Building Blocks
Transcript
good morning. Refuge Church family. It is so great to see you again this
morning. Thank you so much for worshiping with us. Listen, we're starting a
brand new series today, and I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in
our lives over the next few weeks together. Remember if you need me, if you
need our team for anything, do not hesitate to reach out. You can call the
church office. You can fill out a care form on our website. We love you. And
we want to minister to you and walk with you through your good times. And
through the challenging times in your life, let's pray together and then jump
into God's word, father. We love you so much. We thank you for your word. We
thank you, God, that it is alive, that it is powerful and father, we thank
you that you want to speak to us. You want to have relationship with us, God
and father. I pray today for every person that's watching and listening. God
that you would speak to them in a powerful way, father, that you would search
our hearts, Oh God, that you would call us father to be everything that you
have called and created us to be. And God, today, as we are, God, just learn
more about worship father. I pray that we would be people that worship you in
spirit and in truth, understanding God that because your spirit is
it within us. God, we are connected to you. We are close to you, father. We
love you. And we thank you in advance for what you're going to do in our
midst today. What you're going to do in our homes today, what you're going to
do at our workplaces today, wherever we're at God, we just submit to you. We
love you, Jesus. It's in your name. We pray amen. And more than ever before,
I've since the desire for our church family to get closer to God, maybe it's
all that we've been through over the past year. Maybe it's very personal
struggles that you've encountered in your life. Regardless. There is a spark
in people to know God more. Now over the past few weeks, I've been getting
email after email and phone call after phone call with people asking
questions like Jason, can you help me study the Bible more? Jason, can you
help me understand? Can you help me know how God wants me to pray? And I want
you to know. I think this is incredible. So what we want to do over the next
four weeks is I want to give you a firm foundation. I want to give you some
building blocks to help you grow in your, a relationship with God. Hey, at
our house we love. Lego's just not stepping on him. But all of our kids,
myself included, we love putting Legos together. All of these individual
blocks,
they come together in a bag and you pour them out and you get off the
instructions and you put them together to make something fun, to make
something complete, to make something you can use, you can be creative. And
what I want us to do is I want us to have some building blocks in our faith
that you can put together in your life so that you can be more complete so
that you can be used by God to make a difference. Romans eight 28 says, and
we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who
love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Then maybe you're
watching today and you want to grow closer to God and you want to grow closer
to his purposes, but you're just unsure where to start. You. Maybe, you know,
you already have a relationship with God, but maybe you feel stuck. Maybe you
feel like you're in this spiritual funk, this spiritual rut, you are not
watching accident today because we want to do teach you how to grow in your
relationship with God. By learning, building blocks of personal devotion. My
favorite verses in scripture is Jeremiah 2013. You will seek me and find me
when you search for me with all of your heart. So here's the main idea. This
month, the condition of our heart dictates the direction of our lives. It all
starts with our
heart. Did you know that everything, everything in your life starts in your
heart, not your physical heart, but your will, who you are, who God created
you to be B, but this is difficult because we always judge a book by its
cover. Don't we, but not God. Hello this in first Samuel 16, seven. But the
Lord said to Samuel don't judge by his appearance or height for I've rejected
him. The Lord, doesn't see though things the way you see them. People judge
by outward appearance. But the Lord looks at the heart. Many of us, we're not
sure we can do what God has called us to do or be what God has called us to
be, be because of the way that we look or because of things that we've done.
But listen, God, doesn't look at that. God looks at the heart and your heart.
Your will is so important. Proverbs four 23 says, guard your heart above all
else for it determines the course of your life. So the question then is
Jason, how in the world do I guard my heart? Well, guarding your heart starts
with what you worship. Guarding your heart starts with what you worship. Now.
What was the first thing you thought of? When I said worship, probably music,
right? Maybe even the music we sang today as a church family online or on TV.
But whatever you think of when you worship, I want to challenge you
today to expand your view of what worship is. And we're going to be in Psalm
50. This morning, 50 starts with God's showing up to make one of the grandest
statements in all of history. God tells us that he is about to speak. And
just in case there is any confusion about which God, this is God, the God of
all gods, this is caps lock God, because there's no other God in the Bible
where it's all capitalized. L O R D the Lord. You've seen it in your Bible.
God himself shows up the one who started. Everything is about to open his
mouth as a judge and speak. And here's what he says, midway through the Psalm
in Psalm 50, starting in verse seven. Oh my people listen. As I speak, here
are my charges against you. Okay? Israel. I am God, your God. I have no idea
complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings. Yeah. You constantly
offer. And so what does here is that he starts off with some very good news.
He doesn't find fault with their sacrifices. Now, if you are new to this
whole church thing and have never heard the language of sacrifices, don't
worry. It is not as weird as it sounds. You see the Israel lights, God's
people, they were sinful and they hadn't messed up just like we all do as
humans. And they're going to keep on sinning and they're in desperate need of
God to purify them and them from that sin. And they needed a system of some
kind that could help them do that. And so real quickly, I want you to
understand the purpose of sacrifices and burnt offerings. Sacrifices were
meant to turn the people away from their sin, provide the proper payment for
the debt that they owe God, because they had sinned against him. They were
there to provide a way to clean and purify the community from the infectious
nature of sin. And they were to ensure that God maintained his presence among
the people you see, if sin messes up God's world with death and pain, God has
every right to make people face the consequences. Thankfully though, God
loves his creation. God loves people. God loves you. And he didn't want to
kill people. And so an animal's life would be symbolically offered as a
payment that would cover their sin. The word cover is the literal meaning of
the Hebrew word kept poor, which is later translated as a tone mint. The
sacrifices were the way that God would deal with the Israelite sin. And as,
as the same time, provide a system so that they can have a right relationship
with God when they did sin against him. Yeah, but now, now Jesus, Jesus, the
ultimate fulfillment of this system for us, we no longer have to have a
system of sacrifices and burnt offerings to be right before God Jesus did
that on the cross loss for us. Now let's go back to the Psalm for a moment.
God had just said that he doesn't find fault with their burnt offerings or
sacrifices, but then he begins to ask a question in verse nine. It says, but
I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pins for all
the animals of the forest or month. And I own cattle on a thousand Hills. I
know every bird on the mountains and all the animals of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you for all the world is mine and
everything in it. Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the blood of God?
God begins to ask these questions and he asked, why should I want these
animals? He knocked create the bulls and the goats that we think he's hungry
or thirsty. God can ask rhetorical questions too. And then suddenly after
asking these rhetorical questions, he makes a defining statement for our
understanding of praise in verse 14. And he says, make thankfulness your
sacrifice to God and keep the vows you have made to the most high. Then call
on me when you're in trouble and I will rescue you and you will give me
glory. You see the God of the universe. Wasn't looking for bulls or goats. He
was looking for thankfulness. God wants more than a ritual. He wants a
thankful heart, a life of obedience and a living trust in him. Who, what if
God had said this today is something like, I don't find fault with your
singing of songs on Sunday, but do you really think that I need music? Do you
think that's all that I want? Do you think that it's too quiet where I am
right now that I'm not creating music itself? Do you think I need to hear
these songs that are a result of my breathing, everything into existence in
the first place. Nice. Don't misunderstand me. The good news it says is that
God doesn't find fault with our songs. Not only is there nothing wrong with
them, singing God is an incredible expression of love, but my fear is too
often. It can just become ritual songs or important. But worship is more than
the songs that we sing. Worship is a thankful heart. Living out your whole
life as praise to God. It's as if God is leaning in and whispering, make me
the center of your world, make me the center of your attention. And all of
our life shouts in agreement. Worship is making God the center and the focus
of everything that we do knew the difference between me wanting to be the
center of attention and gods statement is that God speaks the facts. God,
isn't begging to be the center of attention. He is the center. He is the
center of everything that
we do. Remember what we said earlier about the heart let's look at and a
couple of verses together, John four verses 23 and 24, but the time is
coming, indeed. It's here. Now when true worshipers will worship the father
in spirit and in truth, the father is looking for those who will worship him
that way for God is spirit. So those who worship him must worship in spirit
and in truth. Notice what God is not looking for. God is not looking for the
best looking people. He is not looking for the most stylish people. He is not
looking for the most talented people. He is not looking for people with the
most Instagram followers. And while he wants to use our gifts and talents to
serve others without an attitude of thankfulness, without a posture of
worship, even these things can become real and meaningless Matthew 15, eight.
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce. We don't want that to be said about us. I don't
want that to be said about me. Remember our main thought from earlier, the
condition of our heart dictates the direction of our lives. And if the
condition of our heart dictates the direction of our lives, that we need to
put our heart in a posture of worship. The how can we do that? Jason? How can
I do that? When it seems like things are
falling apart, listen, there are three building blocks of worship that I want
you to understand this morning. Number one, if you're taking notes, start
with Jesus. Start with Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of everything, no
longer bulls and goats, but one sacrifice for once and for all on the Mount
of transfiguration. When Jesus, Jesus was showing his disciples, his glory,
Moses, and a lodger were there. The Bible says, but even as he spoke a bright
cloud, overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my dearly
loved son who brings me great joy. Listen to him. There are a lot of voices
that want to speak into your life. There are a lot of voices that want to
tell you what to do and who you should be and what you should believe.
Everybody has a plan for you your life, but God is most important. And God is
clear. Jesus is the beloved son. Listen to him. Stop. Listen to what people
say about you. Stop listening to what the culture says that you should be
stopped. Listening to what a political party says that you should believe in.
Listened to Jesus. We start with him. If we are going to have a posture of
worship, if we are going to guard our heart in 2021, Jesus has to be first.
Jesus has to be the priority in our lives. Start with Jesus. Number two, we
have to surrender our desires. We
have to surrender our desires. Jesus told his disciples. If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for
whoever would save. His life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it. I don't know about you, but many of us we're just control
freaks. Aren't we that's why this past year has been so difficult because so
much has been beyond our control, but taking control doesn't often work
because control was never ours to take and worshiping God through surrender
means giving him full control of the outcome, giving him full control of our
life in 2021. If you want to worship God fully stop trying to control
everything and just let God be in control. A lot of times we get confused.
Yeah. And we say things like God, won't give you more than you can handle.
That's just not the truth. God will give you more than you can handle so you
can turn it back over to him, him and let him handle it. Sometimes we have to
give up our desires and our wants and our goals and dreams. And we lay them
down at the feet of God. And we say, God, we believe that what you have for
us is better. And I'm going to surrender my desires for your desires. I'm
going to surrender my will for your will. And my heartbeat is truly going to
be God, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And number three,
I've got to learn to think like a God. I have to learn to think like God,
Romans 12, two says do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will you see many
times we want God to orbit around us, but we need to orbit around him his
way, these work, but we have to move with him. We have to get our lives in a
light with God. The condition of your heart dictates the direction of your
life. You don't want, you have to be stuck. You don't have to be in a
spiritual rut. You don't have to be in a spiritual funk this year. You don't
have to feel distant from God. You can decide today to worship God with so
much more than just your words. You can choose to worship him with your life.
And that decision friends, that decision will change everything thing, but
maybe you're watching. You need to surrender your life for the first time.
You need to choose to follow Jesus for the first time. Maybe there's never
been a moment in your life where you've placed your faith, placed your trust
in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. Listen, God
loves you more than you could ever imagine. And even while we were still
sinners, God sent his son Jesus Christ to live a perfect life, to be the
perfect sacrifice, to die on a cross for us, they placed his body in a
borrowed tomb, but Jesus did not stay dead. And three days later, he Rose
from the grave in victory, over sin and victory over the devil and victory
over death. And because of what Jesus did, we can have life and we can have
abundant while we're on this earth. And the Bible says that one day when we
die, we can have eternal life in heaven with God. But it's a choice that only
you can make a choice to surrender and say, Jesus, I'm going to lay down what
I want with my life. And instead, I'm going to follow what you want for my
life is placing your trust and your faith and what he did on that cross. And
I want to give you that opportunity today. If that's you, and you would say,
Jason, I want to give my life to Jesus. I'm going to pray a prayer. And if
this prayer reflects what Jesus is doing in your life, I invite you to pray
it with me and you can pray it out loud. You can pray it to yourself. I
believe that God can hear you either way, but pray. Something like this. God,
I've been going my own
direction with my life. I've been doing things my own way. And in this
moment, God, I realize I'm a sinner, separated from you. And I need a savior.
God, I believe you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me because you
love me that much. You sent Jesus to save me, to rescue me and God today. I
choose to follow Jesus with my life. Jesus, you are my Lord. And I want to do
what you have created me to do. Jesus. I love you. And it's in your name. I
pray. Amen. If that was you, I want to congratulate you. That is the greatest
decision that you can make with your life. But listen, your faith. Doesn't
stop today. Your faith starts today and I want you to know, we want to walk
alongside you. We want to help you become everything that God has created you
to be. And we want to help you overcome your past past hurts, past bad habits
past hang ups in your life. We want you to live with purpose. So I want to
ask you before you change the channel or before you turn off this video, if
you would do me the honor and fill out our digital connect card at our
website, or if you're online, it's in the post above or the comments below,
give us a name and email address. Just some way to reach out to you this
week. I
want to be praying for you by name and I want to send you resources to help
you grow. At the end of every service, we dedicate time to prayer because I
know, I know you have things going on in your life. I know there've been
distractions. I know that there's been tough stuff that you've come up
against. And I want you to know that Jesus loves you and he is for you and we
love you. And we are for you. And if there is any way we can pray for you,
please don't hesitate to let us know. You can send in the prayer and care
corridor. You can post your prayer requests below if you would like, but I
want you to know that there are people right now that are ready. They were on
standby to call out your name to Jesus. So what I want us to do is I want us
to take a moment and let's worship through song. Let's worship through
prayer. And if we can intercede on your behalf, please, please let us know
how we can pray for Jesus. We love you. We worship you and we adore you. And
we say, thank you, God, thank you. May our lives be a constant and continual
act of worship. God, would we show you how grateful that we are? How thankful
we are for what you did for us on that cross father, I pray that we would
yield
God, that we would yield to you, yield to your will yield to your desires,
God, so that we can become more complete so that we can become everything you
called and created to be so that we can live with abundant life, with
blessing and with purpose and God, I pray for each and every person that's
watching. God, I know that there are people that are going through tough
situations and circumstances. Father, I ask you in Jesus' name, would you
meet people right where they're at God and do what only you can do in their
lives. Father. I pray that you would garden and protect their hearts. Father.
I pray that you would just fill with power and you would comfort them with
your presence. Jesus, we love you in Jesus. It's in your strong name that we
pray. Amen. Thank you again for worshiping with us today. I love it. Phew.
And I cannot wait to see you again next week.
