Worship Crushes Worry Every Time!

When we worship, we connect with our God personally. Sometimes, when you're at church on Sundays or Wednesdays or whatever day you attend, it is often easy to sneak out just as the worship team comes out for the final song, so you won't have to face any delay trying to get your car out of the parking lot. But what you fail to understand is that you are walking out on worship! It has to begin to start being a priority in our lives.  Nothing in this life is certain and sure, but worship is. Most fail to understand what a true privilege worship is.

There is something about this human life of ours, that the blackness and loneliness of the struggles and difficulties, the nagging pain and the sorrows, will someday be pressed into the Diamond of Glory. Deliverance from this world's troubles will cause us to sing. The moon can't sing God a song. Jupiter in all its splendor can't write Him a word of praise. Pluto can't pray to God. When we worship, we connect with our God personally!

It's not just about the singing. It's about having an object that is worthy to sing to. You have to, you must, you will. There will come a day, you will see the glories of God and you will want to break out in song and worship. One day every single knee will bow willingly and say that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. But there will be no second chances after you die to make that choice to choose Jesus today. 

Psalm 100:4 ~ "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

That's a command. When's the last time we told God thank You. There is always something to thank God for. No matter how much pain and suffering we might find ourselves in, there is always something to be thankful for.

Psalm 9:1 ~ "I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders."

That's a Christian. I am deficient in this area and I need to start thanking God more. Because He is on the throne and He loves me no matter what, good days or bad days.

Psalm 35:18 ~ "I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you."

Psalm 52:9 ~ "I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints."

Psalm 57:9 ~ "I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples."

Psalm 118:21 ~ "I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation."

Psalm 138:1-2 ~ "I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things you name and your word."

Do you notice the repetition in these Psalms? 

1. You are worthy.
2. to take the scroll.
3. to open its seals.
4. for you were slain.
5. you have redeemed us to God.
6. by your blood.
7. out of every tribe.
8. tongue.
9. people and.
10. nation.

Peeking ahead to verse 12...

Revelation 5:12 ~ "In 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!"

"Mark" - the things of heaven in your sights, Jesus Christ is returning to this earth. The song keeps going.

Revelation 5:10 ~ "You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to serve our God and they will reign on the earth."

They sang this song and it keeps on going. Some ancient scholars have said that a better understanding of this reads, "You have made us (a kingdom) , (priests we are) to our God. And we shall reign on earth. Regardless it's all about the divine government to come. "Kings and Priests" the reign of Christ and His government for a thousand years from Jerusalem, Israel. I really like that when you think that Christians really have no place in this world. We as Christians, as just pilgrims, just passing through. Our goal is to bring as many people to heaven with us.

Don't let the world determine what you need to become worthy in the eyes of those here, Jesus is what we should be focusing on. We shall reign on the earth with Jesus. The people in authority in our government will never work right, even though God has placed those people where they are at this time. Government only works when God rules. Until that time, human government is in power. There are men and women dying to establish government in their country, just to have the right to have a say so. To exercise their freedom. We as Americans, we have grown tired of freedom. We don't fight for it or defend it as much anymore. We fought for the right at one time to worship freely.

This year when you have the opportunity to vote will you do it? Will you understand the blood that was shed for that right to do so. In the end, in glory, the real Christians will stand before the throne of God. The Lord is saying the hour is late, it's time to worship Me and put Me first.It's time to rededicate our lives to Jesus once again and to be His will before our own.

Help us to search our hearts Lord and restore those broken places where we can learn to feel again. To understand what it is to feel You again in our lives. To come before His throne and read His Word like never before. We ask You Lord, that all we have we dedicate it all to You. Lead us and drive us like a ship across the sea and guide us with Your Spirit.  You've lost the sight of heaven and Jesus has been cursed more than praised and you're getting weaker by the day. It may be the very thing that brought you here today. He brought you here to bring this to your attention. It's time to come home to Him again. It's time to ask for His forgiveness and ask for His restoration. It's time to let Him take control of Your life again. God stores our tears in a bottle for us.

If you've never asked Jesus into your heart and want to do so now, simply pray this prayer and mean it from your heart. He will hear you right where you are at. He won't force His way in, you need to invite Him in today to your life and let Him change you.

Dear Lord Jesus, 

Forgive me of my sins. Write my name in Your Lamb's Book of Life. Receive me today. I believe You died and rose again, and I receive You now, as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus Name, I thank You, AMEN!!!

We need to live our lives on the mark because Jesus is come back. Time is running out and night is coming. Jesus is the most influential person who ever lived and has lived and continues to live. In just 3 1/2 years, He impacted the world like never before. Time is running out for us to minister for Jesus before eternity comes and we hear the final trumpet blast.

Things Angels Can't Do!

Do you want to live life successfully and I don't mean in regards to money or health? Though those would be nice, I'm talking about succeeding in the Spirit, always have Jesus in the forefront of your life! Put Jesus as the object of your affection.  Then everything in this life will come to pass according not to your will, not my will but a better will, God's will!

Acts 2:24-25 ~ But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him: "I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

We should all want to be more like David, whose relationship with God was that He was always before his face. That should be our goal in everything from voting to eating, driving, talking, ministering, having fun, going to the beach, working, paying bills, going to school, to see the Lord always before our face, should be our goal in life. Yet all of us desire to become more like Jesus, but one step at a time. We can find people in the Bible who are just like us and see how they rise above, people like David, Abraham, Esther, and others. David and Abraham had born again relationships with Jesus in the Old Testament, for example, Abraham was declared righteous by faith and so are you. We need to keep Jesus every before our face and keep moving forward in our race to finish this life well and give all the glory and honor, praise and worship to Him in the process.

Matthew 6:33 ~ "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

This should be the motto of every church and Christian. "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these (other) things will be given to you as well." You want wealth, you want health, you want power, you want position? Personally if that is what your "want" is I don't think you will get them, or if you do get them, it could be to your own destruction. Are those things evil? No! But we live in a fallen and broken world. But will God grant those things? Sure! All of them? Some of them? It's up to Him! What are we to do first? Seek first the kingdom of God. Is that our passion? As a Christian? As a church?

In John 14:2" In my Father's house are many rooms; if were not so, I would have told you so. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

That should be our passion. Are you moving? Do you have your house up for sale? Are you moving somewhere? Do you understand it is only temporary? Think about that when you go to buy all the new furnishings for the new house. It's only temporary! It's all going to burn. It's just temporary what we live in. These bodies are just temporary and I am so glad of that. Is Jesus the object of your affection? 

Matthew 6:20-23 ~ "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then, the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness."

If Jesus is the object of our affection, we have an "eye" spiritually speaking focused on Him and He is our reason or we have an "eye" that is bound up in the world. It is not wrong to possess things of the world. As long as those possessions don't possess you! It's not a sin to be affluent. It's a sin to hoard it to yourself. Some of the most successful people I have read of or known, have been people who so give it away, that God winds up having to give it back to them, because they keep giving it away! It's tremendous to have that kind of passion for Jesus.

"For where your treasure.." treasure meaning "thesauros" in the Greek: a place of deposit, the set of wealth, a reserve or treasure of affections.

Wherever your affection is, that is where your heart is going to be. Where your deposit is, that is an interesting word, God is saying, "Where are you placing your deposits, in the things of the kingdom or things that would rob and steal? We live in a hostile world that is out to rob and steal. 

We need to be keeping the mark before our eyes at all times. A person in a race, has a mark. A Christian in this life, has a mark, and that mark is Jesus. Always Jesus. If you are in a worship situation, and Jesus is not the mark, God gave us the instruction on what to do about that. We are to take the dust from our feet and dust it off, get into a church that holds truly and without compromise or apology to the Bible.

2 Timothy 2:3-4 ~ "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs - he wants to please his commanding officer."

Isn't that something? You see all these soldiers heading over to Iraq, or wherever else the battle of terrorism is being fought, can you imagine, they have all their gear and behind them they have a little rope, and they have their surfboard behind them, their golf clubs dragging behind them. Your commanding officer says advance, and you see this guy moving forward and wondering what is that sound? Pots and pans behind him clanging. Nobody entangles himself with the things of this life, when it comes to spiritual warfare! And yet we all battle that! We all have our thing that we fight against. But is Jesus Christ the object of our affection?

 Philippians 3:13-14 ~ "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

There will be no debris in heaven. Nothing that is worthless. Note what is important in heaven.

Revelation 5:8b ~ "Revelation 5:8-14 ~ " Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

John sees these harps and these bowls which are gold and full of incense which means, the incense is rising, but we don't have to guess what they are. They are the prayers of the saints. Two of the three things that affect eternity are right here. We are just little people, mere humans, and God loves us so but you and I have the power, granted by God to do something like this, whenever we pray, we leave this time zone, and in an instant, literally in real time, praying before the throne of God? Second thing, when you worship, you transcend this orb, this terrestrial world, when you worship, you immediately affect God who is in heaven. That should excite you! There are at least two things we send on ahead, two long term investments that will forever produce dividends in heaven. Worship and prayer. There is also a third, conversion. When a sinner repents and comes to know Jesus as Savior, they change their mind about Jesus, to know Him personally, what does the Bible say about that? Even if just one person in the whole world does that one thing today, what happens in heaven? Angels party in heaven it says. Martenellis' certainly, but they party!!!! They rejoice over one sinner who repents. Immediately when one person comes to Christ, it affects eternity in that moment.

Psalm 141:2 ~ "May my prayer be set before you like incense: (may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.)"

Matthew 6:21 ~ "For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Where? There! In heaven. "Mark"  - the things of heaven in your sights. On your mark - "Worship" is our spiritual exercise. We need to get stretched out, we need to get ready. we need to get in tone for worship.

Revelation 5:9 ~ "And 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."

Jesus redeems the earth back from its lost condition. He met all the standards and requirements, how? He redeemed us by His death and His blood. A new song, never able to be sung prior to... "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."

Only black people? Only white people? Only yellow people? What people? Out of every tribe, and language and people and nation. We are the most guilty of all people on the planet earth when it comes to  reducing God and salvation into some sort of geographical benefit. There are people who name the name of Christian, that can't even tell you what it means and they might attend church on Sunday, but they have no connection to Christ any rest of the days of the week. None whatsoever. Just because you were born in America means nothing. Just because it's a Christian nation at one time. You can't call it a Christian nation any longer. When Christ gets thrown out of schools, it's not a Christian nation anymore. When the ten Commandments get thrown out of a courthouse, it's not a Christian nation anymore. This nation has erred! This nation is wayward and has turned its back on God, and according to the Bible, God will turn His back on this nation. Unless one thing happens, its repent and seek his face. Then He will hear from heaven, and He will answer their prayer and heal their land. But God will not be impressed when you pop up before His throne and say, "Look, I've got my passport! I'm an American!" No way.

One day, there will be Russians in heaven! There will be Pakistani's in heaven! Afghan's in heaven! There will be Iraqi's in heaven! There will be people in Detroit in heaven! There will be people from all over the world in heaven! Some of them round eyes and slanted eyes, and some of them of various skin colors, have you thought about that? Will it be true for you? Only if Christ is the object of our affection!

This new song could have only been sung after the resurrection of Christ! It could have only been sung after He ascended back into heaven. It is only sung when the church is in heaven! Notice who is not singing here and who is not.

Revelation 5:8 ~ "And 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 prayer of the saints. And they sang a new song:"

The question you should be asking yourself is who are "they"? You might think the obvious, that it is everybody mentioned in verse 8, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders. That is not the answer, because in this chapter, it goes on to tell you who the "they" are. No where in Scripture do we find the angels singing, except in a very small chapter of Job 38. No where do we see angels singing to God.

You might argue that the angels do sing. From Christmas remember, "Angels we have heard on high," or you might argue that the angels on the night of Jesus birth all sang. Read it again. In Luke 2, the angels gathered around, and they praised God saying. We are praising God when we talk about Him. Praise does not necessarily mean singing did you know that? No where does it say that angels sing since the fall of mankind!

In Job 38:7 ~ "while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy" 

But they have not sang since. They are always found since the fall of man, "saying." They say, "He is worthy." The church sings, "You are worthy." We sing, angels speak. They say. We sing. We worship, but angels look in and they want, I believe, to sing like we can sing. 

The cheribum are not singing, the angels are not singing, the seraphim are not singing. The "they" who are singing are all those who lived on this broken down earth who had been lost sinners and who could not save themselves from their lost condition. Angels do not and can not sing this new song. There is no redemption for fallen angels. They are lost and bound to hell forever. An angel has no knowledge what it is like to be forgiven of sin. The Lord has never asked an angel to call Him, Father, Abba, and Jesus never called angels "Friend."

Isn't that interesting as well that the Bible says that the Lord has created us a little lower than the angels. We can't fly around, we can't do what angels do now, but there is a day coming where the Bible says we are going to sit in judgment of the angels in eternity. What does that mean? It means we are going to be a lot smarter in heaven than we are right now! Jesus didn't die for angels. It appears they are unredeemable since there is no reference in Scripture that says they can be redeemed. They can't sing the songs and hymns we can sing. They can only look on. Angels desire to look in on the things that we can do. They are snooping and eavesdropping on those things. They lean in to listen and learn what we hear in church. They are His ministering Spirits.

All other faiths and religions will always come up short on what Jesus offers to those that believe in Him!

Will the Real Christian Please Stand Up!

Back in the day, there was a show called "To Tell the Truth" in which a panel of contestants would give facts about their life and the role of the judges was to figure out which one was telling the truth and which were telling lies. Their goal was to be the one to tell the best lie. Just like in the world today, we can tell the marks of a true believer in Christ but certain things that are prevalent in their life, kinda of like looking at a tree and based on what you can see, you can identify what type it is, like an apple or lime tree. All the real Christian would do is putting his faith in Jesus Christ alone.

In the lives of a believer such traits like the ability to worship, might be one indicator as to what they believe, but appearances can be misleading as well. To tell the truth, heaven would be a place where people go who love to worship the Lord. From sea to shining sea, Christians around the world love to worship God. Yet it is also something we take for granted here in the United States where we have that right and freedom to worship, at this time, without any repercussions. I guess you might say, one of the earmarks of a true believer might be those willing to die, not to give up worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord.

In our last three lessons we learned about Jesus Christ, being fully qualified to be the ONLY One to redeem us based on a number of things. (1) Jesus has become our salvation by Himself being God's authorized agent' (2) by Himself alone He became our performance; (3) He has done what no other man could ever do, by Jesus Christ, man's hope is restored; (4) By Jesus Christ, man's salvation is realized; (5) It means that Jesus Christ has meet all the requirements, by being faithful to the commitment to save; (6) by being obedient to the death of the cross.

We know that Jesus Christ had taken the scroll, the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ if you will, and took it from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. We know that when Adam sinned he basically gave the escrow papers of the earth and handed it to Satan. He now has 51% of the controlling powers of the earth. Many people blame God, but the blame is truly on the real enemy. God will one day, take back control over the pain and sufferings of all the people on the earth from Satan. Judgment is coming and soon! We win in the end if you read all the way to the end of the Bible.

Revelation 5:8-14 ~ "And 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. And they sang a new song: "Yo 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. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels and numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousands times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to received power and wealthy and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then 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 powers, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped."

This study should provoke you to a stronger worship of Jesus Christ in your life.  It's like the saying, "On your mark, get set, fall down! in this case. "On your mark," means having an active, day by day, living relationship with Jesus Christ. "Get Set" means establishing a biblical understanding that Jesus is coming back. "Fall Down," means willfully applying yourself to be a worshiper of God. Now let's look at it in even greater detail.

"On Your Mark!" - Heaven is in your sights, with Jesus Christ as the object of your affection. Put your citizenship and mind on the things of heaven cause that is where we are going one day. As a Christian we should be asking ourselves that, Is Jesus Christ, the object of our affection? Why, you are going to join a crowd of people in heaven, who will be worshiping Him for all eternity. Jesus does not want to be number 1 on a list of 10. He wants to be number 1 on a list of 1. "No other gods before Me," says the Scripture. He and He alone is to be worshiped, we see everything in all of heaven worshiping Him. And it is the will of God the Father, that we should worship His Son, Jesus Christ.

Revelaton 5:8 ~ "And 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."

A great shift in power is happening here. Now when he (the Lamb - Jesus Christ) had taken the scroll. It means there has been a radical announcement, like a lightning bolt. It has interrupted what has looked like gloomy and foreboding. This is an awesome and exciting moment, frankly, this could be the most important statement in the Bible, because there was no one found worthy in heaven or on earth  and John weeps much! So lost is the world, that is why it is trying to find it's way, drugs, alcohol, find other sources of happiness, they are saying we will try everything they can, like telescopes looking out into intelligent life. Wouldn't it be awesome, for God to stick His face out and say, "I'm right here." The world is searching for an answer, and the answer is Jesus, not a religion or a church. When a church says that they are the only way to get to heaven, beware! Jesus is the only answer. He has to be the love of our life. You can put your fingers in your ears all you want, but you can't escape this question. Jesus steps forward because He alone was found worthy to take the scroll!

In Revelation 5:8 ~ "And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb" 

Notice it is before the Lamb, not before anything else. Not a host of angels, not before anything else. They fall down before the Lamb. The star of heaven is the Lamb. Jesus is the central figure here. Is he the central figure of our soul?  Noah Webster states that "mark" or "to mark" means that it is a place of beginnings. It is a port of origin for a journey albeit a quick sprint or global journey. Like never before the Christian must keep his "mark" true. The mark is where you begin. Doesn't that dovetail what Jesus already said to the churches?  "You have left your first love." You have left your mark. 

If you have ever seen a sprinter before he runs the race in the Olympics? Before you sprint, what do you do? Before the gun goes off, where are you? You are in the blocks! You take your time getting adjusted to where you need to be, you get in and out until you are set. Why do they do this? Because the race is won in the blocks. It is where it all happens. You don't want to stick to the block. You want to be off the block! But how you position yourself on the block, determines the mark or point of origin. We know the one that presides over the event, says, "On your mark!" How many Christians are on their mark? I'm not asking how you feel. Are you asking yourself how are you spending your time lately? Is it serving Jesus or serving yourself? Are you taking time to spend time in church fellow shipping and worshiping with other believers or doing things you want to do? We should be spending our time here, rehearsing for heaven. We don't want to spend our time wondering what to do in heaven, practice now! Right now, we need to be asking ourselves honestly, "Is Christ the object of your affection?"

Doesn't the Bible tell us that we need to be ready? Are you on your mark? Keep Jesus as the target of your life. There are a lot of people in assumed titles that are exalting themselves over Jesus.They love the benefits and power that come from being in that position. Keep Him ever before You, not some man. It's Jesus. He is the only one.