Participants:
Series Code: TDYFW
Program Code: TDYFW210002S
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:40 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:51 Mending broken people 01:08 Hello, friends, and welcome to 3ABN Family Worship, 01:12 where we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. 01:16 And that's actually what we're gonna be talking about tonight 01:18 during our study time together. 01:19 Our title is worship and then the subtitle, 01:23 of course, in spirit and truth. 01:25 We're gonna be looking at, you know, what is worship? 01:27 What's the importance of worship? 01:28 And there's a lot of things you can say about worship. 01:31 You know, there's so many different avenues 01:32 and subheadings and things you can take it 01:34 into a certain direction, 01:36 but tonight we're just gonna focus 01:37 in on what does the Bible say? 01:38 How did Jesus describe 01:40 what it means to properly worship? 01:42 And so, again, we just wanna thank you for joining us 01:44 because we know you could be anywhere else 01:46 doing anything else, but you are joining us here 01:48 on this Sabbath evening, 01:50 and praise the Lord for the Sabbath, right? 01:52 Amen to that. 01:53 I love this time where we can be around the table, 01:55 just like family 'cause that's what we are, right? 01:57 We're family literally, you know, 01:58 literally to a certain extent, but you guys also at home 02:04 watching all over the world, you are our family 02:05 and we praise the Lord for your love, 02:07 your prayers and support of this ministry as the gospel 02:11 through 3ABN is going all around the world right now. 02:13 And so praise God for that. 02:16 Well, I'm gonna go ahead and take the time 02:17 to introduce our guests. 02:20 It gets kind of weird for me to say that because usually 02:22 I'm on the guest side of things, 02:24 and Greg and Jill are usually 02:27 the ones hosting, but without further ado. 02:29 We just all family 02:30 We are, Brother Ryan. Yeah, we are all family. 02:32 So, Brother Greg Morikone, for those who may be watching 02:35 for the first time, you are the President of 3ABN, 02:39 and we're so grateful to have you here 02:40 joining us today. 02:41 It's a blessing, you know, and I like Family Worship time. 02:43 I mean, this is great, you know, spend the time, 02:44 you know, it's usually been a busy week. 02:46 And so to spend this time, like you said, 02:48 together as family, and then of course 02:50 with you at home and it's a blessing. 02:51 So thank you for the invitation. 02:52 Amen. And great topic too. 02:54 I know. I love it. 02:55 It's gonna be good. Thank you. 02:56 We'll hope we'll get everything in one in one hour, right? 02:58 That's true. 02:59 And, of course, Miss Jill Morikone, 03:01 Vice President, COO and we are so blessed to have you as well. 03:06 And I know you've got some lists for us 03:07 because I told you to make one, 03:09 and I know you've got a lot to share with us. 03:10 I was kind of relaxing thinking, 03:12 okay, well, Ryan's, you know, he's hosting. 03:14 So we're just kicking back 03:15 and get to enjoy the Word of God. 03:17 He said, "No, I know you're gonna have a list." 03:18 So I thought I better kick in gear. 03:20 Praise the Lord. Amen. 03:22 And across the table, we've got little brother Dakota Day, 03:27 and we're only about four and a half years apart. 03:28 I say little brother because he is my little brother, 03:30 but it's always a blessing to have you, 03:32 Amazing Facts evangelist, 03:34 you travel full-time on the road. 03:36 Literally like you live in an RV 03:38 and your home is where you park it. 03:40 That's right. Yeah. 03:42 We travel full time with the administrative 03:43 of Amazing Facts and we do public evangelistic campaigns 03:46 all over the world. 03:47 And it's just always a blessing and privilege to be here 03:49 with our 3ABN family, 03:51 just to do awesome Bible study together. 03:53 So, yeah, thank you guys for having us. 03:55 Praise the Lord. It's good to have you. 03:56 That has been nice you know, because I know COVID 03:57 kind of caused a little bit of a challenge 03:59 with all the travel and things a little bit. 04:01 So to have you and your wife, you know, close by, 04:03 I'm sure it's been nice to you. 04:04 Oh, man. You and Stephanie to have... 04:06 It's been a blessing, you know, about many years 04:08 I was on the road with Amazing Facts. 04:10 And we didn't get to see family as much as you'd like. 04:12 And so it's kind of been a blessing during these times. 04:14 It's good. It has. 04:15 It's blessing having you guys here too. 04:16 Well, thank you guys for having us. 04:18 It really is truly a blessing to come here 04:19 and get to visit my bigger bro 04:22 and just get to see all of you guys and worship here 04:24 at the Thompsonville Church. 04:25 Amen. Absolutely. 04:27 Praise the Lord. 04:28 Well, we're here to talk about literally 04:30 on 3ABN Family Worship. 04:32 We're gonna talk about worship 04:34 because worship is extremely important to God 04:37 and it should be extremely important 04:39 to us as Christians. 04:40 But before we dive deep into this topic, 04:42 I'm gonna ask Miss Jill, 04:43 if you would have a prayer for us. 04:44 Sure. 04:46 Holy Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus. 04:47 We're grateful for Your gifts, the gift of Sabbath, 04:50 the gift of salvation by grace through faith, 04:54 the gift of Your Spirit that gives us 04:56 insight into Your Word. 04:58 And right now we just ask for that. 05:00 We ask for the anointing of Your Holy Spirit. 05:02 We pray that You would open our minds and hearts 05:05 to receive the truth in Your Word. 05:09 And that, Lord, we wouldn't just study and go away, 05:12 but we would be study. 05:14 We would study and be changed. Amen. 05:16 Because of what You are going to do in our hearts and lives. 05:21 We give you this time, we give You ourselves 05:23 and we thank You in Jesus' name. 05:26 Amen. Amen. 05:27 Thank you so much. 05:30 Oxford's online dictionary. 05:32 I just wanna go right there. 05:34 Let's define what worship is 05:36 from kind of a secular perspective. 05:38 That's always interesting to know 05:39 because we know the Bible is very clear 05:41 on what worship is and we're gonna talk a lot about that, 05:44 but I found this to be very interesting, 05:45 very quick, very simple, very easy. 05:47 Oxford online dictionary says that 05:49 "Worship is the feeling or expression 05:53 of reverends and adoration for a deity." 05:57 That's the general kind of secular definition. 05:59 And I think that there's a lot of accuracy 06:02 in that definition to them for the most part. 06:04 But I want to start just kind of, 06:05 let's start with the Brother Greg 06:06 and Sister Jill here. 06:08 What is your concept of worship? 06:11 What is worship to you? 06:13 Yeah, that's great. That's a great question. 06:14 You know what first comes to mind? 06:16 Well, three things, one would be family worship 06:18 as in at home. 06:20 When I think of worship, 06:21 I'm thinking, okay, family worship. 06:23 I grew up, I was blessed to have a family 06:24 that had family worship. 06:25 I also think of worship as in going to church. 06:28 You know, my parents very much took us to church. 06:30 So I think of like a worship center, a sanctuary, 06:33 but then I also think of worship as a one-on-one. 06:36 My parents were very strong with that. 06:37 Like, okay, son, make sure 06:38 you have your own time of worship. 06:40 So that's when I think of worship. 06:41 When you ask that question, 06:43 that's what comes to mind, those three. 06:44 That's awesome. Praise the Lord. 06:45 That's important. And worshiping the Lord. 06:47 That's right. 06:48 'Cause you know what I talk about. 06:49 Okay, there are other things that you can worship, you know, 06:51 money, you know, sports figures or other things, 06:53 but remember to keep, you know, God number one. 06:55 Absolutely wonderful. Jill? 06:57 I think of Romans 12, when I think of worship, 06:59 that's where my mind goes. 07:01 So if we could go Romans 12. Yeah, absolutely. 07:03 Romans 12:1. 07:05 Yeah, that's beautiful. I love this. 07:08 "I beseech you therefore brethren... 07:11 by the mercies of God 07:12 that you present your bodies a living sacrifice or in Greek, 07:16 it could be offering. 07:17 So wait a minute, we're supposed to sacrifice. 07:19 We're supposed to be an offering, a living offering, 07:22 holy, that word means set apart, adios, set apart. 07:27 Holy acceptable to God, 07:29 which is your reasonable service 07:31 or which you could translate, 07:33 which is your spiritual act of worship. 07:37 So when I think of worship, I think of surrender. 07:42 It's about me coming before God with the offering 07:46 of myself and saying, "God, all I have, 07:50 everything I have, everything I am is Yours. 07:54 And I'm not holding on to some other idol 07:57 that maybe wants to come between me and God 07:58 or I'm not holding on to something else. 08:00 God, I am yours. 08:02 Make me holy. 08:04 God, as I give myself to You, 08:07 would You work Your character in my life? 08:10 That's worship to me. Wow. 08:12 Is that surrender to God. 08:15 A quote, I just yesterday found this is sometimes 08:19 you have to lay your dream down to pick up God's best. 08:22 Wow. 08:24 And to me, that's worship. Yes. 08:25 You lay down what you think you want, 08:27 what you think your life is all about. 08:29 This spiritual act of worship, 08:31 giving it to God and picking up what's His best. 08:34 Wow. That is so awesome. 08:36 What He has for us is incredible. 08:39 So that's, to me worship is allowing God 08:43 is that surrender and allowing Him to come in. 08:46 That is beautiful. 08:47 As you were saying that, I thought to myself, 08:49 that picture of Christ in Gethsemane came to my mind, 08:52 you know, nevertheless, not My will, but Your be done. 08:56 What an awesome scene of worship there, right? 08:58 That's awesome. 09:00 Dakota, what's your concept, your idea? 09:03 What is worship to you? 09:04 So worship to me when I first initially saw 09:07 the question for this study, what is worship? 09:10 My first initial thought went to, you know, 09:13 to be completely in awe and in adoration of God. 09:16 And it's funny because the adoration 09:17 is the same word that they used 09:19 in the dictionary there that you looked up. 09:21 But what's interesting though, too, is, you know, 09:23 when I was looking into the Old Testament 09:25 and New Testament terms of worship, 09:28 I found something very beautiful 09:29 that I could relate to every single day. 09:32 And the Old Testament definition 09:34 or Old Testament word for worship is shachah, 09:37 which is very interesting word. 09:39 It's a Hebrew, 09:41 but it means to prostrate oneself 09:43 or to put your nose to the ground. 09:45 That's good. 09:46 And so literally like it's a like complete awe 09:49 and realizing like, if we were before 09:51 the presence of God right now, how would we act? 09:52 Yeah. Right. 09:54 We would just be like, boom, you know? 09:56 And then the New Testament where it came to mind 09:58 and this one was a really one that I could relate to. 10:01 And when I said being in adoration of God 10:04 is the New Testament word is proskuneo. 10:06 And that means very interesting. 10:08 Listen to this, to kiss like a dog 10:11 licking his master's hand. 10:13 Wow. 10:14 Now I have a golden retriever. 10:15 All right? 10:17 And I love my golden retriever. 10:18 Her name is honey, but I call her honey bun. 10:20 Okay. 10:21 And every single morning of my life. 10:25 And I'm sure many of the viewer's here 10:26 can probably relate. 10:28 Every single morning, if you have a pet, 10:29 dog especially. 10:31 She comes to me and wants to wake me up 10:34 by the bedside of our RV, 10:36 you know, where our bed is in our RV. 10:38 She wants to come 10:39 and she'll want to link my hands. 10:42 And even if I raise her from the chair, 10:44 she just wants to lick my hands. 10:45 She wants to be there. 10:47 And I love that, to kiss 10:49 like a dog licking his master's hands. 10:51 And that means to reverence and adore. 10:54 And I just, when I saw that, I thought, you know, 10:55 that's what true worship is too. 10:57 Amen. That is awesome. 10:59 That's an awesome illustration, 11:01 you know... taking consideration a dog, 11:06 you know, they're very loyal to their masters. 11:08 You know, animal pets can be very loyal to their masters 11:11 and we could learn a lot from the way, 11:14 especially because I've seen the attentiveness 11:18 and the obedience and the humbleness 11:20 that his dog shows to him 11:23 as he has trained her very well. 11:24 And, you know, they love her and care for her 11:26 and take care of her. 11:28 And it's just amazing. 11:29 And sometimes when I see that scene, 11:31 I'm just like, wow, that's how we should be 11:33 with the Lord, yet even more, right? 11:35 Because God is our master. 11:36 Right. Absolutely. 11:38 I have to read this 'cause I found an article 11:41 from 2012 Christianity Today. 11:45 And I just wanna read these words 11:47 'cause I thought it was worded so well 11:49 just to kind of encapsulates 11:51 what it is that we're discussing today 11:53 as to what worship is. 11:54 And then in a few minutes, 11:55 we're gonna get into what Jesus said about worship, 11:58 which is, you know, it's kind of a, it's a dual thing. 12:01 We have to worship Him in spirit and truth. 12:04 And we're gonna get into that in just a moment. 12:05 But I want to read this from a 2012 article 12:09 in Christianity Today. 12:10 And this is what they say. 12:12 "Worship is not the slow song that the choir sings. 12:17 Worship is not the amount you place 12:19 in the offering basket. 12:21 Worship is not volunteering in children's church. 12:25 Yes, these may be acts or expressions of worship, 12:30 but they do not define what true worship really is. 12:34 There are numerous definitions of the word worship 12:37 yet one in particular encapsulates 12:40 the priority we should give to worship 12:42 as a spiritual discipline." 12:44 And in the article, they go to that definition. 12:48 And it's a beautiful definition, 12:49 which you probably won't find in any dictionary today 12:52 'cause this actually comes from Webster's dictionary, 12:54 the 1828 edition. 12:57 And this is the definition of worship 12:59 in Webster's dictionary 1828, 13:02 "Worship is to honor with extravagant love 13:06 and extreme submission. 13:08 And sometimes we don't like that word extreme 13:10 because it sounds just a little extreme, right? 13:12 It does. 13:13 But yet, you know, 13:15 when it comes to your love for God, 13:16 does it sometimes appear to some, to others as extreme. 13:19 It can, depending on how devoted you are to Him, 13:22 but the article goes on 13:24 and this is what really caught my attention. 13:26 It go on to say, "True worship in other words 13:29 is defined by the priority 13:31 we place on who God is in our lives 13:35 and where God is on our list of priorities. 13:38 And then I highlighted this next line 13:40 because it really just identifies it very clearly. 13:43 True worship is a matter of the heart expressed 13:47 through a lifestyle of holiness. 13:50 It's an attitude of the heart. 13:51 I remember taking a class, you know, 13:54 in seminary program at Andrews, worship, word and music. 13:56 And we talked about how worship is the attitude of the heart. 14:01 It's almost an, a lifestyle, it's a state of being. 14:05 It's not necessarily what you do. 14:06 Those are expressions. 14:08 Those actions are expressions of it. 14:10 But this goes on to say, 14:11 "Thus, if your lifestyle does not express 14:13 the beauty of holiness through an extravagant 14:16 and exaggerated love for God, 14:19 and you do not live in extreme 14:21 or excessive submission to God," 14:23 again, that kind of sounds a little extreme, 14:25 but they, their word, 14:26 their usage of words here I think are accurate. 14:28 "Then I invite you, they say, to make worship 14:31 a non-negotiable priority in your life." 14:35 That was really, really... 14:37 I thought it really caught my attention. 14:38 And so what is worship? 14:41 Dakota, I wanna go to 1 Chronicles 16. 14:44 Okay. 14:45 And we're just gonna kind of start here 14:46 because a lot of people, when they think of worship, 14:48 they think of, you know, their mind automatically goes 14:51 to like a church scene perhaps maybe. 14:53 You're in church and you're participating 14:55 in a worship service, right? 14:57 We call that our worship experience 14:59 or the divine worship hour. 15:01 And so a lot of people in their mind, 15:03 they have the concept of worship 15:05 as things that they do. 15:07 And as we have clearly said, more than once 15:09 that worship can be expressed. 15:11 Those are expressions or actions 15:13 and the correct term in many cases, 15:15 as far as what's going on in the worship service, 15:17 with the liturgy, you know, 15:19 you do this at this time is an expression of this, 15:22 your worship and your homage to God. 15:23 And you do this at this time. 15:24 And it kinda seems like our worship services 15:27 are organized in that way. 15:28 This is the time for the offering. 15:30 And this is the time to sing the opening hymn, the children. 15:33 People get upset if you change the order. 15:34 Right. 15:35 You know, like, well, no, 15:37 the offering needs to come this time. 15:38 No, the children's stories here. 15:40 So, yeah, absolutely. Right. 15:41 And then there's others who absolutely despise 15:43 the way we, our worship services are organized. 15:46 And, but again, I think this 1 Chronicle 16:23-31 15:51 kind of encapsulates what many people's ideas 15:54 are as far as how you express 15:56 or declare that worship unto God. 15:58 So, Dakota, why don't you read 1 Chronicles 16:23-31? 16:02 All right. 16:04 It says, "Sing unto the Lord, all the earth, 16:06 shew forth from day to day his salvation. 16:09 Declare his glory among the heathen, 16:11 his marvelous works among all nations. 16:14 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: 16:17 he also is to be feared above all gods. 16:20 For all the gods of the people are idols: 16:22 but the Lord made the heavens. 16:24 Glory and honor are in his presence, 16:26 strength and gladness are in his place. 16:29 Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, 16:31 give unto the Lord glory and strength. 16:34 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: 16:37 bring an offering, and come before him: 16:40 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 16:43 Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, 16:48 that it may not be moved. 16:51 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: 16:54 and let men say among the nations, 16:57 the Lord reigneth." 16:59 Amen. Beautiful. 17:00 It's kind of a beautiful poetic expression of worship, right? 17:06 Tremble before Him. 17:08 I kind of, you know, 17:09 those words kind of don't fit our idea 17:12 right of standing in the presence of the Lord. 17:14 But I don't think that this is necessarily talking about 17:16 trembling in the sense of, 17:18 you know, shaking in your jeans and then, you know, 17:20 running the opposite way from the Lord riding 17:22 as in fear or, but this is talking about more of a, 17:25 an homage of respect and awe, 17:27 a reverential awe for the Lord. 17:29 This is talking about a response of true worship. 17:33 And so, as I was reading through this, 17:37 it took me to the Book of Revelation. 17:39 And I know that you had prepared something, Jill, 17:41 I think, from the Book of Revelation here, 17:43 but I would like to go to Revelation 4 17:45 and, Brother Greg, 17:46 I'm going to let you read Revelation chapter 4. 17:49 This is that beautiful throne room scene, 17:51 where we see worship taking place, 17:54 the actions, the expressions of worship taking place 17:57 right there in the presence of God. 17:59 This is, of course, within the context 18:01 of the 24 elders and the living creatures. 18:03 Revelation 4:10-11. 18:06 Go ahead and read that for us. Yes. 18:07 Revelation 4:10-11 says, 18:09 " The twenty-four elders fall down before Him 18:12 who sits on the throne and worship Him 18:14 who lives forever and ever, 18:17 and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: 18:21 'You are worthy, O Lord, 18:22 to receive glory and honor and power, 18:26 for You created all things, and by Your will they exist 18:30 and were created.' " 18:32 Amen. 18:33 Yeah. That's powerful, isn't it? 18:34 I love that, right? 18:36 Because not only does this give us kind of an image, 18:39 a mental picture of these heavenly beings, 18:42 just kind of prostrate in front of the Lord, 18:45 casting their crowns before God, 18:46 giving their awe in this kind of proskuneo, 18:50 you know, nose to the floor, 18:51 you know, kind of humble situation, 18:54 but it also answers an important question here. 18:56 And, Jill, I'm gonna let you kind of take us 18:59 into your Revelation study here on worship. 19:03 But it also, I believe, really identifies 19:06 why God is worthy of worship. 19:09 You know, from a secular minded perspective, 19:12 someone who may not be very religious, 19:14 someone who may even be, you know, atheist or agnostic, 19:16 they may look, you know, at the concept of worshiping 19:19 this one Christian God, and say, 19:21 "Isn't there many gods in the world?" 19:22 Right? 19:24 What makes this God worthy of worship? 19:25 What makes Him stand out? 19:27 And I love the fact that in this verse here, 19:30 it says that you are worthy Lord 19:31 to receive glory and honor and power. 19:33 Why? 19:34 For You created all things and by Your will they exist 19:39 and were created. 19:40 We serve a mighty God. 19:41 We worship the creator of all things. 19:43 That's powerful too because He created, 19:45 but then also this word exists, right? 19:47 Yes. Staining, 19:48 Right. That's huge. 19:50 Lots of people cannot create living things, 19:51 but to keep it going. 19:53 I mean, that's powerful. 19:54 Amen. It really is. 19:56 Yeah. Amen. 19:57 To me, it's just amazing. 19:58 I love what you said, Ryan, because why do we worship? 20:00 Yeah. We have to know who we worship. 20:02 That's right. Right? 20:04 Because if you don't understand God, 20:06 we recently studied Isaiah 20:08 for Sabbath School Panel is Isaiah. 20:10 And it reminds me of when we got to Isaiah 40, 20:12 I was just, I was undone. 20:14 Who is this guy that we worship this God, 20:18 our God is omnipotent. 20:20 Our God is eternal. 20:22 Our God is the creator. 20:23 That's why we worship. 20:25 And when I read here in Revelation 45, 20:28 that's what I see. 20:29 The reasons why we worship. 20:31 So I wanna look at just a couple of verses. 20:33 Sure. 20:34 If we pick up in verse 8, the middle of verse 8, 20:37 these were the four living creatures crying out, 20:39 we're in Revelation 4:8. 20:42 What did they cry out? 20:43 "Holy Holy, Holy." Why do we worship? 20:46 Because our God is Holy. Right. 20:50 "Lord, God almighty, who was and is and is to come." 20:54 Why do we worship? 20:56 Our God is internal. That's right. 20:58 He always existed 21:00 from eternity past to the future. 21:02 Our God is eternal. 21:03 Then jumping down to what Greg just read in verse 11, 21:06 "You are worthy, oh Lord, 21:07 to receive glory and honor and power, 21:09 for You created all things." 21:12 Our God is not just holy, we worship because He's holy. 21:15 We worship because He is eternal. 21:17 We worship because He is our creator. 21:21 For You created all things, 21:22 and by Your will they exist and were created. 21:25 We worship because He is our sustainer. 21:28 Right. 21:29 Then we get to Revelation 5. 21:31 And Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah, 21:34 the lamb slain shows up, right? 21:36 Peter references this in Acts Chapter 2. 21:39 Remember that Pentecostal sermon 21:41 and saying after Jesus resurrected. 21:43 He ascended to the right hand of the Father. 21:45 That's right. 21:46 And so we see Jesus is worthy to open the scroll, 21:51 but then the living creatures and the elders fall down 21:56 and worship Jesus. 21:57 And this is in verse 9, they sing a new song, 22:00 we're in Revelation 5:9, 22:02 "You are worthy to take the scroll 22:03 and open its seals, for you were slain." 22:06 Why do we worship? 22:08 Because He's not just holy, He's not just eternal. 22:10 He's not just our creator. 22:12 He's not just our sustainer. He is our redeemer. 22:15 Wow. Amen. 22:17 And have redeemed us. 22:18 You were slain and have redeemed us 22:20 to God by Your blood. 22:22 Amen. 22:23 Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 22:28 salvation is for everyone, not just one group. 22:31 Salvation is for everyone. 22:33 Have made us kings and priests to our God, 22:35 and we shall reign on the earth. 22:37 He's made us kings and priests. 22:39 So we worship God. 22:42 I love Him because of who He is. 22:44 That's right. 22:45 That's what worship is about, recognizing God. 22:48 Praise the Lord. Yeah. 22:49 You know, Brother Ryan, I wanna go back to, 22:51 I was just thinking about why we worship 22:52 and going back to what you're talking about 22:54 those definitions and thank you for putting them 22:56 in here in the notes here. 22:57 Going back to the Webster's one. 22:59 Worship is to honor with extravagant love. 23:04 So I think we worship, 23:05 we don't, I don't think I know we worship 23:06 because we love God. 23:08 That's how we should worship, right, because we love God. 23:09 You had here too. 23:11 This one from the Christianity Today. 23:12 I like that with extravagant or exaggerated love for God. 23:16 So I think of Mark 12:13, it says, 23:22 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 23:26 with all thy soul, with all thy mind. 23:28 Right. 23:29 You know, Dakota, I'm going back to your dog. 23:31 You know, your dog is not a human being, 23:32 but I believe your dog is licking you because 23:34 for one thing, you know, 23:35 you feed her and stuff like that. 23:37 But I also believe, however dog can love somebody. 23:39 There's some type of connection that's there. 23:41 Absolutely, yeah. 23:42 You know, so I think about us with God. 23:43 Why do I worship God? 23:45 Why I even want to worship God, I can be afraid of God, 23:48 but that's not very fun. 23:49 Yeah. Right. 23:50 But if I love God, that's huge. 23:52 Absolutely, yeah. 23:53 You know, I love my wife while I love my wife, 23:55 there's a relationship that's there. 23:57 So I think for me, the reason for worshiping God, 23:59 because I love God. 24:01 He created me. 24:02 He sustains me. That's the motivation. 24:04 It's the motivation. Thank you. 24:06 That's the key word. Praise the Lord. 24:07 I love what you said there because we love God. 24:12 We express our worship to Him 24:14 and it's based on that extravagant love. 24:16 That's right. 24:17 It's great that you read here, yeah But it's powerful. 24:19 We love Him because He first loved us. 24:20 Yes, exactly what I was thinking of. 24:22 That's right. 24:23 God doesn't expect us to just worship Him. 24:25 You know, like, you know, you don't know Me, worship Me. 24:27 He extends Himself first. 24:29 He gives us a reason. 24:30 That's beautiful. Why we want to worship Him. 24:32 And I think of my dog, you know, like 24:33 the Bible says in Genesis that God gave us, 24:36 you know, Adam and Eve and humanity dominion 24:39 over the beast of the earth, right? 24:41 And so when you think about it that way, 24:42 like we have dominion over all the beasts of the earth, 24:44 but what's amazing though is like to think about 24:47 the beast of the earth and the animals of the earth 24:49 will not show us love and affection 24:51 if we do not first show them love and affection. 24:53 Yeah. 24:54 You see some people who have animals, 24:56 you go to like the humane society 24:57 or something like that, where they do, 25:00 you know they have pets that have been abused 25:02 and all these different things, animal shelters and stuff. 25:06 And you see these dogs that will like, 25:07 when you walk up to the cage, 25:09 they'll walk to the back of the cage. 25:10 They don't wanna be around humans, 25:12 because of the way they've been treated. 25:14 But my dog is not that way, like she runs to humans 25:17 because of how we've treated her. 25:19 She just thinks humans are the grandest thing 25:21 that's ever happened in the world. 25:23 And she wants to show her love and affection 25:25 to each human she comes to. 25:27 And if you guys have pets, you know 25:28 what I'm talking about? 25:30 I mean, it's such a beautiful thing. 25:31 It is. 25:32 But I think it really, 25:34 it kind of really encapsulates the idea of, 25:35 of why we should love God. 25:37 It's because when we see what He's done for us, 25:39 as you mentioned, Jill, He redeemed us. 25:42 When we see the love of... 25:44 that it was displayed on Calvary, 25:45 it gives us an awe. 25:47 It's just like, wow. 25:48 And we like a dog, we just wanna come to Jesus 25:51 and we just wanna wag our tails, 25:52 you know, and just... 25:54 We just wanna be happy. 25:56 And we want to like my dog, honey, she lives to please me. 26:01 She really does, like, she lives to please me. 26:04 Everything that she does and her entire life's 26:06 existence is to just, she's always staring at me. 26:10 If I get up to go to the kitchen or whatever, 26:11 it doesn't matter. 26:13 She's always there and she's just willing. 26:15 And you know, I think of the scripture 26:16 where Jesus was speaking to the woman, 26:19 who come to Him and He was, 26:21 she was asking for a healing, right? 26:22 And he says what? 26:24 I should not throw what is holding on to the dogs. 26:27 Right. Yeah. 26:28 But then what does she say? 26:29 She says, even the dogs eat the crumbs, 26:32 which fall from their master's table. 26:35 She compared herself to a dog. 26:37 Right? 26:38 In a sense, or he compared her to, so to speak, 26:41 or she compares herself to a dog. 26:43 I almost got that backwards, but basically in a sense that 26:46 that she's saying, yeah, but 26:47 I'm willing to take anything from your table. 26:50 I'm willing to come to you 26:52 and just soak up everything you have. 26:54 And I think that if we would be like that with God, 26:56 we would understand what true worship really is. 26:58 Absolutely. That's good. 26:59 I like John 3:16 too. Yeah. 27:01 Yes, Ryan, for God so loved the world. 27:03 Yeah. Amen 27:04 That's powerful. It is, man. 27:06 He gave us the most precious gift. 27:07 Yeah. 27:08 Praise the Lord. Yeah. 27:10 So it was great. I love this topic. 27:11 It goes to so many directions. Absolutely. 27:12 Yeah, you could, we could dissect this for 27:14 two or three more family worships 27:16 if we wanted to, but you know, it's just powerful. 27:18 And I have to make mention, I can't help, 27:20 but my musical mind 27:21 picks this up there in Revelation 5, 27:23 where you took us earlier. 27:25 You know, you can sense and this was almost 27:28 come across as comedic here 27:29 or facetious, but that's not the point. 27:32 I just, it's amazing. 27:33 You can see, you can almost sense 27:35 God's worthiness of worship. 27:38 And the fact that these brothers, 27:40 they sing a new song the Bible says. 27:42 They freestyled a brand new song 27:44 that nobody else had ever seen before. 27:46 That's how much love and how much connectivity 27:50 that these brothers had, 27:52 you know, to the Lord in the sense that 27:53 on the spot, they were able, 27:55 but I'm sure, the leading and guiding power 27:57 of the Holy Spirit to sing a new song, 27:59 to bring worship and honor to Christ. 28:01 And that's powerful. 28:02 Then there should be a kind 28:04 of a reflection of our life as well, 28:06 that our life should be a reflection 28:08 of being able to always come up with a new, fresh way 28:12 to worship the Lord. 28:13 And we're going to get into in just a moment of, 28:16 you know, how not to worship, right? 28:18 You know, because we're not gonna spend 28:19 a lot of time on that, but you know, 28:21 there's, we're gonna talk about how to worship, 28:22 you know, from a biblical perspective, 28:24 but how not to worship. 28:25 Before we transition to that, is there anything that 28:27 you guys want to say on this, on this part? 28:29 So I'm going to kick this to Dakota right now. 28:31 Dakota, we're about to go into answering 28:33 the question that's on our outline here 28:35 which is, how does the Bible instruct us 28:37 to worship the Lord? 28:39 We're gonna be looking at what Jesus said 28:40 and how to worship the Lord. 28:41 But you, you brought this to me as we were preparing for this. 28:44 And you said you know what? 28:45 Someone may have the question of, 28:47 you know, how do we make sure 28:49 how we worship the Lord correctly? 28:52 There's gotta be ways, perspectives, mindset, 28:56 concepts of worship that is not appropriate, 28:59 or that, you know, ways that we should not worship. 29:02 Kind of take us down a little bit of that 29:03 just for a period? 29:05 We as human beings, we're born into this world 29:07 with a very sinful and self-centered nature, 29:10 and we tend to make worship sometimes, 29:13 let's just say it this way, let's be frank. 29:14 A lot of times we tend to make worship about ourselves. 29:17 Yeah. 29:18 And I'm not talking about necessarily just, 29:20 you know, day-to-day activities per se. 29:22 I'm even talking about some people 29:24 who mean well, but yet worship even in God's house, 29:27 even in church sometimes turns into a worship 29:31 that is self-centered about 29:33 what I do rather than what, 29:36 yes, performance, rather than what about God, right? 29:39 Worship should be not about us, but about God. 29:42 And I was thinking about that, a wrong ways to worship 29:44 and just centering on that. 29:46 So true worship is about who? 29:48 God. It's about God. 29:50 It's about the true God, right? 29:51 So, the first instance 29:54 that I was thinking about in Scripture, 29:55 where we see like two ideas of worship being introduced 29:59 is in Genesis 4, between Cain and Abel. 30:01 Right? 30:02 You mentioned offering earlier, Jill, 30:04 when you were quoting Romans 12. 30:06 And we see these 30:07 two dichotomous ideas of worship 30:09 first presented at Genesis 4, Cain and Abel. 30:11 You know, the story, Cain brings 30:13 an offering unto God, 30:15 but his offering consisted of fruits and vegetables. 30:19 How did he get that? 30:20 His own work. His own work, right? 30:21 It was his own work, you know? 30:23 And I think many of you guys 30:24 would be able to relate to this. 30:25 Maybe you've been to a potluck and the church member walks in 30:27 and they're so excited about their tomatoes. 30:30 Ooh, look at my tomatoes. 30:32 I have the most beautiful tomatoes, 30:34 you know, in all of the area, right? 30:36 And if you guys have seen this too, 30:38 and sometimes we can become proud about that. 30:39 Look at what I did. 30:41 You know, I got the soil right and I measured it. 30:43 And so it all becomes about us. 30:45 And so Cain's offering was more centered on him 30:48 and it was his worship to God, but it was all about him. 30:50 Right. 30:52 The idea of him presenting, it was like, okay, now 30:54 what do you think about that, God? 30:55 You know, look at what I'd done, you know? 30:58 And Abel just brings what God done. 31:02 Yeah. Right. 31:03 The lamb. Right. 31:04 And he makes it all about God. 31:06 And so obviously Abel's offering was accepted. 31:08 Cain's offering was rejected. 31:10 Now some people come to church and they have this idea. 31:13 They wanna go to church. 31:14 And me and Ryan, you and I've talked about this, 31:16 you've even preached about this many times, I've heard it. 31:17 And I love the sermons that you did years ago on this, 31:20 where people come to church with their hand held out. 31:23 You know, and they're like, what can I get today 31:26 from this service? 31:28 And maybe you've been in church before 31:29 and you've walked away from a service 31:30 or a sermon perhaps, 31:32 and you go, well, I didn't get much out of that. 31:35 Well, that's not the purpose. That's not the point per se. 31:38 The point is what did God get out of it? 31:40 Did God get loved? 31:42 Did God get adored? 31:43 Did God get praised? 31:46 And so sometimes we tend to make it all about us. 31:49 And the other thing I wanted to share on this was, 31:51 it was really beautiful, altars. 31:54 That's good. So what are altars for? 31:57 For a sacrifice. They are for sacrifice, right? 31:59 Altars are for sacrifice, and they are for worship. 32:02 Altars is all about what? 32:05 What's the purpose? 32:07 Like, what's the main purpose of the altar? 32:08 Surrender. 32:10 It's all about the sacrifice that's on the altar. 32:11 Okay. Now I get you. 32:13 Right. Okay. 32:14 So the altar is for a sacrifice, right? 32:16 You make an altar in the Old Testament 32:17 for a sacrifice. 32:18 So it's all about the all caps, the Sacrifice. 32:22 Sacrifice, right. 32:24 And sometimes there is that, 32:26 I guess you can say that tendency again, 32:28 self-centeredness and our sinful nature 32:30 to make it all about us. 32:31 And as I was reading in Exodus, 32:33 I was reminded of God's command concerning the altars. 32:36 This is beautiful because in Exodus 20 it's right after 32:39 the Ten Commandments. 32:40 Yeah. Right. 32:42 You see, God's command concerning altars. 32:44 And He says this in Exodus 20:24- 26, 32:48 he says, "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, 32:52 and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, 32:54 and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, 32:56 and thine oxen: in all places 32:58 where I record my name I will come unto thee." 33:00 So notice what God's saying now what He will do? 33:02 I will come unto thee. Right. 33:03 "I will bless thee 33:05 and if thou will make me an altar of stone, 33:08 thou shalt not build it of hewn stone." 33:11 And then he says this, 33:13 "For if you lift your tool upon it, 33:15 you have polluted it." 33:17 And then he says, 33:18 "Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, 33:21 that thy nakedness be not discovered there upon." 33:24 And so we see here is God saying, listen, 33:27 if you make Me an altar, 33:28 you better not lift a tool upon that altar. 33:31 Because if you lift a tool, tool meaning work. 33:33 If you add to the altar, 33:35 then the sacrifice will not be the focus on the, on your part. 33:40 It'll be, look at this great altar that I have built. 33:44 Right? 33:45 And God's saying, "Listen, it's not about what you do. 33:47 The altar's about the sacrifice there upon." 33:49 Right. Yeah. 33:51 And so, and he says, don't, 33:52 you don't make steps up to that altar either, 33:54 because you don't get closer to God based on what you do. 33:57 Right. 33:58 That's beautiful. Right? 33:59 The altar is supposed to be made of earth. 34:01 And so I thought that was really meaningful 34:02 in relation to worship that we're not to do what 34:06 we think we can add to what God has done, 34:08 or even think that we can, in any way. 34:12 I guess you can say, that we can not only add, 34:16 but I guess that we can make worship 34:18 about ourselves in a kind of a slide way, 34:20 taking the attention off of God. 34:22 And sometimes that happens 34:23 that people don't even realize it. 34:24 Yeah, absolutely. 34:26 I can relate to the concept of going, 34:27 you know, as he brought up, 34:29 you know, and I've spoken on this a few times. 34:30 My idea for many years was going to church was, 34:33 I go to church to get something from it. 34:35 And that's not to say that we don't, 34:37 there's not an aspect that we go, 34:39 you know, to receive a blessing, right? 34:41 God wants to bestow a blessing upon us 34:43 in those worship atmospheres. 34:46 But we certainly have to have the right mindset 34:47 to approach the Lord, to appear before the Lord, not in, 34:51 Lord, what can I receive from You, but rather, Lord, 34:53 what can I give to You today? 34:55 Myself, my worship, my offering my tithe, my time, 34:59 my love, my worship, you know, all those are important 35:02 as we approach the Lord in worship. 35:04 And so, yeah go ahead. 35:05 I was just gonna say, that's really powerful 35:07 what you shared, Dakota. 35:08 I liked that because we think, okay, 35:10 I'm not in the world, I'm not doing all those things. 35:13 I'm a Christian. 35:15 I'm supposed to be following God. 35:18 And yet in my quest to follow God, 35:21 it can still be all about me. 35:22 That's just deep what you shared, 35:24 you know, to come back to that purpose. 35:27 Yeah. That's good. 35:28 And it's so subtle, we don't even recognize. 35:29 I mean, I've done that for years 35:31 and in my previous years and I used to make it 35:33 all about me and not even realize 35:35 I was making it all about me. 35:36 And then you, sometimes you wake up one day 35:37 and you don't even, 35:39 you feel like you're far from God. 35:40 You know what I mean? 35:42 And maybe some of you guys can relate. 35:43 I know that we used to be my experiences. 35:45 And now when I look to God and His love, 35:47 and I look to the sacrifice, like you said. 35:50 That's beautiful. It's good. 35:52 It's totally revolutionizes your idea of it. 35:54 Yeah. Great illustration. 35:57 So let's go to John 4. 35:59 Brother Greg, I'm gonna ask you to read this for us. 36:01 This is kind of the foundation. 36:02 This is kind of where this whole conversation 36:05 has been leading to because we're talking about worship 36:08 and so we talked. 36:09 Dakota brought out beautifully of things 36:11 that we must consider 36:12 and how not to approach worship. 36:14 But rather now we're gonna ask the question of 36:16 how does the Bible instruct us to worship the Lord? 36:19 And, of course, these are the words of Christ 36:22 and what better person to receive this instruction 36:24 from than from the Son of God Himself. 36:26 And so Brother Greg, this is, of course, 36:28 is within the context of the conversation 36:30 that Jesus is having with a woman at the well. 36:32 And so, you know, she brings to his attention, 36:34 you know what? 36:36 You know, Jerusalem, there's worship in Jerusalem 36:38 there at the temple. 36:40 And, you know, we don't really worship here 36:42 in Samaria because, because true worship 36:44 is of the Jews and all this stuff. 36:46 And they're having this conversation about 36:47 how there's so much emphasis 36:49 on worshiping God on that mountain, 36:51 on that temple, because that's where true worship is. 36:53 But then Jesus kind of flips the script and He brings us 36:57 to John 4:23-24. 36:59 Read that for us. Yes. 37:00 And it says, "But the hour is coming, 37:02 and now is, when the true worshipers 37:05 will worship the Father in spirit and truth; 37:09 for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." 37:13 Verse 24 says, "God is Spirit, 37:15 and those who worship Him 37:17 must worship in spirit and truth." 37:20 Absolutely. 37:21 This is Beautiful. 37:23 For a long time I wondered why he said, 37:25 God is Spirit and those who worship Him. 37:28 If you read the context of this story, 37:30 she's putting emphasis 37:32 as everyone did during that time. 37:33 And as many people still do today, 37:35 where's God found? 37:36 He's found at the church, 37:38 you know, He's found in the building, 37:39 He's found in the temple right at the synagogue, 37:41 but wherever it is you worship. 37:43 Many people's idea is that worship can only be done 37:46 within four walls of a building, 37:48 some type of holy site of some kind, 37:50 but Jesus completely revolutionizes this concept. 37:53 He says, look, we got to get out of this idea 37:55 that somehow God is combined to a box or confined to a box. 38:00 You know, He's not just in one little place. 38:02 God is Spirit, right? 38:03 And those who worship Him must worship Him 38:05 in spirit and in truth. 38:07 So the question I have to ask 38:09 question of the hour, spirit, truth. 38:13 Let's focus on in the time we have here. 38:16 What does it mean to worship the Lord in spirit and truth? 38:20 Because many people have this idea of what it means 38:23 to worship God, worship God in spirit. 38:25 And, of course, many people have their own idea 38:27 of what it means to worship the Lord in truth. 38:29 But let's talk about what does it mean 38:31 to worship God in spirit? 38:34 Just kind of off the cuff here. 38:36 When you think of worshiping the Lord in spirit, 38:38 what comes to your mind? 38:41 Well, I think the word spirit also has a translation 38:45 in the original Greek to the word life. 38:48 And so when you're worshiping God in spirit, 38:50 you worship God with your life. 38:52 And I mentioned earlier, I think it was in Christianity 38:54 Today that the quote that you read about 38:56 how it's a lifestyle. 38:58 I liked that too, that is really good. 38:59 It's a lifestyle. 39:01 Yeah, that stuck out to me because too oftentimes 39:02 we think of worship or church as like an event 39:07 where we go and we participate in this event 39:09 and then we go home and we go back to watching, 39:12 you know, our programs 39:13 that we shouldn't watch or whatever. 39:15 And so, yeah, I think that it's a lifestyle. 39:17 Absolutely. 39:18 I like how you brought that about, 39:20 because you know, 39:22 we do not, as we clearly have studied here 39:24 many times on 3ABN. 39:26 And if you're new to this, study it out, 39:28 continue to watch 3ABN 39:30 'cause we do programs all the time on, 39:32 you know, what is, what about the concept of death 39:35 and, you know, a person, you know, do we have a spirit? 39:37 You know, are we a soul or do we have a spirit? 39:40 Is it some kind of, you know, inner substance, 39:42 you know, ghost like, you know, apparition 39:44 or whatever that's in us. 39:45 Many people have this kind of twisted idea 39:48 that there's this spiritual ghost within us. 39:50 But yet in scripture, 39:51 the Bible says that when God created, man, 39:53 He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life 39:56 and man became a living soul. 39:58 So that's what you were highlighting here 40:00 is the fact that there's kind of a... 40:01 I see this in kind of a double application 40:03 and we can unpack this here in a moment. 40:06 When we worship the Lord in spirit, 40:07 I think it's kind of a double application 40:09 in the sense that we must worship Him 40:10 as Dakota brought out with all of our life, 40:13 with all of our very living being, 40:15 with all of our spirit, that spirit of life 40:18 that God has given us. 40:19 We should be an open book of worship unto the Lord. 40:24 On the other side, I believe that there is an application 40:27 clearly here that we should be led by the spirit, 40:31 the Holy Spirit of the Lord. 40:33 And, of course, my mind immediately goes 40:35 to that conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus. 40:38 Go ahead. 40:40 Yeah, I was just going there. Yeah, go ahead. 40:41 I was thinking that and Jesus conversation 40:44 with Nicodemus, comparing it to the wind, the breath. 40:46 Yes. 40:48 And, you know, worship can degenerate. 40:53 I don't even like to use that word, 40:54 but it can degenerate into only rules, 40:59 only formalism, only the truth. 41:03 And we hit people over the head with them. 41:06 If we don't have the life giving spirit, 41:10 the breath of God is it were in our hearts 41:13 and in our lives, everything else means nothing. 41:15 Absolutely. 41:17 You know, so to experience that with being born again 41:21 and having the spirit, having the Holy Spirit. 41:24 If we don't have that, you know, 41:26 I remember I was 19 and I had grown up in a home. 41:31 This is no criticism. 41:32 I have the best parents in the world, 41:35 but they did not know Jesus. 41:37 That's just the honest fact. 41:39 And religion was all about 41:42 what you did and what you couldn't do 41:44 and that's what my experience was. 41:46 And I remember being 19 in church. 41:49 So this was in church 41:50 and the organ playing my life of scarlet, 41:54 my sin and woe covered with his life whiter than snow. 41:58 And I remember thinking, 41:59 you mean, it's not all what I have to do. 42:02 You mean, I, my salvation is not dependent on me 42:06 doing this and doing that. 42:08 It's leaning on the blood of Jesus 42:10 and the spirit working in me to equip and empower me 42:16 'cause clearly we are to walk in obedience, 42:19 but that's because of the spirit. 42:21 That's right. Amen. 42:22 So to me that whole sense of worship is... 42:25 that joy in His presence, 42:29 walking in that combined with the truth. 42:32 Praise the Lord. 42:34 You know, I found this quote here 42:37 and we're gonna get to John 3. 42:38 Actually, this is based upon the conversation 42:41 that Jesus had with Nicodemus in John Chapter 3. 42:44 And as Jill brought up beautifully, 42:46 you know, he reverences the wind. 42:48 And, of course, this conversation 42:49 is one of my favorites. 42:50 One of my favorite, probably my, 42:52 one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible. 42:53 In fact, Mrs. White says in her writings 42:56 that salvation is probably made no clearer 42:59 in any other part of scripture 43:01 than right there in John Chapter 3 43:03 in that conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. 43:05 And, of course, you can imagine, 43:07 you know, Nicodemus this Pharisee, 43:08 he's got all this head knowledge, 43:10 he's got the Scripture tucked away in his mind. 43:11 I mean, this guy was, was a scholar of the highest, 43:14 and he's coming to Jesus again 43:16 with this kind of mentality of, you know, 43:18 I think I got it figured out, but I just wanna know 43:20 who you are and what you're doing here 43:22 and what your purpose is? 43:23 And Jesus just drops a bomb on him and says, 43:25 yeah, look man, you can't enter the kingdom of God 43:28 unless you're born again. 43:30 And, of course, this brother's mind as probably 43:32 many people would go to, 43:34 his goes immediately to the flesh, to the carnal, 43:37 to the physical, to the literal. 43:39 And he immediately went, well, wait a second. 43:40 I got to go get back in my mother's womb and be reborn. 43:44 That's impossible. 43:45 And Jesus is like, no, now, wait a second. 43:47 You're talking about literal things, 43:49 the fleshly things, I'm talking about spiritual things. 43:53 And so, this beautiful conversation 43:55 when Jesus says, you know, 43:56 consider the wind, you know, you don't see it. 43:58 You know, you may hear it. 44:00 You may feel it, but you don't know 44:02 where it's coming and where it's going. 44:03 So also is the work of the Holy Spirit 44:06 when it comes and blows through your heart, right? 44:08 It just makes a beautiful transformation 44:10 in your life. 44:11 And so I found this quote from Homeward Bound, 44:14 page 88, based on the concept of Jesus 44:17 presenting this being born again 44:19 from a spiritual perspective. 44:21 Again, we're talking about worshiping the Lord in spirit. 44:24 So keep that in mind when I read this quote here, 44:26 Homeward Bound, page 88, beautiful. 44:29 Speaking of Nicodemus and Jesus conversation 44:32 in John 3, she says, 44:33 "Here is declared the same truth that Jesus 44:36 had revealed to Nicodemus when He said, 44:38 'Except a man be born from above, 44:40 he cannot see the kingdom of God.' 44:43 Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple 44:47 are people brought into communion with heaven. 44:50 Religion is not to be confined to external forms 44:53 and ceremonies. 44:55 The religion that comes from God is the only religion 44:58 that will lead to God. 45:00 In order to serve Him aright, 45:02 we must be born of the divine Spirit. 45:06 This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving, 45:10 " so this Romans 12, " 45:11 renew the mind giving us a new capacity 45:15 for knowing and loving God. 45:17 It will give us a willing obedience," 45:20 I think of Honey, 45:23 "It will give us a willing obedience 45:25 to all His requirements. 45:28 This is true worship. 45:31 It is the fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit. 45:35 By the Spirit every sincere prayer is indited, 45:40 and such prayer is acceptable to God. 45:42 Wherever a soul reaches out after God, 45:45 there the Spirit's working is manifest, 45:48 and God will reveal Himself to that soul. 45:51 For such worshipers He is seeking. 45:54 He waits to receive them, and to make them His sons 45:58 and daughters worshiping him in spirit." 46:02 Brother, Greg, you got something to add to that? 46:03 You know, I was just going back to this 46:04 'cause this is powerful to me. 46:06 I highlighted it, you know, this, it's a great quote, 46:08 but it says, "Wherever a soul reaches out after God, 46:11 that's worship to God." 46:13 I love that. Absolutely. 46:15 That is powerful. 46:16 You know, because someone right now may be saying, 46:17 okay, I'm just a wreck. 46:19 I'm a mess. 46:20 This worship thing 46:22 I'm not understanding all this stuff. 46:23 Okay, just reach out to God. You know what you've just done? 46:24 You just worshiped God. 46:26 Love that, the simplicity. 46:27 You know, it's just, 46:28 that's powerful and that's beautiful, 46:30 because when you think of God, it's like, whoa, 46:31 that can get kind of complicated. 46:32 I don't know, God, I don't even know 46:34 how to get this relationship going. 46:35 Well, just reach out to Him. 46:37 And then it says right here, it's just beautiful. 46:38 It says, you can reach out, there's a spirit of working. 46:39 Okay. 46:41 And then it says for such worshipers He, 46:43 God is seeking for. 46:44 Wow. That's right. 46:46 So what we have to do is reach out to Him 46:47 'cause then you start to wonder, okay, lifestyle, 46:48 you talked about lifestyle. 46:50 Okay. Well, man, what does that mean? 46:51 Just reach out to God throughout the day. 46:53 You know, God, hey, you know, I'm just... 46:54 dealing with little struggle, little discouraged right now, 46:56 reach out to God. 46:57 And to him, that's like, wow, that's the relationship, 47:00 then that's that love, right? 47:01 I got that love. 47:02 And it's just, wow, what a great cycle circle. 47:04 That's so true. 47:05 And, you know, you guys mentioned earlier 47:07 and Jill you mentioned in your testimony 47:09 when you said when you was 19, 47:10 about how, you know, you wanna do right 47:14 and you want to live right. 47:15 But it seems like all these rules and stuff 47:17 were in the way. 47:18 And I think that's one of the biggest problems 47:20 when it comes to worship that a lot of people do allow 47:21 to get in the way and they don't really know 47:23 how to get around it is that they're seeking for the fruit 47:25 of the spirit without first seeking for the spirit. 47:28 That's right. Well, that's right. 47:30 We can't worship God in spirit, 47:33 if we don't first have the spirit. 47:35 That's good. 47:37 And so like, we oftentimes seek for the fruit first, 47:40 before we seek for the spirit, 47:41 but it's called the fruit of the spirit. 47:43 If you have the spirit, then you'll have the fruit. 47:45 Well, we get it backwards and we wanna have the fruit 47:46 before having the spirit. 47:48 And we think we get the fruit, 47:49 and then God will give us the spirit. 47:51 That's not how it works. 47:52 I love that. 47:53 It makes me think of Romans 8:1. 47:55 And Romans 7 is that whole conflict between... 47:58 That's good. Okay. 48:00 I wanna do this and I wanna do right, 48:01 but yet I ended up doing this over here. 48:04 And yet the things I don't want to do, 48:06 those are the things I end up doing. 48:08 And Roman 7 ends with. 48:10 So then, "Oh, wretched man who shall deliver me 48:13 from this body of death." 48:15 Almost at the end of Romans 7. 48:16 And then Romans 8:1 says, 48:18 "There is therefore now no condemnation 48:20 to those who are in Christ Jesus." 48:22 If you stop there, you think, okay, wait a minute. 48:24 But it doesn't end there. It continues. 48:26 It says, "There is no condemnation 48:29 to those who are in Christ Jesus, 48:30 who do not walk according to the flesh, 48:32 but according to the spirit, 48:35 for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus 48:37 has made me free from the law of sin and death. 48:40 That's inviting the spirit first, 48:42 then the fruit come. 48:44 That's right. Says the spirit first. 48:46 Amen. That is beautiful, wonderful. 48:48 I love this. 48:50 You know, we being led by the spirit 48:52 when we worship the Lord in spirit. 48:54 It's simply saying, God, Jesus is simply saying 48:56 to the woman at the well there, that you know, 48:58 you have to open yourself up completely to the leading 49:00 and guiding power of God's Spirit. 49:03 And I just kind of compiled a really quick list here 49:06 of the attributes, the powerful working 49:08 of the Holy Spirit in your life from a biblical perspective. 49:11 And this comes from John Chapter 14 49:13 and also John Chapter 16. 49:15 So if you go and read those chapters, 49:16 you can find these texts and these points there. 49:19 But Jesus makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit 49:21 will come to teach you all things. 49:23 According to John 14:26, 49:25 he will bring all things to your memory, right? 49:28 He wants to remind you of all of His holiness 49:31 and His beautiful loving character 49:33 at all times, John 14: 26. 49:35 Also, he will reprove the world of sin. 49:38 This is a spiritual thing, right? 49:40 John 16:8. 49:41 And, of course, he will guide you into, 49:43 and this sets us up for our next point 49:45 with the remaining time 49:46 we have left that pray for that clock, 49:48 it's ticking away right now. 49:49 He says, "He will guide you into all truth." 49:52 Yes. Read John 16:13. 49:54 So notice the relationship. 49:57 He says, "You need to worship Him in spirit." 50:00 Wait a second. 50:01 But you also have to worship Him in truth, 50:03 but yet they're all so connected 50:05 because Jesus refers to in John 16:13. 50:09 He says, "However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, 50:13 he will guide you into all truth." 50:16 So let's kind of go into that before about, 50:18 I don't know we have about six or so minutes left here. 50:21 Worship Him in spirit. 50:23 That means I give Him my whole living life 50:26 to be led by the Spirit of God. 50:28 I want my whole life to be a reflection of that, 50:31 of the character of Jesus as expressed 50:33 and worked through me by the Holy Spirit. 50:35 But in order for us to be led by the spirit, 50:37 and if we're truly led by the spirit, 50:39 we will be led into all truth. 50:41 That's where Jesus says, "You must worship Him in truth. 50:44 So what does it mean to worship Him in truth? 50:47 And I think as Seventh-day Adventists, 50:49 we're kind of champions of this one, right? 50:50 We're proud of this one. 50:52 We love the truth and we love to share the truth. 50:56 And so what, what do you guys think of 50:58 when you think of worshiping Him in truth? 51:02 All right. 51:03 I guess I'll start and I go real first. 51:05 So, you know, when I think of this, 51:07 I think of, when we worship the Lord in truth, 51:10 we have to stick, make sure that we're worshiping Him 51:12 according to His Word, John 17:17, 51:15 Jesus prayer to the Father, sanctify them, 51:18 that is make them holy through thy truth. 51:20 Thy word is truth. 51:22 And so we have to worship God according to His Word. 51:25 And you know, this was the problem 51:27 with the Pharisees and all of the people of the day 51:29 that followed Jesus around all the time. 51:31 Mark 7:6-7, it says, 51:33 "He answered and said unto them, 51:35 Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, 51:37 as it is written, the people honoreth me 51:39 with their lips, but their heart," 51:41 there it is, "is far from me. 51:44 Howbeit in vain do they worship me." 51:46 Hold on a second. 51:49 You mean to tell me we can spend our life 51:52 or worship God in spirit. 51:55 But if we don't worship Him in truth, 51:57 it's considered vain worship. 51:58 Wow. That's really deep. 52:00 And this is what Jesus was communicating. 52:02 He says, howbeit in vain do they worship me teaching 52:06 for doctrines, the commandments of men? 52:08 And I think that's what separates true worship 52:10 from false worship is that 52:11 if we're following just mere traditions of men, 52:14 commandments of men 52:15 and not the truth of God's Word, 52:17 then our worship, although 52:19 we may be sincere about worshiping God with our life, 52:22 like Nadab and Abihu and many others 52:24 who were sincere about building that fire, 52:26 that worship is rejected by God. 52:28 And I think we need to be very careful 52:30 that we worship God in spirit and in truth through His Word. 52:33 Amen. 52:34 That's a good point, 52:36 worshiping God in spirit and truth. 52:37 You guys wanna add something to that, 52:39 worshiping Him in truth? 52:40 I'm just thinking about the truth aspect. 52:42 You know, that's like the doctrine. 52:43 Sure. Absolutely. 52:45 I like how, you know, 52:46 you're focusing on this family worship, 52:47 but combining the two together. 52:49 I mean, that is key. I mean, that's key. 52:51 'Cause you know, we can say just like in Nicodemus, 52:53 you know, we, hey, we got the truth. 52:55 We know we've got all this head knowledge 52:56 and everything, but to combine, 52:58 you know, the two together, because truth is powerful. 53:00 I mean, we all want to know the truth 53:01 that is in God's Word, 53:03 but to combine it with the spirit and truth, 53:05 making true worship and that's powerful 53:06 what you're reading about in vain, right? 53:08 I mean, my word that's, that's serious. 53:10 Absolutely serious. 53:12 So to combine the two together, it's fantastic. 53:14 Yeah. Amen. 53:15 It's beautiful. It is beautiful. 53:17 I think of this is scripture you had, 53:18 but I love the scripture. 53:19 This is 2 Timothy 4. 53:21 So Paul's writing to his son in the faith, right? 53:23 And this is, of course, right before he died. 53:26 And what does he say in 2 Timothy 4, 53:28 "I charge you therefore before God 53:30 and the Lord Jesus Christ, 53:31 who would judge the living and the dead 53:33 at his appearing in his kingdom." 53:34 So this would be Paul. 53:36 You can say his last will in Testament 53:38 right at the end of his life. 53:40 And he wants to express to his son, 53:43 Timothy saying, preach the word. 53:45 Verse 2, "Be ready or instant" King James says, 53:49 "in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, 53:52 exhort with all long suffering and teaching, 53:54 for the time will come 53:55 when they will not endure sound doctrine, 53:59 but according to their own desires, 54:00 because they have itching ears, 54:02 they will heap up for themselves teachers, 54:05 and they will turn their ears away from the truth 54:08 and be turned aside to fables." 54:10 I think just as it is vitally important 54:14 that we invite the spirit into our worship, 54:17 into our hearts, into our presentation of truth, 54:20 it is just as important, 54:22 that we do not substitute manmade traditions, 54:27 manmade commandments, manmade philosophies 54:31 for the truth and the Word of God. 54:34 That's right. We can soft pedal the truth. 54:37 We can try to water it down. 54:40 We can try to say, I'm afraid to share this. 54:42 And so I'm going this direction, 54:44 but it is vitally important that we are authentic 54:49 in what we present, 54:50 that everything in the Word of God, 54:52 all scripture is given by inspiration of God. 54:55 Amen. 54:56 And is profitable for doctrine, correction, 54:58 instruction and righteousness. 54:59 Why? 55:01 That the man of God may be perfect, 55:02 thoroughly equipped for every good work. 55:04 So what an important message and mission 55:08 to present the truth, but always in love. 55:10 Oh, that's wonderful. 55:12 You know, going through this, 55:13 we have like a couple of minutes left here 55:14 in our study together. 55:16 I just feel that at this time, you know, 55:17 there may be someone watching at home right now 55:19 that says, you know what? 55:20 I want to worship God not in vain, 55:23 but in spirit and in truth. 55:25 You know what? Jesus can give you the power. 55:27 He can give you the guidance, 55:28 the leadership that you need to worship Him genuinely 55:32 and spirit and in truth. 55:33 So, Brother Greg, why don't we have a... 55:34 We have about two minutes here. 55:36 Why don't you take about a minute and a half or so 55:37 and just offer up a prayer for all of us here, 55:39 for those at home watching that need to have that true, 55:43 genuine worshipful experience? 55:46 Father in heaven, what a blessing 55:47 it is to open Your Word. 55:49 And, Father, we truly want to worship You... 55:53 in spirit and in truth. 55:55 It's easy sometimes when we say, hey, 55:57 we've got truth and we're examples for you. 56:00 We're supposed to be, and we're beating people 56:02 over the head with truth and doctrine. 56:04 But, Father, we want to be able to have Your love in our hearts 56:09 to be able to share that with other people, 56:10 because You have loved us first 56:13 and You sent Your Son Jesus to die for us. 56:16 So as we're worshiping You, 56:18 we can reach out to You and say, "Jesus, 56:21 I need you right now." 56:22 So I just pray right now that if someone is, is struggling, 56:27 trying to figure out which direction to go, 56:29 not understanding even maybe how to worship You. 56:32 All that they have to do is just say, Jesus, 56:35 I invite You into my heart right now. 56:37 And that's the start of the worship. 56:38 And, Father, that You will lead us into all truth. 56:42 So, Father, thank You for this topic today. 56:44 Thank you that we can worship You. 56:45 Thank You for being the Almighty God, 56:47 the creator, the sustainer of each one of us. 56:50 And, Father, thank You that we have this opportunity 56:52 of opening Your Word today, in Jesus' name we pray. 56:56 Amen. Praise the Lord. 56:58 We are truly living in interesting times. 57:00 Times we need to make sure that our vessels are full of oil. 57:03 The oil of the spirit, worshiping Him in spirit, 57:07 worshiping Him in truth. 57:08 It's a package deal. 57:10 And in these last days, we need to make sure 57:12 that we are balanced, 57:13 that we are being led by the spirit of truth 57:16 and that we have the truth within us, 57:17 so that we can be prepared 57:19 for the times that are coming ahead. 57:20 And so that we can see each other 57:22 in the kingdom of heaven and be with our savior. 57:24 We're so thankful that you've been 57:26 able to join us during this hour. 57:27 It went by quick, but you know what? 57:28 We're gonna continue to worship the Lord together. 57:31 God bless you all. 57:32 Have a wonderful day. 57:33 And until next time, God bless. |
Revised 2021-02-18