WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:14.720 Tim, thank you so much for not only leading us in worship, but also allowing us to be reminded that God is a good and worthy God, and he has been praised for thousands of years. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:23.679 I remember in 2004 when Chris Tomlin uh released that song, and I just I love how great is our God. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:25.039 I'll never forget that. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:31.519 I mean, Jim, no, you probably remember when that one in 1914 came out. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:36.799 You were probably sitting on the porch, you know, in your early 20s. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:38.159 It was it was a good song. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:39.359 I bet you remember that. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:48.479 But I just I love thinking that for people all around the world, for thousands of years, we've been lifting up God as our Lord and Savior. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:53.039 And I'm glad that we got to continue our worship this week with that. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.200 So I want to show you something, uh maybe a confession. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:09.519 Um in December 2015, um, I gave this vacuum to my wife as a Christmas present. 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:20.879 And so I think the question you're asking is Um, how am I still alive? 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:26.400 How did my marriage not end in divorce or homicide? 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:31.920 Uh, and so I want to take just a few minutes and I want to tell that story. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:52.719 And so we're gonna have to go way, way back, back to 1975 in Fort Worth when Jennifer Lee Tyner uh was born uh, what did I say, December 15th, 1975, to John and June Tyner, a a very kind, humble, hardworking, middle class family. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:54.400 That was their first daughter. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.159 15 months later, they would have twin daughters. 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:08.719 So, in a matter of just 15 months, they had three girls, and they decided that was the end of the baby making, and so they had that was their their whole family. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:12.960 Uh, they grew up uh learning in quiet submission. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:20.800 Um, the the kind of phrase that was used in the Tyner household for the girls was they were to be seen and not heard. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:27.919 I may have shared this with you, um, but they were they were taught um in uh to be reverent in church. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:44.080 And so in order to help solidify that, they would play church on Saturday nights, which meant that they would sit on a couch with no TV and no books, no coloring, no toys, and they would just sit on the couch in silence for 30 minutes. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:51.759 So they knew when they showed up on Sunday morning, they knew how to sit still and not ask for goldfish. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.319 That's what they did. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:16.400 And uh shortly after Jennifer, I guess she was about in fourth grade, her mother took a secretary job uh at a private school in the Metroplex, Fort Worth Christian, and because she was a secretary there, they were able to send all three of their girls to private school there at Fort Worth Christian. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:28.080 Nineteen days before Jennifer was born in Fort Worth, I came into the world at Arlington Memorial Hospital in Arlington, Texas. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.639 She was the oldest of three girls. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.919 I was the youngest of three boys. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:38.159 Um, our family went to church every Sunday. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:40.479 If the doors were open, we were there. 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:48.719 And the fact is, if the doors were open, it's probably because my dad unlocked them when we got there and he locked them back when we left. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.560 That we lived our life in that church building. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:54.719 Uh, that was a big part of our lives. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:01.599 However, unlike the Tiners who were very quiet, the crumbs were not. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.080 Never were we quiet. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:10.719 I mean, we were just a moving force, a ball of loudness and noise all the time. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:22.399 When I was entering into my fourth grade year, my mom took a teaching position at a little private school in the Metroplex called Fort Worth Christian. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:29.600 And because she was a teacher, we were allowed to go on scholarship to attend that private school. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:34.399 And so Jennifer entered into Fort Worth Christian in her fourth grade year. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:38.560 I entered uh Fort Worth Christian in my fourth grade year. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.720 We were born 19 days apart. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.360 We were in the same class. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:55.680 And all throughout our schooling, we stayed at the same school, and I surprisingly passed, and so I stayed with her the entire year. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.120 We had about 40 kids in our class. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:06.879 By the time high school had come about, um, we were in very different groups. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:13.759 Uh, Jennifer, of course, was beautiful, uh, very athletic, very smart. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:25.040 Um, she uh in her freshman year, she was already the starter on every varsity sport she played in, which was volleyball and basketball and softball. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:30.160 She wasn't just the starter, um, she was the star in most cases. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:41.040 Uh she'll get mad at me as soon as I say this, but she was Fort Worth Star Telegram player of the week multiple times in those different sports and was just phenomenal. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.800 Uh she was good with her grades, she was great on the court or the field, wherever it was. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:51.439 Uh, she was popular, she was well liked, and she was really quiet. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:59.759 By the time high school had shaken out, I could hardly make the team. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:03.920 Forty kids in my class, people, think about this. 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:08.560 I think I might have told you my freshman year, I did make the basketball team. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:10.720 There were seven of us on the team. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.680 Bennett, you'll be not surprised at all. 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:17.439 I started off on the bench and I remained on the bench. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:22.480 There were seven people on my team, and I sat the bench the whole game. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:23.519 Do the math. 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:25.439 No, I didn't even sit near the coach. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.160 He's like, go to the far side of the bench and wait there. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:30.800 Nothing will happen for you at all. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.120 Um, and so that's the way it was. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:36.720 Um she was uh very smart. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:39.199 Um, I didn't really care about academics. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.399 I wasn't good uh as an uh athlete. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:47.360 Uh I I did not have women girls swoon over me at all. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.360 That was that was not me at all. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:55.199 I mean, imagine this right here, minus 90 pounds. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:07:01.439 Um, I was just awkward and weird, and I just didn't really fit in. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:08.800 And so, I mean, just to sum up our high school careers, um we were just different. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:17.920 I was just looking for anything to get attention, uh, and that oftentimes led me into some bad situations. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:28.240 By the time high school had ended, uh hers was filled with trophies uh and medals uh and newspaper clippings. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:36.879 Mine was filled with purple participation ribbons and hangovers. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:39.279 I was just lost. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:41.120 I didn't have anywhere to go. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:50.560 And so just a few weeks after we graduated, I could tell you that her name was Jennifer and she had two sisters, and a mom was a secretary. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:52.319 She knew that my name was Doug. 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.560 I had two older brothers, and my mom was a teacher. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:00.240 That's in nine years, that's all we knew about each other. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:16.000 We graduated and we both started working at a daycare that summer in 1994, and I got to hang out with this amazing young woman who I was completely enamored with. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.000 Uh, she was everything that I was not. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:26.560 Um, she was kind and quiet and sweet, and I was loud and weird and crazy. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:34.960 Uh, and when I met her, uh I thought I think I would like to get to know her a little bit. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:50.960 And so for the next few months we became friends, and by our second semester of college, we started dating, and for the next four years, um, our relationship began to bloom and grow. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:57.679 Uh until finally uh we were married in 1998. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:12.639 And I want you to know that uh when she said yes, it was the first time in my life that I felt pride. 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:22.080 I was never proud of how I looked or who I was or what I had done. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:25.919 I I didn't have trophies, I didn't have accomplishments. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:30.639 There was never a new paper clipping with my name on it. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:43.519 I was just a nobody, and Jennifer Tiner said yes, and it began to change my life. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:52.559 And it really helped me to become the man who I hope I am and certainly the one I want to become. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:54.879 She is incredible. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:56.720 She is still quiet. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:00.799 I'm the guy who does not mind standing up in front of people. 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:05.279 She wants to be so far back in the crowd that nobody can see her. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:12.240 She doesn't want attention, she doesn't want anybody to know about trophies or athletics or anything like that. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:17.840 If I bounce the basketball twice without bouncing it off my foot, I want somebody to know about this. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.279 Like I'm and but we're so incredibly different. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:36.639 And so I think the question you want to ask is what happened between 98 and 2015 that you thought it would be a great idea to buy this woman you love a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:41.440 And so I have to dive down just a little bit deeper into my story. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:52.159 Uh in 2012, we moved to Hobbes, New Mexico, and there uh I I became uh friends with an an old codger by the name of Michael Cheney. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:55.519 Uh he was uh uh in the Vietnam uh war. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:11:03.600 Uh he was just a great, amazing man, and he loved woodworking, and I loved woodworking, and so we started talking. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.919 He of course uh attend uh attends at the Taylor Street there. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:13.840 And after a couple of years, he says, Hey, hey Doug, I I I want you to try something. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:15.840 He says, I want I want you to do something. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:21.840 I do this for my wife, Julia, every year, and I want you to consider doing what's called one-a-days. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:24.320 And I said, What's one of days? 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:37.919 And she's he said, Well, basically, starting December 1st, you give your wife a gift, and every day for the next 25 days, you give her a gift. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:41.600 And I'm like, I'm like, there is no, I can't afford that. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:43.840 Like, there's no way I can do anything like this. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.879 There's uh, and he says, Listen, it's easy. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:50.080 Uh, you're gonna love this, just try it out. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:57.120 Uh, and so um I began making a list of things that I thought that my wife might like. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:10.080 Um, some of them, most of them were not expensive, they were not extravagant, um, sometimes they were kind of goofy, sometimes they were a little more practical, like the Hoover over here. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.000 Um, but they were always thoughtful. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:18.320 And that's what really made that so special. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:27.279 You can get away with giving one or two good gifts um for for your spouse for for Christmas. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.279 You might get lucky, you know. 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:34.879 You can watch an infomercial or you can go online and say, what are the best gifts to give? 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:40.960 But when you start trying to give 25, all of a sudden you're like, what in the world am I gonna give? 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:43.519 Most of them were homemade gifts. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:53.200 Um, you know, I've she got a a lazy Susan that I made for her uh one year that that we had sitting on our table, just kind of weird gifts. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:13:03.039 Um and so on December 8th, um, I decided to give her this gift uh for for Christmas, the one a days. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:09.679 And she will tell you, not in front of anybody, she will not do that. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:20.320 But if you were to ask her, um, what do you think about this vacuum cleaner, she will truthfully tell you that this is one of her favorite gifts that she's got. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:39.279 And the question is, is why in the world would such an amazing woman who married such a knuckle-headed guy really want one of these for Christmas? 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:41.759 And I can tell you that. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:54.639 Because in order for her to get that gift, I had to know if that was something that she actually really wanted. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:04.720 My wife loves clean things, she loves clean floors, she loves clean sheets. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:12.639 When I was in college, I never washed a towel or sheets. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:18.080 You just you put them on at the beginning of the semester, you took the bed sheets off. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.440 My wife, I love her, she's a psychopath. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:40.559 Every Sunday morning, every Sunday morning, she strips the sheets, they go into the washer in the dryer, and every Sunday night we get in bed, and every Sunday night she says, I love the feel of clean sheets. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:41.279 Right? 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.279 And so every single week she does that. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:47.279 She loves a clean floor. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:54.159 I want you to know that when I showed this, all of you, and I'm pointing you out, you were judging me. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:03.360 You were, I felt the condemnation, I I felt the judgment from you, especially from the female gender. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.519 You're like, how dare you? 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:13.360 I did not buy this because I think that a woman should be in the house vacuuming all the time. 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:21.120 I did not buy this and say, hey, wouldn't it be great if we had a clean house every once in a while, honey? 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:28.639 I did not give this to her and say, I want you to use this, and you're the only one allowed to touch it. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:35.039 Before this, we had a Kirby. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:45.759 In 1999, right after we got married, somebody came around and they were showing off a Kirby in our house, and we were amazed. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.360 I thought, I want one of these. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.279 And after four hours, they say, Oh, by the way, it's$2,000. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:58.399 I laughed in the guy's face as he was leaving with his Kirby still in his hand. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:15:59.600 I was still laughing. 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:00.480 There is no way. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.200 So I got on eBay and I bought a Kirby. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:08.559 And for like 15 years, we had a thing that resembled a Sherman tank. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.200 It weighed a metric ton. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:17.360 It was heavy, and you had to have a degree in engineering to figure out how to use the hose. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.480 If you have a Kirby, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:24.960 Like all these belts and gadgets you have to twist and turn and get on. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:35.919 And I watched my wife, who loved to clean, suffer with this gigantic Volkswagen of a vacuum cleaner, try to change it. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.720 And every time she needed an attachment put on, she was like, I don't, she would call me, how do we do this again? 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:46.080 And we'd have to get out a book and read it and figure out how do we get this back on again. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:49.679 And so I knew that she loved a clean house. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:17:06.000 And I knew I saw the suffering of a woman that I love as she would try to lug around that big all-metal vacuum and said, I love her, and I want to give her something really special. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:10.079 And I know what you're thinking. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:14.160 When we started this, you said, What a terrible person. 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:24.640 How dare he, in in the 21st century, how dare a man give his wife a vacuum cleaner for Christmas. 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:27.599 And I want you to know you're exactly right. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:29.759 But there's a difference. 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:44.880 The difference is that was given not because of what I what I want her to do, but because who I know that she is, and I know what she is. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:18:02.079 And all of a sudden, this little vacuum cleaner has meant a whole lot more to her, and and on any given day, one of us will be chasing that thing around the house, vacuuming and cleaning up. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:21.440 And it's a gift that matters because it was given out of love, and it was given out of adoration, and it was given with the understanding that she knows me and that I know her. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.680 And so, what does this have anything to do? 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:28.960 I just spent this the longest introduction I've ever had. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.480 You're like, are we even going to talk about worship? 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:40.640 And I want to say that I think worship is a lot like giving a vacuum cleaner. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:46.559 Your worship is a gift to God. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:55.119 It's not always extra extravagant or expensive or formal. 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:04.960 It doesn't have to happen in a church building, and it sir certainly shouldn't only happen in a church building. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:10.000 Our worship to God should be thoughtful. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:18.319 It should be based on who we believe He is and what He has done for us. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.720 It's not something that we fall into at the last moment on a Sunday morning. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:32.000 It is our worship in which we participate in every day. 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.759 Is Sunday special? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:35.839 It absolutely is. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.880 You see, I love my wife, and I love to talk about my wife. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:42.480 And you know what else I love? 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:46.960 I love to be around other people who love my wife. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:51.519 I don't want to gather around a bunch of people who don't like my wife. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:53.920 They have bad taste. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:55.519 They're terrible people. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:00.559 I love my wife, and I want to be around people who do. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:02.480 I love God. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:08.160 I love God, and I want to be around other people who love God too. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:15.680 I want us to come together and lift up our voices and our conversations be about a God who we love. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:20.720 I don't want it to be something that I just fall into once a week. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:29.200 In Amos chapter 5, God was furious with his people because they were worshiping. 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:35.359 But they were only doing it as they went to the temple. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:39.200 Listen to his words starting in verse 21. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:45.119 These are the words of God speaking to people who were coming together to worship. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:51.759 He says, I hate, I despise your religious festivals. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.759 Your assemblies are a stench to me. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:02.079 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:06.880 Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:10.319 Away with the noise of your songs. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:21.599 I will not listen to the music of your harps, but let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream. 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:35.839 God was telling the people in Amos' time, and it should echo for us today, that we are supposed to worship God by the way that we treat other people. 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:46.480 Your coworkers, your spouse, your kids, your neighbor on the right side that are really nice, the ones on the left with a yappy dog and the loud music. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:22:10.319 Your worship is the way you treat the people at your uh business, at the grocery store, when you go to eat after we uh stop this corporate worship together and Continue on in our worship the way that you treat your waitress, the way you treat the guy who cut you off and honked at you last week. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.400 Our worship is how we treat other people. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:27.039 God says that if you come before me with song, but you treat others with injustice, then you have negated your offering. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:31.839 And your song this morning is a stench to him. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:39.039 He has not called us to be Sunday morning worshipers. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:41.759 Like any good gift. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:44.960 Our worship should be thoughtful. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:56.880 Yelling at your wife every Friday and then giving her flowers on every Sunday is dysfunctional, it's unhealthy, and it is infuriating to God. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:12.240 Your wife deserves love and affection more than just on February 14th and on her anniversary and Christmas and birthday. 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:26.799 Guys, if you think that loving your wife is hitting those high spots three or four times a year, then you should have no question as to why your marriage is not working. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:38.319 And if you really think you have a relationship with God, but it involves what happens right here, and you have nothing to do with him. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:56.960 If the only prayers that are lifted up is when you're sitting in one of these seats, and the only songs that you lift up to God, and the only adoration or thoughts that you have towards God is when you're at 1020 Austin Avenue, then you are missing out on what true worship really is. 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:05.839 The best gifts are based on the knowledge of one another and the desire to please them. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:26.880 When I give my wife a gift for Christmas, it is not about others, it's not about me, and it is not what others think about me. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:44.400 When you come to worship the Lord God Almighty, your worship is not about others, and your worship is not about you, and it is not about what others think of you. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:54.400 And to a large degree, your worship is not even about what God is doing in your life. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:25:11.440 And I say this because we should worship God when he is blessing our socks off, or when we just aren't really sure where he is. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:21.440 We worship God because of who he is and because of what he has already done. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:28.880 True worship is when we put God and Christ at the center. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:33.440 This is true worship. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:47.759 Bible scholars have a couple of big words to describe this: theocentric and Christocentric, but both of them simply mean that we're putting God, we're putting Christ at the center of our worship. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:26:02.480 He is the most important, not about who we are or what we've done or what we think we've deserved or what he should be giving us, but instead we worship because he is worthy. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:15.599 I want you to know that there is one type of woman. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.519 I guess there's two types of women in this world. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:30.319 There is the one that I am married to and is the mother of my children, and then there's everybody else. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.119 That's just how it is. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:37.599 No one is going to get the adoration and the praise. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:41.440 No one is going to distract me from who she is. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:52.720 She is my everything on this earth, and she helps me in my desire to grow closer to God. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:04.000 My worship to God should be only about Him, and I must not allow anything else to distract me. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:13.519 This last week, uh Gracie was at a camp uh in Merkel, Texas, just south of Sweetwater. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:17.119 It's known as uh OPCamp or Opportunity Camp. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:29.839 Uh they bring in uh kids um who come from uh difficult situations uh from Sweetwater and Idaloo and several other places, and they bring them in. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:33.119 They have a hundred and fifty staff. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.920 A hundred and fifty staff. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:53.519 Most of them are composed of uh high school and college students who come and volunteer who actually pay to be a part of this, and then they are um they they're a counselor and they do a lot of one-on-one time with these kids who are struggling. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:56.240 I mean, really, lots of them are struggling. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:11.839 Um some of them show up there uh with a garbage sack that has clothes wadded up in there that has not been washed or clothed, they don't have uh any type of hygiene products, they have almost nothing in an opportunity camp. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:25.680 Uh they they have opportunities to go into this store uh and uh a store that's been donated supplies and they get to pick out things that they need that they don't have, uh, and they're all week long, they're just loved on. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:34.400 Uh and so this this last Thursday, Jennifer and I show up to to pick her up, uh, and we walk in. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:50.480 Um, and oh it's so great to see some friends we hadn't seen in a while, and we walk into a room uh and they'd already started worship uh and it was it was dark, uh, and and they were singing songs, and Jennifer and I slid in at the very back. 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:55.680 Our backs are up against the wall, the wall was dark, and nobody's watching us. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:12.960 And for about 30 minutes of just non-stop singing, we were just at the very back, just getting to lift up God and not think about or worry about what would people think about our gift to God. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:21.920 This was just us and him, it was me and God, it was her and God, and we were just there, and it was so incredible. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:29.200 And then at at one point they uh one of the the leaders led one of my favorite songs. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:31.440 It's it's called Gratitude. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:39.759 Uh we we sang it here, I think, just last week, and I I can't help but think about that song, and it just melts my heart. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:44.880 Uh and I just think about I have nothing to give God. 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:47.359 Nothing that I have is worthy. 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:50.160 All that I have is a hallelujah. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:51.759 And it was it was so great. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:59.519 And and then one of the young men, uh Brady uh Brody Gibson, uh shared this before we closed out. 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:01.680 Uh he says, I want you to know this. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:11.839 He says, your worship is the only thing that you can give God that he doesn't already have. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:17.359 I thought how incredible is that. 00:30:18.720 --> 00:30:29.039 Your gift of worship is the only thing that you can give God that he doesn't already have. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:33.519 He has all the stars in the sky. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:44.400 You know, he has all the cattle on a thousand hills, he has all the the land and all the time and all the riches. 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:50.400 The one thing that he does is your worship. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:31:03.279 And folks, no matter where you are, you don't have to be in a building, you don't have to have a lot of money, you don't have to have degrees. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:07.920 We can all worship God. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:18.319 And we can give him the one thing that he wants and the one thing that he doesn't already have. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:53.680 And so I just want to ask you before next Sunday before you come in here and you file in and you and you take your chair that is your assigned seat, before you look through the song list to find out which ones are the good songs and which ones are the bad ones, before you decide if what the preacher has to say is worth anything or if you're just gonna snooze, I want to ask you, what gift are you giving God this week? 00:31:55.920 --> 00:32:00.559 What God are you what gift are you gonna give tomorrow when you wake up? 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:05.359 It's the one thing that he desires. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:13.519 And again, it it might be a song, it might be grabbing your journal and and writing to him. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:20.799 But let me tell you, the way that you treat your coworker and your spouse, that's great too. 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:27.440 We can glorify God and honor him by the way that we treat people. 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:44.160 If you're struggling in your marriage, if you're struggling with your finances, allow that to be worshipped in God and you allow him to change your heart and see your spouse in a different light. 00:32:46.559 --> 00:33:02.799 To not allow your finances to rule every thought and awaken you, to pour into your kids, to love your neighbor, and maybe shout out in woman how much you love Jesus. 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:12.480 Or how you quietly minister to someone who's weeping over something. 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:20.559 Let us give gifts to God every day. 00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:22.720 He is worthy of that. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:26.720 And this morning I'm gonna ask you to join with me. 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:31.279 We're about to sing a song of invitation, and we're gonna stand and in unison. 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:38.160 I want to ask that you will stand with me as we give God this gift of worship. 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.200 Starting now and throughout this week. 00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:43.119 Let us praise again. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:45.680 Let's stand in so much.