Praise and worship

[0:00] Psalm 9 verses 1 and 2 I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart.

[0:34] I will show forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high.

[0:48] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that we can praise you. We can praise your name. We can praise you for so many reasons. Lord, especially for our salvation.

[0:59] Especially for the work that you showed of grace to us at the cross. Lord, we thank you and praise you. Help us, Lord, to dwell on your praises tonight.

[1:10] To reflect on how praiseworthy you are to us. And how we want to lift up your name every day. And at this time we praise you, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen.

[1:22] Praise the Lord. We want to make sure we praise him with a loud voice. So I'll put my microphone on. Praise thee, O Lord, my whole heart.

[1:35] Praise the Lord. Praise with wholeheartedness. Praise with wholeheartedness. You know, we see in our world today how people praise all kinds of things.

[1:47] They follow all kinds of celebrities and sports stars. You see, young people sometimes plaster their prayers with posters. They idolise their heroes as if they were a god.

[1:59] They praise and elevate them highly. And you see, the gossip magazines as well have got plastered the well-known people.

[2:11] You just can't escape their faces. They're elevated and praised and exalted. But our God is the one who is due praise. He is the one who is due that elevation to the highest place.

[2:26] Our God has the highest place. The first place. There's no comparison with earthly substitutes. He far outranks them. The Lord Jesus, our great God, is to be worshipped and adored above all others.

[2:41] He is worthy of honour and glory and praise. As we read in Revelation 4 verse 11, it tells us of why we were created. Revelation 4 verse 11, it tells you of your purpose for being.

[2:58] The very purpose for our creation was his praise. We read in Revelation 4 verse 11, they cried out, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power.

[3:12] For thou hast created all things. And for thy pleasure they are and were created. His purpose for creation was that it praise him.

[3:24] Let it honour him. Let it esteem and value him. Let it glorify. Let it praise and worship him. And we have so many reasons to praise him.

[3:35] With her said earlier. Reasons to praise. He's worthy. He's worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy in all his unlimited power. Worthy in his majesty.

[3:47] In his glory. He's present everywhere at every time. He's perfectly holy. He's far above what we can consider.

[3:58] And heaven awaiting us is beyond our imagination to conceive. His love. His very person is love personified. And he is love demonstrated at the cross to us.

[4:12] Our first text here says, I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. There's no reservation. There's no holding back. It's to be a full on praise.

[4:25] A full on praise. A whole hearted praise. Now I've just started a new job a couple of weeks ago. And I'm expressing to people to describe it.

[4:38] It's full on. It's full on. My diary's already jam-packed. I've only been there a couple of weeks. It's absolutely full on. It's a very busy job.

[4:51] It's something that is going to take a lot of energy and commitment. And we should be full on for our saviour, shouldn't we? We should be full on, wholehearted for him.

[5:03] Not holding back. No reservation. In Luke 10, 27, it says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself.

[5:23] We ought to be full on. We ought to be wholehearted in our praising, in our worship. And it's an attitude of wholeheartedness that he wants from us.

[5:33] To be a consistent, a faithful Christian. There's a fullness, a wholeheartedness to our service and our worship. And worship and service are tied.

[5:45] They're allied. As we read in Matthew 4, verse 10, where Satan was tempting Christ, and then said Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

[6:02] Worship and serving. They're connected and allied. Him only shalt thou serve. And then we see right through Matthew, the pages of the Gospel of Matthew, it's really a telling thing that we see the worship of the Lord Jesus.

[6:19] It's one of the characteristics of Matthew. Oftentimes we read of coming before him in worship, of people worshipping our Saviour. He didn't deny that worship.

[6:31] But certainly Satan was denied that worship from our Lord. So let's come before him with that fullness, with that wholeheartedness, with that engagement of unreserved worship, a wholehearted worship, a daily attitude of worship.

[6:51] Not because things are good necessarily, but because our God is good. Our God is good, as we heard earlier. And choose your attitude. Is it one that is cold, lukewarm, or hot?

[7:06] A cold attitude? Cold? Unthankful? Angry? Hurt? Vitter? Lukewarm, perhaps? Uncaring? Apathetic?

[7:17] Unconcerned? Or an attitude that's hot? That is full on? That's rejoicing? That's thankful? That's serving him fervently? In 1 Peter 2.9 it says, Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that thou should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness and into his marvellous light.

[7:48] Show forth his praises, the praises of him who hath called you. If you're saved, then show it. If you're saved, then show that salvation by your praises.

[8:01] Show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. We've got reason to praise. That's a good reason, isn't it? To be taken out of darkness, to be taken out of the slime pit, out of the miry mud and clay of our sin.

[8:18] That sinking sand of our sin and placed on that firm and solid place to stand. The rock, Christ Jesus. We've got reason to praise.

[8:30] Reason. You know, there was a church that gave a notice in the morning service. They said to the congregation in the notice time, They said, The pastor will not be with us tonight.

[8:43] We shall therefore be holding a service of praise in song. Some people are thinking they were praising because they didn't have to have a sermon. They were glad to be able to praise. And we've got many reasons to praise him.

[8:56] To praise him. And it's more than just words too. As someone put it, Let the one who would worship God open his mouth in praise, his heart in receptivity, his mind in contemplation, his purse in dedication, and his hand in fellowship.

[9:15] Be a full-on Christian. A full-on Christian. Not a half-hearted one, but a whole-hearted one. To be praiseful. Full of praise.

[9:26] Some things that we can take to heart in considering the fullness of our praise. The fullness of our praise. That we would be filled with praise.

[9:38] In Psalm 71, verse 8 it says, Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, and with thy honour all the day. Let thy mouth be filled with praise.

[9:50] Filled with his praise. Let your life be filled with his power. We see in Ephesians 5, verse 18, Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

[10:10] Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. We've got reason to be filled with praise. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise. And the Bible says, Be filled with the Spirit.

[10:22] The Spirit of the living God. The Spirit that moved at creation. The Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. The Bible says, The same Spirit of Christ, that same Spirit, lives within those that are saved.

[10:36] And He preserves us. He seals us. And the Bible says, The Holy Spirit is like a seal that comes upon us. And that's got the sense of preserving power.

[10:47] You know, in the old days they had these old, those old jam jars, didn't they? Some of you might recall, those jam jars that were sealed with the special sealing machines and the special method, those jars were sealed so that nothing foreign could enter.

[11:04] That material was preserved. And it's got the same sense that for us, we as Christians, we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. We're held in His keeping.

[11:16] And yet, a Christian can be very empty at times of his power. We need to be being filled, as the sense of it there is, and continue to be seeking Him and refilling those vessels.

[11:29] And let them be vessels that are clean vessels for Him to fill. I know, I've heard it said that, that we need to be clean vessels. And it's not a cleansing of our own doing, but be willing for Him to cleanse.

[11:44] Be willing for Him, as we confess our sins, He cleanses us. And even the foulest and the most unworthy one can be made clean for Him to fill. Thank God for that.

[11:55] Amen. Thank God that, no matter how unworthy, unfit, unclean you might feel, that God, by His mercy, as you pray and ask Him to cleanse your heart by faith in the blood that was shed for you, that cleansing work is done by His Spirit.

[12:13] And then, even more so, He comes and dwells within. The vessel is your body. And you can be as a living sacrifice for Him to fill, to use for His glory.

[12:24] So think of it, if you would, these things that we can be praiseful. How we can be praiseful. How we can praise Him with our whole heart. One way we can be praiseful is to be thankful.

[12:38] Be thankful. A thankful believer in Colossians 3, verse 15. Colossians 3, verse 15, it says, But let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body and be ye thankful.

[12:56] God's peace is going to rule in your heart. That's a good thing, isn't it? In this troubled time, you hear the media reports, there is peace that can rule, that can reign, that can guard and control your heart.

[13:09] And be thankful. Be thankful. Learn to be thankful. Someone prayed this thankful prayer. Now this is firmly tongue in cheek, but consider this thankful prayer. Someone prayed this, Dear God, so far today, I've done all right.

[13:25] I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm very thankful for that, but in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed.

[13:39] From then on, I'm probably going to need a lot more help. You know, we need God's help, don't we? From the moment we wake up, to the moment we lay our head to rest. We need to have a thankful heart.

[13:51] The Bible says, In everything, give thanks. That can be hard, can't it? It can be hard to give thanks. I know, I said it this morning, that there were some mechanical problems, cars breaking down, and all kinds of inconvenience, and yet, through it all, there was opportunity for a soul to be spoken to about salvation.

[14:11] That could have been God's purpose in it all. And we can be thankful even for the inconveniences, even for the pressures at times of life, that we can thank God despite what can happen.

[14:25] I know, I had an experience lately, someone was emailing me about the church, and asking all kinds of questions, and I was kind of hopeful they might want to come and check us out and find out more about us.

[14:38] But just in conversing with them, they made some very critical comment aimed at me personally, and that was it. It kind of cut me off, and I've lost concept with him. But then, I can think, I can be thankful, I can be thankful that such a person didn't come and make more of a nuisance of himself.

[14:57] So we can thank God even for things that might seem disappointing or discouraging or things that we might be hurt about that we can see there's something we can still thank God for.

[15:10] We can still be positive about it. We can fill our heart and mind with godly truths, with his peace. We can honour God with our thinking. We can retrain our mind.

[15:21] You know, the world's constantly bombarding us with messages that are anti-God. You know, it turns to the media and it's slanted that way. Virtually everything we can see is programmed that way because by and large the world, the godless rule the airwaves.

[15:41] By and large, just as their master does, the prince of the power of the air is one of the names of the devil. So no wonder the airwaves are often broadcasting things that are not wholesome.

[15:54] But we can honour our God in our thinking. Retrain our minds to think on things that bring him honour and praise. For example, in Philippians 4, verse 8, the things that we can think upon.

[16:08] There's lots of good things, brothers and sisters. It says, Philippians 4, verse 8, finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.

[16:34] Instead of your mind being besieged by the negativity, by the downcasting forces that would besiege your mind with fears and worry and concerns, let your mind dwell on that which is going to be beneficial, that which is going to bless your soul, that which is going to praise him.

[16:56] Praise is something that should radiate, that should glow in the heart of a Christian. You know, there was an old country church, a small country church, and the preacher talked about gratitude.

[17:09] That was his sermon. His sermon was gratitude, thankfulness. And at the close of the sermon, the church took up an offering for the preacher. And it was an old country church and the preacher said, remember, however small the gift, always be grateful and thankful to the Lord.

[17:33] Always be grateful and thankful to the Lord. And when the offering was taken up, the preacher's hat was used as the collection plate. They didn't have a bag, they used the preacher's hat.

[17:45] When the hat came back to him, the preacher looked inside. It was empty. Seeing this, the congregation watched the preacher to see how he would react after he preached about gratitude.

[17:58] What would he say after he'd just preached? And he thought for a moment that he prayed and he said, Dear Lord, I thank Thee that I got my hat back. We can find something.

[18:09] We can find something to be thankful for, can't we? You can find something to be thankful for no matter what faces you in your life. Count your blessings.

[18:20] Find some reason to thank Him. Someone said, Do not grumble because you do not get what you want. Be thankful you do not get what you deserve.

[18:31] Thank on the character of God, of His goodness to the children of men. The Lord is good. In Psalm 34, 1 it says, I will bless the Lord at all times.

[18:41] His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Let that be a thankfulness that is continually in your mouth as you bless Him, as you concentrate on that which is glorifying to Him.

[18:54] So a believer should be thankful, thankful. Another way we can praise is to be joyful, to be joyful, to enjoy God, to worship Him joyfully.

[19:09] In Psalm 32, 11 it says, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, ye that are upright in heart.

[19:20] You've got reason to shout. If you're saved today, you can shout for joy, because there's no greater joy, there's no greater reason to be joyful than to know you're saved.

[19:36] To shout for joy, to be glad in the Lord and rejoice. And as you pray, as you read His Word, it's His love letter to you.

[19:48] This is God's Word in print. If you're searching for answers, search in here, search in here with a heart that is receptive.

[20:00] Search, and you will find. Seek, and you will find. He promises that. And you've got reason for joy. God's Word itself is a source of joy. Read through the Psalms.

[20:12] Read the reasons to praise. Read of the joy of the saints. God's Word is a source of joy. It says in 1 John, 1 verse 4, of the promises of God, these things are written unto you that your joy may be full.

[20:29] There's a fullness of joy. There's a fullness of joy because of these things that are written unto you. And the context there is of His saving love.

[20:41] Enjoy worshipping Him at home. Enjoy worshipping Him amongst believers. Enjoy worshipping Him with your family. In singing, worship Him with joy.

[20:52] In testimony time, worship Him with joy. In prayer times, worship Him with joy. And when the preaching is right, say Amen and praise God. Amen.

[21:02] Amen. Even when the preaching steps on people's toes because God is, I trust, saying something as the Word is faithfully preached.

[21:14] It says in Nehemiah 8, how they used to preach and the people gathered, it says. In Nehemiah 8, from verse 1, they gathered themselves together as one man.

[21:26] The whole gathering was as one man. There was great unity as they stood before the water gate and Ezra the scribe brought the book of the law of Moses and Ezra brought the book before the people and the congregation, both of men and women and all they could hear with understanding.

[21:46] So even little ones who could hear with understanding. And verse 3 of Nehemiah 8, and he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday before the men and the women and those who could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law and Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood which they had made for the purpose and beside him stood all these various people, I won't list them, and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people and when he opened it all the people stood up and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

[22:35] What an atmosphere, what a testimony, what a wonderful spectacle that would have been, gathering as one man, receptive, the word declared, voiced, and the people responding with praise.

[22:55] And we should respond joyfully, joyfully, you know, sometimes we get a bit stiff and starchy, we can all do, I know, for one, I can at times, and there's a story told of a church service where there was a bit of noise going on, there was a little child who was turning around and smiling at everyone.

[23:15] He wasn't gurgling, spitting, humming, tearing the hymn books apart, or rummaging through his mother's purse, he was just smiling, a smiling little boy, and suddenly his mother jerked him around and in a stage whisper that everyone could hear said, stop grinning, you're in church.

[23:34] Stop grinning, you're in church. And with that she gave him a slap on his hind side and the tears rolled down his cheeks and she added, that's better, and returned to her prayers.

[23:46] You know, we certainly have the kind of attitude that we can't have a bit of a smile and a bit of joy, a bit of joyfulness in church. You know, if you can't grin in church, where can you be happy?

[23:59] You know, worship is something that brings joy, it's something that's an expression of our joy, the joy of our salvation, and it's a joy of worship that should be in our very bones, in our very fibre, in the very core of our being, in our very bones, as it says in Psalm 35 verse 9, it says, and my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, it shall rejoice in his salvation.

[24:26] All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee? All my bones shall say, who is like unto thee, which delivers the poor from him, that is too strong for him?

[24:39] Yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him. My bones are going to praise him, says the psalmist in Psalm 35. A worshipper is to be thankful, a worshipper is to be joyful, and thirdly, a worshipper is to be a beautiful Christian.

[24:59] Be a beautiful Christian, a beautiful beaming, radiant, glowing, testimony of his praise, showing forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

[25:13] We ought to be full on for the gospel, for the kingdom of God, and to be beautiful. It's a beautiful thing for the righteous, it says, to rejoice.

[25:24] Praise is comely, praise is beautiful, it's fitting, it's appropriate. And Psalm 147, verse 1, says similarly, Psalm 147, 1, it says, Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.

[25:43] Praise is comely, praise is beautiful is what it's saying, praise is lovely, praise is pleasing, praise him with music, praise him with song, sing his praises, be unreserved, praise him with your whole heart, hold not back, steer clear of the ungodly and the questionable music, fill your house, fill your mind with godly music, with music that is glorifying him, bring praise to our God.

[26:13] You know, why aren't Christians more excited about their worship, more excited, more joyful, more full on, as I say, when you see the world in all of their displays of emotions and happiness, so called, when you see sports events and the worldly showcases of talent and quality, when you're people getting awards of all kinds for various recognitions and people get excited about presentations or birthdays or whatever it might be, someone gets made a fuss of, the world can be joyful, oughtn't we to be filled more so with his joy, with that fullness of joy, you're saved man, you're saved girl tonight, praise him for that, praise him for that, you've got no reason to hold back, you know, don't hold back, don't hold back, praise him with music, praise him in song, you've got reason, and heaven is just around the corner, and the mind can't picture it, words can't describe it, what awaits those who love the

[27:30] Lord, you've got reason to praise, you've got reason, and even when you take the most reserved person on earth and announce that he's just won a great prize, he will go ape, he will go bananas, you know, you see people jumping up and down, who you normally wouldn't see much expression of joy from, because the impossible has become possible, and they can't comprehend it, but how oughtn't it to be for you, believer today, as a Christian, it's the same for you, that which is impossible for you has become possible, that which was denied you, that which you are totally undeserving of, has been granted to you as a great prize, as a great award, not a reward, because you've done nothing to deserve it, but it's entirely of his giving unto you, what a reason for joy, what a reason for joy, that we, that only deserve the gutter, and the flames of hell, are granted the great gift of his saving grace, that's reason for joy, isn't it, and we should be ecstatic about that, that which

[28:40] God has done for us, is such a tremendous realisation, that privilege of our salvation, the wonder of Calvary, it was for you, it was for you, those nails were for you, that beating was for you, that bruising, that hurting, that spitting upon his face, that plucking of his beard, it was for you, it was for me, that bashing that our Saviour received, was for you, it says, by his stripes, we are healed, there's a healing, the foulest, dread disease, that incurable disease of man, that foulest affliction, that there's no human cure for, he is the one who can bring healing to the soul today, and the promise of heaven, reason for joy, isn't it, praise God for it, and so, be a worshipper, be a worshipper, with your whole heart, hold not back, be unreserved, you've got reason to praise him,

[29:47] I'm speaking to believers tonight, maybe you're not there yet, you can become a believer in an instant of time, you don't have to put on fancy clothes, you don't have to go and go through some ritual or ceremony, or have some secret handshake, or have some kind of holy water splattered over you, or some kind of words in Latin spoken over you, or some kind of hoo-ha, and some kind of falling down, and gyrating on the floor, or some kind of spectacular lightning flash from heaven, it's simple faith, it's simple trust, it's actually saying, Jesus, save me, save me, in all my wretchedness, in all my sinfulness, in all my unworthiness, Lord God, have mercy upon me, that's how simple it is, and you can pray that simple prayer, you can pray from the depths of your being, and receive that gift that should make you want to jump for joy, in jubilation, that prize, that wonderful award that is beyond compare, it's not some passing multitude of money, or some fancy car that you're going to win, they're going to rust and pass away and be spent, it's eternity, it's eternity, eternity, that's the prize, and it's made possible, because of everything that he has done, and friends don't miss it, don't miss it, and believers, don't forget it, don't forget it, don't forget it, be a thankful

[31:21] Christian, be a joyful Christian, and be a beautiful Christian, that you'll show forth the praises of him who's called you out of darkness, into his marvellous light, let us pray, we praise you Lord, we praise you with our soul, with our strength, with our whole heart, Lord, let it be so, we pray that we would be thankful for everything, but especially Calvary, that we'd be joyful with the joy of salvation, that wonder of Calvary, that mercy that extends to wretches such as we, that we can know your merciful kindness, because of that awesome sacrifice of yourself, in the person of your son, Lord, we thank you for that mercy, that you extend still, that we can have that beautiful heart, made beautiful from the ugliness of sin, the stains can be washed away, and we can be made brand new,

[32:27] Lord, we pray if they're only here tonight, they want to cry out, they want to cry out, Lord, save me, and you can hear that prayer, even as they pray it, by faith, let it be, Lord, we pray, and that they might then say, I've prayed to receive Christ as my saviour, I've decided, as much as my decision is really just a response to your great mercy, Lord, that we can only crumble in total surrender to your grace, to man, help us, Lord, to come to that place, each one, and Lord, help us to be ever thankful, ever joyful, ever grateful, and ever those beautiful ones that will find the beauty of praise, in Jesus' name, Amen.

[33:34] ending ending