Worship That Costs

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. If you take time when you worship you can expect the Lord to show Himself.

Come, now is the time to worship

Come, now is the time to give your heart.

Come just as you are to worship

Come just as you are before your God.

III. TRUE WORSHIP WILL COST YOUR LIFE. I want to go to Romans 12, a passage that I use often, “1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do you get that? Giving yourself to Jesus is worship. How does that translate to corporate worship? I mean, that’s what we’re talking about here. Jesus said in John 4, … “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” So as we stand together and worship in song press in to God and close your eyes and in your minds eye see only Him on the throne. Give yourself totally to Him and begin to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Paul said we should pray in the Spirit and pray with understanding and sing in the spirit and sing with understanding. So worship involves praying and singing in English and in tongues.I want to take just a moment to say that some will tell you that you don’t have to pray or sing in tongues to pray or sing in the Spirit, but in the context in which Paul was speaking he was definitely making the distinction between common language and tongues. So how sould you worship? Don’t hold anything back. Give it all to Him and move just as close to Him as you can get. Take your finger and probe the nail prints in His hand. See the stripes across His back that are for your healing. See the blood stained cross on which He died. Now step into the throne room of grace where He waits for you to come and bow before.

Worship that doesn’t cost anything isn’t really worship. It’s religion. But the Bible says that we are to give something when we come to the throne of God. We give everything. I’m not going to be concerned about what others think of the way I worship. I’m going to please God! I’m going to give God all the time He wants. I’m just going to stand in His presence and bask in His glory. I’m not holding anything back. I’m giving everything that I am. Lord I don’t care about the cost.

The one thing I like about so many of the newer songs is that they are songs that we are singing directly to Jesus and not just about Jesus.

Draw me close to You, never let me go… I lay it all down again to hear you say that I’m Your friend. Help me find a way- bring me back to You.