During my message on Sunday I spewed out a lot of scriptures very quickly and didn't leave much time for jotting notes. So, as requested, here are my notes for each of the expressions of worship that we talked about and a few that we didn't have time to get to. Feel free to email me (tracy@freedomkw.com) if you have any questions or comments!
TD
Lifting
Hands
Nehemiah 8:6 - Ezra praised the Lord,
the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded,
“Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to
the ground.
Psalm 63:4 - I will praise you as long
as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
1 Timothy 2:8 - Therefore I want the
men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without
anger or disputing.
Psalm 28:2 - Hear my cry for mercy
as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your
Most Holy Place.
·
Symbolic of where God dwells.
·
Symbolizes a desire for closeness with God.
·
Helps focus our attention on God.
·
A sign of surrender to the Lord.
·
Desire to receive from God.
·
Making an oath to God. Ezra 20:5 - ‘This is what
the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore with uplifted hand
to the descendants of Jacob and revealed myself to them in Egypt. With
uplifted hand I said to them, “I am the Lord your God.”
Clapping
Hands
Psalm 47:1 - Clap your hands, all you
nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Psalm 98:8 - Let the rivers clap
their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy.
·
Not based on keeping time! Though there is an
element of togetherness when we do it congregationally.
·
Our best applause is reserved for the Lord.
·
A personal instrument to express joy.
·
There are times it turns from joy to aggression
and militancy (Job, Ezekiel, Nahum) -
against the enemy, spiritual warfare
Playing
Instruments
Psalm 150:3-5 - Praise him with the
sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,praise
him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe,praise
him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
1 Chronicles 15:16 - David told the
leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a
joyful sound with musical instruments:
lyres, harps and cymbals.
1 Samuel 16:23 - Whenever the spirit
from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play.
Then relief would come to Saul;
he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
Standing
Nehemiah 9:5 - Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to
everlasting.
1 Chronicles 23:30 - They were also to
stand every morning to thank and
praise the LORD. They were to do
the same in the evening…
·
Shows respect.
·
Shows attention like a soldier on guard, ready
to respond.
·
Waiting on the Lord (Isaiah 40) – being
attentive and ready.
Kneeling/Bowing/Prostrate
(Face Down)
Sometimes there is a presence of
God that demands us to be low.
Psalm 95:6 - Come, let us bow down in
worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Revelation 4:9 - Whenever
the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne
and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders
fall down before him who sits on the throne and
worship him who lives for ever and ever.
Revelation 1:17 - When I saw him, I
fell at his feet as though dead.
·
Kneeling – picture of allegiance
·
Bowing – respecting an office
·
Prostrate – as low as possible, surrender,
humility, “I don’t exist”
·
But we are never under God’s feet but part of
His body – He doesn’t defeat us, He embraces us.
Singing
120 references in scripture.
Judges 5:3 – [Deborah] Hear this, you
kings! Listen, you rulers! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will
praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.
1 Chronicles 16:23 - Sing to the Lord,
all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.
Psalm 95:1 - Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Psalm 96:1 - Sing to the LORD a new song; sing
to the LORD, all the earth.
Ephesians 5:18-20 - Do not get drunk
on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking
to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make
music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to
God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
·
We respond to music more than any other medium.
Shouting/Audible
Psalm 66:1 – Shout with joy to God,
all the earth.
Psalm 47:1 – Clap your hands, all you
nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
Psalm 81:1 - Sing for joy to God our strength; shout
aloud to the God of Jacob!
Ezra 3:11 - With praise and
thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures
forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because
the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
·
Often used in spiritual warfare.
·
Jericho, Gideon – aggression, authority,
defiance of an enemy.
·
Expression of joy, an explosion of emotion.
·
“Hallelujah” – describes a loud cry, shouting
praise.
Dancing
Psalm 30:11 - You turned my wailing
into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
Psalm 149:3 - Let them praise his name
with dancing and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
Acts 3:8 - He jumped to his feet and
began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and
jumping, and praising God.
Exodus 15:20-21 - Then
Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and
all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.
2 Samuel 6:14-16 - Wearing a linen
ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while
he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the
sound of trumpets.
·
The most extreme form of worship.
·
Physical expression of an inward celebration.
·
Other cultures have us beat in this aspect – we
have lost the ability to express ourselves appropriately in this way.
Laughing
Psalm 126:2 - Our mouths were filled
with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was
said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.
Banners
Psalm 20:5 - May we shout for joy over
your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
Exodus 17:15 - Moses built an altar
and called it The Lord is my Banner.
Song of Solomon 2:4 - Let him lead me
to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.