God Has Done Great Things Series

Why do I worship – Because God Has Done Great Things

Question:

What makes you sing? A familiar song on the radio?

What makes you dance? A beat or rhythm with music that makes you want to move?

What makes you smile? A baby’s gurgling glance? A sunset that takes your breath away?

What makes your mouth water? An aroma of a freshly baked pie?

What makes you worship God?

Today’s answer to this question will deal with the “Great things” God has done on our behalf.

Most of us can probably describe something that we credit God for doing for us.

Occasionally we will do a service that deals with giving thanks and will ask folks to recall and describe the things God has done for them. In fact, this week in our Wednesday prayer meeting, we had an incredibly joyous time of praise because we had several reports of God’s wonderful and miraculous provision. We will hear some of those praises later today.

The Hebrew Name for God that describes this facet of His nature is Jehovah Jirah. – “God who Provides.”

There are many other Hebrew names for God:

Jehovah-Rohi The Lord my Shepherd

Jehovah-Rophe The Lord our Healer

Jehovah-Tsidkenu The Lord our Righteousness

Jehovah-M’ Kaddesh Lord our Sanctifier

Jehovah-Shammah The Lord is There

Jehovah-Shalom The Lord our Peace

Jehovah-Nissi The Lord our Banner

Jehovah-Yaway The Self Existent, Self sufficient, immutable One

Each of these names describes a specific revelation of God’s nature that has been given to His people.

And do you remember what worship is? It is the response of all I am to the revelation of who God is.

So core to the act of worship is the revelation of God.

Without the revelation of God, our worship would be pretty weak and self-oriented.

There are two kinds of “revelation:”

RHEMA and LOGOS –

Logos is the written revelation, the knowledge ABOUT God that we find written in the word of the bible or that we can ascertain from looking at creation and the universe around us.

It is not personal but it is factual.

It deals with the mind’s ability to comprehend it.

Rhema is personal revelation. It is the knowledge OF God that comes from personal interaction with the Spirit of God.

It is what happens when you open your bible and words jump off the page at you and mean something personally to you.

It is what happens when you experience a series of coincidences and come to the realization that maybe God is speaking to you.

In fact, if you think about it, the reason worship may be lacking in a church or in an individual’s life may be that there has been little interaction and RHEMA revelation between God and that person or congregation.

You may not be able to experience RHEMA if you aren’t in the LOGOS.

That is, to hear the voice of God you have to read His Word.

His voice isn’t going to come out of left field.

You must seek God with all your heart, diligently.

Why do I mention this? Because as I just mentioned, worship is a RESPONSE to the REVELATION of God.

No revelation…no response!

Has God has done great things?

God deserves our worship not because of what He has done for us, but for who He is.

What He does reflects and reveals who He is!

T hat is why experiencing and watching what He does is so important.

We will worship God when we encounter the revelation of God.

This morning I want to take you through what it means to worship God out of a response to what He has done in your life.

Some of you know that Jennifer, Kristina and I were in a serious car accident last Sunday evening on our way home from church. Our accident was just one of three that members of our congregation were in last weekend.

Our accident occurred when a woman who had been drinking, turned in front of us as we were going down Rt. 84. We barely had time to hit our brakes and found ourselves in a smoking, steaming heap of metal. Fortunately we were able to get out of the vehicle and wait for the rescue squad.

Our injuries were not serious, although Jennifer was heavily bruised and the car is totaled.

Now I wish I could honestly say that I praised God in the hour that followed the accident.

But I was deeply shaken, angry with the other driver, and worried about my family. Prayer didn’t even come out of my lips until we got to the hospital.

(that is why Christians are needed at accident scenes…to do what the victim isn’t able to do)

In the hours that followed, thanksgiving and gratitude to God began to flow,