Friday, February 24, 2012

Worship Works 'N' 3's Public, Personal, & Problems

Sermon Text: Hebrews 13: 15 Through Jesus, therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise –the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Definition: …the attitude and acts of reverence to a deity. The term ‘worship’ in the OT translates the Hebrew word meaning ‘to bow down, prostrate oneself,’ a posture indicating reverence and homage given to a lord, whether human or divine. The concept of worship is expressed by the term ‘serve.’

Although Israelite worship shared many of these external forms, even to calling sacrifices ‘the food of God’ (e.g., Lev. 21:6), its essence was quite different.

Context: Adopting a lifestyle of offering and sacrifice is exactly the point of Hebrews chapter 13, verses 15-16. Here, the anonymous author of this letter to a group of Hebrew believers, admonishes his readers to develop a lifestyle of offering sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God. But the admonition doesn’t end there, but rather only begins there. The epistle’s author, in these two short verses, is actually describing the kind of praise that pleases God. The writer was writing to young Christian believers who were under lots of spiritual pressure and persecution. He wanted them to understand that Jesus is the ultimate reason why we praise.
Your worship is not just your words, but its your life and what you offer/sacrifice to Christ.

Point 1: Public Psalms 150
Matt. 12:34: “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
Paul puts it in Romans 12:1. The author of Hebrews says this: “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
Public worship is also considered corporate worship. Praise begins in a grateful heart and ends with praising lips. When something good happens to you, you can’t keep it to yourself. If He’s done so much for you, it shouldn’t take much to praise Him. We should “talk the talk” AND “walk the walk”.

QUESTION:
How is your praise doing?

Point 2: Personal Hebrew 13: 15
The admonition begins in verse 15 with a command for believers to make praising God an essential component of their Christian lives. “Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God,” he says. Praising God should not just be an hour-long, Sunday activity.
Personal worship is reflected outside of the church. Don’t let it just start when you get to church. We cannot restrict it to a once-a-week exercise. Praising and worshiping God in spirit and in truth must be the most important thing we do. Worship should be an obligation and a joy. You should know that your worship is going to cost you something. If it doesn’t cost you anything, is it really a sacrifice?

Point 3: Problems Matt 15: 25 KJV
The woman came and worshiped him. Lord help me she said. Worship put the woman into the right position and the right posture to receive what God would do in her life. The devil doesn’t care about your dreams, but he is interested in your screams. Once you begin to worship, then Jesus will respond. Every now and then, you have to get Jesus’ attention. After you get His attention, you must make your case. Worship puts you into the position for God to do exactly what He intends to do in your life.

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