Acts 9:36-43; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
May 12, 2019
I'm jumping in here to start the sermon. See, I'm going to need the full hour for today's sermon. Now I know that's not the norm for me, and I am aware of warnings given to preachers about being lone-winded; “The mind cannot absorb more than the seat can endure.” Or, “If you don’t hit oil after 30 minutes, stop boring.” For now, I'll ask Julie to come up and read the epistle reading from Revelation and then explain more of what I'm doing.
Now for my sermon, it is a sermon about worship. Julie read there an account of heavenly worship, a worship service that was out of this world. “a great number of people... standing before the throne and before the Lamb, holding palm branches in their hands. angels and the elders and the four living creatures all bowed down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!” It is hard to imagine such a worship, but it is a picture of what worship will look like in heaven, literally and figuratively.
We are gathered here this morning as we do each Sunday morning to worship the Lamb on the throne, to worship God with our words, our prayers, our attitudes and our hymns. What I want to do today is dissect our worship service so that rather than just doing the same things, saying the same words week after week, we examine what we say and why we say it. The sermon will be interrupted as we include all our normal elements of worship, but I will share some of the history and meaning behind our words.
May 12, 2019
I'm jumping in here to start the sermon. See, I'm going to need the full hour for today's sermon. Now I know that's not the norm for me, and I am aware of warnings given to preachers about being lone-winded; “The mind cannot absorb more than the seat can endure.” Or, “If you don’t hit oil after 30 minutes, stop boring.” For now, I'll ask Julie to come up and read the epistle reading from Revelation and then explain more of what I'm doing.
Now for my sermon, it is a sermon about worship. Julie read there an account of heavenly worship, a worship service that was out of this world. “a great number of people... standing before the throne and before the Lamb, holding palm branches in their hands. angels and the elders and the four living creatures all bowed down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and strength belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!” It is hard to imagine such a worship, but it is a picture of what worship will look like in heaven, literally and figuratively.
We are gathered here this morning as we do each Sunday morning to worship the Lamb on the throne, to worship God with our words, our prayers, our attitudes and our hymns. What I want to do today is dissect our worship service so that rather than just doing the same things, saying the same words week after week, we examine what we say and why we say it. The sermon will be interrupted as we include all our normal elements of worship, but I will share some of the history and meaning behind our words.