Phase 1 Week 11 The Corporate Discipline of Worship (March 31-- April 7)
Steve Smith
Respond to the statement by Richard Foster, to understand His grace is to understand our guilt.
In addition, respond to the following statements:
1. Praise is another avenue into worship.
2. The mightiest stirring of praise in the twentieth century has been
the charismatic movement.
3. Singing is meant to move us into praise.
4. God calls for worship that involves our whole being.
In addition watch this video and share what you experienced while watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URQrgeyeUD4
noelcassandre
Respond to the statement by Richard Foster,
To understand His grace is to understand our guilt.
A passage that explains this statement is found in Luke 7, the story of the
woman with the alabaster box. A Pharisee’s
invited Jesus to go to his house. When a
woman, the sinner, knew Jesus was at the house, she brought an alabaster flask
of expensive fragrant oil. In the
presence of a holy God, the woman wept.
With her tears she washed Jesus’s feet and wiped His feet with her hair,
showing deep sorrow or guilt for her sins.
The woman kissed and anointed Jesus feet with the oil. In his heart, the Pharisee criticized Jesus
because the woman was a sinner. Jesus
refuted the Pharisee with a parable about two debtors who owe different amount
and both of their debts were dismissed.
The Pharisee concluded that the debtor who owed the creditor more money would
love the creditor more. In conclusion, Jesus
said “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many,
are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same
loves little.”
The woman recognized that the magnitude of her sins and state of guilt and that she needed a Savior to forgive her and to bestow upon her much grace. She took the very best that she had and laid it at the feet of the Master. It is when we recognized our state of being a sinner and ask for His forgiveness then we receive Hs grace so our sins are forgiven.
As Foster mentioned, “To see who the Lord is brings us to confession.” This is shown in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah caught sight of God. Isaiah then realized he’s unworthy for he is a man on unclips who dwell in the midst of unclean lips. When you recognized God holiness, you used Him as your standard of good. You realized that you can never do work to be accepted by him. When you recognized that, you realize the need of His unmerited favor, His grace.
1. Praise is another avenue into worship.
Praise is giving thanks to God for what He has done. As you verbalize all the great things that God has done, you realize the magnitude of God. In my personal experiences, as I remember specific situations that God has brought me through…I realize that it was no body but God that got me through them, then I begin to praise and thank God; that usually lead me to worship..
The story of the ten lepers in Luke 17 explains this statement. When the 10 lepers saw Jesus, they shouted, Jesus “Have mercy on us”. Jesus gave them the command to show themselves to the priest. As they went, they were cleansed. When one of the lepers saw that he was healed, he returned to Jesus “with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.” The action of the healed leper falling down at the feet of Jesus displays the characteristic of worship and reverence. The man realized that it’s only Jesus…he had no other choice but to marveled at His healing authority. He praised and worshipped Him.
2. The mightiest stirring of praise in the twentieth century has been the charismatic movement.
Charismatic worship includes people clapping and raising their hands. God calls us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to him. Hence, our worship should involve our whole being. Although I love and have great respect for traditional hymns, I believe these songs may not be greatest tool to reach teenagers in this present generation to Christ. Contemporary songs that are based on biblical scriptures is a great tool.
3. Singing is meant to move us into
praise.
Noted from Foster, “No less than forty-one psalms command us to “sing unto the Lord,” because singing is a command from God; that shows its importance. Music allows us to express our emotions. Song allows us to sing God’s Word back to Him. Songs are able to change and set the moods. There are times I can feel discouraged about a particular situation, as I sang songs, I begin to have that unspeakable joy. With this joy, I start to see the situation through God’s eyes. I begin to praise God that He’s in control.
4. God calls for worship that involves our whole being.
Willard Sperry declares, “Worship is a deliberate and disciplined adventure in reality.” Foster stated that “It is not for the timid or comfortable. It involves an opening of ourselves to the adventurous life of the Spirit”.
God call us to offer body as living sacrifices. The body, mind and spirit must be involved for it to be true worship. For example, if the body is sick, it is harder to worship God because a greater emphasis is placed on the illness. Just being present in the service does not mean we are worshipping. We might sing songs passively while the mind and spirit are not involved. To get into worship, you have to cautiously listen to the words in order to get into worship. Although they are important, a worship leader or music is not necessarily needed in order to worship because worship comes from within. Few times I have left church just as I came in. When I examine myself, I realize I didn’t come with my worship in my heart. The worship leader can’t lead you to place of worship that you haven’t been yourself.
I believe it’s easier to praise than to worship. Worship is internal whereas praise is external. You can copy praise; you follow the rhythm of people’s around; they clap their hands, you clap yours, they dance so you dance. You worship God because you recognize who He is. Unless you know Him, you can’t worship Him.
“Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.” To worship God is to change. You can’t enter God’s presence for Him to leave you unchanged. As you begin to worship God, you recognize His internal of characteristics of Holiness, Pure heart; these characteristics propel us to change as the Holy Spirit reveals in us what need to change.
Lastly, as Foster mention, the words that are used to describe worship are physical: worship means to prostrate down; bless mean to kneel; thanksgiving refers to extending one’s hands. Throughout Scriptures, physical postures have been connected with worship: “lying prostrate, standing, kneeling, lifting the hands, clapping the hands, lifting the head, bowing the head, dancing, and wearing sackcloth and ashes.”
In addition watch this video and share what you experienced while watching.
This video was a blend of traditional and charismatic worship. In the beginning, when the orchestra is playing it portrays that of a traditional worship. A traditional theme I observed is the choir singing with the worship leader. Throughout the video, charismatic movement themes were present. There are people playing drums and tambours. People were lifting their hands as a sign of reverence to God’s holiness. Everyone was included in unison in the worship. .
This video supports why Worship is a corporate discipline. This video further supports the verse “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Everyone contributes to the worship experience. We draw strength from each other. You can go to a service in a negative mood. As everyone is worshipping, you start to worship, then you leave different from how you entered the service.
Lastly, in one part of the video, people were responding to the music; it shows the importance of the right music in worship (1 Sam 16 v. 23).
Heather Anderson
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Heather Anderson
Respond to the statement by Richard Foster, to understand His grace is to understand our guilt.
When I think about the word “Grace” I think about how it takes on a redemptive sense in which God makes available his favor on behalf of us, who actually do not deserve it. Salvation is the result of Heaven’s grace and in order to obtain salvation, according to Romans 10:9-10 we must confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is the son of God and he died for our sins and God raised him from the dead. If we believe this, God’s grace is manifested and we are redeemed by his love. One of the things that is an intricate part of salvation is repentance, with that said, confessing our guilt to God and being able to know that he will and has forgiven us, helps us to know that now we can live with his favor upon our lives. This in my opinion helps us to understand his grace more and more. In Richard’s comment “ The pervasive sinfulness of human beings becomes evident when contrasted with the radiant holiness of God”, Suggests to me that since darkness and light cannot dwell together, and the light of God will expose sin, God’s light gets rid of the darkness(sin) when we confess our sin. I believe that confessing our sin, begins with guilt. Guilt is when one is feeling responsible or remorse for something done wrong and that is exactly what we feel when we repent (most times), is ask for forgiveness for the things we’ve done wrong. I agree with Mr. Foster’s statement.
In addition, respond to the following statements:
Praise is another avenue into worship.
Praise is about God, worship is to God. Praise is opening up, worship is entering in. Praise is declaring, worship is humbly bowing in the presence of a Holy God. Praise applauds what God has done; worship is honoring God for who He is. I believe that one can give praise about what God has done in their life, but never experience entering into his presence with their worship. To worship God, requires a relationship, an intimate relationship with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this society today, we have a lot of people who give praise to God, but the question becomes, who is their God. Many people do not mention the name of Jesus anymore, so we find “credit” being given where credit is due, but where the worship is. True believers worship in spirit and in truth, if you are not a person who does not walk in the spirit, then you will not understand how to worship in spirit and in truth. This brings me to believe that the true believer will start with praise and enter into worship understanding that if God does not do anything else, he should be praised and worshipped just because of whom he is. According to the text, we are to live an inward, perpetual listening silence so that God is the source of our words and actions, if we do not have a relationship with God, it is impossible to do this.
The mightiest stirring of praise in the twentieth century has been the charismatic movement.
I agree that there is a strong stirring of praise in this twentieth century in the charismatic movement; understanding that there are over 300 million people in the world that are consider themselves charismatic Christians. When studying the history of the charismatic church, I learned that the Greek word for charismatic is “charismata”, which means “a gift of grace”. Thinking about God’s grace and what that means, in my opinion is why we have the mightiest stirring of praise in this the 20th century. I think it comes full circle in understanding who God is as well as it confirms that his grace is sufficient and that nothing is impossible for him. When he moves upon a people and people understand that it’s his grace that saves, that alone puts one in a spirit of praise. On the contrary I think that often times we take God’s grace for granted and it hinders us from going from praise into worship.
3. Singing is meant to move us into praise.
I look at singing as being my praise. According to Psalms 150 David tells us to praise God in the sanctuary, in the firmament of his power, according to his excellent greatness, with the sound of the trumpet, with the psaltery and harp, etc… This is an excellent scripture to help us understand that God wants us to praise him with everything. Praise can happen whether there is music or not. Music has helped me to move into a place of praise and worship but God has taught me that, while a team has cheer leaders to cheer them on during the game, the team doesn’t know whether they are going to win the game or not, they’re hopeful; however, with God I know that I win so my praise to him is according to what I know not what I hear. I don’t see anything wrong with music and setting the atmosphere, When Paul and Silas were in jail, they sang praises unto God and the prison doors were open and shackles fell off... so I believe that singing is meant to move us into praise, but if there is no singing, we should be able to still praise him and enter into worship, then look for the miracles to manifest.
4. God calls for worship that involves our whole being.
Worship should in deed be a life style. When we worship God, we’re not worshipping because of what he has done for us but because of who he is. When the three Hebrew boys were thrown in the fire, they did not believe God because of what was happening, they believed that even if he did not show up, he was able. I believe that knowing that God is able and being willing to enter into worship with him regardless of the situation is to present our body to him holy and acceptable to him, which is our spiritual worship... Yes, God wants all of us and I believe that when we understand that he is not oblivious to who we are and what we need; we will worship him in spirit and in truth. We were created by him and for him, this means with everything that we are, and everything that we have, we ought to worship him.
Frank Anderson
Isaiah 6:5 said "woe is me! For I am lost , for I am a man of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king." To know that you were a person who have done it all and for your actions you should have perished but for the level of compassion that is beyond the scope of man ,God said come you are forgiven, this just shows the magnitude of a His grace.
1: Praise is another avenue into worship.
In the Psalms , David became a man after Gods own heart because of his praise and worship. One of my favorite Psalms is Psalms 100, Make a joyful noise unto The Lord all you land, which is to say sing or say your praise in a joyful way. And how we are to enter into His courts with praise. David knew that to show his love of God was to let Him hear you saying it in a loving joyful way. When you worship The Lord you will be bring the worship with praises.
2: The mightiest stirring of praise in the twentieth century has been the characteristic movement.
The modern church have discovered that the doors to the holiest of holy can be access and are now begin to open through praise and worship. We see new converts filled and showing signs of speaking in tongues and prophesying. The older conservatives saw not much need for worship and praise , but the modern church now sees miracles, healing and deliverance through praise and worship.
3: Singing is meant to move us into praise.
The act of praise and worship is filled with emotions .. You can have a praise team that can sing very well but without the love of God the singing will be without emotions and there will be no move of the anointing. An anointing praise team will usher the Holy Spirit into the room but a group of skilled singers will just have the church rocking. As Paul says sing with the spirit and sing with the mind." Spirit touches spirit". The emotions is released when we place our all into worship. If we sing do so with the body ,mind , and spirit.
4: God calls us to worship that involves our whole being..
In the midst of our greatest turmoil lies our greatest praise. On a whole when our problems arise our first response is to try to solve. Most times in the greatest of battles that we face in life the deliverance will only come from praise. Many times though beaten , battered and bruised Paul was still worship. Their bodies were in pain but the worship was true. They would look past the circumstances and would still praise. David went through all the wars while still able to write the best of praise and worship songs. He was not distracted because his life was threaten , he wrote the 23rd Psalms. This is worship with all your emotions , with all your being, body , mind and spirit.
Heather Anderson
watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URQrgeyeUD4
Psalm 150. I saw the musicians praise with their instruments and the
choir praising with their voices, with hands lifted up in worship to
God. Also I couldn't help but to notice that their expressions were
those of the words that they were singing. This song is absolutely one
that would lead people into worship. back to what my thoughts are
about praise and worship.
>>>> worship..
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The story of the ten lepers in Luke 17 explains this statement. When
>>>> the 10 lepers saw Jesus, they shouted, Jesus "Have mercy on us". Jesus gave
>>>> them the command to show themselves to the priest. As they went, they were
>>>> cleansed. When one of the lepers saw that he was healed, he returned to
>>>> Jesus "with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His
>>>> feet, giving Him thanks." The action of the healed leper falling down at
>>>> the feet of Jesus displays the characteristic of worship and reverence. The
Frank Anderson
Cassandre Noel
Heather….Great
and insightful post. From your post, I gather that you are worshiper.
Powerful statement. “Praise is about God, worship is to God. Praise is opening up, worship is entering in. Praise is declaring, worship is humbly bowing in the presence of a Holy God. Praise applauds what God has done; worship is honoring God for who He is”. Yes…To worship is to know Him. The more you know Him; the more you worship Him. The more you worship Him, the more you know Him.
Great insight “True believers worship in spirit and in
truth, if you are not a person who does not walk in the spirit, then you will
not understand how to worship in spirit and in truth.” If you are not
walking in the Spirit; you can’t worship Him in spirit and in truth. It's
I agree… “Praise can happen whether there is music or not.” While music plays an important role in a worship service, I believe we are too dependent on music in our services.
Cassandre Noel
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Angelina Washington
- Our sinfulness becomes evident when in the presence of God. When Isaiah saw the glory of God he cried out Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! (Isa. 6:5) We are not fully purged from sin while on this earth but because of what Jesus did on that cross we are all forgiven of our sins. By understating guilt we inevitable understand sin. Therefore because we are forgiven for our sins only through God’s grace and mercies for which we receive anew every morning we can know how the two intertwine. For no man is perfect and because God is an unchanging God his grace shall be sufficient enough for us to give us peace. With that being said because again we are not perfect and sin is apart of us being human grace will always be needed.
- God wants us to give Him a sacrifice of praise continually with our lips with thanksgiving always. (Hebrews 13:15) In the Old Covenant God’s people would sacrifice animals to be used as a sign of and worship. The New Covenant requires the sacrifice to come directly from us therefore we no longer have to sacrifice animals. Personally, I thank God we don’t have to sacrifice bulls or goats anymore.
- The church is coming into a greater awareness of how central praise is in bringing us into another level of worship. Emotions and feelings are of great importance get the people into the next level of worship. If singing is done with the mind only and not with the spirit people cannot move to the next level of worship its just someone singing. It doesn’t matter how talented the person is when singing. When a person sings with the mind and spirit the anointing of God falls and worship takes place.
- Singing expresses our emotions our joy and thanksgiving. As we sing we come on one accord with each other and our focus is on God.
- God wants our spirit, soul, body and mind when worshipping Him. He doesn’t want us to just sit and be still and silent but worship Him by giving Him the fruit of our lips, dancing kneeling, clapping hands, and etc. When praising God it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks of your worship. Worship God with all of your being so your inner spirit can be touched and freed.
- I notice people lifting up their hands in worship others closed their eyes while singing the song. People used their emotions and feelings as the song was sung. They didn’t stay seated but got up and used their hands and lips to glorify God.
On Monday, March 31, 2014 5:50:58 PM UTC-4, Steve Smith wrote:
Tanash Lawrence-Reid
1 Praise is another avenue into worship.
When you have a relationship with
the Father, you can cry Abba Father. We are commanded to "Praise the
Lord". So often people take the long way around into His presence, but
they will always have to pass through the court of Praise. When we have
struggles with sin we allow
guilt and self condemnation to rob us of our relationship with the Father. The
word says in John 3:17, "For God did not send His son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." God is not shocked
by our sin. He does not push us away from himself
when we fail and fall. He desires us to come to Him. Too often we are given
man's way to enter into worship. We are told do not enter into worship without
first purifying yourself. This sounds so good and correct. It even sounds Godly
because we can find examples of priests who went through cleansing once a year
to enter the Holy of Holies. But is it Gods way? If we look at the story of
Mary worshiping Jesus in Luke 7:36-50, we would notice that after she wept at
his feet and anointed Him, Jesus cleansed her. First she worshiped, then, she
was cleansed. Jesus calls us to come closer, lean on Him and, commune with Him.
We should run into His presence when we fall. We should not go a day without
worshiping Him. The more you abstain from worship, the
greater the separation between you and the Father becomes. Many of us are
afraid to let go and express our love to the Lord publicly because we feel
"this is a private thing." The word says "if we confess Him before
men, He will confess us before the father." To many the idea of
expressing yourself in worship to the Father in dance, in raising of hands, in
shouting, in clapping, in laughing, kneeling, or laying prostrate before Him,
strikes fear in our hearts. "Oh, what will people think? I don't want to
be different." A true worshiper doesn't care. Look at David who danced
before the ark as it came into Jerusalem. Look at Mary who worshiped at His
feet. Look at the Elders in Rev.5:8-9 who fell down before the Lamb to worship
Him. Look at
Miriam who danced before Him.
2. Singing is meant to move us into praise.
Praise is a joyful response to any
powerful, positive event in our lives. For instance, at the end of a symphony,
we applaud. When our football team scores a touchdown, we cheer. At a cricket
match we cheer and applaud when someone hits 4 or 6 runs. All enjoyment spontaneously
overflows into praise unless it is stopped by shyness. Singing lifts our
spirits; singing hymns inspire us to live more righteously. Hymns remind us of
our blessings and give us an opportunity to sing praises to the Lord. Singing
gives us a way to bear testimony, help us recommit ourselves to the Lord, help
us feel the Spirit, help us be more in tune with our Heavenly Father, and help
us learn and teach the gospel. Inspirational music is an essential part of
church meetings. The singing of hymns invite the Spirit of the Lord, create a
feeling of reverence, unify us as members, and provide a way for us to offer
praises to the Lord.
3. God calls for worship that involves our whole being.
Worship is more than coming to church on Sunday mornings to sing a few songs and listen to a lecture. It involves our whole being, and it should be a lifestyle. No matter what style of worship you feel comfortable with, I believe that, worship is a conversation between you and God. And in like many conversations the goal is to get to know the person you are talking with. So worship begins with an invitation by God to enter into a dialogue and to relate with Him. As we approach God we recognize how awesome God is so we burst out into praises because of God's infinite worth. However we also begin to realize that God is God and we are not. We begin to realize just how pure God is and how pure we are not, so we are honest and acknowledge it. God reminds us that His infinite Grace through his Son, Jesus Christ has purified us and we are able to approach God confidently to hear what he has to say. God speaks through His Word, through his Son. We hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and when we do we are inspired by Jesus' love for us. When we get to know Jesus we get to know God. So we respond; we sing God's praises, and we ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to live as Christ calls us to live. We recommit ourselves to follow Christ day after day and so bring honor to Him in the world. That is the conversation with God which is called worship.
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"The answers within me come to my awareness with ease."
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