- God does not need our praise, He just wants it.

He commands us to do it because it makes our lives better.

- Where are we in the Bible?

Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

The Bible begins in the Old Testament,

written around 3500 years ago.

The first five books of the Old Testament,

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

are known as the Pentateuch or books of the law.

The next 12 books, Joshua, Judges, Ruth,

1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 King, 2 Kings,

1 Chronicle, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

Whew. That's a lot.

These are known as the historical books.

This brings us to the books of the Bible

known as the Wisdom Literature.

It starts with Job and then into

a collection of 150 lyrical poems known as the Psalms.

- Today is all about praise.

That's right praising God.

And I'm going to give you a spoiler alert,

it's actually not for Him, it's for us.

I'm Hannah Driskill,

and we're going to be exploring Psalm 150 today,

which has a whole lot to say about praise

and it even talks about all the ways to praise Him,

but even in dance.

And there's a song, I know that you know it,

that when it plays, no matter where I'm at,

no matter what I'm doing, I got to sing it.

Let's do it right now.

[singing] I've got sunshine in my pocket

I got that good soul in my feet

I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops

I can't take my eyes up off of it,

moving so phenomenally

Room on lock, the way we rock it, so don't stop.

Man, wish it didn't have to stop

because that song changes

the whole world for me and my mood.

And today we're going to talk about

how praise might just change your perspective

and maybe even your life. Let's hop to it.

So by now, maybe you figured out

that I work at Crossroads Church.

Some people might give me a title,

but others might just say, I'm in ministry.

But for real, y'all, I'm just a church professional.

That sounds a little weird, right?

Professional churcher.

But it's no weirder than a professional hot dog eater

or professional tag you're it player.

And I wish I had heard about that one on Career Day,

because I've got to be honest, I might not be here.

I'm just kidding.

Anyway, so speaking of professions, today

we're going to look at some professional praisers.

That's right.

The writers of the Psalms, they were pro pay praisers,

people who express approval and admiration for God.

And I'm not talking about your normal worship leader

who you may have seen saying on an episode like this

or maybe even your favorite worship artist,

if you have one that you're thinking about right now.

Now, though, these folks are paid to lead worship

in the form of music for God's glory,

the Psalmists who wrote the Psalms

were round the clock temple praisers.

I'm talking the writers and the people discussed

in the Book of Psalms, they were the Denny's,

the IHOP, and the superior Waffle House of praise.

They never shut down.

I'm talking 24/7 praise

was their full time job in the temple,

and that's exactly the way the King David wanted it.

See, David was the king of Israel at this time,

and he's often credited with writing many of the Psalms.

David loved praise, and so he spent a lot of time

and energy and money dedicated to praising God,

specifically through music.

And so, David, the professional praiser

writes this Psalm, Psalms 150:

Here we have almost the most perfect litany of words.

It tells us all the information

a journalist could ever want.

It tells us what: praise.

It tells us where: in the sanctuary

and basically everywhere because of firmament.

It tells us why: for His mighty acts

and His excellent greatness.

It tells us who: everything that has breath.

And it spends most of the time talking about how:

with all of the instruments

and everything that you have.

So as you can tell, the writer is adamant about praise.

He's encouraging everyone to do it,

even encouraging them to do it loudly.

And this is because he understands something:

Praise is a command.

In Hebrews 13:15 it says:

In Isaiah 43:21, God commands us:

This is a commandment.

No, no, no, not like the Ten Commandments,

but it's something that Jesus asks us to do

in Scripture over and over.

And so cue the entrance, that's us.

We're the people He's commanding.

If you're following Jesus,

He's calling us to praise Him.

And if you're not following Jesus,

He's inviting you to stick around and see

why He's worthy of the praise that He commands.

Now, some of you might be wrongfully thinking,

"Oh, how pompous, how incredibly needy

for God to require praise of us.

What kind of God demands

that everything with breath praise Him?"

I'm calling you out because that's a really good question.

C.S. Lewis once wrote:

That's a powerful conclusion.

See, what he's saying is God's command to praise Him

is simply based on truth, the truth of who He is.

And He does not need us to make it true.

Here's a reality: God does not need our praise.

He just wants it.

He's not like man who selfishly desires praise.

The praise does not make His head get big like ours,

and it doesn't make Him narcissistic

because desire and command are not the same thing.

He commands us to do it

because it makes our lives better.

You might not believe me, I'm going to tell you how.

- Hey, I'm Kyle. - And I'm Andy.

- Andy. Andy, you're here? - Yes.

- We're so excited to have you here.

- Thank you. Glad to be here.

- Some of you may know, some of you may not,

Andy is a new member of our team.

He's actually been around for a long time

pastoring our Dayton community,

and I couldn't be more excited.

He's joining the online team to be our pastor.

We're super excited to have you, man.

- Thanks. Really excited to be here

and really excited to be here with you guys.

This is not just content.

This is a community of people that we are building

all over the country and the world.

I'm super glad to be a part of this team with you all.

- Super excited to have you.

Who picked out your outfit for the shoot today?

- You know, my six year old has more involvement

in her wardrobe selection than I do in mine.

So this was 100% my wife. Thank you, Rachel.

- Awesome. Yes, thank you, Rachel.

Outfits aside, I want to assure you

that whether you call Crossroads home,

whether you're checking it out,

you're giving goes a long way and allowing us

to do videos just like this one.

- That's right.

You can give at Crossroads.net/give.

Now, let's get back to the message.

- When most people read Psalm 150,

the most memorable part is the list of instruments,

and so they have a whole bunch in there.

But I imagine it's some stuff like

it does say stringed instruments,

you know, if this has strings;

or the tambourines, supposed to praise Him with that,

or praise Him with, you know, the clown thing, whatever.

All the Psalmist is trying to suggest

is that we use whatever we can to praise God.

And people have written countless songs

about this very portion of Scripture.

My personal favorite is called Anthem of Praise

by Richard Smallwood. It's pretty dope.

Check it out if you have the time.

But the reason there's so many iterations of music

on this one portion of Scripture is because

it's clear, it's instructive, and it's downright fun.

It's saying, bang the cymbal

and, voila, you're doing it. You're praising God.

But here's the thing, some of us

might not actually play any of these instruments

or even own a cymbal.

Was that scripture not for us?

It's actually the opposite.

See the writer, he lists all these instruments,

not because he's making a comprehensive,

all inclusive list of how to praise God,

but because he's trying to encourage us

to use whatever we have to praise God.

Why?

Well, because praise is the proper response.

Wait a minute, Hannah, what do you mean?

All right. All right. Let me break it down for you.

In a stadium or an arena,

when a player scores a point, what happens?

[cheering]

Exactly. The crowd loses it.

And when the Warriors get their ring later on,

I'll be losing it too as if I won.

Now, why?

Well, because society deems

that this is the proper response.

If the team gets praise, it's in that moment

that we know they deserve praise

because they've got a point, and that behavior is rewarded.

So if the proper response is for a mere mortal

who scored a point is to scream and to dance

and to shout with excitement,

I'm gonna challenge us here a bit.

What's the proper response for a God of the universe

who has all power?

And this is what the writer is saying.

He's saying pull out all the stops.

Do whatever it is that you have to do to praise God.

Literally go crazy.

And yet, sometimes it honestly feels like

the church, the real praisers,

the people who should be the loudest are the quietest.

Now, I'm not talking about just singing or shouting,

because maybe singing in church is not your thing

and maybe you don't own any of these instruments.

And that's okay, because praise doesn't actually

require singing or even a sanctuary for that matter.

The writer tells us to praise God in the sanctuary

and in the mighty firmament,

which just means sky or heaven.

And so, yes, there is a corporate praise at church

or worship, and that's really good.

And it can happen in a sanctuary, and that's wonderful.

But the better thing is

is that when we choose to accept Jesus,

He actually makes us into a sanctuary

and He dwells with us.

So we don't actually need a sanctuary to praise,

we've just got to start doing it.

And even more so, the writer says,

"Give God praise in the firmament,"

which just means under the open sky.

So you can praise God wherever there's a sky.

See the world, they should not be outdoing us in praise.

Praise is glorifying God with all that you have

and even whatever you have.

So it might be telling a friend about Jesus.

It might mean sharing your story,

or it might mean actually leaning into worship

through music or through giving.

It might mean starting a prayer schedule,

posting praises around your house

so you don't forget them.

It might mean spending time discipling someone.

See, the writer's goal was never to give us

an all comprehensive, inclusive list,

even though that list is awesome.

His goal was to tell us to use every single thing

that we have to praise God

because it is the proper response.

Now maybe you're on board.

Maybe you're like, "Okay, Hannah,

finally it's the proper response. I get it.

But I don't actually know where to start."

Well, the writer invites us to praise God

for His mighty acts and His excellent greatness.

He tells us where to start.

And that just means that we should praise God

for what He's done for us.

We should look around and think about

all the good things that we have in our lives

and maybe even for those around us

and we should give God praise for what He's doing,

what He's going to do, and for what He's done.

See, what I love, though, is the next part,

because it means that we should praise God

for who He is.

We should praise God for His excellent greatness.

And that should just be enough for us to praise Him.

See, I think the writer was actually wise

to include this, because if I'm honest,

God doesn't always do what I want Him to do.

He's not some mighty magician who wins, He gets praise,

He bends to our every whim.

That's not how it works.

Sometimes I even need to lament

and I don't actually want to praise God.

Now see, if I only praised Him

when He did something that I wanted,

it sure would be really, really difficult

to get out of lament and to praise Him at all right now,

because the current situation in America

is so messed up with all the gun violence,

all of the racially motivated massacres and murders,

all of the poverty,

the epidemic that seems to only get worse.

And even the capital C Church that seems

more interested in titles and fame

than they are in love and mercy.

See, when I think about that,

I'm going to be honest, y'all.

And maybe it's not okay to be honest,

but it seems impossible to praise God, for what He's done,

because He's not doing what I want Him to do.

If I only praised God for His mighty acts,

I would constantly sit and lament.

And even though Jesus,

He wants to hear our lamentations, He does.

We are meant to praise Him.

See, but when I think about who God is,

a worthy God, whose very nature is good

and true and loving,

even when I can't see it or feel it,

I can praise Him because of who He is

will always be greater than what He's done.

And it requires praise from us, His people.

So if we don't need a place,

we don't need this perfect praise tool of instrument,

we already have a good reason,

what is it that we need to praise God?

See, there's only one requirement for praise,

that is breath.

And it's this bare minimum requirement

that's so important because it lets us know

that there's no fancy requirement.

You don't need accolades to praise God.

You don't need a certain position to praise God.

You don't need to be qualified

or have the perfect sound.

Your voice can be shaky.

The first time you share your story,

you might leave out some parts

and all of it is okay

because God just wants you to praise Him.

He loves to hear it.

And now He's not asking you to praise Him

or commanding you to praise Him

because he's narcissistic.

I've got to remind ya'll, this is for us.

Praising God does something in us.

Recently I was traveling back from Zimbabwe

and I was in an airport and,

you know, had to travel so I was in an airport.

Everyone looked around me upset.

Everyone was like angry.

And of course, traveling internationally

comes with all the woes of traveling internationally.

Time, it was boring.

I was tired, I was hungry.

Add COVID to all of that and it easily is

one of the most frustrating nightmares I've ever had.

So as I was standing in line,

after standing there for over 30 minutes,

might I add, I just started dancing.

There was no music and I looked crazy

because there was no music even in the vicinity,

even in the overhead playing.

And honestly, I didn't care

because the dancing was making me feel better.

It actually made me stop complaining

and it felt good to just move.

And then I started to notice that others around me

started to smile and even laugh.

This one lady asked me, she said, "Where is the music?"

I simply replied, "It's wherever you make it."

See what dancing did for me that day

is what praise does for us.

Although we are attributing glory to God

and we should be doing that,

praise improves our lives

and the lives of those around us.

And that is what the writer forgot to tell us.

He made the perfect litany,

but he forgot to mention that

the command of praise makes our lives better.

Praise is God's invite to dance just for a little while

while we're in the airport.

See, it causes us actually to align ourselves with Him,

to reflect on the expression of His character.

See, the writer left out that praise is

our Father's way of cheering us up

and inviting us into joy,

because it makes us feel like King David

when he said in Psalm 31:19,

How great is your goodness?

Praise makes us reflect on what God has done for us

and for others.

It builds our faith.

It gives us hope because we look back at

the God of the Bible and we realize

God doesn't actually change.

And if He doesn't change,

if He healed before, He can do it again.

If He provided before, He can do it again.

If He made a way, He can do it again.

Praise does all of this for us while we glorify Him.

And finally, praise does something for us

that we can never quite ourselves do

if we just thought about it.

Praise invites us into submission.

When we praise God,

we acknowledge His authority as our Father,

as our Lord, as our place under Him.

Praise does all of that.

So here's what I want you to do,

I want you to figure out your praise tools.

Maybe it's not an instrument,

maybe it's not singing,

but God wants us to praise Him.

And if we don't, Jesus said

that the very rocks will cry out,

because that's just how worthy God is of

praise. Now, since I don't want any rocks

to start talking around me,

that means we all better get to praising.

So this week, this month, today,

I want you to focus on praise.

Focus on lifting up Jesus with your words

and with your actions.

This is something to be acted upon, Psalm 150.

Even if we don't have any of the instruments

that are listed in that scripture,

we just got to use what we have.

So if you have a voice,

whisper your praises to God throughout the day.

If you know you need to start singing in church more,

you need to do it.

If you dance, dance, dance and praise God.

When I was younger, the older mothers in my church

would say, "Hey, if I can't say a word,

I'm just going to wave my hand."

So if all you have is a praise wave, just wave.

If there is something that you know you can do

to praise God more in your life, do it

because it's our proper response.

And God invites us in to praise because it's for us.

In a moment, you're going to go into a time of singing

that is actually praising God

and lifting Him up through song.

You can join into that if that's your thing,

but if it's not, I want you to actually sit

and reflect on what what's being said.

Praise is all of us just saying our words to God,

our affirmation and approval for what He's done.

I'm going to model it right now

and what it looks like in prayer.

It might feel weird at first, but you have to know

that once you start doing it,

it changes things and God is happy with it.

So I'm going to pray for us and then let us

listen to a time of music together.

God, just thank You so much for everything You've done.

We have breath

and that is what qualifies us to praise You.

Thank You for Your goodness, for Your mercy.

God, You are just God, You're holy and You're awesome.

Thanks for everything You've done in my life.

Thank You for giving me breath to praise you,

the opportunity to speak to Your people,

to encourage them to praise You, Lord.

You have something waiting for us on the other side.

I ask that You would just bless us

as we go into this time of worship,

bless us as we consider what it means to praise You

in our own lives over the next weeks or months.

Help us to develop a lifestyle of praise.

In Jesus's name. Amen.

- Hey, we hope you enjoyed the message today.

Hopefully you were able to get something out of it

going deeper in the book of Psalms.

- That's right. This entire series, it's all connected

with an initiative that our whole church

has been doing this whole year called the Bible Challenge.

- Correct.

We as a community are in the Crossroads app

through the week, reading

and diving deeper into scripture.

I'm in there. Brian is there. You're in there.

- Yeah. I try to do at least three times a week

to really make it a habit in my life.

And if you want to join us, all you have to do

is download the Crossroads app and get started.

- Hey, that's all we've got today.

We will see you next time on Crossroads.

- And let's be honest, right,

life right now feels like

a never ending loop of microphone feedback.

You know that screeching sound?

Yeah, it feels like everything is like that.

There's a chapter in the Book of Psalms

that has unlocked for me how to drown out

all of that chaotic noise

and instead find something that sounds better,

something we can actually vibe to in our life.

And today I want to show you where that is.

I want to show you how exactly that can work.