you will with me to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, kind of an interesting place to
be speaking on worship, but you'll see how it ties all together here in just a little
bit, so we'll be looking at that. So, alrighty. Why don't we go to the Lord in prayer and
then we'll begin our study tonight. Father God, we just want to thank you so much for
your many blessings, for your mercy that endures forever, for your grace that is so abundantly
spread upon all of us that we just stand in awe of how great you are. We ask, Lord, that
as we look into the study of your word tonight, that your Holy Spirit will guide us in such
a way that we might be better people, better sisters and mothers and aunts and grandmothers
and brothers and grandfathers and fathers and just a whole host of things, Lord, as we
think about now being the relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray that
you will just enable us to love one another in such a way that will inspire the world
to seek to want to know why and how they could be so loving and so kind and so gracious.
We just pray that you would deliver us and just put that in each and every one of us
in Jesus' name. Let us all say amen. Alright. The focus is worship tonight. We'll be looking
at, we're going to look at and try to understand the heart of worship. Our Creator made us and
He made us to find hope and purpose in this life and through worshiping Him and Him alone
we can find that worth. So no one else is worthy but Him and Him alone. So as we focus
on the majesty and the awesomeness of God, how many of you have been to the mountains?
Just incredible to be up so high and see how big things are and you can find stuff being
so small. I remember back when we lived in Wyoming, we were doing Christmas time, out
there we went to the mountains, you get a Christmas tree and I climbed up this tree
and cut the top out and I thought, you know, I'm going to bring that home and that's going
to be so nice and it was 16 foot. It didn't seem that big out in the wild but when I got
home I couldn't get it up and I kept having to cut this tree until I finally got it down
to something manageable and I had all this tree sitting there but it was beautiful up
there and we spent a lot of time with another family up just enjoying the mountains and
enjoying the time out together. So the focus is what we'll be looking at. I want you to
think about Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 first because it's here that we read, I
beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed
to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So before we get any further questions of
course I always have a lot of questions. What is a good way to worship for you? For me it's
songs. I love when I'm playing music, I can get into a worshipful experience. What about
you? Serving, what about you sir? Brian? Singing, Miss Jan? Prayer life, okay. How do you worship?
Linda? Talking to the lawyers, okay. How do you worship? Jan? Do prayer, so we prayer,
yes. Singing or music, those are all good things, okay. But in this one I want to show
you a couple of things that I think that would be really important, not too far. The passage
contains three elements of true worship and there is the motivation of worship, the manner,
description of the manner of our worship, and true worship is God-centered. We'll look
at those individually. The first one who we think about it is the mercies of God. God's
mercies are everything. He's given us so many things that we don't deserve. His eternal
love, His eternal grace, the Holy Spirit, the everlasting peace. We can go on and on
and on about the many things and the benefits of being a believer. The knowledge and understanding
of these incredible gifts should motivate us to put forth praise and worship. I don't
know about you, but for me on Sunday mornings, my left hand, for some reason, goes up on
certain songs. I don't know why. I just, I just, it's like, and then some Sundays I
want to do the two-handed, but I can't sing with that like that. So, but I love, that's
just part of me. I love raising my hands and praising God that way. But because of His
mercies that endure us forever, that's a good reason to praise Him and to worship Him.
Next is our manner of worship. Our manner of worship is presenting our bodies, means giving
to God all of us, my whole being. What does that mean to you, to give God your whole being?
Yes, sir? Every area of life. Define those areas for me. He said every area of life.
What are some areas of life? Our time? Our thought, wow, good one. Our thought life,
our heart, mind, and soul. Everything that is within me. I want to bless His name. I
want to show forth His glory and His praise and all that I do. And so in that manner,
Brian, we do need to get that in replaced or something. Yeah, just a little bit. So this
was a little dim. So that's one of the things that we need to do. So, but more than anything
else, in other words, we are to give up control. How many of you like to give up control? How
many of you are control freaks? Hey, man, I see some control freaks out there. I don't
know. It's like, that's not part of, that's not the way it's supposed to go. And when
things go wrong, you kind of like, ugh, that's not, I was a legalist for many years. And
when things didn't go the way it was scripted to go, I had a hard time dealing with things.
And, and I, and I let that go into my prayer life and my life of observing the Lord. And
it was, it was something else. Also, in this portion of the scripture, we see that it's
God's centered worship. People tend to get caught up where they, where they, how they
should worship. Music, what music should we sing? I got a question to ask you. This came
up the other day in a conversation. The guitars, the cajon, the violin, flute, that's flute.
Those add to worship. You like it? What about the cajon? Is that good? So if we had drums,
what would that be like? Would it be okay? Are you sure? I mean, can you have drums in
a Baptist church? I mean, I just was curious. So what if we had, what else is, I guess,
drums, guitars, bass, cajon, flute. We got it just about got it all. Trombones, trumpets.
Oh man, we got it all. And tambourine. Whoa. You notice it doesn't get used very often?
Why is that? We have a tambourine. I don't know how these work because I am not. Now,
in this interesting, I can sing, but I can't play an instrument. But I've seen people
shake it all together. Some would say that that's an overkill. Some would say that's
acceptable. But as we worship God, should I, should I worry about what people think?
Does anybody in here say amen when pastors preaching in here? Dave does. You do. I've
heard some people say amen. What would you think would happen if someone said preach
on pastor? It would be a little at first. Yeah, it could be. But how do we, what's the
main idea about God centered worship? To praise him. We were made to praise. There's something
about who we are. God made us in this way to where we praise or we look for opportunities,
but we're not going to praise. Jesus said this, God is a spirit. They that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. This was the part of the dialogue with the
woman at the well. And we see this is what went on there. Let's keep going. Only he
is worthy and not any of his servants in revelations chapter 19 verse nine. He said unto me, right
blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the lamb. And he said unto
me, these are the true sayings of God. I want to stop there just real quickly. If you are
a born again believer in Jesus Christ, you've given your heart and you've accepted him as
Lord and savior. You know where you're going to get a chance to be at the marriage supper
of the lamb with all the other saints in the world in 2025. But those back in the 1800s
and those in the first century, we're going to be all at the marriage supper of the lamb.
Now John fell at his feet to worship the angel that was giving him this information. And
he said unto me, see thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant and of the brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus worship God. The testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy.
And so we're not to worship other saints of the men of the prophets, statutes, angels,
false gods, even Mary the mother of Jesus. We should also be worshiping the expectation
of something. We should not be worshiping for the expectation of something in return.
That is, he's just making a point. This is something you shouldn't do. Fall down and
worship the angel. The angel gave him the prophecy and he wanted to worship the angel
because he felt so unworthy to be in heaven because John who was exiling the Isle of Patmos
was given these revelations by God and during the giving of these revelations, he fell down
to worship the angel and was told, don't do that. So the point, only God deserves our
worship. Only God deserves our praise. But there's a big difference between praise and
worship. What is that? What's the difference between praise and worship? Yes.
Okay, very good. So praise is an extension of worship. I worship God for who he is and
in that I praise him. I praise him on the tambourine. I praise him on the drums. I praise
him on the hearts. I praise him together singing with other believers. I praise him. Okay,
so only God deserves our worship. No man, no woman, but only God, him alone. And so we're
going to look at now how we can worship only one, the only one who can rescue us and the
only one who deserves our praise. In Isaiah chapter 40 verses 21 through 24, he's speaking
to the children of Israel, the prophet is. He says, have you not known? Have you not
heard? Have did not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sit upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants
there are as grasshoppers and stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spread it them
as a tent to dwell in that bring it the princess to nothing that make it the judges of the
earth as vanity. Yay, they shall not be planted. Yay, they shall not be some. Yay, their stock
shall not take root in the earth and he shall also blow upon them and they shall wither and
the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. The prophet begins by asking some important
questions. Have you not known? The fool is said in his heart, there is no God. But man
knows that there is because God placed within each man, each one of us avoid an emptiness,
a place that only he can feel. And there are certain times in our lives and in our experience
in life that that whole has a yearning and a hungering and a drive and a thirst for that
that only God can feel. And so we see that he says, have you not, no, have you not even
heard? Surely someone has talked about how good God is. Had it not been told you from
the beginning, Cicero in the first century BC observed that religion regardless of its
form was a universal trait of man. Seeing that people are going to worship something
or someone, we should ask what is worship? Whom and how shall we worship? These are questions
that Cicero formed many, many years ago. And so all religions practice worship. If we can
do enough, can we pray enough or give enough? We'll eventually convince a God who we don't
know to make our lives better. That's what the world says. If we can do enough, and basically
that's legalism. Because if I think I've done enough and I think I've prayed enough and
I've given enough, God, you owe me because I've done what I think is required of me.
So you should meet my needs. You should give me the things that I want. And I should be
a recipient of those things that you have for me. So those four questions, God was calling
to his people to worship him for asking these four great questions. Everything they needed
to know about God had been revealed to them. Now, if you've been to the mountains or if
you've been on a sunrise in Northwest Ohio, as flat as can be and see the sun come up,
there's something majestic about that. And it lets you know that there's more to life
than just mundane things that are happening around. But the beauty of that we see. So
I said, Dave, you not heard. That's a typo. Excuse that. Okay. Yeah, I was wondering who
Dave was to. Had it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? No one can say I don't know anything about who this God is.
But God is speaking. Nature is speaking. The earth is speaking. The heavens are speaking.
Worship begins with looking at God and seeing glimpses of the invisible and the infinite.
The invisible. That we serve a God that many people would say, I don't see. We serve a God
that meets our needs. And people confuse it with, well, you have a job. That's how you've been able
to meet your needs. But believers know this, that we don't work for some organization. We work
for the Lord. Because he's applied the job. He's applied the industry that we would have that
job with. All those things are provided by him. And so worship begins by looking at God and seeing
glimpses of the invisible and more than that, the infinite. The God who was, is, and is going to be
allows his spirit to reside within me. I don't fear the past. I don't get nervous about the present.
And I look forward to the future because of what God, who is the invisible and the infinite is able
to do. I can't touch him. I can't feel him. But I know he's there. I hear him, but it's not verbal.
I feel him, but it's not. Is that the word? Tactical. Who's a nurse? Anybody nursing here?
Tectile. I got it wrong. Thank you. Tectile. Yeah. I knew I was going to mess it up even before I
said it. Isn't that amazing? And this passage, Isaiah gives us several images to consider. We see the God
whose power made the world in the beginning of everything. Got the father, got the son, got the
Holy Spirit, stepped out of nowhere into nothing and spoke into existence, everything that's here.
There's a song that says he's got the whole world in his hand. He's got the whole world in his hand.
And yet he's big enough and bad enough to know everything that I need and every need for everybody
all over the world. Every sparrow that falls. Every fish that floats up. God knows all of that.
We see God who is ruler of all and whose throne has no equal. How many of you have world history buffs?
I love history. One of the last courses I took was the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It was a
fascinating study. One of the things I noticed about that and if you look back through the years of
history, there have always been civilizations that were great and people thought they would never fall.
They was going to last forever, but they all were destroyed from the inside. The God who is the rule of
all whose throne has no equal, has no end, has no beginning will go on forever and ever and one day
I'll be able to see the throne of God myself. Think about that. One day we'll be in glory. We'll be in
glory and we'll go. Remember, see, we don't know everything, but we know in part, but when that which
is perfect has come, then we're going to know everything and we'll understand why things happened
in my life. God is going to make all things known and I'll be able to understand in such a way that
I'll be humbled and I'll all but follow my knees and worship Him for who He is, for how many times
God has saved me from myself. We'll understand it better by and by. Somebody wrote a song about that.
They sure did. Okay, we see the God who is so big, he causes all the world as we know it to
seem small by comparison. Then lastly, we see the God whose authority and might transcend every
prince on earth. No power can approach His greatness. God is superior to everything. What
almighty God we serve. There's a song about that too. Think how many songs that are written for us
to worship and praise God with. Isaiah continuing on, he says, to whom will ye liken me or shall I
be equal, saith the Holy One? Who will we liken me or shall be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up
your eyes on high and behold, who had created these things that bring it out their host by
number. He calleth him all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in
power, not one phalanx. Why says thou, O Jacob, speaketh thou, O Israel? My way is hid from the
Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not, and then he repeats again, this is
Hebrew poetry, hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the
creator of the ends of the earth, feigneth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. Israel complains that God is just too big for him to really know and understand what
they are dealing with as a nation, but God does know. And so he asks them those additional questions.
But God's unique nature, let's talk a little bit about that just real quickly if we can. No other
God created it all. If there was another one that had power or existed, our worship would
rightly be divided between the two, but God isn't one or two or of many. He is one and he is the
only one. No other God holds it all like he can hold it all. No other God rules it all like he can
rule. And we may feel like there are times when living on this earth that, wow, evil is running
rampant. I think I've said this before, but I'm going to ask it again. How many of you have heard
the expression? It's going to get things going to get better. So I asked this question to you
tonight. Has things gotten any better? Why? Why, Dave? Why? Just a second. Why and why? Okay. See if I
can remember all those people now. Ready? Go. Okay. We've got a problem with sin. And worse. Yes. The
devil, our adversary, the evil wonder. He walks about whom he can devour. He will cut your throat
and watch you bleed and never break a sweat. And we'll rejoice that he take you out. That's the kind
of adversary we are up against. I mean, cold, calculated. The Bible tells us to be, you know,
to watch out for the scheme of the wilds of the devil because he's out to kill. Yes, he has no
use for you. If you're going to live for Christ, you got an enemy on your hands now. If you're not
battling, then maybe you need to pray a little more. Read a little more. Put yourself to where God
can use you. I asked you, now there's somebody over here. Who did I ask of me? Oh, Larry. Yeah,
it was you. It wasn't Bill. Oh, you want Bill answered? Okay, go ahead. Tell me, tell me, tell
me, what does everybody do what's good their own I mean? Okay. I'm right and you're wrong. Don't
sass me. I'm right and you're wrong. And you're wrong and I'm right. We got an impasse. We're a
mess. Yes, ma'am. We're not standing up boldly. I heard her what she said. But what does it mean
to stand boldly? What is a what is a fearful Christian look like? Do they shake a lot?
What is a fearful Christian? Anybody? Yes. Yes, sir.
Oh, man, I only have 15 more minutes. I just thought of a compromise. I've never finished a lesson here at
Trinity. I don't know what I'm upset about. Compromise. Brian, what does he mean? We compromise. What does
it mean? Wait a minute, you get your turn. I compromise. What does that mean? Do I take a
bribe? Do I what? So like, I'm gonna pick on Dave because he likes it. Don't really have to study too
much because you've taught enough lessons to where there's probably 10 to 12 of them sitting in the
back of your mind every day, right? Right? I'm popping a lot. I'm thinking the ones who per our
lesson. I'm fearful of the world and what others think. Because I want everybody to think the best
of me. I don't want anybody to know what I was thinking about when I was talking with a guy today.
He was making me a little upset. But I thought of me went, oh, do the right thing. Okay.
Why do I want to go to heaven? I got it made down here. I sometimes I feel like I got it made
here because I allowed the world and Satan to rain too much in me to allow me to put my mind on
heavenly things. When I can't think heavenly, I grovel and I get messed up in the stuff in this
world. How many Christians are like, Oh, man, I've said this before, we ought to be the most
productive people that that employers can hire. We are the most positive. We are the most giving.
We are the ones that the world looks at and goes, give us more Christians. But we compromise. We're
fearful and we don't take a stand. And when that happens, we let the master down. And
Jesus has we let Jesus down who gave his life. The God who created all this humbled himself to
become a single sale entity and grow into a child birth went through all that potty training and
adolescent stuff and grew up diet gave himself. And I know, thank God, he doesn't say I did all
that for him. And look at what he's doing. But my God, Jesus says, I still love you. And and
through the Holy Spirit is going to work out some things so that he can begin to appreciate that
love that I have for him. And all of a sudden now, whoa, I began to be what God or Christ would
have me be. Oh, this is beautiful. This is wonderful. Isaiah chapter six. In the year that King
Uzzi died, I saw I saw it. This is what Isaiah said. He saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high
and lifted up in his train, fill the temple. And above it stood the seraphim's. Each one had how
many wings? Six. Two wings got feet covered, right? His face. And with two, he flew. What a weird
sounding looking six wings. Here's a beautiful part. And one cried until another. I don't know how
many seraphim's were up there. But one cried to the other, Holy, Holy, Holy. And another one said,
Holy, Holy, Holy. And another one said, Holy, Holy. And to finally, they're reverberated all over
heaven. Holy, Holy, Holy. I said, I saw that. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him
that cried and the house was filled with smoke. What was his reaction? I said, Whoa, he is me.
I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips. My life does not measure up to the holiness that I see
in the temple. We come to church on Sunday mornings to do what? Worship? What else do we do? How do
we worship when we come? I'm going somewhere with this. How do we worship when we come to church on
Sunday morning? Some people sing. Some people serve. We hear the word. There's one left.
We give according to giving. We worship by giving. But if I'm out of fellowship and you're out of
fellowship and these three just had a big argument before church started.
Are we going to go out to eat? No, I don't want to go there. Let's go here. No, I don't know.
And they were just kind of going at it and then church started.
And what happened?
Wow.
Sad, but it happens. What does that do to the spirit of worship and the spirit of unity
that's in the church? Pastor has to preach twice as hard.
Musicians have to play and it takes the spirit of God to finally move that negativity
and finally people are saying, praise God, I'm glad I'm here. I can let go of that.
Sister, I love you, but it doesn't matter to me and things can come back together.
And all of a sudden now we can worship in spirit and in truth. And I know you were upset, but
I love you anyway. And you finally look at me and say, I love you too. And there's rejoicing in that
because Christ gets the victory and Satan is defeated. He wants to defeat us before we can come in and worship.
Oh, renewal, refuel, revamp and then yes.
Let's see. I got 12 more, 18 more.
Who said that? I'm not going to do all 18. I got to stop in four minutes.
And this who's that laughed at loud? Said you. Well, your husband does just as bad.
I say a 40 29 31. One of my favorite portions of scripture. He give it power to the faint
and to them that have no might. He increases strength power to the faint
power, do not mess to the faint. I have been striving and struggling for the Lord and I'm faint.
So what does he do? He gives me power. He gives me what I need because I have spent myself working
for him. Then he then he makes a comparison. Even the youth shall faint and be weary.
The youth who should be the ones that can run and run and fight and fight and do and do and just go on
forever. They said they shall faint and be weary. The young men are going to utterly fall the 31.
But they that what wait. Now, I love the verse 29. He give us.
God give us power. This is part of his the merciful works of God, his graciousness.
He give us power. He gives when they when I don't deserve it, but he gives me to put me back up on
my feet. He gives. And so verse 31, but they that wait. Let's go in here just a little bit more.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
The youth who normally can't do it. He's going to restore. How do we receive this strength from
the Lord? We receive it as we wait on the Lord. The idea behind wait on the Lord is not a passive
sitting around until the Lord does something. Yes, God gives us strength, but we don't expect it to
come as if he were pouring it into us as we sit passively by. He brings it to us as we seek him,
rely on him instead of doing things in our own strength. Quick story. I'll make you really quick.
So I just about laughed that loud. I never done anything quick in my life.
See, I'm making it long already.
I was preaching in the city. We spent about 10 years. I was a circuit riding preacher.
It was in Nebraska, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming. We travel one or two Sundays every month to a
low town that didn't have a pastor. And I said to myself, I wrote, this is a good swimming.
This is a good one. It's going to be good. And so I stood up for two preach,
open my Bible and stuttered through the scripture, lost my place.
And it was just as real as real could be. It was almost as if the Lord said,
you wanted to give your good sermon. Go ahead.
I can't see it. Even the youth, even the person that's
think he's ready to do it all by himself. No, doesn't work that way.
Notice the order because it seems strange when you think about the order in the scriptural text,
but you have to kind of get to where this is exciting. But they did wait upon Lord
shall renew their strength. So I'm back now to where I need to be in that restored fellowship
with God. I'm empowered by his might. I'm ready to move on. They shall mount up with eagles.
They shall run and not be weary. Why would I fly before I walked?
But when we look at this, what we see is that
we recognize that we soar into heavenly places with Christ. I reign with him on high.
And then when I think about Hebrews 12 once, it says,
wherefore seeing also we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
And that cloud of witnesses are standing there. And I believe one of them is my mother
and my grandmother and my grandma Lily and my grandpa Oscar because they were all born again
believers in love of the Lord. Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Michael, you can do it. My grandmother would say,
Mike, keep going. My mom would say, Michael Edward, hang in there, boy.
My granddaddy Oscar would say, he's a man of few words. He give you a nod. You got it.
We're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside
false worship, bad ideas, hidden sins or secret sins. And we could go on and on.
Let us lay aside all that stuff. The idea was a Greek runner who would strip down to
practically nothing and they would run the race. And the analogy here is all those things that would
easily be set us, trip me up, hold me back, keep me down, not let me see the wonder and the glory
of who God is. Put that aside and then let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Your race is the one that only you are capable of running. God has placed things in Mark's life
and in your life that only you didn't. But he's bringing something out of your life and what
you're dealing with so he can get the praise and the glory.
That's not yet appear what we're going to be, but that which is perfect comes. We're going to know
everything and I'm going to see, let's see, another quick story. In 1975 I was a senior in high school.
Do the math, I'm old. And we had recruiters from West Point that came there. I remember sitting there
and they asked me, what do you think? Do you think you would want to come to West Point?
I remember saying, nah, I'm going to be a brain surgeon and I'm going to go to Europe and drive
around in the red sports car. That was my plan. Guess what?
I don't have a red sports car. I'm not a brain surgeon and I'm not in Europe.
But I am where God wants me and I think I'm doing and serving him the way he would want me to serve him.
So I'm running my race with patience. And you know one day
he is going to reward me.
And he's going to reward you. Bill, he's going to say this, well done, my good and faithful servant.
That's what I want to hear. Enter in.
And I'm going to fellowship with him. I'm going to eat with him and get this. I'm going to reign with
him for a thousand years. Oh, the millennial reign of Christ is some great stuff. I'm so
interested. Father God, we love you and we praise you for this night.
And Lord, I hope that we have a better idea of what it means to worship the omnipresent,
omnipresent, omnipotent. That's who you are. You are and your title is God.
Your name is Jehovah Yahweh Adonai. And we praise you for who you are. And we thank you so much
for your son Jesus, who you sent to die and to be risen from the dead. And now he's ascended
and he's sitting at the right hand of the Father. And right now the Holy Spirit is dwelling with
me in your own misery. Let us worship you and praise you. For those that worship God most
worship him in spirit and in truth. Help us to abide by your spirit and your truth.
Let me pray this in your sense name. Let us all say amen.