The Shepherd & The Sheep 3 Of 6 Series

The Shepherd & The Sheep 3

Hear God’s Voice Through Worship

You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. Exodus 25:21-22 (NKJV)

Lord Prepare me to be a sanctuary… went into that service not knowing what tomorrow would bring. Not knowing if I even wanted to face tomorrow…

But something happened during that worship. During that song… I was struck anew with mercy, peace, and love of God.

God showed me that day that He was still good no matter the extreme hardship happening in my life…

The singing of songs is actually a vehicle by which we can worship the Lord and connect with His Person, it’s a place in time when God can reveal His character to us.

We can enter into an awareness of His presence and commune with God. We can see God for who He truly is and then respond accordingly.

Worship can happen anywhere at anytime. Staring at a sunset and your heart begins to sing, singing songs of praise in the shower...

In a small group setting, hiking on a remote trail, in the quiet of our hearts as we lay in bed… worship is an encounter with God.

We often hear God’s voice best in times of worship…. God often speaks loudest and clearest to us when we are worshipping…

3 things that happen when we worship God and see how it is that by worshiping Him we can better hear His voice.

1. During Worship God Meets with us and speaks to us.

22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you Exodus 25:22 (NKJV)

Think about the two clauses there, they are both so important. God is speaking and He says, I will meet with you and speak WITH you…

Today we can meet with people, be in the same vicinity and never say a word to them… or we can speak with people while never being near them.

On the mercy seat God says I will meet with and speak with… that is my prayer for all of us, that as we worship, God will meet with us and speak to us.

That we would have a true encounter with God. God invites us to come to a place where we give him our fear, worries anxiety and stress… and in exchange we receive from Him

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Galatians 5:22 (NIV)

We come to a time of worship with fear in our hearts and we leave with Faith. We come with stress and we leave with peace.

The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:9 (NKJV)

God wants to speak WITH you… that means He wants a true dialogue.

2. During Worship We Gain Perspective

Do you want joy? Do you want to be refreshed? Do you want perspective for your life today?

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand Psalm 16:11 (NIV)

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, Acts 3:19 (NKJV)

Times of refreshing come FROM the Presence of the Lord… From the Presence of God into the Presence of our present circumstances.

When I put together our service flow, I do it with the intention of Presenting the Lord and His Character to His Sheep…

In a way you can say it’s a presentation, but not in the sense of a play or a skit but in the way of Presenting someone to someone..

In English this has a more Authoritive connotation, “Ladys and Gentlemen I Present to you The President of the USA”…

But in Spanish it has a more relational connotation, “ es un amigo migo, como se llama, me llamo es Carlos, ven y te lo present"

You see one is more of a doctrine of TRANCENDECNE would be like presenting the One and Only right?

But the doctrine of Immanence is like presenting the one that is right next to you… knowing God is by your side should change your perspective about your life

We aim to present to you the Great and powerful God of the universe, the master creator… who is also our friend…