Here's the download on this weekend's worship experience at a2 Church. The opening worship set included these songs:
You Are Good here (Amazon) by Ricardo Sanchez
Sing Sing Sing (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Chris Tomlin
10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) (You Tube) of here (Amazon) by Matt Redman
We jumped right into the message (extended notes included below) and wrapped up our time in worship with an extended worship response that felt like it was going to blow the roof off the worship room. Here are the songs we responded with... The message notes are included below... Make sure you check out the questions by David Powlison that help us to discern whether or not our hearts are centered on God. Also, check out the quotations by Eugene Peterson, John Piper and Charles Spurgeon on worship and singing! Good stuff!
Revelation Song (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Gateway Worship
Hallelujah (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Hillsong United
God You Reign (You Tube) or here (Amazon) by Lincoln Brewster
WATCH THE THRONE
GOD WINS - Part 3 Extended Notes
Revelation 4
Revelation 4:1-11 (NIV), After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come."
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
NOTES: The book of Revelation was written to a group of churches that were struggling to survive… They were facing threats, intimidation, persecution and political and economic chaos… They were devastated and discouraged and felt like their faith and very lives where hanging by a thread…
John himself, the guy who wrote the letter, was the only apostle still alive… His peers and comrades had all been executed! He was a 90-something year old man who had been ripped away from the church he pastored in Ephesus and placed in solitary confinement on a seemingly God-forsaken island called Patmos… Prisoners were usually taken to Patmos to waste away and eventually die…
God had other plans… John experienced the ultimate prison break on Patmos… In Revelation 4, He went straight from the island of Patmos and was escorted into the very throne room of God…
IMPORTANT: Regardless of what you're going through — loneliness, temptation, depression, stress, financial setbacks, conflict, loss, persecution, you name it… A revelation of the character, glory and sovereignty of God is essential to getting through those periods in life that leave you feeling completely devastated.
Five Keys To A Personal Prison Break:
1. When life seems completely out of control, I may need to change my perspective and alter my frame of reference.
Revelation 4:1-2 (NIV), After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
NOTES: When John wrote Revelation, from an earthly perspective it looked like the enemies of the kingdom of God were winning… The churches in Asia were small and struggling… Christians were being persecuted, imprisoned and martyred… Tragedy, trials and turmoil were commonplace…The might and power of Rome seemed invincible… It felt like the evil one and the Emperor Domitian had the upper hand… They had the church in a choke hold and the church was on the verge of tapping out… Things were going south in a big way…
But in Revelation the Holy Spirit basically gave John this message: “Things are not as they appear… I’m about to show you the way things really are… I’m going to take you into the control room of the Universe – the very throne room of God… Things are not out of control… Evil has not and will not triumph… The course of history will not be determined by a political party, military might or some sadistic world leader with a “god complex”… I am still sovereign and omnipotent… I’m the God who ‘…makes known the ‘end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do what I please…’ (Isaiah 46:10) And I will… And you can bank on this, even when my plans escape your comprehension, I comprehend it all… My plans will not and can not fail!”
2. Regardless of what’s going on in life, God is sovereign! He “on His throne,” large and in charge and remains in complete control!
Revelation 4:2-8 (NIV), At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. 4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “’Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
NOTES: The key word in Revelation 4 is “throne.” It gets used 14 times in this chapter alone! It’s one of the key words in the entire book — showing up about 46 times! It appears in almost every chapter in Revelation (the only exceptions are Revelation 9, 10, 15, 17, 18)!
The simple message of Revelation is that regardless of what may be happening on earth, God is still on His throne and He is still in complete and ultimate control!
A throne speaks of “power, control and sovereignty.” God’s sovereignty is a fundamental theme throughout the book Revelation…
IMPORTANT: It’s interesting that everything mentioned in Revelation 4-5 gets defined by its relationship to the throne…
“A throne centers authority. Worship is centering… In worship God gathers His people to Himself as center [where we declare with Psalm 93:1, ‘The Lord reigns, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure…]
Worship is a meeting at the center so that our lives are centered in God… If there is no center, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in our world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.” — Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder, pages 59-60
3.The throne of God is established in eternity, the center of human history and must be the center of our lives, individually and corporately.
QUESTION: Want to know whether or not your life is centered in God?
David Powlison, in his book Seeing with New Eyes, ask some great questions that will help us determine whether or not our lives are truly centered in God…
Important Questions:
• What do you love? What do you hate?
• What do you want, desire, crave, lust, and wish for?
• What do you seek, aim for, and pursue?
• What do you fear? What do you tend to worry about?
• What do you think you need?
• What are your plans, agendas, strategies, and intentions designed to accomplish?
• What makes you tick? What sun does your planet revolve around? What do you organize your life around?
• Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure, and security?
• On whose shoulders does the well being of your world rest? Who can make it better, make it work, make it safe, make it successful?
• Whom must you please? Whose opinion of you counts? From whom do you desire approval and fear rejection?
• What do you see as your rights? What do you feel entitled to?
• What do you pray for?
• What do you think about most often? What preoccupies or obsesses you?
• What do you talk about? What is important to you?
• How do you spend your time? What are your priorities?
• What would make you feel rich, secure, prosperous? What must you get to make life sing?
• On your deathbed, what would sum up your life as worthwhile?
— David Powlison, Seeing with New Eyes, pages 132-140
4. God and God alone is worthy of worship! The history of the universe – from creation to its consummation – finds its meaning and significance in worship!
Revelation 4:8-11 (NIV), Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “’Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
NOTES: The word worship is derived from the Old English word for worth. Worship is an indication of the worth, value, weightiness, significance, importance or prominence we give to someone or something.
"Worship is every act of the heart, mind, body and soul, which intentionally expresses the infinite worth of our great God." — John Piper
5. Singing is the language of heaven. It’s not only a means of worship, it can be an act of worship! When it comes to the people of God the critical question is not, “Do I have a voice?” but “Do I have a song?”
(Scripture References: Revelation 4:8-11; Genesis 2:22-24; Job 38:6-7; Psalm 19:1-3; Exodus 15; 1 Chronicles 9:33, 15:19-22; 2 Chronicles 20:22, 24-25; Isaiah 54:1; 55:12-13; Luke 1:46-47; Luke 2:13-14; Matthew 26:30; Acts 16:25-26; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:18-19; Revelation 4-5; Zephaniah 3:17; Hebrews 2:12)
NOTES: A quick word study on variations of the word sing in the Bible reveals that there are more than 500 references to singing… There are at least fifty direct commands to sing to God…
Psalm 47:6 (NIV), Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
QUESTION: Why does music seem to be hard-wired into our framework?
Maybe it’s because we were created in the image of God and as image-bearers of God we were created to sing…
MUSIC IN CREATION:
Job 38:4-7 (NLT), “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. 5 Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? 6 What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone 7 as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
Psalm 19:1 (NCV), The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made.
Isaiah 55:12 (NIV), You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
THE FIRST RECORDED WORDS OF A HUMAN BEING – ADAM BROKE INTO SONG
Genesis 2:23 (NIV), The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man."
NOTES: The longest book of the Bible is not primarily a book of history, teaching, or prophecy, but a book of poems set to music.
Later on, David assigns Levite musicians to sing God’s praises day and night at the Temple as part of Temple worship (1Ch 9:33; 15:19–22). This was all part of God’s design to surround his presence with singing.
In the New Testament, there are more than 20 references to music, and almost all of them have to do with singing.
• Mary sang when she heard the announcement that she would have a child! (Luke 1:46-47).
• The angels sang the night of Jesus’ birth! (Luke 2:13-14).
• Later on, we see Jesus and the disciples singing after their last Passover meal together (Matthew 26:30).
• In Acts 16 we read of Paul and Silas, bound in prison, exhausted after being stripped and beaten. Nevertheless, they are praying and singing hymns to God while the other prisoners listen. Singing was obviously more than a legalistic, lifeless duty for them.
QUESTION: Do you realize that according to Zephaniah 3:17, God sings over you and me?
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV), The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."
Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22, where the Son of God sings the Father’s praise in the midst of the congregation…
Ephesians 5:18-19 (NLT), Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
WHY WE SING:
“The reason we sing is because there are depths and heights and intensities and kinds of emotions that will not be satisfactorily expressed by mere prosaic forms, or even poetic readings. There are realities that demand to break out of prose into poetry and some demand that poetry be stretched into song.” — John Piper
“If the joy of the Lord be your strength, why not express it in holy song? Why should not your joys have a tongue as well as the joys of ungodly men? When warriors win victories, they shout; have we won not victories through Jesus Christ our Lord? When men celebrate their festivals, they sing; are there any festivals equal to ours – our paschal supper, our passage of the Red Sea, our jubilee, our expectation of the coronation of our King, our hymn of victory over all the hosts of hell? Oh, surely, if the children of earth sing, the children of heaven ought to sing far more often, far more loudly, far more harmoniously than they do. Come, then, let us sing because we are glad in the Lord.
“Let us sing, too, because singing is the language of heaven… Heaven is the home of sacred song, and we are the children of heaven…” — Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Women, page 11
“Singing is the God ordained language by which men can express their highest joys. The saints sing the high praises of their God. Singing is the language of the holy angels! Did they not, when they came to Bethlehem, sing concerning the newborn King? Singing is the language of Heaven and most marvelous of all, singing is the highest language that God ever uses! ‘He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing.’ Oh, for more holy singing!” — Charles Spurgeon, Exposition on Psalm 145
Song of the Four Living Creatures – Revelation 4:8
Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
Song of the 24 Elders – Revelation 4:9-11
Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
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