Series the seven keys to revival- Sermon 5 “Authentic Worship”
Thesis: The fifth key to revival is authentic worship in which individuals connect heart to heart with God. When this occurs a power is unleashed in the life of the individual which in turn affects the church and community they reside in.
Texts:
Matthew 22:37 “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
*This verse speaks to the core principle of authentic worship -- an intimate love relationship with Jesus.
Revelation 5:6-14
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits£ of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”
13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
14The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
*We ourselves right here today need to learn to worship the Lord like this scenario in Heaven.
Introduction:
Today’s topic is another key to unlocking the door to revival. It’s a topic that is hard to teach people. It’s hard to teach because different people connect in worship with God in different ways. For some it’s through moments of silence for others through moments of vibrant praise. For others it’s through intense times of prayer. For others it happens while reading the Word of God. For others it’s acts of sacrificial service. The point is there is no magical formula for experiencing God in genuine authentic worship. So it’s hard to come up with a 12 step plan to intimate authentic worship.
It’s not a methodology that produces authentic worship but a connecting of two hearts. Your heart and God’s heart. It’s an internal connection to God. This intimate connection comes from having a personal relationship with Abba Father. It’s not learned in a 12 step program even though teachings are helpful. It’s actually a heart to heart encounter with Jehovah Jireh. This is true Authentic Worship. This connection can only happen with God’s help and God’s touch. Mike says, ‘We cannot love God without God helping us to love Him.” He adds, “It takes God to love God!”
Let me clarify – It’s not a head encounter, knowledge encounter, emotional encounter, body encounter, tradition encounter, or religious encounter. It’s a heart to heart connection between you and God in a very special moment of intimacy.
T.S.- To better understand this we need to understand what worship means.
I. The meaning of the word worship from the New Testament.
a. It is described in the original language as a very expressive heart attached action – the Greek word is prokuneo (pros-koo-neh-oh).
i. Mills gives us insight into the root meaning of this Greek word Pros – means to move toward or to go in the direction of. Where kuneo means to kiss or a kiss (190).
1. This word is used 59 times in the New Testament and it is found in the book Revelation 24 times.
2. It appears from its use in Revelation that worship is what is occurring in Heaven even right now because of what He who was, is and will be is doing and has done. This individual is always being worshipped continually day and night at the Throne. The worship never stops and starts. It just keeps going.
3. Mills notes, “We don’t start to worship and then conclude it the way we start and conclude a church service. We join worship. It is universal-going on all over the world-and it is going on in Heaven too all the time night and day. When we begin to sing, praise, give thanks or extol the beauties of our Savior, we are joining an activity already in progress” (190).
a. When we worship we join along with others in this act of intimacy to God.
b. We join in with angels, the elders, other saints long gone, and with a hosts of others. It’s a worship service that never runs out of steam.
ii. “Proskuneo is the adoration and thanksgiving in word, gesture, prayer, confession, songs of praise and thanksgiving that extols God the Father and Jesus the Son.” (Mills, 189)
iii. David Ingles tells us, “Thus, to worship means ‘to ascribe worth or value, or to count worthy.’ When we worship God, we acknowledge that He is worthy. We acknowledge Who He is and what He is” (182).
1. David did this throughout the Psalms. Listen to Psalm 108:1-5:
a. “My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.”
b. Amy Sullivan – is going to share with us her thought on authentic worship. Her thought is this, “Worship is everything I do-it’s my whole life!”
T.S.- An authentic worshipper is one who moves toward God everyday, in every aspect of their life for the purpose to encounter the Lord in an intimate way.
II. A genuine authentic Worshipper is one who has intimate love encounters with the Lord.
a. It’s a relationship based on Love and not just on service.
i. Mike Bickle explains it this way;
1. God has ordained many pleasures for believers. There are physical, emotional and intellectual pleasures, all of which are ordained by God. But no pleasure is more intense than the pleasure that comes when God communicates Himself to the human spirit. In the little moments when God communicates His passion for me, I experience what life is all about. It is life at its very best” (54).
2. He also adds, “Discovering God’s heart is both fascinating and absolutely exhilarating “(33).
3. The bottom line is Lovers will always serve God with their whole hearts, where as servants will only give so much.
a. Lovers will always give the one that they love everything they desire.
i. Lovers love to please the one they love.
b. A person who serves another in a Master/servant relationship will only give what is needed to sustain the relationship.
i. It’s like a student who only wants to get by school with a D-. They do not give everything – their heart stays with them.
ii. There is no passion just service 9-5. Or maybe I should say “I put in my hour a week!”
4. Mike Ingham – Is going to come and share with us how “Worship is not real if the heart does not connect.”
(Mike shares for 5 minutes on this point)
ii. Mike Bickle stresses in his teachings the necessity of being authentic worshippers and what the difference is between doing it for duty and doing it out of a passionate heart of love.
1. Hosea 2:16 says:
16 “In that day,” declares the LORD,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.£’
2. Mike notes, “This scripture says “in that day” (Hosea 2:16), referring to the end of this age when the spirit of revival will be poured upon both the nation of Israel and the body of Christ worldwide. We will not be preoccupied by duty. We will experience more than a servant/Master relationship; we will work and serve more diligently. We will actually obey God in a more intense way. We will call Him our Husband because we will see ourselves as His bride” (46).
3. This type of relationship a husband and wife relationship is much different than a employer or employee relationship.
a. It needs to come from the heart!
T.S.- An authentic worshipper is one who has an intimate heart to heart encounter with the Lord that happens out of a heart of passionate love. These encounters do not happen when we worship just out of duty.
III. So how do we get to the place where we encounter God in a heart to heart passionate way?
a. It means we have to first of all choose to make the sacrifices necessary to make this happen.
i. Terry Law states, “Praise is a sacrifice. It is something we must determine to do. It is an act of our will, not our emotions. We determine to praise the Lord” (66).
ii. James Sullivan – is going to share his thought on authentic worship. “It’s a sacrifice and submission of our flesh to the Lord.” (He will share for 5 minutes).
b. It means we have to focus on the heart of the Lord. In other words we are to intently gaze into the eyes of Jesus.
i. Have you ever seen two people in love and how they look into one another’s eyes. They both know that the other loves them passionately. You know it because there’s that look!
ii. We need to have that same kind of passionate focus.
1. Movie illustration of Forest Gump - show clip at 58:30
2. “You have to keep your eye on the ball” was Forest’s teachers instruction to him.
a. His willingness and ability to focus on the ball made him a master player at ping pong.
3. Here is my suggestion to you as a teacher, “ Keep your eye on the Lord.”
a. Proverbs 4:25-27 “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; keep your foot from evil.”
b. If you cannot focus on the Lord in worship you have to ask yourself the question, “How bad do I want revival?”
i. If you want it -really want it- then you have to look at what is distracting you from gazing into the eyes of Jesus.
ii. What gets your eyes off of Jesus?
1. Discover it and eradicate it from your life.
2. Here is where sacrifice comes back in!
T.S.- Lets observe a person who is making that authentic heart to heart worship encounter with the Lord.
Illustration - Video from House of Prayer worship leader connecting with the Lord.
Point- Did this person connect with the Lord in authentic worship? Yes and this is what we are talking about today. This is another key to unlocking the door of revival in you life and in the church. We must have genuine authentic worship encounters with the Father for revival to take place.
Conclusion:
When the church decides as individuals to become authentic worshippers then we will unlock another lock to the door of revival in our community.
When Authentic worship starts occurring this is what will happen:
1. It will aggressively assault the enemies ability to hinder the church and the Gospel.
2. It will uplift the believer and excite the believer for the Lord.
3. It will drive out sin and bondage from the lives of many.
4. It will cause the believer to experience the Lord in intimate heart to heart ways.
5. It will bring fresh revelations of Jesus.
6. It will bring us into the presence of the Lord.
7. It will prepare our hearts for revival.
Reading from Isaiah 32:3-5: This is what will happen when revival is unlocked and flows into the church.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 The mind of the rash will know and understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
5 No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
Altar Call – Lets become genuine authentic worshippers – Lets worship!
