08-16-2026 - RETURN TO WORSHIP - PAYABLE ON DEATH -2 Chronicles 29:20-28

  MESSAGE BY PASTOR  DANIEL PARK 

      FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

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I invite you to pray and make this prayer personal, and for whoever needs support in difficult times, we mention the names of those who are in need, and also pray for the members of the family and friends.

You can also mention the name in need.

(Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G,  Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara’s mom H, Margarita G,  Rosy Ch, Patricia L, Lina J, Manuel D, Silvia H, Magda-, Miguel H.L, Manuel D.H, Alicia G, Margarita G, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M. Maria Elena C, Oscar N.D, Luis Carlos V, Alicia R.)

I ask for your healing over every part of my life – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I ask that you make me strong and resilient for the days ahead. I know that you have a great purpose for those who believe in your name.

Help me not to allow the distractions and struggles of my days to weigh me down to the point of exhaustion. I know that your desire is for me to live this life abundantly and free. And my greatest desire is to reflect your love and light to a world that so desperately needs your hope.

For those I love who are facing cancer or a hard diagnosis, I pray for your covering of healing and grace. I pray for your strength and your great peace to fill their lives, reminding them that you are close. Thank you, nothing is impossible with you. Thank you for fighting for us, and you are bigger than anything this world throws our way.

I lean fully on You, Lord, for You alone are able. We love you; We need you this day, and always.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen.

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SPECIAL PRAYER: Heavenly Father, God of all comfort and healing, we come to you with unwavering faith in this moment of profound need. We place in your loving hands the life of Ana Feri, who is in a coma after suffering this serious accident. You see her now, for you are the God who sees.

You are the God of miracles, the one who breathed the breath of life into creation and who is in control of each of our days. We ask that you send your healing power directly to her body. Restore every organ, heal every brain injury, align every bone, and cleanse every wound caused by the impact. Break her coma and awaken her according to your perfect will and mercy.

Lord, grant profound wisdom to the doctors, nurses, and all the healthcare staff caring for her. Guide their hands and their decisions. Likewise, fill the hearts of her family with peace, strength, and hope; sustain them in this process and do not let their faith falter. We declare that nothing is impossible for you and that your love is greater than any medical prognosis.

In the mighty name of your Son Jesus, we pray and give thanks. Amen.

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Did you know that early church Christians of the 1st century were accused of being cannibals? 

• This was often used as propaganda by the Roman Empire in their persecution of Christians 

• The accusation stemmed from the practice of The Lord’s Supper - the communion

  • How Christians eat the “body of Christ” and drink His “blood” 

• In a sense, it is understandable from an outsiders’ point of view 

Christians do seem to talk a lot about death 

• Jesus DIED for you because He loves you

• It’s kind of a calling card blessing

As weird or even off-putting as it may sound, Christians for 2000 years have declared and spoken this truth unashamedly because it forms the foundation of our new life

• We are a new person in Jesus Christ 

• But it was paid for by His blood 

There’s a worship song we don’t sing often any more, that I think is one of the greatest

• Simple melody and words that communicate a powerful and eternal truth

• Lord I Lift Your Name on High by Rick Founds, 1989.

• The chorus goes:

  • You came from heaven to earth, to show the way

  • From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay

  • From the cross to the grave

  • From the grave to the sky

  • Lord I lift your name on high 

These 5 lines sum up the gospel message and the song encapsulates our worship

• I live to lift Your name on high

• I love to sing Your praises

• I’m so glad You’re in my life

• I’m so glad You came to save us.

There are so many bush fires raging throughout Canada at the moment, but you also know that the forest ecosystem and many trees also benefit from forest fires to help them reproduce and thrive

• New life often comes at a cost 

The Son of God - Jesus Christ - died so that anyone who believes in Him could have new life

• Jesus died and paid the debt of sin, so that we won’t have to pay it with our death.

Worship is the continual reenactment of the  life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

• Worship is the celebration and reminder of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus 

God created us to live in loving harmony with Him, but our sin of rejecting and turning away from Him

• Of setting our own trajectory to live our own way 

• Is a matter of life and death

  • ETERNAL life and death 

Sin takes us from eternal life to death

• And only blood can make things right again

• Blood is life and only life can pay the debt of a sinner’s life.

[PAID IN BLOOD]

Hezekiah spent the first 16 days of becoming king making sure worshipping God was a priority again

• He cleansed the temple for worship, and

• He had the leaders be consecrated for worship 

And then he sacrifices of a bunch of animals for burnt offering and sin offering 

And without going into too much detail, here’s a simple summary from Bible Project of the different offerings in the Old Testament:

• Of 5 types, 2 - grain and fellowship offerings are given to thank God for His providence 

• 3 - burnt, purification and restitution/sin offerings are given as part of repentance - to say “sorry” to God for sins, that people may be forgiven

You can understand why Hezekiah emphasizes burnt and sin offerings

Led by Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, the entire nation had spent decades in sin and wickedness - worshipping idols and foreign God.

The first and major aspect of worship is the restoration of relationship with God 

• Which requires cleansing and consecration and the repentance of sin

• No one can have a relationship with God without repenting of our sins against Him

The Laws and ritual sacrifices laid out in the Old Testament show us what it takes to have a relationship with God

• And at the centre of it all is the problem of SIN

Sin is explained in a few ways in the bible

• Literally it means to “miss the mark” 

  • Shooting or veering off course, but I think the better imagery is to miss the point and fail 

• In the Old Testament, it is often connected with idolatry and disobeying God’s commands

• In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays, forgive us our debts

  • Some translations use the word “trespass” 

  • But debt is the better translation to the original Greek word, which has a financial nuance 

So sin is like a debt that is incurred to God, which must be satisfied - paid off 

• But sin is not a matter of numbers or wealth, it is a matter of life 

• So it requires life in payment.

• This is why God taught the Israelites the rituals of offerings and animal sacrifices, where the animals took the place of people  

This was far from perfect and permanent - so they had to do this continually 

• Because everyone sinned, continually 

Can you imagine, every Sunday, Rob having to slaughter a bunch of different animals? 

Aren’t you glad we don’t have to do that any more?

• But why not? 

• What has changed? 

• We still sin.

Because Jesus paid it all! 

Hebrews 9 NLT

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. 13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus is the new and life-giving way to repentance and forgiveness 

-Life-giving way because it does not required continual deaths - just one death and once

• Of Jesus on the cross - which has already been DONE 

• New and Life-giving because after Jesus died to pay for our sins, He was raised back to life

• And that resurrected life is what is promised to all who believe in Jesus,

Our worship is the recognition of Jesus Christ, God’s own son, who was offered up as a sacrifice in the place of ALL

• Whose blood is able to purify us once and for all

Which is why Worship is the continual reenactment of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

• Without Jesus, our worship is incomplete and unfulfilled 

• Our sins our still payable on death, but thank God it has been paid by the death of Jesus Christ 

• And that is the basis of our worship 

[Sacrifice of Praise]

At the same time as the offerings were being made, Hezekiah had the Levites, who were like the worship, tech, ushering and hospitality ministry of their time

• Leading everyone in worship with music 

  • With various instruments and singers.

 Throughout the bible, music goes hand in hand with worship like we see in today’s passage 

• Music is a very special language that can combine the body and soul

• So it’s a natural element for worship 

Charles Spurgeon humorously said, “Should the worshipers of wine sing so enthusiastically, and we be silent? We are not often guilty of disturbing the world with our music.”

• If worship is our obsessive expression of prioritizing God, then the music that goes with this obsession should be of similar character… 

  • Passion, energy, volume.

In today’s passage and elsewhere in the Old Testament, music often accompanied true worship at the temple and altar of sacrifices

• This arrangement was “according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets.” (V.25)

• Worship music and music in worship is part of the proper worship of God 

• The trumpets and other instruments sounded and the singers sang as the whole assembly worshipped 

The music expresses and simultaneously amplifies our worship 

• Our offerings to God

• The sacrifices connected to our thanksgiving and repentance to God

I mentioned before that worship is the continual reenactment of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

• We are remembering and revering what Jesus did to save us because He loves us

-That is, how He served those He loves all the way to the ultimate conclusion of sacrifice - dying for us

• Our worship must be characterized by sacrifice 

• As King David exemplified, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”

Everyone here sacrificed something to be here right now

• Variations of time, money, and other opportunity costs 

But is it a sacrifice of praise and joy?

• A sacrifice that honours God

• Acknowledges and in response to Christ’s salvation

Or a sacrifice of convenience

• Sacrifice of expectations 

• Sacrifice of duty

• Sacrifice of choice.

To quote Spurgeon again, “The most acceptable gift given to God is the gift that is given joyfully.”

• We can be joyful in sacrifice when we know that it’s worthwhile

• And Jesus is ABSOLUTELY worthy of ALL of it!

Last week, I said that Sunday worship service is the beginning of our worship - the LEAST of our worship

• Today I want to add on that the sacrifices of our Sunday worship 

  • The time/cost

  • The Offerings

  • Tithes 

  • Volunteering and serving

• Is the least of our sacrifice 

Not that it is worth-less, but that it is the starting point of our sacrifice 

• Starting point of a lifestyle

Worshipping in Spirit and truth is being obsessed with Jesus who makes it possible for us to have a relationship with God 

• Worship is how you have a relationship with an invisible God

• We worship Jesus who became the final sacrifice that for for every sin of every sinner

• Worship is new-life-giving

This is why worship is the most important thing we do in life. 

www.bethanybaptist.bc.ca