Praise

Our Message For Today is “Praise and Worship”

Psalm 100:1-5

1. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Let us Pray...


Praise and Worship

When people hear of the word PRAISE, it is generally connected to or given to someone or something worthy of admiration, acclaim, commendation, honor…

When people hear of the word WORSHIP, it is generally in connection with someone or something worthy of adoration, veneration, respect, reverence…

In a common church setting it is normally that part of the “program” where people are asked to stand, or kneel, or bow down, or clap, or raise their hands, sing and all that.

BUT WHAT IS PRAISE AND WORSHIP.

Yes, it is all that… and more.

Do you know that we are probably the only creatures on earth who praise or worship something?
Do you think insects do that? Do monkeys do that? Tiny one celled organisms?

No, in fact we were created for that very purpose -- to worship. Mere animals weren’t. If it was, then those who do not believe in GOD is correct in their assumption that we are all merely products of sheer luck and chance and were created by accident. Like, tossing metal spare parts into a drum and spinning it for thousands of years and out comes smart phones, smart tvs, smart alecks.

Only, it’s a thousand times harder because out something inorganic, out came something organic, something living, something precious, something with an intellect.

No, we are here not accident. But by the hand of a Creator God.

In fact, we were made in the image and likeness of God.

We were created to Praise and Worship the True and Living God.

Can we say amen?

Last week, Pastor talked about how the Lord Jesus was born and how the wise men from the east came to worship Jesus in the book of Matthew.

Now Pastor also talked about the birth of Jesus where he was born where it was shepherds who came and worshipped Jesus in the book of Luke.

Okay, I just want to say that the account of Matthew and the account of Luke are not one the same. Also I want to say that there were no three kings who visited Jesus. Nowhere in the bible did it say that there were three or that there were kings. No, some traditions also have given names to the three Kings – namely, Melchor, Baltazar and Gaspar – often saying they were Kings from Persia, Arabia and India.

No none of those are in the bible. And no the magi weren’t even in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. If you read the narrative in Matthew it says they came to Jerusalem first and not to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. And also that they came to a house and not in a cave where we now know is the most likely place that Jesus was born, because Jesus was place in a manger. A manger is a carved stone where animals eat out of.
Yes, Jesus the Son of God, the King of Kings was not born in John Hopkins Hospital, no he wasn’t born in the Four Seasons Hotel.

He was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger surrounded by animals and shepherds.


Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship

Colossians 3:16

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

John 4:23-24

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”


Words

Psalm 9:1-2 (David)

1 I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

Shout

Psalm 95:1-2

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

Bow Down

Psalm 95:6

Come, let us bow down in worship,let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

Sing

Psalm 33:1-3

1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Dance  /  Praise with instruments

Psalm 150:1-6

1 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

Raise Your Hands

Psalm 34

1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.


Sing with your Spirit

1 Corinthians 14:15

 I will sing with my spirit, Sing and Make Music From the heart

Ephesians 5:19

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,


1 Corinthians 1:26-28

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,


This is the outline for the message I preached on 10:30 am Sunday Service, December 28, 2014