As Elder Kenny mentioned, my name is Jono and I get the privilege of serving as one of the pastors here at Rooted Fellowship under our lead pastor, Pastor Oni Mokatli. If you're a newcomer today, if you're a skeptic, if you're a non-Christian, a nominal Christian, whoever you are, no matter who you are, you are welcome here this morning. We're in day seven.
Day seven, one third of the way through our 21 days of prayer and fasting. And we pray that this journey has been drawing you closer to God, opening your eyes to our need for Him, our reliance on Him, and His goodness in our lives. Amen? Yeah. So we find ourselves this morning in the middle of our 2025 New Year's Visioning Series, A Year of Worship.
Our second message in three. We're right in the middle. I mentioned this last week, but when we were praying about 2025 in the latter months of 2024 last year, Pastor One and the elders discerned that God was clearly up to something significant and profound in our 2024 year of worship. And so our sense was just that God was not done yet. And so we're spending another year, as I mentioned last week, another year this year.
in our year of worship. Last week, I had the privilege of introing our worship series as we looked at three reasons for why we worship. Why do we worship? We saw that we worship because we were created to do so, right? God purposed us before the beginning of time to worship Him. And as a result of this, we respond to Him by prioritizing our worship, prioritizing the worship of Him.
not in any strength of our own, but rather in the power of the Holy Spirit, in order that we may truly spend time experiencing the transformative presence of our triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That's where we've been last week. This morning, we're going to spend some more time looking at worshiping a triune God.
And we're going to specifically look at what it looks like to corporately worship an almighty God three in one. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. If God is three in one, what does that mean for our gathered God-honoring worship? If God is three in one, what does that mean for our gathered God-honoring worship? What are the implications of that? If there is but one God.
existing in three persons, equal in identity, essence, and value, but distinct in function, well then what does this Holy Trinity call us to when we gather together like this on a Sunday to worship Him? I mentioned this last week as well. As someone who's served in church bands and worship teams over the years, I've had the privilege of going through a course run by an organization called Worship Central.
which was formed by the pastors and worship leaders Al Gordon, Tim Hughes, and some others. And this course trains teams on the theology and practicalities of leading musical worship for their local congregations. Now, each and every time I've had the privilege of being part of these courses, I've always thought to myself, man, how amazing would it be if not just the pastors and the elders, the leaders and the worship teams and bands and the production guys knew this stuff.
What if an entire church, local congregation, such as ours here at Rooted Fellowship, could have an understanding of some of the things we learn about in this course, particularly some of the theological reasons behind why we corporately worship like this on a Sunday? Well, praise God, today at Rooted Fellowship, we have another opportunity to dive deeper into some of more of the theology of corporate worship.
Okay, so we're going to be looking at corporate worship. As I did last week, I'll continue to be drawing quite a bit from this Worship Central course, whilst at the same time seeking to faithfully preach God's Word to us this morning. And so that's where we're going. We good? Fantastic. As I do that, it's my prayer that our time this morning, responding to our Father God, will be truly Christ-centered.
and Holy Spirit-led. It's my prayer that our time this morning, responding to our great creator, lovingly heavenly Father God, will be Christ-centered and Holy Spirit-led. Amen? Yeah. Amen. Al Gordon from Worship Central tells us the following story. He says, on the evening of 10 January, 1610. It's a long time ago.
In the evening of 10 January 1610, a little-known scientist was staring into the Italian night sky. It was a glorious night. The heavens were sprinkled with a thousand burning stars, and planets danced in the clear winter air. This scientist had just built an ingenious device using polished glass that allowed him to see the planets close up.
In those days, the universe was a simple place. People believed that the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets all revolved around the earth. We were the center, the focus, the constant, and everything else spun submissively around us. Jupiter's moons, however, were in rebellion. They seemed to be happily spinning around Jupiter.
Not the earth. Not us. Galileo's discovery rocked the scientific world like a cosmic earthquake. The truth hurt. Theories would need to be reworked. Libraries pulped. School books updated. Calendars recalculated. People really didn't like the idea that we weren't the center of it all. Rooted Fellowship, I think if we're being honest,
Sometimes it's a bit like that with corporate worship. And by corporate worship, I mean the times when we, the people of God, the church, gather together to glorify God. We often think to ourselves, I really didn't get much out of that time of worship. Or those songs, they're just not my cup of tea or coffee. We've all done it, right?
But brother and sister, a truth that we saw last week is that we are not the center of the worshiping universe. Family, the focal point of corporate worship is not to make us feel better or happier or fulfilled. Oh, praise God. Praise God. We give him thanks that very often these are the byproducts of our corporate worship times. But family, we need to constantly be reminded that much like life,
Worship, corporate worship, is not about us. But again, I say this every opportunity. I get the privilege of preaching God's word to us here at Root to Fellowship. Don't just take my word for it. Let's look to God's perfect, inerrant, infallible, beautiful, life-giving word. And our text for this morning comes from Revelation 5. I'm going to be reading from the Christian Standard Bible, the CSB. It'll be up on the screen as well.
And this morning as we read this text, I'm going to ask us to stand. We're going to stand together as we hear these words poured over us. And so come and listen to the words of our Father. Let's stand as we read Revelation 5. It says, Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.
A mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it. I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, do not weep.
Do not weep. Look, the lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne. Standing in the midst of the throne. And the four living creatures and among the elders.
He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth. He went and took the scroll out of the hand of the one seated on the throne. When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Each one had a harp and golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.
Because you were slaughtered and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests to our God. And they will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands.
They said with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say, blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. The four living creatures said, amen.
And the elders fell down and worshipped. We are to fellowship. This is the word of the Lord. And so thanks be to God. Let's pray. I'm going to invite you to have a seat as we pray. Let's fall down and worship God in prayer. Heavenly, heavenly, eternal God. You are worthy of it all. We adore you, Lord God, because you are all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present.
Jesus, we praise you because you were the all-sufficient sacrifice. Holy Spirit, you are powerful. We gather here in the name of Jesus because of you, Holy Spirit. We recognize that that, as Elder Kenny mentioned, is a miracle in itself. And we came here together this morning in Jesus' name, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to respond to our loving God the Father. We thank you for this word, this incredible word that paints a picture, Lord God.
of worship that is all about you, Jesus. It is all about you. I pray, Lord God, that that truth would be so pressed on our hearts this morning. That as we come to this sermon, as this message, Lord God, that you would use me to draw many of us closer to you, closer to one another. That we would respond and fall down in worship. That we would sing, praise you. That you would lead us, Lord God, in the power of your Holy Spirit to respond to you in a God-glorifying way. Would you move in our hearts.
Move in us now. Empower us as a church. Give us clarity of mind. Lord God, would you draw our hearts, our emotions, our whole beings, our bodies to you now. We ask this mightily in your son's name. In Jesus' name we pray. Lord God, strengthen your church. We pray in this time. Use this time to build us up. Edify us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. Amen. Okay, so family, in the text that I've just read from,
Revelation 5, the writer is prophesying and describing a time at the end of time, well at least a time as we know it, when every living creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth will be gathered corporately together, worshipping. Corporate worship. There will be countless angels, kings and rulers, quite amazing looking creatures, and all of them are focusing on one throne.
One throne. Day and night, they are crying out in worship. And at the center of it all, standing in the middle of this panorama of praise, is Jesus Christ. Revelation 5, 6 says, Then I saw one like a slaughtered lamb standing in the midst of the throne. We're going to fellowship this morning. We're going to see that God-glorifying corporate worship.
is a few things, okay? It's a few things. Firstly, it is Jesus-focused or Christ-centered. It's all about Jesus. Tim Hughes says that true worship is centered on Jesus. He is the focus of our worship. It is in Jesus, through Jesus, to Jesus, for Jesus. It is in Jesus, through Jesus, to Jesus, for Jesus.
He is the name that is above every name, our great adventure. The one our worshiping universe revolves around. Paul the Apostle, who is responsible for writing much of our Christian New Testament, he says something similar in his letter to the church in Colossae. When he writes in Colossians 3, 16 to 17, he says this. He says, let the word of Christ dwell richly among you.
In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything, everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Family, because of Jesus, because of Jesus,
We are free to worship at all times, in all places, in all things. And when we repent, when we repent and turn away from sin and the fleeting things of this world, and when we in the power of the Holy Spirit choose to put our faith and trust in Jesus, surrendering to him as Lord over all of our lives, we become freed from sin and death.
And we are empowered to be the kind of worshippers that the Father seeks. Those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. We saw this last week. Those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. And when this happens, everything, everything becomes an act of worship. And so that means...
That our waking, sleeping, working, thinking, laughing, crying, they all become an offering before God. Our gathered worship times become an offering before God. How amazing is this though? Jesus then takes all we have to offer him and he perfects it.
Jesus is our all-sufficient sacrifice and our great high priest. He is the only one that is able to offer up to God God's all-deserving, perfect worship. A songwriter of a song that we sang this morning, Come Thou Fount, wrote that it is Jesus who is the great choir master who tunes our hearts to sing God's praise. Tune our hearts to sing God's praise.
And family, it is only through Jesus, only through Jesus that our worship, our worship in every area of our lives, and our worship here on a Sunday becomes holy and acceptable to God the Father. Al Gordon writes, well, he tells of this story. He says, true story, once a little girl sitting playing a piano in the lobby of a very smart hotel. Her playing was terrible.
Parents love their kids, but if your child doesn't know how to play the piano yet, I think you can admit when they have a tinkle of the keys, it's terrible. It was so poor that it irritated the guests around her, causing a number of them to complain. All of a sudden, a man sat down beside her and began to play with her. He began to fill in all the chords.
around her notes, correcting her errors by playing the right notes. And suddenly a breathtaking sound filled this hotel. Everyone was speechless and stood listening to the wonderful music. It emerged that the man was the girl's father, the famous 19th century Russian composer Alexander Borodin. And in the same way that the man in this story took
the discordant and limited playing of his little girl, transforming it into something beautiful and glorious. So Jesus Christ receives all that we have to offer up to God and turns it into something wonderful, beautiful, and pleasing to God. How good is Jesus? Amen? Let me give you a sneak preview into the life of the corporate worship here at Rooted Fellowship.
On Monday morning, Monday midday-ish, three fallible human beings get together and we pray for the upcoming worship gathering. We discuss what needs to maybe get done. We plan through some things. And then we go and execute tasks. We seek to.
We reach out to deacons and head of departments and we say, hey, this is what this Sunday is going to look like. These are maybe some of the special requirements. Maybe we're having communion. Maybe the kids need to go to the playground, et cetera, et cetera. Then many more fallible human beings communicate with their ambassadors in their departments. And they say, hey, listen, this is what we need to do. Children's discipleship teams prepare lessons.
Production teams get rosters together. Setup teams get rosters. They think through how they're going to set up this space. Sarbona teams discuss. Coffee is discussed. Do we need to buy more coffee or tea or hot chocolate? That joke is really not landing, eh? I'm like, come on, at some point it's going to land. Anyways. So do we need to order some things? What is aesthetics going to look like for this Sunday? What is the theme going to be? Do we need to get more graphics?
On a Thursday, the elders get together. We pray for the gathering. We pray for our church. We talk through any special things that we need to happen at this Sunday's gathering. We communicate on WhatsApp. We see how the church goes about running itself. Then on a Sunday morning early, the production team will get here and walk into the school. Remember, family, this is a school. This place looks very much like a school hall.
They open up the doors. Gang, fallible human beings open up the doors. Set-up team comes in, lay chairs, put up lights. Aesthetics teams come in, make this place look beautiful. Children's discipleship teams come, they get together, they gather, they pray, they welcome your kids. Band has been rehearsing, I forgot about that, on Saturday afternoon. They've been rehearsing. They come in and rehearse some more. Fallible human beings seeking to do things.
And at 9.15, I can't tell you what, I can't put my finger on it exactly, but at 9.15, God takes all of these things, our waking, our sleeping, our planning, our communicating, our thoughts, our everything, and he turns it into something beautiful. In fact, Jesus takes all of these things and turns it into something incredibly beautiful when we gather here on a Sunday into corporate worship.
Family, we saw this on Wednesday, right? In our daily devotional reading. In our 21 days of prayer. In John 15, verse 5, Jesus says this. When he's talking about us remaining in him, the true vine. He says, because you can do nothing. Everybody say nothing. Nothing to please God without me. You can do nothing to please God without me. All of those things are perfected in Jesus Christ. And God uses them.
Family, God glorifying worship, including our corporate worship when we gather as the church here at New Hope School on a Sunday, or during the week in homes, in our family groups, all of this corporate worship only glorifies God when it is Christ-centered, when Jesus is the focus of our worship time. Because only Jesus can perfect all we have to offer God. Only Jesus can perfect all we have to offer God.
And so God-glorifying corporate worship is Christ-centered, Jesus-focused. First thing to remember. Secondly, God-glorifying corporate worship is also Holy Spirit-led. Holy Spirit-led. Paul writes in Philippians 3, verse 3. He says, for we are the circumcision. Now, if you're new to church, circumcision in this context refers to those identified as the people of God.
Okay, so we are the people of God, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, by the Spirit of God. We boast in Christ Jesus and do not put confidence in the flesh. We do not put confidence in the flesh. We are the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh. Brother and sister, are you sitting here?
Can you say that you do not put confidence in the flesh? In your flesh? Yeah, we don't put confidence in the flesh of others, but do you put confidence in your flesh? Family, God glorifying corporate worship is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because the only way to truly, truly, truly lead people in corporate worship is to allow the Holy Spirit to take the lead.
We read a fellowship, Christ-centered worship, our very first point today. It only happens in the power of the Holy Spirit. It can only happen in the power of the Holy Spirit. It can't separate the two. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 3, he says this, No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. And the same Spirit that opens our eyes to the wonder of new life in Jesus, to love,
to mercy, to kindness, and to God's infinite power. The same Spirit alone, this Holy Spirit, leads us to a place where we truly glorify God. If you said to me, man, Jono, what is the recipe to make Sunday music cook? What is the recipe to make Sunday music cook? I could tell you. I could tell you. This is what I would do. You want to hear?
I would have a full band up here. I would ask Sister Joy, would you please come and read a call to worship and draw us all into this church? Then I would ask Clorinda, would you start tinkling on those keys? And would you lead us in an amazing hymn like we did today, Come Thou Fount?
Then somewhere between song one and two or two and three, I'd ask Naila to say a beautiful seller and it would draw us back to the truth of who God is. Then the next song, I'd probably ask Ditiro, is he here today? No, I don't think so. But I would say to him, brother, could you lead us in So We Lift You High? Come let us sing to the Lord. You know how Ditiro sings it. And he would do it.
And it would be incredible. Oh, before this, by the way, I would have made a call to Fred in Mpumalangan. I'd say, Fred, man, for this Sunday, could you come through and could you be on the kajong? And he'd say, no problem, John, I'll be there. And he'll come and he'll be playing on the kajong. The production team would have been here on Friday and Saturday doing line checks, sound checks. They would have been making it sound incredible. Then I have no doubt that Kath Ruth...
Vineshri Nompilo would be singing harmonies like as if they were the angels that we read about in the text before this. And then right at the end, just as we kind of land the plane, I'm sure Cornelia would take us home on the violin and just land that plane in such a beautiful way. All while Stephen then prays us out in some incredible prayer of what we're about to listen to in terms of the word. Epic time, right? Epic time.
Roots of fellowship, it's easy to become focused on those kind of things. Those kind of things that we can control when we gather, such as the songs we sing, the sound levels, the band, the makeup of the band, the look and feel of the space, how we order the songs, the coffee, the tea, what's happening with the kids, the general atmosphere, the welcoming. And church, honestly, we say this every week.
Because God gave us his first and best in Jesus, we respond with our first and best. And so we are unashamedly compelled to be concerned with the things that I've mentioned. And we do unashamedly place an incredibly high value on serving God excellently with our time and our talents here at Rooted Fellowship. And as we go about these various ministries. But if all the things that I've just laid out for you and gone through and described,
We need to hear this. They are all for nothing. Nothing without God's Spirit. Without the touch of God's Holy Spirit, they are nothing. If we put our faith and trust in these things, in the confidence in our flesh, well then, things can go very much awry in a church. We can begin to have an over-fascination with production.
And an under-fascination with the presence of God. An over-fascination with production and an under-fascination with the presence of God. Friends and family, spirit-led corporate worship involves our response to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In many ways, it is something mysterious. And it cannot be automated or contrived as I sought to do.
It is not about us. It is not about us, our gifts, our preferences. It's not about us and our efforts. And we need to accept that we are not in sovereign control over it. We are not in sovereign control. We planned this week, man, Stephen was going to be in the band. Unfortunately, he fell ill today. We didn't plan that there would be no power this morning when we got here. Folks have worked tirelessly and sought to worship God, and they've done incredibly. But we don't plan for these things.
We've seen this countless times. We prep and then load shedding will happen or the screen goes down. But what happens in those times? We've seen this many times. Pastor Oni will keep on faithfully preaching. And what happens? The world would look at him and say, man, that production failed. But the Spirit of God moved. Amen? People were drawn into his presence. People came to know Jesus and know Jesus more. Theologian A.W. Tozer, he sounded a warning.
to the church when he said this. He said, if God took his Holy Spirit out of this world, if we aren't careful, we may see that what the church is doing would go right on and perhaps nobody would know the difference. God took the Holy Spirit out of this world. Would the church carry on going on without us knowing the difference? Bono, some of you may know who he is. He's the lead singer of the band U2.
Himself, he is a Christian, and he said something similar. He said, I often wonder, I often wonder if religion is the enemy of God. It's almost like religion is what happens when the Spirit has left the building. Family, without the Spirit of God, we are left with lifeless religion, something dead mechanical, something fruitless, something worse than useless, contrived. Remember our benediction from last week?
John 4, Jesus says to the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, he says, but an hour is coming, an hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. In spirit and in truth. In spirit and in truth. The Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
Family, one of the aspects to what Jesus is saying here is that true worship involves a believer's mind and their heart. It involves a believer's mind and their heart. And therefore, true corporate worship, what we do here Sunday by Sunday, requires that we, and by we, I don't just mean the ambassadors serving, I mean all of us. All of us.
We engage God with our minds as we study His Word, as we seek to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and at the same time, it requires that we engage God with our bodies, our hearts, our emotions, our feelings, as the fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives overflows and causes us to praise God in complete delight.
Roots of Fellowship, when we do this, when we do this, this leads our corporate worship to be a passionate and spirit-filled time because it is based on the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Amen? Some of us need to hear this, church. To those of us who tend to limit our engagements in corporate worship of God to our hearts and our hands and our emotions, family,
we also need to open up our minds and our intellects to worshiping Him too. Amen? And to those of us who tend to limit our engagement in corporate worship of God to our heads and our intellects, well, we need to open up our bodies and our emotions to worshiping Him too. Amen? Because you see, family, spirit-led worship is not a new thing.
It's not a new thing that was developed fairly recently in Pentecostal charismatic churches. It is in fact part and parcel of the heritage of the church throughout all ages. Worship Central says this. Spirit-led worship can be found in traditional church gatherings where only hymns and psalms are sung.
where the church attendees only attend in their formal attire and pastors wear traditional robes. Just as much as the church gatherings where the latest gospel songs are sung and people dance and jump up and down. I'm going to say that again. Spirit-led worship can be found in traditional church gatherings where only hymns and psalms are sung, where church attendees only attend in their formal attire and pastors wear traditional robes, maybe even folks wear traditional robes. Just as much.
as church gatherings where the latest gospel songs are sung and people dance, jump up and down. If the gospel is being faithfully preached, church, then these worship forms and all of those in between may very well be God-honored. Because, brothers and sisters, submitting to God's Spirit, leading our corporate worship times, isn't an issue of style or preference.
It's a foundational truth that is essential. It is essential in our worship today as it was for the early church some 2,000 years ago. William Barclay, the biblical commentator, says that spirit-led worship is when a Christian, spirit-led worship is when a Christian, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ and dying for our sins on the cross, it's when that Christian then leans into or gets to enjoy, enjoy,
enjoy their intimacy and relationship with God the Father. And so church, God glorifying corporate worship is Christ-centered, Jesus-focused, and God glorifying corporate worship is Holy Spirit-led. Amen? Finally, God glorifying worship, and of course includes corporate worship, happens
happens in response to the Father. It happens in response to God the Father. When we worship Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn to respond to the Father. But what kind of Father is that, you ask? Because when we hear this, right, our minds, they run. They run to the floors of our earthly fathers. But the Father,
that we are talking about here is the father who is filled with so much grace and love, much like the father we read about in the gospel of Luke's parable of the prodigal son. Luke 15 verse 20 says this, it says, Brothers and sisters,
Much like the youngest son in this parable, it doesn't matter how we feel about ourselves or how we see ourselves. God has chosen us as sons and daughters, inheritors of his kingdom, called by name and unconditionally loved. You need to hear that this morning. Paul writes this in Romans 8 verse 15. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the spirit of adoption.
by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Abba, Father, Dada. Church, the all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing creator and sustainer of the universe calls you his child. You are his child. It's a great scandal of the universe, says Worship Central. It's a scandal of the universe that the God,
for whom atoms dance and galaxies spin symphonies, the God who rules and reigns, transcendent, above and beyond understanding, invites us to call him Father. Through Jesus, through Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God. We read that in Colossians 1 verse 15. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. God is revealed to us as a loving, tender parent.
The kind who forgives, heals the brokenhearted, sings over us and loves us unconditionally. We find ourselves intimately drawing close to a God who reveals himself not as a harsh judge waiting to catch us out, but as a father who delights in us.
Your Father delights in you because of the finished work of Jesus. And family, here's the thing about intimacy. Here's the thing about intimacy. Intimacy involves both reverence and close affection. Reverence and close affection. Think about it. It involves reverence and close affection. And this is something that I think through the ages, the church,
has struggled to navigate, right? Local churches often tend to either emphasize the imminence or the closeness of God, or they can be in danger of emphasizing the transcendence of God, the complete holiness or the otherness of God. However, the Bible teaches us that we need to embrace both. We need to embrace both, the imminence, the closeness,
and the transcendence, the otherness of a holy father. We need to embrace both of those in our worship as we respond to our father. Did you know this? That the most used word in the New Testament for worship is the Greek word proskuneo. Proskuneo. Some of you will recall that last year, in our year of worship series, the pastor only preached on this. And he said that this word, proskuneo, literally means to come.
Trembling towards. And to kiss in reverence. To come trembling towards. And to kiss in reverence. Proskunel. It's a term of intimacy. Tenderness. But at the same time it's one of great, great respect. In Hosea 11 verse 10. We actually have a verse.
about God that clearly depicts this kind of intimacy. It says this, it says, They will follow the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will follow the Lord. He will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. Let that verse sink in a little bit. When he roars,
Like a lion, his children will come trembling. Now, I'm not sure if you've had the privilege of hearing a roaring lion in person. Anyone had the privilege of that? It's definitely something that causes you to run in the opposite direction. It doesn't draw you in. But here in Hosea, we have the stunning picture. The weak and the vulnerable, the children.
are running towards the very thing that strikes terror and fear. Running towards the very thing that strikes terror and fear. And here we find the great paradox of intimacy with our God. To truly understand the utter majesty of God, we have to draw near by faith. To truly understand the majesty of God,
We have to draw near to him by faith to experience the closeness of God in Jesus Christ. You see, in Jesus, God has revealed himself as a God who invites us to boldly approach him with intimacy. Boldly approach him with intimacy, reverence or closeness.
And so family, enjoying intimacy with God the Father during our corporate times of worship is a great privilege that we corporately get to experience and enjoy, to lean into. But this does have implications for our gathered times together. It has implications for the times that we get together and worship God. It means that we are compelled to draw attention away from ourselves and to encourage one another.
to focus our attention towards God. We are encouraged to draw away attention from ourselves and rather focus our attention towards our God. Think about it, family. The book of Psalms. We've just come out of a year in worship and we went to the Psalms mixtape series and we saw this last year. How many of the Psalms are written as songs of praise urging God's people to praise their God?
And so when we gather here on a Sunday, are we encouraging one another to enjoy our relationship with God the Father? I got to experience that this morning. I was feeling a little bit low, feeling discouraged, feeling a little bit distracted. And I looked to my right and I saw my brother saying, excited, praising God, worshiping God. And that filled me with joy and encouragement. I sang that next song a little bit louder. God's goodness became a little bit more real to me in that moment. Lange Mbonambi from We Will Worship.
close friend of Roots of Fellowship. He came, I think he even said this when he came here, but he says this in many of his talks. He says, if you look at the Psalm of Ascent, but countless verses in the Bible, you know, they often call people to encourage one another to worship God. Like, kind of like what I shared with you this morning. Yes, those times where we close our eyes and just kind of focus on who God is, that's great, that's great. We must have those times. But let's also have those times where we look to one another in the gathering.
Where we see one another, engage one another, greet one another, encourage one another, spur one another on to worship and praise our Father God. Amen? And so, we need both. Are we facilitating spaces for one another to be encouraged to worship our God? And are we facilitating spaces for one another to meet intimately with our King? To sit at His feet.
And to weep. To pray with others after the service. To pray for one another after the service. And to enjoy God's loving kindness. I'm going to call the band up at this moment as we kind of land the plane. Rooted Fellowship Family. Today we've seen that God-glorifying worship is Christ-centered, Jesus-focused. It's Holy Spirit-led.
And it's born out of a response to our loving Heavenly Father. God-glorifying worship is Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-led, and born out of a response to our loving Heavenly Father. We worship a God who is Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so this is where our worship begins.
We find ourselves in right standing before God because of the Son, filled with the Spirit, and embraced by the Father. We are in right standing with God because of the Son, filled with the Spirit, and embraced by the Father. And sometimes, you know what that does? Sometimes that leads us to respond in contemplative tears and silence.
We are overcome by the extravagant goodness of the gospel. And so we fall on our knees and weep. And at other times, at other times we are led to an exuberant dance of joy because we cannot contain the sheer joy of the gospel. We jump up and down. God is good. And it's my prayer that this year,
We'll continue to experience both of those kind of times and everything in between at Roots of Fellowship. We've seen God do that many times and it's my prayer that we'll see Him do it again. And enjoy many times of corporate worship where we worship God in spirit and in truth. Worship God in spirit and in truth where we are utterly still before our awesome God in prayer.
Where we lift our hands and shout to the Lord in praise. Hallelujah, God. Where we engage theologically with the Word of God in our heads and our minds. Where we engage God with our bodies, our hearts, and our emotions. Where we feel, feel the closeness of God.
And where we contemplate the otherness of God. Brother and sister in Christ, this morning you are welcome to respond to this message as the Spirit leads you. If you feel the need to pray with someone or by yourself, please come up here after the gathering and do so. If you need to sit in silence at the feet of Jesus, know that you are welcome.
If you want to continue singing and praising God for what He's done, the band's going to keep on singing. If you have any questions, perhaps you're a Christian wrestling with your faith. Some of these concepts we've spoken about. Man, the elders, leaders up here would love to chat to you. Perhaps you're not a Christian, but you've heard some things and you want to know more. Please come, chat to us.
we'd love to share more about who Jesus is with you, about how He came to earth, lived the perfect life, died the all-sufficient perfect death, rose again, ascended into heaven, about how He is Lord and Savior, and about how that affects every area, every area and every aspect of our lives, including our worship and our corporate worship.
And so please, do come respond. But before we respond in corporate song, let's come intimately in reverence and in dearness. Let's come before our God, our Holy Father, and pray. Let's stand together. Heavenly, loving Abba Father, We find ourselves here this morning standing in the sun. In good standing before you because of your son Jesus. Filled with the spirit of God. And we find ourselves lovingly and intimately embraced by you Father God. So we praise you. Try you in God. Holy Father.
Son and Holy Spirit, we love you. We praise you. What a joy it is to gather. We thank you, Lord God, that because of Jesus, we worship you. And because of Jesus, Lord God, because he takes our imperfect and makes it acceptable in your sight, we can boldly come into your presence, sit at your feet, sing your praises, love you, enjoy you in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that you lead that.
In your power and in your strength. All to you, for you, because of you. Jesus. Lord God, I just pray that your spirit would move now. Move in our hearts, move in our minds, move in our bodies, move in our everything. Lord God, would you draw us closer to you, closer to one another. Empower us as a church. For those of us who tend to limit you to our minds.
would you move in our emotions and our hearts and our bodies? For those of us who tend to limit you to our bodies, Lord God, and our mind, I mean our feelings and our emotions, would you move in our minds to know that you are the one true God? May we worship you in spirit and in truth. Also, Lord God, I pray for unity in the global church. Lord God, the church so often brings down the other parts of the church. We say, oh, the Holy Spirit's not there, or the Spirit's not there. But Lord God, help us to recognize
that so often we do this in our preferences. I pray, Lord God, that we would die to our preferences in our worship, in our corporate worship, that we would get to see the true glory, beauty, diversity of your canvas that you are painting in your corporate worship of your Holy Church. Thank you for this time. Come and move. Come, Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's respond to this.