Worship is About Encounter

Encounter with who – you may ask? I will share with you the answer in a few minutes, but first let’s praise the lord:

Oh The Glory of His Presence by Ron Kenoly

Sing unto the Lord!
Invite Him in Your Place…
Lift your heart now
Rejoice as you sing to the Lord
Christ is King!

Let me quote you something from Jack Hayford:
“Worship is about encounter – coming into God’s presence.”

Do you sense that? Do you know that?

To have an intimate relationship with the Creator, our Heavenly Daddy, and our big brother, Jesus Christ in our worship, you and I come to the throne room of God to fellowship.

Smile…its true!

This is why we gather together for worship service on Sunday morning.
Let’s read Ephesians 2:19-22:

19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

“All of those who have given their lives to Christ Jesus are to respond to the sacred call of congregating for celebrating in worship as well as communicating the story of God and communing with Him according to Lamar Boschman of The International Worship Institute in Dallas, TX. Believers of Christ gather together to worship, to edify each other and to witness to the world.” I agree with him totally.

We have the special celebration each Sunday. We honor and extol Jesus. When we come to the House of the Lord, we don’t bring live animals to sacrifice in worship as God required for us to do under the Old Covenant, but we come and offer up spiritual sacrifices, as under the New Covenant of Grace received through the shed blood of Christ.

You and I are living stones or tabernacle (spiritual house), a holy priesthood, to offer up these spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

We worship God in spirit and in true (John 4:24), and from this attitude of our hearts, we make our external acts of worship spiritual. We connect by offering the sacrifice of praise to God continually (Hebrews 13:15) with thanksgiving.

When Believers gather together in worship, guess who shows up?

Jesus joins us in praising the Heavenly Father. He said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). And guess who else?

The Holy Spirit comes and pour out the Father’s anointing on us. “So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD” (1 Kings 8:11).

They glory in God’s presence as well, and Jesus joins in singing to the audience of One. He doesn’t sing of the Father, but joins His family in singing to the Father. Jesus models vertical worship.

How will you view the public worship service differently because of the mini lesson? We celebrate Jesus, and when He shows up to join us in worship and what does He do? Jesus values the acts of spiritual worship? What about you?

Until next time, continue to be blessed and Praise the Lord!