Why Worship Works (Part 5)
[ Preached by Pastor Kenneth Chin at Acts Church Malaysia on 3 May 2020 ]
This message was pre-recorded as an online worship service during the Movement Control Order issued by the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19.
In the previous four instalments of Why Worship Works, we learnt that:
- Worship is what we were created for
- Worship is a magnet to human beings
- Worship draws the presence of God
- Worship is the only thing that continues from earth o eternity
- God moves in and through our worship
- The greatest king, David, was also the strongest worshipper
- Worship is always before warfare
- The question of true worship is the deepest longing of every heart
- Our whole life is worship unto God
- The entire church service must be worship unto God
- You have truly worshipped when worship continues after the church service ends
- You have truly worshipped when you ask for nothing but have given to God your everything
And here on the final part of the message, we are to discover that:
Worship can refresh us.
When we enter into worship, we can be renewed by God’s presence. Worship can refresh us, but it is not totally true that worship can make us brand new. It can neither preserve us from sin nor protect us from the desires of our flesh.
To refresh is to help us start again.
Read | 1 Samuel 16:23, 1 Samuel 10:5-6
Worship can refresh us but it cannot completely regenerate us. Total change takes a choice and our own continuous application of God’s word in our lives. To refresh is to help us start again. For example, when we play a video game and click the reboot button, it helps us restart the game – and probably play it better than we did the last time.
Worship, therefore, helps us restart and refresh the areas of our lives that we know we need to work on overcoming or perfecting. No matter the strength of our Sunday worship, we must remember that we face very real challenges on Monday which can only be overcome by God’s word and work in our lives.
God loves music.
Read | Ezekiel 28:14-16, Isaiah 14:10-12
God placed the fallen angel, Lucifer, in charge of worship. Music is amazing and powerful because God created it. Nonetheless, not all music is harmless, we cannot forget that music has also been used as a channel for evil. Today, Satan uses music to deceive us and draw us further away from God.
Music is amazing and powerful because God created it.
The report on Satan’s fall in the Bible informs us that we never quite lose our God-given gifts, even after we turned our back against God, our purpose, or others. But what benefit will it bring if we are not using our gifts for the purpose and place that God wills for us to use and develop it?
When we turn our backs on God, we are prone to going in the opposite direction of our destiny. God desires that while we are still here on earth, we would not turn away but turn back to Him and let His will be done in and through our lives.
All Satan wants is our worship.
Read | Matthew 4:8-10 , 2 Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 12:9
Satan knows that sometimes humans crave attention and validation. The very desires of our hearts that God means for good, we can use it as idols.
Satan knew how powerful worship was that he would tempt Christ the “kingdoms of the world” in the hope that Christ would bow down and worship him. If we bow down and worship him, we will neither bow down unto God nor fulfill our God-given destiny.
We must stand firm in the knowledge that our identity comes from Christ alone and our only life’s desire should be to please and worship God.
The very desires of our hearts that God means for good, we can use it as idols.
Read | James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Satan may deceive us by offering us everything he knows we need – but only God is worthy. Only God owns the world and He’s our good Father who desires to give us all good things; not only here on earth, but into eternity.
The Bible promises that when you submit yourself to God, you will be able to resist the devil and he will flee from you. And we can rely on His promise as we worship Him.
#decadeoflegacy2030
Written by Ivy Wambaa
Edited by Hailey Chung
