Psalms of Praise - Linda Bailey

[SPEAKER_00]: Over the next three weeks we are looking at the book of Psalms and as you can get a sense of today we are looking at Psalms of praise today.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next week we're going to be looking at lament and then the week after we're going to be looking at wisdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: The book of Psalms is such an incredible book in our Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's so filled with so many different things from different authors at different times, and with all these different themes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now we're just looking at three different themes, but there are many different themes across the book of Psalms.

[SPEAKER_00]: And already this year we've

[SPEAKER_00]: had different sermons from Psalms and I particularly remember Darren sermon on Psalms and how we can read a Psalm every day to help us pray and help us reflect and think upon God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The book of Psalms is an incredibly special book and so helpful for us to learn more about who God is and how he interacts with us every single day.

[SPEAKER_00]: Leslie Allen, a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a

[SPEAKER_00]: nowhere is the scriptural interweaving of divinity and humanity more evident than here.

[SPEAKER_00]: How beautiful that we have this incredible resource within our grasp whether you have your Bible on your phone or, you know, through the internet or whether you have a tangible copy within it, there is sounds that we can read that can help us see how God connects with our life today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And no matter where we classify the sum, there is an element of praise in all the sums.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm sure Darren and I've got a bit of a competition going because he's preaching on lament next week.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm preaching on praise this week.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got the polar opposites and there's a bit of, well, there's probably actually more categorized lament sums even than what there is

[SPEAKER_00]: praise Psalms and so I'm sure next week he'll tell you that his topic is more important than my topic but today we are starting with praise because in actual fact no matter what theme a particular Psalm will take

[SPEAKER_00]: It always comes back to glorifying God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bernard Anderson, who wrote the book out of the depths, which we have our title for this series from, says, for every Psalm.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever its typology or classification is actually a song that extols and glorifies God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So today we want to look at how it is that we can glorify God through our Psalms.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that is what God calls us to do, to give him praise and glory in everything that we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We, as Christians, believe that we were created to worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: We were created to give God praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: In one Peter two verse nine, it says, 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.

[SPEAKER_00]: The very essence of who we are is to praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we are not turning our praise and our glory towards our incredible Heavenly Father, then we will find other things in this world to receive that praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there is lots of contenders for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are lots of things vying for our praise in our world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's we our job, we praise it and seek glory to give it glory, whether it's our family, whether it's finances, whatever it is that we put our focus on them, we desire to give glory to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Particularly in our culture today, it's all about ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: We need to give glory to ourselves and make ourselves the best that we can possibly be.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are built to worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if we do not keep our eyes focused firmly on our incredible God, who is the only one truly worthy of our worship, then we will find that other things come into our lives that take our attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: So today as we look at praise, I'm going to look at Psalm, a hundred and forty-five.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that we've already stood and given God our praise through song, but I'm going to invite us all to stand and we are going to give praise to God through the reading of Psalm, a hundred and forty-five.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to read it together, verse by verse, or kind of two lines by two lines.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to start off and I invite you to read with me in the parts that are in bold.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is Psalm, a hundred and forty-five.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a Psalm of praise accredited to David.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will exalt you my God, the King, I will praise your name forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every day I will praise you and install your name forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great is the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most worthy of praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: His greatness no one can fathom.

[SPEAKER_00]: One generation commends your works to another.

[SPEAKER_00]: They tell of your mighty acts.

[SPEAKER_00]: They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

[SPEAKER_00]: They tell of the power of your

[SPEAKER_00]: And I will proclaim your great deeds.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've lost power to you, click this over, sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: They celebrate your abundant goodness.

[SPEAKER_00]: There we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is gracious and compassionate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Slow to anger and rich in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is good to all he has compassion on all he has made.

[SPEAKER_00]: All your works praise you, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your faithful people extoll you.

[SPEAKER_00]: They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts.

[SPEAKER_00]: and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion in Jews through all generations.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

[SPEAKER_00]: The eyes of all look to you and give you that food at the proper time.

[SPEAKER_00]: You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He hears their cry and saves them.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

[SPEAKER_00]: My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature praise his holy name forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, please be seated.

[SPEAKER_00]: what an incredible sum of praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And a sum that I felt confident to get us all to say together, the sums were written so that they would be said together so that they would be memorized so that they would be easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love how all these words just flowed off the tongue.

[SPEAKER_00]: There wasn't too many big words to complicate things.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were just an act of praise as we said them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And John Sot, a theologian who looked at this Psalm, felt that the final verse that we all read together really encapsulates the whole of this Psalm.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it outlines three of the core characteristics of worship when we turn our worship to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, the last verse, twenty-one.

[SPEAKER_00]: seems to summarize the three characteristics of worship of Jehovah, which have been elaborated in the Psalm.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is eternal forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's universal, every creature and rational.

[SPEAKER_00]: as we praise his holy name.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to look at these three elements of worship as we look at this idea that we give God our praise through this Psalm.

[SPEAKER_00]: So to begin with, I'm going to start off with universal.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, the clicker doesn't seem to be working for me today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So no, you're all good, go back, that's it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anthony and I will work together so be patient with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Universal, in this verse it says,

[SPEAKER_00]: Let every creature prays.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let every creature all of creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even how this Psalm is written shows us how much we encapsulate all things through our prays.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see, this Psalm was originally written in Hebrew.

[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, it was translated and we now have it in the English so that we can read it and understand it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it was written as an Acrostic poem.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you remember Acrostic poems from your primary school days to give you a bit of an example.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is an Acrostic poem I wrote about my husband.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as you can see, his name is Cameron.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is his name and then I've chosen each letter of his name to give a descriptive word about him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's comedic.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's affectionate.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's married.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is embarrassing.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has repartais, he's opinionated, but he's very navely.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for those of you who might know my husband might read that and think, oh yeah, I can see how over the last twenty-three years of marriage Linda has got to know her husband just a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might think, oh I've got a few words that I could add myself for Cameron, but that is an across thick poem.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, in the Hebrew alphabet, there are twenty-two letters.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, this Psalm has twenty-two lines starting with each Hebrew letter that gives praise or some description of worship to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, for those of you who are detailed, oriented and very astute, you may have realized there's only twenty-one verses in Psalm

[SPEAKER_00]: They feel that Psalm the verse thirteen holds two of these letters.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when we say that we have done everything we have explored from A to Z in our alphabet.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're showing that we have done everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've gone from the very beginning to the very end and so to this Psalm by listing every single letter from the Hebrew alphabet.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's showing that in entirety

[SPEAKER_00]: We praise God with everything that we are from beginning to end from Alpha Omega, from A to Z, from the beginning of the alphabet all the way to the end.

[SPEAKER_00]: We encapsulate and in everything that we do, we can praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says in verse nine, the Lord is good to all He has compassion on all He has made.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if we are from beginning to end giving God praise, it's also all people, all things, all creation, all together giving God praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I find this so helpful it brings me so much joy to know that all of creation can be worshipping and praising God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not completely all just on my shoulders.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we are sitting here today, the oceans are continuing to crash their waves upon the shore to give their resounding praise, doing what they are called to do, to give praise to the one that has created them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even while we are sleeping, the stars in the sky are shining brightly to shine and remind us of the glory of our Creator and how worthy He is.

[SPEAKER_00]: of our praise, they are doing what God has created them to do, to give him praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: No matter where we go, there is creation giving praise and honor as we wake up early in the morning, already the sky is lit and shining.

[SPEAKER_00]: with the glory of God as the sun rises and displays all its beautiful color across the sky and no matter what our day has held, whether it's been a good day or a bad day, a great day or a challenging day.

[SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, the sun will set and yet again the sky will show the beauty and wonder and glory and majesty of our God as it praises our Creator for who

[SPEAKER_00]: He is all creation, all things praise and give glory to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The other night I was driving home late at night and all I was thinking of was just to get into bed and go to sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was already starting to count the hours before my alarm clock would go off and I'm driving down.

[SPEAKER_00]: our street and I see a wombat on our street.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now this is a very bad photo for good reason.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you squint your eyes and look at the kind of dark glob in the middle of this picture, that is the wombat that we know lives on our street because we see evidence of it all the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we don't often see the actual wombat.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even though it was the dark of night, all I was wanting to do was to go home and go to bed, I was so excited about seeing creation in the wild and natural habitat that I stopped.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this photo is so bad because I kept my distance, I didn't want to interrupt it too much, I didn't get out of the car, I zoomed right in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And even now, seeing this picture, it brings me so much joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the one that is just going about, it's every day, you know, every night activities, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was eating the grass.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably thinking, oh, turn off the lights.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's just living life.

[SPEAKER_00]: but because God has created us with the senses to be able to detect the incredible worship of His creation, it brought me joy and I loved seeing God's creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Often if you ask people, where is it that you feel you connect so well with God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's the best place for you to connect with God?

[SPEAKER_00]: So often people will say, out in nature,

[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm outside, when I'm, you know, go for a hike or for a walk, when I see a beautiful setting, when I see creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm XIX says, the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: Day after day they poor fourth speech.

[SPEAKER_00]: Night after night they reveal knowledge.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have no speech.

[SPEAKER_00]: They use no words.

[SPEAKER_00]: No sound is heard from them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet their voice goes out into all the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their words to the ends of the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can learn a lot from creation giving glory to God in how we can give glory to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, our worship team, our tech and our band, they work so hard to make sure that the sound of our songs is, as God as it can be so that everyone can join in in worship and how blessed we are through that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God is not checking on the quality of our voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is not checking on what exactly we say to give Him glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just as creation gives God glory, just through being who they have been created to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: They give God glory and we can give God glory when we see how well all of creation shows its beauty.

[SPEAKER_00]: To worship God, to give God praise, is universal for all of us and for all creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's also rational.

[SPEAKER_00]: In this verse, let every creature praise his holy name.

[SPEAKER_00]: God is not asking for his praise just because he's in the position of God and he demands it.

[SPEAKER_00]: God does not demand our praise just to make himself feel better because he needs our praise to truly be God.

[SPEAKER_00]: but we give God praise and glory because the more we get to know who God is, the more we get to understand how incredibly holy our God is.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can't help but praise Him for who He is and how much He has done for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: I heard a great quote this week from a book by a lady Jen Wilkins who says, who encourages people to learn more about God so that we can worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, the heart cannot love what the mind does not know.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our worship can be extravagant and in all different kinds of ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it is also rational.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do it with the understanding of who God is and what He has done for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so out of that rational place, we give Him glory and we give Him honor.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the more we can get to know who God is, I can guarantee the more you will praise and give Him glory and wonder.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we invert in our Psalm, a hundred and forty-five, it gives us an understanding of who God is in verse eight.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Slow to anger and rich in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is not the only time we read these words in Scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, this Psalm is borrowing these words from Exodus, from Moses.

[SPEAKER_00]: When Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert, Moses knew that without God, they were going nowhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: that they were not going to be a special nation or they were not going to be able to do all that God had asked them to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Moses asks God to promise to be with them all the time and he asks God for a glimpse of who he is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God says to Moses, well you can't see my face or you will die.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I will hide you in the crevice of a rock and I will pass by and you will be able to see my back.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as he passes by in Exodus thirty four we read, he passed in front of Moses proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

[SPEAKER_00]: God gives us a glimpse of who He is and these are the characteristics that He declares, that He is gracious, that He's compassionate, that He's loving and faithful.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this, to us, who maybe hears it every week, doesn't sound so surprising.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in the time when God said it, not just to Moses, but a time when David wrote this in the Psalm, this was an unusual thing for a God to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was an unusual thing for a king to be, and at the very start of this Psalm it says, you know, I exalt you my God and King, because a King in these days was not loving and gracious and compassionate.

[SPEAKER_00]: The kings were there to build up their power, their glory on earth so that they could lead and have wealth and do what they felt was the most important thing to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet here is a God saying, I'm not a God of, well, he is a God of great power, but to explain who he is, the characteristics he shows is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nikki Gumball, the founder of Alpha, says, in the ancient world, kingship was much more all encompassing, and the king was the final authority in all aspects of national affairs.

[SPEAKER_00]: The joy and exaltation of the sands stem from the twin truths.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God is king, but the God is also good.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can trust that he is in control, and that is good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is good news that has gone throughout all generations, and we hold that for us today as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God is King.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is mighty.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is powerful.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is majestic.

[SPEAKER_00]: But our God is also good.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is gracious and compassionate and rich in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the God that we worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: That is the God that David spoke about in Psalm, a hundred and forty-five.

[SPEAKER_00]: And how much more for us today can we give praise and honor to that God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because not only do we read about him in the Old Testament and see his grace and compassion and love, but he exemplified that in the life of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because when Jesus came to earth and Manuel, God among us, He yet again emphasized the grace and the compassion, the slow to anger and the rich in love that God truly is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we look to the life of Jesus to see and to learn even more about this incredible God that we worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Matt Stafford, a lecturer in Old Testament says, David presents to us a God that is just too good to be true.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's unbelievable.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then Jesus says, no, it's not.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's real.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is true.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can count on it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our praise isn't irrational and out there and just throwing things out where we're made to worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we will just worship anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Know the more we get to know who God is.

[SPEAKER_00]: The more we understand of His grace and His compassion and His love.

[SPEAKER_00]: The more we will naturally overflow our praise and our glory, our wonder and our honor to the God who is so worthy of our praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And finally, our worship is to be forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let every creature universal praise his holy name, rational praise forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: praises of God will go forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And how great was it to see the video of people within our congregation sharing their moments of praise, their moments of joy, their happiness that they experience in their life through all different kinds of things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it was a spiritual accomplishment, whether it was something in nature, whether it was something with their health or something in their family, a sporting accomplishment, how diverse we are in our congregation.

[SPEAKER_00]: How diverse we can be in our happiness and our joy.

[SPEAKER_00]: How great it is that we can praise in all different ways.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, when you look at David,

[SPEAKER_00]: who is accredited to have written this Psalm.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's the one saying, you know, let us praise all creation.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's holy name forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but I have some days that actually praise is really difficult to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you look at the life of David, he must have had such a great life, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He had an easy to say we have to praise forever and ever because he was always happy and things always went his way and God blessed his life in such a way that nothing ever went wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if anyone knows about David as we read in the Old Testament of the Bible, he's one of the characters we probably know the most about.

[SPEAKER_00]: His life was not always perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was anointed to be king at a young age.

[SPEAKER_00]: It took him years to be able to actually take over the throne.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in that time, the current king actually threatened his life numerous times.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had to fight many literal battles.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then once he was king,

[SPEAKER_00]: His own sin took him to a very dark place, and there were consequences, not just for him, but for his nation as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then his family wows us, where do we start with his family?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was tough going.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet David writes the sum of praise to God, saying, forever and ever we give you praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: I will exalt you my God and King.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are gracious and compassionate.

[SPEAKER_00]: Slow to anger, quick, rich in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will praise you forever and ever in the good times and the bad times.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a song that some of you may have heard on the radio, it's playing at the moment, it's called Hard Fort Hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually written by a Christian artist, Brandon Lake, and he's done a remix with a rapper, and it's ended up having seventeen weeks in the Hot One Hundred Billboard charts with Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish and all our secular artists.

[SPEAKER_00]: a song called Hard Fort Hallelujah in the charts.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he did this remix with a rapper called Jelly Roll.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think, if you haven't heard of Jelly Roll before, you think, oh, that's cute.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jelly Roll, what's our sweet?

[SPEAKER_00]: Jelly Roll is, hey, as face stats, he's done time in prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: He has lived a life of addiction, but he heard this song and he loved it because he recognized that he lived a life of second chances.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so they've done this remix and it is being heard and sung by millions of people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it goes like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't always feel it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's when I need it the most.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm a keep on singing till my soul catches up with my song.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's times when my hands go up freely and times that it costs.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's days when a praise comes out easy, days when it takes all the strength I got.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll bring my hard fought heart felt, been through hell, hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll bring my storm tossed, torn sail, story to tell, hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because God, you've been patient, God, you've been gracious, faithful, whatever I'm feeling or facing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll bring my hard fought

[SPEAKER_00]: heartfelt, it is well hallelujah.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a song in our secular charts.

[SPEAKER_00]: The people are recognizing it is not always well with our soul, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not always easy to sing praises.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't always have great days where the praise just comes out easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are times when we suffer and sometimes when it is just even too hard to pray, let alone praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And can I just say that is the power of being a part of a faith community.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I know as well as you know that there are days when praise is just too difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't believe in a God who says he is gracious and compassionate and rich in love who is sitting up in heaven thinking up, lended in praise on Monday, crossing her off the list.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, gee, she said, but a prayer on Wednesday, but it wasn't really that good.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not sure, you know, I'm in two minds about her now.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, we have a gracious, compassionate loving God who came to earth to understand how it was for us to live.

[SPEAKER_00]: He understands all the trials and the tribulations that we go through through Jesus Christ, He understood and took it all on Himself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And He created us to be in community.

[SPEAKER_00]: because there are times in my life where I don't have the praise, and I don't have the words.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I have some incredibly faithful loving people that I know I can shoot a text to and say, can you pray for me about this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or I'm finding this really hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why we as a church community, we have a prayer newsletter where there are over a hundred people in our faith community that regularly, weekly, pray for things that are happening in our service, in our church, in our faith community.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we have a pastoral prayer in our service to bring the needs of our faith community to God together.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we have a pastoral care team because we know that individuals we cannot do it on our own and God doesn't ask us to do it on our own.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when I don't have the words, I am connected to the body of Christ where someone else will have the words for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And someone else will be able to stand with me when I can't praise, they can sing the praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why, as a ministry team, we work so hard in doing everything that we can to create more and more opportunities for us as a whole community to come together, to pray, to give praise, our all-night praise night.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: I can guarantee the people who stayed here.

[SPEAKER_00]: They love sleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're happy to sleep during the night.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we create the opportunities so that more people can come get an understanding of who our loving, gracious, compassionate God is and to respond by giving him the praise that he is due.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we have the prayer team after the every single ten AM service.

[SPEAKER_00]: Standing here to pray with you and for you because we don't have to do it on our own.

[SPEAKER_00]: The forever and ever isn't just on your shoulders.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's for us as a whole community.

[SPEAKER_00]: When one can sing the other, can pray when the other doesn't have the words, the other can praise and pray for them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And forever and ever isn't just on us.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it is how great that the generations before us have given praise to God to create this space for us to continue that praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is why, as a church, we are unashamed to poor time and resource and focus on our children and our youth because we will not always be here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we want to continue the praise for God forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it is the next generation that are going to come up

[SPEAKER_00]: and give praise and glory to our God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they might do it differently to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they might use different words.

[SPEAKER_00]: And their songs might be louder or quieter or whatever it might be.

[SPEAKER_00]: The forever and the ever and ever of our God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He deserves that worship forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: He deserves it of us now.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we want to do our best so that that worship and that praise continues.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse four in Psalm, a hundred and forty five says, one generation commends your works to another.

[SPEAKER_00]: They tell of your mighty acts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our praise to God is universal for all people and all of creation to give praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our praise is rational as we learn more about who God is and His grace and compassion and love.

[SPEAKER_00]: We will not be able to hold back our praise as we realize who He is and what He has done for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And our praise is forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: striving each day, no matter what is happening, that it is not our situation today, but we give praise because of who God is, and he is like that every single day.

[SPEAKER_00]: But joining together as a whole community so that we can all praise and support each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: and praise when others can't praise and build up the next generation so that that continues forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let every creature praise his holy name forever and ever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God, you are so worthy of our praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are times when we are just filled with so much love and appreciation, the praise comes out easy and flows from our lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: And people can see the difference in us because we give you our praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God, we acknowledge through the fallen broken world that we live in that there are days

[SPEAKER_00]: when praise is tough and challenging.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we even struggle to turn our eyes to you, let alone to give you all that you are worthy of.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God, we thank you for the community of faith that we are a part of.

[SPEAKER_00]: That we can gather together no matter what our weak has held, to give you praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because no matter what is happening in our life, you are gracious.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are compassionate.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are sloter anger and you are rich in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we praise you for who you are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who you have created us to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we give you the honor and the glory that you are truly worthy of.

[SPEAKER_00]: We pray this in your glorious name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us stand and do just that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us stand and give glory and bless the name of our God, who is gracious and compassionate and rich and fun.