SMSS - Psalm 40: Celebrating God (Date: January 20th 2019)

I asked them, describe for me that worship experience. They said, oh man, the spirit of God is just moving. And I go, really, how do you know that? Well, I feel it. Okay, cool, cool. So you feel Him moving in you?

Yes. But how do you know He's moving in the room? Well, because smoke appears. And they were not joking. I asked them, where did that smoke come from? That's the glory of God in this place. I know the church they're going to.

And under the stage, on either side, they have smoke machines. Now this 20-something-year-old kid actually believes, with all of their heart, that when Miss Marybelle or whoever starts playing that piano and that smoke comes from out of the stage, it's because the pastor is so holy the music is so perfect, God shows up.

The Presence of God Is Not Proved by Smoke or Emotion

Jesus said in Matthew 18, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're looking for emotions to validate the presence of God, you do not understand how powerful God is.

And your worship will never meet.

That understanding of worshiping how powerful it is because you're looking to external sources to feed your level of worship. If you want to worship God, fall down on your face and meet your sinner and thank God that his grace has saved you from hell.

That is worship. Now what is praise? Well, praise is that which you people who have had children do all the time. I am writing a sermon now called Toxic Christianity because I have been so impressed with the new psychological terminologies that come out every year and I have something to confess to you.

I have oppressed my wife and children. Shut up, woman. I am a toxic male. I did not know this about myself. I personally like the female shape better than I like the male shape. I look at Marty and I can tell you there's a little attraction there but it's based in here, not here.

I believe that men, let me rephrase that. I believe husbands are the head of their households. That is not up to common or political or societal evolution. God's word said men are the head of the household.

Praise, Headship, and Giving Credit to What Is Right

Now you men need to lead but at the same time, you ladies need to follow. If you just amen, you're giving praise. What is praise? Praise is this. It is giving credit and giving a response of affirmation to that which is right.

Now, the reason we have a trouble with that nowadays is because we give affirmation to everything and anything. You understand what I mean? I remember when my kids played football. It was really cool because it was only one first place trophy.

You know why? Because we didn't believe that everybody was a winner just because you showed up. You see, there are losers in the world. There just are. I'm sorry, people. As I speak right now, every time I'm snapping my fingers, right now, someone is dropping off into the abyss in hell.

Right now. Oh, but they're winners too. No, they're not. They've lost. There's no parole. There's no time off. There's no recess. They're gonna be in hell forever. Now, Brother Jeff, what's that have to do with praise?

Well, praise is this. It's giving affirmation to that which is true. You can tell your kid when they send you that ugly picture and you put it up on your refrigerator and you know it's ugly. Everyone in the world knows it's ugly, but you sit there and you go, that is so good.

You're giving praise. Now, here's the good news for you. We do serve an omniscient God. We do serve an omnipotent God. We do serve a God full of grace and love, but we also serve a God of justice. And if you fail to praise his name, then you are failing that individual who could have an opportunity to know him as you know him.

What is your praise time like? How do you praise God? Well, it's always worship can be internal. Praise is always external. Read with me if you will. Psalms chapter 40, verse three. It says this, David's writing.

It says this, he put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see it and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Understand this about the 150 Psalms that we have. There are many more written, but the 150 that we have were all written to be sung.

Every single one of them. He named my toe. He named my toe. That Hebrew word that was spoken, that's Psalms chapter 18. For 4 ,000 years. You want to talk about old hymns? For 4 ,000 years, that has been sung by God's people walking to Jerusalem.

4 ,000 years. They didn't sing it quietly or internally. They sung it as a definitive mark of who they were and to whom they belong. Singing is mentioned 68 times in the book of Psalms. It is a critically important part.

It's not part of our service, guys. It is a part of our lives. And if you're not singing and praising to God except on Sunday morning, I promise you if your spiritual life could be characterized as a bonfire, a flashlight, or a burnt match, I promise you if the only time you're singing to God is on Sunday morning, you're a burnt match.

I promise you. And you'll blame or try to figure out every other reason in the world why it's someone else's fault except for your inability to obey and praise God. How do we glorify God? Well, we worship, submitting to his sovereignty.

We praise him. And I want you to notice this about David. Listen to this. David had a man killed, stole his wife, slept with her, refused to admit to it, didn't repent, and it was a public sin. It wasn't a private one.

And he got lamb blasted. In Psalms 51, he prays for forgiveness. In Psalms 40, he's struggling. Look what it says. I waited patiently, Psalm 40, I waited patiently for the Lord. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're in that place, please, strip yourself of religion and church for a second for the love of God, please.

I'm speaking to individuals, not a congregation. If you're in that place where you feel like you and God are this far apart, at one time in your life, you were close to God. You're truly a Christian. But life, apathy, laziness, has made you feel this far apart, I can tell you two words.

Repent, and then praising for his grace and acceptance. I waited patiently. Here's what we want sometimes. We want the pain, the loneliness, and the sorrow to go away. And so we walk down an aisle and we praise God.

And that emotion is what we think we need. And that's what we're looking for, when in reality, it's the beginning of a path to wait patiently on the Lord. James 4 says this, humble yourself therefore in the sight of God and he will lift you up in due time.

Part of the matriculation process, the growing process, is learning how to wait in the dry times by doing what you should be doing consistently. Does that make sense? Some of y 'all were saved at BBS, at First Baptist, whatever.

But you have never grown past that. And your spiritual life and your faith is still very infinitesimal. Guys, learn to praise and worship God by doing that outside of emotion and doing it because you know you need it.

Worship, Praise, and the Lost Being Drawn to Truth

What happens when we praise God? Well, when we glorify God, two things happen immediately. The lost are drawn to truth. In Psalms 57 .9, it says, David said, I will praise you, Lord, among the peoples.

I will sing praises to you among the nations. The difference between the two is the people are the people of God, the nations are outside of that relationship. When we worship God, it's an attitude that we carry with us all day.

It's an attitude where people see and notice there's something different about you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are born again Christian and you're not living by worship, it's easy to camouflage yourself in the world.

Are you accepted totally by the world? Is there any consternation between how you live your life and what the world lives? If there's not, you need to get back into an attitude of worship. People will sit there and ask you questions because they know there's something different about you because of your attitude of worship.

Look what it says, many will see it. Our praise and worship has to be seen outside this stupid building. It has to be seen. It is not our evangelism. Guys, evangelism is a command. Worship is a strategy.

Worship is something that we already do because God deserves it. And a part of the offshoot of that is people will see a difference in who and what you are and will have a valid understanding of truth because you're not just doing it on a Sunday morning.

Worship should be all the time. We should worship God publicly and corporately. Listen to me, remember this. When you worship God, you are witnessing for God. Worship and witness should walk hand in hand.

Some of you, all you know is the Romans road. Guys, listen, the days of Tantra Bibles are over. The days of, hey, can I tell you about, it doesn't work. It is worship though that will change people into seeing what truth is.

All you, have you ever seen the movie Airplane? Once again, you young people, can y 'all believe this? Listen to me, last night at my birthday party, I asked, let's just do it right now. Watch this. How many of you have not seen The Godfather?

Okay. How do you raise children? I don't get it. So sad. But in the movie Airplane, the guy's walking through the airport and they're making fun of, I'm thinking Carrie right now. They're making fun of, you know, they'll come up, hey, take this flower for, take this.

And finally the guy just starts jacking them, right? The world sees you people because you're in here as freaks like that. Y 'all are brainwashed. You have to Jeff Shipley. Y 'all are brainwashed into being weird.

Y 'all are just weird people, weird, weird, weird. But what's funny is if you have an authentic style of worship, it's not what you do in here that they judge you by or the fact that you go to a church, it's what you're doing out there.

They don't have to find out where you go because the church goes with you or it should be going with you as you worship. Does that make sense? Y 'all with me? Okay, watch this. It says this, many will hear, many will hear and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

How many of y 'all fear God? Have you ever heard someone say this? Well, I don't think you should be afraid of God. I guarantee you that's the same kid who lived in rebellion against their parents who are still having mommy and daddy issues even at 30 years old.

Guys, some people because they feel rejected, they want to take that sense of rejection, insecurity and a loss of identity and place it everywhere in their life, including with God. Guys, you know what fear is?

It's one of the most healthiest things in the world. It really is. Now I'm not talking about irrational fear. Like I'm scared of sharks. Should I be scared of sharks right this second? That would be an irrational fear.

I'm also afraid of spiders. I don't know what it is, man. They're just like, you know, the only good spider is a dead spider, right? That's not the fear we're talking about. Fear is reverence, awe and respect.

I remember the first 30 -06 I ever shot. Now, I had shot 22s. I had shot four 10 shotguns, even 20 gauges. I was like eight. Yeah, my dad was one of those guys that constantly used the phrase, son, it's time to man up.

And so he put 180 grain boat-tailed bullet, 30 -06, and he said, lay it on that fence post, boy, and shoot that goat. I was just, we were skinning goats that day. So I was sitting there and I laid it up there, and you know, I was afraid.

I was in awe. I was like, oh my gosh. And I remember pulling the trigger and I hit the goat. Unfortunately, it wasn't in a good place. I hit the goat, but I'm not going into that part. And I remember it kicked me, but it did knock me down.

And I was like, I just shot a 30 -06. That night, I was having dreams of little Mary Jane Kowalski, you know, pretty blonde hair, blue-eyed girl in the fourth grade, and the Russians had come down to attack, and I grabbed my dad's 30 -06, and I fired them all off, and she gave me a kiss, and I was the hero, right?

I know none of you young men have ever had those visions, but I have, right? I remember saving the world with that 30 -06, and it was so powerful. It was just absolutely mind-boggling. I could have shot an elephant from 8 million miles away.

I could shoot the moon. Fast forward to I was 20 years old hunting in Bodlob, Arkansas, and I was hunting squirrels with that 30 -06. Now, for those of you that hunt, know that automatically, there's a problem with that scenario.

And I was hunting with the 30 -06 and Anheuser-Busch, and me and Mr. Bush and four or five of my other buddies were doing all sorts of these stupid things with that 30 -06. Watch this. I had an awe and a respect at eight years old that through contempt by familiarity, I no longer had at 20.

Some of y 'all's spiritual lives look just like that. When you were first saved, there was an awe and a respect and a gratitude of who God was. But as you kept going to church, as you kept looking to religious people as examples instead of the word of God, you started getting more burned and more dry and more worn out because your worship wasn't authentic, not by smoke machines, but you started looking to things, people, and places rather than the holiness of God.

And then you sit there and go, what happened? I need to rededicate my life. No, you need to repent. There's no word rededication in Scripture. The word is repent. Well, Brother Jeff, I don't think I need to do that again.

That is because you don't have any awe, fear, respect of who God is. Guys, many will see it and they will fear. Now, here's the second part. And they will put their trust in the Lord. Talking to a young lady, I don't know how I keep getting all these people.

I actually have a guy who's a pastor of a church who had a secretary call me to refer one of his church members for me to talk to. Pastors don't counsel people anymore. They're too busy writing sermons.

I got this off of AdrianRogers .com. I don't know what the big deal is, but this young lady was abused as a young lady within the church. I'll leave it at that. Now, as a man, my first response is, baby, give me an address.

I got an ice pick and a shovel. I can take care of that for you, you know? But I got to heal the wound. God will deal out justice. Touch not one of these little ones. Y 'all, some of y 'all remember that.

God will give justice. Everything will balance, I promise you. So I'm talking to her and she is just broken. And I ask her, baby, we've been talking for a while now. What is it you're looking for? And she used to say healing, but she started changing the words to the word.

I want peace. And it's really funny, because no matter why someone comes into my office or why someone needs prayer, it's a universal answer. We're all looking for peace. Maybe over your insecurities, your fears, rejection, whatever it is, financial, it doesn't matter.

You're looking for peace. It says many will trust. The problem why we don't have peace is because we've rebelled against God. And there is a part of our matrix that can only be filled by the presence of God.

And when that's absent, we're always feeling insecure. And we'll blame other people for that or other situations for that. But the bottom line is, if you don't have peace with God, you're not gonna have peace with anybody else.

Trust is such an important part of peace. Trust. I have something with my family. I call it the daddy promise. And I've lied a bunch in my life. I don't know about you guys, but I've lied a bunch. But I never did this, thank you.

I never did this. Whenever I promised my kids a daddy promise, whenever I said, this is true, and that's a daddy promise, I can say in 27 years, I have never broken one of those. Have I? Okay, good. I've never broken one.

I think I could have gone to my family and said, the sky is raining gold, I daddy promise you. And they would all picked up buckets. Wouldn't have asked, wouldn't have looked, just gone. Ladies and gentlemen, if you've been praying for something and haven't received it, please don't reach to the heights of arrogance to say that God isn't listening.

Maybe repent to the fact that he's saying no. Sometimes we treat God like some millennial enabling parent. That's not who God is. Christians aren't supposed to be the internet warriors sitting in their mom's basement without a job eating a Hot Pocket, like non-toxic masculinity guys are today.

In my day, we had a name for them called fairies. I won't say that, because it's not politically correct. Yet, silence. Brandon used to be, when someone was on property, and I was like, hey, you need to leave, hey, you need to leave, but I don't cuss.

Hold on a second. Let me try to help you understand what I'm saying. Brandon, come explain to this guy what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, this is before he was Christian. Guys, if you don't trust the Lord, the healing that can take place in your life is never gonna happen.

God didn't hurt you, you hurt you. God does not abandon you, you abandon God. If you make it to heaven, it's 100 God's fault. If you don't, it's 100 yours. What if God says, I will never leave you nor forsake you?

Now, here's the key thing that you need to remember. That was written to his children, not the world. We're not all God's children in this world. I'm not wearing Birkenstocks, I don't smoke weed, this isn't a hippie common.

We're all God's creation, but only those saved by grace are God's children. The word of God is written to his children, not everybody else. Guys, learn to trust the Lord and you'll find the peace that you're looking for.

Guys, I gotta move on. Parents, do your children see you trusting God? Have you ever had a fight with your significant other on the way to church? And then your attitude stunk when you were at church and your praise and worship was like this, amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

Let's say, this is so stupid, you won't shut up, let's go home. And then when people come up to you, you go, oh, I'm doing fine, God bless you. The hypocrisy that they see in that is the hypocrisy that they're judging you by and the reality of who God is through your own failures to be authentic.

And then you will one day say something really stupid like this, I don't know why they rebelled, I raised them up in church. Don't be stupid. Watch this, guys, people know what's authentic. They know what's authentic.

Give them time. You can't fool everybody all the time. You will know what authentic Christianity looks like. Guys, do your children see you authentically worshiping God? If the only time they see it is in here, then by default, let me help you with the answer, the answer is no, they've never seen you authentically worshiping God because it should be outside of here.

Worship as Witness and the Call to Authenticity

And that last thing and I'm done. What else when we glorify God? Well, the lost are drawn to Christ. But guys, we're sent out of here. We're sent out of here. Lord of the Rings, last night, we're watching Jeremiah, Ashley, Jeff, and I were watching Lord of the Rings.

Which one was it? The middle one, yeah, the second one. Now, I like those. That whole Harry Potter thing, I felt like I wanted to put a drill bit through my skull. But Lord of the Rings, man, I got into that, man.

I like it. It had swords, chicks, you know, Toxic Maxillinian stuff, you know. I mean, I like that stuff. But there's a little speech. I don't know how to put it. But every one of those movies, what's the main dude's name?

Aragorn, whatever. The dude with the biggest sword. Toxic Masculinity. He was sitting there, thanks, Scott. Man, I'm almost done. Y 'all are so sweet to me. I am glistening. I'm exuding testosterone, Toxic Masculinity.

Listen to me. They have these little speeches. These little, you know, the troops are coming. The bad guys are coming. It's 10 ,000 versus 300. And I remember the guy sitting there going, what are we gonna do?

And I answered him. I've seen the movie 12 times. But he goes, what are we gonna do? And the first thing that came out of my mouth was act like a man. What do you mean? What are you gonna do? Stand up and fight, let's go, right?

And I'm getting pumped up. Man, I'm ready to go.

I remember watching Braveheart. I saw it in the theaters. Dude slit that girl's throat. Man, if someone had spoke with a British accent, I'd have been over the rope and just, mm, you know?

I'm ready to fight, right? Aragorn stands up and he goes, what do you mean? What are we gonna do? If we die, let us die fighting.

We're gonna ride out of here and we're gonna draw the sword. If we go down, we're gonna go down swinging.

And I was like, whoo, let's go four quarters, baby. Let's go 10 rounds.

That toxic masculinity was just coming out of me, man. Also out of my daughter. She's got a sword, you know? My daughter will whoop you. By the way, she's 26 and single, really smoking hot and getting cooked.

So someone come see me. But anyways, fired up with that, man. I got fired up with that.

When you leave worship,.

If you and your brain just thought about this building, you have missed the whole point of this sermon. I have times in my life where I have to worship God because I know I'm going into a situation where I'm fixing to fight.

Yesterday morning was a perfect example of it. I knew I was gonna be surrounded by people who were different than me, okay? Who don't believe in toxic masculinity at all. Who wear plastic unicorn necklaces and they're dudes.

Guys, we as a church can continue to make fun of people. We can continue to do what we've done for a couple hundred years here in America and look down our noses at people because they don't dress or do whatever.

But we can start worshiping our God and humbling ourselves to be the calling that God's put on our lives. Worship and get the strength from that and stop making excuses, I'm too scared or I can't talk good.

And we can go serve God. What's Isaiah in chapter six? Isaiah's sitting there and it says, God, you don't have to send and look for anyone else, send me. But what's really cool is before he said send me, he saw and worshiped God in his glory in the throne room.

Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Guys, it is our worship and our praise that draws the lost to Christ, but it's also that which gives us strength to go and proclaim Christ. You gotta get fired up in this world a little bit.

Guys, you gotta start walking, not like we're playing a game, but we're in a war, in a fight. Name me a military that doesn't have a drummer. Name me a military that doesn't have a song. From the halls of Montezuma.

Yeah, right?

I mean, even the Coast Guard has a song. That guy, man.

Our song is a rise, our song is scripture, our song is, I have waited patiently on the Lord and he took me out of a miry pit and set my feet upon a rock. That can be your song today. That you don't have to sit in the absolute ambiguity of your emotional state of whether God loves you.

You can have your feet set firmly.

On the grace of Almighty God, who has saved you and has called you to service. Where are you today? Have that song, listen to this. This describes us. Watch this, and I'll close with this passage. Matthew 28, verses 17 through 20.

You Baptists, every one of you that are Baptists in here, you're gonna know this verse. You just don't always read the whole thing. It says this. Before it says, go ye therefore, it says this. When they saw Jesus, they worshiped.

Now look right here, keep reading. When they saw the same guy who had just been killed and come out of the grave, they worshiped him, right? What's the very next words? But, some doubted. What? Dude, watch this.

What if I just said, God make me levitate 12 feet? I just saw someone actually look up. God's strong, but man, come on, all right? What if I just levitated 12 feet? I could sit here and go and say just about anything.

You'd be like,.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah, you probably, Marty would sound like that, but most of you, ooh, toxic masculinity.

Guys, these guys sat and saw. It's okay, guys, it's just PayPal. Sat and saw a risen Jesus in front of them. They worshiped, but they still, some of them had doubts. So watch this. We're in good company this morning.

Some of y 'all sang a song that you didn't worship. Some of you worship, but you're still fighting, losing battle against alcohol or prescription drugs. Some of y 'all are still fighting, losing battle in your marriages, and you're doubting whether God's gonna show up.

You're in good, relax, relax. Understand that worship is the pathway to trust. Praising God is that which gives us sometimes the motivation to do what God's called us to do, even when our feigning hearts don't want to.

Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me. You can't have faith without doubts. You cannot have faith without doubts. You cannot have courage without fear. And the way you overcome them both is put a song in your mouth, a hymn in your heart, and you go for it anyways.

Do it. Well, I don't feel close to God. Who cares? Where does it say you're supposed to feel close? You're looking for feelings before faith. Exercise the faith and the feelings will come. Put the first thing first.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. In the old days, Jews, put it to you in modern, God bless, Josiah, how you doing this morning? Yeah, well, good, praise God. Praise God, hallelujah, hallelujah. How you doing, Jimmy?

You still married to Stephanie? I'll pray for you, I'll pray for you. Right? That's, well, the Jews used to do the same thing, except they used to do it like this, more succinctly. They would say, shalom.

And they, you know, the younger ones would go, shalom. You know? What's the mood? Huh? Come on, man, dang it. They're all shaking their head, no, crap. Well, it was pretty for snabbage. But guys, they would all say shalom.

It's funny, after Jesus rose from the grave, they quit using the word shalom. Kariskai shalom was a formal greeting, but here's how everybody used to greet it. They would say, Maranatha, Maranatha, Maranatha, Maranatha, Maranatha, what's up?

You know what that means? It means this. God is coming. Jesus is coming. He is coming. And it was said in a way of expectation, a way of praise, a way of trust, that brought about peace, that no matter what they were going through, it's okay, because daddy's coming back to get us.

The streetlights are starting to blink. He's fixing to call us home. Sometimes the motivation we need in praise and worship is the fact that we know that no matter what happens, if Jeff Shipley, at 50 years old and 317 pounds, dropped dead from a masonary coronary block right now, I could die right now.

Guys, I swear to you, and I daddy promised you this, my eyes would open and behold the Messiah, the King of Kings. In my heart, there is no doubt about that. That, my friends, is peace you can't buy. Bring on the red meat, toxic masculine things.

Huh? Just don't buy. We'll go together, man. Guys, I'm gonna ask the music peoples to come up and listen to me. I'm gonna ask us to do one of several things today. Watch this. If you are a Christian in this room and you don't need to repent, you don't need to join a church, you don't need to confess any sin, you don't need prayer for anything, cool.

I want you to praise and worship God today differently than you did 30 minutes ago. And if you're one of those people, well, I do it perfectly every time. You're a liar and you need to repent of that.

So there you go. Number two, if you're a Christian, but you need help with praise and worship, you need help with confidence. Guys, most of the time, it's not that you're finding help, it's that you're either too scared, too lazy, or undisciplined enough to actually follow through.

That's the reality of it. Here's what's really cool. We got a whole church of people just like that. So what we do is you come down here and say, man, I need some help. And we get someone who will wear you out constantly.

If you need help with something, maybe it's chemical dependency, maybe it's your marriage, maybe whatever, come down here and get some help. If you just need prayer with something, whatever it is, if you're not a member of a church, listen, that stuff's important.

Because basically what it means is you're giving someone permission to get all up in your business. And if you don't want someone all up in your business, go join Bellevue. Because you can hide on the back row.

But here, if you join, you're gonna be expected to work, and then people are gonna call you out when you're not walking the straight line. Trust me, you need it in your life. If not, you're just gonna be a bum.

If you need to be baptized, whatever it is. Thank you.