Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Worship Let It Shine! Let It Shine! Msg 2222 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Worship Let It Shine! Let It Shine! Msg 2222 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It happened in Canada, 1961. A group of ministers had
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: gathered for a special series of meetings. They had invited
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: one of their favorite preachers, not a man who was
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: impressive physically or that eloquent as far as that is concerned,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: but a man who knew and walked closely with God.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: From 1928 to 1959, he had pastored what you and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I may call a rather, well, inconspicuous church in Southside, Chicago.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Southside Alliance was his church. And for those 31 years,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: he had become, it seemed to some, a bit of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a conscience for the evangelical church. Aidan Wilson Tozer. He
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: preferred simply A.W. Tozer. And as soon as you hear
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the name, you know they were in for a treat.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Allow me to digress for a moment and address the man.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: I never ever had the privilege of knowing A.W. Tozer,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: but I think I have read, if not everything, almost
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: everything he has written. And I'll tell you, he has
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a way of puncturing and pushing and exposing and penetrating
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: life as it really is and bringing us close to God.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I never had the privilege of sitting in his congregation,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: but I have talked to those who did. And they
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: said he made you about as comfortable as sitting on
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: a coat hanger. He wasn't a man to comfort. In fact,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: to many, he was a crotchety sort of fellow. But
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: you see, he walked to a different drumbeat and he
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: listened to a different voice than the world around him.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: So he wasn't ashamed to be called a prophet. I
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: never personally heard him preach. but I've listened to tapes
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and I know that there was not a time that
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the man didn't pour over what he said with prayer
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: and with diligent study in the book. He wasn't the
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: kind of prophet who heard voices in the middle of
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the night and tried to make pictures out of clouds
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: during the day. He wasn't a wild eyed fanatic. That
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: kind of person is really not of much use to
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the church. But when he spoke, lives were affected. I
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: was reading in Warren Wiersbe's work, Walking with the Giants,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and as he spoke of Tozer, he said, To listen
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: to Tozer preach was as safe as opening the door
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of a blast furnace. Now back to the story. There
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: he stood, announcing his subject. And had I been one
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: of the ministers, I would perhaps have been a little
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: surprised at the one he chose. It was worship. I mean,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: after all, that's our craft. That's like talking to a
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: group of auto mechanics about mechanics. That's like talking to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: a group of musicians about music. But how much there
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: was to learn. How long lasting those messages have become.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: They have been put into a booklet and and still
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: available today, as are to this day most of his works.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: One line remains important to me as I again read
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: that little booklet. Tozer said, Worship is the missing jewel
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of the evangelical church. Even though decades have passed since
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Tozer died, said that, I'm afraid the jewel in most
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: places is still lost. And the tragedy is there aren't
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: many that seem to be looking for it. I think
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: that's amazing. In a day in which we are able
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to find the contents of an ancient tomb and dig
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: up the remains as well as the possessions of an
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: ancient king, Tutankhamen, In a day in which we are
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: able to find a ship that is two miles deep
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: in an ocean in the North Atlantic and plan ways
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to bring it to the surface, though it has been
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: there since April of 1912, in a day in which
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: we are able to locate and expose and bring to
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: trial every Nazi from Hitler's army, we still find the
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: missing jewels. Stop and think. You travel, many of you
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: much more than I. You've been to other churches, as
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I have. You have found, and I made a list
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: of them, evangelistic churches, beautiful churches, small and lovely churches.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: even quaint churches. You have been in teaching churches, growing churches,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: dying churches, busy renewal churches, denominational churches, independent churches. Yes,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: even those who call themselves New Testament churches. But chances
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: are good you can count on one hand with fingers
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: left over the churches you were in that were worshiping churches.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I don't mean by that simply that things lost control
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and everyone sort of went wild. I don't mean that.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: I mean a place where there was balance. A solid
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: message from the scriptures. And yet a beautiful blend of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: music that addressed the living God whom you came to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: meet with. And along with that appropriate times of silence
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and well-placed words. Freedom from cliches. No inane side comments
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: to misdirect your attention and to turn you back to
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the things of this world. Places where you came into
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the presence of a living God and He grabbed you
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: and He didn't let you go. You still remember them,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: don't you? Places where you truly could worship the King
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: all glorious above. Where you truly... could gratefully sing his
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: power and his love. Where you weren't ashamed to lift
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: your head as you sang, our shield and defender, the
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: ancient of days, pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Places where you could relive the words of Wesley from
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the 17th, from the 18th century, where you could be
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: lost in wonder and love and praise. That's a worshiping church.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Where are they? I confess to you, 10 years after
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Tozer made that statement, I found myself in Fullerton, beginning
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: a ministry at the Evangelical Free Church and Not really
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: knowing what it was, it seemed, that drew me here,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: I now look back and realize I found in this
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: place the building blocks to cultivate a theology of worship.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I never announced that agenda. I didn't have anyone to
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: turn back to and ask them how they did it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I could find no book that addressed my concerns. I
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: didn't know of a church that was doing what I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: wanted to do. I didn't go out and find a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: few people to add to our staff who were experts
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in worship. Had I known of such, I probably would
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: not have hired them. Because I didn't want experts. I
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: didn't want professionals. I wanted God. At the risk of
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: sounding terribly pious here, I wanted God to shape The
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: theology of worship. As he hadn't any other place I
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: had ever been. I didn't want to lose the blow
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of a strong word from God's book. Every time I preached.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So I didn't want to bow to the God of worship.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Or to the music that would bring me to such
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a place. I wanted to come to the Lord himself.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't want worship to be the God. That's what
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to say. I wanted God to be God.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: And the only vehicle I knew to bring us to him,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: at least in corporate gatherings, was worship. Some of our
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: people have been with us all through those years. You
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: remember when we began doing some spontaneous singing a cappella.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Now it seems so important, but those days, at least
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the beginning of them, so many were afraid we were
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: going charismatic. God bless you. I am not charismatic. We
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: are not a charismatic church, but we can learn from
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: our charismatic friends. And you trusted me. You were flexible
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: enough to say, let's do that. In fact, you even
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: got so comfortable with it, When we didn't do it,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: you chided me saying, where is that acapella singing? We've
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: learned to love. And along with that, we began to
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: dovetail the Lord's table into a worship setting. And we
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: began to make music far more significant as it would
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: tie together with the printed page of God's book. and
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: with the spoken word called a sermon. We began to
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: weave into it pastoral prayers, and we began to bring
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: the arts to the place where they belong as a
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: statement of worship. And all through the process of time,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: along with you, I was learning. We made some mistakes,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and we shall in the future. But you were willing
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to use a term from the football field, we were
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: willing to flex. We were willing to shift and adapt
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and alter and change and give up and add to
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: until we began to shape and we are in the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: process of shaping a theology of worship. And all I
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: ask is that no one ever write a book on it.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: That's all I ask. One of the worst things it
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: seems we can do is put it in a book
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and then package it and market it. Because what works
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: in Fullerton may not work anywhere else, nor should it necessarily.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: We're not trying to stamp out little Fullerton churches all
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: around the country. We haven't a corner on God's truth,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: nor a full understanding of what is involved in worship.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: All we know is we love our God. We want
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: to express to him our praise and our adoration freely.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: We want to be lost in I have found that
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: it's impossible to lead a group of people in something
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: that is not a part of me personally. So I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: had to cultivate a private worship without talking about it,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: without spelling it out, without even confessing to the struggles
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: of it. And I had to add to my time
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: of prayer singing and to my walk with God those
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: quiet moments and even in the pressured times of I
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: had to work out a way for worship to fit.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I think I have found something of the answer thanks
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: to his book and thanks to the people of this church.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Tucked away in the hymn book of our Bible, right
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: in the core of it, Psalm 95, is a grand
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: statement of invitation. I'd like you to turn to it
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: and just for a few moments relive what you read
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: from these lines of Psalm 95. Maybe our problem is
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: worship is too elusive. I've struggled with this message more
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: hours than I ever want to confess. Only the men
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: closest to me will tell you how much. I didn't
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: want to overstate and yet I didn't want to understate.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do a fair job in the scriptures,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: and yet I didn't want to make it mechanical. I
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: didn't want to give you steps, five steps to worship.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to package it so that you could
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: walk out and give it to someone else in transferable concepts.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not interested in that. I wanted you to catch it.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Like the Scottish people say, some things are better felt
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: than tellt. And so I want you to feel what
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: it's about. I want the emotions to enter into this passage.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: And if there are engineers listening, please, please don't take
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: it literally. Take it symbolically. And if you haven't any
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: ability to do that, listen to your wife. Your wife
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: will help you. She will help you get the feel
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: of this passage. There are more wives who are poets
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: than husbands, I'm convinced. Come, let us sing for joy
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully. To the rock
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Let us shout joyfully to him with psalms. Why? Why
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: should I do that? Why take that invitation? Because the
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Lord is a great God. And a great king above
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: all gods. In whose hand are the depths of the earth.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: The peaks of the mountains are his also. The psalmist
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: pauses to give us that little illustration to show us
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the size of our God. To the deepest place on
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: earth which would be in the bottom of some sea.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: To the highest peak in the Himalayas. Would be the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: highest spot. From height to depth our God is greater.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: And someone that awesome, that great is deserving of some
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: time of silent praise. And vocal praise. And melodious praise.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: And shouting praise. Our God is great. He is above
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: all gods. Greater than the depths and the heights. Verse 5.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: The sea is his. For it was he who made it.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: His hands formed the dry land. Isn't that great? Have
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: you been on the sea lately? Have you looked at
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: it lately? I will never forget when I was in
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the middle of the Pacific. Our troop ship seemed so
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: enormous when it was docked at San Diego. But the
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: farther out to sea we got, the smaller we became.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Until finally in the middle of the sea, we looked
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: like a broken matchstick. And the swells 30 to 40
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: feet high. And the water was black. Just as black
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: as the ace of spades. And the skies were cloudy.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: And the wind was blowing. And the bow of the
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ship would drive into the swell. And the water would
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: cover the deck of the ship. My prayer life was
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: enhanced on that ship. It was on the ship I
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: found Psalm 139. If I take the wings of the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: even there thy hand is with me and thy right
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: hand shall hold me.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Because the sea is his. He made it. None of
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: it intimidates him. There is no swell that causes our
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: God to suck in his breath in fear. There is
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: no depth that causes him to lift his eyebrows with amazement.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: He made it. The vast sea is his. The land
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: he's formed with his hands. Verse 6. So therefore, come on. Come.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Worship our God. Bow down to him. As best I'm
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: able to find in my study, the most basic of
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: meanings of worship is the thought of being on one's face.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: And if you want to be in a position of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: abject submission, place your palms down on the ground. Get
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: in the prone position on your face before God and
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: lay there. Verse 7. We are his people. We are
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the people of his pasture. We are the sheep of
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: his hand. He is our God. In worship, we connect.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I have that in quotes. We connect with the living Lord.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: We don't watch something happen. We participate. It isn't like
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: going to a ball game and seeing 22 men knock
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: themselves out on the field. It's coming to a place
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: in one's life, either alone or with a few or
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: with many, where one connects with the living God. The
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: best definition I've come up with, and perhaps the one
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: with least words, is a human response to a divine revelation.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: God has said something and I respond to it. God
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: is doing things and I respond to him. It is response.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: The response may be absolutely silent. The response may be
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the loudest voice. It may be the majestic strains of
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: an organ. And just yesterday, sitting... In our worship center.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And listening to strains from this organ. I connected. Like
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: a river glorious is God's perfect peace. And I relived it.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I felt it. And at that moment I was lost.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: In the wonder and praise of my God. Amazing thing
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: about worship is you don't care what anybody else thinks.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: You could care less what someone else thinks about your.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Lifting of hands or looking up or silent awe. It
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: seems like everything else is blocked out because you have
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: been touched by God. Dr. Sidney Juran sat in coffee
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: shops all over the world and watched people. That was
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: his experiment. He counted the times that people touched each
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: other during an hour span. He made a record of,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: he kept a record of his observations. In Puerto Rico,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: there were 180 touches of an hour in this coffee shop.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: In France, it was reduced to 110 an hour. When
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: he came to America, it dropped amazingly to twice an hour.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: In England, not even once. Oh, he should have gone
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to Italy. Oh. Oh. I often say to people, Italians
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: don't simply embrace you, they frisk you. They're all over you,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: those Italian meals. They're the greatest things in the world.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Food's flying, words are flying, arms are flying, and it's
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: sort of a survival of the fittest. They're touching all over,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: even pinching at times. Italians touch. I wonder how many
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Italian churches worship. You see, it isn't simply touching one another,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: though there's nothing wrong with that. It's this resistance to
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: anyone touching me. I don't want someone to touch me.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I don't want someone to probe in my personal areas.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I have that blocked off. I'll open it when I'm ready.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: But you see, in worship, there is no place that
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: is free from his touch. Resistance pushes him away. And
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: so worship is an active response to God, whereby I
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: declare his worth in an intimate manner. I've made a
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: few comments in my notes as to its significance and purpose,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and I've gathered together a number of the Psalms. In fact,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: one of them is Psalm 91, if you go back
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: a few Psalms. And once again, not to be taken literally.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Look at the man in worship. He who dwells in
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the shelter of the Most High will abide under the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: shadow of the Almighty. Now he's being touched by God.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I will say to my Jehovah God, I will say
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to Yahweh, my refuge, my fortress, my God, I trust you.
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: That's the idea. He's dialoguing with God. Where is he dialoguing?
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: In the shelter, under the shadow. Verse 4, covered with wings.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Not feathery wings. It isn't literal. It's poetry. It's symbolism.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: God is all about me and tucked away under his
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: care like a mother hen. He pulls me in and
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: he covers me. And I talk to him. And he
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: talks to me. What happens when that connection occurs? Whether
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: it's in a gathering of thousands or when I'm alone
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: in a closet with him or when I am with
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: a few, what happens? Well, it magnifies my God. That's
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: one of the major significances and purposes. My God is magnified.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: It enlarges my horizons. Never do I leave worship with
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: limited horizons. My horizons are enlarged. Third, it eclipses my fears,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: those things that gnaw at me and eat at me.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I forget them. It eclipses my fears. It changes my perspectives.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: It's remarkable. An attitude on Friday is so different on
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a Tuesday. Because sandwiched between a Friday and a Tuesday
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: is a worship service in which my whole perspective changes.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I was leaving the service a couple of three weeks
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: ago and I had my pickup parked out here in
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: my spot. It was a Sunday night and I had
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: a friend tuck a note under the windshield wiper. At
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: first my stomach turned when I saw something under a
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: windshield wiper. And I read of a change of perspective
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: And my friend, it wasn't something I had done. I
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: can change no one's perspective. It wasn't the mortar and
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the brick and the carpet and the wood of a
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: pulpit or the sound system or even the music that
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: comes from the place. It was the living God who
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: invaded that man's life and touched him in a wrestling
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: spot and calmed him. And he didn't know anything better
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: to do than just thank one of the people who
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: helped get that message to him. Changes my perspective. It
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: enhances my work. When I put worship to work in
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: my life, when I see it as woven through the
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: fabric of my day, it's amazing what my tasks, how
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: my tasks change. They're enhanced. Refreshes my spirit. At this
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: point I have to say a word about music. I
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: must address it. And I do on behalf of my
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: many minister friends who see little place for it. God
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: bless them. You have found a place of worship when
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: you find a place. Where music has a proper and
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: prominent place. Centering its message on the word of God.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: And don't lose that place. Music is not preliminary. Music
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: is not tacked on. It's not a filler. It's not
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: something we do getting ready for the important part. Music
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: is a part of worship. God has given us song.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: In fact, Psalm 92 says it's good to give thanks
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: to our Lord and to sing praises to his name.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I wondered just this past week why it is that
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the song has dried up in our voices. Why are
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: there so few who sing? Just stop. How many do
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: you hear sing through your Monday through Saturday world? How
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: many of you in a profession hear your partner humming
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: a song? How many do you see singing on a freeway?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Now that's a new one. I have asked myself why.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: I've come up with a couple of answers. One, the
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: pressures of life squeeze out our song. Song requires creativity, relaxation,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Freedom from tension. And we're like that little cake decorator.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: And we've got a great big cone of pressure and
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: a little tiny opening and there's no song coming out.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Second reason we don't sing is because everything else sings
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: for us. You get in the car. I was three
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: cars away from a guy. And I was going, I
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: can't stand that. I mean, it was louder than, I
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: don't know how his ears kept from bleeding. It was
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: so loud. I didn't want his song in my car,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: but I couldn't shut it out. Remember, my windows are up.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: In our cars, in our offices. In our homes, even
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: on airplanes now. Grocery stores, department stores, they have mood songs. Restaurants,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: would you believe, even elevators. You can't even be alone
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: to sing a little song in an elevator. There's this
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: dumb music coming through. Why? They say to deaden people's fears.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Some of that music is scary, I'll tell you. That's
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: where the fear is. Start to sing again. Add it
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to your time with God. Get up with a song.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Not someone else's song. Before anything in the day has
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: a chance to... Squeeze it out of you. You squeeze
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: out the song. If you can't create one, find a
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: hymn book. Buy it. Use it. Write along with your
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: time in God's book. Sing the songs back. to him.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: He seeks that kind of worship. You question that? John
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: chapter 4. Great chapter. John 4. The place is Sychar
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: in Samaria. The exact location is a well. Jesus is
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: with a woman who has come to draw water. And
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: lo and behold, he tells her her whole life story
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: in a few sentences. She's blown away. And she looks
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: deeply into this Jew's eyes. And she senses he's not
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: one of them. Not only by his voice, but obviously
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: by his dress. Something told her in the process of time,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: he's Jew, I'm Samaritan. And she sensed, I'm in the
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: midst of a prophet. Verse 19, Sir, I perceive you're
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: a prophet. And realizing that he was certainly more than
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: mere man, she begins to address a two-sided argument. It's
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: funny what people talk about when they discover they're with
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: a man of God. It's amazing. I could tell you
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: some remarkable stories. Remarkable. And she says in verse 20,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people say,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: That in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Isn't that a two-way street? She says, in effect, don't
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: talk about me. Let's talk about worship. My folks say
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: we ought to worship here. Your people say you ought
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: to worship there. What do you think? In other words,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: don't talk about me. Let's talk about some religious issue.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: But Jesus is far too bright for that. Jesus said
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: to her, woman, believe me. An hour is coming when
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: the Father. It is a geography that concerns me. You
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: worship that which you do not know, and there are
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: still many today who do, by the way. Many who
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: go through the liturgical maneuverings of their worship, they go
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: through the words, as they go from bead to bead,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: from book to book, From step to step. From one
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: process to another in their religion. They're worshiping and they
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: don't know whom. They think they do, but they don't.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: You worship that which you do not know. We worship
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: that which we know. It isn't pride, that's fact. For
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: a woman, salvation is from the Jews. But an hour
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: is coming and now is right. I like that. When
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: truth for such people, the father seeks to be his worshipers.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: I love the way Zane Hodges puts this. This utterance
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: on worship is timeless and absolutely definitive. The time has come.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: The time has come to worship. But notice there are
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: two musts. Verse 24, those who worship him must worship
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: one in spirit, two in truth. The worship must be
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: in keeping with the revealed word of God. That's truth.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: That's the Bible. And worship must be in spirit. Now
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: this is where it gets sticky. Sticky. This is where
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: it's hard to describe it. It is in the unseen.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: It is in the felt realm. It is in the invisible.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: It is in the realm of imagination. Middle pictures. Inner
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: connection with the spirit. And it must be for me
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to appreciate a great Bach piece that he wrote in
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: his day for an offertory in his church. I don't
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: have to read the score. I have to enter into
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: the feeling of that music. I have to let it
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: capture me. I have to be open to that. In
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: order for me to enter into the spirit of a
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: song done by the choir, the chancel choir, or by
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: some fine soloist, or by a statement of praise given
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: in testimony, I have to enter into the spirit of
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: that moment unguarded, without resistance. And as long as I
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: am resistant to it, I will not enter into the
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: depth of worship. And I find, friends, that I am
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: in the midst often of people who are afraid of
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: those feelings. who are in love with the truth but
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: afraid of the spirit. So fearful of being carried to
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: an extreme, we won't even let a little of the
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: door of emotion open. And we are strong in the
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: preached word, but we are weak in worship. Peter Gilquist
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: writes in his book, The Physical Side of Being Spiritual,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: a common complaint I hear over and over again is,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: I just don't get anything out of worship. Often that
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: statement is accompanied by another. Our pastor is the best
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: Bible teacher I have ever heard. When the man opens
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: the scriptures, I really learn. But our church has no
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: sense of worship. There almost appears to be a pattern,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: says Gilquist. The churches that are strongest on the preaching
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: of the scriptures are often the weakest when it comes
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: to worshiping and giving praise to the Lord. May I
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: give a word of encouragement to seminaries today? The men
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: and women who study in your schools don't come understanding worship.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Help them leave at least understanding what it's about. I
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: cannot speak stronger about the importance of a chapel service.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: The place where a man's... thoughts regarding his worship service
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: in the future is being formulated right there. Cultivate a
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: chapel service marked by quality. Fine music, good speakers have
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: less of those chapels with more quality. I think I
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: first got a hold of true worship in the chapel
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: service of the seminary that I attended. People learn they
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: are educated by witnessing worship and then becoming little by
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: little participants in it. I'm convinced that's one of the
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: reasons for the growth in our church. You can find
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: good Bible teaching many places. Many places, thank the Lord.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: You can even find fine music in places. But you
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: don't often find a sense of worship surrounding both. He
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: says there must be spirit and there must be truth.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: If I had the time to trace where worship appears
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: in Scripture, I could literally take you from Genesis to Revelation.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: You know the first occurrence in the Bible? You'll never
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: believe it. The first time worship is mentioned, Genesis 22.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Abram is about to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. And
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: he says to his friends down at the base of
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Mount Moriah, I and the lad will go yonder and
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: we will worship. And we will come again. That's the
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: first mention. If you put Job in the same context
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: of the patriarchs, Job says it in verse one or
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: at the end of chapter one, where after he's lost everything,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: he sat in sackcloth and ashes. And he said, naked,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: I came from my mother's womb. Naked will I return.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: The Lord gave. The Lord took away. Blessed be the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: name of the Lord. And the text says, and he
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: worshiped the Lord there. Yes, it's possible to worship on
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: a hospital bed. It's possible to worship with a high fever.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: It's possible to worship with everything having been lost. You
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: don't need the comfortable surroundings and the soft seats of
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: a pew. You don't need a choir. You don't need
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: a pipe organ. You don't have to have an orchestra.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Those things help enhance it, but it must be a
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: part of one's personal life. But it must be in
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: spirit and it must be in truth. You may think
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I'm weird, but when I look at the fluid lines
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: on a Michelangelo piece of sculpture and I see that
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: white marble standing eight feet high, shaping David, I worship
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: my God. He gave that gift. He, through the hands
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: of that gifted, brilliant artist, sculptured that gift to mankind.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: When I hear the moving strains of a hymn, I worship.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: Not the hymn, not the player, not the singer. I
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: worship the God, the giver. If I may return in
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: closing to the words of Tozer, that magnificent jewel needs
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: to be found by more and more of us. Look
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: finally at Romans 12. You've been faithful to go from
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Psalms to John 4, locate Romans 12. I don't want
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: you to leave without my mentioning one more part of worship.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Many overlook. Worship is not only something to be enjoyed
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: as a recipient, it is something to do as a participant.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: That's my whole sermon in a statement. Some of you
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: missed it. What did he say? What? Worship is not
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: only something to be enjoyed as a recipient, it is
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: something to do as a participant. Romans 12, I urge you, brethren,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: spiritual service of worship. You serve on a board or
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: a committee in this assembly, that's a worship experience. You
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: teach a class of children or teenagers or adults. That's worship.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: That's a spiritual service of worship. You sing in a choir.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: Do you play an instrument? Do you sing as a
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: soloist or a part of an ensemble? That's a statement
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: of worship as a minister of the gospel. You work
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes, not seen by the public as one
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: who gives time to youth or to adults. Or to children,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: that's worship. You give regularly to the work of God.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: Marked by sacrifice and consistency, that is an act of worship.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Did you know that? It'll revolutionize your thought of Christian
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: service if you see it as an act of worship.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: I tried my best to write in here that if
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: you work in the parking lot, it's an act of worship.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: And I had the hardest time putting that in there,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: but I think it can be, you certainly learned to
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: trust God. I'll say that. And there is dedication. I'll
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: say that. Worship may be the missing jewel of the
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: evangelical church, but it need not be. You know, I,
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I want to confess. I, um, I don't like the
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: word sparkle. I tried like mad to find some other
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: word that would say it for me, but when I
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: thought of a beautiful jewel that has been cut, that
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: has been shaped just right and put on a right
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: kind of backdrop, it, that's right, it sparkles. So I'm
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: stuck with that word. Reminds me originally when I thought
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: of it of something that's shallow and superficial, but I'm
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: thinking of something that's deep in that jewel. Let me
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: ask you three probing questions that look into that jewel
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: of your life. First question, does your public worship sparkle
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: with creativity and variety? Does your public worship sparkle with
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: creativity and variety? You let the hymns speak to you.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Enter into the piece that's being played, even the prelude,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: the offertory, the postlude. Does that enter into your being
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: so that with some sense of creativity, you can imagine
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: the words of the hymn or you can relive the
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: beauty of that music? Does it sparkle with creativity and variety? Second,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: does your private worship sparkle with quality and consistency? Years ago,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: I was working closely with a man who was trying
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: to help me understand private worship. He went through a very,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: very low time in his life. I went by his
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: home one afternoon to find him and he wasn't there.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: His wife said, I think he's down at the office.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: It was raining. In fact, by the time I got
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: to his office down in the center of Naha, Okinawa,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: there were puddles of water and the rain was splashing
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: down and I made my way around the corner to
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: this little inauspicious office where he kept his things, and
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: before I saw him, I could hear him. I could
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: hear him singing. He was singing the lines from that
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: great hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And he
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: got to the part, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: And I stood outside that little bamboo shack, looking through
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: into the candlelight of his room. And I never told
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: him that I came, for that was a sacred place.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: His private worship was obvious to me, and I walked
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: away having learned more in that brief moment than I
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: could have learned in a year of instruction. He worshipped.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: publicly because he worshiped privately. The third question is a
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: simple one. If not, why not? If not, why not?
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: Let's bow together. The only reason I can think of
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: that will take away Real worship, aside from just ignorance,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: just carnality, is unbelief. The only person who is really
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: justified in not worshiping is the unbeliever. For to worship,
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: you have to have a Savior. And your Savior has
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: to be the central figure of your life. If you've
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: never met the person of Jesus Christ, allow me to
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: introduce him to you. Without your even knowing it, he
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: died for you. And he came back from the dead
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: for you. And he's coming again to meet you. By
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: personal invitation, coming to Christ and believing in his death
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: and resurrection as the sufficient covering for your sins, you
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: can have eternal life. That is true worship. Father, this
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: has been a great journey we have taken. Thank you
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: for speaking to us, ministering deeply. and touching the lives
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: of some who've never known your son, and they have
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: become a part of your forever family. Thank you especially
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: today for the role of worship in our lives. Forgive
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: us for being like that river, three miles wide and
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: four inches deep, moving rapidly, but really not making that
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: much significant difference. Worship quiets our hearts and brings us
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: back to things that matter. And as we have learned,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: It deepens our relationship with you. So guide us into
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: experiences of worship, our Father, that become increasingly more meaningful.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Deliver us from the perfunctory practice of a religion, just
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: business as usual, coming to church, sitting in church, and
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: leaving church. May we become the kind of people you're
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: looking for, worshipers. You seek our worship. And therefore, Father,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: may our lives begin to shine as a result of
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: time spent in your presence. May we make a difference
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: in this world that has lost its way. And may
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: worship play a major role in preparing us for that
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: difference we will make. I ask this in the name
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: of Christ, who is the object of our worship and
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: the subject of our praise.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Amen. The Preceding Message Worship Let It Shine, Let It
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: Shine was copyrighted in 1985, 1987, 2005, and 2011, and
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2011 by Charles R.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.