If you have your Bible today, I want to invite you to go with me, please, to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 6 in the Scripture. And I have been thinking a great deal about our theme, our preaching series this month, Draw Near with Thanksgiving. I think that really, thanksgiving should not be so much something we feel, but something we do. Something we offer. And I think that the quotation there in your bulletin, do not merely feel gratitude. Express it. If you do, you will be a blessing. And in the end, you will be blessed. And I've found that to be true in my life. And I trust that as we contemplate that whole concept, that the Word of God will take upon a greater meaning than perhaps it has before at a season such as this. And in Deuteronomy chapter 6, I want us to begin reading in verse number 1, where here the Bible says, Now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it. That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command thee thou and thy son and thy son's son all the days of thy life. And that thy days may be prolonged, Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all Thy might. Heavenly Father, we are grateful today for the Word and how it instructs our hearts. Lord, I pray that today we might not simply be hearers, but cause that we might become doers of the Word. Lord, fill me with Thy Spirit that I might preach Thy Word in such a way that it might be clearly understood. And Lord, I pray that You would prevail in every heart. Lord, I pray that we might leave here with a deeper appreciation for who You are and all that You have done for us. And Lord, if there's someone that does not know Thee as Savior, may today be the day of salvation for them. For this I pray in the wonderful name of Jesus, Amen. This morning I want to bring you a message entitled, Our Highest Praise. Our Highest Praise. I think you know that praise is not a song. It's not a concert. It's not a praise and worship service. It's much more than this. And although there are times where we may hear the praises sung, I don't believe as we study the Word of God that those moments even begin to rise to the level of what it is that we're talking about this morning, our highest praise. I can tell you, As a Christian, there have been times that I have sung the doxology like you have. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And I sang those words and my heart was like an echo chamber because I was far from God in my heart. How then could someone who was living for self offer God their highest The Bible reveals that He is higher than the highest. He's greater than the great. He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And today, my friends, He is worthy of our highest praise. Not just a song in church. Not just something we whistle as we are walking the dog. I'm talking about something that transcends what this world and yea, even religion is selling as high praise. And I think that today, there's something that we need to understand about all of this. And I want you to understand this, that there are some things that never change. Are you aware of that? Times change, methodologies change, technology changes every second. Information doubles about every ten and a half months. So if you knew everything that there was to know in the world, every point, every bit of data, you knew that, in about ten months, you would only know half as much as you thought that you did. Because of the proliferation of information, it is without end. And I believe today that what we need to do is focus in upon what God said. And I think we would all probably lower our blood pressure just a little bit and ease our stress levels just a little bit if from time to time we turn off the television set at the six o'clock and nine o'clock hours. Do you know what I mean? I think we would probably all lower our blood pressure just a little bit if we would turn off YouTube and the internet every so often and just spend some time in the presence of the Holy One. If we would just get dialed in to the Lord God and what He has to say to us in His Word. Sometimes we're so wrapped up and overwrought by what pundits say and bloggers write. and YouTubers have to say, and we take little to no time to consider what God says. And my friend, the Bible is the book of books. It is the book of life. And if you want to know how to live this life and get through a pandemic and deal with political vitriol, and if you want to know what to do in the face of imminent war in Russia, and Ukraine, and China, and Taiwan, and civil wars all over. Right now 247 wars are being waged upon this earth, and we don't even know about many of them. The fact is this world is a mess and Jesus is coming soon. And when Jesus comes, it's not going to matter that much what your favorite blogger had to say. It's not going to matter that much what your favorite YouTube video host had to tell you. What's going to matter is what did you with Jesus. That's all that's going to matter. And I think that we need to understand that Some things never change, people just never get it sometimes. That's really revealed in the history of Israel. If we study the history of Israel, what we notice is that God drew them nigh to His heart, and then you know what? They turned away from God and they began to serve other gods and live for themselves, and guess what? They went into captivity. And then, you know what, after 70 or 100 years in captivity, just getting the stuff and beat out of them, and having to work as slaves, then they'd turn back to God and say, save us, and here the Lord would come in love, and guess what He'd do? He'd save them. And you know what? They'd be so grateful for that, and they'd come out of that captivity, and they'd restore pure worship, and everything would be grand for about 40 or 50 years until they started to worship those other gods again. and turn their heart away from God again. And then you know what? Back into captivity they would go. And then for about 70 to 100 years, maybe more, they would suffer and get their backs beaten and be forced to work. They would not be their own. They would have no determination as a nation, and then they would cry out to the Lord, and here the Lord would come, and He would rescue them in love. And you know what? They'd be brought back into the land, and they'd re-embrace God, and they'd restore pure worship, and they'd enjoy the bounty of the Lord for about 40 or 50 years. And then, it would repeat itself all over again. You know, you would think that whoever was publishing the revisionist history books would be shot. I'm not talking about here, I'm talking about in Israel. Because if they could have just understood and seen and known that what they were doing was not benefiting them at all, it was not getting them any further down the pathway whatsoever, and whoever was telling them that it's a great thing for us to go and worship Baal really didn't get it, did they? No. The fact today is this, that as it was with Israel, so it is with mankind today. We tend to forget the goodness of the Lord and all His benefits. Psalm 103 verse 2 says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Look, and forget not all His benefits, it says. for as much as we might say, well, you know what, I thank the Lord all the time. In fact, I do it diligently like Daniel, three times daily. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Right? And we sit down and that's what we're thankful for. But understand, what the Lord does every day should be a reminder to us that every moment of every day and every breath that we breathe and every action should be offered back to the Lord as an act of our highest praise for all He has done for us. And I think as we consider The blessings of the Lord in this time of year, we should draw near to Him with our hearts and arms wide open, that we may receive from Him that which He wants us to have, so that we may lavish upon Him the love and the labor that may be considered an offering of the highest order of praise to our God. My wife Linda is seated on the front row. She's such a blessing to my life. And I remember the first Valentine's Day that we spent together. It was a little anticlimactic because I was all excited. I was gonna, you know, get the flowers. I was gonna get the chocolates. I was gonna buy a card. I was gonna get a gift and we're gonna have dinner. Everything was gonna be wonderful. And you know what? I called her and said, you know, I got big plans. And she said, you know what? I really don't like Valentine's Day. You remember this? I'm like, why not? I mean, I'm fixing to show you a good time. What in the world? She said, you know, I'd rather be treated special every day than just on February 14th. Can I get a witness up in here today? Listen, we would all like to be treated special every day. And she kind of mellowed out and she appreciates occasions that kind of allow her to enjoy that feeling being special. But she wants to feel special every day. And the reality is this, that I'm thankful for a day where our country has decreed that we would pause as a nation and offer thanks, but I want to tell you something. I think maybe the Lord's idea of our Thanksgiving day is kind of like Linda's idea of Valentine's Day. He wants to be praised every day. Every day. and are taking a couple of minutes to write out a few things for which we're thankful on Thanksgiving Day, one Thursday in November, before we pig out and fall asleep. You know, overdose on L-tryptophan and we take a nap and wake up and watch football and have a turkey sandwich. You know, I think the Lord is kind of looking at that sort of like a melted box of chocolates that were left in the back seat in Phoenix on February the 14th. I think you understand. I submit to you that our highest praise is often not rendered when we come into the house of the Lord. It's something we offer with our life. I believe today that we can notice here that Moses in the book of Deuteronomy is preparing the people of God to do what they had been hoping to do for more than 40 years now, and that is to go into the land that God had promised to them. And although Moses would not be the leader that would see them all the way over Jordan and into Canaan's land. God was still using him as a leader to remind the people of all that God had done for them and to prepare their hearts to enter into the blessing that God had promised to their fathers. And I believe today that it is important for us to consider the fact that he was calling them to remember to forget not all His benefits as Psalm 103 and verse 2 tells us. He was telling them that God wanted to bring you into this great land and it's amazing to me that in verse 3 as we read it there, He said that the Lord wanted to increase them mightily as He promised. Somehow we get this idea that if I go to church, you know, I'm going to live this monastic life and I'm going to be miserable. I can't ever do anything fun. I don't know about you, but man, I love living the Christian life. I mean, some people are like, man, if I get saved, I can't take drugs. You know, I can't be an alcoholic. You know, man, if I come to Christ, I'm going to have to be faithful to my wife and family. I'm going to have to go to church sometimes. Man, you are just miserable, aren't you? Can't have any fun. Can't do all the things that put you in peril of death and imprisonment. Well, your life is awful! We need to comfort you, don't we? The fact of the matter is that, look, there are those that have this Strange idea that God is this big bully up in heaven with a whip or a stick, and He just can't wait to crack you one when you step out of line. The reality is that He's a loving God that wants to bring you into a land, metaphorically, and in reality, that floweth with milk and honey, and He wants to increase you mightily, even as He promised to our fathers. And God wants us to lay a hold of that and enter into that. Now, you can follow me around, and you know what? Sometimes you're going to see me a little discouraged because I'm human. I know that's a revelation for some of you. But I am. You cut me, I'm going to cut you back. No, you cut me, I'll bleed. I get my feelings hurt just like you do. But you know what? You follow me around and you're going to probably think I'm nuts. Because you know what? I laugh. I tell weird jokes, and when nobody laughs at my jokes, I laugh at them. and I enjoy them enough for all of us. Okay? And you might think that's weird. I just have the joy of the Lord as my strength. It just kind of keeps me percolating along. You know, sometimes I just open the Word of God and it really gets me. Friday I was reading in the office and I was just so overwhelmed. I broke down crying. I had to get up and go in the bathroom and wash my face and dry my eyes. And Jenny was thinking, somebody has surely died. And I mean, she's looking at me. She's like, Pastor, is everything okay? Like everything's great. Everything's okay. I'll be right back. She's like, did something happen? No. Yeah, something happened in there, but it wasn't what you think. All right. But I found that God was good and these were happy tears. And I was excited that I got to declare Christ on Sunday, and I couldn't wait for Sunday to roll around. And I began reflecting over some of the kind-hearted, wonderful people at Freeway, and I started crying about that, saying, God, I'm so thankful and blessed to have them in my life. And you know what? I wouldn't trade the life of a believer for anything that this world has to offer. The truth is, it doesn't matter whether you live of humble means or you live in the lap of luxury, there's no fulfillment in your life apart from Christ. And I want to say this to you. We learn about our highest praise because all of the benefits that Moses was rehearsing with the people of Israel, he's reminding of them now in this book all the way through. And he came to this, he said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might. My friends, offer God the praise of your love, the praise of your love. The highest command is the key to offering the highest praise. Let me say that again. The highest command is the key to offering the highest praise. Our highest praise. There are many that can sing beautifully and take our breath away, bring tears to our eyes and goosebumps all over every inch of our body and we say, my, isn't this wonderful? And we feel like we're really wanting to praise Jesus in that moment. But I've seen some of those people have moments in a concert like that where I have talked to them after the concert and they seemed as carnal as the day was long. And I thought, how in the world does this all jive? How can someone do that, and we call that the highest praise, and then live like this five minutes later? It just didn't compute. And I realized how shallow our thinking is with regard to the subject of what rises to the level of our highest praise. God requires Obedience of His people, and He said, if you love Me, in John chapter 13, keep My commandments. Not, I'll love you if you keep My commandments. He said, no, if you love Me, guess what you're going to do? You're going to keep My commandments. And I submit to you that the highest command, which is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, is the key to offering our highest praise. Because it comes from a place of deep and genuine abiding love for the giver of every good thing. We're called to love God with everything that is in us. It says that we're to love Him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our might. And that speaks of body, soul, and spirit. And I don't want to burst anybody's bubble here today, but I just have to tell you this. I don't know very many people and have not known very many people over the course of my life that do that consistently. Brother Mark mentioned in Sunday School this morning that apart from Christ, there's only one person that He's really equipped to love, and that's Himself. Because we're taught of God to love one another, the Bible says. And He puts that love in our hearts that's shed abroad to others by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. Mary of Bethany, who was blessed with the resurrection of her brother Lazarus and the opportunity to play hostess to Jesus in her home to prepare a meal for Him, that knew that Jesus loved her and her sister and her brother, was highly honored of the Lord in so many ways. Towards the end of Jesus' days, within a week of His crucifixion, lavished her love upon Jesus by taking what constituted her life's savings, wrapped up in an alabaster box. She did not measure it out. She broke the box and gave it all. Against the day of Jesus' burial, she gave it as an expression of her gratitude, for all of the love that Jesus had showered upon her family. And after she had given it all, it was criticized by others, but she wished, deep down, she could have given Him more. I think that moment showed us the highest praise. Praise is really the offering of thanks to God. If you studied in the Hebrew, it literally means, the word praise means to offer gratitude and thanks. We praise Him. She was offering the highest praise that came from a place of genuine love. I think we need to offer God the praise of our love. It comes from a place when we begin to see and understand all that Jesus has done for us. You know the problem is when we get saved sometimes we're willing to accept the fact that we are sinners, but then you know what? We begin to go to church and we start hanging out with people that don't do all the bad things we used to do and we start having a higher opinion of ourselves. We might even come to the place where we feel like that God is really fortunate to have somebody of our stature in His body. And what we forget is that on our best day, we are undeserving of the least of His favor. and that we need to be filled with a sense of awe and wonder and gratitude every moment for all that He has done. And that should be demonstrated in acts of love and holding God in a special and a place that's sacred within our hearts and lives. And I submit to you that not many people do that on a basis that would lead them to ever encroach upon something that might be considered to be the highest praise. Because not only do we not have that place that we hold as sacrosanct unto God in our life, we have a difficult time just reserving time for God. Sometimes people come in on Sunday and they feel like, man, this is already three times in the last eight weeks. You know? I'm on another spiritual plateau now. You know, I've just got to tell you something. The Lord has always wanted time with His people. Since the garden. You can trace it. And I think the minimum that He asks of us is that we give Him a day. We give Him a day. You know what? Many of us think a day is an hour and a half in church. You fellas, try that on your kids. Next time, they say, Dad, can we take a day and go fishing? Drive them to the lake. Fight with them all the way there. Throw a line in. Set the timer for an hour and a half. take the line back out, get in the pickup, and go home, and see how happy they're going to be with that. Right? You say, okay, honey, it's date night. You've got 90 minutes. All right, so I think we should go to McDonald's, because the wait times there probably allow us to be able to digest our food. And you take her home after 90 minutes, and you watch your fishing shows on ESPN 14, And the outdoorsman's channel, while she's in putting cold cream on her face or whatever she's doing at that moment, she's not going to enjoy that very much, is she? No. I want us to notice that in chapter 8 of Deuteronomy, this psalm of praise that Moses is offering continues on in another vein, and we see In verse number six, Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates. a land of oil, olive, and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and are full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee." And the very next word is, beware. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God. In not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes, that I command thee this day. Verse number... 16, who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers do not, that he might humble thee, that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end. And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath got me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. I want you to notice that He's calling us not only to offer the praise of our love, but to offer the praise of our livelihood. You know what? There are far too many people in this room today that have a good job that think that that good job is theirs because they're such an awesome person, that they have such a wonderful education, that they have all of these great attributes that make their employer just die to give them a raise every six months. Look, we kind of get this idea that we think that what our resume says, what we put on our resume, is emphatically always true about the person that we are. Right? And you're the guy that sits in the interview office with the interviewer, the CEO of the company who's gone through and says, this is an incredible resume here in front of me. And boy, if it's all true, you're probably the guy for us. So tell me, what do you consider to be one of your greatest weaknesses? Right? How many of you have ever had that question asked of you? And we don't say, well, you know, I'm always tempted to take money out of the cash register and the retail outlets. We never say that one. We never say, well, I tend to drink too much and come in hungover on Monday. I tend to spend way too much time on social media during the work day. We never say that, do we? You know what we say? Things like this. Well, my problem is I tend to be a perfectionist. And then they say, well, that's really not a weakness. We want you to strive for perfection. And you say, sometimes I get down in the weeds trying to fine tune projects and make them just perfect. And maybe some people would view that as a weakness. Not sure. You know, you don't have that good job and that great salary because you're great. The Bible reveals that it is God that giveth thee the power to get wealth. And the moment that you start thinking that it's your employees' privileges to stand in your shadow, you know, the Lord can just choke off your windpipe just like that. You're not promised the next breath. God gave you the breath to breathe. He gave you the mind to think. He gave you the body to work. He gave you all of the things and attributes that you have. And I'm thankful that you're utilizing them and your employers recognizing that to give you a job. But God forbid that we ever come to the place that we think we did any of it. My wife this week got a promotion at work. And I'm kind of proud of her. You know what I told her? I said, I'm so glad that all of those meatheads finally recognized what they had. Can you call a brain surgeon a meathead? Well, I just did. But anyway, I said, look, I'm proud that they've recognized the work that you've invested, the value you bring to the company. And I meant that. But do you know why she really got that job? Because I put a good word in for her. No. Look, if I called her office, they wouldn't even know who I was. They'd say, you need to call the scheduling department. I think, what, you're behind in your bill? What? Who is this? No, the reason why she's found some favor is because she's humbled herself and she's lived a life that demonstrates the most important thing to her is what God put in her life. Her family and the work of the Lord. And God wants to favor that, but she's not going to stand up there and say, well, it's because I got this credential and that credential, and I'm a member of the medical association, and I've got my MBA, and I'm Sister Fancy Pants because of my resume. No, look, that's not it at all. She would tell you it's only the grace of the Lord Jesus. So what do we do? We're called to honor God with our livelihood. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number 9, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase, so shall thy bars be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst forth with new wine. And the reality is this, that one of the ways that your life could be characterized by the highest praise is by taking the things that this world assigns the highest value and giving them to God as though they were nothing compared to what He has done for you. When was the last time you had a Mary of Bethany moment and you were so overwhelmed with the love of God bestowed upon your household that you wanted to take what the world thought was so valuable and just give it to Jesus like it was nothing to you compared to all that He has done for you? to offer back a portion of that which God has given is to bless the Lord. For years I read that passage. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And I thought, I always pray for God to bless me, my soul. Right? And you do too. You ask the Lord to bless Jimmy and Johnny and Susie and us four no more. In Jesus' name, Amen. God bless us, bless us, bless us. And we want God's blessings. Boy, do we ever. And I thought, that's what we want. How do I bless God! How do you bless a God that has everything, doesn't need anything? It's when you take all the things that He's poured out upon you, that you highly value, and you give all those blessings back. You say, it all came from you anyhow. My dad's here, and he'll laugh when I tell this. When I was growing up, they wanted to teach us kids to give to family and so forth. And oftentimes we do little chores around the house and we save up a little money. And they'd look at our little Mason jars on the dresser or the nightstand and realize there's not much there for anything at Christmas time. And so mom or dad would take a side and back then you could go down to Woolworths or someplace with 10 bucks and you could probably shop for the whole family. Can I get a witness? Those days are long gone, right? That won't even get you to Flagstaff now, will it? Sure won't, unless you drive a Prius or something. In which case, I want to check to make sure you're an American citizen and that you're committed to the American way. I'm just kidding. But listen, Dad would give me $10 bill, give me 20 bucks. And I go down to Woolworths or I go down to Thrifty Drugstore by our house and I do my Christmas shopping. We do it all right there in one day. And I was just convinced that the thing my dad wanted more than anything in the world was high karate or some old spice or maybe a little soap on a rope. Some of you remember that? Yeah, some of you used to send that to your uncle in prison, didn't you? That's as far as we want to go with that one. But Dad would give us the money to go down and buy him a Christmas present. And then we'd buy it, we'd take it home, we'd wrap it up, and on Christmas, Dad, look what I bought you for Christmas! And he'd open it up, and there it would be, in all of its unresplendent glory, soap on a rope. Like, so proud of myself, like, Dad, I got you a present. The only thing was, he paid for it! If he had 10 bucks and was going to Thrifty Drug and Discount, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have bought soap on a rope. How proud are we when we come to church and we put 10% in the offering plate, but I got news for you. He gave it to you. Did you forget that? We're so impressed with the fact that we're giving it to him. Where did you think it came from? I smell wood burning right now, some of you are thinking, that's a good thing. I want us to notice thirdly, that God is calling us to offer God the praise of our lips. The praise of our lips. We look at this and what happened was in Deuteronomy chapter number 8, we discover there, In verse number 10, when thou hast eaten and are full, then shalt thou bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. And this was a sermon in Psalm that was being delivered to the congregation of Israel by Moses. He was extolling and praising God with his lips. I want you to know that the Bible tells us that we're to offer up, in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number 15, the sacrifice of praise. It says, By Him, therefore, let us offer up the sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks. unto His name. And so, God wants us not just to feel that we're thankful to Him, but to live a life that comes to the transcendent level of highest praise, that comes from a place of love, that gives up the things that we attach the highest value to, and that it flows forth from our lips so the world knows, you know, that guy is nuts! He loves Jesus and he's not afraid to tell people about it. Had the blessing of having a meal last night with Brother Damon and his wife, Julie. And as we were visiting after dinner, I was probably a terrible host because he's trying to watch his blood sugars and I ate a piece of cake right in front of him. I did say sorry, but I still enjoyed it. As we were talking, I don't even know how the subject turned to this, but we're talking about the job and how people communicate and so forth. And he shared with me that in the industry that he's in, sometimes people can be pretty foul-mouthed. Does anybody else work in an industry like that? Anybody have foul-mouthed people in your industry? I think it's in every industry, really. Some of us let it be seen a little more than others. But he mentioned how when they start getting particularly foul-mouthed, that he doesn't get mean or nasty with them, but he just tells them, you know, you've never heard me talk to you like that. And I don't appreciate it when you talk to me like that. And so I'd appreciate it if you would Dial that out and talk to me respectfully. You know, the first thing that came to my mind was, wow, that takes a lot of courage to say that. Because to some people in today's culture, well, that's a declaration of some kind of war. I bet I heard my dad say a hundred times or more, ten times that over the years. We rarely ever went out to eat when I was growing up. We ate most of our meals at home. So did you. Mom was a homemaker and she was a great cook. And so we had meals at home. But when we went out, if there was somebody in a booth nearby that was turning the air blue, Brother Max, we might say, cussing like a sailor. He's an old salt. Brother Scott, he's another old... There we go. That's the Lord saying, quit talking to these people that way. They're not talking to you like that. But you know, Dad would get up and go over and say, listen, my family is having a nice quiet meal over here, and there are ladies in this room. You need to watch your language. And I used to think, yeah, that's my dad. It takes courage. You know what? Why is it that in this day in which we live, we think it takes so much courage to vocalize our gratitude to God for all He's done for us? To just lift our voices unashamed? Can I tell you honestly, you going to your neighbor's house this Christmas and dropping off some fresh-baked cookies They don't care if they're made from scratch. Just go down to the grocery store and buy the Pillsbury tubes, you know, and cut them off and pop them in the oven. Put some sprinkles on them. They'll give give it a scratch look, you know, and and then wrap them up and go over there and say, I just was thinking about you want to be a blessing and say Merry Christmas to you. And just bring this over and let you know that I really appreciate you being my neighbor. All the times when you've taking my cans in when I left them on the street, even when he didn't feel like it. Mowing my lawn when I was sick. I just want to say thanks, but more than that, I want to say, you know, you're one of the nicest neighbors I've ever had. But, you know, the problem is nice is not a qualification for heaven. And I appreciate you too much to live another day without knowing whether or not you're sure that heaven is your home. God's been so good to me, and I just want to share with you what He's done for me. See, that takes courage. It takes obedience. And I think that might come close to our highest praise. We need to see that God doesn't want us to be a silent witness. There's no silent witness, silent witness protection program with God. He wants us just to own him and not be ashamed of it. There's some other stuff I'm going to. I'm going to trust you to download the sermon, just go by click your. Phone on the QR code in the foyer. And this right here is going to pop up on your screen. Or you can go to the website and get it, because I'm not going to finish this sermon right now. I'm going to give you my last point. Miss Debbie, I'm going to give the last point. I want to challenge you to offer God the praise of your life. What God was calling them to was to a life of obedience. Somehow we think that if we live however we want to, we call the shots from Monday to Saturday, and we're shacked up, and we social drink, and we have a smoke with our buddies after a steak dinner every once in a while, and we look at some porn every once in a while, but we're not really addicted to it, or we don't spend any time reading the Bible, but we sure have good feelings toward God, that we can come into the church house on Sunday and sing the doxology and let that suffice God. And we call it praise. For what? That God didn't strike you down when He had the chance? That you can live your life according to how it pleases you and God still loves you anyway? And then out of deep and abiding gratitude for the fact that He still loves you anyway, you continue living that way? And we call it praise? We're offering Him thanks? That is not, my friends, of the highest order. For the One who is worthy of all praise, He is worthy of our obedience. He calls us to a life of obedience which is an offering of praise. Our highest praise calls us to a surrender of all that we are and all that we possess to the only One who is worthy. David said, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. There are a lot of people we give deference to, and we show gratitude towards that are not even sort of worthy of it. But God is perfectly worthy of it. And even as the children of God were called to live their lives toward God, we are called to do the same. Paul said in Philippians 1.21, For to me, to live. is Christ. And to die is gain. What was he saying? He was saying this. My whole life can be summed up in one word. Christ. His whole life was dedicated to that one person, Christ. Every morning and all the day through, His life was an offering. Laid upon the altar of sacrifice was an offering of praise of the highest order. Every day He put His life on the line. He let His breath be breathed for God. He gave His resources to the purposes of God. And the highest praise that he could offer was to live a life of love, demonstrated by obedience and sacrifice. That is the highest praise. Now, my friends, I hope that Thursday you get together with family or friends, or Tuesday if that's your celebration, and that you reflect over the goodness of God in your life. But more than trying to suffice God, to entreat the Lord, why would we settle for less than our highest praise? Because He's really worthy of it. And we're not. There are many things that I could say, but one is this, James 1, 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. There's nothing good in your life that did not come from the hand of God. Don't forget. Don't forget it. The Israelites, they kept forgetting, and they had to go back and learn the lesson again, and they'd do all right for a while, and then they'd forget, and they'd have to go back and learn it over. And I'm afraid that I'm as stubborn as they are. God has had to take me back to the school of hard knocks, to teach me what I should have learned the first time, that He wants my life, not just a song. It comes from the highest command to love Him with everything that is in me. Apart from that, we can never offer Him the highest praise. So how can I praise Him? I can live a life of love and obedience today. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and what it teaches. Lord, I pray that we might not try to pacify an all-knowing God with a song and some words that don't match a messed up life. and a darkened heart. Help us, dear God, to crave the joy of offering you the highest praise.