Do You Thirst for God?

Have you ever “really” been thirsty?

I have been severely dehydrated one time in my life, the crazy thing is I had no idea until it was almost too late. I was in Jr. High and our Pop Warner football team was preparing for the play offs. Everything seemed fine until at the end of practice, I stopped sweating… and if you know me, I sweat. The next thing I remember is coming too and the team doctor was giving me fluids.

Many times we can have similar experiences spiritually.

Psalm 63:1 NIV

1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

God wants us to recognize our need for him, HE WANTS US TO BE AWARE THAT OUR ENTIRE BEING LONGS FOR HIM! And Awareness, especially SELF AWARENESS is a GIFT! Most of us go through life not knowing what we really want or need.

On Friday I spoke for an hour with one of my best friends in the ministry, him and his wife just returned from a four month sabbatical and I asked him what his biggest take-away was. His response was surprisingly simple, yet profound.

In order to be still you have to stop moving. Dr. Bill Moulden

From day 1 Bill’s plans went sideways and a 4 month RV trip across the country turned into a 3 month staycation after a series of false starts and breakdowns. The blessing of the sabbatical was not the rest and relaxation that they had planned on, but rather in the process of surrender that took place in their hearts as they exchanged their plans for His.

It is an awareness that we are involved in something greater than ourselves. That’s why I would like to take some time today to talk about the concept of “worship”.

What is worship? In our modern context it would seem to be style of music or liturgy… Since we classify “worship services” as traditional or contemporary according to these differences.

True worship has nothing to do with these things, which is why someone non-musical as myself can just as passionate about worship as my musical wife and friends.

Worship is the awed response to the saving acts and praiseworthy character of God. I’d like to highlight “Awed Response”. Too often we are no longer awe inspired, we get caught up in the flashy things of the world and we are actually too distracted to truly worship God.

In order to be “living water” we need to distance ourselves from the world so that we can truly see God.

Exodus 3:7–12 (NIV)

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land...

9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them...

12 ..... And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

The Exodus was a corporate call to worship! The Hebrews were hurting, but they didn’t know how to worship God, up until Moses worship was mostly an individualistic activity.

God brought them from the abundance of Egypt, through water and into the desert to teach them to long for Him!

It is one thing to long for our situation to change, it is a completely different situation to long for God!

They had a hard time seeing it… After all the miracles the children of Israel had seen God do in Egypt, including the parting of the Red Sea so that they could walk through on dry land, they still complained so bitterly that God heard a constant rumbling from their encampment in the wilderness.

They repeatedly complained about food and water (Num. 20:2–5; 21:5). When they had manna from heaven, they complained they had no meat (Num 11:4–6). They grumbled and rebelled against Moses’ leadership (Num 14:2–5; 16:1–3). Aaron and Miriam, Moses’ siblings, complained about Zipporah, Moses’ wife (Num 12:1). The people even complained about God’s judgment that resulted from their complaints (Num 16:41).

It is so easy to get distracted (even in church)! I get it! Is the live stream working…What’s my next slide... did I turn off the stove... where did I leave my coffee… that was my favorite cup… does Wendy have the car keys… squirrel. In 15 seconds, I am so far removed from worship that it could be hard to recover.

We need the deserts, because the deserts make us long for God and for fellowship

You see deserts are a place where our hearts are put to the test, they are a place of decision, they are a place of quiet. It is in the desert that we stop longing for our situation to change and we start longing for our creator.

There was another Hebrew whose heart was tested in the desert...

Matthew 4:1–11 ESV

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Proper worship opens the way to ministry

Matthew 4:17 ESV

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Let’s commit to Creating Spaces for Meaningful Worship (not just Sunday morning)!

Spending time with God daily! Psalm 138:2

Psalm 138:2 ESV

2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

Serving others Mother Theresa once said, “when she helped an orphan in the street, when she gave a cup of cold water to a thirsty child, she was worshipping God. After all, didn’t Jesus say: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me”? (Matthew 25:31-40)

Giving to God (Worship is costly) in 2Sam 24:24 David said that he would not give something that had cost him nothing (Let’s get some skin in the game)

Hebrews 7:27 NIV

27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.