Scripture
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.
~Psalm 150:6, NLT
Quote
There is nothing boring about true worship.
~Steven Lawson
When you read the Psalms you meet joy and sorrow, ecstatic elation and deep depression; you encounter pain and pleasure, trials and triumph. I do not know of any emotion that is not expressed in the Psalms. It is very fitting that the Psalms end in high praise because this is how history will end, with every one giving praise to Jesus. Dr. Wiersbe believes that worship must be learned and I don’t think we have learned. True worship is awesome because God is awesome. Authentic worship is the most soul-thrilling, heart-stirring experience a human can enjoy. Flat worship is an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms, an inconsistency of the highest order. I am afraid our half-hearted, lethargic worship is an insult to God. To be honest, I don’t know how he puts up with us. The same gospel that once motivated men to shout now puts them to sleep. God deserves our very best but that is not what we give Him. Every thing is creation gives praise to God except man: he is the only creature who has rebelled against his Creator. Our sin and indifference causes us to violate the very purpose for which we were created. Worship begins and end with God who gives us our breath. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Obviously our sin hinders our worship. The flesh will get it’s foot in the door if you aren’t careful. When people begin putting on a show and drawing attention to themselves, it ruins true worship but when the Spirit moves a person to shout or dance, it is edifying. Anything Spirit driven will edify the body. Our problem is not too much freedom in worship; our problem is we are too self-conscious. We never lose ourselves in worship. When we get so engrossed in worship that we forget ourselves, it is then and only then that we experience the joy of worship. The majority of people are more worried about what others think than they are what God thinks. You cannot worship with that kind of man-fearing spirit. You have to get so focused on Christ that no one else is in the room. The greatest instrument of praise is the human voice. Everyone can participate in worship.
One other thing: these folks who don’t like guitars and drums on the stage either don’t know their bible or else they pick the passages that like and disregard the rest. Remember the Elder Brother in Luke 15, he got upset when he heard the sound of music. Pharisees don’t like celebration in worship. They don’t like the happy song “cause they aren’t happy.” They are not happy because they don’t understand GRACE: they are on a point system which makes it very important for other to recognize what they have done.
I heard today on talk radio that Kurt Douglas turned 101 on December 9th. His wife is 98 and they have been married 63 years. That is not bad for a Hollywooder! I also heard about a guy who said, “I wish Trump’s heart would explode and splash freedom on all of us.” One democrat on the state level called for his assassination. What if we had said such things about Obama; we would have been arrested or at least been audited by the IRS. Joe David and I attended a small political event last night: Scott Dawson, an evangelist from Birmingham is running for Governor. He didn’t want to; his initial plan was to find an honest man to run but all the honest men said no. Rich and Bubba told him, “You are the man.” They talked him into running and are giving him their support. He has my support: it will be refreshing to get to vote without voting for the lesser of evils. Some told me Sessions was running but he needs to stay up North. He and Shelby have betrayed the conservatives of Alabama.
