Dover Assembly of God
This is our fourth lesson in our series on Worship.
So far we have talked about the necessity of worship--How God requires us to take time to worship Him for who he is.
1 Peter 2:9 NIV
John 4:23-24 NIV
Then we talked about worshipping God through music . . .
Psalms 150:3-5 NIV
Psalms 33:1-3 NIV
The just being in God’s presence should elicit worship from us.
Remember our definition:
WORSHIP IS THE RESPONSE OF MAN WHEN HE ENCOUNTERS GOD OR GOD’S ACTIONS.
When we come into God’s house, we know He is here and that alone should put us in an attitude of worship. Regardless if we “sense” him or not.
Then we talked about worship having to cost something. Worship isn’t only music it is every part of our lives and our acts of worship should be with a cost.
2 Samuel 24:24 NIV
Romans 12:1 NIV
Now we'll look at another aspect of worship--that being our reverence and study of God’s word.
Psalms 33:1-4 NIV
Why does David tell us to sing praises and worship? Because of God’s word.
When Jesus was praying for his disciples in John 17, he says this . . .
John 17:17 NIV
And going back to one of our original verses . . .
John 4:24 NIV
When we worship, we need to know and understand God’s word.
How else could we worship if we don’t understand what God says about it.
We talked about worshiping in spirit, meaning with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
But to worship in truth demands that we have a reverence for God’s word and a desire to study it.
Each of us has a relationship with Christ because somewhere, somehow God’s word spoke to you.
You know the story of Nehemiah. He was sent back to Jerusalem after their captivity to rebuild the gates in the wall around the city.
Nehemiah 1:3-4 NIV
They get the walls completed and here’s what happened next.
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 6 NIV
When the people realized the importance of God’s word, their response was to worship God.
To them (and to us) listening to God’s word in itself is an act of worship. And when we hear it, it should also provoke an emotional response of worship.
That’s part of worshiping in spirit and in truth.
Now, we don’t worship the Bible, but the Bible should cause us to worship.
When we read of God’s truth and we read something that applies to our lives at that moment, our reaction should be one of worship.
Psalms 34:17 NIV
When we study and find some nugget of truth that lifts us up, or relieves some stress or anxiety, we should want to worship God.
Psalms 34:18 NIV
Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
When we read about how sinful we really are, and how much God has forgiven us, we should worship.
Psalms 32:1-2 NLT
Romans 3:23-26 NLT
How can we worship in truth if we don’t know what truth is?
Psalms 119:30 NIV
John 18:37 NIV
You cannot have true worship if you do not know truth.
Charismatics and Pentecostals need to be careful that we don’t let the worshiping in spirit side overwhelm the worshiping in truth side.
There is a saying:
All spirit, we blow up, all word and we dry up, but a good combination of both, we grow up.
God’s word also helps us in times when we don’t feel like worshiping.
Psalms 40:1-3 NIV
God’s word is not just about ancient history. It’s not just about how they did it then, or even how we did it 100 years ago or so.
We study it as such and learn from it, but we have to know that it’s not a dusty old history book for what happened back then.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
That means our worship today might be different in style than years ago, but it still is effective when we do it according to God’s word.
The true measuring rod for our worship should not be traditions, culture or experiences. The measuring rod for worship should always be God’s word.
It is possible to have a very exuberant emotional time of worship and for that type to go on for years.
It may have started out as a Bible based act of worship. Raising hands, shouting etc.
They do it because they know that God’s word has instances of all those.
All of that type were used in various forms of worship in the Bible. But over time, and generations, it can become a tradition. We do it because we’ve always done it. But you don’t know why you do it.
And when you do things without knowing why you do them, you have lost all meaning behind them.
That is why it is vital that each believer have a full understanding from God’s word about how, why and when we worship.
When we raise hands, we know it is an act of surrender to God. God I surrender, I’m yours.
1 Timothy 2:8 NIV
When we bow, we recognize our glorious God is compared to us.
Philippians 2:9-11 NIV
When we kneel before God, we do it because we know how great He is.
Ephesians 3:14-15 NLT
When we clap, we show our excitement about who God is and what he means to us.
Psalms 47:1-2 NIV
Here’s one: why do we sing?
Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV
2 Chronicles 5:12-14 NIV
When we truly worship in spirit (excitement, emotion and our whole being) and in truth (all done in accordance with how God said we should worship) God shows up!