Your Purpose: Worship!
You were created for worship. This is the final end of all existence: the worship of God. God created the universe so that it would display the worth of his glory. And he created us so that we would see this glory and reflect it by knowing and loving it -- with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.
What Is Worship?
Corporate worship at Bethlehem is the heart-felt, joyful, public savoring of God. Worship is the extravagant, open enjoyment of God as the fountain of life. And therefore it is a public declaration that God is more to be desired than all the pleasures of this world.
Worship is not the performance of a routine of hymns and prayers and preaching and anthems. When the angel said to John, who had fallen at his feet, "Don't do that to me; worship God," he did not mean, recite a creed, or open your hymnal, or listen to a sermon. He meant connect with GOD! Focus on God, not the messenger. Concentrate on God, not the hymn tune. Pursue God, not just knowledge about God. And in all your focusing and concentrating and pursuing after God, seek to stir up your feelings to love him and honor him and admire him and fear him and enjoy him and savor him.
Goals That Unite Us in Worship
- God-centeredness
- Expecting the powerful presence of God
- Bible-based and Bible-saturated
- Head and heart
- Earnestness and intensity
- Authentic communication
- The manifestation of God and the common good
- Undistracting excellence
- The mingling of historic and contemporary music
And this is what we will do from the bottom of our hearts, as long as God gives us breath and faith. Amen.