
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.


“The Justice Movement Stream taught me to truly fall in love with and respect other cultures and people groups, and how to see them as God sees them.”
Kasandra Adler, 19, Missouri, USA

“Last year I decided to seek after God wholeheartedly and applied for the Pilgrimage DTS. Going on this journey (physically and spiritually) has been life-changing! Instead of wandering on my own, I am now following the Almighty God. I have rediscovered a personal and intimate relationship with my Creator!”
Tim Stallard, 26, Switzerland

“Wild at Heart? Yes, of course! But whatever adventure I went for, I wanted to be the one in control. During my DTS, God changed my heart to go wild with Him. I learned to trust in God and that I don’t have to be in charge, as long as I know the One who is!”
Silas Bauer, 21, Germany

“The Pilgrimage DTS allowed me to take the time I needed to get to know God more and grow closer to Him while spending lots of time in His beautiful creation. God also used the hikes to challenge and encourage me to rely on Him more.”
Colin Berkley, 24. B.C. Canada

“Doing a DTS and being part of the worship stream was absolutely life changing for me. God took me from a luke-warm, passive, prideful faith, to an authentic passionate relationship with Him. As he revealed His worthiness to me, I learned to let go of everything in this world and cling to Him; to allow myself to be undone in His presence.”
Lauren Balzer, 18, BC Canada

“Before I attended my DTS, I believed that justice was an act of revenge. I had hate toward the perpetrators and love toward the victims. Being apart of the Justice Movement Stream has shown me the Father’s heart of justice, which actually demonstrates the endless love of the Father for both the victim and the perpetrator. Through this I learned that we should also carry that same love and forgiveness in our hearts.”
Savannah Mantel,18, California, 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

“Reading the whole Bible was a real challenge for me, but it was so rewarding. My eyes were opened to the fact that Jesus had existed from the very beginning and that God’s gracious heart always was and is the same! I learned that the Bible isn’t just a story about God, but rather a story about imperfect, raw, real people. I know now that I am one of them, and that I can see God work in my life just like He did it with them!”
Jenny Fritz, 19, 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

“In the Kingdom Come stream, we really focused on what the kingdom of God is and how to live that out on earth. The most impactful aspect of this was walking out a miraculous lifestyle and being in an intimate relationship with God, where you can expect miracles to happen.”
Peter Seip, 25, Virginia, USA
