Posted on

Why Worship?

Click on the camera to view the full message.

We have this misconception that worship is the time of our church gathering when we sing songs.

But worship is not just singing, we worship what we give value to.

We worship by the way we use our money, the way we work, the way we share the Gospel with others and even in the way we spend our free time. When we understand worship, we understand that we have the opportunity to worship God with every aspect of our lives.

Everyone worships, but not everyone worships the one true God.

In John 4, we read an account of a woman who had misplaced worship. Jesus was resting at a well in a town called Sychar and a Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus spoke first and asks the woman to give him some water.

The woman who came to the well had been searching for love, fulfillment, and purpose all her life and the only person who could fulfill all her desires was sitting right in front of her. She brings up the question of worship in verse 20 when she says to Jesus, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” One of the big issues of distinction between the Jews and the Samaritans was the question of the location of their worship. She soon discovers that Jesus was wanting to speak about worship all along, this is why he was waiting at the well for her. Jesus directs the conversation to a time when worship will no longer be about a physical location (see John 4:23-24).

Jesus is explaining that only those who receive the Holy Spirit can worship God the Father. It is only in the Spirit, by the Spirit and through the Spirit that we can truly worship God in a way that pleases Him. The issue is not that we need to learn how to worship or where to worship, rather we need to learn who to worship and only by the Holy Spirit are we able to worship God the Father.

By the definition of worship, we are all really good worshippers. In our sinful human nature, we are really good idolaters, we give value to things in our lives above God. We all are tempted with idols such as: security, peace, meaning in life, self-esteem, significance, or any good thing that we elevate to a level of importance above God in our lives.

“Our hearts are a perpetual idol factory.” John Calvin

The problem is misplaced worship, and the consequences are always tragic (see Jeremiah 2:13).

Jesus offered the Samaritan woman living water, she had been trying to satisfy her longings with marriage after failed marriage. At the core of all failed longings is misdirected worship. Worship of God is what we were made for. We will only find true fulfilment in life as we worship the one true God. That is a meaningful life, that is a life of worship. True worship is recognizing the sovereignty of God in all the aspects of my life.

“Worship is my active, all-of-life response to the worth of who He is and what He does.” Matt Heard

One of the most common misconceptions of worship is that it is a relatively passive event. But in the Bible, the Hebrew and the Greek words for worship involve physical activity involving all of life. Every single activity of my life becomes a way of acknowledging the creator God and His worth in my life, that is worship.

But we live in a world that worships false gods, we are living in an age that is described by David in Psalm 63:1. Are you in a dry and weary land? Or are you experiencing the living water that Jesus invited the Samaritan woman to in John 4:14?

This doesn’t mean that you will never experience pain or hardship (see John 16:33), but when you worship God with all your life, you will know peace, joy and complete fulfilment in the midst of your circumstances. You will be able to worship along with the prophet Habakkuk (See Habakkuk 3:17-18).

In the month of June, we are particularly reminded that the world around us does not worship the God we serve. As we see a month dedicated to the worship of self and immorality.

The world has a sin problem, but the real issue is that the world has a worship problem.  Sin is the result of misplaced worship. Thinking that something other than God will bring joy and peace. In Romans 1:28 we read that God will give people over to the objects of their worship.

We are not dealing with people who are confused or struggling with their identity, we are seeing the result of Satan’s demonic power being unleashed on the earth.

Satan has gone after the very root of God’s relationship with the earth. The pride month uses the rainbow, the rainbow is one of God’s original covenants, not just with the Jews or people but with all living creatures (See Genesis 9:12).

The pinnacle of God’s creation was man and woman created in His image, that was His original design, Satan is attacking that.

In Genesis 1:28 God’s original instruction to man and women was to be fruitful and multiply, something that is impossible with same sex relationships.

And then there is the original sin, Ezekiel 28:17 says that Satan’s original downfall was his pride over his beauty. He grew in pride and defied the one who created him.

Pride is at the very root of Satan’s power. Pride is ultimately worshipping ourselves, saying that we know better than God the Father, the one who created us.

So how do we respond?

Ephesians 6 doesn’t say, go and beat up sinners, it says in Ephesians 6:13 that we should simply stand firm. Stand firm, speak the truth in love and allow the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do.

If you have friends and loved ones caught in this deceptive lifestyle, love them enough to speak the truth to them. The Bible is very clear, they are on a pathway of destruction that leads to hell, because they are worshipping a false religion that may bring fleeting and deceptive pleasure for a moment. We must speak the truth, millions of souls are at stake.

Worship of the one true God is essential in the church.

Posted on

Sermon, Sunday October 3, 2021 – Worship

Click on the camera for the full message video

What if everything you treasured was suddenly taken away, what or who would you miss the most? Would you agree that what you value determines how you make most decisions?

The definition of worship is ascribing value to something. When we worship God, we are saying that we value Him above everything else (Romans 12:1). We are to present all that we are and all that we have to God. This is the worship God requires of us. Worship is way more than singing songs.

500 years ago, John Calvin stated that the human heart is an idol factory. Isn’t it true that even saved people have a tendency towards idolatry as we value other things above God?

When we do not value God, we value other things, football, cars, careers, houses, celebrities, relationships and many other things. When we give these things greater value than God, we worship them, and we suffer the consequences of giving our affections to temporary things.

In Romans 1:18, Paul writes that the wrath of God is being revealed against those who have chosen to ignore Him and pursue sin. This is not some future event; it is a present reality. In fact, we can see all around us in the state of the world that God is punishing sin. God is pouring out His wrath on people, who do not acknowledge Him as God. But in our weak understanding of the holiness of God, we protest and say, “that is unfair”.

Romans 1:19-20 explains that no-one has an excuse for not acknowledging God, as He constantly reveals Himself through the general revelation of creation (Psalm 19:1). Every person who has ever lived, knows that there is a God, and has an awareness of his majesty and transcendence.

The problem is that we live in a fallen world, and we are given to Satan’s lies over the truth. Idolatry is worshipping other things, replacing the truth with a counterfeit. Mankind is prone to distort the truth of God, reshaping Him into our own image.

Our post-modern world has created a god of our own preferences. We are a nation and a world of people who in essence worship ourselves rather than the one true God. This is the root of humanism. In order to ignore God, there needs to be suppression of the truth (Romans 1:18). A determined and intentional holding down of the truth for mankind to live in sin. Whenever we willfully sin, we have to suppress the Holy Spirit’s voice in our lives.

Mankind is guilty of suppressing the truth today so that they can live their lives without the demands of an all-holy God, and the result is suffering and destruction.

Calvin used the analogy of a blindfold when saying, “mankind chooses to put on a blindfold and then we stumble around cursing the darkness.”

Paul lists the results of idolatry in Romans 1:21-22. Mankind knows that there is a creator but has chosen not to thank or acknowledge Him. The result is a futility of thinking, an aimless existence running after temporary pleasures, leading to a foolish heart. You don’t have to look further than the evening news to see the truth of verse 22, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools”.

In contrast to this, true worship that honors and values God above all else leads to a heart filled with thanksgiving. Worshipping God gives us purpose for life as our hearts are softened to the perfect will of God for our lives.

The reality is that there is a very short step from idolatry towards immorality. If man has become his own god, then he determines what is good and he lives to please his own desires. Sadly, even in our church family, we don’t value God enough to gather and worship Him. The moment something else comes along that is more pressing, a sports game, homework, or the comfort of the pillow or the couch, we value that more than we value God. We prefer other things; we worship other things.

It is time that the church gets serious about where our allegiance lies as individuals and as the church. This is not a season for comfortable Christianity. We are in a war and the enemy wants to prevent us from gathering and encouraging one another.

In verse 24 onwards we see the results of living a life of idol worship. Three times we read, “God gave them up,” in verses 24, 26 and 28. Mankind has decided to ignore God and in turn God steps back and allows man to walk into sin and error.

This is one of the clearest passages in scripture that speaks to the sin of homosexuality. It seems that homosexuality and the rise of the LGBT movement seems to be more prevalent than ever before. Who would have thought that we would have a month of the year given over to the celebration of sin? However as we look back and see that over the last fifty years, the post-modern world has rejected God, and God has given the world over to sin.

In verse 28 we see that mankind’s abandonment to sin leads to a debased or a depraved mind.  Paul lists twenty-one specific sinful behaviors, all of which are commonplace in our communities. We tend to focus on the “bad” sins of murder and the like, but what about the sins of gossip, slander, and envy for example? Sadly, these are all prevalent in the church because we are not worshipping God as we ought to. We can never worship God in Spirit and in truth and gossip at the same time.

We don’t grasp the importance and the power of a worshipping church, and we don’t fully understand worship. Worship is not simply singing songs. There are many people who come to church every week but never worship.

When we realize that we are in a war and that the only way to win the battle is by true worship by truly giving honor to God, we will begin to worship. And worship always wins (see 2 Chronicles 20).

What are you struggling with today? Try valuing God above all things. Worship God.

Posted on

Sermon, Sunday May 16, 2021 The Duel on Mt Carmel

Click on the Camera to view the full message

1 Kings 18:17-40

Have you ever tried walking on two different paths at the same time?

Under the leadership of King Ahab, Israel was walking two different paths, worshipping the one true God and worshipping idols and pagan religions. Ahab had married Jezebel who was the daughter of the pagan king of Sidon. She brought with her the pagan practices and idol worship of her homeland, and was aggressively promoting the idols of Baal and Asherah.

God had judged Israel by bringing about a famine and Elijah the prophet was used by God to confront Ahab and his wicked practices. The drought and famine brought the worship of this pagan god into question, and a perfect time for this standoff on mt Carmel to take place between Elijah and the prophets of the pagan gods.

Elijah was a bold and courageous prophet as he confronted the king who wanted to have him killed. But Elijah knew that he was protected by God. When you know who you represent you can be courageous.

Elijah then boldly calls a duel, telling the King to assemble the nation and the prophets of Baal and Asherah at mount Carmel. Ahab agreed, thinking that this would be the perfect time to have the nation turn against Elijah and have him killed.

The nation assembles at Carmel and Elijah makes this powerful statement in verse 21, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions?”

The prophets of Baal go first and spend most of the day in prayer and aggressive pleading to their god. It was to no avail and the skies were silent. Elijah exposes the false religion and taunts the prophets and mocks them (1 Kings 18:26-29).

Finally, Elijah stops the prophets in their futile effort and says to the people, “come near to me” (1 Kings 18:30). He wants them to observe closely the importance of what he is doing.  

Elijah deliberately begins to repair the altar of sacrifice that had been demolished under the leadership of King Ahab. He takes twelve stones to build the altar representing the unity of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exposing the foolishness and sin of Baal worship was only half of Elijah’s task for the day, his focus was bringing the nation back to worshipping the God of Abraham, the one true God. The first step was to repair the altar, the place of worship. In our lives, the first step to personal revival is the repairing of the personal altar of devotion.

During this season of COVID, many altars have been allowed to erode and are in need of repair. Maybe you once had a daily time set aside for prayer and reading the Bible, and maybe now is the time to rebuild that altar. Maybe you had a habit of praying together as a family, but schedules and business got in the way, the altar needs to be rebuilt. Maybe you had a discipline of worship and giving to the Lord, but your priorities changed, you need to rebuild those places of devotion to the Lord. What area of your life is God calling you back to wholehearted devotion?

Back to Carmel, the altar is rebuilt, and Elijah prepares the sacrifice. After soaking the sacrifice, Elijah prays. Prayer is the key to revival. There has never been revival without concerted prayer. Elijah prays what seems to be a simple prayer in 1 Kings 18:36-37 and God responds immediately by sending fire from heaven, consuming all the elements of the altar and the sacrifice. This was a powerful display of the glory of God, and the people responded with immediate repentance and worship (1 Kings 18:39). The prophets of Baal were quickly chased down and killed as the people turned from their wicked practices.

In our personal lives, it is not enough for us to acknowledge that “the Lord, He is God” (v. 39); we must also hate that which is evil and remove it from our lives. Judgment always prepares the way for blessing. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all have idols in our lives, things that take the place of worshipping God. It could be our career, our relationships, entertainment, finances or many other seemingly harmless practices or possessions.

On a personal note, the first thing we turn to in the morning sets the tone for the day. If we open our phones and look at the latest news or social media feed, before we spend time in prayer, that could be an idol. What we turn to first thing in the morning, sets the tone for the day. Do we spend those first few moments focusing on the Lord, or do we fill our minds with fear, anxiety and the fear of man.

So the challenge for us is the same challenge that Elijah threw out to the nation of Israel, “are you limping between two opinions”

Whatever is more important in your life than knowing God, is an idol. The result for us is the same as it was for Israel, if we have a worship problem, we will experience drought and famine in our souls.

AW Tozer once said, “for the Christian, everything begins and ends with worship. Whatever interferes with one’s personal worship of God needs to be properly dealt with and dismissed.”

Our idols cause us to limp, we are weak in our devotion and weak in our witness for Christ.

What idol is the Holy Spirit challenging you to destroy today? It may be an app on your phone, your social media account, your spending habits, your viewing habits, or it may be your career.

What changes to your daily routine is God asking you to make today?

Hebrews12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Posted on

Sermon Sunday July 8, 2018 – Lessons from the life of Gideon part 3

Judges 6:25-40

One of the most prevalent struggles we face as Christians is Idolatry. Adrian Rogers said, “An idol is anything you love more, fear more, value more or serve more than you do Almighty God. Fill in the blank.”

We all have things we give worth to, we all worship something and if God does not have the priority in our lives, those things we value become idols.

The children of Israel during the time of the Judges thought they were still following God, although they had added some of the idols of the Canaanites to their lives. As a result, God punished the Israelites by using the Midianite invaders. The people cried out to God for help, and God called Gideon to be a judge, a great military leader, to save the people from the oppressive Midianites. God had called and revealed Himself to Gideon, but now it was time for Gideon to do what God called him to do.

God instructs Gideon to take a bull and tear down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole and use the wood of the Asherah to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. That night Gideon does what he is instructed by tearing down these false idols and offering the second bull to the Lord. It is remarkable to note that Gideon may only have been twenty years old at this time. But he starts at home and deals with the idols in his own home first.  This is such a vital lesson for us. In our lives today, we have idols, the gods of humanism that draw our attention away from God; comfort, entertainment, peace, wealth, sport, politics and many more, all of these are not bad in themselves, but when left unbridled, they quickly become idols that we need to tear down.

When God tells you to put away an idol, it won’t be easy but whatever God is calling you to do, be completely obedient just as Gideon was obedient.

Notice that Gideon did something that no one could see at the time, it was hidden in darkness, but it had clearly visible and spiritual consequences. This is where the battle is won, not on the battle field, but in the secret place as you spend time alone with God in prayer. Never discount the time spent alone with God as waiting and marking time, it is the most valuable use of your time. Don’t for one moment think that you can live a victorious Christian life without a healthy prayer life. Prayer is where the real church growth takes place, and the kingdom of God is advanced.

The people of the town of Ophrah quickly find out who destroyed the idols and they go to the house of Joash and demand that he hand his son over for execution. Joash reacts quickly and with wisdom, challenging the people to test Baal and see if he will defend himself? Joash was convicted of his own sin, provoked by the faith and obedience of his son. As you and I step out in faith, it will provoke faith in others, others will look at your steps in faith and it will rekindle in them a fresh love for the Lord.

Never underestimate the power of obedience to the calling of God to transform the lives of those around you.

At the same time, the Midianites and the Amalekites were invading the land once more (Judges 6:33). But then we read in verse 34 that the Spirit of God clothed Gideon. Gideon became a physical manifestation of the presence of God and when he blew that trumpet, everyone could see that he was different. Jacob Myers says, “The Spirit of the Lord became incarnate in Gideon, who then became the extension of the Lord.”

We must remember that this is pre-Pentecost, and during the Old Testament God chose to clothe men and women by His spirit for specific tasks. When the Holy Spirit was given to the church at Pentecost, we all, who have given our lives to the Lordship of Jesus have this same Holy Spirit power in us.

Gideon was prepared for battle, as he blew the trumpet the tribes came together in response. What an incredible miracle. Here was a young man who moments ago was hiding and fearing for his life, suddenly filled with power, calls the nation to war, and they respond!

It all seems to be happening so fast and in verse 36 it seems that Gideon begins to waiver in his faith. He asks God for a sign of confirmation of His call. Gideon tests God, and we need to ask ourselves how often do we test God ourselves? As we question whether or not God is leading us we stand frozen in place, asking God for another sign.

The two miracles of the fleece and the dew are powerful miracles in verses 36 to 40, God confirms his presence and call on the young warrior. Gideon is now ready, and the battle is about to begin.

As we look at these few verses, we see a progression:

  • Gideon destroys the Idols. He is all in, there is no turning back
  • The Spirit of the Lord comes on the obedient Gideon and equips him for the task.
  • God confirms His call of Gideon

But Gideon would never have progressed beyond the first step if he didn’t destroy the idols, after that there was no turning back. Retreat is easy when you leave yourself an option, but God calls us to follow Him without looking back. God calls us to destroy the idols in our life and walk with Him.

What Idol is God calling you to destroy?

We make idols out of savings accounts, cars, careers, unhealthy relationships, anything that hinders you from moving forward and experiencing the very best that God has for you. As you trust completely in God for the future you will find that it is the very safest way to live your life.