Friday, August 15th - Raising Your Worship To New Heights

“So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” Romans 12:1 (Msg)

A. W. Tozer put it well: “The presence of God in our midst, bringing a sense of Godly fear and holy reverence, is largely missing in the church today. Thus, much of what we call worship, God does not.”

The worship of God is a theme that dominates the entire Bible. In Genesis, man fell because he failed to worship God; and, in Revelation, one day, all of history will culminate in the worship of God as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Bible teaches us an amazing truth in regards to worship. God, who does not need anything, or anyone, desires the adoration and worship of His created children. God did not create us because He was lonely; rather, He created us so that He might have our Lord-SHIP, our Fellow-SHIP, our Steward-SHIP, and our Worth-SHIP.

One of the greatest definitions of worship I have ever heard, or read, was given by Ronnie Floyd in his book, “Life on Fire.” He said: “Worship is an encounter with Christ that results in a lifestyle change!”

There are two questions that beg to be answered, right here!

One – How does one worship God
Two – How can I assure that I get the most out of my time of worship

Let me take the back door approach and tell you what worship is not.

* Worship is bigger than a musical performance
* Worship is bigger than my preference
* Worship is bigger than my place of worship

So how do we worship God?

* By loving Him
* By trusting Him
* By obeying Him
* By thanking Him
* By serving Him

By now somebody wants to get more out of their worship experience. Now this is not going to be real deep but I believe that some of the most helpful stuff is just common sense. How this blesses you as much as it blessed me writing it. Pastor, how can I assure that I get the most out of my time of worship?

On Saturday:
1. Ask Christ to make you sensitive tomorrow to the needs of people in the body who are hurting.
2. Solve the “Sunday clothes hassle” make sure that what you will wear is ready and God honoring.
3. Spent time in confession so all will be right between you and the Lord when you meet tomorrow.
4. Determine to get to bed early so I will be refreshed and ready for church tomorrow.
5. Eliminate and guard your heart from Sunday afternoon distraction that will cause you to not to be able to allow the Holy Spirit to continue to minister to you.

On Sunday:
1. Get up in plenty of time so you will not feel rushed.
2. Program your morning so you will not just arrive at church on time, but get there early.
3. Eat a good breakfast, so that the enemy can’t use an empty stomach to detract your worship.
4. Bring your Bible, pen and church notebook in order to get the most out of your time of worship.
5. Come to church with a great sense of expectancy because you know Christ will be there.
6. Hang around and fellowship with God’s people…IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!

On Sunday everyone needs to get up on time, eat at a set hour, and leave plenty early, ideally after a short time of family prayer asking that God will be glorified and speak to each family member. If you do this, YOUR SUNDAY WORSHIP WILL ASCEND TO NEW HEIGHTS.