1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,440 Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. 2 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:23,060 To get connected or to give online go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church. 3 00:00:23,060 --> 00:00:27,360 If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text 4 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,840 change me to 970-00. 5 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:32,320 Thank you and enjoy the message. 6 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:34,320 Well good morning Hub City Vineyard. 7 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:35,320 How do you guys feel today? 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,840 You guys are good. 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,840 Alright so you're probably wondering what in the world is going on. 10 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,040 The countdown hit zero and we always go right into worship. 11 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:49,960 Well we are going to flip the script on our service today and the reason is we are going 12 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,440 to spend an extended time of worship today. 13 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:59,540 So before we get into that, Carl, Lauren and I wanted to set the stage. 14 00:00:59,540 --> 00:01:03,300 We wanted to just prepare our hearts because we believe that God has some really really 15 00:01:03,300 --> 00:01:07,220 special very important things that he wants to do in our hearts today. 16 00:01:07,220 --> 00:01:10,820 So if you guys are new to Hub City Vineyard and you're wondering wow this is an interesting 17 00:01:10,820 --> 00:01:14,320 way to start, we're all experiencing this together but I promise you it's going to be 18 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:15,320 good. 19 00:01:15,320 --> 00:01:17,360 So I want to introduce two of my best friends in life. 20 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,120 To my right is Mr. Carl Hartman. 21 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,440 He is our worship leader and music director. 22 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:27,080 To my left is Lauren Silky Parker and she is our worship leader. 23 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,880 The three of us head up the leadership team of the worship team. 24 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:36,800 So we're going to have a seat and we're going to talk to you guys just about worship. 25 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:42,320 So when Chris told me that he was going away and he said, Brett I'd like for you to lead 26 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:43,320 the first Sunday. 27 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:45,400 I'd like for you to preach. 28 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,120 My initial thought was no I don't think I'm going to preach. 29 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,040 I think we're going to worship because I love to worship and she loves to worship and he 30 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,800 loves to worship and I know that you guys love to worship. 31 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,960 And we believe that our worship literally breaks chains. 32 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:05,200 So as you guys know we're in the middle of our generosity or being generous series and 33 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,120 we're going to continue with that generosity, that generous theme, but we're going to take 34 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:10,640 a little bit of a different spin. 35 00:02:10,640 --> 00:02:17,000 So you know when it comes to generosity when we are generous with our money it means that 36 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,400 we are giving above and beyond maybe a little bit more than that tie that or that offering. 37 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,600 When we're generous with our love we are going out of our way and giving more love to people 38 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:31,520 right when we're generous with our time we are dedicating more of our life's resources 39 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,400 and more of our life's time to those people. 40 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:38,120 And you see there's a reward for being generous. 41 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:42,000 If you're generous with your money the Bible says the measure that you get will be measured 42 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:43,680 on the measure of what you give. 43 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:49,880 So the Bible is saying that if you are generous you will be blessed financially and in other 44 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:50,880 ways. 45 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,640 If you're generous with your love the reward is that you're going to be able to create 46 00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:00,220 stronger bonds with people whether it's your spouse or your kids or just your friends. 47 00:03:00,220 --> 00:03:06,500 If you're generous with your time you are going to be blessed with just deeper relationships 48 00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:07,500 with people. 49 00:03:07,500 --> 00:03:11,100 If you are giving people more of your heart, more of your soul, your relationships are 50 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:12,640 going to be strengthened. 51 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:19,760 If we're generous with our worship I believe that we will be blessed with a better perspective 52 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,320 and an increased amount of faith. 53 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:28,040 And through those two things we are going to talk this morning about those things. 54 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,960 How many of you guys read the weekly email that came out? 55 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,800 It comes from Chris but it was actually written by me this week. 56 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:34,920 Alright 12 of you. 57 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:35,920 Good deal. 58 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:41,180 You guys got to get on the weekly email list because we have a lot of different thoughts 59 00:03:41,180 --> 00:03:44,360 and ideas that we share but also it's just a good way to keep up with all that's going 60 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:45,360 on. 61 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:50,120 So today's talk is going to be about circumstantial worship. 62 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,480 You see one thing that I believe that we all share in common is that we all go through a 63 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,680 lot of different things in life. 64 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,960 A lot of different storms, a lot of different battles, right? 65 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:01,600 It's hard to keep up with our finances. 66 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,320 We live in a world that's just politically crazy. 67 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:09,400 We have the pressures of being a good employee and being a good mom, a good dad, a good son, 68 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,680 a good daughter, a good friend. 69 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:14,960 We deal with friendship drama in our life. 70 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:20,720 We deal with a lot of stuff and if we're not careful all of those things can consume our 71 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:21,720 hearts. 72 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:22,920 They can consume our lives. 73 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:25,260 They can consume our minds. 74 00:04:25,260 --> 00:04:27,960 And it's really easy to focus on the negative. 75 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,360 I know that I'm someone and my wife will tell you that if I have something going on in my 76 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:36,040 life admittedly a lot of times that captures a lot of my time and attention. 77 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:40,120 If I have a situation at work constantly talking to her about it, what should I do, what do 78 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:41,120 you think? 79 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,000 And she's like, Rhett, this will be okay. 80 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:49,720 And where that becomes a problem is it's easy to get in between you and God. 81 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:51,200 You and Jesus. 82 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,240 You and your worship. 83 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,960 And I know that so many of us can come into this place on a Sunday and it's hard for us 84 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:03,720 to lift our hands because of the chains that we're allowing to bring us down. 85 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,480 It's hard for us to lift our minds into a place of being elevated to worship because 86 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,960 our minds are consumed by the issues that we're going to face tomorrow morning at the 87 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,920 job. 88 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:21,040 And I know that if there's one thing that worship cannot be, it's circumstantial. 89 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,480 Because our God is a never changing, ever present, always here God. 90 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:30,120 And just because your idea of a situation changes, His idea of how He sees you does 91 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:31,520 not change. 92 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,080 You are still the same in His eyes. 93 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,840 And before I turn it over to Lauren, I want to give two thoughts. 94 00:05:38,840 --> 00:05:43,520 Number one, I want you guys to realize that I firmly believe that there is a difference 95 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,080 between praise and there's a difference between worship. 96 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,640 There's a difference between praise and worship. 97 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,720 You see, praise is an attitude of thanksgiving. 98 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,800 It's declaring glory to God for who He is and what He's done. 99 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,160 But you see, worship costs you something. 100 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,800 Praise is free, but worship costs you something. 101 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:06,760 Worship costs you your current attitude. 102 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,120 It costs you your current mental space. 103 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:15,320 It costs you to turn over your burdens, your cares, your worries to the foot of the cross. 104 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:16,920 Worship costs you surrender. 105 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:23,560 You see, praise looks like David playing his harp after he was anointed king. 106 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:29,860 But worship looks like Abraham walking up the hill with his son. 107 00:06:29,860 --> 00:06:35,920 Praise looks like Jairus after Jesus brings his daughter back to life. 108 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,680 But worship looks like the woman who gave the two coins because it was all that she 109 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:41,680 had left. 110 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,840 And so this morning, I want to ask you when you come in here, do you praise or do you 111 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,240 worship or do you do both? 112 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:53,260 Because I believe that the terms praise and worship are combined together because it's 113 00:06:53,260 --> 00:06:54,720 good to have an attitude of both. 114 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,360 It's good to give God glory for the things that He's doing in your life. 115 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:04,800 But it's also very, very, very good to worship Him even from a place of defeat, from a place 116 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:05,800 of surrender. 117 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:07,360 I said this in my email and I believe it. 118 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:12,260 I believe the broken hallelujahs that we give to the ears of God are more pleasing to Him 119 00:07:12,260 --> 00:07:17,200 than the praises that we give when everything in our life is going wrong. 120 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,740 So the last thought I want to give you before I turn it over, the devil's main desire is 121 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:23,640 for us to become more defensive. 122 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:25,480 I believe that. 123 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,700 Because our worship should be a weapon. 124 00:07:27,700 --> 00:07:29,720 Our worship should put us on the offense. 125 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,560 Did you know that Lucifer was the archangel of music? 126 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,840 Did you guys know that? 127 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:37,480 Lucifer was the archangel of music. 128 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,160 He was literally in charge of heaven's worship. 129 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,520 So isn't it ironic? 130 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:47,840 Isn't it coincidental that the first thing we tend to give up when we experience hardships 131 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,160 in our life is our attitude of praise? 132 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:56,680 And I believe that that is a tool of the enemy to distract us from the good things that God 133 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:57,680 has. 134 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:00,040 Amen to that. 135 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:06,560 So I'm gonna just punctuate real quick some points that I feel are really strengths for 136 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:12,040 us when we choose to worship and what worship really can be for us. 137 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:15,400 You talked about entering His... 138 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:19,440 When we come to praise Him, we gotta enter His courts with thanksgiving in our hearts. 139 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:24,040 And every time we are choosing to worship, every time we're worshiping through a situation, 140 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,740 we gotta go to the throne room, we gotta go with thanksgiving in our hearts. 141 00:08:27,740 --> 00:08:31,480 And there is always a reason to be thankful. 142 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,160 I had a verse to go along with that. 143 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:40,480 Ephesians 5 20 says, sing songs from your heart to Christ. 144 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:42,900 Sing praises over everything. 145 00:08:42,900 --> 00:08:48,480 Any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our master, Jesus Christ. 146 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:49,840 Any excuse. 147 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:54,760 Any excuse to...when you are facing a situation and you don't know what to do, you choose 148 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:55,760 to be thankful. 149 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:57,480 You choose to praise. 150 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:02,960 Because when we worship our way through our circumstances, we change our perspective from 151 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,900 our human perspective to a kingdom perspective. 152 00:09:05,900 --> 00:09:08,400 We see it the way that God sees it. 153 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:14,220 We go from a deficit-based mindset, woe is me, I can't believe this is happening to me, 154 00:09:14,220 --> 00:09:16,260 to a growth mindset. 155 00:09:16,260 --> 00:09:18,940 What does God have for me on the other side of this? 156 00:09:18,940 --> 00:09:22,240 Because it's okay to feel disappointment. 157 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:27,200 It's okay to feel like your world has just absolutely been rocked. 158 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,700 But He doesn't want you to stay there. 159 00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:34,640 It's okay to go through that as a season or as just a brief moment in time, but we're 160 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,240 never meant to stay there. 161 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:41,120 And the way that we get through that is by choosing to worship. 162 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:48,240 One of the things I love so much about communing with God in a way of worship is that it's 163 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,640 not perfect. 164 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:55,360 We are human, we're flawed, and so our worship is imperfect. 165 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:57,840 Like you said, it's like a broken hallelujah. 166 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:02,760 Those are the most beautiful because we're being honest about where we are. 167 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:04,640 We're being vulnerable. 168 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:10,120 And you guys know we chose vulnerability as our team word for our worship and tech team 169 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:11,120 this year. 170 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,680 And so we got to speak with our team in January and kind of set the stage for how we're gonna 171 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:17,680 live in vulnerability this year. 172 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:22,280 If I'm being really honest, I'm being really vulnerable right now because I can be up here 173 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:26,400 on stage singing a lot, but it takes me out of my comfort zone to be here kind of giving 174 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,720 a little bit of a message. 175 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,520 Some would tell you that this is nothing. 176 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,840 This is exactly what I do anytime I speak. 177 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:34,840 And if you know, you know. 178 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,600 I'll try to keep it to the clock. 179 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:45,480 So the imperfect part of our worship and of our praise comes from an area of just complete 180 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:51,120 honesty, just being releasing that thing that is deep inside of us. 181 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:55,680 Everybody is carrying something that they've buried within their hearts. 182 00:10:55,680 --> 00:11:01,880 And worship is just the key to unlock what we have tried to hide. 183 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:06,640 If you don't know, if you don't understand this yet, I think most of us do, but you can't 184 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:10,720 hide your thoughts, your innermost feelings, your experiences. 185 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:11,880 You can't run from God. 186 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,400 You can't hide from Him. 187 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,000 Like He is super good at hide and seek. 188 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Okay. 189 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,800 So like He's going to be like, okay. 190 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:25,320 He could count to 10,000 and still be like, gotcha. 191 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:26,600 Are you going to come hang with me now? 192 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:28,720 Are you going to go try to run and hide again? 193 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,440 You know, He's the architect of all of that. 194 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:36,240 And I find that extremely comforting to know that we can come to Him in a place of just 195 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:37,800 complete brokenness. 196 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:44,180 And worship is just that key to just unlock what our healing is going to be. 197 00:11:44,180 --> 00:11:48,880 So real quick, you also talked about, you know, like worship is our... 198 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:53,120 Worship was something that Lucifer was the architect of. 199 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:54,960 He was the archangel in charge of that. 200 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:58,680 And it's amazing that worship can be our best weapon. 201 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:03,480 You know, like that's the best way that we have that we can fight against the enemy. 202 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,440 And we talk a lot on Sunday mornings. 203 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:10,040 You hear us in worship talk a lot about the Jericho walls coming down because they chose 204 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:11,220 to worship through it. 205 00:12:11,220 --> 00:12:15,440 And we remember the story of Jehoshaphat and his army. 206 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:16,440 Like who? 207 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:17,440 What's that word? 208 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:18,440 Jehoshaphat? 209 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:19,680 We've talked about him in here before. 210 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:24,840 We've had message series on Jehoshaphat before, but just a refresher. 211 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:29,240 With Jehoshaphat's armies, they had finally gone into the promised land. 212 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:33,300 He had led the people of Israel, but they are in the promised land. 213 00:12:33,300 --> 00:12:34,440 They're living in Israel. 214 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:36,040 Like they're good. 215 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:37,980 It's been promised all this time. 216 00:12:37,980 --> 00:12:40,600 And now there are these armies descending upon them. 217 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,320 They are way outnumbered. 218 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,320 They are surrounded. 219 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,680 And Jehoshaphat and his people are just like, what are we supposed to do? 220 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:49,080 We're gonna be taken out. 221 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:50,360 We thought we were in the promised land. 222 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,600 We waited all these years to be here. 223 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:53,980 Like what is up with this? 224 00:12:53,980 --> 00:12:55,440 What is going on? 225 00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:00,540 So they know that they're gonna be defeated if they choose to go fight this battle. 226 00:13:00,540 --> 00:13:02,280 And God gives them a word. 227 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,900 And he says, I want you to worship me. 228 00:13:05,900 --> 00:13:08,700 I want you to choose to worship me. 229 00:13:08,700 --> 00:13:16,440 When the people began to praise, they sang, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. 230 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,160 His love endures forever. 231 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:25,260 And in their faithfulness to follow God's lead, to walk out what he had commanded them 232 00:13:25,260 --> 00:13:26,260 to do. 233 00:13:26,260 --> 00:13:32,480 The armies that were descending upon the kingdom of Israel under Jehoshaphat began turning 234 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:34,280 upon each other. 235 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:35,760 They looked next to them. 236 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:40,500 They looked at their allies that had come down to defeat the land of Israel. 237 00:13:40,500 --> 00:13:46,600 And they started killing each other until they themselves defeated themselves. 238 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,360 And it was over because they chose to follow God. 239 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,840 They chose to worship. 240 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,920 So how do we apply that to our lives? 241 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:01,320 Anytime we face a situation, we need to choose to worship first. 242 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:09,120 Worship will change your atmosphere of chaos into an atmosphere of peace immediately. 243 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:16,620 And when we allow ourselves to worship through it, then we become exactly who God intended 244 00:14:16,620 --> 00:14:17,720 us to be. 245 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:20,160 We are reminded of his goodness. 246 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,080 We're refreshing our spirit with his goodness. 247 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:30,840 It allows our spirit to intercede on our behalf to fully commune with the Holy Spirit. 248 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:39,760 And so just to kind of close with this, the last point I had is worship to me is an open 249 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:41,840 door. 250 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:49,920 And if you just in your head just sang love is an open door, I want you to replace that. 251 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:54,240 I want you to replace that with worship is an open door. 252 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:55,240 Come on everybody. 253 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:57,320 Worship's an open door. 254 00:14:57,320 --> 00:14:58,320 Come on. 255 00:14:58,320 --> 00:14:59,320 Yep. 256 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:00,320 Okay. 257 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:02,000 So if you're not a worship, you're welcome. 258 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:07,160 That is something I want that to stick with you though, because we know that when we sing 259 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:12,040 through something, like God designed our brains so that it gets deeper in there and we always 260 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:13,240 remember that. 261 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:17,040 That's why we learn our ABCs by singing a song, right? 262 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:21,220 Be honest, you wouldn't know your ABCs if you didn't learn that song in pre-K. 263 00:15:21,220 --> 00:15:25,320 It's why I still know all 50 nifty United States. 264 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:30,160 So when you can sing that and when you can go to that and say, wait a second, I'm going 265 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:31,160 through something. 266 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:32,160 Worship's an open door. 267 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:33,160 Okay. 268 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:38,720 I just want you to remember that because when we try to hide behind that door that he's 269 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:43,280 coming knocking on, that he's going to come and find us because he's really good at hide 270 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:44,280 and seek. 271 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:45,280 He's finding you. 272 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:51,400 So when he comes to knock on that door and we allow our worship to push us through, when 273 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:55,960 we open that door back up again, there's a whole different scene on the other side of 274 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:57,100 it. 275 00:15:57,100 --> 00:16:03,920 Worship is your open door into restoration of your faith in him and your trust in his 276 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:09,940 promises that he is going to be continuously good because he has always been good. 277 00:16:09,940 --> 00:16:11,640 He always will be good. 278 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,920 And worship is your open door to embracing that. 279 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:16,400 Love it. 280 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:20,040 Well, that's awesome. 281 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:21,040 Thank you. 282 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,040 It's fantastic. 283 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:29,320 On numerous occasions, Rhett and I have had the opportunity to preach about the life of 284 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:34,280 Jacob and Jacob is one of my most favorite Bible characters. 285 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:40,720 We typically focus in on one specific event, one significant event in Jacob's life where 286 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:49,880 he was running from Esau and he came to this place called Luz, which means separation or 287 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:51,080 departure. 288 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:57,440 The author of Genesis wants to create in our minds this perception that because Jacob was 289 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:04,400 running from his family, he was somehow becoming separated from the covenant that God had made 290 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:06,720 with Abraham and Isaac. 291 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:11,120 So Jacob went to sleep for the night and during the night, he had this incredible encounter 292 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:18,520 with God where God revealed his glory and reaffirmed his faithfulness to Jacob. 293 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:25,400 And Jacob woke up the next day and he anointed the place and he renamed it Bethel, which 294 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:27,400 means the house of the Lord. 295 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:34,800 And Jacob said, surely the Lord was in this place and I was not aware of it. 296 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:40,400 Now it wasn't until this past week that I came to realize that there's more to the story. 297 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:47,840 This is not the last time that Jacob would have a significant encounter with God in Bethel. 298 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:53,000 After Jacob left Bethel, he went to the house of his uncle Laban where he began to accumulate 299 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,880 wealth and build his family. 300 00:17:55,880 --> 00:18:02,240 And years later, God would call Jacob to go back to the land of his father, which led 301 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,600 him straight back to Bethel. 302 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,120 And I'm going to read from Genesis chapter 35. 303 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:16,040 Then God said to Jacob, go up to Bethel and settle there and build an altar there to God 304 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,840 who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau. 305 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:25,480 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, get rid of the foreign 306 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:30,600 gods you have with you and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 307 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:37,320 Then come, let us go up to Bethel where I will build an altar to God who answered me 308 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:42,980 in the day of my distress and who has been with me whenever I have gone. 309 00:18:42,980 --> 00:18:50,240 In verse six, Jacob and all the people with him came to lose, that is Bethel, in the land 310 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,080 of Canaan. 311 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:57,040 There he built an altar and he called the place El Bethel because it was there that 312 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:02,560 God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 313 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:09,960 God brought Jacob back to the place where Jacob had first encountered God's faithfulness. 314 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:15,080 And there are many of us here this morning who have had incredible life-changing encounters 315 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:22,120 with God where God has pulled us from sin and shame and brought us into his grace through 316 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:23,120 Jesus. 317 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:29,260 As we approach God to worship him this morning, I want to encourage you to go back to that 318 00:19:29,260 --> 00:19:36,480 place where you first encountered God, to remember what he's done for you, to remember 319 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,440 his faithfulness. 320 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:44,800 We need to understand God's faithfulness so that we can have a proper perspective on 321 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:46,920 his promises. 322 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:48,920 Here's the thing about Bethel. 323 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:58,120 Bethel was located in Canaan, which was the land that God had promised to Jacob's grandfather, 324 00:19:58,120 --> 00:19:59,860 Abraham. 325 00:19:59,860 --> 00:20:05,200 Jacob was building an altar in what would ultimately become the promised land. 326 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:13,600 God had called Jacob to praise him for the promise generations before anyone from Jacob's 327 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:17,640 family would actually possess that promise. 328 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,840 How many people here this morning are believing in a promise from God that has not yet come 329 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:23,680 to fruition in your life? 330 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:31,560 Yeah, I believe that God is calling us to praise him for the promise, even if that promise 331 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,260 is not yet in your hands. 332 00:20:33,260 --> 00:20:39,400 We can trust him knowing that the promise is safe in his hands. 333 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:44,480 Just like Jacob, when our circumstances get difficult, they can make us feel like we're 334 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,840 separated from God. 335 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,960 We can turn our hearts to God and worship and learn to say, surely the Lord was in this 336 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:52,960 place. 337 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:53,960 Yes, that's good. 338 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:59,280 As I was reflecting on our theme for today, worshiping God in every circumstance, I began 339 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:05,280 to think about how God is challenging me to grow personally. 340 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:06,680 I'm sure many of you can relate. 341 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:13,560 I can clearly see God's goodness and his faithfulness when things are going well in my life, when 342 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,840 I can see his hand working. 343 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:23,960 But when I encounter struggles or trials, it becomes so much more difficult for me to 344 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:30,320 see God's goodness and to be motivated to worship him. 345 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:36,800 But I think that we need to be careful not to confuse the nature of our circumstance 346 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,440 with the nature of our God. 347 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:44,560 Our God is good even when our circumstance is not. 348 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:51,240 What I've come to find out is that it is easy to praise God from the mountaintop moments 349 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,280 in our life when we're standing in his blessing. 350 00:21:55,280 --> 00:22:02,760 But sometimes the most impactful praise is praise from the pit when it's just you and 351 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:07,360 the angel shutting the mouth of the lions that you've been thrown to. 352 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:13,840 Sometimes the most impactful praise is praise from the prison when it's just you and Silas 353 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:20,040 or you and your spouse, you and your kids, and you're praising God even as the enemy 354 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,920 is trying to keep you bound. 355 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:27,000 That's the praise that shakes prison walls. 356 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:34,120 And as followers of Christ, I need you to know that if he's good on the mountain, then 357 00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:35,960 he's good in the valley. 358 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:40,320 And if he's good in the pit, then he's good in the palace. 359 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,760 If he's good in the peace, then he's good in the battle. 360 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:45,840 Come on, he is good. 361 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,840 He is good. 362 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,160 That's what we call an alley-oop. 363 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:55,280 So he said something about prison walls and foundation shaking. 364 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,160 So to close here today before we jump into our worship night, and I said worship night 365 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,200 because that's what it's going to feel like in here. 366 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,040 That's how long it's going to take. 367 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,920 One of my favorite stories is, as Carl talked about Jacob, I love the story of Paul and 368 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:07,920 Silas. 369 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,520 You guys ever been going through your life and you feel like you're doing everything 370 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:14,480 the way that you should be and you're giving God your first and your best, but things still 371 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:15,920 continue to go wrong? 372 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:16,920 Yeah? 373 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:17,920 Just no? 374 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:18,920 Okay. 375 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,160 So the disciples found themselves out doing the Lord's work, preaching the gospel. 376 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:23,160 And what happens? 377 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:24,560 They get thrown into prison. 378 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,320 The Bible says that the crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas. 379 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,240 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison and the jailer was 380 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,520 commanded to guard them carefully. 381 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:39,400 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and he fastened their feet 382 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,360 to the stocks. 383 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:48,340 But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. 384 00:23:48,340 --> 00:23:55,680 You see, they chose to worship in a time where they had every right to cower in a corner. 385 00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:00,520 They chose to exclaim the goodness of God when they had every right to use the excuse 386 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,880 to keep their mouth shut. 387 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:10,200 Suddenly there was a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prisons were shaken 388 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,920 and then their shackles came loose. 389 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,800 So just like Carl said, he had a realization. 390 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,840 I had a realization reading that. 391 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,040 The Bible doesn't say that their shackles just came loose. 392 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:26,840 It says the foundation was shaken and then their shackles came loose. 393 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,860 So what I came to say this morning is that I believe sometime God needs to shake the 394 00:24:30,860 --> 00:24:36,040 foundation of what you're going through to wake you up to see that that's the reason 395 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:37,360 that your chains came off. 396 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:41,960 He didn't just make them magically come off, but he wanted to shake things going on around 397 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:42,960 you. 398 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:49,200 He said everything that can be shaken must be shaken so the things that can't be shaken 399 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,160 will remain. 400 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,720 So what will remain in your life? 401 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,360 Will it be your pain or will it be your praise? 402 00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,400 I said this in a message before. 403 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:04,640 Do your chains break your praise or will your praise break your chains? 404 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:10,640 You see, I believe that Paul and Silas, God allowed their miracle to happen in a prison 405 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,960 so you can be freed from your prison this morning. 406 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:14,960 I'm going to say it again. 407 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:20,000 I believe that God allowed Paul and Silas' miracle to happen in a prison so that this 408 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,880 morning you can be freed from the prison that you're in. 409 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:33,540 The same action that released Paul and Silas from their prison is the same action that 410 00:25:33,540 --> 00:25:37,820 can cause you to have a brand new perspective in your life today. 411 00:25:37,820 --> 00:25:41,640 So as we get ready to transition into our time of worship, I want you to think about 412 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,880 Jacob and Jehoshaphat and Paul and Silas. 413 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:49,000 And I want you to relate to one of those three stories because I promise you you can. 414 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:53,320 You're either going to run from something, you're either facing a battle, or you either 415 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,200 feel like you're imprisoned behind the walls. 416 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:02,420 Your feet are shackled, your hands are bound, and it's hard to lift your hands in praise 417 00:26:02,420 --> 00:26:06,400 and worship when you've got chains around them. 418 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,720 But the perspective that you choose to take this morning is up to you. 419 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:16,840 And the way that you walk out of those doors here in about 35 to 40 minutes is up to you. 420 00:26:16,840 --> 00:26:19,520 You can walk out feeling free. 421 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,120 Let me tell you something. 422 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:25,160 You're free even before you're freed. 423 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:29,580 You are free this morning even before you are freed. 424 00:26:29,580 --> 00:26:31,520 God has already called you loved. 425 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:32,800 He's already called you chosen. 426 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:37,640 He's already freed you from the thing that you need to be free from this morning. 427 00:26:37,640 --> 00:27:04,880 But it's up to you to believe it.