Recap of Ignite Youth Service, September 23, 2009
The War Series, Week 2
This week in Ignite, we continued our discussion of worship: Warship is Spiritual Warfare. Check out the recap of last week’s lesson to catch-up.
Worship is not necessarily a specific action that we take. The most accurate way to describe worship is that it is simply a reflection of God’s glory, as if he were a light shining down, and our worship is the mirror that reflects his glory. But it’s awfully easy to worship God when things are going great. But it’s when we are going through stuff–and we all have our issues, drama, and trials–that our worship is amplified.
Our Scripture text this week is Acts 16:12-40, the story of Paul and Silas in jail and their escape by God’s hands, and the salvation of the jailer’s entire household. Keeping all this in mind, we can remember 4 truths that will help us be better mirrors of God’s glory.
1. We can worship God at all times because He is worthy of praise. We can stay focused on our problems, or we can stay focused on God. Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Our situations may change, but God will always stay the same. If He was worthy of praise yesterday, then He is worthy today.
2. We can worship God at all times because God is with us. God’s promise is not that you’ll never go through trials. After all, Paul and Silas were in the dungeon. His promise is that you’ll never be alone. This knowledge should make a difference in our ability to worship God during tough times.
3. We can worship God at all times because He has freed us. A mom asked her seven-year-old daughter to clean up her bedroom. The little girl didn’t want to clean her room and ignored her mother. An hour later the mother clarified that it wasn’t a request, but a directive. “You will clean up your bedroom.” The little girl got risky and said, “No, I don’t want to clean my room.” The mother responded, “You will clean your room or there will be a serious consequence young lady.” The girl took a deep breath, slumped her shoulders, scowled at her mother, and said, “I may be cleaning my room on the outside, but I’m not on the inside!”
What’s going on inside our hearts and minds is often different than our actions. In this way we can be captive to some difficult situation but still be aware—on the inside that we’re free because of Jesus Christ.
4. We can worship God at all times because He is working. We don’t always see the whole picture, but God does. He is always working something out, and most of the time we can’t see it right away. Many times we never see it. But He has it under control.
The fact of the matter is that our trials are a megaphone for our worship! When people know that we’re going through hell on earth, but we still have an attitude of worship (an attitude that reflects God’s glory), they will sit up and pay attention!
Next week Amanda will end the series for us, talking about a lifestyle of worship, as well as alternative forms of worship. Tune in next week!
