THE WORSHIP OF A GROWING LIFE
Romans 12;1-2 erefore, I urge you, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.
What God Wants God is asking for all of us, all the time, all for Him. That is what worship is the offering of our everyday lives to Him. Whole life worship requires us to be completely sold out to God, unreservedly committed to His purposes and 100% set apart for His glory body, mind and spirit.
The Clarion Call To Worship The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. ~Henry Varley
The Worship of a Growing Life e primary and most powerful step toward the worship of a growing life is committing to a practical, measurable process that catalyzes spiritual formation in our lives. Christian Growth: To look like Jesus. Spiritual Formation: The process by which I look less and less like me and more and more like God s Son.
The Worship of a Growing Life Salvation + Spirit s Work + Time + Intentionality = Spiritual Maturity Train yourself to be godly. ~I Timothy 4:7 Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. ~Philippians 2:11
The Worship of a Growing Life There is no practice more foundational to the worship of a growing life than the habit of regular reading and study of the Bible.
1. Studying the Bible is the first step toward the knowledge of God. For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. ~Psalm 138:2 (New King James Version) You cannot truly worship what you do not know. You cannot know God apart from knowing His Word.
God s self-revelation through the Bible is more revealing and more reliable than what we can know of Him rough the visual witness of nature. rough the testimonial witness of others. rough the experiential witness of our emotional response to the presence of God. rough the existential witness of our spirit connecting with Him.
2. Studying the Bible is the highest form of worship. Study is man s highest excellence and his highest happiness. ~C.G. Montefiore The study of God s Word is an inescapable concern by which to know God [God s Word] should be viewed as an ever-present miracle...worship is appreciating the miracle that encounters us in our daily lives. ~Abraham Heschel
3. Studying the Bible is the pathway to spiritual fruitfulness. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. ~John 15:7-8
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. ~II Timothy 3:16-17 God-breathed (theopneustos): Possessing the life of God. The Bible is not just written material, it is the living, active life of God.
4. Studying the Bible is the key to transforming your mind, and therefore, your whole life. Don t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. ~Romans 12:2 (Contemporary English Version) Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. ~John 17:17
Encountering the Bible is not just a transmission of information it is a transformational encounter with the Spirit of Truth. Sin has more dangerous effects on our faculty of feeling than on our faculty of thinking, because our opinions are more easily checked and regulated by revealed truth than our experiences. ~John Stott, Your Mind Matters
Meditate on it: But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. ~Psalm 1:1-2 Memorize it: I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You. ~Psalm 119:11 Master it: Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. ~II Timothy 2:15 (King James Version) Minister it: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ~James 1:22 (New King James Version)