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[Music] [ Music ] Psalm, well, the Psalter in our sermon series, and we come today to Psalm number 113. Those of you who have Bibles, if you'll turn with me to Psalm 113.

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Praise ye the Lord. Praise all ye servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever more.

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The subject of the message, "Praise the Lord." This is admonition given by the worship leader, "Praise the Lord." This is an invitation to celebrate the goodness of God. This particular word is a part of the section of the Psalter known as the Haleo, Psalms

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113 through 118, six in this particular collection. These are songs that were used at the celebration of Israel's religious festivals. The word "Hillel" means "praise." To take it a step farther, the entire Psalter may be considered hymns of praise.

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Praise the Lord. What does this really mean? the Lord on Sunday, that special day of the week that's set aside for worship and praise? Is that what it means to praise the Lord at the time of our great festivals, Easter and

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Christmas? This word embraces far more. Listen again to the words of the psalmist as he gives specific directions concerning times to praise the Lord.

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He says, "From the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised." The Lord is to be praised at all times, day and night, every season, in good times and bad times, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, the Lord be praised.

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God is to be praised at all times, regardless of the condition or circumstance, God is to be praised by everybody everywhere in the church and in the world. Who is to praise the Lord? It is the duty of his subjects. The word here says, "Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord." Those who acknowledge him as

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Lord of their lives are to praise him always. God alone is worthy of praise now and in eternity. His praise is eternal and universal. It is to run through the ceaseless ages, everybody, everywhere is invited to praise him. Everybody will not respond to this invitation, especially those who claim to be servants of the

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Lord are expected to serve him at all times. To praise the Lord when we feel good when everything seems to be going our way that's a normal expectation but to praise God when we are down in the dumps when we are depressed when life gets hard when reverses set in when we are agitated and aggravated by sicknesses

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and pain, most of us have problems there. And then when death invades and disturbs us, to praise God then, in fact many people get angry, why did you take this loved one from me at this time? Ah, that seems to be too much to ask to praise the Lord then. But the the word is praise the Lord at all times. And so often we are inclined to find fault

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with God when things don't go well with us. So often people lose faith and become angry with Him over conditions that are really due to human sinfulness and the corruption of humanity we blame God for many of the things that go wrong with our world but the psalmist here says praise the Lord from beginning to end from birth to

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death and all in between praise the Lord for the Lord is high above all nations and his glory above all heavens. All nations, all nations. That means America, that means Russia, that means South Africa, that means all the nations of the world. God is above the nations. God is transcendent. He is above and beyond all

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all of us. The ancients called him the most high God. And our forefathers said of him in one of the spirituals that we sing that he's so high you can't get over him. So he is transcendent, he is above us, he is detached from us, and yet he is involved with us. He sits high and looks low. He is above us, yet he is accessible to us. Now

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you see Psalm 113 extols the Jewish concept of God which is different from the rest of the world. In verse 5 the question is asked, "Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high?" God is above all we may say or think. Our Our vision, our concepts are limited, our understanding is limited.

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There is far more to know of God than we will ever know. There is none to compare with him. God dwells on high, but he looks down into human suffering. He even disrobes himself and enters the arena of human suffering so that we are free to

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speak with authority concerning the humanity of God. The Lord sees every one of us as we really are. so difficult for us in our finiteness. Jesus says to a blind man when he was in the process of being healed, "What do you see?" And this man said, "I see men as trees walking." And

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And then he touched his eyes again and asked him what did he see and he was able to see people as they really are. And so often people look at people and fail to see them as children of God with certain needs but this God, this most high Lord of heaven and earth comes down into people's

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stricken lives. is like the Lord. He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the dunghill. The Lord identifies with the oppressed, the poor, the destitute, the forsaken, the outcasts, those who are relegated to the periphery of society,

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the poor. God takes the side of the oppressed, that's wonderful. If there is a people who should certainly rejoice in that, it ought to be us. If there was a people of ancient times who could rejoice in this fact, it was the Jewish people because they were constantly being oppressed. They were a minority in

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the world and one thing they knew is that God was identified with the oppressed because he is at work in the world lifting them from the dust of poverty, giving them dignity. The needy may be left to live on garbage thrown from the city dump, but God takes care of them. And just as Job was raised up from

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the ash heap, God is constantly lifting the poor and needy. He enters human suffering. He lifts the oppressed and causes them to enjoy an exalted status because the Lord enables them to sit with princes. He makes the barren woman to keep house and be joyful as a mother of children. Now you know the barren woman

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in ancient Israel was considered a curse. Somehow it was always the woman's fault and never the man's. And when children were expected, the woman who did not give birth to a child was sort of pushed aside, looked upon as a disgrace. You know the story of Hannah who was barren, she prayed to the Lord. God has a way of turning what appears as a curse into

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a blessing. The Lord is the doctor of the barren woman. He makes possible the joy of new birth and Hannah, by the grace of God, is enabled to sing a new song. God is the means through whom new life comes into being. And why does he do it? Because he loves us. He empties himself of glory above the heavens and becomes brother to

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the poor and needy. He identifies with the oppressed. He becomes like us. He speaks our language, Emmanuel, God with us. The angel appears to Mary and she's told that she will bear child and this is a burden, this is a test. Mary will be falsely accused, she'll be misunderstood, she will be scandalized in the community

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all because she will be fulfilling the will of God because this child that is within you is conceived of the Holy Spirit and Mary even though she is astonished at the news she praises God and that's our task to praise him not only with our lips but with our lives. Praise God, why should we praise him?

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Praise God because he is our blessed Redeemer that he has snatched us from the jaws of death, that he has lifted us up from the muck and mire and placed our feet on a solid rock and put a new song in our lips. Praise God. Praise God not only because he is our blessed Redeemer but praise God because he keeps us alive

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we would not be able to be here and rejoice today if it were not for the fact that he has kept us alive for some purpose that he has of his own he has designed us to fulfill his glory praise God praise the Lord and you see the Jewish people were praising God because every time they had a chance to relive

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their their stern trials they praised God. When they look back to Egypt and they remembered how Pharaoh had been arrayed against them and they remembered how God had come down and identified himself with them and how he had lifted them and delivered them they couldn't forget that and so they celebrated their

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Passover experience from year to year and they praise God in doing so. And so you see this this Hillel passage in the in the Psalter these six Psalms were all used in the Passover service when Jesus on that Thursday night when he celebrated Passover he used these songs in the hymn book and possibly half of

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them may have been sung before and the other half afterward and at the end of it the scripture says there in Mark that they sang a hymn and they went out and they sang a hymn from this passage. Praise God. The Hillel, praise God. When you think about that brothers and sisters here he is at that celebration

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the Passover, there's a cloud, there's a darkness, there's the shadow of the cross. There is one at the table who will betray him, a trusted friend, Judas, but he will betray him in just a few hours, praise God. There is another there who will deny him in just a short time and he sings to him, praise God. All of the

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others will forsake him, they leave him alone in the hour of trial and yet he sings a hymn praise God. He will be nailed to a cross, he will be forsaken, he will be scandalized and yet he sings a hymn praise God. And that's for us brothers and sisters no matter what your condition is this morning praise God, no

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matter what has been your experience along the way praise God praise God all ye people praise God praise him with your lips and with your lives and so that's what we celebrate we celebrate praising God even in the midst of carrying his cross or it was at the cross at the cross where we first saw

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the light The door of the church is open. We invite you to come forth and accept Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. [Music] ♪ Oh, love, let me one day ♪

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♪ Feel love in my heart and mind ♪ ♪ Oh, deep love, I'll never ♪ ♪ Forget the world that I know ♪ ♪ And the proud black wolf ♪

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♪ And the brave bull ♪ ♪ That was there in the first light ♪ ♪ Of day ♪ ♪ And the brave bull ♪

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♪ And the brave white wolf ♪ ♪ I will see the full ♪ ♪ And the whole ♪ ♪ And the people too ♪

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♪ God save the White and Bright ♪ ♪ For he was born of the mother dear ♪ ♪ God save the Queen ♪ ♪ May the Lord guide her in her dear ♪

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♪ And the road that we're on ♪ ♪ Is long enough to make us ♪ ♪ Go away ♪ ♪ In a land of my dreams ♪

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♪ I will keep my love ♪ ♪ I will find it ♪ ♪ Before the day ♪ ♪ We are offering the food ♪

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♪ We are the ones who live for the rich ♪ ♪ We are the ones who live for the rich ♪ [music] ♪ The girdles of the Hawks over me ♪

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♪ In the fair morning ♪ ♪ I see the sun ♪ ♪ And the wild monkey over me ♪ ♪ At the cross, at the cross ♪

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♪ There I hear the call of light ♪ ♪ I'm the burden of my heart, oh, Lord ♪ ♪ If it was ever my day ♪ ♪ I would see the day ♪

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♪ When I am at Thee, oh, Lord ♪ - Let us pray. Almighty God, our gracious Heavenly Father, Help us to praise your name every day,

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from the rising of the sun until the going down of it, from beginning to end, in every condition and circumstance. Help us to recognize that there is none like unto you,

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that you are the transcendent one, high and above all that we may say or think. And yet you have chosen to come and dwell among us in Jesus Christ. That you identify with the poor, the oppressed, the needy. And you're our Redeemer so grant that we may learn in every way to rejoice in you as

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we relive experiences and as we look forward to that glorious future where we may join with the heavenly host in praising your name in all eternity. Be with us this week as we go forth facing challenges and conflicts grant that we shall praise your name grace mercy peace be with you God our father Jesus Christ

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our Lord amen [Music] [ Silence ]