Friday, December 13, 2013

Advent Conspiracy–”Come”

ShepherdsMany years of Christmas, the anticipation is on Christmas day as a child running to the tree in the morning with great excitement and joy to see what presents I got.  My heart was beating fast.  I could hardly sleep the night before.  It was the greatest time of the year.  The tree was at the center of our home and it symbolizes what is at the center of our season in some cases.

The Psalmist writes:  “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” (Psalm 95:6-7)

Today as I open up the Word of God and read, I am reminded of this simple truth.  It’s not about centering our life around a season or a tree, we are invited to “come and worship.”  In the first chapter of John, when we read about Jesus and His disciples…the invitation was to COME.  When that babe was lying in the manger, the shepherds were invited to COME.  We are to come with great excitement and joy. 

If we are to come and worship – the writer of this Psalm shares the action of the worship in these few passages of Scripture – bow down and kneel before God!  What a sight in the manger of the shepherds coming and gazing on the Savior, the Messiah having a chance to worship the King of Kings.  Wow! 

The Conspiracy for this Advent Season is a call to come worship Him. It’s a call to place value in the person Jesus Christ, God who became Man.  It’s a call to leave all the junk of life behind to focus on Him.  It’s a call to simply come - Bow and kneel before Jesus.  What holds us back?  Why don’t we have time?  We have gotten so busy, we don’t have the eagerness or the want to.  There are other things that are more important.

We set aside a day or two to set out our Christmas décor and prepare our homes for this season - What are people around seeing about the priorities in your life? what really is the focus of this season?  What do your children see in your walk everyday?  Do you want to be a part of the Conspiracy this Advent to simply COME AND WORSHIP?

God Bless, Sleepy Disciple 

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Advent Conspiracy–Worship Fully

“Let’s face it; God has a big ego problem.  Why do we always have to worship Him?” – Bill Maher

It seems as if mankind always had a sense of worship, but to many different things.  Let’s blow this up, shall we?  Worship is giving something value – adoration and submission to.  I can go to Best Buy and drool over media and surround sound and IPad’s and I can go to the hardware store and lick my chops at power drills and saws and hammers and nails – oh my! - and when I go to work I can give great value to immersing myself in the job that I do and give it my all.  I can do the same with family, with church, and friends.

Christmas was an interruption!  It came at a dark time in a dark place.  Evil leaders/kings were in control of the land, there was an unbelievable amount of poverty because of high government taxation and something amazing was about to happen – Christmas.  The temple system in Israel was spiraling out of control – it became a corrupted religion with Pharisees at the helm barking at people about religious lifestyles and priests were profiting from the temple in excess.  There was a great divide between rich and poor – no middle class per se. 

Christmas was about to happen – an interruption by God.  He was sending His Son to earth to be a Savior and Messiah – to give hope to the poor and suffering, to bring Good News to the poor in spirit for the now and the future of the world. So that we may be able to “worship” God fully.  Because in our disobedience (sin) we cannot.  We don’t fully grasp what God did through Jesus thousands of years ago – to interrupt our lives for the better!  So that we can worship Him fully by receiving the Savior, Jesus.  Many that worship other things, don’t want to be interrupted.  Gain a perspective – hurry to the manger and see!  Believe!  Worship Him!

Advent Conspiracy Part 1 – Peace, Sleepy Disciple