Rediscovering Worship – Part 1
July 4, 2021
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  • Online church has made us question church.
  • Why do go to church?
  • Why does go to church? 

Different Time, Same Issues

  • God’s story is about His desire to with us.
  • How does a Holy God dwell with sinful people?
  • God’s story is about Him trying to get to us without killing us
  • Old Testament “rules” are about , not punishment.
  • Exodus 19:6
  • A priest was a designated worshipper and a designated .

The Departure

  • God was compelled to punish His people because of His , not His meanness.

True Prophets vs. False Prophets

  • Jeremiah 29:10-11

The Return

  • Ezra 1:2 (NLT)
  • God preserved the people who moved and the people who remained . 
  • There is an aspect of our return to onsite worship that must be acknowledged.

  •  Ezra 3:11-13
  • Haggai 2:3
  • Ecclesiastes 7:10

The Rebuilding Process

  • Ezra writes 1 and 2 Chronicles to encourage the rebuilding process.
  • Chronicles omits many of David’s shortcomings and focuses on his heart for worship.
  • We see David express a vision for temple worship that his son Solomon would eventually produce.
  • The Jews needed to be reminded of David’s vision for worship because the temple rebuilding process was met with many challenges.
  • The biggest challenges were , not .
  • The temple rebuilding process was less about paint and more about priorities.

Haggai 1:2-6

New Testament Worship

  • New Testament worshippers have the same challenges to face as Old Testament worshippers.
  • Same challenges, different temple.
  • Because of Jesus, we are the temple and we the priests. 
  • I Peter 2:4-5
  • I Peter 2:9
  • Instead of bringing sacrifices of animals, we bring sacrifices of praise.
  • Like Israel, we have a priority problem.
  • Our struggle is between two competing forces:
  1.  What our bodies and minds demand (i.e. The Flesh)
  2. What God demands of our bodies and minds (i.e. The Spirit)

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2021

 

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