Motive Is Everything | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson by Chad Erickson First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Amos 5:21-23, Psalm 100:1-2, Psalm 96:1, Psalm 98:1, Isaiah 42:10, Psalm 29:2, Psalm 96:9, Romans 12:1, Psalm 24:3-6, Psalm 42:1, Psalm 63:1, Psalm 42:2, Psalm 143:6, Psalm 107:9, Matthew 5:6, John 6:35, John 7:37, Joshua 5:1-3, Leviticus 10:1-2 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--motive-is-everything Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ Somebody grab your Bibles and turn with me to Amos 5 and verse 21. Amen. So good to see everyone in the house of the Lord. What a what a great host of worshippers in the house today. Amen. And as Pastor Hammond already said, we have so many guests that are here. Thank you for making this your place of worship. Uh senior pastor, first lady uh are at uh brother and sister Britz, brother Shane Britt uh at their church in Alabama preaching this morning. They'll be headed back this afternoon. We'll be with us in service tonight. Uh but they s they send their love, they send their greeting, and we always miss them when they're not here. Amen. And so good to have uh friends, friends of ours, the Greens. We love you all. So thankful for the ministry that you have for decades here in this great county. Uh they've pastored uh they've been worship leaders uh been senior pastors uh of a great church here in in Blunt County. And we're so thankful that you're here worshiping with us today. It means a lot that you're at First Apostolic Church family. Can we welcome them right here from Blunt County? We love ministry that come and worship with us from other churches. Amen. So good to have the Hubas with us all the way from Florida, Tallahassee, Florida, the capital of Florida. They have been pastoring there for for some decades now. Uh they and now their son-in-law, their daughter and son-in-law, uh Jonathan and Tiffany. Uh just so excited that you're with us today. They drove they probably drove the furthest to be here. They are on vacation in the mountains, but they're in the North Carolina mountains. I think they drove some two hours to be in service with us this morning. Aren't you glad? Thank you, Pastor Sister Hugh. But thank you. Listen, it takes a real Christian not only to go to church on vacation, but to drive two hours to church on vacation. And we count that an honor. Thank you for being here. You have so many friends, Amen, in this house today. We're glad you're here today. I know we have we have a sister all the way from from Germany that's with us. uh so thankful that she is here with us today uh from brother Krauss's church in Germany in Augsburg Germany. Put your hands together. Are you thankful all over the world? We we welcome you if you're at First Apostolic. Whether from this county, from this country, or out of this nation, we welcome you here today. Amen. Today, Amos 5 21. Oh my word. To begin a text with these two words is difficult, but it simply says, "I hate I despise your feast days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me, watch this right here, the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy vials. The Living Bible says in verse 23, "Away with your hymns of praise. They are mere noise in my ears." God said, 'I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. But then I want to turn to Psalm 100. I don't want to just We got to We got to put some positive into the scripture text. I don't want to lose you so early in the sermon. Verse one says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye land. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Just for a few minutes, I I want to preach this. Motive is everything. Motive is everything. When it comes to our worship, when it comes to our worship, it's all about our motive. Let's just lift up our hands right now. Come on. Can we touch the throne room right now before we preach? Father, we love you. Lord, I'm so thankful, Lord, for a house filled with worshippers and praisers. a house filled with people who fear you, who love you, Lord, who have come to extol your name and to give you praise and glory. That's due your name. Lord, I pray, Lord, as I begin to preach this morning, God, as we begin to share with them what you've given me, what you've placed into my heart, God, I I believe that you're going to touch us, Lord God. You're going to speak into our minds. And Lord, we're going to leave this place different than the way we came. Lord, I want to be a worshshiper, not just a worshipper, but a worshshiper with pure motives, a worshshiper with holy motives. Lord God, that you're pleased with the way that I worship, Lord God, and how I worship your name. Come on, praise him and clap your hands under him if you love him, if you're thankful, that he will receive our worship today. Come on. He will receive our worship today. But it's all about the motive that we have. You may be seated in the house of the Lord. I refuse to sing a song with no savor. In the Old Testament, the piece of furniture that was placed at the entryway to the Holy of Holies was called the altar of incense. It was this incense, it was the sweet odor, the sweet aroma that filled this holy place. It was a a beautiful smell that attracted God. It was how his presence was felt by his people. was how his people were able to call down the presence of their God into the tabernacle that soon became the temple. It was burned within an altar. It was a gift. It was an offering. It was a form of worship that the Old Testament, it was their way. They said, "If we want to be in the presence of God, we've got to make it a place that reverences him and not only reverences him, but attracts him into our presence. It's how the priest did it." But in the in the New Testament, we understand that replacing this altar of incense, this fire and this incense was replaced with prayer and with praise. Vocal worship replaced this altar of incense. No longer would it be a sweet aroma, a smell, but now it would be a sound. It would be a form of worship. It would be the people of God lifting up their voices in praise and adoration and honor to their God. And oh, did not the choir lead us so beautifully in worship this morning? Are you thankful for the sanctuary choir? area. Are you thankful for over a 100 people, 150 people who are willing to get here early on a Sunday morning and early on a Sunday night to lead us into worship? It's what we do here in a Pentecostal service. Matter of fact, we can't hardly be Pentecostal unless we make a joyful noise, unless we sing unto the Lord. It's our form of worship. It's it's our altar of incense. It's our sweet smelling savor. It's not the catchy tunes that we sing. It's it's not some cool lyrics. And listen, we we want to be relevant. We when we sing around here, my wife and and the the music team does such an amazing job making sure we sing relevant songs. You say, "Revance songs. What do you mean?" Well, we want to sing the God song for the church. And when I say that God's song for the church, it's it's the type of songs that we know that when we sing them, it's going to get the church into the presence of God. Every church has a different God song. Every church uh from the north, right, to the south, out west, different styles, different genres. And and don't don't ask me what genre Jesus loved because Jesus was not American. And I promise you, he did not grow up on these Christian artists that we might grow up on today. Matter of fact, his favorite instrument was not the guitar. It was probably the sitar. When if you've ever heard one of those, you have to be into that type of music. But here, the the point is this. I I thank God for the ability. I thank God for the talent. I thank God for those that want to make a joyful noise through skilled singing, through practice. I I thank God for a choir that gets here early, musicians that get here early. I I thank God that they got on Planning Center and they learned the songs before they showed up to practice. I >> I thank God that we have a church that prepares and and we feel that our God is worthy of the highest praise and and we're the highest praise means we're going to have to put some time and effort into our praise. >> But it's not about the songs we sing. It's not about the style. Southern gospel, black gospel, uh, rap, uh, alternative. There's all kinds of different genres. And you might have a favorite genre, but it's not about the genre. It's all about the person who's worshiping. And it's all about the song that's being sang. Uh, I I'll prove it to you because in God's ears, what sounds good to us, it doesn't have to sound good to God as far as the style, but it's all about the worshipper. I I want to begin with the psalm because the Bible says in Psalm 96 and1, "Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord, all the earth." Psalm 98:1 again says, "Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song." Isaiah 42:10 says, "Sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise from the end of the earth." God requires a new song because an old song could become too familiar. Here it is. And I I'm not preaching against our old hymns. Please understand, I'm not preaching against the the hymns that I grew up on. Oh, I love Oh, I want to see him look upon his face. I love I fly away. Oh, glory, I'll fly away. It's talking about our future. These these are beautiful songs. And it's not saying we can't sing songs we sang in yester year. It's simply saying don't get so hooked on a song that you don't sing a new song. Don't go don't become so into a song because here's what happens. Old songs become rituals that there there are religions out there that they are singing the same songs they've always sang. They're they're chanting chants. They're they're reading sayings and and different scriptures that they read every single Sunday. And ritual is what religion is formed from. Do we understand that? That that's where that's where religion comes to place. God is not a god of religion. And God is a God of relationship. He's looking for a people who want to take time out of their busy schedule to say, "God, I give you the very first day of my week. I give you my very first praise of the week before I do anything at work. Before I do anything on the job, before I do anything in my career, in school, in college, on Sunday, I'm giving this day to you. This is your day. You've made it. We're going to rejoice and be glad in it. and we're going to give you the high praise. The first fruit of our worship goes to our God. >> The first fruit, but at the same time, we understand it's a relationship. It's a relation, a relation. Oh, we have this kind of relationship with our God. God, you didn't want us to be ritualistic. You didn't want us to have idols in our life. You didn't want us to to bow down to things. You didn't want us to set up grave images. You want us to have a relationship with you. Jesus said, "The Father seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth." He's looking for people that will worship him in emotion and worship him in truth. So he said, "Sing unto the Lord a new song." What about lyrics? Oh, lyrics are so important. Worship lyrics are so important because it causes us to think about what we're singing and it causes us to think about who we're worshiping. A song forces us a new song forces us to think about oh the relationship we have with our God. It's fresh. It's new. So motive is everything when it comes to worship. We see God has a requirement when it comes to the song and he also has a requirement when it comes to the worshipper. Psalm 29:2 says, "Give unto the Lord the glory. Do unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Psalm 96:9 says, "Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth." Romans 12:1, the English Standard Version. I like this. You're going to recognize this. It says, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." The King James says, "Your reasonable service." But I like this right here because it is our spiritual worship. How we look and how we act and how we how we present ourselves. It's all about worship unto God. Worship is so much more than just a song. Worship is so much more than just lifting hands. Wouldn't it be easy if all worship was was just coming to a church once a week and just lifting our hands? But worship is so much more than that. Worship is our daily lifestyle of holiness. Worship is our daily lifestyle of righteousness. Our worship is not measured on how well we can sing. It's it's not measured upon how well we can play a musical instrument. All that is just noise unto God unless there's holiness in a holy lifestyle backing it up. Amos 5 and23 he says away with your hymns of praise. They are mere noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music no matter how lovely it is. Worship without holiness is nothing more than an empty sound. And God didn't hate Israel's song because they sounded bad. It was because their hearts were cluttered with sin. In Romans 12:1, their music, it was a knowing racket in the ears of God. He says, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your spiritual worship. It's your reasonable service. Even if our music is amazing, God will hit the mute button if we don't live holy lives. In order to truly worship with a correct motive, I must present my body holy and acceptable unto him. It's spiritual worship. We can't live like the devil all week and then show up on a Sunday and think that we're going to be worshippers. >> Come on. Can I Can I just preach where we're living just for a moment? I know it's Sunday morning, but it's okay. It's all right. I I just believe sometimes we can we can have these dark secret lifestyles that nobody else knows about it and somehow we're just going to show up to church and say, "Well, because nobody else knows about it, I can lift up my hands. I I can read the verse lifting up holy hands." And God is simply looking down and saying, "Just because you lift up your hands. Just because you call out my name in a worship song does not mean that I have to receive it. He says, "Because it's just a noise to me." In Psalm 24:3, the Bible says, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or shall stand in his holy place? Who shall stand up in the sanctuary?" It says, "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessings from the Lord." Now, come on. Here's the benefits right here. He shall receive the blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him. They seek thy face, oh Jacob. Come on, somebody. Are you glad to be a part of a church that understands that true holiness is not about a hair length. It's not about what you wear. True holiness is about what happens on the inside that overflows onto the outside. It's the way your heart is. is the way that our motives are in your purity on the inside will be reflected on the outside. It's not vice versa. It's doesn't start with the outside. It starts on the inside because God sees the heart. >> Man sees the outside. All we can do is see one another. And we can create an opinion of one another by what we see. >> And it's important that we're not a stumbling block to one another. It's important that when you look at me, I portray holiness. I don't pray to be seen, but we ought to be seen praying. I don't worship to be seen, but I ought to be seen worshiping. It's the outward that it's just an overflow from the from the inside. But here's where a God looks down at his people and says, "I want to be in your presence just as bad as you want to be in my presence." But there has to be holiness. For we have to be holy for our God is holy. And you can't be holy without the Holy Ghost. >> It's a spirit of God that's inside of us. When you receive this gift of the Holy Ghost, the spirit of God on the inside, this is where holiness begins. Uh is when the Holy Ghost takes control of your life and you you you you say, "I surrender to your spirit. I surrender to your ways. I surrender to you, God, because there's a hunger for holiness when the Holy Ghost takes control. That's why we're so excited. We preached about it last Sunday. We're so excited about the Holy Ghost being poured out upon all flesh. Whether it's apostolic, whether it's Baptist, whether it's Methodist, Presbyterian, the Holy Ghost is being poured out. And we're excited about that because that's when holiness can begin. Holiness is not an apostolic thing. Holiness is not a Pentecostal thing. Holiness is a is a Bible thing. That's why the Holy Ghost is for everybody. Jesus is simply saying, "I'm going to send you a comforter. There's one greater than I that is coming. You're going to receive this spirit. You're going to receive this promise. And when you receive it, it's going to cause you to walk in the walk of holiness and righteousness." And it's a hunger that every person must have a hunger for holiness. I feel it in our community. That's why tonight it's so important that you're here tonight because tonight uh we're going to begin this America's revival tonight. Uh we're going to see people coming in from our community. People that may not have a church service on a Sunday night, but they want to come together as a community and worship God and feel the presence of God. Because what you feel in this church every Sunday, First Apostolic Family, can't be felt in every church. I was talking I was talking to another pastor friend of mine from this community that's not an apostolic pastor and he told me he said, "I've been going through so much in my life." He talked about his daughters, his daughters uh sick with cancer. He said, "And I just yearned." He told me, he said, "I just yearned for the deacons of my church to invite me down to the front and to anoint myself and my wife and just pray the prayer of faith over us." He said, "I gave him hints." Pastor Hea, he said, "I I gave my deacons hints." >> He said, "My wife in the in the women's group that she's in in the church," he said, "My wife, the the the senior pastor's wife, gave the women hints that we would really like to be prayed over." He said, "They never called us down." He said, "So, I went home and I got in the cabinet of my of my kitchen. And I got a a bottle of vegetable vegetable oil out of the cabinet, he said. And I didn't know what else to do, brother Ferguson. He said, I didn't know what else to do. He said, I just poured it into my hand. And he said, I anointed my own self in my kitchen and began to pray over my own self. Aren't you glad to be in an apostolic church uh that still believes that there's anointing of oil? Still believes in healing, still believes that we can pray over people that are hurt. Pray over people that are in need and God can show up. This holy anointing can fill the man of God and that anointing can be passed down. There's got to be a hunger. Psalm 42:1 says, "As the heart, as the deer panteth after the waterbrooks, so pantth my soul after thee, oh Lord." It's one of my favorite scriptures. Cuz I feel that. And I know if I feel that, brother Brandon, I know you feel that. I know if I feel that, I know that you calling. I know you feel that. There's a desire. There's a yearning as that deer as that deer is going through the woods. As that deer is doing what a deer does, there comes a waterbrook. And as that deer yearns for that waterbrook and yearns for that water, I too, God, I want your spirit. I want living water. I want it to flow through me, God. I want water that I'll never thirst again. I want that same water that Jesus talked about at the well. You're coming here, woman. You're coming here to to draw water. And you're going to have to come here tomorrow and you're going to have to come here the next day. But Jesus told that woman at the well, "But I offer you living water that you shall never thirst again." I don't know about you, but that's the kind of water that I thirst for. I'm hungry for a move of the Holy Ghost. I believe in this community. I believe in Blunt County. I believe all over America, we're going to see a revival because there's hunger. Psalm 63:1 says, "Oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. How many have been enjoying our our daily prayer here in the sanctuary? Come on. If you're not here, if you're not if you're not finding a time to be here in the sanctuary during our sunrise to sunset prayer, listen, you're doing yourself a disfavor. I know you could pray from home. I get it. I pray from home sometimes. I get it. I mean, there's something about coming in this place. He said early will I rise to seek you early in first thing in the morning. I try to get here as early as I can before I start my workday. I try to get here because the very first thing I want to do is I want to seek him. It says my soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Woo. I thirst after you, oh God. I want more of you. I want a greater relationship with you. I want to know you greater. These are the things that I pray every day. I say, "God, I've been in this all my life, but I still feel like I got a whole lot more to know about you. I've opened my Bible and read through my Bible from cover to cover, but I don't know enough about you. I want more of you. As a deer panteth after the waterbrook, oh God, I long and I yearn for your spirit. My soul, Psalm 42, my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Psalm 143 and 6, I stretch forth my hand unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. Sila Psalm 107:9 says, "For he satisfyth the longing soul, and fillth the hungry soul with his goodness." Come on, somebody. Hunger and thirst isn't just an Old Testament desire, but we can find it in Matthew chapter 5 and verse number six. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. >> Come on. This kind of stuff right here excites me. This is what I've come to preach about today. Oh, Jesus said, and I've already quoted, "But whosoever drinkketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water I shall give him shall be in him a well of springing uph into everlasting life." Anybody thankful they've got the springing up well. Come on. It's just not water. It's just not a brook. It's just not a stream, but it's a springing up well. Spring up, oh well. Spring up. Uh, spring up, oh well. Spring up. Uh, spring up, oh well, spring up. Uh, I want it to overflow into every part of my life. Uh, I want it to overflow to my wife. I want it to overflow to my daughters. I want it to overflow to my church family. Spring up, oh well. Spring up >> to everlasting life. Somebody say that. To everlasting life. >> John 6 and35. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. John once again in John 7:37, in the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Woo! Listen, we're in the right place. If you're hungry, if you're thirsty for a move of God in your life, you're in the right place today. If you're a worshipper, you're in the right place today. If you need the presence of God to fill your life, you're in the right place today. I believe this is where a spiritual awakening takes place. When the people of God yearn after the spirit of God, when the people of God yearn after the fire of the Holy Ghost, I want to be shut up in my bones. I want to be so I want to I want to feel Oh my God, I feel the Holy Ghost right now. I want my belly to be overflowing with a river. I want something just inside of me that people cannot understand, but that people cannot deny. I want something inside of me that people can see and feel and know that I'm a child of God. >> People just don't understand where to get the water from. But that's why we're going to be here tonight. That's why every Sunday night, we're going to be here ready for the experience to take place in the house of God. Bible says the father Jesus said the father seeketh worshippers who will worship him in spirit in a truth. Worshippers who will worship in the beauty of holiness. So let me take Romans 12:1. Holiness spiritual worship one step further. Our outward appearance defines us not only our gender, it's not just about submission. It's not just about modesty. Our outward appearance also define who we belong to. Yeah. Anybody listen listen anybody can throw up their hands and sing Christian lyrics. You you go to you go to all kinds of concerts and man they'll they'll throw the word God in there and they'll throw the word heaven in there and that makes it a Christian song if you say heaven. You know that, don't you? But you can be an atheist and do that because worship includes so much more than just words and lyrics. In the Old Testament, Jehovah, God, and Abraham, they made an exterior physical covenant and sign that Abraham's offspring would belong to God and Jehovah would be their God and be their protector. Every male had to be circumcised. An outward sign that they belonged to God. Chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. can't listen listen to the lie being told that God only cares about the heart because he sure cares about more than just the heart. That's where he begins. But that's not all he cares about. Any male that wasn't circumcised was cast out from God's people. Cast out of God's presence. It was a covenant between Abraham, between Abraham's seed and Abraham's God. They became known both as the children of God and the children of Israel. You see that there? They were both children of God and the children of Israel. It was the covenant. But look with me in Joshua chapter 5 and verse one because this is very important. Bible says, "And it came to pass when all the kings of the Amorites which were on the side of Jordan westward on the Canaan side of Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan before the children of Israel until they were passed over. their hearts melted and neither was their spirit in them anymore because of the children of Israel. You see right here, the Israelites, they they've just passed over the Jordan. They they've spent 40 over 40 years in the wilderness. They've just now had this opportunity. You you know the story, all those over 40, they passed on. They weren't allowed to go into the promised land. But here comes the next generation. in the next generation has crossed over, has followed the priests, has followed the ark over on dry ground. And the Bible says, verse two, "And at the time the Lord said unto Joshua, make thee sharp knives and circumcise against the children of Israel the second time Joshua made him sharp knives and circumcise the children of Israel at the bill or at the hill of the foreskins." And this is the cause right here. This is the reason why Joshua did circumcise. All the people that came out of Egypt that were males, even all the men of war died in the wilderness, by the way, after they came out of Egypt. Now, all the people that came out were circumcised, talking about those coming out of Egypt. But all the people that were born in the wilderness, this next generation, this new generation, by the way, as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. So, here we go. And this is what I kind of want to preach just a little bit about. We're talking motive and we're talking the reason why we worship and the way to worship and how to worship and who can worship. But now that we've allowed our children to be born here in the wilderness, you got to think about this. We we've created a life. I'm talking about now our children. We've created a life for them much easier than the life that we had back in Egypt. And for any of you that have been in Pentecost any amount of time, you remember what it was like back in the yester years. And I remember back when I was when I was 13 years old, I I remember when I was growing up in a home missions church. I I remember we didn't have anything. Listen, I grew up on accordians and tambourines. And as and as fun as that stuff is to pull out during a trend center service and we do it. I love it. It's fun to kind of reminisce and think about old times. But listen, it was hard growing up in those days. I mean, we didn't have LED walls and we didn't have those fancy keyboards and mic drums. We we didn't have the we didn't have the guitars and and and the the choirs. We we didn't have all that. We didn't have shout beats that you would hit a space bar on a laptop and all of a sudden man all boy woo you start feeling the drums will start playing keyboard start playing guitar start playing and you start feeling your twostep coming on. We didn't have none of that. All we had was I'll fly away. Oh, glory. I'll fly. That's all we had. Somebody playing the tambourine offbeat. I remember I remember Sister Green. This was She was a in my church in New York. I don't know. Forgive me. I thought she was an old lady, but she was probably in her 60s, which I found out recently is not very old. She would come into our Sunday school classes and she would bring her accordion and she would minister unto us. God, I loved her. She could only play in like one key and she I don't know if it's a right hand or left hand. I'm not an accordion expert, but one of them you got those little black buttons and she like would just play two of those black buttons back and forth. M and and man, she boy she she gave it all. But listen, if the Holy Ghost broke out in that service is because good, holy people came to church and just began to think of the goodness of Jesus, began to worship him and praise him the best we knew how to do. I I know it was just an offbeat tambourine. I know it was a horrible sound accordion and I don't know, we played octaves with the piano. We didn't even we didn't know what we were doing back then. But let me tell you something. When the spirit of God began to fall, when the Holy Ghost began to move, we didn't need drums. We didn't need keyboards or electric guitars. We just had church because that's just what we knew how to do. Because the people of God came together and said, "God is worthy of praise." God is worthy of honor. And if David could take a harp on the backside of the wilderness and give God praise and have church, we could have church with an accordion. But here it is. You may have seen it because now, woo, we've raised our young people, not in Egypt, not in accordion land, but we've raised them in the wilderness. We we've raised them on mana. >> We've raised them on quail. We We've raised them on the good things, not on we we ain't had a a taskmaster putting whips on us. We We've raised them up. And we've raised them I'm just going to be honest with you. We raised them a little easy. And I'm not faulting anybody. I'm with you. I'm in the same boat with you. Got them at a Christian school. Man, I I went to school never I never I don't think I ever went to school with an apostolic with a with an apostolic Pentecostal my whole life. I didn't know what that felt like. And our kids, man, our kids are so blessed. Have hundreds of students, man. their some of their some of their classes have 20 25 people their age going to school with getting to have spend life with have a walk with God they get to come in here every morning have prayer together we were just trying to have prayer at their flag pole they wouldn't let they wouldn't allow us to do that half the time but we've raised them we've and God I'm so thankful listen I'm thankful for all that we have going on here I'm thankful for the program I'm thankful for all that but God forbid we raise a generation ation that hasn't been circumcised >> spiritually. >> We raised a generation that that here we did as parents. We know we knew how to walk the walk and talk the talk, but we didn't quite pass it down enough to them. And God told him and said, "Hey, hey, before you go up against any battle, before you go up against any city, before you take these these young people, cuz that's all they that's all they crossed over. A bunch of young people is all they crossed over. Before you take them into a promised land, before you take them up against a battle of Jericho, before you better, you better get them right. You better get them under covenant, you better make sure they know how to worship and know how to praise and live a holy lifestyle and live a righteous lifestyle. God said, if you want them to be my children, you're going to have to keep covenant that I gave to Abraham, your forefather. God, help us today to train our young people not just how to do the Holy Ghost twostep. And I thank God they know how to dance. I thank God our young people know how to run the aisles and they know how to praise. But there's so much more to worship than there is to praise. You can praise anything. You can praise anybody. You can praise a football team if you want to. But there's only one that deserves worship. There's only one. It's not about what he's done. It's about who he is. There's only one that deserves all praise and glory and honor and worship. It's to his name. He's the creator. He's the creator. He's the savior. He's one. And I'm so thankful. I know his name is Jesus. Why don't you just throw your hands up right here and begin to worship him. Come on. I didn't say praise him. I said I want you to begin to worship him. Come on. You praise somebody for for something good they've done. You give them honor for something good they've done. But I wonder if we could just throw our head back and just say, "God, I worship you because you created me. And you saw fit to save me. And you saw me when I was sinking deep in sin. Uh, and you pull me up onto a rock, onto a solid, firm foundation. I worship you because you're the savior of the world. Because you shed your blood. That's why I worship you. It's not of just what you've done, but it's because of who you are. I feel the Holy Ghost well up inside of this place. Uh I hear a holy aroma that's going up before the throne of God right here. We're not ashamed to worship. Uh we're not ashamed to give God the glory that's due his name. You are everything to us. You're my alpha. You're my omega. You're the beginning and the ending. Lord, you're everything in between. You're my author. You're my finisher. I'm almost done. I'm almost done. But God, as we raise up our children to to fear you, to love you, that's a word right there. We don't like to use the word fear. We got to teach our children to fear God. It's not a bad thing. It's a beautiful thing. in the world. Fear when it comes to the kingdom of the devil. Fear, it's a weapon he likes to use to make us bashful in what we believe. But when we fear God, that's a different kind of fear. That's a reverence that just says, "God, I want to live holy because I know that you fill all space and all time, and you're with me right now. and I my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Uh and because I'm the temple of the Holy Ghost, uh I'm not my own, but I've been bought with a price. Uh I don't belong to me, but I belong to you. And because of that, Lord, I'm going to live a holy and righteous lifestyle. Because of that, I'm going to give my life to you. And I'm going to show you, Lord God, that you're very first and foremost in my life. Holy and acceptable unto God. But watch this right here. Because God does not accept worship unless it's done correctly and with the right motive. Leviticus 10:1 sad story. Naab and Abai who sons of Aaron sons of the priest took either of them his sensor and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them. And they died before the Lord. The fire that burned the incense was always to come from the fire that continually burned at the brazen altar. The altar of sacrifice, the altar of repentance. It was there in the tabernacle. The very first piece of furniture. As they walked into the tabernacle, the very first thing to confront them was the largest piece of furniture. Matter of fact, they say that every other piece of furniture in the tabernacle could fit inside of this brazen altar. Say, why was it so big? Well, it was so big because it was that important. Why was it the very first thing? It was the very first thing because it was that important. See, Naab and Abai who sons of the priest, children of the priest, they offered this this strange fire. I don't know where they got the fire from, but they did not get it from the altar of sacrifice. They did not get it from the altar of sacrifice because here it is right here before you could worship. And that's where the incense that that incense they would carry that represented worship and praise represented prayer relationship with God. But them getting that fire from a strange place and not getting off the fire where repentance had taken place. A fire that continually burns a a forever flame on the altar. because they got the strange fire, God struck them dead, sent fire from heaven and consumed them right in the presence of God. You hear us all the time talking about the power of the prayer room. There there's a reason why we push pre-ervice prayer like we do. There's a reason why we ask the choir, get to the prayer room before you get up on the platform. We ask the whole church, come on, event center, the prayer room's open 30 minutes, it's open all the time, but 30 minutes before service, that's when we're going to be there. That's when we're going to get in there together. Because you can't worship a God you don't pray to. >> It doesn't work like that. Cuz when you pray to your God, the very first thing you ought to do is you ought to come into his presence and just begin to repent. Because that's what this altar is all about. God, I'm sorry, God. It's been a rough week. God, I I know I've done some things, Lord, I know that don't please you. And God, I'm sorry for those things. But God, before I praise you, before I give you honor, and before I worship you, I first want to come to this altar of repentance and just say, "God, I'm sorry for my sin, and I'm not going to live this way again. I'm not going to return to the same old things that I've always returned to, but I'm going to change things up. I'm going to repent because here it is. Our pre-ervice prayer is our opportunity to go into the altar. So when we bring fire, we bring fire from the prayer room into the sanctuary. We bring fire from that place. And and I know sometimes you go in there and some of you mamas, I love you. Thank you so much for bringing your babies in there. You're in there trying to pray and you're fighting your babies and you're trying to keep them quiet. And I know your attention sometimes, but thank you for making thank you for making time even in your motherly busy schedule to say, "God, I'm going to bring my family into the prayer room. I'm going to hold the hands of my babies and bring them into the prayer room because I got to start off at the altar. I don't want to bring strange fire into a house of worship, but I'm going to bring fire off the altar of repentance. I'm going to get in here, God. And once my my heart is clean, once my hands are pure, I can lift up holy hands unto God without fear. I can lift up holy hands, no wrath. I can lift up holy hands and just say, "God, I present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto you." >> Somebody shout, "Holy, >> holy." >> Our God is so holy. Our God is so holy. and he's seeking those that will worship him, that will worship him in holiness. See, when worship is out of order, it's done for the wrong things, for the wrong reasons. It's when motive has to be checked. Our our opening text, the message translation. Oh, it's so real because God speaks to his people through his prophet Amos and he says, "I can't stand your religious meetings." Let me know if this sounds familiar. I'm fed up with your conferences and your conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your your pretentious slogans and goals. said, "I I'm sick of your front fundraising schemes. Oh my god, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego music." And then this last line right here gets me every time. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you see this right here? I know. Please forgive. Forgive, forgive the translation. Forgive that. But do you see what's happening here? Because we can also get caught up in conferences and conventions raising money from this and raising money for that. Sign up for this program. Sign up for that program. I wonder if God ever just looks down and says, "Man, I I hear you, but are you singing to me? I hear three parts in the choir. Man, the harmony is beautiful. The melody's beautiful, but when's the last time you stopped long enough to just close your eyes and think about me? And listen, I I'm guilty of this. I'm going to be transparent. I want to be open. I want to be upfront with you. I'm a worship leader. I'm a choir director. I love to sing. I I love to lead people in worship. Sometimes I get so busy leading other people in worship that John Sto. Sometimes I I walk out of a service and I I think to myself, did I worship? It looked like I worship. I think I was on pitch when I sang the solo. I hope that I was on time. Hope my timing was with the metronome, the click in my ear. Brother Wy, I I hope I I found a little woman and she was telling me what to sing. Y'all don't know, but we're all A woman just leads us through all our songs. Chorus verse one, two, three, four. Y'all thought we just did that on our own. You thought we were giving invisible signs. Oh, no. It's all It's all right there in the ears. And I'm grateful for it. I thank God for it. But we could be so wrapped up in technology. >> On my mic, I got a little button that I could talk to my singers with. I could talk to the sound. I could talk to my lyrics with it. Just press it in, start talking. You don't know. You think I'm just mumbling to myself. We can get so enamored by technology and wrapped up in technology. Brother AJ, can I have a little bit more drums in my ears? Brother Asa, get ready. Sister Lauren's about to set up this next song. Think I'm pressing my button. I don't know if y'all see me or not. I'm pressing my button when I'm saying this stuff. I need more tenor. I can't hear lead. I need more lead. I need more lead. Need more tenor. Sing lead louder. And at the end of the service, I'm like, man, I think I did pretty good making sure the choir sing the right parts and sang in the right order. And I feel good. The transitions were so good. The soundman, he knew who was coming up next. And but then I get a little prick in my heart when when I hear God say, "Were you even singing to me? You were singing about my holiness, but were you thinking about my holiness? You were singing about heaven, but were you even thinking about heaven? Or was it just a word that rhymed with the stanza before? I don't know. I might be the only one up here. Y'all might be looking at me and condemning me right now thinking, "My God, I thought he was spiritual. How many times have we come and sat in pews and lifted up hands to heaven? And come on. If you've been in here any length of time, you know exactly how to hold your hands and to hold your head. >> If you've been going to church any length of time, you know how to pray out loud. You know what to say, how to say it. But oh God, I'm crying out for a people that hunger after their God in a way that says, "God, my desire for you is so great. If the choir gets off key, if the drummer gets offbeat, it's okay. If I lose the click in my ear and my timing is off, it's okay because my mind is on you, God. Because when I sing about your holiness uh in your righteousness, in your goodness, uh when I sing about a world, in a neighborhood, in a city that needs you, God, I want to think about my neighborhood. I want to think about where I want where I live. I want to think about my next door neighbors. God, help me, Lord God, to focus on you. Every time I'm in your presence, every time I worship, uh I thank God for good sound. And I thank God for beautiful lightsuh and beautiful screensh. But I can just close my eyes and I can say, "God, but if it wasn't for you, where would I be today? God, if it wasn't for your goodness, if it wasn't for your mercy, if it wasn't for this salvation message, where would I be today? That's why I worship him because of who he is. Because of what he's done in my life, it's not because it's my favorite song. It's not because it's my favorite genre. Oh God, we can sing any genre, but it's a you, oh God, till we worship. Stand your feet with me. Lift up holy hands right now. Come on. I pray right now, God, help us, Lord God. Uh I believe in this place today, you you have a a host of worshippers uh who love you. A host of worshippers who are not who are not thinking about where they're going to eat lunch today, right now, but they've got their hands up and they're really worshiping you. They're not thinking about a song they're going to sing tonight, a solo they got to learn this afternoon. But Lord, they got their hands lifted up right now and they're saying, "To God be the glory. To God be the glory for the things he has done. To God be all the glory. Come on. Come on. I don't even know how I don't even know how this alter call is really going to work except that I just want somebody that's hungry. I just want somebody who's thirsty, somebody who's willing to come up here and say, "God, I know I've gone through some motions, but God, I can give you greater praise." Come on, I'm not condemning anybody. I'm not saying you're not worshippers. I'm just simply saying just like the deer after he pants after that waterbrook. Could somebody just come up here and lift up your hands and just cry out to God in worship? To worship you. I live to worship you. I live to worship you. I live. It's my lifestyle. It's who I am. It's not just what I do on a Sunday morning. It's who I am. Come on. Are you hungry? Come on. Are you thirsty? Do you desire the presence of God? Woo. Come on. He's here today. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Present your bodies as spiritual worship in this house right here. Clean us, oh God. Give us clean handshu. Uh give us pure hearts. Uh let us not sin against you, oh God. But help us to worship you in spirit and in truth. Uh help us to worship you with our emotions. Uh oh God. Let us be affectionate towards you in our worship. Come on. It's a sweet smelling savor. Come on. That's what I'm hearing right now. It doesn't even have to be loud. It doesn't even have to be loud. It just has to be passionate. It has to be passionate. When you begin to worship God, it's with passion. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. My God. My God. Holy Ghost, I feel you right now. Holy Ghost, I feel you. Want to move right now. Come on. The Holy Ghost right now is in this room because when the praises go up, the glory comes down. When that sweet aroma of praise and worship go up, uh, the glory comes down. The healer is in this house right now because somebody is giving him worship. The healer is in this place. You might have sickness in your body. You might have a disease in your body. And it could be as simple as you worshiping God to get his attention to show up into your need. But here's what I don't want to do. I don't want to have to cheerlead you. I don't want to have to make you lift your voices and hear yourself praying. Come on. I wish that you could just take it upon yourself to worship your God because he's worthy of your worship. Not because you've heard a good message or a good sermon, but because your God is worthy of your worship. Come on. The deliverer is coming. >> Come on. Woo. He's only a little worship away. The deliverer is going to be here. Tone, what do you need in your life? Tone, we worship him. We worship him as a beautiful, sweet, smelling savor. >> Give us clean hands. Give us clean hands. Give us clean hands. >> Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another. Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us >> Come on. This is not even really an altar call where we're going to pray for anybody else around us. If you are, that's okay. But this is just about you and it's about your God. generation that >> come on generation. >> Let us be that generation. Oh God, >> oh God, let us see. >> Come on. I want a generation that seeks after their God. >> Seeks your face. Oh God, give us clean hands. Give us clean hands. >> Give us pure hearts. Yeah. >> Let us not lift our souls. >> Oh, we worship you and you alone. Oh God, give us clean hands. >> Give us pure hearts. >> Give us your heart. Let us not lift our souls to >> Oh, be a generation. I want to seek your face. Sure. Oh god. Oh God. A generation that sees your face. Oh God Jacob. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Come on, sing this song right here. I want you to lift your hands as high as you can and sing this. >> Can't think of nobody else. No, no else. There is no one you Jesus. >> Come on. I want you to think about what you're singing. >> Come on. I want you to think about what you're singing right here. No one can compare to my Jesus. >> Nobody can give hope like my Jesus. You're worthy. No one else. Oh, who else? >> You You alone. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. He sees one shed his blood can prove to us Jesus Christ. >> Who else is worthy? >> Who else is worthy? >> Who else is worthy? There is no holy Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no Jesus. only Jesus. >> I want them to go back into the lamb of God. Talking about him seated on a throne. I want you, matter of fact, close your eyes where you stand. Close your eyes. And I want you to envision, envision one seated upon the throne. There's only one. One seated upon the throne. Come on. and he's a lamb of God slain from the foundation of this world. The plan was put in place from the beginning of time. He sits on the throne and we begin to sing about his worthiness. Come on. I want you to somehow keep your eyes closed and somehow get woo into that mind frame where you can see let your imagination where you can see him seated upon the throne of God. Lamb of God anoint him. See him. >> Come on. He's seated. Glory. Holy. >> Come on. Can you see it? Can you see it? Lamb of God, anointed one who was and is and is to come. Seated on the throne. He's a holy, holy, he's a righteous one. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Yeah. Heat. to worship you. I live to worship you. I live I live to worship you. Come on, sing this with me. To worship you. I live to worship. I live. I live to worship you. Come on. It's a lifestyle we live. Oh, to worship you. I live to worship you. I live. I live to worship you. Oh, to worship you. I live to worship you. I live. I live to worship. >> Come on. I want you to lift your voices a little bit louder and sing with us. To worship you. Hallelujah. >> I live. >> Come on, choir. Sing it. I want to hear you. My God to worship you God. I live to worship you. I worship you. One more time to worship you. To worship you. I am to worship you. I am to worship you. My desire to worship you. To worship you. I worship you. This next part doesn't even have words. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Come on. Just a little bit louder. Oh, I worship you, Lord. Why you follow you? Come on. Leave this next one right here. Come on. It's like a war cry. Everybody sing. Come on. Say hallelujah. Say hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on, sing it. Sing hallelujah. Come on. Doesn't it feel beautiful to worship him in spirit and truth today? Come on. Doesn't it feel wonderful? Oh, what a sweet incense. Sweet incense is leaving this place right here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your presence, oh God. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Come on, let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the Holy Ghost that just showed up in this house from the onset of this service, from the first song until this very last song. Oh God, worship has gone up. The worshippers came to church this morning and because of it, oh God, your presence has been here all day long. God, I pray as we leave this place, Lord God, let us go find somebody in the community, God, that we can share this good news with. God, somebody in this community, we can gather into the house tonight, Lord, for a revival service. I don't know what's going to happen tonight, but God, I know it's going to be so good. I don't know who's going to be healed, but I know somebody's going to get healed tonight. I I don't know who's going to be delivered, but there's going to be deliverance in the house tonight because oh God, your presence will be here because the worshippers will be in the house tonight. God, show yourself strong, God, to our community, God. A community that's hungry for you. A community that's thirsty, Lord God, to feel you, Lord God, and to experience you, God. I pray show yourself powerful, Lord God. Let your Holy Ghost be poured out tonight. Come on, let's pray that prayer right here. Lord, let your Holy Ghost be poured out tonight. that the spirit of the living God, Lord, let it fall fresh into this place. Lord, I'm believing in Jesus name that your Holy Ghost will fill somebody, Lord. Somebody who's seeking, Lord, God will receive your spirit tonight. We pray in Jesus' name. In Jesus name we pray. And the worshippers said, "Amen." >> And the worshippers said, "Amen." >> Amen. God bless you. You're dismissing the fear of God today. Be back tonight. It's going to be a great time of revival. God bless you.