Friday service , Passover 2023

AND ALL I DID WAS WORSHIP

Thank you pastors Darryl and Ruperta for the invite to spend
Easter Friday with you

My first vivid memory of Easter after I got saved almost 30 years ago
was of my family camping out next to a river for easter weekend and
me driving 30 minutes in the dark to get to church and 30 minutes back
to arrive to the mother of all thunderstorms at the campsite. I recall
the chaos around me and hanging onto tentpoles for the rest of the
night trying to keep everyone warm and safe … my family being people
who think a 3 star hotel is roughing it didn’t take the tent, nor the rain
and definitely not the windstorm well.

But I remember this moment fondly because I remember the memories

of that first service - I had just gotten filled with the holy spirit a few
weeks back , baptised in water and this was to be the first easter I
would spend as part of Gods family – the awe and wonder of the story
of easter , the clear picture in my head of the wounds Jesus had to
have had, the grave that was empty and the holy spirit that was now
sent to be my friend …it left me in awe and it made me felt loved and
cared for.

I was an adult at that time. It wasn’t a fairytale type of experience. It

was basic, it was understandable , it was powerful, it was true … and He
did it for me. The darling of Heaven loved this little insignificant
redhead freckleface enough to walk the via de la Rosa to an
unthinkable death knowing full well what was in store .

It was basic but I understood it well. I understood its significance well. I

knew I didn’t deserve it and probably never will ..but I also knew I
didn’t need to deserve it - I was a kid - kids are loved by default.
 Over the years I have grown in what I could do in the Kingdom. I can
minister , I can lay hands on the sick and they get healed, I can pray for
people , I can teach people Gods ways, I can prophesy and even by the
grace of God sometimes minister a word of wisdom and knowledge. I
have taught leaders and ministers , ordained them and saw them grow.
I have married people , baptised people, dedicated children, sat next to
deathbeds and buried dear friends and family.

It was great to be used by God. Incredible to minister a word that

touches His people week in and week out… but somehow it changed
what I knew that day I came back from my first Easter service. It
somehow made me believe I had to earn being a kid. I had to help. God
somehow couldn’t look after His own without me. My truth about His
grace had changed significantly ….

However , recent events and I guess growing older has proven to me

over and over again that the more I think I have to do the more I am in
the way of what needs to be done - God actually doesn’t need me
being everywhere.

He can look after my family and my kid as well as I can. He can protect
my family better than I can. He can teach a new generation Himself
through His Holy Spirit , He can save and heal without my help.

I have made being a kid complicated. I have made His sacrifice

something that had to be earned. I have joined a battle that He had won
at Calvary and I am getting my behind kicked all the time.

I have learnt that I need to get back to basics - to what I know to be true
about the Father and Son and Spirit I love. It has taught me basic truths
that I believed for decades still remain – in their basic form , not in my
adjusted version of it
I want to minister on three of these basic truths today as we celebrate
easter – Friday , the day He died so we might live

1. Truth 1 - He already paid the price, the victory was His but he
made it mine
2. Truth 2 - My words fall short and my gratitude always ends up
insufficient for what He has done
3. Truth 3 - Still He to this day promises SOZO – a life of fill
complete healing of body , mind and soul - to those who love
Him and believe the work of the cross

Truth 1 - Bethel worship has a song called defender …. It

touches on the first point of truth. – He came back with the
head of the enemy and He called it my victory - It sounds like
this :

You go before I know

That You've even gone to win my war
You come back with the head of my enemy
You come back and You call it my victory
You go before I know
That You've even gone to win my war
Your love becomes my greatest defense
It leads me from the dry wilderness

And all I did was praise

All I did was worship
All I did was bow down
All I did was stay still

The last part of this verse resonates with me today. – it takes me back
to that first Easter I believed – when it was uncomplicated. - when I
 knew I couldn’t do anything to deserve being a kid – it rings in my ears
….

And all I did was praise

All I did was worship
All I did was bow down
All I did was stay still

Great men and woman of God have at times in their lives had to learn
this. – had to tell their souls to be still and know , had to call their
spirits up to worship -
David. - Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Psalm 103:1

Habbakuk reminds himself that He will still worship God even when things
are not going his way ….

 The battle is won - it was won at Calvary

 Jesus is enough
 I don’t have to get my behind kicked in a war I am fighting – the
war is won and the enemy’s head is the victory trophy
 I am a kid – I am loved by default - so loved that God sent His son

Truth 2 - Gratitude : My words fall short and my gratitude always

ends up insufficient for what He has done
Again a song and its words resonate in my heart –

The song is called Gratitude and it basically says that all the words and all
the songs we sing are good and great but that they end … and God does
not… this creates a problem… it means we are not able to sufficiently
express our gratitude
You see - I believe we have reason for gratitude – if we lived in Syria we
might not have made it through the night with bombs exploding
everywhere, if we lived in Russia or Japan or Hong Kong we would not be
able to have this gathering today – the government would have monitored
our phones and our get togethers, if we were in Israel we would be
mislead by our leaders and bombed by those who fear Gods people , If
we were in Mozambique we would still be looking for loved ones missing
in the aftermath of Freddy.

A bit closer to home - if we were not blessed with abundance we would

have slept out in the cold and probably have woken up hungry. If we
didn’t experience grace we might have started the day high on substance
and drugs and ended it that way too. – missing the sunrise , missing the
sunset , missing basic family dynamics the way God dreamt for it to be.

We would miss out on our kids first b days , their first school days , their
wedding days and the list goes on … because we would be fighting for
our lives - battles we cannot possibly win with all the odds stacked
against us.

We have breath, we have homes and cars and we dream about futures –
sometimes we worry about things but seldom it has kingdom or eternity
value. – we just do that because worrying makes us feel in control.

The truth is this – eternity had a price , it was paid , when Jesus came
back from the grave he brought the head of the enemy and He called the
victory MINE !

So we should be showing gratitude – it should be pouring out of our

being… but we fall short … again and again…

The gratitude song says:

All my words fall short I got nothing new

How could I express All my gratitude?
I could sing these songs As I often do
But every song must end And You never do

So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again
'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah
Hallelujah
And I know it's not much
But I've nothing else fit for a King
Except for a heart singing hallelujah
Hallelujah
I've got one response
I've got just one move
With my arm stretched wide
I will worship You
So I throw up my hands
And praise You again and again

Scripture supports this with king David saying : “ I spread out my

hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.”
Psalm 143:6

David on another occasion sings : “Because your love is better than

life,my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,and in your name I will lift up my
hands.”
Psalm 63:3-4

In the new testament we are reminded that we cannot worship God

from our human- nes as God is spirit – we are bound to run out of
ability to praise and worship Him - “God is spirit, and his worshipers
must worship in the Spirit and in truth”
John 4:24

The basic truth is this - we fall short of giving God the gratitude
He deserves , we cannot comprehend the work of the cross and
even if we try to we cannot find songs and words to express our
gratitude.

God deserves our praise , Jesus deserves a wholehearted thank

you for the work of the cross , the Holy Spirit deserves a thank
you for His presence and guidance … but we fall short
We can uncomplicate it. – we can throw up our hands and praise
Him again and again… we can whisper and shout out
Hallelujah… hallelujah… its barely much but we have nothing
more we could do that is fit for a king…

The truth is – we are kids in the house of God , what we have is

by the grace of God, its undeserved and it is enough. More than
enough.

We can complicate it and try and interfere all the time or we can
accept what the work on the cross was and rest in it – the
deliverance it brought and the healing it brought for our minds
and spirits and bodies …which brings me to truth 3

Truth 3 - Sozo is a Greek word which is usually translated in the

Bible as “to save”.

But it means much more than simply being forgiven and someday
going to Heaven. It refers to total healing, total freedom, and
total wholeness in spirit, soul and body.

SOZO is also translated as “to heal” or “to make whole” (Mark

5:23 and 28)

In closing :

The Defender song that Hillsongs sing ends with a powerful portion of
truth – He saved us , and so much better HIS way :

“Hallelujah, You have saved me

So much better Your way

And all I did was praise

All I did was worship
All I did was bow down, oh
All I did was stay still “

The truth I knew 30 years back holding onto that tentpole next to that
river is still the truth today -

You and I can do nothing to make God love us more or less

We are loved by default
We are kids in the house of a Father that loves us
Making us kids in the house was possible through the blood of Jesus
He paid the price
He came back and made the victory ours

And all we can do is praise , and all we can do is worship and all we can
do is bow down and stay still.

The true story of Easter is a Father sending His son so that the one who
is lost could be saved , so that the blood of His son could bring
everlasting life to the ones He loves, so that by the stripes and blood of
His Son He could heal and restore an give wholeness in spirit and soul
and body.

We cannot deserve it. We can just throw up our hands and praise Him
again and again

'Cause all that we have is a hallelujah, Hallelujah

It’s Friday – but the veil is torn, the truth is uncomplicated – He so loved
us He sent His Son…..