Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:05] We're going to continue part two. And this morning, Caleb. You didn't know. Where's Caleb? He's somewhere. Is he gonna. Yeah, you're there. You didn't know this morning, right? You had. No. We didn't have a conversation this morning, did we? No, no, no. This morning we're going to talk about praise, praise, praise. And it follows on from Jehoshaphat. So I don't want to go through the whole story of Jehoshaphat, but for those who weren't there, let me just tell you very, very quickly, we're going to be in 2 Chronicles 20, and then skipping over to Hebrews 13, I think.
[00:00:36] Yeah, but what. The story in the history of Jehoshaphat. And by the way, we haven't got time to go into this, but Jehoshaphat did not end well. He started really well, but he did not end well in the things of God. Okay? He actually, in the end, allowed people to go back and. And do all their idolatry, all of that kind of stuff. Right. But it didn't end well with Jehoshaph.
[00:01:02] And what it kind of reminds us today is as people of God who are following God, you can be going so well for so long, and then it's possible that we don't end well. How many of us. Maybe, maybe. Don't put your hands up. We know of people who have gone for so long, so well and cut short tragically, and have taken their eyes off Christ.
[00:01:29] And these are days we are living in. If you take nothing else from this morning, say, I am determined with my life and my family that we are going to end well. So if you want to get to the end of Jehoshaphat and read it yourself, you can do. But that's the part I'm not going to be touching on this morning. But in a nutshell, there's a vast army coming towards God's people in Judah, okay? And at the time, Jehoshaphat is the king, at the time, there is a vast army coming.
[00:02:00] Now, I don't know about you, but if I was Jehoshaphat, leading God's people, and I was told there's a vast army coming that, like, you're going to be outnumbered 10 to 1, I would, humanly speaking, probably want to die.
[00:02:19] It's that extreme. I think I would say, lord, take me.
[00:02:25] I'm done. Like, I just. I can't do this anymore. Like, I'm gone out. I'm gone. You're gonna have to. And you go through the Old Testament. And many of them said, didn't they? Like, time and time again, send someone else.
[00:02:38] Like, I can't speak very well, send somebody. And all this kind of stuff, right? So this vast army is coming upon Jehoshaphat, and this is what Jehoshaphat does. Yes, he's. He's scared. Like, humanly speaking, he's scared. But this is what he does. He calls the whole congregation, the people of God together, not just the men who are there going to be fighting in the army, but he calls the women, he calls the children, he calls the baby. Because when God wants to move and do something in a church and in a nation and in an area, he wants to include everybody.
[00:03:16] You do know that this isn't just some message for leaders or those who head of ministries. This is a message for the body of Christ. Amen. And so Jehoshaphat got the whole congregation, all of the people, right down to the little ones and even those in the womb, Ellie.
[00:03:38] Because I believe they can hear the voice of the Lord even in the womb.
[00:03:44] Didn't John the Baptist, when the presence of Jesus, who was also in the womb of Mary at the time, filled. Yeah. All right. And so Jehoshaphat calls everybody and he says, this is what we're going to do. We're going to pray, we're going to fast, we're going to pray, we're going to fast. And that's what they did. So Jehoshaphat inquired of the Lord can encourage us. We need to inquire of the Lord in every situation of our lives.
[00:04:10] Everything.
[00:04:11] Inquire of the Lord.
[00:04:14] Involve him in everything.
[00:04:17] And so he inquired of the Lord, and then what happens is really, really quickly, because I don't want to focus on this this morning, but if you've got 2 Chronicles 20 open, we're gonna. I'm just gonna read quickly from verse 20. So. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 20. Early in the morning, they left for the desert of Teoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, imagine with a trembling voice, listen to me, Judah, the people of Jerusalem. Have faith in the Lord your God, and you will be upheld. Have faith in his prophets, and you will be successful. After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to what?
[00:05:06] Oh, come on, sing. That was good, Kev.
[00:05:12] You got it out, right? Came to sing to the Lord and to praise him.
[00:05:22] Praise him for the splendor of his holiness. As they went out at the head of the army saying, come on, let's say it together. Give thanks to The Lord, for his love, endures forever. Now get this. As they began to sing and praise, the Lord, set ambushes.
[00:05:45] I find this incredible.
[00:05:48] Anybody else, or is it just me?
[00:05:52] Jehoshaphat would have never guessed in a million years that they were going to defeat this vast army coming towards them with a bunch of people singing and praising.
[00:06:03] Could you have predicted that?
[00:06:06] I couldn't.
[00:06:08] And it's the same with us. In our situations, we try and work out plan A, B, C, D, E, and Lord, how are you going to do this? But I tell you what, we have not got the mind. His mind is higher. His ways are higher.
[00:06:21] He's worked out better things than we could ever work out for ourselves. And I don't want to go through that again. That's all on the part one.
[00:06:29] But he says, as they begin, it says the Lord, they did their part.
[00:06:34] The Lord did his. He set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah. And they were defeated, okay?
[00:06:47] Now, the reason they were defeated is not because Jehoshaphat's army was so skilled and Jehoshaphat had a brilliant army, okay? They were defeated because as the Lord set these ambushes, as the people prayed and they sang and they praised, okay? The enemies actually turned on themselves and defeated one another.
[00:07:14] Can we just pause a minute?
[00:07:17] Mind blowing.
[00:07:19] And this morning I want to talk about praise because the church has been given, or we've been given a lot of weapons that we need to start getting out again. I think the church has parked up some weapons over the last few years and decades. I don't mean. I mean the world, the church.
[00:07:37] We've parked up the weapon of prayer.
[00:07:39] We've parked up the weapon of praise.
[00:07:42] And I believe God is sending us a message this morning through his word that it is time again for the church to get out the weapon of prayer. Praise and prayer. But I haven't got time to go into that this morning. That'll be another day. But the weapon of praise, will you turn quickly over and then we'll start.
[00:07:59] And then the other verse I want to focus on this Morning is Hebrews 13.
[00:08:05] We'll go from verse 11.
[00:08:14] Hebrews 13. Just from verse 11.
[00:08:18] This talks obviously a context of the Old Testament, but it says the high priest carries the blood of animals into the most holy place as a sin offering. But the bodies are burned outside the camp.
[00:08:29] And so Jesus. Let's focus on Jesus. And so Jesus also offered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own Blood.
[00:08:41] Let us then go to him outside the camp bearing the disgrace he bore.
[00:08:47] So let's stay with him. Let's go where he goes. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus.
[00:08:52] For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for a city that is to come when the days are getting dark, which they are.
[00:09:05] And boy, our nation is in deep, deep mess.
[00:09:10] Come and talk to me after. We want to talk about our nation. I don't really want. I want to focus on Jesus this morning.
[00:09:16] But it said his body was outside the camp, bore the disgrace.
[00:09:23] This is not our camp.
[00:09:25] Earth is not our camp.
[00:09:27] Don't get comfortable. It's not our camp. It's not where we're pitching our tents and staying.
[00:09:35] What good news this morning? But we are looking for the city that is to come. Verse 15. Through Jesus, therefore.
[00:09:45] Through Jesus. Everyone say Jesus.
[00:09:48] Therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
[00:10:03] Therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips, the openly profess his name. This morning I want to talk about praise.
[00:10:15] I want to talk about praise. I believe God is bringing the church back to praise again.
[00:10:22] And when we talk about praise this morning, you know, praise is this.
[00:10:27] This active participation of the people of God, whether you feel like it or not.
[00:10:38] It is an active expression of admiration, reverence, thanksgiving and gratitude, whether we feel like it or not, towards God Almighty because of who he is, not because of how you feel today, but because of who he is, what he's done and what he is going to do.
[00:11:17] Let me show you some types of praise in Scripture.
[00:11:23] Exuberant, joyful, boastful, dancing praise.
[00:11:32] That's a type of praise.
[00:11:35] I like to call it naked praise.
[00:11:46] There's another type of praise.
[00:11:49] Reverence, those holy moments.
[00:11:54] Matt, you mentioned this morning, it's inward.
[00:11:57] It starts inward.
[00:12:01] A reverence. There is a lifting up of the hands.
[00:12:06] Sometimes I lift my hands up and I just can't put them down. I could stay there all day in that posture.
[00:12:14] It's reverence. It's a symbol of surrender and thanksgiving.
[00:12:21] There is a praise where you just kneel, you kneel, you bow, you prostrate yourself and you linger there. And it's just this praise and adoration.
[00:12:36] There's a praise that sings a new song.
[00:12:39] Some of us, if we've got the gift of tongues, will maybe, you know, sing a song in tongues.
[00:12:47] There's a song from the heart. It's when the words have gone on the Screen. And there's something that comes in our heart. There's another praise that makes music.
[00:12:57] I am so encouraged by you guys on the drums and the guitar. Caleb, thank you for stepping up.
[00:13:04] Like, I know he's gone out again. Do you know he's got jumping beans. This morning, the people who are stepping up up to use their gift of. Of music and instruments to worship God.
[00:13:19] There is a loud triumphant noise. She's not here this morning. We've got a lovely sister in Christ, an elderly sister. And I, when I go meet with her, she. I won't mention names, but you'll know her if you know her. Every now and again when she comes to our service, she just shouts out randomly, like. Like wobble singing, right? She just shouts out her praise and she says, esther, I don't know what comes over me. And for about 30 seconds, you just hear coming over this area, this almighty rush of praise because she's. I know what comes over her.
[00:13:54] She can't contain the Holy Spirit inside her.
[00:13:59] Sometimes there's a praise that you just simply weep because in your brokenness, or maybe you're just happy that God is with you and he's for you. You just weep.
[00:14:19] But praise reminds us. I want to remind us this morning that we are all priests.
[00:14:25] This is a praise that takes us beyond just 20 minutes of. Of music on a Sunday morning. This is a lifestyle of praise. And we are all priests. You know, Jehoshaphat, he sent the musicians, he sent the Levites, which traditionally did in the Old Testament. That was their role, but in the New Testament.
[00:14:45] And thank you, Lord, for Caleb's and Matt's and Bryon is and tech team and who are musicians and all that kind of stuff. But we are all called to be priests.
[00:14:54] We're all called to minister to the Lord this morning. I hope you came to minister to the Lord. I hope you didn't come to get a nice cozy feeling, all right, and then walk out again. It grieves my heart when people go, I just couldn't worship this morning, you know, like, didn't have my favorite song up there from Elevation, or didn't have my favorite song up there from the Hillsong.
[00:15:17] Yeah, I found it really hard, let me tell you. I don't like all the songs. I don't like all the tunes.
[00:15:23] But I tell you, it's not about me.
[00:15:26] I've come to minister to the Lord, and so we cannot come to Him. Here's the first thing. If you're making notes, I'll go quickly through These and then I do want to pray with us. We cannot come to him all right? Or before we come to him, we cannot draw near to him without first fixing our hearts and our eyes on Jesus every single day. We have to come back. I know it sounds simple, but we miss this most simple yet profound thing when we come.
[00:16:00] We have to think of Jesus when we come, to bring our worship together as the saints. We have to fix our eyes on Jesus.
[00:16:09] But the problem is when we come sometimes together and we gather all right, we come in with so many of our issues and problems and life stuff happening.
[00:16:22] But Jehoshaphat, he came back and he said, we're going to send. We're going to sing, we're going to worship, we're going to praise God. You see, we cannot do this without Christ being the center of our affections and our hearts. See, God doesn't want our bulls and our goats.
[00:16:41] He doesn't want our incense sticks. He doesn't want our performance.
[00:16:46] He wants our hearts. He wants our hearts. And we remind ourselves again today that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice.
[00:16:56] Everything we offer up, everything we offer up Sunday through to Sunday.
[00:17:03] This offering, this continual. The writer of Hebrews tells us to continually offer, offer. And we're going to look at what continually means. But as we keep offering ourselves and everything we are up, it includes every aspect of our lives.
[00:17:19] You see, tithing, I haven't got time. But this is one aspect. Tithing is worship.
[00:17:24] Do not tithe and give to this church if your heart's not in it.
[00:17:29] In fact, I believe I want to go as far to say that God doesn't want your money if your heart's not in it.
[00:17:34] Don't tithe begrudgingly.
[00:17:38] Don't praise if it's half hearted.
[00:17:42] And I know we've all done it. I think the Lord would rather us just sit down and go, no, not today.
[00:17:51] Than try and come and fake it.
[00:17:56] Cain. Do you remember Cain and Abel? The two brothers?
[00:18:00] Cain brought a sacrifice to God, but he wasn't thinking about God when he gave it.
[00:18:06] Far from it.
[00:18:09] When Abel came, he gave a sacrifice.
[00:18:13] And it wasn't that the animal was better or the gift was better. It was because Abel made that sacrifice with his affections on Jesus. And. And that's what made it of worth. That's what made it of worth. What does it mean continually? We know it's not a praise on just a Sunday. This is just like a 5% of our time on a Sunday.
[00:18:38] What does it mean continually?
[00:18:40] 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says this. Pray without ceasing.
[00:18:47] The Hebrews writer here is basically saying, praise God without ceasing.
[00:18:54] In other words, everywhere you go, keep praising.
[00:19:01] Everyone say, praising. I need you to praise.
[00:19:03] Because you sang about it this morning. You said, I'm here to praise.
[00:19:09] Are we?
[00:19:14] Everywhere you go, keep praising. In the morning, Lord, I'm going to praise you. Mid morning, I'm going to praise you. Lunchtime, I'm going to praise you. Mid afternoon, I'm going to praise you. Nighttime, I'm going to pray. This is a continual praise and praise and praise. Just never, ever stop praising.
[00:19:32] That's what Hebrews is saying, the writer says. And not only when things are great and good and the sky is blue and everything's brilliant. But praise when you're stressed out.
[00:19:45] Praise when the bank account looks absolutely rubbish.
[00:19:49] Praise when your kids are far away from the Lord.
[00:19:53] Praise, praise. Praise when the situation doesn't look great, when you're happy, when things do look great, praise. Praise.
[00:20:06] Offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually. Let our praise keep going high and high and higher, not just when we're all together.
[00:20:16] Can you this week go into your workplace and praise?
[00:20:21] Okay, we might not be able to praise out like we do on a Sunday. It might not be able to ring out verbally. But I'll tell you what, church. We can create an atmosphere of praise around us wherever we go.
[00:20:34] Wherever we go.
[00:20:37] What do I mean that?
[00:20:39] Psalm 34 goes on, Bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be be in my lips.
[00:20:47] It means fixing our thoughts on Christ in the workplace. Continually. It's having a heart of thanksgiving. Continually. You can see where this is going. It's surrendering to his ways. Continually. It's acknowledging the beauty of who he is. Continually. It's meditating on the word of God. Continually.
[00:21:08] That's what it says. Continually. This sacrifice of praise. Charles Spurgeon says this. He says, there is no moment, no moment can exist when it would be right to suspend the praises of God.
[00:21:23] No moment, No moment can exist when it would be right to suspend the praises of God.
[00:21:36] I just know when I read scripture that everybody in scripture who praise God, we're going through a really tough time.
[00:21:45] How can you praise God in a prison?
[00:21:48] How can you praise God when the vast army is coming against you?
[00:21:52] Because we've been fashioned by society, okay? To go with our feelings and our emotions and our flesh.
[00:22:01] But you see, we are not flesh.
[00:22:03] We're of spirit. We're born of the Spirit.
[00:22:09] Let us offer up, offer up.
[00:22:14] It requires our participation.
[00:22:17] I think as the church. For too long we've been used to being spoon fed and the church hasn't grown up in the things of God.
[00:22:28] So that when storms come, we don't know how to praise.
[00:22:33] When big giants come against us, we don't know how to whip out our praise hat.
[00:22:38] Now this is not to bash us all over the head at all, but can you imagine as a church, when we turned upon a Sunday and we've got all our stuff going on and our brokenness and dysfunctionality going on in our lives, if we turned to each other and went, I'm here to praise, I'm going to praise.
[00:22:59] Shall we praise right now? Let's go in the corner. Yeah, we'll pray about it. But let's end in praise and glory and honor because of who he is, what he's done and what he's going to do.
[00:23:11] See, it needs our participation.
[00:23:15] But the church for too long has gone, feed me another message, feed me another good song, whip me up, make me feel great.
[00:23:28] Can you imagine the body of Christ coming to participate in praise?
[00:23:35] As a church, we need to go back to praise.
[00:23:38] How do we do that in our workplace? Because it's not just Sundays. How do we do it in our workplace? How do you do it? Dayo, when you're serving your coffee, how do you do it in the classroom when you've got tiny little kids who need their nose blowing? Like, what do we do?
[00:23:52] We create an atmosphere of praise around us.
[00:23:55] We say, I am going to come and praise.
[00:23:58] In my situation, in who I am today, I'm going to come and praise. What is a sacrifice of praise?
[00:24:06] Praise is worship and adoration that comes from the heart towards God.
[00:24:13] And we have been commanded to praise God continually.
[00:24:17] Anybody feeling a bit of a poke.
[00:24:23] Because this hit me in the eyes?
[00:24:26] Don't just praise sometimes. Bring our praise continually a sacrifice. It is a praise and adoration that comes from the heart to God.
[00:24:39] I mean, God loves it when we're real with him. You do know that he would rather have us say, lord, my heart is really cold today towards you. It just is.
[00:24:48] Help me, Holy Spirit. That's why we've got the helper, the comforter, the strength, the Holy Spirit. Help me today, Lord, because I need your help to praise.
[00:24:59] It comes from a heart for God. How does praise come?
[00:25:03] I think we make the mistake sometimes thinking, I'll praise when I feel like it.
[00:25:09] I'll praise when my situations and circumstances are good.
[00:25:16] I'll praise When I hear something that's great again, it's all emotions and feelings. And praise rises up within us when we meditate on the word of God, when we see Christ for who he is, when we look out during the day. I love Dartmoor. We live around Dartmoor. And I love sunsets. And I love the walks that Phil and I do with the dog. And we just stand there completely amazed at what God has created. He's such a beautiful, creative God.
[00:25:53] How can we not stop and give him praise?
[00:25:59] But we make the mistake of thinking, I'll praise when I feel like it. Esther, you don't know how broken or I am.
[00:26:06] Well, that is the good time to praise.
[00:26:09] It is.
[00:26:10] And I think we've got. So.
[00:26:13] How can I put it? We don't want to offend people these days, okay? We know people are broken. We know they're hurting. We know there's grief, right? But you know, when my father died last year, one of the greatest things I could do was praise.
[00:26:28] And that is the truth. Because the scripture tells us to pray and praise without ceasing to do it continually.
[00:26:38] I didn't know when the grief would stop, if it ever does.
[00:26:42] When our situations happen, we don't know what will happen as a result. But God knows. And I just know that when we are obedient and we pray and we praise, God will work on our behalf. And he will turn up and do things when we realize how good and gracious he is.
[00:27:06] Have you got something? Have you come this morning with something that you need to be thankful for?
[00:27:12] It's a good question, isn't it?
[00:27:16] If you haven't, and there are often weeks I come here and I don't know what I'm grateful for.
[00:27:21] And I'm a preacher.
[00:27:24] And I'll tell you why I haven't got anything to be grateful for on those weeks is because I haven't meditated on the goodness of God.
[00:27:34] I haven't focused. I've allowed problems and situations to climb on top of me.
[00:27:40] And then you partner with somebody, don't you, to hear your woes.
[00:27:45] And they just seem to get worse.
[00:27:53] God says, offer up praise continually.
[00:28:00] You know, you can't complain in life when you praise continually.
[00:28:11] You can't be fearful and praise at the same time.
[00:28:17] You can't worry and praise at the same time.
[00:28:23] Think about it. I've tried it.
[00:28:26] When I'd been really anxious last week, I started to praise and I couldn't be anxious and praise at the same time.
[00:28:33] It's powerful.
[00:28:37] But how Many of us worry, are fearful.
[00:28:43] Our problems are huge. Our storms are huge.
[00:28:46] You know, you can't carry a fence when you praise.
[00:28:50] You can't carry unforgiveness when you praise.
[00:28:54] You can't carry bitterness when you praise.
[00:28:59] You can't do it.
[00:29:03] Praise continually. You can see now why the writers throughout the Scriptures say continually.
[00:29:10] Can we do it continually?
[00:29:12] Can we? Like, that's a. I dare you this week.
[00:29:18] Ephesians 5 says, Be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. If there's ever a time we need to speak to one another and sing to one another in hymns and songs from the heaven's throne itself, it is now in our nation because our nation needs healing. It said, sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.
[00:29:44] It's a command.
[00:29:46] It's a command. Are we following this command? I think sometimes we follow the commands of do not lie, do not steal. And these are all important.
[00:29:54] But I think this is a key one for our time now, is that the command is that we praise continually.
[00:30:01] Some of us are too busy chatting about problems, and maybe we need to sharpen one another and say. Can I just stop you there?
[00:30:12] We're going to praise together.
[00:30:14] Shaz, we did it. We ended our time. We had a bit of time together on Friday, and we just said we just had to come out of our time together and praise, and that's what we did.
[00:30:25] What would it look like for the church to find praise so natural?
[00:30:37] What would it look like for followers of Jesus to find praise so natural? So much so, that if we've been praising all week, we come in on a Sunday, and you just can't shut us up because from back to front, front to back, we're all just praising God.
[00:30:59] We've had times in our congregation where there's been snippets of prolonged praise that hasn't come from words on a screen.
[00:31:08] But you see, the Holy Spirit has just come on hearts that want to praise. And I imagine if we asked everybody where they're up to in their lives in those moments, it wouldn't be all perfect.
[00:31:22] And that's how God works.
[00:31:24] See, we should never force ourselves to praise. Did you know that anybody ever tried to force themselves and go through the motions?
[00:31:33] It's horrible.
[00:31:35] It's absolute. Is it? Just have put your, like, wave at me. Like, give me summit. Participate.
[00:31:40] Okay?
[00:31:43] Like, we should never force ourselves to praise.
[00:31:47] It should never be an unnatural thing to us.
[00:31:53] Just like you've got an apple tree. I'm going to plant some apple trees this year.
[00:31:57] Right? You plant an apple tree. It's natural for apples to come.
[00:32:04] It's just natural. It happens. Okay, Unbelievers.
[00:32:09] It is natural for them to blaspheme the name of Jesus.
[00:32:13] You ever been with a work colleague at work and every other sentence you'll hear the name of G in a blasphemy.
[00:32:19] Oh, my God, it just comes out. All the blasphemy words come out. Do you know why it is so natural for them to. It just comes off them.
[00:32:28] And if they know you're a Christian. Have you ever seen the faces when they go, oh, I'm so sorry.
[00:32:35] I'm so sorry.
[00:32:37] It should be so natural for followers of Jesus Christ to praise.
[00:32:47] It should be so natural. Why? Because we love Jesus. Because we're following him. Because we're attached to him.
[00:32:56] Why is it hard to pray sometimes? Praise sometimes?
[00:33:00] It's a big thing, isn't it? Because I'm going to charge us all to go out this week and praise continually.
[00:33:05] It's really hard.
[00:33:07] How are we going to praise continually?
[00:33:11] Here's a few answers.
[00:33:13] Maybe some will relate to you. Maybe not.
[00:33:17] We focus too much on self.
[00:33:21] That's my big one.
[00:33:23] We focus too much on our feelings.
[00:33:28] And I'm not saying we don't.
[00:33:30] I'm not saying, like, we just ignore our feelings, we ignore our emotions. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying we suppress them. And I'm not saying there are times, you know, we have to talk through things. This is. This isn't that right? But we focus too much on self and our problems rather than on God.
[00:33:47] We do.
[00:33:50] If we were to really look on the percentage of how much we praise, pray and fix our lives, on our problems. I imagine fixing our lives and our problems on that graph chart would be high.
[00:34:04] Yeah, if we're honest with ourselves.
[00:34:07] Second thing, we don't know the word of God like we need to.
[00:34:13] We need to keep bringing the Word of God into our lives.
[00:34:18] And not just a verse that comes up once a day on a Bible app.
[00:34:23] We have to meditate on the Word of God. We have to sit with the Scriptures.
[00:34:29] We have to pause. We have to delve in Holy Spirit. What are you saying?
[00:34:36] What are other things? We don't trust God enough to meet our needs.
[00:34:42] See, if you don't trust, how can you praise.
[00:34:49] Another one? We don't have that daily intimate fellowship with God.
[00:34:54] A daily walk and talk with him and the last one, which I think is really where the church is at in our nation.
[00:35:07] We've lost our joy and satisfaction in Jesus.
[00:35:16] We've stopped enjoying Him.
[00:35:20] We've lost our joy.
[00:35:24] If that's you this morning, remember back to a time when you really had joy in Jesus.
[00:35:33] I haven't got time to go into it. But there are many reasons why we lose our joy. I've been there multiple times, haven't stopped loving him, but I've lost my joy in Jesus.
[00:35:45] And it's because we're really not having that intimate relationship with him. We're trying to have a relationship with Jesus through the church. Now, the church is great, but it's not through the church.
[00:35:59] It's through an intimate relationship with Jesus first and being filled consistently and continually with His Holy Spirit.
[00:36:10] Someone said, do not be satisfied to be a miserable believer.
[00:36:19] Are we truly satisfied in Jesus church?
[00:36:22] Is our love overflowing for Him?
[00:36:26] If we lose our joy in the Lord, guess what happens?
[00:36:30] And you know what I'm going to say, because you know the verse, we lose our strength, we lose our power, we lose our zest and vitality for truly living.
[00:36:42] We lose. And that's the. And that is the plan of the enemy, for the church to lose her joy. Because if the church loses her joy, she loses her strength. If she loses her strength, the army takes over.
[00:37:03] And that's why God had a plan for Jehoshaphat.
[00:37:09] They were not strong enough to go and meet that army head on. They just weren't physically strong enough.
[00:37:17] And I imagine they were terrified.
[00:37:20] And their joyometer was probably down there.
[00:37:26] But after praying and after fasting, we've got a week of prayer and fast in October. And I urge you to take it seriously with everything within you.
[00:37:38] As they prayed and as they fasted and as they sang and as they praised God, the Lord came among them.
[00:37:50] Babies, young people, mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers would have been wiped out.
[00:38:01] Think of it in the Spirit now.
[00:38:04] Generations that are falling away from Christ.
[00:38:10] We owe it to the season, the time. We won't get this time back.
[00:38:16] This is our time Church.
[00:38:21] I believe God wants to restore joy back to the church.
[00:38:28] Finishing up, we also lose our joy. Let me see. Just finish up here. We lose our joy when we pay lip service only.
[00:38:39] And listen, I'm preaching to myself and these things, although they hit us a bit hard because I guess you all wanted to know that Jesus loves you this morning and go home. And of course he does, but it's in his kindness he leads us Back to repentance.
[00:38:56] He leads us back to realigning our minds and hearts and our spirit with his spirit.
[00:39:04] See, we lose our joy when we pay lip service only.
[00:39:09] And I think the church has done this for a long time.
[00:39:15] Matt Redmond did something. Some of you know Matt Redmond, well known worship leader.
[00:39:20] He did something when he was young, a young worship leader in Watford, I think it was. He said the church had so got used to just coming in on a Sunday, singing the songs on a screen and going home.
[00:39:32] And so what he did, he decided to strip it all and it was really uncomfortable. Do you know, I did an experiment. I know I was naughty over summer. We were out there, do you remember? We were out there and I purposely, although everyone fought against me, I purposely said we're not going to have a worship leader.
[00:39:55] And it did flop.
[00:39:58] Do you remember?
[00:40:00] It flopped a little bit.
[00:40:04] But I think we need to get uncomfortable a little bit because when we get uncomfortable, we stop relying on the musicians, although they're important. We stop relying on the physical and we start moving into the things of the spirit.
[00:40:25] Now, I'm not saying to Matt Redman, he ditched music for a season.
[00:40:28] And in that season, as painful as it was, week after week after week, as the church kept coming up and that they'd had this amazing worship team and Matt's just there going, we're stripping this right back.
[00:40:40] And it was a season where the church learned to praise again, to lift up their voices, to lift an anthem that was from the heart, to not just come and pay lip service and sing along the songs to the songs that they knew.
[00:40:54] And that's where the song I'm Coming Back to the Heart of Worship was penned.
[00:40:59] I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you it's all about you Jesus.
[00:41:10] I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it.
[00:41:16] When it's all about you it's all about you Jesus and if you come up we were made to glorify God when we praise continually everything else we do in life all our circumstances will pale into such insignificance.
[00:41:47] Can we trust God when we praise?
[00:41:50] Don't let the enemy tell you church that when you praise him it's a waste of time. Don't let the enemy tell you that when you're praying and you're hidden away it's a waste of time.
[00:41:59] It's not Praise continually we will love one another better.
[00:42:08] Can't praise and hate your brother and sister at the same Time we will forgive more quickly.
[00:42:18] Our strength will be renewed to serve one another.
[00:42:22] I actually think service in a church has gone down because people don't have the joy and the strength to serve. Honestly, I do.
[00:42:31] Where are the days when the church would come and everybody would be in serving going, whatever you need me to do, I'll do. That's a person with the joy of the Lord. They're not coming in their own strength. They've got the joy of the Lord in them.
[00:42:45] Will you stand with me this morning when we praise? It opens doors to the miraculous for the kingdom of God to come on a people who are praising him.
[00:43:00] When we praise, the church will stop grumbling and complaining.
[00:43:06] But I know you lot don't complain and grumble ever.
[00:43:12] Come on, let's just. We're going to praise in a moment.
[00:43:17] Don't we want praise to be the most natural thing we do as a people?
[00:43:23] Anybody need their joy restoring like that? Deep inward joy?
[00:43:30] Anybody want laughter to return to the church again?
[00:43:34] Laughter, laughter, joy. Joy because of who he is, because of what he's done, because of what he's going to do.
[00:43:46] We don't need to be Sunday Christians, Lord. We want to go in on Monday with the joy of the Lord as our strength.
[00:43:56] Today that can change.
[00:44:00] Can I say, if you want more joy, go meditate on the sufferings of Christ.
[00:44:07] Seriously, it will make you weep. I'm thinking passages if I've got it right. Isaiah 53. Is it.
[00:44:14] Is it the suffering servant when he goes through? Thank you.
[00:44:17] Go and read them because it will take you into a season of just crying and being tearful about what he has done.
[00:44:27] And then it will lead you through into a time of praise.
[00:44:32] It will guarantee, because it said, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. If you want joy restored into your life, go back to the cross.
[00:44:43] Go back to the cross.
[00:44:48] I want you to respond this morning. This is our last Sunday here.
[00:44:54] We're going to go back to bank street with a sense of joy.
[00:44:58] We're going to go back to bank street with a sense that God is going to move amongst us and it's going to be joy filled.
[00:45:06] And that's not wishful thinking.
[00:45:09] That's not wishful thinking.
[00:45:11] That is in faith this morning.
[00:45:15] So if you want me to include you, just give me a wave because I need you. You've got to participate.
[00:45:20] If you want healing, you ask, we ask. You're not doing this to me, you're doing it to him. This morning you're saying, Lord, I want my joy restored. I want to go out this week and I want to be able to praise you continually. Help us, Holy Spirit, to praise you continually in every season, Lord, in every season that I will go out and sing psalms and I will sing hymns this week, Lord, over my house, over my situation, over my children, over my loved ones, Lord, will you restore joy to this church?
[00:46:01] Will you restore joy into this nation, O God?
[00:46:05] Will you make your church strong again, Lord? May she go out in the power of your spirit this week into the workplace, into the marketplace, Lord.
[00:46:16] Lord, may there be, Lord, from house to house, business to business, Lord, may there be the same stories being told from John o' Groats to I don't know my geography, but right up and down the country, Lord, that people have got saved in the business place, in the classrooms, Lord.
[00:46:36] Lord, I pray the Gospel will spread. The joy of the Holy Spirit will spread so fast and fast, fast in this country, Lord. The people will praise you again, Lord. They will stop in their cars and praise you and worship you without stopping. Without stopping, Lord, we will praise you for who you are.
[00:47:03] We just give him an offering of thanks this morning. Can we just praise him? Let's just offer it up. Let's clap. Let's do something this morning. Morning.
