DIGGING DEEP NO. 1008 OCTOBER 31, 2023 The Formula of Worship (Ps 100:1-5)

The Formula of Worship gives us the blueprint on how to approach The King of kings, The Lord of lords, The Creator of all, and The Sovereign Ruler of the world. The Holy One! 

(i) Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving🙁Ps 100:4a) Our Thanksgiving acknowledges right off the get-go that we are 100% dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Our thanksgiving also acknowledges the Foundational Truth that everything we have, and our very existence is a gift from God. (Ps 100:3) Thanksgiving FLATOUT rejects the myth that our success and achievement lie in our intellect. (Deu 8:18) Being thankful is the will of God PERIOD… we don’t have to pray or fast about it. (1Thes 5:18) We are to be thankful whether we are on top of the world or in the valley, whether we are in a raging storm, or the sun is shining, we enter His Gates with thanksgiving. We have to be mindless and ignorant not to be thankful to God. (Ps 95:1-5) (Lord I thank You for waking me up this morning, Lord I thank You for the air I breathe, mercy and grace, sound mind, healing, roof over our heads, food on our table) 

(ii) Enter His Courts with Praise:(100:4b) It is a command that we enter His Courts with Praise. (Ps 150:1-6) His Court is a sacred place, not just a sacred place where we ponder on the Glory of God and how Magnificent or Awesome, He is. But a sacred place of singing, shouting, and dancing. (Ps100:1-2) (1Chron 15:28-29)

While worship is not independent of thanksgiving and worship cannot be detached from praise, worship takes us further. When we enter His Gates and come into His Courts then we encounter His Altar. The end goal is to bow out hearts before His Throne in worship (Ps 95:6). (It is only at the Altar we can offer ourselves as a living sacrifice in worship).

(iii) Worship: This is when we bow our hearts in submission and offer ourselves as living sacrifice on the Altar, and withholding nothing then only and then we have worshiped. There is no worship without submission and sacrifice (Gen 22:1-5) (Rom 12:1)

Sometimes we in fact entered His Gates with thanksgiving and His Courts with praise but we held on tight to our gifts with unbend hearts on the Altar. If we are to worship Him, we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (Jn 4:23-24) 

In conclusion: The Formula of Worship is Thanksgiving & Praise, Submission & Sacrifice, and Spirit & Truth