Part 1: Weary But Waiting

Posted on July 10, 2026 by growintheword

Wait On It

July 2026 Sermon Series

Part 1: Weary But Waiting

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

July 5th, 2026

Scripture: Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)

9 And let us not grow weary while doing good,

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Watch the full Sunday service: https://www.youtube.com/@mtzionnashville/featured

Prayer

Hallelujah, Father, thank you for your Word today. Speak to us today where we are, shifting us to what you want us to be. And we thank you. And as we begin this series, “Wait On It,” we pray that you will give us a word to help us indeed — to just let us know that a change is on the way. We give you glory and praise in Jesus’ name, Amen!

I. INTRODUCTION

There is a particular kind of exhaustion that does not occur because you are out of the will of God or doing something wrong. There is an exhaustion that comes from doing things right. I know what that feels like — to show up for people who don’t show up for you, to walk in integrity, to do the best you can every single day, to grind — and yet you don’t see the results.

I don’t mind doing the work as long as I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But what do you do when the more you do, it looks like somebody keeps moving the goal post? You can smile in public and be wrestling in private, asking God, “Lord, how much longer?” You’ve been faithful in your family, consistent on your job, committed in your calling, and disciplined in your devotion — and yet the results are delayed. And delays cause our minds to go to places we would otherwise never think about: Why is this happening to me? Why is it taking so long?

Let’s be clear — that’s exactly where we are in the text today. Paul is sending a word to the people of Galatia — people who were faithful, who had not abandoned their faith, but they were tired. The church at Galatia had been thriving, yet they had to deal with false teachers who were saying that accepting Jesus Christ was not enough — that they also needed to adhere to the Law of Moses, particularly circumcision. Paul defends them with one central truth (Galatians 2:16): we are justified by faith in Christ alone, not by works of the law. When Jesus came into my life, that was enough. They weren’t rejecting Jesus — they were adding requirements to Him. But when I have Jesus Christ in my life, He is more than enough.

To understand how we arrive at chapter 6, we have to look comprehensively at the first five chapters:

  • Chapter 1 – Revelation: The word preached about Jesus Christ did not come out of human intellectual property — it came out of divine revelation. God’s Word still speaks to your life. It is not a coincidence that God puts you in the right place at the right time to reveal the word you need in the season you need it.
  • Chapter 2 – Vindication: Paul defends his apostolic authority. Though he was not one of the Twelve, he met the Lord on the Damascus Road. “I became an apostle because I saw the Man too.” Even if institutions and people don’t confirm you, if God has His hand on your life, that settles it.
  • Chapter 3 – Justification: A legal term meaning acquitted. God, through faith, has justified me — just as if I never did it. I cannot work for this; God gave me a clean slate. If you have nothing else to give God glory for, thank God that you have been justified.
  • Chapter 4 – Liberation: Once you are in Christ, you walk in the Spirit. You are no longer a slave to your flesh or to the things that hurt you in your past. The Holy Spirit is your new master — He leads you and guides you.
  • Chapter 5 – Transformation: Life in the Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit rather than the works of the flesh. You can tell how authentic a relationship with Christ is by the fruit it produces — not the gifts. You can have the gifts of the Spirit and not the fruit of the Spirit.
  • Chapter 6 – Restoration: Paul turns the corner. Restore those who have fallen (v.1); carry each other’s burdens (v.2); walk in humility (v.3); support those who teach the Word (v.6); sow to the Spirit instead of the flesh (vv.7–8). And he summarizes it all: let us not grow weary in doing what is right, because in due season you are going to reap if you do not faint.

II. DON’T LET YOUR FATIGUE FOOL YOU

A. Your weariness is proof you’ve been faithful, not failing.

Notice Paul never says you’re not going to get tired. He just says don’t grow weary in doing what is good. Sowing to the Spirit sometimes can wear you out — trying to do good when good ain’t paying off, pouring into people who don’t appreciate it, loving people who are unlovable, giving to people who won’t even accept your apology. Doing good will eventually cost you something — emotionally, spiritually, physically. Paul does not dismiss weariness; he defines it. Weariness is not weakness. It’s evidence that you’ve been doing something meaningful. Even Jesus got weary. The enemy understands this — that’s why he doesn’t always tempt you to do wrong; sometimes he just tempts you not to do right.

Weariness has a voice that whispers that your effort is not enough and your consistency is unnoticed. But fatigue is just a feeling — it is not the final word. You can be tired and still be trusted by God. You can be weary and still be in position for what’s next.

Many people assume weariness means you did something wrong. Yes, there is a tiredness that comes from trifling — but there is also a tiredness that comes from just trying to do right. You’re not tired because you’re inconsistent; you’re tired because you’ve been committed — holding up stuff for other people, carrying other people’s burdens, taking on more than you thought you’d have to. This is the psychology of unrewarded effort: human beings can endure almost anything if the effort produces progress; when effort appears disconnected from results, you lose motivation. That’s why people quit school, marriages, businesses, ministry — not because they’re incapable, but because they stop seeing movement. The enemy doesn’t attack your ability; he attacks your perception. But God does His best work underground before you see it overhead. Noah preached and built for years before it ever rained. Hannah prayed for years before Samuel showed up. Joseph remained faithful in the pit and the prison long before he ever came to the palace. Your exhaustion is evidence that God is still active.

B. The real battle is staying consistent, not staying sinless.

This is not a sin problem — it’s a surrender problem. The real temptation isn’t rebellion; it’s resignation. Stopping feels so logical when you’re tired. You’re still showing up physically, but in your spirit you’re already disengaged — and the people around you haven’t gotten the memo that you’ve checked out. The enemy disguises retreat as rest. Rest is biblical, but retreat is dangerous, because when you stop sowing, you stop the season God wants you to participate in. The disciples fished all night and gave up — they were so tired — but Jesus said, “Go back again,” and when they went back, they caught a great harvest of fish. The danger isn’t walking away loudly; the danger is drifting away quietly. That’s why you have to guard your heart and guard your mind, and learn to manage what’s happening with your fatigue.

III. YOUR HARVEST HAS BEEN SCHEDULED BY HEAVEN

A. God’s delays are designed, not denials.

Your harvest has been scheduled. The depth of hope is not in your talent — it’s in His timing. Harvest doesn’t come because you’re gifted; it comes because you’ve matured. God has already factored in every denial and every discouragement — nothing about your wait has caught God off guard. Timing is not punishment; it is preparation, because anything God gives you prematurely, you don’t have the capacity to sustain. God isn’t slow — He’s strategic. Just because God is quiet doesn’t mean what you’re dealing with is broken. He is shifting things even when you can’t sense them.

Think of the airport: your flight gets delayed and you’re huffing and puffing with your arms folded, mad about something you cannot control — but you don’t leave the airport, because your mind is set on your destination. What you need to thank God for is a divine delay, because sometimes God is protecting you from something that could have happened if you’d left on time. David was anointed early but did not come to the throne until many years later. Abraham waited decades for Isaac. Jesus spent thirty years preparing for a three-year ministry. If you rush God, you might miss what you prayed for. Let this season stretch you, not frustrate you. Waiting doesn’t mean God has changed His mind — it means God is completing His math.

B. Don’t let impatience interrupt your increase.

This culture has messed you up. Amazon trained you, DoorDash empowered you, streaming spoiled you. We went from two-day shipping to same-day to two hours; if a website doesn’t load in four seconds, you think it’s broken. Technology has convinced you that speed equals value — but the kingdom of God doesn’t operate on algorithms; it operates like agriculture, and agriculture refuses to be rushed. You cannot microwave maturity. You cannot overnight character. You cannot prime-ship purpose. We’ve become excellent at downloading information but terrible at developing endurance. Impatience is more than an emotion — it is a spiritual interruption. Get out of God’s way and trust that God knows what He is doing.

There is a price to the promise. The farmer doesn’t plant a seed and dig it up every day to check on it — he plants it and leaves it alone, because his family’s well-being is tied to what’s in the ground. He protects it, waters it, prays over it. He doesn’t look at his neighbor’s field with jealousy, because he knows, “I’ve got something in the ground too — I can celebrate your season because I know my season is coming.” Get your face out of Facebook and put your face in the Book, so you can understand what God has promised you. His Word does not return to Him void, but accomplishes what He sent it to do. He may not come when you want Him to — because if He did, you’d take the credit. God will wait until your money can’t get it done and your friendships can’t bail you out, so that when He shows up, nobody gets the glory but Him. But when He shows up, He’s always on time.

IV. QUITTING IS THE ONLY WAY TO CANCEL THE HARVEST

A. You lose heart before you lose your harvest.

When you read the Bible, ask why writers write the way they write. Paul was speaking to a culture that understood agriculture — they lived by the ground, so they knew livelihood comes from sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping is a law: you don’t have to believe it, but it works whether you believe it or not. You put something in the ground; something comes out. The question is whether you will be in position when the harvest shows up. You lose heart long before you lose harvest. The enemy is trying to uproot you — to frustrate you and make you think your harvest isn’t coming. That’s why so many people miss their blessing: the moment things don’t look like they’re going to happen, they uproot themselves — run to another city, leave the relationship — and never receive the blessing. Nobody taught them to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord; to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in its season; to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your labor is not in vain. Just because it isn’t happening overground doesn’t mean nothing is happening underground. God is making moves and connecting relationships — your name is coming up in rooms you haven’t even been in yet. Like a receiver running a timing pattern: the quarterback doesn’t throw the ball to a person, he throws it to a spot, and the ball is already in the air. The receiver has to keep running his route and beat the defensive player to that spot — whoever gets to the spot first gets the blessing. Don’t let the enemy run an interception on your blessing. This is the last time the devil intercepts my blessing!

B. If you’re still standing, God is still working.

If you’re still standing — still showing up even with tears in your eyes — God is still at work. We won’t always see the blatant, demonstrable miracles, but God is performing them every single day: opening blind eyes, healing cancer, bringing people out of wheelchairs. Yet we overlook the most powerful miracle of God every time we come into His house: the person sitting next to you who showed up. You don’t know what it cost them just to show up — the negative words spoken over them, the hell they had to deal with, the trauma they had to overcome. Their being here is a miracle. God is still at work in your life, so don’t grow weary in well doing. You have prayed too much, given too much, sown too much — your due season is about to show up.

Bishop Walker closed with the story of a package he ordered and tracked until the tracking went offline. Frustrated, he called to cancel the order — not knowing that while he was on hold waiting to cancel, the truck was already on his street. Don’t cancel your order — your blessing is already on your street. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man” what God has stored up for you. God loves you too much to let you quit. It’s okay to be tired, but it’s not okay to stop doing good. Keep doing good even if it doesn’t come back to you — your reward is greater than what they can give you. It may take a year, two years, three, four — but God put you in the right room, in the right service, to hear the right word. You can’t wait on it unless you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. B

Have a blessed new week with the Lord! ❤️

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Part 2: An Audience of One

Posted on June 19, 2026 by growintheword

The Power of Worship

Part 2: An Audience of One

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

June 14, 2026

Scripture: Revelation 4:9–11 (NKJV)

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

I.  INTRODUCTION

Watch the full sermon: https://www.youtube.com/live/5UJhCtaVI5g?si=UdBZRU_jPI140jm7

One of the greatest struggles in worship today is that many of us have become too aware of the audience in the room, and not aware of the God on the throne. We live in a culture that constantly trains us how to perform, how to present, and how to be noticed. Social media has exacerbated that, conditioning us to measure our value by visibility, applause, and affirmation.

But worship was never designed to be performative for people. Worship was always designed to be directed toward God. The challenge many of us experience is that we can be in a worship service and be more concerned about what people think of us than the actual glory God receives. When worship becomes horizontal and no longer vertical, we lose sight of the power worship brings into our lives.

Worship happens when we shift our focus away from the crowd and become fixated on the One who is on the throne. At that moment, when you begin to realize that authentic worship is not about sitting in the pews looking around to see who is here, everything begins to change — how you sing, how you pray, how you serve. Worship stops being about impressing people and becomes about honoring God.

The book of Revelation chapter 4 gives us a glimpse of heaven and the throne of God. Many of us approach Revelation as an apocalyptic book about the end of days — and that is true. However, if you look closer, you begin to realize that before John sees any of the judgments of God, the battles of history, or the events of the last days, he is taken to the throne room of heaven. Before there is a revelation of events, there is a revelation of worship.

The central image of Revelation is not a beast. It is not a dragon. It is not a battle. It is a throne. Forty times throughout the book of Revelation, John references the throne of God — reminding us that even though the earth we live in may be in chaos, even though the world may be going crazy, there is no chaos in heaven. God is still seated. God is still reigning. God is still worthy.

John saw one throne, and one seated on the throne. God does not share space with anyone else. John also saw a sea of crystal before the throne — representing peace, tranquility, and the truth that the closer you get to God, the more clearly you see yourself. The reason so many people cannot see themselves is that they are too far from the throne. The closer you get, the more you see your purpose, your vision, and who you truly are.

John then saw four living creatures around the throne, full of eyes — one with the face of a lion, one with the face of an ox, one with the face of a man, and one with the face of an eagle. Biblical scholars have noted that these four creatures symbolize the four Gospels:

  • The lion — the Gospel of Matthew, presenting Jesus as King of kings.
  • The ox — the Gospel of Mark, presenting Jesus as the Servant who dwelt among the people.
  • The man — the Gospel of Luke, presenting the humanity of Jesus, including the parable of the prodigal son welcomed home by his father.
  • The eagle — the Gospel of John and the Holy Spirit, presenting the divine, heavenly nature of Christ.

Each of the living creatures had six wings. With two they covered their faces — representing that in the presence of God, His glory is so powerful that even heavenly beings cannot behold Him in full. With two they covered their feet — representing great humility, that there is no room for pride in the presence of God. And with two they flew — representing that at the word of the One on the throne, they were freed and ready to fulfill any command at a moment’s notice.

There were also 24 elders around the throne, representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles of the New Testament. These elders had crowns on their heads, but at the throne, the Bible declares they laid down their crowns and began to sing in unison: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty — the whole earth is full of His glory.”

II.  TRUE WORSHIP BEGINS WHEN YOU PLACE EVERYTHING YOU VALUE AT THE FEET OF GOD

A.  What you are willing to lay down reveals who truly rules your life.

The elders casting down their crowns before the throne is one of the most powerful pictures of worship in all of Scripture. Crowns represent authority, influence, accomplishment, and recognition — everything that society says gives a person significance. Yet the elders in heaven take the very thing that represents their status and lay it down before God.

That action reveals a powerful truth about worship: you cannot truly honor God while still holding tightly to the symbols of your own greatness. Worship requires humility, because it acknowledges that everything we have, ultimately comes from God. The elders understood that whatever they possessed was only possible because God allowed it. They did not diminish their role — they simply positioned themselves properly in reference to God.

When you truly understand who God is, you stop clinging to the things that make you look important. God is not impressed by your title. He is not impressed by your degree. He is not impressed by where you live or what you have. Worship is an act of returning glory to the One who made it all possible. What you are willing to lay down reveals who truly rules your life.

The elders did not place their crowns beside the throne — they cast them before the throne. That detail matters. It demonstrates that there was no competition in glory. They understood that whatever honor they possessed could never rival the One who gave it. The crown represented influence, authority, and accomplishment — but they knew the crown was never the goal. The One on the throne is the goal.

Most of us are willing to give God our failures, but we struggle to give God our success. We surrender our weakness, but we hold tightly to our accomplishments. We trust Him in hardship, but when the blessings come, we say, “God, I’m good — I’ve got this.” Yet the greatest test of your spiritual maturity is not what you do when you have nothing. It is what you do when you have been blessed with something.

B.  Worship dies whenever something competes with God for your devotion.

What begins as a blessing can eventually become a substitute for the One who blessed us. Distractions slowly become devotions — not through intention, but through neglect. Consider the pattern in Scripture:

  • King Saul started out pleased with God, but eventually became more concerned about protecting his position than obeying God’s voice. When confronted by Samuel, Saul admitted in 1 Samuel 15:24: “I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” The crown that destroyed Saul was the need for people’s approval.
  • Samson’s strength was a gift from God, but he became more captivated by his own desires and lost sight of the God who empowered him. What God intended as a blessing became a distraction, and his appetite became greater than his calling.
  • Martha in Luke 10 was busy doing good things for Jesus but neglecting time with Jesus. She was serving Him but not sitting with Him. Her activity for God began competing with her intimacy with God.

Our crowns may look different, but the principle remains the same. Consider what crown may be competing for your devotion:

  • Your career. There is nothing wrong with success — but when making money becomes more important than maintaining your relationship with God, the crown has become your competitor. We work long hours, skip worship, neglect prayer, and sacrifice family on the altar of ambition.
  • Recognition. We become addicted to applause, affirmation, and validation. We go through an existential crisis if people don’t affirm what we’ve done. But there comes a moment when you have to do what you do not on demand, but on calling. I don’t do it for certificates or applause — I do it to hear two words: “Well done.”
  • Relationships. You can become so emotionally attached to a person that their opinion outweighs the Word of God. I have seen people faithful in God get into a dysfunctional relationship, and the voice of that person moves them away from church, away from God — until that opinion becomes greater than their relationship with God.
  • Control. We want to manage every detail of our lives, every outcome, every relationship, every situation. We trust our plans more than we trust God’s purposes. Yet worship requires us to release control and trust the One who sits on the throne — to lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways to acknowledge Him, and let Him direct our path.
  • Self-sufficiency. Perhaps the most powerful and subtle crown. We become successful enough, educated enough, connected enough, resourceful enough — and prayer becomes our last resort. We stop depending on God because we have it all worked out. Until God pulls the rug from under us, and all of a sudden wex find ourselves flat on our back — in a hospital, broken and without options. And that’s when somebody can testify: that’s when God got real for me. It was at the bottom, when my money couldn’t do it, my education couldn’t do it, my friends couldn’t do it — I found out there was nobody else.

III.  WORSHIP FLOURISHES WHEN WE REMEMBER THAT EVERYTHING BEGINS AND ENDS WITH GOD

Philippians 1:6 (NKJV): “Being confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

God is not merely the One who starts a thing — He is the One who sustains it and brings it to completion. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. No matter what transition you experience, always know: God will fill the exact space that was left open.

Many of us get stuck in the middle. God is the beginning of a thing, and God brings it to completion — but in the middle, we panic. The bill hasn’t been paid yet. The tuition hasn’t come in yet. You haven’t heard back yet. But you must remember: if God began a thing, stop worrying about the details in the middle. Just throw your hands up and worship Him, because if He started it, He is going to bring it to pass.

Remember when Jesus told His disciples, “Let us go to the other side” — and then went to sleep in the back of the boat? Jesus, being God, knew the storm was coming. But He established the destination before the storm arrived. When the storm hit and the disciples panicked, Jesus said, “O you of little faith” — meaning: why are you letting what’s happening in the middle frustrate you? Have you forgotten that I said we are going to the other side? If I am on your ship, we are going to get there.

God is always preparing before He provides. He is always arranging before He reveals. He is always working before you can see it. Consider the pattern throughout Scripture:

  • Noah — God gave him instructions to build an ark before a single drop of rain had fallen. The provision (the ark) was prepared before the storm arrived.
  • Abraham — God called him to a land he had not yet seen, but God had already chosen it. The destination was prepared before Abraham took a step.
  • Moses — God prepared Moses in the wilderness for 40 years before sending him to lead Israel out of Egypt. The leader was being formed before the mission was revealed.
  • Joseph — Every betrayal, every pit, every prison was preparation. By the time Joseph stood before Pharaoh, God had already arranged the outcome. What his brothers meant for evil, God had already turned for good.
  • Peter — Jesus told Peter, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times” — but He also said, “When you have returned, strengthen your brothers.” God had already prepared Peter’s restoration before the failure happened.
  • Jesus — “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Everything He prepares is ready before you walk into it. He will never drop you into a blessing without preparing it first.

A.  The reality of creation constantly points us back to the Creator.

You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created. – Worship is rooted in this truth: God is both the Author and the Sustainer of all things. Everything that begins with Him and exists because of Him ultimately finds its fulfillment in Him.

Have you ever come home after a hard day at work, stepped outside, and just started noticing small things — the tree, the little bird, the quiet — and turned your phone off for a moment? Have you ever planned a trip to the beach, and the moment you got to the water, all your pressure just left? That’s God’s creation doing what it was designed to do — point you back to the Creator.

Every morning the sun rises and the moon hangs in its place. The tides know where to stop. The seasons change without a committee meeting. Your heart beats while you are asleep. Your lungs keep breathing without you thinking about it. We are surrounded by miracles that have become so common we hardly notice them. But creation is constantly preaching a sermon:

  • God put heat in the sun.
  • God put rhythm in the waves.
  • God put frequency in the flowers.
  • God put breath in your lungs.
  • God put a beat in your heart.

The same God who holds the Earth in orbit — keeping it close enough to the sun that we don’t freeze, and far enough that we don’t burn — is the same God who holds your life in His hands. If God can manage the entire universe, do you not think He can handle your situation?

Creation is a witness stand. Every sunrise declares God is faithful. Every mountain declares God is powerful. Every season declares God is consistent. Every newborn declares God is still creating. God left the evidence of Himself everywhere. And if you need evidence, just look in the mirror — because you are evidence. If someone saw you five years ago, they would know how great God is. You do not even look like what you used to be.

 

 

B.  Giving God the credit restores the priorities our culture distorts.

The elders did not celebrate themselves. They did not compare their crowns. They did not discuss their accomplishments or how they arrived. They directed all the glory back to God — bringing us to a place where we stop being guilty of cosmic plagiarism, taking credit for what God has done.

Our culture is obsessed with self-promotion. We celebrate so-called self-made people. We applaud individual achievement and reward self-sufficiency. But the more you become a true worshiper, the more you understand one principle: there is no such thing as a self-made person.

Who gave you the mind to think? Who gave you the strength to work? Who opened the door? Who connected you to the right people? Who woke you up this morning? Who protected you from dangers you never saw coming? Who kept you alive long enough to become what you became? If it had not been for the Lord on your side, you would not be here today.

That is why they cast down their crowns — because they understood that everything they were was a result of what God had done in their lives. And worship, when it becomes a consistent lifestyle rather than an occasional event, keeps success from turning into self-sufficiency. It reminds us that we are only stewards of what God has entrusted to us.

IV.  WORSHIP BECOMES POWERFUL WHEN IT BECOMES A CONSISTENT LIFESTYLE RATHER THAN AN OCCASIONAL EVENT

A.  Daily worship changes how you see God.

Notice something striking in the Revelation text: there was no worship leader prompting the living creatures. There was no praise team encouraging their participation, no announcement that said, “Now let’s praise God.” The living creatures cried “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty” day and night without ceasing, because they never lost sight of the One who is on the throne.

When you know who is on the throne, you do not need someone to pump you up. You do not need to wait for your favorite worship leader or your favorite song. You come to church not to be entertained — you come to worship. Some of you are already worshiping in your shower in the morning. Some of you are worshiping in your car on the way here. Some of you worship on the job. You do not need all the extras — when you think about who is on the throne, it is more than enough.

Some of us only worship from about 11:15 on Sunday morning until about 1 o’clock, and then we turn it off and go back to our regular scheduled program. But if He is worthy in the sanctuary, He is worthy in the boardroom. If He is worthy during the song service, He is worthy while you are sitting in traffic. If He is worthy when things are going well, He is worthy when life becomes difficult.

Daily worship changes how you see God — and how you see God changes how you see everything else. My problems looked so big because I had taken my eyes off of Him. I was amplifying my problems, magnifying my situation, telling people how bad things were. But when I became a worshiper and saw the One on the throne in His full majesty and power and authority, I began to realize how small my problems really were. When you keep your focus on Him, your problems are not as big as you thought they were.

Before David faced Goliath, he did not go straight into the battle. He first reflected on the lion and the bear — he recounted what God had already done — and he worshiped God before he ever picked up a stone. When you are about to go into the battles of your life, begin by reflecting on what God has already done. Keep a record of God’s faithfulness. And every time you go into a battle, give God glory in advance — because you believe it is already done.

B.  Worship doesn’t stop when life gets hard.

Life is going to get hard. There are going to be things you never anticipated, things you did not expect. But just because that happens does not mean your worship has to stop. If He is worthy in heaven, He is worthy on earth. Your worship should never change because of your circumstances.

Some people’s whole disposition changes when circumstances change. They walk around bitter and walk around depressed. But consider what Job was trying to show us: Can you worship God when life goes left? Can you worship God if you lost everything, because you recognize who God is in your life?

Job — knowing his friends were watching, knowing his wife said “Curse God and die” — sat down in ashes, put on sackcloth, and declared: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” When you are a worshiper, you are the kind of person who can sit back and declare: “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll — whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well with my soul.”

When you are a worshiper, you can lift your hands and declare: I’ve had good days and bad days, hills and clouds, but all of my good days still outweigh my bad days — and I won’t complain, because God has been good to me. It does not matter what happens in your life. You are not giving God glory for applause. You are not chasing validation. You are not after the opinions of people. This is for an audience of One.

Worship has a Stance.

You can always identify a worshiper by their humility. People who are true worshipers carry a posture of humility wherever they go. When I come to this pulpit, I come in great humility — in awe that God would use somebody like me, when He could have chosen anyone. That is why, every time God gives you a platform, you always give the glory to Him.

Worship has a posture. You ought to be the kind of person who speaks to everybody around you. You should not be sitting in your seat, unavailable to the people next to you, acting as though no one can approach you. When you become a worshiper, the pride breaks down. The spirit of narcissism and arrogance has no place. A worshiper is accessible, humble, and present.

Worship has a Surrender.

The elders laid down their crowns and said, in essence: whatever everybody else is holding on to, we are giving it to You. Nothing will compete for Your glory. I am at a point in my life where nothing is going to compete for God’s glory. I may be a bishop, I may pastor a great church — but none of that competes with God’s glory. Because at the end of the day, I know that God can get this done without me.

God can get it done without you too. Lay it down today. Lay down all of the stuff you have been walking around posting and flexing about. Can you say: God, it’s not about my car. It’s not about my house. It’s not about my education. It’s all about You. I never would have what I have, I never would have the opportunities I have, if it were not for You.

Worship has a Sound.

The Bible declares: “Holy, holy, holy — the whole earth is full of His glory.” When you are a worshiper, you cannot sit there with your tongue tied. There is a sound that cannot be stopped. Even when you are bleeding, even when you are hurting, you have faith enough to still say, “God, I believe You are going to turn this around.”

When you have the sound of worship, it gets on the enemy’s nerves. Praise intimidates the enemy — because when you are worshiping, you are declaring that God made a way. God turned that situation around. Forget about protocol. Forget about who is sitting next to you. Lift your hands to the One on the throne. When you lift your hands, you are joining the angels and all of creation: “Bless the Lord, O my soul.”

I declare that this is a generation that refuses to do church as usual. This is a generation going through transformation. When we worship, things break. Things shift. Heaven responds. This is your moment — lift your hands to an audience of One.

Have a blessed new week with the Lord! ❤️

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The Power of Worship

Posted on June 11, 2026 by growintheword

The Power of Worship

Part 1: When Glory Occupies the House

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

June 7, 2026

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1–8 (NKJV)

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.

² Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

³ And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

⁴ And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.

⁷ And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

“Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.”

⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

I.  INTRODUCTION

Watch the full sermon: https://www.youtube.com/@mtzionnashville/streams

Worship has many expressions, and many people have only a limited understanding of what authentic worship really looks like. We are products of our denominational upbringing and cultural context. But let’s be very clear: worship is more than music. It is more than a moment. Worship is more than an emotional experience that fades away.

Worship is the environment where heaven interrupts earth, and where God reveals Himself to His people in ways that human hands could never produce. Worship is divine disruption — God coming in and literally creating access points between glory and earth so that His will can manifest in the world. “Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

Too often our culture looks at how we produce stages and spaces, and we lose sight of the power of presence and Spirit. God is not just concerned about the house being full — He is also concerned about the people in the house being filled. God is concerned about us moving out of moments of religiosity and into a pure relationship with Him.

It is important to understand the difference between glamour and glory:

  • Glamour entertains; glory transforms.
  • Glamour impresses; glory invades.
  • Glamour draws attention to people; glory draws attention to God.

The glory of God is the manifested presence of God — the character, the weight, the excellency of God. The Hebrew word translated “glory” literally means the idea of weight, substance, or significance. God wants that weight to fall in this place and in your life. When it does, everything that’s crooked will be made straight, everything that’s sick can be healed, and everything that’s broken can be repaired.

II.  REAL WORSHIP BEGINS WHEN YOUR VISION OF GOD BECOMES BIGGER THAN YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES

A.  When God reveals His holiness, it confronts our casual view of Him.

In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw something he had never experienced before. Uzziah had reigned for 52 years — everybody in the kingdom had grown up knowing nothing but him. But now the king was dead, the nation was in transition, and people were wondering what would come next. It was in that moment of uncertainty that God stepped on the scene and gave Isaiah an encounter.

Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.” The train of a king was symbolic of the breadth and length of his kingdom. The longer the train, the greater the kingdom. What Isaiah saw was a King whose train filled the entire temple — every single crevice and space — suggesting that God was in control of everything.

The Seraphim crying “Holy, holy, holy” emphasized the absolute purity and uniqueness of God. Even the heavenly beings covered their faces and feet in His presence. We must be careful not to allow familiarity with sacred things to cause us to lose our reverence for God. We know the songs, we know the language, we know the rhythms — but we must not let routine rob us of the fear of the Lord.

Consider the contrast: we stand for presidents, but sit for the Almighty. We scream for entertainers, but whisper in worship. We travel hours for a game, but complain about traveling to church. We spend hundreds of dollars on concerts, but struggle to give our time to God. The problem is not that we don’t know how to celebrate — we just don’t know who to celebrate.

B.  When God reveals His glory, it shakes what we thought was secure.

The text tells us that the posts of the temple shook at the voice of the heavenly beings. This shaking is not random — it is a physical response to the weight of God’s glory. The posts represent access points and anchor points: things you have depended on and leaned on.

God shakes those things so that you will know where your real help comes from. You’ve been depending on your career, your degree, your title — and God causes a situation in your life where none of those things can bring you out. Only God can. What you are experiencing may be the intentional shaking of systems and things you have leaned on, so that God can show you where your real help comes from.

Whatever is over your head is still under His feet. The cancer is under His feet. The unemployment is under His feet. Whatever you are dealing with is under His feet — and if you could just stop looking at your problem as a big thing and start looking at your God, you will begin to recognize that He has it all M

III.  WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER GOD’S PRESENCE, IT EXPOSES WHAT MUST CHANGE IN YOU

A.  The presence of God exposes what familiarity has allowed us to ignore.

Isaiah’s vision did not lead him to celebrate himself — it forced him to confront himself. There is a difference between a religious experience and a spiritual encounter. Religious people say, “I know what’s wrong with you.” People who have had a spiritual encounter say, “God has shown me what’s wrong with me.” You cannot get into the presence of God and not see yourself for who you are.

Worship is more than inspiration — it is transformation. Many of us have begun to evaluate worship by our preferences instead of by God’s presence. We ask: Did they sing my song? Was it loud enough? Did they do it the way I like it? But the question of worship has never been whether we enjoyed it. The question is whether God enjoyed it.

Worship is like a mirror. You can try to squeeze into something that doesn’t fit, but the mirror will not lie. I don’t care what you post on social media or what you put on Facebook to try to convince others — what will not lie is worship. When you worship, God is going to show you who you really are.

Isaiah admitted: “I am a man of unclean lips, dwelling among a people of unclean lips.” The glory of God made him aware that he had been living in a place and among days he did not want to confront. God doesn’t show you yourself to condemn you — He shows you yourself so you can experience transformation.

Smoke does three things:

  • Chokes — Smoke chokes out whatever cannot stand to be in that atmosphere. This is why some people get uncomfortable in certain rooms. When glory gets on you, some things and some people cannot stay in your presence — and that’s not about you. It’s what’s on you. Glory chokes out everything that isn’t right.
  • Climbs — Smoke rises. It doesn’t stay at one level. Anything that gets in the atmosphere of smoke has no choice but to go up. Put your marriage in the glory — it’s on the way up. Put your resources in the glory — they’re on the way up. Put your career in the glory — it’s on the way up. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
  • Clings — You can’t hide smoke. There is no Lysol strong enough to mask it, because smoke lingers. Just like in the natural, when you’ve been in the glory, it clings to you. You can’t deny it. People will look at you and say, “You don’t look like you belong where you used to be.” That’s because glory is on you.

B.  The grace of God always meets us at the point of our confession.

At the very moment of Isaiah’s confession — when people might have condemned him or canceled him — grace showed up. One of the seraphim flew to him with a live coal from the altar, touched his lips, and said: “Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.” Just like that, grace met him at his place of confession.

You cannot out-sin grace. The job someone has is not because they’ve been so good — that’s grace. The car they drove here in — that’s grace. The food in the pantry, the clothes on the back — those are grace. It’s amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now I’m found; was blind, but now I see.

IV.  A TRUE ENCOUNTER WITH GOD WILL ALWAYS MOVE YOU FROM WORSHIP TO PURPOSE

A.  God’s voice always calls for someone willing to carry His mission.

After the encounter, after the confession, after the cleansing — Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Notice the pronoun: “Whom shall I send” — and then “who will go for Us?” This is a revelation of the triune nature of God.

God who is Father is the One who commissions — He gives the instructions. God who is Word gives you the directions on where to go. God who is Spirit gives you the power to fulfill what you have to do. He never sends you somewhere without directions, and He never allows you to do it without His Spirit. Whatever God gives you as a directive, you don’t choose it — it chooses you.

God is not calling you because of your ability — He is calling you because of your availability. You may be scared because you don’t feel adequate. You may feel like your flaws disqualify you, or that you don’t have enough resources. But God would never give you an assignment without also giving you the anointing to carry it out.

There is something God wants you to do. I know you’re scared. I know it sounds crazy in the natural — but that’s how you know it’s God. It’s not something you would do for yourself. You have to have the courage to step out and do what God has called you to do, because when you’re doing God’s job, God always blesses it.

B.  The most powerful response in worship is a surrendered life.

God doesn’t need your money. The Atlantic Ocean will not run out of water because you stopped giving. The sun will not run out of energy because you stopped attending. God wants you here so He can bless you. That’s your covering. The only thing you can actually give God is worship — and worship equates to surrender.

There is one word God has been waiting on from you. One word that will shift everything in your life: Yes. You don’t have to figure out all the details. Just say yes to His will, yes to His way, yes to what He has called you to do. That’s what worship does. It makes your will so yielded that, like Isaiah, you say: “Here am I — send me.”

Several years ago, a major airport experienced a system outage. Hundreds of planes were lined up on the tarmac. Pilots were trained, passengers were seated, destinations were programmed, fuel tanks were full — everything necessary for the flight was present. But one thing was missing: the control tower had not cleared their takeoff. For hours, those planes sat there — tremendous potential, sitting still — because they had not received authorization to leave the gate.

Then the signal came. One by one, those planes pushed back from the gate, moved out to the runway, and launched into the purpose for which they were built. The plane was not designed to live at the gate. The gate was only a place of preparation. The runway was a place of transition. The sky was the place of the assignment.

That’s what Isaiah 6 is about. The temple was Isaiah’s gate. The altar was his runway. The nations were his assignment. God filled the house with glory because He was preparing somebody for departure.

Maybe that’s why God filled this house today — not so you could shout and stay, not so you could dance and stay — but because somebody needs clearance to take off. The glory did not just come to bless us. The glory came to commission us. It did not just come to make us comfortable — it came to push us into something we would otherwise not do for ourselves.

This is your season. Go do what you have always prayed about doing. The teacher needs to leave this room and impact the classroom. The business person needs to leave this room and impact the boardroom. The mother needs to leave this room and impact her family. The young adult needs to leave this room and impact a whole generation.

Have a blessed rest of your week! ❤️

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Podcast Episode: Faithfulness In Little Things

Posted on June 8, 2026 by growintheword

Pip: Growintheword’s Blog is running a sermon series about smallness — which, in a world obsessed with scale, is either countercultural wisdom or the most underrated productivity advice you’ll find on a Sunday morning.

Mara: This episode follows that series closely — we’re in the territory of stewardship, faithfulness in small things, and what it actually means to trust God with what you already have before asking for more.

Pip: Let’s start with the question the series keeps putting on the table: can God trust you with little?

Lessons In Stewardship

Mara: The thread running through this series is a single, uncomfortable diagnostic: how you handle what you already have is not a warm-up for your real life. It is your real life, already being evaluated.

Pip: The anchor text here is Part 4, built on Luke 16:10, and the sermon doesn’t bury the premise. It opens with this: “More does not transform you. It exposes you.”

Mara: That’s the whole argument in five words. What you are right now gets amplified when more is placed in your hands — the habits practiced in private show up in public, the character carried when nothing is at stake is the same character that shows up when everything is on the line.

Pip: Which means the quiet assumption that we’ll get serious once the opportunity gets bigger is, to use the sermon’s phrasing, a fantasy about a future version of ourselves that doesn’t exist yet.

Mara: The sermon organizes this around three movements. First, faithfulness builds capacity — not as a reward, but as a training mechanism. Small assignments are described as intentional, not incidental. God starts small, the text says, not to restrict you, but to refine you.

Pip: And then it gets specific about what blocks that process — entitlement. The sermon draws a sharp line between people who treat small opportunities as inconveniences and people who treat them as investments.

Mara: Right. The third movement is obedience, and this is where the sermon lands its most practical claim: “Discipline drives destiny.” It distinguishes between wanting a breakthrough and actually doing the daily, unglamorous work that positions you for one.

Pip: There’s a line in Part 4 that deserves to sit on its own: “The Holy Spirit will not do for you what discipline is supposed to develop in you.” That is not the sentence a congregation expecting a straight motivational sermon is ready for.

Mara: It’s a deliberate tension the text holds. The sermon is deeply pneumatological — it frames faithfulness as a fruit of the Spirit, not a personality trait — but it refuses to let that become an excuse for passivity. The Spirit empowers; discipline is still the human side of the equation.

Pip: Part 5 picks up exactly there, shifting from the question of whether you’ll be faithful to the question of whether you’ll let go.

Mara: Part 5 — titled “It’s Enough For God To Use” — works through the feeding of the five thousand in John 6. The central move is reframing scarcity: “The danger is that we don’t lack resources — we just lack an understanding of what to do with what God has already given us.”

Pip: So the problem isn’t the size of what you’re holding. It’s that you’re still holding it.

Mara: Exactly. The sermon identifies three reasons people resist surrender: focusing on limitations instead of lordship, fearing loss instead of trusting multiplication, and wanting understanding before obedience. The miracle in John 6, it argues, begins not at the multiplication but at the moment the boy hands his lunch over.

Pip: And Part 5 closes with stewardship — the twelve leftover baskets after the feeding aren’t a footnote. They’re framed as legacy: “Your leftovers should leave a legacy.”

Mara: Both posts are asking the same underlying question from different angles — Part 4 through the lens of character under obscurity, Part 5 through the lens of release and multiplication. Together they make the case that the small thing in your hand right now is already the starting point.

Pip: Which brings us right back to where we started — and probably to wherever you’re sitting right now.

Mara: The throughline across both posts is that smallness isn’t a waiting room. It’s the actual arena where character, faithfulness, and readiness are being formed.

Pip: Next time, we’ll see what else this series surfaces — because a sermon sequence willing to say “discipline does what the Spirit won’t do for you” probably has more ground to cover.

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