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"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." ~Jesus Christ, in Matthew 28:18-20 |
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The Doxology |
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The Power of Praise Have you had any problems lately? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Does life seem like you are going up hill on a rainy, cold windy day every day all day? Or perhaps you feel like you are stuck on a hot, dry desert and nobody gives a hoot? Have I ever got good news for you! There is a way out of your wilderness. I have a revelation from the Lord! Praise God anyhow!! Has this ever been done? Absolutely! God enjoys praise. In fact, God loves to be praised! Praise combined with obedience made King David a man after God’s own heart. There is a lesson in this for us!
David wrote this psalm during a terrible time in his life. He was in the Desert of Judah. It was hot and dry. His son Absalom was trying to take over his kingdom and a number of David’s enemies were out to destroy him. Even though he was on the run and times were tough he still chose to praise God. God had anointed him to be king and he had God’s assurance that things would work out… so he praised God! You may be going through a tough time. Just like David, you have God’s assurance that He will work thing out. Praise the Lord! Even when you do not feel like it, praise God! It may have to be a “sacrifice of praise!” God will bless you if you do it! When life hands us a lemon make lemonade. David was in a hard place so he wrote a psalm – a song of praise and the people of God have used his writings to praise God for thousands of years! As he meditated on his situation he thought about how much God meant to him…”O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you…my soul thirsts for You…” Quit feeling sorry for yourself! Ask God how you can make the best of whatever situation you are in. Submit yourself to the Lord, resist the devil and the devil has to run away from you! God promised it in James 4. There are two kinds of birds in the desert – the vulture and the hummingbird. The vulture is always on the look for some dead, putrid flesh to satisfy its appetite! They circle above a dying person or animal and then swoop down to eat what’s left! Yuk! The hummingbird, on the other hand, is always looking for a living, fresh plant so it can get some sugar! The vulture lives in the past – he focuses on what has been. The hummingbird on the other hand enjoys today and looks forward to the bright freshness of tomorrow. What about you and me? Are we sad for days gone by – are we still punishing ourselves for the sins of the past or are we enjoying the fullness of God’s Word today? The choice is yours and mine! If we learn to live for today and live a life of praise and gratitude to God our lives will be very enjoyable – even during the tough times when we face sorrow, sickness and loss. When those things come our way we can either get better or bitter. We can get angry and revengeful or we can say, “Wow! I have a new chance to grow in the grace and power of God!” Praising God may seem like taking medicines – something you do because someone told you to. But as praise takes hold of your heart you will start enjoying it! There are four kinds of medicines out there – prescribed, illegal, supplements, and the “GOS-PILL,” meaning the good news of salvation. Most of us do not like to take medicine. Pharmacists disguise children’s medicine to taste like candy, but adults are supposed to take what they need. However we do not like to take medications for a variety of reasons:
Sincere praise to God has a few undesirable side effects: some folks may think you are a little crazy – the will get over it when they see you win your victory. Failure to take your medications as ordered can lead to early death or more sickness. Uncontrolled diabetes will either kill you or make you wish you were dead! Amputations and dialysis are not that much fun! Uncontrolled high blood pressure may lead to strokes with physical devastation and maybe even a stay in the nursing home. Cancer can now be cured in many situations – but people hate the side effects of the drugs. Illegal drugs or alcohol abuse may temporarily hide the pain in your heart, but the ultimate result can be hell on earth. But there is one other pill that everyone must take to enjoy eternity with the Lord. This pill is the “Gos-pill.” (Okay, I know, it’s called the Gospel – the good news of salvation.) When Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and we are off to a new, transformed life. However, many of us have known people that started serving God but dropped out of the picture a few days or weeks later. The reason is simple. They had an emotional experience, but not a conversion experience. True Christians are committed to pleasing God in everything they say and do. God expects us to praise Him daily. He is God; He is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and He deserves our adoration and praise. Actually, all of us enjoy – and need - a little praise now and then. We just need someone to brag on us, to affirm that we have value to them. Praise is: 1. Expression of approval, commendation, or admiration. 2. To extol to exalt, to worship. When we praise God it blesses Him – and it also strengthens us. If you doubt that, just brag on someone – it will brighten your day, their day, and the day of anyone that overhears your words – assuming that the words were honest and sincere. By the same token, when we put someone down it takes the joy out of them and makes us feel worse as well.
Ways to worship the Lord
Declaring of thanks (Hebrews 13:15) Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess His name.
Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Praise him with tambourine and dancing; praise him with the strings and flute.
Sing praises to the LORD; proclaim among the nations what he has done.
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn-- shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.
“In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (To exalt God is to make Him the most important thing in our lives. If He is supreme in our lives we will spend a lot of time in His word searching to see if we are truly doing everything He asks of us!)
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
Psalm 95:1-7a “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.
Finally, let’s look at the power of praise in a prison: Acts 16:23-26. “After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.” <> We don't know what Paul and Silas were singing, but shall we see some of what's available to us today?
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow, in Sign Language Four Young People Harmonize The Doxology See the Lyrics and Hear a Piano Accompaniment See and Hear a Lovely Presentation of the Doxology Sunday, August 30, 2009 |
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Scriptures taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION (NIV).
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