Introit

Everything Glorious

The day is brighter here with You

The night is lighter than it's hue

Would lead me to believe

Which leads me to believe

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen

The beauty of enormous things

Which leads me to believe

There's light enough to see that

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

From glory to glory

You are glorious

From glory to glory

You are glorious

Which leads me to believe why I can believe

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

From glory to glory

You are glorious

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

Welcome

Good morning church! May we see the goodness of the glory of God all around us as we gather for worship this morning!

I am Russell Clark and I am the pastor here at Azle Christian Church. We are so happy to have you all here – both here in our sanctuary and those worshipping online!

Communication and reaching all of you where you are is important to us. We’ve made some updates to our bulletin this week. Please check out the new format and information.

Our liturgy is posted each week on the website if you would like to follow along with our service.

If you are new to our church, we are so glad you are here! We’d love to get to know you more and care for you. There is information in the bulletin about getting connected to Realm, which is like our church social media, or our weekly eBlast newsletter, or you may contact the church office for more information.

We love our children here in worship and we always welcome them here. There is a kids corner in the back if your children need a space to move around. There is also a nursery available if you’d like.

We’re trying something new this morning and we’re doing our announcements for the week at the end of the service to help with the flow and the feel of the service. If we don’t like it, we’ll change it back.

Now, let us go before the Lord in prayer as we prepare our hearts for worship:

Lord, we come here today to declare you the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and our Good God Almighty. May what we do in here bring greater meaning to everything we do out there. Amen.

Call to Worship:

Everlasting God

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever

Our hope, our strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint

You won't grow weary

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

We will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever

Our hope, our strong Deliverer

You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint

You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on the wings

Like eagles

Our God, You reign forever

Our hope, our strong Deliverer

'Cause You are, You are the everlasting God

The everlasting God

You do not faint

You won't grow weary

You're the defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on the wings

Like eagles

From everlasting to everlasting

God, You are everlasting

Litany of Faith:

One: The glory of God is the essence of God’s nature and the weight of God’s importance.

All: The glory of God is the radiance of God’s splendor, the demonstration of God’s power, and the entire atmosphere of God’s presence.

One: May we give God glory because we can see God’s beauty and creativity all throughout creation.

All: May we give God glory because of the love God has shown us in Jesus Christ.

Scripture Meditation

Our scripture meditation for today is Matthew 6:21 “Where your treasure is; there your heart will be also.”

This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Today we are starting a new sermon series – Why We Do What We Do: Reflecting on the Meaning of Worship. We come to church to worship God, but why? Why do we worship? What is the meaning of worship?

We will be exploring the different aspects of worship from now through the end of August so that we may stop going through the motions and really focus on why we do what we do.

As this scripture states, what we truly treasure and spend our time on will show where our heart and passion truly lie. The big question is: Who is your treasure, your heart, the focus of your worship?

Pastoral Prayer

The Lord be with you. And Also with you. Let us pray.

God of all glory – May the beauty of your creation come into focus for us this week. May we see your glory all around us.

Show us who you are, Lord. May we seek after your Word and the Truth that lights our path. May your Spirit be present with us in our prayers as we seek to serve you and share your good news to the world. May your name be the first on our lips in the morning and may our heads rest in the evening knowing you have been with us throughout our day.

May we declare you worthy, our treasure, our hope, our joy, our peace, our love, our everything. May we see who you are in all your glory. May we be close to you, our King.

We confess that we have not remained close to you as we should. We have not put you or your people first. Forgive us for how we have put other things before you, Lord. We seek to put you and your Kingdom first.

Be with those who are in need of healing and comfort and your presence, O Lord. May everyone know that there is a place for them here, as you are with them wherever they go.

Thank you, Lord, for showing us a glimpse of your glory and Kingdom.

And hear us as we pray the prayer your son taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our debts

As we forgive our debtors

And lead us not into temptation

But Deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Series: Why We Do What We Do: Reflecting on the Meaning of Worship

Sermon: Why Do We Worship?

Hats. Cowboy hat. Chef’s hat. Top hat. Ball caps. Night cap. Sombreros. Helmets. Baseball helmet. Security helmet. Bicycle helmet. Bonnets. Turbans. Yarmulkes. Hats.

The hats you wear say a lot about you; what you care about, what you’re interested in, what you are devoted to.

We are wearing so many different hats throughout our lives, aren’t we? We always seem to be juggling a number of different hats. Our different hats don’t just define who we say we are; they really show people what we do, they show people what we truly care about.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is; there your heart will be also.”

What you TREASURE shows what you truly care about. The hats you are wearing really define who you are.

While you might come to worship on Sunday mornings, ask yourself: Am I REALLY giving my heart to God in worship….or am I simply concerned with the million other hats I have to wear that I just come to worship because I think I’m “supposed to”?

Because what we spend time on throughout the week…not just on Sunday mornings…really reflects WHO and WHAT we are giving WORTH to.

Imagine this:

So, one day I decided to go buy my wife, Shannon, some flowers. I buy her some really beautiful flowers and then I take them home and give them to her.

Shannon says, “Wow! Thank you so much! What did you buy these for?”

Then, I told her, “Well….the flowers were on SALE. They weren’t too EXPENSIVE and you’re always saying how I NEVER get you anything. You know, I just thought you NEEDED them.”

Does Shannon even WANT the flowers anymore?

NO!

Now………….why would we think God works any differently?

The scriptures tell us that God HATES the empty rituals……………………….In the book of Isaiah it says, “These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”…………………….In 2 Corinthians 9:7 it says, “Each person should give what they have decided in their heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a CHEERFUL giver.”……………………………Then, Jesus when he is talking to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23-24 says, “A time is coming and has now come when true worshippers will worship the Father in SPIRIT and in TRUTH, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is SPIRIT, and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

See, look at all this. God doesn’t want us to come to worship out of obligation or guilt or shame or just so we can get something out of it…God wants our hearts, our devotion, God wants to be our treasure, God wants us to worship cheerfully in Spirit and in Truth.

And God knows if the gifts and time we give are from our hearts or not. God knows what we truly treasure.

……………..My professor once said that the original meaning of worship was actually WORTH-ship. It was about declaring WORTH to God.

……………..So, let’s think about the many hats we wear. What do we give our devotion and attention to? What do we get excited about? Do we give the glory, the treasure, and the WORTH to God…or do our other hats get the first priority? ...........................

(put on pizza hat) I mean, we all have hats for when we get hungry.

(put on monkey hat) We have hats for monkeying around with our friends.

(put on mickey ears) We have hats to bring out the kid in all of us.

(put on Cowboys hat) We have hats for when we feel like a loser. Sorry Cowboys fans. Dak needs to prove himself this year!

(put on moose head) We have hats for when we remember to put moose in our hair. Get it? Moose? Whatever…

(put on milk carton hat) Sometimes our brains just feel like they are missing.

(put on television hat) Sometimes I’m sure we all like to watch a little TV. It’s important that we take time to relax with all the different hats we have to wear. Do we wear this hat enough? Do we wear it too much?

(put on shark hat) Sometimes we just feel like we’re getting eaten alive! I mean, when we have to wear so many different hats for so many different people, it’s hard not to feel like huge teeth are just surrounding us!

(put on tom landry hat) Sometimes we wear our family hat. This hat used to be my grandpa’s. I know we all love our families, but with all the other hats we have to wear, does this hat continue to be a priority? For some folks, maybe the family hat takes up too much time and you never have time for yourself.

(put on Captain hat) Many of us have our husband or wife hat. This is my husband hat. Shannon gave me this hat as a gift. This is one of my most important hats. I couldn’t make it in my life without my wife, without wearing my husband hat.

(put on 1187 hat) My daughters gave me this hat. Am I wearing my dad hat enough where I give my undivided attention to them and show them I love them?

(put on ninja turtles hat) Some of you teenage mutants have your school hats. For those of you who are in school, are you wearing this hat just to “make the grade” or are you still passionate enough about school that you remember to truly enjoy the time you have to learn and grow and have a great experience with your professors and fellow classmates.

(put on rangers helmet) Then, we all have our work hats. Some of us work inside, some work outside. Some need a helmet for protection. Some work like crazy. How much priority does your work hat receive? Is this hat too overwhelming for you that you don’t have time for your family hat, your friend, or your relaxation hat? Does it get in the way of some of the other hats you are wearing? Do you even enjoy wearing this work hat anymore?

(put on jester hat) This might look funny…but this is our God hat. This is the hat that connects us to God.

A youth minister saw me wearing this hat once when I was a silly youth minister myself, and he pulled me aside to tell me a story. He told me about when he went to hear the author from The Shack, William Young, speak…..

(take off hat) Young was talking about how he was going through a time where he wanted to find out what his calling was. I don’t remember if a friend told him this or he felt like he heard the voice of God telling him this, but something told him that he was like a “jester.” Young got really upset!

“What?! A jester?! My calling is to be a JESTER!!”

He said he decided to go on a spiritual retreat to get some further clarification. He spent a weekend away at this hotel.

When he checked into the hotel, he noticed that there were tons and tons of people dressed up as…you guessed it…JESTERS! He thought this was some cruel joke. Here he is trying to get away from thinking he is a jester and he is surround by jesters!

There was a big convention room, and sure enough, there was a JESTER CONVENTION! He said, “My friends will never believe this!” He grabbed one of the cards from the convention to prove to his friends that he wasn’t making this up.

This only led him to further questions concerning this apparent calling to be a…JESTER? He went to tell a friend of his about this weird calling to be a jester, and this is what his friend said:

“Oh, being a jester is a very great calling. See, you don’t get it, do you? We think of jesters today as silly persons who told jokes for the king and the people, and we think they just had tomatoes thrown at them all day. Actually, jesters were NOT just known for entertaining the king and the people.

“Jesters were the king’s advisors. The king turned to them for help. The jester was responsible for communicating between the people and the king. Jesters were the closest ones to the king.

“Don’t you see? Being a jester means you are really close to the king; you help connect people to the king, you help give the king a voice.”

(put on Jesters hat) Are you wearing that hat that connects you to the King? How often are you wearing your God hat? Maybe you think this hat is too silly to wear that often. Maybe you’re afraid someone will see something “different” about you.

………..But what happens when all these other hats seem to take up all our time???

(start putting on all hats) When we wear our tv hat, our silly hat, our child hat, our family hat, our work hat, our friend hat, our husband hat, our parent hat, and our God hat…it becomes hard to tell if we even have our God hat on. I can’t even feel my God hat. I mean, is it really worth wearing when it is way up there? Even though our God hat is way up there, we wonder why God isn’t doing more to take care of our other hats……….(take hats off)

(pause)

…….Think about this: if everything was stripped away from your life – your family, your friends, your career, your house, your clothes, your computers, your favorite toys, everything you care about in this life – if it was all stripped away, would you believe that God is enough?

I’m not trying to say that God takes away all these things…not that at all. But in those times of loss and it feels like everything is gone and we have no purpose, it’s our God hat that reminds us to be grateful for what we have and reminds us that this part of our story is not the end of our story. It’s help us to see a more complete picture.

What I’m just trying to say is…..

(put on Jester hat) Would you believe that wearing this one hat is the only hat you need to wear to make it in this life? Would you know that with God, everything will be okay? You will be more than okay when you are connected to the King.

(take off hat) Because when you wear your God hat first….the rest of your hats make so much more sense. We appreciate our family hat, our spouse hat, our parent hat, and our friend hat more when we understand how to love from God’s word and the messages we receive here in worship. We understand that God wants us to truly soak up our lives more and ENJOY our school hats and our work hats. When we wear our God hat first, we know how to act and react when we have our angry hat. We know what to do when the shark hat attacks us. We know how important it is that we wear our relaxation hat and our silly hat too.

Coming to worship is NOT about giving up everything else we have going on our lives. It’s just that the rest of our hats – the rest of our lives – have so much more meaning and purpose when GOD receives the ultimate worth in our lives. When we give God’s hat the first priority, the other hats have more character…they fit better…they have life.

So………how do we go the extra step in our WORTH-ship to God…to not just go through the motions in our lives, to not just “get the grade”, but to enjoy our life experiences? How do we become fully connected to God? How do we start truly enjoying every aspect of our lives?

We have to give up trying to be a superhero. Being a jester and wearing our God hat doesn’t mean we have to BE the king. We don’t have to juggle all these hats all at the same time. Some hats we might even be able to give up completely.

Being a jester isn’t about balancing our hats and acting crazy for the whole world to see and laugh at us. Being a jester just means we are first and foremost connected to the King…….we take the time to listen to the King whisper in our ear….and we help share the King’s message…and we give the King our treasure…we give the King all the glory…

We often say “We give God all the glory” but do we know what that really means?

God’s Glory is WHO GOD IS.

Glory in Hebrew is Kabod.

Say that with me: Kabod.

Kabod is glory but it also means the “heaviness of God” or the “weight of God.”

It’s the power and strength and magnificence of God.

The Kabod of God is our weight, our importance, our center, our focus, our everything.

With the glory – the Kabod of God – as our everything – everything else falls into place.

To give God the glory is to realize this Kabod is everything.

George Addington said to me this past week: “We form all these committees and we have all these meetings, but what’s most important is just that we ask the Lord to guide us in all that we do…”

(put on Jester hat) Putting on this Jester hat – to ask God to guide us, to declare God worthy, to give God the glory, to be next to the king – is why we do what we do.

Sharing Our Resources

There are many ways to support the ministries of Azle Christian Church. You can give online on our website, on Venmo, use the QR code in your bulletin, or place it in the offering plate as the deacons come by during our final song. You can also put in a prayer request card or information card in the plate.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

A few announcements for this week before our benediction:

You can find information about our weekly activities, such as Sunday School, our Ukulele Group, and our prayer group, and our calendar in the bulletin or on our website.

If you or someone you know needs a visit or has a prayer request or would like home communion, you may contact the church office or contact me directly.

Today after we conclude worship is a Youth Volunteer Meeting in the fellowship hall. Anyone who is interested in helping with our Youth Sunday School or to help plan youth events may attend to brainstorm with our family life minister, Emerson.

There is a list of donations needed for our Food pantry found printed in your bulletin.

Next Sunday after worship we will be holding a special congregation meeting to vote on our new constitution changes and by-laws. A team has been working on these changes for a long time and we appreciate all the hard work they have put into this. This information has been shared on realm for you to look over. If you need a hard copy, let Dan or Valerie know and we can get one to you.

Also, next Sunday at 5pm, we will have Bible & Beer. Bring your bibles and your favorite beverage for a bible study next week at John & Sondra Williams’ house. Their address is in the bulletin.

The congregation surveys were shared on realm for you to fill out. This information helps the church in their search for a standing/permanent pastor and helps us as we get ready for our congregation planning meeting in August to seek our vision for the church moving forward. I have put my hat in to be considered as a candidate for the standing/permanent pastor position, as well, as you all begin this search. Susie/Dan, do you have any more to add?

BENEDICTION:

Please rise in body and spirit for the benediction, the final song, and the doxology. Receive this blessing:

I hope to see you all again here next week as we continue our series on “Why We Do What We Do: Reflecting on the Meaning of Worship” talking about why we gather in the first place.

Until next week, may you see God’s glory – God’s KABOD – all around you this entire week, may you wear your God hat first so your other hats fit better, and may you declare God worthy from the bottom of your hearts. In Jesus’ name we pray and play, Amen.