1. Psalm 148:1-6 (NKJV) 1 Praise the L ORD ! Praise the L ORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! 2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all you stars of light!

2. Psalm 148:1-6 (NKJV) 4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, And you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the L ORD, For He commanded and they were created. 6 He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away.

3. PSALM 148:1-6 Praise Him, Praise Him!

4. We are gathered here today with the purpose of worshipping our God We have seen worship spoken of in the Bible such as in John 4 and Matthew 15 We also have seen the examples of the Christians gathering on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7)

5. Praise Him, Praise Him! When we talk about worship, we often only focus on what we call the “acts of worship” This morning we want to talk about one of the components of worship That component is the idea of praising God

6. Praise Him, Praise Him! 1. What is praise?  We hear the word praise often, but perhaps we hear it in contexts outside of worship  We might hear someone say they “sang the praises” of someone else  We speak of praising someone for a job well done

7. Praise Him, Praise Him! 1. What is praise?  Our English dictionary defines praise as an expression of approval or admiration; offering grateful homage as in words or a song  We see the word praise in our NT several different times, with differing meanings

8. Praise Him, Praise Him! 1. What is praise?  Eulogeo – to speak well  Aineo – (metaphorically) giving God a standing ovation  Humneo – praise God w/hymns  Aineo is the word we see in Hebrews 13:15 (songs are the applause)

9. Praise Him, Praise Him! 2. Command to praise  We praise God because we are commanded to offer up praise to Him  Many of the Psalms were written as hymns of praise to God  Psalm 148 is one such Psalm of praise (notice vs. 1-4)

10. Praise Him, Praise Him! 2. Command to praise  Psalm 69:30, 34  Psalm 150:6 – “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!”  Psalm 50:23  Although we see much about praise in the OT, it is not here only that we see it

11. Praise Him, Praise Him! 2. Command to praise  I Peter 2:9 – “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”  Hebrews 13:15  The sacrifice of praise is the fruit of our lips  We can sing praises to God and praise Him in prayer!

12. Praise Him, Praise Him! 3. Worthy of praise  We not only praise God because it is commanded, but because God is worthy of praise  “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised” (II Sam. 22:4; Ps. 18:3)  “Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious” (Ps. 66:2)

13. Praise Him, Praise Him! 3. Worthy of praise  “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise?” (Ps. 106:2)  I Chronicles 16:9-12; 29  “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness…” (I Pet. 2:9)

14. Praise Him, Praise Him! 3. Worthy of praise  Revelation 4:11  Revelation 5:12  Over and over we see and understand that the God who created us in His image and His likeness and who redeemed us from our sins is worthy of all praise!