SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE WITH PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER, INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)
TOPIC: SACRIFICE OF PRAISE – PART 4 (WORTHY)
DATE: 19TH NOVEMBER 2023
BIBLE TEXT: REVELATION 4: 9-11; REVELATION 5: 8-10 AND REVELATION 5: 11-14
Let us rise up together as we make our “DECLARATION OF GATHERING” in this “YEAR OF GATHERING”.
Are you ready? Say with me:
I Proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. The Lord is the Shepherd of my Soul, my Shelter by Day, my Light by Night.
In His Name, we Plough our fields, by His Spirit we gather the Harvest, in His Light we seek and find.
In this Year of Gathering, the Lord of the Harvest has commanded: Launch Out into the Deep. At His Words, we cast our Nets, we gather in Souls and Substance for God’s Kingdom.
The Lord is our Reward; in this Season I received God’s Portion set aside for me: Full Measure, Pressed down, Shaking together and running over.
Nothing is Lost and Nothing is wasted in Jesus Name – Amen!
I will continue my Series on Sacrifice of Praise and this is Part 4. And I will focusing on “Worthy” as the Subtitle of our discussion today!
Last week (Part 3), we looked at the Book of Revelation Chapter 4:
I. We noted that Worship is focused on God and His Throne. And so as we Worship the Lord, we must be Mindful of God and His Throne.
II. Worship is not to give us a benefit or Pleasure but focused on the Lord and what He does for us.
And this Week (Part 4), we still continue from the Book of Revelation – And we will do a bit of Chapter 4 and then a bit of Chapter 5.
And then, we will be looking at three (3) different Worship Scenes in the Book of Revelation!
1. So, Revelation 4: 9-11 – And it reads:
9 Whenever the Living Creatures give Glory and Honour and Thanks to Him who sits on the Throne, who lives forever and ever,
10. The twenty-four Elders fall down before Him who sits on the Throne and Worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their Crowns before the Throne, saying:
11 “You are Worthy, O Lord, To receive Glory and Honour and Power;
For You created all things, And by Your Will they exist and were created.”
The Key word that we want to Pay attention to in this Passage is “Worthy” – Worthy is the word at the base of Worship!
For us to really Worship God, we have to understand what it means when we say that something or someone is Worthy because Worship is the appreciation of Worth.
In Heaven, you see that there is a certain focus on the Worthiness of the Person who is being Worshipped.
So, what does it mean when we use the word “Worthy”?
I. It means to have Weight and Worth.
It means that the Person or the Thing is not Light or it is not Frivolous. It is something that is Weighty, something that has “Real Inner Value” and something that has a lot of Worth.
It means that it has Value in itself.
And of course, when we address it to God, it means that God has Value in Himself – We are not the one giving Him the Value as He already has it..
II. Worthy means to achieve something Notable – What you achieve gives you Worth.
There is a Worth that is Inner and there is a Worth that is based on Achievement.
III. Then when we use the word Worthy, we say that something is Deserving of Recognition.
A thing or something that is Worthy must be treated as Worthy – We can’t take a Worthy thing and treat it as Common.
So, that is why when you have a Great Guest in your house, no matter how Poor and disadvantaged you are; when somebody that you think is Worthy comes to your home, you will not Ordinarily serve such with a thing that are common in the house.
So, if there is a Drinking Glass that everybody commonly uses, if somebody Great comes to your home, you try to go deeper to bring out something that is not common.
Why? Because you think that the Person is Worthy – And a Worthy Person must be Worthily Recognised.
And so, when we say that God for example is Worthy, then it also means that the Recognition that we give Him must be an Expression of the Worth that we Placed on Him.
– If you Place a High Worth on God, it means that you have a Big Worth for Him.
– If you Place a Low Worth on Him, it simply means that you don’t have a Great Appreciation for who He is.
When something is Worthy, we recognised it according to the Merit of its Worthiness!
– Whether it is the way you treat a Special Guest.
– The way you treat an item.
There are items in our homes that are open for everybody to see and there are items in our homes that we hide/keep because we think that it is Worthy and Nobody must take it away from us.
So, when something is Worthy, we recognised it as such!
And then, we have to apply all these Concepts to Worshipping God and giving Him the Worth.
So, we are going to look at the ways in which this Worship takes Place in Revelation Chapter 4 – What do they say that God is Worthy of?
If you read the Passage, it says in Revelation 4:11 – For You are Worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power.
Why? Because You created all things and by Your Will, they exist and were Created.
Now, they are telling us why they think that God is Worthy – “God is Worthy as a Creator”.
I want you to Place close attention to this because later on; we will see another Expression of Worship and the focus will be a little bit different from this one.
We Worship God because all things exists because of Him.
If He had not made us, we won’t have even been here thinking about whether we should Worship Him or not.
All things exists because of Him – The Universe exists because of Him, Creation exists because of Him and He is a Worthy Creator.
God created all things for His Pleasures – Things exists not because of Him and there is Nothing bigger in Creation than God because He created all things.
And that simply tells you that you cannot Worship God beyond measures – You can’t Over-worship God.
There is no Worship that we give to God that is “Too Much”.
Now, there are things that you can do to People that is “Too Much” – If I come to your house and you serve me right with Good Utensils. That is fine as you are saying my Pastor is Worthy,
But if after that, you start rolling on the floor – From one end of the room to the other; and you are jumping and singing your Pastor’s Praises and all of that,
Now, you are giving your Pastor something beyond – You are going overboard in your Worship.
So, People will come to you and say: Are you Mad? He is just a man. Why are you rolling before him?
However, when it comes to God, there is no Worship that is beyond God – There is Nothing that we can give to God that is beyond Him, that we can say as for this, you are doing it “Too Much”.
There is no “Too Much” Worship when it comes to God. Why? Because He made all things and all things exist because of Him.
And so, for you to give something that is beyond God, then you have to get something that is beyond God to do something beyond God.
So, there is no Worship beyond God:
– You can roll on the floor for Him.
– You can jump to the Highest for Him.
– You can sing to Him.
– You can sell all your Belongings and give them to Him.
– You can actually Sacrifice yourself for Him.
And none of them will be beyond!
I. You can decide that in my own way of Worshipping God, I will climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
And when I get there, I will say: Hallelujah.
… That won’t be “Too Much for my God”.
NOTES: Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant Volcano located in Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. It has three Volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest Mountain in Africa and the Highest Single Free-Standing Mountain above sea level in the world: 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level and about 4,900 m (16,100 ft) above its Plateau base. It is the Highest Volcano in Africa and the Eastern Hemisphere.
II. Or I will go to Mount Everest.
And when I get there, I will say: Hallelujah.
… That won’t be “Too Much for my God”.
NOTES: Mount Everest is Earth’s Highest Mountain above Sea Level, located in the Mahalangur Himal Sub-Range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its Summit Point. Its Elevation (Snow Height) of 8,848.86 m (29,031 ft 8+1⁄2 in) was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali Authorities.
III. Or I will go to the Moon.
And when I get there, I will say: Hallelujah.
… That won’t be “Too Much for my God”.
… You can go the fartest Part of Creation and shout Hallelujah and it will still not be beyond God because there is no way to Worship God beyond Himself.
That is what they are saying: You are Worthy because You created all things and all things exist because of You!
And not only do You create all things; You Sustained all things – You hold all things!
… He doesn’t just create, He Sustains.
The Worshipper himself/herself belongs to God!
So what all the four Living Creatures and twenty four Elders are saying is that:
– We are Worshippping You because You created us in the first Place and so what should we do?
– And we are Worshippping You because You are the One who has kept us up to this time.
And so for that reason, we Worship You!
We exist because of You and we are Sustained by You – And so, we are Worshippping You because You are our Creator!
2. There is another Scene that we will look at – And this Worship takes Place after the Lamb of God had broken the Seal to open a New Phase of God’s Revelation.
That is in Revelation 5: 8-10:
8 Now when He had taken the Scroll, the four Living Creatures and the twenty-four Elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the Prayers of the Saints.
9 And they sang a New Song, saying: “You are Worthy to take the Scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every Tribe and tongue and People and Nation,
10 And have made us Kings and Priests to our God; And we shall reign on the Earth.
So the Passage is saying that they sang a New Song.
And why is it saying that they sang a New Song?
Because what they are about to express is different from what the four Living Creatures and twenty four Elders expressed.
But now, there is a New Song coming – And if you pay attention to the Scriptures, it says that the four Living Creatures are still there and the twenty four Elders are still there but there is something else that is included in this Worship.
It says that they are carrying a bowl of Incense and that bowl of Incense represents the Prayers of the Saints.
In other words, in addition to the four and twenty Elders and the four Living Creatures now, there is a New Witness in this Worship – And that is Born Again Believers who has also offered Praise to God.
The Bible calls them – Their Prayers!
So, there is a New Category adding to this Praise and that is why the Song Changes.
Because this New Category has an Experience that the four and twenty Elders don’t have and the four Living Creatures don’t have.
And so the Song has Changed because the Quality of the Worshippers has also Changed!
So, what are they Worshipping?
They are Worshippping and they are saying: Christ is Worthy as our Redeemer – Not just the Creator but Redeemer.
… That is a different Experience.
The Living Creatures has not been Redeemed; the twenty four Elders, if they represent the Church; they understood their Redemption.
But more than anything, the Prayers of the Saints – Born Again Believers, who has been Redeemed, who has now joined in this Chorus and so give it a totally New flaws.
You are Worthy as a Redeemer because You have Redeemed us!
And I want you to look at the four (4) things that they said in their Worship:
I. They said that You are Worthy because You are Slained for us – You died for us!
The Language demonstrates the “Brutal Christ” – The Price Paid for our Redemption.
… He was Slained for us, He was killed for us.
So they say, that’s why we are Worshippping You.
II. Because You Redeemed us – Freed us from Bondage and You restored us back to God without injury.
III. And they shifted the reason – Not only to what You have done for us but how You made us: You have made us Kings and Priests unto God.
IV. And You have made us Rulers over the Earth.
This is Profound – The Bible calls it a New Song because a New Experience (Those who has been Redeemed) has joined in this Chorus; those who has been Born Again has joined in this Chorus and they can sing a Song that the four Living Creatures cannot sing because they don’t fully understand Salvation and Redemption because they never fell to be Redeemed.
But these guys fell and they have to be Redeemed – They joined their voices to the voice of the Elders and the Bible calls it a New Song.
Normally, you sing a New Song to the Lord when you have a New Experience of the Lord!
If you know Him only in one way, your Song will only be in that way; but when you see a New Dimension of God, then you sing a New Song to Him – To reflect that New Dimension that you have encountered of God!
3. There is something I also want you to Pay attention to in this Worship – I consider it as the Purest form of Worship because this is in Heaven (Not David Worship, or Solomon Worship but Heavenly Worship).
So, if you really want to understand Worship, this is what you have to follow because this the Purest form of Worship.
And if you look at the Worship – It focus on two (2) things and two (2) things only: God as our Creator, Christ as our Redeemer!
Why do we Worship?
– Because God is our Creator
– And Christ is our Redeemer.
Why is that important?
You see many times, you Worship God for benefits that we have received from Him – And it is Good to do that.
I. We Thank God when you know People get married and so we sing:
See what the Lord has done
See what the Lord has done
What we’ve waited for, has come to pass
See what the Lord has done.
II. Or a couple has been waiting to have a Child for so long and then the child came.
They burst out and say:
See what the Lord has done
See what the Lord has done
What we’ve waited for, has come to pass
See what the Lord has done
III. Or you have been waiting for America Visa for so long and it came finally:
See what the Lord has done
See what the Lord has done
What we’ve waited for, has come to pass
See what the Lord has done
Now, all these Worship is based on what God has done for us Materially to make our lives better here on Earth.
Whether we get a Promotion, God gave you money or we are able to Graduate – They are all causes for Praise but none of it is represented in this Worship.
The Foundation of all Worship is because God is our Creator and Christ our Redeemer.
Why is that important?
You know sometimes People come to Church and say I have Nothing to Worship God about – My Life is hard for me, this Year has been a tough year (Maybe my shop got burnt and this happened, my Marriage broke up etc). We all have terrible experiences.
And sometimes when we haven’t received anything from God in a Year/Month/Day, we think that there is no reason to Worship because God hasn’t done anything for us.
There are People sitting in Church today or reading now on the Label of DMC – You came to Church dull because maybe this Week, you have been suffering.
Pure Worship is not based on the Miracle you received – It is not based on whether you failed or Pass your exams; whether you are Divorced or Marriage not working; Married or not Married. That is not the basis of Worship!
Of course, when God does Great Things for us, we must come and Worship Him.
But until we grasp that our Worship is only based on two (2) things – God is our Creator and Christ is our Redeemer; then we cannot offer “Real Worship” unto the Lord because your Mood, your Experience will always Colour your Worship!
But when we come to God to Worship, two (2) things we must remember – He makes us and He Redeemed us.
So, I don’t know what your Experience has been this Week:
I. Maybe this has been one of those weeks where you are like Job said: I wish this Day had never happened – The Day at which I was born.
II. Maybe some of you looking at me and saying: I wish the 2nd Week of November 2023 had never happened and I wish it will be erased from the Earth’s History,
But He is still your Creator and He is still your Redeemer!
III. Maybe you lost your job this Past Week.
But do you lose your Creator? You didn’t lose your Redemption!
So, when we come before God, we understand what we have lost, we understand what has gone wrong but our focus is only on these two (2) things – God is our Creator, Christ is our Redeemer and that is the basis of Worship!
That means we must take time to appreciate God as our Creator.
And sometimes we take it for granted – Just like we take so many things for granted and we don’t even Value the Life that we have.
Well, if you are not alive, you won’t have even experienced things.
If you are not alive, you won’t have lost Property.
So being alive is far more worthy than the experience that comes because you are alive.
I am Alive, God created me, God is my Creator – I Worship Him because He made me.
Life is hard but I’m Born Again, I’m Redeemed, I’m washed by the Blood of the Lamb, I’m a Child of God – So, I Worship the Lord.
Is the Experience the best? Not exactly!
Is God still your Creator? Yes sir!
Is Christ still the Redeemer? Yes sir!
Do you have all the basis for Worship? Yes sir!
You don’t have a Visa but you have a Creator and a Redeemer.
And that is why we Worship God and that is what Heaven is teaching us – Don’t let the Earthly Experience keep you away from my Heavenly Reality.
Your Earthly Experience should not keep you away as the way God wants you to Experience.
Listen, your Experience on Earth may be up and down – There is no Constant on Earth but there is a Constant with God. He is our God, our Creator and Christ is our Redeemer.
The Final thing we will look at is in Revelation 5: 11-14:
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many Angels around the Throne, the Living Creatures, and the Elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
12 Saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. To receive Power and Riches and Wisdom,
And Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing!”
13 And every Creatures
which is in Heaven and on the Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:
“Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power. Be to Him who sits on the Throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
14 Then the four Living Creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four Elders fell down and Worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
Now, if you look at the Progression of the Worship – Its like it starts with the small Group: Four Livinng Creatures, the twenty four Elders now joined by the Prayers of the Saints and then the third Scene; everything joining in including Creatures from the Sea and Creatures from the Earth. It means everything.
I don’t know what the Bible means by everything there – Whether everything like the cat, dog, cow and everybody is saying: Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power and Wisdom to the One who sits on the Throne.
Because why? He created us.
So in this Passage, there is a Concept in your Worship – Not just a few People but all Creatures joins in this Worship.
And then they declare the Majesty of Him that lives forever.
And then, the Passage says that He is Worthy to receive.
What does this mean?
That the Lord receives what He is Worthy to receive.
I. What He receives comes from what He achieved through His Death and Ressurrection.
II. What He receives come from what we give unto Him.
And what are the things that we give unto Him?
Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Glory and Blessings.
I. Does it means that He doesn’t have Power and we have to give Him Power? No!
When we Worship, we say: Lord, we give You Power.
Are we making Him more Powerful? No!
We are saying: Lord, we take all the Powet we have and we give it to You.
II. Lord, we give You Glory. He already has Glory.
What we are saying is that: Lord, we take our Glory and give it to You.
III. Lord, we give You Wisdom!
What does it mean? Is He not Wise? He is Wise.
We are saying: God, we take our Wisdom and give it to You.
IV. Lord we take our Riches and we give it to You.
V. Lord we take our Honour and we give it to You.
VI. Lord we take our Blessings and give it to You.
And the Bible says that He receives that.
So, True Worship is when we take everything that we considered Valuable Worthy in you and give all of the Worth to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ!
And we must learn not only just to Praise Him because He is the Creator, but we must also learn to say, Lord everything You have given to me, I give it to You.
– You give me Wisdom, I give it to You.
– You give me Glory, I give it to You.
– You give me Power, I give it to You.
– You give me Might, I give it to You.
– You give me Strength, I give it to You.
Whatever You have given to me, I give it to You!
And this Morning, we want to Practice that before the Throne of God!
And we just want to say: Lord, You are our Creator, You are our Redeemer and all that we have, we give to You!
Maybe you came to Church today or as you read now on the Label of DMC – Sad and morose and you can’t even smile.
And you want to shake yourself because your Creator is still alive and your Redeemer is still alive and you are still Redeemed and you are still created.
Once God has you, tomorrow can Change – Your Experience will conform to the Creator’s Plans and your Redeemer can redeem you from every catastrophes that you have fallen into.
So, once He is the Creator and the Redeemer; you are Good!
Someone say: “I AM GOOD!
Do you believed that you are Good and all is well with you?
Then, let’s rise up and offer Praise to the Lord.
Lift Up Holy Hands to the Lord and begin to sing to Him and Worship Him. And give to Him Blessings and Hinour and Wisdom and Power and Dominion.
Just give it to Him for the next 5 Minutes – As we express Praise to the Lord!
Thank you so much for staying all through to read.