Worship as the Foundation of Wisdom | Wisdom | Mark Moore

Well, hi, church, hi, church, we're so glad that you're here. Hi, everyone. Hi, church. We're so glad that you're here. Would you please stand to your feet with us? I want to invite you to worship the Lord with us today. You know, this moment here isn't just about music. This is a moment where we remind ourselves how good God has been to us. We remind ourselves that the creator of the universe cares about you specifically, and His love doesn't change like the world around us. So that's cause for rejoicing, that's cause for gratitude, and I hope you participate in worship with us, and give God the praise He's worthy of. Let's do it together. Come on. Sing this, sing. ♪ We are vessels of your glory, bringing glory back to you ♪ ♪ Sing it, thank you, Abba, Father, faithful one ♪ ♪ We'll cry, thank you, for all you've given, for all you've done ♪ ♪ We'll cry, thank you, for all you've given, for all you've done ♪ ♪ We say thank you, for all of this and so much more ♪ ♪ For what has been and what's in store ♪ ♪ We praise your name forevermore ♪ ♪ Sing it, thank you, we thank you, for all, for all of this and so much more ♪ ♪ For what has been and what's in store ♪ ♪ We praise your name forevermore ♪ ♪ Sing it, thank you, we thank you, sing it with me ♪ ♪ Sing it with me, thank you, Abba, Father, faithful one ♪ ♪ We'll cry, thank you, for all you've given, for all you've done ♪ Sing, thank you. ♪ Thank you, Abba, Father, faithful one ♪

♪ We'll cry, we'll cry, thank you, for all you've given, for all you've done ♪ We say thank you. ♪ For all you've done, this is a song of gratitude ♪ Come on, give Jesus some praise today. Yeah! ♪♪ ♪ Oh, thank you, God, thank you, God ♪ I have tasted, I have seen The realness of your love for me It's written on your hands and feet It's all the evidence I'll ever need Your love is better than life I can't even wrap my mind around it One day here in your house Better than a thousand elsewhere Your love keeps on running, running Keeps on running after me Keeps on running, running Keeps on running after me, yeah And there's no one that can take your place There's nothing that can separate Oh, how high, how wide, how deep The greatest love the world has ever seen Sing your love Your love is better than life I can't even wrap my mind around it One day here in your house Better than a thousand elsewhere Your love keeps on running, running Keeps on running after me

Keeps on running, running Keeps on running after me, yeah Oh, I can see your guns I can feel your mercy, Lord All around me, yeah Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Sing that again Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Every time I turn around Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me, yeah Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Every time I turn around Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Every time I turn around Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me, yeah Your love is better than life I can't even wrap my mind around it One day here in your house Better than a thousand elsewhere Your love keeps on running, running Keeps on running after me It keeps on running, running Keeps on running after me Oh, surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Every time I turn around Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Every time I turn around Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me Every time I turn around Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me

Every time I turn around Thank you, God Everything changed It's getting harder to recognize The person I was Before I encountered Christ I don't walk like I used to I don't talk like I used to I've been washed from the inside I've been washed from the inside Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood Hallelujah, Hallelujah I know it was the blood Could have only been the blood ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ We sing. ♪ I've been washed from the inside ♪ ♪ I've been washed from the inside ♪ Come on. ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood ♪ ♪ Could have only been the blood ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood ♪ ♪ Could have only been the blood ♪ ♪ Only by the blood of Jesus we are saved ♪ ♪ We are restored, we are changed ♪ ♪ By the touch of your hand, oh, come on, we declare this ♪

♪ It's never been about deserving, imperfection ♪ ♪ Or striving for a sentence, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, it's never been about deserving ♪ ♪ Or burden, it's a gift that's freely given, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be holy? ♪ ♪ And righteous, and purified, and spotless, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, does anybody wanna be worthy? ♪ ♪ Forgiving, it's just above and limit, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, I know it was the blood ♪ ♪ It could've only been the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ Could've only been the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ Forgiving, it's just above and limit, let me tell you ♪ ♪ It's only by the blood, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ It could've only been the blood, could've only been the blood ♪ ♪ It could've only been the blood, could've only been the blood ♪ From Kids Camp, so check this out. ♪ Last tomorrow, last tomorrow, last tomorrow, last tomorrow ♪ One, two, one, two, three, four. ♪ Last tomorrow, last tomorrow, last tomorrow, last tomorrow ♪ Powerful, isn't it? We can celebrate that. God is doing incredible things in our kids and students and man, it's just, it's powerful. And it reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 18, verses three and four, when he said to his disciples, "'Truly I say to you, "'unless you turn and become like children,

"'you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. "'Whoever humbles himself like this child "'is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'" You see, kids don't hold their excitement back. When they know something is good, they go after it with their whole heart. And honestly, as adults, sometimes we lose that wonder. Sometimes we come into moments like communion distracted. Just make it another part of the routine, something else that we do. And sometimes we even rush moments like this. That video should be an incredible reminder that we should have the same passion, the same excitement when we approach Jesus in any way because he is the only one that deserves that type of excitement, that type of worthy praise. He is the only one who deserves it. As we take communion, we remember what he has done for us, his body being broken, his blood being shed for our forgiveness. CCV, the cross changed everything for us. So today, as we take communion together, let's come into it with childlike faith and come with the same joy and excitement as those kids as they were singing the name of Jesus. Let's come with this desire to be near Jesus. Let's come with wonder and let's remember what he has done for us. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're so grateful that we're here

and Father, we see what you're doing in the life of our kids and our students and Lord, we want that. We want that excitement, we want that wonder, we want the awe that every single time we come into your presence, Father, all we can do is celebrate and be grateful for what you have done. Father, thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for his sacrifice. It is in his mighty name that we pray. Amen. intuitive instrumental music Well, summer is here and we know that a lot of you guys have summer plans are going to be on road trips, family vacation, visiting family, and our challenge to you during the summer season is very simple. Stay engaged. And we've made it extremely simple for you to do so through our CCV mobile app and our CCV website. You can schedule your giving to come out automatically when you're away and continue to support what God is doing in and through his church. Now this summer, we have incredible series planned and we do not want you to miss them. Okay, so if you're in town, we would love for you to be out of campus. Make sure you're here engaged. However, if you are on vacation, at a cabin, at the beach, hotel room, wherever it is, if you're at the beach, make sure I'm there with you. But wherever you find yourself, you can join us live CCV.church. Our services go live during our regular service times. We want you to be with us. And here's the thing, again, don't just simply watch the service.

Engage with us. Jump into the chat room. Let us know where you're watching from. Let us know which campus you're from. And if you need prayer while you're away, our team is here and ready for you. Just let us know. We would love to pray with you and for you while you're out of town. Again, CCV, we do not want you to miss what God is going to be doing this summer in his church. And one of those great series actually starts today. We're starting a brand new series called Wisdom. And we're going to be exploring the book of Proverbs. Our teaching pastor, Mark. more has a phenomenal message for all of us. So let's join him right now. All right. You're going to fail, but the important thing is that you keep trying. All right. Try again. It's important that good roots have good soil. Good job. Hey, remember, we don't skip any steps, right? Not on time, and I'm just managing it all by myself. Hey, we're not meant to do this alone. So since we're in church, we don't do this a lot around here, but I thought since we're in church, maybe we could have a time of corporate confession. I'll start. Has anyone this week said something like this? It could be like at your home or on the freeway or at work. Something to this effect, and I'll just tell you right now, I said it last night on the 101. What an idiot. Anyone? You can raise your hand if you like. If someone next to you should be raising your hand, feel free to point. That's okay. It's allowed. Or poke. That's okay, too. I know we're not supposed to say things like idiot. How stupid can you be? Remember, that's an option. No, your mama told you better than that, right? So here's what

we're gonna do. We're not gonna call people idiots. We're not gonna call people dumb or stupid or anything like that. We're gonna use a biblical word. Fool. It's in the Bible. In fact, Jesus used it of people. Some people are fools, and we're just informing them of the fact. And there's plenty of that to go around. Remember, does it seem to you like there's more foolishness now than ever before? On the 101. At work. Maybe you're in your front yard, minding your own business, and you hear, it sounds like a swarm of bees, but it's not a swarm of bees. It's an electric bicycle going twice the speed limit on one wheel. Idiot. Fools. There's so much of it going around, and I wonder sometimes, like, are we just getting dumber and dumber? Actually, we know so much more than we ever have known in the past. We should know better because the increase of knowledge, and sociologists have tried to quantify this. It's not an exact science, but according to sociologists, from the Renaissance until 1900, knowledge doubled approximately every 100 years. By 1945, our knowledge was doubling every 25 years. By 1980, it went down to 12 years. And in the 90s, we got this new invention called the Internet, and so by 2000, it was doubling every 12 hours. But we don't live in the year 2000. We live in 2026. And we don't just have the Internet, we have AI. It is impossible to prove, but some have guessed that our knowledge, our information, is doubling not every 12 hours, but every 12 minutes. If we know so much more, why are we seemingly getting more and more foolish? How is this possible that we know more but are living less? And some of you need wisdom like bad. Now, there's a 30-something woman, and you'd like to be married someday, and you're trying to date in a godly way in a godless world. You're trying to find a man who will be a spiritual leader of your family, and you just can't find him in the bars. It's uncanny. We need wisdom. There is a high schooler that just graduated from high school this week. Congratulations. But now you've got to go off to college. And which college is right for you? You're still waffling. You need wisdom. And which degree program is right for you? You're still waffling. You don't know. And you don't even know if college is even right for you. We need wisdom. There is a woman who is an

executive, and like your career right now is in full stride. You're killing it. And at the same time, you're an empty nester. but your parents are fading, so now, as an empty nester, killing it in your career, you're having to care for aging parents, and there are no good answers. What do you do in taking the car keys away from Dad? Do you put them in a home? Do you bring them into your home? These are difficult conversations. There are young couples right now in the room, some of you are watching online, and you have your first child, or maybe it's your third or fourth, and they're about to go to school next year, and you're thinking, do I send them to a Christian school, a public school, or homeschool? We need wisdom for the lives that we're living. There's a couple, and you've loved each other for years, but you don't even like each other right now, and you're struggling. How do we get back to where we used to be? Do we give up? Do we go on? Do we go all in? Do we cancel? What is the wise path for us? And then we are struggling with wisdom. Here's the good news. God, in his wisdom, gave us an entire book of the Bible that's all about wisdom.

It's the book of Proverbs. And he wrote it, you know, to who? To his son. Now, if any of you have raised teenage boys, like, there's a joke coming, but I'm not gonna give it to you. You make that one up yourself. Like, if you've had teenage boys, you've got plenty. He had some teenage boys. One of them was gonna take over the throne. His name is Rehoboam, and what a fool he was. And so Solomon writes him this whole book, and it covers a range of topics, the same topics that we're going to cover in this series. Next week, I'm so excited for next week, we're gonna talk about character and how to have wisdom for character, to be the man or woman of God that you're called to be. The other week after that, we're gonna talk about wisdom for work. And some of you are like, Oy vey, I need that, because where I work is not a godly place, and I'm struggling. How do you make that deal? How do you get a promotion? How do you have that difficult conversation? These are the conversations we're gonna have, wisdom for character, wisdom for work, and then next week, Father's Day,

we're gonna talk about wisdom for families. So if you are a dad or want to become a dad or have a dad, I think that's all of us, you need wisdom for a family, because these relationships are not easy to manage. So the next three weeks is wisdom for, wisdom for character, wisdom for work, wisdom for families. This week is not wisdom for, it's what do you need for wisdom? What do you need so that you can posture yourself to be a wise person, to receive the wisdom that is on offer from God? And when Solomon wrote this book, he was smart, he's writing to boys, he portrayed wisdom as a woman. And I'm telling you, she's a hottie. She's a beautiful woman, dressed to the nines, who is enticing the boys. Come with me, come with me, follow me, embrace me, live with me. Of course, there's another woman in Proverbs, which is a topic for another day. She's not that kind of woman, and the boys tended to follow after her. And Solomon is saying, if you want wisdom, chase hard. Don't worry about getting money, chase wisdom. Don't worry about getting fame, chase wisdom. Don't worry about chasing women, chase wisdom. This is what you need more than anything else,

and this is my passion for our church, that we be a church of wisdom. Because it's not just for your happiness. For Rehoboam, it was about the kingdom of Israel, and he blew it, he destroyed the kingdom. What would you destroy without wisdom? As a church, if we lack wisdom, we're gonna destroy the witness of Jesus Christ. Not a kingdom of a country, but the kingdom of the world, if we are not followers of Jesus' wisdom that is on offer. So, what do we need to do to embrace wisdom? Here's the entire message in a single sentence. Worship is the foundation of wisdom. And you go, seriously? Like, I wouldn't have guessed that. I would've thought maybe study is the foundation of wisdom. No, we've studied, and we've got all kinds of increasing information, but a deficit of wisdom. Have you noticed how foolish people are all around us? It's not just the people in your neighborhood, it's not just the people at work or on the freeway. You don't even have to leave your phone to see how foolish our culture has become. You scroll into Graham, it's like, well, that's dumb. Foolish, idiotic. I don't know about your feed, but my feed is filled with bullies who are getting what's coming to them. Karen's who get put in their place.

Now, if your name happens to be Karen, I'm not talking about you personally, so you don't need to write me an email. Unless, of course, you are a Karen who's named Karen, and then go ahead and write me an email because my delete button needs some extra. We have the foolishness all around. We got DIY projects on the Instagram that go terribly wrong. Yeah, that's not gonna go well. So you get off the gram and you watch the news. That's no better. There's much foolishness there. So you get off the news. I'm just gonna entertain myself. So you go to Netflix or Prime Video and you just go dumb, dumb, dumber, dumberer. Dumberer. It's foolishness everywhere. And what I'm about to say is not a compliment. It's not a compliment to you, it's not a compliment to me. But I realize that whether I'm talking about Google or Facebook or Instagram or the news or even Prime Video or Netflix, all of those are driven by algorithms that know me better than I know myself. And you can deny it all you want. I don't wanna see all that idiocy. You kinda do. And so maybe, maybe the confession that we start with today

is not confession of someone else being a fool, but maybe we would confess that I'm a bit of a fool. And I need the wisdom of God to lead the life that I really want to lead. So what is that going to take for us? Worship is the foundation of wisdom. So what actually is worship? Worship, this is my definition, worshiping God is, worship is recognizing who God is and who I am in his presence. You might think worship has nothing to do with wisdom, but it actually does. And this will explain why there's a gap between the information we have and the wisdom that we have. I'm gonna take you on a journey back to the Garden of Eden. You might not even be a Christian today. Maybe you're a pre-Christian or maybe you're a seeker, maybe you're online. We're delighted that you're here. And you might be asking, what is it that, why is worship the centrality for getting wisdom? Do you remember chapter one and chapter two of the Bible? God creates the heavens and the earth. And it was beautiful. By chapter three, we've screwed it up. And we screwed it up because there was a tree in the middle of the garden. And God says, you can eat of any tree of all the garden. Like it's all yours, except for this one tree. Don't touch it.

Don't eat from it. So what did Adam and Eve do? They ate from it. Say it out loud if you know the name of that tree. It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There in the beginning lies the problem. They wanted their information to increase. Why? Well, the temptation from the serpent was, if your information increases, if you get knowledge of good and evil, then you will be like God. We have this illusion that if we know stuff, we'll be able to control stuff. But you can know all about the weather and not control it. You can know all about your spouse and not be able to control them. You can know all about your kids and not be able to control them. Information is not control, but we have assumed that it is. And we've assumed that I would actually be a better person to be on the throne of my life than God. So Adam and Eve, they ate the fruit and they pushed God off the throne of their hearts and put themselves on the throne. Listen, God made you to be a worshiper. You're not gonna not worship. Your choice is not whether to worship or not to worship. Your choice is what you will worship. And you will either worship God

or you will worship something else. But you are going to worship. And if God is not on the throne of your life and you're up there with all the information you have, you still will lack wisdom. That's why there's this gap between the information we have and the wisdom that we have. So what is it going to take to be the kind of worshiper that actually postures themselves to see who God is, who you are in his presence, and get God's wisdom? The foundation of this kind of worship is, I'm gonna let you guess here for a second, is an emotion. When you worship God, there's one emotion in the Bible connected with the worship of God. And some people say, well, it's gotta be love, right? Because God is love. Actually, it's not. Now, God is love and God is loving. And you may feel loved while you worship, but that's not worship. You say, okay, well, it's gotta be peace then, right? Because I worship God and I feel peace and there's a sense of connectedness. No, it's not peace either. Well, there's gotta be joy. Because the joy of the Lord is my strength and I worship and I throw my hands up and I sing songs. And look, singing is a great tool for worship,

but it's not worship. Worship. We call it a worship set or a worship time, but the fact is, it's just a tool. And worship doesn't happen while you're singing, or worship can happen while you're singing, but singing is not the act of worship itself. The only emotion connected with worship in the Bible is fear. And you go, wait a second, I don't have to fear God because the Bible, doesn't the Bible say that perfect love casts out fear? It does, 1 John 4, but it's in the context of judgment. You don't fear judgment, but you do fear God. In the same way, you don't fear God in the way that you would fear like a home invader or a rattlesnake. You fear God the same way a four-year-old would fear a father. They know dad loves them, they know dad's gonna protect them, but dad's a lot bigger than me and I fear him. And when he disciplines me, I am scared because he is righteous and I am not. That's the kind of fear. Maybe it's a fear of a coach or fear of a CEO, a person who has control over your life. You know they want the best for you. You know that they have your best interest in mind, but you still fear them, why? Because the power they have. We fear God like we fear lightning.

Lightning strikes and you jump, why? Because it's gonna strike you? No, it's already struck. You don't fear lightning because it's gonna strike you, you fear lightning because lightning is fearsome. And our God is the God who made the lightning. In the book of Proverbs, there's a choral refrain. I'm just gonna read one of them, but this is the core of wisdom. When Solomon tells us, get wisdom, get wisdom, get wisdom, it starts with this, Proverbs 9, 10. The fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom, knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. That's where our wisdom begins. And here's why, because we've pushed God off the throne and we've sat on this throne, we've made a mess of our lives. Our marriages struggle, our parenting struggles, our work struggles. Then we need the wisdom of God to lead our lives better, but in order to do that, we have to get off the throne and put God back on the throne of our hearts. Only when He is in the center of our lives will everything else orbit around it in proper perspective. So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What if you don't fear the Lord? What if you decide, I don't need to fear God? I've got all the information I need. What happens when you don't fear the Lord? You might say, well, I don't wanna fear.

I wanna live my life with confidence. I don't wanna fear anybody or anything. Not possible. When you don't fear the Lord, you don't become fearless, you become fearful. Because instead of fearing the God creator above you, you begin to fear everything else around you. A broken relationship, a broken vehicle, a broken dream, a broken heart, a broken body. All of that is fearful if God is not on the throne of your life. So you don't have a choice of whether you'll fear, you just have a choice of what you'll fear. You don't have a choice of whether you'll worship, you just have a choice of what you will worship. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So first thing I wanna say is the foundation of worship is fear. Here's the second thing. The source of worship is your heart. Worship is not about what you do or where you go. It is about what you give your heart to. St. Solomon said this, guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. You might think that you come to church and you sing a song and so therefore you've worshiped. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. You've done a thing. You might think, well, I've tithed, that's worship, right? It can be, it can lead to worship,

but it's not worship itself. Worship is not what you do with your hands. It's not what you see with your eyes. It's not where you go with your feet. It's what you do with your heart and where you put your heart, where you put your trust, where you put your fear. So first thing I wanna say is the foundation of worship is fear. A second thing I wanna say is that the source of worship is your heart, but it's not just what you do. It's not just what you do with your heart. The highest form of worship is obedience. So you can feel with your heart all you want, but if it doesn't come out your hands and feet, it's not going to be the true worship of God. And this is where I think a lot of Christians get it wrong. We think worship is what you do on the weekend. service, and you worship at service, and you stand up and sit down and sing a song, and you give an offering, and you pray over somebody, you read your Bible and have a devotion. No, those are religious things that you do. But you can do all the religious things, but if you don't obey God in your heart, and give your heart to him in obedience, it's not true worship. It's just religion. The religious leaders of Jesus' day had the same problem. And I'm gonna read you the background proverb of this,

Proverbs 21 three, the Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifice. And so this verse was sitting in the Bible the whole time, and the leaders of Jesus' day, they're called Pharisees. They would be today like, well, me. They were Bible teachers, they were religious leaders, they showed up at church, they did their thing in the temple. They made sacrifices in the temple. They prayed their prayers in the temple. And almost everything they did, religiously, was for people to see. But in the hidden crevices of their heart, they were far from God. And so Jesus, he had a commentary about religious leaders whose obedience was for public show, not out of the fear of the Lord. Here's what Jesus said, and it's not nice. You hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce. So let me ask you a question. What if there was somebody at work right now that was stalking you? I hope that's not true, but it probably is one or two. And let's say that they follow you from work and they follow you to church,

and they're sitting behind you right now. And they're listening to what you just sang in worship. If someone from work or someone from the gym was behind you right now and watching you and listened to what you said about God, would they go, yeah, that tracks? Or would they say, who are you? If what you say in a service like this is unrecognizable from what you say at work or in your living room or in the gym or in your neighborhood, and that's not worship. That's a farce. And what God is calling us to is true worship out of fear of him and honor of him so that the lives we live represent what is truly in our hearts. So coming back to the original question, how do we do that? How do I recognize God for who he is and who I am in his presence? How would I do that? There's an activity or an action that would posture me to truly worship God, not in a church building. I mean, it could be in a church building, but in your home, in your car, at work, in the gym. Is there something you could do that would worship God in such a way that you would truly see him and see yourself in his presence?

I wanna give you a practical take-home exercise. This is portable. I wanna ask you for 30 minutes this week to do what I'm about to model. I came up with this model of worship decades ago. Think of me at like 23 years old, a young buck, I'm serving a church in San Antonio, a small church, south side of town, like 100 people in worship on the weekends. And we wanna do a prayer vigil. So for several days, there would be someone in the church building 24-7 for several days. I took the night shift of one evening, from two to four, then I'm gonna pray for two hours. And I decided that I would ask God for nothing. All I was gonna do is worship him. And I used the book of Revelation as a model. In the book of Revelation, there are these passages that are indented. And you can see it, you can see the margins are indented. That's because they're representing poetry or music. So we actually have a biblical model in Revelation of what to say to God in worship. And I've distilled it down to two sentences. And you can fill in the blank for both. Sentence number one, God, you are. Sentence number two, God, you have done. God, you are. God, you are lovely, you are holy, you are honorable, you're strong.

God, you have done. You created the world. You redeemed us with your son. You protect my health. You've given me my family. So what God has done and who God is. Now, for me. As a male, and I think a lot of the male species is kind of like this, this is a hint to you ladies, when you compliment a man that you are, like you are so sweet, that doesn't mean much to me. Sorry, I've never claimed to be a nice person. What means something to me, and to a lot of guys, is what you did, like recognizing what I did. Oh, the way you made that shot? Oh, I saw that, you made that goal, and woo! Tell me again, tell me again. You finished that project, and the finish on that was extraordinary, how did you think to do that? Come on, come on, love it. Or maybe you say at work, you brokered that deal, and I don't think anybody else could have done what you did, the way you did, it was excellent, and guys just go, you know why? Because guys love to be worshipped. And I don't think that is blasphemy, God made you like that. We call it compliments, but all it is is recognition of what you've done. Now, women often tend to enjoy, you are, you are sweet, you are tender, you're lovely,

you're valuable, you're an extraordinary human being. The way you care for people, these kind of compliments really reflect the kind of compliments that we want as men and women, boys and girls. This is, we are reflecting the very nature of God in us, so if you know how you like to be complimented, then you know how to worship God. All you have to do is finish the sentence, God, you are, and God, you have done. So what I wanna do right now is practice that with you so when you go home, you will know what to say to God. Not the exact verbiage, but if you run out of things to say, just go to the book of Revelation and look at the indented pieces, because these are the songs that were sung to God in the heavenlies. So as we do this, what I'd like to invite you to do is stand for the reading of God's word, a posture of honor, and we're going to learn how to worship God. So stand with me now on all the campuses, even you watching online, if you're watching on demand on a Stairmaster, you're already set to go. Otherwise, stand up in honor of God and listen to the word of God. This is from Revelation. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, the one who always was, who is, and is still to come. And as you pray through Scripture, this is a simple exercise that will expand

your vocabulary of prayer. Just tell God what you just read. God, you are holy. God, you're not just holy, you are holy in triplicate. Holy, holy, holy, you are set apart. You're above and beyond. You are majestic and royal and regal. You are lovely and beautiful and powerful and strong. You are holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. There is no kingdom that can stand against you. There is no force that can undermine what you're doing. There is no scheme of human beings or devils and demons that could undo your plans. You are the one who always was. Before there was time, you were there. Before there was matter, you were there. Before there were humans, you were there. You always were. You're the prime mover, the beginning alpha force of all things. And God, you are, you are right now. In this room, in my presence, you are here, and I recognize that you're here. I know your presence, Lord. I know that when I come across obstacles that I can't face, you're already on the other side of the obstacle. You're not just the one who always was and always is. You're the one who is to come. And tomorrow, you'll be there. And when I'm laying sick on my deathbed, you're there.

And the moment I pass the veil from flesh to eternity, you are there. God, you always will be. You're feeling, this is a simple exercise. Just read the text and tell God what it means to you. Here's another one, two verses later. You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you please. Lord, you are worthy. You're worthy. Whatever glory I can give, whatever compliment I give, or honor or power, you're worthy of that. Words cannot express enough who you are and what you are, what you deserve, because you created all things. The dandelions and daffodils, you created all that. The aardvarks and the zebras from A to Z, you created it all. You created 5,000 shades of gray. Who would have thought of that? that, the flowers you created, and the blending of bees and flowers, the interweaving of animals and plants, the whole cycle of the Earth's crust and the tectonic plates, from the microbiology to macro astronomy, God, you created it all, and you are far beyond anything I could ever ask

or imagine, God, you are all in all. You get the picture. Notice what I have not done. I haven't thanked God for a single thing. Because when you thank God, thanking is good, gratitude is great, but in pure worship, the focus is not on you. It's not on what you have. It's not on what you need. It is on him. 40 years ago, 23 years old, in the middle of the night, I'm in the middle of this church, and no one else is there but me and God. And I decided for the first 30 minutes, all I'm gonna say is, God, you are. The next 30 minutes, all I'm gonna say is, God, here's what you've done. It took 15 minutes. I was on my feet for 15 minutes. I was flat on my face for the rest of the night. Because the appropriate posture of worship, you can stand and raise your head, that's cool, but when you really worship, he will drop you to the ground. When Abraham saw God and really saw him, he fell down on his face as though dead. So did Moses, so did Ezekiel, so did John the Apostle. The awesome presence of God will floor you. Here's one more verse.

They sang in a mighty chorus. And I want us to do that together on all our campuses. I wanna invite the bands to come out, and they're gonna take over worship and music and allow music to lift up our praises and worship of God. Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Jesus, you are worthy of all of our praise, all of our honor, because you didn't just come to earth and walk where I walked. Jesus, you died where I should have died. And it hadn't been me, I would have been in the grave, but you didn't stay in the grave. You rose from the dead. Jesus, you are the omnipotent creator God who gave himself for my sin. And for that, I am immensely in your debt. There's no way I could ever repay you except with the praise on my lips. That's all I have to offer, is these words and these sentiments that recognize who you are. And Lord, I recognize full well who I am in your presence. I know, Jesus, that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. I do fear you. I'm not afraid of you. I fear you, I revere you, I honor you,

because I know, I see how powerful you are and how sinful I am. I see, Jesus, that my heart has sat on the throne of my life and I need to give it over to you. So I just wanna offer this to you. Sit on the throne, be my Lord, and I will obey you and plead with you for divine wisdom to lead those passages of life that are so confusing to me. I wanna ask you to take this home. I'm asking for 30 minutes this week where you do what we just did. And if you do, you will, because God wants to give it to you, you will find the wisdom of the Lord. Let's worship together. ♪ Oh, we give you glory, Lord ♪ ♪ A cry of creation ♪ ♪ Responding in worship ♪ ♪ A fresh revelation ♪ ♪ The rhythm of heaven ♪ ♪ And holy are you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, holy are you, Lord ♪ ♪ I'll spend all my days ♪ ♪ Finding every way to see you, Lord ♪ ♪ Are you, Lord ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Holy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ Holy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ I'll spend all my days ♪ ♪ Finding every way to see You whole ♪

♪ Holy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ Worthy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ Worthy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ Heaven's throne belongs to You, Lord ♪ ♪ Worthy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, creation sings ♪ ♪ Every knee shall bow ♪ ♪ Every tongue confess you are the Lord ♪ ♪ You are worthy, so worthy of our thanks, yeah ♪ ♪ You're worthy, oh, we adore Thee, come on, we adore Thee ♪ ♪ We adore Thee, yeah, we adore Thee, we adore You Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ We adore Thee, we adore You, adore You, we are, oh Lord we adore Thee ♪ ♪ We adore Thee, we adore You Lord, You are holy, you are righteous ♪ ♪ And holy are You, Lord, holy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ And I'll spend all my days finding every way to see You, holy are You, Lord, so worthy and worthy are You, Lord ♪ ♪ Worthy are You, Lord, oh, the heaven's throne belongs to You alone, and worthy are You, Lord, and holy are You, Lord, yeah ♪ God, You're the Alpha and You're the Omega. You're the beginning and the end, and You are worthy of it all. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Hey, if you need prayer, we have volunteers who are ready to pray with you. If not, have a great weekend. We'll see you next time.