Worship is My Weapon - Lesson 3: Worship in Action

Review: Jehosaphat & the People

Last week we discussed the walls of Jericho and the king of Judah - Jehosaphat. I do want to quickly return to one thing about Jehosaphat:

I had mentioned that there were scriptures that contradicted that Jehosaphat took down the high places of Judah. However, I also alluded to the fact that while the scriptures seem contradictory at first glance - they really are not.

2 Chronicles 17:6 “And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.”

Notice that this portion of Scripture tells us that Jehosaphat removed the high places and the groves out of Judah

1 Kings 22:43 “And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.”

2 Chron 20:33 sheds some more light on the subject:

2 Chronicles 20:31–33 “And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.”

Notice it was the people who could not prepare their hearts.

I’ve preached and taught that you matter. I want you to notice that the people effected the course of a nation. Similarly, the people effect the course of a church. If we get our hearts right with God and come into agreement that we will serve the Lord - something powerful happens: God begins to step into our situation. God begins to break down barriers we thought would never fall. God begins to change lives in ways we never thought were imaginable. The revival we thought we’d never see again in our lives - all of the sudden - begins to take place again.

BUT, it all comes back down to both the people and the leader having a right heart before God. You can have a godly leader ready to walk into the promised land, but the people still fail to be ready. Similar to what happened to Moses.

I’m not here today to beat anyone up, or make you feel like you don’t love the Lord - because if you made up your mind to be here tonight: I have no doubt that you do love Jesus. However, where I am challenging you is in the department of obedience.

Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” in John 14:15 .

Deut 19:9 says, “If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:”

Without going to much further in Deut 19, God essentially is telling the people if you get your heart right - I’m going to add to you.

I don’t know about you, but I want God to be free to add to me, add to my family, add to my church. I still want more in 2024!

How Can We Worship God Here and Now

John 4:23–24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

We should note that Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman with many husbands here. Their dialogue pointed toward the worship of Yahweh in the mountains of Northern Israel - which by Mosaic law violated the covenant between God and Israel as a whole. Jesus came to reunite such people who had become separated from him due to division, disobedience, and human brokenness.

It was only through Jesus that humanity’s brokenness could be repaired. Something had to be broken before that could happen though. That sacrifice would be made at Calvary.

True worshippers must worship through the Word.

Prior to heading to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spoke the following words in His prayer for the disciples:

John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

Jesus was the Word

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

So it is through Jesus that we may be sanctified, but how do we receive Him?

Let the church answer this

So, I must have the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ applied to my life through repentance, water baptism in Jesus name, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues in order to receive Him. This is according to the early church’s definition, and what the Catholic church would call their first pope’s first sermon in Acts 2.

To worship God in Spirit - I must have His Spirit because to have a right heart - I need him to help me to be right. I acknowledge I can’t make it to heaven on my own and I need the guidance of the Holy Ghost.

To worship God in truth - I need biblical truth that comes from the living Word of God. The Bible is powerful! While Jesus was and is the ultimate manifestation of truth, this book opens the door to the realities of Jesus in our lives today. While I can’t feel his hands like Thomas did, I most certainly can know His heart through the Word. If I know His heart, I will be better equipped to take His word to all people.

So, once again we come full circle to the question: What is worship?

As stated in the first lesson:

“To honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power or to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion”

Further, we identified that worship is a lifestyle. Worship does not only happen within the walls of the church, it also happens at home, at work, and even when enjoying hobbies.

Today, however, we emphasized that worship comes from a pure heart.

If we as the people of God refuse to make our hearts right before God, it doesn’t matter what the preacher does - we will keep ourselves and our church at a place where it cannot move forward.

Let me say this, God wants you to move forward. He loves you so much that He’ll allow you to join the church with all your baggage. He still loves you! But, He’s going to require some things be left behind over the time of transformation because He loves you too much for you to continue to carry burdens that aren’t yours to carry. He loves you too much to let you stay in sin.

Jesus wants a closer relationship with us today than what we had with Him yesterday! Will we grow closer to God through a life of worship? It is my hope through this series, you have made up your mind to worship more because when you do - God gets the glory, the enemy is defeated, and we receive the victory through Jesus Christ.

Identifying the Battlegrounds of Spiritual Warfare

There are three dimensions in which we fight spiritually:

The physical

The spiritual

The Physical

Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Matthew 3:16–17 “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 4:1–2 “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.”

Matthew 4:3 “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”

Satan attacks when:

Alone

Physically vulnerable

About to move forward spiritually

Have someone look up Luke 4:13 (an opportune time)

The Spiritual

Ezekiel 28:1–19 KJV 1900

The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Ezek 28:19.

Here, we see the King of Tyre - this is the spiritual entity - known as Satan

There is also the Prince of Tyre, which is identified as the king of the Tyre.

The two dimensions of spirit and the physical are brought together. The spiritual influences the physical; hence, our praise and worship effects the physical as well as the spiritual.

Notice, the prophet prophesies against both the physical and the spiritual. While preaching can tackle both the physical and the spiritual at the same time - this instance of spiritual warfare required prophecy to both dimensions.

While we may not be preachers, sometimes we need to prophesy to our situations through the Spirit. Let me emphasize that this must come from the Spirit and not your flesh.

However, there’s something powerful that transpires when we just worship God in our situation. God moves on our behalf!

Psalm 22:3 “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.”

Let’s look at a few examples of how the atmosphere and battlefield shift when we praise and worship

Moses - Paul and Silas

Exodus 17:11–13 “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”

2 Kings 6:16–18 “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.”

Praise correlates with God’s armies moving forward. His armies do so much more than what we can see or understand, but praise with a right heart is a powerful weapon against the enemy!

Paul and Silas - Praise Breaks us out of bondage!

Acts 16:25–26 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.”

Notice, it wasn’t only Paul and Silas who’s bands were loosed - it was everyone else in the prison!!!!

- Your praise breaks bonds in services

- If we aren’t seeing people filled with the Spirit and baptized every service there’s a reason! It is correlated to our life of worship!

The fact that you don’t praise or are disengaged during service is indicative of a heart issue.

You tell God whatever your mind is more important right now when you fail to praise

When you praise, you acknowledge that God can move on your situation

You demonstrate that God has all power to move in your situation. You also tell God I know your angel armies are fighting for me

YOU ALLOW GOD TO USE YOU IN BREAKING THE CHAINS OF OTHERS - enabling the Kingdom to grow. When we fight like we’re supposed in the Spirit through praise - those seeking God aren’t trying to seek Him through your spirits you’re either ignoring or refusing to deal with.

Conclusion

Your praise matters! Your worship matters! Your heart matters!

Praise is not a culture, it is a lifestyle that comes from genuine worship, and you can only have genuine worship through a pure heart.

Our praise breaks the yoke of bondage for us and others!