GSJ NASHVILLE
WORSHIP
Biblical worship is a full life response to who God is and what He has done.
WHAT IS WORSHIP
We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.
When you hear the word ‘worship’ you may think of a certain style of music, or maybe religious rituals, or maybe you think of singing songs before and after a pastor preaches. But put simply, to worship is to ascribe worth to someone or something. Worship is more than just singing songs in church, it is declaring and displaying what we find most worthy. With this definition, we see that everyone worships. The question is not whether you are worshiping, but rather who or what are you worshiping.
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Scripture has a lot to say about worship:
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Psalm 29:1-2 – Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.
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Romans 12:1 – I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
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Hebrews 12:28 – Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…
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Biblical worship is the full-life response to who God is and what He has done. It is declaring and displaying that God is worth more than anything else and we are called to do this in every aspect of our lives. So church, worship the Lord when you sing, worship Him when you work, worship Him when you enjoy a meal or a sunset, worship Him when you laugh and when you cry, worship Him when you lay down at night and when you rise in the morning, worship Him in the chaos and the quiet, worship Him on the mountain and in the valley. Worship Him in all circumstances of life, it is what you were made for and He is worthy of it.
THE GATHERING
The great end of our existence is to be found numbered among the worshipers of God.
Why We Worship Together
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Just over a century ago, while fishing in a stream in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, two 17-year-old boys stumbled upon an entrance to a cavern. Bursting with intrigue and aided by only an oil lamp, the boys ventured deep within the mountain. They waded through the cave’s chilly stream bed, marveling as the light of their lamp bounced off the stalagmites and stalactites, seeing what few had ever seen before. Six hundred feet into the cave, their adventure reached new depths. One of the boys tripped and fell, cracking and extinguishing their only source of light and total darkness suddenly took hold.
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In a moment of desperation and resourcefulness, the boys remembered that they had ventured upstream while delving into the cave. In order to find their way, they stooped down onto their hands and knees and plunged their fingers into the icy flowing waters. They were able to feel the stream’s movement and direction and allowed it to guide them, retracing their path and find their way to the light. For two days the boys trudged inch by inch through the darkness until finally they were able to make it out alive.
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When we, as the people of God, gather together week in and week out to worship our King, we are collectively placing our hands in the ever-flowing stream of God’s goodness, grace, and faithfulness. When we sing the glorious truth of the Gospel together, cherishing the presence, God with us, reminding ourselves and one another of who He is and what He has done, we are allowing Him to lead and guide us out of darkness towards light, life, and freedom.
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Our prayer is that our gatherings at Mosaic would serve to stir one another up and spur one another on towards love and good works — that our worship together would be an overflow of our full life of worship to the One who is truly worthy.