The following is a sermon I wrote called "Don't Playa Hate My Praise!!"
Heavenly Father,
As I type down this message, I pray that those who read it may see Your anointing in the words You put down through me. Allow me to remove self from this message and fill myself with Your precious Spirit. Make me an obedient servant through this message for the readers and followers of Your Word. Amen.
The scripture for this message is Matthew 7:1-5
"1. Judge not, that you may not be judged. 2. For with what judgment you judge you shall be judged, and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again. 3. And why seest thou the straw, which is in thy brother's eye, and perceivest not the beam which is in thine eye? 4. Or how shall thou say to thy brother, Allow me to pull the straw out of thine eye, and, behold, a beam is in thine eye? 5. Hypocrites, cast out first the beam out of thine eye, and then thou shall see clearly, that thou mayest pull out the straw from they brother's eye."
As a youngster, I can recall many times in a church where it was not encouraged to "show out" amongst the congregation. I've seen people catch the holiest of Spirits, and people passing out (including myself). The shouting, the jumping, the dancing, it's there in its purest form. Yet, there is this unspoken air of stoicism in some churches. It is here where this message is derived.
In the Bible, there are many instances in which God says we should praise Him and His wonderful words. David, for example, could not help but to sing and dance in the Spirit, after being delivered from his enemies and from Saul. He realized the joy that the Lord had put in his heart, and he praised Him through the song and dance (2 Samuel 22:1). Psalms 47:6 puts it straightforward, telling us that we as Christians SHOULD sing His praises.
Why praise, though? Isn't it enough to go to church and read the Bible? No. There must be praise and there must be worship factored into the equation. The Bible is the account of His teachings and the life and wisdom of His Son, but it is not a cure-all. The church is His home, and we as Christians are all told to go to His house and to be fed and filled with His goodness. It is not enough. We are told that we should magnify His name and praise His goodness. We must have our own personal quality time with the Lord. Though other souls may be in your presence, you must also come into His presence. We worship a merciful God who is not through blessing us. The love He has for us is unparalleled, and is unequivocal. All He asks of us is that we praise Him and worship Him. There is an old saying that says "when praises go up, blessings come down". How can we come into His bounty and have our cup overflow if we are not holding up our end of the bargain?
What is praise? Pastor Brandon (so I'm called), you tell us WHY we should praise and we know that the Bible encourages us to praise, but what is praise exactly? Also, what is worship and how does it factor into the equation? In short order, praise is the gateway to His presence, where we humble ourselves and lift up His name. Worship is your walk with the Father once you are in His presence. Praise is like the elevator to get up to His presence, but it takes the power of worship to step out of the elevator and into the light of His Spirit. Praise is an expression, praise influences the movement of Christian soldiers on the walk to save souls en masse (we ARE coming, so Satan, WATCH OUT!!). It can be clapping or raising your hands, shouting, singing, dancing, or playing an instrument. God gives us all a unique gift with which to praise Him, so none of us are without a medium with which to praise His holy name.
Praise is more than an action or a gesture, though. Praise is a way of life. Praise manifests itself through your daily life. Praise does not look at its watch, wondering when the sermon will be over. Praise does not smile in the presence of Christians and kick dirt on their name when they are not around. Praise does not find reasons to avoid being in His presence. The Bible says that Jesus will remember you and all the things that you do when He comes with the Father to judge us all. Praise is personified in living a life pleasing to Him, thanking Him for the many blessings He has imparted upon us.
There are three types of praise: pre-blessing praise, blessing praise, and post-blessing praise. First, we must praise His name to come into His presence to reveal the inner recesses of ourselves to Him. We know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, but we must come into His presence for Him to do so. We are not to wait until we want something to praise Him. We are to praise Him regardless and allow Him time to bless us on HIS watch. Then, we are to praise Him as the blessing is coming into fruition. When we are working late to make sure the job gets done, when we present our Christian selves and are getting to know someone interesting, when we toil and roll with the hills and valleys, the trials and tribulations of life. Finally, the post-blessing praise comes when the blessing has presented itself and we see His wonderful work through positive outcomes in our own lives. Getting the promotion, getting involved wit that special someone, buying that house, etc. Just as we would thank someone for getting us a gift, we should also be thankful to Him for answering our prayers and blessing us as He sees fit. Then, the continuous cycle of praise starts all over, which is why it is a way of life and not just something done during Praise and Worship time at church.
It’s also about being in His presence, too. It reminds me of getting a police citation, a parking ticket, for example. We may talk about how inefficient the police force is and what they are and are not doing, but when we’re pulled over and are about to get a ticket, we humble ourselves. We bite our tongue; we smile, and act as peacefully as we can for things to go smoothly. When we are in the presence of that officer of the law, we give them the respect they deserve. When we are blessed to be in the presence of a dignitary, we do not walk up to them in our underwear, burping and scratching ourselves. We dress nicely, remember our manners, speak in an appropriate tone, and give them the respect that their position deserves. The Lord is no different, other than the fact that we are ALWAYS in His presence. Acting one way in church and another outside only serves to fool man. “You can fool man some of the time, but you can’t fool God none of the time,” the saying goes. Knowing that God is always with us, we should ALWAYS be in a state of total praise to Him for the wonderful things He has done, is doing, and will do in our favor.
All this brings me to the crux of the matter. Don’t playa hate my praise. Just as we worship a loving God and God loves us, your relationship with Him burns Satan’s britches something brutal. Your constant walk with the Father keeps Satan busy, because he knows he cannot battle God’s army. So, instead of trying to attack the Father, he will attack you. He will send people to try to make you feel bad for praising and belittle you for doing so. People will look at you funny, whispering “here he comes with that church stuff...” People may try to put your hands down, put their finger on their lips, motioning for you to hush. People will label you a “goody two-shoes”, and you will be treated like a cripple, as if being a Christian is a handicap. You will be infected with the bubonic plague of salvation, and they shirk at the idea of your touch, avoiding you at all costs.
If they only knew a tenth of the goodness of the God we praise!!! God tells us that in our praise, we should give it our all. We should “go for broke,” as they say. You can’t let what another person says or does keep you from getting that blessing that God has put out there in your horizon. Your praise is your testimony. The Christian life is a testimony for all to see and to win souls. Those that look down on your praise and spit at your worship see the glory, but don’t know the story. They aren’t aware of the wonderful things that God is doing to you at THAT VERY SECOND. Your praise of His name for that split second may be the one thing that keeps you from death the next second. As good as God is and with all that He promises us, He does not promise us one second on this Earth, but he DOES promise us eternity in paradise if we do what…..praise Him while we are here.
As Christians, we are also not to judge the praise of others. As stated earlier, each of us was given a unique set of gifts with which to praise Him. There are no universal praises. There are different vocal pitches, different arm lengths, different tastes in music, different equipment, different talents that are present in all of us. We ALL do things that fall short of the glory of God all the time (and will continue to do so, as was told in His word), so who are we as cracked vessels to speak on the appearance of another vessel or to mock it when it tries to repair itself? The scripture says that just as we judge those, we shall also be judged in equal measure to our transgression. So, to avoid a divine airing of our dirty laundry, we are told to not place judgment on the celebration of others.
Knowing this, we say DON’T PLAYA HATE MY PRAISE!!! Wanna try to shut me up while I’m shouting out His greatness? DON’T PLAYA HATE MY PRAISE!!! Tell me “we don’t do that here”? DON’T PLAYA HATE MY PRAISE!!! Try to step in front of me and distract me from my blessing? DON’T PLAYA HATE MY PRAISE!!! Wanna criticize my Christian walk? DON’T PLAYA HATE MY PRAISE!!! Respect my mind, but first and foremost, respect my spirit and respect His presence in my life. GET THEE BEHIND ME SATAN, AND GIVE ME THE SOULS OF THOSE YOU HAVE COMMANDED!!! SATAN, LUCIFER, BEELZEBUB, I REBUKE THEE IN THE NAME OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER!!! My Father has a blessing out there for me that I’m GOING to get!!! Let us stand up and rejoice, making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Let us hold nothing back and give it all up to Him. Don’t hate the player or the game. Come get a piece of His salvation and walk with Him. Amen.
-B
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