WORSHIP
Text: Psalm 89:15 – Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
(NLT) – Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
In concluding the study on rest, we asked the Lord to help us to utilize “rest” appropriately; therefore, this study is instructing us that the appropriate way to utilize ”rest” is by being true worshipers.
Note: John 4:23-24 – 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
With reference to the study on Psalm 78 – V.45b, we were reminded that the Lord’s people are required to worship Him.
Exodus 8:1 – Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 – 12And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
For your own good – Exodus 23:25-26 – 25Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, 26and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 – 13Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
The following passages confirm, however, that only true worship is acceptable to the Lord.
Isaiah 1:12-17 – 12When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
13Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations–I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
14Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
16wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong,
17learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Amos 5:21-24 – 21“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
23Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
The Lord’s people are required to worship Him collectively as well as individually.
Hebrews 10:25 – Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 13:15-16 – 15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Revelation 1:9-11 – 9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
Revelation 19:9-10 – 9Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ “And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
10At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Revelation 22:8-9 – 8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
True worship springs from an appreciation of the holiness of the Lord.
Isaiah 6:1-3 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Psalm 9:10 – Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 48:10 – Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness.
(MSG) Your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever It is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action.
Let us thank the Lord for the opportunity to be true worshipers and ask Him to help us to heed Romans 12:1-2 – Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.