spirit of the Lord in praise which includes prayer and worship.
• We need to invite Him to come into these times of hardship in our lives with praise and worship.
• We need to do it both individually and corporately so we are strengthened with His presence.
• When we experience His presence through the dimensions of Davidic worship spoken about in Psalms our lives will be renewed and we will find joy.
