His Holy Mountain

We’re going to go to Hebrews chapter 12 this morning. We have been in a study going through the book of Hebrews, and we are rounding the bend. We’re in Hebrews chapter 12. I was anticipating this being, you know, “Oh, it’s probably going to be three months.” Yeah, no. It ended up being more like six, I believe. We did take a little pause during Christmas, though. You’ve got to give us that.

But I cannot lie: from the very beginning, from reading Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, I could not wait until this message, because I believe this is really such a glimpse of the heart of what God wants for us, what He wants to do in our church, what He wants to do in our lives. Suzie preached last week — just an amazing word. Can we thank Suzie for bringing the Word? She preached last week, and we were in Hebrews 12, and I was like, “I call dibs on the second half of Hebrews chapter 12. Dibs. I’m doing it.”

So we’re going to go to Hebrews chapter 12, and I want to read verses 18 through 24. The whole book of Hebrews is written to Christian believers that had been Jewish, that had converted to Christianity. Because of the persecution that they were facing, and things were getting difficult in life, they began to question if they had made the right decision. And the whole book is an encouragement and an exhortation and a teaching that what they have received in Jesus is so much better than anything they had before, than anything that is on this earth — that Jesus really is better.

What we’re going to talk about today is so near and dear to my heart, and I’m really anticipating the Lord to open our eyes a little bit to really what His heart is and what He’s inviting us into because of what Jesus has done for us. So I want to start in Hebrews chapter 12, starting at verse 18. It says:

“For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. For they could not endure what was commanded: ‘And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.’ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’ But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,” verse 24, “to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant” — say, “Thank You, Jesus” — “and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

The mountain that could be touched

This portion of scripture speaks not only to the power of God, but it also speaks to the availability and the nearness of God. We see right at the beginning there is this powerful imagery, and what this is in reference to — we’re not going to go there; I’m going to encourage you at some point to just read this chapter — is Exodus chapter 19. It was after God had brought the people out of Egypt. He delivered them through powerful signs and wonders, miracles. It was undeniable. He brought them out of Egypt with the heart of, “I want My people to worship Me. I want to be with My people.”

So He brought them out into the wilderness, and the destination was the promised land. But before they even got to the promised land, it’s like God was saying, “Yes, I can’t even wait. I’m going to meet with you right now. We’re out of Egypt, we’re in the wilderness, but I’m going to come down and I’m going to meet with you right now.” Because again, that is God’s heart. How many of you know God’s heart, above everything, is that He wants to be in relationship and fellowship with us? Amen.

So they get into the wilderness, and there’s this powerful scene in Exodus chapter 19 where God says, “I’m going to come down onto Mount Sinai, and I’m going to reveal Myself to you. But before I do — I’m a holy God.” How many of you know God can know no sin? There is no darkness in Him. And that’s really the sin issue. When you are in sin, there is this separation between you and God, not because He doesn’t love you, but because He can know no sin. So we need to receive the work of Jesus to have that washing, that cleansing, and that rebirth in our spirit, to become the righteousness of God so that we can be with Him.

So here they are. Jesus had not yet been sent, and they’re in the wilderness, and there’s sin and all these things, but He’s like, “I cannot wait to come and be with you.” So He says, “Prepare your hearts. Prepare yourselves. Consecrate yourselves. Get yourselves ready. Get yourselves washed, because I’m going to come down among you. But because I’m holy, you can’t get too close. You can’t see Me plainly. It will utterly destroy you. I’m too powerful. There’s too much.” So He set a barrier around the mountain. There was a fence that was set up around the mountain.

Now think about this. It is estimated by scholars that there were about 3.5 million Israelites that were delivered out of Egypt. Three and a half million people that are wandering in the wilderness on this journey to the promised land, and here they are surrounding this mountain. And scripture talks about how God comes down to Mount Sinai, and that is where God gave the people the law. He gave the people the Ten Commandments, and He spoke to the people.

It says here in verse 18, “You have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest.” When the Lord came down to Mount Sinai, we see this picture of what it was like. God comes down, and there’s this pillar of smoke and fire, and there’s lightning and thundering. Everybody say that: lightning and thundering. There was this power and the shaking that was taking place, so much so that when Moses spoke, God answered and began to respond. And there was the sound of a trumpet that began to blow, and it became louder and louder and louder.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I remember when I was a young child and I would hear the sirens go off for the storms and the tornadoes. They would do those tests on Wednesday, and I just remember crying because of the loudness and the intensity of those sirens. This pales in comparison. There was this trumpet that was blowing. Scripture doesn’t say who — it wasn’t a man; it was most likely an angel — but there was this blowing and sounding of the trumpet, lightning and thunder, and Moses spoke and God responded.

And when He spoke, the people said, “We can’t even take this. We can’t bear this.” It was too much. There was this overwhelming sense. Now you would think that in a moment like that you would encounter the presence of God. You would think, “Oh, this is such an amazing time in the presence of God.” But it was so much so that it even says Moses said, “I am exceedingly — I’m terrified. I am trembling.”

You know, I think sometimes we think that when we get to heaven and we come before the throne of God, we’ll dap Jesus up and be like, “What up, homie?” Right? Like we’ll be super casual. It’s not going to be anything like that. We will be so in awe and overwhelmed by the glory and the beauty — listen to this — the power and the humility of Jesus, that we will be thrown to the ground in worship. You won’t be able to stand. There is such an awe and such a wonder, and we just get a glimpse of what this looks like in Exodus 19. I would encourage you to read that.

But how many of you know you would think after an encounter like that, “I am never going to sin for the rest of my life,” right? But how many of you know it’s not the fear of God that changes us; it’s the love of God that changes us. We need to have fear and holy reverence, and we need to be in awe, but scripture says it’s the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It was not a month later that the people of Israel made a golden calf and said, “This is our god who delivered us out of Egypt.” It’s the love of God.

You have come to Mount Zion

And that’s what the author of Hebrews is bringing to us. He’s saying, “Listen, you don’t come to this mountain that can be touched. You don’t come to a mountain that is just here on earth, that can be burned, that can be touched. No, no, no. You come, because of Jesus, to a holy mountain, the heavenly Jerusalem, where there is an innumerable company of angels and ten thousands upon ten thousands of saints worshiping around the throne, saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy.’” He’s saying you come because of what Jesus has done.

It’s like this echo of Hebrews chapter 4, where it says, “Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace.” It’s not because of what we’ve done. We can do that because we’ve been covered by the blood of Jesus. We can come boldly before the throne of grace, and we can join in — not just be in an atmosphere here on earth, but actually enter into the very atmosphere of heaven itself. You don’t come to a natural mountain. No — don’t you realize what you’ve been given? We come to the holy mountain where there’s an army of angels worshiping.

Now let me tell you, there is still lightning. There is still thundering. There’s still power. It’s everything that we sang about this morning. The train of His robe fills the temple. His eyes are like fire. His hair is like wool. There are rainbows around, and the floor is like glass, and we see this awesome picture of the angels that are around. We’re going to go there; I’m getting ahead of myself.

But how many of you know the goal is not for us to be changed for a moment? The goal isn’t for us to have these awesome experiences in a church — maybe you felt like you experienced the presence of God — but then you just go back. The goal is that when God reveals Himself, we must know that His presence is available to us always, that we’re really meant to spend a lifetime in the glory and in the presence of God. Amen. In fact, say that: we are meant to spend this lifetime in the glory and the presence of God. My wife is the best repeater. She’s the best repeater.

So how do we, then — if this is available to every believer, we don’t come to an earthly mountain, we come to a heavenly one — how do we access that? Because like I said, you can be in an atmosphere where there’s the tangible presence of God, where the Spirit is moving, and yet you can choose to be on your phone. You can choose to have a heart that is distracted. You can choose to have a heart that is hard and says, “Well, I’m not doing that.” There is an opportunity for every believer. But how do we enter this place? How do we enter this holy mountain?

Go into your room

I want to turn to Matthew chapter 6, starting at verse 6. We’re going back there; I should have had you hold that place. I’m sorry. Matthew 6. This is a part of the Sermon on the Mount, and we’re going to start at verse 6. Are you already getting a sense of what the Lord’s inviting us into? Are we? I heard it from a couple people. All right. I prayed that everybody would get this.

Matthew 6. This is Jesus speaking, part of the Sermon on the Mount, starting at verse 6. This is what Jesus says: “But you, when you pray, go into your room” — everybody say “your room” — “and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you even ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

I love the teaching of Jesus, and the Sermon on the Mount goes for several chapters. It starts in chapter 5 and goes through chapter 7. If you want to read and hear the best sermon ever preached, go to that one. There’s so much in this. But Matthew chapter 6 — here’s Jesus, and He’s saying, “When you pray, when you want to go before the Father, when you want to come into His presence…” When you pray, it’s not about getting into the best church with the best-sounding worship. It’s not about listening to the best worship music, or what your style is. It’s about what? “Go into your room.”

And He says when you pray, don’t use a lot of words or vain repetition. Why? Because that’s religion. Religion is not going to do you much good. But how many of you know a heart that is in relationship with God — that’s what He’s after. So He says, “Don’t just use vain repetitions. Don’t just go through the motions.” There’s so much more to this. He’s saying, “When you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in the secret place.” Everybody say “the secret place.”

So I want us to notice there are two locations being talked about here. There’s your room here on earth — which, mmm, needs to be repainted. It needs a new bed. Okay, it’s my earthly home. But then there’s this other location that Jesus is referring to called the secret place, and the secret place is where God dwells. It’s where He is. It’s heaven. It is the throne room of heaven. So Jesus is saying, “When you pray, shut your door and pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

And then Jesus goes into this. He says, “In this manner, therefore, pray.” Now I think where sometimes the church gets confused is people think, “Well, this is the only prayer that you can pray.” But how many of you know that’s not what Jesus meant? He’s not saying you need to pray this exact prayer. He says, “In this manner, therefore, pray.” I was just sharing this with some of our young adults: I pray the Lord’s Prayer almost every day, word for word. I do pray it. But Jesus is giving us this model, this example of how we can actually enter into the presence of God, how we can actually pray prayers that shift our environment and move heaven.

So He’s telling us it’s not about just using good words. It’s not about sounding like the pastor who’s on stage. It’s about coming before the Father with a heart that is surrendered. And Jesus says, “In this manner, therefore, pray,” and He starts off by saying, “Our Father” — where? “In heaven.” Where is the Father? In heaven. He says, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”

Hallowed be Your name

The first thing that Jesus does when He says, “When you pray, pray like this” — and Jesus always did this — is He acknowledges the Father. And it’s not just, “Oh, I know the Father is in heaven.” No, He said, “Hallowed be Your name.” What does that mean? That means holy is Your name. Set apart. Holy above all things. Holy are You.

When we are talking about entering into the presence of God, when we are talking about coming into the throne room, the way that we do that is we start by acknowledging who God is. That’s why we start our church times with times of worship. Why? What are we doing? We’re declaring who God is. We’re declaring our worship to Him. So Jesus is saying, rather than coming to the Father and immediately skipping to the part where it’s like, “Well, I need, I need, I want, I want, help me do this, help me do that,” and we begin to treat God like He’s a genie in a bottle — really what He’s after is, “Would you have a heart that is lifted to Me?” And the way that we do that is by looking to heaven and saying, “Lord, You are holy.” Acknowledge who He is.

Think about this. When Jesus performed miracles, before times of ministry, what would Jesus do? He would go to a far-off place and He would be with the Father. What was He doing there? Acknowledging who the Father was. When Jesus fed the five thousand, He took the loaves and the fish and He multiplied them and fed the people. What did He do? He lifted His eyes to heaven and He gave thanks to the Father. Jesus is telling us this is how you pray. This is how we enter into that secret place, where you may be in your own room, but when you begin to pray like this, you come into the very presence of God in the secret place. Do you see?

He says, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name,” and then He says these three words: “Your kingdom come.” Now every king sits on a throne, and there is this rule that is in the throne room of heaven. And when we pray that prayer, “Your kingdom come,” a lot of times it just gets wrapped up in “Your will be done,” and we assume they’re the same thing. But there are two statements. There’s a period here: “Your kingdom come,” and “Your will be done.”

So Jesus is talking about us entering a room here on earth. We’re entering into a room on earth and we’re praying, and Father God is sitting on a throne in the throne room of heaven, in the secret place. And Jesus is saying if you pray in this manner, one of the things that you can pray is, “Your kingdom come.” So I want to show you how, when we come into prayer and we begin to praise and worship appropriately, we can not only enter a room here on earth, but we can literally enter into the secret place, into the throne room of God. And when we are there, we can say, “Your kingdom come.” Do you get it?

A door standing open in heaven

Some of my favorite portions of scripture — Hebrews 12 is one of them, but Revelation 4 has to be up there as well. We’re going to go there. In Revelation 4 we get this awesome picture of what the throne room looks like and what’s taking place in the throne room. We’ve talked about it a little bit; we’ve got to know this. Revelation 4, starting at verse 1. John has this amazing experience, an experience exactly like what we’re talking about. He is stranded. He’s on this island, at this place that is on earth, but he gets this vision of what is happening in the heavens, where he visually saw the throne room of God, and he begins to describe it.

Revelation 4, starting at verse 1. John says, “After these things I looked, and behold, a door” — everybody say “door.” Let’s say it a little louder: a door — “behold, a door standing open in heaven.” Now it’s interesting. Jesus said when you go into your room, close the door. There’s a door on earth, but there’s a door in heaven. Behold, there was a door standing open in heaven. I love that it’s an open door. It’s open. Why? Because Jesus — all right, “I stand at the door and knock” — yeah, okay.

“And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet.” Like a what? What did the people hear in Exodus 19? The trumpet. “The first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here.’” Notice the apostle John is on earth and he can see a door. So we can see that in an instant there is this elimination of the gap between earth and heaven. “And I will show you things which must take place after this.”

Verse 2: “Immediately I was in the Spirit.” Let me ask you: how can we engage right here on earth with the throne room of God? It is by the Spirit of God. “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne.” What did John see? He saw a throne. “A throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne” — talking about Jesus. “And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne” — listen closely — “from the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying” — let’s say this together, out loud — “‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”

They do not stop. We’re seeing this atmosphere where these majestic seraphim surround the throne, and they do not stop, day or night, declaring who God is, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

Now notice this. Verse 9: “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders” — by the way, these are saints. These are people whose reward is proximity to the throne of God. It says, “the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.’”

Those crowns are the reward for righteous and holy living. It is the reward. So consider everything that you have sacrificed to the Lord, everything that you’ve given for Him, every good work, everything that you’ve done. These elders had a high rank. They’re sitting around the throne. But when the angels began to worship, it’s like there’s something in them that said, “Everything that I’ve done, everything that I’ve accomplished, it’s nothing compared to who You are.” And they would take those crowns and cast them at the feet of Jesus, and they would join the angels, saying, “You are worthy.”

We see this picture of this intense atmosphere of worship in the throne room of heaven, where there is this echo back and forth, where there’s a declaration and then there’s this response. I want to be very clear: in the throne room of God is an atmosphere of praise and worship. Are we clear on that? It is happening day and night without ceasing — an atmosphere of praise and worship. Okay, this is good. This is really good.

The posts of the door were shaken

I want to look at one more description of the throne room. Are we good? I want to look at one more description of the throne room, in Isaiah chapter 6. You don’t have to turn there; for the sake of time we’ll have it on screen, but you can if you’d like. Isaiah 6, starting at verse 1. The prophet Isaiah writes, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” — this is what we were singing — “and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.’”

This is 700 years before the vision that John had. This is 700 years, and it is the same song. It is the same song. How many of you know the song of praise and worship never gets old? It’s not about the songs that we’re singing. It’s about a heart that sees Him, that recognizes and acknowledges Him, and says, “You are holy.” They said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” If you don’t see Jesus everywhere you go, you don’t have eyes to see right now.

Okay, here, verse 4: “And the posts of the door” — of the what? Of the what? — “the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.” How many of you remember in Revelation 4, we just read, John saw an open door? He went through the door and he saw the very throne room of God. And here is Isaiah saying, “I saw these creatures, and they’re singing, ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ and the posts of the door” — not just a door, the posts of the door — “were shaken.”

I believe that we fully underestimate what actually takes place when we pray, “Your kingdom come.” I’ve had a few conversations about this, and it kind of keeps coming up. I think we would be amazed and in awe and fully broken if we could see what was actually happening in the spirit when the saints gather together and they bring worship to God. I think it would break you — in the best way possible — if you saw what was actually taking place in the spirit when you receive communion, or during water baptism, if you could actually see what was happening in the spirit.

So here the door is shaken. And we underestimate that when we begin to praise the Lord, when we begin to match the atmosphere of praise and worship that is happening in the heavens, and we begin to call on the kingdom of God, His kingdom really wants to come to this place. He wants to transcend the atmosphere between heaven and earth and allow the throne room of God to come right into our midst, to the point where we share the same space. Do we actually believe that when we worship God appropriately, with hearts that are surrendered, the very atmosphere of the throne room of heaven can be right here on earth?

Because I think if we really believed it, if this invitation that the Lord is bringing us really got to our heart, I find it difficult to believe that we would settle for anything less. Because the reality is this: if you do not sense the presence or the atmosphere of God, it means that the doorposts are not aligned in your heart — the doorposts here on earth, which is the door of your heart, and the door of the throne room of God. The way that we bring alignment and we enter into that atmosphere, the way that that gap is eliminated, is by lifting our eyes and acknowledging who He is. “Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may find mercy in time of need.”

We need this. If you are a believer and you have not experienced this, you should be upset and frustrated, because there is probably something in your heart or in your mind that is preventing you from fully entering into this atmosphere. There is something in your heart — whether it’s a lie, whether it’s just an improper understanding of who God is, maybe there are addictions or bondage in your life — whatever it is that is keeping you from entering His presence, I would encourage you to lift your eyes to heaven, to the Father, and say, “Lord, You are worthy. Would You do something in my heart to help me see You more clearly?”

You don’t come to an earthly mountain. We come to the heavenly Jerusalem, His holy mountain, that is surrounded by angels and saints saying, “Holy, holy.” And by the way, the most powerful times of worship I’ve ever experienced, unfortunately, have not been with you guys. It has been in my room, where I begin to acknowledge who God is. But I’m not by myself. I’m surrounded by angels, and I’m in the very throne room of God saying the same thing: “Holy, holy, holy.”

Worship from the heart

You don’t know what to say sometimes? By the way, we do that — scripture says, “Sing a new song to the Lord,” which is whatever is in your heart, present that as worship to the Lord, and just begin to say it, begin to declare it. And I think sometimes we get a little uncomfortable with that. In fact, I know we do. Maybe you grew up in a traditional church. Maybe you’ve not encountered that before. But there is something so special that happens when we open up our heart and say, “I’m going out on a limb here. God, You’re good.” Other people are singing other things. “God, You’re so good to me. Lord, I have needs in my life — of course I do. You already know what I need. But You are worthy, Jesus. You are good.”

You don’t know what to say? “Holy, holy. You are holy, Lord. I’m not seeing clearly right now. Lord, would You align my heart? The doorposts in my heart — would You line them up to the doors that are in heaven, that I would enter in, not by my own works, but by the very blood of Jesus that washes me, that allows me to come boldly?” Do you see? The best worship is the worship that comes from the heart. That’s why Jesus said the Father seeks such worshipers — those who worship in spirit and in truth.

We have our worship and prayer on Wednesdays — I’m going to take a sip of coffee — we have our worship and prayer on Wednesdays, and we intentionally don’t put lyrics up, for this very reason. It’s not about the words. It’s about your heart. And personally, I pray that we all find the joy of this: that you would close your eyes, and yeah, you can join the singing, but that there would almost be more praise in your heart than the words on the screen, and you just begin to say, “God, You’re so good. Lord, I thank You for who You are. Lord, I thank You for my family. I thank You, Lord, that You have blessed me, that You’ve given me everything I need. You are worthy, Lord.” Do you see that the Lord has shown us how to enter His throne room? This is available. And if we do not experience this regularly, it’s a travesty, because this is available. This is what I believe the Lord is inviting us into. Somebody say amen.

Midnight in the prison

I’m going to close with this scripture, because we see this one more time in Acts, and I believe we see this powerfully. Acts 16 — I think it’s the perfect representation, because again, the book of Hebrews was written to believers who were wavering in their faith because they faced persecution. And in Acts chapter 16 we see Paul and Silas, who are continually being imprisoned, who are continually being whipped and beaten for preaching the name of Jesus — which Jesus said you can expect. You will be persecuted. Because they hate Me, they will hate you.

And I think sometimes we assume because bad things are happening in our life, we’re outside the will of God. But it could be that you’re actually becoming more like Jesus — the one who was whipped, the one who was beaten, the one who was persecuted. And here are Paul and Silas experiencing the very same things. They were beaten. They were whipped. And here they are now in prison. They’re in shackles. They’re in chains. They’re chained up.

Starting at verse 22, they’re coming before the religious rulers, and it says, “The multitude rose up together against them” — talking about Paul and Silas — “and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison.” Notice, this is maximum security, right? You are chained. You are in the inner parts. There is no chance of escape. “And fastened their feet in the stocks.” This was uncomfortable.

“But at midnight” — I love that. Midnight is the darkest hour. It’s in the middle of the deepest darkness. It says, “At midnight Paul and Silas were” — what? — “praying and singing hymns to God.” You see, when your relationship with the Lord is more than just what happens here on earth, and it’s about entering the throne room of heaven, it doesn’t matter what’s happening on earth. You’ll have a heart that is always singing and praising God. May the Lord do that in our hearts.

It says Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, “and the prisoners were listening to them.” In other words, this wasn’t under their breath. Paul and Silas weren’t like, “Man, I hope nobody hears me. Lord, You’re beautiful.” No, they were listening. Verse 26 says, “Suddenly…” So again, Paul and Silas are chained, and rather than complaining, rather than just crying out to God saying, “God, help us! Where are You? Don’t You see my turmoil? Don’t You see our distress? You called us to this, didn’t You?” — rather than getting angry with God, they begin singing praise and worship, and they turn that prison into a house of praise and worship.

And it says, “Suddenly there was a great earthquake.” I want you to notice the place where they were gathered together was shaken. What happened to the doorposts in heaven when the people began to worship? As they worshiped, as they prayed, it says, “Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken” — notice that word again — “and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.”

Not just Paul’s and Silas’s. Everyone’s chains were loosed. Listen: when you begin to have a heart that fully praises and worships God, not only will it break the chains in your life, it will break the chains in the lives of the people around you — your family, your friends, those people that you’ve been praying for for years and years and years. You want to see breakthrough in your life and theirs? Begin to acknowledge the Father, and begin to praise Him.

When we begin by giving Him praise, we are aligning with what is already happening in the throne room. If we don’t have the same atmosphere here on earth that is in the throne room, then we aren’t lined up to the doorposts of the throne. But when we lift our voice in worship, there is an alignment. Whatever situation you’re in — I don’t know everything that you’re going through, but God knows everything that you need. He knows everything you’re going through. When you bring your heart to Him, whatever it is you have going on, that all comes into alignment with the throne room of God, where every knee must bow before the name of Jesus.

You have fear in your life? Begin to worship the Lord. Get to heaven. You have anxiety? You have insecurities? Things have been said about you, spoken over you? Begin to worship the Lord. I hope you are getting this. I hope we’re not just saying, “Oh, I’ve heard this before,” or, “I kind of know these things,” or, “Yeah, but…” — but that we would truly experience it.

So when Paul and Silas began to praise the Lord, they brought the posts and the doors of that prison into alignment with the throne room of God. They weren’t just on an earthly mountain; they were in the heavenly mountain. You don’t come to the mountain — when we gather together and we worship, we don’t come to an earthly mountain saying, “God, come to us.” No, you go to the heavenly Jerusalem. And this should be our reality. This should be what we anticipate. This should be what we expect when we come together and we worship. And this is available to every believer: that in an instant you can see the gap between the throne room of God and the place where you are on earth closed.

But you must align your heart. Let me put it this way: you must worship God His way. You’re like, “Well, I’ve never done that before.” Well, give it a shot. “Well, that’s not my style.” Well, make it your style. “Well, I’ll look like a fool.” Perfect. Scripture says God resists the proud. If you’re too proud to do what God has asked, there’s a resistance there. But that we would have hearts that are soft and humble.

How many of you know Jesus modeled that humility perfectly when He took on flesh? He came to this earth. He died on a cross. God died on a cross so that you could become one with Him. That takes humility. So that the creation could be with the Creator — that takes humility. As much as you will be blown away by the power of God when you get to heaven, you will be blown away by His humility, and it will rock you to the core, and you will say, “I don’t deserve any of this.” Maybe you ministered to hundreds of thousands of people; it is nothing compared to the majesty and the glory of who You are. Do you see?

I hope you see this is so important. That’s why — don’t use vain repetitions. No one can do this for you. Your spouse cannot do this for you. The pastor cannot do this for you. The worship leader cannot do this for you. You must choose this yourself. Don’t use vain repetitions. Close the door. Look to the Father. Acknowledge who He is, and allow those doorposts to line up with the throne room, and come boldly, by the blood of Jesus, to the very presence of God.

There you go. Some of my favorite scriptures — I hope you wrote them down, and meditate on those. Jesus wants to be with you. He wants you to know Him. And not only is He powerful and able to save you, He’s near to you. He’s good.

So let’s respond. Can we stand together? Let’s respond to the Lord. Let’s lift our hands to heaven.

Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see — not what the world sees. That we would not be moved by what’s happening in this world, that we would not be moved by our failures, our disappointments, but, Lord, that we would be moved into the very throne room where You are. You paid the price for us to come freely and boldly. Lord, let us have hearts that surrender to You. Lord, it’s not worship unless it costs us something. It doesn’t mean much if there’s no cost to it. But, Lord, You gave it all. And so, Lord, Your very generosity, the very person of who You are, demands our generous giving to You — the giving of our heart, the giving of our life, the giving of all that we have. Do a work of surrender in us, Lord Jesus, that we would see You.

Just pray that right now. Just say, “Lord, open my eyes. Open my eyes, Lord Jesus, to see You clearly. Fill me with Yourself. Fill me with Your Spirit. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, Lord, on earth as it is in heaven.” We do not come to a natural mountain. We come to the holy mountain, the throne room of God. Lord, You are so available. You are so worthy. Lord, we respond to You today, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amen. The Lord is good, isn’t He? Is He wonderful? He’s wonderful. We’re going to dismiss here in a second. We’re going to have people available to pray with you up front. If you’ve not given your life to the Lord and you would want to talk about that or do that, we’ll have people available to do that with you, and talk or pray for you. Or if you just need prayer, come on up. We’d love to pray for you.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.