Heart of Worship

Psalms 100 is going to be where I'm going to spend a little time today. If if somebody were to ask you, "What is your favorite command in the Bible?" What would you say? There's a lot of commands there, but what would be your favorite? And as you reflect on that for just a minute, a lot of times we think about those commands as obligations or maybe even burdens or things that I must do. But of course, from God's perspective, they really connected with his vision, not just for the kingdom, but his vision for your life. Did you know that? Did you know that God has a vision for your life? And it plays into his vision for the kingdom. And we got to be careful because sometimes we can go through the scriptures and as we read about the commands that are there, and a lot of times our flesh wants to fight us on those things. It doesn't always want to just willingly do that. So, we can look at those things as as being burdens or or something that I'm just obligated to do.

So, I'm going to give you a candidate for my favorite command in the Bible. It's in Psalms 100, verse number one, when it says this, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord." Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. I feel that is a command. To make a joyful noise to the Lord. Now, I I I make a lot of noises. I make some whiny noises. My wife will probably amen on that. I've been known to make angry noises and selfish noises and complaining noises and anxious noises and then even occasionally there's been a rude noise. But God loves a joyful noise. Now, how hard is it to make a joyful noise? Do you think it's hard? Anybody here feel like it's hard to make a joyful noise? No. No, it's not complicated to to to make a joyful noise. And in fact, I found something I believe they have this up there in the tech area. They've got a little clip here. I'm going to give you 60 seconds of joyful noise. You ready? Everybody look at the screens. You're going to enjoy this 60 seconds of joyful noise. Go ahead.

Now, that's just the best, isn't it? Would you agree that that's a joyful noise? Now, when I when I see something like that and I hear something like that, I love babies laughing, man. That's just — there's just hardly anything better in this world. I took a took a minute just to scan the room while you guys are watching the screen, and I didn't see one person in here that wasn't at least smiling. There's something about that. Now, now I want you to think on the — who thought that up? Who who who invented that baby laugh? Our God. Our God invented it. How awesome is it that God did something like that? So, when I think about making a joyful noise, one of the things I think about is moments like that. Joyful noise that turns in to praise. I love that. I feel like, you know what? The best way we could start our day is maybe everybody gets that little 60-second clip. When you wake up in the morning, that be your alarm. Just a little laugh going on over there just to make your day brighter. Other than that, now, some of you probably would just sleep through that. So, when I think about laughter, when I think about joyful noise, I wonder, here's the question, how are you doing at making joyful noise? How's it going for you?

In your life, we see this command here in the scriptures to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. So, I want us to do a little bit of thinking today as I talk to you about a heart of worship. How are you doing at making joyful noise? I I think sometimes that those of us are trying their best to follow after Jesus Christ, if we could do nothing else right, we could get this right. If we didn't get anything else right, I feel like we should be able to make a joyful noise. I feel like we ought to be able to do that every day of our life. It shouldn't be a a task that's too hard. It shouldn't be a command that's too burdensome or or too much of an obligation for you and I to evaluate my day and say, "God, I have not yet made a joyful noise unto you. But today, God, you're good. You let me get up." Anybody thankful today that you could get up? Anybody thankful that you got out of the house? Yeah. It it it ain't amazing how when things get taken away from you a little bit how they — you forget how good it is just to do that. Anybody ever had one nostril clogged? Just one. I didn't even say two, just one. And how good is it when it opens up? Oh, you get that allergy time. Sometimes you just want to tell somebody, like call your neighbor and like, "I can breathe out of both." It has been hours since I've been able to do that. Make a joyful noise.

So, I want to look at a number of reasons today of why making that joyful noise, why having a heart of worship is good. And as I go through these, I'm going to get down to what I know is the best reason of all when it comes to worshipping God. Lots of good things going on when I worship. One of the best things about worship is this, when I am truly engaged in worship, it's not about me. If you're taking notes, you should write that down. If you are truly engaged in worship, you're it's

not about you in that moment. It is impossible for you to be engaged with the king of kings and the lord of lords. It's impossible for you to have your mind focused on him and also think about you. That's why we spend a lot of time in worship before we get to the word because worship does two things. Number one, God didn't show up for the word, it's his word. God showed up because we begin to worship. And when we begin to worship, he is drawn right into that worship. So, we worship because of that. And number two, when I begin to worship, it gets the focus off of me and it gets the focus off of my problems and it gets the focus off the troubles and everything that I'm facing in my life.

Oh, can I have one witness in the room? That's one of the things I love about coming in is even though I may be dragging when I come in the back door, once they start singing and I start engaging with him, I begin to forget about all the problems in my life and everything that I'm facing in this moment. I know I may pick them back up when I go outside these doors, but just for a little while, when I worship and I praise, there is freedom and liberty in my life. And I think that's why some people are a little more exuberant in their worship. They probably got a lot more going on in their life. And they're happy just to have a moment where just for a minute, I am free to worship and engage. My problems have left for a minute and I'm focusing on the one who can do mighty things in my life.

Worship gets the attention off me. Let's go back to verse number one in Psalms 100. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. One of the best ways you can worship is sing. Now that will intimidate some people. Cuz some of you like, "Well, I'm not a good singer." I want you to know a secret. Neither am I. I'm a terrible singer. But when I get by myself and sometimes even not by myself, I let it go. My family's notorious to look at me and go — there's even times when I look at me and go — but inside, there's a singer. Inside, I was hardwired to praise. Inside, something deep down inside of me. I may not be able to carry a tune, but that does not prevent what's inside of me from wanting to praise and magnify and glorify the King of kings and the Lord of lords. When I'm engaged, something in me wants to sing. And we have a command here that says, "Come before his presence with singing." "Know you that the Lord, he is God." Verse three. "It is he that hath made us." Woo! I didn't make myself. I'm not a self-made man. I was made by the one, the creator of all things, the one that spoke the world into existence. He didn't speak you and I into existence. Instead, he formed us. He shaped us. He molded us. He made us. He put inside of you and inside of me exactly what he wanted to pull out. And it happens when we worship. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

To me, when I look at this, what's so striking in these words is that very last line. He made us. And in worship, what I do is I is I begin to to go deep and hard in my thoughts and my thinking about what God is and what God is doing. And then I also begin to engage in what God is thinking about me. Can you imagine such a thing? That he's thinking about you. Have you ever stopped and processed that for a moment? That he is thinking about you. Not that you're thinking about him. But as you begin to worship, his thoughts are about you. What kind of a God do we serve where he is concerned with me? And he's concerned with you and what you're going through and what you're facing in your life. He's not a far off God. He's not far away, but he's right where you are. He gets right down into life where we are. He doesn't leave us by ourselves. We don't have a high priest that can't be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but we have one who gets right down where we are, right down where you're living. He's not far away, but when you call his name, he's drawn down to where you are. He'll meet you in your moment. How amazing is that? And how can we not worship a God who comes down where I'm at? Oh, to understand that. Oh, it's almost too much for me to think. Even the psalmist says, "What is man that you are mindful of him?"

In worship, I get focused off of me and I focus on him. Let me ask you something. Think with me for just a minute. Since the end of World War II, how much do you think the rate of depression has changed? Since the end of World War II, if you don't mind, turn to the person next to you. Just just give them a number. How much, what percent? 10%? 20%? 75%? What what do you think it has increased? The best I could research out, the best I could study is that since the end of World War II to where we are today in 2021, it has increased a thousand percent. A thousand. Was anybody close? Thousand percent. It's 10 times more prevalent in our day than it was a lifetime ago. This

is a huge epidemic in our day. And there's lots of things going on. There's lots of people facing stuff. That's why it's more important now than ever that we learn to worship. Because when I worship, my thoughts are transferred from the problem to the one who can take care of the problem. My my my thoughts are transferred from the troubles that I'm facing to the one who can take care of the troubles that I'm facing. Does anybody grab a hold of what I'm talking about? How important it is that we worship in life?

I ran across this quote. Said, "As a society, we have lost a sense of connection to something that's greater than ourselves. To something that is transcendent and good. To something that can command our devotion and our allegiance. We have kind of in our day reduced all of life into the single smallest common denominator that is self." I don't know about you, but I read that and I was convicted. That seems to be the world we live in. It's absence. It's void of something bigger and greater than us. We we we we just consumed ourself with a thought of me. And the self is just too small a package to carry the weight of human hunger for the meaning and the and the and the purpose of God's glory and transcendence. When I worship, my mind is on something besides me. Because my mind was not made to dwell primarily on me.

That's why boredom has become so pervasive in our day. Man, that's that's a frustrating for me, right? It's frustrating in my house. My kiddo's sometimes, "I'm bored." Ooh. Ooh, I just feel it coming over me. You're bored? Well, there's a broom right there. Yeah, there's a pile of laundry right there. There's a dust rag right over there. We can prevent boredom. But as a whole, our world, because we are so used to being entertained constantly, find ourselves, "I'm bored." Now, the house of God is a great place for confession. Look at your neighbor and say, "All right, here we go." All right, if you have in the last 3 months either thought or made the statement that I'm bored, I want you to raise your hand. Ooh, look at that. Look at that. Now, I need you all to stand up and go out and — I'm just kidding. Boredom. See, what happens is when I'm thinking about me and my own little life and my own little agenda and how I'm doing, it comes crushing down on me. We were made to think about things that are bigger, that are better, that are more more more rich for our souls.

We have to get serious about this. How do I get myself to love that which is lovely? We actually have an expression for this. We we used to — we used to say, and I think it still works today, that you need to stop and smell the roses. Now, my wife, most of you know, she loves growing things, plants and flowers, all things. I gave up on trying to keep up with what all's there. Now, I have my oldest daughter who works at Martin's, which is garden center, and now she brings all the discounts and half-dead stuff home because my wife's the plant whisperer. I'm going to therapy for what I'm working through it. But she has these roses, not just roses, we have David Austin roses. Ooh, let the crowd say ooh. Yeah, that's what I said first time I seen the price tag on it. I was like, you paid what? But, I will say they are beautiful. Yeah, she gets a discount now. So, now I have — I I honestly, I'm not a flower person. Maybe that surprised some of y'all, but I was never a guy — I couldn't tell you this. Now, I know quite a bit because I love her. And we have these roses right where I park the car every day and I get out and she's quite often — I will find my wife stopping and smelling the roses. Yeah. But, I will have to say they do smell really really pretty. And if you ever really stopped and looked in a rose? It's okay guys, to raise your hand on this one. Nobody's going to make fun of me. Anybody here ever stopped, really looked and smelled a rose? Yeah. How amazing is it that we serve a God who created that?

See, in life when we get all worked up, we get all bent out of shape, sometimes it's good to stop and smell the roses. When I do, I delight in it. Sometimes it's good to take a step back for just a minute and really evaluate the priorities in your life. Cuz I'm guilty as much as anybody in this room about getting worked up over something that's out of my control. Anybody else that way? I I I just — I feel like being transparent today. I struggle in traffic. There are times when my Holy Ghost runs a little thin. Not because of the Holy Ghost, but because of where my flesh is. And then I have to stop myself and remind me of this. I'm not in control. I even — you and you guys have heard me do this before. There are things that I do to help me. Like I will point to people in a good way and use the correct finger. And I will say, you are more important than me. Now what I'm doing is I'm reminding me who I am. Cuz there are things that are out of my control. See, here's the way the mind works. When we stop and when we remind ourselves that there are better things around us that we're not paying attention to, when there are lovely things and I bring my mind there

to linger on that, it produces delight and this is where worship comes from. That even in the middle of traffic, you can worship. Trust me, I know. You can. You can choose what you dwell on. You can choose. You can't stop every random thought that comes into your mind, but you can choose which one stops and builds a house. And this is how it works for me and I know it how it works for you. It's possible to grow in love with God. It won't just happen to you, but you have to be systematic about it. It's not a burden. It's not a burden to stop and love and smell a rose. It's not a burden. It's not a burden to enjoy life. It wasn't a burden to hear those babies laugh. That wasn't a burden. It was shifting our attention and our focus on the things that are lovely, things that are good, things that are right, what the word of God says that we should think on, what we should dwell on. It won't just happen, but you have to purpose in your heart that I'm going to become a person who finds the good in every circumstance and situation that's around me. I can't control everything, but I can control what I choose to dwell on inside my mind. And if I'm truly going to be a worshiper, if I'm truly going to learn how to connect to him on a regular basis, on a everyday moment of my life, I have to learn learn to where I put my focus. My mind gets filled with thoughts that are noble and pure and true and admirable and hopeful and energized and praiseworthy, then I get my mind off myself and I can truly worship.

And this is a good reason for worship, but it's not the best. When I worship, it produces a spirit of gratitude in me. Because here's another shocker for you. You all ready? Everybody looking at me? Here you go. You ready? This is going to surprise I know most of you all. Most of you all would never guess this. You ready? I have a complainer inside of me. He's in there. And man, he'll rear his head up every now and then. And he never says kind things. No. He never speaks about something that's lovely. He just likes to complain. Now, I dare say I'm not the only complainer in the room. Anybody in here willing to willing to admit you have a complainer inside of you? Yeah, some of you are like — we'll get to the lion in a minute. Yeah, complain. The psalmist says in verse number four, "Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name."

Here's what can happen to me. Sometimes, just in default, I can start my day off in neutral. Yeah, I can get up and I'm neither — I'm neither happy nor sad. I'm just up. I'm awake. And if something good that starts to happen to me, I start feeling better. Little smile on my face. Yeah. Feel okay. You know, drive in with the of the work. Somebody brought donuts in. Yeah. A little bigger smile on my face. Feeling pretty good. My favorite coffee mug is washed and ready to go. Feels pretty good. Like things are going good. However, sometimes things don't go the way I want to. You know. Something unfortunate happens. Something derails the moment and then all of a sudden I'm not feeling so good about myself. But when I worship, I stop and remember that all the ways that God has been good to me. Just because something hasn't worked out today doesn't mean God's still not good. Because he's good. He's good. He's good always. He's good all the time. Regardless of what my circumstances are, he's good. Regardless of what I'm going through my life, he's good. Regardless of what the doctor says, he's good. Regardless of what the banker says, he's good. Regardless of what my boss says, he's good. Regardless of what I get up and how my aches and my pains are all that, he's good. Regardless of what's going on, he's good. Hey, guess what? God's good. God's good. You know what else God is? He's faithful. He's faithful. He's faithful always. He's faithful always. Every day he's faithful and he's good. You can count on this, he's good. And you can count on this, he's faithful. Guess what? His goodness and his mercy, they follow me all the days of my life. So no matter if I'm feeling like it, he's still good. It doesn't negate God's goodness just because my circumstances don't point there.

It's very important. Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances, that you remember God's goodness. Maybe we should be like the old-timers and you should make a list. You remember that? Song. Count your many blessings. See what God has done. Does anybody have a blessing list you keep? Anybody have a list you keep? Maybe you would need one. Maybe a good place to put that is on the dash of your car. So, when you can't control what's going on the outside, you can say, "All right, you know, God, I got up today. I'm breathing on my own. I'm walking on my own. God, you gave me a beautiful wife. You gave me two kids, three kids, you gave me five kids, you gave me 12 kids. God, you let me stop having kids." Make a list. I know I'm going to be a little bit funny with this, but make a list. If you find yourself struggling in gratitude, then make a list. Make a list. Stop for just 5 minutes and think to yourself, "How good has God been to you?" Is anybody in here that could honestly say God hasn't been good

to you? But how many people can say that God's been good? Yeah. Has he been good to you? Then you have a reason to worship. Gratitude is a reason to worship. Don't come in here all all downcast and looking like you've been eating sour pickles. Don't don't come into the house of God that way. It says, "Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving. Enter into his courts with praise." When you come into those doors, there should be gratitude that you got to come into those doors. Weren't you happy when you were in here? You got to be around people of like precious faith. We begin to worship and guess what? His presence came into this room. Are you thankful for that today?

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. In everything give thanks." He didn't just say in the good stuff. He didn't say when everything's going your way. He didn't say when somebody buys you lunch. In everything give thanks.

Yesterday, I don't know what happened. I was up here at the church. I can't think. I racked my brain trying to figure out what caused this to happen. And and and and it doesn't doesn't make any sense to me. But yesterday while I was working on this message, finalizing a message about worship and thankfulness and gratitude, all of a sudden, started hurting. Right here about my shoulder blade. It was annoying. You ever have an annoying pain? I'm not the person beside you, but I mean your own body. You ever have annoying pain? Yeah. It was just annoying. And and easy to dismiss and just like, "Hey, you know, I'm just — uh, I get home." We're there. We we we eat dinner together and it was a little bit more annoying and by the time I got done, I went in there and sat in the recliner. Within about an hour, I got to hurting so bad I couldn't sit down. The only thing that felt good was to stand up. And then it got time to get ready to get a shower and get ready for the night and and and I don't think that I'm a big baby, but it started hurting so bad I I couldn't help myself. I just — I was — tears were coming down my face. I could not find a comfortable position to be in.

I remember telling my wife last night. I said, "Chrissy, I don't I don't know what to do. Like I can't — I've tried laying down. I've tried to stand up. I've tried to sit in the seat. It's getting close to bed. I got to get up. I get up at 4:45 on Sunday mornings. We're already pushing past 10:00. You do the math, not a lot of hours there. And I just — I couldn't, I couldn't, I didn't know what to do." Just do what back, she she talked. She's sweet. She she rubbed my shoulder. Just nothing — nothing was working. So, I — no sense in everybody being up. You just go to bed. I remember sitting there. I'm pacing and I — and I'm a believer in God and I believe he's a healer and I was claiming my healing and I was walking around like, "God, you've touched my body many times before." And and and and I would love to tell you that he did, but he didn't. My my shoulder is killing me right now. It has been hurting me all day. And I even asked God. I was like, "God, am I coming in here to preach a message on worship? Is this — why are you giving me a thorn in the flesh right now? Like, cuz I refuse not to worship today. I'm going to worship. I'm going to praise. I'm going to jump. I'm going to do — but but if I'm being honest with you, I hurt. I hurt. Not just a little hurt. It hurts a lot. But he said in everything give thanks. So God, even though I'm hurting, I'm still happy that I feel your presence. I'm still happy that you're doing something in this service today. I'm so happy that you've blessed my life. And God, I may live with this the rest of my life. Please God, don't let me live with this the rest of my life. But if I live with the rest of my life, you are still good and you are still faithful and you are still able to do everything. Even if you don't, for whatever reason, you're still good."

Finding gratitude in your moment helps you be a worshiper. Gratitude happens when we worship and gratitude is really good reason for worship. But it's not the best reason. When I worship, my problems and my difficulties and my struggles lose their power to make me despair. To take the life out of me. The enemy doesn't know what to do when he's thrown everything at you and you still raise your hand and say he's a good God. He's a good God. When everything's spiraling out of control and it seems like your family's lost their mind and you're facing sicknesses and all kind of things and yet you still find a way to raise your hand and say he's a good God. He's a faithful God. The enemy doesn't know what to do with you.

I want you to take you to passage of scripture. I want you to read this. Habakkuk. Probably been a while since you had a preacher tell you to turn to Habakkuk. Some of you didn't even know it was there. It's right between Nahum and Zephaniah. Habakkuk 3:17 says, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and

there shall be no herd in the stalls." Anybody excited yet? Anybody ready to run the aisle? It's kind of depressing, isn't it? It's like, well, even though this didn't work, even though the car won't start, even though the kid's sick again, even though the boss cut my hours, even though my in-laws are coming over — I got good in-laws. Verse number 18, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation." Doesn't matter what's going on, I'm not going to focus on that. I can't control those things. I'm still choosing to rejoice. I choose to find joy in the God of my salvation. That's a vision in the presence of all the craziness of life. The reality that God can, if he chooses to step in at any moment, but even if he doesn't, I'm still going to choose to rejoice and find joy in my God.

I will face things in this world and so will you where the circumstances don't turn out the way I want them to. We're going to face difficult stuff. Kind of like the little scrawny guy that shows up at the pearly gates and Peter's asking him the questions, can he able to get in. And obviously this is fictional, but go with me for just a minute. He said, "Have you done any good deeds in life?" and — and this little guy, he's about a buck 25 with his shoes on. He's like, "Yeah." He said, "There was a little girl that was being picked on by a bunch of bullies, a bunch of ugly, toothless, tattooed-up, t-shirt-wearing Alabama fans. They were picking on this girl, and they snatched up her purse. I stepped right in there to the biggest one of them. I pointed my finger in his face and said, 'Not today, buddy. Not as long as I'm here. You're going to leave her alone.'" Peter said, "Man, that's pretty amazing." He said, "When did you do that?" He said, "About 30 seconds ago." Some of y'all get that driving home.

Sometimes in life, I will face circumstances that I don't like, that I cannot change. I can't control them all. I'll face things where it's my problem, my inadequacy. I spend a huge chunk of my life feeling like I'm frustrated and going through discouragement. But when I worship, something happens. When I worship, something happens. I I may come in here burdened down. I may come in here low. I may — I may come in here feeling like the whole weight of the world is on me. But when I get into the house of God, oh, something changes when I start worshipping. I think that's why the psalmist said, "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of —' Yes. Yes. Let's go there. Let's go to the house of God because I can get lost in worship." And when I'm lost in worship, everything melts away for a while. Oh. Nevertheless kind of worship is what we got to have.

I love — as when I looked at that, I read that in Habakkuk, he — he's talking about everything that's not working. The fig tree is not budding. The olive crop fails. There's no sheep in the pen. The car doesn't start, and checkbook doesn't balance, but nevertheless, I will rejoice. You got to have a little nevertheless in you. Uh, you need that because you're going to face stuff, but he's still worthy of our worship. Nevertheless, I'm going to remember the good things. I'm going to choose to put my mind on you. Worship gives me a new perspective. It gives me hope. It gives me energy. It gives me strength. It gives me a reason to get up. It gives me hope in this life. This isn't the best there is. This isn't the best there is. I got something on the other side over there. So, I refuse to get hung up in the junk of this world. It may weigh me down, but I'm still going to raise a hand and say, "God, you are good, and one day, one day, one day, you're coming back, and I'm going to get over into the glory land where there's no more pain, there's no more trouble, there's no more things that I got to fight, but I get to worship you around the throne forever and ever and ever." Oh, doesn't that get you excited? Heaven. We get to go to heaven.

All these are good reasons. But it's not the best. I'll give you another reason. When I worship, it connects me to other people. You and I, we go through different things, but when we come into the house of God and worship, we get connected together. And here's the deal. Sometimes I come in picking low cotton. Some of y'all have no clue what I just said. Sometimes I come in and I'm just barely making it. It's been tough. It's been hard. Like I know y'all think pastors got it made. Got my little cushy corner office with my bicycle and my golf clubs in there. Get to go to lunch with people on a regular basis. Sometimes people buy my lunch. People think that, don't they, Brother Johnson? But I have bad days just like you. Some days I have pains in my body. About 2 weeks ago I go out, get in the car, hit the ignition and it goes, "Goocher." And then did this real cool thing, it goes and blinked the lights at me. Battery was dead. Just 2 weeks before that I had to put a wheel bearing on the other car. Couple months before that the radiator hose busted while I was driving over here, right before we went on vacation. That's just a couple of things. But I'm nothing different than you. We're just human beings. We

face stuff. I have a daughter who put a bumper sticker on her car. If you know me at all, you know the internal struggle in me over that. But when I come in here, I may be low, but you're having a good day. Your life's okay, Jason Heim, and you come in and say, "Pastor, I love you." And you put your arm around me. And I come up right to your chest, you know, Jason. He gives me a big hug and guess what — that it lifts me. It lifts me. So, when we begin to worship with each other, I may not be feeling good, but sister Dottie, I watch you twirl around up here and all of a sudden I'm like, man, she's twirling, I should be twirling. Because I know God's been at least as good to me as he's been to good to her. We're connected. We're connected and though I may not be feeling the best today, well, I can come in here and you can encourage me and then we begin to worship each other. We would not worship God with each other. And we we we we we pull each other up and we we lift each other up and I may not have felt like it when I got in, but once I was in here and we were worshipping together, I started feeling it. It feels good. Yeah, I forgot. He is a good God. I I knew that, but I wasn't feeling in the moment, but because we were worshipping together, I get strength.

Children of Israel, they're led out in Exodus 19. God's delivering them out of their bondage. We see the beginnings of corporate worship. Best historical records we have is it all started when they crossed over the Red Sea. Moses' sister Miriam, she grabs a tambourine. She begins to sing a deliverance song. The next experience of worship though was very different. Same people in Israel, but they come to to the foot of Mount Sinai. There they're going to receive the 10 Commandments. God tells Moses, he tells the man of God, you set the boundaries. He sets the boundaries at — they had to wash their bodies, they had to wash their clothes as a way of expressing their desire to be clean in their hearts and their souls. And it says this in Exodus 19:16, "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunders and lightning and a thick cloud upon the mountain. And the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud, so that all the people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mountain."

Now, imagine this response. All right? They've already been delivered. They're out there. God has proven himself to it, and he brings them out to to do something special. And here we see this going on. There's lightnings and thunders and and and smoke and flash and all the stuff right there. Y'all think sometimes people lose their mind by getting a little modern in their worship service. Tell you right now, we ain't never touched what happened on that mountain. Now, that isn't me making a case for lightnings and thunder machines to be put in the sanctuary, okay? But can you imagine for just a — can you imagine just a minute if if this is going on and somebody said, "Man, I like when Miriam had that tambourine." "Well, that was a good service. I don't know about this lightning and thunder business." Or somebody said, "You know, I like it when Moses leads us in worship. I don't — I don't like it when Aaron's up there." "I'll come back to the mountain later." Or somebody's saying, "This is too formal." "Or this is too informal. They got all this smoke and mystery and stuff. I just don't think it's right. I don't go for that kind of stuff." Somebody said, "Man, that that that thunder was just loud. Hurts my ears." See, here's the deal. It wasn't about tambourines. It wasn't about lightning. It wasn't about thunder. It was about God. You have to be careful when we come into the house of God that we don't forget that it's about God. Mhm. I felt a little there. Did you feel that? Ah, they don't sing my kind of music anymore. Well, guess what? Whenever your kind of music was in, the people that were older than you, they didn't like that music either. They don't sing any of the hymnals anymore. Did you know there was a day before hymnals? Did you know they used to have songbook wars? And which song was going to be sung in the hymnal?

See, here's the deal. Whenever man's involved in something, it's going to get all messed up. Let me ask a question. Is God being exalted? It may only have five words in the whole song, and they may sing it for 75 minutes. But is God being worshipped in those five words? I know. I'm getting older, too. My wife came in and she asked me, she said, "What in the world are you listening to?" Today, she said that. And I said, "I'm listening to Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir 1989." Because that's what I wanted to listen to. It was a private worship moment between me and my Lord. Like I — we, we all have our own preferences. But I'm asking, is he being lifted up? I'm asking, are lives being changed? I'm asking, are people being filled with the spirit? I'm asking, are people being baptized in Jesus' name? Are lives being discipled. You see, we can get caught up in some stuff and I put this as a little sidebar. Y'all probably like, "Where in the world did this come from?" I

had to do this in there because the spirit was telling me that you can get into complaint mode and ruin your worship. We were all created to see God in a very unique way. That's part of what makes you you. You can see God in a way that nobody else can. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25, "Not forsaking assembling ourselves together as the manner of some, but exhorting one another in so much more as you see the day approaching." Man, why would you miss church now? Why would you miss it now? I mean, everything is lining up. I mean, maybe you don't like it and I ain't my favorite book in the Bible, either, but maybe you need to go back and read Revelations. Maybe you need to read 2 Thessalonians and just realize we're here. We're here. I wouldn't be playing hooky right now.

When we come together, when our bodies come together, when we worship God, when we begin engage, first of all, we honor God. Singing is something we do when we are engaged together. That's why there's so many different ways that we can worship and so God has so many different ways that were spelled out in scripture. Sometimes people came together and and they lay flat out on the ground. Sometimes they stood up. Sometimes they lifted their hands. Sometimes they clapped their hands. Sometimes they raised their head. Sometimes they bowed their head. Sometimes they kneeled. Sometimes they danced. Sometimes they they they they did all these things, but never one time did it say they came and sat and looked bored. When I'm worship, I'm connected to the body of Christ and when we worship, it makes the worship richer for everybody. That's why we worship. And those are great reasons, but it's not the best.

I've come to the best reason. And I'm going to ask the musicians and the singers to come. Because God desires to do something here today and change lives. The best reason we worship — in scriptures we read about God being grieved. About God taking delight, about God experiencing anger, about God knowing deep heart-wrenching sorrow. God has feelings. God knows more than we do. He knows what it is to feel compassion and tenderness and mercy. To feel love, to feel rejected. The best reason to worship is not what it does for you and I because we are such selfish little creatures. But the best reason we worship is for God. The best reason we worship is because when we worship he comes to where we are. That's the best reason for worship. Those other things are important, those other things are great, but the most important reason for worship is because when I worship I'm engaging him and he is drawn. He is drawn to where we are.

What's the best reason for worship? It's because no matter what I'm going through and what I'm facing when I begin to call out his name, when I begin to get my mind off of myself, when I begin to push the problems of the world down for just a minute I get to to a moment to where it's just he and I. And in that moment there's fullness of joy. Oh, I may be sad, I may be depressed, I may be anxious, I may be going through something, but when I worship it all fades away. It all fades away. When I worship I'm I'm coming to his presence and his his presence is everything I need. When I get into his presence there are times when he picks me up and he holds me. There are times when he mends me. There are times when he supplies. There are times when he calms. There are times when he fights. But all of those things are done in his presence.

So what I want to do to end this service today is end this way. I'd love for you to stand with me. And they're going to come and they're going to lead us in worship. Now here is what I know. There are some of you that need salvation in this room today. It's here. It's for you. There's some of you that need a healing in your body today. It's here. It's for you. Some of you need restoration. Some of you need to get back to where you once were. Some of you need him to show you all he has for your life. All of that's going to happen today. But it's going to happen because we worship. So they're going to lead us. They're going to start singing. And as they do, I invite you to fill this place up down here, this altar area. Just come. Whatever your need is. I would come on down. They're getting ready to start. Whatever you need, come. Those in the ministry be sensitive to what God's doing. We're going to have a little worship time right now because when we worship, he comes. When we worship, he shows up. When we worship, he can supply all our needs.