Good morning, CHURCH!

(Church joke of the day)

Let me tell y’all what I read about Jimmy.

One Monday morning Jimmy’s mother shouted up the stairs, “Come on, son, it’s time to get up and get ready for school.”

But Jimmy just pulled the cover up over his head and ignored his mother’s request.

A few minutes later she knocked on his door and in a firmer voice she called, “Come on. You must get up right now, otherwise you’ll be late!”

Jimmy replied from under the covers, “I’m not going to school today. In fact, I’m never going again.”

“Don’t be silly,” said his mother, “You’ve got to go to the school.”

“I’m NOT going!” was his response.

“There are almost 1000 kids in that school, and they all hate me, every-last one of them.

Even the teachers and the cleaning staff hate me.

And every day I end up in some sort of fight or conflict.

So just give me one good reason why I should go.”

“I’ll do more than that,” said his mother.

“I’ll give you two: Firstly, because you are 42 years old.

And secondly because you are the principal!”

Are you ready to be equipped today?

Let me see your Bibles.

Let’s go to the book of Proverbs 1:7 NLT for this week’s wisdom Vaccination.

This Week’s Wisdom Vaccination

Proverbs 1:7 NLT

Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Look at your neighbor and say, “Only fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

Look at them again and say, “Weren’t you hear last week?”

Last week we uncovered that this fear of the Lord is like being in awe of God.

This is where this proverb is saying that knowledge begins.

(This would be like being in the presence of someone you felt was so wise and knowledgeable.)

If you we’re into politics and you got to have a conversation with Barak Obama.

If you we’re into the bible and you got to have a conversation with Robert Morris or T.D. Jakes.

If you we’re into sports and you got to chop it up with Jim Nance or Stephen A Smith.

If you we’re into investing and you got to conversate with Warren Buffet.

The thing that would be common in each of these scenarios is that you would be hanging on there every word.

If God is the smartest and wisest because he is the creator, why don’t we hang on His every word?

For us not to hang on God’s every word would be foolish.

Let’s get into today’s message.

I’m going to end the series on the Heart of Worship.

The Heart of Worship (pt.4)

Last week we defined worship like this.

Worship is the awed response to the saving acts and praiseworthy character of God.

I have another one for you.

Worship is the reverential response of creation to the all-encompassing magnificence of God.

Is anyone in here a part of creation?

Reverence is profound respect and love.

When you have a reverent attitude toward God, you honor Him, express your gratitude to Him, and obey His commandments.

As long as God is the creator and will always be, our responses to Him should be reverential.

Reverential like in.

Exodus 15:11 NLT

“Who is like you among the gods, O Lord— glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders?

Let me show you something really quick.

There are two ways to read this scripture.

Normal

Slowly and deeply.

Both times I read the same words but I received it totally different the second time.

We originally learned about worship in the O.T.

Worship though not defined by activities did encompass a variety of activities.

Let’s talk about a couple of acts of worship that we learned from scripture.

Point#1

Worshipping by my giving.

Bringing forward an offering to God was an act of worship.

If someone has done something for you so great that you couldn’t do for yourself in a trillion years, wouldn’t you be grateful?

That gratefulness would have you literally thinking of ways to do what you can for them, even though it would fail in comparison.

But thank you wouldn’t be enough.

God’s people gave in several ways.

One way was by giving a tenth of their produce twice a year.

These were agricultural contributions to provide for the priests.

Just like your money is the most important thing to you, there produce/harvests were the most important thing to them.

Another way was by giving a contribution in the temple.

Malachi 3:8 NLT

“Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.

There is no way I can read that and think about withholding the tithe and offering.

And I’m going to make a bold statement that some won’t make.

You can’t fear/be in awe of God and withhold what belongs to Him.

God’s people showed their love and gratitude by giving back the first part of what He had given to them.

Question?

(Do you even credit God for what you have or do you think that’s all you.)

If you credit yourself and your own ability, then most likely you would be begrudging to give to God.

However, if you give God, the credit and the glory then giving is an easy way of saying thank you.

Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:7.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Point#2

Worshipping by bowing low.

Bowing down in the presence of God was an outward display of an inner attitude of reverence before the Creator.

Psalms 95:6 NLT

Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

How many of you have been in a cathedral or a catholic church and seen them enter and bow down on one knee before they take a seat?

To them it fulfills the scripture that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.

They bow in His presence because He is God, and we are not.

God’s original children the nation of Israel were told to bow to the LORD.

2 Kings 17:36 NLT

But worship only the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone and offer sacrifices only to him.

If you remember in the story of Queen Esther, Mordecai did not bow to Haman, and it almost cost him and the entire Jewish clan their lives.

Mordecai said he would only bow to the God of Israel.

The only proper object of worship is the one God who created and redeemed humanity.

This culture has replaced God as the sole object of worship and unknowingly shared His worship with people who are popular and well known, with sporting events, and even with ourselves.

There is a verse in 2 Kings 17:41. It’s not in your notes.

2 Kings 17:41 (NLT)

So while these new residents worshipped the Lord, they also worshipped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same.

This next verse i’ll show you should be the hearts and minds of all believers and followers of Christ.

1 Corinthians 8:5-6 NLT

There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords.

6 But for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.

This is what Mordecai understood.

And even though Mordecai and the rest of the Jews faced death, because they trusted God and worshipped Him alone, God delivered them.

Even the angels bow down before the LORD.

Nehemiah 9:6 NLT

“You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You.

One of the things that this culture of Christianity has done I believe is to make God too casual.

Point#3

Either you’re a worshipper or you’re not.

This is where I wanted to get to today.

As I asked the Lord what He wanted me to say to His people today about worship.

I felt like I heard as clear as I know my name, the Lord say, “At this point either they are going to worship me or they’re not.

You can teach A 4 part series, 6 part, 8 part or even a 10 part series on worship, but it’s all about a personal decision.”

If you’re watching online or here in the building, I have a very important question to ask you.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now?