The Prerequisites to Praise

We as a church are on a journey. That journey we've entitled the

pathway to praise. It's a unique journey because

not everybody wants to be on that pathway.

Unbelievers do not. They refuse the pathway to

praise, but the believer relishes the pathway to praise.

In fact, the Bible says in Isaiah 4321 that the people that

I have formed for myself, they will declare my praise.

And so the believer is on this unique journey to praise and

honor his God. It's, it's like a, the, the

journey leads to a great grand crescendo in heaven because

that's where we're going. And when we get there, the

praise will be enormous. But while we're here on earth,

we're, we're on this pathway to, to praise.

And while the unbeliever refuses the pathway, we we truly relish

the pathway. We seek to live for the glory

and honor of God, and we truly want to praise His name.

The Bible gives commands, and the most frequently repeated

command in the Bible is the command to praise the Lord or

give thanks to the Lord. And yet, as often as it's

repeated, we so infrequently obey it.

And you would think that as often as the Lord says that we

are to rejoice in the Lord, we are to give thanks to His name,

we are to praise his name, that we would be the people that

would want to do that all the time.

But we find ourselves at times reluctant to praise the name of

the Lord. The phrase Hallelujah is a great

phrase, great word. It's from 2 Hebrew words hallel

which means to praise or to celebrate or to boast and Yah,

Yahweh, Yahweh, God. Hallelujah means we are to

celebrate God, we are to boast in God, we are to praise God.

And that's why the the unbeliever refuses the pathway

to praise, because they refuse to to boast in the Lord.

They refuse to praise the Lord, but the believer relishes to do

that. They've been created for that,

they've been formed for that, and therefore they engage in

praise to their God. That's why the the Bible says,

let not the rich man boast or praise or celebrate his riches.

And neither let the the mighty man celebrate or boast in his

riches, or the wise man boast or glory or celebrate or praise his

wisdom. But let him who celebrates or

let him who boasts or let him who praises, praise this way

that he boasts in the Lord who exercises loving kindness and

justice and mercy on the face of the earth.

The unbeliever doesn't want to do that.

They, they glory in their riches and their wisdom and their might

and they want to boast all about those things.

But the believer know that they boast in the Lord.

They, they give hallelujahs to the Lord.

They, they praise his name. And that's why the journey is so

unique. And at the same time it, it can

be perplexing, but it's a, it's a great journey.

And as we travel along this journey, we've looked at the

privilege of praise. We looked at the prophet of

praise last week. It was the people of praise.

And yet it's true that we find ourselves, even though we're on

this pathway, at times reluctant to praise and to boast and to

celebrate the Christ. The question comes, why is that?

Why is it if I'm formed by God, and those who are formed by God,

created by Him, they, they will declare my praise?

Why is it then then I have trouble doing that?

Why is it that sometimes as I journey along this pathway, I

find myself opposed to boasting in the Lord or celebrating His

name? Well, that's why today's title

is called the Prerequisites to Praise.

There are certain prerequisites that, if not a part of your

life, will keep you from praising the Lord, boasting in

the Lord, celebrating the Lord, giving thanks at His name,

rejoicing in who He is. And so I thought that we could

look at the prerequisites of praise today and in doing so,

help you understand why at times I, I don't praise the Lord or

celebrate his name when I should.

The Bible says in Psalm 33 verse #1 that that praise is, is

beautifying, fitting to the people of God.

It's it's, it's that what's, what's fits us the best praise

is that which beautifies our life more than anything else.

But yet at times we we are reluctant to be that beautiful.

The question is why? Why does that happen in its

centers? I believe around the

prerequisites to praise and the prerequisites fall into 4

categories. There there are four legs in

which you stand on the pathway to praise and as you journey

along this pathway, these these legs keep you moving in the

right direction. 1 is the peace of Christ, second is the word of

Christ, third is the name of Christ, and 4th is the fear of

Christ. So if the If the peace of Christ

does not rule in your heart, you will not be thankful.

If the word of Christ does not reside in your heart, you will

not give thanks to the Lord. If the name of Christ does not

radiate from your heart, you will not give praise and

celebrate the Christ. And if the fear of Christ does

not reign supreme in your heart, you won't rejoice with

trembling. There are your 4 principles.

If you got your Bible, turn to Colossians chapter 3, Colossians

Colossians 3 · chapter mention Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and we will show you how these all come together.

It reads this way verse 15. Let the peace of Christ rule in

your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be

thankful. Let the word of Christ richly

dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing

one another, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Then whatever you do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the

Lord Jesus. Give me thanks through Him to

God the Father. Those are the first three, the

peace of Christ, the word of Christ, and the name of Christ.

The peace of Christ must rule in your heart.

That's what it says. Possibly let the peace of Christ

rule in your hearts, for you've been called into one body and be

thankful. So if the peace of Christ does

not rule in your heart, you will not give thanks to the Lord.

So what does that mean? Well, the word rule means means

to call the shots. It's the word where we get our

English word umpire and umpires. They call balls and strikes,

They call fair a foul, They call outer safe.

They make the call. They're the determining factor

and whether or not you are safe or out, it's a strike or a ball

or whatever the case may be. They they call shots.

Unfortunately, now they they have instant replay to make sure

that the empire got it right. But when the peace of Christ

rules in your heart, it means that the very fact that you're

on God's side, let him be the governing factor in every

decision that you make. In other words, the Bible says

in Romans 51, having been justified by faith, we have

peace with God. Before you were saved, you were

at war with God. You were the enemy of God.

But now that you've been justified by faith, you're at

peace with God. So now that you're at peace with

God, let that very fact be that which determines every decision

that you make in life. Let the fact that you're on

God's side determine which decision that you make.

How many times have you heard me say over the years that the

decision you make today will determine your destiny tomorrow?

Make a bad decision today, it affects your tomorrow.

Make a good decision today, it affects your tomorrow.

Excuse me, but whatever decision you make today will determine

your destiny tomorrow. So whatever decision you're

going to make today, let the very fact that you're at peace

with God determine every decision that you make.

Let the peace of Christ be the ruling factor in whatever

decision you're going to make today.

When you do that, you'll be thankful.

And the reason you're not thankful is because you're

making the decisions and then you don't like your decision

because then you got to live with the consequences and you're

not thankful. But when you let the peace of

Christ rule in your heart because you have, because you're

at peace with God and you have the peace of God in you, you let

him make that decision. So when you decide to to date

someone, you let the peace of Christ make that decision.

In other words, you, you let the very fact that you're on God's

side determine who it is you date or you don't date, what job

you take or what job you don't take, what clothes you wear

versus what clothes you don't wear this morning.

You let the peace of Christ make the deciding factor and whether

or not you came to church, you're here right there.

There are those who are not here because they didn't let the

peace of Christ rule in their heart.

They let something else rule in their heart and that's what made

their decision not to come to church.

And the decision they make today will determine their destiny

tomorrow, just like your decision today determines your

destiny tomorrow. Isn't it interesting that when

you think of the armor of God in the Ephesians chapter 6 and we

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

know about the armor of God, we we think about all those

different instruments that that are part of the armor.

We think of the helmet of salvation.

We think of the sword of the spirit.

We think of the shield of faith, the breastplate of

righteousness, that the belt of truth, but very few people ever

think about the gospel of peace in which our our feet are

furnished with. Paul says that our feet are to

be shod with the gospel of peace, or fitted with the gospel

of peace, or furnished with the gospel of peace.

That does not mean that your armor is about talking to people

about Jesus and the gospel of peace.

That's not what that means. It does mean that the very fact

that you're at peace with God because the gospel that was

preached to you solidifies your stance as you go to war because

you're on God's side. And isn't it interesting that

those those feet that are fitted with the gospel of peace

determine how you engage in battle?

For instance, the Bible says flee your morality, flee

idolatry, flee the love of money, flee youthful lusts.

Well, how do you do that? You do it because you you have

the right shoes on you. You have the gospel of of peace

that fits you perfectly so that when it's time to run, you can

run. When it's time to stand, you

stand, but you're at peace with God.

And because you're at peace with God, the decision you make to

run rules in your heart. He moves you away from

temptation. That's why Paul would say there

is no temptation taken you put such as coming to man.

But God always provides a way of escape.

Well, how does he provide the way of skate?

Because he's fitted you with the gospel of peace.

That's the shoes you wear. You remember growing up when

you, when you used to buy new shoes, how excited you were

about new shoes. And your mom would say, OK, OK,

just run down the aisle and see, see how fast you run.

And you take off running down the aisle of the, of the store.

And then, whoa, man, I, I, I run faster now.

And you were convinced that you could run faster because you had

new shoes. Well, when you're born again,

you're at peace with God, and part of the armor you're fitted

with is the gospel of peace. They're the shoes you wear that

are furnished specifically for you so that you can make the

decision to run when it's necessary to run and flee

immorality and idolatry and youthful lusts, or to stand firm

against the Wiles of the devil and be armored with those things

that are fitted for you in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

But when you let the peace of Christ make the decision in your

life, you're always thankful. Always.

But when you make the decision, not so much so when you're not

thankful. As you travel down the pathway

of praise, ask yourself, did the peace of Christ decide what it

is I was supposed to do today, tomorrow, and forever?

When the gospel of peace rules in your heart, you will be

thankful. Now the Bible says in Isaiah 26

three that God will keep you in perfect peace, whose mind is

stayed fixed, focused on thee. And the Bible says in Psalm one

19165 that great peace have those who love your commandments

and nothing causes them to stumble.

Great peace. That's where the second point

comes in. And that is the word of Christ

must reside in your heart. The word of Christ must reside

in your heart. This is how Paul says it.

He says, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you

abundantly dwell. The word dwell is the word that

means to to be at home. Let the word of Christ be at

home abundantly in your heart. When, when the when the word of

Christ resides within you, is at home within you, you will teach,

admonish one another and you will sing to one another in

psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and you will give thanks.

That's the byproduct of the word of Christ richly dwelling in

you. So if on your journey down the

pathway to praise and you are reluctant to giving thanks and

praise and hallelujahs to God, you must ask yourself, is the

word of Christ. Residing within my heart.

Is it overwhelmingly at home in my heart or or is God's word a

stranger to you? You see, we, we like to, we like

to snack on the word of God instead of scarf the word of

God. There's a big difference there.

You know, snacks are are great in between meals, but you need

to scarf on the word of God, devour the word of God every

opportunity you get to hear the word of God, to read the word of

God, to listen to the word of God, to be in the word of God

must consume you because you want the word of Christ to be at

home in your heart. In other words, it's it's shed

all over your insides and when the word of Christ resides

within you, richly dwells within your heart, there'll be

instruction, admonition, and expression.

You'll teach one another. That's instruction.

You'll admonish one another. That's admonition.

And look what Paul says. He says with psalms and hymns

and spiritual songs singing with thankfulness.

Where in your church, in your hearts to the Lord, that there's

a certain song you sing in your heart to the Lord, that there is

an expression of of praise to God, because the word of Christ

dwells in me richly, and that expression is I.

I sing to one another with psalms, which are the Old

Testament psalms, hymns, which simply are the expressions of

praise to God. Spiritual songs are are personal

testimonial songs such as the new song or Mary's song in Luke

1 or Zachariah's song. Those are personal testimonies

of of songs in the scripture and it says singing with grace.

In other words, the songs you sing are prompted by the grace

that's within you in your hearts to the Lord.

There's a certain expression of praise you give to the Lord in

your heart. In other words, your heart

matches the praise on your lips. Sometimes we, we come to church

and, and we sing songs of praise, but they're not really

matching what's on the inside of our heart, are they?

They're they're we're, we're doing all the outward motions,

but our hearts are really some place else in another direction,

affection for something else other than God.

We're to sing in our hearts to the Lord.

And that's the expression of the, of the word of Christ that

resides within your heart. When the peace of Christ rules

in your heart, you give thanks. When the word of Christ resides

in your heart, you give thanks and you do it in song and praise

to God. And then there's the name of

Christ says in verse 17, Whatever you do in Word or deed,

do all the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through him

to God the Father. The name of Christ, the name of

Christ simply is who he is. It's his character, it's his

nature and and the the name of Christ needs to radiate in our

hearts. So whatever you do in Word or

deed, whatever you say today, tomorrow, for the rest of your

life, whatever you do today or tomorrow, the rest of your life,

whatever you do in Word or deed to all in line with the

attributes and character of God. In other words, what you say

today should reflect, should radiate that your heart is right

with God and you know God. What you do today should reflect

that you know God and you honor God and serve God.

So whatever you do in Word or deed to all, not some all in the

name or in line with the character in nature of the Lord

Jesus, and you will be thankful. But if what you're doing in Word

or deed is not in line with the character and attributes of God,

you will not be thankful, you'll be miserable, you'll be

unthankful, you will not be delightful.

So you got to ask yourself, what am I doing today?

What am I saying today that's in line with the character and

nature of the Lord? I say I serve.

Are my words radiating the truth that I know Christ?

Are my words radiating the fact that I, my, my, the places I go

read the fact that I know Christ?

That is just so incredibly important.

My kids will tell you that when, when they were growing up, I

used to always use this phrase with them.

Don't defame the name. Whatever you do when you leave

the house, don't defame the name.

So they always thought it was the name of Sparks.

No, it's not my name, it's God's name.

Don't defame, don't profane, don't bring a reproach upon the

name of Christ. And whatever you do in Word or

deed, do all in the name of Christ.

If you're a parent today, I would I would challenge you to

adopt that with your children. When they get ready to go to

school, they get ready to leave the door, say hey, remember,

don't defame the name. See you?

That should be the last words they hear from you as they leave

their house. Don't defame the name.

Let those words ring in their ears all throughout the day.

They go to school, they go to work, they go on a date.

Don't defame the name. Why?

Because whatever you do in Word or deed, do all in line with the

name of Jesus Christ our Lord and be thankful.

Give thanks through him. See, you can't give thanks to

Him if you're opposed to Him and living not in line with who He

is. Aren't you glad you came today?

This is just so basic, but yet so beneficial.

Such a blessing for all of us because we go through life and

some days are just bad days and we don't give thanks to God.

We don't praise him. Things go bad, things go

haywire. Things don't go the way I want

them to go. Well, did you live according to

the peace of Christ? Was he ruling in your heart when

you make that decision as to what you did that day?

And and is the word of Christ residing in your heart?

Is it all throughout you are Are you richly indwelt with the word

of Christ because you you hear it, you hear it correctly, you

heed it constantly, you honor it entirely, you hide it inwardly

because it's all about who you are, the word of Christ, and it

resides within your heart in the name of Christ.

Is it radiating all throughout your being each and every day,

so that when you speak, you speak Christ's words?

When you go places, you go where Christ's name is not defamed or

profaned, but glorified and honored #4 turn me to Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 studies around the the fear of Christ.

If you want to live in peace, if you want to love His word, if

you want to lift his name, you must fear the Christ.

So the Bible says in Psalm 2, worship the Lord verse 11 with

fear and rejoice with trembling. Rejoice with trembling.

How do you do that? What does that mean?

Worship the Lord in fear? Maybe your text says reverence.

That's an OK word because you want to Revere the Lord.

Those who fear him do Revere him.

The unbeliever has No Fear of God before his eyes.

The unbeliever does not fear God.

Only the believer fears him. Psalm 130 verse #4 There is

forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

Why does God forgive you so you'll fear him?

Because the unbeliever doesn't fear God, only the believer

does. So God wants you to worship him

in fear. He wants you to rejoice your

trembling, so he forgives you. So you will do that because the

unforgiven don't do that. That's important to understand,

but isn't it interesting? Psalm 100 verse 2 says worship

Psalms 100:2

the Lord with gladness or serve the Lord with gladness.

Psalm 2 says worship the Lord with fear, serve the Lord with

fear. So which is it?

Do I serve him with fear or with gladness?

But if there is No Fear, there is no gladness, because there is

no peace. Remember the the the Christmas

story, peace on earth with those with whom God is pleased.

Peace does not come on earth to those with whom God is not

pleased, only with those with whom he is pleased.

So who is God pleased with? Psalm 14711 says God is pleased

with those who fear His name. See that So only those who fear

his name please God. Those who fear His name receive

the peace of God. Therefore we are to worship the

Lord, fear the Lord, serve the Lord in fear, so that we can

rejoice with trembling. To this man will I look, Psalm

66, I mean Isaiah 66 verse #2 To this man will I look to him who

is broken and of a contrite heart, and who trembles at my

word, who shakes uncontrollably under the authority of what I

say. They live in the fear of the

Lord all day long. We don't like to use that word

because we we want a candy coat and say, well, it just means to

to reverence and be in awe of the Lord, which is good, but

that's not what it means. It means you fear the Lord.

What does that mean? Exactly what it says.

It means you fear the Lord because the unbeliever does not,

not afraid of the Lord because they don't know Him.

But when you come to know Him, it strikes fear in your heart.

Not because you'll ever be condemned, because perfect love

casts out fear, right? The love of Christ casts out

fear. So there's not the fear of

condemnation. It's not the fear of judgement.

We don't have that kind of fear. Why?

Because we know that the love of Christ cast all that out.

I will never be judged or condemned by God because of what

he's done for me at Calvary. But I do fear.

Fear that I would displease him, dishonor his name, profane his

name. So Psalmist says, fear the name

of Christ. Let it be that which reigns

supreme in your heart, so you can rejoice with trembling.

It's interesting that the Christmas story is more about

fear than anything else. When the angels would have the

glory of the Lord shine all around the shepherds, they were

terrified. They were in fear.

So what did the Angel say? Fear not, fear not.

Why? Because you bring your good news

with great joy. When the Angel appeared to to

Mary, he said don't be afraid Mary, because she was terrified.

Look at the people who encountered the Christ in the

Scriptures. Absolutely terrified.

Why? Because he's a consuming fire.

It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

God. But yet the Lord, his grace and

mercy, reaches out to save the lost and those who are saved.

They understand him, they get him, and they fear him.

That's why the Bible says these words Proverbs 2317 Live in the

fear of God always. That's what Solomon said as he

wrote to his son. He said in Proverbs 2814,

Blessed is the man who fears all day long.

That's the blessed man. The Bible says in Proverbs 3130

that charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but the woman

who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

The Bible says over in the book of Isaiah, the 8th chapter,

Isaiah chapter 8 verse #13 it is the Lord of hosts whom you

Isaiah 8 · chapter mention

should regard as holy, perfect, sinless, absolute perfection.

It's the Lord of hosts, the Lord of army armies.

Yavay Savayoth is the one you should regard as holy.

When you do, He shall be your fear and He shall be your dread.

And then and only then will he become your sanctuary, your

place of refuge, your place of safety.

The Bible says in Psalm 128, Blessed is everyone who fears

the Lord, who walk in his ways. When you shall eat of the fruit

of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with

you. Your wife should be like a

fruitful vine within your house. Your children like olive plant

plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man

be blessed who fears the Lord. Do you fear the Lord?

Just look at your wife. Does she climb like a vine all

over you? Maybe you don't fear the Lord.

Maybe you fear her more than you fear the Lord Could be.

How are your children? Like olive plants around your

table? Similar great blessing and joy?

Are your children a heartache to you?

Ask yourself, do you fear the Lord, or do you fear the

reaction of your children to your decisions?

When you fear the Lord, you fear no man, you fear no woman.

You fear nothing else. You only fear the Lord.

If you fear something else or someone else, you do not fear

the Lord. It's just that simple.

In fact, listen to this Psalm 112.

How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights

in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty

on the earth. Are your descendants mighty on

the earth? The generation of the upright

will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his

house, and his righteousness endures forever.

Are there wealth and riches in your house?

It's not talking about money. It's not talking about diamonds

and jewelry. It's talking about, as Solomon

said in Proverbs 24, that by wisdom a house is built, by

understanding it is established, and by knowledge all the rooms

are filled with precious and pleasant riches.

In other words, it's the richest of character.

It's it's the richness of Christ likeness.

It's the beauty of Christianity and all that it entails.

He goes on to say in verse 6, this man who fears Lord will

never be shaken, never never shaken.

The righteous will be remembered forever.

He will not fear evil tidings, not fear of title, evil tidings,

because it's hard to steadfast trusting in the Lord.

Do you think we fear the evil tidings that come through the

election process? Of course not.

We don't trust in politics, we don't trust in the election

process. We trust in the Lord.

That's where our trust is. And the man who fears God does

not fear evil tidings, and his heart is upheld.

He will not fear. In other words, there is

stability, security and strength in those who fear the Lord.

And those who fear the Christ have the Christ reigning supreme

in their hearts, and they rejoice with trembling.

The four prerequisites to praise the peace of Christ.

It must rule in your heart, and you'll be thankful.

The word of Christ, it must reside in your heart.

And you will teach, admonish one another, and you will sing

psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and you'll sing in your

heart to the Lord, and you will give thanks the name of Christ.

It must radiate in your being, in your heart.

So whatever you do, in Word or in deed, it's all done in

accordance with the character and nature of God.

And you will be thankful that when you fear the Christ, you

fear his name because of the great holiness that's within him

that makes him who he is. You are the person who has that

fear, reigning supreme above all else, so that you fear nothing

else or no one else, because you only fear the Christ.

Those are the four legs, the four prerequisites to praise.

If you ever wonder why you've, why you've gone through a day or

a week or a month, God forbid, without ever praising God,

singing Hallelujah to God, giving thanks to God, it's

because one of those four elements are not true in your

life. Because once they're true,

you'll be thankful. You'll be grateful.

You'll sing the Hallelujah chorus.

You'll boast in the Lord. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for today. Thank you for the chance to look

into your word. Answer a question that many of

us have on why is it there are days I am reluctant to praise

you instead of relish the opportunity to praise you.

Our prayer, Father, is that we would understand the, the peace

of Christ, the word of Christ, the name of Christ and the fear

of Christ. Basically, Lord, we just need to

understand the Christ who you are.

That's the the basis for all we do because we give thanks

continually through your name, through you, based on who you

are. So I pray for everyone in the

room today. You'd encourage their hearts,

strengthen their souls, help them to look at their lives in

light of those scriptures and ask themselves the question, am

I living a Hallelujah life, boasting in the Lord, praising,

celebrating His name? And then ask the question, If

not, why not go back and look at the text and Colossians and

Psalms and measure their life against what the Bible says?

God, go before the people of our church, this church, Christ

community, use them to radiate the beauty of your name.

Thank you in Jesus name, Amen.