Make Some Noise || Pastor Adam Smallcombe

Welcome to the Lesse Podcast. Here at Lesse, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. Today's special because I just want you to do me a

favor. For a second. I want you to just stretch your back from

the left to the right. Just give yourself a stretch, because today,

if it's anything like First Service, all right, some people are double dipping

right now. I see about people. I see about six people who are

at first service who stayed second just to get a dessert from first service.

So that's how special first service was. So I'm just preparing you, so

you want to get stretched. If you have any bunyan's, say a quick

prayer, Say Lord, give my bunyan's rest for the next forty five minutes,

Lord, because in a matter of moments, you're gonna be on your

feet. And so you may be new to church today or new to our

church, but every once in a while, we just take some time to

give God praise, give God glory for what he's done. You've ever been

to a great sporting match and you're already on your feet before the game even

starts. You go to a great concert. Before they even open up the

curtain, you're on your feet because there's an expectation of receiving something that you've

came for. Today's a message like that, And so if you're here today,

I just want you to tell yourself for these matter of a moments.

You know, today I'm gonna give God his due praise. Today, I'm

gonna I'm gonna be a responsive person today because God is just that good.

And so our guest speaker day is one of my good friends, Pastor Adam

Smolcombe, his churches in Mountain View, California, and Northern California in Silicon

Valley. Vibe Church has eleven campuses globally. They have one in Rome,

one in Milan, one in London, they have one in Honolulu, Austin,

Oakland, Chicago. They are all over the globe. Pastor Adam is

the globally pastor of those churches. He's a good friend of mine, and

ALFC and Vibe are great friends. Even our very own Chelsea, our creative

director, was just or this week teaching at their youth camp and so we

have a great relationship together and it's just my honor I've been counting down the

days that we get to have my friend be exposed to ALFC, because,

believe it or not, ALFC is known throughout as a church that responds to

the message in the Gospel, so people talk about man, I want to

preach at ALFC. So I've been waiting for the day that we can hear

a word from Pastor Adam, who preaches the Bible with such power, such

conviction. His wife Kira is incredible and they have three daughters. And he

happens to be from Australia. So what you hear from is not a Southern

accent. It's an Australian accent. He's not from Tennessee. He's from Australia.

So would you do with my favorite standing ere feet and welcome my good

friend, Pastor Adam smoke homb to the pulpit today. Coll Let's praise Jesus

in here, Amen, Hallelujah. I'm from the other South, the Great

south Land. He mean, hey, would you grab your bibles out?

Let's they standing for the reading of Word of God today. I am very

much excited to be here, as Pastor Adam said, the younger, better

looking Pastor Adam said, I have been looking forward to this moment, and

as you get your Bible outlets turn to someone hundred today, I want to

do something before I start. I do need to give honor where honor is

due. Just being in this, in this sanctuary, in this building.

The last couple of days, I've been having the privilege to walk around all

the alleyways and the hallways, and just my jaw has been dropped by just

seeing the provision and the faithfulness of God. And I'm a founding pastor,

so I know what it looks like to build things from nothing. And when

I stand in a building like this, I know you have great founding pastors

Pasta Diego and Cindy. Can we honor them to see a vision? I

know places like this don't come from nothing. They come from sacrifice, They

come from generational giving, They come from faithfulness. And I got to honor

them as a builder of the church. And I do have to honor your

lead pastors, Passa, Adam and Ashley Mesa, our absolute dear friends our

church. Love them. In fact, I was praying this morning and the

word that God gave me for you two is the word positioning. I was

just walking around the neighborhood. And I just kept praying and God kept revealing

positioning, positioning. He has been positioning. He positions people all through through

the Bible. Position Gideon, he positioned David. He positions people. And

God has positioned you right now for this era, for this generation. Look

out, look out for the impact that is going to be a whirlwind around

the both of you. There is something dynamic about the both of you this

generation needs. There's a dual thing that God's doing in the both of you.

So not one of you get to shrink back. That option's done the

moment you said yes to God. It's everything, not partly, and there

is a positioning and church that prophetic word flows to you as well. In

fact, would you just slift your hands right now across this place. God,

we thank you for the positioning of this house. We thank you Lord

that you have positioned this house in a position to have impact. I'm prophesying

right now, greater impact in the days ahead than they've ever seen before.

Lord, that there would be an acceleration on ALFC, that there would be

a wind of the Holy Spirit that would swirl from this place that would hit

Kingdom, places that would hit places of innovation, places of creativity. Lord,

that there would be industries changed because of this house. I call and

I raise up Lord right now, prophetically, innovate us out of this place

and artists out of this place. Lord, that all spheres would be impacted

by this place. God, we declare that to be prophetic. We see

it coming to pass, and God, we thank you for the privilege of

being in this moment when it's spoken, and with our yes and amen,

we believe it will come to pass. In Jesus Mighty name. Everybody said,

amen, Amen. I had to get that out. First service couldn't

handle it, but I felt like second service, You're ready, Amen,

all right, you ready for the word of God. Some hundred verse one

says, make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve

the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with singing. Know that the

Lord he is God. It is he who made us. We are his.

We are his people, the sheep of his posture. And to his

gait with thanksgiving and his courts, with praise. Give thanks to him,

bless his name. For the Lord is Come on. Let's say that again.

For the Lord is good, His steadfast love and do us forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations. I'm going to keep as simple today.

I'm gonna keep it real simple for all the notetakers in here. And I

want to preach you from the subject. The subject I feel on my heart

is make some noise. Make some noise. Oh you already get it,

amen, you came ready, you came correct. Today. Well, I

want you to do something in the spirit of making some noise and giving God

some praise. I want you to find five of your favorite people real quick,

fist bump them and with some noise, tell them how grateful you are

for them, how thankful that you're sitting next to them. Come on,

just give them some love real quick. Come on, five people, five

people, five people, and you can take your seat. Amen. So

you're gonna have to bear with me this morning because I plan on warming things

up. But I've been on vacation. In fact, I got the call

up off the bench from Pastor Adam. I was on vacation in July and

I wasn't planning to be anywhere except on the beach or at my ranch.

I was on vacation and he called me up and he said hey, next

week, can you come? And I thought that's perfect because I'm an impact

player. I'll come up off the bench, I'll bring the impact. I'm

ready to go. And as I said that, I knew exactly what to

bring because for me, June was hectic. June was crazy. June was

a chaotic month for us in our in our calendar and our church. June

was our global camp, our conference called Amen Conference, which takes a lot

of work. In June, we also launched my book series. I thought

that would be a good idea, not just do a conference, but launched

my book series. And on top of that, way in the middle of

launching our a leventh location in London, we also wrote a brand new worship

album much like you guys. We did that in June. So June was

chaotic. Not only were we doing all that stuff, but all my buddies

Seed be having their conferences in June as well. So I was flying to

all my friends conferences just to be with them. Because I'm a Kingdom guy,

I want to support them. So I find myself on the front road

just shouting and Amen and at their conferences. And it was so chaotic that

I had to end up preparing sermons on planes. Now, I'm not the

kind of guy that works on a plane. I'm from the Silicon Valley,

so every time you take off, everybody seems to open their computer and start

working email and folk getting real busy. You utilize in their time. I'm

the kind of guy that likes to watch a movie. I like to relax.

I like listen to some music, catch up on my favorite, uh,

you know, Beyond the Letter podcast. I like to utilize my time

to relax. But but but I didn't get to I had to because of

the time restraints and my calendar was hectic. I'm I'm preparing on the plane

now. I like to prepare sermons in my home office sanctuary because it's silent.

I live out of the Silicon Valley, so I like to be where

it's peaceful. I like a serene setting that the most distraction you're gonna have

is some deer coming up to the property or something like that. That is

my preferred setting, not sitting on a plane with that squashed little lap tray

that comes down and and it was so crazy one one moment, I had

my wife film this because the turbulence. I'm trying to type and the turbulence

is bouncing me around. And I said, I said, honey, Kia,

you've got you gotta film this, And and I had. When it

got to preach in the sermon at the conference, I needed the Holy Spirit

to interpret what I wrote. Hectic, But what was what was real crazy

trying to work on the plane was the noise. It's the noise for me,

it's it's the constant announcements. It's the fasten the seatbelt beats. It's

it's all the noise that gets my distracted. But but good news because while

June was chaotic, I also had my birthday in June and I got Yeah,

thank you, appreciate it. I did nothing to deserve it. I

just was born. But thank you I got. I got a gift,

which is the I don't know if you seeing these, you've got these.

It's the AirPod Promax. It's these noise canceling headphones that you put over the

ears, not the ones that go in and cause an earache, you know,

the ones that just sit snugly. And these things are incredible. If

you have an experience that you have a button that takes you from transparency mode

into the presence of God mode. With one boop, you go into like

just this sanctuary of silence. It is incredible. You can knock out the

noise, you can block out the world. You find yourself deep in the

sanctuary of God's presence in one little boom, and it makes that noise too.

It's my favorite noise boom, all the chatter, all the stuff.

It got me thinking, imagine if you imagine if you had that in life,

you know, like, just there's this way to block out the noise

that you could somehow just cancel it. Oh, you know, you know

the noise I'm talking about. I'm talking about the news, talking about the

drama, talking about the issues, the agendas, the comments, the critics,

the ideologies that distracts and the demands, the chaos or the things that

are vying for your attention, the constant narrative that's going on. Imagine if

you could just boop, cancel it, wouldn't that be cool? Just cancel

it, create this cocoon of silence and block it out. Now, as

nice as that sounds, it's not possible. It's not possible because you cannot

control what happens around you. You cannot control the situations that surround you.

You cannot control every situation and every season that you find yourself in. I

am a father of daughters. My eldest is about to turn twenty, and

my twin girls are about to turn seventeen. There will be men circling like

sharks pretty soon, and I'm well aware I can't control it. I can

do my best, but I ultimately can't control things that even if we could

control the situations and the circumstances of life, it actually wouldn't be practical because

the same feeds that inspire us end up being the same feeds that intimidate us.

The very same social media feeds where we draw inspiration end up irritating us

because the things that showed us a place of where we want to get to

end up reminding us how far we are from it. So we get irritated

by the same things that we get inspired by. So it ain't even practical

to try and control the noise, the noise, the noise, the noise.

And this is an a verbal noise. It's not an external noise.

This is an internal dialogue. It's an internal conflict. You see, the

truth is what consumes your mind, is what controls your life. So unless

you plan to live isolated from the world, there has to be another solution

to living within the chaos. There has to be another solution to living within

the noise. This is essentially what the Apostle Paul tried to do with the

church in Rome. As he wrote He's letter Romans, he wanted to speak

to a church that was in the midst of chaos, a pretty chaotic and

political setting, a setting that had ideologies and nuances and a lot of liberalism

to it. Don't just think that you live in a time and an era

that is only facing with political ideologies. Paul was present with that too.

This is a circular and a cyclical thing where Paul was trying to prepare the

early Church on how to live Christian, how to live like Christ in the

midst of the noise. And he wrote to them in twelve and he says

this in Romans twelve, verse two. He puts it this way. He

says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the

renewal of your mind. What the Apostle Paul wanted the church to know.

What he wanted the believers that are gathered together, this early subset of believers

to know is he wanted to know that you may not be able to control

the situation, but you can control your mind. He wants you to know

to take control of your mind, which is interesting because even though situations are

out of our control, my mindset and my perspective of everything is very much

in my control. You see this particular passage in Romans twelve. It comes

after a deeply theological discourse from from Paul. Is it okay if I do

a little bit of teaching this morning. I just want to bless you on

this heat wave summer here in Rancho Quikamonga with a refreshing psalm. But I

kind of build a foundation today. I gotta give you some theology and some

doctrinal perspective to the way that you can take control of what you think is

out of control. And what you find from the Romans the book Romans,

what Paul has letter to the Church is he spends the first eleven chapters unpacking

several critical components of the Christian life. For instance, he first establishes that

because of what Christ has done, we not only have freedom from sin and

condemnation, but we have grace at work through the Holy Spirit that empowers us.

He then goes on to explain that how faith is not stagnant, that

faith actually flows. Faith is something that increases in the life of the believer.

And now as we get the chapter twelve, he's saying, in light

of all of this, in light of all the Christ has done for you,

in the positioning of Christ and the way that He has redeemed your life,

use that as a backdrop to your life to now approach God and approach

the world with a taking captive every thought, to take control of it.

Not just to think good thoughts, not just to think positively. But he

says, think about what Christ has done, and because of what Christ has

done, you have the power to control. He puts it this way to

the Corinthians in Second Corinthians ten fifteen. He says, take captive every thought

and make it obedient to Christ. In other words, even when a situation

is out of control, the Apostle wants you to know that you, your

thoughts, and your mind are still very very much in control. Because ultimately,

what while I might not be able to control the noise coming at me,

while I might not be able to cancel completely the noise around me.

Maybe there is a way that I can get control of it. Maybe maybe

there is a way I can get a handle. Let me explain what I'm

talking about, because here in this Psalm Someone hundred, it's giving us some

pretty direct or dare I say, practical instructions regarding our priests. Now,

for those that are unfamiliar with Some one hundred, it's helpful to know that

it happens to be a climactic psalm in the collection of what's known as the

Royal Psalms, the Royal Psalms being a set of psalms that detail out our

responsibility as part of creation to give God what he is do and together these

psalms they have an emphasis on God's sovereign rule. They put an emphasis on

his goodness to his people and the responsibility of the nations of the world to

acknowledge him, and the utmost importance of God's people in worshiping him. Now

Some one hundred is specifically it actually it actually directs the praise of the people,

and it directs the instruction to all the earth, commanding us or encouraging

us to praise Yahweh with joy. Now, the psalmist wants us to know

that there are some praises that are due to God. Did you know that

God is due praise because of who he is, because of what He's done.

He is just due praise. He's owed praise because God is good,

because he is mighty, because of what He did in your life, because

of who you were and where you were, God is due praise. That

out of a result of you assessing your life, what should flow from your

life is praise because he is God, and because God is due praise,

that's where we should, as the created of God, give him praise.

However, what the Psalmist wants you to know, and he's emphatic about this,

is just because God is due praise. Don't make it a duty.

This is important just because God is due praise. Whatever you do, don't

make it a duty. Don't don't come to God with that obligation. You

see, even though He's do it. We've got to understand that the way

I bring it, if I bring it with joy, it will not just

give God what he is do. It will be the key to unlock something

in my life. Oh wait, warming up, now, let's unlock some

more. I want to I want to unpack this because when we come to

God in worsship, we could actually we actually could call it worthship because he's

worthy, He's worthy of it, He's worthy of the praise. However,

when we don't just do it as a duty, instead we directed the way

we do with joy, it serves us in the process. Doesn't just say

bless the Lord. Bless the Lord with joy becomes the key that becomes unlocking

in your life. I want to come back to that in a moment,

because there are a few key applications in this short psalm. For instance,

if we would if we would exegete each verse, we would actually find some

insights on how to bring the kind of praise that God is into. That's

right. There are some kinds of praise that God is into, and there

are certain kinds of praise that God is not into. Did you know?

And I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I

have to that there are some kinds of praise that God is not obligated to

receive. Oh shock, And I feel like a revelation to some of your

God is not obligated to receive your praise. Like God is not obligated.

He doesn't have to receive. Just because you give it doesn't mean he has

to receive it. Like God is not into that casual Starbucks Sunday morning in

one hand, half hand lifted praise. God is not into that. God

is not obligated to receive it just because you're like, Hey, God,

I hope you're happy I'm here. I don't know. I know we're happy

you're here, and I'm hoping that something today happens in you so that you

don't just be here. You don't just show up, but you turn up.

I really, I really believe that we're happy you're here. But I

don't know if God has to receive that praise. God is not obligated to

receive what you give. He doesn't have to accept that kind of praise.

Imagine, imagine you approach God this way like you approach a friend's birthday party

that you forgot about. Then you turn oh man, that's today and you

didn't get a gift. You didn't give any pre thought to it, didn't

prepare anything. So you just collect something from home. You regive something that

you never opened because you're like, what what am I going to do with

a range finder on the golf court. I don't know what I'm gonna do

with that. Like I like playing golf, but do I really need to

know how far away I have to hit it? I just hit and hope.

And so you take that and you give it to someone else and they

didn't even play golf, and you're like, they're like, oh, thanks,

great love it, appreciate it, put it on the sheld. It's

regifted like ten times, you know what I mean. That's you're not obligated

to receive it. God is the same way. God is not looking for

half hearted worship, because God's not just in the motions. He's looking for

the heart. God's looking God's interested in the heart. He's he loves the

heart. He loves the heart motive. The truth is that reason God doesn't

accept it is because what we see in the psalms. Throughout the psalms,

what you're gonna find is you're going to find the heart revealed of every psalmist

that they write a song or a sonnet or a psalm to God in such

a way that it reveals the condition of their heart or their hearts cry.

This is why it's very difficult to sing about something you haven't struggled through you

ever tried to write a love song and never been in love. It's missing

something, It's missing the heart, and there is there is the pain that

has felt in the moment to present it in worship. And this, I

feel is something that we need to understand when we're coming to God. In

fact, I want to help you this morning. That is my assignment.

I want to come in. I want to help you. I'm not a

guest preacher. I'm a friend of the house, and so I'm going to

do my due diligence to make sure I help you. And I want to

help all the non singers here this morning. I want to help all the

non synchro class this morning. I want to help all those that weren't blessed

naturally with rhythm. Yes, I'm talking to my fellow white folk. I

want I want to help you because nowhere, this is gonna set some people

free. Nowhere doesn't indicate in the Bible that the kind of praise that we

bring has to be necessarily excellent. Now now, when I say excellent,

I'm talking about ALFC worship excellent. You know they would they worship excellent,

they sing good, they're on key, But nowhere in the Bible doesn't say

anything about your singing and your praise has to be in pitch. It don't

say that, It doesn't say that you're seeing it has to be in key.

It doesn't even have to say that you're clapping has to be in time.

It simply says this. It says, if you're gonna worship God,

simply make a joyful make a joyful noise. Make a joyful noise to make

a joyful noise. So maybe I'm wondering if even a shout could be considered

praise if it's done with joy. I'm wondering if maybe just a little bit

of a exhale, maybe just a little bit of a groan at times,

maybe maybe the best you can muster is just like ah, but but but

God like, I'm doing it with joy, So so maybe that could be

considered praise. I know some of y'all are real handy. Some of you

can clap in time, some of you can clap on the two and the

four and the one, and I know how you can mix it up.

I know that you've been doing this for a minute, so your praise is

quite good. But some of us just need to bring God that organic,

raw praise because I've seen what God's done and it's coming out of an overflw

my joy's bubbling. My my, my, my joy. Now to everyone

around you, it's terrible. Don't get it twisted as bad. People around

you looking at you like whoa your tone death right? Like literally wet.

But guess what you haven't you ever been to one of those arm school recitals,

you know where like that student gets the solo part and and you're like,

that kid is bad. That's come on. I'm just saying what you're

all thinking, Like, you're like that kid sucks all right, but their

parent is like, that's my boy, go son. They're like the parent

is loving every minute. I have to tell you God is like that parent.

God is like that parent with the iPad up filming every little moment.

Look at this joyful praise they're bringing. Look at the what that's the kind

of praise that God is into. God is not into your pretty praise as

much as you think he's into your passionate praise. He's into the praise that's

an overflow, the kind of praise that bubbles up, the kind of praise

that acknowledges God has worked in my life. Adam, I'm coming down,

passed Aroundom, I'm coming off the stage again because I need a church that

knows what it is to praise out of the overflow, the kind of church

that knows that God has done some things. And because God has moved in

my life, I've got a praise that I cannot contain. I have the

kind of praise that if you try and keep me quiet, watch something's gonna

come out. Something will come out because God has been so good to me.

Do I have anybody in here that has an overflow praise? That's what

we're talking about. Don't have to be pretty, doesn't have to be poetic,

just has to That's the flow. If any think it just has to

just has to come out, It just has to come out. You can't

contain it. This is the kind of praise that He's into God. I

feel it's gonna set some people free in here. This is gonna see.

This is this is this is This is why God's into it. Because a

shout can be considered worship as long as that shout leads to serving. God's

not into lip service, He's into substance. So as shout should lead to

serving. This is what the second verse reveals that says, make a jowfu

noise of the Lord or the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come

into his presence with seeing a serve, serve the Lord with gladness. Your

worship leads to service and true service as an act of worship. You ever

wondered why a janitor or or or a builder or a painter will whistle?

Why they work? Because service is an aspect of worship. So I got

to do something external when i'm When I'm working, I'm I'm worshiping the same

way that the work of our hands the services considered by God as worship.

We see that God's not into that empty kind of praise. God ain't blessed

by just singing the song without my heart engaged. God's not interested in you're

just going through the motions being a shelf. God's looking for the heart.

In addition, we find the Psalmist illuminate in verse three that when it comes

to worship, God wants to be experienced. We're talking about his presence.

In verse three, it says, know that the Lord, he is God.

It is he who made us. We are His. We are his

people, the sheep of his Pastia. Let's not get it twisted, this

whole Psalms about God we are. In fact, there's actually something. Let

me illuminate the theology behind this. This is a foreshadow of new covenant worship

all the way back in the Psalms, because new covenant worship. The difference

between new covenant worship and old covenant worship is that new covenant worship is done

from proximity, where old covenant worship was done from a distance. See under

the old Covenant, they couldn't approach God. There were layers, there were

levels. There was the Holy of Holies in the tent of meeting where only

isolated individuals the whole that the high priest could go. But the rest of

the folk had to stand from a distance and worship from a distance. But

what God did is, Hey, We're gonna make all of you men and

women a God. Are you gonna come right into my presence with boldness so

that I can worship with you in proximity. It was an invitation into his

presence, and this was foreshadowed by the Psalmist. In fact, when the

Psalmist wrote this, there would have been people listening going what crazy talk is

the psalmist talking about now talking about knowing God talking about worshiping in his sense.

That's wild to think, but this is literally the foreshadowing of what we

get to partake in as sons and daughters in a New Covenant, that there

is no longer any barrier in our ability to come into God's presence, that

we can know him. The suggestion here is that we can know him because

we can be with Him in his presence, knowing by experience, Knowing by

experience. You see, it's very difficult to worship authentically from a distance.

You're spectating, you're singing about someone you've heard about rather than someone you know.

And what David does is he does something absolutely brilliant. Probably my favorite

Psalm. He says Insalm thirty four, verse eight. He says, taste

and see that the Lord is good. This is an incredible invitation from David

to taste. Another way to put it is to try. He says,

try God, and when you try, God's giving you a guarantee that what

you're gonna see is that God is good. You ever, you ever have

a hard time, I don't know if you do this. You've had a

hard time getting someone to try something. We've been on vacation, went to

Hawaii and we're sitting at this restaurant, pretty upmarket restaurant, very excited to

be There was a sushi restaurant they had, like we're talking fresh sushi,

shashimi marquis where like literally meet us from the beach. We're so close.

This ain't this ain't like your two day shipping fresh. This is like from

the ocean that morning, now on the table, didn't even pass through a

refrigerator. It just went straight from the ocean to your table. And we

have someone in our groups like, yeah, I don't need that, and

we're like, oh no, you're gonna try it. And they're like,

Noah, don't like the texture. And we're like, oh no, no,

no, I get it. You know, if you're in Connecticut,

don't try it. But you're literally on the beach in Hawaii. You gotta

just try it. But as much as we urged her to try it,

she kept saying, e't nothing, and we could do nothing to encourage her

because we all knew that if you just simply try it, you will go

oh hey, that ain't that bad. You'll actually second by Gom. Actually,

that's that's pretty good. I don't know what I was thinking. I

feel the psalmist trying to beg the people of God. Would you just try

God today? Would you just try it his way? Would you just stop

trying to manage your own relationships? Would you stop trying to manage your own

finances? Would you put your trust in God? And what you'll see is

He'll do a far better job of it than you will. Try it his

way, try it his way. This is the tithe by the way,

the test, the taste test, to try try it God's way. Watch,

that's what the past is get up every week trying to convince you of

not because it's their revelation, but because you'll see for yourself. As you

put your hope in God, try it his way, your conclusion is going

to be that He is good. I mean, David's invitation goes deep.

By the way. He wasn't just trying saying try the good things of God.

You see, David did not. He didn't want to be the only

one that killed giants either. He was trying to get the believers to dare

to risk to fight some battles, not because he wanted you to have to

face giants, but he wanted you to know the victory on the other side

of it. He's like, I don't want to be the only one out

here that knows what it looks like the killer giant. So, Church,

would you start putting your faith in God? Would you face off with some

fears so that you can too also know what it is to walk victorious.

There's an invitation to experience God because it's from his presence that you realize He

is good and that you were his Verse three sets up the tone for the

invitation into God's presence when it comes to worship, because from there we find

in verse four the posture that we take when entering his presence. Check this

out and says, enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise,

give thanks to him, and bless his name. One sure fire way to

find yourself in the presence of God is to begin to count your blessings.

You want to know the doorway into God's presence. Count your blessings, because

when you count your blessings, you begin to realize just how blessed you are.

It's what verse five says. It says for the Lord is good,

his steadfast love and do us forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

I call this count your Blessings. I'm developing several philosophical leadership concepts at the

moment, and the first one is count your blessings, because I'm convinced that

if you simply begin to count your blessings, you will you will pretty quickly

begin to realize that I am not defeated, I am victorious. And maybe

you need to start small today. Maybe you need to start to list that.

Okay, well, I'm in a good church and I got great pastors.

I thought you'd be louder about that, but uh, okay, I

got a roof over my head. I've had Subway yesterday and I haven't Chipotle

today. Start small, but soon you're gonna run out of fingers. Then

you're gonna run out of toes. You're gonna begin to realize that I'm actually

way more blessed than I realized. Now. Now here's here's my thing.

I am not opposed to you come into God and asking for things. The

Bible makes it clear you have not because you've asked not. However, there

is a way to ask now if you come in lack, you come on

with the wrong ask. If you come with a poverty mindset, you're come

on with the wrong ask. You're groveling like you're not a son or a

daughter of the most high King. You're coming like a stranger pleading a beggar,

asking please, sir, can you spare some change? Could you spare

some miracles? Could you spare some healing? I would encourage you before you

ask of God, just count your blessings. Your summary will be my God,

I'm blessed, And because God, you've blessed me, I know that

you'll bless me again. Because who is the God that we serve? Is

he in the kind of God that surely will not give us what he has,

that we will withhold anything from us? But is he looking for us

to come with that victory mindset? Could it possibly come with the authority that

he is the God of provision, that he is the God of power,

that he is trying to get you to a place where you do come groveling

on your knees, But you come with the authority that he's given you knowing

that he is a good God with good gifts for his people. Revelation that

I'm blessed, you have to forgive me. I'm from a Pentecostal setting,

and the church I grew up in there were many mature believers that every time

you would talk to them, their response was always God is good. It'll

matter if it was good news or bad news. It didn't matter what season

I was going through. To me, that was overwhelming. Their response was

simply God is good because they've lived through some seasons. What I thought was

unique to me. They've walked through before and they've taken some stuff from it

that built their faith. So their revelation, in their conclusion was that aid

in the end, God is good. God is good. In fact,

if they got real down, they would say all the time, God is

good. It was so encouraging for me as a young man to be reminded

constantly that even though what I'm walking through, though it's big for me,

God's still good. Even though my situation sucks, God's still good. Even

though my situation opposes and I've got disbelief and I've got doubt circulating my mind,

there's noise around me. God is good. I'd like to play a

game how Pentecostal are you because my church we had a whole section for the

tambourine, and the old school believers remember the tambourine. Oh my god man,

we had a whole section for the tambourine, and we didn't give out

tambourines. They brought their own. That's what I bet, Harvey, I

bet you have a tambourine. Where could you bring me the tambourine for a

second, because there's new school folk in here that don't know the blessing of

the tambourine. We have a tambourine, Come on, give it up with

a sister with the tabe. We are too tambourine. You see. Here's

the thing with the tambourine. When the praise would start, it would start

here. But when the praise got going, there was a pop to it.

Anybody know what I'm talking about. Because when you shake off the rust,

it goes from the hands to the hips, and you can't just stay

silent. You also can't stay still because God has been too good for me

to stay still, and my vocals can't match the power of God that he's

proven him my life. I need some amplification. I need something that I

can shake, something that I can rattle that. I let the sound of

my chains getting let loose. Let the tambourine mimic what God done in my

life. Ha ha ha. Get me rowdy in here. Gotta count him,

You gotta count them, you gotta count your blessings. It's because here's

the thing with the tambourine. It amplifies, it amplifies, it, amplifies

the goodness of God. The praise, the praise. What the praise does.

The praise is my key to control. You can't control the noise,

but there are some things I can control, and my praise is the very

key to give me control. Stay with me. This is gonna be helpful

for some people that you've just thought that. You come in here and praise

is just a segment of the service that leads to the sermon that praise is

just a formality, because we've got some really gifted people and we need to

give them a shot, you know, we need to give them something to

do. Otherwise, what would these people do all week long? Praise is

not a formality. Praises a precursor to my breakthrough. Help me, somebody.

Praise becomes a key that unlocks and gives me control, because while you

can't control the noise, you can control the volume. You ever controlled the

volume. My daughters, every time we're in the cart, turn it up,

Dad, turn it up. They'd love to say, turn it to

eleven. Because, to be honest with you, drowning out the noise is

difficult. What if I made my own noise? What if I was to

combat the lies and the negativity and the disbelief, and I was to bring

faith, and I was about to praise with goodness, and I was about

to recite the faithfulness of God. What if I was to bring joy and

belief instead of disbelief and doubt? What instead of what if instead of turning

down the noise, I turned up my praise. You know where the Psalms

ends? Last psalm in the book of Psalms is Someone fifty. Someone fifty

is a summary of all the psalms. As a summary. After talking about

praise, you're talking about worship. It gives you some of the ways in

which qualifies as worship to God. It says things like praise him with the

trumpet. It says praise him with the tambourine, even says praising with the

clashing symbols. Now that doesn't necessarily sound good. It might sound a bit

chaotic, but God's into the heart and the overflow of praise. But my

favorite verse in all of songs is the final verse in the final chapter of

Psalms, which is Someone fifty, which says, let everything that has,

let everything that has anybody got breath in their lungs today, let everything that

has breath praise the Lord. I'm wondering if somebody needs to bring breakthrough right

now, if you've got some noise around you, if you've got some down

circulating you, I'm wondering if you maybe just want to exhale something, even

if it isn't a song. Maybe it's a shout, Maybe it's a praise,

Maybe it's a breath. Come on, team, would you worship with

us? Come on, come on a sea that's where you are shut Come

on talking? Who shut the front to the back, when everybody lift your

head shut alright? Hold on, hold up, hold up, hold up,

hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up

just for a second, because I know your hands are clapping, I know

your mouths are moving, but your feet look like they're chained. Your feet

look like they're planted. You're looking rusty. Church. I need you to

let loose like God has saved you, like the chains are fallen off you,

that you are no longer sint ale to that sin that just snared you.

So come on. I need you to move some hips like you got

a tambourine. I need you to let some shoulder movement, like I'm gonna

praise God with everything that I've got. Let my hips, let my lips,

let my hands, let my palms, let my breath, glorify the

living God. Come on, let's wash him to the back. Everybody.

Come on, let's lift that praise. You are hi, come on back

to fy the wall. You come on, it's good to praise God.

It's good to glorify him. Hold on, hold on, you are going

all the time? Good time? Come on, would you watch him when

you're tire? Come on you time time, you are good. I'm not

convinced you. We've still got some folks that aren't convinced. I want to

give you some for all the non emotional people, for all the people that

just like to keep it contained. Let me give you some technical information that

I found because I was reading about the noise canceling technology, And what I

discovered was that it's mislabeled. They call it noise canceling, but it actually

doesn't cancel noise. This is what it said. It's said this. It

said the noise canceling headphones, they monitor the sound around, preventing the unwanted

noise from entering or reaching your ears because of miniature microphones. Mini microphones,

it says those miniature microphones that hear the noise and then they counteract the noise

by projecting noise back. So this technolog oology, it doesn't just mute the

noise. It meets the noise with more noise. That's what praise does.

Praise doesn't just cancel the negativity. Praise nothing just mute those people in your

life. Praise says, I see you disbelief, I see you discouragement.

But I'm gonna raise you faithfulness, and I'm gonna raise you goodness, and

I'm gonna raise you provision, and I'm gonna raise you the mind and the

power of God. So noise I hear you, but let me raise you

with my praise. Charge. Come on, let's be I gotta gotta,

I gotta pray. I gotta brain, I gotta, I gotta pray.

Everybody's I got, I gotta, I gotta play. Everybody was shut so

good, so good? Yes, Yes you are, Yes, you are,

Yes, you are see you are, you are all the time,

all the time, you are, you are times, you are, you

are, you are kind all the time the time we want to bring it

out away you are all the time. We can't hear them. Tell them

he's good. Tell me he's good all the time. Tell him he's good

time all the time, all the time. Come on, let's go there

with him, everybody everywhere, tell him to each morning. Is you are

all the time? You are? You never stop to ever you are?

Thank you Jesus for me good. Yes, yes, why you are good.

You are all the time time you are better this morning. You are

good all the time, all the time you are. Rush you were shot.

Who you are? Shock for who you are? For who you are?

Sok, choking, sorry for you you are. Go back to find

the day of time left your pray. My goodness, how many people know

that, when done right, worship as a cardiovascular workout. Go ahead and

quit your gym membership. Just come Sunday morning. Amen, God is good.

This is what God put me on assignment today to help shift some mindsets,

to help shift some thoughts. Some of you allowed the noise. You've

allowed the thoughts and the comments and the critics to change you. You needed

to be jolted out of it today. Sometimes you can't do things softly.

You need to jolt some people out of it. But why was I thinking

that way? Why was I thinking defeated? But you allowed the noise.

Sometimes the noise comes from people, close family members, people that you trust,

and that's why it's easy to believe it just creeps in a subtle I

feel like I'm on an assignment today to help break off some mindsets, to

set you free from some thinking that has made you a different person. You

used to be optimistic, but you found yourself critical. You just criticize and

stuff and critical towards people, and you hear it come out and you don't

even recognize that as you You're like, why am I doing that? I

used to be so encouraging and yet there's something that's got a hold of you.

I believe in the very presence of God today, God wants to unlock

some things that God's putting the key in your life to unlock the power of

what it means to be an overcomer. In fact, I want to pray

for you. If that's you today, you know that I needed this because

I've been stuck in a in a way of thinking. I've been stuck being

somebody I didn't even lie and I knew why I'm called to be. I

need to come back to that. But I need to break that chain off

my mind. I want you to do something. Maybe everyone could just close

their eyes right across this place for a moment, and if that's you and

you need prayer, lift your hands, just lift your hands to say this

is for me today. I need to, in the very presence of a

living God, get set free from myself, get set free from my thinking.

I'm done thinking limited. I'm done living in disbelief and doubt. I'm

done questioning the call of God and his goodness. I'm done with that.

Today. I'm making a decision that I'm going to embrace the mindset of Christ

that I am an overcomer. So God, I pray right now for every

hand that has lifted high. I pray Lord for that breakthrough power of your

Holy Spirit. Lord, that you would arrest every thought that we would take

captive, every thought, every pretension that has set itself up against the knowledge

of Jesus Christ. We tear it down right now, we submit it to

the authority of Christ, and we refresh our mind. I pray for a

cleansing. I pray for a washing. I've heard so many people say at

that church, they're just trying to brainwash you. Well, there's a lot

of dirty thinking out there that sometimes we need our brains washed, washed with

the word of God, cleansed routeemed. So I speak to lustful thoughts,

I speak to angry thoughts. I even rebuke migraines. Right now, some

of you've been battling with migraines. In the name of Jesus, you are

healed. In the name of Jesus. You will no longer have to retreat

to a dark place. You will find yourself standing in the light, in

the brightness, without pain, without cloud, without anything. Because Jesus,

it wasn't a physical thing. It was a spiritual thing. But you've taken

authority over it now. So God, we pray that healing headaches gone,

Migraine's gone, in the name of Jesus. In fact, while head's about,

every eye closed. I want to pray for those that don't yet know

Jesus. I don't know how you came to be here today, if you're

invited on vacation or you just were led here by some reason, I want

to pray for you. Maybe you've never prayed a prayer to receive Jesus as

Lord. Therefore you don't know this kind of praise. You hear it about

the goodness of God, but you want to experience it for yourself. That

would be a good decision to receive the invitation. Try it, taste it,

and see for yourself. Well, maybe you have prayed this prayer before,

but it's been a long time since you followed God's way. You've been

walking your way and you feel distant from God, and today you're realizing I

need to come back to God. I need to get my life right again.

So, whether you've never prayed this prayer before or it's a long time

since you've prayed it authentically, I want to pray for you today. So

while every head's about and every i close across this place, just for a

moment between you and God. If that's you saying yes, pastor pray for

me. Would you just do something? Would you just give me a wave

so I know who I'm praying for. I'm not going to embarrass you.

I just want to acknowledge you all over this place. My goodness, Thank

you Jesus. Look at these hands. Lord, I thank you right now,

look at these hands. Come on, shoot it up, Shoot it

up, Shoot up up the back, up the front. Wow, just

keep them raised. From a moment. God, you see every hand,

but it still you see every heart. Pray by your holy spirit. They

would hear your voice right now, they would sense your presence like they're in

the proximity. Oh God, right now. In fact, don't want to

do something I feel it's so bold in my spirit. I want everything to

look at me for a moment. I'm not just into cute prayers. I'm

into chain breaking prayers. I'm into the kind of prayers that transform your life.

I'm into the kind of prayers where you can literally draw a line in

the stand and you can step out of your old life into your new life.

So I want to do something that may seem ridical to you, but

I believe it's important as a step of thief and for all those people that

lifted their hands. I want to ask, would you be so crazy,

so bold today as to slip out of your seat and come and stand down

the front so I can pray with you. Would you be that bold today?

I'm talking all the way up the back, all the way in the

middle. Would you push past people right now and come down the front so

we can pray together. Come on, give these people a hand. Look

at them. Come from the balcony, from the top, from the right.

Come right on in, come right on in, Come on, come

on, give them a big hand. This is a bold moment right now,

brand new ride the grace of God. Come on, come right up

the back. Come on, keep clapping as they come right now. You're

gonna have to hustle. I need to pray. So keep making your way,

make your way, make your way all the way in. Yeah,

come on, make room. Push right, push right up. I want

to make your room. Yeah, come on, right, come right in,

come right in, come right in. Look at this, keep clapping.

They're still coming. It's a powerful moment. That's it. Come right

in. We'll room up here. Yeah. Look the ushers are direct thing.

Come on, come right in, come right in now. I need

you to do something real quick. I want you to do something. I

want you to uh, real quickly. I want you to nudge your neighbor

real quick. If you're staying, if you're still in your seat, would

you just would you just nudge you? Pick your neighbor, pick your favorite

one, and just nudge them and say, hey, neighbor, if you

want to go, I'll go with you, because sometimes you just need someone

to accompany you. Yeah, come on, let's welcome these people as they

come. Just nude your neighbor, ask them, so you need to go,

Well, we'll go together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah. Come on, people are coming in from outside. Past or right

up? Come on, this is it? All right? I got a

time limit. I got a time limit. Amazing, Come on, this

is the day of a five fall. This is the day that the Lord

has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. Amen. All

right, we're gonna pray. We're gonna pray. Would you guys come in

closer? Would you fill up all the gaps? I want to make sure.

Yeah, there's a gap right here. You need to push in.

Come on, push right and push right in. Yeah, fill it in,

fill it in, because we've got we need space. We need space.

Let's get up close and personal for a moment the presence of the living

God. All right, all right, I'm wanna pray, but let me

quickly ask before I prey, would you just look at your other neighbor,

the one you didn't look at, and if you apologize for not picking them,

would you just say, hey, if you want to go, I'll

go with you. Would you ask your other neighbor real quick? Do it?

Do it? Ask your other neighbor? Because I don't want to miss

any one person today. I don't want to miss any single Yeah, come

on, let's welcome these people. Come on, I'm telling you, all

right, let's do something as they're still coming, let's do something. If

you're down the front here, would you do this, Would you just hold

your hands out like this in front of you? Just hold them out?

Yeah? Well, well wait, hold your hands like you're gonna receive something

from God. And I love this. Hey, they're just clapping because people

are still coming. By the way, this is the greatest decision that you'll

ever make. This is the greatest moment to be reconciled to God, to

allow him to redeem your life and So what God's going to do right now

is He's going to put something in your spirit. It's a gift. But

this is what we call the exchange, because as you receive from God,

there's some things you've got to let go. You've got to give God your

shame. I'm going to give God the guilt, the regret, all the

things that we naturally want to hold onto. It doesn't fit with the new

nature that God wants to give you. And so what you're holding out is

you're ready to receive something. You're gonna say, God, or that chunk

that I have allowed to distance myself from you, I'm laying it at your

feet right now. This is why we call this an altar, because that's

where we get altered, that's where we all to our lives. And I'm

going to do this. I'm going to pray a prayer, but I want

you to pray it after me, but you have to make it your prayer.

I'm just gonna give you the words to say, but you need to

make it yours. And maybe we could pray this as a whole church community

today. So would you repeat after me, Heavenly Father today, I recognize

I need you. I need your grace. I need your love. Thank

you for choosing me, thank you for filling me with forgiveness. I choose

this day to follow you. I renounced the devil, and I reject his

plans. Instead, I received Jesus and all that he has planned from this

day forward in Jesus Mighty name. Amen. Amen, Amen. That's it.

That's the prayer. Now I need you to do something. If you're

down the front here, lift your hands as high as you can, as

high as you can, God, I pray right now the very power of

your holy spirit upon them. Lord. We pray that you would fill them

with your spirit. Lord, Would you fill them with your anointing? Would

you fill them with your power? Lord. I pray you begin to deposit

your gifts in them, Lord, that they would see themselves differently. Lord,

I pray that people who know them would see them differently, that they

would recognize something has changed about you. That what has changed I like and

I want. Would you make them contagious Christians contagious believes that people would look

at them and glorify their God. That you would get glory through their lives

by the transformation of their life. That Lord, their lives would lift up

your name. We pray a protection around them, we pray provision for them,

or we pray your power in them in the mighty name of Jesus.

Everybody said. Everybody said amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, everybody that's

up here right now. First of all, God bless you guys. We're

so excited about the decision you just made. Here's how I can encourage you

with the next step. Number one, write something that you're regularly in,

whether it's your phone or whatever it is. Mark in your phone July twenty

third as a pivotal day in your life. So if you have a smartphone,

if you have a smartphone, put Heavenly Birthday in your calendar and set

it to remind you every year, wherever you're at in your faith, wherever

your walk, that something deans you in your calendar and says, this was

the day that you made a decision to follow Jesus. Second thing is is

get a Bible. If you don't have one, Okay, grab a Bible.

Get a Bible, go on Amazon, you can go to our team

outside. If you don't have a bible, get a Bible and start to

read your Bible. If you don't know where starting the Book of Mark.

Just read the Book of Mark. That's it. Read it ten times over.

Start to learn about Jesus, this person that you've come into content with.

Second up, third of all, Start going to church as much as

you can. Begin to let God transform your life in that way. If

you don't live near us and you're just visiting us, find a church,

go to a church wherever your city is at, and begin to develop your

faith in the same way. I want to jog once and say that felt

great, and then never jog again. If God did something today, it

means he can do something tomorrow, and he could do something next week.

He could do something week after that. So continue to let the Lord build

you up and develop you. We really hope you enjoyed the message, and

if you said yes to Jesus, we just want to say congratulations and give

you a free devotional to help you walk out your faith. Click the link

of the description or head over to grow dot Faith to download your devotional.

Oh and be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks

for listening a less podcast and hope you tune in again.