Worship That God Likes - Worship That God Likes

Message from Steve Holt on 11/23/2025

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everyone, I'm Dr. Steve Holtz. I want to welcome you to the Road Church Podcast. Each week we go into God's Word. We teach chapter by chapter and verse by verse. We are here to build the Kingdom of God revolution through empowering people to change the world. So we pray this will minister to you at your heart level and change your life. So I grew up in the 60s and 70s as a young man, and I came to know Christ as a freshman at the University of Georgia in the mid-70s. And I didn't know I was being birthed into the worship wars of the church at that time. I didn't know any other kind of worship than the hymns that we sang and the liturgy that we used in the Lutheran church. So that was my only background. So I kind of get birthed into this thing, and I started going to a Southern Baptist church in Athens, Georgia, that was really popular with students at that time. And there was a guy up front that did this, and he was called, I think, the worship director or something. And everybody had a hymnal. And so he would say, page 296, we're going to sing stanzas one, three, and four. And we'd all stand, and then we would do it. And then it's just about at the end of that fourth stanza, he'd say, turn to page 182. And then we'd turn to page 182. And that was the kind of worship experience that I had. I didn't know that there was another kind of worship experience that was being birthed in Southern California. So in 78, I went out to Southern California because I was a part of a Newport Beach, California beach project with crew or Campus Crusade for Christ back then. And I discovered two things. One, that there was this girl that I thought was really cute on the project, how to do evangelism on the beaches, but then I was invited to this church that was in Southern California in Costa Mesa called Calvary Chapel. And that there was this guy named Greg Laurie, which was going to be speaking. I didn't know anything about any of this. It was a Friday night. And I go in and there's this group up front that had guitars and drums and other percussion. And as you walked into this church back then, there were all these booths out in the lobby that were pottery and sign making and woodworking, and everybody, half the people there looked like hippies. Okay? And I just couldn't believe it seemed sacrilegious to me that you could be singing worship to the Lord with an electric guitar. I didn't know how to handle that, man. And I remember going back to the South and trying to find a church like that. I couldn't find anything like it. I remember I got my first Christian album then. I didn't even know it was Christian music. And it was a guy named Daniel Amos, and I can still see him on a car or truck. I think he was on a truck, a red truck on the front of the album. And then I heard about Evy and Chuck Gerard, and on and on I could go. I will honestly tell you, I was never in to the Gaither Trio. So for all of you that are, God bless you, but I never was. But anyway, there was this ambivalence, right? And I realized that there were people who really got angry about praise and worship. And some people, it's got to be with a pipe organ. For other people, it has to be with a guitar. Some people called it contemporary worship, and then others called it traditional worship. Well, I didn't know what that meant. And then to really get, you know, into it, I'd get around these people that are way more godly and more mature than me, and they go, Oh, they don't worship at this church. And I just went through the word. That was pretty good, you know. I just went there to hear the word and sing some songs. And I didn't know at least so many things. They they sing about God, but they don't sing to God. And I was like, What are you? Probably back then I said, What in the, you know, are you talking about? I didn't know anything. But then, but then I heard and found out that to make matters worse, there were these people called hand raisers. And these hand raisers were people that were really, really into it. And they closed their eyes and they went, you know, and it they were, and they, and they were probably the people who spoke in tongues. You know, and so they they were really on the other side of the tracks. Those are the Pentecostals and the charismatics. And so, in that worship wars that I was a part of, I don't remember anybody ever asking the question, not what I like. They were talking a lot about that, but no one ever asked, what does God like? Does God have a preferred form of worship? Does God care about worship? And I remember at that time that there's this story of Jesus meeting this Samaritan woman at a well, and they start arguing about worship. If you remember the story, and then Jesus says, the Father now is searching for true worshipers that worship him in spirit and in truth. So he actually evaded the question about whether it was on Mount Gerizim or whether it was at Jerusalem was the right place to worship, but he he he switched it and he said the true worshipers are the kind of people that God is seeking. So that was mind-blowing that God seeks true worshipers, and he didn't say anything about how we worship. He just said, I'm looking for hearts of people who worship in spirit and truth. So he actually took the idea of worship and he kind of threw it on its head with this Samaritan woman. It's not where you worship, it's not how you worship, it's who you worship and do you worship from your heart, and that's defined by worship that is classified as in spirit and in truth. And that was the key passage a decade ago when we started the road with putting worship after the sermon. So we do the sermon and then we do worship because I believe worship in spirit and truth, at least partly, is about your spirit responding to truth that you've just heard. So you're gonna hear me preach the word on worship today, for example, from Revelation chapter 4, but then we're gonna actually do it. We're gonna hear it, and then we're gonna do it together. So turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 4, and I'm gonna make an audacious statement up front with you that Revelation 4 is the perfect Bible passage about what worship is to God. In other words, we're gonna look at what God likes because this is heaven. This is heaven. And God can do anything of heaven. If all that God cared about was the expositional teaching of the word, we're just going through the word verse by verse, 66 books, he could have that happening 24-7 all the time, just hearing the word. If what God really loves is he loves someone reciting the Lord's Prayer for 24-7, then that's what he would do. It's his living room, it's his sanctuary. No demons are there, Satan's not there, no kingdom of darkness there. So this is a perfect example of what God likes in his living room. Now, I woke up this morning early, and usually I pray with Liz, and then I go up to my office, but she wasn't up yet, because it's pretty early. I got up, and I really wanted to make a fire in our stone fireplace and just stay downstairs in the living room. And in the living room, I'm the most comfortable. I hope in your living room you're the most comfortable. Should be a comfortable place. Well, God's got a living room. And some people call it heaven. It's in Revelation chapter 4. And so he is most comfortable in his living room, and he is most comfortable in his worship service where he's in complete control of all aspects of it. So this is foundational for worship. It's the right place to start on any discussion about worship. We should always go to Revelation 4 and 5. We're going to just do Revelation 4 today. So, Revelation chapter 4, John the apostle, is on the island of Patmos, being persecuted for his faith. The last of the 12, there were 12, then there was 11, and then there was 12. Actually, it's really 13, because if you count Matthias and the Apostle Paul, but 12 of the Lamb's disciples, the Lamb's 12, the Lamb's apostles, he's the last one alive. He's older, probably in his 90s, maybe at this point. And he has this open vision. And let's start at the very beginning. After these things, I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice, which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. Now, what we first see about worship is the fact that it's an invitation. So, men and women, anytime you come to the road church, if you feel it's your duty to worship, then we're missing the point here. Our teaching's not very good if that's your impression of worship. Worship is simply an invitation. God only wants people to worship who want to worship, who want to be there. And so there's this invitation. It's like an open door, as it were, that is available to us every day, all the time. But I'm going to speak from the perspective of the road family on Sunday morning, that there's always this invitation. Now, some people leave. They hear my sermon and they they leave because of various reasons. And I'm challenging us all here that the invitation, the red carpet from the Lord to us, is the same as it was to John, that you can come in, you guys, and you can worship the Lord in spirit and in truth and gain something. And here's what he said and I will show you things. Look at that verse. I will show you things. Now he's speaking to John about some future things and about some things that are about to happen to the church at that period. But listen, I can't tell you, after all these years, how many times that visions that God has given me, I'm talking about, I'm saying that metaphorically, not a literal vision, but metaphorically a vision that God has for me to do, or after 40 years of marriage, Liz and Steve to do, came right during worship. It's during worship where we we kind of leave some stuff behind. And I think it's not always a feeling, but it is a sense of I'm gonna leave this earth for a little while, and I'm gonna exalt Christ. I'm gonna focus on him, and we're gonna learn how to do that in just a moment, but I'm gonna focus on him. And God's got something in his heart to impart to you. And you will not get it imparted to you unless you're worshiping. So there's something about leaving stuff behind, focusing in on the king, that the king has freedom to encounter you as you encounter him. It's in that encounter with the Lord that he says things, he shows us stuff. Immediately I was in the spirit. And by the way, that's a really good place to worship from. And you know what? I don't know how many times I'm not in the spirit when I worship. It's and let me just say, it's hard for me to worship sometimes on Sunday morning because first thing I do when I get down is I start to worship, and then I think about the mistakes I made in the sermon. An ocean nose. I have one from the first service. So I said, edit out when I said da-da-da-da. And I texted her. I don't usually do that, I usually wait a day. But this one I'm like, yeah, nah, cut it out. She goes, okay, with an exclamation point, which probably means I was waiting for you to text me about that. But how many of you come and you're not in the spirit? Raise your hand if you're honest. You come to church, you're not in the spirit. You're worried about everything. Okay, good. So here's the thing that this should encourage us. You can start in the flesh but get to the spirit. You can start in the flesh and get to the spirit. No better way for that to happen than through worship. I can promise you that Josh and Desiree, sitting right over here, sometimes start in the flesh. Because they're thinking about, I hope this person comes in at the right time. Or I hope we got, you know, we that the practice went well, or whatever it is. So we're all like that. It's a human condition. But here's the thing John was in the spirit, and that's a really good place to at least end up. And behold, I want you to start. If you have a Bible that you underline in, you might start underlining throne. A throne set in heaven, and one who sat on the throne, and he who sat there was like a jasper and sardis stone in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Now I want you to make note of how loud this is. This is really loud worship. It's lightning, thunderings, and voices. So it's super loud. And I was in South Dakota last weekend speaking to a men's group, a leadership team, and open Bible church of Rapid City. And on Sunday morning, I was on the front row with the pastor and his wife, Al and I were, and it was loud. Not as much from the front as from behind us. This church really sang like you guys do. And we have this great choir at the road church, and you're the members of it. And it's just so loud to hear hundreds of voices coming forth because you really sing. And so it's loud in heaven. So God likes loud. Before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal, and in the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. So in Revelation chapter 4, throne is used 13 times. And the focus is the one who sits on the throne. This is a part of Ezekiel's vision that he had of the throne, Isaiah's vision of the throne. All through scripture, when a man encounters the throne room of the living room of heaven with God, there's someone seated on the throne that is emanating with lots of colors, rainbow, lots of reds, lots of watchers and seraphim and cherubim flying around. It's it's folks, this Bible's weird. This is real stuff, man. It's happening right now. It's happening right now in the heavenly realm. And what that means is that he's reigning. God is reigning. Whether he's reigning in all aspects of everything that's happening on the earth, he is reigning in heaven. And his voice is going forth to those who will listen. So worship is focusing on the enthroned king. And we grew up in a democracy. We love a democracy. Everybody loves to have a voice in things. Um we vote about stuff. We're the preeminent democracy in the world. But in places where there's kingdoms, there's a king. And the king is sovereign over his territory. And so Jesus, being king over the universe, is sovereign and reigning over his territory, and we're coming to him, the triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we're worshiping him who is seated on the throne where there's no vote. He doesn't leave office after four years. He continues to reign. And God is reigning supreme over all. In Psalm 103, we read The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. The throne of God is a throne of justice. It's an exalted throne. It's a heavenly throne. It's an eternal throne. It's a throne of uprightness, a throne of holiness, a throne of steadfast love, a throne of faithfulness, a throne of mercy, a throne of grace, and also a throne of fiery judgment. People will stand before the throne of God someday. Ezekiel describes his vision that he saw. Ezekiel 126, and above of the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone. On the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man, high and lifted up. Also from the appearance of his waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber, and the appearance of fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his waist downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. Isn't that an odd way to say things? To say the same thing about two parts. And then he says, but below the waist, it's all like fire. And so fire is descriptive of the throne of God. The fire of God comes through worship. Worship attracts the fire of God. And the fire of God is an imminent character quality of worship. Because what happens, I think, often is that as we worship, God lights a fire in you. The fire in him emanates out from his throne as we gaze upon him, and he lights a fire within us. The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature like a calf. The third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night. It appears this is happening night and day. It's a 24-7 worship service happening all the time. This was the vision behind the Moravians. When the Reformation had come into full swing in the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a move of God among the Lutherans. And there was a second Reformation within the Lutheran Church about 100 to 125 years after the first Reformation under Luther. And that is that the Lutheran Church had kind of become cold and sterile and overly liturgical. There was a new group that began to find that fire of God again. Kind of like a charismatic experience with God. And they were the Pietist Lutherans in the area of Moravia in Germany today. And there they began to be persecuted not only by the Roman Catholic Church at that time, but also by other Lutherans. And so they needed a place to come, they needed a place to go, and they They found themselves on the estate of this guy named Ludwig Zinzendorf. He was a prince and he had land. And so he he housed all the Moravians. Well, if you can imagine a bunch of rebellious people who are running from the law and running from the church, get together, they have all kinds of problems. So there were all kinds of issues there. But then there was a Pentecost, a work of the Holy Spirit that fell upon them one night when they were, it was in the Christmas season, and God came, and they were birthed at that time with a vision for 24-7 worship and prayer. So you can go there today and see the little chapel there, and they would, usually in sets of two, for the next 100 plus years, they prayed for missions. They worshiped the Lord 24-7. And so, because of that movement, especially in the 20th and the 21st century, we've seen this move of God for 24-7 worship. Lots of different groups. So many different groups. They're in the United States, they're all over the place. But this vision of 24-7 worship came from here. That in God's living room, in God's worship service, He likes it so much. Can you imagine that? Like, can you imagine you like something so much it's 24-7? It's like all the time. God loves worship that much. So men and women, when we take time to worship the king, the exalted one on his throne, we're lining ourselves up for what's already happening in heaven. It's happening all the time. So when we're struggling with, is this God's will? Should I marry this person? Should I buy that house? Should I take this job? God, I don't know what to do. One of the best things you can do is worship. Because you're lining yourselves up, listen, everybody, to the perfect will of God. Let me say it again. There's no demons up there. There's no kingdom of darkness up there. This is God's perfect will happen. And so when we line ourselves up with worshiping him, exalting him, being thankful in our spirit, you're going to hear stuff. It's like God says, We got one. Holy Spirit, we got one down here. He's actually lining up with us. Let's speak to him, let's show him wonderful and marvelous things that he doesn't know. And so God does that. And this is what they say, though. This is what they say. Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Now, I don't have a study Bible. I have my teaching Bible, so it's not a study Bible. So some of you have a study Bible, some of you may not, but I want you to look at that verse. Look at 4, chapter 4, verse 8, where it says holy, holy, holy. You see that? See that indented paragraph? Now, do some of your Bibles have an A or a little tiny letter above it? Right above the comma. You see that? Now, if you have that, look down at the bottom of your Bible or on the side column, and it's gonna say, some manuscripts have it nine times. So some of the most ancient, it wouldn't be there if it wasn't an ancient manuscript where rather than it being holy, holy, holy, it's actually holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. So from time to time I have detractors out there, usually 50 and above, who say, Oh, you just have seven, eleven worship, which means seven sentences said eleven times. That's that's their description of contemporary worship. Do you realize that God likes one-nine worship? One word said nine times. So God loves repetition. Have you read the Psalms? Have you read the Proverbs? God loves repetition in our worship. And so and so He's so enraptured by the idea of being sovereign, being holy, that in his perfect living room worship, he is saying to the seraphim and the cherubim and the watchers and all the creatures in the heavenly realm, I want you to say it nine times. 365 days out of the year, 24-7. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. That's what God likes. Well, I don't like that. Who cares what you like? We don't care about what you like. God likes it. God loves it. Separateness. Holy, holy, holy the Lord got on me. Why why would he do that? Any parents in the room? You ever repeat stuff to your kids? And you kind of know when they're listening, when they're not, and so you have to repeat yourself. How many times do I have to say that God loves holiness? He he sees himself in that separate place and he calls that into being in us as we worship him. And then he says, who was, who is, and who is to come. So this is so this is the God of who was. The God of history. The God who parted the Red Sea, the God of Jesus who healed the sick and cast out demons, the God of was. Have you ever been in your is? So you're in your is right here, right? And when you're in your is, you just feel hopeless. Sometimes it's helpful to say, I worship the God who was. I'm not experiencing right now, but God, just as you parted the Red Sea, I need you to part my Red Sea. God, just as just as you healed the blind man, I need you to heal my blindness. I need you to heal my kids' blindness. Lord, just as I I've seen you uh heal the epileptic, God, we need a cancer healing right now. You see, the God who is is the God who was, and when we look from is to was, it gives us faith even for the God who is to come. Because we need God to be showing up in our future. That's what gives us hope, and that's why there's a rainbow at the throne. Because the rainbow represents there's always hope, no matter what we're going through. Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 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, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. What a perfect definition of true worship. To give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne. That's the perfect definition of worship. And that actually that actually moves us from singing songs to how we live. It's intimacy. And so we can be working on a car, we can be uh parenting our kids, we can be teaching a class at school, we can be in a class at school. Wherever we are, we can have an attitude and a heart set that's giving glory and honor and thanksgiving to the king. Isn't that exciting? So I was with Liz working on something yesterday, and a young man came up at the place we were at, and she had met him about an hour before, and so she knew some stuff about his story and some struggles he was going through. So she told me in front of him and said, Would you pray for him? And so then we did, struggling with a lot of things, different things. I won't go into what it is, but pretty heavy-duty stuff. And we were worshiping God by praying for that young man. Because that's worship. Worship is defined as giving glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne. Worship is adoration, it's awe, it's reverence to God. It's loving God with our total being. It's wholehearted. It's loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The triune God loves it. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, they love it. This is God's worship service. This is God's sanctuary. And so it's kind of like it's the kingdom of the already but not yet completed kingdom. So when we're worshiping, we get a glimpse of the kingdom. That's all we get is a glimpse of the kingdom. But there's going to be a day, men and women, when you're going to be in total rapture with the king. And you will join all of these watchers and all these angels and all these creatures that are flying about worshiping God, and that which you lined up with on earth will become a reality in heaven. And you'll wear a white robe, and you'll get a crown. So when we worship the king on his throne, when we give glory and honor and thanksgiving to the king, we are truly lining ourselves up with the kind of worship that God likes.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Thank you for listening to the Road Church Podcast. We pray today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. For more information about the Road Church and to find more content like this, go to theroad.org. That's theroad.org.