Who do we worship?

Psalm 100 ESV

A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Prayer

Series Introduction

Were going to start a new series this morning.

for the next month or so were going to be talking about Worship…

And Through this series I really want us to dig in and look at what the bible has to say about the different components that make up our worship.

Who we worship

Why we worship

When we worship

and how we worship.

And i have titled this series, “Release the Sound”

Because through it I want you to understand that their is a sound inside of you that is ment for God himself

Its your worship..

And we are called to regularly give that back to him!

But its a choice for you to do so or not.

So this morning were Going to start this series

Notes

and i hope you take notes

and look at them through the week

and put them into practice

So Lets go

What is worship

I wanna start by first defining giving a general definition of worship

what does it mean when we talk about worship?

Songs

If you have been in the church very long then the first thing that probably comes to your mind is the song portion of the service.

And you would be correct, that is a form of worship

but its not the full embodiment of the word.

Worship is the act of giving worth…

Worth… Ship..

Its a verb, or action word, requiring us to do something.

Worship is giving honor, esteem, and position

It is showing love, adoration or reverence

And it has an object or direction for its action..

Its through the act of worship that we put the object of our worship on a throne in our lives

Psalm 22:3 ESV

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

when we worship, we literally enthrone the object of our worship as important

David said, that our worship builds a throne in which God comes and sits..

But I want to remind you that.. whatever you end up worshiping.. it what will sit on that throne..

and its inevitability what will control your life.

Scripture

Through the scriptures we find people who worship God, Yahweh

And we find people who worshiped false gods..

Such as baal, or dagon, or even the golden calf.

nature

Historically,

It is within the nature of man to give worship..

Some direct it towards God..

Some direct it to money..

Some direct it to football..

BUT UNDERSTAND

WE AS BELIEVERS ARE CALLED TO WORSHIP GOD AND ONLY GOD

Comandments

the first commandment that God gave the people in Exodus 20:3

Exodus 20:3 ESV

“You shall have no other gods before me.

Jesus told the people in the people in Matthew 22:37-38

Matthew 22:37–38 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

We are called to put God first

Make him LORD

And we do this partially through our worship..

Psalms 100

The psalmist in Psalms 100 extolls us to worship the lord..

and know that he is God

We are called to worship God..

I want us to spend this morning looking at the implications of Psalms 100:3

Psalm 100:3 ESV

Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Because its important that we know WHO we worship..

and if we know WHO we worship..

It will help us to worship him with Gladness and passion.

So were going to look at who we worship..

This week and next week

Knowing who we worship

Briefly this morning I want to look at three questions.

And through these three questions I think we can begin to build a picture of who God is..

1. Who is God?

what doe we know of him…

How do we identify him..

How do we describe him..

Never ending

we could spend every Sunday until the end of eternity answering this question and still not fully comprehend the depths of who God is..

Thats one of the reasons he is God..

he is much bigger than us..

Romans 11:33 ESV

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

But in this first part,

I want to look at one scripture that gives us a good snapshot of who God is in our lives..

ALL THREE

Isaiah 46:4 ESV

even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

God, Speaking through the prophet here

gives us three major identifying factors..

First Isaiah says God is..

Creator

God is creator..

God says… I made you…

Genesis 1:1–3 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

John 1:1–3 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

God is our creator.

Before the cosmos was..

He was there..

in the depths of times he spoke and the world came into existence..

John points out that ALL THINGS THAT WERE MADE..

HE MADE THEM..

The earth, the universe..

The mountains.. the valleys..

The animals..

You and I..

He is the creator..

Job

In the book of Job

God goes on an extended discourse about creation and tells Job who he is as creator..

Job 9:9–10 ESV

who made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south; who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.

Job 38:8–11 ESV

“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

We worship the God who created the universe..

He set it into motion..

THAT MEANS HE IS THE ULTIMATE AND HIGHEST AUTHORITY IN EXISTENCES..

But Isaiah goes on..

God is not just creator..

He is sustainer..

Sustainer

God says, I will carry you

I will bear you..

Isaiah 46:4 ESV

even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

God didn’t just make the universe..

and abandon it to its own doings..

He sustains it as well..

Colossians 1:17 ESV

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Psalm 147:8 ESV

He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.

Matthew 6:26 ESV

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

God is the one who sustains us..

He didn’t just create you..

EX

He is the one who gets you up every day and causes you to live..

He is the one who breath in your body

he is the one who gives motivation to your mind

he is the one who feeds the birds, and waters the crops, and makes the world spin..

He is our sustainer

Acts 17:28 ESV

for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

HE SUSTAINS US..

But as Isaiah is not done

He continues

Savior

God says.. I will save..

A few chapters earlier God speaks through Isaiah and reiterates this concept..

Isaiah 43:11 ESV

I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.

in Fact Isaiah prophecies of the savior 6 times through the book..

Ultimately.. He our savior..

Flow

God creater the world..

Sustained the world..

yet the world turn on him and fell into sin..

and thus needed a savior..

Adam and eve

adam and eve could not keep the covenant with god

israel

Israel could not keep the covenant with god

SO IT WAS REQUIRED THAT A SAVIOR WOULD COME..

Old

in the old testament god saved israel many times from many things.

New

But in the new testament we know that a new savior would come..

God in the flesh..

Jesus christ, Son of god and son of man..

And he would make the ultimate sacrifice for sins..

and become the savior of humanity.

1 Timothy 4:10 ESV

For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

1 John 4:14 ESV

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

he is our savior..

HE IS THE WAY THROUGH WHICH WE HAVE COME INTO THE KINGDOM..

HE IS THE WAY THROUGH WHICH WE ARE ABLE TO WORSHIP GOD..

AND HE IS WORTHY OF OUR WORSHIP!

Recap

God is creator..

He is sustainer..

He is savior..

but this leads me to my second question..

how do we know these things?

2. How do we know who he is?

How do we know who God is?

Natural Revelation

First, Creation is screaming out who God is..

This is called natural revelation

Psalm 19:1 ESV

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Romans 1:20 ESV

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Job 12:7–9 CSB

But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you; let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

God has made himself known through creation..

When we see the hanidwork of God in the universe..

It points us to take note of his existence..

Other Regions

When you study other religions..

you find out that many of them started with a creation story..

They saw the complexity of the world..

They saw the created order..

and attributed this to some higher power

Watch

its like a man who walked up and found a watch.. (Show you watch)

He would see the intricate workings and say.. man who made this..

The heavens and the earth do the same.

They tell the story of the creator..

they shout his existence..

But god did not just leave our understanding of himself to chance revelation..

HE TELLS US WHO HE IS..

Self Revelation

We have the word of god..

inspired by god and given to man..

and it is the SELF REVELATION or god..

Its a love letter to humanity that declares to humanity everything God wanted man to know of himself.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20–21 ESV

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

As we read the word of God..

We get to know the Idenity of God

his character..

nature..

Person..

Ultimate

again ultimatly the greatest self revelation of God was in JEsus..

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

He revelaed himself to us in flesh..

AND IT SHOULD CAUSE US TO WORSHIP HIM FOR WHO HE IS..

But still theres more..

Experiencial revelation

God did not just speak through humanity..

He did not just speak through creation..

the bible says we walk with him..

This is experiential revelation..

Galatians 5:16 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

as we walk with god we get to know him on a personal level..

like a friend, a father..

We learn his nature and charactor..

and we learn him.

WE DONT JUST SEE IT..

OR READ IT…

WE LIVE IT..

Recap

These aspects help us to know him

and be assured of who he is..

MUSIC TEAM

What happens when we worship him for who he is?

when we know who god is..

and we worship him for who he is..

something shifts within us..

We become aware of his presence

when we worship God for who he is, we build a throne for his presence to rest.

he comes and takes us residence..

Psalm 34:3 ESV

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

as we praise god..

its like we take a magnifying glass to him..

and we see him in such a greater way.

his presence draws us in..

Faith arises

as we worship god for who he is we are reminded what he is capable of

Peace comes

as we worship God for who he we are engulfed in the peace of his presence

Our hearts become open

as we worship God for who he is, our hearts are open to receive from him.

Will you release the sound?