Worship: Becoming A People of Praise. Rev. 7:9-17

Worship -Becoming a people of Praise

Rev. 7:9-17

November 04, 2018

 

When directed by faith in Jesus Christ the act of praise cuts us free from the ties of this world, lifting us heavenward.  Then praise becomes a source of spiritual r_______________ and r___________.

  

 "How can we direct our praise capacity toward God?”

 

First of all, there is Confession of Sin....

 

• When we confess our sins, we are h_____________ ourselves before God, we are acknowledging His h_______________, experiencing His faithfulness and righteousness in His forgiveness of those sins, and accepting any c_____________ that He may see fit to give, and in doing all of that we are in a unique position to praise Him!!!

 

• I John 1:9 is very familiar... " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
  • The word, "confess“ literally means "to e__________ the same thing", or to be in complete a____________....
  • Confession of sin is fully agreeing with God about both the responsibility for that sin and the awfulness of it.

 

• In fact, confession serves the dual purpose of being an act of worship itself, and it prepares the repentant sinner for worship.
• Hebrews 9:14 says cleansing purifies the c____________ "to serve the living God.”

 

• .... confession of sin glorifies God... it acknowledges that He is holy when He acts in j____________ against sin.

 

The second area that I would like to look at is what I call "Verbal praise"...... 

That is, we glorify God by praising Him with our m________.  In Psalm 50:23 God says, "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me:"..

• In the K.J.V the 107th repeatedly uses the expression, "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men".

 

• Worship through praise is to be the chief activity of e_________.
  • "since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your          minds on things above, not on earthly things."  (C____ 3:1-2)
  • "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with fullest confidence, that we may receive mercy for our failures and grace to help in the hour of need. (H___________ 4:16, J.B. Phillips paraphrase).

 

• when we offer a real sacrifice of praise it will require trading in our p_______, our a___________, and most valued of all our human l_________.

 

• Hebrews 13:15 "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name.
  • We don't need to focus on in-depth descriptions of our problems.... we need to describe in more vivid and comprehensive terms The Lord who is the answer to all of our problems.

 

We are called to cultivate praise as a lifestyle. 

• First, the habit of praise renews our f__________!...
• Second, the lessons of praise shape our p_________...! 
• Thirdly, the power of praise energizes our c_______....!