Leading A Worship Campaign for Jesus (2)
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But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Objective:
Objective:
Jesus is in the village of Sychar and he is having a conversation with a women who is a Samaritan. The Samaritan were a mixed breed of Jews. They were strictly hated by the Jews who were considered to be pure. As I highlighted on Sunday;
a. When Ezra led the Jews back from exile in Babylon, the first thing the Jews did was to start rebuilding their temple. The Samaritans offered to help them, but the Jews rejected their help, declaring that the Samaritans—through intermarriage and worship of false gods—had lost their purity and forfeited their right to worship the only true God. This severe denunciation embittered the Samaritans against the Jews in Jerusalem.
b. The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim to stand in competition with the Jewish temple at Jerusalem.
c. The Samaritans twisted both the Scripture and history to favor their own people and nation. ⇒ They twisted Scripture in that they accepted only five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. (Just imagine! They missed all the richness and depth of the Psalms and prophets.) ⇒
They twisted history in that they claimed three great events took place on Mt. Gerizim that set it apart as a place of worship. It was the place where Abraham offered Isaac, where Melchizedek met Abraham, and where Moses built his first altar after leading Israel out from Egyptian bondage.
So Jesus is on this Worship Campaign trying to educate this women on what true worship is all about. My assignment is to ignite a Worship Campaign in our Church that will spread to your families. I’m teaching from this subject: LEADING A WORSHIP CAMPAIGN FOR JESUS
Introduction:
Introduction:
What is the definition of Worship in the bible?
(Worship) Proskyneo — to prostrate; bow down; in the presence of a divine or supernatural deity.
(Worship) Proskyneo — to prostrate; bow down; in the presence of a divine or supernatural deity.
This bowing down is an act of worshipping a deity. It’s a physical act as well as a spirit act. It’s a verb!
What is a verb! A verb is a action word. It is something you do, not just something you read. So when you see the word Worshippers or Worship — you must get into your mind the physical act of worship.
Is Worship Important to God:
Is Worship Important to God:
You see I like to find out whats important to God. Because if it is important to God and I learn this; I like to make it important to me. I believe this is one way of really and truly getting close to God. Making whats important to him, important to me.
We can learn whether or not a thing is important to God from his word. Remember bow down is the same as worship.
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
You see the devil understood how important worship is to God.
So this is why he is always attempting to keep us from worship. Because real worship should affect your life. If your in church and your giving God proper worship, it should affect your life.
Now lets seal this with some examples of the scriptures.
When Jacob got ready to meet Esau and he wanted to show him respect look at what he did.
Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
When Joseph’s brothers found out he was still alive
Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.
When Moses greeted his father in law
Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” And he said, “Here I am.”
So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him. And they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent.
When the Wisemen saw Jesus for the first time.
And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
When Jesus was on the ship and he rebuked the wind and the waves.
Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Matt
Let me see if everyone will agree with me on this. You can pray standing up. You can even pray sitting down. It’s no problem. However something changes when you bow down.
If you have never bow before the bible declares that one day you will.
For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
Every family, every house, every nation, should have this element of bowing down before God.
Worship changes the life of the Worshipper
Worship changes the life of the Worshipper
John 4:
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews.
You see worship should have been changing her life, but it was not. I believe it was probably because she truly did not know who or what she was worshipping. I say that because this women had been through a lot.
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.”
“I have no husband,” she said. “That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’
You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.”
“Oh, so you’re a prophet!
You would not believe the amount of people coming to church; singing in the choir, praise dancing, and the like who’s worship has had not true impact on their lives.
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
Emphasis on the Word True Worshipper
Real Worship Causes Reform
Real Worship Causes Reform
Noah saved his family thru worship
Hannah got her son from worship
Job sustained his mind during his sickness in worship
I want to give you one example of Worship Reform. Time would fail me to give them all, but consider this.
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
Hezekiah was unique. Hezekiah's time as king was sandwiched between two very unholy reigns. Since Hezekiah was a godly king, this made him a sharp contrast to the kings before and after him. His father Ahaz, Hezekiah's predecessor as king, was a very wicked king and his son Manasseh, Hezekiah's successor as king, was also a very wicked king. Hezekiah was a good son of a bad father and a good father of a bad son. Bible Biography Series - Bible Biography Series – Hezekiah: The King of Survival. This lets me know that no one can affect your worship when you really desire to be true to God.
The destruction in Hezekiah's worship campaign involved the destruction of the places of evil worship and the destruction of the objects of evil worship. The destruction of the places of evil worship. "He removed the high places" (v. 4). The high places were special locations on hills where people gathered to worship. It was a heathen tradition to worship on high places. They thought being on a hill made them closer to God. Other places, especially the high places, were forbidden. But people continued to worship in high places and this worship usually led to idolatry.
And when the people defected to heathen idolatry, it always led to an increase in the worship in high places. In the record of the kings of Judah, some kings were given high compliments for their conduct but with an exception to their good conduct regarding failing to destroy the high places. We noted this exception earlier in this study. The kings with this condemning exception were Jehoshaphat (); Jehoash (); Amaziah (); Uzziah (); and Jotham ().
However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.
except that the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
However the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
And he walked in all the ways of his father Asa. He did not turn aside from them, doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless the high places were not taken away, for the people offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
But Hezekiah did not fail in this work, for "he removed the high places." The practice of worshiping in high places was still a problem in the time of Christ. We learn of this in the conversation between Christ and the woman at the well in Samaria. She said, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain [a high place]; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (). Jerusalem was indeed the proper place to worship then; but Christ used that comment to inform the woman that it was more than the place of worship that mattered but what mattered the most was the who and how one worshiped.
The destruction of the objects of evil worship. "He... brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made; for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan" (v. 4). Three objects of worship are mentioned here. They are the images, the groves, and the serpent.
First, the images. The word "images" here refers to various idols. The generic meaning of the Hebrew word is pillar and in our text refers to idols. The Decalogue plainly stated that "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (, the word "image" in this Exodus text is a different Hebrew word than the one in our 2 Kings' text, but the word in our 2 Kings' text includes the images of the Exodus' text). Israel often ignored this command in the Decalogue.
Hezekiah, however, did not. So out came the hammers and other tools to break these images to pieces. Hezekiah was a great and holy Iconoclast (Iconoclast means an image breaker). He engaged in a great iconoclastic purge. We still need iconoclastic purges. The church of Rome, as an example, is full of images as seen in all the statues in their churches. And many folk have rabbits' feet, horse shoes, and other so-called "lucky charms" which all need to be destroyed. Second, the groves. "He... cut down the groves."
The word "groves" here in our KJV text is a mistranslation which is a result of basing the translation on the Septuagint Greek text rather than on the Hebrew text. The Hebrew word is "Asherah." Asherah was the Canaanite female goddess of fertility. The "grove" was a carved wooden pole of the form of this goddess. It was an immoral thing. Asherah was generally considered the consort of Baal; and where Baal worship was found, you generally found these Asherah poles or idols. During Elijah's time, 400 prophets of this foul idol goddess were fed at Jezebel's table (). Hezekiah wisely "cut down" all these poles of Asherah throughout the country. She was just another idol, and especially one associated with immoral practices in worship. True worship of God promotes morality! Therefore, Asherah creed and practice must go. Today we need a better emphasis on this morality aspect of true worship of God. With all the condoning of divorce and other immoral practices in our churches, we need to be more earnest about ridding our churches of all creed and attitudes which sanction immorality of any kind.
Third, the serpent. "He... brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made." When the children of Israel were traveling towards Canaan under the leadership of Moses, they made the mistake of grumbling against God and Moses. God disciplined the Israelites for this poor behavior by sending "fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died" (). In mercy God told Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole and then when anyone looked at the serpent they would be healed of their snake bite (). When speaking to Nicodemus, Christ used this incident as a figure of His death on the cross (). Hezekiah's day was some seven hundred or more years from the time the serpent of brass was made, but the relic was still around and, unfortunately, the Israelites were worshiping it. It had become a idol. It was being looked at as another god. That the people worshiped the serpent is not surprising, for serpent worship (ophiolatry) was popular in those days. But popular or not, Hezekiah had it destroyed. If you are going to clean up the worship of God, the action you take will often not be very popular. Bible Biography Series - Bible Biography Series – Hezekiah: The King of Survival.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4: