It should be our goal as Christians to be the utmost unquenchable, undone, undignified, unpredictable, unveiled, unstoppable, unnoticed, undivided, unsatisfied, and unending worshipper. You're probably asking yourself now, WHAT did he just say? Let's start from the first one:

Unquenchable

      Does anyone know or think that they know what it means to be an unquenchable worshipper?

The unquenchable worshipper. This world is full of fragile loves. Love that abandons, love that fades, love that divorces, love that is self-seeking. But the unquenchable worshipper is different. From a heart so amazed by God and His wonders burns a love that will not be extinguished. It survives any situation and lives through any circumstance. It will not allow itself to be quenched, for that would heap insult on the love it lives in response to.

These worshippers gather beneath the shadow of the Cross, where an undying devotion took the Son of God to His death. Alive now in the power of His resurrection, they respond to such an outpouring with an unquenchable offering of their own.

Can you turn to Song of Songs 8:6; Someone read 8:6-7
"Love is as strong as death, it's jealousy unyielding as the grace. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away."

I know personally that my worship is tamed by the complications and struggles of this world. But I long to be in a place where my fire for God cannot be quenched or washed away, even by the mightiest rivers of opposition. I long for a worship that can never be extinguished.

The heart of God loves a persevering worshipper who, though overwhelmed by many troubles, is overwhelmed even more by the beauty of God.

The Undone Worshipper

      Who can tell me after hearing about an unquenchable worshipper, what an undone worshipper is?

Turn to Isaiah 6:1-5
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two wings they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy holy holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' At the sound of their voices the posts of the door were shaken and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: 'Woe to me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"

Before the throne of God, the prophet Isiah becomes an undone worshipper. Often when we meet with God, we experience His gentleness and comfort. But this was an altogether different kind of meeting, a holy moment marked by discomfort and soul-searching. The prophet encounters the Lord Almighty and is never the same again. He realizes God's greatness and, in the light of that, his own weakness, "Woe is me, for I am undone!"

Isaiah is broken, stunned and shaken in the presence of God. But this brokenness is not a destructive thing; God is stripping him apart in order to put him back together as a stronger, purer worshipper–a worshipper whose heart-cry is "Here I am! Send Me!" Of course, there's time in worship to be joyful, content, and even comfortable. But there also comes a time when God will make us distinctly uncomfortable. He puts us under the spotlight of His holiness, where we begin to search our hearts even more closely.

The Undignified Worshipper

      How many people in here think that they are undignified worshippers? (ASK THOSE WHO RAISE THEIR HANDS TO ANSWER WHAT AN UNDIGNIFIED WORSHIPPER IS. IF NOBODY RAISES HANDS...) What is an undignified worshipper?

God loves us with an extravagant abandon. Passionate, undignified worship is our only reasonable response.

In 2 Samuel 6:21 it says, "I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes."

The thing that strikes me most about this is the context of David's celebration. He wasn't just one of the crowd at this event, he was the KING. THE KING. Here was a man of great and mighty stature with a public image to protect; a man trusted with more power, authority and wealth than we could ever imagine. Yet he led the way, "losing" himself so publicly in his worship of God and so on fire with praise that it burned right through any inhibitions or pride. True worship always forgets itself.

The word hallelujah originates from the Hebrew word, "hallal" meaning to be clamorously foolish or mad before the Lord.

In the song, "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, it says, "You better lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it, you better never let it go." When we have that moment where we meet with God, yet there are those around staring, will we lose ourselves in the music, in the moment, or will we let it go?

The Unpredictable Worshipper

It was the week leading up to the cross, and the strain was taking its toll on Jesus. Surrounded by harsh, negative attitudes and awaiting betrayal, the pressure intensified each day. Soon to come was the agony of Gethsemane and Golgotha. Yet in the midst of this torment came a beautiful act, "An oasis of sweetness in the desert of bitterness."

Jesus was at the home of a man called Simon, when suddenly a woman carrying a jar of perfume entered the room. Without any explanation, she broke off the top and unashamedly poured the whole jar of perfume over the head of Jesus. It was a crazy thing to do, and everyone knew it. For one thing, it was an extravagant waste of money. This perfume was meant to be measured out drop by drop, not all at once. But Jesus didn't see it that way. He said, "She has done a beautiful thing to me."

For Him, it was a well-timed act of devotion–unexpected, unusual and yet so meaningful to the Son of God. It was the act of a woman who had not been tamed by cynical religious attitudes. She came across those attitudes that day but was unaffected by them. It was the worship of a woman who didn't know the rules, an unpredictable, untamed heart on a quest to see Jesus glorified.

As worshippers of Jesus today, we also need to cultivate this sort of unpredictability in our worship. When we come before the living God, there should always be aspects of the fresh and surprising. These things are a sign of life. Worship is meant to be an encounter, an exciting meeting place where love is given and received in an unscripted manner.

A relationship with the living God shouldn't just fade away or wear out like the most often played Michael W. Smith song on K-LOVE. It's meant to be new every morning, just like the mercy it responds to.

The Unveiled Worshipper

In the end of Exodus 34, Moses comes down from Mount Sinai after a powerful encounter with the living God. He was ushered into an incredible level of revelation so deep into the heart of God's glory that his face was actually shining. His face was so radiant, in fact, that the people were afraid to even look at him. From that time on, Moses wore a veil to cover up his face. "But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out."

When Moses went to meet with God, nothing, not even a layer of cloth, was allowed to hinder his gaze upon God.

God has invited us into an incredible privileged place in worship. In one sense, God needs not to reveal Himself to ANYONE. He is a consuming fire, blazing with power and holiness. And yet he burns with a heart of love for His people, longing to usher each one of us into deeper levels of glory. It is there we are transformed ever more into His likeness.

The Unstoppable Worshipper

Okay, you're going to have to use your imaginations for this one. The year is 1744, hymn writer Charles Wesley is in Leeds, England, holding a prayer meeting in an upstairs room. Suddenly there is a creak in the floorboards, followed by a massive crack, and the whole floor collapses. All 100 people crash right through to the ceiling into the room below. The place is in chaos–some are screaming, some are crying and some are just in shock. But as the dust settles, Wesley, wounded and lying in a heap, cried out, "Fear Not! The Lord is with us; our lives are all safe." And then he breaks out into the doxology, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." Perhaps a bizarre choice of song considering what had just happened. But the point: While everyone else was still licking their wounds, the heart of this unstoppable worshipper was responding with unshakable praise.

Unstoppable worshippers will never quit when it comes to adoring God. Faced with opposition, danger or even death, they will just keep on going.

The Unnoticed Worshipper

The conductor once asked "What is the most difficult instrument to play?" "The sound board," another man replied. "Because everyone wants to be on stage. Of course the ones on stage get to play more fun roles in leading worship and receive more attention, it's hard to find someone who wants to work the sound board and do so with the same enthusiasm. But without the sound board, there is no sound."

There is a lesson here for all of us. So much of what we pay attention to in life happens on a stage of some kind. People like to be noticed, and our culture is in love with celebrity. Some will go to any length to make sure they get some attention. God on the other hand has a very different way of looking at things. He might watch the show, but He's much more concerned with what's going on backstage. We so often look at outward appearance, but God goes straight to the heart. We become consumed with the public side of things, but God is always interested in the hidden and the private.

Unnoticed worshippers aren't looking for attention from this world. Their offerings are left as private as possible. But because of what they bring and the way they bring it, Heaven pays extra-special attention. Unnoticed perhaps by those around them, they do not go unnoticed by the heart of God. God first seeks devotion to Him in a secret place' worship when no one else is watching.

The Undivided Worshipper

In a potentially hypnotizing world, the challenge for undivided worshippers is to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus–simple to define perhaps but in practice not quite so easy. Our hearts are tugged in so many different directions. Around every corner are new distractions fighting for our attention–so many things that could deflect our time and energy away from Loving God. The psalmist cries out, "Give me an undivided heart."

Let earth no more my heart divide, yet with Christ may I be crucified.

The Unsatisfied Worshipper

As worshippers of Jesus, we live in the tension between the now and the not yet. From the day we received Him, our souls found their destiny and reason. The reality of His love and presence invaded our hearts and we found fulfillment. The Bible reveals a God who satisfies our desires with good things.

But that's not the whole picture. We're also unsatisfied worshippers–a people who see only in part. This side of Heaven we'll always be carrying in our hearts a holy frustration: the inward groan of believers waiting eagerly for "our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."

And finally

The UNENDING Worshipper

Here and now we don't see clearly. As the Word put it, we're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But one day, we shall see God face-to-face.

We will be completely unveiled worshippers. Seeing in full what we see only in part now. We will become the perfect unquenchable worshippers, for there will be nothing to quench our devotion. No more tears, no more troubles, no more pain. We will be the ultimate undignified worshippers, no doubt joining the 24 elders as they throw themselves before the Heavenly throne. That day will bring a freedom in praise the likes of which this world has never seen. Every distraction to our worship will have passed away. No more temptations, and no more enticements. Completely undivided worshippers, we will stand in the very presence of God and He alone will consume every heart.

This life is not just a dress rehearsal or a waste of time. We can live with Jesus and for Jesus, ushering in His kingdom right here and now. We can worship and encounter Him. We can remain in Him, and He will remain in us. That way we don't slip into an escapist mentality, consumed only with the thought of Heaven as some kind of eternal escape route.

An eternity with Jesus in our sights reveals us all as unending worshippers. Let us run with determination the race marked out for us. Straining toward what lies ahead, let us press on to win the prize for which God has called us Heavenward in Jesus Christ.