Praise Builds Faith
Praise in Progress • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 598 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Intro:
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
I am always very prayerful about what I am to preach. I never want to waste your time, my time, or God’s time, by just preaching “another” sermon.
Many of us have heard thousands of sermons. I am not interested in preaching sermons, I want a message. I want the Lord to speak to me. I always ask, Lord, where do we need to go next, what do you want me to share with your church?
A couple of months ago, I was nearing the end of our study through the life of Joseph. I had no idea where to go next. I prayed for a few weeks, constantly asking the Lord for direction.
One day, I drove to Potosi and on the way I had worship music playing. From Annapolis on, I sang along and I praised the Lord. I did not ask anything from God, it was not my prayer time, but it was a praise time.
By the time I turned left on 21 to head toward Potosi, the presence of the Lord was so strong, had I not been driving, I might have danced a little bit.
One of my hands was raised, I praised the Lord in tongues, as God’s presence was SO thick. Instantly I heard the Lord speak, “this is where you need to go next.”
I knew what He meant. I have felt SO strong in my spirit over the past month, as a church and as individual believers, we HAVE to learn the value and importance of praise and worship before the Lord.
If we are to go where the Lord wants us to go, we have to learn to praise until His presence comes and then worship until the Lord releases us to move to the next thing.
After that car ride, I began to study and pray about what to preach. And I want to show you something the Lord has showed me. When it comes to “Praise in Progress” we develop a habit and attitude that says I will praise the Lord while my miracle, healing, victory, and need is in progress.
For a few weeks, we are going to look at a number of the Psalms that have helped me an encouraged me. There have been many times I will walk in my office or in the sanctuary and I will recite these Psalms to the Lord.
In this particular Psalm, we will see how we can have confidence in the midst of conflict. We can wait on the Lord, have courage, and watch God strengthen our hearts and lives.
The way we do this is learn to PRAISE in spite of the problems.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.
One of the greatest enemies of walking in all God has for us is FEAR. David declared in praise, God is my light, He dispels the darkness
Something we must understand about fear, it is not an emotional problem, it is a spiritual matter. Fear is not of the Lord.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The enemy will try to grip us with fear, and if we are not careful we will walk around through life consumed with fear:
afraid people will talk about us
I can’t pray for that person
afraid people might doubt us
afraid people will not trust us
afraid we cannot teach a class
afraid we cannot pray with power
afraid we cannot make it if we really get faithful to God with our money
afraid we cannot do anything beneficial because of our past mistakes or failures.
They enemy will do all he can to get us consumed with fear. He tried this with David. Think about what he faced in life. One commentary (FB Meyer) suggests:
This psalm probably dates from the time when the exiled king, surrounded by unscrupulous foes, looked from his hiding-place beyond the Jordan to the Holy City, where the Ark abode.
Imagine, he was surrounded by enemies and armies who wanted him dead. If anyone had an excuse to be afraid it was David. Yet David knew the enemy of fear is faith.
David was able to have confidence in the face of fear because he learned that praise builds faith. When he wrote this Psalm, it was not as an old man looking back and remembering how bad it was.
It was an individual who learned how to praise in progress. David began by PRAISING that the Lord would illuminate the darkness, build his confidence, and protect him from his enemies.
David praise built his faith, because at the sound of his praise the Lord sent His power and presence to encourage David. From the position of praise, we see three areas to build our faith: [The Place to Build Faith], [The Pattern to Build Faith], and [The Prayer to Build Faith].
Let’s begin
1. The Place to Build Faith
1. The Place to Build Faith
4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
If this took place when Absalom ran him out of town, I imagine David look toward the direction of Jersualem and reminding himself of what it was like to be in the house of the Lord.
Perhaps he thought back to the joy, excitement, and the overwhelming feeling of moving the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
Maybe he remembered dancing, whirling, and praising the Lord every six steps en route to Jerusalem. Whatever his memories, he knew what it was like to be in the presence of the Lord.
But notice, he did not say this WHILE he was in the temple, he was not before the Ark, he was not in the middle of a service choosing to stand and testify about God’s goodness.
Instead, he was surrounded by enemies who were so vicious the could be compared to wild animals who wanted to eat his flesh and kill him.
The enemy would have loved to use this to make David afraid. Had David allowed fear to take hold, he would have been stuck. Instead, David wanted to be surrounded by the presence of the Lord.
He knew the place where this could take place, it occured in God’s house. Whether David fully understood it or not, we know that God is not bound by buildings or locations.
Instead, He is present when two or three are gathered in His name. He is present when His people praise Him.
Psalms 22:
3 But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
David knew where he needed to go, he needed to get into the secret place of God’s tabernacle. He did not pine for comfort or leisure in the home.
He wanted to get to the place where his faith could be built. If he could get there, then the Lord would hid him, life him above his enemies and protect him.
Therefore, David learned the place to build faith is the place of praise. David built his faith by singing praises and offering sacrifices of JOY to the Lord!
The place to build our faith is the place of praise, for when we praise, God’s presence comes, regardless of where we are, all alone or in church with God’s people.
2. The Pattern to Build Faith
2. The Pattern to Build Faith
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.
By this point in David’s life, he was well aquatinted with what God desires of us. David realized there are no shortcuts to doing and having all God has for us.
I told Bekah the other day, I have decided there are no shortcuts. Bekah’s grandmother has an immaculately clean home. We spent some time with her a few weeks back and I asked, when you cleaned professionally, what was your pattern?
I hoped for an easy answer, a few steps, and POW, there is no dust, no dirt, and no dishes in the sink. She explained how she did it all. I told Bekah, I have decided there are no shortcuts, people just have to do what needs to be done.
Bekah’s loving and kind response, Daniel, I told you that already. You have wanted me to ask her for three years and I knew that would be the answer, we just have to keep doing what we are doing!
We keep a clean home, but I was just hoping there was an easier way.
But the fact is, there are no shortcuts to cleanliness, education, financial stability, and success. It requires diligence.
Likewise, there are not shortcuts to becoming Godly people of great faith. It requires diligence in prayer, study of the word, faithfulness to God’s house, and praise and worship.
When we follow these spiritual disciplines, God may accelerate our lives and pour out unmerited favor upon us, but it ONLY occurs when we are diligent to pattern our lives after His.
David reminded the Lord, there have been times You said, SEEK MY FACE. My heart replied Your face and your presence will I seek, inquire for, and require.
David realized seeking the face of God means God will give His favor. If God hiders HIs face, there is no blessing!
David had a pattern, when God wanted to talk, David was ready to listen. So he trusted that the Lord would not change the pattern now.
He made sure God didn’t turn from him now. He trusted God would not leave him or abandon him now. Because of David’s assurance in the Lord, David could praise in progress.
He knew the place, he followed the pattern, and he showed...
3. The Prayer to Build Faith
3. The Prayer to Build Faith
10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me. 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.
David understood the pain of rejection, but he knew the one who would never reject or leave him. Even if his parents deserted him, he had a Father in heaven who would take care of him.
I heard the story of a man whose family had a burial service for him because became a Christian. Now they speak of him only in the past tense as if he is dead. (Swindoll Study Bible, ).
I just cannot get over how proactive David was. When he made this request of the Lord, it was when he was unsure of the future.
He did not know what would happen, so he asked the Lord to teach Him how to live, teach him how to trust, and teach him how to make it in the face of his enemies.
David wanted God to guide him and deliver him. Notice the how David prayed. I find it interesting that he made this request toward the end of the Psalm.
Why did David wait to make his request? Because first and foremost, he wanted to praise the Lord. He knew that when He praised the Lord, His presence would follow.
Then when God’s presence is present, we can bring our needs to Him knowing He is present and more than able to help is in our time of need!
As David prayed this prayer in the face of people who lied about him and threatened him, David made a strong declaration!
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
David declared, I would have lost heart,I would have fainted, I would have despaired, but I KNEW That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
That phrase or variations of the phrase, In the Land of the living, is found eleven times in scripture. David stood with a host of Old Testament saints who knew God would provide for them.
Think of that, they didn’t know Jesus, they didn’t know He would come and die for their sins, but they had enough confidence in God to stand in the face of their storm and declare, I KNOW I AM GOING TO MAKE IT, because I WILL see God’s goodness.
So in the meantime, I will have courage and I will be strong, because I have learned how to WAIT on the Lord.
Close:
Something I love about these Psalms, is it shows how men and women of faith made it in hard times. Anyone can serve God when life is easy, but our spiritual depth is revealed in the hard times.
These people stood in the face of fear and built their faith by praising the Lord for God’s goodness, even when they didn’t feel good.
I am convinced, we need to get it into our spirits, GOD IS POWERFUL regardless of how I feel and what I face. Therefore, we MUST praise HIM in ALL things!
I recently read a story that proves this works.
When the Socialists took over Russia, creating the USSR, they first did all they could to eradicate the Christian’s opportunity to go to church and worship.
When Christians could no longer practice their faith in the open, they began to practice in private. A man named Dmitri had a wife and two sons. Unable to go to church, Dmitri, being a proactive father, began to tell his family stories from the bible and they would sing songs about God.
Word traveled in their small community and the neighbors began to join. Eventually his house had twenty-five people who wanted to worship the Lord.
He was accused of starting an illegal church and threatened to stop When the group grew to fifty both he and his wife were fired from their jobs. The group grew to 75 and the authorities came and slapped him rhythmically across the face.
They left and told him to stop again. A little sainted grandmother stood up and declared, “you have laid hands on a man of God and you will NOT survive.” That happened on Tuesday and on Thursday the officer dropped dead of a heart attack.
The fear ofGod swept across the village and the crowd doubled in size. With 150 people gathered, the officers threw Dmitri in jail for seventeen years.
Dmitri was the only believer in a jail of 1500 hardened criminals. Even though he was 620 miles from his family and he was physically tortured, he never gave up on his faith.
He had two spiritual disciplines that he did every day. At daybreak, he would stand, face the east, raise his hands toward heaven and sing a song of praise to the Lord.
The other prisoners would laugh, cuss, through food and human waste, trying to drown out his praise. The second thing he did is every time he found a piece of paper, regardless of size, he would write scriptures on the front and back.
The then took it, placed it at the top of his cell as an offering to the Lord. Each time he was caught and he would be beaten for his actions.
For years this happened until one day the offices lied to him and told him his wife died and his children were left destitute. This broke him, he agreed to renounce his faith the following morning.
That night, his wife and children prayed for him and the Lord allowed Dmitri to hear their voices. The following morning, he refused to sign.
A few days later, he found a full sheet of paper, something that he had not seen in prison. He filled both sides of the paper with as much scripture as he could, he then placed it on the top of his cell as an offering.
The officers saw it and they threatened him with execution. As they drug him out of his cell, the strangest thing happened. Before they reached the place of execution, 1500 hardened criminals stood on their feet, faced the east, and began to sing the songs of praise they heard from Dmitri.
The jailers dropped him and asked, who are you? He responded, I AM A SON OF THE LIVING GOD, and JESUS IS HIS NAME!
The guards returned him to his cell and shortly thereafter he was released.
I would have lost heart if I didn’t know that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
I am telling you, in our praise is the power to build faith! I cannot tell you how many times I have been discouraged and felt surrounded, times I have questioned and wondered why, but something in me told me to keep going.
Something told me, if you will but praise me, this storm will pass.
Something told me, if you will but praise me, I will encourage you.
Something told me, if you will but praise me, I will teach you my ways.
Something told me, if you will but praise me, I will build your faith.
I am not sure what every person in here faces, but I can promise this, if we will praise in progress, our faith will build and we will become victorious!
Are we going to make it, you bet we are! And until then, we learn to wait on God and praise Him in the meantime. As we do, He will build our faith.