Garments of Praise — Ben Crandall

Garments of Praise Instead of Heaviness

Wonderful. All hail King Jesus. I love it. Praise God. I'd like to read to you a verse of Scripture found in Isaiah, the 61st chapter and the third verse. To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness.

I want to talk to you for a few minutes this morning on the garments of praise instead of the Spirit of heaviness. God wants you to lay aside the Spirit of heaviness and worry and fear and discouragement and He wants you clothed with the garments of praise.

Praise Lifts Faith and Focuses on Victory

Hallelujah. Praise is so important. It is so important. Folks, sometimes don't realize the power and the importance of praise. Praise is important because praise will lift your faith up toward God. Praise makes God who He really is when you praise Him the way He asks us to in the book.

Praising God increases your faith and reduces your problem. So many folks have a big problem and a little God. When you've got that situation, you're in trouble. You're in real trouble. But God would like to reverse that for you and He wants to give you a big God.

A big God. And He wants to reduce your problem to the size that you realize God is great to handle it and praise does that. Praise lifts your faith. It gets your eyes off of your circumstance and off of your problem and on to the answer and on to the cure and on to the victory.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise is vital to you. And it's wonderful. We've had such marvelous praise here today. Just wonderful. But you've got to learn to be clothed with praise and to take praise outside of these doors and to live with praise to where you're identified with it.

Garments identify you. And Isaiah said God wants you clothed with garments of praise. He wants you to be identified. He wants to see you that way. And you want to see yourself and realize that and let folks hear the praises of God because that's what is truth and that's where the victory is.

Praise as the Truth About God's Goodness

Hallelujah. Praise God. Another great reason, a very vital reason for praise is so important is because praise is the truth about God. God deserves all of the credit. He deserves all of the praise. He will not share it with anyone because He is the one that gives the answer.

He's the one that does it. And God is truthful. He wants the truth. There's no, nothing false about God. And it's praising God is right because it's the truth. None of us deserve what we receive. Thank God.

Aren't you thankful that God doesn't give us what we deserve? He gives us the victory. He loved us. He saved us. He is carried for us. He is the one that defeats the enemy. He's the one that has the victory and He wants us clothed with that, understanding that and filled with the power and glory of praise.

Don't allow Satan to put on a garment, give you a garment of heaviness. Don't let him give you a garment of discouragement. I don't care what your problem are. We've got a God big enough to handle every problem in this building.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It doesn't matter. God is greater. And when you get into praise, God begins to become who He really is and your problems become so that God can handle them and He gives you the victory and lifts you above the circumstances.

The Psalms as the Book of Praise

Hallelujah. So let me just go through now. The book of Psalms in the Hebrew, it is called the book of praise. Now the Greek calls it Psalms, but really it is the book of praise. And let's turn to that and find out why it's such a big book.

Why there's so much of it in this Bible. Because it is so vital to you, to your success, to your future. Praise God. Psalm 100 and the fourth verse says, Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. Enter His gates. The only way you get into the gate is with thanksgiving. You don't come in with heaviness and complaining and burdens and all of that. That is not how you get in.

You enter the gate with thanksgiving. And when you begin to praise God, the gates swing open and you get into His presence. Hallelujah. Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Praise God. Psalm 118, 19 and 20.

Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go into them and I will praise the Lord for this is the gate of the Lord. Praise is the gate of the Lord. Hallelujah. Psalm 22, 26. They shall praise the Lord that seek the Lord.

If you're seeking God, begin with praise as the Lord's prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Praise is how you begin your prayer. Hallelujah. Praise God. Psalm 56, 12 and 13. I will render praise to you for you have delivered my soul from death.

I'm going to praise you God because you saved me. You redeemed me. You saved my soul from death, from eternal death and destruction. I am going to praise you. I don't care what the devil says or what the circumstances are.

I am committed to praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Psalm 63, 3. Because, now this is a great verse. Because thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise you. I am going to praise you because your love and your kindness is better than life.

What is better than life? What in the world is better than living? Incredible statement of praise. Because, without the Lord's kindness and love, you would have eternal death. You would have death. Jesus said, what would it profit you if you gained the whole world and lose your soul?

Without God's salvation, life is going to end in total death. Eternal death. So, he said there's something better than just plain living. Because that ends in death. It's God's kindness and his forgiveness.

Hallelujah. It is better than life. More important because that gives us eternal life. His loving kindness is going to save me from death. Hallelujah. And it's going to give me eternal life. Hallelujah.

There's nothing as important as God's gift of life. His eternal life. So, he said I'm going to praise you. It's the best thing there is. It's better than just plain living because that leads to death.

My living in God leads to eternal life and with you forever. Forever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Why should I praise God? He's given me the gift of life. He's given me the gift of eternal life. He saved me from hell.

He saved me from death. He saved me from destruction. And he's brought me into his family. I will praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Psalm 136 in 1. Give thanks to the Lord for his good, for his mercy endures forever.

Because his mercy will never run out. My mercy is not long. Your mercy isn't long if you have any. And if I have any, it's not for long. But God's mercy is forever. And it embraces us. So we praise him for his mercy.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Psalm 118, 21. I will praise you for thou hast heard me. I want to praise you because when I called, you heard me and answered my prayer. Isn't that a great, great, wonderful. I praise God because he hears me when I pray.

Praising God With the Whole Heart

Hallelujah. Now, how do we praise him? Psalm 9, 1 and 2. I will praise you, Lord, with my whole heart. I will show forth all of thy marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee. I will sing praises to thy name, O Most High.

I will praise you with all of my heart. And I felt like we were getting into that this morning. I felt like, boy, that we were praising God with all of our heart. Half praise and half-hearted praise and half-hearted thanksgiving is worthless to God.

He wants all of it. He said, I will praise him with all of my heart. I'm praising him honestly. I'm praising him sincerely. I have no reservations. I have nothing holding me back. He has saved me, and I am praising him with all of my heart.

With all of my soul. With all of my life. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I praise you because when I was lost, you found me. When I was going to hell, you stopped me. And you rescued me. And you protected me.

And you have kept me. And you have kept me until this hour. He brought you here today. He has watched over you. He has fed you. He has clothed you. He has kept you. And he says, I'm going to praise you with everything within me because it all goes back to you.

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise him with all of my heart. Hallelujah. Praise God. Sing praises to God. And we were doing that today. Sing praises to our King. For God is the King of all of the earth. Hallelujah.

Clap your hands, all you people. Shout to God with a voice of triumph. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Shout with a voice of triumph. Shout with a voice of victory. You're victorious this day. I don't care what the devil says.

If you're in Christ, you're victorious. We won. We won the victory, hallelujah. Praise God, we won. We are victorious, praise God. With a voice of triumph. Victory. You know, I don't know much about sports.

Nothing against it, just kind of ignorant. But I do remember about a year ago, this past year, not this season, but a year ago, the Red Sox won the World Series. Now, they hadn't won it for decades. They went crazy.

They won the World Series. They were triumphant. Talk about shouting, horns blowing, people going crazy. The Red Sox won the ball game. And that's fine. I'm glad they did. They needed to. But we have won over Satan.

Hallelujah. We won. We won over the grave. We are winning over the grave. Death will not hold us. We're going to be resurrected. We have won over all of life's problems. Satan is defeated. And we have won.

Awakening the Dawn With Praise

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. This is a great verse here. Psalm 57, 7 and 8. I will sing and praise God. Now, I should sing more. We should sing even by ourselves, even though people around you may not enjoy it like with me.

But sing for God. Hallelujah. Anyway. He said, David said, I will awaken the lute and the harp. I will awaken the dawn. He said, I will get up before sunrise and speak to my instruments and say to the lute, get up, you instrument.

Get up. Wake up. And to the harp, wake up. And he was such a harp player. Wake up, harp. And he said, because when the sun comes over the eastern horizon with the first beams of light, when you're coming with a golden sunrise, we're going to be praising God.

We're going to welcome the day with praise to God. He's given us another day. I'm going to play this instrument. I'm going to blow this horn. I am going to shout and sing when the sun rises because it has risen in my soul.

And someday it's going to rise never to set with me. Hallelujah. So I will awaken the dawn. I'll get up to praise God. I will get up to worship him. I'll get up to honor him. Hallelujah. He'll be the first thing that I'm going to think about.

And I'll get up early just to praise God. Isn't that fantastic? Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. This is a very interesting verse, 71, 23. My lips shall greatly rejoice. Now, I never thought about happy lips before.

Did you ever think of that? But when you stop and think, I've seen sad lips and I've seen happy lips, smiling lips. He says, when I praise God, my lips get happy. I never thought of that before. Did you?

Praise God. My lips will greatly rejoice when I sing to thee, my soul thou hast redeemed and my mouth is happy. Praising God. Hallelujah. Very different. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. How wonderful the praises of God.

Singing a New Song and Making a Joyful Noise

Psalm 98. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm has gotten Him the victory. Sing, keep singing old songs, but sing new songs because He gives us new experiences.

He's got another experience for you. He's got another blessing for you. And with it comes a new song and another song. Hallelujah. I love the singing here in this church. I get lifted up when I come here.

Praise God, because I love the singing. I love the choir. I love the music because it lifts us to the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise God. Sing a new song for He has done marvelous things. Now it says, make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Now, I'm not against churches that sing funeral songs, but I'm really not blessed much by it. I really don't feel like sad when I go to church. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud noise.

There's a minister that I knew and some denominational man said to him, And why do you Pentecostals think God is deaf? He said, we don't think He's deaf, but He's not nervous either. And He loves us to praise God because the Bible says, make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praises.

Well, the Red Sox made a loud noise just over a ball game. We're going to make a loud noise because of our Redeemer. Hallelujah. And praise Him with all of our heart. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Praise God. Psalm 107, second verse. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Now here's a cry of God's heart in the eighth verse. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

Oh, that folks would understand what God has done and praise Him. Then in the 15th verse. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness. Then in the 21st verse. Oh, that men would praise the Lord.

The cry out of the heart of God. Why don't they understand and praise me and realize what I've done? And then in the 31st verse. Oh, that men would praise the Lord, that we would praise Him. Praise God.

The psalmist challenges me in verse 119 and 169. The 119th psalmist says seven times a day I will praise God. That challenges me. I don't always do that. You must think, boy, he must be praising God all the time.

No, I'm preaching to myself as well as you. I think of it some days. Look, I haven't praised God seven times. I haven't. Why should he praise God more than I praise God? Why should he praise God seven times a day?

And some days I hardly praise Him. That's not right. I want to praise God seven times a day. I want to wear a garment of praise that I've got it on all day long. Praise Him in the morning. Praise Him at the coffee break.

Praise Him at lunchtime. Praise Him in the middle of the afternoon. Praise Him at dinner. Praise Him when you go to bed. Just wear the garments of praise that you are praising God all day long. Because He is worthy.

He is worthy. He is worthy. He has redeemed us from every nation and kindred and tongue. He's brought us back to God. And He's worthy of our praise. And He redeemed us when nobody else could. We are going to praise God with all of our heart.

Praise as a Declaration of Life Over Death

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. We're going to praise Him. Hallelujah. Now, here's a great reason for praising God. A tremendous argument. Psalm 6, 5, and 6. Listen to these next four verses.

For in death there is no remembrance of thee. In the grave, who shall praise you? Psalm 6, 5, and 6. Psalm 30 and 9. What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee?

Shall it declare your great truths? Psalm 88, 10. Will thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Question for God. The answer is in 119, Psalm 175. Let my soul live, and it will praise you.

The argument that David is putting is this. God, if I'm dead, I can't praise you. But if you will keep me alive, you've got a great praiser. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. If you heal me, if you resurrect me, keep me going, then you've got somebody that's going to really praise you, and that's valuable because it's the truth.

Hallelujah. So he says, keep me alive that I can praise you. Keep me alive. Don't let anything happen to me, God, because you'll lose a great praiser. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's a great argument, isn't it?

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God is watching you because you're a great praiser. You're honoring him. You're lifting up his name because it's the truth, because he's worthy, because he's the one that gets the praise.

All Creation Is Summoned to Praise God

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Praise God. I love that. Keep me alive, and I'm going to praise you. Now, I want you to turn with me. If you have your Bible, you can turn with me to the psalm.

We'll turn over to Psalm 148, 148 and 150. Listen to this, 148. Praise the Lord. Praise him from the heavens. Praise him in the heights of the skies. Praise him, all of his angels of heaven. Praise God.

All of the angels of heaven are praising God. Praise him, all of his hosts other than angels. Praise him, creation. Praise him, son. Son, God created you. Praise God. Moon, praise God, because God created you.

Praise him, all of you stars of light. All of you stars, twinkling stars and galaxies, that no one has ever seen the end of it. No one knows. Could go forever. Nobody knows how vast his creation is. But he says, let every star, let every star in the sky.

Praise God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Isn't that wonderful? Praise him. All heaven of heavens. All the waters above the heavens and the clouds. Praise him. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.

He also has established them forever and ever. He's established them. He has made a decree that shall not pass away. Praise him from the earth. Now that's the heavens. Every angel, everything in the heavens, praising God, everything in heaven, everything in the earthly heavens.

Praise God. Hallelujah. Praise God. Then he says after that, praise him, all the creatures of the earth, the great sea creatures in the depth. Praise him, fire. Every fire in California and all over the world, praise God fires.

Hail, the hail storms. Praise God. Every hail, bit of hail, snow. Praise God, snow. Praise God, clouds. Stormy winds, hurricanes, tornadoes. Praise God, you great powerful winds that show the power of God, fulfilling his word.

Mountains, Mount Everest, the Alps. Praise God, all of you mountains. Praise God with your peaks pointing to the sky. And all little hills, you rolling hills. Praise God, you hills. Praise God. And fruitful trees, you peach trees of Georgia and you apple trees of New England and the pear trees.

Praise God with your fruit hanging down. You're a praise to God. And every moving cedar and every pine and every tree. Praise God. And all you beasts of the field, all the cattle and all the animals and all the lions and all the bears and every beast of the field.

Praise God. You praise God, you beast. And all the cattle. And he says you creeping things, you little ants, praise God. You praise God. Running around that floor, you praise God. You little ants, praise God.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And the flying fowls from the little hummingbird to the majestic eagle. Praise God every time you flap your wings. Kings of the earth, praise God. All people, princes, judges, all young men and women and old men and children, everybody, praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Psalm 150. Praise God in the sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty firmament of the heavens. Praise Him for His mighty acts opening the Red Sea, bringing out the children of Israel, raising Christ from the dead.

Hallelujah. Praise Him according to His greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the lute and the harp. Praise Him with the dance, with stringed instruments and flutes, with loud cymbals, high-sounding cymbals that everything in the heavens and the earth, praise God.

Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Hallelujah.

Praise God. What an awesome message. Thank you, Pastor Crandall. What a wonderful, wonderful message today. It is a fearful thing, though, if you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you'll be unable to praise Him like those gathered round about you.

We want to open this altar this morning. If you do not know Jesus Christ in the full pardon of your sins, you don't know Him as your Savior, you've been coming to church maybe for many years to different churches, but you don't know Him as your Savior, you won't be able to praise Him.

And especially as we heard the message today, if you don't give your life to Christ, you'll find yourself in a lost eternity. It will be an eternal grief when today you can make right with God and begin to praise Him.

You can have a guarantee that when you leave the service today that you can praise Him like those gathered round about you today. I want to give an altar call this morning. In the education annex, you can go to the front of the screens, but the Holy Spirit has put two things on my heart.

Number one, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need to just get out of your seats and come to an altar and make right with God so that you can praise Him. And secondly, that if you are under a tremendous burden as Pastor Crandall began the message today, he said many times our burdens are so big and our God is so small.

If you have been burdened with a difficulty or under a spiritual attack that you haven't been able to praise Him, then today you just need to get out of your seats, come to an altar, and you give that mountain to the Lord today.

He is going to move that mountain before you, cast it into the sea, and you're going to be able to praise Him. We're going to sing for a short period, and we want to invite you to come to this altar today and allow God to put that song of praise back into your heart.

Amen? And then at the end, there's going to be a shout in this house. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. I believe that message with all my heart that God wants us clothed with a garment of praise. I believe it with everything within me.

Amen? For those of you who have come to this altar today and for the very first time want to say, Jesus, I need you as Lord and Savior, you just give Him your heart. It's not a large transaction that takes place.

You cry out to Him. Give Him your sin. Give Him the problems that you've had. Give Him all the weaknesses that you've got and just ask Him to come into your life, and He'll do it. He'll just do it. That divine exchange will take place.

But you, it's between you and God. You cry out to God, and that divine exchange will take place. And we'll be praying for you, and there's a place here that you can come and worship. There's new believers classes that you can get involved in that can help you just grow in the things of God.

For many of you who are here today that just find it so difficult to praise Him because as Brother Crandall ministered today, that mountain is so big and that God has been so small. The Bible says that if you just have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to that mountain, Be thou removed and cast into the sea, and it shall be done for you.

We're going to pray, God, give us that faith the size of a mustard seed. We're going to get that mountain gone that your arms don't hang down but can begin to be raised. Amen. And begin to praise Him with a true praise of deliverance today.

If you can, if you're able to, just raise your hands towards the Lord right now. Let me pray for you. You pray this with me. Lord Jesus, I thank you that you have done so much for us. You died on Calvary taking all of our sins to the cross that we do not have to carry them ourselves.

We give them over to you. Everything that separates between me and thee, I give it to you. And I thank you that I am free today because of what you've done, not what I've done. I simply believe that you've done it all.

And I cling to your victory. Lord Jesus, give me the faith right now so that I can say to this mountain that is before me, a mountain of trouble, a mountain of grief, a mountain of difficulty, a mountain of attack, I say to you, in Jesus' name, be thou removed and cast into the sea.

In Jesus' name, I believe my mountain is gone. And Jesus is Lord. Hallelujah. Now give Him a praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory be to Jesus. Just pray one small prayer right now. Lord Jesus, I exchange heaviness for the garment of praise.

By faith, I put it on and out of my heart and out of my happy lips will be a shout of praise. In Jesus' name. Now give Him praise today. Hallelujah.