Transcription
Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. This is our 13th week, 13th week in the book of Acts, and um, I wish I could say we were going to finish the book of Acts. We are not. Next week we're going to take one more week in the book of Acts, and then we're going to take a break from Acts. Maybe we'll come back before the year is over, uh, but today I want to preach from Acts chapter 16, our 13th week in this book of the Bible, speaking from the subject of mature church. And I believe God is doing, doing something in this house, and I believe today he's going to speak right to us. Acts 16, starting at verse 25, it says, "About midnight"—I like that right there—someone say midnight—"at about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. All at once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose. The Jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, 'Don't harm yourself, we are all here.' The Jailer called for the lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, 'What must I do to be saved?'"
And I want to take this little text, if I can today, and I want to preach, uh, from the subject that song we were already singing about it, but I want to put a title to a message. I titled today's message, "Worship Works." Worship Works. Someone say worship, worship works. Worship, worship works. Worship works. If you get anything today, I pray that you walk out of this room, those of you watching online, with this truth that worship works. How many all know that? Um, life happens. Life is just going to happen; there's no escaping it. Um, we just know that life can be beautiful and at the very same time life can be brutal. Um, this week has been one of those kind of just interesting weeks, uh, for me where I'm just reminded how complicated and also how beautiful life can be in all of its different seasons. Uh, many of you heard the news, but my wife and I, uh, my wife's 39 years of age, but we are expecting our fourth miracle baby boy. That's beautiful, though we weren't expecting it, but God can suddenly show up, and um, this week's been interesting because my wife, if you can imagine, is 2 and a half months pregnant, but on Wednesday we flew to Nashville because we were celebrating the wedding of one of our dearest friends from Nashville. We flew to Dallas on Thursday because we were celebrating the birthday, the 40th birthday, of one of my dearest friends. Then on Friday we woke up, I flew back here to Miami because we have children that were here, but Don Sheree actually flew to Omaha, Nebraska, because she was leading the funeral of one of our dear friends who helped us start the church. And I just thought in a moment, like, what a week, what a snapshot of all the different seasons of life—that babies are born, birthdays are celebrated, weddings are attended, and funerals, they occur. Well, it's amazing is that all of this stuff happens all at once, like all at the very same time. In fact, every week that I come in here to preach, I'm always reminded that there are people that are in this room right now and watching online that you are on the mountaintop—like life is going good, you're celebrating today that God has shown up in a mighty way, and you are here praising God—but at the very same time there's someone sitting right next to you that is in the deepest valley of their life, all at once, all at the same time. This is, is life. This is how it works; this is how it goes.
I find myself today thanking God for the brand new life of my baby boy on the inside of Don Sheree, and in the very same breath I'm asking God to spare the older life of my father who's fighting cancer. Anyone find yourself in that place, just constantly in the tension of thanking God but also desperately needing God? Come on, anybody in the room that can you just praise God that he's been awesome in your life, that he's shown up in your life? Anybody thankful for all that God has already done? Just take a moment right now, give him some praise. I'm thankful for all that you've done, but in the same breath, anybody in this room still believing that God has not done working in your life, go ahead and praise him even louder right now. This is what I want to talk about today, about being a mature church—that we find ourselves grateful yet still hopeful that God is not done working. We're talking about praise and worship—that Lord, thank you for what you have done, but Lord, I'm still believing that you're not finished working. That's my life. God, thank you, but God, I still need you. Anybody still need God to do something in your life? Am I preaching to anybody today? I still need God to show up in my life. And today what I'm hoping that you're going to understand is that if you find yourself in that tension, which is called life, I want to remind you that worship works. I want to get this into your spirit today—that praise and worship are weapons in the hands of a Believer. I think praise and worship are a one-two punch that when you don't know what to do, you can always praise God; you can always worship God. The Bible is known as the sword of the spirit. What a beautiful picture—that I actually have a sword, I actually have a weapon; it's called God's word. In fact, whenever the enemy tempts you in life, a lot of people, they deal with temptation, I don't know how to fight back. You fight back the same way that Jesus fought back. Remember when Jesus was in the desert, and every time the enemy came and tempted him, what did he do? He would say the word says; he would always speak God's word, because God's word is a sword. Meaning when the enemy tempts you, or when the enemy messes with you, you can cut the devil. Next time he comes and lies to you with his threats and throws cancer in your way, you can just quote the word: "A thousand may fall at my left, 10,000 at my right, I'm not afraid of you, devil; I know who my God is. I will cut you every single time." But what I know to be true is, is if the word of God is a sword, then worship is how you swing that sword. It's a weapon. And before we talk about its power, please understand that worship is not something, something that you do; worshiper is something that you are. This is what I think a lot of Believers are missing when it comes to their maturity in the Lord—that as I mature in God, I must understand what I was created to do. One of my favorite passages, if you don't know it, it's Isaiah 43:7. Look at this; it says it this way: it says, "Everyone who is called by my name"—that's you—"everyone who's called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." What is God saying? God said, "I made you for my pleasure; I made you for my glory," meaning you were designed and made to give worship and praise to God—that you are doing what you were made to do when you actually give him the praise that he is worthy of. And make no mistake about it, right, everybody on the planet is worshiping something. Some people like, "No, you know, I don't believe in God; I don't worship anything or anyone." No, no, we all worship someone or something. Some people, uh, they worship money; some people they worship power, control, appearance, perceptions. Worship just means where does all your attention go when push comes to shove? Who do you lift your hands up to? What has your awe? What has your wonder? I, I like the idea of praise and worship being a one-two punch because when I think about praise, the idea for praise for me is praise is, um, it's really talking about God, whereas worship is talking to God. So, so praise is like almost bragging on God, you know, some of these songs we sing is like, "Yo, we're bragging on God," whereas worship is this heartfelt, intimate spot that I find myself believing and asking God for more. I'm, I'm sharing with him the real places of my heart.
I love VU Church because since its inception we start all of our gatherings with praise and worship. Now, let's just get a little bit of teaching. Praise and worship is so much more than singing, but it's not less than singing. Like, you're, you're designed to worship, meaning everything you do ought to be for the glory of God. Your job is worship; the way you conduct your family is your worship; everything that you do is praise and worship. It, it's so much more than singing, but it's not less than singing. You need to go back and study our history—that we have always, as Christians, been putting melody, we've always been putting our theology to melody—that we're a singing faith, that we sing and we worship God, that we start our services with praise and worship, and we usually end our services with praise and worship. That's why we all show up on time, and we don't leave until the gathering is actually over, because all through our gathering we want to give glory to one name, the name of Jesus. I was designed to worship, and I love our community because since we began there's always been people that are meeting Jesus at VU Church; there's always been people that are, this is the only church they've ever been to. And so, you know, we have to mature; we have to grow a little bit. And so I'll hear people, especially when they're new to the faith or new to VU, it's like, "Man, I love, I love church, but man, y'all sing a lot," or they'll be like, "Yo, it's cool, but it's kind of weird, you know, like a guy next to me really off-key, and he's got his hands up, and what's up with all the lifting of hands? That's weird, a little weird, you know." And you, some of you remember before, remember like when you first came and you thought it was kind of weird, and you like, you started like right here, you know, like one hand, and you got to like here, like, wo, every once in a while you're like, "Who," and you came, put it back down. You know what's funny is that just look at society though; it's like you can lift your hands everywhere and anywhere, just don't do it at church. Just go look at culture; people are lifting their hands all over the place, and no one says anything about it. I've been to a Taylor Swift concert—not proud of it, but I admit it—you go to a Taylor Swift concert, everyone's got their hands up; people are weeping. Now we got bad blood; he, it's like what signs, oh Taylor, and I'm not even coming at it, but no one's are like, "This is so weird; look at all these Swifties out here." No one says that; everyone just jumps on board, and that's cool. Go to Swifty concerts and and lift your hands and cry whatever, but don't be a Christian and get desperate everywhere but [Applause] here. I, I've been to a Miami Heat game; I've seen some of y'all 50-year-old men, I'm not emotional, you are at the Heat game. I saw you cry. Just understand that when you find yourself on your sick bed, you're not going to start singing Taylor; she's not going to show up, go, "Shake it off, shake it off." She ain't showing up, but there is one that you can cry out to; there is one that you can call out to, that you can begin to praise and worship God, and you're God can show up late in the Midnight Hour; he can turn it around; he hears your prayers, and worship works. Come on, somebody give him some [Applause] praise. It, it works, works, it works, it works, it works, and it's a weapon in the hand of a Believer, and it's a sign of maturity that I can always praise and I can always worship God. I can tell you about my God, and I can also ask him to do more. I'm thanking God for what he's done, but I'm still in need of him right here in this moment. Can look back on my life, and there is so much for me to be grateful for, but I still need God today. And so my worship, it works, works.
Acts 16 is one of the coolest stories in the Bible, and there's so much taking place, and I just read a few verses for you today, but let's just try to get a little bit more of the context before we get to those verses. Um, Paul is on this missionary journey, and he is traveling with a guy named Silas; he's also got Luke, the writer of Acts, here; Timothy is with him now as well, and they've come into Philippi. Philippi is, uh, modern-day Greece, but it's a Roman colony, and and as they come in, they actually encounter two different women. Um, both of these women, uh, are equally lost but very, very different ladies. The first woman they meet in Philippi is this woman named Lydia, and Lydia is a business woman; she is a dealer, uh, of the cloth purple, which is the color of royalty, and it was worth a lot of money, and she gets radically saved. Like, I love her story; she gets radically saved, not just her, but her entire household gets saved. And what you see about Lydia that has always been important to me is that her conversion doesn't just stay in her household, but rather her conversion begins to spread out into the city. She begins to house the apostles, and she actually begins to resource the mission. I just want to speak to all the great VU girls at VU Church; I'm so thankful for women of God at VU that don't just spectate in the ministry but they participate. I'm thankful for business women in this house that have helped resource. Come on, somebody, let's make a little bit of noise and thank God for every woman who leads at a high [Applause] level. But we see Lydia get radically saved, and then we see one day that Paul and Silas, they go out to the place of prayer; they're heading to the temple, and as they do, they encounter not a business woman, but they encounter a slave girl. And this slave girl is very, very different from the businesswoman—both lost, both don't know Jesus, but they have different positions in life. And this slave girl that we find out she is possessed by a demon, and there are businessmen that are, I would, I would call them the pimps of Philippi; they're not selling her body, but they are monetizing off of her bondage of demon possession, and they're making money because this evil spirit allows her, her to foretell the future. So just get this picture—what you see about God is that our God wants all people to be saved; he wants business women, and he wants slave girls; he wants famous people, and he wants nameless people; he wants rich people and poor people; he wants strong people and weak people. If you're breathing, God is after you. Come on, somebody, let's thank God for it. And this, this girl is following Paul and Silas around, and everywhere that Paul and Silas go, she follows them, and she speaks up, and she says, "Listen to these men; they know the way to salvation." Like, everywhere that they're going, they're preaching; this girl is right around there; just she's like heralding, like she's like their PR agent: "Listen to them; they're good." What's interesting is that what she is saying is true, but where it's coming from is corrupt. This is important; she's speaking of salvation, but she is still clearly bound; therefore, her testimony is not helpful; it's a hindrance. I want you to see this because an immature church just offers lip service; an immature church talks the talk, but they never walk the walk; an immature church has good preaching, but their living never lines up with the preaching; an immature church can tell you all about salvation, but they themselves have never actually taken the directions. And so the Bible says that this girl who's coming over speaking the truth, but she's bound by a spirit, that one day Paul gets so annoyed—it says that in Acts 16—he's annoyed, which makes me laugh because that's a funny word to use, but clearly I think it's another indication of Paul's personality. I don't know how much you've read the Bible, but when I read Paul, I'm like, this dude is anal. Anyone catch that, right? Like Paul, like this guy, like just, we don't know all about him, but we know enough about, like, I can tell his personality—like the fact that it says he's annoyed, I'm like, that's Paul; yep, that's definitely Paul. I mean, this guy is, before he was saved, he was a Pharisee, which just to become a Pharisee, like, I don't think they're like the funnest people to hang out with, you know? Like his conversion story is radical and dramatic; he's blinded by the Light of Jesus, falls off his horse; I mean, he is zealous to his core. Just read Paul; I mean, this guy's theological; this guy is intellectual; he's definitely confrontational; like Paul, like likes to confront people, whereas Silas, who's with him, I don't know a lot about him, but I can quickly tell that they have different personalities. Silas in Acts chapter 15 says that he's prophesying to the people, and his prophecies were encouraging, meaning he's not using prophecies to come down at people; he's just trying to encourage folks; he's a part of the leadership in the church in Jerusalem, which tells me that he's diplomatic, right? He's adaptable; he gets along with people. And so you've got Paul and Silas, and I can just see like Silas walking with Paul, and one day that girl shows up, and Paul's annoyed. You, Silas, like, "Come on, man, you know, like, just have a nice Sunday," you know? In fact, the way that Silas is on this trip, it's just funny, right? Because Paul had another partner before Silas; his name was Barnabas. Barnabas' name literally means encourager, but Paul didn't want to travel with the encourager because they had a falling out over a guy by the name of John Mark. Just think about this; we don't know what happened with John Mark all the way and Paul, but, but Paul fired John Mark from the missionary journey. Just think about the first century; it's not popular to be a Christian; you get killed for being a Christian. Paul is so anal; he's like, "You know what? You're not going; you can't go with me to evangelize; I, I don't need you; I'll be fine without you." He fires a guy, and Barnabas is like, "Come on, man, like, let's bring…" No, leaves; Barnabas leaves with John Mark. And so Silas is like, "I'll go with you." I can just see the church that just like, "Hey, can you just do a favor, keep him out of trouble? He's been beaten; now he's been stoned a couple times; he's always in prison; he's just, just keep him out of trouble; just keep him calm." You know, here comes Paul; this girl, she saying, she's actually like saying truth, not good enough for Paul. "You're speaking truth, but you're still bound; I'm annoyed." You can just see it; like he's getting annoyed; Silas, like, "Come on, Paul, like, breathe." "You don't tell me to breathe; you breathe," Silas. And the scripture says he gets so annoyed that he casts the demon out of her. I just want to say it this way—that at times we have to make a decision around things that we will and will not tolerate. I'm grateful for the Apostle Paul because he was a man who said, "No, not on my watch; you cannot change that which you are unwilling to confront." He was willing to confront darkness and evil, and with it freedom was brought about. We need some men and women in this day and age that will say, "Not on my watch; I'm taking back my marriage; I'm taking back my kids; I'm taking back my mind." Come on; I am annoyed, just a little bit. The Bible says that this demon leaves this girl, but as the demon leaves this girl, what happens is the power that she has also leaves; she's no longer able to foretell the future. And so these business leaders, they come and they arrest Paul and Silas. Silas is like, "Dude, I told you." And they drag them before the leaders of that city, and with it Paul and Silas are stripped; they are beaten halfway to death, and then they are thrown into a prison. I find that fascinating and almost ironic that they freed this slave girl, but as they brought freedom to her, it meant imprisonment for them.
That the mature Church must understand that sometimes when you do the right thing, it will lead to what appears to be the wrong place. That the work of freedom is never free. When you start doing Freedom work, which is what we're doing here at Vu Church, it's going to cost us something. This week we celebrate the birth of our nation, the Fourth of July, and I love the Star Spangled Banner, land of the free, home of the brave. Because if you want freedom, it requires bravery. Because our nation, although it's not perfect, it is free because men and women decided to lay down their lives so that we can walk into freedom. And so it is with faith communities. That We Are Who We Are by the grace of God and then by the sacrifice of people; that many people who've gone before us said, "I'll serve, I'll give, I'll make a way." And as I live a life of sacrifice, sometimes your freedom will lead to my restriction.
And here's Paul and Silas, and they are thrown into prison for doing the right thing. And here they are in this prison cell; they're completely bound. The Bible says that the Jailer throws them into the inner prison, puts them into the stocks; they are completely powerless. But they still have two weapons: praise and worship. The Bible says that they begin to sing hymns unto God around midnight. Look at what Psalm 42:8 says; this is a beautiful, beautiful passage. Psalm 42:8 says, "By day the Lord commands his steadfast love and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life." The Prince of Preachers himself, Charles Spurgeon, said it this way: "Any fool can sing in the day; it is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight, but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by. Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men."
I can just see Paul and Silas sitting on that dungeon floor, rat-infested floor, scabs on their back; every breath that they take, the blood begins to gush out again. And from this place, they begin to worship God. They begin to worship God through song, through hymns; they put their theology to melody. That I've never been thrown into a prison cell; I've never been beaten for my faith. But I do know what it's like to sing a song at midnight. I do know what it's like to be in a metaphorical place of restriction where I have no control, but all I can do is call upon God. That this coming Tuesday will mark my daughter Wayan's third birthday; she's turning three on [Music] Tuesday. And every time I get around her birthday, I can't help but remember God's faithfulness in what He's done. I'm so thankful. When Wayan was born, she took in fluids and she was quickly rushed to the NICU. And it was a very scary time for Don Sh and I because this was during COVID that she was born, and so our friends and our family weren't there at the hospital. They immediately took her from us and brought her down, put all these tubes and machines into her body. And I remember I would leave Don Sh, and I would go down to feed my daughter, and I would just hold my baby girl in my hands. She had these tubes going into her body, and I was just scared. I didn't know what to do; there was nothing I could do. I'd feed her and I just felt at times even hopeless, like, "Lord, please get me out of this," and I would pray, and I'd pray over her, but my prayers would run dry, and I wouldn't have anything else to pray, and I was just afraid. So all I could do in those moments was sing worship songs. All I could do late in the midnight hour was let a little song come out of my heart. When I was growing up, we used to sing this song; I still sing it over my kids. And I found myself just holding her and just going, "God, I don't know what to do, but I'm going to use the weapon of worship." I'd sing old songs like, "Draw me close to You, never let me go. I lay it all down again to hear You say that I'm Your friend. You are my desire; no one else will do, 'cause no one else can take Your place. To feel the warmth of Your embrace, help me find a way and bring me back to You." And from the hospital room, I would sing, "You're all I want, and You're all I've ever needed; You're all I want, help me know You are near." And I can't explain it; all I can do is testify about it, is that worship works. That suddenly, immediately, the peace of God would hit my life; the ministry of the Holy Spirit would show up right there in the NICU as I begin to worship God. It's like the Holy Spirit would come in and comfort us. And I can just see Paul and Silas sitting there on the prison floor, beaten. Silas is like, "Paul, Paul's like, 'What do you want? I'm annoyed.'" Silas is like, "I, I think we should, I think we should worship." Paul's like, "I don't feel like worshiping." "I know, but Paul, what else are we going to do?" I don't know what they're saying, but I think from that prison floor it's probably something like, "What I say? You're all I want, You're all I've ever needed; You're all I want, help me know You are near." And the Bible says that as they begin to worship, go look, as they begin to worship, the earth began to shake, and the prison doors swung open, and the chains fell off their wrists. [Music] [Applause] Because when we start to worship God, it appeals to a higher chain of command. And it's not about how good you can sing. The reason why I'm singing up here for you is because I want to help some people today; they're like, "I can't sing." I can't either, but I'm a worshiper. That when you begin to, it doesn't matter if it's on key; doesn't matter if you're hitting the notes; doesn't matter if you got the melody right; it's not about even what you're saying; it's about who's singing it. You ever like, you ever like me, like I'm not much of a dancer, but every once in a while I'll be at a party, I'll be chilling; you're just chilling, "N now you're Planet cool, what's up? No, I'm I'm I'm here." But then there's that one song, we all got that one song, right? That that song comes on; it's like, "Oh, oh." Some of y'all, it's like, "Suave," "M" like that's my jam, and it takes you from where you're sitting; it gets you up and it moves you to the place of right there in the center of the action. I want to encourage some people: when you start worshiping God, God says, "Oh, that's my jam; I know who's singing that song." He comes rushing [Music] in; He comes rushing [Applause] in. Because what I have learned is that praise breaks chains. Hear me, mature Church: Chains don't break; praise breaks chains. We have a praise in our body; we have a weapon called worship. That when we begin to worship God, chains literally begin to break. Worship works; worship works. I just study the Bible, and I don't know what it is, but the enemy doesn't know what to do with a people who worship and praise God when they're in prison. I can't prove it biblically, but many theologians, including Augustine, we know that Satan was an angel named Lucifer who fell like lightning from the sky. And while scripture doesn't indicate it, many of the fathers of the faith, they actually believe that Lucifer was a worship leader. I don't know if that's true, but it does make me wonder. I wonder if the work of my worship reminds Satan of the job he was fired from. I think it frustrates him; I think it confuses him because I think it reminds him of what he once was able to do, but now he's unwilling to do it. And my worship works because my worship actually works in a way that takes the enemy's business plan and it puts it out of business; it takes the enemy's lies, puts them out of business; takes the enemy's threats, puts him out of business. [Applause] [Music] Some of you today, you are facing hell in high water; you are facing a crisis; you are facing a challenge, and you are saying, "How will I get through this thing?" You're going to worship your way through this thing; you're going to praise God through this thing. That late in the midnight hour, as you cry out to your God, your God will show up, and the chains will fall off; prison doors will open up; suddenly, suddenly, suddenly, suddenly the earth begin to shake; suddenly the chains fell off. We've been talking about that word for 13 weeks: quit using all of your faith in reverse; quit thinking about all the things that don't go bad; start going, "God, what could You do?" Suddenly, suddenly cancer can go; suddenly you can get promoted; suddenly you can get the job; suddenly you can find out at 40 that you're pregnant, and although you never thought it was possible, it can happen suddenly. It happens without any warning; without any warning. And notice what the scripture says: the scripture says that it wasn't just Paul and Silas's chains that fell off; it wasn't just their prison doors that opened up. See, I'm trying to get something into our DNA; I'm trying to get something into our heart as a community, that this is a praise and worship church, and we're not going to talk about maturity and leave out this TR truth: that we show up early, we stay late, and we don't sing quiet; we don't sing reserved; we're not afraid to get emotional. Because what we understand is if we start worshipping God, it just so happens that people on my row they can get set free as I sing praises to God; people all around me can be liberated. What if I told you somebody's jailbreak is on the other side of your praise break? Oh, come on, somebody give God some praise in this place! You have no idea the power of your [Applause] praise! The Bible says that all the prison doors are set free. And then the most peculiar thing happens as the doors are opened up: the Bible says that Paul and Silas, they don't [Music] leave; they stay put. In fact, the Jailer who had been cruel and thrown them into the inner prison, who had put them in the stocks, even though they had been beaten, he pulls out his sword because he understands that if I'm to lose one of these prisoners, I will be put to death. So he says, "Let me take matters into my own hand and let me run myself through with my own sword." But as he's getting ready to kill himself, Paul says, "Don't do it; we're all here." See, apparently for Paul, Paul, Paul realized that his prison, even his prison, had a purpose. "We're all here; don't do it." And the Jailer goes, "Sir, what must I do to be saved?" Paul gets to answer the question that God is trying to say to all of us: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you and your entire household will be saved." The Bible says that Paul went to his house that night; that Jailer treated Paul's wounds, but his entire home was saved, redeemed, transformed. I want to say it this way: you can look at the story and you can say, "Man, Paul was stuck with that Jailer; no friends." That Jailer was stuck with Paul. And the mature Church must rise up and recognize that every season, in every moment, in every type of terrain, is a reminder that God is working in me; God is working through me; even my prison has a purpose. You're not stuck with that situation; that situation's stuck with you. You're not stuck with that boss; that boss is stuck with you. You're not stuck with that family; come on somebody, that family's stuck with you. You're not stuck with that person; that person's stuck with you. [Music] Blue Church isn't stuck with Miami; Miami's stuck with Blue [Applause] Church. We're not going nowhere; we're not giving up; we're not quitting; we're going to continue to march to the mission that Jesus has given us. And the way that we will wage war is through praise and worship. [Music] Here's what I know today: God will either break your chains or use your chains. I can tell you stories of Him breaking my chains; I can tell you stories of Him just using them. People, they're drawn to your success, no doubt about it, but they can't take their eyes off of your defeat; they can't take their eyes off of your suffering and chains; they make a lot of noise. So what are your chains saying? What are your CH chains proclaiming? Because when we go through pain and when we go through hardship, it's one of the greatest moments that we have to give glory to God; it's one of the greatest moments that we have to be a mature church and to show people that our faith is not birthed in a result, but our faith comes out of a relationship with the One who has already saved us. And if He doesn't do one more thing for me, well, I'm going to keep praising Him and telling you about the things He's done. But I just know so much about my God that yes, I'm thankful for what He's done, but I'm still in need of what He might do; therefore, I'm going to worship Him; I'm going to ask Him to show up; I'm going to believe that my worship works in every circumstance. You think I'm out of this fight? No, I'm just beginning, 'cause I still got a song of praise; I still got worship in my heart. You can't take my worship; you can't steal my praise. Come on, if you believe worship works, lift your hands. Come on, lift your voice. Come on, hey, this is Rich and Don Sh Wilkerson, and we want to say thank you so much for watching and engaging with today's content. Maybe today you want to make the decision to follow Jesus. Why don't you pray this prayer with me? "Dear Jesus, today I choose to entrust my life to You; forgive me of my sins; make me a new creation; I love You, in Jesus' name, amen." We're celebrating with you the decision that you've made, and we want to walk this journey out alongside you. Yeah. And if you just prayed that prayer, why don't you go ahead and follow the prompts that are on the screen right now. We're so glad that you took some time to watch today's message. Do us a favor: if it encouraged you, if it impacted you, go ahead and share this. And if you haven't already, go ahead and subscribe to the Vu Church YouTube channel so you can continue to get more content like this. We love you guys, and we're declaring, "The Best Is Yet To Come." [Music]