SERIES: GETTING TO THE NEXT LEVEL! EPISODE 13 :HAVE YOU LOST YOUR PRAISE?

DISCLAIMER: YOU MUST BE IN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST
JESUS TO FULLY GRASP THESE TEACHINGS AND TO LIVE THIS KIND OF
ABUNDANT LIFE!
INTRODUCTION- SERIES: GETTING TO THE NEXT LEVEL: HAVE YOU LOST
YOUR PRAISE?


(Hebrews 13:15) says, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips
that openly profess his name." 


The terms sacrifice and praise might seem to be opposites. We
think of sacrifice as offering something at a great cost to
ourselves. Praise, on the other hand, sounds joyful as it bubbles
from a grateful heart. 


 To praise God in this way is a command! This sacrifice is
to be offered "continually." Our praise to God is not to be based
on our opinion, God does not get an annual evaluation, and we
don’t rate God on His job performance. Our praise cannot be
treated like a "reward" we give God for blessing us. (Isaiah
29:13) says, "These people come near to me with their mouth and
honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their
worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” In other
words, some people claim to be close to God, but they are not
following God, just going through the motions. The bible says God
will bring judgment on these people. Religion has become routine
instead of real. Jesus said in Matthew, that Isaiah was right,
and He called the religious leaders Hypocrites. (Matthew
15:7) 


 Real praise continues regardless of our circumstances. It
flows continually from a worshiping heart in good times and bad.
I’m reminded of a story in Acts when Paul and Silas were going to
the place of prayer, and this slave girl, who had a spirit by
which she could predict the future, mind you that this girl
earned her owners a lot of money by doing this. Anyway, this girl
was following Paul and Silas shouting “These men are servants of
the Most High God, who are telling you how to be saved.” The
bible says that she kept this up for many days, finally, Paul got
tired of it, so the bible says that Paul said commanded the
spirit to come out of the girl. When the owners found out what
had happened, they seized Paul and Silas, drugged them into the
marketplace to face the magistrates. They accused them of causing
an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for the Roman people to
accept or practice, so the magistrates ordered them to be
stripped, severely flogged, and thrown in prison, where a jailer
was ordered to watch them. So the jailer put them in the inner
cell and shackled their feet. The bible says it was about
midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to
God. Suddenly an earthquake came that shook the foundation of the
prison, at once, all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s
chains came loose.   


(Acts 16:23-25) A "sacrifice of praise" only comes from a pure
attitude and a humble heart that has been purified by fire. Like
Paul and Silas, we must choose to honor God despite our pain,
despite our situation. Even after being stripped and beaten, not
just beaten, but flogged. Do y’all know what that means? They
were not just beaten severely, but to flog someone, you are
criticizing them to the lowest state of their being, and guess
what, they still gave God the praise due Him. Amen!!! 

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NEXT WEEK, WE WILL START A NEW SERIES: NOW WHAT? GET TO
WORK!
Study  MATTHEW 28:19-20

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REMEMBER MY SISTERS AND BROTHERS, IT TAKES


Remember my sisters and brothers, it takes GRACE TO MAKE
IT!