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See, the problem today is Jesus has fans, not worshippers. Folk who love the event, who want the benefit of the gathering, but not necessarily the ministry to the Lord.
Dr. Tony Evans explains how the right kind of worship can propel you toward your destiny. I'm not just talking about reading your Bible. I'm talking about praising him, blessing him, singing to him, and then saying, "Holy Ghost, fill me today."
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Worship is designed to be something we give to God, but Dr. Evans says we get a lot out of it, too, including insight into our God-given destiny. Let's join him in Acts chapter 13 as he explains.
Today, I want to talk to you about your worship and your destiny. That your destiny, where God wants to take your life, his calling, his purpose for you will be manifested in the context of your worship. That your worship will play a key role in you clarifying, understanding, and experiencing God's purpose, calling or destiny in your life.
Let me define worship. Worship is the recognition of God for who he is, for what he has done, and for what you're trusting him to do. Worship simply is our response to God's presence. We read in verse two, while they ministered to the Lord, they're going to discover their destiny, and we're going to show you about yours. But they're going to discover it. Watch this. While they were ministering to the Lord.
Now, why am I repeating that? Because most people come to church for the Lord to minister to them. Most people come to church to hear what God has to say to them, what God's going to do for them, how God's going to bless them. But they will not discover their destiny by the ministry of God to them, but by their ministry to God. Because at the heart of worship, hear me now, God is the audience and you and I are the performers. In biblical worship, God is waiting on us to show up.
Most people come to church to see what God is going to do for them, to them, with them. And God is waiting to see what you going to do for me. Because you're ministering to the Lord. The Lord is waiting to see, are you going to sing to him? Are you going to talk to him? Are you going to praise him? Are you going to pray to him? Is all of you going to respond to all of him? Or are you just showing up to see what he's going to do for you next? Are you just coming for your blessing? Or are you coming to minister to the Lord?
Now, there are event Christians. These are Christians who show up for the show. They they want the event. They want to hear the choir sing. They want to hear the preacher preach. They want to see what's going on. They show up for the event and they will come to the event this Sunday and show up for a new event next Sunday. It's sort of like the fans at the game who watch the game and go to the game this Sunday don't care anything about sports until the new game next Sunday. So they are there for the event.
The problem is if you are an event Christian, you're here for the show, the Sunday event, then that means that there is a 7-day gap in your worship. There is a 7-day gap between events. And if there is a 7-day gap between events, you only get what the event offers. Worship was never meant to be an event where there is a week gap.
Most folk today are probably going to have a pretty good Sunday afternoon meal. Sunday usually is a big meal. Either big meal is cooked or you go out somewhere. Sunday is typically a big meal. However, you do not expect that to last you all week. You die. We have Christians who eat God on Sunday, starve all week long, and wonder why they're malnourished even though they go to church.
Because they're event worshippers, like event fans, but then there are serious fans. They're not just about the event. Now, they will be at the event, but it's more than the event for them. Let's review how this works. Let me talk about an an event or a serious fan, not just an event fan, and link that to what it looks like if you're a serious worshipper ministering to the Lord.
In the average football game, there is only 17 minutes of contact where a player is hitting another player, either an offensive play, a kickoff, a punt. Bam. There's only 17 minutes. So, this is a multi-billion dollar industry for 17 minutes of contact. These 17 minutes of contact are in a one-hour game. The game is slotted for one hour, but because they have timeouts and halftime and all of that, uh, it lasts longer than one hour, but it's a one-hour game on the clock with only 17 minutes of contact. 17 minutes of contact in a 1-hour game becomes a three-hour experience cuz your game is going to last three hours even though that game is only 1 hour and even though there only 17 minutes of actual contact.
So an event fan is going to be sitting for three hours for a one-hour game to see 17 minutes of action. But a serious fan. The one who really wants to do this thing right is going to leave for church two hours before the service begins because they got to fight the traffic. But they're going to be willing to fight the inconvenience of the traffic because they've decided their team is worthy of that inconvenience. When they get to their parking spot, they going to have to walk a long way from the place they park to where their seat in the sanctuary is located. And they got to walk a long way whether it's raining or whether it's sunny. But that will not matter to them because they will have decided that that team is worthy of the inconvenience of both the traffic, the travel, and the walk. They will then sit for three hours and not leave church early. Nor will they say the service has gone too long because they want to catch all that the service has to offer because they know what it's like to leave early with one minute left and miss the big thing that's going to take place on the field.
When they leave, it's going to take them two hours to get home after a long walk back to their car. That's 3 hours for a game, two hours on both sides of travel. So now worship on Sunday has taken seven hours. That's seven hours. They have decided that this team is worthy of my worship.
When they get home after having gone through a seven-hour worship experience, they're going to turn on ESPN and NFL Network to review what they just saw. So, they're going to meditate on the sermon, review the sermon and the high points of the service on Monday cuz they serious worshippers. They going to get in a small group at work and have a small group meeting around the water fountain to discuss the high points from the worship service that day. They will pick up the newspaper to read on Monday about what they just saw on Sunday that they reviewed Sunday night coming from the same service. Then beginning Tuesday, they going to start look at what the sermon's going to be next week. Who's coming to preach the guest sermon, what the conflict is going to be, and now they're discussing the upcoming sermon before the service ever shows up because they're not just there for the event. They have made this worship a lifestyle and it carries them every week, all week, all season long.
Now, if you can give that much work to somebody who wins today and loses tomorrow, somebody who's up now and down then, if you're willing to go through that much inconvenience for something that does not do that much for your daily life, explain to me how the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God of gods, can't get a minute of your time and is only good for a weekly event.
See, the problem today is Jesus has fans, not worshippers. He got He has folk who love the event, who will show up for the show, who want the benefit of the gathering, but not necessarily the ministry to the Lord.
Dr. Dr. Evans will have some examples of what ministry to the Lord really means when he returns in a moment with more from his current series, Destiny. Let God use you like He made You. This six message collection will help you discover the unique ways God has designed and equipped you to live out the purpose he planned for your life. And to go along with it, we'd also like to send you Tony's brand new Fighting the Good Fight devotional for men. It's filled with daily encouragement to help you stand strong in your faith, grow in godly character, and pursue your calling with courage and confidence. Both of these powerful resources are yours with our thanks when you partner with the alternative through your generous support. We are a completely listenerupported ministry, so your faithfulness is the only reason this teaching can continue coming your way each day. You can make the arrangements right now by calling our resource center at 1 8008003222. It never closes. That's 1 8008003222 or visit us online anytime at tonyeans.org.
Well, right now here's Dr. Evans with more of today's lesson.
Ministry to the Lord is responding to his presence with all you are responding to all he is. So when we're praising the Lord in song and you're silent, that means you're not a worshipper. When we're praising and you have nothing to say, you're not a worshipper. When we're talking about God and there are no thoughts in your mind about God because you're checking the score on your phone about what's happening in the game, you're a worshipper, but you're at the wrong location.
Worship is all that I am. That's why you cannot worship without emotion because emotion is simply my response to the reality. When you see a touchdown scored, when you see an interception made or a great pass or a great run, you stand up. You react. Why? Because something awesome is just taking place and I just can't keep it to myself. Worship is my response to who he is.
And it's amazing to hear people complain, "Well, it took me a long time to get in the parking lot or I have to walk too far." when they don't complain that about something that has nothing at all to do with the well-being of their lives, but they want to be blessed. They want heaven to work. Notice it says they minister to the Lord. They minister to God.
Let me tell you why worship is so critical. The reason why worship is critical particularly to your destiny is worship takes you to another reality. Worship is God's means for you to enter the spiritual realm. It says while they were ministering to the Lord, we we'll be more specific in a second, but while they were ministering to the Lord, something happened. Notice it says the Holy Spirit said, watch this now. While they were worshiping, while they were God focused, while they were centered on God, while they were praising God, while they were praying to God, while they were acknowledging God, while they were celebrating God, while they were making a big deal about a big God, the Holy Spirit spoke.
If worship is only an event, you'll miss the spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity whose specific job it is to make God real to you. The job of the Holy Spirit is to give life. 2 Corinthians 3:6 says, "Is to bring life, God's life, and make it your reality." One of the major problems today in our destiny is we don't hear the Holy Spirit talking. See, the Holy Spirit said, that mean he talking. The Holy Spirit speaks and he speaks personally. He says the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart Barnabas and Saul." So it wasn't just general part set apart people. He says, "I got two men. I know their names and these are who they are, and this is what I want them to do."
Your destiny is tied to whether you're hearing his voice. But you only get to hear his voice if you're ministering to the Lord. For while they were ministering to the Lord, the Holy Spirit said, "So the job of the Holy Spirit is to make God's reality real in your life."
Now, let me explain something. Many people are satisfied to hear the Bible preached or to study the Bible. So they learn doctrine without hearing a personal word. See, you can learn the Bible and not be changed by it. You can be a Bible scholar and it make no difference in your life because the relationship with the Holy Spirit is not there. And the Holy Spirit's full-time job is to lift the truth of God off the page and place it on the heart. That's why the Bible says that God might write his law on your heart to make it real for you.
So when you become not an event Christian, but when you become a super fan of Jesus Christ, when you are ministering to the Lord as a lifestyle and not as an event, you'll stay filled. You'll keep a tiger in your tank. And when you stay filled, the filling of God will control you so that you are now accessing the very voice of God.
Now, that raises the question, doesn't it? What does that voice sound like? How do I know when I'm hearing that voice? I mean, am I hearing something audibly? Okay, here it is. When you get saved, your human spirit, the Holy Spirit comes in and links into your human spirit. The spirit is the thing that connects you with God. Your body, soul, and spirit. Okay? The body connects you with the outside world. The soul connects you with yourself. The spirit connects you with God. The moment you accept Christ, the Holy Spirit come and fuses into your human spirit. Your human spirit is inside of your soul. Your soul is inside of your body. Your human spirit is inside of your soul. The Holy Spirit comes and he syncs with your human spirit. Your human spirit then informs your soul. You get information in your soul from your human spirit. Now that the Holy Spirit has fused with your human spirit, it now begins to speak to your soul. And the centerpiece of your soul is your mind. That's why the Bible says, "Be transformed in the renewing of your mind because he will now begin to shape your thinking and you will know you're hearing from God."
Here it is. Because he will bring thoughts to your mind that come straight from heaven via your spirit to the soul which centerpiece is to the mind. So now your body knows what to do because it is getting new instructions up here because it being fed from the spirit. Now he does it a whole lot of different ways. He does it through other people. He does it through circumstances, but it will all show up in your thinking. And that's why when the spirit is speaking, he'll give you thoughts that you know weren't natural to you. He'll give you ideas that you weren't planning to think of. He will come at all kind of different ways and you wonder where that came from. I will let you know if you are ministering to the Lord, it's the Holy Spirit talking.
When Stephen was getting ready to die, he said he looked up. He saw heaven open. He saw the son of man stand on the right hand giving him a standing ovation. And he said, "Now receive my spirit." Because when you are a worshipper, God can talk to you on your deathbed. He can talk to you on your everyday life. When you are a worshipper, you get to hear the voice of the spirit regularly. And what better way to reach your destiny than to hear your own GPS system working, speaking to you like the lady on the system telling you this is the way you ought to go. Don't go that way today. Turn another way. No, don't. No, no, don't avoid that person. Be with. And when when he begins to steer you and move you and twist you and tweak you because he has access to your mind.
Read Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 to8. Let me tell you about Isaiah. It says in the year that King Uzziah died. Isaiah saw the Lord. It was on a bad day Isaiah saw the Lord. It was when he thought the thing that was in control wasn't around anymore. Cuz the human king, the human circumstances died on. You ever had human things you were banking on to die on you? A situation that didn't come through for you? Well, well, look for God when something dies on you because it says in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the real king on the throne. And he saw him, watch this, high and lifted up. That is not not localized with the everydayness of life. He was high and lifted up. It says his robe filled the temple. In other words, there was no place to stand because he was controlling the whole environment. And it says the angels were saying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is to be filled with his glory." And then he says, "And the angels after they worshiped him reached into the altar and took out coals burning with fire." Watch this now. And he came and took the coals and placed it on Isaiah's lips.
Now, I don't know if you've ever drunk something too hot for your lips, but to have burning fire cold placed on sensitive lips means that that thing hurts cuz worship is going to hurt sometime. Every time it's not joy and frivolity and flipping pews and jumping, sometimes you in pain cuz God has revealed your sin. And he says, "He revealed my sin because my lips were unclean. I was talking about the wrong stuff the wrong way to the wrong people." He says, "My lips were unclean." But the angels reached the tongues of the altar, put them on my unclean lips, and then I heard from heaven and say, "Your sin is forgiven you." And when he forgave my sin by the misuse of my lips, he said, "Who can I send? Who will go for me? And who will speak on my behalf?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me."
I hope you didn't miss that. The angel came and buried his lips. God said, "Who will speak for me?" He said, "Here I am. Send me. I'll speak for you." But didn't you just tell me your lips were bad? Well, yeah, till I went to worship. But in worship, God cleaned up my lips. So the same lips that were a mess, he was going to use for a ministry. He was going to take his failure and use it for his success.
If you will become a worshipper, if you will say, "God, I'm not going to just worship on Sunday." But here's the challenge. Every morning when you get up, have a mini worship service. If it's two minutes, if it's three minutes, if it's five minutes, I'm not just talking about reading your Bible. I'm talking about praising him, blessing him, singing to him. Yes. And reading your Bible, and then saying, "Holy Ghost, fill me today. I want you to talk to me today. I want to hear from you today. And I'm so desperate for you today that I'm going to minister to you today because I can't make it today without a relationship with you. Do like the football players do when there's a great play. They go around and they pump it up. Pump it up. Pump it up. Pump it up. That means give it up. Give it up. Give it up. Give it up. I give you glory. I give you praise. I give you adoration. I give you celebration. I give you confession. I give you dedication. I give you my surrender. I give you everything I've got cuz I need to hear heaven in my ear today. I'm going to give it up until I hear from glory."
Dr. Tony Evans talking about the connection between lifting up your worship and tracking down your destiny. Part of his current series called Destiny. Let God use you like He Made You. There's more to this lesson than we had time to bring you on the air, but the full-length versions of all six messages in this collection are yours on CD or USB flash drive, as well as on instantly downloadable digital files when you make a donation to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. And remember, they'll come to you along with Dr. Evans brand new Fighting the Good Fight devotional for men. But this special double offer ends on Monday. So visit us right away at tonye evans.org where you can get all the details and make the arrangements or call 18008003222 where someone on our resource team is ready to help you. That's tony evans.org or by phone at 1 8008003222.
Tomorrow can be a scary destination, especially if you're trying to feel your way toward it on your own. But on Monday, Tony will explain why the smartest way to find the future you're looking for is to look for something else instead. I hope you'll join us.
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