Praise the Lord

[0:00] Praise my Father, King of Heaven, to His feet I give you. Psalm 148.

[0:12] Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His angels. Praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon. Praise Him.

[0:26] All ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.

[0:42] He hath also established them forever and ever. He hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps.

[0:54] Fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind, fulfilling His word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars. Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl.

[1:10] Kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord.

[1:26] For His name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth and heaven. He also exalted the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Praise ye the Lord.

[1:47] Praise ye the Lord. Please be seated. Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. It's the same in any language. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. Some aspects of praise we read in God's word. We could really take the book of Psalms as our text. Praise ye the Lord. It's filled with praise.

[2:10] And the first thing we can see about praise, praise ye the Lord. It's God-centered. It's centered in God. It's centered in the Lord. Our attention is on the glory of God, not on man.

[2:23] Not that man be praised, but God be praised. It's directed at the Lord, our God, not man. Let them praise the name of the Lord. For His name alone is excellent. His glory is above the earth and heaven.

[2:39] In the very first song recorded in the Bible, the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. A great victory. As they watched the Egyptian army destroy, they sang praises. They sang praises.

[2:53] They praised. They gave thanks for the mighty works that God had done in freeing them from bondage. In Exodus 15, they sang, The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will exalt Him.

[3:16] The worship was not man-centered, not centered on man and his needs. Rather, the focus was glorify Him, glorify Him, glory to Him, glory to His name. Give Him glory.

[3:30] When David was delivered from His name. When David was delivered from his enemies. In 2 Samuel 22, it records, as he was delivered from the hand of Saul, he says, he praises, The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer, the God of my rock. In Him will I trust. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my saviour.

[3:59] Thou savest me from violence. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised. God wants His church to praise Him. God wants you to praise Him. Saints, praise Him. We read how Paul and Silas praised.

[4:15] It didn't matter that they had just been beaten, black and blue. It didn't matter that they were in a dungeon. It didn't matter that it was midnight. It didn't matter their pain, their discomfort. They praised. They sang praises. Their attention was on giving God the glory.

[4:32] It wasn't giving God the honour. Their joy was not in their surroundings, not in their circumstances. Their joy, their focus, their centre was Him.

[4:44] And real praise is God-centred. It's God-centred. Worship is designed for Him. We can make the mistake that thinking worship is for us, but truly, worship is for Him. Praise is for Him.

[4:58] This is a call to worship. Not only is praise to be God-centred, it is also clear that praise is God-commanded. God commands praise. He commands you to praise Him. He commands us to praise Him.

[5:12] It's not an optional extra. It's not an optional item for us to praise Him. It should be our intention to obey Him in praise, to obedience in praise, to glorify Him with your obedience of praise.

[5:27] For example, in Psalm 100, it's called a psalm of praise. Psalm 100, a psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

[5:39] All ye lands. Whether it be Africa, India, Australia, France. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.

[5:51] Come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.

[6:06] We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.

[6:18] Be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations.

[6:31] One of the reasons you were created was to praise Him. One of the reasons you were made was to give Him praise.

[6:41] In Revelation 4.11, to give Him praise, to give Him pleasure. They cried, Thou art worthy, thou art worthy, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power.

[6:57] For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Thou art worthy, thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

[7:12] That's why you were made. That's why you were born. That's why you exist. To give Him praise. To give Him honour. To give Him glory. Praise Him in joyfulness, in gladness, in thankfulness of heart.

[7:26] Psalm 147. Praise ye the Lord. It is a good thing. It is good to sing praises unto our God.

[7:37] For it is pleasant, and praise is comely. It is right. It is beautiful. It's a precious and beautiful thing. Praise is comely. Praise is befitting.

[7:47] Praise is beautiful. It's wonderful. Praise. Praise Him. Praise is to be God-centred. To be God-centred. Praise is God-commanded.

[7:58] And thirdly, praise is to be fully God-dependent. Dependent upon God. Dependent upon Him. The attention of our praise.

[8:11] The attention of our praise is the glory of God. The intention of our praise is the glory of God. The motivation of our praise is the glory of God.

[8:22] Whatsoever you do, it says. Whatsoever you do, do all things to the glory of God. Our motivation is not our feelings. Now when we praise and worship, we can still enjoy that.

[8:36] There is a gladness. There is a rejoicing. There is a joyfulness. But that is not the center of it. God is the center of our praise. His glory is the attention, the intention of our heart, the motivation of our praise.

[8:50] It's not driven by our feelings, but our faith. And we live today in a world that's got the wrong focus. It's got the wrong emphasis. It's self-focused.

[9:01] It's self-dependent. It's self-centered. The world we live, it's humanistic. But we are meant to be theoistic. We are meant to be God-centered, Christ-centered.

[9:15] And the church, sadly, has gravitated the way of the world. We're it's self, it's flesh, it's feelings, it's sensations. This should not be our motive.

[9:26] Our motive should be His glory. Our aspiration, our inspiration, our captivation should be the glory. The glory, the glory of God.

[9:37] The glory of God. And sadly, many Christians are swept away by the way the world thinks. The world's thinking. The world view. For many Christians, they decide the rightness and wrongness of things by how it makes them feel.

[9:55] By how they feel about it. By what they think about it. By their impressions about it. And I've had that said to me. Of someone that took some offense about something that the Bible says is an abomination.

[10:14] And someone spoke about that. And they got offended and they said, Oh, we believe in rights. We believe in rights. And we believe in freedom of choice.

[10:26] And those people don't need saving. Was what they wrote to me. And yet, it's not what we think or feel.

[10:37] Even another person wrote to me about the subject of hell. I mean, it's not something we like to think of. But the Word talks about it. And we need to believe what He says about things.

[10:50] What He says about sin. What He says about hell. What He says about life and death. And judgment to come. It's not about our feelings. And nor should it be with our praise.

[11:02] With our worship. It's not about praising Him when we feel like it. That praise should be some fickle and changeable thing. Our motivation is the glory of God.

[11:15] It's not our feelings. It's faith. It's not based on how we feel. Or how we're inclined to think. Whatsoever we do, we give glory. Whatsoever we do, give glory.

[11:26] Our reason for praise is who He is. The Saviour. Our Redeemer. Our all in all. So praise Him. Praise Him. I exhort you. I exhort you as the Word says to you.

[11:38] To me. Praise ye the Lord. It commands you. It commands me. Praise ye the Lord. Praise Him. Praise Him when you're flat.

[11:48] Praise Him when you're tired. Praise Him when you feel like complaining. Praise Him when you're flagging. Praise Him when you don't feel like it. Praise Him when you feel like complaining.

[12:00] Praise Him. Praise ye Him. Praise ye the Lord. You may be going through great testing. There may be questions you might ask. What am I to do? What faces me?

[12:11] What challenges await me? I've got through last year, but what lies in this one? What lies ahead for me? What have I got to yet face? To yet encounter?

[12:23] Could be great tests. Could be great challenges. Could be greater challenges than you've ever faced. You may ask, what am I to do? This tells you what I am to do.

[12:35] What ye are to do. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Tell your soul what to do. Tell your soul what to do.

[12:47] Tell your soul to give Him glory. Tell your soul to give Him praise. Tell your soul to praise the Lord. As David did in Psalm 42, verse 5. He says, Why art thou cast down, O my soul?

[13:01] Why art thou cast down? Why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God. David speaks for his soul. Hope thou in God.

[13:12] For I shall yet praise Him who is the help. For I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

[13:24] I shall yet praise Him. Yet will I praise Him. It's all the more reason to praise. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God.

[13:34] Praise the Lord, O my soul. Speak to your soul today. Speak to your spirit. Speak to your heart. True praise celebrates the worth and value of the Lord.

[13:47] It's not dependent upon how you feel or what you face. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And all that is within me.

[13:59] Bless His holy name. All that is within me. That is the totality of your being. That is the totality of who you are.

[14:10] Of what you are. All that is within me. Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And forget not all His benefits. Forget not all His benefits.

[14:22] We get so forgetful. You get so forgetful. I get so forgetful. We ought to praise the Lord for all His benefits. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

[14:35] Praise the Lord. What can you praise Him for? Praise Him for your salvation. Praise Him that your name is written down in heaven. There's a book somewhere with your name recorded in it.

[14:46] And it's out of this world. Your name is written in heaven. Bless the Lord. Forget not all His benefits. Bless the Lord that you have help.

[14:58] You have someone to turn to in your darkest hour. When trouble comes, bless the Lord. He is there for you. Worship and praise is not so much about the music, or the professionalism, or the presentation.

[15:15] It's about the praise. It's about the glory that comes to Him. It's about the glory that we give unto Him. It's not so much about the music, or the sensation that we might feel.

[15:27] It's about the Lord, upon whom it is centered. To whom it is directed. It's your obedience to Him. It's your response to Him.

[15:38] It's the adoration of the sacred. That is praise. It's the experience of God. It's the fear of the Lord. That is praise. In Acts 2.47, the church praised Him.

[15:50] In Jerusalem, they were praising God, and having favour with all the people. They were praising God. And what happened? Power was in that praise.

[16:02] Power was in that church, as they were praising God. There is power. In the book of Psalms, it's a book of praise. A book of praise songs. Take the Psalms and praise Him.

[16:14] Take the Psalms and praise Him with David. As he says, Psalm 63.3, My lips shall praise Thee. My lips shall praise Thee.

[16:24] Use your lips to praise Him. Psalm 107.21, he says, Oh, that man would praise the Lord. His heart cried out, Oh, that man would praise the Lord.

[16:37] Psalm 74.21, he says, Let the poor and needy praise Thy name. Whatever your lot in life, praise Him. It doesn't matter what your bank account is.

[16:49] You've got the wealth of glory. You've got the abundance of His life, of His life within you. Live down. His salvation, His gift, beyond compare.

[17:05] Praise the Lord. Let the poor and needy praise Thy name. In Psalm 22.3, it says, That God inhabits the praises of His people. Get that. He inhabits the praises of His people.

[17:19] He inhabits them. He dwells there. He's enthroned there within our praise. He's present in our praise. Psalm 119.164, it says, Seven times a day do I praise Thee.

[17:34] I don't know how many times the Muslims pray, but we should praise Him seven times a day. We should praise Him morning, noon and night, and in between. Amen. We should praise the name of the Lord.

[17:47] Praise His name. Praise Him when you see people come to Christ. Praise Him when you see God's truth. Praise Him when you fellowship as God's saints. Praise Him.

[17:58] Why shouldn't I praise the Lord? Let all that is within me praise His holy name. It brings Him adoration. It brings Him reverence. It brings Him glory. Won't you decide to praise Him?

[18:10] Won't you decide to praise Him? Won't you say to your soul, Soul, praise the Lord. Psalm 9, it says, verse 1, I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart.

[18:24] I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will, I will, I will show forth all Thy marvellous works.

[18:37] I will be glad. I will be glad and rejoice in Thee. I will sing praise to Thy name, O Thou Most High.

[18:47] Do you know Him? Do you know Him? Is He your Saviour? Then you can praise Him. If you don't know Him, then find Him.

[19:00] Find Him, search Him. Search for Him, seek for Him. If you're saved today, you've got reason to praise. If you're not saved, then you've got reason to repent.

[19:12] You've got reason to seek Him. While there's still time, while there's still breath in your lungs, how long has it been since you praised the Lord?

[19:23] How long has it been since you praised Him? How long has it been since you sat down and realised what you have? Forget not all His benefits. I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart.

[19:40] Praise ye the Lord. Tell your soul to praise the Lord. Psalm 146, Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.

[19:52] While I live will I praise the Lord. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. In Him we live and move and have our being.

[20:03] I will praise the Lord while I have any being. Praise the Lord today. Praise the Lord this week. Praise the Lord day by day, moment by moment.

[20:14] Praise the Lord seven times a day will I praise Him. Praise the Lord for the blessed Bible He has given to you. Praise the Lord for your freedom to read it, to fellowship.

[20:26] Praise the Lord for a fellowship to serve Him in. Praise the Lord for a heart to love Him more and more. Praise the Lord. Glory to God. Hallelujah.

[20:37] Praise ye the Lord. His mercy endures forever. You've got so many reasons to praise. Hallelujah. His mercy endures forever.

[20:47] Forever and ever and ever and ever. I quote a picture here. He says, When kingdoms have crumbled for the last time, His mercy endures forever.

[20:58] When dictators have waged their wicked battles for the last time, His mercy endures forever. When the stars have fallen like untimely figs from a tree shaken by the wing, His mercy endures forever.

[21:14] When the sun refuses to shine and the moon has turned as black, as sackcloth of hair, His mercy endures forever. When people shall die no more and cemetery shall not dot the horizon, His mercy endures forever.

[21:31] When shoulders shall never stoop, nor brows wrinkle, nor faces become furrowed, His mercy endures forever.

[21:42] When all of us awake in His likeness to wean, forever around His throne, His mercy endures forever. Forever. Blessed be God, His mercy endures forever.

[21:58] Psalm 150. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts.

[22:10] Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance.

[22:24] Praise Him with string instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals. Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.

[22:42] Praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah. Let everything. Yes. Even my little dog. Even your cat or dog. The birds in the air. The trees of the field.

[22:54] Praise you the Lord. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise you the Lord. Don't miss this today. Praise Him. Praise Him. Just to close, Isaiah 64, 7, it says, There is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.

[23:14] What a tragedy that Isaiah saw. There is none that calleth upon thy name. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.

[23:26] Is that true of you today? Is that true of you today? You need to be stirred up, brother. You need to be stirred up, sister. Stir up your soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

[23:37] Tell your soul to praise Him. Praise ye the Lord. Will you? Will you? Will you take hold of God? Take hold of God. Stir yourself up to take hold of Him.

[23:49] Take hold of Him. Take hold of Him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we praise your wonderful name. We thank you that you are great and greatly to be praised.

[24:01] We thank you, Lord, that praise is comely. It's a beautiful thing. Praise is a beautiful thing. Lord, help us to praise you more. To praise you like David did seven times a day.

[24:14] To praise you, Lord, all the time with all our soul, with all our being, with our whole heart. Lord, help us to see how we should instruct our soul to praise you. Help us to see how praise is your glory.

[24:27] It's your honour. It's your command. It's your privilege. It's our privilege to praise you. Help us, Lord, to praise you whether we feel like it or not. Lord, to praise you in the good, in the bad, at all times, that we will learn to praise.

[24:43] Help us, Lord, to praise you in the dungeon at midnight. Lord, to praise you, to praise you whether we like it or not. To praise you, to praise you.

[24:55] And, Lord, we do love to praise you. We do love to praise your name. In Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.