The Importance of Worship
8 Jan 2007
Stewarding the Life of the Believer
I want to talk about the Worship life of the Believer. I don’t want to present this as something we are doing wrong but your worship life will enhanced.
What we grasp in the presence of God will manifest in public. ‘How I walk before God and worship Him in private is the real issue.
Walk before God-When I come before God am I trying to manipulate Him into doing something for me or am I checking my motives, having Godly sorrow, am I trying to get something from Him, or, am I wanting to just be with Him? Is my character being transformed?
Worship Him-What am I birthing? Am I empty walking through my day? Is my heart full of His presence, is my life being changed by His presence?
How God Evaluates Worship
True worship is often taught is more about the mind thinking right thoughts about God rather than the heart’s hunger for Him.
John 4:24
‘God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
We must understand that Jesus is talking about our heart not our mind. The true tells us that our mind is also involved when we worship but it’s the heart first that releases our hunger for Him.
The heart may more vulnerable to deception than the mind but God is looking for something broken not how intelectual we can be.
Psalm 51:17
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-These, O God, You will not despise.
‘4 Things Worship Must Do’
1. True Worship Treasures God’s Presence
God will welcome those into His presence who want Him. You may be motivated by desperation, joy, need, or of a hunger for His fellowship what ever the motivation it will be clear and God will come with pleasure.
In Exodus 33 Moses has a face to face encounter with God
Exodus 33:13 "Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."
14 And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
God replies: My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.’ God shows His glory to Moses as a sure sign of His pleasure and presence.
Exodus 40:33 And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.
34 ¶ Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
36 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys.
37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
2. True worship humbles the heart:
Isa 6:1 ¶ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!"
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 ¶ So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts."
This was not revealed by the mind but a discovery of entering Gods presence. God’s presence will produce a child like attitude.
Mt 18:3 and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
3. True worship sacrifices and then expects something from God:
We have to understand that God is out audience. We are to bring something of sacrifice to God. Take for a minute that we are a waiter or waitress in a resturaunt. We are serving God. We want to give our best for Him so that he will leave a tip, sometimes we think we are the ones God is serving and then if He gives good service we will reward Him.
Hebrews 11:6
‘He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who humbly seek Him.’
It doesn’t matter whether we come to Him with praise, an offering, or laying something down instructed by the Holy Spirit. We are told in this verse we will be rewarded of God.
4. True worship will love others:
The greatest commandment given to us is to 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
But the second 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Is of great importance.
This means such things:
1. Forgiving others, seeking peace day-by-day
2. Being Gracious, lifestyle evangelism, living a life others can also live.
3. Unselfish, servant minded attitude, helping others in need.
5. True worship seeks to be with God:
If a person wants to be effective in what I have just talked about this next item is most important.
You need to decided when your best time is to be with God and you need to be there with everyday.
This one single habit has helped me sustain the life of God in my life and I have seen it effect other people also.
1. Pray-
Lu 10:38 ¶ Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.
40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me."
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
42 "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."
We have this thing in us and it looks like a Mary and Martha because we sometimes get unbalanced with it.
Activity
Being with God
Your Life
Martha was busy and she thought Mary should have been just as busy but Mary was where she should have been sitting at the feet of Jesus worshipping Him.
Being with God Activity
Your Life
So we need a balance in our life. We can’t get people to God with the world in the church. The greatest gift we can give people is God but we must have Him.
‘3 Treasures’
1. The Daily Office-This is the work of God. If you can discipline your prayer life you can discipline anything in your life.
There is nothing more important than seeking God. It’s my discipline to stop and seek Him 3 times a day. I get up early to pray and by 11:00 I feeling a little edgy and by 2:00 I’m really feeling more irritable so my morning prayer isn’t sustaining me son I need to take a time to pray in the afternoon to be with God. This more than getting something from Him it’s about being with Him. The Muslims learned to have prayer 5 times a day they learned it from the Christian church.
1. Morning Glory-5 items to bring with you-
Bible
Reading Book Mark
Pen or Pencil
Journal
Daily Planner
Ps 119:164 ¶ Seven times a day I praise You,
The Jews prayed 3 times and even the disciples took it to pray 3 times. When Peter and John healed the man at the gate beautiful the bible says at the hour of prayer.
2. The Sabbath-‘We need to stop’
Ex 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 ¶ "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
13 "You shall not murder.
14 "You shall not commit adultery.
15 "You shall not steal.
16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
Something to notice in these commandments is none of us would commit murder, or adultery, but God listed the Sabbath among those.
Ge 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done
The word rest means Sabbath, stop from exerting.
1. Stop-This day is to be different than any other day, and your Sabbath may not look like my Sabbath. On this day I will take time to wash my hands thoroughly.
I have limits, I am not indispensable. If I have to take a sabbatical to get some rest someone else may have taken my place because I failed to survive. It is important that our to do list does not control us but that we control it.
2. Waist Time-Build nothing into my schedule-Can I trust God while I am resting.
3. Resting- While your resting that doesn’t mean work at home, e-mails, phones. Some people call their Sabbath their day off. I am working on a day off and a Sabbath.
4. Delight your self-Watch the grass grow.
3. The Rule of Life-My next step in growing in Christ because there is a constant changing and growing.
1. scripture
2. prayer
3. study
4. Sabbath
5. play time
6. caring for my physical body
7. emotional health
8. family
9. community
Ex 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 ¶ "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
13 "You shall not murder.
14 "You shall not commit adultery.
15 "You shall not steal.
16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
Mike Lakes
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