Praise is fitted for God. He's the only one that deserves our praise. He's the only one that desires our praise. He's the only one that demands our praise. He's the only one that delights in our praise. And so here our God says we owe him praise.
You're listening to Treasure Truth with pastor and author James Ford, junior senior pastor of the Christ Bible Church in Chicago. I'm Steve Hillard. Glad that you're with us. As today we begin a message entitled The Privilege of Worship. And, pastor, I want to start with maybe a definition of praise, because I know in our culture today, we encourage those in our lives who do a good job. Pastor preaches a good message after the service. I'm sure people come
up to you and say, great job pastor. You really moved me today. In a sense, they've praised you. Our kids do something great at school. We come home and we say, man, I am so proud of you. You did a good job. In a sense, we praise them. But I just heard you say God is the only one who deserves our praise. So how does that fit?
Uh, well, when we understand there are several words in Hebrew translated praise. And when you look at each definition, uh, you begin to understand this one, I believe, is the one that literally means to boast about someone. And really, God is the only one that deserves our praise. When you when you look at the Hebrew words, there are eight, uh, different Hebrew words may be off on that, a number or two, but I believe this one literally means to boast.
And generally when you look at the word praise in the Bible, it talks about, uh, somebody who is worthy of something, uh, that they've cornered the market on. In other words, uh, it's just a proper response Bonds to the majesty of God and the magnitude of God. I mean, it's really a proper response. So, I mean, I think I like the examples that you've given. We ought to give thanks to individuals for what they do. You did a job well done. That's praise to. That's giving honor
to whom honor is due. But we need to realize there is a category of praise that none of us fit.
Okay.
Only he fits it. Yeah. You see? And so that's what the psalmist is talking about. He wants us to understand. Yes. Listen, this kind of praise, it only goes to God. So he'll go in and delineate things like the grandeur of God. Creation. None of us create anything. Yeah. You know, like like, uh, ladies will say things like, oh, pastor, you got to have some of my cake. It's my creation. It is not. Of course I don't say that. Yeah. But it is not. You did not create the flower. You did not create
the wheat from which the flower came. You did not create the seed from which the wheat came, from which the flower. All you did was just take something that God had made, and then you took the ingredients and you made something, but you didn't create anything. Do you understand what I'm saying? Only, God, you.
Just reorganized it.
The phrase. There you go, there you go. Only he gets the praise for creation. He's the only one that gets praise for our conversion. He's the only one that gets praise for our provision. And you know, those kind of things. So, uh, he's cornered the market on it, and we need to give him praise.
All right, well, we're going to do that as we open up our Bibles to Psalm 65 and begin a message called The Privilege of Worship. Here's Pastor Ford.
When I first came to South Shore Baptist Church, that's what we used to be. There were a couple brothers. I was a freshman at Moody and pastoring here. And there were two brothers who were seniors, and I respected them even though I was the pastor. I looked up to them because they were seniors, and I was a freshie at Moody. And one of them was named Brother Otis Agee. Brother Agee is in the presence of the
Lord right now. Uh, but I'll never forget, uh, when I would call him at his home, here's what I would get. He would answer the phone. And at first I thought it was a voicemail. Uh, but it was him. And he would say, life is short. Death is sure. Sin is the problem. Christ is the cure. Jesus is the answer. So now what's your problem? That's how he answer his phone all the time. And so I just wait, you know, because I knew I'm going to have to hear it. You know, life is short. Death is sure.
Sin is the problem. Christ is the cure. Jesus answered, now what's your problem? So I call him up and to my surprise, he says this. Brother Otis, can I help you? I said, what this brother Otis AG, can I help you? I said, what happened to life is short. Death is sure. Sin is the problem. Christ is the cure. Jesus is the answer. So now what's your problem? He said, I don't say that anymore. I say, why don't you say that anymore? He said, well, because of a call
I got a couple weeks ago. I said, yeah. He said, yeah. I answered the phone like I always do. I said, life is short. Death is sure. Sin is the problem. Christ is the cure. Jesus is the answer. So now what's your problem? Only to hear Mr. AG, my problem is you ain't paid your car note in three months. And I just want to know, is Jesus the answer to that problem? He said, you owe us. And so I want to know. And I suggest that you ask
Jesus to solve that problem real quick. And today he said, you want to know why today Mr. Agee and Otis said, I said, okay, tell me why today. He said, because life is short and death is sure. You owe us money. Repo is the cure. And so all of us can relate to that. We laugh at Brother Agee, uh, but all of us can relate to owing somebody. I ain't going to get no help. Anybody ever get a notice like this? Uh, notice of water service termination? Uh oh.
Some of us are walking down memory lane right now. Uh, yeah. Last week. Memory lane? Yeah. Anybody ever get a red slip of paper with their gas bill? Uh, yeah. And and so how about this? You ever been watching Comcast or DirecTV and the screen goes snowy. And you get that. Notice that says code 486. And you call Comcast and you say, ah, I don't know what's going on. Uh, but I was right in the middle of the game. Y'all got to get this thing going quick. It was
a what was the code, sir? Code 486. Oh, you ain't paid your bill. Would that be credit card or would you like to do it by bank transfer? Yeah, some of you know what I'm talking about, you know, and that's why we thank God for caller ID, because when JCPenney call, we let it go to voicemail. But when Macy's call, we let it go to voicemail. And y'all looking at me like, you don't know what I'm talking about. Oh, you know what I'm talking about. Hey, man.
And it's like, you know, you look at it, you think about it. We even have family members that are ducking us. Yeah. Family members who don't come to family functions because they owe everybody money, and everybody has somebody who owes everybody in the family money. I'm telling you, think about it. You answer the phone. Hi. Hello. How. What's happening? They answer the phone. Let me hold something. You got anybody like that? My. My brother who I eulogized.
He's with the Lord. He used to walk up the folk and say. Yo, let me hold a hot dollar. And so at his funeral, I put that in my sermon. Yeah, y'all know d because D is the only one who walk up to you and ask you for money. And the money was hot. Let me hold a hot dollar. And I said, in memory of my brother, let's all give his wife a hot dollar. And she got $428. That's a lot of hot dollars. Yeah. And so they're ducking you because they know they owe you and they owe.
La dee lady, Dottie and everybody. And so if you can't think of a relative who owes everybody, maybe he's you. And so what happens here? I mean, come on, come on. Some of us have the seven dwarf theology. I owe, I owe, so it's off to work, I go. Yeah. That's it. I mean, there's only three kinds of people in the world today. The haves, the have nots, and the have not paid for what they have. Yeah. That's it. And so we old folk and we want to we want to pay them back. Don't you really want to
pay them back? Liar, liar. Pants on fire. If you'd have caught me last week. Man, oh, man, the eagle flew, I had it. But, man, you should have called me. Yeah. And so. And so we. Oh. But I don't care who we. Oh. Even if we could pay everybody off. There's one debt we can never pay. We owe. God. Yeah. Yeah. Listen, you owe God, and you can't pay God back with money. Yeah. You can't write God a cheque and pay him off. Yeah,
he doesn't take American Express, visa, Mastercard or link card. See, you can't give him anything to pay your debt because he already owns everything. Psalm 24 one the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world, and they that dwell therein. Remember, we talk about it all the time. I watch cowboys all the time, and they take 6000 head of cattle from Texas to Missouri. But God doesn't count his by the head. He counts his by the heels.
I got cattle on a thousand hills. The earth is mine. The gold is mine. The silver is mine. God said I own everything. Even y'all. Behind. Amen. Mm. And so you can't play him in clothes because he's arrayed in resplendent effulgent glory. Uh, that he is brilliant. Light emanates from him. And the Bible says Isaiah saw him high and lifted up. And his train. What's the train? The train is the back part of the king's robe that hits the ground. And the Isaiah said, he's filled the
whole earth. So what can you give God to pay him off? I gotta come get you because you don't believe me yet. Yeah, but you and I. Oh, God. According to Psalm 65 one, praise waiteth for thee. That is, praise is fitted for God. He's the only one that deserves our praise. He's the only one that deserves our praise. He's the only one that demands our praise. He's the only one that delights in our praise. And so here our God says we owe him praise. You don't think
you do. Because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You owe God. Jesus let you live with something that took everybody else out. You owe God that every time Jesus looked beyond your faults and saw your needs, you owe God. He put up with your mess and gave you what you know you didn't deserve. You owe God, your children, or your spouse left the house every day last week and came home in the afternoon. You owe God. You went to bed last night and you got up
this morning. You owe God. You got health in your body, strength in your body. You owe God. You got some sense in your head. You Oh, God, you got Jesus in your heart. You. Oh, God.
You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, really helping us take a look at why we worship and the privilege that it is from Psalm 65. We're going to get back to this teaching in just a moment. If you want to make sure you don't miss a future broadcast, come to our website. Sign up to begin podcasting this program. Just stop by Treasure Truth radio.org. While you're there, spend a little time, check out the site. See all the things we have for you at the website. Treasure Truth Radio.
Let's get back to the message. Here's Pastor Ford.
Hey, you. Oh, God. And here's what this psalmist says. He doesn't want your Mastercard or your link card. There's only one way you pay him. God will take praise. See, it says praise awaits you. Now the word awaits literally means silence. Praise is silent for you. And I like what Warren Wiersbe said. That doesn't make sense. But you got to go back to a better etymology of the word. He translated this way praise is fitting for you. It's a vow that I owe you. So he's saying, in essence,
I owe you praise. And so the Hebrew word tehila say tehila is a word that's very powerful. Let me read what it means. It means to Lord God. It means to praise him in a hymn or a song. Let me read it. I want to read it. Here's what it says. This word is a noun derived from the verb Hillel. Hillel is from which the word Hallelujah! That's right, which connotes listen to this genuine appreciation for
the great actions and or character of its object. It is used especially of the adoration and thanksgiving that humanity renders to God. I will bless the Lord at all times, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth. By extension, it also represents the character of God that deserves praise. So that what he's saying, and this is, is that we need to understand that by the very word, it lets us know that we owe God praise. I wonder because let me, let me, let me turn to it.
I wasn't going to turn to it, but that's okay. Uh. Psalm 116 listen to what Psalm one 1612 through 14 says. Here's what it says. It says, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. You see what he's saying? He said, how can I pay God back? I owe God, and I need to pay God. And that Psalm, he lists four things. We'll
go there. But he says, I have to accept his pardon. I have to approach him in prayer. I have to adore him in praise, and I have to acknowledge him publicly. Let me say it again. Acknowledge him Publicly. So what is praise going on here today? It is where individually he been blessing you all week. And so now in the midst of the congregation, you want to come and give God some praise. Hey, I wonder how many of
you came to pay a bill this morning? And understand you can't pay all that you owe in one payment, but you gotta make weekly installments. So every Sunday you coming in to make a payment to pray that God to let God know that you're grateful and you pay him with your praise. Oh, excuse me, let me pay my bill. Thank you Jesus, I love you. Hallelujah. You're worthy to be praised. Nobody like you make a way out of no way. Hallelujah! My wife is sick, but
she ain't dead. Hallelujah! I give you praise. My wife is sick yet she ate this morning. Hallelujah. My wife is sick, but she walked to the bathroom. Hallelujah. My wife is sick, but she put on some clothes. Hallelujah. My wife is sick, but she still got on that altar and met with you. I give you praise. Yeah, I'm praising him. You want to know why? Say why? Cuz I want a 850 Fico praise score. And if I come in and I don't praise him, my credit
score goes down. Some of you down at zero. Because you don't never open your mouth and say thank you in the congregation. You don't never raise a hand. You don't never stand and clap. You don't ever give God praise the way God said, give him praise. Now give him some praise. Amen. Mhm. Yeah. And that's what this Psalm is all about. It's written by the sweet psalmist David. And, uh, of course we know, uh, that, uh, most scholars tell
us it was written, uh, to commemorate the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, what was that? Feast of Tabernacles, where, uh, the people of Israel would celebrate the Feast of Sukkoth. Say Sukkoth. And it means booths. That is, that even when they were from Egypt and between Egypt and the Promised Land. God gave them tents or booths that even when they were homeless, they weren't hopeless because God always provides. Come on, I got some folk in here. He always provides. It's
not the Marriott, but you got a roof over your head. Yeah, it's not the Marriott, but you got food on your table. It's not the Marriott, but you can hook up with Jesus every day. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. And so then it would be at the conclusion of the fall Festival. It would last eight days. And it also commemorated the final harvest. They bring in the rest of the grain. And they thank God for the early rain, March, April. That made
the ground soft enough to put the seed. And then the latter rain, September, October, where the crops would grow. And now it is at the end of the festival and they are celebrating. Alright, where's my cell phone? Let me, let me go ahead. And I'm going to send God a snapshot of our worship so he can make a comparison. And so listen, if we know we owe God worship, then we will understand as a privilege. That's our thing.
That's our thing. Hey, do you know, because we have a God who embraces us, we know we owe God. We know worship is a privilege because verse one, we can come into his presence. Oh, you, you, you, you making light of that. Listen to what he says. Praise Waiteth for thee, oh God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. What's he talking about here? Yeah, he's saying, listen. Praise belongs to you. It's fit for you. It's custom made for you. It was designed for you.
You and you are the only one that's worthy of all of our praise. Because you, God, let us come into your presence. You know, sometimes what I do is I will go places and I'll say to people, I say, I'm glad to be your guest speaker. And, uh, you know, like Janet Jackson told her last husband, don't worry. I ain't going to keep you long. And then I'll say, but, you know, if you really knew me who it is that's speaking to you, you wouldn't have let me come up in here. But if I knew who I was
speaking to, I wouldn't have came up in here either. Now, listen. And this is what I will share with them. We even look at it sometimes with ourselves and say, that person ain't worthy to come into my circle, or I ain't worthy to go in that person's circle. But yet we have a God where none of us are worthy, that invites us to come into his presence.
That is a humbling thought, isn't it? You're listening to Treasure Truth with Pastor Ford, who's helping us rethink the way we worship, to see it as a privilege, not just something that we have to get through on a Sunday morning. Well, you can find more teaching when you come to our website. Just stop by Treasure Truth radio.org. Well, let me ask you a question. How's your marriage? If you were to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, would it be near the top or somewhere
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