Intelligent Praise Part 2 sermon notes. Biblical praise should be fun, exciting, exuberant, fulfilling, enjoyable, and intelligent. We should enjoy the music and the goosebumps. However, praise should accomplish something more. Praise should be with intelligence. Intelligent Praise will change a great praise service into a victorious life experience.
Intelligent Praise Part 2
by Pastor Delbert Young
Intelligent Praise Part 2 sermon notes
Scriptures: Psalms 47:7, Genesis 29:35, Jeremiah 50:14, Lamentations 3:53, Psalms 149:6, Psalms 140:13, 2 Timothy 3:2, Luke 17:13-18, Psalms 33:3, Luke 17:19, Luke 1:41-44
Welcome to the ‘Intelligent Praise Workshop session 2.
The purpose of our workshop is to elevate each of our personal praise levels to a new high. The Lord has blessed us at Life Gate with the greatest praise band in this region (think about that). Every week they bring the presence of God into our church with praise. Nothing would please the Lord and our praise band more than to see us, the congregation, respond in a higher level to their labor and to the Lord’s gift to us.
Biblical praise should be fun, exciting, exuberant, fulfilling, and enjoyable. We should enjoy the music and the “goosebumps.” However, praise should accomplish something more. Praise should be with intelligence. Intelligent Praise will change a great praise service into a victorious life experience.
(KJV) Psalms 47:7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
(TLB) Psalms 47:7 Yes, sing your highest praises to our King, the King of all the earth. Sing thoughtful praises!
We saw in our first session that the Hebrew word translated understanding (KJV) and thoughtful (TLB) is sakal (Strong’s #7919) meaning to be circumspect [careful and calculating] and hence intelligent.
We saw in Session 1:
(1) Intelligent praise will displease people. However, it will accompany and bring in the presence of the Lord and make the stones cry out.
(2) Intelligent praise is perfected when it sends the enemy on vacation.
(3) Intelligent praise will supernaturally go before us to defeat enemies and provide for God’s people plunder for the kingdom.
- PRAISE SHOULD BE STUDIED PROPERLY.
When studying the Bible, three (3) primary laws must be obeyed to gain an accurate understanding of any verse or word. One law is context. We should understand the context of the passage. Another law is word meaning. We must be accurate with the word definition. The third law is first use. The first use is important because it is the seed use. Every other use relates generically back to the first use and its definition and context. Just as the first seed of corn will impart generically to the makeup of the last seed, so does the first use impart to the makeup of the last use and every use between. Just as our ancestors played a part in our generic construction, first use plays a part in the generic construction of the word throughout the Bible.
Anyone who follows these three rules will never be deceived when it comes to the scriptures and will always have an accurate understanding of the scriptures.
Intelligent Praise Part 2
THE FIRST — USE of praise is interesting and is found in Genesis 29:35.
Genesis 29:35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.
CONCEIVING AND BIRTHING is the first thing we see in the context of praise. Leah birthed Judah. Then she gave praise to the Lord.
Leah named her son Judah, but the word Judah does not mean praise. Judah means celebrated (3063 Yehuwdah).
Praise comes when celebration is birthed. Celebration is not an event as much as it is a person. Jesus the Christ came from the tribe of Judah and is the ultimate celebration. As he is conceived in our spirits by the Holy Spirit and birthed (born again) in our lives, praise comes forth.
All Christ followers are pregnant with Judah – celebration – but many have difficulty giving birth. They desire to birth celebration so badly, but can’t dilate. That’s not good. Something will eventually die if the Christ follower does not birth celebration.
Have you ever noticed the difficult time a sad and defeated Christ follower has to maintain a healthy relationship with the Lord? They refuse to birth celebration.
Bonnie, my daughter has two beautiful children. However, she could not dilate fully to give birth to either. She wanted to dilate so badly. She tried so hard with both. Finally, she submitted to a ‘C’ Section (Cesarean Section) so both she and the babies could live and be healthy.
If there is a celebration pushing in your spirit to be birthed then allow the scalpel of the Word of God to open you so that Judah can come forth.
Out will come its head, then the body, and before long celebration will develop into a mature praise to God. You will enter a new level of relationship.
Remember that Christ came from the tribe of Judah – celebration. Celebration (Judah) will bring the presence of Jesus into your life in a way you have never experienced before.
We see this “first use” principle throughout the scriptures. Praise to God is always given when celebration is birthed. It is a constant throughout the Bible. Every Sunday at Life Gate, the Lord provides a delivery room for your Judah to be born and for us to give intelligent praise to God.
Intelligent Praise Part 2
DEFINITION:
The word translated praise in Genesis 29:35 is the Hebrew word yadah. The definition for yadah is to hold out the hand, or lift the hands by waving the hands in worship; to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away. Isn’t that interesting?
Jacob married both Leah and her sister Rachel. Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, had tricked Jacob (Gen 29:21-28). (It was a Biblical soap opera.) Leah loved Jacob. Jacob loved Leah but loved Rachel more (Gen 29:30). At this point, it was Leah who was able to give birth and give Jacob children. Rachel could not birth celebration for Jacob, but Leah could. Because of this, Leah and Rachel became combatants over Jacob’s love and the birthing of children. Combat is another consistency associated with praise.
Praise has a unique blend of celebration in adoration given toward God, but at the same time, violence and combat toward the enemy.
Jeremiah 50:14 Put yourselves in array against Babylon round about: all ye that bend the bow, shoot [yadah] at her, spare no arrows: for she hath sinned against the LORD.
Lamentations 3:53 They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast [yadah] a stone upon me.
We see this ‘first use’ principle of the combination of exaltation to God and vengeance toward the enemy throughout the entire Bible.
Psalms 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
Praise done correctly will accomplish a high exaltation to God and, at the same time fight off the enemy. With every word we sing and every time we lift our hands, we exalt God and shoot arrows at and pile rocks upon the enemy. We can bury the enemy under our praise.
THANKING THE LORD IS another contextual consistency of praise.
Judah was Leah’s fourth child. Leah praised and thanked the Lord when Judah was born because the Lord had done so much for her. Rachel murmured and complained and blamed God and people. She could not conceive. Leah praised and thanked God and was very fruitful.
Believers praise God because of what he has done for them. Praise is the response of thanks that God desires from us. The word yadah is often translated thanks.
Psalms 140:13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks [yadah] unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
Praise is how God desires to be thanked for blessing us and showing us his favor. Where we would expect someone to come and say, “Thank you for doing that for me,” God expects us to praise him. Instead of Rachel praising and thanking God for her husband and marriage, she blamed and complained. She was not thankful.
So many people are not thankful. They are ungrateful and unthankful to God. They refuse to praise him.
Intelligent Praise Part 2
2 Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves . . . unthankful, unholy
People become selfish and remove themselves from the blessings of God by not giving him thanks in praise.
Thankfulness [yadah] praise will bring a very positive response from God exactly as it brings a positive response from you and me. We are created in God’s likeness. He has created us to respond to praise. Therefore, God also responds to praise in a very positive way. He blessed Leah with so much, but Rachel could not conceive.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t thank him enough. It doesn’t take much for my hands to go up and a celebration to come out of my belly. I am one thankful person.
I don’t know what you need from God today, but if you will birth a celebration and give a praise of thankfulness for what you do have, God will respond to your praise and give you what you don’t have.
We will find these three principles about praise from beginning to end in the scriptures. Praise is given when celebration is birthed. Praise is always a blend of adoration toward God and combat toward the enemy and praise is always thanking God for what he has done for us.
- INTELLIGENT PRAISE WILL MAKE US WHOLE.
There is a wonderful story in Luke chapter 17. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem. Along the way, Jesus encountered a colony of ten lepers. The lepers recognized Jesus. However, they remained at shouting distance from him, yet cried out for mercy.
Luke 17:13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
I didn’t know a lot about leprosy, so I investigated. I learned that leprosy destroys the tissue in and around the nose and mouth and then attacks the extremities – fingers, toes, hands, and feet. Their cries to Jesus from a distance were partly because leprosy is contagious, but probably because they were embarrassed and ashamed.
Intelligent Praise Part 2
Do you have anything in your life that you are embarrassed or ashamed about and don’t want anyone to see? Perhaps it’s a habit, an addiction, or your finances, or maybe marriage problems. Most of us have something that eats away at us and decays our lives. It seems that no matter what we do, we can’t shake it. We don’t want to admit it, but whatever it is keeps us distanced from the Lord and his disciples. So, we cry out for mercy.
The Lord told all ten lepers to go to their preacher. That was the law of the land in that day. As they went they were “cleansed.”
Luke 17:14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
They were not restored. They were cleansed.
(TLT) …And as they went, their leprosy disappeared.
The Greek word translated cleansed is katharizo (Strong’s #2511) pronounced kath-ar-id’-zo. It means cured. They were no longer contagious. The disease was gone, but whatever the leprosy had taken was not restored.
We all meet the Lord along the way and we cry out to him. He will always cleanse us. He will always forgive us, but that doesn’t mean we are restored back with what our leprosy took. However, there is a way to be restored and be made whole
Luke 17:15-18
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him – and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?
18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?
One out of ten gave praise. One out of ten thanked God the way he wanted to be thanked for what he had done.
Don’t miss that he did it in a loud voice. I don’t know exactly what there is about being loud that the Lord appreciates. It has something to do with our no longer being ashamed and being thankful. Solomon blessed the people with a loud voice (1Ki 8:55). Under Jehoshaphat, the people of God praised with a loud voice (2Ch 20:29). The people praised with loud instruments (2Ch 30:21). People shouted with loud shouts (Ezr 3:13). Singers sang a loud sound (Neh 12:42). The Lord enjoys loud cymbals (Psa 150:5). Elizabeth blessed Mary, the mother of Jesus, with a loud voice (Luk 1:41). Jesus came into Jerusalem with loud praise (Luk 19:37). Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead with a loud voice (Joh 11:43).
Stephen forgave those who stoned him with a loud voice (Act 7:60). Paul healed a cripple with a loud voice (Act 14:10). The Lamb is praised with a loud voice (Rev 5:12). Angels declare with loud voices (Rev 8:13; 14:9).
Intelligent Praise Part 2
Psalms 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.
I don’t exactly understand it, but the Lord enjoys our being LOUD! From the beginning of the Bible to the end, there is loud praise. I know I like it when we are loud on Sunday mornings as we praise him. I like it loud and I like to hear someone shout loudly. So, I enjoy loud music, loud singing, and loud clapping. It provokes something inside of me. I think it causes me to dilate.
Notice how the Lord responded to that intelligent loud praise.
Luke 17:19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Whole is the Greek word sozo (Strong’s #4982) and means to RESTORE to health. It also means to restore the spirit and the soul and body deliverance from Messianic judgment. He was cleansed from the disease, but also everything that had been taken was restored. He was made whole in his spirit, soul, and body and he praised God for what he did have and God gave him what he didn’t have.
That all happened because this person took the time to give thanks and praise in a loud voice. He praised in a way that others did not.
No matter where your leprosy may be, the Lord will cleanse you. But if you will take time to give him a loud praise, you can be made whole and everything that the leprosy has taken can be restored back to you.
- INTELLIGENT PRAISE WILL MAKE YOUR BABY JUMP
I want to end our time together with one last thought about intelligent praise. Mary came to Elizabeth’s house pregnant with the ultimate celebration.
Luke 1:41-44
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
There is something about getting around the “Marys” in my life that makes my baby jump. When you get around me, if I am a carrier of the Christ, your baby – your destiny – should jump. You should experience the Spirit and your baby should be energized. Something should leap in your spirit.
Intelligent Praise Part 2
When I get around praise – Judah celebration – my purpose for living jumps. Of all the children that Leah birthed, it was Judah that eternally mattered. Of all the wonderful events there must have been in Elizabeth’s life, it was John the Baptist that eternally mattered. What is it that getting around carriers of Christ giving birth to celebration and giving praise causes to jump within you? It is that which eternally matters. Being around it energizes your destiny.
John the Baptist was Elizabeth’s real purpose for living. Think about that. It was that which she birthed that introduced Christ to humanity. She had a husband and surely other wonderful events of life. But when she got around Mary it was her eternal purpose that leaped in her womb.
Your being around intelligent praise will cause the baby in your spirit to be energized and leap. Praise brings strength and life and sustenance to your destiny. Make my baby jump.
Our giving intelligent praise will cause the babies – destinies – of others to leap in their spirits. Praise brings an energy to the body of Christ that nothing else brings. It makes our baby jump. Make my baby jump. and I will do my best to make your baby jump.
Intelligent Praise Part 2 sermon notes
Intelligent Praise Part 2 sermon notes
Other Related Sermons:
Intelligent Praise sermon series notes
Intelligent Praise Part 1 sermon notes
The Beautiful And The Intelligent
Angry Bitter Son – video audio notes Luke 15:25-32
Images of Easter sermon video audio notes
Daniel And Trouble Sermon Series
Also see: