1 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:15,480 Do you know it's fantastic that we're just chatting together and 2 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,200 fellowshipping? This is part of our worship. 3 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:26,520 Yeah. So whilst the the rule follower 4 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:32,360 would like to see us come back together, it's great actually 5 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,680 that it's a struggle to bring us back together. 6 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,640 This is what we're looking for is we're looking for a 7 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:46,240 community. Yeah, we want people to be 8 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,560 friends with one another. Not only that, but when people 9 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:57,840 turn up, we want people to come along and feel like they can be 10 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:06,320 a part of being amongst us. So it's really good to see you 11 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:09,160 all interacting and talking with one another. 12 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:14,040 That said, I have a lot to get through. 13 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,000 So we are going to go at quite a pace here. 14 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:24,680 And my prayer is that you will take what God has to speak to 15 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:32,080 you about worship and hear that and not get distracted by the 16 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:39,600 rest of what I say. God has told us that we were 17 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,400 going to be a church where worship was key. 18 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:50,680 We'd been known for our worship. And on the 16th of April in 19 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:56,160 2023, Helen Coleman brought a prophetic word to the church 20 00:01:56,320 --> 00:02:04,120 here, that worship would be key to the church, that our worship 21 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:10,520 would be vibrant, that our worship would be powerful, but 22 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:13,760 that our worship would also be a battle cry. 23 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,960 See, there's a balance here. We hear the prophetic word. 24 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,280 That's going to happen because God's already spoken that, 25 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:29,840 right? But in the same time, we need to 26 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,120 prepare ourselves and work to that end. 27 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:42,440 That's why part of me wanted to see us talk about worship, and 28 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:47,280 we've linked it in with our values here of who we are. 29 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:53,760 So we're continuing our series on worship, but also on our 30 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,360 values that we treasure as a church. 31 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,280 Can I encourage you if you haven't heard the previous 32 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:08,480 messages, and even if you have, go and listen to them again. 33 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:17,160 Get it into you about worship. God, I pray that you would 34 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:23,440 reveal what it means to worship you as individuals and 35 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:28,200 corporately. Lord, I pray that our worship 36 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:36,440 would be glorifying to you, that we would glorify God the Father, 37 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:42,880 Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Lord, that our worship would be 38 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:49,040 infectious in times to come, and Lord, that You will transform us 39 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:54,800 through US, spending time in your presence, worshipping You. 40 00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:02,120 Amen. We're going to talk today about 41 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:09,480 a community that humbly serves and how worship ties in to that. 42 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,640 But I thought I'd start with what is worship? 43 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,440 See, each of the people speaking will bring this slightly 44 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,560 differently, and you'll hear different emphasis. 45 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:28,240 Emphasis. The Greek word is proscaneo. 46 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:36,120 It means directly to kiss toward, and it's thought that 47 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:42,720 that was a reference to people. The custom was to go and sit at 48 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:44,840 someone's feet and kiss their feet. 49 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:53,920 It shows submission, but it also shows an admission of a 50 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:59,960 dependence on See Worship. I was thinking about it. 51 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:07,280 It talks about showing respect. It talks about being reverent 52 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:14,040 and really those big words. But what it means is to prize 53 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,120 what you're worshipping above everything else. 54 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,520 It also means, thankfully, to serve. 55 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:30,920 Thankfully, for me anyhow, in the Bible, the words for worship 56 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:37,240 the Lord and serve the Lord are used almost interchangeably. 57 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:44,280 They're one and the same. Worship involves sacrificing. 58 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,200 You know, the Israelites had the whole sacrificial system. 59 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:54,640 It was all about worship. Isaiah actually talks in his 60 00:05:54,640 --> 00:06:00,440 book about how the Israelites were actually appearing to 61 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,360 worship, but their hearts weren't in it. 62 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,040 They weren't involved in worship. 63 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,400 Today we would say they weren't present in it. 64 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:18,360 If we worship God in spirit and truth, he responds to it. 65 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:26,360 See, we look at the sacrifice of worship, and today that might 66 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,200 look like I didn't really enjoy worship. 67 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,560 This morning. We didn't sing any good songs. 68 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:41,800 News flash, it's not about you. In fact, if you sing those songs 69 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,880 and you don't enjoy them, that's your sacrifice because it's 70 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,200 about God. The songs we choose, as Skip 71 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,720 touched on last week, are about Jesus, and we choose them for a 72 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:00,440 reason. Worship is about value. 73 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:07,440 It's about where you direct your time, your affection, where you 74 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,840 direct your energy, your loyalty. 75 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:18,000 We can worship anything, can worship TV shows, whatever the 76 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,080 latest ones are. I'm losing track. 77 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,480 We can worship sports, you know, this was what the Israelites 78 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:30,840 talked about idols, because idols are just things that you 79 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,000 worship instead of worshipping God. 80 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:41,920 Finally, what I want to touch on today is worship to honour. 81 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:52,760 We'll get to that later. We were made to worship God is 82 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,640 the true sense of who we worship. 83 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:02,680 Yeah, we were made with a God shaped hole in US, and the only 84 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,640 way we fill that is with God by worshipping him. 85 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:16,280 See, true worship is directed at God alone, and it's not because 86 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:22,160 he needs it. It's not because it benefits God 87 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:27,400 in any shape. No, it's because it fulfils us. 88 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:34,200 It completes us. Worship is a lifestyle. 89 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:41,799 It involves our whole body. And when we talk about the body, 90 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,080 we quite often think about the church. 91 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:49,640 But no, it involves this body as well, All the fat on it too. 92 00:08:52,880 --> 00:09:00,800 It involves our spirit. In Revelation 4, it tells us in 93 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:06,440 John's vision that the living creatures worshipped 94 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:14,280 continually, day and night. That means everything they were 95 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:20,640 doing was worshipping. Every word they gave, every 96 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:25,360 action they took was all to glorify God. 97 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:32,720 True worship, it's not forced, it's spontaneous. 98 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:40,720 True worship starts from the heart, and it's not for other 99 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:48,160 people's expectations. What we worship transforms us. 100 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:56,520 When you spend time looking at something, you behold it, you 101 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:02,000 become changed by it. Yeah, Two Corinthians, Paul's 102 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,680 right into the church in Corinth and he says, and we all who with 103 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,800 unveiled faces, that means there's nothing between US and 104 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,240 God. We with unveiled faces, 105 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:22,000 contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His 106 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:28,320 image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord 107 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:34,840 who is the Spirit. We're designed to be creative. 108 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,800 This is one of the things I kind of struggle with because I don't 109 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,160 consider myself really creative, particularly when I'm married to 110 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:48,800 Andrea, who draws and paints and sculpts and does all these 111 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,760 things that are typically referred to as being creative. 112 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,680 But what I forget is I am creative. 113 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,320 You put me in front of a computer and asked me to write a 114 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:06,080 computer programme. I'm creating something, not just 115 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:13,360 in the what, but in the how. I'm creative in how I lead. 116 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:21,800 Our worship should be creative. All of our being was intended to 117 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:27,320 worship day and night in everything we do and with all we 118 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,520 do. We're called to worship. 119 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,720 I'm called to be creative in my worship. 120 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,400 It's good to be undignified in worship. 121 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:42,800 You know, Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples. 122 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:48,240 That was a job. He was the disciples rabbi, He 123 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:53,160 was their teacher. He was imparting everything, and 124 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:58,800 yet he took the lowest job in the house and went and washed 125 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,400 their feet. That's pretty undignified for 126 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:08,760 his position. David danced before the Ark and 127 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,240 before the Israelite nation as they were bringing the ark back, 128 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:19,440 and it was so undignified that his wife was appalled by him. 129 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:25,520 She couldn't stand that. I don't think he was very 130 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,800 British going. Oh yes, Lord, aren't you 131 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:30,360 wonderful? You're amazing. 132 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:37,640 He wasn't even Nigerian. Yes, Lord, No, I think it was. 133 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,600 Yes, Lord, you're amazing. Hallelujah. 134 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,760 For those of you who don't know me, that takes a lot of effort. 135 00:12:55,840 --> 00:13:01,600 The question is, what is God doing in your life? 136 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:05,600 Are you willing to stretch yourself in worship? 137 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,160 Are you willing to become undignified? 138 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,400 Are you going to be extravagant in your worship? 139 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:23,240 So how then will we live? We can live a life of serving. 140 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:30,080 That means we can live a life of worship, but we live it to God's 141 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:36,000 glory. We live to serve God as we serve 142 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:40,280 the church, as we serve one another, as we serve the world 143 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:45,320 out there. Can I encourage you spend some 144 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:51,200 time thinking about worship, dwell on it, work out what it 145 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,120 means to you. We're all individuals. 146 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:01,320 We spent this Wednesday talking about worship and I was blown 147 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:06,840 away in Home group because everybody had something to bring 148 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,760 and it was just fresh. It was juicy, it was amazing, 149 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,840 and it made me think about more about how we worship. 150 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:25,240 I'm going to take a slight deviation, but hopefully you'll 151 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:29,160 hang in there with me. Who are you? 152 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,120 Are you secure in who God has called you to be? 153 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:41,040 The day we get saved is the day that we become a worshipper of 154 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:46,320 God. Worship is an integral part of 155 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:51,280 who we are. We're meant to come to God with 156 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:56,720 all we are. Don't believe the lie that 157 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,520 you're a black sheep in the family. 158 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:05,560 You know, you might come along thinking I'm kind of like the 159 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,240 weird uncle. I'm. 160 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,840 Everybody else here has got their life together. 161 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:16,000 Yeah. Don't believe that it's a lie. 162 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:23,720 You have a right to be amongst us because God will change you 163 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,800 as you're amongst us. I believe that's part of the 164 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,600 importance of the church. That's why God put Christians 165 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,000 together in the church and He's building his church. 166 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:47,760 God doesn't see you as the black sheep, He sees you as a sheep. 167 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:58,880 God is delighted with you. He loves you to come into His 168 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,560 presence. I'm going to say that again, 169 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:07,720 'cause other than Katie, he didn't catch that God is 170 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:12,160 delighted with you. He loves it when you come into 171 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:19,440 His presence and worship Him. He longs to talk with you, to 172 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:23,000 spend time with you, to share His heart with you. 173 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:29,840 He wants to share. He wants you to share your heart 174 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:34,960 with Him. He's longing for you to worship 175 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:41,480 Him right where you are. He's longing to complete you. 176 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:46,160 He's Jesus literally died for that purpose. 177 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,560 Andrea asked a question on Wednesday at Home group. 178 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:59,160 She said, is it legitimate to come into worship when you're 179 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:05,480 lamenting? Does lament form a critical part 180 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:11,839 of worship? See, corporately, so often we 181 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:16,880 brush over lamenting, but actually the Psalms have 182 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:24,000 followed laments and that's OK. I hope that you feel safe enough 183 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,680 to be amongst us, even if life is tough. 184 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:33,160 If you're lamenting, you see corporate worship, when we come 185 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,280 together and worship together, it moves you. 186 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:43,040 It changes your perspective, it changes your focus. 187 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:52,480 Worship transforms. You see, if I mix my metaphors 188 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:57,520 here, from sheep to stone walls, have you ever seen how stone 189 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:02,920 walls are crafted? They take rocks and they study 190 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,800 the rocks and they work out which rocks are actually going 191 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:11,920 to sit together. But quite often there's a key 192 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:17,200 rock that will just hold that whole wall together. 193 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:22,000 If you remove that Pebble, the wall collapses. 194 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:29,040 You can be that rock. You can be the different. 195 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:34,400 That means when people come in, they feel at home. 196 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:43,040 They feel that this is a place where everybody can exist. 197 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:51,560 You can help the church truly express the glory of God. 198 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,960 Maybe you've grown up and you've had your parents, have gone 199 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:05,800 through hard times and was maybe not been enough money to put 200 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:10,200 food on the table. Or there's not been enough money 201 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:15,520 for Christmas presents, and when you get food, you suddenly feel 202 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:20,080 a need to squirrel it away to put it away for later. 203 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:22,880 You know you'll have a bit now, and then you'll have a bit 204 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:27,560 later. Maybe you've had Christmas 205 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,480 presents and they've been taken off you and sold later down the 206 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,160 line, just to keep things ticking over. 207 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:44,880 Maybe you've got skills that you're not quite sure to share 208 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:50,200 because there are others here who do those skills better, that 209 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:57,520 it feels like a huge risk to share what gifts you have, what 210 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:03,040 skills you have, because others seem to have more or the same. 211 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:13,320 Maybe you feel like a slave, like you've been a slave all 212 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,040 your life. And it feels weird. 213 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,880 It must have felt weird for the Israelites. 214 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:25,560 They'd spent generations as slaves to the Egyptians, 215 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,480 generations they hadn't known anything different. 216 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,760 And then Moses comes along with the power of God, and they're 217 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:41,640 set free, and they walk away, and the Egyptians come after 218 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:48,800 them, and they're stuck between the sea and the Egyptians behind 219 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:51,760 them. And God opens up the sea. 220 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,280 They walk through on dry land. When they look back, all their 221 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,560 captors are being buried in the sea. 222 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:04,360 That's weird, right? You spend generations knowing 223 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:09,080 nothing but slavery, and suddenly you're free. 224 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:16,240 Not only that, God's taking you into a land of milk and honey, 225 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,560 and you don't need milk and honey to survive. 226 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,960 These are the opulent things. These are the riches. 227 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:32,880 It must have been weird to transform your mentality from 228 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:43,190 being a slave to being free in Ephesians. 229 00:21:43,190 --> 00:21:48,240 Paul writes to the church in Ephesus and he says, praise be 230 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:54,360 to the God our Father, and sorry, praise be to the God and 231 00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:59,840 Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in this 232 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:04,160 heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. 233 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:12,800 For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be 234 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:21,040 holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for 235 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:29,080 adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with 236 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:35,640 His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, 237 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:42,960 which has been freely, freely given us in the One He loves. 238 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,080 Isn't that awesome? Isn't that worthy of worship? 239 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:55,520 Paul captures this in such a succinct way. 240 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:03,240 He's blessed us, not just here. I've got roof over my head, I've 241 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:10,600 got a people I belong to. I've been chosen to be holy, set 242 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:16,960 apart, but I've got blessings also in heaven building out 243 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:22,040 waiting for us and we're adopted. 244 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,840 We're not just adopted into the family, we're adopted as sons. 245 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,920 That means we get an inheritance. 246 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,680 We get an inheritance of Jesus victory. 247 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:49,280 This is freely given. How amazing Peter writes to the 248 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:57,280 churches and Tolly read this earlier and I thought in fact 249 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,440 all of worship was a prelude to this. 250 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:13,920 But you, you, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, the 251 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:21,760 holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare 252 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:27,960 the praises of him who could, who called you out of darkness 253 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:34,880 into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but 254 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:42,560 now you are the people of God. Once you had you had not 255 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,640 received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 256 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,960 See, we're adopted into a family. 257 00:24:53,480 --> 00:25:00,760 It's a royal family. I we're no longer slaves, We're 258 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:06,440 adopted into a royal family. Sin was why I was a slave to, 259 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:12,400 but I'm not any longer because of the grace of Jesus. 260 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:17,080 He adopted me into his family and he's royalty. 261 00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:22,320 That means I've got unlimited resource. 262 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:28,120 It means I don't need to squirrel food away in my 263 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:31,920 pockets. I don't have to worry about my 264 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:40,520 gifts being surplus to need. I've got plenty. 265 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:46,920 I live in a land where milk and honey abound. 266 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:54,640 We're no longer exiled. We live with God. 267 00:25:54,640 --> 00:26:03,760 Isn't that amazing, I? Isn't God worthy of all worship, 268 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:15,320 of all glory, of all honour? How do Royals act? 269 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,640 See, the Israelites said to Samuel, he was basically coming 270 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:27,520 to the end of his sort of he was getting old. 271 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:32,880 And his sons, the Israelites reckoned, recognise they weren't 272 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:36,120 really going with God and they didn't really trust Samuel's 273 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:39,080 sons. So they said to Samuel, look, 274 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,920 you're coming to an end. Give us a king like other 275 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:49,280 nations have put a king over us. Samuel is furious. 276 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:57,120 Yeah, he's ready to really kick off, but God graciously catches 277 00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,680 him. And God had a plan. 278 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:07,040 In one Samuel 10, Samuel explained to the people the 279 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:13,080 rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a stroll 280 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,400 and deposited it before the Lord. 281 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:17,920 I'd love to see that scroll, by the way. 282 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,680 Don't know where it's gone, but it would have been great to see 283 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,360 it. Then Samuel dismissed the people 284 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:29,200 to go to their own homes. See, the Israelites needed 285 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:36,400 telling what it was like to live under a king, but they also 286 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,080 needed to know how kings should act. 287 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:46,040 See, later on in that chapter we read about the mixed reaction to 288 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:50,120 Saul being made king. See, some men went with Saul, 289 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,080 whose hearts have been touched by God. 290 00:27:54,280 --> 00:28:01,240 But some scoundrels said, how can this fellow save us? 291 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,480 And they despised him and brought him no gifts. 292 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,360 See, the inference here is that they should have brought gifts. 293 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,960 In fact, you could infer that the men who God touched, they 294 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:27,200 brought gifts to Saul. When you're poor, you give gifts 295 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:32,760 out of your limited resource. You give gifts that are useful. 296 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:40,920 When you're rich, you can afford to give in multiple ways. 297 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,360 Yes, you can give gifts that are useful. 298 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:51,560 You can give a gift to enable and grow someone, to invest in 299 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,760 them and expect something back in return. 300 00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:02,600 Or you can give a gift of honour, a gift to honour 301 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,600 someone. See, a royal doesn't meet 302 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:09,840 another royal and not bring a gift. 303 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,320 But the gift they bring will not be useful. 304 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,800 The gift they bring won't be an investment. 305 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,920 Why? Because if that's the way they 306 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:27,440 brought their gifts, then that what they're saying is you've 307 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:33,720 got a lack and I'm meeting your lack, so I'm therefore greater 308 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:39,000 than you are. No, instead they bring a gift of 309 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,080 meaning. They bring a gift of honour. 310 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:49,960 They might bring a 2000 LB pen. Still rights I suspect. 311 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,080 Is it better than a 50 pence BIC? 312 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,160 I don't know. I don't think so, but that's 313 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:02,600 missing the point. There's an honour attached to 314 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:10,240 that 2000 LB pen they might bring a 50,000 LB watch still 315 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:21,160 tells the time, but it's in the honour that they bring in John 316 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:27,400 12 John records. Then Mary took a pint of pure 317 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:34,400 nod and expensive perfume. She poured it on Jesus feet and 318 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:40,720 wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the 319 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,480 fragrance of the perfume. Hallelujah. 320 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:51,480 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to 321 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:57,200 betray him, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold and 322 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:03,840 the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. 323 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,840 Do you know in the UK the average salary in 2024 was 324 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:17,400 37,480 lbs. That's an expensive bottle of 325 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:25,720 perfume. If she had that money locked up 326 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:31,760 in a bottle of perfume, I'll bet she had far more elsewhere. 327 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:38,240 I'll bet she had a house and everything else. 328 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:45,760 She was well off. And yet, and yet she came to the 329 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:53,920 feet of Jesus and poured perfume on them and wiped them with her 330 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:59,200 hair. What an extravagant acts of 331 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:06,360 worship. See, worship involves honour. 332 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:13,600 It involves extravagance. We should be extravagant in how 333 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:18,680 we serve. We have been adopted into the 334 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:24,720 family of God, of the universe. He owns absolutely everything. 335 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:30,720 We're not only adopted, we've got that inheritance. 336 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:39,000 It's there for us to hold on to. We can afford to be generous. 337 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:46,480 We can afford to honour, not just to meet a need, not just to 338 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,120 invest. We can honour those around us. 339 00:32:53,480 --> 00:33:01,120 See, we're asking our church, we're praying for our church to 340 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:05,440 be a church, a community that humbly serves. 341 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,520 See, Royals don't Lord it over others. 342 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,840 They give without expectation of reward. 343 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:21,320 They recognise that the way to get honour is when you give 344 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:27,640 honour. That concept is so closely tied 345 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,560 with humility, with being humble. 346 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:38,520 See, humility is about not thinking of yourselves higher 347 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:44,160 than the others around you, nor, if you, like me, thinking of 348 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:48,040 yourself lower. It's about being mature. 349 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,400 It's about having a right sense of who you are. 350 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:59,080 Have a good opinion of yourself. Five times in the Bible, in the 351 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:05,600 New Testament it talks about if you humble yourself you will be 352 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:13,400 exalted. See in Luke 14, Jesus went to a 353 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:19,120 House of Pharisee and he was sat watching how the guests all 354 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:26,840 opted for their the places of position and he watched all of 355 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:31,840 this happening and then told the parable to those around him. 356 00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:37,639 When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not like take 357 00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:43,159 the place of honour for a person more distinguished than you may 358 00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:48,520 have been invited. If so, the host who invited both 359 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:54,520 of you will come to you to you and say, give this person your 360 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:59,720 seat. Then humiliated, you will have 361 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:02,520 to take the least important place. 362 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:08,800 But when you're invited, take the lowest place so that when 363 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:16,040 the host comes, he will say to you, friend, move up to a better 364 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:20,480 place. Then you will be honoured in the 365 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:22,840 presence of all the other guests. 366 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:29,040 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who 367 00:35:29,040 --> 00:35:31,400 humble themselves will be exalted. 368 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:43,040 See, we live in a church that Ben and Jen saw and started. 369 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:51,080 We honour them. We honour what God gave them in 370 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:57,040 setting our values, but when we honour them, God delights in it 371 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:02,640 because God is moving through what Ben and Jen saw. 372 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:11,160 And when we honour Ben, we honour God and he delights in 373 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,400 that and then starts honouring us. 374 00:36:20,820 --> 00:36:27,120 I'm going to finish just with a couple of challenges because I 375 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,040 like to land with the practicality. 376 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:36,480 What gifts has God-given to you to enable you to worship Him 377 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,440 with? And where might God be 378 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:46,880 developing you? Is there a place that you can be 379 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:52,040 extravagant in? See, we've got people serving us 380 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:56,960 with the kids out there, and we're struggling to find a 381 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:02,280 balance between that because what we'd like is to separate 382 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:05,880 off the really young kids from the slightly older primary 383 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:10,800 school kids so that we can address where they're at and 384 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,480 they're learning. But to do that, we're going to 385 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,120 need more people. We're going to need double the 386 00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:21,960 workers. We want more Home group leaders. 387 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:26,680 We're believing for our home groups to multiply, to grow. 388 00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:35,760 We want people who will come early, set up the hall for us 389 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:39,000 all to worship together and then take it down. 390 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:45,240 We want to enable people to be released from where they're 391 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:49,280 serving at the moment. That means we need people to 392 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,520 come in behind them and start serving and honouring them. 393 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:59,480 We're going to want people who can put things on in the middle 394 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:03,880 of the week when we get a place of our own. 395 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,800 Part of the reason is we want to affect the community more around 396 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:11,960 us. We want to see youth groups, we 397 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:13,680 want to see parent and toddler groups. 398 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:16,880 We want to be managing finance courses. 399 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:23,560 We want job seeker clubs. We need prayer warriors. 400 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:31,760 What are you passionate for? What's God putting on your 401 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,120 heart? What gifts has God-given to you 402 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:44,440 for you to share? Lord Jesus, I thank you that 403 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:46,360 you're speaking to us about worship. 404 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:50,280 Lord, I thank you for your promise, your word that says we 405 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:55,800 will be a church that worships you, that we will have vibrant 406 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:00,640 worship. Lord, I pray that you would 407 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:05,120 charge us all to grow in our worship of you. 408 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:09,960 Lord, we want to see you glorified in everything. 409 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:11,640 Thank you God.