First Wednesday, April 2026
Type: Wednesday Evening Service
Series: First Wednesday
Sermon: Worthy
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen
First Wednesdays are different kinds of services. They are broken up into smaller segments, and usually include interactive elements.
Worship is more than singing—it's an act of humbling yourself before God through multiple expressions including prayer, giving, service, and communion. True worship involves surrendering your entire self to God, praying for others even when it's difficult, and serving faithfully in anticipation of what God will do. When you worship God with a grateful heart, especially before seeing the victory, there is a spiritual liberation and power that releases you from bondage and invites God's miraculous presence.
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(Keep in mind this is done by an AI using an audio recording, and it includes singing which is particularly difficult for AI transcription engines. This transcript should be taken with a grain of salt. 😏)
You may or may not know, but today is considered Holy Wednesday.
And there's no better place to be than in the house of the Lord.
You may be seated at this time.
Wednesday also has another name that you might not be familiar with.
It's also called Spy Wednesday.
And it's called By Wednesday, because Wednesday is the day that Judas Iscariot took the 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus.
And I just want you to think about this whole idea of betrayal for a second.
Because a lot of people blame Judas and say he was a horrible guy.
But really humanity in general betrayed Jesus.
We all are the ones who sent him to the cross, unjustifiably so.
But simultaneously, his death on the cross is the reason that you and I are all here today.
Because we get to celebrate the consequences of that death.
Yeah, they were negative on Friday, but on Sunday everything changed.
Everything changed.
And because of that, Jesus has shown himself worthy.
Would you say the word worthy with me?
Worthy.
Again. worthy.
Jesus is worthy of our praise.
He is the the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, co-equal with God, no different from God, and so we worship him.
Now what's so interesting is there are numerous words both in the Hebrew language and in the Greek language that describe the acts of worship that we perform.
And two of the key words that are found in the Old Testament both mean to bow down.
Now this might sound ironic But when I was bowing down earlier this evening, I felt liberated.
You would think when you bow down to somebody that that by submitting to them, you are you are bound in some way, shape, or form.
But just the opposite happens.
When you truly worship God from a grateful heart, there is a release that comes over your soul in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
And humbling yourself and bowing down is one of the most important ways that you can get to that place in your life.
The Greek and Hebrew words have a a lot of different ways of of worshiping God.
And so so that's what we're going to talk about tonight is is how can we appropriately worship Jesus for the sacrifice that he made on Good Friday?
Well, we've already started with singing four different songs.
And you might have noticed that there was a little different feel to the first two and the second two.
This speaks to the power of music in our lives.
You need to understand that we were created to sing.
Who can say amen?
So when when I hear people say, Oh, I don't sing, no, no, no.
You might not sing well okay but you sing because you were created to allow those different things to come out of your mouth in praise and worship of Jesus Christ who can say amen So I started looking through the Bible here this week in regards to singing, and I came up with more than a dozen different ways to sing towards God.
I'm not going to be able to talk about all of those tonight.
That's going to be a different message.
But I want to share with you the very first time people sang to God in the Bible was In Exodus chapter 15.
And it was Moses and it was Miriam, and they both sang songs in response to something great that God had done.
This is what they said.
I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.
He's triumphed gloriously.
And they wanted to sing about it.
And if you're not familiar with the story They went across the Red Sea on dry ground and the Egyptians were coming to kill them, and all of a sudden the waves came on top of the Egyptians and they were wiped out.
And Moses and the Israelites and Miriam were just celebrating for joy.
The great thing that God had done.
This is a specific song of thanks.
Alright?
But I skipped the first one that I wanted to talk about, and that's singing to God a general song of appreciation.
In First Chronicles chapter 13, the ark Of the covenant is being brought back to the city of Jerusalem.
And David starts singing a song in celebration.
And he focuses on the character of God.
Now, maybe everyone here doesn't understand the character of God.
Usually it takes a revelation of some kind, and what I mean by that Is something bad happens to you and you learn a new character of God's grace.
For example, something bad or evil happens, and all of a sudden God swoops in and saves you, and you Find out that God is good, who can say amen?
Or maybe you've experienced a lot of unfaithfulness in your life Maybe mom and dad aren't there.
Maybe a spouse has committed adultery.
Maybe your children don't talk to you, or your parents don't talk to you, or something like that.
And God swoops in and And makes a promise to you.
I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.
And day after day, week after week, he he reassures that promise.
And the longer you walk with him, you realize God is faithful.
And so you can sing a song of God's faithfulness, God's awesomeness, God's power, God's goodness.
But in that same chapter, this is what it says.
David actually appointed priests to sing to God regularly.
In that same scripture it says every single day.
And then it goes a step further, every morning and every night.
Think about that.
There were dozens of people who were full-time praise and worship leaders 3,000 years ago.
That's how they got paid.
That's how they made their living was singing to God every single day.
Who can say amen?
And they were leading an entire nation in how to properly worship God.
The last thing is interesting because I talked about how after a victory you praise and worship God There's an unusual story in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 where King Hezekiah commands the choir. choir to go in front of the army before the battles won.
So there's this indication that praise and worship is so powerful.
It's not just something you do after the fact It's something you do in faith, believing that God's going to give you the victory.
Who can say amen?
So I know some of you are struggling right now But did you know one of the keys is worshiping God in the middle of the struggle?
Worshiping God before Before you get the victory, it is a true sign of faith, and it is a power that overwhelms the enemy Now there's another thing that I want you to understand tonight.
Did you know that praying in and of itself is worship?
If you actually pray to God, you are humbling yourself and admitting your need.
You are communicating, you know what?
I can't deal with this.
I can't handle this.
I'm not big enough for this.
So I'm going to take this need to God.
Listen to what First Timothy chapter 2 says.
Two different verses.
I'm going to start with verse 8.
In every place of worship.
Is this a place of worship?
Yeah, okay.
So in every place of worship, I want people to pray with holy hands, lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.
So this is what he's saying.
He's saying if you really want an answer to your prayer Make sure that you're not holding a grudge against another human being.
If you really want God to intervene on your behalf, you have to release those people who've done something to you.
Now you might say Pastor, I can't do that.
I get it.
But the Holy Spirit living in you can do it in Jesus' name.
And so I just want to encourage you tonight to release any anger, any resentment, any bitterness, because God wants to answer prayer tonight.
Who can say amen?
So one of the best ways to get your prayers answered is to pray for somebody else.
Listen to this.
First Timothy chapter 2 verse 1.
I urge you first of all, that this is the priority, to pray for all people Ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
So, this is what I want you to do I have given everybody at least eight dots.
Wave your dots at me.
Let me see them.
You got your dots?
You got your dots?
All right.
If you don't have dots, we can get them to you because now I'm putting you to work right now.
I want everyone to take their dots and I want you to pray over at least. eight chairs and I want you to pray for the people that are going to be here this Sunday Easter Sunday and so young people start moving right now Take take this first row and go down there.
They don't have enough down there.
Alright?
Second row probably needs to go to this section right here.
So everybody look at me right now.
Look at me.
You guys are the prayer warriors right now, okay?
Your prayers are gonna make a difference in this church this Sunday So on the count of three, I'm going to release you to start praying over these chairs.
And when you're done, put one of these green dots on that chair so we know it's already been prayed for, okay?
Now the worship team is going to be singing while we do this. feel free to sing along while this is taking place.
So sing, pray, pray, sing, sing, pray.
On the count of three.
One Two, three, start praying.
Jesus, Jesus, call joy, Jesus.
Oh we pray Cover Lord Jesus Com along Jesus Com along Jesus.
Lift your voice, cry out, Come Lord, Jesus.
Jesus Jesus We've gathered today We've gathered today To seek your face to turn from my ways to humbly praise.
So hear our prayer.
Forgive our sins.
Won't you reach out your hand?
Lord, come heal our land as we sing Jesus.
Come on, Jesus, Common, Jesus Common.
Jesus Cobal Jesus Cur Jesus One more time we say come Lord to come Jesus Come Jesus Commodus Just our voices we sing Commodus.
Ask you to go alone, Jesus Christ.
Have rescued my life.
You have rescued my life as done my cloud.
Oh, you rescue my life.
And I don't You have a rescue You have rescued my life This morning I restore how you are like My response.
I label you whoever rescue, you ever rescue my life.
You will rescue my life and you will rescue my life.
You have to rescue my life You have a rescue by a lie and join the I wish I might sound like You have a rescue.
Oh, you have rescued my life and my Jesus, you have rescued my life.
You have rescued my life and I now Thank you for your participation.
My goal is to have every seat.
Prayed for before we leave tonight.
So feel free to stay at the end if you see any seats that don't have a green dot on them.
Uh I think it speaks Well, thank you so much for everyone's participation in that part.
You can be seated.
You can keep praying too if you want.
Remember, first Wednesdays are a little different than our normal church services.
There's a lot that goes on because I'm trying to teach that you guys are as much a part of what takes place during a service as the pastor is.
This isn't about some star who sings or some star who preaches.
This is a call.
Cooperative joint effort to hear from God and obey what He has to say to us.
And so your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
It's really interesting that in the New Testament we we changed a word, and the word is offering.
So in the in the Old Testament, an offering was primarily an animal that was sacrificed and given to God.
And in the New Testament, since there were no more animal sacrifices needed because of the death of Jesus Christ.
Something different had to had to be behind this.
And it's the offering of your Entire self to God.
Romans chapter 12 actually tells us that we're supposed to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, really referring to an offering.
We give ourselves to God because you're a living sacrifice you're not a a dead sacrifice and so in psalm chapter 96 verse 7 it says this give to the lord oh families of the people So I believe God wants us to give our families to God tonight.
So I'm going to ask Pastor Scott to come on up here.
And he's going to lead us in a prayer over our families because many of us are impacted either positively or or negatively by our family environments.
And so if it's negatively, we think that what we need to do is fight back, but that's That's the wrong thing to do.
If you're being impacted negatively, what you need to do is you need to dedicate them to the Lord You need to pray for them.
Remember the scripture earlier.
Pray for all people, even those that are rubbing you the wrong way.
Pray for all people, even a mom and dad that have deserted you and you don't understand. for all people.
Pray for for the children and grandchildren that are yet to be born in your life.
God has something for you who can say amen.
So there's so much to pray about.
Here.
Pastor Scott, the floor is completely yours.
Father, we want to first thank you for our families.
We want to thank you, Lord, for instituting our families.
And God, I know every single person.
That is listening to this now has at least one person on their mind, on their heart, that has not surrendered their life to you.
God, it breaks my heart that as I think about this church, the only time that this auditorium has ever Been completely filled to capacity has been during two funerals.
And God, this Sunday, we're not having a funeral, we are having a celebration of life because Jesus is alive.
And so, God, I I want more people to have a celebration of life because God, there's a lot of people in our families that are walking around.
They don't realize it.
They think they're alive, but they are actually dead.
And God, we want them to come alive this Sunday.
In Jesus' name, God, we call out to them, we call their names out to you pro publicly right now.
And Satan, we put you on notice and we say, Your days are up, your time is limited.
That their salvation was bought on the cross thousands of years ago, and we're cashing that in, and we're saying your time is done.
Let go of them, release them, and let them walk into the power and the authority that they have in Jesus' name.
God, you have great and mighty things for them.
You have great and mighty things that surpass all of their understanding.
And God, we know that you want to see that surp that you want to see that come to pass.
And so God, we're going to do our part.
We're gonna stand in the gap and we're gonna lift them up to you.
God, I want to make it so difficult for anyone to go to hell in Oxford, in Summerfield, in Lady Lake, in Fruitland Park, in Leesburg, in O'Cala, in Oxford, in the village.
God, we want to be a beacon of light in this community that we will not allow anyone to go to hell.
God, that's what you've called us to do.
And God, I do pray for those that may be under the sound of my voice, that may be having difficulties forgiving someone.
There may be division in the family, God.
And God, I pray that you would help with the power of your Holy Spirit to let that go.
God, you have forgiven us of so much.
And I pray that you would remind us because sometimes we are so far away from our salvation experience, the day that it took place.
That we forget everything that you have forgiven us of.
But God, I can lift my hands and say, You have forgiven me of a whole lot.
And compared to what man has done to me, it does not compare to what I've done to you.
And so, God, I pray that you would.
Help us to release that forgiveness and release those grudges tonight and let healing take place in the families across this country in Jesus' name.
Amen and amen.
The scripture goes on in uh To talk about giving the Lord your service.
One of the Hebrew words for worship Is literally to serve God.
And so when it says this, give to the Lord glory and strength.
That's what it's referring to.
That you're to give your efforts, your service.
And so as you walked in, you received one of these cards.
And I just want to challenge you that when it comes to Easter this Sunday, not to think what can I get out of it, but what can I give?
What can I do to make a difference here at Oxford Assembly of God Church?
So I'm asking you to, in one of the two services, or both services, it's up to you, to mark down one of these things.
Things that are here.
You've got first impressions, you've got the next generation, you've got the atmosphere, and you might say, Pastor, I can't.
You you might be sitting over here, my parents won't let me, okay?
Or you might be thinking, uh You know, I've got a I gotta get to lunch.
I've I've got a special Easter thing going on.
Nothing is more important than what happens during these services this Sunday.
I'm just letting you know you can delay a lunch by an hour and make an eternal difference in somebody's life So whether you plan to serve or you haven't even planned, I want you to check something.
If you're thinking, I want to join the choir, guess what?
You'll be up here this Sunday We need more people in our choir.
And so I I want I want at least 30 people in the choir.
That's my goal.
I don't know what Pastor Jeff's goal is, but but I would love 30 people to be here on a regular basis. singing on First Wednesdays, special projects, other things that we do.
I think it's really important.
It sets an example.
It leads people in worship.
You might say, I don't know the songs.
Say watermelon, watermelon, watermelon, watermelon.
That's what I was taught when I was in choir, when I forgot the words.
Just say watermelon.
No one will ever know.
Okay, but but your presence will make a difference.
Your presence might actually make room for someone if we get too crowded, especially in that second service.
So I want you to consider that right now.
Mark something down.
If you don't think any of these things work turn the card over and say I'll pray for Sunday service okay you can pray even if you're not here you can pray for what's going on here Number three here is give the Lord an offering.
This is talking about money here.
Psalm 96, verse 8: Give to the Lord the glory to his name, bring an offering and come into his name. his courts.
So this is what we're gonna do.
We're gonna do something a little different.
Uh pastor and his wife, is she over here?
Oh, there she is.
Uh they are going to start an offering thing for you to place either your service card or an actual cash offering into this thing.
You might say, Pastor, what are we doing with the offering?
We have multiple mission projects that we're trying to raise money for.
We are going to Kenya.
We are going to Arizona.
We're trying to raise money to put pastors in Vietnam, Kenya, and Cuba.
And so those are different things that we are raising money for right now.
So all that money that's raised tonight is gonna go to missions unless you mark something else on an envelope, okay?
So right now they're gonna start handing these out And this is what happens when it gets to the back of the last row.
That person is going to bring that bag and they're going to present it to the Lord right here on this communion table.
Pastor, we're going to be singing so joyously.
In celebration, stand with me, please.
Here I am, and here I stand.
Lord, my life is in you.
Allow me to see your desires reveal.
In me, so I give myself away I give myself away so Can use me.
I give myself away.
Lord, I give myself away.
Take my heart, take my heart, take my eye as a Things that lives all my dreams and all my friends all I believe.
Take my life, take my heart, and take my life as a line.
Living stack revives all my dreams and all my friends all I blame Oh, I give my self away.
So you can use what I give myself away.
I give myself away.
So knew my life is not mine.
Say my life is not mine all to you.
I be an all Myself, I put myself to you.
You say it again, my life is not.
My life is not my own.
Do you I love I give myself, I give myself, I surrender my own, my life is not my own.
You got me all So I give myself, I give myself, saying if my life is not, my life is not to you.
I give myself.
I can nice that I give myself away, give myself away.
Away, so you can tonight, Lord.
I give myself away.
Oh, I give myself.
Away, so you take my heart, take my life as a All my plans I I place in the place.
Has everybody had an opportunity to place something in a bag?
Right here I see, okay.
Right over here, Amanda.
Uh Katie, right over here.
Anybody else?
There's one back here.
Would you just grab that please?
Thank you.
Anybody else The final thing here is communion is a form of worship.
Who grew up Catholic?
Anybody grew up Catholic?
So you're used to having communion Every single Sunday.
And one of the reasons is because that is an extremely important doctrine in the Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, in the Protestant branch of Christianity, We have almost devalued communion to the point where where many churches don't even really talk about it much.
A lot of times it's become like an add-on at the end of a service that's not discussed or it's placed in between two worship songs during praise and worship.
And hear me, there's nothing wrong with that.
What I feel is wrong is that we don't highlight communion enough.
We need to make a big deal out of communion for a number of different reasons.
It is a memorial of what Jesus Christ did.
Easter weekend.
And so we need to be reminded of it on a regular and a consistent basis.
And so I'm going to ask you to make your way to the closest communion table.
There's one here and there's one over there.
And then I want you to to gather in the middle here in one big group, and we are going to take communion together, and we're going to talk about it in just a little bit.
So start making your way and move to the middle, please.
Move to the middle.
Middle.
Go ahead.
Can't use me.
I give myself away.
She says I give myself away So you give me one more time I give myself away I give myself away so you can use me.
New song to hail who said my seat again worthy, say work Worthy is thought who was saying holy holies.
Sing a new song to him who sits on Hip Hand C.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was in his.
With all creation I sing, praise to the king of kings, you all might everything, and I live Okay, first thing I want you to do is take the cracker out of the bottom off and it it's gonna fall on the ground possibly But listen, listen to me guys.
In a church service, something supernatural takes place.
When you take communion The presence of God literally fills the house.
And when that happens, there are miracles that take place.
Now, you might think that sounds weird or strange, but I've seen people healed of cancer, I've seen people healed of gallstones, I've seen people healed of back issues, all during communion.
Because communion is about what was accomplished on the cross.
So when we do Easter service or Good Friday service or even communion service right now, we are trying to help you to understand that this represents the broken body of Jesus Christ.
Do you guys know?
Know what happened to Jesus?
They whipped him with a whip that had glass and metal in the end.
So that when it hit Jesus, it literally penetrated the skin and ripped it right off of his back.
That means the bones on his back were exposed, the nerve endings were ripped apart, blood was pouring out profusely, and even if he hadn't gone to the cross And they hadn't attended to him, he probably would have bled to death eventually.
On top of that, they put a crown of thorns on his head.
Beat him without mercy in the face.
The Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 52 that he was beaten so severely you couldn't even recognize him as Jesus Christ.
And you might say, Why would he do This because the Bible says he went to the cross.
He didn't have to do this.
And you know what it says in Hebrews chapter 12?
Who for the joy Set before him, he endured the cross.
In other words, he did it for you.
He did it for you.
He did it for you and you.
If you were the only person who ever believed in him, he still would have gone to the cross for one human being.
And let me tell you I believe hundreds are going to be saved this Easter Sunday.
Who can say amen?
So this represents the broken body.
So there's healing in the broken body, but this represents the blood that was shed.
Now it sounds gross, okay?
But for some reason, Leviticus tells us that life Is in the blood.
And we know that you take the blood out of any living creature and it dies Life is in the blood.
Oxygen is transported in the blood.
Everything good happens because we have blood.
That's why he required a blood sacrifice in the Old Testament, but it never forgave any.
And when Jesus came onto this planet and died, now all of the old testament people who put their faith in those sheep and goats and lambs, they were then forgiven of their sins and transported from Sheol to heaven.
That's another discussion, all right?
But listen to me, today you can be forgiven of all your sins by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
It's not a get-out of jail free pass and that life is easy after that.
Life is still going to be challenging and difficult.
But once you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, guess what?
Your heart changes, sin becomes offensive to you, and God walks with you everywhere.
Every single day, who can say amen?
Would you bow your heads with me just for a moment, please?
Father God, in this moment, I believe there are people here who would like to accept Jesus as Savior.
They may be embarrassed to raise a hand, so I'm not going to ask them to raise a hand.
I'm just asking them in the quietness of their own heart to accept Jesus as Savior right now and to trust him with their eternal souls.
I pray this in Jesus' name and everyone says Amen.
On the night Jesus was betrayed he took bread.
He blessed it.
He gave it to his disciples and he said, eat this in remembrance of me.
Let's eat the bread together.
On the same night he took the cup.
He blessed it.
He said, this cup represents a new covenant.
Covenant means promise.
Jesus made you a promise that he would change your life if you allow him to do it Drink this in remembrance of me.
Let's drink the cup together.
Go ahead.
Filled with wonders.
Filled with wonders.
One death or struck one dead at the mention of one day.
Say filled with wonder.
Filled with one time, walk struck one time, at the mention of your name.
Jesus, your name is power, forever never is free.
I have creation I see Praise and You are a toy Holy, holy, holy, holy, is God like that of my team is My eyes through all creation I say with me.
You all my everything and I will Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and gives you God.
With all creation I see Praise to the King of Kings You are my upbringing and I will Holy, holy, holy, it's not high.
You love my every way and I will until you will.
For you holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was and is God.
With all creation I see praise to the king of India You are everything and die I will PC Jesus, praise Jesus, praise Jesus.
Praise you, Jesus.
Praise you, Jesus.
You got one more?
Cause you have rescued my life.
You have rescued my life.
And I'm dead.
You have a rescue my life.
Rescue my mind, and I'm there.
Rescue my life You have rescued my life and I done we have My response war, my response is Oh my god, how they do not like Hallelujah, I mean small, I response, Hallelujah.
You want my material What you have?
You have a rescue.
You are rescued my life.
You have a rescue.
I have my You have rescued my eye, you have rescued my eye.
Never going back.
Lord, you are good and your mercy endure it forever.
Always give you praise.
Lord, you are good and your mercy endure it forever.
Say it again Lord, keep my good and your mercy endure it forever Lord, keep on good and your mercy, endure it forever.
People from the coordination, people from their coordination, from generation to generation, we are sending you Hallelujah, Hallelujah, we were saving Who you were saying.
Yes, you are, yes, you are, yes, you are.
So good, so good.
Yes you are, yes you are, yes you are.
Here we go.
Say you are good all time and all And all the time, you are good, so you are good all the time and all the time.
All the time you are good, you are good all the time, all the time, you are Lord, you are good, Lord, you are good, and your mercy can do.
Do it for heather.
Say Lord you are good at your mercy.
Do it forever.
Lift your voice, say Lord, you are good at your mercy.
And to report The Lord you are good at your mercy and to report People from every nation, people from every nation.
Shunning up from generation to generation We will share you Hallelujah Hallelujah, we will share you Who you were last time we were shared Hallelujah We were shared You are gay.
So good.
We s we started singing and we ended singing.
So youth, you're going to find your leader right now and back head back to the gym.
Adults, you need to find your leader too.
And head to wherever you're going tonight.
So God bless you all.
Uh that's the end.
My my voice is at it.
We made it.
I made it.
