Children’s Sermon

Psalm 148

Everybody Praise God!

Check out these helpful resources
Biblical Commentary
Sermons
Children’s Sermons
Hymn Lists

Psalm 148
Everybody Praise God!

Let’s see if anyone can say what the word “Praise” means. [Respect all answers].

One way of praising someone is to talk about something good that the person has done. Has your mom or dad or teacher ever praised you? [Accept all answers; ask what you had done that made someone praise them].

How did it make you feel when you were praised? [Accept all answers]. We really feel good, don’t we? Someone noticed something we did well and told us how happy it made them feel. When someone praises us, it make us want to do more. If someone praises us for our piano playing, for instance, that encourages us to play the piano more.

People who do not receive praise or compliments feel bad––not good. They don’t feel like working harder. In fact, they don’t feel like working at all.

In this Psalm 148, the word “praise” appears twelve times! And all that praise is for God! The psalm reminds us of just a few of the zillions of wonderful things God has done. Listen: The psalm tells the sun, the moon, and the stars to praise God for God made them. How could the sun, moon, and stars praise God? Maybe they could praise God just by shining and being the beautiful things that they are. Maybe we can praise God just by being the beautiful people that God has created us to be.

Then the psalmist tells the sea monsters and the oceans (the deeps) to praise God! What are some of the really big animals in the ocean that the psalm writer might have been thinking of?

Did you ever see a picture of a huge whale throwing itself out of the water, then twirling around and splashing back into the ocean?

For a picture of a whale breeching, go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jumping_Humpback_whale.jpg

Maybe you’ve been in a boat on the ocean and saw a whale jump out of the water for real. I have a picture of a whale breeching (that’s what it’s called when a whale comes up out of the water). That to me looks like one of the sea monsters praising God by joyfully throwing its huge self up into the air.

The psalmist tells the mountains and the hills, the trees, the wild animals, the “creeping things” and the birds to praise God for making them so amazing.

At the end of the psalm, the writer tells all people––kings, rulers, old men, girls and boys, young men and women, old, young, in between. Everybody get up and tell about, sing about all the wonderful, marvelous things God has done––including making YOU!

The first hymn we sing is a hymn of praise. We sing the “Doxology” which means praise: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”; we pray prayers of thanksgiving. What are we thanking God for [accept all answers]. God does not need praise; he doesn’t quit if he doesn’t get praised. We praise God because it helps us to remember—even when things aren’t going well—that God is with us and God is still doing wonderful things for us every day. Praise God!

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible