Worship - Tools for spiritual growth

Hello youths, I’m late! Should have posted this way before but yes, I’m sorry! Think it is pretty related to my previous post. It talks about encouraging one another, about worshipping the Lord with our hearts and not only with our lips, renewing of our minds etc (Read on!). We all have Cynthia to thank as she was the one who provided me with the soft copy of the sermon so that I can upload it on the blog. We will be including the schedules for ushers as well as the Youth Fellowship schedule for the next quarter once it has been finalized. So do come back and keep yourself updated on the prayers and praises from our youths and feel free to make any postings!

Worship - Tools for spiritual growth

The roles of a prophet include predicting events as well as confronting people when they are not living right with God. As in the case of Isaiah, he was a prophet from a noble family. He preached for a long time before finally dying a terrible death. Sodom and Gomorrah was being judged because of their sins. Although they approached God as they were being told, because they were not living right with God, these offerings were meaningless to the Lord. In fact, their sacrifices for Him were a burden.

Isaiah 1: 14 (KJV)
14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

However, there is still hope for us. As mentioned in Isaiah 1:18 (KJV),

18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Therefore, as long as we are willing to repent of our sins, through Christ we will be washed whiter than snow, presentable unto the Lord. In our lives, God give warnings and choices. We have to make the right choices and heed the warnings so that our lives will be acceptable and pleasing unto God. If we are not repentant, He will not loosen his iron grip and will punish us accordingly. As in the case of Israel, the lives of the people are evil, but they continued worshipping God on Sabbath day. As they are not living right, the prayers and sacrifices made were of no use. We need to stop doing wrong and learn to do right. Committing evil acts do not require much of an effort. In fact, sinning may even give us temporal pleasures. Doing right on the other hand requires effort and it is definitely not a natural course of action most of the time. We have to resist doing evil and persist making the right choices.

Food for thought: Was there a time when we’ve sinned, but did not apologize or repent of our mistakes? Instead, we try to make up for our wrong actions by serving more?

When we are worshipping, we give the object of worship its worth and do so by exalting the person. Praise is a natural human response to anything excellent, beautiful or awesome. When we see something fantastic, we marvel and are often caught breathless. God is the most excellent, beautiful and awesome of them all. If worshiping Him is not natural for us, it simply means we have not experienced Him like He wants us to. When we read and learn more about Him, as we grow closer to Him, we should want to praise Him even more.

Food for thought: How we know what is true worship really is?

Worshipping the Lord is not about us, but about knowing God. As we are worshipping, we ask of Him to convict me when we sin and encourage us when we are down. True worship starts in the heart. It is important that we are worshipping with our hearts and not with our mouths.

This is clearly stated in Matthew 15: 8-9 (KJV),

8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Food for thought: Do we obey God or the tradition of men?

Jewish men were wicked in the way they handled their finances. They declare that their money is dedicated to God with the intention so that they did not need to support their parents. This is an example of not living right and worshipping God in vain as they are clearly not following the commandment of honoring their parents.

In Romans 12: 1-2 (KJV),

1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We are reminded that God wants our bodies to be living sacrifices and this is expected of us as a reasonable service. We are a step closer to imitating God when our minds are changed. Through the renewing of our minds, we will then be able to discern God’s will for us. By separating ourselves from this sinful world will we then be able to discover His will for us. There is no need for us to be afraid to seek His will as it is good and perfect for us. Our actions are outward portrayal of our inward states. Therefore, it is important to be concerned about our internal change such as the renewing of our minds.

True worship is both private and public. As in Exodus 34: 22-24 (KJV),

22And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

23Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.

24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

In this instance, God promises that if the men followed His command to worship him thrice in the year, no enemies will attack the nation whilst the men are away. He fulfilled His promise to them and the nation was preserved during these periods of time.

In Luke 4: 16 (KJV),

16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

It is the custom of Jesus to pray and go to the synagogue habitually. As a child of God, we should be walking in the footsteps of Jesus and follow this “custom” as well.

In Hebrews 10: 24-25 (KJV),

24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We should be considering one another not to anger but to provoke unto love and to good deeds. As ye see the day approaching, we should learn how to love God more each day and should be encouraging one another as well. Worshipping is also more than just words and lip service, it is deeds

Leviticus 27: 30-33 (KJV)

30And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD.

31And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. 32And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.

33He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

Malachi 3: 7-12 (KJV)

7Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

8Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

10Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 12And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

One of the things we can do is giving tithes faithfully as commanded in the verses above. God told the people that they had been disobedient since the days of their fathers. The people were not able to realize what they have done wrong. They were trying to rob God by not giving tithes faithfully. Under law, they were supposed to be giving 10%; under grace, they should be giving even more. Since God wants us to give and if we do not give faithfully, we are robbing Him as mentioned in the verses above.

Matthew 6: 1-4 (KJV)

1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

When we are helping the needy as mentioned above, our intent should not be getting notice by men. We should be doing it in secret, not announcing and making it known to all. If we do so, we will not receive our rewards in heaven.

Colossians 3: 17 (KJV)

17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

We must also understand that we are doing all these deeds in the name of the Lord Jesus and not for ourselves. When we are through doing it, and in the process of doing it, we must remember that ultimately, God gets the glory.

2 Corinthians 8: 5 (KJV)

5And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

Christians should always think of giving themselves first to the Lord, and by living a life consecrated to God, we are able to give everything we have. Before we give our resources to Him, we must be sure to give ourselves to Him first and keep in mind that true worship focuses on who God is.