When Pastor Lorne stood to deliver the message, he mentioned their last song and said, “Praise and worship – it’s all about God.”
Pastor Lorne said praise and worship has become a big part of today’s church, but when he went to church, there weren’t any praise and worship choruses. It was all hymns. Now, Bible schools have programs for praise and worship and there’s even a special conference. He held up a flyer for Break Forth Canada 2012, a division of Break Forth Ministries, which is one of the biggest in praise and worship conferences in North America with attendance in the 15,000 range.
Worship has become a big thing.
Pastor Lorne said it would be great to go to a conference and have David as a presenter. If David attended a praise and worship conference, he could tell them a thing or two about putting a worship team together. In that respect, Pastor Lorne wanted to draw our attention to what scripture says about worship.
He said first, it’s important for the worship leaders to prayerfully consider the songs they will use.
Psalm 66:1-4 says, "Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing the praises of your name.” In this scripture, David is telling God how awesome His deeds and how great His power. This is something God wants us to do – bowing down and worshiping Him.
Luke 19:28-44 talks about the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Verse 37-40 says, “When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Jesus could have told them to tone it down, but instead if the people stay quiet, even the stones will cry out. That scripture alone told Pastor Lorne that God wants us to lift our voice in praise and worship.
King David was a great worshiper. 1 Chronicles 23 David gathered the leaders of Israel, the priests and the Levites and gave them tasks. Verse 5 says, “Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.” Can you imagine what it sounds like to hear 4000 musical instruments all playing together in praise to the lord. Four thousand! These were skilled musicians. That was their job. That’s what they did. Pastor Lorne said, “Talk about a worship team. You’d need a pretty big platform to hold them all.”
In 1 Chronicles 25:6-7 we read, “All these men were under the supervision of their father for the music of the temple of the LORD, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. Along with their relatives—all of them trained and skilled in music for the LORD—they numbered 288.” Again, all those instruments were playing and worshipping the Lord.
Marianne H Micks says, “When we worship together as a community of living Christians, we do not worship alone. We worship with all the company of heaven.” The angels are worshiping God with us.
2 Chronicles 20:20-23 Talks about the enemy armies that were invading Judah. Verse 21 says, ‘After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever.”’ Jehoshaphat sent the singers ahead of the army. Can you imagine singers leading the way in today’s army? When they sang their praises, the Lord set ambushes and their enemies rose up and destroyed each other. Pastor Lorne said when he was growing up singers were considered sissies. But these guys lifted their hands and sang praises. The following soldiers heard them and the battle was done without the soldiers ever lifting their swords. Jehoshaphat’s army didn’t even have to lift a finger to fight.
When we are facing tough battles, if we lift our arms and voices, He can turn it around for us. Praise doesn’t depend on our circumstances… praise depends on who God is. Because they were lifting praises to God, victory was won. God fought for his people because they praised Him.
Jack Hayford said, “Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the one worshiped.”
David probably saw more trouble than any of us and yet he was the great author of more praise and worship than any other person. His praise didn’t depend on his situation but who God was. In Psalms 35:28, David says, “My tongue will speak of your righteous and of your praises all day long.”
Pastor Lorne wants to encourage us in our daily activities. He lives in the real world too, and knows things get us down. We can still have the praise of God in our hearts. Praising and worshipping God isn’t limited to when the church door opens and someone leads us in song. All day long we can praise and worship. When Job had nothing left, he said in Job 1:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
When David was praying and fasting for the life of his child, he didn’t go into mourning. Instead, he went into the temple and worshiped God. In 2 Samuel 12:23 King David says, “But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Pastor Lorne wants to encourage us to worship God in whatever we do. Whether we’re out driving the tractor, or inside washing dishes. If we have problems, be like Job and continue to praise and worship the Lord.
Psalm 34:1 says, “I will extol the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.”
David said, “No matter what I do, I will praise and worship the Lord.” And when you’re by yourself driving truck, working in your field, or whatever you do, in all those jobs you’re alone even if you’re in the house, always have that praise and worship deep in your hearts because He deserves all the praise and all the glory.
Isaiah 43:21 says, “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” We are put on this earth to worship and praise God. Just by living your life for Him, you are praising and worshipping God. By giving the offering and giving some of your earnings back to him, you are praising and worshipping God.
Grace Oursler said, “Think about the different between thankfulness and praise. When things work out the way we want we’re thankful. Praise is God centered. Praise means becoming aware of God in your life right now. Praise is the beginning of healing.”
Oct 9th is Thanksgiving Sunday and we set time to thank God. But praising and worshipping God is not dependent on what we have from Him. It’s who God is. And our praise and worship go to Him.
Pastor Lorne wants to encourage us to always praise and worship God. When Solomon dedicated the temple and they praised and worshiped God, the power was so strong, the priests couldn’t walk into the open church. They couldn’t get in. The presence of the Lord was strong because of all the people praising and worshipping Him. 2 Chron 7:5 says they sacrificed 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats.
But do you know the very Creator of all that came down to earth and hung on the cross and became our sacrifice. He paid the price for our sins and our mistakes and all we have to do is praise and worship Him. We take Communion to remember His death and celebrate His resurrection.
Everything we do is for the Lord. We’re not robots. We don’t do everything the same like cookie cutter cutouts. When we praise and worship God, we’re different from the person next to us. We bring our personalities into it. Keep that in mind. When we praise and worship God, we do it as He made us.
This video was taken at the beginning of the above Morning Worship service.
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