Worship - Part 4

 Worship - Part 4

September 2, 2026

Luke 10:38-42 (NASB95) 

38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Psalm 95:6-11 (NASB95) 

6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. 10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. 11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

What are some other aspects of worship? What should our response be to worship? In the story of Mary and Martha, we see another posture of worship, sitting. Mary chose the better place, sitting as Jesus’ feet and listening to Him. In our worship, we do lots of singing and shouting and even dancing on occasion, but do we ever sit and listen? Worship should be a two way transaction. We give the Lord our praise and worship but we also need to sit quietly and listen to His voice. And listening involves obedience. In Psalm 95, the psalmist encourages us to worship and bow down, but then admonishes is to not harden our heart. Listening and obeying the Lord will lead to rest. 

There is a time to worship, a time to serve, and a time to rest. Many of us are like Martha, scurrying around to serve the Lord. Not that it is a bad thing in itself, but there comes a time when activity needs to cease, even godly service, so that you can sit at Jesus’ feet, like Mary, and listen to His voice. So by all means worship exuberantly. Sing and shout enthusiastically, but then take time to quietly  listen to His voice. After all, the purpose of entering His courts is to spend time in the presence of the Lord and listen to His voice. So worship, and rest. And then, when He says , “Who will go?”, we can be like Isaiah and say, “Lord, send me.”

Worship- Part 3

 Worship - Part 3

September 2, 2026

Psalm 95:1-2 (NKJV) 

1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of oursalvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

Psalm 95:6-7 (NKJV) 

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD ourMaker. 7 For He [is] our God, And we [are] the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice:

How do we worship? One of the things I appreciate about brother Derek Prince is his deep understanding of Biblical language. He was educated in the classical British system at Eaton and Cambridge and was a Greek and Latin scholar. He also could read the Old Testament in the original Hebrew. Therefore, when he comments on the meaning of things, I take notice. In his messages “Worship’, and “Worship and Rest”, Brother Derek commented that when he studied the way that worship was described in the Bible, he was surprised to learn that all of the Hebrew and Greek words used to describe worship refer to posture or actions of the body. True worship is not just some sterile “spiritual” activity, but is an attitude and an action that involves your whole body. So how does the Bible describe worship?

1. Bowing the head (Gen 24:26, Ex 4:31)
2. Bowing the knee (2 Chron 6:12-13, Eph 3:14, Isa 45:23, Phil 2:9-10)
3. Lifting hands, hands outward (Ps 63:1ff, Ps 141:2)
4. Spreading out the hands (Ps 143:6, 2 Chron 6:12-13)
5. Clapping Hands (Ps 47:1)
6. Shouting, Not singing loudly (Ps 100:1)
7. Prostrating the whole body (Gen 17:3, 15)
8. Dancing before the Lord (2 Sam 6:14)

Falling prostrate, in particular, indicates total dependence on the Lord. This is the most often word used in the Bible for worship. I particularly like the image portrayed by the passage in first Kings of the dedication of Solomon’s temple, where the glory of the Lord was so heavy that the priests could not stand.

1 Kings 8:10-11 (NASB95) 

10 It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled thehouse of the LORD, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

I have been blessed to experience something of this in my life. As Derek points out, the Hebrew word for “glory”, and “heavy” are the same. The glory (kabod) of the Lord is heavy and you can feel the weight of it when in the manifest presence of the Lord. Falling down to worship is not only the appropriate response, but is the the only reaction possible when your body is unable to stand! 

So let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God and we are the sheep of His pasture. Amen.

References: Derek Prince on Worship:

https://www.derekprince.com/sermons/483

https://www.derekprince.com/sermons/484

Worship - Part 2

 Worship - 2

September 1, 2026

1 Samuel 2:1-2 (NKJV) 

1 And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exaltedin the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. 2 “No one is holy like the LORD, For [there is] none besides You, Nor [is there] any rock like our God.

Psalm 99:9 (NKJV) 

Exalt theLORD our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the LORD our God [is] holy.

What is worship? To research this question, I have been reviewing some teaching by Derek Prince. He had a way of explaining things logically that always helped me to comprehend difficult Biblical subjects. For worship, he explains that thanksgiving, praise and worship are closely related. They are like the colors of the rainbow, distinct, but closely related and one flows into the other seamlessly. We thank God for His goodness. We praise Him for His mighty acts, and we worship Him for His holiness. We can easily relate to the first two as we can thank a person when they do something good for us and we can praise a person who demonstrates a great talent, like a gifted musician. But we have trouble comprehending worship as there is no man that is holy. We have no natural example of holiness that deserves worship. As Hannah put it, “There is none holy but the Lord!” 

To worship is to bow before, to honor and to venerate. Man was made to worship, but the problem is that one who doesn’t know the one true God will worship something in creation. This is idolatry and is soundly condemned throughout scripture. We must only worship the one, holy God, creator of the universe and Lord of all creation. 

Thanksgiving and praise are the door. 

Psalm 100:4-5 (NKJV) 

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, [And] into His courts with praise. Be thankfulto Him, [and] bless His name. 5 For the LORD [is] good; His mercy [is] everlasting, And His truth [endures] to all generations.

The only way to approach the Lord is through thanksgiving and praise. But once we enter into His presence, we fall down and worship Him for He is holy. It is hard for man to comprehend holiness. There is a goodness, power and awesomeness to God that overwhelms human senses. Another preacher likened seeing God’s holiness to be like a 110 appliance plugged into a 220 outlet. It runs really fast for a bit, then melts down in fire and smoke! But the fire of God doesn’t destroy, it purifies. Worship gives honor for God in His holiness and the act of worship touches our heart. Touching the Lord’s holiness has a way of purifying our heart and bringing a measure of holiness into our life. So exalt the Lord our God, and worship Him, for He is holy.

Worship

 Worship

August 31, 2026

Revelation 5:11-14 (NKJV) 

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the livingcreatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power [Be] to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” 14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

This week, we will be looking at worship more closely. What is worship? How do we worship? What are suitable acts of worship? It is fitting that this passage from Revelation 5 came up in my daily reading as it gives a very clear picture of heavenly worship. One aspect of this heavenly scene is posture; the elders fell down and worshiped Him. One of the basic meanings of the word worship is to bow down or prostrate oneself. This implies humility, submission and giving honor. Let us start our study of worship with a like attitude and let the Word speak to us about worship. To be continued… 

Reputation

 Reputation

August 27, 2027

Mark 8:27 (NKJV) 

Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”

1 Timothy 3:7 (NASB95) 

And he (an elder) must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so thathe will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

1 Timothy 5:9-10 (NASB95) 

9 A widow is to be put on the list …, 10 having a reputation for good works; and ifshe has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has assisted those in distress, and if she has devoted herself to every good work.

The other day we were talking about Jesus asking “Who do men say that I am?” But if we have been walking with Jesus for some years, should we ask the same question? Can people tell that you have been walking with Jesus? What kind of reputation do you have? Paul gave instructions to Timothy about choosing church leaders and caring for widows, and both the elders of the church and widows were to demonstrate a good reputation before being put into a position in the church. So what answer would you get if you ask “Who do men say that I am?”

That is probably not the first question you should ask. When you are young and active you should strive to do the right thing regardless of what people think, but when you get older one tends to wonder what people will say at your funeral. It’s not something to obsess over, but still you want to be remembered as a good Christian. I remember at my fathers funeral, the remarks that meant the most to me came from the young boys in the neighborhood. Their memory of my father was visiting his garage where he fixed their bicycles. He always had time to work on their bikes and listen to their troubles. It was small things like that, acts of kindness to unimportant people, that had the greatest impact. So strive to live like Jesus and pray that people see Jesus in you.

Proverbs 22:1 (NASB95) 

A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver andgold.

Call, Ask

 Call, Ask

August 24, 2026

Jeremiah 33:2-3 (NKJV) 

2 “Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (theLORD [is] His name): 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV) 

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according toHis will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

I’ve heard it said, that the Lord’s telephone number is Jeremiah 333. “Call to Me, and I will answer.” And likewise in first John we see that “He hears us, whatever we ask.” Communication with the Lord is assured, but we must call and ask. How often do we hear the complaint from older people, “My children never call me.” We all have a phone but we have to pick it up and call if we want to talk to someone. Likewise we have a prayer line but we have to use it to talk to God.

Now Communication is two way. We need to call but we also need to listen.  We have the assurance that the Lord hears us when we pray, but are we listening for His answer? Many times we have out own notions of what we want and when we want it, but do we listen to the Lord’s answer? He always answers but sometimes it is a still small voice which I difficult to hear unless we get really quiet. And other times the answer is not what we want to hear. Faith in God means that we trust Him that His answer is best for us, even if it is not what we desire at that time. The Lord can direct us onto a different path or tell us to wait for the proper time, so we need to listen carefully. Another old saying in the church is “The Lord is always on time, but it may not be on your time!”  So call upon the Lord, ask of Him, and listen for His answer. He hears us and will answer.

A Future and A Hope

 A Future and a Hope

August 22, 2026

Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NKJV) 

10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find [Me,] when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

We love to quote the part about the Lord giving us a future and hope, but what is the whole context? Jeremiah is prophesying the the people of Judah who have been conquered and are being carried off to Babylon. It’s hardly a time to expect hope! And the future that Jeremiah is speaking of is 70 years off, so the hope is really not about these people but is for their children and grandchildren. The exhortation is for them to teach their children to call upon the Lord and to seek Him. This is something that they, as a whole nation, had neglected, which was why they were being carried into exile. But difficult times has a way of focusing the mind and we can see in the book of Daniel where there were indeed young people among them who diligently sought the Lord and they did return to Jerusalem in 70 years. That is hope in hopeless times.

There are many of us today facing difficult times. Many of you have been in the hospital and one is even facing his last days. How do we have hope when all around us looks so hopeless? Our prescription is the same as it was for these people; seek the Lord and search for Him with your whole heart. The Lord does think of us and has plans for peace and not evil and will give us hope and a future. But as the psalmist says, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…” He is with us in the valley and there is hope on the other side. For as Jesus said, “I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 (NKJV)

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”