Introduction:
Read Wesley’s
Directions for Singing pg. vii in hymnal.
How many of you remember waiting for Christmas when you were a kid? I do! We put the tree up right after Thanksgiving! We decorated to get everything just right. We shopped for gifts! As a kid,there was more shopping for gifts going on than I even realized! We planned what we going to do! We were intentional. The stockings were hung! Everything was done at the right time! I waited with great expectation, and I wasn’t usually disappointed. Santa showed up just at the right time and brought gifts! December was a long month, but it was worth the planning and the waiting!
Trans: Worship is a lot like that! The Psalmnist speaks a lot about Joyful, Vibrant worship!
Prayer
Psalm
100 & Psalm 84:1-2
I. AVibrant,
fruitful, growing churches offer Passionate Worship that connects people to God
and to one another.@
A. AWorship
describes those times we gather deliberately seeking to encounter God in
Christ.@
1. We encounter Christ to Praise and say Thank
You!
2. We encounter Christ for Christ to speak to
us, to draw
closer,
and to make life changing commitments!
B. AThrough
Passionate Worship, God draws people to Christ (many for the first time),
deepens understanding and relationship with Christ, and over time transforms
lives as disciples of Christ.@
C. AWithout
passion, worship becomes dry, routine, boring, and predictable, keeping the
form while lacking the spirit.@
II. What is Passionate Worship and how do we have
it? Let=s look at
a couple of families; we will call them family A and family B. They are not meant to represent anyone in
particular.
A. Family
A: Family A is the typical family (if there is a typical family) where both
husband and wife work to make a living for 2 kids.
They have the typical two-car garage and a picket fence. They live the American Dream. Mom and dad both work hard; when they are not
working late, they attend the kid=s games
at the school. This week has been
particularly tough. One of the kids broke an arm at school and dad had to take
off from work to take her to the doctor.
He got chewed out at work for missing an important interview at work as
a result. Because of this, he was very
moody at home. They are a very busy
family with their days filled with activity from the time they get up until
they go to bed. They can=t seem to
find time for daily Bible reading and prayer.
Sunday morning comes, and everybody is tired. Mom and dad hit the snooze two or three times
before getting up. When they get up,
everybody is running late, the kids haven=t gotten
up either, so everybody makes a mad dash to get ready for church at the same
time. They fuss over the bathroom; they
fuss over whose fault it is that they are running late; they fuss over who will
fix breakfast. They finally get ready
and have to drive a little faster than posted to get to the church on
time. They arrive at church one minute
before worship starts. They shake hands
with the greeters and pastor who have been there for 15 minutes, and the
service begins. It takes a while for the pastor to get going too because h/she
too has had to rush around to get there. They go through all the elements of
worship. The singing is good. The message is okay, but it is just hard to
get into worship. Worship is not very
passionate.
A.
Family B: Family B is a typical one parent
family (if there is a typical one parent family). Mom works very hard to support her two kids
who she has become the sole provider for after her husband walked out on her. She works very hard and tries to make all the
games for her kids that she can. It is
hard to get it all done, but the kids have been taught to help and do their
part. Mom rises early to spend time with
God, reading a devotion and in prayer.
She teaches the kids to also make time for personal prayer and Bible
reading. She finds that the day just
goes better when she starts it with God.
Sunday morning comes, the alarm goes off, and mom and the kids roll out
of bed, each taking time to start their day with God, just like any other
day. They get ready and arrive at church
with plenty of time to gather and greet other Christians before service time.
The pastor and worship leaders have been there for an hour or more and have
also taken time for personal Bible readings and prayer throughout the week. The
pastor prepared the message early in the week and has been thinking about it
all week; it isn’t a Saturday night special so to speak. The worship leaders
have been included in the prep all week; they too have had time to think about
it, pick songs, and read over the scripture readings. They have gathered early to pray and center
on the service, to refresh, and fine tune exactly how the service will go. They have time to discuss any last-minute
feelings they have toward changing the service etc. They know what they are going to do and
why. They expect God to do something in
the service and they want to be ready.
The entire church is filled with expectation that God will move among
them today; you can feel it as you move among the people before service. Service time comes; the greeting is very
passionate and filled with expectation and excitememnt; worship begins; the
songs are great and well planned, everything is coordinated together; the
worship leaders convey excitement and expectation; the message is great; the
pastor feels that God has really given him/her something for the people today;
the people are touched by the Spirit of God and filled up to go out and serve and
share the love of God through the week.
This worship is very passionate!
III. What is the difference? Passionate worship is a lot like getting ready for Christmas. It takes:
A.
Advance prep; worship is an outflow of a heart that
is in relationship with God.
1. We
need to be prayed up and ready!
2. We
need to read the bible more than just at church!
3. It
means practicing and preparing to offer our very best!
B.
Intentionality!
Good worship doesn’t just happen.
1. We
need to be intentional with our flow. We
shouldn’t leave a lot of dead time between things. People who are going to be on next should be
on spot and going with it.
a. Ushers or those bringing up the offering should
be
moving
to their place so that there is no wait time
for
them to be in place.
b. Musicians should be ready to go right into
their next
thing, unless there is a call for a pause.
c. People singing specials or reading the
scripture
should
be moving to do so even before being called
upon
so that people don’t have to wait for them to
take
their place.
d. People doing the Children’s moment should be
ready
to
walk right up at that time.
e. Everything should flow with that
intentionality!
2. We
need to be intentional that our songs go with the theme of the day, that our children’s time goes with the theme, so that the people go away with the
intended message and encounter.
3. We need to be intentionally positive and
upbeat!
4. Pastor
has to be intentional and think about what to preach and why.
C.
Expectation!
We need to come expecting God to do something, and just like I was never
disappointed at Christmas, we will never be disappointed in worship! Everything we do needs to convey that
expectation!
1. There
needs to be an air of expectation in our voice!
2. You
should be able to feel the expectation!
3. Expectation
brings joy and excitement!
D. When
our worship has Advanced preparation, Intentionality, and
a sense of Expectation, we will have
passionate worship that
draws people to God!
Thanks be to God! Amen!
Prayer of Confession
Service of communion
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