Worship in Spirit and Truth

[0:00] It's good to see you guys. They've given me the mic, so let's see what happens here.

[0:12] ! Let's see what the Lord has for us. Let me pray because I need to pray. So join with me in prayer here and agree with me in prayer.

[0:23] Father, I'm so needy. I need you, Lord. I'm so thankful for this week as we've been meeting together and you've been showing me, Lord, just how important it is that I be out of your way.

[0:48] Lord, you are a leader. You are our king. You are capable, Lord. You created the universe and you sustain it all with just your desire for it to exist.

[1:05] Lord, you spoke things into existence and they're still here. Lord, you're powerful. You're capable. You're a good leader. And you have decided in your wisdom to found the church, to make people and to draw them to yourself.

[1:21] And you've said, hey, I'm the head of the church. Well, Lord, I bow to that. Well, I'm not bowing. Lord, I bow to that.

[1:32] You are the leader. You are the king. Lord, just as we spend this time this morning, man, Lord, I just imagine us all here this morning as being like, you know, we've piled into the car and we're getting ready to go on a trip with you.

[1:51] But Lord, the driver's seat is empty. We wait for you. Lord, I am not in the driver's seat. I don't want to touch the steering wheel. Lord, I want to go wherever you want to take me.

[2:06] And I want that for my brothers and my sisters this morning. Lord, would you take us where you want us to go? You, this is your car, Lord. It's your journey. And you've seen fit to use us.

[2:19] So help us, Lord, help me to be humble this morning. Lord, you've led me to, you know, some really weighty texts this morning that we're going to check out.

[2:33] And God, it just reminded me of the scene on Mount Sinai. It was crazy. There's earthquakes and, you know, lava's shooting around and like the sky, there's a storm happening.

[2:45] And, you know, there's winds and, you know, trumpets, you know, blaring out and stuff. And it was crazy and it was scary. And the people were afraid. You know, when they heard your voice, they were afraid.

[2:58] And they were like, Moses, help us. Like, if he keeps talking to us like this, he's going to destroy us. You know, you were mighty in their eyes, Lord. And so I just pray this morning that I pray that you would strike your people.

[3:10] Lord, strike your people in a way that only you can with perfect love and kindness and gentleness and yet with absolute force.

[3:23] With a hand that cannot be turned back. Lord, I just pray that you would set me in the midst of your people this morning as a lightning rod. Lord, and strike it.

[3:35] Strike me. Don't hear from me. I pray that you and your words would be exalted in this pulpit this morning, Lord. And that your people would be electrified by the truth.

[3:51] Lord, we love you and we wait for you. Please, please, Holy Spirit, please come. Please be here. Manifest yourself. This is so, so lame if you're not here, Spirit.

[4:02] This is nonsense. This is a waste of my Sunday morning. If you're not here, Spirit. Because you know me, Lord. I'm not even very social. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for the chance that you might show up and change my heart.

[4:16] And change my brother's heart in the congregation this morning or something. Or raise someone to life. We need that. That's why we've come, Lord. And if it isn't why we've come, then I pray that you would change our hearts this morning as we begin.

[4:31] Jesus, we love you. Thank you. Amen. Okay. So, here's what I did. You know, they were like, oh, you know, you're going to preach or whatever.

[4:44] And I was like, okay. And after that, I was like, all right, so Lord, if you gave me the attention of your saints one time as a captive audience, what would you want me to say to them?

[5:06] Right? Because, I mean, you know, obviously you guys know I'm not in front of you all the time. Right? This is like a unique thing that like you're all here and like you kind of have to listen to me right now.

[5:17] Right? It would be really difficult for you to not listen to me right now. So, that's a valuable thing. The Lord has given me your attention. Okay? So, I was like, what should I say?

[5:28] What should I be talking about? What should I try to get across given this gift? Right? So, you know, I had some ideas for some stuff and I wound up scrapping them because the Lord was like, no, that's not good.

[5:42] And, you know, it basically came back to, of course, as you would expect, the gospel. Right? Surely, if you give me your attention, I should tell you the gospel.

[5:54] Of course. Right? So, we're going to start there. And then also, you know, I started thinking like, okay, well, what is our primary task on the earth? Right?

[6:06] We're here. We know that we're here. What is our primary task? What are we supposed to be doing? And I thought, worship. Right?

[6:17] Our job is to worship the Lord. That's why he made us, to worship him, to bring him the praise that he is due. That's why he made everything. Right? So, I was like, okay, great.

[6:27] So, I'm going to talk about the gospel. I'm going to talk about how do we worship the Lord. Okay? So, the gospel. Man, I love the gospel.

[6:39] It's so good. The gospel is so awesome. Okay? So, God. God exists. God is real. He exists. He has always existed.

[6:50] And the beautiful thing about that statement is, I don't even need to prove it to you. Right? The scriptures tell me that I don't even need to prove that statement to you.

[7:02] Because if you think about like Romans 1, for instance. Right? It says, if you're here in the midst of creation, beholding it, and you are. All of you are.

[7:13] Then, creation itself declares to you that God exists. Right? What can be known about him is evident from creation. Right? Namely, his divine power and eternal nature.

[7:25] Right? You know this. You know that there is a God. And that he's real. You may think, no, I don't. You know? How can you say that? You don't know what I believe. You know.

[7:37] Now, Romans 1 goes on to tell us that, you know, people are in various stages of being successful at suppressing that truth and unrighteousness.

[7:48] Right? And that's the real problem. It's not that you don't know. And it's not that it's not true. You do know. And you may be suppressing it because you don't want it to be true.

[8:00] You want to be God. Right? In our unregenerate state, that's what we all want. We want to be God. We don't want to be ruled over by God. We want to be in charge of everything. Or at least of ourselves.

[8:11] Right? It's not true. God is. And he's perfect and good and holy. He's righteous. He's ideal.

[8:23] Okay? So that is true. God exists. And he's perfect. And he's holy. Also, we exist. Right? So far, so good.

[8:35] Except we are imperfect. Okay? God has a standard of perfection. Right? Because he's perfect. So that's reasonable. We don't meet it.

[8:47] Okay? Again, this is something that you know. Right? You know. I mean, just think about yourself. You know that there is some wickedness in you.

[8:57] Don't you? Right? Some of us are like, oh yeah. I got tons of wickedness. I'm crazy. You know. It's like, great. Cool. Okay. I'm glad you understand that. But like, you know, everyone can find something in themselves where they're like, well, okay.

[9:14] Yeah, that's not perfect. Maybe that's not ideal. That's it. You're imperfect. You've fallen short of God's standard. Okay? And he, being the king, who's in charge of everything, can determine that that thing's really bright.

[9:32] I don't know if y'all know that, but those of you that have been up here know, but that projector is real bright. Anyway, him being the king, you know, he has the ability to determine, well, what do I do with things within my kingdom that are not perfect?

[9:47] Right? So he sets that. And he said, well, it's death. I won't have it. I won't have imperfection in my presence. I will destroy it. Right? So that's us.

[9:59] Okay? As long as we remain imperfect, we are under God's, his judgment of death and destruction. Okay? Now, that's not good news. Gospel means good news.

[10:10] Right? The good news is that even though God would righteously destroy us for our imperfection, instead of doing that, he sent himself in the person of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, to absorb the penalty for our sin, so that we, the imperfect ones, can be reconciled to God.

[10:41] Christ has done that. Right? This is what he achieved on the cross. Right? And through the resurrection, he demonstrated it to us. So, and then he says, perhaps most bizarre of all, he's like, hey, you want this?

[10:56] You want this to be true of you? Believe me. Believe me when I tell you that I am God and this is what I've done for you. I mean, you know, there's nothing like, yeah, also, I'm going to need like $500,000, you know, and like 25 years, you know what I mean?

[11:19] Like, he's just like, listen to me when I tell you the truth as God and trust me. Right? And so, like, when you hear that truth, you've got to ask yourself, okay, I mean, do I trust that?

[11:37] Is that true? Right? Believe it. And if you do, the Lord will save you. He will save you. This, so the power of this that he does, it transforms you.

[11:53] Right? So that's, that is the good news, and then the good news is a powerful force. Like, you doesn't, you don't just go, oh, okay, great, and then just keep on tripping, you know, for the rest of your life. Like, he's going to change you.

[12:04] He changes your heart. Let me see. One of my favorite places to read about this is in 2 Corinthians 5. If you want to turn there, feel free.

[12:17] Oh, by the way, I have a lot of passages of scripture today, and some of them are long, and none of them are going to be on the screen. So I would encourage you to pull out your Bibles, and I'll try to give you ample time to get to the passages before we get there.

[12:34] Because I want you all to look at them, because some of them you might be unfamiliar with. And so I want you to see that they're real, and I'm not just making them up to scare you. Okay, but this is 2 Corinthians 5. Excuse me.

[12:51] And I'm going to just read this, starting in verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

[13:04] The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

[13:17] That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

[13:30] God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him, Jesus, to be sin, who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[13:49] So, those of you that love the gospel and believe the gospel and have been trusting in the gospel, man, believe this.

[14:00] Look at this afresh, right? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. You're a new creation, okay? You're not what you were. You might feel like you're still the same, right?

[14:13] Like, I mean, when the Lord saved me back, I was like, I was like 12, I guess, okay? And, like, when it happened, it was so undramatic.

[14:25] Like, you know, someone was, like, telling me the gospel, and I was just kind of like, yeah, yeah, you know, God, you know, he's perfect, right? Yeah, okay. Well, and, you know, you have sin.

[14:36] Yeah, you know, well, this is God. You know, they're just walking me through it, and I was just kind of like, yeah, okay. I mean, seems reasonable, definitely. Yeah, you got me, basically. Right. You know, well, here's what Jesus did for you.

[14:49] Don't you love that? Hmm. Yes. As it turns out, I do, right? Okay. I became a new creation, even though walking out of that room, you know, I was just the same, as far as I knew, right?

[15:05] It's not like, you know, I came out, and I, like, took flight or something and was like, yeah, you know, I got the gospel. You know, it wasn't like that. I just walked out and, like, I don't know, went home and probably, like, went to sleep or something.

[15:19] I don't really remember. But I slept a lot in those days, so I probably did go to sleep. But I was a new creation, right? This verse is true, okay? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

[15:32] The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. It's objectively the case, okay? Okay, so sometimes I think, you know, as believers, we just need to remember that.

[15:46] Because, you know, I know, I don't know about you guys, but as I go through my life and occasionally get mired in sin, you know, it's just, it's actually just because I basically forgot who I am.

[16:00] You know, I got to looking at the world, and I was like, oh, yeah, the world does it like this, and oh, yeah, this, and ooh, that's cool, let me get that. And next, you know, I'm just kind of, like, stuck in this dumb, like, world mode, despite being a new creation, right?

[16:15] And so I'm just over here, and then I'm like, man, I'm, like, weak, and my joy is lacking, and this is lame. What's going on? Well, what's going on is I'm acting like the world, right?

[16:26] I'm not being who I am. I'm not acting out of the nature that God has given to me, right? I'm just choosing to instead chill and just kind of get sucked, you know, into the whirlpool of the world, right?

[16:40] But it's like, in those moments, sometimes all I really need is a reminder. Like, wait, okay, I'm over here doing this. Why? I don't have to do this.

[16:51] I can go over here with God the Holy Spirit. With God the Holy Spirit. And I'm listening for feedback. And, you know, I can do that, right?

[17:02] Now, when you're not in the Lord, like, if you're not someone that's trusting in the gospel, that's not something that you're free to do, right? The world will continue to suck you down to the bottom of its ocean until you perish.

[17:17] Except for Christ. It will do that. You don't have power to resist that whirlpool. You don't. Okay? And you might think that you do, and you might feel like you do, and you're like, no, I do, because I tried real hard, and I climbed up a little bit.

[17:30] It will suck you back down until you land in hell. It will happen. Okay? Don't lean on your own strength.

[17:41] Don't do it. You need a lifeline. It's the only way that you're going to be rescued. Okay? Well, anyway.

[17:53] So, God says that, you know, we're these transformed sort of people, right? And John tells us that Jesus said to the woman at the well, you know, that God is seeking people like that to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

[18:11] Right? You remember that at the end of John 4? So, let's talk a little bit about worshiping God in truth, what that means. So, you guys might remember that I'm the guy who's been exhorting you lately over the last year or so to take your worship seriously.

[18:35] Right? I've been saying, like, hey, you guys, you're priests unto the Lord. Right? 1 Peter 3, like, verse 7 or whatever. You know, God has made you priests unto the Lord. And so, you're supposed to be coming in here with an offering of worship for God.

[18:49] Right? I was saying, don't just roll in just like, oh, you know, I don't know. I guess I'll go to church. You're like, I'm empty. I need to be filled up. You know, that's a common thing. Right? And I'm like, listen, if you are truly empty somehow and you need filling up, it's cool.

[19:04] I mean, we got the spirit here to fill you up. Like, if you come in and you're saying, well, feed me. I mean, we've got bread. Right? We've got the living bread. The good bread. That'll fill you up.

[19:16] Okay? We got that. But, like, you can't just keep coming in week in, week out, empty. Just being like, oh, feed me. You guys, come on. And, you know, and then it's like, and then leave.

[19:28] And then come back next week. I need more. I need, you got somebody, you got somebody to prop me back up. I mean, that's not what you're supposed to be doing. Okay? The priests are the ones filling people up.

[19:40] Right? We've talked about this part. So, I'm not going to harp on this again. Right? But, so I've been telling you, hey, get in here with your offerings. Right? Come in the door ready.

[19:51] Like, yeah, Lord, I got this offering of praise. And I'm about to put it on the altar. And I'm excited to do it. And it's my job to do it. That's what I should be doing. This is what you made me for. This is what you transformed me into.

[20:03] It's an offering bringer. Okay? So, I'm coming in, bringing my offering. Right? Great. Now, it's worth noting that we got to think a little bit about the kind of offerings that we are bringing, though.

[20:19] Okay? Because God does care about that. And it turns out he actually cares a lot about that. He's very serious about his standard when it comes to people worshiping him.

[20:31] Okay? And I want to show you a series of passages today that illustrate that. Right? Like, one of my only main points here is this.

[20:44] You can't just bring God whatever worship you want. Okay? Now, that might sound like a weird statement to you, actually.

[20:55] Because you may have been thinking exactly the opposite of that. Yeah. Whatever I've got, you know, whatever scrap I've got, you know, I can just, you know, give it to the Lord. And, you know, he's cool. I mean, we're good, right?

[21:07] Like, whatever. It's like God is like some ducks at the park, and you've got your, like, bread, and you're just, like, tearing off little crumbs, you know, throwing them to the ducks. And really, you're mostly just kind of doing it because it's funny when they, like, peck it off the grass.

[21:21] And, you know, they, like, and they, like, quack and stuff. And you're like, yeah. You know, God is not like that. Okay? He doesn't want your breadcrumbs of worship. Right? He's not okay with you just rolling in and then being like, ooh, the offering.

[21:36] What do I got? Ah, chapstick of praise. Like, here you go. This is what I got. He's not okay with that. Okay? He's not okay with that.

[21:47] So we're going to look at a lot of examples of that. So go over to, well, actually, you don't really need to go over to this one. But, like, first good example is in Leviticus 10.

[21:59] And I'll read this to you. You guys remember Nadab and Abihu? Remember those guys? They were Aaron's sons.

[22:11] And this is one of those stories that's crazy. I'm going to just read it. This is Leviticus 10, verse 1. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them.

[22:37] Okay? So, not that offerings in general are not allowed. But this one was not sanctioned by the Lord, right?

[22:47] They just got this in their head, apparently. Hey, let's give God this offering. Okay? Oh, yeah. Okay. Hey, man. Yeah. Come on. Let's do this. Yeah, sure. They go in. God didn't tell them to do it. Nobody told them to do it.

[22:58] Right? They just thought, eh, let's do it. Let's go do it. Whatever. Okay? So, they just kind of waltz in and they're like, yeah, okay, we're going to put this fire on and, you know, here's our offering. Well, God's reaction to this, verse 2, and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord.

[23:24] Then Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord has said among those who are near me. I will be sanctified and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.

[23:38] So, I mean, they brought this offering to the Lord. And this is what's so crazy about the Old Testament.

[23:50] I hope you guys love reading the Old Testament. What's so crazy is, like, they came in, you know, they had this bad desire, right? Came in. Hey, we're going to do this. Okay. They do it. Bam!

[24:00] They're dead. God kills them. On the spot. Immediately. He kills them. Some of y'all, I mean, I don't exactly know who I'm talking to here.

[24:14] Like, I don't recognize all of you, which is great. Welcome. But, you know, I mean, some of you guys might be thinking, oh, you know, God, you know, he wouldn't. Like, God's, you said God's good.

[24:24] Well, he doesn't kill anybody. He's not. God killed them. Right there. In there. They offered it. Fire came out of the thing.

[24:36] And they died. Okay. And, like, sometimes, I always like to remind people of this. These are real people. Okay. Like, we, I think at this church, we believe in this being a literal historical record.

[24:50] Okay. This is, Nadab is a guy. Abihu is a guy. Like, they, and they still exist. Okay. Think about that. People have eternal souls.

[25:01] Those guys, they lived thousands of years ago. They still exist. They are alive. Or they're eternally dead. One of the two.

[25:12] But they, they, they continue to exist right now. Right. You can't just think of this as like, oh, yeah, some guy in a book, you know, he did a bad thing and died. This is like, like, I, I don't know if this is my brother in the Lord or not.

[25:27] You know what I mean? Like, he did something wrong and God destroyed him for it. But, like, you know, maybe he really knew the Lord. I hope so. You know, I hope it was just a mistake that he made and that was the Lord's choice to punish him in that way.

[25:42] But he still knows. I don't know, though. Right. That could be a guy that is in hell. Has been suffering the eternal torment of the Lord for X thousand years.

[25:53] It's a, it's two men. So, I mean, that's sobering. They, they did this wrong and God immediately killed them. Okay.

[26:07] All right. So, let's, let's go over to Jeremiah. Go pretty hard right. Go to Jeremiah.

[26:17] We're going to look at Jeremiah verse six. Oh, sorry. Chapter six. Oh, man.

[26:35] I got to move. Jeremiah six, verse 20. This is a short one, but we'll be back here later. So, keep your finger in this spot. God says this.

[26:48] What used to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land. Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.

[27:02] So, again, I'm reinforcing the point that not everything that you bring before God is just acceptable.

[27:15] Right. You can't, again, you can't just bring God whatever worship you want. Okay. He's saying here, like, you know, these people, apparently they're bringing like, they're bringing the good stuff. Okay. Frankincense that comes from Sheba.

[27:26] Right. Sweet cane. You know, like, I mean, the double reed players here can appreciate sweet cane. You know, most of you guys have no idea what that means, but it's okay.

[27:37] So, they're like, yeah, you know, this isn't just some frankincense. This is some frankincense from Sheba. Right. This is some primo stuff that we brought in here. Right. We didn't this. Hey, like, like I said, right.

[27:48] We didn't just drag this off the floor, like go, you know, grab something off the shelf and oh, yeah, here you go. No, we got the good stuff. Okay. We brought it in. We sacrificed it.

[27:59] God's like, what use is that to me? What do I need with some good frankincense? Okay. I own all the frankincense. Right. So, obviously, apparently there was an issue with these people's hearts.

[28:12] And if you keep reading the surrounding context, that's really clear. The problem was that their hearts were far from God, even though they were outwardly obeying him. Right. He's like, you thought I was going to care about that because you brought in the good frankincense?

[28:26] No. No. What good is that? Your offerings are not acceptable. And this is this does not please me. Okay. So just imagine that you're them hearing that because they thought the exact opposite.

[28:41] Okay. They thought God will like this. And he said, no, I don't like that. I don't want that. Okay.

[28:52] So we need to we need to begin to see this picture that sometimes that can happen. Right. You can be bringing something to the Lord thinking, yeah, this is going to be good. He's going to like this.

[29:02] And God might be saying, no, man. No. That's your what you're way off. Okay. You spend a lot of money. Bring it. That's not what I want. That's not what I said.

[29:13] Right. Where's your heart at? Right. It gets worse. Isaiah chapter one. Go back.

[29:24] Go left. Isaiah chapter one. So Isaiah might be one of my favorite books in the Bible, despite the fact that in the middle for me right now, there's this middle part where it still gets kind of like dry and I don't really know what's going on anymore.

[29:45] Like it starts out just like, yeah, really good. You're like, oh, Isaiah, you know, and then they're like, yeah. And then like chapter 40, it picks back up and you're like, oh, yeah, all the way to the end. So hopefully the Lord will give me more wisdom so I can appreciate the middle part at some point.

[30:00] But even so, it's one of my favorite books. But it is so hard. It's so weighty and heavy, which you're about to see if you haven't.

[30:11] So let's start in verse 11. This is going to start sounding familiar. Well, I'll start in verse 10.

[30:24] Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah. This is God speaking. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord.

[30:35] I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?

[30:51] Who told you to do this? Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath are the calling of convocations.

[31:04] I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. That's important. Iniquity and solemn assembly together. I cannot endure that. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates.

[31:19] You ever heard God say that before? When's the last time you thought about that? God's soul hates some stuff. But he's a God of love.

[31:29] Yes. Yet, his soul hates this, this false worship. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

[31:41] When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. God. So, that's the Lord.

[32:02] That's the Lord speaking, right? These people, they're bringing these offerings, but it's with like ill intent in the heart and sin in the heart, right? And they're just thinking, oh, I'm going to do this external thing so that the Lord will be pleased and then I can move on and do the stuff that I really want to do.

[32:17] And now that I got that God stuff out of the way. The Lord knows that. Like one of my guiding principles in my life, I have a few of these. One of them is God is not stupid.

[32:30] Okay? Like we sometimes act like God is kind of stupid, you know? Like you think he doesn't know what's going on in your heart?

[32:42] Like when you bring him an offering that's not sincere, right? Or when you have this great idea deep in the depths of your subconscious, you know, whisperings.

[32:53] Oh, I'm going to bring God this. I'm going to do this thing and it's going to look good. You know, it's going to check the box. It's going to be what I'm supposed to do. But like, I don't care.

[33:05] You know? Or like, I can't wait until it's over so I can get out of here. You know? God is not dumb. He can see that. Right? So then when you come in with it, like, oh, here we go.

[33:18] I'm about to give the offering and God's going to like love it. No. No, he's not. He can see you. Like, remember, he's God. He knows you through and through.

[33:30] Right? You can't get one over on him with that. I've tried it. Okay? I mean, I've tried to do that. Like, there's a lot of times, unfortunately, where, you know, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is the thing to do.

[33:42] And so I'm going to do it. Right? And I'm not saying there's no place for doing something that your heart is not in. Right? But when you just kind of think, oh, yeah, I'll do that. And it's fine.

[33:52] It'll be fine. You know? God, you know, maybe he'll notice. Maybe he won't. I don't know. It'll be fine. It's not fine. It's not fine. Okay?

[34:03] Look at this language that the Lord is using. I mean, this is strong language that the Lord is using. He says, you know, like, verse 11, I've had enough. Right?

[34:14] I don't delight in this. Verse 12, he's like, who told y'all to come in here, basically, with that? Who told y'all to bring that in here? That's my translation of that verse.

[34:26] Right? Bring no more vain offerings. Don't even bring it. If it's going to be like that, I don't want it, is what the Lord is saying. Like, you're thinking, well, it's better to bring it, isn't it?

[34:38] Like, God's like, no. No. It's not better. It isn't better to just bring it and check the box and then try to fix it later. He's like, I don't even want it.

[34:49] Get out. What are you doing? Incense is an abomination to me. When you do that, it's an abomination, you know?

[35:02] I get so irritated. People, you know, the word abomination. I feel like the only context in which anyone ever uses the word abomination is when they're talking about homosexuality.

[35:15] They're like, oh, abomination? Yeah, talking about homosexuality. Yeah, I know. Abomination. God said it. Abomination. Yeah, abomination. Yeah, same thing, you know. Listen, there's lots of things that are abominations.

[35:29] I did a Bible study one time on abominations in the scripture, and some of them are crazy, like, you know, haughty eyes. God calls an abomination.

[35:40] When you look at somebody like you're better than they are, that's an abomination. Oops. Right? We're over here thinking, oh, yeah, abomination. That's for super bad stuff.

[35:51] Like, you know, this sin that I hate. Okay, also, it's for when you're kind of a jerk. That's an abomination. What about that? Right? Anyway, that was for free.

[36:04] So, you know, he says that. Okay, this stuff, it's an abomination. Later, then he says, I can't endure it. Right? He already said he's tired of it. I've had enough. I can't endure it.

[36:15] I hate it. It's a burden to me. When you do this, it's like, I'm like, okay, you know what I mean? And he's like, I'm tired of carrying it. You know?

[36:26] You imagine God just like labored, you know, you're throwing your stupid breadcrumbs on his back. And he's just like, and you just, I just picture him just getting like madder and madder and madder about it.

[36:40] You know? And all the while, all the while, you're over here, you know, throwing them. Like, this is great. Like, I'm such a good Christian. You know, Christianity is so fun and so easy.

[36:51] You should do it too. You know? Meanwhile, God's like, he's had enough. You know? He's not okay with it. Hopefully, I'm getting that point across.

[37:04] Then, you know, this is kind of a scary little nugget here too, where he's like, when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

[37:18] Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. You know, that reminds me of, I think it is in 1 Peter 3, where Peter's talking about how sin can hinder your prayer.

[37:34] Right? It's when he's talking about husbands and wives. I'm pretty sure. Maybe I should check. But I think you know what I'm talking about. Where he says, basically, that your prayers can be hindered by your sinful treatment of your wife, essentially.

[37:49] That just reminds me of that. You know? You're tainting your offerings with sin. And God's like, well, you know, I'm not, you're going to stretch out your hands and pray to me. And he's like, I'm not listening. I'm not looking for that.

[38:01] You know? It's intense. This is kind of, I hope this is unsettling you a bit. I hope you're not feeling comfortable right now. Let's go over to, real quick, I really have to go fast.

[38:13] So let's go back to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 7. So Jeremiah 7.

[38:27] And I'm going to read a good chunk of this because it's God's word. And that's why we're here. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.

[38:41] Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word. So that's like here, right? Gate of the Lord's house. Assembly of God's people. Stand there and say this.

[38:53] Hear the word of the Lord. All you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. That's y'all. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.

[39:06] Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words. This is the temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord. The temple of the Lord. For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

[39:39] So again, illustrating the problem here is sin, right? Sin in the people. That's what he's trying to get across. Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered, only to go on doing all these abominations?

[40:08] Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. That's scary.

[40:20] Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. It didn't go well.

[40:31] Kind of destroyed it a little bit. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer.

[40:44] Therefore, I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

[40:59] As for you, now he turns and is talking to Jeremiah here, right? As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.

[41:15] Do you not see what they're doing in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven.

[41:26] The whole family's involved. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger. Is it I whom they provoke, declares the Lord? Is it not themselves to their own shame?

[41:39] Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field, and the fruit of the ground. It will burn and not be quenched.

[41:59] So God's really angry. God's really angry, and that is a huge problem. I need you to see that as a huge problem. When God is extremely angry, that's really, really bad.

[42:12] He's omnipotent. He has all power, and he has all authority, and he has all righteousness. So he's got, like, ability and, like, position and justification, whatever he does.

[42:31] At all times, God has that. It's amazing. He's the only being that can say that in every situation, right? And guess what? He looks at this, and he says, I'm not having it.

[42:47] I won't accept it. You guys are in here. Your whole families are corrupted. You got the kids in on it, worshiping false gods. I won't have it.

[43:00] And sometimes, you know, you know, Jeremiah could have been thinking, like, okay, I'm going to pull a Moses, though. Like, I'm going to intercede. I'm going to be like, okay, God. Like, yeah, you're right. You're right. We were tripping. But, okay, like, you're gracious, and, like, you know what I mean?

[43:14] And start praying for him. God's like, don't even do it. Not this time. I've had it. Because you've got to see this.

[43:24] Worship, I mean, I started by saying this. Worship is, like, what we're supposed to be doing. Everything that exists, everything that exists in the universe, and, like, even if maybe that's too small a term, because I don't know what all exists, right?

[43:42] Everything that does exist, God made it to worship him. He made it to show his glory. Okay? So when stuff doesn't do that, he gets really upset, because it's, like, literally violating the purpose of the whole universe.

[44:00] You know? You might be thinking, no, no, but, you know, it was just, you know, it was just, like, I kind of lied to my friend. Or, like, you know, I said that thing to my wife more harshly than I needed to.

[44:15] You know? Or, you know, no, I just, she was an attractive woman, and I just took a look. It's no big deal. Right? It is a huge deal. God looks at that, and he's like, that little, that little lie that you told violates the entire purpose of the universe.

[44:33] You ever think about it that way? I mean, probably not. I often don't. Right? When I sin, you know, I'm like, oh. And it's not that I'm not broken over it, but I'm like, oh, yeah, that's, sorry, Lord, you know, like, change my heart.

[44:48] Let's pick it up and keep moving. And it's like, yeah, because of the cross, you know, we can do that. But also, still, that thing that you did, it violates, it undercuts the whole universe's purpose.

[45:03] Everything is supposed to be just exalting God, and you're not. Right? So it's the same thing here. You can imagine how God might be even more incensed when it's in his house under the guise of being what he wants.

[45:20] Right? So it's like, when you're over here, you know, like, you know, smoking crack or something, like, that's a little bit more obvious to you that that's wrong, right? But like, when you come in the church, and you're like, well, you know, yeah, I don't know, I don't really care about this.

[45:36] I wonder what kind of pizza I might have, you know, after he stops talking, you know, like, God is like, are you kidding me? You came in here talking about, oh, we want to see your glory.

[45:52] You know, we sing these songs, right? I almost went off on a thing about songs when I got asked to preach this, but I'm not going to do that. You know, oh, yeah, Lord, we want to see your glory. We love you. You've done this, and you're, you know, I give my life to you, and all this stuff.

[46:05] And it's not even true. And the Lord's like, what are you talking about? What are you talking about you give me your life? No, you don't. Right?

[46:17] He sees that. He sees that. So I was going to, I was going to say, I was going to say more about that, but I think I've made the point.

[46:30] You really, you can't just think of this as, oh, we'll bring God whatever. Right? And this, don't, don't get me wrong. These passages have been focused on, like, in, in church, in church, in the church meeting, right?

[46:43] As when we're gathered. But also, I mean, remember, your whole life is an offering of worship to the Lord, if you're a Christian, right? So as you're walking around on Tuesday, worshiping the Lord, as you walk to, you know, Starbucks or something, there too, will the Lord be looking, and going, okay, what kind of offering is this person bringing?

[47:06] Right? Is it some lame sham offering that they think I'm just going to kind of ignore? Or is it real? I mean, the Lord is so concerned with your worship to him being real.

[47:21] And it can be real, right? Because of the cross. Like, he's put us in a relationship with him. Like, he, we were broken, and we had, like, hearts of stone that couldn't even react, like, we couldn't even do this, and we were lost, right?

[47:35] But then he was like, okay, okay, I'm going to fix this. You know, I'm going to give you this, give you this, and okay, I'm doing this, putting my grace on you, all right, now we can do this, right? But then it's like, for us to still not be real with him, you know, and like walk with him daily, and joyfully submit ourselves to him, totally.

[47:58] I mean, it's so, it's so offensive. And I think God has been clear about that. Okay, so real quick, we need to resolve not to be false in our worship, because God hates it.

[48:13] That's clear, right? Okay, good. So, what, what we could use is some examples of real worship, right?

[48:27] And there's, because, you know, it's like I said, your life is worship to the Lord, so it's going to be, you know, it's going to be tricky to find examples that will apply to every situation in your life, because, you know, I only have so much time.

[48:41] But, you know, I think one of the things you can do is you can look at stuff that worships God all the time, right? Stuff that's doing it right, in other words, right? Now, yeah, I mean, Jesus does it right, but like also he is God, so like, I'm not going to say don't look at Jesus as an example for worship, because you should do that, by the way, you should definitely do that.

[49:02] But, in this case, you know, I was like, what's something that's getting this right, okay? And I thought, well, angels. Angels seem to do a good job. The good ones, not the evil ones.

[49:14] There were some angels that were evil, and they became demons. Don't do what they do. They're bad. But the good angels, they seem to do this well, right?

[49:24] I mean, you look at, let's see, Isaiah 6, just real quick. whenever I talk for long enough, I eventually mention Isaiah 6, because it's like one of my favorite things.

[49:45] You know, it's where Isaiah is like, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

[49:58] It's this crazy scene. Above him, stood the seraphim, some angels. Each had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

[50:08] And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

[50:23] So there's this enthusiastic, continuous reaction to God, which is basically, they're just like, ah, oh, he's holy.

[50:34] You know, man, he's holy. He's so holy. He's the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord over all of us, right? The angels are saying, right? And the whole earth, and so he fills the heavens, and the whole earth is full of his glory.

[50:47] Wow. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, man. And let me tell you something else. He's holy. And he's, oh, he's so holy, right? It's like, they're just so, I gotta tell you this story.

[51:02] So, my dad, he cracked me up one time. He's one of these guys, my dad lives in Cincinnati, and, Cincinnati, Ohio.

[51:13] And he's lived there his whole life, and he somehow knows everyone in the city, it seems like. So, whenever I'm with him, usually he'll be like, oh, take me down to the corner store.

[51:26] I wanna get something. I'm like, okay, sure. So, we jump in the car, and as we go, I'm trying to drive, and he's like, oh, slow down, slow down, slow down, hey, hey, so and so, hey, what's going on?

[51:40] And they're screaming back, and I'm like, okay, go ahead, go ahead, and we go down the street, oh, hold on, slow down, slow down, you know, whatever, and I'm just like, dad, you know, like, can we just drive the car?

[51:52] Well, there was this one time, this, he cracked me up, because like, I was driving, I used to have a 1993 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, and it was awesome.

[52:04] It was a good car, and it had like, cool window tint, and everything like that, and my dad was really proud of it. And he, you know, we were in the car, and so he's like, every time you saw somebody you knew, he's like, oh, you know, look at this car, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, and I'm like, dad, like, come on, you know, but you can't stop him, he can't be stopped.

[52:22] So, you know, anyway, this one guy comes up, and he's on my side, and he's on my side, because I was driving, so he's like, oh, slow down, you know, he like screams across me, and he was like, hey, you know, look at this car, you know, this is my son's car, and you know, they got locked into this thing, like the guy, he was like, he was like, this is your son's car?

[52:45] You know, and he was like, yeah, and the guy was like, oh, man, and my dad was like, yeah, oh, man, yeah, you know, and they just like, kept going back and forth, and just going, oh, man, yeah, you know, and I was just sitting there, cracking up in the car, like, what is happening, you know, they were just so excited about, about the car, I think, you know, and anyway, that reminds me of this scene, kind of, you know, like I think of the angels, as being like that, you know, they're like, one's calling to the other, and they're like, man, you know, look at, look at Jesus, oh, look at him, you know, he's resplendent in his glory, and the devil's like, yeah, you know, he's like, yeah, but look at him, look, he fills the, he fills the heavens, man, yeah, you know, and they're just like, just like passing it back and forth, and they're just like, they're just getting so amped on it, you know, and this is what they do, apparently, like all of the time, I guess, you know, this, angels are just, they're just thinking about the Lord, and like looking at him, and just, angels like to proclaim stuff, and they like proclaim truth, you know, and then like lots of, there's another passage,

[53:55] I was going to read you in Luke, when Jesus is born, where that happens, where like one guy shows up, one angel guy shows up, and he, you know, like proclaims some stuff about Jesus, and then it says, and then behold, there was like myriads of angels that appeared, and they were like, yeah, basically, you know, like the posse just rolled in, they were like, yeah, that's right, you know, like Jesus is awesome, and this is what they do, this is how angels, literally, how they roll, so, you know, they're good at it, and what are they doing, they're, they're focusing on the Lord, right, they're understanding the Lord, for who he is, right, which we can do, right, because praise God, we have the scriptures, right, so we can study this, and we can learn, okay, so this is who Jesus is, wow, well that's what the angels are doing, they're looking at him, and they're like, look at that, look, his glory fills the whole earth, look at that, what else does that, nothing else does that, wow, right, we can do that, we can learn that, right, and then they think about it, and they look at it, and they're like, wow, wow, what, how much power must he have, wow, how good is he, that he decided to reach out, and save people, wow, and they just keep thinking about like, yeah, that's crazy, that's crazy, and then they go, and they tell people about it, right, they tell each other about it, hey, you know, did you see what Jesus was doing, look at that, look at that, you know, another place that I won't read, just for the, in the interest of time, is in Revelation, where like, it's in like Revelation 5, where everybody's all sad, because nobody can like, take the scroll from God, and like open it up, and John's like, oh no, and he starts crying, and they're like, well, but look though,

[55:31] Jesus, you know, there he is, and he comes up, and he like takes it, and the angels are like, ah, you know, like look, he took the scroll, like he was worthy, you know, and they start singing a song about it, you know, and it's like, they're very attentive, to what, what especially Christ, is doing, they look at it, they look for it, and they look at it, and they're, they're obsessed with it, you know, and it gets them so excited, and then like I said, they pass it around, right, we can do this, right, this is something we can do, we're a group of people here, who behold Christ, as our daily occupation, well, I would encourage you guys, pass this, around with the brethren, you know, I mean, there was one time, when I was at school, in Cincinnati, where I got, I still remember this, this was like, I don't know, six years ago, or something, and all he did, was he sat down, next to me, and he said like, he, I knew he was a believer, and I was sitting on a bench, and he came, and he sat, and he was like, hey, what's up man, hey, and he was like, you know,

[56:32] I was reading this passage, and it said that, you know, God has given you, all things, that you need, for life, and godliness, you know, and he like, and he like, had his bible, and he like, showed me the passage, real quick, and I was like, yeah, that's cool, you know, he has, he's given me, all things, that I need, for life, and godliness, you know, he's just like, downloaded them, right into, and it just, it encouraged me, you know, and it's like, it's an encouragement, it's nothing, it's one verse, right, he just sat down, told me a verse, got up, and walked away, right, and here I am, like six years later, still being encouraged, by that, right, so we can do that, for one another, you know, if you ever think, oh, I just read a cool verse, in Zephaniah, and it challenged me, text it to somebody, you know, post it on your social media, or something, you know, go, go find somebody, and be like, hey, you know what I read, I read something good, and just tell them, what it was, you know, and then, as we are regenerated believers, these things should stir our hearts, right, so when you fire something off like that, some truth off like that, it lands in the believer's heart, and they're like, yeah, yeah, and it's stoking the fire for Christ, right, so just imagine,

[57:51] I mean, how cool would it be, like, I mean, some, you know, people that I work with in here, for instance, right, how cool would it be, if like, we were just walking, like, through the course of a normal day, and then like, you know, when I walked in, somebody hit me with a verse, you know, and I was like, oh, okay, yeah, and then like, you know, a little bit later, somebody else was like, hey, you know, check this out, you know, and I was like, okay, yeah, you know, and then a little bit later, somebody else hit me with one, like, pretty soon, I would be walking around like, right, you know, like, this day is awesome, you know what I mean, I just, and it, and that's, that's not that hard, right, but I know, like, again, that I work with in here, for instance, I can tell you, there's lots of times where I'm thinking, ooh, I have something that I could share with you, and I just don't, right, I am not angelic in those moments, right, an angel would be proclaiming it, be like, man, I can't believe this, you see what Jesus did, right, I'll see that stuff, and just hold on to it, shameful,

[58:52] I'm sorry, you know, it's, it's wrong, so I just, I pray that for all of us, that we would be much more forthcoming, with, with sharing, what's good about the Lord, just all the time, like, work it into a habit, you know, just anytime you encounter something cool about Jesus, tell it to somebody, you know what I mean, like I said, even if you just fire it into cyberspace, put it on Facebook, you might be like, well, Facebook never changed anybody's mind, I'm not, Facebook, just put it on there, you know what I mean, just put it on, you know, there's, you know how many millions of people are looking at Facebook, like, you don't know, you don't know what they might do, you might encourage somebody's heart, okay, okay, well, just, just the last couple of things here, and then I'll be out of your else's way, since it's now been one hour, as far as how do we cultivate this kind of worship,

[59:56] I've already begun talking about it, but I think, first, we have to make sure that we are convinced that it is necessary, okay, like, I hope that I've convinced you that God finds this necessary, right, this is something we need to sort out, okay, we need to approach the Lord in a way that blesses him, so, be convinced that it's necessary, think back over these passages, I mean, some of you guys are note takers, and I hope that you, maybe at least sketch down some of these references, even if you weren't able to look at them, go check them out again, go read them again, and just let the weight of them kind of bake into you, right, become disturbed by them, and the thought that your worship might not be pleasing to God, right, become disturbed by that, okay, and then, I think another thing we have to do is we have to pray, that the Lord would change our hearts, and change our desires, so that we will want to worship him more fully, right, word of caution, take that suggestion really seriously as well, okay, sometimes like, it's hard for me too, sometimes in Christianity, people will be like, oh,

[61:04] I have this big problem, what do I do, how do I solve it, and somebody's like, well, pray, and we kind of go, okay, but like, really, no, you have direct access to that same crazy God that runs everything, that's nothing to sneeze at, okay, like, you need to realize, okay, I can pray to God, right, because of Christ, if we're in Christ, we can go to him, and we can say, God, I've been putting down some worship that I think is shameful, and I think you haven't been, you haven't been pleased with it, and now that I think about it, I haven't been pleased with it, and it hasn't been right, and it hasn't been, it hasn't lined up with what you deserve, I want you to change my heart, so that I will do this better, because you are worthy of all the worship that I could give you, and the very highest quality of worship that exists anywhere is what you deserve, there's never going to be anybody that brings worship to the Lord, then it's more than what he deserves, and he's going to be like, ooh, chill, never going to happen, you can't, like, he's infinitely worthy, so, but we got to keep pressing towards it, right, we can't just go, oh, he's infinitely worthy, so whatever, no, you got to keep moving forward, and just like, yeah,

[62:20] Lord, come on, just keep, keep walking me towards more ideal worship, until I die, and then I'm in my glorified body, and then I'm going to still be trying to reach you, just like, trying my hardest to just pour out the word, because he's still going to be infinite, right, even in your glorified state, and you're in heaven, like, he's still going to be worthy of more worship than what you can conjure, isn't that crazy?

[62:44] really? So it's like, yeah, you need to move, like, you need to be moving forward in this direction of worshiping him, man, there's so much space that we don't occupy in worshiping the Lord, like, you know, we, there's just so much more room for growth.

[63:04] Well, in addition to those things, we need to make sure that we're meditating on the word, right? Big surprise, it came down to pray and read your Bible, right?

[63:17] I mean, I, you knew it was going to eventually, right? You knew it was going to be a matter of, you need to pray with sincerity, and you need to study the word with sincerity, right? But it's true, you do, okay?

[63:28] It's just like we talked about with the angels, right? Study Christ, study God, study, study what he is, and what he's done, you know, we're doing a study in our community group on the attributes of God, and it's awesome, it's been awesome.

[63:43] It's, it has produced some great times of sort of spontaneous worship. We were just talking about creator before Christmas, and we were just like getting hyped about it, you know, as more we realized like, oh, man, yeah, he created this, and he does this, and he sustains this, and we were just like sitting in my basement, like, you know, starting to kind of get excited, you know, just study that, study who he is, will lead you to heartfelt worship.

[64:09] Well, I, I think I gave you a lot of things to consider, and I hope that, I hope that the Lord, I hope the Lord will actually change us.

[64:28] I was really, I was really hoping, when I knew I was going to be preaching this morning, that it wouldn't go well, you know, like, I don't, I didn't want it to just be like, ooh, yeah, that was a tight outline, you know, or like, ooh, man, those, those points were really tied together, like, you know what I mean?

[64:49] Like, I, I, I don't want this to be good. I want it to, I want the Lord to take the truth that is, that was here, and impact you with it, and change you, into something different than what you were before.

[65:07] That's what I want for you. That's what I want for me too, right? I really, I so don't want us to just sit in here, and like, hear this, and be like, oh, cool, and then leave.

[65:17] Like, I, I hope that doesn't happen. I hope that the Lord will move. So, let me pray. Lord, Lord, Lord, I'm so, I'm so personally sorry, for the, just, lazy worship, that I bring to you, daily, with my life.

[65:45] I'm sorry, Lord, that my life is so vain, so much of the time, that it's so easy for me to just disconnect from you, and just kind of live long stretches of, of hours, and days, and stuff, just, like, just, not, not even really conscious of what I'm doing, which is living as an ambassador of the Most High God.

[66:12] Oh, Lord, forgive, forgive us, for where we have done that. Please forgive us. I pray that you have called it to our attention this morning, and that, you know, we, we are believing that we've done this.

[66:30] And Lord, please forgive us. And we're thankful for the cross. We're thankful for the fact that, because of Jesus' blood shed for us, and the, the righteousness that you put on us as a covering, we can be forgiven for our, our unacceptable worship.

[66:49] Lord, we can be forgiven. And you are kind with us, and you are gentle with us, and you shape us into what we should be, Lord, but we are so heartbroken over our failures.

[67:02] And let us be, Lord, let us be heartbroken over our failures, because they, they, we have been provoking you with our sin. And Lord, that's, as redeemed people, that's the last thing we wanted to do, is provoke you into anger, because we love you.

[67:19] We do love you. Lord, we love you so much, but help us in our lack of love. God, please, please, anything that I've said this morning, that is going to harm someone, or distract them from you, Lord, I pray that you might literally delete it from their memory.

[67:48] And take the truth that I managed to get across, Lord, and just use it to drill into us. Do not let us go out of this room, Lord, without being changed and rocked.

[68:00] We can't afford it. We don't have time. Lord, we don't have time. I don't, I didn't even know if I was going to make it through this sermon. Like, I could have died. Lord, we, the building could come down.

[68:11] We don't know what, how much time we have, Lord, and it's important. You deserve good, and heartfelt, and real worship. You deserve it, and we want to give it to you now.

[68:22] Right now. Thank you, Lord. We love you. Amen. Would you stand with us?

[68:33] Um,