The Heart & Purpose Of Worship

[Music] today I want to speak to you on two major points I want to talk to you about the heart of worship and the purpose of worship and I want you to listen carefully because I believe this time together it's gonna impact us all in a way that will keep us for the next God knows how long and I want to say this to you your house is a designated place of worship if you do nothing else in your home sing to the Lord worshiping worship to the Lord in your home because wherever you worship and whatever you worship impacts and influences you Father I thank you today that you are giving us wisdom to understand why you've called us to worship and help us on God to see clearly the purpose of your instruction that we may serve you in this time and be the light you've called us to be in Jesus name Amen on the screen for me I want to start today to talk to you about this in John chapter 4 verse 21 from the passion translation the scripture reads on Jesus is encountering a woman at the whaler you know many of us know the story but I want to go right to that the crux of the heart of my message she wasn't a dilemma she said so tell me this why do our fathers worship God here in this mount on the admission ear by mountain but your people teach that Jerusalem is the place where you must worship and then she asks the question she saying she's right the Bible says Jesus responded believe me dear woman the time has come when you won't worship the father on this mountain nor in Jerusalem but in your heart and where I love this translation because he emphasizes oh not here there but in your heart look at verse 22 and it says in verse 22 your people don't really know the one they worship that's the big issue today is that many people are worshipping a god they don't know we're worshiping a god and we've heard of but not a god that we know Jesus went on to say we choose worship out of our experience for it's from the Jews that salvation is made available in verse 23 he says for hip far from here on worship in the father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart for God is a spirit and he longs to have seen ceil worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of spirit and truth as vs. 22 me 24 I want to point out to you that God does not want necessarily worship God wants worshipers and when God finds true worshipers they always bring the gift of worship with them God is not an ego in this guy he's a spirit the New Living Translation says for God is spirit so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth and that really translates to spirit even truth or in the original language is saying spirit that reveals truth I want us to understand that that worship is a love word it is actually a love verb and because worship is in love word is also a hard word we worship with our hearts and we worship from our hearts whether we realize it or not we always worshipping in his wife because we were designed and created by God to worship the problem is we don't always worship God the word worship deals with the value the word worth is what I find value in and inadvertently because we are designed by God to worship we're gonna worship things and we're gonna worship people and go to worship situations and moments and time frames if we don't direct our focus to worship so our worship has to be deliberate just like our faith has defined the finding faith releases a deliberate worship to God it gives God the worship that he deserves when someone says now I wonder I want you to get the picture of this word worship when someone says something like um he worships the ground she walks on or this teachers COO our students worship her they're not just literally talking about worship they're using worship as an exaggeration of the word love because worship is a love word worship that is devoid of love is not worship at all because worship understand this it's about affection is about admiration about looking to God and giving him what is his I want to give you four words that connect us to this word worship worship is about connection it's about connection I'm making my presence known to God so God could make his presence known to me when I worship God when I sing to God when I pray I connect with God and when I connect with him um my presence triggers his presence understand that God is an omnipresent God what it means is is that God is everywhere all the time so to say the presence of God is in the room God the presence of God is always in the room this when I say the presence of God is here what I'm saying is God is manifesting his presence in a place so number one worship is about connection number two worship is about communication it's about talking to God in prayer and singing to God singing to him in mora called melodic conversation the bible says one way to be filled with the spirit one way to be filled with the spirit is to make melody in your heart unto the Lord there's something about melody that God is connected to rhythm is beautiful our harmonies are wonderful but but melody touches God the word for melody in that verse I just quoted isn't what's on low and Sun low literally means to touch melodies touch us and it they touch God the third a word that expresses worship or what we find in worship is exaltation is what we honor God and we magnify him now honoring and magnifying are two different things but they fall under the umbrella of exaltation where I lift him up to the place that he deserves I lift him up to where he is really supposed to be in situations like this when we're going through difficult times or going through crisis we tend to magnify problems and magnify scenarios many of us a magnifying the death-rate magnifying the incompetence of leadership in this time we've met magnify a lot of different things but in in worship we exalt or we magnify God we honor God for who he is and I want to I really miss without mentioning this when we magnify God when we magnify anything we'll make it bigger what we do is we see it bigger we see God for who he really is and so on the worship is the connection this communication is their exaltation and in this last word is appreciation when I worship God I appreciate him I pour my love out on him I poured my admiration and my gratefulness out on him in worship I approach God like the person who needs him and it's honored to him so what is the purpose of worship and what is the person purpose of worship to offer to begin with why do we worship I why do we emphasize worship well the method chapter 15 verse 70 verse 7 Matthew chapter 15 verse 7 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees his recessed and he says you hypocrites Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you for he wrote these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me look at verse 9 he says their worship is a farce it's not real now the Bible emphasizes here that we can worship God and he calls it fake false a farce affront he said they worship is a front it's a farce for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God so he says the doctrine that I receive the theology that I subscribed to the philosophy of life that I had will affect my worship because the purpose of worship is to draw near to God to bring my heart to God so I can honor him and in honoring him washes not he can leave his influence and his imprint upon me God wants me to come to him and worship so he could leave he could leave his influence on me in other words when I walk out of the presence of God when I walk out of worshiping people could tell I've been with God the Bible says of the disciples when the Sanhedrin call them in and our to rebuke them for preaching in the name of Jesus the Bible says that they were literally the men said they could tell that these men had been with Jesus why is that worship leaves something on you whatever you worship will leave a mark on you or we did a song some years ago I wrote a song called I look like he when I worship because the truth of the matter is I'm gonna look like whatever I worship it will impact me in some way and it would leave an imprint on my life in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19 it says all the right assistants or dear brothers and sisters we can boldly enter heavens most holy place because of the blood of Jesus verse 20 says by his death Jesus Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the most holy place and since we have a great high priest who rules over God's house verse 22 and vises it says let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting God remember worship is a heart thing worship is a hard thing and it says here for our guilty conscience as have been sprinkle with Christ's blood to make us clean and our bodies have been washed with pure water is this Scripture is powerful which I had time to break the whole thing down but what he's talking about is we have an invitation by by God to bring our hearts into his presence our our our guilt-free hearts our hearts that are drawn to God because of what Jesus has done and we come into his presence and without any guilt without any shame even knowing that we're not perfect we worship we lift our lives to him and it blesses him true worship is the most intimate experience that you ever have it's a heart-to-heart encounter with God the one who knows you fully and loved you completely God listen God is not like people the thing I love about God is that God looks at my heart and he knows exactly who I am and this is not a carpark I said well you know people say well the Lord knows my heart while they're doing wrong that's not what it's about God looks at your heart and God knows where you are I believe that each one of us have what I call the 80/20 factor I would 80% good and 20% jacked up and so what we will do many times is that we will we literally don't judge people based on their twenty percent if the twenty percent faultline God is not like that what God will do is that government look at your God will see where your development is where your heart is and he will invite you into his presence and through your worship of God God is able to transform that twenty percent that stubborn twenty percent into something that he could use and something he could work with um God told all samuel the prophet samuel in first time you chapter sixteen verse seven he told me he says but the Lord said to Samuel don't judge by his appearance Samuel had seen Eliab Dave Davis older brother and thought for sure he was looking at the next king of Israel but God says don't just by his appearance or his height God says I have rejected him not ignored him I've rejected him and here's why God says he says you don't see what I see the Lord doesn't see the things the way you see things rather than where you see them people judge my outward appearance but God looks at the heart we are guilty of judging people by how they look or how they come across or even by that 20% but God looks at the heart say your heart I want to talk to you about what the heart is real quickly because if you're gonna and worship you have to understand about your heart your heart is the core or the center of who you are it's the most important part of who you are the most important part of your being it is the place where your conflicts and your desires exists where your thoughts and emotions meet where you'd like to your dislikes are fighting where your victories and your defeats are exists it's the place where your past and your present are vying for attention it is where the sinner and Saint in you reside your heart is the focus of sanctification when you and you bring your heart let me say this to you when you bring your heart to God God goes to work on it if I don't worship God it doesn't have access to my heart I can sit in church I could read the Bible I can even speak in tongues but if I don't worship God has no access to my heart what I found is is when a person does not worship their heart hardens worship keeps your heart pliable for the Lord the heart is the instrument of worship there's a part of you that God desires the most when you can change this presence your words are what they are they're wonderful your song your voice can be beautiful and what God wants is your heart worship requires faith it requires honesty it requires a vulnerability God would rather have a relationship with the real you listen with a real but flawed you then then a religious encounter with the farce or the false you God God would prefer that you bring yourself all of who you are messed up broken sinful whatever whatever you could rebellious God if you bring that into the presence of the Lord he could work with that but if you come pretending that that you have nothing wrong you come with your judges robe on or sitting in a jury stand as if you're better than other people telling God why he should deal with them and not you it stinks in his nostril and he rejects that but God is looking for our true worshipers and here's something you need to know about a true worshiper worship always happens from a posture or position of weakness I want to say that again worship always happens from a posture a position of weakness not a position of strength not a position of strength and that's where people get messed up is that is that what happens if you if you were to take a look at yourself or consider yourself when when you're worshiping if you come into the presence of the Lord and your position I'm worshiping from a position of strength God will usually ignore it you leave the same where you came he remember the story of the the Pharisee and the publican two men one of did the temple to pray the Bible says once stood in a position of strength this with himself and say Lord I fast twice in a week I've tied up everything I own and he begins to speak it or speaking his resume before God but there was a man a publican a tax collector who was hated by all and despised by the community and the Bible says he smoked his chest he says he would not even look up have mercy on me a sinner and the Bible says that man went to his house justified rather than the other man why because worship always happens from a position of weakness and not a position of strength and I want to show you by even by the postures the postures of worship I want to go through or each one and show you or there's at least six I know there more but I want to give you at least six the the process of worship you're gonna find something you're gonna find it every posture is a posture is a posture of weakness and our posture strength before I do that I want to make this statement arrogance cannot worship as a matter of fact arrogance desires worship conceit will never concede to God what is rightfully his worship is a person's heart in the posture with the attitude of I gotta need you I'm out of my depth I don't know what to do but I'm looking to you and watch this if you don't worship God if you say pass so much I just I just have a desire to worship you notice it says it says that your heart has hardened with pride and you don't think that you need God I want to show you these postures of worship number one is the lifted hands whenever you see lifted hands whenever you see lifted hands in worship it is a universal sign of surrender now worship you if you if you're walking on the street and the person standing with the hands lifted you're looking for the person with the gun because normally the person's hands are up it simply means that they either yielding or surrendering or they're giving in is the the police up says stopping you freeze then the first thing they actually to do to prove that you're surrendering as I lift your hands in Psalm 141 and to David pretty said accept my prayer as instance over to you and my up raised hand as an even sacrifice the second posture of worship that is a posture of weakness is the bowed head bowed head signifies humility or shame we use this posture to pray the wonderful thing about this is that it the bowed head means it's a means of making yourself smaller in the presence of someone we don't even take this for granted but the reason when we see a person that we admit that we honor admire it we reasonably bow is is that is it's psychologically we trying to make ourselves smaller in deck in the presence of their greatness when we bow before the Lord we're saying to God when we truly honor and respect you it in Psalms 95 so I'm 95 over 6 the scripture reason it says come let us worship and bow down come let us worship and bow down the thought it says let us kneel before the Lord I'll make it which takes us to the third the third posture is the posture of the bended knee come let us worship and bow down let us kneel the bended knee is a posture of submission it says this is not about me God this is about you and then when I bend my knee before God it acknowledges before God I consider you to be great if my heart is truly humbled before the Lord can acknowledge my weakness before God to kneel and pray is not a big deal you know we stopped kneeling in churches but something kneeling it on most of us pray laying down in our beds most of us we don't we don't really need anymore because our hearts don't just don't see God that way anymore and maybe this is what God is calling us home to do is to turn our homes into Tabernacles and temples where we can pray on bended knee the forth posture before the Lord a posture of weakness is laying prostrate before the Lord faced down this is a posture of brokenness this is a posture of the overwhelmed worshiper normally in Scripture matter-of-factly Revelation chapter 1 verse 17 Johnson when I saw him I fell at his feet as if I were dead I felt listen what John was overwhelm his carpenter's spirit assault was all nude and so what he does he falls at Jesus's feet as this in view as if he were dead when I lay before the Lord of my face it says to God I have no other help um I am I'm as good as gone and and there's not other posture I believe that expresses my weakness to God like laying facedown and prostrate before the Lord is saying to God I need you more than ever the fifth posture of worship is the waving of the hands it's a declaration to God that you are the Lord of all heaven on earth I wish I had time to go to script it and point out these verses that show this but that's the teaching on when the Jews worship with the waving of the hand the wave often was to declare the authority of God in heaven and earth over all the earth the Almighty one and the sixth posture is a different process sitting before the Lord it's a posture of contemplation or comfort of it or being comfortable the presence of the Lord or the inability to stand in job's case is a posture of resignation I I sit here and basically I don't know what's happening but I just sit in your presence I don't know what else to do and I will just sit here let me share this with you I believe there's we worship and as we take in the worship of others so you may say pastor it's just hard for me to get started for me I need music to worship there's something about a man whose heart is submitted to God look this is what I love about musicians this is what I love about people who are called to music in the church they don't have to be perfect a lot of them struggle we all struggle but I'll show you something remember I talked about the 80/20 thing when a man's heart is a right before God it's 4207 you know imagine this that the piano is my instrument I play and when you strike the key our hammer hits the string that reverberates in the earth and releases a sound and you notice that some people will play and they be anointed and some people play you just go I'll tell you why because it's about the heart so a heart let's move to love God lifts a hand to strike a key to move a hammer to vibrate a string to release a sound and because the heart of the musician is right it can cause a prophet to prophesy it can cause God to hear it can shift it could shift the trajectory of a situation it can it can open the ears to the king of a nation worship is one of the most powerful things work but the worship is so powerful that in the wilderness when Jesus was being tempted Satan bargained with the Lord for worship he said all these kingdoms were the earth or I give to you if you just do one thing just bow down and worship Me he understood that worship is currency he was willing to trade his entire baggage of influence in all the king the king of the earth for a single act of worship why because he understands the value of worship you worship shifts nations your worship watches now blesses your children's children your worship can actually set up structure for you of things that are not even yet in the earth your worship is important every posture of worship is a posture of weakness appealing to strength or human need appealing to heaven supply the creative one is reaching to his or her creator and saying I need you in worship my confusion taps into his clarity and he gives me what I didn't have before worship is our birthright it's a safe place it's our healing and it's our strength you should worship turn your home into a place of worship father I lift my hands before you I lift my hands over your people why are you they and your home won't you lift your hands too it takes you military to lift your hands it takes humility to say to the Lord I'm in a position of weakness what you say this God I need you so much I need you in this situation my future my times my purpose is in your hands and I love you so much for loving me in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Pastor Hart Ramsey

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Length: 22min 34sec (1354 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2020