Worship is...Inviting

Good Morning & Welcome to New Hope!

Finish this sentence - “Worship is...”

“The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for God.”

“Worship is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.”

“A valuing or a treasuring of God above all things.” ~ Piper

Worship is a SHARED BIBLICAL experience INVITING people to CONNECT with God

Let me be specific here… I will agree with most of you by saying that worship is a lifestyle…that worship isn’t something we do for a few moments once per week…that worship isn’t limited to singing a few songs…but we engage in worship when we pray; we engage in worship when we serve; we engage in worship when we give; we engage in worship when we gather. And so for these next four weeks, I’m mostly speaking about what we would traditionally call a Sunday morning worship time, but I really believe the concepts apply to worship at all times.

There are some things I need to communicate as we enter into this conversation over the next four weeks...

None of these topics (none of my sermons ever) have been directed at any one person or any single group of people

What I communicate from this platform is never meant in a vengeful, condemning, angry, “shame on you / you should know better”, I’m going to show you, type of spirit or attitude

I do the very best I can not to speak my opinion - if or when I do - I will be careful to make that known

If something is said that you think is directed at you, or hurts your feelings, or you don’t agree with - please understand that is not my objective

My objective is to teach the Biblical truth about worship - even when it’s not popular, even when we may not like it, even when there is risk of offending someone

I want to begin this morning in the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 24.

Read

v.1 “The Lord instructed Moses: ‘Come up here to me...’”

v.2 “All of you must worship from a distance.”

v.3 “All the people answered with One Voice.”

v.10 They experienced the brilliance of God & communed with Him

v.12 “Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me...’”

God initiates & God invites us into His presence - God calls us to worship

You may have taken the initiative to get out of bed this morning and brave the elements, but God took the initiative in pursuing you

You may have invited someone here this morning, or been invited here by someone, but God invited you & us all into worship this morning. And it’s not just this morning, but it’s a moment by moment invitation.

The worship set this morning was planned out, but God had plans laid out long before us

The worship team will lead us in song this morning, but God leads us & invites into worshipping Him

You see, this perspective should change the way we view worship. It should change the way we worship. Who does the inviting should make all the difference. If you believe this morning that God invited you; that God planned all this; that God initiates this - would it change things? Would it change your response in worship?

God has invited you from your busy calendars

God has invited you from whatever is going on at home

God has invited you from your places of employment

God has invited you from your fears, doubts, regrets, disappointments, failures

He has invited you to worship Him; God is inviting you to worship Him; Are you ready to worship?!?!

Worship is our response to God’s Divine revelation. Worship isn’t our idea. Worship is God’s idea.

(NLT)

1“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!

2Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.

(NLT)

1 Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth.

2 For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!

It’s not that God needs our worship…He doesn’t.

We need to hear from God more than He needs to hear from us.

There’s something supernatural that happens in us when we worship (and among us - we’ll talk about that in a couple weeks)

In 1758 when Robert Robinson, British Hymn writer, penned the words, “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace,” he wasn’t speculating. He knew the reality of our human condition. We come from a long line of people who are restlessly prone to wander. Our hearts need to be tuned toward God regularly.

1 Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth.

In 1758 when Robert Robinson, British Hymn writer, penned the words, “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace,” he wasn’t speculating. He knew the reality of the human condition. We come from a long line of people who are restlessly prone to wander. The heart is a fickle, and needs to be tuned regularly.

2 For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace

We need our hearts tuned so that they understand the incredible grace by which we are saved. The free grace (not cheap because it cost Jesus his life & will cost us ours as well) which God so readily gives. If we really understand how amazing this grace is, our hearts should be tuned to it, and should sing of it with reckless abandon.

Streams of mercy, never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise

God’s mercy is unending and it’s worthy of greatest worship - our loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above

This sounds a little weird, but I believe all it means is to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us the songs...the poetry of heaven - worthy to be sung in His presence. Does that mean there’s only a few songs we can sing or only one way to worship - no. I believe the songwriter is saying, Holy Spirit - teach me to worship!

Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by Thy help I've come

Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” Hither simply means “here”. I am at this place, “by Thy help”.

12Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” And I hope, by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God He, to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood

I think you get the picture, right! As Pastor Phill makes his way to the piano, I’ve included a few more questions for us to ponder individually & if you will be meeting in a Life Group. We need worship more than God needs our worship.

Oh, that day when freed from sinning I shall see Thy lovely face Clothed then in the blood washed linen How I'll sing Thy wondrous grace Come, my Lord, no longer tarry Take my ransomed soul away Send Thine angels now to carry Me to realms of endless day

Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let thy grace Lord like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above

Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above

(NLT)

(NLT)

1Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

2Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.

3For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.

4He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains.

5The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.

6Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

7for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!

When Robert Robinson penned the words, “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace,” he wasn’t speculating. He knew the reality of the human condition. We come from a long line of people who are restlessly prone to wander. The heart is a fickle thing and needs to be tuned regularly. The call to worship serves as a tuning of our hearts.

Offertory

Invite people to sign up for Easter Drama

Explain schedule & why

Easter Drama video will play