A Sacrifice Of Praise

A SACRIFICE OF PRAISE

Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ

Hebrews 13:15

Original date March 5, 2000 Revised July 22, 2001

Story young kid mom gave him a quarter for offering Communion was passed He tried to take communion Mom said you can’t take communion Why not I paid for it.

Little Girl won $2 for memory work put it in the offering

minister’s wife said well I’m sure you’ll receive a blessing for that

girl said Yeah now maybe God will let me do something that I want to do

How often do we treat worship like it’s ours. Like we own it. Like if we pay him off we can then do what we want to do

Prayer Hebrews 13:15

1. Under the Law the only way to commune with God through worship was to offer a blood sacrifice.

But sacrifice was not necessarily worshipful

After attending church one Sunday morning, a little boy knelt at his bedside that night and prayed, "Dear God, we had a good time at church today--but I wish you had been there!"

For centuries Being a lover of God, Meant offering the right sacrifices, Worshipping God according to a certain set of guidelines, and worshipping God in the right place.

Remember the woman at the well. Jesus is trying to tell her about Living water, He points out the mistakes she has made in her life. So she tries to change the subject. My people worship over here, but your people say we have to worship in Jerusalem.

Jesus answer is that there is a time coming when people will be able to worship wherever they want, however they want, as long as they worship in Spirit and in truth.

What he was saying was that before it was possible for people to go through the motions of worship and have their heart somewhere else. Under the new covenant, Coming into worship means that our heart is pure, that our spirit is tuned into God, and that we come before him honestly.

When I was a Kid and I did something wrong my parents would always make me apologize. and there were times when I didn’t want to apologize. So I would have to say that I am sorry But I would always do it unwillingly. That was not sincere.

We want a sincere apology

God would rather hear sincere heart felt worship Rather than Routine that we feel is necessary because we are his children.

One of the great problems with Christians today, is that we act like our worship is Old Testament worship.

We think we need a building. We think the songs should be a certain way. We thing the order is laid out in scripture.

And because we get caught up in the methodology we today face the same problems that the Jews in the Old Testament faced

They would come to the altar. Participate in the sacrifice, and Leave not being Changed or Challenged

it became a liturgy that was important to them, so they could keep up appearances, but their heart was not in it. and time and time again throughout the Old Testament When the Jews lost their hunger to be with God. eventually it led to their downfall, not only politically but spiritually as well.

God Said “They worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me”

Warren Wirsbe "Most middle class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play, and to play at their worship And as a result their meanings and values are distorted, their relationships disintegrate faster than they can keep them in repair, and their lifestyle resembles a cast of characters in search of a plot."

When we do not worship truthfully wholeheartedly. the answers to our most intimate questions become blurry

2. Continually offer to God

All the time

The barriers have been torn down. You can praise God in your car on the way to work

The book of Romans tells us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices mountain, a temple, a building to worship God Don’t’ you know you are the temple of God.

We no longer need a

We talked last week about the sanctuary of God.

I mentioned Paul walking down the road to Damascus.

the key for the Christian is to continually come into the sanctuary of God. Philip lived continually in the sanctuary of God. The Spirit lead him and he went where God wanted him to go.

Worship is a Choice that we make with our lives every day

"A budget is a- theological document it indicates who or what we worship” Hewett James S.

to offer God praise continually you ought to examine how you use your

time

talents

treasure

I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, "If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me."