So…you are a pastor of a church who has just moved into a new (translated: very first) building you can “call your own.” What do you preach on when for the six of the past seven weeks you have preached on the Tabernacle, the Temple and the NT church? On Week 7 (the first in the new building) you preached on the Mission and Vision in order to stay focused. Now what? Well…the one thing I don’t want to project to the folks is that “we have arrived.” I know that there is a tendency when a goal has been accomplished to sort of lay back and relax, even to get complacent. So I took an opposite approach i.e. if I don’t want them to look back I definitely want them to look forward. So I hit on the idea of pursuing something. Since the early church “fully devoted” themselves to something I felt it was good to use Acts 2:42 as the basis for a four-part series called “In Pursuit of 2:42.”
The first one is “Apostle’s Teaching” and since I just preached on the importance of God’s Word, I went in another direction-Pursuing Worship. Learning God’s Word is a big part of our worship in so many aspects. But the biggest part of worship is 1) it must be from the heart and 2) it must filter into every part of our lives. I don’t know if you have ever taken the time to read the OT passage of Scripture that I will be leaning heavily on Sunday but I encourage you to do so. Check out Malachi 1: 6-14. See if that doesn’t rattle your cage. Talk about relevant!!!
What is worship to you? How important do you find God’s Word in making your worship (personal and corporate) come alive to you? Do you pursue worship like you should? (I hope it is a given that I mean our worship is to be of/for God). I would like to hear your thoughts.
I have asked you for your prayers before. I am not ashamed to ask you to pray for a double dose this coming Sunday. As always, I appreciate them so much. I also need to thank Dan Drewes for the banner. Fantastic!
Hi Bill!
Your blogs have been awesome this week. So excited that you are all in your building, looking forward to worshiping with you all soon. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I hope you have a very wonderful day tomorrow. You are a blessing to many people, I hope you receive many blessings!!! Thanks for all you’ve done for me through the years and for all the prayers.
Love ya.
Thanks Jan for the kind words and the birthday wishes. You are a blessing to know. 🙂
Great! Sounds like you’re headed in the right direction. Praying that double portion as you finish preparations and release the word with grace and power.
Blessings Bill!
Thanks Jason. Hoping we are. Appreciate the prayers.
Hi Bill,
Who comments on your blog site more than me? 🙂
You’d think I had nothing else to do all day except blog. My plans today are to work in the yard and get it ready for winter. I did some Bible reading and devotionals this morning.
I think what God wants is untainted worship. We may come to God with half of our heart and try to worship him. He didn’t give us half of his heart when he rescued us. The Bible says that true worshipers of God will worship in spirit and truth. I think Love has to be involved in our worship.
At a woman’s retreat I heard this. We are worshippers, that is our main objective in our relationship with God. David’s tabernacle was all about worship and honoring God. Worship is obedience to God. It’s not fitting God into our lives, but moving our lives more and more into God. Being more and more obedient. What is obedience? I think it is in the command to Love God with all your heart, and to love others as yourself. I think that Love is the catylist for everything that we do in God. Some thoughts?
Nothing to disagree with in this Linda. I have no doubt God wants untainted worship.
Hi Bill,
I was reading in 1 John this morning about the antichrist. This spirit is going to be against Christ. We need to guard our hearts in the world. We have to be vigilant to not let our hearts be enticed to let some of the old nature exalt itself. The Bible says that we are ashamed of what we did when the old nature ruled us. Why do we want to go back to it? Or preserve it?
For sure the Word is crucial to our understanding of how to worship God. From your reference to Malachi 1:6-14 we learn that God is not pleased with our manipulating to underdue our worship of God for our own personal gain. This kind of gain leads to our eventual death. Are we willing to give up the 1,000 year reign with Christ for a few paultry gains in this world? Are we willing to give up an eternal life for 70 years of comfort and lustful desires? These are things we need to think about and I believe God’s Word helps us to see the insignificance of what we treasure here in the world compared to what lies ahead with Christ.
Worship to me is any time I devote to pondering, glorifying, or praising God. Not to be confused with time spent praying for myself or others, this is the time where I cry out to the Lord with all my heart and soul my joy at being in his presence.
Scripture for me goes hand in hand with worship. One without the other seems kinda flat.
And I loved that selection from Malachi. Certainly threw the gauntlet down for me.
Good comment Kim. I too feel the Word does hand in hand with worship. Gives us a greater knowledge and appreciation of who God is. Thanks.
Bill, I just wondered if anyone has told you that when OVCF began 6 years ago, this was the exact same verse that Dave preached on the first few weeks. How cool is THAT?
I may see if I can find my old sermon notes!
Karen: No one has told me. Please don’t find them!! I may be found out! LOL
completely unrelated to the topic, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 🙂
wishin’ ya many more b-days to come! 🙂
Thanks Zee. Appreciate the thoughts
Bill,
Worship is like breath. Desperately needed, without it our hearts wither and die. Most every morning I worship while my feet hit the pavement. I would not be able to survive without worship. I can’t think of a more beautiful, perfect topic to preach while enjoying the freshness of a new building that GOd supplied for you all. Praying for you and appreciate you Bill.
Thanks Julie: Prayers are much appreciated. I wish people could understand that worship is far more than just “going to church.” It is an every day event. You are loved and appreciated also.
I just read Malachi 1:6-14. Thats pretty scarry. Especially considering we take God for granted often in this age. Worship is…aknowledging and celebrating God’s glory in a humble state of gratitude…thanks for the post.
You are so right Doug about how we take God for granted. Malachi is a pretty hard-hitting Scripture. Very “relevant” to our times. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
“It must filter into every part of our lives.”
I love that sentence. People are of the impression that ‘worship’ is merely closing our eyes in meditation and singing songs to God from our heart. It is so much more than that. Worship is a lifestyle. It is a way of life.
Great thought Jaycee. Tragically, many American Christians do think that worship is “I went or go to church.” It is a lifestyle.
True worship to me is a lifestyle (I agree with Jaycee). It is living life in a way exalts God in all aspects of life and corporate or church is just a piece of life. The Word is central to worship both personally and corporately.
As far as pursuit is concerned – I do fall short more often than not but I continue to plug away at it.
Jim: that is why I called it “pursuit.” It is a continual lifestyle that seeks worship. Thanks for coming by.