Touré Roberts - Alignment: Keeping a Song In Your Heart

I want to engage in something that is even a little more practical, which I believe will aid you, me, and all of us in our journey for alignment. Today, I want to talk specifically about worship and ultimately keeping a word of worship, as well as keeping a song in your heart in order to be consistent in the practice of worship. Worship is not something that you and I do only when we come to church; worship is a lifestyle. It is what you do. The Scripture says that everything we do should be done unto Him, so imagine worship not just as lifting your hands during a service but as literally how you approach life. Some of you right now are thinking like me, «How do I do that?» because you know you have this going on in your life, and you have this business happening, and you have this relationship to manage. So how can I worship? Do I lift my hands during my meeting? I’m in a business meeting, in the boardroom. It is much deeper than that—much deeper than that—much deeper than that. I want to look at a passage of Scripture that I truly believe breaks down worship. For those of you who don’t know, this is a bit of a shameless plug, but I think it will bless you: in my book, Purpose Awakening, I have a whole chapter that breaks down worship, but this takes it even deeper. We are going to look at Colossians chapter 3 and examine the first four verses. In Colossians chapter 3, it is powerful. It says, «If then,» and here he is speaking to believers, «if then you were raised with Christ.» You know how at the end of every service we talk about how He became all of our sin and then crushed it and was raised, meaning we were raised too? There is a reason I mention that; it is not just clever terminology. Our place is one of those who have had all of our limitations crucified on the cross. Sin, in fact, literally means to miss the mark, which signifies a limitation. That’s a whole other sermon, but all of our limitations and weaknesses were placed in His body and put to death on the cross. As He was raised, because we are in Him, guess who was raised up too—oh, hallelujah! Isn’t that good news? I was raised up too, and that is why nothing can defeat me in this life—not even death can defeat me! Ha ha! I feel the Holy Spirit. That is why the power of the resurrection is so amazing and so vital for the believer’s life, because it signifies that nothing in this life can destroy you—not even death itself. If you can be raised from death, can you not be raised from a tough situation? Somebody ought to get super excited about that! Nothing is going to wipe you out. You have nightmares and dreams, and fear threatens to wipe you out. The reality is, as you have positioned yourself in Christ, there is nothing that can wipe you out. Jesus wiped out everything that would wipe you out, and as long as you are in Him, you are safe. So, it says, «If then you were raised with Christ,» here is worship: «If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above.» Now, what’s interesting is He would not tell believers to do that if they did not have a tendency to not do it. He says, «If you have been raised with Christ,» it’s all about identity, right? He starts with identity before He gives instruction. He says, «If you have been raised with Christ, why would you be living low? Why would your perspective and paradigm be low? Why would your conversation be low? Why would you be carnal? If the reality of your position is that you are raised up with Christ, then I need you to stop seeking so low. I need you to stop thinking so low. I need you to stop speaking so low. Your conversation needs to be lofty; your expectations need to be lofty; your relationships need to be lofty. Everything about your life needs to be lofty. That is the beginning of worship because worship—watch this, I’m going to say it, and I might have to apologize—but worship, to a certain degree, is like time travel. Somebody absolutely caught what I said. It’s like time travel. The reality of who I am and my highest identity is one who has been raised up, but I still have to live life here, start—somebody ought to catch it. I still have to live life here, and as I live life here, the temptation is to think right here. You tracking with me? And it’s almost, you know, the true pet—it’s almost normal, but who said that normal was good? It’s almost normal to think right here when you’re living right here. That’s why God reminds us: although you are living right here, your residence is here. When I go to a hotel, I love it. My wife, the other day, she brought… you know, I’m writing, and she came up to the place where I’m writing and brought a picture of my family and set it on the mantel where I am writing. Why?