Saturday, 7 March 2015

Saturday March 7, 2015

Read Psalm 113


Upside down worship. Back to front worship. That’s how we often think about out worship services. We can fall into the trap of thinking that our church services are about me and my needs. We can go to church with a consumer mentality, shopping for our own needs to be met. Churches that fail to meet my needs or make me happy or entertain me are struck off the list. This is upside down, back to front worship.

Psalm 113 gives a great corrective on true worship. Worship is about praising the Lord and living for Him. Worship is God directed and focussed. It is not about me and my needs.

Tomorrow we will sing praises to the Lord as the Psalmist did hundreds of years ago. But I must give my entire life to the Lord if my singing and praise is to be an acceptable form of worship. Consider the following example and you’ll see what I mean. Jonah spends the week boasting about his new car, dragging others in illegal street meets and spends 95% of his weekly income on his car. Then on Sondays he stands before the Lord and in accord with Psalm 113, sings his hallelujahs to the Lord. Is this an acceptable form of worship to the Lord?

As a Christian, a follower of Jesus, I live to praise Him in word and in deed. I live to bring glory to my God in word and in deed. I exist not to be ministered to, to be served or to be fallen over but to serve the Lord my God. I exist to bring praise to Him by serving others and by ministering to them. My time, my talents and my treasures belong to the Lord, not to me. I am but a steward of the things He’s given and entrusted to me. One day, He’ll call me to account for my stewardship.

Tomorrow we will gather to “worship” the Lord but it’s not the start of our worship. It’s the culmination of a week of worship where we have given to God our entire lives in worship. Tomorrow we will have an opportunity to sing praise to God. Let it come forth from the heart. We’ll have opportunity to praise and adore God. Let it flow from your core. We’ll have an opportunity to be obedient to the Word. Let it be written on your heart. We’ll have an opportunity to give. Let it be a heartfelt response to the love of God. 

Worship doesn’t begin on Sonday morning, nor does it end when we walk out the doors. Sonday “worship” is the culmination, the highpoint of giving our lives to Jesus every second of every day. When you break for morning tea tomorrow, worship will continue. When you get home from church worship will continue. When you get ready for the week ahead worship will continue. When you start the new week worship will continue.

Our Sonday worship meeting should encourage and motivate us to continue to worship God with our entire life. Our gathering should push us to be righteous and holy and God pleasing throughout the rest of the week. Our worship is a foretaste of heaven and should be motivating and driving all that we do.

Prayer:
Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:
· Pray that tomorrows service would be a great blessing to each person who comes along and that the Word would be powerfully and effectively preached. Pray that God’s Spirit would bring a deep sense of conviction upon us all - even so that non believers or the half committed would bow the knee and confess Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. 
· Pray that our brothers and sisters in other countries where persecution is real would be protected and that they would be brave /courageous to stand, to proclaim the gospel and to worship Jesus without fear or failure.  
 Discussion & Reflection

1. How can you prepare yourself for Sonday worship?
2. How do we combat the 1 hour church mentality that believes that church should only go for 1 hour, no more and no less?
3. What would your reaction be if church were to go from 9am to 9pm one particular Sonday?

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