Loving God: The Discipline of Worship
Psalm 119:167-179
Rick Thompson

• Why the Disciplines are important…

1. The disciplines are my way of loving God

2. The disciplines are about training, not about trying

3. When I discipline myself, I am submitting my will to His

• Why the discipline of worship is important…

1. Worship is at the core of my being

a. Worship is the act of ascribing ultimate value to something in a way that engages your entire being.

b. I can have an emotional experience, but if it doesn’t change my life patterns, it’s not really worship.

c. Worship is the realignment of my heart around the His worth.

2. Whatever we worship that is not God will in the end destroy us.

3. When I worship with others, I get a bigger picture of His glory

a. We are not just individual worshipers; we are connected to each other in a community of faith.

b. Two problems in contemporary worship . . .

· The individualistic attitude
· The spectator approach

c. The reason for community worship . . .

· We encourage each other.
· We express our unity.
· We establish continuity with the church throughout history.
· We engage together in spiritual battle.

4. Worship puts my life in proper perspective.

a. Worship has to be centered on His word.

b. Worship connects me to His global purposes