WORSHIP THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Get Used to Different #5
Mark Warda
Woodland Church
Sunday, September 4, 2022
- Worship is a lifestyle.
- Our lifestyle affects our relationships with God and with others.
(Romans 12:1-2, The Message) “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
The word “worship” is derived from the Old English word weorthscipe or “worthship” meaning worthiness.
As a verb, worship is an action.
As a noun, worship is a response.
“Worship is the occupation of the created with the Creator Himself.” – Ron Owens
A. Worship that makes a difference has a focus – whom we worship.
B. Worship that makes a difference has an understanding – how we worship.
(John 4:23-24, NLT) “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
(Exodus 20:3, NLT) “You must not have any other god but me.”
(Exodus 20:4-5, NLT) “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.”
C. Worship that makes a difference has a purpose – why we worship.
We worship God is because He is worthy!
(Psalm 96:4, NLT) “Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!”
D. Worship that makes a difference has a location – where we worship.
The gathering of God’s people to worship Him was never man’s idea; it was God’s idea.
(Exodus 25:2, 8, 22, NKJV) “From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering.… And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.… And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat.”
(Luke 4:16, NLT) “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and stood up to read.”
E. Worship that makes a difference has a time – when we worship.
(Philippians 4:4, NLT) “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!”
(2 Samuel 12:20, NLT) “David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped.”
(Job 1:1-3, NLT) “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.”
(Job 1:20-21, NLT) “Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!”