genuine worship

God put something on my heart this morning and it works perfectly well with what the kids just did today. And it has to do with our fundamental calling as a congregation, our very core of who we are, our identity.

What does the word Judah mean, we are the Lion of Judah congregation. They don't have to shout it out or anything but if they know what Judah means they can nod. It means praise, adoration. Judah means praise because when Judah was born in the Old Testament, his mom said, “Finally, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to worship the Lord."

And our calling as a church is summed up in many ways in our name. The lion is an image of war, of royalty…. We as a congregation to enter into that spirit of spiritual warfare, but we are also called to exercise that spiritual warfare through praise and worship. Each of us has that calling. And in the Christmas story we see the concept of worship related and intertwined with all the Christmas stories.

So please open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 2. I don't know if you can put it on the screen in English then, Matthew chapter 2 verses 1-12.

“….When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, some wise men came from the east to Jerusalem saying, “Where is the king of the Jews who has been born because we have seen his star in the east and we have come to adore him. Hearing this, King Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, and summoning all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them, “Where was the Christ to be born? They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet and your Bethlehem, from the land of Judah you are not the least among the princes of Judah, for from you will come a leader who will shepherd my people, Israel. . Then Herod, secretly calling the wise men, diligently inquired from them the time of the appearance of the star and sending them to Bethlehem, said: "Go there, and inquire diligently about the child and when you find him let me know so that I may also go and love him. They, having heard the king, left and here the star that they had seen in the east went before them until it came to rest over where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy and upon entering the house they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they fell down and adored him. And opening their treasures they offered him presents, gold, frankincense and myrrh, but being warned by revelation in a dream, that you should not return to Herod, they returned to their land by another way..."

We pray. Father, in the name of Jesus there is something in the hearts of the magi that you want us to have, Lord. Lord, give us this heart, the heart of a worshiper in spirit and in truth that marks a new era in our lives and as a congregation, Lord, so that we can give you the tribute that you deserve. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The kings came to adore the Lord, it says it twice actually. That's why they came. If you read the Christmas stories you find over and over again the theme of praise and adoration. At the very beginning of the story when Zacarías, John's father, a priest, is offering his sacrifice and adoration in the sanctuary, outside, in the sanctuary, there were a multitude of people worshiping while he led the praise inside the sanctuary.

It was during this time of congregational worship that the angel appeared to Zacharias. If we look towards the end of the story and think of Simeon and Anna as well, who saw Jesus while he was being presented in the sanctuary, what were they doing over and over again in the temple?

They spent day and night praying and worshiping in the sanctuary, and when Simeon sees the baby he takes him in his arms, looks at that baby, and says, “God, you know what? I finished my function." He blessed the Lord and said, "You can take me with you now, I'm ready to go, I've seen Jesus, I've seen his glory."

I know people like Simeon but we'll come back to that part again. There is another place there where worship is talked about. There was another person who was not even born but who also worshiped Jesus. He was still in his mother's womb. Do you know who I'm talking about? Maria shows up, going to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. "Hello how are you?" and the moment Elizabeth hears Mary's voice, she is filled with the Holy Spirit and the baby jumps into her womb.

You know what? My son Noah was one of those jumpers. One approached Kenny when she was pregnant, and immediately felt it... Noah kicked so hard inside his mom's womb.

You know what? John the Baptist, in vitro, inside his mother, leapt in adoration. May God give us a heart so jump. When one enters into adoration, has this ever happened to him? You enter and something inside you jumps. It is his spirit recognizing the one who has made that spirit.

I tell you, my favorite moment of any day is when I see Noah, my son, and Caris, my little girl, and I haven't seen them in a while and they come hopping like…. And Caris comes to my knees her face, and… my keys and my cell phone in my pocket,…. Against…but that doesn't stop her. It's that feeling that I haven't seen you for a long time and I want to be close to you. May God not…..when we go in to worship, something inside of us says, “Daddy, Aba, I love you, see you again”.

Oh, that we are children, a congregation innocent as children. And do you know the word that alludes to that idea of jumping with delight, Elizabeth jumps for joy, there is a word in Hebrew gail. It's like the same word expresses...

The word Abigail simply means to go crazy with joy, you're screaming, you're moaning with happiness. It's just a little note… Abigail is from aba, my dad, my daddy, and gail is screaming for joy. Cheerful, and we have to be cheerful.

The word says that “God will rejoice with songs about you.” As we enjoy in his presence, he will also enjoy in our presence. Being like children, we saw a moment ago those children doing that spectacular worship. Some of those kids kill me. And I find it incredible that they could get a little boy to do that part….

That entailed a systematic worship, well elaborated, well planned. But there is also a type of worship that is childish worship when we pull the chairs out of the way and just jump around like little monkeys worshiping and rejoicing in the presence of God. May God give us that kind of heart, that capacity to free ourselves in worship and praise.

But do you know something? We cannot hypnotize ourselves or go into it forcibly, psychologically. It has to be something genuine, something from the heart. And there is another element about worship that is merely external, formal, outside. I say illustrations concerning children. My son Noah occasionally assumes a certain look. I will never forget it, he was a year and a half, more or less, we took him to the aquarium one day, what does he do? He sticks to the glass of the tank aquarium and sticks his face over that and he's looking at the fish going by and I looked at him for a moment and I saw that look in his eyes. It's like it was there but it was also somewhere else. And I thought to myself, wow, I'm contemplating what it is that look of wonder, of wonder that comes from the soul of a person. It doesn't last long, in a kid that age.

I also saw that look at the fireworks display on the 4th of July. And even a couple of weeks ago, I saw her again. On I Wanna, the children's show, and there's a guy who dresses up as a lion, he's the I Wanna mascot. Perhaps you will visit us here some Sunday. He came to one of the Sunday school classes where the 3 and 4 year olds are, and I was eavesdropping. And I saw Noah, my son, approach him and he's looking at this weird lion and he has that look that I'm referring to.

do you know? There is joy but there is also a little bit of fear in that look. What he's looking at is a lion and I'm not sure if he's going to eat me, and it makes it more interesting. I'm trying to teach my son about fear and Halloween and all that, and why don't we celebrate it, and I tell him, there are things that scare us sometimes. And he told me, it feels good to be afraid. And I had to talk to him about it. But you know what? Actually nothing scarier than God.

The Chronicles of Narnia, a movie, the lion in that story and the children in the story say, "Oh, a lion!" Is it safe, can you trust it? And the other boy says, "Well, it's not very safe, the lion is not very tame." He is a lion, he is not necessarily tame but he is good.

When we worship, we worship the lion of the tribe of Judah. We worship a majestic and wonderful God. He is not a God we can play with, he should not be taken lightly either, but it is good, may God give us that heart of wonder and wonder.

You know, the disciples when they were with Jesus, sometimes they felt comfortable with him and spoke freely, but one day the Lord fell asleep in the back of the boat. Do you remember what happened? A storm broke out at once. The disciples are going crazy with fear. Sir, aren't you afraid that we are dying here on the ship? I imagine the Lord getting up, touching his face and looking around… And the Lord said, “Storm, calm down!” And everything calmed down for the moment.

The reaction of the disciples, says the Bible, was that they were afraid of the storm, but the biblical text clarifies in a very emphatic way, that they were afraid of the storm, they were terrified of Jesus when they saw his authority. After this miracle they asked themselves, well, what do we have inside this boat? I could see everyone turned on one side looking in terror at this mysterious figure that was Jesus.

May God give us that sense of astonishment and fear... In the book of Acts, we also see that upon seeing the miracles that the disciples performed, it says that the crowd was watching and that the word used in the original Greek refers to to fear, there was like terror of what they were looking at.

It says in the psalm, adore the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. I have a friend who was once at a conference in Kansas City, and there he visited a church that was very active in the prophetic realm. And the lead pastor said, you know what? We are going to take a moment and I am going to pray that the Lord will reveal to us the fear of the Lord at this time. Silence for the moment and nothing else, and this friend tells me that the only thing he could do for the next 90 seconds was to throw himself on the ground, stay on the ground with his face on the ground and beg the Lord not to kill him. Absolute terror, fear.

Now, we understand that this is an extreme moment, but from time to time it is good to have a feeling like this, a little taste of fear of God. It gives it weight when we come together as a congregation to worship the Lord. We can be like children who grab the lion and play with the lion's mane and climb on top of it and thank God that it is roaring at the bad guys, not at us. When Satan attacks us or when there are people who want to persecute us, we don't have to be afraid of those people because we have a God who is much more terrifying than those bad guys…and he is on our side.

The three Wise Men understood that spirit of reverence before God. They knew that a great king was being born in their life at that time, and they came to worship that king. They didn't just come to pet and pamper a baby, they came to pay reverent tribute to a new king, a governor they knew had far more authority than they did.

You know, there are many words in the Old Testament and in the New Testament that allude to the meaning and act of worship. I spoke about this in the morning. The Eskimos have about twenty words that all refer to the same thing, snow. They have snow that can be easily packed down, light, powdery snow that can be blown into the air, snow that is already kind of hard and stuck to the surface. Why do they have so many words to refer to a phenomenon called snow? Probably because it is a very important part of their lives, snow.

I encourage you to go to Google, to the Internet, and look up the word worship in the Greek, for example. You will see page after page of words in the original Greek and in the Bible that refer to worship. Because? Probably because it was the essence of their lives. Because worship for a believer is like breathing. Worship is like the center around which all of us revolve and our lives unfold.

These kings use the same word three times to refer to their worship of that newborn child. It is the Greek word proscuneo and refers to kneeling and prostrating face down and paying tribute to a great king. It is like lowering yourself to exalt one who is much greater than the worshiper.

Take your Bible and look at Psalm 2. It describes very well what I am referring to. It says, why do nations conspire and try to do things against God in vain. The kings of the earth try to do things against the Lord against his anointed. They say, let's break the yoke of God in our life, let's remove the chains that have been placed on us. But the Bible says, the one on the throne in heaven will laugh at them, mock them. And then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his anger, and he says, I have installed my king in Zion on my holy mountain. I will proclaim the declaration of my God. God has said, you are my Son today, I begot you.

Do you know the phrase Son of God? Of course, that alludes to the fact that Christ is divine. I have a son, for example, and he is human like me. Unless it's science fiction, the child comes out different. But the phrase that we have in the Bible, Son of God, also implies this idea of King. The king was also called the Son of God. So when Christ is baptized and that voice from heaven says, “This is my Son,” also saying, “This is my King, the King that has come. Listen to him."

And Psalm 2 continues and says, ask me and I will give you as an inheritance to the nations, he says to the King, to his son. You will dominate over them with your scepter and you will break them as if they were pieces of clay. So, kings, be wise, admit rebuke, oh judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Honor the Son, so that he is not angry and you perish on the way, for his anger suddenly flares up. Blessed are all who trust in him.

The kings here in Matthew, in the story we just read, it's like they came right out of Psalm 2. They know a new king is coming on the scene. This is a king that cannot be killed, a king that will take control of the whole earth and I really want to be on the side of that king. So these wise men come, they fall on their knees before him.

And it's the same word that we see in the book of Revelation as well. Proscuneus talks about all those angels that are around, prostrate around the throne of God. And it says in Revelation that they fall on their knees and throw their crowns to the ground before that great King, and it says, praise, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks, and honor, and power, and strength to that, our God. forever and ever. Proscuneus. Worship.

We have been praying to the Lord, crying out for a great revival for a long time for the Kingdom of God to come upon us. And as that kingdom is coming to us, as we worship the Lord, and that veil is lifted and we see Jesus in his royal majesty, that is the time for us to kneel down, and lay down our own crowns, put them on his feet, and say, all the glory and honor belongs to you Jesus.

When we worship, we declare, Lord, you are the God, the King. You are the King of my life and you are the King of this land and you are taking control.

An additional note here. These three kings who came to worship Jesus were probably not from the same country as the three of them. They weren't all Puerto Ricans or whatever, they weren't from one nation. We have kings each, in a sense of authority from our different countries. There in that place there was like a United Nations in those three kings. That was actually somewhat prophetic. God says that one day all nations will come to worship at the feet of Christ.

That is something that is very valid for us as a congregation. Look around you. Is there a line of seats that does not have representatives from different countries? Maybe you are sitting next to your wife, or something like that. It's true, when you look from here and see a different amount of… And also now that we have the ministry in English, it still gets much more interesting and seasoned. We have counted in this church and we already have more than 30 nationalities in our congregation. And the Bible says that's a prophetic sign, because when people from different countries come together to worship the King, like the kings who came to worship baby Jesus, we're making a statement. We are saying, a new King has come to earth. Before being a gringo, we are telling ourselves, I am a citizen of that new kingdom. Amen. Glory to God. By uniting in this diversity we are saying that something new has descended upon the human realm, and that the key to this is, I believe, worship.

Do you know the text that is in the apocalypse that they are surrounding the throne and say, with your blood, Lord, you have bought us, from every tribe and language, nation and ethnicity, it says, you constituted them into a kingdom. We have a new kingdom among us and we are taking it over, because the king has come.

But the story does not end there, he says, you have made us a kingdom but you have also made us priests. What does a priest do? A priest is a mediator to worship. Worship is the key. The apocalyptic text says that suddenly thousands and thousands of voices arose in the sanctuary, surrounded the throne and began to make a noise of worship saying, the lamb is worthy.

What is the only thing that can keep a church of more than 30 nations unified? We'll see. Good organization, good program? Or simply an idea that it is good to be happy and to be united, very romantic. Nothing of that. It is not about an organization, it is about being an organism, alive. This is not about having high ideals. It is about having a common experience, the experience of worshiping a king that we all have in common. That was what unified and brought these three kings to that same place. And you know, that's what will unite us, that's what will keep us together through time.

You know, any revival that has come up through the centuries has always been characterized by that phenomenon. When the spirit moves people begin to sing and declare, people begin to worship the Lord, and people who would not normally see each other together become friends.

The revival in Azuza at the beginning of the 20th century was scandalous, when African-American, black and white people came together to worship together. It was scandalous! Only the power of the Holy Spirit... It was worship declaring that the King of Kings has arrived on the scene. And God has called us, brethren, to do the same, to make sure that when we worship we are declaring that one day every knee will bow and every tongue in heaven and on earth, and under the earth will confess that Christ is the Lord to the glory of God, the Father. And that is our calling. Oh, Lord, may that call to worship be sincere.

You know, brothers, not all worship is sincere, genuine. In the account that we have here of the kings, the three kings, you know, there were not only good kings. Actually it should be the story of the 4 kings, not the 3 kings. The three good ones and an inexpressibly bad fourth king. One of the most terrifying verses in the entire Bible, King Herod, part Jewish and probably with a beautiful smile on his lips, sinisterly telling the wizards, hey, when you find the baby let me know because I want to worship him too. You know brothers, not all worship is the same.

Jesus said about the Pharisees, in vain these people worship me. They are religious but they are hypocrites. In the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah, there is a moment when God says, you know what? I am sick of your sacrifices and your praise festivals. You know what? Let me rest, that worship stinks to me. Why don't they learn to behave well, show mercy to the poor, to the orphan. Learn to speak the truth. Learn to worship with your life and not just with your mouth.

In the New Testament we see worship, it tells us, offer your whole body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, pleasing to God so that this is your true act of worship. There is no dividing line between the physical and the spiritual. God gave you a body. It's good, so use it for good purposes.

You know, the symbol when one raises their hands. Why do we do that raising our hands? Didn't it seem like that to you when you were new to the Gospel that people raised their hands? I remember going to a Pentecostal church when I was a new believer, I remember thinking, I like the sermon but that mess of raising your hand and gesturing, I don't like that so much. What does it mean to raise your hand? What do you normally mean in everyday life when you raise your hand? You know what? I don't have weapons. You can arrest me officer. Just take me where you want but don't shoot. In that biblical time it meant, in the New Testament time it means the same thing, to raise your hands: it means to give up, to give up. That's why it's so hard to do that when you don't understand what's behind it. It means to give up. You mean, sir, you know what, I lay down my arms. I've tried to do things my way but it just doesn't work. So take me, take me as your prisoner, Lord.

We are told in the New Testament about a woman who worshiped Jesus with her whole body. We have Jesus having dinner at the house of a Pharisees, a religious leader, there they are having a very decent dinner. This street woman with that street attitude, she says to herself, you know what, I'm going to go into that place and I'm going to see Jesus. She passes through the people who are at the door, goes into the place of supper, kneels down in front of Jesus, begins to cry over Jesus.

Sometimes we talked about how the Kleenex should be like the symbol, the logo of our church. And it is not because we are in mourning, but because the Lord is taking out our pain. Has it ever happened to you? You are in church and at the moment tears come out and you wonder, but where did those tears come from? It's the pain that's coming out through his eyes. This woman began to pour out her pain through her tears on Jesus. I think there were no hujieres there passing Kleenex. It was a mess. She is using her hair to wipe the face of Jesus. The religious Pharisees are scandalized by what they are seeing. They say, how can Jesus allow this woman to touch him? I can almost imagine Jesus, this is imaginary, but I can see Jesus taking her face, lifting her jaw and telling her don't worry, don't look at them, don't pay attention to what they're saying. She said, you just anointed me for my grave. Look at me, pay attention, your sins are forgiven. And I imagine those words penetrating the soul of that woman.

You know what? That woman was not passive, she was sincere and focused and she was committed and determined to worship Jesus. And also the same kings. Those kings were powerful, they were rich men, but they had the same heart.

I can visualize in my mind, powerful, rich men, but with a childish look, but they had the same passion, they had the same obsession to find that king. This morning we were laughing about the word obsession, it's not normally a good word, we don't associate it with holy things. It means, well, hey, you need to relax a little bit. But do you know something? The Lord Jesus can become our magnificent obsession. Let the Lord become your addiction, like that obsessed teenager telling his girlfriend that I can't stay away from you. Like the psalmist who says, my heart thirsts for God, I want to be close to my God. And that is why you faced the snow and came here, to the house of the Lord. It was not for another reason, why did you come to church today? Because I want to be close to my God. I want to worship Jesus today. That is why you have arrived at the house of the Lord. That is our obsession.

You know, our musicians, it's not just another act, it's not just another musical or artistic event for them. It is not another stew for them. God has given us worshipers here, talented people, with great spiritual gifts, with a heart obsessed with worshiping the living God, and we are a kingdom of priests. We are the worship team.

Now, the spirit of worship has to be cultivated. You know, worship, in a sense it's like the most natural thing in the world. What are we going to finally do when we are in heaven for all eternity? I think so, there is going to be a new kingdom, a new earth, a new heaven, there is going to be a lot of action too. I don't think we're going to be there like ghosts, just floating in the air, I think the focus of our existence is going to be worship.

The one, says the word, that is going to replace the sun itself, we will not need the sun anymore, because the glory of God, its brightness, will be our light, says the Bible. Brother, you were made to worship God but just because it is something natural, does not necessarily mean that it arises within you naturally. Is it natural, for example, to eat? How many of us know that it is difficult many times with a 2 or 3 year old child to take him to eat his food?

Worship has to be cultivated. Sometimes you may not feel like you want to worship. Sometimes perhaps you will feel like you are a sinner, you will not feel well, you will feel cruel, unwell, sleepy. Sometimes he knows you get up on Sunday and don't exactly feel like a Christian. And those are the mornings when we should choose to worship the most.

You know, for example, yesterday morning, we put some presents under the Christmas tree. Our two children got up and we told them, stay up there, we are going to deliver the gifts. They just know it's a game and so we put out the presents, and the kids start coming down the stairs and we're there waiting expectantly. And Caris, my year-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who knows exactly what she wants in life, comes over and we have a bunch of gifts, you know what? She leaves the gifts and goes to the cookies. And we told her, here are gifts, it took us a long time to wrap them, we had to convince her to see the gifts and then what interested her the most was the wrapping paper. But how can she come to understand that this is an activity that is joyful and enjoyable.

Prayer is something we need to unpack. The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good. There is nothing more delicious than tasting the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. But that is something we acquire, it is a taste that does not come naturally to us, we have to learn. It is something we have to cultivate.

One more story about Noah and already…. One day I am playing outside with Noah, when it is autumn and there are a lot of leaves on the ground, and that day we were visiting my parents where there are trees and a lot of grass, and I am there sweeping up a bunch of dry leaves, and I go outside with Noah and I tell him, Noah you can play with the leaves, he is two years old. And he looks at me and says: What do you want me to do? Why do you think I'm going to believe playing with the leaves? So I took it and tossed it into the sheets, and it just lay there upside down, face up, looking like, I'm not sure I like this. But then all of a sudden, his face kind of started to change and he realized, wow, this is going to be so much fun. Then it started and plunged into the leaves again.

God has prepared a bunch of leaves, he has prepared a table for us. We still don't realize how enjoyable that is. That is the joy of experiencing what worship is. Perhaps that worship experience will be different for each of you. Sometimes worship can be very loud, very loud. Sometimes when you read the psalms, you kind of have this feeling that these Jews knew how to worship.

But they know that many times in the Bible, worship is also silent and silent. Sometimes silence can be more filled with the spirit of worship than the loudest song we can raise before God. Worship is going to be a different experience at different times. We will find ourselves composing things of exquisite beauty before our God. For example, the Christmas worship service last Sunday. Wow, what did you think of that? Like one person behind the other and you wonder, wow, are they professionals? No, they were our people, our town and the beautiful dance here in front of the altar. Some of the most exquisitely beautiful things that humanity has crafted throughout history were crafted for the glory of God.

You will have heard, for example, about the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach. At the end of each of his wonderful musical compositions, Juan Sebastian Bach always put 3 letters: SDG, soli Deo gloria, to God only glory.

You know brothers, God is going to raise up people in this Congregation so that they can do great things for God too, write beautiful poetry for the glory of God, so that they can play with wonderful skill for the glory of God, that they can paint for the glory of God, may they build buildings for the glory of God. We are going to worship the Lord with excellence one day.

But you know what? Worship can also be a bit messy in a sense. For example, when David danced before the Lord, you know what? It was not necessarily classical ballet. He…..was stripped down and just jumped around like a madman in the presence of God. And he said, you know what? I did that before my God and I will lower myself even more if it is necessary for his glory.

Brothers, there are different types of worship and the important thing is that we do it, that we participate in it in every place, in any way, in every minute, place of our lives, let's always write SDG, only to God the glory. Hallelujah! God is calling us to worship him. He has spoken prophetically to us as a Congregation about our calling to worship.

Do you remember a prayer meeting we had a few months ago? When a sister who almost never participates in public service God gave her like a whispered song and it had no words, it was like a moan, it was like praise without words, it was simply the spirit coming, calling God without words, it was a word prophetic moment that arose from the Congregation and in that prophecy the Lord told us, I am going to introduce you to a new type of worship as a church. And I want to say yes Lord, amen, to that call.

And I want to close with this final illustration. The Bible says that when we worship God, when we contemplate his glory, we at the same time reflect the glory of God. Like Moses, for example, when he was up there on the mountain and what happens? His face was shining so much that people were scared of him.

I want to share this story and I have permission from a family to share this story. A woman from our Congregational family close to death, the doctors had said she could probably die today and her daughter called me to go to the hospital to pray for her mother, and she knows that she herself could have prayed with her mother but she wanted to for me to go there So we got there, and it was a grandmother there fighting for her life on her death bed. And one could detect that throughout her life this woman had had to fight many times. Those matriarchs who have suffered arduously for their families, and this grandmother, this mother, felt very uncomfortable, and she was very serious, and while I was there she barely answered me, I was trying to talk to her, nothing, she didn't answer, she didn't answer .

And I asked her, sister, would you like to receive Jesus? And she nodded her head silently. So I began to pray with her, at most I hoped that she would simply agree with what I was saying. And I said, Lord Jesus, and for a moment I heard a voice, Lord Jesus, with great firmness, they were the first words that she had said, it was as if she was saying, “You know what? Superficial conversation does not interest me, I am going to use my last strength for what is important”. So we pray with her. This has happened to us several times with grandmothers here from our Congregation, I'll come back later, you know what? She had changed her face, one day much better, so I came back and we could talk a little more than the first time.

Honestly, she was putting her faith in the Lord, now she was in a care home where she already felt a little better, they were taking care less intensively, and you know what? I assure you, I get to the room where she is, and this time it was bright and a smile and a look that had softened. And there was a beauty that shone through her. And her roommate says that in the middle of the night she often listened to her adoration. And do you know what this lady's name is? Light. His name means Light.

You know brothers, when we adore, when we open our hearts to the Lord, we reflect the glory of God. Brothers, may we be an adoring Congregation that adores in spirit and in truth. Oh, may our worship be genuine. I want to invite you to stand up and we will close in prayer.