Days Journey

I was listening to an interview of a young person the other day. I don’t remember the show, but they were being asked why they were attending the church they were at. The only thing that I remember the young person saying was how much the passion of the congregation attracted her. It was one of those times when everything in your mind is pushed away and that one truth just knocks you right between the eyes. I thought of the book by John Piper, “Let the Nations be Glad”, in which he stated that missions exists because worship does not. How can I live a life of worship? As I was thinking about that today, I thought about the guitar lessons I would be teaching tonight and how these lessons will impact my students. Then it hit me, my worship lifestyle must be a learned behavior. When I give a lesson, the goal is to play. No matter how much the player knows, playing is the desired activity. With each lesson, the player understands more, has improved on the first lessons, and can attempt more difficult things. With all this study, the outcome is playing. The student continues to play.

As a Christian, my goal is to worship. We were created to worship God and bring Him glory. All of life’s lessons prepare us to worship. As a student of God, I study His word, I pray, and I have fellowship with other believers. All of this is used by God to enable my worship. We should not study for the sake of study or to obtain wisdom. Our study should sharpen our focus on God and who He is, and open our eyes to ourselves and who we are. As we recognize God and His majesty we can not help but stand in awe and worship. Jesus said, “..If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me…”. I commit to making a more concerted effort in living all of my life to bring Glory to my God. As I worship Him, my faith grows, my love for Him grows, and my desire to accomplish His will in my life grows. As I see God work in my life, I worship Him more and the cycle continues.

I believe we need to demonstrate a true passion for our Saviour. I don’t mean a bunch of contrived actions or planned manipulations of peoples emotions, but an honest expression of a life sold out to our loving Lord. That can only happen as we spend time getting to know our Saviour. I confess, that way to much time goes by between my conversational times with God. It is a struggle to shut out the noise and distraction of the world and take time to invest in our relationship with God, but that is what we are called to do as believers. We were created to glorify God, and we can only do that to our level of understanding. Let us not wait until we have a certain level before we worship. Just as the musician plays and uses his study to improve, let us take on the same mindset and worship, using our study to have a greater understanding of God to fuel a life lived to worship God in Spirit and Truth.

Father, consume me, Fill me with a passion to know You so that my life honors Your son.

rw

This excerpt is from a sermon by Dr. Wayne Poplin of Carmel Bapist Church.

As we begin to talk about worship, let’s start with a mind-boggling thought. As we consider our galaxy, just ours, a scientist suggested this analogy. Imagine a perfectly smooth glass pavement on which the finest speck can be seen. Then shrink our sun from 865,00 miles in diameter to only two feet and place a ball on the pavement to represent the sun. Step off 164 feet to represent proportionately the first planet, Mercury, and put down a tiny mustard seed. Go another 120 feet and for Venus put down a BB. Go about 156 feet further and put down a green pea representing earth. Step off about 216 feet and for Mars put down a pinhead. Sprinkle around some fine dust for the asteroids, then go about 1576 feet and put down an orange for Jupiter. After 2000 feet put down a golf ball for Saturn. Now—over 4000 feet, a marble for Uranus. Another 4700 feet and you get to Neptune. Put down a cherry. We have gone 2 ½ miles and haven’t even discussed Pluto. Now on a surface 5 miles across we have a seed, a BB, a pea, pinhead, some dust, an orange, golf ball, marble and a cherry. Guess how far we would have to go on this scale before we could put down another 2-foot ball to represent the nearest star? 6,720 miles before we would arrive at that star. Miles. And that is just the first star among millions in one galaxy. All of these bodies are perfectly synchronized and the most accurate timepiece known to man (Swindol, Come Before Winter, p. 294f.).

It is incredible for me to think that the creator of all that is, chose to step into our existence, on the green pea, and surrender Himself as a sacrifice for my sin! How can we not be consumed by His mercy and grace? To think, we have been invited into His presence to worship Him. Think back and remember the last time you truly worshiped the Lord. As we are created to bring glory and honour to God, His worship is the most important thing we can do. It is our worship of Him that prepares and enables us to do everything else in our lives. So as we worship, we are prepared, we display the character of our God, others are drawn to Him, and we worship, we are prepared, we display the character of our God, others are drawn to Him, and we worship…

How often do we truly encounter God in our worship?

I will praise Your name for Your love and Your faithfulness, for You have exalted Your Name and Your Word above all things!! (Psalm 138:2)

The doctrine of the Trinity. One of the more mystic and confusing doctrines of the Christian faith. How can one God exist as three co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Yet it is an undeniable teaching of the Bible. Scripture describes each member with such characteristics as eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and creator.

The best of human attempts to explain the Trinity such as ice, water, and steam, being 3 forms of the same element, always fall short. Although the doctrine of Trinity is complex, we must not ignore or shy away from this teaching. We need to place this as the center of our thought process about God. We must accept by faith the teaching and cultivate a mind-set that looks for the Triune God in all things, knowing that all things point to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This hymn text was written by Elizabeth Charles, a gifted women of her time. She lived in England and was a poet, author, musician and painter. This is not a complicated presentation of the Godhead, but offers child-like praise to each member for His loving care and concern.

Praise Ye The Triune God!

Praise ye the Father for His loving kindness,
Tenderly cares He for His erring children;
Him, ye angels, praise Him in the heavens,
Praise ye Jehovah!

Praise ye the Savior, great His compassion,
Graciously cares He for His chosen people;
Young men and maidens, ye old men and children,
Praise ye the Savior!

Praise ye the Spirit, Comforter of Israel,
Sent of the Father and the Son to bless us;
Praise ye the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Praise ye the Triune God!

Find a study on Trinity and work through it. Discuss what you learn with others. Begin to build a Trinity based mind-set.

rw

After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Hebrews 1:3)

The text for this hymn was developed by Charles Wesley to encourage his followers to have a more spontaneous joy in their lives with the knowledge that Christ reigns victorious in heaven. Wesley based his text on Philippians 4:4 -

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice!

Paul wrote this to Philippi while he was a prisoner of Emperor Nero in Rome. The letter to the Philippians teaches us that it is possible to be a victor in life - regardless of our circumstances - because our faith is in a risen, reigning Lord! This book contains 12 references to rejoicing.

Rejoice - The Lord Is King

Rejoice, the Lord is King,
Your Lord and King adore;
Mortals, give thanks and sing
And triumph evermore:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

His kingdom cannot fail;
He rules o’er earth and heav’n;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus giv’n:

Jesus, the Savior reigns,
The God of truth and love:
When He had purged our stains
He took His seat above:

He sits at God’s right hand
Till all His foes submit,
And bow to His command,
And fall beneath His feet:

“Rejoice in the Lord always!” is easy to say yet hard to live. However this attitude of joy is not an option for the christian, but is the result of an intimate relationship with our reigning Lord!

rw