Let’s Give God Some Praise!

Every time before we begin to worship I as always start off with giving God some type of praise offering. One would wonder why the pastor always starts in that manner. And it is a very simple answer; there is power in praise.

One thing most worshippers have in common is that they have lives of their own, things that take their concentration and things that way heavy on their minds. When they come into the atmosphere of God they may not always be ready to worship nor may their minds or hearts be prepared for worship.

So I want you to understand the concept. Why do you go to the gas station? Your tank is running a little low. Well praise is your gas station, praise is where you go to get reenergized in God.

That’s why praise is not attractive to everyone because everyone does not want to be reenergized in God. But for those that want that power and strength that only comes from God, then let go of your modesty, let go of your comfort zone, let go of your inhibitions, and learn to get loose in God.

Learn to just express your love for God, learn to scream out to God the debt of your appreciation towards God. There is strength in praising and magnifying God.

Psalm 147:1 (KJV)
¹  Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.

Psalm 33:1 (KJV)
¹  Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

Psalm 122:1 (KJV)
  I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.

With praise comes strength, and with strength comes the power to defeat the things of this world that raise their ugly heads up against us.

Ephesians 6:12 (KJV)
¹²  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

It is important that we know who the enemy and what form and shape it is capable of appearing in. It is important that you understand the tools of your trade.

It is like any job that you have, you must be trained how to use the equipment that has been giving to you. You must be trained how to stay safe in the environment in which you have been dwell in.

So it is important that you understand that in order to accomplish the task and duties that God has placed before you, in order to survive in this wicked place in which we reside you going to need a measure of strength daily. You are going to need to know from whence comes your help and your strength and how do you tap into it when you need it.

Make no mistake we need the power of God. The devil comes in many forms, he uses many types of people and circumstances and keep us in trouble and distracted from learning and praising God.

But you need to know that praise brings strength, worshipping brings strength, faithfulness brings strength, dedication brings strength, love brings strength, joy brings strength, commitment brings strength, fasting brings strength, reading the word of God brings strength.

When you are ready to grow in God then you need to tools your trade and then be ready to incorporate them into the flow of your life consistently.

It is time to concentrate on getting strong in God. If you are thankful to God then shout out hallelujah.

Put it in your heart and in your mind let it become activity of your life. Let the power of God shine forth in you, and then you will have the strength and authority to draw others unto God.

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Is there anyone willing to Praise God?

Last week went on one about be ye separate, and I know that the Lord is telling each of us that there are some people in our lives that we are going to have to make a point to see less of. Why because we know that obedience is what the Lord demands from each of us.

If you want to be obedient to the Lord let me hear a loud Amen. One of the first things that God ask his people to do is to love him with all their heart, soul and might, give God all of you.

And that is where the majority of people miss the boat, they are on the outside looking in, sitting in church wondering why you seem to be having such a great time. I need to tell somebody I have a great time because I, let me say it again because I Love the life that God has blessed me with.

You see you don’t know my story, you don’t know from which rock God pull me from under, you don’t know about the nights that I spent not knowing my own name or where I lived.

You don’t know the many days I believed I was died but only awoke to find that I was still alive so when you hear me, when you see praising my God it is because I love the life that God has given. Everything may not be perfect, but it’s alright with me.

You have got to find a reason to be glad that God is a part of your life, you take walking, talking, breathing, laughing, living for granted, but one day you will be like me and you will say every praise is to my God, every word of worship is to my God. Somebody ought to say amen.

Matt 5:15-16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I am not going to hold you long today, but I want you to understand that obedience and there are a host of things in the word of God that we can talk about when it comes to pleasing God.

But today we will focus on “so let your light shine”. When are you supposed to let your light shine, when are others supposed to recognize God in you. You heard that expression 24/7 well 24/7 is when your light needs to be shining.

Some of you think that when you are at work your light does not have to shine, you think that when you are at school all is fair and you can act like the other kids, but I have a word for you today, your light must shine so that you are continually pleasing God.

Phil 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

I have said to you on many occasions, this is about learning, maybe you did not know the expectations of God for your life. But your God requires that you walk and talk a certain way. I want you to pay attention to that section that he says “without rebuke”. I need to make this clear, when you do not do what you are supposed to do then you set your own self up to the rebuke of God. God does not have to punish you himself, all he has to do is allow the devourer to have at you.

Money you had planned on doing one thing with can easily be snatched by the devourer, causing you to pay for this and pay for that. Due to your own stubbornness you bring these things upon you and your families. You see what affects one affects them all.

I am trying to get a word to you, I need you to wake up and smell the coffee. Although you may live in this perverse generation you do not have to be perverse. Your light needs to start shinning for God on a continual basis. Take heed you do not want to feel the full rebuke of God.

1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;

As you are finding your text. Peculiar= strange, odd, unusual.

I need to drive this home, you are not supposed to be like everybody else, and you are different. The things that affect others are not going to affect you and vice versa, the things that others can do and reap no rebuke or punishment for, you cannot and will not ever be able to get away with.

In need to drive that fact home, you are going to have to stop walking through this land, thinking and acting like you are just like the kid or person next to you. You are royalty, you are a chosen generation, God has called you to be something special, and it is about high time that you start acting like that and get stuck off of self and stuck on God. Some of you are to be busy spending too much time pleasing yourself and no quality time pleasing God.

From the famous saying of Janet Jackson “what have you done for me”? What are you doing for God, how is your light shining daily, who are you telling about God, who are you invited to your church home, are you really giving God his fair share of tithes and offering. All of these things are representation of your light shining for God. Get with the business and Get with God!

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Let’s give God some Praise!

What a wonderful time we had last week praising and worshipping God. There is just something about shake yourself loose praise. Amen

We have some scriptures to cover today.

John the Baptist spent a lifetime preaching the same sermon over and over again, and that was repent for the kingdom of the lord is at hand. As simple as it may seem it is a challenging act for a lot to do because they know not how to repent.

Acts 28:26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:

Acts 3:19   Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Rev 2:5-7 remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

The focus today is on repent and sin. We have been trying to learn just what it is that God requires of us, why we want to know that, because we have invested ourselves unto God, and in understanding that we have made a conscious decision to allow God to become the ruler of our lives, we need to know how to please him.

One of the key elements involved with obedience is the repentance and separation of sin. Repentance is the activity of reviewing one’s actions and feeling contrition (is sincere and complete remorse for sins one has committed.) or regret for past wrongs. Repentance is a change of mind and heart and includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It generally involves a commitment to personal change.

One of the key reasons why some of fail to advance in God is due to our lack of repentance. We say I am sorry, we ask for forgiveness, but in our hearts and minds, we have not truly repented of anything. Because there is no remorse there can be no repentance.

You see if you are not sorry and remorseful for what you use to do and maybe still do, then how you can change your ways. Let me begin to break this down. You do something, somebody tells you it is bad that you are doing this, so you stop doing it, but you do not feel any remorse about you doing it to begin with, you are not a contrite person, only one that said hey I did, forgive me lets go on.

I need to shatter your thinking and educate you right now. Sin should bring a distasteful feeling to your body. It should make you sick and uncomfortable. It is like something you seen and makes you want to run to the bathroom.

You may not be paying attention but I need you to understand that your spiritual man hates sin with a passion. So your physical man needs to get on board with your spiritual man hate sin just as much. When you realize that the thought of sin makes you want to regurgitate, then you can begin to understand the feeling that you should have towards it.

So when you think about your past sins regardless of how big or how little they were, you need to feel sincere remorse, you need to feel like I never want to experience that again, you need to hear something deep inside of you telling you never again will I make that mistake again. When you begin to feel this way about what you use to, then you won’t have a desire to do these things again.

And it is at this point that the true act that the Christian faith is based upon takes place within you. The true act of repentance, you immediately turn from whatever it was, and you literally run from this. There is something inside of you that begins to demand change, not later but right now.

You see I need to tell somebody when you keep putting off change, it’s because you are not working with a repented heart, you have no true desire to change and you are not sorry for the sins you have committed or the sins you are about to commit.

We fall back to the previous scripture reading of hearing but not understanding, seeing and not perceiving, you are a rebellious generation. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

The day has comes when those that call on the Lord need to stand for the Lord, there walk needs to be about the Lord, their talk needs to be about the Lord, their business needs to be about the Lord.

And if they by chance should sin, then they need to repent and fill the distaste for their actions, they should be crying out to the Lord, please wash away and blot this out from me, for I did not mean to bring this burden upon my soul.

Let me close with this last scripture

2 Chronicles 7:14   if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

In case you did not know it, you are called by his name, you are the children of God. God is saying it is time that you turn from your sinful ways. Be remorseful about any sin that is still in your life, hate it with a passion. Know this in your mind and in your heart that sin is liking eating a bowl of cancer each and every day. It is killing you inside and it is hard for you to see the results of it outside.

May God bless us, keep us, and forgive us.

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Let’s Give God Some Praise

Our message today is going to brief but to the point. I want us to take a look at some of the key scriptures that the bible gives reference to when it comes to knowing Christ, serving Christ and loving Christ.

The most popular vs in the bible John 3:16 says For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Such a simple verse and so simply put, whosoever believeth in him. The problem that the world runs into is how you show that you believe in him. What is required of you to substantiate your belief in Christ?

One of the first things that Christ said is that my sheep know my voice John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

I need to express this, because people don’t really want to follow Christ. We are all going someplace together, we are a group and we represent one another. All eyes are on us and the way we conduct ourselves. When any member in the group starts to act differently or disrespectfully, if a member behaves in a way that is embarrassing or degrading to what the group is about, chances are this person will be kick out of the group because they do not represent what the group stands for.

Well so it is with Christ. We are all one body, we are all in the body of Christ. When a member in the body of Christ is not representing the body of Christ correctly then this shows that they do not believe in the teaching of the body of Christ.

John 15:4 (KJV)
⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

1 John 1:6-8
⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

I can look around at my own children and can honestly say that each and every one of them know of Christ but only one of them to this is Believes in Christ. You see when you begin to believe in Christ you begin to live like Christ and that means to live a life that is free of you willfully committing sin.

1 John 2:4 (KJV)
⁴ He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

The word of God is straight forward when it comes to this understanding, to know Christ is to keep the commandments of Christ. How can you have love for Christ buy yet not have love for your brother, how can a man say I love the lord but yet sin against my own body.

How can you praise God one day and with the same mouth later that day cuss men. This walk is not easy one yet it is not hard, if you say that you have fellowship with Christ, if you say you love the Lord, if you profess your sins before God and have given your life to Christ than honor what Christ has asked of you, keep my commandments for this is the only way of proving and showing God that you believe in his son Jesus Christ, this is the only to maintain your name being written in the lambs book of life

Revelation 3:5 (KJV)
⁵ He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

This commitment to be saved is not a joke, this is not something to play with or to take nonchalant, and this is the difference between everlasting life in heaven or hell.  In order to get there you are going to have to overcome those things that have a hold on you, you can’t think that because this branch of people over there on the other side of the tracks say that this way that I am living is acceptable to God.

But I need to tell you if you were on that side of track and being bought up under their interpretation and denomination, and it did not line up exactly with what the word of God says then know this and know this clearly, you and that entire group would not have your names written in the lambs book of life, you would not have Christ standing by your side at the day of judgement. You would have to stand there and convince God that no one ever told you the truth, so therefore you did not know.

But I have got to inform you right now, you have the truth and the truth shall set you free.

John 8:31-32 (KJV)
³¹  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
³²  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Be not deceive to believe on him is to walk with him in fellowship making your life and your body a living sacrifice under God. This is how you know you have fellowship one with the father, this is how you strive for perfection in God.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Make sure that you have your everlasting life secure. Believe in him, just don’t know of him.

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If you can think of a reason to; Give God some praise!

We find ourselves going through the challenges of the day, some of us come home exhausted, beat up and just plain frustrated. Some of us take a long shower or bath and relax, while others of us look for solitude in the word of God.

The way you deal with your day and the understanding of what your day is all about is the issue at hand today. Everybody has a reason for why they think that they are going through whatever it is that they are going through.

As I have told you before we come to learn; what God has to teach us.

Let us turn our text to Ephesians 6:10

If we can understand the what and why we are going through, than there is a strong chance that we can deal with, cope and withstand the challenges that life throws at us in a more positive and direct manner.

As the commercial says, what’s in your wallet? Meaning what comfort and support are you carrying around with you these days.

• The first thing that we are informed we need to do is put on the armor of God so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil: devious or cunning stratagems employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants. To lure or entice.

God wants us to that we are at war with the devil and that he is going to use every trick in the book, and then some. If we do not understand this, then we have no chance of winning the battle.

• Your battle is not with man himself, meaning it is not really with the kid at school, or the co-worker, or the spouse. It is not with the person that just slammed the brakes on in front of you or cut you off, it is not with the person in the grocery store that cut in front of you, it is not with your siblings or the person on the other end of a utility call.
• This is the hardest part for us to react to and understand. We by nature immediately want to do battle with these entities as though they are the cause for the battle.
• But I need to tell you the battle is not with them nor is it about them. God is taking you through and you need to be mentally, physically and spiritually ready to do battle with whatever and whomever is thrown in front of you through a spiritual manner.
• How do you deal with issues, what is the first thing out of your mouth, what is your first reaction, what do you immediately think about? I am saying this but this is the most important part that you have got to get today.
• We lose the battle because we know not how to do battle. We are stressed out, depressed, hair coming out, crying, pity party and woe it’s me attitude about the things you are going through instead of getting on your knees and getting the tools necessary to do battle in the correct manner and with the correct attitude.
• Romans 13:12-14 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
• 2 Cor 10:4, 5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds
• 1 Thess 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

The armor of God is a mindset in which we live in, it is a physical application that we carry around within us daily.

• The first thing is that we must know God’s truth, we can’t know the truth if we do not study the word of God. Is super important that people are not able to sell you or tell you anything when it comes to life and the way of God. You must know the truth.
• The second is the Breastplate of Righteousness; the defense mechanism that allows you to know that God loves you. This protects your heart from the lies of inability, low self-esteem, and no self-worth. In the eyes of God we are all important and we wall have worth to God. The word of God we are precious, a royal family, a priesthood, we are of great quality unto God. Let no one deceive you about how God sees you. They are lies used by the devil. The next time somebody tells you how nothing you are, tell them, I may be nothing to you, but I am everything to my God.
• Next piece of armour is the Footgear; Meaning you are ready to share the word of God with whomever. Don’t be deceive by the lies of satan making you think that a certain person has no interest or that God can be of no use to them. How are we to know that, are mission is to spread the good news, to tell others, to invite others. It is not our job to interview people for God.
• Next is the Shield of Faith: This is the mindset that we must walk around this earth with. Knowing that no matter what it looks like, no matter who is doing it, no matter where the attacks are coming from or what the catalase is that is being used. We know by faith that God is going to get us through. We know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and no matter how many times you knock me down, the power of God will get me back up. This is the faith that we stand upon and live upon, this is the mindset that we must learn to incorporate in our daily lives.
• The Helmet of Salvation: This is us knowing that the commitment we made to God and the gift of salvation that we accepted is real. There can be no doubt in this thinking. You must believe with all your heart and mind that you have the hope of salvation with Jesus Christ. Do not let others persuade you to thinking that God is not real or that you have messed up so bad that you cannot be forgiven of God.
• Last but not least is the Sword: This is your most affective weapon that you have. The word of God. Being able to call upon and know the word. Being able to rebuke satan in his tracks. Having the word of God in you daily is so crucial to your survival in this world. There used to be a book that came out called the daily word. This was before cell phones, so everyone could read a scripture daily. Well it is time for the daily word in your lives. You have got to find a way to read the word of God daily.

Get it in your mind that the battle we are all in is not with flesh or blood but with the principalities of darkness and that we shall be victorious in our efforts if we keep the armor of God wear it needs to be in our lives.

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Let’s Give God Some Praise!

There is going to come a time in our lives when we are going to have to call on some power other than our own. Let me put some emphasis on this because you may not understand the times that you can call on God.

Psalms 18:2

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

There needs to come a time in your life when you recognize that there is a high power at work and that power is not you. We run around this world thinking and acting like we are in control of our own destinies. But I have a word for you today.

Proverbs 16:9 (KJV)
⁹ A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.

You are not as in complete control as you may imagine. Yes you get to make decisions, you get to screw up, you get to party, you get to live life to the fullest with the illusion that you are in complete control.

Psalm 24:1 (KJV)
¹

The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Rather you understand this or not,  you dwell within this earth and being that you do dwell within it, then you belong to the lord no matter what decisions you make or what road of life you take, your life does not belong to you it belongs to the Lord.

But we go through life with this perception and illusion that it is all you and that you are pulling your own strings. What is true is that you are led by you are led by your own desires, and it is your desires that tend to lead you on the wrong road of life.

So if it is my desires that are leading me astray why is it that I cannot put my desires in check?

Because our desire are persuaded by our flesh that is active enemy against the will of God. What did I really just say? I need you to get a grasp of this concept and understanding about your life and things surrounding your life and the reason for certain things taking place in your life.

Your own desires cause the influence of your actions. This person looks good, so I go kick it with them, this item makes me feel a certain type of way so I put it in my holy vessel, these words are simple to say and people understand me right away. Bottom line is you do these things because you have chosen to do so, something that you are in control of changing.

But due to the fact that you do not put your desires in check, then God has a plan and design already laid out to accompany you during your time of rebellion. You want to do this, then God wants to allow this to take place.

Let me say that again because I need to make sure you get this. When you choose to do certain things in life, then God has a step in your life already laid out for how your life needs to go.

You do this then he does that, you do that then he allows this. This is how it works in our lives the more you allow your desires to control your rejection of God, the more God allows the ways of this world to take rule of your life.

You look up one day and you find yourself so deep in the pit of hell that you cannot call out to know one but God. It is not uncommon for the people of God to go through and experience life so dramatically.

It is God’s way of getting you to come to the understanding of all the things that he should represent and be to you in life.

Psalms 18:2

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

You need to understand that he is your friend in a time of need, you need to know that when you need some shelter he is there to shelter you and keep you.

You need to know that he is your buckler, that shield that you place on your arm to ward off all attacking things that are being thrown at you, you need to know that at your deepest hour not only is he Lord and Savior of your life but he is the protector and provider, you need to know that when everything and everyone seems to have turned their back on you that there is one that you can turn to.

You need to know that when you are in a battle that there is somebody that is has their eye on you, there is somebody that you can call out to, that there is somebody that is listen to every breath that you take and every sound that you make, you need to know that he is your tower in the midnight hour.

He is your rock your strength your fortress, he is the horn of your salvation, the road that leads to salvation, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, he is the only friend that you will ever need, the only family that will not disappoint you nor forsake you, he will judge you nor forsake you, he will take your sins and cast them as far east as the winds can blow.

You need to know all that God is and all that he can be, so when you think that you are in control of your life just remember that your life belongs to God and not to you, begin to get your desires in line with the walk of God.

Thank You Jesus.

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