Worship & Praise

Good morning everyone, it is so good to be here this morning with you all. Right now we get to send out the kiddos to their class where you have the opportunity to learn about God in a way that makes sense to you. Then, remember, you gotta pay attention real good so that you can come find me after service and tell me something you learned today. Then of course we also want to welcome those of you joining us online, etc.

So we have been in the middle of this brand new series called I Love My Church. You will see out on the welcome desk and on the Bible table back in the back that there are some stickers for you to put on your water bottles or on your cars, or wherever you would like to put stickers. Ill tell you I have one on my truck, one on my computer, and one on my water bottle, so I just think that I love my church a little more than you do :) Anyway, we are talking about how much we love out church because the church is Christ bride and God’s chosen tool to make him known to a lost and dying world. In other words, Leaf River Baptist Church is God’s chosen people to make him known to the lost and broken right here in Leaf River…We are God’s chosen people to make him known in this region, amen? It’s humbling to think about isn’t it? As we look at this series, we will continue to keep the focus of what the early church did in view. If you remember we have seen how the early Christians were devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer. Those will be a bit of a roadmap for us as we move through this series.

Now last week we talked about having a strong community and why it’s so important for us to have a strong community together so that we can grow together as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Can I tell you something that happened this past week. This past week there were two awesome connections that were made that I found out about. First of all there was a connection made between a couple of men in the church that looks like new friendships that will be made which leads to a stronger community together…praise the Lord for that, amen? Secondly there was a connection between a couple of other men that have known each other for a long time but they have grown their relationship to include one of accountability that will absolutely lead to a stronger community together. Praise the Lord for these connections because not only will these new connections benefit those individuals, but they will help build a stronger community here at LRBC and that is what we are hoping to do with this series this year.

Today we are going to be looking at what it means to communicate with the Lord himself. What it looks like to have a relationship that actually honors the Lord and puts him in his place as the Lord and allows us to communicate with his as Lord. So we’re going to think about both worship and prayer. Now here’s the truth, in the busyness of life, it's easy to feel like we're drowning in a sea of responsibilities. Well, worship acts like a life jacket, keeping us afloat and providing perspective amidst the waves of stress and uncertainty that you feel many times, daily. So that’s one aspect that we are going to discuss today. Then there is prayer, so, just for a second, imagine prayer as a phone call to your best friend. You can share your worries, ask for advice, and just enjoy their company. You see, prayer allows us to communicate with our best friend, God, and experience His comfort, guidance, and presence. That’s what we’re going to talk about today, but we don’t have a long time to talk about these things, so I’m just going to touch on these topics, and then I’m going to ask you to continue to explore these topics on your own at home in your private worship and prayer times. Later today you’re going to receive a journal that will help you focus your worship and prayer at home. It’s something that I feel will really bless you as you seek to grow in your worship and prayer…so pay attention as we move through this morning.

So we’re going to start somewhere, so let’s start by putting the Lord in his place this morning and discussing worship, ok. However, I want to discuss this not just as an abstract idea of playing some music or listening to the radio…no, Let’s talk about

Worship as an Expression of Love for God & Church

You see, worship doesn’t have to be simply singing some songs. Worship is a heart posture as you read Scripture, as you go to work, as you discipline your kids, as you are talking with your spouse, you should have a heart of worship through all of these things…so let’s take a look at what Scripture says about idea first, ok. Turn over to

Colossians 3:16–17 ESV

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. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Wow…this is a pretty encouraging and frankly convicting passage isn’t it? I mean the first thing that we see here is that we should

Let the Word dwell…

What does that mean to let the Word of Christ dwell in us? Teaching and admonishing one another. Isn’t that what the pastor is supposed to do? Apparently this passage says that’s what we are supposed to do to each other. Apparently part of worshiping the Lord is holding each other accountable. However, the only way to do that is if the Word of God is literally dwelling in your heart. The only way for that to happen is if you are reading the Word of God daily. Like actually reading the Word of God…not just the verse of the day or the Daily Bread, ok…Those are great for starting out, those are not great if you have been a Christian for more than a year, ok. You should be allowing the Word of God to wash over you daily. If you would like some advice on that, please reach out and let’s talk about how to do that, ok…We also see that we should be

Singing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

So singing is a part of worshiping the Lord…it’s just not the only part of worshiping the Lord, right. So what is the different between these three catagories, or are they all the same thing? Well I did a little research on this and frankly these is a bit of a mixed bag on this topic. These could simply be Paul writing in such a way to repeat himself for dramatic effect using different words to say the same thing. However, there does seem to be some pretty good linguistic evidence, meaning evidence in the way things are written and seen throughout other manuscripts that were written at the same time. So there seems to be some pretty good evidence that would indicate that there are different types of singing that Paul is advocating for here, and so I’d like to point those out briefly because I believe that even if Paul was simply writing for effect, these are areas that would benefit our worshiping the Lord well. So, here we go…What is a Psalm? Thats easy. A Psalm is from the Old Testament. By far the easiest concept to read from here. You see, you can take those and sing them to the Lord…after-all, they were written as songs of praise and worship to the Lord. The next type of song is the Hymn. A Hymn is a corporate song of worship to the Lord. Pretty much think of our hymns today. I mean we can sing them privately and many people do sing them privately, but they were designed for corporate, or public worship of the Lord. This is when we love to get together as a church on Sunday mornings and worship the Lord in song together. The same was true back then…Finally let’s look at Spiritual Songs. A Spiritual Song is a devotional song. Meaning this is a song that is sung in private while you are crying out to the Lord in your spirit and worshiping the Lord. You may sing the same song in private and in public, the same words, but you know that many times your heart and your posture can be a little different in public and in private…all of these are necessary according to Paul. I know a church in Lafayette that doesn’t sing using modern music, they only sing Psalms. As a matter of fact, I have a hymn book in my office that was given to my by that pastor that is filled by only Psalms. You see all of these aspects of worship are important and allow us to express our love and devotion to the Lord in different places and in different ways.

We see throughout Scripture how music plays a role in worshiping and in setting hearts right with the Lord. Of course we have the Psalms which is the song book of the early Israelites. Then in Exodus 15 we see Moses and Miriam singing, Mary singing in Luke 1, the Last Supper hymn in the Gospels, and Paul and Silas in Acts 16. This is just a few of the times we see singing and worship happening. You see, throughout Scripture we see people singing worshiping the Lord through song. Then we are reminded about

Doing Everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus

Yeah…everything…This is one of those versus that reminds us that when we we go to work we are supposed to be doing that as worship to the Lord…I know we don’t always wanna do that, but that is what Scripture tells us to do. Listen, I wasn’t always a pastor. I know what it is to be an hourly blue collar guy. I know what is it to have the perspective of, “This is just a paycheck.” and then feel like I’m not paid what I feel like I’m worth…I get it. However, that is not what Scripture tells us is it. I had a pretty had conversation with the Lord many years ago, long before I was a full-time pastor. My conversation went something like, “Ok God, you will give me what you want me to have, and I am working for you, not a paycheck.” My perspective had to change from, this is just a paycheck to, I get to do this thing for God. I get to sweep this floor for God. I get to fix this A/C for God, I get to build this wall for God, I get to manage these accounts for God. You see, my perspective had to change to everything I was doing was no longer for me…it was all for God. Everything I did was an action to reflect my worship for my Lord, and the same is true for you.

I want you to imagine this for a moment. Imagine a hard working employee who works with excellence, integrity, and kindness, not to please the boss or for personal gain, but as an expression of worship to the Lord, seeing every task as an opportunity to honor God. Now consider that this employee can, and should be you. What could God do through you if you accepted that calling to honor him through your work? That means not getting mad at your coworker for not doing what you wanted them to do, or for taking that unplanned vacation, or for saying something ignorant to the boss or to a client. It means not getting mad at the boss or at the employee for saying or doing something that you disagree with. It means giving the same grace that you have been giving and giving God the glory for that grace, and honoring him every step of the way. What could happen at your place of work if others were able to witness you worshiping the Lord through your work? This is part of worship and reflecting your love for God on a daily basis…you see, worship is not just about music…its about every part of your life.

Now let’s talk about

Prayer as an Expression of Love for God & Church

Let’s go ahead and look at the passage we’re going to read this morning about prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 ESV

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Now a question I guess I have for everyone this morning is, Do you understand that

Prayer is a conversation with God

I mean…we have talked about this in the past, but do you actually believe and understand that this is true? We see this modeled for us by Jesus himself as he prays to the Father throughout his time on Earth. Remember there were times that Jesus would leave the group and he would go away to pray in silence? That’s because Jesus knew the value of having some time alone with the Father. Prayer allows us to communicate with our best friend, God, and experience His comfort, guidance, and presence…

The question is…how do we do that? I know for many of you here today you would say that’s the easies thing in the world to do…for others though, you have no idea how to pray your self. You hesitate to pray in public because you aren’t even sure how to pray in private…well, this morning you’re gonna learn how to pray and hopefully you will learn in a way that makes sense to you. I’m going to give you an acronym to remember and then you will be able to pray in any situation that you are in. I hope this will be a blessing…Now, this acronym is loosely based on a prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples when they asked how to prayer, so I want to just read that to you read quick, ok…

Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

So within this prayer we have different aspect and someone smarter than me come up with this a long time ago…So I’m going to teach you

The ACTS Model:

Here it is…We are going to start off with, Adoration: Begin your prayer by praising God for who He is, acknowledging His greatness and love. Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed, or holy be your name…God you are holy and there is none like you. Next we move into Confession: Confess your sins to the Lord, seek forgiveness for your pride and your selfishness. Repent of the idolatry in your life. We see this when Jesus said, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Next we see, Thanksgiving: Giving thanks for God's blessings and answered prayers, similar to when Jesus says "Give us this day our daily bread" as a recognition of God’s provision, not our own. Finally we move into Supplication: This is where we finally bring our needs and the needs of others before God, asking for His will to be done, inspired by "Your kingdom come, your will be done… and, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

So it’s that easy to pray…you just remember acts. Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. You may have to remind your self from time to time about that, but that oks…you see, the more you practice, the more you will remember until one day you will notice that you are just praying without even thinking about what is next…

You see, each of these elements of the Acts model helps draw you closer to God and helps you understand his will for your life. Thats why Jesus put them all in his model to the disciples. But I don’t want you to be tied to this model becuase sometimes you just need to talk to God.

Think about how you can actually write down from each of these sections, as well as your questions for the Lord in the journal you will receive in just a bit.

Henry Greenbaum was 11 when Nazi soldiers forced his family from their home in Poland. For five years, he toiled alongside other Jewish men, women and children in slave labor camps and endured the horrors of Auschwitz. But at nighttime, in his bunk, he never forgot his faith. “I always prayed every day, quietly, to myself, for God to help me make it another day,” said Greenbaum, who passed away in 2018. he said “I never gave up my faith.” You see…that conversation with the Lord keeps you going. Prayer allows us to communicate with our best friend, God, and experience His comfort, guidance, and presence…

So this is some pretty good stuff…at least I think so, being reminded of the importance of worship and prayer in your personal life. You see, when you strengthen your personal worship and prayer, then you are strengthening our corporate worship and prayer. So let’s talk about

Living Out Worship and Prayer Daily:

Like how do you realistically do this? It’s great and easy to talk about on Sunday, but how do we move forward with this through the week? well there’s two things to think about when you think about living out worship and prayer daily. First of all you need to think about Incorporating Worship and Prayer into your daily life: In other words, make a commitment to make this real for you. Make a commitment to give some time to worship the Lord daily through song and make a commitment to change your heart focus as you move through you day from I have to, to I get to do this for the Lord…Thats the first step right there. Of course there is also a challenge that I have given to many of you and I’m just gonna give it to everyone right now…It’s September 1 today…Let’s make a commitment to not listen to any music other than Christian music just for one month. Im not saying non Christian music is horrible, Im saying let’s take a month and focus on worshiping the Lord through our music choices. Do you think you can do that? Are you willing to make that commitment? Then let’s also make a commitment to pray at least twice weekly. Im going to say twice weekly becuase for some of you daily is a pretty big step. Now, praying at church or praying before your meal doesn’t count. I mean while you are by yourself you pray about what is going on at least two times through the week, thats like every third day. Choose a time and a place and make the commitment to do that. So far we have 3 possible commitments. 1. Worship the Lord through your actions. 2. Worship the Lord through your music (30 day challenge). 3. Pray at least twice per week. You can use the Acts model to help you out with that. Maybe you do that as a family, maybe you do that by yourself…I’ll leave that to you to decide, I’m just asking you to make the commitment. The other thing is to Encourage One Another in Worship and Prayer: You see, it’s actually important as a church that we are encouraging each other through our prayers and worship together. Let others know you are praying for them…not in a gossipy way, but in a sincere way. Let others see you worship the Lord through your actions. Encourage and challenge others when you see them not worshiping the Lord through their actions…In other words, when you see them being grumpy they are clearly not worshiping the Lord, right…remind them of why they are doing what they are doing…Listen, we all need reminded sometimes. That’s what a strong, growing spiritual family does for each other.

This morning we have talked about a couple of pretty important topics of worship and prayer as expressions of love for God and the church. Now I want to ask you to take a moment and grab your commitment card that is on your chair and write down your commitment this morning. You’ll see see on the screen the four different commitments that I am asking that you make this morning. I want to ask you go ahead and write down the ones that you are committing to. If you are committing to one, then great, if you are committing to all four, then great. If you aren’t ready to commit to any of them, just be honest about that and maybe right down, “I’m not ready”…The reason for this is to give you an opportunity to actively make a commitment and give me and the prayer group that meets at the church a way to pray for you this week specifically. It is so great for us to be able to pray with clarity about what is going on in your life and how God is working in your life, and it’s encouraging as we see God moving in your life as well. So go ahead and do that, then in a moment we will pray and we will have communion, but before that Im going to have some ushers go ahead and walk through and pick up your commitment cards. (pause) At the same time I will have another group of ushers that will be passing out your new worship and prayer journals. Now there are instructions in the journals that will tell you how to use them and remind you about the ACTS model of prayer. However, we are about to have communion and so as part of your communion this morning I’m going to ask you to use your journal this morning and answer this question. “Why am I worshiping the Lord through Communion?” Im going to leave that question up on the screen during communion and then when everyone is sitting and the band comes up to close us out it will go away so that you can follow along with the lyrics to the song.

Let’s pray: Pray that we are able to worship the Lord with all of us and us prayer relationally for the love of God and the church.

Communion

Explain what communion is: Explain what it means to have the bread and the juice as a picture of the body and blood of Jesus that was broken and poured out for each and every one of us. Explain that the only “requirement” to participate in communion is to have a relationship with the Lord. That is also the only way for communion to have meaning, otherwise, this is piece of bread and drink of juice. Communion is for the believers to be able to reflect both on your relationship with the Lord, as well as witness to others about your relationship with the Lord. This is the time for parents to be able to explain to your kids what you are doing and what it means to you. This is a time when you are able to both reflect on the past of when Jesus lived and walked on this Earth as well as look forward to the time when Jesus will one day return and walk on this Earth again. You reflect on your time of confession and your time of worship…all of this is happening at the same time as you receive this communion and stay focused on the Lord. So then you are able to answer that question this morning…Why am I worshiping the Lord through Communion?

Matthew 26:26–28 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Pray: for communion thanking Jesus for his sacrifice for sinners like us