Published: September 10, 2023 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: Worship 1 - Part 1 | Scripture: Isaiah 6
Transcript
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Sovereign God gives multiple choice quizzes okay all right he's he's still leading you like he doesn't know the address of the church that he wants you to attend he's still leading but that's
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kind of christianese and you know we we kind of put up with that but I did get a response uh recently that I the gentleman was was very gracious there was nothing wrong people were wonderful lovely friendly he said but this is what
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he said that they were looking for a gospel-shaped order of worship
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you're getting ahead of me but you're arriving at my conclusion but we're going to talk about that because I don't know what that meant and he also said that it he said for a lack of a better you know better words a slightly more
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reserved style of music okay we played a dirge for you and you did
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not mourn I I don't know I mean we sing Psalms you know that's that's viewed by many to be incredibly archaic I think it's wonderful
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um incredibly blessed saying too loudly
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no it wasn't no I maybe so but it was two two comments that both were very intriguing okay both of them were like all right so I did respond to the first one because a
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gospel-shaped worship is actually a seven week curriculum series put out by the gospel coalition
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but um I I asked I said you know this is this is something that the Gospel Coalition puts out and he he responded said no no nothing to do with that it was Isaiah 6.
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okay we'll get there well anyhow this concept of a gospel-shaped worship gospel-shaped worship is um again it's it's it's somewhat modern or contemporary
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somewhat very current and as I said it's it's a series that that you can you know that we could get and churches do this the the para Church organizations um establish themselves and then they
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they will provide curriculum material this happens with Sunday school all the time a vacation bible study I mean these are not being developed over the years when we did VBS we always developed the
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curriculum ourselves curriculum ourselves and we've developed a series of of youth-based Sunday School curriculum Gospel of Matthew and John um you know it's because we don't really
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see the see the not just the need but the justification for the church to be the local
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congregation to be receiving its materials from from other group parachurch groups and maybe that's a bit prideful I don't know um I I think that
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when you do buy your curriculum from from elsewhere the tendency is to accept it uncritically and and that is definitely a place where
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error can come into the congregation unknowingly so I am not in anywhere I say that because we have no intention of getting this video series uh from the that's not the next Sunday
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school series is not going to be the the gospel coalition's gospel shape worship but I was looking it up trying to figure out it's a as I said seven week curriculum for churches says worship that is dependent upon
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God's spirit to Enlighten govern and minister to God's people it is worship that follows the Grand and true story in God's word creation fall Redemption
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restoration which recognizes and appreciates the creativity of God and the image bearing of human beings now all that sounds good it's it's it
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but it it doesn't give away any practical information you basically have to buy the series to to find out um and this is America come on uh you
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want to know what's in it you got to buy it first so I am going to put up some things that that I did find on the Gospel Coalition website and and listening to some short
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videos uh in terms of of what they consider to be a gospel-shaped worship now I think you know you look at this I
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try to look at it graciously and not necessarily um prejudiced against it because it's not from you know from our church because some of the things in here are
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are absolutely uh correct so looking first then
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to the aspects of the Gospel shape worship from the gospel coalition so there's a in it there's a necessary and regular emphasis on sin
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gospel now this is a very reformed approach that you would begin with a frequent and necessary
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which of course establishes the need for the gospel
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hopefully we would agree with that there's another point that I want to want to highlight that okay this is the first point in their list so far so good also this being the first point they're
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not falling into the traditional or the um mindset of worship having to do with
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music so many discussions uh the books if you look up books and Christian worship they're going to be books on music music style
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music style hymnity psalmadi instruments okay choirs you know it's it's like we've we've kind of come to the place where we think of worship really in
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terms of what we're doing when we're singing but I will say that that you know that this summary highlights that no what we're doing when we worship is what we do when we gather
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which includes singing but it also includes praying and preaching and reading Ely did you ever
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uh I think the first emphasis needs to be that there is a guy I mean Genesis starts there God right you know true
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yeah they're they're definitely taking for granted that this is a church-based um curriculum so they're they're
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presupposing belief in God and they're even presupposing Faith this is the church worship and I will say knowing the the writings of the the man who who
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established the god or was Coast co-sponsor or founder of the Gospel Coalition um you know he he definitely believes that the church
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is the Assembly of the Saints it is not simply an Evangelistic meeting trying to get people saved so that's a good point because I think what we need
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to establish here as a kind of a presupposition as that this is for believers which highlights the reformed fact or
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um concept that Believers need to hear the gospel too that the gospel is not just an Evangelistic message for Sinners it is a it is a daily it's daily food for Saints
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for the Believers um they go and say the centrality of Christ in all parts of scripture thank you
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dispensationalism this is a reform statement of the there's one book titled the Christ of the Covenants the Covenants it's a reform statement that that the Redemptive plan of God has been uniform
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and consistent from the very beginning of creation of creation to the cross and the resurrection and that's part of what I read earlier that's part of the the story
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of redemption of redemption it starts with creation and ends with new restoration okay so the centrality of Christ in all parts of scripture it
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displays a hopeful expectation for God to complete the kingdom this is an important point
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on several levels it points out something that is that is often missed in Christian worship and that is
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hope something that Paul speaks of frequently and he speaks of it in the negative where he says to the Thessalonians we are not as the Gentiles who have no hope okay so hope is is a component if it's
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missing then missing then a large part of biblical worship is missing hope is something that that infused the Jewish worship
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but it also he also points out or this also points out that our expectation is in God it's not in the government it's not in the church
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we don't it's not in programs it's not in seven week curriculum you know it's not in anything but God he who began a good work in you will bring it to
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Perfection unto the day of Jesus Christ okay or Thessalonians he who called you is faithful and he will bring it to pass so I think it's an important Point
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um now now we're going to start getting into the particular denominational background of the Gospel Coalition at least of its founding um men patterned by God's well first one
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the Lord's Day liturgy is formal creative and unified
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yeah he was sitting on the yeah he was sitting there there's another one down here that yeah the Lord's Day liturgy
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is formal well now you know creative and unify yeah two different things yeah unified and creative and creative um frankly I don't I don't really know
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what those words mean okay this is this is very uh very modern post-modern these are words are words but they are words that can be filled in
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as you wish what does formal mean well formal can simply mean that we do it at a specific time on a specific day as opposed to informal when we just do
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it whenever the mood strikes us or wherever we may be okay so formal can also mean we were the ladies wear gowns and the men wear tuxedos okay that could be formal as well so
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what does formal mean well it just simply means in one respect that it is a stated time where we gather and worship creative like that's really open-ended
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okay of course it is because it's creative so what are you creating and and really when you when we do get to discuss the regulative principle which we hopefully do next week
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creativity is creativity is is not held as a premium okay by God human creativity In Worship is not a good thing Unified
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um that may be a statement against like the charismatic movement which can be very cacophonous and very dis Unified
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dis Unified I don't really know what the word means and there's no I guess I have to buy the curriculum to find out um but then patterned after God's creative order creative order so we have to meet for seven days
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I again these are words
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pulpit I'll be standing in the little hallway beside it and he'll say let there be light and I'll turn the lights on and we're following I mean what does this mean
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no it doesn't actually does give a little bit of description as to what this means this is actually the liturgical calendar liturgical calendar these are anglicans or high Church
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that's Tim Keller again but but he he has a Fascination for hand a a fascination with certain elements of Roman mysticism so the idea that the liturgical calendar would end up in here it's not a surprise yeah it's not just
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yeah it's not just Sunday the Sabbath but or the Lord's day but it's also um Epiphany it's really the whole
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calendar Easter Advent you know all of them and they actually mentioned so the the and again they they see in that that somehow the pattern of God's creation that's
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also very creative and the church has never been unified as to the meaning of these days but we're starting to see that even in this this is what I was trying to say when the
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churches local congregations purchased their teaching material out from outside there are other ideas and influences that are contained in that that are that
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are not explicitly biblical but but are often strictly denominational and they come in and they become part an unknowing and
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uncritical part of a congregation's worship and they don't even know why they're doing it they're doing it because they bought this curriculum so that's again one of the reasons we don't do that
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do that reverential and respectful approach to the Lord
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this is interpreted differently in different congregations different congregations there are there is a belief among many especially older Christians that when you enter into the sanctuary
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you should be silent there should be no and that was actually an issue years ago in in our church not a major issue but just the yeah
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the the volume of Life happening in our fellowship was not appreciated because it was considered irreverent that when we come into the father's
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presence we should be quiet you know that our are they right are we right is there
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some is there something in Scripture that tells us I do think there are you know enter into his presence with joy enter into his courts with singing um I frankly think that
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that the heavenly father rejoices and is glad in the fellowship and love and the life of his children so I I'm not an advocate of approaching
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the Lord with silent reverence um but I'm also not an advocate of the idea that that that um that he's our BFF that we you know say hey Daddy you know the daddy idea
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that is so popular among the mega churches that that familiarity uh which truly does I think breed contempt so maybe that's what they're reacting here but again no real definition it's
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patterned by God's creative oh I said that uh accessible to look this isn't this is a good one here are words and then words with some words okay
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theological because we got a lot of that locally
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Tim Tim Don Tim no it'll be no it is it's it's it's Tim gone Tim Don yeah God's created order D.A Carson well aware that Tim Keller had a ballet as an offertory he says reverential and
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respectful approach respectful approach approach to Keller well aware that he wants to keep doing ballet ballet accessible to the local educational context yep I'm sure they
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had um a definite cooperation and and um because they're two different very different men in their uh in their approaches to ecclesiology it's really
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kind of interesting that they would be the two D.A Carson and Tim Keller were kind of the founding men for gospel coalition
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um humbly LED but the point being these are not four words that
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necessarily make sense together um each one you can take apart and look at it but it but um together I don't I don't really know
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what that means here they get into a little bit of alliteration expository preaching expository preaching thank you thank you okay now we're going to talk about this
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one of the reasons that I want to discuss what we do is you know it is it is widely held among reformed Christians and um uh
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conservative Christians that the only valid preaching is expository meaning verse by verse through a book of the
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and yet those same Christians will will frequently have quotes from Charles Spurgeon on their Marquee who not only did not preach expositorily but condemned it
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in his pastor's College in his letters to my students because he felt that it it quashed the Holy Spirit we have no biblical mandate for
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expository preaching expository preaching so we can we need to discuss why do we do it that way and if for some reason we don't do it
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have we sinned you know are we to be chastised okay and and actually I was taken to task one time
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in the book of Acts when I actually announced that for the next several weeks we're not going to be looking expository we're going to look at context and situation life and culture
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so that we could understand well it was a visitor okay like I said sometimes we're happy we're happy uh you know I said that that was that
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was illegitimate even announcing ahead of time that I'm not going to be going verse by verse that was illegitimate I I don't have the right to preach in any other way but
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expositorily where is that written where where is that written that I mean we're really not given much of a homiletics course in the New Testament
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so you see they're they're making an assumption here the next one is excellence okay this you know Excellence you got to alliterate so
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Excellence how do you spell Excellence
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all right and I read that I think what I mean really you know we're going to try to look at what scripture says about how God desires to be worshiped now it is it is
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true that you can find in especially the Old Testament you know you can find the the sons of asaph you can find the Levites uh basically
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functioning as a choir you can you can find Miriam Dancing With The Other Women of Israel and you can find David dancing before the Lord as the ark is brought
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into Jerusalem so on the one hand we might not be able to just unequivocally reject certain things
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a prescribed pattern for such things and when you use the word creative okay when you use that word
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that pretty much it's No Holds Barred when it when it comes to what we do because it's it's my god-given
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creativity by which I preach through mime okay fortunately I don't do mime and yeah
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um and then the last one is expressiveness which is authentic affectionate and
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there's a problem here there are people in the Lord who are authentically not expressive okay and for them to be expressive
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or maybe even affectionate would not be authentic and so like what what does this mean it means we're all supposed to hug each other and we're supposed to be there's this
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idea and it's been around for the last 50 years this idea that true Christian Fellowship looks like looks like a Kumbaya Gathering
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of mutual hugging and and and happiness it not that way I mean it's what this does is it it forces people to be what they
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are not are not okay and it's it establishes a certain emotional standard a visible emotional standard that is then called valid or
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authentic worship authentic worship but see it's something we see it's something that we do and we can see each other doing other doing we also see those who don't do it okay
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um God does say porcupines he does he does okay and doesn't necessarily take away their spines afterwards
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um so I I again I think we're now getting in we're getting into a realm of of subjectivity um that and we're just we're almost done
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with this list it's reflected in every aspect of life
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and then finally values corporate family and individual expression of worship so number 10 values
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I I don't find that statement all that on offensive at all but I think you can see that if we were to purchase this curriculum and make it the basis of a Sunday school
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class you know we would see elements in it that are that are highly subjective we would see elements elements that are that are highly denominational um you know and we're not going to necessarily see a scriptural pattern of
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worship but as I said this this this gentleman who responded to me made it clear that that he didn't Follow The Gospel Coalition he said he was basing
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his gospel shaped worship on Isaiah 6. so if you have your Bibles let's let's turn there turn there he noticed that I didn't turn to the
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Bible throughout this entire list um at least the summaries that I found had no proof texts we're just we're just just given but you know Isaiah 6. well
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if you Isaiah 6 you might be familiar with it's it's the it's the vision that Isaiah has given in the year of King uzziah's death uzziah's death um but
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um but but what but what my first thought when I read that was which part okay so we're going to have a gospel
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shape worship that's based on
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I cannot orchestrate an earthquake on Sunday mornings at 10 30. can't do that we could get dry ice and fill the room with smoke with smoke um what is it that you know listen to
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the first in the year of King uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on the throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple seraphim stood above him each having six wings
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with two he covered his face with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called out to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole Earth is filled full of his glory
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and the foundations of the threshold trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke and then I said woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean
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lips and I live among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the seraphim flew to me like with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from
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the altar with tongs they touched my lips my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is Forgiven
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what do we do with that I mean we can sing Holy Holy Holy so that makes Josh's job a lot easier we got one him
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that's it that's it Mark and I have to kiss a hot rock before we preach wait what what is what is this
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I don't think this is what he meant so maybe he meant the last part verses 10 through 13.
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oh this is good I mean this is encouraging for a preacher render the hearts of this people insensitive their ears dull and their eyes dim lest they see with their eyes hear what their hearts understand what
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their hearts return and be healed and then I answered Lord how long yeah we'd say that and he answered until cities are devastated and without some people preached like this houses are without
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people and the land is utterly desolate but they're preaching about the next election though the Lord has removed men far away in this The Forsaken places are many in the midst of the land yet there
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is be a tenth portion in it and it will again be subject to burning like a terabith or an oak whose stump remains when it is failed the holy seed is its thump that where we're supposed to form Our
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Gospel worship Gospel worship the exact gospel shape worship that expecting the congregation will hear listen but not hear
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okay that their hearts will be hardened lest they turn to be healed no that's not it
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yeah this is my conclusion he clearly because it wasn't speaking he was typing it was clearly Isaiah 6. okay then I heard the voice of the Lord
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saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then I said here I am send me this is missionary worship is what it is
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this is and we all are familiar with churches whose reason for being is evangelism and missions right and so every service is to be uh here I
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am send me service an imperative to go who will go who will be the hands and feet of the Lord go into all the nations you know you focus
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on the the send me verses and the the purpose of us Gathering is to go out whether it is into our homes our
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neighborhoods our workplaces or into the world but the emphasis is on evangelism and Mission and Mission that I think is the only conclusion that is reasonable because the other passages
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of isaia 6 do not lend themselves to a gospel-shaped worship we're you know we're not going to fill our room with smoke and we do not desire to to preach in
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such a way that it is not comprehensible but but what this person is focusing on here is here is this is the heart
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and Ely mentioned does it mean they didn't have an altar call basically yes you know basically this that's what this means and I've shared this anecdote before it's one that I I don't think
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will ever leave me we were visiting a church with family up in Pennsylvania and it just so happened that they didn't they did not have a sermon they had a pep talk by the regional
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director of the missions board for that denomination and he was there to to praise and exalt this particular congregation because apparently they had won an award
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for the most missionaries supported or the most money given toward the mission board and the entire talk was statistics about you know who's gone where and how
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much money and it was really uh Pat yourselves on the back for for being working so vigorously for the Lord in missions and then at the end of this
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discussion about the quarterly missions report he gave an altar call
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to what there was no presentation of the Gospel at all no mention of the content of the good news but you have to have an altar
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oh an altar call is yes can't be praised an altar call thank you an altar call is is when you are invited to come and accept Jesus as your lord and savior or because most of you already already have
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to rededicate your life this week to the Lord okay because you did it again last week and you'll do it again next week but and and then there is time when you
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know people come forward and that's one of the reasons why we go back to architecture okay modern stages are semi-circle with often
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multiple steps because those are the kneeling steps that that's where the altar call was was you came forward you knelt on those steps people came and prayed with you
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um and that's the altar call and and it's um it really a rose in the 1800s with Charles Finney but but now it is a it is considered to be the the
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synecuanon the without with nothing nothing of a worship service
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other than self-help type of stuff you have things like you need to move to a poor neighborhood and be like a Sarah supervision or
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something and some of these books like I for example for example if you get picked up by churches and they like Sunday nights the pastor will go through that maybe a
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book like that and you'll have people like on fire to move to wherever right oh we've exp yeah the the the movement the push toward cross-cultural
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Ministry is Again part of this um and and to on the one hand I I have to uh I have to say that that recognition that missions does not mean
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going overseas going overseas that there are unsaved here in our own backyards well hopefully not in your backyard but backyard but um some places yes they may be but here
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in our own town you know we have plenty of of opportunity for evangelism it also recognizes that the church has has become very
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become very um White Tower very isolated and insulated from the world and churches do tend to stratify by socioeconomic levels
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that's true and the poor are of people that were clearly um of interest to God the poor the alien and the Widow and so
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from that there has been a whole new kind of ecclesiastical Evangelistic teaching that that's what the church is here for is to minister to the poor and
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so that instead of giving an altar call or or or inviting people to go to sub-Saharan Africa rather you just go downtown they live downtown live in those
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neighborhoods among those people and be Christ in those neighborhoods that's the teaching the best of them have truth in them
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they're not just Progressive liberal government-funded programs they they the and even the the men and women who Advocate them and I've read a number of
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those um and we'll be talking about that whole concept on Thursday nights as we talk about the church in the world because that's part of it I I could not say that these these people had an ulterior motive and were
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not Christian not Christian their theology at least in terms of the the basic doctrines of Christianity is often sound often sound it's that their their focus their
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emphasis has now become too narrow and they have defined worship as evangelism and they defined evangelism as caught Christ culture cross-cultural
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living okay living okay I'm not ready to you know it's not my job to condemn them judge them um I think it's wise for us to read
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and understand and understand what others in the church and in the church's history church's history have seen at different times as the need in the world and ask ourselves whether or not is is
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that the will of God or is that simply an individual so that's all part of it you're a yes but I don't know that that's necessarily again
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even this um do we believe in evangelism you know there are many people who who fundamentally think that Calvinism is
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diametrically opposed to evangelism the straw man that is generally built regarding reformed theology is that since God knows those who are his there's no purpose or Reason to
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evangelize and you've all probably heard that okay and I know I've heard it uh Ad nauseam but if if it is such a pervasive
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perspective with regard to reform Theology and reformed worship maybe we are doing something
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wrong or maybe we are doing something inadvertently and even unknowingly that encourages this view it's not just Calvin's theology Calvin actually sent
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missionaries out from Geneva actually as far as Brazil and so missionary activity was a function of the genevan churches but the the doctrine of Sovereign Grace
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seems to be inimicable to evangelism the point being for today though is that this is a thing okay that there are there are people who there are churches
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who believe the essence of worship is evangelism is evangelism that is the mean you'll see that on the Marquees as you drive around town on the
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church Marquees that put those little sayings up every now and then you'll you'll just see comments and say This Is Why We Gather so that we can then go out and share the gospel with the
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unbelieving world okay um Jesus tells us and this is kind of where everybody begins in a study of Christian worship
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is John 4 and I'm going to close with just two two passages John 4 in Acts 2. John 4 of course is Jesus's discussion
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with the Samaritan woman at the at Jacob's Well verse 21 Jesus said to her woman believe me an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you
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worship the father you worship that which you do not know we worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews but an hour
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is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and Truth for such people the father seeks to be his worshipers
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God is spirit and those who worship Him must Worship in spirit and truth I want to emphasize that that latter part of verse 23. verse 23. God is actually seeking a certain type
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of worshiper of worshiper that's that's that's not usually brought out in the discussion normally we look at that passage in terms of what what does it mean for us to Worship in spirit
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and truth it's from us to God and there's nothing wrong with that but I want to also point out the other perspective that God is seeking such worshipers
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such worshipers God has a say in all of this he has a desire he has a will and he has a judgment as to whether or not the worship that he is receiving
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is that which he is seeking so there there's not just what do we do to worship God but there's this recognition that it's God who is Seeking a certain type of
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worshiper what do we do to be that type of worshiper then finally Acts 2 which forms a you know a major part of
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the guiding Paradigm here at Fellowship Bible Church
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verse 46 well verse 42 and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to Fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer verse 46 and day by day continuing with
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one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people
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and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved again I hope the course to be very interactive I hope the class will be
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helpful for you to understand why we do what we do but I also encourage you in looking at these passages especially this one in Acts 2. to think about what we do
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and take note of anything that we do that you don't quite understand why we do it or you think we ought to do it a different way or there's something we don't do that you think we should do that doesn't mean we're going to do it
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I'm not I'm not opening up to a democratic you know hey let's just this one got nine votes we're going to do this one this one um now we're not doing that but we're we're just kind of it's kind
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of along the lines that a Reformed Church is always reforming that we don't claim that we have found all the answers and that there's nothing we're missing so with that note let's close in prayer
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father we do desire to give you the worship that you seek and yet we know that in our fallen Minds still clouded by sin
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it is not within us to find out what that is that is and so you have given us your spirit not only within each one of us but corporately indwelling
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corporately indwelling guiding and gifting your churches and so we pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth that we might indeed worship you in spirit and
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in truth