Raising Your Worship to the Next Level

Can you believe that we are already into week nine of our study of the book of Nehemiah???  Every Sunday, the sermon takes us higher and higher.  We are constantly challenged to look at ourselves and do the work to become better.  You already know this week turned it up a notch.  Let’s jump into the sermon recap.

Week nine means that we are going through the ninth chapter of the book of Nehemiah.  The children of Israel are assembled together and fasting.  They do not look pretty or desirable.  As a matter of fact, they dressed in sack cloth and have ashes on their head.  Why the dusty appearance?  They are getting ready to worship.  I know, I know.  When we get ready to worship in a general assembly, we put on our finest frocks.  The mothers of the church don the hottest head gear in town.  The deacons wear their best tie.  But the children of Israel had a reverence for God that went beyond outer appearance.  They knew that they were unworthy, so they made preparation before entering into worship.

The first thing they did to get ready for worship is that they separated themselves from the foreigners.  How does that translate into our lives for 2020?  Glad you asked.  We are to put away distractions.  Separate ourselves from the situations that God does not want in our life.  And we should not wait until the situation sours.  We should put away distractions right now.  Today!  We are preparing ourselves to worship God in spirit and truth, and it is more difficult to do that if we are not focused.

Then the Israelites stood and confessed their sins.  Not like “forgive me for all my sins Lord, the ones that I committed knowingly and unknowingly.”  Nah.  They were specific.  They called the sins out by name.  How many of us are willing and ready to acknowledge our sins?  We sing the song that goes “count your blessings, name them one by one,” but we are reluctant to do that with our sins.  Acknowledging the sins that you have committed brings you one step closer to having authentic worship.

The Israelites rose up in their place as well.  The words “in their place” are an indicator of personal responsibility.  Real worship of Christ causes us to rise up in our calling.  You know…the thing that God placed you on this earth to do.  Yeah…your purpose.  When we are living out the mandate that God has placed on our lives, our worship goes to the next level.

After all the preparation, it was time to worship.  The Israelites praised God just for being God.  They praised Him for His goodness.  They praised Him for His grace.  Authentic worship.  Next level worship.  This chapter gives me pause when I consider the current state of my worship.  Now that I know that there are levels to this, I am responsible for doing the work to go to the next level.  Just when I think the construction is finished, another project comes along.  Ultimately, I choose to continue this reconstruction journey.  I want to take my worship to the next level.  Ya’ll let’s rise up together.  #wepreach

Questions to Chew On:

• Do you have quiet time before you begin worship? Why or why not?
• What does worship look like in your life? What does it sound like? What does it feel like?
• Do you think it is important to get ready for worship?