Closing out our Why Worship series, Canyon Hills expands on how worship is an every day experience. It’s not just a Sunday event but a daily walk with the Lord. If we don’t focus on Him each day, our actions can reflect that and may not be glorifying to the Lord. Lean into each day with Him. Allow Him to use whatever comes your way this week to draw you closer. By the time you arrive to Sunday, no matter what your week has been like, you’ll find yourself in a worship-filled space with the Lord.
Many thanks to Canyon Hills Community Church and the amazing Canyon Hills Worship team for this powerful 5-part series on Why We Worship. We hope this has been a blessing to you.
Show Notes:
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Transcription:
Purposely; Your life, God’s Purpose. Listen at onpurposely.com.
Dave: It’s not like Saturday night you thought, Oh, we gotta come up with a verse to go with these songs. No, this is what God’s been teaching me this week. This is how we built our whole worship set because this is what God’s been teaching us. And that comes through so clear to our church, and I’ve heard that from so many people. And man, anybody listening to this, if you’re leading worship, I hope that you’re, you realize that the best worship leading is out of the overflow of what God’s doing in your life.
Narrator: Welcome to Purposely Equipped. We want to help you go deeper in your faith by learning truth from the Bible. Our new series, Why Worship, will help us discover what the Bible has to say about the importance of worship in building a relationship with Jesus. Canyon Hills Worship will be joining us for this five-part series. No matter where you are on your journey, this is a topic that can greatly impact your walk with the Lord.
Koby: All right. This is Koby with Canyon Hills Worship. It’s the same thing every time. Michael is here. And then we have our special guest the one and only Dave Morgan. Woohoo. So, We’ve shared that, I mean, we’re all part of Canyon Hills Worship, but we’re all on staff here at Canyon Hills Community Church. And Pastor Dave was a worship pastor for a long time. He’s my boss for a long time, and then just in the last couple years, switched to be the executive pastor, but it’s still my boss managed to pull that out. But today we’re the topic that we were given was worship as a lifestyle.
And not to put you too much on the spot, Dave, but as I thought through that, I mean, Pastor Dave is one of the godliest men that I know and has lived this out in such an incredible way that I thought we should definitely have him be part of this podcast for sure. So, So that’s where we’re headed. But before we do that, we’ve been asking everyone as to come through to just share a little bit about themselves.
So, Pastor Dave, we’d love to hear, I mean, you’ve been in ministry for a long time. What kind of led you to this spot? Kind of what are you doing? What have you done? What are you doing now? And then the funniest slash most embarrassing thing that has happened on a platform.
Dave: Got it, man. I just feel like I’m one of the most blessed guys in the world, cuz I’ve gotten to do what I’ve loved to do for my whole career. Kinda like you guys and actually serving with you guys has been part of that, a big part of that. So, had the privilege of doing worship ministry my whole life. As after college and then just up until the last four years, being the executive pastor here at Ken Hills.
But then even being able to still join you guys every once in a while, in the stage and play keys for you is a blessing, you know, to still have a foot in the door and also see how God is using you and using Canyon Hill’s Worship in great ways. When it comes to embarrassing moments, wow, where do we start?
Michael: So many years. So many, so many things to choose from.
Dave: Many to choose. Where do I start? Probably for all of us as worship leaders, and we’ve done it here. E even doing our blooper reel every year of just our mistakes is, you know, saying something in the middle of worship that didn’t quite come out right. And, and we’ve, I’ve done that many, many times. But probably a couple embarrassing moments that stand out to. One I’m leading worship and got the first song done, Start the second song. Great song. It just wasn’t the song that was on the set list. and I just boldly start singing the song and the band is so kind, they just start playing the song I’m singing.
Michael: Thank God you had a good enough band to play the song you were singing.
Dave: Oh, for sure. It was, it was a blessing. And then I look up at the lyrics and realize, Oh, the poor lyric person has no clue.
Michael: And, and then it. Their fault too.
Dave: Exactly. And then the whole church is confused. And so, I finally had to just stop and say, you know, that is a great song. It’s just not the song we planned to sing today and start over. But that’s not my most embarrassing. Most embarrassing is one Sunday leading worship, I felt like it went great. I felt like the church really engaged. I felt like, man, God was moving in a great way. And I sit down out to worship and happened to look down and see that my zipper was all the way down.
And realized I had just led. That way. And I’m sure people were kind, you know, by not like drawing attention to it, but I’m sure that that was a little bit of a distraction.
Michael: I’ve had that exact same one. I literally have. Yeah.
Koby: And you, you know that people are kind because you also know that everyone noticed.
Michael: Exactly. Everyone noticed.
Dave: It wasn’t like…
Michael: everyone noticed. Yes.
Dave: Yeah. Yeah. I didn’t have that friend that came up and just whispered in my ear or something.
Koby: I don’t know what’s worse. Fixing it in the moment or living with it for the whole time. Love it. All right. Well, so today’s topic, worship is a lifestyle. Up to this point, we’ve been talking about worship specifically as it comes to the corporate congregational worship experience. But obviously worship’s not just singing songs in church. Worship is a way of life. So, I guess kind of the overarching question for this whole episode is, if someone, we keep coming back to the phrase obedient, worshiper. We’re not trying to create a specific kind of worshiper in the church outside of, we want to be biblically obedient in our worship. So, I guess starting with you Pastor Dave, like when it comes to living a lifestyle of biblically obedient worship, where do we even start?
Dave: And the funny thing is, it’s probably not where we start, it’s like, where do we stop, and we don’t stop. Because it’s, it’s who we are. Right. And I, and I think of that, you know, first Corinthians, what is it? 10:31. So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, Do all to the glory of God. That, that worship is a lifestyle. You know, when we get up in the morning, how we speak to our families, how we spend our time, our attitude and I speak from conviction. I don’t speak from perfection. Cause I feel like I’m still in process. Even knowing that this is what we’re gonna be talking about is like, wow, I have so far to go. But I know where it should go. Yeah. And it should go is I’m living 24 7 for Jesus. And whether it’s how I do my job. You know, I think of Colossians three where it says, do your work hardily as for the Lord.
Like that’s part of my worship is how I do my job. How I treat my wife. I’m supposed to love her like Christ, love the church. Oh my. I have so far to go, but as I start doing that, that’s worship, you know, and being awareness, paying bills, all that kind of thing.
Koby: So, where did that, I realize just cut you off in the middle of… was gonna continue to be a great thought, but where does that start? Cuz like, I think one of the greatest challenges in the church today, just as a whole is we are so good at compartmentalizing our lives. We have our life at work and then we have our life at home. And unfortunately, we’ve let that bleed in the church where it’s like, I come to church and this is my two hours total from the time I pull in the parking lot to the time I leave in which I do my Christian portion of my life. We saying we sit in the teaching of God’s word, all that stuff. But counseling, ministry and divorce statistics and whatever else you wanna look at would suggest there’s a breakdown between how we live in within the four walls of the church, and then how we live the rest of our life. Yeah. So, I guess, I mean, you kind of already answered a certain degree. But for you, what was it that, Where did you start to learn that? And then for the person who’s sitting out there that’s hopefully listening to this podcast going, Either I am, or I know someone that I like, I desperately need to grow in this. Where do we even start?
Dave: Yeah. Well, I know for me, the thing that’s helped me most, and I’ve told people this over the years, thing that’s helped me even grow the most as a Christian is spending time with God every day. So, now my Christian walk isn’t just Sunday, I go to church. Oh. But I have an appointment with God Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday. And so, you know, talks about in Luke just taking up our cross daily in following Jesus. Well, if I’m gonna live for Jesus, if I’m gonna worship, if my lifestyle is gonna be a lifestyle of worship, I’ve gotta be intentional with that. And for me, starting out the day, spending time in God’s word, spending time praying, and then praying specifically that I’m applying God’s word, that I’m actually living for Jesus and that is my worship, I don’t know how worship can be a lifestyle without spending time with God. Sometime between Sunday and Sunday.
Koby: But in, so then in that again, things we throw around, I think in the church a lot, spending time with God, Quiet time. Yep. You gotta have that time with the Lord, which is true. But then more practically speaking, what does that look like? Like, and again, I put you and I don’t, I wanna be careful. It doesn’t sound like I’m just putting you on this pedestal that Dave Morgan is perfect. You’re not. I believe. So close to being…
Dave: oh, please me, my wife, and have her be sitting in this and truth.
Koby: We should Diane on the podcast.
Dave: Oh, you should.
Koby: But, but I honestly…
Michael: She’d corroborate everything we’re saying.
Koby: But I’m, I’m asking you because there are a few men in my life that I’ve looked at over the years and gone, Lord, I’d like to look like that person. You know, I’d like to look more like that person. I think it’s; I think it’s very close to that. Paul imitates me as I imitate Christ. Paul’s not a perfect man, but that was so for, for people that want to know what that practically… like when you say time with the Lord, when you say time in scripture, when you say time praying, like what does that actually practically play out? And maybe even if you can, how did that change over the years? Cause you have been a single man. You’ve been a man with small kids, you’ve been a man with grown kids, you’ve got grandkids. Like, broad question.
Dave: Yeah. For me, what it looks like spending time with God, first of all is deciding when that’s gonna be. Because if we just think, Oh, if I happen to wake up a few minutes earlier, I’ll do that. That won’t happen.
Koby: Never. Right? Not one time.
Dave: Or if we think, Oh, before I go to bed, I’ll do that. Well, probably not. You know? And for me, and I, I dunno, that’s not, there’s not a perfect time. But for me, mornings work, so I know when I go to bed, I know what time I’m spending with God, Like what time is it gonna be? I know where it’s gonna be, and I know what I’m gonna be doing, you know? And I, I’m kind of a planner, kind of an organized kind of person, but even in that, I’ve had to change it up many, many times over the years. Or I just get bored, or I get, get stale or,
Koby: What? you can be bored.
Dave: Yeah, totally, totally. I bore myself; you know? And so, so like right now, the last few years, one of the things that I feel has transformed my time with God is intentionally memorizing scripture. And I know we’ve all heard that I grew up in church and was, got little prizes for memorizing verses the little kid, that kind of thing. But really, it’s really changed my life over the last few years of just being intentional in doing that, and intentional in going back and reviewing the verses that I have learned in the past. Cuz we’ve all learned those verses. Oh, I learned that several years ago and going back and relearning ’em. But as I go back, and I spent time.
Every quiet time, I spend some time going over verses that I’ve learned. Don’t, not all of ’em, just some of them, and, and then praying them again for my life today. So, not just, Oh, I increased my knowledge. If someone asked me where that verse is, I’ll know. It’s not that. It’s, No, I’m, look, going over this verse today because I need this verse today. Lord, help me to live this verse today. That’s helped.
And then I’ve done, you know, where you read through the Bible in a year? I’ve, and like right now I’m just reading through the New Testament, but I’m not, I’m not at a certain pace. It’s not like, has to be 10 chapters a day, or one chapter day. It’s like, no, I’m working through the New Testament. I have a little thing where I mark off when I do a chapter. But if it takes me a couple days in a chapter, I’m okay with that. And then for prayer, I just take time to make sure I’m praying for myself, praying for my family, praying for the ministry. And you know, when Jesus said in John 15, five, Apart from me, you can do nothing. Okay. How do I expect to live my life or my do my ministry without giving it to God? And I’m a runner, so, for my prayer time, a lot of time, my prayer time is, The hour that I’m running in the morning. And that’s not always perfect either I get distracted or, you know, sometimes my mind wanders. But that’s been a helpful time to be focused because I can actually focus more when I’m running than I’m, when I’m just sitting in a chair. So, that’s just me. Everyone’s different.
Michael: That’s cool. One thing that I really admire about What you’re saying right now is like, I heard a, I mean, it’s a common saying, but it’s one that has stuck with me is like, character is what you do when no one’s watching. And I think that ties in so much with, With worship. Worship, like true, honest worship is what you do when no one’s watching, because someone is watching. Right? And I think it can become easy. And this is, again, something I really admire about you because you’ve been in a position like this for so long. It can become…
Koby: So, so, so, so, so long, so long.
Dave: Thanks.
Michael: I can’t emphasize it enough how long you’ve been in this.
Dave: No, I can be your, I can be grandparent.
Michael: It can become really easy in a job like, Being a worship pastor or a worship leader or someone in this arena to it, it can become very performative. You know, all the right things to say. You’re around all the right things to say so much that it can be really easy to look like someone who lives a lifestyle of worship without actually living it out. And I just, it’s been really encouraging for me, growing up in this ministry, working in this ministry for pretty much my entire adult life, which is pretty cool. It’s been cool to see. How you do really embody, and God say, Koby, you as well, embody a lifestyle of worship. And I know that that lifestyle is loved out when no one’s watching. And that is, and that’s something really cool.
Dave: But that, that’s one of the things that I, Excuse me, you’re good. That I really appreciate about all of you who are leading worship here at Canyon Hills is even when you’re leading on Sunday, and you’re sharing a scripture and what it means, It comes out so clear that this is where you’ve been living that week. And praying it through for yourself, and now as your leading worship, it’s not like Saturday night you thought, Oh, we gotta come up with a verse to go with these songs. No, this is what God’s been teaching me this week. This is how we built our whole worship set because this is what God’s been teaching us. And that comes through so clear to our church, and I’ve heard that from so many people. And man, anybody listening to this, if you’re leading worship, I hope that you’re, you realize the best worship leading he is out of the overflow of what God’s doing in your life.
Michael: Absolutely. And it and it shows. Sorry we just keep cutting you off.
Koby: It’s all right. I don’t have anything meaningful to say. So, keep going.
Michael: It really, it really does show when, I don’t wanna speak for other people, but like in a show in my life when I’m leading out of not out of an overflow. When I’m leading, like trying empty, I’m trying to force it when I’m running on empty and I am trying to lead worship, that is so clear that it shows so clearly. And I think it, that has been something that at different times in my life, I’ve been very convicted of, of not leading out of, out of an overflow. It’s so dangerous to do and leads to burnout so quickly. Okay. Now you’re allowed to say what you’re gonna say.
Koby: Can I speak now? Well, no, just hearing you guys talk, I think that all of that is true. Putting on the hat of the congregant. Putting on the hat of the person who comes on Sunday morning. I think one of the challenges is even maybe listening to this and listening to a Godly man talk about his habits and his practices, there’s a temptation to feel overwhelmed by what somebody else is doing. Right? Like looking at going, My goodness, I’m lucky to get through a chapter of the audio Bible in the car, and you’re talking about memorizing scripture and spending time and running for an hour, all that stuff. I think what’s interesting is like everything you did, I know you don’t say it like, I don’t mean, I know that you’re not sharing those things to overwhelm anyone.
Michael: He looks so smug right now. Wish you see him.
Koby: No. No, but I think like this is like, I love Matthew 6 33 where Jesus just very simply says, Seek first the kingdom of God in his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I love that. It doesn’t say, seek only the kingdom of God. I love that. It doesn’t say seek the kingdom of God for four hours a day or for an hour long run. The issue is priority, not necessarily quantity. Right,
Dave: Exactly. Exactly.
Koby: Now. But I, But I also don’t wanna discount, like you share that Dave, there is something to be said about spending time, like actually setting aside real time, to linger in the presence of God. But it hasn’t always looked like that for you. No. And it’ll look different like than that a year from now. And I just think sometimes there’s a danger of people look at that and go, they just assume people on the platform, they must have all this time. They must have these moving times of personal worship every morning. And the truth is that’s not the case. The truth is we’re all kind of in that together trying to figure out how it is that we’re gonna prioritize the Lord. The, the danger is the person who looks at that and goes, So I can’t do that, so I shouldn’t even try. Right. When really, they should be looking at that going, Gosh, it’d be awesome if that was it, but, but what should I start with? Do I have five minutes? Do I have 10 minutes? Right, Exactly. The Lord meets us and honors us in that too.
Dave: Yep. And, and I’m glad you shared that, Matthew 6:33, because you’re exactly right. It’s, the priority, is not necessarily the amount of time. Yeah. And everyone has to start somewhere. Like I, when I was, you know, starting to have a quiet time, I didn’t even know what to do. You know, and, and five minutes was done, and I was like, I think I’m done. Cause I don’t have any more to, to do with the Lord. You know? And so, it grows, but start with five minutes. Yeah. And start with making that a priority and then, then it’ll naturally grow.
Koby: But I think that’s the, I mean, that priority piece, I think that might be the key factor, right? Because, If you prioritize something, you make time for it. So, there may be seasons in which the priority is only able to be expressed in five minutes. But I think the other danger is sometimes we get content with like, Well, I got my five-minute thing. I’m still watching Netflix for an hour every night, but I only have my five minutes. Like, no, the priority, like the things, if I’m gonna prioritize my relationship with my wife, I will be looking to spend as much time with my wife as possible. And sometimes that’ll be five minutes, but gosh, if I can squeeze a couple more minutes, I’m gonna do that because it’s a priority. So, I think like I just, there’s that, there’s that weird tension that we always ride. If it needs to be a priority, but it also, we can’t grow stagnant in it. Yes. If we can grow it, we grow it. Yeah. Yep.
Dave: No, that’s good.
Koby: What would you guys think? And this is probably where we’ll kind of start to land the plane. Worship as a lifestyle, beginning with that priority of spending time with the Lord, how do you see that time spending with the Lord affecting and bleeding into the rest of your life? That hour in the morning passes by, what difference does it actually ma, like for the person again, who’s not built that in that habit into their life, all they may be hearing is great. You’re telling me how I should spend another hour of my day. What is the benefit to making that investment?
Michael: I think what you put into your mind is what comes out of your mind. Like just on a practical level, I’ve found that the days that I don’t fill my mind with things from above, the days, I don’t fill my mind with scripture, with worship, with which is dwelling on God’s word and just sitting in his presence. Like those, those days that I don’t do that, it is clear with what immediately comes outta my mind, or outta my mouth. When I get cut off on the road, what immediately comes outta my mouth when I feel like someone has sinned against me? What the the, the immediate like lack of grace that I see just mirrored out of myself is like so clear. When that, when that maybe not like one day missing it, like immediately I revert to, to my sinful nature. But I think when that isn’t a priority in my life, when I’ve been in seasons, when that isn’t a habit, it just, just practically speaking, I see it just in. In myself and in my relationships. Yeah. Know you. Yeah.
Dave: Well, and I wish I could say that, man, every day I have this time with the Lord and that affects my whole day. But there’s honestly the times where I’ve had a great quiet time and within an hour, I’ve said something or thought something or did something that didn’t honor the Lord at all. So, I wish I could, you know, tell everybody who’s listening this, Hey, you spent some time with God, and it’ll change your whole day. It will change your life. And, and over time, I’ve noticed I start, especially as you’re meditating God’s word, you start to think differently. Which is great. And. You know, I’m, I’m with you, Michael. When you, when I have not spent time with God, it affects my attitude. I mean, I do, I feel far away from God. You know, just in that day, like, Wow, am I complaining more. Man, I’m just gossiping. I mean, just all the things that you think I don’t really want to be, have a part of my life, but I, it’s happening. But my prayer a lot of times in the morning is, Help me to remember this throughout the day. You know, bring it to memory like at lunchtime or, you know, in the evening when I go home. I’m, I, this is my first for the day, so let it just be that verse I keep coming back to.
Koby: I was just reading this morning one of my memory verses came up. Romans 8:5-6 says, For those who live according to flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirits, set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.
And I just think there is that connection, what we feed our minds, what we choose to prioritize and spend our time in… It should, well, not, it should, it does lead into every aspect of life. So that, that lifestyle of worship, which I think is best encapsulated in that first Corinthians 10 31 that you already mentioned, which was what…? I just lost it.
Dave: Oh. So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do all to the glory of God.
Koby: Yeah, that’s perfect. Dave’s also, Yeah, I, I, Someday I’m gonna know scripture like you do, it’ll be great. But that so beautifully encapsulates that’s what the lifestyle of worship is. It’s every aspect of our lives being informed by and affected by what we know to be true. It affects our marriages. It affects our friendships. It affects the way we are at work. It affects what we do at work when nobody else is watching. It affects everything. Or at least it should.
Dave: Absolutely.
Michael: It doesn’t change the circumstances. It changes how you react to your life.
Koby: Absolutely.
Michael: Straight up.
Dave: Yeah. Yeah. And then what I’ve noticed is when I’m spending time with God and intentionally feeling like I want my day-to-day life to be a life of worship, then it makes Sundays, when we come together, Ely. That much more exciting. Like, I look forward to Sundays. Like, like my worship on Sundays is enhanced because I, it’s like, Oh, I get to do this with my other brothers and sisters in Christ. What I’ve been doing by myself all week.
Koby: Yeah. Well, it’s almost like a, a role reversal for people who don’t. It’s like that one time of worship on Sunday morning is what’s supposed to carry them through the rest of the week. Yeah. Versus when you do it that way, the worst on Sunday morning is then the overflow of what’s already been happening.
Dave: Yeah. Yeah. I’ll find myself like singing on Sunday and stop singing just to take in people around me worshiping. And then also just taking some time to go. I’m singing that lyric, God, you know, Let that be true in my life. You know, like I don’t wanna just be a lyric. I, I’m, sometimes I’m just confessing sin. Like I, I just sang that and I’m not living that. So, I love the corporate worship because of what’s happened during the week. I look forward to that.
Michael: Hmm.
Koby: What were you gonna say?
Michael: That’s it. It was just Hmm.
Koby: Mm. That was good. Yeah. Right? I honestly, Do you guys have anything else you wanna add to that or, No, that was so good.
That’s, we’ll just, we’ll just end right there. So, this would normally be the spot where I’d say, thanks for listening, and next week we’re gonna talk about this, but this is it. This is the last one. So, finishing on a high note, but hopefully this is a blessing to anyone listening and maybe we’ll get to do it again sometime.
Michael: Yes. See you later.
Dave: Thanks.
Narrator: Again, special thanks to our hosts for this series, Canyon Hills Worship. Don’t forget to check out their music on Spotify or Apple Music, or anywhere you listen to music digitally. Thank you for downloading Why Worship; a Purposely Equipped series. Let’s keep growing in our faith together. Purposely Equipped is part of Purposely a podcast network with practical podcasts, to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life. Find more podcasts and faith resources at onpurposely.com.
