13 God's Army Of Worshipers
The Three battle grounds • Sermon • Submitted
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The Three battle Grounds Series
The Three battle Grounds Series
13 Then suddenly there appeared with the angel an army of the troops of heaven (a heavenly knighthood), praising God and saying,
13 Then all at once, a vast number of glorious angels appeared, the very armies of heaven! And they all praised God, singing:
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
When the Scriptures refer to the "heavenly host, " we usually think of "choirs of angels.
" The word "host" in the Bible meant "army" (Luke 2:13).
Let us perceive that the hosts of heaven are worshiping armies. Indeed, no one can do warfare who is not first a worshiper of God.
THE CENTRAL ISSUE IN TRIBULATION:
One does not have to penetrate deeply into the Revelation of John to discover that both God and the devil are seeking worshipers
7 With a loud voice he shouted, “You must reverence God and glorify him, for the time has come for him to judge. Worship at the feet of the Creator of heaven, earth, sea, and springs of water.”
Rev 7:11 11 All the angels were standing in a circle around the throne with the elders and the four living creatures, and they all fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 singing:
“Amen! Praise and glory,
wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might
belong to our God forever and ever! Amen!”
4 They worshiped the dragon because he had given the beast its ruling authority. They also worshiped the wild beast, saying, “Who is like the wild beast? And who is able to make war against him?”
11 And the smoke of their severe suffering ascends into ages upon ages. Those who worship the wild beast and its image and receive the mark of its name will have no rest day or night.”
Time and time again the line is drawn between those who "worship the beast and his image" and those who worship God.
Let us realize beforehand that in the last great battle before Jesus returns, the outcome of every man's life shall be weighed upon a scale of worship: in the midst of warfare and battles, to whom will we bow, God or Satan?
Yet, while this warfare shall culminate in the establishment of the Lord's kingdom on earth (Rev. 11:15), we must realize the essence of this battle is the central issue in our warfare today.
Will we faithfully worship God during satanic assault and temptation?
True worship must emerge now in the context of our daily lives, for no man will worship through the great battles of tomorrow who complains in the mere skirmishes of today.
You will remember that the Lord's call to the Israelites was a call to worship and service before Him in the wilderness (Ex. 5:3; 7:16).
3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, we pray you, three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.
16 And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and behold, heretofore you have not listened.
|Indeed, when Moses first spoke of God's loving concern, we read that the Hebrews "bowed low and worshiped" (Ex. 4:3 1).
But when trials or pressures came, they fell quickly into murmuring, complaining, and blatant rebellion.
Their worship was superficial, a form without a heart of worship. This same condition of shallow worship prevails in much of Christianity today.
If a message is given that speaks of the Lord's great care for His people, with eagerness do we bow low and worship.
But as soon as the pressures of daily living arise or temptations come, how quickly we rebel against God and resist His dealings!
The enemy has easy access to the soul that is not protected by true worship of God! God's purpose in the wilderness was to perfect true worship, which is based upon the reality of God, not circumstances.
The Lord knows that the heart that will worship Him in the wilderness of affliction will continue to worship in the promised land of plenty.
Without true worship of God, there can be no victory in warfare.
For what we bleed when we are wounded by satanic assault or difficult circumstances is the true measure of our worship.
You see, what comes out of our hearts during times of pressure was in us, but hidden, during times of ease.
If you are a true worshiper, your spirit will exude worship to God no matter what battle you are fighting.
In warfare, worship is a wall around the soul.
2. PROTECTING YOUR HEART THROUGH WORSHIP
Most of us understand the basic dynamics of the human soul. We have been taught, and rightly so, that the soul is the combination of our "mind, will, and emotions."
Generally speaking, when the enemy comes against the church, he targets any of these three areas.
I. Mind
37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’
that which is responsible for one’s thoughts and feelings; especially the seat of the faculty of reason.
The mind is portrayed oftentimes, especially in the NT, as the center of a person’s ethical nature. The mind can be evil. It is described as “reprobate” (Rom. 1:28 KJV), “fleshly” (Col. 2:18), “vain” (Eph. 4:17), “corrupt” (1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 3:8), and “defiled” (Titus 1:15). On the other hand, three Gospels command us to love God with “all” our mind (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). This is possible because the mind can be revived and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12:2) and because God’s laws under the new covenant are put into our minds (Heb. 8:10; 10:16).
II. will
The created image of God carries with it awesome responsibility and glory. It includes the ability to make meaningful moral choices (Gen. 1:26–27; 2:16–17). By grace, the freedom to use a created will as a moral agent is one of the key biblical distinctions between humans and the rest of the created order. The sovereignty of God is deepened in a radically personal way when creation is climaxed by persons who possess wills that can choose to either obey or disobey, to love or not to love. True sovereignty is neither arbitrary nor coercive; it allows other wills.
The perversion of the fallen will is revealed in the defiant attitude of all who build the blasphemous tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9). The story of redemption is founded on God’s offer to humanity to return to the fullness of relationship lost in Eden, despite its radical consequences. Not surprisingly, this included a series of moral choices.
The core of sin is the independent use of mind and will to choose what is good or evil (Gen. 3:5, 22). Faith and trust ultimately are tested at the level of intention (Gen. 17:1; cf. 20:5–6). Intention in a certain direction is the basic meaning of the Hebrew term ʾābâ. It is intriguing that this term of willing determination is most often found in the negative—”not willing” (Exod. 10:27; Isa. 1:19–20). Its relation to the verb “to hear” (Šama) indicates that a preliminary intuition, an ability to comprehend, followed by “hearing,” which almost always means making decisive steps toward or against something or someone (Ezek. 3:7).
42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup of agony away from me. But no matter what, your will must be mine.”
42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
III. emotions
God has created human persons with emotions, feelings, and affections, which are important for their lives and their relationships with God.
Emotions are an essential part of human life that, though broken by sin, are redeemed and restored by Christ. Human beings experience emotions passively. We suffer negative emotions, and even in positive emotions, we are to some degree subject to our circumstances. In this way, emotions reveal the dependency and finitude of human life. (This is also the reason that the emotions, or passions, have been traditionally denied of God, in the doctrine of God’s impassibility.)
Many emotions are associated with the suffering of humankind that points towards death. Sorrow can be deep, even for those who obey God. Fear, ultimately of death, controls much of human life. Shame and guilt follow the fall, as human beings are shown to be not “like God” but naked like the animals. It is by way of the emotions that humans experience the misery that is the consequence of sin.
The emotions do not only reveal finitude and misery but also sin. Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God but rather evil (Jas 1:20). Hatred is tantamount to murder because it is the origin of murder
21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’
22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you,
24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison.
26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.
Home Work: Besides Moses name a person and give scripture who allowed there emotions to forfeit there place in God’s kingdom.
II. Tell me what emotion you must guard yourself from that could cause you to loose your place in God? give example of why you feel this way and what do you do to prevent the hulk coming out.
We must see that the protection of these areas is of vital importance in our war against Satan.
To further illuminate the nature of this battle, let us add something to our definition of the soul.
Generally speaking, the essence of who we are is made of events and how we responded to those events.
Who we are today is the sum of what we have encountered in life and our subsequent reactions.
Abuses and afflictions hammer us one way, encouragement and praise inflate us another. Our reaction to each event, whether that event was positive or negative, is poured into the creative marrow of our individuality, where it is blended into the nature of our character.
What we call "memory" is actually our spirit gazing at the substance of our soul.
With few exceptions, those events which we remember the most have shaped us the most. Indeed, the reason our natural minds cannot forget certain incidents is because those experiences have literally become a part of our nature
1 We are what the past has made us. Yet, we are commanded to not look back and to "forget ... what lies behind"
62 Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.
Phil 3:13 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,* but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Hebrews 11:15 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
With God, this is not impossible, for although the events of our lives are irreversible, our reactions to those events can still be changed. And as our reactions change, we change. In other words, although we cannot alter the past, we can put our past upon the "altar" as an act of worship.
A worshiping heart truly allows God to restore the soul. All of us receive a portion of both good and evil in this world. But for life to be good, God, who is the essence of life, must reach into our experiences and redeem us from our negative reactions.
The channel through which the Lord extends Himself, even into our past, is our love and worship of Him.
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God" (Rom. 8:28).
The key for the fulfillment of this verse is that we become lovers of God in our spirits.
When we are given to loving Him, all that we have passed through in life is washed in that love. It is redeemed and becomes good within us. Therefore, it is essential to both the salvation of our souls and our protection in warfare that we be worshipers.
For the ark which safely carries us through adversity is worship.
Psalm 84 expresses in praise to God the wonderful effect worship has upon the soul.
"How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the highways ways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca [weeping], they make it a spring, the early rain also covers it with blessings" (v. 5-6).
If you are "ever praising" God (v. 4), your worship of God will transform the negative assault of the enemy into a spring of sweet waters which will refresh you. No matter what befalls a worshiper, their "valley of weeping" always becomes a spring covered with blessings.
You cannot successfully engage in warfare, nor pass safely through the wilderness of this life, without first becoming a worshiper of God.
WORSHIP: THE PURPOSE OF CREATION
We were created for God's pleasure. We were not created to live for ourselves but for Him. And while the Lord desires that we enjoy His gifts and His people, He would have us know we were created first for His pleasure.
In these closing moments of this age, the Lord will have a people whose purpose for living is to please God with their lives. In them, God finds His own reward for creating man. They are His worshipers. They are on earth only to please God, and when He is pleased, they also are pleased.
The Lord takes them farther and through more pain and conflicts than other men. Outwardly, they often seem "smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isa. 53:4). Yet to God, they are His beloved. When they are crushed, like the petals of a flower, they exude a worship, the fragrance of which is so beautiful and rare that angels weep in quiet awe at their surrender. They are the Lord's purpose for creation. One would think that God would protect them, guarding them in such a way that they would not be marred. Instead, they are marred more than other men.
Indeed, the Lord seems pleased to crush them, putting them too grief. For in the midst of their physical and emotional pain, their loyalty to Christ grows pure and perfect. And in the face of persecutions, their love and worship toward God become all-consuming.
Would that all Christ's servants were so perfectly surrendered. Yet God finds His pleasure in us all. But as the days of the kingdom draw near and the warfare at the end of this age increases, those who have been created solely for the worship of God will come forth in the power and glory of the Son.
With the high praises of God in their mouth, they will execute upon His enemies the judgment written (Psalm 149). They will lead as generals in the Lord's army of worshipers.
1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
Let’s Worship: As if we where in The Lords Army is this was our job to send him praise…