WorshipNow 7/25/2025 The Heart of the Worship Leader
Notes
Transcript
1 Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth! 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.
Before you take the stage and try to lead others in worship, you need to check your heart.
The worship leader must be saved.
The worship leader must be saved.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
You cannot tell others of salvation you have never experienced!
How many of you would take directions to climb Mt. Everest from a guide who had never climbed it himself? Would you listen to a football coach who had never played football? Would you trust the reviews of a critic who had never seen the movie they were reviewing?
Then how can you guide someone in worship to know and love a God whom you do not know and love?
Trying to praise God for a salvation you have not experienced is hypocrisy and inevitably leads to exalting yourself.
People who try to lead worship without being saved end up trying to point others to themselves. That’s not worship, that’s idolatry.
If you are not saved, you are not ready to lead worship.
Worship leaders must worship God from their heart.
Worship leaders must worship God from their heart.
To worship something is to tell about how great it is and how much it’s worth.
It means to ‘ascribe worth to’ something.
Before you can lead others to worship, your heart must be worshipping.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
What is God worth to you? What has he done for you? When God led the Israelites through the Red Sea, they burst out into praise because of what God had done for them.
1 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.
2 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.
20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
When we lead worship, we’re not just telling others to worship, we ourselves are worshipping, also. We’re telling others and telling God how great he is and what he has done for us.
God isn’t glorified when we stand up here without any passion and don’t mean what we’re saying. If we’re just going through the words and lyrics and notes without praising God, that’s not worship.
If you struggle with this, before you lead worship, meditate on what God has done for you. Meditate on your salvation. Meditate on the splendor, majesty, strength, and beauty of God.
Imagine yourself standing in the throne room of God Almighty. Think of what Christ did for you on the cross. Think of recent examples of how he has provided for you and blessings he has given you.
The worship leader must fear God, not man.
The worship leader must fear God, not man.
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
When we lead worship, we should care what God thinks, not what man thinks.
Many times, worship leaders struggle with anxiety or stage fright for fear of messing up in front of people.
But this is not a performance. We are not seeking the approval of man, but God.
Do you know what the difference between performance and worship is? In a performance, you’re singing or playing an instrument to the audience. In a performance, you want others to hear how good you sing or play. You’re looking for their applause and approval. But in worship, we don’t sing to people, we sing with people to God. God is our audience; an audience of one. We’re not looking for the approval or applause of people, we’re giving applause to God and looking for God’s approval.
When we lead worship, we’re not performing for other people. It’s not about how good a singer or musician we are, it’s about how great God is. So, the more we try to put the focus on us, the less worship God gets.
When we put the focus on us, that’s idolatry.
If we’re going to tremble, let us tremble before God
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
And we don’t have to be afraid of God so long as we’re worshipping him from our heart. This just means that we respect God and care more about what he thinks of us than what people think about us.
So, if you get nervous when you get up to lead, just remind yourself—There’s only one person in my audience, my Heavenly Father. And he is always pleased with me anytime I come to worship him.
