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My Worship Can Change The World! Series
Contributed by James Kirkland on Oct 25, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: We can change the world in which we live by the way we worship, but we must first define worship.
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I must first admit that I did barrow the titles of each of my sermons.
My Worship can change the world!
If a man commands his dog to “Fly!” the dog doesn’t stand much of a chance of obeying him. And it won’t help if the man first tells his dog, “Be a parakeet!”
The dog does not have the capacity to obey either command. But if the man says to his parakeet, “Fly!” the parakeet won’t have much trouble taking flight.
When Paul tells us to “Be transformed!” he’s not talking to a dog without wings. He’s talking to people who are hard-wired for transformation. (Romans 12:2)
He’s not telling us to do something we’re not capable of doing. We may need some practice flapping our wings, and we may run into a few walls.
We may even fear leaving our cage. But we do have the ability it takes to live a transformed life.
We are told to worship our God; do we have the ability to do that? With God’s help “All things are possible.”
Do we even know how to worship? Do we really know what real worship is?
Worship - showing respect and love for God. It is the activity of showing respect and love for God, for example by singing or praying.
To study the subject is a form of respect and worship. To tell others about our Lord is to show respect and praise. How we describe or inform others about Him could be worshipping to Him.
I say could be as you could be talking negatively about Him or His servant and His church.
Can we worship something other than God? Yes, we can put many things on a pedestal to hold up and exalt between God and ourselves.
When you see “god” with a small “g” in the bible, you are hearing about OTHER gods. If the bible says their other gods, then we know they are out there. They can be in our lives.
That’s why the very first commandment says:
Exodus 20:3-6 (NLT) 3 “You must not have any other god but me.4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
Our worship comes with many faces, as David writes in the Psalms of his worship to God and he praises Him for all that He has done and the love and mercy bestowed on us. That was worship that changed his world.
Job writes of the never-ending patience that God has given him; that is worship. As Steven is being stoned, he sees the glory of God come upon him; that is worship, martyred for the Lord is worship.
Each one is showing love, respect and obedience to the Lord. That worship changed their world.
Worship is not just singing; it is actions, it is obedience; it is respecting what God has told us to do. Stewardship is worship. Your service to the Lord and His church is worship.
Support what we say, say what we believe and live it . . . ! That worship will change the world.
To support your church, God’s church financially, physically and spiritually, that is worship. That worship will change your world.
We need to make life easier for others by showing them the same mercy Christ has shown us.
“The King’s Highway” Once a king had a great highway built for the members of his kingdom. After it was completed, but before it was opened to the public, the king decided to have a contest. He invited as many as desired to participate.
Their challenge was to see who could travel the highway the best. On the day of the contest the people came. Some of them had fine chariots; some had fine clothing, fine hairdos, or great food. Some young men came in their track clothes and ran along the highway. People traveled the highway all day, but each one, when he arrived at the end, complained to the king that there was a large pile of rocks and debris left on the road at one spot and this got in their way and hindered their travel. At the end of the day, a lone traveler crossed the finish line warily and walked over to the king. He was tired and dirty, but he addressed the king with great respect and handed him a bag of gold, he explained, “I stopped along the way to clear a pile of rocks and debris that was blocking the road. This bag of gold was under it all.