Untitled Sermon (3)

Welcome to James River Church! We are so glad you’re here with

us today! I praise God for this opportunity we have to spend time

together. Before we go any further, I feel it is only right to give

honor where honor is due. Let’s honor Pastors John & Debbie for

leading God’s people well....(clap)

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Before we sit down, let’s have a word of prayer

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(Prayer)

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I want to speak with you today on worship. We are gonna look at some verses of scripture and by God’s

grace we will be able to answer two questions :

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- What is worship?

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- Why do we worship?

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Let’s start by looking in the book of Romans. The apostle Paul wrote this to the churches of Rome and it

was because he had hopes to actually visit Rome and preach there, so he sent the letter ahead of time

just to lay the groundwork and cover some basic aspects of the Christian faith, you could call it

“Christianity 101” or “essential Christianity” This is what he says in the beginning of chapter 12

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Romans 12:1

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a

living sacrifice...”

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What is he saying here? What is a living sacrifice? If we look back in chapter 7, Paul describes the tension

between our sinful desires and the desires of the Holy Spirit. The Message translation sums up Paul’s

thoughts well as it says

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“I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself

is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise”

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How many of us have been there? How many times have we said “I want to stop this, I need to stop this,

but for some reason I can’t. This is a habit that just won’t break free”?

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This is one of the reasons why getting in a Life Group is so important! Not only are you in a community

of people you can actually do life with, but it helps provide space for accountability. It helps set up the

parameters that guide you into righteous living! Like a bowling lane with the guardrails up-it helps

prevent you from accidentally going off track and into the gutters and guides you along the way you

want to go!

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It means living in the parameters that help us live more like Jesus and look more like Jesus. That’s what

Paul means by a living sacrifice. It’s the discipline to say NO to our flesh and our sin and YES to the Holy

Spirit. For some of us, that looks like having an alarm that goes off to remind us to read our Bible and

pray every day- I have that. Especially when I go into a season of fasting, I set alarms every 4 hours that

remind me to pray. That is a way for me to worship. For others, its saying no to secular music and

certain movies & media, ending that relationship that you know doesn’t honor God, etc. That is a way to

worship.

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Now, you may say “That doesn’t affect me” or “I can handle that” Okay, but does it affect the Holy Spirit

living inside of you? Does it grieve the Holy Spirit? Is it something Jesus would promote and approve of?

As I’m asking these questions, there are things that may be coming to your mind, and those are probably

the things you should remove from your life and distance yourself from. Presenting your life as a living

sacrifice is not about “how close I can get to the edge before I fall” it’s about “how close can I get to

Jesus - the one who keeps me safe” That is worship.

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Let’s keep reading...

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“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a

living sacrifice. Holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship”

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What does he mean by worship? What is worship? John Piper, a renowned theologian, puts it this way

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“The inner essence of worship is to know God truly and then respond from the heart to that knowledge

by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly

things.

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And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the

lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ.”

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We tend to think of worship as a type of music, or a segment in a church service, but it’s much deeper

and bigger than that. It’s a love for God in all that He is and all that He has done for us. He gave up his

life, He died so that we may live in peace with Him, and when we get that in our mind, our heart, our

spirit, we then choose to live our lives in such a way that lets other people know about His love and His

goodness. It’s because of that we sing, it’s because of that we lift our hands, and shout, and clap, fall on

our knees-the external actions are ALL overflow of what we feel inside of us. I’m going to give you three

points of application of what happens when we worship

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When we worship...it brings God close

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James 4:8

- Draw close to God and He will draw close to you

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Have you ever walked into a room where food was being cooked and the smell was SO GOOD! You say I

GOTTA FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS! And immediately you are on mission to find out what is being cooked

and who is cooking. Don’t talk to me, don’t distract me right now I have my eyes set on this food and

that’s all that matters right now, and the moment you find the food you become overwhelmed with joy

to the point tears come to your eyes and it’s glorious moment!

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Maybe that’s just me because I’m a foodie But what if that’s how God responds to our worship? What if

God sets his heart on “I gotta be where he is. Where she is and I need to be near them”

Psalm 141:2

says “May my prayer be set before you as incense, the raising of my hands as the evening offering”

When you position your life in worship, it brings joy to God’s heart. Not just by a song or by a prayer, or

by a conference, or an event, God certainly enjoys those moments and He works in them, but its your

whole entire life. When you wake up to when you go to sleep, day after day- the evidence of your life is

your worship to God. And your worship produces an aroma that is pleasing to God that draws Him close

and when He draws close- everything changes and everything becomes new. That’s when breakthrough

happens, when healings take place, when your prayers are answered, when you realize how truly

amazing God is and how big He is- which leads me to point #2

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When we worship…It minimizes our situation and maximizes God

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When we worship, we receive a bird’s eye view and we start to see our situation as God sees it- our

obstacles become opportunities, our burdens become breakthroughs, and we notice that our situation

is not so big because we have a God that is always bigger! David says in

Psalm 55:22

- “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall” Whatever

you’re struggling with God promises to take care of you. There is nothing too big for God. The creator of

all reality doesn’t know a big problem. The one who existed before time began and will exist after time

ends, the one who created the Heavens and the earth, who created you and I and calls us His greatest

masterpiece, He sees you in your situation and He promises you that He will help you and He never fails

on His promise for God is faithful and He is true. What happens when you cast your cares, your

situations, your problems on Jesus is that He gives you rest. In Matthew He says “Come to me all who

are weak and burdened and I will give you rest” Everybody say “rest” Rest is a weapon against stress.

Rest is a weapon against anxiety. Rest is a weapon against worry. I am reminded of the Old Testament

prophet Elijah. He was running away from someone who was trying to kill him and he says “God, I am

stressed to the max! My hair is turning more gray by the second it’s falling out, my health is

compromised, I would rather end my life than to be killed by someone” and angel comes to him and

says “Relax. Eat some food, take a nap” And when he woke up he was like “Thank you God, I feel better

now” This is why I nap ALL THE TIME. People always ask me why I sleep so much and I answer because

I’m just trying to rest in God When you have rest you have a renewed mind and a calmed mind, when

your mind is calm you are able to see things in a different light. I remember before moving for college, I

lived by myself in an apartment and my lease ended in May. I was moving into the college in August. My

landlord knew this so around March/April I had asked him if I could a month-to-month agreement

throughout the summer until it was time for college and he approved. But when May came and my

contractual lease ended, they asked me to leave and I was freaking out. I didn’t know what to do, where

to go, my mind was not calm at all I was in full panic mode. But I realized that my panic and anxiety was

not helping, in fact it was making it worse by swelling up the situation so big I couldn’t see anything but

this problem. I felt I was completely surrounded on all sides and the walls were quickly closing shut on

me. Part of my testimony is I was homeless when I was 19, and my mind immediately thought “oh no

not again. I cannot be homeless again” I had no way out, no options, no answers, but as soon as I started

praying, as soon as I paused and turned on worship music, got on my knees, and I prayed and spent time

with the Lord, He came through. The moment I started to take my eyes off the situation and put my eyes

on Jesus, I raised my hands and my big, impossible situation instantly started to deflate and not seem as

troubling because God provided. I found victory in my situation, because I found victory in my God who

provides exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. When we worship, God draws

close to us in our situation When we worship, our situation becomes smaller My last point and the band

can come up...

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When we worship…We gain victory

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