[0:00] Turn in your Bible to Ezra chapter 3 verses 1 through 7 will be our text for this morning.
[0:22] ! When the seventh month came and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem. Then arose Yeshua, the son of Josedach, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his kinsmen. And they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings, morning and evening. And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule as each day required. And after that, the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the Lord, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month, they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple was not yet laid. So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea to Joppa, according to the grant they had from Cyrus, king of Persia. May God add a blessing to the reading of His Word. Would you please be seated? The book of Exodus records how God delivered the Israelites, His chosen people, from slavery. They had been in bondage to their Egyptian masters for 200 years. In response to their cries for deliverance, God called Moses and provided him with miraculous signs so the Israelites would believe that he was God's man whom God would use to lead them out of slavery. In addition to those miraculous signs, God sent 10 plagues on the land of
[3:05] Egypt in response to Pharaoh's refusal to let his people go. The plagues were judgments against specific gods the Egyptians worshipped and demonstrated that not only did the God of Israel exist, but he was greater and far more powerful than the gods the Egyptians worshipped.
[3:29] The Israelites came out of Egypt with a renewed belief in the God of their ancestors. They passed through the Red Sea on dry land while the Egyptian army was drowned, and they were led to the mountain of God to receive His laws.
[3:50] When God gave His laws to the Israelites, He began by addressing religious pluralism.
[4:02] The belief that two or more religious worldviews can be equally valid and acceptable. Exodus 20, 2-6 records our Lord's words there.
[4:18] I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth below or that is in the water under the earth.
[4:40] You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
[5:03] If you think about it, after all the Israelites had seen, just seen, and just experienced, after all the miracles, after all the great demonstrations of God's power to lead them out of Egypt, it would seem as if the first commandment wouldn't be necessary.
[5:27] No other God had come to Israel's rescue. Egypt had many gods, but none of them could prevent Israel's God from setting his people free.
[5:42] So if you were an Israelite, having experienced these things, you would know that your God is compassionate to save, and he is unmatched in power.
[5:54] Of course, you would have no other gods, because no other God is worthy of worship, or so you would think.
[6:08] The second commandment is a natural progression of the first. In it, God placed restrictions on the kind of worship he accepts. He will not tolerate the assumption that it doesn't matter how people worship him just so long as they worship him.
[6:31] Moses was on the mountain receiving this instruction for 40 days. And as the Israelites waited for Moses to return, they grew anxious.
[6:41] They thought that maybe Moses had died, or maybe Moses had deserted them. So they turned to what they had grown accustomed to in Egypt.
[6:58] Visual representations of gods to worship. They asked Aaron, their temporary leader, to make gods for them.
[7:10] And Aaron took their gold, he melted it down, and he made an idol. The idol that he crafted was in the form of a calf.
[7:21] We read about that in Exodus chapter 32, verses 4 through 6. And Aaron, he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.
[7:33] And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.
[7:46] And Aaron made a proclamation, and he said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
[8:01] And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. Notice the language in this passage. The people say of these idols, These are your gods, O Israel, thus breaking the first commandment.
[8:22] But Aaron says something different, doesn't he? He invokes God's name, Yahweh, And merges his name with this pagan form of worship.
[8:37] His solution, at least to him, seemed reasonable. It's a solution that many people use today.
[8:47] And it's called religious syncretism. People basically pick and choose an assortment of different beliefs. They mix them all together and bake them, And whatever pops out is what they call their truth, Which they devote themselves to, And which they worship.
[9:08] For example, Love. Love is an attribute of God. That truth is clearly expressed in John 3, 16, And ultimately demonstrated by Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross.
[9:25] We recently went through the book of 1 John, And in that book, John states, Clearly, God is love. But love is not God's only attribute.
[9:39] He also hates sin, Which incurs his wrath. What God loves and what God hates Is ultimately informed by another of his attributes.
[9:53] His holiness. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah receives a vision of God in heaven. And it's awesome. If you haven't read it, you should.
[10:03] And if you've read it, you should read it again. And in that vision, Isaiah sees seraphim, These strange looking angels, Creatures, And they're surrounding the throne room of God, And they're singing, And they're worshiping, And what they're saying as they cry out to one another is, Holy, Holy, Holy, Is the Lord of hosts.
[10:27] The whole earth Is full of his glory. Notice they don't call out That God is love, love, love. Or wrath, wrath, wrath.
[10:40] But holy, Holy, Holy, The whole earth He's created. Along with everything That is in it. And the universe That surrounds it Displays his immeasurably Awesome Glory.
[10:56] Glory. Glory. A glory Which fallen humanity Created in his image Continually Denies him of.
[11:07] And that brother, That sister Is something that God Will not tolerate. And we see that In the aftermath Of Exodus 32 After the people Made this idol And thought they could Blend it With the worship of the one True and living God.
[11:27] God held the people Accountable for their corrupt Form of worship And he was ready to destroy them All For their sin. Moses interceded On behalf Of his people A foreshadowing Of Christ's intercession For us.
[11:45] Moses offered the people A chance to repent. Some did. Others didn't. Those who repented Were spared By God's grace.
[11:59] Those who persisted In their sinful ways Died In God's judgment. All this In demonstration That though people Might justify Their actions And their form Of worship If they violate God's clear commands They have sinned Against him.
[12:18] They are denying him Of his glory And the worship He is due And they will be held Accountable for that. God will not receive Or tolerate Such worship.
[12:36] You'd think that Israel As a nation Had learned this lesson But scripture reveals That that was not the case. Even though God Was good and gracious To save them From Egypt Even though God Was good and gracious To fulfill his promises To give them The promised land To establish them As a nation That they would be A light To the Gentiles.
[13:00] They continually Fell into religious Pluralism And secretism. They rejected God Time after time After time. God is patient.
[13:14] God is extremely Patient. But after a time His patience Runs out And his discipline And his discipline Purifies his people Of the sin They refuse To repent of.
[13:31] Religious pluralism Religious syncretism The belief That God Can be worshipped Along with other gods In whatever way His people choose Resulted in the exile Which the people Of Ezra Had experienced.
[13:50] God in his grace And in his faithfulness To keep his promises Had stirred The heart Of Cyrus The king Of Persia To send his people Back to Jerusalem And rebuild it To reconstruct The temple Which had been Left in ruins.
[14:07] Ezra chapter 2 Ends with The remnant Of the remnant That God preserved In Babylon Back in Jerusalem. And now they're Gazing at a pile Of rubble Blackened by The fires From the Babylonian Invasion of the city Decades ago Looking at Overturned stones And overgrown weeds Reminded of a Sinful past That I'm sure They wanted to forget But here we read They gathered together As one man In that place With a renewed Commitment And purpose What was that Purpose?
[14:53] Worship Worship What was their Commitment? To worship God Only God In the way He instructed them To In his word And so the main Idea for this Morning's sermon Is that Who we worship And how we Worship Matters to God Who we worship And how we Worship matters A whole Whole lot To God The primary Message of Ezra Is that God Orchestrated past Grim situation That they were Coming out of Israel's captivity And he would Continue to work Through a Pagan king And his Successors To give his People hope For the future And the primary Mission recorded In Ezra Is the Restoration Of worship The last
[15:55] Sermon I preached In Ezra Chapter 2 If you recall The lesson From that Chapter Is that just As God Is faithful To preserve His people And his Promises So God's People must Be faithful To pursue His will Today And if you Remember As a part Of that I quoted Matthew 28 18-20 Jesus' Final words To his Disciples Before ascending Back to heaven Let's read Those again Matthew 28 Excuse me 18-20 And Jesus Came and Said to Them All Authority In heaven And on Earth Has been Given to Me Go Therefore And make Disciples Of all Nations Baptizing Them in The name Of the Father And the Son And the Holy Spirit Teaching Them To observe All that I commanded You And behold I am With you Always To the End of The Age So we Know That our Mission Is to Make Disciples And to Disciple
[16:55] Those who Have been Saved But our Ultimate Aim As God's People In pursuit Of obeying God's Will Is not Missions It's Worship Let me Explain When this Age is Over When the Countless Millions Of people From every Tribe Tongue And Nationality Fall On their Faces Before The throne Of God Missions Will be No more It's a Temporary Necessity But Worship That's Forever That's Forever John Piper Said it Best In his Book Let the Nations Be Glad He says Worship Therefore Is the
[17:55] Fuel And goal Of missions It's the Goal Of missions Because in Missions We simply Aim to Bring the Nations Into the White Hot Enjoyment Of God's Glory The goal Of missions Is the Gladness Of the Peoples And the Greatness Of God He quotes Psalm 97 1 The Lord Reigns Let the Earth Rejoice Let the Many Coastlands Be glad Psalm 67 3-4 Let the Peoples Praise Thee God Let all The Peoples Praise Thee Let the Nations Be glad And sing For joy And he Continues Passion For God And worship Precedes The offer Of God In preaching You can't Commend What you Don't Cherish Missions Begins And ends In worship Those words From John Piper Capture the Mood I Think of This chapter These first Seven verses The exiles Have returned From Jerusalem And the Surrounding Area With one
[18:55] Principal Goal In mind We Will Worship God In Ezra's Context Regarding Corporate Worship This means The ruined Temple In Jerusalem Must be Rebuilt And annual Monthly Weekly And daily Sacrifices Must be Reinstated People are Created in God's image And they Are made To worship But who They worship And how They worship Matters A lot To God That truth Is As true Then as It is For us Today Though we Live on This side Of the cross Of Jesus Christ And his Ultimate Sacrifice Means That we No longer Need to Sacrifice Animals To atone For our Sins We must We must Continue To worship
[19:56] God In the Ways He's Instructed Us to In the Bible Sunday Morning When we Gather For worship Should be The day That God's People most Look forward To During the Week As we Gather as One To worship Him It should be The highlight Of our Week Is that True for You Be honest Is this The highlight Of your Week You might Be an Unbeliever This morning And maybe You're here Because you Feel forced Maybe you're Here you Have questions You're not Sure What to Believe Understand This You are Made to Worship And you Are Worshiping
[20:56] Something And whatever You're Worshiping That's not The God Whom you Were created To worship It will Leave you Empty It will Leave you In despair It will Leave you Desperate You are In need And Jesus Christ Has the Solution To meet Your need And I'm Glad you're Here And I Hope you Listen And I Hope that You will Be saved As Believers Maybe You've Forgotten Who you're Worshiping When we Gather On Sunday Morning Maybe You're Distracted Overly Distracted Believers Can be You know Sometimes I think As a Church We can Be so Desperate To fill Our Pews That we Blend Our Worship With Things That are Not Written In God's Word Trying To be Relevant Trying To be Cool Trying To be Hip And while
[21:58] That may Be successful In bringing People to This church God is Not Impressed And if God's Not Impressed Why Should We Care How we Worship Matters We want People to Be saved And drawn To the Truth And the Reality Of who God Is But Unmixed With Anything That is Of this World That would Point Them To Any Other Solution For Their Problem A Problem We All Share Problem Of Sin Who We Worship How We Worship Matters There Are Three Principles From This Text That Inform Our Worship And Keep It From Being Polluted By Impure Things That God Is Not Impressed With The First Principle In Regard To Our Worship Is That We Worship With A Purpose!
[22:52] We Refers To Here Was The Hebrew Month Of Tishri Which Is Around Our September And October This Month Was The Most Important Month In The Hebrew Calendar Because Tishri Marked The Celebration Of A New Year As Well As The Feast Of Trumpets Which Was Then Followed By The Day Of Atonement On The Tenth Day Of The Month And Then A Week Long Celebration Called The Feast Of We
[23:53] Know That Cyrus Issued This Decree For The Jews To Return Home In About 538 B.C. It Would Have Taken The Israelites At Least Four Months To Journey From Babylon To Jerusalem So By The Time They Arrived In Jerusalem They Probably Only Had Two Or Three Weeks To Settle In Before The Events We Read About In Ezra Chapter Three Verses One Through Seven Now This Wasn't A Coincidence God Brought His People Back At This Precise Time On Purpose His People Understood That Their Purpose Wasn't Primarily To Build Their Own Houses Their Top Priority Wasn't To Prepare The Fields And Get Them Ready To Plant Crops So That They Would Have Food Before All Of Their Resources Ran Out These People Understood That
[24:53] Their Purpose Wasn't Just To Resettle Jerusalem But To Renew Their Commitment To The Purpose That God Originally Had For Them To Be A Light To The Gentiles And So They Gathered As One To Jerusalem With The Purpose To Worship God Worship Of God Took Preeminence Over Everything Else The Other Things Were Important But Not Nearly As Important As This How About You Is The Same True For You Is Your Worship Of God Preeminent Over Everything Else In Your Life Now You Might Hear Me Say That And Think Well I'm Here Aren't I I'm Glad You're Here But What We Need To Understand Is That Not
[25:54] Everything That Is Called Worship Is Actually Worship Both Cain And Abel Brought Sacrifices To The Lord But The Lord Looked With Favor On Abel And His Sacrifice But On Cain And His Offering He Did Not Look With Favor Cain Brought An Unacceptable Sacrifice To The Lord And Demanded That He Be Pleased With It In John 4 24 Jesus Said God Is Spirit And Those Who Worship Him Must Worship In Spirit And Truth To Truly Worship God You Must Truly Know God To Worship Him In Truth Is To Worship Him According To The Truth He's Revealed About Himself In His Word True Worship Is About God Is Directed Towards
[26:54] God In Obedience To God Worship Does Not End When We Finish Singing On Sunday Morning And I Stand Up Here To Preach My Sermon This Time Is A Continuation Of Our Worship In fact The Bible Says Worship Is More Than What We Do On Sunday Morning It Should Be Our Way Of Life It Should Govern Everything That We Do First Corinthians 10 31 Says So Whether You Eat Or Drink Or Whatever You Do That Covers Everything Else Do All To The Glory Of God Westminster Excuse Me Westminster Is A Dog Show I Think Westminster Shorter Catechism Articulates This Truth Extremely Well What Is The Chief End Of Man That Is What It Ask The Answer The Chief End Of Man Is To Glorify God And Enjoy Him Forever Do You
[27:54] Believe That That Is Your Chief End Most People Want A God Who Worships Them And Such People They Don't Know God They Don't Know Who God Is They Don't Know What God Has Done If You Know Who God Is And If You Know What He's Done For You In Jesus Christ How Can You Not Respond In Worship He is Worthy Only He is Worthy The people In Ezra Returned home Understanding that Their purpose Was to Worship God And that They must Worship him According To how He instructed Them to Worship him As he Told them As it was Written in His word Now The second Principle We Worship As the Bible Prescribes We Worship As the Bible Prescribes In Verse Three
[28:54] Again We Read They Set The Altar In Its Place For Fear Was On Them Because Of The Peoples Of The Lands And They Offered Burnt Offerings On It To The Lord Morning And Evening Before The Materials Were Ordered To Rebuild The Temple The People First!
[29:09] Reconstructed The Altar Ensuring That It Was In The Right Place In The Right Location Now This Might Seem Backwards To Us Why Build The Altar First Before You Build The Temple You Know We Would Almost Imagine Like Somebody Building A House And Say Well I Want To Build The Furniture Before We Actually Build The House That Wouldn't Make Sense To Us But This Actually Demonstrates What God Prescribed What Should Come First In Worship When Abraham First Entered The Promised Land We Read In Genesis 12 7 The Lord Appeared To Abram And Said To Your Offspring I Will Give This Land So What Did He Do He Didn't Build A Temple He Built!
[30:02] An Altar To The Lord Who Had Appeared To Him So Their First Order Of Business Was To Set The Altar In Its Sacred Place By Resetting It On Its Old Foundations And They Followed The Instructions That God Had Prescribed In His Word All 27 Verses About The Altar Which Are Found In Numbers Chapter 29 Verses 12 Through 38 Burnt Offerings Were The Most Common Offering To God In The Old Testament For Sin Before Doing Anything Else The People Made Sure That They Were Right With God In Seeking His Forgiveness And In Seeking His Help Because As We Read They Were Afraid Jerusalem Was Left In Ruin During The Exile But It Was Not Left Desolate The Assyrians And The Babylonians
[31:03] Had Deported People To Live In The Land During The Time Israel Was In Exile And So For Those People Who Had Been There For Some Time Suddenly 40 Something Like 40 Thousand Jews Returned And Were On Their Door Sip This Land That They Had Occupied For Decades The Jews Must Have Sensed That These Settlers Felt Threatened By Their Sudden Arrival Thinking Maybe That They Had Come To Challenge Their Claim To The Land And Obstruct Their Way Of Life And You Know What That Conflict In This Area Continues To This Day And Sadly In Our Own Country I'm Not Saying This To Get A Cheer Out Of You I Don't Want That Please
[32:03] Resist It But Understand This Israel Belongs To Israel Israel Belongs To Israel And Just As Was The Case Here So Is The Case Today They Are Surrounded By Enemies And These Enemies Do Not Want Peace With Them They Want Their Extinction They Want To Annihilate Them We Must Encourage Our Leaders To Support Israel's Right To Their God Given Home And We Should Pray For Them If That Is What Is Going On Over There Today Or If I Should Say If What Is Going On Over There Today And What You See Happening In Our Own Culture If That Causes You To Have Any Kind Of Fear Imagine
[33:04] How These People Felt In Ezra Chapter Three What Do Fearful People Do Or Rather I Should Say What Should People Do When They Are Afraid Well God's People As We See In This Text Turn To God They Turn To The Lord For Help As He Prescribed In Scripture In Exodus 29 43 God Said Of The Altar There I Will Meet With You The People Of Israel And It Shall Be Sanctified By My Glory Instead Of Drawing Up Battle Plans Or Seeking Counsel With Cyrus Or Forming Some Kind Of Alliance With Another Group Of People They Sought God's Help And They Sought His Help In Worship How
[34:05] Many Times When You Feel Afraid When You Feel Tense When You Feel Overwhelmed Unsure Anxious And Stressed How Many Times When That's The Case Is Your First Thought What I Need To Do Is Turn To God In Worship What God's People Needed Then Was To Seek His Forgiveness His Help And A Sense Of His Nearness That Comes On The Other Side Of Reconciliation In Worship It's Not Different For Us Today But We Don't Need An Altar In Jerusalem To Meet With God On This Side Of The Cross Because We Have A Better High Priest Than They Did It's Interesting But Not Coincidental That
[35:06] The Name Of The High Priest During The Time In Ezra Was Yeshua The Greek Translation Of That Name Is Iesus And The English Spelling Of That Is J E S U S Jesus Church We Have A Better Yeshua Today Don't We Hebrews 4 14 Through 16 Says!
[35:35] High Priest Speaking Of Jesus Who Passed Through The Heavens Jesus The Son Of God Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession For We Do Not Have A High Priest Who Is Unable To Sympathize With Our Weaknesses But One Who In Every Respect Has Been Tempted As We Are Yet Without Sin Now Hear This Let Us With Confidence Draw Near To The Throne Of Grace That We May Receive Mercy And Find Grace To Help In Our Time Of Need Hebrews 7 26 Through 27 For It Was Indeed Fitting That We Should Have Such A High Priest Holy Innocent Unstained!
[36:18] Separated From Sinners And Exalted Above The Heavens He Has No Need Like Those High Priests To Offer Sacrifices Daily First For His Own Sins And Then For Those!
[36:28] Of The People Since He Did This Once For All When He Offered Up Himself All The High Priests That Came Before Jesus Were Sinful Men Who Needed To Make Sacrifices For Themselves When They Sinned Whenever The People Sinned They Had To Then Offer Sacrifices To Intercede On Their Behalf But Jesus Had No Sin And He Didn't Need To Make A Sacrifice For Himself Being Truly God And Truly Man His Was A One Time Sacrifice Which Nullified The Need For Any Other Form Of Sacrifice His Sacrifice Is Sufficient To Atone Not Just For Your Sins Of Today Or Your Sins From Yesterday Or Your Sins That You'll Commit Tomorrow But For All Of Your Sins All Of Them Past
[37:29] Present Future All Of Your Sins His Coming And What His Death And Resurrection Would Accomplish Atone For All Of Our Sins And It's Through Him And What He Did That We Are Able To Be Made Right With God Through His Sacrifice The Bible Says In Hebrews 9 22 Indeed Under The Law Almost Everything Is Purified With Blood And Without The Shedding Of Blood There Is No Forgiveness Of Sins Now Taking Our Minds Back To Ezra Thinking About This It's Difficult It's Difficult For Us To Imagine All The Sights And The Sounds And The Smells That Surrounded The Altar As Gallons Of Blood!
[38:25] Down People Feel That Their Problems Are Outside Of Them And That The Solution To Their Problem Is Inside Of Them Inside Of Themself But The Bible Turns That Thought Around And It Says That The Problem Is Within Us And The Solution For Our Problem As Pictured In These Sacrifices Comes Outside Of Us The Problem That We All Share Is Sin Our Sin The
[39:26] Solution Comes Apart From Our Own Accomplishments Or Our Ability To Overcome The Solution To Our Sin Comes From God And His Grace That Is Seen On The Other Side Of Atonement And Sacrifice God Forgives Sin Only When His Justice Is Satisfied The Substitutionary Atonement Of Animals Spoke Both To The Magnitude Of Israel's Sin They Were In Exile In Judgment And It Also Spoke To The Need For Justice To Be Met So That Forgiveness Could Be Offered However The Blood Of Bulls And Lambs Could Not Completely Atone But The Blood Of Jesus Christ The Sinless Son Of God Spilled And Shed For Sinners Does The Altar Erected In Jerusalem Signaled
[40:28] The Exiles Need For A Coming Messiah A Savior Of Sinners A Prescription To Cure Our Greatest Malady With The Cross Serving As An Altar Jesus Blood Was Shed God Justice Was Met Forgiveness Is Offered Through Jesus And Him Alone Because Only He Can Atone Only He Can Save Now In Verses 2 And 4 There Is A Repeated Phrase That's Important And Informative For Us As It Pertains To Our Worship And That Phrase Is As It Is Written As It Is Written The Returnees Rebuilt The Altar Engaged God According To How He Prescribed For Them To In His Word In Other Words
[41:28] They Were Not We Are Not Allowed We Are Not Entitled To Worship God As We Please Personal Taste And Preference The Thought What's In This For Me Or Any Other Thing That Competes With What God Has Commanded For Us To Do When We Gather To Worship Him Must Not Be A Part Of What We Do We We Worship By The Book These People Led By Yeshua And Zerubbabel Insisted That Worship Can Only Be Offered Only When It Is In Accord With What God Has Written In His Word The Question That Must Concern Us Whenever We Engage In Corporate Public Worship Are These Has
[42:28] God Commanded It Is It Written In His Word Do The Lyrics Of Our Songs And The Message Of The Sermon Match What God Says And What He Says About Himself In The Bible Are All Of These Things That We Do Are They Biblically Informed Are They Theologically Correct Because Not Everything That Is Called Worship Is Truly Worship In The Eyes Of God Verses 4 Through 5 Detail How The Returnees Worship God Again As It Is Written They Resumed The Festivals That He Prescribed In His Word The Feast Of Tabernacles Which Symbolized Their Wilderness Wanderings When The Israelites Had No Home And As They Lived And As They Journeyed From Egypt To The Promised Land Pretty Fitting For Where They Are Right Now Given Their Current Situation Though We Are New Testament People And Though We Live Under The Covenant Of Grace We
[43:29] Are Still God's People And Our Worship Must Be Informed By God As Prescribed As Written In His Word Because We Too Are Pilgrims On A Journey From One Land To Another Now The Third Principle Regarding Our Worship We Worship With God As Our Priority Verses Six Through Seven Show How The People Came Together As One Man Before The Lord Working Together Sharing The Same Purpose Following What God Prescribed In His Word With A Shared Priority Which Was To Worship God In The Present They Reconstructed The Altar As They Made!
[44:12] Future Plans To Eventually Their First Priority Began And Would Continue With The Worship Of God Who He Is As He Commands They Understood That Was Their Priority They Understood That Was Their Purpose Now Let Me Ask You Some Questions Do You Worship God With A Purpose Do You Understand That Purpose Do You Come Here I'm Talking About Sunday Morning Just To Make An Appearance Because It's Part Of Your Routine If You're Not Here People Are Going To Bug You You'd Rather Not Answer Those Phone Calls Or Receive Those Text Messages Where Were You So Maybe You're Going Through The Motions Or Maybe You're Here Because You Have A Bone To Pick With Somebody Oh I
[45:12] Know Such And Such Is Going To Be There At Church Tomorrow And I Got Something To Say Are You Distracted By Others In Here In This Place Cell Phones Are Great But Man They Are Such A Distraction You Find Yourself Distracted By Your Phone Or Other Things Going To The Bath We Have A Lot Of People Who Need To Use The Bath Room When I Get Up To Preach And I Understand Nature Calls We Don't Have Commercial Breaks For A Sermon Maybe We Should They're Long But They're Not That Long But You Know What I Wonder Is It Really That You Need To Go Or Is It Truly That You Feel The Need To Leave Because What You're Hearing Is Something You Don't Like A Little Too Convicting Don't
[46:13] Be Afraid To Use The Bath I Won't Think Bad Things About You But I Want You To Think About That Because You Listen If You Get Up And Leave You May Be Missing The One Thing That God Really Has To Say To You Do You Worship God As He Prescribed In His Word Do You Worship God As If He Is Truly Your Top Priority Maybe Looking At The Watch And You Know That Game Is Going To Start Soon Or The Lions Are Going Be Long At The Restaurants I Hope We Get Out Of Here Sunday Morning Should Be The Most Exciting Part Of All Of Our Weeks If It's Not For You Then I Challenge You To Ask Yourself And Really Reflect Over Why Not Why
[47:14] Isn't It Maybe You Don't Understand What You Were Made To Do What We Get To Do When We Come Together What Are You Doing On Saturday Night Or Better Yet The Week Before To Prepare Yourself For Right Now What We Do When We Gather Together On Sunday Are You Praying That God Will Move In This Place Sunday Night And The Week Before Are You Praying God As Long As You Haven't Returned We Are Planning We Are Going To Gather In Your House On Sunday We Are Going To Worship You Your Word Is Going To Be Proclaimed God There Are People Who Are Going!
[48:07] To Be There And They Need To Hear! They Need To Be Encouraged They Need To Be Convicted They Need To Be Lifted Up Bring Them And May It Happen That You Would Be Glorified Is That Even Something You Think About Are You Praying Sunday Night Friday Thursday Wednesday Tuesday Monday The Day After We Worship God I Can't Wait Till We Get Back Again And I Pray That You Will Be Glorified In My Life And In Our Church As We Gather Together And Worship You Are You Thinking About Are You Praying About Who Is Going To Be There Tomorrow Lord Who Are The Ones Point Them Out To Me That I Might Stir Them To To Love And To Good Works For The Sake Of Your Great Name We Need To Think About How We Worship And Why We Worship Differently
[49:08] Biblically And So Here's How We Should Adjust I Think To This Sermon Prepare Yourself To Worship God At All Times And In All The Ways That Please Him Make Worship Of Him Your Top Priority I'm Really Thankful For What Parker Shared Friday Night At Our Family Discipleship Seminar It Was Great Just Reflecting On On How Important It Is For Us To Worship That It's Not Just Something That We Do On Sunday It Should Be Something We Incorporate In Our Families In Our Homes Every Single Day And So I Encourage You To Do That If You Have Questions About That Talk To To Pastor Tyler He Has Resources!
[49:54] For You But At The Very! Least Will You Commit! To Pray For Our Time Together On Saturday Night Will You Commit To Remember To Do That Lord We're Going To Meet We're Going To Gather As One And May We Worship You In Spirit And Truth And I Pray That You Will Be At Work In Ways That Cause Us To Marvel And Lead Us To Worship You More Because Here's The Sad Reality Churches Today I'm Not Going To Toed Dying And What They're Trying To Do To Reach People On Sunday Mornings Is Crazy When I was In Seminary Danny And I Lived In This Apartment And There Was A Church Down The Road From Us And They Had All Of These Different Signs That They Would Put Out Different Things They Were Going To Do Now I'm Talking About Sunday Morning In
[50:55] Worship One Sunday It Was Tailgate Sunday And This Is Kansas City Area Right We Like Our Barbecue We Like The Chiefs We Like To Tailgate Bring Your Wear Your Chiefs Stuff We're Going To Tailgate In The Parking Lot And Have Worship There Even Crazier They Had A Sunday And I'm Not Making This Up It Was Bring Your Dog To Church Sunday Bring Your Dog And I Love Dogs I Love Them So Much I Have Two Bring Your Dog To Church Bring It Inside The Sanctuary And Your Dog And I Don't Know Maybe Maybe Your Cat Cats Cats Are Evil But And I Have Two Of Those As Well But Bring Your Dog Into The Place Of Worship And We're Going To Worship With Dogs And Cats Are You Kidding Me Isn't That A Little Bit Distracting From What We Are Called
[51:55] To Do Worship Is Serious Business And The People Of God Must Be Serious About It What We Do When We Worship What You Do When You Worship Matters A Lot It's Going To Be Doing It's Going To Be What You're Doing For All Of Eternity And It's Going To Be Awesome And It's Going To Be Great But You Know What It's Awesome And It's Great Now Prepare!
[52:35] And In Truth Let's Pray Lord You Are Worthy Of Our Worship You Are There Is None Like You You Created All Things Lord Our Purpose Is Found In You And You Alone You've Created Us In Your Image God You've Been Gracious To Give Us Your Word To Give Us Information About Who You Are About Who We Are You've Given Us The Gospel This Truth This Wonderful Reality You've Given Us Your Son Who Makes The Gospel The Good News That It Is Who Came And Who Lived Sinlessly And Who Died To Atone For Our Sins On
[53:35] The Cross Who Rose Again On The Third Day And Lord It's By Faith In Him It's By Faith In Him And Trusting In Him That You Save Us You're So Good God You're So Awesome You're So Worthy Of Our Worship God Forgive Me Forgive Us That So Often We Get Distracted By Things In This World And We Come Into This Place And We Forget What We're Doing And Why We're Doing It God I Pray That You Would Convict Our Hearts What We've Read In Your Word That
[54:36] You Would Change Us To Be People Who Are Excited For Sunday Morning Because It Means That We Get To Gather With Your People And Worship The One True And Living God Who's Been So Good And So Gracious To Sinful People Lord We Pray For The Churches That Are Out There Who Who Think That In Order To Get People To Come To Church They Need To Do Things And Create Events That Are Not Prescribed Not Found In Your Word God We Pray In Your Grace That You Would Reveal Their Error So That They Would!
[55:21] And That Your People Lord Would Worship You As You Have Commanded Because You're Worthy Lord Thank You For This Opportunity We've Had To Worship You Today God I Pray That You Would Be Be Pleased With It We Ask These Things In Jesus Name Amen I'll see you next time.