This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing.
I'll tell you what: where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. What is worship? What is worship?
Why do we do it? Why do we, as Christians, gather together in the church and sing songs before somebody gets up and preaches the word of God to us? Is worship really about the music? Or is there something much bigger happening? I think these are important questions, and I want to hear from you guys.
Eight six six three four truth. Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. Welcome to Truth Talk. My name is John Galantis. I'm one of the hosts of the Clearview Today Show with Dr.
Abbadon Shah, and I want to say thank you for joining me today. We're going to be having a great time today. Dr. Shah and Ryan wanted to be here with us, but unfortunately, there are some filming projects that are happening over the next few weeks.
So you're going to be seeing a lot of me. You and I are going to be hanging out a lot. Together and for the next hour, we are going to take a closer look at the truth of God's word. We're going to explore how the truth of God's word and worship specifically applies to our everyday life. You know, our goal is not just to know what the Bible says.
Right? Anybody can do that. Anybody can know what it says, but to understand why it matters and how it's going to shape the way that we think. The decisions that we make day to day, how we live out our faith, and today specifically, we're going to be talking about something that I think every single Christian has experienced, but probably I would be willing to bet probably has not taken the time to fully understand, and that is worship. Why do we worship?
What does biblical worship really mean? What does it look like? Is worship just about the songs that we sing on Sunday morning? Or is there something a lot deeper happening when we gather together as the people of God? I know a lot of people will say, "Well, you know, worship is the lifestyle that you live Monday to Saturday," and that's true.
There's nothing untrue about it. But I'm talking about when we gather on Sunday. Is there something deeper happening here than music? I think so. And we're going to talk about it together.
We're going to open up the scriptures. We're going to look at Ephesians chapter one. If you're driving, of course, just just listen. But if you have your Bible with you, if you have your phone or a paper Bible, I want to encourage you: open it up. We're going to talk about why worship is so much more than just music, just structure.
It is about recognizing the greatness of our God, and remembering what it is that He's done for us through Jesus Christ, and allowing those truths to to fill us. With a renewed sense of wonder, a renewed sense of gratitude for what he's done for us, and hope for our future, and just for clarity's sake, I'm getting all of this. A hundred percent of this material is coming from one of my pastor's sermons. This is Dr. Abadan Shah, one of his sermons through Ephesians.
So a little bit later on, I'm going to play a couple of those clips for you guys from when he actually did preach this live, and then we're going to talk through them together, because this is a big topic. And I think that it deserves some clarity. At the Clear View Today show, we are all about making the Bible clear. We want a clear view today. You see why we did that?
That's pretty clever.
So worship. If you ask ten different people what worship means, almost guaranteed you're going to get ten different answers. For some people, worship is just you know them good old hymns. Them good old hymns that me ma used to sing back in the so-and-so church. Oh, I remember me ma used to cry when they sang old rugged cross.
I remember that that old familiar melody, them words that she knew ever since she was a little girl. Them, them memories of sitting in the pew with my parents or me ma and papa, and and that's worship. For a lot of people, seriously, I know I'm kind of being facetious, but that's what worship is. For other people, worship is what we know as worship now—contemporary music. It is a modern sound.
There is synth, there is lights, there is flashing screens all over the place. There's lyrics that connect with our present circumstances, what we are going through in life, and songs that artists write to help us express our faith in the language of our generation. There's a lot of people out there who would say that's what worship is. If I tried to describe it. That's what I, or at least that's what I visualize, and then there's people who walk into a church, and they see everybody stand up to their feet and start singing, and they wonder what in the world is going on, and I also think that's completely valid, because think about it.
To the world around us, if you didn't grow up in the church, like I didn't, I didn't grow up in church. Church culture, church worship, is an odd thing, right? It doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. Imagine that you're at work and you're about to go into a staff meeting at your job, and before you start, you know, going over those notes and looking over the projected revenue for the year or whatever, your boss says, "Hey, everybody, let's stand up to our feet. We're gonna sing a few songs." Imagine you're at the grocery store, right, and you take all your food up to the register, and before you check out, the cashier says, "Hey, before you pay for your for your cheezits and your cake and your whatever else, we're gonna sing a couple of songs." You might sing the national anthem at a ball game, but other than that, and maybe like a a concert or something, other than that, there's really no setting where corporate singing happens anywhere in the world, outside of a religious gathering.
So why do we do that? Why do we sing together when we come to church? Is it just tradition? Is it just what our parents taught us to do? You know, is it just to prepare our hearts for the sermon?
A lot of people will say that this is just you know an emotional warm up before the serious part of service begins, or is worship something a lot more significant? I want to explore that with you guys today, and I want to do it through Ephesians chapter one. And there's one thing I want you to keep in mind throughout this show. Ultimately, worship is not about how much we enjoy the music, and we do we love the music. It's about seeing God.
For who he is, and it's about responding to him with wonder. And I want to emphasize that word wonder. Not wondering, as in I wonder whether God's there. I wonder if he's going to do something, you know, in my life. I'm talking about wonder, as in marveling, standing amazed in the presence of God, and wondering at who he is.
You know, recognizing that he is greater. He is more glorious. He is more powerful. He is more gracious. He is more wonderful, more majestic than I could ever.
Fully comprehend or or take notice of. You know, a few years ago, Doctor Shaw took the staff and our families to the Grand Canyon, and I remember standing there with my wife and my two kids, looking out in awe. And I'd seen pictures of the Grand Canyon my entire life, but nothing could ever have prepared me for what it was actually like to stand there. The size of this this hole in the ground, the depth, the layers of rock that you see, and for a moment, it felt like for the first time in my life. I didn't have any words.
I didn't anything at all to say. I just stood there, and I think what struck me was how small I felt, how insignificant I felt. Here I was standing before something so massive and magnificent, realizing that what I could see with my eyes was only a fraction of what was actually there, and the rest of the complexity and the beauty of God's creation. I remember thinking, if God created something like this. And could leave me this speechless.
How much greater can He Himself be? You know, the Psalms say that in Psalm 19, verse one, it says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork." Maybe you've had an experience like that at the ocean, or in the mountains, or looking up at a sky filled with stars. You've just watched the sun rise on a deer stand or on your porch, and you say, "How can something this beautiful?" Possibly exist. It's those little moments that remind us how small we are and how magnificent God's creation is. But here's the other thing: is that biblical worship takes us beyond creation.
Right, it's not marveling at the creation; it's at the Creator. It reminds us that God is the one who made the heavens and the earth, and He is not distant from His people. Those stars up above us, the sun, the moon—they are distant, but God is not distant from us. He's revealed Himself to us. He's acted in history, and He's come to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
We're going to talk about that a little bit later. Jesus, how He dealt with our sin, He secured our salvation, He promised an inheritance that can't be taken away. And I'm telling you guys, once you You start to see all of that, your worship is going to change. Your worship is going to become more than a song on a Sunday morning. It's going to become a response to His greatness.
And you might say, "Well, all that's well and good, but I just, I just don't like singing." Well, I got news for you. Heaven is going to be tough for you. Have you ever stopped to consider what that's going to be like? If you don't like worship here on earth, what makes you think you're going to like it in heaven? I know that's a strong statement.
I don't mean that if you don't enjoy a particular style of worship, you're not going to enjoy heaven. I'm not saying that. I'm just talking about the actual worship of God.
So I want to hear from you guys. Eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. I want to really dive into Ephesians because Ephesians is where we're really going to see what Paul is talking about come to life right in front of our eyes. Ephesians chapter one.
We're going to take a quick break here in a second, but while you're doing that, I just want to say again a big thank you to Dr. Shaw for preaching this sermon. It has really opened my eyes for a lot of what worship is. I think that it's going to open our eyes too. And my encouragement to you is this: Don't let the act of worship being and when I say worship, I mean the familiarity of what it is that we do on a Sunday.
Morning, don't let it hinder what it is that we're actually doing as a. Don't let it just become routine to you, right? We're gonna ask this question: say, why do we worship? We worship because God is holy, and I want to hear from you. Eight six six three four truth.
That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. We're gonna take a break. We'll be right back. Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com.
Thanks to the Clearview Today Show, filling in today for Dr. Abaddon Shah. And today we are talking about worship. What is worship? Why do we do it?
What is actually happening when God's people come together on Sunday morning to sing His praises? Call in and let us know your thoughts. Eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. We got a couple of callers right now.
I'm going to get to you guys in just one second. But before we do that, I want to say that all of this content is coming from one of Dr. Shaw's sermons through the Book of Ephesians. Right now at Clearview Church, we're going through Ephesians, and I actually have a clip here from this ex. Exact sermon, and I want to play it for you, and then we're going to talk about it a little bit, and then I'm going to jump to Billy, who is waiting patiently in the queue.
Billy, stay right with us, because we're going to get to you in just a second. What I want us to understand is worship, together with the people of God, is not optional. It is very much in line with God's people, going back to the ancient times, going back to the people of East Israel, the Jewish people, right down to us.
So, what Paul is doing here is simply doing what has been done. Praising God is where we begin. Psalm one forty eight verse one. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights. Praise him all his angels. Praise him all his hosts. Praise him sun and moon. How in the world can inanimate objects praise God?
But the psalmist says everything. Whether you have a soul or you don't, you have to praise God. Praise Him, all you stars of light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens and you waters above the heavens. Verse seven.
Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures. Imagine those mighty sharks and dolphins and whales. They're just praising God. That's what God has designed us to.
So worship begins. With praising God, verse eight: fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds, fulfilling His word. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars. Cedars are powerful trees. They're praising God in their own way.
Beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children. Did God leave anybody out? No. Praise God. You see, that's what we're doing here.
When we come in here, and you have this time of let's all stand together and sing. What are we doing? We're doing what God's people have always done. You come together, and we worship. Amen.
And I love what what Dr. Shaw said there. God has designed His creation to bring Him glory. But what He's done is He has given us the church, you and me, something very special. We can actually recognize who God is.
We can understand what it is He's done for us. We can open up His Word. We can read about His goodness, His mercy, His grace, and that we have a chance together, collectively as a church, to respond to Him with our praise. What a difference that makes! I want to jump over to Billy.
From North Carolina, Billy. We're talking about worship today, man. What does worship mean to you when you think about worshiping God? What comes to your mind? You know, John, I bring a different perspective when it comes to worship because I was a professional touring musician for a while and played in front of forty thousand people at times.
And now that I'm actually a musician at Clearview. I get to see it every Sunday. I get to see how God uses the talents that He's given us, because music is the universal language. It's the universal language that speaks to the soul, and and you can be down or you can be depressed and hear a song. It can be uplifting, and I see it in our congregation every Sunday.
You know whether people are singing or they're not, but they're moving and they're hearing the words. They're feeling the emotion of the songs and You know, it's it's our way as a praise and a worship team to be able to give back to the people of God the talents that God has given us and worship. To me, John, it's the ultimate gift that God has given me to be able to share that with our congregation every Sunday. Billy, I can't, I cannot agree with you more, man. I think a lot of people out there, I think they might be well-meaning people, but a lot of people will say, "Well, you know, worship's not about the music.
It's, it's the music. All that stuff is just filler." Well, let's not forget that God gave us music. Music is not something that we, you know, thought up. Music is not something that just happens to exist in the world that we discovered. It's just like you said, and I think you said it so well.
Music is a gift, a beautiful, beautiful gift. And I think this is where Dr. Shaw's point. That he made is so important. Is that corporate worship is not something that we invented.
This is not some tradition. You know, we we try to get rid of tradition so hard in our church. Worship is not tradition. It's not something that we just need to fill the first 20 minutes of a of a of a service. God's people have been gathering together to praise him for thousands and thousands of years.
There's a sense of gratitude that comes along with that. Yeah, and again, John, music speaks to your heart, your soul. Amen. It's God's way of touching those people who otherwise may not be reached in any any other capacity. I know many people that have heard a song when they've been depressed, and it lifts them up.
Or if they're, you know, feeling a certain way, or they need to hear a message from the Holy Spirit, He shares that through the lyrics of the song. It's just God's way of reaching those who who otherwise would probably not hear the word.
So worship is an extremely important part of what we do at Clearview, for sure. Oh, absolutely, absolutely, Billy! Thank you so much for calling in. I appreciate it so much. I want to jump over to Tina, who's calling from North Carolina.
Tina, we're talking worship today. You know, Hebrews ten, chapter twenty, verse twenty four and twenty five says to consider one another, stir up love, good works, and not forsake the assembling together.
So we're talking about corporate worship together in the sake of the church. What do you think about that? I think it's a great question. You know, I've always thought about worship as singing or dancing wholeheartedly unto the Lord, and connecting with Him through the Spirit. You know, we can do that as a in corporate worship.
We can do that as individuals, and also whenever there are two or three or more gathered. And so, worship is all of those things. I also thought about, you know, worship as praising God through reading His Word back to Him. You know, just spending time in the Word and praising Him and You know, singing to him, his word that he gave to us. That's right.
I guess the third, you know, the third thing that I wrote down or I thought about was, you know, there's so many recently, last week, and so many other times when I'm at the beach, I stand with my feet in the sand, and I just watch. You know, and I hear the oceans roar, and I just stand in God's all, and and wonder, you know, and just praise Him for that. Like, you know, He the the hairs on our head are numbered, yet He created all of this. It's very humbling. That's right.
It's it's a recognition that God is worthy. You know how could He not be worthy because He's God? You know we're we're talking through Ephesians chapter one, and you know Paul starts this whole book off with praise. He's praising God, right? And we don't praise because God needs our compliments.
It's because He's worthy. Just like you said, there's this there's this distinction where you know if we treat worship like it's a transaction, if I sing loud enough, maybe God's going to give me what I want. No, no, no. I'm praising Him because of who He is. Right, I'm praising him because he created all of this.
He created me, these blessings, and we're going to talk about those heavenly blessings here in the second after the next break. But we are we are giving God praise because of who He is, His grace, His His His love towards us. That's already part of His character. We're not persuading Jesus, you know, with our worship. We worship because of number one, who He is, but also what Jesus has accomplished on the cross through the work of salvation.
So, absolutely, I appreciate your call to. Very, very much. Thank you. Absolutely, thank you for calling. You know, I want to talk a little bit more about this as we are coming back from this next break.
But as we are doing this, something I want to I want to remind you guys of is we can't do any of this without our sponsors.
So I want to thank Mighty Muscadine. I want to thank La Blue Ultra Pure Water. I want to thank Watch Safe. All of these organizations that partner with us here on the Clear View Today show and on Truth Talk to help get our word out there to all of the people.
So make sure you visit all those sites. We're going to. Leave them in the description below. When we come back from the break, we're going to hear from Doctor Shaw one more time, and then we're going to talk about what Paul is doing in this church in Ephesus. Stick tight.
We'll be right back with you. Truth Talk Live. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. What if I told you that God has already given you blessings that are more valuable than anything you could ever own? Blessings that cannot be bought, can't be earned, can't be taken away from you.
And here's the incredible part: you may already have them and not even realizing it. You know, in Ephesians chapter one, the apostle Paul tells us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. But what exactly are those blessings? What do they mean for you in your life today, right now? And what do they have to do with the reason that we gather together every single Sunday morning to worship?
You know, I think those are important questions, and we're going to answer them on the show today. But I want to hear from you. Give me a call eight six six three four truth. That's eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. My name is John Galantis.
I'm one of the hosts of the Clearview Today Show alongside Dr. Abbadon Shah, and we're going through Ephesians chapter one alongside Dr. Shah's sermon series that is through the book of Ephesians. If you've never listened to him before, you can look up sermons by Dr. Abbadon Shah on Apple Podcasts, and I actually have a clip.
That from that sermon that we're going to be talking about today, I want to play that for us really quickly. It is about the spiritual blessings that God gives us in Christ.
So we're going to listen to it and then we're going to talk about it. God blesses everyone with many, many physical and earthly blessings: the blessing of food, the blessing of clothes, the blessing of shelter, family, healing, comfort, fulfillment. God is the source of blessing. Are you listening to all people, whether you're saved or not? I've heard people say that it's like, oh, God only hears the prayer of saved people.
That's not true. I would like to be that way. That if you're saved, that's right. Bring your petition. You're not saved.
I can do that because the Bible says that God hears all prayers. Here's a scripture right here. By the way, scripture is our guide. If the book doesn't stop here, then then throw this away. Make your own religion.
Do what you want to do. But once this book has said it, this is the word of God. I have to then stop and do what the Bible tells me to do.
So Psalm sixty five verse two: All you who hear prayer. To you, all flesh will come. All flesh is not just saved folks. All flesh, all flesh, which means this: a person living two thousand years ago, a person living in the deepest, darkest jungles of Africa or India or somewhere in a remote part of the world. When they cry out and say, "God, would you heal my child?
God, would you would you provide for us? We're hungry." When that child is healed or when that food is provided, who did it? Satan. Finally, y'all y'all are getting this. Who's doing it?
God is doing it.
So, God is the source of all blessings. Do you think for a moment that Satan is the one who gives you a house and home and all these things? You say, "Well, sometimes doesn't he?" Listen to what it says here in Matthew five forty-five. It says that you may be sons of your father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. If I were God, I wouldn't do that.
Oh, you are unjust. No rain for you. Guess what God does? Whether you're corrupt or whether you're clean, whether you're a criminal or you're a law-abiding citizen, the sun is still going to shine on you. That's God.
Amen. God is the source of every blessing, and I think Dr. Shaw brings up something here that we really never stop and consider often enough. God is good to people who don't even acknowledge that He exists. Think about that for a second.
There are people right now who woke up this morning, got out of a comfortable warm bed, walked into a kitchen full of food, got in their car, drove to work, had a great day, never once gave a thought to God. Maybe never will, and yet. Who is it that gave them the ability to even get out of their bed? Who turned on their brainwaves? Who provided the food they ate?
Who gave them another day of life? God did all that, and that's what Dr. Shaw's getting at here. God's goodness is not just limited to people who recognize it. People like me, people like you, and I think that's an important distinction, because sometimes Christians can start thinking of God's blessings like a reward system.
If I worship Him correctly, if I do everything right. If I turn in my attendance at church, if I'm reading my Bible, if I check the checklist, if I'm going to church and I'm praying, oh then God's going to bless me. But what does Jesus say? Matthew 5:45. What's He say?
He says God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends the rain on the just and unjust. Just like Dr. Shaw read for us. In other words, God does not wait for someone to acknowledge Him before He shows them goodness. And here's something else that I want you to think about as well.
How many blessings have you received? Today, an hour ago, in the last hour that you haven't even noticed, you know we recognize God's blessing when something extraordinary happens, something miraculous, right? You know somebody gets healed, we get a job that we've been praying for, we get some financial need that's met at just the right moment, and we say praise God, look what God did. But what about these ordinary things? What about the fact that you woke up this morning?
What about the fact that you have food to eat? What about all the people that God has placed in your life and the breath that you're taking right now? Isn't that what James says? Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. Every good gift, not just the ones that make for a great testimony on Sunday morning, every single one is from God.
And it approaches the way that we, or it changes the way that we approach worship. But remember, we're asking the question: Say, why do we worship? There's another answer. We worship because God is the source every blessing that we've ever received, and if that's true, then worship should not be something that we reserve for Sunday morning. Just moments when life is going our way, we should have to wait till God does something miraculous and extraordinary before we.
Recognize his goodness, but Paul also, and this is a big, big shift here. Paul is talking about something different. He's not just talking about the average, ordinary blessings in my life. He's talking about spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings that specifically belong to those who are in Jesus Christ, and I think what's fascinating about that is that as you read through Ephesians chapter one, you start to realize that the entire Trinity is involved in giving us these blessings.
Right, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians chapter one, verse four and five, Paul says, "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adopt." Adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself. There's some big, big theological words in there. A lot of run-on sentences, election, predestination, adoption. We could spend an entire series unpacking those words, and we have, by the way.
But I don't want us to miss the point that Paul's making. God's plan for us did not begin the moment we got saved. The moment we decided to follow Him, Paul takes us all the way back before the foundation of the world, and he tells us that God chose us in Christ. That's very, very important in Christ. And if you want to learn more about that, you need to listen to Dr.
Shaw's sermon series through Ephesians. But He chose us in Christ that we should be holy and without blame before Him. And think about that for a second. What does that mean? Means we're not just simply people who've been forgiven and then sent on our way.
Right? God has adopted us. He's actually brought us into His family, and that is a reason to worship. But Paul doesn't stop there. Right?
He moves from the blessings of God to the Father, or the blessings of God the Father to the blessings that we receive through God the Son. Right? In verse seven, he says that in Him we have redemption through His blood. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, and then again in verse nine, Paul tells us that God has made known to us the mystery of his will. Verse eleven, he says, in in Christ we have obtained an inheritance.
So all of these blessings that we have through Jesus Christ, we have redemption, right? We have forgiveness, we have adoption, knowledge of God's purpose. He's making his purpose known to us. We have an inheritance in him, and so through all this, I want you to notice something. Paul does not say, you know, we're hoping to have redemption one day.
He says, in Him we have redemption; we have redemption right now. Present tense means if you belong to Jesus Christ, you don't have to wonder whether the price for your sin has been paid. Jesus has already accomplished that through His blood, and because of Him. We have an inheritance that is greater than anything this world can ever offer. That is amazing, and I want to shift over to our phones really quickly.
We've got Mike from Dayton, Ohio. Mike, we're going to take a break in about four minutes.
So, in the next three, four minutes, tell me what do you think about this? All these spiritual blessings that God is giving to us—how is it manifesting in your life right now?
Well, um. I like to say worship is about trust in in God. Amen. Because what God has done for us, the Mishak of Bendigo, you know, they didn't want to bow down to the king; they wanted to bow down to God, and because they knew that God was going to. Fulfill all their needs, and God was going to take care of them, and that's what worship is.
Yeah, we're we're we're worshiping God because what He can do for us, and and what He did for us, um, and He died on the cross for us, and and redeemed us, and so we when we go to worship Him, uh, we we we're we're acknowledging the trust that we have. And the belief that we have in God, and and then when we when when we manifest that worship and when we manifest that that that that love for Him, because man, thank you, God, that I'm going to have eternal life with you, and then you sit there and you worship, and and and you say, thank you, God, for for redeeming me and for and choosing me. And and choosing, I don't know why you chose me, but you chose me, and and and I'm worshiping you, and I'm thanking you for all the things you do and all the things you are, and that's right. That's what I I like to say.
Sorry.
Well, well, Mike, I'm glad you said it, man, and I think you you hit the nail on the head. You know, we we get tied up, especially worship leaders, right? Everybody wants to redefine what worship is.
Well, worship isn't about the music; it's a lifestyle.
Well, it's not really a lifestyle. It's it's just it's the way that I live authentically in this and that. At the end of the day, worship is a response. It's us talking to God. Like the way that we look at it at our church is that, you know, when we are hearing the pastor preach, this is God's word.
Given to us, our worship is a response back, and so the entire service is communication, and it's communication that is built on an eternal plan. Right, and I said that at the top of the show. Worship is something that is designed for eternity. What we are doing here on this side, just like you said, Mike, we are giving thanks, we are responding to God, we are showing Him that we're acknowledging His goodness, we're acknowledging who He is, His presence in our lives. But that's it's a it's a temporary shell.
Maybe not a shadow is not the best word, but it's a temporary reflection might be a better word of what we're going to be doing around that throne all of eternity. And so, Mike, I want to say thank you so much for for calling into the show. We've got one more caller, but I'm going to wait until after the break. Here's what I want to say to you guys: these spiritual blessings that are manifest in our life, they might feel disconnected, and it's not because we're not worshiping properly, because they are quote unquote spiritual. And so I don't get them right now, but those spiritual blessings are more permanent than anything that you own in this world.
Your money is going to disappear one day. Your health is going to fail you. Your house—it could be destroyed. Everything we possess in this life, including our musical ability, and our ability to hear these songs and respond to them—that's all temporary. But the redemption that you have in Jesus Christ, the eternal worship that's going to be happening on the other side.
That is truly forever, and so the forgiveness of your sins, the adoption into God's family—these are not symbolic certificates that hang on a wall. That's your identity in Jesus Christ. We're going to talk about that a little bit more when we come back from the break. Eight six six three four truth. We want to hear from you.
Truth talk live. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Hey, welcome back to the show. I'm John Galantis. We're filling in for Dr.
Abadan Shah on Truth Talk Live. We got Jessica from North Carolina. We're going to be talking a little bit about worship. Jessica, what does worship mean to you? Um, yeah.
So I. I just wanted to call and just follow up on on some of the things I feel like y'all have already said so well, you know, about worship being genuinely, you know, a blessing that's giving to us as in a way to communicate, you know, with God. But I feel like for me, and just something I just wanted to share along with that, like worship is is also, you know, as our response. To God itself, it's also a way for us to just go to Him, you know, spiritually at times when we're hurt, when we're anxious. I feel like for me personally, worship itself has.
You know, made a way for me to just kind of like block out the rest of the world when I can like just hop in my car and and turn on a worship song and focus on nothing but the lyrics and nothing but praising God in that moment. It absolutely can. You know, turn all the worries that I had in my own head away at that time, and I just—I don't know—I just wanted to come on and just add that to you know, like it's not just a way for us to communicate, but a way for us to really just feel. The Holy Spirit in that moment, whatever we're going through, whether that's in corporate worship or, you know, on our own, just driving in the car, and I think that is absolutely a, a spiritual blessing that, at least for me, has has been like my go-to to clear my mind and just. Get my head back in the right space to be seeking Him.
Well, I think you're really wise to say that. I think you're really, really wise to say that because a lot of times we listen, the music that we listen to, it is so much noise. It is just, I mean, I really like it. Genuinely, just sounds like noise. But it's also just adding noise to our life.
And I love the way that you say that because I envision. I'm a very visual guy. I envision you just kind of driving down the car, and you've got all these voices in your head, and you've got all of this this pressure. Your shoulders and putting down on your body. And there's just a tightening in, like a tunnel vision, and at the end of that tunnel, you just you can see God, and ultimately, that is what the point of our worship is: is to help us to, yes, to respond to God, but I also want to see God.
We want to make Christ visible in our worship, and so for people like me, and you know, people like the worship leaders out there, that's what we want to do: is want to help make Christ visible. Jessica, I appreciate you calling in.
Something that I want us to to understand as we also talk about, well, another thing that she said. Is that there's a forward thing? There's a goal to our worship, right? There's a forward goal, which is an eternal goal. I think a lot of times we don't think about this, but heaven is not heaven just because of the streets of gold, right?
Heaven is heaven because God's presence is there, and so worship as we know it now is not something that we just do in our car, although we can. It's not just something we do in our living room, although we can. It's not something that we just do. In church, although we should. You know, worship is central to what our eternity is going to be about.
It's the main thing, and so when we think about that, I think it really gives us a trajectory for our worship, something to be working towards. We don't often talk about our worship as like, "Hey, I need to work towards this. This is just something for me to enjoy," but I think it also has a forward-thinking trajectory. I want to jump over to Ginny over in Virginia. Ginny, we are talking about worship, the worship of God specifically, the blessings that we have in Jesus Christ.
Through our worship. Hey, thanks for having Hannah on the call. You know, I was thinking about this as you're talking, and for me, I think a lot of worship is surrender because that's the sanctification process that goes on. You know, the more we surrender, the more we become like Christ, and worship is just a great way for us to express. Our willingness to surrender, even if we're having a hard time doing it.
Oh yeah, there's definitely a vulnerability to worship. There's absolutely a vulnerability. I mean, if you, you know, if you if you go into a worship setting and you've got your hands raised and your eyes are closed, there's a vulnerability that comes in there, and I think that's that's an interesting thing about it. I think that's one of the things that. You know, as we are thinking about this, it's a way to, just like you said, to surrender to God.
A lot of us think surrendering to God means I'm just going to change my plans. I'm gonna. I was going one way, now I'm going another way, and all right, God, I'm going to listen to you. We don't think about surrender in the sense of worship because worship is so inward focused. It's all about me.
It's about what I'm going to get from this. But it's also a sacrifice. It's a surrender. I mean, truly, that's what worship was in the Old Testament. It was a sacrifice.
It was an offering to God.
So also in the New Testament, Ginny, I appreciate you calling in. We've got a couple more minutes on the show, but as we are wrapping up, I do want to just kind of build on that. That was something that Dr. Shaw has often said as well, is that in the in the Old Testament we tend to think about worship in one way, and then in the New Testament we think about it another way, right? Old Testament, we got the tabernacle, the temple, we got the priests, we got the sacrifices, the Psalms, and then in the New Testament, you know, we see something else, and that's not the case.
God's plan for worship has always been the same. It is the same in the Old Testament. It's the same in the New Testament. If I've ever learned one thing from Dr. Shaw's preaching, that's what it is.
God has not changed, and I think it's interesting because when people think about New Testament worship, they're going to go straight to Revelation, and then you go to the Antichrist, the Mark of the Beast, the Tribulation, all that stuff into the world. But worship is the center. Right, worship is the key. Everything that we do, everything that we are driving towards, is forward thinking. And I think a lot of times we are so busy trying to figure out the timeline of what's going to happen in my life, where am I going with this?
Where's all this headed towards? We forget to worship in the here and now. Right? Warren Weir'sby said this. I heard this.
Doctor Shaw said this one time, and he told me about this great book. If the study of prophecy. Makes me want to argue instead of worship. There's something wrong with my studies. I think you can also say that for the study of theology, right?
My business, my my life, my family. If all that stuff makes me want to argue or makes me want to accomplish, makes me want to achieve instead of worshiping God, then there's something wrong with that. And so when we read about worship, when we think about worship. I think, especially in Revelation, it's almost like God is allowing us to peek behind the curtain. We're getting a glimpse of what's to come, and here's why that matters.
When we start to begin what worship looks like in heaven, what God's ultimate fulfillment of worship is going to look like, it should change something about us. It should transform the way that we worship here on earth. Right, John describes seeing this throne standing in heaven, and and on the throne is one who is seated, right. And surrounding that throne is twenty four elders and and four living creatures. And what they're saying is, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is to come.
Now we think there's going to be some when you hear a a scene like that that is almost fantastic. We want some hidden wisdom, some secret. What's about to be? What's about to happen? What's going to come?
This is more than my mind can fathom. They're saying something very simple, that they've been saying for all of eternity, even back in the Old Testament. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. One thing that we've been talking about on the Clearview Today Show is God's holiness, right? How everything that we do ultimately that is.
Driving towards that holiness. Our worship is no different. When we worship, what we're saying is, God, you're worthy. You're worthy to receive glory. You're worthy to receive honor and power because you created all things, and by your will they exist.
Not because I'm maintaining this creation, not because I'm doing a good job saving the earth and all this stuff. By your will they exist. By your will I can get out of bed in the morning. By your will I can get in my car and drive to church. By your will.
I'm here worshiping you, and I want you to notice this. Nobody in that scene is asking whether or not they like the music. Nobody in that throne room of heaven is saying, "Hey, is this too loud? Is anybody? Are we gonna are we gonna run too long over service?" Hey, did somebody load the slides in ProPresenter?
Nobody's saying all that. All the attention is directed toward God, who's seated on the throne. Why? Because He's worthy, and I really think that's where our worship on earth. Need some examination.
A lot of times, if we're truthful, we do not approach worship that way. We walk into church and our minds are a million miles away. It's on the fight that I just had with my wife in the car. It's on lunch, right? The line, beating the line to Cracker Barrel.
It is about what happened at work on Friday that I haven't gotten over. It's about this argument that I just had in the car again. We are evaluating everything that's happening around us. You know, I don't like this song. I wish they would do more hymns.
I wish, golly, I wish they would sing something new. Or why is the music so loud? Has anybody gone back there and told them that music's too loud?
Well, I can't even hear the music over in this corner. And before we know it, we've spent the entire service thinking about ourselves.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I lead worship at my church every week, and we should work hard to make our services excellent, and understandable, and accessible to the congregation. That's how we at Clearview make Christ visible. That's very key for us. But excellence is not the same thing as worship.
It's a part of it, but it's not the same thing. You can have an incredibly talented team. You can have a beautiful auditorium. You can have a great sound system. You can have great theology.
And you can still miss the point, because worship is not about what happens on the platform. It's not about what happens in my car. It's not about what happens in my prayer closet. It's about God. It's about the God to whom we are directing our praise.
And there are several things I think our worship needs. First and foremost, we need a confrontation with the holiness of God. That's one. We need to remember who it is that we're approaching, and we're not just singing about a religious figure or or celebrating some historical person. We are worshiping a holy, eternal God who created the heavens and the earth.
And when we truly understand that, we like really, really lay aside all our preconceptions and understand that His holiness. Right, that's who he is.
Something else starts to happen. We start to recognize our own sinfulness. Psalm 24 says that. It says, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?" And the answer comes in verse four.
It says, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol nor sworn deceitfully." Now I think a lot of times that's the reason we struggle with our worship, because something else has taken God's place in our heart. And I'm not necessarily talking about someone bowing down before a golden statue, but our priorities, our careers, our possessions, our reputation, our ambition, our relationships, even our preferences. There are preferences in the church, the things of God. Good things they can become idols when we give them to a place that belongs to God alone. And I think a lot of times the reason our worship feels empty is not because the music is wrong; it's because our hearts are wrong.
Our hearts are not where they need to be, and that's not a comfortable thing to hear. But I think it's something we all need to consider. Listen, thank you for stopping into Truth Talk. I really, really appreciate all the people who called in eight six six three four Truth. We're gonna see you next time.
Thank you again to Dr. Shaw and to Truth Network and to Stu Epperson for allowing us this opportunity. We love you.
