Lamoille Valley Grace Brethren Church
September 20, 2026

      • Psalm 95:6LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

  • In The Secret
  • Our Great God

      • John 4:19–26LGCYSTNDRDBBLSB

  • Scripture Reading: John 4:19-26
    Three Considerations for making Corporate Worship Meaningful

    I.  Preparation

    A.  Know what worship is

    “1 Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in holy array.” (Psalm 29:1–2, NASB95), John MacArthur states “Essentially, worship is giving-giving honor and respect to God.  How many times though do we come to the worship service on Sunday with the sole purpose of “getting something out it.” We say things like, “ I really didn’t get anything out of sermon this morning, or it just didn’t speak to me this morning.”  These kind of statements show that we have a horrible misunderstanding of what it means to worship.  Our idea of worship is to be emotionally stroked so that when we leave the morning service we feel good about ourselves.  How totally opposite from real worship!  True worship is showing God what He means to us, not demanding from God that He make us feel good. [At Christmas you don’t try to bring happiness to yourself by giving your children presents so as to manipulate them in such a way that they will thank you, do you?  No, you give them presents to show them how precious they are to you.]  Now this kind of selfless act will bring a blessing of joy to you, but that is not the reason you give the gifts.  But unfortunately that’s why many people come to worship on Sunday, not primarily to worship our great and mighty God but to receive the blessing that comes as a result.  Why do you come to worship?  Do you come to give or to receive?  Once you understand what worship really is, you have taken the first step of being prepared.

    B.  Practice Individual worship during the week.

    “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5–6, NASB95)
    Do you acknowledge (worship) God in all your ways? When your driving down the road and you get a flat tire do you get upset and grumble at what bad luck you have or do you acknowledge that God is sovereign and that He knows your troubles? 
    Look at (Psalm 73:2–17, NASB95)  “2 But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. 5 They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. 6Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. 7Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. 8They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. 9They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth. 10 Therefore his people return to this place, And waters of abundance are drunk by them. 11 They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; 14For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning. 15If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. 16 When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight 17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.”
    The word sanctuary is a Hebrew word that is sometimes translated “holy place.”  Do you have moments during the week where you enter the holy place of God?  If not, if you haven’t caught a glimpse of the wonder of our God and seen His majesty at work Monday through Saturday why would you want to spend a whole morning praising Him with other people?  1Thess. 5:16-18 says rejoice always (not just on Sunday), pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  Paul is describing worship here and notice that he says that this is God’s will for us.  It is God’s will for us to worship Him.  And isn’t that what Christians are, God Worshipers?  John MacArthur states, “If you’re truly saved, you’re a true acceptable worshiper.  Therefore as you examine your worship, you’re also examining your salvation.”  Look at “23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.” (John 4:23, NASB95).  The “true worshipers” that Jesus is talking about are saved individuals, born again believers, Christians.  And notice that Jesus says that this is what the Father is seeking, for people to be His worshipers.  By the way, this is one of the main reasons why such groups as Promise keepers, Campus Crusade for Christ, Young Life and those like them cannot fulfill God’s plan.  Because, their main purpose is to break down denominational barriers so that they can share the gospel “more effectively” and see people come to know Christ.  And though it is good to see people come to know Christ this is not what God is primarily seeking.  He is seeking people to be His worshipers, and true worshipers worship in Spirit and in Truth.  Getting saved is not an end in and of itself; it is means for people to become God worshipers.
    Application:  Worship individually through the week.  Prepare yourself Saturday by getting clothes, offerings, and other materials ready. Get a good night’s sleep.  A professor told one of his seminary classes, “The most important thing you do to be more spiritual is get 8 hours of sleep.”  Prepare also by being early.  (You can only be on time for one minute.  No such thing practically speaking as “on time”.  Your either early or late.)

    II.  Attitude

    A.  Reverence

    “1 The Lord reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! 2 The Lord is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. 4 The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5Exalt the Lord our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.” (Psalm 99:1–5, NASB95).  Here we see our God as the King who reigns over the universe.  It is a position of authority, and power.  He holds within His hand life and death and there is no one who is greater that He is.  His holiness is mentioned twice here as well and this tells us how infinitely better He is than us.  He is perfect and righteous and all these things that we find to be true of God in this passage make us look at our position before Him and we become like Isaiah in (Isaiah 6:5, NASB95) “5Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.””. 
    This is the proper attitude to have before God; an attitude of reverence and humility. 
    Reverent is an adjective that means feeling or showing profound respect, veneration, or deep admiration. According to Merriam-Webster, the word entered the English language in the 14th century. It comes from the Latin word reverens, meaning to stand in awe of or revere.
    Unfortunately this attitude seems to be missing from most evangelicals today.  It seems that instead of reverence we have a flippant attitude where we see ourselves as equal with God.  He’s reduced to being our buddy and we treat Him like He is no different than anyone else that we know. Dr. Zane Hodges (who was a professor at Dallas Seminary) told of an instance where a student of his who had just graduated happened to meet him one day.  When the student saw that it was Professor Hodge, he grabbed his hand and greeted him saying, “Hi ya, Zane!”  Is that how you treat God?  When you pray to Him do you storm into His presence say, “Hi ya, God!?”
     

    B.  Joy

    Having reverence for God does not mean at all that we are to have a heavy, gloomy attitude when we enter the presence of God.  God wants and even commands us to enter His presence with joy.  Look at (Psalm 95, NASB95) with me.  “1 O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, 4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lordour Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. 10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. 11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”” The word translated “shout joyfully” is the Hebrew root word “ruah.”  It is also translated as “sound an alarm”, or “battle cry.”  It is a loud noise of joy!  It is OK to be excited and to shout out loud in joyful praise to God.  It’s OK to shout Amen! when we hear exciting things about our God.  But you may say, yeah but you don’t know what I’m going through.  My life is hard, I’m emotionally and physically drained, God has put me in a difficult situation.  James 1:2 says, “consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.”  Joy should come with knowing who God is, not with knowing what are circumstances are.  Let’s take a look at and example of joy in the presence of God.  Turn to Rev. 5.  This is a heavenly worship service!

    III.  Elements

    A.  Revelation from God

    “41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.” (Acts 2:41–43, NASB95)
    “13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.” (1 Timothy 4:13, NASB95)
    Nehemiah 8:8 NASB95
    8 They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
    Nehemiah 8:9 NASB95
    9 Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.
    Nehemiah 8:12 NASB95
    12 All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.

    B.  Sacrifice to God

    Sacrifice was one of the main elements in Israelite worship.  All you have to do is read through the book of Leviticus and see that sacrifice was very important to God.  It was a way of showing God how important He was to the worshiper.  We don’t come here on Sunday and slaughter sheep and goats but does that mean that God does not expect a sacrifice from us?  “15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15–16, NASB95).  Do you have something that you can offer as a sacrifice of praise to God? 
    What other things can we offer Him as a sacrifice?  Finances, spiritual gifts (serving, administration, teaching, mercy, etc.) [cleaning the church yesterday and remembered it was an act of worship.], time, confession of sin, prayer, talents (singing, instruments, etc.)
    Singing - I have to admit that this is a vast subject which I have been studying for most of of my life.   I couldn’t possibly share everything that the Bible has to say about it.  This is a very important subject in our society today.  But I do want to share a couple principles that relates music to our corporate worship.  I don’t believe that God is as concerned about the style of the music as he is about the content. Of all the songs that are written in the Bible, starting with the song that Moses was to teach the nation of Israel to the Psalms and ending with the song of the 24 elders in the Revelation, I don’t find a measure of music written out for us to follow.  What I do find is the words of truth that those songs are to convey. “16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16, NASB95) This means that any music that covers or hides the words so that they cannot be understood clearly is worthless music.  When we sing it should be from the heart and with thankfulness to our God.  This goes along with the attitude of joy that we talked about earlier.
    Application:  Is worship meaningful to you?  Is it just something that you do or is it something that is a response to God because He captivates you?  Let Him reveal Himself to you and then respond to Him in Sprit and in truth.
  • I Surrender All
  • We Fall Down
Lamoille Valley Grace Brethren Church
pastorethan@lvgbc.net
8028883339
http://www.lvgbc.net
26 members