A Heart For Worship Series

Worship

The supreme activity of a Christian is worship. As Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman about a location of worship, He proclaims that God is spirit and that those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.

For worship, God is indifferent to places, nationalities, and methods. We may worship Him on a mound of dirt or in a cathedral. But we must worship Him in truth. When our body sits in a worship service but our mind is elsewhere, we are not worshiping.

*Worship is an act of the will. You can decide to worship. Enter into the songs that are sung, the prayers that are prayed, and the Scripture that is read. Offer Him spiritual sacrifices, and you will experience worship.

*A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship. . . . The very stones would praise him if the need arose and a thousand legions of angels would leap to do his will.

John 4:20-24

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth" carries one of the four descriptions of God found in the New Testament. The other three are "God is light" (1John 1:5), "God is love" (1John 4:8, 16), and "God is a consuming fire" (Heb 12:29). Jesus was endeavoring to convey to the woman that God cannot be confined to one place nor conceived of as a material being. He cannot be represented adequately by an abstract concept, which is intrinsically impersonal, nor can any idol depict his likeness since he is not material. Only "the Word become flesh" could represent him adequately.

True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don’t have to shop around for man-made substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of worship:

For 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.

God is looking for followers who will worship Him, who will have a HEART for WORSHIP.

*H: Habit (Hebrews 10:250

1. We have some who are in the habit of being here every time the doors are open

2. We have some who are in the habit of missing.

3. We must develop a habit of worshipping where ever we are, whenever we can.

a. Joseph had that habit. (Potiphars’ wife)

b. David had the habit (Ps 51 Create in me a clean heart O God)

c. Daniel had the habit.(3 times daily he prayed to God facing Jerusalem)

4. What habit are we in?

*E: Exalt Ps 99:5-9

1. To lift up

2. When we lift God up, we are engaging our spirit with His.

3. Miriam’s Song (Exodus 15:2)

4. Ps 30:1 (this word appears in the Psalms 12 times)

*A: Alert (Eph 6:13-18)

1. We are in a battle, it is a battle for our time, energy, mind, heart and soul

2. To win we must be alert, praying is part of worship.

3. Alert for teachable moments.

*R: Rejoicing

1. Ps 32:11

2. Ps. 33:1-2

3. Rejoicing in Heaven when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7-10)

*T: Truth/Thanksgiving

1. Truth in that God is who He said He is.

2. Truth that Jesus is who He said He is and that His sacrifice was for us.

3. Truth in that God will do what He says He will do

4. That God lives in the praises of His people.

5. Thanksgiving (enter His courts with Thanksgiving in our Hearts.)

3. Our rejoicing must be real.

**A fan thinks it is all about them

A follower knows it is all about GOD

GIVING IT BACK ONE MORE TIME

Years ago the Crown Prince of India gave to Queen Victoria the most precious thing he had. He was a child prince and he gave to the Queen of England, the "coroner diamond". The coroner diamond is perhaps the most famous diamond of all history. Do you know how big it was when the prince gave it to the queen? One hundred and eighty-six carats, an almost flawless diamond. Can you imagine a diamond about as big as your fist? This diamond was given to the Queen. It was put with the crown jewels in the Tower of London.

Later on when that young prince became a man, that Indian prince he went to London. He went to the tower of London and he said, "Would you please place that diamond in my hand?" They placed it in his hand. Then he said to the Queen, "Here, I want to give it back to you one more time." He said, "When I gave it to you the first time, he said I did not fully understand all that I was doing. I gave it to you with the heart and mind of a child. But, now with the heart and mind of a man I want to give it back to you one more time with a deeper fuller meaning than I had the first time."

That's what worship is: the more we know and the more we grow, we want to keep doing it all over and over again