Jesus Blog (Year 5 Leaders): Worshiping God: Even when you are not singing

Worshiping God: Even when you are not singing

I am sorry but blogger has been giving me a lot of problems with formatting font and everything so sorry I hope you guys can actually read it cause I cant seem to do anything about it.

Key verse for today Romans 12:1

Exploring these three Main points of how we worship God:

1) Allowing God to Strengthen your relationship with him

2) Your friendships

3) Through celebration

This lesson can be found on page 97 and 98.

Note that we do not want to disregard the other 2, Worshipping through service and through sharing his love but we thought that we have explored those areas before and we want to look into the other 3 this time J Please feel free to also talk about the other 2 or any other aspects that you believe that God wants you to tell/ explore with your youths.

OK first of all the overview,

Worship, what does this word mean to you?

In the Romans 12:1, Paul gives us a biblical definition of worship: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.

Sooooo its stated very clearly here, in black and white, the definition of worship. That because of God’s mercy, his blood that was shed on the cross for you and I. Our bodies and lives are now worth living and living for him. Your lives belong to him. And God wants you to live a holy life that pleases him!

I do believe that all of us are thankful for that saving grace. Now then where are some areas that we can start to please God? Here are three areas. Please present all three areas first to the kids. Then either ask them which one they would want to explore first. I don’t think we would have time to go in depth to all of them. Soooo maybe just go in depth for two and cover the coral reef areas for the last one.

Worship God: By allowing him to strengthen your relationship with him (The Vertical Relationship)

Aged old question, which came first the chicken or the egg?

-Which came first I our relationship with God? Man’s need for a relationship with God or God’s desire for a relationship with man?

1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”

1 John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Clearly, it was God’s desire and plan to establish this relationship with us.

-What kind of relationship did he intend to have with us then?

Leviticus 26:12

I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

Here these few words summarize that God wants in this relationship.

1. He expresses desire that we acknowledge and accept him as the Supreme being.

2. He proclaims that we belong to him and promises to walk with us.

If we understand that we were created to have a relationship with him then we should also recognize that we truly need him for we can do nothing without him.

2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

While doing my daily stalking on facebook…..hur hur hur… I came across this status update.

“If we come to Jesus with anything more than nothing, we come with too much. All we need is need, because He’s the one who does the work, and He’s reworking all things into good for those who love Him. Even when we’re worn out, worn thin, and feel like we’ve got nothing left to offer Him, all He demands is our nothing. ”
- Mike Donehey

And really that’s the perspective that we have to give our kids. That it doesn’t matter what state we are in good or bad, what kind of things we have done, how we have ran all the way to Antarctica and slept with the penguins. (Emperor penguins scare the living daylights out of me)

All he needs is for us to open that door in our hearts to acknowledge first and foremost that

1. We love him because he first showed us love and because of that we can begin to ask him to grow our hearts so that we can -

Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

2. Recognise this need for him to be Lord over our lives that he should increase and we decrease in this relationship.

Echoing what John the Baptist said

John 3:30He must become greater; I must become less.”

This can mean to read his love letter to you, quiet time, solitude, prayer walk, making a list of things he has given you to be thankful for.

It is right to say that God does all the heavy lifting in this relationship. But he will never force open the door of your heart because that’s as good as mind control and that isn’t love. So part of being that living sacrifice unlike a dead one we have the choice to remain on the alter and submit to him in this relationship. :)

2. Worship God: Through our friendships with others (Horizontal Relationships)

When I first read that part about how one could worship God by choosing his friends wisely, and then be wise about the ways that you spend the time together. It came to me as a fresh perspective of looking at friendships. Maybe its cause the usual way of looking at friendships is how we as Christians impact others be it non-Christians or Christians. Yet I think I forget sometimes that it is an act of worship to God, on how I spend my time with my friends.

With that this topic can branch out into two parts. Christian friends and non-Christian friends. The main general thing to take note of is that friends can either help or hurt you in your relationship with God. If they help you, worship will come more easily. This part I feel applies more to the Christian friends you have. We can have many friends but we should have a close inner circle of Christian friends who spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)

So I decided to do more research more on this topic of how friends can help our relationship with God. This is about small groups but I feel that there are many parts which applies to our relationships with our other christian friends whom we have. Also some of the youths and even us leaders may not know the purpose of small groups.

Ok this is taken from desiring God.com, Ill highlight the important main points that we should bring across to our kids, and the rest, we should definitely read to understand munch and break it down into small bits for our youths.

Small Groups Stirring Up Love and Good Works

For those who have eyes to see and for those who are willing to engage, you know that we are in a warfare just that serious right here in Minneapolis. Jesus said, "The love of many will grow cold. And those who persevere to the end will be saved." And our text sees this coming and says in verse 24, "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love [how to keep it from becoming cold] and to good works [the expression of love] . . . " How? "Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

This is our biblical foundation for the ministry of small groups at Bethlehem. Just think of it. Love is the premier fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Love is the first and great commandment, and the second commandment (Matthew 22:37–39). Love fulfills the whole law (Romans 13:8). Love is the greatest of faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Yet God has ordained that this love—this all important reality—rise and fall in the church with our willingness to meet with each other and encourage each other and stir each other up. The purpose of every small group—whatever else it is—is to keep the love of its members warm.

We really need to let this grip us. If Jesus said that in the last Day the love of many would grow cold, and if he counsels us how to triumph over that coldness, namely, by not neglecting to meet together but rather meeting and encouraging each other and stirring each other up to love, then we should listen to him. We should follow his counsel. Not to follow his counsel here is very presumptuous and foolish and dangerous (cf. Matthew 24:13).

A Mandate for Regular Gatherings of Small Groups

This text is not so much a mandate for big corporate worship services as it is a mandate for regular small groups of Christians to get together for mutual encouragement. We know this because verse 25 says that the meeting together is for "encouraging one another." It's not just for a pastor to encourage you; that's important and I believe preaching is God's will in the church. But something more than that is implied here in this phrase "one another."

I don't mean to say it only happens in small groups. The fire of love can be ignited with the kindling of encouragement and the match of the Holy Spirit any time and any place that two Christians communicate with each other. But the point of small groups is that this utterly crucial kindling of love ought not to be left to chance. Isn't that why this writer in verse 25 does NOT say, "Hope that you run into a brother or sister to encourage this week," but instead says, "Don't neglect to meet together, but encourage one another"—that is, meet, meet to encourage each other?

So, if we just took these two verses—24 and 25—we could say that the biblical rationale for small groups is that they are meant to stir Christians up to love and good works. The way this stirring up happens is by encouraging each other. And the practical way of insuring this kind of mutual encouragement that stirs up love is meeting together.

The Basic Agenda for Small Groups

But the text has even more to say about small groups. The basic agenda is here also. Suppose you ask: What is the content of this mutual encouraging that is supposed to go on in these groups? What sorts of things do you say to each other that comfort and encourage and send people out fired up to be loving to others and do ministry with good deeds? Is there any difference between this kind of group and secular groups that would say their goal too is encouragement? What does God want us to say to encourage each other? How does God mean for us to stir up love and good deeds?

God-Based Hope as the Freeing Power to love

The answer is given in verse 23. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." So what this is saying is that God has made promises to his people, and that he will keep those promises, and that we should therefore hold fast to hope and be confident in the future that God controls.

Now there is a direct link between that kind of God-based hope and the love and good works that get stirred up in small groups. Look at verses 34–35:

You had compassion on the prisoners [there's the love and good works that got stirred up in a small group], and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property [there's the proof that the love was not legalistic or forced or coerced, it was joyful], since you know that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one [there's the source of the love: confidence or hope in God's promise of reward]. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

That's just another way of saying verse 23, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

So what's clear is that the freeing power to love and do good deeds of compassion even when they are inconvenient and costly—and even do them joyfully—the freeing power to love like that is hope. It's the confidence that God is for you and that if you trust him and follow his way of love, he will meet every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Speaking the Promises of God to Each Other

And if that hope is the freeing power to love, then what do you suppose the encouraging things are that we are to say to each other to stir each other up to love and good works?

Answer: we are to speak the promises of God to each other, and tell each other stories from the Bible and from experience that bolster our faith that God will indeed keep his promises to us.

So, for example, you may want to stir someone up to express his love in working with the boys clubs on Wednesday night. You don't just tell him to do it because it needs to be done. You speak the truth of God's promises to him.Pastor John's last three sermons tell me that God would not let you down. His eyes run to and fro to find people to whom he can show off his strength—he'll do that for you. He sees in secret all our humble efforts and will reward them. Nothing is wasted. If there's opposition or criticism, you can hand it over to him, because he promises to be a just judge. And you can be sure he will make your mouth a fountain of life to feed and heal and protect those boys, because Jesus promises to be your food and your physician and your fortress.

Or you might just say, "My God will supply all our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

From this whole passage, another misconception that I had and that wasn’t corrected for quite some time was that your main source of feeding should not come from small groups. Small groups are like the ones who fan the fire? But prayer and reading of his word are the gasoline and source of fuel of the fire. Another thing I don’t think one should cut of ties or disown a friend if he or she doesn’t help you in your relationship with God. But shouldn’t spend so much time with him or her. Bottom line we need to have so much discernment and this comes from spending time with God and reading his word so that we know the Father’s heart. Also remind them that we as their leaders are always here to try and help them in figuring out all this too.

Worship God: Through celebration in everything that you do !!!

God sent his son Jesus Christ down on earth so that we can have an abundant life

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

1. We Celebrate because of where we are today.

- We have not made it yet, Christians are not perfect just forgiven
- God is still working on the sin in our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Philippians 1:6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12 "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."

- We are so blessed to be where are.
a. We are part of God's family.
b. We belong to a church.
c. We have His Spirit within us.
d. We have His Word before us.
e. We have His people around us.
f. No matter what happens, we are richly blessed.
2. We Celebrate because of where we will be tomorrow.
1. Being a Christian is not just about the here and now.
2. It is about the there and then, eternity.

John 14:2-3 "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

1 John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3. Ours is an eternity of joy in God's presence.

Do we have cause to celebrate in worship? Think about our yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Is there not a reason for us to celebrate and worship Him? If not, perhaps we need to be caught in his saving grace again. If we are living life as a routine Christian, perhaps we just need to draw closer to Him in our relationship with him. Are the relationships in our lives spurring us to celebrate everyday and in every circumstance?

Whatever the need why not come today and spend time with the Lord and ask him to help us make it right so that we can fulfill the greatest purpose of our lives: sacrificing worship that is pleasing and worthy unto him!