Here For Him - Worship - Coleton Segars

We're in a series that's titled Here for Him.

And over the next couple of weeks, what we're going to be doing is looking at almost every aspect of our church and what we do.

Just understanding that everything that we do here is for someone else.

It's for him.

It's for Jesus.

He established the church.

We looked at it last week that it's it's his church.

It's something that he's building, and he is just giving us directive and guidance on what the church is supposed to look like.

And so over the next couple of weeks, we really just wanted to go back to the beginning of why we do all of these things that we do.

Why do we gather together?

Why do we um worship?

Why do we eat together?

Why do we do all of these different things?

Why do we preach?

Why do we preach what we preach and how we do these things?

Why do we have leadership in the church?

And so just going back and establishing really a uh a theology and a um space of practicality of just understanding, like, oh, we do these things this way for these things, and it's it's based on these reasons.

And so just trying to give a foundation for some of the things that we do.

And so today we wanted to focus on worship and why we worship.

And we're gonna talk about singing, but even other spaces in um the church of how we worship.

But the teaching text today is from Psalm 95, verses 1 through 7, and it'll be on the screen as well.

Psalms 95:1–7

The psalmist writes, Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.

Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all gods.

And his hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.

The sea is his, for he made it.

And his hands form the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

The second most commanded action in the Bible.

The second most commanded action in the Bible is God commanding us to worship him.

The first one is don't fear.

But the second one is that God would ask us, make sure you worship me.

And it's not just worship anything, it's not just singing, but it's like, make sure that what you do is that you worship me.

Even in this passage here, there's six sentences in this passage, and there's six times in this passage where the Lord says, worship me, in six different ways.

Make sure you do this in six different ways.

God thinks it's very important for us to worship him.

Um Adele Calhoun is a Christian contemplative, and she says, the reason that God is so passionate about us worshiping him is because worship is our default setting.

We naturally worship things.

She says that we cannot help but assign ultimate value and worth to something or someone.

One's ultimate devotion can rest in money, success, a person, a creed, a cause, even a garden, and so forth.

We're all going to worship something.

And so the Lord knows that.

He baked that into our existence.

He made that a part of who we are.

And so he really cares what we worship.

And this is why he says it over and over and over.

Don't just worship anything.

Make sure you worship me.

And so what I want to do today is based on the fact that it worship him is the second greatest commanded thing in the scriptures.

What I want to do today is just look at why he says this, why it's important for us not just to worship anything, but to make sure that we worship him.

So I just want to look at the reasons, three of them, why he's saying this.

So the first, why does God command our worship?

The first is we are formed by what we worship.

We're shaped and formed by what we worship.

And so we take on the qualities and characteristics of the thing or the person that we give our affection to and give our devotion to.

We're just shaped and formed by that.

The qualities that that thing has or that someone has, if we worship it, it just shapes who we are.

God says this in the Psalms where he says that those who worship idols become like them.

It's his warning.

Like, hey, if you worship a false God, if you worship an idol, you will become like that person.

And the idea, what he's saying, is like the idols do nothing.

They just sit there and do nothing.

And if you worship them, you will experience nothing from them.

And he says if they they're they're shapeless, or they have shapes, they have eyes but can't see, they have ears but can't hear.

He's like, they're they're not alive, they're not living, and so you can't find life in them.

They're lifeless, and so if you worship that lifeless thing, what you will experience is your life being stolen from you, not life being put into you.

You'll just be shaped and conformed into that thing.

Because the qualities of whatever that is become the qualities of what is put into us.

And this is something that's true in the scriptures, uh, that you see all throughout the scriptures, but it's also this space where you see this in the secular world as well.

David Foster Wallace was a novelist and a non-Christian, and he passed away, but he gave this commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005.

And um, listen to what he says about worship.

He says in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is no there's actually no such thing as atheism.

There's no such thing as not worshiping.

Everybody worships.

The only choice we get is what to worship.

And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.

If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough.

Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly.

And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you.

Worship power, and you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep that fear at bay.

Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out.

I love that quote, but uh mainly because like this guy is not a Christian in any way, but he just understands there's something happening even in his own soul, because a few weeks after he made that, he took his own life.

There was something going on in his own soul where he's realizing if you worship anything else, it eats you alive.

And I think at that's this moment when he's making this college speech, he's trying to let them know, like, man, if you worship anything else, it's gonna kill you.

It'll take from you.

Satan, when he tempts Jesus, you know, the only thing that he asks of Jesus, like what he wants of Jesus, he wants his worship.

Like, I don't want your power, I don't want your abilities, I want you to worship me.

Because God had created man in his own image, and Satan's like, now I want to create God in my image.

And if you worship me, you will become like me, and you will take on my qualities, and then humanity will be in my power because God Himself, Jesus, if he worships Satan, he will take on the qualities of Satan, and then the world will take on the qualities of Satan even more than they currently do.

And so the idea is we are shaped and formed by what we worship.

And so it's the second greatest commanded thing in the scriptures because he's like, please be formed by me.

Don't be formed by these other things.

I think we see this in religion that we're shaped by what we worship.

If in religion, the way that this looks, if if you if people feel like they worship and they worship an angry God who's a who hates certain people, they will become a person who's angry and hates those people.

And you see this with picket lines and all these different things, the Woodboro Baptist Church and all this stuff, like God hates this person, and so they become, they that's the God they worship, and so that's who they became.

It's true with us as well.

If we worship being thought well of by people, our reputation, I worship my reputation.

You'll seek to become that person that you think will impress other people the most, and then you'll spend the rest of your life hiding the spaces that you find unimpressive that you think they will find unimpressive as well.

Because you worship your reputation.

So I need to show you the good part of me and hide the other parts of me.

The social media empire is built on this like filters and only your best pictures, and how many pictures did it take before you got this one, and your family's crying, and then three seconds later you got a picture of them smiling.

It's like, y'all hate each other.

Why are you posting this photo?

And it's just fake.

But you're presenting, I worship my reputation.

And so you're presenting to the world it's like, oh, we're crushing it.

Life is going really well for us.

Look how smiley we are.

Look where we're at on the beach.

It's like, yeah, but y'all didn't spend any more time together.

Y'all took this one photo, and then it was like everyone was like, pfft, we hate each other.

But if you worship being thought well of by people, if you worship your reputation or what people think of you, then that's what you give your life to.

If you worship your stuff, you will spend time, uh spend your life getting more stuff.

You'll spend all your money getting more stuff, and then you'll always be unfulfilled because there's always more stuff to get.

And so you'll buy more stuff and go like, I finally got it, finally got that thing, finally have it.

And it's like, oh wait, there's another thing.

I want that thing too.

And you'll just spend all of your money trying to get your stuff.

If you worship success in your career, you'll be formed into someone who you'll your life will just form around achieving that success.

And I think that the real issue is if you worship success in your career, you will probably find yourself, your life developing a successful career.

Like you'll get it.

It's just the issue is your life will be surrounded by unsuccessful marriages, unsuccessful relationships with your kids, unsuccessful health, unsuccessful spiritual life.

And so everything is sacrificed for the success of the career.

And your wife hates you, your husband hates you, you don't see your parents anymore, you never spent time with them because it's like, well, I worship my career.

I had to make it, I had to be somebody here.

I needed the applause of those people, and I forgot that there were people here around me that actually just wanted to spend time with me.

That's what happens when we worship success in our career.

But do you see, do you see that like this is how our lives are shaped?

We're just shaped by what we worship.

GK Beal in his book on worship says that what people revere, they resemble.

And then the haunting line, either for their ruin or for their restoration.

Like what you revere, what you respect, what you adore, you will ultimately be shaped by that.

And then it will either ruin you or restore you.

And this is why God is constantly saying, like, make sure in the church and elsewhere, make sure that your life is formed and shaped around the fact that you want to worship me.

Because I have these qualities that you actually desire.

The things that we look for in money and in reputation, the things that we look for in being successful or having people like us, like we want to be loved, we want acceptance, we want security, and so we look for it in all these different spaces, and it's like, God's like, all of that exists in me.

Like I have all of those qualities.

I everything that you're looking for, you want peace?

I'm my son, Prince of Peace.

You want some joy, fullness of joy, just ready to pour out.

Like everything that you're you want love?

I've sacrificed my very life for you.

There's love on end.

You could, I mean, just beyond what you could possibly fathom.

Like there's just so much there.

You want acceptance, you want to feel secure.

Like I made the world and I hold it firm by my hand.

You want security?

Worship me.

And so he's just saying, like, I you want all these things, and we search for them in these other spaces, and we give our lives to worshiping them.

And we wind up in the space where we don't actually have them.

And he's going, I want you to worship me so that those qualities in me, what you're actually longing for, is the space where you actually begin experiencing those in your life.

And if you worship me, you will experience them.

This is why uh James K.A.

Smith in his book, You Are What You Worship, he says, Um, if you want to change someone profoundly, just change what they worship.

You want to change this is actually good news for us.

Like you want to see some change in your life, just shift what your affection is tied to and where you tap ultimate meaning and what you adore, and just look around and like, where where do you spend all of your money?

Where do you spend all of your time?

Where do your thoughts constantly go?

That's what you worship.

And so if you want to change, just shift what that thing is.

You just have to replace one idol for the actual true God, and then you can actually experience this thing where it's like, man, I'm experiencing real change in my life.

I changed what I worshiped.

This is why.

Because it shapes you.

This is why God commands your worship.

He wants to shape you, and he knows that you're supposed to be conformed into his image.

And so he's saying, Hey, worship me.

Yes, through singing, yes, through sacrificial giving, yes, through giving me thanks, but worship and build your life around me.

Don't place me as number one.

Just put everything around me.

Make sure everything is shaped and formed around me as the center.

This is what he wants for us.

So the second reason that he calls us to worship him, it's the most second most commanded thing, is because worship is just good for us.

So the first one was more theological.

This one is all pragmatic, okay?

I have tons of stats I'm about to give you.

So for if you're like left brain, very, you know, intellectual in that way, not that the others are stupid, but if that's where you're at, like you're gonna love this point.

Worship is good for you health-wise.

Like it's not just something that God says, you need to do this because I'm God and I deserve it.

And he does.

But he's like, this is good for you.

This is actually something that's healthy for you.

I've created this to be healthy for you.

And so the way that God calls us to worship him, through singing, through giving thanks, through sacrificial giving, generosity, and all those things, these things are actually good for us.

And so I'm gonna give you just a handful of examples of this.

So, singing, for instance, God commands us to sing 50 times in the scriptures, and it's mentioned over 400 times in the scriptures.

But this is um what some one researcher said the singing releases oxytocin, and just like exercising, singing releases endorphins.

Endorphins exist to inhibit pain, signals in the brain, and can produce a feeling of euphoria.

Oxytocin produces in the hypothalamus, also it triggers feelings of happiness, but to a different effect.

And because of this, singing actually makes you feel better.

And so when God is like, sing to me, sing to me, he's like, I actually want you to feel better.

You feel bad, sing to me.

I don't care that your voice sounds bad, just make a joyful noise, my friend.

Like, just do that thing.

But singing also unifies us, it bonds people together.

Uh, Bjorn Vikoff is a musicologist, which I think is just a cool title.

Musicologist and a neuroscientist, uh, weird pair, but he did a TED talk on the health of singing, and he said that singers in a choir or group, they don't just unify their voices, their pulse rates also synchronize, their hearts beating together in relation to their breaths.

This is due to the activity of the vagus nerve, a cranial nerve, which influences heart rate and breathing.

As you are singing a phrase, your heart rate goes down, and then between phrases, when you inhale, the heart rate goes up.

Because of this, singing strengthens bonds among people.

Singing can make the singers' moods align, since slow, regulated breathing has a calming effect.

And it's this really interesting, like when we were singing, like we we have to take a breath to sing the same thing, we have to inhale and exhale to do these things, and it says that that synchronizes our hearts.

And so for never you're never more unified than when your hearts are actually beating the same way.

And so, like, there's this space in the church that he actually goes on to say that like this is probably why, he doesn't really know why, but he's like, this is probably why churches included worship in there.

And I would have, if I could talk to him, he's much smarter than I would, but I'd be like, actually, it's the second most commanded thing in the Bible.

We actually have to do this, we don't just do it to sink our heart rates, although that is really cool.

But it is this space where he's like, the idea is you could come in, if it shifts your mood by changing your heart rate, it shifts your mood.

You could come in in a terrible mood and then begin singing with people around you that are in a great mood, and your mood could be shifted and changed and uplifted because you're singing by somebody who's really, really happy, maybe too happy, maybe very excited, but it can shape you and change you.

And you came in like, I don't want to sing anything, I don't believe that the Lord is good today.

It's like, great, that's okay.

Sing it, be around people that are singing that, and it will shape you and change you.

It can actually change your mood.

And it's true, not just of worship, it's true of any singing.

But you actually do understand why the Lord calls us to sing, why this is a thing that he wants us to do.

He says, Come before him with joyful singing.

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth, sing to the Lord, bless his name.

He's constantly telling us to sing because actually singing is not just something that's a way of worship, it's actually something that's good for us to do.

The Lord calls us to express thanksgiving.

Uh Dr.

Travis Bradbury, in this book called Emotional Intelligence 2.0, says this about giving thanks.

He says the real neural antidepressant is gratitude.

Gratitude boosts levels of serotonin and dopamine.

These are the brain's happy chemicals and the same chemicals targeted by antidepressant medications.

The striking thing about gratitude is that it can work even when things aren't going well for you.

That's because you don't actually have to feel spontaneous gratitude in order to produce the chemical changes in your brain.

You just have to force yourself to think about something in your life that you appreciate.

This train of thought activates your brain to make you feel happier.

And yeah, it's so interesting that the Lord is baked into creation.

Like, I want you to give me thanks.

Psalm 136, I think we have it here.

It's the whole psalm is basically saying, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, as love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord or to the God of God, give thanks to the Lord of Lords.

And actually, if you read all of Psalm 136, the idea is that what you would say before every line is give thanks to the Lord and then a reason why.

Give thanks to the Lord and then a reason why.

The whole psalm is built around giving thanks.

And it makes sense that the Lord is like, this is actually something that will shape you and change you.

The way I created your brain is to function in a way that, like, when you choose to give me thanks for any reason whatsoever, even if life currently isn't going super well, it can spur something in your brain, release chemicals in your brain that I put there that stir the happy chemicals in your brain that make you feel better.

This is why he calls us to do that.

Why he calls us to be thankful.

Ephesians 5, 19, and said, I love this one.

This is both.

Sing and make music.

You need to sing, but then always giving thanks.

This is to the church in Ephesus.

Make sure you do this.

Make sure you guys are unified and you're happy together.

This is what he's calling us to do.

God commands us to give thanks because it actually, in doing that, it there's healing in that.

It's it's something for us.

That that I medicate, I love medication.

Whenever I have a headache, I'm just like, I can't wait to get some medication.

Rainey's against, she's like anti-medication.

She's not in here, so she can't defend herself.

She's like, I'll take some if I feel bad tomorrow.

And I'm like, do you feel bad today?

She's like, yeah.

I'm like, by that logic, you should just go ahead and take some medication.

Like, I love some medication.

But there's some, there's, there's just, but there's space here where it's like, y'all, the Lord has has created us in a way where he knows there's something that I can do in your body and in your brain, something connected to the way that we're wired.

He's like, I'm asking you, I'm commanding you to do something for your good.

He commands us to give sacrificially and to give generously of our money, our time, our space.

Romans 12, 13, 1 Timothy 6 and 17, 18 talk about this.

But here's the research around it.

Summer Allen is this PhD student who did an article on the science of generosity.

And this is what she says.

She says, acting generously stimulates the neural circuits involved in reward.

The same circuits that are activated when we eat food have sex, which helps to explain why generosity feels so good.

For example, one study found that parts of the brain called the mesolimbic reward system, which are activated by stimuli like sex, drugs, food, and receiving money, are also engaged when people make charitable donation.

What's more, in another study, participants' brains showed activity in the reward processing areas, even when they were just forced to be generous to other people, although neural activity was even higher when they donated voluntarily.

Like giving generously, giving is good for us.

It's like this thing, so the Lord commands this thing.

And so, folks, our money box is in the back.

It's for your good, not mine.

We don't want anything from you, but it's just back, it's brown, it's the only brown thing back there for a reason.

Um that's not the point.

But I like there's this space was like, why do we like, and I know that churches have taken this and made this like you need to give them money and they do one capital campaign after another and all these different things, and Lord bless them.

I don't know.

I hope to never do a capital campaign.

Um, but there's this space of like it was supposed to be this thing that the Lord has just baked into the church.

It's like, I'm trying to heal you people.

The world is broken, and so are you.

And I want, I have created things for you so that when you give generously, when you sing to me, when you give thanks to me, when you're around one another and they're singing and you don't feel it, that it uplifts you.

This is supposed to be a thing for you that you're like, I love the Lord because he's healed me and he's baked into the way that I'm made to experience something that's even far better than I could ever experience on my own.

And it makes sense why when we're disobedient, he's like, I'm not, he's not angry, he's just like, the word in the in the Hebrew is like he sighs, like, oh, you missed it.

Like you missed it.

Like I have these things for you, and you were disobedient and like you missed it.

One time I was um visiting mom and Patrick, and uh we were going to um, I think we were going ice skating or something like that, and I was so excited.

Me and my brother were in the back car, back of the car or whatever, and going to ice skating.

This isn't in my notes, so we're just flying free right here.

But uh I just thought of this.

Uh, there was this space where we were going ice skating, we were on the way there, it was so great, and then my brother like touched me or breathed on me or something.

You know how brothers fight, and I was like, he's touching me, you know, and I got really angry, and then he I did something to him, and you did something to him, and then eventually they were like, if you don't stop, we're gonna we're not going.

Ice skating and I was like, Tony, quit it.

Stop.

And he was like, You quit it.

And then we didn't stop.

And so they eventually had to be true to their word and like lean into the thing and be like, all right, we're not going ice skating.

And I was like, what?

No, we're sorry.

And it's like, no.

And they were like, we're more sad than you are.

We wanted this experience for you.

We wanted you to experience the joy of this, but you're being disobedient.

We can't do it this way.

We can't reward bad behavior.

And I think the Lord is so similar to that as a father, as a parent, he's like, I have this for you.

Be obedient to this thing.

And when we don't, he's he's not like, well, then I'm gonna crush you.

Like it's not, it's like, oh.

He sighs and goes, like, man, I had something for you there, and you just missed it.

And I think that's one of the reasons why.

He's like, worship is good for you, it's healthy for you.

And he commands it for our good, not because he needs it.

He's not sitting there up in heaven going, I wish someone liked me.

He's not doing that.

He's like, I've commanded this for your good, worship me.

It's important to know that we should do it simply to be obedient.

Like that should be enough.

But understanding the why of like, I'm actually doing this for your good really, really helps in us going like it's not just sing to me because I demanded it, sing to me because it's good for you.

And that's what he's like.

He's not just throwing down rules at us.

It's like, I actually want to be in partnership, relationship with you, or you experience my life in yours.

So worship me.

Alright, the third God commands our worship and commands us to worship because worship is powerful.

Worship is powerful.

The testimony of the scriptures is that God's power and presence are experienced when people worship.

His power and presence are experienced when people worship.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible comes from 2 Chronicles 20.

And if you don't know where 2 Chronicles 20 is, it's like the middle of the Bible, so go and read this story later.

But 2 Chronicles 20, there's a king, he's got an awesome name, Jehoshaphat.

Sounds like a Star Wars character.

But he hears that an army is coming against him, but he believes that the Lord is going to protect him.

I'll don't go to the slide yet.

It's okay.

You just gave away my whole point.

Yeah, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, it's fine.

We didn't read it.

No, it's good.

Um But he he believes that the Lord is going to protect the nation of Israel or the nation of Judah at this point.

And uh and so what he does, uh King Jehoshaphat, what he what he does is instead of sending out the army to the battle line uh first, he sends out the worship team.

And so it'd be like Chris and our worship team going out before the U.S.

army.

And that's what he does.

He sends all the worship team out first with their harps, and they're like, they're not at all scary looking.

They're just like thring, you know.

Um but that's what he sends out first.

He sends out the worship team and then the army behind them, and they're just singing, and they're singing this one refrain over and over Praise the Lord for his steadfast love and ever.

Praise the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever.

That's just what they're singing as they're marching from Judah into this space where they're gonna have uh the war and the battle.

And it says, as Colin can pull up right now, there we go.

Uh it says, as they began to sing in praise, the Lord set ambushes against all the armies who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

And King Jehoshaphat and the men of Judah came to the battle lines and looked toward the vast army, and all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground.

Worship is powerful.

And I think of one, I just I love the story in general.

I love that they sent out the worship team first, but I love the fact that like they didn't even see it happen.

Like they began worshiping in Judah, walking to the battle line, and as they began to worship here, the Lord began fighting for them over here.

And by the time they made it to the battle line, it was like, wait, where is everybody?

Like it was done.

Like he fought for them.

He just responds to our worship.

He fights for us.

Worship is a weapon for us.

And it's this space where he actually is like, all you got is I will take care of you.

This is my battle, not yours.

Just worship me, and then you will see my deliverance.

You actually see what I can do.

You'll see me fighting for you for you instead of you having to fight for yourself.

And we see this all throughout the scriptures.

David plays just the power of worship.

David plays the harp and sings to drive away the demonic spirit in King Saul.

Elisha the prophet needed to hear from the Lord, so he said this: bring me the harpist.

I need to hear from the Lord.

Bring me the harpist.

It'd be like we want to hear from the Lord.

Chris, bring me, come with the guitar.

Come on, strum a little for me.

But bring me the harpist.

And while the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha and the Lord spoke.

There's just something that's that's about it.

There's something there.

Like he created music.

There's something he sings over us.

Um, through the praise, Psalm 8, 2, I love this.

Through the praise of children and infants, you have established strongholds, spiritual strongholds against your enemies to silence the foe and avenger, to silence the enemy.

Like this is something that he's done for us through the children singing, through infants singing and singing God's praises.

One commentator said this about this passage.

He says, The praises of God, celebrated by children in the church, have in them a strength and power which nothing can withstand.

Their praise can shame the enemy and strike hell itself silent.

Let's go.

Strike hell itself silent.

This is why we craft our service around the kids being in the room.

I want this.

I believe this is true.

I believe there's a spiritual war going on.

I believe there's spiritual things that happen, and I believe the Lord is true to his promise that he establishes strongholds against the enemy that silences hell itself.

And so I want our kids in here singing.

And I know they run around and they make noise, and I don't care because they're gonna hear the words, they're gonna hear the songs.

That's why we want them singing back there as well.

I mean, I don't want them running in here like tossing tables like Jesus or anything.

I don't like, I don't want that.

But like I do want them in the room, and I want our space to be this space where like these children are singing the same songs because it's not nothing.

There's something spiritual that takes place when a child celebrates the praises of God, that it strikes hell itself silent.

This is space for us, and so we we build our whole service around like, and we've thought about changing certain things.

I was like, but I want the kids in here.

I want them singing, I want them experiencing worship.

It would be a lot easier for many of the parents and everything, and I'm really sorry about that, if we just started the kids thing and then we just had the adults in here, it'd be a lot cleaner, wouldn't be any, you know, any of that kind of I don't know, whatever it is, just distractions or anything.

But there's a biblical promise tied to their praise and their worship that we need in the church.

And so we want them singing.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul and Silas are thrown into prison and they spend the night praying and singing.

And it says, as they were singing, the prison shook like an earthquake, and the door of the prison flung open and their chains were released.

It's like they were just praying and singing, just singing hymns to God all night.

And then Psalm 22 says that God inhabits the praises of his people.

He inhabit, he lives inside the words that we sing to him.

You want to draw close to him, sing his praises.

He inhabits the praises of his people.

And so the idea is like if you want to experience more of his presence, he is delighted to bring his presence into the space, and he's with us always, but there's something different about the praises of his people.

Or if you want to experience his presence among you, and Zach came up to me and talked about that after.

He was like, man, that worship just felt rich and good, and there's just something there.

It's like he inhabits the praises of his people.

There's something there.

And so people who have never experienced God in their lives could hear these hymns.

It's actually happened to one of the Wesleys who was walking by and heard children singing some random hymn, just singing over and over and over again.

He was struck to the heart and came under conviction of his sin and he came to faith.

He met the Lord in some dark alley in England somewhere because children were like, God is good.

And like, who could do something through those voices?

And it's like, he can, because he inhabits the praises of his people, he establishes strongholds for the singing and praising of children.

There's something here, and it's powerful for us.

We have to know that and understand that, otherwise, we will miss out and we'll be like, I don't know, church just we just sing three songs up front, one in the back, and uh there's a sermon.

It's all right.

Hopefully it's better than all right.

And then that's it.

And it's like, no, you should come in with real issues and be like, I'm going to worship as a weapon against these things.

I have real things that need to take shape and move in my life.

And I'm gonna worship my way through those things.

I'm gonna bring it's uh another way of saying inhabit is that he is another translation says, God is enthroned on the praises of his people.

You want to put him on his proper place, enthrone him in your life, he's enthroned on the praises of his people.

And he begins living and moving in that space when we enthrone not just anything in our heart, but enthrone him in our heart from the praises of his people.

Worship is powerful, there's power in it.

Rayney and I actually experienced this really strongly a number of times, but specifically the one that we remember and celebrate is 13 years ago.

It's actually 13 years ago yesterday, and so we talked about we have these days that we celebrate, and this was one of them was yesterday.

Um but we lived in Chicago and we had left a church here in Memphis, Tennessee, uh, that was really going through a lot of difficulties and a lot of leadership struggles.

And we left the church here in Memphis and went to this church in Chicago and got a full-time job there as a youth pastor.

And um the Friday before I was gonna start, the Friday before the Sunday, my first day, um, I got a call from a friend of mine saying, like, hey, um the church in Memphis is sending a delegation of like elders and lay people, and they're sending them to Chicago because they want to meet with your church and your new boss, your pastor, and get you fired.

Like they do not, they're just angry, they're mean, and they're just coming.

And I don't know what to tell you other than they're going to be there either tomorrow on Saturday or they're gonna be there on Sunday, but they're coming.

And their whole purpose is to try and make sure that man doesn't hire you, and that man, if he has already hired you, that he fires you before you ever start.

That's their purpose.

And it was like shocking.

I was like, what in the world?

Like this, and he was like, This has nothing to do with you, they just want to hurt our family.

That's it.

And I was like, Great, that sounds fun.

Um, but it actually was awful.

I mean, Rainey and I we were we were engaged and we're gonna be married that year, and we were so excited to like have a full-time job, like to start off with like more money than three dollars in our pockets.

Like, we are gonna have a full-time job to support our new marriage.

And uh just thrilled about this space.

I was still in seminary at the time, and it's like unheard of for anybody to be second year in seminary and to get a full-time job.

Normally you have to wait till you graduate and have the degree to show somebody.

Um, but we were just thrilled to have this space, and then this happens, and we were gonna have these people come up and try and ruin it for us.

And um, so we were sitting there um in the parking lot at Panera for dinner, um, and we were like gonna split a bowl of soup because we got no money.

Like we were poor grad students and just excited for this job.

I'm like, one day I'm gonna have money in my bank account.

Um, but we're sitting in the parking lot, and we just had this space where we're crying and like, I can't believe this is happening.

And we started talking about um just all the ways, like, well, if this happens, the Lord has taken care of us before, he'll do it again.

And then we just started sharing stories back and forth.

It just kind of happened naturally, sharing stories back and forth about um just where the Lord had done impossible things in our lives.

And so for me, I was like, well, for me, it's dating you.

I was like, I wanted to date you for a long time, and you didn't even know I existed.

And now we're engaged, we're gonna get married.

Like, this is amazing.

The Lord has done an incredible thing here.

For me, graduating college, like I never thought I'd graduate college, and the Lord led me into this space and he did this thing for me where I could graduate college, and then we got into the same grad school, and then you he the Lord healed our relationship, and we made some really bad decisions.

Like, we just started back and forth just sharing all these different stories of God's faithfulness, and we weren't singing, we weren't worshiping him like, and he gave us a relationship, like it wasn't that.

But Psalm 105 says, Praise the Lord by telling of all the wonderful things he has done.

And that's we were just doing this cool thing, sharing stories back and forth, and it was really it was emotional then because it was like, man, this is okay.

If they if they show up, if they meet with him, and then they're coming, they're on the way.

If they show up and they they talk with Steve, and Steve decides not to hire me, then that's fine, the Lord will take care of us.

He's taking care of us before, he'll do it again.

And uh then we go inside and eat our poor man's soup, and then we head back to the the apartment.

Um and I didn't know, but while we were doing that, while we were just testifying to all the wonderful things the Lord had done back and forth, it was this space where the Lord was fighting for us back in Memphis so much so that when we when we got back to our apartment, I got a phone call from my friend, and it was like, you're not gonna believe it.

They're not coming.

Like they're not coming.

They left to leave, and they have turned around and come back.

And we were like, I was like, what are you talking about?

Like, how did they do it?

And he's like, I don't know.

But they left and they were on the way, headed eight hours to Chicago.

They were headed that way, and I don't know why, but they turned around and they came back.

They're not coming.

And uh boy, I hit my knees and called rainy, and I was like, the Lord did this thing, like, I don't know, they're not coming.

And they're like, the Lord just fights for his people, and he just did this thing in us that we really needed, and they never showed up.

I actually had scheduled a meeting with my pastor for these men to come and talk to him, and I still had to go to that meeting, and he was like, What do you want to talk about?

I'm just like, uh, not a lot, you know, just a couple things.

There's some crazy men coming to talk to you, but now they're not here because the Lord is kind.

Um, but it's just this space where we experience that, and so that day was yesterday, and we just we I preached a retreat yesterday, and so we didn't have time to actually normally we celebrate and like memorialize that day because it's a space for us where we remember that worship changes things too.

And it's a space where he wants to fight for his people.

And instead of like actually fighting and getting angry and making phone calls and all those different things, and I'm not saying we should never do that.

There's a space where we should just go like, I have no control, but you're still good in the midst of my pain, in the midst of these things I don't understand.

And so I'm just gonna worship you and then ask you to do the things that I can't do myself.

And when they began to sing and praise, he begins fighting for his people.

He delights to fight for his people through the uh through their praises.

And so last night we were just able to talk about it and remind ourselves of the story.

And there's even things in our lives now that it was encouraging for us too.

But this is why.

This is why we worship, this is why God calls us to worship.

It's why this is the second most commanded thing in the scriptures.

Worship me.

You will be shaped into my image and you long for that.

You're looking for it in other spaces, but don't worship me and you will be shaped into my image.

Worship me because it's healthy for you, it's good for you, it's healing for you, and worship me because there are things in your life that you want to shift and change and move, and let me fight for you while you just worship in the midst of it.

And so this is why he calls us to worship.

This is why we do a call to worship.

We're not we're not just sharing random thoughts.

We're actually saying, like, please come and worship.

Do this thing with us.

Like, just join us in this space, find your seat.

I don't care where you stand or what you do, but just make sure you have this time where it's not just space where you're just sitting here.

We actually want you to sing and to worship.

Even if you don't sound very good, even if you sing slowly because you don't really like to sing, even if you don't like to sing, we just want you to be in this space where you're actually able to worship.

And so we call you to do that.

This is why we sing praises to him.

He's enthroned and inhabits the praises of his people.

This is why we only sing certain songs.

You'll notice now, we do not sing just any random song.

We sing praises about his characteristics and who he is, and we sing things and we sing praises to him directly.

You are good, you are father, you are kind, you are the one who's chasing us down with goodness and mercy.

Like those, those are the those are the only songs we sing.

Because we're not here to sing just any song.

Although singing good songs, I love country music, y'all.

We were going to Cody Johnson in a couple of weeks, bought tickets the other day, super excited.

Teddy's never been to a concert, it's gonna be gold.

Love Cody Johnson.

I feel like I have worship moments while I'm listening to country music.

But here we sing to Jesus and about Jesus.

This is we're here for him.

This is why we're here.

And he's enthroned and inhabits the praises of his people.

And so we need to be reminded of his characteristics through these songs, and we need to talk to him directly in the praises where we're saying, You are this way.

And you'll notice now, this is that's all we sing.

And sometimes it's like, I've heard this song before.

Good, sing it again.

You need to be reminded again.

You need to praise him again.

One day we will join the chorus that's currently happening in the throne room, and they're currently singing.

And so our service is just a space where we're just joining in what's happening already in the spiritual realm, in the throne room of heaven.

They are singing to him, worthy is the Lamb who is slain, worthy to receive power and honor and glory, worthy.

We're just joining our church into a thing that's actually taking place.

We can't sing just anything, and we can't have a space where we don't sing.

Because we're supposed to join in, because forever, for eternity, we will find ourselves wanting to worship the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world.

And so, this is why we call you to sing.

This is why we call you to worship, this is why we call you to tithe, folks.

Again, welcome, it's in the back.

We want it to be an act of worship for you.

So, my encouragement to you is that um you would be intentional with your worship when you're here.

Be intentional with your worship.

And I'm not saying being somber with your worship or you everybody gets to express themselves in worship in in different ways.

Um, but just be intentional when you're here to worship, to actually do that.

Don't be nonchalant with something that's very powerful.

We took Teddy to shoot guns and don't put this on the podcast.

I don't know, maybe it's bad.

Shoot guns and do all this stuff, and um it's very powerful stuff that we were shooting.

Patrick brought a rifle and we were blowing up tannerite and all kinds of stuff.

We're gonna have people in our house.

I know this is gonna be terrible.

You did what with your child?

Send Larry an email.

Um But the whole time that we were there, it was like, hey, be careful.

This is very powerful.

There's something here in these guns with this stuff that if you walk in front of this, it's too powerful.

And so make sure you're careful with this thing.

Worship is powerful, it should be stewarded well.

And I think there's a space when we come in to make sure that we come in going, let's be intentional with this, because there's real power here.

It can shape you, it can heal you, and he can fight for you.

And so come in, absolutely.

I would come in with like, I'm dealing with this, and I'm gonna worship through it, asking God, like, I'm just gonna worship you while you fight for me.

I would come in with something every single week and go, this is why I need something to happen in this thing.

Don't be nonchalant about it.

Don't be like the people that God chastises and says, they're they're they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Like they they just sing the words.

They just mouth the words on the screen, but their hearts are nowhere connected to that.

Don't do that.

Don't just mouth the words, actually sing the words.

Even if you don't like singing, because I know it's not for everybody, but if you don't like singing, it's okay.

Just you don't have to sing the song.

You can just grab some of the lyrics of the song and just you know, just think about it.

If you're singing a song that's like, your goodness is running after me, or all my life you have been faithful, you don't have to sing it, that's fine.

But you can take that all my life, you've been faithful, and just begin thinking about where has he been faithful in my life?

Where has he done that?

If it's true in all my life, where has he done that when I was a kid?

Where has he done that when I was a young adult?

Where has he done that now?

Where's he doing that currently?

Just taking that time.

You don't have to sing.

Some of you maybe shouldn't sing.

No, I'm talking about that was bad.

Um but let's be intentional with our worship.

Um, make your offering.

If you if you make an offering online or whatever with your phone or on your computer or in the box in the back, whatever, we don't care.

We just want your money.

I'm kidding, we don't.

Um that's a joke.

Uh but make sure it's this space where it's like an act of worship.

Like take some time beforehand to like not just type in your code and then send the thing.

Like, be like, I am, Lord, I am worshiping you with my finances.

I am giving you this thing that I would rather go on vacation with.

I would rather buy this thing for me, but I'm told not to worship my stuff because I'll just always want more stuff.

So I'm just gonna give some of this to you.

Make it an act of worship before you drop anything in there.

It's like this is a prayer, this is a sacrifice of praise.

That's what the scriptures call it.

A sacrifice of prayer.

I'm sacrifice sacrificially giving generously as praise and worship to you.

He commands our worship because it's for our good, and so let's worship him.

We're gonna end our service a little differently uh by taking communion.

You guys can come on up.

We're gonna take communion without a song, and then we're actually gonna sing and worship him in song.

And so it'll take a little bit longer because we're not gonna pair them together.

But I do want us to finish the end of this actually singing a song.

And the song we're singing is Raise a Hallelujah, and it's this wonderful song.

Um, but one of the things it says is like, my weapon is a melody.

And so if you're like, man, I just got this thing in my world, in my life, in my family, in my whatever, I just have this thing where I just need a weapon to fight against it.

Make your melody that weapon and just sing to him.

If you have a space where you're just like, I don't have anything wrong, actually, things are aces right now.

I'm just crushing it.

Just use it as praise.

There's a part in the thing where it's like sing a little louder.

Like, sing a little louder.

Just sing a little like I you did something amazing for me this past week.

You did something amazing for Rainey and me and my family yesterday, 13 years ago.

Like, I'm gonna sing a little louder, but use it as a space to actually worship him.

We'll take communion first and then we'll do that.

Um so if you've helped set up communion, please come and join me.

And mom, will you come hold this with me?

Let me let me pray for us while they get set up.

You're good.

Father, uh, you commanded us to do this thing so much.

Second most commanded thing, you commanded it, and you commanded it for our good.

Not because you need it, not because you feel less than without it, but you commanded it for us because there's things in it for us.

And you are definitely worthy of our praise.

But Lord, I'm grateful that you don't just command us to something that is just nothing for us, just difficult and rote memory.

It's not that.

It's like I have riches for you in this space.

So, God, I pray that you would just set it in our hearts.

Just a space where we worship you and sing to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Take some time in your seats.

We celebrate the Lord's Supper because Jesus is worthy of our praise.

It's called celebrating it.

It's praising him through just remembering.

And so, this is a space where we get to remember his body broken for us, his blood shed for us.

And one day we will stand again in the throne room and say, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

We're basically just doing this.

We're just remembering one day you were slain in history so that we could live forever.

You died so that we could live.

You were actually tortured and put to death and put in this prison so that we could actually be set free.

This happened for us, and he did this for us.

And so use this as a way of actually saying thank you to him and saying and praising him by just remembering how how faithful he was to us.

But take some time in your seats and come and grab communion.