FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Why We Worship | Psalms 92, 96, 100
Worship isn't just a Sunday ritual; it's a dynamic, life-encompassing experience that transforms our entire existence. Have you ever considered how every facet of your life could be an act of worship? In this episode, we journey beyond the church walls to explore how worship becomes a living, breathing part of our daily lives. We share our personal testimonies, reflecting on our progression from church attendance to a deeper, more personal relationship with God. The teachings of Pastor Chip have been instrumental in shaping our understanding of worship and its profound impact on our lives, and we are excited to share these insights with you.
Our conversation delves into the heart of worship—its essence that extends beyond music and ceremonial acts. We unpack scriptures like Psalms 92, 96, and 100, discovering how worship can be a continuous celebration of God's greatness, no matter where we are or what we're doing. By exploring what it means to worship in spirit and truth, we challenge ourselves and our listeners to connect with God on a deeper level, making worship a genuine expression of love and gratitude. This episode is an invitation to reflect on how we can use our time and resources to glorify God, encouraging everyone to join in making a joyful noise.
Moreover, living a life of worship naturally draws others toward God, as demonstrated through examples like Jonah and Paul. We discuss the importance of integrating worship into our homes, ensuring that it is a fundamental part of family life. Through heartfelt worship and surrendering to God's love, we open ourselves to transformative connections and experiences. This episode is a reminder that worship is not about perfection but about authenticity and alignment with God's purpose, inviting us all to engage in a life of devotion and gratitude.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
So thankful to be here with you. Welcome to First Baptist Powder Springs. It is a privilege to get to be here. It's a privilege to get to serve here along so many wonderful folks, and I'm just so thankful. Our family is so thankful to be here, and all those who do so much behind the scenes and in front of the scenes and everything in between, and for you for being here. We are so glad that you are here, whether you're a longtime member, whether you've just been coming here a short time, or whether you are a first-time guest. We are so thankful that you are here, and it is our prayer as a church that you would get to encounter God. Hopefully you've already done that this morning. I tell you, marsilio and team, what a blessing that was to get to be in here to worship with you. A lot of times I teach a group during this time and so I'm not always able to be in here during this hour, but it's been my privilege the last two Sundays to actually get to be in here to worship with you, and what a delight to be, isn't our God good Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:As I was thinking about what to share this morning and asking the Lord to speak to me and say how can I be an encourager, how can I share what the Lord has taught me? I was thinking maybe I will try to continue Pastor Chip's sermon series, going through the book of Numbers, and I was looking through that and I said you know what? I really don't want to take away the opportunity for Pastor Chip to teach on Balaam's donkey and Balaam's oracles and all that. So, pastor Chip, you're welcome, you can thank me later, but we are so glad to be able to be here. The Lord kind of led me to share from my heart a little bit of my testimony and just a little bit of what the Lord has impressed upon my heart over the years, especially in the area of worship. I has impressed upon my heart over the years, especially in the area of worship.
Speaker 1:I know some of you may be saying, oh, worship, of course the worship pastor is gonna preach on worship and often I do have the privilege to share that. I do love the rest of scripture, but throughout the entirety of scripture the Lord is giving us reason to worship and giving us instructions on how we are to worship. Amen, Amen. So we're going to look at a little bit of that this morning. You know I have. For those of you who may not know me personally, I look forward to getting to know you. But I have a wife and three kids. No, I don't work in a button factory Okay, a few of you got that. Anyways, moving on. But wife Charity, the love of my life, greatest partner in ministry I could ask for, and so thankful for her. I've got three kids Gracie Ann, our oldest, annalie, our middle, and Jack, our youngest son. You may see them running around every once in a while. They are just delighted to be here and love being a part of this church, as do their parents us, you know.
Speaker 1:As I was thinking about what to share, I thought let me share with you a little bit of my testimony. I grew up in church. Pretty much my whole life. I've been in church in some form or fashion. In fact, even in the womb I was in church. I didn't really know what was going on at that point, but I was in church and I grew up knowing about the Lord. I grew up knowing the things of the Lord and I really think that I had a love for the Lord. But what I didn't realize is there's so much more than just a head knowledge. There's so much more than going to church to showing up, to doing things, doing good activities, good tasks, serving the queue. There's so much more than just doing things or being somewhere and knowledge. It's about a relationship, and so that's when the Lord transformed my life and helped me to understand that he wanted a personal relationship with me, that through that personal relationship I was, I had the have the privilege to be able to grow closer to him, to understand who he is, to understand even just a small part of what he has done for me. I don't know about you, but as as I read and study the scripture, and as I have the privilege to be able to sit under great Bible teachers and great pastors like Pastor Chip, I'm so thankful that we get to sit under his teaching and his leadership each and every week. What a blessing that is. As he opens up the word, the Lord continues to transform my life. Just speak to me to show you. This is who the Lord is, this is who I am and this is my need for him, and this is how he wants to use me.
Speaker 1:In the first service, we sang a song use me. If you can do anything, lord, use me. And that's how we come to the Lord this morning, just presenting ourselves to him, saying, lord, you're worthy of our worship. Use us and draw us closer to ourselves. And so, as the Lord drew me to himself, continually forming me and making me shake me, sanding off the many rough edges sometimes having to take a saw, and cutting off the rough edges so he can even get to sanding but I'm just so thankful that he continues to use me in spite of myself, in spite of my shortcomings and my failures and my own brokenness. We all are broken. None of us live up to the way that the Lord has made us and call us to do. But, thank the Lord, it doesn't end there. He says there's help. I will take you out of your brokenness, if you will let me so.
Speaker 1:This morning, as we think about that and think about how the Lord can transform our life and has transformed our life, we want to look at the topic of worship. And so, as we begin, what comes to mind when you think of thank you guys? What comes to mind when you think of thank you guys? What comes to mind when you think of worship? So often we hear the word worship. We equate it with kind of what goes on up here, a great band, like in the first service, a choir, an orchestra we think of that's worship, it's the singing, it's the music. Well, yes, we worship, we give worship through giving stuff. But that's it's what we do at church and so often that's the only thing that we equate with worship. But regardless of what, you come in here thinking about worship, I'd like to share with you biblically that worship was never meant to just be about music. Now, I love music and I love being able to express worship through music, and that's a vital part of worship, but it's not the only thing.
Speaker 1:And so, as we look into scripture this morning various different passages, as I said before, the scripture is full of instruction and guidance on worship. And so there we go. What does it mean to worship? And God designed us. So God designed you, each and every one of you, to worship him. He didn't just design you to come and exist and hopefully have a good time. He designed you to have great joy and great fulfillment and great hope in life as you live your life, as you serve him and as you worship him. We were designed for worship. You know, even non-believers were designed. We all were designed to worship something. We were designed to worship the great God and creator of the universe.
Speaker 1:But if we choose not to do that, we are still choosing to worship something. We choose not to do that, we are still choosing to worship something. You know, often we can look at our life and we can see things that we put of most importance. That's a way that we can kind of see and reflect on our own life of what is most important. What do we spend our most time doing or being involved in? What do we spend our resources, our time, our gifts, our abilities, our resources, our money? What do we use that to do? And we see as we focus on those things we can see is that used for the Lord's glory? Is that used to do what he has called us to do, or is it used for our own purposes and our own selfish gains, or for our own glory versus the Lord?
Speaker 1:It says in there we go in Psalm 92, it is good to give thanks. I'm gonna try out this pen here. It is good to give thanks and to sing. I love this. Sing praises to your name, o Most High, to declare your steadfast, so, as we worship him, we're giving him thanks, we're singing his praises, we're declaring his steadfast love in the morning and his faithfulness by night. So, morning and night, all throughout the day, we are to worship him. How great are your works, lord. That's pretty cool. A new toy to play with? No, it's not a toy, grayson. I'm sorry, by the way. As I was going in the first service I realized I've got to shorten things, but then Grayson said that hey, you've got plenty of time in the service, it's okay to go over. So if I go over, grayson said it's okay.
Speaker 1:Psalm 96, oh, sing to the Lord. A new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing the Lord and bless his name. Tell of his salvation. We are witnessing to others, we're telling of his salvation all day long, declaring his glory among the nations. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Psalm 96, 7, ascribe to the Lord all families of the people. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory, do his name, and it goes on, talking about bringing our offerings into his courts and worshiping the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. There's so many scriptures about this, I'll keep going. Butsalm 100.
Speaker 1:Make a joyful noise. You know, one thing I always love to say is how many of you can make a noise that you can participate. Okay, most people should be able to raise their hand. If you can make a noise, now, how many of you can do it with great joy? All right, guys, I know you've got the game. Last night, uh, was alabama georgia, did you? Did y'all sit there quietly, or did you? Oh, or yes, you can participate. Yes, yes, did you do that? I know sometimes it's hardest to get the guys to respond. That's why I started with football.
Speaker 1:But anyway, you can make a joyful noise, and what I love as a worship pastor is this is the only requirement to sing to the Lord Make a joyful noise. And nowhere in scripture does it say you've got. This is the only requirement to sing to the Lord, make a joyful noise. Nowhere in scripture does it say you've got to be perfect. You've got to be a quality singer like this. Now we may make that requirement to give you a microphone. Thank you for laughing, but you can worship the Lord. You can sing to the Lord, no matter how well you think you sing, because we were giving glory to him. He created you, he created your voice, he created everything that is in you and he wants you to use that to worship him and to give him glory. Bless his name, for the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness from generation to generation endures forever. In his faithfulness from generation to generation. There we go.
Speaker 1:You know worship is as a means that we see in scripture. You know worship is a means of respectful devotion, loving and honoring and obeying someone who deserves our highest regard. God deserves our highest worship and our highest regard. Worship also means acknowledging and celebrating his power. We saw that through the Psalms that we just read, talking about the splendor of his wholeness, his greatness, his power, his might and perfection. In gratitude, giving back thanks to the Lord. In gratitude, worship includes understanding and reverent awe of God's holiness. We remember how great he is and how unworthy we are, and we come to him with a humble heart, recognizing our place in his holy presence. And another way that we worship the Lord is through loving and serving and caring for God's people, and it points back to Jesus. And you know this is I'm so thankful for this demonstrated constantly through the life of our church. We even just this past week for us. We have a house in Augusta that we're in the process of selling praise the Lord, we're under contract on that so we can get permanent here.
Speaker 1:But of course many of you have heard the news the hurricane that came up and just did terrible devastation all up in Georgia and other places, and Augusta was hard hit. Many places we drove through yesterday I mean it looked like a war zone. There were trees down everywhere, power lines everywhere, debris scattered everywhere. It was sad to see, but it was encouraging to see people recovering, people getting out there and I felt so blessed and thankful for this church. I had let the staff know. I guess it was on Friday. We started hearing the news of what was happening and hearing that there was tree probably multiple trees on our house, not knowing what the condition was and just saying, hey guys, I may need to make a quick trip to Augusta to try to secure things. And without me even knowing it, daniel and several others were already assembling a team. And just how can we help? And that's being the church we love one another we're not thinking of. Well, there's the game on Saturday, so I'll go if I can get back in time.
Speaker 1:It's just serving in love, and one of the things I also appreciate about serving is doing so and sharing why we are serving. We'll get to this in a minute. But such a privilege to be able to worship the Lord. And if we know we're supposed to worship the Lord and we know that this is what God commands us to do, we know that this is what we were created to do. Well, how are we to worship?
Speaker 1:In John 4, jesus tells us how we are to worship. We are to worship in spirit and in truth. Two things he says. So the first thing worship in spirit. We must worship from the core of our being. We are created with the spirit. We are created with the spirit of God in us. This body, this outward body that we have, will not last. It will pass away, but the spirit remains. So we are reminded we must worship God from the core of our being, not just superficial motions on the outside or emotions. It's got to come from our core. And while we worship him from our core, we also must worship him in truth. And there's quite a few scriptures that instruct us in that how we are to do that.
Speaker 1:But we have to remember that as we focus on the truth of God. If we are only going through the motions with this outer shell, it doesn't really have any lasting effect. You one day, our fleshly bodies, our outer shell, will pass away. It'll return to the dust and it's our spirit that remains. And so if the only way that we worship the Lord, if the only way that we give him glory, is the superficial outside, that's not part of who we are, we haven't actually worshiped.
Speaker 1:Let me say that again because I don't want you to miss it. If we only worship outwardly, but not from our heart, not from our inmost being, we haven't really worshiped. And it doesn't matter, because it hasn't mattered in our life as we come to know the truth of God we talked earlier about how, as we come to know the truth of God, singing these great songs of the faith that we got to do earlier, and reminding ourselves of who God is, the truth of God John 14, john 1, 14, 14, 6, john 1, 8, all these remind us of the truth of who God is and why we are to worship him. The more we understand, the more I come to understand who God is and what he has done, the more I am motivated, the more I'm encouraged and compelled to worship him. So thus, to worship the Lord in truth means to worship the Lord in accordance with the truth of who he is, the truth of Jesus, of and about Jesus, that he is the son of God, the Messiah and the savior of sinners. That's us, that's you and me.
Speaker 1:So, as we realize what we've been rescued from and I think of all those who have been had been devastated by the hurricane that came up and all the flooding and the wind damage, and you think of, if you're drowning in the flood and you're reaching out and someone grabs your hand and pulls you to safety you were about to die and someone rescued you do you think you'd just get up and go? Oh, thanks bro. Thank you so much. And that's how our attitude should be to God. When we realize what he has saved us from he has given us life and hope eternal that, as we understand his truth, we are then compelled to worship him. So if we don't know I need to erase this here, I don't know if it would translate or not If we don't know God's truth, how can we believe it in our spirits? We have to know, have the knowledge of who God is, and then let that transform us into our spirit. And so we say that when we worship in spirit and in truth, we're saying that in public, in our family life, in our private life, really in all of life, we are to worship God. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:So how does worship we talked about we're supposed to worship God? Amen, amen. So how does worship we talked about we're supposed to worship, and we've talked about the importance of that and how God is worthy of our worship? But it's not just a one-way thing. God has created worship to fit into our relationship with him. Your worship is a key part of our relationship with God. It's our communication with him, as we listen to him, as we express back to him the glory he is due. When we worship God, we are actively recognizing God as the creator, savior, sustainer and king. In Exodus, chapter 20, we talked about that.
Speaker 1:Pastor Chip preached on that not that long ago. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. So God is telling them this is who I am, I am the Lord and this is one of the things that I have done for me. Then he commands them, saying you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make yourselves carved images or any likeness of anything in heaven, above, under the earth and then down here. It says you shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Speaker 1:So worship is one of the ways that we honor God, one of the ways that we honor God, one of the ways that we obey his commands and one of the ways that we express our love towards him. And John 14, 15 says if you love me, you will keep my commandments. In Romans 12, chapter one, it talks about how this is one way that we worship is through our reasonable service of worship, a gratitude for all God has done. I appeal to you. Romans 12, one. It talks about how this is one way that we worship is through our reasonable service of worship, a gratitude for all God has done. I appeal to you, romans 12, one. Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing, which is acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship, or, some translations will say, which is a reasonable act of service. And so we worship the Lord through ascribing glory to him, to lifting his name up, to proclaiming him, to serving the Lord together.
Speaker 1:Another way that we worship God is one of the ways that we spread his word. As we lift up the name of Jesus, as we share what God has done in our life, we want others to see the hope and joy that God has given us. You know Matthew 5, 16, it says in the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and do what Give glory to God, to the Father who is in heaven. So it's not just do these good things so they can see you, so they can see what you have done and give glory to God. We are to point people to God, sharing the hope and the joy that is within us, and it's such a privilege to do that. When we truly understand what God has done for us, we can't help but express that for us. We can't help but express that in gratitude. We can't help but to lift him up. And as we do that, the scriptures say that God will draw all to himself. Amen, amen. We just sang just a little bit ago living hope, reminding ourselves that we were dead before in our sins and that Christ has brought us alive, and I love the truths in that. And so that we proclaim him as we do, that as we lift up the name of Jesus, we show others that we are different.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament we've been studying in our group during this hour about the Israelite people and how God set them apart. And he didn't just set them apart so they'd go look at me, I'm God's chosen. He set them apart so that, as the Lord poured into them and blessed them and used them, that others would say there's something different about them. What is that? Look at the ways that they care for each other. Look at the ways that they have a unique bond in community. Look at the ways that they have access to a wisdom that's not of this world. They have access to knowledge and things that and insights that others just don't have. As they sing songs or as they worship the Lord which is what we were created to do it gives them such joy. So people see that and it's attractional. They are drawn to that. If we're doing it genuinely, they're to understand the deep longings of our soul, that we were made for more than just existing. We were given a hope that even in difficult circumstances we have that hope in God. Yet we were designed, they were designed just to live differently. We are designed to live differently as God's people, and so even non-believers, will see what we are doing, the way we live our life, and they will be attracted to that. Say what's different, what's different about you? Why are you this way? Why do you respond that way when even in hopelessness, even in devastation, you can point, you can have joy? And so we are to point people by just living differently, being set apart and as we live out this relationship with God through worshiping him.
Speaker 1:The Bible teaches that it's both a life of worship. You so often we think of worship as we started at the beginning. It's just kind of well, it's the band, it's the music or it's the church service. That's worship. But when we understand biblically, we were created to worship not just on Sundays, not just on an hour Sunday morning. We were to worship all the time. Whether we're driving to work, whether we're sitting in school, whether we're taking care of our family, washing the dishes, in all of that we are to live a life of worship in the way that we live out our life, and so, as we live out our life of worship, the Bible teaches that worship is both a specific activity, like coming together, and also a life of worship, a way of life. So we talked about the way of life, and it's not just an activity.
Speaker 1:We see many places in Scripture too, specifically in Jonah 1, 9, how it wasn't just something that Jonah lived occasionally. We see many places in scripture two, specifically in Jonah 1, 9, how it wasn't just something that Jonah lived occasionally. It wasn't something he just did on Saturday or on Sunday when it was time to preach or to do what God had called him to do, but he was a life of worship. We see that clearly in Jonah 1, 9. Even in his struggle with disobedience most of us know the story of Jonah and how he rebelled against what the Lord told him to do and how the Lord brought him back but he still strove to live a life of worship. In 1 Corinthians, we see Paul also talks about how we are to glorify God in everything that we do, which means all of life worship. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. So we talked about a life of worship and living a life of worship.
Speaker 1:Then we also talk about worship as set-apart activities, and there's really kind of three main categories of set-apart activity Public worship, like we're doing here private worship and family worship. And so, as we think about these, I want to start with the one that we probably think of the least, and that's family worship. And so family worship is designed to be led by fathers. It's designed to be led by the heads of the family with a view to establish who God is, to help teach the family who God is and what he has done, to help prepare the household for worship. The Bible makes it clear the importance of leading in family worship. Let's see if I can get it, Guys, if you can help me advance it a little bit here.
Speaker 1:But it says in Deuteronomy 6, 6,. It says these words I've commanded you. They should be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You should talk of them when you sit and when you rise. You should talk about when you walk along the way, when you lie down, when you rise, you shall bind them as signs on your hands and they should be as frontlets between your eyes, meaning you carry around. In fact, the Jewish people, they took this quite literally. They would put little boxes on their heads with scriptures in it and it seems kind of silly and we don't really do that now, but basically what it was supposed to be. God didn't command them to put a box on their head with the scriptures in it, but he was supposed to remind them that, wherever you go, god's word, his truth, is forefront of everything that we do.
Speaker 1:We see in Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15, but, as for me, in my house we will serve the Lord, amen. It's a great resources that you can use, and so I encourage you, as a family or getting together with friends, to be able to spend time specifically worshiping the Lord. It's a great resources, but the biggest thing is be intentional. Gather as a family, read God's word, talk about what God is teaching you, share how you can encourage one another. You maybe even sing a song of worship. Doesn't have to be fancy or formal, but just do it.
Speaker 1:The second area of worship is private worship, which sometimes is referred to as a secret worship. It's just you and God. In Matthew 6, 6, when you pray, go in your room and shut the door and pray to your father, who is in secret, and your father will see in secret and will reward you. Spending time with God is not personally, is not meant to be showing for others. It's meant to be about building your relationship with God and so often we do that time where we get so distracted. But spending focused time with God it's not about showing to others. Jesus, led by example Luke 5, 16 says but he went, we draw to a desolate place to pray. Desolate means to be basically go to a place without distractions Mark 1, 35 and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he, jesus, departed and went out to a solitary place and there he prayed. We see throughout this other scriptures King David in Psalm 5, daniel Daniel 6, peter in Acts 10. God wants us to set aside time to spend with him. If we value that relationship, we've got to make that important so that we can concentrate on a relationship with him and hearing from him.
Speaker 1:You know so often we get distracted. You know this world is full of distractions. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time being away from my phone. In fact, the Lord reminded me of that this morning as I was driving to church this morning and I reached down where's my phone? And I didn't have it with me. It's easy to get distracted. You know, I get out the phone and, oh, that looks interesting. Oh, that's a cool reel. I kind of keep scrolling. Oh, let me send that to my wife. Keep scrolling, keep scrolling.
Speaker 1:You know, we're so attached to our devices we feel like we're gonna miss out on something. So often we're even attached to them because we feel like we're gonna miss on something unimportant. How often do you scroll through things? You realize, oh, I've just wasted 30 minutes or 45 minutes or an hour and there wasn't really anything there. When we spend time with God, we just set things aside so that we can focus solely on Him. You know, if you aren't really present, it's hard to hear from God. Squirrel, how many of you just checked your phone? Or my favorite new sound? Oh boy, some of you know what that is, miss Wendy, you're out there somewhere, but we're so distracted by things around us. Set them aside so that in our private time of worship, we can concentrate on the God of the universe. We can love him and adore him and hear from him. Let's do this so that we can not get distracted, because he is worthy and worthy of all of it. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:And finally, the last type of action in worship is a public worship, the assembling together to give to the Lord the glory to his name and to enjoy the joy of his promised special presence in our own life. Psalm 100,. Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Hebrews 10,. It says let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering. And then down here it says something very, very important. It says not neglecting to meeting together, as some have the habit of doing, but encourage one another.
Speaker 1:You coming to church is important. Coming to church doesn't save you. Coming to church doesn't make you holy, but it is a part to come together to encourage one another. And that's why we do it. We come together to be an encouragement, to challenge one another. Say, hey, this is what the Lord is doing in my life. Just say, hey, I'm struggling with this. Can you pray for me? Can you help me with this? We gather to collectively, join our hearts and our minds together to study God's word, to lift him up and say, lord, you are holy.
Speaker 1:There is something about coming together in worship. As we lift up the name of Jesus, as we pray together, as we sing great songs together, there's power. You know, the scriptures say that where there's two or three more gathered in his name, he is there. It's not because what scripture is not saying is not that he's only there when two or three or more are gathered, but saying there's a special presence of the Lord that is there when we're there together as the body. So let us hold fast to that together and we see again reminded I am the Lord, your God. And what does he say? We have no other gods before him. We need to set aside everything else. We're not here to worship us. We're not here to worship great technology, great band, great teaching. We're here to worship the Lord. Those are all just tools that we use and all these things are ways that we worship God publicly, by encouraging each other to rejoicing with those who rejoice, to grieve with those who grief, to combine our talents and our resources to serve and to do ministry.
Speaker 1:It's important to do that while we remember, while we do all these actions, all these great things that are a part of being the church, that we're doing them not just to do them, but we're doing them because of what God has done in us, that these actions, these wonderful actions, will be coming from our heart and soul, not just something that we do, because if it doesn't come from our heart and soul, we're doing what. We're just going through motions, we're not obeying God, we're not actually worshiping God, we're just doing stuff. And God tells us today he's reminding me, and I hope he's reminding you, that not only is he worthy, but he wants to give you a purpose. He wants you to live out your purpose in worship as we lift up his name. It's not just to have a good speaker or some good music, it's to worship the Lord, and I really want you to hear this.
Speaker 1:You so often, with good intentions, we just play church, we show up, we do our church thing, we stand here, we sit here, we maybe give some money, we sing, we listen to a message, we hey, good to see you. And then we leave and we haven't let the spirit of God transform our life. We haven't let the spirit of God flow through us as we come here, as we gather in this place. The spirit should swell up for us as we join together from our inmost being. Remember earlier in I think it was John 4, when Jesus said we're to worship in what Spirit and truth? We're to worship? In what Spirit and truth? We're in spirit and truth so we can worship, saying the truth, proclaiming the truth.
Speaker 1:But if we have not done it from our inmost being, from the depths of our soul, from our spirit, we're just going through the motions and we're missing out on God's best for our life. You know, we sang just a little bit ago Christ be magnified. Is that your heart this morning? Christ be magnified, or is it just a good song? You know, the temptation as a worship pastor, as a professional musician, is to do good professional things, musically, even worshipfully. But if my heart is not in it, if my heart, from the very depths of my soul, is not saying God, you're worthy, god, I give you praise, give you praise to the highest, give you praise, we are not doing what God has told us to do, we're not actually worshiping, and you remember back in Exodus 20? So we're not.
Speaker 1:Most of us go through this and we think, oh, I don't have a statue that I bow down to, I'm not making an idol, so okay, I'm okay there, I don't really have any other gods before us for me. But then, if we look at what we actually spend our time and resources and our excitement in life on. Does that reflect that? And the part that years ago really spoke to me is you should not take the name of the Lord, god, in vain. And what does that mean? So often we think of that and we say, oh, that's just not cussing, not just using the Lord's name in vain.
Speaker 1:But you know, so many of us, myself included, we show up every Sunday morning to church. We speak the name of Jesus, we sing the name of Jesus, we say amen to some good points. Isn't God awesome? We're invoking the name of Jesus, but if we in our own hearts and lives aren't actually meaning that church, we're using the Lord's name in vain. We're actually blaspheming the name of our holy God and doing one of the very things he said we're not supposed to do. And it's not because, well, we just got to check off a list of do's and don'ts. It's because he is worthy. He's worthy of it all. He deserves that honor and respect.
Speaker 1:And so often we go to church, we get used to just going through the motions as someone up on stage. A lot, it can be easy just to turn out the next set, do the next church thing. For those of you who serve, do ministry both here and outside the walls. It can be easy just to do those things but not do them because of what Christ has done. You know, so often we go on mission trips and we do good things but we never share why we never share the gospel. If we just go and do good things, we're just doing a service project and where there is value in that, that's not what missions is. As we do these things, remember the scriptures told us that people see us, they see what we're doing, they see who we are and they should do what.
Speaker 1:Praise the Lord, praise our Father in heaven. So as we live our life, as we live our life of worship, as we go throughout our daily life, even in the mundane chores, would you ask God to help you to worship him? That doesn't always mean that we're hands raised. Lord, I praise you for these dishes, but even in that we can be thankful. We'll be thankful that God has given us a home, place to stay, dishes, food and just as we're doing simple things in life, just thank you, lord. Thank you for what you've done. We can think about who he is and we can communicate to him when you're driving down the road, maybe don't close your eyes as you're driving. You know there's nothing scriptural about closing your eyes to pray, but you know the reason we do it we talked about it earlier is distractions. So often we close our eyes to try to not be looking around and not be distracted by other things. We can just be focusing on the Lord.
Speaker 1:So this morning maybe you have come and maybe you have realized that you've just been playing church, maybe not even intentionally. Like I said, I grew up in church. I love being in church, but I realized I was just going through the motions because it wasn't affecting my heart, my soul, it wasn't coming. My worship for the Lord was not coming from my inmost being, it was just coming from the outer shell. God wants so much more. Because he loves you, he wants to give you that joy, that hope, that peace. It's a wonderful thing to get to worship the Lord individually, as a family, and corporately as a church. I love the church gathered. There's a specialness about coming together. But if we just come together and we're not actually worshiping, we miss out on so much.
Speaker 1:So this morning, if you found yourself here being distracted, would you take a moment and just ask the Lord to speak to you. There's still time. It doesn't matter how much we have failed in the past or how much we have fallen short in the past. God says you can come to me right now. Let me help you become who I've created you to be. So would you bow your heads with me? And this morning you may be. You are here and you're realizing that you don't have that relationship with Jesus. You may have been a church attender for a long time. This may be your first time here in this building or even in a church building, but no matter where you are, the Lord is inviting you to come.
Speaker 1:The Lord is saying come to me, I love you, I care for you. I want to help you to fulfill the purpose I created you for and I want to have a relationship with you, to be able to experience the love, the joy, the peace that I can give, says the Lord. There's nothing magical that you have to do to have relationship with God. You just have to surrender. Realize who you are, that you need Jesus. We all are broken. Realize that you have brokenness in your life that you can't fix. Realize that you don't know your purpose, you're not living out your purpose, that you were created, that the Lord would work through you.
Speaker 1:And you can just say something simple like this like Lord, I need you. I love you, lord, help me to honor you with my life. I surrender my life to you. I love you, lord, help me to honor you with my life. I surrender my life to you and it's that simple. And, lord, we pray that you would work in our midst this morning, that any who do not know you in a saving way would have the opportunity to come to you, whether it's through a simple prayer or through talking to one of us that we can share and help lead them in that we pray that you would work and move. And if you prayed that prayer, we just thank the Lord that he is God and that he wants to have a relationship with you. Lord, we thank you and we praise your name in Jesus name, amen.
Speaker 1:Any who have given their life to Christ. Let's thank the Lord and praise him for that, as the band has come back up here to lead us in another song of worship. This is not just a closing song, the thing to kind of get us out the door. This is another opportunity to encounter and engage with the God of the universe. So my question to you is will you just go through some motions or will you worship? Ask the Lord to speak to you and through you, and I invite you let's stand together as we worship the Lord, heavenly Father. Speak in and through you and I invite you, let's stand together as we worship the Lord, heavenly Father. Speak in and through us. Allow us to lift your name up in Jesus' name, amen.