My Future Worship

If the Bible is right, there are very few things that are eternal. Your career accomplishments aren’t eternal. Your wealth isn’t eternal. Your marriage isn’t even eternal. Your marriage should last a lifetime, but your marriage isn’t eternal. Your patriotism isn’t eternal. At least one thing lasts for eternity, worship. Worship alone endures. If worship is eternal, should you give some attention to worship now?

I want to release the power of worship in your life. I want you to experience the transformative power of worship personally. For so many of you, too much of your time in worship is a “yawnfest.” How can Someone so great be worshipped with so little? We need a worship transformation.

Transformative worship drives down your beliefs into your life. Transformative worship that engages all your senses drives down your beliefs and you begin to detonate your hypocrisy. Too many Southern people have only prayed another person’s prayer and God’s greatness had sunk down deep inside them. But something happens when you experience genuine, transformative worship that engages all your senses

Open your Bibles open to the last book in your Bibles, the book of Revelation if you will. Revelation is the book that tells both your personal future and our world’s future. The apostle John writes the book after he is swept up in the Spirit to the very door of heaven. What John sees has left people talking for centuries! Revelation is a book of worship and wonder.

Today’s Scripture

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped (Revelation 5:1-14).

We conclude our series on worship this morning – I pray it has been meaningful to you as you have deepened your practice of worship. It’s a common thing in Taiwan today to see people worship their ancestors.

It’s a common thing for many in America to worship nature. Real believers have none of this. Christians worship is done with the conviction that we are in the presence of Almighty God. Worship is giving attention to the living God who rules, who saves us, and who made us. Because what we believe about the future is one of the best predictions for how we act today, I cannot think of any better way to finish this series than looking at worship in the future.

Today, we conclude a summer series on worship with a powerful, poetic scene from the future. It’s typical to have Freshman orientation when you start a new school. If you start at a new place for work, you’ll spend some time orienting yourself to your new environment. There’s nothing in your past that can prepare you for what you are to experience. So let me orient you to the Throne for a minute.