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4 Habits Not to Fall Into In Online Worship

4 Habits Not to Fall Into In Online Worship

We have worshipped online for six weeks and it looks like it’s going to go a lot longer. And what I wanted to do was to speak to you as your pastor to encourage you on how to make more of our own My Worship experience and at the same time I'll warn you about habits that I don't want us to get into.

 

1. Make Sunday a new (or second) Saturday | Remember the Sabbath 

The first habit I don't want us to get into is to make Sunday a new (or second) Saturday. You know for a lot of people, Monday through Friday are workdays. Sunday used to be a day of worship and Saturday used to be a blah day. It’s when we kind of relaxed and did nothing and be unproductive. And unfortunately, because we’re not actually physically going to church on Sunday, we can be tempted to make Sunday another blah day. 

But rather, I want you to realize that in the Ten Commandments, the Lord thought it was so important to keep one day a week a rhythm in which we try not to work but rather focus on the Lord. And he said in the Ten Commandments to remember the Sabbath. And so in a culture and in a world in a time of anxiety or concerns of uncertainty, I want you to focus on worship on Sunday. Don't just stream any time that is convenient for you but as if you had an appointment with the Lord on Sunday at 9:30 or 11:30, remember the Sabbath!

 

2. Children first. Worship second. | Worship first. Children second.

The second habit that I don't want us to fall into this to make children first and worship second.  You know, we have a wonderful children and youth ministry and on Sunday at 10:40 I’m imaging that in a lot of homes they're waiting for that 10:40 time.

But I want you to, as much as we love our children, to make worship first, that your worship becomes more important than your children’s worship. That at 9:30 or 11:30, that your children ought to watch you worship because they realize that mom and dad worship the Lord and that's what they want to as well. You know when you ride on the plane, one of the messages said we hear… that in the time of turbulence, when the oxygen mask comes down, don't put the oxygen mask on your child. But rather, put it on you first because do you need to be healthy and whole spiritually before you help your children.

 

3. Be completely comfortable | Offer a posture of worship

The third habit I don't want us to get into is to become too comfortable. You know, at home it's easy to get up on a Sunday morning, be in our pajamas, not be shaven or washed, and sit in front of our sofa and you know what turn on the TV when the stream is on and feel like we worshipping. 

Rather, what I would encourage you to do is to offer a posture of worship.  if the Lord Jesus came to your house on a Sunday morning how would you be dressed? How would you present yourself? How would you sit? I want you to offer a posture of worship because what we present with our bodies actually impacts our hearts. And so I want you to prepare yourself as if you are meeting the Lord that morning.

 

4. Worship alone | Worship within a community

Fourthly and lastly, the habit I don't want to get into is to worship alone. You know, worshipping is something that we do before the Lord. But when the Lord created humanity in Genesis chapter 2, He said everything was good except the fact that man was alone and so He made us community creatures. So even in worship, I want us to worship in community as Acts chapter 2 told us that worship began in a community. On Sunday morning, I want you to gather your family in a common room before you worship. Don’t be worshipping separately but worship together. And when you go online, say hello to the host, leave a comment, leave a like, or share it or ask for prayer. And also starting this Sunday, we’ll have an online lobby so go in there and say hello.

What I have been very encouraged by is to see a lot of groups actually coming together in a zoom room and worshipping together. How great is that! You know one leader said the reason why we need to worship in a community is that it is an echo of what we will experience in heaven. So worship together.

So, hey Living Hope, I'm so proud and grateful for you. And don’t fall into these bad habits of making Sunday a new (or second) Saturday but rather keep the Sabbath. I don't want you to make children first but really, you learn to worship first. And thirdly, don't be too comfortable but rather offer up a posture of worship. Finally, don’t worship alone but worship within a community. I'll see you this Sunday as we apply some of these things in worship.