Who Taught You How to Worship?

Good afternoon! This mic worked well. My wife sends her regrets. She likes to come here. We've been here two or three times together. This will be the first time that I'm here alone, and it's a very good time since she is not around and you have pot luck. So I will actually get some good food this week. So I do appreciate that you having that just especially for me and, of course, Mr. Holiday and Miss Holiday, too. I drove four hours this morning and the traffic was not too bad. So I made it in a decent time. I will try to look at your time. You have a clock up there for me, too, so I do not go too long. That's what they do at Fort Lauderdale. I will give a sermon today. This will be a little bit different because in Fort Lauderdale we have translations, so I have to pause usually after every sentence for about two seconds. So hopefully I can not get into that habit today here. So I will start this sermon now if he's ready.

A cleric teaches a suicide bomber, a form of worship, a priest and a confessional telling someone to save five Hail Marys, a form of worship, a snake handler from East Tennessee handles a rattlesnake copperhead, showing his faith, also showing a form of worship, a Pentecostal preacher on James Street, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, has everyone and standing waving their hands jumping up and down. I know that because my wife and I walked by there Sunday morning.

He was teaching a form of worship. So I have the question for you this morning, this afternoon.

Who taught you how to worship? It's the title of the sermon. Who taught you how to worship?

Like you turn to John 4. John 4, verse 23, if you will. This is a conversation that takes place between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well.

Many of you have read this story many times.

But Jesus Christ is teaching her about worship. He teaches us. Let's go to that verse. John 4, verse 23.

So, but the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, and the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth. Do we understand what it means to worship in Spirit and truth? It's interesting because the word truth in the Greek is actually the word elatheia. A-l-e-t-h-i-a. And it means the state of not being hidden.

They translated it to truth, but it can also be translated truly, which doesn't change the meaning. It just adds to the meaning. So Jesus Christ said, for us to worship God, we're going to have to worship Him in Spirit and truth and truly.

It's interesting that in Greek mythology, elatheia was the goddess of truth and sincerity.

And that's one of the definitions of this elatheia, is not only truth, but it implies sincerity, which is interesting because the complete Jewish Bible translates this, will worship the Father spiritually and truly.

Which I found interesting because this truly word meant really, honestly, for real.

And as one said, from the bottom of one's heart.

Is that how we worship God? From the bottom of one's heart reminds you of the first commandment, doesn't it? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might and all your being.

Is that how we worship God?

It's 1977. It's the date that a movie first came out. It was the first year of Star Wars.

People loved the movie. So much so that in 1980, they made another one.

And in 1983, they made another one.

And then it was 16 years before they made another movie, in 1999.

But during that 16 years, there became a cult following of Star Wars.

To where people actually worshiped the movies and would see them 50 to 100 times.

And that became evident in 1999, when they announced that the movie would be made and be available to be seen in theaters in May of 1999.

And as they called them, Star Wars nerds, because you actually had people who dressed up like the characters and would go to parties and would go see the movies and would do all this stuff. Because they loved it.

In January of that year, before May, a group of young people were camping out in tents in front of the movie theater. So they could be the first one in line to see the movie. They loved it so much.

A form of worship. It's interesting, you can understand how they had a lacia.

They truly were worshiping. Their life revolves around these movie and movie characters. We also see the same thing about movie stars.

People worship movie stars. They hang on their every word. They buy books, magazines. They want to hear what's going on, also with singers and athletes.

Do we have that same zeal, that same passion for our God, the one whom we worship?

You know, the word of God leaves us no doubt as to when. When we should worship. When we should come together. It's clear. It's in the scriptures. Like you turn to Leviticus 23 in verse 2. Leviticus 23 in verse 2.

If you remember the sermon I gave, the next to the last sermon I gave here, I gave it on the Sabbath and we went through some Hebrew words.

As a matter of fact, Corey reminded me that he remembered the story of the Sabbath and the dog.

So someone remembered it.

But we're going to touch on a few of those words, so if you don't quite understand one, so you go back and listen to that sermon. Most of you are here.

Now Leviticus 23 in verse 2, it says, The Feast of the Lord, religious appointment. We went through that word last time when I talked about the Sabbath.

The Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations.

Holy convocation. That word is translated from the Hebrew.

Kadesh Mikra. Kadesh Mikra, I have a guy in our fellowship in Fort Lauderdale who is from Lebanon, speaks Aramaic, so he will actually tell me how they would pronounce it. And it's actually, Kadesh Mikra. Like you're almost spitting something out.

So he tries to make sure that I do that properly.

I've already offended someone and they're already leaving. Sorry.

But these holy convocations are called Kadesh Mikra. And it's actually laid out 23 times in the Old Testament.

And every time it involves the Sabbath or Holy Day, Strong's Concordance calls it public worship service. Something called out.

Which makes us think of the New Testament. The Greek, Ekklesia, called out ones. But today, today, brethren, is a Kadesh Mikra.

It is a worship service, a public worship service, a holy convocation. We are here and now in this building with God's presence.

This is holy ground. A holy time worshiping a holy God.

And what a blessing it is to have that knowledge.

What a blessing it is that He has called us.

Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6.

I'll read this from the New Living Translation.

He says, For you are a holy people who belong to the larger God. Of all people on earth, God has chosen you to be His special treasure.

Isn't that nice to be called His special treasure?

The followers of God, the called out ones.

It's interesting that the word worship in English is defined as to call or to gather.

To call or to gather.

Also, it can mean something of worth.

It can mean to adore, to revere, to honor, to have high respect.

It can also mean to praise, to lift up one's heart, to fall down on one's knees.

There are more than a few words in Hebrew that define worship.

The one most used in worshiping God means to kneel, which is a different word to bow than to bow.

See examples of the different people bowing to each other, but in the Japanese culture, they bow.

Someone older walks in the room, they bow.

Somebody gets up from a table, they bow.

Show of respect.

But we are instructed to never kneel before anyone or anything except God, because that is the only entity we are to worship.

It's interesting, a few years ago, there was a movie with Tom Cruise in it called The Last Samurai.

If any of you saw that, a timepiece.

And he was an American soldier who went over to Japan to fight.

And although he was a soldier trained for discipline, he had to learn that respect was a discipline.

Respect is a discipline, something that you incorporate in your life.

Something of worth.

What is the definition? Something of worth.

I have in my hands here two $100 bills.

One is an American, and the other is Jamaican.

Which is worth more?

Which would you like to have?

When I gave this, you pointed the right one.

When I gave this message in Jamaica, and I asked that question, there was no doubt.

Because this Jamaican dollar, $100 bill, is worth about $1.20. Is that right, Chuck? Something like that?

$1.15, $1.20.

$0.93.

Which is worth more?

The value is relative, isn't it?

We say that this is worth more than this. They both have a hundred written on them, and they both have a picture of a man on them.

So the value is relative.

It's what we place upon it.

Which is worth more?

Money or God?

Which is worth more? Family or God?

A mate?

A potential mate or God?

Which is worth more?

A job or God?

What is worth worshipping?

We have seen many examples of people who have chosen to give up God to worship something else.

A job, money, even family, even a mate.

So I asked the question again, who taught you how to worship?

Maybe a family member?

A grandparent?

Or was it a minister?

Today, I want the Word of God to teach us how to worship Him.

I do that because most of you understand, comprehend, and believe 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16.

Should be a memory scripture for most of us.

It's about all scripture is given by the inspiration of God, which means God breathed.

These are His actual words.

That's how powerful these words are. They're God breathed.

And that's why it is the only true source we can use to find out how God wants us to worship Him.

So we do not do it in vain.

So how?

Let's look at some descriptions of worship. I'd like you to turn back to the book of Revelation.

Book of Revelation.

We get a glimpse of what goes on up there.

Revelation 4.

Revelation 4.

I'll start in verse 2.

John is given a vision.

Of what's going on, as I said, up there.

And immediately it says in verse 2, I was in the Spirit and behold a throne set in heaven, and one set on the throne. And he who sat there was like a jasper, and they started stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne there were 24 thrones. And on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white robes.

And they had crowns of gold on their heads.

And from 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. Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal.

And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and in back.

The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature was like a calf. And the third living creature had a face like a man. And the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

And the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within.

We might say a real freak show.

It would be scary for us to see this, even though we've seen movies of aliens, and they make these weird looking creatures.

Can you imagine John seeing this for the first time?

Eyes all around. Eerie!

But one day it won't be eerie to us.

Then continuing in verse 8.

And these four living creatures, they do not rest day or night saying, Holy, Holy, Holy!

Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. As a matter of fact, one manuscript of the Scripture actually said, Holy, nine times.

Making sure we understand that God is very, very holy.

Can you imagine? Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

I think He wants us to get the message.

God is very, very...

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy. And He's relating that to us. And you know I need that. Maybe you don't in your life, but I do. Because sometimes you can pray so much. You can spend so much time that you actually forget the reverence. It can become commonplace, Well, just let me get prayer out of my life. Let me get done. I need to get done with my prayer today. You know, many people go to church to see people.

Many people go to church to see a speaker or to hear a speaker. And some people go to church to see family and friends. But, brethren, true worship is about seeing God. True worship is about seeing God. You know, a fellowship is great.

We're supposed to. Song service, special music, sermonette, sermon. But it's about worshiping God. Worshiping God. Is it our focus? When you bring up, they were to worship God in spirit. To some people, that seems a little eerie too because they really don't understand it. I can. I understood it at a very young age. Any of you who have ever attended the Feast of Tabernacles in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Is there anybody here? Most of the people. Well, yeah, it's the very first Feast of Tabernacles I ever went to when I was 15 years old. And I went back many years afterwards and even went back since then. And when you go across that bridge at the Feast of Tabernacles, there is something in the air.

There is this feeling that you get. Any of you who have been there, you realize God's presence is on that island at the Feast of Tabernacles. And you feel it. And it's something because all the people are coming together for this gathering. And it's something you really feel. And how I know it's real is I've been to Jekyll Island when it's not the Feast. And it's not there. That feeling's not there. God teaches us through His Spirit. It's a thing of the Spirit.

And I brought a prop. I'm sure most of you can probably tell what this is. This is a piece of conduit. And it is a channel. That you can channel something through, whether it is wire, whether it is... people even use this to send water down. But there's a channel in here. And if you're trying to run an electric wire under a concrete sidewalk, you only just dig it out and stick the wire down there.

You use a piece of conduit and you run that. And that way you can get that wire through here. And it's safe. And it's also easy to do. And it's a way to get to the other end. Brethren, the Holy Spirit is the conduit, if I can use that analogy, that metaphor.

That is how God teaches us. He can't come down here. He will. You can read about that in the last of Revelation at a time when this is all burnt up. We will be His people and He will be our God. But now He can. He's too holy to come down here. But we need to learn from Him. And this is how He teaches us. It's through His Holy Spirit. It's why He gave it. So that through the Holy Spirit we can read this Word. And the Holy Spirit makes the Bible alive, doesn't it? The Holy Spirit teaches us. The Holy Spirit reaches us.

Gives us understanding. And that's how we're better able to worship Him. Is if we do it with the Spirit. With His Spirit. Because it's His, not ours. He gives it to us. It's a down payment. It's a deposit, as most of us learn on the Pentecost. God wants us to truly worship Him with all of our hearts. With His Spirit. Maybe you've been in school. You remember that teacher who taught a class that lasted an hour and it felt like three. And then you might have had this teacher who made it so interesting that, man, the class is over with.

So fast. You may have had a movie that you wanted to see for a long time. So you went to the theater and you were really interested in this movie. And you go in there and bam! It's over with. It's gone so fast. Or maybe you've gone to a movie that you really didn't want to go to and it drug on and on and on.

What is the difference? Brethren, it's focus. It's focus. That's the difference. How focused are we? Howard Einstein was asked a question one time to explain to even a child his theory of relativity. He said, well, it's kind of like this. It's about time and space and how time doesn't really change. And he said, take a 15-year-old boy and put him on a real hot stove for two minutes. And then set him over here with a pretty girl for two minutes. Even though at the same time it doesn't feel like it.

Are we focused, brethren? Are we focused? When we come to services, is our focus on what is God going to teach me today? Or is it? I've got this time. What time is it? Oh, yeah. It's just 30 more minutes. I wish he'd hurry up. I'm glad they're not translating today. It would be even slower. There was an interesting story from World War II. True story. At the end of World War II, the United States was trying to make bombing raids over Germany. Because they kept putting out more weapons. They started making more things to fight with, bombs and bullets. They had all these plants going in these different places. And so they came to the men in Obamadeer and told them they wanted them to do something because this had never been done before. They wanted to do a bombing raid over Germany at night with no lights. There couldn't even be a pin light inside the plane. But they were going to try to bomb all these sites in one night. And the men looked at it because they were veterans of it. We can't do this. We've got to be able to read our maps. We've got to be able to read everything so we know exactly where we're going. They said, no, we can't do it. The men said, we don't believe we can do it.

They said, if we are successful here and we can do this, it will cut the war short by months, if not years. And you can go back to your families. You know, those men took that challenge and they only had days to do it. And so they studied all the maps, all the pictures that were taken of Germany, that city, at night. And they studied them and they studied them and they put them into their memory. So when they looked out from that plane, they would remember where each of those bombing sites were to be by memory.

They thought it couldn't be done. It was. Those men were so excited about hoping to end the war and getting home to their family, that they focused so much on that, they put their mind to it that that night the bombing raid went. No light was turned on in the plane. And they looked down and they hit every single target. Amazing story. Men came back. Matter of fact, the military, because it did speed up the ending, the end of World War II. And they tried it even four or five years later. They got even smarter men. And they tried to get them to memorize and do the same thing. They tried twice to repeat it and they couldn't do it.

Why these men were focused? They wanted to go home. Our focus. Where is our focus? On the Sabbath. Is it on God? You know, I have a father-in-law. He turned 90 this year. He's a World War II veteran.

Great man. Love him dearly. But he hates Tennessee because he loves Alabama. Loves Alabama football. Alabama football is everything. He can tell you who ever played and it's like the biggest thing. And he can even tell you the water boy from 1942. His focus is on Alabama football. He likes football, but his focus is there.

Because it's important to him. Very, very important to him. They have a phrase in sports called getting your game face on. And before, if you've ever played sports or you played football, you played basketball, you would have a coach come in, fire you up just before the game. And he'd say, get your game face on. That means get serious. Think about the plays that you're going to run.

Think about this. Put your mind, get your focus on what you're about to do. Brethren, it's a time that we do a better job of getting our game face on for God. Get our game face for the seventh day of the week because you and I have an appointment, a mohedah, a religious appointment with God to worship him.

You don't have an appointment, kadesh mikra, with a minister. You don't have it with friends. You have an appointment with God, the God of the universe. Jewish historians and teachers all make a reference to the book of the Psalms. And they actually instruct those going to worship at a synagogue or wherever you go to worship that before you go, so you need to read from the Psalm. Why? They want you to read and picture the majesty of God before you go there. The supremacy of God. It puts us in the right frame of mind. I was taught this many years ago, almost ten years ago.

I minister in God's church, and I try to use it every Sabbath. But I also found that I use it quite often in my prayer life, too, before I go in and pray. Maybe a second time during that day. I don't want to take it for granted. I'd like you to turn there to some of them with me, if you will.

I'd like you to turn to... Let's start in Psalm 66.

Psalm 66 helps to put us in the right frame of mind, helps to get our focus. In Psalm 66 and verse 1, it says, Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name, make His praise glorious! Say to God, how awesome! How awesome are your works! Through the greatness of your power, your enemy shall submit themselves to you. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name. Come and see the works of God. He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.

We'll be a few pages forward. Isaiah 84. Isaiah 84. There's a first few verses. How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! How my soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord! My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

See what the focus is? See the focus of this? Psalm 99. Verse 1 through 3. Psalm 99. Verse 1. Said, The Lord reigns, let the people tremble. He dwells between the caravans. Let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Zion. He is high above all the people. Let them praise your great and awesome name. He is holy. They're scattered throughout the book of Psalm. It helps to get us focused. Maybe on Friday night. Maybe Saturday morning. Maybe Saturday before. Helps us realize what we're coming in front of. Who we're coming before. Psalm 104. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. Who cover yourself with light as a garment. Verse 5. You who laid the foundations of the earth so that it should not be moved forever. How special and precious it is that we can be here today. What an honor! What a privilege that we can be here today. And He's called us. And that we can work to get ourselves in the right frame of mind. Not just come in to say, I'm just glad this day is here. I'll be glad when service is over with. Ever said that? I have. Thankfully I wasn't speaking that day. It's a good thing. But perhaps when I was younger, perhaps you did this also, my wife and I used to go to concerts. Now we won't pay 20 bucks to walk across the street to see somebody. We're both tired, but when I was younger we wanted to see Billy Joel, Brooks, Garth Brooks, all these various people. We would pay this money to go see them. And we would drive there. And there was always a line trying to get into these concerts. And you know what's interesting? Everybody, especially in summer, had their windows down. And you could hear music coming out of all the radios, all the CDs, and back then it was tape players. And people would be playing the music or the singer of who they were going to see. They were getting in with. They were getting focused. You see? They were getting focused. So, wow! Now we see them live. How about us? How about these words of God? Can we become like that, become more focused? These verses help us to begin to see God. Do we pray to really see God? Have we prayed that in a while? Do we need to see God just like Elisha's servant? Needed to see God? And so Elisha said, show him your power, show the glory. And he opened his eyes. See, because God's Spirit is active, we need to use it. Pull out the Spirit, brethren. Use His Spirit to worship God. And sometimes you have to say, I need your help, God. The angels are saying, holy, holy, holy. What they are saying is God is holy, holier. He is the holiest. These angels are saying that God is 100% completely holy. And He's given us the opportunity to come before Him. I'd like you to turn to Isaiah 1. Isaiah 1, if you will. Isaiah 1. We'll actually start in verse 12. Isaiah 1, verse 12. He said, When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand to trample My courts? Bring Me no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to Me. The new moons, the Sabbath, and the calling of the assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meetings. So obviously we had people who thought they were coming before God to worship when they really were not worshipping God as He wanted or had instructed in spirit and in truth. Verse 14, Your new moons and Your appointed feasts My soul hates. They are a trouble to Me. I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you. Even though you may make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. And then He says in verse 16, Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Reprove the oppressor. Defend the widowless. And plead for the widow. How do we do that? There's only one way for us to cleanse ourselves, right? We can only cleanse ourselves by the blood of Jesus Christ. Is God referring to before we come to worship Him, we should pray? I was taught many, many years ago when I first came into the church. A minister got up at God's church and said, I hope everybody prayed before you came here today. And then there was this long pause. And he said, next week I hope you pray before you come. So it doesn't prick your conscience. But I read these scriptures and I realize, we need to make sure that we're cleansed. We're coming before God, this holy... You can see it, you also see it in Isaiah 6 where there's actually an angel comes down and puts a coal on the tongue. He gives it to me because I'm a man of unclean lips. And what does he do? He cleanses me. He's cleansed. It says, your sins are purged, which are representative of a time of the altar, which is representative of Jesus Christ dying for us. So we can be cleansed when we come before God at this kadesh meekra. We are clean. We are purged. We are coming before God. Holy, pure, clean, holy, sacred. That's the word kadesh means. True worship begins with me and it ends with God. We must stop focusing on ourselves and stop focusing on God. Focus on how great God really is. Too many come to church thinking about themselves, pleasing themselves.

It's about stepping outside myself and focusing on God. Worshiping places God first and I've had to learn anything else. Lesson that shows disrespect to God. That's why this sermon is very important to me. Because I need to make sure I'm not worshiping in vain. It's called the law of first mention by the people who write all these books. And the law of first mention means the very first time that a word is used in Scripture tends to set the tone for the way that it's used in the rest of the book, the Bible. So I don't know if many of you realize the very first time that worship is mentioned in the Bible. If you do, you can yell it out for me, but most don't. So if you'll turn back to Genesis, as most people will expect, but it's probably not where you expect in Genesis. The very first time the word worship is used, it's actually used in Genesis 22. Genesis 22, like you turn to verse 1. Genesis 22 and verse 1. Now it came time to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said what? Here I am. Here I am. And down in verse 5, we know that he wanted him to sacrifice his son. And in verse 5, and Abraham said to the young men, Stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder, I mean he probably came from the south, and worship.

We will go yonder and worship. What is this worship about? He's about to take his son up and kill him.

So Abraham took the wood, burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac's son. And he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them went up together. But Isaac spoke to his father and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said to him, Look, the fire in the wood. Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

He was the offering. He was to be the offering.

And you can see that Abraham was going to do what God instructed him to do in this manner of worship.

And in verse 11, it said, But the angel of God, the angel of the Lord, called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, What? Here I am.

He was there to follow God's instructions.

The Sabbath is a test to see if we will not only obey God, but that we want to please God. When the Sabbath comes along, do we say, Here I am? When God has this kadesh meekra, are we able to say, Here I am?

It's interesting to me and Nehemiah. You don't have to turn there. You can study this later. Nehemiah 8. Nehemiah 8 talks about a kadesh meekra and how the people all came together to worship God.

They actually said they bowed their head and worshipped. But the most interesting part about it all was that the book tells us that the people came and they weren't attentive to Ezra who was reading it. It says they were attentive to what? To the book of the law.

They were attentive to what was being taught to them, not who was teaching them.

Some people get hung up on people. Oh, I just want to hear this guy speak. Or I just want to hear this. It's interesting. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, had a brother who was fairly famous himself. His name was Henry Ward Beecher. He was a great preacher of the 1800s. He was the Billy Graham of his day. Everybody wanted to hear Henry Ward Beecher. And every week his services were full of people. Standing room only. And so one week he had to be gone, so he asked his brother, who was also a preacher, to come in and take his place. As his brother started up towards the front, he realized this whispering going on. Where's preacher Beecher? Where's preacher Beecher? Where's he at? As he's not here, as some other guy. And so then people started fowing out. And what did he do?

His brother got up and said, all who came to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. Those who came to worship God, please keep your seats.

We have an appointment. You have an appointment here at 2.30 in the afternoon on Sabbath with God. Not with Mr. Zimmerman. Not with anybody but with God.

You go to bed early on Friday nights so you can be refreshed. You get up early so you can spend extra time. Is it a matter of the heart? Because that's what we're talking about. That's what Jesus Christ was talking to her about. And you have to understand, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, they had the truth, but they didn't have the heart. That's why Jesus Christ was so upset in Matthew 23. He says, you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you blind guides.

We don't want to be that way.

That's why He said, these people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. He wants our hearts. This time, brethren, it's not about Me. It's about God. My focus must be on God. Some have said, well, I don't like videos, when they've had to see videos. But where's the focus? There's something in that message. God is trying to get to you through the Holy Spirit.

Well, I hope my mate heard that sermon. Where's the focus? I don't like that speaker. Where's the focus? As speakers, we must do our best. We must prepare and prepare and prepare and give our offering every week. We must do the best job we possibly can. We're going to have a meeting tomorrow to talk about that so that we can be better communicators, better teachers, because we work for God. I worked for God before the United Church of God.

It's an important responsibility. At Feast of Tabernacles, I've been a festival coordinator for the last five or six years in the Caribbean and at the Feast. If any of you have been there, I don't know that you have. But if you've been to our speakers meeting, we have a speakers meeting before the first service. And I come in and we talk about things. We get to know everybody, and then I ask one thing, just one thing, since almost everyone has one sermon.

I said, I just ask that you will do one thing for me. Give me the best sermon or sermon that you've ever given in your life at the Feast of Tabernacles this year. Don't want to put any pressure, but I want the best. And you know what's amazing? We've had amazing messages. Why? Because that's a focus. Because everyone's trying to do their best. And that comes about us with worship. You know, people leave 144 hours of this world and come to 24 hours of the Holy.

It's not always easy, is it? Trying to get this stuff out from 144 hours. So is God really your God, truly? Is there focus? James Mishner, famous writer, written many books. Very long books, 600-700 pages usually. I've read two or three of his. He wrote Hawaii, he wrote Caribbean, he wrote Texas, he wrote... And he does incredible research. And he researches everybody, and he writes this historical novel, and he changes a few, puts a few of his own names in, but uses real people and so forth, and tries to let you really understand what it was like at the time, or wherever he's at.

And he wrote this book called The Source, which was a historical novel about the Promised Land. And in it, he tells a story as he creates his character, which is reminiscent, pictures what went on at that time. And he had a man in there with a wife and a little child, about six years old.

And his name was Ur-B'al, and he lived in 2200 BC. And he was into polytheism. He had many gods that he worshipped, but the two main gods was the god of the dead and the fertility god. And so they would pack up his wife and his child, and they would go to this temple, a meekra, not a kadesh. Definitely wasn't a holy meeting, but it was a meeting that all the people who worshipped this temple, these pagan rituals, would come together.

And so they made this journey, today's journey, a way to come be a part of the worship. But during the part of the worship, as this pagan society or priest was going on, they drew lots. And when they drew lots on the children, the lot came up on Urba, all sun, a six-year-old sun. So they took the sun, they took him up before their temple, and they cut his throat, and they burned him as a sacrifice. Because that's what they did back then. Part of their worship. And then, as that was coming to an end, and everybody was about to go home, the priest came out and said, I have one more thing.

We have been told that one man here has been chosen, and he will be able to spend the next week with all the temple prostitutes. Because they had a whole lot of temple prostitutes, part of the fertility rites. And so, we've chosen this man, and it happens to be Urba. And so, his wife looked over at him, she had just lost her son, and all of a sudden, her husband even had this giddy look upon his face.

As he was excited, and he was led off to the temple with these prostitutes. And I still remember those words that it had in the book. Because they looked at her as she was walking home by herself. She lost her husband and her son. And she said, if he had had different gods, he would have been a different man. If he had had different gods, he would have been a different man. If the world is your god, brethren, that is the man you will become.

If your job is your god, that is the person you will become. We must prepare to worship God every week. We prepare to go to work, don't we? We prepare to go to school. We can prepare to even go to bed. But how many of us prepare to come to worship God each week? I want to wrap this up. One last scripture. One last scripture, I'd like you to turn to Romans 12. Romans 12.

Romans 12, verse 1. Reading from the New King James. It says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

We are holy, acceptable to God. We are a living sacrifice. Do we realize what that means? I read it from the New Living Translation. It says, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He had done for you. Let them be living, a living and holy sacrifice, the kind He finds acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. The sacrifice was the biggest part of the worship in the Old Testament. We had animals that they slaughtered and they killed. Blood was everywhere, but Christ replaced the blood sacrifice. We don't need animals today. But we now are one of the biggest parts of God's worship service today. We are a living sacrifice to God. The problems are we sometimes crawl off the altar, don't we? But we represent God all week, and then we come and we present ourselves at this Kadesh Meikra before God. The animals gave their lives, and we, brethren, before baptism, we said we gave our lives. We were willing to give our lives to God, to be that living sacrifice, to be part of the worship of God. God has shown us in His Word today about true holy worship and how it needs to be a matter of the heart. But like some professing in the world today to be worshiping God, let us make sure that it can never be said of us. In vain do they worship Me, teaching His doctrine, the commandments of men. Let us really and truly worship God who has taught us from His Word just how to worship Him.