As I sit here this morning offering Jesus my worship from my easy chair in my "shack"....Some of you may be wondering, "What is my shack?". I am so glad you asked. We built an addition on to our house last year. It's a cozy room where I can escape from the noise and clanging. I at first named it the "Man Cave". Cool name, huh? But there was one problem.....Maddie didn't like that name cuz the name "Man Cave" would thereby exclude her. So she came up with the name, "Sugar Shack" Yeah, that's what I thought too...... "What kind of name is that? How manly is that to say to your fishing buddy, 'hey, I'm going to go study in the sugar shack'?" So, long story short....I shortened the name to shack. Now aren't you glad you got the whole sordid story on how the shack became the shack? Anyway, where was I? Ever do that where you are just so scatterbrained that you forget like who you are? Oh yeah...worship. That's what I was going to blog about. Ok. Here we go. Ready? Good.
As I sit here this morning offering Jesus my worship from my easy chair in my "shack". See, now you can feel the picture, huh? Oh yeah, focus, Milt. As I sit here offering Jesus my worship, I find myself always getting distracted and I just wished that I could really visually see Jesus sitting here with me. You know what I mean? I am praying and singing a song...(You probably don't want to put audio to that thought)and reading the scriptures and I can't help but long to see Jesus face to face. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon His face....the One who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the Promise Land....what a day, glorious day that will be. Hopefully by now you just stop reading for a moment and close your eyes and picture Jesus Christ, the Righteous, taking you by the hand and leading through heaven...wow. I'll be right here when you finish your stroll with the Savior.
While you were strolling, I got a fresh cup of coffee. Mmmmmm. I love coffee in the morning. But not just any coffee. Oh, here ya go again, Milt. Focus, dude!
John 4:23-24
But the time is coming-indeed it's here now-when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."(NLT)
God is scanning the earth this morning and He's looking for true worshipers. Those who will choose Him over everyone and everything else. Must we remain so stoic and dignified? I long to just worship the way Jesus longs for us to worship. What does that look like? Great question! And I'm sure great Bible scholars will have 834 different answers to that. But since I'm the author of this blog, you'll get my thoughts. I believe that Christ is looking and scanning the earth for people who will put Jesus first in their lives...above their jobs, above their families, above their hobbies, above their bank account, and above their macho or dignified image. I believe Jesus wants us to become even more undignified than David was...Huh? What are you smokin'? Well, read 2 Samuel chapter 6 and read it closely. Then tell me how dignified the King of Israel, David remained. Hint.....pay close attention to verse 20. If you have any questions about this, let me know and I'll be happy to elaborate.
My friend, what I am saying is this....Don't get all uptight about how worship looks or feels. Don't worry about what others tell you that you should or shouldn't do. You do what God tells you to do. You lose that fear of what the person next to you might think. You and I certainly are not gonna stand before the person next to us one day. Nope....We'll stand before the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords and I long for Him to one day say, Milt.....you can't sing or dance, but I'm glad you offered your best!!"
But the time is coming-indeed it's here now-when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.
May He have all of you today and everyday.
About Me
- Milt
- I am 40 years old. I have a beautiful wife, Maddie and 4 children. Danielle is 18, Dezirae is 17, Dannie is 16 and Elena is 12. I was born and raised in Dell Rapids, SD. I left for the Air Force when I was 17 straight out of high school. Years later, I returned to plant a church in Dell Rapids. That was 2 years ago and it is still as thrilling and rewarding as it was the day God put it into my heart.
2 comments:
Your message takes me to the memory of a laboring woman that declined the use of medication for the pain she was experiencing. With each labor contraction she closed her eyes and verbally spoke praise to God "thank you Jesus...thank you God...praise be to you"...and so on. I remember thinking of how this was such a wonderful way for a mother to birth her baby. It is often easy to worship and thank Him during the calm times, but much harder during the difficult times.
The fear of others' approval of our worship actions is hard to overcome. "Worship shyness." Do we not teach the children to let their "light" shine...Milt, do you worship the same outside as you do inside the shack?
Interesting that you should ask that. Thanks for asking, though. A few weeks ago, we preached through the scripture in John 4 when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman about true worshipers. Towards the end of the sermon, we played a portion of the song, "Undignified" by the David Crowder Band and a bunch of people danced and jumped around and had a great time. It was just used to demonstrate that we are to worship how Jesus wants us to, not how the world or people sitting beside us tell us. And true to form, people are people. There were some that were offended and criticized me for that. My mother was even there that day and has criticized me (though not to my face...yet). Personally, I don't care what people think. I am gonna stand before Jesus one day...no one else. Let the worshipers arise!!
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