Worship Redefined (Guest James Rey)

Well, it is an honor to be here.

Uh my name is James, and uh I was thinking about um my history of walking with the Lord and kind of pertains to the topic today of worship and uh got saved at Cal Poly as a freshman, 18, just turned 18, and uh got saved in Trinity Hall.

So if you go to Trinity Hall, you're bound to become a believer.

Right?

Um, but uh yeah, I just pretty much been in ministry since then, like right away, and since then have done myriad of things.

That's why I said, Are you still a pastor?

I don't know what what's today.

Um I'm gonna do whatever I can do because it's just fun to do different things.

And sometimes I teach, sometimes I lead worship fewer times um nowadays than when maybe in my early days when I was uh regularly leading worship at Calvary Slow.

We're just down the hill.

We consider ourselves a sister church to you guys.

So I'm with family today.

Uh whether you like it or not, I'm part of your family.

My wife, you definitely want her as part of your family.

She's awesome.

We have Bella with us too, who's become part of our family as she's living with us right now and uh working up here in Atascadero.

So she's uh a neighbor most of the time when she works up here.

But hey guys, we're talking about worship today, and I'm redefining it.

Um I'm just saying we're going way beyond vocals and melody uh to our moments of will.

So it's a different look, it's a different spin on worship entirely.

And I think it's actually more important, to be honest with you.

Maybe not long-lasting, because when we look at the scriptures, we see what we're doing in view of eternity is one of talking about with one another and to Jesus Himself of how worthy he is, how God the Father and the Holy Spirit are worthy of praise.

We will sing in heaven.

But right now, right now, we can't do that all the time.

We will, because we don't have all this, we won't have all the stuff we have to worry about, right?

Uh in our daily lives.

And but for right now, I would say what we do in our moment-to-moment lives is really true, not true worship as compared to giving God praise, because that's it's all apart.

But I would say for me, after somewhat like 40 years of walking with the Lord, I realize that if my moment-by-moment choices of will are not measuring up with the words that I'm singing to the Lord, then I'm really hypocritical.

And I feel that.

And I think as you get older, uh some of you guys would know this if you've been walking with the Lord for decades, as opposed to maybe days, months, or years, uh, a few years, is that you realize, man, what really matters is that who I am as a believer in Christ when nobody's watching me.

And the problem is when you get in front of other people and you get kind of titles and positions and authority and leadership roles and those kind of things, which it's up to the Lord what he does in our lives through us, but um, when when those things happen, they can creep in to start making you feel like you're a little bit more than what you think you should.

You know, you're hey, I'm somebody, you know, I'm valued, um, important.

And uh and then worship becomes more the emphasis on what I'm saying instead of what I'm doing.

Right?

So for me, I feel like uh as I age, as I walk with the Lord for more and more decades, is I get a little bit more humbled each day and realizing God's had grace again today.

And when I sing things like what we sang today, which was amazing, thank you, Amy, again, for leading us.

Uh it's like, Lord, you have to be God, you have to be sovereign, you have to be bigger than me, you have to make more than what I can produce in my flesh.

Because if it's dependent on everything I am moment to moment, then we're all hurting.

That's how I feel.

Maybe you can relate to that, maybe you can't.

So that's what I'm talking about today is worship moment to moment.

By the way, it is an honor to be asked to speak again here.

I spoke in February.

If you were here, if you weren't here, um I would just say there's more pressure on me now because to be invited back is actually a bigger deal to me.

Uh because there was something redeeming perhaps that God did through the first time.

But uh, if we don't know each other, I just want to say what an honor it is to be here.

And you you have a precious church, precious leaders.

I love Ben, I love Chris, I love Pete.

I just have years with these guys.

We would meet and pray and support each other and going through your health stuff and being there as a group of pastors in this area.

It's really sweet to see the unity that still exists and I believe will continue to exist among pastors in this area.

And what a privilege to know you guys and your families, your wives, your precious, just your kids, everyone.

But this fellowship is blessed because of your leaders.

So I I tend to uh make less of myself just because I know my thoughts before the Lord.

But I want to honor those who deserve honor, and that is you got some really good leaders here.

What a blessing to know you guys and be able to teach in your church.

So um, yeah, he he gave me several topics like slavery, sexual sin.

I guess you guys are in like um Thessalonians, is that right?

As a series, and he's like, Oh, you can do worship.

I'm like, I'll take worship.

That sounds really good.

Um, but I would tell you, as I dive into this, I realize it's a lot more difficult to do a sermon on worship.

Because it's like, where do I not go in the scriptures?

Let's um let's go into uh our first scripture.

I want you guys to uh take a look with me at Daniel chapter 10.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

So we're gonna be going to different verses and uh we're gonna get our fingers and our minds ready and equipped, but let's pray as we open up the word together.

God, we just thank you, Lord, for the impossible tasks you've given to us today to study worship.

What it means for us to look to you and honor you in our words and our deeds.

And we pray that you would empower us, that we would all leave encouraged, that we wouldn't be uh burdened by today or the words that I speak, Lord.

Speak through me, I pray, and and let your word just come alive to us this morning.

Make us alert.

Thank you for this day.

Thank you for the fact that we have breath in our lungs in which to honor and praise you.

And we ask it in Christ's name.

Amen.

So we're gonna start in Daniel 10.

I'm just starting of who we worship, who we worship, whether it's in song or deed, uh, choices moment by moment.

And so I'm gonna have a few uh long, longer uh passages to read together.

Uh I'm reading out of the King uh New King James.

Um, so if you have different translation, there may be some variances, but but minor things for sure.

So let's start in chapter 10 of Daniel, verse 1.

We're gonna go all the way through 18.

In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belthesazar.

And the message was true, but the appointed time was long, and he understood the message and had understanding of the vision.

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.

I ate no pleasant food, no meat, or wine came into my mouth, nor did uh did I anoint myself at all.

Those are all choices, by the way, moment by moment that he's making, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

Now on the twenty fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and I looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz.

His body was like barrel, his face the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words was the voice of a multitude.

And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me didn't see it.

But with uh but a great terror fell upon them.

So they didn't even see the vision, but they're still terrified.

So they fled to hide themselves.

And therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me, for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength.

Yet I heard the sound of his words, and while I heard the sound of his words, I was in a deep sleep on my face with my face to the ground.

Let's move on to John chapter one.

Glimpse into who we're worshiping.

Starting in verse 19.

Now, this is the testimony of John.

When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?

This is John the Baptist.

He confessed.

He didn't deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they asked him, What then?

Are you Elijah?

He said, I'm not.

Are you the prophet?

He answered, No.

And then they said to him, Who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us?

What do you say about yourself?

He said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees, and they asked him, saying, Why then do you baptize if you're not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?

And John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you don't know.

It's he who coming after me is prepared or preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loose.

These things were done in Beth Bethbara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

And the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.

I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel.

Therefore I came baptizing with water.

And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remained upon him.

I didn't know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him.

This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.

Wow.

Okay.

Big Bible passages, big important Bible passages.

Turn to Revelation chapter one.

Starting in verse 4, last book in the scriptures.

Let's look into the future.

John, to the seven churches which are in Asia.

Grace to you, peace from Him who is, who was, who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne.

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father.

To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen.

Behold, he's coming in the clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him, even so.

Amen.

Jesus says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet.

Now picture going back to our original passage in Daniel, where it says his voice like the thousand voices all at once.

And he says, I heard a loud voice as a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

And what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

And then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.

And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands.

And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to his feet, and girded about the chest with a golden band.

His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire.

His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

He had in his right hand seven stars.

Out of his mouth when a sharp, two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead.

But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Don't be afraid.

I'm the first and I'm the last.

I am he who lives and was dead.

And behold, I'm alive forevermore.

Amen.

And I have the keys of Hades and death.

Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things that will take place after this.

Jumping down to chapter 5.

Further in the glimpse of the Lamb, who John identified as the one who takes the sin of the world.

And I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

And then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who's worthy to open the scroll and to lose its seals?

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look at it.

So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it.

But one of the elders said to me, Don't weep.

Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and loose its seven seals.

And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

And then he came and he took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne.

And now he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sing a new song.

Here's worship and song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and you redeemed us to God by your blood, and of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth.

And then I looked, I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousandths times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

And then the four living creatures said, Amen.

And the four 24 elders fell down and worshipped him who lives forever and ever.

Man.

Okay, so impressions.

What are you guys feeling right now?

Is there any motivation in any of the scriptures we just read?

From Old Testament to New Testament to the future in Revelation, the glimpse of John and the message he gives.

We are gonna be before the Lamb and we're gonna worship him.

We're gonna worship the God the Father that sent the Lamb to take away the sin of the world, all of which are we are guilty of.

Our accounts have death and wrath and judgment written, stamped on it.

The only thing that takes those stamps away is the blood of the Lamb.

And when that happens and it's applied to our accounts, though we are guilty, we are found righteous.

Though we are forsaken, we're found adopted.

Though we were wayward and wandering and like sheep, wandering and doing our own thing and going our own way, God intervened and redirected us back to his own love and said, this is worthy taking a look at.

Because there's something more that I give you than you just living independently, wayward, falling into traps, getting beaten up, getting thrashed in this thing called life.

I have abundant life for you.

I'm gonna do it through my own actions.

And our response is just thank you.

Amen.

Forever and ever I'm gonna praise and worship you.

So the end of chapter five, I want you to think about something.

This is where my mind can go.

I want you to bear with me.

This is not scriptural.

I am making this up.

At the end of chapter five, here's my little addition just to prove a point.

What if the views of heaven went on after all these things being said and sung to the Lord and said the tribes and the hosts and the elders, they continue to be described of leaving that throne room and then completely backbiting each other.

Indulging in individual selfishness on every level, and essentially forgetting to continue living for that slain lamb.

How absurd, right?

Like, ah, just the when I thought it was really good, the church started being the church.

That's kind of where I'm going with this.

Is how important is it to stay in an attitude of reverence and awe of God who's done everything for us in our moment-to-moment choices?

I'd like to think, and I have good evidence for the fact that this redeemed church did not behave that way.

That's why I wanted to make it clear that is not scriptural.

But I'm just making the point, obviously, when we do the same thing, it's really foul.

I'm really foul.

When I leave these doors, the things that I think of, you guys would be offended by.

The things that I do, embarrassing.

It's just like leaving the throne room.

And in a sense, when we come to church and we get to sing songs like that, and we just elevate our own hearts and kind of try our best to reach that pinnacle of the throne of God and his presence and the very Holy Spirit that ushers us into that throne room of God, um, boy, it's just there's a there's a great juxtaposition going on between my day-to-day choices and that throne room experience.

Can you relate to that in any sense?

Do you find any kind of like struggle with the fact of I am not measuring up in terms of my consistency?

So this is why I'm redefining it.

Next slide.

Worship is really how I live in doing the things I don't want to and not doing the things I want to.

There's my definition for today.

This is where the rubber meets the road in almost 40 years of walking with the Lord for me.

And if I'm honest, I'd say my track record is more about consistently doing the exact opposite of that.

Even at great cost to my relationships with other people and to the Lord Himself.

I'm a free agent, I'm an American, I'm self-directed, I love doing whatever I feel like in the moment, and I want to do what I want to do, and I don't want to do what I don't want to do, and it's very easy for me to live in that place.

So, you know, James.

There's my daily experience.

But you know what?

Moment to moment, there's always a choice, isn't there?

There's always a moment where I have the opportunity, as the scriptures would say, to say, Lord, help me do the right thing right now.

And sometimes it's like, Lord, I want to worship you.

And when I put it in that context, guess what?

It actually gets easier.

Not easy, easier to say, Lord, please help me.

Help me to do the right thing or not do the wrong thing.

You know, that kind of thing.

Um, so the ultimate example is Jesus.

Uh we're gonna look at examples in Scripture whose life choices moment by moment were inherently worshipful given those two requirements.

Uh I'll give a few before we get in the list.

I want to give just a few, test your Bible knowledge.

Give me a few examples in Scripture where people live sacrificial lives to do what they didn't want to do.

Moses, great example.

He's on my list.

Paul?

Absolutely.

Gosh, can you imagine signing up for his life?

Jonah.

Well, he, yeah, he was.

He's a I relate to Jonah because it's usually like God grabbing me and like, right?

I want to go this way.

And I have a lot of complaining to do.

I'm very good at complaining.

Great examples.

Joseph, man.

Okay, there's a I love it.

That was my choice.

Yeah, I had I had Daniel that we just read.

I had Esther come to mind.

You can see where she's brought to a point where she's like, I don't want to do this.

Like, no, you gotta do this.

This is the time.

This is the time God has allowed for you to be in this place right now to do what you don't want to do.

And oftentimes we think of like Paul or great expense to someone, right, when they're wanting to not choose what they're called to do.

And then many who did not, what are some examples in scripture that were given?

Either as cautionary tales or just lessons for us?

Saul, great example.

Great example.

Very jealous, very given to rage.

Gosh, moment by moment living, we know with the David examples.

Great example.

Who else?

Eli.

Who's that?

Eli.

Eli?

Yeah.

Why?

Just wanted to do it.

Who else?

I'll give you a good one.

What's that?

Judas?

Judas, absolutely.

He made my list.

Yeah.

For 30 coins that he threw down and said, I don't know, what am I doing?

You know.

How about King Solomon?

Talk about moment by moment living, where he said yes to everything he wasn't supposed to do.

King David, the best king ever, right?

According to go to Israel today.

You'll go to King David this, King David that, by King David this, by King David that.

Very much, you know, obviously the biggest sin in his life he's known for is the momentary moment to say, yeah, I want that.

I'm going to take it.

And what impresses me about not only biblical characters that actually don't do that, or actually just people in history.

I read, I work for a school now and uh down in So Classical Academy, and we were all about good, great books, uh historical books.

I just read uh Marcus Ruelius, the guy was an emperor and said no to so many things he could have said yes to.

In fact, it led me to another example uh given his foster dad or his adopted dad who adopted him, he basically raised up Marcus Aurelius as a Roman emperor, uh, knowing he was gonna take over for his spot, and did it faithfully, like raised him as this is how you're gonna lead, and it's gonna be selfless and it's gonna be humble.

Now, were they perfect?

Absolutely not, and they weren't focused on pleasing the Lord like we're talking about today, but still, it's like George Washington.

There's another person out of history that just laid down like privilege and honor and leadership roles willingly and set a precedent for a country that you prayed for the country, Chris, today.

Thank you for doing that.

Um, that example has still rippling effects in our lives, right?

Like that is inspiring when you see people who could do things uh and not do them when they had every ability to say yes to themselves and their desires and their wills.

But the ultimate example is Jesus.

He's always in perfect fellowship as part of the Trinity and paradise eternally backwards as well as forwards, stepped down to be human.

Uh I think of many scriptures that talk about him laying down his privileges and saying no to what he could have said yes to.

I took the cup of the wrath of the Father, right?

That to say yes to something you don't want to do.

He literally prayed, Lord, if there's any way, what?

Let this cup pass from me.

But what?

Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.

When we say that prayer and mean it, gosh, that's honoring, that's worship to the Father, and we see it, even in a situation as intense as the crucible of Passion Week itself by Jesus.

He resisted the devil and said, No, no, the devil played up.

Hey, Jesus, if you're really who you say you are, do this.

Serve yourself, summon the angels, give yourself some bread, throw yourself off, tempting.

What?

Just what we would fall for.

It's just okay.

That sounds good.

I'm gonna do it for myself because I can.

And then lastly, I just put up wash Jesus Judas' feet.

Have you ever had?

I mean, washing your feet in that culture, you guys, was akin of just saying, we're equal.

I'm actually subservient to you.

And he did that for the worst in the time, in that moment of being a hypocritical betrayer.

It's like, oh, praise God, that's in the scriptures.

Because I relate to Judas.

Okay, let's look at some examples that Jesus gives us and turn to Matthew 16, if you will.

Try and get through these a little quicker for the sake of time, but I think we can make it.

Chris said, I had two hours when I asked him.

Matthew 16, 21 through 25.

Worship as a disciple.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, be raised the third day.

Now, you want to look at a human response?

Here it is.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuking him.

Far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you.

Do you see this playing out?

This is what I'm talking about.

Peter's looking purely at a what?

At a human level.

You are not to be treated this way.

That is not from God.

And yet God the Father had the exact opposite.

He's like, what does he say?

He said, Get behind me, Satan.

You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.

That's what we're talking about.

When you go with God and his purposes, it does not look like the natural.

And yet Peter was saying, no, he was trying to be really, I would think, right?

Really serving or protectionistical.

But it was the opposite of what God wanted for him in that, in that whole thing of salvation.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him first what?

First.

Let him first deny himself.

To me, that looks a lot like doing what I don't want to do and not doing what I want to do, right?

Yeah.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

For what profit is it a man when he gains the whole rule and loses his own soul?

Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of Man will come in the glory of the Father or of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works.

Assuredly I say to you, there's some standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

Seems like Jesus just repeatedly, oftentimes, just gives them like, this is crazy what's coming ahead for you guys, and you're not gonna want to do it.

But guess what?

I'm leading the way.

I'm gonna take a cross, I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna go to the cross and die, I'm gonna be raised again.

You're gonna follow me, you're gonna have the same cups, but I'm gonna empower you to do it.

And I'm gonna show you the example by which to live the best life.

And for me, I don't want to deny myself if I'm honest with myself.

In the flesh, I'm not capable of choosing the better God-given way.

Especially if you're asking me to suffer.

You won't find the perfect church in Montana.

You're gonna suffer.

I can't wait to go to a new church where I get to suffer through the pains and trials and tribulations of humanity.

And guess what?

It happens here too in this church.

It happened once, I think, at Calvary Slow.

I think.

Whatever you have for me, it's okay because you're with me and you've beat me into this place of denying yourself.

I can thereby be filled with the Holy Spirit to do likewise.

So inherent in discipleship is worship, that that momentary, moment by moment choice of what am I gonna do or not do.

Okay.

Paul.

If you didn't want any more bad news, let's go to Paul in Romans chapter 7.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

See, the problem with a message like this is that you have no excuse as you leave this building and into this next week, right?

Uh let's start in verse 14.

Here's Paul's description of what this means practically, uh, what his experience is like.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For what I'm doing, I do not understand.

Boy, I love that.

For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do.

If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it's good.

But now it's no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells in me.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells.

For the will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I don't find it.

For the good that I will do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do that I practice.

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin dwells in me.

In other words, he's saved, but there's still the flesh, but he knows it's the sin that's at work.

He says, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity the law of sin, which is in my members.

Oh wretched man that I am.

This is Paul talking about himself.

O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Verse 25, thank you, Lord, for putting this in through Paul.

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God with the flesh the law of sin.

And then chapter 8, verse 1, which is so beautiful, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to spirit.

Okay.

So Paul's basically saying what?

Summary, it's really tough to be a Christian.

And that's so encouraging to me.

Because if Paul comes to that summary about his own daily life, choice by choice, moment by moment, I can have encouragement not to get in this totally wrong direction of like, woe is me, there's no hope, I'll never get out of this sin or struggle or shame or whatever.

There's actually the opposite.

And first you've got to start with there's no condemnation when you fail.

If Christ is for you, who can be against you?

He loves you, he loves me, he's patient with us, he wants us to do the right thing, he wants us to make the right choices.

He knows it's difficult.

He actually encourages us through the apostle Paul, who denied himself repeatedly, as was brought up as a great example.

Paul's assessment of himself is that I am a wretched man who is gonna save me.

So I hope that encourages you.

Okay, just some real quick things and then we'll close here in a few.

Uh, lifestyle worship examples, doing things I don't want to do.

I just tried to tip the tip of the iceberg here, obviously.

So, but some things that I don't want to do, I don't want to forgive someone who hurts me.

Uh I don't want to serve others first.

I don't want to have thankless tasks, I want to be recognized when I serve well.

Uh I certainly don't want to bless my enemies.

By the way, are you thinking of verses that come up with all these?

And we're commanded, not suggested, but commanded to do these things, like forgive as God in Christ forgave you.

I don't want to exercise.

Just simple things of life.

I don't want to do that.

I don't want to wake up early for my devotions.

I don't want to have time where I could be scrolling, interrupted by my Bible reading.

It's just fleshly stuff, you guys.

Getting up early is just tough for me.

Um, I'm getting better at it, but giving.

Oh my goodness, sometimes giving.

Literally dollars.

I mean, let's just go, rubber meets the road.

It's tough.

I don't want to do it.

I could think of a whole lot of things I'd rather spend money on than to give to my church.

Praise God, I haven't broken that promise to tithe.

But it's great.

What's the opposite of all these things, right?

You get the blessing of being involved.

You get the blessings of forgiving because you're not in your own prison.

You get the blessing of serving others first because you uplift them and encourage their hearts.

You get the blessing of the enemies given closer and more evidence by which they should consider that Jesus is alive and living and really active and changing lives for the better.

You get the uh benefits of exercising and uh looking great towards your spouse.

Uh you get the benefit of just having your day go a different direction because you took time to just pray and read your Bible.

You get the blessing of just knowing you've blessed somebody through your giving.

Even if you don't know exactly how it's being applied, just the fact that you were obedient to God is a blessing, is it not?

And then parenting, that's the exercise of self-uh denial.

I I just my I my granddaughters are four and two, and uh being a grandparent is a lot easier because we're not getting up with them.

They actually are sleeping better when they spend the night at Mimi and Pops' house than necessarily their parents, and I feel bad.

I want to tell them.

Like, oh yeah, they slept really difficult.

We were up all night with our grandkids.

But parenting is just an exercise of sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do because it's part of it.

Now, not doing things I don't want to do, oh boy, this list could be really long.

But retaliation for evil, complaining.

I told you before I'm good at complaining.

Uh falling temptations, even good ones.

You guys, good ones are things that aren't bad but elevated at the expense of idolatry or inconsistent with idolatry.

For example, working out's good, but if you're looking for more attention and how uh to look to others, it's not necessarily a good thing, or working to earn more wage because you want to provide for your family, but then you're taking time away necessarily from quality time with being with them.

I mean, all those things are they're good things, but they get elevated to a level of detriment.

Uh so you know, not doing things that I know that are gonna be a cost that I don't want to pay, that's important.

Uh, not um doing things like serving myself, making and serving idol of comfort, there's a big one, isn't it?

Comfort, oh gosh.

Um spending on myself at the expense of giving sugar.

It's just a practical example that I throw in there, and uh, I really like my sugar, uh, but I shouldn't eat as much.

Um, and then Paul's example of restraint for serving others.

That's that's just a biblical example of just, you know, gosh, he went to churches that wanted to stone him or or areas that left him for dead.

Um, at the you know, things that he even was hindered.

I guess I should say this in this list at least.

He said, I wanted to go to you, but I couldn't.

The Lord hindered me and was obedient to that, didn't force the issue necessarily.

We were just reading that in our church not too long ago, of that example.

So those are just some things that I hope you relate to.

Um lastly, turn to Romans 14, and we'll end with this.

Just a few verses later, starting in 14.

14, that's not the right.

There we go.

I know, and I'm convinced by the Lord Jesus, that there's nothing unclean of itself, but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it's unclean.

Yet if your brothers grieve because of your food, you're no longer walking in love.

Don't destroy your with your food the one for whom Christ died.

Therefore, don't let your good be spoken of as evil.

So these are good things.

He's just like, consider beyond that they're okay for you, right?

For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and proved by men.

Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Don't destroy the work of God for the sake of food.

All things indeed are pure, but it's evil for a man who eats with offense.

See, that it's good neither to eat meat nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak.

Do you have faith?

Have it to yourself before God.

Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith.

For whatever is not from faith is sin.

Okay, big topic.

I could have done a whole sermon, obviously, on this, but I will just summarize it and say, Paul's saying everything.

You know, when the sheet was lowered in Acts for Peter to go, God says, go kill and eat, and he's like, God forbid, I've I know my dietary restrictions by my faith.

I'm not to eat certain things, those are unclean.

He's like, No, it's all clean.

Right?

Remember that?

And so you go into life and you're like, this is what I'm gonna do because I want to do it.

If you just didn't even consider the body, who's with you, the community that you're a part of, you would just indulge on whatever and it wouldn't matter.

But Paul's saying here, there's something bigger going on.

You're able to serve other people around you based on your choices to not indulge in things that are good.

That everything's clean, but if you know someone's really, especially like new believers, when you're when you have the uh green light, if you will, from the Lord, because you don't struggle in a certain way.

I would say a great example is just drinking.

Like I know people that struggle with getting drunk, it is a real problem.

So I don't want to be the one before them indulging in that, even though I technically could, right?

You with me?

It's the same thing with food being offered to idols.

If I partake of that, that could be a stumbling block for new believers.

So I'm just saying this right now to say that we live beyond ourselves in a community.

And when you say yes to things you don't want to do and say no to things that you could do for the sake of love, you're worshiping God.

You're worshiping God.

Why?

Because you're denying yourself for the greater good.

Um, and I just want to encourage us today that that's what it's all about.

And then guess what?

The more we do that, the more we were so much more eager to come to church and to worship in song.

Amy, you can come up right now, in fact, um, and lift the praise because there's a consistency with how we live in what we're saying when we're singing to the Lord.

And one day we'll be done with this whole thing called life, and we won't have these cares, we won't have these struggles, and we'll be able to just sing and worship and serve one another in pureness of heart.

And that to me is pretty exciting because we won't have all this other stuff going on.

That makes sense?

Are we good with this?

Are we motivated to do good work as employees, as employers, as mothers, as fathers, knowing that it's all worship.

End of the day, if it's in faith, it's worship and it's worshipful.

So let's stand, let me pray, and let's ask God for his power of the Holy Spirit to worship him with our lives.

Father, there's all kinds of things that you call us to that we don't want to do.

But you're calling us.

And so we want to do it faithfully unto you, no matter the cost to us.

There's also things, Lord, that you want us to just really obey you in that we're not really good at doing right now, if we're honest.

And I know for my brothers and sisters, there's gotta be feelings that are similar to mine, Lord, that when we look you in the face with those flames of fire coming out of your eyes or the voice of many thundering out of your mouth, Lord, the the way you see through us, you see into our hearts, the way that you treat us is so good, so kind, so patient.

So I pray for all of us here that we wouldn't walk out with burdens, that we wouldn't walk out with legalism, that we wouldn't walk out of the doors and somehow turn this into earning your favor, but that we would just really be caught up by you and empowered by your Holy Spirit to live lives worthy of the calling we've received.

And that is our desire.

So, Lord, forgive us when we fail, uplift us, encourage us, strengthen us, and allow us to have every opportunity to bless those around us as we make these decisions, empowered in faith by you in your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name.