WORSHIP IS OUR WAY | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

[Music]

it is great to see you and to be here

with you all this morning I am so

grateful that we are gathered together

in this house and I'm grateful because

today we are concluding a collection of

conversations that we've been in over

the course of the past several weeks

that we have been calling the

Renaissance and the Renaissance has

simply been a collection and a

discussion that is fixated and focused

on the idea of Revival and

revitalization not just happening within

one individual but within a group of

individuals what we believe we are

seeing is happening in our church yes

and so I have told you many times over

the course of these weeks that I've

stolen this title from a Fame period of

time in human history where we saw that

the Renaissance was a time where there

was Revival and revitalization in things

like art and literature and Science and

even in the church to where it ended up

shaping the culture of Europe between

the 14th and the 16th centuries but

probably more predominantly for us is

the fact that Renaissance is quite

literally defined as Revival or renewed

interest in something so we believe that

we're seeing Revival and renewed

interest in what God is doing throughout

the world in the Lord's church and that

we also see something beautiful and

unmistakable that is happening among the

saints that are gathering in this

location in our very midst and so I have

mentioned over the course of the past

seven weeks that we are going to be

transitioning the church's name from

LifeBridge Church to key Church

officially on September the 7th and

there's a lot of fun and exciting things

that coincide with that but probably uh

one of the things that we wanted to make

sure that we were going to do and not

just kind of leave it out there hanging

is talk through seven weeks and seven

subsequent values of who it is that we

believe the Lord is leading us to be

that fall in line with his character and

the church that he's called us to become

and so I know that you all could recite

them off the top of your head right now

and I'm going to call on seven of you at

Rand

so I'm kidding uh but those would be

Jesus is our purpose that belonging is

our heart that stewardship is our

responsibility that Excellence is our

standard that passion is our posture

that bringing is our joy and now finally

what we're talking about here this

morning is that worship is our way which

could feel somewhat open-ended and it's

intentional it's open-ended because I

think for many people when we think

about worship and I would be guilty of

this as well to some degree we can often

just tend to think about the moments

that we spend gathering together

corporately in this place where we are

also all singing at the same time

corporately lifting praise to God the

Father Son and Holy Spirit and what we

see is that often times we can end up

then leaving the rest of our lives just

kind of as like meah like we don't we

don't really think about it as worship

but the truth of the matter is that all

of who we are all of what we have our

entire life and being is a Living

Sacrifice to the Lord and that all of

our life is worship regardless of season

and Circumstance and so what I want to

do is I want you to get with me in Acts

Acts 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16 acts 16 we're going to be in

verse uh

25-34 acts 16 verse 25 through 34 we've

Acts 16:25–34

got a lot to get through together here

this morning and so uh y'all there with

me y'all ready for the word it says this

about midnight Paul and Silas were

praying and singing singing hymns to God

and the prisoners were listening to them

and suddenly there was such a violent

earthquake that the foundations of the

jail were shaken and immediately all the

doors were opened and everyone's chains

came loose when the Jailer woke up and

saw the doors of the prison standing

open he drew his sword and was going to

kill himself since he thought the

prisoners had escaped but Paul called

out in a loud vo don't harm yourself

because we're all here the Jailer called

for lights rushed in and fell down

trembling before Paul and Silas and he

escorted them out and said s what must I

do to be saved they said believe in the

Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and

your household let me just go ahead and

get ahead of that right there uh they're

not saying that you can be saved by

proxy but we see that they're actually

going to preach the word to everybody in

the home here uh and it says in verse 32

and they spoke the word of the Lord to

him along with everyone in his house and

he took them the same hour of the night

and washed their wounds and right away

he and all his family were baptized and

he brought them into his house set a

meal before them and rejoiced because he

had come to believe in god with his

entire household let's pray

together uh Lord I'm so grateful to be

gathered together with your people in

this house but Lord I I I just want like

a fire to burn in this place I just want

you to absolutely have your way here God

I don't know all of the situations and

Seasons that people find themselves in

right now but Lord I know that you are

absolutely required in every single one

of them and so Lord I don't know if

there's anyone in here that's been

neglecting you in this season or someone

that finds themselves in a difficult

circumstance that makes it hard for them

to feel like you're present or that you

care or that you love them or any of

those things for everything in between

Lord would you just absolutely ravage

this place by the power of your Holy

Spirit to capture the minds and the

hearts of men and women that find

themselves gathered here today maybe

some of them just because it's habit but

maybe some of us because it's out of

need but all of us because we believe

that only you can do what you can do and

that is save we have experienced it but

Lord I ask that we would tangibly see

your hand at work in this house today

and that we would go out of here

glorifying you Lord we love you we

praise you and we thank you we ask these

things in Jesus name

amen well what we see in this text and

what we can understand from what we've

just read is that Paul and Silas uh are

imprisoned and we know that uh primarily

because what we see in that first verse

in verse 25 uh is that it's going to say

that other prisoners were listening to

them right in prison it says in Acts 16:

25 that Paul and Silas were praying and

singing hymns to God and the prisoners

were listening and so I think we all

realize that what we've just read is a

profound passage one of my personal

favorites in all of scripture uh and yet

at the same time if we're not familiar

we probably need a little bit more

context for what is happening and I

think there's really two primary

questions that we need to ask and

evaluate to have a firm grasp on where

we are so that we can where the Lord is

taking us and those two questions are

this where have Paul and Silas been that

they find themselves located in prison

in Philippi but then the second question

and probably more important would be and

what have they done in order to land in

prison where have they been and what

have they done to be in prison in this

location and so where have they been I

think we have a map here uh Paul is on

his second missionary journey and we see

that Paul second missionary journey

begins out of Jerusalem he's been a part

of the Jerusalem Council he is now

carrying all that he's learned and all

that they've discussed there North and

we see that as he moves North he'll

start to continue West and it's in lisra

that we see that he's going to end up

joining with Silas after that we see

that he's going to travel through the

region of galatia and friia and then we

see he'll continue West towards Mia and

we see that he will continue even

further west and land in a location

called traz on the coast now traz is a

location where we see something pivotal

is going to happen for Paul Paul is

going to have a dream one night while

they reach their location in traz and as

he does there is a man that is yelling

at him that he needs to get to Macedonia

and help the people there and so Paul

and Silas take this as a dream that's

been given to them by the Lord and in an

act of obedience and stepping further

west into the direction that they've

been called we see that they will end up

sailing from traz to a small location

there called sethra they will go to

neapolis there on the coast and a little

bit more Inland towards Philippi real

places real cities real locations that

you can know and read about and

historically are verifiable that we see

that that's where Paul goes and when he

gets to Philippi things are amazing at

first Paul and Silas get to Philippi

they're having a good old time they're

like you know what we should we should

pray right now we need to find ourselves

a nice little peaceful river that we can

pray next to Paul and Silas go and find

this River and they're praying there and

we see that as they get to this River

there's a group of women that are there

and instead of praying immediately what

they're going to do is they're going to

end up proclaiming the gospel to these

women in this European location that

they haven't visited quite yet and what

we see is that there is a significant

woman that is among them that will

become the first convert in all of

Europe a woman named Lydia Lydia is

significant because she accepts Jesus

Christ as her Lord and Savior after

hearing the good news that she's a

sinner in need of a savior and that God

sent his own son in Jesus Christ to take

her place on the cross that his blood

covers her sins she she's like that's

good news I need that I'm putting my

faith and trust in him but she's going

to go further than that Lydia is a woman

who is actually an unbelievably wealthy

businesswoman what we're told is that

she is a seller of purple which maybe

doesn't sound that exciting here today

or sound all that lucrative but to get

purple dye back in the day would have

been a very difficult thing to do and it

was something that was seen as Royal so

to be able to purchase that would have

been a business that would had been done

with people that are exclusively buying

product and so we see that all of these

people will end up purchasing purple and

she's got this wealthy business and

she's going to Leverage The Wealth that

she has built and she's going to do so

to open up her home that's big enough to

to get a church in there to kind of

start that Philippian church and then we

see that also scholars believe she is

going to help fund Paul's Ministry from

here on out probably for the rest of his

life uh what we see is that even uh

recently and I just feel like this has

to be said uh recently there's been

excavation that's been done in the area

and there's been inscriptions of people

saying that there were GI of purple hard

to know if Lydia was a part of that

specifically but what we know is that

she was wealthy she's the first convert

in Europe and she leverages all that she

has after putting her faith in Christ

for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that his

name and Renown might go forward

throughout the Earth so I say all that

to say we get to Philippi and it looks

amazing but it's not just amazing there

for the whole time we see that they're

going to hit a couple of snags and so we

see that as we continue in Acts chapter

Acts 16 · chapter mention

16 and we're going to back up a little

bit to verse 16 and 17 and it says this

once as we were on our way to prayer a

slave girl met us who had a Spirit by

which she predicted the future she made

a large profit from her owners for her

owners by fortune telling and as she

followed Paul and us she cried out these

men are proclaiming to you a way of

Salvation and are Servants of the most

high God so this doesn't seem that bad

off the bat right things have been going

amazing but now we see that this is

going to turn into a struggle it's going

to turn into a struggle because what

we've seen so far is that in Philippi

there's been this incredible witness to

conversion but now we see that they're

going to have to deal with demonic

possession in this young girl and it

will say in verse 18 and 19 she did this

for many days and Paul was greatly

annoyed which is amazing and it says

then turning to the spirit he said I

command you in the name of Jesus Christ

to come out of her and it came out right

away when her owners had realized that

their hope of profit was gone They

seized Paul and Silas and dragged them

into the marketplace to the authorities

so first things first Paul's like you

and I he is annoyed which is amazing

Paul is listening to this girl and

probably on day one he's like it's fine

she's yapping away and then all of a

sudden she just she just keeps doing it

and Paul's like stop it stop talking I

don't want to hear from you anymore get

out of her and we see that he cast this

demon out of her and when that happens

it starts to lead in in to the other

question that we had that is now being

answered what have they done in order to

land in prison well they just cost the

owners of this girl that's been

demonically possessed quite a bit of

cash that this girl has been suffering

through demonic possession and her

owners have been using it as spiritual

prostitution in order to make a fortune

off of her and so we see that then she

is going to be dragged uh that they are

going to drag Paul and Silas rather into

the city into the city of Philippi and

they will come before the legal

officials what's described as the

magistrates and we see there that they

are going to be accused of disturbing

the city now we don't know how much

money Paul and Silas ended up C uh uh

making these people lose as a result of

casting this demon out of this girl but

it had to be quite a bit because now

even but back in the day in particular

nobody was going through with any kind

of prosecution unless you had quite a

bit of money in order to make it happen

it was unbelievably expensive and so we

see that they had quite a bit of wealth

as a result of this girl's POS

possession and now they didn't see any

kind of prophet coming in so they bring

Paul and Silas before the legal

officials that they're accused of

seriously disturbing the city and that's

something that Romans didn't like at all

and so as Paul and Silas are walting

into the city among all of these Romans

that are there they start to realize

that there's a lot of prejudice that's

being shown their way because all of

these people that are a part of this

Roman Colony aren't necessarily huge

fans of the Jews and so we see that an

anti-semitic mob will break out and we

see that now all all of a sudden not

only is this anti-semitic mob going to

break out but it's going to cause them

to not be able to have any kind of

official trial or investigation into the

charges that have been levied against

them if they had what they would find

out is that both Paul and Silas are

Roman citizens but they don't even get

that chance they are taken they have

their backs and all of their clothing

stripped so that they can then be

flogged and then they're thrown into the

innermost part of a Philippian jail and

we see that their feet are put in stocks

no investigation into the charges that

have been brought against them and no

Escape is possible and now it says in

Acts 25 with all of that as a beautiful

backdrop for us that in Acts 16: 25

about midnight Paul and Silas were

praying and singing hymns to God and the

prisoners were listening to them I don't

know what your response would be to that

but let me just that that wouldn't be it

for me that that wouldn't be my response

right what we see is they have endured

and suffered on a multitude of levels we

see that they've had false accusations

that have been levied against them we

see that you've had these racially

motivated mobs that have been bombarding

them you see that they've also found

themselves flogged in this moment and so

their backs are beaten and lacerated on

a really uncomfortable level and they've

been thrown into the innermost part of

the prison and their feet have been

secured in stocks and we see that now at

midnight they are praying and singing

hymns to

God praying here is exactly what you

would think it is it means definitive

aim conscious aim towards God but

probably what's more interesting is that

the word that's used here is not talking

about uh specific prayer you might enter

into prayer for lots of different

reasons you're excited you're joyful

you're rejoicing uh you you could be

someone that that's down or in need or

scared there's lots of different reasons

that you could enter into prayer but the

word that's used here is is saying that

it's the totality of prayer that's

happening here everything that you could

think of that goes into prayer at all

that's what they're doing here that it's

adoration that it's confession that it's

submission that it's supplication that

ultimately it is Praise of their

glorious King that is happening here in

this moment and so what we see is that

it says they're praying and then it says

also that they're singing and singing is

this celebratory praise that's happening

it says they're singing hymns which is

just a song of Praise so they're praying

and they're singing they're worshiping

Augustine had three beautiful clarifiers

for what

A Hymn actually is I know that we have

thoughts whenever we hear hymns uh being

thrown out there but a hymn according to

Augustine is something that must be sung

it must be praised and it must be to God

and we see that that's what they're

doing here

praying and singing worshiping that in a

Midnight Hour they are offering up

through prayer and praise an attitude of

gratitude in less than ideal

circumstances and I got to tell you I

have spent all week just in prayer and

tears going Lord what pours out of me

when I'm under

pressure what is it that leaks that

pours out of you when you're under

pressure in the middle of less than

ideal circumstances what does that look

like and I thought about Jesus hanging

on the cross and what do Jesus do in

that moment we see that he's going to

forgive his adversaries he's going to

pray for his enemies he's going to

instruct that someone take care of his

mother we see that Paul and Silas with

their backs fogged and raw skin

everywhere that in that moment they

don't curse men they bless God we see

that as they have their feet in stocks

sore as a result of how uncomfortable

this situation is overall we see that

they're going to be in a situation where

they're not going to Grumble within but

they're going to praise out loud and

what I'm fascinated by is that it says

about midnight and it's not just saying

hey you should know the time because

time yay for time but rather it's

letting you know the time because it's

dark uh they're

singing they're not looking at Himel

they don't have projectors they don't

have led screens they don't have

anything where they can see something

and they're just kind of singing that

but rather in The Darkest Hour of the

night in the dark night of their soul in

less than ideal circumstances we see

that there are Psalms that they have

memorized in Scripture that they've

internalized and believed how many of

you know that we sing what we see in the

day but we sing what we believe in the

night and it's in the dark night of your

soul that you are going to find yourself

realizing I better have some scripture

in here that I am locked into because

when my circumstances say that God's not

good I can testify to the fact that his

character is always certain that I'm

always going to worship and it's not

going to be dependent on what's going on

in my life it will always be there so

long as I have breath in my lungs and

what we see is that it says they're

praying and singing and the prisoners

were

listening the prisoners are

listening Paul and

Silas are praying and they're singing

hymns to

God and the people in prison they're not

they're not just hearing it they're

listening to it they're not not

dismissive hearing but intent listening

that's what the word means to act on

something to heed it to pay close

attention to it to engage it to consider

everything that is being said in this

moment that they are listening and they

are mindblown because they know these

men have just been flogged they're put

in the innermost part of the prison they

hear Paul and Silas from deep inside the

prison while they're on the outside they

find themselves closest to the door but

they can hear songs coming from the

people that are on the innermost part of

the prison knowing that their feet are

secure in stocks and they're wondering

In This Moment how can these men have

their feet Shackled and sing at the same

time and I need you to know that there

is an unsaved world out there that is

listening to everything that comes out

of your mouth and there is something

about the unsaved world world that is

fascinated by the fact that when you are

in circumstances that should bring less

than rejoicing out of your mouth when

they hear you talking about the comfort

that you feel within them they are

curious about who the comforter is they

want to know who are you talking about

how can you say that you're in worse

circumstances than I am and yet your joy

is better than anything I've ever

experienced outside of here how is that

possible it's like the great prayer

Warrior George Mueller once said George

Mueller said that uh trials

are food for your faith to feed

on Trials are food for your faith to

feed on and I think we all understand

that when you are in the Dark Night of

the Soul when you're in a difficult

circumstance you know that yes the way

that I rejoice in My Worship in the

middle of this it's inspirational for

other people but how many of us know

it's formational for us there's

something that God's doing in that in us

and I think if you've walked with the

Lord for any length of time then you

know this to be true that your faith

gets fatigued when it's starved on the

smooth and easy diets of this world the

filth that this world has to offer but

we live in a world right now that is

absolutely committed to our ease and

efficiency and speed and as someone who

loves ease and efficiency we can't go

fast enough we can't make this easy

enough I want it to be easy and fast and

efficient on every single level so

hypocrite number one right here but how

many of us know the whole world is built

for us to just Coast I I I mean we got

air conditioning praise God for that

one I'm just saying I'm just saying God

like I just I'm willing to suffer for

your name but that that's just too much

uh think about it you got fast food you

order online your car can parallel park

itself like CU because I mean come on

like I I mean everything's

easy and you go well what's the big deal

with that it's not that big of a deal

until we start to realize that

inconvenience feels like

Affliction and when inconvenience feels

like Affliction a genuine trial in your

life feels like Devastation God doesn't

care about me where's the Lord why how

could this happen to me if he loved me

this wouldn't be going on this is

ridiculous this is crazy how could any

of this happen I knew that he wasn't

really all and listen it's in those

moments where you find out that he's

with me nearer than he's ever been that

it's in those moments that you realize

he didn't leave me for a second that I'm

going to sing my song in the

because he's never left me and there's

deeply transformative work that's going

on right here it's like the old proverb

goes no gem can be polished without

friction and no person can be perfected

without enduring great trials and it is

in them where God will refine you like

gold and a fire first Peter would tell

us that you might find yourself being

built and not being broken as a result

of that trial and we see that their

worship does not leave it says in verse

25 and 26 that suddenly there was such a

violent earthquake that the foundations

of the jail were shaken and immediately

all the doors were opened and everyone's

chains came loose this is the OG Jail

House Rock this is what's going on here

with more appropriate leg movement that

we see

here prayer and

praise miraculous Deliverance Prayer and

praise it's not just that Paul and Silas

will go free it's that other people are

going to go

free and you know what I read that and I

Was preparing for this and just hand in

the air just just being real with y'all

annoyed the heck out of

me so annoyed me for some of you in

here always seems like it works out that

way doesn't it isn't that

annoying can you say

that oh they they pray in Praise And all

everything works

out some of y'all have been praying and

praising and you're like I don't have

nothing to show for it yet nothing and

what do I do with that what do I do with

that I think we have a problem where we

have overemphasized the dramatic over

the subtle move of

God what I love is that in Philippi you

can see just in Philippi that things

kind of start to elevate in drama but it

doesn't mean that God was less involved

in any of it how is Lydia saved just

going to work go gather some girls

training new employees to sell purple

and do whatever she's doing it's all

right welcome to Gucci this what we're

doing like you know I mean this

is an honor way to work there's two

random dudes that clearly don't wear

Gucci and they're just like hey I need

you know you have a deep

need you to tell about a king who gave

his life on a cross miraculous

deliverance and salvation for Lydia

right there nothing

crazy and then you go

to Philippi and stay in Philippi a

little bit longer and you cast a demon

out of a girl and nobody says in

Scripture that she immediately gave her

life to the Lord but scholars believe

she probably did if you were possessed

at one point by a demon and then all of

a sudden it was out of you you might say

hey can we

talk

elevated then we see now it's just this

is dramatic Deliverance the foundation

are shaken and the doors fling open and

chains fall off you see all this stuff

going on and you're like it just

elevates but can I tell you God is no

less involved with Lydia than he is with

the Jailer God has no less saved Lydia

than he has the Jailer that God's

involved in all of it that he can use

miraculous Deliverance or the most

subtle reconcilable means but here what

we see is that it is dramatic we see

that God can move in a way that is

significant and it's not just Mindless

or pointless it says that there's an

earthquake that is violent and the

foundations of the prison shake and the

doors fling open and chains fall off and

it's interesting that that happens here

you know that the earthquake is

Supernatural because it says the

foundation of the prison was shaken by

an earthquake and yet the prison didn't

fall

down the prison's Still Standing how do

you know it's supernatural what

earthquake do you know where it's like

man the earthquake was so crazy where

the buildings stayed up but the chains

fell off

and what we see the Lord is doing is

he's making sure that all the people in

this prison know the god that they're

worshiping right now is a God that's the

Lord of all creation that I am in

control of every single thing that's

going on here and so you might find

yourself in a place where you're just

like I just don't know who this is that

they're worshiping and God will confirm

what you feel like you can't that he

will do the work even when you feel like

I don't know how this is going to happen

right now and what we see is that he's

Lord over all creation that we see here

that he's still in the business of

shaking foundations and opening doors

and chains falling off so that faith can

be freed in a room he still does that it

maybe doesn't look the same and I'd

actually prefer that there's no

earthquake but we see that he's still in

the business of doing it it says in

verse 26 to 28 suddenly there was this

violent earthquake and the foundations

of the jail are shaken and the doors are

opened up and chains are falling off and

the Jailer woke up and saw the doors of

the prison standing open and he drew his

sword and was going to kill

himself since he thought the prisoners

had

escaped but Paul called out in a loud

voice don't harm yourself we're all

here the the Jailer woke up shaken by

this earthquake he awakes and then he's

aware uh my worst nightmare is happening

right

now all the prison doors are open I have

failed on a c catastrophic level and it

says that he goes to draw his sword to

kill

himself because he thought the prisoners

had escaped well under under Roman law

if a guard were to have any prisoner get

loose then what would happen is that

they would have to endure the punishment

that that prisoner was set to endure and

so if this Jailer knew that there were

individuals that were in this prison

that had committed capital crimes and

they were about to endure capital

punishment then he was going to take

matters into his own hands he had

absolutely no interest in suffering

through some shameful execution when he

could just commit suicide right here in

this moment and what's interesting is

that it says the Jor drew his sword and

it says that he drew his sword to kill

himself because he

thought cuz he thought that all the

prisoners had escaped he thought that

worst case scenario was happening he

thought there was no way that he had a

hope in a future he thought there was no

way that I am going to be able to see my

life go any kind of way where it's up

and to the right that I need to just end

it right here and I say that because I

would imagine that there are some of us

that are in the room whether it's you or

your children and you have been

contemplating and fighting and

struggling with similar lines of

thinking and if you don't hear anything

else of what I have to say today then

hear this that what Paul said to the

Jailer is what the Lord is saying to you

don't harm yourself we're all here we're

all here that there's nothing so

terrible in your life that it's

irredeemable or the Lord can't grab hold

of it just keep waiting just keep

staying and I say that and I know that

that's real for some of you that are in

here in fact if you would just bow your

head for two

seconds nobody's looking nobody's

looking and please don't

look would you if if you've struggled

with that or you've got a kid that

struggles with that would you put your

hand

up okay this

is no keep your hand up keep your hand

up I need Alex look Brandon look nobody

else look Alex look Brandon look Travis

look stepen look Dave look Greg

look Rob Totton if you're in here look I

want you to look if you're a deacon look

Felipe look I want you to look that's a

real thing that y'all are going through

and we will meet right up here

afterwards to pray Heaven down over you

and your family when we're done here

okay y'all can put your hand

down they

thought the prisoners had

escaped and some of you you believe a

similar

lie you believe the

lie that

you have no identity apart from what you

can offer Society you're as good as your

work you have no reality where there's a

hope in a future for you that it's the

worst that it's ever going to be and

it's not going to get better you feel

like you have no story that has an

ending that's worth living for but we

see that Paul and Silas are going to

introduce this Jailer and everyone else

to something infinitely better and what

we see is that it says Paul says don't

harm yourself we're all here and the

Jailer called for lights and rushed in

and fell down trembling before Paul and

Silas he escorted them out and said s

what must I do to be saved and they said

believe in the Lord Jesus and you will

be saved you and your household and so

what's amazing here is that if you think

about it I've been captivated by this

all week that Paul said hey we're all

here nobody left no prisoners left can

you imagine if we open the doors of the

nearest prison you think they'd all be

like it's kind of nice in here you know

like what are we doing

they realized we're standing in a

miracle these men were praying and

worshiping and now this has happened I

have been stunned all week that they're

stunned the Jailer and the prisoners are

so in awe and so stunned that none had

run they hear all of this praying and

they hear this singing they're

worshiping singing hymns to God and in

this moment they realize there's a

better identity and reality and story

for my life in Jesus Christ and his

finished work on my behalf

and we see still though it's amazing

that Paul could say not one person has

left we're all

here

why because when you can worship in the

midst of less than ideal circumstances

the rest of the world like these

prisoners did with Paul and Silas look

at them and go these men are worshiping

like free men in prison in a world where

free men worry like they're in prison

they are more free in the worst

circumstance inside of this prison than

anybody that's living on the outside of

this prison right now and every believer

in here should know that worship lands

on the lips of the individual that can

say you can put my feet in stocks but my

heart is in heaven there is no way that

you can touch a single hair on my head

and actually do anything that will

deteriorate my soul it belongs to Jesus

Christ and you cannot take me out of his

hand that you see here that it says and

they spoke the word of the Lord to him

along with everyone else in his house

and he took them the same hour of the

night and washed their wounds and right

away he and his family were baptized he

brought them into his house set a meal

before them rejoiced because they had

come to believe in God with his entire

household that there was a realization

worship is not an

escape from my

circumstances it's God's entrance into

all of them

would you enter into all of

this I'm going to close with a

story some of y'all thought you're going

to get out of here without hearing me

say in 1941 but you're

wrong

so in June

1941 Dimitri shastovich

began his work on the seventh

Symphony he had been named as the head

of lenen grad's conservator piano

Department which is in Russia and so he

was living and working in Leningrad in

the middle of World War II as Leningrad

started to come under siege and he was

working on the seventh Symphony which

would be his magnumopus it was his

Masterpiece there there's nothing that

he would do in his life that was better

than the work that he did

here in fact he he wrote about how

focused he was he said neither savag

raids nor enemy planes nor Grim

atmospheres of a baguer city could

hinder the flow I love that he said I am

working like a man with inhuman

intensity but in September of 1941

shastovich had to evacuate because the

siege had been too much he and his

family and so he did more work on the

seventh Symphony outside of lenen gr

despite the fact that he had

accomplished quite a bit in his time

there and on October the 8th 1941 he

ended up writing a letter where he said

to the people of Leningrad that this

symphony is about our age our people our

sacred war and our

Victory he finished it on December the

27th 1941 and he nicknamed the 7th

Symphony the lenr

symphony for the people in the city

where it had begun where he had done

much of the leg work it ended up

premiering in kushev in on March the 5th

1942 and it even got out and got played

in different areas it was performed in

Moscow and in London and even in New

York meanwhile Leningrad was under siege

in a horrible way I mean the city was

decimated starved German forces had

surrounded the outside of the city and

they were letting very few people in or

out so it was difficult to get any kind

of supply and it was interesting one

individual in their diary who was living

in that area at this time said the dead

are littered all over the streets and

they are

unburied people are eating rats and cats

and dogs some

have even resorted to

cannibalism the German forces have

surrounded

Leningrad and yet somehow the Leningrad

Symphony was able to get inside the city

after it had been completed by

shastovich and it got into the hands of

a man named Carl

eliasberg Carl

eliasberg had been named the conductor

of the lenr radio Orchestra uh when the

city was doing well but obviously all of

those things had fallen off and now it

was just about

survival but he had received this

Symphony and he had been

instructed to rehearse shostakovich's

7eventh Symphony and so he

tried he sent out a memo to his many

people as he had known that were

musicians prior to the siege of the city

and 15 people showed

up 15 people showed up for their first

rehearsal and this is uh what sh ovich

wrote when they tried to have a second

no rehearsal

today two died and one is sick and going

to

die they tried to have a third rehearsal

and he said broke rehearsal today after

15 minutes were

starved the trumpeter apologized to me

profusely when they did not have enough

breath in their lungs to play a

note and he did better than the others

who lacked the strength to even hold

their instruments and

play they were were able to at some

point through really broken

work get through the symphony just one

time and they felt like that was good

enough to give it a go and perform given

the circumstances and on August the 9th

1942 they performed it in their City and

I want to read to you what that day was

like moments before the performance the

Soviet Army did their best to land a

vicious bombardment on German Army lines

this had been done to silence their guns

so that the performance could take place

minus any

interruptions different teams of people

grabbed as many loudspeakers as we could

and set them at all four corners of the

city but rather than than putting them

on the inside facing the inside that our

population might hear this Symphony we

ended up turning them to the outside

that our enemies might hear our

song everyone was starved but we dressed

up in our best in our bow ties and the

concert commenced in defiance of our

enemies and when the performance

concluded there was silence for a moment

but suddenly a storm of Applause broke

out and said The Siege is

broken can I tell you that in Christ

Jesus when he went to the

cross it looked dark and like there was

no way

out but when that tomb opened on the

third day it was Heaven declaring that

The Siege is broken that every single

person in here I don't know about you

I'm not playing Church like I'm here to

be serious about this this is not a

hobby this is the king of glory like I

don't know if we care about our tea

times or coffee and donuts but I'm here

to tell you right now that the king of

glory told you that the siege is broken

on every enemy in your life that you

could know that you gather in here and

we're not just here to kind of get

around and hope something Happ happens

we're here because the king of glory

lives he broke the siege on your life he

gave you freedom in your life he's the

one who made sure that you could know

that you can stand here and sing send

your emails say this is too much if this

is too much then you have no point in

coming here that the Lord Jesus Christ

is going to split the sky open one day

and the thing you're not going to do is

wonder where the coffee and donuts are

you are going to listen you are going to

work worshiped you will lift your song

Because The Siege is broken and he has

freed a people to do his glorifying work

in the world that we might be a people

that say my whole life is about that man

light the fires tell the world turn the

speakers The Siege is broken and the

king of glory is coming back for his

people you are free today in Christ

Jesus your kids can be free today in

Christ Jesus and so worship like a

people who know I've been free