COMMITTED to train men and women
to have minds for the Lord Jesus,
hearts for the truth, and
hands that are skilled to the task.

Sermons on Worship

The RETURN of THE KING

When Jesus Christ came the first time to this earth, abused by men, even to the point of permitting His creatures to spit upon Him and eventually crucify Him. The first time He came to fulfill the prophecies of a Savior. This time, the second time, He comes to fulfill the prophecies of a Warrior, Judge, and King of Kings. He will come in great power and glory.
The second coming of Jesus Christ is the culmination of redemptive history.
Listen, if Jesus Christ would not return to this earth as the promised King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit would be guilty of making false promises, which, of course, is impossible.
The Word of God promises that Jesus will return to judge all the nations.
The Word of God promises that Jesus will return to display His glory.
The Word of God promises that Jesus is the rightful Heir to earth’s throne.
The Lamb of God has become the conquering King. He will return as the king of kings and Lord of Lords.
As we studied the book of Revelation together for over a whole year, I have constantly reminded you that this last book is not primarily about predictions of the future, but the revelation of Jesus Christ. Any prophecy found in the Bible receives its value and meaning from its relation to Jesus Christ. The first prophetic utterance of God is found in Genesis 3:15. It points towards Jesus Christ. And ever since, the heart of prophecy has and always will be directed to the person of Jesus Christ. That’s the whole purpose of prophecy. What is prophecy? What is revelation? What is the spirit of prophecy?
It is a making known of the divine will, and the divine will is that men humble themselves and receive God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Why do I want to remind you of this important truth? Because way too many Christians only want to study the sections of Scripture that speaks about love and grace and forgiveness.
When Jesus Christ returns to this earth, all people, great or small, will have to embrace the reality of God’s holiness, righteousness, and glory. He will come as the righteous judge, the mighty warrior, the creator and ruler of this universe. They will find out that the return of the King will mean all ends to wickedness, falsehood, deception and every other evil thing man invented during His absence from earth.
The return of the King will be the introduction to the grand climax of the ages.
Why do all the tribes, all the nations, mourn; because they have not prepared themselves for that day? The chance to repent is gone. The chance to accept Jesus as their Savior is gone. The chance to be saved from the judgment of God is gone. They heard the gospel preached to them. They watched as God destroyed religious Babylon, they witnessed how God destroyed the political and economic Babylon. Yet their hardened hearts did not repent. Now Christ comes to execute judgment on the entire world and everything that lives in it.
This world has known wars since it rejected God and His Son. All wars, no matter how we want to justify them, are unrighteous wars. When the King returns to this earth, He will fight the first righteous war.
“His eyes were like a flame of fire….”
This symbolizes that He will judge according to truth.
The best judge on earth cannot know all the facts of a given situation because he is limited by human frailty. Jesus knows the end from the beginning. He will judge with righteousness. His all seeing eye will reveal all truth about every individual and nation.
Notice that the armies of heaven have no weapons with them. Their robes are white and clean. The reason; no member of the armies of Christ that come with Him in His glorious appearing will do battle. Not one of us will lift a finger. This final battle will be consummated by the SPOKEN WORD OF OUR LORD HIMSELF.
The word of God comes from the GREEK word LOGOS. It means “THE EXPRESSION OF GOD”.
In other words, Jesus Christ, the eternal word of God, REVEALS GOD TO MEN. He is the expression of God. If you want to know God, the only thing you need to do is study everything about His Son, Jesus Christ, for He reveals God to you. He is the expression of God. He is also the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When He returns to this earth, all creation will know the EXPRESSION OF GOD. Righteous, holy, glorious in power and majesty.

Blessed Are the Balanced Ones

Worship has become the playground or the battleground. However, the Bible teaches us that true worship should be done on HOLY GROUND. The fundamental challenge we all face regarding worship is to find the right balance; a balance that makes worship a blessing instead of a curse. Lucifer exalted himself and was humiliated, while Jesus humbled himself and was highly exalted.
The problem we face regarding balanced worship is not a generational problem, young vs. old, IT IS A THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM. God is love, yet he also is holy. In other words, God wants us to delight in Him and express our love to Him, but He also wants us to remember that He alone is the Lord. Thomas Merton said: “The professed Christian who uses God’s love as an excuse to sin and violate God’s holiness is living on the doorstep of hell.”

Overwhelmed by God’s Glory

Daniel is also an incredible example of true worship. In other words, prophecy and worship must go together. The book of Revelation is also a book of worship. Jesus being revealed to the world as the only one worthy to receive worship and praise.
We might study Daniel and his visions and revelations for the purpose of knowing future events, but such would miss the whole point. The ultimate theme of the book of Daniel is GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND GOD’S GLORY. God had touched Daniel, he was a man of purpose, prayer, power and worship. This man put his trust and confidence in God alone.
Daniel saw God, not a prophetic chart. Daniel was not pursuing the knowledge of future events. He was pursuing God and he saw God’s glory.

How Awesome Is This Place

What is striking here is the fact that as Jacob is on the run, he certainly was not seeking God. Jacob is certainly not a candidate for a holy experience of worship! Grace and worship must go together. GOD’S GRACE MUST BE A PART OF TRUE WORSHIP. My friend, true worship must be an experience of God’s Presence. Jacob, overcome with fear, realized that he was at the very house of God, the gate of heaven. What he thought was a dead-end street was actually the gate of heaven, giving him a new purpose to live for God. Jacob the schemer started to acknowledge his need for God. When we worship the Lord, we will experience God’s purpose, which is a transformed life. It may start slowly, but God will do his work until it is done.

True Worship Leads To Surrender

“When the outlook is bleak, try the uplook.” He saw the Lord Jesus Christ because the invisible became visible and the spiritual became real. The HEBREW word SERAPH comes from a root meaning “to burn” suggesting that the seraphim are the guardians of the blazing holiness of God. It is not enough in our worship only to see the Lord, for if we truly see Him as He is, we will also see ourselves as we are. It’s unfortunate that we often minimize the importance of feelings in our experience of worship. We certainly want to avoid shallow emotionalism, but we do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit because we strive to be ‘PROPER’. Real worship, true spiritual worship always leads to surrender, which means that we see the need and volunteer to do the work God wants us to do for Him.

Things a Child Can Understand

What is it that these disciples did not understand, yet the child Jesus brought into their midst did understand? How could this be that the Disciples who where chosen by the Lord Himself to become the Apostles, the movers and shakers of the 1st century, could not understand what this little child understood? Scientific studies and tests show that a child’s creativity – which includes imagination and wonder – diminished by 90 % between ages 5 and 7. When adults get to be 40, they have about 2 % of the creativity they had when they were 5 years old.
The more we know about God, the more overwhelmed we are with wonder.
Moses was changed because he was amazed by something God did in his life.