WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRAISE THE LORD?
A Season of Thanks #4
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Sunday, November 26, 2023
(Revelation 4:8–11, NLT) “Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.” Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
1. PRAISE EXPRESSES MY JOY IN THE LORD.
(Nehemiah 1:11, NIV) “Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
(Zephaniah 3:17, CEV) “The Lord your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and he will refresh your life with his love.”
(Matthew 15:8, NLT) “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
2. PRAISE IS SUSTAINED BY THE SACRIFICE OF PRAISE.
(Hebrews 13:15, NIV) “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
(Romans 12:1, NLT) “Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
(Leviticus 6:13, NLT) “Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out.”
3. SINGING EXPRESSES MY PRAISE.
(Psalm 147:1, MSG) “Hallelujah! It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God; praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.”
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment … It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with … . Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” -C.S. Lewis
(Psalm 149:5, MSG) “Let true lovers break out in praise, sing out from wherever they’re sitting,”
4. PRAISE AND WORSHIP MUST BE CENTERED IN JESUS.
(John 14:6, NLT) “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
(2 Corinthians 4:5, NLT) “We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
GROWTHWORK
1. Give your life to Jesus Christ.
2. Commit my life to His family, the Church.
3. Choose to live a life of praising God.
4. Grow spiritually by studying to become more like Jesus daily.
5. Use my talents and gifts to serve the Lord.
6. Share the Good News of Jesus.