Who and How do we worship | Janine Smith | 23rd February 2025

This week we have an amazing message from our worship pastor, Janine Smith. She speaks about Who and How we Worship, following Ps Paula’s message last week about What is Worship.

Who do we worship sounds an obvious question, but is fundamental - we can't move on to how do we worship if we don't know who do we worship. It matters that we know who we worship. But it matters that we actually know who we worship! Without this knowledge, everything is futile. Our God is the God who made heaven and earth, the sky and the sea, all of us. He can heal us of our diseases, and we should be in awe of Him. He is not only a great God but a good Father. Only by having a personal relationship with God and walking closely with him can we be moved to real authentic worship. The more we know of God, the more we will want to worship Him. The more closely we walk with God, the more He reveals himself to us.

The first mention of worship in the scriptures occurs in Genesis 22 where Abraham goes to sacrifice his son Isaac in obedience to God. Scripture tells us that Abraham went to worship God before taking the wood for the burnt offering and his son Isaac. Then God spared his son and provided a ram in the thicket. This was a test of Abraham’s faith in God, of course at the time he did not know this.

So when we ask ‘How do we Worship’, the first answer is with obedience. Many of us may need to examine our lives and discover what we need to sacrifice however small in order to worship God. God answered Abraham by telling him his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

From our hearts, we give an offering, this leads to worship. However, just an offering alone doesn't come from relationship with God, is not an act of your obedience to God and is just an offering which is empty religion. True worship comes from the heart, from a genuine authentic love of God and wanting to respond to who He is. What the offering is, or its size, God sees it as worship. Ps Janine related the story of Mary and the Alabaster jar of perfume (Luke 7:37). Maybe some of us have something to pour out on Jesus’ feet?

Whatever we offer, no matter how large or small, God sees it as worship. It moves the heart of God. It's not meaningless, it's not futile. Everything we do to magnify God is seen as worship and it moves him.

PS Janine gives us three pointers

·         We worship with our obedience

·         We worship from our heart

·         Our worship is a weapon

Using the story of Gideon and the Midianites in Judges 7:18, Janine describes how our worship has a sound, which the enemy cannot abide. When we speak out scripture, it confuses the enemy. The sound of our worship disarms the enemy. Anything and everything that we do to magnify God creates the sound of worship.

Janine closes this inspiring message with her favourite worship scripture from Romans 12:1 (NIV) “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship”.