And so we begin this winter series called Base Camp. Now what's the deal with that? Was it just so that we could show you some really beautiful, but also terrifying footage there? It was somebody in a previous service when the, you know, that guy is out there walking across the cva and it's just kinda like that and those ice boots. Somebody behind me just said, Nope. So I think most of us would feel that. So what is the deal? Well, first of all, let me just say, uh, let me, let me put it in in context for you. By the way, we've actually had people at this church who have been to base camp. They've made it that far. I was talking to someone in a previous service. You, you land in the scary airport and then it took 'em 10 days to hike up there. But you get there and it's over 17,000 feet in elevation. Now, just to put this in context, that's at the base. The tallest mountain mountains in the US Continental are like 14,000 plus. Okay? So this is 3000 feet above that. If you're watching us from around the world, we're talking like around 5,200 meters. So what is the deal? What are we talking about? Well, what's the punchline? Well, here it is. Um, after this series, we're gonna, we're gonna start part two of a series called Peak Experiences, where we're going to explore the high tops and the, and the high places and the mountains in the New Testament, just like we did the Old Testament back in the fall. We're going to hear some stories mostly from Jesus about how we can live this life. But did you see what we did there? Base camp Peak experiences? You see the connection there? Yeah. Yeah, you're welcome. That's what we're doing. So this is gonna actually help prepare us for that series, but I need you to know it's going to help prepare us for this new year. We're gonna learn skills that will help us and set us up for success going into this new year, because I think most of us want some changes to happen in our lives. Now, I'm not gonna go down the rabbit hole of, uh, new Year's resolutions. That's not the deal. I'm just saying it's perfectly natural for each of us to want change in our life, to want like a progress for growth to happen in our life. You can call it a longing for, for meaning, for purpose, for forgiveness. A a longing to feel useful in this life. Peace, hope in a broken world. And we still live in a broken and divided world. Amen. God, help us. Maybe it's you. You wanna get to a place where you finally know that you know, that you know that you belong to Jesus. Or maybe, maybe you made that decision a long time ago, but these days you have kind of fallen out of a rhythm, to be honest. You're kind of disconnected from what God is doing in the world. It happens. It happens to each of us. So whether you're somebody who is saying, I really do want those second chances, or you're saying, well, I, I need some practical ways to kickstart my spiritual journey. Or maybe you're just trying to figure all of this out. Or maybe, maybe you came here today at one of our locations. You're joining us online. Welcome. Or maybe you're here at Chesterfield. You're, you're in the hub and overflow at Chesterfield, or you're at Fenton, mid Rivers Grants Trail, wherever you are. You came in today, so overwhelmed, so exhausted that the idea of growing and trying something new, you're like, I don't even know where to start. Much less if it would help whoever you are. I'm really glad that you joined us. You see, now we've come to the time where we're going to open God's word. And as we always do, I'm going to pray before that for God to speak to us. So if you believe God is here with us, if you believe God hears our prayers, would you join me in that prayer? Father, we come before you now, and you are worthy of it all. Oh, we're so grateful for these times of worship. You are that good and you are that great. You are the same yesterday, today and forever. You have been faithful to generations. Why would you not be faithful to us now? Lord, we are grateful. We are grateful. And we cry out and admit that we need you. We need you. We need your help, Lord, in this world. We need your peace. We need comfort and protection and boldness and humility. God, we need your love. We wanna know wisely how to live in this world so that we can bring honor and glory to you. God, it is all you. We glorify you, Lord. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And the people of God collectively together said, amen. So if we're gonna talk about change, let me help you with this. You already are like, right now, you're changing. You are. Some of, you're like, no, I'm stuck. Nope, you're changing. If you're saying no, but I'm really stuck. Nope, you're changing. The roots might be going deeper into that. But you're, you are changing. We are all changing. Now, let me take you to what's gonna be our, our, um, it's gonna be our passage today. It's in a book called Romans. If you're new to the Bible, this is a letter the apostle Paul wrote in the first century to a church in Rome. We're gonna be in chapter 12. The first two verses. Let me show you what I mean about this idea that we are changing. Paul says, therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. Paul is saying right here, first thing is that if you're not being transformed by the renewing power of God, you are being conformed by the forces in this world that oppose God. You see, if you're not being transformed by God, you are being conformed. Now, the word there really means the picture there is you're being squeezed into a mold. Somebody is saying, no, this is the way you are supposed to live. And it happens. It happens every day. It happens all day. There are people who say things to you. There are expectations that are placed on you. There are little things that lure you into things. It's from our friends and it's family and it's neighbors. It's the people we go to school with, the people we work with. It happens in so many different ways, but it also happens in a 21st century way that we talked about, I don't know, uh, a few weeks ago. So let me just say again, the algorithms are working against you. Please understand there is something going on in the world, and every time we say, oh, I like that. Well, then you're gonna get more of that. Or, oh, I'm interested in that. Well, you're gonna get more of that. I'm just telling you your, uh, your, your dissatisfaction and your worry and your rage and your lust and your envy and your anxiety, it is all being monetized by those with deep pockets. Please understand, all they want is for you to click. Because when you click, they make more money. It feeds the beast. They don't care if it destroys your soul. Just keep clicking and the mold is set. Keep clicking and you will begin to think that, that you can ignore sexual ethics without any consequence. Keep clicking and you'll start blurring basic common sense value judgments of right and wrong. Keep reading and tolerating the ugly way people talk about each other online. And before long, you'll join in, keep clicking, and you'll believe that you're not gonna measure up, that you will never be happy, that you're never gonna be successful until you do things exactly the way so and so does online. The perfect body, the perfect diet, the perfect anti-aging strategy, the coolest wardrobe, the ultimate house. Just keep clicking. They'll give you more and you'll end up with less. Stay cynical of everyone, everyone and everything. 'cause that is the way of the world. Keep evaluating each other in such cruel ways. And the hate will start to seem normal to you. Bully and threaten or isolated and implode. They don't care. Just keep clicking. This is the pattern of the world. And I want you to be wise about how you live in this world. I believe Paul in a Holy Spirit inspired way, looked into the future, and he is saying something for us today. Don't get suckered, don't get pulled into this. Don't be a part of this. He says, do not be conformed. Do not squeeze into that mold. Now, um, there is a, there is a, uh, a New Testament scholar, uh, m Craig Barnes who says that in the Greek, that verb there is the present middle passive imperative. That cleared things up, didn't it? Yeah. It's, it's the, I'll, I'll say it again. It's the present, middle, passive, imperative, tense. Some of you're getting tense. Me even repeating it. I'm just saying this is, this is, here's what it means. He means that, that this is something that we, we allow to happen to us. See, when I say world, some of us get all ramped up and, and, and it's like, yeah, the world, the world, the world. Listen to me, listen to me. Listen to me. God so loved the world that he sends his one and only son to redeem and to rescue this world so that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but have everlasting life. So, God loves this world, but there are forces in this world that are working against us. And I'm saying, you have a choice. I'm saying, well, here's the way Barnes says it. He says, do not conform yourselves to the ways of society. Why? Because there's a better way. You see, if we choose God's way by his power, something starts to happen and we start to work out what it's like to, to live in this life following Jesus. We won't get it right every time, but we start to figure this out and we start to do this. And God, this is supernatural. But God starts to do something inside of you. And now all of a sudden you're testing his way. You're seeing if it works. You're gonna try this a little bit, and all of a sudden the will of God. You don't see it all, but you see enough to know, well, that's the next step. And maybe the one after that. And you start making progress and your spiritual journey catches traction. I'm telling you, this is what you long for. Now, let's go back to that base camp analogy. I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. His name is Pu. He is, uh, he's, well, he's pretty much the man. I don't know how to say this. I gotta be real careful because he, uh, has a ministry, uh, in the Himalayas. That, that's as much as I can say. I know you think I'm being dramatic, but I'm really not. And he asked me. Again, that's as much as I can say. We don't want to endanger him since this is going out online. That's it. If you wanna come up to me and ask me more personally, I'd be happy to talk to you. That's as much as I can say online. But he also owns a trekking company, and he's a guide in the Himalayas, and he has summited Everest several times, and he leads people up Everest. So we thought maybe the, like he's the perfect person we could talk to about base camp. So I want you to listen to my friend Pu as a, as an experienced mountaineer and really a guide who has summited Everest, and you've taken people up that mountain. Why start at base camp instead of just helicoptering to the foot of Everest and charging up the mountain? Why is base camp so important? We have to, uh, let our body adjust yourself. The base camp is the preparation for the submit. That's really a preparation in the base camp. We know who are ready and who are not really ready for the submit. We will know who needs more, uh, skills, uh, technique, some knowledge who can help them. But then, uh, they need to have some knowledge. Uh, and the skills, like, like the gears, how to use all the clamp gears, ropes, uh, harness how to also use the oxygen. Uh, otherwise, uh, the summiting the mountain is, is a, is very challenging In many ways. You're, you're training yourself at base camp to get to the peak. You're, you're, you're preparing yourself and equipping yourself. Might be a way that we, pastors would say that you're equipping yourself to get to the peak. Yes. But you have to listen to the guide who will help you with this. Someone who has some wisdom that can help you with this. You have to trust the guide. Your life is completely in the hands of the guide. What are, what are people feeling when they start the journey up Everest, As they, uh, uh, move ahead, uh, as send to the, the post, uh, camp, and then the fourth maybe five, six days, they think, or I cannot, I cannot, I cannot. It is difficult to breathe. So we tell them it's a normal. And then, uh, the second camp, they get more excited, they get more encouraged. And then, oh, okay. They think, okay, I can do now. Oh, I love that. I love that. So when we start, it's going to feel awkward and it's going to feel very different and maybe even scary. But as we begin to progress that hope and that encouragement starts to kick in, especially when somebody who's a little further along can say, no, you'll get through this. Well, I, I, I just wanna say again, thank you so much. I know it, uh, the time zones are so different and, and to join us from, from Capmandu. Uh, it's just such a blessing. But I want to give you one last word if, if, if, if you'd like it. Um, do you have any last words of encouragement as a, as a mountain guide? Who, who has been to Everest base camp more than once? Do you have any encouragement for our folks as we start this base camp series? I think it is, uh, kind of like, uh, your preparation, uh, how you are preparing your life, uh, for any destinations. It needs a preparation. And, uh, so I would like to, uh, say, uh, that, uh, focusing, uh, our eyes, uh, under Jesus, that's, that's the ultimate hope. There's no other, other, other, uh, reasons that where we can best focusing our eyes on Jesus, uh, will help us to prepare our life for the destinations. Uh, and then like how the tourists, they trust the guide. Same way. How, uh, we have to also trust Jesus because he's our ultimate guide. Amen. Just need to focus our eyes onto the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright. Yeah. There's so much work. Yeah, that's so cool. We had to cut that down. I, I just want you to remember this for a point in just a minute. When he was talking about you go up to the first camp, he, he, we didn't leave it in there, but he said, you know, it's difficult to breathe. I said, well, well talk to me about that. And he goes, well, people are convinced for the first week that they're going to die. 'cause for three days they can't sleep. 'cause they can't, their body has, there's no oxygen. But there is that guide that just says, no, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this. And I love the connection he makes to Jesus. You see, pu is saying that, that it's all about Jesus. Paul would agree with that. In fact, what Paul says that I think is so interesting here is, um, it's the first word in the passage. Therefore, now, I had a New Testament professor who once said, whenever, therefore is there, ask what the therefore is there for. 'cause it'll give you some context. So this is the beginning of what we call chapter 12, chapters one through 11. Paul is again and again and again, making the point of God's rescue operation, how he's doing this in, in chapter five, uh, he says that while we were powerless, while we were enemies of God, uh, Christ died for the ungodly in chapter six. It's not because of anything we deserve. It's the gift of God. This is what changes everything. When that begins to happen, when you actually turn to Jesus and receive this grace that Paul keeps talking about, uh, now there is no condemnation. You see, this is what we get. So I'm his, but there's even more than that. If God is for us who could be against us, that means I'm not alone. And when this starts to settle in, then I start to realize that nothing, and I mean nothing can separate me from the love that is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I'm gonna live my life differently. You see, that's the pivot there. Therefore, God did all of this for me through Jesus. Therefore, I'm gonna live my life differently. Now, you know, a a a second ago, uh, you know, I kind of went on a little rant there about, I just want you to understand how to live in the 21st century. You remember that? It was two minutes ago, people, you got it. Some of you're visiting, some of you're with somebody who invited you and you're going, does he always do that? No, no, no. But I will tell you that we're pretty passionate about the life with Jesus. You see, we get to do this. And so what I want you to do now is to settle in for just a minute. Just settle in. I want these, these words and this music to wash over you. I, I would ask if you would just to, uh, if, if there's one thing I would ask you to do, it's this, would you pay attention? Look for the pivot. Lyrically, there's a pivot in this song. You're gonna sense God. You're gonna, you're gonna want to just enjoy this. But listen for the pivot. See if you find it, okay, I'll come back. I can just Sit. I could just sit and wait for all Goodness, Hope to feel. And I could. I can. Hold on. I can hold on. I Be, I be You. Did you catch it? The pivot. I I I could enjoy all that God has done for me. I could, I could even stay inside the safety of these walls. I i could do this forever. It was one little word, but, But You've called me higher, but you've called me deeper into a different life. You see, I think that's really the, the point that Paul is making. It's the point of this base camp series. We want to celebrate what God has done for us. But he's called us to more. Now, for some of us as a, as a church, we began to sense this. Uh, for those of you at Grant's Trail, I would just say the very first people that responded to baptism registration last week were, were folks from Grants Trail Fenton. What you're partnering, you're partnering with that elementary school and, and you're, you're moving into your neighborhood that that's, that's God calling you. For those of you here at Chesterfield and at Mid River, so many new faces, uh, we're glad you're here, but God's calling you tomorrow. Maybe it is that, that genius of one course to say, Hey, this is how we do this. I don't know what it is for you, but I believe as we go through this base camp series, the Lord is going to say, now just take that next step. 'cause I want to call you a little bit higher, a little bit deeper into this. Think about that for just a second. Maybe even ask God, what, what, what is it? Lord? Is there, is there another step? Just take just that long and ask Him. I hold. I can hold on. I can be you. Have you have you, you have called. You have called me me higher. You have So good, so good. Um, if you would like to thank God for the way this team blesses you, and you'd like to express that out loud, that's okay. Thank you guys. Thank you. See, I would say to you, if you want to make progress, if you want to take that next step into a higher elevation, if you want to do that, then go back to the first verse. I'm gonna give you just one thing this week before you leave here. Just one word to work on a base camp. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true. It's coming and proper altogether. Now, worship, worship, if you wanna word a practice, a spiritual discipline to work on in base camp, it's the word worship. And as soon as I say that, some of you're like, oh boo, I don't like that. 'cause I don't sing. I don't play an instrument. You don't want to hear me sing. I don't dance. You can dance if you want. You sitting there, it was just sitting there. Uh, um, some people think it's like too emotional. It's too squishy. No, no, no. We'll come back to that in a second. But I need you to understand what worship means. It is a whole life process. It is. You like, when you look at something that is, uh, that matters more to you than anything else, like you treasure it more than anything else and you start to arrange your life around it. That's worship. You can worship anything, but that's worship. You see, sometimes when we get to a place where, where, where it gets uncomfortable talking about this, it's because, because we're not worshiping God. But if you dial it in, now, when you worship God, one author says, it's like you're turning everything your mind, your your thoughts, your, your activities. Everything now is around God. You want him to be glorified. You wanna give him the glory 'cause he's worthy of it all. But then this author goes on to say this. He says, uh, um, you can do this silently. You can do this. Dancing with joy, singing the great hymn, sitting with a friend, holding a hand, praying. I'd add, you can do this by serving others, by forgiving or laughing or sharing or crying or grieving. It's your whole life. It's a whole life proposition. That's worship. Gene Peterson puts it this way, in his paraphrase of the verse, we just read, take your everyday ordinary life. You're sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life and place it before God is an offering. That's it. You worship is God. Here is my life, and it's yours. It's an offering. My time, my talent, my friendships, my experiences, my ideas, my dreams, my gifts, my treasure, my resources, Lord, it's yours. It's all yours. That's an offering. That's worship. By the way, it gave us a chance at Christmas to give an offering together in the name of Jesus to bless others. And also, just so you know, it gave the leadership of this church a chance to offer something at a different level. You see, people will, uh, sometimes say after Christmas, they'll say, well, I'm not gonna give anything to this church. 'cause obviously they have tons of money. I mean, look how much they give away. This church doesn't need my, I'm just, you guys just keep giving it away. No, you've got it backwards. The reason God is blessing us is because we don't hang onto it. It's because we keep investing in other ministries. I'll say it one more time. We do not have a big old pile of money in the basement. First of all, y'all, just to be clear, we don't have a basement, but if we did, there's not a big old pile of money going. Yeah, you know what? We really just g clear that outta here. No, we don't give out of abundance. God has abundantly blessed us, but we give out of obedience and we get out of gratitude, and we give out of this, this, this sense that God is up to something and we want to, to join him in it. So then how, how did our Christmas offering end up? 'cause we always want to give you that, that, that kind of, that update. And so I want you to know this. Uh, some people give throughout the year, the vast majority of this happened at Christmas. We had people in our youth and in our kids' areas that were collecting their own offerings to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars. God be praised. But I want you to know this church collectively over the course of 2025. Uh, and please understand, this is so that families can have safe water so that disease gets pushed back so that little girls aren't trafficked. So that people can see a church partnering with churches around the world that are actually proclaiming the name of Jesus and pushing back darkness. What you did this past year, just so we're all clear, is $1.2 million to God be the glory. Now listen to me. It's God's glory. We're giving him the glory. And if you are a part of that, then thank you. If you invest in this church regularly, thank you. If you're curious about how things are happening and how the kingdom is advancing and how we change the world, and you wanna talk to me about that, then come on, let's talk about how you invest. If you are someone right now, who is going, I can't imagine giving anything because my finances are so upside down, Greg. Anxiety is the first word that comes to mind when I think of money. Then please, please, please hear me. I want to invite you to financial foundations. It's a class that starts February 2nd. I'll be there. I can't wait for that first session. I would ask you to join us. It's practical. It's led by experts. Uh, it's so encouraging. It's not shameful. It's so practical. If you're someone who is like, new with money, like maybe this is your first job, or maybe you, you just got married or maybe you're in the middle of your, your career or maybe you're towards the end of your career and you have just questions about what's the godly way to manage money, please join us because we want to bless you and we want you to feel that relief. But I gotta say it one more time. It's a whole life proposition. And what that means is that it like you worship God, by the way. You pay attention to each other by the way you listen to each other. By the way, you consciously choose to not interrupt someone in a conversation by the way. You say, okay, so this one, I don't have to win this argument. By the way, you love, by the way you play with your kids, by the way you pray, by the way you refuse to pass on gossip. All of these can be acts of worship. You see, it's when we arrange our whole life around God and then he starts to bless us and go, oh, oh, okay. And, and, and things start to happen. But you have to be intentional about it because the world is gonna constantly pull you away from that. Let me give you a very, uh, concrete example of that. Uh, some of you would know this, but I would just say, uh, you have 168 hours every week. Doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter who you know, everybody gets the same 168 hours. Now, we could kind of survey a little bit of, hmm, how much do you sleep each night? How much are you at school? Do you work out? Do you have to take care of things at home? How much do you work? All of those things. We can talk about all of those things. But here's the deal with your waking hours, okay, with your waking hours, I want you to lean over to somebody and tell them how many of those hours do you spend on your phone? Go ahead, tell 'em right now. Here We go. This is where it gets interesting. These last few minutes here. This is, okay, all right. Some of you know, 'cause you're on your phone and you've met, you've watched those metrics. I will just tell you conservatively, like consumer affairs survey did this, and I picked it because it's the conservative one. I saw numbers that were way north of this, okay? And it depends on your age and all of that. When I say conservative, I, I really don't want to round up on things. I really do want to give you honest answers. Like last week I told you about the folks that came at Christmas and somebody in our department who really crunches the numbers, said, no, you undershot it. It was probably over 20,000 that joined us across all campuses and everywhere for our services. So God be praised for that. But let me just say this to you, the number in a general way, 30 hours a week. Now, I'll be honest with you, most of the numbers I saw were 40 plus hours a week. Does that seem right? Remember, you gotta factor in work. You gotta factor in texts, social media videos, that endless scrolling that you do in the middle of the night, uh, games, all of those things. So then what's the point? If you spend that many 30 to 40 hours a week on your phone, are we saying just throw your phones away? Are we getting all cranky and anti-tech and everything? No, no, not at all. But we are saying we could enter into that space and do something really smart. Watch this. Uh, there, there's a, a survey and you'll hear more about this next week. Uh, but it, it said that like a hundred thousand people were surveyed. And the survey showed that if you engage the Bible, like if you actually read the Bible, just, just even a little bit, once a week, twice a week, three times a week, it's good. But when you get to four times a week, all sorts of interesting things start happening in your life. Bad habits, destructive habits you have, they start going down. Positive traits and habits. They start going up and the whole thing, there's a whole study there. You'll hear more about it next week. It's called the power of four. If you can engage God's word four times a week, it does something and you're going, well wait, how does that work? Well, first of all, you already got one of 'em. Way to go. You're here, right? So we're engaging God's word. Now. We have to figure out the other three. We have something called first five that we're gonna start offering tomorrow. It's in the app. You'll wanna download the app. It doesn't cost anything. First five, our pastors, our leaders have put something together. It's just five minutes. It's 10 minutes if you want it where you can engage God's word. You'll hear God's word. They'll help you with this. Again, you'll, you'll see more of this next week. But it could be like, it could be when you first get up. 86% of the people who were surveyed said the very first thing they do in the morning is touch their phone. If that's you, wouldn't that be cool? If that was your first five, or maybe it's a cup of coffee, maybe you're driving to work. Maybe it's when you're warming up on the treadmill. I don't know when it is, but we could do this four times a week. We could do this and watch over the course of weeks how things begin to change in our lives. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna ask you to join me in it. So that's that. But now I wanna go back here at the end just real quickly, what, what about that whole singing business? Because some of us just don't know what to do with that. Well, one more word from the Apostle Paul, and then we're done. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another. So we help each other with this, with all wisdom through Psalms and hymns and songs from the spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your heart. So if anyone's wondering if we can skip over this, the obvious answer is no, because the scripture says no, it's a big deal now, it's always been a big deal to the Christian Church, even when it doesn't come easily, even when it doesn't come naturally. It's one of those things by which God strengthens us. And this is where some of you're gonna think, I'm being too personal. The key is that it can't be passive. It's not just watching. Now. We are so blessed here with so many good, how about these musicians at each of our sites and the way that they do what they do and the arrangements and what they do, and the way they fill the room so that, you know, nobody can hear what we're singing or not singing. It's amazing. It's all true. But God has said, I want you all to join me in this. Now, if you're here and you're figuring out who Jesus is, we give you those off ramps because you don't understand all of this. And I get it, I get it. But I would say this, you still long for the transcendent, you long for, for something that is beyond you. And I would say you'll find that oftentimes in, in worship, we pay really close attention to the lyrics that lyrics matter to us as much as the beauty of the music. You see, we think God is worthy of so much that we want our best words coming out of our mouths. One theologian says, you wanna know how the, the, the power of of worship works. Just join in, try it and and for yourself. And see, Paul would say, test it out. I have a theologian here at this church, Dr. Ben Horseman. You guys know Ben, did you know he's officially Dr. Ben Horseman Now, how about that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Dr. Horseman and I were talking earlier this week and he said, he said he, he, he pointed me to a philosopher that we both enjoy reading. And this fellow says that worship services can actually be an on-ramp. For those of you who don't know Jesus. Like you begin to hear what we believe. You begin to see how this works. And, and I would say you begin to sense the presence of God in a new way. So if you don't believe yet, and we get to times of worship, pay attention to the lyrics. In fact, if it's, if it's a song that you like, it's really starting to hit, uh, close your eyes. Let it sink in. These people that are leading you, they want your eyes on Jesus anyway. Maybe, maybe it becomes a prayer. God, is this true? God, please let this be true. Maybe you start even whispering it under your breath. God will join you there. For those of you who believe and you don't like singing, why did God, why did God make humans with the capacity to sing? Charles Darwin could never figure it out. 'cause he couldn't figure out how it would help the survival of the species. Well, I can help him with that. The one in whose image we were made, God almighty, gave humans the unique capacity to say something from down deep about our, our longings and our fears and our hopes and our joys. And it becomes worship when we say this out loud. When you sing, when you sing anything, stuff starts to happen in your body. Like one writer calls it a neurochemical symphony, endorphins, that's kind of the body's natural painkiller or released. When you sing, when you use your voice, whether it's in tune or not, endorphins are released. That's why you sing in the shower. There's things that happen. It's like, oh yeah, that felt good. Okay, so, so now watch this. Watch this. When we focus it on God, woo, now we're communing with him. Now it's about pushing back the dread. Now it's about, it's about hope and it's about healing. It's, it's what God does. And then when you talk about us doing this together, ooh, there's so much research on that now, there, now it's addressing that connection that we have. It's an ancient, it's a name. It's almost an original connection that we have to, to, to belong and to be with each other. But it's so now, when I worship, it's not about me. It's about us. But it isn't even about us. It's about us gathering around God. And God does this. And you see, I need that. I I I had, I was in one of the darkest spots of my life. It's before I was a pastor, I was not in a good space. I knew Jesus. But man, I was just defeated. I was so down. I was going to an a, a, a church service. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to go. Robin was already there. Did I say I didn't wanna go. I didn't want to go. I sit on the back row, they start singing and I'm doing with God. And then eventually I begin to sing those words. And God, God began to heal me. My storm wasn't over. But he in that moment reminded me, I got you. I got you. Something happens when we worship. It reminds us of a scripture. It reminds us of a story. We're connected with other people, but it all points to God. And I begin to take my eyes off of me. Gene Peterson puts it this way. He says that worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and we attend to the presence of God. You know, all those musical styles that we do around here, like today, we covered some ground, didn't we? That last song had an almost kind of a, a soft country folk feel. Uh, they put a rock edge to one of our old familiar tunes that the youth has been doing, uh, straight up contemporary Christian music. All of those things. We, but when we do those, it's not about us. And it's not about like, like it's not about me. It's not about it's about him. It's about him. If you came at Christmas, we were nine for nine. Every service batted a thousand. Every service took the bait on Neil Diamond, every service. And it was funny, right? And we all laughed. It's like, ah, yes, we Caroline la it's true. When we're in stadiums, when we're in places, we will sing in public and we will celebrate. But then when it comes to God, don't listen to me. This is the God who made you, the God who blessed you. The God who loves you, the God who has a plan for you. The God, if you have turned to Jesus, the God who has redeemed you, therefore I'm gonna worship him. And I'm gonna make sure that I keep my eyes on him, which means I'm less concerned about you or, or about what you think of me. I'm not concerned about what I think of you. By the way, what are you doing with your hands in worship? Because I've never been a part of a church where that sort of thing happens. What's going on with the hands thing, right? Because some of you're like, I I have never been in a church where those things were allowed. Um, when you go to a concert and it's like you were there for that one song and it hits and you know it's that song and you go, yes, it's celebration, it's affirmation. It's, I'm in. When your team scores the goal, touchdown home run three pointer. That wins the game. What do you do if you are there? What do you do? Well, that was a very auspicious development. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the home team for which I root might actually win this athletic contest. No, you're like, yes. Little ones. When they reach out to someone they trust, this is what it looks like. Sometimes it's surrender. All I'm saying is that it's, it's, it's, it's just an, it's an expression. It doesn't mean that that's the only way you worship. But when I, when I get caught up in other people, do you know what happens? I get all cynical, like, why are you doing that? Why are you not doing that? And almost every time, cynicism at the base of it is a raging insecurity. You see, when I focus on God now, I'm not worried about you or what you think of me or, or any. I'm focused on God. God, I need you. I need you. And that's when jaw dropping, spirit dredged worship kicks in. So that's it. Welcome to base camp. What do we do now? I say come back. 'cause we're gonna keep learning these skills. And God loves you so much. Watch this. God is the antidote to the, to the ugly, cynical, snarky, fearful, angry, poison that is in the water. We need to keep coming back to God. So here it is. Come back. First five. Do that. Go to our Spotify list. We curate this thing so that you know these songs. Ooh, this is good. So now you can practice those songs in your car and in the shower when nobody's listening. And then you show up and go, oh yeah, I know that song. And oh, here it is. And you'll start singing at church. And could I just say this? It will feel weird for some of you. Our friend for Pooh said that sometimes when you're training at higher elevations, you're, it doesn't feel natural. But we have a good and gracious guide who is with us who says, no, it's good. It's good. You can do this. It'll get easier. It'll be worth it 'cause I'm worth it. So here's what we're gonna do. Now, for those of you who are here, those of you in the loft, those of you at each of our sites, it seems to me like just very quickly, we should worship here at the end. And, and it is just gonna be a very simple chorus. We're not gonna go into some big elaborate thing. It's gonna be new. Some of you aren't gonna know it. But I would challenge you now to, to sit and receive it. In fact, here's how it's gonna work. For some of you, like maybe for the first time ever, you're gonna whisper these words under your breath. Or you might just sing 'em outright. Or it might be a prayer. God, please, God, please, some of you may like in your, in your, in your laps where nobody can see. You might just go, God blaze. Some of it might be this. I don't know. There might come a point where you stand. I don't know. It's real simple. Here are the words. Be glorified. Be glorified. Be glorified. You got it. Now, there's a little more to it, but that's it. God, we want you to have the glory. So these guys are gonna make it sound a lot better. But let's, let's just, let's sing this together now. Okay? I'll lead you through it. Be Glorify. Be Glorify. That's it. Let's that one more time. Be gl. Be gl. Now let's do that one more time. Be glorified. Be Ified. Okay? You're feeling it. One more time. Be gl be. Here's the next part. This is it. Be glorify in the heaven, The earth. Be gl. Now it's gonna be personal. Be glorified in this temple. Jesus. Jesus, beatify. Now you've got it. Let's put different words to it. We can do this. Here we go. The worship. The worship, the Lord in this temple. Now y'all listen to me. Listen to me. As you leave here now find somebody and just say, Hey, I'll be back next week. Let's check in with each other. Let's do this together. But now may this just this be our prayer. One last time. Be ified. Be ified. Be gl. Amen And amen. And amen. Thank you for.