Lord, we just give You glory this day, Jesus. Lord, we give You honor for who we know You to be, God. You are majestic. You are awesome. You are the God who has been with us these last 13 years and seen us through, God. We are here today because of who You are. So, God, we give You all glory and we give You all honor this day. We thank You in Your name. Amen.

You know, so this week I was preparing the sermon, and I got talking to somebody. The conversation kind of developed, and I began speaking about my faith a little bit. It was really interesting, and this person said to me, “You know, I just never really had a need for God. I'm very self-reliant. I've grown up. I just never really had that same need that I hear you talking about.”

And they began to tell me about their father, who they said is a Christian and went to Vietnam, and, as Pastor Jerry says—one of his favorite quotes—is that “there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.” And they began to tell me how they were stuck actually in a foxhole, and they had to call out to God, and that was the basis, the foundation, of his faith.

I listened to that, and I said, “Wow, that's really awesome, but let me tell you that I believe every man has a need for God, whether you realize it or not.” I began to explain that a little bit. But at one point, I kind of had to stop, and I had to say, “You know what? I get the impression that you think that only people who need stuff out of God—that if you don't need anything out of God, then He doesn't deserve any worship or any honor. You gotta understand that I don't worship God because of what I need out of Him. And that being said, I know everything that God has done for me. I know every way that God has been there for me. I would not be here today without Him. I would be dead without Him. That being said, take all of that away, and God still deserves all the honor, still deserves all the glory, and still deserves all the praise.” Amen.

"God still deserves all the honor, still deserves all the glory, and still deserves all the praise."

I think this idea of needing something out of God and requiring something out of God to get our praise is so prevalent today in society. Today, I want to come back to what it was meant to be, where God is the King.

Let me tell you that United Faith Church has always stood on God being King—His kingship, His divinity. Amen. That has seen us through the last 12 years coming into our 13th, and it's going to be that way for the next hundred—hundreds—until God comes back. Amen.

Today, I want to celebrate the kingship of God. As we are in our anniversary celebration this weekend, I want to talk about the kingship of God because we, as God's people, are meant to honor God because He is King. Amen. There's such a mindset that God's like that slot machine—where you put a little something out and you get something out of it. But let me tell you, that's not what God intended. You see, God sits on a throne. God sits in majesty in heaven, surrounded by His angels crying out to Him. God is a King. And we need to come back to that understanding to say, “God, You are King. You are King.”

"God sits on a throne. God sits in majesty in heaven, surrounded by His angels crying out to Him."

And really, the universal Church—and especially in America—needs to come back to say, “God, You are King, not me. God, You are the King.” Amen.

So today, if you have your Bibles, I'm going to be reading from Psalms 96, verses 7 to 9. As I was reading my Bible, this verse really hit me. It really touched me as I was reading it because it talks about the kingship of God and honoring God.

This is such a special weekend for us here, as it's our anniversary coming into our 13th year, and as I was reading this, I was saying, “Yes, God. Lord, You are the King. God, You are the King.” And even coming into this next year: “God, You are the King. God, You are the Most High. God, Lord, everything that is in existence is because of You and, Lord, we honor You today.”

So Psalms 96 says, “Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor” – or it might say “beauty” – “of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all of the earth.”

I love that. As I was reading that, it just hit my heart, and I was like, “Yeah. Yes, God.” The first thing I want to talk about is ascribing to the King. We, as God's people, we must be ones who honor the King. The title of my sermon today is “Honoring the King,” and the first point of that is to ascribe to God. Ascribe to Him who you know Him to be.

Those first three verses—those first three lines right there—talk about ascribing to God. To ascribe means to attribute something to someone. You might ascribe a painting to a painter, or a quote to a poet, but here, we're ascribing all the things that we know God to be to the name of God.

So for us, being God's people, we should be the ones saying, “God, all glory and strength are Yours. God, You are King. God, You are Most High. God, You are the Head of the armies. God, You come and You will overtake everything. God, You are most powerful.” It's to give Him glory that is due His name.

Let me tell you that this is so important for us, being God's people. You can't be God's servant. You can't be in God's Kingdom and not give Him praise. You can't be one of His chosen and say, “My mouth does not ascribe to You who You are, God,” because that's what it means to be a child of God. It's to talk about His strength and His might, His mercy and His goodness, and His glory that no man can stand in the presence of. That brings honor to who He is. Even right now in heaven, surrounding the throne of God are angels. And what are they saying? “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

We, as God's people, are meant to join in with the angels. We're not meant to be silent. If your mouth is silent today, I tell you: may the Lord Jesus Christ unloose your lips to ascribe to Him who He is!

"If your mouth is silent today, I tell you: may the Lord Jesus Christ unloose your lips to ascribe to Him who He is!"

The Bible says that there should be a distinction between us and the world—a distinction of what we look like and what we sound like. Our mouths are meant to be ascribing to God who He is all the time—in our conversation, in our lives. We're meant to approach the throne of God with a holy life and begin to ascribe to Him who we know Him to be. Who do you know God to be this day? How has He rescued you? How has He been there? How has His strength delivered you? These last 13 years, we can look back and say, “God, how have You been there for me? God, how have You rescued me? I'm alive because of You today. My children are here because of You today. Lord, I know who You are. I'm not in the grave because of You today.”

That's what God meant it to be. You see, we live in a world where it's all about us. Everything in the world tells us it's about us—what you want, what you want to do, how you can accomplish what you want to accomplish, how you can be the best you. But I tell you that God is so purposeful with His people because He makes a distinction. Where the rest of the world is worried about them, we are worried about giving God the glory due to His name.

And we see the Church missing this so often. We see people more concerned with tending to people than tending to God, more concerned with filling the house with people than filling the house with God. But I tell you, if you have something in your life going on—if there's some turmoil in your life, if there's some heartache going on— I tell you, don't listen to the world that says it's all about you. Begin to ascribe to who God is. Begin to ascribe God's name, and watch Him come into your midst.

We need to realize that God is King and He doesn't owe us anything. He did it on the cross. People get this confused where they say, “Well, God owes me something,” but God doesn't owe us anything. Everything He does for us—everything that He has done—has been out of love for us, has been out of His goodness and His grace and His love to come down and lavish it upon us.

But let me stop us and say that, although God doesn't owe us anything, we owe Him something. We owe Him honor, and we owe Him praise. We owe it to Him to ascribe to the name of God who we know Him to be because He is King. We are His children in His Kingdom, and we need to be those servants in His Kingdom to come before Him and claim who we know Him to be.

I want you to think for a second what that does inside of the heart of a man. What does that do inside of the soul of someone who has been living in a world that says that it's all about you? When you begin to cry out and say, “God, I know who You are. I know You are King. God, the Bible says that You are majestic and awesome and all-powerful. God, the Bible says that You were there when the heavens and the earth were created. God, Your law is what all the world is based off of. God, Your Word—everything was brought into existence.”

You see, when those words start to pour out of the soul of a man, all of a sudden the person inside is changed because it takes them off the throne. It steps them back and begins to put God where He belongs—and that's on the throne of our lives.

It makes us realize that we're not all-powerful, that He's the All-Powerful. It makes us step back and say, “God, You are the One that is awesome.” What pride can remain in the face of such a majestic and awesome God? What humbleness, what thanksgiving—Pastor Janeth talked last week about thanksgiving—what thanksgiving will be pouring out of our mouths when we begin to claim and call and ascribe to God who we know Him to be?

And I think about, so often, the disease of the mind—the narcissism that is so prevalent in today's society—that literally wraps people up where they cannot get free. Let me tell you today: teach your children to ascribe the name of God. Teach them and grow them, and teach them every single day how to cry out to God who He is. Tell them, “Look, don't worry about what's going on with you. Let's call on God. Let's tell God who He is. Let's give Him praise.”

And you'll see that all of a sudden those worldly things won't be able to touch them as much as they do the rest of the world, because God makes a distinction between His people and the rest of the world. And I tell you, it starts with our mouths.

I even look at—it was funny—I was looking at old hymns this week, right? And I actually developed a little game for us to play as a church together today, all right? We're going to play a little game, all right? It's called “Old or New,” all right? You guys have to really concentrate. This is really tough, all right? I'm going to give you some verses, some lyrics from some songs, and I want you to tell me: is it an old one or a new one? It should be pretty tough.

Let's put the first one up. “Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars, I see the rolling thunder—Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art, how great Thou art.” What do you think—old or new? Old. You guys are really good at this. The “thou's” kind of give it away, but that being said, it's old. And I look at this, right, and I think, “Wow, look how they're ascribing to God. Look how they're talking about who God is. This is so powerful. This is so amazing!”

So then I went on Billboard—Top Christian Hits 2019 and I'm like, “Let me pull some lyrics off.” Let's go to the next one: “I see miracles happening for you. You need to think it into existence. Speak it into existence. Faith it into existence. O-O the miracles.” What do you think—old or new? New, yeah. Are we seeing a difference here? Do we see a difference between the two? Let's go to the next one.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and all the things of this world will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Old.

You know, this was written by a woman whose husband had abandoned her, and she was left alone with her children in 1922. And I just think that's so amazing because instead of saying, “God, I need all this. God, I need help. God, You’ve got to come down. God, this is what I need,” no—she went and said, “No, all the things of the world will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” That's amazing, right?

Let's go to the next one: “I promise you it's working, it's working. Everything that you face, it's working. Every heartbreaking trial, it's working. It was meant to kill me, but it's working, it's working, working. I know it don't feel like it, but it's working. I know it don't feel like it, it's working. But He's able to do it.” What do you think—old or new? Yeah. Top Billboard Christian hit, 2019.

I look at it, and we can see the difference. And it's kind of funny to look at it like this, but when you look at the difference of what we've come from, of what this country was founded on— that first one was written in 1860. The second one was 1922.

We look at what this country was founded on—being godly and being in God's house—and we can say, “God, we are meant to ascribe to who we know You to be, not about us.” How many of us go into our prayer lives and open up and start praying, and it's automatically about us? “God, this is what I need. God, this is what I seek this day.” But that's not what it was meant to be.

I think about the wise men who went to go see Jesus when He was a child. They traveled from afar following a star, and what did they do when they found Jesus? They didn't go before Him and say, “Hey, we really need help over there in the east.” No. They came, and they said that they saw the child. They bowed down and worshipped Him. They opened up their treasures and presented Him with gifts.

You see, they came to worship the King. They came to meet the King. They came to ascribe who this little baby was, and they came bearing gifts fit for a King.

We need to examine our lives, people of God. We need to look, and the church overall needs to look, and say, “God, are we ascribing You? Do we know You to be King? Do our lives claim You to be King? Does our own will still run our lives, or are we giving You honor every single day?” Is our life crying out in worship that there is a King in heaven who rules over His people?

I know we live in a democracy and we live where everyone has an opinion, but in God's house we lower ourselves to the Kingdom of God, to the kingship of God, and say, “God, You are King. You are holy.”

Sometimes we have kids come in youth group—maybe they're church kids, maybe they're not – but they sometimes have a hard time praying out loud. And they say, “Well, I don't know how to say it, or what to say.” And we always give them this example: PTA, right? We say, “Look, just follow this—PTA: Praise, Thanks, then Ask.”

Give Him praise for who He is. Thank Him for everything He's done thus far. Don't forget what He's done in your life, and then you can ask Him to be with us, or whatever it might be.

You see, that establishes the kingship of God. That recognizes the kingship of who we're approaching. We're not just approaching any god. We're not just throwing prayers up in the air. We are approaching the Kingdom of God. We are approaching God who is on the throne—God the Father who created the heavens and the earth, who was there in the beginning and will be there at the end. Amen.

So we must ascribe to who we know God to be. Secondly, we must bring an offering to the King. Let's look at the next verse: “Bring an offering and come into His courts.” We need to know that when we walk through those doors back there, we're walking into the house of God.

And you know, it's funny because if you read in the Old Testament, there are three times a year that God tells the Jews that they’re to come before God. There are different regulations and different things they have to do for each one, but there's one constant, and you know what He says? “Don't appear before Me empty-handed.” Why does that matter? God owns all things, right? He doesn't need any material possessions. God owns all things. Yet why does He say that to His people? Because it makes them recognize that they are approaching a King. That they're not just coming anywhere; they're coming before God. They're coming before the Most High. It's a lowering of self to realize that, guess what, it's not owed to you to come before God—where God comes, and it's His love and His goodness that He appears before us. When we're entering into His courts, there's a recognition of who we're coming to meet.

Today, in the songs, and when I turn on the radio, sometimes I cringe because the songs are all about people and all about man. But today, we have to come to the kingship of God; we have to recognize that in the last 13 years, it is the King, God—it is His kingship—that has brought us through. Every time we have met, we have come to meet with the King. Every time we walk into His house, we're coming to meet with the King and we have to bring an offering before Him.

There should be, let me tell you, an offering stored up inside of your heart when you're getting ready to come on Sunday. There should be something stored up that you've been building up all week inside of your heart to walk through those doors and present to the King.

When we meet with God, we're not just walking in. There should be something inside that's bursting at the seams that you can't wait to present to the King—to God, to the One who meets with us every single week, to the One who doesn't forget about us, to the One who pulled us out of the grave. “God, there's something building up inside of me. I have an offering that I'm going to present to You this week, God.”

What is that offering? There's a lot of different things. It could be a heart of praise. Don't be mistaken, praise is worship. It's honor. It's an offering unto God, because praise lowers yourself. Praise brings you down because it doesn't matter what happened in your week. It doesn't matter how busy you've been. It doesn't matter what things you've gone through. It doesn't matter what heartache you've had. When you come into God's house, there should be a praise building up in your heart that you want to come before Him and give Him honor because He is King.

You see, praise doesn't require a guitar solo or a good drum beat. It requires a heart that wants to bring an offering before God. Or maybe it's a broken and contrite heart. Maybe God has laid something upon your heart for His Kingdom that you are breaking before Him and saying, “God, my heart is breaking for the lost. God, my heart is breaking for the children. God, my heart is breaking for my neighbor. God, my heart is breaking for my co-worker. Lord, I'm going to sit there and pray, and I'm going to pray it through for Your Kingdom, God, because that is my offering unto You.”

Again, there's a lowering of self and bringing God because He is King. Or an offering of thanksgiving—an offering of thanksgiving to come before Him and say, “God, I don't forget what You have done.” It's crazy to think, but have you ever had somebody where you've done something for them, and then it's like they forget about it next week? And it's like, “oh, all of a sudden it's like I wasn't there for you last week and nothing ever happened.”

Isn't that how God feels all the time when we come before Him and we forget? We don’t have an offering of praise? When we walk into His house empty-handed and don't have an offering ready to go—to say, “God, thank You for what You've done. Thank You, my children are here today. Thank You that I'm not dead.”

There's power there. There's power to remind you of what God has done. You see, as much as it is for God when we bring that offering to God, I tell you it does something inside of the heart of the believer to put God where He belongs, and that is on the throne. It costs us something. It cost the Jews to come before God those three times a year, and it costs us something because it lowers us. It lowers self and puts God where He belongs.

If you read through the Bible, you'll see it over and over. I think about the widow in Luke, where Jesus was watching the people bring an offering and the rich people were coming up and dumping all sorts of treasures into the offering. Then a widow came with her last two copper coins and put it in the offering. And Jesus turned to His disciples and said, “They all gave out of their wealth, but she gave out of her poverty. She put in everything that she had to live on.” She put in everything she had. She risked her life to bring an offering. She risked starvation to bring an offering before God.

And then I began thinking about Esther. If you remember the story of Esther, where she was the wife to the king—and she went before him, and it was the funniest thing because she went before him and put her life on the line to present herself before the king, knowing that because the king didn't call upon her, she could be put to death. Yet she risked her life to go present herself before the king.

And what did the king say? He said, “Queen Esther, I'm so pleased with you. What is it that you want? Just say it and it will be done.” At that moment, did she say, “Well now that you mention it, because you brought it up, there's this guy trying to kill all my family. Do you think you can do something about that?” No, she didn't say that. Even though she was married to the guy, she knew she was presenting herself to the king. And what did she say? She said, “Let me put on a banquet in your honor.”

You see, she walked with an offering, recognizing him to be king. And then I thought about that and I thought about Jesus—Jesus Christ. Pastor Janeth used this verse last week, and it was so big for me: Ephesians 5:2. You can put it up. It says, “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

You see, Jesus Christ knew. He refused to go back into the courts of God. He refused to go present Himself back to the Father unless He had an offering in hand. And that offering was His very life. That offering was Him giving Himself up on the cross—the thing that was most precious to Him even, the relationship, the connection that He had with God. He gave it up on the cross in that moment when all the sin of the world came upon Him, and He said, “Lord, why have You forsaken Me?” Because that connection was broken.

You see, He sacrificed everything as an offering to God, and that is why He sits on a throne today. He walked into heaven with an offering prepared for God.

So I think about these verses. I think about the widow risking starvation to bring an offering before God. I think about Esther risking her life to go to bring an offering to the king. And I look at Jesus Christ, who went and refused to go back to the Father unless He had an offering to give to Him, who gave up His very life, and I say, “God, how can we walk into Your house without an offering stored up in our hearts?”

You see, God requires an offering. This is what it means to serve a King. This is what it means to serve and be a subject of the Kingdom of the Most High God. The world says that the Church is there to serve you, but let me tell you, the Church is there to serve God.

And I'm so excited this weekend! I'm so excited that this is our anniversary. I'm so excited for what God is going to do next because something that has always separated this church is that we have always said, “God, You are King,” and I can't imagine what God is going to do in that kingship in the next 13 years, 20 years... I can't imagine what God is going to do when my son gets older and seeing what glory is in the house because there will be a lineage of giving God glory as King. Amen.

Our lives are meant to be that offering. My prayer for us today is that we would have an offering to bring before God. So, we see we must bring an offering before God.

And finally, we must worship the King. We'll go to the last verse here. It says, “Worship the Lord in the beauty,” – or “splendor,” it might say, depending on your Bible – “of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth.”

You know, if I asked you what worship is right now, you'd probably think someone would pop in your head, right? You'd think of Luke up there on the guitar, or the keys, or the drums banging, right? That has become what worship means. But let me tell you, that's not the same worship that was in the Bible. As great as the drums are, as talented as these guys are, that's not what God intended worship to be.

Worship is about entering into His house and giving Him glory and honor for who He is. Remember, we're talking today about honoring the King, and our worship is meant to honor the King. For the believer, it's one of the most exciting and one of the most amazing experiences because you are entering into the courts of God and giving Him honor for who He is, worshiping Him and meeting Him where He is, and saying, “God, You are the Most High God!”

Worship is one of the most selfless acts that you can do. Why? Because it's not about us. That's why it's so important to teach our children to worship God. It's so important for us, in a world we live in where it says “if you don't have the new video game, if you don't have the new shoes, if you don't have the designer purse or the designer shirt or the new thousand-dollar cell phone, you're lower than everyone else,” let me tell you, if we can teach our children to worship and honor God, it will change their mindsets—that disease of the mind that says it's about us.

Worship is an amazing experience, and I tell you it's a rehearsal for what is to come. For in heaven, what will we see? 24/7 there will be worship to God, and the angels surround the throne, and we will be joining with them, giving worship to God all the time.

If you walk in today and worship isn't satisfying your soul—if you're not jumping, if your heart doesn't leap when you enter into the worship of God—then let me tell you, you are going to be disappointed in what is to come, because that is heaven.

What is heaven? Heaven is worship and connection to God. Hell is being separate from God. Worship is being near God.

I was talking to one of the youth group kids two weeks ago, and I said to him, “Look, as great as all this is, guess what? This is really for us. It's so that we could get excited for God, but if this all stopped—guess what—the praises and the worship shouldn't. If the band stopped playing, if the lights went out, if the power went out – guess what – the worship shouldn't sound any different because the worship should be pouring out of the mouth of the believer.” Amen.

Worship's not superficial. It's not on the outside. It's not skin-deep. Worship goes down to the heart of a man, and there are those offerings that are built up throughout the week that you are coming before God and coming before His throne and ready to pour out onto the altar of God. It doesn't come from a song or a raised hand. It comes from you meeting with God in His courts—coming from your soul—bowing down and worshiping Him and surrendering to His kingship.

That is what worship is meant to be, for we are not meeting with just anyone. Let me tell you, Church, Sunday service is not a scheduled event. Sometimes we get in that mindset where a week goes by and it's like a scheduled event, but let me tell you, church is not a scheduled event. Church is a chance to come before your God and pour out the offering that you have for Him upon His throne.

"Church is a chance to come before your God and pour out the offering that you have for Him upon His throne."

I love how the verse describes it. It says, “Worship the Lord in the beauty,” or the splendor, “of His holiness.” If you've ever known that intimate worship, you know what that verse is talking about. There is a beauty—there is a splendor—to being in His holiness, in His presence, just being near God.

When God would come over, just a hair of God is almost too much to take because that is who He is. I think of God who had to put His hand over Moses when He passed over because it would have been too much. Let me tell you, we have experienced God in this place stronger than I—sometimes I feel like I'm going to die half the time, because God is there so strong. That's what it means to worship. That's what it means to come before the courts of God. We have a privilege to be in His courts. We have the honor of being in His courts to give Him worship and glory this day.

And look, the world doesn't get that. I get it, the world doesn't understand that, but we should.

You know, it was funny. This week I was kind of laughing. This week I had somebody from work come up to me, and they're like, “Hey, we'd like to use your church as a training place.” And I had to stop myself, right? Because through my head goes this picture of me going to Pastor Jerry and saying, “Listen, uh, there's going to be a bunch of guys here. They're going to be in boots. They're going to be running over your grass.” Or going to Pastor Janeth and saying, “Look, they're going to shoot paintballs in the sanctuary,” you know—whatever. It's probably not going to go over well, right?

So I almost had to stifle back a laugh a little bit and kind of say, “Look, I know you don't understand, but there's a sanctity to God's house.” There is a sanctity to God's house. Yes, the world doesn't get it, but in our hearts there should be something that almost—it should be ridiculous to think that we would be in God's house and have anything of the world.

When we enter in, there should be something inside of our hearts that wants to enter in and give God glory for who He is—to give Him honor before His name.

The verse ends and it says, “To tremble before Him, all the earth.” It says, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. Tremble before Him, all the earth.” I love that and when I looked it up, you know, Charles Spurgeon had explained it to say, “even the bodily frame would be moved to trembling and to prostration if men were thoroughly conscious of the power and glory of Jehovah.” I thought, “Wow, isn't that the truth?” If men were thoroughly conscious of the power and glory of Jehovah, the truth is that every man would be trembling in His presence. I tell you, He is hidden now for a time, but there will be a time where God will be revealed to the world for who He truly is, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is King.

There is a trembling in His name. There's a trembling when you come before the power of God. It's an awe of who He is—of respect that He was the Creator of the heavens and the earth—and that you are in His presence.

I know for me, sometimes when the Holy Spirit comes on, my hands will start shaking, right? Because I know, “Oh God, You are in this room.” Oh God, there is a trembling that takes place when you are presented to the throne of God.

You know, now my wife tells me that everybody knows this, right? She laughed at me when I said it, but I said, “Honey, do you know about this? Did you know?” And she's like, “Yeah, everybody knows that.” I don't think she's true. I don't think she's right. But let me ask you guys, right? Did you guys know that the Quakers—one of the first Christian movements to come over from England—did you know why they're called the Quakers? Who knows? Raise your hand. Like four. See, I was right.

The Quakers were called the Quakers because they would quake in the presence of God. That's why they were called the Quakers. And I thought, “Wow, that's so amazing,” that they would quake in the presence of God. And I realized in that moment, “God, You have not changed. God, You are the same yesterday and today and forever, Lord.” Amen.

For in You, Lord—for a man to come before the throne of God—there is a quaking that happens in the soul and in the body of a man. If we were thoroughly aware and conscious of the power and glory of Jehovah, let me tell you that our knees would bow and our tongues would just begin to claim and ascribe to who He is.

I even thought, you know, right by my house down on East Bay Avenue, built in 1767 in Barnegat, is one of the original Quaker houses on the East Coast. I thought, “Wow, God, as crazy as it might have been, You have been here. You have been here, God. And Lord, I know that this King is coming, and He is going to establish Himself in these years to come in ways that we cannot even imagine.” Amen.

And this is my last verse of the day, Romans 12:1. We all know it well: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship.”

We ask God, “God, what is true and proper worship?” It is to offer your body as a living sacrifice, to say, “God, here I am. Here I am, God, on Your altar. Consume me, Lord. May it be a fragrant offering. May it smell good to You, Lord Jesus, this day. God, I am bowing down and I am lowering myself. And God, I am giving You kingship over my life.”

I've heard the sinner's prayer so many times, spoken out so many times. You know, “Do you receive the Lord as your—do you receive God as your Lord and Savior this day?” But do we truly understand what it means for God to be our Lord—our Lord, our King? That means that we are off the throne. I tell you, the greatest struggle inside of a man's heart is taking himself off the throne and putting God on it. To say that, “God, You are my Lord and Savior this day,” means that He is King—that He is seated on the throne of your heart—that you no longer rule.

"The greatest struggle inside of a man's heart is taking himself off the throne and putting God on it."

Let me tell you a secret: as soon as we accept God, we are relinquishing our rights as humans, as citizens, as whatever it might be, and saying, “God, I trust You to rule my life. God, I trust You to be there, Lord.”

We must put our trust in the kingship of God. We must put our faith in the kingship of God. We must put our decisions in the kingship of God, because that's bringing it back again to ascribing to the name of who God is. When you do that, and when you call Him out, and when you're preparing an offering in your heart, and when you're walking into worship to give Him glory, all of a sudden you realize, “Oh God, You are the King. You are the King, the Most High God.”

There should be worship through our lives. God should be making a distinction between us and the rest of the world.

How has God made a distinction with you this day? How is your life worshiping God? How does your life claim out that He is King? Can somebody look at your life and say, “Yes, I can see that God is King in that person's life,” because of what is stored up in your soul?

I tell you today that we come into the house of God. Happy anniversary these last 13 years. We have established this place as a Kingdom of God.

My prayer today—amen—my prayer today is that we would make the kingship of God known to all of the nations, to all of Barnegat, to all of Waretown, to all of Stafford. Amen. That is the message of salvation. That is the glory of the gospel. That is the good news that we are bringing: that there is a King in heaven who can know you. There is a King in heaven who you don't have to be separate from! There is a King in heaven who you can be reconciled with!

And we even remember—I tell you, even with your kids—I pray that you would remember all that God has done. Remember what He has done in your life. Remember what He has done in your midst. Remember the cancer. Remember the sickness. Remember where your kids were. Remember the destruction. Remember the poverty. Remember it all.

And say, “God, You are King over my situation. You are King over my life. God, You have shown Yourself to be true to me before, and, God, I know You will continue to be holy and true. For You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I will worship You all the days of my life.”