VISION SESSION
A Very Clear and Real Problem
Most people coming into the service are coming out of a week full of violent floods;
Floods of chaotic emotions.
Flooded with anger, doubt, worry, pain.
Flooded with frustrations, things not working out.
Flooded with relationship problems.
Flooded with boredom.
Imagine what it looks like after a flood. We come to service battered and bruised.
Jesus warned us…
“In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” - Jesus | John 16:33 MSG
WORSHIP TEAM’S MISSION
Most people coming into the service are coming out of a week full of violent floods. But that’s why God raises up Worship Leaders to teach and train the Body of Christ how to respond in all circumstances, how to come out of a flood and how to reenter one in faith. So that no matter the circumstances, they are conquering the world with Christ
Let’s look at Someone Who Experienced the Greatest Flood Ever
Genesis 8
13 In the six-hundred-first year of Noah's life, on the first day of the first month, the flood had dried up. Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. 18 Noah disembarked with his sons and wife and his sons' wives. 19 Then all the animals, crawling creatures, birds - every creature on the face of the Earth - left the ship family by family. 20 Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt-offerings on the altar.
Worship is Not Dependent on Environment or Circumstance
“Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground. Noah disembarked... Noah built an altar to God.”
Imagine earth after being flooded
Have you ever seen news clips of the aftermath of floods?
Desolate, wasted, uninhabitable.
Q: Does this inspire worship for you?
What Does Noah Do and What Can we Learn from Noah as a Worship Leader?
1. “Noah opened the hatch of the ship and saw dry ground.”
Noah didn’t see the devastation, he saw an opportunity, he had hope.
2. “Noah disembarked…”
Noah steps into the mess, the devastation, and faces it. He is determined to live with God in it, through it, he doesn’t go back into the safe ark/boat and hide.
3. “Noah built an altar to God.”
Noah worships.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
Explosive & Extravagant Worship
He must have come out of the ark with shouts of praise, gratitude, and expressed it with sacrificial offering. It cost him something!
Sacrifice is an act of faith
I don’t mind giving this to you as a burnt offering, cause I now know more is coming!
Shouts of praise
Now I know floods do end. God is faithful. He deserves my thanksgiving!
Noah’s Worship Exposed the New Creation in Him despite Devastation around Him
But nothing stops Noah from Worship, because new creation is in him first, not just around him. Worship exposes what’s within.
But the Story is not just about How Noah Responded with Worship, It’s about How God is able to Respond to Us... How God Responded Appropriately.
We imagine God to be hard, ruthless in judgment after witnessing the flood. But through worship, through an authentic response to the moment, we see another side of God.
God is Moved by Noah’s Cry and Worship
21 God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself, "I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off everything living as I've just done. 22 For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat, Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."
Love and Worship gives us a Revelation of Who He Is and What He is Like.
“In extraordinary resolve, God now says, “never again”... What has changed is not anything about humankind or creation or waters or floods. What has changed is God. God has made a decision about the grief and trouble of his own heart. The relation of creator to creature is no longer in a scheme of retribution. Because of a revolution in the heart of God, that relation is now based in unqualified grace.” - Walter Brueggemann / Genesis
The Plan
True worship requires sacrifice.
It’s costly. It burns away, “wasteful”
Noah built an altar to God. He selected clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt-offerings on the altar.” - v20
Burnt Offering - ‘olah, literally means, “that which ascends” - that which is entirely consumed by fire on the altar.
If your worship doesn’t seem wasteful, it’s probably not worship
We waste our youth in lust.
We waste our 20’s in pursuit of selfish pleasures.
We waste our time and money on things that don’t last.
Worship says, let’s “spend” it all on God.
Unless it Looks Wasteful to the World, it Probably isn’t Worship
Alabaster Jar and the Woman who moved the heart of Christ. It filled the room with the fragrance of worship.
Real Worship touches your money, time, body, heart, etc.
Worship, or Sacrifices, to God are Ways We “Sow” in the New Creation
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
When Noah came off the boat, he needed food, gardens, he needed to plant for the future.
What does he do? He worships (sacrifices), or “gives” to God. First. He takes care of God first. He gives himself wholly to God first.
After Worship, He Then Plants a Vineyard
“Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.” - Ch9v20
What will you give to the Lord?
Do you want real authority when you worship?
Give to God extravagantly; your body, time, money, relationships.
Be holy, consecrated, separated for His will.
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
/ Worship Advance, Camp 10/06/2018