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Gen. 22:1-14
QUALITIES OF GENUINE WORSHIP Intro: The
word “worship” means, “reverence or devotion for a deity”.
It comes from Anglo-Saxon word “weorthscipe”, meaning
“worth
ship”. Means “ascribing worth to a person or object.”
When we “worship” God, we are saying “God is worthy of all my love, my
attention and my devotion. He is worthy to receive all that I can give Him.” The
word translated “worship” in verse 5
comes from a Hebrew word that means “to bow down, to prostrate oneself”.
In the New Testament, “worship” comes from a word that means
“to
kiss the hand in a token of reverence”.
It was used to refer to “a dog licking his master’s hand”. It
is an image of absolute love and complete trust and devotion. In
these verses, we are allowed to see genuine worship fleshed out. In this
terrible time of testing, Abraham shows us what worship truly is. I want to
examine these verses and preach about the Qualities Of
Genuine Worship. · · A true heart for God is marked by
obedience, · Worship is not only something a
person does; worship is what we are! Every obedient moment of our lives is an
act of worship. (Ill. Attendance, tithing, witnessing, praying, studying the
Bible, praise, etc.) II. v. 2
GENUINE WORSHIP IS STEADFAST · Abraham’s life is marked by worship.
Ill. His altars and his worship. In fact, Abraham had just finished a time of
worship at · Ill. Easy to worship God when things
are good. Not so easy when hard times come! Genuine worship looks beyond the
crisis of the hour and sees a God Who is worthy of worship regardless of how
life is going. Genuine worship sees a God Who is in control of all the
situations of life and it bends the knee to Him. III.
v. 5 GENUINE
WORSHIP IS SEPARATED · When they arrived at the mountain,
Abraham separated himself from every worldly care and went to worship. Abraham
came ready to worship and he let others take care of worldly matter. · Genuine worship shuts the world out
and separates itself unto the Lord. Too often our worship is contaminated and
controlled by the world. Genuine worship should be the first priority of our
lives. We should do nothing else until we have worshiped Him! ( · IV.
v. 5-10 GENUINE WORSHIP IS SACRIFICIAL · This worship was going to cost
Abraham very dearly. He was called to give up the Son of Promise, Isaac. Notice
how God makes the demand, v. 2. Ill.
Abraham’s response – He never waivers! He gathers what he needs and he goes to
do what the Lord has asked of him. He is willing to sacrifice everything he has
and everything he has been promised at the command of God. He holds nothing
back! · Genuine worship is costly because it
requires us to make sacrifices. Things like time, plans, pride ( · Genuine worship requires that
everything of value be placed on the altar and given to God, V.
v. 5 GENUINE WORSHIP IS SECURE · Abraham did not know all that was
going to happen, but he went up that mountain expecting a miracle, and that is
just what he received. ( · Genuine worship does not understand
all of life. It is not pleased with every twist in the road. Genuine worship
gives itself unreservedly to God, in spite of the things it cannot comprehend,
and it bows before Him in the face of everything. Genuine worship knows that
its earthly expression is merely practice for what will be perfected in Heaven.
· Genuine worship bows before God
because it realizes Who God is, what God has done and
where the road of faith will end up. Genuine worship knows that the real
miracle is that it is allowed to worship in the first place! Conc: What made all this possible was
Abraham’s availability, v. 1. He was
in his place, listening for the voice of the Lord and he was ready for worship.
God is seeking genuine worshipers, |
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