Saturday, May 5th I had the awesome experience of attending another great concert! This time we went to see the Worship Night in America tour with Chris Tomlin. It also featured other praise and worship artists such as Kim Walker Smith of Jesus Culture, Matt Maher, Christine D’ Claro, Tauren Wells, and Pat Barret. Best part of it all we had floor seats. It was such a fun time to go with friends and listen to some great music.

Guest speaker Pastor Darren Whitehead of Church of the City was there and threw some gems at us on praising God. His book: Holy Roar: 7 Words That Will Change The Way You Worship, is written by Darren and co-authored with worship leader Chris Tomlin which goes more in depth as to why.

Luckily, I was smart enough to take notes on what Pastor Darren briefly explained: the four Greek words for love and the 7 Hebrew words for praise. I didn’t know there were 7 Hebrew words for praise let alone know their meanings behind them. So here it is a brief glimpse of what I was blessed to listen to by Pastor Darren Whitehead.

NOTES:

Psalm 47

Clap your hands, all you nations;
    shout to God with cries of joy.

Even though we read the bible in the english translation, the bible was originally written in HEBREW and GREEK

The four Greek words in the New Testament for the English word LOVE

• Storge—empathy bond.
• Philia—friend bond.
• Eros—erotic bond.
• Agape—unconditional “God” love

All mean slightly different, they all inform a different aspect of LOVE.

Expand the understanding

Provide another advantage point

Gives another perspective of what LOVE really is

There are 7 Hebrew words for the English word PRAISE in the Psalms

Every time you read the phrase ‘Praise the Lord‘ underneath the word praise there are one of 7 different words: all mean something different

Theses words gives us insight, perspective, another advantage point of what praising God was like in the Ancient World

Here are the 7 Hebrew words for PRAISE:

1. YADAH – to revere or worship with extended hands to hold out the hands. To throw a stone or arrow (in the Old Testament one would shoot an arrow or throw a stone) God’s people coming into his presence and shooting out their hands, lifting their hands in the presence of the Lord

Psalm 67:3

May the peoples praise (Yadah) you, God, may all the peoples praise (Yadah) you.

This is a natural instinct of humanity to lift your hands up in praise. You praise a team for a winning victory. Where do your hands go? Automatically up in the air with a shout of praise because your favorite team has won.

How many remember the first time you lifted your hands up in the presence of the Lord?

How self conscious did you feel?

At first you are self conscious. All you think about is who is staring at you while your hands are up in the air. I was afraid of how silly I looked at first. But when you become so overwhelmed with God’s presence those hands YADAH up to the sky. That shame, that embarrassment melted away, you stop caring, and all you care about is praising GOD.

Lift your hands in YADAH; Praise the LORD ❤

2. HALAL – to boast, to rave, to shine, to celebrate, to be glamorously foolish.

Halal is where we get the word Hallelujah

Psalm 149:3

Let them praise (Halal) his name with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp

A spontaneously combustion of praising, shouting, singing, dancing, and laughing

Psalm 150: 6