How God Uses Worship to Transform People

Using Isaiah 6, Jordan Yoshimine talks about how God uses times of worship to transform lives. He teaches us that in worship, we can see the Lord, experience deep conviction for sin, receive cleansing, and then be commissioned by God for service. (From #357 - What Role Does Worship Play in Freedom from Porn?)

Jim: Jordan, I've asked you to come in today to talk to our listeners about the value of worship and the role that worship plays in helping a man gain freedom from addiction to pornography and to sexual sins. And you've been here Pure Life for some years now, and like all of our staff you came through the Residential Program as a student. You have your own testimony about how the Lord used worship in your life. Now you’re Assistant Director of Counseling. You see firsthand the changes in men's lives as they encounter God in worship and the lives of your own counselees. They tell you how God met them in worship services. Besides all that, your seat during worship services is on the platform, and so you have the distinct advantage of being able to see what's going on in the men during the worship services, and I think all this qualifies you in a unique way to speak about the role of worship in the lives of men seeking freedom from bondage to habitual sin. So talk to me, if you would please, about what you've experienced and what you regularly see. How does God use worship in the lives of our men?

Jordan: Yeah, it was an interesting topic when you emailed me about doing a podcast regarding worship. My immediate thoughts went to worship in the church, worship as evidenced in the church today, and I was grieved. My grief was based on what I had experienced in worship before I came to Pure Life, as far as worship was concerned.

Worship at Pure Life Ministries, I believe, is what the Lord really intended for worship to be. Our worship is the singing of praise, the testifying of different people, members of the body, during that service, and it really transformed my thinking about what singing praise songs and worship songs and testifying during services really means. It was a revelation to me.

Jim: Jordan, I see you've opened your Bible. Was there a passage of Scripture that you wanted to share with us today?

Jordan: We’re Biblical Counselors, and so we're going to preach from the Word. So if I did not use a scripture in defining what worship services are like at Pure Life, I would be doing the Lord a disservice and I wouldn't be anchoring it in anything. It would just be my own opinion, so I'm going to anchor it in the Word and then describe what I've seen, It’s Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

<pull-quote>Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

Jordan: I mean, powerful, right? That passage really describes one of the aspects of what happens during worship and what I believe the church is really intended for. Music, worship in services; If you have a walk with God during the week, if you are seeking the Lord, as our students are, they're required to spend 15 minutes in the Word, 15 minutes in prayer, they have homework, they are in Bible studies, they are in prayer groups, and they’re at Pure Life, so the place itself is full of the presence of the Holy Spirit, so throughout the week they are immersed in the Word, they're immersed in prayer, they are practicing the presence of the Lord throughout the week. So when they come to service, their heart is… the pump is primed, so to speak. So when a song comes up that is, like this passage is saying, where they're being confronted with the holiness of the Lord,  we're singing songs about the holiness of the Lord, the Lord has a tremendous opportunity to use that song for a man to see “Wow, this is how holy the Lord is, and this is my condition, this is who I am before a holy God.” Man! Repentance! Just this undoing of the self-life! However, that would not be possible if the man was not inundating himself, immersing himself in the Word, in prayer, and all those things throughout the week. So, if you look at the church today, music and worship, praise songs have become entertainment. But that's not what the Lord intended.

Number one, He intended worship to glorify Himself to bring glory to Himself. But for us, in our Residential Program, we're seeing the effect that a godly life; someone who's walking with the Lord comes into service, sings a song, hears the song, the Holy Spirit comes through the song and does a deep, deep work in bringing a man to repentance, or shedding light on just how merciful the Lord is, or His holiness, or His lowliness, His character.

Jim: One of the things that we pray for, and I know that this is part of your testimony, I know you've seen it in the lives of your men: we pray all the time that men will get a sight of God; that men will get a sight of Jesus, that men will get a sight of the cross. Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord and we're always praying that men will get a heavenly sight. How have you seen this come true for you or for your men?

Jordan: I was taking notes, and I was thinking, interesting how the Lord will use something that happened while I was in the program, and it's just stored away, and I've shared it with a few people but really it was, I know where I was sitting in the chapel. I know the song: the song was called “Knowing You.” And as I was singing the song, and it says, “And I love you, Lord.” And I just started weeping, because for the first time in my life, that meant something. I could say without any hesitation that from the bottom of my heart that was true. I truly loved the Lord. And that was a revelation, it was a revelation of where I had been and where I was now in that moment. And now, every time I hear that song, I am reminded again how worship affects you. You sing some songs over a period of time and what has happened with that song now, what the Lord does with that song is a spirit of gratitude. I listen to that song, I sing that song and I'm so grateful for that moment in time where the Lord revealed Himself to me and said, “Jordan, you really do love Me!” This is actually true in your life, and you can actually sing this with deep conviction and love for Me.”

Worship is amazing, and when you are walking with the Lord, and singing in the Spirit, in an environment where the Holy Spirit is present, there is nothing like worship to the Lord. And then, what the Lord is doing inside of you and giving you that sight of who He is. His holiness, I think, is here in our chapel. We sing a lot about God, about His holiness, not what God does for us, but really, His character. And I really believe that those songs, the songs we choose, really allow the students to see His holiness. When we see God's holiness, we see ourselves before a holy God, we see ourselves rightly. And we're saying, “I am a man with unclean lips. I am a wretch. I am a sinner and in need of repentance.” And so a lot of times, during the worship service, you see men (because I'm up on the platform, as you said)  you see men become undone. They're singing a song, and they begin weeping. And then you see them, and the altar call comes, that same man comes up to the altar, again in tears, and you see him on campus the next week, the next month, and he's a different person. But it was that song again, all the stuff that led up to that service that happens throughout the week, and then God will use a song, or someone testifying as a form of worship, and the Lord uses all of that together, and the culmination is that song, that form of worship where he's singing… Music has that effect on people where He really does something. He goes into people, and they get a sight, and that's it, they're done.

<pull-quote>It is such a privilege to see men come to the end of themselves and into a walk with the Lord.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

Jim: One of the things that we teach, of course, right out of the Scripture, is that the conviction of the Holy Spirit leads to a godly sorrow, as opposed to the worldly sorrow that they came in with, and that godly sorrow leads to repentance. And repentance is the change that God is looking for. Now often, that happens in the context of a worship service and we get to see it unfold right before our eyes.

Jordan: Yeah, it's I mean it really is an immense privilege. You know, Jim, you've been in ministry for many years, decades, and me growing up in the church. And not having witnessed this on a weekly basis, you know, we get to see that every week, twice a week services. And then Friday night services, some of our Bible studies, when we're playing worship music or whatever.  It is such a privilege to see men come to the end of themselves and into a walk with the Lord. And it's as simple as a song, and as simple as a phrase from a song, especially when we sing choruses and you sing them 2 or 3 times, that 3rd chorus, that's the one when the Spirit  really hits a person, and the reality of what that chorus says. You know, “You’re my all, You’re the best, You’re my joy. My righteousness, and I love You Lord. Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing.” Right? I mean that, for me, just that did it, that undid me. You know, Revelation Song. There's just so many different songs that just… “In Christ alone.”  I mean, just have had a tremendous impact on me, and it is such a privilege to see men come into saving faith, through worship, through worship songs. Even before, I mean, honestly, our songs are before the sermon, and so it had nothing to do with what the pastor said. It's just the Holy Spirit, and using worship as a form of bringing a person into the Kingdom. Amazing!

Jim: Well, going back to our passage in Isaiah 6. He sees the Lord. In light of His Holiness, he is undone. He sees his uncleanness, his total depravity. But God didn't just show him his sin to leave him there. What happened after that?

Jordan: Isn't it amazing how God will use whatever means possible in order to bring us to a place where we surrender our lives to Him. And when we get a sight of the Lord, and here's the thing: we're just talking about one way that the Lord will do this. He does it in multiple other ways. Here at the ministry, and throughout the world, miracles or in the quietness of someone's room, He brings us all to that place, whatever the means, to a place where we see our depravity, and we see our need, and that's exactly what happened to Isaiah. “I am a man with unclean lips.” But God doesn't leave us there. He wants us to admit that, He requires us to admit we are sinners; we are destitute without You. But then He comes in in His mercy. And just says, “Ok. Here you are now cleansed.” And really for us, in the New Covenant, it’s the blood of the Lamb. And we're forgiven of our sins, as far as the east is from the west, so our transgressions are removed from us (2 Corinthians 5:17) We are new creation, the old has passed away; behold, a new creation has come. We're dead, we're dead to our old selves. John 3, Nicodemus, we are truly born again,

But it takes that sight of the Lord, that first part of Isaiah. We need to have that sight of the Lord and see who we are before a holy God. And that's exactly what happened to Isaiah. He saw God's perfect holiness and who he was before a holy God, and he was like, “I'm nothing! I'm a sinner! I don't even deserve to be in Your presence! I don't even deserve… and God, in His mercy, said yes (Wow, what an amazing God) I come and I'm offering you forgiveness and cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ, and forgiveness of sins. But now there's a responsibility. He's just not going to leave us there.

<pull-quote>God's saving faith is not ever for us alone. It's for us to multiply, to go out and do the same for others, in our homes, in our churches, in our community, in our country, in the world.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

Jim: Alright, after his purification, after his sin was atoned for, he overheard God saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Talk to me about Isaiah’s response.

Jordan: Yeah, we're called.  He asked us, “What are we going to do with that? What are you going to do with that?” The, it's the call. It's Matthew 28. It is in line with that, and He says, “Whom shall I send?” You've come into something. What are you going to do with it? And Isaiah said, “Here I am, send me.” And I think that was actually a theme for one of our conferences. But it is true; it is a call. “I've seen what you've done for me, Lord. Now I want to return that mercy that You've given to me and go out and make disciples of all nations, to multiply God's mercy.” God's saving faith is not ever for us alone. It's for us to multiply, to go out and do the same for others, in our homes, with our marriage, with our wives, with their children, with our churches, with our community, with our country, with this world.

And especially in these days and times, the call is going out, and I think, the focus in our ministry has always been discipleship, that has been in the benchmark or one of the pillars - but it's there's a sense of urgency. I think now, with the staff, that we are living in perilous times and – this isn't just about bringing a man into faith. It is this call. You know, talking to guys as they're getting ready to graduate, “You have a call on your life and a call to minister God's mercy to others, and so what does that look like?” I really do believe, more now than ever, God's call is shouting a little louder at Pure Life Ministries, for sure.

Jim: It’s a great passage of Scripture, but thank you for showing us how this happens in the lives of our men and how it happened in your life as well. Thanks for coming in today.