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Hi everyone, and welcome to The Final Word.
As you may remember, we're in a study of the Holy Spirit.
We're looking at many different ideas about the Holy Spirit,
and today we will be learning
about the Holy Spirit in worship.
Our speaker is Charles Leonard.
Now, last time Brother Leonard recounted the story of the woman
at the well with Jesus as He discussed worship with her.
We asked a question about worship:
does it really matter how a person worships
as long as he is sincere?
Brother Leonard was in the middle of answering
that question last time, so let's not take
up any more of his time.
Let's continue our study with Brother Leonard as he teaches us
about the Holy Spirit in Worship.
What does the Holy Spirit reveal to us about worship?
We want to notice a few of those things.
First of all, the Holy Spirit reveals
that God is the object of worship.
Now, you can read of those who tried
to worship man in the New Testament.
But now the Bible teaches that God is the object of worship.
In Deuteronomy 6:4, it says, "Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord."
When the Lord was tempted of Satan after being baptized
at the hands of John, He was tempted through three avenues
of temptation in Matthew 4.
And the one that I want to deal with is
when the Lord was taken up to a mountain.
He was shown all the kingdoms of the world, and said,
"Now all of these are yours if you will
but bow down and worship me."
Well, in Matthew 4:10, Jesus said, "It is written,
Thou shall worship the Lord thy God
and Him only shall thou serve."
Now it's evident from what Jesus said there in Matthew 4:10,
along with other passages, that our object of worship is God.
God is a Spirit, and we're to worship God
in spirit and in truth.
In the book of Ephesians in chapter 4 and verse 6,
in the seven ones that are mentioned there,
he mentions God the Father, and so again,
it's referring to the one God.
Now then, in the second place under this, we want to notice
that God has revealed by the Holy Spirit the day of worship.
How did you come up with this idea of coming to worship today?
Is it something that the group here just decided,
that this is the day that we're going to worship on,
and so we simply come together?
Remember that if you're students of the Old Testament,
you notice that they were people who had to observe the Sabbath.
And in Exodus 20, it says,
remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
How many of the Sabbath days did they remember?
Didn't every week have a Sabbath day?
Weren't they obligated to observe all of the Sabbath days,
and not just pick one once a year?
Well, now, the day of worship has also been revealed
to us by the Holy Spirit.
Let's notice the apostolic example found in Acts 20:7.
It says, "Upon the first day of the week
when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow,
and continued his speech until midnight."
Now, he didn't believe our philosophy
about the length of a sermon.
He preached to them until midnight.
Now when did they come together?
The first day of the week.
What did they come together for?
To break bread.
And they also had preaching.
And so here we find that they're coming together
on the first day of the week.
Now in I Corinthians 16:2, it talks about something
that we did this morning in worship.
Paul says, "Upon the first day of the week, let every one
of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him,
that there be no gathering when I come."
Why did he say do this on the first day of the week?
Because the first day of the week is the day
when they came together to break bread.
Now there is a vast number of religious people
across the world who really believe that it's necessary
to give of our means every first day of the week.
They don't just limit it to the first day of the week,
they pass the basket every time they come together.
But they choose the first day of the week.
Most of them.
Some of them pass it through the week, if they get a chance.
But now here's the point I want you to see.
They believe that that basket ought
to be passed every first day of the week.
But they don't believe the Lord's Supper is necessary every
first day of the week.
Now I want you to notice there are two expressions
that are identical.
In regards to the Lord's Supper, "Upon the first day of the week,
the disciples came together to break bread."
In regards to the giving, "Upon the first day of the week,
let every one of you lay by him in store."
These two statements are identical.
Whatever it means in one place, it means in the other.
In other words, if we're not obligated to partake
of the Lord's Supper every first day of the week,
we wouldn't be obligated to give
of our means every first day of the week.
And if we're, on the other hand, reversing this,
if we're obligated to give of our means every first day
of the week, aren't we obligated to partake
of the Lord's Supper every first day of the week?
Now I don't think that a person would have to have the mind
of Einstein in order to be able to understand that.
Because whatever it means in this one place,
it means in the other place.
"On the first day of the week."
So the Holy Spirit reveals who we are to worship: God.
The Holy Spirit reveals that the day of worship:
the first day of the week.
And John said in Revelation 1:10,
"I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day."
What day do you suppose that was?
What day was it when the Lord was resurrected from the dead?
What day was it when the church had its beginning?
What day was it when they came together to worship?
John referred to it as the Lord's day, and I believe it
to be the first day of the week.
How about you?
Well, the Holy Spirit also recorded for us
that you don't have to worship at Mount Gerizim.
And you don't have to worship in Jerusalem.
Now that's back in chapter 4 that we dealt with.
We don't have to worship at one given location.
Sure we can worship in this building this morning.
If the weather wasn't the way it is, we might be able to worship
under a tent out here somewhere, or under the shade of a tree.
The place of worship is not what's important.
It's the way of worship that is important.
We're to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Worship also must be according to God's direction.
Go back to the book of Genesis 4,
and let's notice what took place here with two young men.
Genesis 4.
And we're going to read from Genesis 4:1-5.
"And Adam knew Eve, his wife."
Well, if he was married to her,
he should know her, shouldn't he?
But that word "know" is what was referred to the other day,
as knowing her sexually.
"And she conceived and bare Cain, and said,
I have gotten a man from the Lord."
Verse 2, "And she again bare his brother, Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground."
Now notice verse 3.
"And in process of time, it came to pass, that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord,
and Abel he also brought a firstling
of his flock and the fat thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering,
but unto Cain and his offering, He had not respect,
and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell."
Here were two brothers who came to worship.
God had respect to Abel's offering
but rejected Cain's offering.
Now, why would God respect the offering of Abel
and reject the offering of Cain?
Well, the answer, I believe, that you can find
in the Hebrew letter in Hebrews 11.
In fact, Abel is mentioned here in Hebrews 11:4, "By faith,
Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts, and by it he,
being dead, yet speaketh."
Abel offered his offering by faith.
What does it mean to offer something by faith?
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God."
To do this by faith, there has to be teaching, doesn't there?
So evidently, these two boys had been taught how to worship.
Abel worshiped according to God's direction.
Cain didn't worship according to God's direction,
and therefore God rejected Cain's offering,
accepted Abel's offering.
And Cain was so jealous of his brother- you know the rest
of the story- he slew his own brother.
So our worship must be according to God's will.
You know most people don't stop to think, "I have a will."
Folks, this is something we're facing today.
They want my will, my way.
God's will, God's way.
Which way do we want it?
We have to worship according
to God's direction given by the Holy Spirit.
And if it's not taught, we're not obligated to do it.
If it is taught, we're under obligation to do it.
And so therefore, God gives the instruction
as to how we're to worship.
And the only way that we can please God in worship is
to worship according to His direction.
We have to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Go back for just a moment to the book of Psalms.
We were in Psalm 111:1.
Let's go back to that Psalm and reread that verse again.
Psalm 111:1.
"Praise ye the Lord.
I will praise the Lord" - now notice- "with my whole heart."
Is our heart in worship?
Are we worshiping God with our whole heart,
or worshiping God with reservation?
Are we really involved in the worship that we're engaging in,
or is our heart and mind somewhere else?
Worrying about something
that might happen or may never happen?
But we're thinking about something else,
rather than thinking about what we ought to be doing in worship.
I believe that there may be the possibility that a lot of those
that are Christians, and have been Christians for years,
may have set in an assembly like this, and go through a form,
and never really worship God.
Now be honest about it.
Have you ever caught your mind in the wrong place?
Is there anybody that's never caught their mind
in the wrong place?
Hold up your hand, let's see you.
That's sort of incriminating, isn't it?
Folks, it's a battle for us.
The spirit of a man is subject to man.
We determine what we think about.
I'm determining what I think about right now,
and hopefully are getting you to think along that same line.
We have control of our mind.
We can use it fully, wholeheartedly, in worship,
or we can let our mind travel everywhere else,
across the world.
I can stand right here before you this morning,
and I can think of the time when I was in India.
My mind can travel all the way to India.
But where's it supposed to be?
It ought to be here, shouldn't it?
You see how that the mind can travel thousands
of miles in an instant.
But the mind is supposed to be on what we're doing in worship,
and if our mind is not on what we're doing in worship,
our worship is in vain.
Do we really believe that?
We have an obligation to worship God in spirit and in truth.
That means that we have to be fully involved in worship.
Physically, we're involved in worship.
Didn't you do something when we were led in songs this morning?
Well, it took some effort to sing, didn't it?
Physically you were involved.
All right.
Also, we should be involved in it mentally,
thinking about what we're doing
with our mind in the right place.
When the mind gets in the wrong place, we're in trouble.
But that mind can really travel, now can't it?
There are five items of worship that we engaged in this morning.
Four of them are mentioned in Acts 2:42.
"They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine."
That was teaching.
"Fellowship" - giving of our means.
"The breaking of bread" - the Lord's supper.
"And prayer."
Four items of worship right there.
The only one that's not mentioned there is what we did
this morning in singing,
and of course we have authority for that.
In Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19, we're to sing
and make melody in our heart to the Lord.
So we're to be involved in all five items of Christian worship.
Now let me raise a question and hopefully get you thinking.
I hope I don't have anybody asleep, now do I?
If you're asleep, you'll miss it.
When we involve ourselves fully in all those five items
of worship, it'll improve the singing,
if everybody's involved in that singing.
When we involve all of our minds in prayer,
again we're participating.
The Lord's supper.
In all of our study together,
all of these five items of worship.
When we're involved in that with our whole being,
our whole heart, physically and mentally,
won't it improve our worship?
Folks, it's easy.
You can go to a church building, you can sit in the building,
you can go through the worship, but your mind could be in India,
Russia, China, Japan, or anywhere across the world.
Or at home.
Where's our mind when we come to worship?
What's it supposed to be on?
Everything that we know about worship that's revealed
in the word of God is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
And without that regulation from the Holy Spirit,
there's not a one of us that would have any idea
as to what we're to do in worship.
That shows you how valuable the word of God is, doesn't it?
It tells us how to live.
It tells us how to worship.
It tells us how to go to heaven.
It tells us if we don't do right,
there's another place awaiting those
that are not righteous before God.
The word of God is powerful.
You know, there's a struggle across our world today.
A struggle concerning missiles?
Warheads? And things like that?
The most powerful thing in all the world is the word of God.
Paul said in Romans 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation."
In Hebrews 4:12, Paul said,
"The word of God is quick and powerful."
What changed your life to become a Christian?
The power of the word of God.
What is it that will get us to live right?
The power of the word of God.
Regardless of what discussion takes place about weapons
of warfare, about missile heads and all of this,
the most powerful thing in all the world is the word of God.
And if our world is ever going to be changed different
from what it is today, there's going to have
to be a return back to the Bible.
I know Brother Cates lives over there where it's dangerous.
They've had nearly a hundred murders- maybe
since I left home- nearly a hundred murders
around the area of Memphis.
Why in the world would something like that be going on?
Because people have lost respect for God.
They've lost respect for humanity.
They've lost respect for the word of God.
They believe that might makes right, and if I want it,
I'll take, and if it takes your life, just forget about it.
Our world is in trouble.
We live in a troubled world.
The church of our Lord is in trouble.
And the only thing that's going to make the difference
in our world and make the difference
in the church is the word of God.
It possesses the power to change the hearts and lives of people.
And hopefully when we come together to worship,
that we worship in such a way that God is pleased
with our worship, and we don't go home feeling bad, thinking,
"Well, I really didn't participate
in the worship today, because I had my mind somewhere else."
The Holy Spirit reveals who we're to worship.
He reveals when we're to worship.
He reveals how we're to worship.
But it's up to us to participate in the worship.
With all of our heart, with all of our soul,
and with all of our mind.
Thank you, Brother Leonard, for that thorough study
of the Holy Spirit in Worship.
In today's study, Brother Leonard defined worship.
He said worship is a person showing respect, reverence,
submissiveness, homage or paying divine honors to God.
Through worship we are saying that God is worthy of worship
and that we are created beings, made by our wonderful Creator.
Psalm 95:6 says, "O come, let us worship and bow down:
let us kneel before the Lord our maker."
We noticed that we are to worship God completely,
and we must guard against just going through the motions.
Our minds and hearts have to be focused and sincere
in our worship to God.
We learned that it is possible to go to the assembly
and never even worship God.
We learned from today's lesson
that there are two kinds of incorrect worship.
There's vain worship as described in Mark 7:7,
" Howbeit in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
And also, there's ignorant worship is described
in John 4:22, "Ye worship ye know not what:
we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews."
We are not to worship God ignorantly nor in a vain way.
Yet we saw how it is that God seeks true worship
and true worshippers.
He is the object of our worship, according to Deuteronomy 6:5
and Matthew 4:10, where it says, "Get thee hence, Satan:
for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve."
The day of worship is the first day of the week,
as found in Acts 20:7, and 1 Corinthians 16:2.
In the Old Testament, the Jews were supposed to worship God
on the Sabbath day, according to Exodus 20.
Yet, today, the first day of the week is the Lord's Day,
the day that Christ was resurrected from the dead.
And it is the day that we have been authorized to worship God.
We next learned the place
of worship was not what was important,
it is the way in which we worship.
We see from the beginning that God had a prescribed way
to worship, and he showed preference
to those following his will.
Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain's was not,
according to Genesis 4:5.
Why? Abel offered through faith.
We find out how to worship by faith.
God told them how to worship, Abel obeyed and Cain did not.
So Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain's was not.
Well, what about us?
God tells us how to worship in the New Testament:
in spirit and in truth.
He also tells us the five elements of worship.
In Acts 2:42, we find four of those elements listed.
"And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."
Here they are again: there's doctrine, which is the teaching
and preaching, there's fellowship, which is giving,
breaking of bread, which is the Lord's supper
and then also prayer.
We find that singing is required in Colossians 3:16
where Paul says: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
Friend, the Holy Spirit has told us how to worship:
and that is in spirit and in truth.
"In spirit" is our mind.
When we worship, do we do things also with the proper mindset?
And "in truth" is our action.
As we worship, are we doing things in the manner
in which God has said?
In our lives, when we go to worship God, may we worship
as the Holy Spirit has directed: in spirit and in truth.
You might be watching this show for the first time
and you might be asking what is it that a person needs
to do in order to be saved?
Well, I'm glad to share the Lord's invitation
with you right now.
The first thing that you need to do is to believe
that Jesus is the son of God, according to John 3:16.
And then you must repent of your sins, that is,
to change your mind about living a sinful life and turn
and live a life following Christ.
Confess that Jesus is the Son of God.
Upon that confession, you'll be taken, you'll be immersed
in water in order to have your sins washed away,
and you will be a child of God.
Well, folks, we are certainly glad
that you have taken all this time to study with us,
to learn the Final Word about what God says
about his Holy Spirit.
Won't you join us next time on the Final Word?