The Power of Praise

THE P WER  F PRAISE
Week 5: Praise in the Presence 
Psalm 150:6 New King James Version
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
So far we have established that Scripture is filled with this phrase to PRAISE THE LORD! And as we saw, it’s not a suggestion, it is something that God expects us to do! And I believe there be something to it for the Holy Spirit to put in the Bible so many times. 
Definition of PRAISE: 
Praise includes commending; expressing approval or a favorable judgment of; and glorifying, especially by crediting with perfections. (Websters)
On top of that, we have looked at all the Biblical ways to worship (SINGING, SHOUTING, MAKING A JOYFUL NOISE, THANKSGIVING, STANDING, KNEELING, CLAPPING OUR HANDS, DANCING AND JUMPING FOR JOY, LAUGHTER, UPLIFTED HANDS, TONGUES, AND MUSIC)  
Then we reinforced that God is worthy of our praise in the best of time, in the mundane times, and the worst of times.
Last week saw that the Progression of Praise when Jesus said:
John 14:6 NKJV
6…“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 
One of the things that I have always focused on since I have had the opportunity of preaching is the Presence of God. 
Why are you a Christian? 
Because you don’t want to go to hell? Is it because you couldn’t carry the burden of sin? Because you wanted to become a better person? You needed help to stop an addiction or a bad happen? 
But why does God want you to be SAVED? 
Let’s go look at the WORD of God to see what God’s plan is and has always been…to discover this answer we must go back to the beginning to see what God’s Original plan was for mankind. 
Genesis 1:26-28 New King James Version
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
We see that God did not establish reverent patterns, pious traditions, or religious activities in the Garden of Eden. There was simply a relationship between God and man. Establishing and maintaining this relationship continues to be God’s primary concern. 
Now, as we know, the ability for mankind to fulfill this purpose was and still predicated on the requirement that he obey God’s instructions, principles, His laws, precepts, statues, commands, commandments, decrees, instructions, Word, and His ways. 
Psalm 19:7-11 NLT
7 The instructions of the LORD are perfect, reviving the soul.
The decrees of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 The commandments of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are clear, giving insight for living.
9 Reverence for the LORD is pure, lasting forever;
The laws of the LORD are true; and each one is fair.
10 They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
11 They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them. 
God is holy. He is perfect in all His ways and with that consideration, God’s ways are permanent. They do not change. 
When they are not followed, they produce destruction. God doesn’t waste words, that’s what we do. There are reasons why He says what He says.  He knows the results from not following His instructions. 
Thus, much of what we call “acts of God” are simply results that are inherent in God’s principles of creation. 
For example, God has killed no man. Rather, it is “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a) in action. 
When you play around with sin and start flirting with things that you shouldn’t be doing, you don’t have to worry about whether or not someone will find you out, because your own activities will tell on you. 
Why is true? Sin contains an inherent judgement.  
When you violate God’s principles, the principle itself contains your discipline or punishment. 
But we know that we cannot and will not live up to the potential and purpose God has built into us…until there is restoration. 
Restoration of what? Your life? Your mind? Your money? Your relationships? 
Does God worry about all of those things? Are they the top of His list to “fix” in our lives? They may be in ours minds, but He is more concerned in restoring the intimacy between Himself and mankind like there was in the Garden of Eden. 
Because the presence of God is man’s ideal environment. In His Presence is where we find life and life more abundantly. 
We cannot truly live until the relationship between God and man is restored. 
The word “environment” is defined as “circumstances, objects, and conditions by which one is surrounded”. 
Remember God doesn’t waste words. How does He know? 
Before the moment of creation, God decided both what He would make His creation from and where He would place it after He made it. 
Let’s read how things were created. Pay attention of FROM AND WHERE….
Genesis 1:9-12, 20-25 New King James Version
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 
 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (God is makes the place or the environment)
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 
God is calling out from the earth grass and trees, plants…
12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Move down to verse…
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
So you see what God is doing….FROM AND WHERE
Finally, God was ready to make man…
Genesis 1:26-27 New King James Version
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
When God made man, He spoke to Himself and man came out of Him. 
So we were created to be of the same essence as God, who is spirit, and to live in the same environment as God, which is in the realm of the spirit or the PRESENCE OF GOD. 
God prescribed an environment for everything He created. 
Now think about this: an environment can be good or bad, positive or negative, healthy or unhealthy depending on what the manufacturer prescribed for the product you are using. 
The environment itself is not necessarily bad, negative, or unhealthy. Rather the problem is a misplace product. 
Examples: TVs? Boats? Animals love it hot, others thrive in the cold? Etc.  
The Garden of Eden was the one place where God’s presence dwelt on earth. It was the garden of His presence, the spot of God’s pleasantness, and that was precisely where God placed Adam.  A place of unbroken fellowship between Himself and man. 
Eden is translated as the “garden of delight”. 
God prepared the garden for man, an environment where it was pleasant and where His presence touched the earth. This is why the Bible never says that Adam planted the garden. Rather, God was the One that planted the garden. That is, God came and impressed (planted) His presence on earth. 
Your ideal environment is nothing more and nothing less than the presence of God Himself, which was God’s first gift to Adam. 
Just as fish have to stay in water, plants have to stay in the ground to flourish, so man must stay in God’s presence. 

NOW, we know that man failed. Fallen man, who was created to live in God’s presence is now condemned to live apart from the One who was essential to life. 
Why would God, who loves man and created him to live in fellowship with Him do this? 
We have established that God is HOLY which means that God is completely pure in motive and perfect in goodness, righteousness, and justice. 
He is all powerful. He is perfection.  
Could it be that man could no longer endure the presence of God because of his sin? Could it be that God was protecting man from His holiness? 
Think of the sun. How wonder it is. But stay out in it too long and you will be burned. If you get too close to the sun you will burn up. 
God’s holiness is that kind of power. Our sin caused us to not be able to be in His Presence. 
This is the whole problem with our world today. Men and women are malfunctioning (sinning) because they cannot function properly apart from God. 
This condition of separation or sin would have continued indefinitely had God not intervened to rescue us. 
Romans 5:6-10 NLT
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
The Bible is the story of God’s efforts, not man’s, to restore things to the way they were meant to be. And that was to be in HIS PRESENCE. This is the answer to question of why does God want us to be saved? 
All of history is the story of God’s efforts to do just this: to reestablish the conditions where He can live with His people as He did in the garden.
Do you know why we keep sinning? 
We sin because we stop or have never started “practicing the presence of God”. 
Wait, What? How do you practice the presence of God? 
Through Praise and Worship…and it should be a continuous practice. He designed us to always be with Him. 
Psalm 16: 11 NLT
11 You will show me the way of life,
    granting me the joy of your presence
    and the pleasures of living with you forever.
Praise and Worship brings God’s presence to us. 
That is, they are just a means that provide the conditions that invite God to come to us as He came to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. They are the tools that set the stage for God’s arrival. 
Hebrews 10:19-20 Good News Translation
19 We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. 20 He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain—that is, through his own body.

John 10:9-10 New King James Version
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Jesus has opened the door of salvation to every person. 
Jesus is the Open Door