Why worship is so central
Goshen/25/5/12/Pastor Lee Choo
In John 21, we are given the account of how
the Lord appeared to Peter and the disciples by the sea of Galilee after His
resurrection. Peter thought that he had failed the Lord having denied the Lord
three times. However, Jesus did not find fault with him, but tenderly brought
him and the disciples back. In John 21:5, Jesus called out “Friends, haven’t
you any fish?”. God cares for our basic needs for food, for our family. Jesus
called them friends, and went on to help them before commissioning them. Jesus
asked Peter “Do you love me?” three times. It was for Peter’s sake, for him to
realize that he loved Jesus.
It is so important for us to profess our
love for the Lord. Why is worship so central to the Christian faith? The bottom
line of everything we do for God is to set ourselves to love God and to say it
out. When a wife says to a husband “I love you, my husband, something comes out
of her. When you say “I love you Lord”, it draws you out. The more you say it,
the more it draws and releases you, anchoring you more and more in God.
At the prayer conference, it was amazing how
God loves nations, and how He loves us. The precious song “Deeper in love with
you” actually came out of the persecuted church of China
God is moving powerfully in the nations. We
must put Jesus back at the center of our Christian life, back in the center of
our worship! We can’t love people until we have been loved ourselves. The key
to every marriage is to be anchored in the love of Christ. When you know God
loves you, you will be able to go through tribulation.
Ephesians 3:16-19 says “I pray that out
of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his
Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established
in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how
wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know
this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may
be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
It is in the inner man where God is at work, from the inside
out. It is the Holy Spirit that establishes us. If we are not anchored in God’s
love, we can be centred on ourselves, leading to disappointment.
A missionary had worked on a Thai island for many years, but
the church attendance was only 45. Even then, he thought it was not bad
considering that in Thailand,
86% are Buddhists, followed by Muslims. At 45, he was already leading the 3rd
largest church on the island. Then this missionary felt led by God to teach his
members to become a blessing to the people around them. One of his members was
a 60-year old former medium who had been dying of cancer but was miraculously
healed after the church prayed for her. To help her, they bought her an
ice-cream cart to sell ice-cream. As a medium, she used to surrender her body
to evil spirits, but now she surrendered it to the Holy Spirit for works of
goodness and kindness. She listened to her pastor and repeated to herself “I am
not just a Christian, I am blessed to be a blessing. I am God’s agent!” She saw
her ice-cream cart as a chariot of fire and the ice-cream as God’s secret
weapon! Somehow, as she sold ice-cream, she amazingly led 700 people to the
Lord in 2 years. She decided to witness to the mayor of the island, and shouted
God bless you to him every morning. One day, the mayor came to her and said
“thank you for blessing me”. She replied “Come to my church, and my Pastor will
bless you too!” Amazingly, he came, and that particular Sunday, the missionary
felt the Lord leading him to speak on corruption. The mayor at that point was
the poster boy for corruption, and when he suddenly walked in, the missionary
was wondering if he should abandon his message. He prayed to God “the mayor may
revoke my visa”, and the Lord replied “well, I can revoke your breath!” So he
continue to preach on corruption, and the mayor left before the service ended.
3 days later, he received a call to meet the mayor, and he thought it was time
to pack his bags. Amazingly, the mayor told him that he had just received a 1.5
Million dollar bribe, and he felt convicted by the message that he was actually
stealing from the people. He asked the missionary to pray for him. Then, he
offered to return the bribe to the multinational company, but they said they
could not take it back as it would affect their audited books. Consequently,
the missionary asked him to use the money for the poor and the mayor decided to
use it as a fund to provide clean drinking water for the poor people of the
island whose lives had been devastated by a tsunami. The next election, the
mayor received an 86% vote and he was also received a special award for being
one of the best mayors in the country.
In just a few years, the church grew from 45 to 4,000. God’s
heart is so big. Our understanding of God needs to be much bigger. As the
church was expanding, the missionary told the mayor that he was looking for a
bigger place, and the mayor led him to one of the most notorious nightclubs on
the island. God was dealing with the missionary and his understanding. Every
Sunday, the congregation would come at 5am to clean up the place and get it
ready for church. The owner of the nightclub came to church every Sunday, and
after a few Sundays, asked the missionary to pray for him. He had realized he
needed to close down the nightclub. The missionary asked him how he would cope
with the loss of the business but the owner said the nightclub was just a hobby
for him. As it turned out, this owner was also the owner of the biggest
newspaper on the island and the radio station. In a short time, the missionary
was given a slot, where he would pray to bless the island, and his program has
become a major influence on the nation. All this started with an ice-cream
woman.
We are not called to be dull in our Christian lives. We
should be attuned to the Lord every day. When we are not dull, He is able to
inspire us. We must never feel like we know it all. Jeremiah 33:2-3 says “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and
unsearchable things you do not know.” We must not forget who our God is! We can
never fully comprehend how truly great and mighty our God is.
When we are changed, the world around us changes. Never think
you have arrived. There are spiritual forces at work everyday, darkness that
challenge us. In an Indonesian island, 500 witches covenanted to meet together
to fast and pray, calling down 4 curses upon Christians – to fill the churches
with division, to bring breakdown of the family, and unnatural disease and
accidents. The Indonesian church pastors also prayed together, setting up
prayer round the clock. Later, the tsunami wiped out all the witches in that
gathering.
What overcomes fear is perfect love. If we are anchored in
God, fear will leave us. Prayer must be accompanied by worship. Prayer is
surrender to God. Prayer should not be overly focused on petitions. Prayer is about
being desperate for God. Don’t take God for granted. When God passed by, blind
Bartimaus reacted. You have to give God the time, not fit God to your
convenience. God is our Master and Lord and King. You can be at church and miss
Jesus’ coming. People who press in will be most blessed. They are those who
make time for God.
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