House of Worship

Romans 12:1-2 MSG
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your
everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and
walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for
him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it
without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be
changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from
you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always
dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out
of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Three Things a House Needs:

1. Foundation
   Matthew 7:24-27 NLT
   “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a
   person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in
   torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that
   house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone
   who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person
   who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and
   the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty
   crash.”
2. Structure
   Acts 1:8 NLT
   “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
   And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—
   in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the
   earth.”
   • Jerusalem = Building Strong Families
   • Judea = Transforming Communities
   • Samaria = Reconciling Cultures
   • To the Ends of the Earth = Impacting Nations
3. Covering
   Worship is an outward expression of our inward condition.
   Matthew 2:8-12 NKJ
   And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully
   for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word
   to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” When they heard the
   king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the
   East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young
   Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly
   great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the
   young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped
   Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented
   gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely
   warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they
   departed for their own country another way

Seven Ways to Become a Better Worshipper:

1. Search
2. Hear
   Romans 10:17 NKJ
   So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
3. Rejoice
   Psalm 28:7 NKJ
   The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I
   am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I
   will praise Him.
4. Come
   Hebrews 10:25 NKJ
   …not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the
   manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more
   as you see the Day approaching.
5. Worship
   James 4:10 NKJ
   Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
6. Give
   • Gold: This represents our King.
   • Frankincense: This represents our Priest.
   • Myrrh: This represents our Savior.
   • Time: This is our service from the heart to Him.
   • Talent: These are the gifts from the heart He placed within us.
   • Treasure: These are our tithes and offerings.
   Matthew 6:21 NKJ
   “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
7. Change