What's holy hardware? It's all the stuff that people need to kind of feel like they're worshipping. We should be able to all trample across the street, sit in the parking lot in the middle of it, carry our chairs with us, and you should be able to feel as worshipful as you feel in here. Why? Because it says in John 4:24 –
'God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.'
Not in holy hardware and formality, not in liturgy and all types of incantations and pagan rituals. In spirit and in truth. We have to be careful that we don't attach vestments or some type of sequence of events or some type of external appearance of the building we're in, with worship. Those have nothing to do with worship. Some things can detract from worship, yes.
The scriptures tell us that God is abundantly concerned with modestly in worship. That's all the way through the Old Testament. He says, 'Don't come before me unless you come modestly.' God is very concerned that we come reverently. So that means we don't come in here joking and carrying on, and thinking about everything, and comparing all the sports scores, and talking about your favorite whatever, and then think you can click instantly into worship. Worship takes time. We have to prepare our hearts.
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Pastor John Barnett has been devouring the Word of God for over 30 years. John, now the teaching pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan has served congregations in Oklahoma, New England, Georgia and California. He also served on the Faculty of the Master's College...