Sermon
From Praise to Worship | Pastor Paul McGee
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Amen. You can stand with me today all
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across this place. I'm going to go to the word of
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the Lord this morning in the book of Psalms, chapter 95.
Psalms 95 chapter mention
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Amen. To trust that you've had a good
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week this week, Amen. Here back in Mount Carmel, Amen.
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As we've had a good week, of course in Frankfurt, thankful
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for what the Lord did there, strengthened and and you know,
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it's kind of like A2 edged sword.
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You come back and you're tired and body, but you're refreshed
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in your soul. Amen.
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But we're glad to be back. Amen.
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Hopefully brought a little bit of it with us.
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Psalms 95 going to be teaching here this morning.
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Kind of ramping back up for tonight.
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You know, I'm trying to get her going here and such.
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Although I must admit that this was probably I've got the most
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rest I've ever got at camp this year ever.
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And that's because I'm, I'm not in any type of position that
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requires necessarily me of anything.
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And so that's now I understand life on that side and I don't
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know if I ever want to go back. No, I'm joking, but Amen
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actually did get rest. I got good sleep at night and
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everything. So anyway, Psalms 95, there were
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others among us that did not because now they're involved in
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things and I'm like, I walked that road.
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Happy for you, happy for you. Amen.
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Psalms 95 verse #1 and going to read verse #2 and I'm going to
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skip down to verse number six. The Bible says, O Come, let us
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sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to
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the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence
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with Thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with
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Psalms. Verse number six says, O Come,
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let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our
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Maker. Amen.
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For a little while this morning. I want to teach you along these
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lines from praise to worship from praise to worship a man we
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want both of those aspects or both of those aspects should be
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a part of a relationship with God, both praise and worship.
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But from praise to worship, if you've ever been appraiser, you
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are appraiser. Praise hopefully will lead you
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to worship. Amen.
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Let's ask the Lord to help us today.
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Father, we thank you today, God, for another opportunity to be in
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your house. We're grateful, Lord Jesus, that
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you have met us here and we meet you here.
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We pray, O Lord, speak through your word today, God.
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Give us instruction and direction, Lord.
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Words to live by. Lord, help us, God, in our
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everyday lives and will not fail, Lord, to thank you, Lord
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Jesus, for what you accomplished.
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Lord, through your word in the lovely name of Jesus Christ that
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we pray Amen and Amen may be seated this morning in Jesus
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name. The setting of Psalms 95 and
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maybe some of you know this or don't, but the Psalms really get
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tucked back in the other areas of scripture that that that came
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before them and stories that come before them.
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And that happens with a lot of scripture with like Job and
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others going forward. They get tucked back into like
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First and 2nd Kings and the Chronicles and Samuel and so on
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and so forth. Because David pinned some of
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these Psalms when different things were going on in his life
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or the nation of Israel. And so Psalms 95, the real
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setting of Psalms 95 is on this wise the temple of Jerusalem,
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after a time of having been destroyed or broken down have
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been restored. And so now that this this temple
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has had its restoration, these things David are is pinning
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down. He's given an invitation for
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people to come back to Jerusalem and more importantly back to the
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temple that they had known and offer praise and worship and
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adoration and have Thanksgiving because after the doors had been
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shut for some time or not not even existing for some time now
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this House of worship is open for worship one again.
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And so he's alluring the people he is, he is calling them to a
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place of praise and worship because particularly during
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their years of, of exile, we, there's two exiles, main exiles
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that take place in Scripture and Assyrian exile.
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But also probably the more, the more, what's the word I'm
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looking for? Notable one or people have heard
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about more often is the Babylonian exile.
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During those times, the, the, the the temple and the House of
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worship was in many regards neglected, right, because the
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nation have been taken and displaced to a land strange to
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them and foreign to them. And so praise and worship on
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some respects as far as being at a temple was, was was neglected.
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As a matter of fact, you will remember another Psalm that was
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written during the exile years of Babylon is Psalms 137 and
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Psalms 137 and verse 4 even ask the the question is ask how
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shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
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And they're talking about the children of Israel station in
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Babylon. They're saying how can we sing
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the Lord's song in this strange place when we are in captivity
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and things are not as they were. And if you'll remember, Babylon
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is even requiring this of them. They're asking the Israelites,
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why, why don't you sing one of those songs you used to sing?
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Why? Why don't you sing one of those
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songs that you sang in Zion, that you sang in Jerusalem?
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But again, the Israelites are in a very oppressive state at that
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time. And so they're hanging their
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heads. And because their circumstances
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are just not they are just not in a favorable way that, you
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know, praise would just come to their lips.
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As a matter of fact, it's in that same setting, I believe it
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is of Psalms 137. It describes as though the
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Israelites had hung their harps on the willows, an instrument
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that they would use and praise and worship.
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They they hung their harps on the willows and they asked them
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that question, how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange
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land? Because praise at this point,
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praise was connected and is and always has been and will be.
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Praise is connected to what God has done, what God has done for
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us, what God has done for us. And so at this point in Israeli
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history of Psalms 137, though he had done many wonderful things
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for them as a nation, they couldn't observe with their eyes
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him doing anything in the moment.
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We're in captivity. What's God doing?
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You know, where is God at? What's taking place right now?
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And so they couldn't trace the finger of God at this moment in
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time. And so since they couldn't see
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him necessarily doing anything, there's a lack of praise because
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praise is connected with what God does for his people.
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And so their praise wanes and it, it, it dies, if you will, to
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a certain, to a certain degree, because they cannot notice or
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observe anything that God is doing.
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And so as in our text, Psalms 95, the temple has now been
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restored and the place of worship has been restored.
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Israel now is coming there. They're going to gather there at
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Jerusalem. The psalmist then is compelling
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them to now praise God for what he has done.
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You can read in the opening verses of verses one through 3.
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He's he's, he's imploring them to sing unto the Lord, He's
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imploring them to make a joyful noise unto the rock of their
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salvation to come before the Lord with Thanksgiving.
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Again, they're, they're given some type of verbalization of
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praise for what God has done to, to, to make a joyful noise into
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the Lord with psalms. He is imploring them to do.
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Why? Why should we do all this
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Psalmist? Why should we participate in
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this? He tells him then in verses 3,
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35 because the Lord is a great God, a great king above all
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gods. His his hand are the deep places
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of the earth. His strength is the strength of
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the hills, the he made the sea. He's done these various things.
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His hands have formed the dry hand land.
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He just spoke some things that God had done, and so singing to
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him make a joyful noise and to him come before his presence
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with Thanksgiving because XYZ praise him because he has done
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these things. But Psalms 95 is really divided
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in a couple of sections. He is not just imploring us to
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praise, but we'll find very soon that he is also imploring us to
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worship. It's the 1st 5 verses or so Amen
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that he's telling us about this praise and connecting our praise
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with what God has done for us. But in the second portion,
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starting with verse 6 on, He's talking to us about something
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else. Not now, just an invitation to
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praise and to extol and bless the name of the Lord for what He
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has done and for the things that He possesses.
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But in verse 6, something changes.
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Amen. Again, the the invitation is
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very similar in our English Bibles.
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He says O Come. He said that in verse one, O
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Come. And the O Come was an invitation
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to praise. But now the O Come is a
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invitation to worship. In the Hebrew, it's two
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different words for come. It's translated as come in our
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English Bibles, but they're two different words in Hebrew, which
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is indicating to us really this, that our approach to praise is
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not the same as our approach to worship.
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Our approach to praise is not the same as our approach to
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worship. And it's important that we talk
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about this. This is one of those things that
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I like to talk about almost every year.
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Praise and worship because sometimes we mistake in one for
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the other or we just lump it all together and mistake maybe
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worship for praise and praise for worship when in in reality
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they are different. Praise and worship is different.
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Again, praise has to do with with deeds or something that God
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has done. And when we do that, we
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primarily have some type of utterance that associates with
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praise with our mouth. There's some type of utterance
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we'll see here in a little bit, or the using of musical
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instruments. The Bible even speaks about
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these instruments having a voice.
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All right, And so with instruments that we praise the
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Lord. But whenever we talk about
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worship, worship has to do with the character of the object
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that's being worshipped. Worship has to do with the
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character, the object being worship.
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And worship many times is illustrated through our
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reverence or our all of whatever it is, is being worship to.
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To kind of differentiate between the two a little bit.
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You'll remember Leah, one of the wives of Jacob.
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Her womb was opened, the Bible says, and she began to bear
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children unto Jacob, one after the other.
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She has one child other than the 3rd and on her fourth child, the
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Bible says she has that son. And she said, now will I praise
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the Lord? And she calls that son Judah.
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We often times talk about how Judah, you know, means praise.
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She says, now I will praise the Lord, Amen.
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But what Leah is doing, she's praising the Lord because she is
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thankful for what the Lord has done for her.
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She has Levi and she has Reuben. She, she has these different
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sons that are born, she's going to give thanks unto the Lord or
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praise the Lord because of what He has done for her.
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We read also in the book of Daniel chapter #10 Israel was
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told that God is their praise. That's what he told them.
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He said, God is your praise because He hath done for these
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for the these great and terrible things.
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Again the writer and Daniel is connecting them praise with
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something that God has done for an individual or for a nation or
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a group of people. And so in the Scripture we see
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it over again in the Psalms and particularly about the Bible
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speaking about singing praises or how we can praise him upon
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the the high sounding symbols right.
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Praise Him with the timbre on the dance, Speaking of musical
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instruments or our dance, or with our voice.
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And so praise many, if not all times involves a utterance from
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an instrument or a utterance from herself, a person, or an
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instrument. Praise is directed toward God
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for what He has done, and we do that.
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I thank you, Lord, for my house. I thank you, Lord, that the
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bills are paid. I thank you, Lord, for healing
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my body. I thank you, oh Lord, God, for
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bringing a miracle in the hospital.
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I thank you, Lord, for this or for that.
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I thank you, Lord, for the house that you gave me and for
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supplying the job that I can have resource for my family and
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putting food on the table. I thank you, Lord, for helping
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my family. Thank you for all these things.
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But to become a praise people alone is a tragedy.
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Just to be a people whose mouths is filled with praise is a
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tragedy because praise is connected with what God does and
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the blessings of God. And those things are only
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momentary happenings. They're temporal.
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You can have a job today and lose it tomorrow.
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You can have your money in your pocket right now and just feel
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lent in it, you know, the next week.
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It's all just very temporal. But we praise God in the moment
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for the momentary happening of what He has done, Amen.
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All of those things that I praise God for many times just
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have to do with, with matter or substance and time, but they can
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just go right through our fingers.
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But worship goes beyond just the facts, Amen.
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Of what he did today or what he did last week or what He did in
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a particular. Worship deals with something
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that never changes. Worship deals with something
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that doesn't fade. I said I was going to teach, but
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I don't know what's going on right now.
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Worship deals with something that never changes.
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Worship lifts you to the level that deals with God and the
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character of God. And though the flower may fade,
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right, and all these other things, money and riches and
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possessions and things of that matter may fall away, God went
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on record and said, I change not.
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And so worship is constant worship, praise is going to have
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it's highs and it's lows based upon what God is doing in the
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moment. But God is God and they don't
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ever change. And so worship, there's not an
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ebb and flow with worship. He's who he is, that's what he
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was, that's who he will be. Therefore, I can be in awe of
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God. Amen.
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Worship is connected to something eternal.
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Blessings come and go, but the blesser does not Amen.
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It's eternal praise. It's many times it's just
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expressed over something temporal or just a moment.
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The Bible says in the New Testament scripture of
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Colossians 2 and verse #3 it says in whom the whom is God, In
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whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
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All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him, God.
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So if I desire the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, I must
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desire him because they're hid in him.
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To try to seek those things, Sister Sheila, without seeking
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him is going to be a very frustrated effort because
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they're hid in him. They're not found independent of
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Him, but they are hid in Him. To praise God only for what He
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has done and not worship Him for who He is, is faulty.
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It's like desiring the treasures of knowledge and wisdom, but
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they're connected to something. They don't stand alone, they
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don't exist by themself. I can get tunnel vision
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sometimes just focusing in praise on what God has done and
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get so concentrated on the doing that I forget the doer.
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Amen. Because the big picture reveals
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to me that what God does or what He has done is because of who He
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is. That's the reason why I'm saying
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today that let us go from praise to worship that once I, I, I
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thank him for the job and possession and, and the money in
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my pocket and healing my body. I want to trace, if you will,
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the shadow to the substance. I want to trace the bless, the
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blessing to the bless her. And so I'm thanking him for
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this, that and the other. But that's leading me to the
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character of God of who he is. That blessing doesn't come
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independent of the one from which it comes.
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And so I praise him. But then I stand in the hall of
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where all of this has flown from.
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Amen. Some people are, they're praised
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junkies, but they never form a relationship with the
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underwriter of the blessing. Amen.
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All of those things are really to pull us to a place of worship
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after Abraham in in the book of Genesis chapter 14, of course
Genesis 14 chapter mention
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Lot and his family had pitched their tent towards Sodom and Lot
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end up becoming a magistrate of the city.
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And there were some kings that did war against Sodom, Gomorrah,
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and they took away Lot and his family and several others.
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And Abraham got a band of men together because a Lot was his
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relative and he went to war as a result of them being taken.
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And he rescued Lot, his family and several others and several
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of the things that were taken from Sodom and Gomorrah.
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And the Bible speaks to us very plainly that the king of Sodom
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wanted to come out and he said, hey, much of this stuff that you
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brought brought back, you can just have, he said, just give us
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the souls, give us the people. And you didn't take any of this
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stuff, stuff that you brought back into your own hand.
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But Abraham said no. He said, whatever my men have
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ate, OK, you know, that's fine, he said, but nothing additional
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am I going to take from you? Because I don't want it to be
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said that I've been blessed or empowered by the king of Sodom.
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I'm not going to. Not a shoe latchet, He said he
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was getting detailed, if we can say it this morning.
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Not a tennis shoe string. All right.
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I'm not keeping anything. That comes from you.
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Hey, although you're offering these gifts, Why Abraham?
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Because Abraham understood blessings from wherever they
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come from, they come and go. But I know who my blessings come
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from. Abraham was satisfied with more
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than a blessing. He was satisfied with the
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blesser. That's the reason why in the
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very next chapter of Genesis, after this whole scenario played
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out, we see in the very first verse of Genesis chapter #15
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that after all these things that Abraham denied, that from Sodom
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said, no, I don't want to take anything, it's sufficient,
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everything's OK. That then the Bible says after
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these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a
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vision saying, fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
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great reward. You know what he's saying, good
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job, good job, Abraham. He says, because you know who
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your blesser is. You don't just know about your
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blessing, you know about your blesser.
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And you don't have to receive anything from Sodom and
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Gomorrah, this wicked and perverse nation, because you're
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linked to me. And as long as you're linked to
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me, there'll be times, there'll be money in your pocket,
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there'll be livestock in your pasture, as long as you
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acknowledge me. Amen.
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Worship is tied to the eternal. And worship many times is the
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result of revelation, of revelation, Amen, of an
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encounter. We see this all times in
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scriptures that people have an encounter with God.
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And the moment that they have an encounter with God, you know
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what often happens? What's read next in Scripture?
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They fell face down and worshipped.
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Many times have some whether it's a burning Bush or however
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God wishes to manifest himself. When there's an encounter,
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people often in Scripture, they'll fall down and worship
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because worship moves you further.
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Worship is like being at the end of the spoke on a wheel, or
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praise is praise is like being at the end of the spoke on a
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wheel. But worship is about the worship
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is about finding the hub, having an encounter with the hub.
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The Bible tells us in Exodus 33, it tells us that when the people
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saw the cloudy pillar at the Tabernacle door, they had
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witnessed this. They they were all in their
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tents. The tents of the nation of
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Israel always faced toward the center where the Tabernacle was.
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The presence of God was their tents faced inward.
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It is truly it was God at the center of it all right, the
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church at the IT was that in the Old Testament Amen wilderness
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camping. Their tent door flaps were
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toward that center place. And so the Bible says that the
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the people were standing there and when they saw the cloudy
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pillar at the Tabernacle door, they knew that to be the
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presence of the Lord. They knew that to be the
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Shekinah of God. The Bible says every man
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worshipped. They were in awe.
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He hadn't done anything. He was just present.
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He was just present. He wasn't handing out this or
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that at that moment. He was just present and they
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were in awe and in the reverence they worshipped just because he
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was there. He was just there wasn't per SE
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doing anything in the moment. He was just see, God wants to
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move us to that place. God wants to move us to a place
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that will just be overwhelmed just by Him being there, even
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even before he ever does anything.
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I'm ready to get on board when he starts doing things.
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I got tensions on today. It's like, woo Hoo.
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But what about him just showing up?
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What's your deal? He's here.
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Were you down on your face for what got?
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He hasn't done anything, but he's here.
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He's not done anything yet right now, but he's here.
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And as long as he's here, there's always the potential for
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the doing so. Yeah, I'm going to reverence
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that, huh? You know who?
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He's just there in Moses. The Bible says in in the very
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next chapter, the Bible says that Moses made haste and he
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bowed his head in worship when the Lord just passed by before
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him. He's just passing by, huh.
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The president, the Lord just passing by Moses and Moses
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recognizes that's the Lord. He's not giving him a new, a new
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mantor or a new staff that's made out of Hickory.
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He's just passing by, and Moses is like bowing, making haste to
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worship just because he recognized God was there.
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Hey man, the Bible says in Second Chronicles 7 and 3.
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And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came
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down in the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed
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themselves. Here it is again.
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They bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the
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pavement and worshipped. They recognized him in that fire
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and that God's here. Listen, the more that we
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acquaint ourselves with God and know Him, the more we'll be
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compelled to worship Him again. Everybody can praise the Lord
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because God has done something for everyone.
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Saints Center. It matters not.
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He has done breath in your body, you know, sustained your
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heartbeat for another day. Everybody can praise the Lord
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because of what He has done for them, great or small, and a
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Sinner can even worship the Lord, but that worship will
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always be birthed out of knowing, coming to understanding
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that that's God, a revelation of an encounter.
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That's Him. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter
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#6 verses one through 5 popular setting of Scripture, it says in
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the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah says, I saw also the Lord
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sitting up on the throne high and lifted up, and his train
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filled the temple. Above it stood the Seraphim's.
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Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face,
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and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
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And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
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glory. And the post of the door of of
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the door moved at the voice of him that cried in the house was
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filled with smoke. Then said, I woe was me, for I
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am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the
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midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
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the king, the Lord of host. Note, now note verse #3 once
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again, that these seraphims that are crying out, holy, holy, holy
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is the Lord of hosts. They're holy, holy, holy.
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No, they're holy, holy Holy isn't a praise service.
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Their holy, holy, holy is a worship service.
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All right, again, worship having to do with the eternal things
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that never changed. Their worship had to do with a
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character of God. The Bible tells us that God is
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holy. He said be there, be there for
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holy because I am holy. That that's not that's not
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something that God does. That's who God is.
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And so the holy, holy, holy crying of the Seraphim's wasn't
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praise service, it was a worship service, because that's what he
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is. But notice them the result of
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true worship that took place there at the House of God, as
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those Seraphim's are crying out and acknowledging him, just
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acknowledging his presence, acknowledging being there.
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The Bible says that the post of the door of the House of God
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moved. It says that the house then was
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filled with smoke and what happened next was just great.
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In reality, Isaiah felt conviction, yeah, conviction
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fail. And he says, woe is me, for I am
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a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among the people of
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unclean lips. That conviction that fail in the
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House of God wasn't the result of a praise service.
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It was the result of a worship service.
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Whenever they recognize that God was, their conviction fail.
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And Isaiah began to realize his own self in light of who God was
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in that worship scenario. Hey man, whenever the whenever
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the Israelites in the Old Testament, whenever they got
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their release from from 400 or so years of bondage, their their
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release happened is because God told Moses, he said have the
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children of Israel. You tell Pharaoh that they need
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to have some reprieve to come a three day journey into the
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wilderness where they'll offer sacrifices and offerings unto
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me. You tell them that is the
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purpose all right of their of their travel and to do this to
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go into the wilderness and to do this listen their call from God
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to go that three day journey wasn't a call for praise.
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It was a call for worship because worship is service.
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Worship is sacrifice. What released them in essence
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from the hand of bondage wasn't their praise, it was their
-
worship. I've seen people praise God left
-
right for things he done and still be bound, still be
-
incarcerated by A&B&C. But when you begin to
-
acknowledge God just for who He is, things begin to change.
-
They tarry. The Israelites do 40 years in a
-
wilderness and God had an intended destiny for them, all
-
right. But there was only a few of the
-
previous generation that would actually make it to the promised
-
land. We understand, of course, Joshua
-
and Taleb. We also understand that it was
-
all those that were 20 years and older that would be lost in
-
their years of the wilderness. So there are, you know, those
-
that were 19 and younger that could be in the generation that
-
went into the promised land according to the word of God.
-
But there's only some that actually reached that intended
-
destiny out of millions of people that were in the
-
wilderness. And this is what the Psalms 95
-
says about this whole scenario of wilderness journey.
-
It says in verse #8 he says the psalmist says harden not your
-
heart as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the
-
wilderness. He said when your father's
-
tempted me and proved me and saw my work, he said for 40 years
-
long was I grieved with this generation and said it is the
-
people that do in do air in their heart and they have not
-
known my ways. Hold on now.
-
They knew His work, but they didn't know His ways, he says in
-
verse 11. And to whom I swear in my wrath,
-
that they should not enter into my rest folks Israel as a
-
nation, in their years of wondering, they were blessed
-
that God didn't several things for them in their wilderness
-
journey. Amen.
-
But they were all the time testing God and proving God.
-
And what they seen of God was his work, but they never
-
acquainted themselves with his ways.
-
All right, the word ways means manner, or habit, or course of
-
life, or moral character. They knew what he did, but they
-
didn't totally come to terms with who he was.
-
They saw his work. How Oh, they're crying out for
-
food and God sends mana from heaven.
-
A man just as as the frost would form that that little coriander
-
seed that that was white would form along with the the dew on
-
the ground and they could gather it six days a week and double as
-
much on the 6th day. God provided mana for them.
-
And when they got tired of that, he sent quail.
-
And as you said, the Scripture, it was quailed, that was
-
probably as deep up to a person's shin for a particular
-
area. And so they had quail.
-
They ate it so much till they were vomiting it out their
-
nostrils, so to speak. According to to Scripture, God
-
did something for them when there was no water source.
-
He caused water to come from a rock.
-
God did that. They praised him.
-
They knew the work of God and what that when the bitter waters
-
were there, they could not drink up.
-
He had them have a tree and throw it in the water and God
-
made the bitter water sweet. They could praise God for that
-
because of what he had done, could praise Him when the fiery
-
serpents appeared and He had him put a, a serpent on the Poe and
-
looked at that to get a reprieve.
-
God did that. They could praise Him for that
-
over and over again. But all that was temporal.
-
All of that man in that crowd, all of that was just bound to
-
the wilderness. They did not reach their destiny
-
because they elevated the work, the doings of God over never
-
getting acquainted with the ways the character of God.
-
They saw his work, but they didn't know his ways.
-
Let me say this morning, there are some places that worship
-
will take you that praise will not.
-
Praise didn't get them praise. It's those that that was mindful
-
in all in reverence, an acknowledgement of the way of
-
who the character of God, who he was.
-
Almost the whole generation of the old generation died off, but
-
they had witnessed everything he had done, but they didn't
-
familiarize him themselves with His ways.
-
You look at the Old Testament Tabernacle and you're in that
-
outer court of the Tavern. You have outer court, the inner
-
court or what's known as the Holy of Holies, and then you
-
have that innermost place that the holiest of holies.
-
And in that outer court, of course, there wasn't a canopy
-
over it. There wasn't a roof over it.
-
And the natural light of the day help, of course, keep it lit
-
during the day and such. It was a place of sacrifice.
-
That's that's where the the altar was and the labor that the
-
priest washed in was at. It was a place of sacrifice,
-
which to us makes sense that this is a place of worship.
-
If you'll remember in Genesis 22, whenever Abraham was
-
commanded of God to take Isaac up into this Mount Moriah range
-
to sacrifice him there, that's what was going to take place to
-
offer him up. And that was his only son.
-
Whenever the other servants that were with Abraham were with him
-
and he says me and my son are going Yonder, his word choice
-
was we're going Yonder to worship.
-
But there was going to be sacrifice on that mountain,
-
which equated for us for one of the very first times in the
-
Scripture, the word worship be used equated for us.
-
What worship is about sacrifice says we're going Yonder to
-
worship. What's happening up there on the
-
sacrifice of my son? There's something that's dear to
-
me. And so worship.
-
And so here in the outer court where we have the the altar and
-
we have the labor and where sacrifice would take place in
-
essence, a place where worship would happen, right?
-
Because whatever you deemed was so precious to you, you said you
-
could OfferUp for something that was more precious, acknowledging
-
him. Amen.
-
And listen, fuck, that's a big thing.
-
That's a big thing. Whenever God required like the
-
firstling of your flock, you understand how big that was,
-
that you invested seed and grain and thyme and watering for these
-
animals to then have a union and give offspring.
-
And you're going to take the first one and you're giving that
-
to God with no guarantee that you or whatever there's ever
-
going to be another one born from their womb.
-
But by faith, that's all you got right now.
-
And it's like that one goes, I mean, that, that that's, that's
-
honoring something being more superior than what you have.
-
That's worship. And so then you go into that
-
holy place and, and it is covered with a canopy and
-
there's a roof over it and there's the the lamp stand that
-
is there that's that's providing a light for the purpose of of
-
the table of shoebread and for offering the incense.
-
It's a place of service. It's where the priest would go
-
in and he would eat from the table of shoebread and he would
-
OfferUp, if you will, the cause of incense on this altar from
-
the fire that came from the outer court altar.
-
And he's going to put that on there and he's going to trim the
-
Wicks. And so it's a place where
-
ministry is taking place. There's service that is taking
-
place, but then you're going to enter into the holies of holies.
-
But even prior to that, whenever you enter into that holy place,
-
you're going to enter in through these these pillars that Isaiah
-
talks about, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the
-
everlasting Father. And so as you're going through
-
here, you're remembering this fact that he is wonderful.
-
And so you know he's wonderful. You don't even have to account
-
what he's done. He is just wonderful and they
-
counting all that in and you're taken by the awe and you're
-
taken by the wonder of just who He is.
-
It just produces and, and evokes, if you will, a posture
-
of worship. Amen.
-
For ourselves and for His service.
-
But we get into that holies of holies and and there is no
-
lampstand and there is no sunshine and there is a canopy
-
and if there's going to be any light there, he's got to be
-
there. It's dark without Him being
-
there. So there's going to have to be a
-
supernatural light, no natural light, no artificial light.
-
It's going to have to be the light that comes from him.
-
And in there, there's no service.
-
There's there's, there's no, there's no bread.
-
There's no, there's no service. There's no work that's
-
necessarily being produced right there.
-
What, what are we doing there then?
-
We're just to be in awe of the presence that shows up there.
-
Nothing else is allowed and you're not taking, you're not
-
taking no, no animal, you know, skin in there.
-
You're not doing all that. The Bible even talks about, you
-
know, he was He's going to change his garments so that
-
there's no sweat allowed in this area.
-
All your problems, all your frustrations, none of that
-
because none of that is to share with the glory of the Lord, no
-
flesh your glory in his presence.
-
You just want to get into a space where there's nothing to
-
acknowledge but him and you worship.
-
Frustrations go to the back seat.
-
You're not bringing that there. You're just there to acknowledge
-
Him. When we get in a mind frame of
-
worship, worship, worship will will help us block other things
-
out that don't need to be entertained in the moment.
-
Whenever we begin to acknowledge Him and see Him and then realize
-
in the moment in worship, we really truly begin to
-
acknowledge God. You know what I realized when
-
I've come in with all my baggage and all my woes of the week and
-
I truly get into a place from praise to worship?
-
You know where I get to. Nothing else matters in this
-
life but what's right here, God, all the headache and the stress
-
of work from the past week, Fred.
-
It just kind of sloths off over here to the side because in the
-
moment of worship, everything else subsides.
-
Amen. Psalms chapter #90 try to be
-
mindful of your time. Psalms 90 verses 1/2.
-
The psalmist says and, and these are really, I believe words that
-
are borrowed, if I'm not mistaken, from Moses.
-
We redo this and the first five books of the Bible.
-
Lord, thou has been our dwelling place in all generations before
-
the mountains were brought forth or ever.
-
Thou has formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting
-
to everlasting. Thou art God.
-
You have been our dwelling place in all.
-
In other words, it wasn't. It wasn't that you just became
-
that to us once there was trees and grass and the days of
-
creation had taken place. No, prior to that, you have been
-
our dwelling place in all generations, he says.
-
The psalmist is saying that our living was not based upon what
-
we had necessarily, because before the mountains, right, but
-
but, but before the earth was formed, before the world, it's
-
not based upon what we had, but upon who we knew.
-
Again, in verse 2, the emphasis is that before God did per SE
-
anything, before there were any deeds of God, there was God.
-
Sadly, sometimes as as generations have went on and on,
-
we've based our living and our dwelling upon rather what God
-
does rather than just God. The mountains, the valleys, the
-
springs, the flowers. That's the reason why some many
-
times people are ready to uproot when it appears that God's not
-
doing anything for them, ready to throw in the towel when God
-
isn't seemingly observably doing anything for them.
-
But that's just living in the shallow end of the pool.
-
We got to get back to the deep waters of worship and amount
-
must allow Him to be our dwelling place.
-
Everything else will pass, but He's eternal.
-
Worship is eternal and so by divine decree man's has a
-
preoccupation with God. That is worship.
-
There's there's an old Pentecostal Apostolic saying
-
that used to say if you wonder where the wonder went, it went
-
out with the wonder. Let me say it again, if you
-
wonder where the wonder went, it went out with the wonder, the
-
all the reverence for just who God is in New Testament
-
Scripture. You can read it in the Gospels.
-
The Bible says you know the story, two sisters, Mary and
-
Martha. Martha was troubled about many
-
things. The Bible says she was
-
encumbered. She she's serving in the house,
-
but she's frustrated because she's trying to serve without
-
worshipping. Mary said at his feet.
-
She sat there a posture that made him in a very literal
-
display higher than she was She she's postured in a place that
-
he is exalted. He he is the superior in this
-
house. At this moment.
-
She's sitting at the feet and Mary that was going to be very
-
Martha looks at and says, Lord, do something.
-
My sister isn't serving, but she was because she was worshipping.
-
Huh. She was perhaps better posture
-
to serve than Martha, because she's in a position of all of
-
who was there. She was worshipping, and
-
Martha's really effectiveness of her service could only be as
-
effective as her worship was. But she didn't have time for
-
that Doo Doo Doo Doo. No, you needed to take time to
-
acknowledge who's in your house, time to acknowledge who's there.
-
So I don't want to find myself in a Martha type of mentality
-
where I become frustrated trying to serve the Lord, trying to
-
serve the Lord, you know, and make my life a service to the
-
Lord. Just this, oh, I just want to do
-
the things that are right and, you know, abstain from doing the
-
things that are wrong. Listen, if that's what the
-
service, your service for the Lord boils down to, just trying
-
to do the right and keep from the wrong, then you're going to
-
find yourself frustrated and unsuccessful because worship is
-
when you have an encounter. Worship is not my list of do's
-
and don'ts, right? It my service isn't based in
-
that. My service is acknowledging when
-
God shows up, Amen. When God is there or the God
-
that is in my life, Amen. That's when I acquaint myself
-
with worship, and that is when my service exceeds and excels,
-
when I acknowledge him. Remember the Old Testament
-
story, the, the, the, the Philistines.
-
And it went around from Ekron and to five of the Philistine
-
cities, the, the, the, the Ark of the Covenant, which was
-
revered as the very presence of God.
-
And they took that thing and they put it in the temple of
-
Dagon. And you remember they put it in
-
there and, and the next morning, you know, Dagon was cast down
-
and everybody kind of, you know, the Humpty Dumpty back together
-
again, you know, set him back up on his stoop there in the
-
presence of the Lord, in the presence of that ark of the
-
Covenant. And then the next day he's down
-
again, says like those hands, just the stump remained.
-
It's just broken off there. Listen, whenever we get to a
-
place of worship of just his presence than anything else that
-
is or in around just the acknowledgement of his presence
-
won't be able to stand when there's true worship that is an
-
acknowledgement of just him being there won't have the power
-
to get back up, won't have the power to resist you because of
-
the acknowledgement of him. So what are you saying you just
-
got to keep acknowledging him. You got to you got to keep
-
unawareness about the Lord and please understand you've heard
-
me say this before. Our acknowledging him doesn't
-
just acknowledge in him in here. I I've stood in line at a
-
grocery, you know, place before and acknowledge the presence of
-
the Lord. Come in a moment on owl #13 I,
-
I've stood in on the line of the production line before doing
-
work and all of a sudden God showed up and acknowledge that
-
He is there. And so you just got to keep an
-
awe and a reverence and acknowledgement of Him until God
-
destroys the things in your life that that are trying to
-
overpower and move in and seep in.
-
They'll no longer have power over you when you acknowledge
-
the one that is truly in power with you day in, day out.
-
Amen. Come in.
-
You know, praising, praising for the victory, Praise, pray
-
sometimes might help you get the victory, but that's momentarily
-
Worship will help you keep it. Praise might let you get it, but
-
worship is going to help you keep it.
-
Amen. You stand for me today.
-
Now I'll hasten to a close here in the end, when this thing's
-
all over and the smoke is settled, and you know this has
-
come to the great culmination of that great get up morning, and
-
all things are said and done. You know what God ensures in the
-
very end of time, not so much that everybody will praise Him,
-
but that everybody will acknowledge Him.
-
You know the Scripture in Philippians 2 Wherefore God also
-
hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above
-
every name Speaking of Jesus and that at the name of Jesus every
-
knee should bow, which is the the physical observable
-
demonstration of worship, falling face down, reverencing
-
every knee shall bow of things in heaven, of things on earth,
-
things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that
-
Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God our Father.
-
He says in the end of time, you know what I'm looking for, what
-
I'm looking for, the acknowledgement of who I am,
-
aside from what I've done, the acknowledgement of my way, my
-
character, who I am. And so the Lord is constantly
-
then dealing with us, moving us from praise.
-
He's wanting us to follow the line, you know, follow the line
-
to worship. You ever pulled, you ever pulled
-
wire in your house or want to find out where that one thing
-
was connected or what was on that and you had to trace a wire
-
and you trace it back to, you know, it's different places.
-
Oh, that goes to that. That's what you're doing with
-
praise. He's wanting to take you from
-
praise to worship, from the doing to the doer, from the
-
blessing to the blesser, from the creation to the create door.
-
In all generations, He has been my dwelling place.
-
Can we close our eyes in this place this morning and can we
-
just begin to acknowledge God? I know you may be able to rattle
-
off the things He has done and the blessings that He has
-
secured and provided in your life, but can you take a moment
-
and aside from everything else, just acknowledge Him for who He
-
is. He is holy, He is great, He is
-
love. Can you just acknowledge Him for
-
who He is? And when you begin to do that,
-
there will be a all AWEA, all that will just just somehow
-
begin to resurrect inside of you.
-
A reverence. A reverence that causes you to
-
stoop your head and bow your body in honor to this great
-
superior God. Just who He is, who He is, is
-
enough and who if if we can acknowledge just who He is and
-
and not take for granted for who He is?
-
Again folks, that He alone is The Fountainhead for all that
-
which flows from Him as blessings that we praise Him for
-
in our life. But if you disconnect yourself
-
from Him, you disconnected yourself from the one that
-
produces and affords the blessing.
-
Follow praise to worship. Follow praise to worship.
-
Come with your alabaster box that is of a family heirloom of
-
of of a salary of a man's wage of a year.
-
Come in with that alabaster box. What are you doing, lady?
-
What are you? Some said she was a Sinner.
-
What are you doing? I'm doing this.
-
I'm acknowledging that there's one right here in this room.
-
I'm acknowledging him. I'm acknowledging him and I'm
-
going to take something that's worth a lot to me, and I'm going
-
to say it's not worth so much that it can't be utilized on
-
him. I deem that he's worth more to
-
me than this very thing that I possess.
-
I acknowledge that. Would someone acknowledge him
-
today, Acknowledge him with your mind and knowledge Him with your
-
heart. Hallelujah.
-
Moses and Israel's falling down on their face just because his
-
presence was there. Moses says he passed by and so I
-
worship didn't do anything per SE.
-
He was just there. Can we not, can we not somehow
-
get callous to the fact of when we walk into the service morning
-
and night and on Wednesdays that God is there and just, if you
-
will savor the moment of just him being here, just savor the
-
moment of just his presence being there?
-
Oh, God, I thank you today. I thank you today, God, that
-
you've allowed us to be able to entertain your presence.
-
God that we're two or three. God that there you are in the
-
midst. God, I acknowledge you.
-
I acknowledge you. You're the great God.
-
You're the holy God. You're the almighty one God.
-
Yeah, I praise you for your mighty acts.
-
But God, I'm going to worship you just for your existence.
-
I'm going to worship you just for being, just for showing up,
-
for being the Ancient of Days. You've been Lord, my habitation,
-
Lord, in every generation. Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
-
Hallelujah, Shalabukola Baba Baba sandhya Baba saye.
-
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
-
Why? Just because he's God.
-
He's God. He's God, no strings attached.
-
I worship him. I acknowledge him.
-
Hanu Rabbasa Rabbasi DDD, some Nuraba Koshaya.
-
Someone following from praise to worship.
-
Follow the blessing to the blesser.
-
Follow the doing that you have been supplied with to the doer.
-
Don't separate the two. Keep them joined together.
-
There's power in it. He's eternal.
-
He's unchanging. He will not fade.
-
He will not advocate his throne. He's gone.
-
All alone and all by himself. I acknowledge that today.
-
I acknowledge that today. Let's sing together.
-
Amen, if we can. That's an act of praise.
-
Let's sing together as we worship this morning.
-
I love you, Jesus worship.