Hallelujah

Scripture

 Praise the LORD ! Praise the name of the LORD ! Praise him, you who serve the LORD!

~Psalm 135:1, NLT

Quote

Praising God should be our highest goal, greatest passion, grandest privledge and noblest activity.

~Steven Lawson

The first two Hebrew words in Psalm 135 are hä·lal’ and yä. When you put them together, you have hallelujah which simply means “Praise the LORD.” It reminds me of the time I asked an Italian a very stupid question: I said, “How do you say pizza in Italy?” He said, “Pizza!” What an idiot! The only thing that could have made it worse would have been for Jason to have been an eye witness. Very few words become universal but hallelujah, amen and pizza are universal in scope. Every time you say or sin hallelujah, you are singing Hebrew, not English.

In Judaism, the Priest and Levites lead the praise and worship. Jesus changed how we worship by making every believer a priest. Every believer has the privilege and responsibility to lead praise and worship. In Luke’s gospel, we have this commentary on Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem…As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him.  When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the LORD ! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”  When Seth was a child, his favorite song was, “Aint No Rock Gonna Take My Place.” How can anyone with any spiritual life, not praise Jesus. If you need help look at the list in Psalm 135.

  1. Praise HIM for the opportunity to SERVE in His house [v.2]. We all have the privilege that once belonged only to the Levitical family. 
  2. Praise HIM for His infinite goodness. [v.3]
  3. Praise HIM for His sovereign grace in choosing Jacob {an undeserving sinner}. [ v.4]
  4. Praise HIM for His excellent greatness. [v.5]
  5. Praise HIM for being the ALMIGHTY who does what He pleases. [v.6]

I want to praise the LORD today for His wisdom and His gifts of grace. Our heavenly Father gives us what we need and not what we want. So many times, what we want is not what we need. Our lust can get so out of control that we want things that are harmful to us but our good and gracious Father in heaven sees beyond our lust and He gives us what we need. The Jews wanted a Messiah that would save them from Rome. God gave them a Suffering Servant to save them from their sin. Which is the greater need, to be saved from a temporal despot or to be saved from the power of eternal destruction? The short-sighted Jews wanted a king with a little k to rule Israel but God in His infinite wisdom gave them a KING with a big K: one who would rule the universe. God gave them abundantly more than they had the ability to request. Aren’t you glad that God is not limited by our puny request or our shallow minds.

You could sense the holiday spirit in the air yesterday. Kids out of school and the girl at the dentist office was excited: she said, “Today is my Friday. I’m off until next Monday.” It looked like Friday traffic in Hartselle; the town was buzzing. We all have so much to do and we are running out of time. Today is turkey smoking day.

I heard some discouraging news yesterday but I am not giving up: we do not need a politician to take Jones place in the senate. We need Coach Tuberville who is a staunch Trump supporter. This is why Shelby, who is a Rhino, put Session in the race. Shelby help derail Moore and now he is trying to sabotage Tommy Tuberville campaign. Shelby is an old fashioned porker. He has been there too long and he has too much power. He is a Washington insider, a part of the bureaucracy and do not let him tell you how to think. He is still a democrat. He is republican in name only.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

Lord willing we will be back on line next Monday December 2…

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