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You must be looking at the frontier. Manada talent, right? So all of us are here this morning, not by accident, not by chance. We've been called by our God to come and worship and praise him. Amen. Amen. So let us start singing our first song and give him thanks for all that he's done. [Music] Put
your hands together.
Myior redeemer lifted me from the mighty king. Almighty forever. I will never be the same as you can be. From the everlasting to the world we live on.
You live, you die again. You all [Music] live again. Hallelujah.
I know you love
[Music] my savior, redeemer. [Music] Almighty forever. I will never be the same as we give the everlasting to the world and father's only son. [Music] You live, you died, you rose again on high. You opened the way for the world to live again. Halleluah.
Oh,
you live. You died. You rose again on high. to open it. I don't want to live again. Halleluah [Applause] for all you
[Music] from the everlasting to the world we live. Father's only [Music] from the everlasting to the world we live the father's only
[Music]
rose again on high
again. Halleluah
for all you love. You live. You died. You rose again on high.
[Music] [Applause] Hallelujah. [Music]
Halleluah.
You are Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.
[Music] You do the praise of God.
Praise [Music]
Great is man the Lord of everything worthy. What is your name?
Ever changing, ever raining,
[Music] worthy of [Music] all creation
to declare your wonderful every Sing [Music] praise us to the one who saved us. Through his blood he gave us life and now we come. Everyone praise us to the one who saved us. Through his blood he gave us life. And now we die everyone.
[Music] and aable, always faithful pray. Everyone sing. What is your name? [Music] Bright and burning. You're returning again.
Worthy is your name.
All creation rises up to declare your wonderful everywhere. [Music]
Praise to the one who saved us. Through his blood he gave us life and now we come. Everyone praises us to the one who saves us. through his blood. He gave us life and now we die everyone. [Music]
Sing hallelujah. Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. [Music]
Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. [Music]
Sing hallelujah.
[Music] Hallelu.
Praise us to the one who saved us. Through his blood he gave us life. And now we come. Everyone who praises us. To the one who saved us. Through his blood he gave us what now we come. Everyone
put our hands together for our Lord because he saves us. Everyone he saves us. Let us praise him. Let us continue to exalt the king on high. Let us praise him. Exalt him.
[Music] He's exalted. The king is exalted on high. I will praise him. He's exalted forever. Exalted and high. Will praise his name.
He is the Lord forever. His new shall reign heaven and earth. Rejoice in his holy name. He is exalted. The king is exalted on high. He's exalted.
He's exalted. The king is exalted on high. I will praise him. He's exalted forever. Exalted at high praise today.
He is the Lord. Forever his shall reign. Heaven and earth. Rejoice in his holy name. He exalted the king exalted on high. Let us sing one more time. He's exalted. He exalted. The king is exalted on high. I will praise him. peace and song forever and soft and I will praise his name.
He is the Lord forever and shall reign. Heaven and earth rejoice in his holy name. He is exalted. The king is exalted on high.
He is exalted. The king is exalted on high.
He's exalted on high. Hallelujah. Please be seated. We'll go into a time of thanks and offering now. Brother Yhing will say a prayer for the backs. Let us pray. Our father, we exalt you on high because you are worthy of our worship. Lord, we thank you for the abundance that you've given us every day and every year. And as we think about the goodness that you have given us, we feel very small. Lord, at this point of time, we wish to put a portion of what you have so richly bless us so that we for the furtherance of God's kingdom. And we pray now that you anoint and you will bless and you guide the church leaders to use it wisely purely for the glorification of your name and expansion of your kingdom. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
Let us rise and sing the doxology to our Lord. [Music]
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above. Ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. [Music] Please be seated.
Good morning, church. Morning. Good to see all of us back here again. Um, let's take some time to welcome newcomers in our midst. Is anybody here who's here for the first time? Can I have a show of hands? Uh, someone's pointing to her auntie from Pinang. Good. Welcome over there from Canada. Uh, David's uh, brother. Uh, someone in front there at the back there. Edward is next to the lady. Anyone else? Please join us at the Globe Cafe for something to eat right after the service. Let's take some time to welcome each other to the house of the Lord.
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
That's it.
Okay. Well, last night uh how many of you were not here? Put your hands up. Ah, you miss out. So, because you were not here, we'll just give you a bit of a rundown what happened last night. Um, we had about 350 people come which is great turnout and most of them were non-Christians which is fantastic and the clicker doesn't work. Can I have a clicker that works? Can I have the next slide please? Good. This is some some pictures. Next slide. Next slide. Uh this is a young man who's got a lot of talent up and coming. Next slide. Uh Leanne sang very well. Next slide. judges. He didn't sing. Um, next slide. Uh, monkey face. Ah, this is the duet by the judges. Uh, basically, uh, uh, Juitita and our beloved Joanne. Next slide. Uh, next slide. Okay. This is the dance with um, uh, done by Rachel. Next slide. And the top three. Okay. Starting from number three. Next slide. young lady called Prriscalong who played her own composition on the uh piano which is really great. Next slide. And then the Avalanche was a unique team uh uh using a book or musical instrument and fantastic harmony. And number one, next slide was a rejuvenate. They were really uh cut above the rest. Next slide. So uh this is the team. They had a great time. Next slide. And uh these are the judges. Next slide. Okay, now a couple of announcements. Um, just to let you know, um, FBC ROS members are will stay back next uh, two weeks from now. We have a judge business meeting is something that we have to have three times a year. We're trying to change the constitution so we don't have to have the meeting uh, three times a year. Just have it just once. Um, then Saturday worship uh, meeting next week for those of you who are going to go for election early morning. So your worship will be on Saturday evening 6 o'clock for so those of you want to turn up with dinner involved. So please tell the church office RSVP so we can cater for you. Okay. The normal service the next day will be at 11:15 as normal. And then we'd like all of you to come on Friday evening at 8:30 our church for prayer meeting for uh just before the elections because we feel that this is a time where the church must get together and we'll do our part on our knees. uh please uh come along. Well, this morning I have great privilege to introduce to you a couple going to go to Russia to of all places Russia while this obeying the the the the great commission to share the gospel to the furthest ends of the earth. So can I invite uh James and Jinus to come up? James and Janice.
Come of all places, why Russia? It's the land of G and Magog. When are you going? We are going on the 3rd to the 16th of uh May. We will be missing election of And how many weeks are you going to be uh and what will you be doing? Can you tell us? We will be basically sharing with the local Russians in the interior parts of Russia in a city called Perm. It is about 1,000 kilometers east of Moscow. And we will be staying with the locals and reaching out as a great commission that the Lord has commanded us. Right. Let's uh have a word of pray. I can ask Richard to come and help also lay hands uh on them
church. Let's pray for them. Father Lord, we just thank you so much for this wonderful couple who have availed of their lives to go all the way to Russia um into the remotest parts of Russia, even not even Moscow, so that the gospel will be shared. We thank you for their example. We thank you for the humility. We thank you for the dedication to service. We pray as they go you give them boldness, fill them with the power of your Holy Spirit, oh Lord. So as they go with the tracks in their hand and the gospel in their mouth, oh Lord, give them uh uh sweetness of the tongue so that when people see them, they'll be uh uh they'll be seen as your messengers, oh Lord. That the message will come across as a message of peace. And we pray, oh Lord, that the message of gospel will be clearly preached through their mouths, oh Lord, and their hands will show your love. We commit them in your hands and we ask that you bring them back safely to us. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen.
Thank you, Dr. Peter. Can I invite the congregation to stand again as we continue our praise and worship to our God. [Music]
We are here this morning to give thanks to our God who sent his son to die on the cross for all sins.
Give him thanks for the cross, for the price that he paid where he took all our sin and shame. [Music] May his blood cleanse us of all our sins. Nothing can compare to what Jesus did on the cross for us. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
[Music] Thank you for the cross, Lord.
Thank you for the price you
bearing all my sin and shame. In love you came and gave amazing grace. Thank you for his love, Lord.
Thank you for the new hands. Wash me in your cleansing. Now all I know for the s and break. Worthy is the lamb. Joy is the lamb
seated on the throne.
You now
crowds you to reign victori. [Music] I am lifted. I am lifted up.
Jesus, son of God,
the darling of heaven crucified.
Worthy is the lamb.
Worthy is your lamb. [Music] Thank you for the cross. [Music]
Thank you for the price you [Music] carried all my sin and shame. in love. You came and gave a name.
Thank you for all this love. [Music]
Thank you for his
for me your cleansing blood. All I know the forgiveness and I pray the love is the lamb
seated on the throne.
All you found
out great. [Music]
Jesus, son of God,
the God in heaven. [Music]
Worthy is the lamb.
Worthy is the lamb.
Worthy is the lamb. [Music] Worthy is the lamb. [Music] Don't leave him many crowns.
Many cr [Music] upon his soul. All we have is we tend [Music]
away my soul and see all the people who die for me.
And last [Applause] to all [Music]
worthy is the lamb
seated at all the throne.
All you love
you bring me glory.
[Music] I am now.
Jesus, son of God,
the glory of heaven.
Worthy is the lamb.
Worthy is the lamb. [Music] Worthy is the lamb. [Music] Worthy is the lamb. Revelation 5 11. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels numbering thousands upon thousands and 10 thousands times 10 thousands. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise." Father God, as we continue in a time of worship, Lord, we ask we move towards corporate worship as one body. Here we are, oh Lord, to worship. Here we are, oh Lord, as one body. Here we are, oh Lord, to give you praise. May you find this sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to you, Lord. And we say this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely, all together worthy, all together wonderful to me. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely, all together worthy, all together wonderful to thee. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. All together lovely. All together worthy. All together wonderful to me. Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together love worthy, all together worthy, all together wonder for you. [Music] I'll never know how much it cost to see a sin upon that cross. I'll never know how much it costs. sing
up all
hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Hallelujah. You live and you died and you rose again on high. You've opened the way for the world to live again. Hallelujah.
[Music] Sing it with us, church. Hallelujah
[Music] for all you done.
We ask the church to go right now into the time of personal worship. Where you are now, where you are standing. As the music plays, we ask you quieten your hearts for the Lord is here in our midst. The spirit is moving. We ask you quieten your hearts and just focus on our Lord and give him your sacrifice of your praise. Give him your voice. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, we come quietly now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you.
And we say this in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated.
We want to play you a little video now. Uh this is a an essential part of any Pentecostal church service. It is a participatory activity by nature, but it is not uncommon for some members of a given congregation to feel uncertain about how to engage in worship appropriately. This instructional film will attempt to provide some clear guidelines for those of you who feel this way. Clapping. Since most worship sets begin with upbeat songs, clapping along with the fast songs can serve as an easy and effective way to loosen up. But when attempting to do this, you may find yourself wondering, "What beats should I clap on?" Don't worry. This tends to puzzle the better part of most suburban congregations. Clapping on beat is really quite simple. In 44 time, you clap on beats two and four. In cut timer 2, you clap on beat two, not one. On an upmpo 68 feel, clap on beat four. If the song is in three/arter time, there's typically no need to clap.
Just watch the drummer's left hand. When he hits the snare, you should clap. Dancing. There may be times during your worship experience that you feel the need to express yourself physically, but are unsure of how to do so appropriately. This is totally normal. Just remember that odds are no one around you knows how to dance either. The easiest way is to jump up and down to the rhythm of the song. To call this dancing is really quite generous as casual observers would likely call it hopping in place, but it works for most people. If jumping in church is too far out of your comfort zone, some safer alternatives include the knee bender, heel popper, or stationary march. Remember the dancing is only acceptable on fast songs. Breaking into a jig during a slow song will likely make you appear insane. Hand raising. Many people raise their hands during worship as an act of surrender, but one should be careful to do so in a considerate manner. Ask yourself these questions. Am I wearing deodorant? If the answer is no, don't just go raising your hands as high as you can, as this could be a distraction to your neighbor. Instead, employ the halfmasked method and spare your friends the agony. How much room do I have? Before you throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care, take a quick glance around you to check for available space. Nothing can ruin a worship experience faster than having your eyeball gouged out by an inconsiderate worshipper. Sincerity. Anyone can simply sing, dance, and clap their hands. But how do you show God that you are sincere in your efforts? Simple. You must use appropriate facial expressions at all times. This is usually accomplished by pretending to be in varying amounts of discomfort. Let's try it. Raise your hands to just above the shoulders. Now, imagine you're passing a kidney stone. Nicely done. Very authentic looking. Also, remember to close your eyes. You can't communicate with the Lord with your eyes open. That's a rule. If you simply must have them open, at least look up at the ceiling or something. It makes you appear more spiritual. Now you possess all of the tools necessary to worship God effectively or to at least appear so.
Okay, I hope uh that was quite uh entertaining. As you can realize, see if we can have the slides up. U today we're going to talk about the topic of worship. So let's come before the Lord right now uh as we prepare for his word. Lord, we thank you this morning uh for the saints that are gathered here in this hall. We ask for the next uh 40 minutes or so. You give us attentive years as we look at your word and uh to see how you want us to worship you. And we say this in Jesus name. Amen. The video you just saw interestingly were done by a charismatic church of all things. So he's a jab at uh what is known as you know contemporary worship you know uh in the church like ours not everybody raises their hands a few do question is what is an appropriate way to worship you raise your hand and close your eyes is it more holy should you be more revered and stationary what kind of songs should we sing worship has a very wide definition in the Bible Romans 12 tells us is actually the way we But the Greek word used procrino which is used 66 times infers intimacy and reverence. We're going to look at a text today to understand true worship. So if you turn with me to John chapter 4, if you have Bibles with with you, we will start to look at vers 21. And this is a quite a famous text. This is a text about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman. I think we have some uh this is also not working. Yeah. Okay. Let's just read the text. Um Romans 4:21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming in when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know. For salvation is from the Jews. Yet the time is coming when the time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshippers the father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and truth. This is a very famous text uh and we have a case of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman. Let me just give you a background to the story. And if you have your Bibles there earlier on in verse 17 of verse 16, he tells uh the woman, go call your husband and come back. And she said, I have no husband. She replied. Jesus said to her, you are right when you said you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Now the context is quite interesting meaning she has just been exposed. Uh her her deepest deepest darkest secrets of her immoral life has just been exposed and she does what a lot of us are quite good at doing. What do we do when people confront us with things we don't like to talk about? We change the topic. So she changed the topic. She changed the topic to something totally irrelevant about worship and yet Jesus continues on the discussion. Now that's important point to pick up. You must understand the text is not a theological discussion on worship. The text is about a woman meeting Jesus and Jesus is trying to tell her about living water. Keep that the back of your mind. Yeah. And so the first line says this uh she tells uh Jesus very profound. Our fathers worship on this mountain. She's a Samaritan. But you Jews claim the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Now a bit of history here. The Jews did not get on with the Samaritans. The Jews saw the Samaritans as half cast. History is that Samaritans were people taken into captivity to Samaria. idol worshippers later on became believers of God. Now they worship in a place called Mount Garisim which is where Abraham sacrificed to God. The Jews worship in Jerusalem. So here's the point. The point was she's saying which place is more holy. Us Samaritans it is Mount Garism. to the Jews, it is the temple in Jerusalem. So the debate is about true worship being tied to a place. Now that's quite common nowadays whether you are Christian or any other faith people when they go into a temple or go into a a church or any or synagogue they tend to act more holy because there's a belief that when you enter the place that place itself there's some sort of supernatural quality. So the the place is important to them. Now Jesus turns that on his head. He says, Jesus declares, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." Now, he is essentially saying the place isn't that important. He's not saying it's not important at all, but it's not that important. And he's talking about future. And we find this in Revelations chapter 21. In the future, when in heaven, this is what happens in heaven. And John sees a vision. The same man who wrote this book, the the apostle John saw this. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. Now, here are some very simple understanding here. The point what Jesus is saying is worship is a spiritual activity. Unfortunately, what the Jews and the Samaritans have turned is they've turned it into a physical activity. Where should we worship? The argument today is the same thing. What songs should we sing? What is the order of worship? How long should the sermon be? And so on and so forth. So let's take up a few applications just from that verse. Number one, you can worship anywhere. You can worship in a big church like the picture there or a cathedral. I come from a brethren background or they call it a gospel hall. You can worship in a barn. You can worship outside. You can worship with ambulance, with ropes, with anything. And you can worship with your culture. The last three shots you have a church in Iraq, a church in Africa, and a church in Chennai. So you can worship anywhere anyh how you like. God isn't so much concerned on the form as he is concerned on the substance behind the form. Unfortunately when it comes to worship nowadays we tend to go back to personal preferences. Uh last week uh we had a very great sermon by uh pastor Dorai. At the end of the sermon uh Chuch Chang broke out into this song. I don't know how many of you remember it. It had a boogie bit on it, you know, a very rock and roll.
Be bold, be strong for the Lord your God is with you. And there were two of our Ghana sisters sitting in front. Halfway through the song, they wanted to go and go on sister. They halfway they forgot. Oh, you're at a Baptist church. You better behave myself. But you see this is what the New Testament saying and John Piper picks it up. There are no explicit instruction in the New Testament whether you should worship where Mount Gerisim Jerusalem in the garden. How big your church should be, how long your service should be and what songs you should do. Should you raise your hands and pretend to be very spiritual or you want to clap your hand or be stationary? There are no instructions. Why? Because worship is spiritual. And a bit of history on churches just to give you a few minutes. Many churches worship different way. If you come from an Anglican Methodist background is considered historical, what you call liturggical. Charismatic churches is considered contemporary. Older churches the emphasis is on the holy communion or what you call the Eucharist. I come from a brethren church. We worship in a group. Free worship. There's no such thing as a set of songs. You like a song, you stand up there, you sing it. And our church tradition influences us. Our local culture influences us. And unfortunately, our personal musical preferences influences us. So if I like rock music quite likely and if I'm an elder of a church, you all will be singing very fast hill songs and going like that. if I'm classically trained and I think all this is horrible music, all of you be singing hymns tomorrow, next Sunday. So there's a there's a tendency to hijack our culture, our personal preferences and push it into worship service. So on one hand, all of this is acceptable to God. Everything you see up there, you can raise your hands. You can be very quiet. You can use lights and sound. You can raise candles. On one hand, everything is permissible. But as Paul says, not everything is beneficial. In Australia, we were we were in a church where the most important thing was a sermon. So this the singing was not important. You know it's it's like it's like you know there's like the intro you know like like like appetizer the main meat is a sermon. So they just sang songs. So people come and just open their mouths and and just sang but there was no sense of worship. So this morning we want to ask ourselves how do we evaluate our worship and we should be open not to let our church traditions our personal preferences influence us on our worship. Let me give you a simple example. Uh in the brethren church every Sunday you have to break bread. Any brethren people here? Ex brethren, huh? Wow, got a few. Ah, not yet. You try telling a brethren elder, can we break bread once a month? Oh, they'll kick you out of church or you can't do that. Try going to an Anglican church in high Anglican church and you say, you know what, the church is all young people. Why don't you get rid of your ropes? you know, you start to look like Santa Claus, you know, cuz Anglican robes can be red. They quite likely one of them will kick you out. You see, we don't like change in anything we do, including our worship. So, here the first question to all of us, are you worshiing because you're comfortable with it? But are you worshiing because it pleases God? Remember the text is saying worship is a spiritual activity. We'll get to the verse later on spirit and truth. But Jesus is coming up to say is spiritual activity. So the solution is spiritual not physical. Now here's a challenge to ush what if say next time we break bread we do that once a month. What if we broke bread after the sermon? can or not. Some people say cannot. We must break before the message. Where where does the Bible say? So Bible doesn't say it. So we should be open to try new things because we want to try new things not for the sake of trying it but because it pleases God. And Paul says it later on. He says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace what? In your hearts." Here's a word to pick up. In your hearts to the Lord. I'm going to go back to that again and again. Colossians 3:16. In another text, Ephesians 5:19, he says, "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. So the two things we pick up here, God is not so much interested whether you're singing hymns or choruses or jumping up and down or being very quiet. God is interested in what your heart is when you're singing. So right there where you're sitting here, what is God interested in? Whenever you open your mouth to sing a song, what's in your heart? Number two, notice in both the texts, you're not just singing to God, you're singing to who? So, you're singing to each other. So, singing has a body corporate influence. You're not just singing to God. You're singing to encourage the guy next to you. I used to have a pastor in Australia who couldn't sing for nuts. He was tone deaf. So, everything was only one note. So when you sit next to him church cannot like the deer who ped water so my soul longs for you amazing grace how sweet the sound that s like me you cannot you know so I used to tell pastor Joshua don't sing our Joshua Joshua that he told me no I will sing why because I'm singing from my heart so Here's good news to all you people who are tonedeaf. All of you who say out of tune. The world say don't go to the ko. But God says hallelujah. Sing out loud. You can be out of tune. You can be tone death. But if you're singing from your heart that pleases God. So we're going to get into that mind. Now you you hear the tone of a of a words. Our fathers worship on these mountains, but you Jews claim the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Do you know what she's saying? There is tension and history tells us the Jews and Samaritans just don't get on as mentioned earlier. So the worship also becomes divisive. Now unfortunately today worship is a divisive matter. In this hall here, there are some people who think we should sing hymns. Why hymns are very respectful, very revered, the words got meaning. There are some people here who think we should sing more hallelujah, all that kind of jumping up and down songs. And here's the demographics. If you're young like Brandon and Luke, I don't know whether Luke is young. He's cross it a little bit. If they had I mean sorry Luke that's fact of life that's fact of you know uncle Luke yesterday they called you they called him you see if you're young if they if the if the youth had a way every day to come and praise the Lord hallelujah and then all the old people were w like a rock concert very unedifying you you get an older person here let us sing him number 51 from the Baptist himnel and then six stanzas after verse number two the young people cannot uncle. How many more verses? So it becomes an issue which creates problem. So here keep in mind worship is spiritual. The solutions are spiritual. The thinking should be spiritual. How should we get past this? I think a lot of it is attitude. Because Paul says to a Jew, I become a Jew. To a Gentile become a Gentile. I became all things to win people to Christ. Here's something they do in Thailand. We got one brother from Thailand at the back there. Okay. Raise your hand brother from Thailand. Okay. Now, this is not in Bangkok. In Thailand, in a post office, they don't some of the rural towns, they don't have ticketing machines. So, you book your place with your slipper.
Don't try that here in post when you pay your Unifi bill, okay? Unless you want to. But but you see the point is this. So you go to the post office, you take off your slipper, you buy, you know, cate book it, you go back, you know. Now the point is this only works if everybody is of the same mind. Correct or not? That means you must be focused. If you are focused that okay, this is how we will have order and discipline. You put your sleeper there. I'm not going to come put my sleeper in front of you. I go put my sleeper at the back. Then one slipper go, I take off my slipper, another one come. So you must be focused. Focus is important. This is the time of charama. I'm not telling you which I I have successfully edited all party flags there. And we want to stress again the church is not a place to endorse any candidate or any party. You are free to vote whoever you want. I'm just using this as an example. Okay. Uh no, this churama is quite interesting. It was raining yet people went. Why? People are focused. I went to a churama uh last week or my wife dragged me to one. She's a real hardcore charama goer. Okay, you can talk to her privately. So I went don't mention what party be very careful here. Now the cha was interesting. The first person that went up to speak was this woman. She spoke in Mandarin. I don't understand Mandarin. And I saw the crowd there were Indians and Malaysia. Everybody clap
for men. She went to Cantonese. Then she went to English. Everybody clap. The next speaker was an Indian fellow. He spoke in Tamil and all the Chinese men say who the third speaker spoke in Malay. You count it. There was Mandarin, Cantonese, English, Tamil, you know. But everybody clapped even though obviously they didn't have a clue what was happening. You could hear the Tamil fellow was going everybody cling. You don't even know what he's saying. Why? Because people are focused. You see when you're focused on a cause that becomes the form becomes secondary. And when you focus on a cause, the fact that you can have people of different backgrounds, different races being one-minded, the form becomes secondary. I think one of the reasons why we we argue in church over should we sing more hymns, more choruses, should you raise your hands, should you do this, this is wrong, this is right, this is not paying respect to God, this is entertainment is because we lose what it means on corporate worship. Brothers and sisters, today you're worshiping as a body. The ultimate definition of it is found in Revelations. And John saw this in verse 7 9-10. After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. And he cried on a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Now when you read that verse, what comes to your mind? Do you ask yourself, hey, are they singing a hill songong song? Are they singing a Baptist hymn? No, you don't ask, right? Do you ask yourself, is it a fast song or slow song? Why? Because when you read that, it doesn't matter. You don't ask what language they're singing. Your focus that they all singing as one body to God. And when we sing as one and if you are mature enough whether it's a old hymn whether it's a fast contemporary song whether you don't know the song you don't like the song you are focused on God and the other thing is what brings the encouragement is you get different people singing it old people young people different race and different backgrounds in our church we have all of that every nation, tribe, people as one. I want you to pick up this word corporate worship as one body. It's very important. Now Jesus defines it a bit deeper deeper. He says you Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation comes from the Jews. Why? Because the Samaritans had taken off a lot of the books of the Old Testament. They were at the and the and and the Jews are quite right. They didn't have the full revelation of God. And salvation comes from the Jews. It comes from the line of Jews. So the Samaritans could be sincere in the worship. Some people say, "So long I worship sincerely is enough." That's not quite true. You could be sincere and sincerely wrong. Here's a man who worship very sincerely. How many of you actually saw this video? How many of you yall saw this, right? is very famous. Now, for those who didn't see it, let me give you an example of it. All right, Mr. Bean goes to church because he's an English man and English men are supposed to go to church. He's sincere. The guy next to him doesn't want to lend him his himnel, whether it's Baptist himno or anglican himno. And if you watch the video, he doesn't know the song. And it's a terrible song. You watch the video. So, he only knows one word in the song. Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hal. The rest he doesn't know. So when you watch the video, every time he comes to it, that's all he sings. Hallelu hallelu. The rest of it, he doesn't sing. So the singing is meaningless because he doesn't have the the himna book with him. That's the only thing he knows how to do. Then he sits down for the sermon and of course the fellow talks in a mono tone one tone was would you turn to this Bible and he tries to stay awake and after a while he just falls asleep.
He's sincere. A lot of people come to church they are sincere. This isn't worshiping God is worshiping religion. Religion is coming to church Sunday after Sunday and going through the motion. Let's sing some songs, hear a message. Hopefully, it's not too boring. We won't fall asleep. But the person I really want to look at is not Mr. Bean. It's the guy next to him. You know what's the biggest danger of this fellow? He thinks he's a Christian. He thinks he's a Christian because he goes to church, because he sings songs. He listens to the sermon. But when you watch the video, obviously, in fact, he's the most ungracious person. He doesn't share his himna book with Mr. Bean. He's very unhappy. Mr. Bean is sitting next to him. He's practicing religion. How do you know when we have that problem? Here's a question we ask ourselves. When you are singing songs, what goes through your mind? Sometimes when I going to make a confession, when you're singing songs and you're not singing songs or and I next to my wife, no. And I'll say, "Hey, Edward, his shirt very nice today." You know, hallelujah. Hey, look at Wong's shoes. White color. Hallelujah.
Today, not white. But you you ask yourself this. If you come to church and when you're worshiping songs and you're thinking about the share market,
how do you think God thinks?
You think you go to heaven, God, I sang all this song. God's going to review a tape and he's going to tell you, I'm going to tell you what you were thinking when you were singing. How do you think God's going to reply when you say, "I went to church. I I I sent church." Then he's going to have this camera show down and you will doing this and that's not your Bible you're doing. You on YouTube. Now be very careful on the seriousness of this because this is what Matthew says. These people honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me. Now, what I'm saying that if you come to church and your heart is not in it, it's just that, well, I better go to church. I've been doing it for the last 30 years. And you sit there, it's just a ritual to you. You're singing songs. You don't really mean it. You really got to ask yourself how God responds. And scripture tells us is a big affront is a huge insult to God. They they they say uh worship is from the heart. But I I would say that sometimes you can tell from their expression. You don't have to raise your hand like that. Even you look at people even sitting quietly. Here are pictures of a woman worshiping in Iraqi church. Another woman worshiing in Chennai. Old people worshiping. You can tell sometimes that when people are honestly worshiping or they just going through the motions. And this morning God is asking me and you what is going through your heart? And James tells us this. Come near to God. And he will come near to you. Now you may sit there and say, "Look, I had a bad week. I don't feel like coming to God." Amen. You will find afterwards God wants sincerity. That's a good starting point. But you don't have to feel like it to come to worship. God demands it, you know. But this is God's promise. You make an effort to come near to God, he will respond and come near to you. And one of the reasons why we are quite prepared to go through week after week in a routine is simply we have divorced our worship from the rest of our life. In the book of Amos, this is what it says. He says, "I hate I despise your religious feats." In today's English, it will be, "I despise your going to church. I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away from the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music your harps, but let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never falling stream." And the book of Amos is very much a book of judgment against Israel. The the problem with us is that Mondays to Fridays we live a certain life. Then on Sunday we come to church, we sing hallelujah, hallelujah. We think we have redeemed ourselves. Then we go back to our life. That is insulting God. And God will actually close his ears. And in fact, I want to say one thing. When you come as a body corporate, one of the things God does when the spirit moves, he actually awakens you to your sinful nature. The biggest danger is that when we become numb to it, you know, we doing all sorts of bad things on Mondays to Saturdays, we just come on Sunday, we open our mouth and we we sing. No difference from people who go to temples and give offerings or go to mosques or go to synagogues. You are just being religious. And I want to say something. Hell is full of very religious people. God doesn't want religious people. God wants people who are true worshippers from their heart. Then he comes to this very classic verse. He says, "Yet the time is coming and has now come when true worshippers worship the father in spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshippers the father seeks." And to repeat the emphasis, he says this very famous verse, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Now what is spirit here? Spirit can mean many things. Some people think is holy spirit. But in the context of this verse when we are talking about location whether you should worship in Jerusalem or mount garrison quite likely is your spirit. This is what Mary said in Luke 1:46. And Mary said, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior." Now, how then should worship be? Let me I want you to turn to a text which is in Old Testament and you may find it hard to find. Can you turn with me to 2 Chronicles 5:13-14? It's a fantastic verse and you try to imagine FBC worship being like this. Okay, you try to imagine that you come to FBC and this is what you experience. 2 Chronicles 5:13 and you don't have it. Let me just read it to you. The trumpeters and singers join in unison as with one voice to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Look at that corporate worship. One voice. Fantastic. Accompanied by trumpets, symbols, and other instruments. They raise their voices in praise to the Lord and saying, "He is good. His love endures forever." You know what's happening? The church is singing as one, as one. And they praising God. They are drawing near to God as one body. Now, the next verse is really interesting. What happens when you draw near to God? At James says, God draws back near to you. The next verse says this, "Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God." So you try and imagine this. They all singing, singing, singing, raising the voices and then the presence of God just comes right into the hall and everyone is so filled. so filled with the presence of God, they had to stop singing because something was happening. Now you you think that it's a one-off incident, but Hebrews tells us we now come without fear. Hebrews 12:22-24, you come before God without fear because the temple now has been torn. The curtain has been torn. What are we talking about? We are talking about one word. Do you believe now here right now you are in God's presence that is the point are you believing as right now we I'm speaking as you are here there are angels around us now if you find it hard to believe then then let's turn to another verse okay turn with me to Hebrews okay and we will just do a little bit flipping today turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12 or if you can't then listen on. Okay. Hebrews 12 vers 22. You have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. You are in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. And here's interesting verse. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly to the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. And then in verse 26, therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. You know the Bible is telling us not only God is present here your eyes cannot see it but one day when you die and you get up there you will find in this hall even today there are angels around. Hard to believe isn't it? But if you put it in your mind the presence of God is very strong when we worship as one body. The question is are we worshiping as one or are you sitting there saying yeah very chong how long more can you hurry it up very boring worship in spirit and truth first is god- centered number two is when your spirit connects with the holy spirit and two words we're going to pick up conforming to the teaching of god's word and focus on the gospel because John tells us Jesus is the word made flesh. Here the danger of some modern worship, it becomes entertainment if you're not careful and it makes the person up there like an idol. There's a reason why they call it American idol because everybody who stands up here has that problem. Even as I'm standing here right now speaking to you, I always have to pray, Lord, I am but a servant who sits down there. And if this morning anything is going to happen, if any healing is going to happen after the service, if if we going to call out for prayer and hearts are going to be touched is not because God is going to zap me and pull out here, that is called superstar status. Brother James just reminded me of that. If at the end of this service we do an altar call and we pray and people are healed and people's sins are are forgiven and there is some brokenness is not because there's a power going through one guy and zapping out you know when is that going to happen when you come as one body but if the end of service people going to go like that yeah hurry up hurry up is going to happen but when you move as one body God's chain glory will descend on this place and things will happen. Here the danger of worship in Revelation. He gives two points. He says this as this John fell at the angel's feet to worship him and he said, "Do not do it. I'm a fellow servant with you." And interestingly, John repeats it again two chapters down. Revelation 22, he says, "I fell now to worship at the feet of the angel who been showing them to me, but he said, do not do it. I am a fellow servant." Here's the apostle John falling into idolatry. You know why? Here's the danger with contemporary worship. It is not worshiping God. A lot of times it's worshiping worship. Here are two pictures. One picture is a picture of a praise and worship concert. You know where people raise their hands. Another one is in a disco. Can you tell the difference? Can you tell which is which? This is a praise and worship concern. You could have me food. This is a disco. Any any any can you tell the difference? You probably got the lights on the same supplier. Same speakers also. You see the danger is when you go to idolatry, when you're not worshiping God, you're worshiping the speakers and the sound and lights. You know, uh we were recently at a funeral. Uh it was a Buddhist funeral, someone close to us and and we were up and you know, one of those thing places mentioned like Nana and as as the coffin went in there, there was this voice that boom over in Mandarin. I couldn't understand it but very soothing. Then suddenly there was a picture of Yin coming up at the back. Then laser lights came out and there was smoke, you know. Wow. And then the whole coffin went in there. [Music]
That's not the presence of God. That's called special effects. Afterward, you'll be confused. You know, it's it's ridiculous. And the problem now this is some of the contemporary churches in an effort to get God. I want something to happen my service. Why nobody falling down? Hey Chucha, bomb up the speakers, you know. No feel. Hey Suzanne, more echo on the keyboards. Anna, drop your voice. Your voice deeper, more interesting. Do you sense God? I sense the Lord. Oh. Oh yeah. Hallelujah. It's fake, you know. And you must understand music is used in a lot of pagan beliefs to bring people to a religious so-called spiritual experience. It's not. God doesn't need speakers. God doesn't need that. God needs your heart. What is one way around it? Here's a simple thing. How many of you know the words you are singing or you're just singing it? I want to give a song to the younger people. Okay. But here's one simple thing. Hey, I didn't say anything yet. You know, this was in a paper so I can do it. Here a few tests. Number one is when you in this particular charama everybody came for the makan very high bak oh very good the fellow came up to speak they all went away terrible you Chinese people no you don't want don't go for the bakar you know but you see here's one simple thing when people come for religious high they only interested when the service has something supernatural when it gets boring. Oh yeah, don't want to fall asleep. So here's the thing why Jesus ties it to spirit and truth. Spirit, the danger is that you're actually going for a false spirit. How do you know is the real spirit? First is your spirit reaching out to the Holy Spirit. But to have that authenticity, you need to tie it to the word of God. Here's a simple thing. Here's a song the young people sing. It's called Mighty to Save. How many people here know this song? No. No. Uh, no not money on. Okay, I'm going to do a test. Okay, here's my wallet. Here's ringing. Uh, real deal ringing. First guy, no blackberries on, no hands, no nothing. In I count to fiveh. Can anyone tell me from this song which verse from the Bible it comes from? No blackberries, no what? Okay. Which book of the Bible does it come from? Five seconds. One, two, three, four, five. I give you another five. Six. Seven. There's a book. Eight. Nine. Oh, I got to keep my 10 bucks. This comes from Zephaniah. You know why this is an interesting verse? I tell you why it's interesting verse. You look at the verse. The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. Look at the last verse. This is what Tim Keller picks up. He will rejoice over you with singing. What does God do when you sing? He sings. God sings. And Tim Keller picks up that. Not only does God sing, Jesus sings. Let me read you Hebrews chapter 2 11. Okay? And he says this, both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says verse 12, I will declare your name to my brothers, meaning the church in the presence of the congregation, I will sing your praise. Now that was something new to me. God sings. Not only God sings, Jesus sings. And so when we open our mouth, we better mean it because the heavens are looking on us. Here's the problem with us. When we sing, all our songs are very vague, you know. And the problem is some this contemporary song. They're very vague. Tell me what is this this song saying? My sweet Lord. Hallelujah. My Lord, hallelujah. My Lord, hallelujah. I really want to know you. Hallelujah. Duh. But then some people say, "Hey, no, no, you Anna, you're being very biased. I want to know God." So I say, "Hallelujah. I really want to go with God. I want to show you." I say, "You're not being fair, Anna." You know what's the problem with this song? This song is to Har Krishna.
I got you there. It's not a Christian song. It's written by George Harrison, the ex beittle. You You see the problem? You know, I can sing a Michael Jackson song and turn it to a Christian song. I am with you. No, lost in love. I don't know why. Hallelujah. Lord, that's a nice supply song. You can turn any song to a Christian song. The moment you don't know your words, you are not worshiping in truth. And the safest way to know you're worshiping in truth, you need to tie it to the gospel. And that's why Colossians 3:16 says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." But sometimes you will say, you know, I don't feel like when I'm singing. When I sing, as the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you. I don't feel it. So should I not sing? So let's look at a few psalms. Look at what the psalm said. A psalm of Assab. Surely God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart. Look at the next thing he sings. As for me, my feet had almost slipped. I nearly lost my foothold. I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Have you not come to church and felt really lousy when you're singing? I have. And we raise our voice. I had a bad week. And here's the beauty of the Psalms. God wants you to be open and sincere. The Psalmist, you read a lot of Psalmist, you know what the Psalmist will say, God, where are you? God, I'm drowning. God, I don't feel you. God, I where where is your love? Go read a lot of the Psalms. The Psalms are full of honest people who say to God to say, "I had a bad week. I have a bad marriage. I have a bad relationship. I'm coming to church. I just sit at the back there and I just feel rotten. But as they sing, as they sing, God transform them. From that verse, the end of the verse says this, "Yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me your counsel." Look at the last line. But God is my strength of my heart and my portion forever. He starts off feeling really horrible about himself. But as the body sinks, he ends up experiencing the love of God. Here is a man who understood it. Horrius Spart of his children on a ship. And after he lost that, what did he do? He wrote a song. When peace like a river attends my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my Lord you have taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. Brothers and sisters, we want to end in a short while, but I want to give you a few key words. The first key words is why can hores effort? How why can people like the psalmist come even though they're so burdened and they experience God? And why is it sometimes we come to church, we sit down there, our minds are everywhere? Because they have spiritual mindset. And pastor Rama put this out yesterday. Thankfulness depends on what is in your heart, not what is in your hand. So what's your heart revealing you? Now there are a few key words God is giving us this morning. The first is we worship as one body. Number two, you worship in spirit. Your spirit must connect to the Holy Spirit. It must reveal the teachings of the word of God. It must be tied to the gospel. That is what your heart reveals. And here let me just end with this. When you do that, you move prophetically. You see worship has a prophetic dimension. At the end of revelations when when the angel tell John don't worship he says this the testimony of God is the spirit of prophecy. Now why am I saying that? I'm saying that as you sing God can do a work among you and prophetically change you and he can reveal something to you. How do we have scripture supporting that? You see, let me just end with this. The story of the woman and the well isn't a isn't a theological discussion of worship. The woman was a sinner and Jesus revealed her sin, her deepest secret. She diverted the story. But as the discussion went on about worship, what happened to that woman? She rediscovered God. And you could be sitting here now and afterwards as we go into a time of worship, God could speak to you in many ways. 1 Corinthians 14:24 says this, "If an unbeliever, someone who does not understand comes in what everyone is prophesying, he will be convinced by all. He's a sinner and will be judged by all and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare." So he will fall down and worship God exclaiming, "God is really among you." There two reasons why worshiping here is not just to edify God but also evangelizing because many people who come to church don't know God they know religion and if you are there there here you've been with us many years and your heart you have not had the peace of God you have not had the love of God we invite you this morning to experience the presence of God the woman the Samrian woman discovered she was a sinner and she needed God's forgiveness. And here you have a case of a man walking into a church in Corinth and what happens when the people are worshiping the secrets of his heart was laid bare. How did this happen? Tim Keller gives two options. One, as people are worshiping, he senses something that he doesn't have. and everyone's worshiping so deeply in God. He says, you know, this is what I've been looking for. Number two, when the songs are being sung or the sermon is spoken, something speaks to his heart. Let me give you two examples of how that happened. One is Messimo's story. Brother Messimo ran from God. This is my version of his testimony. He went to Mala prophetically in the service God said certain things that hit his heart. So he came to KL came to K. Another speaker said something spoke to his heart. If that is not prophecy I don't know what that is. Here's another story. Brother Desine from our alpha. I remember it clearly because I invited him to accept the Lord. He said no. Then one day he went to the Chinese service and in the Chinese service as a song was being sung the spirit went on him and he was in tears he couldn't control himself and he said Lord what is happening to me and he came back he shared it with us and two weeks after that brother Desmond came up to me at the beta class and said brother Anna I want to receive Lord Jesus as my Lord and Savior. You see things happen when we move as one body. Look at China. When brother Ian Ian Banton shared with us, no guitars, probably all singing out of tune. No musical scores. But as you praise and worship like that and a non-Christian goes in the midst, they will sense God. And if you're sitting here, you got issues, you got problems. When you worship as a body, God moves. In Europe, they starting something called tay worship, a worship of silence. As candles are lit and people receive the word of God, God is making a revival among young people. You know, Europe is spiritually dead. You know, young people, they all at the clubs. So, God moves in song. And imagine you are at a concert and you drag a friend who loves to go to rock concerts and he sees thousands of young people bending their heads, raising their voices, would you not in the midst say something different? God is among you. And when someone comes into FBC
and we worship as one and we raise our voices and the spirit moves, were they not say God is with us? Like to invite the worship team to come up. We want to come to a time of worship in spirit and truth and we need your help. We're going to ask people to come in front to receive prayer. But if anything is going to happen is not because there's a superstar zapping people. That that is idolatry. We need your help. If ever God's anointing is going to fall over this place, we need everyone here to intercede. Would you do that for us? As we play a song and we come back to the heart of worship, would you move as a body so that God's glory will fill this hall and the spirit will move and those in our midst who need healing emotionally, physically, broken relationships, they will not fear what people think. They will come in front to be prayed over. Would you do that? For the heavens are looking on us now. Let us give God acceptable worship. Let us come back to the heart of worship. Shall we stand as we
[Music] I'd like to invite the counselors to come in front. And as the music plays and we have the leadership of the church come in front.
It's all about you, Jesus. It's all about you. It's all about you. [Music] It's all about
Lord, we come before you now in a time of intercession. We invite the church as one body to pray. Pray for the spirit to move right now in our midst. Church, we cannot do this without you. Either that we be doing it with speakers and it will be fake. So church, intercede with us right now. For there are in our midst people who need prayer, people who have issues in their heart, people who need to be healed, people who don't know the Lord.
church. Would you pray with me? Lord, we ask that your presence sweeps over this place right now. Your china glory falls upon this wall. We ask that people who sitting there in a midst, standing in the midst, who are not fearful, we ask you relieve that fear and they prepared to come in front right now to receive prayer. They will come right now. Lord, we ask, oh Lord, that they do not give into fear as they feel that that you're just moving them their hearts. That they will come in right now to be prayed over. We ask that if God calls you now, would you come forward just to be prayed over anything, would you come in front to receive prayer? If you have any needs in your heart, any problems, any difficulties, would you come in front? Do not be fearful. Like to encourage you now as the spirit moves that you come in front to be prayed over. Have you got any medical needs? Thank you. There are some here who are struggling. They've been praying perhaps for operations. They're not successful. Come to be prayed over. Thank you. Perhaps you got emotional problems at home. Do not be afraid of what your neighbor thinks. Come to be prayed over. [Music] Would you come? Would you not give into fear? Just come and receive prayer. Scripture says, "Pray of a righteous man is powerful and effective." We ask that you do not give into fear.
That you will be prepared to come to receive God's anointing. It's all about [Music]
church. Would you pray as the spirit intercedes?
It's all about you. It's all about [Music] church. If you're standing there, pray with everyone right now. If God is going to do a work here, it will depend on you where you are standing. Would you pray? Intercede. We need your help.
[Music] Pray with us, church. Pray for those in front.
[Music]
It's all about [Music] you. It's all about you.
[Music]
As God works in here, if you need to leave, we will open the doors at the back. Can you leave quietly? But if you can stay back where you are standing or sitting, pray. Your prayers matter. Now if we pray as a body, the heavens listen. If you need to leave, leave quietly. For the spirit is in our midst and God's anointing is at this place. [Music] It's all about [Music]
Jesus.
All about you.
[Music] Please come and and and just wait. We will pray for you. If you don't mind, you can come and just sit at the front row. We will find someone to pray for you. If you need to leave, do it quietly. Those of you stay back, pray. We need your prayers. If you're tired of standing, sit. But pray where you are. Pray. God's spirit is working here. Pray.
[Music]
It's all about you.
[Music]
It's all about you. All about you.
All about you. All about you.
All about you.
Hallelujah. Lord, do your work in our midst now, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Lord. Spirit, just move in our midst right now, Lord. Remove any fear. Answer our prayers, Lord, as the body prays as one body. Hallelujah Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord Lord Jesus come in our midst.
[Music]
