We conclude our sermon series with the last chapter in Psalms - Psalm 150. We learn the importance of and value to our faith that praising God brings.

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OC Church of Christ

My name is Marcel Hall and with my wife Karina, we have the honor and

privilege of being able to serve full time in the ministry here.

As usual, it's humbling to to be able to preach God's Word, but we're

going to get into God's Word today.

And so we're going to conclude a sermon series that we started in the

summer called Psalms of the Summer.

I'm not sure if we're still technically in summer.

In fact, I don't know what season we're in.

Because it's been raining.

We've had tropical storms in Southern California.

I guess that was a tropical storm.

That looked like it was just a storm, but we've had something weird going on.

And so we are going to conclude our sermon series.

In which we're taking, there's 150 psalms.

So there's no way we were able to look at 150 psalms.

But we've been going through the psalms and studying them out.

And so, there actually, if you have our church app, and again, if you

want to get a little more depth and context for the book of psalms,

you can do that on our church app.

But just to remind us that the psalms are really a collection of poems and songs

that express devotion and really reveal an honest, personal, Relationship with God.

And so they show us how to have a deeper relationship with God.

The Psalms also reveal the nature of God as well.

And they also serve as a great template for us as well in our relationship

with God as we go through ups and downs in our faith and in our lives.

We've studied out Psalm 1, Psalm 18, 23, 51, and last week, 73, and

so we're going to go to the end today at Psalm 150, and the title

of the sermon today is Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

We just sang that right there, huh?

And so that's the title of the sermon today.

If you can go to God with me in prayer, let's pray.

Father in heaven, it's exciting to be here with my brothers and sisters.

It's exciting to worship you in spirit and truth as Jesus said that we will

in John four and God We're grateful for this opportunity to connect with

you and build encourage and strengthen one another in the faith father I pray

right now that your word may be spoken I pray that you minister to our hearts

you reveal more of yourself and God allow us to draw closer to you that we

can Be in all of you and that we can in turn pour forth Praise in your name.

It's in Jesus name.

Amen So we're gonna look here at the actually the we usually preach out of the

NIV But we're gonna look here at someone 50 through the H CSB home and Christian

Standard Bible and so in Psalm 150, let's go ahead and let's read it together.

It says hallelujah Praise God in his sanctuary Praise him in his mighty

heavens praise him for his powerful acts Praise Him for His abundant greatness.

Praise Him with trumpet blasts.

Praise Him with the harp and the lyre.

Praise Him with tambourine and dance.

Praise Him with flute and strings.

Praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Praise Him with clashing cymbals.

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.

Hallelujah.

And so we're going to go ahead here and break this psalm down.

Now what is the message of the psalm?

What clearly is being communicated in this message?

Praise!

As my friend Rhys McNeely would say, you'd have to be a theologian to get that wrong.

You know what I mean.

It's clearly communicating a message of praise.

Now it's interesting that this is the last psalm in the book of psalms.

There's a hundred and fifty.

Chapters in the book of Psalms and the last one ends off with praise To me

that struck me that was interesting to me To think that the last one

would end with praise because the Psalms are filled with triumph.

They're filled with joy With praise they're filled with pain doubt anger

sadness and It concludes with praise The Psalms reveal God's character, his

attributes, his mighty acts for his people, and it concludes with praise.

It shows us the depth of a relationship with God, and it concludes with praise.

And I thought, you know, that's similar to our faith, and our

journey, and our walk with God.

Because as we have a relationship with God, when we go through trials and

persevere, when we experience God's grace after we have blown it big time,

but yet we repent and we experience His grace, as we struggle with doubt,

as we struggle with things that happen in our lives, as we have great

joys and highs, it leads us to pray.

And so we can see this connection and I think that was divine order that God

would have it that at the end of the Psalms as you sing out and you worship

and you grow in your relationship with God, it will lead you to praise.

And so let's break this down in Psalm 50.

First off, it says, Hallelujah, which means praise the Lord.

And so it starts off saying praise the Lord in his sanctuary.

And so I said, you know what let's define that word praise a little bit.

It means to express approval or admiration or a commend to extol.

But in this context, to offer grateful homage to God as in words or song.

And when you think about it, to praise God is the natural response

when you recognize who God is and his wonderful acts in your life.

It's the natural response When you begin to say who Wow who he is and

what he's done in my life and in others lives and It says to praise him in the

sanctuary to praise him in the mighty heavens You know when we have a worship

service that's what it's referring to when the people of God get together.

We praise them and that's what we've been doing this morning, hasn't it?

Every song we sang has been about praising God Because that's why we

gather, it's to connect and to praise him, it says in the mighty heaven.

So even the heavenly beings are called to join in on this

praise of our Heavenly Father.

So not just us, but every being, whether it be being here on

earth or in the heavenly realms, are called to praise as well.

And then it says to praise him for his powerful acts, for his abundant greatness.

Again, we serve a God who is worthy of praise.

Some things are worthy of praise and some aren't.

But our God, our good, our faithful, our omnipotent God, He is worthy of praise

for His powerful acts and for His abundant greatness because of what He's done in

your life, what He's done in my life.

What he's done in the lives of those around you.

What he's done from the beginning of creation until now.

What he's done for all of his faithful children throughout history.

God is worthy of praise.

Can I get a hallelujah?

That means praise the Lord.

We praise him for his character, his wonderful attributes, his characteristics.

We praise him when we go, wow, God is awesome.

In fact, let's do something real quickly.

Let's just take one minute here.

I want you to share with the person to your right and left.

Share one thing, just come up with one thing that you can praise God for.

Maybe it's something in his character or something that he's done in your life.

Go ahead and do that real quickly.

Go ahead and share at least one thing you can praise God for.

Those online, go ahead and type in the chat one thing

that you can praise God for.

Okay, alright.

Real quickly here.

Uh, Dorca, what's one thing that you can praise God for?

For his mercy.

Okay, awesome.

Jamie, I see you nodding your head.

What's one thing?

For relationship.

Relationship or ships?

Ships, okay.

Friendships, relationships.

Okay, alright, here we go.

Alright let's get a college student here.

Can I get a college student here?

Aiden, there you go.

Don't look to the side.

Aiden, here we go.

Alright, what's one thing you can praise God for?

For his grace.

Okay, Thomas.

Uh, here we go.

Or Marcus Thomas.

Sorry, excuse me.

There you go.

Went by your last name, brother.

I went professional and official on you.

Okay, go ahead.

What's one thing?

For family.

Alright.

Uh, John Orr, what's one thing that you can praise God for?

For forgiveness.

Now we could go on and on, couldn't we?

I asked you to do one thing, but if you started to reflect, what would happen?

You would start to think more and more and more and more.

And then you would get to more, and more, and more, and more, and

then you would get to more, and more, you guys get what I'm saying.

And then you would hear something from somebody else and be like, ooh, that's

good, I gotta praise him for that, too.

Why?

Because our God is a God worthy of praise.

When we get a chance to reflect and think about who He is, it leads us to what?

To praise Him.

You know, Nicole Padilla said something really cool that was like,

I was like, wow, this is incredible.

So we're at a meeting on Thursday, and I said, hey, share one thing about,

you know, that you can praise God for.

She said, for apples.

I said, okay.

Interesting.

She said, no, I just found out that the skin of apples actually is like an

antioxidant or something like that and it helps fight off that's what she said.

She sent me a text.

You over here saying no, she didn't say it.

She did say that.

Okay, maybe I said one word that's wrong, but that's the essence of what she said.

So she says that and she goes so here's the crazy thing is that helps

you fight off flus and viruses.

Which happens usually around the fall.

And when is it time to harvest?

For apples.

Oh, look at you.

There you go.

And she was like, God is amazing.

He planned it like that.

I was like, Yo, let me go get a green apple right now.

And you can see God is incredible.

When we think about small to big to great to maybe things that don't mean much,

but we see that God is worthy of praise.

When you think about his character, you think about his plan, you think

about his salvation, his mighty act.

It will lead you and I to praise.

You know, the more you spend time with someone, the more you learn about them.

The more you see their traits.

The longer you've been in the faith, you see God more, which leads you

to more opportunity to praise Him.

This is why it's so important we stay faithful to God.

Sometimes we go, Oh, but God's not there.

Well, just stay faithful and you'll see that He is.

And you'll be in awe of that, and it will lead you to praise.

Can I get a hallelujah?

You know, this also requires, for us, it takes some time to reflect.

When you sit back and you reflect, let me just think about this for a second.

Many things come to mind.

And then you begin to think about how good God has been in your life.

How good He's been to His people.

How infinitely powerful and wise God is.

Let's continue moving forward here.

It says praise Him with a trumpet.

It says all these different instruments.

Basically saying praise God with all that you have.

And it's interesting it says praise God with instruments.

So we are to praise Him in song.

Now, God chose music in His message of praise, I believe, for several reasons.

And I read this and I thought this would be really cool for some

of my Bible geeks out there You might appreciate this here, right?

But there's music with some of God's great acts.

So you can take a picture write this down We're not going to get a chance to look at

these but in creation Music accompanies it with the Exodus with the incarnation with

the revelation of redemption in Revelation 5 There's this accompaniment of music

And all my music fans say hallelujah But we see here again, he says, praise him.

You know, music is powerful, isn't it?

It does something to us.

When you hear your jam, what do you do?

You turn it up, or turn it up, you know what I mean, however you roll.

You start, even some of y'all that are not even a dancer, you be moving

a little bit, you know what I mean?

Even if you're off beat, but it's all good.

It does something to your spirit.

God created us like that and he knows we're like that so he's like,

here's what we're going to do here.

I know how powerful music is, so I want to include music in our worship

and praise so that it can move your heart, your mind, your soul, your

spirit, and your connection with me.

This is why we get together and worship.

We don't just get together to sing songs and just feel good, no, because it

connects us to the living, powerful God.

In a deep and profound way, which we couldn't in other circumstances.

And we see, wow, God, you're infinitely wise.

You see, praise through music enables us to connect with God

emotionally and with our hearts.

When I first became a Christian, I didn't get that.

And I was, I was, I was totally fine with being late to service because I

was like, I just want the good stuff.

And the good stuff to me was the sermon.

So I was like, look, yeah, I didn't, you know, I didn't like, I didn't, I

didn't like gospel music at that time.

I didn't, I didn't really like, I was like, there's a couple songs.

I was like, yeah, that's cool.

But let's just get to the sermon.

So I wouldn't really sing out.

I wouldn't really connect with God in that way.

And then, uh, Raphael Lua one time mentioned, uh, he's a minister out in LA.

He mentioned something about, about worship and praise and I

thought, huh, that's interesting.

And then I read in the Gospels where it says that Jesus went to

the Mount of Olives and that he sang hymns with his disciples.

And I thought, how did he sing?

What was that like?

Does Jesus sing the same way that I sing when I come to my worship service?

And I was convicted.

I said, no.

And so then I changed and then I read some books on worship.

And now, now I'm guilty of wanting too much worship music.

People are like, Marcel, can you cut down?

I'm like, no, because we gotta praise him.

And so God is transforming, but even now, and I ask for your prayer, please pray.

Because I have to be in charge, uh, overall of the worship

service, I can't get distracted.

I was talking with Jamie Dena earlier, and I'm trying to talk to

her, and I said, Jamie, I'm sorry if I seem distracted, because I am.

And, and, and she was like, it's okay, Marcel.

I was like, hallelujah for grace, praise God.

But I need help because I can be here, and I can be thinking about everything

that needs to happen, and I can miss out on opportunities to do what?

Connect with God in praise.

And so as we get together, the scriptures call us to praise

God with a great instrument.

Can we go ahead and thank our worship team real quickly?

Amen.

They do a fantastic job.

Let's keep moving forward.

It says, let everything that breathes praise the Lord.

I love the way the NIV says it says, let everything that

has breath praise the Lord.

It made me think of Revelation 5, where it says, Then I heard every creature

in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all that is

in them saying, To him who sits on the throne, to the Lamb be praise and honor

and glory and power forever and ever.

It's this picture that every creature, every being would praise God.

And that's what it says in Psalm 150.

It says to let everything that has breath praise the Lord, even

the animals, even the, the, the, the roaches and the insects.

I'm sorry, I know I grossed some of y'all out, but even the insects, all

the way to our senior citizens, let everything that has breath praise God.

From the shrimp in the sea to the birds in the sky, let them all praise the Lord.

It says everything that has breath and you go, well, why?

And this hit me.

Because every being that's alive, every being that's alive has or currently

is, excuse me, has and is currently experiencing God's mercy and grace.

Every being alive, whether they're in line with God's will or outside of God's

will, they are currently experiencing God's Some mercy and grace of God.

You see, because God can condemn every single one of us right now.

But he hasn't.

And he's given us the opportunity to connect with him in a relationship.

There's mercy and there's grace.

And so what should that lead us, especially as the children of God?

To do what?

To praise God.

Why?

Because we recognize, wow, I could be condemned, I could be set to the side,

I could be cast to the side, but no, he's not giving me my due punishment,

but now he's giving me love, grace, mercy, so that I can connect with him

on a deeper level for all of eternity.

Again it's when we reflect, we can see the glory of God and all of

that is fueled by his passionate, driven love for you and me.

So we should praise Him in our worship service.

We should praise Him on our own.

We should praise God with our lives.

That's also part of praising.

Our daily decisions, our choices.

This is our offering and our opportunity to praise Him with how we live our lives.

And again, why do we praise God?

Because it helps us in our relationship with Him.

It helps us reflect upon Him, and therefore it strengthens our relationship,

and so this kind of really cool, uh, uh, process, uh, starts to take place.

When we begin to praise God, that leads to a deeper and greater connection with Him,

which leads us to more reflection of Him.

But then when I reflect on Him, I go and I want to praise Him, and you can see

this really cool cycle that takes place.

The problem is when one of those When I stop reflecting, then I won't praise,

or I won't connect with him, or when I'm not connected, then I won't reflect.

You guys get what I'm saying?

And so this is so important why we have our personal, it's not private

in the sense of nobody can be involved, but we have our personal

relationship with God, and we have our collective connection with God.

That's why it's so important daily.

I get on my knees and pray and I connect with him through reading his word.

It's important that you and I get together, not just on Sundays,

but throughout the week so that we can praise him and encouraging

and strengthening one another.

Can I get a hallelujah for that?

And so let's go ahead and insert ourselves.

Let's restart.

If we haven't that cool cycle of praising of connecting and reflecting.

And you can see even creating say, oh, you know, that's kind

of like a little peace symbol.

You know, that's what happens.

When we get this cycle going, it brings peace to our souls.

I heard it in a song, it said, Worship may not change the

circumstances, but worship changes us.

And so we might be in some hard predicament, but it changes our view of

the predicament as we're worshiping God.

And therefore we're strengthened and enabled to take on whatever

task may lay before us.

Praise God.

And so what's our response?

Well, let's simply praise God.

Let's praise Him intentionally.

Let's be intentional with our praise.

Let's give ourselves fully in our praise.

And let's make sure our decisions are offerings of praise to our

living, powerful, almighty, loving God, Creator, and Father.

So I want to get real practical here and give an action step here

for the week, really for the day.

I would encourage you to do this today over lunch or even as you go

out in the foyer and hang out here.

Here, here's what it is.

I give you a question for reflection and discussion so you can discuss

today and you can reflect upon it.

Here it is.

Here's the question.

How can we use the Psalms for praise and personal growth?

How can we use the Psalms for praise and personal growth?

Right now we're going to take communion.

This is where we take the emblems that represent Jesus's body that

was broken and his blood that was sacrificed so that we can have an

opportunity for a relationship with him.

And we go back to Psalm 150 in verse 2, it says, praise him for his powerful acts.

Praise him for his abundant greatness.

You know, none of his mighty acts are greater than Jesus coming in human body.

Living a sinless life, dying upon the cross for our sins

and then being raised again.

And then his wonderful mercy of giving us the Holy Spirit when

we repent and get baptized.

And so for that, we can say, Hallelujah.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much, so much for the cross of Jesus.

Thank you that that is the greatest act of mercy, of kindness, of love, and of power.

God, it reveals that you are a God of mercy, of grace, of power, of love.

You are a faithful God.

You are not a God who is distant, but a God who is there.

And God, we want to thank you.

We want to recognize.

We want to reflect.

We want to honor all that you do, all that you have done, and all that you

are going to do, and all that you are.

And again, we see the embodiment of your character in your son, Jesus.

We thank you for him.

We thank you that he persevered.

We thank you that he was disciplined.

We thank you that he stayed upon the cross.

But most of all, we thank you that he raised on the third day.

God, we love you.

We are humbled.

We are grateful.

And we are inspired.

We pray this in Jesus name.