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One day in prayer I began to worship God. I began trying to give him one thing after another.

God I give you…
Praise, worship…  Give you my heart, mind, soul, strength…

My service…  Take these hands and use them.

I remember trying to stretch myself to give God everything possible.

God I give you… Tithes & offerings, prayer, my attention, submission, my home, my family, I surrender my dreams to you, love, sacrifice, I will put my faith and trust in you.

And then I said… “God I give you Grace…”

…That sentence did not feel right. It felt like a mistake.

“God is it possible to give you grace?”

Today I want to talk to you about the intersection of Grace & Worship.

Intersection of Grace & Worship

Every day we stand at an intersection of grace & worship.

What is grace?

I grew up with this church definition – Unmerited Favor.

Grace is giving something good to someone who doesn’t deserve something good.
Grace is receiving something good when we don’t deserve it.

God gives us grace.  God’s every interaction with us has been through His Grace.
It is why a Holy God interacts with us through Jesus Christ.

John 1:14 (NIV2011) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

Romans 6:23 (NIV2011) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

As sinners we deserve death… but Grace gives us what we don’t deserve. Through Grace God gives us life.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV2011) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. 

Hebrews 4:16 (NIV2011) Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

John 3:16 (NIV2011) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

When I said in my prayer “God I give you grace…” everything halted because that is not true.

Grace is giving a good gift to someone that has not earned a good gift.

When I said “God I give you grace…” I was really saying “God I give you something good that you have not earned.” 

You can’t give God Grace

Tears of repentance… Godly sorrow

Dance and leap before the Lord…

Your offerings…  financial blessings in your wallet…

Surrender to His will… His Word…

Obedient to water baptism… Submission to the Spirit baptism…

Serve one another… teach Sunday school, clean rest rooms, greet guests at the front door, volunteer your time and energy…

Bow down… Raise hands clap hands… gifts of the spirit…

But one thing we have never given God is grace.

We have never come with a good gift and given it to God and He, not deserve it.

God deserves it all!

You have never given him praise that He was not worthy of…
You have never given him an offering that was more than His worth…
You have never given God something that was above and beyond His greatness…

Every Hallelujah… Every joyful noise…  Every song… God you are worthy of it all forever!

Grace is a one way street.

God can give you grace, but you cannot give God grace.  It is impossible for you to give grace directly to God…

The only way you could ever give grace to God, would be to give it to “the least of these.”

Matthew 25:40 (NIV2011) “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 

Church we ought to be graceful to one another… It is the only way you could ever give grace to God.

God gives us grace… He gives us good gifts that we could never earn ourselves.

We can’t give grace directly to the Lord, because He is worthy of everything we could ever give…  so what should we give the Lord?

Psalm 116:12 (NIV2011) What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? 

Psalm 116:13 (NIV2011) I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. 

Psalm 116:14 (NIV2011) I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. 

Psalm 116:15 (NIV2011) Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. 

Psalm 116:16 (NIV2011) Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains. 

Psalm 116:17 (NIV2011) I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord. 

We can’t give grace… so what can we give?

We give worship

What is worship?

Worship is an attempt to give God a gift that matches his worth.

Praise is an attempt to give God a gift that matches his grace/the gifts He gives.

We can’t God grace, so we give God praise and we give Him worship.

Psalm 29:1-2 (NIV2011) A psalm of David. Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. 

Psalm 150:1-2 (KJV) Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.  Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. 

Praise & Worship is an attempt to give God a gift that matches His worth and the worth of His gifts.
Not about how you feel… Not about your preferred musical style… Not about the decor of the room… Not about what you might receive in return…

Praise & worship is a challenge…

Will you praise God at the same level and value as the gifts & blessings He has given you?  We might have to praise Him at a higher level…

Will you worship God at the same level of HIS VALUE? We might need to worship at a higher level.

What if your personal praise defined your feelings, thoughts, and thankfulness for all of God’s blessings? 
IT DOES!  Has God been good to you?  Then Praise Him!  And praise Him at the level of His goodness toward you. 

What if your personal worship defined your feelings & thoughts about God? 
IT DOES!  Is God good?  Is God worthy? Is God beautiful & glorious?  Then Worship Him!  And worship at the level of his greatness.

In Luke 10, Jesus was asked “what does God really want… Of all the commandments, which one is the most important.” Jesus said…

Luke 10:27 (NIV2011) He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 

Do you love the Lord your God today?
Have you ever showed Him that you Love Him?
Do we feel like we have kept this most important commandment?

I have never kept this commandment.

Have you ever loved God with all your heart? Soul? Strength? Mind? 

Praising & Worshipping this wonderful God of ours is the challenge of a life time.

We should NEVER gather together and give God praise & worship that is bland, vapid, anemic, lifeless, commonplace, weak, wishy-washy…

Is your God bland?  What does your praise say…?
Are God’s gifts to you weak? What does your worship say…?

Grace is where God gives you everything you don’t deserve.
Worship is where you attempt to give God everything He is deserving of.

Grace is a one way street…

Worship is a one way street…

Worship is a one way street

God doesn’t worship us… and that is a good thing.  …Because worship is giving what someone is deserving of…

If God Gave me everything I was deserving of.. I would be dead.  The wages of sin is death…

Instead of giving us worship, what we are deserving of… God chooses to give us grace. 

Today we stand at the intersection of Grace & Worship.

We stand in a place where God continually gives us what we could never earn… and where we try to Give God everything He is worthy of.

Even while we worship Him, He pours out new blessing on us.

We are in such debt to God… We owe Him everything.  So give Him everything today.

Is God good today?  Prove it in your worship.

Love Him with ALL your heart, strength, mind, soul.