Praise and Worship - Part 2

0:11 Last week I started this series on praise and worship. So today is part two of praise and worship. Amen. I want to take a moment and just quickly rehash what we talked about last Sunday. So last Sunday, I spent the time just giving you multiple examples of God's response to praise and worship. When we praise and worship God, it invites God to respond. And I hope you all know that we serve a God who hears our faintest cry and answers by and by. We talked about and looked at Jehoshaphat and how he was being challenged by an army of countries. And they worshiped God and God gave them the victory.

1:11 He caused the enemies to attack each other. We looked at Joshua and the children of Israel marching around the walls of Jericho. And when they got to the end of marching around the walls of Jericho, they shouted and worshiped and the walls came tumbling down. We looked at Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16 who were in prison.

1:34 Who's going to worship God while they're in prison? but Paul and Silas worshiped God and God supernaturally caused the walls, the jail to open up and they were freed. And God is the same God. Look at your neighbor and say, God is the same God today, yesterday, and forever.

1:55 He's the same God. So what he did yesterday, he can still do for us today. Amen. Now, today in part two, I want to give you some principles today about, again, about praise and worship. Why should we praise and worship? What's the significance of it? So you already know from last week that we give God praise and worship because he responds to our voice and our cry. Matter of fact, I am persuaded that the more desperate your situation is, the more desperate your praise and worship of God ought to be. I know you, I heard it in my spirit. People say, well, that's not me or that's not my personality. God wants us to look beyond what our personality or what our comfort is and respond to doing what is right for him.

2:57 Now, I got, how many points I got today? I got three points and some sub points. Okay, so let me give you the first point. As a matter of fact, I guess I should read Psalm 150. Let me start with Psalm 150 because that's the cornerstone verse for this series is Psalm 150. And here's what Psalm 150 reads. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty firmament. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the lute and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with string instruments and flutes. Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with clashing cymbals.

3:51 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Amen. Look at your neighbor and say, you got breath. It might be bad breath, but you got breath. So here's my first point. Praise and worship of God, here it is, point one, is a sacrifice.

4:25 It's a sacrifice. Somebody say a sacrifice. Now, I've got a ton of verses. See, I'm going to give you all time to write down all those verses. I'm not going to read all of them. I just want you, because I know you're all right. Y'all take good notes. Yeah. I know y'all take good notes. Are you a member here? I am. Okay. All right. How long you been a member here? Since I was six. Since you were six? How old are you now? I am 32. No, you are not 32 years old. What?

4:59 All right. Okay. That's how many years is that? It's a lot. It's a lot. He will never come in church without a Bible or without a place to take note ever again in this church since you've been here since six years old. You will never do that again. We are people who believe in taking seriously what we hear from the Word of God. Can I get an amen right there? Yeah, we're serious. I'm not playing. I'm not entertaining. This is not entertainment. I'm teaching you the Word of God. And you show God that you're interested by taking notes.

5:43 That's how you show God that you're paying attention, that you're interested in it. You do what it is because you ain't going to remember everything we're going to say today. Amen. And when you get old, I walk into rooms and forgot why I came in the room. I pick up the phone and make a call. Now, who was I calling when I picked up the phone?

6:07 That is, that's the way we function here. So, hear these verses. I'm sorry, I got distracted. Praise and worship is a sacrifice. Here's what Psalm 107 verse 22 says. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. So it's a declaration to us for us to sacrifice thanksgiving to God. Here's Psalm 116 verse 17. I know I said I wasn't going to read them all, but I am.

6:45 I changed my mind. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. It's a sacrifice. When we worship God, it's a sacrifice according to the scripture. Psalm 54 and 6, it says, I will freely sacrifice to you. Somebody say, freely sacrifice to you. I will praise your name, O God, for it is good. Now, what I love about this is the word freely. I try to teach our praise and worship people. We're not trying to, I don't think God gives glory when the only time you raise your hand or open your mouth is when somebody from the pulpit asks you to do it. I don't believe that's glorifying God, that you're only responding. What gives God the glory is when you willingly and sacrificially, without being prompted or asked, decide on your own that God is so good that you're willing to give him the sacrifice of your prayer.

7:47 And so I try to teach our praise and worship leaders. Don't ask people. Don't beg them. Don't challenge them. We don't, that's not what we, that's not the kind of worship we want. I don't think God gets any glory out of that. I don't feel God really receives that kind of worship. It's when we, when you make a choice, look at your neighbor and say, when you make a choice on your own,

8:12 y'all a little low there, on your own, here is uh he here's hebrews 13 15 therefore by him let us continually somebody say continually offer the sacrifice of praise to god that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name oh i love that that's worthy somebody say praise the lord that's worthy We want to give God the glory and the honor that we sacrificially on our own, by our own desire, by our own decision, by our own acts, give God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I wish I had an amen right there. Amen. So it's a sacrifice. It is a sacrifice.

9:04 Make the sacrifice. Here's number two. Praise and worship is for God's pleasure. Now, this is an important deal because when I became the pastor of First Baptist Church at Glen Arden, we started doing some things that we had not done before. One of the things we did was we added drums to the church. This is 36 years ago. We never had drums, so we added some drums. And the drums, the drums was not pleasing in everybody's sight.

9:45 But the drummer we had was outrageous. He thought it was the show of his drum skills. But what I had to teach the people is we did not add the drums for your pleasure. the drums are for the pleasure of God can I get an amen right there praise and worship is for the pleasure of what God desires and throughout the scripture it gives us the things that he tells us he wants us to do so we do what we do and we say what we say for the glory and the pleasure of almighty God it ain't about you look at your neighbor say it ain't about you ain't about your favorite style ain't about your favorite nothing ain't nothing you ain't never saved nobody you ain't never delivered nobody you ain't never healed nobody go on and preach pastor you ain't never done any of that it's for the one who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think we've gathered together not to give praise to john Jenkins not to give praise to you. This is praise to the Almighty God. It was him who woke you up this morning. While you laid in the image of death last night, it was him who decided to wake you up.

11:14 And don't you think he is worthy of you doing something to express gratitude to him? Revelation 4.11 says this. You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. He created everything he created for his glory. It's about his kingdom. It's about advancing his reputation. It's about making him real. It's for his pleasure. that's why we come here today for the pleasure of God matter of fact I'm stopping even trying to convince people to come to church I try to talk to people Tell them why they need church But the more I recognize That's not why you ought to come to church You ought to come to church Because it's for his glory And for his kingdom It's what he declares.

12:37 That's why you ought to be here, because it's what he declares. It's not about you. Look at your neighbor. Say, it ain't about you. Look on the other side. Tell the person on the other side, it ain't about you. Ain't about you. Ain't about you. It's not about you. I got to keep saying that. It is not about you. it's designed for God's pleasure Amen.

13:12 I want to let that soak in for a moment because it is unfortunate that people think it's about them. it ain't about you. Here's number three. And this one has sub points. Point three is that we praise and worship God for multiple reasons. We praise and worship God for multiple reasons. the first one is in Psalm 18 verse 3 and let me read it to you Psalm 18 3 I will call upon the name of the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from my enemies first of all he's worthy of praise that's the reason we worship him he's worthy we serve a God who is worthy He's earned the right to be worshiped and praised.

14:22 All you got to do is look back over your life. Look back over the doors God opened for you. Look back over how he delivered you and freed you and healed you and answered your prayer and worked miracles. Without me knowing your story, I know that there's something that God has done for you in your life that you recognize he is worthy to be praised. Amen. Amen. And guess what? Here's what I believe. I believe that what he has done in my past is great, but his credit is good with me. I'm going to praise him for what he still yet is going to do. I feel a shout down in my soul. Thank you for every door you've opened. You're worthy because of every prayer you've answered.

15:16 You're worthy for everything that you've done on my behalf. I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it. I should have never got it. But you gave it to me in spite of myself. In spite of the fact that I failed you. in spite of the fact that I've been disobedient, in spite of the fact that I didn't give you what you deserve, you are still worthy. Thank you. I know some other people want to take credit for what has happened in your life, but no, no, no, no.

16:19 It is the Lord who has done it. Even if somebody else did it, it's God who gave that person the ability and the power and the opportunity to do it. It all boils back to a God who is worthy. that's one reason that he's worthy that's one reason he's worthy here's another reason Psalm 22 I'm almost finished here's Psalm 22 verse 3 it says this but you are holy enthroned in the praises of Israel Y'all missed a great spot to say amen. You know why we ought to praise him?

17:13 Because he lives, he inhabits the praises of his people. That's an important deal. When the people of God come together and we collectively, this is why worship is so important, the collective gathering of his people who open their mouths together and worship God, he inhabits the praises of his people. he lives in the praise of his people miracles happen when everybody get on one page and in one accord and worship the name of the God that we serve he lives in that he thrives in that he works miracles in that he gives breakthrough in that he inhabits our praise hallelujah, amen I feel a shout down in my soul he inhabits he lives in it Oh, that's what Psalm 22 and 3 says, that God lives and inhabits in the praises of His people.

18:14 We are inviting His presence. When we all collectively together worship God, we're inviting God to come into our midst. And how many of y'all know when God shows up, miracles happen? Your miracles happen. God performs and shows himself strong in that regard. Here's another reason. Here's a sub-point three. It's in Psalm 150 verse 2. It says, praise him. Psalm 150 verse 2. Praise him for his mighty acts.

18:55 Praise him according to his excellent greatness. And I'm just highlighting right here. He's worthy of our praise because of his mighty acts. Now, can I ask y'all a question? Has God done anything that you call a mighty act? A mighty act. Think about what God has done. Would you put any of those things in a mighty act? Is there anything you would consider that no human could have done this? Your boss couldn't do it. The bank couldn't do it. Your doctor couldn't do it. But somehow or another, something worked out, and you have to conclude that only the God that I serve could have done that. Thank you.

19:49 I feel a shout down in my soul when I look back over my life and think about what God has done for me. He done done a whole lot of mighty acts. A multitude of mighty acts. A many mighty acts. See, he has done so many mighty acts. And I'm not ashamed to give him the glory and the praise. Now, I feel tension in the room.

20:35 I feel tension. And the tension is, it's somebody who is saying, well, I don't know any mighty acts that God has done for me. That's one of two problems. It's probably a problem of you are so blinded that you can't see the mighty ass God has come. Because the truth of the matter is, you woke up this morning.

20:59 That's up. That's up. You didn't wake yourself up this morning. How many of y'all know it was the Lord that woke you up? Yes, sir. So we just got to help you get your eyes open that God has done some mighty acts for you. And so I know he's done some mighty acts for you. I know he's done some mighty acts for you that only he could have done and you've just been blind to it. Or it might be, it might be that you haven't given him praise to invite him to do somebody action. You know what I love about the Lord? He did mighty acts for us while we were yet sinners.

21:57 When you weren't thinking about him, you weren't interested in him, you weren't worshiping him, you didn't praise him, you didn't go to church, but he still did some mighty acts for you. And he's worthy of you giving him praise. And I give him all of the glory and all of the praise. I'm so thankful for the mighty acts. So many mighty acts. So many prayers he's answered.

22:57 And you know what I saw God do? Here's somebody asked, I saw God do some things that I was gonna ask him about, but I didn't get a chance to ask him about it because he did it before I asked him about it. Anybody got that experience that God worked it out before you even asked him? I've seen that. I've seen it. I've seen it. I've seen it. I've seen him work it out. I've seen him fix it. I know he's able to do it. Here's my last point. I got one last point.

23:50 And then I'll be finished. I'm going to leave y'all alone. This is my last point. Man. Thank y'all for participating in this message. It's going to go down for the rest of the day.

24:11 Y'all are alive. Your worship means you are alive. It means that y'all done seen God. You've seen his mighty hand. You've seen him fix it. You've seen and you know it was him. Here's my last point right here.

24:48 First beat at 2 and 9. Thank you. Thank you. Don't let her worship by herself. Somebody say, let me join you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Here's my last point. Sub point D.

25:43 It's 1 Peter 2 and 9. Here's with 1 Peter 2 and 9. And I'm done. but you are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen. Somebody ought to praise him, because he brought you out of darkness. Somebody say I was in darkness, but he brought me out of my darkness. He brought me out of my shameful condition.

26:43 He brought me out of my jacked up situation. He brought me out of my way with lifestyle. He opened my eyes. Somebody said he delivered me from drugs. Somebody else says he delivered me from immorality. Somebody else says he did deliver me when I was in darkness. He brought me into his marvelous light. Thank you. Hallelujah.

27:44 Hallelujah. I was in darkness. Some of y'all was in darkness and didn't even know you were in darkness. You didn't know how dark it was until he turned the light on. You saw how jacked up your life was. But when he brings you out of darkness into his marvelous light, you're not ashamed to say thank you. I remember where I was and I know where I am now. He brought me out of my darkness. Y'all hear that? Thank you, Lord.

28:41 That's Tim Thomas. I think I told you all about Tim before. And every time I hear him say, thank you, Lord. I remember his dark days. Strung out on drugs. God brought him out. How many of y'all know only God could have woke you up and brought you out of your addictions? You had some kind of addiction, some kind of challenge, some kind of problem, and only God could have brought you out. He brings us out of our dark places.

29:39 Amen. And I think there might be somebody here today that's living in darkness now. And you haven't had the joy of getting in the light. Well, Jesus will bring you, if you cry out to him, if you come and say, I want help, I want Jesus to forgive me of my sins. He will forgive you of your sins and pull you out of darkness and bring you into his life. You ain't got to stay on drugs. You ain't got to stay in whatever kind of addiction you have. You don't have to stay blinded. You don't have to stay jacked up, tore up to the floor. You don't have to stay doing whatever it is you do. We serve a God who can bring you out. And his name is Jesus. He can give you light.

30:40 He can forgive you of your sins. Whatever you did, regardless of how often you did it, how recently you did it. how frequently he did doesn't matter that's what he'll do he'll give you life and bring you into his