I am the recipient of gifted people.
Ed Lair does the bulletins every week.
Ed Rhoades finds people to do communion meditations.
We have wonderful people to donate their time and energy to come and play instruments every week.
Also everyone who pours their heart into singing specials.
Pete Spearman does soundboard every week.
Plus we have wonderful Sunday school teachers.
We also have wonderful ladies who prepare food when we have potlucks.
I feel blessed to be apart of a church that just loves God and loves people. Your attitudes aren’t a ME attitude. I went to Joplin this week for their Preaching and Teaching Convention. I heard powerful sermons that were both thought provoking and challenging.
One reason why I say that I am blessed to be here is because while at the convention there were classes we would go to such as:
1. Raising G-rated kids in an R-rated world.
2. A one year plan for preaching
3. Programming your worship ministry to grow.
4. It takes a team to build a children’s.
5. Finding harmony in church music.
While all these classes are great, that last one is the one that made me feel the most blessed. During the class discussion there were people telling horror stories of division within the church over the style of music and instruments used at their churches. I felt blessed because so far all I have noticed here are people who are supportive and encouraging to those who play instruments or sing specials.
I remember learning this while I was still in High School and going to Adrian Christian Church. There was this older man he must have been in his upper 80s or early 90s. This man would get up and sing a special and you really couldn’t understand this man and he would cough and choke his way through the whole song. I remember thinking why do they even let this man sing. I can still remember this older couple behind me say to each other, “Isn’t it great that he still wants to serve the Lord.”
Then at my last church in Indiana we had a worship band that consisted of guitars, drums, piano keyboard and even maracas and there was this young kid about 12 trying to learn the guitar and he was on stage with the band playing his heart out and messing up sometimes and I remembered what that older couple said and I thought, praise the Lord He wants to serve you.
There are people in churches everywhere that think that the service is about them or about the people in general. We get into this mentality sometimes where we think we are the AUDIENCE. But we’re not the AUDIENCE God is the audience. The service isn’t about us it’s about HIM.
This problem isn’t just a 20th century problem the Lord said thru Isaiah in Chapter 29:13 “These people draw near with words and honor me with their lip service, But their hearts are far from me.”
Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 15:8-9 and in Mark 7:6-8.
Jesus says: “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
Illustration: A man died and was in heaven with the Lord and Jesus was showing him around. Jesus said to the man “it’s Sunday on earth and your congregation is in the middle of their service would you like to see.’ The man was ecstatic and said he would love to. So God took him over to a balcony overlooking the congregation. The man could see on the page of the hymnal that they were singing his favorite song but he couldn’t hear anything so he looked to the Lord and asked if He could turn on the audio. The Lord looked at him with a sad face and said ‘we can only hear things that are from the heart.’
What is true worship? This month we are going to try and look at several different aspects of worship. Today we’re looking at how worship is more than just singing.
The minister invited the children to come forward for the children’s sermon. After they had seated themselves on the steps, he announced he was going to talk about frogs. He asked the group, "When I say ’frog’ what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?" Promptly a child answered, "GOD." Surprised, the preacher asked with obvious puzzlement, "Why do you think about God when I say "frog?" The child replied, "Because I know you didn’t bring us down here to talk about frogs."
Folks, we do not come to service to experience frogs!
One of the things I have said before and I will say again. It doesn’t matter if we’re singing hymns or choruses I am singing them to the Lord. Many times you can look at me and it doesn’t matter what we’re singing my eyes are closed and I’m focused on HIM.
I love to sing songs that I can sing as a prayer to the Lord. I don’t have to sing in key or even out loud I just need to sing to Him.
Brenna and I watch American idol together. Now one thing you need to know is it is not my favorite thing to watch. I would rather watch hunting or the most extreme animal on national geographic channel. But when I sit down to watch it I don’t do it for me. I do it for her. Why? Because I love her and enjoy being next to her. She is my best friend.
Let me read you some more scriptures on this subject.
Hebrews 13:15-16 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Eph 5:19-20 “Be filled with the Spirit, speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, sing and make music in your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your heart to God.
Jesus says to the woman at the well in John 4:19-24 “believe Me, an hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and has now come, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
A.W. Tozer said, “Worship is the missing jewel of the church.” Someone once said, “We have become a generation of people who worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship.”
CONCLUSION:
A parable is told of a community of ducks waddling off to duck church one Sunday to hear their duck preacher. After they waddled into the duck sanctuary, the service began and the duck preacher spoke eloquently of how God had given the ducks wings with which to fly.
He pounded the pulpit with his beak and said, “With these wings, there is nowhere we ducks can not go! There is no God-given task we ducks cannot accomplish! With these wings we no longer need walk through life. We can soar high in the sky!”
Shouts of “Amen!” were quacked throughout the duck congregation.
The duck preacher concluded his message by exclaiming, “With our wings we can fly through life! WE … CAN … FLY!!! More ducks quacked out loud AMENS! in response.
Every duck loved the service. In fact all the ducks that were present commented on what a wonderful, powerful message they had heard from their duck preacher … and then they left the church and waddled all the way home.
How often do we waddle to church, waddle through our worship and then waddle back out the same way we waddled in? It doesn’t have to be that way. Begin to put these principles into practice and you will begin to express genuine love for God through your worship.
