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Share Story of Isaac, Dwelling in Gerar at the Time a Famine Hit. He Was Tempted to Leave and Flee to Egypt, but God Told Him to Stay and He Would Bless Him Share story of Isaac, dwelling in Gerar at the time a famine hit. He was tempted to leave and flee to Egypt, but God told him to stay and He would bless him. Week #3 – Refreshing Water Genesis 26:15 – 18 (NKJV) 15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we." 17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac DUG AGAIN THE WELLS of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. • Abraham dug wells for his family, with the intent that future generations would benefit. • However, the Philistines stopped up the wells and rendered them useless. • Many people would have moved on or counted them a loss. But Isaac DUG AGAIN!! • We must be sure that we leave the next generation with a good foundation in the faith, built on solid Bible teaching and a REAL-LIFE encounter with God. Article Quote: In times of war, lack of access to safe water can kill as many people as bombing. What percentage of Christians are dying spiritually due to lack of access to Living Water!?! 3. Praise and Worship • Praise and Worship is one of the wells that we must keep open. • To praise is to boast or brag on the virtues of another (whether human or divine). • Humans can receive praise from us. (Ex. We brag on our child, coworker, our favorite sports player) • God ALONE should receive our highest (most vibrant, most heartfelt, loudest) praise! Hallelujah… • Worship, however, is reserved for GOD ALONE. • Revelation 19:9, 10 (NLT) – And the angel said to me (John), “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” 10Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers and sisters who testify about their faith in Jesus. WORSHIP ONLY GOD… • Definition of Worship (Heb. Shachah) – to bow down; to prostrate oneself; to kiss with affection and devotion as a dog licks his master’s hand; it literally means to make oneself low; the opposite of self- exaltation. • Description of Worship – the human response to the perceived presence of a divine being. • With muddy wells, we have often reduced worship to a song we sing or an activity we partake in during a church service. • We’ve reduced “anointing” to style preference. Explain system of tuning: equal temperament - 18th Century Polyphony - didn’t exist in Jesus day Paul and Silas dug a well that caused chains to be broken. It wasn’t a style that caused deliverance. o When people cheer for their championship team they focus more on the victory than on the style of the chant. So why in church do we seem to be more consumed with the style of how our champion is being celebrated. Sometimes we focus more on PREFERENCE than PRAISE. o When people ask “why don’t we worship longer….most time what they really mean is “why don’t we worship thru singing longer?” The whole service experience should be worship. o Many times people are depending on the church to dig the well for them on Sundays as opposed to digging daily. • QUOTE: God always intended for worship to be HOW WE LIVE and WHO WE ARE! Genesis 2:25 (MSG) – The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame. • Before sin, Adam/Eve lived a life of walking, talking, & communing with God all day long. • Their communion with God was so powerful that WORK & WORSHIP became one. • Their LIFESTYLE of worship left them with nothing to hide from God. • And, their lifestyle of worship set an atmosphere for everything in the garden to prosper. • Eden wasn’t just a place, but it represented God’s presence. • Whenever God made anything, He always made the environment first. o Created fish…made the water first; created plants…made the earth first; created stars….He made the firmament first. o He made the environment more important than the product. o Fish need water, plants need soil, stars need firmament, and you need Eden (His presence) o Take a fish out of water, it malfunctions and dies, take a plant out of soil, it malfunctions and dies, take a star out of the firmament it malfunctions, take man out of God’s presence He malfunctions and kills people. • Satan causing Adam/Eve to question God’s word & rely on human reasoning was the first deviation from true worship. What was the whole serpent thing really about? • Explain: Lucifer was originally an anointed cherub/angel (Ezekiel 28:13-14). He appears to have been covered with every precious stone, and designed with instruments of music built into his body. Most bible scholars believe that he was the leader of all of the praise and worship of heaven that was intended to be directed to the ONLY ONE worthy of receiving it: GOD ALMIGHTY!! Until, something changed… o He was covered with every precious stone. o A diamonds brilliance is all about how it handles light. The most stunning diamonds reflect, refract and disperse light in a glorious display of fire, brilliance and scintillation (process of emitting flashes of light.) o Lucifer’s value was in how well he reflected light but he began to desire the worship for himself. • Isaiah 14:12 – 15 (NKJV) "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (what makes God Most High? He’s the ONLY ONE Who receives worship).'15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. • At some point, he stopped being a worshipper and sought to be worshipped himself. And, he’s been fighting to get man’s counterfeit worship ever since. • (Ex. Inability of people to lift their hands to worship God, but go buck wild at a Beyonce concert) Share the Story of Cain and Abel • Abel brings a worthy act of worship to God (his best). Cain brings what is convenient. o Many times we’ve exerted so much energy with everything else that God is getting whats left. • Cain’s jealousy leads him to kill his brother Abel & he is cursed for doing so. • Genesis 4:16 (MSG) – Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden. • Adam and Eve started out living in God’s presence, where work and worship were all intertwined. • After sin, Cain leaves the presence of God and begins living in No Man’s Land. • We also end up in No Man’s Land when we fail to dwell in the Lord’s presence. • Cain has children OUT of the presence of the Lord; he built a city OUT of the presence. • He develops a system of agriculture, an entire music system, and a system of manufacturing/industry, WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. • And, today we have to fight to live our lives in the presence of the Lord. • Life becomes super hard when we take the Cain route and try to do it without God’s presence. • We’ve got to unstop the well of Praise and Worship to our God. Musician takes stage: 2 Effects of a Life in God’s Presence: 1. It Paralyzes the Enemy • Psalm 8 teaches us that praise will still (paralyze) the hand of the enemy. • Something happens when we choose to get our minds off of our problem and onto our Problem Solver. The angels who are working on our behalf are energized to do battle. • (Ex. Story of Michael fighting on Daniel’s behalf in Daniel 10 – the answer was released Day 1) • Many of your answers won’t come while you’re talking about your issue. They will come while you’re singing praise and worship to your God. • That’s why Satan fights so hard to silence your worship, when you’re going through tough times. Example: (Instance when I allowed Satan to stop up my well!) 2. It Transforms Us into God’s Image II Corinthians 3:16 – 18 (MSG) “Whenever, though, they turn to FACE GOD (worship) as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly RECOGNIZE that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re FREE of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and WE BECOME LIKE HIM.” • John 4:23 (NLT) – But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
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