00;00;00;24 - 00;00;23;12
Speaker 1
Hey, welcome to the Project Church podcast. My name is Caleb Cole. I'm the lead pastor here at Project Church in downtown Sacramento, and we're so glad that you came to hear this word. We believe this is going to encourage you, build you up, and give you life. So get ready to receive a message from God.
00;00;23;14 - 00;00;54;00
Speaker 3
morning, Project Church, how's everybody doing this morning? You ready to worship the Lord through the word? All right. Well, that's what I am talking about today. We're talking about worship. And let me tell you, I was sitting in the back listening to you all sing, and it blessed me. And that is my case in point this morning, that our hope and our faith rises when we gather with the saints and we worship the creator.
00;00;54;02 - 00;01;18;07
Speaker 3
I don't know about you, but when they start saying that things come alive, dead things. I was like, let's go, I gotta fight him, I see it. And I sat over there and I was like, let's go. And I want us to understand, as I approach worship to this this morning, and as I talk about rhythms of worship, that this is not an emotional experience that we're going after.
00;01;18;10 - 00;01;47;29
Speaker 3
This is an invitation that we're responding to from our father to come worship him, because he knows that when you get in his presence, he's going to pour out his love, he's going to pour out his hope, he's going to pour out his peace. And that is the rhythm we're talking about today, responding to the Lord's invitation to be with him and worship, but not just say, hey, this is a me and God thing.
00;01;48;02 - 00;02;10;18
Speaker 3
This is this is what me and God experience. And this, that's my relationship with the Lord. No, Jesus is inviting him to be with himself through the body of Christ. He is not asking you to come to worship him alone. This morning you've come into this room to worship with the body of Christ, and there's power in that rhythm.
00;02;10;18 - 00;02;34;04
Speaker 3
Last week we talked about the rhythm of being in the word, and the word continues to instruct us that we are being formed into the likeness of Christ. And he does that through the body of Christ. Ephesians 415 through 16 says, rather speaking the love and the truth, and love, we are to grow up in every way, and to him who is the head into Christ.
00;02;34;04 - 00;03;08;01
Speaker 3
So who wants to mature in this place spiritually? Who wants to grow up? In verse 16, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, I would even say is worshiping properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love every rhythm and every habit that we have at the beginning of the year, I want you to understand it produces something in our lives.
00;03;08;04 - 00;03;32;06
Speaker 3
It forms us into something. How many people have had bad habits form them into a bad person? How many people know that when you're in the gym regularly, you feel better about yourself? When you're at church regularly, it makes you feel better right? You're are becoming formed into something. Your mind is being shaped into something. And what God is saying to us through these scriptures, through His Word.
00;03;32;06 - 00;03;45;23
Speaker 3
And it is right. He reminds us of in Scripture after Scripture that we are being formed into something when we're worshiping, not just the person we're worshiping, the people that we're worshiping with.
00;03;45;25 - 00;04;10;01
Speaker 3
So I hope that your habits and the new disciplines and the new rhythms that you're implementing to your life does not forsake the gathering of the saints, which is the scripture that Pastor Caleb read this morning to open up worship. I hope that your rhythms are not just helping you become your best self this year. This year, our rhythms should be helping us become a better follower of Christ.
00;04;10;08 - 00;04;31;10
Speaker 3
It should be making us become a follower who looks like the person they're following. We're not just out here trying to have rhythms that make us our best selves. We're out here trying to become more like Jesus. Let these rhythms mature you, let them build you up. And when you grow up, you know all my kids, they want my boys.
00;04;31;10 - 00;04;50;11
Speaker 3
They want to look like their dad when they grow up. They want to be as tall as him. They're praying, Dear God, help us be over six foot, I think is what the desire is. They pray it every week. Guys like not me. I'm fine with 510, you know. It's fine. It's like we're we don't discriminate against heights, but they want to look like their dad when they grow up.
00;04;50;13 - 00;05;10;10
Speaker 3
Can we stop saying that? I want to look like the best version of myself. The best version of ourselves is who God created us to be. And some of the things that we're after is the best version of ourselves here on this earth. But what we are meant to do as followers of Christ is die to ourselves so that we look more like Jesus.
00;05;10;12 - 00;05;37;15
Speaker 3
So this morning, how can we allow these rhythms to change us into someone that looks more like Jesus? It's through the rhythm of worship, and I think I have a parenthetical phrase after this. It's fellowship and gathering together. I don't know about you, but I was raised in a church where we had a fellowship hall. Anybody know a fellowship hall?
00;05;37;18 - 00;05;57;07
Speaker 3
Okay, this for me, a person who is used to going to Filipino weddings where we're dancing and we're partying after a wedding. Right. But when I went to this church in the Midwest that was primarily a certain color. It's fine. It doesn't matter. Some of you got it.
00;05;57;09 - 00;06;21;10
Speaker 3
I remember going to the fellowship hall, and we only had cake and no dancing, because that was of the devil. And then fellowship halls reminded me of just eating together and breaking bread together and being with other believers. And I think that's a great thing. And we're going to talk about that next week, is a rhythm that we need to talk about.
00;06;21;12 - 00;06;41;26
Speaker 3
But sometimes I think we've reduce our worship to gathering in a room and breaking bread with one another. Because, let's be honest, sometimes it's easier to just do life the way we do it with our coworkers, but do it with Christians and then call that worship. What I want us to do is that we gather with the saints and we worship and we sing together.
00;06;41;26 - 00;07;04;28
Speaker 3
We lift up our hands together, and we all put our eyes on Jesus, and we don't talk about the things of our life. We magnify somebody together. Sometimes we magnify Jesus in our own devotional times. But he says, don't forsake the gathering of saints. The saints don't forget about worshiping together. I want us to develop the habit of worshiping together.
00;07;04;28 - 00;07;29;18
Speaker 3
Because here's the thing over and over we tell you, spiritual formation happens not in isolation, but it happens with a community of believers. But I think so many of us are still trying to do our relationship with Jesus alone. We say we love God so much. We love him so deeply. But we quietly drift into a safe that doesn't require church.
00;07;29;21 - 00;07;53;04
Speaker 3
And maybe you've been hurt or disappointed by some people in the church, but why does worshiping Jesus is singing to him with other believers keeping you from doing that? Why why why should that keep you? Because somebody hurt to I get it, but when you're worshiping together, you guys are magnifying someone over your pain. That's what worship is.
00;07;53;07 - 00;08;18;29
Speaker 3
Maybe you've been disappointed by the church. Maybe you've been hurt by people in the church. But if you're actually worshiping, you're magnifying him over your fence. You're mad you can find him over your wounds. But what I think some of us have drifted into is that we want the benefits of faith without the burden of becoming something. And when we worship together, we're becoming more like Christ.
00;08;19;01 - 00;08;40;19
Speaker 3
But some of us are like, no, I'm hurt, and I only want to be with safe people. I want to break bread with them because that's easier. And the safe people are the people who might not be challenging you to confront the people who have hurt you, or at least be in the same space with them, and magnify somebody over what has been done to you.
00;08;40;22 - 00;08;50;10
Speaker 3
And here the early church gave us this example. Pastor Caleb talked about it last week. The early church was devoted to gathering together.
00;08;50;12 - 00;09;14;27
Speaker 3
But for us, for whatever reason, this world and the distractions of this world and the hurts of even those within the church have made us feel like gatherings are optional and worship just continues to become increasingly individual. I think God is calling us this year that our rhythm would be to continue to be together, to worship together, gather together.
00;09;14;27 - 00;09;36;13
Speaker 3
And yes, I'm talking about Sunday mornings and yes, I'm talking about prayer rooms. And yes, I'm talking about presence nights. Those are the moments where we're singing together and we're magnifying God together through song, through poetry, through testimony. There's so many opportunities for you to worship, not just Sundays. I would even say, come on a Wednesday we have prayer room 6 a.m., noon and 7 p.m..
00;09;36;19 - 00;10;07;12
Speaker 3
Come to the prayer rooms and worship with other believers. I want us to follow the example of the early church acts 242 and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. But before that happens, we read in acts that there was worship that was happening in response to Jesus walking with them for 40 days after he died.
00;10;07;19 - 00;10;37;24
Speaker 3
And then, resurrected. He walked with them for 40 days. And then the believers came together after he sent it, and they waited with hopeful expectation for his return and hoped for expectation to be filled with spirit. I jumped ahead of myself. But let me tell you this I know it's a little bit of a tension point, but my goal this morning is not that we would have great attendance on Sunday.
00;10;37;27 - 00;11;05;29
Speaker 3
My goal today is that we would be so in love with the one who loves us, and is inviting us to come to him with his body. Worship, by definition, means to show reverence and adoration for a deity and our deed. There's only one deity and that's God. To honor him, we honor him and show reverence when we come together.
00;11;06;01 - 00;11;17;11
Speaker 3
What is church? If there is no worship? If there is no worship, we're just going to a convention. We're just getting Ted talks.
00;11;17;14 - 00;11;48;04
Speaker 3
We're just having a party. And our gatherings have to be focused on something greater than ourselves, or else we're just locking ourselves in gatherings that create more and more echo chambers. And the danger of this culture right now is that we have created echo chambers upon echo chambers, and that is the message that we're proliferating to this world and said, we serve a God who has invited us to be changed by him.
00;11;48;06 - 00;12;10;29
Speaker 3
So this morning, my hope is that we would worship God, maybe redefine what worship has been to us for Sunday mornings, redefine what worship has been for us when we come to prayer is let's make this less individual and more corporate. There's one of my favorite books that I read and reread ever since I was in college in my 20s.
00;12;10;29 - 00;12;32;14
Speaker 3
It's called A Celebration of Spiritual Disciplines by Robert Foster, and it's a phenomenal book that talks about a lot of disciplines, and we're afraid of the word discipline sometimes, but discipline produces what Pastor Caleb talked about last week. Consistency and when we are consistent in something, there is a reason to celebrate. I don't know when anybody has ever finished a Bible reading plan.
00;12;32;14 - 00;12;47;20
Speaker 3
At the end of it, when you knew that you were consistent and you finish up that plan, you want to celebrate. And there's a celebration that happens when there's discipline in our lives. But one of the main disciplines that he talks about is corporate worship.
00;12;47;23 - 00;13;16;05
Speaker 3
What are our gatherings if there is no worship? So my goal today is that we would start to reframe and redefine worship, and we would go after a worship that actually pleases God. I think we've been coming to church, and I know I'm guilty of this coming to church and worshiping God. And it has been without the mindset that he's invited us to this.
00;13;16;05 - 00;13;20;19
Speaker 3
And it's been more about, what can I give you?
00;13;20;21 - 00;13;45;10
Speaker 3
Hey, that's okay, that you want to give God an offering, but it starts from an invitation to a father, from a father. And this is our response. If we were to just come with offerings that were out of our hearts, they might start looking like a Cain and Abel situation. And we bring whatever we want to. And a lot of times that's leftovers.
00;13;45;12 - 00;14;13;21
Speaker 3
We bring whatever's convenient. Are we bringing a worship that pleases him? If we're going to worship the Lord in such a way that pleases him, it's going to look like number one, a unity driven devotion. When togetherness is the priority of our worship, that builds corporate expectation. That's what I felt when I heard you say and speak truth.
00;14;13;27 - 00;14;39;11
Speaker 3
Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus. I hope that encourage somebody today that when I get in the body of believers, I will be encouraged that the dreams that have been in my life, in 2025 will come to life in 2026. I don't want to just sit in my home in the mornings meditating by myself, thinking, oh, I hope dead things come alive and there's power there.
00;14;39;15 - 00;15;05;25
Speaker 3
But there's another power that comes when the rest of the body believes it with you. When the blessed rest of the body is declaring it with you. There's something that happens in unity. There's something that happens when we declare together again, that book celebrates our spiritual. It frames corporate worship as a key spiritual discipline. It's a communal way for us to experience joy together.
00;15;05;27 - 00;15;31;22
Speaker 3
It's no fun to celebrate something when you're by yourselves. I mean, I think even Caleb was talking a while back when Christy and I finally paid off our school debt. I was excited to tell you, and I hope it encouraged some other person in this place. Let's get rid of our school debt. It's possible there's a communal way of experiencing joy, renewal, a shared purpose.
00;15;31;22 - 00;16;04;09
Speaker 3
Man, when I saw people last or yesterday on social media that were all serving at the chin in South SAC, the food distribution, oh, there's a shared purpose that everybody had that they were going to serve people together. This counteracts this, this individual wandering that takes place especially in America. We're wandering, trying to figure out our way and how we can get to the top and how we can acquire more.
00;16;04;14 - 00;16;33;14
Speaker 3
But that's not fostering a glimpse of eternity. That's fostering a glimpse of earthly kingdom. And when we worship together in unity, we get a glimpse of eternity. We get some hope. We get some strength. Acts two one. Pastor Caleb talked about this last week. There was the day of Pentecost, which was one of the feasts in which the, Israelites, they all worship God together.
00;16;33;14 - 00;16;58;05
Speaker 3
And so a lot of Israelites, they come to pilgrim, they do this pilgrimage, and they gather in one center place where they can celebrate this feast. And at that time in acts two, we see that Jesus had walked with the disciples for 40 more days after he resurrected, and then he promised that he was going to come back and he was going to leave.
00;16;58;08 - 00;17;16;10
Speaker 3
He was going to leave the Holy Spirit with him. So they were gathered together in hope, full expectation. It says in acts two one, when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
00;17;16;15 - 00;17;27;20
Speaker 3
It filled a room where people were waiting on God to move. The American church likes to move outside of the spirit.
00;17;27;22 - 00;17;58;15
Speaker 3
And run around, sometimes looking like chicken with their head cut off, chickens with their heads cut off. And I'm afraid that some of us are doing that our individual lives when we avoid worshiping with the saints. Ephesians 222. One of my favorite scriptures is that in him we're being built together into a dwelling place. If we're not coming together, being built together, we're not allowing the spirit to dwell when we're just dispersed.
00;17;58;18 - 00;18;09;09
Speaker 3
Where does the spirit dwell? I don't think it's the time for us just to be okay with an individual dwelling.
00;18;09;11 - 00;18;29;04
Speaker 3
There's something that's strengthened when we're in unity and when we have devotion together, it spurs us on. Like it says in the Scripture that Pastor Caleb let read and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some.
00;18;29;07 - 00;18;52;12
Speaker 3
He's saying to not neglect meeting together. That's a bad habit, but a good habit is that we would continue to meet together, encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing nearer. Let's worship God with a unity driven devotion. And let me tell you, if unity is the call, there will be conflicts that needs to be resolved.
00;18;52;14 - 00;19;20;24
Speaker 3
So expect that it's not just going to be this happy experience or out of body experience. Which leads me to another kind of worship that pleases the Lord. It's spirit filled praise. You know, spirit filled praise. John 424. This is a great anchor text for us. It says this, but the hour is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth.
00;19;20;27 - 00;19;45;07
Speaker 3
For the father is seeking such people to worship him. Jesus is looking for people who are worshiping him in a way that pleases him. And that kind of worship is worship in spirit and in truth. So if the worship that we're worshiping God with is not spirit filled praise, that isn't worship, spirit filled, you're like, oh my goodness, what is spirit filled?
00;19;45;10 - 00;20;12;26
Speaker 3
Sounds like she's doing some where mystic stuff up there. It sounds like an out-of-body experience that they're going after. And let me tell you right now, it's not an out-of-body experience. We see the example of the disciples when they were in the upper room. They were expectantly waiting for something to come. So they made a choice and decision to set a time and space and time, and to be with other believers who are expecting for the same thing.
00;20;13;00 - 00;20;35;20
Speaker 3
It is a deliberate choice that the disciples had when they were filled with the spirit. So this isn't a out-of-body experience that if you come in the room, something's going to happen and you're going to lose control. What? My therapist, she actually says that being in the spirit isn't your brain turning off. It's a shift in who's in charge.
00;20;35;23 - 00;20;59;21
Speaker 3
How many of us are coming into these worship spaces trying to keep control? How many of us are coming to these worship places and not surrendering and still saying, God, I'm still in control of my life, but I'll be here in your presence if that's what you want. That is not the type of worship that he's after. That's not the type of worship that he's looking for.
00;20;59;25 - 00;21;26;09
Speaker 3
Most of our days, you have to realize that your brain is always prioritizing your control, your planning, your self-control, your self protection, your self-preservation. I don't know what it is that you're trying to control, but that is what our brains naturally do every single day. But when we're in the spirit, in the spirit means that there's a prioritization shift when we say control doesn't vanish.
00;21;26;15 - 00;21;48;11
Speaker 3
But I'm going to step back from my own control and give it to God. We need the kind of worship that says, you are in control. Let me tell you, you're not managing anything when you're in worship. What you're doing is you're encountering the spirit and saying, you lead, not me. Spirit filled worship should start actually looking like spirit led worship.
00;21;48;13 - 00;22;06;16
Speaker 3
We're not just feel. Some of us just want to be filled because we want to have that emotional experience. Let me tell you, you're filling yourself with emotions. But if it's spirit led, then you're doing whatever the spirit asks you to do. Raise your hands. May saints be submitted to authority so when the when the preacher says, let's raise our hands, let's sing together.
00;22;06;16 - 00;22;27;07
Speaker 3
When the worship leader says, let's sing together. That we are responding to the spirit. Is your worship spirit led? Are you just sitting here grumpy and say, I'm going to do it just because he told me to be in the space? No. He has asked us to have worship that is spirit filled praise.
00;22;27;10 - 00;23;04;04
Speaker 3
A life of worship isn't an out of body experience. It's more of an out of your control encounter. When worship is truly centered on God. It is actually, I'm talking about no control. It's sometimes it's hard to control. And what am I trying to say? I'm thinking about David, who dance. He got put sackcloth on and he could hardly contain his worship because he's responding to a father who loves them so much, who provided for him and who helped him make it all the way back to Jerusalem with the with the Ark of the covenant.
00;23;04;08 - 00;23;22;01
Speaker 3
It was a long journey, and he couldn't help but respond. And worship. I'm not trying to say, I want you to be, only unfiltered, and I want you to go wild. But maybe the Lord is saying you've been wild all week. Sit down in my presence. Your preference. And you can't help but sit here and dwell here.
00;23;22;02 - 00;23;40;27
Speaker 3
Everybody sing it around you. But you can't sit it. You can't help it. Just sit. And maybe you even linger longer. But then for some of us who are really quiet in our expressions and we don't really dance, we do this at weddings. Some of us are kind of giving worship where we can't have a wedding. We just go give it all.
00;23;40;29 - 00;24;11;28
Speaker 3
Here's the thing it doesn't matter what the response looks like as long as you're responding spirit filled praise when worship is truly centered on God, it's it's it's almost impossible to keep it under control. Because here's the thing the world perceives being out of control as losing. They see it as failure. But in the spirit, we're reminded that the one who is actually in control has the victory.
00;24;11;28 - 00;24;44;04
Speaker 3
So no matter what our circumstance is, we have a reason to praise. When things feel out of control. You can control your praise. Let worship. Let praise be the weapon of your warfare. When you praise first, you are declaring that there will be breakthrough. Praise precedes our breakthrough. Put the victory in your father's hands. Let's worship in such a way that says, God, you have the victory.
00;24;44;10 - 00;25;06;21
Speaker 3
God, you are going to fill me and I'm going to respond accordingly. The kind of worship that pleases God is spirit filled praise. And number three, kind of worship that pleases God is Bible centered proclamation. I want to go back to John 424, because the worship that pleases the father is the one that is in spirit and in truth.
00;25;06;24 - 00;25;32;20
Speaker 3
I don't want us to forget the truth part, because some of us are still equating spirit to emotion. But spirit is really just saying, God, you're in control. You're giving control to the right person and you're relinquishing control. I don't want to keep getting Rita. We're going to be teaching on this scripture in a little bit, in a couple weeks, John, or excuse me, acts two four through 11.
00;25;32;22 - 00;25;52;29
Speaker 3
But we see that a lot of the people who receive the spirit after they were waiting for the spirit to come, they start speaking in other languages. There's flames, tongues of flames or there's flames on their heads. There's this experience that some people get, you know, weird about, and we'll talk about it. We'll teach through that in a couple weeks to come back.
00;25;53;05 - 00;26;13;25
Speaker 3
But the part that I want to focus on is verse 11, where it says, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. The important thing that I want you get for this message is that what the people who are filled with the spirit are doing is that they're declaring the mighty works of God.
00;26;13;28 - 00;26;40;01
Speaker 3
They are declaring truth of what they know their God and their father has done. So if our worship is not proclaiming the truth of who God is, who he was, who he is, and who he will be, that it is not worship. So worship must be Bible centered proclamation. It must be about truth. Worship being truth means, in a sense, worshiping in the reality.
00;26;40;04 - 00;27;03;17
Speaker 3
Our reality is that we serve. A God who died, rose again, ascended to heaven and is still alive, and is working on our behalf. Right? So this is this I don't want to reduce truth to, like, I had this spiritual experience and this is what a prophet told me is going to happen in my life. So I'm worshiping based off of what I'm hoping for in that that word, that's somebody else's word.
00;27;03;17 - 00;27;29;28
Speaker 3
And prophets only see, in part are you worshiping in full truth and what we can know for sure 100% no questions asked, period. That was really good. But I added that to you. I'm just saying is that we know what the Word of God says. It's already been written, and so we have to worship with the foundation of Scripture.
00;27;29;28 - 00;27;59;00
Speaker 3
And I love that we can always work with our worship pastor to make sure that the songs that we're singing are, spiritually accurate or scripturally accurate, because there's some, some lyrics that can go wild. But, you know, we're worshiping founded on scripture. In fact, we are moving. I don't know if I'll wait to talk about it a little bit, but we have prayer rooms that even praise scriptures on, Wednesday nights.
00;27;59;00 - 00;28;22;17
Speaker 3
I know that there's a couple that comes in and they lead us in worship, a couple of our worship leaders, and a lot of times they'll take a scripture and they'll just sing through the scripture. I'm telling you right now, your prayer life will change when you pray Scripture. And so that's why worship is so effective, because many times, oftentimes and only it should be only that we always that we're we're worshiping based off of words that come straight from Scripture.
00;28;22;20 - 00;29;03;02
Speaker 3
Those are the strongest, songs, in my opinion. And so we need to get to the place where we are worshiping God in a way that is proclaiming truth. It also says in acts 431, which we're not got to get all the way to acts for in this series. But it says, and when they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the Word of God with boldness, not just should not not only should our worship be founded in truth and in Scripture based revelation, it should also, after we leave the worship place, we should also be proclaiming the word.
00;29;03;08 - 00;29;24;20
Speaker 3
It induces this action to proclaim the word and share the gospel. If our worship is only meant for us to be filled here and only here, and help us get through our life, then it's not doing what God intends for it to do. A true worshiper will not just allow the truth to be proclaimed in a gathering, and you won't be able to contain it.
00;29;24;20 - 00;29;48;21
Speaker 3
You won't be able to control it. You're going to have to share it. So we have to have Bible Center proclamation worship. Because here's the thing. A lot of us are gathering and breaking bread with other believers and all we're doing is gossiping. And so I wonder what we're actually proclaiming. Are we proclaiming the good news? Are we proclaiming the recent TI?
00;29;48;23 - 00;30;15;04
Speaker 3
Some of us are gathering together, and most of us are gathering with people online on our social media platforms. And I wonder what we're actually proclaiming. Are we proclaiming Bible proclamation, or are we proclaiming our own opinions in our echo chambers? The worship that pleases God is the worship that is Bible centered proclamation. I don't want to be any.
00;30;15;04 - 00;30;38;01
Speaker 3
I don't want anybody to be confused by who I am gathering with and what I'm gathering for, and that will come out. And what you are saying outside of this room. Bible centered proclamation. And finally, the worship that pleases the Lord is a worship that is heart connected. Response.
00;30;38;04 - 00;31;00;18
Speaker 3
Here's the thing we can say, okay, I came here, I did my thing. I even lifted my hands, sang in harmony. You know I did it, I worshiped, I came here, I didn't miss a Sunday 52 weeks I was here and even went to one prayer room a week. But if there's not a heart connected response, I don't know if it's worship.
00;31;00;20 - 00;31;35;25
Speaker 3
Just as worship begins with holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Are you having a life that is more obedient after your worship? How does your heart respond to God? In true worship? It looks like repentance. It looks like confession. It looks like humility. It looks like faith. It looks like new life, a new creation living differently than when you came into that worship space.
00;31;35;28 - 00;32;00;15
Speaker 3
That's how our hearts should be responding. How does your heart respond to others after you've been in worship? It looks like shared life. It looks like breaking bread together. It looks like gathering together. It looks like being more hospitable. It looks like opening your heart more. It looks like vulnerability. It looks like continuing to gather with those who are also worshiping in spirit.
00;32;00;15 - 00;32;18;00
Speaker 3
In truth. James 122. It challenges us to not just be doers or not just be hearers of the word, but to be doers of the word. If worship has not changed us, it is not worship.
00;32;18;03 - 00;32;53;06
Speaker 3
And here's my question what is worship if it's not actually rooted in love? A lot of us want to be loving, but love as old DC talk theologian said, love is a verb. Okay, only old school people know that reverence. What is worship if it is not rooted in love? And I'm brought to Genesis 22 five, the first time worship is ever expressed in the Word of God.
00;32;53;10 - 00;33;30;11
Speaker 3
The first time we hear the word worship is when Abraham is preparing his sacrifice. He's preparing to sacrifice his Son to God in obedience. He said, God, I'll do it. It's a sacrifice that marks Abraham's worship. Let me read it. Genesis 22 five. This is a scripture that I think a lot of us will miss. Then Abraham said to his young men, the ones who accompanied him with a donkey, and all the things that he needed to create an altar to sacrifice his son.
00;33;30;13 - 00;33;58;05
Speaker 3
He says that stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. He prepared his heart to sacrifice his son. He gathered other men to come with him again. It's worship is always communal. He would gather other men to prepare, probably the threshing fire, to find a threshing floor, to find what could build the altar.
00;33;58;05 - 00;34;31;20
Speaker 3
The right stones to get the wood to get whatever would bring the fire. It was a communal experience. But he called his sacrifice worship. What is worship if it's not rooted in love? And what are you calling love if it's not sacrificial, it's not love.
00;34;31;22 - 00;34;51;07
Speaker 3
You know, I'm I'm racking my brain or trying to think of all these examples of what looks like sacrificial worship, but I can't make a sacrifice for you. Only you know what's happening in your hearts of what you're holding on to, what you're not letting go of, and what you're idolizing over God and what you're prioritizing over him.
00;34;51;09 - 00;35;12;08
Speaker 3
And I think that we need to take inventory of our inner thoughts and our hearts and our minds about what I'm holding on to, that I am not coming to gather with the saints regularly and worship with them, because the kind of worship that pleases God is the one that is rooted in love. Think about it unity of unity.
00;35;12;11 - 00;35;42;14
Speaker 3
Worship. That unity inspired devotion. That first point, oh my goodness, that doesn't happen without hardship. Does it happen without sacrifice? In humility? What else? What spirit filled praise? Some of that uncontrollable worship that exist looks different than what you can manage that takes the sacrifice Bible Center proclamation to proclaim only truth and not side with the things of this world.
00;35;42;16 - 00;35;50;28
Speaker 3
Oh man, that takes a sacrifice. Sacrifice of your reputation, sacrifice of where you might be wrong.
00;35;51;01 - 00;35;55;09
Speaker 3
Heart connected response. Listen.
00;35;55;12 - 00;36;21;27
Speaker 3
We're not connecting with God's heart if we're not loving him and sacrificing for him. But the story of Abraham and Isaac and him worshiping and about to go sacrifice his son and thank God he said, you don't have to do that any longer. In his son's life was spared. It was just a foreshadowing to the sacrifice that God would make by sending his only son to die.
00;36;22;00 - 00;36;42;15
Speaker 3
And I think that Scripture is littered with examples that God gave us that he didn't have to do. But he's so kind that he gives us examples. I think about the Sabbath, and he he didn't have to rest. He's God Almighty. But he gave us an example to rest. He didn't have to, do a lot, but he still gives us an example.
00;36;42;21 - 00;37;02;06
Speaker 3
Yet Jesus didn't have to walk on this earth to prove anything to us, but he did because we needed his example. And here's what he did. He gave us a foreshadowing of the sacrifice that he would make because he loves us so much.
00;37;02;08 - 00;37;31;13
Speaker 3
Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of a father. That's from celebration and spiritual disciplines. It's our response to God's love for us. So what is worship? What is the gathering of saints? It's something that God initiates a son when he initiates it, he says, I'll. I'd be faithful to what I initiate. I'm going to be there with you.
00;37;31;16 - 00;37;50;23
Speaker 3
I'm going to be present, and then I'm going to fill you with the spirit, and I'm going to lead you into the right places and spaces. I want to lead you in the right direction. And then we get to respond. And when we respond accordingly, lives are forever changed. I don't know about you, but I've been in the presence of God.
00;37;50;23 - 00;38;06;06
Speaker 3
It's changed my life. It's changed my perspective. It changes my choices. It changes my mindset. This week, Pastor Caleb and I had.
00;38;06;09 - 00;38;22;26
Speaker 3
A fight. All right. We fight sometimes. I don't know how else to address it. I can't tie it in a bow. And it been a while since there have been that kind of fighting. I do think that it was a product of being sick and tired. Sick and tired. Anybody know how that goes and is starting the new year?
00;38;22;26 - 00;38;59;17
Speaker 3
And then the fear of the unknown and the future man, I was stressed. I was a mess. And you know what? Sometimes God gives you tests and you're like, oh, I hope I pass that test. I'm going to do the best I can to pass that test. I just want, you know, your pastor failed, this this week because I allowed some fears to overtake my mind and how I was personally feeling, like, sick and all that kind of stuff to let it overcome me.
00;38;59;19 - 00;39;26;25
Speaker 3
And then in humility, my husband comes to me like I'm really sad at the way you're you're acting. And I honestly produced a unity in us because I needed to know that he was a mad at me, or that he wasn't gonna punish me or distance himself for me, even though I was acting a fool. Guys.
00;39;26;28 - 00;39;52;26
Speaker 3
Because I was afraid. Because I was tired. Because I was sick. And that things happen. My husband, an earthly man who is not perfect. So some of the things I was mad at were credible. But he's. He was great. I needed to not just me, be me. Wrong. I know that neither was perfect.
00;39;52;28 - 00;40;12;17
Speaker 3
But I want you to know that there's a Heavenly Father whose love is perfect and he's always pursuing you. He's always loving you, and he is initiating connection with you. He's initiating intimacy with you. And if you respond to that intimacy and initiation.
00;40;12;23 - 00;40;19;23
Unknown
In a right way, you will be changed. Your fears fall to the ground.
00;40;19;25 - 00;40;51;09
Speaker 3
Your sadness is filled with hope, your despair is filled with hope, and your unbelief is restored with faith. There's a God who loves you, and he's initiating a relationship with you. And all you need to do is respond with obedience. And that looks like, yes, I surrender again. Would you bow your heads in this place? I want to invite you.
00;40;51;11 - 00;41;00;03
Speaker 3
To a relationship with the father that I'm talking about. The one who has perfect love.
00;41;00;05 - 00;41;22;18
Speaker 3
Perfect love casts out fear. And I know there's some of us who don't walk fully in faith and don't fully subscribe to this journey of faith because there's fears. There's self, preservation, there's control. There's all kinds of things that are distract us from saying yes to Jesus. But I think the Word of God directed us this morning.
00;41;22;18 - 00;41;52;02
Speaker 3
I know he convicted my heart as I was preparing. I believe that the word changes us, and I think some of us are in a place right now where we've opened up our heart by singing songs and then open up our heart to listening to this word. And I think there's there's a response in some of us here to say yes to relationship with Jesus, maybe for the first time, or a yes to relationship with Jesus to restart with him, to to come closer than you were last week.
00;41;52;02 - 00;42;15;22
Speaker 3
Last year. So in this place, as I was speaking, as I was sharing about the love of Jesus, is there any here that would respond to Jesus and say, yes, I want to walk with you regularly. Yes, I want to worship you. Yes, I want to not forsake the gathering of the saints, and I want to come here and to be encouraged and to grow in relationship and in the body of Christ.
00;42;15;22 - 00;42;38;17
Speaker 3
So I could be closer to you, if that is you in this place, and you want to respond by saying yes to a relationship with Jesus with every eye closed and head bowed, would you lift your hand on the count of three, one, two, three? I want relationship with Jesus again. Yeah. One, two, three, four, five, six and eight, nine 1011 1213 1415, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.
00;42;38;17 - 00;43;05;13
Speaker 3
They're all over the room. Thank you. Jesus. Would you repeat after me? All together in unity with one hearts? Dear Jesus, thank you for bringing me to this room filled with your presence. I ask that you would fill me now. I want more of you. I want you to change me and I want to become more like you.
00;43;05;15 - 00;43;35;26
Speaker 3
I accept you into my life. I believe that you died, Rose again. You gave us your spirit and it can empower me to live for you. I confess myself I'm imperfect. I need you, Jesus, to wash me clean, make me new. I want to be a new creation. That was for you. Give me the strength to live for you for the rest of my days.
00;43;35;28 - 00;43;38;08
Speaker 3
I love you, Jesus, your precious.
00;43;38;08 - 00;44;03;26
Unknown
Name. Amen and amen. Come on. Let's. Let's just stand before him. Yeah, that's. Let's responsive. Let's respond with this one song as a declaration of our faith, as a declaration of our confession of Christ this morning. Come on, let's sing today. Who else is worthy to be worship but hand? Come on,
00;44;03;29 - 00;44;07;08
Speaker 1
Thank you for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.
00;44;07;09 - 00;44;10;20
Speaker 2
We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.
00;44;10;23 - 00;44;26;28
Speaker 3
Yeah. And if it did, we want to ask that you would do something for us. First of all, if you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe. Like this video. But also, we would ask that you would consider financially supporting what God is doing through Project Church. You can give in a variety of ways.
00;44;27;01 - 00;44;42;07
Speaker 3
You can text project to 97,000. Right now. You can give to our Church Center app, or you can give on our website project church.com/give. Thanks so much for being a part of our online community. And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.