have you ever seen those guys or gals that are pretend statues out in public? You know what I'm talking about, They're like fully painted, they look like a statue. They can be frozen for like seemingly hours at a time and when an unsuspecting shopper or bystander walks by, they go, they jump out and scares the snot out of them. Have you seen any of those? Uh those guys are awesome and terrifying at the same time there's actually, I saw a video once of this man who his performance name was the Stoneman and the reason is the Stoneman, it's one guy but he has four mannequins and they all look the same like concrete statues and he's got controls over all of them. And so at any given point they can move slightly and when someone thinks one's moving then he steps out and surprises people and it's hilarious to watch. If you ever look up videos of living statues or pretend statues. Well why do I share that? I share that because the reason those performers are unique is that they are fully alive but they look like they're not and I wonder how many people when it comes to faith they claim jesus as Lord and savior. They believe in God, but their life doesn't necessarily reflect their belief. You know, sometimes out outsiders maybe look into the church and they question, I don't know if I want what they want. I don't know if I want their life. They like that They have and so I wonder how many of us at times are like those living statues where we're just frozen a little bit. We claim one thing, like we claim faith, but we live in fear, right? We live hashtag blessed, but we are also broken, right? We have forgiveness, but we hesitate to forgive. And we have all these things. Well, today, I want to talk this morning about what does it mean to have empowered worship. We're in a series entitled Empower University, where we want to help you take your faith to the next level. And so today we're gonna spend time hearing from scott, but we're going to take time to worship together. But you see when it comes to worship, you actually don't need all the facts, feelings. And even faith to be ready to worship. Now, that seems almost blasphemous, that I just said, you don't need all the faith. Here's what I mean though, by those three things First, you don't need all the facts to worship. Because when do you know everything, right? How often do you walk into a circumstance and you're just uncertain of the future? I don't know if my health is going to change. I don't know what's gonna come of this relationship. I don't know what's gonna come with my job. And because we don't know, the future, were hesitant, were hesitant to worship God and what we don't know. But thankfully, when there are situations that we don't know, we can focus and worship on who we do know. And so we can lean into that secondly, you don't have to wait till you have all the feelings don't have to be feeling it to worship now, I love worship because it connects your heart, it connects your soul with God. It transcends a moment, doesn't it? But what do you do when you don't feel it? Well, you don't wait for the feeling to worship instead, you worship out of obedience. That ultimately will lead to that feeling. And even if you don't feel it per se by walking in faithfulness and obedience, it's worship to God Because Jesus didn't come, it's not, it's not John 316 where God said for God, so loved the world that he felt, he said God so loved the world that he gave. And then lastly, you don't even have to have all the faith to worship God. You know why? Because jesus was talking to his disciples one time, he said, if you have faith of a mustard seed, you can move them out. So I like to think that if you don't have a lot to give worship is just given what you've got, If you're at a one out of 10, can you give that one to God right? If you've got nothingness to God, guess what that means, Your hands are open and what are open hands good for worship. And so if you're taking notes, I want to, I want you to write this down that worship is not just how you sing, but how you live now. Music transcends. And I love that. It connects the heart and I love that you guys are here and we study the word together. But I'm guessing that you guys don't go home and then replay the sermon over and over and over again. That would be cool. And then inflate my ego if you did. But it doesn't happen right? Sometimes we go home and we forget exactly what we just heard, don't we? But at the same time, how many of you have ever listened to a song that spoke to you? And then you put that song on repeat for the week and it just, and it nourished your heart and your soul, right? Music has a way of connecting at a deeper level but worship while music is important. In fact, the largest book in the, in the bible that we have psalms is about music. Worship is so much bigger than that. And I want to show you just briefly throughout scripture that it's not just about seeing it, it's about living. See in John Chapter 10 Jesus says these words, he says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that you may have what life and have it abundantly. And then he clarifies even further and in John 14, 6 he says, I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. And so we have a god who loves us, who came to give us life, who gave his own, who died on the cross, but rose again and when he rose again we can rise again. And because we sing, we don't, we don't memorialize a fallen leader, We sing to a living savior and that God is present with us in this room. So then we find out from the Apostle paul in Ephesians chapter two verse five, he says that even when we were dead in our trespasses, not even when we were sick, not even when we were bad, but when we were dead in our trespasses that he made us alive together with christ by grace, you have been saved. What does that mean? Well in first peter 13, it says that blessed be the God and father of our Lord, jesus christ according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to what a living hope through the resurrection of christ, jesus from the dead. And so here we have a living savior, a living god who then makes us alive and gives us a living hope. And these verses are not just ancient literature. In fact, in in hebrews four verse 12, it says this for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword piercing to the division of the soul and the spirit of joints and marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. You start to see this picture of what worship is, don't you know, we have a living god who gives us a living faith, which then we worship into a living hope through the living word and then we get this incredible verse in romans chapter 12 verse one, it says, I appeal to you therefore, therefore in light of this living God and living faith, Living hope and living word because our God is alive because we sing to arisen present powerful savior. It says, therefore, I appeal to you by the mercies of God to present your bodies as what as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Worship is so much more than what you're saying, how you sing. It's how you live. It's like it's the conversations, it's a thought life, it's the motivation, it's the actions, that's how you are in the workplace, in the home, in the car. Everything you do is an act of worship, and what I love about that is that you can give whatever is in your hand to him. That means when you're facing a storm, you can worship when you're facing a struggle, you can worship when you're walking through suffering. You can worship because you're not gonna have abundant life until you offer yourself as a living sacrifice and so how you live, how you obey, how you follow speaks volumes because if you're in a storm or in suffering right now, I want to encourage you today with this truth that an exhausted world doesn't need an echo of itself. We need an expression of eternity. See when you're exhausted, when you're tired, we often turn to the things of the world, whether it's it's mindless television or social media or drinking or or other things of the world, which really is just an echo of itself, isn't it? But if instead of turning to the world, you gave your situation in your heart and your circumstance to God and you worship and you praised. Do me a favor real quick. Just find your pulse, find your pulse somewhere on your neck or wrist. You can help your neighbor if you want to. That's kind of weird. Okay? You feel that okay if you have a pulse you're ready to praise, right? Because that very pulse only comes because of God. And so instead of being exhausted and turned into echo of itself, we can actually worship and have an expression and experience of eternity. So it's my honor and privilege to continue this morning, to introduce him to bring back on stage a man who lives this out. His voice is incredible and you're gonna be inspired by his story and I'll let him share it with you. So I won't give too much away if you've never heard his story, but you want to talk about overcoming and faithful and a life of worship. I can't think of a better person who is a living example of this to you and to me today. That to my friend scott McIntyre, can we give it up to scott McIntyre for coming out today? Take it away my friend. It's great to be here. Pastor john thank you so much for having us. And we also have, my wife Christina is here and uh then we have peter drown on violin over here and his wife Kara is over here as well. So thanks for thanks for welcoming us into your church. It's it means so much. Last time we were here was 2018 and so it's it's really sweet for us to be back. Would you all stand again and we're going to continue And that in that mode of of worship as john was talking about father's not for us that he should give his only son to make. Mm hmm. Mhm. Thank you. Mm hmm, mm hmm. See. Mm hmm I'm not. I mean jesus mm hmm. Mhm I can give mm hmm. Goodbye. Mm hmm. When peace like a river. Send it my way when sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my love thou hast on me to say it is well it is well it is well with my soul. Mm hmm It is my c. Mm hmm. Mm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm. It is well with my soul. Mm hmm. Yeah. As a school where? Mhm. Are we? Thank you so much that in the midst of suffering we can be grateful Lord! We can say it is well with my soul, be with us during the remainder of this service. God! Would you speak to our hearts? Would you comfort us? Would you convict us? Would you lead us in your ways? In jesus name? We pray amen. Well I was I was born blind in case you didn't didn't realize I am blind. But I've been blind since birth and growing up there were certain things I couldn't do. I couldn't play baseball. I couldn't see when a girl was smiling at me from across the room. I could never drive a car. I have never driven a car to this day as far as anyone knows. But there were other things that I could do and I tried to do them really well. I I learned to ride a bike without without sight. Um I learned to ski with a sighted guide. Go left, go right. No, I meant left and that that took some faith I learned to read textbooks but a little bit differently than you might read a textbook. And this worked out so well that I began to believe that if I worked hard enough if I got creative enough I could overcome any obstacle that life threw my way. And in fact I found myself giving the commencement speech to my graduating class at Arizona State University and got to, got to encourage everyone to go out and reach for their goals and reach for their dreams and that was what I was excited to do in my own life. That was my picture of worshiping God, that's what I thought my future was gonna look like, is using my gifts and talents to bring glory to God. And I finished that speech, walked out into the parking lot and it was on that graduation day, at that moment that I got a phone call which changed my life forever. That was the day, that was the moment I found out my kidneys were failing. I didn't know what that meant As a 19 year old, I just knew it meant my life was probably going to look very different from that point on than I thought it was gonna look. And all of a sudden, here was a situation out of which I could not help myself in and of my own strength, it was gonna take someone else outside of me stepping in to do what I could not do and saved my life. I eventually got pretty ill and began dialysis and it was a tough time for me. I couldn't really imagine what God was going to do next. But in that state I was not able to sing very much at the piano. Some days I couldn't push enough air through my vocal cords to to do that for any length of time and it felt like my dreams, we're dying. But then in the midst of that suffering, God did something amazing. The wife of my former piano teacher from college decided she was going to donate her kidney to me and she saved my life. Her name is Patricia and it was because of that gift of life that I got to to continue letting God write this story and he did continue to write the story. That's not where it ended. I probably would have been happy if that's where it ended. But he allowed me to go on american idol. He allowed me to marry my wife Christina. Um He even allowed more suffering in my life. And after eight years with that first kidney transplant, I was put back on the waiting list for a second kidney transplant and once again entered this season of waiting to see what God would do. In the midst of my suffering, God was teaching me a deeper lesson the second time around. You know, in life we don't always get the kidney transplant, We don't always get the cure or the easy solution to the problem or the healed relationship this side of heaven. But God doesn't want you and me to wait until life is perfect to experience the joy that he has for us. We we got to make a television special last year during Covid, which is amazing God allowed it to continue in the midst of that. But it's bringing hope to people who are feeling isolated even now, during this time it's airing a new cities each month. But I wanted to show you a little clip of the trailer of this story. Watch this. Mhm, mm hmm. He asked if I wanted to go out with an american idol and I said no, but I'll go out with scott McIntyre. American idol is an exciting time. But what excited me more Where the doors that opened to connect with the hearts of others and encourage them in their struggles. Mm hmm And your honeys. A few weeks before our wedding, we found out that scott would need a second kidney transplant. And I remember being angry at God and having those questions like God isn't blindness enough why kidney failure to God was honestly taking me to a place of complete and total surrender. Independence on him. I know that for me it was a time of almost being forced to grow and scriptures took on a new meaning. Yes. Mm hmm. The glory of God could be seen in the ending of the suffering, the healing but the works of God can also be seen during the summer before the heat. It's hard for me to completely wish away my disability when I've seen it encouraged so many, we're seeing Children and adults leave our events with real hope to overcome addiction, depression and even thoughts of suicide. I'm scott McIntyre and through the years I've experienced all this and more. And while life is a journey and sometimes a struggle, it's not a road that I travel among. Yeah, I did receive a second successful kidney transplant, but the amazing thing was the second time around. It was an anonymous living donor who gave me that gift of life. It was someone I had never met. Someone. I had never done anything for that, decided to step in and save my life. We did meet her six weeks later. She was 27 years old at the time. She has three wonderful kids. She's very much a single mother. Her name is misty but even out of all that, she gave more, she gave me the gift of life and the cool thing is she not only gave me my life back, but because of her gift, my wife Christina and I now have a family. We have two wonderful Children as well, christian is 4.5 and Stella's eight months now. So we're very thankful for that there is such a, a parallel for me between what happened to me with my health, with this struggle through kidney failure and the gospel of jesus christ see, just like I was powerless to save myself physically until two times in my life, someone stepped in to give me the gift of life. You and me, we are all powerless to save ourselves spiritually. We we can't fix our sin problem. There's nothing we can do in and of ourselves. There's no amount of work we can do. There's no amount of creativity we can bring to the table to reconcile ourselves to Almighty God who created us and who gets the last word. But Jesus stepped into creation and he offers us so much more than a kidney. He offers us the greater gift of eternal life. Amen. You know, before my first kidney transplant, I have to be honest with you, I didn't really want a transplant. I was kind of resistant to the idea of it. You know, we like to kind of stay where we are. We like complacency. We don't like to take risks sometimes. And, you know, talk about taking risks. Surgery is a risk and I was comfortable, I didn't want to go beyond what I could see. I didn't want to venture into the unknown and just trust that it would work out okay. I was I was resistant to this idea. I did not have a great quality of life on dialysis, relying on machines to keep me alive day by day. But it was a quality of life. And I reasoned, if I were to undergo a kidney transplant, there was a very real risk as there is with any surgery like that. I could lose my life altogether. But God wanted to walk me through the dark hour to let me experience the abundant life he had for me on the other side and I'm so grateful that he did that, you know, for a little bit, I felt in my own pitiful way, like jesus in the, in the garden as he began to feel the weight of what was about to happen to him later on the cross. Father let this cup pass from me, but then in his grace, he gave me the strength to say the second part of that, not my will, but your will be done father, but forget about me, you know, my two kidney donors, the fact that they were willing to sacrifice, believing that there was something better on the other side, that there was abundant life, that there was hope on the other side of this difficult circumstance, it was amazing. It wasn't hope for them, it was hope for me. We say we want to follow jesus, but do we just want to follow him into into glory, into his resurrection? He's promised us those things when we believe, but is that all it is? Or do we do we want to follow him? Are we willing to follow him into suffering? Are we willing to follow him into sacrifice? I love how pastor john said it. If jesus rose, you and I, we can rise to and if your faith is placed in jesus christ, he means that spiritually he means that physically there there is a day when the creation will be made new, but that's yet to come. But it's also the reason we have so much hope now, it's the reason we can worship because we're not we're not focused on just the here and now. We're focused on here and now in light of eternity. That's the, that's the mystery of union with christ, the mystery of being united to christ as his church as an individual believer. You know, just like he promises, he gives us a new spirit within us now and we are a new creation paul talks about that in the present tents, he's going to actually do that physically in the future and we will be resurrected, just like christ has been resurrected and what a glorious hope that is, what a truth to stir our hearts to worship even amidst suffering. And so this morning, maybe you've maybe you've walked with jesus a long time and my prayer is is that this is just an encouragement to you that this, this helps each of us, myself included to refocus our lives, Maybe to Refocus one area of our life that we've been resistant to lay down before jesus, that we can we can give that area of our life over to him and piece by piece. Area by area day by day, we can surrender more fully to christ and we can become more like our savior. Maybe you're here today and you've never, you just simply never expressed your dependence on God. You've never expressed your dependence on jesus christ for the forgiveness of sin and for that. That reconciliation of of your relationship with God and there's nothing, there's nothing fancy to it. It's simply your your recognition that you need a savior and that jesus is that savior. And so I want to end before we end with a couple of songs. I just want to take a moment to bow. If we can close our eyes, I'll close my eyes to if it makes you feel better and first for for everyone in the room, Lord, I just pray that in jesus name, you would impress upon our hearts, areas of our lives where we need to, we need to let go a little bit where we need to become a little bit more dependent on you Lord, you know us better than we do you made us. And so we thank you that you you walk us many times through those uh through those refinements with mercy, God thank you for your mercy. We know what we deserve and we know how good you are in spite of that to us, help us to refocus our lives. Lord help us to make jesus the main thing, not just on sunday, but every single day as we are ambassadors for christ. And if you've never just expressed your dependence on God, you've never expressed you're need for jesus and told God this is just between you and God. But you can do whatever helps you. You can pray this under your breath, you can pray it out loud, whatever helps you express this to God. And you want that hope that john is talking about. You want that hope that I'm telling you about this morning in the midst of crazy times in the world, this is just a moment of of surrender to God. It's a moment you drive a stake in the ground and he's gonna give you that hope and that joy. No matter what circumstance you face, you just pray God, I am sorry for choosing my own way over your way. I believe that Jesus lived the perfect life in obedience to you that I could never live. That's an amazing thought. I believe that Jesus died the death that I deserved. And I believe that Jesus rose again, proving victory over death and giving me hope of eternal life as well. Place your holy spirit within me God and teach me to love you day by day in jesus name. Amen. Mhm If you did pray that this morning, don't leave without sharing with pastor john or sharing with one of us up here. There's a lot of people around that would love to pray with you and pray for you as you as you start that journey and walked alongside you. That's why we're in church here this morning, imperfecta tender shape, so desperate for and no bender, your mercy made away, you should be your face now my heart is changed. You look at me and you see jesus, I've been my sin no more. The debt I owed is lost in freedom because of your sacrifice. I am justified. No ordinary love mm hmm could cause someone ransom paid in his car reborn. Thank you. You look at me and you see jesus, my sins. The debt I owe is lost in freedom because of your sacrifice. I am justified. I am justified. You showed me my words. You covered my sin. Your love has made me hold love again. No power of hell. Nobody in order could ever take your please. Mm hmm You look at me, you see jesus because I am justified. I am justified. I am justified. I am. Would you stand with us one more time We're going to close and worship together And I just want to mention we will be out behind the wall with with books and cds if you want to take a piece of it with you the peace of the ministry with you and T shirts I am hope T shirts which I love as we reflect, christ to the world. But I wanted to to tell you, you saw the clip of the tv special that we're using to reach people for christ during this time um you don't have to worry about catching it on tv. We have a link that we'd be happy to send you so you can watch it. So you can share it with people. And um if that's something that would be an encouragement to you to be able to, to hear more of, of what God is doing in this story. Or if you know someone in your life that you want to share it with, just come on by the table and um you can write down your phone number and email and we'll be sure to get it to you and that you can watch it. Thanks for having us. Let's worship alone in my sorrow and dead in my seat. Lost without hope and no place to begin. Your love made a way to let mercy come when death was arrested. My life. Ash was routine and only beauty holes in the heart was given. Mhm. My morning grew quiet where death was arrested. My life. Mhm Oh your grace suffering while she's up me. You have made me new. No life begins with you. Released from my chains. Hey man, my shame was a ransom faithful. He canceled my dad and he called me his food when death was arrested in my life began. Mm hmm. Oyo. While she's you have made me. I don't know you have made us. Mm hmm. Yes. My savior displayed on a criminal school. Yes. Darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost. But then but then jesus arose without freedom. That's when death was arrested in my life. Mm hmm me. You have made me boring. You have made us. Yes, we've Yeah. Come join the song. Yes. Mm hmm. Amen. Death was arrested in my life. Yes. Free When dad was arrested 18. When death was arrested began. That's when death was arrested and my life began. Well, Amen. Amen. Can we give one more round of applause for scott?