Friday, June 1, 2012

June 2, 2012

THINK ABOUT THIS:

History begins with worship and it will end in worship – so what should we be figuring out in the meantime?
It seems to me we should be figuring out how to do worship in a way that pleases God. The problem is that congregations can't seem to figure out the best way to do that and in fact, often spend too much time and energy fighting over what style of worship is best.
While Christians are fighting over hymns or praise songs, choirs or worship teams, or piano and organ over guitars and drums, we have lost touch with the essence of worship.

The 67th Psalm reminds us that the style of worship God prefers and desires is - LIFE-STYLE!  He wants His people to love Him completely and live like it. Worship must be understood as something to be lived every day through thought, word and actions. When a group of people who have been loving God and living worship all week long come together on a Sunday to corporately worship God - that is world-class worship! That worship changes people and change places and changes cultures.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? – V. 1 -   May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us,”


When the Psalmist prayed for God to be gracious and to show His favor on him he was essentially praying to enter into an intimate worship experience with God. He is describing what worship ought to be for the one who loves God.

Worship should:
 
 
Celebrate God’s Grace and Seek God’s Face.
If this defined worship on that side of the Christ and the Cross, think how much more it should mean to us on this side of Calvary!

Celebrate His Grace

 
 
Grace is the unlimited and undeserved kindness God extended to you and me when He sent Jesus to offer Himself on the cross so He could take the guilt and penalty of our sins.

As Romans 5:8 declares, "God demonstrated His love for us in this way - while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
 
 
Grace means that when we deserved His judgment for our wretched sins, God put those sins on Christ's account and extended a pardon to each of us. He agreed to die and allow us to live.

We should never get over our amazement over the grace He extended to us. Every morning it should capture us and every day we should  contemplate it and celebrate it. His grace should ignite our spirits daily. It should control our thinking and energize our actions. Grace should be evident in all our attitudes.

God's gracious gift to us redeemed us and it regenerated us and it adopted us into His family. His grace justified us allowing Him to declare us "not guilty"! He brought us into a personal relationship with Him!

Do you celebrate His amazing grace every day? Do you express it in your attitudes and actions daily? Do you extend His grace to others you meet each day? Do you treat them with the graciousness He extended to you?

World-class worship, world-changing worship, is expressed most powerfully through one style of worship - LIFESTYLE - His grace lived out humbly and passionately through your life.