The Right Praise at the Right Time | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Turn your Bibles with me to Psalm 42 and2. And uh always give honor, Amen, to our senior pastor and first lady. I love them so much. thankful. Amen. To call them pastor. And I believe we can't get to heaven. The word says we can't get to heaven without a pastor. I hope I hope I hope you got a pastor. I know you do, but you know what I'm saying. Hope you appreciate your pastor. >> Hope you realize that you can't spiritually be saved without somebody talking into your life and speaking weekly. >> >> We come to church multiple times a week on purpose. This is no accident. This is this is not because we couldn't find anything else to do with our time. >> For the or you know, we we could have been anywhere tonight doing anything, sitting on the couch, at home, whatever. But boy, I love being in church. I love being fed. I love worshiping a God who's been good to me. It just is nothing like being in the house of the Lord. And I've heard this said and I felt it. I was praying. I believe it was Monday here in the sanctuary, all the lights out and I just I began to weep and I began to just say, "God, you know, we call this the sanctuary and maybe we call this sanctuary because it's what we've named this particular room in the church house, but boy, it when you're here during prayer, it it just feels like a sanctuary. You feel like you're safe. You feel like you just tell God whatever you want to tell him. Share your burdens with them. Share your your hiccups and your hang-ups and everything else you get to share with him. And and you just feel safe. It's a safe place. Aren't you glad to be in a safe place tonight? A sanctuary. A sanctuary where we know that our God cares about us and wants to see the best for us. Amen. >> Psalm 42 and2. I don't I don't I don't want to um I don't know if I'm going to teach or preach. I don't know. It feels like Sunday night. I might preach, but I'm not I'm not going to be very long. But I just I need you, if you will, if you will, to follow very closely. Psalm 42:2 says, "My soul thirsteth for God, not just any God, for the living God." And and then here's what what I'm going to preach about. It says, "When shall I come and appear before God?" Psalm 116:12, different author, different psalmist says, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?" What shall I render unto the Lord? And then Micah chapter 6 and verse number six starts off with an interesting word wherewithal. We don't use that too much in the modern English. Wherew with all which simply means with what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? You have three different voices, three two psalmists and then of course you have Micah. But they ask the same question. When do I come? What do I do? What do I bring? And what is the right response in the moment that I'm living in? I I'm going to share something with you tonight and and I don't want to call it a revelation, but it is it is an idea and a topic that I don't know if I've heard preached before, but I'm going to preach on the topic of praise. But of course when I when I ask this question, the question is not whether God is worthy of praise. That question has already been settled. We know he's worthy of praise. But I I want to ask something much more practical. What is the right praise at the right time? That's my title, the right praise at the right time. because there's a whole lot of different types of praise for different seasons and situations in our life. And I believe it's okay tonight. I don't know, we might teach it, we might preach it, but we're going to talk about God, I want to give you the right praise at the right time. Why don't you put your Bibles down? Just lift up both hands. Come on, let's pray over the word tonight.

Thank you, Lord, for the power that I feel in this house. For the spirit of the Lord is here, God, you've already shown yourself strong. You've already made yourself known. I felt your power. I I felt the very hair on my arm begin to stand up, Lord God, when I felt the anointing power of the singers, God, as they begin to sing songs of praise and songs of worship to you, as our as our Spanish church begin to sing songs of dancing and praising and twirling and jumping. Lord God, I I thank you for all these forms of praising. God, I've come to preach about praise tonight. I've come to preach to people that love to praise. Uh, I've come to preach to a house filled with people, Lord God, who enjoy giving their God a high praise. Uh, we don't just enjoy praising all. We just enjoy giving you a high praise. And tonight, Lord God, be pleased in what you see and hear. And Lord God, be pleased in the way we praise you tonight. In Jesus name we pray. In the church said, "Amen." You may be seated in the house of the Lord tonight. Thank you for coming out on a rainy Wednesday night. Rainy. You know, sometimes I feel like it only snows and rains on Wednesdays and Sundays. Does anybody else beside the pastoral team realize that? You don't get a good snow in the winter time till about Saturday night about Monday about Sunday morning about 3:00 a.m. is when it snows really good. >> I mean, it it just all heavens open up and it snows and it began to rain, man. a thunderstorm, the lightning started. I thought, "Oh, it must be Wednesday." But you showed up anyways. Thank you. >> Amen.

As we get up to study this this broad topic of praise, and I will say this, uh, Pastor Carpenter, I I told the Lord, I said, "Lord, you've been giving me hard subjects lately, heavy subjects." I said, "Please, come on. Let me let me just preach on praise or give me something easy. Give me an easy topic. Give me a fun topic." And uh he did he did, but he kind of he kind of threw some stuff in here. So uh we're going to we're going to have a good time tonight. But I I started off this with this one question as I began to study the broad topic of praise. And if I if I could choose the the perfect circumstance in which God would enjoy to be praised, what would that circumstance be? Because surely one season makes praise more natural and more honest and more powerful than every other season. You you think about this, you know, is it good times? Is it bad times? It's when you're about to go through something, when you're coming out of something. What is the season where praise, intentional praise is the most powerful? And I and I attend before the end of this message, we're going to talk about what that season is. But it's very important to acknowledge what praise is and what praise is not. >> Praise is not an emotional response to what is happening around me. >> I'm going to say it again. It's not an emotional response. Praise is not something we do with just emotions in a response to the good or the bad, the beautiful, the ugly that's taking place in our life. Praise is my spiritual declaration of who God remains in the midst of it all. >> If praise depends upon everything going right, then circumstances have to become the Lord of my worship. But that's not how it works. But when I praise God in every season, I announce that the circumstances may affect me, but they don't define my God. >> Come on, somebody. Because my God doesn't have good days and bad days. He doesn't have ups and downs. He He's not on an emotional roller coaster. A temporary season will never be permitted to make a permanent statement about the faithfulness of our God. >> So the time does not determine whether God deserves praise. The time reveals what dimension of his faithfulness my praise should declare. Let me say that one more time. You got to catch that if you're going to follow along with me. The time, the season does not determine whether God deserves praise. We understand that. It's the time that reveals what dimension of his faithfulness my praise should declare. >> So every season, every season we go through, and I'm going to study, we're going to study some different seasons that people went through in the Bible. Every season asks something different of my faith. And every season has a right response to that season. The secret is not waiting for a better season. The secret is giving God the right praise at the right time. So in a season, let's talk about this. In a season of blessing, how many enjoy the season of blessing? >> Well, only a few of you raised your hands. I guess the rest of y'all enjoy bankruptcy. And the rest of y'all enjoy bank accounts that are empty. My God. Listen, a season of blessing, there's nothing like a season of blessing. And there's nothing that lets you to know it's time to worship God and to praise God like a season of blessing >> because none of us deserve the blessings of God. We realize this. None of us are entitled to the blessings of God. Matter of fact, Sunday night, pastor already mentioned it, man. We put three down in the water in the name of Jesus. I see them here tonight. Put three down in the water. They came up speaking in another tongue. >> God filled young people with the Holy Ghost, children with the Holy Ghost. And I began to think to myself as the power of the Holy Ghost was moving and ministering in this place, I began to think to myself, God, you are not fair. >> And I know usually the context of that is when we're complaining and when we're crying and when we're when we're we're having a little pity party, but that wasn't what I was doing. I was saying, "God, I'm thankful you're not fair." Because every church is not experiencing right now what we're experiencing. I began and again and I I don't know I've been really emotional lately and and I began as I began to weep and I was down here praying and praying for people and I was thanking God for people around me and I was looking and seeing people get blessed and I was thinking to myself this is not normal. >> I'm not bragging. I'm just stating the fact. Brother Dean, it's not normal. The church we have around here is not normal. We are not entitled to this. It's not something we've done to deserve this. We didn't we Holy Ghost help me. >> Sometimes we Sometimes we get we get so used to having good church, we don't even realize we're having good church. Sometimes we get so blessed that we don't even realize we're blessed. We just think it's normal and it's natural to get what we're getting to feel that we're feeling and to see what we're seeing and experience what we're experiencing when all along God is simply saying because you've been obedient. You've been good. I want to be faithful to you and I want to show you what I can do for you. I want to show what I can do for your family, your children. >> And thank God he's not fair. no respector of persons. He doesn't treat somebody one way and treat somebody the other way because they've done something good and somebody else hasn't done what he thought they ought to do. He's just a good God and we just to get the benefit of it. >> We get to enjoy it. We get to experience it. Thank God that I go to a church that's alive and on fire. Thank God I go to a church that's apostolic from the head all the way down to our toes. I thank God we still believe in miracles, signs, and wonders. I still believe in healing power. I still believe that by his stripes we were healed. And healing is in the church today. We sure don't deserve what we get around here. But in Luke chapter 17, I uh we have Jesus passing through the region between Samaria and Galilee and 10 lepers catch sight of him and begin begging him for mercy. Have mercy. Jesus, son of David, have mercy. And they had heard stories of the healer and they recognized that they were prime candidates for a miracle. And as we know, Jesus can't help himself, can he? Miracle worker is not what he does. Miracle worker is who he is. It's his identity. He can't go by the sick without healing them. Matter of fact, you cannot bring a dead, you can't bring a a funeral procession by him without him walking up and taking them by the hand and pulling them up off the hearse. My God, he can't help himself. He's just a good God. >> Luke 17:14, look at this right here. And when he saw them, saw these 10 lepers, he said unto them, "Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God >> and fell down on his face at Jesus's feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan." And now listen, I I've heard this preached. I've heard it said the Samaritan only returned because he was not allowed to go before the high priest and he was not allowed to go before the Jewish priests. That's partially true. The Samaritans could not go before the priests in in the Jewish synagogue. However, if he would have continued on to Mount Garism, he could have received an official declaration because they also had a priest for the Samaritans. So he could have also showed himself to his priest and he might have showed himself to his priest when he was through worshiping Jesus. But in verse 14, Jesus told the men to go show themselves unto the priests. Y'all see the s on? That's plural. That's more than one priest. Jesus knew who they were. Jesus understood they were going to two different priests. But before the Samaritan leper went to his priest to have the cleansing confirmed, he first returns to Jesus to give the one who cleansed him the praise. >> You see, 10 men cried for mercy, 10 men obeyed, and 10 men were cleansed as they went because the healing came after the obedience. You realize that? He said, "Go show yourself to the priests." >> And so what did they do? They obeyed. They went. And as they were going, they realized right away, hey, hey, hey, hey, something's happening. I don't know what that looked like. I I've never seen leprosy. I've seen pictures and pictures are are gruesome. But I if you look at the leper, the leper, they're they're missing fingers and their skin is white as snow and they're missing maybe a nose and maybe maybe an ear or two. And it's a very ugly ugly ugly disease. And somehow someway they realize, hey, something's changing in my body. I don't know if their skin turned back to to the color it should be turned to an olive color. I I don't know. But they realized that they were healed. And when that one listen, nine kept on going. But there was the one. And the one said, "Wait a minute. Before I go any further, I've got to turn back to the one who changed my life, to the one who changed my future." >> Now, now listen. And I know some of you are like, "Oh, oh, oh, Pastor Ericson, what what are you doing here? We all know the story of the 10 lepers." But you're wrong because everybody in this house doesn't know the story of the 10 lepers. Sometimes we grew up going to Sunday school and we know the Bible stories, but everybody doesn't know all these Bible stories. And sometimes I I heard it preached one time. I heard a pastor that was preaching one time. He said, he said, "Man, I got Jonah. I got him going in the wrong direction. I got him swallowed by a great fish." He said, "I moved on." Assuming that everybody knew what happened. And he said, "After this service, some some poor woman come up to me and said, "What happened to Jonah? Was he still in the fish?" Come on. Sometimes, if you teach Bible studies, you understand this. >> Just because you know the story and you've heard it 10,000 times, doesn't mean the person next to you knows the story. So bear with me because this one Samaritan, half Jew, half Gentile, cast away, hated, despised. He comes back and gives God praise. And what does Jesus do? Jesus said, "Hey, you are because of your faith, you are made whole. You don't have to live the same way you not only are you healed, but you are made whole." Listen, the greatest danger in a good season is enjoying the gift so completely that we forget the giver of the gift. >> Listen to me. Listen, listen, listen. There's somebody here tonight that is presently living in an answered prayer. >> Oh yes, you sought after this prayer with tears. You prayed for that job. You prayed for that child. >> You prayed for healing. You prayed for restore relationship. You prayed for an open door and the answer was received and that answer now consumes the time and the affection that once drove you to God. >> And the very same thing that brought you to your knees, the very same thing that got you up every morning praying and begging God and asking God and petitioning God, that very same answer to prayer now hears you stop praying. got that new job and you don't have time to go to Wednesday night church. >> None of y'all. >> I'm preaching to the people not here. >> Right? That blessing, that blessing that you prayed for, God help us. Gratitude means you deliberately return the blessing to its proper placeh. The Bible says he came back and got down on his hands and knees and began to give thanks and give gratitude to the one who gave the blessing. >> We better add prayer back into our schedules even when we got the new job. >> Oh, come on, somebody. We better worship. Add worship back into the home that God restored. Add generosity back into the increase that God provided. God, I don't want to get so blessed that I forget where my blessing came from. >> You got to tell your family what God did. >> You got to serve him with what he gave and refuse to become less devoted because life became more comfortable >> because that's what blessing is. >> Blessing gets us into a life and a season of comfort. And again, I'm I'm thanking God for that season. I'm not preaching against that season. God, I hope I stay in that season. But don't let answer to yesterday's prayer become the reason you no longer pray today. >> When goodness became visible, gratitude is the right praise at the right time. >> Gratitude is the right praise when you're in a season of blessing. >>

What about a season of emptiness? Let's move forward. Cuz here we got blessings and we can all shout with blessing. But what about a season of emptiness? >> The right praise in the season of emptiness is a yet praise. Yet praise. Habach. Look at Habach 3 and 17. That's a fun word to say. Habach. 3:17 says, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom," well there goes the fun. Neither shall the fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olives shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. >> Here we go. Yet >> I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. >> Woo! Habach was an Old Testament prophet who ministered shortly before Judah was invaded by the Babylonians, probably near the end of the seventh century before Christ. But here in chapter 3, Habach did not ignore what was missing. I want you to see this right here. He did not ignore the things that were missing in life. He took inventory of every empty place. The fig tree was not blossoming. The fruit tree was not bearing fruit. The fields produced no harvest. The flock was gone from the fold. The stalls were empty. I'm talking about emptiness. A season of emptiness. But then Habach placed one powerful word between emptiness and his worship. He used the word yet. He said yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. yet means everything Hab backup described was true but none of it was the final truth. The field was empty yet God was faithful. The harvest failed yet God was faithful. He was still worthy even though the situation looked insurmountable. You simply have got to do whatever it takes to give God praise even in your empty season. Woo! This visible supply was gone. Yet the invisible source remain. >> You can take it all, but give me Jesus. You can take this world, but give me Jesus. Yet praise is the praise I give God after I've acknowledged everything that's gone wrong. And I remember that none of it changes what is right about my God. >> Listen, anybody can praise when the sentence ends with blessing. But mature praisers when the sentence contains a contradiction. They can still praise. They can say, "I'm hurting yet I praise him. Brother Kevin Lawless, I I need this soul, this shoulder surgery and this this repair in my shoulder, yet I'll still lift my hands as far as I can. Yet, I still praise him. I need a knee replacement. I can barely walk. But I'm going to get on my feet and bounce just a little bit and show the devil you're not going to stop my praise. Although my knees are given in, yet will I still give him glory. I can't jump and shout and run the aisles like I used to when I had a good set of but I can still give my God praise yet will I praise him. I preach about the right praise at the right time. We got to understand there's always a right praise when we're going through a season. You might be looking at an empty bank account or an empty chair at your table. >> Come on, moms and dads. You might have had a child that walked out, ran away from home, left home. You might look looking at an empty nursery. >> Put a crib in that nursery and then end up having the baby. You might looking You might be looking at an empty calendar, an empty ministry season. You don't have to pretend that the emptiness is not there. You simply refuse to let what is missing become greater than the God that remains. Because the God that remains is greater than any blessing. The God that's still by our side is greater than any person or any riches or any bank account. It's better than any job, any career. It's better than any ministry. He's still by our side. He remains yet praise says I don't have to have the answer but I still have Jesus. I don't have to have visible evidence but I still have his word. >> When the field is empty >> yet praise is the right praise >> at the right time. >>

Here's the next one. In a season of pain. Oh come on. We all go through this. Everybody goes through a season of pain. What's the right praise for praying? I'll tell you the right praise for pain is surrender. The praise of surrender. Job 1 and0. Then Job arose, ran his mantle, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground >> and worshiped. >> And he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb. Naked am I going to return. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Sister Stephanie, I have misqued this scripture so many times, and I think it's because we sing a song and misqu it. We sing a song that says, "He gives and takes away. He gives and takes." As if he has like a yo-yo. That's not what it says. Because it's easy if you know if he takes away he's about to give again. That's not what he said. He said the Lord gave >> and the Lord hath taken away. It's gone. He said but I still bless the name >> of the Lord. >> Lost his children, lost all his possessions, his security, his future. >> Only thing that Satan let him keep was his wife. And I heard a comedian say that was on purpose and failing. I don't know why they're laughing. I don't think that's funny. Then Job arose. The Bible says he tore his garment, shaved his head, fell upon the ground, and began to worship. His torn garment revealed the depth of his grief. But his worship revealed the depth of his surrender. >> Pain brought Job down to his knees. Let me tell you something. I wonder sometimes if God has to build us a prayer closet. >> Sister Brenda, I don't ever want God to have to build me a prayer closet. >> There's a young lady I met a young lady when I was in Bible school. My roommate Jason Gallian, his dad pastored a church in in in central Illinois. And he told me, he said, he said one day he said, "Listen," he said, "chad, you got to come home with me one weekend because I want you to meet a girl in my youth group named Thresher." I said, 'Well, you know, I was a single young man. I thought, "Tell me about Thresher." He said, "No, it's not what you think." He said, "Now," he said, "Listen, at one time she was a a beautiful girl." He said, "But she got she got mixed in the world. She she she got in her public school and got mixed into drinking, got mixed into going to parties and she was in she was she she was drunk one night and got into a DUI, got in an accident, head-on collision. And he says she's a paraplegic. Matter of fact, all she has she has a computer and and course we're talking back in the late 1900s when I was in Bible school. Back then the technology isn't what it is today. and all she had was something in her mouth that that she could move in her mouth and and it was kind of almost like a mouse on a computer screen and and she could she could select words and and she could communicate and and even she was very good at it. She had been she had been in this state for some time now and she could communicate with people. Matter of fact, she became one of the greatest soul winners that church had because she has so many friends that that that knew what happened to her and and and felt sorry for her. And so she would she would call them and with this machine with this technology they had back then, she would invite them to church and they would come to church and they would they would sit next to her and she was in a wheelchair and she was in this electric wheelchair. She was kicked back and and and and you've seen you've seen people in this in this this this season of life in this situation. And he said, "But I want you to meet her because he said God built her a prayer closet." He said, "Because I I just believe, Chad, that God did not want to see her die lost." >> And God put her in a position where maybe she had no other choice but to make a decision between A and B. >> All right? is either I give up on God and I curse God and I die or I decide that I'll be the greatest prayer warrior and the greatest soul winner that ever lived in central Illinois. >> But I thought to myself when I met her, I met the sweet soul. I thought to myself, God, I never want you to have to put me in a position where I'm forced down to my knees. Where you put me in a forced prayer closet where I have no other choice but to praise and to pray. God, I'm going to willingly give you praise. Though he slay me, yet will I praise him. He gives but he's taken away. But blessed be the name of the Lord. You might live in a placeh in a time. You might live in a time that you say, "God, I'm in a season of pain." But if you ever learn to surrender to him and say, "God, whatever drives me to my knees, that's where I want to be." >> Job said, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." >> He lost everything connected to his name, but he still blessed the name of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 12:9 New Testament. He said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Some people are functioning publicly uh while suffering privately. You're still working. You're still serving. You're still caring for the people around you while carrying grief, while carrying betrayal, while carrying disappointment or maybe even a diagnosis that's going to change your future. But never allow a painful chapter in your life to erase the history of God's faithfulness. Never allow one thing that's going on in your life. I know you might have to have that surgery, that procedure done. I know you might have to go through that chemo. I know you might have to get that cancer out of your body and you're going to have some low lows. But don't judge the faithfulness of God by this one season. You got to look back over your life and see where he's brought you out of and where he's brought you from and every healing that he's ever performed in your body. Great is thy faithfulness. I wish somebody just bless the name of Jesus right now. If you look back over your life and he's been good to you, he's been faithful to you. He's never left you. He's never forsaken you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> My heart may be broken, yet my worship is going to remain alive within me. >> My eyes might be filled with tears, yet my mouth could still bless his name. My life brings to me surrender because surrender is the right praise at the right time. >>

What about a season of failure? Anybody ever fail? The rest of us are liars. What's the right praise for failure? The right praise for failure is simply the praise of repentance. You say, "What? What praise of repentance? What is that? Luke 22:61. What about What about Simon Peter? You know the story. If you don't, I'll tell just a moment. The Lord turned and looked down upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cockcrow, "Thou shalt deny me thrice." And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Imagine the shame that Simon Peter felt as the woman at the campfire looks at Peter and says, "Aren't you one of them? Aren't you one of those followers of of that Jesus?" And Peter looked at her. I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but Peter looked at her and said, 'I have no idea what you're talking about. Who Who are you talking about? I'm a fisherman. I don't know anything about that joker. I don't know anything about I don't even know who he is. And as you heard that rooster crow, he caught the eyes. He He caught the gaze. He caught the stare of Jesus. And can you imagine the shame that he felt there? His home friend, the very man, brother Bruce, that he said, "I will go to prison with you. I will die with you." >> And here he catches the glance of the one who was not trying to make him feel condemnation, but just wanted to make sure he identified the fact that he had failed. Failure shattered the identity that Peter had built up around his own loyalty. He was so proud of his loyalty that he had built up. This identity of of someone who would never forsake his best friend, his savior, his Lord. But sometimes the most sincere praise is a broken heart that simply says, "Lord, you were right." For John 21:17, Jesus said unto Peter, the third time, he said,"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" And Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third, he said, "Jesus, I've told you three times, I love you." And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. And then Jesus said unto him, this is so random. seemingly random, but Jesus said unto him, "Feed my sheep." What was Jesus doing? He wasn't trying to revisit a wound. He wasn't trying to humiliate Peter. He was trying to recommission Peter. >> He had already told him. He'd already given this great commission. He had already told him what he expected him to do and what he needed him to do. And what he had called him to do. He was a disciple that he had sent out into all the cities, the byways and the highways to preach the gospel to baptize. And here he was not trying to open up a wound. He was not trying to say, remember what you've done. Remember how you failed. That's not what he was trying to do. He was just trying to get Peter to wake up and realize, I am recommissioning you to feed my sheep. To keep on preaching, keep on soul winning, keep on disciple making. You see, the enemy is going to point to your failures and try to cause you to cancel your calling. But Jesus confronts failure and he's trying to restore your calling. >> Jesus told Peter, "If you love me, feed my sheep." >> There could be a person in this room tonight who has failed in an area I don't know. You thought it was settled, but shame keeps on telling you to hide. Shame keeps on telling you, keep it in the closet. Keep them skeletons in the closet. Hide. Don't tell anybody. Don't confess anything. It might be a secret habit. It might be financial dishonesty. It might be a moral failure or maybe a decision that does that damage the relationship of trust. But repentance uh means you step uh out of editing your story and trying to promote your image and trying to protect your image and you just simply tell God the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> We got to confess what must be confessed. Grace does not need a perfect past to produce a powerful future. When mercy gives us another opportunity like it gave Peter, repentance is the right praise at the right time. >> There's never a bad time to repent. Especially when you gone through a failure. There's never a bad time just to say, "God, I'm sorry. My bad. You were right. I was wrong. You told me I was going to forsake you, and I told you I'd die with you. You told me that I was going to give up and I tried to look all big and bad to all my buddies and act like I was going to be faithful and I failed. But God, I'm bringing you a praise of repentance. And I'm simply saying, God, I will do better next time. God, if you'll just give me another chance. Uh, if you'll just give me the microphone on the day of Pentecost, I'll show you I'm not the same person. I show you that the same lips that denied you are now saying you crucified the Christ. But the Christ wants to live inside of you. The Christ wants to redeem you. The Christ wants to give you remission of sins. He is the same one. You might fail, but your future is powerful if you understand the praise of repentance.

You may be seated. This is my last one. My last one. at midnight. The right praise is expectation. When you're in your midnight trial, there is a praise >> and it's a praise of expectation. >> And at midnight, Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas prayed, sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard him. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison was shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everybody's bands were loosed. You see, Acts chapter 16 tells us where Paul and Silas praised and it tells us when they praised. They were in the prison and it wasn't 9:00. It wasn't 10:00. It wasn't 11. It wasn't half past. It was at midnight because midnight is the dividing line between two days. >> Yesterday has ended, but tomorrow can't yet be seen. >> You see, midnight praise is the sound of tomorrow before tomorrow has enough light to prove it's even coming. >> I don't even know if there is a tomorrow. I'm in prison. I've been beaten. I don't know what they're about to do to me and Silas, but we just made a decision. Yesterday or today is about over and tomorrow's about to begin. And so, this will be a perfect time to say, "God, I know yesterday wasn't a good day, but we're looking forward. We've come with expectancy, believing that tomorrow is going to be a better day than yesterday." with their backs bleeding, with their feet fastened and the doors still closed. >> The Bible says they began to sing a song. >> I wish, brother Amber, and I wish to God I knew what I wish they would have put some lyrics in this verse right here. Can you imagine how fun that would have been to sing if we would have known what they were saying? I I just want to know what are you singing in a prison cell? bloody, bleeding, and beating. Cuz here it is. The earthquake didn't create their praise. Pastor preached us this the other day. He said, "Mariam, she can pull out a tambourine once the Red Sea is parted. Once you've walked through a Red Sea on dry ground, once you've been delivered out of Egypt, out of slavery, once you've been delivered out of 400 years, a season of bondage, once you see your enemy drowned in the Red Sea, it's easy to give God praise. But I'll tell you what's not easy. It's not easy when it's dark outside and it's at midnight and the earthquake hasn't happened yet. But when you've got a relationship with Jesus, >> you don't even know the earthquake's coming, >> but you're thinking to yourself, something good is on its way. >> I just feel like something good is about to happen. I just feel like something good is about to happen. Oh, Silus, I just feel like something good is about to happen. Something good is on its way. >> If I require the earth to quake before I praise, then my praise is only a reaction. But when I praise before the earthquake, my praise becomes expectation. >> I'm not into reactive praise. >> Because everybody else is doing reactive praise. Everybody else is giving reactive praise. But oh my God, if we can praise the praise of expectation, I come here tonight to give hope to somebody. Midnight is not the death of today. It's the birthplace of tomorrow. I said midnight is not the death of what's going on today. It's simply the birthplace of what's about to happen in my tomorrow, in your tomorrow. Midnight is a season after the funeral, but before the peace settles in. Come on, y'all. Hear me. Listen. We've lost a lot of saints of God in the last couple years. We've lost loved ones. We've lost grandparents. We've lost children. We've lost brothers and sisters. We've lost a whole lot of people. And everybody has found themselves in a midnight season. But I got news for you. I know the funeral took placeh and I know the flowers have died and I know the phone calls have stopped but in your midnight season if you'll just keep on praising and keep on holding on there's going to be a season of peaceuh there's going to be a morning of peaceuh oh joy is going to come in the morning time if you just live through the night if you can survive through the night if you can just praise through the night joy is coming in the morning. >> Midnight is the gap between the layoff and your next hire. >> Woo! Midnight is the last thing you saw. It was painful, but the next thing that God is about to do, it might still be invisible, but I promise you, just keep on holding on. Keep on holding on. The devil may try to turn you around, but you just got to keep on holding on. More people get lost and they backslide in their midnight when they should be like Paul and Silas and say, "God, I know my yesterday was ugly, but my tomorrow is going to be beautiful because I can't help but to give you praise of expectation. >> That simply means you refuse to let the last visible event become the final word of your future." >> That's what the praise of expectation is. Morning doesn't require our vision in order to arrive. >> All right. All right. >> They did not know. Let me tell you something. Number number one, please understand with me, Paul and Silas were not wearing a wristwatch and there was not a time clock in that prison cell. >> It wasn't like they waited until midnight. >> We understand that, right? I don't want to state the obvious, but they just they just found themselves in a place where we're caught between a rock and a hard place. We might as well just go ahead and give God glory because you know what? What's the alternative? What are we going to do? We going to cry ourselves to sleep? We're going to talk about how God's failed us. We going to we're going to talk about how bad this hurts and and how we might as well just give up. They said, "Oh, no, no, no, no. He's never failed us yet. He's not going to fail us tomorrow. So we might as well give him praise with expectancy because that is the right praise at the right time.

So I conclude, what is the right praise at the right time? The answer is simply this. The right praise is whatever response declares what remains true about our God in the time and season that we're living in. >> What season are you in? You got to figure out what season you're in. Everybody in this room is probably in a different season. >> You got to dis you got to discover what season you're in. You you got to take inventory. You got to be like the prophet. It's either you're talking about what you don't have or you might be talking about what you do have. You're either in a season of loss or you're in a season of blessing, you're in a season of hurt, you're in a season of depression. I don't know what season you're living in, but you got to figure out that season, and you got to figure out what the best praise is for that season. >> All right? Because I said it already. Feelings rise and fall, but God remains faithful. Answers come and go, but God remains worthy. The circumstances change the vocabulary of my praise, but it never changes the object of my praise. >> In blessing, the praise is gratitude. In emptiness, the praise is a yak praise. In pain, the praise is surrender. After failure, my praise is repentance. And at midnight, my praise is expectation. >> So stand with me because I want to read some psalms to you that I believe are going to give hope, are going to give somebody a hope that maybe you didn't have when you walked into this place tonight. Psalm 34:1 says, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth." continually be in my mouth. Psalm 113 and3 from the rising of the sun until the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised every day. Psalm 145 and2 every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Psalm 146 and2 says while I live will I praise the Lord. I will sing praises unto my God while I have woo while I have any being. Hebrews 13:15. For him uh by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to a God continually that is the fruit of our lips uh giving thanks uh to his name. I wish somebody right now would begin to give God thanks. Uh no matter what season you're inh every moment God deserves praise. every moment. God is worthy of praise. Come on, somebody give him the type of praise you need to give him right here in this season of your life, give him the praise you need to give him. Whatever season you're in, he knows you. He sees you, he understands. But he's looking for you to respond in praise. It's the right time to give praise unto the Lord. Let everything that have breath praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord in this house today. Come on. I want to end this service just by giving God glory. I want you to look over your life uh look over your presence and say, "God, I choose to praise you." This will I praise you. Still will I praise you? Every day I will bless you. Uh I'll continually give you glory because you're a good God no matter what. You're a great God no matter what. You're kind. You're love. You're merciful. You give grace. Woo! Come on. His goodness is everlasting. Come on. I feel faith building in this place. I feel somebody that walked in here with a midweek oh a midweek issue. You're going to walk out of here with hands lifted high with your head thrown back with your chest out and saying, "God is for me. And if God is for me, what can be against me?" Uh who can be against me? Nothing is impossible for my God. He can make a way where there seems to be no way. Uh he can part the Red Sea. He can part the Jordan. He can do whatever he needs to do. Uh fire by night. Uh a cloud by day. Let him lead you and guide you. Let him take you to a place you've never been before. And it all begins with worship. It all begins with praise.

Come on. We don't even need music in this place. All we need is a good praise. All we need is somebody saying, "Still I will trust you. Still I will follow. Still I will listen to your call. Though the storm rises, though the wind blows, though the rain falls, yet will I give you praise." Come on. I don't want to cheerlead you. I want to hear you worship without being cheerlead. Why don't you praise him in a way you haven't praised him for a while? Why don't you praise him in a way that it's been maybe a decade since you praised him in that way? I'm not talking about you don't have to do anything demonstra. I'm talking about why don't you just throw your head back? Why don't you shake off what is heavy on you and say, "God, I give you I give you my praise." Oh, I give you my praise. Oh, I give you my praise. I give you my praise. I'm sick and tired of thinking what could happen. I'm sick and tired of thinking what should happen. I'm just going to get my mind on you. I'm going to put my mind on glory. I'm going to put my mind on an eternal future. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Come on. I hear the prayer. I hear the prayer of people in a season. Woo. A season of mourning. I hear the prayer of people in a season of blessing. I hear the prayer and praise of a people in a season where you failed, but you got back up again. I hear people in a midnight season where you think all hope is lost, but you still got a little bit of expectancy and you're going to live and praise through it. Come on. Whatever you're praying for right here, I want you to begin to ask God and say, "God, I have faith believing that you can answer my prayer even before I see it take place. I'm going to praise you in advance of it. Even before I hear about it, even before the doctor's report is favorable. Oh my God, I'm going to give you praise right here, right now. I pray for brother and sister lawless. Oh God, I'm believing for a good report. I believe in the doctors are going to tell them they've got a clean bill of health. I'm going to believe they're going to be back on their feet again. God, I believe that you're going to give them strength in their bodies even before I see them walking. I can see it with eyes filled with faith. I can see them walking. I can see them under their own power. My God, I can see Sister Xander. I can see her with strength in her body. I can see her walking back into the house of the Lord. I can see your husband with a smile on his face as they walk back into the house of the Lord. Healed in Jesus name. I'm giving you praise even before I see it. Come on. Some of you that have just gone through a lifestyle of drugs and alcohol. I believe God has the best for you. He Oh my God. I know everybody else that lived that lifestyle. They've got to live a life where they feel sorry and they feel bad and they're condemned. But you don't have to feel that way. You can walk out of their lifestyle and say, "Jesus, you've made me new. Jesus, you've made me a new person, a new creature. I've changed. I'm rearranged. I'm different. I'm not what I used to be. I give you praise for what you've made me to be. Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost minister right here. Shut up. >> I pray I praise you. >> I praise you. >> Come on, single mother. I know you're going through it. Come on, single mother. I know you've got a hard life. I know you're raising your kids all by yourself. But I wish you would give God praise right now and say, "God, by your power, by your spirit, I can do this." Oh my God, I can do all things through Christ who strengthenth me. Come on, sing a mother. Come on. God's going to provide for you. He's going to provide for your babies. He's going to take care of you. Give him praise in advance before you receive the blessing. Give him praise. Give him praise. Give him praise. >> Oh my God. I just feel like something good is about to happen. I just feel like something good is about to happen. I just feel like something good is about to happen. Something good is on its way. Come on, help me. I hear you say, "I just feel like something good is about to happen." I just feel like something good. Oh, say, "I just feel like something good is about to happen. Something good is on his way." See, I can feel it in my hands. I can feel it in my feet. I can feel it in my heart. I can feel it all over me. Say, I can feel it in my hands. I can feel it in my feet. I can feel it in my heart. I can feel all over me singing. I just feel like something good is about to happen. I just feel like something good. Hey. Oh, I just feel like something good is about to happen. Something good. >> Come on, give the Lord praise if you believe it. Give the Lord praise if you receive the word. Hallelujah