Hymns of Praise:
SDAH: 100, 25, 10
Scripture
Psalm 36:1-26
I am the Lord: that is my name, and my Glory will I not give to another (Isaiah 42:8) Neither praise to graven images. Our God is a jealous God who does not want his praise and glory shared with anyone. The psalmist said let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Our God has been our protector. He made us and has delivered us from the powers of darkness. Our lord demands his praise and will share it with no one. Has the Lord not done anything for you? As a church, has the Lord not done anything for us? even in spite of our sins. At this time of the service the lord is inviting us to bring him his Glory.
Jesus, In Luke 17:11-19 met the lepers. They had looked for Christ for a long. They had always longed to see jesus. They could not because they were not allowed in public. See how the covid makes us behave. Because it’s contagious, because we’re scared, we do social distancing.
Leprosy is contagious upon touch. People who had it lost family, friends and loved ones. Apart from the discomfort of the disease they suffered psychologically, they were totally ostracized and isolated from the community. They lived in little tents outside the city. Families visited them with extreme caution. They were the most wretched. Their bodies were covered with sores, and they smelled with pus.
In the same way today the sins of this world have allowed the devil to saturate the world with diseases. When we meet Jesus, our burdens are lifted. Jesus is still the same and has had mercy on us. The 10 lepers met Jesus. They cried, Son of David, have mercy on us. Jesus instructed them. They followed the instructions with faith. In our walk with God, let us not forget that the Lord’s words are faithful and true. He is simply faithful. They got healed as they went even in faith. It didn’t make any sense. It made no sense. They were not healed earlier before they came. But because Jesus said, “go and show yourselves,” they just went. Sometimes when the Lord says his words to us, we think it makes no sense, so we do what we want. You prayed for a job, God gave you one and he tells you to return this tithe and you think that doesn’t make sense. When we think God’s words are stupid and don’t make sense, it allows the devil to make use of us and bind us to demonic infestation. It allows the devil to accuse us. It gives the devil cause to strike us. It reduces our spirituality. We show off that we are in the spirit, but we are losers.
Jesus asked the only one who came back the question “The other Nine where are they?”
Jesus was disappointed, he needed the others to bring His Praise. His Glory, His praise; He wants it. As humans giving thanks, and praise, we show humility and spiritual maturity. When we tell the world what God has done; When we give Him thanks; we give him His Glory.
We love to brag to people about what we have been able to do. We will have our reward. When we pray, we are always asking; when God does it we fail to give thanks. We fail to return his due. Your inability to give God his due, his thanks, his praise is a sign of sinfulness, pride and the impoverishment of the Holy Ghost.
King Hezekiah called the emissaries (2Kings 20:12) to see his wealth when they came to visit because they had heard of the wonders God had done. He failed to give Glory, instead he bragged and boasted about what he had. God punished him and the same people took Israel captive and took away all the wealth. Many times, we have not given God His Glory. Are we not guilty?
Prayer
- Pray for forgiveness
- Pray for the holy spirit to give us the spirit of thanksgiving.
- Pray for the spirit of humility.
Prayer 2
- Testimonies
- requests
Readings by Daniel Dickson Boateng PhD
Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary
Andrews University, Michigan