What Are You Bringing?

by Bob Rasmussen

My wife, Diana, brought up a point to me recently that I thought was very good. Not everyone who has been watching knows everything about “church”. There may be those watching online who may not understand some of the things we do in church, and it may appear – “different”. There may also be some folks here that have not ever heard about why we worship the way we worship.

When I first met Diana, one of the things we did together was go to church. I was raised in a Catholic Church, so my expectation was a little different from the experience than the church she took me to…a UPC church – my oh my, what a huge difference. I am not going to lie, I was pretty uncomfortable. People raising their hands, speaking in tongues, clapping – you did not do that during church when I grew up. There were people dancing – honestly, I felt, I don’t know, weird. And why were all their hands raised? Did everyone have a question? Seriously though, I can honestly say, the other thing that I saw, the thing that I felt was an atmosphere of joy, of reverence, and of awe. And it was something that I wanted to experience as well. Of course the path to that is a relationship with Jesus, amen? What is that path, I’m glad you asked!

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. – KJV Acts 2:38-39 

So this morning I would like to talk about worship, and why we do some of what we do, and things that we should do in worship. Ever since the beginning, man has worshiped God. Worship is in the bible from the beginning in Genesis 

And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.  Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. – KJV Genesis 22:3-5

And worship goes all the way to Revelation.

Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. – KJV Revelation 14:7

Worship has been central to the church as well throughout its entire existence. Up until about the 10^th or 12^th century, most of the worship was purely vocal until the introduction of the organ, as the leadership of the churches did not believe it was appropriate, linking it to how pagans worshiped. Now I do not know about all that, what I can infer is what I see in scripture.

Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.  Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.  Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.  Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. – KJV Psalm 150:1-6

I know that I for one am grateful that we do have instruments here to praise our God. We sing some of the older hymns here, and, now, I love them. Particularly I enjoy “It is Well”

• Horatio Spafford
• Lawyer and businessman
• 5 kids
• Young son died in 1871
• Same year lost business in Great Chicago fire
• 1873, wife and four daughters went to Europe
• About four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, the Ville du Harve collided with a powerful, iron-hulled Scottish ship, the Loch Earn
• His wife prayed, 12 minutes later the ship went down, 226 people went under and they lost their 4 daughters.
• His wife was rescued by a small boat. She then wired her husband a message which began, “Saved alone, what shall I do?”

Mr Spafford went as soon as he could.   The captain showed him the very spot where his daughters were lost and, on this very sad journey is where he wrote that hymn.

One of the verses is this:

• My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
• My sin, not in part, but the whole
• Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
• Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul

Now, if I would have heard or sang that song without a real knowledge of who Jesus is, or what Jesus did at the cross, or any real knowledge of who God is, they are just words, amen. And that to me, that is not really worshiping God. I may be singing, but I am not worshiping.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. – KJV Matthew 15:8-9

When I worship, God is not concerned how well I sing, or how well I play guitar. He is not concerned whether Wayne is sliding into the right note, or Doug is on or off beat, or anyone one of us in here is singing off key, He is more concerned with our hearts as we worship, amen?

The whole verse of that Hymn, with a knowledge of who Jesus is, with a baptism of the Holy Spirit takes on a whole new meaning.

• My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
• My sin, not in part, but the whole
• Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
• Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul

With the knowledge of who Jesus is, of what He has done, we can worship fully with our hearts and souls completely. Some people get so caught up with the style of worship, don’t they?

I have been in churches where people say:

• That song is too old
• That song is too new
• That song is too loud
• That song is too soft
• That song is too slow
• That song is too fast

They get so caught up with their favorite songs, or genre or style. It is not about the song and the style. As long as a song is scriptural and pointing me to Jesus, I’m in.

I know I take a lot of heat about Christmas songs. I don’t hate them or dislike them, they are just hard to play for me! It is not about worshiping a style or a certain time period. It’s not about worshiping worship. We worship God. And when you fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we see Him, that’s when our hands go up.

Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. – KJV Psalm 134:1-2

Our knees may go down, tears may fill our eyes.

And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. – KJV Nehemiah 8:6 

Can I say this? I think one thing the Catholic church did well is with their pews. They have those kneeling things you can flip down? I mean, as I get older it gets kind of hard to kneel down. But when I kneel, I am showing God, the I AM, and I am humbled before him.

Kneel. I am not kneeling in shame, I am kneeling and bowing because I see a vision of what he’s done and I’m overwhelmed by his goodness and I’m overwhelmed by His Majesty and that I get to be in his presence. I kneel to honor Him. A shout of joy may well up from within our soul and our spirit.

O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. – KJV Psalm 47:1

Worship is not about entertainment, it’s not about preference, it’s about Him, Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. I will admit, early in the faith, when it came to hymns, I was a little like ugh. We were just singing something I liked and now this slow song? Really?

But as we mature in our faith, our love for Christ grows, for all that He has done, for all we believe He will do, and for who He is.  And at times we may shout. Something that comes from our soul and our spirit when we see Jesus.

Let us focus on what worship is. It is not entertainment. Worship is not about our preference, it’s about Him. Maybe you are not an expressive person, I know that I wasn’t. Raising my hand in worship was not comfortable, clapping was weird, all of it seemed foreign to me.

But when I finally received Christ as my Savior, when I saw the reality of who He was, that was when my hands shot into the air.

When I felt His overwhelming presence, that is when I fell to my knees in adoration, in reverence of The Ancient of Days, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. 

That’s when it stopped feeling awkward, and that’s when I kind of understood that I needed to worship God the way He wanted to be worshiped, rather than the way I wanted to worship Him. I think we all want to worship God the way He wants us to worship him, amen?

This is not my house is it? This is God’s house. We want to worship God the way God He wants to be worshiped. We are part of God’s culture, we are part of His family. I think it can be very easy for me in an age to click off of what I don’t want to watch, and immediately choose something else. I can get on Amazon and search for the things that I want, exactly how I like them. I can get on an app for a restaurant and customize my order exactly the way that I want. But when it comes to God, it’s not about me or my comfort zone, I want to worship God the way He wants to be worshiped. And we are a people of faith, amen?

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. – KJV Mark 11:23-24

Jesus is teaching us here. Even before you receive something, before you receive the promise, you celebrate or worship as if you have already received the promise. Even before you see the breakthrough! You sing and you dance as if the breakthrough has already come. So we can shout and we can be excited and we can celebrate in the middle of our fiery furnace, in the middle of the Valley of the shadow of death.

I heard someone say this a few months ago and it’s stuck with me. If your worship doesn’t move you, why would it move God? If your worship doesn’t even move you, if our worship experience at church is like this, then lets change.

Example – Great is thy faithfulness –  I need you more, more than yesterday – Phone – I’m desperate for you –

If your worship doesn’t move you, why would it move God? Paul gives a vision of what worship is.

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.  And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.  And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 

And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.  And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. – KJV Revelation 4:2-8

So these creatures are flying around the throne of God. They have eyes all over them and all day and all night they’re crying out in worship, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was who is who is to come.” Think about it:

Everyone up in heaven is in an environment every time they look, they see another reason to praise God. They see another reason to give God glory. They see another reason to worship. They never run out of reasons to worship because he’s infinitely amazing. Amen. 

He’s almighty. You will not get bored every time you behold him again. You will cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.” He’s not forcing them to do this. This is their natural response as they see him, the One sitting on the throne. This is not robotic. This is a response to having a vision of the God that we serve. 

And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created  – KJV Revelation:4:9-11

But again worship is a response to God. It’s not worshiping worship. It’s every time they see the Lord. Perhaps the reason worship isn’t getting to the level it could is because the church has stopped seeing the Lord. They get our eyes off the Lord and they get into their problems. They get into their circumstances and do not focus on Jesus. Or when they want to put it on their own preference. 

When we are going through things, the enemy wants us to take or focus off of God and onto the problem. The truth is, that is when we should focus on Jesus more and praise Him through the circumstance.

For us, let’s put our eyes back on the one on the throne. Let’s put our eyes back on the one that took on death and hell and the grave for you and for me. 

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. – KJV Revelation 5:11-12

10,000×10,000 is 100 million, and that is just what he saw. They’re not up there, half bored out of their mind, just mumbling some worship song. They’re singing a mighty chorus, millions of angels. And they’ve been with God a long time and they’re not bored. 

I hope and pray that when God hears our worship here at JAM, He hears a mighty chorus of people that are grateful, it comes from a church that’s grateful. And that has eyes of faith. 

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. – KJV Revelation 5:13

So why do we raise our hands in church?

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.  – KJV 1 Timothy 2:8

We have come into the House of God to have hands lifted up to heaven. There’s something powerful for Paul to say. This practice needs to be in the body when we come together.

Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. – KJV Psalm 134:1-2

 In Psalms 134, verse 2, lift your hands doesn’t say if you feel like it. Come on. Lift your hands towards the sanctuary and praise the Lord. 

The Bible says lift your hands and praise the Lord. Lift your hands and praise the Lord. It’s in the Word. 

In Exodus Chapter 17, there was a battle that was taking place against Israel, and the Bible gives us a picture of Moses. And I love this image in Exodus chapter 17

And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. – KJV Exodus 17:11-12

 The Israelites had the advantage, but whenever his hands dropped, the Amalekites gained the advantage. I want to be a worshiper that knows how to put my hands up in the middle of a battle. To know how to worship God in the middle of a battle. Amen?

My question this morning is what will you bring when you worship God? 

• Will you bring your whole self or just 68%.
• Will you bring your adoration or will you bring your cellphone?
• Will you only bring your Spotify favorites and discount the rest, or will you focus on God almighty?
• Will you bring your preconceived notions of what worship is, or will you look in the Word of God and bring God’s culture and get out of your comfort zone?
• What will you bring?

If you are watching online, or you are here in this church today, we are going to sing a song, called Surrounded by Michael W Smith

He opens the song with a scripture reference:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. – KJV Isaiah 61:3 

And if you are willing, every man, every woman with your hands lifted up in the sanctuary or even in your home if you are watching online, lifting your hands, you might be in the middle of a battle, but you’re winning the battle right now. This is how we fight our battles. This is how we win our battles. We worship him as if it’s already won. 

We worship him for what he’s already done and for who he is. We worship you. Jesus. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, Jesus. We worship you. Jesus. We worship you. Jesus. We give you praise. We give you glory. We give you honor, we give you our love. We see you on that throne. High and lifted up. We exalt you in this place. We worship you in this place. This is how we fight our our battles.