Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Praying is usually occupied with our needs Lord, and we
tell them our needs.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Praising is usually occupied with our.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Blessings, what God has done for us. But worship means
that we are occupied with God. We'll just focused then
on him. He's the object of our affection. He's the
object of our admiration. He's the object of our attention.
He is the object of our concentration. It is just
God and God only.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
There's a lot of debate about worship in the church today,
Which songs are best, what kind of instruments to use,
how long should it last? Today? On in Touch, the
teaching Ministry of doctor Charles Stanley, we begin a series
that aims to clear up some of the misunderstanding by
examining worship from a biblical view. Part one frames its
(00:52):
lesson around the story of Abraham in Genesis twenty two.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now, if I should ask you to define worship, most
of you would probably struggle at what that means.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
But let me just give you three words.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Because I don't know that anybody can adequately define what
worship is. I think it probably would be defined best
by what a person feels.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
At least that's what most of us would do.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
But When I think about worship, I think of three words.
The first one is overflowing, and that is when you
and I are worshiping the Lord. Is it not that
we are overflowing with something within us? It is a
spontaneous out pouring of an inner sense of awe and
adoration and praise to the Lord. So, first of all,
(01:42):
there's an overflowing. It's like a spring just bubbling up
and overflowing. The second word is an outpouring. When you
and I are worshiping the Lord, what are we doing
pouring out our heart to him, expressing in joy and
thanksgiving and praise what we're feeling about Him on the inside.
And then the third word, and I think this is
(02:04):
the key word. The keyword here in discussing what worship
is is the word occupation, because when we are worshiping God,
we are occupied with Him. We're not occupied with our needs,
We're not occupied even with the blessings that God has
given us. We're just occupied with Him. We're concentrating on him.
(02:25):
We're thinking about him, We're rejoicing about who he is.
We are adoring him, admiring him, we are praising him,
and the focus of our tension is upon the Lord.
And you see there's a difference between praying and praising
the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
In worship.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Praying is usually occupied with their needs Lord, and we
tell them our needs. Praising is usually occupied with our blessings,
what God has done for us. But worship means that
we are occupied with God. We're just focused in on him.
He's the object of our affection. He's the object of
our admiration. He's the object of our attention. He is
(03:05):
the object of our concentration. It is just God and
God only. And you see so many times what we
call worship isn't worship at all. And I am sure
that very few people attend any church today and worship God.
And when I think about what true worship is and
(03:27):
think about the fact that worship is occupation with Him,
and I really believe, of all the definitions that I
know of, there's something.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
About that word.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Because praise, what are we doing. We are occupied with Him,
but we are saying I love you because of what
you did for me. In prayer, I'm saying, Lord, here's
what I need you to do with me. But when
you and I are worshiping Him, were just saying God,
I love you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Just because you're you and there somehow there are not
many people who know how to do that. And the
truth is we verbalized with our lips.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It may pass through our minds, but our spirit does
not lift up and praise the Lord God because we're
not occupied with him. People who are occupied with God
are thinking about him. They want to know more about it.
They want to learn who he is. They want to
figure out and decide, how can I give more of
myself to him. They're examining their hearts in a lot
(04:25):
of who he is, looking at their lives, a lot
of what they ought to be, looking at themselves, in
a lot of what He desires with our heart.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Men and women who are occupied.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
With Jesus Christ are not occupied with things down here
when they're worshiping God.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And for that reason, I say to you.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Most people have never worshiped God. Most church members have
never worshiped Him, and most of them don't know how.
And the vast majority of us have never been taught
how to worship God. Now you can worship him all alone.
You can worship Him by twos, fours, twenties, or thousands.
(05:06):
What determines whether you're worshiping God or not not what
goes on around you, but what occupies your mind and
what you have your focus on.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
You know what, when you begin, when you really learn to.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Worship the Lord, something happens in your relationship to it.
Because when you learn to worship the Lord, what happens
while you recognize that he's the sovereign God of the universe,
there's something happen. You see, the word transcendent means that
he's far above all things, and he is. But he
sent the Holy Spirit to be within us so that
(05:40):
he up there and we down here.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Could come together.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And that's why when we pray, we're not praying to
God out yonder.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
He said.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The Holy Spirit walks by a set and lives, and
then there's above us, around us on He's everywhere. So
we want to be able to know how to relate
to him, to fellowship with him, to worship him down.
But there's several things involved, and the first one, of course,
is becoming a Christian. That's not the first point, but
you recall in the first Grintance, chapter two, Paul said, listen,
(06:11):
he said, the things of the spirit of foolishness to
the world. They don't understand the things of God.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So listen.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
No man has ever worshiped God who was not a Christian,
because he says spiritual things are spiritually discerned and apart
from the Holy Spirit, you cannot worship God.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
In order to worship God, you and I must have
the living Holy Spirit within us to lift our praise
and worship to God because we can't do it. How
can a sinful, vile, wicked man worship a holy God.
It is only when the righteous, living Holy Christ comes
(06:52):
into our life through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That listen.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
The Holy Spirit within us is the one who praises
and who worships the Father through is that. I'm going
to show you why in just a moment. But the
only person who can worship God is a person who
is in dwelt by the Son of God. That is
the only person who can genuinely worship God. All right,
(07:17):
let's look to see what happened, because I think there's
some areas here that you and I need to get
a hold of. The First thing I want you to
get down is this the true worship is based. True
worship is based on a revelation of God. True worship
is based the revelation of God. The scripture says that
(07:37):
the Lord spoke to Abraham and revealed himself to him.
God revealed himself to Abraham, so that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
He knew that it was God.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
But he didn't know the God like you and I
know him, because he didn't have a Bible. But he
knew that God was speaking to it. And how did
he know that? How do we know that he did it?
Because the very next morning, the Bible says, he didn't
get up at ten, He got up early in the morning,
and he headed out in obedience to God. Now listen,
until you and I accept the revelation of God, you
(08:09):
will not worship him. Because listen, the very foundation of
all worship is the revelation of God. And in a
few moments we'll see in verse five that Abraham said
to these two men who went with him, he said,
you stay here, but my son and I we are
going to worship. We are going to prostrate ourselves before
(08:32):
this God. We are going to sacrifice to this God.
So when somebody says to you, oh, yes, I worship
God every Sunday, do you believe the Bible? No, then
you don't have to tell them, but you mark it down.
They are not worshiping God. The second thing I want
you to notice, the true worship is conditioned by faith
(08:53):
in and obedience to.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Obedience to the word of God.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And listen, when a person bows before God, what are
we doing? We are pouring at our heart overflowing inside.
We are occupied with Him. Let me ask you a question.
How can a deliberate, disobedient life pour out overflow and
(09:24):
be occupied with God when the heart is full of sin?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
When there is deliberate known.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Violation of scripture that has not been confessed and repented
of before God. You cannot worship God and live in
sin at the same time.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You cannot.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
You see, it is no matter whether you ought to
you shouldn't, it's you can't. You see, he says, we
are going up Mount Moriah to worship. And the reason
he could do that is because when God saiday Abram,
get up from your country, and he says, I want
you to go to a mountain and sacrifice your son,
(10:03):
the son whom thou lovest he was going to sacrifice.
He carried the wood and his son and a fire.
And that's the three things he needed to carry on
the sacrifice, the wood, the fire, and the sacrifice itself,
and he said, we are.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Going to worship.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
The only reason he could do that was because he
was in absolute obedience to the God who told him
to do it. Now, listen, one of the things you
and I gonna do when we get to heaven is
worshiped God forever. Think about this, how grieved he must be.
Here are millions of people carrying Bibles under their arms,
(10:41):
giving them money, talking to praying to God, singing songs.
Get great big period of groups of people together and
they sing of all night sings and all these things,
and witnessing for the Lord, and doing all this mighty
work in these tremendous ministress for God. And here is
the Righteous, Holy God of all the universe up in heaven.
You know what he's wanting. He's wanting our worship, not
(11:04):
our actions, not our.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Not all these other things.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He's interested in us worshiping him. When we learn to
worship him, we won't have to be beg we won't
have to be preached that, we won't have to be controlled,
we won't have to have any of that. When you're
worshiping God and you're in love with him, friend, you
gonna give everything that you are. Everything that you have
is committed to Him.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Third thing I want you to notice.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
True worship demands a deliberate separation of ourselves unto God.
A deliberate separation of ourselves unto God. Listen, he says,
abide ye here with the ass of the donkey, and
I and the lad will go yonder and worship and
come again to you.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Abide ye here.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Now watch this for a moment. He was talking about
two men. But you know what happens if you, you
and I are gonna worship God. You and I must
we must be willing to say to some people, excuse me,
we must be willing to say to some things.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'm gonna leave that.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
There, Abide ye here while I go and worship the Father.
And I'm not talking about being pious and sanctimonious. I'm
talking about you and I must be willing to lay aside.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Now watch this carefully.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
We must be willing to lay aside the things that
distract us when we get alone with God. When you
get by yourself with the Lord, what keeps popping up
in your mind?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Now watch this. You miss this. I'm not talking about sin.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I'm just talking about making a living I'm talking about
your family. I'm talking about the natural, normal, necessary thing
of life. What are the things in life that keep
cropping up when you are alone with God? You see,
true worship demands a deliberate separation of myself unto him, listen,
(13:13):
to shut it all out, to concentrate upon him, to
think upon him, to ask God to shut out all
these things. And you see so many people say, but
when I get quiet, all these things keep passing through
my mind. And that's why I say, you and I
have to learn to worship. You could listen to five
thousand sermons, but if you don't practice one of them,
(13:34):
they won't do you any good. You won't learn to
worship that way. And we'll talk about more of that later.
But now, listen, a deliberate separation of yourself under God.
When is the last time you decided I'm going to
just get alone with the Lord and just talk to
him and be quiet and listen to God. You see,
(13:56):
if you say to the if you have to say, well,
it's been a couple of weeks or so since I've
done that all a week, What you're really saying is
I really haven't worked. Let me tell you something you
will never learn to worship God publicly until you learn
to worship him privately. There's no way a deliberate separation
of yourself. That means he'll take some time to do that.
(14:19):
You'll have to say no to some invitations. In fact,
if you and I learn to worship God the way
we ought to, we may even be misunderstood by somebody else,
maybe somebody in your family.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But I believe this is a wise thing.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I think every father ought to work this out somehow
for his family, that somehow, if it is all possible.
It may be that the apartment is so small, the
house is so small, you can't all do at the
same time. But I think a family ought to have
an agreement that at sometime everybody either has a place
or a time that they are allowed to be all
(15:00):
by themselves. Because we live in a mad, rushing world.
And this is why the Lord said. But they that
weigh upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall
mount up with the wings like eagles. They should run
and not be weary. They should walk and out think
they that wigh upon the Lord, you know the best
way to wait upon the Lord. Just be quiet all
by yourself and focus your attention upon him. True worship
(15:25):
is occupation with a person, not with needs nor blessings,
but occupation with God himself.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
All right, the next thing, true.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Worship demands a renunciation of oneself.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Now watch this verse ten, and.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to
slay his son.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
At this one point in Abraham's life, he was dead
to his own desires.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
He had the absolutely and totally desire to die to
the desire for a son because he had to kill it.
And let me ask you something, what are you willing
to give up to learn how to worship God?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Now? Well, I'm not even talking about sin.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I'm talking about the natural, normal desires of life. What
are you willing to set aside just to be alone
with that? And you know what I've noticed, sometimes when
the Lord really wants to get me along with him,
it is amazing what else I can want. It's just
(16:36):
like the devil says, what about this, this, this, this,
this and this and of all the important things that
I can suddenly realize that I need to do all
of them good things part of the ministry or whatever
it might be. And yet, you see, if your purpose
in mind is to glorify God. None of those things
or listen at the moment. None of those things are important.
(17:02):
And all of us have had the times when God says,
and you knew, right then you'll get on your knees
somewhere and be by yourself and listen to God.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And you didn't do it. What happened.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
It just passed away and you thought, well, I didn't
do it at that time, and you thought you won,
and you lost. Next thing, True worship always glorifies God,
lifts the heart of God. Listen to what he said
(17:31):
in verse sixteen, verse fifteen, and the Angel of the
Lord called on to Abraham out of the heavens the
second time and said, by myself, have I sworn?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
I watched now.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I think this is important and it's beautiful to me
that the Angel of the Lord, who is Christ, and
he said, by myself, have I swore?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Friend, listen when he says that you can bet something's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
For because thou.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And you know what, he just glorified God. You think
about best.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Abraham offered the best and the most precious thing he had,
his only son to God.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
What does that say about God?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
It says that the God whom he's serving is worthy
of his very best. That's why he ought to have
our best time, our best concentration, the first fruits of
our finances. God deserves the best, and we glorify God
(18:46):
in worship by giving him the best. And then, one
last thing I want you to notice.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
True worship.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Always results in a blessing for the worshiper. Listen to
what he says as the next part of that verse,
verse seventeen. He says that in blessing, I will bless
thee In multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven, as the sand which is upon
the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gait of
(19:15):
his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
When you and I glorify the Lord, giving him ourselves
and that which is worthy of him, we're going to
be blessed. He always blesses those who honor Him with
(19:41):
their best, willing to make a presentation.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You see, Listen, true worship doesn't begin with what I
have to play on some altar.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
True worship begins with my attitude, my concentration, my heart, myself.
He just wants you, and you see the moment he
gets you the blessing agains.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
You're listening to in Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor
Charles Stanley. The essence of true worship is giving ourselves
completely to God to become occupied with Him. As we
do that, then worship is the natural overflow. If you
would like to ponder these thoughts again, log onto InTouch
dot org and look for the link to today on
(20:31):
Radio and look around for more resources that will help
you make your time of worship truly honoring to the Lord.
If you'd like to have a copy of this complete message,
you can order online at the bookstore. The title is
do you know how to worship? Or look for the
complete series titled Worship of Biblical View. Our web address
(20:52):
again is in touch dot org. Caller text to one
eight hundred in Touch. If you prefer, you can write
to us at in Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia,
three zero three five seven. Are you really worshiping God
(21:13):
or just singing songs? Explore the difference coming up in
today's moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Trusting God each day can be a challenge, but working
to grow that trust brings greater joy and peace than
we could ever find on our own. In trusting God.
With today the three hundred and sixty five day devotional
from the teachings of doctor Charles Stanley, we are encouraged
to believe in God's love and rest in his purpose
for us. Order today at in touch dot org slash store.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
We're not the first to seek a life of purpose.
The Bible tales of many who followed a specific path
step by step, with courage, with surrender for a deeper purpose,
a stronger passion, a lasting peace. Introducing your path to purpose,
passion and peace. A new ninety day devotional inspired by
(22:10):
the timeless teaching of doctor Charles Stanley, available now at
InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
You're listening to in Touch. Is there something blocking your worship?
Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
You cannot worship God and live in sin at the
same time. You cannot be occupied with a holy God
when His Holy Spirit is already convicting you of your sin.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
What are you occupied with?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You are occupied in the presence of God with your
unworthiness and your guilt and your sin and your disobedience.
Going to give an example, you get on to pray
tonight and you said, the Lord, you know, I want
to be what you want me to be.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And you get real.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Serious about your praying, that old shadow comes up, and
that old shadow keeps coming up. Is that thing in
your life that God wants to take care And you say, Lord,
I want to worship you, and I want to praise you,
and I want to adore you.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And Lord, what I've really got to do is to
deal with that. Right. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
So when you come to church on Sunday morning, Man,
you come and you sit down, you pull out the
hymn book and you sing, and you bag your head
and you give your offering and we talk about worshiping God.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
That's not worshiping God. And you see, you can.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Go to ten thousand worship services, but if you have willful, known,
deliberate sin that you're holding onto in your life, you
can at ten and participate, but you cannot worship God.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You can learn more about how to put sin away
and truly worship God. Visit us at InTouch dot org.
If today's program gave you reneude motivation to obey God,
we'd love to hear from you tomorrow. On in Touch,
Correct Worship begins with correct theology. Learn the proper motivation
of worship Tuesday on in Touch, the teaching ministry of
(24:11):
Doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of in
Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through
the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.
Praying is usually occupied with our needs Lord, and we
tell them our needs.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Praising is usually occupied with our.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Blessings, what God has done for us. But worship means
that we are occupied with God. We'll just focused then
on him. He's the object of our affection. He's the
object of our admiration. He's the object of our attention.
He is the object of our concentration. It is just
God and God only.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
There's a lot of debate about worship in the church today,
Which songs are best, what kind of instruments to use,
how long should it last? Today? On in Touch, the
teaching Ministry of doctor Charles Stanley, we begin a series
that aims to clear up some of the misunderstanding by
examining worship from a biblical view. Part one frames its
(00:52):
lesson around the story of Abraham in Genesis twenty two.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Now, if I should ask you to define worship, most
of you would probably struggle at what that means.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
But let me just give you three words.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Because I don't know that anybody can adequately define what
worship is. I think it probably would be defined best
by what a person feels.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
At least that's what most of us would do.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
But When I think about worship, I think of three words.
The first one is overflowing, and that is when you
and I are worshiping the Lord. Is it not that
we are overflowing with something within us? It is a
spontaneous out pouring of an inner sense of awe and
adoration and praise to the Lord. So, first of all,
(01:42):
there's an overflowing. It's like a spring just bubbling up
and overflowing. The second word is an outpouring. When you
and I are worshiping the Lord, what are we doing
pouring out our heart to him, expressing in joy and
thanksgiving and praise what we're feeling about Him on the inside.
And then the third word, and I think this is
(02:04):
the key word. The keyword here in discussing what worship
is is the word occupation, because when we are worshiping God,
we are occupied with Him. We're not occupied with our needs,
We're not occupied even with the blessings that God has
given us. We're just occupied with Him. We're concentrating on him.
(02:25):
We're thinking about him, We're rejoicing about who he is.
We are adoring him, admiring him, we are praising him,
and the focus of our tension is upon the Lord.
And you see there's a difference between praying and praising
the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
In worship.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Praying is usually occupied with their needs Lord, and we
tell them our needs. Praising is usually occupied with our blessings,
what God has done for us. But worship means that
we are occupied with God. We're just focused in on him.
He's the object of our affection. He's the object of
our admiration. He's the object of our attention. He is
(03:05):
the object of our concentration. It is just God and
God only. And you see so many times what we
call worship isn't worship at all. And I am sure
that very few people attend any church today and worship God.
And when I think about what true worship is and
(03:27):
think about the fact that worship is occupation with Him,
and I really believe, of all the definitions that I
know of, there's something.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
About that word.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Because praise, what are we doing. We are occupied with Him,
but we are saying I love you because of what
you did for me. In prayer, I'm saying, Lord, here's
what I need you to do with me. But when
you and I are worshiping Him, were just saying God,
I love you.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Just because you're you and there somehow there are not
many people who know how to do that. And the
truth is we verbalized with our lips.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It may pass through our minds, but our spirit does
not lift up and praise the Lord God because we're
not occupied with him. People who are occupied with God
are thinking about him. They want to know more about it.
They want to learn who he is. They want to
figure out and decide, how can I give more of
myself to him. They're examining their hearts in a lot
(04:25):
of who he is, looking at their lives, a lot
of what they ought to be, looking at themselves, in
a lot of what He desires with our heart.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Men and women who are occupied.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
With Jesus Christ are not occupied with things down here
when they're worshiping God.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And for that reason, I say to you.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Most people have never worshiped God. Most church members have
never worshiped Him, and most of them don't know how.
And the vast majority of us have never been taught
how to worship God. Now you can worship him all alone.
You can worship Him by twos, fours, twenties, or thousands.
(05:06):
What determines whether you're worshiping God or not not what
goes on around you, but what occupies your mind and
what you have your focus on.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
You know what, when you begin, when you really learn to.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Worship the Lord, something happens in your relationship to it.
Because when you learn to worship the Lord, what happens
while you recognize that he's the sovereign God of the universe,
there's something happen. You see, the word transcendent means that
he's far above all things, and he is. But he
sent the Holy Spirit to be within us so that
(05:40):
he up there and we down here.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Could come together.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
And that's why when we pray, we're not praying to
God out yonder.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
He said.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
The Holy Spirit walks by a set and lives, and
then there's above us, around us on He's everywhere. So
we want to be able to know how to relate
to him, to fellowship with him, to worship him down.
But there's several things involved, and the first one, of course,
is becoming a Christian. That's not the first point, but
you recall in the first Grintance, chapter two, Paul said, listen,
(06:11):
he said, the things of the spirit of foolishness to
the world. They don't understand the things of God.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
So listen.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
No man has ever worshiped God who was not a Christian,
because he says spiritual things are spiritually discerned and apart
from the Holy Spirit, you cannot worship God.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
In order to worship God, you and I must have
the living Holy Spirit within us to lift our praise
and worship to God because we can't do it. How
can a sinful, vile, wicked man worship a holy God.
It is only when the righteous, living Holy Christ comes
(06:52):
into our life through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
That listen.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
The Holy Spirit within us is the one who praises
and who worships the Father through is that. I'm going
to show you why in just a moment. But the
only person who can worship God is a person who
is in dwelt by the Son of God. That is
the only person who can genuinely worship God. All right,
(07:17):
let's look to see what happened, because I think there's
some areas here that you and I need to get
a hold of. The First thing I want you to
get down is this the true worship is based. True
worship is based on a revelation of God. True worship
is based the revelation of God. The scripture says that
(07:37):
the Lord spoke to Abraham and revealed himself to him.
God revealed himself to Abraham, so that.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
He knew that it was God.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
But he didn't know the God like you and I
know him, because he didn't have a Bible. But he
knew that God was speaking to it. And how did
he know that? How do we know that he did it?
Because the very next morning, the Bible says, he didn't
get up at ten, He got up early in the morning,
and he headed out in obedience to God. Now listen,
until you and I accept the revelation of God, you
(08:09):
will not worship him. Because listen, the very foundation of
all worship is the revelation of God. And in a
few moments we'll see in verse five that Abraham said
to these two men who went with him, he said,
you stay here, but my son and I we are
going to worship. We are going to prostrate ourselves before
(08:32):
this God. We are going to sacrifice to this God.
So when somebody says to you, oh, yes, I worship
God every Sunday, do you believe the Bible? No, then
you don't have to tell them, but you mark it down.
They are not worshiping God. The second thing I want
you to notice, the true worship is conditioned by faith
(08:53):
in and obedience to.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Obedience to the word of God.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And listen, when a person bows before God, what are
we doing? We are pouring at our heart overflowing inside.
We are occupied with Him. Let me ask you a question.
How can a deliberate, disobedient life pour out overflow and
(09:24):
be occupied with God when the heart is full of sin?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
When there is deliberate known.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Violation of scripture that has not been confessed and repented
of before God. You cannot worship God and live in
sin at the same time.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You cannot.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
You see, it is no matter whether you ought to
you shouldn't, it's you can't. You see, he says, we
are going up Mount Moriah to worship. And the reason
he could do that is because when God saiday Abram,
get up from your country, and he says, I want
you to go to a mountain and sacrifice your son,
(10:03):
the son whom thou lovest he was going to sacrifice.
He carried the wood and his son and a fire.
And that's the three things he needed to carry on
the sacrifice, the wood, the fire, and the sacrifice itself,
and he said, we are.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Going to worship.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
The only reason he could do that was because he
was in absolute obedience to the God who told him
to do it. Now, listen, one of the things you
and I gonna do when we get to heaven is
worshiped God forever. Think about this, how grieved he must be.
Here are millions of people carrying Bibles under their arms,
(10:41):
giving them money, talking to praying to God, singing songs.
Get great big period of groups of people together and
they sing of all night sings and all these things,
and witnessing for the Lord, and doing all this mighty
work in these tremendous ministress for God. And here is
the Righteous, Holy God of all the universe up in heaven.
You know what he's wanting. He's wanting our worship, not
(11:04):
our actions, not our.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Not all these other things.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He's interested in us worshiping him. When we learn to
worship him, we won't have to be beg we won't
have to be preached that, we won't have to be controlled,
we won't have to have any of that. When you're
worshiping God and you're in love with him, friend, you
gonna give everything that you are. Everything that you have
is committed to Him.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Third thing I want you to notice.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
True worship demands a deliberate separation of ourselves unto God.
A deliberate separation of ourselves unto God. Listen, he says,
abide ye here with the ass of the donkey, and
I and the lad will go yonder and worship and
come again to you.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Abide ye here.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Now watch this for a moment. He was talking about
two men. But you know what happens if you, you
and I are gonna worship God. You and I must
we must be willing to say to some people, excuse me,
we must be willing to say to some things.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I'm gonna leave that.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
There, Abide ye here while I go and worship the Father.
And I'm not talking about being pious and sanctimonious. I'm
talking about you and I must be willing to lay aside.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Now watch this carefully.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
We must be willing to lay aside the things that
distract us when we get alone with God. When you
get by yourself with the Lord, what keeps popping up
in your mind?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Now watch this. You miss this. I'm not talking about sin.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I'm just talking about making a living I'm talking about
your family. I'm talking about the natural, normal, necessary thing
of life. What are the things in life that keep
cropping up when you are alone with God? You see,
true worship demands a deliberate separation of myself unto him, listen,
(13:13):
to shut it all out, to concentrate upon him, to
think upon him, to ask God to shut out all
these things. And you see so many people say, but
when I get quiet, all these things keep passing through
my mind. And that's why I say, you and I
have to learn to worship. You could listen to five
thousand sermons, but if you don't practice one of them,
(13:34):
they won't do you any good. You won't learn to
worship that way. And we'll talk about more of that later.
But now, listen, a deliberate separation of yourself under God.
When is the last time you decided I'm going to
just get alone with the Lord and just talk to
him and be quiet and listen to God. You see,
(13:56):
if you say to the if you have to say, well,
it's been a couple of weeks or so since I've
done that all a week, What you're really saying is
I really haven't worked. Let me tell you something you
will never learn to worship God publicly until you learn
to worship him privately. There's no way a deliberate separation
of yourself. That means he'll take some time to do that.
(14:19):
You'll have to say no to some invitations. In fact,
if you and I learn to worship God the way
we ought to, we may even be misunderstood by somebody else,
maybe somebody in your family.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But I believe this is a wise thing.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I think every father ought to work this out somehow
for his family, that somehow, if it is all possible.
It may be that the apartment is so small, the
house is so small, you can't all do at the
same time. But I think a family ought to have
an agreement that at sometime everybody either has a place
or a time that they are allowed to be all
(15:00):
by themselves. Because we live in a mad, rushing world.
And this is why the Lord said. But they that
weigh upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall
mount up with the wings like eagles. They should run
and not be weary. They should walk and out think
they that wigh upon the Lord, you know the best
way to wait upon the Lord. Just be quiet all
by yourself and focus your attention upon him. True worship
(15:25):
is occupation with a person, not with needs nor blessings,
but occupation with God himself.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
All right, the next thing, true.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Worship demands a renunciation of oneself.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Now watch this verse ten, and.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to
slay his son.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
At this one point in Abraham's life, he was dead
to his own desires.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
He had the absolutely and totally desire to die to
the desire for a son because he had to kill it.
And let me ask you something, what are you willing
to give up to learn how to worship God?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Now? Well, I'm not even talking about sin.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I'm talking about the natural, normal desires of life. What
are you willing to set aside just to be alone
with that? And you know what I've noticed, sometimes when
the Lord really wants to get me along with him,
it is amazing what else I can want. It's just
(16:36):
like the devil says, what about this, this, this, this,
this and this and of all the important things that
I can suddenly realize that I need to do all
of them good things part of the ministry or whatever
it might be. And yet, you see, if your purpose
in mind is to glorify God. None of those things
or listen at the moment. None of those things are important.
(17:02):
And all of us have had the times when God says,
and you knew, right then you'll get on your knees
somewhere and be by yourself and listen to God.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
And you didn't do it. What happened.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
It just passed away and you thought, well, I didn't
do it at that time, and you thought you won,
and you lost. Next thing, True worship always glorifies God,
lifts the heart of God. Listen to what he said
(17:31):
in verse sixteen, verse fifteen, and the Angel of the
Lord called on to Abraham out of the heavens the
second time and said, by myself, have I sworn?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
I watched now.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I think this is important and it's beautiful to me
that the Angel of the Lord, who is Christ, and
he said, by myself, have I swore?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Now?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Friend, listen when he says that you can bet something's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
For because thou.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And you know what, he just glorified God. You think
about best.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Abraham offered the best and the most precious thing he had,
his only son to God.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
What does that say about God?
Speaker 1 (18:22):
It says that the God whom he's serving is worthy
of his very best. That's why he ought to have
our best time, our best concentration, the first fruits of
our finances. God deserves the best, and we glorify God
(18:46):
in worship by giving him the best. And then, one
last thing I want you to notice.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
True worship.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Always results in a blessing for the worshiper. Listen to
what he says as the next part of that verse,
verse seventeen. He says that in blessing, I will bless
thee In multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the
stars of the heaven, as the sand which is upon
the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gait of
(19:15):
his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.
When you and I glorify the Lord, giving him ourselves
and that which is worthy of him, we're going to
be blessed. He always blesses those who honor Him with
(19:41):
their best, willing to make a presentation.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You see, Listen, true worship doesn't begin with what I
have to play on some altar.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
True worship begins with my attitude, my concentration, my heart, myself.
He just wants you, and you see the moment he
gets you the blessing agains.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
You're listening to in Touch, the teaching ministry of doctor
Charles Stanley. The essence of true worship is giving ourselves
completely to God to become occupied with Him. As we
do that, then worship is the natural overflow. If you
would like to ponder these thoughts again, log onto InTouch
dot org and look for the link to today on
(20:31):
Radio and look around for more resources that will help
you make your time of worship truly honoring to the Lord.
If you'd like to have a copy of this complete message,
you can order online at the bookstore. The title is
do you know how to worship? Or look for the
complete series titled Worship of Biblical View. Our web address
(20:52):
again is in touch dot org. Caller text to one
eight hundred in Touch. If you prefer, you can write
to us at in Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia,
three zero three five seven. Are you really worshiping God
(21:13):
or just singing songs? Explore the difference coming up in
today's moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Trusting God each day can be a challenge, but working
to grow that trust brings greater joy and peace than
we could ever find on our own. In trusting God.
With today the three hundred and sixty five day devotional
from the teachings of doctor Charles Stanley, we are encouraged
to believe in God's love and rest in his purpose
for us. Order today at in touch dot org slash store.
Speaker 5 (21:48):
We're not the first to seek a life of purpose.
The Bible tales of many who followed a specific path
step by step, with courage, with surrender for a deeper purpose,
a stronger passion, a lasting peace. Introducing your path to purpose,
passion and peace. A new ninety day devotional inspired by
(22:10):
the timeless teaching of doctor Charles Stanley, available now at
InTouch dot org slash store.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
You're listening to in Touch. Is there something blocking your worship?
Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
You cannot worship God and live in sin at the
same time. You cannot be occupied with a holy God
when His Holy Spirit is already convicting you of your sin.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
What are you occupied with?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You are occupied in the presence of God with your
unworthiness and your guilt and your sin and your disobedience.
Going to give an example, you get on to pray
tonight and you said, the Lord, you know, I want
to be what you want me to be.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
And you get real.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Serious about your praying, that old shadow comes up, and
that old shadow keeps coming up. Is that thing in
your life that God wants to take care And you say, Lord,
I want to worship you, and I want to praise you,
and I want to adore you.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And Lord, what I've really got to do is to
deal with that. Right. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
So when you come to church on Sunday morning, Man,
you come and you sit down, you pull out the
hymn book and you sing, and you bag your head
and you give your offering and we talk about worshiping God.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
That's not worshiping God. And you see, you can.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Go to ten thousand worship services, but if you have willful, known,
deliberate sin that you're holding onto in your life, you
can at ten and participate, but you cannot worship God.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
You can learn more about how to put sin away
and truly worship God. Visit us at InTouch dot org.
If today's program gave you reneude motivation to obey God,
we'd love to hear from you tomorrow. On in Touch,
Correct Worship begins with correct theology. Learn the proper motivation
of worship Tuesday on in Touch, the teaching ministry of
(24:11):
Doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of in
Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through
the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.