IT'S TIME TO SHOUT
Sadly here in Australia in many churches if some people see someone in the service raising their hands during the worship service, their immediate reaction is “He must be a Charismatic or a Pentecostal”. It is interesting that thousands of years before the Church was born on the Day of Pentecost King David encouraged God’s people to raise their hands in the Sanctuary and also when they were alone with God.
Most Evangelical churches don’t mind people clapping their hands during a bright chorus, which is again encouraged in the Old Testament, Psalm 47:1 NKJV reminds us Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
For the Lord Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.
He will subdue the peoples under us,
And the nations under our feet.
He will choose our inheritance for us,
The excellence of Jacob whom He loves.
Not only to clap our hands but SHOUT, and here the Psalmist tells us why we should both CLAP & SHOUT.
Sadly, most Christians would think that either in private or in the Sanctuary it not decorous, to shout, that spirituality is married to quietness, BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. (of course there is a time to be quiet and still in the Lor4d’s presence).
Most people love following sport (as well as playing when they can) and of course they have a team they follow, and at the sports ground it is of course “acceptable” to shout. If we can get excited about a ball filled with air or a sportsman who excels, HOW MUCH MORE WE SHOULD GET EXCITED ABOUT JESUS AND ALL HE HAS DONE AND DAILY DOES FOR US!!!!!
Almost 18 times in the Psalms alone God’s people are encouraged to shout the praises of God, it has been said by many great men in the past, “When the church gets “respectable” it has lost its purpose and vision”
I want to suggest that there is a regular constant reason for Believers to SHOUT THE PRAISES OF GOD.
Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NKJV tells us there is time for so many thiNGS Everything Has Its Time
To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
The Lord has also given us a whole set of weapons to confront the evil one, I would suggest SHOUTING IS A WEAPON OF WARFARE TOO, James tells us as we submit to God, resist (including shouting) he must flee.
LET ME SUGGEST THERE IS OFTEN A TIME TO SHOUT AS WE CONSIDER THE CONSTANT BLESSINGS OF THE LORD UPON OUR LIVES.
LET’S DO IT.
