Worship as Warfare

What is Worship and how is music involved?

• Nearly every indigiouness culture has an oral tradition including:

• Flood Story• Son of God• God (s) and Supernatural• Miracles

Biblical Examples

• Genesis 1:1,2• In the beginning God created the heavens and

the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

• Revelation 4:8-11• 8 Each of the four living creatures had six

wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

• “‘Holy, holy, holy• is the Lord God Almighty,’[a]

• who was, and is, and is to come.”

•  Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throneand who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

• 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power,for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

J.R.R. Tolkienfrom the Simillarion

• There was the One, who was called Iluvatar; and he made the Ainur, the holy ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made. And he spoke to them, giving them themes of music; and they sang before him, and he was glad. But for a long while they sang only each alone, or but few together, while the rest hearkened; for each comprehended only

• That part of the mind of Iluvatar from which he came, and in the understanding of their brethren they grew slowly. Yet ever as they listened they came to deeper understanding, and increased in unison and harmony. And it came to pass that Iluvatar called them together and declared a mighty theme, unfolding to them things greater and more wonderful than he had yet revealed; and

• The glory of its beginning and the splendor of its end amazed them, so that they bowed before Iluvatar and were silent.

How do we use it today?

• Song & Dance• Prayer & Fasting• Daily Life

But what does worship mean?

• Chris Jack in the Heart of Worship files:• There are three main words used in the Old

Testament for “worship”, that is three words which are regularly translated “worship” in English versions of the Bible. In short, the biblical terminology shows that worship is-

• Submission• Service• Reverence

• He continues: Significantly, all three have direct parallels in the Greek in the New Testament. What this means-and it is worth understanding at the outset-is that there is considerable consistency and continuity between the Old Testaments understanding of worship an that of the New Testament.

Let’s Look at How to use Worship as Warfare.

• Three Main ways:

• Worship against Self (depression, hoplessness)

• Worship against the Physical

• Worship against Spiritual (pricapalities)

Worship against Self

• My struggle• Psalm 22: 1,2• My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.[b]

• Psycologist John Bradshaw says “many come from dysfunctional families...as a result we live with a lot of repressed pain”. He calls this the hole in the soul, and a magnet for addictions.

• Don Williams says, “ worship money become a greedy person. Worship sex, become a lustful person. Worship power, become a corrupt person. Worship Jesus, become a Christlike person. We become what we worship.

• Paul writes in Romans 12:1• 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.

Challenge!

• How do you start your day?• What do we think about ourselves/others?• What do we truly worship?

Worship Against the Physical

• May be the most commonly thought of • Biblical examples:• Paul and Silas in Philipian Prison Acts16:16-40• Job (all of it!)

• Gideon• Judges 7:15-20• When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he

bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” 16 Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.

• 17 “Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon.’”

• 19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”

• Old Romanian Pastor Story

Challenge!

• What Circumstances are standing in your way

• If God is for us, who can stand against!

Worship Against the Spiritual

• Probably the least understood/recognized

• Biblical examples- Ephesians 6:12• For our struggle is not against flesh and

blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

• Daniel 10:12-14• Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since

the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

• Genesis 3:14-15• So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you

have done this,• “Cursed are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers;he will crush[b] your head, and you will strike his heel.”

• Fiji Story• James 4:7-8• Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the

devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,you double-minded.

• Psalms 73:28• But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

Jesus is the ultimate example of Worship!

• John 12:46• I have come into the world as a light, so that

no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

• By dying for our sins on the cross Jesus exeplified :

• Submission• Service• Reverence

Challenge!

• Worship is not just a song, an act or a way to feel good about ourselves

• Worship is submission, service, and reverence before God Almighty