I Was Made For Worship ~ Part 2

I Was Made For Worship ~ Part 2

By Pastor Gary Wayne

Jn.4:23 “…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” The Father is looking for worshipers.
In our culture today, most think of worship as the time we sing songs of praise and worship on Sunday mornings.

In the Hebrew culture, they understood everything they did in life was worship, not just a designated time to sing praise & worship songs.

If the only time I interact with God on an intimate and deep place is once a week at church, I have a problem.

My relationship with God HAS to affect my day to day living.
Intimacy = into – me – see.

Text: Psalms 95:1-7, Revelation 4:8-11

When I worship, it increases the presence of God – or my senses to His presence.
When I engage in praise & worship as a tool: to do spiritual warfare, to re-establish truth in me, to interact with Holy Spirit on an intimate level – it changes things.
It changes me from the inside out – it changes the atmosphere – it puts the enemy to flight.

But like anything worth doing, I can make it routine, doing this to get something from God, doing this because I should, making it about me instead of about God.
Isa 29:1: “…These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. NIV

Worship can’t be about me.
I don’t want to stand / sit, sing that song/ lift my hands, sit next to so & so, what will people think of me if I…

They should sing more hymns, more choruses, more new songs / less new songs, more fast, more slow, not so loud, not so quiet.

I was made for worship – I was made for intimacy - Life is not about me, but about Him.

Last night while I was studying, Heatherann sent me a short devotion about intimacy.
God knows us very intimately.
He knows when I went to bed last night. What kept me awake.
He knows what I dream about, what I had for breakfast.

He knows the safe place I put that thing I can’t find, what I think about the people in my life – my wife, my boss, the people in this room, 3 rows down.

He knows my past, present, and future. AND HE STILL TALKS TO ME!
We are known. Intimately.

But does God seek intimacy with us?

Think about when God created man. He didn’t need us, He wasn’t lonely, but He wanted you to live.

Genesis tells us God would walk with Adam & Eve in the garden in the cool of the day and it implies they had un-hindered fellowship.

Then right after they sinned, “God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" Ge 3:9

That’s amazing – even thought they had just sinned and separated themselves from Him, God still called to them - God still calls to us.

Listen to these scriptures:
2 Chr.15:2 “…The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you…”
Jer 24:7 “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
Zec 1:3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' …, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD ….”
Jas 4:8 “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
Heb 10:22 “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…”

I was made for worship – I was made for intimacy.

When God asked Adam & Eve “Where are you?” did He ask because He didn’t know?
No, The question was for them to know.

Today when God calls “Gary, where are you?”, the question is for us.
Not, “what have you done” but “where are you?”

Song: You Know My Name – by Tash Cobbs