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Warren Wiersbe - Lessons on Worship - 18 of 20 | Back to the Bible | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Warren Wiersbe - Lessons on Worship - 18 of 20
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Summary
Core Theme
The central theme is the importance of genuine, Spirit-led worship in the Christian life, emphasizing that all other aspects of faith and service flow from a right relationship with God through worship, and warning against neglecting public worship or falling into extremes of emotionalism or coldness.
[Music]
welcome to back to the Bible radio
featuring best-selling author and
internationally known Bible teacher
Warren where's being father help us to
examine our lives to rearrange our
priorities help us to live for the
things that really count remind us that
life is short and we want to make the
boat most of it and so I pray that you
will help us in our study of the Word of
God today for Jesus sake and in his name amen
amen
how easy it is for us as Christians and
for local churches to forget the
priorities of the Christian life it's so
easy to get off on detours and we're
busy and we have a full schedule and the
church bulletin looks like the timetable
from O'Hare field and then we wonder why
God isn't blessing here we are busy and
going here and going there and yet
nothing really seems to be happening why
well I think there are times that we
just forget the things that really count
the highest privilege that we have as
Christians is the privilege of
worshiping God this is the activity of
heaven today when you read Revelation
chapters 4 and 5 you are introduced to
the throne room of heaven and there the
angels and the spirits of just men made
perfect our worshipping and praising the Lord
Lord
some people are bored by worship I don't
know what they're going to do throughout
all eternity when they get to glory
because one of our chief occupations in
heaven is going to be to worship and
praise God the highest privilege we have
is that of worshiping and praising God
now everything else in the Christian
life flows out of worship oh I know
we've substituted everything else for
worship and we're limping along our
Christian walk flows out of worship if
we aren't rightly related to God in
worship we're gonna have a hard time
walking with him and walking for him our
witnessing comes from worship Isaiah the
prophet was call
when he was at a worship service he saw
the Lord High and lifted up our work our
warfare all that's involved in the
Christian life flows out of our worship
of God now this is not only private
worship but public worship I'm a little
bit disturbed by the way people are
neglecting the public worship of God dr.
Tozer used to say it's so difficult to
get the Saints to go to any meeting
where God is the only attraction and
somehow sports and other kinds of
entertainment are so important on Sunday
reruns of old movies that we don't have
time to go to the house of God and shame
on us because God warns us the day is
approaching and we better be ready when
the Lord Jesus comes forsake not the
assembling of yourselves together
because the day is approaching that
means we assemble together it means that
we know each other we greet each other
we encourage each other we show love to
each other oh how we need one another in
the polishing up of our lives I have
been so encouraged by other people and
been helped in my own Christian walk we
need worship the public worship of God
he just told them don't quench the
spirit don't despise prophecies test all
things hold fast what is good he says to
them get in there and worship the Lord
with the people of God and you will grow
in your sanctification too often in our
public worship there's no power there's
no joy it's just a routine on the other
hand some public worship is so
disorderly that what you wonder if God
really is at work because God is not the
author of confusion when the Holy Spirit
of God is at work in a local church then
worship is what it ought to be this is
the problem they had in Thessalonica
when you read 1st Thessalonians chapter
5 verses 19 through 21 you get an
insight into someone
problems they faced in their public
worship services do not quench the
spirit do not despise prophecies test
all things hold fast what is good now it
doesn't take any imagination to figure
out what was going on there were people
in the church who had gone to extremes
some were so wrapped up in the second
coming of the Lord they were getting all
kinds of prophecies concerning his
coming some thought that they were
already in the day of tribulation the
day of the Lord some were worried about
the Christian dad what's going to happen
to them and so you have two extremes in
the thessalonians shirts you have those
who were very act to this stick and
perhaps emotional and they were
expressing their ecstatic joy and there
were others who were more conservative
and more cautious and they were saying
now calm down calm down quite frankly I
agree with Bishop handily mole the great
British Bible scholar who said that he
would much rather tone down a fanatic
than resurrect a corpse I would much
rather that a worship service show some
life and some joy and some spirit and
some praise you can always calm that
down a little bit but I tell you I have
preached in some services where I
thought I was in a mausoleum here where
all of these corpses propped up staring
at me Billy Sunday said that there are
some services where you could skate down
the center aisle on ice skates and take
up the offering that's how cold it was
we don't want to either extreme do we we
don't want the extreme of fanaticism nor
do we want the extreme of stoicism where
nobody moves and nobody says anything
prim and proper and business as usual
well we can't improve our public worship
of God if we'll just heed Paul's
admonitions here he's negative do not
quench the spirit do not despise
prophecies I want to make them positive
and give to us some basic rules for
public worship number one be open to the
holy s--t
spirit do not quench the spirit number
to receive God's message to you do not
pour contempt upon do not make light of
do not despise prophecies number three
test what you hear test all things and
number four hold on to the truth and
obey it hold fast what is good you can
see here a gradation in experience the
worst experience of all is quenching the
Holy Spirit but here's somebody who
doesn't want to quench the spirit but he
despises the word then the - of course
go together because the Holy Spirit uses
the word Paul tells us now you hear the
Word of God and you be open to the Holy
Spirit but you test all things and then
you hold fast that which is good
verse 19 do not quench the spirit here's
our first little rule for improving our
public worship be open to the Holy
Spirit of God now the Holy Spirit here
is compared to fire do not quench the
spirit it's a picture here somebody
putting out the fire in the Old
Testament Isaiah chapter 4 and verse 4
the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of
judgment and the spirit of burning the
Spirit of God is compared to fire
of course we remember Acts chapter 2 and
verse 3 when the tongues of fire were
over the heads of the believers on the
day of Pentecost now the Holy Spirit is
compared to fire because fire speaks of
purity and holiness the Holy Spirit is
the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit of God
fire speaks of purity it speaks of
judgment when the Holy Spirit of God is
at work there is a judging that is going on
on
there's also power and energy when you
take fire that fire can generate power
and energy fire has a way of testing
things fire has a way of giving light and
and
warmth oh how we need that some churches
have a lot of lights from their Bible
study but not much warmth from the Holy
Spirit of God and the two really ought
to go together the temperature of our
worship service is sometimes too low I
think God looks at our churches today
too often and says to us what he said to
the church at Laodicea I know your works
that you are neither cold nor hot I
could wish you were cold or hot so then
because you are lukewarm and neither
cold nor hot I will spew you out of my
mouth that's rather a vivid description
of judgment now here's a church
described in Revelation 3 verses 15 and
16 here's a church that thought it was
rich and wealthy and needed nothing I
had buildings and staff and crowds and
budgets and who knows what else and God
said to them you don't realize that you
are wretched and miserable and poor and
blind and naked now the Holy Spirit of
God wants to take a cold church and melt
those cold hearts and get the the
streams of the water of blessing flowing
he wants to take that lukewarm church
and get it going the way it ought to go
lukewarmness is really worse than being
cold or hot because when you're lukewarm
you're complacent you're comfortable if
you're hot you know God's power is upon
you I'm talking in spiritual terms of
course if you're cold you know you need
something now the Holy Spirit of God is
compared to fire there are only three
basic temperatures in the Christian life
cold hot or lukewarm many of the Saints
are cold when it comes to the worship of
God now here's the fire of the Holy
Spirit if fire is not kept under control
it can destroy sometimes the Holy Spirit
begins a work in a church and people
just let it become wildfire they don't
keep it under the control of the Lord
Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit is
given to glory
by christ be open to the holy spirit
don't resist his ministry and don't
neglect your own spiritual walk it's
interesting what paul had to write to
Timothy about the fire in his life turn
to first Timothy chapter 4 verse 14 do
not neglect the gift that is in you you
can put a fire out by neglect just leave
it alone in 2nd Timothy he continues
talking about this matter of of judgment
and the Holy Spirit 2nd Timothy chapter
1 verse 6 therefore I remind you to stir
up the gift of God which is in you now
that words stir up is an interesting
word because it carries with it the idea
of stirring and renewing a fire getting
a fire putting new life into a fire now
you and I have an altar in our hearts so
to speak and sometimes the ashes get
pretty heavy every morning early in the
morning the high priest would get up and
he'd go down to the altar or one of the
priests would go down to the altar and
take off the ashes from yesterday's
sacrifices get the fire going and put a
fresh burnt offering on the altar I need
to do that every day and my guess is
that you need to do that every day be
open to the Holy Spirit of God don't be
afraid of the Holy Spirit
I get the impression there had been some
division in the Thessalonians
perhaps it had to do with their public
worship services Paul had to admonish
them do not quench the spirit do not
despise prophecies in other words there
were some in the church who were very
careful about the excesses well we
should be we should be careful there are
no excesses we should be balanced in our
worship but we can be so careful and so
rigid and so mechanical that we quench
the Holy Spirit and we resist the work
of the Lord when I go to the house of
God I go to worship the Lord and I want
to hear God's voice I want to hear God
speak to me I want God to say far more
to me than the preacher says in fact
when I preach I ask God to say far more
to people than what I say to them you
see what we get in church is pretty well
determined by what we bring with us the
Thessalonians had a marvelous
relationship to the Word of God they had
received the Word of God in much
affliction and joy of the Holy Spirit
they appreciated God's Word Paul said I
thank the Lord that you don't receive
the word of God like the word of man
chapter 2 verse 13 you receive it as it
really is in truth the Word of God they
were sharing the Word of God by the way
we are commanded in Scripture to read
the Word of God publicly first Timothy
chapter 4 verse 13 better mark this
verse first Timothy 4:13 till I come
give attention to reading to exhortation
to doctrine that word reading means not
just the private reading of books and
the Word of God but the public reading
of the word of God then having read the
Word of God use it for exhortation and
for doctrine in the previous verses Paul
said to rejoice always pray without
ceasing and everything give thanks you
come to church with that attitude you're
going to have a wonderful time do not
quench the spirit do not despise
prophecies in other words the Spirit of God
God
uses the Word of God
1st Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5 for
our gospel did not come to you in word
only but also in power and in the Holy
Spirit the Spirit uses the word verse 6
you became followers of us and of the
Lord having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit
the Spirit uses the word chapter 4 verse
8 therefore he who rejects this does not
reject man but God who has given us His
Holy Spirit rejects what the word that
he's given to them about being pure and
abstaining from sexual immorality so the
Spirit of God uses the word of God now
in the New Testament church they did not
have a complete Bible such as we do but
there were those who had the gift of
prophecy and when the Assembly came
together the Spirit of God would speak
to these prophets and they would get up
and give the message however that
message had to be tested
we had to heed the admonition that Paul
gave to prove all things 1st Corinthians
chapter 14 describes one of these
worship services verse 26 whenever you
come together each of you as a psalm has
a teaching as a tongue as a revelation
has an interpretation they all
participated they didn't just sit and
look let all things be done for
edification he goes on to talk about how
to handle tongues and how to handle the
prophets verse 29 let two or three
prophets speak and let the others judge
in other words there has to be a
discernment somebody gets up in church
and says God has told me this how do you
know might have been a demon might have
been the fact that he had too much pizza
the night before how do we know we have
to discern through the Word of God to
the law and to the testimony if they
speak not according to this
word it is because there is no light in
them Isaiah 8:20 and so we must receive
God's message but exercise discernment
the Spirit of God gives us the wisdom
that we need now there is a gift of
discernment in the church a discerning
of spirits but the Holy Spirit of God
can give to each of us the discernment
we need in testing the message of the
Word of God people say well the Holy
Spirit told me to do this well what did
the Word of God have to say thirdly test
what you hear we've talked about that
now be open to the spirit receive God's
message and then test what you hear the
devil is a counterfeit err in 2nd
Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul warns them
about the counterfeiting work of the
devil now brethren concerning the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering together to him we ask you not
to be soon shaken in mind or troubled
either by spirit or by word or by letter
as if from us as though the day of the
Lord had come now the Thessalonians was
being troubled because somebody got up
in a meeting and said the Holy Spirit
told me were in the tribulation or
somebody else got a word or somebody
else said here's a letter that Paul
wrote it was a counterfeit letter now
God wants us to test what we hear that's
why he warns us in 1st John chapter 4
beloved do not believe every spirit
every preacher you hear on the radio or
television but test the spirits whether
they are of God because many false
prophets have gone out into the world
and of course test number one is the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
test number two does what the person
says square with the Word of God so we
must be very careful to test what we
hear we should be like those Bereans and
chapter 17 verse 11 who received the
word with all readiness and searched the
Scriptures daily to find out whether
these things were so now do you do that
you should test what is taught and we
should do it daily to find out what God
is saying finally rule number four hold
on to the truth and obey it this is the
word of the Lord to us test all things
hold fast what is good you're going to
hear some things that are not good
you're going to hear some things that
are not true just reject them but hold
fast that which is good
this word hold fast is the same word
used in Luke 8:15 when he talks about
the heart in the parable of the sower
the heart that produces the good fruit
this is the person who has an honest and
a good heart and he holds on to the Word
of God
this means accept the message treasure
the message value it obey it guard it
just get a hold of the Word of God and
don't let it slip from you let every man
be swift to hear and slow to speak and
slow to get angry now I think if you and
I would spend all week rejoicing praying
and giving thanks as Paul says in verses
16 17 and 18 and then come to God's
house and be open to the Holy Spirit
receive the Word of God test what we
hear and hold fast and obey what we hear
it could revolutionize our lives and
transform our worship services oh how
important it is that you and I have a
satisfying growing experience of worship
with God
because God wants us then to step out
into a needy world and share the Lord
Jesus Christ with lost people father
thank you for this letter that Paul
thank you for the Holy Spirit who
inspired this letter and now I pray as
we have studied it and reviewed it help
us to practice it help us to live in the
future tense to spend our money in our
time and our energy and to live our
lives in the light of the coming of
Jesus Christ before I pray this in his
we're glad you joined us today if you
miss part of the program or you'd like
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wonderful to have you with us each day
so be sure to come back again for more
wisdom from God's Word back to the Bible
leading you forward in your relationship
with Jesus Christ you
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