Recap of Ignite Youth Service, September 30, 2009
The War Series, Week 3
By: Amanda Hahn (Yes, that’s my bride! She’s amazing!)
Over the last few weeks we’ve been talking about worship and war. The first week we talked about how worship is warfare. Last week we talked about how worship is a reflection of God’s glory. This week we talked about how worship is a lifestyle. Romans 12:1-2 says “Offer yourself as living sacrifices…don’t conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!” This pretty much sums up in a nutshell that worship is a lifestyle. We can get from this passage 2 things: 1) Worship is an action and 2) Worship is an attitude.
Worship is more than just a 45 minute segment of loud music and singing on a Sunday morning. Worship is a 24/7 lifestyle. Worship isn’t limited to once a week nor is it limited to one form. Worship can be done in numerous ways. God has given each and everyone of us talents and gifts. We can dedicate our life, with all of its talents and gifts, to God in an act of worship. Whether it’s the gift of dancing, sketching, poetry, singing, talking, or any other gift, all can be given to God in a form or worship. 1 Peter 4:10-11 says “Each and everyone of you have a talent, so use that talent to serve others and glorify God!” If we’re not representing God 24/7, then who are we representing?
Worship is not just an action, or a talent that we possess, but it’s also an attitude. Paul said in verse 2 that we need to be transformed by a renewing of our mind. Worshiping God requires more than just us lifting up our hands and singing. Worship should inspire us to focus our thoughts only on God. So many times we get caught up in the motions of worship, but our minds are somewhere else. Many times we let our pride get in the way and we focus on how something might benefit us rather than focusing on how something can benefit God. Worship is not about us! Worship is about Him! 1 Timothy 1:17 says “Worship and glory belong to the eternal King…forever and ever Amen!” We can’t truly worship God if we are worshiping ourselves.
So, is your life a worship service? If your life is going great, shouldn’t worshiping be a breeze? But if your life is going too great, then maybe you’re not doing enough for the kingdom. Satan only attacks those who are a threat to his master plan – to steal, kill, and destroy. If you’re giving God your all, wouldn’t Satan be attacking you and making life tough? If worship is warfare, are we in a battle everyday of our life? We need to take a stand and say “I’m committed to worship, even if life is tough!”
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!
Recap of Ignite Youth Service, September 16, 2009
The War Series, Week 1
Dictionary.com describes War as a conflict carried on by force of arms, or, a state or period of armed hostility or active military operations.
The War Series
We have this concept of war as a completely negative thing. Sure, many wars are over ridiculous things, and awful things happen. But, in Matthew 10:34, Jesus says “I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword.” So does this mean that the concept we’ve been preaching about now for so many years about a peaceful Savior is false? Absolutely not! It simply means that our God is not a sissy! He’s not afraid of a fight! Yes He wants peace in our lives, but sometimes it comes at the cost of war.
Many times, the old testament speaks of war. In fact I’ll go so far as to say that it was a constant. But it was a different kind of war. Today, war looks much different than it did in Biblical days, so many of the illustrations and metaphors for war are lost on our modern minds. However, taken in context, we can learn much from these stories.
To illustrate, take for instance the medieval warfare tactics shown in the film series The Lord of the Rings. The warfare here is a little more closely related to Biblical accounts of war. Now, in this light, think about some of the Biblical references:
He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Psalms 18:34
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Joel 2:1
We will shout for joy when you are victorious, and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. Psalms 20:5
Strangely enough, there is a time in our church services when many of these types of phrases are used. It’s during worship!
That’s right, worship. Worship is warfare–spiritual warfare. Sure, there are several other facets to spiritual warfare. But worship is a large part of it. And I think that many people these days don’t realize that worship is so important. It is how we make war on the enemy! It’s how we overcome!
Next week we’ll explore worship in a more modern sense.
So what do you think? We had some great comments about worship from many people last week, but I want to hear from you!