It's Not About Me Series

IT’S NOT ABOUT ME!

Hebrews 13.15-16

S: Worship

Th: His power, His work – in us!

Pr: POWERFULLY EXPRESS GOD’S GREATNESS!

?: How? How do we do it?

KW: Actions

TS: We will find in our study of Hebrews 13.15-16 two actions that demonstrate how we can powerfully express God’s greatness.

Type: Propositional

The ____ action is…

I. PROCLAIMING

II. DOING

PA: How is the change to be observed?

• Worship persistently every day (continual – don’t stop!)

• Give costly praise (sacrifice)

• Communicate graciously so to make sense.

• Allow God’s greatness to transform your heart.

• Prove God’s Presence by showing love.

• Demonstrate God’s goodness.

Version: ESV

RMBC 07 October 07 AM

Powerpoint available...

INTRODUCTION:

Over 4,000…

This is what I estimate to be the amount of worship services that I have gone to since I was a baby.

And if I eliminate the times that I was in the nursery, junior church, or I was teaching junior church, then I probably have listened to over 3,500 sermons.

Some of you who that have some years on me will have higher numbers.

And so I ask the question…

1. Has worship ever done you any good?

I like to think that out of all the services that I have been to, that some of them might have done me some good.

Now, I don’t know if I should ask your opinion in that, because I am afraid of what you might say about whether they did me any good.

But I will say this…

If you think I am bad now, you should have seen me before!

So, has going to worship services done you any good?

It is a good question.

There is, however, a better question…

2. More importantly, has your worship been pleasing to God?

When we consider the worship that we find in the Old Testament, there was a prescribed system that the Israelites were asked to adhere to.

It was a system whose goal was to engender heartfelt worship.

But much of the time, that was not the result.

In fact, God complains that they would come to the altar, participate in the sacrifices, but they would leave unchallenged and unchanged.

The liturgy became important to them, but it was more a matter of appearance as opposed to the heart.

And every time they went through the motions, it was evidence of spiritual immaturity…

ILL Worship (H)

It reminds me of an older sister was sitting next to her younger brother in church one Sunday morning and she was unsuccessfully trying to keep him still and quiet. Finally she said, “I wish you would calm down.”

“I can’t”, he said, “it’s just so boring.”

With that his sister turned and said, “Now shush, it’s supposed to be boring.”

Worship is not supposed to be boring.

But neither is to be entertainment.

At its core, worship is to be a deep respect for the holiness, majesty, and power of God in our midst.

When we come to worship, it is time for and about God.

So then…

3. Over and over again, I need to be reminded that worship is not about me.

It’s not about me!!!

Sometimes we may be tempted to come out of a service and say, “I didn’t get anything out of church.”

But here is the real question, “What did you give God?”

And, “How was your heart prepared to give?”

If you come away from church having scrutinized the choir, the worship team, the organist, the sound, the ushers, and the message, you miss the point of being here, or any service of worship.

We are here to give God glory, not to get some feeling and blessing.

But here is the truth that corresponds to it…

When we give God glory, that this is really what is on our heart, God will bless us in response to our worship of Him.

We will recognize His presence as we have recognized the truth about Him and ourselves.

Let’s get our worship right.

Because it is not about me and you…

It is about our Lord and Savior…

It is about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

So, we have a responsibility.

It is to…

4. POWERFULLY EXPRESS GOD’S GREATNESS!

Powerfully express God’s greatness!

We are not to offer wimpy expressions.

They are to be powerful.

We are not to say in some kind of milquetoast approach, “Oh, how great God is…” [say this blandly]

This is exciting news.

We have a great God!

We have a fantastic Savior!

We have a tremendous Lord!

We need to express this powerfully and not allow ourselves to be distracted.

But this is the very thing that has happened to us as a church.

One of the things that we have discovered in our survey is all this emphasis about worship styles and preferences has gotten us off track.