Sermon Tone Analysis

Worship… from the minute you waken.

Intro...

Pray

Denzel Washington:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxY_eJLBflk

What is worship?

What do you think it is and what is it personally to you?

What do you think it is and what is it personally to you?

What is worship?

What do you think it is and what is it personally to you?

Get some answers out there…

Expressing praise, adoration, thanks, and love!

(Through… Prayer, music, bringing glory to God by your life and the choices you make, serving others in Jesus’ name.)

The two Greek words used for worship in the Bible are proskuneo and latreuo … Proskuneo means to bow down or pay homage, acknowledging the worthiness of God or kings, and latreuo, means to serve or to offer sacred services or gifts or prayers to God.

To me, worship is a natural response of feeling God’s presence or needing to feel his touch on my life.

As I have experienced more tough situations going through life, I am more likely now to respond with prayer or singing through the sadness to feel God is near.

Also when I am super happy, I’ll find myself singing worship songs or just thanking Jesus for the goodness in my life.

I also like to try to make a point of dedicating acts of service to God as worship, and that can be as simple as doing the dishes or cleaning the house for my family or going out of my way to feed people in the hospital at my job.

Any way you can be a blessing to others can be dedicated as an act of service to God.

Why do Christians worship?

Why would it be appropriate to worship God?

Get some answers…

The ones I came up with are these:

He is the only God.

The Creator and Maker of all of us.

He is perfect!

Perfect love, righteousness, the perfect executor of justice and the perfect gift-giver.

He made everything in the universe, and it is all awesome!

He has done amazing things throughout history to display his glory and power.

He went to the Cross to restore us to Himself and make us whole and new, and make the world whole and new.

What is the difference between true worship and false worship?

Get some answers… What is true worship?

What would false worship look or feel like?

[True worship]

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.”

Let’s dissect this verse … Think about close and reliable friendships and marriages come about.

First, there is an extent of vulnerability, of offering your trust to that person, and over time getting familiar and comfortable with them because we have invited them to be part of our lives, or in marriage, given them our whole lives.

Second, we get to know them as trustworthy and honest through learning about them, and through periods of time where they prove themselves to us.

So there’s connection, and then knowledge, which leads us to a place where we can point out their good qualities.

Everyone in this room, I’m sure, knows of some relationship they’ve had in their life where internally at one point you’ve realized someone was putting selfish matters ahead of your relationship.

When it comes to our relationship with God, our hearts need to be free of putting other things before God.

We can’t fully engage in our relationship with Jesus without giving our lives over to Him, or else we won’t notice the depth of relationship that is possible.

Then, without knowledge of His goodness and integrity, we won’t find reason to praise Him.

So I encourage you, get to know him even deeper than before, and your most natural response will be to worship him!

True worship...

Vulnerable

Connected

Engaged

Informed

Dedicated

Directed by the Holy Spirit

[False worship]

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.”

… Worship that is just “lip-service” – done without the heart involved – is pointless to Jesus.

It is not out of duty that we properly worship or honour God.

False worship can also be worship that is conducted in disobedience to God, done without humility and reverence, or done insincerely or in ignorance of who God truly is.

False worship...

“Lip-service”

Disobedient

Disrespectful

Insincere

Ignorant or Uninformed

(Last Sunday the pastor told us a joke and it was this:

True worship is valuing and treasuring God above all things – the most natural response to knowing about God, realizing how worthy he is of praise, and recognizing the prize we have in being adopted into God’s family.

The great thing is that God wants you to worship him in spirit and truth – he wants desperately for you to have this kind of closeness with Him!

Listen to this summary.

“Through [Christ], then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”

The second part of that command is: “Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

How to prepare ourselves for the “in Spirit” part of worship…

God’s worthiness and holiness...Acknowledge the chasm between God’s perfection and our imperfections

Acknowledge

God’s grace and forgiveness...Recognize that Jesus bridges us to the Father

God’s love and generosity...Realize that God pours out immeasurable blessings and upon you

God’s presence...Know that God is with you all the time and invite the Holy Spirit in to magnify your relationship with God

These are just some ways I can center myself in preparing to worship in singing or prayer or in daily life.

I remember a time where I felt self-conscious about singing, lifting my hands to God in worship or prayer, and even saying the name “Jesus” among non-Christian company.

I can remember sometimes I even took a prayerful stance to outwardly convey godliness or spirituality, while I was a complete mess on the inside.

There was a time, though, between ages of 17 and 19, that whenever there was some opportunity to draw closer to Him by worshipping openly or by talking to someone about Jesus, I felt my heart beating really fast and was super nervous about taking that next step, and I just did nothing about it.

I didn’t want to be seen as weird or different or as “holier than thou” among my circles of friends.

But… There is a specific promise that I have kept with me that covers a lot of ground for helping me to trust God not just with my life, but also with my relationship with Him.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.”

So, we know that God would never bring shame to his children, who are those who have been adopted into God’s family through Christ.

We don’t ever need to be embarrassed or shy about giving God credit or praise.

There are some things I counted as selfish which used to get, and sometimes which continue to get in the way of my worshipping God.

A few of them are shyness, being unwilling to be singled out or embarrassed, putting on face in certain company, laziness, ignorance to what kind of God I serve, and “just not feeling it” when it comes to worship in service and in song.

Small Group time: “Put away selfish ambition”

Put together Phillipians 2:3-4 and .

See how Paul and Jesus encourage us to be humble and willing to lay down our lives for the sake of the Kingdom.

What does “trying to save our lives” look like in today’s culture?

Phillipians 2:3-4 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

[Return to group for two minutes of personal journal time.]

I want you to take some time to answer the next two questions on your own.

You don’t have to share your answers, but just meditate on them in your heart or journal about it if you prefer to write things down.

a) What “selfish ambition” is a constant struggle in your life right now? What, if anything, threatens to have you “forfeit your soul”?