Transcription
Hey, what's up YouTube family? It's Pastor KJ from Radiant Church, and I'm so excited for you to join us for today's sermon. We have such a powerful sermon and story. I believe it's going to strengthen you, challenge you, and encourage you. So get ready for this message.
Also, share this message with friends, family members, co-workers, everyone you know. I believe it would change their life. Get ready to jump into the word of God with us today. If you are taking notes, the title of my sermon is "I Won't Bow." Everyone say, "I Won't Bow." Everyone say, "I Won't Bow."
Jumping to the word. So today, I'm talking about worship, and I'm talking about why we worship, and I'm talking about who we worship. I'm talking about who wants our worship. Now, something you have to know is in any battle and in any war, the most important thing to know is what your enemy wants. The most important thing to know is what your enemy wants. So some of you guys have been attacked by the devil. If you've been attacked by the devil, wave at me. Okay, that's almost every hand in the room.
Now, my question is, why is Satan attacking you? And what does Satan want from you? He wants something. In battle, in war, if two kings are going to war, the king that knows what the other king wants has an advantage. So my job today is to give you an advantage against the enemy. And the way I'm going to give you that advantage, my mic needs to be fixed, the way I'm gonna give you that advantage is letting you know exactly what the enemy wants. What does he want? Why is he fighting you? Why is she attacking you? Why is she attacking your family? Why is she coming after you? What does the enemy want? Everyone say, "What does the enemy want?"
Now, I just made you repeat that because y'all fell asleep, and I'm gonna just keep talking to y'all until y'all wake up. We good? So, what does the enemy want? So if you look at a magician, a magician will tell you that whenever they want to do a trick on you, they have this principle they use. And the principle is, "The closer you look, the less you see." The closer you look, the less you see. And some of you guys are being attacked by the enemy, and you're so busy zooming into why he's making you fight in your marriage, and why your kids are running from God, and why you don't have enough money, and and why there's more month than bills, and you're so busy studying the attacks of the enemy, you're missing the agenda of the enemy. What is his agenda? What does he truly want? Why is he after you? Why is he attacking you? What is his mission statement? What is his goal? You have to understand that.
Then you have to understand, what does God want? What is God's goal? What is God's will for your life? And when you understand that, it changes everything. And I'm going to tell you what God wants. God wants your worship. God wants your worship. And God is worthy of your worship. He is worthy to be praised. He is worthy of your worship on your best day, on your worst day. God is worthy of your worship when everything is falling apart. God is worthy of your worship when you don't know which way to go. God is worthy of your worship.
And what we have to do as a people is we got to quit having a response worship. We got to have a worship in advance. God, I'm not just going to worship when things look good. I'm going to worship when things are bad. I'm going to worship in a storm. I'm going to worship in the dark. I'm going to worship in the night. And how do we get that in our hearts, church? It's because we can't just want the blessing, we have to want the blesser. We can't just want the unity, we have to go with the unifier. We can't just want the redemption, we have to want the Redeemer. And we can't just want the healing, we have to want the Healer. When you truly want God, it's not about what you can get from God. It's actually about what you can give to God. And you can give God worship. You can give God praise. You can give God adoration.
How many of you came to church for what you can give to God? How many of you came to church to bless the Lord? How many of you guys came to church to enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise? The Bible says that everything that has breath, praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord. Everything that has breath, praise the Lord. And the reward of worship isn't getting what you worship for, it's getting who you worship. To it's getting the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That is the reward of worship. And the enemy wants your worship. He wants to stop you from worshiping God. And the reason why the enemy wants to stop your worship is because your worship will always stop him.
If you have your Bible, go to Ezekiel 28. You're going to learn the plans of the devil today. We're gonna expose the devil. When you guys are there, say, "Ready." Are y'all just waiting on the screen? My God, bring your Bibles, man. Hey, but at least y'all in this in church, though. That's a good start. Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28, verse 12. It's a lot of scripture I'm going to be reading today, but you guys got to get this. Ezekiel 28, verse 12. It says, "Son of man, take up lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God.'" Now, it's talking about Satan prophetically, and it's giving us insight into Satan. It says, "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." So this was the devil. He was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
"You were in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering." So he was made out of precious stones. The sapphire, the topaz, and the diamonds, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. "Would go the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day that you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created." Man, this is a bad devil. "To iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing." That means an unclean, unholy, undeserving, unworthy thing, "out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. Her, I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings, that they may gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquities of your trading. Therefore, I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you, all who knew you among the people were astonished at you. You have become a horror and shall be no more." Wow, wow, wow. If I just closed the sermon out, that's enough right there.
So let me break this down to you. So the devil was created, and he was created in heaven. He was one of the archangels, and he would govern the realm of praise and worship. And to give you context about the devil, he wasn't created in a natural way. He was created in a supernatural way. His coverings, which means you're covered by dirt, that's your covering. You're covered by dirt. He was covered by diamonds, pearls, onyx, jasper, and emerald. All of these beautiful things. Go. He was made out of the most precious things you've ever seen. You're made out of dirt. The devil was made out of gold. And if you saw him, he would have been the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. He was mellifluous, he was beautiful, he was exquisite, he had grandeur, he looked amazing, he looked phenomenal. He was the most beautiful thing ever. His splendor was majestic. And if you saw him, you would have been like, "Wow, that is so beautiful. I never saw anything quite like that."
And then God said, "You know what? I'm not only going to let him learn how to play the keyboard and learn how to play the drums and the guitar." No, no, no. He's not going to have to play music. He will be music. The Bible says that timbrels were inside of him, pipes weren't inside him. In other words, the devil didn't play a keyboard. He was a keyboard. When he moved, sounds came out. When he moved, there were drum beats. When he moved, there were winds and pipes. He was guitars. He was all of the most beautiful sounds and the beautiful elements trapped in one person. He had splendor, he had grandeur, he was gorgeous, he looked phenomenal. And if you saw him, you would have been like, "Wow."
And not only did he have all that, he was anointed by God and he sat on the mountain of God, and he was the praise and worship leader. And when he played praise songs, you praised. When he played songs of praise, you danced. When he played worship songs, you cried. He was anointed. He ushered the very presence of God. He went before God, just like worship goes before the preaching. He ushered in the very presence of God. And he was in Eden. And Eden just simply means God's presence. He was the ushering of the presence of God. He ushered it, he channeled it. And he was so beautiful and he was so magnificent that a third of the angels fell with him. Which means they saw God, and then they saw him, and they said, "We'll go with this guy." That's how beautiful God made him.
And the problem is, God delegated his authority and his presence to be ushered by this cherub. And this cherub said, "Hmm, I want that authority. I want that power. I want that splendor." And it happens to show many people that when they delegate authority, it's not enough to manage and serve that authority. They want to take it over. And the devil wanted to take it over. He didn't want it to be about God. He wanted it to be about him. So he's made out of all these beautiful things. And not only was he made out of all this, but he was wise, and he was perfect, and he was beautiful. And the Bible says that his wisdom became corruption, his perfection became perversion, and his beauty became horror. He's not wise no more. The devil is a fool. He is nasty. He is not wise. He has no more wisdom. It's been perverted. He is not perfect no more. He is perverted. He is nasty. He's no longer good. And he's not beautiful no more. He's a horror. And this is who the devil is. And if you're going to defeat your enemy, you must first know your enemy. And I'm about to expose your enemy right before your very eyes.
Now, we got to go to Isaiah chapter 12. I'm gonna preach, y'all, but we got to build first. Isaiah chapter 12, verse 12. It says, "How you have fallen from heaven." So saying this cherub, this devil, this anointed angel, fell from heaven. "O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farther side of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'"
I mean, he has lost his mind. And here it is. Here's the devil's mission statement, so you know. "I will be like the Most High God." Let me read it again. "I will be like the Most High God." Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depth of the pit. I love God. God said, "You're trying to get in the highest in eternity, devil? You missed it. You're going to the lowest seat of eternity. You're going to the pit of hell, to the lowest, darkest place." So the devil said, "I will be like God." That is his mission statement. That's all he cares about. The devil don't care about you. You don't care about your kids. He don't care about your family. He don't care about your income. The devil cares about one thing. And the one thing the devil cares about is being like God.
So we got to ask the question, "In what is God like?" Well, when the devil spoke of God, all of his phrases had a vertical connotation. "I will ascend. I will sit on the mount of the congregation. I will ascend above the clouds. I will be like the Most High God." In other words, God is high. God is majestic. God is big. God sits above. God is above it all. He is the Most High God. And God is exalted. And God is worthy to be worshiped.
And Satan thought because he facilitated worship, he was worthy to be worshiped. And then he got perverted, and pride was found in him. And he didn't want worship to flow through him. He wanted worship to come to him. And at that point, that is where the devil lost his mind. He lost his authority. He lost his wisdom. He lost his beauty. He lost his splendor. The Bible says, "Then he was brought down to Sheol." Jesus said it this way: He said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning." How fast does lightning fall? Lightning falls at 186,000 miles a second. Jesus said, "At 186,000 miles a second, devil, I saw you fall. I saw you get broken. I saw your splendor rip from you. And I saw your beauty turn into horror at 186,000 miles a second. You was gone." Why? Because God don't play. God is an OG. That just simply means the original God. That's it. The original God said, "I'm not playing." And he was removed immediately. And the Bible says he was brought down to the earth. He'll go to hell when it's all done. He was brought down to the earth.
Now, when he fell to the earth, guess what was stuck on his mind? "I will be like the Most High God." Devil, I got news for you. I don't care how much you smoke, you will never be like the Most High God. Let me say it again. I don't care how much you smoke, you will never be like the Most High God.
And then when he fell down to earth, he said, "I will be like the Most High God." He was far from heaven. And here's where enmity between you and Satan came. Because when he was far from heaven, I'm sure he probably looked up at God and said, "Well, I was the person that ushered in your worship. And because you kicked me out, who's gonna worship you now?" And I believe at that point, God said, "I'm going to form man from the dust of the ground, and I'm going to blow into their nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, and we will talk and walk with God in the cool of the day." And I know the devil said, "Well, look at them. And look at me. They're made out of dirt, and I'm made out of gold and emerald and sapphire and onyx. Look at the worship I gave you compared to what they can give you." And I believe God was like, "Devil, you don't get it. You gave me great worship. They give me breathtaking worship." The devil said, "What do you mean?" He was saying, "Here you go, devil. When I created them, I blew into their nostrils the breath of life. Now, when they give me worship, and the air comes out of their lungs, they give me my breath back. They give me breathtaking praise." Because when you praise, you give God his breath back. You give God his wind back. You give God his spirit back. You can give God a breathtaking praise because you're the only thing in creation that took God's breath away. He made the devil with his hands and precious stones, but he made you from himself. The devil was made by the hands of God. You were made by the breath of God. Every time you worship Him, you give Him His breath back. Like we said earlier, it's your breath that's in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You. Only God, You're the only one that gave us breath, and You're the only one that'll take my breath away. I'm giving God breathtaking praise. If you say you're gonna give God a breathtaking praise, come on, give Him a 10-second praise break in this place.
He said, "And he ushered people into worship to God, and he wanted to ascend and be like the Most High God because he didn't want worship to flow through him, he wanted him to come to him." I'm going to tell you what the devil wants. The devil wants your worship. That's what he wants. And every, and everything, little babies being murdered is one show worship. Marriages are being split because he wants your worship. Wars and rumors of wars because he wants your worship. Murder and suicide because he wants your worship. Disunity all over the world because he wants your worship. People fighting and bickering against each other because he wants your worship. Discord all over our nation because he wants your worship. And he would tear down everything in his path until he gets what he wants. He's like a little insecure, little punk that's crying out for worship because he never felt like he was enough. And the reason why he felt like he wasn't enough is because he spent too long looking at himself and forgot to keep his eyes on God. When you look at you, you'll never be enough. But when you look and see that God is enough, you say, "I am enough because He is enough. I am worthy because He is worthy. I am worth it because He is worth it." And his beauty caused him to become a dummy because he thought he was so cute he could step to God. But he couldn't step to God like lightning. Everyone thinks there's a fight between God and the devil. There's no fight between God and the devil because Jesus said, "Like lightning, he fell." You don't fall that fast if there's a fight. You ain't never seen a jet move that fast. It was like, "Where the devil go?" "Oh my, oh, he's gone." Like that. He was gone. I bet the devil didn't know we had whiplash. "Where am I?" Don't play with God. Don't play with God.
So this is what the devil wants. This is his desire. He wants you to worship Him. And why does he want you to worship Him? And why does God want you to worship Him? It's because you become like what you worship. You become like what you worship. Church, you will become what you behold. You will become what you behold. If you'll behold the presence of God, the presence of God will immerse you, and you will become like the presence of God. If you behold the things of God, then you would desire the things of God. But if you behold the world and the things of the enemy, you will become like the world and the enemy. Why? It's because the man makes the man knows the idol, then the idol mows the man. The man mows the idol, then the idol mows the man. Any idol you bow to will eventually mold you. Anything you put on a pedestal and in a place of worship will begin to immerse itself and engulf you, and you won't look like you no more. You will look like the thing you worship.
In other words, some of you guys look like the world because that's what you worship. Some of you guys look like sin because that's what you worship. Some of you guys are not looking like the presence of God because we're not worshiping the presence of God. You need to worship. And God is worthy of your worship. God is worthy of your worship. Now, a lot of you guys don't know what worship is. How can you give God worship if you don't know what worship is? Does anyone know what the word "worship" comes from? Worship. The word "worship" is composed of two words. It's composed of the word "worth" and "ship." Worth-ship. Worth. What does that even mean? Let me give you some context. Worth means something that you place value on, something you place esteem on, something you exalt, something that's valuable to you. Except the suffix "-ship" means if we say it means the state of being. So if we say "Lordship," it means the state of him being Lord. If we say, "Hey, you need to walk in discipleship," it means the state of being a disciple. If we say, "Those people are in relationship," it means the state of those two people relating. So "-ship" means the state of something. So worship means the state of worth. Which means when you worship God, you put Him in a state of worth. "God, you are worth it. You are valuable to me. I love you. You mean the world to me. You are exalted. There's none beside You and none like You." When you worship, you put God in the state of perpetual worth. Which means if you don't worship, you're saying, "God, you're not worth it." And if you worship something other than God, you're putting them in the state of worth. Some of you guys worship success, and you're putting success in a state of worth. Some of you guys worship material things, and you're putting materials in the state of worth. And that's why you have to be careful what you fear. God says He hasn't given you a spirit of fear because whatever you fear, the polarity of fear is worth. That's how most of the people was able to get someone above the knee and worship to them, and they use the tactic of fear. "I'm going to take your life." And because you fear death, you worshiped. You bowed. "I fear failure." And now I, I put a worth on success that is in a place that God should be in. Now I can't come to church because I'm making this money. Now I can't serve my family because I'm making this money. Now I can't raise my kids because I'm making this money because I am putting the state of worth and success. And that's why God said, "Only I am worthy of your worship." Because I want to be prioritized over everything else. If God is worthy of your worship, come on, give Him a crazy praise in this place.
Worship is a state of worth. It's a state of worth. Let's dig a little deeper in worship. Go to John chapter 4, verse 23. I got to teach you guys today because I believe this sermon is going to guide you for the rest of the year. You tuck this in your heart, you will stand tall the rest of this year. John chapter 4, it says, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Let me show you something, church. It said, "The Father is seeking worshipers." What does it mean to seek? To seek means to earnestly search for. To earnestly search. Where? It's like you got to be to work in 10 minutes, and you can't find your car keys. You're gonna flip the couch. You're gonna throw the babies. You're gonna kick your husband. Like, "I need my kids." Thanks. And you are earnestly seeking. You, in the refrigerator, the microwave, the trash can. The keys ain't in there, but you are earnestly tearing through everything. You wear the toothpaste to go. You just looking everywhere to find these keys while you're earnestly seeking. And the scripture says that the Father is earnestly seeking to find worshipers. We don't hear about God seeking things much in the Bible, but He's seeking to find worshipers. Church, I have a question for you. Why would a God that knows everything, a God that is everything, a God that has everything, be looking for anything unless it was truly hard to find? See, worshipers ain't hard to find. True worshipers are hard to find. That raises the question, what is a true worshiper? I'll answer it. My next point. I got some more work on this point. Now, why is God so? You got to understand something. Look at God. God is always in a place of power, always in a place of authority, always in the place of might and strength. But here we see God looking for something, searching for something. Why is God searching for worship? I'll tell you why. God is searching for your worship because worship is the only thing you can give God that He can't give Himself. Worship is the only thing that you can give God that God hasn't given you. You give God love, He gave you love first. You give Him peace, He gives you peace first. You give Him a tithe, He gave you provision first. You give Him love, He loves you first. Everything you give God, He gave to you first, except for worship. This is the only area that man can do something that God can do. God can do everything you can dream of doing and so much more, except for worship. Why can't God worship? I'mma tell you why. God can't worship because in order to worship, you have to bow to something. To worship means to bow. Well, what? In order to bow to something, that means that what you're bound to is above you. What happens when you're the Most High God? That means there's nothing above you. And if there's nothing above you, you have nothing to bow to. And if you can't bow, you can't worship. God can be worshiped, but God can't worship. And the only thing that you can ever give God is your worship. Why? Because when you give God your money, He don't get no richer. When you give Him your love, He's not loved more. When you give Him your peace, He's not more peaceful. When you give Him your wisdom, He don't learn nothing. Oh, but when you give Him your worship, He is exalted high in the heavens. He inhabits the praises of His people. When you give God your worship, it moves heaven. Why? Because God is worthy of your worship. He is worth it. He deserves your worship. Why? Because He lives for you. He died for you. He bled for you. He resurrected for you. He covered you. He healed you. He loved you. He is worthy of your worship. He's worthy of your worship. So the beauty in worship is you're giving God the one thing He can't give Himself. God can't worship. He doesn't worship. But everything in the earth worships God. And the crazy thing about it is the only thing that actually has a problem with this is man. The stars worship in reverence. The mountains bow in reverence. The oceans roar greatness. But then we choose to refuse our worship. And then we give God a conditional worship, saying, "God, if You do this, then I'll do that."
And God says, "See, you're not a true worshiper." Because true worshipers enter His courts with Thanksgiving, and they come inside His palace with praise. See, true worshipers ain't waiting for something to happen. True worshipers is making something happen. True worshipers ain't waiting for a blessing. Two worshipers is worshiping until they see a blessing. Two worshipers ain't waiting to get something. True worshipers is trying to give something. In the state of worship is not about you getting, it's about your giving. What is worship? Worship is when all of me surrenders to all of God. Worship is when I'm in a perpetual state. It's when I'm bowing before my King. And the beautiful thing about worship is worship is not a song. Worship is a surrender. Worship is not a song. Why? Because in worship, God doesn't hear voices. God hears hearts. And if you worship God in spirit and truth, He hears your heart. God hears your heart. Then the Bible says, "Worship Him in spirit and truth." What does that mean? To worship God in spirit means to worship God from the deepest place of your being. I'm worshiping God from a deep, deep place. I'm not worshiping God in flesh, because flesh is conditional, but spirit is eternal. God's saying He wanted eternal worship. He wants a worship that don't stop. He wants a worship that don't cease. He wants a worship that don't give up. He wants a perpetual worship. You worship Him in spirit. In other words, God said, "This is not flesh. This is not conditional. This is not a maybe. This is not a sometime. This is an eternal worship." God says, "I want you to worship me in such a way that when you get to heaven, your worship don't have to change." But if you're worshiping in flesh, that's not going to work in heaven. But if you worship in spirit, that works in heaven.
And then lastly, God says, "Worship in truth." What is truth? In other words, He's saying, "When you worship me, don't wear a mask. When you worship me, don't wear a mask." Why? God is saying, "Because I can't touch who you pretend to be. I can only touch who you truly are." And there's a lot of pretend worshipers. You're pretending like you're singing. You're pretending like you worship. And God says, "You're singing the song, but your heart is far from Me." How do you know when you're not worshiping in truth? It's because if you need someone to lead you to worship, you've already missed it. Worship ain't the third song of Radiant Church. Worship is a surrender lifestyle abandoned before God. "God, I'm abandoned before You." Some of you guys can't worship because you care about what other people think about you. "I would worship, I want people to look at me, and I'm a little self-conscious, and I want them to see me lifting my hand, so I'm just wait till I get in the car." That's not worship. That is actually conceit. You sound conceited. It's not worship. So worship means to abandon yourself before God. David, that's out of pocket. Don't do that here. Do that at home. Okay? But what I'm saying is, worship is abandoning yourself before God. What if the Holy Spirit moves? Are you gonna yield? Are you gonna bow? Are you gonna lean into it? Are you gonna shout? Are you gonna dance? Are you gonna say, "I don't want to be seen"? Worship isn't about you, it's about God. And you better thank God that when Jesus had to do his assignment of crucifixion, he wasn't worried about being seen. You're scared to be seen worshiping, but Jesus wasn't scared to be seen being crucified. I worship God on my own time. He died for you publicly. I'll praise God on my own time. He bled for you publicly. God on my own time. He resurrected for you publicly. In other words, Jesus said, "When I come to restore my bride, I don't care who's looking. I don't care who's watching. I'm abandoning myself because my bride matters." Father God, we abandon ourselves before You because You matter. You are worthy to be. You are worthy to be. Oh, come on, somebody, give Him a shout of praise in this place.
He is worthy to be praised. He's worthy to be praised. When you praise God and you worship God, He changes your situation. He breaks the curse every single time. When you praise God, He interferes. He changes your behavior. He changes circumstances on your behalf. He gets involved. He is worthy to be worshiped. When you worship God, He can take a great mess and turn it into greatness. When you worship God, He can take a test and turn it into a testimony. When you worship God, He can take a breakdown and turn it into a breakthrough. When you worship God, He can take a mess up and turn it into a setup. When you worship God, He turns it all around. Why? Because when my praises go up, His presence comes down. If you say, "I'm going to worship God," come on, give Him a 10-second praise break in this place. We don't serve a supernatural God. We serve a supernatural God. We don't serve an ordinary God. We serve an extraordinary God.
He is worthy to be worshiped. He's worthy to be worshiped. He's worthy to be worshiped. What does worship mean? To worship means to bow. It means to bow. Now, it's not saying that you just only have to physically bow, but bowing is a condition. It's a posture. It's a state of heart. To worship means to bow. Do you bow before God? Do you bow before God? What do you bow to? Because whatever you bow to, you worship to. Whatever you bow to, you worship to. And if you read all throughout the Bible, you will see one thing that Satan tries to do through every king, every ruler, every person. Here's the one thing he always tries to do. He always tries to make the people of God bow. I'm going to give you Satan's best punch. His best punch is that you would bow before him. He will give you everything just for you to bow. He wants you to bow. Now, what does Satan get out of you bowing? I'll show you. When you bow to God, that's you exalting God and worshiping God and saying, "God, You are worthy to be worshiped." Now, if you bow to anything else, your bowing is Satan. See, you got to bow directly to God. But if you bow to anything else, you bow to the devil. That's why when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came to King Nebuchadnezzar, what did he ask them to do? "Bow." And then they said, "We're not bowing to your gods. Throw us in the fiery furnace." Why? In other words, "If you don't bow, we will kill you." He didn't want their money. He didn't want their Bibles. He didn't want their family. He didn't want their gold. He wanted their bow. Daniel and Elijah, hey, hey, hey. "You're going to bow to this image. You're going to pray to this image." They want his money. They want his influence. They want his power. The enemy wanted his bow. He wants your bow. And what is he going to do? He's going to attack your family so you can bow. It's gonna attack your marriage so you can bow. He's going to attack your finances so you can bow. Everything the devil has ever done to you, to your family, and done around you, he broke you, he abused you, you was molested, you was raped, you was mistreated so you could bow. Well, I'll never bow to the devil. Yeah, you bow to anxiety, though. And Jesus ain't anxiety. I'll never bow to the devil. You bow to depression. I'll never bow to the devil. You bow to fear. I'll never bow to the devil. You bow to lust. And any battle that's not bowed to God is about Satan. He receives. He is always after the bow. I want to show you the devil real quick. Let's just suppose I want to expose the devil some more. So we see the devil. Let me show you the devil in the Bible. Give his best punch. He's tempting Jesus. He's on the third temptation, and he said, he took Jesus. He showed them all the kingdoms of this world and its glory. Now, what he saw Jesus, it's because he heard Jesus's mission statement. Jesus's mission statement was, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." In other words, Jesus said, "Repent. I'm restoring the kingdom." So what does Satan do? He showed Jesus all the kingdoms of this world, all their power, all the wealth, all the glory. He said, "This has been delivered unto me, and it was when Adam and Eve sinned." And he said, "I'll give it to whoever I choose." And then he said, "This is Jesus. He said, 'Bow down and worship me, and I'll give it to you.'" And what did Jesus say? Jesus said, "I will worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall I serve." Translation: Devil, you're not getting my bow. About to God, and about a God alone. I got news for hell. I got news for the devil. I got news for anxiety. I got news for depression. I got news for fear. I got news for worry. You won't get my bow. I'm not bound to the devil. I'm not bowing to the world. I'm not bound to Satan. I'm not bowing to demons. I won't bow. I won't bow. I won't bow. I'm not bowing. I ain't bowing. I'm gonna stand tall. When they ask me about to eat the things of this world, standing tall. I don't care what the government says. I don't care what social media says. I don't care where the world goes. I will stand tall for my God. And I won't bow. I'm not bowing to these agendas. I ain't bowing. I'm standing tall for God. I ain't bound in this hour. This is the hour for the church to stand. I ain't bound. I will worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall I serve. Oh, come on, somebody, give Him a 10-second praise break in this place. I won't bow. I'm not bowing to the things in this world. Uh, whoa, bow. I won't bow. The only person I can get my bow is Jesus. When the wise men, they came, they found two-year-old Jesus, baby Jesus, and what did the wise men do when they found Jesus? They bowed before Him. Wanna know why? Because wise men always bow to Jesus. Wise men always bow to Jesus. If you are a wise man or a wise woman, you will bow to Jesus. You would bow. And I want to give you news, church. Bow. Wow. You have a choice. Bow. Wow. You have a choice. Because the Bible says at some point, every knee shall and every tongue will confess. Let me tell you something. Things that you're bowing to at the end, even they have to bow to God. That devil that's causing all this habit, he's going to drop his knee at the end and bow before God. Everybody will bow before our King. My question is, are you gonna bow now? If you bow now, you get eternal life. If you bow later, you lose it. You bow now, you get salvation. You bow later, you get damnation. In other words, when will you bow? It's not if you bow, when will you bow? And if you are a wise man, even when Jesus was two, they was like, "You know what I'm saying?" If you're a wise man, I'm bound in Panama, Jays, right now, like this is serious. Only thing I love more than these shoes is my family and my church and the Lord Jesus Christ. But other than that, nothing else. And I'm bowing in them. Why? Because every knee will bow. And I'd rather bow now than bow later. God, I will bow before You. I will bow. I'ma get ready to close. Romans chapter 12. I'm going to show you what worship is fully. I'm gonna read the description, we'll close. You guys enjoying this message so far? Next week's gonna be fun. It'll be light, it'll be happy. But before we get into your purpose and what God's gonna do through you, we got to first get you bowed. We got to bow you first. Then after that, we can move on to other things in the kingdom. And guess what? Don't the concept of bowing train you a little bit? It just cleanses you a little bit. Don't bow to no man. Don't bow to no leader, no political leader. Don't bow to no pastor. Don't bow to no businessman. Why? Our bow is reserved for God. We only bow to God. And let me tell you something about bowing. God never asks us. Don't play yet. I'll tell you when to play. God never asks us to bow to Him because God's like, "Isn't it obvious?" But let me tell you where God fights the people of God. Read your Bible. All of the Bible. People here, if you read your Bible, wave at me. Okay, I need you to go back and read your Bible this week and read this. Go to the Old Testament to the New. And here's what you will see. You will see that nothing else in Scripture frustrates God like people bowing to idols. All throughout the Scripture, people make mistakes. Cool. David, even Bathsheba. Ah, cool. We're gonna restore that. Denying Jesus. Cool. You want to make God mad? Bow to something that's not Him. I'm telling you, children of Israel, they have seen the wrath of God bowing to false golden images. All throughout Scripture, God is saying, "Don't bow." And the thing is, so crazy is when you actually bow, you actually make God jealous. He gets jealous when you bow. Read it. Why? Why does He get jealous? It's because you're giving something that solely His to another. When you bow to something else, you're cheating on God. You're cheating on God. And He gets frustrated. He gets jealous. And you see His wrath because you shouldn't bow to other idols and other gods. Nothing frustrates God like you giving your bow to another.
Now, Romans chapter 12, verse 1. You guys enjoying this? It says, "Therefore, I've always taught when you see 'therefore' in the Bible, you got to see what it's there for. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship." Hold on, hold on, hold on. What? What is He saying? He's saying, "Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual worship." God, show me the scripture. I've been reading it for years. He's like, "You never truly got it. I'm gonna show it to you now." God said that your true worship, true act of worship, is being a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable and pleasing to God. What does that mean? You have to go back to Leviticus. In the book of Leviticus, they would take flour, they would take oil, and they would take frankincense. And then when they get those ingredients, they were mixing together. And God would say, "This." God would say, "Take some of the flour, some of the oil, and all the frankincense. Bring all the frankincense to Me." So when they would get ready to take this offering to the high priest, before they would take it to the high priest, they would first give some to God. But when they would give to God, they would take flour, some oil, all the frankincense, and they would take all the frankincense and they would burn all that before God, and it was a sweet aroma unto God. And God was saying, "That's what you're to be. You're to be a living sacrifice. You're to be burned frankincense." And the frankincense, all go to God. All of it goes to God. Why? Because that's the worship. Whenever the frankincense are burnt, that's the worship. And all that goes up to God. All the worship, all the praise goes to God. Worship can't go to no one else. It can't go to the high priest. It can't go to the pastor. It can go to the king. All of the frankincense, all of the worship, go straight up to God. But then God said, "One further." And God said, "When you come, do not bring honey." Why did He say, "Don't bring honey"? He said, "Don't bring honey." Because honey is the polarity. The frankincense. When you bring honey, honey looks good, it tastes good, and it smells good. But when you burn honey, it stinks. God said, "When you burn frankincense, it's a sweet aroma. It actually smells better and better and better the more you burn it." And God said, "True worshipers get better on the fire. They get better while they burn. They get better behind the flames." God says, "When you worship and you're on the fire, do you get better?" See, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got better under fire. Paul and Silas were in the prison, and their worship got better under fire, better under persecution, better under tribulation. You know when you're a true worshiper because your worship gets better under fire. But there's so many honey worshipers. And you look sweet, and it smells good, and you're all cute. But then when fire and calamity hits your life, your worship stinks. You get better, not better. You get mad at God and complain at God. But God says, "The frankincense get better on the fire." Why? God says, "I want a worship that keeps on getting better, keeps on getting better, keeps on getting better." Does your worship get better on the fire? I'm telling you, the disciples got better on the fire. When I was trying to get crucified, crucify us upside down. We're not worthy to be crucified right side up. They got better on the fire. Paul got better on the fire. Do you get better under fire?
God is attacking me? Is the aroma of your worship better during the attack? Because if it is, you're the true worshiper that God seeks. For that's why God is seeking. He's saying, "I see a lot of worship, but I see very little frankincense. I see a lot of worship, but it's a lot of honey."
And in worship, you don't test the worship about what you see. You don't test the worship about what you hear. You test the worship by what you smell. And if you smell frankincense, that's getting better. When you walk into church and you and you sniff it, and the worship smells sweet, and it's a sweet aroma to God, that's a room of true worshipers. Give our King a shout of praise.
In other words, Church, in other words, if you're a true worshiper, your worship gets better under fire. And I just want to take a moment and I want to make an appeal to you. I want to make an appeal, y'all. I've said in church for years, and as a guy, I wasn't super emotional or expressive in church. Maybe on a football field, but not in church. And I remember withholding my worship from God because I cared about what others thought. I cared about how I would look. I didn't want to look stupid. And I would withhold my. And in that state, I wasn't a true worshiper. A true worshiper? Why? Because I didn't have God in a state of worth. If He's worth it, you don't care about how you look. You don't care if you look dumb. You don't care if you abandon yourself before God. David was the king. King's supposed to have posture, and he was rolling over, crying on his face before God.
You're not worshiping as an attack. It's spiritual warfare because there's a connection that happens between you and God. The Bible calls it "yada." It means intimacy. Intimacy means "into me see." God sees in you, you see in Him. There's a closeness. There's an intimacy. The only thing that can be compared to it on Earth is sex. And that's what happens when you worship God in the Spirit. It's a closeness. It's a oneness that you are one with the Creator of the universe, and His zeal and His love and His passion is poured out before you. How could we withhold this from our King?
And I remember making a decision. I said, "God, I will never withhold myself from You. I will be abandoned before Your presence. I will give true worship." What is worship? Worship is love expressed. I know you love God. I know it's in your heart, but God doesn't just want your worship to be in your heart. He wants your worship in your life. He wants it expressed. I'm going to tell you something. God actually wants you to lean into worship. I know that you've probably been told, "Hey, it no matter how you worship, and we're all different, and some of us are introverts, and some of us are extraverts." That's not for everybody. I beg to differ. Read your Bible. That when people worship God, they were abandoned before God. They danced, they shouted, they lifted holy hands. Why? Because He is in the state of worth.
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And it is a price to worship. It's not convenient. It's not easy. Worship costs. And Satan wants it. He wants your worship. He doesn't want you worshiping God. He doesn't want you yielding. And if we will be honest, Church, let's just be honest. I know some of us will say, "Well, you know, I'm just not expressive like that." I get you. But does anything make you yield? Do you yield? Let's be honest with you. You'll do anything when the Cowboys score. Do you yield when you get a pay raise? Then you yield when you see your baby dancing? Do you yield? If you're willing to yield to all of these things that have no perpetual state of worth, how could you hold your yield from God?
I'm challenging you this morning. I want us to be a church that worships God honest, changed, and unabandoned. Has lifted voices raised. I don't care if I look stupid. I don't care if I look dumb because He is in the state of worth. I'm not waiting on the worship team. I'm not waiting on my favorite song. Why? Because I am worshiping my King, and He is worthy of.
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And I made a decision to God. This is the vow I made to God. And I saw Abraham hit my life like a locomotive. And this is the declaring the decree I made to God. I say, "God, as long as there's breath in my lungs, I will not withhold my air from You. As long as there's activity of my limbs, I would not withhold my dance from You. And as long as I can walk in Your presence, I will not withhold my yield from You." When I walk in here, I don't care if the sound's on, if the sounds are off, if the lights are on, if the lights are off. I am yielding and bowing before my God. Doesn't even worshiper stand up in the room? Begin to worship God right now. This is a moment. You don't need song. You don't need a worship team. This is your moment to worship. Left hands around this room. Give God glory. Come on, give Him a shout of praise. Tell Him you love Him. Tell Him He's my King. Now, You are worthy of our worship. You're worthy to be worshiped. You're worthy to be praised. Satan, you will not get my bow, and you will not get my worship. Only God is worthy of my worship. Satan, I'm not bowing to you. I won't bow. I only bow to God. So as we take a moment, when hands lifted, we say, God, worship can fast is eventually worship expressed. Worship confessed is eventually worship expressed. My challenge am I to do for you in this sermon? Stretch yourself in worship. And worship isn't just you leaning your hands in a song. It's a lifestyle. God, I am sacrificing to You. I am offering myself to You as a frankincense that when I go under fire, I get better, and You get glorified. God gives glory over the tribulation of your story. I'm not going to just worship You all feeling good. I'm gonna worship You when I ain't feeling good. Paul and Silas said, "We want to just worship You while we're free. We'll worship You in the prison cell." Why? Because our worship gets better under fire. We don't have a worship of honey that smells good and looks good until it gets burned. No, no, no. We have a worship of frankincense that reproduces a sweet aroma when it's burned. Wow. I pray you was blessed by that message. I pray it spoke to you and encouraged you, challenged you, and stressed you. Share with your friends, family members, co-workers, share with everyone you know. And I pray their life will be impacted as well. If you would like to be a part of Radiant Ministry, a part of Radiant Global, or get more information about our church, text 903-201-0606. Take some more information. We will tell you all about our ministry. And also, if you would like to partner with Radiant financially, you can do that at radiantchurchstk.com and hit the give tab. It is your generosity that fuels our mission, and it empowers us to be able to do ministry all around the world. Thank you so much for your generosity and have a blessed day.