Pastor Mark Mikels
\nJuly 30, 2006<\/p>\n
“WORSHIP AND WORD”<\/p>\n
Church Under Construction – Behavioral Phase #1<\/p>\n
Intro … Today is a special day in the life of Sonlife Community
\nChurch – this is the day we enter the second great phase of our current
\nconstruction.<\/p>\n
Oh, I don’t mean the construction that is happening at 13324 Apple
\nValley Road – I mean the construction that is happening right here in
\nthis place, the construction that is the result of Jesus Christ saying
\n“I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against
\nit”.<\/p>\n
Now that’s a mighty project … that’s the most significant and
\nstrategic construction project underway in our world today. All around
\nthe globe Christ is building His Church and someday He will present
\nthat Church to the Father without spot, blemish or wrinkle.<\/p>\n
What a day that will be when Christ turns to the Father and says,
\n“Here’s my Church – my Bride – my Life’s Work!”<\/p>\n
However, for us there’s another day to which we point … it’s the day
\nwe open the doors of our new Church Building on Apple Valley Road for
\nthe first time and Christ has a chance (as it were) to say some very
\nsimilar words to the surrounding community …<\/p>\n
“Here’s another expression of my earthly church – Come and see what the
\nFather’s Grace and the Son’s Sacrifice and the Spirit’s Faithfulness
\nhas produced!”<\/p>\n
That, too, will be a most significant day and Christ would have us all
\nbe ready for it – ready to accurately and adequately function as His
\nChurch for all who walk through those doors. Oh, how grand it will be
\nto hear people say,<\/p>\n
“I’ve never met people like these before; I’ve never been in a church
\nlike this before –<\/p>\n
I’ve never walked into a place and sensed the Presence of God like this
\nbefore.”<\/p>\n
That, of course, has been our desire (and to some degree, our
\nexperience) since the Founding Day of Sonlife Community Church – I’ve
\nactually heard those very words from numerous ones of you describing
\nyour first exposure to our fellowship. That’s what we want to be sure
\neveryone says when they encounter us in our new location!<\/p>\n
And so we have given ourselves to this time of “Focused Concentration”
\nas the Lord diligently readies us for this next chapter in our Church
\nLife.<\/p>\n
During this same six month period that R.E.M. Builders is physically
\nconstructing a church structure at 13324 Apple Valley Road, the Lord
\nJesus Himself is constructing a congregation for His Glory and Service
\nhere in this place – our goal is that that both projects will wrap up
\nthis October or November.<\/p>\n
So, as Mickey always used to say … “On with the show”.<\/p>\n
It’s a four phase project we are involved in … first, there’s the
\ndoctrinal phase dealing with the great truths of our Faith; then
\nthere’s the behavioral phase dealing with the application of our Faith
\nin our everyday lives; then there’s the relational phase dealing with
\nthe specific ways members of the church are to inter-act with one
\nanother and finally there is the evangelistic phase dealing with the
\nspecific calling upon the Church to “reach out to the Lost with the
\nGood News of the Gospel”.<\/p>\n
Last Sunday we concluded the doctrinal phase of this ongoing
\nconstruction project … I trust that you feel more familiar with the
\nGreat Truths of the Faith now than when we began!<\/p>\n
Today we transition into phase two – the behavioral phase.<\/p>\n
In phase one, we focused our attention upon our Sonlife Statement of
\nBelief. In phase two our attention turns to our Sonlife Covenant of
\nBehavior. Our Sonlife Covenant contains ten statements. We will “pair
\nthem up” and cover the entire document over the next five weeks …<\/p>\n
Today we “pair up” statements one and three. Here’s how they read …<\/p>\n
Our Sonlife Covenant …<\/p>\n
Believing in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and desiring to live in
\na manner that will bring glory to Him, and having associated myself
\nwith this local body of believers called Sonlife Community Church, I do
\nnow covenant together with them that …<\/p>\n
“I will seek to worship God in spirit and in truth as a continuous
\npractice of my life and I will commit myself to a regular study of
\nGod’s Word so my mind might be renewed and my life transformed by its
\ntruths.” (John 4:23-24; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Timothy 3:15; Romans
\n12:1-2)<\/p>\n
These Two Statements arise from Five Key Concepts that themselves arise
\nfrom several Key Scriptures …<\/p>\n
Key Concept #1 … OUR HEAVENLY FATHER SEEKS WORSHIPPERS<\/p>\n
Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will
\nworship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You
\nSamaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know,
\nfor salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come
\nwhen the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
\nfor they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit,
\nand his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-24<\/p>\n
How ironic that the God of the universe – the Creator and Sustainer of
\nall things – should need to seek for worshippers! Man in his original
\nstate was created with a natural tendency to “bow down”. Man is a
\nworshipper by nature and yet that basic nature of man has been
\ncorrupted by sin and so man’s natural inclination toward worship has
\nbeen corrupted as well.<\/p>\n
Paul spoke of it this way … “They worshipped and served created
\nthings rather than the creator who is blessed forever.” (Romans 1:25)<\/p>\n
The very woman that Jesus was addressing there in John chapter four was
\na Samaritan and the Samaritans long years ago had created a worship
\nsystem that ran contrary to the one laid down in Jewish Law.<\/p>\n
God himself would ask His Own People in the final book of the Old
\nTestament … (Malachi 1:6)<\/p>\n
“A son honors his father and a servant his master. If I am a father,
\nwhere is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due
\nme?”<\/p>\n
Man has been waylaid by sin and diverted by His own perceived needs and
\nhas developed his own objects of worship and thus has forsaken and
\nperhaps even forgotten that the One True God even exists. And so we
\nfind incredible that The One True God must seek for worshippers …<\/p>\n
But as we see in Key Concept #2 … NOT JUST ANY WORSHIPPERS WILL DO –
\nJohn 4:24<\/p>\n
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in
\ntruth.”<\/p>\n
The Samaritans were a case in point … they had their own system of
\nworship but they were not acceptable to God. Jesus said, “You
\nSamaritans worship what you do not know (understand).<\/p>\n
To the woman’s great credit she accepted his pronouncement of her
\nignorance and said, “When Messiah comes, he will explain everything.”
\nAnd in an amazing disclosure, Jesus responded … “I who speak to you
\nam He”. And with that announcement, there began a flow of truth into
\nher heart – the kind of truth that would cause her to bow before Her
\nLord.<\/p>\n
The more informed our worship is the better our worship is! We should
\nbe better worshippers for having spent the last 12 weeks pouring over
\nour Statement of Belief … Every truth we have learned should cause
\nour hearts to more easily bow before our Awesome God. And a big part of
\nthe truth that leads to worthy worship is that God is Spirit … that
\nmeans He is everywhere present – He is not confined to any particular
\nplace or time.<\/p>\n
So God is seeking for a particular kind of worshippers – He is seeking
\nfor those who know enough about Him to worship Him accurately and for
\nthose who understand enough about Him to know that He can be
\nencountered anywhere at any time.<\/p>\n
This first two concepts then lead right into Key Concept #3 …
\nCOMMENDABLE WORSHIP IS CONTINUAL WORSHIP – “Pray (commune\/worship)
\ncontinually” – (I Thessalonians 5:17)<\/p>\n
It directly follows that since God is not confined to any particular
\ntime or place that our worship is not to be confined either. God does
\nnot want worshippers who confine their “worship” to a particular time
\nof the week or to a particular place where they meet.<\/p>\n
“Worship” (an attitude of praise and wonder leading to a lifestyle of
\nsubmission and surrender) is a 24\/7 kind of thing. God would have us
\nlive in such a way that prayer might erupt at any moment in our lives!
\nThus when we walk conscious of His Presence and in awe of His Power, we
\nfind ourselves<\/p>\n
“praying” – “worshipping” continually and that pleases Him greatly!<\/p>\n
And so we put just such an intention into our Sonlife Covenant …<\/p>\n
“I will seek to worship God in spirit and in truth as a continuous
\npractice of my life.”<\/p>\n
Now it ought to follow that consciously committing ourselves to
\n“worship God in truth” will cause us to seriously seek out such truth
\nwherever and whenever we can and so arises …<\/p>\n
Key Concept #4 … A LIFE OF CEASELESS WORSHIP SHOULD LEAD TO A
\nPATTERN OF CEASELESS STUDY OF GOD’S WORD.<\/p>\n
Here’s how the Apostle Paul instructed his young prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9 Timothy …<\/p>\n
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who
\ndoes not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of
\ntruth.” (2 Tim. 2:15)<\/p>\n
The more we engage in worship, the more we concern ourselves with
\nquestions like these … “What does God desire of me – How does He want
\nme to live?”<\/p>\n
In God’s Word we discover how to be “approved” … the more we read and
\nstudy the Word of God the less we will be “ashamed” by either the
\nanswers we give or the actions we take!<\/p>\n
And that is true because as we see in Key Concept #5 …<\/p>\n
CEASELESS STUDY LEADS TO CONTINUAL DISCOVERY WHICH RESULTS IN
\nTRANSFORMATIONAL LIVING. Romans 12:1-2<\/p>\n
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
\nbodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your
\nspiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
\nthis world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you
\nwill be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good,
\npleasing and perfect will.<\/p>\n
Hasn’t it been your experience that there is always something “new” in
\nthe Scripture – there’s always something that you “never saw before”?<\/p>\n
God’s Word describes itself as “living and active – penetrating even to
\nthe dividing of soul and spirit – judging the thoughts and attitudes of
\nthe heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)<\/p>\n
When you approach the Word of God as a true Worshipper of God, your
\nknees are always flexed and ready to bow before every new insight or
\ndirective you discover. Your mind is renewed (brought to a state of
\nnewness with regard to some circumstance addressed by God’s Word) and
\nbeing already surrendered in heart (the continual condition of a true
\nworshipper), you voluntarily and almost automatically adjust your
\nbehavior to match up with God’s expectations and miraculously and
\n(seemingly almost effortlessly) your life is transformed yet again!<\/p>\n
With such a prospect in view is it any wonder that we eagerly say in
\nour Sonlife Covenant …<\/p>\n
I will commit myself to a regular study of God’s Word so my mind<\/p>\n
might be renewed and my life transformed by its truths.”<\/p>\n
And so we come to our Final Thot of the morning …<\/p>\n
FINAL THOT … WORSHIP without WORD or WORD without WORSHIP will lead
\nto an<\/p>\n
UNBALANCED, DYSFUNCTIONAL Christian Life.<\/p>\n
So be committed to both WORSHIP and WORD!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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