Praise
Offering/Pastor's Message Back
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Hello mighty warriors of HOP!!!
One thing I love about
Jesus is that He is the shepherd of our souls and knows that we are sheep who
need constant care and guidance!! He knows when to encourage us and when
to correct us just like He did to the churches in Revelation. He
would encourage what they were doing right and exhort them in areas they were
going astray in. I try to use that model as I shepherd His people here
on earth. Though I fall way short I try to hear what God would say to us and
pass it on to you!! When we gave our Uganda offering a few weeks
ago I could sense His great joy and pleasure!! I think the angels
were doing extreme praise around His throne!!
When Denise was sharing
this last Sunday she used some verses about worship and praise being due
to His Name. And then I felt the burden of the Lord. Ascribe
to the Lord the Glory due His name; worship the Lord
in the splendor of His holiness. Psalm 29:2. The earth has a massive
debt of praise and worship owing to God for who He is and what He has done
over generations of people. Since the unsaved don't know this yet, this
obligation falls on the church, His sons and daughters. "...a people
for Gods possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him
who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...1 Peter 2:9
As you should know by now your main role as a Christian is to be a
priest, flowing in the areas of prayer and worship. As
our prayers and worship go up into the throne of God they are as sweet
smelling incense before Him. To exalt His Name and magnify Him is our
chief purpose in this life. Our entire lives are to be lived as a living
sacrifice of worship.(Romans 12) But just like prayer there is corporate
anointing when we gather together that is special to God. Your prayer closet
is precious to God and so is the gathering of 2 or more in His name!! Your
personal worship time is awesome and so is your church worship time. The
Bible says to not forsake meeting together corporately.
There are basically two types
of offerings we bring before the Lord in both the old and new
testaments. Offerings from our flesh and blood and offering of our
hearts. Both are pleasing to the Lord. In Malachi He says don't
rob Him of our physical flesh and blood gifts of tithes and offerings. That
flows in the new covenant as well. When we give of our material possessions
from the work of our hands it blesses Him. We also give Him offerings
from our heart, spirit and soul. We worship Him in spirit and in truth.
We bring Him an offering of worship and praise out of our hearts. We should
not come into His house without either one of these offerings!!
I have seen a grievous
thing under the son. Sounds like something from the book of
Ecclesiastes!! What if Gods people do come into His house without
these offerings? Since we live in grace we might not even know how this
effects His heart. But we have the Bible and we have His Spirit living in us
leading us into all truth. In the world, all day long and all week long
the pride of man is exalted. The accomplishments of man, the
intelligence of man, the legacies of man are lifted up. Hundreds and thousands
of words are spent on these type of conversations each week.
Like I said before non Christians do not know yet about the offering
of worship due to the Lord every second of every hour. All creation screams it
out, Praise God!! Every wave, every wind, every tree, every rock is
saying worthy worthy worthy!!! As Christians the Holy Spirit is constantly
reminded us to give Him praise. The worship team is reminding us, the
worship CD's are reminding us, the word of God is reminding us. Out
of our belly a continual song is coming forth of praise to the King. A
continual burning of prayer and worship. God loves all the activities
our lives should have. We have families and hobbies and friends that take our
time each week and that is a good thing, but what if we forget the Lord God our
Maker? Isaiah 51:13. What if we come into His House on Sunday after
spending 6 days expending our hundreds and thousands of words and
conversations and remain silent when it comes time for the worship offerings?
Can we have a dinner party on Saturday night with our friends and talk non
stop for three hours and then come to church and sit and say nothing in His
presence? I know that religion has robbed the church of her voice but God says
NO MORE!!! It's time to move on!! Gods ready to get some things done and He is
going to do them clothed in the praises of His people!! Is this a
convicting word? I want a convicting word!! God says to expend (to use up, to
pay out) ourselves in worship and praise!! Hot, cold, but not lukewarm!! We do
have to beware of idols in our life. If there are things that are
causing our hearts to worship them above Gods splendor then we need to repent
and change. If our flesh gets to call all the shots instead of the Holy
Spirit we need to repent and change. We are in the last days of Glory and
darkness. We cannot afford to miss one chance to bring Him an offering
due his name. It should take us at least 1/2 hour to even try and
stop our corporate worship on Tuesdays and Sundays every week!! We should need
full time ushers to try and calm people down enough for the announcements
and teaching times!! Our corporate worship times should be like igniting
flammable gas!! Just one little word of praise starts another continual
burning!!! I know we don't know what this looks like and the church is in a
process of change and becoming mature but let's let go, and let God take us
there!! Why can we talk on the phone for two hours and then we get tired
in worship after singing two songs!!! Don't tell me there is not some
opposition there!! The breaker anointing will take you past the outer court
and into the holy of holies!! If you are saved you have enough to praise God
about for about 2000 years nonstop 24 hours a day. You can use English
or any known language from the earth. You can use tongues from your
spirit and any other sound your body can make to give Him
praise!!! It is due His name. Just like the Olympic mountains
are worthy of our gaze and admiration each day so is His name 24 hours a
day 7 days a week. That's part of what the Tabernacle of David is all
about.
So how do we respond to
this word? If you are not saved invite Jesus into your life and find out what
is so glorious about this God!! He will reveal His glories to you over and
over again. If you are a Christian and you cannot worship out of your
heart and soul spend time with God until you can!! Cut out the dinner
parties, cut out the phone calls, cut out the TV, cut out everything and
anything until you become a worshipper!! Every other good thing flows out of
our intimacy with Him. It's like the old coca-cola commercial: He "adds
life"!! Food never tasted so good as when you eat it as a
worshiper!! Your friends were never so precious to you as they are when
you are a worshipper!! The car you drive never looked so good as when it
does being a worshipper!! Get the picture!!!
We live in extreme times.
We need to be over the edge extreme worshippers probably even to survive
the days ahead. Are our lamps filled with fresh oil? Do we have a
continual burning for His Presence that even the smallest spark will ignite!!
God is going to keep on removing all the trappings of religion and we are
going to see His glory increase and increase. What if we did not have a
worship team helping us? What if there was no CD player? Would the
offerings due His name flow out of our hearts? Or would
we remain silent?? "You have turned my mourning into dancing. You have
loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise
to You, and not remain silent." Psalm 30:11-12
Desperate for His ways...pastor Nels
