Sunday February 06, 2022
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Matthew 22:37-40- “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Love God FIRST. God should be FIRST on every list!
LOVE GOD WITH THE WHOLE PERSON!
Our supreme calling is to love the Supreme One!
Love God with everything you are in every way possible.
I believe one way our love for God is expressed is through praise and worship!
WHY DO WE EXPRESS OUR LOVE TO GOD IN PRAISE AND WORSHIP?
- God ask for it.
Psalm 150:1-6- “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
TWO OF EIGHT HEBREW WORDS FOR PRAISE:
“Hallah” is the most common word for praise. This word simply means to boast, brag, or rave about God even to the point of appearing foolish.
“Yadah” means to worship with extended hands.
Psalm 134:2- “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord”
Yadah pictures a three-year-old child, hands raised, running towards daddy, crying, “Hold me, daddy, hold me!”
WHY DO WE EXPRESS OUR LOVE TO GOD IN PRAISE AND WORSHIP?
2. Praise is my Purpose
1 Peter 2:9- “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
3. For who He is.
Psalm 145:3- “Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness.”
4. For what He’s done.
Luke 19:37-40- “When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
WHY DO WE EXPRESS OUR LOVE TO GOD IN PRAISE AND WORSHIP
5. Worship and Praise changes things.
Psalm 18:3- “I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies.”
Ezekiel 46:9- “But when the people come in through the north gateway to worship the Lord during the religious festivals, they must leave by the south gateway. And those who entered through the south gateway must leave by the north gateway. They must never leave by the same gateway they came in, but must always use the opposite gateway.”
When you love God through praise and worship the biggest thing that changes is you!
Timothy Keller- “If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.”
Ken Woolf- “If you’re not changed through your praise and worship, you just might be worshiping and idealized version of yourself.”
WE’VE ANSWERED WHY WE LOVE GOD THROUGH PRAISE AND WORSHIP. NOW HOW DO WE WORSHIP AND PRAISE GOD?
John 4:23- “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.”
How do I worship? In Spirit and Truth. What does that look like?
- I Worship and Praise based on choice not feeling.
Habakkuk 3:17-18- “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”
2. I Worship and Praise with everything in me.
2 Samuel 24:24- “But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen.”
Mark 12:30- “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.”
3. I Worship and Praise expecting God to respond.
James 4:8- “Come close to God, and God will come close to you….”
CONCLUSION: Love Like This!
You can’t “love like this” until you believe and begin a relationship with God through his Son Jesus Christ.
Here’s the really GOOD NEWS! God has already chose you to love you!
John 3:16-17- “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT SAYING TO YOU THROUGH THIS MESSAGE?