The Heart of Worship Part I

The Heart of Worship
Part 1


            This week we as we approach our celebration of Independence Day Pastor Mike reminds us of how fortunate we are that we have freedom. Our freedom comes at a high cost and must it be fought for. Our true freedom is in Jesus. As warriors in Christ worship is our greatest weapon. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty and freedom. He inhabits the praise of his people and grants us this freedom. The Lord says if we seek him with all our hearts, we will find him.

  • Worship: The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.
It is human nature to worship something greater than us. This is rooted in our hearts.
Matthew 6:24

No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
Who or what will you serve? What will you do with your time? Where will your focus be? Whom will you put your trust and confidence in? The answer to these questions tells you who your God is. Will it be God or Economics/ Money? Gods plan for us is to worship him.
Jeremiah 32:39

And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants.

Our greatest calling is to worship. How worship comes out of us is not just by singing, but the purpose behind the song. Pastor Mike gives the example; you can be singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ to express magnifying and glorifying God with having the majesty of God on your heart and mind about who created those stars and how they twinkle.
Paul and Silas Imprisoned

Pastor Mike brings our attention to Acts Chapter 16 where the events of Paul and Silas’ imprisonment reflect a deeper meaning behind the heart of worship.
Acts 16:16

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
(An example of serving money.)
Acts 16:17

This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
(The context in this verse is that she was mocking them in a loud annoying demeanor.)
Acts 16:18-24

And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope to profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates, and said “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their cloths and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
               Essentially, these men of God were merely preaching Gods word, became annoyed by the taunting spirit within the woman, so they cast it out of her. This angered the slaves master, so they took Paul and Silas to the Roman authorities. They were wrongfully accused of doing evil for casting out the dark spirit that was profiting these Roman slave masters by means of divination. They were unexpectedly severely punished for this. To top that, they were subjected to inhumane living conditions. Pastor Mike emphasizes to the us that bad things happen, and we cannot always prepare or control what happens. What we can control is how we respond to the situation.
Acts 16:25-30

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all of the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison  doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Then he called for a light, ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
               After a horrible day, though these men faced cruel and unusual punishment while enduring harsh living conditions, they chose to worship and praise God. When you truly pour out your heart to God through praise like these men did, it captivates the attention of others. Not because of your talent for song, but because of the expression of purity, sincerity, longing, and passion.

Commonly, most prisoners keep their eye on the door waiting for a chance to escape. If the opportunity presents itself, they will seize it and flee. Paster Mike sheds light on the story of the recent jail break in Louisiana. The prisoners were able to move the toilet in their sell to the side for means of escape. They left a note saying, “This was too easy.” In this last verse Paul tells the guard they did not try to escape. What could have kept all those prisoners from trying to escape? And how could you possibly praise God at time like this? The pouring out of adoration from their hearts peaked the guards’ interest and left him astonished. This is what prompted the guard to ask how he could be saved. It’s easy to praise God when we are having a great day. The real challenge is when you don’t feel like praising. The earthquake God had sent resulting in the chains falling off and the doors flying opened is an example of God grace for expressing true praise and worship. Everything that had been bound was broken free. The guards’ discovery when awaking was of Gods true power unleashing from that moment of praise and the men’s display of trust in Gods plans. The key point here is we should praise and seek God even in unfortunate circumstance.
Acts 16:31-34

So they said “Believe in on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

Paul and Silus had every reason to look away from God, but they remained loyal. True loyalty was proven when their faith was tested. Through the strength of the Lord, they were able to endure and turn to praise despite what was happening. God’s gift in return was releasing his power by shaking the earth and breaking the shackles off them.
Coming to church on Sunday is the opportune time to praise God, especially when we do not feel the desire to. You might wonder why. God wants our focus to on him so he can give us peace. The enemy wants you focused on what needs to be changed rather than the one who is changing them. We must stop trying to fix everything on our own. It natural to feel obligated to fix things on our own but let’s practice worshiping first. When we surrender control to God and refocus on trusting him, he can make change for us and all who witness. As we begin to worship, we take our minds off our troubles and focus our minds on our heavenly father. This magnifies him when we worship. The size of God does not change, but we get a closer look at who he is. Therefor changing our vision of God.
God is like the Sun
The scenario Pastor Mike gives us to help us understand Gods unlimited power is in comparison to the sun. The closer we get the hotter it gets. We can put our hand up to try and cover the rays for shade, but nothing can fully block it. The closer we allow him to us more he gets to release his power to us. God is loving and generous and wants to pour this power out onto to us. We can obtain that through praising him. Though his size and power have always been great, worship just gets us closer to him.
David is another example of someone who had a heart after God and endured many trials. He wrote the book of Psalms because of the worship that came out of him.
Psalm 42:5
“Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again – my savior”

Remembering who God is, what he has done and his promises to us instead of what we are going through will bring us his peace that surpasses all human understanding. Praise isn’t determined just by how much we must be thankful for; praise comes from a heart that is entirely Gods. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Singing praise declares an end to the access the enemy has, and Gods power is released. Where the enemy has been working, he can work no more, by issuing orders and decrees against his attacks through the word of God, demons must flee. It causes confusion in the camp of the enemy. The enemy has an orchestrated plan to steel, kill, and destroy. He has intelligence that’s been gathered from years of following you with demonic forces. Worship causes things that have had you bound and restricted to shake loose and brings change.
2 Chronicles 16:9
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”

God is looking for those who are loyal and passionate about him. Praise is giving God your heart.
As you go about your week when troubles come remember to turn to God. Not only will praise change our circumstances, it will also change our hearts.

Psalms 23:4
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil: 
for though art with me; 
thy rod and they staff comfort me.

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