← ArchiveWorship: What's the big deal? Part 4DateNovember 23, 2014Speaker—TextIsaiah 6Passages in this sermonIsaiah 60:00Isaiah 6:84:06Isaiah 40:2510:25Luke 511:52Psalms 119:10517:06Matthew 524:02TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00if you brought your Bible I hope you did turn with me to Isaiah chapter 6 we are wrapping up our series on worship what's the big deal about it today and we're going to be discussing the topic that I think is just a lot of people think it's all about the preaching well it's really not0:28worship is setting our minds attention our hearts affection on God that is our theme throughout the entire series that is our theme through this entire passage and I want us to look at this again Isaiah chapter 6 beginning with the first verse now in the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a sitting on a throne lofty and exalted in the train of his robe filling0:54the temple and the seraphim stood above him each having six wings and two he covered his face with and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called out to another saying holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundation of the threshold of the trembled thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filled1:23with smoke then I said woe is me for I am ruined because I'm a man of unclean lips I live among people of unclean lips mine eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the seraphim flew to me with the burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tall tongues and he touched my mouth with it and said behold1:52this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven then I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then I said here am I send me let's pray father let the words of my mouth and meditation my heart be acceptable in your sight today Lord we love you we praise you2:18we thank you for what you're about to do in our midst today do your work in this place we give you all the praise all the glory and all the honor in Jesus name we pray and the church said amen if you'll recall if you've been here virtually every Sunday since we started the series or maybe you were watching it by internet or maybe you downloaded the sermon off the internet2:43we started with praise and thanksgiving praise is our expression our love for God for who he is thanksgiving is our love and expression for God for what he's done adoration is the second cycle of worship we adore God for who he is when we start to see God for who he is we'll start to confess our sin last week we discussed confession the lost element of worship adoration is the missing jewel of the church all of these can be found in this passage as we discuss the worship cycle and adoration leads us to3:13confession confession happens when we see our sin like God sees our sin by the way confession does not create a relationship with Jesus or with God it nourishes it simply nourishes it it feeds our relationship when we confess our sin before God he cleanses and purifies our lives and we begin to walk in a afresh and anew and so confession is our lost element of worship it's that thing that we do less of we3:43talk more about it but we do less of it and so what confession feeds our relationship with our loving Savior Jesus Christ and so as I began to prepare and started thinking about this topic today I got down to to this particular passage in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8 one sentence sermon I started thinking about this one4:06sentence sermon that the Lord gave Isaiah then I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us I began to think about that how in the world can one sentence sermon move the prophet Isaiah to response you see I when I began preaching this month 30 years ago this month 30 years ago we implemented our4:33ministry and the Lord's been blessing and I've just been encouraged by God that God giving me the opportunity to proclaim his name around the world I asked I began to seek out men of God who I thought were just tremendous preachers and tremendous leaders in our circle in our tribe of Baptist and one of the guys that came in my path several years ago was a little evangelist at hearts of Alabama named Junior Hill became a close friend of mine still is one of my mentors and Dr. Hill and I became close friends and still to this day very close friends and I speak with him on a regular basis he's a mentor of mine and I said Dr. Hill as you're preparing for your sermons and you're preparing to deliver your sermons what do you do first he said every sermon4:55leaders in our circle in our tribe of Baptist and one of the guys that came in my path several years ago was a little evangelist at hearts of Alabama named Junior Hill became a close friend of mine still is one of my mentors and Dr. Hill and I became close friends and still to this day very close friends and I speak with him on a regular basis he's a mentor of mine and I said Dr. Hill as you're preparing for your sermons and you're preparing to deliver your sermons what do you do first he said every sermon starts with an invitation it is inviting people to come to faith in Christ or to begin that journey and as I think back of all the sermons I've heard Junior Hill preach and all the sermons that I've heard other great men of God it seems like they always began with the thought of inviting people to come to faith in Christ or to begin a brand new journey with them and then the message came and so I started looking at this passage this week and I noticed something interesting today for us to consider5:25starts with an invitation it is inviting people to come to faith in Christ or to begin that journey and as I think back of all the sermons I've heard Junior Hill preach and all the sermons that I've heard other great men of God it seems like they always began with the thought of inviting people to come to faith in Christ or to begin a brand new journey with them and then the message came and so I started looking at this passage this week and I noticed something interesting today for us to consider here he says and I heard the voice of the Lord saying now Isaiah not heard God's voice yet5:54yet but he began to confess he gave praise and thanksgiving and he adored for God for who he is and then he says woe it means for I'm a man of uncleanness I live amongst people of uncleanness for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts folks let me tell you something before God ever spoke to Isaiah he confessed his sin and when he confessed his sin he heard the voice of the voice of the voice of the Lord speaking I remember one time talking to my son one time when he was younger I said I was we were going through this passage of scripture and and I said if you ever notice it said how I had to preach 35 or 40 minutes for people to hear and hear God he gives a one sentence sermon and Isaiah responds why is that he said oh it's very simple dad he's God and you're not6:24the voice of the voice of the voice of the Lord speaking I remember one time talking to my son one time when he was younger I said I was we were going through this passage of scripture and and I said if you ever notice it said how I had to preach 35 or 40 minutes for people to hear and hear God he gives a one sentence sermon and Isaiah responds why is that he said oh it's very simple dad he's God and you're not don't you just love it when your kids put you right in your place savior now and then that's exactly what Isaiah says6:51here I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us you see I believe there are some ideas that we need to understand today the message truth worship is setting our minds attention and our hearts affection on God God centered worship always leads to a God sized sacrifice and a spirit driven obedience God centered worship7:10is setting our minds attention and our hearts affection on God's greatness his majesty his holiness the very presence of God of salvation God centered worship God centered worship is not an external activity by which by which an environment must be created it happens on the inside of our lives as a Christ follower if you do not worship him in spirit and truth I dare say you are a Christ follower7:31church listen to me if you don't love worship if you don't love worshiping the God of salvation then you probably don't love God you cannot say I love God with all my heart and not love to worship him in spirit and truth through the teaching of his word the studying of his word through prayer through musical worship7:58church let me tell you something it's not some kind of created environment it happens with inside the life of the believer God centered worship is being a Christian that takes God at his holy word before we fill in some blanks I want to give you some ideas of what God's word is the center of our attention8:26when I sat down and talked to Greg and the worship staff here in the choir when I came on a Wednesday night and talked to them they asked me what kind of worship they didn't actually ask me I just kind of told them but I knew that question was going to come up so I went ahead and jumped the gun on them I told them that the only thing that I like musically is something that we can sing that we can all participate in8:56as the body of Christ we have the audience of one we're not the audience the audience of one is Jesus and we need to participate in that so it needs to be singable something we can tap our foot to and sing along we know the words and something that's not so lofty and we can't understand or hit the notes we need to be able to sing it it needs to be singable it needs to be teachable we need to be able to have it hide it in our hearts and go to the grocery store9:19and somewhere throughout the week just hum the songs you know that that that who can satisfy my soul when I knew that in the planting center I read that when Greg inserted that song this week as he prepared and played over the songs that we were going to sing to set up the message today he had that song and that was in my heart all week long in fact yesterday two or three times I just stood up9:44in my den downstairs and started singing a song my wife thought I was crazy I guess but you know I was supposed to be watching football or something but I started singing that song why because it was tucked in my heart so it needs to be teachable it needs to be singable but more importantly than all it needs to be biblical when God's word is the center of our worship we will revere it false worship leads us to uninterested10:09uninterested in the majesty of God and unaware of the presence of God true worship leads us to rediscovers his majesty and rejoice in his present turn with me to Isaiah chapter 40 verse 25 real quickly Isaiah chapter 40 verse 25 I want you to see this beautiful verse of scripture to whom here it says10:33to whom then will you liken me that I should be his equal says the holy one we only have the only one there's no other God before us right we would just rediscover his majesty we rejoice in his presence so when God's word is the center of our attention we revere his greatness secondly when God's word is the center of our worship we reflect in his holiness the church should be is called to be11:02collectively a reflection of God to the entire world the body of Christ this body of Christ sitting in this room today we should be a reflection to of God to the entire world wherever we may be the Bible says we are what a temple of God we are a temple of God personally what areas of my life are not11:32reflecting his holiness that should be the question Isaiah says whoa it's me for I am a man of uncleanness I live among people of uncleanness my eyes have seen the kingdom of Lord of hosts the same passage where Peter in Luke chapter 5 says depart from me depart from me for I am a sinful man oh Lord I doubted your majesty I doubted your holiness I doubted your holiness I doubted your power12:02let me tell you everything we need to do what areas of the church in the church are not reflecting his holiness so when God's word is the center of our worship we will revere his greatness we will reflect his holiness and we will commit to his purpose I12:14I you're probably thinking I you're probably thinking I knew he was going there Dan's always talking about being on mission always talking about being on purpose folks let me tell you something there's nothing else to talk about12:44as the body of Christ we should be on purpose we should live life on mission every day not just come give our tithes and offerings and lead and be the same way that we were the other six days a week folks let me tell you something how is that we must commit to God that we must commit to his purpose how when we worship greatly affects who else worships in the world how we worship how we worship God greatly affects the rest of the world you say wait a minute I live in moody Alabama Dan13:10how's that going to affect Bangladesh how's that going to affect Indonesia how will that affect Italy how will that affect Mexico how will that affect folks let me tell you something13:30when we commit to his purpose and we give tithes and offerings and we are involved in local missions as well as around the world we affect other people's worship worship so we must commit to his purpose the one sentence sermon whom shall I sin and who will go with us don't you want don't you wonder it did Isaiah pause did he hesitate13:54any no what did he say here am I send me here am I send me worship worship is the fuel that is this unstoppable mission worship is the goal of this unstoppable mission we should not just be hearers of the word consumers of the word but we must be doers of the word so now that I have set you up let's fill in some blanks14:23the message and the response worship is complete when the Christ follower is hearing and proclaiming the word of God not only is he consuming God's word hiding God's word into their heart so that you might not sin against him lighting the lamp14:42of his feet that will drive his path but we not only are we consuming the word or hearing the word proclaim from the preacher or your Sunday school teacher or your small group leader or your youth15:09pastor or your children's pastor we are hearing the word but we're also come we are we are proclaiming the word look what it says in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8 then I heard the word then I heard the voice or the word of the word saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then I said here am I send me so worship is complete when the Christ follower is hearing and proclaiming the word secondly worship is complete when the Christ follower is digesting the word of God into their lives15:33into their lives now over the next few days in fact in a few minutes we're gonna digest some pretty good grub I already know what's being cooked back there I know and I know who's cooking it and I know it's gonna be real good so if you didn't sign up well God bless you16:01go on and get you one of those mcdonald's hamburgers somewhere right16:29right but if we're gonna have some digesting some great food over the next few weeks over the next few days many of us in this room will digest a lot of food amen don't look spiritual at me I know you will some of you will digest more than you should amen and I'm looking in a mirror when I say that I've already made a commitment when I'm full I'm stopping I might get unfilled and start over again but I'm gonna we're gonna but you know when it comes to worship16:59worship is complete when the Christ follower is hiding the word of God in their heart turn with me to Psalms 119 105 many of you already know this verse look what it says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto thy path now let me ask you this question17:28how many of you since you were a child are you hiding the word of God in your heart I was looking back and thinking back about my life as a Christ follower and I want to confess to you straight up I have done a poor job and I know a lot of scripture I've memorized a lot of scripture but I have not hid the word of God in my heart17:57like I should so I'm going to confess that so let me ask you this if your pastor your interim pastor has confessed that how many of y'all would confess that same thing just slip your hand up right where you are thank you the rest of you are just confess that line would you because every one of us in this room there's not one of us in this room that's hidden God's word into our hearts enough enough18:27enough and we wonder why we struggle and how we can't seem to overcome it's because we're not hiding the word of God we don't have the weapons we don't have the bullets in our tool in our pouch we don't have the arrows in our pouch thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path we're constantly going down18:56the wrong path because we don't have the torch of the word of God in our hearts so worship is complete when we digest the word of God into our lives most of us are spiritually bankrupt in this room so worship is complete when the Christ follower is hearing and proclaiming the word of God worship is complete when the Christ follower is digesting the word of God into their lives thirdly19:26thirdly worship is complete when the Christ follower is not just hearers of the word but doers of the word unto the entire world now it does not give us clear marching orders here in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 8 Isaiah didn't tell us where Jesus asked God asked Isaiah he says whom shall I send19:54and who will go for us and Isaiah did not hesitate there wasn't a pause let me think about it two chapters let me see if I can get my ducks in a row I'm not sure I'm financially able to do that I'm not sure that I have the schedule to do that oh the iron bowl is coming up after the iron bowl that's when I will say yes look let me tell you20:24something there's going to be a lot of people worshiping the wrong thing this coming week a lot of people I tell you right up front guys I love sports as much as anybody in this room I love it I think it's healthy but it's over the top when it becomes the God that we worship and talk about more than a lost person spending eternity separated from the love of God20:54I would dare say I would just love this is free not part of the message grant this is free this is out of the overflow this morning I would love to know the dollar amount and time spent in energy and words used to discuss the ball games that are going to be played over the next several weeks time dollars and spin we would never want for any missionary21:24missionary to not have enough tools in his tool chest if we would allocate the money and the time in prayer you see if we would spend 20% I believe just 20% of what we're going to spend digesting football analyzing a game that we have no outcome about we do nothing we're going to sit in our armchair and we're going to discuss and then we're going to call the talk shows21:53and we're going to talk about what we we what are you talking about we you had nothing to do with it you did not suit up you did not play they played they suited up I know some of you are mad at me get over it do I care no I do not what I do care is one person22:22one person stepping over into eternity without Jesus I am more concerned about that than whether I make you happy or not church it is time for a congregation of believers to stand up and say we love our football but we love Jesus more we love our basketball but we love Jesus more did I tell you how much I love sports22:52sports I played high school ball I refereed high school and college basketball for 25 years I was an NCAA division 2 basketball referee and high school junior college I loved it my wife says why are you going and all these people screaming at you I said I know it's like going to Deacons meeting amen I just loved it I just love sports we all do there's nothing23:21there's nothing wrong with that it's healthy it's good but when it becomes your God when it becomes more important than somebody not coming to faith in Christ folks we've got it wrong God centered worship always leads to a God size sacrifice and spirit driven obedience so God's worship is complete when the Christ followers not just hearers of the word23:51the word but doers of the word I'm praying through this because I'm doing a personal study in this right now the Beatitudes Matthew chapter 5 greatest sermon ever written by the greatest sermon writer preached by the greatest preacher that ever lived Jesus Christ and here's what he goes on to say after he does the blessings he gets down to chapter 5 verse 13 he said you are the salt of the earth but if the24:21salt has become tasteless how would it become salty again it is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men you're the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure or a shade but on a lamp stand and it gives out light to all that are in the house my life verse24:51verse let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven gather in here close church God centered worship leads to a God size sacrifice God demonstrated his own love towards us and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us25:20us we have the audience of one and that's Jesus while the musical worship is spectacular the preaching is suspect the Bible studies on Sunday morning are fantastic and the small groups are amazing and the children's ministry is over the top and the youth ministry is rocking the house we have an audience of one and that's Jesus God centered worship will always lead to a God25:50a God sized sacrifice that leads to a spirit driven obedience that's why Isaiah could say here am I send me let's pray with heads bowed and eyes closed and our instrumentalists come to begin to prepare us for our morning time of invitation some of26:20some of us in this room today get it some of us in this room today God has spoken to your heart some of you in this room today you're saying Dan I get that I understand I have been kind of out of balance I do an hour a week for God and I walk out of here and I'm no different than I came when I came in the door some of you throw some26:50some money into the plate and we thank you for that some of you tip your service God by just doing a few things here and there but you're not really sold out to a lifestyle of letting him be in control of your life God's given us a great opportunity during this transition time to to to to just evaluate who we are as a people as a church as27:19as a ministry as a mission force maybe you're here and you've been a Christ follower for a long time maybe you've been a Christ follower for a long time but you never truly just said you know what over the next period in my life I'm just going to sell out I'm going to sell out to God centered worship God27:48God centered worship that will lead to a God sized sacrifice that means I got to give my life up it's not my own and I'm just going to completely be spirit driven completely to28:03toMore sermons on Isaiah →
