The Gift of Praise and Worship

What shall I render to the Lord? The answer is: the gift of praise and worship.

Psalm 116:12 says, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” God has blessed us – there are so many benefits. This morning what can you and I can render to the Lord — its the gift of praise and worship as Psalm 116 says, “the gift worth giving,” this is a gift worth giving to our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Shepherd.

Many times when you have been in church for years, you praise, praise, praise, and worship All of you know that, I don’t have to tell you about worship — because when you think about all that the Lord has done for you, what He has done for each one of us – when we think of all His benefits, praise should not be withheld.

So praise means to celebrate who God is — celebrate His glory, His character, His attributes — His everlasting love. Praise means to boast — boast of God. You can use it to praise people for their beauty, for their abilities, and all of that good. But what I’m speaking about this morning — the word is going to be used as a prayer to God, because He alone deserves our praise.

We are the ones called to say, to tell, to proclaim, to thank God for His blessings. Praise Him for what He has done for us. He has saved us — we can give Him the praise and thanksgiving for salvation — for the gift of salvation. We can praise Him because He gave us His Holy Son.

John 3:16 (KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We can praise Him because He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of His Son, of His son.

Psalm 107:1–2 (KJV)
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

We can praise God because He has heard our prayers. Because we are here this morning, because we know He is a prayer-answering God. He tells us in Jeremiah 33:2 to call upon Him. And He said He will answer us and show us great and mighty things that we know not of.

Jeremiah 33:3 (KJV)
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

David said, “Blessed be God, because He has heard the voice of my supplication.” And we know that God hears, so we can praise Him — not only for hearing our cries — but for answering them.

Psalm 18:1–2 (KJV)
I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

I know somebody can praise the Lord for being your Deliverer, for being your Shield. David said He is like a shield around us. God is our protector. The Scripture talks about angels encamping around those who fear the Lord. We can praise Him for His protection along our way. And praise is a form of sacrifice.

Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We can praise Him because even the Scripture says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Even praise is a form of PDA…

You know what PDA is — public display of affection. That’s what I’m calling it. When you think about the Book of Acts — it says in the Book of Acts — when Paul and Silas were in prison — you can praise Him through your trials. Acts 16:25 says:

Acts 16:25 (KJV)
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

So when we praise God openly, it is our public display of connection to God — for God. And I mean, how can I praise God in silence? Paul and Silas praised — and we know the story — there was a great earthquake and the chains fell off, and the jailer was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners escaped — but Paul said, “We are all here.”

And because of that, the jailer was saved and his household. So when we praise, other people will see — and their lives can be transformed by the praise that we give to our God.

So what can you render? What can I render? Praise Him by showing public display of affection to the One who loves us with an everlasting love, the One who has bought us, who redeemed us, who has chosen us and qualified us — we can praise our God. And when we praise God, it revives our faith.

1 Peter 1:6–7 (KJV)
In this ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 40:1–3 (KJV)
I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

That’s why Paul and Silas did what they did. They sang the jailhouse song. God came and shook the prison — and then the jailer had his encounter with God.

Psalm 150:6 (KJV)
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

And the Scripture also says God inhabits the praises of His people. So this morning, what we can render to our God — He has given us so much — we can give back to Him the gift of praise.

And we can give Him the gift of worship. Worship means to prostrate — to bow down in reverence to God. It means to kneel before a superior ruler. And we know that our God is the Highest.

There is no one higher than Him. He is the One who made us.

Psalm 100:3 (KJV)
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

So we bow before the Great King.

If people fall down before men — we see people bow before human beings — and even in the Book of Ruth, when she met Boaz she fell before him… so if we who are created bow before man, what about us bowing before the One who has crowned us with His lovingkindness and tender mercies, who has honored us, who has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of salvation?

Worship shows honor and respect to God. Like the song says, “He is worthy of it all.” Worship is intimacy with the Lord.

Psalm 95:6 (KJV)
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

Psalm 96:9 (KJV)
O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

Biblical worship is the act of expressing love, honor, and adoration to God — it comes from who He is. We were created to worship God. Worship is our response to God’s love toward us.

We are called to worship. And how do we worship God? — by living righteous and holy lives.

Micah 6:8 (KJV)
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

When we let His Word be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path — Psalm 119:105. When we acknowledge Him in all our ways so He can direct our path — Proverbs 3:5–6. When we cheerfully give — “God loves a cheerful giver.” When we use our gifts and talents — 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

1 Chronicles 16:29 (KJV)
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

And like the psalmist said, “When we truly worship God, our intimacy with the Lord and our love for Him will increase.” Our posture of worship will be authentic — and not forced or coerced. When we worship God, His will becomes our heart’s desire.

We will see evidence of His power in our lives — just like Peter and John when they were at the gate called Beautiful — and because of their intimacy with God, because of their worship, because of the power of God at work in them — they were able to give that man not what he wanted, but what he needed — healing and the gift of salvation.

So your posture — many people think it’s only clapping your hands — but you can kneel. You can lay before the Lord. When I was a kid — and I’m going to close — when we were kids, in Jamaica… I went to a Holiness church.

The one thing I loved about the altar at the church was they had these little pillows. The pillows at the altar — and I loved to kneel on the pillows every Sunday. I was going to the altar, I loved it. So if you find it hard to kneel on the floor — many of you have pillows on your bed — pillows on your couch — you can kneel before the Lord and just worship Him.

If you can’t kneel, you can lay down — lay flat before the Lord — it’s just the posture before the Lord because it honors Him.

John 4:23 (KJV)
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

We don’t want to be like those who Jesus said, “They honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.”

So let us offer the gift of praise and worship to God.

He is worthy of it all. Let us honor the King of kings. He has given us so much — so what can you and I render? One of the benefits we have as children of God is life — not everyone can praise God — but we who have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light — equipped and indwelt with the power of the Holy Spirit —

One of the things you and I can render to the God? One of the benefits we have as children of God — we can offer Him the gift of praise and worship. So let’s endeavor every day to offer the gift of praise and worship to our God who is worthy of it all.

So, Father God, we thank You this morning. We thank You this morning that we can worship You in spirit and in truth, God. We thank You God, we can offer praise unto You — let everything that has breath praise the Lord.