Wounded Worshippers

WORSHIP THROUGH THE PAIN OR AS A SUB-TITLE (WOUNDED WORSHIPPERS)

Isaiah 6

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Acts 28 King James Version (KJV)

1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.

2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

In the year that President Kennedy was shot.

In the year that Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down.

In the year that the Space Shuttle blew up.

In the year that the planes hit the World Trade Center Towers.

There is some in here that can remember some of these life changing events that occurred in our nation. We have a very young church in membership manner, so a lot of you will not remember any of these evets. I dare to say if I were take a poll here this morning that 99.9 percent of you have had somewhere in your lifetime a life changing experience. It was in 1997 that I was involved in an accident on the job that left me partial disabled, in the same year we lost my father in law and my grandpa.

We all have experienced pain at some time in our life, whether it’s physical pain, emotional pain, the pains that come from losing someone, or even spiritual pain. Pain has a way of changing people, and change the way they have an outlook on life, or how they even look at relationships. The pain from previous relationships that were bad if not properly healed will cause you to bleed on your current relationship.

“In the year that King Uzziah died…”

He becomes king at 16 and King Uzziah ruled Judah for 52 years.

Where previously the wall was destroyed, the city was unsafe, now with Uzziah as king, the nation is secure. There was great spiritual prosperity. Uzziah was one of the great kings of Judah that restored the glory and power of David. It tells us "He did right in the sight of the Lord" (II Chron. 26:4). He had great military prosperity. "Warred against the Philistines . . . God helped him against the Philistines" (II Chron. 26:6,7). "Built towers in Jerusalem . . . built towers in the desert" (v.9). Had 307,500 soldiers. There was abundant food. "He dug many wells . . . much cattle . . . he loved husbandry" (v.10). He instituted great technology. "Invented . . . bulwarks to shoot arrows, and great stones" (v.15).

But Uzziah sinned, and in his great power and success became proud. He went into the temple to offer sacrifice, which was only for the priests to do, and 80 priests withstood him. God struck his with leprosy, and he spent his last years ruling as a leper, a constant reminder to all the people of God’s great power.