WHAT WE DO WHEN WE PRAISE THE LORD
Psalm 9:1-2
Introduction: You have been told that you need to praise the Lord, that He is indeed worthy to be praise. You often go through the motions of praising Him, but do you know what you are really doing? There is a purpose and a benefit to praise as we will learn in this lesson.
I. What is praise?
A. According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible dictionary, praise is “an act of worship or acknowledgement by which the virtues or deeds of another are recognized and extolled”
1. When a person praises God he acknowledges
a. Who God is (Exo. 34:3-8; Psa. 103:8)
b. All that God has done (Psa. 40:5 – should never stop praising Him)
2. Psalm 150:2 says that the Lord is praised for all His mighty acts in keeping with His excellent greatness
a. Since the Lord is so great, we should praise Him in a way that would demonstrate our appreciation and understanding of His greatness
b. We should put all of our heart into praising the Lord
B. What is a whole-heart?
1. Opposite of a divided heart
a.
Seen in divided allegiances (1 Kings
b. Cannot serve two masters (Jos. 24:14-15)
2. Also means to have a sincere heart
a. Must do such with enthusiastic honesty
b.
Cannot view praise as a wearisome task (Amos
8:5-8; Mal.
3. We have to give God our best because, after all, He did give us His best
C. Failure to worship God completely, sincerely, and unenthusiastically is not to worship Him at all
II. What happens when we engage in the kind of praise that God expects from His people?
A. We will tell others about it
1. What we acknowledge to God we recount for others (Not only praise to God)
a.
To the brethren (Psa.
b.
In the
assembly (Psa.
c. To the Multitude (Psa. 109:30-31)
2. This is a natural human tendency to share one’s fortune or joy with other’s
B. Unless you have an undeniable appreciation for the Lord and an unrelenting desire to praise Him for all that He has done in your life, why would you be inclined to tell others?
Conclusion: Those who refuse or fail to recount for others all
those things that merit praise to the Lord are in fact revealing that God is
not in their hearts or on their minds and have no real appreciation for who God
is and what He does (Psa 34:1-7). Invite (Psa. 34:8-10).