PRAYER THAT CONNECTS-7 ”Worship & Praise” (Nick Champlin)

PRAYER THAT CONNECTS-7  “WORSHIP & PRAISE” (series) Nov 5, 2017

Lev. 10:1-2 NADAB and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange and unholy fire before the Lord, as He had not commanded them. And there came forth fire from before the Lord and killed them, and they died before the Lord.
Lev. 16:1 AFTER THE death of Aaron’s two sons, when they drew near before the Lord [offered false fire] and died,

Lev. 16:2 The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother he must not come at all times into the Holy of Holies within the veil before the mercy seat upon the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.
Lev. 16:3 But Aaron shall come into the holy Place in this way...(read the whole chapter)

PREPARATION TO PRAY

Connection w/ GOD is based on being ACCOUNTABILE to Him for our lives. Therefore GOD has laid out a WAY for us to Prepare to enter His Presence. Because if we pray based on our convenience rather than GOD’s requirements, we risk disrespecting His honor. Both Casualness and Religiosity toward GOD kill prayer.

Therefore GOD laid out 10 Steps of Preparation for Aaron to enter His Presence and receive His blessing.

Since GOD’s requirement for Holiness has not ended, these 10 Preparations remain in place today.

Only, we no longer perform these symbolic rituals, as Aaron did, but we practice their actual fulfillment through our relationship with Jesus.

#5 - WORSHIP & PRAISE

The 5th preparation for entering GOD's Presence, is WORSHIP & PRAISE. This was symbolized as a censor full of GOD’s fire from the Brazen Altar and 2 handfuls of finely ground sweet incense.

Lev. 16:12-13 And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten (very) small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

Aaron entered the Holy of Holies with the censor in one hand the incense, piled on a plate, in the other. Laying the burning coals out on the floor between him and The Ark of the Covenant (GOD) and poured the incense on the coals, which would create a thin smokey vail between him and GOD, through which they would commune. Selah!

Aaron represented Jesus, our Eternal High Priest, entering the Holy of Holies in Heaven as our Redeemer. And the Fire & Incense represents His Intercession for us.

Heb. 9:11-12, 24 But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption... For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary–but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.

Simultaneously, the Incense and Fire also represents Our Worship AGREEING with the INTERCESSION Jesus is Offering for us!

Truth-based sincere Worship is what overlays our prayers with His Intercession. In 4:23-24

The Incense — two handfuls of sweet incense...His Hands are filled with our needs as He enters Heaven for us. Jesus' Worship is filled with His intercession for us!

And so correspondingly, we must come filled with worship, carrying nothing else, as we enter His Presence!

...beaten small...Jesus’ intercession for us is not in chunks of generality, but is finely beaten into minute specificity, addressing the smallest details of our lives.

The Fire Of GOD — a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the LORD... This fire (which fell from Heaven) signifies GOD’s total acceptance of Jesus’ suffering on our behalf.

Our worship is Accepted when it’s Praising the Acceptance of His atoning sacrifice!

So our Worship must CORRESPOND with Jesus’ Sacrifice for us in order to bring us into the Presence of GOD.

Faith & Praise

The difference between Worship and Song-singing.  Your Beliefs become Faith, and an Act of Communion between you and the Father, when you Praise Him for Jesus’ Atonement, directly out loud.

A Practical Example: (Ask the congregation)

• Do love the person next to you?
• Yes.
• Then turn to them now and say so.

Notice the hesitation? The tension? That’s because you’re moving from Private Feelings to the Courage of Confrontation. From Believing to Giving.

Don’t come Empty Handed!
By GIVING your Worship you are CONNECTING with Jesus, YOUR Savior, and positioning yourself to receive exactly what you’re Praising Him for!!
To come into GOD’s Presence when you pray, begin by Worshipping the Atoning Lamb of GOD.
Our Father in Heaven, holy is your name...

WHY Must I Worship OUT LOUD?
Why isn’t correct thinking and a clean heart of affection for GOD enough to bring me into His Presence? If He knows my mind and heart, why must I be vocal about it?

GOD’s Presence isn’t a place of CORRECTNESS but COMMUNION.

GOD is relational and has designed us the same way...

• Having correct Belief and Affection is communing with yourself.

• Expressing it in Worship is communing with GOD.

For the same reason that you must express your Love and not just harbor private sentiments in order for your marriage to prosper.

Rev. 8:1-5 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Rev. 8:1-5 reveals a Heavenly vision of the miraculous synergy between our Worship and Prayer and Jesus’ intercession. When your Worship is in heartfelt agreement with Jesus Atoning Intercession, they blend in Divine Acceptance and Response!