Restless Ones - Pueblo Incense House of Prayer
A production of the Pueblo Incense House of Prayer. Our mission is to help normal believers sustain a life of worship and prayer by exploring what the scriptures say about the urgency of the hour we live in as well as how to grow in intimacy with God.
Restless Ones - Pueblo Incense House of Prayer
ADORE - Conversation: Treasuring Jesus in Worship - Finding Worth Beyond the Song with Eric Gomez
ADORE - Conversation: Treasuring Jesus in Worship - Finding Worth Beyond the Song with Eric Gomez
Join Zac and Eric Gomez for a powerful conversation about moving beyond me-focused worship to truly treasuring Jesus. Drawing from Revelation 5, they explore what it means to prepare our hearts for corporate worship, cultivate a lifestyle of adoration, and encounter the infinite worth of Christ.
In this episode, Eric and Zac discuss:
- Why we often come to worship seeking what we need instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus
- The difference between worship as an event and worship as a lifestyle
- How to prepare your heart before entering corporate worship settings
- The personal and infinite value of knowing Jesus more deeply
- Practical ways to move from familiarity to fresh revelation
- Why your worship matters in the corporate gathering
- The power of community in discovering new dimensions of God's character
Whether you're a worship leader, team member, or someone in the congregation, this conversation will challenge you to see worship—and Jesus—with fresh eyes.
Resources: Visit our website for study notes, teaching episodes, and more resources from the Restless Ones podcast.
Welcome back to the Restless Ones podcast. Excited to be back with you for another conversation episode. We've got our good friend Eric Gomez back again, super quick. Thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, I know. I like it. Back so quick.
SPEAKER_00:Back again. So wow.
SPEAKER_03:I thought I was going to get kicked off or something.
SPEAKER_00:It was a subscriber demand. They were like, you've got to have this guy back right away, or else our one subscriber. Shout out, Kevin. Yeah. Good job, Kevin.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, thanks for getting me back on here.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for coming, man. He Eric lives about an hour or so away from here and drove today in the treacherous snow to be here.
SPEAKER_04:So yeah, we got our like first 2026 snow dump. Yep. It was it was a real deal. Colorado showing off. Finally.
SPEAKER_00:It took us a while to get there. I know. Oh my goodness. Well, anyway, thanks for making the drive, coming down, and being a part. Um, we're talking today just about treasuring Jesus, making him our treasurer. And for those who've listened to the teaching portion, you can go check that out. Um, listen to that, look at the study notes, and tell me what you think. Or if if I said anything wrong in the teaching. I probably said something really silly. But anyway, we're here and just want to talk around those themes, those ideas. And so I would love to just kick it off by saying maybe what was something that stuck out to you. I know you and I, we've been, as we mentioned in the last episode, we've done ministry together and prayer room stuff together and a lot of worship ministry together. And so Revelation 5 is like, I probably can't count the amount of times that we've been in sets where we're praying through that, somebody brings it up, or somebody sings a song based on Revelation 5. I mean, I feel like it's one of those scriptures that's so ingrained in just our history with the Lord. I don't know, is there anything that maybe stuck out to you in the teaching or the context?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I think what was really cool, what you talked about, were just the very like key factors when we talk about the worth of Jesus. And I think a lot of times what can bog us down in the place of worship is uh the coming in. I feel like a lot of times, especially like seeing it on Sundays, people come in and it's walking in and like, okay, God fix me. Sure. It's like, all right, I'm coming in with all my stuff, all my weight, all my things. Yeah. Somehow make this moment really special. Right. And then they don't play the song you want, they don't play in the key you want. The one that you can really like belt it out, you know, it's like, oh, they're playing in a lower key, so I can't really like sing it the way I want to. Or, you know, just then all those factors get in the way, not to mention the stuff you're bringing in. Totally. And it's just like, well, they didn't like I didn't get what I wanted, so I didn't really worship in that. And I feel like we come in so me guided that we don't actually prepare our hearts to step into worship.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Where what you talked about, like the scarcity, the utility, the irreplaceability. Oh, I got it. I said it. I felt like I was gonna mess that word up. But if we like it takes work, like I thought it was really cool when you're talking about Revelation 5. People are just coming in and are just awestruck by God. Like they don't have to, they look at him and they're like, Oh my gosh, or I think of like Isaiah, yep, when he walks in, he's like, I'm ruined, and just like is out of it. Yeah, but we like skip those steps and we're like, okay, God like touch my lips with coal and fix, fix all of this. Right. But I think for us, since we don't see him, we're walking into a room with an invisible God, we actually have to prepare and steward our hearts to come in ready to like totally look at him. Like, I think once we see him, we're undone. Yeah, but we have to actually work ourselves into that, and it takes us like the the practice of okay, God, like you really are irreplaceable, like there's nothing, no other thing. I've searched the earth and everything falls short, or I look at you and okay, no other plan is going to fix the things in me. No, like you really are uh useful, and that that's such a taboo thing to say. The body, like, no, God is the best thing to deal with the mess in my heart, and I have to actually sit and study those things, so then when I come into worship, I can use those things to fix my attention, my eyes, my aspect on God. So then when I look at him, who he is and what he is does the work. Yeah, but I think a lot of times we come in and we're just like, all right, what like what in me needs to get entertained, motivated, and it's so me focused that we're not taking the time to like look at the the personal worth of what he's done in my life and those things. And I just love how you broke each of those down because I I've done it where I've come in multiple times and I'm like, okay, I need something for me, but we actually need to look at the infinite worth of God and break those things down to actually have a an exchange with him in those things, and it's so me focused that we can never get to those things because our life has so many just natural obstacles in it. And I and I don't think it's bad per se to like come in with those things and have God do a really holy exchange with us, but I think if we come in with um just the utility portion of it, yeah, once those things get you know slightly moved out of the way in that hour, yeah, we're like, okay, I got what I wanted, like I'm good. Yep. And I think it's the order we come in, which is so hard to then wrestle and grasp with his infinite worth and all that he is. And it's like, well, my you know, 45 minutes of worship time's done. Yep. Which is hard. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I most people I think listening have probably been in that space before. Totally. Showing up and okay, Lord, I've got a mess in my heart, got a mess in my job or a life or whatever. Never a bad thing to come talk to Jesus about. Best place. Best place. But I think when we when we really put him in the right perspective and we put him in the right place, I think it actually helps put all of those other things into right perspective too.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:It it begins by looking at him and staring at him and having a a right view of God. I I've just I've been in that place so often where I've realized I just don't have a right perspective of God. Like I don't see him clearly. I don't, I don't worship him or value him enough because I just I don't see him clearly enough. I'm too, I'm too focused on the me stuff. I'm too focused on all of the other things. And we've gotta, I mean, I was I got excited in the teaching saying we've got to get back to just looking at him and and getting like letting him genuinely be our treasure where we can stand in awe and be fascinated with him. I I try to put myself in this passage of scripture in Revelation 5. Like we read it line by line. That's what happens in like a couple seconds. But really, what did what did John experience? How long was the search to find somebody on on the earth or under the earth who's worthy? What did the crisis moment feel like? And then what did what did the resolve feel like? Like what did the moment of Jesus breaking forth, taking the scroll? He is the only one that's worthy. What did what did that do on an emotional level? What did that do to the experience? And we we can read it in, I don't want to call the the words of the Bible weak, but we can read it in just the weakness of these actual words that are kind of void of the emotion behind it. But what did it feel like? What did it sound like? What did that moment nobody in that moment was worried about uh their sin problem or you know, they're not worried about the what's happening next week and their stress level. They're looking at Jesus and they're caught up because everything is put into right perspective.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I think what felt so highlighted to me when I was listening was like in Revelation 5, like John has this like moment where he's like, Oh my gosh, no one is worthy to take the like he's feeling the dismay. And I feel like a lot of times we sit there where like someone has to tap John and say, No, look, right, like, look, there's someone here, and I feel like we come with like the dismay of our life that no one is able to bring resolve in my issues, no one is able to do this, and we sit there and we're like, okay, I need something to fix it, and we're so uh focused on like God's power of resolve, then God himself, where someone has to tap us and say, No, look at look at the man, yeah, look at all that he is, and then from that, like John realizes, oh, he's worthy. Yeah, if he can do like if he has the ultimate authority to do all those things, maybe I can look at him and see the the resolve in him rather than the actual fix or the solution. Yeah, and I'm like, oh, we're like shortchanging ourselves because we're so caught up in the like the issues when Jesus has all the resources all in himself. Uh, I think I talked about it last time, like he levels the playing field and everything, but we're so like, oh, I gotta like fix it in me. I gotta like this, and we're like, we don't have an opportunity to actually like sit under the the positive weight and glory of all that God is, yeah, which is so cool because like John is like in awestruck. The angels are in awestruck, the elders, the four living creatures are in awestruck. And I think once we get there, we're gonna like it's just gonna start exploding. Yeah, it's it's the the the practice to actually um look higher, to look up, to look at him and let him say the things he needs to say before we start him putting the things we think we need.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's so good. That's so good. On a practical level, I think about uh how valuable it is that worship isn't just the event that takes place on a Sunday morning. Yes, and that um treasuring Jesus isn't just something we can just kind of do on that maybe it's the Sunday morning or maybe it's your prayer set in the prayer room. It's it's this rhythm that takes place all of the time. And sometimes we've we've made uh we go back to the Matt Redmond heart of worship, we've made worship too much about the song and that moment and that experience when really worship to get to that point where our eyes are fixated on Jesus, I think requires. I mean, it's Paul's commands to pray without ceasing. It's all these scriptures that are constantly telling us to fix our minds on him, to pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation for one another. Because we we constantly drift out of that perspective and we constantly so I don't know, what does it look like maybe in your own personal life to cultivate a lifestyle of worship versus just having really cool moments of worship?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I think I think for me, and once again, I loved when you went at the beginning of just breaking it down, but for me, I think it's even the practice of remembering why, like the you know, we we say the he the worth of Jesus, and even of that, it's like okay, let me break this down. What am I willing to do to give Jesus what you know, the worship, the the gratitude, the the the love, the adoration? What am I willing to do? Am I willing to move my my calendar? Am I willing to come into it and remove distractions? Am I willing to um study up on him and learn about him? And then if I say no to those things, I have to then reconcile in my heart. And I think even before coming to the place of like, you know, having our sweet Bible time where we talk with him and all of that, but even in our heart, just preparing how we come in and doing it with intentionality. I remember like I would you know go on dates with Haley before we got married, and I'm like, okay, I'm trying to show that she is worth pursuing and worth like all of that. So I would do my hair. Yeah, I would take a shot. I remember those days brush my teeth, you know, like all those things. I would do the extra things to walk in, of course, and she would know that I am like fully locked in, fully engaged in the state. I would save money to make sure I could pay for the McDonald's. Not just kidding. Um there's nothing wrong with it. Yeah, there's nothing wrong.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, there's some things wrong with it, but there's nothing wrong with it.
SPEAKER_04:But you know, I would do all the things to prepare, but we come in a lot of times to our personal or worship time and just say, okay, God, make it like ecstatic, awesome. Yeah. And I think a little bit, if he is worth everything he is, we would come in and do whatever we can to take in all that we can get from him. You know what I mean? And I think just practically trying to to make sure, not in a in a striving sense, but understanding like all that God is creator of the universe, all the things. I want to make sure I come in fully ready to take in all that He He has. Come in with a scripture, come in with that, and come in ready to listen, you know, and really just take the moment seriously. I think a lot of times, like we could come in a little laxadaisical or just whatever happens, happens. But I'm like, oh no, I want to be fully ready to engage with God in the morning, even if I'm tired. And I'm not saying uh like perfection, but I'm tired, but I want to just like tap myself a few extra times to really listen in and just say, um, before I walk in, like this is meaningful, it matters, it it does something in his heart. So let me just take it, you know, all that it is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. One of the things that I think I'm learning as I'm getting older is I can get really comfortable with a Jesus that I know exactly in my limited experience. And when there's other attributes of his character that I'm maybe less familiar with. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, that's so good. I already know this much of Jesus. Like, let me just stay here and let me talk about his love because I can I can get down on talking about his love. Like I'm all about that. But um, so I I've just realized he's if his greatness really is unsearchable, that means there's I I can't exhaust that learning different aspects of who he is. And um good. I I've got a friend who uh teaches on the book of Revelation, and it he blew my mind one time because he was talking about how just within chapter one of the book of Revelation, there's 52 distinct aspects of the character of Jesus. And within the first three chapters, I can't even remember. There was like hundreds. And so what I've been doing over the past, I can't, I don't even know where I'm at in it right now, but every morning in the prayer room, I start off by just meditating on one of those attributes. And it's crazy because some of them, like one of the first ones is him being the firstborn from the dead. And I was like, when was the last time that I sat here and meditated on Jesus being the firstborn from the dead? Like, what does that even mean? And how do how do I how does that resonate with my heart? And what does that mean about him? And so I've I think I'm hopefully growing more humble and more awestruck as I've just realized, yeah, I can I can get really comfortable with a Jesus that I know and just think about those things and just worship him, worship him for those things. But what about the Jesus I've yet to explore? I'm only whatever, 32 years old. Yeah, I think I think of older men that I've met who when they talk about Jesus in an instant, they're just weeping. And I'm like, I'm not there. Like I'm not, I haven't arrived to that point yet. And not that that's the goal that I would just be weepy all the time, but that I would know him so intimately and so deeply that I would be moved at just talking about him being the firstborn from the dead.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. And I I think like one thing you mention is like personal personal value.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And those things. And when you talk about the Mona Lisa and things like that. But like we know, we've heard it, like, it's valuable, the Mona Lisa. It's behind bulletproof glass, their security, all those things. Didn't Nicolas Cage steal it though in a movie or something? No, I think he stole the declaration. Of individuals. Oh, that's right. That's right. Same difference. Same, same thing. They're both like super valuable. But here's here's like, I feel like the security people. I could be wrong. I'm not if I'm if I'm speaking wrong, you can message Zach about it. But they walk around it all the time. And I bet you it after a while is like it's just a picture. Yeah. You know, they they see it so familiarity with it. But then there's the personal like uh things that you have that don't have as much monetary value, yeah, but can just mean so much. Like uh, you know, I I remember I like have notes that nothing weird, like notes that Haley wrote and put on my car or something, and I just saved them, and they just have grown to mean more and more as the years have come and things like that. But with Jesus, we we can grow familiar with those things like like the Mona Lisa or whatever, and it's like whatever. But with him, those things slowly turn from just like facts about him, yeah, into personal things that become valuable. Come on. And the thing about Jesus that like the Mona Lisa, something could happen and it lose value and it gets a slit through it, all of those things. God's value, because he's perfect, eternal, never, never changing, his value always is infinite, yeah, like a lot, which I don't even know how to comprehend that. Like all those things. So we have those eternal, just grand things that are just valuable about him, but then they become personal revelation as we grow to know those things that multiply something that's already infinitely valuable into infinitely valuable and infinitely priceless because it affects our lives.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And I was like, oh, I am not interacting with God enough to take in all those things. Yeah. I I just was like, I felt that. Like when I was listening to you talk about it, I was like, oh, I'm not interacting with God enough that this is becoming priceless enough to me.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Like you were saying, just like running into older believers where they start getting glossy-eyed, just talking about the most random things, and they're like, I don't know him enough. And I'm like, no, I don't know him enough. What are you talking about? And it's just like, oh, there's I haven't scratched the infinite of God, and I'm too okay sometimes with not. Yeah. And that's what scares me, is like I haven't touched it enough, and yet there's so much there that I'm okay with passing up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Man. Just as you were talking, I was thinking about how often in my own life that I've resisted the season that the Lord was trying to lead me in.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Because he wanted to unveil himself to me or something about his character to me that I hadn't like I maybe heard about it conceptually but never experienced it. Because he really is. I think that this is as somebody who's both of us, we've been to Bible college and done the higher learning, we've been in ministry for a long time. It's good to understand the concepts and the theologies of God.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But he really is a God of the experiential understanding. And so he's committed to taking us through seasons of life that are so different. And I remember what when I was 21, 22, 23, like I hadn't experienced anything. Like I had zero life experience, but as this young Bible college student studying theology, I just thought that I had God figured out and things figured out. Yeah. And really, I then the Lord took me through many seasons, some hard, some rewarding, some challenging, some really fun. And uh so many different seasons. And in each season, I think there's always an invitation to see him differently and experience and behold him in ways that we haven't done before. Thinking of Psalm 63, how I mentioned that in the teaching, how this the the psalmist, I think it's David who's writing the psalmist there, or writing the psalm there, he's walking through the desert and is like oh this season, it sucks. It's dry, and I'm I I've got no water. And he's remembering and recalling when he had seen the power and the glory of God in his holy place. And I think that there's sometimes when we walk through seasons where we're supposed to pull from those revelations of past, but I'm where I'm at in life now, maybe I haven't got it all figured out still, but where I'm at now is every time I'm going through a unique season where this feels different, my question is always okay, Jesus, who are you revealing yourself to be in this season? Like what aspect of your character have I not yet met that I that you're inviting me to experience right now? And it's pretty cool. Like I'm I'm so cool. It's like getting to know your friend all over again.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. And I think there's just so many ways that the Lord wants to interact with us, He wants to step in when we're feeling pain, He wants to step in when we're learning things and have that knowledge taken 18-inch journey through life experiences. He wants to reveal how he was engaged with it through friends, he wants to stir things up. Uh, you talk about like Colossians 3, like admonishing one another with songs and spiritual, like there's so many aspects that the Lord wants to communicate in dialogue with us. And even that, like the Lord wants to rightfully get himself across to us through different avenues and a and I don't open myself up to half of them. Like, not only are there is there like infinite knowledge about God and his character, his nature, the things he's willing to do, but there's multiple avenues he wants to show that we don't have to get it in a specific formula, but he is just so excited and so ready to communicate to us that he can he loves to do it in the worship context, right? In a prayer meeting, but he also loves to do it in a uh back room in your house and at a coffee shop and meeting with friends, that he's just saying, I want you to know all there is of me. Will you take that invitation? Yeah, and that's what's so crazy about it. Like we see Revelation 5 as like a huge culmination where everyone's finally gathered and he's like, I'm here, I'm available, and everyone is awestruck. Yeah, everyone, and he's like, I finally get to show myself to you and all my like beauty and splendor, yeah. And he's like, I've been longing to do this, and we we see him like we're working to see him as how really priceless and infinitely worthy, but God has always looked at us where I think our value kind of ebbs and flows, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, ROI, he sees us as priceless, he sees us as priceless. But I know some days I feel like my stock has gone down, a little bit down, yep. But he is always ready to look at us and engage with us, like we're his personal priceless thing, come on, which is so cool, and just something that like makes me want to like restart, reorient and say, Okay, can I step into this prayer meeting or this devotional time or whatever, and actually grasp how priceless this moment is and treat it with true, like what it's worth. This moment is actually worth in itself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know, one of the things that I think I really love about prayer rooms and houses of prayer, praying communities is that it often attracts a lot of older people. Yes, and it's one of the reasons I've sold out. I mean, I love old people, I love young people. I'm somewhere in the middle. I feel young in my mind, but not in my body. But I uh I think that it's just one of the reasons I've sold out to be a part of a prayer room here, to be a part of worshiping and praying communities, because I get in a prayer room like this where we're just singing songs and praying to Jesus all day, and hearing these people who've lived lives that are twice my age, double my age, like they've got so much experience and revelation of the Lord that just kind of seeps out of them wherever. Or and that revelation, that understanding somehow becomes a new side quest between me and the Lord. Where wow, he prayed this or she said this thing, she sang this thing. Lord, let's talk about this. And before you know it, it's five years ago down the road where you're still talking to the Lord about this concept or this idea of who he is, and it's transformative. And regardless of age, older folks, younger folks, whatever, I think the fact that we can come together and have that sort of antiphonal or responsive culture where you're declaring what's valuable to you about Jesus. I'm declaring what's valuable to me about Jesus, and together that becomes a collective sort of revelation moment for anybody who's in proximity to like absorb or to behold. It becomes this corporate invitation. And so I'm just, it's why I love having I love prayer rooms. I love worshiping communities and I love when we can hear one another. I love when, you know, we're not even in our room. If I could turn the camera around for those who are watching, I could just show you like we're we're not spread out. Like we we want to be close, we want to hear one another talk to Jesus. We want to hear people sing. I I in our prayer room, I love everyone in our prayer room, but sometimes I hear people sing that are so off-key, they don't sound very good, but I love hearing them sing their revelation of Jesus because that pulls me into being stirred by who he is and by his beauty. And so it's one of the reasons. I mean, I think I'll I'm just saying I I love worshiping and praying communities.
SPEAKER_04:I think what's really cool, even what you were saying with just like older community, and I think we lean on them because they have it, it's so funny when you hear like you're praying and you're like, Man, Jesus is kind, and you pray something like that, but then you hear someone else say it, and you're like, Oh, we're meaning the same thing, yeah, but how you got to that conclusion of his kindness, your journey with him, and my journey are totally different. And it sticks out when people have history with something they pray, and you you both got to the same conclusion, but how you got there, yeah, that history with God is what brings worship moments and prayer moments to life. Yeah. Like when we are talking, like, I feel like it it's something I love saying recently and can feel so cliche, but when you have those moments of like each person has their own dimension or perspective on things that they can bring to a uh a prayer topic, we would talk about that in a intercessory kind of way, but in uh adoring God kind of way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, it's so potent when you know the older community that they've had a life to journey and discover something, and when they say it with authority, like God is really forgiving, yeah. And then they tell you all the reasons why He is. You're like, Oh, I've gotten to that conclusion, but my history and that feels so small with what you've journeyed. But then you have these moments where people are singing off key, and you see the tears, and you're like, Oh, that was the perspective I needed to jumpstart me wanting to journey and find what you found in your own curvy uh side quest of that, you know. And those are the things I think get so underplayed in like a worship setting. Yeah, we're like, oh, I can do this at home, but I don't know how many times I've gotten stirred up by seeing someone like tell me, oh, I just love that worship set because it reminded me of this and this time in my life, and the Lord reminded me of that so I can worship again. And I'm like, oh, yeah, well, I want to worship for that reason too. Yeah, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We you and I have been on I don't know how many worship sets together, Sunday morning, Wednesday night church services, prayer meetings, full rooms, empty rooms, and everything in between. Yeah, high schoolers. And so we've got a when you're for those who may not be on a worship team, like you get a unique uh scan of a room when you're singing worship songs. Yes, half of the people are somehow awake, but they're definitely sleeping with their eyes open during worship. Half of the room is just going for it, half of the room is destroyed. I mean, there's so many different things that you see in a worship setting, but there's nothing like maybe breaking out in a spontaneous song or or singing of the new worship song that's talking about going through hard times and whatever. And you see that one person in the back who just lifts their hands and goes for it. What that does to me as a worship leader or a bass player on stage, I am so provoked. Like, I'm like, oh, they're going for it. Like they're reaching, they're they're getting encountered and impacted by something that I sang, and maybe I haven't figured out what it is yet, but let's sing that chorus again. Yeah. Like sometimes people wonder why do worship leaders sing the bridge over and over again?
SPEAKER_04:Because people are getting messed up every time we sing that bridge, you see them from their arms crossed to their hands raised to not looking at you, to not looking at the lyrics, but looking up. And you're like, I have in a process of singing a bridge four or five times, seen like through their actions, like scales falling off of them looking. It's not like maybe someone else has, I haven't, like seeing the actual scales fall off or the hardness fall off, but just through their actions where they might look at you, look at the words, but then slowly them going, yeah. And then, yeah. And that like getting to scan that and see what God is doing in a moment is oh, that's priceless. Yeah, you're like, wow, I'm stepping into a sneak preview, but it's not sneaky of Revelation 5.
SPEAKER_00:It's so true.
SPEAKER_04:I'm getting the preview of oh, he's looking up and looking at God, and he is getting walloped with the presence, and that's that's a longing that we would come in and see that in every sort of way. I freaking love that you brought that up. It's so true.
SPEAKER_00:It's the best part, and I would argue that there's no amount of practical preparation that equates to what that moment does to the worship team. Yes. When we see that, when that happens, it doesn't matter how many times I ran through the song at home. It doesn't matter if I'm even singing it in tune. What matters is that person just stirred me. That person, they they caught a glimpse of Jesus, and I've got to see it. And I'm gonna go there with them, and I'm gonna do everything that I can to steward the presence of God to help them even go deeper into that revelation. And when that happens, I'm often reminded that experience cannot happen at home by myself.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And I and I I can't welcome to the worship podcast. I mean, how many times though, even just thinking back, have you thought, man, I've led this song a few times in a row? Yeah, maybe I should do something else. But you've come in the last few weeks and seen hearts tender to it or open or receptive. Yep. And you're like, I want to play another song. I know this progression, forwards and backwards. I know how to get in it, I get out of it, but just having to put our preferences and what we want aside because we know that the Lord is on it or highlighting it, and it's past the lyrics that people are actually grasping onto truths in it that are actually changing and molding something in them. Yeah. Like I I don't know, like how many times like have you just been like, I've done this song?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And you go back to it, and the Lord's like, no, I'm still on it. Yeah. You know, and I think that's just a bigger commentary that like uh our preferences, like the Lord wants to do something, yeah, and how easily are we to let our preferences kind of get in the way of like I've done we've done this song before, but we just know like the the room is open to it, they're ready for it. And you just have to be like, you know what? It's not about me, it's not about what I want. It's would Jesus have all that he could have in this room and receive all that he could have and people, you know, and I love that you talked about it. in in the in the teaching about like hype and all of those things like we can you know fight against those things being cool you know all of that but the the biggest thing i wanna i want to fight is my heart's engagement to what the lord wants to do more than what i want yeah you know what i mean yeah like i've seen so many times where i've had my arms crossed because they've done it a certain way yeah and i'm like oh that's dumb why'd they do it that way and people are just getting encountered and i'm like oh did my preferences yeah get in the way of encounter yeah you know and it's like something to really just like challenge and question in our own hearts yeah and how much did did that not only get in the way of your encounter but how much did that get in the way of the rest of the congregation or the rest of the prayer meeting like the corporate encounter you you stifled it yeah we stifled it we stifled for somebody else like we're gathering on purpose to spur one another on and we sometimes instead stifle it because we're looking for our own preference I'm or our own flow or our own and I'm just like I don't know maybe I'm getting cranky in life right now I'm just like I don't I don't care let's just encounter him yeah let's just meet with him and I I wanna not get caught up in formulas but also say whatever works let's just do it yeah and just surrender that and and come to a a corporate agreement that we're like hey we'll be ready for whatever feels a little different weird as long as we can have him and start to tap into understanding in our head and in our heart who Jesus is and what he's he's do in that moment.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah I you remember me in the early days of us starting worship music together. Yes and it was rough of course the early days were rough but I remember those early days thinking about all week long before my Sunday morning before my prayer meeting or before a Wednesday night whatever your context is you fill in the blank I would be like trying to prepare something for the Lord like okay I'm gonna bring you this in a moment and then you're gonna be happy you're gonna smile and what I was missing out on is like I wasn't surprising Jesus with worship that I had been preparing all week. He knew that was going to happen and he wanted to be involved in the process because he had something to reveal to me on that day and to the congregation that day.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:He came even more prepared probably than I came. Yeah. And I think that we've got to remember that as worship leaders in Houses of prayer as if you're on the worship team at your local church or wherever it is that Jesus is anticipating the corporate gathering just as much as we are and he is eager like I it's something I was going to say earlier is just he loves to reveal himself. That's why he's giving us the Holy Spirit he loves to unveil the beauty of who Jesus is and he's eager to do that. And so we've got to remember that fact he is so ready and willing and eager to unveil himself on a Sunday morning and he is so not limited to those to those preferences.
SPEAKER_04:He's not he doesn't need the right chord progression the right set list the on keyness he doesn't need all of that he just needs a heart that's willing to show up and fully given look up fully given just look up and when that happens what happens when an entire room does that those are the moments those are the moments that I I genuinely live for yeah I I was talking to some youth students this past Wednesday and just just talking with them like how how much like that Psalm 63 like my soul thirsts for you my flesh yearns for you like have an honest moment like how much do you actually feel that and like not in a confrontational way not me coming heavy handed and just be real with yourself. Yeah like do you have that and if it's no like what do you need to change to actually get there yeah because I think we don't we underplay I think I I even underplay how much like we talked about earlier our preferences and our what we want in that moment stifle what could happen in the room. Totally and I think all of us not in like I'm bad so I can't be a part but just knowing inventory what we have in us when we're walking in and what is one step closer of saying hey I don't really feel it I don't really you know have all the the flowery feelings towards God but I'm coming in to engage with him and get one step closer to hungering and saying okay God I want you to give me whatever you have in this moment and it's it's that that practice of like I said coming in and just knowing where you're at and preparing yourself to walk into that yeah you know and actually like understanding that a lot of times right now like I come in as a drummer. So if I come in and I'm just like I'm gonna just do the thing do the parts and walk out like that stifles something. Totally and it's not me saying oh I you know I don't feel anything so I have to put in a new fill like you were saying but just preparing my heart to walk in and saying I just want to give a little something to God today. Yeah you know a little more understanding a little more openness a little more for myself but also for the corporate room to engage with who Jesus is. Yeah and just actually being real with that. I think a lot of times we're just like maybe even too busy maybe just too whatever and we're like okay I just got to do this to get to this to do that. I know God wants me here so I'm coming and we come with our arms crossed you know but I don't know random thought.
SPEAKER_00:That's so good. I think that it's a it's a topic that's probably we can talk about forever and ever but I think that if I were to leave listeners with a challenge and I'll ask you the same question. Yeah or to leave them with a practical takeaway I would say that wherever it is whatever your context is worship leader in a prayer room of four people worship leader on a Sunday morning of 500 people or the person who's in the back of that congregation of 500 people just showing up late to service or the fourth person in the prayer room where where whatever your context is my challenge would be come to that corporate gathering knowing that you have something of value to bring that's so good and Jesus is ready to open up the heavens over whatever that gathering looks like and unveil himself and bring us into an experiential revelation but you've got a vital part to play in that yeah that's so good that's so good.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah I think yeah just know your worship matters for your own heart for God like he looks at your worship your free will worship that you could be doing anything else and he looks at it with such value and I think whatever you have to do to walk into your private times with God your worship context your studying context to put your your your mind your attitude in a place that that time is precious and valuable and to come into it not try not works based not um trying to get something going or whatever but just as real authentic and valuable to God and yourself and to the people in the room like do do the work to put yourself in that mindset.
SPEAKER_00:Come on so good that was great awesome so good well thanks everyone for joining in for listening um you can find all of our resources on our website go check out our website or there's stuff linked all over the place um you guys know how to find things we're it's 2026 so just find the stuff go there and um we're grateful for you listening in God bless y'all