Blessed by Worship tonight
Worship
is to be a VITAL part of our Christian life
A) God loves it when His
people worship!
B) Many encouragements in
the Word to worship!
Psalm
111:1-3
Praise the LORD!
I will praise the LORD with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
His work is honorable and
glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.
Psalm
30:4
Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Psalm 63:3
Because Your lovingkindness is better
than life,
My lips shall
praise You.
John 4 Woman at the well
Hung up on where to worship, here or Jerusalem
John 4:23-24
But 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. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth."
A) There Jesus revealed that
the place isnt really the issue but it is Who you are worshipping, the
Father
B) And How In Spirit
Sincerity and truth according to the Scriptures
1) We come to God thru
Christ !
C) So Who is the most
important How is also important
1) But so is the When when
do we worship
Exodus 14:1-3
Now the LORD
spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn
and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon;
you shall camp before it by the sea.
God leads Israel into this
boxed in Situation
A) Here comes Pharaoh
10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.
11 Then they
said to Moses, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us
away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up
out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, 'Let
us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."
Complaining,
ready to Kill Moses Stand still, see the Salvation of the Lord
A) God parts the waters
they march thru Pharoah and Egypt are destroyed
B) Ch.15 They break into
this glorious time of Praise
1) It was right for them to
do that
C) But you know what would
have been better if they had praised God when they were boxed in
1) Praised Him on the other
side { Hard to do
That
is what we see in 2 Chron 20 turn there
A) 3rd week in
our series Getting Vertical Worship plays a huge part in that process see
tonight
B) Scene 3 nations Moab/ Ammon
/ Edom are coming against Judah
1) King Jehoshaphat gets the
word coming Freaked Heart full of fear
C) Normal afraid But he
doesnt stay there
Verse
3 He set his heart to seek the Lord !
A) V.4-7 He offers up this
prayer that Focuses on Who God is that He is mighty / faithful / God who
keeps His promises
Verse 12 Gem
12 O our God,
will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that
is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."
B) Great
prayer- Great heart that is the heart God is
looking for in us
C) Powerful when Gods pp
confess their inability
D) God, I dont have any
power
God I cant do this
.. Eyes are on You.
God
responds, sends a Prophet with a great word
A) Dont be afraid or
dismayed - the battle is not yours but is the Lords
B) Position yourselves to
see the salvation of God He was going to work!
C) They were blown away
encouraged worshipped the Lord because of the word
1) We are going to pick up
the story the next day!
D) Learn some insights about
worship
20 So they rose
early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they
went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you
inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be
established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper."
Now it almost seems here
that Jeh. sensed some reservation from the people
in the morning night to sleep on it fear creeping back
21 And when he
had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD,
and who should praise the beauty of holiness, NIV the splendor of His holiness as
they went out before the army and were saying:
"Praise
the LORD, For His mercy endures forever."
Note 4 things we
learn from this story about how worship works in our lives.
#1 It
dethrones our flesh.
Not going to be ruled by my
emotions my fear
A) Self is taken off the
throne - Believe and be established in
my spirit
B) It is
declaring in our Hearts that He is the CENTER OF ATTENTION
C) Now
if You Think about it /the very act of Worship Announces the Abscense of Self
Absorbtion & Self Centeredness
D)) In
Worship we are Preoccupied w/ God there is no other No one else in the room
2) All that
Matters is Him !!!!!!
#2
Declares my Faith! -
A) Note this is huge they
are worshipping before they saw God work Praising before the Victory
B) Easy to praise God
after the victory after the prayer is answered after the healing miracle
1) But what about in the Jam
C) Declaring God I am
trusting you.
Consider a few of the words
for worship in the Bible.
1st
Word is Halell - which is the most common word for praise found in the Bible -
99 times in O.T. & in 1/3 of the Psalms
A) Halell is the
root of the word Hallelujah which literally means to praise the Lord.
B) Halell means to shout /
to celebrate / to rave / to boast / & to sing loudly !
1) It is a word that speaks of
a radical outward expression of worship- a real letting go - and worshipping
the Lord.
2nd word is Yadah means to throw out the hands:
It is used in 2 Chron. 20:21 and in several of the Psalms
A) The idea with this word is to throw out the hands to
touch the throne of God!
B) It speaks of a thankful expression of worship
3rd
word Towdah also involves the hands - Towdah means to lift our hands - it is
the most common word for thanks in Israel today.
A) It speaks of lifting the hands in thanks for what God is going to do!
B) The outward
lifting of the hands speaks of the inward lifting of the heart.
1)
Lam. 3:41 declares let
us lift our heart with our hands
C) Yadah speaks
of giving - Towdah anticipates receiving daddy, pick me up
1)
The need or attitude of the heart is displayed in the way we lift our hands
4th
word is Shabach = to commend to triumph to glory and shout with a loud voice !
A) Get the idea that God intends worship to be a loud very
expressive thing.
B) Excitement about the Lord
and His presence in our lives!
Someone once said that Loud praise is
not because God is deaf or hard of hearing - or far away , but it is because He
deserves great commendation, His glory & majesty are worthy of praise
#3 Worship defeats our Foe
22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab,
and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. 23 For the
people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to
utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants
of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
So as they began
to worship God moved set AMBUSHES,
they just stood there amazed
A) God wants us to lay hold
of this today.
B) Believe and be
established In Faith Worship
C) God is going to set up
Ambushes today begin
to work in your situation
The Enemy was
defeated when? When they began to
worship!
A) So too
our enemy: Satan hates worship - / Kicked out of heaven
B) See, He desires people to worship Him / last
thing he likes to see is people worshipping God.
1) Fingers on a Chalk board /
Drill in the dentist Chair / Drives him crazy he bails the scene!
#4 DELIGHTS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER :
A) Nothing delights
me more than when my kids come up to me and plant a big kiss
on me or climb up on my lap.- Big Hug
1) You
parents know the feeling.
B) There is NOTHING that
delights you more than to be kissed and embraced by your Kids
C) Our Heavenly father feels the same way about
His kids. NOTE:
1) Did you know that the New
Testament Greek word for worship means just that.
D)) It is the word proskuneo-. It means to turn towards
and kiss. It is an act of
intimacy.
1) Desires intimacy
God was pleased to move on
their Behalf
Read Verses
24-32
Took 3 days to gather the
spoil
B) Their biggest trial
became the source of of their greatest blessing
C) What they first thought
was going to destroy them ended up enriching them.