Sermon Central
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Worshiping The Lord Of Hosts
Contributed by Jerry Owen on Mar 10, 2016 (message contributor)
Summary: What would it be like to be ushered into Heaven into the very presence of Almighty God? We may not know exactly what it would be like, but I am sure we would never be the same again.
Worshiping the Lord of Hosts
In Isaiah 6, a man by the name of Isaiah is called out by God to be His servant, to prophesy to a nation that was not living in God's will. The ministry God called him to would prove to be a difficult one. It would not be one of praise, wealth, or comfort. God did give Isaiah one wonderful gift-- the gift of seeing the Lord God in Heaven. This vision of God would be one that would inspire him and strengthen him during the many days of his ministry.
Isaiah 6:1-3 1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
What is worship? The best definition I've ever seen I learned in seminary.
William Temple said that “To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purposes of God.”
Why is God worthy of worship?
1. GOD IS ALIVE.
** A much loved and long-reigning king has died and the country has been mourning him. Isaiah has mourned him. There is fear of what will happen to the nation, to the people. But, kings and rulers come and go and when they die, others will take their places, and they will also die.
** But there is a King who is ever constant. A King that will never die.
Ps 90:2 “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.”
He is the Lord and was there when Heavens and earth were created,
He was alive when the philosopher Fredeich Neitze called Him dead, and He was still on the throne when Neitze himself died.
He has been here thru the reign of every earthly ruler that ever lived and He will still be on His throne when time is no more!
He is El Olam, the Everlasting God.
2. GOD IS OMNIPOTENT. (All powerful)
Notice it is Almighty God that sits on the throne. The Throne of absolute power.
In Gen 17-18, God came to Abraham one day and gave him an awesome promise and made a covenant with him that He would accomplish what He had promised him. The promise was that Abraham “father of nations”.
Abraham responded “I am an old man, how is this possible?”
The Lord responded “I am El Shaddai! Is anything too difficult for the LORD? I will return in 1 year and you and Sarah will have a son.”
Do you sometimes feel powerless to confront the dangers and hardships in your life right now?
Then you need to call on El Shaddai,, God Almighty!
For He is the One with the power to protect you, to sustain you, to anoint you, to empower you, and to make you Victorious!
3. GOD IS ABOVE ALL. (Lofty and exalted)
Ill...Sliding on black ice. There was a big ice storm one year and I had to drive on the interstate about 50 miles to get to work. Everything was fine for 40 miles. I didn't drive fast, no slips, no slides, all was well. I made sure to keep much distance from other vehicles in case of a slip so that I would have room to maneuver. Then, suddenly, the truck's rear started catching up with the truck's front. It was obvious that I was in trouble, but I remained very calm. Defensive driving says to turn into the direction that the rear of the vehicle was going in order to recover, but I saw that I was already close to that side of the road and would surely go down a deep embankment. I said one of those short "God help me" prayers and then let my truck turn a slow 360 and as I came out of it still pointing east, I use some slow turns and light braking to regain control and direction. I was able to keep my wits about me and didn’t die that day, in fact, I didn’t even wreck.
BUT, sometimes our problems can come from every direction and overwhelm us. At times like that, it’s hard to stay focused because the storms have surrounded us and hitting us relentlessly. We can come to what we refer to as our Wit’s end. When this happens, you need to stop looking around at all your problems and look up!
