Insider Secrets About Praise

1 Chronicles 4:1 KJV  The sons of Judah; Pharez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.

I.  INTRODUCTION  —  PRAISE

-One of the things that has always set Pentecostal churches apart from all other persuasions is the affinity that we have for praise.

·        Our praise is not just tradition, although we do have some.

·        Our praise is not just feeling, although we have that too.

·        Our praise is not just singing, although we definitely do that.

·        Our praise is not just a marked sense of freedom, yet we do have it.

-There is an old song that probably isn’t sung around too many churches anymore but it has a great message toit.

Something Got A hold of Me

Hank Williams & Audrey Williams

At first when I heard of some people who claim
That the old-time religion was real
I said “I’ll go down, take a look at the crowd
For just that weak-minded I feel.”

I walked up the steps and I peeked in the door
But the Devil said, “Don’t you go in!”
But I said, “It won’t hurt me I’ll just step inside
And I’ll set as far back as I  can.”

CHORUS
Something Got A Hold Of Me [Praise God]
Yes Something Got A Hold Of Me [Oh! Lord]
I went there to fight, but I’ll tell you that night
God certainly got a hold of me.

They sang like they meant it, they all clapped their hands
I said, “It’s commotion, that’s all.”
“When they get down to pray, I’ll just get up and leave
For I don’t wanta be seen here at all.”

But I bowed that time, he got started to preach
And he looked straight down at me
He told ev’rybody how mean that I was
He didn’t talk like he thought much of me.

I sat in my seat just thinkin’ it o’er
And then they all started to pray
The fire fell from Heaven, I fell to the floor
I prayed there and God had His way. [For Something Got Ahold of Me]

-I am going to preach something to you that I am certain that the devil does not want you to know!

II.  THE SONS OF JUDAH

-If you have been around a Pentecostal church for any length of time, you have heard someone reference the fact that the name Judah means “praise.”  If Judah means “praise” then what happens when we look at the meaning of the names of his sons?

-When we begin to analyze the meaning of the names of the sons of Judah, we quickly realize that there are some things that praise in itself will produce in our lives.

A.  Pharez

-The name Pharez means a “breaking forth.”  PEHRETS is the Hebrew word and it implies a place of victory.

-I firmly believe that more times than once, there have been saints of God who have walked into the house of God filled with distress, discomfort, and dismay.  But then they begin to understand that their praise was tied to their own release.

-The condition with praise is this:  If you want God to touch you, then you must touch Him!

-I am here to inform you that the devil does not want you to understand one of the insider secrets of praise:  The devil does not want you to realize that if you break through, then God will break forth!

·        The devil does not care how many times you come to church, just as long as the anointing does not break forth!

·        The devil does not care how much we sing, just as long as the anointing does not break forth!

·        The devil does not care how much we preach, just as long as the anointing does not break forth!

-Jesus literally scalded the Pharisees in Matthew 23.  He told them that they were nothing that but a bunch of white-washed graves, dirty cups, a den of vipers, and a few other things.

·        They had structure.

·        They had their self righteousness.

·        They had their laws and rules.

·        But they had no praise in their actions!

-What happens when one of Judah’s (praise) sons named Pharez gets born in our lives?  Something starts to tremble and breakthrough!

·        Sarah offered her dried up, elderly body. . . A son broke forth!

·        Moses offered a rod, a staff to lead sheep. . . A serpent broke forth!

·        Gideon offered 300 men who had trumpets, pitchers, and lamps. . . A nightmare occurred in the enemy’s camp and 120,000 Midianites were destroyed.

·        Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey. . . A whipping of 1000 Philistines occurred.

·        David picked up a slingshot. . . He left behind a lion, a bear, and a dead giant.

-The Bible and modern day life is full of even more examples of people breaking through when they broke forth in praise.

-How are we going to destroy this spirit of the last days that wants us to calm down, keep quiet, and hide in a corner?

-The solution is in the book:

Hebrews 4:12 KJV  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

-You must pick up the sword of the Spirit and take it to the head of the serpent!  Cut him down with some “breakforth praise.”  It is time for freedom.  It is time for someone to let the Holy Ghost breathe on them!

-The devil will cause the hands that used to go up, stay down. . . . what used to be instruments of worship now hang lifelessly by your side.

·        You really want to worship but you are suffocated by your situation.  The devil will cause the voice that used to praise God to remain silent.

·        The devil will cause those feet that used to praise God to remain stationary.

·        The devil says act dead. . .  because you are dead.

-But if you will get those hands up, get those feet moving, and shake off the deadness then something will begin to break forth!

-So that is the first insider secret the devil does not want you to know:  If you will breakthrough, then God will break forth!

B.  Hezron               

-Now we come to the second of Judah’s sons.  The name Hezron means a “courtyard.”  It was a hamlet surrounded with walls.

-I am convinced that praise will bring you to a point of protection.  This is where faith comes into play. . . no matter what you are facing and how scary and unnerving that it may be, if you will praise there will come protection to your life.

-The mistake that hell made with the three Hebrew boys was putting them in the fire together.  Hell’s mistake right now is letting us come together to worship.

-Some of you are gasping in fear right now.  It seems like that you are in the fiery furnace.  Walls of flame all around, but if you will just begin to praise the Lord, He is going to show up in the middle of your fire.

-See what you perceive as a place of danger, God says, “It’s a place of protection!”  This is what praise will do for you.

·        A fiery furnace. . . . a place of protection and victory for three Hebrew boys.

·        A dried up brook. . . a place of protection and victory for Elijah.

·        A mountain top covered with enemy prophets of Baal. . . a place of protection and victory for Elijah.

·        A city surrounded by an enemy army in Dothan. . . a place of protection and victory for Elisha and his servant.  (NOTE:  Elisha prayed that his servant’s eyes would be opened and the enemies’ eyes were able to see but did not know what they were looking at [2 Kings 6:8-23].)

·        An enemy king named Sennacherib who was going to invade Judah and kill Hezekiah and Isaiah and the inhabitants. . . . Judah became a place of protection.  (NOTE:  A sermon for another day, you can never let an enemy invade your place of praise.)

-Therefore, what praise (Judah) produces, the sons that praise brings into our life are powerful.  There are some insider secrets the devil does not want you to know:

·        If you will breakthrough, God will break forth (Pharez).

·        If you will praise, the praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).

C.  Carmi

-Judah’s third son mentioned in our text is Carmi.  The name Carmi means a “gardener of a vineyard.”

-Praise becomes a place of growth and production.

·        If you will praise, it will help your faith grow.

·        If you will praise, it will help your devotion to God grow.

·        If you will praise, it will help your consistency in your walk to grow.

·        If you will praise, it will help your knowledge of truth to grow.

·        If you will praise, it will help your determination to grow.

-In looking at some of the miracles of Jesus, one notes that growth began:

·        The bed-bound man at the pool of Bethesda. . . Strength infused his body and he could carry his bed and walk.

·        The man born blind. . . Sight came and he could see where he wanted to go.

·        The man with the withered hand. . . Muscles and bones begin to move in concert together and this could lead him to a place of strength.

·        The empty nets when they were cast on the other side. . . Suddenly filled. . . What was empty now had value.

·        The dead daughter of Jairus. . . Raised from the dead. . . what was dead was filled with life!

-In every single one of these situations, the miracle produced strength.  Spiritual growth always leads to more spiritual freedom.  That is what happens to us when we begin to praise (actively) God!

-What is somebody going to think if they see me worshiping like that?  Worship isn’t going to run off anyone we want to keep!!!  This is an apostolic, book of Acts, Pentecostal church!!!

-The mayor has been here before.  If the mayor shows up again, if the city dignitaries come in and sit down on the back row. . . .You had better decide right here and now. . . . The devil will not get my praise!

-Do you know what caused you to like Pentecost the first time you walked in?

·        It was the freshness of freedom that you felt.

·        You did not have to worry about somebody shutting you down if you said Amen!

·        You did not have to worry about the usher coming by to take you out because you were dancing in the Spirit.

-But now the devil says – I want your praise. . . I refuse to let him get my praise!

-To reiterate our “insider” secrets of praise, we remember that:

·        If I will breakthrough, then God will break forth (Pharez).

·        If I will praise, my praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).

·        If I will praise, my praise will create a place of production and growth (Carmi).

D.  Hur

-The fourth of Judah’s sons that we come to is important.  The name Hur means “white.”  It gives the connotation of white linen which is a point of purity.

-Praise has the power to bring purity and holiness into our lives.

-When I start seeing people who are having problems with holy living and trying to justify some of their slipping and sliding. . . I can understand that they are not having a problem with holiness. . . They are having a problem with praise!

-That is why David said, Let everything that hath breath praise ye the Lord.  He understood that when we begin to praise, it helps our priorities.

-David was a little radical but he was not going to let anything rob him of his privilege of worship. . . . That is why we need a worshiping church!

-David lived with a deadening, critical spirit in his home.  Michal, his wife, saw him dance before the ark and she mocked him when he came home.

·        “My, how dignified you looked today!”

·        She made fun of him.

·        She ridiculed him.

-There are some powerful principles here:

·        The worldly spirit will always be critical of devotion to God.

·        The worldly spirit will always want to shut down praise.

·        The worldly spirit will never understand why we are doing what we do!

-Because of Michal’s actions, God dealt harshly with her.  Her womb dried up she was unable to bare children.  If you let a critical spirit of praise get a hold on you:

·        It will cause you to dry up spiritually.

·        It will cause your spiritual womb to be barren.

-There are some people here who have allowed that spirit to get a grip on their soul.  You must defeat that spirit today!

-Quit saying “that’s just not my style”:

·        It is not for you.

·        It is for Him.

·        It is for the King of kings.

·        It is for our Lord and Savior.

·        It is not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord.

-The devil wants you quiet because God inhabits the praise of his people.

-Some of you have been suffocating spiritually.  Something ought to make you get up when you feel the devil slide into your pew.

-Our God is not a restricting God.  He who the son hath set free is free indeed.

-Let me tell you how you know if the wrong spirit has gotten a grip on your soul:

•      If when the Holy Ghost starts to move, you feel a tightening down.

•      Right when you feel like breaking out, you get shut down by a hindering spirit.  That is the devil.

•      When you feel like standing up and worshiping, you feel a tightening down.

•      When you feel like raising you hands, you feel a squeezing in your heart.

•      When you feel like getting out in the aisle and dancing, you battle with your breath.

-You ought to just take outright dominion over that spirit.  If the demoniac of Gadara could drag 6000+ devils to the Lord, then surely we ought to be able to let some praise pour out of us right now!

-The devil hates praise.  You know why? . . . Because praise loosens his grip.

-Remember the “insider” secrets!  Praise will cause some things to come to your life:

·        If you will breakthrough, God will break forth (Pharez).

·        If you will praise, the praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).

·        If you will praise, the praise will create a place of growth (Carmi).

·        If you will praise, the praise will help you fight off the spirit of worldliness (Hur).

E.  Shobal

-Judah’s fifth and last son is Shobal.  Shobal means “a place of overflowing.”  The Hebrew root word implies to us that it is as the flowing of the train of the wedding gown of a bride.

-Praise is one of the preparations for a Bride.

-When devil shows up it is usually in a praying church.  The Bible says that when Paul and Silas went to prayer, the spirit of the devil showed up.

-The thing that hell fears is a praying church.

·        The devil doesn’t care if you come to church, just don’t pray.

·        The devil doesn’t care if you give in the offering, just don’t pray.

·        The thing that hell fears is a praying, worshiping church.

-The devil does not want you to break free.  The last thing that he wants is for you to live in the place of overflowing.

Isaiah 12:3 KJV  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

-To live in the overflow is to constantly have a flow of the anointing of the Holy Ghost.  That is what we need to further understand about praise.  It helps us to gain a place of the overflow.

-Reviewing the things that praise does in your life and that the devil does not want you to know:

·        If you will breakthrough, God will break forth (Pharez).

·        If you will praise, the praise will create a place of protection (Hezron).

·        If you will praise, the praise will create a place of growth (Carmi).

·        If you will praise, the praise will help you fight off the spirit of worldliness (Hur).

·        If you will praise, the praise will bring you to a place of overflowing blessing (Shobal).

III.  CONCLUSION  —  GIVING THE DEVIL SOME OF HIS DUE   

-You ought to stand up and give the devil some of what he has been attacking you with lately.  If his fight has been paralyzing to you, you should determine in your heart that praise is going to pour out of my spirit, not next week, but now!

-He is saying, “Don’t listen to that preacher!”

·        Some of you know where you want to be. . . in the place of the overflow.

·        You remember being in the overflow before.

·        But now the devil is taking your praise from you.

·        Some of you know what you ought to do.  Some of you know what should be going on in your spirit. . . .

·        It has been a while since you prayed in the Spirit.

·        It has been too long since you last spoke in tongues.

·        Your hands come up and you almost break through, then the devil shows up and takes it from you.

-They said about Paul and Silas, “These men do exceedingly trouble our city!”

-Dothan needs to know that the Pentecostals of Dothan are here.  Not just a church on the Cottonwood Road.

-They need to know that this is the church where God is blessing and where God is pouring out His spirit.

-This is the church where God is filling people with the Holy Ghost, where the apostolic power is flowing.

-Give me three people that will worship in the face of devil and we can shake the foundation of this city.

-The biggest misconception about worship is the notion that worship is for us.

-When I go to worship, I am to get something out of worship.  Worship is not what I get, it is what I give.

John 4:23-24 KJV  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.  [24]  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

-What this means, is that you do not measure worship by:

·        Your level of entertainment.

·        Your personal satisfaction level.

·        Your level of comfort.

-What this means is that worship is not dependent upon a place or the presence of certain people.  It is determined by the presence of the Holy Ghost.

-At midnight Paul and Silas sang praises, every now and then the devil makes a mistake.  One of his mistakes was when he put Paul and Silas in the same cell.

-Jesus had already said when two or three agree together. . . .

You better look out, Satan, Look Out.

You better look out, Satan, Look Out.

For I come to you in the Name of the Lord,

So look out Satan, look out.

-Hell’s worst mistake was putting them together, do you know why hell wants you to stop coming to church, because we can agree together and chains are broken, and captives are set free.

-There are people in this house that have yearned to be set free.

·        You have yearned to break out of the rut of mediocrity in your life.

·        Some of you have said it is your personality.

·        Some of you have said I am not that way.

·        Some of you have felt out of place in worship.

-Come on Church. . . Praise again. . . . Come on Church. . . Breathe again. . . Come on Church. .  . Exalt Him!

·        Worship again, men.

·        Praise again, ladies.

·        Breathe again, young person.

·        Praise him right now!

·        Get your praise back!