WORSHIP THROUGH THE PAIN OR AS A SUB-TITLE (WOUNDED WORSHIPPERS)
Isaiah 6
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
Acts 28 King James Version (KJV)
1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
In the year that President Kennedy was shot.
In the year that Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down.
In the year that the Space Shuttle blew up.
In the year that the planes hit the World Trade Center Towers.
There is some in here that can remember some of these life changing events that occurred in our nation. We have a very young church in membership manner, so a lot of you will not remember any of these evets. I dare to say if I were take a poll here this morning that 99.9 percent of you have had somewhere in your lifetime a life changing experience. It was in 1997 that I was involved in an accident on the job that left me partial disabled, in the same year we lost my father in law and my grandpa.
We all have experienced pain at some time in our life, whether it’s physical pain, emotional pain, the pains that come from losing someone, or even spiritual pain. Pain has a way of changing people, and change the way they have an outlook on life, or how they even look at relationships. The pain from previous relationships that were bad if not properly healed will cause you to bleed on your current relationship.
“In the year that King Uzziah died…”
He becomes king at 16 and King Uzziah ruled Judah for 52 years.
Where previously the wall was destroyed, the city was unsafe, now with Uzziah as king, the nation is secure. There was great spiritual prosperity. Uzziah was one of the great kings of Judah that restored the glory and power of David. It tells us "He did right in the sight of the Lord" (II Chron. 26:4). He had great military prosperity. "Warred against the Philistines . . . God helped him against the Philistines" (II Chron. 26:6,7). "Built towers in Jerusalem . . . built towers in the desert" (v.9). Had 307,500 soldiers. There was abundant food. "He dug many wells . . . much cattle . . . he loved husbandry" (v.10). He instituted great technology. "Invented . . . bulwarks to shoot arrows, and great stones" (v.15).
But Uzziah sinned, and in his great power and success became proud. He went into the temple to offer sacrifice, which was only for the priests to do, and 80 priests withstood him. God struck his with leprosy, and he spent his last years ruling as a leper, a constant reminder to all the people of God’s great power.
He brought the Kingdom to new heights of economic prosperity, military power, and political influence.
Pretty hard to forget when someone that influential passes from sight, or when something that traumatic happens in our lives.
And so, in order to put a date on Isaiah’s dramatic and life-changing experience and call from God—he names an event that everyone will remember.
“Oh, yeah. I even remember where I was when I heard the news.”
Uzziah was a man whose very presence inspired confidence. Think in WWII of Winston Churchill. No matter how afraid the British people were, London faces Nazi bombings, but Churchill comes out on the streets, and gives his powerful, stirring speeches that allay all the fears of the people.
Think back to the days following 9/11. Our nation is in a panic, flights are grounded, where will the terrorists strike next. But in the midst of all the confusion and turmoil, one voice speaks with confidence and determination: Rudy Guliani, the mayor of New York. And when he speaks, the people have hope once again. So much so, that he is often called “America’s mayor.” This is the type of inspiring leader that Uzziah is.
“In the year that King Uzziah died.”
“That was 740 BC.”“Alright, go on. I’ve got the context.”
Isaiah was doing much the same thing as you and I are doing this morning when God came to him.
Isaiah was worshipping. He was at church.
We have lost something in Christianity today in that we once used to think of God in terms of great AWE and respect. God was a God to be revered. Cathedrals were built with large, tall naves, ornate stained-glass windows, and the worshipers inside felt a sense of awe when they came to worship. Today, much of the focus is God as our friend, our buddy, our ol pal, even the House of God and his sanctuary has lost its respect from people that don’t see it any more that 4 walls and a couple of doors. And while we serve a God of love, we must never forget that he is a holy, fierce, fearful God.
Hebrews 10:31 reminds us It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The Spirit spoke to me this week and he asked him, how often do you go see the doctor? I thought this was kind of strange, I’m driving and the Spirit of the Lord would ask me how often do I go to the Doctor? I said , God, I only go when I am sick. He ask me, do you ever stop by just to say hi? No sir. Do you ever stop by just to ask your doctor how your doing, no sir. He begin dealing with me, and he asked the question, why do people wait until they are so spiritually sick to run to my house and want me to heal them of their spiritual sickness and their spiritual disease they never stop by just to fellowship.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
God is looking for relationship.
So, “In the year that King Uzziah died” Isaiah went to the Temple just like he did every other Sabbath.
Who knows what was going on in his life that day.
Who knows what his week had been like.
Who knows if he was even thinking about God and heavenly things.
And then it happened. He saw the Lord. He really saw the Lord!!!
And the angels were singing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
And with that, Isaiah saw himself for who he was.
A man. A human being. A sinner.
A person struggling with life and with himself. A person who is lost.
A person with a lot of bad in him. Not the kind of person a holy God would want to have around.
“It’s a good thing God likes rotten people.”
And that is how Isaiah felt that day when the Lord appeared to him in the Temple.
It was one of the worst years that the man of God could remember, it seemed all hope was lost, the nation had lost its king and what seemed their security and yet the man of God knew the only thing he could do is go to the House of God and begin to worship. I know some of you have been under attack, you thought you was about to lose your mind, lose your life, lose out with people you love, it seems like it’s one attack right after another, and after another
When the fire of the Holy Ghost is burning in your life and in the church, and your trying to live for God and do something for the Kingdom of God them serpents will come out the wood work and latch onto you. People you hadn’t talked to in months even years will call you or send you a text message, or they will send you a Facebook friend request or even an inbox message, people on your job will come around and offer you something that you use to be addicted to,
When all hell is breaking lose Isiah is at church worshipping, when it’s cold and rainy Paul didn’t sit still he is shaking the snake off.
Your Haters are on the side lines rolling their eyes and sucking their teeth and wanting you to fail, your haters need to pour them a big tall glass of Haterade mixed with a little bit of shut-up juice while reading the thank you card you sent them.
Some people don’t understand why you are worshipping while you have been wounded, baby, this is my therapy, this is the only thing that keeps me from hurting someone this is the only thing that keeps me from going back into a world of drugs and getting high or spending my paycheck at the bar room, I know how to worship God when I am broke, I know how to worship God when cancer is in my family, I know how to Worship God through my pain, I am a Wounded Worshippers, some of you need to stop worrying about your neighbor, or what your family might think, they going to talk about ya anyway, they might as well talk about how I worship!
I wish you would touch your neighbor and tell them, You have survived! The pain is over!! The Nightmare is over!
When we come to worship, and we truly meet with God, we will be struck by the greatness of our God. We will sense his power, his faithfulness, his forgiveness, his care, and all of the other attributes of his person. An encounter with God begins with seeing his character. And when we do that,
2. We see our own sinfulness. Isaiah’s immediate response is seen in verse 5 - “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” The holiness of God revealed Isaiah’s unholiness. He rightly understood that he should die. He expected his destruction to come at any moment. When God meets with us, we are convicted of sin. People don’t just get their toes stepped on; they feel the full weight of condemnation and the fear of God’s righteous wrath. They tend to confess their sin very soon after. When we truly understand that we serve a holy God, who calls us to be holy as he is holy, we will be aware of how terribly sinful we are. Paul says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.
