The following is an excerpt from my preaching notes on Psalm 49.  God has been teaching me that a proclamation of what He has done, and is currently doing is one of if not the most essential practices of the Church.  This post is a portion of what God has used to influence this teaching.
May He receive glory.

This very Psalm, this invitation from the Korahite is actually a testimony of Praise.

-       You see anytime we accept an invitation to participate in anything that we are moved by, or enjoy, or find that works, we tell of it.  The following is an excerpt from Desireing God, by John Piper (p.43-48)

-Now we are on the brink of what for me was a life-changing discovery.

What do we all do when we are given or shown something beautiful or excellent?  We praise it! We praise new little babies: “Oh, look at that nice round head!  And all that hair! And her hands! Aren’t they perfect?” We praise a lover after a long absence: “Your eyes are like a cloudless sky! Your hair like forest silk!” We praise a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth when we are down by three. We praise the October trees along the banks of the St. Croix.

But the great discovery for me, as I said, came while I was reading “A Word about Praise” in C. S. Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms.

But the most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or any

thing—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment,

approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise …

 The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game—praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. …

I had not noticed 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 Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about….

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not

merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.

It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one

another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.

-This is precisely what the Korahite is doing.  He is completing his joy in the truth of God by expressing it in this Psalm.  Furthermore in his joy he is inviting everyone everywhere to join him.

This invitation is praise!