#7 Our Personal Worship Should Build Anticipation for our Corporate Worship

Throughout this study, we’ve been talking about worshiping God all week long.  However, I want to be clear about something.  I am NOT saying this will replace our Sunday worship time.  In fact, I strongly believe it will enhance our Sunday worship times.

If you scroll back to the archives on this blog (Feb/Mar 2012), you will find the “Why do we sing” study.  That study talks about why we do what we do on Sunday mornings.  But, there is a huge connection between our Sunday worship and our worship the rest of the week.  In fact, it leads us to our last point…

OUR PERSONAL WORSHIP SHOULD BUILD ANTICIPATION FOR OUR CORPORATE WORSHIP

We spend a lot of time preparing for Sunday mornings and doing our best to provide opportunities for our congregation to worship God together.  But, honestly, I cannot lead our congregation into God’s presence.  Only Jesus Christ can do that through His sacrifice on the cross.  And the more we get to know God and the deeper our worship is throughout the week, the more anticipation is going to build to come together to worship God on Sundays.

I want our congregation to be excited about and look forward to coming together each Sunday…not just to see friends or to sing our favorite songs, but to join together to worship the God we’ve been worshiping all week long.

Bob Kauflin, a highly respected worship leader, has written a wonderful book called, “Worship Matters.”  In that book, he said,

“A worshiping community is made up of individuals whose lives are centered on the Savior they worship together each week. A worshiping community expects to encounter God’s presence not only on Sunday morning but every day.  A worshiping community recognizes that passionate times of singing God’s praise flow from and lead to passionate lives lived for the glory of Jesus Christ.”

I pray that our Sunday services inspire our congregation to worship God all week long.  And I believe our worship all week long will inspire us to passionate times of worship on Sundays.  They go hand in hand.

After this message, we closed the service with Matt Redman’s new song, “Unbroken Praise.”  I appreciate his words and challenge to let our deeds outrun our words and our lives outweigh our songs as we lead a worshipful life all week long.