The Lifestyle Of Worship

But our main idea today, and if you want to go ahead and throw up the title of this, if you are taking notes, is The Lifestyle Of Worship. Before we get into any of that, I just want to first off thank Pastor Leon and Miranda for giving me the opportunity to speak and share with you guys what's on my heart. But also just praise them for a second for how phenomenal of a job that they do leading this church. So, thank you guys so much for all that you do to lead this church and to follow after what God is calling this church to in your ministry. So again, we're talking today about The Lifestyle Of Worship.

This is a message that I was actually supposed to preach on July 4th a couple of months ago, but some stuff happened. We weren't at the Wyndham anymore. Things changed. So thankfully, I'm thankful it got pushed back a couple of weeks because God has taught me so much more about what worship is and what that lifestyle looks like over the last few weeks. The main scripture we're going to be reading out of today is Genesis 22, 1 through 18.

I'm going to go ahead and read through all of it. It's a lot. It's a big chunk. I'm sorry. But it's really important, I feel, for us to get the background of this worship.

This is the story of God calling Abraham to sacrifice his son, which is a heavy topic. It's a heavy, heavy thing to think about that God looked at Abraham and said, So I'm going to go ahead and read through this scripture, and then we will go ahead and pray. Genesis 22, starting in verse 1, says, Some time later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah.

Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain I will show you. Early the next morning, Abraham got up, loaded his donkey. He took with him two servants and his son Isaac. When he had enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

First off, three days, that's a long time to, like, be walking. And, like, I've got to sacrifice my son. Like, what is going through Abraham's mind during those three days? It's insane to think about that. He is obedient to God, first off, but then he's being tested even further by having to walk for three days, not telling the two servants with him, not telling Isaac, I mean, not telling the donkey.

I don't think he would have told the donkey. But, like, that's a long ways to walk, just not even, like, just knowing that you have to go through with that. But, in Genesis 22, 5, he says to his servants, stay here while I and the boy go worship there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac.

He himself carried the fire and the knife, and the two of them went on together. Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Father, yes, my son. Abraham replied, The fire and the wood is here, Isaac says, but where is the lamb for this burnt offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place that God had told them about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. He reached out and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And again, Abraham's response here is, Here I am.

Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God. Do not lay a hand on the board. He said the gift would be okay.

Thank you. Because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up, and there in the thicket, God provided a ram. He saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over, took the ram, and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide, and in the original Hebrew is Yahweh Yaira. And to this day, it is said, on the mountain, the Lord will provide. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this, and because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars and the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies. And through your offspring, all nation on the earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.

Father God, thank you for this example of worship. God, thank you for showing us that you are providing, God. Thank you for showing us who you are, who your character is in that. And God, I pray as we begin to break apart these scriptures and as we start to discuss what the lifestyle of worship is, God, I just pray that you open up all of our hearts and all of our minds to you and to your word. In your name we pray, amen.

So, first question of the day, what is worship? This week, I, you know, did a little Instagram poll, felt really cool. Like, I could do an Instagram poll for my sermon. And I just asked a simple question, what does worship mean to you? And I got a bunch of different responses, all varying in their responses.

Some people said, worship is just some hypocritical thing that the Christians do. And some people told, you know, kind of gave the answer of, it is music. It is the songs that we sing. Some people said, it's not for us. And just all these different answers.

I have a few here on the screen that I really, really liked. One of my friends down in Florida said, worship is not just a song. It is the obedience of our hearts to the Lord. And I read that, I was like, ooh, that's really good. Let me just use that one for my sermon.

Then one of my first music teachers went on and said how we glorify him in every part of our daily lives. And it's all about the glory of God. That is what worship is. That is what worship is for. The glory of God in every part of our daily lives.

Not some parts. Not the parts we choose. Not the parts we don't choose. For every single part of our lives. The first guy who got me into leading worship said, an overflow of something that should be happening daily.

Not just a once a week or once a day occurrence. So it kind of leads me to my first point. Again, if you're taking notes, the lifestyle of worship is obedience. Let's Genesis 22 on. Let's revisit that.

Just because it's a brilliant idea. It gives us a brilliant example of what that lifestyle of worship being obedience is. It says, Sometime later, God tested Abraham and he said to him, Abraham, here I am, is how Abraham replied. And that's not just, I was having a conversation with Jesse before the service started. Because it's not just a, it's not just a like, yeah, I'm here.

What's going on? Like my buddy Matt is here or Christina is here right in front of me. It's not just that. But when Abraham said, here I am, it is God. Here I am.

Take and use me. He's already ready for whatever God is about to have him do. He's already attentive and willing to do whatever it is that God is about to ask him to do. Which makes this next. Next.

Point, really, really hard. The Lifestyle Of Worship is Sacrifice. Again, Genesis 22, 1. Sometime later, God tested Abraham and he said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Then God said, take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah.

I want to stop here for a second because I learned, like I said, I learned a lot over the last couple of weeks preparing for this message. This region of Moriah, this mountain Moriah, I looked it up because I was like, what is the significance of saying this very specific mountain? There's always a significance to whatever it is that the Bible says, right? It's 300 meters or about 1,000 feet from Golgotha. Think about that.

It's within walking distance of where Jesus was crucified. So going back into Genesis 22, verse 2. He goes here, they're walking, and the Lord calls him to go to the region of Moriah. And he says, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on the mountain that I will show you. So Genesis 22, 3, early the next morning, Abraham got up, loaded his donkey, took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.

When they had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place that God had told him about. Now, there's something interesting I found about this scripture here, and it's Abraham's confused all over the place state of mind. And we see that Abraham is even sacrificing that in this moment. Like, he woke up early, and then he loaded his donkey, and then he got his helpers, and then they cut the wood. And then, like, just the order that he did it in didn't make a lot of sense.

Like, if I were put in this position, I'm going to get the people who are going to help me first, and then I'm going to go cut the wood, and then I'll load the donkey. It doesn't make sense to load the donkey first, right? And so, I was thinking about it, and it was, even in this just altered state of mind, if you will, Abraham was still obedient to God. That's a, like, think about that. Even when he didn't know what was going on, even when he didn't understand what was going on, even when everything just seemed like a jumble and just a kerfuffle in his head, he still stayed obedient to God.

If you could pick back up at verse 3. When he had enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place that God had told him about. And on the third day, Abraham looked up and saw that place in the distance. He said to his servants, stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship, and we will come back to you.

So, here he is, leaving his servants to go and sacrifice his son. And he says, worship. This is the first time that the word worship is used in the Bible. And it's about sacrifice. Just take that in for a second.

It's the first time that the word worship is used in the Bible. And it's God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son. So, I've got this quote up here. When we withhold nothing from God, God withholds nothing from us. See, the special part about Isaac is he was the physical representation of the blessing to Abraham from God.

Right? So, in Genesis 17, 19, it says, Then God said, Yes, but your wife Sarah will have a son. You will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. This is Abraham's promised son, his only son, and the son that he waited for.

Isaac is the promise, the delay, and the fulfillment of God's blessing on Abraham's life. He was the physical representation of the blessing of God over Abraham. I mean, 1719 of Genesis right here says, through Isaac will become many descendants, right? Just think about that. And here God is asking him to give it up.

It's ridiculous. But in my lifetime, which is just 20 short years, I have found that if you want to see God do the miraculous within your life, you have to get comfortable with the ridiculous. If you want to see God do the miraculous within your life, you have to get comfortable with the ridiculous. That is worship. That is that sacrificial lifestyle of worship.

And just a New Testament, just so that, you know, we're not just staying in the Old Testament looking at that. But a New Testament, New Covenant, Romans 12.1 says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. So here's that word again, sacrifice, followed by worship.

The lifestyle of worship is sacrifice. When we withhold nothing from God, God withholds nothing from us. God doesn't just want your 10% or your 20% or your 90%. He wants your life, your whole life, not just portions and parts of it. He wants everything.

So again, one more time, when we withhold nothing from God, He withholds nothing from us. I don't really think that, you know, I feel like sometimes in our church culture, we're so worried about checking the church box, checking the, did my devotions box, I did my prayer today, I spent some time in worship, you know, I'm doing all these things. Right? Right? Like, I feel like we're focused on those things.

I don't really think that God is as focused on us checking the church box or the prayer box or the worship box or the devotion box. I think He just wants our life. Right? Think about that. He just wants your life, which is a lot, albeit, but that's what He's calling for you.

The lifestyle of worship is sacrifice. When we withhold nothing from God, God withholds nothing from us. So, we've talked about what the lifestyle of worship requires from us. It requires from us obedience. It requires from us sacrifice.

And we looked at Abraham for those things. But what does the lifestyle of worship bring? The lifestyle of worship brings blessing. And we saw that, again, in Genesis 22, 15 through 18. Starting in verse 15, it says, The angel of the Lord called to Abraham.

Which, it's really, really cool. Anytime in the Old Testament you see the angel of the Lord, it's actually God speaking. It's not some different angel of the Lord as the angel of the Lord is God Himself speaking. Which makes this really, this next part really cool. It says, The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.

And as far as I need to abide by that of him living a self-promation on your own. It doesn't look like. and God honors what he asks you to give up. God asked Abraham to give up his son. Abraham was willing to do that.

God blessed that. Right? Just, God will always honor what he's asking you to give up. Furthermore, if he's asking you to give it up, it's best for you. Maybe there's something that he's asking you to give up that is hurting you or keeping you from him.

I had a really close friendship recently that had to cut off. And it wasn't really until after that friendship had cut off that I realized that it was that friendship that was holding me from God. But just since that friendship cut off, it was only like two months ago, the leaps and bounds that I have seen within my life, as far as, you know, not just physical or emotional or mental health, but my spiritual health. When God said to me, hey, Andrew, you got to give that up. I said, no, God, I'm good.

No, but you, no, God, I didn't stutter. Like, I'm good. I don't want to give this up. He goes, but it's best for you. No, I know better than you, God.

How many times have we said that? God, I know better than you. But I took it and I talked with my community. And I said, God is telling me to do this. Just pray on it.

Just go and pray on it. I said, oh, yeah, that's what God's telling me to do, too. I said, did you think about praying about it? Like, oh, maybe I should go and do that. So I went and prayed about it.

And God confirmed that friendship had to cut off. It was painful. It hurt. It did. And, you know, even still does to an extent.

But seeing the way that God has transformed me just in the last two months, because I took that lifestyle of worship, being obedient to him, again, it took some trying, but took that lifestyle of sacrifice, that sacrificial lifestyle of worship, and said, God, I want you to take this. I'm seeing the blessing being reaped within my life now, because I'm now in a place where God is able to speak to me, because I don't have that person, I don't have that friendship blocking me off. So again, the lifestyle of worship brings blessing. I saw this, I saw somebody post this on Facebook, and I just, I thought it was really, really nice. I thought it was cool.

It says, your sacrifices unlock the door to somebody else's blessings. And that friendship, I can tell on both sides, was a sacrifice. And I don't really know how they're doing as far as, you know, experiencing God, but I know that because of that sacrifice, I've been able to see the blessing of God. And I've been able to experience that blessing in the way that he promised me that he would, just like he promised Isaac and Abraham that they would see that blessing. See, again, God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, and God honored that.

God always honors what he's asking you to give up. One of the simplest answers that I got from my Instagram this week. It was one of my favorite. It's, uh, I decided to make a whole point out of it, because I thought it was that. Yeah, great.

The lifestyle of worship brings freedom. I'm going to turn to Acts 16.25. Just a little bit of backstory on this. Paul and Silas are walking around, and there's this lady, there's this girl possessed by a demon, and the local townspeople are pretty much using her to make them money.

It's like, fantastic for this town, right? But, you know, Paul and Silas, they're going around preaching, you know, sharing Jesus. And, you know, for a couple days, this girl's following them, going, all hail Jesus, and she's mocking what Paul and Silas are saying. So it actually says, and you can look this up, it's in Acts 16, Paul gets frustrated and casts the demon out. Anyway, that gets him in a lot of trouble because, again, making a lot of money for this town, making a lot of money for this city.

And so they, Paul and Silas, get cast to jail. They get thrown into jail. Which is where we'll pick up here, Acts 16.25. It says, but at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

At midnight, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. So essentially, they're leading worship for the prisoners, right? The interesting thing about this at midnight sentence, though, this little two words, one thing that I didn't mention before is when they were put in the jail, they were put into the most secure cell. They were put into the deepest, darkest, lowest cell. They don't really know what time it is, which I kind of find interesting that it still says at midnight.

And so I, through conversations that I've had, through different studies that I've done, kind of took this at midnight to mean that maybe it was this darkness, whether that be physical or mental or emotional or whatever it was, this darkness, it says, but in this darkness, Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners were listening to them. So in this darkness, they're leading worship. What? It's crazy.

And so, again, they're leading worship, and then, and I'll be honest, I forgot to make the slide for this next verse, so I'm just going to read it to you. I've got, it's a 26 of Acts 16, and it says, Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once, the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose. Freedom. The lifestyle of worship brings freedom.

Now, these verses have a little bit of a deeper impact for me. Two years ago, right around this time, I started my journey really taking ministry seriously, and I started taking classes over at Wave Leadership College. It's a part of Wave Church. They have just a small college just for ministry training. My first weekend that I moved in there, I was afraid.

I was nervous. I'm an 18-year-old kid moving out for the first time. You know, I'm not really sure what's about to happen. Like, it's a new experience for me, my family, and so as I'm leaving my mom's house that morning, driving out to the school, I'm just praying, God, if this is not your will, let me get in an accident, like a rock crash through my windshield, or let my tire pop, something. Like, just because I'm so afraid at this point that I don't, like, if I don't go to this ministry school, I'm okay.

I'll just keep working and just keep doing what I'm doing, right? Like, I was happy. I was content with where I was. So, I'm driving, I get to the apartments, and the apartments that we were living in were rented by the school, and so I get there, I, you know, get ready to start unloading my stuff, get my keys, I'm, you know, kind of getting excited, like, okay, I made it here, God, maybe this is from you, like, just maybe. Get there, and the Dean of Students looks at me, he goes, hey, so the apartment complex is behind your apartment, it's not going to be ready for at least another week, and so in my head I'm like, yes, this is God's sign saying this is not what I'm supposed to do, like, this is it, and he goes, but, and I was like, oh, there's always, like, why is there always, there's always a but there.

He goes, so you can just move in with, with these other guys for a couple days, just sleep on their couch, and then you'll be up in a new, completely furnished apartment by the end of next week. I was like, eh, whatever, I guess I'll do it, like, God, you just keep providing a way, you know, if it's really what you want, then I guess I'll do it. So, this is, when I first moved out to Virginia Beach, I was living out in Chesapeake for the majority of my, my life here in Virginia. I have a terrible gauge of time, anybody you ask can tell, like, I have a terrible gauge of, Matt's shaking his head right now. So, I was leading worship, I was a creative intern at a church out in Chesapeake, and our, our time to get there every morning was 8 a.

m., right? I naturally wake up at 4 a.m. It's a 30-minute drive, I'm in my head like, yeah, this will be plenty of time, and boy, was it plenty of time.

I got there at 6 a.m., still doubting if I'm where God wants me to be, still doubting if God is calling me to lead worship. And so, I sit there in my car, just turn on some worship music, the, the, the album from Hillsong United, People, had just come out. So, I was, you know, listening through that, worshiping through that.

I was like, God, if this is really what you want from me, give me a verse that confirms it. Acts 16, 25 comes along, it says, At midnight, while Paul and Silas are praying and singing hymns to God, prison doors are shaken, all this stuff has happened, right? There's freedom. And so, it's like, okay, God, that's once. Give it to me, like, two or three more times, right?

So, I'm, like, really just poking God. Like, keep in mind, the day before, he's already provided, like, six different ways for me to really be here, right? And so, I'm like, all right, God, whatever. If that's really what you want me to do, then I'll go in, I'll lead worship this morning, and, you know, we'll be good. And so, a couple weeks later, still, you know, I'm enrolled in school, classes are happening.

And, you know, I'm starting to build my community over at Wave. And I just had this really bad day. And I just, you know, I didn't know what I was going to do. Just not in a great headspace overall. So, I texted one of my friends, and my friend called the dean of students, and he and one of my professors come over, and they start praying over me.

And I just, like, I'm just not at peace. And then one of my professors, he starts to pray over me in tongues. And this is, I grew up Southern Baptist. I wasn't ready for that. Like, I was afraid of whatever was happening as a person, but my spirit was calm.

And so, it's like, okay, like, maybe, like, maybe this is actually God. But then he stopped praying in tongues, and he started praying in English again, and he goes, Andrew, right now, is at midnight, God. He doesn't know what that means. I don't know what that means. But he's at midnight, and you're calling him to worship through that.

And so, I'm like, okay, that's two, whatever, God. Like, like, naturally, like, not only has he already made sure that I got to the apartment and in the apartment, but now he's giving me verses over and over. And over and over again, the next day, as it goes, I'm walking to class, my friend stops me and she goes, hey, I don't know why, but God tells me to tell you to worship at midnight. I'm like, oh God, what are you doing? He's confirming where I'm supposed to be, right?

He's giving me a freedom through my worship, right? So again, this worship, it requires obedience. And as we've learned today, I'm not. This worship requires sacrifice. That worship will bring blessing.

Worship will bring freedom. One more little story for you before I go to my last point. In May, beware, I'm going to get a little vulnerable here. May 2019, I went to the doctor and got diagnosed with a bunch of mental health disorders, if you will. And so I really, really struggled the summer of 2019, which is the summer before I'm going into school, with taking and putting my identity in these mental health disorders.

I was claiming them as mine. I was, you know, it was my this, it was my that. And I was taking my identity, instead of putting it where I was supposed to be in Christ, I was giving it, you know, the two-second, the momentary satisfaction of being placed in this thing, right? So here I am struggling through this, which is probably where my, you know, doubting of my calling came from, was because I was struggling with, you know, with, with these mental health things. And I was at a, I was at a worship service over at Wave.

It was a young adult service, and the pastor gets on stage, and, you know, we always hear of those, if you need healing, come to the front and we'll pray for you. And I've always been like, well, everything works fine. I think I'm all right. So again, that's what I did that night. Like, yeah, this works, that works.

We're, we're good, right? And God goes, what about your head? It's like, what do you mean by that? It's your mind. Are your thoughts where they're supposed to be?

Are you thinking the way that you're supposed to be? And so I'm like, okay, God, you're right. I'll go and I'll pray and I'll receive this. I go down there and I, I get prayed over, and then he looks, the pastor praying over me, he looks at me, he goes, God wants you to sacrifice something before you can receive this blessing of healing. So I'm like, okay, like, I'm really ready for this.

I've been taking too much. This is like the one time in my life I was obedient because I was getting something out of it. And so I was like, okay, God, whatever it is that you want to take from me, that you want me to sacrifice, just take it. I'm ready to receive this healing that you want me to receive. And so as he does, he took something, something of very high importance to me.

It was yet again, another friendship. And so this, this friendship ended, and it was this, you know, once this friendship ended, similarly to the one a couple of months ago, I, I started to notice that it was this friendship that was feeding me into these lies, feeding me into these, these things that I was telling myself. But again, it was once I worshiped God through my sacrifice, I saw that freedom. You got to worship God in the sacrifice if you want to find freedom. My last point here is the lifestyle of worship brings salvation.

And Lily, if you want to go ahead and come up and just play behind me for a second here. As, as the story continues in Acts 16, Paul and Silas are praying, they're singing, chains come down, walls are broken, all this stuff. The jailer, the one who's supposed to be, you know.