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Amen. In the year 1886, an educated man, an author named Carl Boberg is on his way home. Across the Swedish hill country and seemingly out of nowhere, a massive thunderstorm rolls in. The sky turns dark. Lightning begins to rip from the earth into the heavens. The thunder is shaking the ground underneath his feet. And he's caught in the middle of this storm outside. And he's looking around and he feels completely heavy, helpless. He feels completely overcome. There's nowhere for him to go. And so he just has to stand in the middle of the storm and watch it raging all around him. And then seemingly just as fast as the storm rolled in, it rolls out. And then a huge rainbow fills the sky. And Carl sees this. Carl Boberg heads home and he sits down at his desk and he begins reflecting on this experience that he just had. And. And he pens the poem called O Stor Gud, which means O Great God. And it is from this poem that the church has gotten the song How Great Thou Art that we just sung that has blessed the church for more than 100 years. Now, the interesting thing about Carl's encounter that day is certainly the divine encounter that he had in the storm. But the interesting thing about it is where Carl was coming from on his way home. You see, Carl had been at church and Carl had been sitting under God's word and listening and studying it. He had been singing God's songs. His heart was full of God's love because he had been gathered with God's people. And so on his way home, he sees a storm. And in the middle of the storm, he sees God. It's interesting to me. What if Carl was in a hurry that day? What if he was busy? What if he had not been in God's house with God's people studying God's word? Could he not have experienced that exact same storm as a bird? Could he have not experienced that exact same storm as an interference with his life and him trying to get where he was going. But instead, because his thoughts were centered on God and his heart was filled with God's word, when he sees the storm, what he sees is the mighty hand of God at work in creation. Perspective in this life is everything. Perspective is everything. Carl has a divine encounter through a storm. Another interesting thing about the song How Great Thou Art is how it became famous as awesome as old Carl was. When you know him like I do, you're on a first name basis. That's why I keep calling him Carl. When you know Carl like I do, do you know how it became famous. It was hovering around in the 1950s and 60s at the Billy Graham Crusades, and it was starting to get a little traction. And then in 1967, no other than the King himself, Elvis Presley recorded How Great Thou Art, and that's how it became world famous. Now, if you ask me, the King lives, baby. The King lives. Him and Tupac got a private island somewhere. That's what I'm going with. We are in a teaching series called Worship is War. And Pastor Joby's done a marvelous job kicking us off the last couple of weeks. I'm gonna continue on that. We are in a series called Worship is War. And it is absolutely that. You see, we wake up every day and we are in an attentions and an affections war. We are in a thinking and a feeling battle every day, all day. And there are times, if I'm honest, when I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. There are times when I give a sympathetic ear to the temptations of hell. There are times when I don't feel like I have anything to offer. When I don't feel like I have much value. When I don't feel like I have anything to give. There are days when all I want is what I want. When I'm selfish. When I'm stuck in my own way. When I seem, I just cannot seem to be free of me. Sometimes, if I'm honest, the enemy gets my ear. This world and all its shiny stuff gets my attention. My flesh and my inner desires, they get my indulgence. This is why it is imperative that I wake up and I fight. I fight for the Lord God Almighty, the Mighty one of Israel, the Lion of Judah, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, that I fight for Jesus Christ himself to be the one who alone gets my worship because he's the only one who can handle it. Worship is soul warfare. It's happening on a deeper level than our consciousness at all times. We are dealing in worship in a world more real than the world that you and I see and sense every single day. Here's the thing about worship is that God is the only one who can handle our worship. He is the only one who can handle the weight of glory. Nobody else can handle it. This is what we mean when we sing, then sings my soul. What we're saying is that I'm a person who has wants. I'm a person who has needs. I'm a person that has hopes and dreams. I was made by God with significance. And that all day, every day, I'm waking up and I want to attach all of me on onto something that merits it, that makes me experience value, makes me feel like I'm worth something. I'm looking to attach all that I am to something every single day. And I'm going to contend to us this weekend that it's not something you're looking for. It is someone that you're looking for. And if you attach yourself to him that he opens his hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing, he is the only one who is worthy to be worshiped. He is the only one who can handle the weight of your absolute devotion. He can handle all you got, all the time. He can handle all you're bringing to him all the time. He's the only one who can do it. And he will never, ever fail. He alone is worthy to be worshiped. So we're going to be How Great Thou Art is certainly the backdrop to the sermon today, but if it had a title, the title would be Four Ingredients of God Honoring Christ Exalting War, Making Worship. That's what we're going to talk about today. I hope you came ready. Four Ingredients of God Honoring Christ Exalting War, Making Worship we're going to be in Psalm chapter 145. It's called the Praise of David, written by King David a long, long time ago. And it starts in verse one and it says this I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works. I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. The first ingredient of God Honoring Christ, Exalting war, Making Worship is this. Is that it's personal. It's personal. David says, I will extol you, my God and King. I will wake up every day and bless your name forever and ever. He doesn't say that you are a God. He says you are my God. Worship is not passive, it's personal. You could even go as far as to say that it's aggressive. When we wake up in this world at war, we wake up and there is the enemy of God and there is human ego. And all day, every day, they are trying to steal fame, steal credit and steal glory from God. And as God's people, we stand up and we say, it is personal to us that someone is trying to steal from our God, who is worthy to be praised. We take it personally. So not on our watch. We're gonna give him what he's due. We take it personally. It's not something we sit back and just watch idly happen around us. It is not passive, it is aggressive. Here's the thing about God. God wants you to know how well he knows you. God wants you to know how well he knows you. Jesus says it like this in Luke chapter 12, verse 7. He says indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Now for some of us, the counting would take longer than others, right? So you just hang on to your dad ball joke. You keep that to yourself. I'm a girl, dad. I have two girls. They're 12 and 15 years old. And as my wife and I started having children, I just had this sense. I just always knew I was going to be a girl dad. I never had a category that I would father boys. And so all I've ever really known is fathering girls. And honestly, I'm a, I love it. I'm a better human, I'm a better husband, I'm a better pastor, I'm a better everything. Because God has blessed me with these two beautiful young girls and it's an honor to be their dad. And one of the things that I say all the time when people ask me about my family and I tell them I have 12 and 15 year old daughters, they're like, ooh, how's that going? And honestly, it's going pretty good. I mean, you can pray for us for sure, but we feel very, very blessed. People will lean in and be like, hey girl dad, you know, were you ready for all the tears? And I'm like, look man, the tears don't bother me. I'm into. It bothers me none. Emotions are from God. You just gotta push into it. I love it. Let's go. Right, no problem. Here's the thing that I wasn't ready for. I wasn't ready for the hair. The hair, it's everywhere. It's all over the floor, it's in clothes, it is everywhere. The amount of hair is sheerly mind numbing. I mean the things that I've had to clean out of sinks and drains. You pull the drain up out of it and it is just nuclear waste of death and pain hanging there. I mean it is unbelievable. You walk around with this on your head. I mean, the hair. Now, I'm not saying I'm a professional, but I can do a ponytail and I can do a braid. I'm not saying you would rock it. I'm just saying I can do it. Now, my girls won't let me anywhere near their hair. But their mother, on the other hand, she's a magician when it comes to hair. From the time that they were born, her hands have been in their hair for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. She has stood behind them, braiding, making flips and flops and French this and twisted that. Unbelievable what she can get their hair to do. She can take an absolute rat's nest and turn it into just something of beauty. She's a magician when it comes to their hair. You could take my wife right now and you could line up 100 girls. You could blindfold my wife and somehow make it where she couldn't hear or see. And she could go down the line of all these girls braiding their hair. And when she got to my daughter's hair and she touched their hair, she would know exactly who it is. Why? Because her hands have been involved in the details up close and personal and intimate in their lives, every second of their lives. She is nearer to them than anyone else. And this is a finite picture. It is only a picture of how well God knows you. God doesn't just know what you do. 1st Samuel 16:7 says it like this. Says God doesn't look on the outward appearance as man does God. God looks at the heart. He doesn't just know what you do, he knows why you do it. God knows you. He knows you. And the wildest and the most beautiful part of the Gospel, one of the most compelling realities of God's grace is that he knows us. And he wants you. He doesn't just know us, he wants us. The reason we take worship personally is because God takes you personally. It is personal for him. Jesus explains it in Matthew, chapter 13, verse 44. He says, it's my favorite parable. It's a short one, but it's packed. He says, the kingdom of heaven, the values of heaven, the operating system of heaven, the point of heaven, the goal of heaven, the joy of heaven. This is what he's saying. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. And then in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field. There's a couple of right ways to interpret this parable. Number one, is that God is the treasure. You see, when God leads us to a place where we see him through Jesus Christ as supremely valuable, then everything else in our world gets reassessed and gets right sized. Another way to say it is that when God, by His grace through Jesus, shows us that he is first, which is who he is and where he is. When we catch the divine revelation that God is first, everything else in our life begins to fit. That is one right way to interpret this parable, that God is the treasure. There's another way that I came across a few years ago and it completely rocked my thinking, and here is another right way to interpret it, is that you are the treasure and that Jesus is the man. Let's read it again like this. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field. When Jesus found it, he hid it. Again, I don't have time to explain that theologically. That'll just be for another sermon. And then in Jesus joy, He went and sold all he had and bought that field. Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity. He leaves the glory, the dominion, the rule, the honor, the praise, the power and honestly the protection of heaven. And he swans, dives down here. He puts on skin. And he walks the roads that we walk, tempted in every way that we are tempted. But he never fails. He never sins. He never transgresses God's law. He upholds God's justice, completely living perfectly. And then at the exact right time in human history, he looks at Calvary's cross, which is the just and due penalty for sin. The penalty for sin is death. Jesus stares death in the face. He climbs up on the cross. He doesn't negotiate terms. For you, he doesn't pay 10%. For you, he doesn't pay 20%. He didn't bargain down a new rate on you. He gives up all of his blood. He gives up all of his breath. He gives up his very life, satisfying the demands of death. But he does not stay dead. Three days later, he resurrects from the grave. And he comes out as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, having victory over death and hell and sin and for all who would believe in him. He looks at you and says, you are mine. I have purchased you. You have been bought with a price. I will never let you go. You belong to me. That is what he has done. That is who he is. It's personal for him. It is personal. Do you have any idea how valuable you are to God? I mean, what's the gospel all about? If it's not God redeeming his children and bringing them back into love relationship with him for his glory, because it makes him happy. Hebrews 12 explains it like this. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy, what was the joy set before him? You and me set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. He is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus, make no mistake about it, he takes offense. He is personally offended by Satan and by sin. That is why it says in First John, chapter 3, verse 8 that the reason Jesus Christ came into the world is to destroy the works of the devil because he takes it personally. Psalm 145, verse 16. The Psalmist continues like this. He says, you open your hand and you satisfy the desire of every living thing. You were made as a soul means you're on an eternal journey of desire. That's what it means to have a soul that you are in a forever journey of want. You and me, we wake up, we go through this life. We are want, factories. We want and we want and we want. We want from deep down in in our bones, and it's coming out of our pores and our mouths every day. We want and we want and we want. The question is, this ache of want, this deep driving desire inside of us. What can fully and finally and only satisfy it? There's only one person who opens his hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing, and it's God Almighty. Where do you put your ache? It's personal. As soon as worship becomes personal, it will become surrendered. The second ingredient of God honoring Christ, exalting war, making worship, is that it's surrendered. David writes this in verse one. He says, I will extol you, my God and king. Now what's fascinating is when King David writes this, he is actually a king. He's one of the most powerful people on the planet. And for the last 30 years or so, when he writes this psalm, all Israel has been doing is winning. David could walk around and his theme song be, all I do is win, win, win. They have just been kicking tail and taking names for decades. And he can have anything he wants. He can have anyone he wants. And in this moment, King David proves why he's called a man after God's own heart. Why? Because David says, I may be a king, but I am not the king. There is someone who is greater than I am. There is someone more significant than to me, and I am surrendered to him. What did David know To write this from a place of authenticity. Well, David knew this. He knew that having a relationship with God is not primarily informational. It's transformational. Having a relationship with God is not primarily informational. It's transformational. It is not simply an acknowledgement of facts. It is an invasion from another kingdom. That's what it means to have a relationship with God. When the Puritans used to preach the gospel and they didn't use the words that sometimes you'll hear in church today, like they didn't use the word evangelical or born again or saved or regenerate, they didn't say any of these words. When they would preach the gospel and someone would open their eyes to the reality of God and what has been done for them in and through Christ Jesus. What they would say is that this person has now been seized by the power of a great affection. I love that this person has now been seized by the power of a great affection. They have been enamored. They have been hammered by the grace, the love, and the provision of Jesus Christ. They have been seized by the power of a great affection. Have you been seized by the power of God's great love for you? This is how the hymnist writes it. He says, and when I think that God, his Son, not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in that on the cross my burden gladly bearing he bled and died to take away my sin. I've traveled quite a bit on the continent of Africa over the last 20 years. And some years ago I was there. And we were on the border of Kenya and Uganda. And when you come to this, it's in a little town. And the road that we were on is a dirt road that's really rutted out, and it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. And when you come to this border crossing, the first stop you'll come to is kind of like a mud hut and kind of a makeshift gate. And it's got some barbed wire fence kind of running in maybe 30 yards in either direction. And you walk up to it, and there's some people that are dressed in. I mean, it's kind of official gear. It's a little hard to discern what's going on. And if you just bribe the folks at this gate, then they'll just let you go on through. But if you don't, you have to get your paperwork out. And they do this like, dog and pony show, and then they stamp it, and then you kind of keep moving on. Well, after you get through this guard station, you go half a mile ish up the road and you come up to a much more official looking building. And this one has legit gates and legit fences and people in military garb. And this is actually a border crossing and you have to go in and get your passport out and you have to do all the things and then they'll let you cross from one country to the other. Now as I'm watching this happen, I'm like, why did we have to go through two different stops? And they're like, oh, that first stop's not real. It's a sham. It doesn't mean anything. It's just how they take your money. And I'm like, and everybody does this. And they go, yeah, it's about tribal lines and things that happened a long time ago. And I'm like, okay, well explain it to me. And they go, well, look, in between the first stop and the second stop is what's called a no man's land. It's about a half a mile and thousands of people choose to live in it. They choose to live there. But it's not under the sovereign rule of either nation that it's not controlled by either system of government, that the people in the middle, they are stuck in between two different countries and they choose this. And I'm like, I don't really get it, I don't understand. And then the locals begin to explain it to me and go, listen, the people that choose to stay in no man's land or the borderlands, the people that choose to stay there, they choose to stay there because it is here that they think they're in control. It is a completely lawless land and they are totally alone. Nobody's coming to rescue them. But they choose to stay there. Why? Because they don't trust people in charge on either side of the border. They would rather be stuck than they would surrendered. They would rather be stuck than they would surrendered. And I think this so often happens in the Christian life where people receive salvation, but then God begins to do his transforming work in their life. It's called sanctification, it's a big fancy word. He begins to transform them. One thought, one desire, one habit at a time. He begins to work on them and he begins to grow them up. And as he's leading them into maturity, he begins to pull the weeds out. He begins to do his pruning work, as Jesus would define it. And all of a sudden, sometimes the spirit of God comes upon some things in our life that he wants to Cut away and, and we just don't want to let go of them. And so we just grab and grab and grab and grab and grab. And when we do this, we're saying, I want to stay stuck right here with all this stuff instead of live surrendered. I want to feel like I'm in control of this part of my life. I want to be in control of my finances. So I'm not going to do them God's way. I want to be in control of my relationships. So I'm not going to do them God's way. I want to be in control of this. And we live under the delusion that we're in control. And we, and by doing this, by gripping tighter and tighter and tighter and in the areas of our lives where we don't want to step into trust with God, what we're saying is that I would rather be stuck than I would be surrendered. Another time I was in Africa, I was on a safari and I was in a 15 passenger van. And the question you ask before I tell the story, the question is this, why do we choose stuck? Or why would anyone choose stuck over surrendered? When we know God's promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ, when we know God offers us the abundant life through Jesus Christ that his promises will be fulfilled, that his mercies are new every morning, that we are a new creation created with purpose and calling and passion and desires and dreams to walk out God's plan for our existence. We know God has better, we know God knows better. So why would we choose stuck? Well, one of the reasons that I think this happens is because we get a diminished, we get marginalized. The world kind of beats down our view of God. And God in our mind, not functionally, we would never say this, but God in our mind, we begin to operate as though God is small, as though God is weak, as though God is distant, that he is far away. But one of the things that happened when we were in Africa is we're in this 15 passenger van and we roll up on this pride of lions. A lot of lions now if you know how lions work, there's a lot of lionesses and there's a lot of cubs, but there's only one king. And we roll up on this pride of lions and it's like hard to see and you're trying to take pictures. And so my buddy, not thinking, he opens the sliding door to the van and he gets out of the van on safari next to a pride of lions and he's trying to get a Better angle to take pictures of this lion. We begin to yell obscenities at him and we're like, bro, what is wrong with you? We yank him back in the van and I'm like, dude, what do you think? You think you're at the zoo? Like, you think there's glass wall between you and that lion? Make no mistake about it. Make no mistake about it. That lion is not in your world. You were in his. You want breakthrough in your life? Wake up every day and remind yourself that God is not a character in your story, that you play a part in his. Our God is not small. He is not weak. He is not distant. My Bible says that the Lord our God, the Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Isaiah 42:13 says, the Lord will go forth like a warrior. He will arouse his zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout. Yes. He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against his enemies. Amos 4:13. He forms the mountains and creates the winds. He declares to man, what are his thoughts. He makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth. The Lord God of hosts is his name. Jeremiah 20:11. I love this one. The Lord is with me like a dread champion. Do you know what a dread champion is? Me neither. Here's all I can figure from studying the Scriptures is that there is a type of champion that when his enemies see him, they dread his very existence. The Lord is with me like a dread champion. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Job writes this in chapter 16 of Job. He says, he breaks through me. He breaks through me with breach after breach. He runs at me like a warrior. God is not passive. He's not sitting idly by the Holy Spirit, the hound of Heaven. There is no question on my mind that he is running after each one of us right now like a warrior. And some of us, he has been on our conscience saying, you're choosing stuck and God wants you to step into surrender because this is where the abundant life is. Will you let go so that you can step into God's promises? The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Sometimes because it's become familiar. What is awe inspiring and divine has become normal and common. We need to know who we're talking about when we say God. He is not small. He is not distant. You're coming here this morning. Somebody says, where are you going? To church. I would offer you this. This is what the psalmist says that Psalm 145. David says that I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty. Where are you going? I'm going to meditate on the glorious splendor our majesty. That's what we're trying to do here is to think rightly about God Almighty who was and is and is to come so that we can live rightly as he's called us and purposed us. This word majesty is an interesting one. Majesty is. It means the dignified beauty of royal power on display. The dignified beauty of royal power on display. What if you went home this afternoon and you walked in and your family was like, majesty, can I get you anything? You'd be like, well, maybe you can. You know, we just don't talk like this. It's not a part of our world. But what do we mean? The dignified power of. The dignified beauty of royal power on display. Many years ago, five years ago or so, I wrote a 40 day devotional through the New Testament book of Jude. And I was tearing this book apart. It's the shortest book in the New Testament, which is probably why I chose it. Just trying to take the easy way out, I guess. And I'm reading sentence by sentence and I actually start breaking it down word by word. And one of the words in the Book of Judah is this word majesty. And I really began to reflect on it and think about it and internalize it. And I can't really explain what happened, and I'm not trying to be all weird about it, but it was one of those moments that I just had an encounter with the Spirit of God. I mean, I wasn't laying on the floor moaning or calling down the gold dust or anything. It was just like a thing. Like I was just in a different mental place. And God gave me this devotion centered around the word majesty. And I'm going to offer it to you, I want to read it to you in hopes to encourage you in here in just a few minutes when we sing that we are reminded or we have received new revelation or a better revelation around the reality of who God is. And so I wrote this. I'm going to offer it to you, encourage you with it, and hopefully it gets you stirred up from your bones. And when we sing How Great Thou Art, Art, we're not just saying words, but we're feeling it from our guts, okay? Because of who we're talking about. So here it is. It says, there is no one like him. There is no God but Him. He was and is and is to come. He reigns on High over all things, visible and invisible. His ways are higher, his thoughts are wiser. His beauty is matchless and his sovereignty is sure. He is everywhere, ahead of everything and behind everything. There is nothing that happens that does not first pass through his hands. He holds the endless galaxy and knows the stars by the names he has given each one. Before the beginning he set at the foundation of the world a cross. And he made atonement for all sins so that his children could come to him and be redeemed by his mercy. And he secured us for his glory. Every whisper of wind and every calamity of storm declare his might. Every rolling wave and every soaring eagle give way to his presence. Every child's tear and every mother's embrace come to us by the merciful touch of God. To be near him is to be alive. And to be his is to be immortal. He is unending beyond time, never changing in character, never changing in intention. He is incomprehensible in mercy. He is more available to his children than gravity is to the earth. He did not begin when the beginning began. He began the beginning. He did not start when start started. He started to start at a word. He brought forth day and night, land and sea, all things that crawl and swim and fly. He leaned in and breathed the life of an eternal soul into his prized creation. And up from the dirt came his image staring back at him, reflecting him to his creation as the moon reflects the sun. He is the Lord God of Israel. He is the lion of Judah, the Righteous One of the remnant. He is the Prince of Peace, the King of all kings, the firstborn among the dead. He is the resurrected Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world. He is the joy that comes in the morning. He is the eternity that has been set in the hearts of men. And he is the true north that will guide us home. He has 10,000 times 10,000 angels flying around him, declaring his glory, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. His love never fails. His hope endures forever. It is with gladness that he does all things. There is nothing that runs deeper through the veins of creation than his grace. His purpose is undeniable. It is in him, through him and for him, by him and to him that all things were created. That were created. He cannot be stopped. He will not be forgotten. He shall never be moved. He shall never be forsaken. His name is above every name on earth and in heaven. He has set a feast for his family that will ever be their Joy. He has no fear, he has no shame. He is guilty of nothing and he will always finish what he starts. He is all knowing, all powerful, all loving and good. He is tenacious in dispensing his grace. He is ferocious in battle. He is undefeated, irrevocable, supreme in all his ways. He is majesty. That's who we're surrendered to now in the spirit of authenticity. I read that off the TV in the back, so don't be too impressed. Man, I'm hot up here, man. Got a. I'm wearing a. I'm wearing a. I'm wearing a shacket. I don't even know what a shacket is, but I got one on, you know, number three. God glorifying Christ, exalting war, making worship. It's generational, it's personal, it's surrendered, it's generational. The psalmist says, this one generation will commend your works to another. God is worthy of more praise than one generation can give him. He is worthy of more praise than every generation can give him. And make no mistake about it, my friends, we are in a fight for future generations. I do not say this as an alarmist. I say this as an encouragement that our God is on the move. Make no mistake about it, I will say it. Revival has broken out, absolute revival. People are coming to Christ by the hundreds of thousands all around the world. And I am believing. And here's the thing about this revival is that it's not being led by people like me who stand on stages. It is being led by 15 to 25 year olds all over our country who are showing their lives to lordship of Jesus Christ. Every great awakening that the world has ever experienced has been led by people 15 to 25 years old. I am praying and believing that we are on the front end of 50 years of a watershed of revival where this generation is going to lead us into a future where our in our land and around the world, where people are raised up and people are called out and they are living as though Christ is their highest allegiance and nothing matters more than Him. I believe in revival is coming. I'm believing that the Great Commission will be fulfilled, that every tribe, tongue and nation will hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that every person will have a chance to respond. And then we will hear the trumpets blast and Christ our King will come home and get us. This is what we're talking about. It's personal, it's surrendered, it's generational. God is on the move in this new generation. Don't believe the lies. Don't believe the lies. God is on the move. But it's not just out there. It is in here as well. In the last two years, our kids and student ministry here at 1122 has grown by 3,388 birth to 12th graders. We have seen an 85% increase in attendance over the last 24 months. In students grades 6 to 12, we have seen 1,860 middle school and high school students surrender their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Over the last two years, we have baptized 2,669 students. Look, if you. I don't know if you pay attention whether you're. Thursday nights, Sunday morning, at our campuses, a lot of our campuses, at the end of our services, we invite people to come down and pray. And what fills the altar are young adults. It fills the altar, man. What a thing of grace God is doing. But make no mistake about it, we're not just trying to raise good Americans here who vote and pay their taxes. We are trying to raise gospel missionaries who are surrendered unto the lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, there are currently nine generations alive on the planet, the oldest of which is the greatest generation. This is people born before 1927. And this past weekend, I went to my uncle's 100th birthday and I had a plan going in. I knew I was going to be preaching about gratitude and the greatness of God. And so I was going to go up to him and I was going to ask him a question, and he was going to give me this, like, really wise answer. And then I was going to come back and I was going to tell you all about it. And y' all are going to be like, oh, my God, that was so great. And then it would have been off. That was what I was going for. Right? Well, I get there and he's sitting down and he's wearing his World War II vet hat. Well, they don't make him like that anymore. Side note, my brother calls me about two years ago and he's like, bro, I just pulled the best dad move ever. I'm like, what'd you do? And he's. At the time, his kids were like 16, 15 and 12. He's like, they come home every day and they're just complaining and they're whining and everything's hard, and they're just so entitled. He's like, I just got sick of it. Somebody's making fun of one behind their back, and it's like the end of the world. And they're having this metaphysical crisis. And he's like, I just had enough. And so I sat him down on the the couch and I said, you're gonna sit your butt right there and you don't get to speak. And then I put on Saving Private Ryan and I made him watch the first 40 minutes. He goes, and then after that, I looked at him and said, anything you'd like to complain about? Those are teenagers storming the beaches of Normandy right there. What do you got to complain about? Hey, you do what you want. But I thought it was a good idea. Anyway, I go up to my uncle. He's wearing his World War II vet, he's a hundo bro. He'd been around a minute. And I go, I'm like, hey, it's good to see you. I just have a question. What's something you're grateful for? And he says, well, Nathan, which is not my name. Not my name. He goes, did you see the cake? I said, I did see the cake. And that's it. That's what happened. And so look, from the greatest generation, this year starts a new generation, Generation B. I just want to say this, and then I'm going to go to close. If you're under 30, look, I'm 44 years old. I'm hopefully somewhere in the middle belongs to the Lord. I don't have much to offer. I don't think I have much advice to give. Just an encouragement. If you're under 30, every day you wake up and this world is lying to you. And it is trying to convince you that your value is somehow connected to something you earn, something you do, something you say. And the most insidious of all lies is this. The most insidious of lies being peddled in our world right now is that the most important thing about you is how you feel about yourself. And that you should arrive at how you feel about yourself based on how you assess that other people feel about you. And so we think about what people think about us and that's how we land on value. That's what this lie wants us to do. I want you to know that God Almighty has declared you with worth and value and significance. And you do not have to believe the lie. And here's my encouragement to you is that no matter how hard it gets, no matter what it costs, no matter how the time ties of this world turns, no matter what goes on in culture, no matter what the prominent lie or the prominent temptation of the day is I want you to do, I want you to know this is that in every way, Jesus Christ is worth it. He is worth it. He is worth your surrender. He is worth your devotion. He is worth your affections. He is worth your time. He is worth it. He is worth it. It's generational. And then finally, the fourth ingredient of God honoring Christ, exalting war, making worship is this is that it's grateful. It's grateful. The psalmist writes it in verse three. He says, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is great. And when you came in, you got a gratitude list. And the gratitude list is something that we've been doing at 11:22 for a very, very long time. Pastor Joby started it. And on one side, it says grateful to God. And the idea is simple here, if you're joining us online, you can just bust out your phone and use your notes app, and it works the same way. The idea is simple here. For every one year that you've been alive, you write down one thing that God has blessed you with that you're thankful for. The science is in on gratitude. Gratitude felt. Gratitude has the ability to rewire the map ways and the pathways. Pathways of our brain. When we feel gratitude, it actually fires off dopamine and serotonin in our minds. And so when we practice gratitude, what we're doing is teaching our brain what to focus on. And so we're gonna. On your gratitude list, for every one year that you've been alive, you write down one thing that you're thankful for. That's the grateful to list. And there's some things on my gratitude list just to get you going that'll help you think in the right direction. Things like, I'm grateful for my salvation. Jesus did not have to save me, but he did, thank God. I'm grateful for the Bible. I'm grateful for my wife. I'm grateful for my two girls. I'm grateful for lasagna. I love it so much. I'm grateful for Christmas. I'm trying to get my kids to want to play music now. I don't want to wait Halloween, Shmaloween give me Christmas music. I'm grateful for the person who put chocolate and peanut butter together for the first time. I think they should have won a Nobel peace Prize. I'm grateful for air travel. I'm not, but I want to be. I fly all the time. And I'm the most entitled, selfish air traveler you've ever met in your entire life. And Pastor Joby says that gratitude is the enemy of entitlement. And so I Want to be grateful. So I put it on my list because I'm trying to teach my brain how to think. I got a flight this afternoon. You can pray for me and all the people around number 43. I'm grateful for the quiet places in between all the noise in between all the noise. And that's what I want to do. For the next few minutes. We're just going to create a quiet place between all the noise. When's the last time before you start thinking about where you got to go and where you're trying to get to and this and that? Just hold on. When's the last time you had five minutes to just sit and be thankful? When's the last time you just took five minutes to just sit and say thank you, God? Now, on your gratitude list, there's the grateful to. I don't expect you to finish. Nobody's gonna finish depending on how. Unless you're like seven. And then maybe you could get done. It's not to get done. It's just to get going. On the other side, there's the grateful to side. And then on the other side it says grateful for. See, gratitude there's. The only way I can really explain it is there's like a good, better and best. And the highest form of gratitude that I can encourage you to give and to feel is for the greatest gift of that you've ever received. And what is the greatest gift that God has ever given you? Well, the answer is himself. He is the greatest gift that could ever be given. And in and through Jesus Christ, he has completely given himself to us. And so the grateful for list is God, I am grateful to you. For you. I am grateful for God. Here are some things about him that I'm grateful for. So I'm going to read my grateful for list and then I'm going to pray. You're going to stay seated for four and a half minutes and you're going to work on your gratitude list. Our bands are coming out. They're going to sing over you Psalm 145 that we just studied. And while you're working on your gratitude list, so you stay seated, you work on your gratitude list. Our teams are going to sing, and then someone will come out and lead us into response. Here are 44 things that I am grateful to God for God. I am grateful for God's holiness, His sovereignty, his supremacy, his position outside of time, his irresistible saving grace, his common grace, his mercies are new every day, his unconditional love, his steadfastness through the ages, his faithfulness to his present promises, his glory, his beauty, his justice, his nearness, his joy comes in the morning, he sings over his children. I'm grateful that for his eternal creativity, for his preeminence, his throne room of grace, his covenant nature, his still small voice, his name that is above every name, his ways are higher, that his word stands forever, his trinitarian reality, his benevolence, his future grace, his fathering, his patience, his kindness that leads us to, to repentance, his omniscience, his omnipresence, his intervening and redeeming work inside his creation, his truth, his victory, his authenticity, his concern about every detail, his end game, his absolute dominion. I am grateful that our God is slow to anger and abounding in mercy that his praise endures forever. He opens his hand and he satisfies the desire of every living thing. I am grateful for the glorious splendor of his majesty. And I am grateful that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the one who was and is and is to come. Let's pray. God, we are grateful to you. For you. We are grateful for you. And in this next few minutes, God, would you just stir us up with thanksgiving and gratitude? We've been so richly blessed. We live in a world that oftentimes feels like it's at. It's at chaos. But we know that Jesus, you say you're the Prince of peace, so we hold on to your kingdom. You have our highest allegiance and so we want you to fill us with the peace of the kingdom of God. They want you to help us to see and to rightly think so that our minds can be full of right thoughts about you and, and our hearts can be full of your love. So we receive and we believe by grace that you love us and that that's the most important thing about us. So we invite you into this time and we say thank you, you're worthy of it all. In Jesus name, Amen. You stay seated and you work on your gratitude list. Our teams are going to sing and then we'll come and someone will lead us to response.