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TITLE: We Need Ebenezer

TEXT: 1 Corinthians 14:13-17

PROPOSITION: Proper worship demands a correct spirit and precise understanding.

QUESTION: How?

KEY WORD: Examples

Introduction

1.     Worship requires participation.

2.     It requires proper activity – Do what God demands.

3.     It also requires the proper attitude and understanding.

4.     Today – we will focus on these two parts of our worship.

In spirit

1.     Not “Spirit” (capital S) for the Holy Spirit.

2.     Small “s” meaning the spirit – our attitude, our emotion.

3.     We describe a “spirited animal” – life, active, kicking, etc.

4.     Our worship MUST be with life, activity, volume,
Child opens present – “oh boy, this is nice.”
Aren’t you excited? Yes, I am excited – (like Eore in Winnie the Pooh)

5.     Happy songs – sing them happy, Marching songs – feel like marching
Songs about heaven – with joy, hope, gladness

Understanding

1.     Ebenezer = “stone of Help” 1 Samuel 7:8-12 O Thou Fount of Every Blessing

2.     Sabaoth = Lord of hosts, armies Rom. 9:29; James 5:4 A Mighty Fortress

3.     Betide = Happen to, to befall Be Not Dismayed

4.     Enraptured = Joy, happy, ecstatic He’s My King

5.     Seraph = singular of Seraphim, rank of angels The Great Physician

6.     Cherubim, Seraphim = High rank of angels, just under archangels Holy, Holy, Holy

7.     Lays = Poems set to music Wonderful Love of Jesus

8.     Aloes = bitter plant, drug – close to Aloe Vera (burn plant) Ivory Palaces

9.     Panoply = Full dress, décor, full armor uniform  Soldiers of Christ, Arise

10. Verdant = Green, covered with vegetation My God and I

11. Waft = To cause to go gently over water, gentle breeze We have heard the Joyful Sound

12. Ebon Pinion =

Ebon = dark, night, ebony

Pinion = a) gear, b) flight feathers, clip these feathers to prevent escape = c) metaphorically – to bind, hold down, shackle, closed in, confined

A night of dark confinement

Conclusion:

1.     We must participate in worship.

2.     We must do so with feeling, emotion, and spirit.

3.     We must also understand what we are doing, saying, teaching.



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