Address—Michael Conrad
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
So the first thing that might jump out is.
Why I I chose worshippers instead of worship?
And let me see if this can get this to work.
The let me read first, the first passage. I'm going to be coming back to this a little bit, but I'll, I'll, I'll read it first. John chapter 4, starting with verse 23.
But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
So it occurred to me when I originally had thought about taking up the topic of worship.
That it seems to me that there's more emphasis.
From God's side of the equation on the worshippers and the worship itself.
You know God has.
God has has essentially manifested will not. Essentially God has manifested himself.
In His fullness, in the person of his Son, and he intends to bring worshippers with him to enjoy the things he enjoys with him, which.
Is why I felt like talking about worshippers was perhaps.
More what I had on my heart and I, I think that one of the elements that I wanted to bring, bring forward tonight is the side of things where he's preparing us to be worshippers. And on that, on that note, I, I was enjoying Luke chapter 5 by the way, I, I put a deck together and there's a lot of verses on there that I'm not actually going to read. And there's a lot of verses.
Decided to read that are not on there so I trust you'll bear with me. So Luke chapter 5.
I'll just begin with the first verse. And it came to pass that as a people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of genocret, and saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their Nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land.
And he sat and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let your Nets down for a for a draft. And Simon answered and said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their net break, and they beckoned under their partners.
Which were in the other ship that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships, and so that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down.
At Jesus knees.
Saying department from me.
For for I am a simple man, oh Lord.
We see here, I believe Jesus preparing Peter's heart for worship.
To make a worshiper out of him. And if we.
Trace his life, which we're not going to do tonight.
I think we see that play out in his rejection of Christ and his beautiful restoration and you know how how he continued on for the Lord after that. Take another good example would would be the life of Jacob, you know Jacob.
Didn't take an easy path, you know. He was seeking that blessing with his own strength, but we see.
In Jacob, a heart that was prepared for worship really pretty much his whole life until the last 15 or 17 years there. But you see a man and I think it's Hebrews 11 Chapter 4 it says was found worshipping.
At the end of his life. And so God seeks worshippers and he's, he's creating worshippers. He is creating those who can appreciate the things that he appreciates.
I think another thing that that I that I appreciated, you know, in, in really meditating on this subject was, was a, was a quote that I saw and I originally thought it was Nick Simon, but he got it from Don Rule who got it from whoever, whoever knows so.
00:05:03
He said, he said, we praise God for for what he's done, but we worship him for who he is. And I think that that really resonated with me and I think you'll see why as we go through these scriptures.
I think this might be too small for anybody to read, but.
I, I think, umm, one of the things that really stood out to me in looking at the worshippers, and there's a lot of examples of them throughout the Old Testament, was that one of the things they were characterized by was worshipped by revelation or, or what how God had revealed himself to them. And we see that first with, with Abel says in Hebrews 11/4 by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice in Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.
The the revelation that that Cain and Abel would have been under was was really the curse. The ground had been cursed and Cain brought fruit fruit out of the ground and but Abel took that humble place, recognizing what he was before God. God had revealed to them very little compared to what obviously we know now, but in that.
He responded to God with what was revealed to him.
I'm I'm not here to tell you what is or isn't worship, but that seems to me that the heart of a worshiper.
The the rest of this slide, which part is part of the reason so small you can't read it is because I put a good portion of Hebrews 9 on there, which talks about the first covenant, the ordinances, the Tabernacle, the holiest of holies, a figure.
You know, says that which was a figure for the time. Then present the.
Revelation to the Old Testament Saints during the times of temple worship was fairly limited. You know, the access to access to God was was limited. The high priest could go in to the holiest once a year and he could bring in the blood to sprinkle and there was not a a great the sense that we have now.
You know it didn't, they didn't have the position that we have now, certainly.
Or the light. God hadn't revealed himself in the way he has to us now, and so there was fear.
Through the faithful knew that God was merciful and then he was good, but that was about as far as they could get and and so when we turn to the examples in the Old Testament, the if I could say this Reverend reverently the the bar is higher how a worshipper can worship.
It's changed because the revelation of of who God is has been made in a much bigger way. And I think one of the passages which you know comes from Acts, it was more of a transitional period.
Was from Acts Chapter 7 talking about Steven and a stoning. But he being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And said, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. The glory of Christ was was revealed to Steven and he was able to worship.
Very briefly there, but he was able to worship.
And you know, we have a few more passages here that that that talk about some of those revelations and, and how worship has changed and the worshipper has changed. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Oh, sorry, John chapter one, verse 14 and then 16 to 18. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And of his fullness have all received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. So we have in Christ the declaration here of the Father. The Father has been revealed.
And then in John chapter 20, I am ascending to my father and your father, my God and your God. You can see through these passages there's more being revealed. Your father, my father, your Father, God, our Father, that is, that is new, that is a revelation.
00:10:00
And that is something that a worshipper will enjoy and.
And we'll and we'll, we'll enter into.
And the last one I have here is Galatians chapter 4 and verse six. Because you are sons, God has set forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out ABBA Father. And so we have the the spirit now which helps us to to enter into these things.
I shouldn't get that. I should keep track of a time. I'm not sure if I'm going to go 10 minutes or 50. I'm not really very experienced with these things.
So.
The the the next slide that I have up here is a priesthood of worshippers.
I think that the the nice thing about about priesthood as it pertains to worship is that it's something that's common to us all. Says you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people.
That you should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's first Peter 29 and then if you back up a few verses to first Peter 25 we have he also has lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And so we have this a priesthood.
The the things that we discussed in well, I, I kind of skipped over for the most part, but in the Old Testament that were conducted by the priest, which is a wide range of things and a lot of things now that we.
Think of this as you know, the common occurrences in the assembly are are priestly, you know, things like prayer and intercession worship. You know the assembly is responsible to receive, there's to judge, to hold truth. The vast array of things. Those are those are bottom shelf things. Those are things available to all in the priesthood and the priesthood.
Probably the highest order of the priesthood, I would say was to.
Was to provide worship and and so that's why I titled this priesthood of worshippers and we we have in Hebrews chapter 10 beginning with verse 19. Therefore, our brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the House of God.
There's several things that instructs us to do.
With that in mind, drawing near with a true heart and full assurance heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and bodies washed with pure water. That's a vital aspect there. I'm, I'm, I'm not necessarily going to focus on that tonight, but that that's, that's a very important aspect.
To have boldness, you need to have your heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and and you need practical sanctification bodies washed with pure water.
And and stir up love and good works and assembling of ourselves together.
And I, I'm pretty I for the most part here I'm focusing on on collective or corporate worship and worshippers.
I'm, I'm not exactly sure whether or not exactly how individual worship goes, but I, I, I think most of the passages that I've read referred to more and more are being a collective activity that that's done with the church and, you know, in the House of the living God, the new temple. So.
I focused on that aspect tonight.
And so the the worshippers now are are assembling and. And that was that first verse I read.
You know speaks of that in John chapter 4, when when Jesus is talking to the woman, Powell says the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.
And also in Hebrews 13. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come and, and and perhaps one more. In Timothy chapter 3, the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth.
So so we have here the the worshippers are are assembled together.
And we have the well, I really can't skip this one, Matthew 1820. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, with the assembling of worshippers we have.
00:15:10
The introduction of of the Spirit as the is really the divine gatherer there of of these this assembly of worshippers.
And we also have.
We have a picture there too of of of Christ and and that as the head of the church and how he is, we are in him, He is in US and that relationship.
That privilege that we've been brought into.
So the the worshippers, another aspect of that verse in John four that I read at the beginning says true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and truth for the Father for also the father seeks such as his worshippers. There's an element there of of of proximity and and adoration. That is it is is pictured there when we have.
God as as the Father.
It says in, you know, first John 213 I run into little children because you have known the Father, that divine life which we now have connects itself in the in that manner and enjoys the benefits of that relationship that we have. It's an it was a very also a very important aspect of of worship and worshippers.
I I think one thing that really stood out to me was the there's a couple of passages in Hebrews where it talks about boldness. I didn't put them on the slide, but but I do think I will read them just because there's a couple elements there. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 16.
Hebrews 4 and 16 says, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy.
And find grace to help in time of need. So there's there's the 1St.
Come boldly or boldness. Well, I don't know if it's the first one, but it's the first one that I'm reading. So the you know, there, there's an element there where.
And this is somewhat what's on my heart where?
When they in the Old Testament, when they?
Sought to worship, they would essentially saddle up towards Mount Sinai with all the terror and the fear there, and they knew about the mercy, and they were seeking that mercy. But you see a different side of that boldness in Hebrews 10.
And verse 19, Hebrews 10, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. And having a high priest over the House of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
We see here a different type of boldness.
And a boldness that we need to press on for it's not enough.
I shouldn't say it's well, it's not enough. It it is wonderful, but it's not enough to recognize what God has done for us.
He has done a lot for us and we are in a wonderful position, but to me that it's clear in Scripture that that's not enough.
We need to really take the position of worshippers.
That is to appreciate God.
For for who and for what he is.
Not just for the benefits, but to really enter into the goodness that he has for us.
And the the passage that I was referring to when I mentioned the the Sinai and Zion comment is in is found in Hebrews chapter 12. For your not common to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor under blackness and darkness and Tempest, but your come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, into an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in heaven.
00:20:01
And to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. And perhaps most importantly, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
So there has been a wonderful revelation of what and who God is that's been made to us, and we are responsible for that. Since it says to whom much is given, much is required, we need to press on.
To really enter into the enjoyment of what God enjoys himself and to take the position that we now can as those who have that divine life and then divine nature.
That can look at the work of his Son and in sheer agreement really, perhaps not saying it the right way, but just to agree with God's thoughts about His own Son is to me the the spirit of worship and the spirit of a worshiper.
So I mentioned that.
You know self judgment.
Is an important aspect.
Of worship, we need to maintain our communion.
And you know, it's, I don't know if folks know the term, but I call it table stakes. You know, it's, it's not more important than communion. And certainly I would say not more important than worship. But it's table states it's necessary, not an end in itself God doesn't seek.
Holy acts. He seeks those who love holiness. That's what he's looking for. I I believe so.
The, the, the, the worship leader. I, I'm not gonna spend too much time on on this, even though I do think like the sanctification aspect, the self judgment.
Aspect. I think this is also extremely important, but not really what I have in my heart tonight.
But you can't really talk about, you know, you can't really talk about worship and worshippers without acknowledging that the, you know, that the Holy Spirit is, is the is the leader of worship. And the reason I use that title, and perhaps I shouldn't have is because I had a few people talk to me about what their worship leaders were encouraging them to do at the places where they were going. And I.
Had almost a guttural reaction to it because.
It's, it's, it's, it's, that's a sad state of affairs. If we are thinking that, you know, we have something to offer God that is the opposite of, of, of what the part of a worshipper is programmed to, to, to, to be attuned to. So I won't spend too much time on that. But I do think the practical element of that is when we.
Gather together.
And and I I I don't say necessarily to worship, I think.
To say that we're gathering together to worship might be a little presumptuous. I wouldn't be mad at someone if they said that. But.
It's just my, my take on it. I hope that we're worshiping. I hope we're worshippers. But you know, we, I think they're in the in the offering. You know, there's, there was a lot of different offerings. I think one of them was a, and I'm pardon me, I'm not well versed on them, but I think one of them was a bird.
So, you know, you got to you got to bring what you got and better to do that with sincerity and you know, in truth.
But that, I would say, is not necessarily ideal.
But I do think that when we come together, we do need to acknowledge that the Spirit is uniting the one body.
To, to, to praise them. We're instructed to praise him, we're instructed to remember Him. And those are things we should do absolutely.
They're not necessarily conditional.
And hopefully there's worship that occurs in the process of that. But we need to acknowledge that the spirit is is leading that. And, you know, we can't come in, for example, to the breaking of bread and give out a hit because it's our favorite song. Or, you know, we need to be sensitive to that, sensitive to the fact that we're united together as worshippers.
00:25:02
We want.
There to be a sweet smelling savior to God and you need to check yourself at the door.
So I I.
Added a few a few of the the instances of of worshipping our worshippers.
That I personally enjoy the most. I think the one I I enjoy the most is.
Mary, I believe it was Mary of Bethany in Luke chapter 12 who anoints the Lord's feet.
With her tears and with very expensive oil, we could turn to Luke chapter 12, starting with verse 44.
Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
You gave me no kiss.
See that in this woman, we have a lot of these subjects we've been discussing. You know, we have revelation intelligence. She knew what she was doing. She knew she was worshipping him in a manner that was bringing honor to God. She worshipped him in a way that was not putting herself forward is with humility.
It was adoration. She adored him and it was clear.
That is the heart of a worshiper.
And you know, I just noticed and I've been studying a lot of these worshippers, or at least who I think are worshippers.
Could could be wrong on a couple and open to open to other thoughts there, But there's some characteristics that I I found that are somewhat consistent with with worshippers. You know, we have, as we we've already talked about a decent amount the revelation.
Intelligence. Intelligent worship.
God seeks those to worship him on the grounds that he's established and and in the way that he is established, in the manner that he's established. And He is, as we saw with Peter and Jacob and with others, preparing our hearts for that worship. So we have.
Potentially a whole lifetime to to become.
Those worshippers that he seeks, and you can tell that's important to him because you can see what we're going to be doing into a future eternity, so.
That type of intelligent worship.
We've talked a little bit as well about holiness, self judgment, humility.
We we saw a couple of examples, you know, the one in in Luke 58I, I think I added that kind of late in the game here, but I think that's a wonderful example. Just that expression that Peter makes depart from me. It's that acknowledgement. And I don't know that it's enough to stay there. I mean, we don't want to necessarily just overly dwell on.
I'm so awful where Miss I, I mean, I'm not trying to say that dismissively, but I don't, I don't think we stay there forever, but that needs to be there. I mean, that acknowledgement needs to be there.
Or or we really have nothing and I think the example that I put up there, Second Samuel 6 David dancing for the Lord.
As you might be asking yourself, that's kind of an odd example for humility and I was second guessing myself and putting it on there as well. But I think the the fact that he.
He lost himself in that whole situation. The the hymn I gave out earlier, I kind of had that in mind. I think the last line here.
Been to worship and adore the lost in wonder, love and praise. I mean, he just lost himself. Like he wasn't worried. Like I was coming up here. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. I'm still a little bit nervous, but.
I mean.
He just he just lost himself and it's beautiful. And and you know, you think even though it was subsequent of some of the things he said in that beautiful Psalm 51, you know, that the bones that that was broken may rejoice. You know, it's it's just just lost himself. I mean, we need to be willing to get outside of our comfort zone to potentially even humiliate ourselves.
00:30:09
And you know, I, I, I don't necessarily need to bring out dwell on the my call side of it, but.
You can see in in the way that the Lord dealt with that situation and his government and his wisdom. It was important to him what David did there. And David established a pattern of being a true worshipper, not because he did everything perfectly, not because he was, you know, strictly, as we would say, wholly, it was because he delighted.
In Holiness.
And I I think another one let me see how I'm doing on time. Like I said, I'm not.
Not exactly.
Sure what I'm gonna see when I look down every time. So I I think courage and energy I put on there. You know the I I love Second Samuel 23. It's one of my favorite passages. I think it was one of my dad's favorite passages because he used to read it disproportionately.
Yeah.
Let's see here. I think it was somewhere around 18.
Oh, here it is, David. I'm sorry. Second Samuel 23.
And verse. We'll start with verse 14.
And David was in and hold, and the Garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David longed and said, Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.
And the three mighty men.
And the and the Three Mighty Men breakthrough the host of the Philistines.
And drew water out of the well of Bethlehem.
That was by the gate and took it.
And brought and brought it to David.
Nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. He said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it.
So we see that.
That worship that occurred, there it was.
I talked earlier about a lot about David losing himself. You see the the mighty men here, there's zeal to serve their master broke through the host of the Philistines to get water.
Right. I remember when I was younger, like I said, my dad loved this passage, so I used to read it all the time. I remember thinking to myself, man, like.
If I was the guy who broke through the host of the Philistines and brought back David that water and he poured it out, I'm so mad.
Why would you do that? But now it's, it's just beautiful, you know, and I've already confessed to you guys that I'm not a, a master of, of, of the, the feasts and the sacrifices and, and, and a lot of the I, I need to, I need to study that next, but.
No, I think in there, I think in that one you have a picture of the drink offering really that I think that David was pouring that water out, you know, to God and you know, in a, in a sense, you know, a picture of Christ there so.
I, I think the last one here that I'd like to hit is, is the boldness and confidence.
I I think the the passage that that I thought of, that I think illustrates this point is.
Chapter 50.
Genesis chapter 50. Let's begin with verse 15.
And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will pair adventure, hate us, and we will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger under Joseph, saying, My father did command before he died, saying, So shall you say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin, For they did unto the evil, and now we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father.
00:35:09
And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
Joseph had already forgiven his brethren. At least I believe he had.
And in this I think we see Joseph, as he often is, a picture of Christ.
We see that.
He's gone before them to spare their lives.
But they're not approaching him with boldness.
And when we do that?
If we do that, I think one of the passages says we something that effectively we we re crucify Christ. I don't know if that's the exact language there, but it's I might be mixing scriptures and if I am, I apologize, but you know, they're the work that Christ has done is sufficient.
For us to have full boldness.
We can't approach him.
Just just from the standpoint of His mercy, we need to approach Him with full assurance of our of faith.
We need to approach him.
Recognizing that He has given us a new divine nature that can appreciate and enjoy all the things that He wants us to enjoy, and we need to be careful.
Walk carefully so that we don't in our carelessness.
Get ourselves into a position where we cannot enjoy that we're 840 here, we have a few minutes left. I didn't didn't necessarily intend to talk about this, but I.
You know, there's a lot of of young people here.
I've I spent a few careless years of my life when I was younger.
And.
You know, you, you really don't get those back and.
Lord has been gracious.
But you need to be careful.
He's desiring worshippers. If you're careless, you'll lose communion with him and you won't have that heart that desires to worship. So I encourage you guys to to really to really pursue.
The spirit, those characteristics of those worshippers.
And so that's, that's all all I have for for tonight.