Matt Hagee - You Are Cordially Invited

And introduce this topic that "You Are Cordially Invited". And the biblical topic that we're discussing is the topic of worship. And the reason that I believe it's important to discuss this topic is because the Bible gives us very clear understanding in the New Testament that as believers, we are not to give any place to the devil. Paul actually says that. He says: give no place to the devil. And what he's giving us this encouragement to do is make sure that there isn't any area in your life where the devil can use his schemes, his plans, his weapons to cause you to stumble over what God intended for you to be triumphant through. And that's why I bring it to the topic of worship, because I believe that one of the greatest challenges that we face in the church today is that we've given the devil a place in the area of worship for him to divide us, instead of the Spirit of God to unite us.

You see just a few minutes ago, we were singing "God is so good". And "God is so good" is a church chorus from the 50's. Now, I don't want to ask you for your hands to go in the air. But how many of you weren't in the church in the 50's? How many of you were in church in the 50's? All right. Then we sang "Bless the Lord, o my soul". That song was written by Andrea Crouch in the 70's. Now how many of you were alive in the 70's, man? Talking about living. You might not have been in church in the 50's, but you were alive in the 70's. And then we finished that moment of praise, in which, I don't know about you, but I could feel the presence of God in this room. And we sang just a few lines from a Matt Redman chorus that was written just a few years ago. And it's been sung so many times that I think God is waiting for his Holy Spirit to give Matt a new song. "How great is our God".

And every line of every song that we sang, regardless of the decade that it was sung in was all about God. It was given from a place of sacrifice and thanksgiving. And God honored it with his presence. Now if I would have stood up, and I would have said, "Church, tonight we're going to begin with a selection from the 1950's, and then we will transition into a moderate tempo piece that's got a little bit of unconventional rhythm from the 70's, and then we will get very contemporary: hold onto your seats and sing something from a modern worship album," one generation from in the church would have said, "Well, we'll see how this goes". Another generation in the church would go, "Here we go again". And another generation in the church would have said, "Well I wonder when they're going to sing my song".

Now here's the situation: as long as I've been in the church, every song that I have ever heard, ever sung that brought anybody praise and thanksgiving, there wasn't one verse, one line, one letter, one chorus that was ever sung about me or was ever sung about you, but they were all sung about him. And I believe we've given a place to the devil where God wants us to be united. I believe it's the same kind of thing that the devil did whenever he went into the Garden of Eden, and he talked to eve, and he got eve to begin to question what God had said. God was pretty clear when he talked to Adam and Eve. He said: in the day that you eat the fruit, you shall surely die.

Now, if God gives you life, and God says, "You'll surely die," how many of you know that God's probably pretty certain about what that's going to cause? But then the serpent slithers into the garden, and he says, "hey Eve, did God really say"? And it should have been a rather easy is answer. "Yeah, he said it. He said we would surely die". But instead, she began to wonder, "well, I don't know: is that what he said? I mean am I going to die? Let me just touch it and see if I die. Oh, I didn't die. Let me smell it and see if I die. I didn't die. Let me eat it. No, better yet, Adam, why don't you eat it"? And by creating an opportunity for the devil to work his schemes, she lost the promise and so did Adam, of God's purpose and his presence in their life.

I believe that one of the reasons that the church is struggling in areas where we should be thriving is because in areas like worship, we've given the devil an opportunity to divide us, instead of the Spirit of God to unite us. And so for the next few weeks, I want to touch on this topic because I want this church to be a united church. And the reason I want it to be a united church is because the Bible very clearly says that where the Lord sees unity, there he commands a blessing. He doesn't put in a requisition order that a blessing might be drop shipped. He's like a five-star general that looks at a private, and says, get down there and bless those people. And I believe if, from the beginning of our services all the way to the end, we can be unified by the presence of the Lord, God will command blessings in our lives like we've never known, seen, or experienced before.

And I don't want to be a hindrance to your blessing and I don't want you to be a hindrance to mine, which means we've got to come to some common ground on some things. First and foremost, let us come to the common ground that our purpose when we come into the house of God is to magnify him, not gratify us. This is what the Psalm says: enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. I don't care if you've had a good week. I don't care if you've had a bad week. I don't care if you've had a bad month. I don't care if you're living through a terrible decade. Whenever you come into God's house, you're not coming for you: you're coming for him. We have become such a self-serving society that we don't recognize that it is our privilege to enter into the presence of the Lord.

This is what God said to Moses in Exodus, the 19th chapter. It says: the Lord called to Moses, and he said, "Come up to the top of the mountain". And Moses went to the top of the mountain, and God went down and he met him there. Moses didn't wake up and say, "You know what? I think I'm going to go see God today". God said, no. You don't come to me unless I ask for you to. Whenever he designed the tabernacle, he was very specific about the way in which it should be designed. Because you just weren't going to come into his presence any way that you pleased: you were going to come in the way that he fashioned. Because if you came any other way, you would not be blessed: you would be judged. And we live in such a wonderful time in world and church and biblical history, because Jesus Christ has come. And he is the type and he is the shadow of every requirement that was ever laid out for men to be able to approach God and what people used to have to go through pain staking process to gain access to.

Now that we have Jesus, who has died and risen from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father: now that he's there making intercession for us, we don't have to walk through the gate, and then wash our hands before we go to the altar. And then go from the altar to the menorah. And then from the menorah to the table. And then from the table to the priest. And then maybe on that right time in that right day, in that right way, God will hear us. Now, because we have so great a high priest: we can come boldly before the throne of God, and we can lift up holy hands without wrath or doubting. And we have the opportunity any time, any place, any moment, any day, any hour, to go into the king's presence and receive grace and mercy in our hour of need! But that is our privilege: that's not God's privilege. He wants you there, which is mind blowing.

David said it in Psalm 8: who is man that you are mindful of him? Why on earth do you even care about us? We're so inconsistent: you're always the same. We're so cruel, and you're unconditionally loving. We're not nice, and you're always kind. You say, well preacher, you're coming down kind of hard. No, I just know people. Have you ever seen somebody, oh, God bless you sister: oh, I love you sister: oh, sister, sister, sister. And then sister turns her back and she goes... I kid you not. The other day I was watching the church service as it was leaving through the parking lot. And pastor had talked about God's love. And two people were pulling out of parking spots at the same time. And one of them, just one of them, not both of them, just one of them needed to wait, and neither of them would. And then they looked and they went. And then they pulled in, zoom. And then they both tried it again as if something would change. Zoom.

And I said, well, there's God's love. I mean not five minutes ago, we were in here, "Oh love of God". And all it took was just a walk in the parking lot. And when you consider all of these things, God doesn't need you in his presence. He wants you there. And it's our privilege to be able to go. So for this first teaching, I want to set the context of the fact that you have been cordially invited. And when you are invited, you need to go with the proper heart. You need to go as though you are privileged to be invited. An invitation is a wonderful thing. Whenever you get them, you consider value in your own self. You suddenly recognize that somebody has requested your presence: therefore, you must be important to them.

And one of the things that I want you to always remember is you are indeed important to God, so important that he loved you enough to send his only begotten son, not because he loved you more. But he wanted to show that he loved you no less. And he gave him that he might die that you might live: and in that life, you might worship him. In John, the 4th chapter, there's a conversation that Jesus has with a woman in Samaria, a Samaritan woman by a well. And it demonstrates how much God believes we are important. In this conversation in John 4, Jesus tells his disciples, he says: I need to go through Samaria, John 4:4.

Now the disciples are living in Jesus' ministry, and they know that most of their ministry is around the Sea of Galilee. Samaria is two-day's walk out of the way. And they have no clue why it's important for him to go two days in the wrong direction. But when Jesus says it, they just have to do it. How important is this one woman at the well that Jesus feels compelled of the Holy Spirit? Because the Bible tells us that he did not speak, nor did he do unless the father gave him permission. So how important is this one individual that the Son of God, the one who was there in Genesis when heaven and earth were created, would walk two days out of his way just to have a small conversation with her? You are important to God. God set aside a time, 8:30, 11:00, 6:30 on Sunday in which he said, I'll come out of my way. If two or three of you will gather in my name, I'll be there in your midst. I'll come from the throne room where I am in heaven, and I'll come down to meet you on stone oak and 1604 in San Antonio, Texas.

You're important to God. And so when they walked two days out of their way, they come to a well. And the disciples being hungry from the journey, they say, we're going to go buy some food. And Jesus says, go ahead. And he stays there by the well. And he looks at this Samaritan woman, and he says: give me a drink. Now immediately, you would begin to think that this conversation had to do with water. But the thing that changes quickly is the fact that they go from talking about water to worship. Jesus says: give me a drink. And this woman answers him back, and says: I'm a Samaritan woman. How is it that you're a Jew and you're talking to a Samaritan woman, asking me to give you a drink? Don't you know that Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans? You see these two cultures had allowed themselves to be divided because they didn't agree on their traditions. And Jesus answered her, and he said, you know what? If you knew the gift of God and you knew who it was that was asking you for a drink, you would have said to him, I don't want to give you this kind of drink: I want you to give me a spiritual drink, because my soul is thirsty and I want it to be quenched.

Now that's the Hagee paraphrase but that's what verse 10 communicates. Jesus changed the focus from a natural conversation to a supernatural conversation. She said, I don't understand why you're here at this well asking me for water when we don't agree on anything. And he said, if you knew the kind of water that I had, you would ask me. And the drink you would take, you'd never thirst again. That is available to every child of God every time we come into the house of the Lord. Because if the presence of the Lord is here, then the source of living water is here. Jesus said on that day in the great feast, he said: come unto me all ye who are thirsting, and I will give you drink. And each and every Sunday when we gather in the sanctuary, the presence of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus Christ himself, is in this sanctuary. And he is still echoing from the pages of his truth, come unto me, all ye who are thirsting, and I will give you drink.

If you're thirsting for a healing, you can drink from his living water, and you can be healed from sickness. If you're thirsting for provision, you can drink from his living water, and he will provide for you exceedingly, and abundantly, above all that you could ask or think. If you're thirsting for deliverance, you can drink from him, and he'll stet you free. For whom the son sets free is free indeed. It doesn't matter what area of your life is dry and parched. When you reach into the living water of his presence, and you drink from the wellspring of life, you'll never thirst again! And so this woman says: I perceive that you are a prophet. And Jesus doesn't say anything. And then she says, I have a question for you. And I find this question to be humorous. It may not be funny to you, but you're not me. Oh, good: you're laughing. She says: where should we worship? I mean my ancestors, they say that we should worship on this mountain. And the Jews, they say that you should worship in Jerusalem.

And you know I'm just wondering, where do you sit in this debate? Because I kind of prefer them old songs of the church, the ones that you can clap along to and they don't have any of those demonic drums. Oh, I've heard people call drums demonic before. You want to know what's demonic? Clapping on one and three instead of two and four. If you can't clap, just flap. This woman wants to begin to debate Jesus Christ. Think about that. She's out of her league. Where should we worship? And for her, it's a matter of geography. Because I mean I was raised that we worship here. And some say you should worship there. And Jesus is kind of looking at her like, you don't get it: do you? It doesn't have anything to do with geography. It has to do with what's inside of you. It has to do with the heart of worship. Because the time is coming, and now is when true worshippers will not worship on this mountain in Samaria, and they will not worship on that mountain in Jerusalem. But Jesus said true worshippers would worship him in spirit and in truth.

And the problem exists in the church today. Jesus is sitting there saying, if you knew who was in the service, you would just take a drink, and you'd never thirst again. And we want to descend from that spiritual presence into our carnal debate. Well, which flavor of ice cream do you prefer? Should we sing it this way or should we sing it that way? Should we all run to the altar and press up against it like we're at a concert? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Or should we sit like the monks of old? I don't know that God looks down on any one kind of behavior and prefers one over the other. I don't know that he looks at the young person with their hands raised at the altar, and goes, that's how I want it done. And he looks at someone else, who's sitting in their pew, and says, they're all wrong. I think what he said to Samuel still rings true even in our church today. He doesn't look at the outward appearance: he looks at the heart. And it's only when you have the heart of worship that you have the privilege of being in his presence.

You know pastor Zach, whenever he was discussing what he strives for in worship, he makes this statement. And he says, "You know when worship is the goal, worship is the result". And sometimes those east Texas simple sayings have a whole lot of wisdom in them. You see if what you want is great music, you can have great music. But you might not have worship. If what you want is enthusiasm, you might have enthusiasm. But you might not have God's presence in spite of how enthusiastic you are. If what you want is pretty, you can be as pretty as you want to be. But God's presence might not show up, because I don't know that he's ever looked down on earth and seen something so pretty, he went, wow, I've got to go check that out. But regardless of the quality of the music, regardless of the enthusiasm, regardless of the appearance, if what you're trying to do is worship, God says, I'm all about that.

And so Jesus elevates her vision. He says, listen. It's not about where you worship. It's not about when you worship. It's about the heart that you bring into the sanctuary. It's about understanding that you've been invited into the presence of the king, and it is your privilege to come. Let's say that you went home tonight and you opened up your mailbox and there was a beautiful invitation. And all of a sudden you flip the envelope over, and you noticed that there was a seal, and the seal was raised. And there was an eagle. And in one side of his talents, he had arrows: and in the other, he had a wreath. You'd say, this looks like an official document. You read a little closer, and you recognized that the seal that closed the envelope said, "The office of the president of the United States".

And you went, potus. Hashtag #AWESOME. You opened up the envelope and you read it. And it said, "You are cordially invited to 1700 Pennsylvania avenue," and it gave the date and it gave the time. And it said that you had been invited by what people have called the most powerful man on earth. How would you go? Would you come half hazardly? Would you walk in arrogantly? Would you enter the room, and say, when I get in there, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind? I'm tired of all these potholes in my neighborhood. Would you bring up small things in the presence of such an important person? Or would you enter a little humble at the amount of history that you were walking through in a building like the White House where so many individuals have sat and made decisions that shaped the world? Would you kind of allow the surroundings to somewhat make you feel smaller, as you considered that maybe you weren't worthy to be in this place?

But suddenly a door opened up, and the president walked out, and he said, it's so nice to see you. Thank you for coming. Would you walk up and say, yo, what's up? Or would you walk in and in the appropriate manner, extend your hand, tell him that you were honored to be there, and ask him, why did you invite me? You see we have such an inverted perspective of what we get the privilege to do here each and every Sunday, because somebody who is a lot greater than any president who has ever been elected, just as he invited Moses up on the mountain, through Jesus Christ his son, he has invited you into the gates of worship. And he has promised you that if you would come, he would be here. And if you would enter with thanksgiving and praise, he would answer, and he would pour out upon you living water. And we take it for granted.

We walk in thinking it's about us instead of walking in making it about him. And when his presence shows up, rather than soak it in, sometimes we push it off. Whenever his spirit moves, rather than go with it, sometimes we just stay still because we prefer our tradition rather than his presence. You have been cordially invited to go where mountains move, and crooked ways are made straight, and broken hearts are mended, and ruined lives are restored. And it is your privilege to be there. Don't take worship for granted. Because here's what Jesus said. He said: the hour is coming. Say that with me, the hour is coming. And God is seeking.

Those are powerful words. God, who is all-sufficient: God, who has all of the gold: God, who has all of the Jewels: God, who has the cattle on a thousand hilltops. Jesus said, I know what God wants. He's looking for it. He's looking for people who will worship him, not take him for granted, not show up when they want, not behave like he'll be here next week. But God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. Church, if we unite with a heart of worship, God will command his blessings in our lives.

Can we stand in the presence of the Lord? With every head bowed and every eye closed, I want you just to take a moment and consider where you are, consider what you've heard, and just give God thanks that he allowed us this time with him.

Heavenly Father, I know it sounds simple, but thank you for meeting with us in this sanctuary. Thank you for being here: that when we call upon you, you hear us. When we exalt your name, every trouble, every problem begins to vanish and fade away. When we lift our hands, we don't have to worry about whether or not you accept us, because you don't see our unrighteousness: you only see the blood of Jesus Christ. So Lord, for the times we've taken your presence for granted, we ask your forgiveness. For the moments we've let our preference and our tradition divide us, we ask that you would build bridges where we have put up walls. Lord God, you are seeking those who will worship you in spirit and in truth. So let this church be a place where you find what you're looking for and you can be enthroned upon the praises of your people. Father God, we do not consider it a small thing. But we consider it a wonderful thing to be able to worship, and magnify, and adore the mighty and matchless name of Jesus Christ.

Father, we worship you in this place: for your name is indeed wonderful. We exalt you in this place, because you have promised that when you are high and lifted up, you would draw all men together. Lord, unite us in spirit and in truth: that with one voice and with one heart we would worship you. Unite us in our common love for the cause of Christ, to see captives set free, to see blinded eyes opened, to see chains of bondage broken. Unite us, Heavenly Father, that we might be in a place where you would command your blessing, and that blessing would be greater than anything we could ask, think, or imagine.

Come on and give the Lord a handclap of worship and praise in this house. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Next Sunday night, we will talk about "The hands of worship". Tonight, "The heart of worship". Next Sunday night, "The hands of worship". You say, "Oh, he's going to talk to us about raising our hands". No, I'm not. I learned this lesson a long time ago. I love dinner.

Now I knew that, but here's what I learned. If you came to my mother's table where she had cooked dinner, and your hands were not properly prepared to receive what she had prepared, you could not partake until you had gone and washed. She would look at you, and say, have you washed your hands? And sometimes I would just run them by the soap, hoping there would be enough smell of soap on my hands. But until I had done what I needed to do with my hands, I could not receive what she had prepared. And until you wash your hands in the water of God's word, you cannot receive what God has prepared for you in his sanctuary. So next week, we're going to talk about "The hands of worship". But I believe you're going to be ready to receive the word about hands, because when you come, you're going to come with the heart. Amen. Raise your hand for the blessing.

Now Father, bless us and keep us. And make your face to shine upon us. Be gracious unto us and give us your peace, peace to know that the price has been paid through Jesus Christ, who is our Savior: joy in knowing that we have the privilege to meet with you in this place, and have mountains of impossibility moved, burdens lifted, and yokes destroyed, confidence to know that we are more than conquerors through him who loves us, and victory in this life and the next. In Jesus' name, we receive this blessing. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord. God bless you, church.