1 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:11,500 Well, good morning, Springhouse. It's a wonderful day to be in the house of the Lord. 2 00:00:11,500 --> 00:00:15,800 It's Picnic Sunday, and we do have a picnic prepared for you. 3 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:21,800 I smelt fried chicken in the hallway, and is there no better, uh, is there no better, uh, 4 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,000 lunch menu after church than fried chicken? 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Uh, yes. Amen. Amen. 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,000 [Laughter] 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,000 Welcome. If you're joining us online, you're missing out on that fried chicken, 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,000 so you better get here at noon. 9 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Just, uh, some, some real fast, uh, real quick announcements before we, uh, continue to be clicking along here. 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Uh, some instruction, because I don't want to disrupt, uh, I'm excited for what the Lord has for today. 11 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,000 I want to disrupt at the end to come back and do this. 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,000 So, for those of you who are staying for the picnic, we're going to ask immediately, 13 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,000 following the gathering, once we release you, 14 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:02,000 if you'll go out this door over here to your left, uh, go through the breezeway there into the Fellowship Hall. 15 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,000 They will have lines ready to serve you, and then the tent is outside. 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,000 There is some seating inside for those who might not be able to get outside. 17 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Uh, there will be some seating in there, but there's seating outside for you. 18 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Man, please stay and, and come and hang out with us, and, um, and let me encourage you to, 19 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,000 I know that we like to sit with our families, and that's appropriate, 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,000 but have your family link up with another family that you don't typically sit with, okay? 21 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Because the point of the picnic is for us to get to know one another in a deeper way. 22 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000 So, if you'll do that, uh, that would be really, really good. 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Uh, a couple of other things here. 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Uh, we have a, the youth are doing an event this coming Saturday. 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Um, we do not have a garage on campus, but they're having a garage sale out here, 26 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:50,000 and so that means if you've got something in your garage that you want to offload to the youth so they can sell it, they'll take it. 27 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000 Uh, and, uh, they're going to do this, this coming Saturday to raise funds for camp, 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:02,000 and so we ask if you would be a participant in that, and then if you'd like to just, uh, give a donation to help kids go to, to camp, 29 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,000 they'll, they'll accept those as well. 30 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Uh, so you can see, uh, Pastor James, Dana, Doug, and Jody, uh, today if you have any questions about that, 31 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,000 but that's coming up this coming Saturday. 32 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000 And then on Sunday, if you are new to Springhouse, or you're new, we're to Springhouse, 33 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,000 I want to invite you to be a part of our newcomers, uh, luncheon. 34 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Now today is for everybody. 35 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Next week is for those who are new or to Springhouse, because we want a more intimate connect with you 36 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,000 so that we can get to know you, tell you more about our church, and, uh, and learn more about who you are. 37 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And so if you'll make plans to do that, now the little QR code there, those are throughout the building as well. 38 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,000 You can scan that, and that will take you to the Church Center app and get you signed up for things, uh, 39 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,000 and then you can register to go to that, but even if you don't register, still come. 40 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:52,000 We will make sure we have enough food, uh, and we'll tell you more about registering that at that meeting as well. 41 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:58,000 But please, if you'd like to learn more about the church, that's an opportunity for you, uh, next, uh, next Sunday. 42 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Uh, and then next, starting next Sunday, we're going to pick back up, if you've been traveling with us this year, 43 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 we've been reading and looking at the greatest stories ever told. 44 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:14,000 And so next week we're going to pick that series, uh, back up, and if you are following along on your Bible reading plan with us, 45 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:21,000 you'll be reading about the walls of Jericho today, which we have already, uh, shared about, uh, in, in the service. 46 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:26,000 But we try to parallel the, the reading with the, with the, uh, sermons that are coming down the line. 47 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,000 But man, uh, journey with us. If you haven't picked up a Bible reading plan, it's never too late to start. 48 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Uh, so I encourage you to get into your Word and to be reading your Word. 49 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:42,000 But today we're going to talk about a very important topic, especially as it relates to Springhouse worship in Art Center, 50 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:50,000 which is our actual official name. Uh, and that is the, the, uh, the, um, title and the subject of worship. 51 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,000 I want to talk about worship, uh, uh, today for a few minutes, uh, with, with you. 52 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Um, I'm here to provide a little bit of context and a little bit of, of history, and I'm going to actually turn this over. 53 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Um, the first person who held the title of worship pastor here at Springhouse was a man by the name of Carl Howard. 54 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Now, I don't know Carl. I was not here when Carl was here. I can't tell you anything about Carl, but he was the first worship pastor. 55 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:21,000 But I can tell you about the person who followed in a step, uh, followed, uh, into the, into the next position as worship pastor. 56 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:29,000 And that was a man by the name of Wayne Berry. When I, yeah. And so when I came here in, uh, in '96, um, uh, 57 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Wayne Berry was, was worship pastor, and some may have seen Wayne and his wife, Jean, as they're still around. 58 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:41,000 In fact, they're here in this gathering. Um, Wayne has held the longest tenure as worship pastor here at Springhouse. 59 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:54,000 And by large, uh, by, by and large, most of what, what we have experienced, Wayne has foundationally laid, uh, a strong foundation in what we experience in our services week to week. 60 00:04:54,000 --> 00:05:03,000 By sowing in relationally to a team, yes, musicians and singers and dancers and all of those things, but it wasn't just from a posture of crafting a skill. 61 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:09,000 It was from a heart posture to glorify God. It was from a heart posture to glorify, to glorify God. 62 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:15,000 Wayne served for 22 years in that capacity, and he, I believe, is a pillar of this house. 63 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:22,000 If you've known Wayne for any length of time, you know that he is a pillar of this house, and he exudes the love of Jesus Christ. 64 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:32,000 Uh, in fact, one of the greatest testimonies and blessings to my life, uh, from pastor Wayne is not only that he walks out what he preaches, uh, but that he's still here. 65 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:42,000 In this church, active, participatory, and concerned about the people on the planet in relation to their God, to relation to this great, glorious God. 66 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:52,000 When it came to time for Wayne to transition out of his position of worship pastor, uh, we brought on a man by the name of Will Sevier. 67 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Who knows Will Sevier? 68 00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:06,000 Now, Pastor Ronnie selected Pastor Wayne, but I had some input when it came to Will's appointment because at the time Will was working for me over at, at the school. 69 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:18,000 And none of us really knew that years later I would become, uh, lead pastor, but I believe that Will's appointment was a Holy Spirit set up for a long ministry relationship and friendship years to come. 70 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,000 And boy, don't we just love the Sevier family. Is that true? Do we love the Sevier family? 71 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:36,000 So Pastor Will stepped into the role of worship pastor in 2017 and continued to sow into what Wayne had laid, affording Springhouse a very healthy transition. 72 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:44,000 You see, Wayne didn't hold on to his position like this. He held on to the position like this. 73 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:49,000 And when you hold on to what God gives you like this, we glorify the Lord. 74 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:56,000 Dear, I say we worship him. We worship him. And that's worship. 75 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:02,000 A few years into Will's tenure, I saw a need for pastoral oversight in our arts department. 76 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:14,000 And I went to talk to Pastor Will about this. Now, Will has a background in worship leadership, but he also has an extensive background in arts related activity, especially when it comes to theater. 77 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:29,000 Do you know of any place that has a theater? But more than his portfolio, I wanted somebody who reflected my vision in the heart of Christ and could pastor a team of people who would run this a very important area of outreach. 78 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:36,000 Now, when I went to Will about it, honestly, I was not convinced that he was excited about the new appointment. 79 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:46,000 In fact, I believe I know he wasn't extremely thrilled about it, but can I tell you that Will's out of the gate response to me was this. 80 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Kevin, you are my lead pastor. If you say go, I'll go because I trust that you hear from the Lord. 81 00:07:53,000 --> 00:08:02,000 And not only did he move to the new position, he did it with abundant joy and he's doing an excellent job. He's doing an excellent job. 82 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:13,000 You see, obedience to the authority that God has placed in your life is a direct reflection of how you worship the Lord. 83 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:20,000 I don't believe that there would be one thing Pastor Ronnie would ask Pastor Wayne to do and Wayne wouldn't say, "Yes, sir, I'm on it." 84 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:26,000 I don't believe that there would be one thing that I asked Will severe to do and he wouldn't be, "Yes, sir, I'm on it." 85 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:33,000 And it's not because Ronnie and I are all that. In fact, I get it wrong a lot. 86 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:44,000 But these guys' faith in God supersede the need to be right, the need to be recognized, and sometimes cause them to sacrifice what they wanted to do in order to walk in obedience in that moment. 87 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:49,000 And guys, that's worship. That's worship. 88 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:55,000 And then we hired this guy. 89 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,000 Now we're still trying to figure this one out. 90 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,000 I'm just kidding. 91 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:11,000 During the transition between Wayne and Will, there was some real merit to the thought process that Jonathan would be our next worship pastor. 92 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:20,000 He had been serving for years, his family was here, he had the abilities, but the issue was that it wasn't God's timing. 93 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:27,000 Sometimes just because you might not understand why or how something is happening doesn't mean it's not God. 94 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:34,000 In fact, oftentimes we look in Scripture and we see God move in very unexpected, peculiar ways. 95 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:41,000 But here was Jonathan's response, "I'm gonna stay planted. I'm gonna serve deeper. 96 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:49,000 I'm gonna trust the God in the leadership He's placed over me, and not only that, when people see or talk to me behind the scenes, behind closed doors, 97 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:56,000 I want them to see a reflection of God's heart." That's worship. That's worship. 98 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:04,000 Regardless if it seems unfair or whatever, Jonathan had no idea that he would be offered the role of worship pastor five years down the road, 99 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:12,000 nor was that a consideration in his continued heart posture to serve this body with excellence. That is worship. 100 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:22,000 As lead pastor, when looking at or looking for a worship pastor, I'm looking for three things, and this really is for any pastor, not just a worship pastor, 101 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:27,000 but if I'm looking for a pastor to serve here on staff here, I'm looking for these. The first one is faithfulness. 102 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:34,000 I'm looking for somebody who will remain faithful. I'm looking for somebody who will do what they say they will do. 103 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:40,000 I'm looking for the person who will show up when they said that they will show up. God honors faithfulness. That's the first thing. 104 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:47,000 The second thing is I'm looking for a willing heart of obedience. Obedience to the Lord, but also submission to the authority in the house, 105 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:56,000 so that we can walk in tandem with the vision that God has placed in this place. Faithfulness, obedience, and lastly, but not surely, 106 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:02,000 last on the list, but this is no sequential order, is a love for the Lord, a genuine love for the Lord. 107 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,000 I don't believe that you can really have a love for the Lord if the first two aren't in place. 108 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:13,000 And do you notice that when I talked about this is what I look for in a worship pastor, do you notice on there is not play a guitar? 109 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Have a good voice? Have skills in songwriting? None of those things are the top criteria for filling this position. Why? 110 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:30,000 Because here's the thing. These things are our acts of worship. There are acts of worship, and guys, 111 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:36,000 I believe that God has anointed and appointed a phenomenal man to lead us in the area of worship. 112 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:47,000 Would you guys please welcome Pastor Justin, not Justin. Let me tell you something. 113 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:52,000 The reason that came out of my mouth is because there was a time, I have no time to share this story, 114 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:58,000 this time I asked this man to play bongos and it went really bad. It went really bad and it was in my mind. 115 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:06,000 And he was leading worship at the time. Guys, would you welcome Pastor Jonathan Grisham. 116 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:16,000 I thought for a second the Holy Spirit answered my prayers. Like, somebody else gets to do this. All right. 117 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Pastor Kevin cut off the best part of that picture of me. 118 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 There's a group of birds that are attacking us on the beach because I took a bag of chips. 119 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:33,000 It was just like, wah, and they were like attacking my family and stuff. Anyways, 120 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:39,000 it's been about 10 months since I was last allowed to speak and I'm not counting. 121 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:44,000 So I really didn't know if this was a hey, you did well enough last time, we're going to let you do it again kind of sermon, 122 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:49,000 or if it's like, you got one more shot at this kind of sermon. I don't know. We'll see. 123 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:54,000 I guess it could still go either way. So today we're going to be looking at the topic of praise and worship. 124 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:58,000 I love Pastor Wayne. He describes this as two sides of the same coin. 125 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,000 I love that compared to scripture because you see it in these unique ways that are distinct, 126 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:10,000 but connected. And I've seen I've heard him reference it to like something like a prism that when you shine light through it on the other side, 127 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,000 that stream of light turns into all these depths of colors that are bending in different directions. 128 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,000 You just go with a topic like this that's so vast. The challenge could be what part of it do we want to look at today? 129 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:30,000 But Pastor Kevin thankfully gave me some really specific direction and asked me to, I don't know why, stay focused. 130 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,000 I don't know why we emphasize praise and worship at Springhouse. 131 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:39,000 And I think in order to do that, the first thing we need to do is build some kind of foundation and understanding of it. 132 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Then we can look at how it's been emphasized and we'll discuss some vision. 133 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:48,000 So if you would stand with me, we'll start building that foundation together. 134 00:13:48,000 --> 00:14:00,000 We read, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. 135 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:10,000 This is your true and proper worship. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 136 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:18,000 Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect will." 137 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Father God, we thank you for your Word. We thank you that we've been called into your kingdom. 138 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:33,000 Holy Spirit, we pray for a deeper understanding of what worship means and how we can offer sacrifice to you in a pleasing way that's fruitful for your kingdom. 139 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,000 In Jesus' name, Amen. 140 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,000 Church, you may be seated. 141 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,000 So what are some things that Scripture tells us about worship? 142 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:47,000 In Exodus chapter 20, God giving the Ten Commandments to the Israelites says this, 143 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:56,000 "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above, or the earth beneath, or in the waters below. 144 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:00,000 You shall not bow down to them or worship them." 145 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,000 So there's a distinction between that outward expression and the worship that happens. 146 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,000 "For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." 147 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:12,000 So those verses tell me a couple things right off the bat, which is God has created us to worship. 148 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:20,000 God knows that when left to our own devices, we will find someone or something to worship and make the object of our affection. 149 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:27,000 And God is not interested at all in sharing the worship that's due Him and Him alone with anyone or anything. 150 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:31,000 And He does not command this pridefully or out of self-interest. 151 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:39,000 This is strictly because He knows ultimately what's best for His creation and that our joy is actually made complete in praising Him. 152 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:49,000 C.S. Lewis says this, "I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment." 153 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,000 It is its appointed consummation. 154 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:57,000 It's not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are. 155 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:03,000 They delight in, the delight is complete and is not complete until it's expressed. 156 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:08,000 So in Matthew 15, 8 through 9, Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah says, 157 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:12,000 "These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 158 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:16,000 They worship Me in vain, and their teachings are merely human rules." 159 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:21,000 So in light of all those verses, in Exodus and Matthew, I can point out three kinds of worship we could be looking at. 160 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:25,000 One kind of worship, completely misdirected away from God. 161 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,000 He's not the object of our affection and He says that's not pleasing to Him. 162 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,000 It's not fruitful for His kingdom, not fruitful for us, therefore don't. 163 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,000 So that's that. 164 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:39,000 Second one is what Jesus is saying here, warning us on what is super scary, 165 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:46,000 which is there's a kind of worship by all outward appearances seems right. 166 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,000 But it's far from the heart of the Father. 167 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:52,000 So we got the right words, we got the right songs, we got the right postures, 168 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,000 we got the right direction, the right melodies, whatever it looks like, 169 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:00,000 but it's distant, it's not flowing from anywhere of substance. 170 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:05,000 So that's Jesus helping us on our way to putting together some kind of understanding of true worship, 171 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,000 and I would say something like this. 172 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:12,000 True worship is an outward expression that declares God's worth-ship, 173 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:17,000 overflowing from a heart intimately connected to the Father. 174 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:25,000 And I do believe it's significant that Jesus is calling attention to the distance between their hearts and the Father. 175 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:33,000 It is important as worshipers that we stay near to God because He ultimately is our source of grace and mercy. 176 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:39,000 Now going back to Romans 12, Paul is writing this to the Romans at this time within that culture, 177 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:43,000 but this call to worship is certainly extending out to all generations. 178 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:51,000 It's meeting us right here today, it's for us, and it's kind of encouraging us that every generation of believers 179 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,000 is called to pursue and represent the kingdom of God through true worship. 180 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:02,000 And we are challenged to do so in a culture that aims to conform us to itself. 181 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,000 And the Message Bible puts it like this, 182 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:10,000 "Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking." 183 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,000 So the first thing is, I think, sometimes we read wrong, 184 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:19,000 is I don't think Paul is saying everything in the culture is bad. 185 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,000 Like, I don't think he's saying just assume everything is bad. 186 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:25,000 He's saying you gotta use your brain when it comes to this stuff. 187 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:29,000 We're working through a book as a staff that says sometimes the most challenging thing, 188 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,000 even when we know we're doing something good and biblical and from the Lord, 189 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:38,000 is to slow down long enough to think about what you're doing. 190 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:42,000 And it's in the thinking about what you're doing that adds so much value. 191 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,000 Brittney and I, we were going through the season of Lent, and we were talking about fasting, 192 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,000 and we were talking about Sabbath, and we were looking to the Bible to go, 193 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,000 "What does it say all this is good for us?" 194 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,000 And when you look at the culture around us, the culture understands that there's health benefits to fasting. 195 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,000 And I don't know if that's like a fad now, but it's like intermittent fasting is everywhere. 196 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,000 I've never done it, of course, but you can tell I need to. 197 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,000 But also the culture knows that rest is good. 198 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:14,000 But the Bible says that instruments like that in the hands of true worshipers, 199 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:19,000 God can use in supernatural, incredible ways. 200 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,000 A.W. Tozer says the following, "Worship is no longer worship 201 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:30,000 when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us." 202 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,000 So how do we reflect Christ within us? 203 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Paul says offering our bodies to God as a living sacrifice is our true and proper worship. 204 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,000 Then he spends the whole rest of Romans 12 and the next few chapters detailing 205 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,000 what this lifestyle looks like, saying things like, 206 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:51,000 "We worship by glorifying God through humility, through the gifts He's given us, 207 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:56,000 like prophecy, teaching, serving, giving, showing mercy through loving others, 208 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,000 clinging to what is good." And I skipped over this part a couple times. 209 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Being patient in affliction, I had to go back and read that 210 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,000 'cause we don't like that one. 211 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:08,000 Practicing hospitality, living in harmony, being obedient to leadership, 212 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,000 all of these wonderful things. 213 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,000 And of course, these are all ways that Jesus modeled a life of worship for us first 214 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,000 in His life before asking us to do it, all the way to His death. 215 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,000 And I was convinced early on when preparing a message on worship, 216 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,000 I had to just camp there for a while. 217 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000 'Cause it's such an important thing to go through that lesson, go, 218 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,000 "Are all these things actually active in my life?" 219 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,000 But I couldn't shake the feeling that the Holy Spirit just kept saying, 220 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,000 "Work the foundation, focus on the foundation." 221 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:44,000 And kept illuminating the phrase to me, "In view of God's mercy." 222 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,000 Romans 12, it says, just as a reminder, 223 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy." 224 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,000 And once that phrase became stuck out to me, 225 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,000 I started to see it all over Scripture in all these other ways. 226 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,000 Going back to Exodus 20 in the 10 Commandments, 227 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:05,000 the very first thing that God says before giving His people this lifestyle of worship, 228 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:11,000 is, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." 229 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:17,000 So it's actually God calling attention to His mercy and telling His people, 230 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000 "Think on my mercy." 231 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:24,000 And this is important, and I put this in here just for Pastor Justin today. 232 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,000 In the Old Testament, this is important because in the Old Testament, 233 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000 all the way up to a few decades before Paul would be speaking to the Romans, 234 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:36,000 sacrificial worship to pagan gods was the exact opposite. 235 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:40,000 The sacrifice was given so that they would receive mercy. 236 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,000 But that's not how our God, the one true God, functions. 237 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:50,000 He says, "The mercy is given freely, without restraint, with no strings attached. 238 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000 It's not something we earn or deserve, 239 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:59,000 and it's in view of that mercy that we're called as worshipers to give and show mercy." 240 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:05,000 If our worship isn't flowing from God's mercy, it won't look like His. 241 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,000 Eventually it'll run out if we don't stay close to the source. 242 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:14,000 Paul calls us vessels of God's mercy in Romans 9. 243 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Meant to be filled and created to be poured out. 244 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 So we'll get exhausted if we don't run back to that source 245 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,000 and keep a fresh view on God's mercy. 246 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:29,000 The next word that stuck out to me was "therefore" in Romans 12.1, the opening word. 247 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:34,000 So Paul is saying, "Everything I'm about to tell you about this lifestyle of worship 248 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:39,000 is completely built upon the foundation of everything I just told you." 249 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:43,000 In Romans 1-11. So everybody open to Romans 1. 250 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,000 And we're going to read straight through today. 251 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,000 And that'll take care of a lot of time. No. 252 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:53,000 We're going to go through the greatest hits here, I'll call it. 253 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,000 Romans 1.20. 254 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,000 "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, 255 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:03,000 His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, 256 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:08,000 being understood from what has been made so that people are without excuse." 257 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Romans 3.23-24. 258 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,000 "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 259 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:21,000 All are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." 260 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:26,000 Praise the Lord. And if we cling to that, we have assurance. Romans 8.38-39. 261 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,000 "I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, 262 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:34,000 neither the present nor the future, any powers, neither height nor depth, 263 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:39,000 anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God 264 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 265 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:47,000 Which makes me really think, because we've got to pay attention to this view of mercy, 266 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:52,000 that the timing of a worship message the week after Easter is really appropriate. 267 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000 Because I think that view of God's mercy is on full display. 268 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,000 It's fresh in our hearts, fresh in our mind. 269 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,000 It's kind of like our lead pastor hears from the Holy Spirit. 270 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:05,000 And I told First Server this. 271 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:10,000 I want to make extremely clear to our lead pastor, without looking him directly in the eye, 272 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,000 that I'm not asking to teach on worship the week after Easter every single year. 273 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:15,000 Please don't. 274 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,000 Pastor Justin could have it next time. 275 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,000 So as much as Jesus is telling us in Matthew 15, 276 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:26,000 our worship flows from a heart connected to the Father, 277 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Paul is telling us to use our brains. 278 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,000 Tells us to think on the mercy of God. 279 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:37,000 Tells us that there's a renewing of the mind that's taking place within our worship. 280 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:42,000 The phrase "true and proper worship" in Romans 12 can be translated as "reasonable service." 281 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,000 I believe in the King James. 282 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,000 And that word "reasonable" is translated from the Greek word "logikos," 283 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000 which has three connected meanings working together. 284 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:56,000 It's the Word of God, reason of the mind, and pertaining to the soul. 285 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:01,000 And we see that word again in 1 Peter 2, which is an incredible chapter on worship. 286 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:08,000 "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind, 287 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:13,000 like newborn babies crave pure spiritual milk of the Word, of the logikos, 288 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:19,000 so that by it you may grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." 289 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:20,000 And this is a Pastor Wayne trick. 290 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,000 You can take that verse, flip it on its head, and read it again, and it'll mean the same thing. 291 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:31,000 But now that you have tasted the Lord is good, it kind of seems like, "In view of my mercy, do this." 292 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:37,000 So my best attempt at explaining how that word in Paul is using that in Romans 12 is something like this. 293 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:42,000 Right thinking of God through study and application of the Word of God 294 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,000 renews our mind and informs our soul how to respond in worship. 295 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,000 Making sure our understanding of worship has a biblical foundation is important, 296 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:57,000 and I'll throw it back to my friend A.W. We're on a first name basis. 297 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:02,000 I actually don't know his first name. It's A. I'm just realizing that. 298 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,000 The church that can't worship must be entertained, 299 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:10,000 and men who can't lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment. 300 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,000 I don't have to be clever. This guy. Golly. 301 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,000 And that's important to me because I don't think I'm very entertaining. 302 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:23,000 And if I'm going to be here for 22 years or five years or however long the Lord has me, 303 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:30,000 it's important to me that we have a foundation because entertainment is not going to carry any of us 304 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,000 in this race that we're called to run as worshipers. 305 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,000 So we now have somewhat of a foundation, I think. 306 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:43,000 Exalting God, a heart that pursues intimate connection with the Father, 307 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:47,000 a mind that's diligent to seek out His Word to know more about Him 308 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,000 so that our souls will be informed how to worship Him. 309 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,000 So now we can get onto the task that Pastor Kevin asked me, 310 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,000 which is why we emphasize praise and worship at Springhouse. 311 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,000 And I struggled with that question for a minute because I was like, 312 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:02,000 "How do I talk about this?" 313 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,000 Because what we don't do ever as a staff is sit down and go, 314 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:11,000 "Okay, this week, how can we emphasize worship like mercy?" 315 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:16,000 Or, "How can we emphasize worship like giving or worship like obedience?" or whatever. 316 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,000 What we do all the time, it's in our prayers, it's in our DNA, 317 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,000 it goes way past the generation past Pastor Kevin, 318 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:31,000 is we go, "How can we make sure that everything we do points to Christ?" 319 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,000 And at the end of the day, when people come here, 320 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:39,000 "How can we make sure that everything we do, they leave with Christ in their mind?" 321 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,000 And that's putting God first. 322 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:45,000 And I think from that place, that heart posture, that pursuit of His Word, 323 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:49,000 worship will naturally flow and be emphasized. 324 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,000 So the different question might be, 325 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:56,000 "How have we expressed worship at Springhouse or emphasized it?" 326 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,000 And that's really a question of history. 327 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:04,000 We've just celebrated 50 years of God's faithfulness as a church a couple of years ago. 328 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:05,000 That's incredible. 329 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,000 I've only been here like 13 or 14 of them. 330 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:15,000 So I'm not the best person, I'm not qualified to be talking about 50 years of God's faithfulness, you know. 331 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:20,000 But as Pastor Kevin was saying, we kind of have a built-in time today 332 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,000 where we can really take advantage of, there are people sitting among you 333 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:27,000 who have roots here that have been serving for 10, 20, 30 years. 334 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:32,000 And it's so easy to go somebody, "Can you just tell me about God's mercy in your life 335 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:33,000 and how that's worked out?" 336 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:38,000 So what I can do is share some stories about my time here 337 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,000 that have been informative to my understanding of worship in powerful ways. 338 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,000 And I think within them, there will be a bit of an implied history. 339 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,000 And this is what I mean by that. 340 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:53,000 Pastor Wayne was the first person to point out to me that in Genesis 22, 341 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,000 that's the first time the word "worship" is used. 342 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:00,000 So that's the story where Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. 343 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,000 And Abraham and Isaac get the materials for the burnt offering, 344 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,000 which is, that's fascinating. 345 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,000 The burnt offering, everything goes to God. 346 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:09,000 There's nothing left over. 347 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,000 A little connect point. 348 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,000 And then, but they get the materials and he turns to his servants, 349 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,000 Abraham turns to his servants and said, 350 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,000 "Me and the boy are going to go up on that mountain to worship." 351 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,000 And as they're going up the mountain, Isaac starts sweating a little bit, 352 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:28,000 noticing there's not actually a sacrifice and goes, "Dad, where's the sacrifice?" 353 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,000 And Abraham says, "God will provide." 354 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,000 Now, I believe two things are true in this story. 355 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:38,000 I think Abraham fully committed in his heart to walk in obedience to what God has asked. 356 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,000 And that was counted as his worship. 357 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:45,000 I also believe he was absolutely full of faith that God would provide something. 358 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:47,000 Now, the implied history is this. 359 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:52,000 If we knew nothing else about Abraham's life, we would have to go, 360 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 "Something's going on between him and God," 361 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,000 to make him respond that way in worship. 362 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,000 I was telling my wife, talking to my wife Brittney about it last week, 363 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,000 I was like, "This isn't day one Christian stuff. 364 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,000 This is crazy." 365 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,000 And it's just crazy to wrap your brain around. 366 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,000 But thankfully, we do know more of the story. 367 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,000 If you've been following along in the Bible reading plan, 368 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000 we know that God has helped Abraham bail out Lot. 369 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,000 He's helped Abraham bail out Sarah, 370 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,000 because he can't stop telling people they're related, brother and sister. 371 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:26,000 He's blessed Ishmael, even though that's Abraham and Sarah's bright idea 372 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:31,000 to make the promise happen, and of course, given them their promised son. 373 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,000 And I believe it's all those things active that actually, 374 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:38,000 it's that view of God's mercy that's informing Abraham's soul 375 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:44,000 how to respond in worship during that very difficult time. 376 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:48,000 So the stories I'm gonna share, I wanna point out that they intentionally 377 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:54,000 cast a very wide net across different situations and a lifetime, 378 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,000 because that's what we're talking about with worship. 379 00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,000 So much of what we do here is important, 380 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:03,000 but in the reality, it's five hours of our, however many, 381 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000 somebody who's good at math, how many hours in a week? 382 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000 I don't know. 383 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,000 Nobody's good at, oh, no, I'm just kidding. 384 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,000 I'm just kidding. 385 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,000 Thank you, 168, wow. 386 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:21,000 So for many years when I first started going here, 387 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,000 we had a missions pastor named Pastor Bruce Kobel. 388 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:28,000 Now, he and I during his time did not really connect all that much. 389 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,000 I knew him as this, he loved the Lord, 390 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,000 he would preach straight from the Bible, and he was super witty. 391 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,000 He always had like a pun for everything. 392 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,000 But I was much more drawn to Pastor Wayne, who also loved the Lord, 393 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:44,000 but would wear coats with bananas all over him or whatever. 394 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,000 You know, there are times where Pastor Wayne would be teaching 395 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,000 and like he's in the loft teaching. 396 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:52,000 It's not uncommon for the tech team to say, 397 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,000 what do we need to prepare for today? 398 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,000 And we just don't know, we'll just hang on. 399 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,000 And Pastor Bruce was like the total opposite of this. 400 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,000 And I just, you know, didn't connect with him in that way. 401 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,000 But there were so many people that were younger than me at the time 402 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,000 through all age groups that would just speak so highly of Pastor Bruce Kobel. 403 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,000 They would say, he's our favorite pastor. 404 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:17,000 And I didn't understand, I began to ask people, what is it with this guy? 405 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,000 And the first thing I noticed actually without asking is, 406 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:26,000 he was always serving on the mission field, locally, globally, so faithful in that. 407 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:30,000 But when I started asking people, there was this common thread that would be, 408 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,000 you know, he was always present, he was always consistent in the highs, 409 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:39,000 in the high point, if I, you know, if our child was born or if there was a wedding, 410 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,000 but also he would be the first to call when we lost somebody. 411 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,000 And it wasn't just a call that was just, I'm so sorry for your loss. 412 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:52,000 It was, I want to walk with you every step of the way and shoulder this for you. 413 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,000 Even last year, I was meeting with a friend to kind of talk to him about things going on in his life. 414 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:01,000 And he looked at me and goes, are you going to be like my Pastor Bruce? 415 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:02,000 I said, what do you mean by that? 416 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:06,000 And he said, well, Pastor Bruce met with my dad 10, 20 years ago to talk about stuff. 417 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,000 And I was like, I can't, that's crazy. I can't fill those shoes. 418 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,000 But what I learned from watching his life was, 419 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:19,000 what people were drawn to was just that reflection of Christ that he gave off. 420 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:24,000 And as I was thinking about it, I went, you know, to love and serve people in that way, 421 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,000 it comes at a really great cost. 422 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:32,000 It comes at a cost to yourself, certainly to your family at times. 423 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,000 And I got a chance to share this with Pastor Bruce. 424 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:40,000 He came to speak to the staff about a month ago and I shared everything, 425 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:44,000 just thanked them for how he had served and loved others and taught me worship. 426 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:49,000 And I guess the allergies were really bad that day because our eyes got real sweaty. 427 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:56,000 And he just told me, all he could say was how good God had been to him. 428 00:33:56,000 --> 00:34:00,000 And how much he wanted others to experience that mercy. 429 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:06,000 He didn't have to tell me all the little ways in which God was merciful to him 430 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:11,000 that would get his soul to respond in that way, but there was a history there. 431 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,000 The world teaches us to be self-seeking, 432 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:18,000 but the Word teaches us as worshipers to be self-sacrificing. 433 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:24,000 Romans 12, 10, "Be devoted to one another in love, honor one another above yourselves." 434 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,000 Next is Pastor Barbie. She's showed me so much on worship. 435 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:33,000 Paul tells us that we worship God through gifts such as prophecy, teaching, serving. 436 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:38,000 She has a ton of them, but my favorite one that I'm gonna share a story on today is prophecy. 437 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,000 'Cause I've been on the receiving end of that 438 00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:45,000 and family members I know have been on the receiving end of that in insane ways. 439 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,000 And let me just tell you, it is scary working alongside a prophet. 440 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,000 When they ask you how your day is and you're like, "Fine," 441 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:56,000 and you wonder what they actually know, it's crazy. 442 00:34:56,000 --> 00:35:02,000 So when I was a youth leader, maybe 10 or 11 years ago, 443 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,000 I had been following the Lord for a couple of years at that point, 444 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:08,000 and I began to wonder if my baptism counted 445 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,000 because I got baptized when I was like nine or 10. 446 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,000 And I began to think maybe I did it for the wrong reasons. 447 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,000 Maybe I didn't fully understand what I was doing 448 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,000 and people around me were getting baptized. 449 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,000 So I began to think about that, 450 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:25,000 but anybody who knows me knows I'm not an out loud processor. 451 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,000 I process things in. I like to figure things out for myself. 452 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,000 So I hadn't really told anybody this, 453 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,000 and I decided I'm not gonna do it. 454 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,000 My baptism counted. I'm not gonna make a big scene about it. 455 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,000 I'm not gonna get in there and certainly tell anybody what I'm thinking 456 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,000 and all that stuff 'cause I don't like talking in front of people, 457 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,000 and now look what God has done. 458 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:49,000 But there was one Sunday we get back from a youth retreat, 459 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:55,000 and Pastor Kevin and Pastor Justin are baptizing people in there, 460 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,000 and I'm out in the congregation next to my wife, Brittney, 461 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:01,000 and Barbie is up here, Pastor Barbie, and she says, 462 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,000 "I feel like the Lord is telling me there is a young man in here 463 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,000 who's thinking about getting baptized again, 464 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,000 and I want you to know if that's you, it's not an interruption. 465 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,000 We'll reopen the curtain. Just run. Just go." 466 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,000 And Brittney was like, "Dude." 467 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,000 And I was like, "Dude!" 468 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:21,000 And I had to, it's like how many times can God just like, 469 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,000 "I'm telling you to do it." 470 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:27,000 It's crazy, but I've been blessed to feel that feeling a couple of times 471 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:30,000 where God's saying, "Go tell this person this thing," 472 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,000 or "Go do this thing for this person." 473 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,000 It's hard not to wrestle with that voice sometimes. 474 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,000 You go, "God, is this really you? 475 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,000 'Cause if I put myself out there and it's not you, 476 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000 it makes you look bad, or even worse, 477 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,000 it might make me look bad," or whatever that is. 478 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,000 All kinds of anxiety and stuff can affect you, 479 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,000 but beyond that, even the world says, 480 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,000 "We don't want the voice of God in it. 481 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:53,000 We don't want to hear the encouragement of God. 482 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,000 We don't want the word of God." 483 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:59,000 But as worshipers, we are called to treasure God 484 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,000 and His voice above everything else, 485 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,000 walking in obedience to what He asks of us. 486 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,000 And I love that lesson she taught me on worship. 487 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:13,000 Pastor Wayne, worship pastor here for, I think, 22 years. 488 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,000 I had the privilege of serving under him for six or seven years, 489 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,000 still learning from him to this day. 490 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,000 Incredibly valuable lessons he showed me on worship. 491 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,000 Worship as obedience, as Pastor Kevin mentioned earlier, 492 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,000 obedience to leadership, and also identity as worshipers, 493 00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:34,000 not being tied in things like job title or vocation 494 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:35,000 or anything like that. 495 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:40,000 And I can remember, I guess an example of that would be, 496 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,000 I'm a worshiper that plays guitar, 497 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:45,000 but I'm not a worshiper because I play guitar. 498 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,000 If I can't do this one day, which is likely, 499 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:52,000 or if I can't sing, I hope and pray 500 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,000 that I'm just as much of a worshiper. 501 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,000 Valuable, valuable lessons. 502 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,000 And these are great lessons because the world wants 503 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,000 to convince you that your identity is tied up 504 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,000 in anything else. 505 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,000 Your identity is tied up in your job or your salary 506 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,000 or your accomplishments, what you can get done, 507 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,000 what your feelings are. 508 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:14,000 But that's not what the Word tells us. 509 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,000 We actually kind of see this leaking into the church 510 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:18,000 in some ways, I feel. 511 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,000 I've seen people walk in discouragement 512 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,000 from feeling like their worship is somehow limited 513 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:25,000 by not having a title or recognition. 514 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:27,000 But Paul's telling us, no, no, your identity and calling, 515 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:32,000 it's firm, it's in Christ, and you can worship Him freely, 516 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,000 fully at all times in your life. 517 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,000 So after all those lessons, years of lessons, 518 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,000 one day the Holy Spirit would tell Pastor Ronnie, 519 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,000 it's time for me, Pastor Bruce, and Pastor Wayne 520 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:48,000 to transition everything over to the next generation 521 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,000 and start thinking about retirement. 522 00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:54,000 And I literally got to watch Pastor Wayne practice 523 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,000 what he had been preaching for all those years. 524 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,000 And he did it faithfully and he did it humbly. 525 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:02,000 And I believe there was a blessing attached to that 526 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,000 because here we are still, 527 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:07,000 it was just a beautiful lesson to learn. 528 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:11,000 The last story I'll share is about Pastor Ronnie. 529 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,000 When I spoke in the 12 last year, 530 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,000 I was asked to teach on the story of Lazarus. 531 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,000 And I remember that was actually the first story 532 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,000 I got to teach on when I was a youth leader, 533 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:23,000 like 12 years ago. 534 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,000 And my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, Brittney, 535 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,000 recorded it. 536 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,000 So I remembered that was out there and I found it, 537 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:30,000 dug it up on a hard drive, 538 00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,000 'cause I just wanted to see 539 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:34,000 if there was anything worth listening to. 540 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:36,000 It was terrible. 541 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,000 Like, couldn't use anything from it. 542 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,000 But the absolute best part of the whole thing 543 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,000 was in the first five minutes 544 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:46,000 where I was paraphrasing something 545 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,000 that I had learned from Pastor Ronnie 546 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:49,000 or a sermon that he gave. 547 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,000 So this would have been 12 or 13 years ago. 548 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,000 And I ran it by him in first service this morning 549 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,000 and I think we're good. 550 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,000 He agreed with all of it. 551 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,000 So he was teaching on Romans 8, 28. 552 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:02,000 "We know that in all things, 553 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,000 "God works for the good of those who love him, 554 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,000 "who have been called according to his purpose." 555 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,000 And I add that good and bad there 556 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,000 because what he was doing was calling attention 557 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,000 to sometimes we read that too quick. 558 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,000 We don't think good and bad. 559 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,000 We think all good things are working together for good, 560 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:20,000 but we gotta slow down long enough to go, 561 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,000 oh, it's really the all means all. 562 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,000 But he took it one step further and said, 563 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:28,000 "You know, if all good and bad things 564 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,000 "are flowing from a sovereign God 565 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,000 "who has your good in mind 566 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,000 "and his glory in mind and all that, 567 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,000 "maybe we'd be careful in saying bad things 568 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,000 "and we'd be better off saying there's good and hard things." 569 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:42,000 But what stuck out to me, 570 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:45,000 so I gotta take you on a timeline jump here. 571 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,000 So I'm listening to this. 572 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:48,000 Me quote Pastor Ronnie, 573 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,000 something he said like 10 years before. 574 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:52,000 And the first thing I think is 575 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,000 there's a whole lot of life that happened 576 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,000 between those two points. 577 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,000 When he said that then, 578 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,000 he had no idea what he would be walking through 579 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,000 maybe four or five years later 580 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:06,000 with the passing of his first wife, Margaret, 581 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:09,000 who he mentioned from the stage the other day. 582 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:16,000 I knew I was gonna have to talk about this story 583 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,000 because it was informative. 584 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,000 I mean, being young to the Lord, 585 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,000 their worship was so beautiful. 586 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:30,000 It's the reason why goodness of God 587 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:34,000 hits us a little deeper still to this day. 588 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,000 'Cause if you were here during that time, 589 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:40,000 you knew that goodness of God was really Margaret's anthem. 590 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:44,000 She was holding on tight to that view of God's mercy. 591 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:48,000 I still remember her over there with her arms lifted. 592 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:50,000 And the deal is, 593 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:51,000 what we know about Pastor Ronnie 594 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,000 is he just kept on keeping on. 595 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:56,000 He kept being faithful, serving the church, 596 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,000 leading the church for a couple of years. 597 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:00,000 But when I knew I was gonna tell this story, 598 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,000 I went back to find the first message 599 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,000 that he ever taught after Pastor Margaret passed. 600 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,000 And it was about a month later and he was back, 601 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:14,000 ironically teaching on a time to weep and a time to laugh. 602 00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,000 And he said, you know, 603 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,000 the first 10 minutes was just updating the church 604 00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,000 on everything that had been going on. 605 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:24,000 But he said, "People wanna know, am I mad at God?" 606 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:26,000 And I think that's from inside the church 607 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:27,000 and outside the church. 608 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,000 That's a question we all hear. 609 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,000 If God is so faithful and God is so good 610 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,000 and God is so merciful, 611 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:36,000 how could he allow something like this to happen? 612 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,000 And he says, "People wanna know, am I mad at God?" 613 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,000 And he said, "No, I'm not mad at God 614 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,000 because God's been good to me. 615 00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:44,000 I know what the Word says about God. 616 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:45,000 He's faithful as merciful." 617 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:47,000 So that's that view of God's mercy. 618 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,000 And Pastor Ronnie came up to me after service to say, 619 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,000 the other thing was, 620 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,000 why would he cut himself off 621 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,000 from the only source of hope and comfort that he had? 622 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,000 That view of God's mercy was there, 623 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,000 or that right thinking of God was there. 624 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:07,000 But I began to say, think, where is the mercy? 625 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:09,000 You have to show me the mercy in this. 626 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,000 And he did not disappoint. 627 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,000 And he said, "You know, for so long, 628 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,000 my prayer has had Pastor Margaret at the very top of it. 629 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,000 I prayed for her health. 630 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:20,000 I prayed for her favor. 631 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:23,000 And that prayer just doesn't seem right 632 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:24,000 now that she's gone 633 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:26,000 because I think she has all the healing 634 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:29,000 and all the favor that she could ever possibly have 635 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:32,000 in the eyes of the Savior, in the presence of God." 636 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:35,000 And then he said, "So I've had to shift my prayer 637 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:36,000 to one of thankfulness. 638 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,000 And I just say, God, thank you for 43 years." 639 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:45,000 Talk about mercy. 640 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:50,000 That knowing that every breath, every second, 641 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:54,000 every moment is a gift from God. 642 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,000 It's that view of mercy 643 00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,000 that is the foundation of our worship. 644 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:03,000 Pastor Wayne had a teaching 645 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,000 on where he would say a phrase, 646 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:08,000 "Revelation leads to transformation leads to impartation." 647 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,000 And the point in sharing that was, 648 00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:12,000 a lot of times when we get the Word of God, 649 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:13,000 the revelation of God, 650 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,000 we get so excited that we wanna share it 651 00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,000 with everybody around us. 652 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,000 And that's totally understandable, 653 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:22,000 but sometimes we just need to stop and let it sit 654 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,000 and let it transform us and renew us. 655 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,000 When Brittney and I first got married, 656 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,000 we went to Disney World for our honeymoon, 657 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,000 and we went to a place called Typhoon Lagoon, 658 00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:35,000 which we knew nothing about, we had never been before. 659 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:37,000 It was really hot outside. 660 00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,000 And we went to the water park. 661 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:43,000 The first thing we wanted to do was get in the wave pool 662 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:44,000 because of how hot it was. 663 00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:46,000 Now there's a foot of height difference 664 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:47,000 between my wife and I. 665 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,000 So I can, I didn't laugh. 666 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:51,000 I didn't laugh at that. 667 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:52,000 (congregation laughing) 668 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,000 There's a foot of height difference between 669 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,000 (congregation laughing) 670 00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:00,000 there's a foot of height difference between my wife and I. 671 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,000 I'm telling this with a straight face, 672 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:05,000 which means that I can comfortably go out 673 00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:07,000 a little bit deeper than she can. 674 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:09,000 So I said, "Look, I grew up in Nashville. 675 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,000 "I used to go to wave country all the time. 676 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:14,000 "I know what wave pools are like. 677 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,000 "The waves are kinda gentle, and then they grow." 678 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,000 And I said, "It's no big deal. 679 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,000 "Get on my back, we'll swim out there. 680 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:22,000 "And when the waves come, 681 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,000 "I'll turn around and swim us to shallow water." 682 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:26,000 So she agrees. 683 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:29,000 And when we step in, there's a lifeguard posted up 684 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,000 in like one or two feet of water, 685 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:32,000 which was interesting, 686 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:35,000 but it didn't really mean anything to me. 687 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:38,000 So we go out there, six feet of water, whatever, 688 00:45:38,000 --> 00:45:41,000 and we're in love, and we're laughing. 689 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:45,000 And all of a sudden I just hear, "Boom!" 690 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,000 I was like, "What is that?" 691 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:49,000 And I look at the back wall, 692 00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:52,000 and there is an immediate six foot wave 693 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:58,000 that appears, typhoon if you will, from this back wall. 694 00:45:58,000 --> 00:45:59,000 And when this happens, 695 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,000 it sweeps across the entire wave pool 696 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:03,000 in two to three seconds. 697 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,000 So if we're in six foot of water in a second, 698 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,000 we're gonna be submerged in 12 feet of water. 699 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:11,000 So I turn, and I start slow motion running in water, 700 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:13,000 just like all your nightmares are. 701 00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,000 It's absolutely true. 702 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,000 And I'll tell you what, that wave hit us, 703 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,000 and all of that, "I'll never let go" stuff. 704 00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:24,000 (congregation laughing) 705 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,000 I absolutely let go. 706 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:28,000 I had no choice. 707 00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,000 She was just swept away, and so was I. 708 00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:35,000 And then I found out what that lifeguard was for 709 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,000 in a foot of water. 710 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,000 He was there posted to help six feet tall, 711 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:43,000 300 pound men get their footing 712 00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:45,000 so they wouldn't embarrass themselves. 713 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:46,000 (congregation laughing) 714 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,000 Now, you wanna talk about a view of God's mercy. 715 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,000 Brittney still calls me her husband. 716 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:53,000 (congregation laughing) 717 00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,000 She's very gracious, we laugh about it today. 718 00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:57,000 But my point is this, 719 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:00,000 revelation leads to transformation, leads to impartation. 720 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:03,000 We have to be careful when we take people 721 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:07,000 into the deep end of the revelation that God is showing us. 722 00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,000 If we have not allowed ourselves time 723 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:12,000 to be transformed by it, when the waves come, 724 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:15,000 we risk them getting swept away with us. 725 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:19,000 And I love in all these stories, 726 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,000 these worshipers were actually allowing themselves 727 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:25,000 to be transformed and renewed by the word 728 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:28,000 before they ever imparted that to any of us. 729 00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,000 And when they were tested in it, 730 00:47:29,000 --> 00:47:33,000 their souls were well informed on how to worship. 731 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:38,000 And I wanna add, I don't say any of this 732 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:41,000 because they're pastors. 733 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:42,000 I don't think there's a special grace 734 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,000 that we don't have for that. 735 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,000 We all have the same Holy Spirit. 736 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:48,000 I share this because as pastors, 737 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:51,000 their life of worship was often on display 738 00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,000 for everybody to see. 739 00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:55,000 So I'll close with this 740 00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,000 if the worship team would come up. 741 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,000 And we're actually not gonna have a time of prayer today 742 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,000 and I'll give some instruction on that in a minute. 743 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:07,000 Early on in the preparation for this sermon, 744 00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:09,000 when I knew that the Lord was gonna have me share 745 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,000 about some of these moments of history at Springhouse, 746 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:13,000 I asked the question, 747 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:17,000 what is the benefit of sharing history like this? 748 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:20,000 And I believe the Lord answered that in two specific ways 749 00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:21,000 through Scripture, 750 00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:25,000 including our Bible reading plan for this week. 751 00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:29,000 Number one, there is a generational blessing 752 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:32,000 that goes forth from our worship. 753 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:36,000 Because of Abraham's obedience in worship in Genesis 22, 754 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,000 God gives the following blessing. 755 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:41,000 "I will surely bless you and make your descendants 756 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:44,000 as numerous as the stars in the sky 757 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,000 and as the sand on the seashore." 758 00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,000 And this is the part that caught my attention. 759 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:50,000 "Your descendants will take possession 760 00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:52,000 of the cities of their enemies." 761 00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:57,000 We are literally witnessing in the book of Joshua 762 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,000 the ongoing result of that worship. 763 00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:02,000 They are walking in that blessing. 764 00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:04,000 I believe here at Springhouse, 765 00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:07,000 we are witnessing and living in a blessing 766 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:10,000 because of the worship of previous generations. 767 00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:15,000 Your worship will affect your children's children's children. 768 00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:25,000 He also showed me 769 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:29,000 there is a generational responsibility in our worship. 770 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,000 When Joshua and the Israelites 771 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,000 are moving to take the promised land, 772 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,000 they come to the Jordan and the presence of God 773 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:38,000 dries it up, and God tells them, 774 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:42,000 "Take 12 stones as markers and set them up 775 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,000 as God's mercy." 776 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:48,000 Markers of God's mercy, rather. 777 00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,000 We would refer to these as something like Ebenezer, 778 00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:52,000 which means stone of help. 779 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,000 And this is what God says to the Israelites in that, 780 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:56,000 doing that. 781 00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:57,000 He said to the Israelites, 782 00:49:57,000 --> 00:50:00,000 "In the future, when your descendants ask their parents 783 00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,000 what do these stones mean, 784 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,000 tell them Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground, 785 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:08,000 for the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you 786 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:10,000 until you had crossed over. 787 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:13,000 The Lord your God did to the Jordan 788 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:15,000 what he had done to the Red Sea 789 00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:18,000 when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 790 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,000 He did this so all the peoples of the earth 791 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:23,000 might know the hand of the Lord is powerful 792 00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:28,000 and so that you might always fear the Lord your God." 793 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:31,000 The stones stand as history markers of God's mercy. 794 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,000 They're not only an encouragement 795 00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,000 to the ones that actually lived through it, 796 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:39,000 their primary purpose is for those who are paying attention. 797 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:42,000 Now, what I love about that 798 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,000 is there's actually three generations present 799 00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:46,000 in those stones. 800 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:48,000 It brings up the Red Sea. 801 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:51,000 That has nothing to do with this story. 802 00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:52,000 It brings up the Jordan, 803 00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:54,000 which has everything to do with it, 804 00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:56,000 and the generation ahead that will see it. 805 00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,000 So what that's saying to me is your battles 806 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:01,000 and my battles won't look like Pastor Wayne's 807 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:03,000 and Pastor Ronnie's and Pastor Barbies. 808 00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:07,000 There might be connected elements in how the Lord works, 809 00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:10,000 but what it's saying is God will be faithful 810 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:14,000 because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, 811 00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:19,000 and we will worship him. 812 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:21,000 It's the responsibility of one generation 813 00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:24,000 to put the mercy of God on full display 814 00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:26,000 and the responsibility of the next generation 815 00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:29,000 to take notice, inquire about it, pick it up, 816 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:31,000 carry it for themselves. 817 00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:35,000 I say full display for a reason. 818 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:39,000 If you take a single river rock out of that river 819 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:43,000 and put it on dry land to the trained eye, 820 00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:46,000 it might look like it doesn't fit in. 821 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:50,000 It would be just as easy to not even notice that it's there. 822 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:54,000 12 rocks, stone stacked high, undeniable. 823 00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:57,000 You can't miss that that is not fitting 824 00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,000 into the culture around it. 825 00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:05,000 So according to 1 Peter 2, we, everyone in this room 826 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:10,000 who loves the Lord, exist as living stones of God's church, 827 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:12,000 living stones of his mercy. 828 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,000 We have a rich history of praise and worship at Springhouse. 829 00:52:15,000 --> 00:52:17,000 My hope and vision for the future 830 00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:20,000 that would be like the generation before us, 831 00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,000 we would continue to stay near the heart of the world 832 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:25,000 and near the heart of the Father, 833 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:29,000 continue diligently to pursue knowing him through his word 834 00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:34,000 and so that his glory will be on full display in our worship 835 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:39,000 through love, through mercy, through giving, through faith, 836 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:42,000 through obedience, singing, dancing, art, 837 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:44,000 and everything that scripture has for us 838 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:46,000 according to his word. 839 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:47,000 So I've asked the team this morning 840 00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:48,000 if they would lead us in a song 841 00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:51,000 that I think lyrically kind of encapsulates 842 00:52:51,000 --> 00:52:53,000 all these things I've talked about. 843 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,000 And I've asked my friend Tina Bryson 844 00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:56,000 to come and worship alongside them. 845 00:52:56,000 --> 00:52:59,000 I think this serves as a visual representation 846 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:02,000 of a fuller expanse of worship 847 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,000 that we're gonna be looking to pursue here. 848 00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,000 And what I wanna encourage you in is 849 00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:09,000 don't take the time to spectate this moment. 850 00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:14,000 I wanna encourage you to reflect on God's mercy in your life. 851 00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:18,000 Give him thankfulness and gratitude 852 00:53:18,000 --> 00:53:20,000 and let that inform your soul 853 00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:21,000 how to worship him in this moment. 854 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:22,000 It could look like bowing. 855 00:53:22,000 --> 00:53:24,000 It could look like lifted hands. 856 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:26,000 It could look like silent reverence. 857 00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:28,000 Let's worship, church. 858 00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:30,000 [music fades out]