← ArchiveHow God Builds His Church Through WorshipDateJanuary 1, 2023SpeakerDanny CoursonText—TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Well, good morning, Bethel. It is good to be with you. Glad to start the new year off with you. I appreciate Josh inviting me to come and share this morning. And as always, I hope I preach a message that Josh looks at and goes, man, he did a good job. I'm glad I invited him. I hope y'all leave here going, man, that was a good message, and I'm glad I heard it. But most of all, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart would be acceptable to God because he is my rock and he is my redeemer. And that's the reason we're here today, is to please him and honor him.0:25And that's the reason we're here today, is to please him and honor him. Now, Josh gave me the privilege of choosing a sermon topic. He said there's a new sermon series to start the year, and I chose the subject of worship. So today we're talking about how God builds his church through worship. And I've really got three primary, three quotes, three primary passages of scripture, and three reminders I'm going to leave you with. So everything's in a simple three format today.0:53So everything's in a simple three format today. But defining, first of all, what is worship? A lot of times people think, well, worship is that event that we gather for on Sunday mornings. And Jared's up there and he leads us in worship. Well, that is a time of worship, but that's not what worship is. Worship is literally bowing your knee, humbling yourself before God. And that's a concept that for people in the United States is difficult for us to understand because we don't bow down to our presidents.1:21is difficult for us to understand because we don't bow down to our presidents. We don't bow down to our congressmen or senators. We don't bow down to people. But if you look through history, people bowed down to their leaders. They would bow down before the king. They would humble themselves before the king. Whenever there were battles and people lost a battle and they were enslaved by another nation, they would bow down to those armies. And we don't find ourselves in a situation where we like to bow down to anyone or anything. So I'm going to try to define it this way.1:52So I'm going to try to define it this way. How does God build his church through worship? The same way he builds families through marriage. Okay? One of the first times in my life that I remember bowing down willingly before someone was my wife. And I remember when we met and when we started building a relationship and I decided that I wanted to have an ongoing relationship with her2:19and I decided that I wanted to have an ongoing relationship with her because I loved her. I couldn't imagine my life without her. She made me a better person and I wanted to spend my life with her. And so I actually got down on my knee. It's a traditional thing. A lot of people don't do it anymore. But I got down and I would demonstrate but I've got artificial knees and it doesn't work. You know, I might not get back up. But at that time, I bowed down before her, got down on the knee and I told her2:49and I told her that I loved her, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, that I wanted our lives to be centered around the same things, that I would love her, that she would love me. Together, we would build a family. I didn't know where we would live but I knew we would be together. I didn't know what job I would have but I knew that we would be together. I didn't know how much money we'd have but I knew that we would be together and that's what I wanted. I wanted to center my life around her and so I humbled myself before her3:18and so I humbled myself before her and asked her if she would enter into that kind of relationship with me. And fortunately for me, she said yes. Today, she was going to be here with me but as marriage works, my mom's in the hospital, they're watching online. My wife is sitting with my mom in the hospital this morning as I'm here. But I say that to make sure you understand. Worship is a commitment that you make. It's a mindset that you enter into.3:47It's a mindset that you enter into. It's a lifestyle that you live every day. It's not an event that you go to. It's a continuing relationship with the one that you love. And worship is to be first and foremost to God and God alone. We see worship introduced in Genesis in the Bible and foremost we see Abraham. As God told Abraham, I want you to leave your place where you've grown up. I want you to leave the land that you know.4:17I want you to leave the land that you know. I want you to pack up everything and I want you to go to a place that I will show you. Now how many of you do that? If God told you today, put everything you own in a U-Haul and go to a place that I will show you. He didn't give you the destination. He doesn't give you the GPS coordinates. He says, when you're there, I'll let you know. Well, Abraham packed everything up. And as they got to the first place where they were camping, it wasn't the final destination. You know what Abraham did? He pitched a tent.4:48He pitched a tent. He built an altar. And he called on the name of the Lord. That's worship. I don't know exactly where we're going. I don't know exactly how things are going to turn out. But I know that I'm following my God and I'm going to trust him. And this is a temporary place where we're staying right now. So we're just going to pitch a tent, but we're going to build an altar and we're going to worship him. Because I am in a continuing relationship5:16Because I am in a continuing relationship with God. Even though I don't know where he's taking me, even though I don't know ultimately what's going to happen tomorrow, I trust him and I will be with him. Now it's interesting that we sang the song and Jared pointed out the words prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Because when we look at the children of Israel and their worship relationship with God, you want to talk about a people who are prone to wander? The children of Israel entered into a relationship with God and said, you will be our God.5:45you will be our God. We will be your people. We will worship you and you alone. And how long did that last? It didn't last very long. In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt. For 400 years, they're enslaved to the Egyptians. And that's hard for us to comprehend because the United States hasn't even existed for 400 years. But for 400 years, they're enslaved to the people of Egypt. And when God is ready to release them, multiple times in Exodus, we find God sent this message to Pharaoh,6:14we find God sent this message to Pharaoh, the leader of the Egyptians, let my people go so that they may worship me. That was the entire reason God wanted his people set free from slavery. So that they may worship me. In other words, God said, I want my people to be in a continuing daily relationship with me where we are focused on loving one another and being together with each other. That's why he wanted his people set free6:42That's why he wanted his people set free so that they may worship me. So I want to propose this to you. God freed the Israelites from slavery so that they might worship him. God frees those who believe in him today from sin so that we might worship him. Now you know the basics of the gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.7:10but have everlasting life. But God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. God's desire is a saving relationship with each one of us. He longs to set us free from our sin. No matter how bad your sin is, no matter what classification it comes in, no matter how far away you may be from God, he says, I'm paying the price to make it right so we can have a loving,7:38so we can have a loving, daily, growing, continuing relationship. And not just here on earth but so that we can be together for eternity. So just as God set the children of Israel free from slavery in Egypt so that they might worship, he sets us free from sin so that we might worship him. Now when I proposed to my wife, I told you I got down on a knee. I essentially told her8:08I essentially told her I wanted her to be the center of my life and I also told her I wanted to be in a continuing relationship. Now this is one of those things that it's just a fact we don't like to talk about. But imagine if I had gotten down on my knee and said, I promise to love you unless someone else better comes along. I promise to stay committed to you unless someone else catches my eye. I promise to be devoted to you8:38I promise to be devoted to you except during football season. I promise to spend time with you except during hunting season. You're laughing. You're making the connection here. God wants an exclusive relationship where he is number one and there's no clauses in there. There's no exceptions in there. We enter into a relationship where he is first and foremost and we are committed to him no matter what. Now I'm not going to tell you9:07Now I'm not going to tell you our marriage is perfect because it's not. And if she was here today she'd be saying amen at the top of her lungs. Because no matter how much I love her there are times I have let her down and there are times that I've offended her and there are times that I've upset her. And I want to tell you you enter into a relationship with God there are times you're going to offend him there are times you're going to upset him there are times you're going to let him down and I promise you God's going to offend you. Because his word is there to mold you and shape you9:37and shape you into his likeness. He is working to remove that sin from you to cleanse you and to make you holy. And so there's going to be that rub the whole time there's a relationship going on between you and God because he is molding you and shaping you and changing you. Don't think everything's going to be all sunshine and roses because it's not. It blows my mind when I go to marriage conferences and I hear people say we've been married for 60 years and we've never had a crossword with each other. I'm like10:06I'm like do y'all live in the same house? Really? You're going to have crosswords you're going to have times when everything's not the way you want it in a relationship with a person and in that relationship with God because God's going to challenge you and God's going to stretch you. In the book of Numbers we see how God laid out the camp as he's taking the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt and taking them to the promised land and as he lays out their camp he has the tabernacle set up in the middle10:36set up in the middle and tabernacle literally means the place of dwelling. It's where God's presence dwelt among his people at that time and you know where it was located in the camp? In the middle. The tabernacle God's presence is set up in the middle and all the tribes and their tents are set up around it because everything in their life was to center around God and they would see a cloud by day to let them know11:05to let them know God's presence was there and when the cloud moved they followed it and there was a pillar of fire by night to let them know that God's presence was with them and when it moved they followed it. So their eyes were always on the center of the camp and what God was doing. Well I say it was always it actually wasn't because the people were so intimidated by God they're like Moses. you speak to us but don't let God speak to us. That's too tough to listen to and they actually11:35and they actually set up a tent outside of camp where Moses and Aaron would go and they would meet with God and then they would come back and deliver God's word to the people and if you follow and if you follow the scripture at that time you'll find out what happened is as Moses went up to the mountain to meet with God God's people who said God we love you God we're devoted to you God we worship you God everything in our lives is centered around you Moses goes up to meet with God and get the word for them and they said hey why don't we12:04hey why don't we build a golden calf now how many of us have golden calves in our life how many of us have other things that we worship when we say we worship God and God alone now I'm going to say the most offensive thing that I'm going to say this morning right now so go ahead and prepare yourselves last night there were a whole bunch of people worshiping football you never heard that12:31you never heard that said in church before of course you have because there are people who worship football they worship a team everything in their life centers around a team I remember years ago a gentleman that I know his daughter had the audacity to schedule her wedding on the day of an Alabama football game in the vestibule before he walked her down the aisle they had a TV set up so he could stand there13:01so he could stand there and watch the game until time to walk his daughter down the aisle and when it was time to walk her down the aisle he put in an earpiece with a radio so that as he's walking his daughter down the aisle to hand her off in marriage he can follow the game there's the commercials today you can see them online where people are attending events and all of a sudden they start yelling things that are inappropriate there's one particular at a wedding and said if anybody has any objection for these getting married all of a sudden he yells he's short he's short everybody starts13:31everybody starts looking around and the woman for the phone company goes it's okay he's watching the game really we worship hunting we worship football we worship jobs we worship children we worship sports we worship all sorts of things and what God told his people is to worship him14:00is to worship him and him alone in Deuteronomy chapter 6 4 through 9 we find what I think are the best verses to define what worship truly is listen Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength these words that I'm giving you today are to be in your heart repeat them to your children talk about them when you sit in the house and when you walk along the road when you lie down and when you get up14:29and when you get up bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gate in other words worship is this to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength that's what worship is it's not a one time event it's not something you go to once a week or twice a week it is a daily relationship where you love God and you love him with everything you have everything inside you14:58everything inside you how much or how little it is with all of your strength you love God when you think about worship in the Bible in Psalm we see David worship all the time in the book of Psalms and there were times when David was on a high oh God you are so great you are so wonderful how great you are how much I love you and then there were times he said oh God where are you how long are you going to leave me here to suffer how long am I going to be alone when are you going to15:28when are you going to defeat my enemies when are you going to come and change things that's the reality of worship we worship in good times and bad times we worship in sickness and in health we worship for richer for poorer whatever situation we're in we worship and one of the best examples to me is in the book of Job when Job lost all the things he had he lost his family he lost his lands he lost his animals he lost his possessions15:57he lost his possessions in an instant and what does it say he did he said naked I came into this world naked I will leave this world blessed be the name of the Lord even at his lowest point he worshiped and that's what we have to understand God builds his church through worship when we understand that worship is not an event we go to worship is a mindset it's an attitude of the heart it's something we live out every day16:27every day in relationship with God and as we grow in that worship relationship with God it's then that we desire to be around others who also love God and serve God and worship God and he gives us the same heart he gives us the same mind and he pulls us together to accomplish things for him and his purposes the first quote I want to share this morning is from Paul David Tripp Paul David Tripp says this you cannot divide human beings into those who worship and those who don't16:56and those who don't everybody worships it's just a matter of what or whom we serve first point everybody worships this morning there's some people who've gathered in churches all across St. Clair County all across Alabama all across the United States and around the world to worship God there's far more people who are in different places today worshiping other gods and other things some are worshiping17:25some are worshiping sex some are worshiping drugs some are worshiping alcohol some are worshiping the pleasures of this world some are worshiping education some are worshiping their jobs some are worshiping their families everybody worships so the first question for you in 2023 is when you come to the top point in your life who or what occupies that spot who or what17:54who or what do you worship in Joshua chapter 24 God is calling his people back to him and he delivers this speech through Joshua beginning in verse 11 he says you then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho Jericho's citizens as well as the Amorites Perizzites Canaanites Hethites Gigashites Hivites and Jebusites fought against you but I handed them over to you18:23over to you in other words God said you faced a lot of obstacles coming to the place that I'm taking you to but understand this number one I handed them over to you I sent hornets ahead of you and they drove out the two Amorite kings before you I sent the hornets I drove them out again God saying I did this for you because I love you then he said it was not by your sword or bow I gave you a land you did not labor for18:53you did not labor for and cities you did not build though you live in them you were eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant what we need to understand is we are here today and every good and perfect gift we've ever received is from the grace of God none of us earn any of his blessings none of us deserve any of his blessings whatever we receive is a gift of grace from his hands and without him we're nothing and that's what God19:22and that's what God wanted the children of Israel to realize then everything you've got the freedom that you have the possessions that you have the benefits that you have the provisions for each day they come from me so worship is first of all recognizing that we need to humble ourselves before God because without him we're nothing he is the source of everything and we should desire that loving relationship with him and then he enters19:51and then he enters what is called the covenant renewal in verses 14 and following he says therefore fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and truth get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the Lord but if this doesn't please you to worship the Lord choose for yourselves today which will you worship the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you were living but then Joshua threw in as for me and my family20:21and my family we will worship the Lord and then you skip down to verse 24 and it says so the people said to Joshua we will worship the Lord our God and obey him so the challenge was thrown out to God's people they already had a relationship with him they were already in a loving covenant relationship but they weren't doing their part so he called them into account and said make a choice today20:51today you're gonna be worshiping something or someone you're gonna be worshiping the things that you have you're gonna be worshiping the gods of the past you're gonna be worshiping the gods that other people worship or you're gonna be worshiping me but make a choice today and God's message to us is no different than it was to them today every person in this place is worshiping a variety of things but we've got the one throne the one top place21:19the one top place that prioritizes everything else in our lives and God says I and I alone should occupy that spot you should worship me and me alone you should serve no one else you should serve nothing else and so God's people made the bold statement and that's an exciting thing I've seen it time and time again in worship we get emotional we get excited we make a commitment I am going to be committed to God21:49to God I choose him the children of Israel chose him and they cheated on him they chose him and they worshipped other gods they chose him and they disobeyed him they chose him and time and time again they simply didn't worship him that's where we come to our second quote of the morning from Matthew Henry Matthew Henry said it's not enough for us to be where God is worshipped22:19is worshipped if we do not ourselves worship him it's not enough for us to be where God is worshipped if we do not ourselves worship him have you ever been somewhere you really didn't want to be you ever gone somewhere that you really didn't want to be there I have a couple of you are nodding your heads some of you are going yeah but I'm not going to admit it some of you are going yeah it's right now that's okay22:48that's okay because the reality is this there are times I've been in a worship service where I didn't really feel like worshipping there are times I was at concert where I didn't feel like singing there was times I've been at a party where I didn't feel like partying and it's understandable that you may be here today attending a service of worship but your heart and your mind are not tuned in to worship but what Matthew Henry says and what scripture tells us is this we gain23:16we gain no benefit from attending a place of worship or a service of worship if we don't turn our hearts and minds to worship it's possible to be physically present at a place and mentally emotionally and spiritually totally disconnected in John chapter 4 verse 24 we hear these words God is spirit and those who worship him must23:46him must worship in spirit and in truth you know what that means it's not enough to be physically present in a worship service you got to be spiritually present in a worship service because God is spirit and if you're going to worship him you've got to connect in him with your spirit now my wife and I have a physical connection I'm glad we have a physical connection but more than that we have a spiritual connection where we think alike and we act alike we're to the point now where we can finish each other's sentences a lot of times24:16times she's trying to say something can't get the words out I know what she's thinking and I know what she's trying to say same thing for me because of the relationship we've got there is a spiritual connection God desires a spiritual connection and it's entirely possible it happens so many times people come to a church and they're physically present but they make no spiritual connection with God it's not worship if you don't connect with God24:46with God spiritually it's kind of like I've got an iPhone up here today I've got the iPhone I've got the ability to connect with anybody I've got Maggie's number in there I could call Maggie if I wanted to we could have a conversation but as long as the phone's here and I don't dial the number there's no connection you've got to make the choice that you want to connect with God and here's the beautiful thing with God there's no drop signal you can25:15you can call out to him right now and he's going to answer you can call out right to him and he will connect with you there's no zone where you lose service with God he will hear and he will answer and what we need to understand is God's desire is not just worship here on earth but it's also worship for eternity in Revelation chapter 22 we find this 22 verse 3 it says there will no longer be any curse the throne of God and of the lamb will be in the city25:44city and his servants will worship him why did God say to Pharaoh let my people go so that they may worship me what does it tell us in Revelation is going to be happening in the presence of God at the throne of God for eternity his servants will worship him from the beginning of scripture to the end of scripture the goal is that God's people worship him and that means we are in a continuing loving growing spiritual26:14spiritual relationship with him now jump back to the verse a minute ago when we worship in spirit and in truth yes you have to connect with him spiritually but you've also got to be honest with him you know that's one of the most important things in premarital counseling I tell people you've got to be honest with each other you've got to tell the truth I've actually in years looking back I wish I could say every couple I've ever counseled and married is still together and in a loving26:44loving growing marital relationship unfortunately I can't there have even been some that as they stood there exchanging vows they were lying and they knew it and those marriages didn't last you can stand in front of people and take vows you can come and stand in front of a church and take vows but you've got to be truthful with God because he knows your heart he knows your mind you can't lie27:13can't lie to him so when you come to worship you've got to be honest back to back to Revelation chapter 22 in verses 8 and 9 it says this John says I John and the one who heard and saw these things when I heard and saw them I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me but he said to me don't do that I'm a fellow servant with you your brothers the prophets and those who keep the words of this book worship27:43worship God so the first point is this everybody worships but the second point is this we're supposed to worship God everybody worships but worship God that's what God's word says that's what he himself says that's what the prophets say that's what the angels say it's got to be a relationship with God well then we come to the28:12to the third quote A.W. Tozer in a man of God says go to church once a week and nobody pays attention worship God seven days a week and you become strange let that sink in go to church once a week nobody cares it's no big deal but you become that Christian who sold out to Jesus Christ you're in a relationship with him a relationship of love and growth and all day long28:41day long you want to sing the goodness and the praise of God people are going to think you're a weirdo well I'm well I'm here to tell you that my prayer for Bethel Baptist Church in 2023 is that you will become strange I pray that you will become strange because worship of God is not something that takes place on Sunday mornings in this building worship of God is not something that takes place on Wednesday nights worship of God is something that takes place every day29:11every day when you open your eyes you wake up in the morning and the first thing you say is good morning Lord I love you and everything you do that day is driven by your relationship with God and what he wants to accomplish in your life that's what worship truly is so how does God grow his church through worship I'm going to close with three things I call it the map to worship map acronym M-A-P number one29:41number one mindset you change your mindset first your thought process is changed in Colossians 3 2 scripture says set your minds on things above not on earthly things if you want to worship God step one is to change your mindset every day you've got to set your mind on the things of God not on earthly things and when you do that it changes everything30:11everything when you set your mind on things above you know what happens you start to notice the sunrise in the morning and you start to make the connection no man built that sun God created that sun and that sun and that cycle of the planets and the universe and everything that's going on there that was from the hand of God and as you're driving down the road you stop thinking less about the traffic and more about the people driving the cars and whether they have a relationship with Christ30:40with Christ and you start praying for those people your mindset changes because you're no longer thinking about your schedule and your activities and the things of this world you're thinking about the things of God so the first step to worship and how God grows his church through worship is changing your mindset that's the interesting thing about corporate worship as you came in here this morning some of you were thinking about Alabama football some of you were thinking about Georgia football31:10football some of you were thinking about other games that you watched yesterday some of you were thinking about hunting some of you were thinking about Christmas stuff that was going on some of you were thinking about where you're going to go for lunch some of you are thinking about all sorts of things but right now in this time hopefully everybody's mind is on one thing and that's on Jesus Christ and what he wants us to understand in this time that's how God builds his church through worship by changing our mindset so that we put on the mind of Christ and we think in the same way and we31:40and we desire the same things and we long to be together and we long to serve together to fulfill his purpose number two acknowledgement first your thought process has changed then your awareness has changed psalm 100 verse 3 says acknowledge that the Lord is God he made us and we are his his people the sheep of his pasture it's one thing to know that God32:09that God is real that God created everything that God exists it's another thing to acknowledge his presence and to acknowledge and interact with him I'll give you a simple illustration right down the road this way you keep going you run into I-20 you get on I-20 there's signs that say speed limit 70 now you may have knowledge that the sign says speed limit 70 but if you're driving32:38you're driving 85 you have not acknowledged that the speed limit is 70 you got it in your mind you know it it's knowledge but to acknowledge it means you recognize it and you follow it now you want to see an example of sin and disobedience go down to I-20 when we leave here and just check what's going on that's human nature prone to wander lord I feel it you get on the interstate but that's33:07but that's a perfect example we know what God's word says but if we truly want to worship God then we have to acknowledge what he says and then act upon it acknowledge that the Lord is God make a confession admit your need for him so mindset acknowledgement and the last is participation first you change your mindset then you change your awareness and then you33:36and then you change your actions Philemon 1 6 says I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ every good thing in us for the glory of Christ God did not put you on this earth to praise Alabama football you may enjoy it it may be a fun pastime34:06fun pastime but that's not the purpose he placed you for it's amazing to me the connection that football fans have I'm an Alabama fan I've been an Alabama fan my whole life if I'm wearing my Alabama gear I can walk into a country store somewhere a total stranger will see me I've never seen them before in my life don't know anything about them and you know what they say roll tide brother and if I want to play the part of the enemy I've got an auburn shirt I can put on and I walk34:34and I walk into a total place where nobody's ever met me before in my life and they look at that shirt and they go war eagle brother little do they know that I'm in disguise because they don't know me but what we're seeing here in the scripture is God says every good thing that I've given you is for the glory of Christ what if we had a culture where everywhere35:02where everywhere we went when we saw other people we didn't say roll tide or war eagle but we said praise God what if that became our goal for 2023 was to set up an attitude of worship so that everywhere we go we recognize the many reasons to praise God and we don't just think it but we actually say it God is good praise God what an awesome God we35:32awesome God we serve what if that becomes our response to things God builds his church through worship in the same way he builds families through marriage first there's a commitment where you humble yourselves and say I recognize we're better in relationship together and I want us to make that commitment to be together in36:01be together in good times in bad times for better for worse for richer or poorer I want to be in that ongoing relationship with you and then you center your life around that relationship just as God was the center of the camp for the Israelites he's got to be the center of everything we do every thought every word every action and finally recognize it's a continual relationship imagine if I36:29imagine if I told my wife 34 years ago when we said our vows if I said okay I told you I loved you up here in front of everybody you know it I don't have to say it again and I never tell her I love her again and I say you know we've been dating for years we know each other so I'll come home once a week we can touch base but we won't spend much time together ladies is that36:57ladies is that type of relationship you're interested in do you think that's type of relationship God's interested in God is not looking for worship on Sundays and Wednesdays God is looking for worship from the hearts of those who love him every moment every day wherever we are you can worship God in church you can worship God on the interstate you can worship God in a traffic jam when you've been stuck for two and a half hours because an overturned37:27an overturned truck it's all a mindset so allow God to change your mind allow God to change your awareness and acknowledge his presence and then make a choice to participate in praising him worshiping him recognizing his goodness every moment every day everywhere you are and as that happens he's going to draw you together with people who think the same way desire the same things and this church is going to grow in37:56to grow in worship as an event but more than that you're going to grow in worship as your relationship with God grows just as a marriage grows when we spend time together when we tell each other why we love each other when we spend that time together in fellowship God doesn't want part time believers in 2023 he's never wanted part time believers he wants followers who will38:25followers who will trust him and live with him every moment every day that's worship and that's how God builds his church through worship would you pray with me
