Church in Focus - 3/4 - The Worshipping Church
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THEORY to PRACTICE
Discipleship by definition involves practice. A knowledge accompanied by practice.
GOD’S PRESENCE MATTERS TO US - MAIN PRIORITY
THE CHURCH IS A PLACE OF WORSHIP (practically not locationally, or theoretically)
Presence moves us away from theory to practice. WE move past good doctrine to God’s power manifest. Not that one makes the other irrelevant, but rather, it confirms good theology with God showing you how it works, not just studying God (Theology = the study of God) and being content with that.
Worship in the context of WHO HE IS..
The church is defined by WHO HE IS…and as a result WHO WE ARE/ WHOSE WE ARE.....not so much who we are as individuals.
WITNESS GOD TOGETHER
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
PERSONAL vs CORPORATE
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3 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.
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
Ephesians 3:16-19
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ( ESV)
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:17-18 ESV)
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Understanding the importance of personal worship in the wonderful constrast with corporate worship. They are not the same and shouldn't be confused as such. While all worship involves a personal authentic response, our collective response is about celebrating who our God is together, and hearing Him together.
In modern Christianity, we are tempted to come to church services to be personally be gratified by “good worship” and “sound doctrine”. While sound teaching is essential in churches, and an excellence in worship is nice to have ---- we HAVE TO, HAVE TO, HAVE TO establish that we are here to meet God together and hear His instruction for us corporately and individually. If all i did is walk away with a great encounter simply for me, the mission we were called together for hasn’t moved forward an inch. All I engaged with was the “me” growth aspect and never considered what God was calling “us” to.
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WORSHIP IS ABOUT SEEING GOD and the response that flows from there.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 5:18-20 ESV)
The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.....My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,...My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. (Song of Solomon 2:8, 10, 16 ESV)
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
THE CHURCH IS A PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH - this is why we gather! Not to get good teaching or hear good worship.
Humility receives Love, Love fuels worship, worship deepens both love and humility
1 JOHN 3
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are”
1 JOHN 4:9-10
“This is how the love of God was made manifest among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. See, this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”