What Is Worship Really?

The title is, What is Worship, Really? What is Worship, Really? Now, you can get a lot of different opinions on this. Churches are divided over this issue. People leave churches over this issue.

How many of you know that? Okay, they either leave over the pastor or the worship. One or the other often is the deciding factor. And Tim was in Psalm 99 last Wednesday.

And so I want to pull in just a little bit of that because he talked about the holiness of God. But I'm going to tie in with worship and then go right in briefly to Psalm 100 is very short. But this is such an important topic.

And many of you know, I've been talking about it a lot. I did a couple different podcasts today on different organizations about just coming out of that funk I was in and not wanting to really pastor anymore. But what really helped get me through was worship.

Worship through discouragement. Worship through the pain. Worship through the disappointments.

Worship through the hurt. Anybody get hurt at church? No, okay. But it's such an important topic because, and there's so many things.

I mean, I want to talk a lot about the verse that Jesus said that those who worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. But just trying to find the room for that, because that's a whole nother really facet. Because what he's talking about that verse is those who worship God must worship him in spirit.

You must be born again. You have the Holy Spirit residing in you. And it's really the Holy Spirit in us surrendering to the work of the Spirit is where worship comes from.

The Bible says he cries, Abba Father. So you have to worship God in spirit. You must be saved and have a right relationship with him.

And in truth, the way we worship God is important as well. Because a lot of false worship can occur. And you can, many of you read the Old Testament, there's a lot of false worship in the Old Testament and false worship in the church.

There are churches that I would consider, the Bible would consider apostate. Do you know what that word means? It means they're not going in a good direction. And the pastor stands for things that are very ungodly, yet they have worship.

They sing the same songs that we do. But they're not worshiping God in truth. Probably in spirit as well.

The people who are apostate are not saved. There's a big difference between quenching and grieving the Spirit and somebody who's clearly rejecting God. But it's such an important topic.

So let's look at this real quick. The Hebrew word is, which means, and actually the Hebrew word meaning the Old Testament, it means to bow down. That's actually what the word means.

To bow down. It's like a reverence for God. And then if you continue in the New Testament, the Greek word, proskuneo, it's where we get that word where we lay prostrate before the Lord.

It's worship and it's encouraging people to encounter God and to praise Him. So over the years, I've had my share of critics. I know it might surprise you.

Especially on this topic of worship. And I can spot them a mile away, those hard hearts. And they always come up to me and they say, you know, the pastor, worship is a lifestyle.

So that's how they get out of worship. Bored during worship. Looking at their Bibles during worship.

Don't want to come to morning worship. Tired, not emotional. You know, those things.

I just study. I just read. True, it is a form of worship is your lifestyle.

But there should also be a time where you engage God with your heart. Now, that's going to look different for all of us. We have different styles and ways we represent God and ways God reflects our relationship, reflects our conduct and our character.

My mom used to give a really good example. I'll always remember. And she would say, it's like going to a Dodger game and Dodger fans out there.

You know, you go down there to the stadium and I like to just sit comfortable. I try to avoid the people who are drinking a lot. But you've got the people, they're all painted up.

Their faces are blue. It's like they've got big hats on. They're fans.

But I'm also a fan. But we look a lot different. And so when it comes to worship, there are differences.

Some people love to come to the altar every Sunday. Some people don't want to, don't need to. And that's fine.

It's not about doing certain things. We all express ourselves differently. But that's one reason we like to open it up is for people who feel that desire to press in, to feel that desire to do something, to engage in God.

And that's what it is. Worship, there's no way around it, really. It's to encounter God and to praise Him.

Worship is a response. So there is activity and there is action. So don't let preference prevent your worship.

Any preference out there? If we filled out a six-by-four card and we passed it out, there'd be a lot of different preferences out there. Everything from the old, remember the Gaithers, the gospel? You know, some of those songs I really enjoy. Other people, that's worship.

And then you get the other people who came from a very traditional, where's your hymnals behind the seats? I mean, turn to page 89 and let's go through it. And that's how they came to the Lord. That's what touched their heart.

But then the younger generation too, just with the bands and the energy and things, they came to... Like, I came to know the Lord. When I came to know the Lord, it was contemporary worship, you know, in the late 90s, back with, I don't want to say the names, you'll probably judge me. But I didn't know the difference.

I just put on Christian music. I just put on TBN. And I saw this lady with lots of makeup and these people acting weird.

But some people were normal, okay? And just the worship was like breaking my heart. And so it just really is where God reaches the person, as long as, of course, it's doctrinally sound. The worship leaders are Christians.

But there's a lot of criticism in the Christian community on this topic of worship. Some of it rightly so, but some of it I think we can become wrongly judgmental. And so we do have our preferences.

How many people like it louder? How many people like it quieter? How many people like to stand? How many people like to kneel? Why are they raising their hands? Why aren't they raising their hands? And so preference plays a huge role. And it is hard over the years. We call it the worship wars here at church.

And we used to have it, maybe we'll do it again, where we'd have every once in a while a hymn night on Wednesdays. And it was powerful. And just making time to do that again.

But I think it's important. Don't let preference prevent worship. And I know it's hard.

Because when I used to travel and speak before I planted the church, I went to some places where I could not... You ever say, I just didn't feel it today? Or what's the famous phrase? Yeah, I didn't feel worship or something like that. Like it's about us, right? But I would go into and I would preach at, let's say, some Baptist churches, 150 years old. The Bricks in the Midwest.

And I'm sitting there like, oh boy, oh boy. And they're just, you know, the hymns and they're off tune. And they're not... It's like, wow.

But some of them, you know, they love the Lord. And so I just really had to teach myself to reflect on the lyrics, reflect on the words. And it took some time.

But eventually, you know, you press in. And as much as, you know, I was involved and I love Grace Fest, it can be a little too loud for me. It's like, can I go way back on the grass? Like way back there? Because I don't like it too loud.

Boom, boom, right? And your eardrums, it's like, you know, and so it's hard to find that sweet spot of worship. For me, it's, you know, early in the morning and just put on just some... For me, many of you know, when Richard Andrew comes out, I love just that deep style of worship. I love putting Maddie on, you know, as well.

And in our worship team and just those songs that take you deep. And even for me, I know the higher energy songs. I usually don't listen to those in the morning.

It's not... maybe if I go on a jog or something. But in the morning, it's just that I can't explain it. It's putting Amazing Grace on Rewind, right? With that violin, Amazing Grace.

And just that deep, heartfelt worship. But that's just where my heart beats. And I know other people prefer different things.

Even in our own family, you probably have this. My wife will send me a song and I love this. Oh, it's my favorite song right now.

I'm like, it's okay. Or I'll send them a song I'm so excited about. Eh, not my favorite.

Okay, can it be your favorite today? And preference. And we hear people, can you do this song? Can we do this song? And we love to open... Maddie's really good at that. But if the song doesn't work for our team or our unique environment, then we probably choose not to do it.

And we've also had people over the years that can sing. They have a pretty good voice, but it's not really what we're looking for. It's more if you think of 1980s or 1990s, right? It's kind of that style.

Nothing wrong with it, but you also have to have a unique style to your church. And so that's where we end up with in regards to worship. But I have a question for you to ponder tonight.

If we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, shouldn't there be worship inside the temple? Do you know, maybe some of you don't know this, but the Bible says, and this thought is still hard to comprehend, that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Meaning this is where the Holy Spirit resides. Don't look too deep into it.

And I've heard sermons on some weird topics with this. It's like they take it to a whole new level. You know, don't go too far beyond Scripture.

All we know is we're the temple of the Holy Spirit. We can grieve and quench the Spirit. And it's the Holy Spirit that really allows us to worship at a deep level.

And being that temple, worship should flow out. And so I'm wondering tonight, if it doesn't, maybe you should ask God, what's clogging that line? Anybody ever have clogs in their line and call the plumber? That can happen to us as well. One of the biggest ones, and I talked about it on the podcast this morning, is discouragement.

It's hard to worship when you're discouraged. It's hard to worship when you think that God has abandoned you. Or parents, you know, you've done as best as you can and things aren't turning out like you thought.

And you can become discouraged. Or bitterness. We can become bitter.

Or offense. Offense. Oh, offense hurts worship.

That's why every week, I hope this doesn't sound wrong, but every week, we're trying to focus on unity. Because I hate coming on Sunday and there's offense. It's just like, oh, there's such and such, right? And you've got to work through that.

You've got to fix it. Because it will stifle worship. And I see it.

It's hard sometimes. I see somebody on this side, somebody on this side, and I know there's conflict. I'm like, guys, why are you even here? Honestly.

You need to resolve that. You need to lay your, what's the Bible saying? Before you lay your gift at the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother. It hinders worship.

And I don't mean, oh, you're not well. I mean, but guys, you should fix that. Really, for your benefit.

Disunity can stifle the ambience and the atmosphere of the church. And last Wednesday, Tim mentioned the Lord reigns. The Lord reigns.

Let the people tremble. He dwells between the cherub. Let the earth be moved.

The Lord is great and Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name. So 99 in 100 have a lot of worship Scriptures in there.

Let them praise Your great and awesome name. That's why I don't understand sometimes when people say, you know, worship's too emotional, or they get too excited. Well, the Bible gets pretty excited too.

We're supposed to worship Him. And again, you can't manufacture it. I can't fake it.

It's just not who I am. But when the heart's engaged, there should be some type of worship. The Lord reigns.

Let the people tremble. He dwells. God dwells between the cherub.

Now, what is the cherubim? The cherubim, they were, I mean, if you go back to, I think Genesis, I didn't pull up all the Scriptures, where they guarded the garden. They were involved in guarding, and they were involved in praising Him. They remember the cherubim, they were the ones that hid their eyes, and they had the wings, and they cried, Holy, holy, holy is our God.

And they were also in the temple where the worship actually took place, where God's presence was there. And now, of course, these aren't accurate, but I'm going to put up two images. Maybe, let's put up one first on possibilities of what these cherub could have looked like.

And it's really interesting, unless, I don't know, they might not have got the... Give me thumbs down. Okay, thumbs down. We tried.

Luke's going to try to find it. But if not, I had an illustration of there were just these huge images in the temple on top of the ark with their wings, and then also on the outer side. And this is a place where God's power would come.

His presence would be there. And my encouragement to us tonight is there is still a place where God will meet you. There is still a place where God will meet you.

And again, I had so many Scriptures of where God would meet them in the temple, in the tabernacle of the holies of holies, and remembering and having more solemn and dedicated the temple. And it actually says, as he prayed, the cloud of God's presence filled the temple and they couldn't keep ministering because of the presence of the Lord. And he continued to pray and the fire came down and devoured the offering.

God is awesome. Can you imagine that? And it's because people were worshiping. But we have to remember that worship is focused on Him.

Worship is focused on God. And on this point, though, I want to say something. I understand that being concerned with some songs is legitimate.

Correct? I mean, we have to have our guard up, but some of the critics can get carried away on this topic of worship. Because when your heart is wrong, your worship will be off. So if a person has a critical heart, their worship's going to be off.

We can become so critical that we criticize anything. Such an important point. Because there's a lot of songs out there.

Some of them are about, whether it's a doxology or whether a lot of the hymns are about praising God. But there's other songs that may be my testimony. They give a testimony or the one that caught some heat a while back.

Remember, Reckless Love. And he wasn't saying God's love is reckless. He was saying it appears that it's reckless because he's leaving the 99 to find the one.

And sometimes I love putting that song on rewind. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending love of God chasing me down. Oh, that's too self-focused.

Well, sometimes I need a reminder of God's love. I need a reminder of God's love. I'd rather have my kids singing that, wouldn't you? Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending love of God chases me down.

And then 99.5, exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool. High. What does exalt mean? It means high and lifted up.

To rise above. Here's what's cool. It's actually pronounced room.

In Hebrew, it's not spelled that way. But exalt is room. And it's when God's presence fills the room.

To high and lift it up. But how do you lift up God? How do you lift up God? Any ideas? How you lift up God is you go down. You go down and worship and you cry out to Him and you give a contrite and broken heart and you pray.

And as you go down, as you worship, He's exalted. He's lifted up. You won't see too many signs of worship with the stiff neck.

You might see this. Or falling down. There's a respect.

There's a reverence. And again, this word shakah is to bow or to stoop as an act of reverence. A response.

And that's why I have a heart. I know it's different. But that's why we have a time of coming forward.

A time of allowing people to do that. And not a lot of churches do that. I understand it.

Some people don't understand it and we don't want to push it too much. But we want to give people a chance to respond. Because unless you haven't been coming much, this church is a little different.

There's a weightiness sometimes. And the need to respond. It's just a unique calling that God has given us.

The messages. And one of the things I mentioned when I spoke at the Pastors Conference in Ohio. I posted it.

Some of you saw. I talked to some of you. But after I gave the message on pastors being broken and humble, we were supposed to go into Q&A.

But the atmosphere was anything but Q&A. So the emcee just said, we just need to go into a time of prayer and call the pastors forward and pray over them. An altar call for us pastors to be refilled and refueled with the Spirit.

See an action. Something had to take place. And they said, well, this normally doesn't happen.

Right. Normal's not going to cut it anymore. Sometimes we want to respond.

Don't you want to respond sometimes? Guys, listen, I've been to 15 churches in the valley. I know them. I know I've been to a lot of them.

And there's different ones. Many of them are good and they're solid. And some of them were designed to teach.

And okay, we'll see you next Sunday at the potluck. And it's great. And people are leaving.

But sometimes we want to respond to what God is doing in our heart. And that's why we offer that. Just because a weird church does weird things don't let it hinder you pressing in.

That's like saying we can't use the Bible because cults use it. Have you thought about that? Why do you sing that song? That other church sings that song. And they're weird.

Well, you follow that other church a lot more than I do. I don't know about that. I just know what God's doing here.

Those critical people. Because if you're coming to find something wrong, you'll find it. I would love if we had time, I'd let each of you speak for 20 minutes and I could tear you apart.

I could tear apart your hermeneutic and homiletic approach. I could tear apart your sermon reference, your context. Did you start out with a strong opening statement? Did you have three powerful points that connected at the end? I could tear you apart.

To judge how you speak. Skipping, saying um, um, um too much. Can't we? I'm good.

I'm a good critical finder if I need to be. But that will prevent heartfelt worship if you come to critique. There's so many people in churches like that.

And I told the pastor, sermons must flow from the heart of worship. Yes, look up the Greek and the Hebrew and commentaries, but that's not the foundation. Study must follow surrender, not take the place of it.

Can you imagine if we could get pastors broken in the prayer closet first, and then from that, they could open the commentaries, open the Greek, open the Hebrew and say, Lord, what do you want to say? Because the refining process deep in the heart took place first. That's the foundation. So a heart of worship, worship is so important.

And to clarify, it's not just singing songs because many people sing songs and they're not worshiping. They're going through the motions. What it is, it's taking time to get my heart right before God.

I'm reflecting on the lyrics. I'm saying, Lord, I came in with the wrong heart, a critical heart. God, I've been distant this week.

I haven't prayed enough. And the heart is, Lord, I've been kind of messed up. I've been mean or snappy.

Anybody? Just me? No. Oh, boy, was I tested on the way home from our trip. Our plane was supposed to leave Cincinnati at 5.30, and I don't think it left till 7.30. So we were already in the airport five hours by then with kids and everything laying down on the ground.

And then I get a text as we're flying. And as we're flying, in Denver, there's a storm, and there's lightning out the window. And my kids don't like that, obviously.

And I get a text that our flight in Denver that was supposed to leave 11.15 at night to bring us back to Burbank has been canceled. So I'm walking around Burbank airport at 10 o'clock. It's really midnight, because two hours.

And I'm not going to go into the rest, but let's just say it was heavy. Heavy, heavy. But we did good.

I'm proud of everyone. But it's trying. And what helped me the following morning was just getting back into worship.

Here's additional benefits I don't know if you're aware of when you begin to make worship a priority. And the reason I talk about this is because a lot of people are good at getting up. They get up and they open their word, but they never worship.

And those are often the people that have some hardness going on. They're not open. They're not sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit, because again, it's not what you do first, because maybe reading is good for you first.

But there should be a time of engagement with God. Wisdom flows through worship and it allows God to open doors that He might not otherwise open. What I mean by that is when we make wise decisions, it usually can come from a heart of worship.

And prayers being answered usually come from a heart of worship. Looking back on our life, there are so many things, I jotted some of them down, but I took them off, were some of the most significant events in our life we never even prayed for. Have you ever done that? Lord, what did you just do? I didn't even pray for that.

I didn't even... Pastoring? No way. That never was even on my prayer list. Ever.

Ever. The radio stations. We can keep going.

I'm sure things in your life too. But God will open doors because of worship and our heart is right. And then verse 99 concludes, Moses and Aaron were among his priests and Samuel was among those who called his name.

They called upon the Lord and He answered them. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar. They kept His testimonies and the ordinances He gave them.

They had to go and worship, but we can stay and worship, again, because the Kingdom is within. They would actually have to go to the temple to worship where God's presence was there with the cherubim in the ark. So you need to find that secret place.

That prayer closet. That desolate place. Do whatever it takes.

There's a song sometimes I'll put on repeat. Just be. It says, Everything else can wait.

I've come to seek Your face. Everything else can wait. I've come to seek Your face.

Let's go into settings. Rewind. Rewind.

Loop. Loop. Loop.

Well, Shane, that will make you loopy. No, it will make you very solid. That's not brainwashing, guys.

Stop being scared of worship. This is why I don't understand. People think, oh, if you just sing a song, the same song or the same lines too long, that song was ten minutes, you're brainwashing.

What exactly does worshiping God look like? Could you explain? Four minutes on this song. 3.2 on this song. No, it's the heart engaged.

And honestly, the deeper you get in worship, the less you're concerned about the time. I've never seen anybody get up out of an hour powerful worship set that was too emotional, singing the same song too much, get up and be terrible. Go hit their wife and kick the dog.

Go run to the liquor store. Let me grab that six pack. It's impossible.

But people make excuses so they avoid worship. I was there. I was good.

I was good at making excuses. My favorite one, it's for women. I told my mom, that's for women, Mom.

Worship? Yet I would go later that night and worship my God. Put on Metallica as loud as I could blast it. Wasn't I worshiping? Darkness imprisoning me.

Absolute whore. Enter Sandman. I'm acting like a good target.

Right? What am I doing? I'm worshiping. I'm giving my heart to something that's not God. Oh, don't get me started on Aussie and Black Sabbath and crazy train.

Right? But see, I was worshiping. Something drew me in. And drinking the wrong spirits will open you up to the wrong spirit.

Come on, guys. Let's be real. The reason many people have a problem with worship is because they're not worshipers.

When you're a worshiper, you don't have a problem with worship. My goodness. I'm really not trying to beat this point up, but I get it a lot from people that they have an issue with it.

Because think about it. We sing these songs, but do we really mean it? When we're singing these lyrics, do we really mean it? That's what worship is. How was worship today? Oh, it was good.

No, it's not just singing. It's not following the lyrics on the screen. I love lyrics.

I think it's good. There's a place for it. But for about 2,000 years, the church didn't have this.

They have the psalms and they read the psalms or of course the old hymns. But there was an engagement. The heart was engaged.

It has to become a discipline, a determination, a desire to worship. Now I can picture some of you right now. Okay, I'll do what Shane said.

I'll sit at home for an hour tomorrow morning and I'll put worship on. No, no, no, no, no. A million times, no! That's external.

Worship is internal. You can't just go and sit on the couch. Here's what He said to do.

That's going through the motions. Now that might help. That might prompt things.

But it's got to be internal. And trust me, guys, when I'm talking about this, I'm quite aware that I don't feel like it a lot. Can you relate? I feel... Let's just be honest.

Wednesdays, are you okay with this? You sure? Sometimes it's hard to get up. When it's a little chilly out? No way. I want to go back too.

Or you get up, anybody ever get up and they got a lot to do that day? Make the mistake of turning on the phone, checking emails. Oh, here we go. Got lots to do.

And things will pull us away. Or I'll put on worship. I'm like, man, Lord, I'm just... Usually for me, it's when I turn on the phone and I get text messages, emails that kind of set the tone for the day.

And often, I don't really feel like it. But that's why discipline is so important. You press through not feeling like it.

Because the Bible doesn't say, worship me when you feel like it. Seek me when you want to. It's actually in the pressing in, in the perseverance that the breakthrough follows.

I can't tell you how many times, guys, and I only tell you this because do you think I want to tick people off? Do you think I can't wait to tick people off with this message? No, I want you to wrestle with something. I want you to wrestle with God. I want you to say, you know what? He's right.

I need that. I need that deeper work of the Spirit. And I saw it so many times, I would put on worship and I'd say, Lord, God, help me.

I don't feel like it this morning. I'm in a bad mood. Anybody get in bad moods? Well, wait till you get older.

Boy, your hormone levels play a big role. But as you begin just pressing in and just, God, help me. I need You.

God, thank You. And you listen to those songs. And you let the lyrics, the evidences all around.

God, You've had me from the beginning. You've guided my steps. And you begin, and then something breaks.

And there's a breakthrough. And then you don't want to stop worship. But that's what it means by seeking Him.

Pressing in. He's a reward of those who diligently seek Him. And I think we just get blocked off sometimes.

Even in church, we come and we're like, oh, what are people going to think? It's so powerful. Worship is so powerful. Watch out.

Social media will distract you. Wrong pursuits will take away from worship. A bad spiritual diet will kill worship.

You know what a physical diet is? Do you know there's a bad spiritual diet? It will deflate a heart of worship. I call it disgruntled Doritos, negative chicken nuggets, and worldly whoppers. All those things that are not good for you physically, also hurt you spiritually.

That disgruntledness and being negative and pursuing worldly things. Do you know I was praying all day today. It's kind of hard.

Hopefully, I'll say it the right way. But we love to have Ignite in here, the teens. But I know a lot of them don't like to be in here.

Right? You know, that teenager. Remember, I was a teenager. I know.

Like, worship's boring. Come on, let's get to fun stuff. And they don't realize that a lot of the worldly pursuits, social media, all those things are actually quenching the heart of worship.

When a person doesn't want to worship, show me your calendar, your checkbook, your spiritual diet, and I'll show you the problem. If I could take an 18 year older, I'd say, you know what, today, don't eat. Just drink water.

Seek God. Read the Word. Put on worship.

Find a quiet place for the rest of the day. They'd either break out, or they'd have a breakthrough. Because their spiritual diet changed.

They become... And that's why I love to talk about fasting. I know it irritates people, and they don't like it too much, but when you begin to starve, starve that fleshly appetite, dethrone King's stomach, there's something dynamic that really takes place in your heart, and worship is more... You begin to cry during worship. You begin to be more sensitive to the things of God.

And when I'm fasting, I'm always very sensitive. I'll see a family somewhere, and maybe the son's in a wheelchair at Trader Joe's, and I want to go talk to them. You're more sensitive to that, to those types of things.

At the pastor's conference I spoke at, they called me the keynote speaker. But the irony is, about ten minutes earlier, a girl shared her testimony. I think she only had about five or six minutes.

And she was a recipient of those Christmas boxes. You know, they load up the shoe boxes with Christmas gifts. When she was a young girl, in the Middle East or somewhere, a very poor country, that's all she received.

And she was so thankful, and I could feel my heart was just breaking, because they would be mocked. They'd put notes on their door, like, we're going to kill you. You're Christians.

And her dad was faced with possible death by some of the authorities. And he didn't denounce Christ. He actually led them to the Lord, because they wanted what he had.

And I thought, my heart, I began to break down a little bit, because I said, God, she should have been the keynote speaker. That should have been the... You're sensitive to the things of God, the heart of God. And worship helps to get you in that spot of brokenness.

And I guarantee, I'm so glad that happened, because God broke me before I walked up to that pulpit. He humbled me even more. Made me feel so... Who am I? That's Christianity 101.

So important to press in. And then 99 concluded, You answer them, O Lord our God, You are to them God who forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy.

What I glean from this is basically, repent and return to a heart of worship. Repent and return to a heart of worship. Did you know that He's a consuming fire? Let Him burn, guys.

Let Him burn in your heart. If He's a consuming fire, let Him burn in your heart. And I can already hear the critics, the fire of God's not a good thing.

Yes, it's a very good thing for believers. It's a purifying process. It's a refining process.

The fire of God. You provide the sacrifice. He provides the fire.

The people on fire for God. Have you ever noticed those who are on fire? When you're on fire for God, you intimidate and you upset and you irritate those who are not on fire for God. So a lot of times when there's criticism about this church, I know, I feel for the people.

I really do, because they're being torn between being challenged about the lack of worship, but our heart is not to make them feel bad, it's to make them go low in worship and exalt the Lord. What is worship really? It's when the heart engages the one true and living God. So I want to ask you tonight, are you engaged or are you bored? Are you engaged or are you indifferent? Are you engaged or are you jaded? Are you engaged or are you cynical? Are you engaged or are you critical? Critical.

Guys, it's sad. I've known people who they'll be engaged if it's an old hymn, but if it's a contemporary song, come on, give me a break. God don't play games like that.

That's a very critical heart. A powerful worship service will shake the demonic. It will cause the prideful to exit and the critics to never return.

A powerful worship service. You guys are aware, correct, that God is doing something pretty amazing at this church. There's a lot of people coming from all over.

The atmosphere is heavy. But let me tell you, it's one of the hardest things I've ever experienced. Because when God's moving, so is the devil.

Many of you love it, that's why you're here, but every week I talk to the people who are leaving. Often on this topic. Too much about the Holy Spirit.

Too much about revival. Too much about worship. Could it be that the very thing you need is the very thing you're running from? Now, in saying all that, I wrestle with God a lot in saying, Lord, I don't want to say any of this.

I don't want to address the critics. I don't want to say any of this. I don't want to vent.

However, I also believe that God will use seasons of sermon preparation to speak about these issues very powerfully and profoundly and succinctly. So I don't take this lightly. I don't want to do it.

And to be honest with you, it makes me sad. Because primarily men, the men over the years that have took issue with this, are also verbally abusive to their kids. They're not really great spouses.

They're mean and arrogant. And I just want them to have a heart of worship. I just want them to break and humble themselves and be a good dad.

I want their kids to see that. He's not perfect, so that's my heart behind it. It's not to beat people up and tell them off.

Guys, I'm broken. You think I should be up here? Nobody should be up here. Our job is to point to the cross.

But that's why we say things like that. That's why we go after the critical hearts. Because they're hurting their families.

And then Psalm 100. Told you we'd get to it eventually. Well, can I tell the truth, Tim? Can I tell the truth? I don't think you know this, too.

But I was already done with the message, and I sent the slides, and they're like, oh, Tim already did 99. I'm like, oh. So, okay, let me throw 100 in there, too, then.

Because I haven't had a chance to listen to it last Wednesday yet. But 99 has a lot about worship and a lot about holiness. Both of it is profound.

And Tim, I hear great things Wednesday. Thank you so much for hitting that topic, the holiness. Don't they go together? The holiness of God and worship? You can't have one without the other.

God is holy, set apart. We're set apart. We exalt Him.

We worship. If you have holiness without worship, you're just a Pharisee. You have to have both of those.

And then Psalm 100. Check this out about worship. Make a joyful shout to the Lord.

So all these people that complain, well, you better complain against the Bible. Make a joyful shout. You can fake it.

I'm not a shouter during worship. Anybody else not a shouter? I'm not the jumping up and down and dancing around guy. I have no rhythm, Jacob.

I just don't. Remember, we're different. How I would worship is just, oh, God, and just worshiping.

That's because that's where my heart's at. Other people, they're more joyful and they're excited. And we need to be careful not to be judgmental.

I've had people say, that lady gets a little carried away. Honest story. Okay, you guys ready for this one? I say, okay, would you like me to talk to her and tell her to calm it down just a little bit? And if so, what level is okay for you? I mean, this is ridiculous.

Now, if something is disruptive, it's not really of God, it's disruptive. You have to address it. But it's like these picky patties, these picky people.

And because something is not sitting well with them because they don't have a heart of worship. Guys, this is so powerful, isn't it? If you have a living church, right? And they're worshiping, those who don't quite fit in are going to be irritated. I can't think of a better word.

Irritated. People get irritated at our worship. And other churches too.

It's not just ours. So I just want to lovingly challenge you. If that's you, take it to the Lord.

I don't preach perfectly. I don't worship perfectly. We don't have perfect worship sets.

But our hearts are focused on God. Serve the Lord with gladness. Here's some keys to worship.

Be joyful and be glad. You cannot worship without those two things present. Because when you're not joyful, what are you? Sour.

You can't have both. Have you ever tried to have both in your heart? No. Actually, the sourness prevails over the joy.

And serve the Lord with gladness. Gladness. And that's why you guys heard me open up about this.

And I wrote about it. I finally said, whatever you want me to do, I'm glad. Whatever my lot in life is, I'm getting older, right? The body falling apart.

Anybody can relate? Lord, I still got reading glasses now. What? Are you kidding me? So now I'm saying, well, at least I have reading glasses. Back in Paul's day, the early church, thank You, Lord.

Be glad. See, it's hard, isn't it? Because that negative shame comes out sometimes. He's a stinker.

I like to crucify that old man. Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves.

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into the gates with thanksgiving. This is about praise and worship.

Enter into the gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations.

Praise God. There's another song sometimes I listen to. It's about when Christ returns, where will He find us? Will He find us worshiping? Will He find us broken? Will He find us grateful? Will He find us thankful? Will He find us on our knees? Take me back to that spot of brokenness and tenderness and gratefulness and pursuit and passion and fire and fervency.

Take me back. That's what I've had to do many times. Many times, haven't you? You feel you're drifting.

You feel you're becoming distant and offense is hurting you, bitterness. And you have to say, oh God, take me back to that spot of brokenness and give me that tender heart, that gratefulness and that pursuit and that passion and that fire and that fervency for worship. God, I don't feel it, but I'm pursuing You.

I'm pressing in like never before. Your Word says that You will not cast away a broken and contrite heart. You will revive the spirit of the broken and the humble.

I trust You and Your Word. Name one time when God has ever let you down. Some of you need to get off your pity party tonight and get to this altar.

Woe is me. Woe is me. Yeah, life is hard, isn't it? It's hard.

We have so much to be thankful for. So much to worship. We were at a function last night and I saw a boy in a wheelchair.

He's about 23 and his legs were... He couldn't talk. And apparently when he was born, he was fine, but the doctors did something during birth and it's constant care 24-7. And again, it just broke me.

Just broke me. We need to be tender. God, get us back to that place.

A brokenness. Guys, I don't want anybody to fabricate anything. I don't want to be fake.

I don't like fake and phony. Anybody else with me here? Especially in church. I don't like fake and phony, but I also don't like dead and boring.

Boy, that's a doozy as well, isn't it? Engagement is essential. When it comes to worship, engagement is essential. Here's something I pondered all morning.

You're reading in the Bible, right? They brought to Him all who are healed, and if they just touch the hem of His garment. And I wondered, what about those people 10 or 20 feet away watching who needed healing? They could be 20 feet away from Jesus and never experience healing. Is that amazing? What did they have to do? Well, nine times out of 10, Scripture said they had to engage.

Now there are some He would go to, and the man, do you want to be? But nine times out of 10, they would run. Son of David, have mercy on me. Be quiet! Be quiet! No, they would cry out even more.

Son of David, have mercy on me. Heal my eyes. The leopard would come to Him.

The woman with the issue of blood. The woman whose daughter was a demoniac, or the man whose son would cast himself in the fire and the water because of the demon. They would run to Christ.

They would engage Him. They would just, if they could just get to the hem of His garment, they would actually move through the crowd. And no matter what it take, I have to get to Christ.

I have to engage Him. How much more us? We have to engage the one true and living God. We can't sit at home and go, well, if God really wants me there, He'll tell me.

If God really wants that, He'll do this. And we sit around with our pity parties. I'll get to church twice a month.

Engage Him. The Bible's crystal clear. Engage Him with all of your mind, soul, body, strength.

There's an engagement, a pursuit of God. Those who pursue God, find Him. Those who don't, don't.

That's not very profound, but it's powerful. I know that there has to be a point of engagement. And it doesn't mean going somewhere, touching anything necessarily, but engaging God in our heart.

That's where it really takes place. Because a lot of people can go through the motions. I've seen people come to the altar I knew whose hearts weren't right.

I've seen them play a good game in church. Have you ever seen players in church talking the right thing? And then they get out in the parking lot and they leave, and they're cussing and yelling and nothing changed. They went through the motions.

They went through the motions. But tonight, let's just focus on a worship and a heart of worship.