Our theme verse for this message is 1 John 4:19 LEB
19 We love, because he first loved us.
Where Is The Lord? We live in a time where many are far from the Lord. And many say that God doesn’t answer. Where is the manifestation of the power of God?
But Jesus prayed that we would be one in them in John 17:21 LEB
21 that they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they also may be in us, in order that the world may believe that you sent me.
There was a time in Israel’s history when “the word of Yahweh was rare”, “visions were not widespread”.
1 Samuel 3:1 LEB
1 Now the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh in the presence of Eli. The word of Yahweh was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
You know this account. Three times the Lord spoke and three times Samuel and three times Samuel went to Eli because in 1 Samuel 3:7 LEB
7 Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him.
but them, Samuel recognizes the Lord and responds in 1 Samuel 3:10 LEB
10 Then Yahweh came and stood there and called out as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.”
The Lord had been there the whole time, yet Samuel had not known the voice of the Lord. There was also a time with Jesus disciples where they began to hear the voice of the Lord and this is what was said about our day, the time after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem in Acts 2:16–18 LEB
16 But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it will be in the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
18 And even on my male slaves and on my female slaves I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
This is the kind of relationship God wants us to have with him. Is this what we are experiencing?
How Do We Know The Lord?
We may think of God of God the way we think of other people. We may think of God as far off and detached.
He says he is “discerned clearly” in Romans 1:20–21 LEB
20 For from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasoning, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
We can’t know him if all of our attention is on the things of this world, wealth, status, influence. He say they, the people of the world, have exchanged the truth for a lie in Romans 1:25 LEB
25 who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen.
But we get a glimpse of God by looking at how they respond to him in heaven in Revelation 4:8–11 LEB
8 And the four living creatures, each one of them, had six wings apiece, full of eyes around and inside, and they do not have rest day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God All-Powerful, the one who was and the one who is and the one who is coming!”
9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and put down their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.”
God is worthy of glory, honor, power. The truth is, we know the Lord because he wants us to. He loved us in 1 John 4:19 LEB
19 We love, because he first loved us.
There is an old story about President Lincoln - it is said that a very elderly woman made an appointment to see him one afternoon. As she entered the President's office, he arose, and seated her, and asked, “How may I be of service to you madam?”
The little lady said, “Mr. President, I know you are a busy man. I have not come to ask you for anything. I simply came to bring you this box of cookies, for I heard you enjoy them so much.”
A silence followed in which tears overflowed the eyes of the President. Finally, he raised his head and spoke to the little woman. “Madam, I thank you for your thoughtful gift. I am greatly moved by it. Since I have been President of this country. thousands of people have come into this office asking for favors and demanding things from me. You are the first person who has ever entered these premises asking no favor, and indeed, bring a gift for me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Who Are We to God? We are his people, his inheritance.
Deuteronomy 32:9 LEB
9 For Yahweh’s portion was his people, Jacob the share of his inheritance.
And God knows us because we are his creation. He said it this way in Isaiah 43:6–8 LEB
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give!’ and to the south, ‘You must not withhold!’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the end of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I created for my glory, whom I formed, indeed whom I made.”
8 Bring out the people blind yet with eyes, and deaf, though they have ears.
And he calls them together for a purpose, he formed us for himself. He made us to make his name known in
Isaiah 43:21 LEB
21 this people whom I formed for myself, so they might make known my praise.
What Does God Say About His People? There are many places where God talks about his people being rebellious or hard hearted but he says it this way here in Jeremiah 2:13 LEB
13 “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the source of living water, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
We might think about it this way, we can have a wealth of books and videos and go to every conference, … but these are substitute for the presence of God.
God is the fountain of living water in Jeremiah 17:13 LEB
13 O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all those who forsake you will be put to shame, and those who turn aside from you in the earth will be recorded, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, Yahweh.
God calls us to come to him in Isaiah 55:3 LEB
3 Extend your ear, and come to me! Listen so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the enduring proofs of the mercies shown to David.
When we come to him, we find rest. Matthew 11:28–30 LEB
28 Come to me, all of you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy to carry and my burden is light.”
But we are often Martha’s rather than Mary’s. By nature we are doers and not lovers!
What is Ministering to the Lord? In Solomon’s day, in 2 Chronicles 5, they built the temple for the Lord, and they put all of the objects of silver and gold, and all the men assembled together, and they brought the ark, and all of the priests that had sanctified themselves. But it wasn’t until the song was raised that the presence of the Lord came in 2 Chronicles 5:13 LEB
13 And it was the primary duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard with one voice, to praise and give thanks to Yahweh. And when a sound from the trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of song was raised to Yahweh—for he is good, because his loyal love is everlasting—then the house, the house of Yahweh, was filled with a cloud.
We sometimes miss the main point as the children of Israel did when the Lord brought them out of Egypt. The Lord had said to them in Exodus 19:3–6 LEB
3 And Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you will say to the house of Jacob and you will tell the Israelites,
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and I brought you to me.
5 And now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, you will be a treasured possession for me out of all the peoples, for all the earth is mine,
6 but you, you will belong to me as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”
He said, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. And the people responded in Exodus 24:3 LEB
3 And Moses came, and he told the people all the words of Yahweh and all the regulations. And all the people answered with one voice, and they said, “All the words that Yahweh has spoken we will do.” but we know that while Moses was on the mountain with God, they made a golden calf, and idol from Egypt and Moses broke the tablet, the commandments.
They not only turned from God, they begged not to hear him. They separated themselves from him. It is recorded this way in Hebrews 12:18–20 LEB
18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, and to a burning fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to a whirlwind,
19 and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged that not another word be spoken to them.
20 For they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”
But today, we have a different relationship, and this is where we begin ministering to the Lord in 1 Peter 2:5 LEB
5 And you yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
He has chosen us. We are his possession. We have a purpose, to proclaim his virtues in 1 Peter 2:9 LEB
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,
Ministering to the Lord is Praise. It is our lips speaking about God in Hebrews 13:15 LEB
15 Therefore through him let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
And we all know Psalm 150:6 LEB
6 Every breathing thing, let it praise Yah. Praise Yah.
And Psalm 100:4 LEB
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name.
and this is about the good and wonderful things that God has done.
Ministering to the Lord is Worship, but how is this different from praise? David said this, which is a request for God to bless us, and often the way we approach God in Psalm 67:1 LEB
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us. May he cause his face to shine toward us, Selah
then he also said in Psalm 103:1 LEB
1 Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and all within me, bless his holy name.
In worship, we love him for who he is and not just what he has done.
In worship, we recognize his attributes and offer ourselves to him.
1 Chronicles 16:29 LEB
29 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of his name! Lift up an offering and come before him! Bow down to Yahweh in the splendor of holiness!
In worship, we are giving something to God because he is worthy.
Ministering to the Lord is Communion. In any loving relationship there is two way communication. If our relationship with God is only what we want and only what we have to say about him, we are missing a key part of what God has for us.
There is strength, encouragement, purpose, that come from the mouth of God as we wait and listen for what he has to say. Isaiah 40:31 LEB
31 But those who wait for Yahweh shall renew their strength. They shall go up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not be faint.
Are you taking time to hear from God? Psalm 62:5 LEB
5 Only for God wait in silence, O my soul, because my hope is from him.
Are you waiting for His word? or running in your own strength? Psalm 130:5–6 LEB
5 I await Yahweh; my soul awaits, and I wait for his word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning. Yes, more than watchmen for the morning.
Listen to The Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit has three results in Ephesians 5:18–21 LEB
18 And do not be drunk with wine (in which is dissipation), but be filled by the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and singing praise in your heart to the Lord,
20 giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to the God and Father,
21 being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Psalms and Hymns, praise in your heart ... Thankfulness ...Being subject to one another ...
But the real purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives is for us to receive God’s direction, right here, right now as in
Acts 13:2 LEB
2 And while they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Worship comes first. As they ministered to the Lord … then the Lord showed them the work they were to do.
Give Time to Minister to the Lord. Now is the time for us to seek the Lord first in John 4:23–24 LEB
23 But an hour is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for indeed the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.
24 God is spirit, and the ones who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Our ministering to the Lord involves more that just thinking. Our whole being is involved.
It may be bending a knee as Jesus did in Luke 22:41 LEB
41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and knelt down and began to pray,
And as Paul did in Ephesians 3:14 LEB
14 On account of this, I bend my knees before the Father,
It may be lifting our hands.
1 Timothy 2:8 LEB
8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and dispute.
It may be bowing down as David did in Psalm 95:6 LEB
6 Come in, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before Yahweh, our maker. But now, now is the time to worship.
