I Will, Worship

Last week we learned about attitudes and we learned that: Our attitudes determine our success to forge our future more than any factor in life.” We learned that unity only works when individuals have made a decision to pursue it with thier whole heart. And then we finished our time together by learning what attitude killers are, and what attitude builders are. Attitude plays such an important part in our walk with God because I’ve never met a holy Christ filled christian with a poor attitude.

Never! “I have” met christians with the right attitude that says, I am a sacrificial Church member. Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2, verses 3-5: “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross.” We are to have the attitude of Christ, the sacrificial attitude that took him to death on cross.

My challenge for you last week was to work on your attitude. Why? Because the things God is going to teach us over the next few weeks will just go in one ear and out the other if you have a poor attitude. This week, I want us with the right attitude to look at worship. Now, What is worship? Worship flows from the heart in recognition and response to the magnificence of Christ, and because of an understanding of the grace found solely in the gospel.

In other words, it’s not just walking in God’s omnipresence, it’s witnessing and recognizing his presence first hand, as the presence of Christ manifests himself in our life through daily adoration and affection for him. And that kind of worship is lived tangibly in two ways. Vertical worship and horizontal worship. Vertical worship is lived out in a practical, tangible way, when we embrace the truth of the gospel and embrace the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit.

That’s upward worship. But we’re never called to do this alone. So we have the second part of tangible worship and it’s the horizontal worship. Horizontal worship responds to the majesty of God or vertical worship, through Christ presences manifesting himself in me as we experience with other believers as well. That means we collectively come together to be the body of Christ. This is what we call corporate worship. Or in other words, we call this going to church.

I want to dive into that vein for a moment. What does church look like? Well, lets open our bibles up and can I have at least two people read, using two different versions of Acts chapter 2: verses 46-47. ( Read ) Would you say, that’s going to church! What do we see in this Scripture about worship and the church body? Well first, we need to realize that they were devoted to this practice.

Think about it, We devote ourselves too a lot of things. We devote ourselves to our jobs. We devote ourselves to professional sports teams. My friend has a room filled with steeler things. There s dentist in town that has a room filled with steeler things, and not only that they drive around a steelers pickup. We’re devoted in relationships. We hear things like, he is a devoted Father, or she’s a devoted Mother.

What does devoted truly mean? Well, the dictionary says that devoted means they someone is “very” loving and loyal. It means these early christians were consistently faithful, and steadfast in being together. So these early christians devoted themselves into what they were practicing. They didn’t gather to just check off the box for some legalistic faith for a distant tyrant God. No, listen, this devotion was an attitude of unity. Remember, what I said last week, Unity only works when individuals have made a decision to pursue it with their whole heart.

I can’t make you come here. I can’t make you have joy to be here. My prayer is that you will desire to be here. Not just because the door is open. Not because this is where you’ve been coming for years. But because your gather with others and worshiping God together in unity with those who are here. So, what is my responsibility as a worshipper? Well, it’s realizing that God is inviting us daily to enjoy him.

I think about Isaiah in chapter 61 where he says, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ISAIAH 61:10 (NIV) My responsibility is to daily enjoy God. God loves you and he wants to enjoy you just as much as we should want to enjoy him.

That’s why Romans chapter 12 is such an amazing Scripture and I like to read it from the message translation, because it really helps me understand how my life is to be in constant worship. So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. I was chewing on those last words yesterday morning…

“God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” If God is bringing the best out of me, I get the privilege of giving the best back to God, in praise. It’s like, As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” Jesus tells us, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” But, I’m not apart from Jesus. I’m abiding in Christ!

By faith, through grace, I abide… in Him. John 15:5 says “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” What is the first fruits that I bear in a life in union with Christ? It’s my praise, it’s my thanksgiving, its our Christ centered adoration for the Father. Jesus prays for us to be one with him and the Father, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” We worship God by enjoying him with our whole hearts, soul, mind and strength. C. S. Lewis said, “In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him.” God wants our worship to be motivated by love, thanksgiving, and delight, not duty. Did you know you can brush you teeth in an act of worship.

You can wash dishes as an act of worship. You can blow your nose in an act of worship… it’s true.. Im telling you, you’ll never blow your nose again once you learn to worship…..think about it. Every time you blow your nose, it’s a mini shofar horn. You can love your wife or you can love your husband as an act of worship. Think about that for a moment… how different would our marriages be, or let’s just say this for those who are not married.

How different would our marriages be and our relationships with others be, if every interaction we had with one another we did so as an act of worship to God. What if serving, and loving, and being forgiving, being helpful, having self control, and self sacrifice were ways we worship God while we act towards others. Christians everyday are missing opportunities to worship in their everyday life. Worship is a lifestyle of God bringing the best out of us, and maturing us into the likeness of Christ, so that everything we do, and everything we say brings glory to the Father.

Worship is far more than praising, singing, and praying to God. Worship is a lifestyle of enjoying God, loving him, and giving ourselves to be used for his purposes. Because when you use your life for God’s glory, everything you do becomes an act of worship. And the beauty about this truth is, that God strengthens us these moments of worship. Isaiah 40:31 says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (NIV). How many times have you gotten up and said, man I'm too tired for church? I don’t feel like going to church today. But then, when you did come and worshipped with others, You find yourself energized. Have you ever seen the movie Rocky? As a pastor, sometimes I think of myself like the coach in the boxing movie Rocky.

Rocky is out there in the fight, and he’s pouring his heart out and just getting beat to a pulp. The bell rings and he goes, “Thank God.” He comes to the corner, and the coach says, “You’re doing a good job.” The coach throws some water on him, pats him on the back, and says, “Now get back out there.” Sometimes I feel like that’s what I’m doing on Sunday for the church.

I’m telling people, “You’re doing a good job. Now get back out there. You can do this!” But that’s not me renewing people’s strength. It’s the Word of God. It’s songs of praise we sing with our hearts and praying together and worshiping together with other believers that renews us. These means of worship brings us hope. The Bible says in Psalm 73:16-17, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; We gain spiritual strength when we gather together to worship God.

It should be fun to come to church. You and I and other people should enjoy being here. I told Alicia last week, “Man today was so amazing. We prayed, worshipped, proclaimed God’s word, and then not one person bolted for the door at the end. We sat around the table and ate with one another and shared life with one another.” That was, "back to the roots”, first century church being lived out in the 21st century.

And there was something we shared that we can see in the life of the early church… If we go back to acts chapter 2, after being devoted to one another, the second thing we witness with the early christians, was that they had deeply rooted with joy. You see, when we rightly enjoy God, we can rightly enjoy being with one another. This is why Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Deeply rooted worship is us enjoying God while also enjoying being in the presence of others that God brings into our life.

So how can we make corporate worship more meaningful? Well, first, have the attitude of, I will attend worship. It’s actually that simple. It’s amazing how when we make worship a priority we’ll realize how much others will become a part of our family. And let us remember this, anything and everything will always be an excuse not to attend. I have a headache, I didn’t sleep well last night, I wasn’t feeling well.

I can tell you how many times I’ve gone to work not feeling well, or when I didnt get a lot of sleep, or some other issue. Why is my devotion to going to work, out weigh my devotion for coming to church? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to work with headaches, or being sick, or made no excuse to be there. We do that because we know we chant live the life we want without getting paid.

What if we took that principle and realized that we’re missing out on spiritual life? Many people are coming to church whenever they feel like it and wondering why their with is lacking. Make it a priority. I challenge you to see what happens when you make church worship a priority. See what happens when you make a firm commitment to be in church and watch what God does to your heart when you actually pursue to love him, and you actually pursue to love others.

Secondly, have the attitude of, I will pray before I attend worship service. Sometimes I will pray when I go to bed. Lord, I hope we together worship you rightly. Pray as you drive into church, “Lord, I pray that we sense your presence. Don’t let us gather and not meet you in some way.” Right? If you went to Hershey chocolate world and they didnt have chocolate would you go back?

I mean the whole point of going to Hershey chocolate world is to eat chocolate. Why would we even think about showing up to church without praying in your heart and asking and yearning for God’s presence to fill this room and people witnessing the manifest presence of God. Thirdly, I will pray as I enter the sanctuary. I want to pray for my own heart and attitude as I come to join with other people.

I’m gonna pray for others, and engage with others. When I hear a brother or sister say, Pray for me… I wont say, I will pray for you, but rather I will respond with, let’s pray now. I yearn to see prayer all over the sanctuary when I walk in. I’d love to show up to church and see pockets of people praying for one another, praying for the service, praying for our church and community.

This is supposed to be a house of prayer. Pray for the distractions to be removed. What’s distracting me from praying and being in worship. Dr. Manly said, how different would church be if the people would pray the Scripture as they sat at the feet of the pastor, hanging on to every word that God has laid on their heart. And lastly, I will pray that I will be a worshipper instead of a judge.

Too many times we leave corporate worship as if we just judged an olympic sport. The pastor went over, and he spoke about a sin that I am dealing with. So he gets a 4. The worship was ok, they sung well, but I was hoping for this song instead of that one. They get a 7. We look around the room and we see kids and other people checked out and on their cell phones, so we give them a 3, especially those people over there because they didn’t shake my hand before service.

Oh, and those people get a 1 because they sat in my seat. When we come in here with judgmental perceptions of worship, we’re not worshipping God. Instead we’re seeking church to be a place of entertainment. And entertainment is only designed to make me feel good. Not change my heart. That’s our challenge this week. Realize that we are a family. It’s time to ask God to get our hearts right so we desire to rightly worship him in this place.

It’s time to urge one another to make priority in coming and worshipping with us. Will you join me in this? Will you join me in changing from: I could or I might or I can or I should Would you change your attitude today, to, “I will” be a person of worship? *

Courage of New Birth

We’re in our third week of Advent and this week we’re looking at Christmas Courage through the eyes Mary, the mother of Jesus. Our story is found in the book of Luke chapter one. So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 1 and as you’re finding your place, just listen on in as I give some context. Mary’s story begins 6 months after the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth with the conception of John the Baptist.

So Elizabeth is about 6 months pregnant with little John. And in Mary’s story, the Angel Gabriel was sent by God, just Like Zechariah’s story to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to meet with Mary. What’s interesting about this visit is that it’s not like a dream, like the one her soon to be husband Joseph had, nor was it like a vision, like many of biblical accounts we read in the Bible were like.

This was believed to be a forthright conversation as if the angel was standing before Mary and speaking to her as if I am speaking to you. Then the angel in verse 28 came in and said something pretty amazing… he gave her a compliment. This is where I want to begin reading together with you.. look with me in verse 28… “28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman!

The Lord is with you.”29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.” What a greeting… Greetings favored woman, the Lord is with you. I Love what the message version says about this verse, the Message paraphrase version says, “Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you.” Now, that’s a compliment!

I dunno about you, but it’s special to hear from someone, I see God in you… or I see Jesus in you. And because I see Jesus in you, You’re beautiful inside and out. It Reminded me of Romans where Paul writes, “Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” But did you notice how Mary reacts to the angels greeting?… in verse 29 she reacts by being deeply troubled and wondering what kind of greeting this could be.

She’s confused! And why not? At this moment, Mary still had no idea what was in store for her as the angel approaches her and tells her that she’s favored and that the Lord is with her. At this moment…Mary probably realized, on some level that most individuals in previous Bible stories, who are highly favored by God, usually means God is going to call them out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary.

Think about it….every time God told someone in the OT that, "the Lord was with them," those people were used by God to be a part of an amazing, faithful journey, but a lot of times that amazing faithful journey also meant amazingly hard trials that sometimes brings with it doubt and hardships. Faith many times is learning to listen even when we’re confused. We don’t always know what God is up to.

That’s the beautiful side of confusion. Being confused is a humbling part of our life. It reveals we don’t have all the answers and we don’t have everything figured out. There are still problems in my life, that I’m unsure of what God has planned. And that is a good thing. God puts us into places where we are confused to show us that we aren’t God. God tells Isaiah: ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord.

‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts’” We don’t know what God is up to… Most times… when it comes walking with the Lord. He just nudge us.. he will give us some sort of glimpse at where he’s wanting us to go… and we walk in the direction he points us by faith. John piper once said, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been worried about one thing, and totally missed another area of my life that I should have been paying attention to.

There are things God was doing that I had no clue was happening. I think Mary thought of all these things and like Jospeh, she decided to stay in the conversation with the angel. Because when confusion settles in, We learn that many times confusion is the seedbed of faithfulness. We’ve got to be reminded that there is no faith where there is no astonishment, no turmoil and no uncertainty. Confusion often leads, to having questions..

What was Marys response to her confusion… Let’s read on… beginning in verse 30 30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” Her confusion turned into questioning. Is it ok to ask God questions? Absolutely. Questioning leads to what? Questioning leads to seeking. Questioning means we’re staying in the conversation. Isn’t questioning how your faith began? I dunno about you but when I started having dreams that was leading me towards Christ…

I began asking questions. I had questions that I didn’t know answers to. I went to the boy in high school that was known for his faith in Jesus and I began asking him questions. I went to church with that girl and I began asking questions. Questions lead me to ask one of the greatest questions of my life… Is Jesus who he says he is? Is he truly the way the truth and the life.

Will I believe by faith that Jesus was and is everything he had said he was? I didn’t know… and to be honest, even when I was led to the altar as a young college kid, I still didn’t know what I was doing.. All I knew was, I was not living a life that saw Christ as the pinnacle of my life. I wasn’t… and when I first believed I didn’t have any of the answers I needed…

honestly, I had more questions than anything else and guess what…. that’s faith! Walking with God is walking and asking some tough questions. I’ve asked God what does he want with my life, I’ve asked God how He can love the most disgusting sinful person and forgive them. I asked hard questions.. I came to Him boldly, but with humility, and I learned that God wants dialogue with us. He started speaking to me through his word and prayer and the Bible and by spending time with him, and that time became intimate, and as I began sensing his presence, I became like a moth in the night seeking light.

I learned that as I sought questions and stayed in the conversation with him, he sought relationship with me. And I find that as I grew in this relationship with God, my curiosity didn’t dwindle, My confusion was still there about things I didn’t understand, but as I got older Spiritually, I found more joy in our conversation with God than just asking him questions. Honestly, confusion turned questioning into trusting.

I’ve found that my curiosity turned the conversation more into generosity. the more I spend time with the Lord, in reading and writing, and preaching, and teaching, and worshipping and praying, and all the things he calls us into when it comes to discipleship. I find God becomes more generous with grace and I become more thirsty for his goodness. I delight in Him. And that comes through asking questions and meaningful relationship.

Mary asked questions, she asked how… and the angels response was amazing. Let’s continue to read starting in verse 35. 35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless.

37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” Mary was confused, she asked questions and then the angel gave her three things.. He said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the most high will overshadow you and because of those two things… The child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God. What did the angel give her… he gave her a promise.

And then he proves that God is faithful by pointing her to her aunt Elizabeth as the evidence of God’s power to fulfill what Gabriel is saying he’ll do. And before Mary could ask any more question… Gabriel Caps the conversation with this… 37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.” What if I told you that every time we worship. Every time, we praise, every time we say thank you because we’re redeemed children of God, we, are returning God’s word and promise back to him and we are showing in our right worship, that God is faithful and true.

Let me show you, turn with me to Isaiahs 9:6.. Isaiah 9:6.. ready? For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The promise of the Messiah right? Now turn with me to Isaiah 55:11 Isaiah 55:11… ready? “It is the same with my word.

I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Now what does that mean.. that means, When God speaks, something happens. God can come into nothing, speak something and get anything. That’s the power of God. And When God says, let there be light, there is light. When God says, let the waters part, the waters part.

When God says, your womb will open and let the virgin conceive, babies are born. When God says, let the word from my mouth go out, I assure you it will never return to Him void. Whatever God says, will happen. Do you know what the context and the heading of this chapter in Isaiah 55 is about? Chapter 55 in Isaiah is all about about coming to the Lord. And giving ourselves to the Lord.

It’s a relationship. He calls us to come… he’s wooing us to come… Now watch this… Let’s go back to Luke’s gospel to the Story of Mary and look with me in verse 35… This is Gabriel giving Mary God’s word, right? Let’s remember, this message is from God. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the most high will overshadow you. The child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.

God’s promise is being fulfilled… God’s word that a messiah to come is being fulfilled and it doesn’t stop there.. remember last week I said, I believe that since Joseph was a righteous and compassionate man who loved God… I believe that he would have taught that to Jesus as well. And I also believed that when Mary listened to the angel say, 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” I believe she would have remembered that phrase for the rest of her life.

I asked Alicia, do you remember 15 years ago when you were pregnant with Gabriel. Like, do you still remember how it felt to be with child for the first time. Do you remember the 30+ hours of labor. And she was like… Duh.. I was there. I was like, That is forever cemented into your heart isn’t it. I believe Mary would have been the same. The last words given to Mary from God through the angel was this..

7 For nothing will be impossible with God.” Where do we hear those words being echoed? It’s in the book of Luke chapter 18 verse 27. Jesus says: “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” What is the context? Jesus just got done talking to the rich young ruler who wanted to know how to inherit the kingdom, and Jesus saying in verse 25: 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Those who heard this message were like, then who can be saved? And Jesus goes, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” He was echoing his mothers encounter with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is telling them…You can’t save yourself… you can’t do it, its impossible… but God can. Paul would go on to say, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…” Are you seeing this?

The birth of Christ in Mary is the same birth of Christ in us. The Holy Spirit will come upon you Mary. That’s what we would call prevention grace. Prevenient grace is the work of the Holy Spirit drawing us to God. The Spirit is upon you. The power of the most high will overshadow you. Overshadowing means: the spiritual reality of His Presence focused upon that object experiences the full effects of His purposes.

What is the purpose? We could say that the initial purpose is for the Holy Spirit to live within us, not out of us. The Spirit gives us life and faith in Christ. and because of these two things… The child to be born will be born in you. Jesus says in John 3: 3“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It’s impossible unless there’s a birth.

John 1:13 says: 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. It’s impossible to man, but possible to God. Remember, Paul to the Galatians? “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…” Galatians 4:19 (NIV) You and I are a part of the Christmas story..

and I don’t know about you.. but that makes me realize that Christmas just got a lot more special and meaningful. That’s good news.. no wonder today is focused on Joy! We’re celebrating the birth of Christ in us! Every Christmas we celebrate Because of the birth of Christ in Mary, I can be reminded of the birth of Christ in me and I can say like Mary Said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Did you catch that…

according to your word. What did God say to Isaiah in 55:11… ready? “It is the same with my word. I send it out (I make nothing out of something, I make the impossible possible), and it always produces fruit (That’s Mary and that’s us, with the Holy Spirit in us we participating in God’s promises.) It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” Our praise this morning…

is taking God’s word 700 years before the birth of Christ, and proving it to be true 2700+ years later. By being here, by opening our hearts in worship… we are praising and worshiping through God’s word, as living examples of his faithfulness. And get this… you’re life is living testimony of the Bethlehem birth. What we have in common with Mary is that you and I, by faith, get to carry Christ in us too.

My Bethlehem happened in December of 2002…. But my willingness to say to God, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” That day never came till 2010. And sadly, many christians who’s eyes have been open to the grace of God never realize that until later in life. You see, I wasn’t prepared like Mary was to hear from God and walk in trusting faith.

I couldn’t wrap my head around, what Jesus says, “with man it is impossible.” Trusting faith comes by the means of relationship. Our faithful life is every day to be a proof that God works impossibilities; our faithful life is to be a series of impossibilities made possible and actual by Gods almighty power. You ever wonder why sanctification is such an important part of our walk, and why we put so much emphasis on holiness as Nazarenes?

Because without being sanctified we will never say to Jesus, “Behold, I am the servant of my Lord; let it be to me according to your word,.” That’s why I believe Mary had courage… she had the courage to surrender and to submit to the will of God. Benediction Be people of joy. Let joy live in your heart and share the joy of Christ with all you meet. Share joy by seeing the good in each other.

Share joy by remembering good times and hoping for good times to come. Share joy by praying for our world. In this Advent season, we need to see, feel, and share joy. As you go out into the wonder of God’s creations, share joy, peace, and hope with those you meet. Amen.*