In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal experience of dancing during a church service and how it brought liberation to the congregation. He encourages everyone to praise God, referencing Psalm 148 and Acts 16 as examples of praising God in both heavenly and earthly realms. The speaker emphasizes the importance of praising God with skill, particularly for those with musical abilities. He also highlights the act of lifting hands as a form of praise. Overall, the sermon emphasizes the power of praise and its ability to bring about God's intervention.

What opened the way for God's supernatural invention? When his people praised the Lord. Then turn to the story of Jonah, Jonah chapter 2. We all, I think, are familiar with the story about how Jonah disobeyed God. If you read the story carefully, you'll see that from the moment he disobeyed God, every step he took was a step downwards. It's interesting. He lived in the mountains. He went down to the sea coast. He went down from the coast into the harbor. He went down from the harbor into the ship. From the ship into the sea, and from the sea into the fish. And let that be a warning. When you turn your back on God, every step you take from then onwards will be a step downwards. And there he was in the fish. Now I believe the story. And if you read the second chapter, it's his prayer. I would say that would motivate you to pray pretty fervently, being inside a fish. Charles Simpson says, how many of you pray better when you're in trouble? And people always put their hand up, because they don't know what's coming next. And Charles says, that's why you're in trouble. All right, he prayed for about seven verses, and was still inside the fish. But in verse nine, he changed from praying to giving thanks. Says, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. And the next verse says, the Lord spoke to the fish. What brought about God's intervention? Not praying, but thanking. That's right. Then in the New Testament, in Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in the jail. It's midnight. They've been beaten, their backs are covered with blood. They're wounded. They're in the inner prison, the maximum security jail. Their feet are in the stocks. And what crazy thing will they do next? They start to pray, and to praise God. Says in verse 25 of Acts 16, at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard them. The Greek means more than that. The prisoners listened attentively. They'd never had anybody in their prison that acted that way before. Suddenly there was a great earthquake. All the doors were open, everybody's bands were loosed. What provoked the earthquake? Praise. When they praised, God intervened supernaturally. This is a consistent principle of scripture. If you want the supernatural intervention of God on your behalf, in a difficult or impossible situation, the key that will release it, is your praise. And usually it's at a time when you would least feel like praising God in the natural. All right, going on and not dwelling too long anything. Praise is a weapon of spiritual warfare. I've preached on this so often, I could do it in my sleep. Psalm 8, verse 2. David is speaking to the Lord. He says, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings has thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. The enemy and the avenger is satan. To still means to silence or to shut up. Why do we need to shut satan up? What's he doing to us all the time? He's accusing us before the throne of God, day and night. He never takes time off. He doesn't work a five-day week. It's every day and every night of the week. He's accusing us. Why is he accusing us? What does he want to do? What result does he want to produce by accusing us? He wants to make us feel what? In one word, guilty. That's right, that's the key. The whole issue centers around whether you believe you're righteous or you feel guilty. As long as you feel guilty, you are no match for the devil. And so he accuses us. How can we silence him? God has given us something that comes out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. Notice it's out of the mouth. The psalmist David says God has ordained strength. Well that doesn't tell us exactly what it is. But Jesus quoted this scripture in Matthew 21 and verse 16. See so often scripture comments on scripture. I don't know that I spend much time with commentaries. In fact to tell you the truth, I spend precious little. If you added it up in the course of one year, I doubt if it'd amount to five minutes. That's not a boast, it's just a fact. But I find that the bible is the best commentary on the bible. All right, the children were running about in the temple saying hosanna to the son of David. The temple rulers and the scribes and others came and said silence them. Don't let them go on doing this. And Jesus answered them in the middle of verse 16. Yea have ye never read, and he's quoting psalm 8, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. David said thou hast ordained strength. Jesus by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit changed it to thou has perfected praise. What does that tell us? It tells us that the ordained strength of God's people, is perfect praise. And when we offer God perfect praise, in the unseen realm that our eyes, our natural eyes cannot penetrate. We do something to satan. What do we do? We silence him. We shut him up. We take from him his great weapon of accusation. Isn't that wonderful? No wonder the devil doesn't want you to praise God. Because he knows what's going to happen to him if you do. No wonder praise is a struggle. No wonder there's a kind of sound barrier that you find it hard to break through. Because when you break through, you're beginning to deal with the real sources of the problems in the heavens. Look also for a moment, we won't dwell on this, in psalm 149 verse 5 and following. Let the saints be joyful in glory. My observation is that the saints always are joyful in glory. When the glory comes, it makes the saints joyful. Let them sing aloud upon their beds. There isn't any place that the bible says you're not to praise God. It doesn't actually mention the bathroom, but I'm sure it's included. It does mention the bedroom. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth. Notice the mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand. What's the sword? The word of God. What's going to happen when we have the high praises of God in our mouth and a sword in our hand? The sword of scripture. To execute vengeance upon the nations, punishments upon the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. That's not talking about human rulers of flesh and blood. You don't bind them with chains of graves. That's talking about the unseen satanic forces in the heavenlies. And when we offer God perfect praise and direct it into the heavenlies, we bind the satanic forces that oppress the human race. And then comes deliverance. The next thing I need to say about praise, is that it is a sacrifice. It's important to see that. What is a sacrifice? It's something that costs you something. You remember David said to the Lord, I'll never offer you anything that doesn't cost me anything. Would to God we'd all make the same decision. If it costs nothing, it's not a sacrifice. There's a beautiful scripture in the King James. It's better in the King James than any other version. Jeremiah 33 verse 11. Jeremiah 33 verse 11. This is what's going to happen after Israel are restored. In place of desolation and misery and mourning, it says they're going to have this. The voice of joy, the voice of gladness. The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. The voice of them that shall say, praise the Lord of hosts. For the Lord is good. For his mercy endureth forever. And of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. I like that translation, because I believe it brings out the real meaning. The sacrifice that God wants us to bring into his house, to approach him with, is praise. And this is very clearly stated in Hebrews 13. Hebrews the 13th chapter verses 15 and 16. Hebrews 13, just two verses. By him therefore, by him is Jesus Christ. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. Notice praise is a sacrifice. That is the fruit of our lips. Notice where it comes from, our lips. Giving thanks to his name, praise and thanksgiving, closely related. But to do good and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. The scripture speaks of three sacrifices that please God. To give him praise, to do good and to communicate, to share with others what God has blessed us with. And it says those three sacrifices please God. To share with others, to do good and to offer God praise. Bear in mind they're all sacrifices. If you give out of your abundance, well it's good, but it's not a sacrifice. If you praise God when you feel happy and everything's going well, it's good, but it's not a sacrifice. But when everything is going wrong and you praise God, that's a sacrifice. And it says with that kind of sacrifice God is well pleased. The time we most need to praise God is the time when we least feel like doing it. And believe me that will mature you. It will make a grown-up Christian out of you. When you deny your feelings and your emotions and your impulses and what your senses tell you. And say I'm going to praise God for three reasons. He's good, his mercy endureth forever, his truth to all generations. None of those reasons ever change. Now is the time to praise the Lord. I tell you it works. I did it last night and I feel a lot better this morning. But bear in mind, see don't let your natural mind dictate to you. Say well I'm not into praise God for now, everything's going wrong. See what we all have to do, and it came out beautifully in what one of the young men said. Something in us has to be crucified. The old nature that lives by the senses, that goes by what it sees and feels, that has to die. And believe me it doesn't die willingly. It has to be put to death. And one of the best ways to do it, is to praise God when you don't feel like it. And go on praising him till you do feel like it. And you will, if you praise him long enough. You won't be doing it merely in faith any longer. You'll be doing it because you want to. All right, now then we just come to a few closing questions. When should we praise God? Give you two answers. Psalm 145 verse 2. When should we praise God? Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. That doesn't leave out much does it? Every day and forever and ever. And then in Psalm 34 and verse 1. Now Psalm 34 is one of the psalms that's got a little explanation at the beginning telling us when it was written. And it's important. It says the Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed. Now I won't go into the background, but David had had to flee from his native land, his God-given inheritance, and from King Saul, who was trying to murder him. And he'd had to take refuge in the court of a Gentile king named Abimelech. And because Abimelech was a natural enemy of Israel, and David was their main warrior, his life was in tremendous danger. And so in order to protect himself, he had to pretend to be mad. And it says he slobbered on his beard and scraped on the doors with his nails, like a madman. And the king said, what have you brought this fellow to me? Do I need any more madmen? I've enough with you fellows around. That's the real meaning of the statement. So there was David, in order to save his life, running away from King Saul, his cruel enemy and persecutor, taking refuge in the court of a Gentile king. More than all that, he had to act mad, in order to protect himself. What was his reaction? Now when you get that background, read the first verse. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. That's what makes a man of God. When you're down, and everything's against you, and you can see no natural reason, you say, I'll bless the Lord at all times. My mouth will never be empty of his praise. All right, how to praise God? Let's turn to Psalm 111. These are just glimpses, they're not in-depth studies. Psalm 111, the psalmist says, I will praise the Lord with my whole heart. You know, I think it's grievous to praise God in a half-hearted way. I see people in praise services, sometimes they're just molding a few words, and they're languid, and they're droopy, and they're just wondering when we're going to hear the preacher. I think it would be better if we didn't praise God at all, rather than praise him like that. I've been guilty of it myself. But it really is insulting his majesty. We can't praise him with a whole heart, let's not do it. But he's worthy to be praised with our whole heart. Put everything you've got into praising God. That's one thing about the Jewish people, I've studied them and thought about them. When they really want to do something, they do it totally. They just let go. You see Orthodox Jews, they could care less what anybody thinks. They're going to praise God. And they do it with a veil over their face. How much more should we? God likes uninhibited praise. In fact God likes uninhibited people. All right with my whole heart. Then Psalm 47 verse 7. Psalm 47 and verse 7. It says, for God is the king of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. That's the King James version. The Hebrew word is the very word that we heard, masculine. And it means something to make you wise. Something that requires skill and cleverness. So the King James version is legitimate. Sing praises with understanding. But it's more than that. Sing praises with skill. Again, how often do we offer to the Lord kind of half-hearted music? We don't practice. We just sit down and begin to strum or to play. God says, I want you to praise me with skill. If you have musical ability, and God knows I don't. But if I did, I'd use it. You people that have musical ability, you ought to appreciate what it is. I can't carry a tune. I can't play an instrument. Sometimes I'm almost crazy with jealousy. I'm like the prophet Elisha. When he wanted to get in the spirit, he had to send for a minstrel to come play for him. If you have musical ability, you owe it to God to do your best. All right, Psalm 63. We're still answering the question, how to praise God. Verses four and five. Thus will I bless thee while I live. I'll put my hands in my pockets. What does it say? I will lift up my hands. I will lift up my hands. Why not put them all the way up? Has anybody died? Why should the flag be half-mast? If you're going to do it, do it. For some of you, there's still a little religious demon perching on your shoulder saying, well what will the person behind you think? Blow the person behind you, in a nice way. What will God think? That's more important. God says, do it with your hands lifted up. Let me say with regard to Thanksgiving, I didn't mention that. But it's appropriate to do it here. The Hebrew word for thanks, tudah, is directly related to the Hebrew word for the hand, which is yad. In other words, even giving thanks is an action of the hand. It's doing that. Thank you. All right, we haven't finished. Psalm 63, verse five. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. Notice it's the mouth and the lips. It's got to come out. You've got to make a noise. So it's the hands, the mouth, the lips. Your body is involved in praising God. Psalm 141 and verse two. Beautiful, beautiful prayer of David. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. Let it rise up like that beautiful fragrant smoke that goes up from the incense altar. And the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. How many of you offer God an evening sacrifice before you go to bed? Lift up your hands in his name. You'd sleep better I believe sometimes. It's an evening sacrifice. And then just two other scriptures. Psalm 149 and 150. Psalm 149, verse three. Let them praise his name in the dance. And Psalm 150, verse four. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. It is scriptural to praise God in dancing. Now there's different kinds of dancing. I've tried more than one kind. I'm reminded of the man who was very worldly and in haunted bars and nightclubs and got gloriously saved. And he, this was his testimony. He said, when I got saved, he said, I didn't stop drinking. I just changed the brand. And he said, I didn't stop dancing. I just changed the floor. And really that's my testimony too. I used to be out five nights a week dancing. Some of you found that hard to believe. That was so long ago. As I said to the people in Germany and my translator found it hard to translate. You were just a blush on your mother's cheek at that time. Well for a while I stopped dancing. I thought I was going to be religious and respectable and do what people did in church. But after a while I discovered that dancing is a very important way to praise the Lord. As a matter of fact, what really liberated me was this. I was in Chicago in a church that Erne and I referred to last night. And our brother Harry Greenwood was there from England. And those of you who know Harry, he's lively. So he was leading the singing and I was on the platform as one of the sort of elders. And I felt I wanted to praise the Lord. Furthermore I felt I wanted to dance. And so I thought to myself, what will those people think? And I thought to myself, so what, whatever they think. So I started to dance. And when I got started it got better and better the longer it went on. So it was a very warm place. And after a while I took my jacket off and went on dancing. And then I could see my wife looking at me with that kind of look from the front row which says there's something wrong. And I looked down my shirt was coming out. But I still went on dancing. And I danced so long that somebody had an opportunity to leave the church, go back to their apartment, get a camera, come back and take a photograph of me. You say, well what did that do for you? Probably many things. But one thing, it set me free finally from the fear of people. I made up my mind if God wanted me to do something, I'd do it regardless of what anybody thought. Now I doesn't mean we act in an unseemly way and we always got to bear in mind the weak brother or the unbeliever. Paul says, I could do a lot of things but I don't because the love of Christ constrains me. He says when I'm beside myself it's to God, but when I'm sober it's for your sake. So I'm not saying turn loose everywhere and act in an unseemly way. But I say when God the Holy Spirit prompts you, you obey him. You'll enter into a new level of worship and joy that you never knew. I was in a meeting of the Tennessee Georgia camp. Many of you know those camps, about maybe six years ago. I was on the platform alone at the end of my message. Some of you may have been there. It's a big, big stage. And I felt God wanted me to dance. And I started dancing right around that platform. And I just say this to the glory of God, that liberated the entire congregation. It set everybody in that building free. But if I'd never done it, they'd never have been liberated. Lots of people have said to me, if you can do it, anybody can. That's true. So why not you? All right now, two more questions. Very simple. We're near the end. Who should praise God? I'll give you two lists. First of all in Psalm 148 verses two and following. Just listen, you don't need to go into it at length. Praise ye him all his angels. Praise ye him all his hosts. Praise ye him sun and moon. Praise him all ye stars of light. Praise him ye heavens of heavens. And ye waters that be above the heavens. And then again, that's in the heavenly level. Verse seven, we come down to the earthly level. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons in all deeps. I'm glad to be associated with the dragons in praising the Lord. I think it probably says sea monsters in the modern translations. Then verse eight, fire and hail, snow and vapor or mist, stormy wind. All of them to praise the Lord. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts, wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things, flying birds, kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth, young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord. I made a little list, without putting in the intervening words. These are the people that says should praise the Lord. People and creatures. Angels, hosts, sun and moon, stars, heaven of heavens, waters above the heavens. Then coming down to the earthly level, dragons or sea monsters, all depths or deep places, fire, hail, snow, wind, mist, mountains, hills, fruit trees, cedars, wild beasts, cattle, creeping things, birds, kings, peoples, princes, judges, young men, maidens, old men and children. I'm sure that must include you somewhere. There are 29 different creatures that are exhorted to praise God. And then if there's anybody left out, you look in Psalm 150, the last verse of the book of Psalms, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. What was your breath given to you first and foremost? What was it to do? To praise God with. Therefore you're misusing your God-given breath, if you don't praise Him with it. And then just one final but important question. Is there anybody who doesn't praise the Lord? And the answer is yes. And you find it in Psalm 115. Psalm 115 verse 17. The dead praise not the Lord. That's the only group of people. So if you don't praise the Lord, you know your problem. You died and didn't realize it. You want to come alive, what are you going to have to do? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's take time to do that now.