Sermon Central
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Do You See Him As He Is? Series
Contributed by Paul Decker on Sep 4, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: God is worthy to be praised.
DO YOU SEE HIM AS HE IS?
S: Worship
C: God as He is
Th: God – Most Worthy of Praise
Pr: GOD IS WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE.
?: How? How do we do it?
KW: Declarations
TS: We will find in Psalm 96:1-6 three declarations that are worth following in order to praise God.
Type: Propositional
The ____ declaration is that we should…
I. SING (1-2)
II. TELL (2-3)
III. HONOR (4-6)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
Version: ESV
RMBC 04 September 05 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Expect
Max Greenberg was at his favorite eatery, the Second Avenue Deli, when he called over the waiter.
"Yes?" asked the busy waiter.
“Are you the waiter I ordered from?” asked Max.
“Yes, I am your waiter.”
"Are you sure you’re the waiter I ordered from?"
"Why do you ask?" replied the waiter.
Max replied, "Because I was expecting you to be a much older man by now."
Well…
1. What are your expectations today?
ILL Expect: Disney
Several years ago the executives at Disney World were surprised to find from their exit surveys that some families were leaving the theme park disappointed.
Do you know why? They had come to see somebody but during their visit they never crossed paths with him.
His name was Mickey Mouse.
So the Disney executives created a way that everyone who wanted to see Mickey Mouse would be able to see him.
Now on every day of the week at noon, a parade comes down Main Street with you know whom leading the way.
The result, children now leave the park happy and content because of who they saw.
2. What are your expectations today regarding worship?
The discovery Disney made applies to the church as well.
People come to church for a myriad of reasons.
Some may come from loneliness.
Some come because they will feel guilty if they do not.
Some may come because they always come.
But there is a really only one great reason to come to church today.
It is to see God.
It is to experience God.
It is to come and meet Jesus.
TRANSITION:
Today, we begin our annual emphasis on discipleship,
Being a disciple means that we are a true and committed follower of Jesus.
So…
1. When we are true followers of Jesus, we will be people of worship.
Worship is a great responsibility.
I think as believers in Jesus, we are often too casual about worship.
We don’t see the value of worship to ourselves.
But even more importantly, we don’t understand its value to God.
Worship is our highest privilege.
When we worship we speak of the value that God possesses in His being.
Because He is, He is worthy of our praise.
That is our theme this month…
2. GOD IS WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE.
God deserves every good word we put His way.
God deserves every attentive ear we give to His Holy Word.
God deserves every attempt on our part to demonstrate His worth.
He is worthy of our every praise.
To give God what He deserves, though, we should ask a question…
Do we see God as He is?
3. Do you see God as He is?
Perhaps an even more important question is, are you even looking for it?
Are you looking to see God as He is?
Or is our time of worship nothing more than going through the motions?
One of our familiar hymns challenges us to see God as He is.
It goes like this…
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all life thou givest, to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish – but naught changeth thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render; O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.
Walter Chalmers Smith
Just as this author has done…
4. It is appropriate to respond to God’s being and activity.
Worship is not meant to be hard.
In fact, it is natural.
Just consider how excited we get when someone in the public eye does something we appreciate.
If we are watching an athletic event, some of us appear to be downright out of control.
We will stand and cheer, and even make weird noises (just check our the Super Bowl party).
