Praise Prevails!
Written by Brigitta Tedja
Watch full sermon here.
City Blessing Church has a unique and special relationship with Bishop Bart and Pastor Coralee Pierce of Rock City Church in Baltimore, MD. He is Pastor Paul Tan’s spiritual father and covering and it is always a remarkable moment when our father’s father makes the time to come and speak to us. It is truly an honor. Bishop had another sermon prepared but through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he delivered an anointed and powerful “NOW” word regarding God’s intention and purpose of praise.
Hebrews 13:15 NIV
“Offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
The sacrifice that must be offered is no longer an animal-human effort or created ceremony. It is a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confesses the name of Jesus, the Messiah, He who never changes, our Helper, He who will never leave us nor forsake us. In Him is our faith.
The sacrifices of the Old Testament are done away with. In Hebrews, praise is a sacrifice, not what makes one feel good. He began with a stirring application as he invited the congregation to stand up with lifted hands, no clapping, and praising God for a solid minute.
One does not praise the Lord to feel joy, because praise is a sacrifice. We have turned it into an exercise to make us feel better. We have changed praise to become an instrument for things that it was never meant to be used for just so that we feel better. We have missed the purpose and misused praise. Praise is a weapon. It has nothing to do with God’s faithfulness when we praise God. Our praise will not change God or His attitude, for God will remain faithful regardless of our praising Him. Praise does not move God in that direction.
Praise is one of the most powerful weapons available in a Christian’s arsenal. In a war, a soldier does not ask himself whether or not he feels like fighting. As a soldier, you are always on fight-mode, there is no “on or off.” Joy is not related to sacrifice. There was no sound of joy when Abraham offered Isaac on the altar. Praise is a sacrifice you bring no matter what your circumstances are—good and bad. This is a contradiction to what we have been taught and it is a fight to have that change come into the Church.
In the book of Judges, Moses died, the Israelites entered the Promise Land, and then Joshua died. The promise was clear, the land belonged to them, but they still had to possess it. Though we have promises, we still have to take possession of those promises.
Judges 1:1-2
“After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked this question, ‘Who will be the first to fight for us against the Canaanites?’ The Lord answered, ‘Judah is to go. I have given the land into their hands.’”
Judah means “praise,” so everyone who are praisers can possess the land. The praisers will inherit the land. It is not a one-man mission, but the collective body who shouts to God, offering sacrifices of praise, will bring the victory that is needed.
God has given us a mighty weapon, but the Church has not utilized it properly. In the book of Judges, the Canaanites never heard this kind of a shout because the presence of God was in their midst. The shout brought fear and dread until the walls of Jericho crumbled. It is not a shout of joy, but it will cost us to shout and praise God through everything. God ordered Judah to fight. Not one individual person was assigned but a whole tribe of praisers were used to bring victory. When we praise, a shield comes up and blocks the enemy’s arrows. The Church has been defeated for too long because we have been only interested in feeling good.
Genesis 49:8-10 NIV
“Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter (authority) will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.”
Judah (“praise”) was Jacob’s fourth son and Jacob prayed a prayer of blessing over him that had nothing to do with feeling good but everything to do about victory and spiritual warfare. In 2 Peter 2:4 the fallen angels have been bound in chains and put in the abyss and has never been loosed on the earth before. Their chains have been unlocked, and they have declared war on us Christians, seeking to devour us, and their fighting message is not anything that the current Church has ever dealt with.
Judah has authority (scepter) and an inheritance stating that wherever their feet would step upon, that land will be given to them. God is no longer using the pastor and the elders to fight for you, He is raising a tribe of Judah, who will have a scepter in their hands, offer a sacrifice of praise, and it will cost them to come to Church on Sundays to give God praise. God will also give Judah the nations. The shout that is out of sacrifice is a weapon that Satan cannot defeat.
1 Chronicles 28:4
“Yet the Lord, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the tribe of Judah he chose my family, and from my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel.”
There is a positioning shift occurring in the Church. David understood though he was chosen as king, Judah is to lead. The real leader is Judah. Praise will take the lead and cause those who were intimidated or cowering back to step up with such authority that demons will tremble because of the shout that will come out of us. Just like the victory shout at a game, as the men offered their sacrifice by practicing and playing hard—the victory sound will come like thunder and it will be moving.
Judah is called to be in the front of the battle. God always sends praise before the battle. Those who are real praisers have their face towards the front, not their backs as they are running away. The promises are in front of you and you will praise God to His face. Judah’s banner was a figure of the lion’s cub.
Psalms 76:1-3
“In Judah, God is known. His name is great in Israel. His tent is in Salem (peace), his dwelling place is Zion (Church). They broke the flashing arrows, the shields and the swords, the weapons of war”
If you go back to Abraham and Lot, we see that Lot turned his tent towards Sodom, so all the filth of Sodom came into his tent and the results were that he lost his family. Lot was severely punished for his compromise and his wife and children were killed. Abraham turned his tent towards the Tabernacle and he was blessed. We need to turn our tent to the right direction.
Those who are of Judah, your place of peace will be obvious because there is an anointing to declare peace to whatever circumstance you find yourselves in. God’s people will walk in peace. It is not found in alcohol or drugs. They will be so in God that the anointing will come and when we praise and shout, peace will come like a river, we will find peace that surpasses all understanding, and we will walk in perfect peace whose minds are kept on the Lord. Judah broke the flashing arrows of Satan’s fiery darts and the shields and swords and weapons of war could not stand against the praisers.
God is known in Judah and God shows up during praise. There, God breaks the weapons of the enemy. Praise is not a battle in which one tries to defeat the enemy rather, praise imposes obedience on enemies who are defeated already! Your praise makes your enemies to be at peace with you. Praise causes your enemies to back off. It is spiritual warfare—understanding how to offer a sacrifice of praise. You are shouting NOT to get something because it is already here.
Psalms 149:1-6
“Sing to the Lord a new song (afresh) and His praise (a song, a melody) in the assembly of the saints
Let Israel rejoice (gleam, shine) in their Maker (Creator and constant sustainer)
Let the children of Zion be glad (spin around) in their King
Let them praise His name with boasting, ostentations of bragging about Him (His name, honor, authority, character, position) and dancing
Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp--to make musical strings with instruments accompanied with praisers
For the Lord takes delight (pleasure, satisfaction) in His people
He will crown (ornate, decorate) the humble (crushed) with salvation (Yeshua, liberation, help, victory, prosperity)
Let the saints be joyful in glory (rejoice and jump and leap)
Let them sing (shout aloud) with joy on their beds at night.”
There are external manifestations of praise. Psalms 149:6 states, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand. The praise exalts God by declaring that He is higher and loftier than our circumstances. God is higher than death, the tomb, any pain or disappointments, governor, president, any nation leader, expert, organizations, any threat to man, Satan, and religious zealots imposing contradicting lies on the Church.
How do we exalt God? We exalt God with our mouths (Hebrews 13). Your mouth is how you praise God, not with hands or dancing or music although they may accompany praise. Our praise comes out of our mouths. Clapping was never to be associated to praise. Our mouths are to be used to exalt God. We exalt only God. Many people use their mouth to exalt their problems or Satan. Some say we praise God in our minds (intellectualism)—it cannot be confined to our minds because our enemy is not all-knowing. It is also not scriptural. Praise should come out of our mouths like a weapon.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Ephesians 6:17
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The power of the two-edged sword comes from our mouths. The sword is the Word of God that is in our mouths. The Holy Spirit is restoring praise in the mouths of the Church. We are at war when we face difficulties and all these struggles need to be confronted with spiritual weapons and one of the weapons is the power of praise. When facing any type of attack, the first reaction has to be praise. Our own lips will defeat the enemy and any sin is defeated when our mouths are consecrated and are filled with sword of God’s word.
Next when facing an attack, our testimony has to be an attack weapon. We will overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. Defeat the enemy and his lies by opening our mouths and testify. He cannot lie when we are testifying and praising God. When we obey the word of God in our daily walk, no one can accuse us.
I Corinthians 2:15-16
“The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment for, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
The world cannot judge us. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No one can launch a successful judgement verdict against a spiritual man who constantly exalts God with the word in his hands through his daily life and in his mouth. The attacker will become confused, tired, and eventually leave because he cannot find a target in which to aim. The more criticism the attacker levels, the more praise comes forth. Rather than ignoring the attacker, the spiritual man confronts him with weapons he cannot resist. Praise brings the verdict of the judge into effect. Satan tries to condemn the world. There is no verdict that can be exercised over you by Satan and his lies.
Colossians 2:13 NIV
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
We need to release the power of praise in the Church. When we begin to praise God. we are not shouting to get the victory, for we already possess the victory. There are 27 times in the Bible illustrating that as Judah began to praise, the enemies of Israel got defeated. We are of the tribe of Judah. Praise is not done to get joy—It is a sacrifice. When we have a bad day, that is when praise becomes a sacrifice. You bring your sacrifice with a shout! Our praise is not based on music or us getting something from God. Our praise is based on Him already doing it. Our praise to God is a weapon! There is a shield that has been erected so high that every fiery dart against the pastor, leadership, or others in the Church will be nullified. We always enter His gates with thanksgiving before finding intimacy. We praise and shout and then immerse ourselves in worship.
Bishop Bart had the congregation stand up and shout the praises of God. It was rousing, powerful, and life- changing! There was a roar. There was a break-through. We will continue to shout and praise wherever we are, wherever we go!
Prayer Points:
Pray that the Holy Spirit brings understanding of the true purpose of praise
Pray to consecrate our mouths with the Word of God
Pray to live circumspectly and in holiness
Pray to establish a lifestyle that utilizes praise as a weapon on a daily basis—learn to SHOUT!
Pray to know our authority, inheritance, and how the nations are given to us as promised in Genesis 49:8-10
Pray to walk in peace
Pray to build our arsenal of praise and testimonies to overcome the enemy (spiritual warfare)
Pray to release the power of praise in the Church
Pray to erect a high shield over CBC through our praise (protection for our pastors, leadership, and the congregation as the days ahead will become harder—be vigilant)
Be the Salt & Light:
Pray for California:
AB2223 passed through the Appropriation Committee on May 19, 2022. It is now headed to the Assembly floor to be voted on May 27, 2022. Please continue to pray that this bill will not move forward. Pray for Holy Spirit to convict our lawmaker's hearts and end AB2223.
California Primary Election is on June 7, 2022:
Pray for election integrity.
Pray that God will elevate godly candidates and open up the doors for them to get elected.
Pray that Christians will rise up united and vote for godly candidates.
Pray for America:
Inflation, supply chain disruptions, threats of a global food crisis are still very much in the fore-front of our lives. Pray for wisdom on our leaders to come up with policies that will get these issues under control.
SCOTUS leak on draft opinion for Roe vs Wade has caused many protests all around the nation:
Pray that they will be peaceful protests and that Antifa does not infiltrate the protest to create chaos.
Pray for the safety of SCOTUS justices (Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas) and their families. They are facing tremendous pressure from the pro-abortion groups. Pray that they fear God more than they fear men and stand for justice and righteousness.
Pray for the leaker(s) to be identified and punished to the fullest extent of the law. What the leaker(s) did has undermined the court.
**GOOD NEWS** Disinformation board has been suspended! Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for this board to be permanently dissolved. This board is a threat to the First Amendment of our constitution and our free speech.
**GOOD NEWS** A federal judge has stopped Biden’s administration from rescinding Title 42. Thank you for your prayers! Even though Title 42 did not stop the immigration issue on our Southern borders, keeping it on for now helps alleviate the pressure on our Border Patrol agents.
Pray for wisdom upon our leaders to enact and enforce a just and lawful immigration policy. Permanently!
Pray for our CBP (Custom & Border Patrol) agents who have been stretched thin. Pray for their morale.
Pray for Ukraine:
Let us not forget that war is still raging in Ukraine. The number of casualties continues to increase. There are on-going war crime investigations. Please continue to pray for the Russia-Ukraine war to end swiftly.
Shout and praise God, saints! Let praise prevail!