The Vocabulary of Praise - Psalm 42

[Music]

amen are you happy to be in the house of

the Lord this

morning sounded like it when you were

singing

sounded great let's go to Psalm 42 Psalm

42 open your Bible right in the middle

and you should be in the psalm

somewhere just backtrack a little bit

purpose of the study which I'm calling

the vocabulary of praise is to help us

to unlock new levels of worship by

understanding the seven Hebrew words for

praise in English we have the one word

and so we've defined that word uh and so

what we're trying to do here is kind of

flesh out that definition help you add

something to the thing that you already

think is praise just add some stuff to

it to help you go a little bit deeper in

your praise uh I used the example of a a

golf bag to to give you some more clubs

so you have the tools necessary when

it's time to praise God you'll have the

appropriate tool at the appropriate time

to bring God the appropriate praise

after all the the purpose of our life is

to glorify God and enjoy him forever so

if praise is the key component to that

then shouldn't we try to get better at

our praise and the answer of course is

yes we should father we pray excuse we

pray this morning that uh you would be

with us as we worship you as we serve

you Lord as we gather together to

encourage one another to good works I

pray that you would meet us exactly

where we're at uh Lord I know there's

some heavy hearts in this room today

there are also some people that are on

cloud n so Lord I just pray that you

would meet them where they're at and

help them to use their distinct seasons

of Life to Come Together uh to to lift

one another up and to encourage one

another Lord in the way that we interact

I pray father as we read your word as we

study the this Psalm that it would

unlock something in our hearts that

would help us to be able to Worship You

More God it's my conviction that people

are are are so caught up in in worship

Styles and music and and presentation

and the the whole idea of did this meet

me did this hit me did it did it

motivate me and Lord we we've lost sight

of what the true purpose of worship is

which is to bring you the glory that you

are due God these songs are not for us

they're for you and of course a a

byproduct of that is that we're going to

enjoy ourselves so much more when we're

doing the thing that you created us to

do which is to bring praise to your name

so father as we work through this series

as we study these words I pray that if

there is any heart that has been

hardened toward a certain aspect of what

praise looks like in the Old Testament

God that you would soften that heart

that you would help us to see the the

purpose the reason you told us to praise

in these ways and Lord that it would

just as I said before un lock something

in us that will help us to be more like

Jesus and to be able to interact with

the world throughout the week in a way

that would just draw them to the throne

of God in Jesus name I pray

amen Psalm 149 we studied the word Halal

which means to boast to Rave or to be

clamorously foolish and my argument a

couple weeks back was that there is a

time in our church worship service when

we need to get a little bit Rowdy when

we need to be a little bit clamorously

foolish for God like David at the Ark of

the Covenant we just got to dance around

in our skibbies if we have to to to show

that how much God means to us that even

in the Church of the Frozen chosen where

where like if your face would would

smile it would probably crack you know

um even in that church the Bible says

that we should celebrate God now not

always not not every aspect of worship

has to be loud and and Rowdy but but

sometimes in some Seasons it's okay to

be excited about our salvation and the

reason is because when there is pre

celebratory praise in our hearts there

is a sword in our hands now we studied

last week the word yada which means to

worship with extended hands and yes I

enjoyed the feedback I got from last

week's sermon some of you loved it some

of you hated it but you know what you're

talking about it and that's the whole

point we're studying scripture together

and so if we're a little bit stretched

in One Direction or the other it is

perfectly fine because that's what God

does what what we learned last week is

that our posture of worship actually

matters the the way not just the words

that we sing but the the way that we

communicate those things the way that we

sing them matters we talked about how

God stretched out his arms on the cross

for us and how we should stretch out our

arms to God and praise and thankfulness

for what he did for us because what

happens when you do this is it welcomes

Heaven into your situation it's

literally like being at the restaurant

and calling the waiter or the waitress

to your table you know you're waving

them over to where you're at that's what

extending your arms in worship should do

now we're going to talk about another

word that's very similar to yada it's

called TOA okay so T if you want to say

it that way so T we're talking about

this other form of of of worship with

our hands extended but it's a little bit

different than the one we talked about

last week and I'll explain that in a

minute you ever get a nail in your

tire okay you you know when you got a

nail on your tire usually right it makes

a different

noise you know you know something's

wrong uh if you're a parent your your

child cries you know like 90% of the

time the cry is something you don't even

need to worry about you just let it go

because it's just a fake cry it's just

an atten get and cry it's nothing but

but then that that like one out of 10

times this different type of cry you you

know something's important happened

right you know like they're in trouble

you can just as a parent you can tell

the difference between this sound and

this sound you go to the doctor they get

out the stethoscope they want to listen

to your heart and your lungs they're

listening for something that sounds a

little bit off well in Psalm 42 that's

what's going on like God is listening

lening to a man who is giving praise and

there's just something that's a little

bit off about the song that he is

writing so let's look at it Psalm 42

1-8 scripture says as a deer Longs for

flowing streams so I long for you God I

thirst for God the Living God when can I

come and appear before God here's where

it's a little bit off verse three my

tears have been my food day and night

while all day long people say to me

where is your God verse four I remember

this as I pour out my heart how I walked

with many leading to the festive

procession to the house of God with

joyful and thankful shouts it's

Reminiscing on a time where he got to go

to church with his brothers and

sisters and he says why my soul why are

you so dejected why are you in such

turmo oil put your hope in God he's

getting a little pep talk here put your

hope in God and I will still praise him

to him my savior and my God I deeply

depressed therefore I remember you from

the land of Jordan and the peaks of

Herman Mount Mazar deep calls to the

Deep Roar of your waterfalls all your

Breakers and your Billows have swept

over me the Lord will send his faithful

Love by day his song will be with me in

the T night a prayer to the god of my

life so CS Lewis once said that praise

almost seems like a Inner Health made

audible so you'll notice that when you

come to church and you sing songs it's

it's a good litmus test of where your

heart with God actually is there's an

audible difference between people that

have a healthy soul and sing praise

versus people who have an unhealthy soul

and sing praise there's something that's

just not quite right sometimes it's like

a engine with a busted cylinder and in

Psalm 42 that's what we encounter a

person with a an engine that's not

running correctly the sound is not right

we encounter a soul that is hurting and

the solution that this person Works

through with their Psalm in verse 8 is

that we should worship God even when we

don't feel like it we should give God

our song in every season of our life so

to

which is similar like I said to Y it

shares the same root both of these words

mean to worship with arms extended but

but yada is more General it's kind of

like God is good God did awesome stuff

so I'm going to come to church and I'm

going to raise my hands and I'm going to

sing praise songs to him and then TOA is

a little bit different it's more precise

it speaks directly to how those arms

should be raised it says that we should

raise our arms with an arm of

Thanksgiving and an arm of confession so

a little bit more specific Thanksgiving

and confession so in Exodus chapter 17

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

we have the amalekites who are attacking

Israel as Israel is venturing toward the

promised land and so Moses gives his

General his Protege his rightand man

Joshua some marching orders he said look

we're going to go to war we're going to

have a battle I need you and all the

soldiers to go down into the valley and

fight the amalekites and what I'm going

to do is I'm going to stand up on the

hillside and I'm going to raise my hands

above the battlefield and he says

anytime my hands are raised you will be

winning and if my hands drop then you

will be losing so Moses the with the

same arms of worship that he used to to

raise at the Red Sea to part the waters

is now standing on the hillside above

the battle extending his arms over the

battlefield so Moses is up top and

Joshua is down below so the question is

was there some magic spell on moses'

hands did he have like some fancy gloves

that God gave him or something like how

how does his why are his hands so

powerful why are these arms so important

well the answer is they're not they're

not there's no there's no power in Moses

there's no magic in Moses but what there

is in Moses is Thanksgiving and

confession he's a simp symbol of Praise

over the battlefield so the worship was

actually the thing that was going to win

the war did the did the soldiers have to

fight of course they did they had to go

to battle in this instance but the war

was won with the worship that was going

on on top of the valley see these arms

they signified the two pillars of TOA

which is Thanksgiving and confession so

it's kind of like a a onew punch you

know Thanksgiving confession right

you're in a battle with with something

and you you're like Thanksgiving

confession Thanksgiving confession this

is how you fight because remember your

battle is not against your neighbor it's

not against your president it's not

against your boss it's not against the

the kid at school that that bullies you

because the Bible says the battle is not

against flesh and blood your battle is

with the spiritual authorities the

spiritual Realms and you can't fight

them the same way that you fight the

flesh you have have some spiritual

weapons and so what Moses is showing us

here is you got a great spiritual Weapon

It's a right hand of Thanksgiving and

it's a left hand of confession so let's

break that down a little bit let's look

at the arm of Thanksgiving

first God told us how to

worship you don't need a a music and

worship committee to get together in a

back room somewhere and determine how

you are supposed to worship God on a

Sunday morning you don't need that that

because God wrote down exactly how we're

supposed to worship Psalm

Psalms 100:4

100:4 says enter my courts

with man that was not great let's try

this again enter my courts that's Church

enter my courts with than there you go

that's better Thanksgiving in your

hearts so some some of you are like I

don't know why this isn't working I

don't know why I Rel relationships are

not working I don't know why my my

career is going off track I don't know

why my kids are crazy I really don't

know why um I don't know why my kids are

crazy I don't want know why I can't get

along with my spouse anymore it's like

everything seems a little bit off a

little bit broken it doesn't sound right

so what do we need to do we need to look

to the hill above and what you might

notice about your life is that one of

your arms whether it be Thanksgiving or

confession one of them may be dropping

one of them may have already completely

dropped especially the arm of

Thanksgiving Eugene Peterson in the

message translation of this verse I love

how he does this he says enter with the

password thank you so I I would maybe

maybe deacons maybe we should put a

little lock on the front door with a

little passcode thing where you have to

enter the word thank you to enter the

courts just as a simple reminder that

worship is about being thankful

for what God has done in your life now

we have to be careful here because the

Bible never says to be thankful for the

problem so you don't have to be thankful

for losing your job you don't have to be

thankful for cancer okay but what the

Bible says is that we can be thankful in

those seasons of life because we don't

have to walk through them

alone he says enter the church with the

password thank you and then make

yourselves at home talking praise thank

Him worship Him so if you have this

anxiety about like what's you're

supposed to do in life what school

should I go to what job should I take

who should I marry you have all these

these questions about these unknown

things in the future well Levi lco has a

good word to say to you he says if you

do what God has revealed he will lead

you in what he hasn't if you do what God

has revealed he will lead you in what he

hasn't so for instance 12 plus years ago

uh you you all called me to interview to

be your pastor and I I didn't know if

that was God's will for my life and I

was kind of freaking out about it a

little bit because I'd never been a a a

senior pastor I'd only been a youth

pastor and so I was looking for signs

okay I did that whole sign seeking thing

and my son was like six and when I came

to fill the pulpit one time he went to

your your children's church and he had

such a great time in children's church

he asked if he could come back to this

church the next Sunday so thinking well

was that God speaking through the voice

of a six-year-old boy to get my

attention and then I remember that that

week's lesson in youth group was all

about Elijah at the W and how the the

creek provided for his needs and I'm

like hm sawers Creek provides for the

prophet maybe God is speaking and then

it was like the Holy Spirit just slapped

me upside the head when was like what

are you doing you know why are you

focused on this thing in the future that

you have no no clarity about what God

revealed to me in that moment was just

do the thing that God has called you to

do right now and then he will reveal the

future to

you so we we spend time worrying about

what what God hasn't told us when there

are glaring weaknesses concerning the

things that he has told us to do so in

your Bible there's these sentences that

start with this is the will of God for

you and there's actually not a lot of

them so you can go online right now and

you can pull up a whole list people have

categorized these for us and you'll see

that that God has very specific

statements for you he says this is God's

will for you that you keep yourself pure

until marriage this is God's will for

you that you share the gospel and make

disciples this is God's will for you

that you accept him that you become

saved it's God's will that all all

become Christians so there's all these

this is God's will for you so then we

get caught up in this idea like should I

go to this school should I go to this

school but the the thing that God wants

you to do is ask yourself am I sharing

the gospel at the place I'm at right now

see that's God's will so if I do that

thing right now then the thing that's in

the future that I don't have any clarity

about yet it will reveal itself but I

need to stop concerning myself about the

future and focus on the present so back

to the point God's will for you in

worship is this 1 Thessalonians chapter

5:

18 this is the thing that we should

focus on right now says give thanks in

everything please notice the word in it

does not say for okay people get this

wrong all the time I just want to make

sure doesn't say give thanks for

everything it says give thanks in

everything for this is God's will for

you you in Christ Jesus how much more

clear could God be when you entered the

temple courts to sing praises to God you

should come with an arm raised in

Thanksgiving God wants you to raise that

arm God wants you to not forget all the

benefits that come with being related to

God and a part of his family so Dr

Robert emmans UC Davis he's a uh

editor-in chief of positive Psychiatry

he did a study where there were two

groups of people that for three weeks

journaled everything that they did

during the week and they had two

different requirements uh one group was

supposed to write down five things that

frustrated them every single day and the

other group was supposed to write down

five things they were thankful for every

single day so they they put them in two

different groups they called this group

The grumpies and this group The happies

so you got your grumpies and your

happies so the the grumpies they Journal

they did what they were told things that

annoyed him it's probably easy to do you

could probably knock that out by 9:00

a.m. every morning right and then you

had the happies over here and they were

writing down things they were they were

thankful for the results were absolutely

astounding this group over here the

happies it said they exercised one and a

half hours more per week they got more

sleep more rest more energy and had a

25% increase in their outlook on life

literally the happies got happier and

the grumpies you know what happened to

them they got

grumpier so the question is what are you

going to post this week on your social

media are you going to post five things

that drive you crazy or are you going to

post five things that you're thankful

for that God has allowed into your life

well that's up to you I don't control

your social media but I will tell you

this the Bible and this study both say

that if you focus on the happy things

the things you're thankful for more than

the things that you're mad at that you

will scientifically and spiritually

become happier so if you want your

spouse to be happier help them uh post

Thanksgiving things instead of uh things

that make them mad so why do you think

God is like make sure your hand of

thankfulness is raised on a Sunday

morning because it's not just good for

your relationship with God it's also

good for you so what are we thankful for

number one we are thankful for what God

has done in the past let's go back to

verse four of Psalm

42 starts out with I

remember I remember this as I pour out

my heart what does a psalmist do to fix

his broken Soul he starts to remember

the things that God has done in the

past how often do we do

that how often do you just like sit down

and think about the time where you were

baptized or when you were

saved how often do we think about how

grateful and thankful we are for the

person that we're married to or our kids

or our job or the fact that we can take

a breath in the morning how how often do

we take the time to just simply be

thankful for what God has done in the

past the psalmist says that's the way to

a healthier life we had this story where

10 lepers were healed now leprosy was a

a disease where your body would

literally melt your arm would fall off

your leg would just fall off it was the

most horrific disease of this time and

so there were 10 people that were going

to basically just melt they they made

them stay outside of town because it was

highly contagious so you had these leper

colonies where these people were just

kind of melting together and Jesus went

to the Leer Colony one time and he said

he said you're

healed and he touched them which was you

know something no one else would ever do

so he touched these 10 lepers they're

instantly healed and it says nine of

them went away and only one came back to

thank Jesus and the most cryptic words

that Jesus has spoken he says when that

one comes back he says weren't there

nine of you that were

healed so that's the question are we the

one that goes back to Jesus and says

thank you for that Sunday school teacher

that taught me the gospel thank you for

that Mom and Dad Grandma and Grandpa

that taught me about Jesus

are we the person that goes back to

Jesus and thanks him for the blessings

in the past or are we the nine that get

our healing that get what we need in the

moment but then run away and act like it

was all because of us so we thank God

for the past we also should thank him

for the future TOA is not reserved for

acceptance

speeches this is a a praise of

Thanksgiving for what God hasn't done

yet but will do in the future this is

praising God by saying look I know that

you are good I know that you're kind I

know that you see me and know me and so

right now my life is a mess but I

believe God that in the future you're

going to do some awesome things so Psalm

42 was probably written by King Hezekiah

uh many believe that the sons of Kora

was just his pin name for the songs that

he wrote and we know he wrote Psalm 44

and we're pretty sure that he wrote

Psalm

42 and we're pretty sure that both of

these Psalms were written at the exact

same time when the Assyrian an were

attacking his his people we talked about

this last week there was no hope they

were going to lose the battle and so

King Hezekiah pinned Psalm 44 the angel

shows up and kills all the Assyrians but

also during that time he wrote Psalm 42

because he was dealing with sickness we

learned this in in uh 2 Kings chapter 20

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

King Hezekiah is sick and he's near

death and so they call in the the

prophet Isaiah Isaiah comes in to look

at the king and he's like oh

you need to get your Affairs in order

and leaves that that's not great if you

know Isaiah he's all about some Miracles

and when Isaiah doesn't think there's a

miracle left for you then your days are

obviously numbered so he's like look

there's nothing that can be done get

your Affairs in order you're getting

ready to go meet God peace I'm out right

so Isaiah leaves and then when he leaves

Hezekiah writes Psalm

42 he poured out his tadada

he thanks God for what God is going to

do see King Hezekiah even in the face of

the prophet Isaiah had a belief that God

was not done with him yet that God had a

plan and a purpose for his life and so

he writes this Psalm he gets to verse

eight and he puts these words in there

he says the Lord will send his faithful

Love by day and his song will be with me

by Night a prayer to the god of my

life and that stopped Isaiah in his

tracks we learn in second Kings chapter

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

20 that he was literally knocked off his

horse on his way away from King Hezekiah

God's like whoa hold on I heard that

Psalm I heard that T I heard that prayer

of Thanksgiving this man is praising me

for something that I haven't even done

yet and so he stops Isaiah and it says

here in verse 5 go back and tell King

Hezekiah the leader of my people this is

what the Lord God of your ancestor David

says I have heard your prayer I have

seen your tears and look I will heal you

on the third day from now you will go up

to the Lord's Temple remember what he

wanted more than anything in the psalm

he said he wanted in verse four to go

back to that time when he was going to

church with his brothers and sisters and

singing praise to God he just wanted to

experience that one more time but he was

bedridden and could not do that so what

does God do he not only heals him but he

says look for the next 15 years you are

going to get to go to church and praise

God's name with all your friends and

your family and then he goes on he says

I will add 15 years to your life and I

will rescue you and the City from the

grasp of the king of Assyria I will

defend this city for this for my sake

and for the sake of my servant David

both of his prayers for future blessing

were answered because he had the G the

nerve to raise his hands in Thanksgiving

even in the middle of his sickness even

in the middle of this battle where his

kingdom was getting ready to be

overthrown he had the nerve to praise

God for what God might do in the

future Jeremiah 17:

26 tells us that we need to bring

Thanksgiving sacrifices to the house of

the Lord you ever heard it worded that

way

Thanksgiving

sacrifices I would ask you is your

praise on a Sunday morning when you sing

these songs is it a sacrificial praise

Levi again says worship that cost you

nothing accomplishes nothing Hebrews

Hebrews 13:15

13:15 says therefore through him let us

continually offer up to God a

sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of

the lips that confess give thanks to his

name please don't think that God

considers all of our praise equal

there is actually praise that God

doesn't approve of so you might think

you're good because you show up on a

Sunday morning and you stand up and sing

half the songs and and when you do that

you might think well I've done my part

god is pleased with me today Friends The

Bible Tells A very different story there

are ways where we sing praises that God

is not pleased with ever heard of Cain

and

Abel they both brought sacrifices to the

Lord these two brothers and God rejected

Cain's sacrifice and accepted Abel's

even though they looked pretty much the

same one was meat and one was vegetables

but that was about it so what's the

difference in the two offerings well we

learned the answer to that in Hebrews

chap 11 it tells us that Abel gave

Praise by

faith so we have to ask does our praise

take Faith or is it just something that

anybody could do which is harder in our

country because in most of the world if

you were to sing praises to God out loud

you could be killed or imprisoned or

have your your home taken away from you

so in America we don't face that same

struggle but we do face this idea of do

we have the the faith to raise our hands

in Thanksgiving for something that God

hasn't done yet see I've been in

churches where everybody is so chill

they got their their coffee in the

morning and they kind of wander into the

sanctuary and they sing beautifully to

to wonderful praise bands and but you

can just kind of feel it in the room

it's just something is is missing it's

too casual it's too laidback there's

there's just this element of sacrificial

praise that's missing they're they're

praising in a way where it's it's kind

of like salvation's no big

deal which is not the case right we've

been we've been brought from Death to

life not because we've earned it but

because God sent his son to the Cross to

give it to us so like every time we come

to the church we should be excited to

praise God for what he has done for us

and what he's going to do in the future

I love those people that it doesn't

really matter how many people are at

church or what the music sounds like I

just love it when you go into an

environment and there's that there's

people that are just like I'm ready to

praise I don't care what's going on

around me I don't care what other people

think if I'm if I feel like praising

with my hands in my pocket my head down

I'm going to do it if I feel like my

hands of Thanksgiving and confession

need to be raised in prayer in Praise

I'm going to do that right because

that's sacrificial praise that's not

carrying what everyone else thinks

that's only carrying what God thinks and

God says that kind of Praise sacrificial

praise that involves Thanksgiving that's

the praise that God responds to so we

thank God for the past we thank God for

the future and we thank God for the

present in verse four I've already said

it they they're going to a festive

procession in the house of the Lord it's

called a pilgrimage so people from all

over would come to Jerusalem to the

temple to worship God and on their way

there they would sing songs of praise

before they even got to church anybody

do that some of you do you tell me like

you you got the I can hear you pulling

into the driveway man you got the radio

cranked up your favorite praise music is

playing and I'm just like man that is

exactly how it must have sounded on this

way up this mountain to the temple the

the praise of the people ringing out

over the valley below see what happens

is this praise reminds us of where we

are going when you praise in the present

it reminds you that you are an alien and

a stranger you're a you're on a

pilgrimage in this life you might have a

house with an address but you're not

from here once you become a Christian

you you are in the family of God and

your house your dwelling place is

already in heaven you're just not there

yet so you're on this pilgrimage to

heaven and as you sing the Praises along

the way it just simply reminds you in

the present that you should be focused

on what God is doing here and now and

focused on the fact that no matter what

happens to you that you have a home in

glory that you're going to

forever it just makes the stings of this

life sting a little bit

less so you got this arm of Thanksgiving

and you also have this arm of confession

see I told you it's not going to be all

just you know flowers and happy times

there there's a a type of Praise that is

very healthy that involves serious

matters like confessing

sin Proverbs

2813 by the way I realized talking about

Sin is not a great church growth

strategy but we're not trying to build a

crowd we're trying to build a church and

so we're going to preach the

gospel Proverbs 2813 says the one who

conceals his sin will not Prosper but

who whoever

confesses and renounces them will find

Mercy 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins

1 John 1:9

he is faithful and just to forgive us of

our sins and cleanse us of all of our

unrighteousness this hand of confession

it restores your relationship with God

last week we talked about when your sin

was placed on the head of Jesus on that

cross it was it it was placed there and

it stays there so there's no punitive

charge for the Christian after the fact

you are forgiven once for everything

you've ever done and everything you ever

will do forgiveness is completely all

encompassing it is paid and full it is

finished but what sin does on this side

of your salvation is it damages your

relationship with God and here's the way

that works God loved you enough to send

his son Jesus to the Cross so you could

be adopted into his family through faith

that's the ultimate love but then you

mess up then I mess up then I sin right

and when I sin it damages that

relationship with God does he love me

less absolutely not but I have to look

at him and be like I messed up this is

terrible I feel awful and that's where

guilt and shame and all the things the

devil loves that's where it comes from

uncon

sin and so what this arm of confession

does is it it looks at God and says look

you saw what I did I did wrong and I

hate it so forgive me and let's work on

this relationship let's restore what was

broken Jesus taught this to Peter after

he

sinned in John

John 13:10

13:10 says one who has bathed Jesus told

Peter doesn't need to wash anything

except his feet because he is completely

clean you are clean but not all of you

so we have we have Peter who is has

sinned and then God is washing his feet

and his head and he's like just wash all

of me and Jesus is like you don't need

to be resaved some of you you've been

saved like 12 times because you just

don't believe this part but saved once

you're good one Faith one belief one

salvation right so you got this guy's

he's feeling kind of broken and he's

like Jesus I need a complete bath Jesus

Jesus like no your feet have walked in

sin so you've put some distance between

me and you but I can clean your feet

right up and you'll be good to go you

don't lose your salvation you just kind

of broke your relationship with God and

so Jesus washes your feet right so this

arm of confession it restores your

relationship with God and it also

restores your relationship with yourself

see unconfessed sin causes us to retract

from God In Fear think about Adam in the

Garden of Eden after he sinned they used

to love hearing God Walk Through The

Garden in the cool of the day and they

would walk with him they were so excited

to see God but after they sinned when

God showed up in the garden they went

and they hid because they felt terrible

about what they had done they were now

afraid of God see a healthy Soul one

that's confessed its sin it doesn't fear

God it doesn't feel a need to hide but

sometimes as Christians when these lips

of Praise during the week become lips of

cursing lips of condemnation lips of

Gossip lips lips that critique and tear

other people down they become lips that

do bad things then the next Sunday we

kind of show up and we're not as excited

to worship God because we're a little

bit afraid of him because of how we

spent our week and what the Bible says

is that that fear splits you in half

James calls this uh double-minded people

so when you sin and you don't confess

you have this part of you that has to be

on watch 24/7 like man I hope did they

did they see my browser

history did they see my text history did

my kids hear what I said did did my boss

hear what I said did did the people at

church they know what I've done and so

you got this piece of you that is always

going behind you and trying to to clean

up messes and cover things up and you're

constantly on the lookout so you're a

double-minded person you're split in

half trying to cover Your

Tracks you're no longer leaping at the

opportunity to praise God in his

house and the beauty of this is when you

raise that arm of confession you're

saying God you saw all of this and I'm

ashamed of it so forgive me and help me

put myself back

together Psalm

8611 teach me your way Lord and I will

live by your truth give me an undivided

mind to fear or being in a of your name

isn't it awesome that no matter what's

on your browser history no matter what's

on your phone no matter what your kids

saw you do no matter what your church

family saw you do no matter what your

neighbor saw you do that God is able and

willing to forgive now look you're going

to have some consequences for the bad

choices you make you never you know

can't fix that but he forgives you and

restores you to yourself so when you

raise that arm of confession you're

restored to to God you're also restored

to self and you're restored to other

people the word toah actually also means

choir praise never happens by yourself

it's it's not a solo act and so Jesus

says in the New Testament when you get

together to praise not just take

communion I always say this about

communion but it's actually as you

praise and worship on a Sunday morning

Jesus says if you realize in that moment

as you're singing praises to Him that

you have sinned against someone else he

tells you to go and lay your gifts at

the altar and make things right before

you come back to

praise like don't let another second go

by until you go to that person and ask

them to forgive you for what you've done

James 5:116 says therefore confess your

sins to one another and pray for one

another so that you may be healed

there's nothing more healing than

working out in a strange relationship

with someone that has hurt you says the

prayer of a righteous person is very

powerful in its effect you raise your

arm of confession you say God you saw

what I did I hate it forgive me for it

and then to the best of your ability you

go to that person and say will you

forgive me as well and if they choose

not to that's on them you've done your

part okay but you go to that person and

and what's what God wants to happen in

that moment is that they forgive you and

you work on your relationship and you

get together the next Sunday and you

praise God together as a Faith Family

restored to unified relationship so what

we have is this arm of Thanksgiving

where we praise God for what he's done

in the past what he's done in the future

and what he's doing in the present and

on the other side you have this arm of

confession that restores your

relationship with God restores your

relationship with yourself and restores

your relationship with other people does

it sound important to praise God

taada okay two of you think it's

important good I'm glad we didn't waste

the last 30 minutes of your life all

right 15 hours of study this week down

the drain whatever hey can we get the

praise band up here just for a minute ly

and your team

please I just want to end with with this

final passage of scripture because I get

I get how hard I mean I make it seem

easy you know you just raise your hand

of Thanksgiving you raise your hand of

confession and everything just works out

well that's not real life real life is a

lot harder than that you ever go to the

gym and do a workout where you just got

even lightweights but you try to hold

your arms out for a little while hold

your arms up for a little bit even

without weights just holding your arm in

the air for an extended period of time

is actually a very draining and

difficult thing to do no matter how

strong you actually are and I think it's

a perfect illustration of what happened

in moses' life in Exodus

17:

11 says while

Moses held up his

hand Israel prevailed so that's good

news right as Moses held up his hands

one with Thanksgiving and one with

confession over the

battlefield it says that Israel

prevailed in their fight and maybe

that's where you're at

maybe things aren't going great but you

look up on the mountain you see that

both your hands are raised in praise and

you're winning it's it's V you're going

to have

Victory but then it says but whenever he

put his hand down amalec

prevailed when moses' hands grew heavy

they took a stone and they put it under

him and he sat down on it so sometimes

you're going to get to that part where

it's time to confess or it's time to

give Thanksgiving and you just are worn

out you're exhausted you can't do it I

want you to know in those moments that

God provides stability because Jesus is

the rock isn't he you can build your

house upon him you can trust him he

won't let you down so they put this rock

under Moses so he can sit down and keep

his arms raised so that Israel could

continue to win the

battle but his hands started to fail him

again Moses is an old man this is hard

for him to keep his hands up for for the

length of an entire

War so Aaron and her

supported his

hands one was on one side and one was on

the other side so that his hands

remained steady until the sun went down

Jesus never ever ever called you to do

this on your own it's why Jesus died on

the cross to establish his church and

yeah I get it you can watch online you

can get all the content you want from

pastors all over the world but there is

nothing more important if you are

physically able than coming to church

because somebody on your left or your

right might be hurting somebody might be

wanting to confess or or give

Thanksgiving they just can't raise their

hands and your job metaphorically and

even physically if you need to is to go

beside them and lift up their hands to

help them in that season of their life

so that they can have victory in

whatever they're fighting against and it

says the the final outcome of this

battle was that Joshua defeated amalec

and his army with the sword

there is victory in

Praise so I'd encourage you today do not

let a single blessing go

unthanked and do not let a single sin go

unconfessed