S1: Now it's not to impress, but to express. And so
S1: basically what David is saying, that the degree of your
S1: gratitude should equal the degree of the glory that you
S1: give to God, not about us. It's all about him.
S2: Welcome to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford,
S2: junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago.
S2: I'm Steve Hillard. Glad you're with us. As today we
S2: continue our message. Have you gone public with your praise pastor?
S2: You draw out, I think, a real important thing for
S2: us to understand when we truly grasp what Christ has
S2: done for us, and when we reflect on that, gratitude
S2: is bound to come. And out of the overflow of that,
S2: gratitude is praise. And so if we're not praising, if you're,
S2: you know, going to church and you're sitting there like
S2: a bump on the log, you know, it seems to
S2: me as if we're not truly appreciating what Christ has
S2: done for us.
S1: Right? And you always show appreciation with gratitude. Yeah. If
S1: I were to give you a $100 bill right now.
S2: I'd jump up from this chair and hug you.
S1: But, you know, it'd just be an illustration. Yeah. All right.
S1: He's not laughing about it.
S2: I'm not laughing.
S1: Anymore. No, but you would respond by saying thank you. Yes.
S1: And since it would be a surprise, you'd probably say, oh,
S1: thank you. Yeah. You know, and so look what Christ
S1: has done for us. Oh, wow, man. Even Sunday, you know,
S1: at our 8:00 service. Man, I cried through the whole sermon,
S1: preached a message about Jesus authentication, resurrection. And what does
S1: the resurrection prove from Romans one one through four? I
S1: cried through the whole sermon, man, because I kept thinking
S1: about where I was and how he's brought me and
S1: where I am now. And oh, all by the grace
S1: of God. I told him, I just have to stop.
S1: Excuse me. And I just threw my hands up and
S1: I said, thank you, Jesus, I love you. I appreciate
S1: all that you've done. I'm so grateful. Glory to your name.
S1: You know, just just had to do it.
S2: Yeah. Because exactly. You're understanding what Christ has done for you. Amen. Well, let's, uh,
S2: look at this a little more deeply today from Psalm 34.
S2: As we continue the message, have you gone public with
S2: your praise? Here's Pastor Ford.
S1: I focus on the actor. The one who's doing the blessing. Will.
S1: Is the attitude. Contrary to how I feel. Uh, bless
S1: the Lord. Uh, is a focus on action. This is
S1: the action. And of course, the Lord. Uh, the focus
S1: is on the Almighty. So here I will bless the Lord. Uh,
S1: is actor attitude, action. And almighty. That's what he's saying.
S1: That's the focus now. It's personal. What do you mean
S1: by that passport. I mean, it's emphatic. So what's emphatic?
S1: Here's what he's saying. I don't care what everybody else
S1: around me came to do. I came to praise the Lord.
S1: I don't care if nobody else says Amen. I'm going
S1: to say Amen. I don't care what anybody else do me.
S1: Let me tell you. Let me tell you I don't
S1: know what you came to do. But I came to
S1: praise the Lord. I came to bless his name. I
S1: came to jump and shout. And that's exactly what he's saying. See,
S1: if you came to get something from God, then you
S1: came for the wrong reason. If you're one of the
S1: ones who only come for the sermon, then you came
S1: for the wrong reason. Uh, because it's not about a sermon.
S1: It's not about a band. It's not about a choir
S1: or praise team, or even the preaching of the Word
S1: of God, even though it should be central. But it's
S1: about coming together in a corporate expression and expressing to
S1: one another, and to God how grateful we are that
S1: he let us come back one more time. Yeah, here's
S1: what he's saying. Yeah, it ain't just about a sermon.
S1: Now notice he says it must be voluntary will. It
S1: must be voluntary. In other words, he's saying I got
S1: the Lord's praise on speed dial. That's what I have. See,
S1: he's teaching us that praise is not an option. Praise
S1: is an obligation. Oh, yeah, it's an obligation. Yeah. Okay.
S1: Get this. Uh, I like sports, but I like football.
S1: I'm not a baseball fan. Even though Pirates is my team,
S1: I just say Pirates. My team. I don't even watch
S1: the games. And I was wondering, what's the uproar? What
S1: are y'all hauling about? And, you know, all in the store. Yeah, yeah.
S1: High five slapping high fives. The Cubs are going to
S1: the World Series. I said really? Yes. Finally we're going to. Oh. Hey, bro,
S1: check this out. Yeah, you heard right. You heard. Now,
S1: it's not just because I'm not from Chicago. But let
S1: me tell you what I start thinking about. I start
S1: thinking about y'all. I said, how many of them right
S1: now who sit there all service. Don't open their mouth.
S1: Don't move. Don't say nothing. Don't stand. If you say,
S1: look at your neighbor, they're like, I don't want to
S1: see him. Look at my neighbor. I ain't high fiving nobody.
S1: I live in the suburbs. What are you talking about?
S1: High five. I said, I wonder how many of them
S1: was in the store talking about. Did you hear? Or
S1: at the job? The cup we in, we in. And
S1: then I begin to think the Cubs didn't go to
S1: Calvary and die for you. But you can holler for them.
S1: But you can't holler for Jesus. The cubs didn't cover
S1: you in their blood, but you can holler for the cubs,
S1: but you can't holler for Jesus. The cubs didn't write
S1: your name in the Lamb's Book of Life, but you
S1: can holler for the cubs. But you can't holler for
S1: Jesus that the Cubs ain't coming back to get you.
S1: But you can holler for the Cubs. But you can't
S1: holler for Jesus. The Cubs don't come in the middle
S1: of the night when your body is racked with pain.
S1: You don't say, oh, Cubs! Huh? Yeah. No one has
S1: to coerce you. No one has to prompt you. You
S1: ain't praying with me. I submit to you who tell me. Well,
S1: you see, when I worship, I'm a kind of person
S1: who doesn't get excited. Then there's something wrong with you
S1: and your worship and your relationship with your God. Because if, if, if,
S1: if Uptown Funk can make you move and a song
S1: about somebody who died for you can't make you move,
S1: then there's something wrong with your salvation. Amen. Amen. Oh,
S1: I'm in Bible territory. Oh, yeah, I'm in Bible territory.
S1: It's in the book. And so it has to be personal. Yes, personal.
S1: Now listen, listen. He's saying, I don't need a choir.
S1: I don't need a musician. I don't need a praise team.
S1: I don't need anything. Notice. Secondly, it's visible. Okay. I
S1: don't have time to go through all of it. Let
S1: me do this real quick. Here's the words that are
S1: in Psalm 34. I will bless Barack 330 times in
S1: the Old Testament, and it means to bow the knee.
S1: So tell me about that. If you bow the knee,
S1: can anybody see that? Yes. Then there is yada. It
S1: means to extend the hand, to give thanks. Can you
S1: see that? Yes you can. Okay. Toda. It means to
S1: extend the hand. Can you see that? In other words,
S1: praise can be seen. Don't tell me you praising God.
S1: Y'all heard about that? About the person that died in
S1: the worship service. They called the paramedics. They took out
S1: 12 people before they found a dead person. Yeah. Now
S1: it's not to impress, but to express. And so basically
S1: what David is saying and all the Psalms will concur
S1: with me. I can preach on ad infinitum, ad nauseam,
S1: that the degree of your gratitude should equal the degree
S1: of the glory that you give to God, not about us.
S1: It's all about him. Why? Because. Listen, listen. If you
S1: gave somebody something they didn't deserve. And what would they
S1: say if I said I gave somebody $100 bill? What
S1: did they say? Thank you. Thank you. Uh, but if
S1: I said, oh, I have one. And they say, are
S1: you going to give it? Well, no, you can take it.
S1: They probably sit down. I don't I don't want it.
S1: I don't want it because you don't want me to
S1: have it. Now, why would you think that God would
S1: want you to be forced to praise him when he
S1: is willingly giving you? He's willing to give it to us.
S1: He wants us to say thank you. See. John 423
S1: says he desires that Psalm 106 111 says he demands it.
S1: 117 one and two says he deserves it, and this
S1: text says he delights in it. He dwells in the
S1: midst of the praises of his people. The Bible says,
S1: let everything that have breath praise the Lord. Do you
S1: have breath? Yeah. So you have to praise the Lord.
S1: Here it is. Here it is. Thirdly. Thirdly, you have
S1: to do it persistently. He says, at all times. At
S1: all times. Uh, what do you mean by that, David?
S1: What do you mean, all times? All means all. That's all.
S1: All means. In other words, there's three kinds of praisers. Uh,
S1: according to me, there's a conditional praiser. And they praise
S1: because of the car. Uh, because they got healed. Because
S1: the loan came through. Because the children started acting. Right?
S1: Because the marriage started coming together. Uh, yeah. And, uh,
S1: you know, their their praise is modest. They don't want
S1: to wrinkle their suit, uh, mess up their hair and
S1: all that kind of stuff. They're strong in the Lord
S1: as long as they're not going through anything. Then there's
S1: the fair weather appraisers and and there's the individuals that
S1: it it's gotta be right. But then there's the appraiser.
S1: You say, who are those? In spite of the lost job,
S1: in spite of the credit report that looks like a
S1: rap sheet. In other words, they understand that that praise
S1: of God is not conditioned on your condition. So. So
S1: here's what David says. You praise him in the good time,
S1: but you praise him when it's bad times. You praise
S1: him in the bad times, but you praise him in
S1: the bad times. You praise him when the tender times,
S1: but you praise him in the tough times. You praise
S1: him in the smooth times, but you also praise him
S1: in the rough times. So in the rich time and
S1: the poor time, you praise the Lord when you got
S1: a new house or it goes into foreclosure, you should
S1: praise the Lord. Uh, when he when he's put your
S1: marriage back together or you're sitting in a divorce court,
S1: you ought to be praising the Lord. In other words,
S1: this psalm is for individuals who are crazy. Praisers. You know, uh,
S1: I'll never forget this. It happens to me all the time. But, uh,
S1: I was bumping, uh, some gospel music and it was,
S1: you know, music you could shout and rejoice to. I'm
S1: shouting and rejoicing, acting a fool. So I stop at
S1: the red light and I'm still acting a fool. And
S1: a sister pulls up in her car, looks up and
S1: gives me that. What is wrong with you? Like. Like
S1: I know she thought I was crazy and and so,
S1: you know, she kept looking and I kept looking. And
S1: so finally I said, okay. And I put my window down.
S1: She put her window down. She could hear the music
S1: and then she start bumping. Then we got blowed on
S1: because the light was turned green. We so busy praising
S1: the Lord. We done forgot you in a car. You
S1: better get moving. And I wrote it down. I said, man,
S1: that'll preach. Because she didn't understand why in the world
S1: I was acting like I was acting until she could
S1: hear what I could hear. Once she begin to experience
S1: what I experienced, then she began to do what I
S1: was doing. Isn't that church praise? Somebody gets up and
S1: gives a testimony. God heal me and I'm so grateful.
S1: And everybody that got healed. Amen. Praise the Lord I
S1: got healed to thank the Lord, everybody that God got
S1: a job. Yeah, I think I came to praise him for,
S1: you know, this morning my wife was in service. My
S1: wife's been sick the last three weeks. She's in emergency
S1: at least once a week for three weeks. I sit
S1: up here. I was talking about this message. I could
S1: hardly preach it because I looked at her. I got
S1: choked up and I said, thank you, Lord. Thank you Lord.
S1: She's back. She's able to worship. Amen. Yeah, I can
S1: get out the kitchen. Praise God.
S2: You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford and a
S2: message called have you Gone Public with your praise? Really
S2: a great look at Psalm 34 today. You know, if
S2: you want to hear this message again, come to our website.
S2: It's Treasure Truth Radio org. There you can stream these
S2: programs through your computer or mobile device. You can download
S2: MP3's or you can order copies of this broadcast on CD.
S2: You can also sign up to be in podcasting the program.
S2: There's that and a lot more at Treasure Truth Radio.
S2: Back to the message again. Here is Pastor Ford.
S1: In other words, he's saying, listen, you need to understand.
S1: Jesus has enough love to lift you, enough grace to
S1: keep you, enough mercy to motivate you, enough patience to
S1: walk with you, enough goodness to embrace you, and enough
S1: joy to inspire you. I guess you can call me Mr.
S1: Rogers because I'm in your neighborhood. Unbelief puts our circumstances
S1: between us and God, but faith puts God between us
S1: and our circumstances. And so sometimes the Lord calms the storm.
S1: Sometimes he let the storm rage and calms his child.
S1: Here it is. Let me give you these last two.
S1: Let me drop. I'm not going to push them perpetually. Uh.
S1: That is. I will praise the Lord at all times,
S1: and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. What
S1: do you mean, continually? You just said at all times.
S1: Doesn't that cover continually? No, it doesn't, because what he's saying,
S1: in essence, is in every situation now, it doesn't matter
S1: what the situation is. So, uh, if you're taking notes,
S1: Psalm 3527. Psalm 40, verse 16. Psalm 44, verse eight,
S1: Psalm 71, verse eight, Psalm 71, verse 14, Psalm 145,
S1: one and two. Let me say it again. Psalm 35,
S1: verse 27, Psalm 40, verse 16, Psalm 44, verse eight,
S1: Psalm 71, verse eight, Psalm 71, verse 14, and Psalm 145,
S1: verse 12. Here's, here's all he's saying. He's saying, listen,
S1: if you look at those passages, you'll see every one
S1: of those psalms. It was a different enemy. It was
S1: all kind of things coming after him. But in each psalm,
S1: what you'll see is I'm still going to praise the Lord.
S1: We just study Psalm 45 or 55 where enemy had
S1: been a friend had become an enemy. So a frenemy
S1: and and in verses one through 15, if you remember,
S1: he said, this is how I feel about it. Then
S1: he said, in 1516 through 24, this is what I'm
S1: going to do. In other words, I will not let
S1: my feelings control my actions because I start off with praise.
S1: Just try it the next time you feel tore up
S1: from the floor up, just start praising him. Just lift
S1: your hands and say, I don't like what's going on,
S1: but I'm giving you thanks in everything I'm giving thanks for.
S1: This is your will for me in Christ Jesus. I'll
S1: magnify you. I'll praise you, I glorify you. You're my rock,
S1: my sword, my shield, my will in the middle of
S1: the will. I mean, what you'll see is I'm telling you,
S1: praise will pull that schleprock cloud off of you. And
S1: it ought to be proclaimed. Uh, what do you mean,
S1: it's verbal? It's verbal. Let me let me just just
S1: shorten this. I'm. I'm ready to go home to. I'm
S1: tired of listening to me. Just like you're tired of
S1: listening to me. It says you gotta say something. His
S1: praise shall continually be in my mouth. The word is tehila.
S1: It means to exalt God by singing to him. Listen,
S1: God is like a woman. He's voice activated. He want
S1: us to talk to him. He really does. Okay, okay.
S1: I can make this point real quick and then end,
S1: and we can get out of here. You finish this
S1: for me. Let the redeemed of the Lord think so.
S1: Think so. Let the. Let the redeemed of the Lord
S1: act so. Let the redeemed of the Lord meditate. So. Yeah, yeah.
S1: Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. In other words,
S1: it ought to be verbal. Do you know what the
S1: word Shabak means to address the Lord in a loud voice? See,
S1: I guarantee you, some of you are going to be
S1: very uncomfortable in heaven. Read through the book of revelation.
S1: Just read four and five. Read. Read 15. There are
S1: five worship scenes in revelation. And guess what words you
S1: will find in every one of them. Loud shout. Imma
S1: be very comfortable in heaven. And there it is that
S1: that we we need to understand. Hebrews 1315. It says,
S1: even when you don't feel like it, you ought to
S1: sacrifice and say something to the Lord, because let me
S1: read it and and then Imma give you the illustration
S1: and close. I'm I'm done. Listen to what he says.
S1: Hebrews 1315 by him that's Jesus Christ. Therefore let us
S1: offer the sacrifice of praise. Now earlier he told us
S1: the only way we can get into the presence of
S1: God is through Jesus Christ. Then he says by him,
S1: therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually.
S1: That is what is the sacrifice of praise, the fruit
S1: of our lips. We don't bring a lamb. We don't
S1: bring a dove. We don't bring a goat. What do
S1: we bring? The fruit of our lips? What should be
S1: coming out of our lips, giving thanks to his name.
S1: So he's saying, count your blessings. Name them one by one.
S1: And so what we ought to have is we ought
S1: to have a time, uh, in the service. Don't have
S1: to be long. It could be 30s. Now I'm going
S1: to give you 30s to stand on your feet and
S1: count your blessings. I want you to just out loud everybody.
S1: It sounds like the day of Pentecost, but thank God
S1: for the things that he's done for you. So I
S1: thank you for healing my wife. I thank you for
S1: bringing my sons back to you. I thank you that
S1: my daughter is becoming an evangelist. I thank you, I
S1: got food on my table, clothes on my back, that's all.
S1: That's all. We did it today. You can sit down. Yeah.
S1: That's it. Yeah, yeah. That's it. And so we ought
S1: to have a time where we're doing that. That's what
S1: we ought to have. A time where, where if we
S1: if we don't do anything, we're biblical in that we
S1: say God wants us to give him thanks. And so
S1: we come in at at least 30s where we have
S1: an opportunity just to thank God for everything he did
S1: from Sunday to Sunday. Now we won't have time to
S1: do it all but 30s of just saying thank you.
S1: Praise your name, bless your name. Now let me close.
S1: You've been so gracious. I know you feel like I've
S1: been fussing. I ain't been fussing. I'm telling you what
S1: the Bible say. Tell me one thing I said wasn't
S1: in that Bible. Because I know. Because I know. Some
S1: of you are saying. But wait a minute. The Bible
S1: also says, be still and know that I am God. Huh?
S1: What you going to do with that? Huh? That's what
S1: I'm doing. I'm being still. And so I'm being biblical too.
S1: So I don't know what you talking about. I'm being still.
S1: And Ecclesiastes says there is a time for that. Yeah, yeah.
S1: He says there's a time when we ought to be weeping. Yeah.
S1: There's a time when we ought to be rejoicing. Yes, sir.
S1: There's a time when we ought to be silent. And
S1: there's a time that we ought to tear the roof
S1: off of this place, giving God glory for what he
S1: has done. Now I'm getting ready to take my seat.
S1: But let me tell you this. I was watching the game. Uh,
S1: it was about two weeks ago or three weeks ago.
S1: I don't remember which one, uh, but. And I can't
S1: remember his name. You might remember he got fired because
S1: he went into the end zone, made a touchdown, and
S1: the touchdown was fantastic. Even the announcer said he broke
S1: a tackle. Wait a minute. Let's replay that. Look at
S1: that one tackle. He broke two. Tackle. He broke three tackles.
S1: He broke four. Some of the ladies are saying, what
S1: is he talking about. Football. And four. He broke four
S1: tackles to get into the end zone. And then he celebrated.
S1: He threw the ball up and they threw the flag
S1: on him the yellow flag. And they fined him $25,000
S1: because in the NFL now you are not allowed to
S1: have excessive celebration. So did he know that? Yes, but
S1: let me tell you what he said. I broke four
S1: tackles to get across that touchdown line. I'm going to celebrate.
S1: I don't care who like it or how much it
S1: cost me. See, when I come into the house of
S1: the Lord. I done fought too hard to get here.
S1: I've been fighting the devil, the world and the flesh
S1: all week. And when I cross over that finish line,
S1: I don't care who like it. I'm going to go
S1: into excessive celebration. Because I know if it were not
S1: for the Lord on my side, where would I be?
S1: If it wasn't for Jesus? I wouldn't have peace. If
S1: it wasn't for Jesus, I wouldn't have joy. If it
S1: wasn't for Jesus, I wouldn't have mercy. And so I
S1: crossed the line. So give me my sign. Because I'm
S1: about to rejoice in him.
S2: Well, what an energetic finish to that message from Pastor Ford.
S2: It's called. Have you gone public with your praise? You're
S2: listening to Treasure Truth, and I hope we all caught
S2: some of that passion. And now let's turn it not
S2: only to our own expression of praise, but also into evangelism.
S2: You know, joy is infectious. And as we rejoice in
S2: what God has done for us, it opens up opportunities
S2: to share the gospel. We'd like you to have a
S2: book by former Moody Bible Institute President Doctor Ari Torrey.
S2: It'll help you know what to say when you're presented
S2: with an opportunity to share the gospel. Now, the book
S2: is called How to Witness to Anyone, and it contains
S2: Bible verses for almost any occasion, arranged topically so it's
S2: easy to use. Give a donation and request how to
S2: witness to anyone when you call 888644 7660 or go
S2: online to Treasure Truth. Radio.com. You can also send a
S2: check in the mail. Our address is treasure truth. 820
S2: North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten. Well, How to
S2: Witness to anyone isn't a book that you'll read straight
S2: through and then place on your shelf. It's designed to
S2: be a topical reference guide, giving you Bible verses for
S2: any situation. You might want to keep it on your
S2: desk at work or in your car, even in your purse.
S2: Just as a resource that you can turn to quickly
S2: in time of need request. How to Witness to Anyone
S2: by R.A. Torrey. When you give a gift and call
S2: 888644766 or go online to Treasure Truth Radio.com on Steve Miller,
S2: our producer is Amy Rios. Join us again Thursday for
S2: Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford. A production of Moody Radio,
S2: a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.