Latest / CCC West Covina / Worship from the Word, Part 1

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Worship from the Word, Part 1 · CCC West Covina

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Lord, we thank you for this night.
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Lord, thank you that by grace, by your perfect plan, by your
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mercy and your wisdom and your great power, you draw
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worshippers to yourself. Thank you that you bring us
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near. Lord, by the blood of Christ,
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that you make us acceptable, that we can even offer worship
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before you. God, we thank you that we can be
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here, that we have the truth of your Word that is complete, that
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is sufficient, that it guides us in all of life.
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And we pray, Lord, that you would give us humble hearts to
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submit to your word. We pray that you give us
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discernment to understand what it says.
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And we pray that you would give us eagerness to obey us and that
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you give us conviction so that we'd be able to explain it to
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others and share with others. We pray that you'd be glorified
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this night, Lord, that everything we say would be true
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and honoring to you. We pray that you challenge us
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and refresh us, Lord, as we rejoice that we are your
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worshippers in these things. We commit to you, and we pray in
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your name. Amen.
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No, I'm thankful for this church.
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I'm thankful that it's a good church, and I'm thankful that I
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don't have to explain from Ground Zero what worship is.
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You guys know that, you know, worship is not limited to music,
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but it's important for us to remember that in Christianity,
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if we call it that at large, there's so much that is untrue
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that's said about worship. So many people say, so many
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bizarre and confusing and false things.
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You know, some people would say, what is worship?
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Worship is a group of songs. Worship was great today, or I
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didn't really connect with worship.
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Today people might say that worship is an experience.
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I was looking through the top songs that are most popular in
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the United States, worship songs sung in churches.
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And one of the song says this, I'm caught up in your presence.
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I just want to sit here at your feet.
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I'm caught up in this holy moment.
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I never want to leave. Some people see worship.
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Is that as some sort of experience that they're longing
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for? It's something emotional.
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It's something that you have to achieve.
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There's some people in some songs who claim that worship is
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a weapon. Another song says, I'll praise
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when I feel it and I'll praise when I don't.
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I'll praise because I know you're still in control.
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Not so bad so far, right? Because my praise is a weapon.
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It's more than a sound. My praise is the shout that
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brings Jericho down. You think, oh, that's not what
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that means at all. That is not, that's not what the
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scripture says. So we need to be able to
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articulate it because mixed in with all these false sayings,
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these false beliefs, there's little bits and Nuggets of
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truth, OK. When you Google worship or
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quotes about worship, there's a lot that's said that's good out
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there and a lot of bad churches that teach heresy, throwing a
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lot of good little things. Worship is a lifestyle.
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Worship is about exalting God. Worship is coming closer to God.
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And there's many things that they'll throw in there that are
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true, but most of the time they're diluted.
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They're connected with things that are blatantly false, and
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the whole picture that they paint of worship is absolutely
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untrue. So we need to be clear from what
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Scripture says. We need to set aside everything
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that we've heard in songs, everything that we've heard
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other people say, and just go to Scripture and ask, what does God
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say about worship? Is it something that we
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experience or something we attain?
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Is this something that we cultivate with an environment or
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an atmosphere? Does it only happen here in this
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building or does it only happen during music?
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Is worship about my emotions and how I feel or is it only
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intellectuals? It just about me understanding
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something? Does worship music?
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Does music have spiritual power? Does it matter if I don't really
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feel like a musician and I never sing on a Sunday?
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So I trust that you guys can answer a lot of those questions.
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They're not a surprise. You're taught God's word and
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you're grounded in God's word and you're there.
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But we need to think more deeply.
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We need to be prepared to discern and divide.
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There's so much good that helps us in worshipping truly today,
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but it's vastly outweighed by the bad Christian culture.
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Books, music, radio is is mostly unusable.
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OK, you, you might want to say don't throw out the baby with
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the bathwater, but at this point there's, there's no baby left.
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It's just dirty bathwater leftover.
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And so we're looking at tonight from Scripture as our authority.
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What is worship? So we're going to start from
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scratch. If you have an outline, there's
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some in the back that are printed just to help you.
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And I hope to clarify my thoughts and to lead you through
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an outline that is easily understandable.
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But the thing that I hope that you take away from this at the
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end of the day is a simple definition of worship.
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There are many wise men, godly men, who have given better
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definitions from me than than me.
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But I would encourage you to think about worship, boiling it
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down to 1 simple definition. OK, and we can expand beyond
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that. But what is worship?
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OK, if we want to define worship as simply as we can without
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missing any pieces, we'll define it this way.
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Worship is a right response to Revelation.
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OK, it's all alliterated. It's even easier.
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OK, worship is a right response to revelation.
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And every one of those things are vital.
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We have to remember every one of those elements in order to
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please God with true worship. When we define worship, we
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understand that the word itself means ascribing worth.
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It means saying something is valuable, that it has
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weightiness, a gravity and importance.
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Someone defined as worship this as this.
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It's recognizing God is unconditionally superior to
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ourselves in every respect. As one whose true greatness is
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beyond our poor power of expression.
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He is the ultimate object of praise.
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MacArthur defined worship this way.
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It is our innermost being responding with praise for all
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that God is through our attitudes, actions, thoughts,
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and words based on the truth of God as He has revealed Himself.
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That's a great definition. It's better than mine, but at
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the end of the day, it's great to remember something simple.
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And so I want to encourage you to remember worship is a right
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response to revelation. When we look at Scripture, Psalm
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29, two says, ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name
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or the glory that His name already has.
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Recognize the glory in the majesty of His person.
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Psalm 86, verses 8 through 10 say there is no one like you
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among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
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All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before
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You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name, for You are
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great and do wondrous deeds. You alone are God.
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So those three elements in worship, it's a right response
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to revelation. It has to begin with His
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revelation, OK? It has to be about God.
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You don't have truth about God. There's no worship happening.
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It has to be a response. OK, worship is something that
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comes from me in response to God, but that response has to be
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right. It has to be dictated and guided
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by the revelation that we've received.
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Because God has not made his worship vague.
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He has not left us in the dark about what He desires, what He
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commands. God is very clear, He is
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gracious to us, He knows our nature, He understands that we
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need things clearly and simply. And so in His word He's made it
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very clear what He wants, what He desires.
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Now, when you compare to worship from other religions, even some
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of these cults and other religions have themselves said
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that their worship is trying to sweetens God's face towards
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them. They're saying everything that
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we do to worship our God, false God, is to gain his favor.
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It's turn his face toward me to basically make him smile upon me
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so that he'll give me favor, so that he won't destroy me, so
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that I can get something good from him.
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But when we come to worship, we Christians know we can't do
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that. We cannot gain God's favor.
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We can't earn it. Romans 323 I trust you know, for
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all have fallen short, for all have sinned and fallen short of
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the glory of God. OK, that separates us from God.
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We have no ability to earn His favor.
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Isaiah 64, six says For all of us have become like one who is
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unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.
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Isaiah 59 two says, But your iniquities have made a
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separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden
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his face from you so that he does not hear.
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So worship is not a matter of me just trying to do some things to
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get God's approval and gain His attention.
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We're automatically disqualified as worshippers.
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No one can worship, OK? No one can give God worship that
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is worthy of Him, that is good enough, that is pleasing and
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acceptable to him. There's just no way you can do
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it except because of Christ. And that's the glory of the
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gospel is that God has reconciled us.
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He has brought us to Himself so that we can fulfill our original
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created role of being His worshippers.
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So when we look at the requirements for worship, we
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talked about what is worship? It's a right response to
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revelation if it's just as simple as we can make it.
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We understand that there are three basic requirements for
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worship that are given in Scripture.
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Would you turn with me to John chapter 4?
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John chapter 4? This is a familiar passage.
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I am sure you've heard this before.
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I'm sure you've heard people preach on it before.
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So there are three requirements for worship.
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If I desire to be a true worshipper that pleases God,
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that does what he commands, there are three things, three
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things required, and the first of those is regeneration.
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Because we're sinners, we're automatically separated.
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Nothing we can do, nothing about us is in any way acceptable to
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God. We, he, literally, we, we are
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loathsome to Him because of our sin.
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But in Christ we are reconciled. Christ died in our place,
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bearing the punishment that we deserve for our sins.
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And so God credits us with Christ's righteousness, making
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that trade so that our sins are washed away.
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They're atoned for, they're paid for in Christ.
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And now God sees us as being credited with the righteousness,
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with the perfection, with all of the good deeds that Christ has.
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So now we may approach Him. Now we may be worshippers if we
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have faith in Him, if we confess Him as Lord.
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In John 3, right before the passage, we're going to look at
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you're turning to John 4, verse 23.
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In John 3, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus about this.
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You must be born again. That's the starting place in
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Hebrews 10. It tells us in verse 19.
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Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to
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enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, so now you can
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enter to worship. You can come before God's
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presence. And the author of Hebrews is, of
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course, using imagery from the Old Testament.
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Here there was a separation in the Old Testament worship in the
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temple. OK, Worshippers could not
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approach the most holy place in the center.
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Only the high priest could once a year when he offered atonement
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for the nation and for himself. But everybody else was blocked.
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They were kept away because they were sinners.
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But the author of Hebrews is saying, now you have access to
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the presence of God. It says in verse 20, by a new
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and living way opened for us through the curtain that is his
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body. And since we have a great priest
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over the House of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere
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heart and with the full assurance that faith brings.
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Having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty
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conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water.
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So now we have a right standing. Now we have been cleansed.
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Now we are brought near by Jesus so that we can be worshippers.
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Hebrews 11/6 says without faith is impossible.
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To please God, we have to have faith.
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We have to have salvation. We have to have new life and new
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heart given by God. Remember, we cannot earn God's
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favor. He freely bestows us it on us in
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Christ. As Ephesians 289 says, it's a
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grace, it's a gift that we would have no merit or boast.
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So the first requirement for worship is regeneration.
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It's important for us to understand because we don't want
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to give people the false impression that anybody can
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worship God and that He'll accept it.
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That's just not true. You have to be a believer.
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You have to be regenerated and have new life.
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That's the first requirement. Second requirement is in John 4,
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verse 23 and 24. We'll read that, but an hour is
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coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the
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Father in spirit and truth. For such people, the Father
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seeks to be His worshippers. Now if we back up, Jesus is
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talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, and she's asking
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him a the Jews say we have to worship this way at the temple.
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The Samaritans have their own place.
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What's the right way? What what, what is required for
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worship? And Jesus said it's not about a
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location, it's about worshipping in spirit and truth.
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For such people, the Father seeks to be his worshippers.
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Verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must
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worship in spirit and truth. So the second requirement for
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worship is that we worship in spirit.
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That means from the heart. That means we must have a right
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inner attitude. And Deuteronomy 6, it commands
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Israel and it's an example and a principle for us.
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It says teach your children and all of the generations to fear
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the Lord as long as you live in verse 4, it's familiar hero
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Israel. The Lord is our God.
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The Lord is 1. You shall love the Lord your God
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with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
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might. Psalm 211 says worship the Lord
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with reverence and rejoice with trembling.
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Psalm 1031 says Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within
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me, bless his holy name. Revelation 15 says Great and
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marvelous are your work, so God the Almighty, righteous and true
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are your ways king of the nations, Who will not fear, O
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Lord, and glorify your name. For you alone are holy, for all
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the nations will come and worship before you, for your
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righteous acts have been revealed.
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So all throughout Scripture, it paints a picture of the proper
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spirit, the attitude of worship. It's a fear of God.
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It's a love for God. And we're going to expand that
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more soon. But what's required is a spirit
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of response, of humility, of fear, and of love.
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The other requirement is truth. This is the one that we have to
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bring people back to. When people say, I've had people
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say to me when I speak to them about songs, to say what about
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the songs you choose on Sunday mornings or or whenever you lead
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worship? Your songs don't have much
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substance. They don't say a lot and they
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say, but it doesn't really matter because we know the God
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that we're worshipping, OK? And it's about our expression,
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OK? It is about a spirit or
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response, but it's about truth. It's about God's truth.
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Whenever there's worship in the Bible, which is the whole Bible,
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it always starts with revelation about God.
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It starts with truth. Psalm 14518 says the Lord is
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near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in
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truth. John 1717 says Your word is
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truth, and so worship requires truth.
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It requires the word of God because that's how we know God.
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That's not how we know what He has done.
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That's how we know what He has commanded.
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Second Timothy 316 says that all Scripture is inspired by God.
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It's breathed out by God. It is guided by God.
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So that is exactly what He wants to communicate.
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In Second Peter chapter 1, verses 19 through 21.
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This is a great passage. Peter's talking, he talks about
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his experience on the mountaintop when he saw Christ's
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glory, He saw his flesh unveiled on the transfiguration and Peter
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talks about that. All right, we were witnesses of
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this. We saw who Jesus was.
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But in verse 19 of second Peter chapter 1, he says so we have
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the prophetic word more sure. Now in your translation it might
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be confusing there might have the word made there, but it's
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going to be italicized because the proper translation is we
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have the prophetic word more sure if you had made it confuses
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it. The experience of seeing the
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transfiguration is not more sure than the word of God.
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The Word of God is more reliable, more sure than any
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experience that a man can have. So it says you have this word
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more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp
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shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning
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star rises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that
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no prophecy, no divine truth of Scripture is a matter of 1's own
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interpretation. It's not about in its source or
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in its end interpretation, what we think.
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It's not about that, but oh sorry I skipped a phrase.
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It's not of our own interpretation.
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For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men
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moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
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So when we look at God's word, verse 21 says no prophecy was
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ever moved directed as if you were a person sailing on a ship,
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you are carried along by that ship.
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You are born along. So no prophecy was ever carried,
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born along by a human will, by human choice.
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OK, but it says but men moved. It's the exact same word.
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Moved along, born along, carried by the Holy Spirit, spoke from
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God. And remember, this brings us
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back to truth. Truth is the requirement for
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worship, and God's word is exactly what He wants us to
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cling to. So we need the truth of God's
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Word. It must be central.
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It must be in everything. It must dictate everything.
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Those are the three requirements for worship.
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We have to be clear on that. And again, we're not talking
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about music. We're expanding out our gaze to
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what the Scripture says. When you look at the Bible, it
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is a handbook for worship. It explains to us who God is.
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It explains us to us what he desires from us.
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It explains to us what he commands and how we should live.
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And so the requirements are that we're saved, we're regenerated.
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The requirement is that we have a proper spirit she'll talk
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about soon and we'll have the proper truth of God's Word at
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the center of everything. And it's interesting if you, you
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can turn to Romans chapter 1 if you like, or if you're familiar,
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we'll just be there a minute or so.
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But in Romans chapter 1, Paul says that in all unbelievers,
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what's indicative, what is true of all them is that in verse 19,
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excuse me, 18 of Romans chapter one, men who suppress the truth
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in unrighteousness, they suppress the truth.
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They push back on the truth that is true of all humanity, of
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unsaved humanity. And so as believers, as the
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Church of God, it is our job to exalt that truth.
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Unbelievers will always suppress it.
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And we have to be careful because there are many
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unbelievers involved in Christian culture, Christian
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worship, Christian music. There are many unbelievers
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involved in that and they desire to suppress the truth.
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They desire to limit what we talk about God.
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Unbelievers suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and they
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choose to worship something else that says they're futile.
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In their thoughts, in their hearts are darkened.
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Professing to be wise, they became fools and they exchanged
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the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
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corruptible man and of birds and four footed animals and crawling
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creatures. And this highlights what is
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really happening. What's really happening in those
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who write bad music, untrue music, who, those who are in
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false churches and who lead it, What's happening is that they're
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actually committing idolatry. They are suppressing the truth
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that is known about God and they're committing idolatry and
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they are twisting everything in Christianity in their churches
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to be idolatrous, to worship themselves or to worship
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something else. Here's the reality.
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Those who do not worship according to God's truth, His
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character and commands as revealed in His Word, are
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committing idolatry. They are actually worshipping
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another God. And this can be true in the
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meetings of churches. This can be true in the music of
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churches is that they're not worshipping God at all.
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When you read what they sing and you listen to what they say,
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what is it that distinguishes them as being Christian?
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So much of what they do and what they say could pass as worship
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for any God. It could probably be directed to
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Allah or whoever else, because there's no truth in it.
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And we as believers have to have discernment and we have to look
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deeper because sometimes things can look OK, sometimes the song
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can look OK. But you don't only ask what is
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it saying? You need to ask what is it not
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saying? What is the truth that's being
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suppressed? What is being left out in
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worship, in songs, in preaching? Of course we know Exodus 20, the
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10 commandments, the primaries shall have no other God before
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me. God created us to be
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worshippers. There's no way around that.
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There's nothing that we can do to change that.
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Every person is a worshipper because we were created by God
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to be that. The problem is that in our
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sinfulness now, we suppress the truth and we worship anything
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except the true God. And when I do something other
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than what God has commanded and prescribed, I am setting myself
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up as God. I'm setting myself up as the
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authority on what true worship is.
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And I am worshipping something else, often ultimately myself.
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Worship my desires, my thoughts, what I think is best.
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The world has such a strong emphasis on autonomy, and you
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hear this everywhere. People should be free to make
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their own decisions about their own body, make their own
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decisions about the day of their death.
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There's so many issues that are connected to worship when we
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understand what's behind it all. OK, the issue behind abortion is
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that God gives life and that we don't have the right to
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determine the life that God has given.
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We don't have the right to take that away.
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The the issue beside behind euthanasia, which is more and
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more common, especially in European countries and other
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parts of the world, is that people are saying I want to feel
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like I'm in control, I want to have autonomy, I want to take
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the place of God. I want to determine how I die in
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the circumstances of my life and everything in between, birth and
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death. People suppress the truth about
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God and they want to reject any limits.
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They want to reject any accountability, any truth, any
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of God's commands, and they want to determine themselves in every
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way. So the challenge is great for
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us, as it has always been. It's no different now from the
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beginning when Adam and Eve first sinned.
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We must be true worshippers who worship regenerated, saved by
26:06
God and worshipping in spirit and in truth.
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And we have to exalt our God in a hold to true worship in the
26:15
face of a world that rejects God and will mock us.
26:20
And we'll do everything it can to distract us, to confuse us,
26:27
to take us away from the truth that God has given us.
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These requirements for worship are not just limited to John for
26:36
these other Scriptures. All of Scripture echoes in
26:41
harmony, right? Has one author ultimately the
26:44
living God? And so all of Scripture says the
26:48
same thing. These two requirements, spirit
26:51
and truth for believers, are echoed and intertwined in
26:56
Scripture. If I have a right spirit and
26:59
attitude of worship, then I willingly and gladly submit to
27:02
all that God's Word contains. And that word leads me.
27:05
It shapes my mind, my attitude, and my actions to be more
27:09
pleasing to God. OK, if I reject the truth, His
27:13
commands, or I try to add to them because it seems good to
27:16
me, I reveal a wrong heart. I'm not fearing, I'm not loving,
27:20
I'm not submitting. So that defines worship and
27:27
simply sums up what God requires of us in worship.
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What does worship look like? OK, those are simple principles,
27:37
but we want to flesh Him out a little bit.
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What is a right response? Because remember, God's word is
27:44
not lacking in detail. What does worship look like?
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Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 10.
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Deuteronomy chapter 10. There are 5 principles here in 2
27:59
verses that help concisely illuminate what worship looks
28:06
like. And for myself, I was a lot more
28:09
familiar with Deuteronomy chapter 6, the great Shema hero.
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Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is 1 You shall love the
28:15
Lord with all your heart and your soul and strength.
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I was more familiar with that passage than with this one.
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In Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 it says this.
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Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you?
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But 5 things, to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His
28:36
ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your
28:41
heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commands
28:46
and His statutes, which I am commanding you today for your
28:50
good. OK, we flesh out the
28:53
requirements of worship. God was very clear to Israel.
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He was so clear and He repeated it to them over and over.
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There are five things, OK, And if we want to alliterate them,
29:05
we can put them this way. In Deuteronomy 10, a response is
29:09
summed up in five ways. First is awe of God.
29:12
OK, It says fear the Lord your God.
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A right response is awe. It's a fear.
29:18
It's a reverence. It's understanding his holy
29:24
character, the fact that he has all knowledge, nothing is hidden
29:28
from his sight, the fact that he has all authority and power,
29:31
there's nothing outside his control, and that he is
29:33
perfectly holy and cannot tolerate any sin.
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We look at his character in every believer, in every true
29:44
worshipper. It will produce a response of
29:47
awe, of fear, of reverence for God's characters.
29:50
That's the first one, awe. Second is allegiance to God's
29:53
ways. This is a life of submission and
29:56
commitment. It says to walk in all his ways.
29:59
We have an awe of God and an allegiance to God.
30:01
These are the right responses. It's a life that is committed to
30:07
saying I am his, I will walk in his way.
30:10
It is a commitment. You could say it's a, it's a,
30:13
it's broader than obedience, which is one of the other ones,
30:16
but we'll get to that. It's a life of overall
30:18
submission, all allegiance, third affection for God.
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It says love him. We love because he's graciously
30:28
bestowed his favor. We love because He first loved
30:31
us. We love because He has not cast
30:35
us away in our sin, but instead has drawn us near.
30:38
He has reconciled us by the blood of Christ and made us new,
30:42
new people that are able to worship and able to find the
30:46
greatest satisfaction possible in His worship.
30:50
All allegiance, affection #4 activity for God's worship.
30:57
It says to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with
31:01
all your soul. This activity, this service is
31:05
through the duties that God decrees.
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OK, not only do I have a reverence for him, I'm committed
31:10
to his ways. I have a love for him, but a
31:13
right response of worship means that I have a, a visible
31:16
activity. You can see the way that I'm
31:19
serving God because he's told me to do certain things with his
31:22
people in his gathered worship. And the fifth one is adherence
31:28
to God's will and it says verse 13 to keep the Lord's
31:32
commandments in his statutes, which I am commanding you today
31:35
for your good. So it's obedience to a specific
31:38
commands. Remember we have an allegiance
31:40
that overall he's our king, He's our authority, but also there is
31:44
an adherence to specifically everything that he commands, the
31:47
details and all the things that he has told us and we know it's
31:51
for our good. So Deuteronomy 10, verses 12
31:55
through 13 gives us 5 aspects of a right response of worship.
32:00
What God tells us. This is what I require of you.
32:05
When we look at worship throughout the Scriptures, it's
32:08
helpful to define some of the language.
32:11
And as we think about those five principles, we see that there
32:15
are three groups of words all throughout Scripture that are
32:18
connected to worship or that are translated worship or that
32:22
describe worship. OK, the first group of words is
32:26
used. One of some of them is used
32:28
right here in Deuteronomy 10. It's also used in Psalm 2223.
32:32
It says you who fear the Lord, praise Him.
32:36
OK, so that attitude of fear of reverence is a word translated
32:41
and connected with worship. So the first group of words in
32:45
Scripture is attitude. Worship involves an attitude
32:49
saying the same thing. We already know that spirit,
32:51
spirit and truth, right? An awe of God, an affection for
32:55
God. And so we see in Scripture
32:57
worship is connected to an attitude.
32:59
There's a lot of words that talk about our inner heart attitude.
33:03
Second, in the Bible there a specific language used connected
33:08
with worship that talks about gesture.
33:11
It talks about our posture. It talks about the way we
33:15
express and hold ourselves In Psalm 95, verse 7, it has three
33:23
of them, all in a row. Oh, it was verse 6, sorry.
33:30
Psalm 95, verse 6. Come, let us worship and bow
33:35
down. Let us kneel before the Lord our
33:40
Maker. OK, so those 3 verbs for worship
33:43
there, OK, there is worship. OK, there's that attitude of
33:47
reverence, OK, there's bow down, which is the physical gesture of
33:52
worshipping. And then it has kneeling.
33:55
And so these are some of the words that are used, connected
33:58
to and translated as worship in the Scripture.
34:01
So when Scripture, the very words talk about worship, it
34:05
speaks of attitude of gesture and it speaks of activity all
34:10
throughout the Bible. It talks about service.
34:13
It talks about ministering, OK. In both the Old and New
34:17
Testament, it uses words that were used in ceremonial worship,
34:23
OK. In religious tasks, in sacred
34:27
services, a priest would serve and minister, OK.
34:32
A spiritual leader would do this.
34:35
The same word is used throughout the Scripture for us that we
34:39
serve and that we minister and that we carry out duties in the
34:43
worship of God ourselves, OK. And again, all of these are
34:47
inseparably linked. They're intertwined.
34:49
They're used together in Scripture.
34:51
You can't have outward worship without a right inner
34:55
disposition, and an inner attitude of worship will
34:58
manifest itself in outward actions.
35:01
So I hope that's not confusing, but basically I'm trying to
35:04
explain in the different way the the Scripture speaks.
35:07
It's saying the same thing. It requires spirit and truth,
35:12
OK? It requires a right response,
35:15
awe, allegiance, affection, activity and obedience.
35:19
OK, in the very words it uses, it speaks of fearing and
35:23
attitude. It speaks of bowing down and
35:26
kneeling, the gesture. It speaks of religious service,
35:29
of duties. All these things are part of
35:32
worship. Which leads us to the
35:35
conclusion, when we say, what does worship look like?
35:38
What is the right response? How do we, how do we sum it up?
35:41
We have some principles. We looked at Deuteronomy 10, but
35:46
we can sum it up as this My right response is my entire life
35:51
given to the love, fear, obedience, and service of God.
35:57
My right response of worship is my entire life given to the
36:02
love, fear, obedience, and service of God.
36:09
Turn to Romans chapter 12. I'm sure you knew we were going
36:14
to end up there. We're talking about worship.
36:16
We're going to end up in Romans chapter 12.
36:24
Wonderful verse. And remember, in Romans, what
36:29
has Paul been talking about? He's been explaining the gospel.
36:32
He's been taking us through God's holiness, man's sinfulness
36:37
and unworthiness. OK, the sacrifice, the
36:40
substitution of Christ, the atonements, OK, the work of God
36:45
in all things, the great plan of God.
36:49
And so he says in light of all this, God's plan, God's
36:54
salvation, in light of all that we've been talking about for 11
36:57
chapters in Romans, he says in Romans 12, verse one.
37:02
Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to
37:07
present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to
37:12
God, which is your spiritual service of worship, your
37:20
spiritual service of worship. That word spiritual means
37:25
rational, it means informed, it means having an understanding.
37:31
So what Romans 12/1 is saying is that your response when you
37:38
understand the mercies of God, when you understand all that He
37:42
has done and who he is in his worthiness and greatness, the
37:47
only rational, the only thing that you can do is to give
37:52
yourself everything that you are as a living sacrifice, something
37:58
that is continually given, never consumed.
38:01
OK, that's the significance of living, but continually offered
38:05
to God in the Old Testament, sacrifices were consumed, right?
38:09
They were burned up. They're done.
38:11
But you give yourself continually as a sacrifice in
38:18
the service of God. OK, right response, is my entire
38:23
life given to the love, fear, obedience and service of God?
38:30
And it says in the next verse, it says do not be conformed to
38:33
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so
38:36
that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good
38:39
and acceptable and perfect. So he just said, this is your
38:44
attitude. I give myself to God,
38:47
everything, all of me. That's my service.
38:50
That's my worship. That word service is the word
38:53
minister. OK, so this is your priestly
38:56
ministry before God. Just like the priest each day
39:00
would offer sacrifices to God. That was their job.
39:04
You have a similar rule, except it's not something else.
39:07
You're giving, you're giving you you're offering yourself, all of
39:12
you completely given over for God's glory and floor is
39:16
pleasure. And the next verse, verse 2, it
39:17
says be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you can
39:21
know so that you can discern what the will of God is.
39:26
Again, verse one talking about spirit, my right attitude,
39:29
offering myself. Verse 2, it says don't be
39:33
conformed to this world. Don't think like the world
39:35
thinks, but instead have your your mind changed by the God's
39:40
Word so you can know exactly what he wants.
39:42
Truth, right? It's the same thing.
39:45
It's the same refrain. How many different ways can God
39:47
say it? Thankfully, he says it so many
39:51
different ways for us to understand, but he says the same
39:54
thing over and over. Offer yourself, have the right
39:58
spirit of worship, and do it in truth.
40:01
Don't do it the way you think. Do it the way that God has
40:04
already commanded and made clear.
40:07
In first Samuel 1224 it says only fear the Lord and serve him
40:11
in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things
40:14
he has done for you. Colossians 317 says whatever you
40:18
do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
40:22
They do all for him under His authority because of him giving
40:28
thanks to through Him to God the Father. 1st Corinthians 1031.
40:32
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for
40:36
the glory of God. Sorry if I was, I don't know if
40:45
that came across as fast or anything.
40:47
I've been studying it a long time trying to put put together
40:50
how to articulate it. So I hope that's concise and
40:53
clear. But God is so clear in His word
40:56
as we look, it says the same thing.
40:59
Worship is a right response. Worship is the right response of
41:02
my heart from my spirit. Inwardly.
41:05
It's saying, yes, Lord. It's saying I understand what
41:08
you've done, Lord. It's saying I fear you and I
41:11
love you, Lord. It's saying I give myself to
41:14
you, Lord. And the right response is always
41:17
shaped and guided and controlled by truth.
41:22
It always has God's word as it as its authority and it knows
41:27
that it cannot do anything outside of what God has
41:30
commanded and decreed. It just reiterates the fact that
41:36
God cares about proper worship. God has made it clear He's the
41:41
one who allowed us to be worshippers in the 1st place.
41:44
But God is very clear about what He wants and so scripture also
41:49
gives us warnings. God cares about proper worship,
41:55
and He illustrates for us in Scripture how important proper
42:00
worship is to him. Turn to Leviticus chapter 10.
42:05
Leviticus chapter 10. I don't know how often you read
42:11
Leviticus. It's probably not the most
42:13
popular book of the Bible if we were to take a survey, but it's
42:17
great. It's a wonderful book.
42:18
This is a tragic passage in Leviticus 10.
42:23
It's so sad. If we look at the context in
42:27
chapters 8:00 and 9:00, what's happening is that God is giving
42:31
the law through Moses and the Old Testament sacrificial
42:35
system. The system of worship is being
42:37
set up. It's being initiated.
42:39
This is the beginning. This is where the priests are
42:42
beginning their service. They're starting to put into
42:45
practice what God has commanded them.
42:47
They've been brought out of Egypt.
42:49
They've been protected by the hand of God.
42:52
They've been guided by God himself, shown in a pillar fire
42:56
at night, pillar cloud by day. He was doing wondrous things and
43:00
he says, OK Israel, these are your regulations for worship.
43:05
And the priests began their service.
43:07
They're set apart, they're consecrated.
43:10
They begin from Moses direction, from the commands that God has
43:14
given, practicing for the first day, the sacrifices, the
43:19
offerings that God says, this is what I desire.
43:22
So they do it. They do everything that God has
43:24
commanded. You look at the end of Chapter 9
43:27
of Leviticus and it says then fire came out from before the
43:32
Lord. It consumed the burnt offering
43:33
and the portions of fat on the altar.
43:35
And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their
43:38
faces. OK, if you're looking for a
43:40
worship experience, this is it. OK, The priests are all in their
43:45
priestly garb. Everything's brand new and
43:48
fresh. Everybody's watching.
43:50
There's an altar. They're starting the sacrifices.
43:52
They do everything OK. Everybody's learning.
43:55
Oh, this is this is neat. This is what God desires.
43:57
And at the end, what happens? The sacrifices are there.
43:59
Fire comes down from heaven and incinerates everything.
44:02
And what does everybody go, whoa, this is incredible.
44:07
God accepted the worship, but wait for the tragedy immediately
44:13
after. Immediately after Leviticus 10,
44:18
verse one. Now Nadav and Abai, who the sons
44:22
of Aaron took their respective fire pans, and after putting
44:25
fire in them, placed incense on it, and offered strange fire
44:29
before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.
44:33
And fire came out from the presence of the Lord, and
44:35
consumed them, and they died before the Lord.
44:39
Then Moses said to Aaron, It is what the Lord spoke, saying, By
44:42
those who come near me, I will be treated as holy, and before
44:47
all the people I will be honored.
44:49
So Aaron therefore kept silent. So immediately after this great
44:53
mountaintop experience, this momentous occasion, on the very
44:58
same day, after fulfilling what God had expressly commanded, 2
45:06
of Aaron's four sons go rogue. It says they offered strange
45:12
fire, which he had not commanded them, so they offered some sort
45:16
of worship that was alien. It was different.
45:18
It was not what God had commanded.
45:20
OK, I don't know what was going on their heads.
45:23
Maybe they thought, wow, this is really great.
45:25
We get to be priests. We call down fire from heaven.
45:28
This is really impressive. Let's do this again.
45:32
The implication a little bit later is that they were probably
45:36
drunk when they did this. But the result of them offering
45:42
their own worship, not according to what God has had prescribed,
45:45
is that they were consumed with fire just as moments, minutes,
45:51
an hour before the sacrifices had been.
45:55
And the result was their death. And the true tragedy in all this
46:00
is the disregard of God's commands and the offense to God.
46:06
The fact that he said this is exactly how I want you to
46:09
worship me. I've made it clear, OK, I've
46:11
made it memorable. I will respond.
46:14
I will bless. And yet, what do they do?
46:16
They offer strange fire. They do what they want.
46:20
I can only imagine being Moses. I'm trying to think I'll know if
46:26
there would be anybody who with the more potential to be
46:28
frustrated in Scripture than Moses.
46:30
Except for maybe Jesus, right. But Moses is saying I received
46:35
these from God. Do this exactly.
46:37
OK, I'm supervising. Do it exactly.
46:39
He turns away for a minute. They do what God has not
46:42
commanded and they're burned up. Like you got to be Moses saying,
46:46
what are you guys doing? It's the first day you just
46:50
started this thing. But God is has this in Scripture
46:55
to warn us. He has it to warn US against two
46:59
things. And if you have an outline,
47:04
there's two blanks you can fill in.
47:06
God is warning us about unauthorized worship, which is
47:10
neglecting His truth, and about unclean worship, which is
47:16
neglecting the proper attitude, the proper reverence, OK.
47:21
And the two, of course, go hand in hand.
47:24
In verse one it says that they offered strange fire before the
47:27
Lord which He had not commanded them, so they're neglecting the
47:30
truth that they would be given. In verse 3 it says I will be
47:35
treated as holy before all the people.
47:37
I will be honored. Worship happens on God's terms.
47:41
It is. He's weighty.
47:43
It has great importance. And the priests, in disregarding
47:48
His commands, showed a disregard for His authority.
47:51
They showed a carelessness and irreverence in worship and in
47:55
their example of worship to the nation of Israel.
47:58
So they offered unauthorized worship, and that's a warning
48:02
for us. Second, they offered unclean
48:05
worship. OK, they were neglecting the
48:07
spirit, the proper attitude of fear and reverence.
48:10
In verse 9, God tells Aaron, don't drink wine or strong
48:15
drink, neither you nor your sons with you when you come into the
48:17
tent of meeting so that you will not die.
48:20
It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations.
48:23
And so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane
48:27
and between the unclean and the clean.
48:31
So in their attitude, in their carelessness, in their
48:34
drunkenness, the sons of Aaron were offering unclean worship.
48:39
They didn't treat God as holy. They didn't realize that there's
48:43
a distinction between what is holy and not.
48:46
They didn't realize there's a distinction between what is
48:48
clean and acceptable and what is not.
48:51
They didn't honor that. A disregard of holiness for any
48:54
of us is at its root a heart issue.
48:58
God is set apart from us. He is not like us.
49:02
And if we, in any part of our worship, treat him as trivial or
49:06
like a person, or as something that we can choose or that we
49:10
can be in control of, we are participating in unclean
49:17
worship. And if we have a life that is
49:21
not set apart, that is not clean, that is not confessed,
49:25
that is not walking in obedience, then we are offering
49:28
unclean worship. Scripture has many other
49:34
examples, warnings for US against unauthorized worship,
49:38
which is neglecting truth and unclean worship, neglecting
49:42
spirit and reverence for the holiness of God.
49:44
In Genesis 4, Cain and Abel gave offerings.
49:49
You know, God accepted Abel's and rejected Cain's.
49:53
OK. It's not about what they were
49:55
offering. One offered animals, one offered
49:59
fruit and grain. The point was that Cain had a
50:04
wrong attitude. He had a wrong heart.
50:06
It also says that Abel gave his first lings the best part of his
50:10
flock. It doesn't say that about Cain.
50:12
But again, that comes back to a heart issue.
50:15
And God did not accept Cain's offering because he did not have
50:19
a heart that fear the Lord. And he just proved that point
50:22
afterwards when he became angry at God and jealous of his
50:25
brother and he murdered him, murdered him.
50:28
It's a warning to us. In First Samuel, chapters 2
50:31
through 4, it says that the sons of the priest Eli despise the
50:37
offering of the Lord. They took the best parts of the
50:41
offerings that people brought, the best parts that were
50:44
intended for the Lord, and they committed immorality openly.
50:48
They showed no reverence for God's glory or his directions
50:52
for sacrifices. They both did things that were
50:55
unauthorized and they lived unclean.
50:59
And so they died for it. And Eli died for it because he
51:03
did not deal with their sin and remove them from service.
51:06
In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira died because they lied
51:10
about their offering, their worship through giving.
51:13
They wanted to appear generous, all right?
51:15
They wanted to appear impressive rather than giving to please God
51:20
and to to help believers. So they offered unclean worship
51:26
and God killed them. And in Psalm 50, God condemns
51:30
His people, Israel, for the same thing.
51:35
They could offer all the right sacrifices, they could do all
51:38
the right things, but internally they were unclean, they were
51:43
rebellious, they were steeped in sin.
51:47
And at the end of Psalm 50, verses 23 to 23, he gives this
51:51
warning. Now consider this, you who
51:53
forget God or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be none
51:56
to deliver. He who offers a sacrifice of
51:59
Thanksgiving honors me. And to him who orders his way a
52:02
right, I shall show the salvation of God.
52:08
So the people who are truly saved, the people who are truly
52:10
worshippers, are going to do both things.
52:13
They're going to honor, they're going to give a sacrifice of
52:16
Thanksgiving. They're going to do what God has
52:18
commanded in His truth. They're going to do those
52:20
outward things and they're also going to order their way a
52:24
Right. They're going to choose
52:26
obedience. They're going to live in the
52:28
fear of the Lord, and that's going to affect the way they
52:30
live. Again, Scripture says the same
52:33
thing over and over. It's clear for us.
52:41
We're almost done with our time tonight.
52:43
Again, summing up, worship is a right response to revelation,
52:49
and we want to remember the revelation determines the
52:51
response. The revelation shows us what is
52:54
right. When we look at these warnings
52:57
from Scripture, how do we heed them?
52:59
What is the way of worship? And there are two principles to
53:04
lead us in the way of worship. If we want to not offer
53:08
unauthorized worship, if we don't want to offer unclean
53:11
worship, then there are two things, two principles.
53:15
The first is we must have regulated worship.
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We have to cling to the authority in the Word of God.
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We do what he decrees. We don't have self designated,
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self invented worship, do we? Follow carefully all that he has
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commanded. John Calvin was the first one
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who articulated something called the regulative principle.
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OK. And he said this God disapproves
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of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by his
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word. So basically God doesn't accept
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anything he doesn't command. That's called the regulative
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principle and it's a, it's a godly, it's a biblical
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principle. Scripture says, behold, to obey
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is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of a ram.
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OK, God doesn't say don't sacrifice, don't serve, don't do
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those outward obedience. But he says to obey, to have a
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right heart is better. Matthew 59 says, But in vain do
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they worship me, teaching his doctrines, the precepts of men.
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It's true then, it's true now. So much called worship is vain,
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empty, and false because it's not according to what God's Word
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says. It's according to traditions or
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teachings of men. It's according to some sort of
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invention that we have come up with because we enjoy it,
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because we're entertained by it, because it makes us feel
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something. But we must have regulated
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worship. It must be an exact compliance
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with what God has already said. The second thing, the second
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principle, is that we must have reverent worship.
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Do we regard the holiness of God?
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Do we daily love and fear Him? Does that produce in us an
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attitude that wants to please Him, that wants to do exactly
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what He says? Scripture over and over says, be
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holy yourselves because it is written, You shall be holy, for
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I am holy. First.
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Peter 2 says You are a holy priesthood.
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You offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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That's the first thing that we should be concerned with because
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that's what God is is first concerned with.
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Lance has written a great booklet called The Fear of God.
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The fear of God is missing from the lives of too many people who
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call themselves Christians, and many people don't understand it,
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even true Christians. There's so much emphasis today
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on the love of God, and we don't lose that.
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God is love, but you must hold both.
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You must have these intertwined. Is love for God and reverence
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for God a fear of him, Right? Not a fear of judgement if
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you're a Christian because your sin has been judged already, but
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you have a reverence for his power, his authority and
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understanding of his greatness and a respect for his
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discipline. So we heed the warnings in
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Scripture by having regulated worship and reverent worship,
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and that leads us in the right way.
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As we close briefly, I just want to sum up, everything in
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Scripture about worship is in a chord.
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It is in harmony. Old Testament worship does look
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very different from New Testament worship and there are
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many reasons for that. The primary of which is that
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Christ supersedes and replaces everything that happened in the
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Old Testament. Everything in the laws and the
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ceremonies and the sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed to
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Christ. They set up for Christ.
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They pointed to the need for Messiah.
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They primed and prepared God's people to know there was a great
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sacrifice coming. There was 1 great atonement.
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There was one person who would bring them close to God, and
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that was God himself. But when we look at Old
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Testament worship, even though it is superseded now, it is done
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with, as Hebrews 9 and 10 talks about, it says, we don't have to
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obey all those laws anymore because we have something
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better. We have Christ.
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Even though we don't practice all those things, they're still
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valuable for us to understand because everything about
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Israel's worship taught true principles that ring true today
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about God and about our worship in our response to Him, right?
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And so as we close just a few of those things, Old Testament
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worship showed us principles like we should be motivated.
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Our worship is motivated by knowing God's character and
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experiencing his grace. Old Testament worship taught
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that holiness is not a burdensome, burdensome legal
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imposition, but a privilege involving a grateful response to
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a gracious God. It teaches us that commitment to
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holiness effects every area of life.
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There's a great book called For the Glory of God talks about
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worship by Daniel Block. And a lot of these things he
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helped me draw out because there's so much in Old Testament
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worship to understand, but he really helped me draw out some
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of these principles. Old times of worship show the
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character and work of God, even in visual reminders, in the way
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was built, in the images that were used.
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It emphasized the transcendence and holiness of God.
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You can't just approach God's presence.
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There was a place you physically were not allowed to go in the
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holy of Holies. It also taught the gracious
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presence of God, the fact that He was there.
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He inhabited the Tabernacle, He inhabited the temple, He was
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with his people. The sacrifices taught the
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sinfulness of man that we are separated from God and that we
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need atonement. The rituals and commands and the
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rules about all the eating and the way they dressed showed
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God's absolute authority over every detail of life.
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It showed His intention and His care for his people in every
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command. And it showed that he wanted his
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people to be separate. Separate in culture, separate in
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conduct, separate even in the way they ate and the things they
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wore in order to represent Him and to be clean and kept away
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from sin. The Old Testament ceremonial
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worship showed us the need for reminders of truth, and we have
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that same need today. That's why we have communion.
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That's why we celebrate Christmas, Great Friday,
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Resurrection Sunday. Ceremonial worship in the Old
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Testament taught that there is a continual focus on and study of
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God's Word. It taught that there's a
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responsibility of individuals and there was a responsibility
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corporately. Above all, it taught that
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worship and access to God is only on His terms.
1:00:04
His followers must acknowledge his kingship, they must be
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distinct from other people and religions, and they must show a
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spirit of worship through the observance of truth in every
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area of life. And all those things are true
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today for us in worship. And so we need to be instructed
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by the full breadth of scripture and understand that both are
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consistent. And I've used scripture from
1:00:29
both to hopefully illustrate that.
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When we come back next week, we'll talk about individual
1:00:34
corporate worship and then we'll talk about music.
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We'll spend some time talking about why is singing part of
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music. We didn't even talk about
1:00:41
singing tonight. We just talked about worship is
1:00:44
life. It's a life given in the right
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response to God. But singing is important.
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Music is important. And so we'll talk about that
1:00:51
next week and we'll dive into some of the issues, some of the
1:00:54
things we have to discern, some of the things we have to be wary
1:00:57
of. But again, at the end of the
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day, if you remember anything, I encourage you to remember that
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worship is a right response to revelation.
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That's what Scripture says. And if we remember that, that
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will help us when we deal with other people from other
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churches. So we deal with people who are
1:01:13
confused or we see various teachings and read books and
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hear songs about worship. It will guide us and will bring
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us back to Scripture, to its authority, and to its truth.
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And so I encourage you if you have any questions about any of
1:01:27
that or if you have anything specific next week as we brought
1:01:30
into music and to corporate meeting, if you have any
1:01:32
specific things that you'd like me to talk about and to address,
1:01:36
I would love to hear those. But I'm thankful for this time
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tonight and I will close in prayer.
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Lord, thank you that you make us worshippers.
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Help us to be people who are concerned first of all, in life
1:01:51
with worshipping truly, with worshipping from the Spirit in
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the truth that you have given according to your word.
1:01:59
Lord, help us to be reverent. Help us to live in awe and love
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towards you. Help us to fear you.
1:02:07
Help us to have an attitude that does not change, but sees you as
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the authority, but sees you as the whole goal of our lives, the
1:02:14
focus of our lives, the theme and the King of our lives.
1:02:20
We pray that you'd instruct us. We pray that you'd encourage us
1:02:23
this week. Thank you that we can be
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together and talk about these things.
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Thank you for your perfect word. We love you and we praise you.
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In your name we pray. Amen.