Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Come to Worship, Part 3: Pour Out Your Heart

Episode Date: December 20, 2014

Everything changed in a moment. When Jesus was born, He gave us the chance to be known, accepted, and forgiven. When we experience His love, we can’t help but Come to Worship. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God. My hope comes from Him. Truly, he is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress. I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God. He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people.

Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Well, welcome today to all of our life churches and all of our network churches, those of you all over the world at church online. We're in part three of a message series on worship called Come to Worship. Now, if you weren't here in previous weeks, the first week we actually talked about lifting up holy hands to God. And at all of our churches, we lifted hands in an act of worship to God. Last week we talked about bringing our gifts on Christmas Eve. We're going to learn to kneel before God. And these are all what you might call more traditional postures of worship.

Today what I want to do is I want to talk about something that you may not think of as a form of worship. But in so many ways, I believe this will connect your soul in intimacy with God, maybe like never before. The title of today's message is, pour out your heart. Pour out your heart before God as an act of worship. So we're not going to just worship from our mind, but we're going to worship from the depth of our soul. For those of you that find yourself very blessed, you're overwhelmed with gratitude for God.

I want you to pour out your hearts as an act of worship to God. Some of you, your life may be rather bland right now. just kind of feel like you're existing. You too have the opportunity to pour out your heart because God is faithful. He is always with you. But those of you right now who may be in a very difficult season, above everybody else, I believe that this message is going to speak directly to you. Some of you right now, you feel very, very alone as you move into the Christmas season. There may be someone that was there last year and will not be there this year. And you ache in pain. Some of you right now, you're afraid. You've gotten a bad medical report. Others of you,

you're trying to buy gifts and financially you realize you don't really have the resources. Some of you, you're dealing with very difficult relationships right now. If you're in the middle of a hard time, I'm going to encourage you and give you the opportunity today to pour out your heart, to cry out to God because God cares for the brokenhearted. He is near to those. who need him. So we're going to look today at God's Word and learn as an act of worship how to pour out our hearts to God. In fact, I want to start today with a couple of different portions of scripture written by David at very low points in his life. Psalm 142 verses 2 and verse 5. David said this. He said, I pour out. Everybody say pour out. He said, I pour out before the Lord my

complaint. Notice, he's not saying, oh, God, you're wonderful. Right now, he's saying, oh, God, my life is difficult. He pours out his complaint before God, and he says, I tell God my trouble. He does what? Say that next portion aloud. He says, I cry to you, oh Lord. And then we're going to watch as he calls God something very special. He says, God, you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. He uses this same phrase at another portion in Scripture in Psalm 62, verse 8, when he says, trust in the Lord at all times, you people. Then what does he say to do? Say it aloud.

He says, pour out your hearts to him. Pour out your hearts. Cry from the depths of your soul to God. For God is our what? He is our refuge. God is our refuge. In fact, I did a little research on this word refuge that we see both times. As he cries out to God.

He realizes God is his refuge. In fact, of all the Levitical cities, there were six of them in the time when David lived, there were actually a place of refuge. In other words, if you accidentally killed someone, your life would be in danger. And you could go to one of these six cities as a place of refuge to hide. I don't know about you, but a lot of children have a safe place. How many of you, when you were a kid, you kind of had a safe place. Some place you've felt really safe. It might have been like the closet, you know, that was a safe place. For some of you, it wasn't the closet, because that's where the monsters lived, right? And so it wasn't the closet. Some of you might have been, you know, a blankie, you had a blankie or a clubhouse. For me, it was under the bed. I don't know why. It's kind of stupid when you think about it, you know, but dust and all, but I would get under the bed and I would feel safe. What's interesting is you grow older. Sometimes your safe place is not just a place, but your safe place is with a person, right? Your safe place is with a person. In fact, I remember my freshman year of high school,

there was an older guy that wanted to beat me up. Okay, that's a bad day when a bigger guy wants to beat you up. The good news is there was a new kid who moved to school and there was a rumor that he had actually killed a guy at his previous school. Now, that's not the good part. The good part is this guy who had been rumored to kill a guy actually liked me. He was a scene. He was a scene. and I was a freshman. Now that's pretty cool anyway. Anytime a freshman is hanging out with a senior, you are top daddy all day long. And so I'm walking around with one guy wanting to beat me up, but this guy who was rumored to had killed a guy as a friend. From then on, any time my foe, my enemy, the guy who didn't like me, wanted to come beat me up, I just always say, look who I'm with.

Hey, you want some of this? You got to deal with him. My safe place was the guy who had been rumored to have killed a guy. We don't know if it's true. It doesn't matter because it worked and it got me through high school alive, right? As you go through life, your kids, they'll often find a safe place with you. In fact, many of you are all over the world. I actually live in Oklahoma. We have tornadoes in Oklahoma. We're known for that.

Tornadoes do not scare me because you can see them coming. What freaks me out is something more new to Oklahoma, and that's earthquakes. earthquakes. Earthquakes in Oklahoma, tornadoes and earthquakes. God help us all. Okay? We literally had 30 different earthquakes within a one week's period just recently. And some of are kind of big. Well, whenever there's an earthquake, our house does all this, things fall, and our kids come running into our room, full blast, full speed into our bedroom. Why? Not because our bedroom is a safe place. It's no safer than anywhere else, but it's because we're in the bedroom and they feel safe, just like when you're a kid. If your parents are in the room, the monsters

cannot get you. If they close the closet door, the monsters are supernaturally sealed into the closet and they cannot get out. If there's a monster under your bed, the monster cannot get you if your parents are in the room. But if your parents are not in the room and you leave a limb hanging over the edge of the bed, they can reach up and grab you and pull you under the bed. But if you keep your limbs inside the perimeter of the bed, the monster cannot penetrate the secret seal, and you are safe. Why am I talking about this? I'm not even sure, but it probably has to do with something about God being our refuge. God is our refuge. Call out to him, pour out your heart before God. He is our safe place.

Amy and I, we actually have a couple of children that are grown right now, and it's so meaningful to us whenever they need something, they're having a hard time when they're in trouble, when they actually call us. We love to be needed. We love to be needed. And I would submit to you that our heavenly father loves to be needed by you, his child. He loves to be needed. He loves when you pour out your hearts to him. He already knows everything about you. He can handle your cry to him for help. And so what I want to do today is just give you the chance to pour out your heart before God. To cry out to him as an act of worship. And I want to give you really a couple of things to think about at the end of our service when we move into a moment of worship as you take an opportunity

to cry out to God. A couple of things to remember. that the first one, if you're taking notice, is this. As you pour out your heart, I want to encourage you to remember God's faithfulness in the past. Remember God's faithfulness in the past. As you cry out to him, reflect back to God's goodness and God's faithfulness in the past. In fact, I want to look at Psalm 42 with you for a moment and we're not actually sure who wrote Psalm 42. Most scholars believe it was probably David whenever Absalom his son had rebelled against him. And a lot of people were actually saying we believe God has turned against you, David. God has rejected you, David. And so he's at a very low point in his life, if this is indeed David. And in verse three, here's what he says. He says,

my tears have been my food day and night. Do any of you ever feel? like that you cry yourself to sleep you're hurting you feel all alone my tears have been my food he says while people say to me all day long where is your god in other words if you're serving god why is all this happening in your life sometimes you may feel like this where is your god then in verse four this is the key part of the verse here's what here's what david says he says these things i what say it with me these things i remember let's try to get all of our churches everybody. He says, these things I remember as I what, as I pour out my soul. These things I remember as I cry out to God. These things I remember as I ache from within. These things I remember as I

pour out my soul. He says, how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the mighty one with shouts of joy and praise among the festive thrones. And then you can only almost see this gear shifts on the inside and it kind of almost starts preaching to himself. He says, because these things I remember, why my soul are you so downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Then he tells himself, put your hope in God, for yet I will praise him, my Savior and my God. I don't know about you, but every now and minute as I'm crying out to God, I've got to recall the faithfulness of God. These things I remember as I pour out my soul. And sometimes I preach to myself. In fact, even just this week, I was a little bit down and discouraged and the world felt a little

heavier than normal. And I just told myself, why so downcast in my own words? Put your hope in God. I want to give you a chance today just to cry out to God, to pour out your soul to say, I don't understand God, or this doesn't make sense, God, or why aren't you doing what I think you could do or should do, God, where are you, God? And as you do, remember the faithfulness of God in your past, as he has always been there for you. In fact, in the Old Testament, there's another amazing story of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3. You want to see a guy who had a bad month? Okay, read about what Jeremiah went through. He says to himself, I am a man who has seen much affliction. And for literally 20 verses in Jeremiah 3, he just lays it out, the pain, the anguish,

the complaints. You have permission to do this before God. Some of you may say, God, why aren't you doing what I want you to do in my marriage? I don't understand. I don't even know if my marriage is going to make it. You may cry out, God, financially, I am a wreck. If something doesn't happen soon, I don't know where I'm going to end up. You may cry out to God, to God, on behalf of your children or one of your children, God, please have mercy on this child. I cannot believe they continue to do what they do. And you just cry out honestly before God. And this is exactly what Jeremiah does. Some people think that's disrespectful to do. Listen, God already knows your heart anyway. He longs to be needed and he gives you permission just to say it like it is and to cry out

to him. Here's how he does it. Verse 19. He says this. He says, I remember my affliction and wandering, the bitterness and the gall. He says, I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Then verse 21 is so powerful. He says, yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. He says, yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. In the middle of his desperate cry from his soul, He recalls the goodness of God.

Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's great love, why does he have hope? Because of his love, we are not consumed. Why? Because his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Then watch this. He was talking about God.

Now he's talking to God. He was talking about God. And then he says, great is your faithfulness. yet I call this to mind therefore I have hope I don't know how you guys are being so quiet today because every now and then you just get lost in the presence of God

when you cry out to him and say yet I call this to mind I recall his faithfulness and because of that I have hope some of you need to think back to what he's brought you through to remember his faithfulness think back when you called on him and he forgave you and the weight of your sin was lifted remember when God answered a prayer one time

and there was no way it could have been anything but God. It was so miraculous. And you looked back and say, oh, my God, I give you praise because of your faithfulness. Remember when God healed a relationship when you thought there was no way this would ever be restored? And miraculously, God changed your heart and the heart of someone else. Yes, I call this to mine because of your faithfulness. I still have hope. Remember the time when you were hurting and felt all alone.

and you read a Bible verse, and maybe it's one you'd read 20 times before, but this time, it was like it was just for you. Remember the time when you came into church and the message? It was like it was handwritten for only you. It was like nobody else was even in the room, but you and God, and God was ministering to your soul. Yet I call this to mind, therefore I have hope. Whenever I'm pouring out my heart to God, God I've heard, and God, God, I don't understand.

I remember the faithfulness of God. I remember 20-some-odd years ago, kneeling down into softball field, crying out to Jesus for the first time with all the faith I had, kneeling down as one person, standing up as someone totally different. I remember being transformed by God, a new creation in Christ, Jesus. I remember going back to my teammates and they made fun of me. They called me Bible thumper, Jesus freak,

Oral Roberts, which I thought was kind of cool. All sorts of. crazy names. And I started praying for him and praying for him. And the more I prayed, the more they made fun of me. And then one day, my first teammate came to Christ. And then another day, my second teammate came to Christ. And then another day, a third teammate, praying to Christ. And God was answering my prayers. And the greatest desire of my heart was to share Christ with someone one day in a godly marriage. And I prayed. Oh, did God ever answer my prayer? Who!

Glory to God. God sent me, Amy. And if you have ever seen her and you have seen me, you know that's a miracle beyond miracle. Of all miracles, the resurrection is the only miracle greater than the fact that that woman over there married me. And then we wanted to reproduce, which we... And we tried and nothing happened, and so we tried again.

And it was fun trying, but for over a year, we tried to wonder what's wrong, and the pipe's broken. You know, why isn't there a baby? And we prayed and we prayed, and God not only gave his one, but six. That is an exponential prayer for the glory of God. He blessed us in that way. I remember him hearing those prayers. There was one time we came back and our air conditioner was broken.

And we were broke and it was broken. And we didn't have the money to fix it. And Amy said, well, the prayer of faith will heal the sick. Why don't you go pray for the air conditioner? And at first I thought that was stupid, but I was so broke. It actually sounded smart. And so I went out there and I thought, This Bible said, lay hands on the sick, and a prayer of faith will heal the sick.

So I laid hands, I made sure nobody was looking first, laid hands on the air conditioner and prayed for the air conditioner. And God, as my witness, that air conditioner started working right there at that moment. That thing started working. If your air conditioner goes out, just call me. I've got faith that God can heal an air conditioner. I've seen him do it before. I believe he can do it again.

I remember when we started our church, and we were five months old. We started in the garage, and then we went into a little elementary school. And on Sunday morning, the janitor said, the school's not going to let you meet anymore. And I stood up and said, we have nowhere to meet. We may be in a park next week. We had nowhere to go. And on Tuesday of that week, someone that had a bike factory said, hey, you can use our church, move in and we'll try to strike a deal. And on a handshake, God opened a door when there was no other door.

I remember the faithfulness of God. I remember when my greatest prayer was, God, help us build a big enough building for all these people. And we couldn't raise the money, and we couldn't build a big enough building. And I cried out to God in desperation. I had no idea that the very thing I wanted was the last thing that I needed.

And because God didn't do what I wanted, we saw the ability to go to multiple sites. And now right now, there are tens of thousands of you all over the world experiencing the message because God was faithful enough not to give me what I asked for, but instead to give me what I needed. Remember the faithfulness of God. Remember the faithfulness of God. I remember the faithful, yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope.

I remember in January a few years ago standing up something I hadn't thought about or prayed about, and it was almost like a prophecy. I said, I believe that this year God is going to empower us to build five buildings. And this was not something that we did at this time, and I named it. this campus and this campus and this campus and a new building for this campus and a kid's wing. And I said, I believe by faith that we're going to do it for cash and we're not going to borrow any money. And I came home and Amy said, do you realize what you just said? And I said, dear Jesus, I sure do. I cannot believe I said that. Oh! And suddenly fear set in because I had faith in the moment,

but then fear afterwards and I thought, I am going to be a false prophet. That will never happen. That's physically impossible. I'm going to go behind the building and I'm going to get stoned. stone. And I'm not talking recreationally speaking. For those of you that are new Christians or come, you know, I'm going to be a false prophet. And God is my witness. We built five buildings for cash that year and have never borrowed a dime on a building ever since that moment. Yet I call this to mind. And therefore I have hope. Cry out to God. Do it. Tell them you hurt. Pour out your complete. Pour out your complete. complain. Tell them you don't understand. Tell them it doesn't make sense. But as you do, look back.

Look back at the faithfulness of God. I can't tell you how many times that the very thing I hated in that season, as I look back, I can see the purposes and plans of God all over what was my worst nightmare during that season. Remember the faithfulness of God. Cry out to them. Cry out to and let it turn to worship, even though you don't understand, and you have it any other way, remember the faithfulness of God from the past. That's the first thing. As you pour out your hearts, remember God's faithfulness in the past.

The second thing, as you pour out your heart to God, trust in God's power for your future. Trust in his power for your future. The psalmist in Psalm 102 was at the lowest point that you could imagine. Some of you, if you are at this point in your life at this moment, you understand what the psalmist was going through. And he poured out his heart to God. Just listen to the honesty, listen to the sincerity from the depths of the soul. Hear my prayer, Lord. Let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I'm in distress. Turn your ear to me

When I call, answer me quickly. In my distress, I groan aloud, and I'm reduced to skin and bones. Verse seven, some of you can relate to this. I lie awake. I can't sleep. My mind is so heavy at night. I become like a bird alone on a roof. All day long, my enemies taunt me.

Then there are three words that change everything. Three words that change everything. Three words that absolutely and completely in a moment. Moments time change everything. And these three words alone will be the very reason so many of you are here at this moment. My life is falling apart. I do not understand.

I cry out to you, God, from the depths of my soul. My enemies taught me, but you, Lord. But you, God. I don't understand, but you, God, are faithful. I don't have the ability, but you, God, are powerful. I feel all along, but you God are faithful. I don't know what to do, verse 12, but you, Lord, sit enthroned forever. You are still on the throne. Your renown endures through all generations. My God, he will respond to the prayer of the destitute. He will not despise their plea. Some of you, you're about to have a but you, God,

moment. You're going to cry out. You're going to pour out your heart. You're going to complain. You're going to be honest. You're going to let it rip from the depths of your soul. I do not understand. From the pit of your pain, you cry out to God, but you keep crying out to him. And at some point, you will push through the pain to the point of praise. Oh, I'm going to say that again. You will push through the pain to the point of praise. God, I don't understand. God, I don't like it. God, I wish it were some other way. Oh, but you, God, you are still in charge.

You are still on the throne. Your purposes and plans are still in place. You have plans to bless your people and to prosper them, not to harm them, but to give them a hope and a future. But with you, God, you are working in all things to bring about good to those who love you and are called according to your purpose. But you, oh Lord, some of you, you lost. someone and it hurts like hell it's the worst thing imaginable and you cry out to God and you push through

the pain to the place of praise when you can say but you oh god will never leave me and you will never forsake me some of you financially you are a wreck right now but you push through the pain to the place of praise when you can say but you oh god are my provider you will never let your children go hungry you feel rejected and you pushed through the pain, but you, God, will never leave me. You will never forsake me. You've got medical issues, but you, God, are my healer. You are my healer. The name of Jesus is above every name. You're afraid and you don't know what is to come. But you, God, have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. At some point, you plead, you cry, you pour out your

heart, but at some point, because you know God, you stop pleading and you start praising. And it'll come when you least expect it. In the middle of your cry, suddenly you realize, who am I talking to? And how much does he care? He is close to the brokenhearted. And suddenly your plea for help turns to praise because he is good and he is worthy of all praise. He is worthy. push through the pain to the point of praise, and suddenly you'll stop pleading, and you'll just start worshiping him. It's a little bit like my friend

who every year for my birthday sends me the coolest shirts ever. If you've ever said, that's a cool shirt. It came from my friend. It's the bottom line. So my birthday was this month, and a box came, and I texted him. I said, thank you for the coolest shirt ever. He says, do you like it?

I said, I haven't even opened it up yet. I'm just thanking you in advance, because it's going to be that cool. And it was. It was so cool. I bumped it to the Christmas slot shirt. That's right. Christmas, the pinnacle of all fashion moments.

And I bumped his, and so I thanked him in advance. Thank you in advance for the most amazing shirt. I hadn't even seen it yet, but I know his character and his ability to pick the right shirts. At some point, you may just thank God in advance. You don't even know what's going to happen, but you know he is always good. And you thank him ahead of time, God,

I know that you're going to prove yourself faithful. And I know that I'm going to look back in this thing that I hated. I may not ever love it, but I'm going to see your hand of faithfulness in it. And suddenly, out of your pain, you find the ability to worship. Not because your life feels good right now, but because God is always good. You push through the pain to the point of praise. Pour out your heart to God. He can handle it.

He longs to be needed by his children. Remember his goodness. Yet I call this to mind. Therefore, I have hope. But you, O Lord, no matter what I'm going through, but you, oh God, you are always faithful. Remember it. Cry out to him. Take the time and do it.

But remember when you do, God has always been faithful in the past. He is good in the present. Therefore, you can trust him with your future. our God has always been faithful in the past he is good in the present therefore you can trust him with your future and all of our churches I want to give you a moment

in worship to just to cry out if life is good right now cry out in praise if life is kind of blah cry out and worship because our God is worthy and if you're hurting today if you feel alone

cry out from the depths of your soul God can handle it and he cares and at some point in the middle of your pain it may turn to praise because God is faithful in the past he's good in the present and therefore you can thank him in advance because he will always be faithful in your future

pour out your heart to him in praise and all of our churches as you continue an attitude of worship let's pray together Father we thank you that you're a God that cares about us, that you are near to the brokenhearted. And so, God, as we expand our desire to worship you, I pray God, that part of knowing you and loving you would be the freedom to pour out our hearts to you. I want to take a moment at all of our churches, nobody's looking around right now. This is really important. Nobody looking around. I want to take a moment and especially pray for

those of you that are in a middle of a very difficult time. If right now your cry out to God is one from the place of pain, questions, confusion, disappointment, anger, fear, whatever the case would be. And you need special prayer today. I want to pray that you'll be able to push through that pain and see the faithfulness of God, that he would do whatever it takes to bring you to a total point of trust in him. All of our churches, those of you who say, yes, right now, I am hurting, Craig. Would you just pray for me? Would you lift up your hands right now, just all of our churches? There are so many of you today. God, I thank you that you're, you're, such a loving God.

And you know the intimate details of every person who is hurting right now. And God, I pray that even now that the power of your Holy Spirit would do something that only you can do, that you would give us a peace that goes beyond our human ability to understand.

That, God, in your presence, your presence would be enough. God, I hurt with those who hurt today, and I know that you hurt far more than I could ever imagine just as I would hurt for my own children, God, you hurt for us. I pray, God, that we would have the freedom just to pull out our hearts to you, just to cry out. Even to shout back and say, I don't understand it, this doesn't seem fair.

But, God, as we do so, help us to do it from a posture of worship, knowing that you are good and a sovereign God, and you long to be needed by your children. So, God, we just acknowledge, we need you now. I pray, God, that you would move mountains, that you would heal the sick, that God, you would restore the broken, God, that you would do miracles in our lives, and whether you do what we want or, God, if you want, is something different. We choose to trust in you, acknowledging your goodness, God.

We thank you in advance for whatever you do, because, God, we know that your ways are higher than our ways, your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and your ways are better than any life we could imagine for ourselves. We choose to trust in you. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, there are some of you, you're going to recognize that you do not have a personal relationship with God. I'm not talking about being a religious person, not talking about doing good things or not doing bad things. I'm talking about knowing God personally.

This is why God sent his son Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh. Born without sin. He lived a very perfect life. died on a cross and rose again from the dead so that anyone who calls on his name would be forgiven, transformed. But not just be forgiven, we could be filled with the spirit of God so that we could know God personally.

The reality is, there are some of you here, you recognize this is not you. You don't know him personally. You could be like me. I was raised in the church. I knew about him, but I did not know him. And all of our churches, there are some of you you recognize. It's time to pour out my heart and simply say, I need you. Forgive me. I trust you. I want you in my life. I surrender my life to you.

And all of our churches, those of you who say, yes, I need his forgiveness and I need his grace. Today, by faith, I simply give my life to him, asking Jesus to save me and be the Lord of my life. That's the cry of your heart in all of our churches. I need him. Today, I give my life to God. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All of our churches and say, yes, that's my prayer. your hands. Church online, you click right below me. And as there are people in all of our churches surrendering to the Lordship of Christ, I simply ask that you all join your voices aloud, pray with one another, and let us see God do a miracle. Pray aloud, pray Heavenly Father, forgive me of all my sins. I cry out to you and say, I need you. Be first in my life,

my Savior and my Lord. fill me with your spirit so I could know you, serve you, and follow you. Thank you for new life. Today I give you mine. In Jesus' name I pray. Would you all worship big right now, welcome those born into the family of God.