The Gathering Surf City

Alrighty. So this morning,

last week,

Kyle preached on love.

And coming basically
from deuteronomy,

chapter six,

and what God said to his
people when he said,

love the Lord your God with all
your heart and soul and mind.

And then one of the gospel accounts
adds strength to it,

because once you get everything
pointed in the same direction,

then it's all going to follow.

And yet,

I have always identified our first priority
as a gathering is loving God.

And loving God is an act of worship.

Worship is loving God,

and loving God is worship.

And so,

as Kyle broke down the different concepts
and ideas of love last week,

I was grateful that he mentioned
the things that,

you know,

if you examine your life in such
a way and understand time,

energy, talented,

the things that you
give yourself to,

right. Those are things
that you love.

You're going to give yourself
to the things you love.

And so I listened as I was
driving last week.

It was fun to listen and hear the
worship and hear Kyle preach.

And quite honestly,

it's a five hour drive,

so I got to hear him a lot,

just so you know.

So here's a question this morning,

and I'm going to ask it specifically
so everybody get your answer ready.

What does worship look like?

But I'm going to pick on Greg because
I warned him ahead of time.

Greg, what does worship look like?

Right? I did not.

All right,

Greg, I love your answer.

I didn't give him the answer.

I didn't ask him what he would say.

But in his sentence,

there's a word that I think is pivotal
with regard to worship.

He said a word.

It's the verb in the sentence.

What did you say,

Greg? We.

What? Give.

We give.

See, worship is something we give.

And worship can be measured by.

Get ready.

What we give.

I'm not talking about offering plates
because we don't even know where

they are anymore.

What I'm talking about is what we give
of who we are and what we are to

God. Because of what?

Why? That's where we're going today.

You ready?

So here's the two verses I want you to
hear as the point of the message

today. Psalm 95,

six and seven says,

come, let's worship and bow down.

Let's kneel before the Lord our maker
for he is our God and we are the

people of his pasture,

the sheep under his care.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for today and the opportunity
that you've given us to

gather and to celebrate,

to sing.

God, I thank you for all that goes into
the preparation for this time.

And, God,

yes, indeed,

we call it worship.

We call ourselves a
worship community.

We come together to
sing your praises,

to pray,

to fellowship,

to study about you,

and to study from you
and to hear from you.

And so,

God, today,

as we gather for the
purpose of worship,

God, let us worship God,

help us to come with an open heart,

to give to you all that we are,

and we pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. Now,

Greg didn't know what word I was
going to pick on in his answer.

As a matter of fact,

when I said what one word
and looked at him,

he didn't even know what
word I was looking for,

right. But the idea is,

is that God has blessed us.

What will we do in response?

So when I ask the question,

what does worship look like?

You can all come up with kind of a
generic answer to that question.

Well, this is what worship
looks like,

right? Or what if I
ask this question,

what does your worship look like?

What does your worship look like?

If you were challenged in the fact
of responding to that question,

how would you answer?

Would you say,

well, I do it every Sunday
morning at 810.

I sit in my seat because
they're assigned.

Not really.

I sing the songs I am told to sing.

Right. I wear the clothes that
I'm expected to wear.

Right. See,

we've given the world
this impression,

right.

That because we gather like this,

and because we sit like this,

and because we dress like this,

and because we say the right words and
we stand at the right time and sit

down at the right time,

and because this is worship.

Well, is that worship?

Well, I can say this.

It can be.

It absolutely can be worship,

quite honestly.

Because if it wasn't,

I wouldn't be doing it.

Okay. I wouldn't encourage
you to do it.

But what does your worship look like
when you walk out of this room?

What does your worship look like when
you're driving down the highway?

What does your worship look like when
you're sitting alone at your

kitchen table?

What does your worship look like?

See, that's the question that I think
we need to answer for ourselves,

because psalm 95,

which is attributed to David,

it doesn't.

The psalm itself doesn't give
us an authorization,

but I think it's in Hebrews that it
identifies David as the author of

this particular psalm.

But psalm 95 is one of
the worship psalms.

It's one of the songs that God's people
would sing as they would approach

the temple and as they would
come together in worship,

and they would encourage one another
by singing this song.

Come, let's worship.

Let's bow down.

Let's kneel before the
Lord our maker.

Let's engage in this together.

So when we look at worship as being
a product of our love for God,

because if God has commanded
us to love him,

God's expectation is
for us to love him.

Then I will follow the question of what
does worship look like and what

does your worship look like
with this question?

What does love look like?

What's your love look like?

Do the people around you,

the people that you love most,

do they know that you love them?

And how do they.

How is your love expressed to them?

Right. So that they know,

oh, man,

I am loved.

Right?

Or do we go through our lives in such
a way that we just kind of.

I mean,

we live in a country that says,

just operate in your own little world
and don't worry about the people

around you.

You know,

this idea of,

I. I don't need anything.

I don't need anybody.

I certainly don't want to give
anything to anybody.

Right? I'm collecting for myself.

I'm collecting for my own.

Whatever portfolio.

I don't know.

So what does your love look like?

Well, here you go.

God certainly deserves our love.

God certainly deserves our worship.

So I want us to understand this,

and here's a.

This is going to be probably the strongest
statement I'll make to you

this morning.

You will absolutely worship
that which you love.

If you love what?

I don't know.

Pick anything,

right? If you love your car,

you know what?

Maybe you've got a.

One of those project cars.

I know guys like to
have project cars,

right? And they get out there and they
work on them and they clean on

them and they shine
on them and they.

And they do things to them and they
add to them and all that kind of

stuff. And what are they doing?

They're investing.

What their time.

They're investing their talent.

Maybe they're investing their
resources in this item that,

if left out in the rain,

will rust and die,

quite honestly.

You know what I mean?

So what.

What we love,

we will indeed worship.

Now, a car is not a big deal,

right? I mean,

you know,

it gets you from point a to point b,

but maybe you love yours.

I don't know.

You think we're susceptible
to loving our,

what, job,

career? I know people who are.

I know people who love
just what they do,

and certainly they invest themselves
in it even beyond its return or its

reward. Maybe it provides for their
lives and that sort of thing,

but I know people at points
in their lives will say,

you know what I neglected other
parts of my life for my job.

And that's the one I hate.

I hate to hear dads and fathers
and husbands say,

I neglected my family for my job.

Now, really,

you know,

I don't know many people that just.

Most people just love themselves enough
that they love their job.

You can tell what you love and what
you worship by the way you invest

yourself in it.

You will worship what you love.

All right,

so let's look at the verse.

Come. Obviously,

God's people in congregation are encouraging
one another to come together

for a purpose,

for a reason.

Come together.

So what?

So that we can worship.

Let's worship.

Let us worship.

Come together and worship.

And so I started thinking,

all right,

so worship.

And then it's also the continuation
of the sins.

Come, let's worship.

Worship and bow down.

I thought,

all right,

so we've got worship and bow down.

What. What do we mean by that?

What is it that we're supposed
to do in that?

And then it continues.

Let's kneel before the
Lord our maker.

So I started digging into the hebrew
words that represent worship.

Bow down and kneel.

So here's the way we can translate
it into our English.

You ready?

This could actually say,

come, worship,

worship, worship.

Or it could say,

come, bow,

bow, bow.

Or it could say,

come, kneel,

kneel, kneel.

Because all three of those words represent
what is essentially a posture

of submission and surrender,

of giving up ourselves and giving
ourselves back to God.

So it's.

Yes, give praise,

give worship,

give honor and glory to God.

What? It's the key word in all
of those statements is give.

Give of who we are to God.

Right? So bow,

kneel, worship.

All of those things in the Hebrew actually
get back to a root of bending

the knee.

All right,

you ready?

So as I was looking at this,

I thought,

all right,

so if the psalmist,

David and God by inspiration,

is telling us,

come and worship.

All right,

so what's the first step of worship?

You ready?

If it meets the bow,

kneel, bend the knee.

All right,

so we go down,

right?

Okay, come,

let's worship.

All right,

so here we're ready to worship.

Let's bow down.

Wait a minute.

I'm on my knees,

God.

What more do you want?

Okay, now we're going to bow down.

You see,

this is not very dignified,

is it?

What if I preached every
message just like this?

What if I go ahead and take the third
step and just fall in my face?

See, nobody wants to see their
pastor laying in the floor.

But my point is,

is that when we give of ourselves,

what we're doing is we're emptying who
we are to the glory and honor of

God.

We're to give all of what we are
and who we are in submission,

surrender, sacrifice and
offering to God.

But we don't live in a
country that teaches,

encourages that,

do we?

We live in a country that says,

well, what about me?

Y'all know,

years ago,

and I don't know if
it got blown away,

it should have gotten blown away,

but there was a store that down in Myrtle
beach that was entitled it's

all about me.

Matter of fact,

I had some friends of mine,

Angie, that they just,

she and a friend of hers decided to take
pictures under the sign for that

store.

It's all about me.

That's the culture we live in,

folks. It's all about me.

What about me?

How about how I feel?

How about what I think?

Why aren't you doing
something for me?

That's what the world teaches,

right? And yet we have
a reason to bow,

to, kneel,

to worship God because
it's right here.

Because he is our God.

And, folks,

here's the thing.

You know,

fights, arguments,

debates have started over trying
to define goddess.

And quite honestly,

I just keep going,

you know what?

If you can define God,

then that's not God,

because you can't understand
the enormity,

the magnitude,

the majesty,

the immenseness of God.

And when God,

in all that he is,

reaches out to us and says,

I love you,

how should we respond?

With love,

with our worship,

with our sacrifice,

our surrender,

with the giving of who
we are back to him,

right? And yet we have this tendency
of sort of pigeonholing things that

we value and nothing,

offering them to God.

So when I looked at this,

I was reading,

you know,

and I'm going through my,

come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the
Lord our maker.

Why?

Because he is God.

But more importantly than that,

he is our God.

What does that mean?

That is an exercise of our worship,

because you can have other gods,

y'all. You know,

in the Old Testament,

when David was writing these things,

God's people were dancing around Asher
poles and worshiping baals and

offering sacrifices,

offering their children
as sacrifices.

You see?

So they were,

they were recognizing and actually
submitting and surrendering and

sacrificing to other gods.

It's why the greatest condemnation of
God's people in the Old Testament

is idolatry.

And yet I look around our
world today and I go,

there's idolatry everywhere we turn.

People are worshiping everything
in this creation,

and yet what we don't realize is that
it goes on to tell us why we

worship.

He is our maker.

He is our creator.

He's our provider.

He's our ruler,

he's our sustainer,

he's our everything,

four. He is our God.

And we.

And here's the simple
statement of it.

We belong to him.

We belong to him.

All right,

so I'm gonna venture
back just a moment,

to my childhood,

which takes a while,

but I remember times as a kid,

I didn't want my parents
to be my parents.

I thought they were unfair.

I thought they didn't understand.

I remember the situation in which
you'd say something like,

I wish you weren't my mama.

You know?

Now, the fortunate thing is moms are
wise and understand that that's not

true. But in the moment right now,

quite honestly,

I've known some situations where
it was true and it was actually

exercised that way,

where families just bust
up over what is,

quite honestly,

selfishness. I want what
I want when I want it,

you see?

And then you find out where
your love really is.

Okay? So when I look at this
and I start saying,

and we are.

So, here you go.

Come, let's worship.

Bow down,

let's kneel before the
Lord our maker,

for he is everything.

He is our God,

and we are.

We are his people.

We're the people of his pasture.

Now, is that an insult to you?

Ready? Cause if it is
an insult to you,

then you probably think too
highly of yourself.

That's mean for me to say,

isn't it?

Right? I mean,

we think we're pretty smart.

Most people I've ever met think
pretty highly of themselves.

They do think,

okay, yeah.

And I've shared with you that.

I've known some christians
that think,

yeah, God was pretty smart
to get me on his team.

It's like playground picking.

Yes. I want you on my team.

And go,

okay, God,

good job.

I can help you with this.

Right now,

we belong to him.

Why? Because our very breath
is dependent on him.

Everything that we are
is dependent on God.

And the more that we surrender
ourselves to him,

guess what?

And this is the coolest
part of all this.

The more that we surrender ourselves
to him in sacrifice,

in worship,

love to him,

the more he pours back.

And I don't mean that as a transactional
kind of thing.

Like, I'm gonna love God the most
so that he'll give me more.

No, there are some theologies and practices
out there that do that.

You know what okay,

I'm gonna.

I'm not even going to go there.

Y'all know who they are.

They come on tv a lot of times.

Sorry, I shouldn't have
said that either,

but I did.

Here's a question for you,

because this last phrase makes me think
we are the sheep under his care.

So here's a question.

Years ago,

I preached through a book called a
shepherd looks at the 23rd psalm.

How many of you have read that book?

If you've read it,

you're probably a little older.

It's an older book.

It was written in the
early seventies,

I think.

And the guy was.

He actually was a shepherd.

He was a sheep owner.

And he described the
behavior of sheep.

And each chapter of the book went through
the way sheep behave and how

the shepherd is absolutely necessary
for the survival,

the flourishing of those sheep.

And as I preached my
way through that,

I thought,

you know what?

And I'm going to say this,

and I know there's some kids and
younger folks in the room,

but I'm an idiot.

Now, I know y'all don't like for
me to say things like that,

but I look at my life and I go,

goddess, how did I come to think that
I am so smart and so necessary and

so important?

I'm a sheep,

and without the shepherd guiding
my every moment,

I wander off a cliff.

You see,

folks, I just want you
to understand.

Now, I know God's given me a mind,

an intellect and intelligence.

So I can't actually say
that I am an idiot.

I'm just so dependent on who God is.

So what's our response?

What are you going to do next?

What does your worship look like?

What does your love
for God look like?

You're going to leave here in probably
about seven minutes.

Go ahead and time it for you.

You're going to head out there.

Will you continue to worship?

Is your worship defined by a room,

by a chair,

by a song,

by a.

By a physical trapping,

or is your worship giving
of who you are?

Is worship giving yourself
back to the one who gave.

Who gave you?

You see?

That's worship,

all right,

I tell you what.

As we continue to walk our
way through purpose,

priority and plantain,

I've titled these messages
just the gathering.

The gathering.

Worship. Nobody tells us how
to do worship except God.

You know,

there are those.

Scott, did I ever tell
you what to sing?

Did I ever tell you how to sing it?

Did I ever tell you what to
say in between the songs?

Who tells you that stuff?

God does.

God does.

Folks, let God guide your worship.

Let God guide your surrender.

Let God guide your sacrifice.

What will you give him because
he's given you so much?

Okay, starts with Jesus.

That's what God gave us so much of.

That's how God proved his love to us
by dying so that we might have

salvation, so that we might
have redemption,

so that we might have this intimate
relationship with him.

And if you don't have it,

we want it for you.

We'd love to introduce you to Jesus.

Okay, this is one of my favorite messages
to share because I want folks

to give themselves to God because
the more we give back,

the more God gives.

Alrighty, let's pray.

Father, I thank you for today.

And I thank you,

God, that you have loved us.

God, you've loved us first.

You've loved us most.

You loved us best.

And so,

God, I know that,

God, you hold my hand.

You walk me through every
moment of the day.

God, I don't even know how things
happen the way they happen.

I can't explain it.

I know that I can say,

well, it's God.

I know that I can say God did it.

I know that I can say that you've
caused it to happen.

And, God,

that people take that so
simplistically like,

God, I just trust you.

I want us to trust you.

I want us as a congregation,

as a worship community,

to truly worship,

not just when we're sitting
in nice red chairs,

but to worship you every day,

all day long.

So, God,

as we gather,

first I just admit and
confess my sin,

my selfishness.

God, you know me.

You love me anyway.

So, God,

help us to surrender
ourselves to you.

Help us to love you back.

Help us to act like it all the time.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.