THE CULTURE OF A BIBLICAL CHURCH: THE CALL TO WORSHIP

DR. LARRY LAMB

• Is it possible that worshipping the Living God on a Sunday is semi-interesting because, throughout the week, God is semi-interesting?
• If you claim to have a relationship with the Living God through Jesus, worship can be a habitual part of your daily life not a hobby.
• The beginning of the spiritual maturity journey for Jesus’s disciples is when they stop segmenting their lives into categories.
• Matthew 4:10 …You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.
• Exodus 20:3 You must not have any other god but me.

• Worship is a lifestyle that flows from a heart right with the Living God. Is God just a hobby or your life?
• Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

1. Awareness of what God .
Look at worship as joyful obedience.

• The Christian life comes with valleys. Don’t .
• The Christian life comes with plateaus. Don’t .
• The Christian life comes with mountain-top experiences. Don’t .

2. Awareness of community .

“The single most important thing we can do to change our experience of public worship is to revitalize our practice of personal worship.”  Marjorie J. Thompson

• Worship is being aware of God’s presence that my spirit is open to:
  • Change
  • Conviction
  • Adoration
  • Response
  • Surrender
  • Repentance
  • Obedience
• The posture of worship is not as crucial as the worshipper’s heart.

3. Awareness of the power of .

• Psalm 9:1-2 1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. 2 I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.

1. Be to give thanks to God.

• James 1:2-4 2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

“If trials are useful to us, why should we not accept them calmly and with thankful hearts? Therefore, when we suffer patiently, we are not surrendering to necessity; instead, we are consenting to what is good for us.”  John Calvin

2. the presence of Jesus.

• Psalm 139:7-10 7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.
• God does not see us as His hobby; let’s not treat Him as ours.
• Exodus 20:3 You must not have any other god but me.

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I know that the penalty for my sin is physical, spiritual, and eternal death. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my situation. But I know that You came to pay the penalty for my sin. I trust in You alone as the One who died in my place. I repent of my sin and trust in You as the only One who can place me in an eternal relationship with the living God. I desire to be Your child. I desire to live as Your child. In Your name. Amen.

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