PULSE #5 - Temple
On the road again! C'mon everyone, sing it with me...I just can't wait to get on the road again! The fam & I are fast on the road back to Clarksvegas even as I type. Of course, by the time you get this post, we'll be home. Oh well. We're going to take one more stop by Robbers cave & do a little hiking. All in all, it has been a great mini-vacation. I'll be blogging a bit later about our experience at church yesterday. We were going to go to Gateway church in Fort Worth, but decided at the last minute to go with Lisa's parents to their h church, Grace Temple Baptist. To sum it up shortly, God is up to something AMAZING within that body. Like I said, I'll blog about it later.
For now, on to this week's (last week's) PULSE.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
-1 Corinthians 3:16
Well...do you? If you're a believer in Christ, do you truly believe that your body is the temple in which God's spirit dwells? Are you living in such a way that He would want to enter in? Are you hospitable? WOW, these are some meaty questions, but if you really call yourself HIS, then the Word is clear.
Let me put it another way. If someone were to ask you where you go to church, what would you say? As a follower of Christ, I would be completely right in saying...you know, according to God's word, I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I'm really at church all the time. As Lamar put it in the text, I'm a “Winnebago of Worship”. I LOVE THAT!
Several of you have heard the woman at the well story. I challenge you to read it again. Read the whole thing at John 4: 1-42. Let it soak in & then read it again. What is God trying to teach us in this text? Is worship a place? Or, is it an attitude? Man, am I full of questions today! I just think this is something that's worth wrestling with for a while. I mean, if we miss this, then our whole view of worship is going to be skewed. As true worshipers WE HAVE TO GET THIS!
Alright, it's time to rustle some feathers. Read this very closely...”THERE ARE NO WORSHIP WARS AMONG TRUE WORSHIPPERS!” That's right, if you're heart & motives are in the right place, then it won't matter what place or method you are using to worship. I'm very thankful to be serving in a body that has gotten past all this junk! Sure, we worship in different ways, but ultimately, we see God's hand in all of it.
So, let's get back to the root of it all. If we truly are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then we can & should be worshiping Him at all times. Yup, at work, play, even Wal-Mart. The scriptures are full of teachings on “Full-time” worship. Just to name a few:
I'll leave you with a statement that I have found to ring true in my life & in time, I pray it will in yours as well. “If you make your private worship a regular habit, you won't feel awkward about worshipping in public.”
Does your temple need a little spring cleaning?
For now, on to this week's (last week's) PULSE.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
-1 Corinthians 3:16
Let me put it another way. If someone were to ask you where you go to church, what would you say? As a follower of Christ, I would be completely right in saying...you know, according to God's word, I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I'm really at church all the time. As Lamar put it in the text, I'm a “Winnebago of Worship”. I LOVE THAT!
Several of you have heard the woman at the well story. I challenge you to read it again. Read the whole thing at John 4: 1-42. Let it soak in & then read it again. What is God trying to teach us in this text? Is worship a place? Or, is it an attitude? Man, am I full of questions today! I just think this is something that's worth wrestling with for a while. I mean, if we miss this, then our whole view of worship is going to be skewed. As true worshipers WE HAVE TO GET THIS!
Alright, it's time to rustle some feathers. Read this very closely...”THERE ARE NO WORSHIP WARS AMONG TRUE WORSHIPPERS!” That's right, if you're heart & motives are in the right place, then it won't matter what place or method you are using to worship. I'm very thankful to be serving in a body that has gotten past all this junk! Sure, we worship in different ways, but ultimately, we see God's hand in all of it.
So, let's get back to the root of it all. If we truly are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then we can & should be worshiping Him at all times. Yup, at work, play, even Wal-Mart. The scriptures are full of teachings on “Full-time” worship. Just to name a few:
“Pray without ceasing”
-1 Thessalonians 5:17
-1 Thessalonians 5:17
“And my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long”
-Psalm 35:28
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth”
-Psalm 34:1
“Let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise...”
-Hebrews 13:15
-Psalm 35:28
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth”
-Psalm 34:1
“Let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise...”
-Hebrews 13:15
I'll leave you with a statement that I have found to ring true in my life & in time, I pray it will in yours as well. “If you make your private worship a regular habit, you won't feel awkward about worshipping in public.”
Does your temple need a little spring cleaning?
Labels: Holy Spirit, Temple, worship
posted by Me at 8:33 PM
5 Comments:
Hey, I loved what you said about worship wars: "I'm very thankful to be serving in a body that has gotten past all this junk!"
I was glad to hear that since you're responsible for leading services with BOTH styles of music. You really are thankful that we have both styles? Or is that not what you meant? Wanna elaborate?
Don't get me wrong. I wish we just had one "style". However, even with the two different services, no one is trying to get their own way and push out the other. There's a lot to be said for that. For what its worth, we have found a way to all get along. It could always be better, but I'm very grateful for the "accepting" spirit that is within the walls of FBC.
Thanks, Pastor Mark, for clarifying that!
Yeah, I get it and totally agree. After all, Joe and I are a perfect example of that, aren't we?
Joe likes one style and I like the other, but we've found a way to get along, and we have that accepting spirit with each other's preferences.
One thing we agree on--we both really like our worship pastor and his whole family, all the way down to the dog!
Ok, I have to say that some of us are "Winnebagos" and some of us are mobile homes, tour busses and even the occassional VW Bus type. Me? Mobile home, all the way.
Now, hospitality. I have some really definite feelings about that. I love to have people in my home. It makes me feel loved and connected to have people over. However, I think that hospitality is a way of thinking and have come to believe a way of life. For example, just being able to make people feel comfortable is a great attribute and makes you a very hospitable person. There are those of us that seem to have that gift no matter where we go in life. I don't consider myself gifted in hospitality in the traditional sense, but have gotten several life story accounts from the people I run into everyday (I mean making people feel comfortable enough to spill their guts in the Wal Mart check out line). I love it and have really used that to try to point people toward Christ. I would encourage others to take the time to really listen to someone and you too can be hospitable all the time.
Worship is a moment by moment, breath by blessed breath account of our walk with God. Even when I am tired I can worship because usually I am tired because of the blessings I have been given in the way of family. I love to be able to express myself in worship. However, I must admit I am a little inhibited about how to kneel in the choir loft without making a grand scene of getting back on my feet. The part of daily worship that becomes hard for me is that we as weirdo homeschoolers use the Bible a lot. We talk about it, talk about what God wants, talk about the stories, answer questions, talk about Godly living (and not-so-Godly living), etc and quite frankly our mundane life includes God so that we sometimes end up "down-sizing" if you will and making his word ordinary when we all know it's not. So that's my challenge...how to be worshipful even when you think it's just a common practice. I have to keep reminding myself there is NOTHING common about God.
wow - this is good, too - I love that idea of No worship wars - ha - that's great!!!
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