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John 4:24 - God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Must Worship in Spirit and truth.
1. Not "spirit" like in a ball game, or bottle.
2. Pentecostals are said to have great spirit, little truth. Baptists are
said to have little spirit, great truth.
3. So we don't worship with our feelings, but use our feelings as
the Spirit of God moves upon us.
Luke 1:46,47 - An example of true worship – Mary worshipping. Note that
John the Baptist leaped in his mothers womb when he heard about the coming
birth of Christ.
b. Mary worshipped inwardly first, then the emotion came to her flesh.
Mary worshipped in her spirit all the while she was traveling to Elizabeth's
house.
c. Most want to worship with their flesh first, then call that worship.
4. Proper order - A person worships God in their spirit, then reveals that
inward worship in their flesh. They then teach another person what they know.
That second person worships God in the spirit first, then reveals that inward
worship in the flesh. They then teach a third person, and so on.
Must Worship in Truth.
We don't worship the thing we do, but the things God does and Who He is.
We're not talking about the ways we worship, but who and why we
worship.
I. Ways of worshipping:
A. Singing, not the voice of the singer, but the Lord they sing about.
Choirs and specials can be good, if they glorify God.
B. Praying, not the nice prayer, but the God who answers prayers. Both
public and private prayer.
C. Preaching, not the excellent speech, or speaker, but the God preached
about.
D. Teaching, not the knowledge of the teacher, but the knowledge of the
God they teach about.
E. Bible reading, not that we worship our reading the Bible every day, or
completely reading our Bibles every year, but worshipping the God of the
Bible.
F. Looking at the things of nature, and knowing God made it all, not
worshipping nature.
G. Assembling together to worship, not the building we worship in.
H. Looking to God in times of trouble, not as a fire escape.
II. II Timothy 3:16 - 4:4 - In the last days, people shall turn from the
truth. Truth is doctrine. People today say, "I don’t want
doctrine."
A. Many Bibles, but little truth. Truth has been taken out of all these
new Bibles.
B. Many religious organizations organized, not called church, but
"centers." They believe "organized religion" has stifled
the truth in favor of their particular denominational flavor.
1. These people are looking for new ways to worship that fits the
personal desires of individuals.
a. They are not particularity interested in whether God is pleased or
not.
b. If people leave the place of worship feeling as if they had
worshipped, does that mean God is pleased with their
"worship"?
2. There are difference "styles" and "ways" to
worship, and just because a group worshipped opposite from us does not
mean they have not worshipped.
a. God is not looking for stained glass windows to find a church.
b. God is not looking for a lovely choir to find a church.
c. IBC might be feeling that if we do not have day services during a
meeting that somehow we are letting down in worship.
d. Do you understand the trap we have fallen into?
e. In former days, churches had "protracted meetings",
which often lasted two or three weeks. Is that how we should hold
meetings?
3. The measure of the success of the "church" of often found
in the size of the congregation. How do we measure the success of our
church?
a. Larger church – greater success.
b. Smaller church – lack of success.
4. What things should a church do in order to attract people to the
services?
a. Many churches are going to traditional/contemporary services. This
is nothing but an appeal to the flesh.
b. I talked to a man whose church went to two services: one
traditional, the other contemporary. Their church leaders (of which he
belonged) did all the research programs to see what people wanted and
this is what they wanted, therefore they initiated the
traditional/contemporary services. Funny thing, before I stopped
speaking to the individual, I asked him how old he was when he was
saved. He looked at me sorta funny, then confessed, he did not know if
he had ever been saved or not. Here is a man who is making decisions in
a "church" about their worship, and he did not know if he had
ever been saved. Is this typical of today’s "modern"
worship?
C. Work at understanding Bible truths, like you work at other things you
want to accomplish.
III. John 18:38 – Pilate asked Christ, "What is truth?" He
never found out, because he did not search for truth. We should search the
scriptures for truth, there is where we will find truth.
A. Romans 1:25 – Unbelievers have changed the truth of God into a lie.
B. II Corinthians 11:14 – Satan has transformed himself into an angel
of light.
IV. Every service should be a Special Service, don’t wait until
"Revival" comes to be revived.
A. Success of a meeting is not judged by number of attendants, or the
number of converts, but whether God is worshipped or not.
B. A measure of how much you worshipped during services is reflected in
how quickly your turn from that worship to other things.
Worship in Spirit
I. Awaken the conscience to holiness of God.
A. Psalms 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God.
B. Romans 12:1-2 – Present your body a living sacrifice and you be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, proving what is that good,
acceptable and perfect will of God.
C. To busy to worship, you are to busy.
II. Feed the mind on the truth of God.
A. In your car, listen to gospel singing, or messages on tape. Get a tape
player for your car! And use it!
1. Use your time and money to purchase eternal things, or things that
are of eternal benefit.
a. I was thinking of some tapes (Bible and Science by Henry Morris) I
purchased from Bible Baptist Church back in 1975 or so.
b. I listened to those tapes over and over again, until I knew what
Brother Henry would say next.
c. I am not sure where those tapes are now, but one of them got lost
when Brother Gareld Bilyew wrecked his orange pickup.
d. I lost at least one of those tapes, but I still have the knowledge
gained by those messages.
e. That is what really counts.
2. Today, there are too many things that occupy our minds that we are
in the habit of using.
3. Does the TV stay on in your home, simply because you want the noise?
Is it too quiet in your home without the TV or radio on?
4. Think of how it used to be when people had time to think about God.
B. II Tim. 2:15 – Study to show thyself approved of God.
1. Some might believe this is for preachers, and it is.
2. It is also for every believer.
3. The problem with local churches today is that individual church
members do not know the Word of God as they should.
4. They depend on the preacher to preach the truth to them, but they
only know the truth when it is phrased the way their preacher phrases it.
C. What you put into your mind will become you.
1. People are busy with a lot of things today.
2. Many things occupy our minds.
3. fishing, boating, camping, car racing, work.
4. People occupied with sports, even "Junkyard Wars."
D. Mrs. Annie told me one time she regretted all the time she spent
reading books that weren’t the Bible, or even remotely connected with the
Bible.
III. Open the heart to the love of God.
A. II Timothy 1:6 – Stir up the gift of God that is within you.
B. Close your heart to the hatred of Satan and to thinking about bad
things.
IV. Devote the will to the purpose of God.
A. I Corinthians 10:31 – Whatever we do, do all to the glory of God.
Here are some doctrines we can worship God in
I. The truth that Jesus is the creator. This command is given to every
creature on the earth.
A. Genesis 1,2 - God made the heavens and the earth regardless of who
says different.
1. Romans 1: - There are some which do not recognize God created the
worlds, but these end up worshipping themselves and being turned over to
their own wickedness.
2. Job 26:7 - God stretched out the north over the empty place and
hangeth the earth on nothing.
3. Acts 14:15 - Paul and Barnabas telling the people to worship God,
not them.
4. Revelation 4:10,11 - The 24 elders worshipping God as their creator.
5. Revelation 14:7 - Angels flying through heaven declaring the men
ought to worship God who made the heavens and the earth.
B. Evolutionists do not want to worship God as creator because if they
accept God as creator, they must also accept him as their eternal and final
judge.
II. The truth that Jesus is our Saviour.
A. TOTAL DEPRAVITY - Before we can worship Christ as Saviour, we must
recognize we are sinners, bound for hell, and deserving to go.
1. Ephesians 2:1-3 - We were all sinners before salvation.
2. Titus 3:3 - We were all sinners before salvation.
B. Luke 19:10 - Jesus came to seek and save the lost.
1. John 3:16 - God send His only Begotten Son that
whosoever believeth might be saved.
2. Psalm 14:1-3 – If Jesus had not come to seek and
save the lost, nobody would ever seek him for salvation.
III. After we are saved, we can begin to worship God as we
learn more truth about Him.
1. Existence of God.
2. Infinity of God - no limits of any kind.
3. Trinity of God - Wonder as how this can be.
4. Omnipresence of God - God is everywhere, Psalm
139:7-13.
5. Independence of God - God really doesn't need us.
6. Immutability of God - James 1:17 - There is no
variableness or shadow of turning with God.
7. Knowledge of God - Psalm 147:5 - His understanding
is infinite (of His understanding, there is no number.)
8. Foreknowledge - II Peter 3:17 - God knows everything
about the world before it come to pass.
9. Power of God - Job 23:13 - What God desires, He
does.
10. Grace - God gives salvation and help to those that
don't deserve it.
11. Mercy of God - God looks on guilty sinners and
forgives them.
12. Faithfulness - God will always keep His promises.
13. Wisdom of God - Romans 11:33-36 - God had more than
knowledge, He has wisdom.
14. Love of God - I John 4:8, 16 - This doesn't mean
that God merely loves, but that God is love.
15. Wrath of God - God's wrath is totally justified
because He is merciful and slow to anger, always waiting for sinners to
repent.
16. Will of God - God has decreed everything, yet
allows man a choice.
a. will of purpose.
b. will of command.
17. Sovereignty of God - God is in total control of everything.
18. Patience and long-suffering - Psalm 86:15 - God is
full...longsuffering.
19. Holiness of God - Isaiah 6:3 - Seraphims crying "Holy, Holy,
Holy". There is no standard of righteousness for God. He is the
standard.
20. The all seeing God - Proverbs 5:21 - God sees and knows all things.
21. Silence of God - Psalm 50:1-6 - God is silent now, but He will not
always keep silence.
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