Prayer, Priase & Worship

[JonathanHarper]

    I am going to be getting into a series of lessons on prayer, praise and worship and I want to start with the tabernacle plan straight through to calvary. . .

    I have never did an in depth study of the tabernacle.  If anyone has any good research or notes and could/would/want to share them, please do so !

  I have found a few things on what type of sacrifices that were to be brought for certain sins,  but more than that I am looking for examples of how they worshipped in the tabernacle.

  And i have a question:  Only Levities could be priest, understand that.  If my understanding hasn't felled me this is what I have learned so far.

   Only Levities can be priest , priest make sacrifice for sins, only priest in the tabernacle, and the high priest into the Holy of Holies.

If anyone can expound on this, I would really appreciate it.  Thanks

[JonathanHarper]

 So this is what I have so far:






Not everyone baptized in Jesus' Name and filled with the Holy Ghost is called to be a preacher, apostle, evangelist, prophet, or even a teacher, but we as born again Christians are called to do three very important things!

It doesn't matter the title or position in the church that you hold.  It doesn't matter in what facet you serve the Kingdom in, everyone, no one excluded is called to the three basics of the Christian life and that's prayer, praise & worship.

These are three largely, very highly important components that we reach God and have our relationship with him.

Imagine if the pastor didn't pray, then he wouldn't hear from God.  Imagine if the praise team did praise God, we would, on our own have to usher in the presence of God, and if we as individuals didn't worship God?  We would be lost and going to hell.

For the next few classes that we have we're going to be in a mini series, called Prayer, Praise & Worship.  We're going to take a look back at how the people of God entered into the presence of God, and how we enter into the presence of God now!

You will seem vast differences and then you'll see some similarities of how we come into the presence of God.

First we'll start with prayer. 


Prayer usually means one of several things.  One we're asking forgiveness of sins, thanking God for doing something, or praise God because he is simple God.

Old Testament and New Testament have totally different ways of asking for forgiveness of sins.  So let's take a look at the different ways.



Old Testament

In the Old Testament when you sinned you had to bring an animal to sacrifice.

Depending on what type of sin that was committed, a certain animal was to be brought for that sin.






TYPE OF SACRIFICE   OBJECT TO BE SACRIFICED   REASON FOR SACRIFICE   LEVITICUS PASSAGES
Sacrifices to please the Lord "whole burnt offerings"   Bull, male sheep or goat without blemish, or a dove or pigeon for the poor   To worship God, show devotion to God, and to ask for God's forgiveness; the entire object is burned   1.1-17; 6.8-13; 8.18-21; 16.23,24
Sacrifices to give thanks to the Lord "grain offerings"   A mixture of fine wheat flour, olive oil and incense; bread baked without yeast or honey in loaves or wafers or fried in flat wafers; salt added sometimes; sometimes used along with burnt offerings or peace offerings   To worship God by giving thanks; to recognize that God is the giver of blessings and provides good things   2.1-16; 6.14-23
Sacrifices to ask the Lord's blessing "peace offerings" or "well-being offerings"   Fat and certain inner organs from a bull, cow, sheep, or goat that has nothing wrong with it; various kinds of bread made without yeast   To worship God and ask for God's blessing; some of the meat is kept and eaten (7.28-35)   3.1-17; 7.11-36
Sacrifices to ask forgiveness "sin offerings"   - A young bull for the high priest and the whole nation
- A male goat for a tribal leader
- A female goat or lamb for ordinary people
- Two doves or pigeons for the poor
- Two pounds of fine flour for the very poor
- Two goats and a ram on the Great Day of Forgiveness (one goat carries the sins of the whole nation into the wilderness)   To ask for God's forgiveness; to make amends for specific unintentional sins; to become clean after becoming ritually unclean   4.1--5.13; 6.24-30; 8.14-17; 16.3-22
Sacrifices to make things right "guilt offerings"   A ram that has nothing wrong with it, or the price of the ram in addition to paying back what was stolen or destroyed plus twenty percent   To make up for cheating the Lord or unintentionally destroying something that belonged to the Lord; to make up for robbing or cheating another person   5.14--6.7; 7.1-6




As you can see depending on what type of sin you committed there was different type of sacrifice to be made.
A key note to remember is that you did not kill the sacrifice yourself, but the priest did so.

Now your probably wondering as to why there had to blood shed for our sins.   For this you'll have to go back to Genesis.

When Adam and Even sinned and hid from the Lord because they were naked, God called to them and they didn't answer Him.  So finally they came out and explained what happened. God threw them out of the garden but not before clothing them with animal fur. 

Genesis  3:14  And the LORDH3068 GodH430 saidH559 untoH413 the serpent,H5175 BecauseH3588 thou hast doneH6213 this,H2063 thouH859 art cursedH779 above allH4480 H3605 cattle,H929 and above everyH4480 H3605 beastH2416 of the field;H7704 uponH5921 thy bellyH1512 shalt thou go,H1980 and dustH6083 shalt thou eatH398 allH3605 the daysH3117 of thy life:H2416
Gen 3:15  And I will putH7896 enmityH342 betweenH996 thee and the woman,H802 and betweenH996 thy seedH2233 and her seed;H2233 itH1931 shall bruiseH7779 thy head,H7218 and thouH859 shalt bruiseH7779 his heel.H6119


Gen 3:21  Unto AdamH121 also and to his wifeH802 did the LORDH3068 GodH430 makeH6213 coatsH3801 of skins,H5785 and clothedH3847 them.

This was the very first time that blood was shed for man's sin.   This only covered the sin and did not put it from him.


New Testament

Since the blood shed of animals only pushed sin ahead for one year, God knew that an ultimate sacrifice would have to be made.  A lamb, spotless, and without blemish. A lamb with perfect blood, meaning not of the seed of man and must be born of woman.

Now the only way that sins could be washed away is if perfect blood was shed for them. 

God and Hs infinite wisdom knew this and would make this possible.   So he found a young lady who did not know a man and overshadowed her and  she conceive a child of the Holy Ghost.

Mat 1:23  Behold,G2400 a virginG3933 shall be with child,G2192 G1722 G1064 andG2532 shall bring forthG5088 a son,G5207 andG2532 they shall callG2564 hisG846 nameG3686 Emmanuel,G1694 whichG3739 being interpretedG3177 is,G2076 GodG2316 withG3326 us.G2257
Mat 1:24  ThenG1161 JosephG2501 being raisedG1326 fromG575 sleepG5258 didG4160 asG5613 theG3588 angelG32 of the LordG2962 had biddenG4367 him,G846 andG2532 tookG3880 unto him hisG848 wife:G1135
Mat 1:25  AndG2532 knewG1097 herG846 notG3756 tillG2193 she had brought forthG5088 herG848 firstbornG4416 son:G5207 andG2532 he calledG2564 hisG846 nameG3686 JESUS.G2424


So Jesus Christ which is God manifested in the flesh came to earth to make atonement of sins.

So Jesus came and was killed for our sins.  Now that the perfect lamb had been slain, we no longer need animal sacrifices to make atonement for our sins.

As mentioned in the Old Testament part, the priest made the sacrifice, now that the High Priest meaning Jesus paid the ultimate price we're able to go to him and ask for forgiveness on our own behalf.


Now we move on to worship.

Worship = to attend services of divine worship.

In the Old Testament worship was done in the tabernacle , and the  priest did the worshipping.

If you take a close look at the tabernacle plan you'll see that the very first thing that you come in contact with is the Alter; is a place of repentance. 

Even in the Old Testament they knew that it was very important that we must first get our sins and transgressions under the blood and omitted from our record.


If you notice that our prayer rooms are located before you get to the sanctuary (the place where the presence of the Lord comes down) .  That's why it's so very important to visit the prayer room before you come in the presence of the Almighty God.

The next thing that you come in contact with is the Laver of Water.  You're probably wondering what the Laver of Water is a type of. . . . Can anyone guess ?

The Brazen Laver was used for the priest to wash their hands and feet and clean the sacrifice.   Another type of making one's self clean, another type of prayer and repentance.

The next thing in the old tabernacle was the Most Holy, the place where the Golden Candlesticks, Table of Shewbread, and Altar of Incense was housed. Also referred to as the Sanctuary.

When you walked in the Most Holy to the left was the Golden Candlesticks.  This was the only light in the Sanctuary.

Most people believe that the candlestick was placed in the sanctuary to show that there is only one light , being a type and shadow of Jesus Christ.

And to the right of the entrance of the Most Holy was the Table of Shewbread.  The Table of Shewbread housed twelve loafs of bread (twelve tribes of Israel) and wine. Another type in shadow of Jesus Christ for he is the Bread of Life, also the Lord 's Supper is represented here.

And directly in front of the entrance and before the Veil  was the Altar of Incense. It contained hot coals from the Brazen Alter and Burnt Offerings.  It is here where the priest burnt sweet smelling incense   that filled the Sanctuary, which represents the prayers of believers.


Now you're standing in front of the Veil.  This Veil was six foot thick.  This Veil separated from Most Holy from the Holy of Holies.  The Levitical Priest went in daily to the Most Holy for daily sins, but only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies and could only do so once a year. 

When the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement he wore a robe that had bells on the bottom and had a rope tied to his ankle.  The reason that the High Priest wore these things was that because when he went into the Holy of Holies he took in blood from the sacrifice to sprinkle on the mercy seat that sat on top of the Ark of the Covenant, and if the Lord did not approve or was displeased or if the High Priest was not clean he would be killed, and once he stopped moving the bells would stop making noise and the priest on the other side of the Veil would pull him out of the Holy of Holies by the rope that was tied around his ankle.


There are so many foreshadows of the New Testament Church and Jesus Christ.

In the plan of the tabernacle you can see the cross. 


As you can tell that only certain people could be in the sanctuary and worship God up close and personal.

The priests were held to a higher standard of living from the rest of tribes of Israel. 

As you can tell that if we where living in the Old Testament Days not all of us would be able to enter into the Tabernacle. We would have to be of the tribe of Levi and we would have to be chosen to work in the Sanctuary.

New Testament Worship

On the day that Jesus was crucified when he said it was finished and when he hung his head, the veil ripped from head to toe.

Mat 27:51  And,G2532 behold,G2400 theG3588 veilG2665 of theG3588 templeG3485 was rentG4977 inG1519 twainG1417 fromG575 the topG509 toG2193 the bottom;G2736 andG2532 theG3588 earthG1093 did quake,G4579 andG2532 theG3588 rocksG4073 rent;G497



When this happened something awesome happened for everyone that would follow Christ.

When the veil was rent this made God accessible to everyone.  For the gap that separated man and God now had been bridge by Jesus Christ.   Now everyone can come to God , we don't have go to a priest and don't have to rely on someone else to make my sacrifice for your sins.

Now the only person that we have to come to is Jesus Christ, being God Himself.

There are so many differences between Old Testament worship and New Testament worship. Can you give me a few examples.


Now we're going to talk about praise.

Praise, praise is something that comes in all different types and shapes.

Give me some examples of praise.

Songs of Praise, Hand Clapping, Lip Worship (words of praise)

There isn't much difference between the way people in the Old Testament praised God and how we praise God today.  David sang songs to God and we sing songs to God today.

Prayer, Praise, &  Worship is very important to every church service.  Before we come into the sanctuary for church we need to visit the prayer room, if you don't feel comfortable going in there by yourself grab myself or Sis. Nicole and ask up , we'll go in there with you and pray because it's very important that you get sin out of your life before you enter into the presence of God.

Secondly we must worship and praise God.  He has be so gracious to let us come into his presence , so we need to worship him and praise him for who He is.


Now I want us to talk about how we pray, praise, and worship God.