The Way of Jesus 21.0

I've invited a few friends to come and join me this morning and so we

got Megs and key and we've got Sam.

So Mag.

Feel welcome everyone.

We're

gonna have, we got enough mics there.

One.

Have we got another one?

Do you need one?

No, another

one.

I think we're good.

We are good.

I'm not doing anything.

Some of you probably here for the first time.

Um, in terms of engaging in this series, so for the last, I don't know, 5,000

weeks, we have been in this series on uncovering the way of Jesus, I think

back since like June or something.

Anyway, we've been in it for a while.

And it's been a joy indeed.

And so today sees us coming to, um, uncovering the way of

Jesus in, um, the sense of the way of true and proper worship.

So, where have we been so far this month?

It's been an interesting journey this month, Joel, back a couple of weeks

and we actually started, uh, this month by looking at the way of the cruciform

life as Jesus talks about, if you wanna be me, be my disciple, disciple

man, where are my words going today?

If you want to be my disciple, you need to deny yourself and

take up your cross and follow me.

And we talked about what it is to live the cruciform life in that way of Jesus.

And then last week, oh my gosh, last week was.

So good.

Talk about edifying if you weren't here.

Listen to the podcast and both the AM and the PM because we had different

people in both the AM and the PM speaking about from the story of

Jesus washing the disciple's feet.

And you know, at the end of that story, Jesus says, you know, I have set you an

example for you to do as I have done.

And it is this posture of humble service of living, this life of humble service.

And so the way of Jesus is this life of serving others, uh,

in a myriad of different ways.

And when we're talking about the life of Jesus and the way of

Jesus, Jesus calls us into life.

So the way that he calls us to walk in is the way of true and abundant life.

And yes, it can seem very counter-cultural sometimes it can seem like, well, how

could possibly be washing the feet of other people lead to a true and abundant

life where that is the counterculture, countercultural way of Jesus, isn't it?

And so this morning we are going to, it threads quite beautifully into where

we have been the last couple of weeks.

We are.

Speaking about.

True and proper worship, as I have already said.

And we're speaking from this passage of scripture here from Romans chapter

Romans 12 · chapter mention

12, verse one, one that is probably familiar to most of us here where Paul

says, therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy

to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship.

And so we're what we're gonna look at today.

Is what does Paul mean here By true and proper worship, how do we walk in live

in this way of true and proper worship?

Which as he says here, in view of all of what God has done in view of what

God, who God is, this is the right way to live a life of worship is the

only right and reasonable way to live.

True and proper, the only right, reasonable, logical way to live.

In light of who God is and what he has done for every single one of

us is to live a life of complete surrender and worship to him.

So we are gonna explore that this morning with my friends who are up

here with Sam and Kieran and Megs.

And what's so kind of beautiful about this is, uh, so Sam and Davina

now lead our worship team here.

And yeah, that is very exciting and they're doing a most beautiful job

and they are greatly loved by all.

And um.

And if they're not, they should be 'cause they're lovable and adorable.

And, um, and Meg's and key here.

So they were leading our, uh, worship team here.

Before Sam and Davina took it on.

And so there's a beautiful legacy up here and Vin Manza over there

who led it before me and Key.

So, um, this beautiful legacy in this space of worship.

But I do wanna say this up front when we're talking about worship, we have just

engaged in sung worship this morning.

Yes.

That is a form of worship.

Yeah.

And we're not just talking about singing this morning, however, we are

going to lean into that a bit, uh, in order to form our understanding

of what Paul is talking about here.

All right, so we've just got a few questions We're gonna

chat through this morning.

First, first question we've got here to consider is, what is

worship and why does it matter so much for the follower of Jesus?

So who wants to tackle that one first?

Don't be shy now.

I'll go first.

Thank you, Kieran,

because I'm gonna start from a slightly different place.

Okay.

Oh,

he's good.

He's good like that

because I feel like it, and I feel the presence of the

Lord sitting on this as well.

Yep.

Um.

It's tough.

I said to Max before I came up actually, I was like, have

you got tissues by any chance?

We got tissues.

I, I want, I wanted to say this, um, before we kick off, and this will actually

tail back into our worship is, which is so much more than just singing up here

on a Sunday or playing instruments, which I think we deeply know, but sometimes

we struggle to get outta that mindset.

Um, baby dedications, there's a question I wanna ask that I'm just gonna chuck

out there now and I'm sure we're gonna come back to this later in worship.

Can you lament and praise at the same time?

Can you come as a congregation, as a family of God and sit here and

lament and praise at the same time?

Right?

And I'm sharing from a place of vulnerability because I think

that's important for our community.

The first lie of the devil really is like to judge God's character.

So what do you do?

You forget who you are because you forget who he is.

So you go and clothe yourselves in fig leaves and you hide from your community.

And ads shared this already.

That's where I feel, just to speak into it a bit more, there's

shame and there's guilt, and it's not where we're called to live.

Our story without going into too much detail is we've

struggled in a fertility journey.

So days like it always happens when it's like it's a Mother's Day

event, or it's a, it's a dedication.

Then you're like, here's a mic, have a chat about it.

You're, ah, Lord, what are you doing?

But I wanna also declare.

Like right now I'm experiencing Bren and Danny are my family.

So I can't wait to get to know Leighton and know her and watch her grow and

we're fearfully and wonderfully made.

So I just wanted to start by saying that question just to throw it

out as we're thinking about it.

But I fully believe lament and praise can happen in the house of God because the

cadence is the unchangeable, which is God.

Very good.

We come in with so many different cadences in our week, in our life, in

our experience, but we unite around the unchanging cadence, which is Jesus.

So that's the start of worship for me.

Um, I'll just kick into that by saying for me, when I was sing about this week,

I can't get away from the word adoration.

Yeah.

So adoration, and I won't dwell on this, but I've been just

wrestling with, you can't get past the Lord's Prayer, our father.

Hallowed be your name, and I've just been sitting there this week.

So when we can come and say our father and adore him as our father,

what does it tell us Straight away?

He's a knowable God.

When you know him as our father, it postures you in a position to say,

if he's my father, I must be his son.

So you can see straight away you realigned back to the truth in that space.

And then hallowed be your name is this like almighty

declaration of like, who are you?

What is this mystery of what you have done and who you are.

So again, going back to that word tension.

For me, worship is just adoring him in that space of mystery.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Beautiful.

Thank you.

And thank you for your vulnerability.

It's an act of worship.

Yeah.

Mm. Yeah.

Sam, do you have any thoughts?

Oh, you can say no, by the way, 'cause say no.

Yeah, but do, but I feel like you might.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm probably gonna touch on it on the second question as well.

Okay.

Um, but.

I think just a quick thought on that one is that we are made to worship, which is

why it's so important to us and I think, yeah, that's really good hearing what

Key said about, you know, we can lament and worship and praise at the same time.

I think, you know, one element of that and the reason why we can do that

is because, you know, worship is and can be, is actually for our own good.

You know, like as we sacrifice and bring that sacrifice of praise through the pain

that you go through, there are times when God changes us, transforms us, um, because

it's us saying that despite everything that I don't have, I worship you.

I, I praise you.

You are my God.

You were everything to me.

And so in those moments, it just becomes so beautiful.

So yeah, just a quick thought there, but

yeah, no, that's good.

Sam.

I was just reminded of, um, there's a, there's a verse in Hebrews 13 that

says, through Jesus, I think that that's, that's really important to know.

We can only worship through Jesus.

Um, that is what it is to worship in spirit and in truth.

Um, so through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to

guide a sacrifice of praise.

The fruit of lips that openly profess his name and do not forget to do good and to

share with others for such sacrifices.

God is pleased.

Um, I hope I'm not throwing you under the bus here.

Meg, throw me, throw you.

It's just, it just seems to fit with what we were talking about last night.

Are you okay to share on that while we're in this thread?

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah.

Um, so I was at Dallas's house for dinner last night and we were

just discussing this, this topic.

Um, yeah, it aligns quite well.

Um, about, I'll start from, bless God.

There's a, there's a line in, in, bless God in the bridge, which I just love.

It's, bless God where my hands are empty, bless God.

But the price it costs me and sometimes.

Worship is costly and it's hard.

And I was ruminating on, um, 2022, um, mother's Day, two weeks before I had had a

miscarriage, and I was on worship, leading on Mother's Day, and I had a choice.

I could have easily gone, you know what, that's too hard.

I'm gonna pass a buck.

And that would've been very reasonable.

Everyone would've understood, but I made a choice to sacrifice that, which costs me.

And it was a balm to my heart.

It was hard, it was costly, but it was a balm.

And there is something incredibly encouraging about worshiping

with my brothers and sisters.

I'm thinking about, um, you know, the service when, um, the

men come from, um, sham Shalom.

Oh man, it's so good.

Like.

The ability to hear your brothers and sisters singing with you, lifting worship,

and placing God where he needs to be.

If your eyes are on him, he is, and he is placed above

whatever circumstances you're in.

That is a balm to your heart.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So good.

And yeah,

Dale?

Yes.

Just to add to that.

Yeah.

Because I think there's a question then on how do we engage.

Yeah.

You know, because I think we're all just saying right now when you step

into the true essence of worship.

Because we know our father and we know our identity, we find our purpose.

So maybe it's just a simple statement to say, we come to church in this context and

outside of the four walls, of course, to engage for purpose opposed to just rocking

up and singing because we can sing.

Yeah.

So it's a different posture of the heart.

Yeah.

Isn't it?

So that's, that's where worship is as much.

It's obedience.

Yeah.

Like worship is, it's uncovering the way of Jesus.

Yeah.

Like we have to get past this mentality where it's its own

little thing in its own little box.

Yeah.

It's a response of the heart.

So if we understand who we are in him and our identity is right in

the right place, worship will be our response from that position.

Yeah.

No, that is so good.

And uh, I mean that is the essence of worship.

It is a right response to who God is.

It is subscribing worth to God.

Um, I just wanted to link it back to what Adam was saying.

Um, after worship this morning about that, you know, we Paul talking about at

the beginning of Romans about encouraging one another, edifying one another.

So I know these guys right, and I know their journey and the

heartbreak of their journey.

And when I watch them worship, their life tells me a story about

who God is and it encourages me.

Because when they choose to worship in their pain, it

tells me that God is enough.

It tells me that God is still good, and I get encouraged

through their sacrifice of praise.

And may that happen this morning too, is what you have heard, may you be

encouraged through their testimony, through their lived testimony.

This isn't just words, right?

This is the choice of sacrifice that they make to not hide in their pain,

to not allow their pain to become the most important thing about them.

But the testimony of Megs and key as they live a life of worship is

that God is greater than even their pain and even their disappointment.

And that speaks so much encouragement to me that edifies me.

And so if you are in a place of place of struggle this morning, if you are

in a place of God, where are you?

Why God?

May their sacrifice of praise, may their step of obedience, worshipful obedience.

May it bring encouragement to your own soul this morning as well.

'cause God is enough and I just wanna honor you guys that.

You know, without even in intending to, you are a profound encouragement and

source of strength, of God's strength through your story because you are

so vulnerable in it and you stay in that posture of, this sucks, but God.

Oh, beautiful.

Could I share a little testimony that's just coming to my heart as you're

speaking and a Indeed links together.

Um, just what you were saying, Sam, about us being created to worship,

like no matter what, we are worshipers and it's what we are worshiping.

I was just thinking of years ago when we were studying Daniel and the, the

Shadak Micha and a a, a bed Nigo.

Yeah, yeah.

Close enough.

Um, when they get, when they're speaking and they're saying, you

know, our God can deliver us from this fire, but even if he chooses not to.

We will still, we will not bow down.

You know, we will still worship only him.

And the Lord spoke very clearly to me in that moment.

If I don't make you a mother, will you still worship me?

And I had to stop in that moment and realize that I had placed it as an

idol above God, that I was worshiping something higher than him and I had

to make a choice, which took time.

Is he the thing above all things that.

If nothing else happens in my life, is he enough?

Yeah.

And will I choose to worship him and give him worth, ascribe him

worth regardless of what happens.

Yeah.

So good.

Megs, ugh.

Amen.

All right, so next question that we had to ponder.

We're talking about true and proper worship to help us form a, uh,

robust understanding of what true and proper worship is, what Paul is

talking about here in Romans one.

Um, what might false and improper worship look like?

Um, so we go to Matthew 15, Jesus says, of the Pharisees, these

people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain.

And, uh, so Sam, you got any thoughts on

that?

Yeah.

Yep.

I've, I've got some thoughts.

Um, jot down a couple of things last night.

Um.

Uh, for those that, that I haven't met.

Sorry.

My name is Sam and me very much like Rachel, like to keep as quiet as possible.

So if you haven't met me, that's probably why I think my wife is a

spokesperson of this relationship.

Um, she probably would've heard from her, not so much for me, but here I am.

This is, uh, my, my sacrifice of praise, if you will.

Um, anyways, um.

Just before I started as well, Vista, I wanted to wanna thank He

and makes for almost like coming out of retirement for today.

Um, it's just such a blessing to be beside these two beautiful people and

also also there who hasn't retired yet.

Um, it's just an, it's just an honor to be here and speak to you

guys who these amazing people.

Um, but anyway, in the jokes aside, I think, um, so Im improper worship.

Okay.

Um, now I don't have all the answers.

So I'm not gonna say that this is the be all and end all is just a couple

of my thoughts and some opinions as to what improper worship could look like.

Um, so that's, that's the preface there.

Um, so my first thought is that I don't think worship should be all about us.

Um, and now I think, um, there is this tension between God's

helpfulness versus God's holiness.

Um, and sometimes we kind of get it skewed a little bit too far The

other way, I mean God, and don't get me wrong, is super helpful.

Um, he's our encourager.

He's our redeemer.

He's our healer.

He's powerful, he's champion, you know, he's lord of all things.

So he's most.

And most absolutely a God that will be with us in our time of need.

Um, it's just that sometimes we kind of get skewed too much that

way and we forget to look a bit higher than our circumstances.

Um, um, lemme just get back to my notes here before I go too far off.

Um, so essentially what I'm saying is, uh, the songs that we, that

we end up singing, um, we can kind of think of God as helpful.

Rather than holy.

Um, and then there's just this huge emphasis on what he can do for me.

What, what can you do for us, um, as opposed to who he is.

Um, so when we listen to the story of Megan Key and how, um, they

bring the sacrifice of praise, you know, there is an element of,

God, I need you here right now.

Uh, please be with me and he will be with us.

But then the other side of that is that we look above our circumstance

and say, God, I see who you are.

Um.

And when I know who you are and, and how much you love me and how, who you

created me to be, um, and just how awesome, holy and glorious you are,

suddenly the circumstances that we find ourselves in start to melt away.

And so I think, um, what we can sometimes get stuck and caught into doing is just,

um, calling him down, calling him down into our circumstance, which he is there.

Um, but we forget to look up and, and praise him and know that he's

higher than all of these things.

And, and again, I do wanna say that, um, like in the Bible there is so much lament,

like the psalms are filled with it.

So there, there is times for, for those things.

And Jeremiah the prophet, hated his job.

Essentially, um, he, he didn't, he wasn't afraid to let God know that as well.

And so, you know, God is very much in our pain.

Um, but we must, uh, look up because he is holy, um, and worthy to be praised.

He's not just, um, our psychologist to help us out.

Um, he is the God of all things, all creation.

So I think improper worship can look like, um, too centered upon ourselves sometimes.

Yeah.

And we need to look to him 'cause that is who we are worshiping.

Um, my, my second thought is, um, I think it can be prefaced pretty well,

uh, with a quote from a w Tozer.

Um, and I think this kind of encapsulates the, the whole, um, um.

Uh, actually, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna read the quote.

Um, a, a church that cannot worship must be entertained.

And I think that's a, that's a really important thing to think

about because when we're here worshiping God and worship doesn't

just look like, you know, on stage.

The worship team, although the worship team did a great job today, thank you.

I think you know what we're talking about today.

Worship this morning was a great example of that.

We looked up.

We praised him, he's worthy to be praised.

There was high praise.

The presence of God was here.

Our, our eyes were lifted and look and, and, and look, uh, fixed upon him.

Um, and, and in that, you know, isn't it funny how your circumstance just

completely changed because you shifted your gaze to him and his glory?

Um, and everything else just starts to look really small after that.

Um, but anyway, yeah.

A, a church that cannot worship must be entertained.

And I think what Aza was saying in that quote was that.

And we, we can get into this trap of being lost and distracted by, oh, sorry.

We just, we've, we've lost the ability to revere God.

We've lost the ability to understand how small we are compared to him.

Um, we've lost the ability to, to like bow down in worship.

Um, and when we lose that ability and when we lose that.

Um, understanding of who God is, what replaces that can be entertainment.

Um, so I think, um, we, we must look up and we must understand, um,

that, um, that he's, he's worthy.

Um, and, and he's, he's the one who is worthy to open all the seals in,

in the, in the book of Revelation.

Um, and I think.

Well, maybe we can talk about Revelation four and five a

little bit here, if that's okay.

Um, so essentially, um, revelation four and five, in my Bible it

says the, the scene in heaven.

And this is what worship looked like in, in Heaven.

Um, and what it describes is, um, the majesty and the royalty of of God.

So it describes voices like trumpets in Revelation four and five.

It describes the father who end appearance like precious gems.

There was lightning and then there was thunder coming from his throne.

There was symbol.

These are symbols of power and transcendence.

Um, he's surrounded by these powerful creatures that have.

Eyes inside them and eyes outside of them, which I think is a symbol of their ability

to see all things and be all things.

Um, these are powerful creatures that are, um, surrounding God.

And also he's surrounded by these rulers of the earth, 24 rulers,

um, powerful, powerful beings.

Yet all of these beings bow down to worship God on the throne.

Now, these are people who have power, who have authority, yet they cannot help but.

Fallen worship to this awesome, amazing, mighty God who is

present in heaven on the throne.

And I think this is important to keep in mind because this is the

God that we worship, you know, powerful beings bound down at him.

He, he's real when he's with us.

Um, and so I think.

When we forget that, then our worship can become sort of like entertainment and, and

we sort of slip into that whole production sort of thing, which is really good.

Production's not a bad thing.

It's a beautiful, beautiful thing, but if it replaces our reverence of God,

then it becomes a bit of an issue.

Um, so there was a couple thoughts that, um, what thank

you long worship could look like.

No, very, very good.

Did you have anything you wanted to add in there?

Key or,

um.

Yeah, maybe just as both an encouragement and a challenge.

Mm-hmm.

Because I think we're gonna use this word quite a bit, which is tension.

Mm-hmm.

Because it is such a broad topic.

So what Sam just shared, then I'm, I'm thinking a bit about what I

said at the beginning, which is our father and Hallard be your name.

And I'm kind of just asking myself as I'm listening, like, ah, do

I slide along that scale a bit?

So as I'm thinking about this in the Old Testament.

Like they never had to worry.

They never had to question if God was there.

Right?

Like pillars of fire, cloud manna falling from heaven like there is a God.

The question more then is, is he knowable?

Mm-hmm.

Can I know him?

We then have Jesus who reveals the Father, reveals the father's business.

He is now knowable.

He then leaves and sends another helper, which is exactly the same like another.

There means exactly the same.

So we have this Holy Spirit living in us.

And I reckon this is a, this is a bit of a hypothesis maybe, but I reckon we

could find ourselves in either camp.

Sometimes when we rock up on a Sunday or we live a life of worship, where

for some of us we might need to hear today, we're quite respectful of God.

Like we know he's there like the Old Testament 'cause we've seen him.

We have been raised in the Christian faith.

Maybe our parents did it, our grandparents did it.

We've been around long enough to know that God is there.

But the challenge for us is do we know him as our father?

Because that intimacy changes everything in worship because again, like we said

from the beginning, if we know him as our father, we then have an identity

and a purpose as son and daughter.

So that's one camp.

The other camp might be on the other side of the scale, which is.

Hang on.

Which one did I say?

Ah, father.

So then it's, it's, it's the reverence piece.

So we might be able to rock up and be on our knees and like, ah, father,

I'm a sinner, but you've forgiven me.

I'm a sinner, but you've forgiven me.

But there's no obedience because we don't respect hallowed be your name.

So maybe the challenge or the encouragement for that camp is

we have to come with a posture of forgiveness at that point.

Yeah.

And go, oh God, to worship you is to actually obey you.

Yeah.

Is to follow your way, which then means I'm gonna crucify my way and say that

my way isn't the high, higher way.

It's, it's God's way.

So maybe just to summarize that little section and say, I dunno

what camp you find yourself in, and maybe there's a lot more than two.

I'm just using that as a very simple example and I'm kind of sitting

here going like, Ooh, I haven't thought about it like this before.

But maybe that's a helpful exercise to think, do you need to press in and meet a

knowable God and know him as our father, or is it just obey and follow his way?

Fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord.

Yeah.

Great ads.

Fear of the Lord.

Yeah.

Fear

of the Lord.

Yeah.

You cannot worship properly unless it is in the fear of the Lord.

Um, so good.

Yeah.

So good.

All right.

In terms of then, I guess maybe just to present another picture of true and

proper worship, uh, I was reading this week, uh, who's heard of Fannie Crosby?

Right.

A few people have heard of Fanny Crosby, right?

Who is Fanny Crosby?

Who is this person of which I speak, okay?

She was born in the 19th century In her life, she wrote over 8,000 hymns.

8,000 hymns.

That's nuts.

Amongst other things, she wrote poetry as well.

She went blind at a couple of months of age.

So she never knew anything except the reality being blown.

She lived into her nineties talk about living a life of worship.

Uh, she would, she would say, um, of God, it seemed intended by the blessed

providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him

for the dispensation of being blind.

If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it.

I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the

beautiful and interesting things about me.

I mean, that is a posture of a true worshiper of God, right?

To know God is her greatest treasure, even transcends being blind all her life.

It actually turns what would be a curse for many into a profound blessing because

she's able to know, I understand God.

That in a way that is free from distraction.

And there is something beautiful and powerful about that isn't there?

And so when people express pity for her blindness, she would respond, if I had a

choice, I'd still choose to remain blind for when I die, the first face I will ever

see will be the face of my blessed savior.

Boom.

Wow.

Wow.

And this is the woman who wrote Blessed Assurance.

The hymn Blessed Assurance, which so many of us know, don't We?

Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine, owe it a foretaste of glory.

Divine.

You know when you, when your view is on what is to come, and that is

where your hope is, you are able to transcend circumstance and still praise

and worship and honor God by living a life of devoted obedience to him.

Air of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood.

Perfect submission, perfect delight.

Visions of rapture now burst on my sight.

Angels descending.

Bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love, perfect submission.

All is at rest I in my savior and happy and blessed, watching

and waiting, looking above.

Filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

You just wanna start singing, don't you

Sing as Janna.

Sing as Janna.

Yeah.

Rai my savior all the day long.

Right.

But this is helps us transcend into this next part of this morning.

'cause this is the power of song worship.

Right?

We are talking about a whole life of devotion to God, a

whole life of obedience to God.

That is true on proper worship, right?

Because you can come in here on a Sunday morning and you can sing your heart

out and be the most demonstrative, expressive, praising, worshiping

person in the world, and then walk out those doors and be a complete Muppet.

And be mean to your kids and just be a horrible person in the world.

Right.

And that's, that's an awful thing.

So there has, that's hypocrisy, right?

That's what Jesus is getting at when he is talking about the Pharisees and how

they're, they worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, right?

And like true and proper worship is when there is this unity.

Between our praise, our worship, and then how we live.

We live like these words are true.

True worship is when our whole being tells a true story about who God is.

And so, but we wanna lean into this idea of song worship now for a bit.

'cause when we gather.

And we, we gather and we sing together like we've done this

morning like we do every Sunday.

It is only one aspect of a whole life of worship, but it is an important one.

So my friends here with me this morning.

How do you think our sung corporate worship can be both a thermostat?

So what does a thermostat do?

It sets temperature.

But also a thermometer.

And what does a thermometer do?

It reads temperature.

So in seeking to live a life of true and proper worship, how can our son

worship, be both a thermostat, help us set the temperature of worship

in our lives, but also a thermometer helps us go as we've observed.

Think about it this morning, church family.

As you think about, how did you engage this morning with

the truth of what we sung?

Were you distracted?

What were you thinking about?

What was it going?

Were you thinking about the glories and the wonders in God?

Or were you thinking about yourself?

Or what was happening around you?

Or what are you doing later today?

Who were you worshiping in that moment?

Was it the Lord God Almighty, or was it yourself?

So what do we think friends?

Uh, I can start, I suppose.

All right, got the nuts.

Um, I think for me, sung worship, um.

It's, it helps me a little bit when I think about like, the history of, um,

songs and what it, what it means for us when we are singing these songs.

So a lot of these songs are, are biblical, you know, uh, for

example, today, worthy of it all.

That's actually from Revelation four and five really, essentially, um, all the

Saints and Angels Bow Before Your Throne.

Um, now these are, these are words that have been said for centuries,

um, and, and we are simply quite.

Simply joining with these Christians who have been through turmoil, um,

through persecution, but yet are looking and understanding the spiritual

sort of significance of what, uh, John was saying in, in Revelation.

And I think when we sing these songs, um, we're not just singing like karaoke.

And I think you've said before, we're not just up here singing

karaoke, but we're joining with.

Like amazing, like history of Christianity.

Um, and, and we are here, uh, as one small part of it.

Um, so it's quite a humbling experience really, actually, um,

when we are here worshiping in the freedom that they have fought for.

Um, and in the freedom that, that God, you know, has, has been fighting for as well.

You know, he's, um, the story of the Bible was that, you know, the

gospel was being spread, um, that.

That he's giving freedom to, to all people, to worship.

Um, he, he is, his spirit wants to break, break throughout the earth.

And you know that that sort of move is still opening up and happening now today.

And as we sing these songs, you know, we can, we can sort of see.

Where, how far we've come, you know, we can, we can go to the throne room of God

now, um, and worship him with full freedom and, and not sort of like get destroyed

or killed instantly in the Holy of Holies.

We have access to him now and I think it just kind of reminds me that,

wow, like I am actually pretty small.

Um, I'm not some amazing worship superstar up here.

Like actually, um, I should be humbled that I, I can sing these

things and worship this am amazing.

Beautiful.

Huge god.

Um, yeah.

That some beautiful,

so that really helps set

Yeah.

A temperature of worship.

Posture of worship in your life.

That understanding.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So good?

Yeah.

All.

Okay.

Or be,

yeah, I was just gonna say, um.

Worshiping from the overflow.

Like if you are racing through the week and the first time that you really

look up is here, that's great, but it's not going to really lead into a

true, deep, intimate place of worship.

Like I, I find this might, might not be everyone, but in my quiet time with the

Lord, songs bubble up in my heart and I sing worship to myself and they're.

I can't remember Bible verses I cannot memorize the Bible.

I try, it's not good, but lyrics stick in there in my

brain, they ascribe on my heart.

And when I am in his presence, when I am truly connected to the

vine, those lyrics and those, those words and those truths bubble up.

Yeah.

Um, yeah.

So I would say as a temperature gauge for my own heart.

If my heart is already full of him and full of wonder and glory and

looking at his majesty, those that will pour out of the overflow.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

All right.

Key.

What do you got?

Um, can I share a picture?

Because I, I love, oh, of course.

I love talking pictures.

Karen's good at

talking

in

pictures.

Just makes me help, breaks down the complexity in my head sometimes.

Yep.

Um, this will be helpful, I hope to people as well, because it's gonna touch on.

Submitting.

So we gotta submit first to the Lord.

Mm-hmm.

We gotta come with expectation as well.

And like we said before, if we understand our identity and we're

coming again, we're talking corporate expression here, we're coming to

engage for purpose, to find purpose for ourselves and for one another as well.

Respecting who he is, which is how it would be your name.

Mm-hmm.

But I started thinking about this a couple of months ago when I was

just sitting down here and I can't remember if it was yourself ads or

Luke, maybe we were reading from the AV screen, or maybe it was,

if it was good, it was me.

Yeah, it was Dale.

Yeah.

Flawless, flawlessly read.

I'm so humble.

Um, I think it was a liturgy, but one thing I noticed, and, and you guys will

know this, have you ever noticed that when you kick into this, like, because we

don't do it that often, corporate reading.

You'll have a scattered array of cadence, but very quickly it'll come

together as almost like one voice.

You're always gonna get that odd person that just doesn't understand

time, and that's totally okay.

There's gonna be a voice, but you'll find that the majority

of the people find a cadence.

So what I want to do today is give you, because we're talking Sunday expression,

I want to give you a little insight behind what happens on the worship team.

A peek behind the curtains as it will.

So quick exercise, put up your hand if you.

Playing instrument, which is inclusive of your voice.

Raise your hand nice and high.

Keep your hand up.

If you have been in a band, a choir, played with a group, great.

Keep your hand up In that band, choir or group you use a little

something called a metronome.

Great.

So for everyone else that doesn't understand what a metronome is, I

want to quickly show you what it is and then I'll talk about it.

This is what we hear in our ears on the stage.

It's not working.

Oh, no, wait.

If you see me dancing to nothing, that's what I'm dancing to.

So the reason I show you this is there's a little bit of an insight

what goes on here as a band up here.

And I will get to a point, we have a timekeeper, which is the drummer today.

Tim did a fantastic job keeping time.

That's what he does.

But even the timekeeper, which is Tim, submits to a greater timekeeper, which

in this case for us is the metronome.

We have something called in ears, which means when we get on stage,

we put these little ears, uh, little headphones in our ears.

You'll see us doing it.

Some of you might be going, what is going on?

Essentially, we're picking and choosing what we want in our in ear mix.

So as a keyboard player.

I love playing with Jeff, so I always crank his electric guitar because

in the place of worship, when I'm hearing his guitar, it helps me get in.

I love it.

But the point I'm making here is above all of the noise and the beauty that we

bring, there's one thing that supersedes the rest and that is the metronome.

If we play as a group up on stage and we align to the metronome,

we can have confidence that from that place of alignment.

We're producing a sound that is beautiful for our congregation

and beautiful for the Lord.

So it's this, it's this understanding of submitting to now

to break it down a step further.

Now let's talk about engaging.

So this is not just about the stage, right?

I'm just using this as a simple example so we can understand it.

When you come through the walls of red door, when you go into your

workplace, when you go into your families, you have a choice to engage.

For example, when I come up and play on stage here, right?

Let's use the stage.

I have to step up and step into a place which says, today I am going to worship.

Right?

I then have to also be vulnerable enough to bring my broken best as

a keyboardist or a guitarist, or a drummer or a vocalist, and say, or I'm

going to bring that with authenticity.

And integrity, and I'm gonna rehearse it and give it the best that I can

and not come with a place of shame that excludes me from my community.

But I'm going to come with that and bring it forward.

You then have to make a choice.

I'm now going to put those in ears into my ears and be aware of my people around me.

Be aware of what they're doing on stage, be aware of the certain sound

that they're creating so I can get outta the way and give it some space

and some room if it's required.

And then above all of that, I have to go.

I'm now going to sink into the metronome

because I know that if I'm aligned to the metronome, it's producing

a beautiful sound as a community.

So as you can see, if the metronome is Jesus in our life.

Metronome is God, and we're coming in with an expectant heart.

Happy to align and be submitted to his will.

This is where, when I said at the start, I think you can totally have

lament and praise together because we come in with changing environments.

We come in with different sounding instruments.

My keyboard sounds totally different to a drum kit.

It'll actually never be the same, and God doesn't even ask it to be the same.

He actually wants to celebrate.

That unique quality found in both instrument and bring out a unified body,

which is, which is the church, the bride.

He's not asking us to conform.

He's asking us to be uniform and transform by the renewing of our mind.

And it goes back to that simple thing.

Will you follow the metronome?

Will you practice the way?

Will you uncover the way of Jesus?

And will you walk it?

Will you be obedient to it?

Will you humble your pride?

Nigel said It's so good.

Last week when he talked about practicing that bass solo that you

just wanna hear, there's moments on stage where I have practiced this.

I have a great synth sound that needs to cut through.

It has to be heard by the congregation.

None of that matters.

You know, it's actually about aligning to who he is, and I think there is just

something so beautiful in that space.

That is so good.

And I think that is the beauty of corporate worship, isn't it?

Because, and this is where it's so counter-cultural, right?

'cause we live in a culture which is all about you to you boo.

This rampant individualism that life is found as you are your most.

You are true to your own desires and wants, but the message of

the gospel is you are most alive and you are most beautiful in the

world when you are most harmonized.

Mm. With the people around you in Christ, and when you are submitted

one to another, when you are loving and serving one another, and

that is true and proper worship.

All right.

As time gets away from us, Sam, do you wanna answer that last question

that we've got here around what is your vision for sung worship?

Yeah.

Here at Red Door?

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Bring it my friend.

Is

this time away from us or what do we got?

54 seconds or something like that?

Yeah, no, we got minus two minutes, but nevermind.

Um,

that's right.

I don't, I don't have too much to say anyways because I think a lot of

it has sort of been covered already.

Um, but I think, um.

What is our vision for, for sung worship here, um, is that we, we, we realize

as a congregation, um, and as a, as a community, as a family, as a people of

God, that we're not just singing to, um, like a genie in the sky or an abstract

idea, but we're singing to a, like a real and true God who is present with us now

and today and is powerful as we've sort of seen in Revelations four and five.

Um.

And I think, um, oh, see, I sort of forgot some notes here about,

um, Sarah, Nigel, Zoe and Tim who talked last night about serving, um,

that they talked about it being an overflow and I think he mentioned that.

Um, and so sort of makes today, but yeah, like our, our worship on a Sunday,

not just as a team, but as a whole congregation, is that our worship and

adoration of him would be an overflow.

Of our revelation of who he is.

Um, so just an authentic connection and knowing and, and praise of the Almo

Almighty father who is here with us.

And I think, you know, when we have an understanding of that, or at least

try to understand as best that we can, and his presence is with us,

sometimes we just cannot help but.

This fall flat on our faces in, in his Holiness because he's here.

And I think, um, I would just love for us to yeah.

You know, be there together to experience God that way together and

to know him as so present and relevant in our lives, not just something on

a Sunday, a random being on a Sunday body of God that is intimate with us.

Being with us, um, and worship, ung worship, just being a, an

expression and overflow of that.

So that's

beautiful.

I think very much in line what Trudy testified to this

morning, um, exactly that.

Um, just that wonder or an adoration of who God is, and it's from that overflow.

Uh, all right, well, by way of bringing this home, we're gonna do something

a little bit different right now.

So, Meg's one of Meg's great passions.

Grace's giftings is as a choir leader.

Uh, um, and one of the, we are blessed to have a beautiful team here.

Uh.

But sometimes because it's on a stage and there's instruments we can spectate

and we can treat it like entertainment, kind of what Sam was saying before.

And uh, we can um, maybe get a little bit slack in our participation

sometimes 'cause it's all being done for us up here sometimes.

And we can, uh, kind of fall into a apathetic passive posture.

In our gathered sung worship.

So we're not gonna let you do that this morning as we close.

So Megs is gonna lead us in a time of rural congregational singing without any

instruments, uh, in an acapella style.

So we Good?

Church.

You good Megs?

Yeah.

Take it away.

Stand.

I stand.

I stand.

And I'm gonna need the words up.

Thanks, SAB.

Okay.

Here we go.

When peace, like

my way

when, so like sea.

Thou

me to say it.

My

soul.

Oh.

Though

Satan

should come

let.

That

my

and

on

soul.

The place of this glory

my.

To the cross and I

praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

It is

soul

it where

is with my soul.

The day when my faith shall be

the cloud, be back as a.

The Trump shall

and the

is

my soul.

My soul.

My soul.

It is well,

is well with my soul, then sings my soul, then sings my soul,

my.

Thou

how great thou

then sings my soul.