MovementLeadership Solutions

Last Sunday evening service of 2020 About 61 minutes

Wasted Worship

Pastor Erickson preaches from Mark 14 and Luke 7, where a woman breaks her alabaster box of costly spikenard over Jesus while others in the house call it a waste, and he shares lessons the year 2020 taught him about worship. He calls the church never to take the house of God or their breath for granted and to stop holding back their worship, because the only wasted worship is worship that stays in the box.

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The message in 6 points

  1. A few nevers from 2020

    He reads of the woman who broke her alabaster box over Jesus while others murmured that it was a waste. On the last Sunday night of the year he says 2020 has taught him a few nevers, and he wants this to be a message of praise and worship.

    52:27

  2. Never take the house of God for granted

    Jesus sat at a table in the Pharisee's house, something that meant more after a year apart. He is thankful for online services, but there is nothing like being in the house of the Lord, and being there is a privilege, not a right.

    1:03:28

  3. Never hold back on your worship

    Spikenard was rare and worth about a year's wages, and people who had seen Jesus do miracles counted the cost and called her worship a waste. He says we may not get another chance, so we should give God our best praise now and not just a little dab.

    1:08:46

  4. Do not lose your sense of smell

    The aroma of the broken box was a call to worship that the people in the house missed. Another person's worship should stir us to worship, not give us an attitude, and we should be thankful for every breath and give it back to God in praise.

    1:17:37

  5. She has done what she could

    Jesus was not caught off guard by who came to the house; he defends the woman and says she has done what she could. She gave him everything, and her worship anointed his body for burial, an aroma he carried all the way to the cross.

    1:33:10

  6. Break open the box

    The only wasted worship is worship that stays in the box. He calls anyone who held back their worship during the year to break the box open now, give God their best praise, and seek the Holy Ghost before the year ends.

    1:43:12

In his words

“It's a bad place for a person to be when you count the cost of worship and you come up to a conclusion that it's too costly.”

1:14:20

“Lord, if you put breath in my body, I can't help but to return it to you and give you the praise that's due your name.”

1:27:02

“The only wasted worship that there is is worship that remains in the box.”

1:43:57

Taken word for word from the video, with punctuation added.

Scripture

He reads

Mark 14:3-5

3And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? 5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

King James Version.

51:07Other messages on this passage
Luke 7:36-39

36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

King James Version.

59:09Other messages on this passage
Luke 7:44-50

44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

King James Version.

1:00:11Other messages on this passage
Mark 14:8

8She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

King James Version.

1:37:02Other messages on this passage

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