Embracing Generosity and True Worship in Faith

1. "When we struggle to make ends meet, it becomes more difficult to live open-handed lives. But this scripture really teaches that generosity should be a core value of our lives. When we try to refresh others, we will find ourselves being refreshed. Listen, in the economy that we live in, and in the society that we live in, and everything that's going on around us, in our nation and in our world, it's easy to become discouraged and want to hold on to what we do have. But God teaches, His Word teaches, that when we live open-handed lives, lives that choose to want to refresh other people, that what we find in return is that the Lord refreshes us." [29:28] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "When we worship, we get God's attention. Have you ever been talking to somebody and as you're talking to them, their eyes are looking over you at someone else and you know while they are physically there, they ain't. Too many times that's what we do to God. We come into church on Sunday and we start singing a song and we're standing here and while we're standing here and we're opening our mouths and we're singing and we may be clapping our hands or we could even be lifting our hands, our mind is at where we're eating lunch after church is over. Our mind is in the argument that we had with our spouse before we got here. Our mind is in what our kids have done crazy and what we've done is we are in God's presence looking over God's shoulder. But when we get God's attention, we get God's attention and the way that we get God's attention is through our worship." [42:13] (70 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "When we show up and we offer a little praise, we've built God a little house to manifest his presence in our lives. But when we give God a great big praise, then we've built God a great big house to dwell or to manifest his presence in our lives. Now we realize, let's theologically sound, I need to make this caveat, we realize that God is God and we are not and God can show up exactly where he wants to when he wants to and how he wants to. But if the scripture is correct and he's given us this method by walking into and recognizing his presence, then we understand that our worship is that method and if it's in our praise that he lives, then we either choose I'm going to give him a big house to live in or I'm going to give him a small house to live in." [43:16] (75 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "When we gather together, and I know that sometimes, sometimes it becomes tedious because you've been working all week long. Y'all been going to school all week long. You've been doing everything you need to get done at the house all week long. And you have carved out a couple of hours to show up at church, and you're already tired, and you probably need an energy drink or a cup of coffee. You're right, you walked into this place, and you came in already worn out from the week. And so we... We have a tendency to respond out of how we feel. When if we only realized that it's in our worship that not only we become free, all of the thoughts that have been plaguing your mind all week long, you have an opportunity in these 20 some minutes that we worship together to put all of your energy on Him. And when you put your... Your energy on Him in worship, and He shows up in your life, the chains of bondage in your mind, the chains of bondage in your body, the chains of bondage that you have wrapped around you spiritually have to break." [50:05] (93 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Abandoned worship happens when we feel like it and when we don't. That's why... I'm going to be honest. I'm so... I'm so hard on folks when they... When they show up and they're in a... We had... We had... We had somebody we knew who every time this person got mad about something not going right in their life, they would just not go to church. And we looked at them at one point. And we said, Are you going to church? And they go, I just don't know. Me and God aren't speaking right now. And I wanted to say, No, no, no, no, no. You're not speaking right now. He never stopped. Because God don't jump on the straight... The same emotional train that most of us run. Right? You know? Because when you're up, you're up. And when you're down, you're down. And when you're only halfway up, you sit in your pew and pout. Come on. God's God regardless of what's going on. And He's good regardless of what's going on. And He's deserving of our worship regardless. So worship isn't about a feeling. It's a choice." [01:07:16] (103 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "What would our services look like if everyone in this building and everybody associated to Harvest Church made a decision that we were going to praise God no matter what it looked like in our life? No matter what we were going through. What would it look like if instead of coming and waiting to feel like it, right? Because I used to preach for this little old lady. She was a pastor. She was a pastor in Cottageville, South Carolina. Her name was Ann Crybomb. And as soon as she'd get to church, she'd walk in and she was like my grandma. She would walk in and as soon as she got there, she'd take off her shoes. And she'd walk around. And that's how the rest of the service... She didn't pick her shoes back up. She put them right under the front pew where she sat. She'd just kick her shoes off. She'd leave them there. And she stayed the rest of the time with no shoes on. But she hated dead points in the service. And so she... And so she... If there was a dead point between songs or there was a dead point between people singing or something going up, she would stand up. She'd walk to the front. And it was an old wooden floor. And she'd start like stomping her foot so it reverberated throughout the building. And she'd go, somebody better testify. And she'd just stomp her foot." [01:08:36] (93 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "When we worship, God shows up. When God shows up, we become free, and people become free. Come on. If you had a bad week this week, and you just came in, and you were like, I just don't feel like it, then don't praise for you. Praise for the people sitting around you. Come on. And what you'll find out, is when you choose to praise for them, the very things that are binding you down will break off too. So I'm going to move on. Right? It's 11.03. It's getting late. Some of y'all's bellies are growling. You're ready. You wish the preacher would shut up so we can go and eat. That's all right. We're halfway there. We only got two points. That's point number one." [54:21] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "When we show up and we offer a little praise, we've built God a little house to manifest his presence in our lives. But when we give God a great big praise, then we've built God a great big house to dwell or to manifest his presence in our lives. Now we realize, let's theologically sound, I need to make this caveat, we realize that God is God and we are not and God can show up exactly where he wants to when he wants to and how he wants to. But if the scripture is correct and he's given us this method by walking into and recognizing his presence, then we understand that our worship is that method and if it's in our praise that he lives, then we either choose I'm going to give him a big house to live in or I'm going to give him a small house to live in." [43:16] (75 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "When we gather together, and I know that sometimes, sometimes it becomes tedious because you've been working all week long. Y'all been going to school all week long. You've been doing everything you need to get done at the house all week long. And you have carved out a couple of hours to show up at church, and you're already tired, and you probably need an energy drink or a cup of coffee. You're right, you walked into this place, and you came in already worn out from the week. And so we... We have a tendency to respond out of how we feel. When if we only realized that it's in our worship that not only we become free, all of the thoughts that have been plaguing your mind all week long, you have an opportunity in these 20 some minutes that we worship together to put all of your energy on Him. And when you put your... Your energy on Him in worship, and He shows up in your life, the chains of bondage in your mind, the chains of bondage in your body, the chains of bondage that you have wrapped around you spiritually have to break." [50:05] (93 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Abandoned worship happens when we feel like it and when we don't. That's why... I'm going to be honest. I'm so... I'm so hard on folks when they... When they show up and they're in a... We had... We had... We had somebody we knew who every time this person got mad about something not going right in their life, they would just not go to church. And we looked at them at one point. And we said, Are you going to church? And they go, I just don't know. Me and God aren't speaking right now. And I wanted to say, No, no, no, no, no. You're not speaking right now. He never stopped. Because God don't jump on the straight... The same emotional train that most of us run. Right? You know? Because when you're up, you're up. And when you're down, you're down. And when you're only halfway up, you sit in your pew and pout. Come on. God's God regardless of what's going on. And He's good regardless of what's going on. And He's deserving of our worship regardless. So worship isn't about a feeling. It's a choice." [01:07:16] (103 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)