April 1, 2025 • 37 mins
Worship is so much more than a Sunday morning activity—it's meant to be the heartbeat of our entire existence. This eye-opening message challenges us to reconsider what it truly means to worship God "in spirit and in truth" as Jesus taught the Samaritan woman at the well.
When's the last time you asked yourself: If God is worthy of constant praise, why am I not offering it continuously? We often limit worship to specific times and places, forgetting that every moment presents an opportunity to acknowledge God's presence and goodness in our lives. As one worship leader shares from personal experience, living with a perpetual song of praise isn't forced—it's the natural overflow of a heart connected to God.
The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4 provides a powerful blueprint for authentic worship. In one remarkable interaction, Jesus breaks cultural barriers, reveals himself as living water, demonstrates perfect knowledge of her life, and teaches a timeless lesson about connecting with God. Each element gives us another compelling reason to praise Him.
This message also addresses an often overlooked aspect of worship—careful discernment about content. Modern Christian music, while beautiful and moving, sometimes contains theological inaccuracies that can shape our understanding of God in problematic ways. True worship must be grounded in biblical truth that accurately portrays God's character and nature.
Most importantly, when we cultivate lives of continuous praise, we become living testimonies that naturally attract others to Christ. People notice those who radiate joy despite life's challenges, creating organic opportunities to share our faith. As the Psalmist wrote, "Your love, O Lord, is a song and I will sing it"—let your entire life become that song of praise.
Have you considered how your daily life might look different if worship became your constant reality rather than an occasional activity? Join us in exploring how to give God glory in all circumstances and situations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You can almost never live up to the hype, right?
And I appreciate Jason's kindwords and I will tell you openly
, honestly, if you want, mytestimony.
It's that I try to live forJesus every day.
I try to lead a life of worshipevery day.
We could stop there if you wantto, because I think it's that
(00:23):
important.
I really do.
I think we're called to be notchanged but to be transformed by
this experience of knowingJesus and having him save our
lives, save our souls, and whatgreater form of gratitude can we
have than showing Jesus thatwe're grateful every day by
(00:43):
living a life that's patternedafter the example of Christ?
So you've guessed, if you knowme, that that doesn't mean I'm
perfect and it doesn't meanyou're perfect either.
We all engage in this effort tobe Christ-like and sometimes
we're going to fail.
But here's the thing about itIf we're earnestly on that path,
(01:06):
seeking every day to have agreater relationship with Christ
, then he's going to keep onsupplying whatever we need to
make that happen, and I bank onthat and I hope that you guys
bank on that too.
I'm going to talk with you aboutworship and probably come at a
(01:27):
little bit different angle,being the worship guy.
So when you're the worship guyand you're going to preach, job
one is make the songs as long aspossible so you have less time
to preach.
So thank you all for singing,mission 1 accomplished.
But seriously, you know, whenyou're the worship guy and
(01:52):
you're going to preach,everybody thinks you're going to
be talking all about worship.
It's all about worship and,trust me, we could come in here.
Jason knows this, is true.
We come in here and if you wantto throw songs at me, I'll play
them out of my head for an hour.
If you ever want to have aservice like that, we'll do that
, because I do love praising God.
(02:13):
Is my battery going down or didyou just turn it down?
I mean, it's good either way,as long as you can hear, I'm
good Because, as I normally do,I didn't check the battery in
this.
I just turned it on and hadfaith that it was going to work.
So if it's about to go dead andyou guys keep hearing me it's
because God is working a miraclewith this battery, which
(02:38):
wouldn't be the biggest miraclehe's done this week, right, amen
, amen.
So let me ask you, starting outhere is our God worthy of our
praise?
What do you think?
Is our God worthy of our praise?
Amen, right, okay.
Is our God always worthy of ourpraise?
(03:00):
Here's the question.
This is the deeper part of thequestion.
I'm not asking you if God isworthy of our praise when things
are going great.
I'm not asking you if god isworthy of our praise when he's
given us everything we want.
I'm asking you if he's worthyof our praise even in the
moments when we feel broken anddefeated.
Is he worthy of our praise, allthose times?
(03:22):
Okay, what are the acceptableparameters of our praise?
What do you guys think?
What are the acceptableparameters of our praise?
When can we praise God?
All the time?
Right, all the time.
What are the confines of ourpraise?
Do we praise just when we're inhere?
(03:44):
Do we praise out there?
Do we praise out there?
Do we praise at home, in jail?
Okay, I was talking about Pauland Silas, and I think that last
week in my meditation I thinkJason was talking about Paul and
Silas earlier and praise injail, that shakes the ground and
releases prisoners, right?
(04:05):
So if we can agree that God isworthy of our praise and always
worthy of our praise, and thatthere's nothing that confines us
from praising God and thatthere's no situation in which we
can't praise God, then let meask you this question why aren't
you doing it all the time?
We've just established that itis acceptable to praise God with
(04:28):
every moment of your life,every fiber of your being, in
every situation, in everylocation, so why are we not
doing that?
That's a great answer, roy.
He said distractions, and he'sahead of my notes because it's
in here, don't you worry.
It's the distractions of thislife, it's all the things that
(04:52):
are piled up on top of us anddragging us down, these loads
that we carry and they keep usfrom focusing on what is real.
And what is real is the waythat God takes care of us in
every facet of our life, inevery moment of our life, in
every situation and locationthat we can possibly be in.
My wife will tell you I goaround with a song on my lips
(05:15):
all the time.
Okay, and that's absolutelytrue.
It's not necessarily on purpose, it's just it's me, it's what
bubbles up out of me.
There's always a song on mylips.
We were playing in a dart balltournament about a week ago and
my nephew, alex Ray's son, keptlooking at me and he was going,
(05:36):
what, what, like.
I was talking to him and Ifinally told him man, I'm just
singing, I'm just singing, andthis dart ball tournament?
Talking to him, and I finallytold him man, I'm just singing,
I'm just singing, and you know,this dart ball tournament didn't
mean anything of greatconsequence and you guys
probably don't even know whatthat is.
That's another lesson foranother time.
But we wanted to win and I justI had these songs in my mind
(05:56):
and one of them was that faithsong that I'd just written.
I was singing that and there'sa song called no Fear by John
Kendrick that I just couldn'tget out of my brain.
I was just singing those twosongs all night and we ended up
winning that series four gamesto one.
Now, that doesn't mean God caresabout dartball.
That doesn't mean that Godcares about every little thing
that we have going on in ourlife, because it might not serve
(06:18):
a purpose for him to see you besuccessful in one small area of
your life, but it does meanthat he wants us to praise him
in every situation, even whenthere are godless people
standing in front of us tellingus that it's not acceptable.
So I think it's interesting andyou can, you can, I think it's
(06:41):
obviously anytime you see redletters in the Bible and Jesus
is talking, that's prettyinteresting, right.
That's attention getting, andso you can guarantee that
whatever you're going toexperience there in that reading
is going to be something prettymonumental, right.
And this is no.
This scripture that we're goingto be in today is no exception.
We're going to be in John,chapter 4.
(07:02):
And this is Jesus having aconversation and having an
encounter with a godless person.
And here's the thing about itit goes to another level of
interesting or encouraging, oramazing, because Jesus is
somehow going to go from being awitness to a godless individual
(07:26):
to how to worship in oneconversation.
It's all in one conversation,and we haven't yet figured out,
as ambassadors for Christ, howto even get to the conversation
about people who are godless,right.
A lot of times we let them justdo their thing and hope that
they don't overflow on usbecause we don't want to get
(07:47):
involved.
Jesus is getting involved,digging into the matter, telling
a truth that's hard to hear andthen saying, hey, by the way,
when you worship, this is howyou do it.
He does it all in oneconversation.
That's years worth of work, aswe're trying to work and convert
people to christ.
Right, and by the way, you uh,you guys back in the back there
(08:08):
you'll have to tell me if, ifI'm staying in the camera.
I I'm a little more mobile thanyou know.
I have happy feet, so they go alot of places.
I try not to be too crazy, butif I get out of the camera, just
you know, nudge, be back eitherway.
Um so um.
When we think about the way thatgod speaks to us, he has
(08:30):
different voicings and differenttones, right and um.
So sometimes he speaks to usand whispers and just gently
directs our path.
Other times his words rush overus declaring his undeniable
greatness, and still other timesHis words rush over us
declaring His undeniablegreatness, and still other times
he shouts to get our attentionover the maddening crowd with
(08:52):
the hard truth that we may notwant to hear.
And he has all these differentvoicings so that he can reach us
.
Now you might say to yourselfwell, why does God talk in all
these different ways to us?
Well, if you've ever been aparent, I can guarantee it
doesn't take you too long tocome up with the answer, because
sometimes they don't listen,okay.
Sometimes they just don'tlisten.
(09:13):
So you've got to go to the nextlevel and then the next level.
You know, I think there'sactually maybe four levels in my
communication with my kids, butwho knows?
I knew it was bad one time Iwas watching Alyssa communicate
with and I know you thinkCourtney and Alyssa are just
perfect angels because it's allyou've ever seen.
But they could, believe it ornot, push each other's buttons
(09:35):
and needle each other.
And one day, when Courtney wasprobably about 10, so that'd
make Alyssa what?
7?
Or 8, or 7, 6 or 7 or somethingAnyway, and she was just
getting on Alyssa's nerves tothe nth degree, and Alyssa goes
Courtney and I thought, oh, mygoodness, she's learned that
(09:58):
from me.
It's right, you know, it's likeokay.
So I think to myself well, Ihave a point when I'm talking to
courtney like that, but maybeshe doesn't see the difference
right.
So it's just like godcommunicating with us.
Even the way god communicateswith us, we can't spit that
(10:19):
right out to somebody elsebecause it might not be received
in the same way.
So god has all these differentways of communicating with us.
That prepares us for the workat hand, which is to reach other
people.
So I want you to think aboutthat and how he speaks to us.
And then we're going to get intothis piece of scripture and
(10:41):
talk about what happens here inJohn 4.
Let's pray.
All right, my fathers, forcoming in prayer today.
We thank you again, lord, forthe opportunity to be in your
house and sing praises to yourname and to hear your word, and
I pray, lord, that you'll bewith the message that's
presented today and help it tobe the message that these people
need to hear.
Help it to be the message thatthe world needs to hear.
And help me to be reminded thatI'm not up here to listen to
(11:03):
myself talk, that we are tryingto gain knowledge that can help
us better understand you, betterunderstand your will for our
lives and better understand howto worship and praise you with
every ounce of our being all thetime.
We thank you, lord, for all ofyour many blessings.
We pray that you'll continue towatch over all of us, both
physically and spiritually, inthis.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
(11:24):
So we're going to be in John,chapter 4.
, and we're going to start there, at the 7th verse.
I'm going to read through allof this and then we'll kind of
go back and recap a little bitof stuff, and I'm reading from
the New King James Version, soif it sounds a little bit
different than what you'relooking at, that would be why
(11:46):
it's all going to say prettymuch the same thing.
John 4, beginning in the 7thverse.
It says A woman of Samaria cameto draw water.
Jesus said to her Give me adrink, for His disciples had
gone away into the city to buyfood.
Then the woman of Samaria saidto Him how is into the city to
buy food?
Then the woman of Samaria saidto him how is it that you, being
a Jew, ask a drink of me, aSamaritan woman, for Jews have
(12:08):
no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said untoher if you knew the gift of God
and who it is that says to yougive me a drink, you would have
asked him and he would havegiven you the living water.
11th verse.
The woman said to him sir, youhave nothing to draw with and
(12:30):
the well is deep.
Where, then, do you get thisliving water?
Are you greater than our fatherJacob, who gave us this well
and drank from it himself, aswell as his sons and his
livestock?
Jesus answered and said to herWhoever drinks of this water
will thirst again, but whoeverdrinks of the water that I shall
(12:51):
give will never thirst, but thewater that I shall give him
will become in him a fountain ofwater, springing up into
everlasting life.
Verse 15,.
The woman said to him Sir, giveme this water that I may not
thirst, nor come here to draw.
Jesus said to her Go, call yourhusband and come here.
(13:14):
The woman answered and said Ihave no husband.
Jesus said to her you have wellsaid I have no husband, for you
have had five husbands and theone with whom you are now is not
your husband.
In that you spoke truly.
The woman said to him Sir, Iperceive that you are a prophet.
(13:37):
Our fathers worshiped on thismountain and you Jews say that
in Jerusalem is the place whereone ought to worship.
Jesus said to her woman believeme, the hour is coming when you
will, neither on this mountainnor in Jerusalem, worship the
father.
You will worship, excuse me,you worship what you do not know
.
We know that we worship forsalvation is of the Jews.
(14:01):
Worship for salvation is of theJews.
The 23rd verse says but thehour is coming, and now is when
true worshipers will worship theFather in spirit and truth, and
the Father is seeking suchworship of Him.
God is spirit, and those whoworship Him worship in spirit
and in truth.
Okay, that's a whole lot.
(14:23):
That's a whole lot in there,okay, but we've already
determined that we should bepraising god in every situation,
every circumstance, right?
So in this one passage again,jesus engages the samaritan
women, which jewish peopleshould never do.
He then tells her about herselfthat's in the modern
terminology.
He told her about herself andwas dead on perfect in what he
(14:46):
said.
He shows her how to quench herunquenchable thirst and he
teaches her and us, by thereading of this word, how to
worship.
Now, at first glance, you mightsay to yourself how does jesus
connect all these things toworship?
And, and I would say this, allof those things are reasons to
worship in every situation, topraise God who delivered them.
(15:10):
So in verse 9, you see, theSamaritan woman basically says
to Jesus why are you eventalking to me?
You're not even supposed to betalking to me.
So the first reason to praiseGod in this passage comes from
the fact that God breaks downbarriers between the races.
He doesn't care what you looklike or where you're from, he's
(15:33):
going to love you just the same.
In verses 10 through 14, hereveals that he is the Christ,
the living water.
Right, that's a second reasonto praise God.
He's the living water, he's theMessiah.
In verse 16, he shows not onlythat he knows the truth about
this woman and everything in herlife, but he knows everything
(15:55):
about our life.
So that's the third reason topraise God in this passage.
In verse 23, he tells us how toworship.
Okay, the fourth reason toworship and praise God in this
passage is that he's told us howto do it.
So we have to remember thateverything that God does that
(16:22):
reveals His mystery, his majesty, his strength, his power, his
goodness, his love, his mercy,is a reason to praise God.
So I ask you, how many times aday do you think you're
presented with a reason topraise God?
I would say, from my ownexperience, it's innumerable,
(16:43):
uncalculable, I don't know.
It's a lot of times we take somany things for granted that
we're almost not ready to praiseGod and worship Him for who he
is, because we've started toaccept or believe that we are
entitled to His blessing on ourlife, regardless of how we're
living, regardless of how weshow our gratitude and
regardless of how we're living,regardless of how we show our
(17:03):
gratitude and regardless of howwe worship.
So we start to turn a blind eyeto marvelous and amazing things
that he does, because it's kindof old hat to us.
So that's why.
That's why david would write inPsalm 96, sing to the Lord a
(17:24):
new song.
Because we should be singing anew song in every moment where
we have something new revealedto us or some obstacle of our
life is overturned to allow usto continue to follow God and
have trust in Jesus, thatbecomes an opportunity to praise
and to worship.
(17:46):
One of the things that is kindof driving me crazy about.
I think the modern Christianmusic thing is a great thing and
you can tell we do a lot ofmodern Christian worship.
I love a lot of those songs.
I think a lot of them speak alot of truth.
But the one thing that drivesme crazy about them is that
sometimes there are things inChristian songs that shouldn't
be there.
They speak of a truth that isnot a truth.
(18:09):
They talk about a God that wedon't worship.
To be honest with you, I don'tknow if you guys were aware, but
there was a song about threeweeks ago trending on
contemporary Christian chartsthat was put out by a Muslim.
Now I've had people say to mewell, that's the same God.
No, it's not the same God, it'sa decidedly different God.
(18:33):
So you ask yourself well, howdoes this happen?
Well, because it blindly getson the radio, because people
hear a good tune and they hearwhat they think are worshipful
lyrics and they just push it outthere.
You need to listen reallyintently to what you have on
your radio or on your iPod.
(18:53):
Well, I guess an iPod would beold now.
I guess on your iTunes or yourPandora or your Apple Music I
know I show my age sometimes.
What can I say?
You've got to remember I had aWalkman Before that I had a
Walkman, I had a transistorradio.
Okay, some of you don't evenknow what a transistor is, let
alone a transistor radio.
So anyway, I think that aneffective praise song should
(19:19):
have these three elements itshould speak of and to a God who
is mighty to save.
It should speak of a theologyor a biblical truth that aligns
with what the scriptures say,and it should testify to the
greatness of God in a powerfuland truthful way.
(19:40):
I was talking with a friend ofmine about writing songs one day
and he said well, I'll get anidea in my head and then I'll
mull over that idea for a littlebit.
And you know, if it's musicalfirst, then I'll try to put some
lyrics to it, and then, if it'slyrical first, then I'll try to
put some music to it, and Imight work on that for three
(20:00):
weeks or four weeks or maybeeven months, and then I'll just
keep working it out.
Then I might pray about it, um,and then, if I've prayed about
it, I might go to the bible andsee what the bible says.
And I said, dude, you got itall wrong.
The bible should be where itcomes from first.
Okay, the impetus for a praiseand worship song.
(20:22):
Christian music should be whatGod says first and foremost.
Right.
I mean it's unfathomable to methat you would work for months
on a song without praying andgoing back to the Bible about it
.
I mean I feel like every songthat I wind up writing I've
actually tried to writequote-unquote secular songs,
(20:44):
which I've been successful at,but they still in my mind.
I can listen to them back and Igo oh, that's speaking to me
about this element of God'spresence in my life.
I can't separate the two.
But let me give you a fewexamples of what I'm talking
about.
Okay and guaranteed, just fairwarning, guaranteed.
(21:06):
I'm going to hit a songsomebody in here likes, but I
want you to think about what I'msharing with you through it.
Mary did you know?
Yes, mary knew it's a foolishsong.
Mary was well aware.
God told her.
An angel told her.
(21:28):
She knew it's the mostridiculous question ever posed
in Christian music.
I apologize, I know everybodyloves that song.
I've done that song.
Just it kills me.
Okay, we three kings, we threekings of Orient, are bearing
(21:55):
gifts we've traversed so far,traversed, by the way, not
traveled, traversed so far.
Okay, they didn't see Jesus atthe manger.
Okay, that's not a Christmassong.
If you want to sing that justas a song about the three kings
and the three wise men who cameto worship Jesus, go right ahead
(22:16):
.
Just have in your mind he wasabout two, looked a lot like
Miles, okay, bruh, okay, okay.
So it's a ridiculous song.
It's in every hymnal I've everseen.
It's a ridiculous song.
It's in every hymnal I've everseen.
It's a ridiculous song.
(22:38):
Okay, reckless love.
And Greg, I know, greg, I knowReckless love.
Everybody loves this song.
I'm going to ask you flat outAudience participation is
welcome Is God's love reckless?
The definition of recklessmeans to do something without
(23:04):
care for consequence.
God doesn't do anything withoutcare for consequence.
In fact, he does everythingknowing what the consequence
will be.
Now, I've done this songbecause a lot of people love
this song.
That song would be better if itwas relentless, because God's
(23:24):
love is relentless.
If anything, god's love is very, very laser-focused and
directed, singularly focused anddirected on reaching each and
every one of us, for Him, sothat we can live for Him.
So I'll give you an example ofpart of what I'm talking about
(23:44):
Now.
In this song, reckless Love,there's a line that talks about
a well-known parable.
Okay, because he says chases medown, fights till I'm found,
leaves the 99.
Okay, now we're in a room apretty saturated room is what I
(24:04):
would call it.
Most of these people have beenbaptized, right?
So when I say leaves the 99,what are we talking about?
What are we talking about?
His love leaves the 99.
What are we talking about?
His love leaves the 99.
What are we talking about?
The sheep?
He leaves the 99.
This is a parable christ talksabout as a shepherd.
The shepherd leaves the 99 andgoes to find the one, the one
(24:26):
that's wandering.
Right, okay, I can get behindthat, but if you don't know what
that piece of that verse is, orthat chorus actually is talking
about, then you're lost.
So, as a test, we had about 30people in a place one day that
we were playing worship.
(24:47):
Somebody threw that out let'sdo that song.
I said, okay, we'll do thatsong.
So I gave him this first of all.
I gave him this whole spiel.
I just gave you God's love isnot reckless.
Okay, long as we understand,god's love is not reckless.
Then I sang the song and I saidhow many of you here know what
it means to leave the 99?
They're like shrugging theirshoulders, I don't know.
(25:11):
Then you shouldn't be singingthat.
Then you shouldn't be singingthat.
Okay, and here's what you, whenyou're somebody like me who
enjoys singing and leadingworship but also enjoys
preaching, you learn animportant truth about writing
songs.
You can't tell the whole gospelstory in a three-minute song.
It's virtually impossible.
(25:33):
I've done it, but I had toconcentrate to do it.
But it's virtually impossible.
I've done it, but I had toconcentrate to do it, but it's
virtually impossible.
So when you're sharing a praisesong with somebody, it needs to
be a snippet of something thatthey can hold on to and grasp.
That is a universal truth aboutJesus.
Okay, and I'm not making thisabout myself or anybody else,
(25:55):
but you think about that song wesang this morning as we started
this service.
You've got to have faith, right.
Romans 11.6 says Without faith,it's impossible to please God
Universal truth.
You can grab that one thing outof that song.
That song is about 3 minutesand 53 seconds.
Okay, you can grab that oneuniversal truth out of that song
(26:17):
and live on that and it willhelp you in your Christian life.
Okay, other things that aredescribed in there talk about
being beaten down, being in aworld that shakes you up and
wears you out right, but what'sthe way to get over that?
Continue to have faith in God,that he's going to do a
marvelous work through you andthat you are going to be able to
(26:38):
show people Jesus through yourexample.
Okay, so my point is listen tothese songs that are playing on
your radio.
I'm going to hit you with onemore, and guaranteed 50% of the
people in here love this song.
It's called the Truth by MeganWoods.
(26:59):
Okay, this is the chorus.
The truth is, I am my father'schild.
I make him proud and I make himsmile.
So far, I'm pretty good withthat.
That's pretty good, right?
Okay, I was made in the imageof a perfect king, 100% true.
He looks at me and wouldn'tchange a thing.
(27:21):
Can anybody figure out where wewent wrong?
He looks at me and wouldn'tchange a thing.
I got news for you.
God, jesus Christ, the HolySpirit, is the biggest agent of
change you will ever meet inyour life.
Every day is about change.
(27:41):
Every moment is about change.
Jason was talking a few weeksago about transformation.
To be truly transformed, youhave to change.
Okay, so listen, I'm glad thesepeople are putting Jesus first
and getting Him on the radio.
I'm I'm cool with that, uh, butlet's be real.
(28:03):
We got to listen to what'sbeing said in these songs so
that we know that the truth.
As long as we realize thatthese songs are not a substitute
for this, your word of God,which is the truth, then it's
okay, and you can use parts ofthese songs, and maybe all of
these songs, to help reachpeople for Jesus, if you never
(28:25):
forget that what you're supposedto be celebrating, praising and
worshiping is the truth of GodAlmighty.
Now I just you know.
I hope that you understand andappreciate what I'm saying to
you because it will help you, Ibelieve, to live a more
(28:49):
worshipful life.
Okay, psalm 89, at the verybeginning in the Message Bible
and I don't particularly likethe Message Bible, but I like
the way this is phrased Psalm 89in the Message Bible starts by
saying your love O Lord is asong and I will sing it.
Your love O Lord is a song andI will sing it.
(29:13):
That's words you can live by.
Okay, if the love of God is asong and I will sing it, that's
words you can live by.
Okay, if the love of God is asong that you are willing to
sing with all your being and allyour life, you are going to
praise Him with every part ofyour being, and so I don't ever
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want anybody to feel like I'mbanging you over the head with a
hammer, or banging you over thehead with a hammer or beating
you over the head with a Bible,but I think for us to truly
worship in spirit and truth.
That's what it says, right?
You guys have heard me say thata million times.
John 4.24 says my true peoplewill worship me in spirit and in
(29:54):
truth.
Okay, so do it in spirit and intruth.
And, by the way, I want to makesure I cover this ground because
I have questions about this.
A lot People will ask me well,don't you listen to any secular
music?
I listen to a lot of secularmusic.
I'm a Beatle nut.
Doug appreciates that.
Been a Beatle nut all my life.
They weren't great people.
(30:15):
They wrote some great songs.
So I listen to secular music,but I'm careful to separate what
speaks the truth of God andwhat doesn't.
So you're not going to hear melistening to Sympathy for the
Devil by the Rolling Stones.
Okay, I don't care what theirtheory was with that.
(30:37):
It just doesn't jive withanything about my christian life
.
Okay, I'm not telling you stayaway from all secular music.
You may notice that our music,our praise and worship music, is
infused by secular music andthings we've stolen from secular
music.
I think we're using those giftsand those, those elements, to
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praise god and that's a goodthing.
Um, we were, we were doingworship music one time and guy
was saying it would be great onenight to to just do a a uh, a
whole show of secular songs thathave a great spiritual meaning.
I thought that's, that's prettyneat.
I could get with that, right,and there's quite a bunch out
(31:19):
there, particularly on thecountryside, more so than rock
and roll.
But there's a bunch of songsout there you could do that with
.
But then the first one he threwout was my Sweet Lord by George
Harrison.
I was like, hey, man, do yourealize that the chorus has
chants in the background?
It's chants in the background,you know.
(31:43):
It's chants that GeorgeHarrison learned from a guru
that has no place in the worshipof God.
Right, well, I thought that wasa great song.
Yeah, well, it was so greatthat it almost got banned in
America because it had thosechants in the background.
Okay, so it's just my way ofsaying to you and it could be
anything, I'm talking aboutmusic, right, it could be what
you watch on TV.
It could be what you engage inas normal practices at work.
(32:07):
It could be conversations orjokes that you tell with your
friends.
It could be the way that youtalk about political issues.
Understand that there's aseparation between what goes on
in your normal life and how youpraise God with every ounce of
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your being all the time and justendeavor to keep the bad out
that's what I'm saying andpromote the good by praising God
with every ounce of your being.
So, as we close today, I justwant you guys to understand that
what moves me about worship isthe fact that it's an
(32:54):
opportunity to use talents thatGod gave me to show Him that I
love Him, that I appreciate Hismercy and His grace and His love
, and that I'm willing to dowhatever he's going to ask me to
do to advance the Gospel.
I hope that is what you'redoing with your everyday life of
(33:17):
worship, because if we thinkthat worship is just a thing
that happens here before the guygets up and talks, then we're
not understanding it.
Worship is what happens withevery experience of your life.
Give God the glory all the time, because he deserves it, you
(33:39):
know.
And if you think it's going tomake you weird, well, yeah, it's
going to make you weird.
I started out the month talkingat communion time about 1 Peter
2.9.
You're a royal priesthood, aholy nation, a peculiar people.
You're supposed to be weird.
Okay, people are supposed tolook at you and go.
(34:01):
I don't get it.
That guy's happy all the time.
You know I don't get it.
That guy seems to be talkingabout Jesus all the time.
You know I don't get it.
Nothing gets that guy down.
Well, you're going to have downtimes, just like anybody else.
There are times when I feeldefeated by what's going on in
life.
But I got news for you.
(34:21):
That overwhelmingly positiveimage that you share with people
is really important to thekingdom of God.
You may not think it's ultraimportant to your own life.
It's really important to thekingdom of God Because people
out there looking for answershave to see a person who's found
them.
And if they see a person who'sfound the answers, they're going
(34:43):
to ask you what that answer is.
And that's your opportunity tosay Jesus is the answer.
So live your life of praise.
Let your life preach.
If you let your life preach,you don't have to do what I'm
doing right.
Preach.
If you let your life preach,you don't have to do what I'm
doing right now.
If you let your life preach, itdoes the preaching for you.
I've overwhelmingly in mylifetime reached people for
(35:07):
Jesus by just being who I am.
They knock on my door, say hey,I don't really know a whole lot
about you, but you're differentthan the other people I see.
Can I talk to you?
You know how many lifetimefriendships have been opened up
to me through that experience.
(35:28):
That ain't me.
I got news for you.
That ain't me.
That's Jesus coming through me,which just goes to show you if
Jesus can work through somethingthat looks like this.
I mean, you guys got it covered.
Okay, so that's the message.
Okay, that's the message.
Live a life of praise, give Godthe glory all the time, because
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he deserves it, and remember tobe careful about what you're
listening to and what you'repromoting to other people.
Okay,
You can almost never live up to the hype, right?
And I appreciate Jason's kindwords and I will tell you openly
, honestly, if you want, mytestimony.
It's that I try to live forJesus every day.
I try to lead a life of worshipevery day.
We could stop there if you wantto, because I think it's that
(00:23):
important.
I really do.
I think we're called to be notchanged but to be transformed by
this experience of knowingJesus and having him save our
lives, save our souls, and whatgreater form of gratitude can we
have than showing Jesus thatwe're grateful every day by
(00:43):
living a life that's patternedafter the example of Christ?
So you've guessed, if you knowme, that that doesn't mean I'm
perfect and it doesn't meanyou're perfect either.
We all engage in this effort tobe Christ-like and sometimes
we're going to fail.
But here's the thing about itIf we're earnestly on that path,
(01:06):
seeking every day to have agreater relationship with Christ
, then he's going to keep onsupplying whatever we need to
make that happen, and I bank onthat and I hope that you guys
bank on that too.
I'm going to talk with you aboutworship and probably come at a
(01:27):
little bit different angle,being the worship guy.
So when you're the worship guyand you're going to preach, job
one is make the songs as long aspossible so you have less time
to preach.
So thank you all for singing,mission 1 accomplished.
But seriously, you know, whenyou're the worship guy and
(01:52):
you're going to preach,everybody thinks you're going to
be talking all about worship.
It's all about worship and,trust me, we could come in here.
Jason knows this, is true.
We come in here and if you wantto throw songs at me, I'll play
them out of my head for an hour.
If you ever want to have aservice like that, we'll do that
, because I do love praising God.
(02:13):
Is my battery going down or didyou just turn it down?
I mean, it's good either way,as long as you can hear, I'm
good Because, as I normally do,I didn't check the battery in
this.
I just turned it on and hadfaith that it was going to work.
So if it's about to go dead andyou guys keep hearing me it's
because God is working a miraclewith this battery, which
(02:38):
wouldn't be the biggest miraclehe's done this week, right, amen
, amen.
So let me ask you, starting outhere is our God worthy of our
praise?
What do you think?
Is our God worthy of our praise?
Amen, right, okay.
Is our God always worthy of ourpraise?
(03:00):
Here's the question.
This is the deeper part of thequestion.
I'm not asking you if God isworthy of our praise when things
are going great.
I'm not asking you if god isworthy of our praise when he's
given us everything we want.
I'm asking you if he's worthyof our praise even in the
moments when we feel broken anddefeated.
Is he worthy of our praise, allthose times?
(03:22):
Okay, what are the acceptableparameters of our praise?
What do you guys think?
What are the acceptableparameters of our praise?
When can we praise God?
All the time?
Right, all the time.
What are the confines of ourpraise?
Do we praise just when we're inhere?
(03:44):
Do we praise out there?
Do we praise out there?
Do we praise at home, in jail?
Okay, I was talking about Pauland Silas, and I think that last
week in my meditation I thinkJason was talking about Paul and
Silas earlier and praise injail, that shakes the ground and
releases prisoners, right?
(04:05):
So if we can agree that God isworthy of our praise and always
worthy of our praise, and thatthere's nothing that confines us
from praising God and thatthere's no situation in which we
can't praise God, then let meask you this question why aren't
you doing it all the time?
We've just established that itis acceptable to praise God with
(04:28):
every moment of your life,every fiber of your being, in
every situation, in everylocation, so why are we not
doing that?
That's a great answer, roy.
He said distractions, and he'sahead of my notes because it's
in here, don't you worry.
It's the distractions of thislife, it's all the things that
(04:52):
are piled up on top of us anddragging us down, these loads
that we carry and they keep usfrom focusing on what is real.
And what is real is the waythat God takes care of us in
every facet of our life, inevery moment of our life, in
every situation and locationthat we can possibly be in.
My wife will tell you I goaround with a song on my lips
(05:15):
all the time.
Okay, and that's absolutelytrue.
It's not necessarily on purpose, it's just it's me, it's what
bubbles up out of me.
There's always a song on mylips.
We were playing in a dart balltournament about a week ago and
my nephew, alex Ray's son, keptlooking at me and he was going,
(05:36):
what, what, like.
I was talking to him and Ifinally told him man, I'm just
singing, I'm just singing, andthis dart ball tournament?
Talking to him, and I finallytold him man, I'm just singing,
I'm just singing, and you know,this dart ball tournament didn't
mean anything of greatconsequence and you guys
probably don't even know whatthat is.
That's another lesson foranother time.
But we wanted to win and I justI had these songs in my mind
(05:56):
and one of them was that faithsong that I'd just written.
I was singing that and there'sa song called no Fear by John
Kendrick that I just couldn'tget out of my brain.
I was just singing those twosongs all night and we ended up
winning that series four gamesto one.
Now, that doesn't mean God caresabout dartball.
That doesn't mean that Godcares about every little thing
that we have going on in ourlife, because it might not serve
(06:18):
a purpose for him to see you besuccessful in one small area of
your life, but it does meanthat he wants us to praise him
in every situation, even whenthere are godless people
standing in front of us tellingus that it's not acceptable.
So I think it's interesting andyou can, you can, I think it's
(06:41):
obviously anytime you see redletters in the Bible and Jesus
is talking, that's prettyinteresting, right.
That's attention getting, andso you can guarantee that
whatever you're going toexperience there in that reading
is going to be something prettymonumental, right.
And this is no.
This scripture that we're goingto be in today is no exception.
We're going to be in John,chapter 4.
(07:02):
And this is Jesus having aconversation and having an
encounter with a godless person.
And here's the thing about itit goes to another level of
interesting or encouraging, oramazing, because Jesus is
somehow going to go from being awitness to a godless individual
(07:26):
to how to worship in oneconversation.
It's all in one conversation,and we haven't yet figured out,
as ambassadors for Christ, howto even get to the conversation
about people who are godless,right.
A lot of times we let them justdo their thing and hope that
they don't overflow on usbecause we don't want to get
(07:47):
involved.
Jesus is getting involved,digging into the matter, telling
a truth that's hard to hear andthen saying, hey, by the way,
when you worship, this is howyou do it.
He does it all in oneconversation.
That's years worth of work, aswe're trying to work and convert
people to christ.
Right, and by the way, you uh,you guys back in the back there
(08:08):
you'll have to tell me if, ifI'm staying in the camera.
I I'm a little more mobile thanyou know.
I have happy feet, so they go alot of places.
I try not to be too crazy, butif I get out of the camera, just
you know, nudge, be back eitherway.
Um so um.
When we think about the way thatgod speaks to us, he has
(08:30):
different voicings and differenttones, right and um.
So sometimes he speaks to usand whispers and just gently
directs our path.
Other times his words rush overus declaring his undeniable
greatness, and still other timesHis words rush over us
declaring His undeniablegreatness, and still other times
he shouts to get our attentionover the maddening crowd with
(08:52):
the hard truth that we may notwant to hear.
And he has all these differentvoicings so that he can reach us
.
Now you might say to yourselfwell, why does God talk in all
these different ways to us?
Well, if you've ever been aparent, I can guarantee it
doesn't take you too long tocome up with the answer, because
sometimes they don't listen,okay.
Sometimes they just don'tlisten.
(09:13):
So you've got to go to the nextlevel and then the next level.
You know, I think there'sactually maybe four levels in my
communication with my kids, butwho knows?
I knew it was bad one time Iwas watching Alyssa communicate
with and I know you thinkCourtney and Alyssa are just
perfect angels because it's allyou've ever seen.
But they could, believe it ornot, push each other's buttons
(09:35):
and needle each other.
And one day, when Courtney wasprobably about 10, so that'd
make Alyssa what?
7?
Or 8, or 7, 6 or 7 or somethingAnyway, and she was just
getting on Alyssa's nerves tothe nth degree, and Alyssa goes
Courtney and I thought, oh, mygoodness, she's learned that
(09:58):
from me.
It's right, you know, it's likeokay.
So I think to myself well, Ihave a point when I'm talking to
courtney like that, but maybeshe doesn't see the difference
right.
So it's just like godcommunicating with us.
Even the way god communicateswith us, we can't spit that
(10:19):
right out to somebody elsebecause it might not be received
in the same way.
So god has all these differentways of communicating with us.
That prepares us for the workat hand, which is to reach other
people.
So I want you to think aboutthat and how he speaks to us.
And then we're going to get intothis piece of scripture and
(10:41):
talk about what happens here inJohn 4.
Let's pray.
All right, my fathers, forcoming in prayer today.
We thank you again, lord, forthe opportunity to be in your
house and sing praises to yourname and to hear your word, and
I pray, lord, that you'll bewith the message that's
presented today and help it tobe the message that these people
need to hear.
Help it to be the message thatthe world needs to hear.
And help me to be reminded thatI'm not up here to listen to
(11:03):
myself talk, that we are tryingto gain knowledge that can help
us better understand you, betterunderstand your will for our
lives and better understand howto worship and praise you with
every ounce of our being all thetime.
We thank you, lord, for all ofyour many blessings.
We pray that you'll continue towatch over all of us, both
physically and spiritually, inthis.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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So we're going to be in John,chapter 4.
, and we're going to start there, at the 7th verse.
I'm going to read through allof this and then we'll kind of
go back and recap a little bitof stuff, and I'm reading from
the New King James Version, soif it sounds a little bit
different than what you'relooking at, that would be why
(11:46):
it's all going to say prettymuch the same thing.
John 4, beginning in the 7thverse.
It says A woman of Samaria cameto draw water.
Jesus said to her Give me adrink, for His disciples had
gone away into the city to buyfood.
Then the woman of Samaria saidto Him how is into the city to
buy food?
Then the woman of Samaria saidto him how is it that you, being
a Jew, ask a drink of me, aSamaritan woman, for Jews have
(12:08):
no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said untoher if you knew the gift of God
and who it is that says to yougive me a drink, you would have
asked him and he would havegiven you the living water.
11th verse.
The woman said to him sir, youhave nothing to draw with and
(12:30):
the well is deep.
Where, then, do you get thisliving water?
Are you greater than our fatherJacob, who gave us this well
and drank from it himself, aswell as his sons and his
livestock?
Jesus answered and said to herWhoever drinks of this water
will thirst again, but whoeverdrinks of the water that I shall
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give will never thirst, but thewater that I shall give him
will become in him a fountain ofwater, springing up into
everlasting life.
Verse 15,.
The woman said to him Sir, giveme this water that I may not
thirst, nor come here to draw.
Jesus said to her Go, call yourhusband and come here.
(13:14):
The woman answered and said Ihave no husband.
Jesus said to her you have wellsaid I have no husband, for you
have had five husbands and theone with whom you are now is not
your husband.
In that you spoke truly.
The woman said to him Sir, Iperceive that you are a prophet.
(13:37):
Our fathers worshiped on thismountain and you Jews say that
in Jerusalem is the place whereone ought to worship.
Jesus said to her woman believeme, the hour is coming when you
will, neither on this mountainnor in Jerusalem, worship the
father.
You will worship, excuse me,you worship what you do not know
.
We know that we worship forsalvation is of the Jews.
(14:01):
Worship for salvation is of theJews.
The 23rd verse says but thehour is coming, and now is when
true worshipers will worship theFather in spirit and truth, and
the Father is seeking suchworship of Him.
God is spirit, and those whoworship Him worship in spirit
and in truth.
Okay, that's a whole lot.
(14:23):
That's a whole lot in there,okay, but we've already
determined that we should bepraising god in every situation,
every circumstance, right?
So in this one passage again,jesus engages the samaritan
women, which jewish peopleshould never do.
He then tells her about herselfthat's in the modern
terminology.
He told her about herself andwas dead on perfect in what he
(14:46):
said.
He shows her how to quench herunquenchable thirst and he
teaches her and us, by thereading of this word, how to
worship.
Now, at first glance, you mightsay to yourself how does jesus
connect all these things toworship?
And, and I would say this, allof those things are reasons to
worship in every situation, topraise God who delivered them.
(15:10):
So in verse 9, you see, theSamaritan woman basically says
to Jesus why are you eventalking to me?
You're not even supposed to betalking to me.
So the first reason to praiseGod in this passage comes from
the fact that God breaks downbarriers between the races.
He doesn't care what you looklike or where you're from, he's
(15:33):
going to love you just the same.
In verses 10 through 14, hereveals that he is the Christ,
the living water.
Right, that's a second reasonto praise God.
He's the living water, he's theMessiah.
In verse 16, he shows not onlythat he knows the truth about
this woman and everything in herlife, but he knows everything
(15:55):
about our life.
So that's the third reason topraise God in this passage.
In verse 23, he tells us how toworship.
Okay, the fourth reason toworship and praise God in this
passage is that he's told us howto do it.
So we have to remember thateverything that God does that
(16:22):
reveals His mystery, his majesty, his strength, his power, his
goodness, his love, his mercy,is a reason to praise God.
So I ask you, how many times aday do you think you're
presented with a reason topraise God?
I would say, from my ownexperience, it's innumerable,
(16:43):
uncalculable, I don't know.
It's a lot of times we take somany things for granted that
we're almost not ready to praiseGod and worship Him for who he
is, because we've started toaccept or believe that we are
entitled to His blessing on ourlife, regardless of how we're
living, regardless of how weshow our gratitude and
regardless of how we're living,regardless of how we show our
(17:03):
gratitude and regardless of howwe worship.
So we start to turn a blind eyeto marvelous and amazing things
that he does, because it's kindof old hat to us.
So that's why.
That's why david would write inPsalm 96, sing to the Lord a
(17:24):
new song.
Because we should be singing anew song in every moment where
we have something new revealedto us or some obstacle of our
life is overturned to allow usto continue to follow God and
have trust in Jesus, thatbecomes an opportunity to praise
and to worship.
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One of the things that is kindof driving me crazy about.
I think the modern Christianmusic thing is a great thing and
you can tell we do a lot ofmodern Christian worship.
I love a lot of those songs.
I think a lot of them speak alot of truth.
But the one thing that drivesme crazy about them is that
sometimes there are things inChristian songs that shouldn't
be there.
They speak of a truth that isnot a truth.
(18:09):
They talk about a God that wedon't worship.
To be honest with you, I don'tknow if you guys were aware, but
there was a song about threeweeks ago trending on
contemporary Christian chartsthat was put out by a Muslim.
Now I've had people say to mewell, that's the same God.
No, it's not the same God, it'sa decidedly different God.
(18:33):
So you ask yourself well, howdoes this happen?
Well, because it blindly getson the radio, because people
hear a good tune and they hearwhat they think are worshipful
lyrics and they just push it outthere.
You need to listen reallyintently to what you have on
your radio or on your iPod.
(18:53):
Well, I guess an iPod would beold now.
I guess on your iTunes or yourPandora or your Apple Music I
know I show my age sometimes.
What can I say?
You've got to remember I had aWalkman Before that I had a
Walkman, I had a transistorradio.
Okay, some of you don't evenknow what a transistor is, let
alone a transistor radio.
So anyway, I think that aneffective praise song should
(19:19):
have these three elements itshould speak of and to a God who
is mighty to save.
It should speak of a theologyor a biblical truth that aligns
with what the scriptures say,and it should testify to the
greatness of God in a powerfuland truthful way.
(19:40):
I was talking with a friend ofmine about writing songs one day
and he said well, I'll get anidea in my head and then I'll
mull over that idea for a littlebit.
And you know, if it's musicalfirst, then I'll try to put some
lyrics to it, and then, if it'slyrical first, then I'll try to
put some music to it, and Imight work on that for three
(20:00):
weeks or four weeks or maybeeven months, and then I'll just
keep working it out.
Then I might pray about it, um,and then, if I've prayed about
it, I might go to the bible andsee what the bible says.
And I said, dude, you got itall wrong.
The bible should be where itcomes from first.
Okay, the impetus for a praiseand worship song.
(20:22):
Christian music should be whatGod says first and foremost.
Right.
I mean it's unfathomable to methat you would work for months
on a song without praying andgoing back to the Bible about it
.
I mean I feel like every songthat I wind up writing I've
actually tried to writequote-unquote secular songs,
(20:44):
which I've been successful at,but they still in my mind.
I can listen to them back and Igo oh, that's speaking to me
about this element of God'spresence in my life.
I can't separate the two.
But let me give you a fewexamples of what I'm talking
about.
Okay and guaranteed, just fairwarning, guaranteed.
(21:06):
I'm going to hit a songsomebody in here likes, but I
want you to think about what I'msharing with you through it.
Mary did you know?
Yes, mary knew it's a foolishsong.
Mary was well aware.
God told her.
An angel told her.
(21:28):
She knew it's the mostridiculous question ever posed
in Christian music.
I apologize, I know everybodyloves that song.
I've done that song.
Just it kills me.
Okay, we three kings, we threekings of Orient, are bearing
(21:55):
gifts we've traversed so far,traversed, by the way, not
traveled, traversed so far.
Okay, they didn't see Jesus atthe manger.
Okay, that's not a Christmassong.
If you want to sing that justas a song about the three kings
and the three wise men who cameto worship Jesus, go right ahead
(22:16):
.
Just have in your mind he wasabout two, looked a lot like
Miles, okay, bruh, okay, okay.
So it's a ridiculous song.
It's in every hymnal I've everseen.
It's a ridiculous song.
It's in every hymnal I've everseen.
It's a ridiculous song.
(22:38):
Okay, reckless love.
And Greg, I know, greg, I knowReckless love.
Everybody loves this song.
I'm going to ask you flat outAudience participation is
welcome Is God's love reckless?
The definition of recklessmeans to do something without
(23:04):
care for consequence.
God doesn't do anything withoutcare for consequence.
In fact, he does everythingknowing what the consequence
will be.
Now, I've done this songbecause a lot of people love
this song.
That song would be better if itwas relentless, because God's
(23:24):
love is relentless.
If anything, god's love is very, very laser-focused and
directed, singularly focused anddirected on reaching each and
every one of us, for Him, sothat we can live for Him.
So I'll give you an example ofpart of what I'm talking about
(23:44):
Now.
In this song, reckless Love,there's a line that talks about
a well-known parable.
Okay, because he says chases medown, fights till I'm found,
leaves the 99.
Okay, now we're in a room apretty saturated room is what I
(24:04):
would call it.
Most of these people have beenbaptized, right?
So when I say leaves the 99,what are we talking about?
What are we talking about?
His love leaves the 99.
What are we talking about?
His love leaves the 99.
What are we talking about?
The sheep?
He leaves the 99.
This is a parable christ talksabout as a shepherd.
The shepherd leaves the 99 andgoes to find the one, the one
(24:26):
that's wandering.
Right, okay, I can get behindthat, but if you don't know what
that piece of that verse is, orthat chorus actually is talking
about, then you're lost.
So, as a test, we had about 30people in a place one day that
we were playing worship.
(24:47):
Somebody threw that out let'sdo that song.
I said, okay, we'll do thatsong.
So I gave him this first of all.
I gave him this whole spiel.
I just gave you God's love isnot reckless.
Okay, long as we understand,god's love is not reckless.
Then I sang the song and I saidhow many of you here know what
it means to leave the 99?
They're like shrugging theirshoulders, I don't know.
(25:11):
Then you shouldn't be singingthat.
Then you shouldn't be singingthat.
Okay, and here's what you, whenyou're somebody like me who
enjoys singing and leadingworship but also enjoys
preaching, you learn animportant truth about writing
songs.
You can't tell the whole gospelstory in a three-minute song.
It's virtually impossible.
(25:33):
I've done it, but I had toconcentrate to do it.
But it's virtually impossible.
I've done it, but I had toconcentrate to do it, but it's
virtually impossible.
So when you're sharing a praisesong with somebody, it needs to
be a snippet of something thatthey can hold on to and grasp.
That is a universal truth aboutJesus.
Okay, and I'm not making thisabout myself or anybody else,
(25:55):
but you think about that song wesang this morning as we started
this service.
You've got to have faith, right.
Romans 11.6 says Without faith,it's impossible to please God
Universal truth.
You can grab that one thing outof that song.
That song is about 3 minutesand 53 seconds.
Okay, you can grab that oneuniversal truth out of that song
(26:17):
and live on that and it willhelp you in your Christian life.
Okay, other things that aredescribed in there talk about
being beaten down, being in aworld that shakes you up and
wears you out right, but what'sthe way to get over that?
Continue to have faith in God,that he's going to do a
marvelous work through you andthat you are going to be able to
(26:38):
show people Jesus through yourexample.
Okay, so my point is listen tothese songs that are playing on
your radio.
I'm going to hit you with onemore, and guaranteed 50% of the
people in here love this song.
It's called the Truth by MeganWoods.
(26:59):
Okay, this is the chorus.
The truth is, I am my father'schild.
I make him proud and I make himsmile.
So far, I'm pretty good withthat.
That's pretty good, right?
Okay, I was made in the imageof a perfect king, 100% true.
He looks at me and wouldn'tchange a thing.
(27:21):
Can anybody figure out where wewent wrong?
He looks at me and wouldn'tchange a thing.
I got news for you.
God, jesus Christ, the HolySpirit, is the biggest agent of
change you will ever meet inyour life.
Every day is about change.
(27:41):
Every moment is about change.
Jason was talking a few weeksago about transformation.
To be truly transformed, youhave to change.
Okay, so listen, I'm glad thesepeople are putting Jesus first
and getting Him on the radio.
I'm I'm cool with that, uh, butlet's be real.
(28:03):
We got to listen to what'sbeing said in these songs so
that we know that the truth.
As long as we realize thatthese songs are not a substitute
for this, your word of God,which is the truth, then it's
okay, and you can use parts ofthese songs, and maybe all of
these songs, to help reachpeople for Jesus, if you never
(28:25):
forget that what you're supposedto be celebrating, praising and
worshiping is the truth of GodAlmighty.
Now I just you know.
I hope that you understand andappreciate what I'm saying to
you because it will help you, Ibelieve, to live a more
(28:49):
worshipful life.
Okay, psalm 89, at the verybeginning in the Message Bible
and I don't particularly likethe Message Bible, but I like
the way this is phrased Psalm 89in the Message Bible starts by
saying your love O Lord is asong and I will sing it.
Your love O Lord is a song andI will sing it.
(29:13):
That's words you can live by.
Okay, if the love of God is asong and I will sing it, that's
words you can live by.
Okay, if the love of God is asong that you are willing to
sing with all your being and allyour life, you are going to
praise Him with every part ofyour being, and so I don't ever
(29:33):
want anybody to feel like I'mbanging you over the head with a
hammer, or banging you over thehead with a hammer or beating
you over the head with a Bible,but I think for us to truly
worship in spirit and truth.
That's what it says, right?
You guys have heard me say thata million times.
John 4.24 says my true peoplewill worship me in spirit and in
(29:54):
truth.
Okay, so do it in spirit and intruth.
And, by the way, I want to makesure I cover this ground because
I have questions about this.
A lot People will ask me well,don't you listen to any secular
music?
I listen to a lot of secularmusic.
I'm a Beatle nut.
Doug appreciates that.
Been a Beatle nut all my life.
They weren't great people.
(30:15):
They wrote some great songs.
So I listen to secular music,but I'm careful to separate what
speaks the truth of God andwhat doesn't.
So you're not going to hear melistening to Sympathy for the
Devil by the Rolling Stones.
Okay, I don't care what theirtheory was with that.
(30:37):
It just doesn't jive withanything about my christian life
.
Okay, I'm not telling you stayaway from all secular music.
You may notice that our music,our praise and worship music, is
infused by secular music andthings we've stolen from secular
music.
I think we're using those giftsand those, those elements, to
(30:58):
praise god and that's a goodthing.
Um, we were, we were doingworship music one time and guy
was saying it would be great onenight to to just do a a uh, a
whole show of secular songs thathave a great spiritual meaning.
I thought that's, that's prettyneat.
I could get with that, right,and there's quite a bunch out
(31:19):
there, particularly on thecountryside, more so than rock
and roll.
But there's a bunch of songsout there you could do that with
.
But then the first one he threwout was my Sweet Lord by George
Harrison.
I was like, hey, man, do yourealize that the chorus has
chants in the background?
It's chants in the background,you know.
(31:43):
It's chants that GeorgeHarrison learned from a guru
that has no place in the worshipof God.
Right, well, I thought that wasa great song.
Yeah, well, it was so greatthat it almost got banned in
America because it had thosechants in the background.
Okay, so it's just my way ofsaying to you and it could be
anything, I'm talking aboutmusic, right, it could be what
you watch on TV.
It could be what you engage inas normal practices at work.
(32:07):
It could be conversations orjokes that you tell with your
friends.
It could be the way that youtalk about political issues.
Understand that there's aseparation between what goes on
in your normal life and how youpraise God with every ounce of
(32:30):
your being all the time and justendeavor to keep the bad out
that's what I'm saying andpromote the good by praising God
with every ounce of your being.
So, as we close today, I justwant you guys to understand that
what moves me about worship isthe fact that it's an
(32:54):
opportunity to use talents thatGod gave me to show Him that I
love Him, that I appreciate Hismercy and His grace and His love
, and that I'm willing to dowhatever he's going to ask me to
do to advance the Gospel.
I hope that is what you'redoing with your everyday life of
(33:17):
worship, because if we thinkthat worship is just a thing
that happens here before the guygets up and talks, then we're
not understanding it.
Worship is what happens withevery experience of your life.
Give God the glory all the time, because he deserves it, you
(33:39):
know.
And if you think it's going tomake you weird, well, yeah, it's
going to make you weird.
I started out the month talkingat communion time about 1 Peter
2.9.
You're a royal priesthood, aholy nation, a peculiar people.
You're supposed to be weird.
Okay, people are supposed tolook at you and go.
(34:01):
I don't get it.
That guy's happy all the time.
You know I don't get it.
That guy seems to be talkingabout Jesus all the time.
You know I don't get it.
Nothing gets that guy down.
Well, you're going to have downtimes, just like anybody else.
There are times when I feeldefeated by what's going on in
life.
But I got news for you.
(34:21):
That overwhelmingly positiveimage that you share with people
is really important to thekingdom of God.
You may not think it's ultraimportant to your own life.
It's really important to thekingdom of God Because people
out there looking for answershave to see a person who's found
them.
And if they see a person who'sfound the answers, they're going
(34:43):
to ask you what that answer is.
And that's your opportunity tosay Jesus is the answer.
So live your life of praise.
Let your life preach.
If you let your life preach,you don't have to do what I'm
doing right.
Preach.
If you let your life preach,you don't have to do what I'm
doing right now.
If you let your life preach, itdoes the preaching for you.
I've overwhelmingly in mylifetime reached people for
(35:07):
Jesus by just being who I am.
They knock on my door, say hey,I don't really know a whole lot
about you, but you're differentthan the other people I see.
Can I talk to you?
You know how many lifetimefriendships have been opened up
to me through that experience.
(35:28):
That ain't me.
I got news for you.
That ain't me.
That's Jesus coming through me,which just goes to show you if
Jesus can work through somethingthat looks like this.
I mean, you guys got it covered.
Okay, so that's the message.
Okay, that's the message.
Live a life of praise, give Godthe glory all the time, because
(35:51):
he deserves it, and remember tobe careful about what you're
listening to and what you'repromoting to other people.
Okay,
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