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Welcome to Alive Church London. Our vision here is to see the world come alive through Jesus Christ. Jesus means everything to us—he is the desire of our hearts.
I believe today's service is a gathering that will mark us for the ages to come. The title of today's message is Engaging the Lord Corporately.
I'm so grateful for the opening prayer, because what was shared there aligns perfectly with what the Lord has placed on my heart. Our anchor scripture is Psalm 89:7: "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all those around him."
Today I want to speak about how we engage with the Lord corporately. Do you know that how we engage with the Lord as a collective is actually very, very important to the Lord? Our church culture is extremely important to the Lord. Jesus cared deeply about church culture—if he didn't, he would not have written letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. Each church has its own distinct corporate identity.
It is not enough to know how to engage with the Lord as an individual. Do you know how to engage with him corporately?
The foundation of how we engage with the Lord in our corporate gathering must be the fear of the Lord. The psalmist teaches us that God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints—not just when it's just him and us individually, but also in our corporate gathering.
Whatever we do in our corporate gathering, if it isn't founded upon the fear of the Lord, it is simply just performance. You lift your hands in worship, but if it's not founded upon the fear of the Lord, it's performance. You pray during prayers, but if it's not founded upon the fear of the Lord, it's performance.
We must understand: this is his church. This is his house. It's not my church. It's not any of the leaders' church. When Jesus says this is his church, we must ask him directly: "Lord, how do you desire for us to engage you in your house?"
Our job is not to conjure up how we think he should be engaged. We must know what he wants. We must know what he desires. Otherwise, every time that we gather in his house, it is in vain.
Every time we gather corporately here at Alive Church, yes, we are there for fellowship with one another, and I will never belittle that. The life of the New Testament believer must be a life of fellowship with brothers and sisters. But his house is first for ministry unto him. We first ask him, "Lord, how do you want us to engage with you?" And it's from that place that we learn how to engage with one another.
When the Lord says that he will be in a place, we must believe and know wholeheartedly that he will be there. In Exodus chapter 19, the Lord told Moses that he will meet with the children of Israel on the third day, and he said that they should prepare for his coming.
Every time we gather, we must prepare for the coming of the Lord. We must prepare ourselves for his glorious presence. Jesus says in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I amongst them." Every time we gather, the Lord is actually here. He's actually in our midst.
When we come into a collective awareness of the presence of the Lord, do you know that he manifests himself in such a beautiful way? In 2 Chronicles 5, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. But here's what many don't understand about that story: the presence of the Lord was already in the temple. The presence of the Lord was already there because that's where his presence resided in the ark.
So when the cloud came, that wasn't when he came. The presence of the Lord was already there. What happened was that everybody came into awareness of his presence that was already there, and then he manifested himself in a tangible way. If every time we gather as a people, trusting and believing that the Lord is already here, watch how his glory would manifest.
The issue with a lot of us is that we don't really believe he's here. We don't begin in the foundation that he's already here. So what that does to us is this: the moment we come into a gathering, we wait for something to happen to see if he's here. But scripture makes it very clear that when a people come into collective awareness of his presence, he will confirm to us that which we have already had faith to believe is true.
My prayer is that we will not have the incident that Jacob had in Genesis 28. Jacob had a dream and woke up from it. In that dream, he saw angels ascending and descending. And do you know what he said? "Surely the Lord was here, but I did not see him." The issue is awareness. The Lord is here. He's been here. He's amongst us in our gathering, but your issue is that you did not know it.
How does the Lord desire for us to engage with him? First, with great awareness that the Lord is here. Every gathering—whether it be a Sunday, a Friday night, or a midweek fellowship—you're going into that knowing that the Lord is going to be there.
But it's not just awareness; it's also expectation. Many people only have expectation when it's a conference. Many people only have expectation when it's Jesus nights. Some people only have expectation when a certain guest is coming. This is why you barely meet with the Lord. But he's looking for the people who know that whenever two or three gather in the name of the Lord, he is there.
I'm expecting. Whether it's 200 of us on a Sunday, whether it's 100 of us on a Friday night, whether it's 50 or 20 of us on a midweek, I know that the Lord is there. And Lord, I'm expectant for what you'll do today.
I think it's expectation that led David to say, "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord." Because he had expectation. Awareness and expectation.
We must have great anticipation every time we gather in his house. Even the time that you arrive to church will manifest this. We treat church like anything because we don't have expectation. We don't really believe that the Lord will encounter us today. We're not truly aware of his presence.
Every time you gather, make a conscious decision in your heart: I must know that he is here and I must expect him to move.
Yes, we might have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. You might have had a horrible week. I do not take those things for granted at all. I will never belittle that because life is tough. Life is hard. But when the burdens of life have hit you, where else to come than the gathering of the saints? Where else to come than in the place where God promises to make his presence known? It's a place of encounter.
Do not treat the house of God as just some mere thing. It's a great place that we can come and encounter him.
From today onwards, every weekend, determine in your heart: "I'm expecting something from him today. I'm expecting to see Jesus in a glorious way today." Determine in your heart that the Lord is already here. The Lord is here. What am I waiting for? He's here.
The Lord longs for us to be a people that will be so undignified in our worship towards him. In 2 Samuel, when David was dancing before the Lord, he says, "I will be even more undignified than this." The word is kalal, which means being light or being of little account.
David was light. David did not think too much of himself. David was of little account of what people might say about him. When you're carrying a lot of luggage on your back, the way you move is different from the way you move if you have nothing. When it came to the Lord, David was not heavy, but he was light before the Lord.
The fear of man is a snare. If you are too afraid of what people might think of you, you are robbing the Lord of the worship that he is deserving of. If you're too afraid of what the person next to you might say, you're robbing the Lord of what he's worthy of.
When we gather corporately, he desires for us to be undignified in worship.
Scripture says in Psalm 63:4, "So I will bless you as long as I live, in your name I will lift up my hands." The Lord actually desires it. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:8, "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling."
Just a simple expression of lifting our hands is something that the Lord looks like and he delights in. But too many of us are too worried about what people might say, about how I look.
As a church, I believe what's on the Lord's heart is that we would be a people that do not care what the people around us will say. I know who he has been to me. I know that he is worthy, so I will lift my hands in worship.
Another simple practical of undignified worship is bowing before the Lord. Let me tell you something: I'm not telling you expressions that I desire. I'm telling you expressions that the Lord delights in. Every time we gather, remember what I said—it's his house. He must find delight in us. He must delight. He must look at our gatherings and be like, "WOW, THIS MOVES MY HEART."
Scripture says, Psalm 95:6, "Oh, come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker." Look at how it says, "Let us." It's a corporate expression. It's a corporate expression. He's not just talking about your individual life, but it's a corporate expression.
One time I heard somebody say, "I don't bow down physically because my heart is bowed before the Lord." Listen to me, my friends: That which is on the inside will be expressed on the outside. It's the reality of life. That which is on the inside will be expressed on the outside.
Many people use the scripture that God doesn't look at the outward appearance, he looks at the heart—and use that as an excuse to do whatever they like on the outward appearance. But what people don't understand about that text is this: Yes, God looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward expression. But whatever is on the heart will eventually take form on the outside.
You cannot say to me that you are a deep lover of the Lord in your heart, but on the outside you're the opposite. It doesn't work like that. God looks at the heart, but man does look at the physical. If we're called to be witnesses, does that not now mean that the physical must also be important to us?
Yes, God looks at the heart, but man looks at the outward expression. So, yes, we move the heart of God with our heart, but men are saved by our outside expression. It's not enough to say that you just bow before the Lord in your heart. It must take physical form. It's what he delights in. It's what he longs for.
The Bible says in the book of Revelation that when John saw Jesus, he fell on his face before the feet of Jesus because he knew the one who was standing in the room.
Can I tell you something? I believe many of us do not express ourselves in worship because we don't really believe he's here. If you saw Jesus in his physical form, many of us would fall on the ground. Many of us would fall on our face and honor him. If we saw Jesus right now walk into this room physically with fire in his eyes, many of us would stand up and fall on the ground. So the reason you don't do it is because you don't actually believe he's here. But if you believe that he's here, the same way that you will respond when you actually see him is the same way that you must respond when he's here.
Let me give you another practical about undignified worship. Singing and shouting unto the Lord. Psalm 95:1 says, "Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation."
It doesn't say anything there about a character trait. Doesn't say anything there about being an introvert or extrovert. It says, "Let us sing to the Lord." It doesn't even say anything there about being a good vocalist. He's not looking for good vocalists. He's looking for worshipers.
I don't care how good I sound. I don't care what the person next to me might think. I know who he has been to me, and I know how much he desires for me to sing to him. There's something holy about singing and shouting unto the Lord.
Singing to the Lord is not for worship leaders. Singing to the Lord is not for good vocalists. Forget about what the person next to you thinks. I'm so glad that the Lord was able to bring me to a place where I don't care what the person next to me thinks. The person next to me can be the best singer I've ever heard in my life. I don't care. I will harmonize the way I think harmony should be. I will riff the way I think riff should be. Because one thing about it is that I will pour out my heart before the Lord in singing because I know he loves it. I know he desires it.
It's not enough for you to be, "Oh, I'm a person of prayer. So I will leave the singing part to the singers. When we pray, that's when I'll be good." No, no, no. He delights in the singers.
You know how I know this? Even Paul. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us anything about Paul being a good singer. Yet, on at least three occasions, Paul speaks about the importance of singing.
You look at 1 Corinthians 14. Paul actually says, "I will pray in the spirit and I will pray in my understanding. I will also sing in the spirit and I will sing in my understanding." Paul had understood the revelation about how much the Lord desires for people to sing to him.
You look at Ephesians 5:19. Paul says, "Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart." Look at what he says. When we gather together, we would sing in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord.
You know what I always find interesting about this text? He says pretty much the exact same thing to a completely different people. Because in Colossians 3:16, again he says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."
He repeats the exact same thing to another church. When you study the letters of Paul to the churches, he spoke to the identity and to those people in those churches. He spoke to Corinth in one way about their issues. He spoke to Ephesus in one way about their issues. But you must pay attention when Paul says something the exact same thing to two different churches. It shows us very clearly that singing unto the Lord is not about the identity of a church. It is the desire of the Lord from all people that we would sing to the Lord with all our heart.
When a song is raised, forget about who's next to you. Sing to him because it's an audience of one. He is the one that must hear our voice. You might be the most unskilled singer here. Don't worry. You and I together—we'll all be unskilled together and we'll sing to the Lord. Because it's what he desires. It's what he wants.
You dance before the Lord. David danced before the Lord in a way that was undignified. Do you know when we dance before the Lord it's a sign that our entire being belongs to him?
The scripture says that where the presence of the Lord is there is liberty. The Lord desires that when we gather together as a collective that there's freedom, that there's liberty. There's something about dancing to the Lord that so deeply moves his heart. It's a way of showing him that Lord, I'm owned by you and by you alone. If people think I'm weird because I'm dancing, if it blesses your heart, Lord, then it's enough for me. I'll be even more weird just so that I can give you that which you desire in your house.
The Bible says David danced before the Lord with all of his might. With everything in him, he did not hold back. It's just what he desires.
Undignified worship—and watch this be a shock to some people. Giving. Giving is a form of undignified worship. It's not just this routine moment in a service that's for some people and then I just shut off.
How many times have we shut off during giving? How many times have we shut off during offering?
The Lord was speaking to me this morning and I sensed him say that if we could worship him with our giving the way we worship him with our singing, our capacity to love him will increase. And I believe that for many people in the room today, it will be a revelation for you. Just as much as he desires you to worship him in the songs that you sing, he desires you to worship him in your giving.
Let me show it to you in the scriptures. Philippians 4:16-18. Paul says, "Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again." Watch this. "Not that I seek the gift. Not that I seek your giving, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit."
He says, "The reason why I love it when you give to the ministry is not because of what I can gain, but because of what I know it does to your heart." And many of us, our capacity to love the Lord remains in a place of stagnancy because we do not see giving as a way of increasing the capacity to love the Lord in our heart. We don't see giving as something to actually help us fall deeper in love with him.
If you could catch the revelation that every moment that I get to give to God's house, it's actually a moment that first love can actually grow in my heart. Every moment that I give to God's house is actually a moment of worship unto the Lord. It will change the way you see it.
Can I even say to you that the most important part of giving isn't even what it could do for the ministry? But the most important part of giving is the fact that it's actually worship to the Lord.
Look at what Paul goes on to say in that same scripture. Philippians 4. He goes on to say, "I've received full payment and more. I am well supplied. Having received from that guy the gifts you sent." Watch this. "A fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God."
He's speaking about financial giving here. And he's actually describing it as a fragrant offering. A sacrifice that is actually pleasing to God. So every moment of giving is actually an act of worship unto Jesus.
You'll be so shallow-minded to think that simply just the one who sings is a worshiper. But I don't know about that person in the middle that every time it comes to offering they go before the Lord with such humble hearts. And they say, "Lord, it's a privilege to get to raise incense to you in this way."
If we can catch this revelation of actually giving to the Lord as an act of worship. I'm telling you it will change everything for you. Like every moment it comes to giving, please—and listen, I never want to belittle what people are going through. Like I said, times are tough. I know life is hard. I understand a bit. But I'm telling you every moment it comes to giving, again, it's never really about how much you give him. But it's about that heart of worship that Lord, I know that this is an offering to you. This is a fragrance to you. And this is what you desire whenever we gather corporately.
Heartfelt prayer. Do you know that there is something extremely special when the church—when we gather together to pray? We must actually see it as deeply sacred.
Do you know that there is a reason why the enemy loves to go after church gatherings? Have you taken a minute to actually pause and think? Why is there so much persecution to the gathering of saints? It's because Satan knows the danger of when a people come together and pray to the Lord.
Every time we gather to pray, we must see it as deeply sacred. We must see it as a unique opportunity to engage the Lord.
Do you know that the reality of the spiritual life is that there are actually some prayers or some things in your life that can't work if you prayed on your own? There are actually some things that can only work when a people come together and pray.
When King Jehoshaphat was facing enemies coming to attack Israel, he was a godly man. He could have gone before the Lord on his own, but instead he gathered all of Judah and said, "All of us collectively we must pray to the Lord." And when they all together prayed to the Lord, the Lord responded. There's something sacred and special about when the saints come together and pray. There's something sacred and special about when God sees his people come collectively in the place of prayer.
Never again joke with any moment of prayer in this church. Never again. The Lord is just speaking to us today. Never again play with a moment of prayer in this church because it could be that moment where gathered saints are praying. It could be that very moment that the Lord responds. Simply because collectively we came and we poured our heart before the Lord.
Someone said something in the Bible study that I've held onto. He said that we should do every gathering like it's our last gathering. Every prayer that's raised we should do it like it's our last time we'll ever pray. Every prayer that's raised in this house we should do it like it is the last time we ever get to pray again. This is what he's looking for. How it moves the heart of the Lord when a group of people come together to earnestly pray. Not mindless dead prayers, but earnest praying. Earnest crying out before the Lord. Something happens.
The Bible says that when Peter was in prison, the church gathered and they prayed earnestly that he would be released. The angels in heaven were sent on assignment. Why? Because of the earnest prayers of a church.
Can I warn us today? Whenever we gather, never again pray mindlessly. Moments of prayer are sacred. Moments of prayer as a gathering are holy.
You must pray with all of your heart. One thing I was telling the team is that intimate nights is a prayer meeting. You find fewer people at prayer meetings than you do at maybe Sunday service gatherings. But it's those prayer meetings that make something happen. It's those prayer meetings that shift things. When a people corporately come together and decide to pour out their heart before the Lord in prayer.
Please, let me give us a warning. The Lord spoke to me about this clearly. Don't pray mindless prayers again. When you're in this house, when we're gathering together and we're praying, we pray with everything in us. Even if it's only a little bit that we have left. "Lord, even that small ounce I'll give to you."
Let me tell you something. Earnest prayer is not the posture of a Pentecostal. Earnest prayer, heartfelt prayer, praying with everything in you is not the posture of a Pentecostal. It's the prayer posture of Jesus Christ.
Look at Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7. And I pray that this revelation changes the way you pray for the rest of your life. "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears." The prayer posture of Jesus was one that was heartfelt. Was one that took everything.
Doing a little bit of in-depth study on this particular verse, you know that word supplication there is the Greek word hiketeria. Let me break down this word for you, and I pray that this small revelation changes the way you pray for the rest of your life.
In Greek culture, a hiketeria was when someone would go before a king or before a palace—somebody that was in need of mercy, someone that was in need of asylum, someone that was in need of protection. They would go before a king or a palace, and they would get an olive branch, and they would tie white wool around that olive branch, and they would wave it desperately before the king or wave it desperately before the priest, because they were in need of mercy.
Over time, this word hiketeria, this term hiketeria, began to be known in Greek culture as a plea, a cry, an honest cry.
So when it speaks about Jesus Christ in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and hiketeria, what it's talking about is that the way Jesus prayed was great earnest cries of protection and help. This particular passage is pointing out when Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane—praying to the point where blood began to drop from his face. Because Jesus didn't play with prayer. With loud cries, some translations say with vehement cries.
When you see the state of this world, do you not need the mercy of God? When we see the state of our nation, do we not need the mercy of God? When we even look at our lives, do we not need the help of God?
When you pray, you cannot pray mindlessly. You must pray with everything in you. When you raise up intercession for people, you don't do it mindlessly. You do it with everything in you. It's the prayer posture of Christ.
At every gathering, when a moment of prayer is raised, instead of you looking at the person next to you, or looking at the clock, the time, when will this end? When will this stop? Why don't you take a moment to offer prayers and supplication unto the Lord with all of your heart.
And remember, it's never about the approval of man. It's never about so that people can say certain things about you. It's never about that. It is always unto the Lord.
One thing I say is at the moment your audience for prayer becomes man is the very moment you stop praying. It is always for him. It's always for him.
If we would gather collectively, and every time we pray, it will be genuine and it will be heartfelt, to be from the depths of our souls, with everything that we have in us, it's a form of reverence when we pray like that.
You know that same scripture about Jesus Christ says and he was heard because of his reverence. When we reverence the Lord in the place of prayer, knowing God all, it's just a moment to just get by, but when we reverence him in the place of prayer, that's when he looks upon the people and he responds.
The Bible says in Exodus chapter 2 that he saw the cries of the children of Israel. They were groaning and they were crying out before the Lord. And the Bible says that the Lord knew that now was the time for him to act because there's something about when we reverence the Lord in the place of prayer.
Life Church, may there never be a gathering again where when it comes to prayer, we're waiting for it to pass by. But in the place of prayer, we'll give the Lord everything that we have to show him that Lord, we're desperate for a move. Lord, we're desperate for an encounter.
It's at that point where the Lord can actually trust you with prayer points that will actually affect the tide of this nation. When he knows that this house will pray with everything that you have, that they have, then and then only is when he can trust you with real prayer points. Prayer points that will actually affect the course of the world that we live in.
That point that he begins to trust you with nations. He begins to trust you with lives. And you get to a point that when a prayer point is raised and we're talking about maybe those that are persecuted in other countries, maybe we talk about the people that are held in slavery in Nigeria. When that point is raised and we know that from that place our hearts begin to pant, our hearts begin to weep and we cry out to the Lord. It's only then that he can trust us with those kind of prayers.
Not when we hear things like that and we're like, "I'm waiting to move on. Let me wait until it's about my life." You'll never be able to give you prayer points that can truly shift the world.
But when he knows that you don't pray with dead prayers, when he knows that reverence is everything to you in prayer, then he can trust you with the things that are really on his heart.
Every time we gather in God's house, we must have great honor for his word. Listen, every time we gather as a people, do not play when the word of God comes forth.
The Bible says in Acts chapter 2 verse 42 that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings. I never understood why in some churches when they're reading the scriptures, they'll tell people to stand. I never really fully understood that. I thought it was kind of pointless. But I understand that for some churches, maybe not all, but for some churches, it's a sign of honor.
Because when the scriptures are being read, do you know that if we go back to the way they lived in those times, when the scriptures were being read, the kind of reverence and the honor that they had for the holy scriptures—we must return back to this place of great honor for the word of God.
Knowing that every time that the word is coming forth, it's not a mere man that's speaking to me. My prayer is that every time that somebody is coming to give the word, that you would see that by the spirit of the Lord. This is no longer this individual that I know, but this is a word that is coming from the Lord.
I think that will change everything for you. The issue with many of us is that we don't honor God's word. During the word is when I will see people standing up. It's during the word that you want to go and do what you need to do. It's during the word that you want to go and take a stretch, take a breather.
When the word of God is coming forth, when God wants to speak directly to your life, that's the moment that you want to go out and drink water. When the word of God—the very thing that is life itself—when his word is coming forth, that's the moment that oh, I need a stretch. My legs are cramping up. I'm tired. We must get back to the honor for his word.
Believe me from the depths of my heart—please, hear me from the depths of my heart—it's not about ego. I'm not telling you to be sitting down when I'm speaking to you. I don't care about that. I'm telling you when you're hearing the word of God from whoever that vessel might be, you better understand that God is speaking to you in that moment. You treat that with great reverence.
What have you come for but to hear what the Lord is saying to his people? We must have great honor for his word.
Isaiah 66:2 says, "But this is the one whom I look. This is what the Lord says. But this is the one whom I look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word."
The way the Lord desires for us to engage with him corporately. Point number five: as a unified people. As a unified people.
Alive Church, please hear me from the depths of my soul. This is the Lord speaking. We must fight aggressively for unity. I said we must fight aggressively for unity.
Because let me tell you something, unity precedes the manifest presence of Jesus.
Second Chronicles 5:13 says, "And it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. It was not their duty to make themselves heard." It was their duty to make themselves heard in unison. Under the new covenant, we have all become priests. Therefore, it is all of our duties to make sure that we are heard in what? In unison.
Alive Church, please hear me from the depths of my heart. We must fight aggressively for unity. Aggressively for unity.
Do you know that it is your small disunity that will hinder the fragrance that we're trying to lift up to the Lord. It's your small disunity. And you think it's a small thing.
This is why in our lives we must rid ourselves of things like gossip. In our lives, we must fight aggressively to not be easily offended. In our lives, we must rid ourselves of the snares that so easily hold us down.
Because every single person, it is your disunity, your small disunity, that can actually hinder the incense that we're trying to raise to the Lord.
The Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes that a dead flies ruin the perfumer's ointment. Small dead flies, meaning that you can have a whole basket of perfume, but if you just have small dead flies, it can ruin the entire offering. It says that it causes a stench to the ointment.
Do you know that when these dead flies of disunity are amongst our gatherings, it ruins the stench. It ruins the ointment, brings a stench to the offering that's being raised to the Lord. This is why we must fight aggressively, aggressively for unity. Fight aggressively, aggressively for unity.
Romans 15:5-6 look at the language here Paul uses. "May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the Lord, the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may together with one voice."
Paul's prayer there is that I'm praying that the Lord will give you grace to live with harmony with one another. Why? So that together with one voice you can glorify Jesus. We must fight aggressively for unity.
Please. I'm begging us. I'm urging us by the spirit. The offense that's in your heart, please, it will die on the day of death. The person that was rude to you, that disrespected you, please, please, please. There's enough grace available at the cross. I know that you are upset. I know that you are offended, but please, for the sake of our gathering, for the sake of the spotless pure bride that he desires to return for, please, forgive. It's the way of the Christian life.
Please, can you all now just take a moment, genuinely? Who are you holding something against? Where is the potential for disunity? It can be that disunity right there that is hindering the fragrance that we're trying to lift to the Lord.
There was a time not too long ago that I was hearing of so many disputes within the church and I started to ask God. I said, "God, please make our church smaller. There's too many people. How can all of us be united?" I said it to God, hand on heart. I said, "God, please please make our church smaller. Maybe that way we can keep the unity in the church."
Immediately he rebuked me. And he said, "Do you not know that the book of Acts says that they were all together, the full number of the people, the scripture say, the full number of the people were all together in one accord." The Acts church was 10 times more than our church, 10 times at least more than our church when that scripture was mentioned that they all, full number, were of one accord.
It's possible. It's possible that all of us can genuinely have the love of Christ for one another. That all of us genuinely, genuinely please, by the spirit pleading with you—what is the offense? What is the hurt? Please, go to your brother, go to your sister and let them know from the depths of my heart I forgive them. From the depths of my heart I forgive them. I don't want any disunity between us because it will ruin the offering.
Let me tell you something. One thing that I've learned and that I know: if the enemy wants to destroy a church, it will be through disunity. It will be through disunity. Because he knows that these dead flies are more than enough to ruin the ointment. We must be a unified people. We must be.
Now, the full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.
Let me say something on that unity point before I go to the final point. Part of unity is we must confront sin with a desire for repentance. We must confront sin with a desire for repentance. It is not unity to look at the sin of your brother and sister and say, "For the sake of unity, for the sake of no confrontation, let me just leave them." That's not unity.
If we truly desire unity, we must confront that which are little foxes, that which are dead flies, even in the lives of our brothers and sisters with a desire to see repentance. You do not simply just confront for the sake of saying, "Oh, you did this, you did that." But it's from a heart of please. I know I want you to truly love the Lord. I desire for you to be holy. I desire for you to know who the Lord has called you to be. This life of sin, leave it.
This is Paul writing in Galatians. If you see any of your brothers sinning, go and correct them in a spirit of gentleness. There must be a love, a tenderness. But there must be a firmness when it comes to sin. For the sake of unity.
Because sin itself can bring breaches between us. Sin itself can bring chasms between us. Why? Because the moment that there is unrepentant sin that individuals are living in sin, already we are not agreed. We're not agreed. Because one believes that we should be holy. One believes that their lifestyle is okay. Already we are not unified.
So part of unity is bringing us all on the same page. That holiness is key. So what did I say? We must fight aggressively? Alive church, fight aggressively for unity. Love your brothers and sisters. Be kind to your brothers and sisters. Be gentle. Be compassionate. Just go and look the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit. Search your heart. Do you really have the fruit of the spirit within you?
It's not enough to have one or two. It's not different fruits. It's one fruit. You only have a few. You don't have the fruit. If you only have three of them, you don't have the fruit. It's not fruits of the spirit that I can pick and choose. This one is my one, this one I'm not so good at. If you don't have them all, you don't have the fruit. It's one fruit.
You must go and search and check. Look at it. Go back and read. Go back and read Galatians 5 and look. Where have I missed it? Because it could be that area that I'm missing it that's stopping us from being unified. That's stopping us from all collectively bringing a beautiful fragrance of incense to the Lord.
Final point. And this is where I close. How does the Lord desire for us to engage with him? With reverence and with awe. With what? With reverence and with awe.
Listen. Collectively, we cannot just approach the Lord anyhow. When we are coming to church, we must do it with great awe and reverence.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 says, "Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before the Lord, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few." It's a call to reverence before the Lord. It's a call to be extremely cautious when we are gathering before the Lord.
When the king is in the room, we must be extremely reverent and awe-filled before him. It's not enough, listen, to just have awareness. Awareness is nothing if you have no awe. Awareness is nothing if you have no reverence.
Every time you gather in God's house, every time we gather collectively as a people, we must all be filled with awe and reverence of Jesus Christ. The early church lived in the awe of God.
Acts 2:42-43 says, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon what? Every soul." And then many signs and wonders were being done through the apostles. Because why? Awe came upon every soul.
We must be filled. Every time we gather together, we must be filled with awe of God.
Hebrews 12 is such a powerful revelation. The writer actually so beautifully brings us into the understanding that every time we gather here on earth to worship God, we are actually partaking in the exact same worship experience that is happening in heaven.
There's not a separate worship service going on. And I want us all to catch this. This is where I close. But this is what's going to make awe and reverence fill your heart every time we gather.
Whenever we gather in God's house as saints, as a collective before the Lord, do you know that our gathering should be exactly what's happening in heaven?
Hebrews 12:22. Look at what the writer of Hebrews brings the people into. He says to them, "But you have come to Mount Zion." See, prior to this, he was speaking about when the people would gather before God in Mount Sinai. And see, Mount Sinai was far lesser than Mount Zion. Mount Sinai was the times of the old covenant—times where they couldn't even come near to God. Times where they couldn't even really be in God's presence.
But the writer of Hebrews now says, because of what Christ has done, because of the veil that has been torn, he says, "But you have now come to Mount Zion." Now watch this—the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. It's the exact same description that Revelation 21 gives us of heaven—that it is the new Jerusalem.
Says that you have now come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festival gathering. He's not speaking of an earthly procession. This is speaking of something that takes place in heaven. He's talking about that where we gather is actually a place where there are innumerable angels in festival gathering.
And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven—that's you and I. The firstborn who are enrolled in heaven by the blood of the Lamb of God. And then he says—so not only have we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is heaven—not only are there an innumerable amount of angels that are surrounding—not only are we the saints, the firstborn of God—not only are we there, but now it also says to God, the judge of all. Meaning that when we gather, he is here.
To God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. Watch this, and to Jesus. When we gather, he is here. And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
So every time we gather, what they're experiencing in heaven is what we're experiencing here. When we come to Mount Zion, when we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, it's a spiritual reality. And this is why the gathering of the saints is not just physical. It's a spiritual reality. That spiritually we're actually partaking in what's going on in heaven.
And look at how that passage ends in verse 28. "Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, watch this, let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe."
Therefore, now that you've come into the understanding that this gathering is not just a mere collective of people, but it's actually a collective of saints before the Lord who is very much present in our midst—that the angels who are bowing before the Lord are doing the same thing here—when you come to this kind of gathering, he says, come with worship of reverence and of awe.
This is the kind of gathering that the Lord delights in. Reverence and awe. That the Lord is in this place. This is the kind of house that he desires.
Ponder on the word that's been spoken. Can we be genuine now? Be very, very genuine. You mean that when we gather here, it's to look like heaven. When we say thy kingdom come, do we really mean it? On earth as it is in heaven, do we really mean it? You mean that when we gather here, we've come before the holy God.
Please get your eyes off of everyone else. Now it's about him.
Awareness of his presence. Expectation. Undignified worship. Heartfelt prayer. Honor for his word. A united people. Reverence and awe. Jesus. Jesus, you are here. Jesus, you are here. Jesus, you are here.
Can we take a few minutes now to actually respond?
