Ever Before the Throne
John 4:23-24 NKJV
[23] But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. [24] God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
True worshipers! Ever before the Throne of God! Praising and Worshiping the King of kings and the Lord of lords!
Singing Holy,Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!
Are you ready for an Eternity of Worship?
The Word of God is piercing most times.
It has a way of confronting our hearts.
It forces us to think about the things in our life differently. It causes us to react differently.
Today’s message is for everyone who truly wants to not just know about Jesus, but wants to follow Him.
The Word of God is full of love, Grace and mercy.
But sometimes we have to realize that that same love, grace and mercy comes with a warning or a correction.
Sometimes we don’t like correction even when it comes from the Word of God.
We get stuck in our ways.
Even if those ways are wrong in the eyes of the Lord.
One doesn’t really think that there is a wrong way to worship the Lord.
When we hear the word worship our minds quickly reflect on the music.
We have to understand that Worship isn’t just a song. Worship isn’t just an emotion or an act. Worship is a lifestyle.
What is our motivation to Worship?
The very first thing that should motivate us to Worship a Holy God is His mercies towards us.
His mercy and His Goodness should be at the top of the list of why we sing praise to the Lord. But we have to be careful that we are not just here singing songs about our grief and hard times.
There must be an exaltation of the Lord for what He has done in our lives.
Worship should never put us on the pedestal.
The Cross of Christ should ever be before us as a reminder of the Sacrifice.
The Word of God does many things for us.
It guides us to Salvation.
It comforts our hearts.
It encourages us.
Believe it or not it protects us.
It warns us from the wolves in sheep’s clothing. It warns us about false teachings.
It perseveres our souls and prepares our Spirits to be received by Him.
Then there is Resurrection from the cold tomb to look forward to because of that very same Sacrifice.
So we Worship Him for what He has accomplished on the Cross!
With our whole heart! We must have a complete understanding of what Jesus has saved us from, the Holy and Just Wrath of God!
If we could truly grasp what an Eternity without His presence would be like in the Lake of Fire we would worship Him fully with hearts melted by the power of His love!
But what happens is there is a lot of me and I that get in the way of worshiping the Lord.
Mark 7:6-7 NKJV
[6] He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. [7] And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
People are being led astray from the actual Word of God.
There is a certain amount of Spiritual neglect that is happening in our society.
They take the Holy Word of God and twist it just enough either to fit their agenda or to hide their sin!
But what ultimately happens is disobedience to the Lord.
We no longer Worship God as He deserves because we focus a little too much on our own situation.
I understand we have pain and struggles and we are to bring it all to the altar of God.
Jesus says His yoke is light and His burden is easy. We seek help and rest.
And He is able to do all things if we let Him!
Worship Him for even giving you the ability to lay your burdens down.
Praise, thank, and Worship Him for giving you rest.
Never forget that unless there is a real passion for God in our hearts there is no worship in spirit.
We must have knowledge of the truth of Christ!
Not just by our opinion but truth that penetrates and separates sin from soul.
Truth that mends the torn heart to make it whole and complete!
One of the tragedies of our society is that we value our own opinions more than the Word of God.
So how do we Worship Him as He commands?
I’m Spirit and in truth!
We should always be mindful of why we Worship. His eternal love, eternal grace, the Holy Spirit, the peace He gives, the pure joy, His faithfulness, the comfort.
It is praising Him for His strength and wisdom!
Thanking Jesus for the hope, patience, kindness, honor, glory, righteousness, security, eternal life, forgiveness, reconciliation He offers because of His Sacrifice.
The understanding of these gifts which no one deserves and what Jesus went through for us to have these has to be our main motivation to praise Him to Thank Him and to Honor Him.
When we come to the Throne of God with humility running through every fiber of our hearts we must make sure that our hearts and our minds are in the forward motion of total self depravity and truly wanting to worship Him in the right manner of the worship that He deserves!
Spirit and Truth!
It is easy to throw your hands up in the air.
It is of no concern to memorize lyrics to your favorite song. But can you Worship the Lord in silence?
The Lord is not interested in people who serve Him because they feel it is a duty to serve Him.
The Pharisees pretended to care about God’s law by following acts like handwashing, but they did not care about God on the inside.
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me,’
The meaning of Vain is useless, lifeless, even pointless.
Hypocritical worship to The Lord.
Superficial empty useless worship.
Their worship was to the rightful and only true God, but it was in the wrong way! It wasn’t right because there was no appreciation to Who they were worshiping.
The more we can not just love and admire, but truly appreciate the Sacrifice Jesus endured, our worship changes.
The more we appreciate Him the more we realize what we were truly saved from.
When we can see what we were saved from the deeper our worship will be!
The deeper our worship the more Glory God gets!
The Cross of Christ should ever be before us as a reminder of the Sacrifice.
That’s Spirit and Truth!
Are you ready for an Eternity of Worship?
Learn to Worship the Lord in the way He deserves. When we understand Who we worship and why we Worship Him it will change the way we Worship Him!
So Praise Him forevermore!
All Glory be to Christ our King!
His rule and reign will ever sing
All Glory be to Christ!
Ponder that today.
Pastor Ed
