Called to Worship: An Instructional and Practical Guide to Worship

By James Pomeroy

Called to Worship is an exciting walk from Genesis to Revelation on the topic of worship. Designed originally as a self study guide to be translated into Spanish as a tool for missionaries to use in training pastors in Guatemala. The author draws from over 45 years of pastoral and preaching ministry on this favorite topic of numerous messages and teachings compiled in this book.

Called to Worship is not just theoretical or theological, but practical. Presented in three parts, the first section deals with God's pictures and design for worship in the Old Testament. Part two presents the Priesthood of the Believer in relationship to God in worship. The last section is practical as to forms of worship with chapters dealing with concepts intended to help pastors and worship leaders. The author draws broadly from his own experience especially in part three.

A must read for anyone desiring to expand their understanding and practice of worshiping God the creator of all things.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543939910

Book preview

© Copyright 2018 – James Pomeroy. All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All emphasis within Scripture quotations is the author’s own.

ISBN 978-1-54393-990-3 eBook 978-1-54393-991-0

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Preface

Part I - Types: God’s Pictures to Man

1 - The Importance of Biblical Types

2 - Development of Worship in the Bible

3 - The Restoration of David’s Tabernacle

Part II - The Priesthood of The Believer

1 - The Old and New Testament Priesthood

2 - The Priest’s Relationship to God

3 - Priestly Provision

4 - Priestly Characteristics

5 - The Priest in Worship

6 - The Responsibility of the Priest Concerning the Sacrifice

7 - Priestly Service

8 - The Priest and the Word – The Faithful Priesthood of Zadok

Part III - Practical Principles of New Testament Worship

1 - Expressions of Worship

2 - Principles of Worship

3 - Principles for Pastors

4 - Practical Principles for Worship Leaders

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This writing of this book has been a four-year process of going through old sermon and teaching notes to compile the content. Then, to place them in a semblance of order and re-writing those notes so that they make sense to the reader has been no small task.

The idea for this book came as a result of hearing the need for an instruction manual on worship for pastors in the country of Guatemala from pastor/missionary friend Will Ojanen. That part of the purpose for this book has yet to be fulfilled. This publication is the first step, with translation into Spanish of this manuscript being next, and then re-publication in that language.

I want to thank my wife Dena who has been an ever-present encouragement and support, especially during trying and discouraging times of working through the process toward final publication.

The insights and revelation contained in this book are not my own. They are from the Lord, to whom I wish to give all glory. Yes, they come from much study, but also practical application through the gifting and ministry in which He has placed me for nearly fifty years. All glory to Him who sits on the throne and is worthy to be praised.

Preface

When it comes to preaching and teaching the word of God, every pastor has areas of special interest and focus. I remember Earl Book, pastor and district leader for the Oregon District Council of the Assemblies of God, who went to reside with Jesus several years ago, always seemed to weave some aspect of the cross of Christ into just about every sermon he preached—no matter its main subject. The cross was an area of scriptural experience and truth that was of great interest and importance to him. Therefore, he almost always segued into the topic of the cross in his preaching.

In my forty-plus years of pastoring, my special interest was God’s creation of us as human beings to worship him. I believe this interest, which continually surfaced for personal study, preaching and teaching, was partly a result of my music background. But, more importantly, it arose from my desire to be a devout worshipper of the most high God who created us for His pleasure and for me to enjoy His presence.

Looking back at my sermon notes and the teachings series I’ve developed over the years, I see an accumulated total of at least five years was spent on the subject. So if I were to teach and preach consecutively from all the notes I’d developed on the subject of worship, it would take a minimum of five years!

In presenting this material as a book-and-study workbook, it is my desire to present a basis for our worship from the Old Testament. That worship existed in the heavenly realm, before time. We see how God revealed Himself throughout scripture to people who were open and chosen to worship Him. And how God gives us a pattern of worship that comes to fullness in Christ Jesus.

None of what I share here is just theory. It is intended to be a practical guide. This is why we close out our instruction in this book with Part III, which includes chapters on Expressions of Worship, Principles of Worship, Principles for Pastors, (particularly the Qualities to Look for in Worship Leaders) and, drawing on my over forty years of service, Practical Principles for Worship Leaders.

It is my desire to be both instructional and inspirational as we proceed through our study together at the feet of His throne with the multitudes crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, and You are worthy!

Pastor James Pomeroy

Part I

Types: God’s Pictures to Man

1

The Importance of Biblical Types

Hebrews 8:1-5

1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 

2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. 

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 

4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 

5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

Hebrews 9:23-24

23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 

24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

In studying worship, it is important for us to come to an understanding and appreciation of types and shadows in the Old Testament. Just as Jesus spoke to his audience in the New Testament in parables, stories with a hidden meaning, in the Old Testament God spoke through pictures found in everything He did with His people. These pictures are called types and shadows, and they pointed to His future work in Christ. In a sense, they were prophetic in nature.

An event such as Abraham being asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, is a picture, or type, of God in the future offering His only son as the sacrifice for mankind’s sin. While a person such as Joseph becomes a symbol of God’s intervention on behalf of the fledgling nation of Israel to preserve them from famine and also God’s calling out of a people unto Himself in the church with His preservation of them until the end of time.

It is not my purpose to give an exhaustive teaching on these pictures or types in this book, but to help us see their purpose in God’s plan and how they point forward to the New Testament fulfillment. But we also need to understand how they form the basis for our New Testament and our worship in particular.

In Proverbs 25:2, we read these words: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."

We need to remember that the early church didn’t have a New Testament compiled as we do today. Their New Testament was to be found in the Old Testament—their basis for faith was in the work of Jesus, which was based on the Old Testament scriptures both spoken by the prophets and in the types. Concerning the Old and New Testaments it has been aptly said originally by St. Augustine:

The New is in the Old contained,

The Old is in the New explained,

The New is in the Old concealed,

The Old is in the New revealed,

The New is in the Old enfolded,

The Old is in the New unfolded.

God calls and reveals to us His purposes through Old Testament types. It is our responsibility to search out the value and truth of their meaning and application in our New Testament modern culture.

The Use of the Old Testament in the Early Church

Today, there is a growing scriptural ignorance in the church—a dumbing down of today’s Christians. We have become so used to preachers’ main sermon points and scripture verses being projected that far too many Christians who sit in our churches couldn’t tell the Gospel of John from the book of Job. Also, with the advancement of technology and the use of smart phones with Bible apps in the place of printed Bibles, the Millennials and Gen X younger folk have no understanding of how the books of the Bible fit together. In many apps, the Bible is simply composed of a grid of names to be selected from, making it impossible to determine their order and relationship to one another.

Additionally, most Christians, even with a reasonable biblical understanding, may see Christ in the Old Testament, but fail to see the church in the Old Testament. They may even dismiss the value of the Old Testament entirely. The Old and New Testaments cannot be separated. Christ the head of the church and the church that is His body are one. God foretold in the Old Testament not only the things concerning Christ, but also the things that concern His body the church. Therefore, the Apostles continually appealed to the law, the psalms, and the prophets for all that the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, was doing among them.

There are many portions of scripture in the New Testament that we cannot understand without having become in some measure familiar with the Old Testament pictures or types. For example, the book of Hebrews is almost entirely made up of references to the Old Testament. Other examples are found in the Acts and the Gospel of John.

In Acts 3, Peter speaks of the Lord’s return: "Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things. Compare this with Leviticus 25, that at the blowing of the jubilee trumpet you shall return every man unto his possession and … unto his family." And, in the year of jubilee the field shall return … to him to whom the possession of the land did belong (Lev. 27:24). The year of jubilee points to when Jesus will restore all things in the church age and to Israel, which Peter refers to and draws from prophetically in Acts 3.

The Gospel of John is another example that has constant references to the Old Testament pictures:

Chapter 1: Jesus is introduced as the Lamb of God, a reference to the sacrificial lambs for sin.

Chapter 1:14: Christ is portrayed as the tabernacle when referred to as the Word was made flesh and dwelt (or was tabernacle) among us.

Chapter 2: Jesus compares Himself to the temple.

Chapter 3: We see Him in the brazen serpent, high and lifted up to save us from our sins and redeem us from judgment and destruction.

Chapter 4: Jesus compares Himself to Jacob’s well when responding to the Samaritan woman’s questions.

Chapter 6: He is the true manna sent down from heaven.

Chapter 7: He is the smitten rock from which water flows as the rivers of living water.

Chapter 8 & 9: Jesus is the light of the world.

Chapter 10: He is the antitype of all the shepherds of the Old Testament.

Chapter 12: Jesus is the corn of wheat that falls into the ground and dies that brought forth the sheaf of the first fruits of the church.

Chapter 13: He is the laver of Moses’ tabernacle, which brings cleansing.

Chapter 15: He is the true vine in contrast with the vine that He brought out of