Is Worship For God or For Us?

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_18]
[00:05:31] What season of life you find yourself in, you give because you've been commanded to. Nah, because he is worthy to God who is with us on the mountaintops, who walks with us in seasons of prosperity, and we praise a God who's with us in the valleys, who hears our cries and literally carries us in seasons of distress.
[00:06:00] Friends, let me remind you, Jesus is real. His love for you is beyond comprehension. His mercy towards you are new every morning. His ways are just and true. And he's so worthy that he said if we don't
[00:06:16] praise him, even the rocks will cry out. That is why today, no matter how you're feeling, no matter where you are or how many you're gathered with, we will give praise to the one who is worthy to be
[00:06:30] praised. We will give praise to the one whose love endures forever. Shout his name. Declare his glory because he is faithful today tomorrow and forever praise him because he rose again

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:06:47] because he's coming back for you that has breath breath in our lungs of a reason to praise 150

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:18:45] says let everything that has breath praise the lord you know thank you god that you are a god that doesn't give us a long list of lofty qualifications to have to come and praise you
[00:18:57] you say if you have breath in your lungs you can give me praise god thank you that you're that personal that you want to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us
[00:19:10] god that you are right here in this room as we sing out your praises this morning god we love you in jesus name we pray amen amen well thank you guys for worshiping with us
[00:19:24] hey go ahead and greet your neighbor and you can take a seat good morning cove church how are we doing this morning. You guys can do so much better than that. How are we doing, Cove Church?
[00:19:46] Well, my name is Ashlyn, and I'm one of our student coordinators. And man, we love introducing our friends to Jesus here. And so that means that we get extra, extra excited when we have some first-time guests joining us. So Church, can we give a warm, warm welcome to any first-time
[00:20:03] guests that are joining us in the building? And for those of you watching online, welcome. We're so glad you're joining us. Hey, if it is your first time, I have one of two things I want you
[00:20:16] to do before you leave today, and that is scanning that QR code on the back of your chair, giving us some information. We'd love to get in touch with you, or going out to our Next Steps area. We have
[00:20:28] an incredible team that would love to meet you, love to answer any questions that you may have, and most importantly, help you make the Cove your home. Well, guys, we had an incredible vision Sunday last week. It was amazing. And you're not going to believe this. We had 170 of you fill out
[00:20:46] cards that you wanted to get serving. That's incredible, church. And we have another opportunity for you coming up. There are these cards on your seats, and these are invites for our Easter services. And what better time to get plugged into serving than at an Easter service? And so you can
[00:21:06] scan that QR code at the bottom, and you will be able to get connected and find a serving team for this Easter. We would love to have you join us. Not only are we excited for Easter, but man, I am so
[00:21:19] excited for summer. How about you guys? I am ready for summer. I know our students are, and since I'm the student girl, I cannot wait to tell you about our summer camp for our students. This is our 6th
[00:21:31] or 12th graders, we have Vertical Element, and it is going to be a blast, guys. It's going to be June 15th through the 19th, and we're taking our students out to Ocoee, Tennessee. There is going
[00:21:42] to be whitewater rafting. There's going to be paintball. There's going to be messages, worship, small groups. It's going to be an incredible time, and students, you want to be there.
[00:21:53] I actually went to this exact camp when I was growing up, so it's going to be like a blast from the past for me but it was one of the most amazing summers not only did I play paintball for
[00:22:02] the first time I was really bad but guys bring it on this summer because I've gotten a lot better okay but I also remember walking out of the last message of that week with just tears in my eyes
[00:22:14] because God had spoken to me in a whole new way than he'd ever spoken to me before and I remember that week changed my life and I remember how impactful it was for me and so
[00:22:26] students, that's what you're signing up for. We want you there at Vertical Element this summer.
[00:22:31] And now I would love to invite up my friend Elise with Cove Kids to tell you all about their Cove

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_13]
[00:22:36] Kids camp. Thank you, Ashlyn. Good morning, Cove Church. My name is Elise and I have the honor of being on staff here at the Mooresville campus with Cove Kids. I am so excited to tell you all about
[00:22:47] our third annual Cove Kids camp, Kingdom Quest, because I'm a princess. It's going to be July 13th through 16th from 9 to noon and it's only $50. We're so excited. We're going to have so much fun.
[00:23:01] We're going to have games, crafts, snacks, small groups, messages, worship, you name it. But most importantly, we're going to be learning about Jesus. I remember when my daughter was young and she went to camp and she can still sing some of those songs to this day. So the impact
[00:23:16] can make a lifetime. So if you're interested in signing up your kid or you're interested in serving, because we cannot do this without you, please come check us out in the atrium at the tables, or you can go to covechurch.org slash events. And another way we can serve our kiddos

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_12]
[00:23:34] is by sponsoring a child this year. Sponsoring a child or a student. If you would love to be a part of their summer experience, sponsoring is an amazing way to send a kid to camp. We've already
[00:23:46] had a few people already come up to our tables today and say, hey, I'm ready to sponsor. I want to sponsor and send a kid to camp so if you'd like to do that you can go out to those tables
[00:23:55] and I'd also like to thank you guys for giving so generously and being obedient to that calling that Christ has called us to be generous and if you'd like to give today you can do that in two
[00:24:05] ways you can go to covechurch.org slash give or you can go to our gray receptacles in the atrium well guys we cannot wait for summer camp and so we want to show you a video all about our camps

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:24:24] My favorite part about Vertical Element has to be games or eating together.
[00:24:28] Just getting to share that with people around me is such a blessing.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:24:31] My favorite part about Kids Camp is that we got to do loud and fun worship and we got to have yummy snacks.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:24:40] Attention Cove kids and Cove students, get ready because camp is coming.

[00:24:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:24:46] This summer we're packing our camps full of games, worship, stories, outdoor fun, and non-stop laughter.
[00:24:53] Camp isn't just about fun, though there is a lot of it, it's the most meaningful week of the year.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_15]
[00:24:58] I love going to Vertical Element because the presence of God is so strong and His light is so bright.
[00:25:03] Getting to be a part of these students' lives and watching them surrender everything to God, finding God with my friends, I love the fellowship and the brotherhood that is found there.

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:25:14] This is an opportunity to be with friends, to build new friendships and experience Jesus like never before.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:25:20] I love serving at kids camp because I love watching these kids memorize scripture and dance to the worship music.
[00:25:27] My favorite part of kids camp was going on stage and doing the church clap.
[00:25:31] My favorite part of kids camp was being able to do the arts and crafts.
[00:25:35] And it was very fun.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:25:37] At camp, kids will experience the love of Jesus and learn to live the life God has for them.

[00:25:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_14]
[00:25:42] It's just an incredible experience to see our young students giving their life to Christ and wanting to serve Him and live for Him.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_16]
[00:25:50] Summer camp is where memories are made and faith comes alive.

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_17]
[00:25:56] All right. Love our Vertical Element and Cove Kids Camp.
[00:26:01] Man, I love the generation.
[00:26:04] And thank you for those that serve at those camps.
[00:26:06] I have a lot of memories working at those camps.
[00:26:09] So thanks for all those that are going to be serving or scholarshipping others for these camps.
[00:26:15] I'm really excited for it.
[00:26:16] And hey, before we jump into the message, I just want to take a moment for us just to pray over the world.
[00:26:23] Yesterday was a day with just such a wide variety of emotions and information and story and the situation changing constantly.
[00:26:34] And I don't know about you, but I have found myself even kind of at a loss for what exactly to pray for right now.
[00:26:41] And to be honest, thank goodness that I don't have to have the final plan of how all this should be shaken out, right?
[00:26:47] And that right now is a time for us just to turn to God and to spend time on our knees, to spend time being still and seeking, really, instead of trying to fix everything, there's a lot of things we don't have control over as Christians or as individuals,
[00:27:03] but focused on what's God calling me to do and how's God calling me to speak about it and how is God calling me to where my heart needs to be and just trying to align it with his.
[00:27:14] So let's stop and let's pray together, church.
[00:27:16] Can we pray?
[00:27:17] Father, we come to you today and you know I've just been wrestling with what do you pray about?
[00:27:23] I mean, it's so hard to see evil on top of evil in so many ways and to see hate on top of hate in so many ways.
[00:27:41] And there's people that are scared.
[00:27:44] there's people that are anxious there's people that are in danger and um and god we are just reminded that this kingdom is not going to stand forever this world's not forever and your kingdom is forever and we thank you for that and so father as we as we just search for the right words
[00:28:02] um your word tells us that how to pray and so that's how we're going to pray father you're our father you love us we thank you for your provision we thank you that you are a protector we thank you
[00:28:17] that you are a good father to us your name is holy we worship you today god we're praying in a situation that we look and we see so much hate so many things that don't feel of you we pray that
[00:28:32] your kingdom would stand and that your kingdom would receive glory even in the most ugly things that are happening and the most dangerous things that are happening in uh as in so many ways where
[00:28:46] people are being driven with with uh fear anger frustration uh uncertainty anxiety and um and god we're praying that your kingdom would be uh seen you take what is meant for evil over and over again
[00:29:02] and turn it for good and so we're believing that in the midst of all this is going to be turned for good. We pray for your provision. We pray for your provision over our military, over those who are
[00:29:13] in danger right now, over civilians, over just life, Lord. And we just pray for your protection over our military and over civilians, especially right now. And we just ask that you would you would show up in ways that only you can. Pray for our hearts as a church that, Lord,
[00:29:39] our hearts would not get partisan in any way or focused on political matters, but on serving you first and worshiping you first and honoring you first with everything we do. That's our first desire before anything else. Deliver us from evil. Show us what is evil. Lord, when we're unsure,
[00:30:06] what's right, what's wrong.
[00:30:10] It's such a messy situation.
[00:30:12] And so, Lord, I pray that we wouldn't get so set on our own ways that we would stop seeking you.
[00:30:20] So, Lord, we come seeking you.
[00:30:22] I pray that that would be the heart of the church, first and foremost.
[00:30:24] God, let us see this world with the spiritual eyes that you have for it.
[00:30:30] Let us see evil for evil.
[00:30:34] Let us see good for good.
[00:30:36] Help us in the places that we're confused, that we're unsure of what's right, what's wrong.
[00:30:42] Lord, we pray at the end of the day that your spirit would be moving and active.
[00:30:47] We pray for our leadership, for wisdom, for our leadership.
[00:30:52] We pray for direction and nudging from the Holy Spirit.
[00:30:59] Father, we're just trusting you.
[00:31:00] We're knowing you're a good God.
[00:31:02] We pray that we'd never grow tired of just being still before you, of seeking you first, of desiring to know your will before anything else, before whatever my opinions are, before whatever my my political party says we seek you first and foremost we love you we thank you
[00:31:23] we thank you for who you are we thank you this kingdom's not forever we thank you that the kingdom that that you sent your son Jesus so that we could be a part of the kingdom of God is forever
[00:31:34] and is perfect and we're reminded of that your word tells us in this world we'll face troubles this world is not perfect we're reminded of that maybe there's there's moments or parts of us that
[00:31:42] are doubting, God, what is going on here? But we know that you've said clearly that this world isn't perfect. This world is stained with sin. This world deals with the forces of evil in so
[00:31:55] many ways. And we thank you that your kingdom is perfect. So we desire to first and foremost walk with you to know your kingdom. We come to you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hey, guys, don't
[00:32:14] get tired of spending time being still before the Lord. Don't get so focused on our own way and our own thoughts and our own opinions that we forget to first be open to letting the Holy Spirit speak
[00:32:25] to us and guide us through these tough times. Can I get an amen, church? Amen. All right. I don't have a good transition as usual, so that's how that seems to go around here lately. Hey, let's
[00:32:36] take a second. Let's welcome all of our campuses, Salisbury, Statesville, Denver. It's good to be together as one church. I'm really excited to kick off this series as we're talking about, I think I just heard our worship leader just scream out, let's go. We are talking about
[00:32:54] worship today. And you know, when I first came to the Cove, there's two things I remember the first time I came to the Cove. I came here from the Chicago area with my parents and my siblings. And we came from a Presbyterian church in the Chicago area. And so the first time
[00:33:13] we came to the Cove, it was a set up, tear down church still at the time in a school. And there's a few things I remember, but two really stand out. I remember getting there and looking around and
[00:33:26] going, this is a crazy setup. You know, they're setting up and tearing down these chairs every single week and sitting in these chairs and and and there was like a small stage set up and there
[00:33:35] was this guy just sitting like in the middle of the aisle it'd be like if there was someone sitting right here with the computer set up and he was just sitting there running the graphics right
[00:33:43] there from right among us and and and that he that guy was sue fan i remember this he's right here he's been serving 27 years now he is still hitting space bars for jesus uh it's amazing
[00:34:01] I remember that, seeing that guy, and he looked so focused on hitting the space bar.
[00:34:06] I was like, that guy is taking that job seriously.
[00:34:08] He's not messing around.
[00:34:09] 27 years.
[00:34:10] Sufan, we love you, man.
[00:34:11] We're thankful for you.
[00:34:12] It's funny to me, though.
[00:34:13] I remember him.
[00:34:14] And the second thing I remember, I remember the music and not knowing what are you supposed to do with this music.
[00:34:22] What is the deal with the music that's going on here?
[00:34:25] Because remember, we came from a small Presbyterian church.
[00:34:29] And the cove was pretty small at this time as well.
[00:34:32] It couldn't have been much more than 100 adults maybe in the service, maybe a little bit more.
[00:34:39] But I remember thinking, I don't know what's going on with this music.
[00:34:44] Because I looked around, and there were some people that are singing, clapping their hands, getting all into the music, raising their hands, dancing a little bit.
[00:34:53] And then you had some people just sitting there with their donut and their cup of coffee, and they were just like watching the whole thing.
[00:34:59] we used to have donuts back in the day. Don't email me. We're not going to bring donuts back for the morning service, but they're just sitting there. And I was like, are these people listening
[00:35:07] to the same thing? And then I was like, what's the rules of this? And I remember we got in the car and my mom was immediately like opposed to it. Cause she's like, listen, I am holding out for
[00:35:16] the bell choir is what I'm wanting to be a part of one day. Because in our church, all the older ladies got on the bell choir. That's what they did. And she's like, I don't think that church
[00:35:25] is going to have a bell choir, I'm pretty sure. And I remember just being unsure, what are the rules with this music section that they start every service with? And maybe you've experienced something similar coming here to the Cove. You've gone, what are we, you know, what are you supposed
[00:35:44] to do with the music section? Or what are you required to do? You know, if music's just not my thing, you know, then what am I supposed to do? Because everyone kind of has a different mentality
[00:35:55] around worship. Some of us here today, you live for worship. You are playing worship music all throughout your week. When the worship comes on here, your hands in, you're dancing, you're swaying, you're clapping, you're singing, you're getting into it, you're going for it. Some, you know, you're
[00:36:14] more going to take it in. Maybe you'll sing a little bit, but you're going to stay right here in this zone right here, you know. You're not going to move a whole lot outside that. You'll sing along,
[00:36:23] you know some you view the music more like a primer for the service this is what just wakes me up so i get ready for the message you know some some you you know you just kind of roll in
[00:36:33] when you roll in and and and maybe you miss some of the music and that's just fine with you you know i had someone tell me this was a tough message for me because i woke up this morning
[00:36:42] said i'm running late but it's okay i'll just miss the worship you know and and then the whole message was about worship. Some, maybe you view worship as kind of like the three-piece band that
[00:36:56] gets up at the restaurant that you're at that nobody invited to the restaurant. You ever had that one happen? You're just enjoying a meal and all of a sudden a three-piece band shows up. You're
[00:37:03] like, who invited these guys? Nobody wants this. You know, let me enjoy my chicken piccata with my wife. I want to talk to her and not listen to this band, you know? And for you, maybe what you say is
[00:37:14] something to the extent of worship's just not my thing. And today what we're going to talk about is plainly what does the Bible actually say about worship and specifically the music side of worship. All right. So I want to get into what the Bible does say and doesn't say around music and
[00:37:36] around worship and around really what that looks like. And we're going to be doing that throughout the series. But today is really an overview of why worship matters. And I think to first really understand why worship matters, we first have to understand who we are. We're going to be in Isaiah
[00:37:53] 43, starting in verse 20. Check this out. The Lord speaks this through a prophet.
[00:37:59] The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert to give drink to my chosen people the people whom I formed for myself
[00:38:14] that they might declare my praise you know what God is saying here is everything from the jackals to the ostriches to my people will declare my praise and this comes back and this is really
[00:38:28] going to shape everything around this series of worship is this statement right here we are constantly wrestling with, why am I here? Right? I mean, it's been one of the oldest questions of humanity. Why is humanity here? You know, why did God even create humanity? And then we get to a
[00:38:51] place of why am I here as an individual? What did God put me here to do? And we begin to draw a lot of conclusions to answer that question. We'll look at our gifting and our talents and our passions
[00:39:04] and we'll say, well that must be what I'm here to do. I'm here to play football. God put me on this earth to be a football star. God put me on the earth to be a mom. It's just what I'm passionate
[00:39:18] about. I love it. I live for it. God put me on this earth to lead. God put me on this earth to attack this social issue. God put me on this earth to do good for those around me. We get this mentality
[00:39:32] that God put me on this earth to use the giftings that he's given me and accomplish a task. And here's what's happening. We're mixing up purpose with calling. Those are actually different things.
[00:39:46] And we're mixing up purpose with action. Those are also different things. We are more, our purpose is more than just what we accomplish or what we do. You know, think about this. If we are eternal
[00:40:03] beings, if we go long beyond this earth, why would God create us just to accomplish something here on earth? We get this mentality like God's sitting there going, there's this problem and there's no way I can solve it unless I create Will Kranz. I must create Will Kranz to fix that problem.
[00:40:24] them. I mean, that's essentially what we're saying. I remember as a kid, I had a chores list. Anyone else have chores when you were a kid? Come on, show of hands. You know, I don't even, I can't
[00:40:34] remember if I was paid for these, some of those chores or not. I think some of them were like, you want to bed? You do the chores, you know? I mean, which I think is fair. But I remember at
[00:40:43] one point picking up sticks in the yard. That was my least favorite chore. I don't know. I just hated it. I'll pick up dog poop before I'll pick up sticks. I just, I hated picking up sticks in
[00:40:52] the ark. I remember though, do you remember having this thought? I remember picking up sticks one time and thinking, I think my parents only had me so that I'd pick up these sticks. I think they
[00:41:02] just wanted to save on the labor of picking up sticks. That's the only reason they made me. You know, have you, you remember thinking things that stupid, like as if my, my, my parents were just
[00:41:12] trying to save money on the dishes. So they had me so that, you know, but we have that mentality when it comes to God. Like God must have made me to accomplish something. Let me, let me, here's
[00:41:25] the statement that we have to understand. God gifted you. God gave you the ability to do things.
[00:41:30] God has even given you callings and instruction and things he wants us to do, but he created you to worship him. Okay? He created you to draw near to him, praise him, and to experience his glory
[00:41:49] and declare his glory.
[00:41:51] He says that about Israel.
[00:41:53] He says that about the jackals, about the ostriches.
[00:41:55] They exist to declare my praise.
[00:42:00] And so, yes, a step along the way is to do the work that God's put in front of you.
[00:42:03] I'm not saying that's not important.
[00:42:05] Scripture says, whatever you do, do it as if it's on to the Lord.
[00:42:08] It does matter.
[00:42:10] But understand this, it's a step along the journey, not the final destination.
[00:42:15] The final destination isn't, oh, God created me so that I could get this thing done.
[00:42:19] God created you so that you might bring glory to him as your creator and your savior amen and so I want you to understand that difference because that's that's really going to change our entire mentality Mendisa was gifted with the ability to sing Mendoza was gifted with a cannon
[00:42:38] arm to throw a football both of them were created to bring glory to their God you were created with giftings. You were given giftings. You were given experiences and passions and all those things are great. They give you callings and they give you direction and they give you things to do
[00:42:56] that honors God. But ultimately you were created to bring glory to your God.
[00:43:03] And that should change the way we worship. Now, maybe you're asking, well, what is worship exactly? When you say worship, doesn't that mean many different things? Yes, it does.
[00:43:15] I want you to check out 1 Chronicles chapter 16.
[00:43:20] Sorry, if it's Sue Phan back there, I'm switching up the order.
[00:43:23] See, 27 years of experience.
[00:43:24] You can stay with me though, right?
[00:43:26] I mean, come on.
[00:43:27] He's with me.
[00:43:29] 1 Chronicles 16.
[00:43:31] Check out some of the action words we'll see here.
[00:43:34] Look at this.
[00:43:35] Sing to the Lord, all the earth.
[00:43:38] Tell of his salvation from day to day.
[00:43:40] You'll see another action word.
[00:43:42] I've got the action words underlined here for you.
[00:43:44] Check it out.
[00:43:44] declare this is another way of worship declare his glory among the nations his marvelous works among all people ascribe this word literally means to give give to the lord oh families of the peoples give to the lord glory and strength ascribe to the lord the glory do his name look
[00:44:06] here's another action bring an offering and come before him worship the lord in splendor of holiness. And here's another one. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Yes, worship is dynamic. It's not just one thing. There's no doubt about it.
[00:44:26] But I want us to break down some of these things. It's just going through them quickly to recap the words. We got giving thanks is worship. Bringing an offering is worship. To give to the Lord what is his, is worship. To give the Lord his glory and strength. To declare his glory
[00:44:45] is worship. And look at this, to sing to the Lord all the earth is worship. Now here's where we're going to sit for a second because a key part of worship is singing. Yes, there's more to worship
[00:45:01] than just singing, but a key part of worship is singing. And this is where people will want to fight me. You are instructed to sing to God. I don't email me yet. Just listen. Okay. Just stay
[00:45:14] with me. I, me and my brother used to joke at each other. You can't control me. We used to say that all the time. You can't control me. Some of you, that's how you feel right now. How dare you
[00:45:25] tell me to sing to God? That's I worship in other ways. I do other things. Listen, I want you to understand this scripture says and instructs us 450 times to sing to god that's a lot of times
[00:45:42] to put that in perspective it talks about practicing sexual purity 150 times three times that amount it talks about singing specifically the idea it either models it or directly instructs commands us to sing to the Lord. Can I just tell you, singing to the Lord is something that can't
[00:46:05] be replaced. You can't, you know, you might be saying, well, it's just not my thing. You know, that's not what I do. I want you to understand this. First Chronicles points out, we worship for God, not for ourselves. Now I want you to get this. Worship benefits us. And I'm going to
[00:46:27] unpack that here for just a second. Worship benefits us, but it's for God. Amen. Let me just say that again. If you're a tweeter, I don't know if they still, do they call it tweeting or is it
[00:46:39] just X-ing now? I don't even know. Worship benefits us, but it's for God. Worship is beneficial to us because it's what we're created to do.
[00:46:52] So of course, when we're doing what we're created to do, we're gonna experience benefits from it, but it's for God.
[00:46:58] It's a thank you.
[00:46:59] It's a declaration of goodness to God.
[00:47:02] It's praising what he has done, who he is, giving thanks to him.
[00:47:07] So when you say, well, worship's just not my thing, I'd say I agree with you.
[00:47:14] It's God's thing, amen?
[00:47:16] And worship is your responsibility.
[00:47:18] To say worship's not my thing is like taking your kid to a birthday party and letting your kid eat the pizza and letting your kid take the goodie bag and partaking all the games and eat the cake.
[00:47:30] And then when it comes time to open gifts, you say, oh, well, giving presents just isn't my thing.
[00:47:37] Right?
[00:47:38] Get out of my house, man.
[00:47:39] What are you doing?
[00:47:42] Or it's going to that potluck dinner and partaking and taking plates full of food.
[00:47:48] But when it comes to what dish did you bring, you go, oh, cooking's just not my thing.
[00:47:52] Well, then pick up a salad, right?
[00:47:55] I mean, it's okay that cooking's not your thing, but do something.
[00:47:59] Bring something to the table.
[00:48:01] Don't just come and consume.
[00:48:03] Bring something.
[00:48:06] And in the same way, worship, it's not for us.
[00:48:11] It's a thank you to God.
[00:48:13] It's an acknowledgement to God.
[00:48:16] It is for God, but it benefits us.
[00:48:20] Now, maybe you're here.
[00:48:21] you're saying worship is just not my thing i would actually say i understand that mentality i used to say all the time um worship's not my thing that was that was something i used to say
[00:48:31] all the time you know i get it other people like i'll be respectful i won't talk during it or anything but i'm just gonna sit here with my cup of coffee and i'm gonna watch the worship because
[00:48:40] they're really talented they're really good i'm impressed i'll even like think about the words that they're saying. But I wasn't a big singer. I told myself, I'm just not that, I'm not that into music. I don't listen to music in my everyday life. Music's usually actually kind of distracting
[00:48:56] to me. I just don't get that emotional or into things like that. You know, it's just not my thing. And then I heard a message and a pastor said, you know, if you're sitting here today and
[00:49:07] you're saying you're just not that into worship and it's not your thing and you just don't get into stuff like that. He said, I just want you to stop and think about the way you watch a football
[00:49:16] game. That was convicting. All right. Let me just tell you right now, because I started thinking about and taking notes of the way I watch football game. I realized I talk a lot during the football
[00:49:28] game. I yell at the TV. I am telling the coach how to coach up the team at a football game through a TV. I am clapping my hands. I get in the power pose. Anyone got aggressive football watchers
[00:49:39] in their, in their life. You know what I'm talking about? You know, I mean, I'm, I'm in the power post. I'm high fiving. I'm hugging. I've been known to take off my shirt and paint up my chest.
[00:49:48] All right. I don't, I don't know if that's a new thing I'm going to do during this series. I'm still debating it. We'll see. I'm not going to do that. Just, I'm just, just to get that out there.
[00:49:59] But I remember feeling convicted because I, I'm watching the way I watch football. And then the, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, I just don't get passionate about things. I just don't get into things like that, you know? And I realized, man, I'm not bringing anything to the
[00:50:12] table. And so I started coming to church with the mentality of, I'm going to worship. You know, I'm going to clap my hands when it's a clapping song. I'm going to try it. You know, I'm going to
[00:50:23] sing the song that is there. It's not going to be super loud. I'm not, I'm doing a great voice.
[00:50:28] I'm just going to start with just, just kind of maybe even just mouthing the words a little bit, you know just just starting to get into it a little maybe i'll even sway a little you know as
[00:50:38] i was getting there here's what i discovered as i as i went and as i started to engage more in worship i found my heart begin to soften i saw my hunger for god to begin to change
[00:50:51] and and you know here's what i want you to get worship is not something that you can replace worship's not something you can just read the bible more and you can get rid of worship
[00:51:03] is serve more and get rid of worship. Every element of what God calls us to, there's a reason for it. There's a reason he calls us to pray. You know, it would be a ridiculous statement to think,
[00:51:15] oh, you can just replace prayer time with just serving more and doing more good things. It's the same thing. You know, they're both good. No, each thing has value. And let me just tell you,
[00:51:25] when the Bible instructs us 450 times to learn to sing to God, there's probably value in it. Amen.
[00:51:33] Now, some will look at that and say, well, Will, you were being manipulated because musical notes create emotion, you know?
[00:51:40] There's some skeptics who will say stuff like that, that musical notes, well, it's just science that it creates emotion.
[00:51:47] That's all that's really happening there.
[00:51:48] And, you know, there's actually truth to that.
[00:51:50] I got Colin here with me.
[00:51:52] He's one of our worship leaders.
[00:51:53] Give it up for Colin.
[00:51:55] Colin plays keys for us and leads the band behind the scenes.
[00:52:00] He's doing a lot behind the scenes.
[00:52:02] But Colin's gonna help me illustrate this.
[00:52:05] There is no doubt, these guys are talented.
[00:52:07] Our musicians are talented.
[00:52:08] They can play assorted notes and get you to feel certain things.
[00:52:14] For instance, let's make the people happy.
[00:52:15] They're feeling a little down.
[00:52:16] Let's make them happy.
[00:52:19] Simple.
[00:52:21] Yeah, I didn't even instruct you to clap, and you did that.
[00:52:23] So there you go.
[00:52:24] You can see, you got into it immediately, right?
[00:52:27] Let's make them sad.
[00:52:28] They're too happy.
[00:52:28] Bring them down, Colin.
[00:52:32] Reflecting.
[00:52:32] thinking about life what's gone wrong can we can we make them excited you know let's not let's not be too sad too long let's be excited that does oh took them a minute to identify it but i think
[00:52:53] they got it now can we make them anxious a little bit a little bit of anxious that's good wow you're throwing in some flares with that that was good how about suspicious if we're like suspicious
[00:53:09] to someone in here, right? We can do any. Yep. Nailed it. Someone was singing it before. Right.
[00:53:15] You can do any set of emotions. Why? Scientifically. Here's what's going on scientifically.
[00:53:20] Your brain is actually associating those songs with obviously famous movies or even like memories, right? And so it triggers those emotions immediately. But even if you didn't recognize the song. Happy songs and tunes always tend to be major chords, higher up beats. Why? Because it's
[00:53:43] actually a reflection of your voice. This is what the science says. Where the baseline of it comes is when someone is happy, their voice goes up, right? An octave, right? They go, oh, I won the
[00:53:54] lottery, right? They're happy. Their voice goes up. So the notes are happy. Whenever you're trying to portray a happy, it's this higher octave, right? That's the science behind it. Same is exactly true of sadness. When you're sad, your voice drops. I lost my lottery ticket. You know, I'm sad.
[00:54:11] Right? Of course, the octaves are going to drop. This is why country music singers have deep voices because they have to sing about their wife leaving them and their dog dying while they were fishing.
[00:54:25] Thank you, Colin. Can we give it up for Colin? They're super talented. So there's the science behind it. And this is why some people will say, well, it's manipulation. Music is just manipulation.
[00:54:39] vision. Here's what no one's able to really fully explain. Why is it if music is meant to be a reflection of the voice and that's how it creates the emotion? Why is it music creates that emotion
[00:54:53] tenfold of what a voice will? You know what I'm saying? Like if you hear me say something in a happy voice, you'll be like, oh, I think he's happy. Or you hear me say something in a sad voice,
[00:55:03] you might lean and go, oh, I think he's sad about something. But you hear a sad melody, it'll do 10 times the emotional impact on you.
[00:55:11] You hear, my heart will go on and on.
[00:55:13] You don't even like Titanic.
[00:55:14] That song will still make you think about life.
[00:55:18] Why is that?
[00:55:19] Because God created us to respond to music.
[00:55:24] It's not manipulation.
[00:55:25] It's just the way God created us to respond to music.
[00:55:29] That's why when at the end of the message, Colin gets up behind me and starts playing keys, I sound so much wiser and more spiritual, don't I?
[00:55:37] Again, it's not manipulation.
[00:55:39] It's we, our hearts are opened in music.
[00:55:45] Music connects with us in a way other things don't.
[00:55:49] Even if you're not a music person.
[00:55:53] You know, it's not just emotional impact that music has.
[00:55:58] It's also literally physical impact that music has.
[00:56:02] There are tons of studies that show music improves cognitive function.
[00:56:07] That's why they use it a lot with Alzheimer's patients.
[00:56:10] Some of you have stories about this.
[00:56:12] Someone who completely loses themselves, but they will hear certain music, and it triggers something.
[00:56:17] It brings something back.
[00:56:19] Music impacts our cognitive function.
[00:56:21] Slaves show music reduces anxiety, lessens physical pain.
[00:56:27] Music improves sleep quality, mood, alertness, memory.
[00:56:32] And look at this.
[00:56:33] Music even can help with your blood pressure.
[00:56:36] Here's what I'm getting at today.
[00:56:37] If you want to go eat pizza today after the service, you don't need to plan to work out Monday. You just need to sing during the worship. Don't tell your doctor I said that. I am not a
[00:56:47] doctor. So let me get back to this. You were made to worship, but it's for God. You will benefit from worshiping. And if you're here and you're going, I just don't, look, I've been there. I get
[00:57:05] it. But you're going, I just don't want to worship. This is not my thing. You know, I don't, I don't sound good. I don't like to sing. You know, I get it, but let me just, let me just be
[00:57:17] honest with you. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad or guilt you or anything. You can't replace that. There is something beneficial to learning to sing to your God. And can I just tell
[00:57:31] you, as the first time I started forcing myself to, I'm going to engage in worship, I was sitting there looking around going, everyone's looking at me. Everyone's looking at me. Everyone's noticing that I'm singing today. Like as if that's all they're doing, right? They're just like, wait,
[00:57:46] what's Will going to do today? I was just like, like an 18 year old, you know, I mean, I was just a kid, but, but that was in my head and I get it. You're going to think, do I sound bad? You know,
[00:57:57] is everyone looking at me? Is it weird for me to be clapping right now? All those things happen.
[00:58:01] But as you get more and more comfortable engaging in worship, as you get more and more comfortable singing to your God, those things start to go away. They really do. But you got to start somewhere.
[00:58:11] Bring a salad to the party.
[00:58:13] Bring something, you know?
[00:58:14] Get in the game.
[00:58:18] Now, I want you to understand this.
[00:58:20] Here's why it's so important to worship God.
[00:58:22] Because if you don't worship God, you will worship something.
[00:58:27] I promise you, you'll worship something.
[00:58:29] Why?
[00:58:29] Because you're created to worship.
[00:58:32] And so going back to the last Bible section I want to share is from Exodus.
[00:58:36] Israel has just escaped Egypt and they're on their way to the promised land and they're seeing all these miracles.
[00:58:41] God parted the Red Sea and delivered the ten plagues to drive them out of Egypt and bring them out of slavery, and he's bringing them to their promised land.
[00:58:52] And along the way, there's some bumps in the road, but the biggest one is right here.
[00:58:57] Moses, who's leading them, they're praising God.
[00:59:00] They're celebrating Moses.
[00:59:02] Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to meet with God and see what's going to happen next.
[00:59:07] And so the people are left waiting and they have no God that they can physically see and they have no Moses before them. And when the people saw that Moses was delayed to come down from the mountain,
[00:59:21] the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, who's Moses' right-hand man. And they said to him, up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, a man who brought us up out of the
[00:59:33] land of Egypt. He did great things, but we don't know what's become of him. And so they put this plan together. And Aaron received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool
[00:59:46] and made a golden calf. And they said, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation
[00:59:58] and said, tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.
[01:00:01] And they rose up early the next day and they offered burnt offerings to those golden calves and brought peace offerings.
[01:00:08] And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
[01:00:13] You know, we read this and we think, how stupid can you be?
[01:00:17] You traded the living God who parted the Red Sea for a golden calf that you made.
[01:00:25] But here's the two things we can take away.
[01:00:28] One, we are made to worship.
[01:00:30] we will always worship something. This is why it's so important to physically, literally worship.
[01:00:36] It's that reminder that I worship God physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally. If you don't worship God, you'll worship something. It might be things that we see as good things. You might worship your marriage. Put your spouse on a pedestal that they can't live up to. You might
[01:00:57] worship your kids. Oh, come on. We all, we, we get tempted to worship our kids, right? My kids haven't made a mistake in nine years. It's unbelievable. We worship our kids. We worship our jobs. We worship our bank accounts. We worship our causes. We worship a leader.
[01:01:19] We'll worship our pastor. I'll throw myself in there. You can, you can worship your political party. That's as far as I'm going to go on that. Don't worry. We will worship something. I think we sit there and go, oh, you shouldn't worship statues. That's an obvious. We all worship
[01:01:36] something. And when we make worship about us, we will always find something other than God to worship. That's what happened here. They weren't getting the feelings anymore. So they made worship about them. We needed something physical. We need something in front of us. We need a golden calf.
[01:01:57] this is our new God now. Because what? Because their worship was focused around what they were feeling, around what they wanted. Church, can I just encourage you? Worship benefits us, but it's for who? Come on, church. Worship benefits us, but it's for who? It's for our God, right? We're
[01:02:18] catching on. It benefits us, but don't get confused. It's not for us. It's for God. And so in what ways have you made worship about you? We've all done it, you know? Well, I'll worship, but not with
[01:02:33] that song. I am tired of that song, you know? I don't want to do it. I'm done with that song. Can we move on from that song already? I'll worship, but only if it's the worship leader I like to
[01:02:43] follow. I connect with that one. It needs to be that one. I'll worship, but oh my goodness, someone took my seat today. I can't worship now. You ever done that? They've taken your seat. You're like,
[01:02:56] how dare they? They're probably new here. They don't know that that's my seats. Guess I can't worship today. You know, or you have a rough morning getting in, or it's been a rough week.
[01:03:09] And it's like, man, I just don't feel like worshiping today. Or you're running a little late and you go, oh, we'll just be a little later. And we'll just miss the worship. Worship, we can make about ourselves. And then we miss the whole point of it. Worship is for God. It's a
[01:03:25] thank you to God. It's a declaration to your God. Now, whenever I preach about you were made to sing or you were made to clap your hands, you were made to dance, you were made to worship your God,
[01:03:41] there's always going to be someone who asks a question like this. This is real. This happens every time. Someone always asks, well, what about the mute paralegic? You're leaving them out.
[01:03:53] what is that in us we always want to find the 0.01 percent that we need to talk about let me just let me i've actually got a story for you on that when we went to jamaica uh we went to an infirmary
[01:04:08] and i'll never forget this we we this is a place where they bring the sick and they bring the disabled and basically when when there's no place left no one wants to take care of them anymore
[01:04:18] they bring them to this infirmary and this is basically where they no one visits it's basically where they just live out whatever's left of their life. It's a very dark place. And basically they are afforded the bare minimum standards of being kept alive. They make sure they have food.
[01:04:35] Literally, I mean, we were there, they would wash them off with a hose. I mean, it is, it is hard to watch. And I'll never forget, we went there with some friends to go pray with people
[01:04:48] and to go, to go read the Bible with people. Thank you, Colin, you're making me sound more spiritual already. I love it. I remember we went and we found this guy and this guy was over in
[01:05:00] the corner here and he's just, he's just sitting there almost in a trance. He was almost like in a coma, but with his eyes open. I mean, he wasn't moving at all. He was just sitting there and he
[01:05:08] just looked far off. And we sat down next to this guy, me and a couple of friends, and we started talking to him, but he, he didn't say anything back. We were just trying to talk to him. We
[01:05:19] started praying over him. We, we hugged him and we eventually opened scripture and we began to read scripture to him. And as we were reading Matthew, I'll never forget this moment. This man who could barely move began to just tap his hands together. And he wasn't even getting hand to hand.
[01:05:38] I don't think he could even do it. He's just tapping his wrists together. And he began to make this noise. Wasn't any audible words that you would understand, but it was undeniable melody.
[01:05:52] he was trying to sing he clapped his hands and sang a song and it wouldn't have made the cut at American Idol or anything but it was beautiful and I know it was beautiful to God
[01:06:08] and when he was done he returned right back to his state and that moment we knew we had just watched some of the most pure authentic worship you could possibly see worship is not about
[01:06:25] checking a box it's not about singing because we have to sing or you have to raise your hand or whatever.
[01:06:33] It's about bringing your best to God, whatever that is.
[01:06:38] We do have people in this church that couldn't clap their hands.
[01:06:43] Their worship might look a little different.
[01:06:45] God knows the heart of that worship though.
[01:06:49] We do have people that are mute in this church.
[01:06:52] Obviously, it's not gonna be through their voice, but their worship might look a little different.
[01:06:58] Your worship might look a little different if that's where you're at today, but if you're here today, and you have a voice, and you can clap your hands, you're called to give your best to God as well, whatever that is. Look at Scripture
[01:07:15] says plainly, yet you are holy, God, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Here's what I want you to get.
[01:07:23] Our God, think about this passage, says our God is enthroned on the praises of his people.
[01:07:30] What kind of throne are you building for your God?
[01:07:33] If you really believe your praise will determine how grand the throne is of Jesus, how would you praise?
[01:07:43] Are you going to give Jesus one of those baby little chairs from the backpack there?
[01:07:48] You know, here you go, Jesus.
[01:07:49] This is what I got for you today.
[01:07:53] Bring your best.
[01:07:55] He's worthy of our best.
[01:07:58] It benefits you and I for sure, but it's for him.
[01:08:01] and so today I want to invite you bring your best to worship bring your best thanks bring your best song maybe that starts with you just just kind of getting the words out you've not been an out loud
[01:08:18] singer that's great start somewhere bring it bring your best would you join me in praying let's pray together father God we thank you so much that you have created us to worship you you know in a world
[01:08:33] where we can get so distracted, so caught up, so focused on all the things that we need to get done, all the things that we could get done.
[01:08:43] You know, what am I supposed to do next?
[01:08:45] God, thank you for the simplicity of your word.
[01:08:47] I am here to bring glory to my God with my actions, with my song, with my words.
[01:08:58] God, today we bring glory to you.
[01:09:03] We celebrate you.
[01:09:05] We speak of your goodness and of your faithfulness.
[01:09:10] We give to you the strength you're due, the acknowledgement, the thanks that you deserve.
[01:09:20] Lord, we worship you today.
[01:09:25] I pray that you'd reveal to our hearts.
[01:09:29] Many of us are here today and we can get distracted so easily.
[01:09:37] Make worship about us.
[01:09:39] God, show us the places that we've made worship more about me and my preferences than just singing and celebrating you, bringing glory to you.
[01:09:51] Forgive me for those times that I've made it about me.
[01:09:54] I wanna worship you.
[01:10:01] I pray that our churches would be a place in a world that is full of hate, in a world that is full of anger, that this would be a place that declares the goodness of God before anything else,
[01:10:13] that declares the saving power of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:10:17] We pray that our church would bring glory to you and sing of your goodness before anything else.
[01:10:24] That people would come here and hear the worship of your people.
[01:10:34] We want to build you the best throne we can, Lord.
[01:10:39] That you are enthroned on the worship of your people.
[01:10:43] You're here today and maybe you've never asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.
[01:10:48] I want you to know he is not far off.
[01:10:52] I know the message hasn't been a lot about the cross, but maybe you're here today and you're realizing my purpose isn't to accomplish a task, isn't to get something done. My purpose is to know my God and walk with him all the days of my life. That's why Jesus died on the cross,
[01:11:12] to take away the weight and the shame of sin, the consequence of sin. Jesus died with the consequence of sin so that you and I would be able to stand before our heavenly father, perfect and be able to follow him and walk with him all the days of our life. And so today, would
[01:11:32] you just say, thank you, Jesus, for being my Lord. That's where it starts. You don't have to have all the answers. You don't have to have everything figured out. But would you start with this?
[01:11:45] Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sins. I want to follow you. I ask you to be my Lord, leader of my life, my Savior. I want to live for you. I want to grow to know you. Forgive me of
[01:12:05] my sins. We step in as a child of God. Father God, we thank you for this church. We pray that this would be a place we worship you with our whole hearts, not part. We give you our best. We love
[01:12:22] you. We come to you in the name of Jesus. Hey, church, we have another worship song we're going to end with. And look, if you're not a singer, usually, I want to encourage you. Take that next
[01:12:34] step. Bring something to the table here. I know you're going to be tempted to leave. If you're going to leave after that message, I got nothing for you. I don't know what else to say to you.
[01:12:42] All right. I got, I got it. Love you. Get up on your feet. Let's worship together, church.

[01:12:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_21]
[01:12:48] It is on the table. I won't hold back a single. Times I cannot. Times I might just want.

[01:14:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:14:13] It's our desire, Lord, is to please your heart, to please your heart, to return such great love back to you.
[01:18:10] We love you so much, God.
[01:18:13] We love you.
[01:18:14] We worship you.
[01:18:16] Amen.
[01:18:17] How good it is to be here in this place together.
[01:18:21] We love you.
[01:18:22] We don't take for granted the opportunity to meet, to sing, to worship, and to grow together.
[01:18:28] We're so glad that you came today.
[01:18:30] before you leave I do want to invite you to do a couple things if this week today this service you decided I'm gonna surrender my life to Jesus I'm gonna worship him by bringing all of me
[01:18:45] you said I'm gonna follow Jesus and surrender my life to him I want to invite you to go out to the next steps right outside these doors we have some amazing people who are ready and excited
[01:18:57] to walk with you into what that looks like, to rejoice with you, to support you as you find out what does it look like to follow Jesus. Also, if you've got some kiddos and you're ready to sign
[01:19:10] them up for camp, now's the time. Don't forget to do that. We have sign-up tables out there. We want to invite you to sign your kids up for kids camp. We will see you next week. We love you. Have an
[01:19:23] amazing week. See ya. Bye.