Transcription
Thank you for joining us for another power-packed message provided by Monro Global Incorporated and monroglobal.com. We transform followers into leaders and leaders into agents of change. We hope that this message is a blessing to you as you advance your life and discover your purpose.
Now, let's go into the message. So, let me just share with you for a few minutes what's on my heart. All right? Uh, write this down, please. There's nothing more tragic in life than abusing time and energy and wasting resources. That's tragedy. To waste your time on the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing. I think there's nothing more dangerous than making the means the end. You can become so preoccupied with what you are doing that you forget why you're doing it. You can actually worship what you're doing rather than using what you're doing to worship God. It's possible. Put it another way. The greatest challenge that the creator has with us humans is our preoccupation with the means over the end.
You know, when Bahamas Faith Ministries first started, we were known for two things: worship and the word. Uh, worship was so important to me from my life in the beginning, from the visionary's time, that I didn't trust anyone with it. I used to need worship myself. And some of you have been a part of this ministry. Some of you have been here for 30 years now. And when we started with just 30 people, and you remember, I used to play my guitar and lead worship myself. And for over 10 years, I led worship myself because worship is the most important thing when we come together.
For example, uh, do you know that God told the children of Israel, "I want you to meet me at a mountain, a certain mountain, and I want you to wash your clothes." He says, "And meet me at 3:00." God gave them a time, 3:00. And he says, "Put a barricade around the mountain, and when the people come from the tents, let them have their clothes clean first, wash their own clothes, and then," he says, "let them worship at 3:00." Why? God was planning to come down at 3:00 on the dot. And the book of Exodus tells us that when they came with their clothes clean, and they had this barricade around the mountain so they couldn't go any further, it says at 3:00 sharp, the presence of the Lord came upon the mountain.
You know, we start at 9:30 and we got trouble getting people on time to worship. Matter of fact, some people have decided in their mind, "I ain't arrived till the teaching," and they don't understand that teaching is not as important as worship. You missed the reason for coming here. Bring your stones, pile them on top of each other right there near your chair, and give God a sacrifice. We bring the sacrifice not of a lamb, but of praise. Now, you missed the most important thing. The Bible never says in the teaching of the Lord, during the teaching of the Lord, there is joy and there is pleasures forevermore. It does not say that. It says in the presence of the Lord, you can have good teaching and no presence. His presence is more important than the preacher. And the problem with his presence is it only dwells in your praise. Amen. And so if you're lingering at 10:00 because you want to miss the worship time, you actually plan not to meet God. Worship.
Young people, I know sometimes you think, "Oh, that's them old people songs." There's no old people songs. All of you young people. When I was 15, I was speaking in tongues. When I was 17, I was preaching to 4,000 people. You're 18 and still folding your arms, sitting there looking at me, not singing, and you wonder, "Why am I struggling?" Maybe if you sing, God will move the prison walls. He did it before, didn't he? I say he did it before, didn't he? It's amazing. If you get into worship, God will break down the jail you're in. He did it before, didn't he? He did it before, didn't he? Yeah. Some of the stuff you're going through, you don't need no counselor. You just need to open your mouth in the middle of a service like this and say, "God, I'm gonna praise you. I don't care what people think." Ah, but you're too cool to praise God. So, you keep your coolness in your prison.
The means can become more important than the end. Here's another thought that came upon my heart. When the means become more important than the end, then the purpose is aborted. If you get more excited about your car than driving it, you will go nowhere. You can actually walk around your car for two months and shine it and clean it and talk about how good it looks and how wonderful, how to beat the, you know, horsepower, all this stuff, and never drive it. That means the means became more important than the end. The purpose for the car is to drive you, not for you to walk around it. Some people become so focused on how well they sound, they forget who they're singing to. You can become so focused on how you're playing the piano, you forget who you're playing to. So now the piano becomes more important than God, when in fact, you're supposed to be playing for him and to him, and you end up being an abortionist. You abort the purpose for the, the activity. Uh, let's remember that worship is the greatest key to your freedom. Let me, let me give you a thought. The process should take us to the purpose, but never become the purpose. Sit up with me. The process should take us to the purpose, but never become the purpose. You can become so involved even in the process of worship that you stop worshiping. How many of you went to a service where you know what they were going to do every minute? People go through rituals. They've got it down to a science, and there's no presence of God. The presence of God doesn't come because of habit. He comes because of passion. You can become so habitual in doing something, you just know what to do. And God says, "You know something? You worship me with your lift." Yeah, but what a form of godly, uh, what a form. You got the formality down, he says, but you deny the very power and presence of God. You are so excited about how you look and how the smoke and the incense and the candles and and the songs and and and and all the stuff, he says, and I never showed up.
Let me tell you something, and I know you, you'd agree with me. We don't want to waste our time coming to see each other. How about you? Ain't no one in there could help you pay your mortgage. I tell you right now, and they can't take no cancer out of your gut and no fibroids out of your, uh, your womb. No one can help you. So, you might as well pray to someone who can help you. Let me tell you what keeps me a worshiper when I figured this out. His presence is more important than your presence. It's a simple thing I discovered. Your presence don't mean nothing to me if I came to worship God because you can't deliver me from sin, keep me out of hell, or take sickness out of my body. You can't help me. So you think I care what you think about me when I'm praising him? No wonder why David told his wife, "Woman, I'm going to dance. And if you don't like it, Michal, you could go away." He danced in front of his wife and embarrassed her. I wonder why he was king.
You can become so promoted, you stop worshiping. You know, promotion is dangerous. I'm an executive man. I can't worship like that. This is why a lot of politicians like to, you know, draw back when they start getting promoted. They, they, they don't want to sing and shout no more. They, they don't want to shout, "I love you, Jesus." They don't want to do that. You know, that's that's undignified. They need to study David. And none of them was king in their lives before, and he was king, and he shouted before the Lord. Matter of fact, the largest book in the Bible is a worship book and written by a king, a politician. How do you explain that? The most powerful king in history wrote the largest worship book in the Bible. And it's him who said, "Shout to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord with gladness. Clap your hands, all ye people." That's the king saying that. And then he, the king never says, "Y'all go into the house and bless the Lord." He said, "No, let us go." The king's going to lead you. So you become a CEO and you stop singing in tongues because you know it's not in keeping with your position. God says, "Look, let me tell you something. I'm gonna take this CEO from you next week. I'm gonna let the housing market fall apart. You're gonna lose this house out west. I'm gonna wipe you out until you start singing again." And God will do it. I'm telling you, God will bring you down to zero. As a matter of fact, there's stuff about you only God knows that could wipe you out. Let me say it again. There are secrets about you that God knows that could wipe you out if everybody knew them. And the reason, only reason why you're doing good is because God is keeping his secrets that he knows about you secret. So you better give him thanks for just keeping the secrets. Give him praise right now. He [Applause] he. Yes, sir. If he told your wife or your husband what he knows about you, if he told your boss what you're doing that he doesn't know about, you could lose your job in the morning. God keeps secrets. So you better bring big rocks every day. Bring, bring big rocks. Lord, hang on. Don't say nothing. Just bring rocks. Bomb. Thank you. Praise him.
Write this down, please. Worship. The opposite of worship is idolatry. God hates idolatry. Matter of fact, God repeated over and again, "I hate idols." What's an idol? Write this down. He said, "You shall have no other gods before me." Why? "You shall not make of yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven." He says, it's verse four of Exodus 20, "above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." In other words, I don't want no images looking like nothing and you bowing down to it. That includes the human image. He goes on to say in the next verse, verse five, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, I am what? A jealous God."
Let me tell you what jealousy is. Write down jealousy. Jealousy is a reaction to competition. What is jealousy? In other words, that's why you know when somebody starts to fool with your spouse, you become jealous. What is jealousy? Competition. You somebody is becoming competition. God says, "I don't want no one to compete with me. I am God alone." Notice he says, "Anything, anything in the earth." What? Anything in the earth. Boy, I can't lift my hand because my blouse may tear. God said, "Let me tell you something. Between me and this blouse, this blouse is competing with you lifting your hands to me. Don't you wear this blouse again. Throw it away." That's what he means. That's what he means. That's why the priest wore loose clothes. God told them, "I don't want nothing near you that can sweat." It's instructions. He said, "I want you to sweat." Why? 'Cause when you come in to worship me, I may ask you to dance. I don't want nothing tight to make you sweat. He says, "I punish the children because of jealousy." Can you believe that? Even to the fourth generation, I will punish your kids if you have someone competing with me and you. Worship protects your children's children. When you worship God, your grandchildren will be safe. Read it. He said, "If you have idols, you will curse your great-grandchildren." We think of idols, these images, you know, these, these images made out of stone. No, he says anything on the earth. Your worship could be coming in competition with your jobs. Two jobs. So, you ain't got time to come to worship no more. God says, "You know something? I'm competing in one of your jobs. You need to make a decision." Very important.
All right. Let me take you another, another look at this because I think it's very important to, to write this, this statement down. God calls every man to him to worship. Do you know why God brought us here this morning? You know why he called it a house of prayer? Because prayer is a petition made to a king, to a ruler. So what you need to make sure is that the ruler is present first. You can't make a petition to nobody. Hello. Your petition must be made to someone who's present. The king's got to be present. And so when God calls any people together, he always calls them first to worship. Why? That attracts his presence. Then when he arrives, then he says, "The Lord is now in his holy temple. Now the earth can shut up." Why? He's about to hear petitions. But you got to get him there first. And I know sometimes, you know, this is why I'm so afraid of becoming so used to things because it can become so routine that the song don't mean nothing no more. Some of you in the back, I'm talking about. You know, you in the front, you know the song, but this is another, I just know the song. So, you sing the song because you know the song. There's nothing in it. You're just singing these words. And God says, "Your lips are moving, but your heart is far." Whenever God calls us together, it's to worship so he can show up, so he can hear petitions, so he can give you justice. What is rightfully yours?
Look at this verse. Exodus 8. Listen to me carefully because the Bahamas may go through this very soon. Haiti is going through it now. Jamaica is about to hit it. A few countries in Africa already hit it. It is a period of social stress, a period of oppression, economic poverty conditions, slave conditions. When God brings a people together. Now notice, God tells Moses, "Go and get this people for me." They were having economic oppression. They were being robbed of their opportunity to become great. They were slaves. God says, "Moses, go and get them." Now, watch God read this. Some of you probably never read this before. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the Lord says, Pharaoh, let my people go.'" Now, we always know that part. Everyone kind of knows that part. Let my people go. Let. We know that part. Read the next line. That's more important. "So that they may come out to worship me." God doesn't just let you out of bondage to be free. So, "Oh God, I thought I was going to lose my house last year and you came in right on time and you bought the money and I kept my house." God said, "Well, I let you out." Read the next line. "To worship me." How come you stopped bringing rocks and you still got the house? It's very easy to forget. What does Ebenezer mean? Place of remembrance. I will never forget what God did for you. Oh, yes, you beauty queen. God said, "Look, you better sing a little louder. I'll take that crown off your head and put on someone in the morning." Or they could find cancer in your breast in the morning and it's over. Bring rocks.
And so we lay down cool, you know. Boy, I don't feel like singing. Are you sleepy? Some of y'all dozing right now. Praise God. God forgive you. Sit up straight, man. Pinch yourself. Listening is hard work. You got to make yourself listen to God. If you die conk, all you get is conk salad. You don't get nothing in life. Some of y'all got grouper, I see in the back there. That's croaker, dear parasites. "Let my people go." Why? So say it loud. "So that they can worship me." "If you refuse to let them go, Pharaoh, I will plague your whole country." In other words, if you stop people from worshiping, God will get you. That includes the one sitting next to you who didn't get up this morning and sing. You are stopping people from worship. You're disturbing worship. Can you imagine that? If you hinder worship, you attract plagues. Sometimes we, you know, I'm just tired of saying it because Bahamians don't listen to authority too much, you know. I said, "Okay, when you come in, sit up front and let the rows go back orderly." People said, "Come inside, sit in the back, lay the hand." You don't understand. You're messing with worship. If I got to walk across you to get to a seat, you're disturbing worship 'cause now you're making me disturb you. Well, I sit on the end. The end is where I always sit. This is my seat. No, sit in the middle. So when I come, I ain't got to cross over you. Well, this is my chair. You ain't got no chair. Oh, Lord, now you're getting in trouble. See that that Baptist coming to you right now. That Baptist spirit, I can see it. You ain't got no chair in God's place. You're disturbing worship and you attract plagues. He says, "Oh God, tell your neighbor, pastor's hitting me right now." Come on, say it. Good confession is good for the soul. Yeah, that's right. Because we all fall into that trap again. We become so used to it. Instead of bringing rocks, we bring air, hot air. God's looking for an altar.
Look at this next verse. Exodus 22:33. Read out loud, please. 3, chapter 4, rather. Verse 23. Read. "And I told you, Pharaoh, let my son go so he may worship me." Notice God constantly says the reason why he let him out. The primary purpose, the, the priority. And this week, I'm going to continue this teaching I'm doing right now on Wednesday because this whole conference this week is to put you back in a place where you attract blessings, not plagues. I am always worshiping. I'm telling you. I, you know why? Because I understand it. Worship is when you understand that everything you're using ain't yours. Please hear me. Oh, you ain't gonna get it if you don't understand that. The breath you breathe ain't yours. So every time you breathe out, it should be thank you. Worship comes from that acknowledgement. Gosh, everything is his. You know the clothes on your back came from his sheep. The shoe on your feet is his cow. Huh? And that extension here on your head is his horse. Oh yeah. Everybody just go and thank him for something. Just lift your hand. Just thank him. Now, don't be cute on me now. Lift your hands and thank him for breathing. Go. Don't, don't look at me. Give him thanks for something. Thank him for your bald head. Thank him your head still on your body. Glory. Hallelujah. See, when you understand what it is, you don't need no one to tell you, "Lift your hands." You know what he delivered you from? That's probably why you're so grateful and served me so much. You realize where you came, what you could have lost. You know, it ain't always what God saved you to, it's what he saved you from. You should still be bringing rocks for. Everybody should clap for that one. I mean, everybody got some stuff he saved you from. Hallelujah. Man, we got folks in here who've been in jail and they came out of jail, man. And some of you wonder why they so worshipful all the time. Why they always ready to sing? Why they so faithful to God? You don't know where they came from, or you forgot where you came from. Better bring some rocks this morning. He said, "You let my son out, Pharaoh." Not first so I could build a nation. That's the second thing. The first is so they can worship me. Worship me. The most important part of this service begins at 9:30, not 10:00. So don't come back here at 10:00 unless you got a very important reason because you hinder worship. How about your house? Is it full of worship? Hallelujah. And I, I was walking in my house this morning and this thing was hitting me, man. This worship. I, I heard myself shout out, "Glory to God. Hallelujah." I don't know why. I thought I was going crazy this morning. Worship. When you, when you think about the goodness, this ain't no cliché. When I thought about the goodness of the Lord this morning, I walked in my house just shouting hallelujah this morning. Sometimes I pick on things because some of y'all need a little picking, you know. And you think about it, man. You, you supposed to be broke and dead. You're still alive, brother. God brought you here for you to worship him. Not to be cool. His love for us deserves worship all the time. All the time. All the time. I tell you, God is faithful.
Okay, write this down, please. Very important. And this is really tough. What disturbs worship? Idolatry disturbs worship. Idolatry is God's greatest competition because idolatry is when you make something else God. Very important. So write this down. When more worth is placed on the means rather than the end, then the means become an idol. When you make what you're doing more important than who you're doing it for, you've created an idol. God doesn't want to compete with the song you're singing to him. Okay, that's a heavy one. Let me say it again. Write this down, Pastor Mark. Very important. God doesn't want to compete with the song you're singing to him. Don't even make the song more important than him. Shoot the song at him. He doesn't want the music to be more important than him. The music you play into him. And this is why God said to the great king Saul, his first king of Israel. Saul brought all these fat sheep to God. And God told Saul to kill all the sheep. And Saul didn't kill the sheep. And he told God, "I kept the sheep so I could use them to worship you with them." He made the sheep more important than God's command. God cursed Saul. God says, "Saul, you will never be king again." A plague came upon him of absentee kingship. He lost his title. He lost his position. Why? He tried to make the sacrifice more important than the one he was sacrificing to. You ever thought about the song we sing? We bring the sacrifice of praise unto who? Huh? To the house of the Lord. Okay. In other words, the sacrifice ain't supposed to be important, be more important than the house of the Lord. You can write a check here this morning for $100,000 and God never receives it because you are more impressed by how much you've given than who you've given to. Your attitude can destroy your gift. And Saul told God, "I kept the sheep because I wanted to worship you." And that's when God says, "To obey is better than worship." I am more important than the sacrifice you're making to me. Idols.
Write this down, please. Any other worship than God is idolatry. God detests idolatry. Psalm 78:58 says, "They angered him with their high places. They aroused his jealousy with their idols." These kinds of words are never used near God's name. Look at those words. Anger, jealousy, aroused anger. Man, God is a good God. But one thing that gets him ticked off is when your shoe and your tie becomes more important than him. And the Bible says, "Woe to the man who falls in the hands of an angry God." You don't want to get God mad. So sing with your whole heart. Lift your hands with graciousness and thanksgiving. They are his muscles. Here's one I thought was very interesting. Isaiah 44:9. "All who make idols are what? Nothing. And the things they treasure are worthless." Words of God. I invited a guy to church one time years ago in Baytown. I said, "Man, you want to go to church with us?" He said, "No." I said, "Why?" "Boy, Sunday's the day I clean my car." And he was serious. Every Sunday morning, I clean my car. Put more worth on a car than the God who gave it to him. Of course, he didn't have a car for long. First John 5, Jesus said, "Dead children, keep yourselves from idols." Look at the word "keep." Everybody say "keep." Keep who? Keep who? In other words, God ain't gonna protect you from your attitude toward your necktie. You will have to do it yourself. I am going to be on time 9:30. So, I will leave home at 9:00. You have to make sure you keep yourself from idols.
I was praying for a lady. I just came from uh, beautiful state of Virginia a few hours ago, and I was praying for this lady, and and she was dressed up real nice, and and I mean, the anointing of God came into that place, and folks were just falling out, and she was dressed up nice. She didn't want to fall. And you see a stension, and she says, "Are you the behind me?" All of a sudden, I hear boom! Lord on her back. Hat went one way, shoes next way. I say, "Amen. Praise the Lord. Next time, come dressed for the anointing. We can be so cool, God can't even anoint us. He might mess up your hair, oh." Maybe that's why when the, when you get older, God removes your hair so you don't got to get no problems with your hair. And don't you look at me right now 'cause I'll rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I told my wife, you know, one of the days I can put some more. Hallelujah. I can't tie no horse to me here though. I ain't looking at you either. You ain't looking at you. I ain't looking at you. You also looking over there. Look over here. Look this way.
Write this down, please. Very important. Worship. When the creation becomes more, when the creation becomes more important, when the creation becomes more important than the creator, the result is misplaced worship and the creation of idolatry. Anything you put before God, it's an idol. Check yourself. Do, do an inventory right now of what prevents you from standing before God and open-hearted worship, and then remove it. Sometimes we bring a friend to the meeting, and we don't want a friend to think we are fanatical, and so we try to play cool before our friend. We don't want to offend our friend. Now, keep in mind that no one can help you except God. Not your friend. Don't you compromise with anyone to worship God 'cause they can't pay your bills. They can't heal your body. They can't raise you from the dead when you die. Everybody say, "Bless the Lord. Bless the Lord. Oh my soul. Oh my soul." Say it again. "Bless the Lord, oh my." Now say it again, but say "my" real loud. Go. "Bless the Lord, oh my soul." Whose soul? Whose soul? Not your friend's soul. You bless him with your own soul. If they can get their soul, get their soul, do the stuff they want to do, their stuff in their soul. You do your stuff with your soul. You bless the Lord with your soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. That's why we came here to bless his name.
Write this down, please. The greatest temptation in human experience is the elevation, the elevation of the distraction and the distraction by and the preoccupation with the creation more than the creator. Big problem. The value of things are summed up in the manufacturer of that thing. Your Ford car will never be more important than Ford Motor Company, and I guarantee your Ford car will break down, and I assure you, only Ford Motor Company has the genuine parts. Do you know I used to wonder something years ago? You know, this is interesting. Uh, when you buy a new product and you open the box, let's say it's a toaster, or maybe it's a CD player or something, have you noticed that in that book, in that box, there's always a book? We, we know what the book is now. You've taught that for years, okay? But there's another thing in the box that we don't really even use. It's a little card with the address of the manufacturer on it. And on the back side, it has a place for you to put your name, your address, your phone numbers, your email. You ever seen that card? And then they say, "Mail this back to us." Now, why do they say that? They want to keep a relationship with the product. They want to know who has it, where it is, because they want you to always know that if anything ever goes wrong with this product, they are the only ones that can genuinely fix it. Do you know what worship is? Worship is you coming back to God constantly saying, "I bought the card." I am reminding you that I know where my source is. The more you worship God, the more you tell God, "I'm dependent. You got genuine parts." You go weeks and months and don't give God praise. Don't give God thanks, no gratitude. Then God begins to get jealous because he figures you must have a source somewhere else.
My mother and father, especially my mom, you know, she was home. My, my father's always working all the time. My dad is here this morning. Hi, Dad. You know, and it's amazing. Uh, when you get, you know, in trouble with your parents, your little kids, we used to say this, you know, "I'll leave home. I ain't coming back. You, you know, you get a whooping. I, I ain't coming back. I ain't sleeping here no more. I hate y'all." We four years old, you know, five years old. We go in the house. When we say, "Boy, shut your mouth. Stop talking foolishness." And we stay outside. Sun starts setting, belly starts growling, and you think ghosts come. You come on the porch, and you still ain't coming in. Why you come on the porch then? And when that painted you, then you hear the plates knocking against the fork on the inside, everybody laughing, eating their corn beef and rice, and you starving out there. You come in the front room. "I still ain't coming." Anybody ever heard this before? Let me see your hands. All the honest people. Yeah, man. We play like we play like we we independent. And our parents never thought about anything. Yes. Go ahead. Go. Go. 'Cause they know that when them worms start eating up everything else in your stomach, you will be back. And all of a sudden, you come back in the kitchen, you standing by the door, and Mommy said, "Boy, sit down and get a plate." Yes, Mom. Glory. Let me tell you all something. No matter where you all go, you might as well come back to worship God. And you know, God is very patient. He can wait till your financial belly starts growling, you will come back. So David says, "Lord, you ain't got to drag me back. Come, let us go to the house of the Lord. Let us bring praise unto him. Let us sing joyfully unto him. For the Lord is good and his mercy endures forever." All week. That's why we sing so I be worship.
Write this down. The source is more important than the resource. My parents were the source, and I forgot that when I was six, seven years old, leaving home. I had to come back to the source. And God is cool. You know, God will wait till you hit the pig pen with nothing left. And he's still on the porch, you know, waiting 'cause he knows you will come to yourself. The Bible said when the prodigal son came to himself, you don't got to go to nobody else now. You got to come to yourself now. You've been to everybody else. They took everything you had. He said, "Now come to yourself." Sometimes the best person for you to come to is yourself. But you catch yourself, "What am I doing out here? How did I get like this?" It's because you thought that you didn't need God. Let me tell you something. This is very important. This is prophetic. This is prophetic word for you now. The whole world is heading into recession. You should sing louder than ever before. You need to worship God louder. Why? Because you need to make sure God knows you are my source. And when you put pressure on God, he has a supply. There's a young man sitting in here. He called me one day. He said, "Pastor Miles, they laid off 10 managers." I said, "You were them?" He said, "No, no, no, no, no. They skipped right over me." He said, "That's why in church every Sunday, worshiping God. I stand under the blood. I, I stand. They skipped right over me." He said, "I can't explain why they skipped over me." You better worship God 'cause your job ain't guaranteed. That banker closed down in the morning. Offshore finished. One decision in Europe, and you're out. Give him praise, somebody. You know God can do just like this. You know, oh, the blood on her. So he skipped over you. God comes. You know, the, the justice angel comes, and he sees, "Oh, praise in that house. Praise in that house." He keeps skipping the praise houses. See where there's worship. He skips. But the plague comes where there's idolatry. Idolatry means when you find no reason to thank God. I find something more important than God. God allows the plague to come to your house. He doesn't send it. He allows it.
Write this down, please. When we acknowledge the source, we begin to worship. Oh God, that's true, Lord. Everything I have is yours. Every time I take a breath, I'm telling you as a, as a man that lives in this country, every time I take a breath, I think about God because when I understood that the oxygen in the air is the king's property, I have to give him thanks all the time. Let everything that has my breath, God says, "Praise me." Let everything that has my breath, praise me. If you use my breath, praise me. If you're sucking in my oxygen, you better thank me on the way out with carbon dioxide. You better remember where it came from. He says, "Your voice belongs to me. Send them out to worship me." Well, I guess this is the will of God today. Psalm 24, let's read together. Verse one, everybody read. Go. "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who dwell in it." Come on, read. "For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." In other words, everything in this planet is his property. The tire on your car came from some goo that came from one of his trees. The iron ore in your car came from the mountain that belongs to him. Lord have mercy. The Bible says a rich man like the flower appears today and gone tomorrow. You think that's supporting you? Kisner. You think it's Ka? The Bible says the rich is here today, gone tomorrow. And a good example is his son. Mr. Kisner's son. He thought that young boy was going to take over and run this place for him. And God just touched him lightly and said, "Look, Mr. Curs, let me remind you, life is like a flower. Here today, one helicopter, it's gone." "The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof." So when they threaten you and smile and say, "You don't have a right to do that. You don't own nothing. You can't threaten me on this job." Let me tell you why. That's why Daniel was so bold when the king says, "You must bow down, worship me." Daniel says, "You know something? We, we just have a conflict right now. We were doing fine until we, we hit the, you know, you, you want me to make you more important than him. I go in to be with the lions. You ain't worth being with. Send me to the lions." The lion said, "What you come in here for?" I ain't gonna let him kill us either, so we ain't gonna touch you. Give God a hand. He'll protect you. He will protect you if you worship him. Hallelujah, sister. Glory. Hallelujah. When you get here tomorrow and you walk into your job, take worship with you. Glory. Hallelujah. When you're driving to work in the traffic and you're stuck up east, don't get mad. Put a worship tape in from brother M and say, just start singing. When they get you mad, go in the bathroom and have a little worship spell. "I love you, Lord. Everything belongs to you. This company belongs to you. All them folks in the office belongs to you, Lord. Help me to be yeast here in the name of Jesus." Worship. We forgot.
Let me give you a couple more thoughts to go with. Write this down. Exodus 23:2. I love this one. Read aloud. Go. "Worship the Lord your God." Worship who? "The Lord." Notice the word "Lord" is capitalized here. This is right from the Bible. Look at the first one too. Psalm is capitalized. Okay, write this word down. Lord, let me give you the meaning of the word here. It is the word A-D-O-N. Adon is where we get the word Adonai from. Now Adon means, write this down. It means master, owner, supreme proprietor. It means almighty owner. Listen, some of you are renting today, and the person you're renting from is called what? The landlord. But you know, do you know that God says, "Look, I am the Lord of lords." So it ain't the landlord that you're supposed to thank him for this apartment you're in. You better thank God for the apartment that the landlord got from the Lord. Come on, give the Lord a praise. There's a big Lord and a little Lord. And the big Lord is the big Lord. He is the owner. Now look at it. Read it again now with understanding. Say it. "Worship the owner your God. And his blessings will be on your food and your water. He will take away sickness from among you. Come on, read. And none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life expand if you worship." You need another scripture in that, or you want to go home? See, here you are sitting in the back. I feel like singing, God. You know something? The reverse is going to happen to you. Number one, I'm gonna curse your bread, curse your water. I'm gonna put sickness on you, and I'll cause you to miscarry, and I will cause you to be barren. Every time you invest, it'll fail. Start a business, it'll fail. You'll be barren. He says, I tell you, don't you ever let anyone stop you from worshiping. If you feel like kneeling, don't look around. Kneel before him. If he's saying, "Shout, shout." Why? And someone asking, "Why are you doing that?" "I'm protecting my food, my water, and my body, and my investments, and my job, and my business, and my children." You feel like doing something now, go ahead and do it. I, I, I, I wish I could shout by myself. Come on, Filipinos, give him praise. He brought you here and gave you employment. He's a faithful God. Sometimes he's so cool. You know, God said, "Look, you don't worship me. I'm gonna curse your bread. Every time you do something, it keeps getting worse. You keep boring and boring and boring. Why? There's a curse on your breath." Because you wouldn't worship. What a scripture. Notice he says, "I'll give you a long lifespan." You want to live long? You can jog all you want. You can sign up for Janie Craig and Bali and everybody else. He said, "Look, if you want to live long, lift your hands. Come on, somebody shout in his name. He said, 'You worship me, you live long.' All them vitamins you taking and you sitting down with your arms full. Them vitamins can't help you live long. It's worship." Worship. Singing to him on the job. It's amazing when you sing on the job. People wonder what's wrong with you. "Hey, what you doing?" "Singing on the job, brother." "You, you happy?" "Yeah, man. Yeah, man. The fellow who sustained me, I keep thanking him all day, man. I got to thank him all day. Yes, sir. This business is his. Praise God." Miscarriage. Look at that. You want to have a baby and don't want to get, cause a miscarriage. He says, "Worship me." Some of you who are pregnant here today, let me tell you something. You better fill your house. Look at me. This house with worship. And the baby shall be secure. He'll keep your baby in the womb through worship. You want to get pregnant, have a worship service for a month in your house. Just, you know, even when you're laying together with your spouse, you know, having a good time, worship, speak in tongues while you're having the blessing. Some of y'all are looking at me funny. You, Hallelujah. Well, I know you, brother Marcus, worship. Yes, sir. You, you got a worship leader, baby. Hallelujah. Let's give the king a big praise right now. Give him a blessing. He deserves our worship. The Bible says, "Bless the Lord at not when you come here only." Hallelujah.
All right. Another, another one. Write this down. Worship must be as a result of whatever he asks for, including you. Let me, let me explain what I mean by that. The earth is what? The Lord's and the fullness thereof, and the world and they. In other words, everything on the planet is his property. He is the owner of it. So if he asks for anything, that's worship. You got to give it to him. Some of you came here and you got paid, and you're still hanging on to your tithe. And God said, "You know something, the tithe is the Lord's." Leviticus 21, the tithe is the Lord's. He, he, he already asked for that. You know, we buried our brother-in-law yesterday here, and I heard a story I'd never heard before. Someone was given a testimony that they, they worked with him, and every time he got paid, every time he got paid some money, he put 10% of it in an envelope. I never heard that before. He's a taxi cab driver. Every time he got paid the day, he put 10% in an envelope. And I'm thinking, wait a minute. People wait till the end of the month to do it. Every day, 10%. And the guy asked him, "Why are you doing that?" He said, "'Cause that ain't mine." Let me tell you something. If you keep it and you see them shoes you like, chances are God's in trouble. That's why the Bible says, "I don't want no second fruit. I don't want no third fruit with first fruit 'cause I don't trust you all with the second and third fruit." You all get mixed with the second and third fruit. Just go. This is gone. God says, "Moses, tell them the firstborn is mine. Tell them the first cattle is mine. Tell them the first lime is mine. Tell them the first orange is mine. I don't trust no second orange with y'all." But we sit and we hang on to his stuff. We hang on to stuff. Yeah, somebody got the revelation. Somebody just got it. When you understand that that's worship, you worship the Lord with your tithe. Why? It ain't yours. And also with your offerings, that's the one you willfully give above your tithe. Hallelujah. A lady came to me yesterday, standing by the fence. She says, "Oh, Dr. Monroe, I see you on TV. Can I touch you?" I said, "Yes, ma'am." Time and I hugged her and kissed on her neck, and she just went. She says, "I would tell everybody you touched me, I ain't gonna bathe." She was so excited. I said, "Ma'am, it's a pleasure for us to come to your neighborhood and thank you all for letting us come to the neighborhood. Thank you for letting us come." And she had the big grocery bag on her on the ground, and she says, "Thank you for bringing us love." She didn't say, "Bringing groceries, bringing us love." Give to the Lord. That's worship. Let me tell you something. The toughest part of a meeting should not be the offering time. And yet, for most churches, it is a weighty, heavy time. Because now you know everybody's got to strain just to give God what's already his. Worship is when God asks for something and you give it to him. You are reminding him you own everything. Lord, you got to ask for the whole thing, and you only ask for 10%. God is faithful.
Write this down. Exodus 10, verse 25. Let's read together, loud. Go. Read. Go. "But Moses said, come on. There we go. Exodus 10:25. Read. Go. But Moses said, 'You must allow us to have sacrifice and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. Our livestock too must. They must also go with us. Not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord, Pharaoh, our God. And until we get them, we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.'" In other words, look, Pharaoh, yeah, we're going, but we ain't leaving what we supposed to give him. That's right. I told you everything you have is his. Moses, look, we are more excited about worship than we are about our freedom. You all don't understand that. Okay. Pharaoh told them, "You could go now. If that was Behemoth, be gone, dashing, fuel, free." They say, "Moses, look, Moses, look, we'll have, we'll have to stay until we get stuff to worship him with. Our worship to him is more important than our personal freedom from you." That's why this theme this week is called the priority of worship. We got to get back where worship becomes more important than our personal freedom. Moses says, "Look, look at that verse." He says, "Uh-uh, we're taking all the livestock." Why? Not to eat. Talk about his first interest. To worship with them. Do you eat your livestock? Do you take God's 10% and buy your corn beef and your cream? But I can't pay tithe this month because I got to pay this light bill. Because let me tell you something, your light can't be more important than my bill. You pay my bill, I'll take care of your light. And I have seen this in my own life. I've had choices, right bills in front of me. God says, "All right, who's first?" And I got to check myself. Somebody got to wait 'cause God is first. I always say God is first. When I take care of God, here comes a miracle. Boom. Someone called me up, said, "The Lord told me to do this for you." And I'm like, "Oh, God, I almost missed it." You got a choice between tithing and toilet tissue. You better buy the tithing. Give the tithing. He'll give you a bathroom and a toilet tissue. We ain't leaving without the cattle. He says, "We will not go until we get something to worship with." Is worship more important than your freedom?
All right. Feel his presence here. So, we're going to worship him. Read a couple more verses with me. Psalm 29, verse three. Verse two. Read out loud. "So ascribe to the Lord." Come on, be obedient, loud. "Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness." Notice that word "due." Okay. All right. Let me understand "due." This can make you height. Let me tell you something about "due." Excuse me a minute. Ah, I know what it feels like. It's here. Due is this. You borrow money from the bank, and the payment comes due. You don't discuss that. Due is tied to death. Yes, child. Put the scripture back up. I want you to see this again. Ascribe to who? The owner. How much does he own? Everything. You're getting ready to go eat a piece of his chicken. Listen to me. Listen to me, please. I beg you. You're not supposed to bless your food. He said he'll bless your bread and water. You're supposed to give him thanks for letting you eat the chicken. That's due. You, well, you know, we are on Paradise Island, and we are in Messa, and we can't quite pray in here. You better pray in there and thank him for the chicken. Now, the chicken in there costs $53, and at Kentucky, it costs seven. It's that's the same chicken. Thank him wherever you are because it's due you. You owe him thanks for the chicken wherever you eat it, in a tuxedo or a pair of blue jeans. Can I hear an amen? Somebody. Oh, I feel his anointing, sister. You owe him praise. Go ahead and pay a couple bills right now. Just pay a couple bills right now. Your heart still pumping, man. With his blood in it. Oh. Oh. David says, "Oh, if I could bless the Lord," he says, "with my whole heart." When you think about the goodness, David says, "Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but when I think about the Lord," he says, "I shout for joy. I ain't got no time to play no cuteness." And look at you, would you? You ain't no brother unless you worship God, man. He gave you your strength in your body. You go to work and you're telling me that you don't want to praise him. You're using his energy to go to work tomorrow and you're sitting there playing cool. You better give him praise. "Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. I will bless him. I will glorify him. I will praise him. I will bless him. I will sing to the Lord. I will shout to the Lord. I will give glory to the God of my salvation. For he redeemed me, daddy. He saved me. He kept me alive." Are you still breathing and your blood pressure is good? Hallelujah. They don't know how good the Lord is.
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