How are the saints who are like Christ to finish the year

Psalm 150:1-6


The 150th Psalm closes out the 5th division of the Book of Psalms with every verse a doxology as a final song of praise to God from everywhere and in every way.

How are people who are like Christ to celebrate the end of the year and to enter into the New Year?

Is the church of God to follow the pattern of the world or to follow the God who has brought us from January 1 to December 28, 2025?

The theme for 2025, “God’s will is to become like Christ in this life.”

Becoming like Christ starts with obeying the word of God.

Verse 6 “says let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”

This is a commandment to everything and to everyone, especially the people of God.

How did we make it through the storms, heartache, and pain of 2025? It was God’s grace and mercy that brought us through.

The only response that makes sense is to praise God for doing what he did not have to do.

People who are like Christ live to praise God.

Praise is inward gratitude expressed outwardly publicly.

How are people who are like Christ to end this year, not knowing what is going to happen next year? We are to show God; we love him through obeying his commandment to praise Him
  1. Being like Christ is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him - vs. 1
  2. Being like Christ is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him in the sanctuary - vs. 1
  3. Being like Christ is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him for what he does and who he is - vs. 2
  4. Being like Christ is to praise God through songs and instruments - vs. 3-5
  5. Everything that hath breath is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him - vs. 6

Biblical praise is contagious, not distractive!
Biblical praise always glorifies God, never the person!
Biblical praise is simple but powerful!
Biblical praise exalts God and builds up the body of Christ!
Biblical praise makes us more like Christ!
 
  1. Being like Christ is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him - vs. 1

“Praise ye the LORD.”

Praise is the Heb. verb halal, meaning hallelujah.
It is an imperative verb, a command from God.
It is in the present tense, meaning continuous.
  1. An individual command to praise God.
  2. Praising God focuses our attention on God.
  3. Praise is for God alone, no one else.
  4. Praise is directed to God.
  • Hallelujah is the highest praise, and it belongs to God.
 
  1. Being like Christ is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him in the sanctuary - vs. 1

“Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.”

  1. Praise God in His sanctuary
  • Sanctuary is the Heb. word Qdesh, meaning sacred place, holy place
  • God’s house is the house of worship
  • God’s house is a house of praise
  • God’s house is where God promised to meet his people
Psalm 34: 2, “lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord!"
  1. Praise God in the firmament of his power
  • Firmament is the Heb. word raqia, meaning expanse (Everything between the earth and heaven)
  • Power is the Heb. word oz, meaning strength
  • Praising God in his power gives us power to praise him and worship him with great energy and enthusiasm.
Praise HIM in the firmament of his power!
  • Praising power comes from God to praise Him, and that makes us like Christ!
  • The more we praise Him, the more we are transformed into the likeness of Christ.
 
  1. Being like Christ is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him for what He does and who he is - vs.2

“Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.”

  1. Praise him for who he is
  • Oh Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth
  • Great is our God and greatly to be praised
  • There is none like him in all the earth
  • He is God, He is Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai
  • He is holy and just
  • He is perfect in every sense
  1. Praise him for what he does
  • Praise him for his mighty acts
  • Mighty is the Heb. word gebura, meaning valor and victory
  1. Praise Him for making us
  2. Praise Him for saving us
  3. Praise Him for keeping us
  4. Praise Him for defeating all of our enemies
  • The flesh, sin, Satan, and death
  1. Being like Christ is to praise God through songs, music, dance, and instruments - vs. 3-5
  • Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet
  • Praise Him with the psaltery and harp
  • Praise Him with the timbrel and dance
  • Praise Him with stringed instruments and organs
  • Praise Him upon the loud cymbals
  • Praise Him upon the high-sounding cymbals
Singing accompanied by music is powerful praise and worship
  • The words to the songs minister to our spirits
  • The melody of the music ministers to our souls
  • Singing with music moves us emotionally with a scriptural attachment to our emotional response
 
  1. Everything that hath breath is to obey God’s commandment to praise Him - vs.6

“Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD.”

  1. Everything means everyone who is living
  2. Saved people and those who have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior
  3. To praise God is to be thankful and express that thankfulness by words and by actions
  4. Praising God through words is to participate in worship in the house and outside the house of God
  5. Praising God through doing for the Lord is to serve him

The last Sunday of the year 2025 warrants great praise to a great God

If God has been good to you, why don’t you tell him thank you!

If God brought you out of darkness into the marvelous light, why don’t you praise Him.

If God kept you all the days of your life, why don’t you praise Him.