Reader: Gehan Pereria

Preacher: Jonathan Smith

Music: Josh Henessey

Today Pastor Jonathan is teaching from Psalm 146, a psalm which starts with the command Hallelujah! Literally, this word means "All of you, praise the Lord", and with the exclamation point, it's a command.

When we read this, we often take it one of two ways - with pride because we are praising God daily, or with dispair because we are not. Jonathan teaches us that we're looking at this wrong. In John's gospel (Jn 17:4), Jesus says that he's

completed everything God has asked him to do. This statement is BEFORE his crucifixion and resurrection, so what is Jesus referrring to here? He is referring to the way that he has lived his life in constant praise of God, and so, as being members of the body of Christ, we can worship and praise God freely. Jesus is the leader, and we are just a part of the choir, where the sound of all voices together in praise is beautiful.