Growing in Worship

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Growing in Worship
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Worship is the first issue
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Worship is the first issue
. . . and the last!
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Worship is a live issue
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Worship is a contentious issue
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Style
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What is worship?
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The net result of our fuzziness regarding
worship is that many of us have ceased to have
any objective standard by which to judge whether
what we are doing in our worship centers is
worship or not.
Sally Morgenthaler, Worship Evangelism, 49
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Whats the message?
You don't have to be bald to work here but it
helps!
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Whats the message?
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Whats the message?
Worship is mine
Worship is for me
Worship is about me
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The MEANING of worship
THREE COMMON FALLACIES

• Worship is ME (about me/for me)
• Worship is MEETINGS
• Worship is MUSIC

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What is worship?
What is worship, BIBLICALLY?
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The BASIS of worship
THREE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS

• God deserves our worship
• God requires our worship
• God enables our worship

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The ESSENCE of worship
THREE KEY WORDS
Terms used in the OT and NT for worship

• Submission
• Service
• Reverence

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The EXPRESSION of worship
THREE SERIOUS ERRORS

• Idolatry
• Worshipping the wrong thing
• Formalism
• Worshipping with the wrong heart
• Hypocrisy
• Worshipping with the wrong lifestyle

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Amos 521-24
I hate, I despise your religious feasts I cannot
stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me
burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not
accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship
offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away
with the noise of your songs! I will not listen
to the music of your harps.
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Amos 521-24
I hate, I despise your religious feasts I cannot
stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me
burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not
accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship
offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away
with the noise of your songs! I will not listen
to the music of your harps. But let justice roll
on like a river, righteousness like a
never-failing stream!
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DAN KIMBALL Emerging Worship, 102f.
Worship is not a gimmick. Worship is going
before a holy God and expressing our love for
him. The form of our worship may change, but the
God we worship does not!
Worship is not about being multisensory, but
about worshipping God!
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The issue of worship is not worshipbut God.
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It is not so much about HOW we worship, but WHO
we worship.
The most important thing is
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Style
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Structure (pattern)
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Substance
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What is the biblical STYLE of worship?
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What is the biblical STRUCTURE (pattern) for
worship?
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Meal. Reminisce about what Jesus
said Prayer Break bread Sing Distribute food to
widows Read Psalms Preaching/teaching (Bible
study) Prophecy (gifts of the Spirit) Pray in
tongues/interpretation Silence Exchange news
about other churches Commissioned people to go
outpreach the Gospel Testimony Healing (praying
for) Reading Scripture Reading Pauls letters
etc. Offerings
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What is the biblical SUBSTANCE of worship?
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The worship we offer will always be determined by
our understanding of the God we worship.
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Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed
true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely
of two parts the knowledge of God and of
ourselves.
JOHN CALVIN Institutes opening statement
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...ignorance of God - ignorance both of his ways
and of the practice of communion with him - lies
at the root of much of the churchs weakness
today.
in its worship?
JIM PACKER Knowing God Introduction
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MATT REDMAN Facedown, 114
All worship is a response to revelation its
only as we breathe in more of the wonders of God
that we can breathe out a fuller response to him.
Whether a banker, a musician, a pastor or a
schoolteacher, the key to a life of passionate
and powerful worship comes from seeing God.
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DON CARSON Worship by the Book, 31
There are far too few choruses and services and
sermons that expand our vision of Godhis
attributes,his works, his character, his words.
If you wish to deepen the worship of the people
of God, above all deepen their grasp of his
ineffable majesty in his person and in all his
works.
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LEONARD SWEET Dearborn Coil (eds.), Worship at
the Next Level, 109.
worship is not about style it is about spirit.
If the spirit isnt in it, presentation means
little no matter how contemporary or high-tech.
Ten times zero is still zero. And, if the Spirit
is there, presentation also means little no
matter how traditional or bookish.
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The HEART of worship
THREE CORE PRINCIPLES

• Worship is for God, not me
• For the Audience of One
• Worship is not just liturgy (meetings/services),
  but obedient lifestyle
• Rom 121
• 3. Worship is a choice
• I CHOOSE to worship
• Heb 1315-16

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John 419-24
19 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are
a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this
mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem. 21 Woman,
Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when
you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans
worship what you do not know we worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a
time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit
and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in
truth.
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John 419-24
19 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are
a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this
mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem. 21 Woman,
Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when
you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans
worship what you do not know we worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a
time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit
and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in
truth.
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John 419-24
19 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are
a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this
mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem. 21 Woman,
Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when
you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans
worship what you do not know we worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a
time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit
and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in
truth.
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John 419-24
19 Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are
a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this
mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem. 21 Woman,
Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when
you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans
worship what you do not know we worship what we
do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a
time is coming and has now come when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit
and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in
truth.
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The PRACTICALITIES of corporate worship
THREE KEY ISSUES

• Worship belongs to the people
• not just the minister, worship leader/group
  etc.
• needs to be discussed and owned
• responsibility of all
• 2. Worship should unite, not divide
• ONE body, not sub-cultures
• need for mutual acceptance and eclectic style

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Gathering for worship . . .?
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The PRACTICALITIES of corporate worship
THREE KEY ISSUES

• Worship belongs to the people
• not just the minister, worship leader/group
  etc.
• needs to be discussed and owned
• responsibility of all
• 2. Worship should unite, not divide
• ONE body, not sub-cultures
• need for mutual acceptance and eclectic style
• 3. Worship must be authentic
• lifestyle overflow worship as giving not
  getting
• true to life, embracing its totality

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