Michael Todd - I Will When I Don't Want To
We are in week two of a series that we are calling «Worship on the Word.» Your part! Wow! Some of y’all listened from last week, um, because I really believe that by the end of this series, there’s going to be a new awe for God. That’s what I’m praying for everybody—this is not just a «Oh yeah, we learned about worship» moment. I pray that you get so overwhelmed and overflowing with how good God’s been to you that there are moments you can’t contain yourself. There are moments, and I know some of y’all are so reserved and polished right now that the thought of that makes you break out in hives. What I’m saying is that there is something that can get to your core to actually express feelings in a way that you normally wouldn’t.
For some of y’all, it’s your kids. If anybody messes with your kids, you turn into somebody different. For some of you, it’s money; you hear «5,000, 10,000, 100,000, a million,» and suddenly you start dancing, shaking, doing a Harlem Shake, or even trying a backflip! For others, it’s injustice. When you see someone being wronged, something rises up inside of you and you begin to express. Come on, let’s think about it! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with any of those things allowing you to express, but I do think it’s problematic if those things make you express more than you express your love to God.
So, I want us to worship God with wisdom. And y’all already know, um, this past week we released a song called «I Will.» Can we give it up for the amazing worship team, the dancers—everybody? If you’re watching this on rebroadcast, hopefully in a few weeks, we’ll release what just happened, but it was nuts! I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s been rocking it out in your cars and in the gym, working out to it, and cleaning your house on Saturday to it. It’s supposed to give you energy and faith! There’s a very declarative statement that we keep saying over and over: somebody shout with me, «I will! I will!» I really want that to get down in your spirit. This is the first of these next few singles we’re going to release in this season because there has to be a desire to do what God wants you to do.
God can have a will, and you can have another one. Okay, let’s be hot, humble, open, and transparent. How many of you have known God wanted you to do something, but you didn’t want to do it, so you did something else? Alright, if your hand’s not up, you’re a liar! What I’m saying is our heart posture, along with our actions, has to say, «Yell it at me, 'I will! I will! '»
As you continue to play that and let your faith grow in it, I decided I was going to preach a message that would take it deeper. Every time we play this song from now on, I don’t want you to worship because of the beat. I can’t explain it, but I’m not saying that like—that’s a lot of times what we consider worship: «I like the beat, it makes me feel something.» I want you to worship with understanding of the words being spoken and the language we use to express our love to God. One of the greatest worship statements you can ever make is «God, I will!» The truth of the matter is, the reason that didn’t resonate is because many of you say, «I won’t.»
The reason why everyone wasn’t like «Yes!» is that many times you’re still choosing what to obey because what God has said doesn’t agree with your opinion. And many times, God does not consult your opinion for obedience. He’s been telling you to do stuff for a long time, and you’ve said, «That’s not my personality.» Uh-oh! Ask Abraham how many people from his family had done what he did before he did it. God is trying to break generational habits through you. He wants to start a new book, not just a new chapter. He says, «That’s done for the Williams family, that’s done for the Smith family, that’s done for the Todd family. I want to start a brand new volume.» But you keep saying, «I won’t.» God is looking for a group of people who don’t care about what the crowd is doing; they will be faithful to stand in the midst of adversity like those three Hebrew boys and say, «What? I will!» Okay, this isn’t even a part of my notes; just shout at me one more time with faith—somebody say, «I will! I will!»
Okay, I’m getting hyped because I’m starting to see the promises God fulfilled in this music we are releasing. Many of you may or may not know but when I became the lead pastor of this church, I had done music my whole life. God told me to lay music down so I could get anchored in His Word. All I had ever done was produce music, write for people, and do stuff for all kinds of people that you would know if I started naming names. The Holy Spirit told me when I entered this season, «Lay down the music so I can anchor you in the Word.» I was devastated because I love music! He said, «But the music is powerless without My Word in it.»
The reason I’m preaching these songs is because I want the Word to anchor you more than the melody. I want the words you’re singing to actually be written on your heart more than the creativity of the pen. I want that when you begin to worship God, there is something around your heart that can express your love to God in a unique way because it’s you being able to worship on His Word.
That’s why even this Friday, y’all get ready, because we’re releasing another song! Okay, this one is the one y’all have been waiting on and begging for for a whole bunch. Last year, God took us from the word of the year to actually a phrase of the year, and what was it? «Here is Holy!» So this Friday, y’all get ready, because «Here is Holy» is coming out this Friday!
Pastor Mike, why are you taking this much time in the sermon to talk about these songs? I’m giving you a soundtrack to get into His presence. And I’ll just let you know, when we do «Here is Holy,» it’s about 7 minutes long, but what we’re about to release is 23 minutes and 34 seconds! You will be able to put this on and go into your whole morning devotion. I want you to get in, open your Word, sing the words, and journal what God is telling you.
By the time we get in here Sunday, I should be able to say «Boo!» and this place should erupt because of the level of worship intimacy we will have in His presence. I’m trying to give us soundtracks for the life we’re supposed to live all the time. Even as somebody said, «I get 'I Will Bless The Lord, ' I like that one. And 'Here is Holy' like I remember when Moses was told to take his shoes off, 'Here is Holy, ' but the eagle song—I don’t understand the eagle. Y’all released the eagle and I just felt like the eagle was lightning and was worldly and there was boom-boom-cat on the eagle.»
We released a single earlier this year called «Eagle.» I just wanted to help everybody know we’re trying to give people different language to worship God with. For everybody who has a discrepancy about the song «Eagle,» Isaiah 40:31 says, «But they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.» Okay, you got it? We’re not just singing songs to be singing songs; we are worshiping on the Word.
So today, we’re going to go even a step further in what is happening because I want you to understand how to worship in wisdom. Write this point down: our worship is the only gift we can give to God. I’m going to say it every week. I must say it because some of y’all are withholding the only thing that God gets out of this whole thing.
I don’t want anybody to look at me crazy; I don’t need anybody to judge me. Worship is the only gift that you can give to God, and I’m so proud of all of you who are actually taking steps. Maybe you grew up in a church that didn’t have music, or you may have grown up in a church where it was like, «Don’t express, just look deep, look smart,» and you actually looked constipated. But I see people making steps toward expressing their love to God, even if others are around.
Here’s the thing: my love for Natalie does not consider you. Okay? When I get ready to express my love to my wife, I don’t care who’s around; I don’t care what you think. We were on the beach for her birthday, and I pulled out gifts and set up a phone. There were other people’s tables around—they were just looking, like, «Oh my God, Jon, why do you hate me? Why won’t you do that for me?» I didn’t care who was there because my love for the one who has sacrificed for me is not contingent on who is around.
Oh my God, some of y’all are so scared to express your love to God because of who’s around and who hasn’t done anything for you. Did they save you? Did they heal you? Did they deliver you? Did they rescue you? You prayed a prayer like this: «Lord, if you ever get me out of this situation, I promise I will serve you for the rest of my life,» and He did it and you didn’t, but He still loves you! You have to stop caring who’s around when God is worthy—He’s worth your praise; He’s worth your worship. Okay, somebody just say, «I will! I will!»
Everybody, say, «I will! I will worship!» I want you to write that down as the first point today because some of you are saying this in faith, even though you have been devastated, dealing with loss, or feeling frustrated. But I need us to let our faith speak first and have our actions or feelings follow it.
There are so many times that God will allow you to speak in faith first. The Bible says it like this: «Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.» So whatever you speak, you’re going to eat it. Uh-oh! Eat what you speak! Speak fear; eat fear! Speak faith; eat faith! It’s going to be conducive for whatever. So everyone, say, «I will! I will worship!» One more time, «I will! I will worship!» By the end of this series, I believe that will not just be a faith statement for you; it will be a description of who you are—not just in church.
And this is the thing about worship: if you hate worshiping now, you’re going to hate heaven. I really need everybody to get a glimpse. The whole thing we’re going to do in heaven is singing «Holy, Holy, Holy» and worshiping around the Throne of God. If you hate it now, why are you trying to go to heaven? You might as well practice right here worshiping our King!
One of the culture codes of our church—some of y’all are new around here or just started watching—but we’ve built our church on 12 culture codes, and one of them is worship. I thought this would be a good time for you to know what our church pillars are, what we build everything on. This thing says worship, and I want you to take this down in your notes: «Worship.»
Okay? We use our lives to express God’s worth. I want to bring very, um, close attention to what I said: we use our lives—not our songs, not our hands only. We use our lives to express God’s worth. And so I need you to write down this anchor definition I’m teaching so when we get back in our next worship session or when you go to your job tomorrow where they’re trying to wear you down, you’ll be able to worship God in your lives.
So our anchor definition of worship is: Worship is our love expressed to God as a response to His grace towards us. It is what we do to express to God in response to the gift of grace that He has already given to us. How many know that salvation is a gift? What God has given to us is worth celebrating. Hello? You got me something? I don’t know what it is for real at all. Okay, well I don’t usually get gifts on stage, so I’m going to open it up. Ooh, I like who’s on the cover! This is for real? Charlie, this was a fake example, bro! Hold on, Charles, I got you something too! What are you doing? Ooh, that’s heavy! Hold on, I got you another one!
This is what worship should look like: the gift He gave me, I responded to it with the gift I could give Him, and He responded with a gift that only He could give me. And I responded with the gift that I only could. Give him! I dare somebody to take 10 seconds and give God the only gift—my worship. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus, you are worthy! I can’t believe we receive breath every day, and yet we don’t say thank you. I can’t believe that we act as if grace and mercy are just for that new house. I know I prayed for it, but it’s not the real gift I want; I want the relationship. They better play my song; I’m too cool for all that. That’s cool; I like that. Lift your hands!
I don’t want everybody to see, but your team wins, like—but God wins the victory over hell and the grave. Trash! All I’m saying is your actions express what’s in your heart, and people watch this: It’s not just the only gift you can give to God; it’s what you were created to do. I need everybody to understand you were not created to set up a pension plan and ensure your kids live in a great house. Yeah, I’m just trying to make it out of the mud. You were formed from dirt! I want you to understand that He breathed into dirt, and I’ll have to do this later, but He made you the replacement for Satan. Only one Archangel got kicked out and was never replaced, and it was the one who was over worship. I’m going to have to do that next week.
All I’m saying is God made you the replacement. Every time you worship, you remind the enemy of the spot he can never get back to. You remind him that he lost his place in heaven. The reason he’s been coming after you so hard and trying to steal your worship is because every time you lift your hands, despite how bad you feel, and every time you say hallelujah, even when they hate on you, and every time you say, «God, you’re faithful,» even when you lack finances, you’re punching the enemy in the face. But that’s just not how I was raised, guys. This is what we were created to do. Somebody say, «I will! I will worship!»
2 Corinthians 5:18 speaks about the gift of God and how we respond by expressing our love. It says, «And all of this is a gift from God who brought us back to Himself through Christ.» So, the greatest gift that God gave you was Christ, so you could be redeemed and saved. God has given us the task of reconciling people to Him. Verse 19: «For God was in Christ reconciling the whole world to Himself—not just Christians. He didn’t do this for church people; He didn’t do this for those who understand theology. He said He was in Christ reconciling the world, meaning everybody—everyone you don’t like, He died for everyone you’re mad at; He loves. Everyone you threw away, He went after. He is no longer counting people’s sins against them, and He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
If we’re going to speak anything, let’s not speak division—speak reconciliation. Here we go: Kingdom language! We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us; we speak for Christ! Oh, that’s scary! We speak for Christ. We are the only ones whose typing speaks for Christ. What we blog—that’s what they will know: they will know you are Mine by your comments and your love. We’re making the appeal to the whole world through our gossip. So, we are Christ’s ambassadors; dang it! God is making His appeal through us! Choose another Lord. We speak for Christ! Uh-oh! When we plead, „Come back to God,“ most of us can’t say, „Come back to God,“ because we’re not really with Him. Most people’s lips say, „Come back to God,“ but their actions are not true worship to Him.
This is why I’m asking us to think about the gift we have received in grace, because it’s easier to give grace when you have actually received it. Many of us have not received God’s grace, so we try to make others earn what God has already given. The reason you don’t forgive is because you don’t honestly feel forgiven. The reason you won’t look past someone’s fault and actually see the trauma or the need or the hurt they have is because you feel like somehow you still need to tap dance for God’s approval. You’re trying to go to enough services, read enough scriptures, and give enough money. But He said, „If you don’t do none of that, I still love you!“
Because you have not received that, it is very hard to give away the gift that you have never been given—excuse me, that you have never truly received. That’s why Romans 5:8 says stuff like this: „But God demonstrates His own love,“ because it is the key ingredient of worship, for worship is love expressed. This is how God demonstrated His love for us: while we were still sinners, while we had nothing to give Him, while there was no gift in us, He still died for us. That’s why I want you to write down this point: „Our worship is the reasonable response to the gift of grace.“ It’s reasonable! If somebody bought you a car today, would it be reasonable to say thank you? No! No! No! Tags, title, everything paid for: taxes, title, tags—all paid for, brand new car!
What kind of car do y’all want? 2023? What? She said a Range Rover—on them things! Okay, that’s fine! See, y’all don’t even have faith to say what kind of car you want! What do you want? An Audi Q8—black on black with the black rims and the Febreze air freshener? I heard you! Okay, I got you! But if somebody gave you that today and you’ve never met them before, would it be a reasonable response to say thank you? Would it be a reasonable response to call them tomorrow and say thank you? Every single month when you were supposed to pay a car payment, would it be reasonable to text them one more time and just say, „Thank you!“ if you were able to pay off your old car and give it away because they gave you a free car? Would it be reasonable to tell them? If it’s reasonable to tell somebody who gave you $80,000 thank you, what makes you think we are not all supposed to express our love to God for the grace He has given us?
Okay, all right! So, that’s why worship is not a ritual; it’s a—everybody say response! Response! Worship is not a regimen; it’s a response. Worship is not about religion; it is a response. How I respond to God has nothing to do with this church building—forget it! Shut it down! I bet you you’ll find me worshiping God! Too many people’s worship experiences are tied to a building or an organization. Too many people cannot worship without this; most pastors like that, because then you need this to do that.
Let me pop your bubble: Transformation Church can shut down tomorrow, and there will still be a requirement for your worship on this earth. God says, „If you choose not to say, 'I will, ' I’ll make the rocks start singing! I’ll make the trees start praising Me!“ It is a reasonable response! This is not outlandish; this is not just for the evangelicals—the wild people. This is for those who understand the grace of God! Okay? Worship is not the right song; it’s a response! Worship is not a routine; it’s a response! Worship is not Christian rhetoric; it is a response! Worship is not unreasonable; it actually is the only reasonable response! Somebody shout at me, „I will! I will!“
Okay, so let me be honest: It is easy to say, „I will,“ when your situation is good. I don’t want to get up here and act like this is simple, because it isn’t. I heard somebody say, „The truth of the matter is…“ Everybody say, „I will! I will!“ But sometimes I don’t feel like it! Has anyone not felt like doing what you know the word says to do? Turn the other cheek? I want to cuss them out! And then I’ll turn my cheek as I walk away; like, see? Some of y’all know what I’m talking about! Okay? But let me be honest: Sometimes when the Holy Spirit wants to say, „I will,“ what comes out of us is a, „I won’t! I won’t! It’s too hard! I won’t!“ Why is the situation not changing? Until you change the situation, I won’t! Until you heal them, I won’t! It’s almost like we’re at a standoff with God: „Why is my relationship not working? Until it works, I won’t! I’ll still come; I’ll still be around, but I won’t worship.“
I’m vulnerable enough to tell you how I feel; He knows it anyway! But I won’t give you the satisfaction of knowing that I know you know! Come on, y’all; y’all know how we do! God, I’m withholding my praise! Like He’s like, „All right, good job! Just stop the breath right now! Don’t do it, Gabriel! Don’t stop the breath! Just let it keep going! She’s rebellious! They haven’t apologized, so I won’t! I’m still offended, so I won’t!“ We may not say it out loud, but we’re displaying it or expressing it. „I’m messed up, so I won’t.“
One of the enemy’s greatest tactics is to make you think that sin disqualifies you from worshiping. Church people try to disqualify you from worshiping, but God would want you to come with your broken pieces, with your messed-up theology. Where do we take it? He says, „Come to Me, all who are weary and have a heavy burden, and I will give you rest.“ When you accept your „I will,“ He activates His „I will!“ Ooh! He said, „You come to Me! If you say, 'I will, ' He said now I will give you rest!“ Most of us are still saying, „I won’t.“ Even as I’m talking right now, there are people watching and listening to this, and you’re grinding your teeth because your worship is predicated on God doing something for you in the future. He’s already done so much for you in the past! „I don’t understand what God is doing, and so until I do, I won’t!“
But what if today you could trade by faith your statement from „I won’t“ to „I will“? Because the truth of the matter is, „I won’t“ is still a faith statement! When you say, „I won’t,“ it’s faith in the wrong direction! You think you doing it your way is somehow going to be better than actually surrendering to God and saying, „I will.“ It takes faith either way; you just have your faith in fear that God’s not a man of His word, that He won’t do all the things that He promised. So, you’re saying, „I won’t“ as a protection mechanism—or, „I won’t“ because I need you to guarantee that my situation is going to be what I want it to be. And God says, „I’m not like man; my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts!“
You can keep saying „I won’t,“ but I cannot do what I want to do in your life until there’s surrender of an „I will.“ Just think about changing the statement—write this down: You can have a different faith statement in the same situation! In the exact same situation, you can say, „I will!“ My job hasn’t changed; I want to say „I will!“ My marriage is not where I want it to be, but whatever God says, „I will!“ They haven’t apologized, so I’m going to dang well apologize! „I will!“ The situation didn’t change, but my statement of faith did! What I did is I just moved Heaven and Earth on my behalf because I agreed with God! Your greatest advancements in this Christian walk are when you agree with God and what He has said in His word.
That’s why I’m trying to teach us how to express our love based on the word of God. Let me help you right now because I want everybody to see this in a new light. Let you know—when people say „fake it until you make it,“ I hate that, because it just gets you practicing being phony. But you can—watch this—"faith it until you make it.» There are so many times where God tells you to do something in faith until He reveals why He asked you to do that. Let’s go back to Abraham: «Get up and go to the land I will show you.» «No, no, no, no! I won’t until you show me the land I’m going to!» He said, «That’s not what I said! Get up! Grab your family and go to the place I will!» Do you know how much faith it takes to leave all your comfort behind? When people are throwing a going-away party for you, saying, «God bless you, Abraham and Sarah! You’ve been great, wow! Where are you going?» «I don’t know!» «Well, why are you leaving?» «Because I gave God my 'I will! ' I will obey; I will do what you say to do!»
Do I have to understand it? It would be nice! Come on, let’s be honest! It would be nice! But it is not in God’s character! The truth of the matter is, if He actually let you really know what you would have to go through to get to the promise, you’d have a hard «I won’t!» Many of the things that God does in your life, He has to back you into them. Y’all want to be fake in here, but many of the things He calls you to, He’s like, «Look over here—look over here—look over here!» until you bump into, «Oh my, I didn’t even see how—God—what?!» But you always quote Romans 8: «All things work together for the good of those who are called and love Him.» But do you really believe it? Because if you really believed all things work together when He tells you to do something, would you do it?
That you’re unsure if it’s the right thing to do, but you know it’s Him. You will say, «I will,» instead of «I won’t.» I just want to ask you to evaluate how many things God has asked you to do over the last five years, that your stagnation in life is based on your unwillingness to obey God. Why didn’t you write the book? Why didn’t you present the plan? Why didn’t you carve out the time to exercise? I’m just believing God for a miracle. Oh, Miracle Nights! Oh, June 4th, I’m going to be there. I’m going to ask God to take 16 pounds away from me in one day. No, He won’t do it. She said, «Won’t He do it?» I said, «No, He won’t.» And that’s the silly stuff we believe for. But He told you six years ago, «No more Krispy Kremes,» and in your spirit, you said, «But my birthday.»
What you actually said is, «I won’t.» You can say whatever you want to; you can dress it up however you want to, but slow obedience is still disobedience. You still think you have time tomorrow to do what God asked you to do yesterday, and what you’re doing is being foolish and careless with the grace of God. Okay, somebody shout at me, «I will!» You know we’re still talking about worship because some of y’all feel offended at this current moment. You’re like, «Hold on, let’s fight.» What I’m saying to you is don’t fake it until you make it; faith it until you make it and respond to the gift of grace that God has given you. Romans 12:1: «Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy,» what He’s already done for you, «to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.»
Watch this; this is your true and proper worship. Hold on; the components of true worship are in response to His mercy, the gift He gave first. I should then come to Him, presenting my whole body as a sacrifice. You can have all of this: what I watch on TV. Uh-oh. There are movies I don’t see, not because I’m not an adult, not because I can’t get the channels or go to the movies, but when I gave God my life as a living sacrifice, holy, which means set apart, because of the call on my life, many can, but I cannot. There are young… oh, that’s for the pastor. No, no, no, no; that’s for His children. What will I have to talk about at the hair salon or the barber shop? Jesus, love, fun, life. You do not have to be in the know to know you are doing what God has called you to do, and so many of us in this culture feel like we have to know everything.
You know Michael Jordan’s son, Dayton? Scottie Pippen? Why? Who cares? Somebody’s like, «Really?» What I’m saying is that adds nothing to the purpose that God has called you to, and many times the greatest distractions to our destiny are things that we did not need to know. All right, I’m done. I’ve jumped in the deep end. They say, «All right, talk to us about lifting our hands and singing a song.» But a lot of times, you are distracted when you’re supposed to be focused on God, focused on helping people, focused on serving, living your life as a sacrifice. You’re distracted by useless information that will not add anything to your life, just so you can say, «Did you see this video?» Like, «Yeah,» and we’re all guilty of it, even the one talking to you. But God is saying, «You know how you feel tired and you’re like, 'I can’t; it’s been a hard day?'»
Some of it was not supposed to be part of our day. In view of God’s mercy, let’s offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. The part of this scripture that I get stuck on is in view of God’s mercy, in view of the level of the gift He gave us. I have to respond to that. So my question to you is, what’s in your view? I just talked about a lot of distractions, but one thing that I have found when it comes to worship or expressing my love to God as a response to His grace towards us is, sometimes I don’t need to look in my view; I need to look in the rear view. Something that fuels my worship is remembering, and there are many times we come to worship, and we’re thinking about what God’s going to do, and He’s going to make a way, and what He’s going to do for my family.
And God says, «Just look at what I did for your family; what I did for your mind.» Somebody’s getting a reminder right now: what I did for your life, what I did. Write this down: it’s hard to respond in worship when you don’t remember. So many believers have amnesia. We stop thinking about all of the times we prayed for God to deliver us from a situation, and now we’re in a completely different situation. But because it doesn’t look like what our cousin is doing, we have now forgotten about the goodness of God that brought us out of that situation. We asked God to save our lives, save our marriages, save our minds, get us through college, and now you’re sitting here with more degrees than a thermometer but mad because you didn’t get the position that you applied for. Some of you need to stop looking in the front view and look in the rear view. Oh, I feel this thing. Somebody shout at me, «I will; I will remember.»
Write that down because the only thing that’s going to fuel your worship when you don’t feel like it is remembering God’s goodness. Oh, God! See, I forgot to tell you the title of my message because, at the end of the day, it’s so in me and I’ve had to do it so much in this last season that I just want to give you all the keys. But what I’m trying to tell you is you have to have the spirit of «I will,» even when you don’t want to. Until you get an «I will» when you don’t want to, you will never be able to access the most powerful worship. Think of Paul and Silas in jail, in chains. The Bible says, «And at midnight, they…» At the darkest hour, they began to sing praises to God. How do you sing praises in the darkest hour? It has become a rhythm of worship. You don’t sing and praise and worship in a dark hour for the first time. Most of us wait until we get to the dark hour to begin to worship God.
God said, «That’s why I wanted you practicing all the time. That’s why I wanted you to wake up every morning and bless the Lord. That’s why I wanted to teach you language; I needed you to read the Word so you could get it on the inside of you. Because in your darkest hour, when you get pressed, what’s in you actually comes out.» And some of us, when we get pressed, we just start cursing at everybody. When we get pressed, we start blaming everybody. Oh, I just said a big one right there. If my mama hadn’t treated me right, then I wouldn’t have been… You’re 62 now. No, no, no! Let’s be honest: you have great-grandkids now and you’re still blaming your mama for your anger issues. You must have never come to the King in worship and traded your sorrow for His joy. Some of y’all need therapy. Matter of fact, all of y’all need… where’s the camera?
All of y’all need therapy. But in addition to going to somebody that has some letters in front of their name, you need to find yourself every day at Dr. Jesus' office, where you begin to get on your knees, lay on a couch, and begin to tell Him all the things that are going on in your life. And in His presence, there is fullness of joy. There is something that happens to you as you worship God, and it’s not supposed to be only in the dark moments. We’re supposed to worship in the valley as well as on the mountaintop. And that’s why somebody say, «I will; I will remember.» Okay, um, Psalms 34, verse one and two is where we got to end because y’all are about to make me jump in here.
Psalms 34:1 says, «I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praises shall continually be in my heart.» It’s got to be in your mouth. It’s not love if it’s not expressed. So if you say stuff like, «God knows my heart,» yes He does, but He wants to hear it out of your mouth. «I’m just not that expressive.» If you want to eat, you have to say something. Like, I want you to hear Him say, «His praises shall continually be in my mouth.» «My soul shall make its boast in the Lord, not in my situation. I’m not going to magnify, I’m not going to boast, I’m not going to lift up my situation; I’m going to lift up the God of the situation. I will boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad.»
Verse three: «Oh, magnify the Lord with me.» You better check who your partners are in this next season. You better make sure you have praise partners. The reason I love Pastor Charles is because when I get ready to turn up, he’s getting ready to turn up with me. I dare you. You don’t need 60 of them, but you need about four good friends that when God begins to do something in your life, they can shout and praise God like it happened. Y’all, but I think about the many moments where my worship needed a jump start. Sometimes I’ve forgotten. Man, I walk through this building sometimes and be like, «Dang, the air conditioning; it costs thousands. People are leaving the lights on; the bathroom is dirty. What is wrong?»
And the Holy Spirit says, «Do you remember? Hold on, hold on. Michael Jackson, do you remember the time?» Do you remember when you had one restaurant in the back of the church? Do you remember when thousands of people were coming in five services in a hallway that we called the lobby? Are you complaining about what you once prayed for? I need you to either choose worry or worship. I don’t want to hear both of them coming out of the same mouth. This lukewarm life of worship, where in one breath we’re worrying, «God, I don’t know how,» and in the next breath, «but God, I guess You can do anything,» He said, «Choose one! Would you just choose to live a life of gratitude, a life of worship? It may not be going good, but I’m still in it, so it’s going to end good. Would you choose worship?» Somebody say, «I will; I will worship. I will; I will remember.»
Okay, let me give you one more: I will express it. It’s funny to me how people say they’re not that expressive, but Natt and I had the privilege to go to game four of the last series between the Lakers and… pray for them, they need a miracle… between the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors. Shout out. But we went to the game, and it was so crazy. There were business people there, thugs, holy people, and hoochie mamas. Everybody was out to play at the game—and celebrities; people who are very buttoned up, polished. I could not help but… the game’s going on, but I just stopped, turned around, and looked at all the people who, in different situations, would say, «I don’t want to do that,» but in the right environment, they were… I mean, I saw a guy who had to be about 450 pounds take his shirt off, and he had Lakers… I don’t know if it was paint; I don’t know if it was Crayola—I don’t know what it was—from one chesticle to the other. It was spectacular to watch.
I was like, he had to plan to do that days in advance and get someone—probably one of his poor children—"Junior, right here!» and… but he loved a team with players who don’t know him so much that he prepared to express his love. We should not be coming into church to pump and prime you. Nobody should… as soon as song one starts, there should be so much «I will» on the inside of you throughout the whole week. If the thing shuts down, something in you should begin to praise God. Matter of fact, shut the lights off! I’m giving you 30 seconds to worship God in this building! Express to Him, «I will when I don’t want to. I will when I don’t have lights. I will when I don’t have sound. I will! You don’t need any music!»
There it is! Worship in the dark—God hears you, He sees you, He knows you, He calls you, He’s a good, good Father; He is worth my worship. I will express to my God how much I love Him. Oh, something is stirring up in this place! At home, worship! In the car, worship! Everybody turn your cell phone light on! Uh-oh! Get your phones! Every time somebody starts worshiping, it becomes a light in the earth. Oh, every time somebody starts worshiping, it becomes a light in the earth like a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. This is what it’s going to look like: when it gets dark at my job, I will be the light. When it gets dark in my family, I will be the difference-maker! I feel this thing!
Somebody shout at me, «I will; I will; I will; I will!» I will worship. I will express. I will remember, and I will when I don’t want to. I will when I won’t, and I don’t want to stand all over this building, y’all. Oh, I feel the presence of God. When you withhold your worship, it gets a little darker for all of us. When you withhold your worship, I might not be able to see the way, but when everybody puts their light on for others who may not have the light yet, they can see because my worship becomes a light to point them to the way, the truth, and the life. So, I will worship. I will remember. I will express. Pastor Mike, why do I have to express? I just don’t want to. It’s because it’s not worship if it’s not love, and it’s not worship if it’s not expressed.
Think about me being with Natalie and telling her I love her, expressing my love to her on the day we get married. I said, «Girl, you know I love you, and I’ll let you know if anything changes.» We’re not going to have a thriving relationship if the only time I tell her and express that I love her is when everybody’s around. What kind of real relationship is that? At church, it’s like the wedding; when we do it here, it’s like the dress. But the real «I love yous» that mean the most to me and Natalie are when my breath and her hair look like a squirrel got into it and was like, «Don’t look like she has a wig on the nightstand.» The makeup is off; I’ve got the little drool mark. Y’all know how sometimes sleep can be so good. She’s like, «Uh-huh, you ain’t slept.» But when I know she’s going through something, and I lean over and say, «Babe, uh-huh, I love you with my whole heart,» she says, «I love you too.»
Nobody else sees those moments. It’s not for Instagram; it’s not for people. It’s for me to express my love to the one who has expressed their love to me. All I’m saying to you is you’ve got to have love for God, and you have to express it to God. That is true worship. Pastor Mike, what do you mean by express? Y’all are going to have to go back and watch this because I’ve got everybody standing. I’m just going to say it, and then I think I’m going to have to do part two next week because I actually have a whole bunch more to preach to y’all. Because when you get this, it changes everything. People are like, «Why are you so radical?» Because I don’t care anymore, and I worship in wisdom. When I get before God, He’s going to be like, «That’s one of my writers,» like, «Well, people thought he was…» I’m going to get a, «Well done, good and faithful.»
That’s what we should all aim for. It doesn’t have to look the same, but it actually has to be love, and it must be expressed. When you say express, it means to convey or communicate. So, you’ve got to say something in words, gestures, or conduct. That means you cannot be a statue, talking about, «I love God.» You don’t love God! What’s wrong with you? You can’t just express it some way. And this is where I’m going to end tonight, and we’re going to pick it back up next week. Isaiah 29:13, the Lord says—who said it? The Lord! «These people come near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips. They sing the songs; their Spotify is full of worship songs, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based merely on human rules they have been taught.»
Maybe the reason why I’m going so in-depth with this worship series is that everything you know has been a mimic of somebody you’ve seen, and God wants the authentic DNA of your worship. See, me and Natalie do things that nobody else would think are cute, but they’re cute to us because we have intimacy. God is saying there’s some stuff I want that Chandler Moore isn’t going to sing, and Tasha Cobbs isn’t going to sing it. I want it from you. No, y’all missed it, because it doesn’t have to be something anybody else likes. My Father likes it when I worship. I do this little thing—uh, He likes that. You may not like it, but He likes that. Some of y’all be «ah.» Like, not everybody has to like it. But most of you haven’t been in His presence long enough to figure out what the thing is you and He have. And what God is saying to me is don’t just worship based on the human rules you’ve been taught.
I want you to find the authentic. That’s why some people may sit in silence, and you say, «Pastor Mike, he said praise.» He said when you sit in silence, you are praising me because your heart is turned toward me. You’ve silenced all the other noise, and this is an act of worship. I’m not just… but you’re expressing it. There’s an intention behind it, and today I’m believing God’s changing all of the «I wants» into «I will.» Hands lifted all over this building. Oh, I feel the presence of God.
God, thank you for meeting us right here. Father, today we are repenting, or turning from all the places where you wanted something from us, and we said, «I won’t.» Today, we’re giving up that right. We’re presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice today—holy, set apart, and acceptable. This is our true, our reasonable, proper act of worship. We are changing our faith statement, even though the circumstance has not changed yet. We are changing our faith statement into «I will.» If you ask us to serve, we say, «I will.» If you ask us to forgive, we will say, «I will.» If you ask us, Father God, to love the person who hurt us, we say, «Father, if you ask us to express our worship, no matter who’s around,» we declare today in front of people. Somebody say, «I will!» Father, because you’ve already given us the great gift of salvation, today, Father, if there’s anybody in this room or under the sound of my voice that has not accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, Father, I thank you for this moment where they can say «I will» to you.
If you’re in this room and you’ve been far from God or you were like, «I don’t want all of that God stuff or Jesus stuff,» and you’ve been living your life on your own but it has not amounted to you being fulfilled, today God is giving you an opportunity to stop running from Him and run to Him. I talked about some of our past situations and remembering how even when I wasn’t choosing God, He was still protecting me, still coming after me, still shielding me from all the crap that was around me. And today God is saying, «I have revealed myself to you, and the Holy Spirit has been drawing you to salvation.» Today, you don’t need to say, «I won’t.» You need to declare, «I will!» Everybody help them. If that’s you and you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today, on the count of three, I just want you to raise your hand, whether you’re in the room, you’re at home, you’re in the gym, or you’re watching on rebroadcast.
Today is the day of salvation, and I’m excited, and there are people praying for you right now because I know the tension you feel in your life trying to figure out, «What will happen if I really give my life to God?» He will transform you. He will take everything you thought was worth a lot in your life and show you that there’s something worth way more: that’s living a life for Him. I’m not a perfect man, but God has taken me from being raggedy, lost, broken, and addicted to pornography, religious, judgmental—all the different things. And He took me as I was, with all the bad habits, with all the secrets, with all the pain, and He said, «I can turn your damage into destiny if you’ll give it to me.» And today, I just believe that’s the mission of our church: to bring our damage to God and allow Him to flip it into something that gives Him glory. If that’s you and you want to make God your personal Lord and Savior, on the count of three, just lift your hands.
I know there are people already lifting their hands; they’re going up. One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Two, I’m proud of you, but more than that, your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I see you, my sister; I see you, my brother. Three, just shoot your hand up all over the world. Come on, Transformation Church, let’s give God praise! I see you; I see you. But more than me seeing you, God sees you, and He’s been seeing you at Transformation Church. Nobody prays alone, so we’re a big family. We’re going to pray this prayer together. Lift your hands, everybody, just in surrender, and say:
God, thank you for sending Jesus. Even when He didn’t want to—even when He didn’t want to—He said, «I will.» He said, «I will». He died for me. And today I receive the free gift of salvation. I believe you lived, you died, and rose again for me to live a transformed life. Change me; renew me. I’ll live for you all the days of my life. In Jesus' name, amen.