A DISCUSSION: Fundamentals & Essentials of Worship
• There are many people that have been Christians for a long time and know all about “worship".
• There are many people that are Christians and are uncomfortable with “worship".
• There are many people that are NOT Christians and don’t have the slightest clue about “worship".
• My goal is to explore some of the fundamentals of “worship” and what it looks like INSIDE and OUTSIDE of the church.
DISCUSSION #1:
How would you define “WORSHIP”?
Before we can determine whether or not it is important, we need to determine what it is!
"Acknowledging that someone or something else is greater - worth more - and by consequence, to be obeyed, feared, and adored…Worship is the sign that in giving myself completely to someone or something, I want to be mastered by it.” --Harold Best
DISCUSSION #2:
What does “WORSHIP” look like?
• Worship of an object or relationship.
• Consumes your thoughts and actions.
• The object of our attention, topic of our speech, the outflow of our income, etc.
"Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible." --David Peterson
Book: Engaging With God
"Reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign, in response to his gracious revelation of himself, and in accordance with his will." --Dr. Dan Block
DISCUSSION #3:
WHY do we need to “WORSHIP” God?
• Worship is our testimony to the world of what the Lord has done.
• We have the opportunity to glorify the creator of the universe.
• Worship is what we were created for.
• God does not need us to worship Him in order to be validated, He gives us the opportunity to worship Him. Romans 12:1-2
• Worship is our testimony to the world of what the Lord has done.
• We have the opportunity to glorify the creator of the universe.
• Worship is what we were created for.
• God does not need us to worship Him in order to be validated, He gives us the opportunity to worship Him. Romans 12:1-2
HYPOCRISY.
• Is it hypocrisy to do things for my wife, even when I don’t feel like it? I made a commitment to my wife.
• Is it hypocrisy to do things for my wife, even when I don’t feel like it? I made a commitment to my wife.
• Is it hypocrisy to continue to sit through class, even when I feel like it? I made a commitment to my education.
• Why are we so afraid as Christians to be hypocritical by worshiping God, even when we don’t feel like it?
HOW do we need to “WORSHIP” God?
• Lift your hands.
• Use your voice. Psalm 100
• Kneel.
• Jump around.
• Lift your hands.
• Use your voice. Psalm 100
• Kneel.
• Jump around.
"Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose - and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin". --William Temple
(1881-1944) Readings in St. John’s Gospel
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