FLS 06 - Praise and Thanksgiving

Praise and thanksgiving are not the same! It is vital to know the difference and learn what true praise is.

 

Originally recorded: 07.06.1981

For further information please visit www.rogerprice.org.uk

Copyright 2023 J R Price. All rights reserved. First published by Roger DG Price.

 

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
let's pray together shall we this
morning Father it's been such a
wonderful privilege being able to praise
you this morning and we thank you for
your love which is constant which we can
always draw upon father we thank you for
your presence we thank you for the
promise that Jesus gave us that he would
never leave us he would never forsake us

(00:22):
and that other lovely promise that where
two or three are gathered together in
his name there is he in the midst and we
say to you Lord welcome to the midst
this morning and we thank you so much
that you have welcomed us thank you for
the love that's been poured upon us this
morning Father that love is so wonderful
we take it with us everywhere father

(00:44):
keep that love before our our face
father father so that in in every
circumstance we may see his love beaming
down we thank you for the dedication
this morning we thank you for the
sunshine in that little baby his face
and we thank you it reminds us of the
sunshine in your face thank you that the

(01:06):
sun has risen indeed with healing in his
wings Hallelujah father I ask this
morning Lord that you will really guide
us that we may understand praise and
thanksgiving that we might increase our
praise and increase our Thanksgiving to
you in the name of Jesus amen
amen we're going through the basics of

(01:28):
Fellowship life and we're making our way
slowly through all the things that we
have in operation in the
midst you remember last time I dealt
with the aims of a fellowship and I
actually spelled out six General aims
that cover most of the things that a
fellowship or a church ought to do and

(01:48):
by the way you can use those six aims to
Mark every Fellowship to give an actual
Mark to every church every Fellowship to
see how your own Fellowship is getting
on the six main names were your remember
one and
foremostly that a fellowship's aim ought
to be to show its love for the Lord

(02:08):
secondly to create holy mature and
stable Believers thirdly to incite its
members I love that word to incite its
members to love and good works the word
incite normally means you incite someone
to violence don't you you know and they
didn't want to be violent but someone
made them flare up into violence and

(02:30):
what we should do is incite people into
love and into good works and number four
to minister to its own members
especially the poor widows and orphans
then number five to preach the gospel
and number six to do good in the world
and by the way I can go through our
fellowship and I can see where we're
good and where we're bad some of these

(02:51):
were very good most of them were medium
one we're very bad in and God is leading
us and gradually he's correcting Us in
all the these things we were worse some
years ago than we are now Hallelujah so
the glory of God is being increased in
the midst but you'll remember also I
hope that I said that one and two had to

(03:11):
do with our full 100% commitment to God
number three and four had to do with our
100% commitment to one another and
number five and six had to do with our
commitment to the world that Jesus died
to save and I made the point and it's an
important one which I must repeat that
we've got to keep them in that order the

(03:34):
love and commitment to God has got to
come first and if ever commitment to one
another and commitment to the world
which are both very important but if
ever they are greater in our list of
priorities than our love of the lord we
are in tremendous danger and we will go
wrong very definitely incidentally I had
a friend who uh fell in love with number

(03:56):
six he wanted to do good in the world
and he was a as hot as mustard for the
gospel when I knew him today that man
belongs to a political organization and
he goes around knocking on the doors
preaching this political philosophy you
see the love of Jesus wasn't dominate
dominant and soon he got wrong as far as
uh the Lord was concerned he went onto

(04:17):
the wrong line altogether and we've got
to make sure our love for the Lord is
preeminent in all things I found a
lovely thing out by the way the word
enthusiasm and I would say most people
would say even though they may not like
the way we pra most people would say
Well they're enthusiastic anyway the
word enthusiasm actually comes from two

(04:39):
Greek words N and Theos and it means in
God enthusiasm means in God and that's a
wonderful thing and is exactly what I'm
trying to say our love of the Lord has
got to be the main force behind our
fellowship the day our love of God

(05:00):
ceases is the day we'll have to sort of
start getting plans and and ideas to
keep the thing going and committees to
do this and do that and how to how do we
get excitement into the church well
let's have a bingo party or let's do
something like this at that moment the
enthusiasm is all wrong unless in the

(05:20):
center of our fellowship there is
enthusiasm for God there's no enthusiasm
at all and we must make sure that our
hearts are kept right and that our love
for the Lord is kept right all right now
I'm going to go on and we're going to
examine number one and number two to
show its love for the Lord to create
holy mature and stable Believers these

(05:42):
two are
related you generally find I think that
people who are holy people who are
mature and people who are stable in the
Lord are the ones who love the Lord a
great deal you see you can't love the
world for example and love the law but
if you're a Holy One you you devote
yourself to the Lord and it's also true
I think that those who love the Lord a

(06:05):
great deal soon become the holy and the
mature and the stable Believers those
two are fully related with one
another how do we show our love for the
Lord then right it's a very important
thing some people would say oh no surely
young Christians who are unstable surely
they are just in as in love with the

(06:27):
Lord as more mature ones and certainly
if your understanding of what loving the
Lord uh is is too small then actually
that the answer to that is yes but when
you understand what loving the Lord is
really about then in fact the answer is
no you see in order to love the Lord
there are certain things that we have to
do for example praise is a way of loving

(06:50):
the Lord another one is Thanksgiving to
give thanks unto the Lord is a way of
Loving Him worship is a way of loving
the Lord and certainly an immature
believer um Can in some measure do those
three but loving the Lord has another
very important aspect to it in the

(07:13):
ancient world if you love someone you
did what they said you see and if a
great king actually said to his people
do you love me what he meant was not
that they were sort of emotionally heart
flatteringly involved with him that's
not what they meant what they meant was
yes we love you because we obey your
laws and we do what you say and it's

(07:35):
that obedience that's come through into
the Old Testament and to the New
Testament and you'll find Jesus saying
uncompromisingly how can you say you
love me but you're not doing what I tell
you to do he says that's hypocrisy and
that's what I mean if we're really going
to love the Lord then we've got to be
stable and we've got to be holy and
we've got to be mature Believers also of

(07:55):
course to love the Lord you've got to
love his word you know it gets down to
solid reality the amount you love the
word of God is the amount you love God
himself and they are the things so
praise Thanksgiving worship obeying the
Lord and loving the word of God are the
ways we show our love here for the Lord

(08:17):
now next time I'm going to deal with
worship and I'll be dealing with
obedience and uh we'll go on to see how
to become stable holy and mature
Believers but today I want to
concentrate on the two words pray praise
and
thanksgiving you see praise and
thanksgiving I wonder how many people
here in the midst of our fellowship know

(08:39):
the difference between praise and
thanksgiving it's confusion about those
two things that causes a lot of
instability as far as Christians are
concerned they do overlap of course but
nevertheless they are also or they are
in part quite
distinct praise has to do with who God
is

(08:59):
is praise has to do and I'm going to say
it again with who God is Thanksgiving
has to do with what he's done and there
are two vitally different things in that
and the great tragedy is that very often
it's Thanksgiving that's given instead
of praise and a lot of Christians know

(09:21):
nothing but Thanksgiving you know the
type of Christian where God's just done
a miracle where God's just given them1
where God's just used them to say
someone and oh they come in the meetings
and they're absolutely overjoyed and you
see them they're up and oh it's
wonderful they dance at the front and
swing around it's thrilling the trouble

(09:41):
is the next week is very
quiet and the week after is actually a
disastrous week you can always see them
they then sit on the back row you know
their face very long and you know what
they're doing they're waiting for the
next major event to occur so that then
they can what they call praise God again

(10:02):
but no no no they're not in Praise at
all those people haven't got Beyond
Thanksgiving and so you'll always see
them they're looking around for the
latest thing oh God has done this and
God has done that Thanksgiving is
wonderful by the way but you've got to
have Thanksgiving and praise
Thanksgiving has to do with what God has
done praise has to do with who he is and

(10:26):
the great thing about this is that God
never changes praise has to do with his
character with his person so that you
fall in love with him and praise issues
forth from your mouth when you see just
what a wonderful God you've got the
great thing is that's not affected by
what's going on in your life it's always

(10:48):
constant he's always wonderful he's
always the great God he's always the
great Savior and True Praise issues
forth from his character beloved let me
tell you this it doesn't matter what
you've gone through it doesn't matter
what you're going
through he is always the same and to get

(11:12):
your eyes absolutely on him as a person
as the wonderful lover is the key to
stability In Praise I want you to know
this that it's because I know him as a
person that I am as
stable uh as I I am when I come into the
meetings it's not a question of oh well

(11:32):
I'm tired this morning or well really he
didn't uh handle my arrangements very
well you know or how come the car broke
down this morning that's Thanksgiving
you see no no I come in and he is still
the great God who's wonderful who is
enthroned in Heavenly Jerusalem and so I
as one of his subjects will give him the

(11:55):
praise that issues forth from my mouth I
will praise the Lord he is great and
greatly to be praised and so I will give
him the praise I will also by the way
give him Thanksgiving if God has done
Mighty miracles in my life I will give
him Thanksgiving and you may not be able
to see the difference and I may not be
able to see the difference and they'll
all be mixed up but it doesn't matter

(12:16):
I'm so grateful for all that he has done
as well but stability comes when we give
True Praise to
him every meeting by the way ought to be
filled with praise
True Praise can always be shown because
there is a stability in the level that
is shown in the fellowship because Jesus

(12:38):
is always level he is always the same
the same yesterday today and forever and
the sign of maturity is the sign of a
mature believer is this they always are
able to praise the Lord no matter what
is going on Hallelujah all right let me
give you two examples quickly from
scripture where we have wonderful
maturity is shown the first is one that

(13:00):
you know very well and it's found in
Acts chapter
16 you remember here you've got Paul and
Silas and a woman's just been
delivered right she had a spirit of
divination and they had just released
her and the people who owned her who'
made a fortune from her are furious with

(13:23):
Paul and Silas look what
happens verse 19
and when her Masters saw this is X
16:19 when her master saw that the hope
of their gains was gone they caught Paul
and Silas drew them into the marketplace
under the rulers and brought them to the

(13:44):
magist state saying these men being Jews
to exceedingly trouble our city and they
teach Customs which are not lawful for
us to receive neither to observe being
Romans and the multitude rose up
together against Paul and Silas
tremendous
unpopularity and the magistrates rent
off their clothes rip them off right and

(14:06):
commanded to beat them which meant of
course whipping them and when they had
laid many stripes upon them they cast
them into prison and not the type of
prison that we have today you know with
a nice upholstered bed in the television
and your own
phone not that type of prison at all you
know and you have your own key which you
can use in an emergency nothing like

(14:27):
this the type of prison that uh occur
was uh the rule in these days had Grime
mck on the floor with rats running
everywhere they were dank and really
disgusting and these two men
unpopular naked and with their backs in

(14:48):
ribbons from the the whipping are then
thrown into this infested dungeon and
locked there and if that isn't bad
enough look what happens verse well
halfway through verse 23 they cast them
into prison charging the Jailer to keep
them safely who having received such a
charge thrust them into the inner prison

(15:09):
and made their feet fast in the stocks
so they couldn't even move around
there's no soothing here to their backs
at all and look what happens and at
midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang
Praises unto God and the prisoners heard
them and some people say oh well they
were praising God in all their
circumstances in other words they were

(15:30):
giving thanks inance to 1 Thessalonians
518 no they weren't do you know what
they were doing they weren't sitting
there saying well the quickest way out
of prison is to learn how to give thanks
in everything they weren't doing that
they had no idea of getting out of
prison here at all to say that they were
doing that is to demean the whole of
this story do you know what was

(15:51):
happening as they sat there in prison
they were so preoccupied with who God
was they could forget the Dreadful
condition they were in they started
realizing why the Lord is the same the
Lord went through all of this as we are
going through and he's glorious and
wonderful God is the great God of

(16:12):
creation Hallelujah he's the one who
will receive glory and honor and majesty
and power and they started Rising into
that those two sat there and they became
preoccupied with who God was and this is
a Hallmark of great maturity after all
there is one person in the Bible who
said this even though God slay me yet I

(16:34):
will praise Him Hallelujah that's it
because he is worthy to be praised great
is the Lord is what we sing and greatly
to be praised now that type of Praise is
not related to our circumstances and
that's why in our meetings you'll often
uh have prophecies and you'll often have
words saying brothers and sisters it
doesn't matter what you're going through

(16:56):
and sometimes it seems a bit careless
God doesn't mean it to be callous of
course he's concerned with what you're
going through because he wants you in
Thanksgiving as well but what he's
really saying is no the first priority
is to praise me for who I am the moment
you begin praising God then God's glory

(17:17):
and his presence comes down into your
circumstances praise God into the
meetings why well because the psalm
which Psalm Psalm 22:3 says this he in
inhabits the Praises of his people he
comes down he lives in those praises and
the moment you start praising God God's
fullness of Glory starts coming down you

(17:39):
see now God wants you to give thanks as
well but first he wants praise if God
did nothing for you at all your duty is
still to praise him and we've got to be
aware of materialism that Creeps in to
Christianity you know well God if you
provide this and if you do that then
I'll give you praise
God says no I am great and greatly to be

(18:03):
praised for stop praise God let me give
you another example and I prefer this
second example I must say it's the
example of David turn with me to 1
Samuel and chapter
21 and every time I read this I must say
that I asked the Lord what would my
reaction be in circumstances like this

(18:23):
you remember here this is the story of
David running away from Saul Saul really
out of fellowship and he seems to have
the upper hand and David's the anointed
one and he's running you know type of
situation no Pentecostal and no
charismatic would ever allow for but it
happened oh dear oh
dear and this this day he's running from

(18:44):
s and he goes into the land of the
Philistines and he actually meets up
with the king of gath akish king of gath
and this is a great problem to him
because if the people at home get to
know that the Philistines are protecting
him then David's lost a great deal and
God's lost a lot of glory and look at

(19:05):
this verse 10 of 1 Samuel
21 and David arose and fled that day for
fear of Saul and went to akish the king
of gath and the Servants of akish said
unto him is not this David the king of
the land did they not sing one to
another of him in dances saying Saul has
slain his thousands and David his 10,000

(19:28):
and David laid up these words in his
heart and was sore afraid of akish the
king of gath now somehow he wants to
live in gath but he doesn't want to be
alive with this King so what's he going
to do you know so he does the only thing
he can think of he pretends he's gone
mad right some people think we're mad

(19:49):
but uh this is deliberate on his part
and verse 13 look what it says and he
changed his behavior before them and and
fed himself mad in their hands and this
is a description of his madness he
scrabbled on the doors of the gate
started scratching the doors of the gate
and next and let his spittle fall down

(20:12):
upon his beard he was foaming at the
mouth this is a very good act you know
like some people who are caught for
various crimes today put on you see and
this is what David was doing and spittle
dripping from his beard and he was
acting the
madman then said a to his servants Lo ye
see the man is mad wherefore then have
you brought him to me have I need of Mad

(20:35):
Men that you have brought this fellow to
play The Madman in my presence shall
this fellow come into my house and
that's the question that he asks you see
very important now if you were in that
situation or if most Christians were in
that situation what would your reaction
be and what would their reaction be some
Christians would say well God honestly

(20:55):
you're supposed to be a great God and I
have to do this type of thing to get out
of the grip of the king of gath and
they'd start complaining to God they'd
say really God you know where are you
then wake up oh arm of the Lord and
that' be the type of reaction I'd be
dealing with people like that next week
by the way or next time and showing how

(21:16):
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom and David had the fear of the
Lord in his heart do you know as this
was going on he wrote A
Psalm yes and you'd expect the PM
wouldn't you to be full of
recriminations you know how God let him
down and finally he had to Fain Madness

(21:36):
not a word of it the psalm is one of my
favorite Psalms and one that you know
very well he wrote Psalm 34 at this time
just turn to Psalm 34 and we won't read
it all but we'll read a bit of
it Psalm
34 David was a man so in love with God

(21:57):
he wasn't going to let God's name be
pulled down in any way whatsoever and he
writes Psalm
34 I Will Bless The Lord at all times
his praise shall continually be in my in
my mouth my soul shall make her boast in

(22:19):
the Lord The Humble shall hear thereof
and be glad oh magnify the Lord with me
let us exalt his name together I sought
the Lord heard me he delivered me from
all my fears they looked unto him and
they were lightened and their faces were
not ashamed this poor man cried the Lord
heard him and saved him out of all his

(22:40):
troubles the angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear Him and
delivereth them oh taste and see that
the Lord is good blessed is the man that
trusteth in him oh fear the lord ye his
Saints for there is no want to them that
fear Him him the Young Lions do lack and
suffer hunger but they that seek the

(23:01):
Lord shall not want any good thing and
so he goes on and on and on and at that
time he's feigning Madness to get out of
the hands of the king of gath wonderful
this is a Psalm of Praise sung unto God
who hasn't changeed no matter what
circumstances David is going through and
Beloved the sign of maturity of any
Fellowship is that we praise God

(23:22):
constantly no matter what is going to
happen praise God we don't know whether
the difficult days are ahead we can pray
that they won't come but they might come
the praise is going to continue at the
same level if we're a mature uh
Fellowship in fact it might even go up
Hallelujah that often happens too praise
has to do with who he is now we must

(23:43):
seek praise and thanksgiving
Thanksgiving thanking him for all that
he has done and beloved if you have a
chance to testify any time to what God
has done in your life take that
opportunity and really as you're
speaking it out make it uh full of
Thanksgiving unto the Lord don't glorify
yourself but glorify him in the

(24:05):
Thanksgiving that you are giving this is
also a great key as far as prayer life
is concerned so many of us you know our
prayers are simply a list I want this I
want this would you do this and would
you do this and honestly if I were God
I'd hang up you know I really would
fancy if I uh rang my wife from wherever
I was and I said oh hello hello Ros um

(24:27):
first of all have you checked all the
letters secondly would you make sure
that s s answer thirdly would you send
me S fourthly would you send okay thanks
very much byebye put it down I think she
after the fifth time of my ringing up
she'd say oh not you
again you
see and yet we do it to God almost
constantly can I ask how much of your

(24:49):
prayer life is spent first of all
thanking him for who he is Father we
thank you that you are the great God and
the great Creator I want to thank you
you for the
magnificence that I see in your company
and and words like this you should
always begin your prayers with words
like that if you are a mature believer
you see otherwise God simply becomes a

(25:10):
sort of credit card that you're using
you know you know American Express that
will do fine type of thing and oh you're
a Christian fine have what you want you
know it's not that way at all we are
losing the sense of reverence one of the
things I noticed when I was in southern
Ireland among the Roman Catholic
charismatics there they have something
that's very lacking in our uh churches

(25:32):
in England they have reverence to the
Lord in the most wonderful way they
really fear the lord and I was so
challenged when I was there in my own
prayer life and in my own life that I
should give him the reverence and give
him the praise you see now this is
absolutely important the Angels do it

(25:53):
you know you read everything that is
said by an Angel in the Bible you'll
find half of praise and half of
Thanksgiving half say holy holy holy is
the Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth
are filled with his glory wonderful and
then they will say Worthy is the Lamb

(26:13):
that was slain who has made us Kings and
Priests unto our God that's Thanksgiving
you'll find they do both we've got to do
both as well so that if you have nothing
specific that you can praise or rather
give thanks for in a meeting then praise
God he's the same you can still give
praise in the meeting and let it really
come forth all right having said that

(26:34):
praise and thanksgiving how do we show
God praise and thanksgiving how do we do
it well the Bible lays down specific
rules as to how we should give praise
and thanksgiving and it tells us what is
available you don't have to do them all
but you should at some time do the all
by the way I uh had never been in real

(26:56):
praise before I became became a
Christian I'd never seen a group of
people really praise the Lord I thought
that the singing that I'd heard you know
in some of the churches I'd been in I
thought that was praise I've been so
inculcated with that type of stuff that
when I went to my first praise meeting I
walked out in the middle I thought this
is terrible you know oh absolutely

(27:18):
Dreadful it's too noisy all these people
standing up and I left the meeting I was
really indignant about it you see well
God had to teach me one two things to
show me that I didn't know what praise
was all about so let's have a look as uh
as to what the Bible says about praising
God first of all you are to praise God

(27:38):
with all your body not just with your
mouth so let's go through beginning with
the mouth and see what parts of our body
ought to be used to praise the Lord
first of all of course we are to praise
God with singing making melody in our
hearts unto the king of kings and
although the psalm gives plenty of uh

(27:59):
scriptures on that I wanted to go to one
Corinthians and chapter
14 so one Corinthians
14 where he's talking about praying in
tongues which are unknown languages and
praying with his mind as well and he's
saying it's fine to pray in tongues but

(28:20):
make sure you also pray with your
understanding so that people can be
built up and then he says this verse
14 for if I pray in an unknown tongue my
spirit prays but my understanding is
unfruitful and verse 15 what is it then
I will pray with the spirit and that's

(28:40):
why beloved in our midst you will find
people praying perhaps with their arms
lifted up and they are speaking away in
other
tongues but they will
also and there will also be times at
which they will speak out in English and
they'll say oh Lord we thank you for
your presence with us this morning and

(29:01):
then we're all blessed by that speaking
in tongues edifies the individual
praying in English edifies everyone else
and verse 15 what is it then I'll pray
with the spirit I will pray with the
understanding also and then he says I
will sing with the spirit that singing
in tongues which we have in the midst
absolutely right we've got to do it and

(29:22):
I will sing with the understanding also
so I'll sing with my mind and I'll sing
tongues and both will come through in
praise and thanksgiving unto God I think
it was Chris Paul you know who's uh a
musicologist in the midst who said
something very interesting to me uh as I
was traveling along in the car with him
one day he said have you ever noticed he

(29:44):
said that when we sing in tongues
there's never a beat to it you can't
ever bash a tambourine when we sing in
tongues and he said isn't it wonderful
because God doesn't dwell in time so you
can't beat out the time with with God
when you sing in tongues it's Timeless
and it's always true and when we sing in
tongues it's just Heavenly you know it's

(30:05):
beyond the realm of time you can't put a
beat to it I was so grateful gave me
such a revelation uh you know as he said
the words to me all right so we use our
singing voice then no matter whether
you're good or bad at singing to give
praise and thanksgiving to God the next
thing that we do and this is rather an
interesting one and we don't have too
much of this at the moment is it's found

(30:27):
in Job chapter 8 job is the book before
Psalms and in Job chapter
8 and verse
20 look what it

(30:49):
says job 8 verse 20 and
21 behold God will not Cast Away a
perfect man neither will he help the
evildoers till he fill thy mouth with
laughing and thy lips with rejoicing and
do you know that smiling and laughing
are two ways to praise and give thanks

(31:10):
unto the Lord let me take smiling first
of all have you ever noticed that
humanity is the only part of God's
creation that can actually manage a
smile have you ever thought about that
you know the flowers in the garden are
ever so beautiful and you put them in
the vs but when you get in they don't
sort of smile at you if they did you go

(31:31):
screaming from the
house they just don't they're just
they're the same as ever they're just
there you know they just can't do it if
you have a dog have you notice he's
never smiled at you once not not once
it's just incapable of doing it and some
of the dogs have really hung dog
Expressions on their faces and the poor

(31:52):
dog he has to show how happy is to see
you and so he's got this tail at the
other end which she
Wags no human being has got a tail and
by the way you've never had a tail cuz
you don't need one you
see a dog has to come scampering up
jumping about to show how excit I mean
ridiculous praise God we don't act like

(32:13):
that with one
another or a cat have you noticed a cat
you know now a cat if it's pleased to
see you which is normally at feeding
time of course but if it's pleased to
see you it has you know it can't go and
grin at you like this the cheser cat
really doesn't exist you know it starts
rubbing against your legs you see and

(32:35):
starts making a
noise and that's the sign I really love
you when's the milk coming that's what
it's saying you see it's putting it over
and no matter which animal you look at
none of them smile they just don't they
can't do it an elephant has 20,000
muscles in its face and it can't even
lift up the corner of its mouth and and

(32:57):
a little smile just can't do
it but human beings have been designed
to
smile why have we been designed to smile
because we got a father in Heaven who
wants us to use our Smiles for him and
when he looks down in the midst he
doesn't get any pleasure you know if
we're all singing you know with a long

(33:17):
expression on our face and you look
around and you think everyone's as fed
up as I
am you see and and God looks down at
that type of thing and he says he says
really these are my children I'm very
worried about them you know look at the
long expression on their faces I love

(33:37):
you
Lord I love you it doesn't give any
praise God has given us the smile
primarily that we might praise him with
our
Smiles it has been my great privilege in
this Fellowship to have seen people
going through great distress I remember
so many times when tragedies have hit

(33:57):
certain families in the midst and I've
seen them with tears streaming down
their cheeks but they just couldn't help
smiling it's been the Lord's presence in
them and they've been crying and crying
and crying and yet a smile on their face
because their smile is in God their
tears are in their
circumstances and I knew that they were
praising God even through those

(34:18):
disasters it's wonderful but do you know
laughing as well is used to praise the
Lord and to give Thanksgiving to God did
you know that some of us have been in
meetings where Holy Ghost laughter has
fallen on the meeting I'm not talking
about an embarrassing chap who's just
trying to laugh you know and it's really
I mean when the Holy Ghost sweeps and

(34:39):
someone is just laughing and L the joy
of the Lord becomes uncontainable the
first time it happened to me was when an
American man was over here ministering
in
1967 and I went along to a certain
meeting and this American man there was
a team of them I remember five and they
were all sharing what they Ministry was
and this man got up he was rather large

(35:00):
you know and he said well he said some
people have a Ministry of Bible teaching
and some people have a Ministry of
evangelism and others have a Ministry in
song said do you know what my Ministry
is he says I just
laugh and he started to laugh and laugh

(35:20):
and laugh and laugh and the whole place
erupted 20 minutes of such laughter I've
never known anything like it I thought
my heart was going to stop people were
running out of the door to try and get
some fresh
air and the Holy Ghost just came on that
meeting and we were laughing and

(35:41):
laughing and laughing and laughing and
and then it subsided and then he started
again and off it
went and he said he said I stand up in
vast conferences 3,000 people we can't
say a word for half
now laugh laugh laugh it just falls upon
the meeting and it's all praise unto the
Lord it was one of the best meetings I

(36:03):
ever went to I went home and I I
couldn't stop
laughing and if my I remember one of my
family said well what you laughing at I
I don't know what I'm laughing about I'm
just screaming with laughter and
sometimes the very memory of it just
causes me to laugh and laugh and laugh
beloved in our meetings the day is going

(36:24):
to come where we will be collapsed in
the heat
and when there are going to be people
who walk out very suddenly you know
oh it's wonderful to praise God like
that that's laughter it's part of Praise
let me show you that in the psalm shall
I Psalm

(36:46):
126 Psalm
126 lovely ssal
this
when the Lord turned again the Captivity
of Zion we were like them that dream
then was our mouth filled with laughter
from the Lord wonderful then was our

(37:08):
mouth filled with laughter and our
tongue with singing Praise the Lord then
said they among the Heathen and they go
into Thanksgiving the Lord had done
great things for them the Lord has done
great things for us whereof we are glad
there it is and so when we smile we are
giving praise unto God and every person
in this room can muster a little smile

(37:31):
it's such a thrill to Father's Heart to
see his people smiling you know I'll
tell you this when I get home from a
trip sometimes and I arrive 3:00 in the
morning I pop in to see my little boy
who's fast asleep and very often I'll
just say to him oh dad is home and he's
fast asleep and the smile will go from
ear to ear or from there to there

(37:51):
whichever you want and you know it just
Thrills my heart it really really does
that little chap hasn't even opened his
eyes but he knows dad is home and he's
really thrilled about it and God
sometimes just wants us in the meetings
to sit there and to start smiling you
know not just oh well I suppose I better

(38:12):
smile like that not nothing like that
but so filled with his presence so
enamored with who he is that a little
smile just comes to our face when I was
first Saved I do remember this my cheeks
just achd I hadn't smiled for years and
years and years all of a sudden I
couldn't stop smiling his presence went

(38:32):
with me everywhere and my cheeks ACH I
used to massage my cheeks to get the
muscle stronger it was wonderful and so
there we go so singing is a wonderful
way to praise God in tongues and with
your natural language to smile is a way
to praise the Lord and to laugh is a way
to praise the Lord there are several
others let's have a look at two more

(38:53):
which I dealt with in one uh psalm Psalm
47 by the way why are they all in Psalms
well Psalms was the hym book the chor
sheet of the ancient world that's that's
why see this was the book that taught

(39:15):
them how to praise
God oh clap your hands all ye people
clap your hands because you're so
thrilled with the Lord yes do it don't
just clap because oh I think we'll have
a clap nothing like that because you're
so thrilled you just want to clap him
you see and then it says shout unto God
with the voice of Triumph doesn't mean

(39:37):
you've got to do all of these things all
the time but God will anoint them by the
holy spirit because God wants to lead
the praise and the Thanksgiving as well
as the rest of the meeting do you see I
heard of one Fellowship not far from
here and they had a man who ministered
to them about shouting and every meeting
from then on they shouted their way
through it you know oh it went on for

(40:00):
years apparently shouting at top of
their voice it there is a time to shout
there's also a time to sing there's also
a time just to smile praise God you see
we've got to get the balance right but
clapping and shouting are two ways of
praising the Lord and I would say this
if your fellowship or your church don't
experience all of these things then they

(40:21):
have to ask God actually whether any
praise at all is going up from the midst
of them God wants praise from his people
why should the world have all the
cheering and the Clapping I went to the
last concert that arur Rubenstein G gave
in the um in the Royal Festival Hall it
was fantastic you had 3,000 people on

(40:43):
their feet people rushing forward to the
state they were throwing flowers at the
poor man you know he Encore after 21
encor as far as I remember I can't
remember how many what they call them
curtain calls there isn't a curtain but
you know what I mean how many times he
had to come on and they were shouting
there were tears streaming down their
cheeks and I was doing the same may I

(41:05):
say but afterwards I thought Lord I want
to do that to you Archer rubenstein's
nothing compared to you he admits
himself he looks like a goldfish you see
that's what he actually
says you see and there they were giving
this man for his Mastery on one
instrument all of that ACC claim well
our father in Heaven and our wonderful

(41:27):
Savior and the Holy Spirit have complete
Mastery in every realm how much more
should they receive praise uh from the
people of God and Thanksgiving for all
that he has done and
then one other little thing T to uh
Psalm

(41:50):
63 this is a way of praising God and
it's not quite clear to us why God likes
us to praise like this but he does like
it very much I've always said it's a
sign of submission look what it says
verse four thus will I bless thee in
this manner am I going to bless thee
while I live I will lift up my hands in

(42:11):
thy name wonderful to lift up your hands
to just lift them above your heads
always made me laugh the way we in this
fellowship and others sing chorus about
I will lift up my hands in thy name and
most people have their hands right down
and the words they're singing have no
reality at all in their lives I will
lift up my hands father loves to see I

(42:33):
think it must it wonderful from above
you see I think it must be thrilling
Clean Hands to the Lord wonderful and
he's seeing that their works are clean
before him it's a wonderful way to give
uh to give praise and thanksgiving unto
the Lord with hands lifted up we are
told to pray men are told to pray with
hands lifted up everywhere you see and

(42:55):
that's something that we should bring
back in Greater measure into our
fellowships and then Psalm
149 Psalm 149 verse 5 which tells you a
part of the body that often begins
praising God before any other part of

(43:15):
the body I've noticed this it was the
first part of my body that started uh
actually praising God before I
did it's puts slightly differently here
but look look what it says in Psalm uh
149 verse
3 let them praise His name in the

(43:37):
dance with your feet praise God and I
remember the second praise meeting I
went to I was really thoroughly
disgruntled with the whole thing but
blow it those songs were so lovely my
foot started
tapping and I looked at my foot you know
and it was going away and what was

(43:57):
happening my body was beginning to get
free you know just a little tap on the
foot that's often how praise begins just
a little tap and God's saying hallelujah
his foot's praising
me wonderful you know and the next thing
that happens your leg is swinging and
then the other foot gets going before
long and you're away and gradually it
comes through into the hands you can't

(44:19):
sit in a praise meeting for very long
without at least your foot tapping but
here I will praise him in the dance you
see and dance for joy in the midst
that's right this is a wonderful thing
now in order to come through into all of
these things God has to do work in our
lives but the work is done in the midst
of the praise and thanksgiving those of

(44:42):
us who have been very serious people
before we came to the Lord and we
thought Christianity was very serious
too we suddenly come into praise
meetings and God has to start moving in
our lives and God restores our youth to
us in the most wonderful way so that now
even some children are embarrassed by

(45:03):
the Antics we get up to Hallelujah and
that's the way it ought to be because
we're becoming young again we're being
like little children before our God and
we're dancing with joy and it's a
thrilling thing to do David danced
before the Lord with all his
might these are some of the ways that we
praise and give Thanksgiving unto the

(45:24):
Lord and we've got to make sure that we
use all of these things all right I want
to say just a few more things though
about praise and
thanksgiving you'll find in the Bible
that people were spontaneous in their
praise you have Miriam do you remember
dancing for joy when they came out of
Egypt Hallelujah God has done great
things and she was giving him thanks for

(45:45):
what he'd done and you see David
spontaneously giving praise and so many
others Moses spontaneously giving praise
but not only did they praise God
spontaneously
they also had excellence in
praise and you'll notice in the Bible
they had certain people who had a
Ministry in music a wonderful Ministry

(46:08):
in music and you'll find that in the
Bible both have to occur there has to be
spontaneity and there has to be
excellence and we in our fellowships
have to get both of these as well you
see all of us can praise the Lord
whether when you sing you sound like um
you know a rhinoceros it doesn't matter
you still praise God it says Make a

(46:29):
Joyful Noise unto the Lord that's what
it's all about right and if your voice
is awful God thinks it's wonderful
because it's your voice he designed it
like that so you sing and give praise
unto God but there are people in the
midst who have a Ministry in music and
these people have to come through into

(46:50):
excellence in their Ministry for God's
glory now now I have been to some
fellowships where it's all
spontaneity you know very often they
don't have any musicians at all no one
can play the guitar no one plays the
piano so they all just use their hands
and their voices and it's all
spontaneous and it's wonderful but I've
been to other fellowships where the

(47:12):
moment their musician touches the piano
the anointing Falls have you experienced
that type of meeting that there are some
people around who just got it from God
and they touch the piano and no matter
how difficult the meeting is the spirit
of God Falls and begins to move in that
meeting that's the Excellence that is
coming forth and Solomon you know have

(47:33):
4,000 Levites who spent all days just
praising God and they were excellent
they used to sing DES in the most
wonderful way so that when the people
came up to the temple it enhanced the
glory of what was going on in the temple
now in our fellowship we've got to have
both of those there has to be
spontaneity but we also have have to

(47:55):
allow those with a musical Ministry and
a talent to come through into that
particular Ministry those of you with
children look out for a musical Ministry
I believe God wants every child with
Melody in his heart or her heart I
really believe that look out for the
musical Ministries and the moment you
see it en encourage it in so that it can

(48:18):
enhance the glory of the Lord in the
midst of the meeting you know and let's
go through into excellence and into
spontaneity so that we get a mixture of
both let's talk a bit about spontaneity
In Praise could I remind you please what
I've said earlier that the Lord himself

(48:38):
wants to direct the Praise by his Holy
Spirit and what we've got to see is that
when we we start a chorus it's got to be
God's
chorus so let's beware of two things one
of just starting a chorus us to fill in
a silence there's an awful lot of this

(48:58):
going on in Fellowship groups now God
wants to speak in the silence so don't
just say oh I'm all embarrassed I'll
start a chorus it can delay a meeting it
can even stop the word of the law coming
through into a meeting if you start a
chorus make sure it's the chorus God
wants sung in the midst and the next
thing is this don't start a chorus just

(49:21):
because someone's just ministered on
something that reminded you of this
chorus
right now sometimes it will be right to
do that but don't do it in a fellowship
in London there's a couple and their
repertoire of choruses is vast and every
time I've been there no matter what's
been said they all start a chorus about
what's just been said and one chor one
meeting they started 10 choruses and oh

(49:44):
I was ever so naughty I remember I said
Lord please give me a message on
dustbins you know because I wanted to
see if they knew a chorus about dustbins
you know and and uh I didn't get it from
the Lord but you see and it was so
disruptive cuz God couldn't move every
time someone ministered oh they knew a
corus and they'd start this chorus it's

(50:05):
no good it holds up the flow everything
we do in the midst should be led by the
spirit the ministry's got to be led by
the spirit the praise has got to be led
by the spirit so that everything
choruses as well are absolutely what God
wants and then we'll see the people with
musical Ministries coming forth
occasionally and they'll stand up and

(50:26):
say we feel we should share this we will
see SF the leader you remember of the
musical Ministries we'll see that man or
that woman coming forth in the midst
then God will be glorified I think above
everything we have to be sensitive to
one another and we've got to be
sensitive in in our praise as well when
I was at University you used to get to

(50:48):
know the books on the bookshelves of
your friends and all the farmers for
example had no your tractor that was the
book that they all had and every
musician had another book which said am
I too
loud and what that meant was not do I uh
am I singing too loud or am I playing
too loud but am I destroying the overall

(51:08):
effect of what is going on in the music
and we've got to be aware L we can
actually intrude on in the praise you
know and God's got to leaders for
example tambourine playing let me just
mention that you know some choruses
demand
percussion and so we have the
tambourines but do you know there are

(51:29):
others where a tambourine should not be
played absolutely not and there's
nothing worse than a nice worship chorus
coming along and some chat dying to bash
bash bash bash bash bash bash bash bash
in the middle of this and everyone who
is trying to concentrate on God all they
can hear is this tambourine that
shouldn't be played that doesn't fit
into this chorus and it's bash because

(51:50):
we play tambourines in our fellowship
bash bash bash bash bash it's so insens
and I would say that chap should read am
I too loud you see or those people
should read am I too loud it's wrong and
we've got to be sensitive all the time
do you know what my heart's desire is my
heart's desire is this we should come
through to a time where the choruses are

(52:12):
so in the spirit that when God directs
there's no musical accompaniment there's
no musical accompaniment I know the
musicians would love that in the midst
the trouble is if we don't hear the
piano coming we think oh they can't find
the key or something's gone wrong you
know something like this there are some
choruses we sing that are wonderful
unaccompanied you know with the voice as

(52:33):
the main instrument okay let's have the
spontaneity but let's ask God for
excellence as well whether you can sing
or whether you can't sing you sing with
all your heart unto the Lord God
receives it as from you but praise is
centered in his character Thanksgiving
is centered in his works and all
Christians should be able to do both

(52:54):
praise and thanksgiving if you're F you
can't give thanks at least you can
praise Hallelujah and the praise is the
higher of the two glory to Jesus next
time I'm going to speak on making melody
in your heart and speaking to one
another in Psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs God bless you all
amen