Title: God in Worship
Contents
Text: John 4:23-24
Worship is an encounter between God and the saints, and seeking the face of God. God blesses those who believe, and those who believe worship God as God. That's why Paul said in Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
As in today's text John 4:24, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth", God is still looking for those who worship Him.
There are many records of such precious worship in the Old Testament.
① Cain and Abel’s sacrifice (worship): Genesis 4:3-4
②After Noah’s flood, Noah built an altar to God, and took birds and clean animals and offered them as burnt offerings (Genesis 8:20).
③ Abraham built an altar (Genesis 12:8)
④Moses and the priests of his time (Exodus)
⑤ The prophet Elijah rebuilt the destroyed altar of the Lord (1 Kings 18:30)
⑥ After that, countless sacrifices (worships) were offered up to John the Baptist.
If we separate the flow of worship,
1. The flow of worship from Adam to Noah:
At this time, God was merely an object of fear, and there was no concrete, theological, or religious system of who God was, and he vaguely believed in and called on God (Genesis 4:26). At this time, God was not the standard and people lived according to their own conscience (Romans 2:14-15). This is the case with Genesis 1-6.
2. The flow of worship from Noah to Abraham:
It was a time when people tried to understand God's will and live according to their own faith. Noah also built an altar to God, and Abraham built an altar and was called righteous by God. This is the age of the active beginning of worship, the age when we began to have faith in obedience to God's commands, and this is the age of Genesis 7-12.
3. The flow of worship from Abraham to Moses:
Worship has been systematized. From this point on, it is the time to understand God's will and obey it thoroughly. There was polytheism before Abraham, but monotheism began from that time. In the Bible, God is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and he believed in only one God.
Why was he called the God of Abraham? He valued God more than the life of his son Isaac, whom he had at the age of 100. Then why the God of Isaac? Isaac valued God more than his own life. Then why the God of Jacob? As you can see from the situation of the Jabbok River on his way back to his hometown, God even changed his name to Israel because he was Jacob who valued and longed for the spiritual blessings that God gave him more even though he gave up all his possessions, wife, and children.
4. The flow of worship from Moses to John:
The religious system was established with the Ten Commandments, and the commandments to serve God are also strict in the Age of Law. This was the age of seeking, seeing and seeking the face of God, not a vague God. John 17:3 says, “Eternal life is to know God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.” The word ‘know’ means ‘to see’. Why did God send 10 plagues upon the Exodus? To immobilize the Egyptians, killing the eldest son and the youngest son at once would solve the problem. Why was that? This was a demonstration of God's love for the nation of Israel. There is God's message, "Unlike those Egyptians, I protect you and love you."
Success is meeting, serving, seeing, and worshiping God in worship through worship. Matthew 25:302 says, “Cast this useless servant out into darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” To such people, the Lord will cast them out into the cursed hell and will not see their faces.
Dear members of Shepherd Church,
I pray that you will become believers who seek the face of God who meets and blesses you through worship. Don't be late for worship, don't miss out, and I hope you win the worship service.
Let's confess together.
I will become a successful person in worship.
I will be a leader in worship.
I will be a life-giver in worship.
Amen. Hallelujah!!!!.