December 4th, 2016 COME TO WORSHIP Lift Your Hands Terry Baldwin 1 [ TITLE SLIDE ] As we approach the Christmas season... - Take time to focus on who Jesus is - What He did for us - I believe God is going to expand our hearts to know Him more intimately... BECAUSE we have come to worship Him. ( Our title is taken from Matthew 2...Wise men asked King Herod ) [ Matthew 2.2 NIV ] Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. - Wise Men DIDN T come to GET something from God... came to worship - TODAY... Where we live, most believe GOD EXIST FOR US - Cosmic Coke Machine - Coin In / Prayer / Devotion / Post you having devotion - God will answer prayer... Because... - God exist to MAKE OUR LIFE BETTER!!! (WRONG) - God DOES NOT exist for US... / WE EXIST FOR HIM!! - We are created to Glorify HIM - To KNOW Him / Make Him KNOWN
As a Church... - WORSHIP Him - One of the greatest areas we can improve... greater WORSHIPERS 2 - It s WHO WE ARE - We ll look at 4 different Postures of Worship Today, Start with lifting up our hands before a holy God... in a heart of worship TODAY Posture of LIFTING UP HANDS To those who are not church goers... looks kind of funny [ VIDEO - Worship Positions with Hands / Tim Hawkins ] All types of ways to worship with hands Want to look deeper into WHY we do something with our HANDS Psalms 63... David is in a wilderness... Low point in life [ Psalms 63.1-4 NIV ] You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. - Wonder, how many are in place in life that reflect this?? - Only / Rejected / Afraid - Holidays suppose to be happy... - Holidays are MAGNIFIER good / bad
3 - David cries out... earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, - God s love is eternal... - This life will fade away Your love is better that living...my lips will glorify you. - Can t stop, because Your love is that good!... - Got to tell You!!! I will praise you as long as I live, - Remember David is in bad place... and in your name I will lift up my hands. THIS IS ACT OF WORSHIP!!! You cannot experience the GRACE of God without showing GRATITUDE - Reaching out to grab hold of God!! Thank You!!! Paul giving Timothy instructions to help Christians Worship [ 1 Timothy 2.8 NLT ] In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. - Men here means Males
4 Men are often the LAST to raise their hands - Maybe PRIDE / AWKWARD / Not a Man Thing - Whatever reason... Paul wants MEN to lift up Hands in Worship - Guessing, Paul wants Men to SET THE STANDARD for Worship - Paul wants Men to be LEADERS in family - Wants Children to see Fathers seeking God s Heart - You want you kids seeking God... YOU NEED TO SEEK!!!! - Men, don t let your wives out worship you! - YOU... Set the Tone / Be first one!!! - You be a Man after God s own heart WHY?? Would God ask us to Raise hands? - I BELIEVE... God loves it when His children lift hands to worship Him - Imagine the Love of our Heavenly Father... - There s no father on earth who would reject the outstretched hands of a child... - When our hands move towards God... God moves toward us!!!
5 [ James 4.8a NLT ] Come close to God, What will God do?? and God will come close to you. God, I can t reach You, but this is the best I can do. I m lifting up my hands in an act of worship - God loves this! This can also be an Offering of Praise... just like an offering to God [ Psalms 141.1-2 NIV ] I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. - I m praying... and accept this as an offering - Because of who You are!! Today be the first time you ve ever given an offering of lifted hands to God. - It may feel a bit awkward, at first. - May feel like you re kind of pushing yourself out of your spiritual comfort zone. - Just lift them up and say, God, I m offering my heart to You. I m offering my praise to You. We lift our Hands to Him because... 1. Act of Worship 2. God Loves It 3. It s Offering of Praise 4. As we draw near to Him... He draws near to us
6 ( BLANK ) Another reason... We are Declaring Battle... and we need God s Help!! Some today may be in REAL BATTLE... Dark place. If things don t change, you don t know what to do... You re going to... Lift up hands and say I m declaring battle, and I need the help of my all-powerful God to do battle with me, and for me. I m declaring battle with uplifted hands. Great Example: Exodus 17 - Amalekites attacking Israelites - Moses tells Joshua... Tomorrow, going to top of hill to pray for you!!! [ Exodus 17.10-11 NIV ] So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ( Hands Up... WINNING / Hands down... LOSING ) - When hands are up acknowledging sovereignty of God... God s people were winning
7 - Some here today feel like they are losing... Might be time to lift up hands, say... God, I trust You, no matter what! On my own I don t have what it takes I lift up hands to Praise You!... The BATTLE IS YOURS Interesting fact here... - Vs 12 When Moses hands were tired... [ Exodus 17.12-13 NIV ] When Moses hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up one on one side, one on the other so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. EXAMPLE: [ Larry Hunter / Halbert Wilson... Roger Vogel ] When I get tired, I know these men (others) pray for me... Not only do we hold each other s hands up... We all worship together - Together we are seeking God
8 Some of you are in Battle now... It s time to declare... God I need You! Think of this... Through out history Raised Hands means 2 things... 1. You WIN 2. You SURRENDER - Victory... and Surrender Guess what??... In God s presence it means BOTH - At moment you surrender to Him... you find VICTORY in Him!!! Song want to play for you... During it you will want to sing... and Worship God and you will want to lift your hands!!! ( SONG - We Lift You High )
9 PRAY... Yes, I want to deepen my heart in passion and intimacy for God in worship,
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