Pastor Frank's sermon with my additions and subtractions. ;)
In God, our cup is overflowing. (ah)
Not only has He given us life; He has given us abundant life.
Not only does He give us peace; He gives us peace that passes understanding.
Not only is He a Mighty God; He is Almighty God.
John 4:19-24-The Woman at the Well-vs. 23-"The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." v24-"God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
(I just had this thought. If God was a Mind, we'd have to worship Him in mind. If He was emotion, we'd have to worship Him in emotion. If He was a body, we'd have to worship Him in body. But He is a Spirit. Our spirit is where the Spirit of God dwells when we've been born anew. True worship happens when our spirit meets with His Spirit. It sounds like a way of life to me. It sounds like we're abiding in Him-who is the way, the truth, and the life- and He is abiding in us.) ah
TRUE WORSHIP
God is looking, right now, at this moment, for true worship. When God finds true worship, He shows up. We often quote the scripture, 'Ask and it shall be given unto you; Seek and ye shall find; Knock and the door shall be open unto you..." This verse is about us pursuing God. But what if we reversed it? What if God is knocking on the door of our church and the door of our hearts to see if we will open up our whole lives to God?
There is plenty of Show Worship and False worship around.
Selective worship-choosing what you want to hear and ignoring the rest.
?????? worship- Substance with no feeling; feeling with no substance.(Subjective worship?)
Superstitious worship-If you don't worship, you won't be blessed.
What does true worship really look like?
We worship with our spirit and with our understanding of the truth.
1)True Worship is Scriptural.
Worship deals with salvation. Many Samaritans believed in Him because He told the Samaritan woman everything she had ever done. They said, "We believe that You are the Messiah of the world." We must be saved in order to worship Him. God won't accept dialogue from your mouth that doesn't come from your heart. (I personally think that this is one of the ways we believers take the name of the Lord in vain. We can look like we are really worshiping but we can be thinking about many other things even as we sing His name.)
God is not impressed by our singing or musical talent or who we are.
God has angels singing for Him.
The Word within us forms our worship. The more we know about God, the deeper our worship of Him. If we don't know Him, we can't worship Him.
2) Worship is Spiritual.
We worship Him from our Spirit where He dwells, and with our mind where truth
is discerned.
In Gary Thomas's book-'Sacred Pathways', he describes the nine different pathways people take to relate to God through Jesus Christ.
The naturalist loves God through the out of doors.
The sensates love God through their senses.
The traditionalists love God through rituals and symbolism.
The ascetics love God in solitude and simplicity.
The activists love God through confrontation.
The caregivers love God by loving others.
The enthusiasts love God with mystery and celebration.
The contemplatives love God through adoration.
The intellectuals love God with their minds.
Taking these nine different temperaments, and add to them different personalities and likes and dislikes, no wonder God is still seeking those who will worship Him. (PF)
(I look at it this way. God has made so many different kinds of people and He loves the different ways we worship Him. I think we worship God best in spirit and truth when we worship Him on our own souls pathway(s) to God. We can jump on to another's pathway and worship Him in their way for a time, but our discomfort being there does not mean we are not spiritual or do not love God. We are just more comfortable in our own soul's pathway to God. It is the way He has made us. We are, in fact, more truthful there, and our spirit knows how to touch His Spirit with a certain intimacy that is ours and His alone.
Imagine an orchestra using it's instruments to worship God. Imagine that the activist is a trumpet and the naturalist a flute. Perhaps the sensate is a cello and the traditionalist a harp. Maybe the ascetic is an alto clarinet; the caregiver a violin; the enthusiast a drum; the contemplative a saxophone and the intellectual a piano. Imagine each person worshiping God with their own spirit, their spirit meeting with God's Spirit, and each playing their own instrument. I believe God loves that kind of worship. How beautiful for all the instruments to be playing individually and yet corporately to make sweet music to God. What a tragedy if we'd insist that only one instrument play the symphony of worship. ah)
3) God is pleased with sacrificial worship.
The woman left something at the well that had become the altar where she met Jesus. She left her water jar. She was there with her water jar at that time of day because she had issues. She had quite a few husbands and not many people wanted to socialize with her.
Jesus wants to meet you right in the midst of your issues.
We give up something every time we come to worship Him.
If we don't praise Him, the rocks will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael pointed out a verse he had just read at the beginning of the service.
He was reading Proverbs 21 since it was Feb. 21.
Prov. 21:3 says,
"To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
It made me think of this verse in Psalm 97:2-
"Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of His throne."
Oh, that the foundation of our worship around the throne be composed of His very own righteousness and justice that make up the foundation of His throne. O God, help us understand what this means! Fill us with Your righteousness and Justice so our sacrifice of worship is acceptable to You! ah
I came home from church and opened up the little book I pick up several times during any day. It's entitled 'Discipline For the Inner Life' by Bob and Michael Benson. I was in the section of adoration and the next reading described perfectly what I think is at the heart of what Pastor Frank has been preaching about these past few weeks. This does not mean that we don't praise and worship God for what He has done for us or Who He has been to us. We find that kind of worship all throughout Scripture. But this writing describes an adoration that goes beyond that kind of worship. I read it to Michael and he could hardly contain himself. Here goes:
From 'An Autobiography of Prayer' by Albert E. Day~
"...the highest adoration is not occupied
with the recollection of favors received
and mercies extended,
though they do help one be aware
of the true nature of God.
There is still,
in all such recollection,
a remnant of that self-centeredness
which it should be
the purpose of prayer to escape.
In it,
we are still thinking of God in terms
of something to be done to "me"
or for "me."
We never really adore Him,
until we arrive at the moment
when we worship Him
for what He is in Himself,
apart from any consideration
of the impact of His Divine Self-hood
upon our desires and our welfare.
Then we love Him for Himself alone.
Then we adore Him,
regardless of whether
any personal benefit
is in anticipation or not.
Then it is not what He has done for us
or what we expect Him to do for us,
but what He has been from eternity
before we existed,
and what He is now
even if we were not here to need Him,
and what He will be forever
whether that "forever" includes us or not-
it is that which captivates us
and evokes from us
the selfless offering of self in worship.
That is pure adoration.
Nothing less is worthy of the name."
Therefore, the sacrifice of worship requires us to take our
personal existence out of the equation of worship.
He is Beauty and Light; Truth and Goodness; Love and Perfection.
He has always been and always will be Who and What He is,
regardless of our existence.
We don't worship Him
so He'll show up.
We cannot orchestrate worship
in order to orchestrate His presence.
He is beyond all that.
'He isn't a tame lion.'
The truth of His existence
exalts His Spirit within mine,
and I worship Him
Who Was and Who Is
and Who Is To Come. ah
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