>> All right, good morning. Hope you guys are staying safe and healthy. We have a few announcements before we get started. We have an announcement from our sisters ministry, so Grace is going to come up and give the announcement first. >> Good morning, everyone. Starting mid-February, we're going to be starting an intentional sisters fellowship, so it's ISF.

This is an opportunity for BAM and family ministry sisters. We'll be reading through Choosing Gratitude, Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Lee DeMoss. And our prayer is that through reading this book, we can find true happiness based on growing a heart of humble thankfulness and joy provided by the freedom that we have in Christ.

Because in our Savior, our joy is truly full. And this will be a biweekly commitment taking place in person. We have two options. One is on Friday mornings from 9.30 to 11.30. And then the second option is for Monday evenings. And that time will be determined by each small group.

And if you could sign up, the deadline is by Sunday, February 6th. Thank you. >> Okay, so as you guys know, our First Peter Bible study is starting this week. And so the home groups and the small groups have been set. So if you have not gotten an email from the home group leads, you probably should have.

So please contact us if you didn't. And then we'll make sure that if you weren't added, that we add you to the appropriate place. And so it's starting this Wednesday for the Wednesday group and all the home groups. And I think you probably got an email to tell you when that's starting and what time.

Okay? Members meeting today at 2.30. So that gives you enough time to go get lunch and then come back. And because it is the beginning of the year, there's quite a few things that we need to cover today. And then if you are not able to make it, and obviously today is unique because there's a lot of people who are going to be online.

And so usually we don't do the live streaming, but today for some of the people who are not able to come, but we do have a covenant renewal because this is our first of the year. And those of you who are members of the church, we have a covenant renewal signing every year.

So if you didn't get a chance to do that, please do so. If you can't do it today because you're at church, and to make sure that you do that earlier part of this week, hopefully today if possible, and to fill that out, whatever you got from that sheet, as accurately as possible.

You don't need to write a dissertation, but just kind of explaining the covenants and where you are with that, with the ten covenants. And then that helps us to evaluate what's going on at church and how to focus on certain things and strengthening certain things. So if you haven't been able to do that, please do so.

Okay? And again, the meeting is going to start 2.30 sharp. Spiritual development courses, again, I'm not going to go over that, but if you want to, that's going to start in February. Also, one last thing is in February 5th, from 1 to 2, there's going to be an evangelism outing.

So they're doing it once a month, it seems like at the beginning of the month. And one's in Brenner Park at the Source Mall, and the other one's at Irvine Spectrum. And again, I want to encourage you, if you haven't done this before or you're not in the habit of doing that, sharing your faith, this is a great opportunity to exercise your muscles, your spiritual muscles of sharing the gospel.

And so if you're intimidated by going out and talking to strangers, I'm sure they'll connect you with other people who are-- and you can come there and kind of learn how to do that, or at least just be there and listen to the conversation if that's where you are.

So we encourage you to come and sign up for that if you are available at that time. Let me pray for us, and then we'll give you an opportunity to give the offering. For those of you who are new to the church, you have a physical offering. We have a physical offering box underneath that big clock over there.

Okay? Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we want to praise you and thank you for your goodness in our lives, that in the midst of all the stuff that's going on around us, help us truly be anchored in Christ, that our peace, Lord God, would not simply be based upon just wishful thinking, but that our faith may be exercised in the midst of all of these things, Lord God, that you truly would be our refuge.

We pray that this morning that whatever it is that we've been entangled with, help us, Lord God, to focus our attention on you, to praise and worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray for the offering that we give to you. Help us to give it to you with a cheerful heart.

It may be multiplied for your use. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's all rise as we sing these praises. Amen. You may be seated. If you could turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 13. We're going to be looking at verse 15 and 16. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15 and 16.

Reading out of the NASB. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Let's pray. Heavy Father we pray that you would bless this time, and that we would not turn from your word to the left or to the right, that we would neither add nor subtract from your word, that you would send it Lord God to soften, encourage, rebuke, and strengthen the hearts of men and women Lord God who have come to hear, asking for your grace in Jesus name we pray, amen.

If you grew up in a Presbyterian church, and they taught you the Westminster Catechism, you'll probably already know that the very first and the most important part of the Catechism, begins by this question, what is the chief end of man? Chief end of man. So this is the first thing that you learn in the Catechism when they ask you, what is your purpose in other words?

What is the most important thing that God desires of us that we should be pursuing? And the answer to that question in the Catechism is, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. His chief end. Not to say that that's the only end, but it's the most important thing that we are to pursue.

Now, basically this is the summary of everything that we're trying to do. Whether you're a Presbyterian or not, the Catechism basically summarizes for us what is important. Why are we saved? Why are we here? Why do we study the Bible? Why do we pray? Why did Christ suffer? What is the point of eternity?

All of it is summarized in that statement. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. It's to praise him, to magnify him, to worship him. C.S. Lewis, on this reflection of praise, where he kind of shares how he was really hung up on this idea of how, you know, in every other instance where we are told to humble ourselves, Jesus says that he who is the greatest in the kingdom of God is the one who is served, who is the least.

If you want to live, you have to learn to die. And yet when it comes to God, he says to glorify him, magnify him, to worship him and worship no other. And so he kind of, he had a difficult time understanding this. And this is the reflection that he found on this subject.

C.S. Lewis says on a reflection on Psalms praising God, it says, "The most obvious fact about praise, whether of God or anything, strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise, lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside players, praising their favorite game, and etc." And so the point that he's trying to make is when we see it from our perspective is like, "Oh, God wants to praise.

He wants to be honored. He wants to be put on a pedestal." But in reality, what God is basically saying, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever," is that our appreciation, our restoration of this relationship would lead to an abundance of joy that leads to praise.

And that's exactly what Jesus says. When he says in John 10:10 that, "I have come to give life and to give this life abundantly," that life there isn't bios, isn't just eternity, because according to Scripture, everyone has eternity. Whether you have eternity in heaven, whether you have eternity in hell, the Bible says everyone has eternity.

He didn't come so that we would have eternity. He says he came so that we may have zoe, to be alive. And again, whenever you think of being alive, you're talking about joy. You're talking about praise. And so Jesus says that he came to give us this joy, this life.

John 4:23, when Jesus is interacting with the Samaritan woman, Jesus summarizes their conversation, and he says, "There's going to come a time whether you worship in this mountain or that mountain, it's not going to matter." What he's looking for, what he's searching for, are people who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

So true worshipers are what he is seeking. The whole point of salvation is because we lost the ability to worship when we rebelled against God. The Bible described it as us falling short of God's glory. So the whole point of salvation is to restore us so that we may reflect that glory again, to be true worshipers.

So discipleship is to make worshipers of God. Discipleship isn't simply going out, sharing the gospel, and people who didn't go to church to come to church. It's not people who didn't read the Bible to read the Bible. If you didn't pray, for you to pray. The whole purpose of salvation is to get people who couldn't worship God to be worshipers of God.

You can have people who are very diligent, very disciplined, very active in pursuing holiness and not be in worship of God. The Bible makes it very clear. That is his primary passion. That is his primary pursuit. And that's the primary thing that he is looking for in us. Are we true worshipers?

The text that we're looking at this morning in verse 15 and 16, there are four things that I want to highlight about true worship that he seeks. The first thing is worship is what Jesus came to restore. Worship, first and foremost, is what he came to restore. When we think of salvation, sometimes we think of salvation as not dying, not going to hell.

And then so we imagine what heaven would be like, but the primary thing that Jesus says is that he came to restore proper worship. In 1 Peter 2 verse 9, it says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that the reason why Jesus did everything that he did is so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Everything that he's done for us, everything he's given us, the reason why we belong to him is to make us worshipers of him again.

Whole reason why you and I have been created was to bear his image, to reflect his glory, to praise and worship him. But because of our rebellion, because of our sin, he said we've fallen short of that glory. So the whole reason why Jesus came, and that's why he says, "Through him give praise." That was the whole purpose of the book of Hebrews.

For 13 chapters we've been talking about the excellencies of Christ, supremacy of Christ over everything, and to don't take your eyes off of who Jesus is. But the point of that is not simply to save us from judgment. The point of it is to restore us into proper worship.

Isaiah 43 verse 19, it says, "The people whom I formed for myself will declare my praise." Over and over again, God says in deliverance of Israel, in bondage, they're in anguish and they're crying out to God. And God raises up Moses and he sends Moses to Pharaoh, and he says this repeatedly over and over again, "The reason why I am sending you, the reason why I'm demanding, why Yahweh is demanding Pharaoh to let my people go," he says, "is so that they may worship me." And he repeats that same phrase over and over again through Moses.

Exodus 7, 16, 8, 1, verse 20, chapter 9, verse 1, 13, chapter 10, verse 3, verse 7, chapter 28, verse 41, chapter 29, verse 1, over and over again, the same phrase, "Let my people go so that they may worship me." He didn't say, "Let my people go because they've suffered enough." Because if you remember, once they got delivered and they were in the desert, they experienced hunger that they didn't experience in Egypt, even though they had a hard life, and they started grumbling and complaining.

Oh, when we were there, at least we didn't have to worry about that. Even though our life was hard, we didn't have to worry about the people trying to kill us, these enemies. And when they got thirsty, they said, "Oh, yeah, we never ran out of water over there." See, but God never said to them, "Let my people go so that they can drink.

Let my people go so that they can eat." He said, "Let my people go so that they may worship me." So the primary reason why Israel was established and why Israel was delivered and chosen was for the same reason why you and I have been chosen, is so that we may worship Him.

In fact, in every scene that we see in the Bible where we see the throne of God, what you and I are going to see when we die and are in heaven, is described in this way. Isaiah 6, 2, 3. Isaiah sees the throne of God and says, "Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings, with two He covered their face, and with two He covered His feet, and with two He flew.

And one called out to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.'" They were worshiping Him. That was the scene that they saw. In fact, every scene that we see of heaven, it's a scene of worship. Revelation 7-11.

"And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders of the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God." Now, it was not forced. It was spontaneous. Because when they were in the presence of God's glory, the natural response was they broke out in worship.

The first response was fear and terror. But the second response from fear and terror is to worship God. See, when we are separated from God's glory, what you and I are not able to do is to worship God. But because Jesus took away the barrier and He covered us with His blood, now we are able to be in the presence of this God and to see His glory and break out in worship.

So the whole thing that He says, "Through Him." The reason why Jesus did what He did was that through Him we could praise Him. Because praise is where we find our life, where we find the greatest joy. We end up worshiping whatever brings the greatest joy in our life.

And it's not a burden. We look forward to it because that brings true life. So the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is what he worships. I think some of you know that I'm not a fan of Disneyland. I don't know if I made that very clear. Let me make that very clear.

So I'm not saying objectively that no one can go, that this is a place of sins, purgatory. I'm not saying that. It's like that for you. But it's like that for me. So when I think of Disneyland, I don't have happy thoughts. Endorphins don't kick in. I think of expensive churros, hot sun.

I think of teenagers getting out of line, three-hour lines to ride a 15-second roller coaster. That's what I think of. And then you have to pay, what, $800 to get in now? So when I think of Disneyland, those aren't happy thoughts. That's something that you do to please somebody else.

But I know some of you guys don't feel that way. You guys go there, you spend your money, you spend all day hurting yourself in the sun, emptying your pockets, eating $15 churros, and then you come out and then you calculate, "When can I go again?" I don't understand that because it doesn't bring joy.

The thought of it gets me tired. But some of you fantasize about, "When's the next time I can go?" Because that place brings happiness to you, right? And you're willing to sacrifice, whatever it is that you're willing to go there, because it's a place that brings Zoe to you to some degree.

See, the Bible says that true life is found in Christ. Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." Through him, we're able to be restored into true life, where we find true joy. And when that joy is restored, we have true worship.

And so that's what he means by he is pursuing people to restore them back into the purpose in which God created us. See, the greatest benefit of our salvation is the new life that he has given us, so we're not tripped up in these trivial things. And that's our primary struggle, isn't it?

That sometimes we forget what it is that we have in Christ. And because we forget what it is that we have in Christ, we let trivial things become the source of our joy. And when that seems to be threatened, we get anxious, and we worry, and we compromise in order to have that.

But the whole purpose of our salvation is to open the gate so that we can get to the God that gives us true life. That's what he means, the whole purpose of all of Hebrews. In fact, the whole purpose of the whole Bible is to open the gate and to come in so that we can experience this life.

So worship is exactly what Jesus came to give us, restore to us. Number two, worship is not circumstantial, but it's continual. That's what it says in verse 15, "Let us continually offer up sacrifices of praise to God." "That is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name." You know, in the Old Testament, God had major sacrifices in the book of Leviticus.

You had the whole offering, you had the sin offering, peace offering, the guilt offering, the grain offering. And so these are all offerings that God commanded the nation of Israel. You cannot approach God without the whole offering, the burnt offering, because that offering represented atonement. Every time they approached God, they were reminded, "You are seasoned to be atoned for." And all of this to point to the true atonement that was coming in Christ.

But it was mandated. And then there were offerings that were freewill offerings. When things are happening, you're thankful to God and out of free gift. It was not mandated, but whenever certain things happened, maybe you had a great harvest or God answered prayer for whatever the reason, you would voluntarily give your offering and thank offering was part of that.

So whenever they were overflowing in thankfulness, they would bring that to God voluntarily. But the thing is here, it's commanded. What was voluntary then, he said, it's commanded. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18, he says, "Rejoice always." How can he command us to rejoice always? Does he not know that sometimes there's suffering in our lives?

Does he not know that I don't have a job and I don't know where the next paycheck is coming from? Does he not know the relational problems that I'm having with my wife or husband or my children? How can he tell us to rejoice always? It almost seems like God's indifferent.

Like he doesn't know our suffering. How can that be commanded? Offer up, he says, to pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks. In everything. He doesn't qualify when you feel thankful. When things are going well, he says, in everything. Now, Apostle Paul is writing this church where people were being beaten for their faith.

He actually had to get out of this city. I mean, you remember Apostle Paul? You remember who he is? This is a guy who is in Lystra. He gets stoned, dragged out of the city. And then the only reason why they didn't kill him is because they thought he already died.

This is a guy who was not afraid to die. He gets back up, gets back into Lystra and preaches the gospel. People are praying and prophets are telling him, "Don't go to Jerusalem because they're going to capture you there and you're going to be in prison." He says, "Not only am I willing to go to prison, I'm willing to die." So this is not a coward.

Thessalonica is almost the only city that we know where Apostle Paul hurries up, packs up his bags and he leaves. And the reason why he leaves is because persecution was so intense. And it wasn't for himself. He was concerned for the Christians who converted there. To protect them, he leaves.

That's how intense the persecution was here. And the whole reason why this letter was written is because he was concerned after he left that they would have destroyed them. That's the background behind 1 Thessalonians. And it is that letter, within that letter he says to rejoice always. To pray without ceasing.

In everything give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Think about all the things that we wrestle with about God's will. Is it God's will for me to marry this guy or this girl? Is it God's will for me to go to this school or that school?

Is it God's will for me to have this business or that business? And we're always seeking the Lord's will. We seek counseling. We read books. We hear sermons. What is the Lord's will? Well, God didn't spell that out. He didn't spell out that these people are to be engineers, these people are to be businessmen, these people are to do this.

He doesn't spell that out. He gives us the choice. Make a wise choice that honors and glorifies God. But here he says this is God's will. And he makes it crystal clear. What is God's will? Our praise. Our rejoicing. Our thanksgiving. Constantly. Because it's not based on circumstance. In Philippians chapter 4, 6 it says be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication.

With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. This is the go-to text whenever we're anxious. Whenever we get stuck, whenever we have problems, it's like be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So if you've memorized this verse, you probably repeat that, meditate on this constantly. But you notice here where thanksgiving is mentioned? Is it before or after you pray? Because typically we would think thanksgiving happens as a result of answered prayer. Be anxious for nothing, right? With everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God.

And when God gives you the peace, make sure you give him thanks. He doesn't say that. He says approach him with what? Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is before the prayer is answered. So our thanksgiving is not contingent upon answered prayer. He says to have the right heart to come before God with thanksgiving in your heart.

So clearly thanksgiving is not circumstantial. Thanksgiving is not dependent upon what's happening around us. Luke chapter 10, 17 to 20, when he is sending out the 70 disciples and Jesus says this to them. The 70 returned with joy and saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." And he said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you." Let me stop right there. Wouldn't you break out into praise if demons were subjected to you? If given power, you can go out, get bit by scorpions, they're not going to hurt you.

What? But he qualifies that and said, "You're going to see powerful things. You're going to have power over these demonic, you're going to cast them out. You're going to see miracles." But he qualifies this and said, "Nevertheless," verse 20, "do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." It's not circumstantial.

Despite all of that, rejoicing in everything, praising in everything, because our peace, our joy, our praise is not based upon answered prayer in our circumstance. Happiness is not having what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have. It was on some clock in my house. I didn't quote the Bible.

I think it's biblical, though. Happiness is not wanting what you have, but having what you want. See, as Christians, he said, "Our joy and our praise does not change because of circumstance." Because the Bible says that everything that we need for a life of godliness has been given to us in the knowledge of his son, Jesus Christ.

So the peace that he gave us, he said, is a peace that the world cannot give you. And it's a peace that the world cannot take from you. So therefore, our rejoicing, our thanksgiving is based upon our eternal security that we have in him. He says, "Don't rejoice because of the temporary things that you see.

Rejoice that your name is written in heaven in eternity." So whether good or bad, when we have faith in God, we always have reason to praise. We always have reason to be thankful. You know, after the sermon, we're going to sing this song, "Blessed Be Your Name." You guys probably know this song, but the song goes like this, "Blessed be your name in the land that is plentiful.

When your streams of abundance flow, blessed be your name." That first line isn't uniquely Christian. Even rappers who have vile lyrics, when they come and get their award, they say, "Thank the Lord." When people win lottery, even atheists thank God. Movie stars, thank God for this blessing. That's not uniquely Christian.

What's uniquely Christian is the second verse. "Blessed be your name when I am found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness. Blessed be your name." Verse 4, "Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering. There's pain in the offering. Blessed be your name." Sometimes having a lot of things become a hindrance to true joy.

True joy, we believe and we know that it's found in Christ. There's a reason why Jesus said it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. It's easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle. Because of the distraction, because of the temptation. Because we naturally think that if I had that, if my circumstance changed, if my relationship, if something changed, if my health was better, it would be so much better.

I'd be so much happier. And that becomes a distraction to really seeing the true joy that we have in Christ. I remember when I was back in college, I had this janitorial job and I would work from 5 to 1.30, 2 in the morning. And I remember one day I was coming out and I was driving home near Biola.

This is where it happened. And I was driving home and I ran through a red light. It was 2 in the morning, I was just tired. And there were three cars on the road, 2 in the morning. My car, the car I hit, and the cop behind her. And so we're there exchanging phone numbers and all this stuff.

And I did have insurance through my parents. But I was 19 years old. So they weren't satisfied with whatever settlement that they got. And so they started coming after my parents, but they realized that I wasn't 18, I was 19. So they couldn't go after them. So they started coming after me.

For three years. And every few months I would get a letter from the lawyer. You know, this is what's going on, this is what's happening. And then at the end they sent me a final letter saying that the court demands that you list all your assets. Because they're trying to sue me.

Well, I had $50 in the bank account. And then I remember having this conversation with my roommates, because they were all about 10 to 11 years older than I was. And I was asking them for advice. Because the only thing I have is the $50 in my bank account.

And I had this guitar that I was given as a gift. And my guess is it was worth about $100. It's like, do I need to put this on here? And they said, I don't know. So I put guitar and $50. And I mailed it, put a stamp on it, and I sent it back.

And then the next letter that I got basically in summary in modern translation was forget it. It's not worth it. She probably regretted it for three years of pursuing me. I think she was waiting for me to graduate college and make some money. And she didn't realize where I was.

I share this story because it was so satisfying to not worry about losing anything. In fact, right around that time, I was driving a Hyundai XL. It didn't belong to me. It belonged to my parents. And I was driving it, and I was coming out of this parking lot.

And you know one of those light poles in the parking lot? And it had a huge cement block to hold it? So if you're too close to it, you don't see the cement block. So I was there, and I was driving out of the parking lot, and I didn't even see it.

So I was revving to get out, and I smashed my car into that. And it wasn't a slight dent. It was in the middle of the car, and I hit it hard. And oh my gosh, what was that? I came out, and the car was dented in, and I couldn't even drive it because the whole frame got bent in the middle.

So I had to call the tow truck, took it to the garage, and they said, "Man, what did you do?" It's like a bad accident. I said, "What happened?" I hit a pole. Like by yourself? Yeah, by myself, I hit the pole. So basically they said, "In order to fix this, we need to get a machine and pull the body back out and get it in the frame." This is Hyundai Accel, brand new.

It was probably like $4,500. And they were saying it's going to cost $2,000, $3,000 to fix all this. So basically the car got jumped. And I remember coming home from that, my roommates picking me up, thinking like, "Man, now I really have nothing." Right? "What am I going to do?

How am I going to get by? I don't have a car." And so that was my first thought of anxiousness, of what am I going to do. And then, weirdly, there was a sense of peace. Like now I have nothing holding me back. I literally have nothing in my name.

And for some reason, initially it brought anxiousness, but I was happy. People would think I'm crazy that I'm thinking that, but I just remember, and even I couldn't understand it. Like, "Why are you happy?" Because I had nothing. I mean, the thought of having nothing was very freeing. I share this story because I remember at that time thinking that all the pursuits that we give so much attention to is such a great hindrance, oftentimes.

And we pursue it because we think that that's going to make us happy. That if we have that, a bigger house, a nicer car, a better job, better retirement, and we pursue that because we think that if we had that, if we visited this, if we ate that, that that's going to cause happiness.

But the very thing that we think is going to cause happiness is a source of frustration in our life. And so I remember at that moment just having nothing, just being free. And I could literally come before God and say, "Here am I. Send me." I could have an earthquake hit and have the house burn down, and all I have to do is pick up my sleeping bag and go somewhere else.

And that thought just was freeing. See, our joy and our praise is not based on circumstance. It's not based on friendship. It's not based upon community or health, but what we have that the world cannot take away. Thirdly, worship involves more than what we do on Sunday. In Hebrews 13, verse 16, it says, "Do not neglect doing good and sharing." So worship is more than just singing.

Worship is more than just putting in our time. But our actual act itself is an act of worship. The word "litruo" in our Bibles are translated oftentimes as "worship." There's three prominent words in the Greek that's translated "worship." The first word is "proskeneo." "Proskeneo" is to be prostrated before God, to be bent over in worship.

So most of the time you see the word "worship" in the New Testament, it's that word "proskeneo." The second word is "sabomai." "Sabomai" means a sense of reverence and respect. So it's what's happening internally. The third word is "litruo." "Litruo" oftentimes in your Bible is translated "serve." And sometimes in your translation it'll be translated as "worship," and that's exactly what that word means.

"Litruo" means the actual physical act of carrying out something as an act of worship. So sometimes that word is described when priests are in the temple, at least in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where they are performing these acts as an act of worship. Sometimes in the New Testament it's translated as an act of giving, serving, living in obedience.

In Romans 12, verse 1, it says, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of litruo." Spiritual service of litruo. So worship is not simply just what we do here, singing, listening, attending.

Everything we do can be an act of worship. I think the struggle that we get into is when we are doing things simply out of obligation, Jesus and God becomes a taskmaster because we want to be serious Christians. We want to be good Christians. And so what do good Christians do?

They read their Bible. They pray. They give. They serve. But you ever notice that the people who are the most bitter and angry after a while are the people at one point who used to serve the most? At one point in their lives? They gave. They served. They sacrificed.

They made disciples. They prayed. And at the end of that, it turns into bitterness. Like, how come nobody is helping me? And they don't -- they didn't get the praise or whatever it was that they were looking for. They didn't get it. And then they become bitter and angry.

So the people who served the most, gave the most, end up becoming the most antagonistic for the very thing that they pursued. What God wants is not simply our service. What God wants from us is worship. And so when we do things out of worship, it produces greater joy.

Just like Disneyland. And I think of that. If I go to Disneyland, right, because somebody made me, that's torture. Right? That's eight hours. And I paid for this. Standing in the sun, my knees swelling up, surrounded by kids cursing. I mean, I could give you a list in my head.

And at the end of that, I don't come out singing and dancing. I come out, never again. And somebody, can you do it again? Oh, my God, again? I got to do this again? See, that's religion. That's when somebody is trying so hard to appease a taskmaster and realizing that you can't ever really appease him.

And so you're constantly living and serving out of guilt, out of accountability, in order to belong. So the reward isn't Christ. Reward is belonging here. Reward is praise from other people. But eventually, it's not enough. And that's exactly what was happening with Mary. It wasn't that she was serving, but the serving led to grumbling.

I mean, Marys are great. Marys are the ones who keep the church going. Marys are the ones who are staying late and show up early to clean up the church. But the problem with Mary wasn't that she was serving, but that her serving led to the grumbling. Sorry, Martha.

I used the wrong name. Mary is the good one. You guys are all staring at me like, "Were you in the same Bible?" I meant Martha, Martha. Even in our worship, even in our service, God wants us to do it out of act of worship. You notice when new Christians come in and they're just happy to be here?

They're happy to come to church. They're happy to sing. They're happy to serve. And at the end of all their service, they ask, "Oh, anything else that you need?" Versus people who have been weighed down by sacrifice. They've been working so hard, sacrificing so much more than anybody else.

Their constant state is grumbling. Worship is not taking place. The call for Christians is to make other worshipers. Not people who are more disciplined, not people who simply read the Bible more, more organized, and work harder, and sacrifice more, and love people that you can't love, and I'm going to be a really good Christian.

No, what he is pursuing are other worshipers. In Psalm 23, verse 5, it says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows." You ever put too much coffee or whatever in your cup, you know what I mean, and it's too hot and you can't drink it, so you got to move it from wherever it is to another place?

What usually happens? It overflows, right? And if somebody else has that, you don't want to be near them because you know you're going to get splashed. So you kind of walk gingerly, try to keep it in the cup, but it always ends up overflowing, right? That's how our praise is described.

It overflows. My cup overflows. You know the best way to evangelize is to have our cup overflow, to have our cup overflow. Who would want to hear the gospel from somebody who's like, "Hey, you could be a Christian too, so you can come to church and sacrifice and get up early in the morning and serve people you don't want to serve.

Love people that you hate, but then come to church and love them anyway." Do you want Christ? Who would want to join that? That's not what he called us to do. He said, "We've fallen short of the glory of the gospel of Jesus, glory of God." And then he says that, "The God of the saints has blinded the mind of the unbelievers so that they do not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ." So the whole point of the preaching of the gospel is that through what Christ has done, through the preaching, through the sharing of the gospel, that their eyes may see what?

Their sin? Yes. But why do they need to see their sin? So that they can be cleansed of their sin, so that what? They can see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, so they can see his glory. So if all the gospel is, is God's going to get rid of your sin.

That's not attractive. Yeah, we're not going to go to hell, but that's not the point of salvation. The point of salvation is to come to Christ. That you too may be able to see the glory of who he is. That you too may worship. And so the best way to make disciples of other people worshiping is to have our cup overflow.

When our cup overflows, other people will catch that. Evangelism has to come as an overflowing of our heart of who God is. That this is not something that we do because you're supposed to do it. Like miserable people trying to make other miserable people. No. He said he came to give life and to give this life abundantly.

The joy that he gave me, the worship, praise, peace that he gave me, that you also can have. Fourth and finally, worship pleases God. In our generation, I've been hearing through the grapevine, through articles and different people saying that in order to bring more people to church and ease whatever guilt and shame that people may have, I've been hearing, it's like there's no way you can please God.

Only Jesus can please God. So there's nothing you do. So you don't need to feel guilty because God loves you just the way you are. But the problem with that is that may apply in justification, but when it comes to sanctification, the scripture is very clear. God can be pleased and frustrated with us.

Have you not read about the letters that is written in the book of Revelation? It's filled with things that God is pleased with, things that God is not pleased with. So yes, we can displease God, grieve the Holy Spirit, and we can also please God. Here it says our worship, a life of worship, pleases God.

It pleases Him. In Hebrews 12, verse 2, it says, "Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross." Now what joy was He pursuing? What joy was worth His sacrifice and His suffering? His glory? Well, He said He gave up glory.

Even though in every way He was equal with God, considering equality with God something not to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, became nothing. So what is it that He was pursuing? What is it that He had after the cross that He didn't have before the cross, and it was that joy that He was pursuing?

Me and you. Me and you. Our worship was the joy that He was pursuing. Our worship, our joy, our life is what He was pursuing. That's why it says, "He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." He sacrificed Himself in order to pursue His joy, so that you and I may have this joy.

Spurgeon says this about this subject. "Dear brothers and sisters, be sure that you do not lose your joy. If you ever lose the joy of religion, you will lose the power of religion." Let me say that again. "If you ever lose the joy of religion, you will lose the power of religion.

Do not be satisfied to be a miserable believer. An unhappy believer is a poor creature, but he who is resigned to being so is in dangerous condition. Depend upon it. Greater importance attaches to holy happiness than most people think. As you are happy in the Lord, you will be able to praise His name.

Rejoice in the Lord, that you may praise Him." You notice here rejoicing and praise are intertwined? When we are rejoicing, when we recognize what it is that we have in Christ, that leads into genuine praise. John 17, 13, Jesus says, "But now I have come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have My joy made full in themselves." He wanted us to have the joy that He has because of where He is.

He wanted us to bring us to Him so that we may experience that joy. Isaiah 62, verse 5, it says, "For as young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you." Our God rejoices over us.

So many people live their lives thinking He's a taskmaster, watching to see if we're going to do the right thing. And yet the way that He describes our relationship is He rejoices over us. It gives Him joy. He pursued the cross and the shame, ultimately to pursue joy, to see us come and rejoicing and experience this life that He wants us to have.

So the primary thing that He's looking for, the primary thing that He rejoices over is our praise, our worship. If you've ever loved something so much that their happiness brings the greatest joy to you, you know exactly what we're talking about. If you're a parent and you raise children, you know what we're talking about.

You don't have to be a parent. If you love your wife or your husband, just seeing them happy makes you happy. Parents, or maybe your friends, maybe a co-worker, or maybe you're leading Bible study and you've committed yourself to certain people, just seeing the joy that you brought to them gives you the greatest joy.

Let me wrap up in this. I started with Disneyland, so let me end with Disneyland. I don't know if I made it clear. I'm not a fan of Disneyland. But I do have one very fond memory of Disneyland. And I'm going to mention my nephew, Nathan. This was before all the rest of us had kids.

And so Nathan was--I forget how old he was, but he was enough where he could run, but he wasn't able to articulate. But I remember we all decided to go to Disneyland. And obviously I'm not a fan of Disneyland. But we went because of Nathan. Actually, all of us went.

And so if you remember--if you know where Disneyland is, if you go into the gate, there's that outer part before you go to the tunnel where you suffer afterwards, you go into that tunnel, right? But before the suffering happens, there's that one little place where they have the flowers, you take the pictures, and they have a shop there.

So we all got there, and we're all waiting for people to come. And then so we get into that place, and we're all standing on the side, and I'm gearing up for a long day of suffering. Well, Nathan kind of comes in. He pops out of his chair, and he just started running back and forth, just happy to be in Disneyland because he realized where he was, and once he realized that, he just like, "Ahh!" And literally, I mean, he was just back and forth.

I can't imagine another human being being that happy about anything, right? More happy than if your favorite team won the championship. I mean, at that age, I mean, he was just, "Yeah!" He was back and forth, back and forth. And I remember all of us just kind of like gearing up for this long day.

All of us was filled with laughter. Just see him so happy that he was there. So that whole day was saved just from that. Endorphins kicked in, and it wasn't because I was looking forward to what was in there. It was seeing that just pure joy from that child at that age.

All of a sudden, without a single word being spoken, I was worth that day. I share that with you because that's how the Bible describes our salvation. That we've tasted the goodness of God, and we're eagerly waiting to get into that gate. That once we get in, that any bit of joy and happiness and praise and thanksgiving that we may have experienced here, the Bible says we've only experienced it in part.

We're like children. We kind of imagine, but when Christ comes in his glory, we will be glorified with him, and we will be in eternity celebrating and praising forever. That's salvation. That's why Christ came. That's why we worship. That's why we pray. That's why we study the Bible. So as we focus this year in saying hope and pray, that prayer does not become another task, another discipline, but it was an avenue for us to express our thanksgiving to him, to commune with the only being that can give us that peace and joy.

And all the distractions of our lives, that we would learn to see it as it really is, temporary, to focus our eyes upon Christ, author and perfecter of our faith. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for loving us. We thank you for saving us. I pray that our testimony would be the same, that our cups truly would overflow, that you would sanctify us, that we would learn more and more each week what it means to be worshipers who worship you in spirit and in truth.

Help us, Lord God, to know this joy, that it may overflow in thanksgiving and praise. May Christ's name be exalted. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Why don't we all stand up for the closing praise. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. The land that is plentiful. Where streams of abundance flow.

Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. When I'm found in the desert place. Though I walk through the wilderness. Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be your name. When the sun's shining down on me. When the world's all as it should be. Blessed be your name. Blessed be your name. On the road marked with suffering. There's pain in the offering.

Blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. You give and take away.

You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, blessed be your name. Every blessing. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, blessed be your name. Let's pray. Psalm 73, 25 through 28.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you will perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you, but ask for me.

The nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. Lord, we pray that this would be our confession this week. That you would be our refuge, you would be our comfort, you would be our joy, and that we would worship you, spirit and in truth, whether here or wherever it is that we send -- you send us.

That truly, Father God, whether we eat or drink, that it may be done for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to the poor land for the poor. He lived and died. To buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to fill.

My Savior lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives. Amen. Amen.