Good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 6 as we continue in this series, David, The Man Who Captured the Heart of God, and we’re talking today about true worship. I got to thinking I’ve probably titled four messages over the years, True Worship. This is a different one. Or we could subtitle this one When the… Worship Stops. That might have more stick to it.
I have to tell you, I was preaching many years ago in a small country church, and I was preaching on the doctrine of Satan and Hell. So it was a very heavy message! I was coming to its conclusion, and it was an old-style lighting in there, and one of the ballasts blew up at the apex of my message! — and just filled the entire room with a smoky mist! Let me tell you something… I had their attention! (audience laughing) — But the… worship did not stop.
Another time I was preaching right here in this pulpit and, again, coming to the conclusion of my message a man came yelling down the aisle waving his hands at me, literally collapsed onto the steps… but the worship didn’t stop. And on various times and for various reasons… I don’t know if it was because of the preaching or not… but during the singing or whatever, someone has collapsed for some reason! And a lot of attention gathered around those individuals. I’m sure it’ll happen again… not today, I hope! — But the worship didn’t stop.
And in the life of David, not long after he was pronounced king of all Israel, God did something where he literally stopped the worship in a dramatic fashion! Because… if you’ve been following us in the study of David’s life, you might be tempted to think, ‘Well, right now he’s got everything but the bow… but the hallmark movie bow on it, you know, ’cause… he’s gone from being a refuge to be running for 10 years from Saul, to Saul dying, to becoming a king for seven and a half years. Now he has been crowned as king over all of Israel. But it was just then that God would do something absolutely shocking! — Not just to get David’s attention, but all of Israel’s attention, and your attention and mine, about how serious He takes worship.
If we could summarize this, back in chapter 5… this is when everything comes to fruition… David becomes king. And now it’s time for the king to have a kingdom place, a ground zero, a home base. That home base we come to know today as Jerusalem. In those days, it was a Jebusite stronghold and had been since way back in Genesis 15, it’s alluded to. … Jerusalem is… literally three of its four sides are precipices. You can’t just walk into Jerusalem. That’s why wherever you’re at in the Bible, you see people saying we’re going “up to” Jerusalem, doesn’t matter if they’re anywhere geographically. They might be east, they might be west, but they’re always “going up,” because they’re always going up. And it became a natural defensive. In fact, back in those days, the Jebusites could… we’re told Joshua couldn’t even conquer the city, and the reason is because it was so difficult to get into. But it also had a natural fed spring called the Gihon Spring. The water, they would actually go through a shaft, pull up the water so they could survive even a siege for a long period of time, because they had all the water they would need when enemies would surround them. And that’s actually how David conquered the city. His general, Joab, figured out a way to go up the shaft of the Gihon Valley. We’re not told exactly how it happened, but that’s how they got in. That’s how they conquered the city. And now it is the city of David.
And so, that’s where we leave off. We’re caught up now to chapter six, verse one where it says:
2 Samuel 6:1-5
1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. (not 400, not 600… 30,000 from all these 12 tribes)
2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there (and here is the main subject of our day) the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. (which is on the Ark)
3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart (What could go wrong?) and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and (in the first service I said, “Ohio…” Anyway…) Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart,
4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.
5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.”
This is the time of great joy. The ark is coming home! It’s coming to Jerusalem! It’s a time of celebration that the ark of the covenant with all of the the furniture that was in the tabernacle and later the temple, this was the center of worship. It’s now 400 plus years old. This is not a new thing. It was created in the days of Moses in the wilderness, and it’s not a very big thing… 45 by 27, not a large thing. It was made of acacia wood covered in gold. Inside of the ark, back in the days of Moses… we don’t know if these three items were in there at this time, but… there would be the Ten Commandments. There would also be a jar of manna that was placed in the ark, and also the rod of Aaron, which would bud regularly with almonds. And all of this was to remind the children of Israel of God’s precepts, the law of God, God’s provision, the manna, and God’s power, which of course would be represented in the miracle working of the rod. Again, we don’t know if those… they were in there anymore. It does mean that the 10 commandments, those two slabs, couldn’t have been all that big. So… and it already had quite a history. But here’s the deal. The most important thing about the ark of the Covenant was that it represented the presence of God. It wasn’t God. It didn’t depict God. You don’t make an image of God. There’s actually a commandment against that. But that represented the presence of God. And as I mentioned, it’s already had quite a history. It’s gone through the Exodus into the wilderness of 40 years. Joshua used it, if you remember… remember the children of Israel, they made it out of the wilderness across the Jordan Sea. The priests were carrying his shoes, their feet touched… the water split… they walked around, walked through on dry land, and began conquering what we now know as Palestine or the nation of Israel. All of that took place with that ark.
But by the time of the judges… So, during the time of the period of the Judges, the ark became little more than a good luck charm. And so the wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas… remember, they brought it into a battle saying ‘It will save us!’ — and it didn’t save them. In fact, the Philistines defeated the Israelites in that battle and took the ark for themselves! I mean, it’s a crazy story! And remember, they brought it in their temple and put it before their fish god, Dagon. First day… they get up, they walk in the temple and Dagon’s laying before the ark… Pretty cool! Then, you know, they just like set that thing back up again. They come back the next day, Dagon, not only on his face, his arms, head broken off, complete… Listen, there’s only One true God. Amen? So all they have… And then, on top of that, they start breaking out in boils and cancer and all this stuff! ‘This thing is not good luck! ‘It’s bad luck… Let’s get rid of it!’ They put it on a cart. They put it on a cart with a cow that had just had a couple of calves hoping that thing would just knock the ark off on the way home, and send it back to Israel. Well, it didn’t knock the ark off. It took it right back to Israel where it would stay in the house… ’cause they didn’t have a home base then… of a Abinadab. He’s mentioned here, and he would have this ark in his house for 20 years… around his kids. Remember that.
But now it’s time… they’ve conquered Jerusalem. It’s the new capital. ‘Let’s bring that thing in. Let’s make a home for God,’ so to speak. And it’s a time to celebrate! And so David has it put on a cart… dumb idea! And I mean, after all, it is how the Philistines brought it to them. Pick it up in verse six.
2 Samuel 6:6-11
6 “And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. (In other words, it was starting to teeter so you do the thing that comes naturally, steady that thing)
7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.” (And the worship… stopped! And it was replaced by shock, and absolute horror and death!)
Verse 8. “And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.
9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?”
10 So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. (Apparently his house was right there, so into another house it goes)
11 And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.”
But what a question… I want to isolate and pull it out. This is David. This is David in all of his pathos, all of his emotion, all of his brokenness, he says, “How can the ark of the Lord come…” not to Israel, not to my people, but, what? — “to me.” Until you figure out how to personalize your relationship to God, you will never become a true worshipper. And David wants to know how it’s gonna come to me. It’s parked at Obed-edom’s house, and you notice he’s “blessed.” He’s blessed with the presence of the ark.
When our kids were little… and we had a lot of kids… so, when they would leave, or go to stay with somebody else for several days, we, our prayer was “Lord, make our children like the ark of the covenant in the house of an Israelite, and bless that family where they’re staying.” Pretty cool prayer, huh?
Only problem was this dude wasn’t an Israelite! He was a Gittite. Obed-edom was a Gittite, and the Gittites were historical, diabolical enemies of Israel. Goliath was a Gittite. But there were 600 of them, former enemies, now fervent followers of Jehovah. That’s pretty cool!
And it doesn’t matter where you have been and where you’re at right now. You may be an enemy of God, and some of you surely are, but God can turn you into a friend. He can make you a follower of His, like he did Obed-edom and other Gittites.
And David then sees the blessing of God upon Obed-edom’s home and his children, his family, all his stuff. And it’s only been there for three months… I mean, in three months. And so David says, ‘We gotta bring this thing back home,’ which takes us to verse 12.
2 Samuel 6:12-15
12 “And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
13 And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.
14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.
15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn.”
I emphasize it like that because please notice that the expressions of worship before the judgment… after the judgment… are exactly the same. Why am I telling you that? — Because God’s judgment on this situation on Uzzah had nothing to do with instrumentation, volume or expression of their worship. There’s not a hint, there’s not a hint of divine anger from God in their joy, leading right up to the moment of judgment of Uzzah. And when the ark three months later is brought into Jerusalem, David’s dancing before God is with… again, there’s no evidence that any of this displeased the Lord. In fact, verse 16:
2 Samuel 6:16-17, 21[22]
16 As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it…. “
Skip down to verse 21. And so what happens here is before… Michal confronts her husband. ‘You ought to be ashamed of yourself the way you paraded yourself and dancing and all that kind of… the servant girls are watching you pretty much exposing yourself. You should be ashamed of yourself!’ And David replies in verse 21:
21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, (that I was dancing) who chose me above your father (it’s a little jab there, her father being Saul) and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will celebrate before the LORD.
In fact he goes, ‘I’ll be even more undignified if I feel like it!’
[22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.”]
Michal was the first wife of David. You remember Saul said, ‘Anybody goes out there and does this great exploit… gives me 100 Philistine foreskins… David brings him 200! Don’t even go there, ’cause it’s like, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me!” And, so he… ‘I’ll give you my daughter, Michal,’ which is what he does, but by then Saul is so insanely… and I do mean insane-ly!… jealous of David that he begins to attack him. David has to flee and Saul gives Michal to another man, Paltiel. And apparently married to Paltiel for like 10 years. There’s a pathetic scene.
Remember, last time we were together, Abner was the general of the army of the North, and David was in the South and Joab was his general, and Abner is negotiating to unite the kingdom. Remember, his motives weren’t good, but David said ‘Abner, I’ll tell you, I’ll know it’s real, I know you mean business, if you give me my original wife to me, take her from whoever that dude she’s been with and give her to me… and he does it! He literally rips her away from Paltiel who… they’ve been married for a decade! — and gives her to David. And literally the scene is, Paltiel is literally behind them just pleading, pleading for his wife that has to go away. It’s pathetic. It’s sad. it’s wrong! All that takes place.
And I’m telling you that because David’s dance and Michal’s little, you know, her little shot against him… David’s dance is not what caused Michal to despise him. She despised him all along. But despising his worship before God, is why you never hear from her again!
Listen, God loves to be worshiped. He loves to be worshiped with our minds, with our hearts, with our voices, and all of the instrumentation we can sew into it. But worship stops. Worship stops… when I’m harboring sin. The Psalmist goes like this:
‘If I regard, if I cherish, if I harbor, iniquity within me, the Lord will not hear me.’
[Psalm 66:18 ESV
18 “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”]
Have you ever heard that? It’s very similar… Isaiah the prophet says something later on when he says… We’ve shared this before in a message recently:
‘The Lord’s arm is not so short that it cannot save, his ear, not so heavy that He can’t hear you, but your sins have separated you from your God so that He will not hear…’ and your worship will stop.
[Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV]
1 “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;”
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”]
Some of you right now are… you’re harboring, you’re cherishing some sin in your life, and you wonder why your worship is so vanilla is because you’re not doing anything about forsaking
that sin. And that’s what you need to do… realize your worship has stopped, and it’s not gonna come back until you do what we’re told.
[1 John 1:9] “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“
Hallelujah! But if you’re harboring sin… it all stops.
Secondly, your worship stops, and… this is the one that’s gonna sting even more for some of you. When I remember an offense, I have not attempted to reconcile…
Right now… right now as I speak, some of you, and some of you watching online… there’s somebody in your life, there’s some man, there’s some woman, there’s some couple that you have an issue with or they have an issue with you, and you know it. It’s there… just always there. It’s the only thing you can think about. In fact, somebody invokes their name… (grunts!) because something happened between you. It might have been big. It might have been really, really small. It might be something in between, but it’s caused variance with you, and you’ve done nothing to reconcile. And if that’s your case, if that’s you, your worship has stopped. It’s not real. This is why Paul said in Romans 12 and verse 18:
‘As much as depends upon you be it peace amongst all men.’
[Romans 12:18 ESV, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.“]
So there is a sense in which if you jump through every hoop and they still don’t want to reconcile, it’s not on you anymore. It’s on them. But if you haven’t done that, if you haven’t done everything you can to reconcile that ought that you have with that individual, do something. Start today, because you say… ‘Where are you basing this whole business in my worshiping style?’ I’ll tell you… from Jesus. How’s that? In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:
‘If you bring your gift to the altar and there… (where is there? — there at the altar) in the presence of God, while I’m worshiping, there remember someone who has ought against me or whatever, leave your gift at the altar,’ Jesus says. ‘Go back and reconcile, then come back and present the gift.’
[Matthew 5:23-24
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”]
Have you read that? And that’s exactly what some of you need to do. Right now in some of your hearts, a light’s going off. Like that’s the reason everything’s been so vanilla with me, because it’s not vanilla with them. So your worship stops when you’re harboring sin, remembering an offense you’ve not attempted to reconcile.
Then when my expressions are at the expense of truth… and we’re gonna build on this a little bit… David’s praise wasn’t the problem. David’s dancing wasn’t the problem. All of the instrumentation wasn’t the problem. The volume wasn’t the problem. The problem was that God’s law, Exodus 25, clearly described and prescribed the way that ark was to be transported by what we call today a palanquin.
A palanquin, and you’ve seen it… I mean, in ancient times kings have been carried on palanquins. You’ve seen pictures, you’ve seen depictions of that. You have servants all around these poles. The king’s in the middle. It symbolizes royalty, and it makes sense, because the roads in Palestine were not… they weren’t paved. They’re potholes and undulation. And a palanquin with four people around it. That was like a natural shock absorber. You put them on a cart. You hit a pothole it’s gonna tip… which is exactly what happened! That was the way it was prescribed.
And here’s the point, all of your expressions, all of your praise, all of your noise, all of your hand raising means nothing if it’s at the expense of the truth of God. You never, never, never untether yourself from this book. This is the truth of God. Now, don’t become real heady. Don’t become an academic. When that’s all you’re doing is studying truth. The results of your study should be genuine, fervent, worship, however that looks in your life. But these two have to be intention, right?
Well, that moves us to, what is true worship? So… this isn’t thorough… but it’s good enough for today, okay? True worship requires a true understanding of the Gospel. When Jesus was interacting with that woman at the well, He said something epic. Everyone here should have this memorized. Every… this is one of those verses every Christian should know.
[John 4:24] “”God is spirit,” (He said) “and those who worship Him must worship in (what?) spirit (that’s your attitude, that’s your motivation, that’s your heart, that’s your feelings, those are your expressions, that’s everything you want to give back to God, and to give Him the glory, and… what?) truth.” (the Word of God, the untethered Word of God)
They are held in tension. The woman at the well was completely messed up in her beliefs. And Jesus was telling her that her tender spirit needed to align itself with truth. The Gospel declares there’s only one way to heaven. There’s only one. There’s not fifteen. There’s not even two. There’s only one. And Jesus said,
[John 14:6] “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Amen?
[Acts 4:12] “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be (what? — we must be) saved.”
So true worship requires a true understanding of the Gospel. Secondly, true worship requires coming to God… God’s way. So listen, if Uzzah’s death disturbs you, so might other radical deaths in the Bible disturb you.
Several years ago it really… just in my time in God’s word, I realized that at almost every epic moment in the history of Israel… I don’t mean certain dispensation, but just epic moments and I’ll illustrate it from scripture here in a moment… God would do something radical, something shocking, something, ‘Oh my goodness! Why would you do that?‘ — like with Uzzah’s. I mean, when you read Uzzah’s dying, I mean, the first time you read that, I’m guessing many of you thought, ‘Wow, Lord! I mean, chill out! I mean, all he’s doing is steadying the ark here.’ But they were about to begin a whole new time of worship in the Jerusalem, David’s city.
But if that bothers you, it might bother you when Nadab and Abihu, remember them… sons of Aaron? Leviticus 10, they… all the elaboration of all the preparation, all the sacrifices, all the garments made, all the stuff for the tent, all this takes place. And finally, these two dudes are dressed as the new priests at the beginning, the very first service. They do something on their own. They offer strange fire and God kills them right there in the spot! It’s very shocking!
Or after the law is initiated, right after the law is initiated… Leviticus 24… this guy blasphemes the name of the Lord. He uses the name God, Jehovah, in a vain way, like some of you, ‘Oh, God!’ — And he’s brought before God’s people. God said, ‘You know what you do to him? You kill him!’ And they stoned him right there.
And not long thereafter, We’re told in Numbers 15, there’s a guy, he’s picking up sticks on the Sabbath. He’s working on the Sabbath. They pull him in. ‘What do we do? You stone him!’ —and they did!
And one, more familiar to some of you. Remember when Joshua, using the Ark of the Covenant, that is going before the people of Israel, they crossed the Jordan, they go to that impenetrable city of Jericho, they go around it multiple times, and they were specifically told, ‘You don’t spare anything. It all gets wiped out.’ But Achan sees gold, silver, a Babylonian garment, keeps them for himself, hides it in his tent. His whole family is in on the gig, and God exposes him. They’re about ready to go in, and it’s a whole new era that’s going to enter into the period of judges and kings, and God has them stoned. And you’re like, ‘Well, I’m glad. I’m glad that’s the Old Testament.’ I’m glad I won’t live back in those days. Okay, let’s go to the New Testament.
So the church begins, and thousands are getting saved. And there’s a couple that shows up, and they see that there’s another guy that gets honored for giving everything to God. And they say, ‘Hey, here’s the belongings to our home. We sold it all.’ They actually kept back. In fact, the word “kept back” in Greek is the word we get our word “embezzle” from. And Peter sees right through it. He says:
[Acts 5] ‘You say you’ve given everything but you kept… you could have done it your own way, but you lied to us. You didn’t lie to us. You just lied to God! And guess what’s gonna happen to you?’ Both Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead!
Now my guess is there’s been plenty of hypocrisy in the church since then, and maybe by some of you, and you ain’t dropping dead… yet. God, at the beginning of epic periods does epic things, shocking things even. I call it the law of holy beginnings where at the beginning of an era, God shows how serious he takes sin. Now the psalmist says:
[Psalm 145:18] “The LORD is near to all who call on Him, (Don’t you love that? Amen? You’re not amenin’ too much here. But you’re right, because we’d love to just isolate that. “The LORD is near to everybody who calls on Him.” Hmmm. No! He balances it) to all who call on Him in (what?) truth.”
So there has to be… there isn’t just emotion. It’s spirit and truth, right? We don’t get to make up our own way to come to God. If we did, we’d figure out a way to make it about ourselves. And, by the way, if it troubles you, that by God’s… if you’re troubled by God’s actions at the beginning of all those eras, consider this. God started His Church by crucifying… he didn’t just kill… by allowing His Son to be publicly crucified! And there’s never been a more shocking event in the history of man. That’s how serious God takes sin.
So true worship requires understanding the Gospel, coming to God God‘s way, and finally, it requires avoiding the familiarity that often leads to contempt. Uzzah reached out and steadied the ark. Why would he do that? Well, it was because it was a natural thing to do. Well, it’s not just that. Uzzah was the son of Abinadab. The ark had been in the house of Abinadab for over 20 years. Some think when you put it all together it might have been closer to 40 or more. The dude literally grew up around the ark. He grew up around the ark. It was always there. And familiarity, sadly, led to some kind of contempt in his life toward that which represented the holiness of God! You don’t just mamzy pamzy walk into the presence of God. You need help. Amen?
We had a Bible growing up that was on the ledge, banister sort of leading up, and it was just always there. I walked by it every day several times a day and never gave a thought about it. Every now and then I’d stop and I’d open it up like, ‘Hmm.’ Never studied it. It was just a little relic. It just became familiar.
And some of you, the way you act familiar to God, if you call God ‘the Old Man Upstairs,’ ‘the Big Guy,’ ‘the Boss,’ not only are you being irreverent, but you are totally acting way too familiar with Him. You’re not that familiar!
We can get that way about Christmas, can’t we? Christmas… What’s Christmas about? ‘Well, Christmas is about children and family and giving.’ And I’d say that is absolutely true, all of the above. But if you get it right and you begin with Jesus, then when you’re talking about children, then you realize ‘as many as received them to them, gave you the power to become the children of God.’
[John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”]
… You become a child of God!
And if you think about family, remember the time when His mom and His brother and sisters were outside of a house while Jesus was preaching, and someone said, ‘Hey, Your mom, Your family’s here.’ He said, ‘Who is my mom? Who are my brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of God. They‘re my mother and my brother and my sisters.’ Right? [Matthew 12:46-50]
And if you do the will of God, you join the family of God.
And when it comes to giving, what more can be said, praise be to God for His indescribable gift which is Jesus Christ! And when you believe you receive mercy.
Listen, the most important thing, the most important thing about that ark was the gold lid on top of it. That was called “the Mercy Seat” where the blood would be sprinkled once a year, cover up the sins of Israel for a year and, then get out. God told the Israelites, [Exodus 25:22] ‘It’s there that I’m going to meet you.’ There. Where is ‘there?’ ‘The Mercy Seat is where I will meet you.’
In the New Testament… it’s one of my favorite personal passages. I shared it with some friends just the other day. In first John chapter two, John says:
1 John 2:1-2
1 (My little technion…) “My little children, (my little born ones) I write these things to you so that you won’t sin.’
2 But if you do sin, (Oh, I love that! Little… safety valve here… if you do sin) we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. (Who is the, what? Anybody know the next word? The… some Bibles say the atoning sacrifice. If you have the E.S.V. it says…) He is the propitiation…” (When is the last time you used that word in a sentence?) “He is the propitiation for our sins.“
You know what that word [propitiation] “Hilasmos” means? ?????????. There’s your Greek word right there. That word, “hilasmos,” literally means “Mercy Seat.” That’s what it means. He is the Mercy Seat of our sins. The only place that God will ever meet you will be at His Mercy Seat. It was true then. It’s true now, and His Mercy Seat is the cross of Jesus Christ where He shed His blood, not to cover it up for a year, but forever, if… you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe in His death for your sins, which is what we’re gonna reflect upon in a few moments. [communion] And if you believe He rose victoriously from the grave proving everything He ever said was true, you will have mercy and you can become a true worshiper. Let’s bow for a word of prayer.
Our Father, we desire to be true worshippers, and we pray that You would help us to that end. We come to You and we come to You in the only way we can come to You, through Your Son, Jesus, the only way to You, Lord, and by way of His Mercy Seat, the cross of Christ. Lord, I pray that You would help us to examine ourselves in these next few moments. Reveal the things that stop our worship. Some of us are harboring sin. Some of us have an issue we need to deal with with someone, a friend, or a former friend, and we haven’t done everything we ought to do. And those people are coming to our minds right now. And I pray that even in these moments, as we take the Lord’s Table, we would commit ourselves to You to do what we have to do, and to not take things so for granted. We’re familiar to… familiarity breeds contempt. Be glorified Lord. Save those who are in this room watching online who’ve never been to the Mercy Seat, the Cross of Christ, where you can find mercy and salvation. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen. [Music]