Do I Really Have To Worship?

When we really worship God, things begin to get in order and fall back into place. In my opinion, this is where we struggle the most. Because there are 9,784 things every single second that are vying for our attention, and that we have to be focused on all the time. But when our focus is on honoring Jesus in every moment of our life, every thought, every word, and every action, our priorities have to change. They have to. [01:02:54] (30 seconds)  #PrioritizeWorship

Here's the deal, I think when we think about all of these different things, we think of God's it's kinda like the angry dad who's like, oh, you've got an idol in your life, George. I'm gonna whip you for it. That's not who he is. He stands here with his nail scarred hands open saying, you ready? Are you ready to surrender? Are you ready to stop trying to do it your way? Are you ready to really experience the true joy that I have for you? It takes laying the things of this world down, laying them at the feet of the savior and trusting him that he will take care of you. [01:06:07] (40 seconds)  #SurrenderToGrace

When you're really able to worship Jesus for who he is, there is a deep abiding joy that enters your heart that the world cannot take away. And despite the rollercoaster of life and the ups and downs and all the frustrations and anxieties and worries of this life, that joy remains constant. It is the fuel that keeps on going. It is a deep and steady joy. Why? That joy is restored because our lives are now be lit being lived in the way they were meant to be lived, in relationship with Christ, in worshiping him. But it takes surrender. It takes surrender. [01:04:47] (48 seconds)  #EnduringJoy

So when it comes to the songs that we sing, it is an overflow of what God is doing in your life twenty four seven. These are the prayers that we pray. They are the proclamations of God's goodness. It is declarations of what we believe about him. And that, church family, is why we sing. But it goes it goes way beyond the twenty five or thirty minutes that we have here together to sing songs. It's about your whole life. [00:58:45] (34 seconds)  #SongsAsPrayer

It it's not twenty five minutes on Sunday and okay, we worship Jesus. It is all the time. It is when you go to work. It is when you come home. It is when you go out to play. It's when you're doing things at your house on the weekends. Worship is a lifestyle. It's what we do as believers. It is taking our our former worship leader used to say, he said, it is taking our mind's attention and our heart's affection, and it is putting it on Jesus all the time. [00:59:44] (30 seconds)  #WorshipLifestyle

And Jesus tells her, listen, there is a time that is coming. When it doesn't matter what happens in Jerusalem and it doesn't what it doesn't matter what happens in Samaria because the father is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. He is seeking people who will worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman then says, well, we know the Messiah is coming. And Jesus reveals to her, I am the Messiah. [00:56:48] (31 seconds)  #WorshipInSpiritAndTruth

And here's the thing, when we're arguing about the songs that we sing, we're missing the point entirely. Because when worship becomes about our preference, it stops being about God. And we all have different preferences, and I'm not gonna go into song preference today because you can go home and listen to whatever songs you want and worship God. But when we come together as the body of Christ, it is to sing praises together about what God has been doing in our life all week long. [00:42:18] (33 seconds)  #WorshipOverPreferences

And so the most important thing in the world then becomes spending time with Jesus. You might do it in the morning, you might do it in the evening, you might just have to set an alarm at lunchtime, but it is it is spending time in his word and in prayer and listening to him. And that's gonna look a little bit different for every single one of us. And it's okay. Like, we're different people. We're wired differently. But that becomes our number one thing. That's number one priority. [01:03:24] (28 seconds)  #TimeWithJesusFirst