Over a number of decades of recent, in the evangelical church, there's been discussions as what is appropriate in worship. In fact, in evangelical circles, they often have referred to this, at least in the clergy, as worship wars. What should take place in worship? Well, this afternoon we're not here to try to figure out what we should be doing in worship, but discovering what is it the Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Father, is seeking in His worship. It's important that we grasp what it is to truly worship God. Because when we use certain words, we don't always understand the significance of them. I'll give you an illustration right off the beginning. Oftentimes, we use the word church, which is a religious word, right? Christians use it regularly. If you hear the word church, what comes to mind? Well, without the context, you're kind of wondering, well, what's he talking about? Is it the building that we often refer to, or is it church the people? But then when we go back to the roots of this word in the scriptures, we find there's no place in the scriptures that refer to the building as church, but rather the people. And the very literal interpretation of the Greek word is the called out ones of God. Those are the church, the people of God. And when it comes to this word worship, oftentimes we'll see as we go by buildings, they'll have posted the times for their worship services. And when you think of worship, oftentimes people have come to mind, well, what takes place in worship? Oh, there's some joyous singing, and there's a gifted speaker who's before the people who's explaining certain things to them, and there's certain things that go on in worship. But not much emphasis is made on service. Because service has what? for most people in our day, a negative connotation. That means work, that means labor, that means it's going to be difficult. Did you all come to serve today? To work at this? What is this worship service? Well, the scriptures speak of a worship service. For example, the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 12, after having spent the whole larger portion of his epistle describing the privilege and joy that we have as saints of being justified through the blood, shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, he says in the beginning of chapter 12, he says, therefore, Therefore, what? I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And that word that Paul, by the Spirit, chose to speak to us in this portion of God's communication is a word that signifies service that is characterized by worship. It's a word that means to serve as so as to worship. It's the word that was used regarding the labors of the priest in the tabernacle and also in the temple in the Old Testament worship. It wasn't the word that we would use and often relate to, oh, a slave or a servant laboring in a field, but this word is distinctly referred to worship, serving God in worship. It's what God desires for a redeemed people. If you remember the story in the Old Testament of Moses, one day he's out tending sheep and he sees this bush burning. And it catches his attention because he goes over to it because it's burning but it's not being consumed. And there God reveals to Moses that he intends for Moses to go into Egypt and to bring his people out. And as you remember the story, Moses is very intimidated by the thought that he would be called to be this one to bring God's people out. And God tells Moses on that occasion, He says, and this will be a sign that I have done this, that you will bring the people out to this mountain to serve me. And we read later on in Exodus chapter 7 when Moses finally gets up the courage by God's grace to go with his brother Aaron and to call on Pharaoh to let God's people go. His call to Pharaoh is that you're to let my people go that they might worship me in the wilderness, that they might serve me in the wilderness. You see, it's Moses' call. It's the purpose for which God would redeem a people that they might serve him in the wilderness. And it's God's purpose as we see in Deuteronomy chapter 10. when he's sending his people into the promised land. And he reminds them in verse 12, what is it that God requires of thee? Do you know what God requires of you? It's the same of his people in the Old Testament. And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee? But to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. And the word here for serve is this same word. When the Hebrews translate it into the Greek Old Testament, it's this same word. A service of worship is what God desires of you. Yes, he wants you to reverence him because that's where worship is gonna come from. He wants you to walk in his ways because that'll be a demonstration of your reverence of your God. And he would have you to love him. It's not a servile worship or service, but it's a service that flows out of someone who loves the Lord with all their heart. This is what God desires and this is what the Lord makes clear when in sending forth his son to redeem a people to himself. He makes it clear that he saved us in order that we might worship him. You think that beautiful passage in Paul's letter to the Ephesians in the first chapter where he describes us being chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. And in that first chapter, you hear this repeated theme going on, that you might be to the praise of His glory. To the praise of His glory. You are a redeemed people to the praise of His glory. And the author of Hebrews echoes that same when he says in chapter 13 and verse 15, by him referring to Christ, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. This afternoon, I'm going to be seeking to direct our thoughts to the public worship of God, because that is the centerpiece of worship of God. Though, it's very clear that the worship God desires is not something that we turn on on the Lord's Day and we turn it off the rest of the week. This is what He desires daily throughout the living of our lives, that He would be glorified. But it's distinctly important that it occur when God's people are assembled. Because why? We've announced to the world, we got a service, a worship service going on. A worship service. We are about giving glory to our God. And so as we examine the text that we have selected for this afternoon, it's John 4, Verses 23 and 24. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers 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. Our Father in heaven is seeking true worshipers. But if we're to identify who he's seeking, we must first of all identify what true worship is. And when we hear what he says here in this verse, that the true worship is that which is in spirit and truth, it's very easy to go off to what does it mean to be in spirit and what does it mean to be in truth, and miss the main point that's being made, and that is worship. What is worship? That's giving obeisance. That is extolling with a delight and a joy that flows out of our hearts. And you see, it's very easy for those of us too, who have said, well, we believe that we're doing all the things in worship that God says that we should be doing. And we're not doing some of the things that other people are doing and saying they're doing it for the Lord, but he hasn't prescribed it. But you see, you can be here doing everything that God has prescribed and not be worshiping God. because at the heart of worship is a heart that adores the Lord, that comes with an offering of praise and thanksgiving and delight and joy in your God. The idea of obeisance conveys the idea of someone coming into the presence of another and falling down, as it were, and kissing the feet of that individual. We see it illustrated in the gospel. We see it illustrated in that woman who comes to Jesus and with her tears, weeping, she washes Jesus' feet and dries his feet with her tears. We see over and over again in various accounts in the gospels of people coming to Jesus, even though they didn't fully understand his divinity, and yet they reverenced him in such a way that they come and they fall at his feet. That woman with issue of blood, when she reaches out and touches his garment, and she's healed. And Jesus says, who touched me? The gospel tells us she comes and she falls at his feet. Jairus, Jesus is on the way to Jairus' house because he's been asked to come and to heal. And Jairus comes and Jairus, a ruler, comes and falls at Jesus' feet. We see this happening over and over again throughout the gospel. Worship will not take place, beloved. unless we come with adoring hearts to worship God, with hearts prepared to give glory to Him, there will be a display, a display of reverence and delight. And it's not just, oh, we're going to fall down on our knees, or as we do, we stand up to reverence God's presence. But you see, He won't be worshiped unless it flows out of your heart. As I reflected on this, the thought came to me that probably one of the difficulties that makes worship less than what it should be is that we don't fully understand the promise of our Savior. We hear it, we know what the words say, we say, this is what He said, but we don't really believe it, it takes place. In Matthew chapter 18, our Lord Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their presence. You see, if we come into this room and we don't comprehend that Christ is present here by His Spirit. We're probably going to fail at worship. Because it's more like we're going to talk historically about what Christ did 2,000 years ago. We're going to talk about what He did for other people. We're going to talk about His relationship with the disciples, and we're not going to fully grasp that Jesus is here with you. here right now. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? If everybody out of this room was gone except two of us, Jesus would still be here if we were here, met together in His name. And you see, if we don't literally believe that, I think it'll be a huge hindrance to us ever reverence Him Because who worships somebody who's not there? Oh, you might think, well, the Father is wanting to have our worship, and somewhere out beyond creation, He hears what we're doing, and that's true, He does. But when you still think of Him as being way off, it's sort of like what we read from the Holy Scriptures about the people saying about their creator. He doesn't know. He doesn't understand. It's like he's distant, he's detached. Beloved, if we're gonna worship with that kind of reverence and joy and delight, you must understand that Jesus keeps his word. He's here. Then, you see, we can talk about the clauses that go, the phrases that go along with doing obeisance, following at his feet and honoring him because you need to do it in spirit. You can't be cold and detached and indifferent to his worship. You're going to be spirited. You're going to be lively. You're going to be vital in your worship because you realize he's called for people who will worship him in spirit. And yes, you'll be concerned about what do we do when we worship like we do as a denomination. We want to do what God has prescribed for his worship. And so we're gonna worship him, not only in spirit with a zeal for him, but we're gonna worship him in the manner he said he wants to be worshiped in truth. So it's very important that we understand that there must be, there must be this falling at the feet of the Lord, or we didn't worship God when we came today. A sense of holy reverence and awe. Now, that's what worship is. What is worship? But then we have to say, well, who is it that the Father is seeking? Well, it's those who do this. Who are the true worshipers? Let's identify true worshipers. And we could say much because we could say what a true worshiper would do at home, in bed, at night, and we can talk about what a true worshiper would do all the six days of the week outside the Lord's day, but for our limited time together this afternoon, we're gonna try to focus in in part what it must happen when we've assembled ourselves to worship God. What do true worshipers do? Let's think about the worship service then. And I'm gonna use the first person pronoun to make certain statements regarding the worship. And I'm doing this deliberately because I'm hoping that it won't be just me talking to you, but it'll be your own heart talking to yourself. And so I would say, if I believe that Christ is present here, I will sing his songs both to him and for him as appropriate. Singing his praise is essential to true worship. God has commanded that when we assemble ourselves, as we called one another to worship with Psalm 100, what did we say? That we would serve him with gladness. We come into his presence with singing. That's the call to worship. We don't just do this because, oh, we got an order of worship and it's time to sing another Psalm portion. It's time to sing another Psalm. No, if we're here doing worship, we are, enthralled with the idea that God's given me a song to sing, and I'm gonna sing it to his glory. And when you sing that, you see, he's also said in Psalm 47, and I read a portion of it to you, and I'll read it again. In Psalm 47, it says, verse six, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises unto our king, sing praises, verse seven. For God is King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding." This is very, very important as I try to encourage you, beloved, and myself to give true worship to God. How many times in our experience in worship have we picked up a Psalter and we've mouthed the words and they didn't come out of our own heart? as expressing praise to God. God is saying we need and must, if we're going to worship him the way he intends to be worshipped, that we sing with understanding. Singing with understanding is a labor. that we do in worship. Because it takes labor unless you've gotten to, like some of our saints in Scotland who have the Psalter memorized, you're having to think your way as you sing, do you not? Or else you're just going through and mouthing the words. Because the way the Lord and His sovereignty has planned His Psalter, as you're going through a psalm, and many of the psalms it's just the case, at one moment He's given you words that are, we're to sing to each other. In another moment, there's words there that are intended for us to address our Lord himself in person. And if you're not singing with understanding, you're just there mouthing words. And you aren't speaking from your heart to those who are assembled with you. We're not to forsake the assembly because we're to encourage one another to love and good deeds. You're not encouraging the person next to you with the words. nor at the appropriate time necessarily singing the words to the Lord. Let me illustrate to make sure that I'm clear with what I'm saying here. You see, part of the Psalms are gonna be directly addressed to the Lord, and we can identify this when we say, Psalm 5, give ear to my words, O Lord. In the morning you will hear my voice. When you say, give ear to my words, Lord, who are you speaking to? Well, that's not to the person next to you. They're not your Lord. The Lord's your Lord. Psalm 25, to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 27 speaks of the sacrifice of joy. I will sing praises unto the Lord. It's speaking of us giving praise, where we sing, I'm like a deer panting for the waters brought. So my soul thirsts after you, O God. If we're worshiping Him in sincerity, we're telling Him that's the condition of our heart. When we're singing to one another, And that New Testament speaks of this in some, I mean, in Ephesians chapter five, in verse 19, it says, speaking to yourselves in Psalms, speaking to yourselves, it's the one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. You see, it's expressive of singing to the Lord, but also admonishing one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's the nature of singing the praise of the Lord. So if we are going to labor at worship, you see, it involves understanding of what you're singing and singing with a purpose which you can see the Lord intends for you. If we don't do this with understanding, if all we do is mouth the words, you remember the words that we read from the Lord in Isaiah 29? The Lord says, for inasmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me. If we're not actually serving the purpose for which he's called us to serve, you're saying you love him, but you're not necessarily doing what you say. It's a service that we bring when we sing to one another and to the Lord. But let me move on because there are similarities in the other part of the service. If I believe that Christ is present, I will listen attentively to the Word of God when it's read. If I believe Christ is present. When the word of God is read in the public assembly, it's Christ speaking to his people. It's not just some minister standing up in the front and reading out a book. You're Bible-believing people. You believe what God says in his word. If you're discussing your Bible with somebody, what are you gonna say? It's the word of God. Well, then when it's read, should it not be the word of God? Is that not God speaking to you? Do you just turn on to certain parts that you like and indifferent to other parts as if that's not the Word of God? No, it's all God's Word. It may have a more special purpose in your particular life and what you're experiencing when certain portions of it seem to jump out of the page and grab you regarding something you're struggling with in life. Something you believe the Holy Spirit is addressing in your life both to encourage you of God's love and to, at times, convict you of sin. But the reading of word is surely the Word of God. God speaking. It's not just a public reading of a book. God tells us in Psalm 78, verse 1, Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. You're capturing what true worship is about? It's not just a reading, but it's inclining your ear. I mean, to illustrate, oftentimes, either whether we have children or we've been a child and we've experienced this, it's still, you'd understand. How many times do parents speak to a child And they hear every word out of the parents' mouth, but it's like they heard nothing at all. It went in, as we say, one ear and out the other. We must not let that happen at the reading of God's word. In fact, Jesus, when he gives the parable of the sower and the seed, describes that hardened pathway soil as where the word comes and the devil comes and snatches away and there's no trace of it left. There's no fruit bearing. There must be fruit bearing. He's called us to listen attentively to his words. He actually expects a response when you hear God's word read to you. Let me illustrate this. You may want to even turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 27 and verse 26. In Deuteronomy 27, there's a whole list of commandments God's given to his people, and he's calling forth a response from the people as he gives the commands. But particularly at verse 26, you can see this so clearly. Verse 26, at the reading of God's word, it's read, cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. He's saying there's a curse on those who would hear the words and just ignore them. But then the latter part of the verse tells us what God's expected response from us would be. The last part of the verse says, and this is God's command for our response to the reading of his word, and all the people shall say, what's the word? Amen. I agree. In my heart, I confirm what God's saying. I agree with him. See, we're satanists if we're simple-minded in our worship. We think only time you give amens is when you end a prayer. But here God's saying, here's a command, I've told you to listen to my word, and when the word is through, you say, Amen. I agree with it. It's so important that you agree with what God has to say at the reading of His word. But let's move on, because the time's getting away from us. Christ is present. What will my response be to the preaching of God's word? What will my response be to the preaching of God's word? And here's the dangerous one, beloved. Here's the dangerous one. Because so often we are tempted when we assemble for worship and the preaching begins, that you take on the role of a movie critic. Now, you're probably wondering, what is he talking about? A movie critic listens to the performance, right? And then they publish their evaluation of the performance afterwards so that people can read what they thought of what was shared. And the danger when there's the preaching of the word of God that you listen to the preacher is if you are to evaluate and approve or disapprove of what he has to say. And you forget that not only has he been called to be your minister, But the only reason the biblical sense he's been called to be your minister is because he's first of all been called to be Christ's minister. And when the minister preaches, he's delivering the message of the Lord. Now there's a problem because all of us know we've heard preachers say things that simply aren't biblically true. And so there's that temptation to evaluate what the preacher is saying. Well, see, that's part of what God intends in worship to take place. It's kind of beautiful when you look at Acts chapter 17, and we have in Acts 17, God commending the Bereans. And I trust most of us know what I'm about to say, and I'm referring to. The Bereans were commended by the Holy Spirit, and it's recorded in the history of the early church that they were more to be praised than the Macedonians, or I'm sorry, than the Thessalonians, because they went home and examined to see whether what Paul was telling was true or not. They're commended for that by the Holy Spirit. Now, if we put on our understanding and we go back into the Scriptures again, and we come to what the Holy Spirit said regarding the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 13, you know they're commended? You know what they're commended for? When they heard the words coming out of this human servant of the Lord, they received them as if it were the word of the Lord. Now, with our human reasoning, we'd say, well, surely the Bereans must be a less godly people. Because the Thessalonians are commended because they heard Paul and his companions speak and they heard it as if God were speaking straight to them. Now, here comes these Bereans and they're questioning, is this really what God said when they hear Paul, the same speaker? How do we put that together? My understanding of it is, and you can go home and wrestle with it in the Word and the Holy Spirit as well, our attitude when the preacher is preaching is, this is Christ speaking to us. And when something comes up in your mind, the portion of God's Word that you have committed to memory in your own mind, because you have read God's Word and you have heard God's Word spoken, and you know, to a certain degree, the truth, even as the preacher, to a certain degree, knows the truth. And if something you hear coming forth from the preacher's mouth doesn't sit right with you, you go home and you examine the Scriptures like a good Berean. to see if the Lord said this because he's the Lord's servant. And you have to search the Scriptures to see it's true. And we're not told that the Bereans went home and found something that Paul had said wrong. They went home and confirmed what Paul had spoken to them. You see, this is the attitude. If you're going to understand that Christ is present, speaking to his people, and he's using his servant to speak to you, to expound and explain certain things from his word, then you must come to worship with that kind of understanding that the preaching is God speaking to you. Now, that's very hard if you were to go to a congregation where the minister opens up the newspaper and makes his message based on the latest copy of the news that he's seen come out. Because the preacher is only given commission by Christ to communicate what Christ has given to his church, and that's in the word of God. But you see, it's important then that we consider in worship how we pay attention to the preaching. And it's not to evaluate, oh, did the preacher do a good job today? That puts you back in the critic's chair. But rather, what did Christ say to you through his sermon? And there's a real danger, you see, that you can be and I can be like in the days of Ezekiel, when God's people are wanting to appear to be a religious and a biblically correct people, and yet their worship is not at all what it's supposed to be. In Ezekiel chapter 33, the Lord speaks to Ezekiel the prophet, may this not be true of us. The Lord says to Ezekiel, thou son of man, the children of thy people are still talking about thee by the wet walls and in the doors of the houses. But you know, a good preacher is gonna be talked about. I trust you're talking to other people about, you need to come and hear the Lord speak through our minister. He faithfully shares the word of God with us. and you talk about him, you need to come because that's exactly what the Lord is saying to Ezekiel. These people speak to one another, everyone to his brother saying, come I pray you and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they don't even say the word that comes forth from Ezekiel. They say the word that comes forth from the Lord. They understand that God's servant, God's minister is speaking God's word to them. But the Lord goes on to speak this sad message. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them. You see, that's the danger. The preached word gets preached, and it goes in one ear and out the other. Ten minutes after the service, we can't even remember what the Lord shared. We go home and we live our lives as if we not heard the Lord speak at all. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them It's a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear thy words, but they do not do." That's heartbreaking, isn't it? Sadly, it describes us on certain days. Our Heavenly Father is seeking a people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. There's more to worship and what I'm covering this afternoon. There's one more section I would share with you. If I believe that Christ is present in the assembly of His people, I will do the hard work of listening to the words spoken in the public prayers offered in the worship assembly. Corporate prayer is very, very important. But we need to understand what corporate prayer is all about. Part of what motivated me to lay hold on this passage was coming from the role of being the minister of the congregation and leading in public prayer. Coming and sitting in the pew with the rest of you and listening to someone else lead me in corporate prayer. And I conclude, you know, it really is a worship service because it takes a lot of hard work to do that. It really does. When someone else is leading in prayer, it's not like the Bible reading. You can open up your Bible and follow along the scriptures and you can stay very attuned to what's being read. But when someone else is leading in prayer, it's so easy when you don't have your eyes locked into what he's going to say next. be thinking, oh, what do I need to get at the grocery store tomorrow? What's going to happen at work this week? What problem was I dealing with someone in a relationship? Your brain can go all over the place. And you're not praying. Because just like at the reading of God's word that you're supposed to say amen when it's over, at the prayers, the corporate prayers of God's people, you're supposed to say amen as well. I don't mean necessarily out loud, but if you are praying in corporate prayer, your heart will cry out to Lord, amen. Now you see, there's a problem with this because if you're not paying attention, Or if you're sort of paying attention, like the movie critic role, where you're letting the preacher do the prayers, and since you didn't notice anything funny that he said, and I don't mean funny like laugh at it, but I mean odd, strange, something you don't agree with, well, you'll just go wait till the end and amen. But what about maybe a quarter of it or half of it where your mind was wandering somewhere else and you don't have a clue what he said? You see what I'm saying? And I know it because I've sat where you're sitting. And I see how hard it is to keep myself attuned when somebody else is praying. You know, you can let your mind legitimately go to other things. The pastor can be praying for someone sick and you may know a number of details about this person's illness such that you're adding to the words that are coming out of the pastor's mouth. Because you can think a lot faster in the mouth than the pastor can speak. And so you can add to the prayers and you can enhance the prayers as you're pleading at the throne of grace. But the Lord has told us that He desires corporate prayer and that means As we acknowledge that he's present in the room with us, Matthew 18 teaches us that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, that same portion that the Holy Spirit's preserved for us, that Matthew 18, 19 says, Jesus says, again I say unto you, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Corporate prayer is important because God intends for his people to plead before his throne together. And we need to understand that very clearly. You see, if you don't have a clear understanding of that and you really need to go get a drink of water or go to the restroom, you failed to make advantage of going to the restroom for worship, when are you going to go? Well, I'll go out slightly when the prayer's on because that's not all that important. What is it? Or I'll slip out where the reading of the Word's going on, because that's not really all that important that I hear it, you know. If he's reading the Word, obviously it's the faithful Word, and I don't have to pass judgment on it, I can just go to the restroom. But you see, if it's worship in the Lord's presence, you wouldn't walk out. Many of us who would worship walk out during, and sometimes there's emergencies where you have to go, so beloved, I'm not condemning that. But if you were in a wedding service, you'd probably say, well, I'm not gonna go out and walk out in the middle of this. But when something becomes commonplace to you, and you're not viewing Christ being present, you're walking out of his presence. we're led to have a very sloppy attitude towards worship. And how can we say amen at the end of the prayer if we don't know what was being offered? The Lord actually addresses it, and I think a lot of times we tend to overlook this. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, it's describing the spiritual gifts which are no longer being followed because these were leading up to the day when they were temporary gifts, that they're no longer functioning in the church today. But there's a truth that's put forth here. At verse 16, 1 Corinthians 14, he says, else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say amen at the giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? See, they were speaking in tongues, and it was a language that the people and other people in the pews didn't understand. They couldn't understand what this person speaking in tongues was saying. unless they had the gift of interpretation. And then, as that person was praying in a tongue, then they could understand what was being said, and they could say amen. And that's why the Lord prescribed for that church in Corinth, if there's gonna be speaking in tongues, there must be an interpretation, or else keep silent. Because why? It's corporate prayer. Everyone has to say amen. And how can he do it if he doesn't have a clue what you said? Corporate prayer is important, brother. God's saying that there's something special when two of us are in agreement together before the throne of Christ. It's not just, well, I can just go home and pray. No, he's called us to pray when we're assembled together. It's important. We could say more about other things that are in part of worship and coming to the Lord's table and even the practice of church discipline and the assembly of God's people. Let it suffice what I've shared with you today. I trust it's getting us to think about this very important issue. Our Heavenly Father's saying that He is seeking true worshipers. who will worship Him in spirit and truth. Not just go through the motions, but come filled up with a sense of God's love for you in Christ Jesus. That woman who was kissing Jesus' feet and bathing His feet with her tears, she was in love with the Savior because she knew what it was to be forgiven much. And if you come armed to worship with a remembrance of what your heavenly father has done for you, and sending his son into this world to die for your sins, and you're aware of how much you have sinned and offended your heavenly father from your childhood to the present, and you have this terrible concern that you're gonna do more of it until you reach heaven, but that your Lord has done the most marvelous thing for you, and shedding his own blood for your soul. This is what motivates love and the love that's necessary in order to bring a proper service of worship to the Lord. May the Lord give us grace to realize that he's calling us to that kind of labor. If you've taken what I've shared this afternoon because it's pushing you to do more in worship than you've done of recent perhaps, what I'm talking about is a kind of labor that is a labor that you do joyously. At the lunch table, some of us men were talking and I was mentioning how my dad worked us very hard. we oftentimes put in in the summertime, 14-hour days. Some of the labor we did was really intensive. Your muscles ache from it, and yet we could turn it into a fun and joyous experience. Well, this labor that God's called us to is a labor. He said that we are all priests unto God. That's part of your calling as one in Christ Jesus. You've been called to a holy priesthood to bring glory and wonder and praise and adoration and bless your God for what he's done for you. And at times it's gonna be seemingly hard, but it's our goal to come with a heart of love, a heart of joy. Come into His presence with singing. Serve the Lord with gladness. You see, that's what we're getting ready to do. It's practice for heaven. You know, some foolish young Christians will say, oh, I just can't wait till I get to heaven, because there's going to be that great ball game in the sky, or there's going to be this in the sky, and they're imagining some kind of earthly pleasure that they have. And they ignore what God says in his word. Revelation 7, 15, therefore, are they before the throne of God and serve, and this is the word, service of worship, him day and night in his temple. day and night. That's not just on the Lord's day, that's all the time. Singing His praises, rejoicing in His presence, looking into the face of our Savior and our hearts are joy filled and full of delight because we love Him. John tells us Who these are who continually offer a service of worship at the throne of God? He says very simply that these are they who have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Is that not you, beloved? Is it not me? Are we not the ones whom the Father is seeking? True worshipers, let us aspire to be what He's seeking. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Shall we stand? Our Heavenly Father, we thank You for so great a love. So great a love that You sent Your Son with so great a love. that he came only to do your will, Father. Your will to reconcile a people to yourself. Your will to turn those who were hateful and fearful and felt contempt for you, Father, into a people who had peace with you and yearned to be in your presence, Father. who understood, Father, that you're not a hateful and mean father, but a father who runs out to greet us when we return home from our waywardness. And Lord, we pray, please, oh Lord, help us to grow in our capacity to give glory to you, our God. Let the praise of our lips be a continual offering, Lord, offered up, not only in the worship of our Father, but home, at work, at play, wherever we are, Lord. Oh, Lord, grant us grace, we ask in Jesus' name.