Lately, I have been thinking about Noah.

One day, God spoke to Noah about a flood that was coming and would cause great destruction.
Noah believed God, so he began to build an enormous boat (presumably nowhere near the ocean).
His neighbors probably laughed.
His wife probably thought he was crazy.
And despite his faith, I’m sure Noah had days where he looked at this half-baked structure growing in his back yard, and thought to himself: “Why am I doing this?”

But despite all these things, Noah kept on building.

Why? Because if you believe God — you follow, you go, you do whatever it is He is calling you to do.

People around you may not get it.
You might even feel kind of foolish sometimes.
But faith is believing and trusting God enough to act and to do, even when it makes no sense at all.

When we do things in response to God’s words — it’s not only faith that we exercise. It’s worship.

You see, faith has a lot to do with worship.

When you read the book of Matthew, you can see this idea played out. A couple of stories come to mind.

In the first story, Jesus had just come down from a mountain top, and this man with a terrible disease approached Him.
The man “came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Matt 8:2)

How did the man worship Jesus?
With songs and instruments?
With an impressive prayer?

No. The man worshipped Jesus by simply saying: “I believe you can heal me.”

We see this again in Matthew chapter 9.
In this story, it’s a desperate father who comes to Jesus.
His daughter had just died.
But the man knows Jesus can do something about it.
So he came to Jesus  and “worshiped Him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.” (Matt 9:18)

How did the man worship Jesus?
With money?
With extreme devotion?

No. The man worshipped Jesus by simply saying: “I believe you can raise my daughter from the dead.”

We worship when we exercise faith.
When we believe enough to actually act on what God has said.

As Noah swung a hammer and put another peg into place, what he was really doing was worship.

Hammering wasn’t a very spiritual thing to do — but it was an act of faith.
To continue building a huge boat in his backyard when there was no ocean (or rain) in sight. That act of believing God was an act of worship.

• Maybe you are new to faith.
  Church is a new concept.
  Being involved with these strange people called Christians is new for you.
  It’s different, but it’s good.
  For you — getting up early to head to church on a Sunday morning is an act of faith.
  To keep going even though it doesn’t all make sense yet.
  And imperfect as it is, as small as it seems — it’s an act of worship.
• For some — God is calling you to serve Him.
  Maybe it’s changing diapers in the nursery on a Sunday Morning.
  Maybe it’s teaching 4 year olds.
  Maybe it’s something totally behind the scenes like making coffee or setting up for church.
  It doesn’t seem spiritual at all.
  But God is calling you to do it.
  As you do — you are exercising faith in God’s word to you.
  And as you step out and do it — it’s worship.
• Some of you are called to leave a relationship or habit or lifestyle that is is not pleasing to God.
  You feel like you are turning your back on who you are. On your very identity. And it hurts.
  But you make steps to do it anyways — because you believe what God has said about this area of your life.
  What you are doing, is exercising faith, and engaging in worship.
• Others are called to head out into a new direction.
  To move.
  To change.
  To do something that makes no sense.
  There are no roads where God is calling you to go.
  Yet you make steps anyways.
  Because you believe what He has spoken.

This is faith, this is worship, and this is what we are called to do.
In these things there is blessing, and in these things God is pleased.

What is God speaking to you?
Will you do it?
Will you worship Him?