Addicted to Worship

grab your neighbor by the hand for a moment close your eyes and in the middle of the week don't be ashamed to tell the Lord I need you I'm desperate for you I'm lost without you God we thank you but from the earliest of our existence up until this present time all you've ever been was good thank you for your grace thank you for your mercy thank you for your presence in our lives thank you that when we cannot depend on anybody or anything else we can depend on you you are faithful you are loving you care for us you support us you keep us even when we cannot keep ourselves and we give you glory draw near to us now as we draw near to you as we turn to your word together speaker to us at the point of our need scratch us where we each that we might leave here different than we walked in and will give you all the glory in Jesus name and all the people said Amen now look at the neighbors whose hand you hold and say neighbor I'm so glad you sitting on my Pew tonight because if anybody if anybody in here tonight is gonna get a blessing it's gonna happen on this pew hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah and we praise God from whom all blessings flow and certainly we want to acknowledge all of the ministers of the gospel who are present tonight both on the pulpit and in the pews and to all of the official family of Reed temple to all of you the people of God who are assembled here to this choir who has serenaded our souls with the singing of the songs of Zion give God praise for them then praise God for the ushers and the security who stand as sentinels in this sacred space and you've got to give it up tonight for the Prophet the preacher the pastor the leader of the Reed temple a.m. each family dr. Washington come on give it up for the pastor amen thank you pastor thank you and I want to pause long enough I was raised in part by Mississippi grandmother who taught us among other things that people don't have to be nice so when they are nice you ought to pause long enough to say thank you and so I want to take just a moment to thank pastor Washington executive pastor widely and all of sister Gwen in the back the security team all of you for your kindness and friendship fellowship and hospitality in the gospel you have made it a joy to be here then I want to thank all of you for showing up Monday Tuesday and Wednesday amen on this spring revival it's been a joy to share with you in the Lord and I leave here a better person than the one who came and so tonight I want to direct your attention you know I got a little confused right there because pastor took me to Jerry's today and I had I've never had and all the years of my life a crab bomb I've never had that and you know every night I've been going after the service back to the back to sign books and you've been so kind it's been a joy to greet you and to share with you meet you pray with you sign the books as you have purchased them and sewn into our lives and it was my intention tonight to go back and sign whatever books they have remaining but since Jerry's is in the in the Jeremiah room I got a suggestion would y'all go buy all my books and come to the Jeremiah I'll sign everything you got in the jeremiah room baby but but it's been such a joy to be with you and to share with you tonight open your bibles now to second Samuel Chapter six and if you have your scriptures with you out with it you would stand tonight I'd like to read in your hearing just two verses of Scripture out of second Samuel Chapter six I'd like to read verse 21 and 22 and from that text with the aid and assistance and anointing of the holy spirit preached for the moments we have to share together from the subject you ain't seen nothing yet in the text says in 2nd Samuel 621 David retorted to McCall I was dancing before the Lord who chose me above your father and his family he appointed me as the leader of Israel the people of the Lord so I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord verse 22 yes and I am willing to look even more foolish than this if you don't mind smile at 3 or 4 people and say you ain't seen nothing yet hey man hey man you may be seated it's been a joy to UM get to meet you and to know you and tonight I want you to know me a little better I want to begin tonight with a word of confession and I do so with pause and prayer and patience because while I recognize that confession is good for the soul it's terrible for the reputation and so it's my prayer tonight that you would not judge me prematurely until you permit me to confess my entire situation because I stand here tonight as one who can honestly confess and the presence of God and all of the people of God that I have a problem I have an addiction that I've been fighting for more than 30 years of my life and the more I try the more difficult it is to shake this monkey off my back now breathe easy because my addiction is not to gambling not to drugs not to caffeine not the nicotine not the alcohol not the money and not to women my addiction is much more deeply rooted than that because I can honestly confess tonight that I am addicted to worship and I guess I really had no choice in the matter because my grandmother was an addict and so were my parents they were co-conspirators and dragging me and my 16 other siblings every time they had a chance to the House of Prayer since I'm confessing let me tell you I got my first high at 12 years old and if the truth be told I've been strung out ever since that that even when it's not Sunday I find myself feigning and craving time with God just to be in the presence of God I've even been known to go to work high because I wake up in the morning saying this is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it I'm just confessing that my urge is so strong I search out opportunities to sneak in the sanctuary with the Saints in just about every place just to lift my hands and do my dance and say amen and and and so you know my whole story I have been a dealer for some time inviting people everywhere to church with the promise that the first hit is on me because if you taste and see that the Lord is good you two will be strung out for the rest of your life I am I am I am addicted to worship because I have discovered that there are some blessings in worship that cannot be replicated or duplicated in any other arena of life there's a joy in worship that you cannot find in the club there's a high in worship that the chronic or crack cannot provide there's a love in worship that cannot be discovered in the arms of a new lover there's an ease in worship that neither hypnotic nor Hennessey can provide don't shout too loud you don't get yourself away in here tonight see but there's something about worship that you cannot replicate anywhere else because in real worship relationships are reconcile prodigal children are brought back to themselves faith is fortified eyes or open hope is strengthened Direction is provided Earth's are healed issues are resolved anxieties are dispelled and demons have been made to tremble in in real worship we mortal humans are able to elevate ourselves above the existential challenges of our daily experience as the divine sovereign descends the eternal throne and meets us majestically in a moment of rapture and intimacy and that's why one of the derivatives of the word worship in Hebrew is the word kiss so as to imply that as I worship God that God and I are so intimately related to one another that our spirits have made contact there is something powerful and prolific about real worship yet I must inform you tonight that there are some people who come to church every week and are never changed by the experience you ought to tap your neighbor and say don't even be looking over here he ain't talking to me now yeah yeah but but you know and I know I mean if we're honest with each other that there are some people who come to work that worship every week and they leave just this mean after the message as they were before the message just as nasty after the benediction as they were before the benediction they lies much after the offering as they did before the call to worship they are just as envious and jealous after the prayer as they were before the prayer because they were not ready for worship and therefore they would never change in worship and not affected by worship I ain't go get no help in here tonight see but one of the things that God shared with me is that there is a fundamental theological difference between being in church and being in worship that being in church does not make you a true child of God any more than being in an oven makes you a biscuit hello somebody hey man can I teach this while I preach it because when I come to church I come to fellowship with you but when I come to worship I come to fellowship with God and that's why we owe worshipers don't care how many people are at the service what choir is scheduled to sing whether their favorite preacher is going to be preaching what the ushers are wearing or who they're sitting next to who you came with or who zoom in who because if the truth be told as I began the worship God my surroundings become inconsequential as I surrender to the ubiquitous presence of Almighty God I've discovered that the reason some people are never changed is that they have failed to comprehend the difference between praise and worship they have failed to see the connection between praise and worship because according to the scriptures we can never enter into the presence of God in worship until we first learn how to praise God the psalmist declares that God inhabits or dwells in the praises of his people in other words God permeates the atmosphere as we circulate liberate and perpetuate praise of his holy name Psalm 100 instructs us to enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankful unto Him and bless His name for the Lord is good see praise is literally the prerequisite for coming in the worship you don't need anything to come to church but you absolutely have to have an Amen in your pocket and a hallelujah in your repertoire if you are coming to worship I dare you to tap somebody say you got an Amen in your pocket a smile let them say now is the time to pull it out Amen see see and and we need to hear this because there is always somebody hanging around who will tell you it don't take all that they will tell you ain't really gotta make all that noise you ain't got to be shouting like that and run it around like that why don't you just sit down shut up and be still like the rest of us so that we can enjoy the worship experience where can I tell you something worship without praise is like peanut butter without the jelly yeah it's like kool-aid with no sugar it's like ham and no burger it's like puffs with no daddy it's like Randy Marlon Tito and Jermaine without Michael it just ain't gonna work because you cannot be in the presence of God if you don't first learn how to praise God see see come in for a minute in our text for tonight we see the critical connection between praise of God and the presence of God permit me to give you the context so you'll appreciate the content david was 30 years old and has now been elevated to be the king the reigning monarch of ancient Israel now although he was anointed by Samuel when he was seventeen David had to navigate thirteen years of waiting between his selection and his election y'all missed that but let me back it up bring it again because between your anointing and your appointing there will always be some waiting before your elevation there will always be a time of preparation where you have to manage your frustration who am i preaching to in here tonight look look when David finally became king of Israel he had three critical action items on his agenda number one he wanted to deal definitively with the Jebusites who had overtaken the city of Jerusalem David's desire was to drive them out of the place of promise and re-established the temple of God as the place of central convergence in the lives of the people of Israel number two his second objective was to defeat the Philistines with whom Israel had been engaged in war for an entire decade and number three it was his objective was to bring back the Ark of the Covenant of God to the city of Jerusalem now if you slide over in the text and read the parallel passage in first chronicles chapter 13 you will discover that the Ark of the Covenant was in the house of abinadab and so David goes to Bala to regain the Ark of the Covenant of God now you must understand that the Ark of the Covenant was not simply the carrying case for the commandments which God communicated to Moses in the smoking summits of cyanide but it was symbolic of the manifest presence of Almighty God in the midst of his people talk lands look on top of the ark was a seat called the mercy seat that was assumed to be the place where God's presence rested such that they believed that wherever the ark was the presence of God had to be there and so David realizing that if I'm going to build the temple I need to make sure that God will be present there and since the Ark of God symbolizes the presence of God I've got to go and recover the art but one mistake he did not consult God look at your neighbor and say oh oh yes see instead he employed the new technology of the Philistines and instead of bearing it personally on poles according to the instructions of the infinite he toted it on an ox cart because it seemed more effective more efficient and more proficient the oxen stumbled the cart was unsteady and other a man with unsanctified hands instinctively reach out and touch the ark trying to hold it up and it cost him his life hear me tonight because other represents everybody everywhere who makes the mistake of thinking you can manage God smile at somebody say you can't help God come on look at him and say your arms are too short to box with God see see we need and must have systems and structures policies and procedures but know that if you are in the midst of a move of God there's always something about it that you cannot predict and can not control not if God is in charge because God will not be boxed in God will not be limited constricted controlled or managed by anybody at any time because God is sovereign could I get about 500 of y'all to just shout sovereign see other tried to manage God but God doesn't need us to hold his stuff together God is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his exceeding glory so when other struck out his hand God struck him dead David got angry and said Lord he was only trying to help but is there anybody here who knows that you can do a whole lot of harm trying to help if God has not instructed you to do what you're trying to do shake somebody and say I know that's right see the more mature the more I learn I learned to shut up and be still until God talks to me sanctifies me and anoints me to speak sometime you just got to shut up and hold your peace until you really got a word from God as I had not been told to hold up the ark God struck him down and David got angry and let them take the ark to the house of obed-edom while he went on home to Jerusalem and so for three months mad at God the ark stayed there for three months until word came back to David that not only had God spared obed-edom but his entire household had been blessed because of the presence of the Ark of the Covenant and I need to hang out there homolytically for a moment and just tell you that wherever the presence of God is there will be blessing tap your neighbor and say that ain't nothing but the truth sickness cannot stop a disease cannot derail it demons can't overthrow it haters can handle it critics can't do nothing about it because wherever God is there will be blessing so our daily prayer ought to be able to say with certainty the presence of the Lord is here I can feel it in the atmosphere because in his presence there's victory there's joy there's peace there's power there's healing there's deliverance there's freedom there's mercy there's blessing in the presence of the Lord obed-edom 'he's entire household was blessed because of the presence of the ark and so David realized listen to this that whatever it takes I got to get the presence of God back in the midst of the people of God and somebody listening to me tonight on this Wednesday night you need to walk out of here having adopted that attitude you need to say whatever it takes in order to get my life right with God whatever it takes in order to get my joy back whatever it takes to get myself properly aligned with the purposes of God that's what I'm about to do 9:00 preaching to everybody but I am preaching to somebody and if you are somebody just shake your neighbor and say whatever it takes uh yeah see I might have to cut some stuff loose but whatever it takes I might have to eliminate some distractions but whatever it takes I might have to drop some deadbeats out of my life but whatever it I might have to lose some phone numbers and delete some email addresses and turn my car in a different direction and change my phone number so it'll stop ringing at 2:30 in the a.m. I might have to change my hair and my habits what whatever it takes I got to get the presence of God back in my life can I preach a little in here tonight si si so the text says David rethought his pattern regrouped esteem and retraced his steps he went to obed-edom house and got the Ark of the Covenant but this time when they moved at the Bible reports that every six steps David said hold up boys wait a minute stop the bus stop right there we gotta give God praise now I wish I had time to really work that because six is the number of humankind in biblical numerology it represents the best human effort the best ingenuity the best creativity and so the subtle message being delivered to us in this text is that even when your stuff is working even when you're dotting every I and crossing every T even when you are riding the wave and everything is going your way you still need to find time to stop and give God some praise and watch this David does not just exhort them to praise God but he praise God I can hear him breaking it off like ludicrous when I move you move just like that when I praise you praise just like that David David took off his rear I'm sorry wrong crowd amen look David took off his regal garments of royalty and put on a linen ephod as a sign of humility because they even understood that praise is not possible as long as you think you do balm again that you three snaps five kisses two cookies and a glass of milk as long as you think that you are that it's not possible to praise God because you'll be so preoccupied with how you go look to other people when you praising God that you won't ever actually praise God there David David danced before the Lord with all his might and all Israel joined with him they danced all the way down Greenbelt Boulevard it shouting and singing and praising God but notice that David's wife was sitting in her penthouse window watching the parade of praise pass by and the text reports that she was not upset but she despised him in her heart after the benediction was announced and David went home she lay eat into him she said have you lost your cotton-pickin mind you've made a natural fool of yourself you are the king you supposed to be sophisticated and aristocratic can ever die why in the world would you be jumping and hollering and dancing like that can I share something with somebody here tonight whenever you make up in your mind to praise God you can depend on the devil to dispatch a McCall who's gonna be sitting next to you giving you that cockeyed crazy look that says you should sit down cuz I can't see you should shut up cuz I can't hear you should be still cuz you distracted me tap your neighbor say I gotta praise God I see Micah was upset because watch this she missed the cue wait wait that it was time to praise the Lord let let me help you here the only people who are ever upset with your praise are people who missed the cue that it's time to praise the Lord you gotta catch the cue and we all need help sometimes let me open this window and help you to see it in Hollywood when they're filming movies the director - in order to make sure that the actors and the technicians and the camera people all move together the director says lights action camera that's the cue and everytime you walk across the doors into this sacred precinct I want you to know the director the Holy Ghost it's and lights action praise light can you see what I've done for you action do you see how I'm working with you then you ought to praise God see look look tap somebody and say neighbor praise Him yeah that means when you get here it's time to shout it's time to praise it's time to dance it's time to rejoice wait wait wait sit down for a minute I want to talk to you because this text has something to teach us about the real nature of praise because I want to pause it tonight that real praise has at least four dynamics that many people never comprehend now his wins did not have been preaching all week so if y'all want to hear the rest of this just say bring it on real all right I'm gonna try and do the doggone thing because look the text says watch this that real praise is first of all redemptive everybody shout redemptive listen to what David tells McCall he says baby I know you're upset by my actions but I was dancing before the Lord here it is who chose me mmm y'all miss that in other words David said I'm not praising God because I got a crown on my head because I've got a position as king because I got riches on tow but I am praising God because God chose me in order to understand my praise you got to first know my story that I had seven other brothers who were more qualified than me to be where I am but God looked past all of them and found me found me in the middle of the Sheep and bless me beyond my wildest expectations and somebody in this room tonight is praising God not because of where they work not because of what they drive not because of what they got in the back but they are praising God because God look beyond their fault and saw their need is there anybody here tonight who can praise God just because he chose you just because he redeemed you just because he favored you just because he rescued you wait wait wait all right let me help the rest they all look to see this I was walking through the airport not long ago and and when I whenever I have time in the airport I like to visit those bookstores in the airport in this day pass there how shall I said I was feeling magazine ish it's that a word yeah I was feeling magazine ashan and so I was waiting through the magazines and I came across a magazine that was reporting that Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri were dating now I do need to establish this just for the benefit of all the sisters here because the brothers already know it if they're not even saying it they do know it and it is this I don't care what anybody says Janet is fine don't hate congratulate amen Janet is fine there is a reason they kept replaying the Superbowl I'm trying to help somebody here tonight amen Janet is fine when you flip that script if you have ever taken a serious look at Jermaine Dupree suffice it to say he ain't Denzel y'all infilling me yet but look on the cover of the Ebony magazine they had a picture of Janet and Jermaine together they were holding hands and in every picture as I was waiting through the magazine of them together I noticed that with all that grille he got Jermaine was smiling from ear to ear I mean he didn't spit on both ears on both sides and finally I began to wonder about that thing and it came to me I said I know why he's smiling he's got something to smile about because all things being equal a brother like him and got no business with a sister like huh yo ain't got it yet look because when you think about how awesome amazing wonderful miraculous incredible God is and then tell the truth about how trifling and how selfish and how silly and disobedient we can be a silly question like me ain't got no business with an awesome God like him but I'm smiling because he chose me he could have chosen anybody else but he chose me look look I gotta give him some more way real praise is redemptive that's number one real praise is secondly reflective don't miss this David said I'm dancing because the Lord chose me now you got to understand that you got to break it down because here this God chose him 13 years ago y'all miss that the reason why we come to church and often sit silently and sullenly is that in our hearts we're raising janet jackson's question with god what have you done for me lately but david declares to us tonight I'm not shouting because what God did yesterday or last week or even last year the truth of the matter is I'm praising God about something that happened 13 years ago and I want to tell somebody here tonight I just want to remind you I want to stir the cool a of your memory and tell you that some stuff has already happened in your life that was so awesome that every time you think about it you ought to praise God I know it was 1967 but it was still a miracle I know it was 1984 but he's still healed you from cancer I know it was 1991 but the gun didn't explode you held it together the door came open the way was made the burden was lifted and every time you think about it you ought to give God praise David said I'm not shouting I'm not shouting I'm not shouting about something that happened now I'm shouting because I can think and when I think I think somebody thinking out there when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me it's a short distance between thinking and thanking when I start thinking about it I have to praise him for saving me and taking care of me uh my reflection always leads to rejoicing I understand now pastor why some people don't shout I understand why they're quiet because you can't really shout till you get something to shout about and for all those people who ain't got nothing to shout about I'm happy for you because if you had been through what I've been through you might have committed suicide but I'm shouting the night because when I wanted to give up God held me up and I didn't let go I'm shouting because when everybody walked out God stepped in I'm shouting because God keeps on doing great things for me wait wait wait wait I'm gonna come and get you I'm gonna come get you right here look at the text saying you know what it says the music started it's in the Bible the music started and when David heard the music something in the music took him back 13 years you know what you call that a flashback now let's tell the truth we in the house of the Lord tonight have you ever been riding in the car and a song came on the radio and took you back to another place and another person at another time okay I'll see y'all going front here it is a chair is still a chair even when there's no one sitting back you know what you call that a flashback drifting on a memory ain't no place I'd rather be then with you you call that a flash right I think I better let it go looks like another love you called out a flashback and every now and then when you come the church and somebody sings great is thy faithfulness Jesus it's a sin on my joy I was I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus you ought to have a flashback tap your neighbours excuse me I'm just having a flashback yeah you're gonna look look wait let me go on look thirdly real praise is responsive you can worship quietly but you cannot praise quietly if you're gonna praise it you got to make some noise a lot of people I'm just not constructed like that I worship God and you just lime because if you won the 100 million dollar big lotto nobody would be able to shut your mouth you be shouting and screaming and all over the place smile at somebody say don't even front like that see see wait wait part of reason that David shouted was what he heard in verse 12 somebody came to David and said God has blessed the house of obed-edom and David prays God y'all missed him but get this David shouted because of what God was doing for somebody else hmm it is a poor person who can only praise God when something happens for them as you mature in faith you grow to understand that it's not just about me it's about we that means that when I observe God blessing you I can praise God with you because of how God is moving in your life can I tell you something tonight don't ever lose your joy being jealous when God blesses somebody else you ought to rejoice with them because whenever God blesses your neighbor it means God is in the neighborhood and it's only a matter of time it's only a matter time look I I have I have three children and when my children were small pasture every now and then I'd be watching them outside and in the front and they would be gathered together with other children and some would happen and they would literally lose their mind they would start jumping up and down and screaming and hollering and I observed this behavior on more than one occasion so one time I was standing right in the door when it happened and they started jumping up and down and screaming in horror and so I went out there and I wanted to investigate I said what are y'all screaming and hollering about what is all the excitement about and my son said daddy did you hear it I said hear what he said the music I said what music he said the music from the ice-cream truck I look down the street I say no ice cream truck on this street and my son said yeah daddy it ain't on this street yet but I hear the music can I bless you tonight you might not have your miracle yet you may not have your breakthrough yet but if you can hear the music you ought to get excited right now tap somebody I hear the music baby look on say it's only a matter of time because it's look this all I got to tell you the last thing about real praise is this it's resilient David dance McCall didn't like it but that didn't change nothing y'all miss that there's always gonna be somebody who don't like your praise who wants to tell you how to praise God when the praise God and what to do while you're praising God but praise is not about us it's about God and if God has been good to you then you got to praise God if God has blessed you you got to praise God if God has made a way for you you got to praise God because God is good David said to his wife I'm sorry you don't understand it but the best is yet to come you ain't seen nothing yet because it was before the Lord that I dance I'm dancing before the Lord who look beyond my faults and saw my needs and as good as God has been to me I can't help but to praise His name is there anybody in the room on the last night of revival who will set aside your degree lay aside your sophistication and just for a moment say to your neighbors I gotta stop right here and shake my leg I gotta stop right here and weigh my hand I gotta right here and jump for joy because he's been so good make my way supply my need lifted my head my bottle made a way out of no way any alright somebody say yeah yeah yeah now wait that's the cute shout I need you to look at your neighbor now and say what I'm about to do you ain't never seen me too because I ain't never done it before not just for moments I want you to praise God like you're never Red's got me fog come on a praising praising praising right right praising because when the praises go up the blessings come down go up come back go up come back God come down so if you came praising for yesterday praising for the day that you're still alive and if you came praise it for the day praising for a mile that tomorrow I'm gonna be delivered tomorrow I'm gonna be healed somebody shout they ought to be a witness they ought to be a testimony I dare you to look at somebody and just say neighbor I don't usually act like this but I've got so much to shout about food on my table clothes on my back my in my pocket oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I got so much ah just touch them I tell you ain't seen nothing yet you ain't seen nothing yet you ain't seen nothing yet y'all not hear what I'm saying I remember that ice cream thing I remember that I remember that sucker was coming I remember the music and sometimes I was still in the house and I heard the music going away we submit that the truck had come and gone but if I really wanted some ice cream y'all y'all won't talk to me if I really had a hunger for some ice cream I will break up the dough and go to running is there anybody here that was is so bad that you don't mind going to run and yeah

Channel: Reid Temple AME

Views: 103,974

Rating: 4.7894735 out of 5

Keywords: Addicted, Worship, Reid Temple, AME, Sermon, reid temple, ame, Pastor Lee P. Washington, Rev. Matthew Watley, Church, ame church, gospel music

Id: gyTq97vEVPs

Length: 48min 13sec (2893 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 23 2013