In 2012, a hospice nurse from Australia named Bronnie Ware wrote a book that was entitled The Top five Regrets of the Dying. She took notes as she was giving end of life care to which and she noticed that people would express to her some of the regret regrets looking back on life. And so she, she wrote those down and just started tracking them. Uh just, they're just it what an incredible privilege to be there at the end of someone's life. And, and so she started to share that with others knowing that when people look back, just a true feeling to come out. And so the top five regrets, it was not like a Christian book by any means, it's just really a human book of what people just openly shared with her in their final moments. And so these are the top five regrets of those who are in their end of life moment. Uh The first was I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself and not the life others expected of me. This was interesting because people shared how they pursued other people's expectations for their lives versus their own dreams and aspirations. Another regret was I wish I hadn't worked so hard. Many people, uh men especially said that they had worked such long hours that they missed their children's youth and some of their family's companionship. Another regret that was shared was when someone would say, I wish I had the courage to express my feelings and they had kept something inside, maybe an honest conversation, maybe an expression of, of love or an act of forgiveness to a child or a parent or sibling. And so they wish they would just would have expressed those feelings. Another one was that I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends saying that many people deeply regretted not giving enough time to maintaining healthy relationships. Um instead feeling isolated at their end of life. And the last one that was shared was I wish that I let myself be happier. And she noted that many did not realize until the end that happiness was a choice. They stayed stuck in their old patterns and habits pretending to be content when they longed for a more carefree and joyful life. Now, what would you say if you knew it was the end when all was said and done? What would your final words be? I thought about this question in preparation for this week and while I would love to be surrounded by loved ones and express my, my love for all of them, I think the final word, my final phrase of life, if I had to choose, I think would simply be the word hallelujah, hallelujah, which means praise the Lord. And the reason for that. And the reason for that selection is because see, we are coming to the end of our study of the greatest music album of all time, the Psalms. This is the prayer book of Jesus. This is the songbook of David. This is the prayer book of the people of Israel when they were in exile. This is the worship book of the start of the early church. And for thousands of years, Christians have used the Psalms to help them experience God in everyday life and through all the ups and downs in life. When you get to the final psalm, psalm 150 which is what we're gonna look at today. What I believe is that God through his inspiration of his word, through his intentionality, through his purpose ends in the final word of simply hallelujah. Now we shared how the Psalms are written for every stage of life that there is a psalm. For every season, there is a song and a and a lyric for every part of your life. If you picture the book of Psalms as a giant tent, the two poles that really hold up the entire book, there's all kinds of types of and genres of Psalms. But the two main ones could be summed up as lament and praise, lament is a prayer in birth and pain that leads to trust and praise as a celebration of who God is and what God has done. And what's interesting to me is that the early part of the psalms heavily express struggles of lament. There is God. Where are you? Why, why did you abandon me? Why am I downcast in my own sin? Why am I persecuted? Why are my enemies successful? And I am struggling and so everything from anxiety, to abandonment, to isolation, to sin, to pride, to persecution is covered, especially in these early psalms. And then as the Psalms progress, they solely move from lament to praise. And in the last five psalms, psalms 146 to 150 are specifically called the hallelujah Psalms. What I think this means to you and to me today is this and we're taking notes. I invite you to write this down. That prayer is a path to praise. Prayer is a path to praise. What we see here is that especially for believers that all prayers point to and eventually end with praise. It's not that all prayers are praise. But if you truly trust Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Savior, all prayers will ultimately result in the praise of the God and father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read this Psalm 150 together. That's the final psalm. Last one is the climactic conclusion of the greatest music album of all time. And we end with these six verses starting here in Psalm 150 verse one. Praise the Lord. That's one word there in Hebrew. Hallelujah. That really is trans translated. There is praise the Lord. So that's where we get that phrase says, praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with trumpet, sound. Praise him with lute and harp. Praise him with tambourine and dance. Praise him with strings and pipe, praise him with sounding symbols. Praise him with loud, clashing symbols. Let everything that has breath. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. So how is it that a book that covers every stage of life can end at a point of celebration? What I think this tells us is that really all of our prayers, the laments, the worries, the struggles don't stay in lament, don't stay stuck in the middle. You don't stay in the valley, right? Think of psalm 23 that many of you have been reading through this summer that though I walk and stay in the valley. No, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. That the end destination is one of celebration and praise and that's an encouragement for you and for me, because whatever season of life you're in right now, whatever struggle you're battling right now, whatever questions you have in your mind that go unanswered at some point will end at a point of praise and celebration. Psalm 150 is really a Psalm that is both descriptive and prescriptive. See some stories in the Bible, both Old and New Testament are descriptive meaning they tell a story of God, but it doesn't necessarily translate to direct actions for you and for me, right? Uh like Daniel in the lion's den. Incredible story, right? But I have never been thrown into a pit surrounded by lions. And I'm guessing that none of you have either. If you have, please talk to me after service and I want to hear that story, but it's descriptive meaning it happened. It shows a characteristic of God and it shows the life of someone, their successes and their failures, but it doesn't necessarily translate to you and me today. So that's descriptive. But passages that are prescriptive like how you would take a medicine are commands and descriptions and principles that still work today. And Psalm 150 is one of those passages, maybe not to the exact word for word. Like I don't, I don't think Brandon is routinely using harps and lutes, although maybe we could add him in, I mean, you know, but, but I appreciate also that it's thrown in there like the clashing Cymbals cause that means like, look, even if you can't really sing, just bring that joyful noise before the Lord. Amen. And so like it. And so while we might not have the specific instruments. What we see in here are commands to praise, the word praised is used 13 times in six verses and 10 of those times directly connected with a command to praise the Lord. And this is not in spite of everything that has happened. This is right in the middle of everything that is happening in your life. And what we see here is that Psalm 150 answers five major questions regarding worship and answers whom, where, why, how and who of worship? We're getting ready to go back to school, which is crazy to me that this summer is already gone. But if you think about in school, if you ever had to write like a book report or do like a journalist assignment, we had to answer those questions, right? Who, what, when, where, how this is what Psalm Fif 150 does for you. And I that answers five big questions. Whom, where, why, how and who and yes, whom and who are two different questions. But it'll, it'll track just, just go with me here. OK. The first question that Psalm 150 answers when it comes to worship is whom do we worship? And the answer is we worship God alone. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. See the word hallelujah actually comes from two Hebrew words Hallelu meaning praise and then yah or yah, which is a shortened version of the personal and powerful name of God. Yahweh. Now Hallelujah is such a cool word for so many reasons. Let me just share a few of those with you first. This is the personal name of God. It's used over 6500 times in the Bible. A little interesting fact. If you are reading in scripture on your digital devices, anytime you see the word Lord with all the letters capitalized, it's using that word yahweh there that's different than another word Adonai, which is another Hebrew word for Lord, meaning like a role or master or like a king. So sometimes you see both of those words together which will be low uh big l lowercase ord. Um And so you'll see words or phrases like the Lord of Lords, right? The Yahweh of Lords kind of thing, the yahweh of Ado I, and so you see these different words here. So it's used over 6500 times in scripture. Uh Sometimes when you're writing things out in an email or you see uh slides on the screen, it's a little harder to like capitalize, but then shrink letters at the same time you do it. So a lot of times you won't see it in translation here. But anytime you read your Bible or you see it on a digital device, you're gonna see those capital letters know that it's referring to Yahweh, the personal and powerful name of God. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means that he was he is and will forever be, for example, Exodus chapter three, when Moses was called to go back and free the Israelites from the Egyptians and to challenge Pharaoh and Moses gives all the excuses why he can't go. God doesn't speak back to him and say no Moses, you can go, you got this, you go, you and, and, and affirm Moses. God actually affirms God. Moses says, I can't do this because ABC D and God says you can because I am, I am Yahweh, I am the Lord. I was, I am I am to come. I will forever be. And there's this picture given that God is all powerful, that He is all knowing and that He is all present. And this phrase Yahweh was so reverent was so powerful that people would be afraid to even speak the name aloud. And so they would even take the vowels out of it and abbreviate Yahweh with the consonants and, and just, and, and just barely acknowledge it because they didn't want to say the word because it was that powerful to the point that the word Hallelujah is actually seen as a universal word, meaning that in almost every single language, there is no translation for Hallelujah. It actually is the word Hallelujah. Isn't that cool? I remember being on a mission trip to Ecuador uh there in college and, and we were in a worship service and I understood nothing because I didn't speak the language. We were trying to teach English and thankfully had translators, but we were singing and all of a sudden it became Hallelujah. I was like, oh, I got that one. I understood that one. And you can go anywhere in the world and in pretty much every single language, the idea of Hallelujah is understood. And now when you see Hallelujah, you might also see Hallelujah, which is really just a Latin translation of the same word. This is kind of cool. So you have this picture of this powerful image of God Yahweh, but it gets even cooler. Yahweh. It's so personal, it's so powerful. That is one of if not the only words you can say without speaking, but by merely breathing, try it with me. And yeah, why? What was the last verse in Psalm? 150? Let all who has breath? Praise the Lord. This means that when someone is born, the very first sound that is made is the name of God. And then immediately followed by a cry. If that doesn't describe humanity, I don't know what that is, right? And every single breath you take, right? It's not just a cool song. Every breath you take, OK. Literally every single breath you take is a subconscious acknowledgment of the existence of God. You don't control your breath. You're not telling yourself that's why it's one of the most medically challenging things when you have to be put on a ventilator to have something breathe for you but uh because to be human, to be alive, to be healthy, is to breathe and to breathe is to acknowledge the very existence of God, but not only your first breath, but also your last. Have you ever been around someone? In those final moments? My mind goes to uh my, my wife's grandmother, uh who we affectionately called Nani and, and my wife who works as a nurse, nurse practitioner. Uh also worked at a, as a nurse and, and in various different aspects in health care. And so because of her expertise and just Hart for serving was able to help a lot in her grandmother's final days. And it, and Anani gosh II, I hope and pray that you all have a Nani in your life. I mean, she was like 4 ft tall, little Spitfire, like 8 ft tall in personality. You know what I'm saying? Just like you don't know if what was coming out of her mouth was like really holy or really unholy. You know what I'm talking about? Have you met those people? You know what I mean? And she just did what she wanted and she was gonna do what she was gonna do and that was why this is Nani, right? And so when she got towards those last couple of years, she's like, I'm just gonna do what I wanna do. I remember specifically one day driving home and I passed my in-law's house where she was staying at the time and here was Nani just standing in the driveway and I was like, Nani, what are you doing? He's like, oh, I'm teaching Ben to drive. I mean, Ben wasn't even, he was like 1314 at this point. Maybe I don't remember. But like, I was like, wait, where's Ben? Oh, he's doing laps around the neighborhood? I was like, who? So she was teaching him to drive from the driveway, shouting instructions as he would pass. So an Nani was a character and, and she uh wasn't a perfect person by any means. I mean, but with all the highs and lows of life, one thing I do remember is that she loved little ceramic frogs because for her, what that represented was the acronym frog. Fully rely on God. And what was emotional to, to see, you know, my wife was there. And as she took her final breath to know that in that moment, that final act as a human was in her last breath to acknowledge the very name of God who now I firmly believe now is standing completely healed, completely healthy, worshiping the name of God face to face with the God who made her amen. That's why to give a Hallelujah, so powerful. That's why when God gave the 10 commandments in Exodus chapter 20 verse 1 to 3, he's given it on Mount Sinai to Moses. He says, and God spoke all these words saying I am the Lord, I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery that you shall have no other gods before me. It is the first commandment to have no other gods for Him. He's not one of many. He's not first in a line of others, but he is God and God alone and that is who we worship. You know, I am reminded every day that we are live, we live in a broken world. I was reminded, again, seeing the opening ceremony of the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I love the random competitions, right? The sports you don't see all year and all of a sudden it's like country versus country and like handball. I'm like, yeah, you're right. Like anybody. Anyway, the opening ceremony is, is a parade of nations, right? Almost has a feeling of like revelation when all the nations are coming together. But except you're reminded of just how broken and really demonic our world is where openly mocking the last supper. That is if you, if you've seen it or not seen it, you know what I'm talking about. But here's what I know to be true is that I feel sad but not for me, I feel sad who believe that way because God will not be mocked, right? And God is God, whether you acknowledge him or not. And so I'm reminded of the Brokenness and I pray for those people to repent and to turn and our world of how frail we are and how much our world is searching for everything and everyone other than God. But may we as a church as a body of believers, collectively weekly and daily with every single breath praise the Lord, whom do we worship? We worship God alone to where do we worship everywhere. It says there in verse two to worship God in the sanctuary, to worship God in the heavens. A couple of Psalms prior in Psalm 148 talks about how all creation will worship Him in revelation. It talks about the Myriads of a myriad. So like 10,000, which is what it typically represents times 10,000 angels, which if that's a numerically correct answer, not just metaphorical, what that means is that there's 100 million angels up in heaven created solely for the purpose of worshiping God. And so in heavens and on earth and everything in between, we're called to praise the Lord Paul is speaking to a very pagan society in Athens. They're religious but just not God religious. And so he goes, and he approaches the city and he says, you have a lot of gods and statues of gods, but you have one here that of an unknown God. Let me tell you about this God and he starts to preach the gospel to them. Uh They're on what's called Mars Hill. It's this really cool passage found in acts 17. Well, in acts 17 verse 24 we get this verse, Paul says, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and Earth does not live in temples made by hand. In other words, God is not limited to a building that everywhere Jesus himself shared this sentiment when he shared the gospel with this Samaritan woman. Long story short, Samaritans hated Jews. Jews hated Samaritans. There was this lady who not only was a Samaritan, the most rejected people group of the day, she was actually rejected by her own people. So she was the most rejected person of the most rejected people. And that was evidenced by the fact that she's getting water from the well in the middle of the day, which as Arizonans, we can really relate to these days. So in the middle of the heat by herself there, and Jesus comes across this woman and offers her eternal life and shares the Gospel with her. And she in turn responds back with a worship question and she says, hey, we have this temple over in Samaria and we worship here, they have this temple over in Jerusalem and they worship there, which is the right church, which is the right place to worship God, where should we worship God? And God doesn't simply respond back with where as much as he does with how. And he says these words in verse 23 and 24 he says, but the hour is coming and now is here when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit. And in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. So whom do we worship? We worship God alone? Where do we worship God? Everywhere, everywhere we go, we can sing. Hallelujah. Number three. Why do we worship the Lord? Well, he tells us in verse three, he says, because of who God is and what God has done specifically in verse three, it says, we praise, praise the Lord for his mighty deeds, what he has done and for his excellent greatness. I love that because he's got an adjective for greatness. He doesn't even say that he is great. It's that he's excellently great. He is the greatest of great, of all the greats put together. He's even higher than that. It's like when the little kids go like, well, infinity times infinity, right? I love that as kids. We're like, what's the highest number ever? Right? God's bigger than that right? Now. Here's a question though. How do you worship God when you're in the middle of the valley? Right? Worship God with what you see Him doing, right? But what if you don't see him doing anything? What if you're praying to be healed and you're not healed? What if you're praying for blessing and you feel broken? What if you're praying for community and you feel alone. What if you're playing for ga praying for, for growth and yet you feel nothing but lost and empty and like you're shouting, echoing into an empty cave. Anyone been there before you pray, you pray, you pray and you hear nothing. Well, I wanna encourage you that if you can't see what God is doing, you can always worship and praise God for three things. Number one, you can praise God for who He is. Right. God is good. So even when life isn't good, you can praise God who is good. You praise Him for who he is. He is love. He's just He is savior, he's creator. He is holy. He is yahweh. You can always praise him for that. Number two, you can always praise him for what He's done. That's why one of the best things you can do for encouragement is to go to His word and you see time and time and time and time and time again, how God proved faithful to his people, ultimately, through what Jesus did on the cross. So you can praise Him for who He is. You can praise him for what he's done. And then third, no matter what you're going through, you can praise him for what he is going to do. That one day justice will be served that one day, there will be no more cancer than Alzheimer's and betrayal and Brokenness that one day we will stand face to face completely free from any stronghold and addiction that has held us back with the God who made us to shout and sing. Praise. Hallelujah. That's so much of what the lament songs were about God. Where are you? I don't feel you, I feel abandoned but you have been good and you are good and you will be good. So help me to trust you even when I don't see it right now, that's why all prayers really are a path to praise Paul. In Colossians, put it this way, said in Colossians two verse 13 to 15, and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of the flesh God made alive together in Him, having forgiven us of our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he said aside, nailing it to the cross. And I love this verse verse 15. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him. Whatever you're walking through right now, understand that Satan doesn't have a gun. He can't touch you, he can surround you. Oh, he can definitely hurt you, but you are ultimately secure in him. And for that, we can sing praise CS Lewis two great quotes. Puts it this way. He says, I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. I love that. I've been known to be a loud eater. Any other loud eaters in the room? I mean, to be fair. How else are you supposed to eat cereal? Am I right? Like, I'm like, like, like it's crunchy, it makes crunch noises. I'm just saying like I get that I'm loud anyway. Um, but I, not only, maybe I'm the only loud eater in here. I don't know. I see. Maybe some nudging. So they're not, they're afraid to raise their hand, but the ones getting the nudge are my loud eaters that we will unite um, and sit by each other at lunch. Um And uh not only do I like to, um, crunch and make a few extra noises while eating. Um I'll, I'll occasionally make a sound effect. Anybody like, what about Bob? Mm. So good. Mm. If you've seen the movie, you understand what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen the movie, what about Bob? That's your homework assignment for today? Um And uh but no, we respond. Mm So good. Why? Because the expression in a way completes the enjoyment and if you're not a allowed eater, you probably have something. Ok. Um Right. If you go to a sports event and you shout when your team scores, right. Why? Because the shouting together collectively adds to the enjoyment. That's why when we watch movies together in theaters and things and people gasp at the same time and there's an expression or we laugh at the same time. There's an enjoyment. It always blows my mind that you go to concerts to hear the world's best musicians sing. But in turn, what happens is what everybody who can't sing, sings at the same time as the musicians singing. So then you can't even hear the one you pay to go see sing. You're laughing because it's true. Why do we do that? Because the expression of joy is a completion of joy. And that's what we do when we worship is that we are enjoying God collectively together when we express it, CS Lewis also puts it this way. He says in arri not notice either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value. So they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it. Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent? The psalmist in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about? We share what we love, don't we? How do you know if someone is vegan does crossfit or owns apple products? They tell you, don't they? Right? Uh Like, have you ever met someone who likes Chipotle? And hasn't told you they like Chipotle, right? We do a while. We just express what we love that Christians. That what that's what we're called to do is that we love God and that when we express it, we complete the joy together and then we invite others into that same process. Whom do we worship God alone? Where do we worship everywhere? Why do we worship because of who he is and what he's done? Question number four. How do we worship the Lord with everything? Now, in that passage, it lists eight different instruments. But I think the whole purpose of that is just saying with whatever you got, bring it before the Lord. And I think Cymbals are thrown in twice because if people are nervous about their voices, right? He's like, come on, make a joyful noise to the Lord. I think there is an auto tune in heaven that once it breaks the seal and goes into heaven, we're all in perfect pitch. I am just go for it. You know, like whatever you got, bring it before him, but also this means whatever you got, your worries, your issues, your battles, your shortcomings, bring it all before him. That's why in Romans 12, Paul writes in verse one. He says, I appeal to you. Therefore, brothers by the mercies of God in view of everything that God's done present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. In other words, how you live is an act of worship. Do you bring it all before Him? Jesus in giving the great commandment in Mark 12 verse 30 which in which He's also quoting the Shema found in Deuteronomy six says you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. Does that really sound like American Christianity? Where we say, well, once a week or more realistically, maybe once a month or every couple of months gather in a setting and sing three songs and then sit down no, all your heart and soul and mind and strength with how you live, how you sing. If you got an instrument, play it, whatever it is, bring everything before Him. How do we worship God with everything that we've got and lastly who shall worship the Lord? Everyone, everyone let all who has breath. Yeah. Praise the Lord. And here's the reality is that at some point, everyone will bow the knee and don't take my word for it. It comes from Philippians chapter two verses 9 to 11. It says, therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him. The name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. The Father see whether you like it or not, you're gonna worship God. At some point. Here's the deal though, those who reject God are going to worship God by forcibly bowing the knee and, and honoring God's justice as they get cast down. But those who put their faith and trust in Jesus alone will worship God through his redemption and offering of forgiveness and new life as a new creations that we get to stand with Him completely free of any stronghold that has ever held you back to freely sing together, every tribe, every nation, all the angels and all of God's people gathered together for eternity to celebrate his love and his being and shouts of praise. And hallelujah, amen. I want to reread this passage one more time, but I want you to hear it through the context of whatever you're walking through right now because I get it. This is, it feels aspirational. This feels like some day or one day. But I want you to know that you can praise God today right now, even in the middle of your storm, even in the middle of the darkness, even in the middle of the unknown battle that you're facing right now. Psalm 150. Praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him and his mighty heavens. Praise him for his mighty deeds. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with trumpet, sound, praise him with lute and harp. Praise him with tambourine and dance. Praise him with strings and pipe, praise him with sounding symbols. Praise him with loud and clashing symbols. Let everything that has breath. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. I wanna end with one thought and a little bit of a longer quote, but it's so good. I can't just sum it up. I want to read the whole quote to you. But the thought is this if you're in a battle right now, I want you to understand that worship is your weapon worship, is your weapon to fight whatever battle you're in right now. Because all prayers point to praise. All prayers are a path to praise. And if you believe in Jesus, all prayers will eventually become praise. You might not see it, but you don't have to see it because you can praise the one who does. Eugene Peterson says this and then we'll be done. He says, all prayer pursued far enough becomes praise. Any prayer, no matter how desperate its origin, no matter how angry and fearful, the experiences it traverses ends up in praise. It does not always get there quickly or easily. The trip can take a lifetime, but the end is always praise. Praise is, in fact, is the only accurate title for our prayer book for it is the goal that shapes the journey. The end is where we start from. This is not a word of praise slapped on to whatever mess we are in. At the moment, this crafted conclusion of the psalms tells us that our prayers are going to end in praise, but that it is also going to take a while. Don't rush it. It may take years decades, even before certain prayers arrive in hallelujahs, not every prayer is kept off with praise. In fact, most prayers, if, if the salter is a true guide or not, but prayer, a praying life finally becomes praise. Prayer is always reaching towards praise. And we finally arrive there. If we persist in prayer, we laugh and cry, doubt and believe, struggle and dance and then struggle again, we will surely end up at Psalm 150 on our feet before God applauding. Encore, encore prayer truly is a path to praise. Will you pray with me, dear Emily, father, whatever people are walking through right now, whatever struggles issues, worries, anxious thoughts, addictions, battles, strongholds, keeping them back, God in all things. May we remember that with every single breath that we take? We utter the name. Yahweh. Yeah, we worship you alone. Maybe we worship everywhere with everything and everyone. God, may we stay strong, stay courageous, stay persistent that even when we can't see what you're doing now, may we praise you for what you've done in the past, who you are for forever and what you will do in the future? May we hang on to hope? Trust you with our lives that when all is said and done, may we stand before you face to face singing. Hallelujah. We love you. God says, and we pray amen?