SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
SPEAKER_00: So sweet Britney.
SPEAKER_00: Brittany, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: She was my travel buddy this weekend, and we made our way to Amarillo.
SPEAKER_00: I mean Armadillo.
SPEAKER_00: Armadillo, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we do ministry.
SPEAKER_00: She went with me as my travel buddy, and we did a women's conference this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: And I just have to say, it we probably could have gotten to England quicker than we got to Amarillo, Texas.
SPEAKER_00: It's in the middle of nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: The turbulence was great.
SPEAKER_00: At one point, she and I were repenting of every sin and every wrong thought we had ever had while holding on to each other in this tiny plane.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what it is about Texas, but their turbulence is wild.
SPEAKER_00: So if you've not been on a plane, don't worry, it's not scary that much.
SPEAKER_00: And you do make it to your destination.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I'm saying it to fellow Texans who are gonna be uh probably heading back there sometime for a women's conference.
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, so we got back in late last night.
SPEAKER_00: God moved this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: It's really amazing to see how God is uniquely moving really all over the nation.
SPEAKER_00: And so I feel so privileged and honored to be able to experience what God is doing in other churches.
SPEAKER_00: But I'll be honest with you, my favorite thing is when I get back on that plane and I get to come home to Generations Church because I love you guys so much and I love what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: So we got home late last night, and David had texted me and he said, Hey, I'm not feeling very good, but you know, it's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00: And I got a message, and then he woke up this morning and he said he said, Hey, I am really not feeling well.
SPEAKER_00: And we decided to not give you all the gift of sickness this weekend.
SPEAKER_00: So you're welcome for that.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Would you like to preach?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, No.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, I will, I'll be a submitted wife.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, work on my attitude.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: But let's just close our eyes all over this room, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your presence.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your freedom.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your healing.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for your power.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you've made a decision to walk into the room this morning and meet with us.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that your presence is tangible, your presence is real, and it's really the only thing we can we can say things, we can do things, but if the power of God is not connected with those words and actions, it means absolutely nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And so we say, Holy Spirit, as best we can, we're submitted to you this morning, and I ask that hearts would be changed this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I ask that hearts would be empowered this morning, and I say, God, let us have an encounter with the risen king this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let us know you in a fresh way this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We say, open hearts, and we say yes to growing to look more like Jesus on the earth today.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So we were talking about what to talk about.
SPEAKER_00: My husband and I were, and he said, Let's talk on praise.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I was like, I don't know about that, but okay.
SPEAKER_00: I think you should preach on praise, but I'll do it.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to share some stories this morning with you.
SPEAKER_00: And I really do love this topic, and I'm honestly honored to be able to talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: We have so many new people at the church, and I love seeing all of the new faces, and so I just kind of want to take a few minutes today to do a cultural dive of why we do what we do, why we are the way that we are, and hopefully it'll give you some language that we're not just here for a show.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes in the charismatic movement, it can kind of get this bad rap of like, well, people are just doing it for show.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people are doing it for the wrong heart motives.
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is, is we cannot throw the baby out with the bath water.
SPEAKER_00: If it is in the Bible, I want to do it.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to ask the question what's in the Bible and what's not in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: What's man-made and what's Bible-made?
SPEAKER_00: What's kingdom and what's not kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: That's what I want to know.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be moved by my flesh.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be moved by the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So I grew up as a PK, my dad front row.
SPEAKER_00: You're you're a great pastor.
SPEAKER_00: You're still a great pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the legacy that you guys instilled in us and in all of us.
SPEAKER_00: So we love you guys and we honor you both so much.
SPEAKER_00: So as a PK, I had the beautiful opportunity of leading worship in a lot of different environments, different denominations, and I was really always taught to respect all denominations because obviously we can have some strong disagreements with different denominations, but at the end of the day, when we get to heaven, we're gonna look to the right and the left, and they're all gonna be there if they believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So I had this opportunity over and over again to lead worship in different church environments: Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, I even sang at a Catholic wedding.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I'll say about that.
SPEAKER_00: And my dad always taught me that there was a form of etiquette, that there were certain things that you could really do all across denominations.
SPEAKER_00: One of it, like the half-mass hand raising, was acceptable, really, in all denominations.
SPEAKER_00: If you started to sway, you know, it was a little wild, and some denominations would kind of look at you a little funny, but it was still kind of acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna rewind back to like when I was really, really young, around the eighth grade.
SPEAKER_00: At this point, I had no concept in my mind really of right and wrong and the fact that denominations didn't get along.
SPEAKER_00: I had no idea of church politics.
SPEAKER_00: That just wasn't even a thought in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember spending the night with some friends in the eighth grade at one of my friend's houses, and so I went to church with her the next day.
SPEAKER_00: And it was just a beautiful church.
SPEAKER_00: It had thousands of members, it had beautiful stained glass windows, it was just wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: We went in, they had a balcony seating, they probably had like 12 people with microphones, and as somebody who was just now kind of starting to want to sing and lead worship, I was just entranced.
SPEAKER_00: And I was looking at these people and I was like, this is what I want to be a part of.
SPEAKER_00: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_00: And I saw all of these people singing on the on the stage, and it was just some of the prettiest music I have ever experienced to this point.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm up in the top balcony with all of the other cool eighth graders with braces, and I'm looking at this scene unfold, and honestly, I felt the presence of God so strong in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm over, I'm over all these people because we're in the balcony, and I close my eyes because I'm feeling the presence of God, but when I open them, I'm expecting other people to be engaged in praise and worship, and no one, I mean, it was like no one was engaging in worship.
SPEAKER_00: I finally look over here in this corner and I see like one person with their hands raised, and I'm like, this is my person.
SPEAKER_00: And so I had this peer pressure moment that I thought the presence of God is here.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I didn't have any theology for this.
SPEAKER_00: This is just what I felt as an eighth grader.
SPEAKER_00: I thought to myself, if nobody else is going to recognize that the presence of God is here, at least I am going to recognize and acknowledge that Jesus is here.
SPEAKER_00: And so I closed my eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And again, my dad had taught me what was culturally acceptable, my peer pressure moment, and I just lifted both hands to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And as I lifted both hands to the Lord, I just began to cry because I was so saddened that what I felt like was the presence of God had just come into the room and nobody was paying attention to it.
SPEAKER_00: And in my mind's eye, I could see it was like this liquid gold, just because we're gonna get real charismatic this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Liquid gold, that's what I was seeing in my mind's eye.
SPEAKER_00: And I saw it coming into the room, and I felt like that represented the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And this net came up, and I felt like it was the hardness of people's hearts who were unwilling to acknowledge that there is a supernatural God that wants to and they were just oblivious.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I had no thought of like how dare them.
SPEAKER_00: I just started to cry.
SPEAKER_00: And my my friend looked at me and she just said, The music's really good, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, yeah, it is good, but there's so much more.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember leaving that service frustrated, and I just had this little moment of like, is that it?
SPEAKER_00: Is that is that what this is about?
SPEAKER_00: And so fast forward years later, I went to a Christian college chapel.
SPEAKER_00: You know, they've got the best of the best worship music going on in this chapel that we all had to go to weekly.
SPEAKER_00: We were forced to.
SPEAKER_00: I might have like slid my card and gone out the back door sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: I repented of that later on in life, but that's probably one of the craziest things I've ever done.
SPEAKER_00: So I feel like that's a pretty good track record in life.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: I skipped chapel.
SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of religious people in that room, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: Just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: So I remember, Garnett, don't get me in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: So I remember being in the crowd and the music's playing.
SPEAKER_00: It's just wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I feel the presence of God in the room.
SPEAKER_00: And I look around, and some people are singing, but to me personally, it feels like no one's engaging.
SPEAKER_00: And the charismatic side of me at this point wants to run up and down the aisles and just shout, do you know God is here and he wants to encounter you?
SPEAKER_00: Do you know there's a man on the throne named Jesus, and he's worthy of all of the praise and all of the glory and all of the honor and adoration?
SPEAKER_00: And the moment passes.
SPEAKER_00: And at this point, I'm really starting to have my faith become my own, and I get very frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: Because if I'm charismatic, if you and I are just charismatic for the sake of being charismatic, it means absolutely nothing.
SPEAKER_00: If this book does not care, if we are radical in our praise and worship, then there is no reason for us to get sweaty on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't want to sweat in front of people.
SPEAKER_00: But I do if it moves the heart of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so I made this decision when I was looking at all of these different denominations.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, where are you, God, in this?
SPEAKER_00: And I saw these huge gaps between the denominations, and I call this crowd, and y'all know about it.
SPEAKER_00: I call it the sto I call them the stoic seat warmers.
SPEAKER_00: They're the ones that when you're leading worship, you can see them and they've got like their arms crossed.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's like, I'm crossing their arms.
SPEAKER_00: Except Garna just crossed them.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your support.
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate your ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Next time you preach, you'll see what I do.
SPEAKER_00: Stoic seat warmers.
SPEAKER_00: They cross their arms, and honestly, they have this thing that just radiates from them.
SPEAKER_00: And this attitude is move me if you can't.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if they realize it, but that's that's what's coming off of them.
SPEAKER_00: And the southern rises up in me, and I say, I will move you.
SPEAKER_00: Then I have to repent, and it's just a hard moment to be in.
SPEAKER_00: Stoic seat warmers, and then you have the complete opposite over here.
SPEAKER_00: I call them the crazy charismatics.
SPEAKER_00: And these are the people that you just say the name of Jesus and they start flopping on the floor like a fish.
SPEAKER_00: This is terrible, and this is probably something I should never admit from the platform, so maybe we can strike this from the record.
SPEAKER_00: But one time I was leading worship, this was years ago, I haven't done it recently, and I realized that when I sang the name of Jesus, this like person at the altar just start moving.
SPEAKER_00: And so it became like a game to me.
SPEAKER_00: It's like I, Jesus, and they so I I wanted to see how many times I could make this person move.
SPEAKER_00: What's really going on in worship leaders' minds?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are being spiritual as well.
SPEAKER_00: So I had this reality that I was frustrated in my theology, and really I was frustrated because I didn't know my theology.
SPEAKER_00: And so I made a decision that I was just going to throw out what I thought I knew about praise and worship, and I was going to begin a journey of what this Bible has to say about praise and worship.
SPEAKER_00: Because if if every service globally, I mean, practically all over the word world, the majority of services are made up of three things.
SPEAKER_00: What are those three things?
SPEAKER_00: Worship, praise, is a worship and praise is saying worship the word, that's what you said.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll I'm gonna throw in offering because I feel like offering is still a big deal, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So three things.
SPEAKER_00: So if worship is practically one-third of every service globally, do you think God might have an opinion on what that's supposed to look like?
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna ask you this morning, whatever background you've come from, whatever thing is in your heart, can you just maybe put it to the side this morning, and then maybe at the end of it, can you see if it actually lines up with what the Word of God has to say?
SPEAKER_00: Can we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Can we go on a little bit of a journey this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 12, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: It's this moment where Moses is receiving the law for the people of God, and he says this, it's very interesting.
SPEAKER_00: He says, You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Go ahead and worship me this way.
SPEAKER_00: And he outlines the exact way that he wants the people of Israel to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: And when I read that verse years ago, it was like it lit a fire in me to realize God has an opinion on how he desires to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_00: You mean I don't just get to come up with my own idea?
SPEAKER_00: You mean I don't get to come up with my own preference?
SPEAKER_00: What part of my personality plays?
SPEAKER_00: What part does my personality play when it comes to praise and worship?
SPEAKER_00: And so I started this journey, and for years I always asked the question, God, is there a right way or a wrong way to worship?
SPEAKER_00: And this language honestly really bugged me because I didn't feel like that matched the heart of the Father concerning praise and worship.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys okay and still with me?
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
SPEAKER_00: So I kept asking the Lord, is there a right way or is there a wrong way to worship?
SPEAKER_00: And finally, years into this, the Lord says, Catherine, it's not about right or wrong, it's about love.
SPEAKER_00: So just follow me with this.
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of times when it comes to relationships, we are so intense in a good way about discovering how our spouse desires to be loved.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you go into Barnes and Noble, you're gonna find the section on relationships, and it's got the book about the love languages, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, God bless my husband.
SPEAKER_00: He his love language is touch, and then mine is acts of service.
SPEAKER_00: So his is real easy, and mine's like he's having to clean, he's having to vacuum, he's having to empty the dishwasher, change the baby's diaper, he's exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, babes, do you feel loved?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: But we see this reality that the uncreated God, the creator of the universe, designed every single love language.
SPEAKER_00: And we're so consumed and concerned in a good way to discover how the person that we're in relationship desires to be loved.
SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to God, rarely do Christians ask the question, God, how do you want to be loved?
SPEAKER_00: And so people come into service Sunday by Sunday, they live their lives day by day, never getting to know God the way he desires to be known, and they don't love him the way he wants to be loved, exactly because they don't get to know this word.
SPEAKER_00: And the issue, and I'll just say it, the issue with charismatics is we claim to know the Bible, but what we don't realize is we don't know it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what we don't know, and we've taken some of these little square Instagram words, and we get some false theology, some fake theology, and we think because we can be a little bit of a good debater from what we've learned on Instagram that we know God and we know his word.
SPEAKER_00: And we insult all of these other denominations, and I used to call myself a Bapticaustal because I love how the charismatics emphasize and counter and we need that.
SPEAKER_00: But we have got to get real with ourselves and ask us do we know what we believe?
SPEAKER_00: Do we know why we do what we do?
SPEAKER_00: When we come in on a Sunday morning, what is defining our praise?
SPEAKER_00: What is defining our worship?
SPEAKER_00: What is defining our movement?
SPEAKER_00: What is defining our engagement?
SPEAKER_00: Are we just living life from what has been spoon-fed us for years?
SPEAKER_00: Or have we opened up this word that is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and wants to divide truth from error in our lives, even when it comes to praise and worship?
SPEAKER_00: So I asked God the question okay, it's not about right or wrong, it's about love.
SPEAKER_00: So the first point here, all of that, those tangents to say praise.
SPEAKER_00: When we come in to this room, praise is simply an act of love.
SPEAKER_00: It's not about personal preference, it's not about opinion, and I want to say this: God loves diversity.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm not asking for is for you to come in and to look like me when I lead worship, or me, how I praise, or Pastor Garna, how he praises, or Pastor Pete, how he praises.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm talking about, but there are elements of praise that God designed every heart to engage in at some capacity, and that's what we're talking about this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So, one, praise is an act of love.
SPEAKER_00: Two, praise is an act of obedience.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Samuel 15, 22, but Samuel replied, What is more pleasing to the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, obedience is better than sacrifice and submission, submission, submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is mentioned over 300 times in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus mentioned praise 300 times in scripture, do you think he has an opinion about it?
SPEAKER_00: So when we look at the definition, can we go a little bit deep here?
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys still with me?
SPEAKER_00: I want to say this too.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm not addressing this this morning because I'm a worship leader.
SPEAKER_00: I'm addressing this this morning because I'm a Christian and I'm a child of God.
SPEAKER_00: Every person, we need to have a theology of biblical praise and worship to answer why we do what we do.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we don't, there's gonna come a time when we don't feel like doing something, and our feelings then begin to define us rather than the truth because we don't know the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to equip you guys this morning prayerfully to pick up your song again, which she had no idea this is what we were talking about, so you can go to war and you can win.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, praise is mentioned over 300 times in scripture, every single Hebrew word, say Hebrew word, say every is connected to an action.
SPEAKER_00: Say action.
SPEAKER_00: So this boggles my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Every single time praise is mentioned in the old testament, every single time praise is mentioned in the new testament, it is not connected to something internally, it's connected to something externally, it's an action.
SPEAKER_00: So, what that tells me is you can be standing there in worship and you might be worshiping, you might be meditating on the Lord, you might be thinking about what you're gonna eat for lunch after service, but unless there is an outward action connected to what you're doing, you are not praising.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are about to get mad, but I'm just gonna be very honest with you.
SPEAKER_00: And you've heard me say this before.
SPEAKER_00: The entire book of Psalms ends with let everything that has breath.
SPEAKER_00: Let everything that has breath.
SPEAKER_00: The definition for there is the most commonly used word for praise.
SPEAKER_00: It's halal.
SPEAKER_00: It's where we get the word hallelujah from.
SPEAKER_00: Say hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the definition says to rave, to shine, to boast, to make a show, to be clamorously foolish.
SPEAKER_00: So all of a sudden, all of these denominations who are all about being stoic, their theology has now been blasted to smithereens with the truth of God that brand.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is not about personality.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is not about preference.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is not about your opinion.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a man on the throne who knows how he wants to be praised.
SPEAKER_00: And praise looks like something.
SPEAKER_00: Praise looks like an action.
SPEAKER_00: We're coming in, and it's like, man, I don't really feel like it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people say, Well, I don't want to be fake.
SPEAKER_00: And I really want to hit this hard because I get that.
SPEAKER_00: I understand it's a very good heart posture to come into a service and say, Well, I don't feel like that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not my personality.
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't want to be fake.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to be fake.
SPEAKER_00: But it's never fake to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like being kind sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: So, should you just be mean?
SPEAKER_00: No, we command our flesh to get in line with the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We command our flesh to get in line with the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I believe one of the most powerful realities of praise is it just puts our pride in a place of being under submission to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: David has said this, and I firmly believe it.
SPEAKER_00: There are some strongholds in this region that God is wanting to break, and some of those strongholds is a religious spirit.
SPEAKER_00: One of those strongholds is a spirit of pride.
SPEAKER_00: It's where we come in all polished and perfect, and we don't give Jesus what he's worthy of because we've created a version of Jesus that's not real.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_00: It's this thought, it's like, man, I'm just gonna serve this image that I've created.
SPEAKER_00: You know, he just he just he's okay with my personality, he's okay with my preference.
SPEAKER_00: Is he is he?
SPEAKER_00: Because a long time ago they were fashioning idols that couldn't see and couldn't hear, and they made them how they wanted them to be.
SPEAKER_00: And they made them in their own image.
SPEAKER_00: You've made Jesus into your own image to make you feel comfortable in a worship set.
SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about that.
SPEAKER_00: Who's in charge of our worship?
SPEAKER_00: Who's in charge of our praise?
SPEAKER_00: Is it our personality?
SPEAKER_00: Is it our preference?
SPEAKER_00: Have we made Jesus into an idol of our own image and our own likeness?
SPEAKER_00: What does the Bible say?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 6, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pull it up real quick.
SPEAKER_00: David, we all heard these stories, so I'm just gonna ask that you you can listen to these like you've never heard them before.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel chapter 6, verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Now King David was told the Lord has blessed the household of Obed Edom and everything he has because of the ark of God, the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: And when those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and fattened calf.
SPEAKER_00: Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all of his might.
SPEAKER_00: And while he and all of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sounds of trumpets, praise was never meant to be just embraced by the leader.
SPEAKER_00: Praise was meant to be in all events.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone in, all of the people in, it says all of Israel ushered in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe the leaders are setting what the tone of what it looks like, but there is a reality that you and I were created together to usher in praise in this season and usher in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So David, a man after God's own heart, sets this radical example.
SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes we can become so judgmental of people who don't praise like us.
SPEAKER_00: And I I've heard this story, it's not my story, it's somebody else's story.
SPEAKER_00: But this guy was sitting on the front row, he's a preacher, and he was about to uh go up to preach, and this lady was just being wild in the front row.
SPEAKER_00: She's just, I mean, it's one of those, you know, it was kind of weird dances.
SPEAKER_00: It is what it is, it's odd.
SPEAKER_00: And he was just he was just getting a little irritated.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, man, she is like being such a distraction.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and this other lady leans over to the pastor and says, Isn't her worship beautiful?
SPEAKER_00: She was uh just saved from human trafficking and gave her life back to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know the cost of people's worship, we don't know what they've been through, and sometimes we can become so critical, and God is not in criticism.
SPEAKER_00: Criticism produces barrenness.
SPEAKER_00: We want fruit in your life.
SPEAKER_00: So we have this picture the ark of the Lord is coming, and it says, as the ark was entering the city of David, Michael, daughter of Saul, watched from a window.
SPEAKER_00: There's something, I just need to hit this.
SPEAKER_00: There's something that happens a lot of times in charismatic movements when someone is standing here apart from what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why, but when we don't engage with what God is doing, more often than not, it produces a critical spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And so my question is when you come in on a Sunday morning, are you acting like a David or are you acting like a Michael?
SPEAKER_00: Are you judging what God is wanting to do in the heart posture of people who are worshiping in the room?
SPEAKER_00: Or are you making a decision to engage and trust the Lord to handle some of the weirdness that might be happening?
SPEAKER_00: She was judging, she was far off, and now I I'll say this don't be weird.
SPEAKER_00: This is not this is not an invitation for you to be weird.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'll just leave it at that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a whole nother thing.
SPEAKER_00: Like, girls don't dance crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Girls don't dance crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be weird, dudes, don't be weird.
SPEAKER_00: Can we strike that from the live stream as well?
SPEAKER_00: When David returned home to bless his household, Michael, daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants, as any vulgar fellow would do.
SPEAKER_00: The church has become so judgmental.
SPEAKER_00: Overarchingly, I can hardly even get on social media anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just say this at Generations Church, we are gonna be a people who honor people's seasons and people's journeys.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want an ounce of criticism behind the scenes tearing people down.
SPEAKER_00: If we send text messages trying to correct people, if we are talking behind the scenes about people's issues, I would call that the language of demons, and we're gonna reject that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna be a Michael who's hindering somebody else's journey in God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Random side note.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: David said to Michael, it was before the Lord who chose me rather than your father or anyone in his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people, Israel.
SPEAKER_00: I will celebrate before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.
SPEAKER_00: And Michael, daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot emphasize, and I don't know, I don't know the consequences.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not God, I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna say that this is what happens when we judge.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a reality that God is not interested in people messing up a move of God with their criticism.
SPEAKER_00: Every single person has an opportunity to embrace what God is doing or get out.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean that just here, I mean this everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: God is on the move, revival is happening globally, and I just want to say, God, let us be a people who walk in a posture of humility and say, I'm not gonna be a Michael in this season judging what God is doing, I'm gonna embrace it, and the only person I'm gonna judge in this season is myself.
SPEAKER_00: We all have issues.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm getting a little off track.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is an act of love.
SPEAKER_00: Say love.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is an act of obedience, and it looks radical.
SPEAKER_00: Next.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is an act of power.
SPEAKER_00: Say power.
SPEAKER_00: Let me actually have this here.
SPEAKER_00: Second Chronicles chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: If you're taking notes, everyone again has heard this story.
SPEAKER_00: My dad smiled.
SPEAKER_00: Really, this is probably just his message repackaged because it's in me, because he's preached on this a lot.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm stealing it from him.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm uh not giving him credit in other places.
SPEAKER_00: So we have this picture, 2 Chronicles chapter 20, and it says, After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Munites declared war on Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna summarize this.
SPEAKER_00: But King Jehoshaphat hears that there are three literal armies that are about to attack him.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: You receive news that there are people with spears and swords and javelins about to come to your house on three sides to attack you.
SPEAKER_00: And I love King Jehoshaphat's response is because it gets he gets spiritual immediately.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, I don't know what to do, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to prayer, he gets all of Judah to start praying and fasting.
SPEAKER_00: They meet together, they pray, they fast, and he says, We do not know what to do, Lord, but eyes are on you.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been there before?
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of them praying and fasting, Jehaziel, a Levite, receives this word from the Lord, and basically the summary is don't be afraid, don't be discouraged.
SPEAKER_00: God is going to fight your battle.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have some battles right now that you need the Lord to fight?
SPEAKER_00: So only about 10 people.
SPEAKER_00: I have like all hands, feet raised for me.
SPEAKER_00: So he gets this prophetic word, and I love it.
SPEAKER_00: Jehoshaphat does not respond to the natural situation around him with a natural solution.
SPEAKER_00: He responds to the natural situation with a spiritual solution, a word from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so they get this word, don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And so they go out tomorrow to face their enemies, the next day to face their enemies.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: It says in verse 21, After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they say give thanks to the Lord, his faithful love endures forever.
SPEAKER_00: So can you imagine this?
SPEAKER_00: Again, people with javelins.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what a javelin is.
SPEAKER_00: Swords, spears.
SPEAKER_00: So it's a spear and a javelin, is the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Does somebody eventually Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Randy?
SPEAKER_00: Is that what it is?
SPEAKER_00: Close enough.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: They've got shields, whatever weapons they have.
SPEAKER_00: They're coming against these people.
SPEAKER_00: And Jehoshaphat says, I have a really great idea.
SPEAKER_00: Let's send people with good voices to meet them.
SPEAKER_00: And all of Israel is like, yeah, that's a great idea.
SPEAKER_00: Let's do that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's send the five foot three praisers who can hardly bend 50 pounds.
SPEAKER_00: And let's put them on the front line.
SPEAKER_00: And so this story made the Bible, and it absolutely boggles my mind because it's a natural situation, but it's handled in a spiritual way.
SPEAKER_00: And I believe one of the reasons why Jehoshaphat was able to say, let's send the praisers out, was because he understood that in Genesis there was actually a prophetic word released over the tribe of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: And it the prophetic word was Judah, which means praise, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys have been facing some really strong battles for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: And the solution is not nearly as hard as you would think.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys have been dealing with cycles of depression, cycles of pornography addiction, whatever the addiction is, and the solution, you know, you're you're repenting, and I get that, and we need to repent, but maybe the solution is to get your eyes off of your problem and get in a posture of praise, lifting up Jesus, who is the chainbreaker, who is the one who breaks addictions, who breaks bondage, and gets yourself in a place of praise where he then begins to fight the battle for you.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's exactly what happens.
SPEAKER_00: It says at the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord, say the Lord, cause the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting amongst themselves, and they were defeated.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm about to wrap up here, but I don't care about being charismatic just for the sake of being charismatic, like I think it's trendy.
SPEAKER_00: I opened this book a long time ago and I realized that for whatever reason, God responds to undignified praise.
SPEAKER_00: And I made a decision that if I'm the only person in the room, I don't care.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give Jesus what he's worthy of.
SPEAKER_00: But what I also found is the Bible says God rewards those who diligently seek him.
SPEAKER_00: There are so many promises connected to obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And when we make a decision to be radical praisers, can I actually get keys real quick?
SPEAKER_00: Is that okay?
SPEAKER_00: When we make a decision to be radical praisers, what we're saying is, God, you can come and fight the battle that we're facing.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just stand up all over this room?
SPEAKER_00: So let's just close our eyes all over this room.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm not saying, please hear my heart with this.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm not saying is you have to be radical, as radical as Roman.
SPEAKER_00: Roman's my praise, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying we can we just celebrate that he's a he's a man after God's own heart.
SPEAKER_00: If there's anybody that we could say you don't know what he's been through and what God delivered him out of, he's got a very loud praise.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have been forgiven much love much, as the scriptures say.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you have to be that radical.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even saying that you have to run up and down the aisles.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all are older, you're like, that's hard.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in past seasons, y'all already did that.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's the young people that need to do that.
SPEAKER_00: But you y'all can lift your hands, y'all can sing, y'all can engage.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm saying is, God is looking for a people who make a decision to love him the way he wants to be loved.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't, I don't understand this, and this is what's so epically incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys have heard me say this before.
SPEAKER_00: It amazes me that God has ordained it that our enemies can be defeated by a song and a sound.
SPEAKER_00: That's just it.
SPEAKER_00: Something is so supernatural that God designed your voice to be a weapon.
SPEAKER_00: God designed your praise to be a weapon.
SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the reasons why the enemy has tried so hard to make people so stoic in his presence is because for thousands of years the enemy has suffered defeat at the sound of a praising church.
SPEAKER_00: And we look at these pockets of revival that are breaking out all over the place, and there are these young people who are at the altar and they're so loud and obnoxious and radical.
SPEAKER_00: And I said this before, but I don't think I said it in a good way or the best way to make it understandable.
SPEAKER_00: I would take a rowdy bunch every single day of the week over a dead church.
SPEAKER_00: When we hear a sound that is loud and maybe a little irritating, what that says is life is present.
SPEAKER_00: And may we never be a people that silence the passion, the zeal of the younger generation because that zeal is going to slay giants.
SPEAKER_00: That zeal is going to move mountains.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are going to be a culture that comes together to give Jesus what he's worthy of.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to press past our feelings, we're going to press past our personality and our emotions and our preference.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to give him what he's worthy of.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Simply because he's worthy.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_00: I've had a hard week.
SPEAKER_00: He's still worthy.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing to me that the response on good days and hard days and bad days should still be all the same.
SPEAKER_00: Praise.
SPEAKER_00: Praise when it's hard.
SPEAKER_00: Praise when it's good.
SPEAKER_00: Praise in the valley.
SPEAKER_00: Praise on the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: So I just I again close your eyes all over this room, and I just want us to examine our heart posture.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe we've come in with some theology, and you're you're mad at me from what I preach.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_01: I love you.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe you just haven't known what praise is.
SPEAKER_00: That was my thing.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what it was.
SPEAKER_00: And you just want to say, God, I want to be in alignment with you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you just want a fresh alignment with biblical theology of what praise is, I just want you to raise your hand this morning.
SPEAKER_00: My hands are raised.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, you see the hands raised this morning, and we just say, Lord, forgive us when we've chosen our preference and our personality.
SPEAKER_00: And we've tried to make a God in our own image who wants to be loved how we want to be loved, rather than discovering how you want to be loved.
SPEAKER_00: And I say, Holy Spirit, help us to be bold enough to pursue you in moments of praise when you call for it.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to be fearless enough to pursue you in moments of praise when it's time for that.
SPEAKER_00: And we just say, help us, Holy Spirit, to love your word and your ways enough to follow them.
SPEAKER_00: And we say we're not gonna be like the charismatics who make up their own theology.
SPEAKER_00: We say we're going to follow you and love you the way that you desire to be loved.
SPEAKER_00: And everybody said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just give Jesus a shout of praise?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, come on, don't stop.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is free of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, don't stop.
SPEAKER_01: This is free of cheese.
SPEAKER_01: We give it up.
SPEAKER_00: Did you just feel that kind of shift when everyone was unified?
SPEAKER_00: Did you feel it was like it was like maybe we've had some power, but it just increased the power.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: John says that there's a river of living water that flows out of you.
SPEAKER_00: When your river comes out and their river comes out, it creates an unstoppable river of the presence of God.
SPEAKER_00: So come next week, ready to praise, ready to worship.
SPEAKER_00: We also have a Wednesday service that we would love for you to come to.
SPEAKER_00: And uh pray for David.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just pray for him real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for Pastor David, and we just ask for your healing power to flow through him.
SPEAKER_00: And we ask for full healing, full health over him, full quick recovery in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, please help baby Haman not not get sick.