Food for ThoughtJune 2, 2008 11:49 am
I’ve been reading a very good and refreshing book on worship lent by Sandy!! Very relevant to the worship team! I really like that we are described as having a heart with a God-shaped hole and only God can fill it…
This is an excerpt of the Foreword written (By R Warren) for the book “The Worship Answer Book” by Rick Muchow. R Warren is the author of The Purpose Driven Life.
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Worship is the first purpose of your life. When Jesus asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength.”
In our ministry we’ve operated from a simple definition of worship, based on the Great Commandment: “Worship is any expression of our love to God - for who he is, what he has said, and what he’s doing.”
When you understand worship in this way - in its full biblical context - then you can quickly see that there are many appropriate ways to express our love to God. Obeying, trusting, testifying, listening, praying, creating, thanking, waiting, singing, confessing, committing, giving, and practically every other thing can be an act of worship when our motivation is to demonstrate our love to God.
Worship is your lofe. Rick Muchow is a worshipper of God, and he leads us to worship God. When he worships he models for our congregation and we follow his lead. Worship leadership is all about modeling worship for others. When people see RIck worship, it helps them think, “I want that, too!”
God created us with a natural desire to worship something, and if we fail to worship God, we inevitably will find a sinful substitute.
A lifestyle of worship moves us beyond the half-hearted and hypocritical worship described in Is 29.
God says of such worship, “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” (Is 29:13)
God wants worship that bubbles from a heart of love, full of passion and commitment for him. For that reason I’ve always believed there is an intimate connection between woship and evangelism. The goal of evangelism is to produce worshipers of God. Worship produces a desire in us to tell others about Christ.
In genuine worship God’s presence is felt, God’s pardon is offered, God’s purposes are revealed, and God’s power is displayed. When nonbelievers watch believers relate to God in an intelligent, sincere manner it creates a desire to Know God, too.
(Rick Warren on Rick Muchow in The Worship Answer Book)
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May I encourage all of us to be genuine worshippers, modelling worship for others in our workplace, ministries to see!
Have a blessed week!
