Worship The Lord

Intro

Two weeks ago began our journey through our focused mission strategy here at Journey. The first week was all about Seeking the Lost. The fields are white with harvest and in need of a savior. It is our job to go out and harvest before time runs out!

Last week we discussed the importance of Discipling the Saved. Once an individual enters into the eternal relationship with the Lord, they must be discipled. The only way for that to happen is for them to be poured into by other believers and through the study of the Word of God. So we can’t stop at just telling people about Jesus, we have to do life with them as well and help them grow to become more and more like Jesus.

Today, we are going to be discussing worship. Now a lot of varying views on worship exist (i.e. Type of music, what day, hand raise or nah, etc) so we are going to expose what scripture says about worship.

Worship is a Response to God’s Provision

God provides for us every single day. The breath we breathe. The food we eat. The water we drink. All of these are basic provisions from the Lord. The family we have. The church we have. The lives we live are filled with God’s blessings and provisions. So our natural response should be to seek to worship him.

The Provision of Deliverance - Ex. 15

In Exodus 15, Moses and the Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea after God parted the waters. Once on the other side, God allowed the sea to return to normal causing the Egyptian soldiers to be swept away in the sea. Looking upon the devestation to the Egyptians chasing them, the only response Moses and the people of Israel could find was to sing praises to the Lord.

“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them…”

The Provision of the Kingdom - Heb. 12:28

Hebrews 12:28–29 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

The kingdom which is being referred to here is the kingdom of God through our salvation in Jesus. Praise God that this kingdom cannot be rocked or shaken!

How often in our lives are we provided deliverance and the assurance of the kingdom? We should be responding every single day in worship!

Worship is a Response to God’s Promises

As Christians, we hold to God’s promises to us in order to make it through this life. Day in and day out, we are challenged with all sorts of trials and temptations. God has promised us that we will make it through to the other side! The thing is, when we’re in the middle of it, we don’t feel like worshipping!

When everything seems to be going wrong, what do we like to do? We like to complain and say “why me?” Or look for ways out ourselves.

The Promise of Hope Acts 16:25

Let’s look at how the apostle Paul and Silas responded to hard times.

Acts 16:25–26 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.”

If it were me wrongfully locked up, I don’t know how easy it would be to be singing worship songs. But thats the response we need to have. Especially in Paul and Silas case, they knew that God had a further mission for them, so they just kept on praising and hoping for deliverance.

The Promise of Salvation John 4:22-26

Another promise that God gives us is the promise of salvation. When the promise of salvation is given to us, our natural response must be to worship the Lord!

Take a look at John 4:22–26 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

This is right after Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. He called her out for living in sin. She tried to dance around the subject by asking about the location of worship. Jesus emphasized that it’s not WHERE you worship, but how and who you worship. The important part is to worship by way of the Holy Spirit. The only way to have access to the Holy Spirit is to be a born again Christian. Therefore, worship is a natural and required response to the promise of salvation.

Why would you and how could you receive the greatest gift ever, salvation in Jesus, and NOT want to praise him day in and day out!?

Worship is a Response to God’s Presence

The last response that we will mention today is the response to God’s presence. As we experience the presence of God, we should be so overwhelmed with awe that we can’t help but worship in whatever way comes out.

Presence on Earth 2 Sam. 6:16

For instance, let’s take a look at King David’s response to the presence of God in 2 Samuel 6:16

2 Samuel 6:16 ESV

As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

When David saw the ark coming back into town, he leaped and danced, and a little later in the text we see that he may have even took some clothes off too. This was an automatic response from David in excitement to the restoration of God’s presence in Jerusalem. As we experience the presence of God in our lives. However that may come, let us respond in worship. Now you may not experience the ark coming back into Jerusalem, but you will likely experience the Holy Spirit moving in your life that is equivalent to a restoration of God’s presence.

Presence in Eternity Rev. 7

Lastly, the end-all, be-all of worship settings, heaven. When we arrive in glory, we will absolutely have no other desire but to worship the Lord.

See the picture painted in Revelation 7:9-12

Revelation 7:9–12 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

A great multitude from every nation was standing before the throne of God and before our Savior singing praises to our God. This is the picture I see when I think of heaven. Brothers and sisters of all different backgrounds and colors all standing together around the throne worshipping together. That means that In heaven, there’s gonna be people who don’t look like us! There’s gonna be people in heaven that speak different languages from you. There will be people in heaven who speak Spanish, German, French, even Arabic! The people group that the news has painted as “the bad guys” for the last 20-30 years, some of them will be in heaven. The Bible says so!

So In response to the presence of God in heaven, we will worship.

This brings us to next week, our fourth and final week of our mission strategy, Tell the World. There are millions, maybe billions, of people who will live their whole life without ever hearing the truth of the Gospel. So we must tell the world!