In a world filled with challenges, Cherri Campbell brings a powerful message of resilience fueled by praise. Discover how gratitude becomes a weapon for victory as Cherri draws from Scripture, using examples from various cultures that showcase meaningful and exuberant worship. Explore the ways you can incorporate praise into your daily life, turning each moment into an opportunity for spiritual triumph and deeper connection with the divine. Whether you’re dancing in joy or quietly lifting a hymn of praise, this episode teaches you to unlock the spiritual strength within.
00:12:30 Concluding Thoughts and Personal Encouragement
SPEAKER 01 :
Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherri Campbell. This morning I’m going to continue sharing with you a message that I preached in one of our Victorious Faith services called Praise Brings the Victory. So join me now in our live service for the continuation of this message, Praise Brings the Victory. The Lord was just saying, while you’re waiting, while you’re standing, be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. And then I want to show you that giving thanks and praise to God will bring. It’s a powerful key and part of bringing the victory. It’s part of the weapons for bringing the victory. First Corinthians 1557. First Corinthians 1557. But thanks be unto God. He gives us the victory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks. He gives us the victory. And 2 Corinthians 2.14. 2 Corinthians 2.14. Now thanks be unto God. Who always causes us to triumph in Christ. And I like that word always. Always means always. You can always triumph in Christ. Even if it looks like you’re not triumphing. If it looks like you’re under the barrel. You can say under the barrel. Say I’m triumphing. And you’ll get up on top of the barrel. Because you will be put on top. As you continue to praise. Now let’s get into the teaching on praise. How to praise. The best teaching on praise that we have in the Bible. Is what God taught the Israelites. Because the Israelites were his people. His chosen people. And he gave very specific instructions. About temple worship. About praise. About sacrifice. And so he gave us teachings in his instructions to the Israelites. And one thing that I heard. That God chose the Israelites first. One reason, they were very expressive souls or expressive people. When they were happy, they jumped and shouted and danced and twirled in the streets. When they were sad, they threw dust in the air. When they were upset, they tore their clothes. They were very expressive people. God wants us to be free to express ourselves. And it’s part of the British English culture of being very reserved that we have even in America. But I have on the mission field been in other countries where they don’t have such a culture. And in Africa, for example, in the churches in Africa, people will just dance wildly. And the pastor and his wife up on the front platform just dancing wildly on the platform, you know, and doing their kind of African dancing style. But they’re doing it in praise to the Lord. And then, you know, in Israel, of course, you probably watched the Russian Jews. The movie Fiddler on the Roof gives a picture of how they would do their dances. And then I was in the Pacific Islands and they have their own style. And they’re free. The islanders are very free dancers. And dancing in church is normal. And I remember being in the Solomon Islands. And it was such a powerful time. It was a supernatural period of time. It was very marked in my life and in those that were there. God brought these pastors together. And there were like 60 pastors that came together to hear the Bible school teaching that I came to give. And we were all knit together. They actually came three weeks early before I arrived, thinking I was going to be there three weeks earlier. And so they spent those three weeks praying and fasting. And when I arrived, they said, can you preach in an hour? It’s like, okay, go dump my luggage in my room and get ready and go preach that night. And then the pastor said, now we’re all here. We have no place to go. We’re here and we sleep here. We eat here. We’re here all day long. Can you teach 12 hours a day? He asked if I could teach 12 hours a day. Well, I almost did. Sometimes I told him, well, let’s try six hours. And so I went two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, two hours in the evening. But frequently those two hours would run over and I’d go eight or 10 hours in a day teaching and preaching. And God gave the strength, but everyone was so happy. The word was so alive and fresh and revelation was coming to everybody. And there was just joy in the hearts of everybody, joy in the camp. And the fellowship was so sweet. And I mean, just think of 60 pastors being together and everybody was in love with everybody. There was not one strife among the whole bunch. Everybody was in love with everybody. And we came into those evening services where we would start with praise and everybody just celebrated. I mean, it was just a outburst of celebration and joy and praise the Lord. And I got right there in the middle with them and did it too. And so it just was spontaneous and it was, it was out of the heart, you know, and, and that’s what God loves. He loves his people to praise him with open heart without reservations. And so one thing I want to say right now is that, like I said, our culture is very restricted and inhibited, but I encourage you to do this at home. at least if you don’t feel free to break out in church, then do it at home and do it in your bedroom. Or if you’re alone, you can do it anywhere in your house. And there are times when, oh, I’m getting to something. There’s a word here that is the word shout. And it actually means to screech and to make a stridulous sound. And I’ll do that sometimes when the house is empty. And I’ll just go hallelujah at the highest pitch that I can reach. And screech hallelujah. Praise the Lord. And jump up and down. And give God praise in the house when I can be free to not hurt anybody else’s ears. Okay. And so I just want to encourage you to release. Praise, release praise. And so let’s take on some scriptures here and words. First of all, let me just say that there are several words in the Hebrew and the Greek that are translated praise. And I don’t even have them all. I only selected some of them. But for example, yada and then this one, tehillah. It means praise song or hymn of praise, adoration and praise demanded by the qualities or deeds or attributes of God. We’ll get back to that later. One of the things you praise him for are his qualities and his deeds and his attributes. But then there’s the word halal. Now, halal, H-A-L-A-L, the Hebrew word is actually one of the root words. We get the word hallelujah from hallelujah. And the Yah on Hallelujah is from Yahweh. It’s Halal, Yahweh. It’s praise Yahweh. Praise God. That’s where the word Hallelujah comes from. And it’s just shortened, but it actually means praise God or praise Yahweh. But Halal, listen to this. To make a show. To be clamorously foolish. To rave about. To celebrate. I like that. Make a show. Be clamorously foolish. To rave. And to celebrate. And this is what the Jews were taught to do. And this is what they did again and again. That was the way they praised. As a matter of fact, in the book of Psalms 113, Psalm 113 to 118. is called the great Hallel. They would sing and dance these praises even upon going to the temple. And they would be dancing and praising their way just like David did on their way to the temple. And then there’s another word, zamar, that means to strike with the fingers or to touch the strings of a musical instrument, to play a musical instrument, to sing and give forth praise. And then there’s another word, todah, that means to confess, make confession of thanks and a sacrifice or offering of thanks. Then there’s another word that means to adulate and adore. Then in the Greek, there is a word that means expressing a good opinion concerning someone that results in praise, honor, and glory. It also means splendor and brightness, magnificence and excellence. dignity, and majesty. So it’s to praise God for his splendor, his glory, his magnificence, his excellence, and his majesty. And so I want right there, I want to stop a moment and say, some people say, but I don’t really know what to say. Some people haven’t practiced praising out loud. They haven’t practiced being vocal very much with their praises. And so one of the things to do is just to use words and learn words like this. Magnificence, his magnificence, excellence, strength. splendor, majesty, glory, and honor and power. One of the things that we’ve done and is to go through the book of revelation, especially and underline all the praises that are sung in heaven and And then to read those and to sing those and put them to music. And also not only Revelation, but the book of Psalms. And using the book of Psalms, you can read the book of Psalms if you don’t have words to say yourself. There are so many Psalms. And especially the latter Psalms from Psalm 1, the last several, but like Psalm 146, 147. Praise the Lord, O my soul. These kinds of praises. Psalm 148. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights above. Praise him as angels. And you can read these if you don’t have the words of your own to say. Read what’s already written. They’re anointed. They’re powerful. So read the Psalms out loud and yet read them as though you are the one expressing them, as though you’re the one shouting or singing them and declaring them. And so you don’t have to make up your own. But then if you practice using what’s written in the book of Psalms, the book of Revelation, then you can start getting creative and use your own words. Hallelujah. And so that’s how you can praise. And then I wanted to point out that God ordained in Leviticus chapter 23, the seven feasts that the Israelites were supposed to celebrate every year. And there were the three in the spring. There was Passover and unleavened bread and first fruits. And then 50 days later, there was the Feast of Pentecost. And then in the fall feasts, there is the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles and Trumpets. And anyway, the word festival, the word festival is in Leviticus 2341. Leviticus 2341. Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord. For seven days. So they actually came together and had a festival celebration for seven days. This was the Feast of Tabernacles. And the word festival, one of the words for festival in the Hebrew means to hold a feast or hold a festival to celebrate, to dance, right? What you just heard was the continuation of a message that I preached in one of our victorious faith services called Praise Brings the Victory. And we will continue this message again tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow. And remember, God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
