I wanted to share something else from Brother Pete’s sermon last Sunday. He encouraged us to “Worship God not for what He’s done for you, but for who He is.†That really struck home with me because outside of church I must confess I rarely do that. Normally my worship of God is in thanksgiving for what He’s done for me. I want to be more like David and worship God for who He is:
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“Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.†(Psalm 29:2)
The great secret to worship is hidden in plain sight in that verse. We are to worship God “in the beauty of holiness.†The beauty of holiness? So what does that mean? We know holiness means to be sanctified, to be set apart. It means for my relationship to be at its utmost I must be in right standing with God. It means my walk with God must be centered upon the life and example of Jesus Christ. If I will do this, then the path of life and its important decisions will be made clear, even when I act a fool:
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“A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.†(Isaiah 35:8)
If we are going to truly worship God, we need to put Him back on His throne. I know God has never left His throne; nevertheless we live our lives as though He has. You look at our nation’s woes and they can be directly linked to our pushing God out of our lives as though we no longer answer to Him. We have to many toothy-smiling joy boys preaching a God we should not fear when the Bible teaches otherwise:
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“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him.†(Psalm 89:7)
It’s long past time to honor God for who He is. Too many self-described Christians act as though God is some cosmic vending machine that they can drop quarters into, push D6, and out drops the blessing of their choice. Or we treat God as though He is president of the First National Bank of Heaven and all we have to do is swipe our ATM card and presto, instant blessing! We need to approach God like David did:
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“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.†(Psalm 34:1-3)
Just imagine what America would look like if beginning tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day 2014, if the church would begin worshipping God for who He is. The Bible tells us that if we will humble ourselves and call out to God, confessing our sins, that our Heavenly Father will hear us and heal our land. Imagine what would happen to our culture if born-again believers all across America this weekend fell to our knees, and asked God to forgive and remove all haughtiness and pretense from our souls and spirits. Would not that be true worship?
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“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.†(Psalm 95:6-7)
Imagine all the churches across America beginning their Thanksgiving weekend services with the reading of that passage, and the congregations receiving it with clean and hungry hearts.
Imagine God’s people in the latter days of 2014 coming to a place of true worship: a place where we do not seek anything from God but His holiness. We come to God in fear and reverence, trembling in great expectation of how His holiness is going to radically change our lives and our nation.
Imagine America travelling down the Highway of Holiness.
In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4
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Copyright © 2014 David Jeffers
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Bible, Christianity, Conservatism, Culture, Evangelism, Faith, False Teachers, Forgiveness, Grace, Honesty, Joel Osteen, Joy, Mercy, Morality, praise, Prayer, Revival, Sin, Truth, Wisdom, worship