Change Your Sound pt 3

Gen 4:2-8- now Abel kept flocks and Cain worked in the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to The Lord. And Abel also brought an offering…..the Lord looked favorably upon Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. the The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Now Cain said to he brother Abel, “lets go out into the field.” while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Worship revealed our moods. We can never enter into the presence of God without our true selves first being revealed. When He casts the mirror back upon us, then He begins changing us into His image.

Last week, we learned that Leah named her kids the way she did because the wanted the attention of her husband, but when she named Judah, it was because the wanted Gods attention. What she didn’t realize was that she already has His heart and love.

In the same way, we see this week that God had already put in place a way to worship Him. It wasn’t a way to earn His love, because He already loved us fiercely. But Cain doesn’t bring a blood sacrifice, which was required. He brings fruits from his field. This indicates the struggle of man with worship.

Thus, the question is asked..” will we worship God His way, or our way?” God has instituted ways in which we should worship Him. It may look differently, but the heart of it is the same. There must be some sound associated with it. When Paul and Silas were in jail, they began to sing and make a sound while they were chained. First their chains fell off, and then e doors opened in every cell.

Your praise not only sets you free, but helps set others free around you. Paul and Silas praised, but everyone was set free! Our praise is NOT simply for us. It can inspire others to worship freely.

Just because we call ourselves a church doesn’t mean that God is here. There must be a sound for God to inhabit. If there is no praise going forth, then this is not a holy place!

Just because you give it to God doesn’t mean that He has to accept it. He accepted Abel’s offering, but rejected Cain’s. He requires our best. Sometimes our best is a struggle. Other times, we give God our leftovers and wonder why we don’t see a return. God deserves far more than just our leftovers. Give God everything that you have in your heart to give!

God doesn’t reject us. He rejects what we bring Him. He rejects our leftovers. Cain didn’t bring God what He wanted because it would have placed him outside of His comfort zone. It would have stretched him. He was a farmer, not comfortable with animals. Fruits were easy for him. But worship is not a personality issue. It is an obedience issue. Too many times, we just bring God what is easy.

There should ALWAYS be a sound of praise ready to come out of our mouths.

2 main things happen when we praise.

-we are set free
-we kill our pride.

It’s easy to let emotions take us into praise when things are going great. If the week is good, we have our praise music going and we are in a zone. You’re in the zone.

James 5:13- is anyone among you in trouble?…..let them praise.
Psalm 42:3-5 – my tears have been my food all day and night, while people say to me all day long, “where is your God.” These things I remember as I pour out my soul; how I used to go into the house of God under the protection of the mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng. Why my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and My God!

The sound of our services should never change! In good, PRAISE Him. In bad, Praise Him. This is why we were created.

What are you seeing?

The Bible is clear when it comes to vision. Habbakuk says that we should write the vision and make it plain. Vision is important. Why else would God give us eyes if we weren’t supposed to be able to see what is on the horizon. Yet, our physical vision can only take us so far.

Vision. Vision. This word has given me fits for most of my life. I would venture to say that I have not had a vision, a real vision. Of course, I’ve had visions of grandeur- that I would be a famous singer or songwriter, that I would be a Pastor of a huge church. Those are visions that I have had based on my selfish desires. I’m talking now about the kind of vision that shapes our lives; a vision that inspires us to run toward the greatness that God dreams about us. Tonight as I listened to some of our college Pastors talk about their visions for that group, I was intrigued. It was evident that God had given them a firm and tangible vision for where they were going, and how He was going to get them there. it was really riveting stuff, until I felt like I was intruding on something special, and dismissed myself from my interloping.

Thing is, they know where they are going and how they are going to move towards getting there, and as they talked about different ideas, it just made me wonder. I’ve never felt a particular calling to any specific group of people. Not just children or young adults. Not just married or divorced people. Not just broken or whole men. As I have grown older, I simply feel the call of God on my life to serve people, and reach each person the way that Christ would. That is a realization that has taken me years to come to grips with- that God has not specialized me for any one thing, but as equipped me for whatever He sends, and whomever He sends, across my path. Which leads me to my next line of thinking.

The Bible says that where there is no vision, people perish. it makes me wonder if I have been perishing for most of my life, however , this can’t be true. So, I wonder if I have been living life out of the vision that my spirit knows is on the horizon. What has my spirit seen that continues to press me and push me, never allowing me to be satisfied with any one thing? What has my spirit seen that causes me to believe that I can give more, that I can do more, that I can make a difference? What has my spirit seen that defines parts and pieces of me against where my destiny in God lies? What has my spirit seen that is keeping me from perishing? cause I don’t think that my physical vision is truly the issue. Our spiritual sight is where we see God moving and shifting things around us. What has my spirit seen?

Better yet, what has YOUR spirit seen?

I guess the gist of this is that it doesn’t matter whether you haven’t seen something. It only matters if you have “seen” something. The more time we spend with God, worshiping and reading His word, I am convinced that He shows our spirits things that our physical minds can not handle all at once. I believe that He allows snippets to filter into our minds on His timetable. So, by some measure, we all have seen something. We all have a vision. it just depends on whether or not the time is right for us to access and move on it.

Just my thoughts.

 

Be blessed!