All right, go ahead and open up your Bibles, turn in them to 1 Kings, in the Old Testament, chapter 12. 1 Kings, chapter 12, verse 25 is where we're gonna begin. And the elders and I agreed that we could put the First Peter series on hold until the first two weeks of February. That's when I'll be back in the pulpit. Pastor John will be back next week, carrying us on through our study in Titus. And today, we thought it was appropriate to begin the year with a message on worship. Worship is a huge part of our life. It really is our life as a believer. Worship is vital. There's a lot of buzz around culture and the Christian world about worship, and so we want you to be informed when it comes to worship. We ask ourselves the question, you know, how do we know if our worship is spirit-led or spirit-filled? How do we know if our worship is God-honoring and acceptable to God? How do we know if our worship is not just hyped up in spirit but rooted in truth, or not only rooted in truth but filled with God-honoring passion and a spirit of awe before Him? Worship is traditionally defined as an expression of reverence or adoration towards a deity. So for us as Christians, that is to worship the triune God, who we know as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so the first place I want you to look in your Bible is 1 Kings 12. And I'm gonna allow you to sit because it's a long passage that I'm gonna read to you. So you're welcome, for mercy on your legs. But in no way, shape, or form does this demean the reverence we have for God's word. I just wanna be thoughtful of those of you who come and are not able to stand for a long reading. And so let's stand in our hearts and in our minds and give reverence and honor here to a picture of potentially worship in the Bible. Then Jeroboam, in verse 25, built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple to the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of the people will turn again to their Lord, to Rehoboam, the king of Judah, and they'll kill me, and they'll return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So Rehoboam was a good king. Jeroboam, an evil guy. Or we could call Rehoboam the rightful king, as Solomon's son. Jeroboam comes along and says, no, I want this. I want to compete. I don't want people going over there to worship. So let me try and devise a plan for worship that will bring them a little more my way. And so carry on with me. So the king took council and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, you have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. So he says, hey, more convenient. Don't go all the way to Jerusalem. And even more, don't worry about trembling in fear of this holy ethereal god you can't see. I've got a couple of great golden calves, better option. Well, let's see if it was. and he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not of the Levites. That broke God's order for the priesthood. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the 15th day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made, not God. He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the 15th day of the eighth month in the month that he had devised from his own heart. So he even decided when they'd worship. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings. Here's what ends up happening in chapter 13. Let me give you the CliffsNotes. God sends a messenger. that messenger pronounces judgment on Jeroboam. See, Jeroboam thought he could worship his way. He thought he could do it his way. He thought he could motivate people. But his worship and his motivation was rooted in his own pride. Earthly metrics, his own manipulation is what drove the passion. How many know passion is okay? We should be passionate in worship, but passion driven from manipulation is really an abomination to God. It is against or anti-God. He didn't want anyone else getting the glory. He wanted the attention, he wanted the people, he wanted all the emphasis on him and what he was bringing. In the same way, I think of Moses' brother Aaron getting sucked into the demands of the people when Moses got stuck up on the mountain a little too long. You remember that story in the Old Testament? So they decide, well, maybe God's orders for worship, and even God himself, kind of a relative thing. We'll make a calf. We'll melt down our gold. I don't think Moses is coming back. We'll just do this our way. Even more echoes of the garden when the serpent came to Eve and whispered, go ahead, come on, did God really say that? Have it your way, Eve. We've been sold a lie among many others that we can worship our way, express ourselves our way, that expression is individualistic and I'm free to just do it however I want, but church, The Bible teaches there is true and false worship. There is an order given by God. You cannot worship a holy God however you please. So how do you know if your worship is spirit led, spirit filled, God honoring? How do you know and how can you be sure that your music preference and your music volume and expressions or styles, even our opinions about lights bright and lights dim are all secondary to the posture of our hearts and the truth we're standing on when we worship? How can we ensure that our worship goes beyond mere performance and leads us to the person of Christ? I want you through a sermon like this to recognize that quite arguably, almost assuredly, the worst judgment on this side of heaven is to be under the delusion that you're worshiping God, when in reality you're worshiping a God that you created. That leads not to heaven. That leads to hell. That doesn't lead to spirit-filled, spirit-led living. It leads to spirit-less living. That is a destructive way that I don't want any of you to go. Our pastors don't want that for you. We want you thriving in a high view of God, and thriving in a life of highest praise to God. And so, to start the year, I wanna give you the marks of spirit-led worship. There'll be four, and then a surprise fifth one that's free of charge, but it's not gonna be in your outline, so stay ready. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit. You know what the beautiful thing is too? He's so available. He's not elusive. He is indwelling every believer, available to all who would come and believe, guiding, protecting, empowering, purifying, teaching, giving, all of it. So we don't have to be without direction, and so here they are. Number one, one of the marks of spirit-led worship is you express yourself under the control of the Holy Spirit. Oh yeah, we're starting with expression. A hot topic in the church, right? Because some people think they're really feeling it. It's real worship because they're jumping up and down and their hands are up in the air, they're rolling on the floor, they're speaking in tongues, they're screaming out loud. You got the feels, you get the goosebumps, right? Now we really worshiped. There's this whole other group though that think they're extra spiritual in their rigid stoicism. That real mature believers do it like this. And the hands go in the front, fingers interlocked. Or in the back, hands like a military cadet. Sing the hymns, eyes open. Close them when they mention Christ. Sing loud when others are loud. Be quiet when they're quiet. Don't you dare be a distraction. What are you doing raising your hand? Are you a charismatic? Expression can be a slippery slope. Both extremes can be a slippery slope. Paul, in Ephesians 5, 18 to 20, gives kind of an overarching statement that we can apply when it comes to self-control and expression. He says, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. A passage like this can instruct us on worship, because Paul is giving a contrast. to the church that would receive this and the Christians throughout the ages that would read it. We see a need for a spirit-filled life, to be under the control of the Holy Spirit, not to be out of control. Of course, drunkenness would certainly be a mark of being out of control. Self-control would be a mark of the Holy Spirit. And so, not just are we told, do not be under the influence of alcohol or any other substance, but be filled with. Don't be under control of something that is not of God. Be under the control of the Spirit of God. That's the command. Well, at the time, pagans would worship quite wildly, actually. Kind of like a Vegas on steroids idea. Lots of partying, lots of sexualized rituals. Paul's saying, listen, don't even go near that, don't be a part of it, be different, be the weirdos, be Christians, be a lighthouse. Make sure everybody knows you're a worshiper of the way. Don't be under control of anything else but the spirit of the living God. Reminds me of pagans throughout the ages worshiping in false ways, whether in the book of Leviticus, when we read about the people sacrificing their babies to Molech, Or one of my favorite stories, my kids love this story. It's like over and over and over. I'm wondering, you guys have heard this one 10,000 times. Any of you, no, let's listen to this one again. It's the Elijah versus the prophets of Baal story. Remember that one? When, it's kind of a prophetic competition, if you will. They say, yeah, let's get out there into the open space and let's erect a big altar and let's stick a big bull on it. and we're gonna call down the fire from our God. And so the false prophets of Baal dance around like lunatics. They cut themselves, which the Bible says was their custom. Crazy people. Finally exhausted, Elijah says one of the more funny statements in the Bible. Maybe your God's out relieving himself. In other words, maybe he's gone to the bathroom. Then he says, watch this. And paraphrasing for you, of course, Elijah says, throw some water on the altar. You know, throw more water on the altar. Now watch this, he calls out to the one true God. And our God, who is a consuming fire, sends fire down, and the Bible says, it licked up every drop. There wasn't even moisture after our God was done with that altar. There is true worship, there is false worship. There is true expression, false expression. There is acceptable expression, and there is unacceptable expression to God. The Bible teaches this over and over, but people still push back and say, well, when it comes to expression, you know, to each their own, pastor. Expression is personal. Well, listen, yes, expression may be personal, but for the Christian, it is always accountable. You are not your own, you've been bought with a price. Your life doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Christ. Your life isn't hidden in you, it's hidden in Christ. You're not an ambassador of yourself, you're an ambassador of Christ and so you must also worship reflecting Christ. That's the call. People in the Bible thought that they had worship nailed too. The woman at the well in John four thought it was about a place. Jesus said no, it's about a person, me. In Luke 19, all the money changers thought they had temple business and worship down to an art form. Jesus drives them all out with a whip. And then the New Testament church, Paul giving instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapters one, or rather two and three, he gives some boundary lines for worship, the assembly of worship, prayer and worship, even the leaders of the church who are the worship leaders. They're supposed to be character qualifications now. Bottom line, God's word governs worship and our expressions of worship. I wonder how many expressions today are soaked in the flesh. They're merely human. Emotionalism, people manipulated to respond. I'm made to think that by going to the conference that's like a rock concert and everyone's got the neon bracelets that are, you know, in sync with the beat of the song like it's a Coldplay concert. You know, that's worship. I got the goosebumps, man. I really felt it. That was the real deal. I felt the presence of God. That was the spirit of God. I wonder how many of us will get to heaven and we'll run the gauntlet of our experiences and the Lord will graciously, as his children we are, will just tell us though simply, yeah, that was you, that was production, that was pretty neat. You humans really come up with some funny things, but that wasn't me either. This was me, this, and we'll look, and a lot of that will be kind of chaff. Human experience, ah, good time. You had some cute lights, good job. I wasn't in it. But also, how slippery a slope. Not the falsely spirit-filled manifestations, but spirit-less expressions. When we spend more time analyzing the environment than adoring Christ. when we get a little rigid because some people get excited about God. Look, the expression debate is dangerous on both sides of the extreme, and how many of you can relate? We've been there, right? You come out of some crazy stuff, and then you see people getting a little excited. You're like, what is this, some crazy concert? What are you gonna do? You gonna do something weird? And so we tend to swing the pendulum the other way, but we have to remember That the Bible gives us balance. It gives us an array of expression. And you know what we need to do? We need to shut off the peer pressure and the noise. What are they all doing? I guess I'll worship that way. Are we hand raising? Are we like halfway hand raising? Are we the full hand raisers? Are we the single hand raisers? Are we the point hand? Which is, I don't know, who cares? Are you in love with Jesus? Are you about Jesus? And so, some applications for you that mirror spirit-filled worship. You can sing out loud with joyous and thankful praise like Psalm 95 1 and 2 declare. You can lift your hands and bless the Lord, declaring you live for his name, like Psalm 63, three to four express, or maybe as a sign of humble surrender, like the people were doing in Nehemiah chapter eight, when he began to read the word of the Lord, and they were just, what, you might think this is funny, but I had a friend who used to say this, and she was dead serious, because it really happened, the Lord transformed her life, she said, I'm just floored by the Lord. She was floored by the Lord. because of who he is. She was at the end of herself. Over and over and over throughout the Bible, people stand, they shout, they sing, they bow, they kneel, they remain silent, they clap, they play an array of instruments, they even dance, they exalt their God. We wanna be real careful, thinking that our expression is the only expression. But we also must take heed to what the Bible describes. And you might be thinking, well, what about my personality? Come on, I'm introverted. I'm laid back. I'm mellow. Or I was lost, now I'm found. I really don't care what y'all think, I'm gonna dance in the front row. What of personality? Here's where I wanna take us there. There is something to be said about our unique differences, which is why I believe there are many different expressions in the Bible, different moments, right? Sometimes David wrote Psalms that you were thinking this guy's depressed, and then he's dancing in the street in his underwear, right? There's some nuanced differences. There's some feelings. Emotions aren't bad. But each of us should look back on moments of passion when we stopped caring what other people think and we only cared what God thought. Go back to those moments in your life. How did you act? Be who you are. Be a worshiper of God. Don't worry about what everyone else thinks. Be what he's called you to be. Act how he has made you to act. That's a good place to start. Number two, another mark of spirit-led worship. You prioritize truth without sacrificing passion. You prioritize truth without sacrificing passion. John 16, 13, Jesus is giving the job description, if you will, of the Holy Spirit. He says this, when the spirit of truth comes, he'll guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. And he'll declare to you the things that are So Jesus first, contextually, is talking to his disciples. And as part of this, you could say, they're gonna go on and be led into truth and write scripture. No doubt that's an application here, that eventually they would be led by the Spirit into complete truth, and they would give us the revelation of God through the scriptures. But I have a question for you. Even though you and I aren't writing scripture, do we still have access to the same Holy Spirit? Are we still filled with the same Holy Spirit? So did his job description change? Did he lead them to write, you know, scriptural truth and then the canon is closed and then now he's indwelling us and he's leading us. Romans 8, 14 says that they're there, they're led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God. But oh, sometimes he leads us into error. Sometimes his leading just kind of takes us over into chaos. We're not really sure what to do with that. I guess it's just the wind of the Spirit. You know, you can't put God in a box. All these weird things that people say to justify their chaotic excuse for worship. We must stick to Scripture. The Holy Spirit is never divorced from the Word. There's no inter-Trinitarian issue. Like the Holy Spirit's going to Jesus and going, come on, Lagos, word. I know you're like black, white, and they put red where you speak, but listen, I'm trying to move in these other ways. I need you to let me out of my box. Absolutely not. The Spirit of God and Christ the Son are in perfect unity. The Word of God and our Spirit-led worship are supposed to be and must be in perfect unity. And so, we must prioritize truth without sacrificing passion. Psalm 25, lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation. Psalm 43, three, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill. John 14, six, Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth and the life. And then one of my favorite passages to let settle on my heart, one of our pastoral installations for Pastor Kyle specifically, the preacher who preached the service settled in on this text right here. So important for church leaders and church people. 1 Timothy 4.16, watch your life and doctrine closely. Why? So you can be a theology nerd and know a lot? Persevere in them, he tells Timothy, because if you do, you will literally save, you will preserve yourself and those who hear you. Here's the principle, doctrine matters. Not just in what we preach, but what we sing. It matters. A lot of people let that go because music gets kind of a poetic license. What's the big deal? They're just lyrics. Lighten up, it feels good. Hey, Erewhon was playing it. Come on, pastor. We must be and are called to be like the Bereans in Acts 17 11. We want to search the scriptures. We want to analyze things to ensure they're so. We are people of the book. I don't care how passionate something is, it must be rooted in truth. Is it possible that we can be guilty of getting hyped up with passion that's declared heavenly origin, but it's really earthly manipulation? Is it possible that passion can be misguided? Absolutely. Hitler was passionate. Criminals are passionate. Oh, there's all sorts of people. False teachers are passionate. There's no shortage of passion. There's nothing wrong with passion. In fact, who wants to follow a uninspiring leader? Let's be honest. If we as your elders stood up here at the end of the year, the big Christmas party for members, and we highlighted all the serving and all the giving and all the baptisms and salvations and the goodness of God through all of you, could you imagine if we stood there and said, wow, well, look at how much money they all gave. Good stuff. Moving on now, there were over 920 people that committed their lives to Christ, not because of an altar call, but because he had transformed their hearts. They were weeping, being baptized, and being placed in growth groups, and growing in the Lord, praise God. Moving on, there were some people that served in children's ministry. We added a third, oop, we added a fourth service too, so that means a lot more people. Over 1,000 attended and we preached the word faithfully. Anyways, so thanks for your help. We'll see you next year. We'll figure out what we're gonna do then. Are you crazy? We want leaders, not who are perfect in their vision casting, but can tell us, hey, this is what God's word says. Here's where we're going. Here's what you're given towards. Here's why you're serving. Here's what you're doing. Passion is contagious, is it not? We want leaders who are passionate, who are fired up about the word and the ways of God. However, though passion is essential, it's not always reliable. And so, It must be rooted in God's truth. Several weeks ago, our worship director, Sean, came to me with a great song. It was one of those radio songs. I was thinking, this is great. Everybody's gonna sing, because y'all listen to it all week. You're probably humming it when you come into church. Woo, let's sing it. He goes, yeah, we got a problem. There's this one section, and I've mowed over it. I'm not trying to be uptight, but this is not accurate. If we sing this, 90% of the people will just kind of go with the flow. but what are we leading them towards? And I'm standing there convicted, yeah, worship director, what are we leading them towards? And he said, yeah, we're not gonna sing it. I said, all right, that's your role. You call the shots there, so good on ya. I got back to thinking afterwards of how proud I am of our team and our leaders because that's the heartbeat behind what we do. Even if we have to cut a song, a song that sounds really good, we're gonna do it. Because we're not called to lead you with what's popular on the radio. not called to lead you with what we sung at the last awesome big conference that someone had, or the latest hits, or what you liked in the old days, or the new days, or whatever days you're talking about. If we're filled with the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy Spirit, then we must lead you and bear fruit in keeping with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So passion and preference even take a back seat to truth. That's the call. This is why some of you need to pray and think hard about cleaning out your playlist. going through your music and thinking, am I playing the Christian game here? And look, I'm not knocking everything, you know, you got these songs and people are like, man, God, you're a way maker and a miracle worker, promise keeper, that's who you are, I'm really excited about you and you made my life better and you fixed my marriage and oh God, look at all you did for me, I'm so pumped. And right, those are like top on our list and they hit the radio and we turn it up and we're driving to work and now we feel like we can take on the day. Right? Okay. I'm not trying to ruin your day or your week or your Spotify playlist. Here's reality, though. There is Christian music and there's Christian worship. Christian music, oh, tells about God, stories about God, but I'm kind of the center of it, right? He's changing me, doing a work in me. I'm a sinner, but he's really gracious, so whoop, I get another start tomorrow. All right. Look, that's not bad. That's fine. It's just Christian music though. Don't define it as your worship. Worship is in a whole different category. Only a holy God, Christ alone. You are worthy of honor and glory and praise. I surrender to you because of you. Holy, worthy, righteous and true. Worship is about God, who he is, not what he can only do. I love this quote by one preacher, he says, a congregation learns its theology by the songs they sing, not just the preaching that they hear. So what we sing matters, it's teaching us. And so the third mark of spirit-led worship is this, you focus on who God is more than what he can do. And I'm gonna say it again so you know I'm for you and I'm for God and what he can do and I'm for your needs and I wanna see him meet those. Oh yes, sing, pray and praise about what he can do. He's a great God, isn't he? But let that fall under the primary emphasis of our hearts and our lives which is what, who he is. I don't love my wife because she cooks great food. I sure like that she cooks great food. I appreciate that today after four services, I'm gonna go home to a great meal. Oh yeah, but if you ask me why I love my wife, I love my wife because of who she is. She's my wife. We're not proud of our kids because they get good grades. That's how kids end up in therapy. You are proud of your kids. Why? You say, because you're my son. Because you're my princess, you're my daughter. Yeah, but daddy, why are you proud of me? Is it because I'm a great singer, because I'm so pretty, or because I clean my room? No, all those things are great. I'm thankful you do those, and certainly proud of you for being self-disciplined. But the reason I'm proud of you is because you're simply my daughter. You are good enough as you are. People, that's how we must worship and think of our God. I'm so thankful that you're healer. I'm so thankful you're the giver of gifts. I'm so thankful that you're gracious when I'm a really, really ardent sinner. But you know what I'm most thankful? I'm thankful that you're holy. I love you for who you are. I came to you because you're God and I'm not. You're big, I'm small. That's why you come to God. And I wanna show this to you in a passage that reveals the holiness of God, Isaiah 6, one to four. You can turn there if you wanna get there in time or follow along on the screen. So give it to you either way. Isaiah, a beautiful revelation of God. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne. High and lifted up, the train of his robe filled the temple, and above him stood the seraphim. That's a kind of angel. Each had six wings. With two, he covered his face. With two, he covered his feet. And with two, he flew. And one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. This vision is part of Isaiah's commissioning moment for God. He's calling him to be a prophet. Did God start out his commissioning of Isaiah with kind of a good times movie montage of all the happy things that he's gonna do? You know, was Isaiah strolling down the street in the montage in his designer clothes of the day, and you know, children were desolate and hungry, and then the movie montage shifts to another scene, and they're all eating pita bread, and he's patting them on the heads, and he's over here giving prophecies, and people are getting saved and shouting for joy. Is the kingdom being overturned, and Isaiah's the hero? No. When God reveals who he is to Isaiah, It is holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. When God gives you a revelation of who he is, it's not going to be about you. It is about him. Not about what he can do. We see his holiness. You ought to tremble at his majesty. You be humbled by his glory, that the God of the universe, who's so holy, he gave his own seraphim six wings, four of which protect them from exploding in the midst of his glory. That God condescended, loved you, poured grace upon you, saved you, so you could get over you. He's a holy God. We are to worship him as such. When God met Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 3, 5, he said, don't come near, take off your sandals. The place you're standing is holy ground. He told the same thing to Joshua in Joshua 5. When he met Paul on the road to Damascus, he blinded him, flooring him with light from heaven. When the Holy Spirit spoke to the church scattered throughout Rome through the pen of Peter, a passage we'll study eventually when we get to that text in our study of 1 Peter, he commands them, be holy, for I am holy. Do you focus on God's holiness in your worship? Do you extol Him for who He is? Are your prayers marked by adoration even more than supplication, knowing God does care about your needs, but your greatest need of all is Him? Our songs are a reflection of our hearts. What are you singing? What's coming out? I don't know about you, but how many choruses do you hear? on and on and on about us and how we feel and what I want and what I need. It drags on and on and on. Look, is anybody else sick of themselves? I am, I'm over me. I don't want anymore me. I'm not the solution. I've ruined things too many times to be convinced that I'm the solution. I need God and more of God and more of God. I want a John the Baptist heart. I want us to have a John the Baptist heart. He must increase, I must decrease. You think people really need more of them? Hey, you know, Sunday, everybody's saved, right? Everybody feels saved. And Monday, you forget the sermon. Tuesday, you're kinda, you're back to not being saved. You're like, I lost it somewhere in there. Wednesday, your marriage falls apart. You say something you shouldn't have. Thursday, you're starting to think about Sunday, your wife or husband, hey, we're going to church this weekend, no way, the roof is gonna fall on me if I go back to that place, I ain't going back, I'm not saved, God's not happy, it's been a rough week. You really think that by Sunday we need more of us? I need me in those songs. Please, worship director, pick one of those good ones that makes me feel big, no, I need God. I need him, I need his holiness, his righteousness, his grace to cover me. I am suddenly aware when I understand the holiness of God, of who he is, and what I am, and what I need, it's him. And I'm gonna rant one step further. I know I'm beating the point, because I really don't care about this topic at all. So there's zero passion in me today. There are a lot of Eros songs that we sing in the church. Do you know what Eros is? There's different forms of love in the Bible. We see different words, agape, unconditional, phileo, which would be like Philadelphia, brotherly love, right? I like you, we're brothers or sisters, we're in unity. But there's a lot of Eros love today in songs that fall, short of the holiness of God and having respect and reverence for Him. You know, lyrics that kind of fly around, like that one that was popular for a little while, you know, sloppy wet kiss or whatever they were saying in that song. There's another song, I know the author who wrote it, calling Jesus the man of her dreams. I'm like, okay, man of my dreams, he came down to earth, he died, all right, that's a dream I need to come true, because I need Jesus. But then the lyrics go on, you know, skin to skin, and it becomes Eros, like Jesus is my husband, or my boyfriend, He's not. How dare we ever demean the holy God of the universe and be fooled into thinking like the Bible says that he's just like us. He's just one of us. We must be reverent towards our God. You know, I have a pastor I once heard call the version of Jesus in these songs, boyfriend Jesus. Because it's not really the real Bible Jesus, it's his boyfriend Jesus. Because it sounds like someone took a really corny Taylor Swift song and rewrote it and made it a Christian worship song. That's not worship. Make sure that you know the difference, church, between what is not even on the radar of Christian music and what is Christian music and then what is Christian worship. Fourth, you realize who you are in light of who God is. Continuing on from that last point, you realize who you are in light of who God is. Isaiah six, verses five through seven, the continuation of what the seraphim had called out in that scene in heaven. Isaiah writes, and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, listen to Isaiah's words, woe is me, for I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Look at how a revelation of God and his holiness ignites human response. Did he grab his cell phone and try to take a video and throw it up on YouTube? Did he get really excited about something? No, he's brought so low, he did not dare arrogantly make worship or the scene about himself. He simply said, I am not good enough. You are. That's where worship begins. Have you come to the end of yourself? Spirit led worship doesn't lead you to glorify in who you are. John 16, the final portion of the job description Jesus gives in verse 14 says about the Holy Spirit, he will glorify me. And Jesus is talking about himself. The Holy Spirit exists to put the spotlight on Christ, not on you. And so, that should impact the way that we worship. David had this down. from one minute extolling God and his majesty, another dancing in the street so excited, and then he blows it and sins with Bathsheba, and Psalm 51, a beautiful chapter you ought to read in your devotional time later. It is this outpouring of his heart where he says, create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Notice the only thing about him is, I blew it, I sinned, oh, I need you, please rescue me, oh, solution, oh, savior and redeemer. As I am a sinner, you are savior. And then I will teach transgressors your ways. I'll use my story for your glory, he's saying. Deliver me, oh, back to reality, from blood guiltiness, oh, God, of my salvation. And when you do that, my tongue is gonna sing aloud of your righteousness. For you will not delight in sacrifice. Listen to David. You don't care about what I can bring you. I could build you an altar as high as the heavens. You're not interested, God. What do you want, Lord? The sacrifices of a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh God, you will not despise. Do you focus on the grace of God having not ever confessed your sin to God? Do you like all the songs that are about how he saved you, but you've never admitted that you're the sinner who needs saving? Have you been awestruck yet at who he is and who you are? A great missionary once said, you will spill out what you're filled with. So what are you filled with? What's coming out when you sing? What's coming out when you think of who God is? I wanna finish today with the fifth and final surprise point. It's not in your notes. Think on this. It's not gonna be on the screen. But you can write this down. Here's where it all boils down. If you took one thing home today and into your week, here's what I want you to remember. Fifth. The final mark of spirit-led worship is that you see worship as a lifestyle, not an event. As a lifestyle, not an event. Paul appeals to the church in Romans 12, one and two, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual service of worship. Don't be conformed to this world, be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect. When you look at those two verses, you know what you can come to the conclusion about is that worship is more than singing. It's a lifestyle. Worship is giving, serving, fellowshipping, praying, preaching, observing, teaching, sharing, and more. And where do all of those public expressions begin? With private devotion with a holy God. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you surrendered to the Holy Spirit? Are you asking Him to fill you, to empower you, to live not for yourself, but for Christ? A church, the Holy Spirit has not indwelt and empowered you so you can come in, sing a 20-song little set list, or 20-minute song set list, and then put up with kind of a TED Talk, and we give you what you like, and then you go on out and figure it out the rest of the week. That's not what he's called you to. He's called you to be a beacon of light in a dark world. He's called you to something so much greater than yourself and so much greater than emotionalism or the equally as dangerous rationalism. He's called you to a balanced life full of passion, spirit, and truth standing on His word. So will you live that way? Will you worship that way? Will you accept the call and really the challenge to strive in Christ each and every day for His glory? That is a life led by the spirit. That is worship led by the spirit.