What Are We Here for?
How to be a Worship-Driven Church
January 20, 2013
Memory
Verse: Psalm 34:3
(NKJV) Oh, magnify the Lord with
me, And let us exalt His name together.
Text: John 4:19–24
Introduction:
“Man’s
chief end is to glorify God, and
to enjoy him forever.”--
Westminster Shorter Catechism
HEART
OF WORSHIP by MATT REDMAN
Definition of Worship:
Worship is “reverence
offered a divine being or supernatural power; also: an act of expressing such reverence”
--Merriam-Webster
“Anything you do that brings pleasure to God
is an act of worship.” --Rick Warren
Worship is “the
celebration of God’s existence.”—Professor Yesuf Ameh Obaje
First, worship must be our
lifestyle and not just a menu item
Psalm
95:1–7; 1 Corinthians 10:31
Second,
worship must be done gladly and in reverence to God
Psalm
100:1–2; Psalm 34:3
Third, worship must be God-centered
Isaiah
42:8; Psalm 115:1; 1 Peter 4:11; 1 Chronicles 16:29; Luke 4:8; Psalm 29:2; John
4:20–22
“The
most common mistake Christians make in worship today is seeking an experience
rather than seeking God.”—Rick Warren
Illustration:
“If you limit worship to where you are,
the minute you leave that place of worship you will leave your attitude of
worship behind like a crumpled-up church bulletin.”--Tony Evans
Fourth, our worship must done whole -heartedly
Deuteronomy
6:5; Romans 6:13; Joshua 5:13–15
“The
reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward
progress is because they haven’t yet come to the end of themselves. We are
still trying to give orders, and interfering with God’s work within us.”—A.W.
Tozer
“The
more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become—because he
made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to
be…. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality,
that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”—C.S.
Lewis.
“Worship is the submission of all our nature
to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of
mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of
the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose -- and all of this
gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is
capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our
original sin and the source of all actual sin.”-- William Temples
Fifth, Worship must be done genuinely
Psalm
16:11; John 4:23–24; Malachi 1:9–10
