|
Written by David Gaddy
|
|
Monday, 25 August 2008 02:15 |
|
Remembering who God is: Psalms 104. He deserves more than casual attendance to worship assemblies and a quick recitation before each meal. We are dealing with the creator of the universe who just so happens to love you so much that He sent His son to die. We should triple our effort to show Him that we love Him back for this.
Worship Conspiracy Put us to shame in every way Buddhist – Strict regiment of prayer sometimes lasting all day using prayer wheels and flags Muslims – Fast at least once every year for 29 to 30 days for Ramadan. To not do so is considered sin. Jehovah Witness – Who doesn't know about the doorstep greetings by the JW? Singing and Making Melody lifting up our voices Ephesians 5:18-19 Example: Why do we sing “Hallelujah, Thine the Glory” like we're at a funeral? Knowing and understanding the words How Great Thou Art – Powerful words Nearer My God to Thee – Powerful words Do we remember these songs or do we constantly need to bury our face in the hymnal to sing them. Funny how we can sing along with Top 40 hits without a songbook... pouring our hearts 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 – Spirit and Understanding It is not about speed or pitch; it's about spirit! Sure we don't have to be good singers to please God, but does He not deserve our best effort? If we put forth the effort to learn some music just so we can sing better praises to Him, wouldn't God be pleased? Not with the sound improvement, but with the enthusiasm in which we serve. Praying with the Spirit 1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing. Psalms 5:1-3 – Earnest prayer Elijah at Carmel – 1 Kings 18:37-39 It's not about length or well formed words, its about spirit. Hobbies – Make service to God a hobby. A hobby is not work to us, it is a labor of love. Who's Who? We tend to obsess a bit over our hobbies. If we are sports enthusiast, we tend to know player's names and stats. If we are movie enthusiasts, we know actors, directors, awards, etc. But do we know the name of the 12 apostles? Can we recite the 10 commandments? If the Bible is our hobby, we'll know who's who and many stats that fill it. History – Again sports fans know the history of the game including dates of championships and scores. Movie fans know academy awards from years past. Do we know the history of Israel and the nations that conquered them? Genealogies – Those who do their genealogies as a hobby love to hunt down names and find relationships dating long ago. But do we just skip over chapters of the Bible that contain genealogies? Many interesting facts can be learned by tracking down those names. Spiritual Two-a-Days – Living, Eating, and Drinking God Football teams spend at least two weeks before the season, doubling their practice times to improve their game. During this period, their life IS football. Everyday, twice a day they work hard usually in the heat of Summer. If we only put forth that kind of devotion to Christ and the Church... Saturate your life with God! Study with others! Evangelize! Listen to spiritual music. Engage in spiritual activities. Spend time with fellow Christians. Prefer them over other friends. And enjoy it! Better get used to continual praise – Revelation 4:8-11; 5:8-14 God deserves more that what we're giving Him. The lyrics to Worship Conspiracy by Disciple:
they ride all around town get me to believe what they found they knock on my door saying Jesus is not the Lord pray to buddha every day put us to shame in every way muslim fasting forty days we can't lift our hands in praise God deserves more than what we're giving Him bow to piece of wood but it won't do them any good meditate on false light while we sit and watch the day go by observe all traditions while we sleep late on Easter morning they fall on their face while we just abound in grace
|
