God's Glory and Majesty in Worship

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These verses are written to believers—or as Jude calls them, those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. This is what it says in the last two verses.

I have often seen these verses being read as a benediction at the end of the service. But I thought we would do this at the beginning.

Jude 24: "To make you stand in the presence of him blameless with great joy."

Jude 25: "To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen."

That is who we have come to worship. Both these verses tell us who our God is and why we have come to worship him.

In Verse 24, God's Heart and God's Desires

In verse 24, it tells us God's heart—or God's desires.

• He is able to keep us from stumbling. We want to do the biblical thing. We want to be obedient. We cannot. But he can keep us from stumbling.
• He is able to make us stand in the presence of his glory blameless. I look at myself, and I think, "Lord, I'm just so unworthy to worship you. I don't feel like I deserve the opportunity to worship you, much less stand in front of your church and encourage them to worship." But then I receive this encouragement: He is able to make me stand in the presence of his glory blameless.

The blamelessness—our sin was forgiven when we were born again. For those who are believers, sin has been forgiven when you were born again. But there is falling away, disobedience. He can make us stand in his presence blameless. Clearly, that tells us that these are things God desires.

It doesn't say, "To him who is able to give you a house or a hall." No. It says he is able to keep you from stumbling—from the enemy of sin. And when you have sinned, he can wash it away if you repent and confess.

In Verse 25, the Majestic Qualities of God

Verse 25 speaks of more majestic things.

• The only God—this is exclusive to the God we have come to worship.
• Our Savior. We will sing about our Savior this morning through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• What should we say to him? To him, be glory. Let him receive the glory—only him, exclusively.
• Only to him majesty. Only to him dominion and authority.
• Before all time, while we are alive and forever after we are not alive. Only to him, exclusively, belongs glory and majesty.

I will give you a moment to examine yourself. See if there is any blame. Ask God to make you blameless before we even sing the first hymn.

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*[Prayer follows]*

Dear heavenly Father, sovereign Lord, the words we have just read tell us that to you belong glory and majesty, dominion and authority. These are qualities which are exclusive to you. You are the only God and the only Savior. And to those who are born again, the promises in the previous verse are so encouraging as we stand here to worship you—that you are able to keep us from stumbling, that you are able to make us blameless because of the blood that your Son shed on the cross.

This morning, with a heart full of wonder at who our God is, and also gratitude for what he has done in our lives, we prepare to give you worship, O Lord. Examine us and cleanse us even as we begin to sing our first hymn, so that we can stand before you blameless, with great joy. I know we will do that in your presence one day—blameless with great joy—but give us grace to do that even this morning as we give to you glory and adoration. Be exalted, for you are a great King. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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*[Later in service]*

PASSAGE: Exodus 31:12-18

Exodus 31:12-18 (read by pastor)

The Lord spoke to Moses saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, 'You shall surely observe my Sabbath. For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore, you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

For six days work may be done. But on the seventh day, there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. But on the seventh day, he ceased from labor and was refreshed.

When he had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.

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*[Prayer follows]*

Sovereign Lord, God who is majestic, these words that we just read remind us so much about you. In six days, you created everything that exists in our world out of nothing. By the power of your word, they came into existence. These words also tell us that there are things you have separated and called holy—they are distinct and special to you.

We also learned in these verses that you are the God that sanctifies your people. Lord, we your people are sinful by birth. For those of us who are born again, there was a day or a time in our lives when you made us aware of our sinfulness. You reminded us through your word and convicted us that we were heading to hell and destruction. You turned our destiny from heading to hell to now heading to eternity with you. That is true of those whose sins have been forgiven, who are born again, who are believers, who are standing here as those who are part of your elect.

Along with such, this morning I gather and join with them and say, Lord, we worship you because you are the one who sanctifies us.

What began at the time of our salvation continues as God sanctifies us through his word, through his instruction. As we just read, we know that you are doing that in our midst. As you make us aware of our own sinfulness and failings and the things that are displeasing to you. We all stumble. It sanctifies and cleanses and helps us to stumble less and less and less, so that more and more the image of our Savior and his mind is seen in us.

We were reminded last week of how to prioritize the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives as believers. So we bring before you the relationships that you have allowed in our lives. Lord, our love for you will be like hatred towards every other relationship. We pray that our love for you will cause us to get rid of any selfish preoccupation with ourselves.

The third thing we were reminded of: that our love for you and our faithfulness towards you will be greater than any material possession that you have graciously provided to us. We pray that none of these things—relationships, our self, our self-worth, or materialism—will not come in the way of our obedience to you.

Lord, in the words that you reminded us of, we pray that we will be like salt which has flavor, not salt that is tasteless. Which in your words is not good for the fields or for even manure. We would not want any believer to be like that, Father. We want to be useful, flavorful, for God and for his people. So please do your work in us, in our hearts.

We pray for the things that are very dear to you:

• Help us to be poor in spirit.
• Help us to be gentle, Father.
• Help us to be those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• Help us to be merciful.
• Help us to be pure in our intentions, in our heart, so that when we come into your presence and open your word and when we walk with you, we can see you more and more through eyes of faith.
• Help us to be those who are ready, who have already counted the cost, as we were reminded last week, and that we are aware of what is the cost of being your disciple, and that we are also ready to expend that cost should you allow those circumstances.

All these things we seek your help. Thank you for your instruction to walk in those ways. We seek your help to make the word that was taught an evident practice, an evident lifestyle here in our church.

Continue to prosper the work of the gospel here in our midst. We pray for those who are here who do not know you as Lord and Savior. Open their eyes, Father. We pray for those—the many who are believers—strengthen them. Continue to help us to love one another, encourage one another, and have godly conversations with each other.

In remembering the work of the gospel, we pray one more time for Bruce and Lisa Burkholder and their ministry. Thank you for what you did even this very month in their travels with your servant. Give him strength and use him for your glory, Lord. Receive our worship, our singing. Receive our small offerings that we have brought. And as we pay attention to hear your word, instruct us as you have always done, so that your people may be sanctified even more this morning because your word is taught from here.

This is such a joyful occasion for us—the beginning of the week, to be in your house. We love you. We exalt you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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*[Testimony of Christina Gilmore]*

Good morning, brothers and sisters. My name is Christina, and this is my testimony.

First, I want to thank God for all he has done in my life and for all he continues to do. He has been so faithful to me, and I give him all the glory today and every day.

Psalm 107:1 says, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever."

I also want to share that reading my testimony in front of a large group is something I could never do on my own. I was very nervous, but due to the help of the Holy Spirit who graciously lives in me, he gave me the strength, peace, and words to stand here before everyone today. Praise God.

For many years, I lived like the world, doing what I thought was right in my own eyes and blind to God's word. I made choices that could have cost me my life—drinking, doing drugs, and living like I knew it all. But now I can see it was by God's grace that I made it through all of them.

Isaiah 41:10 reminds us, "Do not fear for I am with you. I will strengthen you and I will help you."

Looking back, I knew it was him who walked beside me, held me up, and carried me when I couldn't go on.

Even though I thought I had a good life—a loving husband, two wonderful boys—there was still an emptiness in my heart. That was the longing I felt. I knew I wanted to raise my family in church, in a godly way, because I could see how broken the world is. And I didn't want my family to live that way.

We spent many years in a Lutheran church, and on the outside, everything looked good because I was attending church every Sunday and volunteered most of my time in every area of the church. But in my heart, I was struggling. I thought I was being a good Christian, but I was judgmental, prideful, and easily angered. And most of all, I hated people that would easily make me angry.

Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goes before destruction." I see now how much pride and hate I carried. I prayed often for myself, my marriage, my children, my family, but never for others. Life felt helpless and nothing was going the way I wanted. Yet even then, God was still with me, pursuing me. So I brushed him off.

As time passed, my boys grew up. My husband and I stopped going to the Lutheran church. It no longer filled our hearts, and deep down, something just didn't feel right anymore about the church we had attended for so many years.

I found myself longing for more and had a deep desire to return to God and find a true church home. I was seeking God and his will for my life, so I prayed and asked the Lord to guide me.

Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened."

Finally, after many years, my husband—who had been saved—kept encouraging me to read the Bible. At first, I resisted. I argued. I debated with him. My baptism scripture because I thought I knew better because of my years in church. My pride again took over, and I was still trying to control everything.

Then one day, God put it in my heart to read his word. This time, I obeyed. And that's when everything began to change.

Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is alive and active." And I can testify that it truly is.

God started to open the eyes of my heart. He put a new spirit within me and showed me who he really is—my Savior, my Redeemer, my Lord.

He promises in Ezekiel 36:26, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

So I took his words and ran with them. That was just the beginning of what he was about to do in my life. I began to see that it wasn't about me, but about him. And how much he loves us, his creation, and that he gave us his only Son to rescue us from our sinful ways so that we may glorify him in everything.

Today, I have a new life with Christ. I can stand before you and say that God is still working in me, still shaping me, and still teaching me to surrender fully to him and to worship with all that I humbly worship him with a grateful heart every morning, every hour of every day.

I am no longer who I used to be, because his grace has changed me from the inside out.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new is here. Praise be to God."

All glory to him because, as it says in Isaiah 25:1, "Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."

John MacArthur writes beautifully by saying, "His mysterious plans made long ago are the ultimate source of stability, because they are built on his unchanging nature, his promise." What powerful words to stand on, knowing our God will never leave us, keeps his promise, and he never changes.

Another wonderful reminder I meditate on with gratefulness is to wait patiently on the Lord. For his words in Psalm 40:1-3 declare, "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me, and he heard my cry. He also brought me out of a horrible pit, out of a miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my steps. He's put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and will trust in the Lord."

Yes, I will praise God and give him all the glory every day in my daily walk with him.

To everyone here, I proudly proclaim that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life using God. All that I am, all that I have is because of his grace, his mercy, and his unfailing love. May my life always point others to him and bring glory to his holy name. I give him all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory, for he alone is worthy.

So please remember, do not applaud for me for what I have done. Instead, let us give all the glory to God and praise him for all that he has done. Thank you.

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*[Pastor's response]*

What a blessed testimony that was of how God rescued a sinner and made her a saint. I have to say one more thing. When Christina first came to share her testimony and become a member, it was as part of the group of people we were planning for. So when she wrote out her testimony, she wanted to be part of the group. She was really afraid to come to the front. The long and short of it: there was a conversation I had as I looked at the testimony and said, "Why didn't you pray? That the most important thing that God did, why didn't you proclaim in front of his church for his glory?"

The only thing she said was, "I will pray." And this is the answer to that prayer—that God gave her boldness to stand here. It is not something that she, by her will, would say is natural. So we praise God for it.

She will get baptized. Christina will get baptized towards the end of this service. She has met with the membership committee. We are convinced of her salvation. I make a motion to accept her into membership at West Hills Baptist Church. Do I have a second? All members in support?

Praise the Lord. Emmanuel, I'd like you to stand once again and sing our next hymn.

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Some have said that the fifth book in the New Testament—the book of the Acts of the Apostles—should really have been named "the acts of