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Worship Ministry
Purpose of our Worship
The purpose of our worship is to glorify, honor, praise, exalt, and please God. God seeks true worshippers, and He identifies them as those who "worship Him in spirit and in truth."
We are to worship God with the fullness of our heart, to be obedient, and to proclaim the truth of God to the world! We prove we love Him by our obedience to His Word and to the Holy Spirit.
Rhonda Fister
Worship/Communications Director 815/469.2868 x118
rhondafister@peaceinfrankfort.org
Neh. 8:6 - Israelites "bowed low and worshipped the Lord"
Ps. 95:6 - "let us worship and bow down"
B. Hebrew word abad - "service or work for God"
Deut. 6:13 - "fear the Lord your God and worship Him"
Ps. 2:11 - "Worship the Lord with reverence"
C. Hebrew word segid - "showing respect" or "doing homage"
Dan. 3:5-18 - "worship the golden image"
D. Greek words gonu and gonupeteo - "bending the knee"
Eph. 3:14 - "bow my knees before the Father"
Phil. 2:10 - "every knee should bow at the name of Jesus"
E. Greek words sebo and eusebeo derived from sebas - "fear or reverence"
Acts 18:13 - "worship God contrary to the law"
Acts 17:23 - "worshipped in ignorance"
F. Greek word proskuneo, derived from pros, "toward" and kuneo, "to kiss"
Matt. 4:10 - "You shall worship the Lord your God"
John 4:24 - "worship Him in spirit and truth"
G. Greek word latreuo, derived from latris - "servant"
Rom. 12:1 - "spiritual service or worship"
Phil. 3:3 - "worship in the Spirit of God"
H. Greek word leitourgeo, derived from laos, "people", and ergeo, "to work"
Acts 13:2 - "ministering to the Lord"
II Cor. 9:12 - "ministry of service"
I. Greek word therapeuo - "to heal"
Acts 17:25 - "God not worshipped by human hands" (KJV)
J. English word "worship" derived from old Anglo-Saxon weorthscipe, meaning "worth-ship"
Worship is a relationship with Christ - A Heart Desire for God
Worship is a heart desire for God, having a relationship with Christ and sacrificing your life in pure dedication and being obedient to what He is calling you to do. It requires involvement and is directed toward God. We come to Him in awe and reverence as we exalt His Name and all that He has done and will do.
It is about God and honoring Him with our lives - a humbling and sacrifice of oneself allowing Him to mold and change us. This should happen on a daily basis and not just during our corporate worship service. We are told in Romans 12:1 to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. Jesus also commanded us as is written in Matthew 22:37 that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Our Corporate Worship
- This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.. 1 John 5:3
- Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us; we know it by the Spirit He gave us. 1 John 3:24
- If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love. John 15:10
- Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess His name. Hebrews 13:15
We value coming together corporately as a body of believers and giving our praise and worship as we exalt God and give Him the glory due. (Psalm 29:2 - Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name, worship the Lord). Our specific goal is to draw near to God and come into His presence. Thanksgiving and praise move us into His presence.
- “Enter His gates with thanksgiving , and His courts with praise.” Psalm 100:4
- Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. 1 Chronicles 16:29
- Worship the Lord in holy splendor
- “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Another very important element of our corporate worship service is to hear the Word of God proclaimed. When the Scriptures are read and explained in the church, God speaks to His people, for “through the Holy Spirit, Christ is present in the sermon, offering grace and calling for obedience.” (from the Book of Common Worship)
Worship At Peace
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Member Blogs on Worship
King of Glory
08/26/2009
By Contreras, Angel and Susan
Psalm 24
1The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof;
the world, and they that dwell therein.
2For he hath founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon the floods.
3Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?
or who shall stand in his holy place?
4He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully.
5He shall receive the blessing from the LORD,
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6This is the generation of them that seek him,
that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.
8Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.
10Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory.
Selah
When we approach God, it would behoove us to know the God we approach. God, however is undefinable outside of His own disclosure. In other words, we cannot (do not have the ability) to know or understand the nature and person of God unless God unveils Himself, and further, gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. Praise be to God that He has had mercy on His people to give us His words.
This very psalm tells us so much of His person and purpose.
He is Creator, Owner,Sustainer, absolute Sovereign and King. v.1-2
The Psalmist asks who can approach this God? Who has the right to present himself before this One? v 3.
That person is described: as one who has hands, heart, soul and mouth free of sin and corruption v. 4. Question: does that describe me or you? This is enough to bring us to our knees for God's mercy.
CH Spurgeon wrote: "The question before us is one which all should ask for themselves, and none should be at ease till they have received an answer of peace. With careful self-examination let us enquire, "Lord, is it I."
Yet do not be troubled, because the very thing God requires of you to ascend before His holy presence, He freely provided in Christ. As you are in Christ, His cleanliness, purity, and righteousness is yours. v.5
As He has set us graciously before Himself, clothed us with an alien righteousness we seek after Him and His face as one seeks one's most precious friend. As one seeks the deepest love of their life and will not rest till the eyes of that lover are deeply set on his own. As the deer pants for the waterbrook so my soul longeth after Thee" Ps 42:1 "Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee" St. Augustine
What a gracious God we have. Oh what a wondrous King we serve. Now that the Psalmist describes the Lord, he commands the gates
of the Temple, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the very temple of our hearts to open up and adore the Prince of Glory. He does not command us to worship some hidden deity, some ethereal entity with no definition or purpose. No, we are told " Who is this King of Glory? He is the Lord Strong and Mighty" He is the Lord Mighty in Battle" v 7-9
Oftentimes reading the Psalm itself is enough to refocus our attention to the richness and majesty of God.
Oftentimes, lingering on the words breathed by the Sovereign is enough to renew a heavy, beaten down spirit.
Oftentimes, the reason we weep and gnash is because we have not fed of the food of the Father's table.
Look to Him. Be raised from your slumber and worship the High and mighty Lord.
Come to worship with purpose. Aim your heart like an arrow toward the altar. Let your praise have context and grounding in the true and Living God revealed in the inerrant, infallible written Word.
Worship in Spirit and In Truth
04/09/2009
By Contreras, Angel and Susan
Well, I'm back.
Its been a while. I have been on hiatus for a while and I missed you. I’m back to, hopefully get our theological synapses fired up and “spur you on to love and good works”
This weekend, Pastor Jim shared his thoughts and perspective on worship. I appreciate Jim's passion and willingness to be transparent and authentic. I've sensed a sincere intensity within him as he leads the music portion of our worship, that tells of a deep love for his Lord. Oh that that passion would ignite in me and those around me.
What does ignite a right response in our gathering? What is that thing called worship? Is it a thing, an event, an attitude or is it more? Have I misunderstood the meaning and reality of the command (yes command) to worship? I think that I may have in my walk.
Within popular evangelical culture in recent years, I believe, worship has come to be a frivolous affair. It has become called "an experience" whose value is measured by the number of goose bumps, chills or number of tears that had been evoked. There is an obsession with forms or styles that give rise to pressures on the leaders as well as the pew dwellers to…perform for God rather than worship Him. Thus worship becomes very...um…horizontal, earthbound, in a word, fleshly. My feelings toward God and how I express them become the focus rather than we, as a community, coming to God as a chosen race and a royal priesthood (I Peter 2:9) called by Him to present ourselves to Him and proclaim His excellencies. Worship, then becomes a work rather than a holy calling.
I was challenged to define what I believe worship to be. I agree with Jim as he put forth the biblical concept that worship, as Christ defined it, is to be done in “Spirit and in truth”, this alone is a study in and of itself of great edification! It describes a “true worshiper”. Wow, that’s what I want to be. It is someone the Father seeks. A true worshipper worships in a balance of truth and spirit, each component enhancing the other, never overpowering the other. All spirit and no truth breeds emotionalism and superstition. All truth and no spirit brings out cold scholasticism and bitter pietism. But real, authentic, vital worship begins with the object of worship, not the worshiper.
“And immediately I was in the spirit; and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One who sat on the throne. And He that sat on the throne was to look upon like a jasper and a sardius stone: there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald…and out of the throne proceeded lightning and thundering and voices: and there were seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.”
Revelation 4:1-3,5
Can you picture that? Rest on that description for a moment. There is the Mighty God, the Lover of our souls, the powerful, omnipotent Sovereign enthroned with a symbol of His everlasting power and promises encircling Him. His splendor that is destruction to the enemy but life to us who believe. Tell me: what does that evoke in you? This is what happens next:
“And the four and twenty elders fell down before Him that lives forever and ever, and casting their crowns before the throne saying:’ Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created’” Revelation 4:10, 11
The twenty four elders saw and declared the truth of the Glory they were in the presence of, the God of Glory, Jesus Christ. Their response to that greatness was unabashed worship.
The worship gathering of disciples, then is the dialog of Heaven. God is presented to us in Word, Sacrament, Music, Liturgy and we respond to the God of the Word in sweet, humble adoration. God speaks through the Word as it is read and expounded, we are fed Spiritually by the bread and wine, the Gospel is represented to us and we mourn and rejoice. There is context to our worship, i.e. Truth. There is response that is heartfelt and Spirit-born, from our deepest bowels, i.e. spirit. As the great Jonathan Edwards put it:
Holy affections are not heat without light, but invariably arise from some information conveyed to the understanding. The child of God is graciously affected, because he sees and understands something more of divine things than he did before-something more of God, of Christ, and of the glorious things exhibited in the gospel (Jonathan Edwards, A Treatise on Religious Affections (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker), p. 192).
We are coming to the place this week where there will be renewal. My friends, Good Friday can be a new beginning of a renewed sense of true worship as we hear and focus on the Gospel. Christ, God who is high and lifted up, was lifted up on a cross for every eye to see and be set free from the tyranny of sin and death. Christ, God most high, is resurrected on the third day and sits at the right hand of the Power of God.
Behold the Lamb and Worship. He is worthy.
In Him,
@nge!
Motions
03/29/2009
By Glass, Gary
What to think...what to think
01/04/2009
By Contreras, Angel and Susan
Its a late night, but the gathering of believers to worship God is only hours away. I am moved, however to encourage you to think as you worship.
Feeling is, of course welcome, but I encourage you to engage your mind as well as your emotions as you come before God. Consider that He has invited you to come before Him. He has opened the doors to the Holy of Holies, where none could enter but the high priest and permits you as a New-birthed priest before Almighty God to offer yourself as a living sacrifice, your reasonable act of worship. Note well, in your mind, that the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit...not any old god, is the One before whom you present yourself.
Take off the sandals of the world, you are coming to Holy Ground. Come and receive His forgiveness, the rejuvenating of your spirit and the renewing of your mind.
Think through the Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs...and Praise Him.
Think through the reading of Scripture and the proclamation of the Gospel...and praise Him.
Think through your sin, receive cleansing...and praise Him.
Come to Him all you who are weary and heavy laden and receive rest...and praise HIm.
Meditate on all His works and Praise the Lord. Come as you are, but not any way you please.
Think about it.
Worship...Unplugged
11/18/2008
By Contreras, Angel and Susan
Quite a morning.
Imagine everything for Sunday worship is planned, prepared and primed to go...only to to have to regroup, re-plan and pretty much do worship improv style. That's pretty much how it went this Sunday. The power went out of the building, but the power turned on in the body of Christ.
The Holy Spirit humbled us and showed us that in spite of our best laid plans He was in control. The atmosphere was positively electric. Ironic because we had no electricity. We had, at least in our pew, had to use our Hymnal, (you know that odd blue book that hasn't been used in years) to finish off the rest of "How Great Thou Art" because we had no power point. Pastor taught en encouraged us on the focus of worship, bowing down before the Lord (self-note: Gotta do that sometime).
The sweetness of that time was the prayer of the people. Young and seasoned alike crying out to God for friends with "throw up" issues and Praises for the gift of Salvation.
"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord...we did
Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our Salvation...we did
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song... we did
For the Lord, He is the GREAT GOD; the Great KING above all gods
Let us come bow down in worship let us knee before the LORD our Maker..." Shall we? Psalm 95
Ah, how wonderful it is when God is the focus and not our voices, our songs, our clothes our electronics. When Heaven speaks we can hear, when we are at our end, then we can understand.
Just as a side note, as I was looking at the front of our Sanctuary, the most potent light came in through that circular window behind the pulpit. Emblazoned on it was the cross, silhouetted by the day's light. My eyes were riveted.
Folks, isn't that what Worship is all about. Focus on the cross and the Savior pinned to it, then let your heart erupt in Holy Song.
It was Peace...unplugged
Love ya
@ng
Understanding Worship: A Fruitful Endeavor
10/14/2008
By Contreras, Angel and Susan
I was so tired.
I had a job the night before entertaining at a wedding where the sobriety of the guests was sorely in question. My goal was to try to make it out of there unscathed. I arrived at home at about 2:30 AM, slept for a few hours, and then got up to go to Church.
My contacts felt like medium grit sandpaper on my eyes. My mouth was filled with invisible cotton in spite of Colgate’s claim to do the contrary; my head was as foggy as London after Midnight, complete with echoing footsteps. To this moment, I cannot vouch for whether my socks matched. All in all, I was prepared to meet with God.
“ Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100:3
My soul thirsts for God, the living God, where can I go to meet with God?” Psalm 42:1,2
“Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we men, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you – we also carry our mortality about with us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.” Augustine of Hippo, Confessions Book 1 Chapter 1
Let’s walk together and dig deep for that multi-faceted diamond of worship. We may get dirty, but the reward is great, as great as our God.
Love ya!
Ang
Worship - Human Encounters
10/13/2008
By Fister, Rhonda
3. God’s pardon
4. God had something to say
5. accountable for service to SERVE him.
1. Who he is
2. What He looks like (holy)
3. He has something to say
4. We are to SERVE him.
Have a Blessed Day!
Rhonda
Worship Rehearsal
