Sermon, "Worship It Does a Body Good", by Pastor Ruth Foss, July 29, 2012, Suncook United Methodist Church

July 29, 2012
Worship theme: Worship
Ninth Sunday of Kingdomtide
Psalm 150:1-2, 6
2 Samuel 6:12-19 the Message Bible
Hebrews 12:28-29 the Message Bible
Luke 4:5-8 the Message Bible

Worship. . . It Does A Body Good


I love Sunday mornings. I love to be here in church where my Spirit can join together with other Spirits and worship God. It is such a good feeling for me. I can feel the Spirit of God within me almost leaping for joy! I don’t know about you but there is nowhere else on earth that I would want to be.

Today we are leaving port to start our cruise of the Sacred Waters of our Faith. The first stop we will be making is in the port of Worship. This is one of the ports that our Risen Lord Jesus Christ is found. He is the captain of our boat. . . our journey of faith and this is a very important port of His. It what makes us who we are. . . God worshipers. . . thankful for all He has done. . . all He is doing. . . and all that is yet to be. Let’s hear a little more about this port we have docked at and why it is so important. What is worship anyway and why do we do it?

In the 2 Samuel from this morning, we heard that God blesses those who worship Him. Obed-Edom prospered when he had the Ark. . . the Chest of God. . . with him. David wanted that blessing on his house so he went to bring the Ark to his home. As e brought the chest up, the whole country celebrated. . . worshipped the Living God. . . they more than likely were thinking about how God had brought them up out of Egypt into a new land. . . as they traveled. David was unafraid to worship God with all his might. David lived his worship out loud and didn’t care who was around. . . much to the dismay of his wife Michal. . .

From the Hebrews Scripture, we can gather that God gives those who worship Him an unshakable kingdom. . . the kingdom of God. We can worship God and be thankful. We have a promise, a gift, of and unshakeable kingdom that he establishes. Even thought the world around us may be falling apart. . . we have this hope. . . we are not part of this world but only in it for a time to fulfill God’s purpose in our lives. Our real home. . . our real citizenship. . . is with god and his unshakable kingdom. This promise alone makes me want to worship and thank God even more. . . and it’s not just on Sunday but every day He has given me.

God wants us to worship only Him. Let’s hear what the bible says about this in Luke chapter 4 verses 5-8. . . I am reading from the message Bible this morning. . .

Satan tried to coerce Jesus into worshipping him. He promised to give Jesus the whole world (as if he really could) if He would only just worship him. Jesus knew the answer. . . the right answer. . . to that “gift”. “No thanks. . . I’m all set.” Jesus shows us that God wants us to worship and serve only Him. Not our homes, our jobs, our friends. . . even our pastors. . . only Him.

Worship is the human response to God’s goodness and mercy. It is something that we can be thankful for with each and every breath we take. It is our response to the overture. . . the music. . . the symphony. . . the dance. . . of love that comes from the heart of God for you and for me.

We can use all the right words, the right phrases, the right music but still miss the mark. Singing, praying and praising may lead us to worship but true worship comes from the heart. . . it our spirit ignited by the divine fire of God.

Worship is also not contained in only one form. There are many forms of worship but they all produce the same product. . . being thankfully in awe as we worship our Creator god. There are many roads to one place but the destination is the same. When we exclude others from our worship because they worship differently there is a riff in the fabric of our worship. We somehow have missed the mark.

As we live out our worship in our daily lives we do so not only because of who God is but also what God has done for us and well as what God has done in the lives of others. Have you ever heard someone’s story of their faith and just praised God for His goodness? Not because of what God has done in your life but for what was done for someone else. . . for humanity.
That is a form of worship and it does a body. . . and soul. . . good!

I have read some of Brother Lawrence’s writings and they are wonderful and make me stop and think of my own faith journey. He is a monk who practices living in the presence of God and has written about his experience in doing so. He wrote:”I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the Presence of God.” He cannot imagine living a life that lives in the presence of God worshiping and thanking him with every action. . . with every breath.

We as Christians need to enter our worship time, on Sundays as well as living it out loud in our lives, expecting to meet God. God is there, waiting for us to only expect him to show up. We as Christians have a choice. We can either be like those religious people I talked about in my children’s message, living our worship in words only or we can live it out loud for the world to see and dance the dance with the abandonment of David. How will you chose? For me, I chose to worship with all my might and hope to be so contagious that everyone around me joins in the dance.
The dance that only our God and choreograph and we worship Him with all our Might.

Amen


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August 13, 2012
Sixth of a worship series on:
“Cruising the Sacred Waters of Our Faith”
Theme – Worship
Luke 4:5-8 (The Message Bible)
2 Samuel 6:12-19 (The Message Bible)
Hebrews 12:28-29 (The Message Bible)
Call to Worship (Worship Sourcebook 2004 – Psalm 150:1-2, 6 TP)
Unison Prayer (Worship Sourcebook 2004)
Pastoral Prayer by Pastor Ruth Foss
Prayer of Dedication (GBOD 2012, 2 see John 6:1-15)
Anthem, “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho”, by Pastor Ruth Foss
Message for children
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon – “Worship. . . it does a body good”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
July 29, 2012
Nineth Sunday of Kingdomtide
(I was the liturgist this week)
&
Fifth of a worship series on:
“Cruising the Sacred Waters of Our Faith”
Theme – Is There Room for God?
Mark 6:53-56 (New Living Translation Bible)
2 Samuel 7:1-14a (New Living Translation Bible)
Ephesians 2:19-22 (New Living Translation Bible)
Call to Worship (Abington Worship 2012)
Unison Prayer (Abington Worship 2012)
Pastoral Prayer by Pastor Ruth Foss
Prayer of Dedication (GBOD 2012, 2 Samuel 7:1-14a)
Anthem, “Ave Maria”, by Diane Mitchell
Message for children
by Pastor Ruth
and sermon – “Where Does God Want to Live?”
http://ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com/2012/07/where-does-god-want-to-live.html
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
July 22, 2012
Eighth Sunday of Kingdomtide
&
Fourth of a worship series on:
“Cruising the Sacred Waters of Our Faith”
Theme – Do We Worship Only On Sunday?
Mark 6:14-29 (The Message Bible)
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Call to Worship (Abington Worship 2012)
Unison Prayer
Pastoral Prayer by Pastor Ruth Foss
Prayer of Dedication (GBOD 2012, Ephesians 1:3-14)
Message for children,
about King David dancing for joy
by Pastor Ruth
and sermon – “Doing It Your Way, Every Day”
by Mary Ann Cioffi
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
July 15, 2012
Seventh Sunday of Kingdomtide
&
Third of a worship series on:
“Cruising the Sacred Waters of Our Faith”
Theme - Can we see the big picture?
Mark 6:1-13 (The Living Bible)
Psalm 48 (NRSV)
2 Corinthians 12:2-10 (The Living Bible)
Call to Worship (Abington Worship 2009)
Unison Prayer
Prayer of Dedication (Mark 6:1-13)
Message for children, only the walking stick (Mark 6:1-13)
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon - “Big Picture Followers”
by Kathy Akerman
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
July 8, 2012
Sixth Sunday of Kingdomtide
&
second of a worship series on:
“Cruising the Sacred Waters of Our Faith”
Theme - Where do we put Jesus in our lives?
Mark 5:21-43 (GOD’s WORD Translation)
Psalm 130 (Common English Bible)
2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (NIV)
Call to Worship (Abington Worship 2012)(Psalm 130, Mark 5)
Unison Prayer
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/07/unison-prayer-suncook-united-methodist.html
Prayer of the People
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/07/prayers-of-people-suncook-united.html
Prayer of Dedication (Mark 5:21-43) (2 Corinthians 8, Mark 5)
(adapted from GBOD 2012 and Abington Worship 2012)
Communion, UMH, page 9
Message for children, “There is Power in a Touch”
http://www.sermons4kids.com/power_in_a_touch.htm
(Mark 5:27-29)
Sermon - What Jesus Means to Me!
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/07/sermon-what-jesus-means-to-me-suncook.html
by Raymond A. Foss
http://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss
Poetry Where You Live
http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
July 1, 2012
Fifth Sunday of Kingdomtide
&
first of a worship series on:
“Cruising the Sacred Waters of Our Faith”
Mark 4:35-41 (Common English Bible)
Jesus stops a storm
Psalm 9:9-11 (NRSV Bible)
Psalm 9:9-20 (NRSV Bible)
2 Corinthians 6:1-10 (NRSV Bible)
2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (NRSV Bible)
Worship Theme: “What’s in a name?”
Call to Worship (Abington Worship 2012)
Unison Prayer (Abington Worship 2012)
Hymn: “It Is Well With My Soul”, UMH #377
Prayer of Dedication (GBOD 2012 (2 Corinthians 6: 1-13))
Message for Children, “A story about some rocks”
David and Goliath
and sermon, ““Who Is Jesus?”
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/who-is-jesus
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
June 24, 2012
Fourth Sunday of Kingdomtide

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