Psalm 147

Glad you're here with us. If you have your bible has turned with me

to Psalm one forty seven. Psalm one forty seven This morning one forty seven

again is one of the last songs of Scripture. And we're going to look

at this this morning there are This is a song actually, Psalm one forty

seven. And as you come to this, the title of my sermon is

a call to praise. It's actually a call for us, a command for

us to praise the Lord. And so and in this Psalm, as we're

gonna look at a little bit, it kind of gives us an understanding of

why is a call to us a command for us to praise the Lord?

But it explains why we are to praise the Lord. And that's a question

I think all of us. I ask you today today we just sang two

songs, and we've heard a choir sing. Ask you as you've sung,

and I hope that as you've come to here today and we've sung, that

you sung along with those and you've praised the Lord. Well, I ask

you, though, as you've sung today, why did you do it?

Why did you praise the Lord? What was the motivation of your song?

Why I was movation for you singing. Why did you sing? Or why

did you not sing? Well, that is what the Psalmist is asking us.

He's inviting us to praise the Lord, and it tells us why we

should praise the Lord. There's an old hymn that was written by Sylvia D.

Martin, written nineteen oh five, and it was called the Eye.

His eye is on the spare I mean if you know that him. And

in the course of that song, she says, I sing because I'm happy.

I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow, and

I know he watches over me. I sing because I'm happy. I sing

because I'm free. You know, with Miss Martin's song, the song highlights

it's a very important question why do we sing? And for the writer,

Miss Martin, she says, she sings because she's happy, she sings because

she's free. But I really believe there's a danger. There's a danger to

Miss Martin's words. There is a danger to that idea that I sing because

I'm happy, I sing because I'm free, because on that the danger is

the danger we sing because we have because of an emotional feeling. I see,

because I'm happy that's a feeling, that's an emotion that changes, as

you know, in your life, it changes day to day whether you feel

happy, whether you don't feel happy. And if we base our praise upon

what we feel, then many days we are not going to sing because reality

is we just don't feel it. And so I think there's a danger in

that. I think, and for us, there's another reason why many of

us don't sing. We don't sing because we don't have that feeling. But

some of the reasons that we don't sing this morning or we do sing this

morning, is because of stylistic preferences. You like the song or you don't

like the song. You know, we grew up with all of us in

this room. Every one of us have grown up in a generation after generation

that has had access to us radio. Right, we had radio growing up,

and now for our teens that have music stream and services like Apple Music

or Spotify and now and even in the day's the past, if you didn't

like a song, what did you do? You just change a channel right,

or you hit skip on your playlist right. If you don't like the

artists, if you don't like the style, you just change it to the

style that you like, and as result, generation after generation, we only

listen to the things that we like that suits our preferences or suits our taste,

and we take that into our worship and say, you know what,

our worship as long as it's what I like, as long as it's the

style that I like, I'll sing if I like it, our sing if

I and our won't sing if I don't like it, And therefore our worship.

At times, we only praise when it's our style, whether it's hymns

or Southern Gospel or contemporary. And as a result, we've cheapened praise and

worship. If we may praise and worship about our feelings and we and we,

and as a result we praise has lost its purpose. In the Psalms

this morning, the Psalmus wants us to see not why, not only why

we should sing, but what is the object of our praise. There's a

writer I don't know if you've ever heard of. He's a theologian. His

name's John Stott, and John stop wrote a book and it's called Your Mind

Matters. And in this book he says these words. He recalls how praise

sets praise is to set worship of God in the context of teaching about God,

and he says these words in his book. If we're not reflecting on

what God is like and has done, then we're not really worshiping. So

what does John Stop mean? If our worship has become about our emotional feeling

or whether we like a certain style and less about God, then we're not

really worshiping after all. The Psalmist in today, in Psalm one forty seven,

he wants you and I. He calls you and I to praise the

Lord this sum I want you to be very clear, it's not optional.

Where if you're a child of God or your believer in God, whether you

should worship it, whether you shouldn't worship. We all should worship, we

should all praise. And he commands three different commands of how we are to

praise the Lord. He says we are to praise, we are to sing,

and we are to glorify. And in the Psalm as we read through,

he gives us reasons why we are to sing, while we are to

praise, and while we are to glorify. So I ask you today,

as we come into the service, why do we worship? Why do we

praise? May you hear today the call of your God saying, praise me,

worship me, glorify me because who I am, and may that be

the focus of your worship today. These psalms, I want you to think,

understand this as we come to these psalms. These psalms today are psalms

that were written a long time ago, and it's believed these psalms, these

last five psalms, and some in the Book of Psalms or psalms that were

sung in the temple. There are songs that sung every day in the sin

of God, every day inviting believers like you and I to praise, to

sing and glorify the Lord. Today. Let's see why we let's hear this

call to praise and sing why and see why we are to praise the Lord.

Let's stand together, Let's read this song today, this call to praise.

Listen to what it says, Psalm one forty seven. This is the

word the Lord. Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises

to our God's pleasant for a song of praise, it's feeding. The Lord

builds up Jerusalem, he gathers the outcast of Visrael. He heals the broken

heart, and he binds their wounds. He determines the numbers of the stars.

He gives to all of them their names. Great is the Lord,

and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. He lifts up the

humble, and he cast the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord

with thanksgiving, Make melody to our God with on the lyre. He covers

the heavens with clouds, and he prepares rain for the earth. He makes

grass grow on the earth. He gives to the beasts their food, into

the young ravens that cry. His delight is not on the strength of the

horses, nor his pleasure in the legs of man. But the Lord takes

pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast life.

Praise the Lord, Old Jerusalem, Pray praise your God, O Zion,

for he strengthens the bars of your gates. He blesses your children within

you. He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the fineness

of wheat. He sends out his commands to the earth, and his word

runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters a horse. For

I don't know how to say that like ash, he hurls down his crystal

like ice, like crumbles, who can stand before his cold. He sends

out his word and he melts them. He makes his wind blow and the

water's flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to

Israel. He's not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know

his rules. Praise the Lord. Let's pray together, Lord. We come

together, Lord, and we come today Lord, as part of our worship,

we come to praise you, Lord. And sometimes we've lost our way

on how to praise you, Lord as we should. Lord. Today you've

given us your word, and in this word, you've given us a call

to praise you, to sing to you, to glorify you. So,

Lord, may we hear the commands of your word today, and may your

word Lord speak to us. Lord. You know I am just your simple

messenger. I'm a flawed simple man that Lord, Lord, that as you've

raised me up to be your instrument, say the Lord. I pray that

Lord, you'll clear my mind, you clear my heart, you'd cleanse me,

that you might feel me, that you might pour me out. Father,

And Lord, I pray today that the hearers the day would not hear

my words, but they would hear yours. Lord. So Lord, give

us clarity of thought, clarity speech. God, help us center our gaze

and our attention on your word today. In your name, we pray,

Amen, you may be seated what you see. First, as we come

to the Psalm one forty seven. First, there's again three imperatives. Imperatives

in English, as you know, are commands, and so these are commands

from the psalmis or from our Lord to praise. And so there's three there's

praise, sing and glorifying. We're going to look at those. The very

first one we see in Psalm one seven is the very first verse. You

see it praise the Lord. You know what the word is in Hebrew.

It's actually hallelujah. You know the word hallelujah. Actually hallelujah is in the

in the Hebrew comes from halley, which is an imperative to praise as the

Lord praise, and it's conjunction or contraction. And yeah, at the very

end is actually a contraction for the name of God, Jehovah. So it's

praise Jehovah or praise the Lord hallelujah. And so that is the very first

command here is to praise the Lord. A pastor in Enid Baptist Church in

Cambridge, England, had a sermon on Some one forty seven, and then

that he said in his sermon that there were three words that are known throughout

the entire world. You know where the three words are synonymous. Everyone knows

these words, and no matter what different language you come from, almost everyone

knows these words. And it's Amen, Coca cola, and hallelujah, so

that everyone knows that. But what does it really mean hallelujah? I don't

know if you know, you've heard hallelujah before and you may have not even

known what it meant. But actually what it means is praise the Lord.

But you know, the sad thing is, although we all know these words,

sometimes we may be dumb down these words we make these these words lose

their importance of their emphasis. For instance, he mentions that or clements that

this pastor mentioned that there was this commercial not long ago and it was for

niccorect gum. And in the commercial it showed a package of gum bursting through

the clouds and the sun on the clouds that gum. The sun was shining

down from the on through as it comes through the clouds. The sun was

shining down on the pack of nicorect gum, and that said in the commercial

nicorect gum it's now available in full strength without prescription. Hallelujah. I mean

that is is that not the way our world does. It's something word that's

actually command from the Lord to praise the Lord, and our world has taken

it to seem as if I'm happier about something or I'm excited about something.

It doesn't have to be inciting about the things of God. It can be

cited about controlling my nicotine addiction, and I just say, praise the Lord.

I'm just happy. So I'm just going to say something about God and

never really giving God praise, but praising my feeling. Here, that's not

the idea at all. He says here and listen to words and this two

reasons for them saumas why we should praise the Lord. And it's not about

whether we feel it or whether we're happy or excited about something. That Psalma

says we should praise the Lord. What does he say in verse one,

we should praise the Lord for us good. Listen that for it's good to

sing praises to our God. Can I tell you one of the you say,

Pastor, what is something I can do in my life every day that

is good? You know, there's a lot of bad things I can do

in my life. There's a but what is something I can do that is

of value in my life? Scripture would say, one thing you can do

every day is praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, for it is good

to sing praise us to our God. Listen, for it's pleasant to sing

a song of a song of praise. That is fitting. It is a

good thing for you to praise the Lord. Hey, listen, it's a

good thing as you come into worship to sing songs of praise. And this

is not just my saying that it's good, it's God saying that it is

good. I want you to see. He says two reasons why should we

praise the Lord. It's because it's good and to our God, and it's

pleasant, it's fitting to praise the Lord. But in verses two through six,

if worships, as Scot would say, if worships about reflecting on who

God is, then verses two through six take us to that. Okay,

we are to praise the Lord because it is good and it's fitting. But

we are to praise the Lord because we want to think about who God is.

And so in verse two through six it really describes us things about who

this God is. Look At what in verse two says, For the Lord

builds Jerusalem, he gathers the outcast of it. He heals the broken hearted,

he binds up their wounds. He determines the numbers of the stars.

He gives to them all their names. Great as the Lord, and abundant

in power, his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble,

and he casts the wicked to the ground. You know, it's really

we really don't know when this psalm was written. It has thought that as

you think about this, that it could be the time of the Amiah.

Look at the imagery of verse two and three. It says, why should

we praise the Lord? And we think about who God is? We think

about and remember who God is. Well, God is the God who rebuilt

Jerusalem. This is and what says he builds up Jerusalem he gathers is the

idea of God building up the walls and building the city Jerusalem. Jerusalm was

the place of the Holy Holdies. It was the city of God. It

was where God dwelled in that city, and God built that. It gives

the imagery him gathering the outcast of Israel. That was kind of the understanding

in the Old Testament. There was times a war where different nations like Assyrian

Babylon would come in and devastate Israel and Jerusalem and destroy the city. And

the imagery of this passage of God. And by the time, by the

way, in the times of war like that Babylon in Syria, they would

carry on carry the people of visual into captivity into Babylon in Syria. The

imagery here is God rebuilding the walls, and that the imagery is God going

to Syria and Babylon and gathering people from where they were and bringing them back

home. It says the Lord. The reason why you should praise the Lord

because it's good and it's fitting. But the reason she praise the Lord is

what God has done. There's times in your life where things are broken down.

There's times of your life where it seems like you've carried off in a

distant land and God seeks you. God sought you, and God does the

work of restoring. You listen the imagery, not only just physically what it

done and how God sought them, but imagery is that they what He did

in healing them. Scripture says in verse three, he heals the broken heart,

He binds up their wounds. This is not only just a thing that

happened in the nation, but personally. People's lives were broken, their hearts

were broken. And not only did God restore their nation, but God healed

their hearts. Like I said, it's really unsure when this pastor was written.

But in Niamiah twelve, Neamiah is about how God would raise up and

rebuild Israel and Nia and Mayah twelve. After they rebuild the walls of Israel

or Jerusalem, they had this service of celebration celebrating how God had brought them

from captivity and brought them back to Israel, brought them back to Jerusalem and

rebuilt the temple. And as a result, they did the celebration where they

praised the Lord. Scripture said in Jeremiah, not Jeremiah Namiah twelve twenty seven.

And they and at the dedication of the wall Jerusalem, they sought the

Leevites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication of

gladness with thanksgiving, singing with symbols, harps and liars. So in the

dedication of the temple and celebrating what God had done. They went through all

the land of visual and they got all the levites, all the priests,

and they got them to come to Jerusalem. And Nehemiah twelve, it says

that they had two different choirs, and one choir would start. They started

on the same place of the wall, and one choir would go one way

around the wall, and the other choir would go the other way around the

wall. And as they walked around on top of the wall, around the

wall, all they did was sing praises to the God, Thank you God

for rebuilding. The Bible says that they would then enter into the temple,

all the choir and all the people, and you know what the people did.

They sang praises to our God. And Scripture says they sang so loud

that cities beyond Jerusalem could hear the praises of God. Why why were they

singing? They were singing because God rebuilt them. But won't you see they

sing because they remembered what it was like to be cast out of Israel.

They sing because they remember what it was like to be broken because of sin.

They sing because they rejoice of how God gathered them, how God healed

their broken heart, how God bound their wounds. But look at verse look

at the scripture. He says heals in verse three, he hoals their broken

hearts, he binds their wounds. But look at verse four. He determines

the numbers of stars, and he gives them all their names. Great is

our God, an abundant of power. Not only that they praise the Lord,

They're commanded to praise the Lord because you think about God's work of revelation,

I mean God's work of redemptive power. So the first thing for you

and I, why do we praise the Lord? We should praise the Lord

because of God's redemptive power. Scripture would not only describe his redemptive power to

go and grab Israel and bring them back and restore the walls, but he

would show as redemptive power in verse four, which says, he determines the

numbers of stars, and he gives all of them their names. Do you

know from what we understand through Harvard's Smithsonian Center of astrophysic physics. There are

one hundred billion stars in just the Milky Way. Just get your mind around

that. One hundred billion stars in the Milky Way. There's eight billion people

that live on Earth. So one hundred billion stars compared to eight billion that

live on this Earth, that's a whole lot more. Not only do we

understand that, the Bible says, not only does he look at scripture here

he determines the numbers of stars. So Scripture says, God knows every here

that's on your head, and knows every here that's on eight billion people on

the Earth. But Scripture says he knows how many star are the in the

galaxy. Scripture says, he determines what stars there are. Do you know,

according to science, we as great as the scientific minds that we have

in our world today, do you know we have no idea actually how many

stars are in the galaxy. In nineteen ninety five, there was a Hubble

space telescope, and that telescope would show that there's roughly around three thousand galaxies.

Now Milky Way's one. It's one hundred billion in just the Milky Way,

Okay. In two thousand and three, in two thousand and four,

they upgraded the telescope and found that there's roughly ten thousand galaxies. In twenty

twelve, with the best instruments they have, they said there was around five

thousand to five hundred. You hear what's happening, right, Every few years

or every seven years, they check and they can't get a measure on how

many galaxies there are. There's a professor. His name is David Korich.

He's the assistant professor at Ethica College in New York State. He estimate listen

that there is roughly ten trillion galaxies in the universe. I mean, not

even in the galaxies one hundred trillion. If that's so, and you multiply

that by a one hundred billion, that's just in the Milky Way, that

is one sept trillion. If you want to write that on your notes,

put one and do twenty four zeros. I didn't even know how to tell

you. I didn't even want to go through how many zeros because I thought

it would take too much time. One scept trillion listen by us today,

the greatest scientists in the world. We can't measure how many stars are in

the sky, but scripture says, your God is the god who knows every

one of them. But listen what scripture says, He not only determines the

number of stars, but he gives them all their names. Can you think

your God that you were is the God of redemptive power. He sought you,

He bought you. Do you remember when you were a child, or

you remember you were a young adult, and you remember how the spirit of

God came upon your heart, how you were broken because of your sin,

how you needed forgiveness, and God sought you. In God's great power,

in an eight billion people, he came after you, and by his power

he redeemed you. And by the same power that he upholds the stars and

he determines the stars, is the same power he came after you. He

loves you, he redeemed you, and you are more important than one of

the sept trillion stars that are out there in the world today. He knows

your name, scripture says, He knows every name, every hair it is

on your head. That is the God that we should praise. And why

should we praise him? Because if it was redemptive work in us. You

know, my sister, my oldest sister, lost a child at five weeks

old. And she always said, and I always thought this was so wise,

that you don't measure pain. You know, we can't really measure the

stars are scientists. But another thing we can't really measure is pain? And

what does she mean by that? Which we can't You can't look at someone's

pain and what someone's going through and you say, you know what, your

pain is less or greater than my pain. But we do that, don't

we? Right? My dad passed. People come up and says, what,

pastor or Jonathan, I know your pain. And what they're trying to

do, they're trying to be sympathetic. But what they're trying to say,

what the pain that I went through and the pain that you went through.

They're the same. They're on the same level, right, they're in the

same measurement. But reality is, no one's pain is the same, right,

no one's its And the reality is not any of us in this room

can measure someone's pain. Nobody. But Scripture says, according to this word,

the Lord determines the numbers of the stars. He gives all of them

their names. Great our is our Lord, and abundant and power. And

listen to this. Listen to verse five. And his understanding is beyond measure.

Listen to me today what Scripture is saying, God is great, and

great is our Lord because his power to redeem his people, because his power

to know the stars and measure the stars. And that same God who understands

although every mind in this world cannot understand how many stars are in disguise,

our God can. And he not only understands what's happening in the galaxies.

But listen, he measures your pain. Scripture says, so much so that

in Psalm fifty six eight, you have kept my talk, kept the count

of my tossings. You put my tears in your bottle? Are they not

in your book? Scripture says, listen to me, young man and young

woman, today God knows right now what's going on your heart, as your

pastor. As much as I want to understand what you're going through and understand

what's in your heart, I do not, But my God does. And

Scripture says, he measures your tears, He measures your sufferings. The tossing

is theirs, is the imageries that as we're suffering, we toss back and

forth in bed, and He's counted in the night when you're struggling. Every

time you roll over and struggle, he counts them. And the Bible says,

he has a book where he's numbered your tossings, and he holds your

tears in the bottle. Our God is a god that only can measure the

stars, but he measures our suffering. He knows it, and by that

same power, he wants to redeem you. Listen to imagery here a love

verse six. When we're struggling, we're hurting, and whether that's suffering and

loss or things in this world or whether listen, I think it's very important.

There's two menajuries suffering in our life, the suffer and the sinner.

Sometimes we suffer because of sin, right, We suffering because we've got sin

in our life. Sometimes we suffer because of just suffering in this world,

like cancer and different things. Right, but listen, God knows both.

Whether you're suffering because of sin or you're suffering because of other things that's happened

in your life. God knows them all, and the Bible says, listen,

by that great power, just think about the imagery. When God takes

up a star, and the Bible says he places the stars in the sky.

Scripture says, boy, I'm getting excited, y'all. Just better hold

on. Y'all may not get out tonight today, So just ife, you

brought a bag lunch. Listen what it says in verse six. The Lord

what lifts the humble, He cast down the wicked to the ground. The

same power by which he lifts up the stars is the same power that he

wants to lift you up. He wants to lift you up out of sin.

He wants to lift you up out of suffering. And because of that,

we should praise the Lord. Because of his redemptive power in us.

He redeems us from sin, he redeems us from suffering, and because of

how he's redeemed us, we should praise him. We shouldn't praise him just

when we feel happy. We shouldn't just praise him when we like the song.

We should praise him because how he's redeemed us, and that should be

the motivation of our praise. All right, I've got three minutes and I

got three points, so we better go. The Bible says, we sing

we should only praise God for his redemptive power, but we should Scripture says

the next imperative is we should sing. We should sing to God for his

sustaining power and his steadfast love. Look at verse seven, Sing to the

God, Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, make melody to our God on

the liars the imagery there, there's two different forms of praise. Right.

There's times where we lift up our voices. But today we have instruments.

We have guitarists, we have drummers, and they're praising the Lord by playing

an instrument. And we see that biblically, they were understanding that just because

you may not sing, but maybe you play the instrument, both are forms

of praise to the Lord. And why should we sing or why should we

play it instrument? Scripture says because of what the Lord has done. This

is what says. He covers the heavens with clouds, He prepares the rain

for the earth. He makes the grass grow to the hills, and he

gives to the beasts their foods and gives young ravens their cry. This understanding

here through scripture is that we should praise the Lord because he sustains. As

you look at verse seven and on, it gives this imagery that God sustains,

not just us but he says, nature, look at what imagery.

These are imagery of nature. He covers the heavens with clouds. You know,

you should sing to the Lord, because God, by his power he

sustains this earth. Think about it. God is, He controls the clouds,

Scripture says, and all it covers the clouds, and he prepares the

rain. He brings rain. I'll never forget when I was at a church

in South Carolina that one of the churches down the road got caught on fire,

that burnt or burned down. Then they didn't have the steep on.

And I had the farmer who depended upon rain for his crops, and he

heard that the word was coming to steeple. New steeple was coming, and

he's setting in the parking lot and watched until that temple. In that temple,

that steeple got put on the church because he said the Lord had brought

rain. Because they took the steeple down, and when that steeple got on,

he believed that God was going to bring the rain. But I say

all that to understand all joking aside by them. He understood it was God

who brought the rain. It's God, by his power sustains the earth through

rain. Scripture says, he makes the grass grow on the hills. He

said this imagery. God controls the sun, He controls the rain, and

what for in order that he provides great green grass. And what's the green

grass for? The green grass is food for the animals. And that's the

next part. He gives beasts their food and the young ravens that cry.

He feeds the animals on the earth, he feels he feeds the animals there

in the sky, God, by his sustaining power, he cares for all

creation. He creates the creation and disguise to the beast of the of the

land or the air. God by his power, sustains all life. And

so because of that we should praise the Lord. That's part of its provision

for us. Look at what Scripture says and verse ten, he talks about

what God delights in. What God doesn't delight in. This is what says

he verse ten. He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor

his pleasure in the legs of man. The imagery there and the strength of

the horse. It's not just the strength of a horse to pull a plow

or something there, but the strength of the horse, and Scripture was to

understand the military strength if you had strong horses or you have power militarily.

You can think about this in our world today. You watch on the news

and you'll see different countries across our world and they have parades where they have

their big missiles. You ever seeing those parades and have the older soldiers walking

down they have this massive missile going down the road and it's a parade.

What parading their military power. They're proud of their military strength, right,

And so there are some who put their strength or their faith in the power

of man's military there's security in that. We even we could talk about that

at length in our country and how we may can put strength in our nuclear

bombs or our submarines or battle stations or whatever it may be. We can

find security in our military strength. But Scripture says God doesn't delight in that.

God doesn't delight in people who find strength in their country and the power

of their country and the military of their country. He doesn't delight in people

who find their security in that. He says, God doesn't delight in the

strength of military power man's military power. But nor does he take pleasure in

the legs of man. The legs of man is the legs of man's swift

for war. So the imagery there is that man who God doesn't delight in,

man who thinks he has power in military or power of his own.

You know, we've read even in Amos this week, Amos two fourteen through

fifteen, that says the flight shall perish from the swift. The strong shall

not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life. He who

handles the bow shall not stand. He who's swift on the foot shall not

save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life. The

imagery of Amos is man has constantly to depend upon his power and his strength

sustain his own life. In the end, man cannot save himself. And

listen to me, Sama says, God doesn't delight in us when we depend

upon our strength. What's the point of the second part, the second imperative.

We are to sing to the Lord praises because of god sustaining power.

And what does that mean that we come to a place as believers who recognize

what you know what, God, I can't save myself and I can't depend

upon the military power of my world to save me. God, in you

don't delight in me depending upon my power and my strength. God, you

delight when what I put my hope in you. And that's the next part.

Look verse ten. His delight is not only the strength of the horse,

nor pleasure and the legs of man. But what is his delight?

The Lord takes pleasures in those who fear him, in those who hope in

his steadfast love. God delights in you, who puts your hope in God's

power, in God's love for you. Yesterday we were I was talking to

Brandy and she was talking about helping with Chloe with something. And I told

Brandy, I said, you know, just forty days forty days away and

she won't be asking for your help anymore, So you better enjoy it.

Why you can. And I was, you know, being a big husband,

You know, hey, you better enjoy it. Why you can?

You know she's going to keep asking you, you better enjoy it. And

then I'm telling you all this, that's my own demise. Eleven o'clock last

night I was out cold and the recliner like dead to the world. Caroline

comes down eleven o'clock at night and wakes me up. Now, I don't

know if it's anybody in here, but not many of us like to be

woken up from our slumber. And I was out. She woke me up

and she said, Daddy, Daddy, I think I've lost my retainer.

So she know he has a retainer. You only get one of those,

right, And I said, where did you lose it? Well, I

think I left it here wrapped up in the paper towel, and I think

Mom threw it away just before I went out in my coma. I took

the trash out to the dumpster. So she says, I said, well,

you know, I was not in such a good mood at that moment.

And I said we'll go to Luck cause she came back and she's sure

enough, said, Daddy, it's in the dumpster. And so here I

am eleven o'clock at night in my jammers or pajamas, and I went out

and dumpster dived into the trash can. It was at the bottom of the

trash can, so you know, of course, got the thing trash out,

went back in the house, half still asleep. We dug through the

trash and found the retainer. And I say that to say I was giving

Brady a hard time. And here I am at eleven o'clock at night,

when something's asked of me and she's wanting my help that I'm frustrated, tired,

don't want to help, knowing that there may come a day when she's

not ask for my help anymore. And I tell you that because I wonder.

The Bible says God doesn't delight when we depend upon our strength, but

God delights when what we say. Ah, but Father, I need you,

God, God, I'm in trouble. I made some mistakes and I

didn't take something serious. God. I made some mistakes and I gave him

to something I shouldn't have given into. And God, God, I tell

you, I don't have the power. I don't have the strength. But

God, you have the power to care for the stars. You have the

power to care for the animals, the clouds that bring about provisions in my

life. And God, I need you. And God, I know you

don't delight when I trust in myself. You delight when I trust in you,

Sir God, Today I want to sing to you because I declare Lord,

I want to put my hope in you, Jesus, I need you

today. He says, we should we should praise the Lord for his redemptive

power. We should sing to God for his sustaining power in his steadfast life.

Lastly, he says we should glorify God for his worker revelation. Look

what it says. The last word here is praise the Lord. Actually in

the Hebrew that's not all. Elijah's another word, and in that word it

actually means glorify. This means to extol or glorify. It's the word we

see in other places extoll. Two reasons why we're to glorify the Lord,

he says, for he strengthens the bars of your gates, and he blesses

your children. Two reasons why just praise because of his strength. Because if

he blesses strengthen, was its imagery of him strengthening the gates the gates was

things in Israel that protected them from from attacks from the enemy. You think

about today. We see Ukraine and we see Israel, and you see the

attacks are coming here for the imagery here, you strengthen the gates of our

city. You've brought us peace. Today we live in America and we see

what should what's happening in Ukraine and Israel. And the one reason why we

should glorify the God. Glorify the Lord is listen, because God's given us

peace as Americans right now, and so we should glorify God because of his

peace he's given, how He's strengthened this and given us peace. Scripture says

we should glorify God because he blesses the children within you, He blesses us,

He blessed us with peace. He breasts us with strength. He verse

fifteen and eighteen. He gives us this imagery. Again, Praising God is

about knowing who God is and what God has done for us. Thesama says

we should glorify God because it's provisions of daily strength. He sends out his

commands to the earth, and his words runs swiftly, swiftly. He gives

this gift snow like wool, and he scatters the frosts that like ashes.

He hurls down the crystals like ice, and like crumbles. It gives the

imagery that God not only does he have power to determine the stars and measure

the stars, he has power to sustain the earth, and he cares for

the clouds, and he provides rain, and he sustains by his power.

But Lastly, it gives this imagery that God gives his word. Look at

the imagery there. Look, I want you to see this. This is

very important. Verse fifteen, He sends out his commands to the earth.

So just think about God's word goes to the earth, and the earth scripture

says, obeys his commands. Right, his word runs swiftly. How does

God's How does the world or the earth obey God's commands? Well, he

gives listen, he gives snow. He tells the Earth to snow, and

the Earth brings snow. He tells the Earth to bring frost, and it

brings frosts. The Earth to hurl down ice like sleet, and it hurls

down ice. Earth obeys God's commands. Listen. He another imagery in eighteen.

He sends out his word. He tells his world to the earth,

and it melts. What this snow? He tells it to make wind,

and that makes wind. He tells the waters to flow, and the water's

flow. Listen. God gives his word to creation to the Earth, and

Earth abeys God's commands without any pushback or disobedient. The earth obeys God's word.

Now this is what it happens in verse nineteen, he declares his word

to Jacob. You see the imagery. God gives his word to the earth,

and Earth abays. Nature obeys God's word and then listen. Then he

shows he gives his word to people. Now I want you to see what

happens here he declares his word to Now listen, this is very important Jacob.

Jacob was one of the patriarchs. So it's given his word particular to

a person, but he also gives his word particular to a nation. His

statutes, that's his commands, his rules to Israel, that's the Ten Commandments,

the law. He's given his word to a person, but also given

his word to the nation. But listen to what says. And he has

not dealt thus with any other nation. What does he mean? What he's

saying there is God's given his word to one person here, and he's given

to a nation. But there's others who've not had that word. There's others

who have not received that word. Do you know today as you I want

you to just think today. I want you to think something with me.

How many of you have today have a copy of God's word here? So

many people are here. You have, and many of you go home,

you've got multiple Bibles. Right, When when was it that you got your

first Bible as a child, as a baby, a young person. When

was the first time you heard about Jesus? You could most of you would

say a child, And how once you heard about Jesus? How easy was

it for you to talk to someone else about questions you had about Jesus?

What would take you? Would you how far would you have to go to

do that? Some of you would say, well, it just meant and

I've gone to my mom and dad, and I can ask my mom and

dad because they knew about Jesus, or or I could go to my grandparents

and ask them because they knew about Jesus. But do you know today,

listen to me that there are four there's eight billion people in this world,

and there's four billion people today who do not have God's work. Do you

know today that there are four billion people who do not have churches? You

know, four billion people that do not have moms and dads who know about

Jesus. You know there's four billion people today that do not have grandparents that

know about Jesus. I heard it like this just the other week is imagine

that you've never heard of Jesus. You're one of the four billion people,

and one night you have a dream and in that dream you hear about Jesus.

It's the very first time you've ever heard the name Jesus. And so

you get up from the next morning you say, you know what I want

to find out about this Jesus had to dream about that. The idea of

unreached people groups is the idea of how how far would they have to go

until they come into a place where they would meet someone who could tell them

about Jesus. With their travel of day two days a week, unreached people

groups means that they may which have to travel months to get to a place

today meet to a person who would know anything about Jesus. And I tell

you that staggering thought for two reasons. We must do something as a church

to reach these people that they might hear about Jesus. But secondly, I

want you to understand today listen, God has brought you his word. God

has given you his word God, every individual in this room we're watching on

TV or online today God, through the day, you've heard about God.

You've heard about God. Drident of power, his sustaining power in God.

Today, he's revealed himself to you. And there's four million people today who

have not heard what you've heard today. And today Scripture says we should glorify

God. Why because he's revealed himself to us. When there's four million people

today who have not heard about Jesus. And so why should we praise today?

We should praise God because how he's redeemed us, how he sought us

in our sin, He sought us in our suffering, and by his power

he's lifted us up. We should praise the Lord today. We should sing

to the Lord because he holds us, he cares for us. He wants

us to depend upon his power, not our power. Today we should praise

the Lord. Why, because he's revealed himself to us. I heard a

beautiful word by John Wesley, and he said these words, I'm a creature

of day, passing through life as an error through the ear. I am

the spirit come from God and returning to God, just hovering over a great

gulf until a few moments. Hence, I'm no more sin. I'm a

drop into unchangeable eternity, and I want to know one thing, the way

to heaven and how to land safely on that happy God himself had condensed to

me to teach me the way. And for this end he came from heaven.

He has written it down in a book. Oh give me that book

at any price. Give me the book of God. I have it.

Here is the knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one

book. Here then I am I far from the busy ways of men.

I sit down alone. Oh God, here he is in the presence.

I open and I read his book. For this end I find a way

to heaven. Is there any doubt concerning the meaning of what I read?

Does anyone anything appear too dark or too intricate? Lift up my heart to

the Father of lights. James one to five says, if any of you

you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without

approach, and it would be given to him. You have said in John

seventeen seven, if anyone's will to do the will of God, he shall

know whether the teaching gets from God. I'm willing to do it. Lord,

Let me know your will. Can I say today the words of John

Wesley should be the words of our hearts? God? I want to glorify

you because you've given me your book, and let me be a man of

the book. Let me pour out my heart and glorify you, and sit

by you God and ask you, the Lord, to teach me your way

this morning. Why do you praise you praise God for his redemptive work in

you your life? You praise him for how he's redeemed you, but how

he saved you? Or do you only praise Him when you feel like it?

Why do you sing to the Lord? Do you sing to the Lord

for a sustaining power in a steadfast love? Do you see thanksgiving because He

sustained you your life and provided for your needs of your life? Do you

seem because He delights in you when you hope in him? Or do you

sing only when you like the song? Why do you glorify God? Do

you glorify God for his work of revelation? Do you glorify the Lord for

how often He's given you the word revealed himself to you? Or do you

glorify God only when you're happy? Today? May we praise the Lord today?

May we sing to the Lord today. May we glorify the Lord for

he is good and his stepfass love endures forever. You pray with me.

Lord, Do we thank you Lord for your word and God, I thank

you for your amazing power. That God, you measure the stars, but

you can measure our sin, and you measure our suffering. Today we give

you praise. God. We thank you for how you care for the clouds

and the rain and the things of this earth and animals. But God,

you care for us, and that you delight in us today. Lord,

May today we hope in you Father, and may we sing praises Lord,

because of Lord, how you bless us, how you strengthen us. God,

I pray it's you today, and we glorify you today because you revealed

yourself to us. Lord. There's people halling the sound of my voice or

watching on TV today or online today, and right now they feel your spirit

moving, you calling and you drawing them today and today we glorify you because

you revealed yourself to us. Lord. Today, may we give you the

praise, May we give you the song. May we give you the glory

that you deserve. God, Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for

your stepfast lofe. Thank you for your power. Thank you for your work

of revel. Thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us.

Lord, lead us in this time of response. Lord, we now

pray Amen Jesus pain and all to him,