THE POWER IN OUR PRAISES CELEBRATE JESUS

 




Greetings Everyone,

Thanks to all of you for coming to recharge your spiritual batteries today. Praise the Lord.

Intro Story:


The Duke of Wellington, the British military leader who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, proved to be an extremely difficult officer under which to serve. Brilliant and demanding, he rarely gave compliments to his soldiers. When his health deteriorated in his old age, he gave the following reply when asked if he would do anything differently, given another chance at life: “I’d give more praise.”

While that’s a good life lesson in terms of person to person, it’s infinitely more important in our relationship with God. So rather than looking back at the end of our lives, wishing we had praised more, we have to start now. 

Credit: Todd Gaddis



In today's  sermon we will examine some of the reasons why we must not wait.



Let's Pray:

Glorious Master, The Father Supreme, Omniscient Redeemer ,Today is your special day. We are here to worship and Praise You.

Decrease me so that You Increase. Let the Holy Spirit speak through me to expand the horizons of your believers, give them the power of discernment to understand the wisdom of your Holy Words in Jesus Name, Amen. 

The topic for today's sermon is CELEBRATE JESUS- AKA THE POWER IN OUR PRAISES


Questions:

How many have applied for Visa before?

Raise your hand if you have ever been to a wedding, party or have one time or other spent time on social media for hours ?

In all these events and social activities,  we hardly complain but when we come to church and service is delayed we do.

Let's  Reflect and be Patient today for our video and it's scriptural analysis. 

Everybody say AGIDIGBA.   

What does it mean?

Anyone knows the song?

Just give us one line.


INSTRUCTIONS ON WATCHING THE VIDEO

Pay attention to

1. THE LYRICS AND THE SUBTITLES  

2. THE ENERGY LEVEL

3. THE INCLUSIVENESS 

4. THE POWER OF LANGUAGE -Same in Prayers too.

5. THE AFFIRMATIONS -Say Positive things about ourselves everyday 

6. THE NATURE OF GOD AND THE PRAISES-Who He is

7. THE AUTHORITY AND SUPREMACY OF GOD-i.e WHO HAS THE FINAL SAY?

8. THE CULTURAL COMPETENCY IN MUSIC-The importance of using the culturally appropriate music to praise him.

9. BLESSINGS- Receiving God's blessings in every facet of our lives. 



SHOW VIDEO:

                                                                       TIM GODFREY



DARE DAVID












POST VIDEO SHOWING SERMON.

As Christ-followers, we build many important spiritual habits into our lives—including  Bible reading, Prayer, Fasting, Benevolence, Gratitude, and so on. All of them will play a critical role in our spiritual journeys in 2023.

But we must not forget the habit of praising God. It’s particularly important when we’re struggling.  Last year during our 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer, Pastor Brian in teaching us about Spiritual Warfare, he mentioned Worship and Praises as one of the weapons of Spiritual Warfare.

What makes praise so important for us? Here are seven reasons the habit of praising God is vital for us.

1.Praise lifts us spirit. 

Psalm 42:5-6 says: “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you” (NLT).

But Psalm 42 reminds us to both praise God and remember what he has done in our lives when we’re down.

The world today is looking for hope. That’s why worship is so energizing. It takes our eyes off of our troubles and puts them on Jesus.

2.Praise helps us sense God’s presence.

God is always present whether we sense it or not. Sometimes we don’t feel his presence, but that’s because we’ve moved away from him. He hasn’t. 

When we don’t feel God’s presence is when we need to praise him the most. It’s easier to act our way into a feeling than feel our way into an action. In fact, maturity is when we do what’s right whether we feel like it or not. The Bible says, “Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence” (Psalm 140:13 NIV).

3.Praise magnify our perception of God.

The Bible tells us this in Psalm 69:30: “I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving” (AMP).  When God gets bigger, our problems get smaller. 

4.Praise reveals God as the Solution center of our lives.

We all have issues in our lives we simply can’t figure out. They tie us up in knots. Psalm 73:16-17 describes this kind of situation: “I tried to understand all this, but it was too hard for me to see until I went to the Temple of God. Then I understood what will happen to them” (NCV). The temple of God is a metaphor in this Psalm for coming into the presence of God. It was through worshiping God that the writer got his answer.

5.Praise helps us remember God’s blessing.

Often when we’re thinking about a big problem, it’s all we can think about. It colors everything in our lives.

Praise will correct the imbalance. It’ll remind you that not everything in your life is bad. In Psalm 105, the Bible describes this pattern: “Thank God! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done! Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music! … Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles, and the verdicts he’s rendered” (Psalm 105:1, 5 The Message).

When we have problems, we most of the time tend to focus on the negative. Praise helps us remember who you are and who God is.

6.Praise ignites God’s protection. ( OLD TESTAMENT)

When we praise God for answers to our prayers before it happens, that’s faith—and that’s when God begins to fight for us. 

In 2 Chronicles 20, we read about three enemy nations who ganged up on Israel. The only chance Israel had was for God to miraculously save them. So, King Jehoshaphat organized an unusual battle plan. He put a choir in front of the army as they marched into battle.

The Bible says as soon as the Israelites started praising God, confusion ensued—and the enemy was defeated. 

The Lord wants to fight our battles too, so we should take time to praise him in advance.

7. Praise breaks chains and opens doors.( NEW TESTAMENT).

We all probably have certain things holding us back. We might feel stuck, like nothing has changed in our lives for the better. 

Paul did this in Acts 16 while he was in prison with Silas. In the middle of the night, the two decided to have a praise session. As they praised God, the Bible says, “The prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!” (Acts 16:26 NLT).

That story is a miracle, but it’s also a metaphor of what God does in our lives when we praise him. When you need to be set free from an attitude, an addiction, or habit, praise God. It’ll break the chains holding you back. 

My challenge for us this year is to learn to make praise our natural response for everything you face—good or bad. Develop that habit in our lives and encourage everyone to do the same—and then see what God does.

Prayer


Let's  Pray.



End:


Extra Research.

  1. The Bible commands it. As the Psalmist says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6).
  2. Praise facilitates access to God. Obviously, it’s the blood of Jesus that paves the way for our forgiveness from sin and relationship with God (Hebrews 10:19). That being said, our perpetual praise provides a clear and unhindered passage. Therefore, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
  3. Praise is where God lives. Wait a minute, isn’t God omnipresent – everywhere, all the time? Absolutely! Yet His presence is especially intense in an atmosphere of praise. The Bible says God is “Enthroned upon the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3).
  4. Praise promotes productivity. According to the Word, the Earth yields its produce in the presence of praise (Psalm 17:5-6). Does this mean crops are actually going to grow better where praise is present? Perhaps. Why not? Whatever your feeling on the matter, I like Jack Taylor’s commentary in his book The Hallelujah Factor. “When we praise, productivity is maximized, fulfillment is realized and frustration is neutralized” (p. 31).
  5. Praise chases away despair. There’s no better way to beat the blues than to change our focus from self to God. Such a shift produces “the oil of gladness instead of mourning” (Isaiah 61:3).
  6. Praise is an effective weapon against the devil. I firmly believe Satan, once the good angel Lucifer and God’s praise leader (Isaiah 14), was kicked out of heaven and doomed to destruction due to his desire to be like God. He has hated praise ever since because of its reminder of what he gave up and can’t regain.
  7. God is worthy of it. “The Lord is great and worthy of our praise” (NCV). While it’s obviously good to praise and encourage those around us, God alone deserves our heartfelt worship and supreme allegiance.

Credits and Resources:

Apostle Selman- Nigeria 

Tony Evans-USA

Rick Warren-USA 

Todd Gaddis USA 

Joel Osteen -USA 


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