sunday service

Just for me in my life that God has done for me. I, I sometimes I just have to just sit there in amazement and saying, "Why would God choose to do that for me?" And you know what? All I can tell you is it's a gift from God. Amen. And He's offered you that gift. He loves each and every one of you. And when we take that into consideration, the Creator of this universe knows you and cares about you. You can't help but get excited. You can't help but know, you know what? Whatever that problem is, whatever that situation is, I'm going to get through it because God's got my back. If God's got my back, hey, there's no stopping. Amen.

So, as we're here today, gathered together, understand this: that if you truly, truly in your heart say, "You know what, God? I'm going to give myself to You. I'm going to surrender my pride, myself, my wants, my desires, and I'm truly going to say it's in Your hands." I guarantee you there's going to be a change. I guarantee you there's going to be a change. Amen.

So, let's just get this service going. Those of you that can stand, we're going to just praise and open up this service. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for this day. We thank You for the opportunity to be standing here right now in Your presence. Have Your way, dear Lord. You know what each and every one of us needs. And right now, we're going to claim that in Your mighty name. Take hold of everything that happens here this morning. This is Your house. This is Your time, Lord. Just let us be willing servants, open to just latch on to You today like never before. And we commit this time to You right now in Your mighty name. And all of God's people said, "Amen."

All right, we taught you a brand new song last week. Anybody remember that song? Name of the song is Jehovah. We're going to sing it to you again this morning. Talks about the the names of God. The people of old had many names for Him. And this song talks about those names and what He is to all of us. Amen. Hallelujah. Listen.

He shakes every idol. He reigns with fire. He goes by the name Jehovah. Jehovah. Darkness will burn. He goes by the name of Jehovah. Jehovah. Call the name. Call the name. Call the name Jehovah. All our praise. All our praise. All our praise belongs to You. Oh my friend. His foes will be silenced. He's fighting for Zion. There's no other God like Jehovah. Jehovah. Never tire like fire. There's no word of God. Jehovah. Jehovah. Call the name. Call the name. Call the name. Call the name. Jehovah. All our praise, all our praise, all our praise belongs to You. For the name, all the name, all the name, all our praise, all our praise, all our praise, all our praise to You.

Jehovah Nissi, fight Your battles. Jehovah Nissi, fight Your battles. Jehovah Nissi, fight Your battles. Jehovah Nissi, fight Your battles. Jehovah Nissi, fight Your battles. Jehovah Nissi. Jehovah Rapha, heal Your body. Jehovah Tsidkenu, shall be Your King. Jehovah Nissi, fight Your battles. Jehovah Jireh, meet Your need. Jehovah Rapha, will heal Your body. Jehovah Shalom, shall be Your peace. Shall be Your peace. No battle roars. Shall be. Call the name. Call the name. I pray, oh, I. Heat. Heat. Just hold on. Oh my God. Jehovah. Jehovah. I love You. Nobody shall be Your King. Jehovah shall be Your King. Jehovah, Your body shall, shall be Your. You hold. Hallelujah. Jehovah. Amen. Hallelujah.

We call out to You, Lord. We need You in this moment, God. We need You in this season of our life, Lord. We need Your healing. We need You to fight our battles, Lord. It's You and You alone, God. Glory to You. Hallelujah.

As we go into our next song, um, this song is just about wanting to know God's heart and wanting to wanting Him to take you deeper in your love and in His love that He has for us. Um, so in this next song, just really press into Him. I feel like He's really calling us to press into Him and press into His love and really know His heart and what He has for us. And I pray that He reveals it to you, whatever it is that you're going through. Um, I know God is the God of all. Like He can break chains. He can move mountains. And so um, as you go into this, just allow God to take you deeper. Allow God to reveal His heart to you.

Your love has my heart and taken me over, taking me over. And all I want is to be with You forever, with You forever. So pull me a little closer. Take me a little deeper. I want to know Your heart. I want to know Your heart. 'Cause Your love is so much sweeter than anything I've tasted. I want to know You. I want to know You. Your love has my heart and taking me over, taking me over. And though all I want is to be with You forever, with You forever. So pull me a little closer. Take me a little deeper. I want to know Your heart. I want to know Your heart. 'Cause Your love is so much sweeter than anything I'm tasting. I want to know Your heart. I want to know Your heart. Pull me a little closer. Take me a little deeper. I want to know You. I want to know Your love. Love is so much sweeter than anything I've tasted. I want to know Your heart. I want to know Your heart. I want to know Your heart. How great Your love is for me. How great is Your love? How great Your love is for me. Oh, how great is Your love. Woah, woah, woah, woah. How great Your love is for me. Woah, woah, woah, woah. How great is Your love. How Your love is for me. Oh, wo, wo. Heat. Heat. Heat. A. Take me a little deeper. I want to know Your heart. I want to know Your. I've tasted. I want to know. I want to know You. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat.

I could sing Your name for all my life and still find more love. Jesus be the name. Ever call. There's just something about Your name. There's just something about Your name. There's just something about Your name that makes me cry. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, You're worthy. You have been the friend who ever left. I won't forget Your faithfulness. Jesus made the name ever on my lips. It's sweeter every time that I call. There's just something about Your name. There's just something about Your name. There's just something about Your name that makes me cry. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name. Jesus, You're worthy. There's something about Your name. Oh, there's just something about Your name. Oh Jesus, something about Your name that makes me cry. Glory.

There is no other name like God. There is no other name like Jesus. There is no other name. Jesus, You're worthy. You're worthy of all Your praise, Your glory. Fill this place. You're worthy of all the praise. Your glory. Fill this place. You're worthy of all the praise. Your glory. Fill this place. You're worthy. The Lord's praise. Your glory. Jesus. Your name is like the morning light. The one the darkness can't deny. The resurrection and the life. Jesus. Jesus. Your name can save. Your name can give. Your name can make the storm. You never give. You never will. Jesus. Jesus. For us. Jesus. Jesus. Forever. Jesus. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Make it all the glory. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Sing all the glory. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus. We Jesus. We give all the glory. You have no rival. You have no equal now and forever. Yours is the kingdom. Yours is the glory. Yours is the name of my name. J. Heat. Heat. Give all the glory. You have. You have no You. Yours is the kingdom. Yours is the glory. Is coming. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus. Glory in His name. There's healing in His name. There's healing on His glory. In His name. There's freedom in His name. There's freedom. There is no other name. There is no other name. There is no other name that makes me cry. Jesus be. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name. They give all the glory. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Your glory fills this place. You're worthy. Your glory fills this place. You're worthy. Oh, You're worthy. Face. You're worthy. You're worthy. You have no. You have. You are the King. Yours is the glory. Yours is the name of God. You have no rival. You have no real now and forever. Is the King. The glory is my name. Jesus be the. Jesus be the. Jesus be the glory. Jesus. The name. Jesus be the name. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus be the name. Jesus be the. Jesus be the name. Jesus, Lord. Yes, Lord.

There is no other name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. There is no other name. There is no other name. Yes, God. Come on. Only in the name of Jesus. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's give Him praise this morning. God, we worship You, Jesus. We glorify Your name. Hallelujah. There's power in one name, and that's the name of Jesus. Amen. No other name can do what the name of Jesus does. At the name of Jesus, sickness is healed. Amen. At the name of Jesus, demons run for cover. They run and hide. They're cast out in the name of Jesus. Dead men raised to life again. Hallelujah. There's power in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Lord, we glorify that one name, the holy, mighty, wonderful name of Jesus. Oh God, You deserve the glory. You deserve the honor. You deserve the praise. And we give it to You now. Let's just do that. Let's just spend this moment right here. Just pouring out praise to Him. God, we worship You with Your lips to His ears. To speak Your love to the Lord. God, we love You. I love You, Jesus. I thank You for what You've done for me. I thank You for purchasing me from my sin, saving me from hell, healing my body, healing my mind, healing my soul and my spirit, showing me that I'm loved. God, I thank You. I thank You. I praise You. You are God. You are worthy. You deserve it all. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus, we worship You. We worship You. We worship You. I don't want to let this moment pass us by. I'm really feeling led by the Holy Spirit. Our brother John Delator is back there. Brother, I don't want to put you on the spot. I'm going to ask some good brothers and sisters around him right now. He's been dealing with some health issues. You heard Pastor Sunshine talk a little bit about that this morning. We want to stand in the gap with this man of God as part of this family. We want God's healing upon his body. We want God's restoration. Amen. You receive that, brother? I'm going to pray for you now. Let's let's pray.

Father, in Jesus' name, we come before You on behalf of our brother John. God, You know his desire to be in the house of God. You know, his desire to gather with the saints, as Your word says, to not forsake the fellowship of the brethren, as some have become in the habit of doing. He's one of those men who said, "I, I, I need the fellowship of the brethren. I need to be in God's presence. I need to be in the house of God." And he's had fear in his heart that his health issues would would rob him of that joy and that desire. The enemy would love nothing more than to separate him from the from the flock and separate the flock from him, God, because we're as blessed as he is to be here, Lord. We're as blessed to have him as he is to have us, God. And so we just pray right now that You touch his body, God. Doctors, they got question marks over their head. We, we thank You for for for these specialists and these doctors. We thank You for their skill and their dedication and what they do. But God, we're, we're coming before the Great Physician today. And we're asking You, God, as we lay hands on our brother that God, You would do the work that where modern science has failed, God, Your Spirit will prevail. You are our healer. By Your stripes, we are made whole spiritually and physically, Lord. And You said that when one is sick amongst you, lay hands on them and pray for them. We pray for recovery. We pray for healing. We pray for restoration that You bring strength back to those legs and assurance in his steps, Lord God. That just as the steps of his life are ordered by Your words, his physical steps will be ordered by the strength of Your Holy Spirit, God. And that You would provide that healing and restoration to his body. That God, he would have that blessing and that that desire to be in the house of God that will be his, Lord. Father, bless him now. Bless him. And any of those who are sick in the body today, God, I claim healing in Jesus' name. I claim the healing that You promised us in Your word. God, that You bring comfort in the meantime. Healing as the end result, restoration to bodies that are broken and hurting. Father, have Your way. If that's You today, clean, just ask God for that healing. Thank Him right now for that healing in your body. Maybe it's your back. Maybe it's some joint, some joint issues that you're dealing with. Thank You for my healing, God. One way or another, thank You for my healing, Lord, in Jesus' name. And continue to work on behalf of Your people so that we can be in Your presence glorifying Your name together, Lord Jesus. Oh, we thank You now. God, be with us as we move from this moment of worship to the preaching of the word. God, I pray as Your anointing was upon this amazing team that led us into the Holy of Holies, that that anointing would be upon me as well. That You would touch these lips of clay with the altar for with a a live coal from the altar just like You did Isaiah. God, let anything that stands between me and preaching Your truth. God, Your word be removed, be purged in Jesus' name. That God, what comes through these lips and hits those ears and hearts would be the unfiltered word of God. That God, they would receive and those who do, God, would apply to their lives today. And we can be who You've called us to be, doing, fulfilling the purpose, the call that You placed on each and every one of us. We thank You today. We give You the praise. We give You the glory. And it's in the mighty and wonderful name of Jesus that we pray. And all of God's people said, "Amen. Amen and amen."

Come on, let's give Him some glory this morning. Hallelujah. Glory to Your name, God. We praise You. We worship You. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, before you sit down, why don't you reach across the aisle, shake a couple hands, hug a couple necks, tell somebody how glad you are to see them in the house of God this morning. Let's spend a couple moments in fellowship with each other. It's all right. Thank You, Lord. Hallelujah. Let's give it up for our worship team this morning. Come on. Hallelujah. Show some appreciation. Amen.

And I want to be, I want to give a big shout out to my brother, Pastor Sunshine. What a humble man of God. He had every Amen. Oh, hold on. You might not want to clap after I say what I'm going to say. What a humble man of God who stood up on this platform being the lone Seahawks fan in in a bunch in a church full of Niners and Raiders. He didn't say one word about the Niner fans. What a man of God. Now you can give him a round of applause. Come on. Hallelujah. God bless you, Pastor Sunshine. Amen. Hey, you know what? You win some, you lose some, right? Hey, but but I'll tell you something. God is still good. He still sits on the throne, whether our team is going to the Super Bowl or not. Amen. God is good. Thank You, Jesus. So, let's put our trust and faith in the Lord God Almighty. Amen.

All right, I'm going to give you a few announcements in a moment. I'm going to ask our our brothers to to come up at this time, our ushers. We're going to go ahead and take the offering today. Bless the Lord with our gift and what is required of us from His word. Amen. Whether that's your his tithe or your offering, your above and beyond offering today. I also want to remind you, we're going to be talk a little bit more about this as the year goes on about our commitment to the heart for His house. As you know, we we have a fund that we give to to make sure that the house of God has what it needs, this local church that that you enjoy and are part of and are serving in. Um, and it's it's from our hearts for His house. Amen. To make sure that we are giving into it, that it remains standing, it remains cool in the summer and warm in the winter and and all that good stuff. So, if you've made a pledge to Hartford for His house in this last year, make sure you continue to stay faithful to that. As you know, the Lord will bless you as you stay faithful to Him. Amen. We bless Him. He blesses us. And and and we're going to be again talking a little bit more about that and reuppen our our commitments and whatnot. But you know that in this house, we have several ways that you can give. You can give through our website. You can give through text. You can give through the church app as I'm giving today. Or you can give through the plates. And so whatever you give today, may it come from your heart. May it come from a a desire to give. As the word says that we shouldn't be coerced to give. We should give freely. Amen. Knowing that what we give, God is going to multiply upon it. So, let's pray for it as we give. And let's give with grateful hearts. Amen.

Father, we thank You this morning for Your goodness and Your mercy. Thank You for Your grace. Thank You for giving to us that today we get to give to You no matter where we are in our finances. We give to You out of abundance. We see Your word, how it talks about the the the rich man and and the woman who who barely had two pennies to rub together. We see how they gave. We We give out of abundance today, but let us give as the widow gave. Let us give heartily. Let us give as You have required of us. Whatever that means for each individual. And I pray that as they give and they give with that grateful heart as they release release that blessing to You. They cast their bread upon the water. God, You will bless them in more ways than just financially. You're going to cover their bills, yes, but You're going to cover their family. You're going to cover their career. You're going to cover their ministries. God, You are going to return blessings upon them because this is an investment we can count on for returns. God, have Your way. And let us give smiles on our faces knowing that, God, You're going to use it. You're going to multiply it. And You're going to you're going to bless the kingdom, God. You're going to build this kingdom right here in in this church here on the east side of San Jose. We thank You, God. We give You the praise. And it's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray. And everyone said, "Amen."

So give to the Lord as as He allows. As you do that, I'm going to go ahead and uh give you some announcements today. Right after I press give, praise the Lord. Uh, as you know, we have an outreach and evangelism ministry led by Pastor Dan and Sister Vern Diaz. And uh, they've been going out and ministering to the homeless in several different ways. God has blessed us with an opportunity to uh, He's opened doors to a couple of uh, tiny homes uh, facilities that are ministering to those who are living on the streets. And so He's given us that opportunity and they have been blessed uh, to be able to go out and serve them. And uh, so what we're doing is twice a twice a month our evangelism outreach team is going into the tiny homes and having Bible studies with them. And so they're needing some folks to go along with them, to pray for people, to to to connect with them, to network uh, with those who are are uh, living in those tiny homes and just be Jesus to those who are broken and hurting. Amen. They're going to provide meals and sometimes do giveaways and stuff like that, but we're just needing people to be right there with them, connecting with these folks, loving on them as the Lord allows us to. So if you you're interested in doing that, uh, talk to Pastor Dan. He can let you know. I think the next one that they're doing is the uh, is January 24th. So that's a Saturday and it's at 1:00 PM. So it'll be in the afternoon. Um, and so if you'd like to be a part of that, let him know. And also maybe you can't go, but you can give. You'd like to give to that. Talk to Pastor Dan. Ask him what they need. I know that there's always a need for socks. There's always a need for things like that. And then also just pouring in uh, financial blessings uh, into that ministry as well. So again, for more info, talk to Pastor Dan. He'll let you know exactly what's going on.

Want to let you know that next Sunday we're going to be having a special guest. You're not going to have to look at this ugly mug and and hear me preaching next Sunday. Um, uh, so we're, we're having a blessed guest who's coming. He's related to one of our members here, brother Ray Tapia. It's his cousin, Pastor Louie Gutierrez. And uh, in fact, I think he has he has some some children who have a musical group, right? They're a singing group. I heard that they've they tour a lot and do a lot of music and stuff. Well, their papa, uh, Pastor Lou Gutierrez, he's going to be here next Sunday bringing the word. He's going to be doing it in English for our service and then doing it Spanish for Spanish service. Amen. So, he's going to be here all day. So, we invite you out. Bring somebody, invite somebody to church to hear this blessed word uh from our our dear pastor uh Louie Gutierrez. So, again, that's next Sunday right here at MPCC.

The men's ministry is having a Super Bowl Super Bowl event. I know maybe our team's not going to be in it, but you know, you're still gonna watch it and you're going to hate on the teams that are in there. Amen. All right. So, come on and hate on them together in the Lord. Hallelujah. So, I I know uh uh Brother Dean, he enjoys doing this every year. He's a big football fan, big Niner fan himself. Um, so, he's putting together this little event for for our men. So, make sure you talk to to Brother Dean, see what uh what's going on, and you jump in and be a part of that. Again, that's February 7th. And so, all men are are invited to come through. So, for more information, see uh Brother Dean Polaris.

Also, our couples are gonna our couples ministry is putting together a shindig. Okay? It's an event of events, y'all. It's fancy. It is fancy. I just want to let you know, it's a Valentine's event taking place on Valentine's Day, February 14th. That's a Saturday this year. It is a It is a glam event, guys. You get to dress your dolls up and bring them, bring them to this event and and and just show them how much you love them. So, they're putting a lot of work in into this. It's a red carpet event, okay? So, we want you to put on your on your best, take your best girl out, guys, and and and be a part of this event. If you need some more information about it, you could talk to Sister Georgina or Brother Pat, and they'd love to let you know about that. But again, that's Valentine's Day. Is it is it here at the church or is it going to be a? It's here at the church. So again, red carpet event. We ain't playing around. There's going to be red carpet out there. I just want to let you know and paparazzi and paparazzi, right? Paparazzi. So if you ever want to feel famous or you want to make your gal feel famous, you bring her out to this event. Guys, don't sleep. Look at your neighbor. Don't sleep. Don't sleep. Bring bring her out. So again, if you want some more information, you can talk to Sister Georgina. I said Pat. Pat's like, "What? I don't know anything." Exactly. Praise God. Amen. So again, more info, talk to them about that. They can let you know.

And then lastly, before we jump into the word, uh folks, every year at this time, we'd like to open it up for anybody who's been attending the church and and isn't a member. If you'd like to become a member, we invite you to do so. We would love to have you as a part of this family. Serving uh together with us. Membership is is an amazing thing. It doesn't I mean, you're not going to get a membership card. You're not going to get like some special privileges. There's no secret room where you get secret snacks on Sunday morning or anything like that. I wish there was. That would be really cool. But membership is you telling your church, I am here for whatever. And it's and it's you hearing from your church, we're going to be there for you for whatever it is. You are part of this family. We would love to have you for you to be a part of this family if you're not already. Also, when you become a member, you do have uh rights and privileges as far as voting is concerned and certain decisions that uh that uh concern the church and whatnot. Uh, and so that's something I'm offering to you today. If you are if you are thinking about that or or interested in doing that, please come and talk to me. You can talk to Pastor Sunshine. You can talk to Brother Dean Polaris. Um, he, what what we do is once we know that you want to become a member. We have a membership class. It's about four weeks. It's it's just one hour uh per Sunday. You learn about what membership means here at Mount Pleasant Christian Center. And at the end of that, we welcome you in if you make that decision to be a member. So, we would love for you, if you're not already, to become a member of Mount Pleasant Christian Center. So, again, if you are interested, please come and talk to me, Pastor Sunshine, or Brother Dean Claris for more information. Amen.

Look at your neighbor. Say, "I'm so glad to see you." Amen. Praise God, folks. I'm glad to see you. We are in 2026. The month is almost over. How crazy is that? I said it last week. You're going to blink and it's going to be summer. We're going to be ready for sunset, you know, and and all those good things. Let's not let it slip by without us making connections. Amen. Number one, connecting with God on a daily basis and staying connected with the Lord and allowing that connection that you have with Jesus to connect you with the brothers and sisters. Amen. That's what it's all about. Whether you're a member or not, if you've made this place your home, if this is the place where you come to connect with God, then you are part of the family of God here at Mount Pleasant Christian Center. And family is important. As you know, God went to great lengths to reconnect you to the vine. Amen. Went through tor the pain of torture and death in order to connect you as family to adopt us as sons and daughters. And if you know anything about that spiritual adoption, we are no longer looked at as adopted. We are grafted into the vine. We are as naturalborn sons and daughters. So when God brings you into the fold, you're part of the fold. There's no separate category for you. You are part of the family. And and and God had to give His only Son in order for us to be a part of that family. So a lot of us in this day and age, we've kind of turned our nose up at organized religion and the way things are are are are going, you know, in the American church and the Western church and and there's a lot of beefs that we have with that. But you don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Amen. I've always been told by my my dad and by older leaders that I've had, you chew up the meat and you spit out the bones. Amen. You don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. You don't turn your back on the church just because some in the church have turned their back on you. We The church is important and you are a vital part of the church. So just as much as you consider connecting with God an important thing, do not forget to connect with your brothers and sisters. Amen. You are your brother's keeper. Look at your neighbor and say, "Believe that." You You are your brother's keeper. You're supposed to be checking in with each other. A chain is only as as strong as its what? Its weakest link. So, it's our job to strengthen up the weak. I was talking with with a a good brother yesterday and and this this came up. You've heard me say it before. You've probably heard other preachers say it before or spiritual leaders. The the The Christian army is the only army that ever kills its wounded. We're not supposed to kill our wounded. We turn our backs on them as soon as they fall. Ah, you're a sinner now. I don't want to have anything to What? Come on. You lift your brother up. You love your brother, your sister back into the fold again. So, those connections are important. Has nothing to do with what I'm preaching on today. I just feel the Holy Spirit wants me to encourage you about connections. As much as you connect with God and you're aiming to connect your life with God on the daily, connect with your brothers and sisters. Amen. There's going to be some folks within the church that you're going to be closer to than others. Build up those connections, but don't forget to branch out and be connected to others as well. Amen. We don't want to suffer from that us for and no more kind of mentality, right? Those those little clicks, they like to destroy things. Open up the circle. Make the circle wider. Amen. Everybody's welcome to the circle. Amen. So, we got to love on love on each other. So, make sure you stay connected.

All right, let's jump into what we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks, and that is worship. I felt that strong pull from God to really focus on worship because I think it's something that we and the American church and the and the Western church have kind of lost our understanding of of what true worship is all about. And a lot of people believe that it's those few moments before the pastor gets up and does his thing that we sing a couple songs and and and again worship that's a big part of worship. That is definitely a valid part of worship. Us coming together corporately lifting praise to God. So I don't want to discount that at all. That is part of worship. But it's a part, it's not the whole. It is not the end all be all of what worship is. Worship is giving worth to the one that we have deemed in our heart who is worthy of our praise, of that adoration, of that glory, of us pouring over them with love and lavishing appreciation on them. It it's it's the one who's worthy in our hearts and we give that glory to Him, right? That's what it's all about. And that could be done in so many different ways where music is just a part of it. So you worship was just about music in that small portion of the service. We're that's wrong. It's only a small, small part. You can give worship through music, through the singing of those songs. We love that. It's a beautiful one. But you can worship God with your words. You can worship God with your actions. You can worship God through the job that you have, the day-to-day job that you have or through your career. And you've heard us kind of talk a little bit about that. But but more than the the the ways that we can worship, we want to talk about what our worship can consist of, what it should consist of. And you heard I read that very long excerpt from that that um, that book by Jeff Dale, Awakening Pure Worship. And and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to open our eyes to what worship should consist of, the many ingredients or components of what true awakened and pure worship is all about. And as we read that that excerpt, we learned a few things. I just want to recap this with you just so that we're all on the same page. Three main ideas that we got and that we should get from what we're talking about over these next several weeks.

Number one, that we are wired for worship. You cannot say, "Oh, I'm not really a worshiping kind of guy." Oh, yes, you are. You are a worshiping person. Look at your neighbor. Tell them you're wired for worship. Tell them you're wired for worship. You are. That's a fact. It is in your DNA. We were made to worship, designed and purposed for it. Whether you think or believe it or not, it is the truth. And if we don't worship God, this number two, we will worship something. So maybe you feel that you're you're not really good at worship or you're not really of the worshiping kind. Yes, you are. But if you say, "Okay, well, I'm not really worshiping God or I'm not really good at worshiping God." Where you are worshiping something. There is something in your life that you have given all of your aim, all of your heart, all of your love to. That could be a person, it could be a thing, it could be a career, it could be a substance, it could be a feeling. You are worshiping something where you are lifting that thing up. You are paying close attention to it, pouring all your blood, sweat, and tears into. So, it's not that you're not a worshiping kind of person. You just not might not be a worshiping God kind of person. And if you don't worship God, you will worship something. So here's the question: What do you worship?

And the third thing we looked at, we don't need to learn how to worship. We already know how to do that. We need to learn how to worship God. And before we can do that, we need to learn that He is worthy of worship. And that right there is the bottom line. Whether you believe it or not, God is worthy of the worship of the whole entire world. So much so that He said in His word from Jesus's own lips that if we don't give Him the ones that were designed to worship, if we don't give Him the praise, the very rocks will cry out praise to God. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing in the world to hear? That a rock, you know what rocks are made to do, right? Be a rock. We've we've turned them into all kinds of things. Cement. We've used them for foundation. We've carved them into statues. We have used them for for many different things. But rocks were not meant to praise God. They don't have mouths to to to lift up song. They don't have hands to raise up to God. They don't have hearts to turn towards Him with passion and excitement and fervor in their praise. They weren't designed to worship God. You were. So if we don't give worship to God, He says the very rocks will cry out in our place. Could you imagine being outpraised by a rock? That's ridiculous. It should it should be ridiculous. It is ridiculous. So then why are we holding back our praise from Him? Some of us are really good at at at song time in service, but you're having issues with the other worship that you're supposed to be giving to Him throughout your day, throughout your life. Okay? So, again, we're wired for worship. If we don't worship God, we'll worship something. We don't need to learn how to worship. We need to learn how to worship God. Amen.

Worship. What is it? We described it briefly just to give you an actual factual from the book definition right here on the screen: to it's honoring or showing reverence for as a divine or supernatural power. Right? It's giving honor, giving respect, giving reverence as a divine or supernatural power. And the second part of that is to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, devotion. Everybody say extravagant. That's the kind of praise that God deserves. That's the kind of worship that that we should be giving to God is extravagant praise. Extravagant worship. Spared no expense. Amen. Your worship should cost you something. Your worship should be costly. We think about the woman who came in and anointed Jesus's feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair and then broke that alabaster box that was costly and poured it over Him preparing Him as He said from His own lips for His burial. It was costly. And from that we get from that story we get that beautiful song. You don't know the cost of the oil in my alabaster box. What kind of box you have of worship of oil of worship that you're giving to God or that you have set aside for God? The worship that we give Him should be incomparable. We should worship Him with extravagance. Amen.

And the question was asked in these last couple weeks, is God worthy of worship? And again, that's a no-brainer. We know the answer to that. He is absolutely worthy of worship. What who He is and what He's done for us, in us, through us, to us, He deserves all the glory, all the honor, all the praise, all the worship that we can muster up. But that's not the question that we're asking here. God is worthy of worship. But is He worthy of your worship? Have you deemed Him in your own heart of hearts, worthy of worship? And that understanding of His worth of worship is going to determine what type of worship or how extravagant that worship is going to be. You hear me? How how much He is worthy in your heart and your mind of worship is going to determine how extravagantly you worship Him. Does that make sense? So I pray that you you find Him extremely worthy because He is and that that knowledge, that understanding, that admittance from you, determines that you will give Him extravagant praise, extravagant worship because He definitely definitely deserves it. Okay. So, that's the question that we're really asking ourselves as we kind of march through this series on worship. Is He worthy enough for you to devote your life to following Him, to devote your life to sharing His word and building His kingdom? And and again, hopefully you've come to a place where you've said absolutely, without a doubt, He is worthy. And then that will determine that worship that you give.

And and I want you to understand, we we covered this last week, so I won't I won't jump into detail on this, but we've seen the power of worship throughout the word of God. I gave you some few a few names. Job was one of them. Moses, King Jehoshaphat, right? Paul and Silas in their prison, right? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their worship, their worship of God, their praising of Him just emboldened their their desire to not bow down before that statue of Nebuchadnezzar. And it brought Jesus as the fourth man in the fire and kept them safe, covered them, protected them so severely that they didn't even smell like smoke when they came out of the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter than normal. Look at your neighbor, tell them, "Worship is powerful." Worship is absolutely powerful. And those names, that was just a small sampling of the power of true worship. There are so many more examples of this throughout the word of God. But we we got to open up and read those examples and see how powerful worship is when it comes from a heart that is just tuned in and believes to the core that God is worthy. And I asked the question, I ask it again. Can anything or anyone else that we could ever choose to worship do what God does in response to our worship? Nobody can. Nothing is capable of doing that because they're not God. Because there is only one who could pull these kinds of miracles off. Number one and for and and you know and many other reasons. But God is the only one who is worthy of that type of worship.

So last week we looked at a couple more necessary components to pure worship. Let's just look at them really quick before we we move on. We looked at at the fact that our worship should be organic and original. Amen. Should be organic and original. You've heard those that word organic thrown around. What do I mean by that? It's natural. It's unmanufactured. It's free-range. It's not mechanical. Your worship should have flesh on it and a heartbeat. You are not a robot. You were designed for worship, but you weren't pre-programmed on who to give that worship to. In your heart of hearts, you know that God deserves it. But you have free moral agency. You have a choice to worship God or not. And the worship that you give should not be robotic. It should not be mechanical. It should be living and breathing and flowing freely in the presence of God. Amen. And original. When I say that, I just mean authentic and personal. Authentic meaning real, not faked. You heard me say this. Thus says Matt. Don't fake the funk. God will know. God knows when it's real worship as opposed to fake worship. God knows when you're giving Him lip service or you're pouring out to Him from your heart. He knows. Don't be like one of those people that He called out in scripture, you know, when He's talking to His disciples. He goes, "Ah, these ones, they they they they honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be that guy who's in service worshiping God and putting on a spectacle and God goes, "If they only knew what you believed in your heart." I don't want to be that person. We cannot fake on God. He knows. You may be able to fake out people around you. You may be able to fake out your own spouse or your children. Even your pastor might believe, but God knows. So, the worship that we give needs to be real. It needs to be authentic and personal, meaning it's your worship. It's not a cheap knockoff of of somebody else's. You are worshiping God from your heart of hearts, out of your pains, out of your hurts, out of your experiences, out of your desire. It is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12 tells us, right, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices. Your bodies as living sacrifices. For this is your spiritual act of worship. I can't worship for my wife. I can't worship for my kids. You can't worship for me. And I can't worship in your place. You have to worship God. Just like salvation is between you and God, worship is between you and God. Amen. So it has to be authentic. It has to be real and it has to be personal.

And then the second thing we looked at last week was that our worship, we need to let it be outstanding. Outstanding. And again, outstanding has two meanings. We looked at the negative first. It means unpaid, unresolved. It means that you aren't taking care of your responsibility. Whatever was owed, that was meant for you to settle has been left unsettled. Outstanding is like a bill unpaid. Worship is not demanded by God. It's what? Commanded. He commands us to worship Him. We've seen that through scripture. He says, "Worship the Lord God and Him only because He's a jealous God." So there's a command to worship and to worship Him only. So

That's plain and simple, right there in the word of God. You need to look no further than right there within the pages of scripture. And when we don't, that's a bill left unpaid. Could you imagine going to a restaurant and then trying to bounce without settling the bill? You'd have, you'd have busboys, waitresses, and waiters chasing you down the street. Oh, you're going to pay. You're going to pay.

But that's how we are with God. God has made a command to us. And when we don't worship him, we are not covering our responsibility. And yes, worshiping God is our responsibility. He expects us to worship him. Why? Why does God expect us to worship? Because he commanded it. And if you say that he is your father and Jesus is your Lord, then you're going to do what he's commanded you to do. Amen.

Jesus said it himself. "Those who love me obey my commands. And when they do, I and my Father will come and make our home in their heart." That's Jesus's words from scripture, from the New Testament. "If you love me, then obey my commands." So if God commands that we love him and we worship him, and you say that he's your God, he's your father, and that you love Jesus and your life belongs to him, then he can expect that you're going to understand worship and you're going to give that worship because it's your responsibility. Amen. That's the truth.

So, the negative aspect of outstanding is that it's a bill left unpaid. It's a, it's a responsibility that we have not filled. I don't want our, our worship to be that kind of outstanding. I want it to be the positive, the good outstanding, which means this: quite literally means to stand out from among the rest. It is something that is exceptionally good, clearly much better than what is usual. I don't want us just to worship him. I want us to worship. Can you do that? We can say "worship," but can you say "worship"? That's like when somebody says, "Are you, are you hungry?" You go, "No, I'm hungry." Hungry, right? I, I don't want to sing to the Lord. I want to sing to the Lord. I want my worship to be over the top for God because he's an over-the-top kind of God. Amen.

Over and abundantly, he has blessed me. So, I want to over and abundantly praise and worship the Father. Extravagantly worship him. I want my worship to be outstanding in that respect. Exceptionally good. Clearly much better than what is usual. So, let's allow our worship to be outstanding in a sense that it literally stands out to the one that we worship because we play for an audience of one, right? Our worship is for one recipient and one recipient alone, and that's God Almighty. So, if you're doing it, you might as well go big. Go home. Amen.

Allow your worship to be raw and, and beautiful, unfiltered, and most importantly, unhindered. And that brings us to our final component in this grouping here. Okay? We want our worship to be overflowing. Your worship, in fact, I'm going to say it this way: your worship must be overflowing. It must be an overflowing type of worship. Don't just fill it up halfway. Don't fill it up three-quarters of the way. Don't even fill it up to the brim. Keep pouring. Keep pouring until, like Psalm 23 says, "the cup runneth over." I want my cup of praise and worship for God to runneth over. I want it to spill out. It's not wasteful, let me tell you. And we'll get into that in a few moments. When, when your cup overflows with worship, that is not wasteful. That worship, it's doing something. It's, it's all going to God. Whether it's in the cup or out of the cup, it's all going to God as long as you're pouring it out. But that overflow has effects, and they're beautiful and positive effects. Amen.

So, as we talk about overflowing, I first want to start out by just saying our first point this morning is just to make sure that your worship is flowing. Just make sure it's flowing. Amen. Have you ever got up in the morning and you went to go brush your teeth after? Anybody ever sleep hard? Anybody ever had like a hard sleep? Like you just, you slept. You didn't just sleep. You slept right like a rock. I didn't even move. You woke up. You went to open your mouth. It was all, man, it's like you didn't even open your mouth once that night. You slept so hard that your mouth was just ironed shut and you were just snoring, man. You were chopping logs and you woke up and your mouth is all sticky and you're like, "Man, I need to brush my jammies right now." And you go to the sink and you turn on the water and no water comes out. That ever happened? That happens, right? We hate it when things don't flow, especially in that context of our lives. We expect things to flow. When we go to our light in the middle of the night and we flip the switch, we expect for electricity to flow into that light bulb that's in the ceiling and light up our room. When it doesn't, it's frustrating. Amen. When you turn on the hose in the garden because you've got plants that you need to water and the, and the hose doesn't work, the water doesn't flow, it's frustrating.

So, before we even talk about overflowing, we got to talk about the fact that some of us, we're not even flowing with worship. We're not flowing with worship. Again, we're giving that pre-manufactured kind of cookie-cutter type thing that we can buy off the shelf at the store and we're giving that to God. Singing the songs. "I went, I stood up, I clapped my hands, I sang the songs. What more do you want from me?" I don't want nothing from you. It's God that wants that worship. And he wants real worship, not rubber stamp worship. Amen. And if, and if that's the type of worship, overflowing worship we're called to give, and worship's not even flowing out of our lives, then that's a problem. You're never going to get to overflowing unless worship is at least flowing from your life.

How many of you know sometimes your, your water hose could be getting water through it, but sometimes the pressure gets pretty bad because the, the tip of it sometimes gets pinched off because your kids step on it or roll over with their skateboards or their bikes or something like that. It kind of gets pinched. It's flowing, but it's not flowing like it should. That could be frustrating as well, but at least it's flowing. You can adjust that. You can fix that. We need to make sure that worship is flowing. Make sure that you have nothing blocking you from a free flow of worship in and from your life.

Again, as we said in the last point, it doesn't matter how good our worship looks or how it sounds. If it doesn't come from the heart, then it's not worthy of God. It's not worship. It's fake. My, my, my choir director, Pastor L. Roman Green, said that he would take one young person. He was our youth choir director. "Give me one young person who is just has a heart of worship. I'll take that over 10 to 15 fakers any day." He says, "Because that one who is worshiping God with just pure adoration and love, just giving God praise from a heart of worship, he will multiply into more. Can't help it. It's contagious." He says, "But if you just have 10 to 15 fakers up there, oh, you're going to sound great and people are going to talk about how good you sing. But I don't care about how good you can sing." Said the choir director. Sounds backwards. But he's not just a choir director. He was the minister of sacred music. He was a worship director. He says, "I want worship coming from you rather than just songs that sound good."

You want to do that? Join the glee club. Join the school choir. Join a community youth choir. This is church. And in church, we worship God. And if you're giving me fake worship and it just sounds good, I don't want that. I'll take one young person who has a heart after God who could barely carry a tune in a bucket over a bunch of 10, 15 fakers. It doesn't matter what our worship looks like or sounds like. If it doesn't come from the heart, then it's not worthy of God.

You want to know what true pure worship is? Awakened worship. That's the kind of worship it is. It doesn't matter about sound. Doesn't matter about looks. It matters where it's coming from. And that's why I always told when I was leading the worship team, and I know Jason does this as well, "Just get out there and worship God, man. Get out there and worship God." Do you sound great? That's great. If you don't, if you're worshiping God, no one will ever even know. No one will even care. They said, "Worship was so good this morning." And then you go, "Man, I was singing off-key. Did you hear me break?" I didn't hear nothing. I was too enthralled with the presence of God. And then you're like, "Oh, thank you, Jesus." And now in the age of technology, you just go back to YouTube and watch it live and you go, "Oh, cringe. Thank God for the anointing. Hallelujah." Like you're hearing yourself being your worst critic and they're going, "You led worship so amazingly this morning." What? It's the presence of God, man. It's worship. Oh, man. Felt so close to God in that moment because of what your heart was doing. Your heart was worshiping. And sometimes our heart worships better than our voice can. And you know what? That's what God wants. That's what God wants.

A blockage in our worship usually is due to our hearts being in the wrong place or our motives being wrong. So, make it a habit of checking your heart. Check your heart. Do what David did. "God, search me. Search me, oh God. Search my heart, oh God, and show me what is real. Show me what is right. Show me if I'm off base or off balance. If I am, God, help me to course correct. I don't want to come at you today with, with, with a facade of worship. I want to come to you with a pure, true heart of worship today. Check me, God. Check me and deal with me, be it ever so harshly, if I'm out of line." That's the kind of, that's, that's what's going to lead to pure worship from your heart. "God, check me. If this is just a song, then God, don't let me sing it. Don't let me sing it."

I remember hearing, hearing our brother talk about it yesterday how he said he got kind of haughty in his, in his gift and started thinking that he was, you know, the best thing since sliced bread and God, yeah, no. And, and removed the anointing, the gift off of his life. I remember at one point people were asking me to sing for this and sing for a funeral and sing for weddings and do this and that. I'm like, man, I can't get away from this. I got unappreciative. And I said, "God, I wish I couldn't sing at all." And guess what? I lost my voice. My ability to, to sing and to worship God the way that he had blessed me to and created me to was removed until I understood and gained the appreciation for what God called me to do. So, I know what it means to, to, to despise the ability or despise or to, to be unappreciative of giving that pure worship and that pure adoration to God and it being the ability being removed off of you. Like, what in the world? I was made to worship God and now I can't do that. I can't lead others in his presence because my heart, it wasn't even about my voice. My heart was messed up.

So, look at your neighbor. Tell them, "Check your heart. Check your heart. Do it daily. God, search me. Check my heart and show me if I'm off balance." In fact, one of the things that you should do first before you even attempt to worship is to search your heart. Ask God to reveal to you anything that is off or out of sorts or out of place within you so that you can confess it, correct it, and clear a path for true worship. Because that issue, those issues, those struggles, those problems, those sins, the issues that we have with our brothers and sisters, they will clog the pipes. Amen. Worst thing for us to be, and don't get grossed out when I say this, but a lot of us walk around spiritually constipated. Man, I'm sorry. I know you're like, "Look, Pastor Matt, you're gross." Look, the Bible talks about even worse stuff, so talk to my boss. All right? But the worst thing for a Christian to be is spiritually plugged up. Man, if we were designed to worship and we're not doing that, you want to know why you're frustrated? Want to know why you're in discomfort? Want to know why you're in pain? Because you're not free-flowing in what you were designed to free-flow in. You've plugged yourself up. You've, you've, you've backed up those, those pipes to where the free flow of worship that you were designed to give to God is not flowing. So we talk about overflow, it's not even flowing. And the best way that we can make sure that we are free and clear is to check our hearts and make sure our hearts are good with God.

I love how Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 and 24 talks about this concept. Look at the screen. It says, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you." What does it say? "Leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them, then come back and offer your gift." It's almost as if the Lord is telling us, "I will not receive your gift if it's given in the wrong part." And if you're blocked off from true worship, then the gift you're giving is not true worship. It's a rubber stamp. It's a cookie cutter. You bought this off the shelf because you didn't have anything else to give because you didn't produce it out of yourself. Are, are you feeling me? I don't want that gift. First, lay that gift to the altar. Go to your brother, your sister who has issues with you. Make it right. Look at your neighbor. Say, "Make it right." This is where our Christianity gets uncomfortable. And this is where you lose most people. "Wait. Yeah, but you don't understand. They deserve for me to be mad at them because D..." Okay. Well, don't tell me. Tell God. He's the one that's poking your heart and telling you that he has a problem with the worship that you're bringing. Remember we talked about Cain and Abel? He had an issue with Cain because it was a heart problem. He only brought a portion of this. I'm just going to bring the gift he requires. I'm going to give it to him. Well, Abel chose the fattest portions, choice first, and gave it to God with a heart of worship. He received Abel's and denied Cain's. You see, if we don't bring our worship with a heart of worship, it is not acceptable to God. So, he says, "Go first and deal with it."

The context in this passage is about giving our gift. Worship is not just a gift. In fact, the Greek word that's used here is the word *doron*. D-O-R-O-N. And it means gift. Yes. But it also means offering. Guess what? The worship that you give is an offering that you give to God. It is an offering that comes out of pure love, dedication, devotion, and sacrifice. Amen. And, and that type of worship is costly. And nobody else can fit the bill for you. So, if you're trying to give it out of a heart that has issues, then you're going to have an issue. God said, "I won't receive it. Leave it there. Go deal with the issues. Come back and give it to me when it's pure." That's heavy. But that's the kind of love. That's the kind of fathering that we need. Remember, God chastises those that he loves. Amen. So, that's the kind of fathering that we need. That's the kind of love, the tough love that we need. If there is an issue or issues in our life that could be blocking our path to worship, do whatever you have to do. Whatever it takes to clear the path, humble yourself. Apologize, whether it's to God or to somebody else. I know we don't like that one. "Oh, I'll apologize to God all day, but have me apologize to somebody else." Oh, come on, Pastor Matt. Why you got to make it so hard? Hey, that's not my word. It's God's. Make those wrongs right again and clear that pathway to worship.

So, before we can overflow, we first got to make sure that we're flowing. Amen. Look at your neighbor. Say, "You flowing?" People walking in the wrong time like, "What are they talking about?" All right. So, let's move on from that now that we know what, what it is. We can't overflow until we're flowing. So, we got to focus first on making sure that we are flowing.

So, now, what is overflowing worship? What do I mean by that? The simple definition of overflowing is this: to flow over. Easy, right? That's very simple. I love it. I love definitions like that. Outstanding to stand out. Overflowing to flow over. But it goes deeper than that. It's to flow over as in a cup that is filled past its brim and its contents are spilling over the sides and onto another surface and/or surrounding objects. We talked a little bit about that in the beginning. I said we're going to talk some more. Here we are. Let's dive into it.

Spiritual definition is just as simple, except that the cup is you. You are the cup. The contents is your worship, and the surface that that overflowing worship gets onto or the objects are the people around you. Of course, that worship is going to God. But the overflow, the overflow of worship has effects on people that are around you. Did you know that? If you did, if you didn't know that and you don't believe that, just ask King Jehoshaphat. In fact, don't ask him. Ask the three-nation army on the other side of, of Ziz that was drawn into confusion because of the worship of the saints of God. So confused that they killed each other, their allies, destroyed themselves because of the worship of God. And you tell me our worship doesn't have effect on other people.

The worship went up to God. It went up before the battle. In fact, God says that if you do this, what I'm asking you to, you won't even have to remove the swords from your sheets. You won't have to swing one sword because the battle is mine and I'll take care of the enemy. You just do what I commanded you to do in worship. So, they put the worshippers before them and as they're marching up the path of Ziz, they didn't even crest the hill. They're praising God. They're worshiping God. Nobody has a sword in their hand. They're just worshiping God. And all of a sudden, they hear the commotion on the other side. Metal clanking on metal. And by the time they got to the top, the enemy had destroyed itself. And again, as I love this part, it took them four days to take the plunder back out of their camp. Four days. One spiritual act of obedience to worship God rather than take out a physical sword equaled four days of blessing on the other side. Look at your neighbor and say, "Shut up." Amen.

The worship of God's people, right, from a heart of obedience and pure, awakened worship caused confusion in the enemy to where they destroyed themselves and caused ripples of blessings that lasted four days and blessed the rest of the people. That's ridiculous. And I mean that in the best way possible, but it's true. You want to ask if worship affects people? Ask the inhabitants of Jericho. I love that song. "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho." Did he really though? Right. And the walls came tumbling down. They didn't come down because Joshua kicked the bricks. Those walls came down because Joshua, in obedience to God Almighty, had the people worship as God commanded, marching around the city, blowing horns, worshiping and singing. And then the walls came tumbling down. And then they went in with swords. They had to get through the wall first, which was known as impenetrable, unbreachable. You couldn't get through it. They worshiped and the walls came down. You tell me worship doesn't have an effect.

When we overflow with worship, our worship gets to God, but it also overflows onto everyone else who's around us that we have influence over. Amen. It's powerful. It's very, very powerful how, how overflowing worship can affect others. That spiritual, again, definition is just as simple. You're the cup. The worship is the contents of the cup, and the surface and object are the people. Okay? Our worship for Jesus should be so beautiful and so abundantly bountiful that it overflows onto other people in our lives. Whether it's a family member, friend, random stranger. That's how abundant and overflowing our worship should be. That it doesn't just affect God, it affects people around you.

What do I mean by that? The songs that we sing to God are the act or the work of worship because remember, it's not just singing. Our worship can be done through our work as well. Whatever it is, worship that we perform should be so heartfelt that it breaks the heart of those who are in earshot or in eyesight of it. Say that again. Whatever form of worship that you are giving, be it a song that you're singing, be it an act of service that you're giving, or just a prayer that you're praying over something, just worshiping God, being who you are in him, it needs to be so heartfelt, so over-the-top, just abundantly overflowing that it breaks the heart of the people who hear and see. Has that ever happened to you? Oh, it's happened to me. Even as a man of God, you get cold sometimes. You, you hear me talk a lot about motivation. If you're waiting for motivation as a Christian, dude, stop looking for motivation. Most days you are not going to feel motivated to follow Jesus. We don't rely on motivation. We rely on discipline. Thank God for discipline. I made a choice. Not every day my wife wants to love me. Some days I'm unlovable. Ask my mama. Ask my siblings. They can tell you there's times where I'm, I'm, I'm a meathead, a knucklehead, and I make myself unlovable, but they're my family and they love me anyways. My wife is my wife. She made a commitment to me. My sisters, they got no choice. They're my blood. My wife, she chose to partner with me. Just like she can choose to unpartner with me, but she doesn't. Thank God she doesn't. And vice versa. That's how we made a decision. I devoted my life to Christ. So, I'm not going to wait for the want to. I'm gonna do it and eventually the want to will catch up. Amen. Do not feel your way to an action. As the great Skip Castellanos once said, "Do not feel your way to an action. Act your way to the feeling." That's faith. Amen. That's faith. And so we worship God. And when we're worshiping God like that, it overflows from us and pours out on the people around us, and their hearts become broken.

I remember coming into church one, one Thursday. It was when we, back in the days when I had no responsibility here at this church. I was just Matt who came to church here. Skinny, big ears, full head of hair. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Long time ago. This is, this is, this is Matt Munoz, employee of Toys R Us on Capitol Square. In fact, in fact, I had a rough day at Toys R Us. Toys R Us on the east side's no joke, guys. I'm just letting you know there's some mean people. I had a rough day. My car broke down. If you guys remember my '69 Mustang, I love that car. It did me dirty, but you know, I still, I still loved her. She was a great car. Was just acting up. Crazy stuff going on. And I, I remember driving home and going, "I definitely have time for church. It's, it's happening right now." And I thought about it. "I can just go home, man. I'm so tired. God will understand." But I felt that from God. "No, I need you to go to church." I'm like, "Okay." So, I came to church. I remember coming in. We had pews back then. I remember coming, sitting right back there where, uh, where Lex and, and your family is right there. That's where I came and I kind of sat right there and I'm just standing there. In fact, I was sitting down when worship started. Pastor Green, the, the baby grand was on this side and Pastor Green was tickling the ivories over there just leading worship, beautiful as he always did. And I'm sitting there in my seat going, "Man, I'm, I'm so tired. This day's been so rough." And I felt the Holy Spirit go, "What? What did he say?" Right? And I felt him just squeeze my heart and I was like, "Okay, God." I remember standing up, just right there. I'm not lifting my hands. And just the worship, the, the quality of worship that came from that was so powerful. It wasn't Pastor Green's voice, and you know he's got an amazing voice, killer range. The guy is skilled, but it was his heart. He was in tears as he led that song. He truly believed what he was singing and it cut me. Oh my God, it cut me. And I remember lifting my hands going, "I'm so sorry, God." And, and I kid you not, some of you heard this before, in this area, in the air, like, like here somewhere. Remember, I'm sitting right, standing right there. It was almost like, like soundproof elevator doors opened up and these voices came through. These angelic-sounding voices with highs that are so highs and lows that are so lows it's not even humanly possible came bursting through. And the Spirit moved and I can feel it. It was almost like a, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end. And I was like, I felt this wind like, "Oh my God." My sacrifice of praise opened up a, a momentary doorway to what it will feel like when we worship him with reckless abandon on the other side of glory. It was such a beautiful moment that convinced my heart to no matter how I'm feeling, to always give God the glory. Always worship him. And I'm telling you, when you worship him with a broken heart, sometimes that's some of the best worship that you can give because you have nothing left to lose. You're just giving it all to God out of, out of your brokenness. So, his praise, Pastor Green, the praise that he, that he lifted up to God that night from that piano overflowed. God got his due, but he goes, "Watch that worship. I got a young guy back there whose heart is broken, who needs a touch, who needs to be reminded why he does what he does, why he chose to follow me." And that worship overflowed, hit me, and caused an encounter with God that I will never forget. That's a slice. That's, that's my testimony, right? That's my testimony. But that's a testimony of, of, of the effects of the power of your worship and why it needs to be not just regular standard rubber stamp bought off the shelf. It needs to be an overflowing type of worship because that worship is meant for God, but he will use it to bless the hearts of those who are around you. Amen.

I've experienced that so many times coming into God's presence, tired, worn, unenthusiastic about worship, only to be pulled into the presence by someone who is worshiping Jesus so intensely, so passionately, giving him praise with reckless abandon. You can't help but to enter in. You just can't help. And that's how powerful that worship can be. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people. You've seen that, right? Another translation says that he's enthroned upon the praises of Israel. So, he inhabits the praises of his people. So, when we praise God, he inhabits those praises. So, what happens? Those who desire to worship God get what they desire. They get to pour out their praise on him, right? They get to connect with God with their worship. What happens to everyone else? Well, if God inhabits our praises, then God shows up in that moment. He gives the worshipper who is worshiping out of purity, right? Worshiping out of that awakened heart of desire. He's giving them what they want. And what is he giving everybody else? Well, to the broken, tired young man who came in from a hard day's work, he's bringing conviction to his heart because God is here. If he enthrones the praises of his people, when his people are praising, God's Spirit is here. And his Spirit can lift up, his Spirit can convict, his Spirit can encourage. Your overflowing worship brings God into the mix. And when God is here, he does what God does. Amen. Whether that's elevate the worshipper, convict the one who's choosing not to, encourage the one who's broken and lost and hurting and confused. He could bring confirmation to the one who's in doubt and their faith is shaky. If God inhabits the praise of our people, that means he shows up and he does what he does when we worship him. Amen. That's what he does.

Now, here's the last, last point with this. Someone asked the worship team can come help me close. And when I talk about overflowing worship, I want to give you an example. And I think the best example I can ever give you comes out of the book of Acts. Okay? No greater example than in the book of Acts. Day of Pentecost, the disciples and a slew of others numbering 120 were in the upper room. You guys know the story. Same room where Jesus and his disciples shared the Last Supper. Why were they in that room? Well, there's a reason Jesus, before his ascension, instructed his disciples to not leave Jerusalem. Luke chapter 24:49 and Acts 1:4, he says, "Don't leave the city. Don't leave." Look at your neighbor. Say, "Don't leave." Well, why? I thought you told us that we're going to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth and we're going to win people over, Jews and Gentiles alike, and save the world kind of stuff. And you tell us not to leave the city. He said, "I didn't stay here forever." He says, "Don't leave the city until the promise comes, until the gift that was promised of the Father is given to you." Amen.

They were in that room numbering 120 because Jesus commanded them to stay in the city until he imparted upon them what he had promised. Right? Until they receive that impartation of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father. Because in order for them to do, and, and then for us to do what Jesus has commanded us to do, to love our neighbor, to love our enemies, to do good to those who do harm to us, to carry the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth, to operate in the, in the gifts of the Spirit, growing the fruits of the Spirit in our life. In order for us to do those things, those are supernatural things. We need that supernatural power within us. And Jesus said, "If I go away, I go away to prepare a place. And while I'm gone, I'm going to send you a Comforter. I'm going to send you a promise." He sends his Spirit. While he's there preparing a place, his Spirit lives in us. So, in order for us to do the things that God said that we would do and that he commands us to do, we need him in our lives. And so he set up that day where he poured out the Holy Spirit into that group of 120 believers in that upper room. That upper room was used first as a goodbye meal for Jesus. And on the day of Pentecost, it was used as a "Hello, Holy Spirit" party. Why do I say that? Because of what took place on that day of Pentecost. We know, we've seen it, we've read it, we've seen it played out in plays and in movies and we've seen the effects of it in our own lives. The power of the Holy Spirit and what he does in and through our lives.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. They were not up there cowering in fear because of persecution because this was after Jesus died. And, and they were people were on the hunt for these guys and gals. Could you imagine 120 believers up in this upper room in Jerusalem, downstairs? There are people who are literally hunting for you and wanting to put you to death, if not just put you to the question, which could lead to your death and persecution. And they're up in that room. Some of us, you think, "I'd be up there cowering. I'd be biting the fingernails right off my hands. I'd be freaking out, shaking in my boots." They were not up there scared to death. They were not up there cowering in fear. They weren't doing any of those things. They were up there, up there doing exactly what God would want them to do. They were actively waiting on God. What does that mean? Serving him in the meantime. They were up in that upper room. I can only imagine how it felt muggy. Just muggy. Not, and not because of the climate. Not because it's an upper room in a tiny little building in, in the Middle East where it's supposed to be hot and desert-like climate. It was hot and muggy up there because these people were passionately pressing in to the presence of God. Calling out his name, calling down fire in that house, calling on the promise of God, reminding him of the promise and even themselves that God made that promise. "Stay in Jerusalem," he said, "until you receive the promise." Is this the day? And they were praying, seeking the face of God. And I don't know if you've ever been in that, in that moment where it's a, it's a mix. It's a 50/50 of faith and desperation. I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to tell you something. One of the ingredients that you need most in your life in order to successfully live this life for Christ is a desperation for God. Amen. I don't want to be just hungry for God. I want to be desperate for God. Desperate people resort to desperate measures to obtain that which they are desperate for. If you are desperate, there is nothing that's going to stop you from chasing God and grabbing a holding of the, the, the one thing that he promised you. So, these desperate, faith-filled people were in that upper room praying down heaven on earth. So heavy, so thick, so powerful, you can feel it on your skin. The beads of sweat, the air heavy. Because they weren't up there shaking in their boots, but they're calling down fire. They're calling down the promise of God. I can only imagine what it felt like in that room with that equal mix of faith and desperation. God couldn't do anything except answer their desperate pleas for his promise. He is, as his word says in Psalm 34:18, "drawn to the brokenhearted." These men and women were brokenhearted and they were desperate after God. "God, we are calling on you." Ever had those moments where you just say, "God, if you don't show up, I just feel like I'm going to die." That's desperation. That's the type of desire that we need to have for God. Desperate after God. He said, "I'm drawn to the brokenhearted." And he made a promise. A promise he was now ready to fulfill.

And just like that, the room was instantly charged with the power of the Holy Spirit, the sound of the mighty rushing wind, the cloven tongues of fire over their heads, and that blast of intense and otherworldly praise and worship coming from the lips of every believer in that room, but not in their own language, in another language. I don't care what you believe about speaking in tongues. I really don't, because that's not the measure of a spirit-filled person to me. The heart of worship is tongues. Tongues is something that can be marked and, and, and measured, right? Some like to call it the, the initial evidence of, of speaking in tongues as part of the Assemblies of God. That's, that's what we believe. And I believe that. I believe where there's smoke, there's fire. Tongues are the smoke to the Holy Spirit's fire. I believe that. But what I believe more is the effects of the Holy Spirit on that person, whether they speak in tongues or not. These men, regardless of what you feel about tongues, these men and women were up in that room speaking a language that they did not speak and they were praising God in other languages. Okay, some of you know the story, some of you don't. Follow along.

Just like that, the room instantly charged. Power of the Holy Spirit came down. They are erupting with praise. They're praising God in other languages other than their own. The move of God and the overflowing response of his people was so powerful and loud that it overpowered and disrupted the sounds of the city below and interrupted the plans of its inhabitants. Could you imagine getting up that morning and saying, "I'm going to the market to go get groceries, or I'm going to the, to the garment dealer to go buy some new robes." You had plans. Maybe you're out with your family. You're going to go get a bite to eat and go see the countryside. And all of a sudden, in the middle of your walk to wherever you were going, you hear this commotion in an upper room window. And all eyes on that street in that part of town turned to that window going, "What is going on?" They were arrested, just like that. Their attention was laser-focused, arrested and held, transfixed on that window. Their plans were interrupted. All eyes from the street below were now fixed on that upper room window. Look at what Acts chapter 2, verses 5 and 6 says: "Now there were certain Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together." You want to tell me that your overflowing worship doesn't affect the people around you? Well, I'll tell you. On a, in an upper room on that one hot, muggy morning, the overflow of worship from the upper room spilled out into the streets and arrested the minds and the hearts of the people around them. And then, and then the party spilled downstairs. Peter, who once denied his Savior three times, now boldly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And 3,000 people gave their heart to Jesus that day. Come on, man. Come on. You, you tell me that pure, awakened, spirit-filled worship overflowing from the heart and the mouth and the life of devout believers can't affect other people. And I tell you, just look at Acts. There was somebody on that day who had other plans, part of that 3,000. I wasn't planning on coming alive to Jesus in Jesus today. But thank God he interrupted my schedule, and that was due to the overflow of pure worship from men and women of God.

This is what it means to worship in spirit and in truth. Amen. That's the worship that God wants from us. Stand to your feet. I know what it's like to be affected by somebody's overflowing worship. And on the other side of that coin, I know what, I know what it's like to overflow in my own worship and have other people affected by it. To come and tell me that when I was doing what I was doing, whichever form of worship it was taking, that they felt a connection, that they felt God usher them in. Overflowing worship is a real thing and it is necessary in the life of the believer and of the follower of Christ. It doesn't matter if you're in a ministry, part of a ministry, head of a ministry. It doesn't matter if you're just a regular Sunday to Sunday attendee who just loves to be here, loves to receive the word. The way that you worship, Sunday mornings and beyond, Monday through Saturday, it should be overflowing worship. Whether you're singing, whether you're praising through song, whether you're worshiping through activity, through work, through serving others, let your worship be loud, let your worship be raucous. Let your worship be abundant, recklessly abandoned, not worrying about anybody else, but giving glory to God. And he will take that overflow and he will bless the lives of people who are around you, who hear you, who see you, who encounter you. God will use that overflow to change lives. He'll get his due, but he'll allow that overflow to change lives. Be that overflowing worshipper.

Father, in Jesus name, that is our heart of hearts today. We want to be worshippers who worship with overflow. We want to pour out praise to you that it not only fills the cup but goes past the brim and splashes out over everything. We want to make a divine mess all over the place with the worship that we pour out. We want our cup to be filled and you to get your due, but you to use that overflow to bless others' lives, to draw people in, to encourage broken hearts, to fill with faith those who are in doubt, and to convict those who have hardened their hearts before you. Our overflow of worship can do those very things, God. But in order for us to do that, we have to choose to worship that way in spirit and in truth. Help us to do that today.

Maybe you're here. First group I want to call out to you. Maybe you're here today. You say, "Pastor Matt, overflow, man. I feel like, I feel like those worship pipes are backed up. I feel like things in this life, circumstances that I'm dealing with right now are kind of backing, backing up that flow. I want to overflow, but I'm not even sure I'm flowing the way I should be." If that's you today, don't, don't be ashamed. Life is rough. Life is hard, but God is good. And he can get you through that moment. He can clear out that mess. He can clear out that, that negative circumstance. He can remove that from your life or give you the strength to praise him through it. Shifting your focus from the problem to God. That's you today. First step is admitting there's an issue. That's you. Come down to this altar. Spend some time in God's presence. Come down. Bend, bend your knee in the presence of God. Get, just be at the altar. Turn that chair right there into an altar. Whichever way you got to come, lift your hands. Get in God's presence. Say, "God, that's me. I'm having an issue. I'm going through struggles. I'm having problems right now, and it's, it's affecting my, my flow of worship to you, God, and I feel like I'm not keeping up on my responsibility." If that's you, come be honest. Come.

Maybe you're here today and you're like, "Pastor Matt, no, I love worship. I feel like I'm flowing the way that I should, but I want that overflowing worship that you talked about. I want to be overflowing and to see that overflow bless the lives of other people around me." If that's you today, come down to this altar, spend some time in God's presence. Seek his face for that. Call out, cry out for that today. "God, that's the type of worship I want to give." And then do it. Amen. Come right now if that's you. Maybe you have other issues. You have other, other needs today. We have our prayer team who is here, our prayer partners. I'm ask you to come right now. Deacons are your spouses. Come right now. Stand here. Be ready to receive anybody who would like some prayer today. If you have a need that you, you want to be lifted up, you want to bring before the Lord. We got people who will partner with you today. But come to this altar, grab a hold of God and watch what he does. Amen.

Our worship team is going to lead us in a song as you just worship God as you connect with him. But let it overflow today. Amen. Let it overflow in God's presence in Jesus name. Come on, come just as you are.

The stars were made to worship. The mountains bow in reverence. The oceans roar your praise. For everything exists to lift you high. The wind is where you said, "Look." The rain so the sun breaks. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Spirit and in truth. Amen. That we would be worshippers who worship you in spirit and in truth, God, with everything that is within us, holding nothing back, giving all of our hearts, all of our lives, all of our commitment, all of our dedication and devotion, every ounce of energy, every ounce of desire, God, we give it to you because you deserve it all. We will praise you overflowing with praise so that the rocks do not have to cry out on our behalf. God, oh, we were designed for it, to worship you with everything that is within us. God, help us to stay focused and to live as worshippers like that, God. And you will take that overflow to affect the lives of those who are around us, God. Be with your people today as they leave this place. Let them leave with praise on their lips, with worship in their hearts, not holding it back this week for any reason, but giving it freely to you every single day. Whether they're in the confines of their own home, sitting in their cubicle, their classroom, whatever they're working, God, may they give that worship with reckless abandon to you in whichever way you call them to give it. Be it through psalm, be it through Bible study, be it through the work that they do with their hands, be it through the connections that they have with people, being it the way that they love on people like Jesus loved on them and on others. God, whether that worship comes through in their acts of service, God, and the encouragement that they give, the prayers that they lift, or that they pray over others, God, let their worship be overflowing and bring conviction to the hearts that need it, encouragement to others, and inspiration to others still. Oh Father, let us be overflowing worshippers today and every day, God, not just where it's easy in the house of the Lord, but where it's real and difficult outside these walls and off this property. And may that overflowing worship bring fruit, God. May it bear fruit in not only our lives, but in the lives of others around us. Oh Father, be with your people now. Bless them as they leave this place. God, go with them. Give them a blessed remainder of this day. Rest and relaxation, preparation for the week to come. But may they leave this place with excitement in their heart for what is to come and what God you will do through the overflow of their worship. Father, we thank you. We give you the praise. We give you the glory. And it's in the mighty and wonderful name of Jesus that we pray. And everyone said, "Amen and amen." Can we give him some glory this morning? Come on. Hallelujah. Folks, we are definitely not done talking about worship. We're going to continue this on for the next several weeks. So, I encourage you to come through, maybe invite some folks, and let's continue to learn what our worship needs to be about. Amen. Hallelujah. God bless you. We'll see you next Sunday.