Worship Wins the Battle

Put your hands together. Let's celebrate what God did during worship today. I wanna welcome you to church today. It's already been a great time and the presence of the Lord. And today I am continuing our Foundations of Faith series. And today we're gonna look at the topic of worship. Worship. Throughout this last month and in this coming month, we're deliberately taking a look at certain key parts of what it means to be a follower, a Christ follower, or a follower of Jesus. We've talked about what is salvation and what is baptism and why do we pray and when we fast, come on somebody. Today we're gonna take a look at the topic of worship. And today's message is gonna be a lot more teaching than preaching. So just like you saw in the video, you're gonna want your Bible and you're gonna want something to take some notes on. So go ahead and settle in. Find in your Bible second chronicles chapter 20. Second chronicles chapter 20. That's a hard one to find. It's in the Old Testament, first several books of your Bible. While you're turning there, I'm gonna give you some context about what's happening here. So first and second chronicles are books in the Bible

that are telling the history of different kings throughout the nation of Israel, right? And so the story we're gonna look at is the story of King Jehosephat. Try to say that three times fast. King Jehosephat. He's actually one of the better kings. He's trying to strengthen and encourage the people of God and he's trying to point people back to who God is. And so the kingdom of God, Israel, right? The kingdom was split into two, Jerusalem and Judah. And so there was a war that was happening and where we're gonna pick up this story, you had three surrounding countries that had all converged together to go to war against the people of God. And so I wanna read to you second chronicles chapter 20, beginning with verse 12. Here we go. Our God, will you not judge them? This is King Jehosephat. For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. You should underline that in your Bible just like it is on the screen. Anybody ever said that? I don't know what to do, God. But my eyes are on you.

All the men of Judah, with their wives and children's and little ones, stood there before the Lord. Then the spirit of the Lord came on Jehazil, son of Zechariah, the son of Beniniah, the son of Jael, the son of Matiniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph. Those are some hard words, you should be clapping and saying amen because I just read them all. All right. As he stood in the assembly. And Jehazil, verse 15 said, listen, King Jehosephat, and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem. These are the good guys. This is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God. Say amen? I would say that to somebody in the room today, somebody at one of our campuses today. For the battle is not yours, but God's. In fact, right in your Bible, Exodus 14, 13 and 14. It's the exact same thing that is said in Exodus chapter 14. The Lord will fight for you. You need only be still. It's a common theme throughout scripture.

16, tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the pass of Ziz and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the desert of Jairil. You will not have to fight this battle. There it is. Take up your positions though and stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you. Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. She's repeated it several times. I'm going to repeat it to you several times, journey. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Go out and face the enemy tomorrow and the Lord will be with you. If you get nothing else out of today's message, would you go into tomorrow facing everything the world would try to throw out you and remember the Lord will be with you. So Jehoshaphat, once he heard this, he bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem also fell down in worship. In worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the K and the K stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel with a very loud voice. Early in the morning,

they left for the desert of Tacoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah, and people of Jerusalem. "Have faith in the Lord your God, "and you will be upheld." Amen? "Have faith in his prophets, "and you will be successful." And after consulting the people, King Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying, "Give thanks to the Lord, "for his love endures forever." Verse 22, "As they began to sing and praise." Come on, somebody, worship changes the atmosphere. The Lord set ambushes against the men of Aemon and Moab and Mount Sierra, who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The Ammonites and the Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Sierra to destroy and annihilate them. And after they had finished slaughtering the men from Sierra, they helped to destroy one another. Did you catch it? They all, the enemy all took out each other. They all just turned on one another. They were thrown into confusion and chaos, and they took out one another. When the men, verse 24, of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and they looked

toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground. No one had escaped. The word of God for the people of God, amen? Amen, amen. We pray with me, Heavenly Father, I pray that you would put your anointing on this message, on this word. There's nothing I need to do other than be your mouthpiece. So Lord, I pray that the words of my mouth, God that the meditations, the thoughts in our hearts and minds would be pleasing to you. God, help us to hear what you want us to hear so we can apply what we need to apply. You're our rock God, you're our redeemer God. You're our rescuer God. The battle is yours, God. We trust in you, God. And everyone said, amen, amen. Amen, amen, amen. Amen. For those of you that are taking notes, if you're wanting a sermon title, here it is, worship wins the battle. Worship, it's worship that wins the battle. Not a great military strategy from King Jehosephat. He bowed down and worshiped. Worship wins the battle. Look at your neighbor telling, worship wins the battle. But the question is, who or what are you worshiping?

I'm gonna show you a couple pictures of worship. Some of you, you were at church yesterday. You worshiped like these guys. You had your hands lifted. You were cheering and celebrating. Probably some of you louder than you worshiped a few minutes ago. And some of y'all, you worshiped like this one. Like the people at the New York Stock Exchange. Hands lifted high and your faces look like their faces. Because you show up worshiping Jesus, but you really deep down, if you're honest, you worship your bank account, because what you give your attention and your affection and your resource and your time to is what you worship. Some of you, you were at church the other day and you worshiped this. You worshiped a political leader. You were worshiping President Trump, the local mayor. You were worshiping the local government. Oh, we need an answer for what's happening in the economy. And we stand on our feet and we pay so much attention to what this man would say instead of what the word of God says. And some of us, we go to a concert with 96,000 people and we worship and I don't know if this is church 'cause it looks like church, but that's not Jesus, that's Taylor Swift. And there's nothing, listen, I am not bashing Taylor Swift. I'm surely not bashing President Trump or the Buckeyes or the, thank God,

Please hear my heart. I am not upset at people who pay attention to or who support the Buckeyes, the government. We should pray for our governmental leaders. We should be mindful and smart with our investments. My God, we should enjoy ourselves at a game. And listen, in 2014 I was there in the super dome when Ezekiel Elliott for the Ohio State Buckeyes ran 75 yards down the throat of the Alabama defense and I loved every minute of it. And I teared and I screamed and I lost my voice and I sat down and the game was going on and the Lord spoke to me and he said, Phil, don't you ever worship the Ohio State Buckeyes with more passion than you worship me. That's why I get excited. That's why I'm on my knees. You ever see it? That's why I lift my hands. I'm not putting on a show as much as I love the Buckeyes and as much as I love our country. And there's nothing wrong with going to a concert. Just be careful that. You don't worship louder and more those things than King Jesus. Amen, can we testify? Amen, come on. We're all worshiping something. We're all worshiping someone. See, worship is a decision before it's a feeling.

You should write that down. I decide to worship. Sometimes I come into church and I'm excited. And sometimes I come into church and I'm exhausted. Well, sometimes I come into church and I'm grateful. And sometimes I come into church and I'm grieving. Sometimes I come into church with anticipation where you hear Thursday night at Code Red. And sometimes we come into church with anxiety. We don't worship because we feel like it. We worship because God's worthy of it. Whether we feel like it or not. God's worth does not change based upon my emotions. See, worship, write this down. Worship is a response. It's a response to who God is. It's not simply how I feel. And let me just make something clear 'cause I don't wanna confuse anyone. We don't worship God because he's insecure. He's not up in heaven like it's been six days since they worshiped me. I feel like maybe I could use a little stroke of my ego. No, no, no, no, no. There may be other people, other entertainers, other sports personalities, other political leaders that need that kind of worship, but our God is securing it of himself. And he's sovereign, so Pastor Phil, why do we worship him then? Well, because worship puts us in the right position before God.

Worship says God, I trust you. I lift my hands in surrender even though I wanna keep my hands on and make it all happen. Come on, I lift my hands in surrender even though I'm still a little bit scared. I worship you God because you're worthy even though I feel worthless right now. See, worship puts us in a position to say God, you're God, and I'm not. And I can't make sense of it, and I don't know how it's gonna play out, and I don't know what to do, but thanks be to God that the battle is yours. It's not mine, I give it to you, Lord. See, worship is powerful. Worship, it's not just a sermon title. I've lived it. Can anybody raise their hand and testify that worship wins the battle? We worship when we're worried. We worship when we feel like it. We worship when we're not. Worship is how we win the battle. But listen to me, listen to me. Told you I was gonna teach you today, so here we go. Worship begins when we remember who God is. That's what King Jehosephat did in Second Chronicles. He saw the enemy, and he prayed to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. He remembered.

See, sometimes the best way to worship is not to sing louder or lift your hands higher, it's to remember what God has brought you through. Come on, what he saved you from, the promise that he's kept, the battle that he's brought you through. We gotta remember who God is. He's faithful, he's sovereign, he's present, he's worthy, he's good. He's for you, not against you, he loves you. He's not all together like, the one that neglected you, the one that didn't show up for you, the one that didn't keep his word. I am so sorry, but that is not our good good father. He is always on time. He is always faithful. He always shows up. God speaks through Jehseal in verse 15. And God, the Lord says through Jehseal, the prophet, do not, I'm telling it to you today, friends, do not be afraid or discouraged because of the enemy called cancer, because of the enemy called diagnosis you're walking in, because of the enemy called your debt, because the enemy called another week without a job. Don't be discouraged. You keep worshiping. You just keep worshiping. You keep leaning into the Word and worshiping. The more you're in the Word, the less you'll worry. The more you're worshiping, the less you'll worry. You can't worry and worship at the same time. I love that God acknowledges through Jehseal the size of the army, right? Here's what it shows me. You and me, we can acknowledge what we're facing without allowing it to become bigger than God in our hearts. You're not less saved. You're not less of a Christ follower, just because you're being honest. This diagnosis is not fair, but I trust you, God. This battle that I'm in for my health is not fair, but God, I believe you're a miracle worker. I still don't know what I'm supposed to do with my life, but I believe you ordain the steps of the righteous, God, that you have plans to prosper me and not to harm me, God. I still don't know if my grown adult children are ever going to follow you, God, but I know that when you train a child in the way of the Lord, when they were old, they will not depart from it. We can acknowledge the present reality while standing on the promise of His Word. Worship isn't denial,

it's perspective. You should write that down. Worship gives us perspective of how big God is and how little our things are. They're important, they're real. I am not minimizing bankruptcy, debt, or joblessness. Please hear me. I am not minimizing the diagnosis, the health challenge, the cancer. Man, some of you, under the sound of my voice, you've been going through it. I don't even think I could understand fully what you're going through, but what I can do is I can remind you that God is a way maker. He's a promise keeper, and when you don't have the faith to believe it, that's okay. You're not less saved. That's what the body of Christ is for. That's why I'm here saying to you, let me remind you. Let me help you to remember. It's okay if you don't have it in yourself right now. Let me hold your hand up as you worship. That's why community matters. So let me ask you, what has become bigger in your mind than God is in your heart? It's not rhetorical. I'm a pause, and I want you to write something down, everybody. Either take out your phone and open an apple note, text a buddy, text a friend. If you have a journal, write something out. Just take a second. Lord, show me the answer to this question for me. Don't overthink it. Engage with this message. Just say, "God, what has become bigger in my mind than you are in my heart?" It's okay. There's no condemnation. It's called being alive. There's temptation, maybe. There's lustful thoughts, maybe. There's anxiety. Maybe there's strife in your marriage. Maybe you're unclear if you're calling, your purpose, your future young person. Maybe it's just a general state of disappointment. I want you to write something down. See, there's power in acknowledging the truth, because then I could take the thing I wrote down. I can say, "God, I give this to you because you're bigger than it. I'm going to worship you through this. It's real, but I know you're good." See, worship begins. And in our story, it gets crazy. Something incredible happens. God speaks, we just read it through the prophet Jehaziel, and he says, "You won't have to fight this battle." Whew, that takes the pressure off, okay? Some of us, we need to stop fighting so hard because now it's become striving, which is sinful. It's okay to persevere, but grab ahold of God's peace, worship while you wait, pray while you persevere.

Don't worry, are you with me? Second thing I wanna show you, we see it in verses 17 and 18, I wanna show you that worship is a response, not a transaction. Look at it, 17 and 18, you will not have to fight this battle. Take your position, stand firm, and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don't be afraid, don't be discouraged. Go on and face them. I have a question when I was reading these two verses. Maybe you have a question. See, when I read scripture, I like to ask questions. I think through asking questions, we can learn something, right? Okay, so if they don't have to fight, verse 17, then why do they gotta go out? It's the same reason every single Sunday, friend, we say to you, come forward. Go forward to the altar, but God's gonna do it, not you. You gotta obey, you gotta demonstrate your faith, you gotta activate your trust, you gotta come forward, you gotta take your position, but you don't gotta fight. In fact, we ask you to come forward to take your position somebody at the altar so that you can surrender and watch God do what he does. Sometimes we don't come forward because we stay in our seats because we keep fighting and striving and struggling in our own selves.

And I know some of you, you don't come forward and that's okay, you give it to the Lord right where you are, but there's something about what happens in second chronicles when they come forward and the Lord meets them. See, these people in second chronicles 20, they worship before the victory. They praise before the breakthrough. It's really easy to be grateful after the blessing. It's some kind of faith to worship even before the victory. See, praise and worship, let me teach you something, praise and worship are different. They're both important. I'm preaching about worship, let me tell you what praises. Praise is when you say God you healed me, God you provided for me, God you answered my prayer. God thank you, God I bless your name, God you are good. Great are you Lord, praise. Worship is different though. Worship is, I don't understand, but I trust you. Worship is pushing through, I'm still afraid, but I have faith. It's both ends. Worship is like I lost something, I lost someone, but God I still trust you, I'm not gonna lose my faith. Worship comes from the deep part of who we are. Worship is because we're connected to a creator. See, I think sometimes in my life, I don't know if this is true of any of you, but sometimes in my life I'm guilty of having treated God in my worship like he's a vending machine. Like I get to put in my, well it used to be a dollar,

but it's probably like $5 now. I get to put my $5 in the vending machine and I get to like pick, do I want Oreos, do I want Cheez-Its, Lord I really love some chips a hoy right now. Listen, sometimes when we put that money in that vending machine and we shake it, anybody ever get a double blessing? You got the chips a hoy and the Hershey bar, you know what I'm talking about? And sometimes we treat God that way, don't we? Or like, well if I just worship hard enough, maybe he will. If I just serve enough, if I just give enough, but we don't worship to get something, it's not a transaction. We worship as a response to who God is, amen? Let me give it to you this way. Write this down or take a picture. Praise celebrates what God has done, his works. Worship responds to who God is, he's worthy. Both are good, we should praise God because of his works, because of what he's done. Praise God for Jesus, but we should worship God. Y'all do you see that sunset we had this last week? We should worship God just because he's an amazing, wonderful creator. And I've been thinking in my life, so I thought I'd share it with you. 'Cause there's some things I've been praying through, and I really want some circumstances to change.

Anybody, testify, raise your hand. I need some circumstances to change. I'm not gonna ask you what it is, but there's a situation or a circumstance. Lift your hand, okay, a lot of us, right? A lot of us. And I was challenged this week in my preparation, 'cause I was thinking, if God never changed my circumstance, would I still have a posture of worship? Like, how do I keep saying, God, you're worthy of my worship even though my circumstance doesn't change? So let me ask you, if God never changed your circumstance, would he still be worthy of your worship? And I hope that my answer is yes. I fight for my answer to be yes. It's easy to worship for me. It's easy for me to worship God because of what he does, but that's really more praise. It's hard, guys. It's hard to choose to worship God when I still have uncertainty. It's hard to still worship God when I'm, on year 16 or 17, believe in for a breakthrough. It's hard to worship God when things around me feel like a storm or a battle. But if we're gonna have a foundation of faith, we gotta choose to worship anyway. And how do we do it? Point three. We have to worship first, and then faith will follow.

When worship goes first, our faith follows. And verse 21, something struck me. I wanna show it to you again. After consulting the people, King Jehosephat, appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness and watch this. As they went out at the head of the army, singing, give thanks to the Lord, his love and curse forever. It's like me as the lead pastor saying, okay, journey, church, here's what we're gonna do. But I'm gonna let Ben go first. Because even though I'm the leader, King Jehosephat, even though I'm the leader, I'm gonna have the worshiper go first. And this is the picture I want us to have. I'm gonna worship before I have a picture of clarity. I don't know what to do, God, but my eyes are on you 'cause I'm gonna worship. And I don't know, I feel like there are so many of us in our church that we feel like the army of Judah. We feel surrounded on all sides. We feel like our hope is waning and our courage is growing weak. And we're trying to lift a song of worship. (gentle guitar music) But we're surrounded on all sides with battles that we didn't ask for. And we don't know what tomorrow holds, but we know God holds tomorrow.

We haven't seen the breakthrough yet, but we know God's got the battle. And so what we wanted to do is, we wanted to invite Pastor Ben out. You know, my wife asked me recently, how come at the end of the message you always have the musician come out and they play something? I was thinking it's 'cause they're probably trying to tell me I'm going too long and I need to wrap it up. Some of y'all laughed, I don't know how to take that. Am I, I won't be offended? My offense is an event, being offended is a choice. Choose not to be offended, I'm not offended. Maybe I should get out of the way and let you worship. Maybe I should allow you to respond to the Lord. Maybe when you feel surrounded, I should just defer. And I should just say, hey, Pastor Ben, enough talking and enough preaching, can you just lead us in worship? Can we just practice what we've been preaching about? (upbeat guitar music) ♪ Hear me look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ I'm surrounded by you ♪ ♪ Hear me look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm surrounded by you ♪ ♪ Hear me look like I'm surrounded ♪ ♪ But I'm surrounded by you ♪ ♪ 'Cause this is how I fight my bad girls ♪ ♪ Oh, sing now, hear me look like I'm surrounded by you ♪

him he looked like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you him he looked like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight and i believe you've all there come and i will lift my song of praise for all you've done and i believe you've overcome and i will lift my song of praise for all you've done yes we're saying that i believe you overcome and i will lift my song of praise for all you've done this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight my battles this is how i fight friends this is how i fight my battles this is how our staff fights on your behalf every single monday we take those prayer and praise cards off the walls and the backs of our campuses and we we press in and we worship and we and we pray and we we drop to our knees and we lower ourselves we don't try to come up with some strategy we don't try to grab a hold of things we just lower ourselves we close our eyes so we're not distracted we open our hands and we say god we don't know what to do verse 12 second chronicles 2012 i don't know what to do said king jahoes of that but my eyes are on you but my eyes are on you at every campus we're going to sing one more time this is how i fight and i wonder if you would come forward and make an altar of worship on your knees or or maybe right where you are i invite you to to change this time this time it's not a transaction it's a response this time it's a decision not a feeling come on this time would you at every campus if you feel like this is your what you need to do drop to your knee maybe lift your hands maybe close your eyes

maybe come forward at the altar we don't need a prayer team right now we'll do that later this is just a moment for you to connect with your creator let's sing one more time it looks like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight ♪ ♪ And I believe you overcome ♪ ♪ And I will lift my song of praise for all you've done ♪ ♪ And I believe you overcome ♪ ♪ And I will lift my song of praise for all you've done ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight my battles ♪ ♪ This is how I fight ♪ - Could everybody at every campus stretch a hand? and some people stretch their hands towards the production team in the back of your room and some people stretch their hands towards people if they're kneeling at the altar. Father, we thank you for these worshipers. The ones in the back, the ones in the back room

and the production suite. God, we thank you for the creative team, the production team, the worship team. They lead us in the battle, God. Just like in Second Chronicles 20, God, right now through the laying on our hands, we stir up the gift that's been given to Pastor Ben Hubler. We bless him, we thank you God for him, we anoint him. We thank you for his courage. He says, if what's in my hand is a guitar and if what I can do is sing, then this is how I'm gonna fight my battles. I thank you, God, that he preaches with his instrument. He preaches with his voice. He lifts up the name of Jesus and not just him, God. I thank you for every worship leader, every keyboard player, God. I thank you for every guitar player, every drummer, every vocalist, every pro-presenter, camera operator, sound technician. I thank you for every light operator. I thank you, God, that we are not alone. I thank you that the days to come are better than the days that were. I thank you, that worship is our warfare. I thank you, I praise you, God, that this is how we fight our battles at Trinity Church. We fight our battles on our knees. We fight our battles, trusting and believing God. They you will show us the way forward,

trusting and believing God, that even when we don't know what to do, our eyes are on you. God, this, this is how we fight our battles. This is how we fight our battles. Because here's the thing, journey, church. Worship, I've been trying to tell you all message. Worship. Worship wins battle. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING] You