Worship
Back to the 90s • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsI am called to worship the Rock of my salvation with my life.
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ME
ME
My whole life I've grown up with some kind of church music.
*Dad Statesmen pic 1*
My dad was a Southern Gospel Artist, and so was his dad.
My dad actually grew up singing and travelling with his entire family.
My brother and sister also sang in church.
Mom and I.. well not so much.
Mom hated the thought of being up front on stage and I just didn't really care about singing in front of people.
But I remember travelling some with dad when I was a kid at concerts throughout the southeast.
*Dad Statesmen pic 2*
Dad sang by himself sometimes, with trios and quartets.
He was even on a Gaither Homecoming Video once. (Ask your grandparents about those and they'll get excited.)
I liked going to those concerts for a while, but when I became a teenager I was kinda done with it all.
Southern Gospel kind of sounds like country/bluegrass music and I don't really like that style of music.
I was more into rock and hip hop.
Not to mention that I met some people that my Dad knew in the Southern Gospel industry that were honestly pretty fake. And I can't do fake or hang out with fake.
Unfortunately, I met a lot of fake Christians along the way and I didn't want to have much to do with church/ church music for a while.
By the grace of God, after a long time away from the Lord I came back to Him at 21.
And all I wanted to do was worship Him!
Now my brother was the worship pastor at our church when I got saved, and he quickly talked me into leading a worship song.
Which scared the poo out of me.
I had been in the choir for a bit... but doing a solo? Naw that's scary stuff.
But I figured that worship music is all about an audience of ONE, which is God, so I sang this song "Holy is The Lord" in front of my home church.
During that time, I had some awesome new friends in the College Sunday school class that I taught, and we would go to these big churches on Tuesday nights in Nashville for College Worship Services. I loved every minute of it!
And I can honestly say that I was serving the Lord with my whole heart.
But I still encountered some fake Christians during those years(still do today!)... yet God helped me to understand that just because they weren't being real, it didn't need to affect my relationship with Him.
So I choose to worship Jesus to this day with singing, lifted hands, but more importantly, with my life. No matter what others do.
WE
WE
*Title Slide*
We all worship someone or something in life.
Maybe we’re obsessed with some celebrity or social media influencer to the point that we know what they ate for breakfast this morning (Creepy!)
Maybe it’s a sports star, and bf/gf, or Fortnite.
extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem
Some of y’all feel that way about chicky nuggies.
Y’ALL NEED JESUS!
Christian or not, religious or not, there’s something or someone that everyone on earth worships at one time or another.
But the truth is that only ONE is worthy of worship: The Lord God Almighty.
GOD
GOD
We’re in the last week of our series (Back to The 90s) where we’ve been studying through different chapters of the Bible book of Psalms that start with “90”
We talked about how God is our deliverer when we’re in trouble, how He brings justice in a world full of injustice, and tonight we’re going to talk about worshipping this God who delivers and brings justice.
Psalm 95 is called a “Hebrew Malek” song, which means that it was most likely written to Israelites who were in exile and looking for a new David or a new Moses to rescue them.
Willem VanGemeren says, “Israel has failed, but God is constant. His kingdom will be established. The psalms encourage the people to look from David and Moses to the Lord. He alone is reliable”
Let’s check out what this passage says about worshipping the Lord:
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
Sing & Shout
Sing & Shout
Come, let’s shout praises to God,
raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
lifting the rafters with our hymns!
The writer points out that we should make joyful noises to God through songs.
Now look, I know some of y’all couldn’t sing if your life depended on it.
But no matter how bad your voice is, when you sing praises to God it’s a joyful noise to Him!
Different churches worship in different languages in different styles all over the world.
But it’s all music to God’s ears when His children sing to Him.
Let’s check out the different styles of worship over the last 1,500 years:
*Evolution of Worship Music Video (double speed)
No matter the style or how well we can sing, we are called to worship God through singing to Him.
Maker of everything
Maker of everything
And why? Because God is the best,
High King over all the gods.
In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns,
in the other hand grasps the high mountains.
He made Ocean—he owns it!
His hands sculpted Earth!
So come, let us worship: bow before him,
on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:
God owns the whole world because He created it.
We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.
And this Jesus who created all things gave everything so that we could live forever with Him.
That’s a God worthy of giving our lives to.
Stop tryna be hard!
Stop tryna be hard!
“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
Life is tough sometimes and people will hurt you. Even people in the church.
But you’ve got a couple of choices when you get hurt- get bitter, or get better.
Look at your neighbor and say:
“Don’t get bitter, get better!”
Bitterness shuts you down, hardens your heart and makes you feel pity for yourself.
But you can get better by allowing the Holy Spirit of God, your Creator to grow you and show grace to those who hurt you.
And this frees you to continue living a life of worship.
I AM CALLED TO WORSHIP GOD WITH MY LIFE
I AM CALLED TO WORSHIP GOD WITH MY LIFE
YOU
YOU
“...there can be no truly joyful celebration of God which does not lead to moral responsibility and urgency.\
In our spiritual journey, rejoicing divorced from obedience is escapism, and obedience divorced from rejoicing is uninviting.”
-Robert Davidson
There is a danger I need to warn you of:
Raising hands in worship to God without obeying him with your life.
*Mask slide*
Also called hypocrisy.
And I’ve seen it absolutely ruin people and hurt many others.
I had a friend in college who would raise his hands during a worship service “praising God” and then would leave the serve and get drink at the club right after.
And he had fooled himself into thinking he was ok with God while living this double life.
I’ve seen pastors that I’ve loved and trusted who preached great messages but lacked Christlike character and were living lives of deep sin.
Jesus didn’t get angry very much- but nothing made him angrier than fakes:
Frauds! Isaiah’s prophecy of you hit the bull’s-eye:
These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their heart isn’t in it.
They act like they’re worshiping me,
but they don’t mean it.
They just use me as a cover
for teaching whatever suits their fancy.”
*Title Slide*
This makes Jesus mad bc it keeps those who might follow Jesus away from Him.
The good news is that you don’t have to live a double life. You don’t have to be fake.
God can change your heart so you can worship Him freely!
*Bow heads and close eyes*
Is there any sin in your life that’s keeping you from worshipping God with your life?
Maybe you’re a follower of Jesus but feel like you’ve been living a double-life.
God wants to free you from the bondage of fakeness.
If that’s you tonight, raise your hand.
*Prayer*
Maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus into your heart, but you’re ready to turn from your sins and give your life to this God who created you, who loves you, and wants to be with you forever.
*Prayer*
WE
WE
Worshipping God with our lives brings Heaven here.
Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.
In a world full of lost and confused people, may we as Christians tell them that the Kingdom of the Almighty and only God is here- with our words and with our lives!
*small group preview and next step cards.*