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Let’s Just Praise the Lord · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: For those of us who truly want to fly closer
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  Speaker 1: to the flame, we have one last flying lesson to offer.
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  Speaker 1: Soaring on the wings of praise. Now I can guarantee
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  Speaker 1: if you practice this spiritual discipline regularly, you'll develop your
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  Speaker 1: wings to fly higher and farther and closer to the
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  Speaker 1: Lord than you have probably ever flown before. Are you
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  Speaker 1: afraid of flying so high? Of veering out of control
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  Speaker 1: and into uncharted lands? I really want you to take
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  Speaker 1: heart with this message. Because with just a little basic
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  Speaker 1: training from the Psalms, we can overcome these obstacles, enabling
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  Speaker 1: you to take off and actually fly solo as you
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  Speaker 1: soar on the wings of praise. Flight school will be
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  Speaker 1: held in the last five chapters of God's hymn book,
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  Speaker 1: known as the Psalms. That would be Psalm 146 through
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 150. Let me read for you from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase,
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  Speaker 1: the message, sections of all five of these psalms. 146 begins, Hallelujah,
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  Speaker 1: O my soul, praise God, all my life long I'll
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  Speaker 1: praise God, singing songs to my God as long as
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  Speaker 1: I live. Don't put your life in the hands of
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  Speaker 1: experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life. Mere
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  Speaker 1: humans don't have what it takes when they die. Their
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  Speaker 1: projects die with them. Instead, get help from the God
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  Speaker 1: of Jacob. Put your hope in God and know real blessing.
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  Speaker 1: God made sky and soil, sea and all the fish
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  Speaker 1: in it. He always does what is right. He defends
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  Speaker 1: the wronged. He feeds the hungry. And then when we
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  Speaker 1: move into 147, it begins, Hallelujah! It's a good thing
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  Speaker 1: to sing praise to our God. Praise is beautiful. praise
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  Speaker 1: is fitting. A little later in the psalm, we read,
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  Speaker 1: Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn. Play music on your
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  Speaker 1: instruments to God, who fills the sky with clouds, preparing
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  Speaker 1: rain for the earth, then turning the mountains green with grass,
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  Speaker 1: feeding both cattle and crows. He's not impressed with horsepower.
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  Speaker 1: The size of our muscles means nothing to Him. Those
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  Speaker 1: who fear God get God's attention. They can depend on
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  Speaker 1: His strength.
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  Speaker 2: 148 begins in a similar way. Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Praise God from heaven. Praise Him from the mountaintops. Praise Him,
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  Speaker 1: all you His angels. Praise Him, all you His warriors.
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  Speaker 1: Praise Him, sun and moon. Praise Him, you morning stars.
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  Speaker 1: Praise Him, high heaven. Praise Him, heavenly rain clouds. Praise, oh,
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  Speaker 1: let them praise the name of God. He spoke the word,
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  Speaker 1: and they were there. He set them in place from
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  Speaker 1: all time to eternity. He gave his orders, and that's it.
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  Speaker 1: The psalm concludes, Praise from all who love God. Israel's children,
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  Speaker 1: intimate friends of God.
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  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: And then the 149th psalm, in a similar way, begins, Hallelujah,
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  Speaker 1: sing to God a brand new song. Praise him in
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  Speaker 1: the company of all who love him. It continues, let
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  Speaker 1: true lovers break out in praise. Sing out from wherever
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  Speaker 1: they're sitting. Shout the high praises of God. Brandish their
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  Speaker 1: swords in the wild sword dance. A portent of vengeance
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  Speaker 1: on the God-defying nations. A signal that punishment is coming.
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  Speaker 1: Their kings chained and hauled off to jail. Their leaders
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  Speaker 1: behind bars for good. the judgment on them carried out
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  Speaker 1: to the letter, and all who love God in the
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  Speaker 1: seat of honor.
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  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: And now for the complete 150th Psalm. You must listen carefully.
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  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Praise God in His holy house of worship. Praise Him
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  Speaker 1: under the open skies. Praise Him for His acts of power.
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  Speaker 1: Praise Him for His magnificent greatness. Praise Him with a
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  Speaker 1: blast on the trumpet. Praise by strumming soft strings. Praise
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  Speaker 1: Him with castanets and dance. Praise Him with banjo and flute.
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  Speaker 1: Praise Him with cymbals and a big bass drum. Praise
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  Speaker 1: Him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature
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  Speaker 1: praise God.
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  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Few people could express my closing thoughts on the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit better than the late, great Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
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  Speaker 2: Hear his words.
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  Speaker 1: Common to common is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: That is folly and ingratitude. As God, He is good essentially.
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  Speaker 1: He is good benevolently, tenderly bearing with our waywardness, striving
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  Speaker 1: with our rebellious wills, quickening us from our death in sin,
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  Speaker 1: and then training us for the skies as a loving
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  Speaker 1: nurse fosters her child. He is good operatively. All his
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  Speaker 1: works are good in the most eminent degree. He suggests
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  Speaker 1: good thoughts, prompts good actions, reveals good truths, applies good promises,
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  Speaker 1: assists in good attainments, and leads to good results. There
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  Speaker 1: is no spiritual good in the world. of which He
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  Speaker 1: is not the author and sustainer. They who yield to
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  Speaker 1: His influence become good. They who obey His impulses do good.
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  Speaker 1: They who live under His power receive good. Let us
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  Speaker 1: revere His person and adore Him as God over all,
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  Speaker 1: blessed forever. Let us own His power and our need
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  Speaker 1: of Him by waiting upon Him in all our holy enterprises.
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  Speaker 1: Let us hourly seek his aid and never grieve him.
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  Speaker 1: And let us speak to his praise whenever occasions occur.
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  Speaker 1: The church, he concludes, will never prosper until more reverently
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  Speaker 1: it believes in the Holy Ghost. Join me in prayer,
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  Speaker 1: will you? Good Father, we know of no other words
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  Speaker 1: to use in expressing our gratitude than these words we
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  Speaker 1: have used. We simply praise your name, not just because
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  Speaker 1: of what you do, but because of who you are,
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  Speaker 1: which is a far more profound thought. Because you are
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  Speaker 1: faithful even when we are not. Because you are good
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  Speaker 1: even when we fail and are downright bad. Because you
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  Speaker 1: are immutable even when we change and move with the
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  Speaker 1: moods of the moment. And Father, because you are who
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  Speaker 1: you are and because you do what you do, especially
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  Speaker 1: these recent days in our lives, we gather today just
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  Speaker 1: to praise your name. Make it a time of inestimable
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  Speaker 1: value in our faith as we are strengthening one another
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  Speaker 1: in the songs and in the words and in the
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  Speaker 1: time of quietness before you. In the praiseworthy name of
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  Speaker 1: your Son, We commit to you this time together. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Last Sunday we experienced a major miracle. This Sunday we're
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  Speaker 1: about to experience a minor miracle. The major miracle last
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  Speaker 1: Sunday was the provision of $ 62, 000 plus when we asked
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  Speaker 1: God for $ 50, 000 for down payment on our land. The
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  Speaker 1: minor miracle is my preaching through five Psalms in 25 minutes.
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  Speaker 1: So turn fast to Psalm 146 this morning, if you will.
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  Speaker 1: And let's work our way through these great Psalms, which
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  Speaker 1: Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
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  Speaker 2: Called the Hallelujah section of God's hymn book. And I'll
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  Speaker 2: tell you why he said that. Because you will.
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  Speaker 1: Observe in these Psalms the same beginning and the same ending.
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  Speaker 1: In each one of these five, 146 through 150, you
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  Speaker 1: will find the same words, praise the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Why would Spurgeon call this section the hallelujah section?
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  Speaker 1: Because the words praise the Lord are the translation words
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  Speaker 1: of the one Hebrew term, hallelujah. Hallelujah is not an
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  Speaker 1: English word, as much as we might like to take
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  Speaker 1: credit for it. It is, in fact, a Hebrew term
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  Speaker 1: from two words. Halal, which means.
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  Speaker 2: To boast, to extol, to exalt.
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  Speaker 1: Yah, the first three letters that represent Jehovah in the
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  Speaker 1: Hebrew Bible. Boast in Jehovah. That's what hallelujah means.
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  Speaker 2: All the way through these five psalms, the word prayer... appears.
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  Speaker 1: In fact there are 59 verses and 44 references to praise.
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  Speaker 1: It is filled, it is flooded with the thoughts and
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  Speaker 1: words of praise. Now we live in a day in
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  Speaker 1: which hallelujah has been cheapened.
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  Speaker 2: By talkative saints.
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  Speaker 1: The word has turned into a Christian slang, unfortunately. We
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  Speaker 1: in fact even use it with an irreverent tone when
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  Speaker 1: we refer to something.
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  Speaker 2: And say, well, hallelujah, that happened.
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  Speaker 1: It was never designed for such a profane use.
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  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it is one of the.
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  Speaker 1: Few words, few one word exclamations throughout the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: One words that are designed for specific praise to God.
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  Speaker 1: Let's put a checkpoint on our tongue as to how
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  Speaker 1: we use that word. We're going to learn about praise
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  Speaker 1: in these five psalms together. There's one other thought I
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  Speaker 1: want to give you for the whole section which Graham
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  Speaker 1: Scroggie calls the pentad of praise. The last five hymns
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  Speaker 1: in God's hymn book. That is, the Psalms are all
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  Speaker 1: very realistic, but they are joyful. In other words, what
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  Speaker 1: I am saying is that those who literally give praise
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  Speaker 1: to God are not unrealistic people. They are realistic people
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  Speaker 1: who live in realistic times, but their hearts overflow with joy.
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  Speaker 1: Now that isn't congruent. as far as human experience is concerned,
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  Speaker 1: when under the load, we don't usually praise. But in
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  Speaker 1: the Christian way of life, when under the load, God
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  Speaker 1: has one formula to keep you joyful, and that's praise.
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  Speaker 1: I hope that comes through when you harmonize your thoughts
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  Speaker 1: with the blending of God's hymnody this morning, that.
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  Speaker 2: You realize God has one basic.
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  Speaker 1: Harmony, praise, Harmonize with joy. Without one, you will never
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  Speaker 1: have the other. Let's go to Psalm 146, and I've
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  Speaker 1: purposely not given you an insert for your bulletin. I
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  Speaker 1: want you to make the notations in the psalm itself.
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  Speaker 1: So get your pen handy or your pencil, and if
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  Speaker 1: there's just a word or two that strikes a chord
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  Speaker 1: in your mind, put it down here by the psalms.
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  Speaker 1: For all you know, these may become a quiet resting
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  Speaker 1: place for you in the year or so that's ahead
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  Speaker 1: of you when we face this program together. Psalm 146
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  Speaker 1: talks about when to praise. If you were asked me
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  Speaker 1: to give a title for the psalm, it would be
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  Speaker 1: simply those three words.
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  Speaker 2: When to praise. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O
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  Speaker 2: my soul.
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  Speaker 1: You will observe that praise is not simply lip service,
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  Speaker 1: though it comes from the lips.
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  Speaker 2: It is soul service.
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  Speaker 1: The psalmist is saying to himself before God, O self,
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  Speaker 1: down in the soul, give God praise.
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  Speaker 2: That's the thought here. O soul, lift yourself in praise
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  Speaker 2: to God. When do I do it? While I live,
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  Speaker 2: verse 2.
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  Speaker 1: While I have my being, verse 2. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: praises are not designed for the dead, but for the living.
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  Speaker 2: Not for the unborn, but for the living.
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  Speaker 1: I would like to use it even more specifically and
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  Speaker 1: say it is for now.
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  Speaker 2: Right now. Don't think of it like this.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, someday in the future, I will be able to
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  Speaker 1: praise the Lord. Or, I remember those days back in 1950, 60. Wow,
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  Speaker 1: what great days. I gave God praise. That's not the
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  Speaker 1: purpose of praise. Praise is built for now. Today, there
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  Speaker 1: is only one qualification.
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  Speaker 2: That you are alive. Most of us qualify at that point.
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  Speaker 2: That you have your being.
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  Speaker 1: Most of us, thank God, have our being, have our minds.
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  Speaker 1: If you're alive and you have your mind, give God praise.
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  Speaker 1: When you say, under these circumstances, I can't do that.
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  Speaker 1: What are you doing under there? God has designed a
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  Speaker 1: life that's above the circumstances. Look down at verse 5.
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  Speaker 2: How blessed.
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  Speaker 1: The word means happy, and every time it appears in
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  Speaker 1: the Hebrew, it's in the plural. Oh, the happiness as
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  Speaker 1: many times over is he whose help is.
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  Speaker 2: The God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: That psalm is directed to those that need help and
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  Speaker 1: need hope.
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  Speaker 2: Praise is the answer. You say, I'm in need of help,
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  Speaker 2: God of Jacob. I need hope.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, Lord God, that's the answer for you. Learn to
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  Speaker 1: extol the Father.
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  Speaker 2: Learn to give Him praise.
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  Speaker 1: Let me back off and take a moment to explain
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  Speaker 1: it because we are strangers to praise. I would venture
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  Speaker 1: to say that it would be a safe guess that
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  Speaker 1: the majority of you do not praise God simply because
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  Speaker 1: you don't understand it.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds Pentecostal. Frankly, it does.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds unusual because you don't know how it differs
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  Speaker 1: from thanks. Oh, but God's written the Bible to the saint,
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  Speaker 1: not to a denomination.
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  Speaker 2: It's for all God's saints. What does it mean to
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  Speaker 2: praise Him?
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  Speaker 1: To praise the Father means to express words of adoration
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  Speaker 1: to Him for what he does, for who he is.
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  Speaker 1: Self is out of the picture. Praise isn't thanksgiving. When
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  Speaker 1: you thank the Lord, you thank him for something he
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  Speaker 1: did for you or gave you.
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  Speaker 2: You're in the picture. When you praise the Lord, you
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  Speaker 2: say to him, Father, I praise you.
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  Speaker 1: You are faithful. You are immutable. You are praiseworthy. You
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  Speaker 1: come to my rescue. You take care of my every need.
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  Speaker 1: You lift my heart with joy. You do all of
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  Speaker 1: these things. I praise you for your work. I praise
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  Speaker 1: you for your person. I praise you for my life.
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  Speaker 1: I praise you for your word. I praise you for
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  Speaker 1: your plan. That whole dimension is missing and it is conspicuous.
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  Speaker 2: By its absence. From our kneeling time.
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  Speaker 1: The psalmist says when are we to praise him? Whenever
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  Speaker 1: you need help. Whenever you need hope. And that's all
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  Speaker 1: the time. That's a marvelous therapy. When you're under the weather.
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 147 talks about whom to praise.
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  Speaker 2: Not where. Not how. But whom to praise. 146 talked
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  Speaker 2: about when?
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  Speaker 1: As long as you have your breath. Psalm 147 tells
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  Speaker 1: us whom to praise. Now here is the answer right
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  Speaker 1: in verse 1.
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  Speaker 2: The Lord. It is good to sing praises to our God.
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  Speaker 1: It is pleasant and praise is becoming. Do you know
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  Speaker 1: what we just did in the early part of the
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  Speaker 1: service brought pleasure to God? It did.
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  Speaker 2: It did.
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  Speaker 1: He tells us in verse 2 that it's good that
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  Speaker 1: in verse 1 that we do that. In fact, it
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  Speaker 1: is pleasant and it is becoming. The Hebrew word means lovely.
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  Speaker 1: God looks at the praise of a.
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  Speaker 2: Congregation such as this and he says, that's lovely. That's beautiful.
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  Speaker 2: Because we are praising him.
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  Speaker 1: Now let me level a warning because it's timely in
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  Speaker 1: our day and age. We are so enamored with praising
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  Speaker 1: people that to come together without praising people.
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  Speaker 2: Has almost become an unusual thing.
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  Speaker 1: God is pleased that we praise Him. Read the average
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  Speaker 1: church newsletter. Look at the average church bulletin. Listen to
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  Speaker 1: the average church conversations.
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  Speaker 2: It is shot.
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  Speaker 1: Through with praises for people. Attend the average church service
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  Speaker 1: and you will hear words and.
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  Speaker 2: People and names given as praiseworthy.
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  Speaker 1: Now I realize there are times that thanks and praise
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  Speaker 1: is even due certain individuals, but I believe the heart
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  Speaker 1: of God must at times be wrong and almost broken
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  Speaker 1: that his name is so seldom praised without some person's
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  Speaker 1: name attached to.
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  Speaker 2: It it's good that we praise our God it is
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  Speaker 2: becoming it is.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely We live in such a horizontal lock that our
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  Speaker 1: mindset links us only with the praising of people. And
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  Speaker 1: I think at times the vertical channel is so clouded,
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  Speaker 1: so foggy. As a matter of fact, I believe God
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  Speaker 1: gets left with the leftovers when it comes to praise.
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  Speaker 1: How much time have you spent in the last week
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  Speaker 1: giving Him praise alone?
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  Speaker 2: Just Him. How many of you, when you.
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  Speaker 1: Got the news concerning the provision of this marvelous amount
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  Speaker 1: of money, and I commend you for the kind of
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  Speaker 1: giving you demonstrated, I think that information spreads like wildfire
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  Speaker 1: to saints that are discouraged. So many left on last
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  Speaker 1: Sunday night saying, oh, this has strengthened me in areas
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  Speaker 1: that are not even related to this church. I needed
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  Speaker 1: that object lesson of what God did.
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  Speaker 2: I needed that.
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  Speaker 1: But I wonder how many on their way home or
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  Speaker 1: by the time you got home got alone and said, Oh, God,
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  Speaker 1: praise your name. Praise your work for what you.
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  Speaker 2: Have done.
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  Speaker 1: Through my hands and the hands of our beloved friends
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  Speaker 1: and saints together. You see, he says it is the
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  Speaker 1: Lord who is to be given the praise. Verse 2
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  Speaker 1: tells you he builds.
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  Speaker 2: Up, man doesn't. He gathers the outcasts. We don't. We
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  Speaker 2: reject them. He heals. We don't.
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  Speaker 1: We're only able to do a little surgery and patch
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  Speaker 1: it up, but we can't heal. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 1: He is great, verse 5.
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  Speaker 2: Man isn't. He is abundant in strength. We're not.
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  Speaker 1: We can last maybe 18 hours, but then we need
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  Speaker 1: a little rest. God never has to say... That's enough
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  Speaker 1: for you folks right now. Don't ask me for a while.
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  Speaker 1: I've got to get caught up on my rest. He's
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  Speaker 1: abundant in strength. His understanding, you need someone understanding?
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  Speaker 2: It's infinite.
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  Speaker 1: That's why when you go to praising the Father, you
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  Speaker 1: just need to open the Psalms and read them to him.
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  Speaker 1: I prayed with a dear saint connected for many years
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  Speaker 1: with what was once the overseas crusades. And it was
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  Speaker 1: during an internship period where I was learning so many
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  Speaker 1: things and I was being made aware just with one
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  Speaker 1: shotgun blast after another of those inadequacies and needs in
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  Speaker 1: my own life.
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  Speaker 2: And I began to have as a prayer partner this
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  Speaker 2: dear saint that had been in the Orient more than
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  Speaker 2: he had ever been in America.
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  Speaker 1: And as I would kneel with him alongside that man
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  Speaker 1: I would watch as he would have his actually his
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  Speaker 1: fingers rubbing across the Psalms as he would literally read
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  Speaker 1: back to the Father and quote back to the Lord
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  Speaker 1: the Psalms. Do you know there were portions of his
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  Speaker 1: Bible that had no print on the page?
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  Speaker 2: Can you imagine?
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: He read over that so much that the friction from
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: his fingers just took the print right off the page.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Some sections, there were holes worn in it.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: But he didn't need that. He knew what was there.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: His book of Psalms looked like a series of tracts.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: It was all in several different parts. It just fitted together.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Giving God praise for what he has said. You say,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I'm new at this. Take the book of Psalms. Start
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: in chapter 1. And in your prayer time, read to
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: him the book of Psalms. He loves to hear his word.
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: Do you like to be quoted? Is it an exciting
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: thing to be quoted by somebody else? God's like that.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Quote to me what I have said. And when you
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: quote it to him, it brings pleasure to his heart.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Better than read it, learn it so that it just
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: comes as part of your prayer life.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Give it back to him by the bushels. That's praise.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you, you will.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: No longer be enamored with man. You will no longer
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: suffer from the ups and downs of people's acceptance or rejection.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Your attention is on the Lord God. And I've got
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: some other news. You will give like you've never given
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: in all your life. The praising saint is the giving saint.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: No reluctance. My brother is perhaps the best example I've
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: ever met of faith. When he was discharged from the Navy,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: he was coming back from the Great Lakes area. And
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: on his way down, it was in the middle of
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the winter, he had a pea jacket and that was
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: his only coat. He picked up a fellow in Kansas
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: who was going to go across that state with him
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and he took him right across the state. And by
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the time they got to the end of the line
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: where the fellow got off, my brother had led him
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: to Christ. And the guy got out of the car
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and my brother said, where's your coat? He said, oh,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: that's all right.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: I'll get one later. He said, no, you need a coat.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Took his coat off. Gave it to him.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Let me let that sink in just a minute because
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: that's so unusual right there. So the guy put his
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: coat on and he looked at him and he stepped
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: on out of the way and the car drove off.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: My brother got home. First conversation with my folks. Hi, son.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Where's your coat? Oh, I gave it to you. You what?
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: I gave it to a fellow. Well, who was it?
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: I don't know his name. I can't remember his name.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: We met him in Kansas. Well, you don't have a coat? No.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, but Dad, I just praised God all the way
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: from Kansas to Houston for the joy of giving my coat.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Not the saint today. Not many of us.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Can you give with praise to God that he will provide?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: The psalmist says it is to God that that praise
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: is becoming. Psalm 148 says where to praise him? Where
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: do we praise the Father? Verses 1 through 6, in
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the heavens. Verses 7 through 12, on the earth.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Look at that.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Verse 1, praise the Lord from the heavens. Verse 7,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: praise the Lord from the earth. That doesn't leave too
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: many other places. When you've covered those bases, that's pretty
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: well it, isn't it? And then it describes the heavens.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Praise Him in the heights.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: We do that, don't we?
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Take a trip to the mountains. What are you prompted
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to do when you get all alone early in the morning?
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: A little frost nipping at you. You're walking out and
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the twigs are crunching under your feet and you look
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: up at that massive expanse of real estate. You don't
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: say something shallow as you stand there and look at
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: that mountain.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: You just stand in.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Solitude and you praise Him in the heights. God designed
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that mountain to do that for us. He gave us
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the hills not to just walk over or ride over
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: or take photographs of. He gave us those great expansive
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: areas to prompt praise in our breast.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: He gave us the lakes.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: He gave us the beauty of this earth to prompt
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: praise to him. As a matter of fact, there's a
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: great section here. Look at verse 5.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: I love this, especially for those interested in physics. Verse 5.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Let them praise the name of the Lord. For He
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: commanded and they were created. He established them forever. He
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: made a decree that won't pass away. You wonder, what's
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the process? Well, when God came to the project of
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: making this earth, He commanded it, He established it, and
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: He set a decree on it. He put it there,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: He gave it a purpose in establishing it, and then
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: He set it in its motion. The seasons, the orbits,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the movements. And he did all of it so that
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: man might praise him. The heavens tell of the glory
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: of God and the firmament declares his handiwork. You too
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: busy to realize that? You're a little trip away. A
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: little time alone. Now the exciting part of this is
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that when God came to that part of making it,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: it just says he commanded it.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Isn't that magnificent?
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: In fact, there's a section in Genesis that says he
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: made the stars also.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Well, that's fantastic.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: You can study the stars all your life and never
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: get beyond the first galaxy or two. It's, oh, by
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: the way, he threw the stars in also. You know,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: that's sort of the feeling you get as you read it.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: It was nothing to the hand of omnipotence to make
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the stars. On this earth, verses 7 through 12, it
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: says from the earth, those sea monsters and the deeps
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and fire and hail and snow and clouds and storm,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: they fulfill his word. Give him praise for the seasons,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: for the times of the year.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Where we praise him? Everywhere. Everywhere we go.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Praise is universal. 149, how to praise. Now I like
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: this song because it has a little shocker in it
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: that I think is good for us. But it's not
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: right away, it prepares you for the shock. Verse 1,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: praise the Lord, sing to the Lord a new song.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: How to praise Him? Do it with a new song.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Are you given to melody? Do you write music? Write
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: a song to his praise. It's an exciting generation we're
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: living in, in which many of the young people are writing.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: New songs of praise.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Many of the hymns would not have been known by
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: the generation ago, or certainly two generations ago.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: It's a new thing.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: It's an exciting era to live on the cutting edge
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of creativity, where fresh minds and new thoughts are given
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to new expressions. And that's the way God would have it.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: I feel sorry at times for people that don't know
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: how to sing. I know some of you try so
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: hard and it's difficult for you to carry it out.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: It's especially difficult for those around you when you're trying
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: to carry it out. But let me say, you don't
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: have to have a fabulous voice to sing praises to God.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: He honors those melodies of the heart that come forth
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: to Him. I think of those of our day that
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: are so gifted at putting it together. And I think, wow,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: they must have a corner on praise that just is
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: not experienced by many people. Song is a vessel used
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: for praise. Don't leave singing out of your prayer time.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Don't close that Bible and get up and get on
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: your way until you've given him a song. Now look else,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: look also. Let Israel be glad in his maker. Let
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: the sons of Zion rejoice in their king. Verse 3,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: let them praise his name with dancing.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: There's the shocker. Dancing.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: When's the last time you danced for the praise of God?
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Now that's a strange question for a preacher to ask
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: a congregation, isn't it? There are times that you're so
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed with praise that you've got to release it. You've
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: tried singing and it didn't get it all done. You
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: said it and it didn't get it up, so you
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: do whatever it is, you know? Man, at times, last
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Sunday night, I danced all over the living room and
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: the den. It was fantastic when I got home. Wow,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: it took a dance to get it out, you know?
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Now don't run scared. When I was up in Boston,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: the Old South Church announced on one occasion... a service
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: of praise which they called a dance in the spirit
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: and it was videotaped and then it was played that
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: week in the boston area and believe me what i
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: heard and saw was not a dance in the spirit
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: had nothing to do with the praise to god it
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: was a fleshly carnal activity and nothing more but to
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: arouse the lust of man and woman but my there
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: are certain expressions that i don't know how to direct
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: your attention to them or to describe it but wow
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: you've just got to get into that you know there's
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: a there's a response that comes when you're really exhilarated
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: that is I guess best described by a dance David
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: danced when the ark came you remember that ark came
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: over the hill hadn't been there in so long he
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: saw it he pulled his robe up and danced.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: All around and his his wife.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Sitting up in the window and said, oh, that's a
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: dignified way for the king of Israel to act, dancing
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: with all the people. He said, when I dance before
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: the king, it is dignified.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: It is unto him that I'm dancing. You see? She
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: didn't get that.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: She was all in the corner over there criticizing him
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and fussing about his expression. Now, be careful about doing
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: that in the congregation. You can't just jump up and
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: start doing a dance type thing.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: That's not the thing. That's not what's necessary.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: But there are responses that the praiseworthy people are just
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: involved in.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: It's just magnificent.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: There is a freshness and a freedom that comes in
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: praise times that the.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Rigid fundamentalist never enters into.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you when the Spirit of God prompts
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: you in your prayer time, there it is. And I
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: want to say to you, just enjoy it. In fact,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: if you want the highest praise, look at verse 6.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: It'll be in your mouth.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: The song is good.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: The dance that is an expression of yourself is good.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: But the highest praise is from the mouth.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: You will hear no more beautiful tones than tones that
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: come extolling God. It's a whole dimension that I'm afraid
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: beggars description. And I confess my ignorance in trying to
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: communicate something that is Infinitely beautiful.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: When to praise him. That's Psalm 146. Whom to praise.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: That's Psalm 147. Where to praise. That's Psalm 148. How
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: to praise. That's 149. Why praise him. That's Psalm 150.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. In his sanctuary. In
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: his mighty expanse. Verse 2.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: Because of his mighty deeds. Because of his excellent greatness.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Circle that verse.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: His mighty deeds. That's what he does. His excellent greatness.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: That's who he is. Praise him. For what he does.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: Praise him. For who he is.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: You should sit down and make plans to purchase the
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: knowledge of the holy by Tozer. Or the pursuit of
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: God by Tozer. Or a good solid theology on the
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: character of God. So you will know clearly what it
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: is that God is like. Or simply a study of
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: the book of Psalms. Which is a study of his praise.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: I'll give you a simple formula.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Two W's.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: And two letter P's. Praise him for his work. And
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: his word. Praise him for his person.
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: And his plan. And you've covered the bases. His work.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: What he does. His word. What he said. His person.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: who He is, His plan, what He has arranged, and
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: that is praise.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Verse 6 concludes the book of Psalms and concludes the
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: message that everything that has breath prays.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: The Lord.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: When I was overseas, I was working with a man
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: who was under great stress, great, great pressure. He was
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: a maverick sort of a missionary. He didn't fit the
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: pattern or the mold of what you would often think
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: of as a missionary. His ministry was a great deal
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: to the GI, who happened to be on the island
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: of Okinawa by the thousands.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: In fact, it might be safe to say tens of thousands.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: I went to his home one evening to visit with him.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: I had a little time free that evening and his
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: wife said that he wasn't there. She said, I'm not
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: sure where he is, but I have a feeling that
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: he's down at the office, which was downtown.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: In a little alley area off of the streets of Naha.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: It was a.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: Rainy night and I decided that I would get on
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: the bus and travel down to to be with Bob.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: She said he's under such pressure from this situation. So
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I expected to find the man folded up in just
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: despondency and discouragement, depression, and just ready to finish it off.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: I got off that little bus and I walked down
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the alley about a block and a half and I
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: turned right down a little smaller alley to a little
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: hut with a tatami mat inside And when I turned,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: it was away from the street noise, and I heard singing.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: sing thy grace. And then that next stanza, prone to wander, Lord,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I feel it. Prone to leave the.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: God I love.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: And I have never told him this, but I eavesdrop
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: on a praise service.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: And I stood in the rain and I looked through
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: the walls of that little cheap hut.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: And I saw a man on his knees with his
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: hands toward heaven.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: Giving God praise. With his Bible on one.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Side and an intervarsity Christian hymnal on the other side.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: A little spiral notebook worn from use. And I saw
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: him turn from page to page where he would read
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: it to God and he would find a hymn and
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: would sing it to God and the remarkable thing is
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: that that pressure that he was under did not leave
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: for perhaps another two weeks it seems but that praise
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: service alone before God absolutely revolutionized His life.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I have mimicked that plan. In my time with the Lord.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: The most creative thoughts I ever get. Such as the
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: thought for this whole service. That we've enjoyed today. Came
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: from God.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: As I was with him. Giving thought. And then later
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: with Mark. And later with Bill.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: As we shared thoughts regarding the whole service.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: They came. In the most wonderful way. While we were
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: in praise.
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: Praise.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: If you listen to a service of praise and leave
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: and it doesn't become a part of you in some facet,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: you have missed the whole purpose of a service such
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: as this.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: It is good that all who have breath praise the Lord.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: Let's just praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: Let's just lift.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Our voice toward heaven.
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: And praise the Lord. Let's just praise the Lord.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: Praise the Lord.
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: Let's just lift our voice toward heaven and praise the Lord.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: Lord, we praise you.
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: Alleluia.
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: Lord, we praise you.
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: Alleluia.
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: Lord, we praise you. Hallelujah.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Lord, we praise you.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: Hallelujah.
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: The preceding message, Let's Just Praise the Lord, was copyrighted
• 42:32
  Speaker 5: in 1975, 1993, and 2003, and the sound recording was
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: copyrighted in 2003 by Charles R.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: Swindoll, Inc.
• 42:40
  Speaker 5: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: commercial use is strictly prohibited.