Sermon

The Vocabulary of Praise - Psalm 149

Sawyers Creek Sermons

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  1. I'd like to welcome you to a brand new

  2. sermon series I've entitled the

  3. vocabulary of Praise uh in December of

  4. last year I was watching a sermon series

  5. by Levi lusco and I was just so just

  6. captivated by this whole subject of

  7. worship music and praise and scripture

  8. and uh so I started texting with the

  9. worship leaders I'm like man we got to

  10. do this we we need to talk about this

  11. too and they're like all right first of

  12. all lay off the Monster energy drinks

  13. before you text us and then secondly

  14. okay we're cool we're we're we're in we

  15. we'll talk about this and then I was

  16. like well let's take the whole summer to

  17. do it and they're like huh I'm like yeah

  18. let's take the whole summer and just

  19. talk about this idea of praise and and

  20. worship and so as as you turn to Psalm

  21. 149 I just want you to to understand

  22. that this Psalm contains one of seven

  23. different Hebrew words for

  24. praise look in English we have one they

  25. have seven and you know what that means

  26. that means that we don't get a full

  27. understanding of what the word praise

  28. really means I would argue that the fact

  29. that we only have one word for praise in

  30. the English language has led to a a sad

  31. decline in Worship in all of the

  32. churches in a lot of the churches in the

  33. United States so let me give you an

  34. example of how this works so we in

  35. English we have one word for love so I

  36. would say I love my wife I love my

  37. children and I love

  38. tacos and you would say well does that

  39. mean you love your children as much as

  40. tacos and I would say

  41. yes just kidding of course not of course

  42. I love my children more than I love

  43. tacos but you wouldn't know that because

  44. we just don't have the the vocabulary

  45. the range of words to express what we

  46. actually mean in English so uh in the

  47. Greek though in your new testament there

  48. are four different words for love you

  49. have sto which means um it's it's a type

  50. of love that is associated with empathy

  51. and you have filia which is like a

  52. friendly type of love you have agape

  53. love that unconditional love that God

  54. shows us and then you have AOS which is

  55. romantic love so if you want to talk

  56. about love in the Greek New Testament

  57. you have all these words all these

  58. different things that you can use to

  59. express exactly what you mean the so

  60. this sermon series actually came from a

  61. a book that was written called holy Roar

  62. it was written by Chris Tomlin and

  63. Darren Whitehead and the purpose of this

  64. book was to introduce us to the seven

  65. Hebrew words for praise that God gave us

  66. in the Old Testament and the goal of

  67. their teaching was to teach us that

  68. there's not just like one type of Praise

  69. that we have to hammer and force into

  70. every single situation see what happens

  71. is in english- speaking areas we have

  72. that one word for praise and so as as a

  73. child you develop a definition that goes

  74. along with that one word for praise and

  75. as you get older if someone tries to do

  76. something outside of the definition that

  77. you have placed on the word praise you

  78. think that they're wrong because that's

  79. not the definition of Praise that you

  80. came up with so when you don't have a a

  81. breadth of words to use for worship

  82. Styles then what you wind up doing is

  83. trying to hammer your definition of

  84. Praise into every single situation and

  85. that is not what God teaches us in the

  86. Bible so what what I want to do over the

  87. next seven weeks is I want to give you

  88. like some new golf clubs for your golf

  89. bag so for instance some of you you

  90. might just have your putter right now

  91. you know like you got your definition of

  92. praise and it works for you know a lot

  93. of situations but what if you're 300

  94. yards from the cup that putter is not

  95. going to do you a lot of good is it so

  96. what do you need you need some new clubs

  97. you need some wedges you need some irons

  98. you need you need some some clubs a

  99. driver even that will help you be able

  100. to accomplish your goal and that's what

  101. we're going to do we're going to look at

  102. all these words and it's going to be

  103. like putting new new clubs in the golf

  104. bag so that whatever uh whatever

  105. situation you find yourself in you have

  106. the appropriate club for the job so

  107. let's pray and then we'll get started

  108. with today's word

  109. father I pray

  110. that this message would be

  111. additive Lord so many of us have already

  112. def defined what praise is and what it

  113. looks like and how it should be done in

  114. a church setting and so Lord I I pray

  115. that we would see that yeah we're right

  116. but there's also things we can add to

  117. that definition of Praise Lord what I

  118. want for us is just to be a well-rounded

  119. church that understands that that praise

  120. is just not one style of music or one

  121. style presentation Lord but it's a it's

  122. it's a holistic approach to bringing you

  123. the glory that you are that you deserve

  124. Lord I I pray that you would be with

  125. those who have hurting Hearts this

  126. morning I just think about Mike and and

  127. David and the rest of the family as as

  128. Joyce uh gets closer to meeting with you

  129. Lord I first of all thank you that she

  130. is a a devout Christian that she's spent

  131. her entire life loving Jesus and Lord we

  132. know that even when she passes from here

  133. that she's going to be in your care and

  134. a perfect place for all of etern and so

  135. Lord give us hope with that but also

  136. Lord we know there's family members

  137. right here that are hurting and Lord I

  138. think about others like Odell who's

  139. battling cancer and Lord I I think about

  140. the people that are uh Lord that are

  141. going through these difficult times

  142. fighting these illnesses having these

  143. mental health issues and financial

  144. struggles and God it's just so awesome

  145. that we can come to this place and

  146. worship you in the middle of the pain

  147. because as we'll see Lord that's a

  148. powerful weapon against the things that

  149. are trying to tear us down so Lord be

  150. with us today as we look at your word I

  151. pray that it would imprint itself on our

  152. hearts and that those of us that like to

  153. set an authority over the Bible would

  154. submit ourselves to the true words of

  155. God and allow you to shape us into the

  156. people that you want us to be so when we

  157. go out in the community we represent you

  158. well in Jesus name I pray

  159. amen so you had a group of nerds I mean

  160. a group of people in the 1600s that uh

  161. got together and they wanted to distill

  162. these huge theological principles from

  163. scripture into little statements of

  164. faith that would help help us understand

  165. what they actually mean and they came up

  166. with this thing called the West

  167. Westminster catechism and in that

  168. catechism they defined what the purpose

  169. of life is and no one has ever written a

  170. better statement about the purpose of

  171. life than what was written in this

  172. catechism they said that the chief end

  173. of man and that that word man means man

  174. and woman it's gender neutral the chief

  175. end of man humanity is to glorify God

  176. and enjoy him forever so like the thing

  177. behind the thing the thing that's always

  178. is running in the background of all the

  179. activities that you take part in is this

  180. idea that the purpose of your life is to

  181. love God glorify him and enjoy him for

  182. eternity so you know on your Tombstone

  183. you have your date of birth and your

  184. date of death and there's a little Dash

  185. in between it's talking about the dash

  186. like the dash represents all the things

  187. that you did with your life and what the

  188. Bible says is that the main thing that

  189. you should do with that little Dash is

  190. that you should love God and enjoy him

  191. forever

  192. that's what the point of life is it's to

  193. worship God so if that's true if the

  194. point of life is for all of us to

  195. worship God then shouldn't we want to

  196. get better at our praise let me ask it

  197. this way is there anybody in this room

  198. that wants to get better at the meaning

  199. of life today okay all three of you

  200. we're going to roll everybody else join

  201. in some point anyway so we talked about

  202. the idea that worship is more than just

  203. singing all right so it's the Shima it's

  204. love the Lord your God with all your

  205. heart soul and strength everything you

  206. do should bring God glory it's not just

  207. the singing It's also what you do with

  208. your life right but praise like worship

  209. is no less than singing okay so it's not

  210. all singing but it's no less than

  211. singing Because worship music and praise

  212. music and they go hand in hand in the

  213. Bible so we're going to look at a a book

  214. of the Bible that is dedicated to

  215. worship music it's called the Psalms and

  216. we're going to look at one Psalm that

  217. gives us one word that we're going to

  218. kind of highlight today so Psalm 149

  219. beginning in verse one this says

  220. hallelujah some translations say praise

  221. the Lord hallelujah praise the Lord sing

  222. to the Lord a new song his praise in the

  223. Assembly of the faithful let Israel

  224. celebrate its maker let the children of

  225. Zion rejoice in their King let them

  226. Praise His Name with

  227. dancing uhoh did I just say that in a

  228. Baptist Church

  229. mm might to fire myself let them Praise

  230. His Name with dancing sorry and make

  231. music to him with tambourine that's kind

  232. of like a drum and a

  233. liar so for the Lord for the Lord takes

  234. pleasure in his people he adorns The

  235. Humble with salvation key word salvation

  236. let the faithful celebrate and trium

  237. full Joy Glory let them shout for Joy on

  238. their beds let the exaltation of God be

  239. in in their mouths and a double-edged

  240. sword in their hands inflicting

  241. Vengeance on the Nations and Punishment

  242. on the people binding their kings and

  243. their chain with chains and their

  244. dignitaries with iron shackles carrying

  245. out the Judgment decreed against them

  246. this honor for all his faithful people

  247. hallelujah or praise the word the Lord

  248. so the word praise is halal okay it's

  249. where the word hallelujah comes from and

  250. it means get this to shine

  251. okay to make a show uhoh to boast to

  252. Rave to celebrate to give life to praise

  253. to rage to be clamorously foolish I like

  254. that one because I do it every Sunday

  255. morning be clamorously foolish what I

  256. love about this word is when they wrote

  257. the Latin septent which is just

  258. basically the Old Testament written in

  259. Latin um this is one of the words that

  260. they did not translate they

  261. transliterated it which means they left

  262. the word alone because they love that

  263. word hallelujah they're like this

  264. original language word from the Hebrew

  265. people is so beautiful and so perfect

  266. that as we translate the Old Testament

  267. we're not changing that word because

  268. that word is perfection we're going to

  269. transliterate it in there and what that

  270. word means is that it's time to

  271. celebrate God now since we are told that

  272. there is a time to celebrate God what

  273. else does that

  274. mean there's also a Time

  275. not to celebrate okay there's a time for

  276. every there's season for everything

  277. sometimes we celebrate loud joyous

  278. praise songs other times more

  279. introspective Ecclesiastes

    Ecclesiastes 3:4

  280. 3:4 says there's a time to weep and also

  281. a time to laugh there's a time to mourn

  282. and here it is again there's a time to

  283. dance so at times when you choose not to

  284. celebrate

  285. God then you are outside of what the

  286. Holy Spirit wants to do in your church

  287. and in your life there are times when we

  288. need to turn up and turn out for Jesus

  289. okay there are times where we need to go

  290. back to 1997 in The Warp Tour in

  291. Virginia Beach and we need to channel

  292. that that that the 16-year-old

  293. 17-year-old inner Spirit of Kevin in

  294. that parking lot out there listening to

  295. his favorite bands there's some

  296. sometimes okay I know your audience

  297. Kevin all right

  298. the G Brooks concert back in 1995 that

  299. you all went to when you were so excited

  300. right that's a celebratory experience

  301. and that is what this scripture is

  302. talking about and then there are other

  303. times this is just as important there

  304. are other times where you need to

  305. withhold the

  306. celebration and when you do that you're

  307. right where the spirit wants you to be

  308. there's a time for celebration and

  309. there's a time for interest

  310. inpection it it's why our praise songs

  311. vary from celebratory to introspective

  312. to contemplative to even convicting

  313. because we respect what the Holy Spirit

  314. wants to do on Any Given Sunday and our

  315. worship team respects the direction that

  316. the sermon is headed as well because

  317. everything has its season now I'm going

  318. to steal a line from Levi here because

  319. he talked about the Church of the Frozen

  320. chosen you ever heard of that church

  321. Frozen CH yeah that's the one I grew up

  322. in okay that's the church where they

  323. wanted to make sure that you felt like

  324. you were going to a funeral service

  325. every Sunday morning there were parts of

  326. like they had an organ and there were

  327. keys on the organ that weren't allowed

  328. to be played because they were too

  329. bright and too happy okay we wanted

  330. conviction every Sunday morning and

  331. while yes that's a part of church is it

  332. really what we want every single Sunday

  333. well I wasn't in church leadership so

  334. maybe the Holy Spirit told them to do

  335. that I don't know but what I do know is

  336. it was kind of a miserable experience I

  337. very much enjoyed coming to churches

  338. which with with with the ones that

  339. balance that celebration with also that

  340. conviction see you got to ask the

  341. question why are some of us maybe not in

  342. this room but as Christians why are some

  343. of us so uncomfortable with celebrating

  344. in our worship I mean we celebrate at

  345. concerts we celebrate at weddings we

  346. celebrate at at sporting events you know

  347. sometimes there's just this thing inside

  348. of you that needs to come out like

  349. you're Victorious so you got to

  350. celebrate think about like the the the

  351. million dooll athletes that play

  352. professional football when they score a

  353. touchdown they turn into like

  354. 12-year-old boys again you know they

  355. have these sanely elaborate End Zone

  356. celebrations that it's not because of

  357. ego it's because they were victorious in

  358. something that was very hard to do and

  359. when they're Victorious they just let it

  360. go right they celebrate they're excited

  361. about what happened in their life so why

  362. do we sometimes sit in church with our

  363. arms crossed and barely give God a

  364. little toet tap during these celebratory

  365. songs Look please don't tell me that

  366. your favorite college football team gets

  367. more of your attention and adoration and

  368. celebration than your Lord and Savior

  369. Jesus Christ who went to the cross for

  370. you so that you could be purchased from

  371. sin and death and experience life and

  372. life abundant

  373. I'm not

  374. done cuz you know that when you got

  375. those awesome I see you on Facebook okay

  376. I see I don't post but I watch and I see

  377. that when you get those awesome concert

  378. tickets you get a little cray CR at the

  379. concert just to be honest I know that

  380. some of you when you shoot that 400 PB

  381. wilderbeast out in the forest you do a

  382. little moonwalk in the woods I've seen

  383. you do it I've seen you do it you're

  384. excited because you were victorious I

  385. know I've seen that when you do the bump

  386. set Spike and you spike the ball down on

  387. the head of the procurement person in

  388. the the finals of the championship game

  389. and then you do the the you know the

  390. team crowd surfs across the state like

  391. that's celebration I've seen you

  392. celebrate so why when we talk about this

  393. thing that's worthy of Celebration

  394. salvation why do we sometimes become

  395. reserved look praise is salvation's

  396. soundtrack

  397. you were saved and it's okay to be

  398. excited about that I love Donna was

  399. teaching on this this morning in Sunday

  400. school and I loved it because it went so

  401. hand inand with what we're going to talk

  402. about today when you're sa when you

  403. realize who you were and what God saved

  404. you from man you just want to celebrate

  405. so in Luke chapter 15 there's a story

    Luke 15 chapter mention

  406. it's called the story of The Prodigal

  407. Son pretty famous story you may have

  408. heard it but there's a son that demanded

  409. his inheritance from his father before

  410. his father ever died and he took this

  411. inheritance which by the way is very

  412. disrespectful um but he took his

  413. inheritance and he went to this big city

  414. and he blew it on prostitutes and raging

  415. parties and pleasing his fickle

  416. bandwagon friends and he wound up

  417. destitute when he ran out of money he's

  418. in the gutter and all those friends

  419. abandoned him and left him for dead it

  420. says in this story that no one gave him

  421. a thing he was completely on his own so

  422. he worked with these uncer animals these

  423. pigs and eventually got so hungry that

  424. he was eating the pig slop the same

  425. thing that the pigs were eating and he

  426. decided that it would be better to be a

  427. servant in the house of his father than

  428. to stay where he was and so he walked

  429. home now here's the cool part of the

  430. story the father spent every day gazing

  431. at the Horizon wondering when his son

  432. would come home and one day he looks out

  433. on the horizon he sees his son coming

  434. toward the house and the father who's a

  435. very wealthy man does something that

  436. wealthy people did not do at that time

  437. especially wealthy men he hiked up his

  438. skirt and he ran all the way to his

  439. son now something I've missed from the

  440. story that Tim Keller unlocked for me

  441. that I thought was pretty amazing Tim

  442. Keller says the shame that the sun

  443. brought on the home would have made it

  444. open season on the sun and likely that

  445. anyone in the community could have

  446. stoned the boy to death on sight because

  447. of the disgrace that he bought on his

  448. family that's another reason the father

  449. ran to the son to protect the son dad's

  450. like look if you're going to throw rocks

  451. at my kid you're going to have to throw

  452. them at me first right it's a picture of

  453. God's love for us we're the son he's the

  454. father there's this Joy from head to toe

  455. that cus the father to to celebrate to

  456. shine a light on his son to to make a

  457. show to give a boast to to Rave to run

  458. down the road looking clamorously

  459. foolish that's Halal that's Hallelujah

  460. that's celebration the father meets the

  461. son and he gives him a robe he clothes

  462. him him in righteousness and he gives

  463. him a ring which symbolizes his adoption

  464. into the family and then he goes and

  465. they have a party where they slaughter

  466. the fatted

  467. calf and in Luke 15:

  468. 25 we have the older son who's out in

  469. the field and it says he came near to

  470. the house why because he heard music and

  471. dancing the brother knew that salvation

  472. had occurred because he heard music and

  473. dancing because he heard Halal because

  474. he heard the Hallelujah coming from the

  475. house celebration is salvation

  476. soundtrack Acts chapter 3 we got Peter

    Acts 3 chapter mention

  477. and John there they saw this man who was

  478. lay from birth and he's laying at this

  479. gate called Beautiful which is really

  480. ironic because his friends had to drop

  481. him off there every day so he could beg

  482. for enough food just to live through the

  483. day so you got a miserable man at a gate

  484. called beautiful and Peter and James

  485. they come up to him or Peter and John

  486. come up to him and they they turn toward

  487. him and it says that the man knew

  488. something good was coming his way when

  489. they saw the way when he saw the way

  490. that they turned toward him and Peter

  491. says I don't have silver I don't have

  492. gold but what I do have I'm going to

  493. give to you and then he says in the name

  494. of Jesus Christ of Nazareth get up and

  495. walk and so he jumped up and he started

  496. to walk and he entered the temple with

  497. him walking leaping and what thank you

  498. praising God

  499. there's this celebration this dudee had

  500. never walked before he's been given new

  501. legs New Life New Hope new everything

  502. and what does he do with this newness he

  503. experienced he celebrates what God has

  504. done in his life he's jumping and he's

  505. dancing and he's praising it's a law

  506. it's God picked me out of my misery he

  507. gave me a new life and now I can't do

  508. anything but celebrate him and the

  509. people knew that salvation came to that

  510. man because of the praise that they

  511. heard coming from the temple

  512. man celebration is salvation

  513. soundtrack you're invited to this party

  514. by the

  515. way now praise comes from our response

  516. to God's word and understanding what he

  517. did for us what he's done and what he's

  518. going to do so we love God because he

  519. first okay this so this is not something

  520. we just naturally conjure up inside

  521. ourselves like this is in response to

  522. something that has already happened to

  523. us so God created us in His image but he

  524. did not abandon us when we sinned

  525. against him in fact he wrote himself

  526. into the story in the form of Jesus he

  527. shed his blood for us to give us life to

  528. bring us back into a perfect

  529. relationship with our creator Ephesians

  530. chap 2:

  531. 13 says but now in Christ Jesus you who

  532. were far away talking to me and you have

  533. been brought near by the blood of Christ

  534. I was on the outside of the house

  535. listening into the house party take

  536. place and then all of a sudden boom I'm

  537. on the inside at the party with Jesus 1

    1 Corinthians 6 chapter mention

  538. Corinthians chapter 6 The

  539. unrighteousness will not the unrighteous

  540. will not inherit the kingdom of God that

  541. is bad news because we are all

  542. sinners and some of you used to be like

  543. this but you were washed you were

  544. Sanctified you were justified in the

  545. name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the

  546. spirit of our God you weren't going to

  547. get to go to the kingdom you were going

  548. to spend eternity in hell that is really

  549. really bad news but because of what

  550. Jesus did for you and your faith in him

  551. that is not your story you don't have to

  552. worry about that anymore you get to

  553. celebrate the fact that you have life

  554. you have hope you are saved and

  555. Justified and Sanctified and redeemed

  556. that's praise the Lord level of stuff

  557. right like praise God for that we were

  558. dead and now we're

  559. alive so how can we not want to

  560. celebrate that that's why of all the

  561. Psalms that are in this book there's not

  562. one where the psalmist tells us to stand

  563. there blankly with our arms crossed

  564. singing passionless songs about

  565. God look the only other two times in the

  566. whole Old Testament that this word is

  567. used is when they're stomping on grapes

  568. after the Harvest which I imagine is a

  569. pretty pretty fun time right they

  570. they're getting ready to to make wine

  571. and have parties and have fun and this

  572. is like the the word that they choose to

  573. use is

  574. hallelujah well think of it this way

  575. Zephaniah 3:1

    Zephaniah 3:1

  576. 17 it says the Lord your God is among

  577. you and he is a warrior who saves he

  578. will rejoice over you with gladness he

  579. will be quiet in his love so there's a

  580. season for everything right and then

  581. finally he will Delight in you with

  582. singing God is already celebrating the

  583. work that he's doing in your life so why

  584. not join the

  585. party but here's what I feel like

  586. sometimes it's kind of like that middle

  587. school dance at least this was my

  588. experience where where the girls would

  589. be out there on the Dance Floor having

  590. the time of their lives and these

  591. insecure Middle School boys like me were

  592. huddled in the corner kind of watching

  593. from a distance

  594. that's the way a lot of churches operate

  595. where God is singing and God is

  596. celebrating all the work that is being

  597. done and there's there's these people in

  598. the corner and they're like no way I

  599. can't I can't do that so so why how can

  600. our Hallelujah actually be hindered well

  601. I wrote down a few things number one is

  602. is

  603. ego some of us don't want to sing

  604. celebratory songs because we just are

  605. uncomfortable singing and as Glenn will

  606. tell you it's okay to sing even if

  607. you're not great at it like maybe don't

  608. don't you know join the choir but from

  609. where you're at yeah go ahead and and

  610. sing let loose let your kids especially

  611. dads listen let your kids see you sing

  612. even if you're not good at it I'm not

  613. good I'm right there every Sunday right

  614. see that

  615. microphone it's like eight feet from my

  616. so when we go watch listen to this

  617. service afterwards like I can hear

  618. myself sing I know I'm not good but

  619. Jesus tells me to sing anyway we don't

  620. even sit near each other you can't hear

  621. me sometimes it's ego sometimes it's

  622. shame and I think this one is a lot of

  623. what Christians experience like like we

  624. just don't feel worthy to really praise

  625. God because of the stuff we've done in

  626. our past we feel just like that prodigal

  627. we're covered in pig slop we've been

  628. eating pig food like we we don't feel

  629. worthy to get into the presence of our

  630. father we just want to be a servant in

  631. his house like I'll do stuff for you but

  632. there's no way I can come to the party

  633. maybe just let me serve some more derves

  634. or something I I don't deserve to be

  635. there some of it's our upbringing where

  636. we're just like this is not how mom and

  637. dad used to worship like that's my

  638. experience when I first heard

  639. instruments on a stage and people

  640. singing some celebratory songs I it was

  641. shocking to me I just never had

  642. experienced that before and there was

  643. this part of me it's like man I don't I

  644. don't know if this is okay because this

  645. is just not how I was raised and then

  646. there's this one that I think just is

  647. killing the church not not ours but in

  648. general it's this consumer mindset now I

  649. I pulled a a quote from Brooke

  650. lighterwood

  651. she said worship music is not something

  652. for us to be enjoyed it's something for

  653. us to be

  654. giving so like simply put the worship

  655. music is not for me it's not for you now

  656. the B product of course is enjoyment but

  657. you will get so much more joy from your

  658. praise when you are giving it rather

  659. than receiving

  660. it we come to church to give our

  661. offerings we come to church to give our

  662. prayers we come to church to give

  663. encouragement we come to church to give

  664. give give give and part of that giving

  665. is giving our praise it's giving our

  666. worship so the main question question

  667. that should be asked after every worship

  668. service is was God pleased with this not

  669. not did Kevin like it who

  670. cares I it's not for me we got to ask

  671. ourselves was God pleased with this and

  672. if not we fix it if yes we keep going so

  673. there's a story in the Bible that

  674. absolutely love um didn't understand it

  675. till really this year I've I've studied

  676. a lot didn't really understand what was

  677. going on because it's kind of crazy okay

  678. the the Bible is an awesome book

  679. especially the Old Testament so read

  680. through it you're going to find some

  681. really interesting things and here's one

  682. of them 2 Samuel

    2 Samuel 6:16

  683. 6:16 so the Ark of the Lord had been

  684. gone for a long time and eventually it

  685. made its way back to Jerusalem where

  686. King David was and it says as the Ark of

  687. the Lord was entering the city of David

  688. Saul's daughter Michelle looked down

  689. from the window and saw King David

  690. leaping and dancing before the Lord and

  691. she despised him in her heart she's like

  692. not cool David see David was the the the

  693. king sort of he was like a half King

  694. Saul was the other half King really

  695. convoluted mess basically but David was

  696. presenting himself as a king in these

  697. Royal robes and then all of the sudden

  698. he's dancing around now what I didn't

  699. read to you is what led up to this verse

  700. David took off those Royal robes and got

  701. down in his little skibbies okay he was

  702. in his under Ros he was all the robes

  703. are gone here's David and some shoes and

  704. some shorts and he is dancing and not

  705. only is he just dancing half necked he's

  706. dancing with the servant girls so when

  707. Michelle looks at that she's like that's

  708. not cool my dad King Saul would never do

  709. something that disgraceful but David was

  710. so overcome with joy that the the Ark of

  711. the Covenant had been brought back to

  712. Jerusalem that he could not help himself

  713. but get a little bit uncl clamorously

  714. foolish now what I didn't really

  715. understand about this is that David was

  716. sending a message to all of Israel when

  717. when he did this he he hadn't lost his

  718. mind as I previously kind of thought no

  719. he's actually sending a very strategic

  720. message to Israel he's letting them know

  721. that it's not about who we are it's

  722. about who God is think about what he did

  723. David joined the servant class he's the

  724. king and he joined the servant class in

  725. the dancing not only that he joined at

  726. that time women were considered the

  727. Lesser gender they had abs abolutely no

  728. rights so not only did he join the

  729. servant class as he danced but he also

  730. joined in with the women which was

  731. completely taboo especially for a man in

  732. a position like the one that David was

  733. in he stripped himself of his royalty

  734. and celebrated god with the people as

  735. one like he walked into the church and

  736. he wasn't King David anymore he stripped

  737. himself of all of that he said it's not

  738. about me it's all about God so let me

  739. put on my my tank top and my shorts and

  740. my Timberlands and let's have some fun

  741. in here you know let's dance and

  742. celebrate god let's be clamorously

  743. foolish that's H he's shining a light on

  744. God he's making a show he's making a

  745. boast he's making a rave he's making a

  746. rage you know now nowhere in scripture

  747. does it say that we should be crazy in

  748. what we do like there's levels to

  749. everything and I understand that but

  750. there are sometimes where we you just

  751. got to be like I don't care what other

  752. people think I'm going to sing praises

  753. to my Lord today the great CS Lewis said

  754. the most valuable thing the Psalms do

  755. for me is to express the same delight in

  756. God which made David

  757. dance it's time for a praise party and I

  758. use that word strategically because the

  759. closest word in the English language to

  760. Halal or Hallelujah is the word party

  761. we see this in Acts chapter 2 where

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  762. people are filled with the H they're

  763. filled with the Holy Spirit and they

  764. they lose themselves in their praise and

  765. they just simply don't care what people

  766. are saying about them anymore they're

  767. like we see the resurrected Jesus we are

  768. full of the Holy Spirit and we are going

  769. to celebrate even if they think we're

  770. crazy and guess what they thought they

  771. were crazy it says in Acts chap 2: 13

  772. that people were saying they're drunk on

  773. the new

  774. wine there they're like people don't

  775. sing like that people don't celebrate

  776. like that unless they are absolutely

  777. blitzed out of their minds the religious

  778. folks came down with their Pious

  779. attitudes and they started to to Scorn

  780. the people that were passionate about

  781. their salvation by the way no one ever

  782. accused the Pharisees of being drunk on

  783. new

  784. wine because they didn't know how to

  785. worship Halal clamorous In

  786. Praise back to Luke 15

  787. I told you the older brother was on the

  788. outside looking in and he wouldn't even

  789. go into the

  790. feast he went and he spoke to his dad

  791. he's like Dad you never did this for me

  792. I never left you I never wasted your

  793. money I never I never did any of the

  794. things my younger brother did but you

  795. never roasted the fatted calf for me you

  796. never had a party for me and his dad

  797. looks him straight in the face he's like

  798. everything I have is yours I've given

  799. you everything that I am but the brother

  800. is so hard of heart that he misses out

  801. on the party

  802. but this younger brother he falls at the

  803. feet of his father in Repentance and he

  804. receives forgiveness and what's going on

  805. in his life the music is thumping right

  806. like the subs are turned up there's a

  807. party that is Raging in the house

  808. there's celebration in the

  809. air and look what happen Psalm

    Psalms 149:6

  810. 149:6 this is why praise is so important

  811. this is the Practical part listen let

  812. the exaltation of God be in their mouths

  813. and

  814. a double-edged sword in their hands

  815. praise from your heart equals a sword in

  816. your hands Ephesians teaches us that our

  817. battle is not against flesh and blood

  818. it's against spiritual authorities to

  819. try to bind you into this this bondage

  820. they want to control you and so the way

  821. that you fight back is you put a sword

  822. in your hand well where does that sword

  823. come from it comes from praise you have

  824. a weapon of war against the strongholds

  825. in your life so in those moments of of

  826. sadness and despair care and fear and

  827. anxiety when you force yourself to

  828. praise God anyway when you celebrate

  829. Jesus in those times when you celebrate

  830. him as Lord forever God becomes

  831. enthroned over your anxiety and your

  832. pain and your grief and your sickness

  833. and your fear and and you're praising

  834. and you look down and you're like whoa I

  835. got a sword now I was getting beat up by

  836. my enemies all of a sudden I'm praising

  837. Jesus I look down and boom there's a

  838. sword in my hand now I can fight

  839. back that's why we schedule song of

  840. celebration on Sunday morning for

  841. everybody to

  842. appreciate but celebratory music doesn't

  843. just happen at church like praise

  844. doesn't just happen in a gathering look

  845. at verse five says let them shout for

  846. Joy on their beds like in the house see

  847. praise also happens when you don't have

  848. a band to lead you so here's how I look

  849. at it um a long time ago I went to a

  850. Carolina hurricane kan's hockey game and

  851. I had never watched hockey or been to a

  852. hockey game before and we got these

  853. incredible seats really close and at the

  854. game they put my my cousin actually runs

  855. the the audio video there in the arena

  856. and he knew I was there and so he put me

  857. on the big old

  858. Jumbotron you know what I did I danced I

  859. got out of my seat and started doing I

  860. don't even look I've only danced one

  861. time in my life and it was at my wedding

  862. okay I went to Christian School where

  863. dancing was forbid bidden we had a

  864. banquet not a prom so we could keep from

  865. dancing I did not know how to dance but

  866. for some reason when the camera hit me

  867. and I'm up on the Jumbotron my first

  868. instinct is to get up and do something

  869. I'd never done in my life

  870. why because I was caught up in the

  871. energy of the arena there had been other

  872. people on the Jumbotron and all the

  873. other people except for when they did

  874. the kiss cam all the other people when

  875. they got on the camera they stood up and

  876. they danced so is what I did their

  877. energy was infectious and here's what it

  878. did for me I left the arena hurricanes

  879. won by the way beat the Penguins was

  880. awesome so I go home and I'm on fire I'm

  881. so excited about hockey like I I went on

  882. Fanatics and I was looking up the prices

  883. of jerseys because I wanted to buy a

  884. jersey like actually watched hockey on

  885. TV by the way not a great experience

  886. okay so like but I tried why because it

  887. was this infectious environment that I

  888. was in that led to me being so excited

  889. about this sport look that's why we come

  890. to church that's why we sing celebratory

  891. songs so we can get caught up in the

  892. energy of the praise songs and when we

  893. go home and have one of those days which

  894. we will that energy that we absorbed

  895. into our soul on Sunday can come out in

  896. our

  897. home even when we don't have a band even

  898. when we don't have a lead singer it's

  899. just channeled from the Overflow of our

  900. heart and we're having one of those days

  901. we look down and we're like oh oh I got

  902. a sword in my hand I didn't need a ban

  903. for

  904. that in closing I'd just like to say

  905. don't save your best praise for the

  906. concert don't save your best praise for

  907. the club don't save your best praise for

  908. the Ball Game come to church and give

  909. Jesus your best celebratory praise now