— What is worship?
Pastor Kev spoke on Sunday about interactive worship. His title was “Wii Worship.” Notice the title. Pastor Kev is not encouraging us to worship video game systems 😉 but rather he is challenging us to examine our lives every day of the week (not just on Sundays) to see if we are truly worshiping God in the way that we should, in a way that is fully interactive. (By the way, you can click HERE to get a full explanation of the title or to watch the message online.)
In this post I want to share the notes that I wrote down from the message, and a couple of thoughts that I had about the results that flow when we worship God the way He deserves to be worshiped.
Notice this story from Acts 16:22-34:
22 Then the mob joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had inflicted many blows on them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to keep them securely guarded. 24 Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose.27 When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because all of us are here!”
29 Then the jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. 34 He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had believed God with his entire household.
Here are the points from the message:
- We were created to worship.
- We worship what we value.
- We were created by God to worship God.
- We worship God by responding to His greatness.
- We worship God through our circumstances not based on our circumstances.
- We worship corporately, privately & publicly.
Take a moment to re-read the story from Acts 16 above, and notice two very important results of Paul and Silas’ interactive worship:
- God heard and He moved in power.
- Others observed and they put their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Is your worship of God interactive, full of faith, impacting heaven, leading to changed lives? If it’s not, then repent, re-focus and recommit your life to worshiping God. And stand in amazement as He works in you, through you and all around you!