This sermon emphasizes the importance of true worship, highlighting the need to remove hindrances like spiritual pride, unforgiveness, and distractions that prevent heartfelt worship. It stresses the significance of a broken and humble heart before God, calling for submission, prioritizing time with God, preparation through discipline, and the removal of worship blockers to experience a life of genuine worship and spiritual transformation.

Let's get into the message. And I don't want to, what's hard for me is last week we had a very powerful service. You know, people are still emailing us and that they've been really just changed and transformed by the power of God. And that word, that message, as you know, was on worship, right? Are you a seeker or are you a skeptic? And that just really began to minister not only to my own heart, but to many different people who are here. And what I want to do is is give part two of that message before jumping into Matthew, because a lot of people were left saying, okay, I'm motivated, Shane, how do we worship? Show me how we worship. So that's the title of this message, teach us how to worship. And I actually had some emails this week on practical application. What exactly does that look like? So I wanted to bring this to you and say, this is how we worship according to God's word. But I need to put in a big disclaimer there, because I'm not going to teach you how to worship. God does that through the power of the Holy Spirit as we surrender our lives to that. If we would just follow that last song, I surrender all, I wouldn't even need to give a sermon. We could just sing that song, have a time of prayer and go home. I surrender all. So all worship is, is you're connecting with God. It's that heart of worship. And last week, where we left off was on this point of worship. And I talked about how worship heals, worship awakens, worship can set people free as we worship God. But as I look around and I see the drought in California, I think it parallels the drought in many souls in churches today. They're dead to the things of God, they're dead to worship. And we don't have this heart of worship. We're starving for water. The world is starving for God. American churches are starving for God. Worship's dead. It's dry formalism. And as I said before, we're not standing in line at the DMV. We're in a powerful worship service. We're not in a cemetery. We're in a powerful worship service. We're worshiping God, I hope. So we have to remember that. And often worship would precede healing. People would be healed as they worship God. As they cried out to God, the woman who fell down and said, my daughter is vexed with the devil. Would you come and heal her? She worshiped him. The man who was possessed by a legion of demons came and he worshiped him. The synagogue official who lost his daughter, she died. He came and he worshiped him. So worship often precedes healing. Worship often precedes breakthroughs. When we come and we worship God, that's when change takes place. So it begs the question, when was the last time you truly worshiped God? When was the last time? I'm not talking about just putting on music on the radio. I'm not even talking about being here at this service. That's not necessarily worshiping God. Sometimes that's going through the motions. I'm just going through the motions. Isn't this what Christians do? I'm just going through the motions. So that's where we left off last week. If you weren't here, I would encourage you, go home, listen to that message on worship. And then this part two will make sense because now that we're inspired to worship, how do we worship? And I'm just going to talk about three points that I think will be very applicable, and they are step on your toe points. It's, yeah, of course, right? What do we often say? If you don't like what I'm saying, it's because you need to hear what I'm saying. And many people, if you want to foster, I'm just, I'm just, I'm not talking to everybody. I'm talking to the few who truly want to turn the life around and begin worshiping God, have a deep prayer life, a deep study life. What does that look like? Well, let's talk about the first thing. The first thing has to be submission. Submission to the work of the Spirit, submission to God leads to direction, leads to worship, leads to the filling of the Spirit. As we submit our lives to God, now I empty myself. Now I can be filled with the Spirit of God. Now I can worship Him. So without this missing element of submission, it's very hard to worship God. And I like what Paul said in Romans, likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we don't know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And people don't understand, do you ever, sometimes do you not know what to pray for? Your situation is so difficult. Life is so challenging. I don't know what to pray for, Lord. I'm at loss. I'm at a loss for words. I don't know what's going on here. But the Spirit in us, resides in us, is crying, Abba, Father. He's praying. He's interceding because He knows, He knows what our prayer needs are, and He's groaning. He's crying out to God, as it were, through us to answer these prayers. And this is an amazing concept that this Holy Spirit of God resides in a believer. Jesus said, when I leave, it's good for me to leave because when I leave, the Comforter, the Paracletus is going to come, and He's going to be inside of you. It's like, wow, how does that work? So this is what happens with worship. We either quench and we grieve the Spirit of God, or we surrender ourselves and allow the Spirit to flow freely. I'm not talking about weirdness, right? I've clarified that many times before. I'm talking about a powerful spiritual life, a life of worship to where you come out of that prayer closet a different man, a different woman, because worship has transformed your life. So the first area requires submission. You have to say, Lord, I don't have it and I want it, or I want a deeper life. I want to know you in the power of your resurrection. I want to know you in the fellowship of your suffering. I can sing that song, Lord, I surrender all, but how many people in their heart are going, yeah, right? Right? Let's be honest. I surrender all, yeah, no way, uh-uh. Then why sing it? I think they call the word for that called hypocrite. We have to be willing to, and I'm only saying that because you guys, you can take this. This is truth, that I surrender all. That's the life of a disciple in the Bible, surrendering their entire life. Everything is his. My attitude is his. I can't carry bitterness and judgmentalism and arrogance. I can't carry any of that. I have to submit and surrender everything to him. I surrender all. Lord, I empty myself. Will you fill me with your spirit, Lord, because I can't get through life without you. So to start to worship God and to have that life of worship, teach us how to worship, starts with submission. I gave the analogy in the first service. It's hard to find analogies for this area, but as you submit to God, it's like those big five-gallon water jugs. You've seen those, right, from Sparklets. A lot of people put it under the faucet, and they turn on the faucet for one second. Oh, that's enough. I'm good. Or I can, you don't even have water. Sure, I do. Look, I just wiggle. You see that little tiny bit of water in that jug? I'm good. I don't have to change anything. I don't have to alter anything. I don't have to repent of anything. I just, I just, I'm good. I've got this little bit of water where some of us need to turn on the faucet and let it run. Let it keep flowing into the vessel. Not only that, let it come out of the vessel. Let it keep, I need to sit under, actually move out of the way, water pitcher. Let me sit underneath that fountain because I'm a leaky vessel. I'm a leaky vessel. I have to sit underneath the fountain of life every day because my vessel is leaky. D.L. Moody said that. I can't take credit. He said that we are leaky vessels, and we have to sit underneath the fountain of life every day. Do you understand that the world contaminates us? Sin contaminates us. If we don't sit underneath the fountain of life and get worship in, and get the word of God in, and get prayer in, that we will be pulled away from God. Because we're not a neutral being that just stand right here, and I can just, you know, we're pulled one way or the other. We're either pulled towards worship of God, or we're pulled towards the worship of this world. We can't serve both masters. So it begins and ends with submission. And then from there, the first point I want to talk with you briefly on is prioritizing. If you want, I'm just going to talk to those who want a lifestyle of worship. They want a deep and powerful prayer life. They want to come out of there worshiping God, filled with the Spirit of God. They've had a strong time of prayer, and in His word, I'm talking to you. That's who I'm talking to tonight. You've got to prioritize it. You have to. We prioritize everything else, don't we? Whatever's on our calendar, it's what we want to do. I'll prioritize a golf game. I'll prioritize this movie. I'll prioritize this. I'll prioritize that. Everything's prioritized. Why? We schedule what's important to us. So you have to schedule time in with God. It should be the first thing on your calendar. Bam, right here, wherever that time is. And I'm not going to get legalistic, you know, morning, evening, whatever it is. Whenever you can give God your freshest energy, your freshest strength, when you're at your peak, give Him your best. Whenever that is. For most people, it's early in the morning. Give Him that. It has to be a priority. And what the devil wants to get us away from the source of life. So he's going to do everything he can to get you out from underneath that living water that we're receiving. And that's why we hear this more than anything else when I talk about this topic. But Shane, I'm too busy. Right? I'm too busy, Shane. What's on a priority then? We prioritize everything else. How many people tonight are going to go home and do this? From seven o'clock to 730 to 8 to 830 to 9 to 930 to 10 o'clock, 1030, maybe 11. I'm getting tired. I'm too busy. I don't have any time. No, you're not too busy. Your priorities are all jacked up. When I get home, my wife's going to say, don't say that either. Right? We have time. We just don't prioritize it. And the enemy knows if you're a believer, I believe you're a believer, you're a child of God. He's going to do whatever he can to distract you. You wonder why we're so distracted? On my phone, I can have an app for this and an app for that and the Greek and the Hebrew and the interlinear. And what does this guy say in this commentary, that commentary, the new American standard and the NIV and the ESV and the new King James, all at the click of a button, everything right there. But we're too busy. Our blessing has become our curse. So you've got to fight for your time like a soldier fights for battle. Everything is coming against your time. Time is ticking. Teach us to number our days, prioritizing. We've got to put first things first. If not now, when? We'll go sit in line and watch a movie for two hours, but we have no time for God. It's because our heart is sick and it needs spiritual resuscitation. So you've got to prioritize it. And I believe that a disconnect from the source of life is the number one cause of depression and discouragement. Notice how I didn't say it's always the case. I said, I believe that when you separate yourself from God, from that source of life, that is one of the number one contributors to depression and discouragement. Why? Because you're disconnected from the source of life. Ask any addict how they feel caught in between knowing they want God, but the pull of that addiction is pulling. I've talked to them all the time that they're miserable. They're disconnected from that source of life. People are coming to church. They'll come to church tomorrow throughout a landscape and they'll leave. They're no different when they arrive. They're disconnected from that source of life. They get home. Nothing changes. You've got to stay connected to that source of life. The enemy wants to disconnect you from that and me. All these things are simple, but they're not easy. Everything I'm going to talk about is simple, but it's not easy. And I've said many, this is nothing new under the sun. If it's new, it's not true. And if it's true, it's not new. You've heard that saying, right? We've talked about all this before, but sometimes we've got our, you know, our cages have got to be rattled. You've got to rattle my cage. Yeah, I'm going to rattle your cage. So you open the door and come out. Prioritizing. We put first things first, always. We have time for our favorite movies. We have time for the favorite shows, all these different things. The last time I checked, not too many people missed the Superbowl. Had four hours set aside on a Sunday. No problem. Oh, I could just, I could take that one on many different directions. And we wonder why we're not hungry for the things of God. Think about that. They spend $4 million for 30 seconds to grab your attention during the Superbowl. You don't think there's some influence there? $4 million for 30 seconds. Why is that? As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. They want your attention. They want you to be and move your priorities over to them. The whole battle is for influence and for priorities. So if you want a heart of worship, you've got to prioritize your life. It has to be, it has to be. Actually, let me make a statement here. It's on my calendar. Do you realize that? My worship time, my time with God is on my calendar every single day. There are seasons. People get sick. This comes up. There's, you can't, I'm not talking about that, but for the majority, it's on my, my, my wife knows. First thing in the morning, it's on my calendar from here on out, hopefully for a while. It's on my, everything revolves around Him. See when everything revolves around Christ, everything else takes a second, a second seat, a seat in the back. Then Christ is my priority. Then everything else is scheduled around Him. Doesn't mean I have to work and pay the bills. Doesn't mean you have to do this and, you know, all these different things, but that's my priority. He is. So everything is centered around that. And there's a wonderful word you guys need to learn. It's in the dictionary. It's under N and it's followed by the letter O. No, no, I'm over committed. No, I can't do that. No, I can't go there. No, I can't do that. Not a hermit living out in the desert, right? You understand that? But everybody's inundated. Everybody's too busy. Nobody has a day off. Nobody can take a Sabbath. We're all too busy. All this stuff that's supposed to make our life very easy has made our life very difficult. So I tell people often, take a media fast. You're not going to die without Facebook. You're not going to die without Twitter. You're not going to die without looking at the computer screen, wondering what's going on in the news. It's very healthy sometimes to reprioritize your day and seek God. Here's a question. I didn't present the first service, but I'll present it now. How much time do you spend in Facebook versus God's book? How much time do you spend on YouTube versus in the word of God and prayer? Don't raise your hands. Let's just ask ourselves this question. Because if we have all this time, see, it's really not about time. It's about prioritizing our time. So priority has to be number one. It has to be a priority. And I don't have a lot of time, but in the first service, I went over a little bit more practical application. But in order to make it a priority in my life, how did I do that? Well, I already have, there's worship I know I'm going to put on in the morning. I've got the Bible already ready. I've got it marked. I've got it, you know, so I know I get up in the morning, there's a plan. A lot of people just get up and they're like, let's see, where should I start? Matthew, I don't know. I don't know. I read that yesterday. I don't even know where to start. Ezekiel. Hope it's not as boring as the bread. I don't know. Forget it. Rise, eat, it's too hard. 1,500 pages. Where do I even start? I don't even understand this thing. That's what people say, right? Well, a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step in the right direction. You have the word of God. You open up Matthew. You have a piece of paper. Lord, help me. Show me the spirit. Help me understand these things. And as you're going, you write down questions. You look them up. It becomes a passion of yours. Then you're into Mark, and then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and Acts, and Romans. And then you get into some deep theological issues in Romans. Write down your questions on election, on these things, and seek them out. Get a good study Bible. You make it a priority. You're ready for the day. If you just sit down, it just, I mean, who goes to work and has no idea what they're going to do? Nobody. Hopefully, you go to work. You know what you're going to do. There's a plan. The same thing with the word of God. We have to prioritize it. And then when it's a priority, it becomes important. And then when it's important, it gets done. And with that, you have to have the motivation to do that. The next point. Preparation. Preparation. Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. So once you prioritize, now you've got to prepare. Teach us to number our days. The Bible says, listen, your days are going, boom, boom. Do you know you're dying? You're not getting younger. Well, the kids are getting a little bit, you know, they're growing. But at a certain age, I think around 30, your body starts declining. Most of us are dying. My little daughter is going to turn nine and I remember her crawling like it was last week. Where's time going? Teach us to number our days. It's almost like we should have this big clock in our living room. One day left, Shane, you're halfway through your life. Number our days. And it reminds me, oh, I've got to number my days. Everything is vitally important. How I conduct myself, how I spend my time. Teach us to number our days. It becomes preparation. We prepare. Because one thing to prioritize, but if you're not prepared, you'll fall flat on your face. And what happens in this area of preparation is three things work against you. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all against you in this area of preparation. As you're preparing, they're unpreparing you. Right? What is the world does? The world influences us away from God. Right? Away from God. Influences away from... Let's talk about those $4 million in 30 seconds. Did those commercials pull us closer to God or further away? I mean, what that the world just pulls is just by nature. They can't help themselves. They pull us away from God because we love it and we get pulled away from God. So you have that distraction. And then we have the flesh. What the flesh does, it's our carnal nature. The flesh makes excuses. I'm too tired. The Bible's boring. I've got lots to do. The flesh doesn't like to be in submission to the word of God. I'll tell you that right now. The flesh loves to be God. So the world pulls, the flesh makes excuses, and the devil comes in and throws in tons of distractions. All those things are working against us. So to be forewarned is to be forearmed. I'm forewarning you so you can go into this forearmed. I mean, how many people come into spiritual battle unprepared and untrained? It's like, enemy, take your best shot. Here I am. I have no spiritual disciplines. Enemy, take your best shot. And we're not ready for what happens. On this issue of preparation, I'm going to say something here that really hinges, this whole thing hinges on this point. The number one hindrance, I believe, to a life of worship is not having a right heart. Psalms 96, 9, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. You see, a life set apart for God and worship go hand in hand. Holiness complements worship where worldly fights it. What I mean by that is if we're filling our mind with a bunch of junk all week, how are we supposed to get up and worship God in the morning? If you're feeding on death, how are you going to have spiritual life in the morning? This is just practical application we've talked about many times before. Out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak and your feet will walk. What I mean is what I'm putting in to myself, right? What I'm putting in throughout the week is going to come out in my actions. And this is why I go against entertainment a lot because we're putting in all this junk and we wonder why we have no passion for the things of God. We go to bed with these shows on, reality shows, CSI Miami, and all the Desperate Housewives, and I don't even know if those are playing. I told the first congregation I need to go and make a list of what movies are out or TV programs are still on and what aren't. But my point is, think about it. If that's what you're feeding your mind at night and you're going to get up and want to worship God, uh-uh. No, it doesn't work that way. You can't put in darkness and expect this power of the gospel to motivate you in the morning. There was a gentleman recently I prayed for after a service, and I could tell he was just really distraught. He said he's having nightmares, nightmares all the time, and he just can't sleep. And I was praying for him, and I usually don't do this, but I knew right away. I said, what are you putting in your mind? And he kind of looked down. He listens to the dark gothic music, very demonic, very satanic at its core. And you wonder why you're having nightmares. Well, I don't, I mean, let's start there. You see how this works? So I can't worship God because I'm loving the things in the world. I can't worship God because I'm filling my mind with the things of the world. All these things that we fill our mind with, they pull us away from God. So that's where preparation comes in. A holy life sets up a powerful worship service. E.M. Bounds said, a holy life is the only preparation for prayer and worship. Men do not love holy praying because they do not love holy living. You catch that? They go hand in hand. A holy life set apart for God wants to worship, and a life that's worshiping wants to live a holy life. You can't separate those two. Getting a carnal Christian to worship is like trying to get a politician to tell the truth. Think about that. Getting a carnal Christian to worship is like telling a politician to tell the truth. Why is that? They don't want to worship God. They love the carnality. They don't want to worship God. So I can't talk about prioritizing and preparing and all these things if we're not living a life that glorifies God. They go together. You see the connection there? It's a connection that can't be broken. Now, of course, a carnal Christian can worship, and a politician can tell the truth if the heart is changed. It's all an issue with the heart. The heart has to change. Men would pray better if they live better, and men would worship better if they live better. Let that sink in for a minute. Men would pray better, and women would pray better if they live better, and men would worship better if they live better. Everything is contingent upon this point. Robert Murray McShaney, he died at 29 years old. He was one of Scotland's most anointed preachers. He said, a man is who he is on his knees before God and nothing more. You catch that? A man or woman is who he is on his knees before God and nothing more. I don't want to care about, I don't want to hear about your PhD. I don't want to hear about your six-figure income. I don't want to hear about all these things. I want to know, are you on your knees praying out, crying out to Almighty God? That's how you change your life. That's how you get recourse and direction for your life, knowing the will of God by this. A man is who he is on his knees before God and nothing more. Think about that. Do you realize that's who we really are? That's who we really are when it comes to our relationship with God. If we don't have time for Him, we don't have time for worship. We could come to church a couple times. You know, I know I've got to do that. I own a Bible. I mean, that's what good people do. But if we're not truly worshiping Him, if we're not truly worshiping Him and on our knees, that's who we really are. And it brings me to the next point on this. The gratification of the flesh and the fullness of the Spirit do not go hand in hand. We must spend much time on our knees before God if we are going to continue in the power of the Holy Spirit. R. A. Torrey said that. And many people are probably saying, oh Shane, that's boring. That's this. That's hard. Yeah, that's right. Anything in life worth having is hard and difficult. Let me tell you the truth, okay? God blesses obedient souls. God wants those. God searches. The Bible says that He looks to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him. But what else? The enemy goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The enemy goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And God's Spirit goes to and fro throughout the whole earth to find Himself strong on those whose hearts are loyal to Him. I've asked that question before. So who finds you? If the Spirit of God goes to and fro looking throughout the whole earth and the enemy goes about as a roaring lion, one or the other is going to find you. There's not some little quiet little cave you're going to hide in where nobody can see you. One or the other. That's why this point of worship is so important. A few quick things on removing worship blockers. I think I needed to get this point across. A lot of people, on this issue of holiness, on this issue of holiness, we've got to remove worship blockers, what I call our pollutants. They're pollutants in our lives that prevent holy heartfelt worship. The Bible talks about lifting up holy hands and rejoicing to God. Does it not? Well, let me give you a few scriptures. Ascribe to the Lord the glory. Do His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Psalms 29. Psalms 96 or 95-6. Oh come, let us worship Him and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 99. Exalt the Lord our God. Worship at His footstool. Holy is He. Holy is our God. Holy is our God. And you're singing that holy is our God. You're worshiping Him. That's powerful. But what happens is we can't rejoice because a lot of us hold what I call pollutants in our heart. Spiritual pride, bitterness, anger, resentment, unforgiveness. All these things that the Bible says turn from. He's not just saying that as a suggestion. These things prohibit heartfelt worship. If I'm holding all these things, bitterness into my life and unforgiveness and anger and all these things, God's saying you can't worship me in the beauty of holiness. You've got to remove these pollutants from your life. And that's one of the areas. Another one is relationships, right? Especially young adults. A lot of relationships will draw you farther away from God. So you have to ask the question, is this person, is this relationship drawing me closer to Christ or pulling me farther away? What direction are they taking you? What direction is relationship leading you? And there's a famous saying that says, I'd rather be lonely going up than have company going to hell. Right? As much as we don't want to admit this, relationships can pull us away from God or they can push us to him. So when it comes to this area of worship, young adults especially, you have to think about, are these people in your life truly, truly wanting what's best for you and truly pushing you in the right direction? Or are they pulling you in the wrong direction? Because to worship God, you've got to remove these pollutants. And of course, we've talked about activities. Do they build me up or pull me down? Things I'm doing in my life, are they building up? Are they fostering worship? Or are they pulling me away from God? Like this isn't rocket science. This is real easy stuff. We've just got to be motivated to do it. Now I want to talk about a topic here on this issue of hindrances. I know I've got a lot under this point of preparation, but the next thing I've noticed a lot is spiritual pride prevents worship. Spiritual pride prevents worship. You realize that? A lot of people, prideful people, you can't see it very easily, can you? It's all hidden here. You don't know somebody that deals with spiritual pride very easily. It takes a little time to get to know them. But humility is a process, so we must submit to the hammer of God and allow it to break us. That's how you truly worship God, is you allow this pride to come in contact with a holy righteous God. And the pride is shattered and the pride is crushed. And now because of humility, now I can worship God. But many people come up, and one good indication indication is they don't like this message. Spiritual prideful people do not like these types of messages. They do not like to be challenged because they think they're perfect. They think they've got it down. They've been studying for years. They know all about God. You don't need to question me. I'm not questioning. I'm just saying what the Bible says. If humility is your greatest asset, then pride is going to be your greatest liability. You realize that? Humility is your greatest asset when it comes to worshiping God, but pride will be is your greatest liability. Pride will pull you away from God. Pride says, I know what's best. I'm right. I'm not going to release unforgiveness. I'm not going to release bitterness. And you know, this might be a word for some people in this room. How long are you going to keep fighting God? Worship Him. Many people just come in just as rigid as when they got here, just as upset as when they got here, just as critical as when they got here. They heard the Word of God, so they leave feeling convicted like therapy. Oh, I heard it, but I'm not going to submit to the obedience to it. So they leave year in and year out coming to church and never changing because the heart doesn't break because spiritual pride is there. Well, he doesn't know my story. He doesn't know what I went through. He doesn't know this. No, God doesn't care about any of that. He wants us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that in due time He will exalt us. We could do a whole sermon on spiritual pride and how that is an affront to God and His holiness. So you have to remove that worship blocker. And we see it come in all the time, don't we, with spiritual pride. I know what's best. I'm not going to worship God. I'll do it in my own setting, in my own way. Who's this young whippersnapper telling me what to do? I'm not. I'm just saying God's word demands that we humble ourselves. And I want to talk briefly on this point. A lot of people ask sometimes a quick note about posture. You know, people are like, well, why are people raising their hands? Or why are they sitting there? Why are they doing this? Really, it boils down to this. Our inward attitude becomes an outward expression. That's all worship is. Worship is an inward attitude that becomes an outward expression. So somebody might get a little excited and say, Lord, you saved me. I'm thankful for that. Or they might sit in their seat and sing amazing grace or sing these songs. I surrender and surrendering in their heart because they're in a posture of brokenness. They're in a posture of humility. They might sit there and just contemplate the works of God. They might stand there and just be an honest presence. You don't have to do this or do that or do this. But the posture often does reflect their heart. That's why sometimes I joke and people have got upset at me, but it's not worshiping God doing this, wondering what time is worship over. That's not worshiping God. That's somebody who wants worship to end. I mean, I've spoken a lot of different churches. You guys do not know how blessed we are here with this kind of worship. I've seen dead legalistic, ritualistic worship throughout the United States. They're not worshiping God. They're going through the motions. So it has nothing really about what do you do this or do that because people can jump up and down and go look at porn tonight. Uh-oh, what happened there? You're not worshiping God. However, the posture does reveal our heart. And I see it a lot. We're watching people are just like texting on their phone. Do you realize this is a worship service, not the life or the DMV? Really? I mean, if you think about it. And now some people might not like contemporary, like the old hymns. Wonderful. Go home and put on the old hymns. Great. But you got to worship him somehow. The posture has to resemble the heart. People are jumping off the couch last Sunday, popcorn spilling everywhere. No, no, go, go. That referee lied. I can't watch this game. It's too boring. They're all emotional. They're all excited. Why? It's an outward expression of what's happening in the heart. So if the heart's not worshiping God, the problem's not God. The problem's never God. Think about it. If the police came and took one of you to jail and said, you've just been charged with this, you're going to stay in there the rest of your life. Many people cry like a baby trying to get out of that. No, they take him out of the courthouse, lock him up. And then somebody comes and say, oh, made a mistake. Here you go. Free to go. It's about time you realized it. Well, I guess what am I going to do tonight? I don't know. Gosh, I got out here a little earlier than I thought. I can't even show you what they would probably do. They would be ecstatic, heading to that door saying, thank God, God, you got me out of there. As the tears are coming down their face, worshiping God. Because why? What did he do? He radically changed your life. The problem is many people have not radically experienced God. That's why worship is dead. That's why there's no prayer life. That's why you don't like the things of God because you're dead to them. And the spiritual, we need spiritual resuscitation. We need to be awakened from that spiritual slumber. Christ, would you awaken your church? Christ, would you awaken these people? And you know who you are right now because you're not liking what I'm saying. And God's saying, hey, wake up, wake up, wake up. Stop playing church. Start worshiping. Stop playing church. I know you. I know you better than you know yourself. You've been coming to church for years. Start worshiping me. Submit yourself to me so I can fill you with my spirit. How long are you going to play this game, sir? Well, now that's in my notes. I hope it was for somebody. But it comes to this point of spiritual pride because I see it all the time. You know how I see it? People come in here with a critical attitude ready to judge the church before they even walk in that door. You think they might find something wrong with the church? Oh, with that attitude? Absolutely. Well, the lights are dim or this or that. They're too loud or this. That guy's not exegetically correct. He didn't even turn to the Bible very much and he didn't do this and he did. Because you're coming with a critical heart. No matter, no wonder you don't worship God. Stop picking apart the service and start picking apart your heart. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and due time he will exalt you. We've got so much criticism. Everybody's pulling down this person, this person, this person. They come in with a critical spirit. You can't worship God with a critical spirit. And I've seen them all over. Some of the most spirit-filled believers I know that are worshiping God are some of the most loving, gentle, kind people I know. I don't know if I've heard them say a cross word about anybody in a long time. Why is that? What's the difference? It's hard. It's spiritual pride. They come in here critiquing or they go home and they critique everything. They critique this and they critique that. So we have to remove this area of pride. Revival of the heart, revival of your home begins with prayer and worship. Do you want a powerful life of worship? Something's got to change. Listen, where the rubber meets the road, if a powerful prayer life and worship is not happening in your house, it's not going to change when you get home. God's not going to change it. What has to change? Your heart. My heart has to change. That's where change takes place. So how many weeks are going to continue? How many months? How many years? Something's got to give. I mean, I'll stand up here another 45 minutes and try to convince you of that. Something's got to give. God's not going to change something. You've got to break your heart. It starts with a broken, repentant heart and that's where worship really flows from. When we realize that God has saved us, God has redeemed us, God is leading me, God is helping me, then we have to worship Him. If we don't feel any of that in our lives, then we don't want to worship Him because there's a disconnect there. So it always starts with the heart, the heart. The good news though is that God is calling us back to Him. So a message like this isn't meant for you to get upset and send me mean emails. The point of this is to have you go home and cry out to God and have a heart of worship. Yay, everybody wins. I don't get mean emails and you get to worship God, right? That's the whole point of saying, Lord, that's what I need. You know why? Because I need it. I'm chewing out myself, you realize that? You think I'm this nice little humble guy up here, so humble? Heck no, pride isn't working me just as much as you. I'm a prideful man working on humility on a daily basis. I need God, I need worship to humble me. I need to go into worship and say, Lord, I need to be a better spouse. I need to be a better husband. I don't need to get the last word in. I don't need to control my kid's life. Lord, would you humble me? Lord, I need to worship you. And then from that worship service, I come out a better husband, a better father, a better pastor. You see how that works? I can spot spiritual pride because I had it. I could pull apart everybody, everybody. Rick Warren, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer. I could pull them all down. I had all this insight there nobody else had. And I walked around with a critical attitude. My wife will tell you that. Oh yeah, but this, oh yeah, that. So who are the really spiritual ones? Just me and a few people I know. Now were there maybe some concerns in those ministries? Sure, but there's a much different to look at a ministry, engage it with discernment with a broken gentle heart than to come at it with a critical prideful one. You realize that? When I spoke about the gifts of the Spirit and went against John MacArthur's strange fire conference, 40,000 hits since October, you think I've got a few mean emails? Oh, absolutely. They are not happy. When I talk about the Spirit-filled life and wanting more of the Spirit and being full of the Spirit, wanting everything God has to offer and fully surrendering your life and being maybe in worship for an hour, they don't like that. Why? Because many of them have never experienced it and you're scared of what you've never experienced. That upsets you. Good, it's supposed to. It's supposed to drive us closer to God. Why do people get all whacked out when you experience God? Oh, come on, they're all emotional. Yeah, good. I want some emotion. Your team won Sunday. You had a little bit of emotion, didn't you? Facebooking everybody, texting everybody, Twitter everybody. Yeah, joking at work. Yeah, you're all emotional. What's the difference? But if I'm emotional about God, you're a fruit loop, you're a loony tune, you're fanatical, you're charismatic. No, I just want to experience God. Don't you? So stop labeling people and start experiencing it. Now again, we've got to be careful. I understand it. I come out against weird charismatics just as much as weird fundamentalists. Trying to find both of them to the balance. Sometimes I want to ask those guys, you love your Bible more than God. You love your Bible more than God. You've never shed a tear in worship. You've got it down and nobody can show any emotion or talk about the filling of the fullness of the Spirit without being weird. That doesn't seem right to me because the Bible talks often about that very thing. The very thing you're avoiding is the very thing the Bible talks about. Could it be that you haven't experienced that and we're afraid of what we haven't experienced? And then I think that I'm not super spiritual, so now I've got to put it down. It has nothing to do with being super spiritual. It has everything to do with utter dependence on God. I need to be filled with His Spirit. I need Him. I need Him on this side of the cross as much as I did on that side of the cross. I need Him on this side of salvation as much as I did on that side of salvation. I need Him this much as being a husband with four kids as I did as being a single man. I need Him. This is what this is all about. I need Him. I need Him to fill me with the Spirit. I need Him to guide me. I need Him to direct me. I need Him to humble me with the hammer of God whenever I get out of line. And then once He does that and once He rebuilds a life, once He fills you with the Spirit, once the Word of God becomes a life, and you might get a little excited and emotional about it and say, God has changed my life. I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, but now I'm found. Can we get a little emotional about that? I mean, I don't know. So on that point of worship, it's just a reflection of what's already going on in the heart. And if I stepped on some toes, I did it on purpose because when you step on toes, you move the toes out of the way, right? Same story I told the first service. My wife will know this. My little daughter starting to walk now. You know, she walks like this. I'm like, oh, wow. And now she's looking. She knows how to go to her room and she knows how to close her door so we can't come in. She just walks in, just close her door. But the first couple of times she would grab her toe and start crying because it would, ah, that door would rub on her toe and pull the skin off. She'd start crying. She can't talk yet either, but she's saying, you know, like, no, she's saying daddy before mommy. But now guess how she closes the door. Why? Why is her feet out of the way? Because it hurts. It hurts. So the point of sermons, when God brings the word of God into your life to challenge the heart, it's so the heart breaks and repents and looks to him. So when you get hurt at a sermon, you take it to God. That's the whole point. When you get crushed by a sermon, you take it to God. When you get offended by a sermon, you take it to God. That's the whole point. Because nobody wants to turn to him unless they need him. If you don't realize you need him, you'll never turn to him. Think about it. When you came in, I said, you guys are so spiritual. The 530 group is the most spiritual I know. You guys on a Saturday come to church. God loves you. He's going to bless you. You're ahead, not the tail. You're above and not beneath. Your father owns a thousand cattle on a thousand hill. You're going to be the, you're going to, just go get them, team. Who would change? Who would change? Nobody. Nobody would change because you got to get stubbed on the toe before you get the foot out of the way. So a lot of these sermons, the whole point is for to get your heart to go home on the way home and say, God, I need you. I need that. I'm tired of fighting you. I'm mad at that pastor right now, but I need you. That's the reputation this church has. You understand that, right? People say you're going to either love it or you're going to hate it. There's no middle ground and that's okay. I understand what they're saying. That can be a good thing because those who hate it are usually the ones who need to change. How can you say that? Because I know it. I'm one of them. I've been one of them. That's the reason I can preach on spiritual pride is because I've had pride. I can preach on these issues because four fingers are pointing back at me, right? As one's pointing to you. We're fellow labors. We're fellow labors. We've got other points here, but we'll have to get to them next week. I've just got a lot going to do tonight with Steve. Let me just pray real quick. Before I do, the last point I forgot to even get to is vitally important. It's discipline. Paul says, I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection. We overlooked that. I made this point. Just how important is discipline? Listen up. Listen to this final point. This is why many people never change. Many people leave here motivated to change, but very few change. Why? This one word, discipline. The word our culture doesn't want to talk about. They'll call it a disease. They'll call it chemical dependency. They'll call it all these names. Avoid getting away from the word discipline. Paul says, I discipline my body and I bring my body into subjection. I discipline it. I teach it. I instruct it. Paul says that. Without this vital area, without disciplining our body, the reason we have to discipline our body is our body wants everything but God. Our body wants to sleep in. Our body doesn't want to read the word of God. Our body wants to put in all these ungodly shows, and we wonder why we're drawing farther away from God. Our body doesn't want that. As believers, we've got to bring our body into subjection, into submission. We have discipline that we must lean on. I can't, you know, emphasize this enough, because so many people forget about this. God, just give me a powerful prayer life. It's going to be hard. It's called travailing. The Bible calls it travailing. Travail the soul. It's not easy. Nothing in life worth having is easy. I'm just going to shoot you straight. A powerful devotional life, a powerful life of worship is difficult, but it's the most rewarding thing you've ever experienced. That's the bottom line.