Worship The Lord

**sharky67** · #1 09-04-2007

Worship the LORD

The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD. - Genesis 13:14-18
Although Lot had chosen land for himself, God gave everything to Abram and his descendants. God blessed Abram tremendously. In response to God’s great goodness, Abram built an altar so that his family could worship God. The most important thing for Abram was his relationship with the LORD. Even though he was a stranger in a new place, he expressed his heartfelt thankfulness for God’s love and promise of a coming Savior by worshipping the LORD.

Today, when families move to a new place to live, how often is a church the first thing they look for? Does the location of the nearest appropriate church play a part in our decisions about a new home? Abram set a wonderful example: Since there wasn't an appropriate church nearby, he built one himself. A good way for a new congregation to get started is for a group of mission-minded families to begin reaching out into the community and gather people together to worship.
While there are various strategies and programs that can be utilized to gather people for worship in congregations, the one thing that makes it work is the power of the gospel. The message is what counts: the message that Jesus has forgiven our sins, promises to raise us from death and bring us to heaven, and to bless us in this life as we serve him with our lives. So blessed by our Savior, we gladly gather to worship the LORD.
Prayer:
LORD God, I praise you for the many blessings which you give me, especially my salvation which Jesus won for me by his death and resurrection. Move my heart to regularly worship you and give you thanks for all your goodness. Amen.

topshot · #2 09-04-2007

A devotional I got this morning....

We are so used to being passive at public assemblies, where someone up front does it all. Oh, we may be courteous, and stand when they say stand, and sit when they say sit, but we like being an audience.

When we gather to worship the LORD, He is our audience. We must present our worship to the LORD, each one of us. He is not only inhabiting the corporate praise of the whole Body, but He also wants to inhabit our individual worship.

In the early church, what we call the first century Church, we see that individuals were involved in worship, rather than just one person leading.

“What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:26).

The larger the church the less involved the congregation becomes in individual worship. I know it can be argued that they are sitting in their pew and worshipping, but in all reality, in a mega church there are those on the stage and an audience and this can be a hindrance to everyone offering something during worship.

The Scripture says “When you come together, EVERYONE…” Not just some or one, but EVERYONE! Everyone should have a hymn or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. This strengthens the church!

How can we move from being an audience to where we are presenting our worship to the LORD—where He is the audience? Let me give some suggestions.

As your week progresses, spend some time in the Word and in prayer and seek the LORD regarding what you can offer during worship. Do you have a song? When we visit Africa, it is beautiful when someone will just go to the front and offer a song to the LORD. You can write your own song and sing it without music. Perhaps you can share a Psalm or other Scripture that you read that encouraged you this week. Maybe your family will be led to give leadership to the offering or LORD’S Supper. Perhaps you can give a testimony of what the LORD has done for you.

If you are willing to spend some time preparing for a pot-luck, why not prepare for worship?! What are you going to offer to the LORD?

**warrior** · #3 09-04-2007

I wonder what would happen if instead of standing to sing the final hymn at the pastors request;we all just sit there?Or remain standing when we are asked to 'please be seated?'The seniors stay seated,and we all know they are unable to stand all the time.And do we clap because we haer another person clap;are we copy cats or are we all worshipping from the heart?