This year we want to go wider and deeper. We
could easily jump into the what and how of worship. But first let’s look at why
worship? Is it because of tradition? Is there something more? The basis of all
our beliefs is the Word of God.
Q. Why do we worship?
We worship because we were created for worship.
The westminister catechism says, the chief end of man is to worship God.
At the fall, we were separated from God. But God was always looking for
relationship. Psalm 118 talking about idols says those who worship them will
become like them. The more we worship God, the more we become like him. We
wont become God but we reflect Christlikeness. We choose to identify which
kingdom we belong to. Every time we glorify God, it is a declaration against
principalities. Whatever becomes the focus of your worship, you will begin
to reflect.
Idolatry and Adultery go hand in hand because
it is betrayal of where your devotion should lie. In adultery, affection that is meant for one
in a covenant relationship, is given to another. In the same way, when we
worship anything apart from God, it is idolatry, it is adultery.
John 4 tells us that God is looking for
worshippers, not worship. He is looking for you. It is always about a
relationship.
Col 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Eph 5:18-19 “but be filled with the Spirit, addressing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
to the Lord with your heart”
Singing is repeated so many times! The psalms
are full of singing. It is one of the chief ways of worship. Music, melody,
art, dance, creativity, all these give a voice to the mystery and the
hiddenness of God.
Q. Who is worship for?
It is the first command. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.
Worship is about the presence of God. It is not
about how good I feel. Worship is God centred. The object of worship is Jesus.
It is a heart response to God.
1.
thanksgiving-
is a response to God for what he has done.
2.
Praise-
Acknowledgement of who he is.
3.
Worship-
where we bow low and acknowledge who he is and respond with who we are.
Do you need to sacrifice in thanksgiving and
praise? Yes. In worship, you are the sacrifice- I will give you all my
worship. Worship is saying that I am here and offer myself to you. You
trust what you worship. When we trust in God, you become like what you trust.
Trust
is an expression of Worship.
In worship, we minister to God, we minister to
each other, we minister to the lost. When we minister to God first, the other
two taken care of.
Q. Is worship a means to an end?
No. It is focus on the person who is worthy of
worship. It is like my children hugging me and kissing me only because they
wanted something from us. Payment for affection- is prostitution. We
come to god in worship bargaining for things- that is not worship. Worship is
because he is worthy. But because God is good and abounding in his riches, he
pours out. He cannot withhold his goodness when he sees us delight in him.
We need to keep our focus on the wonder of the
person we are worshipping.
Q. How do we worship?
As a son/daughter of God and from this place of
identity we worship Him. His spirit in us cries ‘Abba, Father’. We often ask
you to bring a scripture or prophetic word or a song. The cross declared all of
us priests and kings to God. Somewhere we lost it. There came a clergy and
laity divide. Church became front-led.
1 corinthians 12:7; 1 corinthians 14:12; 26- everyone has a psalm, hymn, a
spiritual song, something to edify the body.
Prophecy is revealing the heart of God. Sometimes prophecy is foretelling,
what is to come. Prophecy will not contradict scripture and will not condemn.
Prophecy is there for our strengthening. We have seen such amazing things
happen when each one comes prepared with something to share with one another. When
we all tune ourselves to Jesus, we will all be in harmony. There will a
beautiful symphony of worship. This is the deeper we want to go into in
2018. We want to go wider in that each one of us is able to share and prophesy.
We want to see God’s presence. When it does,
the unbeliever will say, surely God is in their midst. You and I are the
presence bearers of God. Wherever we go, we take His presence with us.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.or
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