Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
If you are not in agreement with what God says
about himself, You're not in agreement with what God says
about his son, You're not in agreement with God what
God says about the Holy Spirit. You're not in agreement
with what God says about sin, and you are in
disagreement with what God says about you. You can't worship
(00:22):
God no way.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Do you know how to worship the Lord? Well, that's
the question.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
In our series on in Touch, the teaching ministry of
doctor Charles Stanley explores this session takes a look at
the emotional component of worship, reminding us that it's not
as much about what comes out of our lips that
makes worship genuine, but what.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Comes out of our hearts.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Let's continue the series that gives us a biblical view
of worship from Isaiah six.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Let's listen to it.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
When you and I read the scriptures, is one thing
that is very evident. God wants his people to worship,
to bow.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Down, to adore, to learn to love him.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And so much of what he did in the Old
Testament in the Tabernacle, for example, why was all of
that there?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Now?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
There may have been many reasons, but I believe one
of the primary reasons was this that God wanted to
teach men to worship him. He wanted to teach men
that he was holy. That's why he had a Holy
of Holies where only the priests could go after preparation
once a year to offer atonement.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Why did God do that? He didn't have to do that.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
He could have forgiven them without all this paraphernaian all this,
all these robes and all of this, all of this
metal and gold and silver and diamonds and jewels, and
all of the fanfare, all the people getting together. Why
was God saying all of that? Because He was using
these things to teach men something that he knew was
(01:57):
very essential to their hearing and their seeing, and they
are being able to identify materially with it in order
to teach them his holiness and to teach them how
to worship him. What is the one thing that all
through the Old Testament God forbids over and over and
over again. I turned to Deuteronomid chapter four, and don't
turn to it tonight, but before you go to bed tonight,
(02:19):
I want to challenge you to read Deuteronomid chapter four.
It is a beautiful chapter, and it expresses one thing
that God intended to express the Israel before they went
into the Promised Land, something about himself, something about worshiping him,
and something about a limitation of their worship. And he
names some things in there that I want you to
(02:40):
just read over yourself and maybe it'll hit you like
it hit me. It is a worship experience to read
that chapter and listen to God get his people ready
to go into a promised Land. Now, worship isn't only
a religious experience, but I want us to narrow it
down to the fact that worship is an emotional experience.
(03:01):
It is something we feel in our relationship to God,
and is the feeling that we have that's going to
have a response within us bodily. You see, there will
be an emotional feeling toward God. Now, I want us
to look at this chapter and there are five things
I want us to notice here about the experience of
(03:22):
worship that Isaiah head, because Aris won't be just like his,
but the same elements must be there. Right beginning in
verse one, he says, in the year that King Usiah died,
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty high
and exalted with the train of His robe filling the templar.
The first thing I want us to notice is this
(03:45):
worship is an emotional experience. It is an experience of
the awareness of God. It is an experience of the
awareness of God. It is an emotional experience. Listen, when
you feel like you're in the presence of God, You're
gonna really feel something. I'm not too sure you can
really explain that to anyone else, but you just know
(04:07):
that God is here. You just know the spirit of
the Lord is in this place, or when you're quietly
praying all by yourself, or when you're in a small
group or a great host of people. The awareness of
the presence of God. Now listen, the first step, the
first step in worshiping God is to feel his presence.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
You see.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Now, listen, if you and I are so busy, and
you and I are so active about everything, if we're
not careful, we'll miss him. Because you see, you don't
become aware of God.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Watch this.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You don't become aware of the presence of God with
your mind.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
You become aware of the presence.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Of God with your spirit. And you see, He wants
us to function on this level. If you and I
are going to pick up on the presence of God,
we've got to live down here in our spirits. We
are going to be able to perceive the presence of God.
It isn't where you are watch this. It is the
(05:13):
condition of your spirit that picks up.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
On the presence of God.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
The second thing I want you to notice here is
this that when you and I really and truly worship
the Lord, we are going to be awed before the
holiness of God. We are going to be awed in
the presence of God. May somebody says, well, what does
that mean to be add in the presence of God?
(05:40):
It means to stand in wonder and amazement and inspiration
and reverence and.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Fear before Him.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
He's holy. Awed in the presence of a holy God. Listen,
what does not awe you? You will not worship. You
know why many people don't worship God. They're not awed
by God. They're so ignorant of who he is. They
think he's some old, rich, antiquated grandfather sitting out yond
(06:11):
in space somewhere who's full of mercy. And that's all.
When you get really desperate call on him. That's not
God at all. You will not worship. What does not
awe you, what you do not reverence, what you do
not see as beyond you completely and totally.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Now listen to what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Listen, He says, he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty, exalted,
with the train of his robe, filling the temple. That
is what he saw, was that the Lord just totally
filled the whole temple. Seraphim stood above him. Now Seraphim
was an angel, a ministering angel. Seraphim stood above him,
(06:57):
a fiery, ministering angel stood above him. Above does not
mean in position, but what he's simply speaking here of
his location, not in position, for there's none above him.
Seraphim stood above him. This is what he saw, each
having six wings. With two he covered his face in
(07:19):
the presence of absolute exalted holiness. He covered his face,
and with two he covered his feet in humility. And
with two he did fly, serving God continuously, imperfect tense.
Everything that was going on was going on continuously without him.
(07:40):
What Isaah saw he got a glimpse of the holiness
of God. Let me ask you this, when is the
last time you ever felt in your relationship to God
that you just wanted to get on your knees and
your face would stretch up before God.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
And not say one word.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You see, I'm sure that listen, listeners, I'm sure that
from my lips that I neither I nor anyone else
can teach you how to worship God. The only thing
I can pray is that the Spirit of the Lord,
through my spirit, would say something to you to prick
your conscience, stir you, motivate you to examine yourself.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
To see, Lord, have I been prancing through my.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Christian life all these years, so actively engaged in doing
this for you, and serving you, and teaching and singing
and all these things.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And have I missed you? And all of this.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Has my understanding, in my estimation and my mental concept
of you been such? Has it been so immotuous like kindergarten?
Has it been infantile? Has it been elementary? When here
you are a holy, righteous God? And in the scriptures,
when men came in the presence of God and they
(08:52):
knew they were in the presence of the Lord, and
God wanted to say something to them, they bowed down
before him. They want to lie prost before God. They
understood something of his nature. Listen, and one called out
to another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts.
(09:15):
The whole earth is full of his glory, and the
foundations of the thresholds tremble at the voice of him
who called out.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
While the temple was filled.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
With smoke, Listen, God was present, and Isaiah knew that
he was in the presence of the Lord. He didn't
want to say anything, he didn't want to do anything.
You see, when men learned to worship God, it affects
the whole life. And what happened in this particular case
(09:44):
is that Isaiah saw the Lord, and you know.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
What he did. He recoiled from it. That's what Moses did.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
He backed off, He took off his shoes. God said,
take off your shoes, Moses, you're standing on holy ground.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Let me ask you something.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Has there ever been a time in your life when
God so wrapped you up in his presence that you
didn't want to say anything.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
You didn't want to.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Move, You don't want anything to happen.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
You just going to stay right there. I can remember
the first time that I believe that I ever was
so aware of His presence that I was frightened. I
remember exactly where I was.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I was in seminary, I was in the music building,
and that I had a little prayer room. I was
over there one Tuesday evening by myself. I've been praying
for quite some time, and I just felt something that.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
I never felt before.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It's just like God filled that room up and I
was praying, and the longer I prayed, the more of
his presence I felt, until it just got so full
that I have to admit I got so scared. I
just quit praying and told God, please take care of me.
(11:07):
I didn't see anything. I was too afraid to open
my eyes. I probably wouldn't have seen anything if I had.
It was an emotional experience. I believe Isaiah was afraid.
I believe he was standing in absolute awe and reverence
as he stood in the presence of a holy God,
and the fiery angelic beings were crying out, Holy, Holy,
(11:30):
Holy Lord, God of Hosts, the whole earth is full
of his glory. Isaiah heard something, he saw something, but
most of all, he felt something that he never got over.
Now I say that to you, to say this, listen
to me, I don't know how to say this. Don't
(11:51):
live your life making money building a business, carrying on
church activity, being religious, serving God by activity, and miss God.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Don't do that, because.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
One of these days, when you stand in His presence,
if we have not sought Him above all other things,
we are going to be so disappointed, because, in spite
of all that we do, if our object is not
the Lord, it's like sawdust, and you put that in
(12:35):
the ground. Let me ask you a question, do you
really want God to make himself evidently known to you?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Well, something must happen before that.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
The third thing I want you to notice is this
his adoration of the majesty of God. Listen, Seraphim stood
above him, each having two wings with two. He covered
his face with two, he covered his feet with two.
He flew here he is, looking upon the throne of God,
(13:15):
high and loft, and lifted up out of reach, out
of touch. But evidently there he saw a heavenly scene.
He had an emotional experience of worship. In humility. He
bowed down before him awed. But what adoring the Lord God?
(13:36):
To adore the Lord is to love him, God, our Savior.
We adore Thee. And yet I wonder how many of
us know how to love him, how to adore him. Now,
I want you to turn to Psalm ninety five for
just a moment. Psalm ninety five, and there's a little
(13:57):
scripture here that's so beautiful. Listen to what he says. Come,
let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before
the Lord, our maker, for he is our God. When
I read that and I talk to some people, they said, no,
(14:18):
I don't want to.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Accept Jesus Christ is my safety. I'll live my life
just like I want to.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Let me tell you something, the more you and I
understand who God is, the more we'll have to pray
for God to give us patience and tolerance and compassion
and love to a people who despise the one we
love the most. If I adore him and love him,
(14:46):
I'm going to express it with my total life. Well,
something happens, and I watched this beginning in verse four,
the foundation of the threshold trembled at the voice of him
who called out while the temple was ill with smoke.
Then I said, woe is me, for I am a
man of unclean lips. I am undone. I'm ruined. That
(15:09):
is Isaiah saw himself for the first time like he
really and truly was, which brings me to the next thing,
and that is when you and I are worshiping him
and we really mean business. We're going to accept the
declarations of God about five things. I'm going to accept
(15:32):
what he says about himself.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Now watch this.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I'm going to accept what he says about his son.
I'm going to be able to accept what he says
about the Holy Spirit. I'm going to be able to
accept what he says.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
About sin.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm even going to be able to accept what he
says about me.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Listen, If you.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Are not in agreement with what God says about himself,
you not in agreement with what God says about his son,
You're not in agreement.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
With God what God says about the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
You not in agreement with what God says about sin,
and you are in disagreement with what God says about you.
You can't worship God no way.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You see?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Now watch this, It's so simple. You can't worship someone
you disagree with, can you?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
No way? And you see?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
It may be that the reason we don't know how
to worship is because we haven't gotten fit to worship.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Maybe that's it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
If you are not in agreement with what he says
about himself, that he's the sovereign God. If you're not
in agreement with what he says about his son, he
must be the lord of your life. Not an agreement
with what he says about the Holy Spirit, total dependence
upon his empowering work. What he says about sin, all sin,
(17:03):
it destroys, wrecks, ruins, mars, cheeks God out of his glory.
Not in agreement what he says about yourself, sinner, saved
by grace, kept for the power of God. You will
not worship a God with whom you disagree.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
One last thing.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Worship is an emotional experience, and I want you to
see what happened. Listen, he said. Then I heard the
voice of the Lord, saying, of whom shall I sin?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Who will go for us?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Now, up to this point, the only thing Isaiah had
heard and had seen, he had seen the Lord high, lofty,
lifted up. He'd heard the voice of the seraphim saying, Holy, Holy,
Holy Lord, God of Hosts, the whole earth is full
of his glory. He had not heard anything about a need.
(17:58):
He had not heard anything about a mission. But the
next thing he hears is the voice of God saying
who will go for us?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
And Isaiah listen. You know what he did?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
He said, here, am I Lord send me? You know
why Isaiah was willing to say that before he knew
where he was going, why was going, how was going
to get there, to whom he was going, and what
was going to be required of him when he got there?
Because I Isaiah had such an experience with God, it
(18:37):
didn't really make any difference where, when, how, or to whom?
You want to know how you and I know that
Isaiah loved God becauseout even knowing the answer, he said, here,
am I send me?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Now listen to me with all of my heart. Get this.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
How many of you are waiting to obey God after
you get the details?
Speaker 4 (19:09):
You're waiting for details.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
When a man knows God and loves the Lord and
is devoted to him and has at least gotten a
little bity itsy glimpse of what it means to worship
the Lord, he's ready to go and he doesn't require details.
(19:39):
He knows. Whatever the requirements, all Mighty God is sufficient
to meet the need. That's why he wants us to
learn to worship him. And once we learn to do that,
we won't have to worry about the work, workers, money, gifts,
(20:04):
places of service. Once we get the worship down, everything.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Else will come.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And I want to ask you one more time, how
many of you are waiting for the details. Listen, get
your eye off the details and get them on God
and you will find out the details don't really matter.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Thanks for joining us on in Touch, the teaching ministry
of doctor Charles Stanley. Are you waiting for the details
of God's will before you're willing to follow? Or are
you worshiping God through your obedience? If you would like
to think through this message some more, you can find
a replay of it by following the link to Today on
Radio at in touch dot org. And while you're there,
(21:01):
look around our website for many other resources that will
help encourage your trust in the Lord. You can order
a copy of doctor Stanley's message there, titled the Worship
and Emotional Experience. Just visit our online bookstore. Also, that's
part of our complete teaching set we've titled Worship a
Biblical View. Again, just log on to InTouch dot org
(21:21):
or caller text. The number is one eight hundred in
touch to write to us. Address your letter to in
Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three
zero three five seven. Is your mind filled with too
much information and noise? A remedy is coming up in
today's moment With Charles Stanley.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
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 1 (22:08):
You've got to be willing to set aside time.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
That's real victory.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
Just imagine what it would have been like to look
over doctor Stanley's shoulder as he was spending time with
the scriptures. Doctor Stanley spent hours in preparation for his sermons.
With photos of his Bibles, resources, and handwritten notes, this
new book will give you an intimate look into doctor
Stanley's daily walk with the Father God turned the light
on Charles F. Stanley's personal Bibles, books and notes available
(22:33):
now go to InTouch dot org slash.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Store you're listening to in Touch. Do you have trouble
worshiping the Lord? It might be that you need time
to get ready. Well, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Now let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Haven't you oftentimes had a problem even though you were
by yourself concentrating on him? You see, this is why
we have to get ready to worship him. And this
is why oftentimes when you come in from a day's work,
it may be that you need to get on your
knees and tell God to wash the day out and
let you get quiet so you can become aware of Him.
(23:15):
You're aware of the sound of automobiles, horns, people talking.
These things are still echoing in your ears. But you
see at a time, and I believe Isaah was.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Along what happened?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
The scripture says he saw the Lord, and when he
saw God, something happened to him.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Now, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Any of us more than likely I would say that
we've seen him. I don't know about you, but I
don't need to see him physically. But you see, with
our spirits, we are able to detect the presence of
the Lord.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
You can learn more about living in tune with Jesus
Christ Dad in Touch DOTRG. If today's program gave you
renewed motivation to follow Jesus Christ, well, we'd love to
hear that story tomorrow on in Touch.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Do you wonder about the reason we worship the Lord?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
A better understanding of God's great purposes coming your way
Friday on in Touch, the Teaching Ministry of 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.
If you are not in agreement with what God says
about himself, You're not in agreement with what God says
about his son, You're not in agreement with God what
God says about the Holy Spirit. You're not in agreement
with what God says about sin, and you are in
disagreement with what God says about you. You can't worship
(00:22):
God no way.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Do you know how to worship the Lord? Well, that's
the question.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
In our series on in Touch, the teaching ministry of
doctor Charles Stanley explores this session takes a look at
the emotional component of worship, reminding us that it's not
as much about what comes out of our lips that
makes worship genuine, but what.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Comes out of our hearts.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Let's continue the series that gives us a biblical view
of worship from Isaiah six.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Let's listen to it.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
When you and I read the scriptures, is one thing
that is very evident. God wants his people to worship,
to bow.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Down, to adore, to learn to love him.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
And so much of what he did in the Old
Testament in the Tabernacle, for example, why was all of
that there?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Now?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
There may have been many reasons, but I believe one
of the primary reasons was this that God wanted to
teach men to worship him. He wanted to teach men
that he was holy. That's why he had a Holy
of Holies where only the priests could go after preparation
once a year to offer atonement.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Why did God do that? He didn't have to do that.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
He could have forgiven them without all this paraphernaian all this,
all these robes and all of this, all of this
metal and gold and silver and diamonds and jewels, and
all of the fanfare, all the people getting together. Why
was God saying all of that? Because He was using
these things to teach men something that he knew was
(01:57):
very essential to their hearing and their seeing, and they
are being able to identify materially with it in order
to teach them his holiness and to teach them how
to worship him. What is the one thing that all
through the Old Testament God forbids over and over and
over again. I turned to Deuteronomid chapter four, and don't
turn to it tonight, but before you go to bed tonight,
(02:19):
I want to challenge you to read Deuteronomid chapter four.
It is a beautiful chapter, and it expresses one thing
that God intended to express the Israel before they went
into the Promised Land, something about himself, something about worshiping him,
and something about a limitation of their worship. And he
names some things in there that I want you to
(02:40):
just read over yourself and maybe it'll hit you like
it hit me. It is a worship experience to read
that chapter and listen to God get his people ready
to go into a promised Land. Now, worship isn't only
a religious experience, but I want us to narrow it
down to the fact that worship is an emotional experience.
(03:01):
It is something we feel in our relationship to God,
and is the feeling that we have that's going to
have a response within us bodily. You see, there will
be an emotional feeling toward God. Now, I want us
to look at this chapter and there are five things
I want us to notice here about the experience of
(03:22):
worship that Isaiah head, because Aris won't be just like his,
but the same elements must be there. Right beginning in
verse one, he says, in the year that King Usiah died,
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty high
and exalted with the train of His robe filling the templar.
The first thing I want us to notice is this
(03:45):
worship is an emotional experience. It is an experience of
the awareness of God. It is an experience of the
awareness of God. It is an emotional experience. Listen, when
you feel like you're in the presence of God, You're
gonna really feel something. I'm not too sure you can
really explain that to anyone else, but you just know
(04:07):
that God is here. You just know the spirit of
the Lord is in this place, or when you're quietly
praying all by yourself, or when you're in a small
group or a great host of people. The awareness of
the presence of God. Now listen, the first step, the
first step in worshiping God is to feel his presence.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
You see.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Now, listen, if you and I are so busy, and
you and I are so active about everything, if we're
not careful, we'll miss him. Because you see, you don't
become aware of God.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Watch this.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You don't become aware of the presence of God with
your mind.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
You become aware of the presence.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Of God with your spirit. And you see, He wants
us to function on this level. If you and I
are going to pick up on the presence of God,
we've got to live down here in our spirits. We
are going to be able to perceive the presence of God.
It isn't where you are watch this. It is the
(05:13):
condition of your spirit that picks up.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
On the presence of God.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
The second thing I want you to notice here is
this that when you and I really and truly worship
the Lord, we are going to be awed before the
holiness of God. We are going to be awed in
the presence of God. May somebody says, well, what does
that mean to be add in the presence of God?
(05:40):
It means to stand in wonder and amazement and inspiration
and reverence and.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Fear before Him.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
He's holy. Awed in the presence of a holy God. Listen,
what does not awe you? You will not worship. You
know why many people don't worship God. They're not awed
by God. They're so ignorant of who he is. They
think he's some old, rich, antiquated grandfather sitting out yond
(06:11):
in space somewhere who's full of mercy. And that's all.
When you get really desperate call on him. That's not
God at all. You will not worship. What does not
awe you, what you do not reverence, what you do
not see as beyond you completely and totally.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Now listen to what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Listen, He says, he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty, exalted,
with the train of his robe, filling the temple. That
is what he saw, was that the Lord just totally
filled the whole temple. Seraphim stood above him. Now Seraphim
was an angel, a ministering angel. Seraphim stood above him,
(06:57):
a fiery, ministering angel stood above him. Above does not
mean in position, but what he's simply speaking here of
his location, not in position, for there's none above him.
Seraphim stood above him. This is what he saw, each
having six wings. With two he covered his face in
(07:19):
the presence of absolute exalted holiness. He covered his face,
and with two he covered his feet in humility. And
with two he did fly, serving God continuously, imperfect tense.
Everything that was going on was going on continuously without him.
(07:40):
What Isaah saw he got a glimpse of the holiness
of God. Let me ask you this, when is the
last time you ever felt in your relationship to God
that you just wanted to get on your knees and
your face would stretch up before God.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
And not say one word.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
You see, I'm sure that listen, listeners, I'm sure that
from my lips that I neither I nor anyone else
can teach you how to worship God. The only thing
I can pray is that the Spirit of the Lord,
through my spirit, would say something to you to prick
your conscience, stir you, motivate you to examine yourself.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
To see, Lord, have I been prancing through my.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Christian life all these years, so actively engaged in doing
this for you, and serving you, and teaching and singing
and all these things.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And have I missed you? And all of this.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Has my understanding, in my estimation and my mental concept
of you been such? Has it been so immotuous like kindergarten?
Has it been infantile? Has it been elementary? When here
you are a holy, righteous God? And in the scriptures,
when men came in the presence of God and they
(08:52):
knew they were in the presence of the Lord, and
God wanted to say something to them, they bowed down
before him. They want to lie prost before God. They
understood something of his nature. Listen, and one called out
to another, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts.
(09:15):
The whole earth is full of his glory, and the
foundations of the thresholds tremble at the voice of him
who called out.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
While the temple was filled.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
With smoke, Listen, God was present, and Isaiah knew that
he was in the presence of the Lord. He didn't
want to say anything, he didn't want to do anything.
You see, when men learned to worship God, it affects
the whole life. And what happened in this particular case
(09:44):
is that Isaiah saw the Lord, and you know.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
What he did. He recoiled from it. That's what Moses did.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
He backed off, He took off his shoes. God said,
take off your shoes, Moses, you're standing on holy ground.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Let me ask you something.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Has there ever been a time in your life when
God so wrapped you up in his presence that you
didn't want to say anything.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
You didn't want to.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
Move, You don't want anything to happen.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
You just going to stay right there. I can remember
the first time that I believe that I ever was
so aware of His presence that I was frightened. I
remember exactly where I was.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I was in seminary, I was in the music building,
and that I had a little prayer room. I was
over there one Tuesday evening by myself. I've been praying
for quite some time, and I just felt something that.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
I never felt before.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It's just like God filled that room up and I
was praying, and the longer I prayed, the more of
his presence I felt, until it just got so full
that I have to admit I got so scared. I
just quit praying and told God, please take care of me.
(11:07):
I didn't see anything. I was too afraid to open
my eyes. I probably wouldn't have seen anything if I had.
It was an emotional experience. I believe Isaiah was afraid.
I believe he was standing in absolute awe and reverence
as he stood in the presence of a holy God,
and the fiery angelic beings were crying out, Holy, Holy,
(11:30):
Holy Lord, God of Hosts, the whole earth is full
of his glory. Isaiah heard something, he saw something, but
most of all, he felt something that he never got over.
Now I say that to you, to say this, listen
to me, I don't know how to say this. Don't
(11:51):
live your life making money building a business, carrying on
church activity, being religious, serving God by activity, and miss God.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Don't do that, because.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
One of these days, when you stand in His presence,
if we have not sought Him above all other things,
we are going to be so disappointed, because, in spite
of all that we do, if our object is not
the Lord, it's like sawdust, and you put that in
(12:35):
the ground. Let me ask you a question, do you
really want God to make himself evidently known to you?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Well, something must happen before that.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
The third thing I want you to notice is this
his adoration of the majesty of God. Listen, Seraphim stood
above him, each having two wings with two. He covered
his face with two, he covered his feet with two.
He flew here he is, looking upon the throne of God,
(13:15):
high and loft, and lifted up out of reach, out
of touch. But evidently there he saw a heavenly scene.
He had an emotional experience of worship. In humility. He
bowed down before him awed. But what adoring the Lord God?
(13:36):
To adore the Lord is to love him, God, our Savior.
We adore Thee. And yet I wonder how many of
us know how to love him, how to adore him. Now,
I want you to turn to Psalm ninety five for
just a moment. Psalm ninety five, and there's a little
(13:57):
scripture here that's so beautiful. Listen to what he says. Come,
let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before
the Lord, our maker, for he is our God. When
I read that and I talk to some people, they said, no,
(14:18):
I don't want to.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Accept Jesus Christ is my safety. I'll live my life
just like I want to.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Let me tell you something, the more you and I
understand who God is, the more we'll have to pray
for God to give us patience and tolerance and compassion
and love to a people who despise the one we
love the most. If I adore him and love him,
(14:46):
I'm going to express it with my total life. Well,
something happens, and I watched this beginning in verse four,
the foundation of the threshold trembled at the voice of him
who called out while the temple was ill with smoke.
Then I said, woe is me, for I am a
man of unclean lips. I am undone. I'm ruined. That
(15:09):
is Isaiah saw himself for the first time like he
really and truly was, which brings me to the next thing,
and that is when you and I are worshiping him
and we really mean business. We're going to accept the
declarations of God about five things. I'm going to accept
(15:32):
what he says about himself.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Now watch this.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I'm going to accept what he says about his son.
I'm going to be able to accept what he says
about the Holy Spirit. I'm going to be able to
accept what he says.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
About sin.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm even going to be able to accept what he
says about me.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Listen, If you.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Are not in agreement with what God says about himself,
you not in agreement with what God says about his son,
You're not in agreement.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
With God what God says about the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
You not in agreement with what God says about sin,
and you are in disagreement with what God says about you.
You can't worship God no way.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You see?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Now watch this, It's so simple. You can't worship someone
you disagree with, can you?
Speaker 4 (16:27):
No way? And you see?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
It may be that the reason we don't know how
to worship is because we haven't gotten fit to worship.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Maybe that's it.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
If you are not in agreement with what he says
about himself, that he's the sovereign God. If you're not
in agreement with what he says about his son, he
must be the lord of your life. Not an agreement
with what he says about the Holy Spirit, total dependence
upon his empowering work. What he says about sin, all sin,
(17:03):
it destroys, wrecks, ruins, mars, cheeks God out of his glory.
Not in agreement what he says about yourself, sinner, saved
by grace, kept for the power of God. You will
not worship a God with whom you disagree.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
One last thing.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Worship is an emotional experience, and I want you to
see what happened. Listen, he said. Then I heard the
voice of the Lord, saying, of whom shall I sin?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Who will go for us?
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Now, up to this point, the only thing Isaiah had
heard and had seen, he had seen the Lord high, lofty,
lifted up. He'd heard the voice of the seraphim saying, Holy, Holy,
Holy Lord, God of Hosts, the whole earth is full
of his glory. He had not heard anything about a need.
(17:58):
He had not heard anything about a mission. But the
next thing he hears is the voice of God saying
who will go for us?
Speaker 4 (18:09):
And Isaiah listen. You know what he did?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
He said, here, am I Lord send me? You know
why Isaiah was willing to say that before he knew
where he was going, why was going, how was going
to get there, to whom he was going, and what
was going to be required of him when he got there?
Because I Isaiah had such an experience with God, it
(18:37):
didn't really make any difference where, when, how, or to whom?
You want to know how you and I know that
Isaiah loved God becauseout even knowing the answer, he said, here,
am I send me?
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Now listen to me with all of my heart. Get this.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
How many of you are waiting to obey God after
you get the details?
Speaker 4 (19:09):
You're waiting for details.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
When a man knows God and loves the Lord and
is devoted to him and has at least gotten a
little bity itsy glimpse of what it means to worship
the Lord, he's ready to go and he doesn't require details.
(19:39):
He knows. Whatever the requirements, all Mighty God is sufficient
to meet the need. That's why he wants us to
learn to worship him. And once we learn to do that,
we won't have to worry about the work, workers, money, gifts,
(20:04):
places of service. Once we get the worship down, everything.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Else will come.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
And I want to ask you one more time, how
many of you are waiting for the details. Listen, get
your eye off the details and get them on God
and you will find out the details don't really matter.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Thanks for joining us on in Touch, the teaching ministry
of doctor Charles Stanley. Are you waiting for the details
of God's will before you're willing to follow? Or are
you worshiping God through your obedience? If you would like
to think through this message some more, you can find
a replay of it by following the link to Today on
Radio at in touch dot org. And while you're there,
(21:01):
look around our website for many other resources that will
help encourage your trust in the Lord. You can order
a copy of doctor Stanley's message there, titled the Worship
and Emotional Experience. Just visit our online bookstore. Also, that's
part of our complete teaching set we've titled Worship a
Biblical View. Again, just log on to InTouch dot org
(21:21):
or caller text. The number is one eight hundred in
touch to write to us. Address your letter to in
Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three
zero three five seven. Is your mind filled with too
much information and noise? A remedy is coming up in
today's moment With Charles Stanley.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
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 1 (22:08):
You've got to be willing to set aside time.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
That's real victory.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
Just imagine what it would have been like to look
over doctor Stanley's shoulder as he was spending time with
the scriptures. Doctor Stanley spent hours in preparation for his sermons.
With photos of his Bibles, resources, and handwritten notes, this
new book will give you an intimate look into doctor
Stanley's daily walk with the Father God turned the light
on Charles F. Stanley's personal Bibles, books and notes available
(22:33):
now go to InTouch dot org slash.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Store you're listening to in Touch. Do you have trouble
worshiping the Lord? It might be that you need time
to get ready. Well, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Now let me ask you this.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Haven't you oftentimes had a problem even though you were
by yourself concentrating on him? You see, this is why
we have to get ready to worship him. And this
is why oftentimes when you come in from a day's work,
it may be that you need to get on your
knees and tell God to wash the day out and
let you get quiet so you can become aware of Him.
(23:15):
You're aware of the sound of automobiles, horns, people talking.
These things are still echoing in your ears. But you
see at a time, and I believe Isaah was.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Along what happened?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
The scripture says he saw the Lord, and when he
saw God, something happened to him.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Now, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Any of us more than likely I would say that
we've seen him. I don't know about you, but I
don't need to see him physically. But you see, with
our spirits, we are able to detect the presence of
the Lord.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
You can learn more about living in tune with Jesus
Christ Dad in Touch DOTRG. If today's program gave you
renewed motivation to follow Jesus Christ, well, we'd love to
hear that story tomorrow on in Touch.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Do you wonder about the reason we worship the Lord?
Speaker 3 (24:07):
A better understanding of God's great purposes coming your way
Friday on in Touch, the Teaching Ministry of 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.
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