Sermon Series: #1

Prepare to Worship - I Samuel 7:3

I Samuel 7:3 – And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, if ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

The definition of prepare is to make ready beforehand for a specific purpose. Therefore, before you begin to prepare, you must know for what you are preparing. In this case, the event dictates the preparation and the event is the worship of God. Thankfully, God has laid out the steps to prepare us for worship. *Key Thought - We need to prepare ourselves before we can worship God.

The 3 things we must do to prepare for worship. Remove Our Idols, Return to Our Lord & Renew Our Service.

I. Remove Our Idols – II Chronicles 19:3

The removal of our idols is up to us. Idol: one that is worshipped blindy and lacks substance.

II. Return to Our Lord – Isaiah 44:22

Be careful not to simply remove idols and replace them with more idols. Return to God.

III. Renew Our Service – II Corinthians 4:16

Serve God and only God, and serve Him in spirit and truth.

<<>>

God also give Christians a stern warning about being unprepared in Luke 12:47.

II Chronicles 19:3-
Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.

Isaiah 44:22 –
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

II Corinthians 4:16 –
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Luke 16:13 –
No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Romans 7:6 –
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Luke 12:47 –
And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.