Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20221106 - The Sacrifice of Praise - 1 Peter 2:5,9 & Hebrews 13:15-16

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#20221106 - The Sacrifice of Praise - 1 Peter 2:5,9 & Hebrews 13:15-16 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word recorded live at Calvary
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Church in Aurora, Colorado, to learn more about the many
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resources available, through abounding Grace, Media, or to
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tune into our live stream Services.
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Visit us online at Calvary. Co dot church or download our
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free Calvary Church app now. Let's open our Bibles and study
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God's word. Good morning.
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Honored to be with you today. So thankful for the chance to
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teach this morning and just be connected to Calvary Church here
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in Aurora. Pastor Ed, is he's like a
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pastors Pastor. He's always like randomly
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texting me just at different seasons and different times of
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the year. How you doing what's going on
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and doing, okay, and pray for you.
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I just so, so appreciate that. And so thankful for what the
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Lord is doing here. And I feel honored to be here
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with you guys today. So, if you have your Bible,
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we're going to be looking at First Peter, we're going to
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start with first Peter 2:9, and we will get to that in a few
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minutes. I just going to start with our
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intro here this morning, but I'm going to specifically be
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focusing on a sacrifice of praise being a worship leader.
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I'm sure you're probably not all that.
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Surprised that I'm talk about, praise this morning, but it's
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something that I'm Excited about passionate about and love to
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talk about so God's people have always been a singing people.
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If you think back in history and you look back in biblically, the
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people of God, have always been marked by song and singing.
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Some of the oldest recorded history in the Bible, just think
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about the Old Testament even to 2,000 years ago to even more
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recent church history, God's people I have always been a
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singing people. So when it comes to our modern
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Gatherings music and singing have historically, taken a
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significant role in our Gatherings and why we're going
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to explore that question. Tonight, we're going to talk
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about that a little bit, talk about the value of it and why we
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do that. But before we do that real
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quickly, I just want to point out as well.
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That the difference between what we would kind of commonly call,
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praise and worship my. My younger years, growing up
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being a musician and being around church ministry and
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leading worship. Type in teams we would always,
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they would always talk about like, okay.
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That's a praise song because it's a fast song and that's a
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worship song because it's a slow song.
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That was like the two categories.
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He had praise and worship. Praise is fast and worship was
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slow. But as we, you know, as you
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study the Bible, as you grow in your faith and you kind of
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understand understand a bit more, you realize that it's a
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lot deeper than that. It's a lot richer than that,
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there's so much to that. So A friend of mine once said
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what we often call worship, the Bible calls praise.
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So when we Come together. And we, you know, obviously
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praise is a big part of our worship.
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It's a big part of our responding to the grace of God,
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but, but big picture. Speaking worship is a broader is
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a bigger word with a broader meaning.
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So when you come to Faith in Jesus Christ and you become a
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Believer, a Christian, a part of the family of God, you were a
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worshiper of God and that kind of affects every area of your
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life. In fact, when Jesus in John 4
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was talking about worship, he kind of defined it with two.
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Edwards. He says true worshipers will
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worship the father in spirit. And in truth, there's really no
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mention of music or songs or singing at that point, but he
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defines it as in spirit, and in truth, which is kind of
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interesting most commentators. Look at that word spirit, and
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and related to the fact that a true worshiper must be born
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again, by the spirit of God, for the worship to actually be real
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and authentic, you have to be born again by the spirit of God,
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to have to be a part of It's family.
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And when the Holy Spirit takes residents in you, what was dead
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to God, we were dead to God. It says in Ephesians chapter 2.
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We were dead. And now we've been made alive
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when you've been made Alive by the spirit of God.
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Now, we have a relationship with God and we can worshipers of
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God. So that's what Spirit would be
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relating to truth. Could be defined as hiding.
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Nothing, no longer trying to hide from God or pretend from
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pretend with God, but were open and honest and being You know,
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vulnerable with the Lord, he was speaking to this woman at the
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well who had five husbands? She was living with the guy that
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wasn't her husband. I'm sure in some ways that was,
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you know, she was hiding in a sense.
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So Jesus was like, Hey, I know everything about you and I still
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love you. And so that she was blown away
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at this knowledge that Jesus had, this love that he had for
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her and that's really what was turning her life around.
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Is this this you know, man who was God In the Flesh was
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speaking love and truth to her She was born again by the spirit
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of God. And so so this picture in John 4
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is almost the same picture and John three were Jesus tells
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Nicodemus? You must be born again.
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So that's a little background. So worship is really the life of
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the believer. So as we gather together, like
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on a Sunday morning, we come together to worship God.
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We worship God in our praising God, we worship God in our
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giving of the resources. We worship God in surrendering
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to his will and his word. We worship God in sir.
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Serving and loving each other and fellowship and caring for
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one another and were sent out to live this life of worship in our
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communities, and our families, and our vocations, where God has
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placed us. That's the picture of the life
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of worship. So as we focus specifically, on
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the subject of Praise today, we will see that.
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It's a significant and important part of our worship, but it is,
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again, a part of it. So, speaking of Praise, did you
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know, there's at least, 185 songs in the Bible 150 those are
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found in the book of Psalms. The longest song recorded as
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Psalm 119 in fact just to read it here today would probably
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take the entire service. It's about 1700 words and the
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shortest song in the Bible. Recorded is seven words and
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songs. Second Chronicles chapter 5.
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So Psalms are loot. We're really the Old Testament
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Hymnal. They're filled with many
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encouragement for us to actually see In our praise.
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But what's interesting about Psalms is scripture really in
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many ways speaks to us, but Psalms speak for us.
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In fact, they give us language that we can speak back to the
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Lord of Praise of Thanksgiving of lament, going through
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difficult seasons in life. We have language in the Psalms
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that help us lament and honest prayers of David.
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And a lot of times songs, really Into prayers, their, their
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opportunity for us to pray these things in.
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And so if your rejoicing or your suffering or you're hurting
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lamenting, the Psalms speak for us and help us in those unique
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times of Life, David King, David.
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A man after God's Own Heart, a worshipper wrote, a majority of
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them. In fact in first Chronicles, we
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find David making musical instruments specifically made
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for Is so in first Chronicles 23, it says 4000, praise.
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The Lord with musical instruments, which I made said,
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David forgiving of Praise David. Loved the Lord.
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He loved to praise the Lord. He was a musician himself and he
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would go so far as even like engineering instruments, that
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could be used to that end later on.
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In first Chronicles, 25, David would appoint three men to
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oversee what could be described as like a School of Worship?
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With this these three men ASAP human and Jadu.
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'Then says that they were all under the direction of their
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father for the music in the house of the Lord with symbols
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stringed, instruments and harps for the service of the house of
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God asaph to do thin and human were under the authority of the
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king. So the number of them with their
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Brethren who were instructed in the songs of the Lord.
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All who were skillful was 288, they cast lots for their Duty,
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the small as well as the great the teacher with the So there
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were training, the young ones coming up in the songs of the
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Lord and they would kind of divide and go back to the 12
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tribes, teach them those songs. So when they would come
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together, they would all know these these songs and they would
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sing them together. It's pretty, pretty fascinating
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to me. So, now fast forward to the New
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Testament. We have Jesus singing A Hymn
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with the disciples, right before he would go to the Cross there
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in Mark, 14. It says, when they had sung A
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Hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives with this.
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So I wonder what that him was thinking.
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Eternity will find out what that song was the early church was
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marked by singing. In Luke 24, it says that came to
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pass that. He blessed them, he was carried
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up into heaven and they worshiped him and returned to
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Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the
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temple praising and blessing God.
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So the early church they were continually praising and
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blessing God acts yet Paul and Silas singing praises in prison
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with the Others that were jailed there as well.
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Ephesians 5 and Colossians, 3 were encouraged and instructed
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to be filled with the spirit and part of being filled with the
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spirit is singing to one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual
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songs making melody in our heart to the Lord.
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So just an overflow of being filled with the spirit as man
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music and songs and singing Back to the Lord, his praise is part
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of that. And then you go all the way to
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the end of the Bible. There in Revelation, 5 in the
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whole emblem of the Saints, every tribe, tongue and nation,
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and people are singing a new song to God and the Lamb on the
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throne. The words are worthy.
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Are you to take the scroll and open?
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Its seals for you were slain and by your blood, you ransomed
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people for God for every tribe language and people and Nation.
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You have made them a kingdom of priests to our God and they
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shall reign on the earth. This new song they would sing
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there. So we get a picture of Eternity.
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Eternity, Going to be marked by Praise.
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In fact, eternity is going to be marked by Discovery.
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You think of, you know, oftentimes, we see these
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pictures of heaven and these little kind of naked babies on a
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cloud with a harp, you know, and I don't know what you think
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about when you think of heaven, but some people think God's
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gonna be boring, what are going to do in heaven?
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But you think about the reality that God created the world in
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seven days with all its beauty and intricacy and and just you
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know wonder I love coming. Owing to Colorado.
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Just the last number of years, I've had a chance to do some
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skiing in the local mountains, and it is absolutely stunning.
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We don't have the mountains like that in California and it's just
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incredible. We just so enjoy it.
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But you look at that beauty and it just to me, it just brings
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glory to God. And the way that he created, but
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we have these little glimpses like in Ephesians, it says that
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in the ages to come, he's going to show his exceeding Riches of
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his grace and his kindness towards us in.
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It's Jesus in the ages to come. Like the eons to come, so I
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think eternity is going to be marked by Discovery.
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We're going to be discovering more of the beauty of God and
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The Wonder of him. We're going to be in awe of him
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on a continual basis. We're going to be in awe of what
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he's made and what eternity looks like.
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Jesus said I'm going to go, I'm going away.
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I'm going to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you can
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come. So, eternity is going to be
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marked by discovery, which will be marked by Wonder.
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Which will turn into worship even more.
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We're going to be in awe that God created what he created and
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we're going to get to know him better.
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And for eternity it's going to be marked by discovery.
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So we can also look back at recent church history and I love
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this. Some of the recent composers and
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spiritual leaders of generations before us saw this deep value of
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music and praise. That would be to the glory of
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God, I think of Martin Luther the great reformer.
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He said this music is one of God's greatest gifts as often so
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stimulated me that I felt the desire to preach.
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He said I placed music next to Theology and I give it the
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highest Is he right? He wrote A Hymn number of them,
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but one of our famous ones, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.
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He said the gift of language combined, with the gift of song
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was given to man that he should proclaim the word of God in
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music. So good.
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One of my favorite is Johann Sebastian, Bach back in 1685.
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You live to 1750 in a book on spiritual lives of great
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composers. The author said this Bach was a
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devout believer in box, sought, spiritual connections between
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his faith, and his art. He would announce that his
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ultimate purpose in life was to create well-regulated church
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music to the glory of God. Bought grew up in Germany, under
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the Lutheran tradition that had been emphasized that emphasized
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having a living personal bible-based relationship with
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God. He resounded resoundingly echoed
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the convictions of Luther claiming that musics.
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Only purpose should be to the glory of God and the recreation
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of the human Spirit. He often would mark his man.
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Scripts with the words. Help me Jesus, or in the name of
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Jesus or solo date Gloria to God alone.
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Be The Glory. What's crazy is Bach has this
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amazing Legacy of being super just prolific in his writings.
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He you only published 10 works when he was alive.
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But after his death, when the multitude of scores were finally
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collected and published it had taken 46 years to do it.
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And they filled 60 huge volumes of his world-infamous.
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Is works. And the author goes on to say,
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all of this composing took place while fulfilling dozens of other
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tasks, like working as an organist to conductor and music
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director, a private instructor, he even taught Latin two young,
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boys. Rage raised a large family.
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He fathered 20 children. So you think your life is tough
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with the couple kids? He had 20 I've got five
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daughters and little women's ministry at home and it's been
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amazing and so much love and so much affection and yet it's
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been, you know, a huge learning curve.
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I had a brother and I thought for sure he'd have boys and it's
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like, oh my gosh I have no idea what I'm doing and then you
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realize there is so many different version of girl like
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having five. It's like a scientific research
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study and the female gender and you just realize that wow,
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there's a lot of difference in in women, so I'm still learning.
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Little side note anyway deal Moody he said this a great
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preacher evangelist a few Generations.
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Back music is song have not only accompanied all scriptural
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revivals but are essential in, deepening one's spiritual life.
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Singing does as least, as much as preaching to impress, the
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word of God upon people's minds ever since God.
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First called me, the importance of Praise expressed in song.
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Has grown upon me. So, why did all these Biblical
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characters in men and women of history and Faith value music
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song and praise so much? Well, it's a simple answer
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because God does because the Bible does so turn with me to
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First Peter 2 verse 9 and we'll read this together.
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He says but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
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a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the
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Praises of him who called you out of Darkness Into His
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Marvelous Light. There's a few words in that
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verse that kind of would probably you know, men should
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stir some questions in our heart but it's interesting that Peter
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is addressing New Testament. Believers the Church of Jesus
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Christ and he's calling them a chosen generation, a royal
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Priesthood. So this would be kind of really
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kind of God's people language of God's people, The Chosen
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Generation generation, a royal priesthood, it would take us
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back to the Old Testament. You know, what was the role of
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the priest? Well, they would actually go to
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God for the people and speak to the people for God and and the
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priest would have the privilege of access and intimacy.
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So really the priesthood was a privileged position where they
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would be able to go into the the holy place on a daily basis to
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minister to the Lord but really one time of year.
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One man, a high priest would go into the holy of holies, where
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the Shekinah Glory of God would dwell and they would go with it.
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Go in with a sacrifice and that was as close as anyone would
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ever get that. It was one man, one time of year
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of the year that they could do that.
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So the people were at a distance.
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Now, New Testament theology teaches us that it's the
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priesthood of every believer, that every believer has now
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access and intimacy to go directly to God.
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In other words, there's no need for a priest anymore.
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You don't have to go through a pastor to come to God.
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That's wonderful to get Prayed by Spirit prayed for by
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spiritual leaders that you respect and love and appreciate
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But the reality is that we are called personally and
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individually to come boldly personally to the throne of
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grace that we might obtain mercy and Grace to help in time of
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need. So there's only one, great high
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priest. His name is Jesus Christ who's a
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once and for all sacrifice who entered the holy of holies once
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and for all with his own blood sacrificed for our sin, It's so
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now we have been privileged to have access and intimacy with
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the creator of Heaven and Earth we have we have this beautiful
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opportunity on a daily basis. Minute-by-minute Moment by
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moment to come to the Lord with our burdens are cares.
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He both listens and responds the privilege of every believer. so,
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I love that part of the verse as well.
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He says his own special people that you may proclaim the
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Praises of him who called you out of Darkness Into His
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Marvelous Light. That word proclaim, we could
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Define it as like publish or to make publish or to declare and
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those who are proclaiming. His Praises are the ones that
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have been called out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light.
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So, the picture there is, when you've been saved by the grace
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of Good God has taken you out of darkness and forgiving you of
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your sin. And all of us have been rescued
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by the grace of God. We never could have deserved it
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or earned it. He rescued us out of our own sin
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and shame and he gave us grace and mercy and welcomed us into
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his family and just lavished his love and his kindness upon us.
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And when we realized that, it turns into Praise you can't help
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but praise the one who called you out of Darkness into light,
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who forgave you of your sin, who loves you and still serves you
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this day by washing our feet. He still Stoops to listen to us
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and care for us and wash our feet.
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When we sin and we still fail at times, he condescends to our
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level and cares for us and forgives us.
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I mean, the grace of God. The grace of God is not just
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saving grace, it's like a daily grace and he walks through that
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life with us, daily to care for us and serve us still to this
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day. And when you realize that our
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praise becomes more and more authentic and more and more just
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powerful because we realized what God has done for us.
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Amen. And I know that I'm preaching to
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the choir because this morning just being in, you know, around
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you guys in this beautiful Gathering.
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You guys are worshippers you. Praise God, such Beautiful way
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and I know the Lord. So honored by that.
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And so blessed by that, Okay, so, let's look back.
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A few verses, go back. And first Peter to 2:5, let's
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read that one together. So you also as living stones are
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being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood,
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there's that word again to offer up spiritual sacrifices
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acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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So there's a lot of that verse there alone and again that word
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a holy priesthood reminds us of that intimacy.
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Access we have to God but that phrase spiritual sacrifices is
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what I want to focus on this morning years ago, when I
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started studying through these passages that one of the
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commentators kind of drill down on spiritual sacrifices and kind
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of helped helped me understand this bigger picture.
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This Theology of worship that would come from this, in some
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ways from like, John chapter 4 with Jesus, speaking of spirit,
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and in truth, but also would come from this phrase, spiritual
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sacrifices. So, it kind of again, points us
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back to the Testament, where they would, they would sacrifice
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things in order to, please God to be able to come before God.
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They would have this kind of works approach to God, that have
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to do these sacrifices do these things to please God, and to
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earn favor in a sense. But in New Testament theology,
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our worship is all a response we respond to what God has already
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done. He loved us before we ever loved
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him. He was chasing us before we were
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ever chasing him. Like you might say, well, I
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found Jesus, yes. But when you look back, you
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realize, oh no, Jesus found me. He was chasing me.
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You can look back at your younger years and remember,
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maybe moments or people that God brought in your life.
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And you remember, wow, God was like pursuing me in his patient
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with me, even in failure and rejection and, and just the Lord
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was still chasing us. And so it's this beautiful
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picture now, because we're in God's family, we respond to that
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Grace in worship, And praise. So all of this is a loving
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response to what God has done and it's good to remember that.
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So spiritual sacrifices that language points us to this new
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testament reality that we respond.
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So what are these spiritual sacrifices?
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Well, I want to really focus on one of them today.
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There's a number of in the Bible and all kind of mention those a
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little bit later, but the kind of round out like a Theology of
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worship that we could kind of, you know, have as some anchor
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points as we think about New Testament worship.
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Yep. Go left in your Bible to Hebrews
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are going to pass the James. Go to, let's go to Hebrews
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chapter 13 and let's look at verse 15 together.
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Hebrews 13, verse 15. The author says this.
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Therefore by him. Let us continually offer the
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sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips
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giving, thanks to his name. So let us continually offer.
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So this this sacrifice of praise, really connects back to
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1st, Peter 2:5 the spiritual sacrifices.
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So one of those spiritual sacrifices is a sacrifice of
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praise. In other words, God is blessed
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by the praise that we offer him. God counts are praised as a
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beautiful sacrifice, he counts it as most precious.
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So it's almost like the verse defines.
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What praise is for us. Look at what he says, the
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sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of our lips
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giving, thanks to his name. So praise is really just this
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Thanksgiving, this recounting of gratitude of what God has done
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for us. We're going to say it.
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We're going to pray it. We're going to sing it.
24:55
It's part of the praise that comes from our life and God is
24:59
honored by it. We could also Find phrase that
25:01
it's speaking. Well of someone in their
25:03
presence boasting in someone in that sense.
25:10
So being a father of daughters just being a father period,
25:15
brought this truth home to me, my first, our oldest daughter
25:17
Madison when she was born, you know, yours, just so in awe of
25:22
this miracle of birth where to become one.
25:25
And you kind of see that Oneness in this little, this little
25:27
baby. So Madison is Born, and you're
25:32
just in, You're Just in Love. I mean, you're just love this
25:36
little child. It's hard to put into words what
25:37
that feels like until you're there.
25:39
And you just like, gosh, this is incredible.
25:41
I also remember being so afraid driving home from the hospital,
25:44
like all of a sudden everybody driving is like, horrible
25:47
drivers, you know, they're a horrible, I've got a baby in the
25:49
car, you know, you just feel it. You feel this weight of
25:52
responsibility liked it? Am I old enough to am?
25:55
I why isn't if I have a baby, you know, Jesus help me.
26:00
But as Madison would get older and my girls all of them as
26:05
their personality would develop, you know, you're spending time
26:08
with them and caring for them. Tell him how much you love them,
26:12
but it is the moment when your baby your little one comes to
26:16
the place where they have language they can actually say
26:18
back to you. I love you Dad or I love you
26:22
daddy. That's the moment where you're
26:24
like your your melted. I mean you're like wrapped
26:27
around their finger that you want a car.
26:30
Did you want an iPad? I know you're six months.
26:32
I don't know. I, this is those.
26:35
You feel that? Like anything you want, you
26:37
know, it's deep love and I wonder and I'm sure that's how
26:41
God feels when, when he saves us, invites us into his family.
26:46
Were his children and we respond to the Lord with heartfelt.
26:50
Praise lord. I Love You Lord.
26:53
I'm thankful for you. Thank you for forgiving me.
26:56
Thank you for caring for me, that that simple.
27:00
Response to God, it blesses, the heart of God.
27:04
Now, if it were just going through the motions, its
27:06
religious activity were singing songs.
27:07
They sing these words. I've heard it a thousand times,
27:10
I'm thinking about, what I'm going to eat after.
27:11
So, you know, I'm just distracted.
27:13
I'm really not engaged in Praise.
27:16
I'm really not engaged in saying to the Lord.
27:19
What I know to be true. Lord, I love you.
27:23
Thank you for forgiving me and being so patient with me.
27:26
Thank you for providing for me and the giving me a the Family
27:30
that you have and how you've led me these many years and all
27:34
those things. I mean, there's so much to
27:35
recount to be thankful for and, you know, it's a beautiful
27:40
thing. So, when we engage in Praise,
27:43
man, it blesses God in such a special way.
27:47
Also like to point out that praised really does cultivate a
27:50
thankful heart. It's a, it's important that we
27:54
cultivate gratitude in our life, right?
27:57
We have two were so easily caught up in negativity.
28:00
Can see everything through the lens of the cup is half empty.
28:05
You know, I wish I had that. I wish I had this job and I wish
28:07
I could, you know, do that and my life kind of stinks because
28:11
of this. And that, you know, we look at
28:12
all the - we can kind of get in that funk.
28:15
But if we stop for a little bit and we just recount the
28:18
faithfulness of God and his kindness, we just slow down and
28:22
remember how good he's been to us.
28:25
We have so many things to be thankful for.
28:28
So many things and many of us have gone through difficult
28:31
things, in life and suffering, and lost loved ones or
28:34
challenging things. But there are many things we can
28:36
really focus on and say, thank you, Lord for this.
28:39
Thank you for your kind presence in your grace.
28:41
I mean, there's so many of those things and that's why we give
28:44
place to praise in our Gatherings because we need to
28:47
cultivate a Heart of Thanksgiving.
28:50
It's been said that unthankfulness is the soil in
28:53
which all sin, finds its roots. We start to become cynical and
28:58
entitled and ungrateful and frustrated for what we don't
29:02
have and forgetting what? We have been blessed with.
29:07
It's a challenge for me, live in Orange County.
29:09
It's busy, it's fast pace people or, you know, trying to just
29:14
make more and more money their affluent.
29:18
And, you know, it, you can start to look at what I don't have
29:20
this and I'll have that and gosh, you know, and and it just
29:23
you get caught in that trap of, of this, this Call the spiral
29:27
black hole of kind of self-pity and praise just changes.
29:32
My perspective reminds me of God's goodness and his promises
29:36
that he will continue to provide and lead and care for me having
29:41
Five Daughters once in a while. I think about five weddings
29:44
thing about five son-in-law's like oh Lord, help me.
29:49
And the promises of God, have to cling to the Lord.
29:52
You have provided thus far, you will provide in the future.
29:56
We got a lot of backyard, whatever it was that Steve
29:59
Martin movie where we're talking about weddings and he's
30:01
picturing in the backyard like flipping burgers and like, you
30:04
know, just real simple and it's kind of how I think and I just
30:07
relate to that and then you realize that your daughters are
30:10
thinking I'm totally different anyway.
30:14
So is also interesting to note that everyone actually Praises.
30:20
Everyone's a worshipper God, kind of created us to be
30:22
worshippers and so if they don't worship the ultimate, the real
30:27
God that's worthy of worship and praise.
30:30
They'll find another Idol to worship the, find something to
30:33
praise and something to follow. After an Old Testament, always
30:36
warns us about idolatry, the danger of idolatry it.
30:39
Robs your affections, it robs your devotions, your Devotion to
30:43
God. It just Rob's in places your
30:45
affections in areas that are Unworthy of it.
30:50
I think it's Psalm 115, it says Idols they have eyes but they
30:55
don't see their ears but they don't hear Mal's but they don't
30:58
speak. It seems attractive at first but
31:00
they offer nothing they can't help you.
31:03
They have no way of helping you, it's an idol.
31:05
It's a nothing. You have misdirected devotion
31:08
and attention and we miss out on the worship of the true and the
31:12
Living God, who both? Created you and died for you.
31:16
We are twice his. Amen.
31:18
Or twice is so Idols are distracted.
31:22
We have Idols all around us and c.s.
31:24
Lewis would say this might be familiar with some of his work
31:28
Chronicles of Narnia. An amazing thinker of his day.
31:33
He says this about praise. He says all enjoyment sponte
31:36
spontaneously overflows in the praise.
31:39
In fact, the world rings with praise lovers praising their
31:42
Mistresses readers. Their favorite It Walker's
31:45
praising the countryside players, praising, their
31:48
favorite game. Praise of whether wines dishes,
31:52
actors Motors horses, colleges, Etc.
31:56
We're not only spontaneously, you not only spontaneously
32:00
praise what we value, but we instinctively urge others to
32:04
join us in this phrase. Rhetorically asking, Isn't She
32:07
Lovely? Wasn't it glorious?
32:10
Don't you think that is magnificent enthusiastically
32:13
imploring others to praise to praise God, is simply doing
32:16
what? All of us do and we enjoy and
32:18
worship something. So someone might look on to
32:22
unbelievers and kind of look at them, praising God and might
32:26
count it as odd or weird or even think it's foolish but it's
32:29
actually very simple as Believers.
32:31
We count God as most valuable and that is the why we count God
32:37
is. The most valuable doesn't mean
32:38
that we can't value other things.
32:40
Or praise things that we enjoy or whatever.
32:43
But we say, hey God is most worthy of praise and value.
32:46
And that's why we direct our affection attention out.
32:50
Racial and Devotion to the one who's most worthy of it.
32:54
But it's interesting, we see praise and worship happening
32:57
around in our culture all around us, they just go to your
33:01
favorite sports sporting event. You know, people go crazy, you
33:05
know, they're worshiping their thing that they love and their
33:08
favorite, you know, Sports guy and and that's it.
33:11
We store or band, or whatever, you know, pop star.
33:13
We see it everywhere. I was thinking through this and
33:18
I think a great example would be like going to a Dodgers game
33:21
with Josh Taylor. Like pure Mayhem.
33:24
I'm sure praising and boasting coming out of every pore of his
33:28
body, especially when they win, which isn't all that common.
33:31
But when they do, it's miraculous, you want to be with
33:35
Josh the last few weeks. We've been talking a lot about
33:40
pickleball. I don't know.
33:41
If you've ever heard of pickleball, I heard about it a
33:44
couple year and a half ago, from a friend who's like hey you want
33:47
to come play some pickle ball with us?
33:48
I'm like super bowl. Yeah, it's amazing.
33:51
And I played tennis going up and I enjoyed it and So my gal come
33:54
out and play come to find out. It is so much fun.
33:58
Like I start talking about pickleball, you'll get me going,
34:00
I mean I will find myself praising the glories of
34:03
pickleball and at the end of the day has nothing to do with
34:06
Pickles. It's just a ball and a racket or
34:10
whatever you know. It's but it's so much fun and
34:12
it's this competitive thing but it's also very social, you meet
34:15
people. I think I might like a hundred
34:16
people over the last year playing playing pickleball.
34:19
It's the fastest growing sport the last five years in America.
34:22
By the way, anyway, it's making its way towards the Olympics,
34:25
just just to be aware of that. But talking with Josh and he's
34:30
talking a big game, he's like, oh man, when you come out I'm
34:32
just gonna smash you in pickleball.
34:34
I'm like, oh, okay, alright, so we're talking trash a little bit
34:37
back and forth like bro, you better going to stretch out and
34:39
get ready because we're going to, we're going to we're going
34:41
to play so on Friday. We actually played and I beat
34:44
him really bad and it was great. It's amazing.
34:47
Just kind of humbled him a little bit and but you know,
34:49
he's going to come out. He's wearing these shorts shorts
34:51
and Don and his extra white legs and trying to just like
34:54
intimidate me in this way and it was didn't work.
34:57
It just had to put him in his place as a younger man and
35:01
nowhere. Nowhere, he sits but So anyways,
35:07
you know, we praise what we love, right.
35:10
One of the funny examples for me was my second daughter Riley.
35:14
She's just, she's so precious. And she, she loves music.
35:18
She's always been like a jukebox.
35:19
She could just whatever song comes on the radio.
35:21
She knows the words that I'm in the car.
35:23
Like, how do you know this song? You're like 12, where did you
35:26
hear this? And you know, whatever, I she
35:28
would find out about it but back in the day when she was younger,
35:32
she had some friends that we Didn't know real well and she's
35:34
getting to know them and they're going to the One Direction
35:36
concert at this, local place called the pond and they had a
35:40
ticket for her dad, can I go to One Direction with our friends?
35:43
I'm like, I don't know. One Direction's boy band, really
35:47
popular back in the day, Harry Styles.
35:49
Anyway, how do I know that I have daughters?
35:54
So so anyway, they were invited and, you know, honey, I don't
35:57
really know your friends, I don't really know One Direction.
36:00
I don't know much about this. I'm not really comfortable, you
36:02
know, your agent, staged it to go with them.
36:06
So it's kind of a no, but if by chance we could get tickets and
36:11
find tickets. I'll go with you.
36:13
You know, we'll go together and That's his words, came out of my
36:17
mouth. I was like trying to fit that it
36:20
sure enough a couple days later a friend of mine said, hey I
36:22
actually have a couple extra tickets for One Direction, I'm
36:24
like, oh Lord, and then and then I told Riley, and she was super
36:29
excited, and we ended up going to this concert.
36:30
It was actually so much fun to go with her until you get there.
36:35
And it's 10,000 screaming girls, for literally two hours and it's
36:42
so loud. It's literal audio torture.
36:45
I don't know if you've ever been in an auditorium, when 10,000
36:48
girls are screaming and it's absolutely impossible.
36:52
I'm looking around like, I feel actually nauseous.
36:54
I don't think I can make it through another five minutes,
36:57
and I see this Dad sitting there and he's just lounging and
37:00
relaxing. I'm like, how are you doing?
37:02
And then he points to his ear plugs and like, oh, I'm Mike, do
37:07
you have any more hair plugs? He's like, I'll pay whatever
37:11
give you those nips. And so once I put the earplugs
37:14
in I'm like This is great, you know?
37:16
But there is a frequency that happens in that room that it was
37:19
deafening and it didn't matter. It was through the songs that
37:23
was between the songs. It was the entire time screaming
37:27
of these, you know, these teenage girls.
37:28
And and so at the very end of the concert, One Direction runs
37:31
off the stage, the getting their bus.
37:33
They're driving out from underground and taking off and
37:35
girls are flooding out. This, you know, stadium and
37:39
they're running down the road, chasing chasing this bus.
37:42
It was like beatlemania had never seen it before.
37:45
Or it was it was crazy but you just get this picture.
37:48
I mean it was almost like hysteria but they're praising
37:51
what they love and you know, there's an element of worship
37:55
there. That's actually unhealthy, but
37:56
they were praising. You know what they love, and we
38:02
see that again in our culture, We Just Praise what we love, we
38:05
praise what we value and we count things that are
38:09
praiseworthy. We go, this is praiseworthy, we
38:11
talk about it comes out of our out of our heart and our life.
38:13
So as a Christian The the most praiseworthy thing to talk about
38:18
is is Jesus, it's like he's the one that's most worthy of our
38:22
praise and he's the one that has changed our life.
38:24
And so it comes out of us who we share that with others, we
38:27
Proclaim his praises and we don't have to sing the praise.
38:30
We talk about, we praise God in our speech and we're talking
38:34
about what he's done in our life and it's this natural overflow.
38:36
So so really evangelism sharing with other people is just man,
38:39
this is what God's done in my life and it's it's amazing and
38:42
we could share that truth with others.
38:44
It just In a sense Evangelistic, because of what we praise.
38:49
So we praise what we love, we praise what we value.
38:53
And when you've been forgiven and saved by Jesus, it's a
38:56
natural response, it just overflows, okay?
38:59
So a few things about praise, we see this in verse 15, he says,
39:03
therefore by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice
39:06
of praise. That's why we always facilitate
39:10
that in our gatherings. Psalms 34, David said, I Will
39:17
Bless The Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be
39:20
in my mouth. So it's a big part of why as our
39:24
spiritual rhythms, why we facilitate that?
39:27
Because it's really valuable to us, to cultivate a grateful
39:30
heart, it's valuable to God. It, blesses him when he sees his
39:33
people just responding to the grace that he's shown them.
39:38
So, praise. I goes without saying is a huge
39:41
part of our prayer. Life appraised doesn't have to
39:44
be sung. Like, I just said, it can be, it
39:46
can be prayed you think of the Lord's prayer, Our Father, which
39:50
art in heaven Hallowed be thy name, or praise be to thy name.
39:55
At the very end of the prayer for line is, the kingdom, the
39:57
power, and the glory forever. Amen.
40:00
It would be interesting to just incorporate that incorporate
40:03
that in our regular prayer, life at home, or when you're alone
40:07
and always, you know, start with praise it's a good place to
40:10
start. Thank you Lord for this.
40:11
Thank you for this. Thank you for what you've done
40:13
and just kind of recounting letting our soul recount God's
40:16
goodness and His blessings and it kind of sets our heart right
40:20
for the rest of what we pray for. um, also praised must be
40:26
voluntary. It must be for it to be
40:28
authentic. It has to be voluntary, it can
40:31
be encouraged. We can encourage the church As
40:33
We Gather to go, hey, let's praise the Lord.
40:35
But no one could really force you to praise God.
40:38
I really True. Praise has to be authentic, and
40:41
when I was a young pastor and first in Ministry, in 27 years
40:46
ago, I was leading worship for Junior High, kids, and teaching
40:49
the Bible to them. And we'd have like a 7:45
40:51
service. There's like three Junior High
40:52
kids and their You know, they're nervous and awkward and you're
40:56
going to lead him in worship and there's no way they're singing
40:58
Anything. They're just to, you know,
41:00
self-conscious about singing from their friends, you know,
41:03
the young, passionate Bible College student, I'm like,
41:05
exhorting them and you know, we're seeing in the Jesus, you
41:08
know, it's like come on. What's wrong with you?
41:10
You know call like stick them up worship.
41:12
What's wrong with you seem to you know and it doesn't work,
41:15
it's not, it's pointless. It's like you know what Scott
41:18
would I mean the Lord say Scott just love them, just model it
41:22
for them. The light bulb might go Oh, on
41:24
years years from now, but just love, Jesus, love them model it
41:27
for them. And it'll make sense at some
41:29
point for them, but praise has to be voluntary, has to be
41:33
authentic. And so, again, I love Howie and
41:35
leads. He just facilitates a beautiful
41:38
environment where we can respond to the Lord in Praise.
41:42
And as such a great worship ministry here at Calvary, so
41:48
beautiful. Okay.
41:50
So what are the main things about phrase that I love is.
41:55
Praise facilitates encounter. Praise facilitates encounter.
42:01
So what do we mean by that? Well there's a few promises in
42:04
the Bible that are super significant.
42:07
One of those is that when we draw near to God James and say
42:10
in James 4 that he draws near to us.
42:14
There's that other passage where Jesus would say where two or
42:16
more are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of
42:21
them so there's a lot more here this morning than two or three
42:24
but you could have that same beautiful opportunity when we're
42:28
gathered in a small home fellowship or group or lunch you
42:32
know work lunch break with other believers but there's this
42:35
promise of God's presence. So when we praise the Lord
42:40
together, we encounter God in unique ways that maybe don't
42:45
always happen when we're alone. There's something about the
42:48
importance of Being together with all these different gifts
42:52
are represented in the body of Christ.
42:54
We've got a few, there's sometimes public Gifts of
42:57
teaching or you know, or evangelism or worship, that
43:01
might be platformed, but here the body of Christ meant you
43:04
guys all have unique gifts that God has just invested in you and
43:08
you have some of you have the gift of Mercy in the gift of
43:11
hospitality, the words of wisdom for a word in season.
43:14
That that the person next to you might need to hear.
43:17
So, when we come together, There's this promise of God's
43:21
presence. It reminds me of back of that
43:23
verse and first Peter to where it says we're living, stones
43:27
built into a spiritual house. So when we're all gathered
43:31
together, it's like we're the house of God.
43:33
It's not a building, it's not a location.
43:36
It's the people of God coming together, to honor the presence
43:40
of God, and it just facilitates. This beautiful Ministry, that
43:44
happens when we're together. So when we gather maybe you're
43:47
going through difficult times, Someone just asked how you do it
43:50
and they have a word for you or encouragement, or they just,
43:53
they're praying for you and that prayer the Lord.
43:55
Speaking to you, there's something beautiful that
43:57
happens. As We Gather praise facilitates
44:01
encounter, love that acts 13. Also points to that, it says, as
44:06
they ministered to the Lord there in Antioch, these leaders
44:11
Saul, who would be called Paul and Barnabas and other leaders
44:15
there in Antioch with gather? They would Minister to the Lord
44:18
and it says As they ministered to the Lord, the holy spirit
44:21
said, separate to me, Paul, and Barnabas for the work, which
44:25
I've called for them to do. So, the picture there is, like,
44:27
in the midst of this, like Gathering God's working, and
44:31
speaking and leading, and there's something special about
44:34
that. I love what Matt Redman says.
44:36
He's a great worship leader. Songwriter he says, when we come
44:39
together to the people of God, singing, the Praises of God in
44:42
the presence of God and the Holy Spirit, just actively working in
44:46
that environment. That's why it's so important.
44:49
And for us to gather sometimes when we least want to gather,
44:54
you're tired or discourage. Like I don't feel like singing
44:58
right now. I'm tired, you know, we all feel
45:00
that when you come into a gathering, it's almost in those
45:03
moments we needed even more. Like, you know, that's what I
45:05
need to be there and hear God's word.
45:07
I need to receive from the Lord, I need to lift my voice, and let
45:11
my ears hear, but my mouth is saying coming from my heart.
45:15
That's been redeemed by the Lord.
45:18
So It's also been said that praise is a powerful weapon
45:22
against the enemy. Someone once said that Satan is
45:26
allergic to praise so that wherever there's triumphant.
45:29
Praise Satan is paralyzed bound and banished.
45:33
Differ wonder why when you're headed to like church and
45:36
Gathering why there's all this Warfare that kind of happens.
45:39
It feels like you get in a fight with your wife, or your husband,
45:42
or just something with the kids are all, hell breaks loose.
45:45
When you're heading that direction, like Satan hates it,
45:48
he hates it. We have an enemy that hates it
45:51
when the people of God gathered together.
45:53
So you can imagine, you know, leaders like Pastor Ed and Ian
45:57
through the week. You can imagine the spiritual
45:59
battle, they go through because because the enemy hates that but
46:03
they, you know, by the grace of God, they pushed through it and
46:06
the Lord uses them to encourage the church and build each other
46:09
up, and we do that together and Satan is kind of paralyzed.
46:12
He can't can't have his way in that way.
46:16
So, one of the famous missionary, well, Shooter at a
46:19
China. Said in the midst of all the
46:20
Demonic activity and pressure in my life, I had one little way to
46:24
function. I would sing the doxology and
46:27
dismiss the devil. Another man said praise brings
46:31
the consciousness of the presence of God and all that.
46:34
Accompanies it all the Liars from the pits of, Hell, cannot
46:37
Market their Wares in an atmosphere of praise and
46:41
worship. I love that some biblical
46:44
examples of that, we don't have time to dive in quite yet, but
46:50
lastly, I want to say that praise resets, our focus and
46:54
aligns, our perspective, just gives us the right perspective.
46:59
We come together and we're praising the Lord.
47:02
I love. That was one of the beautiful
47:03
things about about praise and songs and music as well.
47:09
You kind of find that songs become kind of a soundtrack of
47:11
your spiritual journey. You notice that there's like
47:14
certain songs that, you know, maybe when you first got saved
47:18
or, you know, the Lord was doing a specific work in your life
47:21
where this song or a group of songs minister to you.
47:26
I have those for me. I remember when I was first, a
47:28
worship leader, kind of more worship.
47:30
Pastor kind of heading into this season at Calvary Chapel, Costa
47:33
Mesa in 2000. It's transitioning with a guy
47:36
and coming into a multi-generational.
47:39
A multi-ethnic church that had a history of songs and hymns, and
47:44
spiritual songs that they had been seeing in their life that
47:46
were meaningful to them. And then I had those in my life
47:49
and I wanted to sing those songs and but then I quickly learned
47:52
that I needed to respect the history of what God did because
47:55
sometimes. Like as a young guy, like all we
47:57
got to do the new stuff and the new things and and he makes all
48:00
things new. Let's move forward, you know.
48:01
And yet there's some truth to that.
48:04
But there's also Beauty in looking back and remembering
48:07
what God did in the past and honoring that.
48:09
And then just, it's serving people in that way.
48:12
We're man, we'd sing certain hymns or sing songs, like, as
48:15
the deer pants for the water and it would just meet a certain
48:19
generation. What man that Tsongas met them
48:21
because that was part of their spiritual journey.
48:25
Songs have beautiful ways of hiding God's word in our heart.
48:30
We're singing truth into our soul.
48:33
And I think about that, even with, like, Alzheimer's
48:36
patients. And those who have dementia,
48:38
they can forget names and family members, and we've done some
48:41
Ministry in retirement homes and we'll sing some hymns and all of
48:45
a sudden, all the lyrics come back.
48:47
They know, all the words, they know the tune, it's as
48:50
interesting phenomenon, that somehow music kind of weaves its
48:53
way into the deep part of the Soul.
48:55
Of our soul that we could remember things that, you know,
48:59
are just unique to that. In fact, sometimes are hard
49:02
drive is kind of filled with meaningless songs.
49:04
Like I think of the jingles back in the day that, you know, these
49:07
commercials would have growing up.
49:08
And like, there's meaning meaningless, but they're stuck
49:11
in my head and forever will probably be there.
49:15
And they know what they're doing, music is powerful in that
49:18
way. But music set to good theology,
49:20
it's a good good Melody man has a way of really hiding God's
49:24
word in our heart soul. Luther realized that other
49:27
songwriters have realized that the try to write songs that have
49:30
content and value, that will bring God's truth, back to our
49:34
memory. As we go out, go through our day
49:37
to day in our lives. So one of the things I love
49:40
about singing is that it stirs our affections for Christ.
49:46
Just like you do. It just like marriage and
49:48
married for a period of time. I've been married for 27 years
49:52
and I adore my wife. She's such a blessing But, you
49:57
know, over time you realize that those feelings, those
49:59
overwhelming romantic feelings. You don't live off of those,
50:02
they kind of come and go, they're a blessing but they're
50:05
not always there. Sometimes you wake up and you
50:06
feel nothing for anybody, you know, you just in a funk and and
50:10
so with marriage, you realize that you're choosing to love and
50:13
choosing to serve and then those affections will follow.
50:16
But you try to do things in marriage that stir affections
50:19
for each other. Have a date night.
50:21
You go on little getaways. You do things that kind of
50:24
maintenance Marriage to stir, affections for each other and
50:28
just a little side note. If you don't do that, you should
50:31
spend time dating each other. Just enjoy each other's company.
50:34
Remember why you started in the first place?
50:37
It's a key to a healthy marriage, just investing in
50:40
time. Together, it's an investment
50:43
that pays dividends, even though you X don't feel it.
50:46
Or, you know, I don't have the budget for that will go to go to
50:49
coffee for five bucks or whatever.
50:50
Go, you know, this, you can do stuff that together go for a
50:53
walk and and enjoy. Oh, each other's company.
50:57
It's a great way. So singing as we gather together
50:59
it stirs our affections for Christ and that's important.
51:02
Some days you don't feel anything like God you still love
51:04
me or still for me. Do you still remember me?
51:07
You know, because you don't feel.
51:10
That's okay. But we have to do things that
51:12
stir affections for Christ and remind us and singings, a
51:14
beautiful part of that. Lastly preachers are notorious
51:21
lastly and then seven more points.
51:25
Singing helps us express our unity in the gospel worship.
51:29
And singing, Praise is a great unifier.
51:33
We can have, we can all believe that.
51:34
You know, we obviously have a core beliefs foundational,
51:37
fundamental things that we all agree upon, it must agree upon
51:39
but there's secondary things. Maybe we have different
51:42
perspectives, you think of different denominations that
51:43
have different emphasis and different expressions and and
51:47
that's okay, but but worship has an ability to like unified
51:50
together where it's like, hey, we're going to be an eternity
51:52
together, you're my brother, and my sister in Christ, and you
51:54
might be A different from what I've grown up with.
51:56
But man, it's beautiful. The over the years, traveling
52:00
overseas and doing missions and Ministry in different parts of
52:02
the world. It is so wonderful.
52:04
The moment you gather together and you're worshiping the Lord
52:07
together. Like, oh man, we are part of the
52:08
same family like you have instant friendships because of
52:11
that reality, I love that piece that part of worship, it's a
52:15
great unifier. So Hebrews 13:15 to sacrifice of
52:22
praise, just real quickly, the second the next Verse, look at
52:25
verse 16, let's read it together, but do not forget to
52:30
do good and to share for, with such sacrifices.
52:35
God is. Well pleased.
52:38
So, just a little little seed that they're out there again,
52:41
sacrifice of praise, but there's a sacrifice of doing good and
52:46
sharing the word share is actually the word Koinonia.
52:49
It's this Greek word. That is basically a picture of
52:52
like Fellowship centered around. Iced where we give of our time
52:57
or attention or talents, we care for people.
53:00
So we gather together, we facilitate this Koinonia and God
53:03
has blessed by that. He counts that as like a
53:05
beautiful sacrifice, when we care for each other and we do
53:09
good to each other, we serve each other and it's an act of
53:12
worship to the Lord. So that's my little, you know,
53:16
seed in there to think about, when we think about the big
53:19
picture of what worship is is a number of other ones I think
53:22
Philippians 4 talks about sacrifice of Giving or Paul
53:25
said, all your generosity was like a Sweet Sacrifice to God.
53:29
Paul is saying Ephesians to walk in love.
53:31
It's a Sweet Sacrifice and Aroma to the Lord.
53:33
So walking in love for the world around us is a part of our
53:37
worship. Romans 12, offer your bodies as
53:40
a Living Sacrifice. It's this sacrifice of surrender
53:43
so that would give us a full picture of what it looks like to
53:46
be a worshiper of God responding to that.
53:51
So this morning, just as we've talked about praise and, and Ian
53:55
is let us in the team as lettuce and such a sweet time of Praise.
53:58
We're going to wrap up with another another song to close
54:00
out and let's just take advantage of this moment that we
54:04
have, maybe just take some time. And recount, you can sing the
54:08
words that were going to sing together, which is beautiful and
54:11
say those words and pray those words.
54:13
But let's take a moment and recount God's goodness.
54:17
And remember how faithful he's Ben to you.
54:20
Like the psalmist would say Psalm 103 bless the Lord O my
54:23
soul and all that is within me. Bless his name and he recounts
54:27
all of his goodness and his kindness.
54:28
So this is our opportunity today, you've come to gather and
54:31
one of the things I think if we could take away time today, that
54:35
a good takeaway is just, let's cultivate a heart of gratitude
54:39
and thankfulness. Just see that?
54:41
How that kind of changes your perspective.
54:43
So in this last closing song, let's just do that.
54:46
Lord, thank you for what you've done and thank you for your
54:49
kindness and your This, amen. Amen.
54:52
Hey, let's stand together. We're going to pray that in if
54:54
you need prayer today for anything, you're going through
54:58
something difficult. And you have a need, please come
55:01
forward and get some prayer from the pastor's they're here for
55:04
you just to care for you, encourage you.
55:07
If you here today, you don't know Jesus, you've never really
55:09
bowed the knee in worship to the one who's most worthy of your
55:14
affection and devotion. If you've never come to that
55:16
placement today is the day, he loves you with an An everlasting
55:20
love and it's an opportunity to come forward and say I want
55:24
Jesus. I need Jesus.
55:28
I want to worship the Living God.
55:31
It's time to today's your day. So this is your opportunity.
55:34
But church as a family. Let's respond to the Lord and
55:38
praise today, just remembering his goodness and kindness.
55:41
Amen, let's pray, Lord, thank you today.
55:43
For your kindness and your love, Lord your grace.
55:46
And you're so patient with us. You blessed us with every
55:50
spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ.
55:54
Lord. All the promises that we have in
55:56
the Bible that remind us that you are with us that you're for
56:00
us that you're thinking, good thoughts towards us.
56:03
But thank you for that today. Well, thank you for our
56:06
families. Lord, thank you for this church,
56:08
family. Or thank you for loving us.
56:13
We praise you. Lord, today we honor you Jesus
56:17
name. We pray that you've been
56:20
encouraged by this Bible. Study delivered live from the
56:23
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
56:26
Call us at 877, 30 Grace. That's eight 77304, 2:53 to
56:35
listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
56:38
live stream Services, visit us online.
56:41
At Calvary Co dot church or download our free Calvary Church
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app be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.
56:41
At Calvary Co dot church or download our free Calvary Church
56:46
app be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.