Tag Archives: Worship

Idolatry?

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One of the constant Biblical commands is that we should not worship idols. That’s something that we hear over and again in scripture. Don’t worship idols. Don’t bow down to them. Worship God only. Don’t worship or serve idols.

And problem, we think, man, that’s the easiest of the 10 Commandments to follow. I’ve never worshiped a false God. We don’t have a family idol. There aren’t any idols in ours home.

Sweet. I’m good.

But here’s the thing about that. Idolatry is not what we make it. It’s not about just worshiping an “idol” but, it’s about placing our hope, our security, our lives around something.

The thing that we worship is the thing that we build our lives around.

So, to ask ourselves if we are tempted by idolatry, we don’t need to walk around our home, looking for false idols. We need to ask ourselves, what do we build our lives around? Where is our hope?

Is it in God? Or something else.

Listen to what it says in Psalm 115: 1-4:

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.

Idols_2013_logoThe work of human hands. We may not have “false gods” made of human hands in our lives, but so many of the things in life that we turn to for home and security, they are things that we have made, things that we have earned, things that we can attain.

They are human in origin.

They are not God. They are made by human hands. And the will fail us.

Tim Keller said – An idol is anything that you turn to and say, “Save me.”

So today, in your life, where do you find your worth and your hope. Don’t give me the “Christian” answer, you know, the one you have to give; are supposed to give.

Where does your life say that you find your hope and your worth? If your hope and worth is in anything of this world, that thing will fail you.

If your hope and worth is in the True God of Heaven, then you have nothing to fear.

Today, what are the idols in our lives that we need to get rid up?

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones, and you thought our app, you can now watch our worship services from Asbury too!

An Honest Place

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psalmsOne of the things that I love most about the book of Psalms, is that each of the Psalms is written from a very honest place. The Psalms are basically songs of praise that we were written to be sung as worship to God.

I love them.  I try to read a few of them each day. They are inspirational, they are hopeful, they are encouraging, and they are honest.

They are written from a very honest place. And that means that sometimes they don’t sound very safe.  Or even nice. But they always sound very true.  Listen to what I read today in Psalm 69: 19-21:

You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

The Psalmist pours out his heart, his anger, his brokenness to God.  He lets God  really know what’s going in his head, in his heart, in his world.

He lets God know. And the hurt comes pouring out.  The pain is unleashed.  He gives it God.

And that’s such an honest, healthy thing to do.  Such a good thing to do.  Because here’s the thing.

If we hold onto our hurt, our pain, our loss, God can’t help us with it.  When we cling to it so tightly, there’s nothing He can do.  But, we when we release it, give it Him, He can actually do something to help us with it.

But, we’ve got to actually give it to Him. I put it like this.  We need to pray honest prayers, not safe prayers.  Honest prayers actually tell God what’s going on, and let Him help us.  Safe prayers don’t tell God the truth of hurt, pain, and fear. And if we don’t give things to Him, He can’t really help us with them.

Today, this Psalm comes from an honest place.  Today, may our prayers do the same. May we actually tell God what’s going on. And may we find His grace there in our moment of need.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phone.

He Will Rejoice

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We often think of us rejoicing in the Lord.  We think about each of us, giving praise to God through our songs, through our music, through our actions, through all that we are.

We think of so often of us, truly rejoicing and worshiping the goodness of our God, the greatness of our king. We think of all that we want to bring to God, all that we want to give to God. For He is worthy of everything that we could possible ever give to Him.

Everything.

But, today, let’s think on that concept a little different.  Listen to what is says today in Zephaniah 3:16-17:

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

imagesThe Lord will sing over us.  He will love us.  He will quiet us with His love.

It isn’t just that that we will sing our praises to God.  It’s that He will sing over us.  Think about that for just a moment. God loves us so much that He will lift up His voice and sing over us.  What a powerful image.

Seriously. Stop right now and think about just how much it is that He loves you.  He does.  He loves you more than your human brain can understand.  Man oh man, He just loves and adores you.

Don’t forget. Don’t forget that.  He loves you. He will sing over you.  You are His.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Daily

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Sorry these posts have been so irregular recently. Summer has been helter skelter for me.  I will post tomorrow and then I will attempt to post next week as well. I’ll be preaching Camp Meeting at Shiloh in Rankin County starting Sunday and will be preaching through the next Sunday. If I have internet access I will up date each day.  If not, I may not be back into the routine until the first Monday in August. We’ll see!

Romans 12:1-2 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It’s one of those neat passages that has so much to see and look at when you first see it, but the deeper you look, the more that you can see.

Listen to what it says:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We could spend a lot of time talking about not conforming to the world and how our lives, our thoughts, our dreams, who we are, they should be different from the world all around us.

We are called to be holy. To be holy is not be perfect, it’s to be different. We start being different by having our mind in the right place – on Jesus.

abo2But, look above it. There’s that great verse about being a living sacrifice. And I love that image of us, as a living sacrifice, laying our entire lives down upon the altar of God. I love that image, I love that though, I love thinking about.

Our entire life, it is a sacrificial offering to God. Everything we do. Every moment of our lives, everything. It’s a sacrifice to God!

And that’s awesome. Except for this one thing. A living sacrifice can get up off the altar and walk away. So, today, we lay our burdens down upon the altar. We lay our worries down upon the altar. We lay our fears down upon the altar. We lay our sins down upon the altar.

And, because we are living, we walk away. We pick them back up, and we walk away. Because we can.

It’s not a one time laying these things down – fear, worry, sin, etc – it’s a daily laying them down. Every day. Because as a living sacrifice, we can crawl off the altar, and take our stuff with us.

So, today, lay it before Jesus. And tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after. And the day after. Lay it there. Give it to Him. Daily.

Every day. Lay it down.

And in doing that, we will that peace, hope, and life that we are seeking. May we do it, daily.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones

Don’t Let the Rocks Steal from You

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God will be worshiped.

God will bring honor and glory to His name. He will be worshiped.

The heavenly hosts were created to worship Him. The angels sing His praise all the day long.

One day, in heaven, we will join that unending chorus, singing Holy, Holy, Holy to the Lamb.

God will be worshiped. He will be given His honor. It’s all about Him. In life. In death. In everything.

We have been given this great calling; this great task. As the church, as Christians, we have been given this mission to cry out, to sing, to worship, to give glory to God.

But, what if we refuse. What if we say that we will not? Listen to what Jesus says will happen if we don’t worship in Luke 19:37-40:

As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.

If we don’t worship, the rocks will cry out. He will raise up the rocks to give voice.

God will be worshiped. That’s our job. That’s our calling.

And here’s the thing. When we do that, we find the life that we need, the life that we seek, the life that we want.

We find what we were created for.

Worship, glorifying God, giving Him praise, it’s what we were made for. You were made for that, to glorify God.

Don’t let the rocks steal that joy from you. Live into God made you to be. Life for that calling.

And in that, you’ll find the life that you seek!

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

To Give Him Glory

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Today, in Psalm 50, God tells us to call upon Him in times of trouble. To thank Him and to make our vows to Him. And to call for His strength and might in our times of trial.

Listen to what verses 14-15 say:

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

God says – call upon me. I will deliver you. And you shall glorify me.

He has saved us, literally and figuratively, for that purpose. To glorify Him. To give Him praise and glory.

Because He is worthy of that praise and of that glory. He is worthy.

So, let’s tell the story. Let’s tell the story of how He has saved us. Let’s give voice to the ways that He has changed our lives for the better. Let’s talk about what He has done for us.

Does this mean you have to pin your co-worker or classmate down and make them become a Christian?

No.

But, do your words glorify Jesus? Do our actions bring glory to His name? Do we let our lives honor Him?

Can others tell the difference that Jesus has made in our lives? He has saved us. He has restored us. He has rescued us. He has changed us.

For this purpose. For this reason. To give Him glory.

Today, in our lives, we give God glory through action through, word, action, and deed. He has saved us.

May we glorify Him.

Don’t forget, you can click here to download Asbury’s mobile app and read these devotionals, as well as listen to my sermons on your smart phones.

Your Job Today

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You’ve got a job today. You’ve got something you are supposed to do.

Now, yes, you’ve got tasks that you are supposed to accomplish.  You’ve got duties with work, with family, with community, with so many things in your life.

These are important. These are things you have to do. But, they were not what you were made for. You were made for something specific and with purpose from God. God made you for relationship, with Him, and with other people.

And He made you to worship Him. Every moment of your life, every moment you breath, every moment you are here, you were made to worship. That’s your job today. To give worship and praise to Him. To glorify Him in everything you do. That’s your highest purpose.

Above everything on your to do list. Above all the stuff you’ve got going on. Above anything that’s going to pop up on your radar.

You were made to give praise to God.

Listen to the words of Psalm 148:

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.

Let every created thing give praise to God.

So, today, give praise to God with your actions. With your words.  With all that you are.  With every fiber of your being.

That’s what you were made for. That’s what you were created for. To praise Him.

Today, may we praise the Lord!

Passionate Worship Podcast

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The sermon podcast for January 16, 2011 is up on Asbury Church’s website. It is entitled “Passionate Worship” and it’s the second in our series “The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.   The text is Psalm 84:10.   You can listen to it by clicking here, or you can listen to it here on this blog by clicking below. And, as always, you can subscribe to my sermon podcasts through iTunes.