Battle Cry/God's Presence

Battle Cry

Worship..

When you hear this word “worship” most of us will immediately think about music, praise and worship, singing, words on the screen, lifting hands.

Purpose of this series is to show how worship is SO much more than that.

Spirit- outward actions reflect an inward devotion. Sing, clap, raise our hands, but also our lives, our financial giving, choices we make, how we speak, how we love.

Truth- outpouring of our spirit based on the truth of God. Truth of God’s Word. He is Eternal. He is the creator. God is holy. God is good. God loves us. Jesus died. Jesus is alive. TRUTH of the Gospel. Lives based upon it.

WORSHIP= CRITICAL DIMENSION/ASPECT of both the old and new testaments.

Could argue.....GOAL/REASON that his people (israel in OT/Church in NT) were formed.

Worship him in spirit and truth. singing, praising, coming together, lives, words, decisions, priorities.

Both OT and NT show us several things about worship...

1) Posture-

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humble acknowledgement of God’s authority, worthiness

2) Service-

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OT- serving to bring honor to God.

NT- religious duties, serving him with individual lives, routines, decisions, giving.

3) Attitude-

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Fear, awe, reverence, RESPECT!!

Humble service with a an attitude of reverence and respect!

Jesus as a baby… Magi’s desire to find him, bow before him, bring him gifts, and worship.

Final scenes of History…

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Beautiful pictures of worship in Heaven in Revelation.

SOMETHING i want us to notice… while there are similarities throughout the OT and NT when it comes to worship… There is ONE MAJOR difference.

OT- Worship was organized around sacred places… designated locations.

Tabernacle/Temple.

before we read this story… few things

Jerusalem for many years had been under control of the jebusites. a foreign army

Jerusalem was a city who had experienced the presence of God before… but the presence of God had departed

because of this Jerusalem was going through a very dry, dark, and difficult season.

See many of us in here are going through dry, dark, difficult seasons in our life and we havent realized the connection of God’s presence and the blessings that come with it.

LOVE THIS STORY… BECAUSE KING DAVID MAKES THE CONNECTION.

One chapter earlier, , David becomes King. His first mission is to attack the Jebusites and drive them away from the city of Jerusalem. He did so… successfully attacked and drove them out.

But something still wasn’t right… presence of the enemy may have been gone.. but the presence of the Lord wasn’t there either.

So we pick up in

Why is this important? In the OT… God’s presence was “housed” in this box. Now obviously the presence of our mighty God can’t be “kept” in a box. So think of it like this… it was the PLACE where God had agreed to meet with them, to bless them, to guide them, to protect them. It represented the presence of the almighty God.

Let’s look at vERSE 3.... CRUCIAL… Lord had already told them how to transport the arc. Two poles on both sides. TOO SLOW.. David wanted it back now. Matters into his own hands.

CREATES A CART… no problem right… use the world’s tactics to seek his presence. Not God’s directions but the World’s ideas.

Same today… Prayer… Tithing… purity… loving others… treating others with grace… naw… i’m good.

VERSE 5 is so good… what an incredible scene. WOW!

These people were disobeying the Lord… not living by his directions and his word yet still had an amazing worship service. Reminded of what Jesus said… “these men worship me with lips, but hearts are far from me.”

What David did here wasn’t murder, wasn’t adultery, wasn’t greivous… but it was against the Word of the Lord and it mattered.

How? VERSE 6 - 7

VERSE 8-11

INTENSE!! SOUNDS ALMOST HARSH… but not listening and obeying the Word of the Lord will bring spiritual death.

David’s motives were good… but the Word of God is unchanging. We can’t pick and choose what we follow.. we as God’s children… humbly follow his lead. his word.

VERSES 8 - 11

David got scared of the Lord’s judgement… Obed Edom… thanks bro.. appreciate that…

VERSE 12

Obed Edom is blessed, home, children, job, finances… because where the presence of the Lord is there is freedom, victory, blessings.

… SHADOW…PRESENCE… BLESSINGS.

David heard about it… went and got it.

Love this… read in 2 chronicles that Obed Edom packed up and moved to Isreal. He had tasted the presence of the Lord and he wasn’t living without it.

Places of worship designated, but ALSO… designated times. feasts of unleavened bread, weeks, tabernacles.

Same for us today… Lesson: When God is in the house; blessings follow.

· In the presence of God, people are healed.

· In the presence of God, relationships are restored.

· In the presence of God, people are delivered.

· In the presence of God, you find peace and joy.

Some of us haven’t made the connection… marriage is on the rocks. Finances are troubling. Living with depression. Fear. Anxiety. Things just aren’t good. Haven’t made the connection that it’s because the PRESENCE of the LORD is not priority in your life.

Not only did they have disgnated places but they also had designated times…

But…

We don’t have a designated place, designated time.. we can live with the Presence of the Lord.

WORSHIP- WELCOMING HIM, HIS PRESENCE, HIS BLESSINGS, INTO YOUR LIFE.

WORSHIP- MANY TIMES WE SEEK BLESSINGS. NO… WE ARE WELCOMING THE MOST HOLY, CREATOR, ALMIGHTY GOD.

BLESSINGS COME WITH HIS PRESENCE. LIGHT AND DARK CAN NOT COEXIST. WANT THE DARKNESS TO MOVE OUT OF YOUR LIFE… BRING IN THE LIGHT.

What’s our posture? our service? our attitude?

Word tells us that everyone who hears AND puts into practice the Word is like a house built on the rock. Solid foundation.