Encounter God Through Worship and Be Transformed

0:00 He's not looking for worship. He's looking for worshipers because we always become like whatever we worship. And since there's nothing greater that God could want for us than for us to be like Him, He longs for us to become worshipers. Because it's in the manifest presence of His glory we actually experience the greatest transformation. Sometimes I think we're too familiar with some subjects. I'm thankful for a worship culture that has been developed. I was here 50 some years ago, 54 years ago, and my parents said yes to the call of God for worship. That it was not an add-on. It was not a warm-up to a message. It was actually a reason for being. And I'll never forget that period of time where my dad began to open the scriptures to us to teach us about this incredible privilege we have to minister to God.

0:57 See, in Exodus 19, verse six, it says, you shall be a kingdom of priests, pointing to the future. Isaiah 61 says, you shall be a kingdom of priests. But when it comes to Peter, 1 Peter chapter two, verse nine, it says, you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. It was like all the hundreds of years, there was a pointing of the finger to the future, to a moment when something would happen that would qualify a generation of people to actually minister to the Lord. It was different than anything they'd ever known before. The only thing remotely similar and profoundly similar was what David broke into in the tabernacle of David. Leave that for another time. but in this in this season I remember my dad and my mom and the group of people here it was about 1971 could have been late 70 and the yes to to give ourselves to worship I remember the opposition it's crazy now because there's such a strong culture in the church which I'm thankful for the problem there's not a problem with the worship culture but a side thing that happens sometimes as we end up worshiping worship instead of the one. So we're going to talk of that. So that's, it's just, we just do stupid things as we're learning. So I'm, I'm, I'm good with it. It's just part of the process.

2:25 But you know, we get excited over the person who's leading the songs that are being sung, the, the room that we're in, the people that we're with, all of that is a part of it. But what the Lord is constantly doing is refining us to the face-to-face moment where there's an encounter with the Almighty God where we actually minister to Him. And I'll never forget that journey that I watched my parents go on. I remember the church actually split. If you can imagine a sanctuary that seated 600 people and the Sunday after everybody left, there was like 65 people in the room in a sanctuary that seated 600. But there was a freshness in the room. There was a presence. and from there it began to increase and explode until there's multiple services. But the point was, one of the main points of contention was the subject of worship. People enjoyed singing songs about God but didn't want to sing to him.

3:21 They liked singing songs about theology but not actually the practice and the engagement with God over these issues. And so I watched that journey and made that commitment to myself. I've told the story a number of times where I remember my dad teaching out of the book of Ezekiel on ministry in the inner court and the outer court. And I remember at the end of, I think it was the third week, I bowed my head and I was sitting back several rows on the edge, on the end, and I bowed my head. I said, God, I give you the rest of my life to teach me this one thing. Just teach me this one thing. What is it like to minister to you? Since then, I have found so many different stories and experiences throughout Scripture, but two I want to make reference to. One I'll reference, the second one we'll read, it's in Mark 14. The first one that I'll reference is this engagement that Jesus had with a Samaritan woman.

4:15 So she's not a Jew, so she's outside of God's initial plan, not ultimate plan. All Gentiles were included in the ultimate plan. But in this moment where he's supposed to give himself to the Jew, he has this conversation with a woman at a well. and come to find out she's been married five times and is now living with the sixth and she's not married yet. And she gives what I consider to be the most profound revelation on worship in the Bible to an unqualified woman. Not a Jew, not living right at all. The second story is, and I'll come back to that in a moment, but the second story is with the woman that Luke calls a sinner. She had a pretty rough life. And she took an alabaster vial, a container that had to be broken to be opened, and it contained a very special ointment, years' worth of wages.

5:12 So let's just, for illustration's sake, $50,000 worth of perfume. And she took that, and she came into a house uninvited. She was so compelled with adoration and affection for the one that she came, she broke the vial, she poured it over his head, over his feet, She wiped it in with her tears. I think it's Luke's gospel that says she kissed Jesus' feet over and over and over again. The tears, she would wipe the tears and the fragrance into his feet with her hair. It was an absolute abandonment in worship. And what happened is there was such a reaction in the room to what she was doing. And extravagant worship always dials up stuff that's in existence. things that are in people's hearts that they don't even know is there come to the surface when there's extravagance in worship. And by the way, this incredible offering that she gave to the Lord reminds us that when there's real worship, there's never a lack of funds.

6:14 Because generosity is a very natural expression to those who have seen the one and care only for touching his heart. so here she is she pours this ointment all over jesus and there was an outrage in the room led by judas iscariot the one who betrayed him he was the one who was the most vocal in the in john's gospel i think it is chapter 12 says that he was outraged because he said this could have been sold and get the money given to the poor but he was outraged because he was a thief and he was taking care of the money box of Jesus, the offerings that would come in for Jesus's ministry, and he would steal money out of that box. Why would Jesus put him in charge of the money? I don't, it's not like him to tempt.

7:13 It's not like him to cause people to fall. It is like him to give people an opportunity to rise above their weakness. And he spotted something in Judas and he needed a chance to be victorious. Over his three and a half years, he's the one who blew the opportunity, but he was given the opportunity.

7:35 In this story, we find this woman. In fact, I want you, let's just do Mark 14. Let's read this now. so we've got a woman who is a sinner and we've got the woman at the well, Samaritan two very unqualified people and the greatest revelation of worship was given to one and the greatest expression of worship came through another maybe one point that we ought to make here is that this only goes to prove no one's disqualified Thank you. That was an expression of faith on your part, I know.

8:27 No one is disqualified. Something took place in the hearts of these two people through worship. I want to emphasize something as we move on in this. We are transformed. Discipline is important. Reading the word, studying the scripture is vital. But nothing can replace encounters with his face in the glory. We are more transformed in the glory. We're more transformed in five minutes in the glory than five days working out our stuff outside of the glory. Five years. We are transformed in the glory. The Bible says when we see him, we will become like him. It also teaches as we see him, we become like him. There's something about worship that clarifies our perspective on everything else in life. Worship is not a song. worship is not a song worship can be manifest in song and often is why because we're to love him with all of our soul and there is no expression among mankind that more touches the soul than the expression of music music is used to bring all of our inner world out to the front where we get to worship him in spirit, Holy Spirit led, and in truth, nothing hidden.

9:49 In that place, we stand bare, but hungry and open before this one who has the capacity and ability to continuously change and transform. so here in the story verse 3

11:04 which reminds me not every divine moment is repeatable sometimes you only get chances once and that's not to make you regretful of your past is to make you humble for the future that we take advantage of the moments that he gives us. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. this story is remarkable to me in so many ways, but one is the fact, it's the only time I know of, and if you know of another time, please point it out to me, it's the only time that I know of where Jesus told someone that what they did will be included in the gospel message everywhere it's preached.

11:58 It's the only time I know of where anything God took note of and said, oh, let's include this in the message. Think about that. An action of abandonment in worship, what others considered wasteful, became at the core of the gospel message. Wherever this message is told, this story will be told. I think every born-again person in this room, when we come into heaven, will have the opportunity to sit down with this woman and ask her, honestly, what was it like? what was it like what were you thinking what were you feeling what happened It's one of those unusual, seemingly insignificant moments that got marked by heaven as a most significant moment.

12:56 So when Israel as a nation came to Moses, who in the previous chapter just announced to them, you shall be priests unto the Lord. He just said that to what? All 12 tribes. And the very next chapter, they see the thunderings, the lightnings of God, and they say, Moses, you talk to him, and you tell us what he said, and we'll do whatever he says. What happened there? It's just an opinion of mine, an idea. I think it was in that moment, they actually chose law because law is preset boundaries. Show me what I need to do to please him. They weren't interested in the relationship where there was the voice and there was the tenderhearted response. So Israel as a nation, 12 tribes rejected the opportunity for priesthood ministry. So what did God do? He raised up a tribe called Levi, raised them up to illustrate on the one tribe what he intended for all 12 tribes.

13:54 Is anybody following me so far? All the nations, they reject. He raises up one. Why? To illustrate. It's like a drawing board to illustrate something. I want to illustrate to you what my heart is for all people. And then he goes to that nation, Israel, to the 12 tribes. He throws out this prophetic word. They are summoned as a nation for priestly ministry. Priestly ministry isn't backwards callers. It's not in the Old Testament. It's not just the sacrificing of animals. It's the actual entrance by people into the manifest presence of God to minister to him. John chapter 4 says that he looks for worshipers. He does not say he looked for worship. He does not need our encouragement. He's not insecure. He's not hoping that public relations is going well on planet Earth and little concern. So he wants to get his ego built up.

14:51 He's not looking for worship. He's looking for worshipers. Psalms 115 tells us why. In Psalms 115 it says, those who make idols, idols who cannot see, become blind themselves. those who make idols who cannot hear lose their own ability to hear because we always become like whatever we worship and since there's nothing greater that god could want for us than for us to be like him he longs for us to become worshipers because it's in the manifest presence of his glory we actually experience the greatest transformation certain amount of change takes place just through through the discipline and application of the word I believe in very strongly. It's a very important part of life. But the greatest transformations that I've watched through the years and that you can witness in scripture is the moments that somebody spends in the glory.

15:52 You take Saul as an example who became the apostle Paul. He's riding on his donkey, gets knocked off. He spends a certain amount of time, we don't know how long, perhaps an hour or so, but in that glory. But he was so radically changed from that moment of divine encounter that he became the most sacrificial apostolic leader probably in all of history, certainly in his time, but I think forever. He just became the sacrificial offering unto the Lord. What happened? He had an encounter in the glory, in the manifest presence of the Lord. And so in the worship experience that we have, it goes beyond, you know, it's possible. Let's say that we just had this huge party and a very wealthy, benevolent, generous person here in Reading invited us all over.

16:45 He's got this huge home and a huge yard and there's wonderful music playing. There's the best food you've ever seen in the world. And we've got so many things going on. All the people that you love the most are there and we just go from one huddle to another huddle to another huddle. And here the host of this party is sitting over here. And every once in a while we catch his attention and wave or say thanks, but we continue with all the people. That's what we do often in worship is we love being at the party with the people of God, but don't often actually engage with the one who threw the party. And worship actually is the personal encounter. The word worship actually in the New Testament comes from the word kiss. It talks about a very personal encounter with the one, with the one. And I love the corporate expression because it's so powerful and there's exponential increase every time we gather together. But it still is about the one.

17:42 And when you get thousands who care about the one, you have a release of glory that is just really tough to measure. I can only point to a few times in my life where it became so overwhelming that we just lost track of time. I remember one Sunday morning here, quite a few years ago now, Brian, my son, was up here leading worship, and he hit one chord, literally one chord. I think he might have gone to the second chord, but he hit a chord, went to the second chord, and all of a sudden, this presence just came into the room, and we didn't get to a song for 40 minutes. It was this overwhelming sense of presence why the glory came into the room. And he had the intelligence to try to not make something happen. He just, you know, was just moving with what he was doing. It was just stunning.

18:33 We all just stood here absolutely rocked by the fact God actually came. I mean, he's here. You don't even have to use faith to see it. It's awesome. He just made himself obvious. And it just became one of those very, very profound encounter type days. But what happens? In those moments, things become transformed.

18:54 John 4, the great story of the woman at the well and Jesus gives this incredible revelation of worship. He said, he says, the time is coming and now is when those who worship God will worship in spirit and in truth. it says the father is looking for worshipers who will worship him in spirit and truth why is the father worship looking for worship it doesn't say he's looking for worship he's not an egotist in need of our applause he's not insecure he's not looking for our affirmation he's has his little interest in uh you know public opinion he's gone he's quite secure why is he looking for worshipers because worshipers always become like whatever they worship so for him to want me to be a worshiper is for me to behold him and watch me become transformed by him his hunger for me to be a worshiper is actually his love expression for me because he could want nothing better for me than for me to be like him.

20:10 Why would he require of me that love be the great priority of my life? Because I can't give away what I've not received. The implication is that I make myself a continuous recipient of the love of God, that my life isn't filled up doing things for him instead of connecting with him. we love him because he first loved us he actually equipped us that that illustration there you guys doing okay we're doing okay time wise all right i don't know what i'd do if you said no but i I would just go home.

20:58 That whole deal of us loving him because he first loved us is actually illustrated in the commandment of Scripture to husbands and wives. It says, husbands, love your wives that Christ loved the church, gave himself for her. Wives, respect your husband. Interesting. the command isn't there at least in that Ephesians passage for the wife to love the husband why? because if he's doing his part it'll be no problem for her to do hers that was so good bill that was so good have an altar call now it's no it's absolutely the truth is is that there's something that is imparted that is then increased in the return does that make sense i hope it does all right so here we've got this faith hope and love the greatest is love but what's the other absolute that is needed from our lives that he looks for from us.

22:01 We know that love is a top priority. But in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, it says that it is impossible to please him apart from faith. So here we have these two absolutes, love and faith.

22:23 Galatians, Paul does a great job in saying, he says, faith works through love. so he connects the two in Galatians. But the point is that faith is central to our walk with Christ. Why? It's not a hoop that he makes us jump through. It's not whenever he gives us a command, it's never to restrict us in the sense of punishment. It may restrict us, but it's always so that we can gather all strength for the one thing we were born for. so why does he say i can't even please him apart from faith faith is it's the inward expression of a surrendered heart to the one who is faithful faith is actually, it's uniquely almost like an expression of praise.

23:34 it glorifies him. Why? Thanksgiving is our response to the acts of the works of God, but praise is our response to his ways, his nature. Worship is our response to his actual presence. Praise, our response to his nature. What does faith do? It says he has never lied. He is perfectly faithful. how could I do anything outside of faith when he is so perfect in his devotion to me?

24:16 How could I ever dishonor him by not believing the one who's never lied and can't lie? even in his requiring faith from me. it's because of his love for me to endear myself to the one who cannot lie to take time to silence the thousand other voices that are fighting for my attention the thousand other ideas that are vying for my affection and to hear the one because faith comes from hearing and hearing comes from the word of God. There's something about the scripture that positions me to hear the subtle things from the Lord. faith anticipates his voice faith looks for his will faith says yes before he gives the direction faith signs the bottom of the page before he writes in the assignment faith is our response to the faithful one it may seem like a silly illustration but have you ever hugged anybody anyone who had way too much cologne on and unfortunately if you didn't like the cologne you walk away smelling like they did Faith is the fragrance of the faithful one you've just embraced.

26:06 And when you walk away, you carry the fragrance of the one who cannot lie. It was so intensely devoted to you that if you were the only human that ever sinned, he would have given himself completely for you. is the perfect loving father that works every day of our life to help us to think right because the mindset on the flesh is death. It's actually at war with God. The mindset on things that are inferior, feeding ourselves a continuous diet of inferior things actually positions us for hard choices that would have been easy had we just stayed connected to the word of God. I remember standing right here in School of Ministry second year class. Actually, I think it was first year, several years ago.

26:59 Someone asked me a question about worship, and it started raining right here inside the building. It just started raining. I thought the rain was always spiritual. sometimes it just rains where it shouldn't like indoors it must have had a leak up there yeah it got repaired right after it stopped raining the angel who broke it repaired it apparently I don't understand any of that but I like anything that makes me wonder I was in Las Vegas years ago Randy Clark and I were doing an event there and it started raining indoors that time it rained for like three hours Brian and Jen were leading worship they led with the song Rain Down by Delirious and it did it rained down for like three hours so the pastor sent teams up to the roof to find where the leak was there was nothing up there it wasn't raining there was no leak it's just raining sometimes the lord does things to offend our brain to soften our heart because he wants to do something out of the out of the ordinary break into the unusual he wants to bring rivers into dry places and sometimes that means eyes are open sometimes it means deaf ears are healed Sometimes it means the lame walk.

28:37 Sometimes it means it just rains. There are people all around this city. that ache in their heart as they go to sleep at night. And it's all because they don't know anyone with hope.

29:05 If they just knew one person that had the rock-solid hope of confidence in God, they would approach life differently. Let's look at the rest of the chapter, then we'll wrap this up. Verse 8, the highway shall be there, a road.

29:26 It shall be called a highway of holiness. a highway of holiness. in Isaiah 62 there's a highway that's talked about and a highway is built if you can picture this worshipers are like spiritual bulldozers that remove rubble and stones as they prepare to build this highway and it's this unusual picture It's in Isaiah 62, I think it's verse 10. So here's this, worshipers in the spiritual realm are actually bulldozing atmosphere where a highway is built. I know it's odd terminology, but it's not mine. It's Isaiah and the Holy Spirit.

30:20 So here's this highway that's being built. In this chapter, it's called, this road is called the highway of holiness. Now, I love this because I think one of the most misunderstood things about God himself is the holiness of God. When we see him and stand before him, none of us will stand and say, love, love, even though he is love. None of us will stand and say, good, good or great, great. Everyone who sees him says, holy, holy, holy. See, holiness is the actual beauty of God. it's called the beauty of holiness holiness is one of the things the enemy fears the most in his people because holiness is the actual it's the actual representation representation of the nature and presence of god into culture and society the enemy's worked hard to reduce holiness to a list of rules things you can do things you can't do it. It's not that. It's a person. It's the essence of a person, his own beauty, his own wonder.

31:36 this particular passage describes this backdrop of hope the people of God getting in there bringing encouragement and prophetic decrees the invasion of the supernatural into those people's lives and out of that comes this highway of holiness it's amazing what people are willing to pay a price for when they discover it's authentic and it's real. It's amazing what people will lay down to pick up something else when they find out this is the pearl of great price. Everything else I own is nothing compared to this. And the holiness of God actually reveals the very nature of God imparted to the people of God.

32:30 His purpose is all wrapped up in this thing called holiness. and here a highway of holiness is built the unclean shall not pass over it it shall be for others now my translation new king james is a little different than i think both new american standard and new international but i want you to hear it out of this one whoever walks on the road although a fool shall not go astray. I love that. I love that. This road is so wide that you get somebody on their worst day and they're still not going to fall off the road. that encourages me. It may not encourage you, but I like that verse. A highway of holiness that has been made so broad and so profound that the weak, instead of faltering, somehow become a success when in a previous season, they never would have made it.

33:30 verse 9 no lion will be there i'm glad for that nor any ravenous beast go upon it shall not be found there the redeemed shall walk there here's our last verse the ransomed of the lord shall return and come to zion with singing with everlasting joy on their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness. All right, listen to what it said. They will come with joy and obtain joy.

34:05 Anyone in the market for an upgrade, enjoy. It will embarrass you. Anyone in the market for an upgrade, enjoy. You saw it. When joy is, it's amazing how many people want joy until they see it. They will come with joy and obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow, sighings shall flee away. Here's my prayer. In fact, I'll just pray. Lord my cry is that an upgrade of hope would be released into this church family how many of you are tired of being impacted by the size of a problem and you want to impact the problem with the size of your hope so Lord we do we just pray that we pray that you would so impact every one of us that we would never again be impressed with the size of a problem or a dilemma, a challenge, but so infected, driven by the size of great hope that we would be an instrument of solution, of resolution, an instrument of the release of grace, of miracles into the most broken environment.

35:45 How many of you want the upgrading joy? We pray for that, Lord. I pray right now that you would release to us a hope that is actually measurable in joy. That never again would we fall under the influence of the size of a problem, but instead our own joy would be that life-giving spring within us that not only impacts us and our families, but impacts everybody around us. We pray this.