{"id":26283,"date":"2024-01-09T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T23:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/?p=26283"},"modified":"2024-01-06T11:24:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T10:24:07","slug":"his-praise-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/2024\/01\/09\/his-praise-2\/","title":{"rendered":"His Praise"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-26283-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/9-January-2024.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/9-January-2024.mp3\">http:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/9-January-2024.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/EPH.3.21.NLT\">Ephesians 3:<sup>21<\/sup><\/a> \u201cGlory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We are still on the question &#8211; \u2018why church?\u2019 Remember, the longer we stay with the question, the deeper our revelation. So, why church, why do we exist? Beginning today, we will be looking at four main reasons why we exist. The first is, we exist to celebrate God\u2019s Presence [Worship]. When we gather, we celebrate the presence of our King, our God, and our Maker.<!--more--> The second reason is, we exist to communicate God\u2019s message [Evangelism], and to talk about the good news of Jesus Christ. The third reason is, we exist to educate God\u2019s people [Discipleship]. And the fourth reason is, we exist to demonstrate God\u2019s power [Fellowship]. We see that numbers one to four point to God. We exist for God. It is all about Jesus\u2014Jesus at the centre of it all.<\/p>\n<p><u>We Exist To Celebrate God\u2019s Presence<\/u>. Worship is the expression of our devotion to God. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/mat.22.37-38.\">Matthew 22:<sup>37-38<\/sup><\/a> \u201c<em>Jesus replied, \u201c\u2018You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.\u2019 This is the first and greatest commandment<\/em>.\u201d It is one thing for something to be the first, but it is another thing for it to be the greatest. The first child of a family is not necessarily the greatest child of a family. The first thing is not necessarily the greatest. But when it comes to loving the Lord, our God, it is the first and it is the greatest. The truth is that everybody is worshipping something. Some people worship their electronics, their social media page, their cars, their spouse, or their children. And some worship their bank accounts, they sleep and wake up checking the balance.<\/p>\n<p>We all are worshipping something but the only Person that is worthy of our worship is Jesus. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/111\/MAT.4.10.NIV\">Matthew 4:<sup>10<\/sup><\/a> \u201c\u2026<strong><em>Worship<\/em><\/strong><em> the Lord your God, and <strong>serve<\/strong> him only<\/em>.\u2019\u201d (NIV, emphasis added). In this scripture, we see the two components of engagement with God; the first is \u201cWorship\u201d and the second is \u201cServing\u201d. And we see that worship comes before service. Should you serve God? Yes, but you should worship God first. Very often, we get so busy serving God that we do not have the time to worship Him. Just love Him. Just worship Him. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bible.com\/bible\/116\/JHN.4.23.NLT\">John 4:23<\/a> reveals the Father\u2019s heart to us, \u201c\u2026<em>true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way<\/em>.&#8221; Let me share a huge secret of my life with you; if you are a worshiper, God will find you. People can stay up all night having vigils, looking for God, and seeking His intervention. But if you sit in your corner worshipping, with a heart of worship, the God that everybody is looking for will come into your room and sit with you.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Prayer<\/strong>: Father, help me fulfil Your purpose for my life, for Your praise, in Jesus Name. Amen!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ephesians 3:21 \u201cGlory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.\u201d &nbsp; We are still on the question &#8211; \u2018why church?\u2019 Remember, the longer we stay with the question, the deeper our revelation. So, why church, why do we exist? Beginning today, we will be looking at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,566,81,324,35,500,67,22,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-discipleship","category-fellowship","category-god","category-praise","category-presence","category-serving","category-witnessing","category-worship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26284,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26283\/revisions\/26284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfhlive.tv\/freshfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}