Attitude of Worship 1

Hello Everyone,

David wrote in Psalm 27:4                                                                           

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple

I am a firm believer that attitude determines altitude.

Attitude really matters. It can make the difference between a good day and a bad day, a good marriage and a bad marriage, and most likely between a good life and a bad life.

Chuck Swindoll says, "Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it."

Have you ever considered that your choice of attitude even affects your worship experience? In Psalm 27, David begins by expressing his confidence in God.

David is declaring his faith in God even while being attacked by his enemies. (Psalm 27:1-3).

 ¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
² When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.

Things that would cause fear in someone who did not trust God, only makes David want to be closer to God.

 "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek," he says, "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple."

As we press in lets develop an Attitude of Worship.

Pastor Phil            

Attitude of Worship

Hello Everyone,

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in stocks in a Philippians’ dungeon.

A few hours earlier, Paul had cast out a demon in a fortune teller, and her master didn’t like it because his fortune telling slave was a cash cow.

So Paul and Silas were arrested and beaten.

Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

Don’t let what is wrong with you keep you from worshipping what is right with God.

Stop focusing on what’s wrong with your circumstances.

And start focusing on what is right with God.

Paul and Silas made a choice to worship God in spite of their external circumstances.

Worship is focusing on the fact that two thousand years ago,

Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin.

Worship is focusing on the fact that God unconditionally loves me when I least expect it and least deserve it.

It is focusing on the fact that I have eternity with God to look forward to in a place where there is no mourning or sorrow or pain.

Worship is forgetting what is wrong with you and remembering what is right with God.

It restores the Joy of your salvation.

It recalibrates your spirit.

It renews your mind.

And it enables you to find something good to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil

Pressing In Fasting 3

Hello Everyone,

THE WAY WE DO WHAT WE DO FOR GOD IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT WE DO FOR GOD!

Fasting can be a truly spiritually uplifting experience.

But only if it’s done for the right reasons.

Then, and only then, it produces the right results.

The exciting thing is what happens when we get it right - when we do the right thing with the right motive!

Over and over again in our text God promises that if we get it right He will answer our prayers!

It’s a "when" and "then" proposition in Isaiah 58:1-14.

WHEN we fast and pray for the right reasons...

"THEN your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear." (Verse 8a)

WHEN we fast and pray for the right reasons...

"THEN your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard." (Verse 8b)

(That’s like God saying, "I’m going to watch your back. The enemy won’t be able to attack you from behind where you are most vulnerable.")

WHEN we fast and pray for the right reasons...

"THEN you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I." (Verse 9a)

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

(Sound like your marriage? Your office? Your relationships?)

And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

THEN your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." (Verses 9b-10)

"The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." (Verse 11)

Evangelism must be the HEARTBEAT of the Saints.

·        While people talk about their culture, let the church talk about Calvary.

·        While Americans discuss the problems of education, let the church proclaim the power of salvation.

·        We need to be willing to:

turn pulpits into fishing boats,

our automobiles into ambulances,

our homes into shelters, our bodies into the temples of the Holy Spirit,

and our churches into hospitals where the souls of men and women can be healed by the GRACE of God.

Let’s take these next few weeks and “Press In”

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil          

Pressing in Fasting 2

Hello Everyone,

WRONG ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS OFTEN STAND IN THE WAY OF GOD ANSWERING OUR PRAYERS.

The attitude that we can "earn" answers to our prayers because we have gone through the religious motion of fasting is shallow on our part.

It’s as if we’re saying God should stop and take notice of our super spiritual abilities.

We have totally missed the mark when we believe we can "earn" His blessings by our effort.

Here’s what actually happens when we press in for the right reasons.

1. We desire a deeper relationship with God so we press in with fasting and prayer as one of the options available to us to accomplish that goal.

2. We give up other things for a while so we can focus more on God. It’s as if we’re saying, "God, I don’t even care about food right now I want to desperately walk in your presence."

3. That’s when we develop a closer walk with God. We begin to "see His face" - which is the way the Word describes our relationship when we draw close to God.

4. Pressing in close to God brings about a transformation in our character. Fasting and prayer doesn’t change God - it changes us!

5. We’re now transformed to the place God can bless us with answers to our prayers.

Where before we weren’t able to receive certain things - now we are! We were like a bucket that had a hole in it but it has been repaired and now it can be used to carry something.

When we walk and talk with God great things happen in our lives!

Our relationships with others improve.

That’s because as we walk with God we become more like Him who treats others right.

This wasn’t happening in Isaiah’s day.

Wasn’t happening in Jesus’ day either.

"How terrible it will be for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law - justice, mercy, faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the important things." (Matthew 23:23 NLT)

Jesus could have said the same thing about fasting. [After all Jesus said, "When you fast", not "if you fast." (Matthew 6:16)]

"You should fast, yes, but you should not leave undone the other important things."

·        It’s important to help the needy.

·        It’s important to treat others fairly.

·        It’s important to be kind to others and try to get along with one another.

How can we improve in these areas? By pressing in!.

It is interesting that:

We treat others wrong because our fellowship with God is not what it ought to be.

Then we try to do the things that will increase our fellowship with God but we do them in the wrong way.

End result? We fall flat on our spiritual faces.

The solution is so simple that God tells Isaiah in verse one in Chapter 58 to "shout it loud, do not hold back".

God wasn’t just saying this because He’s angry, but because He’s a loving God who wants to make sure everybody gets the message.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil          

Pressing In Fasting 1

Hello Everyone,

Do you know the difference between passive thinking and active thinking?

We’re thinking passively when we believe things are always happening "to" us.

We’re thinking actively when we believe our actions have an effect on the things that happen in our lives.

Active thinking involves taking personal responsibility for some of the things in our life.

Being an active thinker instead of a passive one determines whether we will be a "victor" or a "victim" in life.

Our problems will either defeat us or develop us depending on whether we are active or passive thinkers.

We will either rehearse our problems or rehearse God’s promises.

WE MUST TAKE SOME PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR HAVING OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED.

WE MUST BE ACTIVE THINKERS REGARDING OUR PRAYER LIFE.

We know that God is the one who answers prayer.

What we are saying is that we have some responsibility in having our prayers answered.

We cannot afford to be totally passive in our thinking.

We must become active thinkers when it comes to asking so God will answer.

Taking time to search our hearts our actions our motives to see if there is any evil way in them.

In Isaiah’s day the people were complaining that their prayer and fasting hadn’t been effective.

They were complaining in such a way as to insinuate it was God’s fault!

They were thinking passively.

Yes God sees fasting. But He sees a whole lot more!
In Isaiah 58:1-14
He sees exploitation of others. (Verse 3)

He sees quarreling and strife. (Verse 4)

He sees injustice and oppression. (Verse 6)

He sees it when we withhold food, clothing and shelter from the poor. (Verse 7)

God sees.

What a sobering truth.

In her book, "A Closer Walk", Catherine Marshall writes: "One morning last week God gave me an assignment: for one day I was to go on a fast from criticism. I was not to criticize anybody about anything.

"For the first half of the day, I simply felt a void, almost as if I had been wiped out as a person. This was especially true at lunch...I listened to the others and kept silent...In our talkative family no one seemed to notice. I noticed that my comments were not missed. The federal government, the judicial system, and the institutional church could apparently get along fine without my penetrating observations. But still I didn’t see what this fast on criticism was accomplishing - until mid-afternoon.

"That afternoon, a specific, positive vision for this life was dropped into my mind with God’s unmistakable hallmark on it - joy! Ideas began to flow in a way I had not experienced in years. Now it was apparent what the Lord wanted me to see. My critical nature had not corrected a single one of the countless things I found fault with. What it had done was to stifle my own creativity."

Greater Things Are Still TO Come!

Pastor Phil          

Hello Everyone,

Even though we want to do God’s will, we often do not know how to pray as we should.

But the Spirit as our Helper intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

And he [God] who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will" (Romans 8:26,27).

One writer says this:” These groanings are not expressed in words, not even in tongues (though the Spirit might well be interceding in these inexpressible groans while we are speaking in tongues or while we are praying or praising God). But they do not need to be expressed in words. The same God, the same Heavenly Father who knows what is in our hearts also knows what is in the mind of the Spirit. So there is perfect communication between the Father and the Holy Spirit without the necessity of words. Moreover the Spirit knows what the will of God is, so we can be sure that His intercession is according to the will of God. In other words, we can be sure His prayers will be answered. No wonder Paul says that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Actually, the Spirit is a wonderful Paraclete or Helper in all of our worship.

When we pray in tongues our spirit prays, for our hearts are going out to the Lord while the Spirit is giving the utterance, even though our minds are unfruitful. But the fact our minds are unfruitful does not mean we should stop praying in tongues, for we are being edified and God understands what we are saying.

So Paul says, "I will pray with my spirit [that is, while the Holy Spirit is giving the utterance in tongues], but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind" (1 Corinthians 14:2,4,15).

There is value, in meditating on the things of God, contemplating the things of Heaven.

The Spirit helps us in this too. He directs our minds toward Heavenly things.

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. NKJV

Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. NKJV

Everything around us is trying to draw us away from eternal things.

The world keeps putting pressure on us to live like the world.

But the Spirit sanctifies us and enables us to purify our souls "by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers" (1 Peter 1:2, 22).

"The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray" (1 Peter 4:7).

Don’t forget that the present world system is going to be destroyed by the judgment of God (Daniel 2:34, 35, 44; 1 Corinthians 7:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 18:2).

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17).

In the meantime, through the Spirit we have a first installment of our future inheritance:

2 Corinthians 1:21-23 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. NKJV

It lets us know we have a glorious inheritance, so glorious that Paul was able to say,

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17,18).

Heaven is glorious because God the Father and God the Son are there, and the Bible promises that we shall share His glory (1 Corinthians 15:43; Ephesians 1:18; Colossians 1:27, 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 Peter 5:1).

We can depend on that!!!

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN!

Greater Things Are Still To Come!

Pastor Phil