RESET: Look Up

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

It is it is such an honor and a privilege every time I get an opportunity to come up and be around the people of God and share the word of God.

And today is is no different.

So whether you're here with us live, we want to thank you so much for being here with us.

Whether you're joining us online, maybe you're listening to this on a podcast or on YouTube several weeks from now, we just want to let you know we thank you so much for gathering with us.

We truly believe that the Bible is true, where it says that we're two or three gather in the name of Jesus, that he joins us where we are.

And whatever that context may look like, we truly believe that God is with us.

And so what I want for all of us is just to lean into these moments where the word of God and the people of God are gathered together because I believe these are moments where that can be transformative where God can meet us exactly where we are.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of John chapter four.

The Gospel of John chapter four.

I'm going to be hitting on a couple of passages.

All of them are going to come up on the screen, but I'll give you reference points to go back and look through.

I remember the thing that was one of the most transformative things for me in my early stages of my faith is that I would just take notes of the pastor every time he referenced a scripture, whether he read it out loud or just gave a reference, and I would just go back and read it in its entirety, in its context.

I didn't have a lot of commentaries, I didn't have a lot of other things, but I would just read the word of God because the word of God has this ability to connect with us, to shape us, to form us, and to strengthen us.

So I want to encourage the same for all of us.

It's that as in these moments, take notes, write down these scriptures, go back and look at them a little bit later in the week.

As we heard earlier, we're in our season of prayer and fasting, and I can't say enough.

I I realize that I've had many people reach out to us over the course of this week and say, hey, I don't know if I'm fasting right.

I feel like I missed the mark.

I'm I, you know, and and and I want to let you know there's no condemnation, that this is a grace-filled moment.

But what it is is all of us as a community are all seeking God together with a belief that we're gonna draw closer to Him, that we're gonna be strengthened as a result of it, and we're gonna get so much clarity.

So even if you are wondering if you're doing it right or wrong, it's really a posture of the heart.

The idea of fasting is simply to abstain from something that could be a distraction so that you can fully engage in the presence of God a little bit more.

So it is not too late.

I know we've heard that already, but I just want to give somebody some peace in here today.

Maybe you're wondering you missed the mark.

You haven't.

You can still join with us, you can still be a part of the community that is seeking after the presence of God.

You see, last week we talked about the importance of fasting in this context of God doing a reset in all of us.

This idea of knowing that to reset something is to kind of restart something, to re-establish something, to set again.

And I believe that we all can benefit from getting a nice fresh start, a reset, so to speak, of some things that God wants to do in our lives.

And when we reset ourselves, we find ourselves in alignment with the things of God, we're in alignment with his word, his will.

It allows us to have a clean canvas, so to speak.

And so the passage of scripture that we looked at to kind of set the tone for this season of prayer and fasting in this reset is found in Isaiah 43, 18 and 19.

And it says this do not remember the past events.

Pay no attention to the things of old.

Look, I am about to do something new.

That's that reset.

Even now it is coming.

Do you not see it?

He's saying, Do you recognize it?

If you can't see it, then the season of prayer and fasting can reset so that you can see what God is doing.

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

In other words, God is saying that I'm going to provide no matter how desolate the place may look, but you need to have a reset of perspective in order for you to really capture a glimpse of what it is I want to do.

I believe it's in moments like this where the community of God has made a decision to reset some things, that it's in moments like this that we get recalibrated, so to speak.

It's like our spiritual tune-up that allows us to come into alignment with God's word.

Today, as we find ourselves in the Gospel of John, chapter four, it's a it's a it's a very pivotal passage.

It's very powerful as we find ourselves just on this journey with Jesus.

And the scripture says before we get to the passage that I'm going to read to you, it says that he had to go through Samaria.

This location that that was kind of like an out-of-bounds location for Jewish people at the time.

It was almost like an unclean environment.

But the Bible says that Jesus had to go through it.

Technically, he really didn't have to, but he he chose to go through it.

And when he got there, he found himself having a conversation with a woman at the well.

Maybe you've heard references to the woman at the well.

This powerful story of Jesus having this interaction.

And what many of us may miss is that Jesus is breaking down all kinds of social and societal constructs.

He's he's addressing racism in this moment, he's dealing with classism in this moment, he's dealing with hierarchy and gender dynamics.

He breaks all these things down in this moment.

And as he reveals some powerful truths to this young lady, she responds in this moment in verse number 19.

And she says, Sir, the woman replied, I see that you are a prophet, that you're in alignment with God.

You're saying some things that I've never heard.

I can I can see that you're a prophet.

So now the conversation shifts to worship.

She says, Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place of worship is in Jerusalem.

Jesus told her, Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

Stop putting God in a box.

He's going to transcend all of that.

You Samaritans worship what you do not, like you don't fully understand it.

We worship what we do because salvation is of the Jews.

It's Jesus' way of saying that it's the Jewish belief system that gives birth to the faith that we have nowadays.

It's it's helping us to understand that we're connected to it.

Verse 23 says, But an hour is coming, and now it is here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Yes, the Father wants people to worship him.

Yes, God wants us all to worship him.

Yes, God wants us to be fully engaged in his presence, for God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

He wants us to have this unlimited type of worship, but it has to be founded in truth.

Today I want to talk to us about the importance of worship and how it has an ability to reset our perspective and to give us the strength that we need.

And if you're taking notes, I simply have entitled this message, Look Up.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for our community.

We thank you for times that we can come and gather in your name.

So, Lord, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes, that we can see you in areas where maybe we've lost sight of you.

God, I pray that we have open ears, that we can hear your voice, even amongst all the commotion that seems to want to elevate its voice above you, God, and I pray for open hearts that we can receive what it is that you have for us here today.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

Uh a few years ago, I'm I'm reminded of a time when I had an opportunity to go out and visit Montana.

The reason why I place emphasis on that is because for a city guy like me, that's not something that I typically had aspire to do.

When I think about vacation locations, I'm never thinking about going out into these desolate locations of stillness and aloneness.

I think about going to the beautiful places.

I think of going to bigger cities and all the ways that I can fill my itinerary.

But I was invited to go to Montana, and the idea of going to this location was so that we could just rest.

Now that that seems a little bit exhausting, the idea of me going somewhere with no agenda but to just sit there and rest and enjoy.

And so as I began to find myself there, I remember having the varying people that would come to us and say, hey, don't forget, don't don't pressure yourself, don't get consumed with a whole lot of other things.

You're the idea is for you to sit here, rest, and connect with God.

That sounds great, but the way that my mind works, I'm always looking like, well, yeah, but what's on the agenda?

What are we doing?

And and so we did have a couple of activities planned, and and one of those activities is that we were gonna go out and go fishing.

Now, I'm not necessarily a fisherman, but I am a fisher of men.

You see what I just did there?

That's in the gospel.

Y'all will read that later.

I'm not necessarily a fisherman.

So I'm like, okay, like, okay, like I'll go out on this bighorn river and we're gonna have a guide with us and they're gonna do everything for us.

Just real talk.

Like, I love the idea of fishing, but am I the only one?

I don't want to touch no dead worms.

I don't even want to necessarily touch the fish.

Like, I just want to throw it in the water, bring it in, and let somebody else do all the work for me.

So that was the kind of trip that it was.

One of those ones where I could go there and somebody else do them the muddy work.

But as we were on the Bighorn River and we were floating down, every now and then our guide would say, Hey guys, don't forget to look up.

Because you could be so busy fishing and so consumed with trying to achieve your goal that you can miss the beauty that's all around us.

So as we were fishing and hours would go by, and we're there's moments of silence, there's moments of reflections, there's moments of conversations, but the guide would often say, Hey guys, look up.

And then when we look up and I would see like a bear wandering off in its natural habitat, I would I would randomly see these different animals in their natural elements.

I would see these things that were that were beautiful, but I almost had lost sight of it.

And there was this one moment where we're we're fishing, and he said, Hey guys, look up, and I looked up and we were right in front of this enormous mountain.

I almost wondered, how did I get so close to this mountain, so majestic, so magnificent, and I completely missed it because I was so consumed with having my eyes down in front of me.

I was amazed at just how how big it was, how how beautiful it was, all the greenery and even how it was created.

A little bit later into the evening, after our time of eating and reflecting, I went out to the fire pit and I was out there with a couple of friends, and the idea of sitting at the fire pit was just to sit back, reflect, and have a moment of prayer.

Just just chill, just just praying.

And so, like many of us, I found myself just thinking about the goodness of God, but then there's a moment where the prayer turns into processing.

You ever been in that space where it starts off with prayer, but next thing you know, you're just processing things that you need to work on?

Like I'm praying for my family.

Like, Lord, I'm just so thankful for my family, Lord.

I'm so grateful for all that you've blessed us with, Lord.

I'm so grateful.

I pray a covering over my kids.

Speaking of which, I hope Caleb cleaned his room up because if he didn't, I'm going to spaz out.

He knows how I told him he needs to make sure that that's in order.

Did I sign his fieldship paper yet?

Okay, let me get back to prayer.

Okay, Lord, I'm so thankful for the resources and the home that you've provided us with.

But speaking of home, I don't remember the last time I paid the light bill.

Did I set that up on autopay?

I I literally don't remember.

My wife can't even get to me.

Your mind begins to shift into processing instead of truly praying.

I found myself wrestling to try to stay in alignment with God, and then I almost could hear my fishing guide's voice saying, Look up.

And as I closed my eyes and I looked up, I was amazed at seeing more stars than I had ever seen in my entire life.

See, Montana is called big sky country for a reason.

There's not a lot of buildings that obstruct your view, so you literally could see stars as far as the eye could see.

And I was amazed at how I was sitting outside in his environment, I was sitting at the fire pit, the atmosphere was perfectly set, but I was so consumed with processing earthly things that I was missing out on the majesty of the things that God has created.

You see, what I think happens a lot of times with us is that we live lives where we get so consumed with what's happening around us that we never pause and just take a moment to look up.

See, it reminds me in Genesis chapter 15 where Abram is having one of the same moments that some of us have had at times.

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

One of those moments where he's saying, God, here's your promises, but here's my reality.

You said that you're gonna give me a child.

You said that you're gonna bless me with all these things.

I've left my home, I've followed you, I've been obedient.

But right now, God, I don't have any of the things that you promised me.

And what God did is he took him outside, he said, Hey man, look up.

And he looked up and God said, If you can count the stars and the skies, then you will be able to count the blessings that I have on your life.

If you can count the grains of sand, then you'll be able to count the blessings that I have on your life.

That God brought him outside to give him perspective of how powerful and majestic he truly is.

You see, what I believe worship does for us is worship is the place where God leads us to get beyond the situations and looking at earthly things, and it allows us to look up and see the power and the majesty of God.

That is what worship is meant to do.

It's meant to help us to not focus on so many things.

I think this is what Paul is talking about in Colossians chapter 3, verse number 2, where he says, Don't fix your eyes on earthly things, but put your eyes on things that are above.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

This idea of knowing that God is calling us, compelling us to not get so focused on what's happening around us that we forget to look up and see what God is trying to do through us.

I believe what worship does is worship leads us to a place where we can look past our current situations and we can look at a God that delivers us and sustains us no matter what it is that we are facing.

Worship is how we see that something is bigger.

Worship is how we see that God is bigger.

Worship is the way that we look up.

And in the way that I would define worship, I want to give us a couple of ideas so that we have a practical understanding of what I mean when I say worship.

But worship is the practice of expressing praise and thanksgiving and adoration.

That's a definition of worship.

Another definition of worship is to embrace fully, to fully embrace something.

That's an expression of worship.

Worship means to show unwavering devotion.

I can't be moved from it.

Worship means to bring things into focus.

I'm bringing this into focus.

It's my primary focus.

It's to magnify something, it's to exalt something, it's to it's to make something the primary focal point for my life.

See, it's worship.

That idea of exalting God, that idea of making God our primary focus, or that idea of magnifying God, making God bigger in every area of our lives, that is an expression of worship.

This is why Jesus tells his disciples in the Gospel of John chapter 12, he says, that if I be lifted up, that I will draw all men to me.

John 12 · chapter mention

He's saying, if I can be exalted, if I can be the thing that everyone focuses on, that is going to be the way that people are going to be drawn closer to me if you lift me up.

And I and I sense that there are moments where we're drifting down our version of the Bighorn River, and we're so focused on other things we don't even recognize that we drifted away from God because we haven't lifted Jesus up in the situations that we find ourselves in.

Jesus is telling us that if I can be lifted up, I'll draw all things to me.

That that what scripture says that God can't, he can't be second.

It's literally impossible for him to be second.

He needs to be the primary focus in order for us to draw closer to him.

See, the tension point is that we live in a world where it's so easy for us to magnify other things, it's so easy for us to exalt other things that before long things start getting more focused or become bigger to us than even God does.

I was reading an article once about a man who had Hindu origins.

He converted to Christianity and he began to kind of do some missionary work here in the States.

And when talking with another evangelist, he said, Man, what have you learned while looking and serving here in America?

He says, Man, like America is very difficult as a mission field because you have so many idols.

Understanding that this man has Hindu origins where they literally have a God for everything.

But he said, You guys make altars to everything.

You make altars to your athletes, you make altars to your celebrities, you make altars to your politicians, you lift up everything above God so I find that it's easier for me to do missionary work in India than it is in the States because we don't have idols that we can find ourselves circling our lives around.

What a compelling thought that someone who comes from a belief system that literally has thousands of gods says that in the states we are more off than others because we magnify and exalt everything.

We exalt our politics over the kingdom.

I'm looking in the camera, I'm going there, I'll say it.

We we exalt, we exalt our preferences above God, or we make God small and force him to fit into our politics or our preferences.

Let me make Jesus fit into this.

Let me make Jesus fit into this.

I have a trademark on what it means to be a Christian, and only if you believe this way is that what it really means to be a follower of Christ.

How do we get so far off that we reduce God so small that we feel like he only can fit within a certain idealistic belief that doesn't exist in the kingdom when we get into heaven?

We've reduced God down to so many small components that he stopped being the focus altogether, and we've magnified man as if they are gonna be the carriers of the provision in the favor of God.

That's what it means to have an idol, and what God wants to do is reset our perspective just a little bit and say that I can't be second to anything.

Can you exalt me above all of those other things so that can be the component that draws all men to me?

Your politics, your policies aren't gonna be the thing that's gonna draw people to me.

It's the way that you exalt me through those things.

I transcend those things.

That is what it means to have an attitude and an appetite and a posture of pure worship.

There's a couple of things that I believe that we can highlight today as we spend our time together that can help us to be these bookmarks on ways that we need to function when it talks about giving honor and glory to God.

Here's the first thing I want you to write down.

We worship God with the way that we live.

That's an expression of worship.

We worship God with the way that we live.

The Apostle Paul says, the life that I live is no longer my own.

He's saying that I now belong to God, and because now I belong to God, I have a an expectation that my life will be something that draws people to Christ.

He goes on to say that we are bought with a price, and because we're bought with that price, that now our responsibility is to glorify God and our bodies.

That means that the life that we live is an expression of worship.

The life that we live should be one that actually draws people closer to Jesus.

Isaiah 43, 21, this is the words of God speaking.

He says, The people that I formed for myself will declare my praise.

What if I told you that the way that you conduct yourself at work, that's an expression of worship?

Because there are people that may never step into the doors of a church until they can see the fruit in somebody's life.

The way that I interact with other people, that is an expression of worship.

Because by all means, if my response and my reaction to things is the exact same way as people who don't know God, why do people need God?

What God is saying is that the life that you live is meant to be an expression of worship, and what God requires of us is to do the right thing, to walk in humility and to pursue justice, that that is the thing that God has called us to do, and what Jesus has done, being our example, being the template for all of us to live our lives, that He lived a life of humility.

He lived a life of servitude, he lived a life of pursuing justice.

Jesus wasn't a person that shrunk back from things, he was the one who radically confronted it.

You would find Jesus in places and no one else would want to go to.

We found Jesus hanging out amongst the poor.

We found Jesus hanging out amongst the people that were rejected.

We found Jesus hanging out against the social pariah, healing those of diseases that no one would dare come close to.

Jesus lived a life of serving, and that was the fruit that you can see in it.

Even in the passage that we referred to earlier, as he's sitting and talking with the woman at the well, it's literally a demonstration of how Jesus is breaking down all the barriers that the world has created in order to keep us separated.

Think about that for a moment.

Jesus could have made it to his destination, going another route.

But the text says he had to go through Samaria.

What it means to be a follower of Christ is I don't avoid uncomfortable things, I go through it.

I go to it, and I'm willing to sit down and have a conversation and work through it.

That Jesus lived a life and his ministry was a ministry of justice, reconciliation, peace, and wholeness.

When people see those things in your life, that is how they know that you are a follower of Christ.

I recall not too long ago a close friend and I, we we had a little bit of a falling out.

We kind of came to the conclusion of a certain matter and we landed on different sides of it.

It was very, it was very difficult, and so it ended with, okay, well, you just do your thing, I do mine, and we'll just go on about our lives.

Several months had passed and we haven't had any interaction or any engagement.

It wasn't like a big blow up, there wasn't no beef or any tension, but I knew that if I don't deal with this, that that unforgiveness could get in my heart.

I knew that if I didn't deal with this, that that bitterness could get in my heart, and I almost felt this moment where I could have avoided it as long as I live.

I could have lived the rest of my life and never have to see this person ever again.

But this scripture came into my mind that Jesus had to go through Samaria, that God said, in order for you truly to walk in wholeness, you have to deal with this.

Me and that friend, we we sat down and we had a conversation.

We were able to resolve our differences, we were able to hug it out and move on.

And here's the thing we did not go back to the way that things were, it just meant that we weren't going to allow what was currently existing to keep us from moving forward.

See, when you live a life, when you do your best to humble yourself in the presence of God and say, I could go around this, I could avoid this, but what it means to be a follower of Christ and to live a life that's demonstrating what does it mean to really worship God, you have to go through the uncomfortable things.

You have to deal with it.

And I think that there's some among us right now, you know that there's some things that you have to deal with, some conversations that you have to have.

But oddly enough, when you do those things, they become a demonstration of worship.

When recounting this exact story that I just shared with you with a friend of mine, they said, Thank you so much for modeling what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I don't say that to pat myself on the back because I didn't want to do it.

I was very reluctant.

In fact, I rescheduled it three times, but I knew that God was saying that there are people who are watching you, and at some point, the Bible that we read when it talks about reconciliation, when it talks About having peace, when it talks about resolving our issues, we have to put it into practice, and when those people see us do it, they will recognize that God is truly the one who is leading us.

Listen to me.

I want us to be encouraged in this that that God is leading us to some uncomfortable places, but we have to go through it.

And when we do it, that is going to be a demonstration of worship.

Scripture says this, it says that it's by their fruit they will know that you belong to me.

By the fruit, by the way that we live our lives.

It doesn't say by my social media post that people are going to know that I follow Jesus.

It doesn't say by my politics that people are going to know that I follow Jesus.

It says by the fruit that's produced in my life.

And I often wonder, am I producing a fruit that allows people to know that surely God must be the thing that's in primary focus of his life?

And I think the thing that God is challenging all of us in this season is that we live in a world that is so divided where there's so many issues.

The Jews and Samaritans, they had years long of tension and beef, of racial, like you can't even imagine it.

But Jesus sat down to break it all down because we have to go through it, because that is what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Listen, our life is demonstrating worship when we go through the uncomfortable things and have the uncomfortable conversation that our life is an expression of worship.

Scripture says, let your light so shine before men that when they see your good works, they'll glorify your Father in heaven.

Man, how do I let my life shine in this moment?

How do I exalt Jesus above everything else in this moment?

How do I exalt Jesus even above me being offended right now?

How do I exalt Jesus even in this uncomfortable situation?

Because Scripture says that when I can do that, that is what draws people closer to God.

Not my gossip and drama and my complaints about why my side is right versus the other.

It's when I can demonstrate this spirit of humility, pursuing justice and walking humbly before God.

Here's another way that we can demonstrate worship.

We worship God when we give.

We just heard Pastor Nate talk about giving, and really it was almost like he was reading my notes, so I almost don't have to spend as much time on this.

But we understand that God puts resources into our hands, and we have an opportunity to honor him, to lift him up, to exalt him with those resources, or we don't.

I I remember when I was an early Christian and I was raised in a Christian context, so I was familiar with this concept of giving, and I knew that I would hear preachers say that you don't come into the presence of God empty-handed.

I understood all of that stuff.

But there was still this tension of me really, really trusting and putting God first.

And I struggled with it for the first several years into our walk with God.

You have moments where you do it and you have other moments when you don't.

You have moments when you do it, but then there's vacations coming up, so I'll pull back a little bit.

You have these moments where where you're where you're doing all those things.

But I remember there was this moment where I began to say, like, I don't even know if I can afford to really do it.

I mean, 10%'s a lot.

That's a that's a large chunk.

You know what I could do with 10%?

Man, I can get me some passes to Disney for 10%.

Like I began to think about all the different things that I can do with that 10%.

But what God spoke to me and said that it's not a matter of affordability, it's a matter of priority.

Are you choosing to exalt me even in this area of your life, or do you have other things ahead of me?

Remember, I can't be second.

Either Jesus is Lord of all or he's not Lord of all.

See, God from the very beginning has always invited his people to be a part of this journey of participating and advancing his kingdom.

I'm reminded in in the book of Exodus, after the children of Israel were first set free.

Imagine they've been in bondage for 400 years.

They are they are given such an amount of resources and they're sent off into the wilderness.

And one of the first things that God does is says, Okay, now that you guys are set free, I want everyone who has a willing heart to give me something based off of what I've given them so that we can build a tabernacle so that I can dwell amongst them.

And what scripture says is that everybody contributed their part and it built a house for God so the people of God could worship.

Did you know that the resources that God puts in your hand, we have a choice we can make.

I can exalt Jesus, I can honor God and make sure that He's magnified in my resources and advancing his kingdom, or I can choose not to.

The Bible speaks about how the community of faith it serves as a storehouse where people can give so that the agenda and the idea of God can advance in the region that God has sent us to be in.

You don't give to the church, you give through the church, as we heard Pastor Nate say earlier.

It's a conduit to express the kingdom of God in the context in which it was.

See, God gives us an opportunity to partner with him, and we see throughout scripture all these moments where God invites his people.

I want you to participate, I want you to, I want you to be able to participate in what I'm doing, and I'm going to give you the resources in order to give it back to me.

See, scripture tells us that it is God that gives us the ability to get wealth.

So imagine for a moment, God gives us what we need to give back to him, but we have a choice to make.

And you still can't make the space for me?

That's what God is saying when he says, honor me with your resources.

I put the resources in your hand.

I want you to worship me with them.

And so the question I often ask is, how am I exalting Jesus even then what he's placed in my hands?

Am I putting him first?

Is he the thing that I'm magnifying?

Am I focusing on him?

Or have I put him in the background and I'm more so just giving him tips depending on the season that I'm in.

I remember for Megan and I, we hit this crossroad where I said, we're either going to be a family that honors God in every area of our life, or we're not.

Once we made that decision, we never looked back.

And hear me when I say this, we've never had to worry about money again.

That doesn't mean that we always had a lot of it.

Hear what I'm saying?

We never worried about it.

We were never stressed about it.

We never felt the weight of it because we knew that as long as we were honored God in it, that God was going to dwell in it, and He's going to provide all of our needs.

Yes, there were moments we had to sacrifice.

Yes, there were moments we had to make adjustments.

But I knew that I wanted to live a life that is fully submitted to God, so we worship God in our giving when we are fully surrendered to Him.

I've learned in my life that as long as it's in God's hands, it's not in mine.

And anything that I leave in my hands, I have an ability to juggle it, to drop the ball.

But as long as it's in God's hand, I'm going to watch and make sure that he fulfills his promises because his word is true.

That we worship God in the form of our giving.

And then our third and final way that we can worship God is we worship God when we engage his presence.

We worship God when we when we really when we really engage his presence.

See, we're we hear about David quite a bit.

Scripture says that David was a man after God's own heart.

That David is a man that is known for writing so many of his Psalms, that songs have been birthed out of the Psalms that David has written.

We see these powerful scriptures that David has given us.

Things such as, oh, magnify the Lord with me.

Let's let's exalt his name together, enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.

That David was a person that was ultimately all about pursuing the presence of God, being fully engaged in it.

Because David had a story.

He understood that it's possible for us to get so comfortable with the presence of God that if we don't know how to adequately engage it, we can treat his presence as common.

Just last night, my my wife and I, we were we were at home and we decided that, hey, you know what?

Let's let's watch a movie together.

So we're sitting in our room and we're we're watching, we're watching the movie, and as we're watching the movie, I kind of glance over and I look at her and I look at myself.

I got my I got my iPad out, I'm reading over some of my notes.

I look over at her, she's she's on her phone and we're watching the movie and we're we're we're chuckling at certain parts, and then there's other parts we're like, hey, wait a minute, what what did he say?

Let's rewind that part.

Like there's moments where we were present, but we weren't fully engaged, and I began to think to myself, man, this is so different than when we actually go to the movie theater.

Because when we go to the movie theater, like I don't have my phone out.

When we go to the movie theater, like I'm I'm typically focused on everything.

When we go to the movie theater, we either are smuggling our popcorn and snacks in, or we're gonna go to the concession stands.

It all depends on how your finances are set up.

No judgment here.

But we're we're sitting there, we're fully engaged in that moment.

For that two hours, we are a captive audience.

It made me think a little bit sometimes about how we live in such an on-demand culture that we become so convenient that we also treat God the same way.

The presence of God is just on demand.

I'll pause it when I want to, I'll skip it when I want to, I'll engage when I want to, I won't engage when I don't want to.

God is available at my whim.

But the life that David lived is that whenever he found himself in the presence of God, he gave it all that he had.

There's a story that's read in in 2 Samuel chapter 6, where David, who has been on this long, tumultuous journey, he's been anointed to become king.

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

He was a teenager, he fought Goliath and survived it.

He was he was hated on by Saul, the previous king, who tried to kill him.

He was on the run for many years.

He was trying to survive, he went through all these things, and then finally he becomes king.

Over two decades later, he's finally king.

And what the Bible says that his main priority was is to go back and get the presence of God and bring it back to the people of God.

And as he's bringing the presence of God in, the Bible says that David danced so much that his clothes literally came off of his body.

Like, that's that's a lot.

Scripture says that his wife was looking with disgust.

She was like, You were supposed to be a king.

That is so undignified for you to be jumping and flailing about like a commoner.

It says that she despised him in her heart because of the way that he was expressing and engaging the presence of God.

When you read on, you can see that David basically bypassed all of that because he still knew that he had to give his all to God.

But I often wonder if David's perspective, if the reason why David was so unrestrained in the way that he worshipped God, is because David had a different perspective than maybe his wife did.

I believe that David was worshiping from a place of memory.

See, David knew that I was anointed to become king as a teenager and God didn't forget me.

That David knew those times that he was out on a mountainside and seemed isolated and alone, but God was with him.

He knew that when he was facing down, almost a nine-foot giant, that God was with him.

That David knew that God had provided that when Saul tried to kill him, the spirit missed him and David survived.

So David had a praise inside of himself.

That David had perspective that even after he was dealing with battles at the battle of Ziklach and everything was taken from him, that God restored it all back.

I believe that David had an unrestrained worship because he knew that God was unrestrained in the way that he rescued him.

I think sometimes we allow our personalities to encapsulate the way that we praise God, but God wasn't conservative when he saved us.

The Bible says that Jesus died openly in front of all of us, not because it's a secret, because he wants everyone to know that he is for us.

So when it comes moments like this where we can engage the presence of God, God doesn't want us to be spectators, he wants us to fully participate and engage in his presence and what David showed us, and what does it look like when I push all inhibition into the wind, when I recognize I don't care what anybody else says, but I remember what God has brought me through.

I remember when God has brought me through that drug addiction.

I remember when God has delivered me from that season of isolation.

I remember when God has delivered me from those suicidal thoughts.

That when you get to a place where you remember just how good God has been to you, you recognize that I can't stand still.

I refuse to be quiet.

I'm gonna come into the household of faith and I'm gonna engage the presence of God.

I'm gonna stand on my feet, I'm gonna declare the goodness of God.

The worship team is not gonna have to lead me and tell me how to worship God.

I came in here with the praise because I remember what God has done for me.

I remember when God has delivered me, I remember the breakthroughs, I remember that chains are broken.

If we only knew that when Lindsay was saying that God inhabits our praise, that it truly does bring freedom.

I got a Bible for it.

The Bible tells us in the book of Acts that when Paul and Silas were locked up in prison, the Bible says that when they began to praise, and when they began to praise, the chains get broken off of them.

I'm not sure what is holding you down right now, but I believe that sometimes that our breakthrough is on the other side of our praise, it's on the other side of our worship.

And it's in moments like this where we're gathered as the people of God that we can praise God and break all the chains that the enemy has tried to place on us.

So, what I want to know if I have some radical believers in here that are willing to stand on your feet for the next 10 seconds and give God some praise and just say, God, I thank you.

I thank you for deliverance, I thank you for salvation, I thank you for freedom because your worship may set somebody else free, somebody else who doesn't have the strength to worship.

But your glory and your honor to God is a thing that brings freedom.

Let's give God some praise.

I'm gonna count it down to 10.

Let's give God some praise, nine, eight, seven.

We're not done yet.

Six, five, four.

God, we give you all the praise, all the glory, all the yonder.

We lift our hands and surrender to you because we know that you are inhabiting our praise.

Understand that we don't come here for a concert.

We we don't come here to be impressed, we don't come here to wait for our favorite song to get sang, but we come here to engage the presence of God holy.

We're gonna go back into worship in just a moment, and we have an opportunity to worship with the perspective of the deliverance that God has given you.

This is why testimony is so important, because God never wanted us to get so far from where we were that we forget what he brought us through.

Because it's impossible for me to think about the goodness of God, and that there's some worship that doesn't well up on the inside of me.

There's this old school song, Megan, you may remember it, where it says, When I think about Jesus and all that he's brought me through, when I think about Jesus and how he's led me through it, I can't help but to praise him.

I am a very chill, laid-back dude.

Anyone that knows me knows that.

But but there's something about the presence of God that causes me to get excited and engage him because I know what he's delivered me from.

We worship God when we fully engage his presence.

That's what these moments are for, not for us to be restricted, not for us to hold back, but for us to fully engage the presence of God, knowing that he is dwelling in our praise.

There's healing on the other side of your praise, there's breakthrough, there's deliverance on the other side of your praise, and we can worship God by producing a fruit, by exalting Jesus, by making Jesus bigger than everything else.

We can do it in the life that we live, exalt Jesus.

We can do it in the way that we give and our generosity, exalting Jesus, and we can do it when we engage his presence.

I'm I'm choosing to exalt Jesus above my comfort, but I'm going to fully engage.

Maybe you're in here with us right now, you're watching online, maybe you're in this room with us right now, and you know that your next step is that you simply need to accept that Jesus loves you.

You know that you have an invitation to be a part of this community of faith, this family that we talk about.

You didn't have to work for it, you didn't have to strive for it.

But understanding that that Jesus came, that He that He lived a life that we could never live, He died the death, that we should have that we should have died, and He rose again, giving us a clean slate, giving us a reset, giving us a fresh start.

And all we need to do is accept it and then live our lives, exalting Him and our life, and our resources, and engaging Him.

If you're with us right now and you know your next step is to simply say yes to Jesus, to surrender, to accept that.

I promise you, on the other side of that acceptance, there will be a praise because you'll have perspective of what he's rescued you from.

On account of three, I want you to boldly lift your hands up, simply saying yes to committing or recommitting your life to Christ.

We're gonna pray, we're gonna worship, and then we're gonna wrap up.

But if that's you, even if you're with us online, I want you to engage this moment with a response.

Saying yes to Jesus.

One, two, three.

Yes to Jesus.

Hands up, amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you.

Amen.

Amen.

Church, can we put our hands together for every single individual in here that is saying yes to Jesus and for those who are watching and listening online?

I want to pray a prayer, and then we're gonna go into worship, and I believe that God's gonna meet us exactly where we are.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you so much.

You know those who have lifted their hands and and and are engaging this moment, whether they're in this room with us, whether they're watching online, maybe they're listening to the podcast later, but they're responding in this moment.

So, Father, my prayer in the name of Jesus that you begin to do a work on the inside of them.

Your word declares that if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus came, that he died, and he rose from the dead, that we shall be saved.

So, even where you are, just to begin to confess that Jesus is Lord, that is the access, the entry point of salvation.

And Lord, we believe that it's in these moments that you begin to dwell and inhabit your people.

So, Father, I pray that you that you order our steps, that you fill us with your spirit, and that we can be sensitive and be people that that exalt you in every area of our lives.

Father, I pray for the rest of our community, for every one of us, that we can recognize moments for us to exalt you above everything else, to exalt you in our lifestyles, the way that we engage other people.

It's by that fruit people will recognize that we are with you.

It's by that fruit people will know that we belong to you.

The life that we live, not a life of ignorance, not a life of being cantankerous, not a life of being divided, but a life that is surrendered and submitted to you produces a fruit that lets people know this is what it means to be a follower of Christ.

So, Father, give us the strength to humbly submit, give us the strength to apologize, give us the strength to be reconciled to one another, God.

In the name of Jesus, we lower every idol that we've exalted above you, whether it be the idol of our preference, our feelings, our politics, celebrities, God, we reduce that down and we exalt you above it all, God.

We pray in the name of Jesus, Father, that you give us the strength and the courage and the boldness and the faith to exalt you even in our resources, God.

It's not easy, it's uncomfortable, but Father, we want you to be Lord of everything, Lord of my life, Lord of my finances, Lord in my family, Lord at work, God.

We give it all to you.

And Father, I pray that we can fully engage in your presence in the name of Jesus, that we will lift up our hands, we will declare your goodness, we will clap our hands because we know that you've been so good to us, Father, that we will not restrain, we will not be conservative when it comes to your presence.

We will give you all that we have because you are worth it.

So, Father, we surrender this time to you, and it's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Right now, we're gonna go back into worship, and we have an opportunity to engage this moment, to put into practice everything we just heard.

The words are gonna be on the screen, but let us worship together like we truly believe that our breakthrough is on the other side because more importantly, the presence of God is here.

Let's worship together, church.

Thanks again for listening.

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