The Ephod Of Hope: The Attack On Worship! Series

THE EPHOD OF HOPE --- WORSHIP UNDER ATTACK

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

I buy blue material at Wal-mart, and have a lady at church make a rough version of

an ephod from the directions below. Two pieces of material hooked

together over the shoulders by a golden chain.

I thank Pastor Rex Johnson, Austin, Texas for aiming me toward this thought.

INTRODUCTION:

Real worship and praise have always been under great attack. Down through the ages our enemy hates any church or individual that comes into the presence of the Holy God in true worship and praise.

Today there is a PSEUDO-WORSHIP that is very entertaining and compromising and so seeker sensitive it can substitute for genuine worship and please the crowd.

REAL WORSHIP CAN NEVER BE IMITATED IN THE FLESH.

When the church fails in the sense of the role of the individual in real praise and worship, the corporate worship will fail.

You can never arise in public beyond what you are in the private prayer closet.

It is easy to lip sync the words to the praise songs to jump and clap ourselves happy?

Then we have sermons that tickle our ears and ease our conscience.

God is seeking real worship in spirit and truth, where lives are changes, sin is exposed, and a deeper and deeper hunger for the word of God to do the work of God thrives.

Can we hear the chant: SIR, WE WOULD SEE JESUS!

I must know God in His fullness and nothing else shall suffice!

IT IS HIGH TIME WE ARISE AND COME AGAINST THE ASSALT AGAINST REAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP. There is a great danger to worship worship, and praise praise, and leave out God!

WORSHIP IS ALL ABOUT GOD.

There is an all out effort spawn in HELL to get God’s people to come to church, be faithful, pay their tithes, and carry out their OBLIGATIONS --- YET NEVER ENTER INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES FOR REAL WORSHIP.

Job 14:8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; 9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

I. UNDERSTAND: YOU CAN COME TO WORSHIP AS A SENSE OF DUTY, AND NEVER REALLY PRAISE AND WORSHIP GOD.

A. There was a religious custom going on at church this day. The believers have gather themselves together for a DAY OF CEREMONIAL PURIFICATION.

1 Samuel 21:7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.

B. DOEG WAS AT CHURCH UNDER OBLIGATION, HE HAD TO BE THERE TO LOOK GOOD IN THE PUBLIC’S EYES.

C. If Doeg was going to serve King Saul well he had to FULFILL HIS RELIGIOUS DUTIES!

D. SERVING GOD CAN NEVER BE JUST BECAUSE OF AN OBLIGATION OR A "HAVE TO ..."

E. DOEG APPROACHES WORSHIP AND PRAISE WITH BAD MOTIVES.

Doeg hated real worship and intense praise.

II. NOW LET US COME TOGETHER AND STUDY THERE IS A REAL OPPOSITION TO PRAISE AND WORSHIP IN GOD’S HOUSE. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT OPPOSITION FROM WITHOUT, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT OPPOSITION FROM WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE CHURCH.

A. It is possible to come to church and carry out all your religious duties in a sense of OBLIGATION.

B. REAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP CAN RARELY BE ENTERED WITHOUT PLANNING AND GOING BEYOND THE SURFACE.

C. Bitterness and a "holy hatred" will always oppose real worship. The world has become churchie, the church has become worldly.

D. IT IS HIGH TIME WE ARISE AND COME AGAINST THE ASSALT AGAINST REAL PRAISE AND WORSHIP.

There is a great danger to worship worship, and praise praise, and leave out God!

IT IS ALL ABOUT GOD.

There is an all out effort spawn in HELL to get God’s people to come to church, be faithful, pay their tithes, and carry out their OBLIGATIONS ---

YET NEVER ENTER INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES FOR REAL WORSHIP.

E. MOTIVATED BY DEEP LOVE --- WE MUST NOT ALLOW THE ENEMIES OF WORSHIP TO GET GOD’S PEOPLE TO ABUSE OR NEGLECT DEEP ZEALOUS, ON FIRE, FERVENT, INTENSE WORSHIP.

Never sell real worship and praise for some cheap emotional high!

III. TO UNDERSTAND THE ATTACK ON WORSHIP WE MUST GO DEEP BENEATH THE SURFACE... WHAT IS AN EPHOD?

A. First let we state for the record, the exact use and shape of the EPHOD in the Bible are not known.

B. An Ephod is a SACRED VESTMENT worn first by the High Priest.

THE EPHOD WAS MADE OF BLUE MATERIAL.

THE EPHOD WORN BY THE PRIESTS WERE A SYMBOL OF HOPE AND GOD’S