Worship Is A Big Deal To Me | Pastor Jentezen Franklin

[Music] come on praise it this morning praising this morning praise and praise and praise and bless his name i know that's how you feel you know people never know the testimony behind the song and you know we would never reveal anything that's spoken in private but for you to share that and to share usually when you see a heavy anointing like you see on jonathan's life there's a there's a valley to walk through there's a price that you pay and it becomes more than cords and lyrics but it becomes a living testimony of i feel like i never would have made it [Music] i remember when he whispered quit give up it's over the sun will never shine again in your life and the only thing that sustained me and you and you and you and you in those moments is a faithful god who said i will never leave you and i'll never forsake you and if you're thankful for that put your hands together to all of our campuses the presence of god is here today give him a mighty praise right where you are there online in your home in your family those of you in a hospital wherever you are today just thank him just of all you all you can do is lift your little hand right there god sees it god hears your worship god understands you're there quarantined wherever you are he loves you he loves you today you're going to make it too you're gonna sing that song and look back and say i never would have made it i never would have made it without the lord well smile at someone and tell them through your mask you're glad or or a nod that you're glad they're in the house of god today and i'm just going to preach for a few moments today and i want to go quickly to the book of psalms 137. last sunday i preached on church is a big deal to me and this sunday i want to preach on worship is a big deal to me and i want you to see this amazing chapter it's an awesome privilege and honor to have my son drake with us today and uh it's always so very proud of you and who you are and what god is doing in your life and i love you and we love you and we're thankful for you all my kids are amazing and when i get to have them come home it means the world to me um it just seems like christmas or something when we hear one of our kids are coming home and if you don't know what i'm talking about you just hang around those little children that are driving you crazy one day you'll hear they're coming home and you will be very very very excited so i want you to look with me in psalms 137 by the rivers of babylon there we sat down yes we well when we remembered zion here's what i want you to focus on we hung our harps up in the willows in the midst of it for there were those who carried us away captive ask of us a song and those who plundered us requested mirth saying sing us one of the songs of zion verse 4 how shall we sing the lord's song in a foreign land the king james says how shall we sing the lord's song in a in a strange land what was taking place i almost gave this another title i almost gave it the title don't let covid steal your song or i had another alternative one don't let who wins the election steal your song or don't let the times that we're in steal your song cause all of them together is enough to drive you crazy but what touched me about this story is we have a picture of some people who had a wonderful life in jerusalem and wonderful worship and they played their harps and they had a choir that would sing in the temple and people would shout and praise god in the temple but now circumstances had changed and they were taken into babylonian captivity they were about to enter across the river they would go and be enslaved for many years and they knew it and the bible said in desperation there's my saxophone and i love to play it it's a part of my life it's it's a very big part of my life for since i was 12 years old and i picked it up for the first time but i can't imagine anything so bad happening in my life that i would say i'm never going to pick that instrument up again i'm never going to play it again i've been so hurt i've been so devastated i'm so defeated that i've lost my song i've lost my music i've lost my worship and i'm going to hang that instrument of worship up in the willow tree which is a sign of weeping and sorrow because of what's happened in my life and i'll never sing again and i'll never play again and i'll never worship again with joy the lord but that's what had happened to these people the primary um instrumental uh instrument or musical instrument that they had was the harp and they said we're putting our harps we'll never sing again circumstances have changed and this is so important when conditions change that's when the enemy whispers hang it up when things change from very positive and very delightful to total uncertainty and and and and mystery and where is god and why would he allow this to happen and why doesn't he do something that's when the enemy comes and says just hang it up just give up just just throw in the towel and you'll never sing again you'll never be happy again you'll never you'll never play that song again and this is this is the point that these people had reached i want to remind you today that worship is not just something we do worship is a weapon the devil's desire is to make us more defensive than offensive lucifer was the art angel of worship he was over heaven's worship and he knows more about worship than any of us including me he knows that if he can defeat us individually or as a church or as a people the only way that he can do that is to first defeat us in the arena of worship satan knows that your worship is a weapon and he wants you to get so discouraged that you lose your song you lose the heart of worship you lose your love for god when i think about how that the most potent weapon that we have in our offensive operation against satan's power is worship no wonder the devil wants you to acquiesce and hang your worship up in a willow tree and get defeated and say there's nothing to sing for anymore there's nothing to be joyful for anymore i can't even expect a good future because of what i've gone through when i read this verse i was reminded of first peter chapter two and verse nine we are a chosen generation these times are not surprising god he knew they would come on us and we are a chosen generation we are a royal priesthood things haven't changed because our circumstances has changed god still sees us as a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation to show forth the praises of him that has called us out of darkness into this marvelous light notice that the scripture said we're priests and the word priest is a means bridge builder god says i want some bridge builders to build the bridge of worship from earth to heaven so that all that the kingdom of heaven has can come rolling over that bridge satan was the worship leader in heaven but he was cast out because of rebellion and pride and he broke the bridge of worship and therefore the only way that you build the bridge from heaven to earth and all that the kingdom has can flood into your life and roll over that bridge from one world to another world is over the bridge of worship it's so important because jesus said the kingdom of heaven is at hand it's close enough to be touched but you can never get from the visible to the invisible until you build the bridge of worship it's how you access the kingdom of heaven when we begin to worship we invade the devil's territory when we begin to worship like aaron did he took a censer and when a plague broke out in israel the bible said he ran and stood between the living and the dead and he would swing that sensor and those incense would burn up and the bible said the plague stopped psalm 68 in verse 1 says let god arise and his enemies be scattered when you begin to praise god then the next part says and our kin our god has gone up with a shout the way that god gets aroused the way that god will rise up in your defense is when you begin to praise him he inhabits the praise and notice when god arises the enemy starts running two things happened when we begin to praise the lord god rises and the enemy runs he runs from the worship of god's people i think today that we need to understand that worship leaders are special targets i didn't know he was going to share that testimony of his darkness and the depression that that he went through our worship leader but the truth is i am convinced after 30 years of pastoring that worship leaders are special targets of the enemy they are not noise makers they are the priest that starts building the bridge before you ever get in here they have already prayed and set an atmosphere and practiced and they build bridges from earth to heaven therefore they are a target the same would be true for anyone in ministry and when you understand that and you understand that satan hates for the redeemed of the lord to listen when you worship god what you're doing is you are you are redeeming the thing that satan stole from heaven satan was the worship leader and you become his replacement when you begin to praise god you're restoring and redeeming what satan stole from heaven he hates to hear you worship worship is so much of a weapon that in second chronicles chapter 20 jehoshaphat was about to fight a battle and he said where's the spears and where's the swords and where's the weapons of war and the prophet said thus saith the lord you will not fight with those weapons but you put the praise singers and the musicians out on the front line and he said worship will be your weapon in this battle praise burst the presence of angels into the battle zone of your experience when you begin to praise god praise is god's address praise brings revelation listen carefully to this and don't ever forget what i'm about to share with you when joseph was that was there in in egypt as a powerful man who had all the wealth and and the food when the nation and the world was starving to death and his brothers came the same brothers that had done him so wrong do you remember he disguised himself and they did not know it was joseph their brother but the bible says something that you'll read right over do you know what made him reveal who he really was to them he had all that they needed and they didn't even know who he was and they were in a famine and they had come just to get some scraps but do you know what made him reveal he said i want you to go back to your father and i want you to bring the youngest son back with you and and the bible said and suddenly one of the brothers named judah stepped forward and he said oh that would break my father's heart if i have to go get my younger brother and bring him to you to enslave he said i tell you what take me instead and when judah which means praise that's the hebrew word for praise when judah stepped forward the bible said joseph broke and he went behind the curtain and he began to weep and he took his disguise off and he came out and he said i am joseph i am your brother when if you really want to see who the king is when you begin to worship worship is revelatory worship brings revelation you will see who god is only when you begin when judah in your life steps forward and begins to praise him from that day forward judah and benjamin were inseparable they were always together every time you read in the old testament first kings 12 21 when the kingdom split judah stayed with benjamin benjamin according to genesis 49 the prophecy over is he would be a warrior a ravenous wolf praisers and warriors go together if you praise you become a warrior you've got to be a worshiper and a warrior in times like these the bible says in psalms 50 praise him in the sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power it seems backwards it seems like the praise should start in heaven and it should fill the earth but god says no he says it starts on earth and when you praise me and remember your body is the temple your body is the sanctuary and when you praise me in the sanctuary he says then i will turn around and i will begin to send the blessings if nothing goes up nothing comes down if if you don't release worship miracles do not come down praise him in the sanctuary praise him in here and he'll go with you out there praise him in here and he'll feel your weak all week long praise him in here in your heart in your life ezekiel saw the throne of god and he saw it as wheels it had wheels he said i saw the throne and it was a mobile throne and he said it it was like wheels in the middle of a wheel he said i saw flashing light i saw living creatures i saw all of these things and folding upon themself and he said i saw wheels turning on the throne as god was moving from heaven to earth and then he said the only thing human that he saw in all of this flashing enlightening and glory was human hands the tremendous power of god's presence is in our hands when we begin to worship god we've got a rolling throne he gives us somewhere to praise god praise him in the sanctuary that's your temple and then he says something to praise god for praise him for his mighty acts and for his excellent greatness and then he gives us something to praise god with praise him with the trumpet praise him with the stringed instruments praise him with the timbrel and the dance praise him with the symbols and the high sounding symbols well i'm not a musician pastor franklin what did can you breathe do you breathe because he then finishes it and says let everything that has breath praise ye the lord i'm right where i wanted to get so these people have been taken captive and here's the lesson look at me everyone it's so important they're prisoners of war because they have hung up their harps in the will of trees you're either going to be a p.o.w meaning a person of worship or you're going to become a prisoner of war because when hard times and bad things happen to you and you hang your harp up then i'm going to tell you something you become a prisoner of war to hopelessness to depression to addiction to defeat to lies to fear to worry to to depression i refuse to do that i have a choice which one do you choose you're going to be a pow you're either going to be a person of worship or you're going to become a prisoner of war and you decide when your mouth is silent when you hang your heart up your worship up because of what you've been through you lose the victory i want us to understand that the bible said that they were in a strange land and this is the problem they were dealing with things they didn't plan for it's it's it's not the things we never saw this year coming we never saw the the the corona virus coming we never saw and dreamed the things that we've seen the division the pain the hurt in our nation the unemployment all of the stuff all of the division all of the hurt and now being out of church for almost six months we didn't see that it's it's the strangest the bible said they were in a strange land you talk about this is the strangest year of my life i have never seen anything like this in my life it's the strangest time for the church it's the strangest time for people individually it's the strangest time in our families and in our lives we don't but that's when the enemy whispers give up your worship lose your song hang up your harp in the willow tree but if i'm reading this text right is when the unexpected happens you have to determine you're not going to let it steal your song you've got to learn how to sing when you are in uncertainty when things have happened that you never saw coming and you never planned for it that's that strange place that strange time and you have to make a decision and here's how you do it the thing you have to do is you have to remember that you don't allow your identity to be defined by circumstances i'm still a child of god no matter what i'm going through my circumstances may have changed from being blessed in the temple to a situation where i feel like i'm at the river right next to babylon and all hell is breaking loose but that doesn't change where you are does not change who you are your geography does not change your genealogy who you are is who you are and it's not determined on by where you are you may be watching me in the in in the hospital with covet right now but that does not change the fact that you're not here and you're there in the hospital and that doesn't change the fact that you are still a child of god you may be sitting here today and last week you were employed in this week you're unemployed but where you are does not change who you are you're still bloodball you're still called by his name you still have him as your savior and your redeemer you're god's child no matter where you are no matter what you're going through and that's why you ought not to hang your harp up but you ought to praise him even more that you're not alone that you won't face it by yourself shout amen somebody tell somebody i'm still a child of god whether i have covet or i don't have covet whether i go through high times or i go through low times i'm still a child of god and that makes me want to praise him don't allow where you are to hinder your worship paul and silas started praising god in the jail cell in the midnight hour they sing praises unto god if anybody had a right to hang their harp up now i'm i'm i'm getting a little stirred in my spirit because i don't believe that you're hearing what i'm preaching to you but you you better hear it because it's critical in these times we're in a strange time and the voice of the enemy is saying to believers hang your worship in a tree of weeping and lose your song but notice what they did in the midnight hour backs beaten chained to the wall paul starts going dory me me me me ray ray ray and silas says what are you doing he says i'm getting ready to sing my song of joy in this filthy prison house surrounded with rats surrounded with guards and captives i'm gonna lift him up in my midnight hour and he began to sing praises unto god in that horrible circumstance the bible said they hung their hearts in the willow trees they hung their praise and worship up because they got in discouraging circumstances don't let the election steal your song i promise you somebody's gonna win and somebody's gonna lose but it's not gonna determine whether i come in here and praise god cause i'm not dependent on either one of them to be quite honest i'm dependent on the king of kings and the lord of lords and he's the only one we better get our eyes on in these days that we're living in don't let the virus steal your son don't let these strange times take away don't let anything that comes or anybody that comes and goes out of your life steal your song the bible said what got them to the place of giving up and hanging there hanging their instrument into the into the trees of sorrow was first of all that first part of the verse in in verse two it tells us they hung their harps up but in verse one it tells us why they did it it said they sat down and then they started weeping and then the next thing you know they lost their song they hung their harps up it all starts when you sit down they got tired of standing you have to keep standing for what's right you have to keep standing on what this book says you have to keep standing you can't get your eyes on people you can't get your eyes on what so-and-so's doing you just keep standing when you know what is right and you do what god and when you feel like sitting down that's when you need to stand up and start praising god and when the enemy says sit down and cry you need to say no i'm going to stand up in praise because i know my god's still on the throne everybody at every campus in overflow wherever you are give god a mighty praise and refuse to sit down and cry boo hoo hoo or praise the lord you choose you choose [Applause] you're gonna have to choose don't trade your heart for a handkerchief have a pity party when you send out the invitations nobody comes but the devil and he says yes you're right you should no no no stand up to life we reign in this life as kings the bible said we reign in this life god just not made you a trampling man for the devil weeping may endure for the night and when it does that's when you sing sing through the weepy sing through the sorrow sing through the depression sing through the dark days weeping endures for the night but the devil needs to know that my sorrow and your sorrow has an expiration date already written before you ever got in it he already had something coming down the road and he says if you make it through the night joy comes in the morning and the only thing that's going to get you from a weeping night to a joyful morning is praise the lord hallelujah let me put some worship on let me get into the book let me lift my hands even when i don't feel like hallelujah god make this more than words and just another sermon it's got to become who we are you don't understand i am appraiser before i was a preacher i was appraiser before i was anything in the church i was appraiser there was something in me in my dna my mama and my daddy put praise in my dna i do believe and i can't help myself i can't go for so long and i'll start singing praise and you say well i don't know no songs well sing this hallelujah i don't have the coronavirus today praise the name of jesus i'm not in in the icu hallelujah if i'm in it i'm coming out of it cause he set up an end to darkness job said i don't have cancer i got food today i got a roof over my head i got all that i need and if you do have and you don't have praise him and that'll build the bridge i want you to notice in closing this the bible said that the enemy required of us a song did you read that notice that the babylonians when they saw the israelites who were famous for their worship hanging their harps up in the willow trees these are god's people and the babylonians are a type of the world's people and the world's people are going through the same thing that the church people are going through they've just been up on their holy hill so long that they can't relate to those people down there but now we're all going through the same thing can't even half come to church go for five months so we're in the same boat as the babylonians and the only thing that the babylonians said to them is they said we would you please sing for us if we ever needed to hear your song we need to hear it i'm looking for something i worship 400 gods across the river over there in babylon but they just don't they just don't meet my need if i could see i've heard you people sing i've seen the joy that you have and and would you i require of you please give me your song because we're all going through the same thing and if ever there was a time when the world needs to hear our joy hear our faith hear our love hear our praise hear our worship it's now people need hope people need it don't forget that your identity doesn't change because of circumstances don't lose your song and hang up and give up your worship refuse to stay where you are you're there and it's a hard place but you are not going to stay there i say this in conclusion do you remember do you remember when the the virus was really hitting italy and now they say it's starting back up over there in europe i heard one person as i said earlier sometime today you know somebody predicted we're headed into a dark winter and they may be right who knows nobody knows what's going to happen they may be going into a dark winter but something in my spirit said i'm not going into no dark winter it's christmas i'm going to enjoy it i'm gonna have me a little candle i don't know i might be outside in the amphitheater in 30 degree weather but i'm gonna have me a little candle on christmas eve and if i have to i'll wear a five mask and a space suit too but i'm not gonna hang my i'm not gonna hang my harp up in the will a tree i'm not going into a dark winter i believe i'm going into the purpose of god like never before when i come after come out of this shout after this shout after this the sun's going to shine again god's going to bless his people again god's going to end this thing on his time and until then i'm gonna keep on singing we're gonna keep on having church and if another wave hits then y'all go home and me and the praise team we don't need y'all we found that out i preached to the empty seats i don't even need amens no more i don't need nothing we can have church all by ourselves can we not people amy you were here and everyone though did we not have church in here nothing but cameras in us and angels and the nod of god [Music] hallelujah i want to say to all of our seniors and all of our congregation that at least a minimum of half of you are still at home and still quarantined and listen i'm you do what you need to do that's between you and god nobody's judging you you do what you need to do but don't you dare think that your identity has changed because you're not in this house and you're watching us from your house god is still god and you're still his child and don't you hang don't you ought to be typing in to praise the lord you ought to do one of those fires right now you ought to send one of those emojis of raised hands and you come on you ought to get online and say well if i can't praise him in person i'll praise him online but the devil's not gonna get my heart whoa hallelujah this is how we overcome come on skirt stir it up look over at somebody and say you need a good stirring tell them you need to put on the garment of praise you need to open your mouth the devil thought he would kill you with a disease but here you stand here you stand raise your hands lift your voice and i want them to sing this song pastors are coming at every campus let's worship the lord all over the earth today in africa in europe in south america don't you hate your heart but lift them up and sing your song go ahead sing it now raise the hallelujah [Music] [Applause] i raised for me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] today we send healing into that mobile wheels we send the bill of god lord heal people lord touch people lord help those that are depressed and discouraged lift them up to worship today in the middle of it lifted up [Music] [Music] [Music] this is what god's people do when trouble comes when things [Music] we sing all aloud [Music] [Music] one more time i promise everybody raise your hands and declare his glory [Music] god [Music] is [Music] [Applause] one more one more i've got a feeling everything's gonna be all right and we're going to dance on the devil's head [Applause] you feel good you want to go old school just a minute [Applause] you ain't had church to the bases going boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom you ain't had church yet until that happens no i was thinking about this listen to this i was thinking about you know where music started for me was the first instrument i played was the drums but it didn't start on a pair of drums because we didn't have any in the church so i took sheets of paper and i took the clothes racks that mom used to put our pants on and they used to be on a little thing and i tore the little white roll you know what i'm talking about and i got me as a little bitty kid and i set up sheets of paper one piece of paper on my bed was the snare drum i had one tom tom right here the other tom tom and one right here and then i put a symbol right here and i had another sheet of paper as my hi-hat y'all don't even know what i'm talking about but he does and as a little bitty kid i don't know how old i was but i'd sit in there and listen to y'all this is gonna really date me southern gospel music and i'd listen to the happy goodmans the happy goodmans and then andre crouch came along and then and then and then i would sit in there as a little kid and play and try to try to find how in the world that drummer was doing what he was doing with those and my mother and father felt so sorry for me that they bought me a pair of drums and boy i think about this sermon and the first saxophone i ever had and first time i learned how to play a chord on the piano you remember just touching a piano and learning how to play your first song the devil can't nothing i go through is gonna take that from me and that's how you ought to feel about your individual praise with god one more time we're gonna praise him and we're going to leave here shout all right so here's what i want you to do i want you to put on your mask you say i don't need it yeah but somebody around you may need you to need it and and and once you put it on you can leave at your own choice but we're going to go out with a shower and let me tell you what i'm going to do i'm going to go to washington this afternoon dc and i've been invited to the national mall and there's a worship leader by the name of sean something and i can't remember his last name that's him that's the guy and he's been having worship sessions in portland and seattle in chicago south side and thousands and thousands now they're not wearing masks but i'm gonna wear a mask i don't care i'm the old guy there and i'm gonna wear my mask and i'm gonna praise god but we're gonna they're expecting 20 000 people in dc and he said will you come and preach and i said i'll come and preach [Applause] that's not nothing political so just relax and everybody say we need to praise the lord i don't care how you do it we just need to do it and that's exactly what we're going to do and i want you to pray and tbn is going to pick it up i don't know if they're showing it live or if they're going to show it this week but they said they wanted to show it so we believe we can touch the world with praise all it's going to be about is praise how many of you know that god's been good to you how many of you have been blessed today you know something i learned a long time ago in ministry really in life a drunk will give more than a sober person a drunk will give you everything he's got here buddy you take it it's on me [Music] i hope you get so drunk that you don't just praise the lord but you give in your resources to the ministry say amen somebody if ever you needed to be so in seed it's in the time of famine we don't know what next week's gonna bring we don't know what the winner's going to bring i just know jehovah jireh is my provider get seed in the barn if you want to give there's giving stations out there go online all of our family online give online hit that give button and give the best you can god will bless you all right let's go with the praise everybody here we go praise it [Music] everything's gonna [Music] whatever oh [Music] one more time [Music] gonna [Music] everything's gonna be one everything's gonna be all right we'll be all right we are some of you just start trickling out so you don't all jam the veins in the lord good in the lord good in the lord good isn't he really really good [Music] praise him praise him praise praising in the morning praising me [Music] praise him in the morning [Music] praise him when the sun goes down [Music] take a little time [Music] the lord gives the lord [Music] hallelujah may the lord bless you and keep you make his face shine on you everybody say this lord jesus i'm going to live for you i give you my everything i give you my life and today i surrender all and i'm going to praise you whatever life brings i will never lose my song in jesus name may the lord bless you and keep you make his face shine on you be gracious unto you lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace we love you so much we'll see you next sunday god bless you be blessed [Music] by today's message but before we leave if you gave your heart to the lord today we simply ask that you would text the word amen to 31 31 31 we have a team here that's ready to follow up with you walk alongside you as you continue to seek the lord in your own life but not only that if you are not a part of a local congregation or local church we invite you to be a part of our online campus you can go through the very simple steps by going to freechapel.org forward slash online and we would love for you to be a part of this congregation on a consistent basis but lastly if you have not yet taken your next steps we invite you to join us you can sign up at freechapel.org as well and we would love to invite you to join in on what god is doing through this ministry take you through a four-week systematic process that just gets you integrated into the heart and culture of our church we love you so much let us know how we can pray for you and we will see you next sunday morning you

Channel: Free Chapel

Views: 62,831

Rating: 4.8787112 out of 5

Keywords: Free Chapel, Jentezen Franklin, Worship, Spiritual Growth, Faith, Peace

Id: 7qjMz9mr270

Length: 49min 44sec (2984 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 25 2020