Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - In the Fire, Part 2: A Problem Called Praise

Episode Date: May 31, 2014

In over your head and out on your own? Take heart. You were born to fight the very battles you face today. Let’s learn what can happen when we're In the Fire. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey Life Church, welcome today to all of our churches, also to our network churches, and those of you on the other side of computer screens all over the world, we love you at church online. Last week you heard an amazing message today, I believe it's going to be incredible again. First, I want to tell you that next week we're starting a brand new message series called Puzzled. I don't know how many of you often wake up and go, what in the world is God doing? Why is this happening in my life? I don't understand what's going on.

I don't feel like I have all the pieces to put this puzzle together. Next week we're going to seek God and help him to put the puzzle together in a way that it makes sense. Also, I want you to mark your calendars July 5th and 6th. You're ready for it. It is at the movies. Every year we go crazy at our campuses. We'll do anything short of sin to reach people that do not know Christ. And we're going to get very creative in presenting the gospel by using some very recent movies.

This will be the best lineup we've ever had, I believe, and at the movies, July 5th and 6th, you will want to bring people that wouldn't normally go to church because their life's going to be transformed. If you're ready today for a great message, you are going to be blessed because we have back, my good friend, the pastor of Hillsong Church in New York City, one of the greatest evangelists.

This guy, he makes me want to reach more people. He drives passion in my heart. I love his heart for God. I love his heart for people, and you're going to love his preacher. would you show honor today as we welcome our guest teacher, Pastor Carl Lentz. Hello, Life Church. Absolute honor to be with you today.

Some of you haven't seen for a while. Others have seen you quite recently. And I love being here. I just want to say if you're watching online, maybe you're on online church or one of the network churches or a different campus of Life Church. We really love you. Church is always great live. But if you're on your couch, so be it. We love you.

We're glad you're there. So quickly look at somebody around you, maybe to your left, and say, I prayed all week that I'd sit right next to you. Nice. Okay, look at your other person, your second choice, and say, you're going to have a great week this week. Go ahead. It's already started good because they're next to you. I'm going to take just a moment here just to let you know.

When you're around something awesome all the time, I think human nature is to take it for granted. And I just being an outsider, so to speak, I'm your weird New York cousin, whether you like it or not. You know, your pastor's exceptional. He's fantastic, obviously global impact, but I have the privilege of knowing him slash stalking him outside of maybe the public eye. And I got to tell you, this man is as faithful and as awesome outside of his pulpit as he is in it. And if you know him as pastor, I think what I love about Craig is that those who know him as, a husband and father, the church that really matters in his life, are flourishing. And for me, you know, I would love to glean and follow Craig due to his church leadership, but his family

leadership is what really, really, really impacts me because that doesn't always happen in America. You have people who have thriving churches, but dying families. And I think we should just give God a huge shout of praise for faithful men and women. And Hillsong, New York City, your church is one of the most generous churches ever. You give away resource, you give away material and upstart churches like ours in New York, I'm not sure we'd be able to do what we do without it. And we're just blessed to be in the slipstream of Life Church and this amazing leadership.

So thank you. On behalf of close to, I think it's officially almost 45,000 people, you know, plus have gotten saved in our church over the past couple years. And thank you for being a part of that with your love and your prayers. Call this message a problem called praise. look at somebody and say, you've got a problem. Look back to them to say hashtag, it's getting weird. Stay away.

A problem called praise. Have you ever had something that is super powerful? Maybe, but you don't know how it works, so it doesn't work right? Like, you've got the material and you've got the directions. There's a couple people shaking their heads right now. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Like, for instance, we recently got a smart TV, and I found out immediately I don't need a smart TV. I need a dumb TV.

I don't need all these gadgets. I remember sitting there trying to get my TV to work. And I'm sitting there and I'm yelling at it because that works typically. If you yell at technology, they respond really well to that. And I'm like, this TV doesn't work and I'm banging the controller. And my Australian wife, I'm like, Laura, this smart TV is broken. It's not working. And she's like, Mike, it's not even plugged into the wall here.

And she plugs it in. And it went on pretty easy. I mean, it's good to have something powerful. It's even better if you know how to use that powerful thing. I want to remind a couple of you that we have a weapon as Christians, and it is known as praise. And praise is not the fast songs that we do at church. It's not, you know, just some weird words. Praise is a state of mind, I guess a way of life as a Christian where just the mention of the name of Jesus,

just by praising what he has already done and who he is has the power to break people free from chains. It has the power to get every demon in hell running. Praise is so powerful it can change anybody's life, especially if you know Jesus today. I came to propose maybe that you need to learn and relearn this problem we call praise because praise is so powerful, it can be a problem for your problem. I don't know what your problem is, but I do know that praise can make an impact on that problem. If you have a problem called self-esteem, praising Jesus for who he is and who you are in him can be a problem for that self-esteem.

If you struggle with addiction, praising God for who he is, and the power he has to break change over your life can be a problem for that addiction. If you have a problem with looking in the mirror and seeing who you used to be rather than who you are in him, praising Jesus for his saving grace can even change what you see in the mirror. Praise can be a problem for your problem. Maybe today, just take a moment and ask yourself, am I using praise like I'm allowed to use it? because it's more than coming to church and doing a little Pentecostal bounce. It's more than just some happy Christian adjective.

It's a moment as a Christian where you can face out anything and say, I don't know what's going to happen, but Jesus, I'm going to praise you for who you are. I don't know what the future holds, but I'm going to praise the fact that I know who holds it in the name of Jesus. Come on, somebody. You can give me a Pentecostal revival. This is a mid-week revival. I'm going to read you what is maybe my favorite. And if you're taking notes, you need to.

if you're not, you're offending me inside as a preacher. There is a gate before you get to heaven called the note-taking gate. Can't prove it theologically. It's in Deuteronomy. You can throw anything in there. No one ever checks. This is maybe my favorite example of praise being a problem. And it's Acts chapter 16. If you're there, you can hustle there. If you're new to church, take your time, go to the table of contents.

Don't be faking it and being Ruth right now. We're going to know. And there are two guys. guys doing the right thing, but they find themselves in the wrong position. Has ever happened to you as a Christian? Where you're like, I'm doing everything right, but it seems to be going wrong. Enter a problem called praise. And I'm going to go to verse 25. This is Acts 16, 25. Paul and Silas, maybe you've heard it. If you're an old school Christian, rehear it. If you're brand new to this church or maybe you're watching somewhere online, welcome to the greatest book in history. It is alive, every word of it. Contrary to current movies that think you can just add stuff to it,

like Transformers and Magic Beans, we actually believe, as it's written right here, is good on its own. We don't need Hollywood to revamp it. We don't need to remix it. We don't have to make this thing relevant. It is relevant on its own. Says this along about midnight. Why is that important? Sometimes when the night is at its darkest, your praise needs to be at its loudest. Paul and Silas were at prayer and they were singing a robust hymn to God. Some historians believe it was Cornerstone, Hillsong Church. The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears. Why is that important?

Because sometimes our world wants to hear what you're shouting when things aren't going well. They know what Christians shout when we win the game or we win the award or when things are going good. But apparently prisoners are listening even when you're in a jail right next to them. Then without warning, a huge earthquake came and the jailhouse tottered and every single door flew. open and all the prisoners came loose. That is why corporate worship and praise in church is unbelievable. Our praise together is so powerful. It can break the chains off of somebody's life who doesn't even want to get free. Have you ever seen somebody in church like, I'm going to hate this. I hate this. I didn't want to be here. And then by the end of the song, they're weeping.

Why? Praise is so powerful. It can open up the eyes of those that want to stay shut. Just throwing it out there. Startled from sleep. I don't know why I said that like a Pentecostal preacher. Startle from sleep. The jailer saw all. The jailer saw all. All the doors swinging loose on their hinges. And assuming that everybody had escaped, he pulled out his sword and was about to do himself in, figuring he was as good as dead anyway. When Paul stopped him, he said, don't do that. We're all still here. Nobody's run away.

Why is that important? Because when you praise Jesus, it can even give you a love for your enemies. Because when you praise him for how graceful he's been to you, you realize you have no right or reason to hold back grace from anybody else. Why would Paul care about his jailer? He must have known Jesus, or at least had a Life Church podcast. Jailer got the torch and he ran inside, badly shaken. He collapsed in front of Paul and Silas, and he led them out of the jail and he said, Sir, what must I do to be saved to really live?

This is amazing because there was no altar call. There was no mention of this jailer quoting every sin he had ever committed. There was no keyboard. There was no conference sign up. There was no tithing. There was no Christian behavior modification. Just a jailer seeing two prisoners worship God. apparently was enough for him to go, wow, I need that.

Just throwing that in your theological paradigm, just in case anybody needs it. He said, put your entire trust in Jesus. Then you will live as you were really meant to live. Way before Switchfoot said it, apparently the Bible did. Then he went out to spell every detail of the master. And his entire family got said. They never did get to bed that night. The jailer made him feel at home, and he dressed their wounds.

You know what's amazing about that? Praise is so powerful and so impactful. that you can get to a place where God's using you where those who caused your wounds previously will come full circle and even bring healing back into your life. This is what a problem called praise can do. I'm going to give you a couple big thoughts. Here's the first one. Praise has to overcome your preference. Praise has to overcome your preference. And I realize that you can use the word feeling if you want. And there's an old Psalm, Psalm 34. And it says this, I will praise God at all times.

And this flies in the face of New York City Christianity. And if you're new to like church or you're watching online somewhere else in the world, we are connected to your church and there's many similarities. But I think that in New York, people are more conscious of their feelings than anywhere else. And we have people, I don't know who put this into our Christian world, but somebody apparently actually thinks that your feelings as a Christian matter. Where do we get this from? Like some people really, I don't really feel like it.

I don't really feel like going to church today. I don't really feel like doing what God wants me to do as if Jesus felt like going to the cross for you. But in New York I hear it all the time. People are like, well, I don't really feel like going to church. And I don't really feel like standing up in that big line. And I don't really feel like standing in that one seat because I used to have my regular seat in church. But then we started growing. And now there's somebody all up in my seat.

I don't even like where I stand. And I don't really feel like singing a new song because I really like the old songs. And I used to sing it better. And when I sing, I like it for it to be in the key of A, because that's where I get my worship on. we're doing duty of keys and then all of a sudden you know I used to have room to worship because when I worship I like to get my whole praise on now I got people all up in my space and I can't even really get my real worship on I don't even feel like getting at a bed feeling whoever said how you feel matters I mean I pray you feel good and I do think Jesus can comfort you but at the end of the day

your praise has to be your priority not your feeling because it's going to come a day when you're praying over somebody who's sick and you might not feel like calling on the healer. You've got to do it anyway. There's going to come a day where maybe you're trying to provide financially and you might not feel like you have it in you. It might look like it's dry, but you've got to praise God anyway and something can happen in your life. Praise can be a problem for your feelings that dictate your life. In our church, you know, we have a way that we will sometimes physically praise and worship where we will lift our hands. Some people who are critical or over-analytical will be like, well, you know,

we don't do the hyper charismatic worship and, you know, the lifting of the hands. And I explained it like this to somebody one time in case you're new to a church like this. And you see some people lifting their hands, some people not. We lift our hands once in a while in church as basically an international sign of surrender. Anywhere you go in the world and you're in a dark alley and someone put the gun at your back, what are you going to do? And sometimes physically it can feel good to come into church when you feel like going like this and you feel like letting your emotions rule you once in a while to just put a hand up and just remind you. your soul, so you're not going to dictate me. Even if it is awkward, even if it is weird,

I'm going to even lift a hand if I have to. And keep in mind, you know, I grew up in a Baptist church, but my parents were from the Jesus movement revival. So we were in this massive Baptist church, but my parents kept that aspect of our family, so you could look out and see a lot of, you know, people standing like this, but there'd be Stephen Kathy Lance. Hands up,

my dad had a tambourine. Oh, so I grew up kind of understanding this is not a method. This is not a style. This is not hyper-charismatic weirdness. It's just a way for some people who have been bound up all week to come into a corporate worship setting and just lift a hand here and there. And I remember coming to church as a 20-year-old going, look, I have to go serve Jesus because I don't want to go to hell.

But one thing I won't do is drink the charismatic Kool-Aid. You will not catch in me ever lifting my hands or doing all that weird stuff. And I remember asking my dad one day, I'm like, Dad, why do people do that? He's like, well, son, it's just a way to pray. At the end of the day, the only reason why you don't is because you care where people think about you in church, which is why you're ineffective outside of church, because if we can't be leaders in church, I'm like, okay. So I was like, keep in mind, this is not about a method. This is not about you lifting your hands. Keith, this is about the heart of the issue. If you feel like

you can sit there with your hand in your pockets, God bless you. But it's the point of it. I remember thinking, okay, cool, I'm going to go to church next time. I'm going to give it a shot. I'm a little bit nervous. So I'll just start with some worship frisbees, which is just like, cool. And, you know, it felt good. I felt free. And I'm like, you know what? Actually, actually, It actually affects my praise. Next week I was like, I'll get a little bit more daring. And I was 19. I was single.

I'll do classic single guy worship, which happens definitely at the church you're at too. You know, and then if someone saw me, I could be like, hey, I'm not even worshipping. I'm just chilling right now. Single girl worship is like this. I love you. I'm also ringless. Hello. And then I remember after a while, just not caring.

I remember just coming in going, you know what? One thing is for sure, whether I lift my hands or not, I'm going to make sure that the day I don't. don't feel like praising God, that's the day I'm going to praise them. The day I feel like sitting here and making sure my body language matches my feeling, that's the day. Even if it makes me uncomfortable, I'm going to worship and praise God louder than I've ever done it because Psalm 34 says, I will praise my God at all times. And keep in mind, we are the only people, y'all, that get this mixed up in all world.

Every other facet of society knows that if you're excited and you're pumped about something, you can lift your hands, you can go crazy. I mean, let's just say you're at a basketball game and you're going to see the MVP of the league, right? Who plays, you know, in Oklahoma, right? Let's just say, or maybe you live in, you're watching this and you live in Argentina and you go see the greatest soccer player. You're going to see, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, you know,

just shouting it down. You know, and I love, you know, basketball players to death, but there ain't no basketball player that's going to show up at a hospital bed and heal my body or help my marriage. But yet we'll go shout down some athletes. Or you can go to a NASCAR event. That's not even a sport. And you can see thousands of people just lifting their hands going crazy and cheer it.

But we're going to come into church and make it all denominational. Like there's different ways to show exuberant praise. Right, I get that. You can go to a Coldplay concert. Hundreds of thousands of people with their hands. But that makes sense, right? Because Cold play is going to be there for you when you need them. Cold play is going to lay down their life.

I mean, if you're in a tough spot, you can just get on your knees and be like, It was all yellow. Now, there is only one God that sent his one and only son that the whosoever can praise him at all times because if there's anybody that should have a right to get a little bit undignified from time to time and give God a little bit undignified praise, it better be the Christians that have been saved

by the blood of the lamb. Without him, we got nothing. And he is worthy of our praise. Just in case you're getting a little bit professional in your Christianity. remind yourself this isn't about professional this is about desperation you can just write this down as we flow through this you know we praise god not because he has forgotten who he is but so that we don't forget who he is i had a friend of mine who's an atheist he was like why do you

christians need to what kind of insecure god do you so this is my atheist voice why do you christians worship a God that needs reminding. I mean, how insecure could the God of the cosmos be? He needs constant reminding. I'm like, bro, you've got it a little bit twisted here. The Holy Spirit's not insecure. He's not, you know, moving around church today going, I hope they really bring it in row four. It's been a rough day, you know, it's been a rough day healing people and being the advocate and filling people with power from on high to do things on this earth. Oh, I really need your praise. No, we worship God so we don't forget who he is. That's why when we're singing songs, are not just songs, they're anthems.

We are confined to our confession. So if our confession is, I will praise you at all times, that's where we're going to live. If our confession is, I don't really feel it, and I don't know if our God is going to show up, that's where we live. But we worship God so we don't forget who he is. Anybody grateful that you serve a God that is not dead, but he is a lot? I'm going to give you two reasons. I'm going to give you two reasons to praise God today. And you might be thinking, I have many, great.

But as this church continues to grow, if you're a network church, as God continues to open up the gates in your city, there are going to be people in the droves that are coming into church, and they're going to be in need of a reminder about how good God is. Sometimes Christians don't need when they're beleaguered to come in in church and be, come on, get yourself up by the bootstraps. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. You know, they might not need your cliche.

What they might need is an arm around the shoulder. Say, I'm going to carry you through this. I'm going to worship on your behalf. And then as you lead them through a valley, maybe you can speak on something and remind them how good God is. Because there's a time and a place. So if you're doing great, cool, take this and put it away. Have you ever found like a snicker bar in your back pocket? You didn't know you had.

And two weeks later, you're like, oh, snack. That's what this sermon can be if you already are doing good. Or maybe you need this today. Good. I'm going to remind you two reasons you have to praise God. Then we're done. All right. Number one, you can praise God right now. And remember, when you praise him, things change in your household.

Things change in your family. As a dad, we sit there with my children and we praise God together. Give me five things you love about Jesus. Five things you love about the Holy Spirit. Son, just give me five things at all. You don't even know Jesus. Salvation's still in doubt. Actually, he got saved the other day. He told me at Children's Church. So that's worthy of praise. I haven't seen the fruits of repentance yet, but we're getting somewhere. Reason number one, you can praise God. You can praise Him. You can praise Him. because he's already done more than you think he has. He is powerful. He is faithful.

He is unbelievable. He's already done more than you think he has so you can praise him now. Think about that. When you realize that something's already been done, a trip's already been planned, or somebody's already made a way, it's amazing how there is an ease that comes into any situation. I wanted to remind a couple of you that you can praise God

because he's already done more than you have given him credit for. He's already done more on your behalf that you have yet to see. Do you really think that Paul and Silas knew that God was going to do all that? I don't think they sat there in a prison cell and they were like, here's what's going to happen. All right, we're going to do all this. We're going to sing and all this stuff's going to happen. No, I think they already knew that God was faithful because they had seen the power of God at work. So when they got caught in prison, they were like, oh, this is faithful.

God is faithful. He's never failed anybody. He's not going to start now. So let's not panic. Let's not go to our horoscope. We don't have to check our star signs because we actually know who created the stars. Let's start to praise. Next thing you know, you have two men that are part of a revival movement that started in a prison.

In your life, in this week, if you find yourself overwhelmed by the world that you're living in, remember how faithful God's already been. Remember how amazing he's already been. He's already done more than you've given him credit for so you can take a breath. today and realize he was faithful there, he's going to be faithful here, he's going to be faithful over here, I can rest and praise God now because he's already done more than I even recognize. There are some people who neglect God's faithfulness, and I say, cool, on your backslide, make sure you're conscious of all the miracles that you're stepping over, of all the stuff that

God has already done. And sometimes I look back on what he's already done, already done more than I've even giving him credit for that I just stay following him because it just takes too long to get through all of his goodness to turn around. Here's a little, maybe a helpful four Monday tip. If the devil ever tries to throw the fear of the unknown on your life, let God's faithfulness free you of that. Because if the devil can't stop you from moving forward, he will make you miserable while you walk. You know, so many Christians who are faithful to serve God, but they're miserable because they don't know what's next. That's actually called being a Christian. You've got to be able to let his faithfulness free you from the unknown.

So my son, Roman, just turned four, we have this tradition, father and son, where we'll go bike riding. And he always carries two swords, nerve swords, because that's what you do. You carry swords in Brooklyn. And every time we go, you know, we will take off through the street to Brooklyn.

He sits on the front of this little bike, and he's waving his swords, and he's swinging them at vegans and cat lovers. And I'm never going to penalize him for that. It's not my fault. You didn't bring your sword on your bike ride. So I'm like, get him. And as we turn for home every week, he does the same thing.

He's like, Dad, I'm ready. Dad, I'm ready to drive. Keep in mind, my son is four. He's got giant glasses. He's never paid one day of rent. He has never achieved anything in our family other than just laughs and love. Like, he's never done anything, but he's my son. Keep that in mind.

He's like, Dad, I'm ready to drive. So he gets his little nubby little fingers, and he puts him on the handlebars, and he just thinks he's king of Brooklyn. We're just cruising. and he just thinks he's driving. Little as he knows, my thumb is on the back of his little seat the entire time, controlling more with my thumb than he's doing with every bit of his little power. But he doesn't know that.

All he knows is my dad is with me and my dad put me here, so I'm going to drive this bike like I own it. Can I just remind a couple people today that what if you just really took a breath today and you realize that God's hand of favor it has been given, His hand of provision from the Old Testament to the new speaks to the fact that he is preparing away for you in the future on your behalf fighting battles. You can't fight. Making a way that you cannot make. And he's already done so much as hand of protection.

It's at your back. Breathe and realize you can praise God because he's already done more than you've given him credit for. He's faithful. As we close, number two, thank you. Four people that clap. I love you for life. Number one, you can praise God. because he's already done more.

And this should get your Pentecostal shouting. You can praise God because he's going to do more than you think he's going to do. He is supernatural. This is exciting. Somebody needs to hear it. In your family, he's going to do more than you think he's going to do. He's powerful. Some of you who are going through it right now and you think you're just going to survive,

not only are you just going to survive, but God's going to use you and your story to do more than you can even dream. If you're like, is this some weird hill songy, charismatic, hyper-preaching? No, it's actually Ephesians 320 where it says, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, and above all you could ever ask, imagine, or think according to his power at work in you to him be the glory. God is able to do way more than you could ever even imagine. I mean, I got to think that Paul and Silas would have walked out of that prison shaking their head.

Like, can you believe God did that? I mean, here I am thinking we're just singing a new song and we're just hanging out and we're just worshiping God. But the jailer got saved. We're planting the church now. You know, we're having a dinner party. I mean, people are just meeting Jesus. I got to think sometimes as a Christian, we've got to have that moment where we shake our head at the goodness of God more because he's just done so much more than we thought he was ever going to do. Where does this leave you as a Christian?

You drop the seed of praise and let them. the production and the fruit be on God. Because in this equation, one of these parts is really faithful. Because your job as the Christian is the Paul and Silas role, which is to praise God. God's job is the deliverance and the jailer getting saved and the fruit of stuff happening. But sometimes we don't show up. And as a Christian in New York City, it's really awesome to know that I'm just going to do my job. It might look like a prison and I might not have a whole lot of reasons in the natural to praise God,

but I'm just going to drop a seed of praise. just a seed, a seed of love. And I'm going to believe that God's going to do more than I can think he's ever going to do. And it's amazing how we have a church revival built off not good music or good preaching or church leadership structure. It's off a bunch of wrecked sinners saved by the grace of God to understand the power of a praise seat. I'm going to do something and believe my God is going to be awesome. Take evangelism, for example. People have labeled me an evangelist sometimes, and I appreciate when people say that.

But the truth is, I've just learned the power of a praise. seed in the middle of a prison. For instance, I don't ever have an organ behind me on the subway. I don't ever have a microphone with me when we're playing basketball, but I have learned that I can sometimes just drop a seed, because that's all Paul and Silas did. They started singing, and I can see God take that seed and grow. I was on a subway one time, and I found out that my love of shoes can be a seed. We're sitting there, and in New York, people love to be this close to you and act like they don't see you. It's like New York life. I remember being on the subway, I looked at some guy, and I'm like, cool. Hey, man, cool shoes.

he's like oh thanks because keep in mind our world is so void of any seed you can just drop a few seeds and look like a saint right so i'm looking i'm like cool shoes he's like oh that's cool too you i love shoes you want to come to church i have a church down the road he's like sure i love to come friends for life and i remember walking out going not i'm an evangelist ryanhard bonkey eat your heart out watch out i remember going how many times have i looked at the situation rather than the Savior, how many times have I missed my right to have this praise be a problem for the moment and just start dropping seeds everywhere. Some of you just start today.

You might feel totally overwhelmed with your situation. Get on your knees when you go home tonight and just start praising God for what you do know. God, I do know that you're faithful. I do know Jesus that you died for me. I do know Holy Spirit that you're empowering my life. And that seed can produce more than you could ever imagine. It's a problem that is a good kind of. a problem for your bad problem. I'm going to leave you with this because when you are hit

with a prison season, I've been in a couple of prison seasons. You ever been in a moment where you just feel like, I don't know if I can get out of this, and I've seen God do something awesome. I lost a friend to a heroin overdose not that long ago. I remember being in church, you know, and walking through this valley and not feeling like praising. I remember even thinking, God, I don't even know if I, I don't even know if I want to be a pastor, because if this is what it means, If you lose people that you love, I'm not responsible for everybody, but I feel like I was responsible for this guy. And he had one bad moment, slipped back into an addiction and it cost them everything. I remember thinking, I'm going to try to praise my way through this.

Sometimes praise is ugly and awkward like it is now. And sometimes you just got to praise God anyway. And I remember thinking, God, I don't know how you're going to bring life out of this because this is too heavy. And I remember at his funeral, even standing there, and it was filled with his friends because he worked in the nightclub industry. and I hustled the seating. Craig, I had our staff here, all of his nightclub friends here, and then the rest of our church here was like a moat of praise, like no matter what. I remember getting up there, and I said, you know what, it's a funeral, but I'm going to try to throw a seat of God's grace in here right now, and I'm just going to do an altar call and just see where we go.

I remember giving an altar call at his funeral and seeing about 200 people give their life to Jesus at his funeral. And one of those people was his nephew. Keep in mind, my friend who died, he lost his brother a year before to the same heroin addiction. And his little nephew was in that crowd at his uncle's funeral. And he is now leading a connect group in our church and trying to get it done and trying to make it happen, trying to change the legacy to me. I don't know what the future holds for Christians, but I do know that there is more to come. There is more to come in your marriage. and there's more to come in your church,

and there's more to come in the dreams in your heart. But you've got to make the decision to say, God, I will bring my praise to this day no matter what. I'll bring it to the hospital bed. I'll bring it to the party. I'll bring it to the funeral. I'll bring it back to my marriage. It isn't going the way I want it to go.

I will praise you because of what you've already done in my life and what I know you're going to do in the future. It's a problem called praise, and we need to bring it back. Can I pray for you? Jesus, I pray. Lord, that you would help this ordinary message have supernatural meaning to it. For those, Lord, that the devil's tried to rip the praise from their spirit, we speak life into them. For those that feel like they've even lost their voice, their ability to step up and praise, God, let this be the moment in the season where they realize the devil can't take what you've given, Jesus, and that's your spirit.

God, I pray you would encourage the disheartened, that you would give rest to the anxious hearts. And Lord, we make a dedication as Christians to praise you no matter what. In Jesus' name, if you believe, is somebody shout, amen. Amen. God, thank you so much for an amazing message today. And, Father, we thank you that there will be a problem for our problem, that you will enable and empower us as believers to praise our way through trouble because you are good.

You've done good things, God. You'll do even more good because that is your character and your nature. All of our churches, is you're taking a moment. to reflect today and pray and praise. Some of you right now you have significant challenges. The good news is there's about to be a problem for your problem, and that is praise. At all of our churches, those of you who would say, yes, I do have a challenge. I do have some issues.

There are some things I don't know how to work through, and by faith I'm going to praise my way through them. Would you lift up your hands right now? Just all of our different churches, we're going to praise our way through. God, thank you so much for this message by your service. spirit speaking to all of our hearts. God, we ask that our praise would become a problem for our problems, that we would be moved outside of ourselves, God, to make you the center of every part of our lives, that God, as our worship moves from anything else in this world onto you, God, that

brings divine perspective. Suddenly, God, we recognize that all things are possible with you, that your spirit is with us and you can sustain us through anything. God, we're already worshipers. We know that. We worship all sorts of things. May we be true worshippers. God, of your heart, of your kingdom, God, move us out of loving this world to truly loving you. And God, suddenly you can give us the ability to plant seeds in the lives of others as we worship you. God, for our church, I pray that we would be a church full of worshipers, praising you not just in song, but in the way that we live, that our lives would be an act of worship. worship lifting you God in every single way. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches,

some of you may recognize, you know what, I am not a worshiper of God. You look at your own life and you're going to recognize you have to be honest and say that we are worshippers. You may worship some team, you may worship some shoes, you may worship your image, you may worship what people think of you on social media, you may worship money, you may worship any number of different things, but you can worship those things and you will still come up hurting and empty. Real life is only found in worshiping the one who created us, and you may recognize right now. That is not you.

You do not know God personally. Suddenly, you have a challenge. What are you going to do? You recognize that you're separated from him. Here's the good news. Some of you may feel drawn to him today. What is that? That is His Holy Spirit, doing what he does, drawing you.

The truth is, though, you're not good enough to stand before him on your own. None of us are because we're separated from God by our sinfulness. We are filthy in his eyes. The powerful good news is, though, because of his love, God did something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. He sent Jesus, who was without sin, to become sin for us, to die on the cross and be raised from the dead so that we could know his love, be forgiven, be filled with his spirit, and make a difference in this world. At all of our churches, there are those of you who are worshippers, you're worshipping the wrong thing. Today you realize you need his forgiveness, you need his grace. You're going to worship him like never before because he's about to transform you. You're

going to call on his name, turn from your sins and say, Jesus, I need you. Would you save me? be the Lord of my life, I put you first. Today by faith, I surrender my life to you. That's your prayer. Would you lift your hands high right now? All of our churches lift your hands and say yes.