Ipraise - Living The Lifestyle Of Worship

iTruths: Life Lessons for the iPod Generation

iPraise

We move on today in our iTruths series to iPraise. As you know, we’ve been walking through a natural progression over the past five weeks in this series.

First, iKnow-we know absolute truth that comes from Christ.

Second, iLove-we love people in God’s definition of love.

Third, iTell-naturally when we love others, we want to tell others what Christ has done for us.

Fourth, iServe-we serve others because we love them

Fifth, iStand-we stand on the Word of God for its promises in our lives.

Today, iPraise. You see as we move through this progression of the life lessons, we naturally arrive at the fact that in the midst of all that God has done for us, we must praise Him. Praise Him for who He is and what He has done and continues to do for us.

As we live in tune with what God wants us for us, our praise, our worship, will be central in our lives. This is the lifestyle of worship. A lifestyle whereby everything we do is focused on worship of our King.

You see, God wants us to live lives of worship. In fact, so much so, that He promises us great rewards when we live this way. When we live in total praise of Him.

Luke 4:7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

God will honor us, protect us and reward us when we live in worship. We must understand the basic truth, this truth that is so vital in our lives with Christ. The truth of worship.

Today, I want to share four principles with you on the lifestyle of worship. This lifestyle that we must cling to in everyday life.

1. Whom Do We Worship?

2. Why Do We Worship?

3. How Do We Worship?

4. What Will Worship Do For Us?

1. Whom Do We Worship?

Psa. 29:1 Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, Give unto the LORD glory and strength. 2 Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

We worship the Lord. The only one worthy of our worship. In our culture, there are many things that people worship. There are so many things that people have placed as objects of worship in their lives. However, the Bible is clear that only God is worthy of our worship.

Ex. 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. Why Do We Worship?

Psalms 29: 3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters.

4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars,

Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.

8 The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare;

And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!” 10 The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood, And the LORD sits as King forever.

11 The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.

Why do we worship? Because the Lord is the only one who sits as King forever. He will give us strength. He will give us peace. We worship the one that can make the difference in our lives. The one in power.

3. How Do We Worship?

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

“In spirit” means:

1. True Worship Can Occur in Any Place & at Any Time!

To worship God, you don’t have to make sure you are in a certain location…facing a certain direction at a certain time…wearing certain articles of clothing…BECAUSE worshiping God is not a ritual – it is done in our spirits (in our ‘hearts’) and our spirit is not confined to a particular place or time.

2. True Worship is a Person-to-Person Experience.

Meaning, just because God the Father is a heavenly being – a spirit – doesn’t mean that we are worshiping a spiritual concept or a creed!

God is a real-life being who:

Created the World,

Created you & me,

THEN…

Came into this world,

And walked & talked with His own creation,