Messages

Instructions to Worship

Date:3/7/21

Series: Exodus

Passage: Exodus 25:23-40

Speaker: BJ Chursinoff

Sometimes we need to get back to basics. In this study, we'll look at some of the instructions God gave Moses as He met with him in the cloud on Mount Sinai. And in so doing, we will learn what it means to worship God.


Transcription (automatically-generated):

We're continuing our study in the Book of Exodus, picking things up in chapter 25, verse 23. And if you have your Bible and I hope you do, I invite you to turn there now if you haven't already.

And here's a brief recap of what's taken place in Exodus.

Up until this point, God has saved his people from out of their slavery in Egypt. He's brought them to Mt. Sinai, where he's revealed his law to them, the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant. And this was to govern his people and their society as they lived, as God's people.

God entered into a covenant with Israel where they are now officially his people and he is their God. After the Covenant was established, Moses went up Mount Sinai and entered the cloud of God's presence, where he was there for 40 days and 40 nights.

During that time, Moses received specific revelation from God to pass on to the people of Israel.

This revelation is what makes up the content of chapters twenty five through thirty one in the Book of Exodus.

And most of the words in these chapters are detailed instructions on how the people were to build the tabernacle, which was the dwelling place of God among his people in the first few verses of Exodus.

Twenty five, we've seen God instruct Moses on how he was to collect the contributions for the people from the people in order to build the tabernacle. And then last week, Jeff walked us through the detailed instructions that God gave to Moses on how to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat.

This week, we're going to see even more detailed instructions that God gave to Moses, the instructions we're looking at tonight have to do with the construction of two pieces of furniture that were located inside the tabernacle, just outside of where the Ark of the Covenant was located. These two item items are the table for the bread of the presence and the golden lamp stand.

So let's read about them starting in verse 23 of Exodus 25.

This is God speaking to Moses, I believe reading the ESV or the English standard version.

God says this. You shall make a table of acacia wood to Cubitt shall be its length and a cubits is breath and a Cuba and a half its height, you shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it, and you shall make a rim around it, a hand breadth wide and a molding of gold around the rim.

And you shall make for it. Four rings of gold and fastened the rings to the four corners at its four legs close to the frame.

The rings shall lie as holders for the poles to carry the table, you shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold and the table shall be carried with these and you shall make its plates and dishes for incense and its flagons, which are large containers in which drink is sort of typically with their handle and a spout and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings.

You shall make them of pure gold and you shall set the bread of the presence on the table before me regularly. Verse 8 thirty one you shall make a lamp stand of pure gold. The lamp stand shall be made of hammered work, its base, its stem, its cups, its calexico's which are bulb's and its flowers shall be of one piece with it and there shall be six branches going out of its sides.

Three branches of the lamp stand out of the one side of it, and three branches of the lamp stand out of the other side of it. Three cups made like Amen blossoms, each with Calix and flower on one branch and three cups made like Amen blossoms, each with Calix and flower on the other branch. So for the six branches going out of the lamp stand and on the lamp stand itself, there shall be four cups made like Amen blossoms with their calexico's and flowers and a Calix of one piece with it.

Under each pair of the six branches going out from the lamp stand there. Galaxies and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it, a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. You shall make seven lamps for it and the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. Its tongs and their trees shall be of pure gold. It shall be made with all these utensils out of a talent of pure gold and see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

This is a tricky passage to preach because this passage contains very detailed instructions for how to build items that were only supposed to be built back when these words were originally spoken.

We are not supposed to follow these instructions literally today to build these items today.

So we have to be careful not to turn this study into a seminar on how to build an elaborate table for bread and an exotic lamp stand made out of pure gold, even though that's exactly what this passage is saying to do.

If you've been with us the past couple of weeks, you might remember that Jeff walked us through the reason why Christians don't build these items today.

The Tabernacle was established at this time in history as the special place where God dwelt among his people.

Until. The permanent structure of the temple was built and then the temple served as the place where God dwelt among his people. Until until Jesus came, and when Jesus came, God Tabernacle among his people in the presence of his son, Jesus is God's presence in the flesh.

But after Jesus rose from the dead, he ascended to heaven and after Jesus went back to heaven. Where does the presence of God among these people now feel after the events of Pentecost have been recorded? For us in the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit was poured out on God's people.

Now, every single Christian the world over is the special dwelling place of God among his people, because God lives inside of us, the churches, the tabernacle now.

And that's why we don't have to build a physical tabernacle anymore. But that brings us back to our our text, so what do we do with these detailed instructions found in Exodus Chapter twenty five Verse is twenty three to 40?

Well, let's understand that this is what they are. Their instructions here on Mount Sinai in the cloud, Moses receives detailed instructions from God.

These verse is do not contain much by way of explanation, reasons, purpose, meaning of these items or the symbolism that so rich in this text.

We have to go outside of these verse is to other parts of scripture to find the answers to those questions. In these 18 verse is God simply tells Moses what to make and how to make it.

Now, the closest thing we're given in this text concerning the purpose for the table and the purpose for the lapse then can be can be seen In verses 30 and thirty seven, Verse 8 30 in our text reads like this and God says, and you shall set the bread of the presence on the table before me regularly. So the purpose of the table, according to God, is to hold this bread of the presence.

You can read about the bread of the presence in Leviticus, Chapter 24, verses five to nine, and it goes into some description there about what it is. But then halfway into verse 37 in our text says this about the lamp stand and the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. Go figure. This makes perfect sense. Giving light is a great purpose for a lamp stand. And that's what this lamp stand was supposed to do.

But from our text, that's it. That's all these verse is have to give us in terms of the purpose for these items outside of these two verses, this passage is predominantly instruction on how to build them.

Now, all those this text doesn't explicitly mention any connection to Jesus, if we were to pan out from this text and look at the larger scope of the entire Bible is really easy to see Jesus symbolized in these verse is if you're familiar with the Bible, you will know that the table of bread and the golden lamp stand point to the son of God, Jesus said in John.

Chapter six, verse 35. I am the bread of life. The bread of the presence in the Tabernacle is a symbol pointing towards Jesus and Jesus, said in John.

Chapter eight, Verse 12. I am the light of the world.

The light shining from the lamp stand in the tabernacle is a symbol pointing to and fulfilled in Jesus.

Both of these items point plainly to the person and work of Christ as our spiritual sustenance and our spiritual ability to see Jesus is our bread and our light again.

We don't see that connection.

When we put the words of this passage under a microscope.

We see that connection when we look at the Bible as a whole. At their core, these verse is, again, don't give us much in terms of reason, purpose, meaning or explanation of the symbolic nature of the items that were to be built. No, at their core, these verse is are instructions. A command to build these items, they are a mission from God to build these items, not a suggestion to build these items whenever Moses got around to doing it, not an open invitation to Moses to build them any way he wanted to build them, not to be built according to anyone else's personal preference, not according to a nationwide vote, not according to how other nations built their tables and their lamp stands.

No, these items were to be built according to the instructions God revealed to Moses.

OK, at this point, you might be thinking to yourself, OK, enough already. These are instructions. We get it. What's the point?

You might be thinking to yourself, do you even have a point you might be asking me in your mind right now?

You might be thinking to your your wife, hey, he has a point, right? Or please have a point. Please have a point with all of this, pastor. Yes. Let me put you at ease. I have a point. And here it is. I believe that when we set these instructions found in Exodus Chapter 25 against the backdrop of the entire Book of Exodus, it has much to teach us about one of the most important aspects of the Christian life, if not the most important aspect of the entire Christian life.

I believe that Exodus Chapter 25, Verse is 23 to 40, has much to teach us about worship.

Worship is at the center of all of this, and let me ask you a question, what comes to your mind when you think of the word worship?

I'm going to go out on a limb and take a wild guess here for many of you, if not most of you, when you think about worship, your mind is probably filled with some kind of image of singing songs to God. Many people equate worshiping God with singing praise to God, and if this is you, you would be part right. Worship is not less than singing your favorite worship songs to God. It's not less than that.

It's just that it's so, so, so much more than that. The Hebrew word used for worship in the Old Testament is Sheika, and it means to depress prostrate bow self down, to crouch, to fall down the humbly beseech to do reverence, make to stoop worship.

The Greek word for worship in the New Testament is Prosky now, and it means to forn or crouch to literally or figuratively prostrate oneself in homage to to do reverence to or to adore worship.

Worship is a figurative way and sometimes a literal way that we posture ourselves before God worship is how a person maintains a disposition towards God, where God is always above them.

His will is always above their will, and the person is given over to do the will of God.

Jesus articulates this idea perfectly when he prays to the father in the Garden of Gethsemani on the night of his betrayal in Luke chapter 22, verse forty two.

We see Jesus praying these words.

Father, if you are willing to remove this cut from me, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Your will above my will God, I put myself below you and I stay there. That's what worship is. Worship is obedience to God from the heart. When we look at the Book of Exodus, we see three necessary components of worship and we can see the whole book of Exodus divided roughly into these three parts.

Component number one, and this is the first fill in on your outline, worship of God requires salvation. Worship of God requires salvation.

Before we can ever worship God, we must first be saved into a relationship with God. Israel couldn't worship the worship God the way that God wanted them to worship him while they were still slaves in Egypt. So God save them from out of Egypt.

But he didn't save them so that he could then release them out into the wilds so that they could live their own best version of their lives as each of them saw fit. No, God save them so that they could worship him. Listen to this exchange, this interchange between God and Moses in Exodus, Chapter three verses 10 to 12.

This verses on your outline, come God says I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He said, But I'll be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve or worship God on this mountain. If he got saved Israel so that Israel could worship God and he saves people today so that they can worship God to this brings us to the second component that's absolutely necessary for worship.

And it's the next fill in on your outline. Worship of God requires revelation. Worship of God requires revelation. Worship of God happens in response to receiving revelation from God.

You see, we don't make up how worship works. Worship doesn't originate in us. Worship originates in God.

He has to tell us how he wants us to worship him. Once Israel was brought to Mt.. Sinai, God revealed his will to them. God told them how he wanted them to live in relation to him. God told his people what to do. We see part of this revelation in our text tonight is all detailed instructions.

Is God saying do this? Worship of God requires revelation. We can't worship him the way that he wants us to unless he first tells us what he wants us to do.

This brings us to the third component of worship and your next fill in. Worship of God requires submission. Worship of God requires submission. After the people received the revelation from God, the revelation that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai, they had a choice. They could respond to God by obeying his commands or they could respond to God by disobeying his commands as it pertains to the instructions that Moses received in the cloud on Mount Sinai in the latter part of the Book of Exodus.

We see the people making the tabernacle according to God's will. They obeyed him. They worshiped God in this matter.

And in this we see the three components of worship working together in order worship of God requires salvation, revelation and then submission to whatever God has revealed. That's the anatomy of worship.

This call, the worship was not just for Israelites at Mount Sinai. This is a call for all Christians today. This is why we were saved, we were saved so that we would be free to worship God and any time God's will is revealed to us, it provides us an opportunity for us to worship him. When God reveals his words to you or to me, we have a couple of options. One, we can reject his word and in essence, place ourselves in authority over his word and decide for ourselves which words of God we will deem necessary to obey or not.

That's option number one or number two, we can posture ourselves under the under the authority of God's revealed word.

And anything he says to do, we do. And that's the essence of worship.

Now, I have to be honest with you, this talk about worship makes me a little bit concerned, concerned as a Christian and concerned as a pastor, because I believe there's a worship problem in the church today. And I'm not talking about any local church specifically, but the church at large in the West, at least this idea of worship, the way that we're talking about it here, is such a basic fundamental aspect of Christianity.

And yet it's lost on so many people, so many people, people who profess to be Christians, treat God's word as a big book of nice suggestions for our life rather than what it truly is, revelation to be obeyed.

And until the church gets back to the basics of worshiping God, according to his word, we will continue to live frustrated and powerless lives in this world.

Lord, bring your people back to a heart of worship. We pray Amen. Amen. Now, worshiping God isn't always easy. Challenges can arise when God reveals his will to us sometimes, as well as relatively easy to follow. Take, for example, the command to love your neighbor.

This is easy to do if your neighbor is a really great person and really lovable.

But the same command to love your neighbor becomes much more difficult if your neighbor is a jerk. Sometimes God's will is actually humanly impossible to follow, and there are instances when obedience to God's will is made possible only with God's help. The instructions to build these two items for the Tabernacle that we read in our passage, the table and the lamp stand was borderline impossible to do because the tabernacle was no joke.

But to complete its construction, Israel would need at least two things.

First, they needed workers skilled enough to make the tabernacle to the specs that God had given Moses. I've heard enough jokes about IKEA furniture by now to know that having the instruction manual does not guarantee the furniture is actually getting built the way that it should.

Now think about the golden lamp stand in our text. We see that in verse 40 that Moses was shown a pattern of the lamp stand on the mountain, and God also gave Moses the verbal instructions for how to build it.

And this meant that this lamp stand had to be fashioned into one single piece of solid gold.

Fashioning an elaborate lamp stand out of a single lump of gold would have taken major skill and artistry to perform skill that is not commonly available to mankind.

Moses needed someone who is capable to do that work. That was one thing that was needed.

And secondly, they would need the actual materials necessary to make the tabernacle according to the way that God wanted it built.

We learn from verse thirty nine in our text that the lamp stand alone required a talent of gold. Now, there are various estimates of the value and weight of the Hebrew gold talent, and these estimates range anywhere from seventy five pounds, up to one hundred and twenty pounds.

That's up to one hundred and twenty pounds of pure gold, which is at least at least two million dollars in our currency today and probably more so.

Remember this with me. Israel was made up of shepherds who at this time were nomads wandering around in the wilderness.

How were the Israelites able to build this elaborate table and a lamp stand like this without the skill or the resources to do it? This brings us to our next villain, God provides us with what we need to worship him, God provides us with what we need to worship him. See, God actually gave the people both things they needed in order for them to obey him. He gave them the skilled workers and the resources to get the job done.

Looking ahead a little bit, in Exodus Chapter thirty one, we see that God gave the people, skilled workers that could do the job. It's on your notes, but starting in verse one in Exodus. Thirty one, God says this to Moses. The Lord said to Moses, See, I've called my name Bezalel, the son of Urey, the son of her of the tribe of Judah.

And I have filled him with the spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver and bronze, and cutting stones for setting and in carving wood to work in every craft. And behold, I've appointed with them a holy ab, the son of a his simac of the tribe of Dan and I have given to all able men ability that they may make all that I've commanded you the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony and the Mercy Seat that's on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils and the lamp stand with all its utensils and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand and the finely worked garments, the holy garments for Aaron, the priest in the garments of his sons, for their services, priests and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place.

According to all that I've commanded you, they shall do. God called certain men and God called them and filled them with the spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship in order that they could do the work that God instructed Moses to do. On top of that, God also gave the people the resources needed to complete the job. Do you remember where Israel got a whole load of treasure back when they left Egypt in Exodus Chapter 12 Verse is.

Thirty three to thirty six. We read this. The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. They said we shall all be dead.

So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading balls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Do you ever wonder why the Israelites needed to be given treasure when they left Egypt?

There weren't any malls, as far as I could tell, in the wilderness. There wasn't anything to really spend it on. No, they use this treasure to worship God. This treasure was used in the construction of the tabernacle. So we see that God provides us with what is necessary to worship him.

And here's your next film. God always provides or I'm sorry, God always makes provision for our obedience. God always makes provision for our obedience.

When God calls a person or a people to a task, no matter how big or how small the task is, God will supply everything that is needed to obey him.

He will not call you to something and then leave you hanging out to dry. If God is calling you to something, he has either already supplied everything that you need up front or if you don't have what you need now, he will supply it to you as you take a step of faith and follow his call.

Whatever it is he's leading you to do, just make sure that God is actually the one calling you.

He doesn't promise to supply what you need to accomplish your own made up, human, godless, worldly, worldly vision for your life.

He doesn't promise to supply what you need for whatever that might be. The bottom line is this. God will always give you what you need so that you can obey him. So what does this look like in our lives today? We've already established that we're aren't to build items for the Tabernacle in our worship of God today. So then how do we worship him? Now, let's move from the Old Testament to the New Testament to see how we can apply these principles about worship to our life today.

And we're going to do this by lining up, lining up this scene in Exodus with a parallel scene that takes place at the end of Matthew's gospel.

If you know me, you know that this is literally, literally my favorite passage in the Bible.

The scene takes place after Jesus has risen from the dead. Matthew chapter twenty eight verses 16 to 20 reads like this. Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, go there for and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.

There are several parallels between our text in Exodus Chapter twenty five and this passage in Matthew Chapter twenty eight, and these parallels serve as a pattern for how we are to worship God today.

Let me show you a few of these. In Exodus, Chapter 25, God's people were saved out of their bondage in Egypt and brought to a mountain in Matthew Chapter twenty eight. The disciples were saved from their bondage to sin because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And they were brought to a mountain. You see that In verses 16 and Matthew?

Twenty eight.

In Exodus, Chapter 25, Moses is talking with God on a mountain and receives instructions from him in Matthew twenty eight, the disciples are talking with Jesus at a mountain and they receive instructions from him.

In Exodus 25, God tells Moses to make the Tabernacle in Matthew, Chapter 28 eight, Jesus tells the disciples to make. Disciples, Jesus tells them to make the church the modern day tabernacle, where God's presence dwells among his people.

In Exodus 2005, the people were to make the items according to the word and the pattern that was shown to Moses by God in Matthew twenty eight, the disciples were to make disciples according to the word and pattern that Jesus showed them. And Matthew twenty eight twenty Jesus told them to teach disciples to obey his word.

Jesus also gave his disciples a pattern to follow when it came for them to make disciples.

They had three years of Jesus disciple in them as their pattern to follow as they in turn went and made disciples of their own. Rule to keep in the back of your mind when you're making disciples, just remember WW you, what would Jesus do? Back to our parallels in Exodus 25, God supply the resources needed to build the items he gave them, the skill and the gold. In Matthew twenty eight, Jesus supplied the disciples the resources they needed to make disciples.

He gave them the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts and every physical resource they had in their life they had because God gave to them. And everything they had was at their disposal when it came to obeying Jesus in the call to make disciples. In Exodus, Chapter 25, Israel had an opportunity to worship God when Moses came down the mountain with the instructions they could obey God or not.

And in Matthew, twenty eight Christians have an opportunity to worship God when those who are discipling us point us to the great commission in Matthew Chapter 28 as instructions God has revealed to us to obey.

And we can obey God by making disciples or not. Can you see the parallel that runs between the old and the New Testament here? Worship of God is a theme that runs throughout the whole Bible, through both the old and the New Testaments, worship of God is kind of like the point of the entire Bible is kind of like the point of life.

Now, I can and I have presumed some potential pushback when people hear this correlation that connects worship of God with making disciples of Jesus.

Here's what some of that pushback might sound like and might even sound like. What's going on in some of your minds right now? I can't make a disciple. Or I don't know enough Bible to make disciples or I haven't been a Christian long enough to make disciples or I'm not a pastor. Isn't not the pastor's job to make disciples. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to making disciples. I'm scared at the mere thought of what making disciples would look like in my life.

Or I'm too busy with a bunch of other things in my life, I don't have time to make disciples.

We can sound a lot like Moses did when he tried to talk his way out of obeying God's call to go and deliver his people out of Egypt. The question for you, if God is commissioning you to make disciples and I think a plain reading of Matthew Chapter twenty eight makes it plain that that's what he's doing. Then are there any adequate reasons that you or I can give to God for not obeying him in this?

There isn't any justification for disobedience if we've been saved to worship God.

And if you're wrestling with this idea, let me encourage you by reminding you of some great news that we've already heard in this message.

Let me remind you of God's promise of provision for obedience. God gives you his holy spirit. God gives you his power. God gives you spiritual gifts. God gives you the church. God gives you every single resource you have in your life. Every single resource that you have in your life is from God and is at your disposal. And the promise is that God will make anything else you need in the days ahead so that you will be able to do the task that he's commissioned you with, whatever the task is.

Including making disciples. A life of worship is a crazy journey that will stretch us, grow us, teach us, challenge us and bless us. And when we get to the end of our lives, I can promise you this, that if you give your life to doing whatever it is that God asks you to do, you will never regret it for all of eternity. You will be happy that you said yes to God. You will be happy that you worshiped him in this life now.

I'm going to close by addressing two groups of people that may be watching this message. First group, if you're not a Christian and you, that means that you don't worship God yet in your life, and if that's you, can I invite you into this brand new relationship today? If you don't worship God, it means that you're worshiping something else other than God.

And that's what the Bible calls idolatry is taking God out of his rightful place in our life where he alone should be worshiped and then worshiping something else instead, obeying something else instead. And if this is you, you need to be saved.

You need to be saved from a life of bondage to sin that is headed towards an eternal separation from the presence of God.

You need to be saved to a life where you're free to worship God and enjoy the benefits that come from being a child of God.

If you want to be saved into a relationship where you worship God and do these things right now, right where you're sitting, confess you're a sinner, confess that if you die today and God gave you what you actually deserved, you would spend eternity in hell, pain for your sins.

Believe right now where you are that God loves you so much that he doesn't want to give you what you deserve.

He wants to give you grace and mercy. Instead believe that Jesus came to live a perfect life in your place.

And then he died as sinners. Death on the cross in your place. He was buried in the grave and on the third day he rose from the dead.

Repent. Turn from your old life and trust in Jesus. Turn from your old life of sin and give all of yourself to trust in Christ.

When you do this, God will forgive your sins, and He will give you the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of you, to give you the power to worship God with the rest of your life. Do this right now. And then after this message, I'm going to invite you to go to my new hope to see a gospel where there's a whole bunch more information about what this new life as a Christian looks like. But I invite you to do this today if you've never done that.

Now, I want to talk to my brothers and sisters in Christ Christian, is there any area of your life? We are not worshiping God, big or small. If you've already believed the gospel, you've already been born again and you don't need to be born again again.

But if you follow Jesus for any length of time, you know that we're prone to take portions of our life back, we are prone to take the worship that God deserves from us and give it to obeying something else instead.

Christian, if this is you, you don't need to be saved again, but you do need to repent again.

You need to repent and come back to Jesus and give him all of your life to obey him.

Do this with any area of your life that God is putting his finger on right now. Do it right now in this moment if you need to, and God will wash you, forgive you, restore you and bless you. Let's pray. Father, I thank you. I thank you for your grace, your Grace Lord saves us into eternal life. That begins the moment that we believe on you. Jesus, thank you for this, Grace.

That brings us into the family of God. Puts a new spirit in us, gives us a brand new life, cancels our old life and we start fresh in you. Jesus, your grace makes that possible. And that grace is available to everyone. Thank you, Lord, that you've made it available. And I praise you, God, that there are people that have taken you up on this free offer.

I pray right now for anyone watching this message, Lord, who doesn't know you yet. Lord, let your grace I pray right now, lead them to repentance, lead them to rejecting their old life and lead them to throwing the sum total of their life at your feet to be used by you do that. God, I pray right now.

And for those of us who know you, Lord, we need we need Your Grace more than that first time we believe more when we were justified. We need Your Grace every moment of every day because Your Grace supplies us with what we need in order to live a life of worship before you all the days of our lives.

So, Lord, thank you for your grace that you give that empowers us to obey you.

Help me and my brothers and sisters in your church, Lord, to live lives worthy of the calling that you've placed on us. Do all of this, Lord, for your glory that you look so great when your people live lives like this.

Do it for you, but do it for us, because this is the kind of life, Lord, that gives us the deepest and the greatest levels of joy and satisfaction and power.

Do it. We pray to Jesus in your sweet, powerful and precious name. Amen.

 

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