Genuine Worship
October 19, 2020 - January 1, 2030
Genuine Worship
Genuine Worship
Testimony by David Teo (part one), 22, North Carolina
“Week 4 of DTS, I felt a calling to read Leviticus because of a dream where someone came up to me and called me a “Levite”. When I finally opened up the scriptures, the words JUMPED off the page. I became obsessed with ALTARS to the Lord. Why? Because the Altar was a place where a form of God’s presence resided.
In Leviticus 1, there’s a reference to 2 Samuel 24. In this chapter, David isn’t trusting the Lord to come through in battle, so he sends one of his officials to number all the fighting men in Israel to see how Israel’s numbers stack up to their foes. When David realizes his sin, he confesses it to God and wants to build an Altar to sacrifice and repent so that the plague on Israel may be averted. Then, David finds a threshing floor that he likes which is owned by a man named Araunah, who says….
“Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” The replies, “No, I will buy it from you for s price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing…”
Even though we live on this side of Christ’s payment, we still make sacrifices to God. It can be spending time with a friend in need, saying “no” at work to maintain our integrity, or while in a pew at church. But if we cheapen our sacrifice to the Lord and do things when they are “convenient” for us or “surrender” things that do not matter or have no value: HE IS NOT HONOURED.
This revelation was followed with an exhortation from an OG YWAM leader:
Marker Parker was standing next to me during worship. He looked over for a moment and motioned to me to get into it. I nodded back, but couldn’t get myself to be more excited and jump around… it didn’t feel right.
Afterwards, he asked me why I didn’t really step it up. He could tell. I told him that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to get exuberant. He asked me, “Why?”. I said I felt like I needed to be genuine in worship, so it felt wrong to get excited when my heart wasn’t in the right place. He responded:
“David, precisely when you don’t feel like worshiping, that is when you must. When you stop depending on your emotions to fuel your worship and start depending on the Spirit of God – that is when your worship becomes genuine.”
I was rattled. But then I realized he was right! OF WHAT COST TO OURSELVES IS WORSHIP THAT COMES EASILY?
Therefore, I must repeat the words of my namesake: “I will not make sacrifice to my God things that cost me noting.”
I spent hours worshiping and learning about worship on this worship DTS, but the most important lesson I learned was what Hebrew 13:15 and John 4:23 say: “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise,” “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.”
When I’m not felling it, but in the complete dependence on God still place on the altar my real, 100% all-in worship, that is a powerful and honouring sacrifice.”
Hop on over to part two of David Teo’s testimonies, where he shares his heart and experiences of the Father Heart of God week of lectures during DTS. He opens up into a moment of vulnerability, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak truth about his identity.
“Our outreach to the Cook Islands taught me how to enjoy the simplicity of life. I learned that God is always focusing on my heart first and then on the hearts of other people. God also showed me the importance and power of constantly being in prayer.”
Judith Evers, 20, Germany
“Prayer and Passion completely changed my outlook on the true power that prayer has. It had always been something that I knew worked and I did, but it was boring. Being a part of this stream gave me new understanding of how prayer is worship and fuels the power of heaven connecting with earth. It will move you to a place of praying out of your relationship with the Lord rather than giving him a list of things you want. You will gain a newfound intimacy with God as your prayer life is propelled.”
Tilly Logan, 21, Australia
“In the worshipstream I learned why we worship God, because he loved us first and because he’s worthy to be praised!
Also I learned that If you lead worship you have to be filled first in order to lead others into worship because you lead others in the intimacy that you have for yourself.”
Jaspar Wandtke, 20, Germany
“Since being here at Marine Reach, my hunger for God has continued to grow more and more. In the Kingdom Come stream, our heart is to see the world changed by the message of His love and the demonstration of His power. It’s such a privilege to be apart of a group of people so on fire for Jesus!”
Joseph Pope, 25, Virginia, USA
“Coming into prayer and passion I had so much passion and desires but did not know how to bring them to the feet of the Lord in prayer. Going through the journey of growing in prayer and discipline I was able to walk out with a passion and desire to take all that was on my heart to the foot of the cross in prayer. I found a love for that intimate time of prayer with the Lord in a way I haven’t known before!”
Beza Sparkes, 22, Ethiopia/Alaska
“For the past two years God has called me to go deeper in the word and not just let it be a surface level experience with Him. However I didn’t really have the tools, knowledge or understanding for how to go about this. God spoke to me months before I knew I would be able to do the DBS, during lockdown, that those who get into the word would see the face of Jesus. I am realizing that as I get into the word for hours a day with really helpful teachings to go alongside the readings, that is exactly what is happening. I am gaining such a deeper understanding of who God is and who I am, in relation to Him. There have been weeks where doing the homework assignments just completely wrecked me by seeing the love of God and in the moments of reflecting how God has moved so radically in my life. Even when I wasn’t walking closely with Him, He has always been drawing me back into a close relationship with Him by His love and mercy and grace.”
Anika Hochstedler, 26, New York
“The Justice Movement stream really opened my eyes to what justice looks like through the eyes of God. Justice is more than making wrong right, it’s walking in mercy and humility. Justice is bringing light and life to orphans, widows, immigrants, and hope to anyone who is oppressed.”
Naomi Wilson, 18, AB, Canada
“We had been married for 5 years when we came to Marine Reach. As a married couple, we learned a lot about each other and ourselves and gained a lot for our marriage. What we enjoyed most during the GO PAC stream times was the mix between the depth we dove into God’s Word, getting to know His plan for us better, and the times thinking and learning about the interesting Pacific cultures. We think it is so important to get to know new cultures. At the base, there are many different cultures, but you really want to get to know the one culture where you live and where you’re going on outreach. We experienced that when spiritual basics are understood with the heart and not only with the mind, that is what brings change into your daily life, and that is what you can carry home after DTS.“
Tobias & Annika Dietrich, 26 & 26, Germany
“Medical Compassion DTS was a truly an incredible experience. Working in health centres, hospitals and pop-up clinics grew my interest in medicine and allowed me to practically show the love of God. For me, the most transformational aspect of my Med-Com DTS was the focus on compassion and its importance in achieving true holistic healing. This is an experience like no other!”
Matthew Bassett, 18, Orewa, NZ
“SPHC is such an incredible gateway to seeing the world with God’s eyes. To see how His heart breaks at the brokenness of this world, and to see how the lack of education about little things such as germs and washing hands causes so much illness and suffering in the world, to then be equipped and sent to BRING THAT CHANGE! It is such a life changing/ perspective shifting program that has really changed my life!”
Antonio Wolfe, 20, Alberta, Canada