Sunday Revival

may be dismissed to children's church. I'm going

to be real honest with you. And I didn't know

what to think about this morning as we were planning

it. I wasn't real excited about it. Because this

is unknown to us, it's one of those things we

don't know how this thing is going to go. I don't

know how I feel about walking in a circle. Don't

trip me. But as we got closer to today, I got

more excited about it. Even though it was a little

inconvenient because we had to move all the chairs

around, we had to have a lot more discussions

on what the service was going to look like and

make sure we're all on the same page. But as

we got closer to it, I just got excited because

sometimes it's good for us to get out of our

comfort zone and do things a little differently.

Because sometimes we create some bad habits.

Like for instance Sina and I have created this

bad habit. I'm gonna blame her, but it's probably

my fault of I Cannot go to bed, and I know you're

gonna judge me for it, and that's okay, but I

cannot go to bed without the TV on And it it

has to be something that I've seen a thousand

times like we're almost to the point where I

haven't memorized But I have to go to sleep with

something that that I know If it's something

new or something I haven't seen before and it

grabs my attention Then I'm gonna be up all night

because because that's how it seems to work But

when it's something that that I've seen a thousand

times I can drift off to sleep in five ten minutes

really really easily It's made seen and not want

to go to the movies with me because I tend to

fall asleep in the movies somehow I've trained

my brain to think that when the TV is on It's

time to go to sleep. And that's just, it's like

my brain knows it. It's like, you know, like

you develop, you know, types of muscle memory.

Like my brain just knows when that show turns

on, it's bedtime. And I'm out quick. I'm out

before the opening credits come on usually. And

I was thinking about, I was thinking about church.

Do we just do muscle memory? Because is there

a better way for me to fall asleep? Yes, shouldn't

have the TV, I get it. Have I read all the studies

that show how harmful it is to you by watching

a screen right before you go to bed? Yes, I've

read them all. Am I still going to turn the TV

on tonight when I go to bed? Absolutely. Like

my brain knows it's been conditioned to do this

thing over and over and over again. And sometimes

in church we have this, we've created this muscle

memory of we show up on Sunday morning and we

sit in our seat. And if somebody's in our seat,

that's not good, right? Now, most of y 'all are

pretty nice, you're not gonna say anything about

it, but you are gonna be here earlier next week

to make sure that person doesn't sit in your

seat again, right? And we sit in our seat, and

we sing the songs, and we hear a message, and

we call it a day, and we do it again next week.

And we do it again next week. And we do it again

the following week. Because with muscle memory,

sometimes it creates these bad habits. And we

just do with what's familiar. and we lose the

significance of these things. Like, think about

what we just did. We just sang songs that probably

most of us know. We sang about the goodness of

God. When was the last time you really dwelt

on how God has been good to you? Maybe your life

isn't perfect right now, but God has still been

good to you. Do you speak the name of Jesus over

your family? Do we really want to draw near to

Him? Do we want Him to draw near to us? Is He

really the great I Am? Is He really, really holy

like we just sang and declared that He is holy?

Because sometimes we get a good melody and you

put some words together. and it's catchy, and

it loses its significance sometimes, doesn't

it? And we create this, we go through worship

with muscle memory. We gotta be careful with

how we worship. So I have two children that are

heavily involved in extracurricular activities,

and I have two more children that are not far

behind them. Like I feel like my life is busy

now. I'm just assuming that a year from now when

my younger two start getting involved in everything,

it's just going to get so much worse. But my

two older kids, Adely and Asher, are awesome.

I mean, I hope you know that. I think they're

awesome. But my daughter here, Adely, like when

I watch her, I'm like, if you ever see her on

a stage, you're like, she belongs on a stage.

That's where she comes alive. She belongs on

a stage. But if you only saw her at the house,

you would never think that. I mean, she walks

around like this, like teenagers do, like everything

else is just like teenagers do. But man, you

get her on a stage. And her pot, she just looks

like her head's up. She just walks around and

floats around on the stage. It's really like

to me a thing of beauty. If you were to watch

her try to be graceful with a glass of water,

you would be watching for a very long time. Because

she can't do it. There's always going to be water

somewhere. But man, you put her on a stage and

she just... It's just who she is, and I get to

sit in the audience, and I get to watch her,

and I'm like beaming with pride. It's like, that's

my girl. That's my girl. Not your girl. That's

my girl. And it's just like, that's who she is.

Like, that's what she was almost like, I feel

sometimes, that's what she was created for, to

be on a stage. And then I have my older son Asher,

and Asher's this really awesome pitcher. And

he stands on that mound. with kids that are bigger

than him and the ball just goes right past him.

And I want to go over to the other side and be

like, that's my kid that just struck out yours.

That's my boy. He can do this. He's really good

with his glove. And every time I think a ball

is going to get past him, he just puts it down

at the right time in the right position and just

catches it. He has this really beautiful throwing

motion that just looks so natural. Something

he did not get from his mama. I promise you that.

But I will sit there watching Asher practice,

and I'll lean over to the scene and be like,

that kid of mine has this beautiful throw. It's

just perfect every time. And again, I'm like,

that's my boy. That's my kid. And if I'm not

careful, and if they're not careful, they're

going to begin to think that that is their identity.

And there's this risk that I run. all of us run

as parents, of trying to find all of our fulfillment

in how well our kids do. And we begin to worship

what they do. And I begin to find my value in

how well Adily does on stage or how well Asher

does on the baseball field. And if we're not

careful, they can begin to think that their whole

world, their whole identity is in this sport

or in this play. And it's a really dangerous

thing because that's not what we worship. We

worship God. Why do we worship God? We come here

every single week to worship God. Why? Because

He needs it? Because He's some sort of person

that has absolutely no self -esteem whatsoever,

and He just needs us to sing to Him and encourage

Him. Is that why we worship God? Like He's Eeyore,

just moping around. and needs us every Sunday

to come and tell him how great he is, tell him

how holy it is, tell him how much we're thankful

for, and that gets him through the rest of the

week. But that's not why we worship. We don't

worship God for us. I'm sorry, we don't worship

God because he needs it. I can worship God with

all of my mind like I'm commanded to, and God's

not gonna be any smarter. I can worship God with

all of my strength like I'm commanded to, and

he's not gonna be any Stronger. I can love God

with everything in me and it's not going to make

him any more loving than he already is right

now. So God gets no better. He doesn't love me

any more if I sing really good for him, if I

preach a really good message. He doesn't love

me any more or any less. But we're commanded

consistently to worship him, aren't we? Throughout

the whole Bible worship me. Why does why does

God need us to worship him? Because what we worship

is what we end up becoming I could be a baseball

dad I could be a I Don't know what they're called

play dad. I don't know stage dad drama dad. I

don't know Or whatever my other two decide to

do one day I could be that dad But but I'm created

to worship God. And what we worship is what we

end up becoming. God commands us to worship Him

because when we worship Him and recognize who

He is and what He's done for us, we become more

like Him. We become more like what we were created

to be. If the more I focus on baseball and worship

baseball, I'll have more knowledge of baseball.

I'll have more strategy of baseball as I as I

focus on Adlai and all that she does I'll learn

that I'm called a drama dad I didn't know that

until right now like I'll learn all these things

and I can I can be consumed by and I can volunteer

and I can give all my time to these things so

that my kids get to participate but but I don't

want to be known as a drama dad I just want to

be known as a man that loves the Lord and wants

to worship him and as we worship him more we

become more like him. So I grew up in this church

where we used to sing the old hymns. Organ, piano,

decibels didn't matter. Like that organ to blast

the glass off the building, that didn't matter.

And we'd sing these songs every single week and

I loved it. I loved those songs. And we had this

lady in our church, her name was Miss Ruby. She

was a widow lady, older, really, really sweet,

one of the sweetest ladies I've ever, that I

remember growing up. And she would come and she'd

sit in the second pew every single week. And

she'd always have a hat on, like she was going

to the Kentucky Derby. And she'd always have

this really nice dress on every single week.

She would come and she would sit in that second

pew. And we would sing How Great Thou Art. You

know that song? And she would put her hands in

the air, how great thou art. How great is He.

I love the Lord. All those things. She would

start clapping when we sing that hymn, when the

roll is called up yonder. You know that song?

Why don't we use the word yonder more often now?

And she would just love being in the presence

of in the church, she would just love to worship

God. She's so grateful for all that he had done

in her life. She was so thankful to him. She

was so loving about him. She just had this aura

about her that was just so, so sweet. You know

people like that? They just have something about

them. They're just really, really sweet. That's

what Miss Ruby. But here was the problem. In

my church, the church I grew up growing up, is

if you raised your hands in worship, you were

probably going to hell. And they would use that

scripture that says do not be a distraction.

And they would say that anybody that's raising

their hands is distracting the others from worshiping

the Lord. And I remember hearing these pockets

of people throughout the church that would just

basically be criticizing Miss Ruby because she

was sitting up front and she was raising her

hands and it was a distraction. And they'd be

really sweet to her in her face. But they were

criticizing her behind the back. And that really

developed how I worshipped the Lord when I was

growing up. Because I didn't feel like I had

the freedom to worship how I felt like the Lord

was leading me. And so I began to think it was

all about me. I can't get out of my comfort.

I never experienced the freedom that we have

in Christ. But as I've gotten older, I've learned.

And as I know my Bible better, I'm learning.

I don't even know where they got that. Because

nowhere in the Bible does it say, just stand

there with your hands in your pockets and mouth

words. There's nothing wrong with that. But as

I go through the Bible, there's all kinds of

worship. Like David danced. Like we're not charismatic

here, but David danced. People sang. People bowed

down. They yelled his name. They played instruments.

They did all these things as types of worship

for the Lord. And so as I'm getting older and

I'm learning my Bible, I'm like, what is wrong?

What was wrong with Miss Ruby? Nothing was wrong

with Miss Ruby. That's how the Lord led her to

worship him. It wasn't about her. It was about

what she could offer the Lord. And as I think

through those things, I realize that's why we're

here every single week. We come into this place

to worship who God is and what He's done for

us. I want to read you a passage of Scripture.

Maybe you'll want to join me. It's in 1 Corinthians

15. Because I began to, I needed to be reminded.

Why do we worship? Why do we come? Every single

week. Why why do we? Sing songs. Why do I prepare

a sermon? Why do we celebrate communion? Why

do we do all these things? Is it because we have

nothing better to do on a Sunday? So first Corinthians

15 starting verse 12 Paul writes now if Christ

is proclaimed as raised from the dead How can

some of you say that there is no resurrection

of the dead? But if there is no resurrection

of the dead then not even Christ has been raised

If Christ has not been raised then our preaching

is in vain and your faith is in vain We are even

found to be misrepresenting God Because we testified

about God that he raised Christ whom he did not

raise if it is true that dead are not raised

For if the dead are not raised not even Christ

has been raised and if Christ has not been raised

Your faith is futile and you were still in your

sins, then those also who have fallen asleep

in Christ have perished. If in this life only

we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people

most to be pitied. You understand what that means?

That if Christ didn't raise from the dead, if

God didn't raise Christ from the dead, then you

had to feel sorry for me, pity me. Because everything,

my whole career, everything I do week after week

after week is in vain. If God didn't raise Christ

from the dead, then you need to pity yourself

because you come week after week after week and

your faith is in vain. But that's not the truth,

is it? Because God has raised Christ from the

dead. And because Christ has raised God I'm sorry

because God has raised Christ from the dead then

all of a sudden my life has purpose Your life

has purpose you come in here every single week

has purpose because he has raised him from the

dead and That is what we worship and that is

what we celebrate and sometimes because of bad

muscle memory We forget that and we just go through

the motions. Several years ago somebody asked

me, why did God send Jesus to the earth when

He did? Why didn't He send them a thousand years

earlier? Why didn't He send them a thousand years

later? Why did He send Jesus to the earth at

that time? Now the easy answer is, well, because

God's timing is perfect and that's when He wanted

to do it. That's the easy answer. That's the

church answer. But the more I've thought about

that question over the years, the more I think

is the people, God's people, they had to experience

grief. And they had to experience hard things.

There had to be an expectation and anticipation

built so that they understood their need for

a Savior. So that they understood that a Messiah

is coming and that got them excited. He sent

them at that time because if he sent them a thousand

years earlier, all those Roman roads, they wouldn't

have been there. The spread of the gospel would

have been so much harder. He sent him when he

did because his timing is perfect, but also because

I think that there had to be an anticipation.

And so I don't know what your life is like. I

don't know how you walked in here this morning,

but maybe your life up until this point has been

building in anticipation. You've tried all kinds

of things. You've found value in your sports

or your plays you found value in your kids and

they always seem to disappoint you You find value

in your kids activities and they always seem

to disappoint you because seasons end and plays

end and all those things You've got that pay

raise and that was nice for a little while But

now it's you're back at the same spot. You got

a new house and that was sweet for a little while

but but now there's kids live there and there's

holes in the wall and You know, whatever Maybe

your life has finally got to the point where

you're ready for the Messiah. Maybe you experience

Him here today. Maybe you call upon His name

today. Because we're about to celebrate Communion.

And I love gathering with you at the first of

the month and celebrating communion with you.

It's one of those things where the scriptures

come to life because it says we have all things

in common. We don't have all things in common.

But in Christ we do we have all things in common

and so we're able to come to the table and Remember

what he's done for us remember to worship him

for who he is and we're able to be in that place

And give him praise and honor because of the

sacrifice that he made for us And so here's what

we're gonna do we're gonna take some communion

and It worked first service. We'll see different

groups second service, so we'll see how this

is gonna work Did not communicate at all with

them But we're going to pass these things out

to you. This is your first time, and you haven't

ever had communion with us. There's two cups

stacked on each other. Grab them both. And the

bread's in one, the juice is in the other. We're

going to just ask you to hold onto that until

we get ready to take it together. But but what

we remember what we're remembering and celebrating

this morning is the whole reason we're here Because

God has raised Christ from the dead And he's

no longer dead he's living evermore. He's alive

right now, and that's what we are celebrating

this morning and remembering this morning And

scripture says not to take communion in an unworthy

way And so as Matthew and David come and they

lead us in another song and as we reflect on

our life as we reflect on our faith as we reflect

on our worship May that fill us with joy May

it make us feel wonder for what God has done

for us when we sing songs When we sing songs

about who God is when we sing that he's the great

I am when we sing that that That that he's holy

and he's righteous and he's true and he's been

good to us that should create some sort of emotion

in us It should stir something in us When we

hear the Word of God proclaimed, when we're in

our Bible study and we're reading the words and

we truly understand what those words mean for

us, it should create some sort of emotion in

us. When we are praying on our knees and we're

making our requests known to God, we're giving

Him praise for all that He's done for us, we're

just... loving on him in that moment and in communion

with him, that should create some sort of emotion

to us because we're communicating with the creator

of the universe. This is not muscle memory. This

is really stopping and considering who God is

and what he has done for us. We should not be

pitied. We should not be pitied because God did

raise him. from the dead, and we're going to

celebrate that right now. So I don't know who's

serving. If you're serving community, if you'll

just come up, we'll disperse these things, and

then Matthew and David are going to come lead

us, and then we'll come back together and pray.

But just as you're holding these things, think

about His broken body for you. Think about His

spilled blood for you. Give Him praise and glory.