Wednesday, January 3, 2018

January 4, 2018

"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from all nations and provinces and languages, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God upon the throne, and from the Lamb.” And now all the angels were crowding around the throne and around the Elders and the four Living Beings, and falling face down before the throne and worshiping God. “Amen!” they said. “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be to our God forever and forever. Amen!” Then one of the twenty-four Elders asked me, “Do you know who these are, who are clothed in white, and where they come from?”“No, sir,” I replied. “Please tell me.”“These are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation,” he said; “they washed their robes and whitened them by the blood of the Lamb. That is why they are here before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his temple. The one sitting on the throne will shelter them; they will never be hungry again, nor thirsty, and they will be fully protected from the scorching noontime heat. For the Lamb standing in front of the throne will feed them and be their Shepherd and lead them to the springs of the Water of Life. And God will wipe their tears away.” Revelation 7:9-17
If you are going to spend the VAST majority of your life in Heaven, wouldn't it be a good idea to begin doing on Earth what you will be doing in Heaven?
Why not get a head start on Heaven?
I am highlighting five activities of Heaven that Jesus wants us to do in this stage of our life.
In yesterday's post we learned that there will be a diverse population in heaven, according to verse 9!
Today we learn from this portion of Scripture that there will be dynamic worship in Heaven!
"And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God upon the throne, and from the Lamb.” And now all the angels were crowding around the throne and around the Elders and the four Living Beings, and falling face down before the throne and worshiping God. “Amen!” they said. “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be to our God forever and forever. Amen!” Vv. 10-12
So, heavenly action number two is - LET'S LEARN TO WORSHIP WELL!
Worship music and worship style has been a sadly divisive and disruptive issue in American churches for decades. That is incredibly unfortunate.
If we are planning to spend an eternity in Heaven and if worship will be a central activity of Heaven shouldn't we get busy learning how to worship well now?
Let's see what we can learn from Heaven that might help us on earth.

In Heaven worship is centered on the Savior!

What would happen to your personal worship if you intentionally focused more on the Savior?

What would happen to the worship at your church if it was focused on the Savior more than style or performance?

In Heaven worship is centered on salvation!

When the Savior means more to you then salvation will mean more to you! The same is true of your church!

Worship is a salvation celebration in Heaven. Salvation is how you get to Heaven so no wonder there is so much excitement over salvation!

In Heaven angels will be our worship team!

At FredWes we are blessed with a real good worship team but in Heaven we will have angels leading us and joining us in worship!

In Heaven we will also sing songs of praise and glory to God!

Our earthly worship can never measure up to that in Heaven, but while we are here let's learn to worship better! Let's sing songs to the Savior and songs about salvation and song of praise and glory to God!