Today is the Sunday before Labor Day.

It is also my husband's last day as an active duty service man. Tomorrow, he will be Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Nicholas P. Speliopoulos, Jr.
Praise God for His mercy and grace to allow this to happen and to not send Nick to Iraq right before retirement. It is so sweet to have him home even if our "home adjustment" is ongoing - I am definitely not used to having him home all the time.

This morning, Carl Green, our Pastor at Calvary Fellowship Church, preached the second part in his series of sermons on "wholehearted worship". All I can say is...."wow". Nothing much has struck me as hard in my Christian walk as this zooming in on what constitutes worship that is right in the eyes of God.

Last week, Carl encouraged us to ponder these questions:
1) How am I doing with wholehearted worship?
2) Is my lifestyle of worship acceptable or unacceptable to God?
3) Recognizing worship is a hot button to God, how am I doing in the priority of worship?
4) What takes my attention away from pursuing God?
5) Is there anything in my life more important than worshiping God?
6) What worship traditions am I clinging to?
7) Is there any hypocrisy when I come to worship?

Today, Carl continued by looking at Psalm 96. Some of the terms used to describe worship here are to sing, praise, proclaim, declare, ascribe, worship and tremble.

Carl took us deeper into the meaning of some of these terms.
- Sing:
1 Corinthians 14:15 - Sing with understanding
2 Chronicles 20:19 - Levites stood to sing
Psalm 47:1 - Clap your hands
Psalm 63:4 - Raise your hands
1 Timothy 2:8 - Lift up hands

- Praise: Bless the Lord -> telling Him how much we appreciate Him

- Proclaim: To publicly announce good news

- Declare: Inscribe, tell again, recount stories of God's glory

- Praise: Make a show off, boast, declare value or worth

- Ascribe: Bring opinion of God's worth

- Worship: To bow down, stoop

- Tremble: To twist or to whirl (such as in dance), can also mean writhing in pain

- Rejoice: Wholehearted merriment, being exceedingly glad

- Resound: Moaning, mumbling

- Be jubilant: To be so joyful that you jump for joy

Wholehearted worship: Celebration before the Lord!

Carl asked us to think about whether our worship is theocentric or egocentric. Our worship should always be directed at lifting up God, not about the benefits to us.

What a great message. I hope it gives you pause today as you read it.

In Christ,
Elke
posted by Elke at 9:53 PM