The Blessings and Battles Of The Singing Soldiers

That was good singing. And of course, the Bible teaches

that the Lord inhabits the praise of His people.

Speaking of the Bible, we're going to turn now for a

scripture reading and we're reading Psalm 149, Psalm 149.

There's 150 Psalms in the Book of Psalms.

The book of Psalms wasn't written by Psalm.

It was written mostly by King David.

King David was the sweet singer of Israel.

So returning to Psalm 149, someone asked me as I left

Portadown Conference yesterday what I was preaching on and I

told them I'll tell you in a few hours.

I had two thoughts in my head and the one had to do with

singing and the other had to do with being a soldier.

Psalm 149 says, First one, praise ye the Lord.

Sing on to the Lord a new song, and his praise in the

congregation of Saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that

made him. Let the children of Zion be

joyful in their king. Let them praise his name in the

dance. Let them sing praises unto him

with the timbreland harp, for the Lord taketh pleasure in his

people. He will beautify the meat with

salvation. Let the Saints be joyful and

glory. Let them sing aloud upon their

beds. Let the high praises of God be

in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand.

To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon

the people, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles

with fetters of iron, To execute upon them the judgement written.

This honour have all his sins praise ye the Lord.

Amen of the Lord, and stamp with his own approval and blessing

this reading of his own precious and infallible word.

Amen. My text this morning is found in

Psalm 149, the verses 5 and 6. And it says this, Let the Saints

be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds, let

the high praises of God be in their mouth, and A2 edged sword

in their hand. Now have entitled this message

simply this, the blessings and battles of the singing soldiers,

the blessings and battles of the singing soldiers.

Now Psalm 149 is one of five Hallelujah psalms at the end of

the Psalter. And if you look at the first

verse of Psalm 149, praise ye the Lord, and then we'll come to

the last verse, the last words, praise ye the Lord.

And if you were to look at the last verse and the first verse

of Psalm 1464740849 50, you will see that they all begin and end

in the same way. And in our authorised versions,

you've got the words praise ye the Lord.

And in the Hebrew the word is Hallelujah.

It's not unique, does not make stand out.

Psalm 149 is a song of celebration.

It's a rallying call urging God's people, regardless of

their circumstances and their situations, to praise the Lord.

You see, the Lord is a friend to all who know and love him, but

the Lord is also a fool to all who reject him and refuse to

surrender to Him. Remember the children of Israel

at the Red Sea. The Angel of the Lord came

between the children of Israel and the armies of Pharaoh that

were pursuing them. Exodus 14, verse 20.

Exodus 14:20

To the army of Pharaoh, the Lord's presence was a cloud of

darkness. To the children of Israel, it

was a crowd of light. And you see, this was a line

between them, not just of demarcation, but a line of

distinction. You see, the Bible tells us this

in first Peter 3 and 12, for the eyes of the Lord are over the

righteous. These ears are open under their

prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do

evil. That's a tremendous verse.

You see in Psalm 149, the Lord has been set forth as a joyous

light to his people. You'll read that there in Psalm

149, verses 1:00 to 5:00. And then the Lord has also been

set forth as the judging Lord to his foes, because the Lord is

also a holy terror to all his enemies.

You're probably familiar with the name Charles Haddon

Spurgeon, the greatest Baptist preacher that ever lived in the

18th century. He's got 66 volumes of sermons.

I have them in the Porta cabin there.

He also wrote many other books, Book of my Preachers.

He wrote a magazine, published it, and it was called The Sword

and the Trial, and I even have a few copies of that as well, but

it could easily have been called The Sword and the Song.

The psalmist here is full of Prius.

Why? He knows that the people of God

are called upon to fight in the battles of the Lord, and as they

fight in the battles of the Lord, they're to do so in the

joyous power of God. This was something that the late

Doctor Martyn Lloyd Jones believed in preached on,

especially in the latter part of his ministry.

God's people are full of grace and full of glory.

They're full of the joy of the Lord as well as a sense of

judgement. You see, God's people are not

meant to be miserable. God's people are not meant to be

mournful. God's people are not meant to be

more food, full of negativity and criticism all the time.

No, we're to be merry. We're we're to be full of joy.

We are to rejoice in the Lord even as we stand for truth and

righteousness. Look at our text.

Let the Saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon

their beds. Let the high praises of God be

in their mouth and A2 edged sword in their hand.

Now think of the blessings and battles of the singing soldiers.

Three things. One, the enjoyment of the

singing soldiers in verse 5 we've got Let the Saints be

joyful in glory, let them sing aloud upon their beds.

You see God's people live to enjoy His grace.

He He says, let the Saints be joyful in glory.

Why? Because these Saints have been

already been exhorted. Sing unto the Lord a new song

and His praise in the congregation of Saints.

The new song is the song of the soul set free.

Do you know that there's 9 references in the Bible to the

word new song? Psalm 33 verse 3, Psalm 40 verse

Psalms 33:3 Psalms 40:3

3, Psalm 96 verse one, Psalm 98 verse one, Psalm 144 verse 9,

Psalms 144:9

Psalm 149 verse one, Isaiah 4210, Revelation 5 and 9, and

Revelation 14 and three. That makes 9 in total and Psalm

149 verse one is the 6th reference and six is the number

of man. And you've got to think about a

new man in Christ. And out of all the people in the

world, the man that's in Christ, the man that has come as a

Sinner to be saved by the Lord Jesus, has the greatest reason

to be joyful. The Bible says therefore, if any

man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

All things have passed away and all things have become new and

all things are of God. We have been rebuilt, we have

been renewed, we are being remade in righteousness and

holiness and knowledge of God. We are new creatures.

Let me illustrate. There was a man years ago by the

name of Billy Bray. He was a Cornish miner and he

was known as the Hallelujah man. Whenever Billy Bray walked along

the road and he put out his right leg, he shouted

Hallelujah. When he put forth his left leg

and took another step, he shouted, Amen, praise the Lord.

They they told him one day in church, Billy, if you don't shut

up, we're going to put you in the barrel outside.

And he says, well, if you put me in the barrel, I'll shout out

Hallelujah and praise the Lord through the bunghole.

Now why was Billy Bray like that?

Because Billy Bray was full of the joy of the Lord, that he had

come to personal faith in Christ, that he had tasted the

grace of God, and he took seriously this command to be

joyful and offer praise to the Lord when it says, praise ye the

Lord, when it says, sing unto the Lord.

A new song has praises in the congregation of Saints when it

says, Let the Saints be joyful in glory.

You see, all of these are in the sense of being commands.

We're commanded to offer praise in the assembly of God's people,

in the congregation of Saints. That's why we sing praises when

we come together. It's not just a full time.

We're commanded to do this and we love to be here.

And isn't it wonderful to be able to sing God's praise in

God's house and sing these old hymns, the hymns of redemption,

the the hymns of Greece and the hymns of glory, Hymns that are

full of Christ, his person, His work, his blood atonement.

Whenever the church gathers together, we are commanded to be

joyful as we offer praise unto the Lord.

Why? Because we're recipients of

God's grace. What is grace?

Not just Christ's riches at God's expense.

It's more than that. The grace of God is undeserved,

unmerited favour to criminals and to lawbreakers.

The grace of God is free. It's undeserved.

It's it's unmerited without price.

That's why Paul says in Ephesians 28 and 9, Four, by

grace are you saved through faith, and that not of

yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of

works that any man should boast. You see, we often think of joy.

We often think of joyfulness only when you feel like it.

See, we think, well, joy. Well, that's a feeling of

something in US. When something good happens,

you'll get good grades. In my exams, I want to smile and

and be joyful. Or I learn that my team has won

in their football game. Or I'm joyful when I'm on the

holidays and I'm relaxing. But it but it's much more than

that. You see, it's, it's not being

joyful because something good has happened.

It's not being joyful because there's an earthful event has

taken place, because that event peels into insignificance.

It's being joyful because of who God is.

And you have that realisation and it's been joyful because

what what God has done and it's been joyful because God is.

I had a nice wee message from a man in England and I thank the

man that he's listening online for the little message.

God bless you, Trevor. And it was about God is this

morning. It just tied into the message

because I was thinking of that as I came up the road from Porta

down last night. God is our maker and creator.

God is our sustainer provider. God is our ruler and our king.

God is our Redeemer. God is our judge and advocate.

Can I ask the question this morning?

Does your praise of God flow from joy?

Does your praise of God give you joy?

The joy of the Lord is our strength.

Strength to carry on despite the difficulty, despite the

darkness, despite your situation.

See, we should really be all asking ourselves this question.

Am I really praising the Lord? Praising the Lord in all that we

are, in all that we say, in all that we do?

Are you really giving the whole of your heart to God's praise,

to glorify Him? Let me put it simply.

Do you rejoice in Him? Do you light in Him?

Do you open your mouth to sing the high praise of God with a a

loud expression of joy, whether in the congregation of Saints,

as he mentions that in verse one, or upon the bed?

Let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, that that means

in their throats. See, let's remember we are his.

If you've come as a Sinner to the foot of the cross and

receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, you're His.

This morning. We belong to Him, we believe on

Him, we are blessed by Him. We are honoured to be able to

come and worship Him, who He is and what He's like and what He's

done. Oh, there's times, yes, we don't

feel like it. Times we don't feel close to Him

as we ought. Times we're not really inclined

to open our mouths and offer praise, but we need to, even

though when we don't feel like it, because we enjoy his grace

and salvation. Our sins are gone, they're under

the blood. We have a full and free and

forever pardon. We've been brought from darkness

in the light. We've been legally justified in

Christ. We have been adopted into God's

family, the the Lord. He is our God, He is our

Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour.

We're indwelt by the Spirit of God and I want to tell you

that's a Trinitarian blessing and and we can praise him as he

says here in verse four. He says verse three, let them

praise his name and the dance. Let them sing praises unto him

with the timberland harp. I want to tell you that that's

nothing to do with a sinful sensual dance.

It's not like the dancing of the daughter of Herodius, the king

in front of Herod. It's nothing about being a

seductive pole dancer. David, we read dance before the

Lord. See, in ancient times, God's

people use their their body as well as their mouths to praise

the Lord, as they praise the Lord with their heart, soul,

mind and strength. They use percussion instruments

like the temple. They use string instruments like

the harp. She's not wonderful to learn

here as we read in this beautiful Psalm.

For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people.

He will beautify the meek with salvation.

And whether you're in the House of God or at home alone, even in

your bed when you're at quiet rest and when there's a restful

spirit, we can still sing praises unto our God.

Not only do we enjoy His grace, but we extend his glory.

It says in our text, let the Saints be joyful in glory.

What's man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him

forever. Remember what we read over there

in Corinthians and 1st Corinthians and chapter 10 and

in the verse 31 it says, whether therefore you eat or drink or

whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

See, one of the ways to praise Him is to be excited about Him.

The word joyful literally means jumping for joy with something

tremendous and something wonderful and something good has

happened. The the praise here is about

boasting and and bragging in the Lord, praising Him continually

and fervently and liberally and dearly.

The word sing here has to do with one who's travelling on a

journey. So wherever he or she goes,

they're singing to the Lord. They're making melody in their

heart. They're making much of Him that

they're taking up with His glory.

The word praise here has to do with shining.

Think of someone with a clean heart mentions made here of the

word sins. You've got to think of holy ones

that are saved and separated and being sanctified unto the Lord

speaks of a clean heart and and a clean conscience.

No one like cleansed from all sacred and presumptuous sin.

Why do we exist to enjoy his grace?

We exist to extol his glory. We exist to extol his greatness.

The Bible says great as the Lord and greatly to be praised.

Psalm 148 or Psalm 48 verse one, See, the Lord has saved me.

You take that into your mind this morning.

You've been changed and transformed.

You're no longer what you once were.

You're a new creature in Christ, and the Lord is sanctifying you

wholly and setting you apart, and the Lord is changing and

transforming your life by the power of the Word and the power

of the Spirit. And the Lord is using you, and

therefore you can rejoice in Him.

You can be joyful in Him who is King.

You can be taken up with Him. Fill your heart and mind with

who He is and what He's done and what He's like.

Isn't it wonderful this morning that we can worship God?

Isn't it wonderful this morning that we can walk by faith with

Him? Isn't it wonderful that we can

witness for Him and open our mouth to speak of His glory?

Notice the bodily parts here in our text.

It speaks of a mouth. Verse 6.

It speaks of a hand. See, what's in the mouth must be

right before what's in the hand can be effective.

We exist. Here's the enjoyment of the

singing soldiers. They enjoy God's grace.

They're wrapped up in His glory. They live to extol greatest the

Lord. Think secondly with me this

morning of the engagement of the singing soldiers.

Look at the words in our text. Let the high praises of God be

in their mouth and A2 edged sword in their hand.

Now as you think of the engagement of singing soldiers,

think with me of the core of the conflict.

I want you to think of the battles and the struggles and

the conflicts that the church faces.

We face a battle with sin and Satan.

We're in a spiritual war with the world that seeks to squeeze

us into its mould with this anti God and anti Christian agenda.

It were in a battle with inward remaining sin and corruption.

And because of that battle and struggle and conflict, God's

people are not often joyful. They can be joyless.

They can become depressed and discouraged and dispirited.

And that's where many are AT at this minute and time in the 21st

century. And I want you to think this

morning of this connection. Being a singer and being a

soldier, let the high praises of God be in their mouth.

Not just praises, but the high praises of God.

The word God here means L, the God of strength, the Almighty

and A2 edged sword in their hand.

I was thinking of soldiers going to war.

And then I came across these little books, British patriotic

songs, English patriotic songs, and I was just reminded, of

course, of the song that English soldiers sang during the Civil

War. You know all about the English

Civil War, 1642 to 1651. It was a fight between the king

and Parliament. The king was King Charles the

First. The King's supporters were

called Cavaliers. The supporters of the Parliament

were called Roundheads, and they were led by a man called Oliver

Cromwell, known as the Lord Protector.

Well, I'm not going to preach on the English Civil War.

OK, not going to give you a history lesson, but just to

remind you of this, that when the Roundheads, led by Cromwell,

set off the battle, they sang patriotic songs, but they didn't

sing any modern songs. They sung the Psalms and some of

the psalms that they sung were the Hallelujah Psalms and Psalm

149 was one of them. Let the high praise of God be in

her mouth and A2 edged sword in their hand.

You see, the songs lifted the spirit.

The songs reminded them of God, the living and the true God with

whom they have to do. The songs reminded them of life

and death. It reminded them of mortality.

It reminded them of eternity. They were known as Christ's

singing soldiers, the Roundheads in the Civil War, Christ singing

soldiers. And it was that thought when I

come up the road on the motorway yesterday that came into my mind

as I was thinking about attacks for today.

You see, we ought to have joy, the joy of the Lord, in the

midst of the battle. In the midst of the battle.

We're to enjoy Christ because of God's grace, because of God's

glory, because of God's greatness.

As Ready pointed out, the Hebrew word is L here.

Let the high praises of God be in their mouth.

One who's strong and mighty to deliver, One who is the

Almighty. Now let me be careful because I

want to make this clear. Now listen to me very carefully.

I'm not talking about a literal war here.

I'm not talking about a physical warfare like the English Civil

War. See this was OK for ancient

Israel. Ancient Israel where a

theocracy, they were ruled by God.

We are not. Ulster doesn't have the title

deeds like Israel has to its land.

We are a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy.

And that constitutional monarchy, of course, come out of

the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in the Willehide settlement of

1689. And I say that for this reason,

some have used these words literally to take up arms to

justify an armed struggle for God.

Let's go out and fight with swords.

Let's go out and fight with guns.

Let's go out and fight with clubs.

I'll give you 1 illustration. Germany, Protestant Reformation.

Thomas Munster and the peasants revolt in Germany in the 16th

century. It did a lot of harm to the

cause of the Reformation. Thomas Munster took these words,

these verses, in a literal sense.

He seen himself as the sword of Gideon.

He went out to war. There was the extreme Anabaptist

as well. And of course in our day there

might be some who profess the name of Christ.

Think we've got to as well go out and lift up A2 edged sword

to kill other people, die or convert.

Well, that's not the way of the Christian Church, that's not New

Testament Christianity. The two edged sword here can be

of course a picture of the Word of God.

In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 17 we read this and take in the

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is

the Word of God over there in Hebrews.

In Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, it said, For the word of God is

Hebrews 4:12

quick and powerful and sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing

even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the

joints and marrow. And as a discerner of the

thoughts and intents of the heart.

Let me tell you a little story of the man standing going off

from London to Tel Aviv. He's going to the land of Israel

on his holidays with a party and he's from Northern Ireland here.

And he's asked by an IDF member, have you got any weapons with

you? They meant a sword or a gun or a

club or a knife. And he said, I've just got my

old trusted sword. They kept them for four hours.

They knew exactly what he was talking about.

It was the Word of God, but because He mentioned the word

sword, they took it literally. The sword of the Spirit is the

word of God. And remember in John's Gospel,

the Lord Jesus said in John chapter 18 and in the verse 36,

John 18 · chapter mention

my Kingdom was not of this world.

If my Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants

fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews?

But now is my Kingdom not from fence?

You see, the Church of Christ is not to take up weapons.

It's not to go out into the community and enforce the law.

It's not to punish the evildoer. That's the job of the

government. Romans 13 verse one.

See, we're not a theocracy. It's right and honourable for

human governments to enforce law breaking and law making in our

community. The Bible teaches in Corinthians

the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through

God to the pulling down of strongholds.

So I want you to think of the core of the conflict.

It's a spiritual conflict. Keep that in mind.

I want you to think of the cause of the conflict.

You see, when it mentions here the two edged sword, it reminds

me of course that the causes for gospel truth and and gospel

light. Folks, we are in a spiritual

war. Remember Ephesians 6 and 12

where we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against

principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the

darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high

places. We're in a battle against sin,

Satan and the world, a battle for light, a battle for truth.

See, in the modern world, the gospel has looked upon us

something that's stupid. It's a worthless thing.

It's being good news, especially if you listen to the modern

media. To the unbeliever, the gospel

means nothing good news. They don't see any value in it.

But the devil's purpose is to keep them dead in sin.

The devil's purpose is to keep them blind in the darkness.

The devil's purpose is to keep them diseased.

And and that's a big thing that we face at the moment.

The church faces danger from without, it also faces danger

from within. Remember hope we read in the

book of Jude over there in Jude 3 and 4.

Beloved, when I give all diligence to write unto you of

the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you

and exhort you. You should earn us to contend

for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.

For there are certain men crept and unawares who were before of

old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men

turning the grace of our God into luxuriousness and denying

the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see in Jude's day there was men crept into the church

unawares. They had a plan, they had a

purpose. Change the church, change it's

worship, change it's witness, change it's stand for the

scriptures, Change it's walk from being God centred to being

a man centred from, from a God pleasing way to a man pleasing

me. And of course that has happened

over time, in the 18th and the 19th century it has happened and

the churches have fallen prey to these ungodly men and, and, and,

and, and, and they have changed the style of the old hymns and

the modern ones. They, they have brought in a

more modern message. They brought in modern versions

of the Bible and of course we have to ask with Jeremiah, stand

ye in the ways and see and ask for the old pass, wherein is the

good way, and walk therein and you shall find rest for their

souls. But they said we will not walk

therein. What do we face today?

Let me say it very quickly. As we finish, we face militant

resurgence of Roman Catholicism. It was Archbishop Usher that

said when the Church of Rome is in a minority, she's a lamb,

which is in equality. She's a fox, which is in the

majority, she's a lion. Do you know that Pope Leo the

14th And I haven't preached. I haven't said anything about

Pope Leo in the past, neither the death of Pope Francis or the

election of Pope Leo. Haven't mentioned it

deliberately, but this is what he said recently.

We want unity. He also said this, the Church of

Rome presides in charity, never questioning of capturing others

either by force or by religious propaganda or by means of power.

When I read that and that's come officially, I, I thought, well,

that's a lie that can't be true. Let's nail the lie.

Look at the history, the Inquisition, the Spanish Armada,

or we could go on the wars that the Church of Rome was behind.

We also face a battle with militant atheism and

secularisation. We want to dismantle our

Christian culture. We face another enemy of

progressive liberalism out to destroy the family unit.

You think of the explosion of the sodomite parades in our

street and how sinful and vulgar and obscene the whole thing is.

Add into that the programme of education for the children,

teaching boys and girls that abortion is OK, contrary to the

command thou shall not kill. Teaching them about

relationships that have to do with different genders.

I mean, there's only two genders, male and female.

Teaching them about LGBTQ plus. Then we face, of course, the

spirit of socialism. See, there's many evils around.

The forces of hell, the forces of darkness are all arrayed

against the Christian Church. We get through into the mix,

false religion and false cults. Islam is on the March.

All religions do not lead to God.

All religions are not the way to heaven.

There's a battle on and we are set for the defence of the

gospel and the core of that battle.

It's a spiritual battle. And remember what Paul's advice

was to Timothy in First Timothy and in chapter 6 and in the

verse 12, he says this fight, the good fight of faith.

They hold an eternal life whereunto thou art also called

and has professed a good profession before many

witnesses. We're not just sons in a family.

We're not just Saints in a field to labour and work.

We are soldiers in a fight. And the core of that conflict is

spiritual and the causes were in a battle to the death against

enemies in the force of darkness in an unseen world.

Very quickly our time has gone. Think of the captain of the

conflict. Who's the captain?

You you see these soldiers that went to fight in David's day,

They had a captain. David LED them.

And the captain of our salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was encouraged yesterday when I was thinking about King

William on the 19th of June 1690 when he came to Belfast, that

there religious service there in Saint George's Church.

The minister preached when thou passes through the waters I will

be with thee. Did he know he was going to

cross the point? I don't believe he did.

I believe that was a prophetic experience.

He was saying to William, the Lord, we'll be with you and,

and, and the Lord is with us as the captain of the Lord's host,

as he was with Joshua. You see, he had plans for the

battle. He is with us.

He, he will give us the victory. He'll be there to support and

help us in all that we face because the fight is his.

His presence, his protection, his provision, his power, his

promises, his purpose will all be realised because he's the

captain of our salvation. Do you know him?

Do you love him? Are you walking with him?

Are you in fellowship with Him? We can think about the

conclusion of the conflict, the outcome of the battle.

Of course, any battle could never be predicted.

The outcome of war is never guaranteed.

But this spiritual warfare, this fight that we're in is

guaranteed because we're already on the victory side.

Jesus said I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not

prevail against it. The church has Christ's help,

the church's Christ's power, and therefore we're fighting not for

victory, but in victory, in victory, in the Lord's name.

We could think about the coronation of the conflict, the

two edged sword, fighting against the enemy, defeating the

enemy, and is connected with praise.

Remember in the days of Jehoshaphat, Joshaphat, when he

led the armies out, they sang praise unto the Lord.

First of all, before they ever lifted the sword, Second

2 Chronicles 20:21

Chronicles chapter 20, verses 21 and 22, they began to sing,

began to praise the Lord, and you see, they discovered there's

power in praise. Whenever Paul was at gaol at

midnight, he sang praises unto God and prayer was offered and

the prisoners heard them. There was power in that praise.

There was power in the prayer singing in the jailhouse.

See, that's the coronation. One final thing.

Think about the engagement of the singing soldiers.

What did they do? They sang high praises unto God

before they ever engaged the enemy.

That is critical. God's people sung.

Why did they sing? Because God's people believed in

God, God's people had faith in him.

God's people were rejoicing in him and looking for his

blessing, Samuel Rutherford was heard to say when he was in

prison. I don't know which member of the

Trinity I love the most. I love them all and I need them

all. I need the Father's love.

I need the Son's atoning sacrifice and they need the

power of the regenerating and indwelling spirit.

Here's the engagement of these soldiers.

They discovered as they laboured, there was power and

praise. And that's critical that you

understand that because as they engaged, they praised the Lord.

As they praised the Lord, they engaged.

And I say to you, as we finish, you think of your sins that you

struggle with, sins that you worry about, kill the sins that

you worry about, deal with the lusts that hunt you, silence

every worry and fear. How can you do that?

Through singing the high praises of the Lord and then using the

sword of the Spirit, the word of God, depending on that to gain

the power and to gain the victory.

That's the engagement that we should be engaged in at this

particular time. So if you're here today and

you're full of worry and fear about something, maybe you're

fearful about tomorrow, fearful about the future, fearful of

anything, then let's bring that worry and lay at the Lord's

feet. Let's slay it with the power of

this word of God and sing praises unto God that our God is

true and faithful, and our God will answer prayer.

There's power and praise. There's power and prayer.

There's power in the promises of our God.

The Lord bless you today. Thank you for coming and I pray

that these few stumbling words that the Lord gave me yesterday

evening will be a blessing to your heart.