God wants us to experience and celebrate His aliveness.
Throughout His word He is distinguished as the living God.
• King Darius to Daniel – Servant of the living God.
• David – Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who taunts the armies of the living God.
• Peter – You are the Christ, the son of the living God.
• 1 Timothy 3:14-16 (NIV) Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Jesus wanted His disciples to know that He was alive.
• He appeared for forty days and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.
1 Peter 1:8 says even though we haven’t seen Him we love Him. But just because God has chosen at this time not to be seen, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t want to be noticed.
He wants us to see, examine and believe the evidence He has given us.
A major way to practically appreciate and experience the aliveness of God is to worship Him specifically as the living God.
Worshiping the living God
• Psalms 42:1-2 (NIV) 1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
• Psalms 84:1-2 (NIV) 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
To worship is to pay homage to show deep respect and praise.
Worship is a continuous melody of affirmation of God, expressed in prayer, in song, in service, in giving, and in living.
• Psalm 71:8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
• Hebrews 13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
It’s not a performance or a show.
• John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
• Matthew 15:8 These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
We worship Him for His past deeds on our behalf.
• Psalm 105:2 Speak of all His wonderful acts.
We worship Him for the wonders of nature and creation.
• Romans 1:20 (NASB77) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…
We worship Him for His oversight of our lives.
We worship Him for His direct ministry to our spirits.
We worship Him for His love touches.
We worship Him for giving us the inspiration and desire to connect with Him as the living God.
We worship Him as the source of every good and perfect gift, according to James 1:17
We worship Him for our ability to move and see and think and love.
[Poem] God can be known, But He cannot be “Figured Out.”
God can be known, But He cannot be “figured out.”
He inhabits the unfamiliar and the unexpected.
He is found in the margins.
We see Him in the small windows.
He appears in the nuances.
A degree to the left. An inch higher. A little deeper.
He’s on the little dirt road off the main highway.
He’s in the broom closet just around the corner from the main attraction in the museum.
Instead of the popular 9 a.m. or 5 p.m., He is 6:20 a.m. and 2:37 p.m.
He’s the last place you would look for your lost keys.
He stands at the end of the line.
He sits in the big arena after everyone has left.
He is the last customer just before the store closes.
He is not only upon the majestic mountain top where few could ever ascend.
He also clothed His divinity in humanity and hid Himself in ordinariness, walking the dusty streets with stragglers.
He is often surprising but never random.
He is majestic but not flamboyant.
He is humorous but not frivolous.
Though we often misunderstand Him, He never misunderstands us.
We cannot always predict what He’ll do but we can always trust what He does.
The best way to find Him is to expect Him when you least expect Him.
His ways are not just higher, they are infinitely better,
And what a difference it would make in our daily lives if we could believe it. –Dan S. Baty
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