worship and witness

There are two passages assigned for today!

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 12
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.” [Isaiah 12:4-6]
For me, worship and witness boil down to the same thing.
They are our response to the awesomeness of God: we worship God because of His awesomeness, and we witness to others about His awesomeness.
“In that day” refers to when God will finally come, through the messiah, to establish His kingdom and restore His people!
Now that Jesus has come, and He has removed our guilt and defeated our enemy, established God’s kingdom and secured our eternal life, we can begin worshipping and witnessing like Isaiah says!
Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. [Acts 1:8]
We are called to witness to what we have seen and heard [Acts 22:15, 1 John 1:1-3].
This does not mean that we have to explain the whole bible or be evangelists by Billy Graham; it simply means that we respond to the awesomeness of God by worshipping and witnessing.
The Holy Spirit makes it real to us, He enables us to experience God’s glory and grace, to know deep down the wonder of Who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
As this experience bubbles out from us, the result is worship and witness.

Think about the blind man that Jesus healed; he did not know who Jesus was, or where He came from, or how He performed His miracle – but he still witnessed to what he had seen and heard [John 9:7-38].
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. [John 9:35-38]
This guy was no trained evangelist, nor did He understand all bible teaching or prophecy; but he experienced Jesus, and he worship Him and witnessed to Him [John 9:30-34].

Worship is not just singing songs; witnessing is not just sharing the gospel.
Worship and witness are the overflow of our experience of God’s amazing glory and goodness.
If it does not come from within, from the Spirit bubbling up inside of us, then it is not worship, it is not witness.
If you knew little about the bible, and little about theology, and simply expressed your own experience of God, what would your message be?
This is the beginning of your worship, the source of your witness.
In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.

PRAYER:
Lord, because of You I am loved, accepted, forgiven, set free, energized, called, blessed. This is my experience of You, and I want others to know about it. Thank You for being my way, my truth, my life!