Worship is Warfare

It's Ephesians 4 verse 1 and we're going to say it together today. "Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling for you have been called by God." Come on, we believe that this morning. Oh, by God. And we've been in this series, Spiritual Warfare, for almost two months. I believe now this might go down as one of the longest sermon series we've done. Has it been helpful though? As long as it's been helpful, we're committed to it. Well, today is the last day of this series. And I want to make sure you get what God has. If you have a Bible, I want you to go to Second Chronicles chapter 20 to give context. The armor of God, the Spiritual Warfare series has been in. We've been breaking down the armor of God that's found in Ephesians chapter 6. But last week we added to that, we wanted to see what it looked like in action. And last week we went to Second Chronicles Old Testament chapter 20 and we discovered the power that happens through prayer and fasting. And in this situation, there is a king who's being surrounded by multiple enemies on multiple sides and he calls the people together. But let's be honest about what happens when he first sees the enemy. It says this, Second Chronicles 20 verse 3, "Jahosh at that, the king, was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord's help. It's nothing like a crisis that leads you back to the cross. And what we found last week is oftentimes God will use the chaos in our lives to become a classroom for our lives. And after verse 4, what happens is he gathers the people, they pray, they fast. A man gets a prophetic word from God, speaks it to him. And this was says in verse 18, "Then king Jahosh at that bowed low with his face to

the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord." And the Levites from the clans of Coath and Chorus stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout. If you thought what we just did was regulated to a legacy type of thing, it was biblical. When you're in the war, that's a great time to shout. And here's what I want to talk to you about for these next few moments that we have. I want to convince you to the best of my ability, but really, it's not even about me. I want the Holy Spirit to speak to you and help you understand this truth. Worship is warfare. Somebody say that, worship is warfare. And I don't care how masculine and alpha and stoic you are. I don't care how sophisticated and analytical you are. It's nothing like getting in a fight as you go beyond your personality type. And so today we're going to learn the truth and the biblical truth and the beauty of how worship is warfare. Let me pray one more time and then we'll let God do what God can do. Holy Spirit, I thank you. Thank you for everybody online, people in Texas and Casagrand and all over Arizona, all over the country, all over the world. I thank you for the people in this room in the overflow room. I thank you that you are doing a specific work in the minds and hearts of your sons and daughters. And so right now on behalf of them, I just say we surrender. Do whatever it is that you want to make us more like Jesus and less like us and Jesus thing we pray. Amen. You can be seated. Couple things I need to notify you on. Number one, I'm just grateful that every Sunday we gather, I consider it an honor and

a privilege that you would choose to spend your morning here, especially when you come in person to the Chandler campus. But I do want to just let you know a secret that you may not know. There's people right now in the auxiliary room. There's people, you know, really close to other people and they feel uncomfortable and they're having to like fix their face because they're like, yeah, I want to be in church. But there's room at eight o'clock. I just want you to know that. Just want you to know that. You choose to be in the auxiliary room or seated in a place where you really, but the usher may mean because you're a good Christian. You understand it's not about you. There's other people here. You comply. But if you come at eight, you can choose your seat. I don't say, I try to do my best, but the people say that the eight o'clock has the most anointing. That's what the people say. I will encourage you, especially next Sunday, next Sunday we're bringing in a guest, Pastor Tim Ross. And yeah, it's gonna turn up. And he has a podcast that reaches countless people. And so they're probably gonna come to 940, they're probably gonna come at this time, or the 1130. So if you really want a good seat without fighting for a parking spot and having to repent in the parking lot because you just cussed out somebody in your mind,

almost ran over our parking attendants. If you want some grace, come to the eight. And honestly, I would say this, this is gonna be our first mission trip, okay? We're not going to Nicaragua first, we're not going to Africa. I wanna challenge some 100 people to commit to going from 945 to eight o'clock. So you'll pay thousands of dollars to go build a well in Africa, but you won't just wake up an hour and a half earlier. I'm just saying you wanna be a missionary, live missionally. That's the mission's trip from not, that's beautiful. I love how they did that graphic. From 945 or 1130 to the eight. Here's the other thing, I got permission, they were trying to find me on this book 'cause I believe in you. If you come to the eight, free donuts. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, only at the eight, free donuts. Well, I can't get my kids sugar can. I'm just saying, double donuts for the kids. So, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right. Look, I'll have, next week, I'll be like, wait, where'd everybody go? Come back, come back, no. All right. I don't even, I was supposed to plug the men's advance, but it might be sold out by now,

but if it's not, we only have 15 spots left. So men, if you thought you were gonna wait until the week of, you playing yourself. Do not miss it, it's gonna be three weeks with God with some brothers, it's gonna be powerful. It's not, oh, let me pray about it. That's a dumbest prayer you could pray. Should I be in the community of brothers with God for three days? What'd I keep saying? - Three weeks. - I said three weeks? I'm over here speaking what I wish it could be. Like, you need me three weeks, it was just my dogs? (audience laughs) One day, no, that's a mission ship. Miss advance, three days, September, 17 through 19. You could register right now just to try to get your spot. Otherwise, you end up on a waiting list. But that's all I have, that's all I have. Okay. - Well, give us Jesus. - Not yet. Any athletes in here? Any, come on. Oh, this is the unathletic. Okay, well, just, I've already committed to this analogy. So you bench riders, just imagine this means something to you. Okay? They're in the auxiliary room, they're in the overflow.

So, so, so, this is a what? It's a basketball, and it's in the hands of an amazing basketball player. And in my hands, this basketball is worth approximately 75 to $180 brand net, all right? But instead of in Curry's hands, this same basketball is worth $535 million. Different hands, any baseball, softball, and my hands. This baseball is worth $54.99. But in Shohei Otani's hands, is worth $700 million US dollars. We don't even know what they doing on my back door going straight to like, that's just, different hands. Come on, 945. Okay, okay. Someone's like, I knew I liked this church. Okay. This driver, in my hands, brand new, it's worth $500. Honestly, it's depreciating once it goes in my hands. In my hands, it's a depreciating asset. I'm still praying for an anointing. But in Tiger Woods' hands, this same golf club is worth $1.5 billion. This might say different hands. But you know what, I'm not just an athlete, I'm an artist. And I found, sometimes. I don't wanna mess up their settings, but you know. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music)

[MUSIC PLAYING] That's literally the extent of my abilities. I poured it all out. Wayne, come on out real quick. Wayne is our music director. What I have found is that even if Wayne doesn't use the microphone, once he uses his hands, he shifts the atmosphere. All of a sudden, it just changes something. It's a different anointing and skill in his hand, same instrument, different artist. Here is my question for you. What is in your hands? Because whether you realize it or not, an instrument has to be placed in the artist's hands in order for it to be fine-tuned and to maximize its value, but the instrument that refuses to be played is useless. Let me give you a verse, y'all looking at me crazy, Romans 6, 13, do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God for you were dead, but now have new life. So use your whole body to do what is right for the glory of God. What is he saying? He's saying that you are an instrument in the hands of the perfect artist, creator, composer and conductor. But the problem is when you refuse to place your life, your instrument into his hands, you're useless. You're just making noise, not the music that he desires from you. But not only that, you are an instrument of war when you're in the hands of the lords of heaven's armies and any enemy that comes around you, all of a sudden has to bow down and back off because what God can do in and through you, if you allow yourself to be placed in his hands. And here's what I love about worship. When I choose to worship, regardless of how I feel, regardless of what I see, when I become

a worshipper, I become an instrument of war. But when I choose to become a warrior, when I choose to be a complainer, a criticizer, or a spectator, I become a casualty of war. So I want to highlight four tangible benefits that worship does in the life of a believer. And so today's going to be I need you to take out your phones or your notes or your journal if you're super spiritual because this isn't something that I just want you to feel. I want you to understand. So we want to walk through the practicality and the theology of worship in a few moments and my prayer is that it changes not just your perspective but your posture. The first thing, the first benefit that comes as a result of worship is revelation. Everybody say revelation. Revelation is not just the book in the Bible that nobody wants to read because they can't understand it, revelation simply means to be revealed to, to understand. And so here's what is beautiful. Look at Psalms 24 verse 7. It says this, open up ancient gates, open up ancient doors and let the king of glory enter. Who is the king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord invincible in battle. Open up ancient gates, open up ancient doors and let the king of glory enter. Who is the king of glory? The Lord of heaven's armies. He is the king of glory. It's interesting once you have a deeper revelation of God, you have, you begin to have a lower perspective of everything else. What do I mean by that? I think in our society, we have glamorized, if not idolized trauma. I had a traumatic past. I was in a traumatic relationship. I had a traumatic experience in school.

No teacher believed in me. They always said, I wouldn't do not do my life. They just said, you misspell words and you need to focus. They gave you a F because you failed that, not your a failure, you just failed that. But what we do is we're so obsessed with trauma, we neglect the one who's triumphed. And we don't have a revelation of the triumphant one, so we magnify our trauma and minimize the one who's chimed over deaths in the grave and everything else, but revelation. I get a greater revelation of how great he is. I love what the psalmist says, come magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. You know what it is? He's not saying, hey, let's hype him up 'cause we need to make him feel better about himself. No, it's saying, let's just see him as he is with a magnifying glass. So we got to get to see him in actual proportion. You ever been driving on the mirror, it says objects may be closer than they appear? That's what worship does. It's actually recognized that, oh, he's a lot closer than he appeared just in a book. He's a lot closer than I realized he appeared in that moment. I've been so focused on the giant. I've been so focused on the trauma. I've been so focused on the failure that I forgot he sustained me. He got me through. Yeah, my parents were flawed, but I'm still here.

Yeah, that relationship went sideways, but I'm still here. So like a greater revelation of who he is creates a greater worship. So it starts with a revelation, but then not only that, it opens the door to repentance or to say repentance. Job chapter, I'm sorry, joke chapter 42, verse five through six says this. "I had only heard about you before, "but now I have seen you with my own eyes. "I take back everything I said "and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance." Job had been gone through a very traumatic time, like a real one. Not like people attacking him on social media, like losing children and property and going through illness all at the same time. And he started to complain about it. And then God showed up and all of a sudden he had a deeper revelation. And he realized, you're still God, whether I feel like it's a blessing or I'm going through a hard time. You're still good. And he repented. And I think that's the beauty of worship is as we start to have deeper revelations of God, we start to recognize what am I complaining about? I'm still breathing. I'm still here.

I might be on a ventilator, but if I'm gonna be here, I'm gonna give him what he deserves. And so it led to repentance. But the third thing that worship leads to is yes, it leads to relationship, very say relationship. Relationship is powerful. Matter of fact, Psalms 24 says this, they will receive the Lord's blessing and have a right relationship with God, their savior. Such people may seek you and worship in your presence. Oh God of Jacob. Worship is often a reflection of our relationship. Have you ever been in a relationship with someone and you're like, you chose me? You swiped right on me? Have you ever just been amazed that they wanted a relationship with you? Maybe it wasn't even romantic. Maybe you're like, wait, you're choosing me? And I think when we worship, it just reminds us that yes, he chooses you. He wants you, will you choose him back? And so worship deepens our relationship. But the other thing that worship does is it ushers in revival, let's say revival. I love this, Isaiah 57, 15 says this, the high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the holy one says this. I live in the high and holy place

with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. Notice the structure, it requires humility, it requires repentance, but once you do those things, he says, I revive, I pour courage into those with repentant hearts. Revival is bringing something dead back to life. And so you can be going in a, or feel like you're walking through or living in a dead situation, a dead relationship. It can look daunting and deadly in front of where you're going. And the power of God through worship comes inside of you and out of you and he ushers and he's like, oh, I specialize in things that thought they were dead and bringing them back to life. I specialize in going into dead places. God isn't afraid of dead places. They just have to recognize he's bringing life to him. And so when we understand the benefits, like I get to live revived, I get to live in relationship, I get to choose to live in repentance, constantly coming back to God. I get to live with a fresh revelation. That all happens, the source of all that is worship. So I wanna teach you then how to participate in it. If you're like, well, how do I do it then? How do I get it? I'm so glad you asked. First of all, sing.

Sing Psalms 150 says this. Praise him in his mighty heaven. Praise him for his mighty works. Praise his unequaled greatness. Praise him with the blast of the Rams Horn. Praise him with the leering heart. Praise him with the tambourine and dancing. Praise him with strings and flutes. Praise him with a clash of cymbals. Praise him with loud clinging cymbals. Let everything that breeds seeing praises to the Lord. Praise the Lord. First of all, I love the fact that it's saying heaven is loud. And you're like, I don't know, it's really loud at legacy. No, this is just a portion of heaven. Well, why do they got to be so loud? 'Cause heaven likes it loud. But then he says, like, everything that has breath, seeing praises, I'm not really a singer. Are you a breather? You're a breather, you're a singer. And so he's saying, give it to God. Well, some of you are like, well, I just don't know the songs. I'm in spoken so much on that Morgan Walling concert coming up in the exact Luke concert and the Chris Brown and Usher concert. I'm getting ready for those and I don't really know these Sunday songs y'all be singing. It's okay.

There's a safe space in 945. Well, we want to help you. We actually created a legacy playlist that you can scan and listen to. So you always, here's what I would challenge you. Do it for the next seven days. Go seven days with just worship and praise music. See how it changes your heart. See how it changes your mind. See how it changes the atmosphere of your home. See how it changes your commute to work and home from work. Like worship changes allow it to revive you, allow it to build your relationship. But you can not listen to the game's new album for seven days. Because I really believe that God desires you to experience the benefits and then you'll be more inclined to participate. So sing. But don't just sing. Clap. I'm not a singer. You could be a clapper. Psalms 47 once says this, come everyone, clap your hands. Shout to God with joyful praise. There's power in a clap. Sometimes, you know, you want to insinuate something? I told you, you know, you clap. (congregation laughing) When a coach is trying to get their plate, they clap.

Why, it commands attention. And I think there's something powerful about commanding attention and saying, you alone are worthy of my attention. You alone are worthy of my adoration. Like he deserves a clap. Here's the third one, lift. Not even weight, this is easy. Just your hands. Psalms 134, O praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. You who serve at night in the house of the Lord, lift your hands toward the sanctuary and praise the Lord. There's something profound and powerful about the lifting of your hands. Yes, it can signify surrender, but it also can signify victory. I'm one of my favorite pictures is when the goat Kobe Bryant won a championship and he just lifts his hands. And just like letting Boston know, you're my kids. Don't act like you're a Celtics fan. Shut up, you're fake. That's fake offense. What did he do? But you know what would be awkward for someone to win a championship and be like, yeah, it was cool. Yeah, we worked hard all season, you know, gave it our best, lost a lot of good guys, good injury, trades, free agency,

but at the end of the day, we were champions. Grateful. You all right, bro? You sound like a loser. So lifting our hands is just saying, I align myself behind the victorious one. I know since he's winning, I'm winning. It's one of those where like, oh, the devil coming, hold on, stay right there. Hey, Jesus, he talking messing and he acting up again. He messed with my family again. Stay something now, you know, it just reminds you who you stand behind. And so we lift our hands in worship. Here's the next one. Dance. Look, all the Hispanics was like, I knew there was one for me. I knew it wasn't cultural, it was spiritual. I knew it. Psalms 149 says this, praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful. Oh, Israel, rejoice in your maker. Oh, people of Jerusalem, exalt in your king. Praise his name with dancing, accompanied by tambrian and harp for the Lord delights in his people. He crowns the humble with victory. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.

Let the praises of God be in their mouths and a sharp sword in their hands. I like that, saved but not soft. I'm a lifter, I'm a dancer, but let the devil know I will use the Holy Spirit in the word of God to cut up a demon quick. And what he's explaining. Like, look about who's saying this. This is King David who is as equally efficient on a keyboard or with a slingshot or a sword. And he's saying, both are worship. When I'm using my instrument to honor God, oh, I can dance. Here's the next one. A posture of worship is to bow, to bow. Psalms 95 verse six says this, "Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over the flock under his care." You know what I love about bowing? We've trained our prayer team. If someone comes the altar and starts bowing, don't rush over and start praying. Leave alone. Sometimes they're not broken, they're grateful. Sometimes people are bowing out of just, I can't believe I got that promotion. I can't believe I got that house. I can't believe that my kid came back. I'm just so grateful.

And it's an outward expression of an inward transformation and it honors the one who's worthy. And you know what I find interesting about when I explain how to worship in church, people are like, hmm, yeah, oh no, it's just not my personality. I'm just not, I was at a Cardinals game last night to support a friend and introduce my son and daughter to the beautiful game of football. And what blew me away is, first of all, it's loud. Clapping, shouting, chanting, singing, it's loud. They're dancing, they'll let the camera come on somebody. They're gonna hit the dances. And we're doing all these things. Let the team be at the third down, like, hey, we like, they get everybody's in unison. And I thought, how interesting, we have no problem worshiping men who do not know our names and cannot do anything to change our lives. But we've gone to these atmospheres where it's normal. I paid $65 and walked a mile and a half in the heap to go into a temple to support a friend. But I found it interesting that when we walk into this temple in your air conditioned car, or maybe at the ASL's off, but you gotta hear anyway, there's AC in here. And I had to walk a little farther than usual. And now they not letting me sit where I want.

And now they keep saying, sing with me, sing, no, you sing. I just wanna listen and pray, no, no, no, no. So we normalize it for the world, but we act like it's extra for the one who's actually I've seen grown men take their shirts off, paint their bodies, obsess over their fantasy draft for men who do not know them. But the God who formed them and created them and protected them, that's not really my thing. I'm just not my personality type. No, no, no, it's 'cause you choose you're already worshiping, you're just worshiping the wrong thing. You chose it to be an instrument for anything, but the one who actually is worthy of it. (congregation applauding) So it's funny, I'm teaching you how to worship the one who's worthy, but you actually do all these things anytime you go to a concert, anytime you go to, you know, that's my kid, that's my, I just cheer for my kid, your kid sucks, okay, first of all. (congregation laughing) But even if they're the greatest, how dare they think it's normal for people to cheer for them and they receive glory and not know how to redirect it back to God. I think it's dangerous when we normalize, idolizing and teaching kids, we're gonna cheer for you, the church is optional. We'll catch private jets to our kids, soccer games,

we'll do anything it takes to get to a football game, to get to their little softball game and they're playing half inning. But we wanna show our support, ooh, we wanna show our support. It's not enough to be like, hey, I'm with you in spirit, Jimmy, hit it out the park. We recognize that our presence requires participation 'cause we want to show our support. Why don't you learn how to show support for the one who's been supporting your raggedy, sinful, inconsistent, unfaithful, imperfect, but he still puts the fact you're not on life support, proves you should support, that's a good time to shout, that's a good time to clap, that's a good time to... (congregation cheering) That was an invitation to participate and not spectate. (congregation cheering) But lest we become professional performers, let me teach us now how to become worshipers, not just go through the motions of worship. Second Chronicles chapter 20, we're gonna go back to the war talk. army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tkoa on the way to Hoshaphat stopped and said listen to me all you people of Judah and Jerusalem believe in the Lord your God and you will be able to stand firm believe in his prophets and you will succeed after consulting the people the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army somebody say ahead of the army singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor this is what they saying give thanks to the Lord his faithful love endures forever okay I'll play Call of Duty a lot I've never put

the band in front of the Beretta like I've never I've never done that you put the band first not the Glock not the flamethrowers not the bazookas like you putting the band out first but that's why the Bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God meaning it's not we don't fight like everybody else fights and so we recognize that when I'm overwhelmed that's a perfect time to worship when I'm surrounded that's a perfect time to worship why because God can do more through my worship than my worry through through my through my strategy like if I would actually lead it through worship instead of my own understanding all of a sudden I get the wisdom of heaven not just well my this is why I spread she says and this is what the budget says and this is what the data says and this is what Claude says and they're like just start with worship put the worship out first and notice the order of events it started once he recognized I'm terrified I don't know what to do they started to worship and worship starts with revelation we said that but I want you to see it again even in the middle of an actual battle worship starts with revelation I have to have a understanding that this battle is not mine it's the Lord's so it starts with revelation but actually it really grew out of desperation worship grows with desperation it's nothing like when you're desperate when nothing else will work it is nothing like I can't buy my way out of this solution like I there's not enough money to change a diagnosis there's not enough money to heal my marriage matter of fact we were happier when we were broke so there has to be this this this moment of desperation that causes you to cling closer and closer to your heavenly Father and that's where your worship grows because then out of a desperate place it'll eventually to a thankful place but some of us have just because we actually in our mind think it doesn't take all that we're doing everything but the thing will actually war work so worship grows with desperation he said there's nothing else we can do we need you and so after consulting the people they put the worshipers out first the singers out first verse 22 says this at that very moment at the very moment they began to sing and give praise the Lord caused the

armies of Amon Moab and Mount Seer to start fighting among themselves the armies of Moab and Amon turned against their allies from Mount Seer and killed every one of them after they had destroyed the army of Seer they began attacking each other so when the army of Judah this is King Joseph that's army when they arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see not a single one of the enemy had escaped why because worship advances with declaration you just out here doing Asian words how do you prove that well it said at the very moment they began to sing and give praise the Lord caused put put the verse back up put the verse back up verse 22 at the very moment they began to sing and give praise the Lord caused the armies of Amon and Moab and Mount Seer to fight against you what does that mean it means that they weren't waiting on God God was waiting on them he was waiting on them to actually have a revelation actually to have some desperation he would advance but he wanted his people to get out the way I love how worship gets me out of the seat of authority and into the seat of I'm dependent it's just moving my seat it's reminding me who's actually in charge but all these people depend on me to make decisions and I got to do this and my family's been no no they need to know how to depend on God but they'll never see it if you don't model it and so once they sent the singers in front the moment they began to praise the Lord caused everything else to work verse 25 King Jehoshaphat They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables more than they could carry. There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all. On the fourth day, they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the Valley of Blessing today. Can you imagine three days

of just celebrating the goodness of God? Like, "He did this, and he did this, "and there's still this." Why? Worship spreads with celebration. That's why the psalmist says, "I was glad when they said to me, "let us go into the house of the Lord." That's why we start off every worship experience with joyful worship. 'Cause we know you're coming in here with your trauma and your attitudes, and you just fought with your spouse in the parking lot and all these dramas, and we're like, "This will be a joyful place." We're choosing to celebrate, regardless of how we feel. Man, it's 110 outside, and this is all it is. We choose to celebrate. And so, when you do that, it becomes contagious. You ever met a morning person? They're not real, they're not normal human. You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about the super perky show up to your house on moving day. Ready? Just perky, uncomfortably. You're like, I just felt like sulking a little bit longer. I haven't had my coffee. I haven't had, you know what I mean?

Like, I'm still, and they're just like, let's go, let's get it. Rise and shine. But you also recognize how unnatural it is to have something to celebrate for, and there's somebody. You ever been on a part and there's on one person just sitting in the corner? It's like, what's wrong? Well, I just feel like, you know, we're out here celebrating, but there's so many people out there that don't. Okay, we can't change them, but in here. And the beauty of choosing to be a worshipper is learning to be a celebrator, 'cause there's a lot to celebrate. That's why so many of the Psalms are give thanks, give thanks, give thanks, give thanks, give thanks, 'cause I'm trying to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Give thanks, give thanks, celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. 'Cause when I constantly choose to celebrate, I constantly get greater revelations of the goodness of God. And it's not forced, it's just, I magnify the right thing, not the wrong thing. Here's how I would say it. Worship changes your outlook before it changes your outcome. I found it really interesting, Moses, that in Second Chronicles chapter 20, verse three, it said, "Yahoshap that was terrified." But in Second Chronicles chapter 20, verse 26,

it says, "On the fourth day, they gathered in the valley of blessing, which got its name that day, because the people praised and thanked the Lord there. It is still called the valley of blessing today. What if the thing that terrifies you one day can be a valley of blessing the next day? It's the same valley. He looked at that valley and saw so many so he was like, oh, I messed up bad, bad, I don't know what to do. And then he prays, he fasts, he worships, God moves and all of a sudden it's the valley of blessing. Same valley, different hand. And I wonder if you would get your hands off of the valley and just lift your hands to the one who's the waymaker? If he could turn that valley of depression into a valley of blessing, that valley of frustration into a valley of blessing, that valley of it's not enough into a valley of my cup running over, like he can... Well, what are your hands doing? Their hands had to get off the swords and just lift them up. Here's what I wanna leave you with. I gave you the how to worship. I gave you what worship was, but I never gave you a why. And I think that's dangerous when you are incomplete, I'll say, when you have a how, you have a what, but you don't have a why. I wanna teach you why we worship. When my wife and I were about to get married,

our pastors had us read this book called The Five Love Languages. Anybody else ever read that? Five Love Languages. And we'll celebrate 15 years of marriage this Thursday. And yeah, she's so blessed and highly favored among women. But I remember when we were doing The Five Love Languages, they broke them down like there's, there's languages that you feel loved in. So, you know, physical touch. So, you know, physical touch. [MUSIC PLAYING] time words of affirmation it's been 15 years help me godly what are you doing participate yes oh for sure hallelujah is that five public school now sorry but what's interesting about the concept is that the same way that there's a language that your partner has to speak for you to feel loved there's also a language that you have to speak to them for them to feel loved so what I couldn't understand is like what do you mean I'm touching her all the time how does she not feel loved well physical touch was not her primary love language it was acts of service I'm like what do you mean I'm working I'm paying bills that's what you have to do but that's not serving her the way she feels loved so we had to learn that just because you receive love in a certain language doesn't mean your partner received love in that same language and you were inadequately and honestly failing at loving your partner when you refuse to love them the way that they're wired and you insist on loving them the way that you would want to be loved or what you feel or what your personality type is and I was thinking about that because not I was thinking about my relation with God I was like how arrogant and cold of me to only love him my way I want you to just imagine this imagine loving someone with your entire being like you you you fully love them you've done everything for them you were there for them when no one else was you

you did everything you could to show them and make them feel to show up and make them know I love you I'm here for you I want you I choose you and the response they tell you is thanks I like you a lot would that be cold like you're loving them with your all and their responses I like you a lot but I wonder how many of us have approached our relation with God from a place of arrogance and coldness because we regulate our worship according to what feels normal what makes us feel comfortable or us feel good or what how we feel like we're wired and we don't understand that we are not called to worship ourselves we're called to worship him and if he would love us with his all the least we could do is love him back the way he has already articulated what his love languages and scripture and the fact that you don't feel like it that's when the psalmist says that it's a sacrifice of praise and it's an acceptable sacrifice and when the Bible Jesus says the Father is looking for those who worship in spirit and in truth those are the types of worshipers he's looking for not the ones that have this arrogance that I did God if they were I showed up to church that you're welcome no it's the fact of he woke me up today thank you let me give you the five points of why we love Jesus or a lot why we why we worship God because he is worthy that's it because he's worthy no other explanation needed he's just worthy and what what blows my mind is that he would love me in spite of me knowing I would reject him knowing I would fall short knowing I would be inconsistent and yet he would send himself to die for me and as me not because I was worthy but because he said I was worth it God said that you were worth it and if he believes that you're worth it why would you not lead a life worthy of your calling by being a worshiper because he's worthy here's the question I want to leave you with today is my worship shaped by my feelings and my surroundings or by my desire to know God more what shaping your worship I don't know what other people think about me so you're allowing other people to dictate your worship newsflash they should think less of you and more of him the fact you come in here worried about impressing or making others comfortable but him uncomfortable is the problem that's idolatry you walked

in sinning because you're more focused on the surroundings here's what I want to challenge you with for the next seven days worship out loud pick the posture you never do sing clap lift dance bow and do it every day worship outside of your comfort zone worship in faith worship as a sacrifice let your kids see it let your spouse see it let your friends see it why why But because I don't want it to become a performance Sunday thing I'm just a worshipper. And perfect, but I placed my instrument into his hands and he calls it beautiful. Some of you may be wondering, whoa, I hear you, I get it, but like how do I start? Oh, I say it like this. If you wake up in the morning, you owe him a bow. If you have a roof over your head, you owe him a shout. If you have two hands, you owe him a clap. If you can move your feet, you owe him a dance. If you use your borrowed breath to say God, will you bless me? Will you help me? You better use that same breath to say God, I thank you 'cause you've already blessed me. You've already done exceedingly abundantly above anything I could have asked about or imagined. You alone are worthy, so if I could use this breath to complain or to ask for more, let me thank you for what you've done. Let me worship you for who you are. Let me use every breath in my love to pour out my praise.

Let's answer, what are they? Hey, if you're still watching at this point, I believe that it's not an accident. I believe that if you're feeling something in your spirit, that is God trying to get your attention and invite you into a deeper relationship with him. And so if you're ready to take that step, I wanna walk you through what that looks like. It's simple, we're gonna say a prayer together and it's just you acknowledging that you believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that you're willing to commit your life to following him and learning to what it means to be a son or daughter of God. So repeat after me if you can. Jesus, here I am, I believe that you love me, that you died for me and that you want a relationship with me. I acknowledge that I'm a sinner and I need a savior. And I'm committing to learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus. If I mess up, I will not quit because you've never quit on me. I invite your Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me in your truth from today on in Jesus' name, amen. Hey, we're proud of you. That's a huge decision and we don't want you to feel like you have to figure it all out on your own from this point. We have a value, a legacy that says we followed Jesus for ourselves, but not by ourselves. So I would invite you to text the number below,

follow the instructions and we're gonna send you resources so you can learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus and be on this journey of faith. Congratulations, your life will never be the same. - Thank you for watching. Hope you enjoyed the online experience. - Hey, if this message impacted you, make sure you like, comment, subscribe and share it with the friends so we can continue to share the gospel. Hey, here at Legacy Prayer is our priority. You have any prayer needs. You can send them to [email protected]. - If you'd like to financially partner with Legacy, then text any dollar amount to 84321. You can also download the church center app, visit our website at legacyaz.church, click on ways to give. You'll find links to support Legacy Church. - You can find us on social media. Otherwise, we got a love in it. - If we like Jesus. - We'll see you next week.