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The church doesn't talk about fear enough. I need to say that again because there belongs some amens after that statement. The church doesn't talk about fear enough. And last week we covered the vision that Isaiah had in Isaiah chapter 6, and we read that fear struck Isaiah, and that and what happened was he was he was impacted by God's sovereignty and holiness. And I'm gonna say this, and I want you to embrace it. The fear of God is a healthy thing. It's a healthy thing. And we discover who has true authority in our lives, and we also develop how we approach God and the things of God. And approaching God in a healthy, fearful manner is important. I'm gonna say that again. Approaching God in a fearful, healthy manner is important. Proverbs 9:10, it's our series verse. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And there's a phrase that we say often in churches, and I'm sure if you've been in church a long time, you've heard it, that God can meet you anywhere you are. Which is absolutely true. But imagine for a moment, just imagine, if we took on an attitude, well, I deserve to be in the presence of God. Or I have right to be here. Or maybe we just act arrogantly or carelessly toward the things of God. I believe that those who do that, there is a humbling that comes for people who act in such a way. Now, I'm gonna use a first name, and maybe there's someone in the room that knows him. If you know him, tell him I said, What's up? But in in elementary school, I went to Garten Elementary, right down here off the interstate, and I had a kid in my grade, his name was Binzer. And Binzer and I we were we were in fifth grade, we were good friends, we were crossing, I was a crossing guard nerd. Do we have any crossing guard nerds in the house? All right. The the reward for a whole year of being a crossing guard was to go to Adventureland. Boy, what a what a treat. What a treat. But anyway, so every day, and and Binzer was on my team, and so we always were together. And there was one thing about him, even in fifth grade, we knew that Binzer was a bragger and a boaster. He was proud, he was arrogant, and you couldn't listen to a word that guy said. And obviously he's in fifth grade, and I'm sure that life has humbled him greatly. But, you know, we had expectations how to act, and we're like, you don't act that way. Well, the the right way to act, I don't know what it is quite yet, but it's not like that. And what we're gonna learn today is God has set expectations for how we treat the things of God. His holy presence, it must be approached with reverent fear and obedience. And so in the passage that we read today, we we read that irreverence brings judgment, but reverence brings blessing. And so I want you to turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 6, verses 1 through 15. And if you don't have a Bible, you can grab one in one of the chairs in front of you. I love the word of God. My prayer is that you come to love the word of God. So let's read that together. 2 Samuel chapter 6, verses 1 through 15. This is the story of David feeling compelled to move the Ark of the Covenant. Let's read. Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all. He led them to Bala of Judah to bring back the ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of heaven's armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. They placed the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab's house, which was on a hill. Yuza and Ahio. Sounds like Ohio, doesn't it? Abinadab's sons were guiding the cart that carried the ark of God. So let's let's let's recap for just a second. David feels compelled to bring the ark back because the ark brings blessing. He sends 30,000 troops and they put it on what? A cart. Okay, just so we're reading this so far and we understand what's going on. Ahioah walked in front of the ark. David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments, lyers, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. I don't even know what a castanet is. One of you probably does. But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nikon, the oxen stumbled. And Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. Let's stop right there. I want to stop right there. Who's reading this so far and that says, that sounds like quite a celebration? That sounds like something I'd want to be a part of. You you read that, and on the surface, it's like, this is good. This is a this is a good thing they're doing, and and I I would love to be there to celebrate, be a part of it. I know that that's what I read when I read that. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna pick back up, listen to what happens. So you have this, again, this man named Uzzah, well-meaning, sees the oxen stumble, goes to reach out and stop the Ark of the Covenant from falling. And it says, verse 7 Then the Lord's anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. I know you don't make sense of this. We'll make sense of it later. So Uzzah died right there beside the ark of God. David was angry because the Lord's anger had burst out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez Uzzah, which means to burst out against Uzzah. And it is still called that today. David was now afraid of the Lord, and he asked, How can I ever bring the ark of the Lord back into my care? So David decided not to move the ark of the Lord into the city of David. Instead, he took it into the house of Obed-Edom of Gath. The ark of the Lord remained there in Obed-Edom's house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his entire household. Then King David was told, The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom's household and everything he has because of the ark of God. So David went there and brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with great celebration. After the men who were carrying the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and fattened calf. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of ram's horns. Let's pray. Father God, your word is so good. And Lord, I know that there are many that have maybe never read this before and they can't make sense of it right now. Why would you move in such a way? But then yet he could go back and a family's blessed and they can still take it. Lord, I we're gonna make sense of this together. And God, I think it can be transformational for our church if we hear this out. I thank you in Jesus' name, and everyone said. Amen. David had the greatest of intentions in taking the ark with him. Had the greatest of intentions. Do you know so many people in your life that they have really good intentions behind everything they do? The problem was it was an irreverent approach. It was an irreverent approach, and they didn't even realize it. The ark it represented the presence of God, and David wanted to bring that back to being the center of Israel's life. And the ark represented the very presence of God, and they're like, we want that. David, he's described after a man after God's own heart. He desires a good thing. He desires a really good thing.

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But here's the thing: a good desire done the wrong way can lead to tragedy. Who's heard the saying?

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The road to hell is paved with good intentions. It's paved with good intentions. And so I want us to understand this, and I want you to first understand what the ark is. You know, in Exodus, God instructed Moses at Mount Sinai to build it. And it was it was this golden chest, and it goes into detail in Exodus chapter 25. You can read it on your own time, but it goes into details and what goes inside it, and inside contained the stone tablets that the Ten Commandments were written on. It contained Aaron's rod, it contained a jar of manna, and it was the throne of God. That's what it represented. And the the scripture says in Exodus 25, 22, who sits enthroned on the cherubim? And it's a place where God said, There I will meet with you. And so this ark, it represented God's covenant, his law, his authority, and his presence among his people. And the issue for David is, and this is important, God gave clear instructions on how to handle holy things. He gave very clear instructions. Listen to Numbers chapter 4, verse 15. It says, The camp will be ready to move when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the sacred articles. The Kohathites will come and carry these things to the next destination, but they must not touch the sacred objects, or they will die. So these are the things from the tabernacle that the Kohites must carry. And so the ark, the what we read in Scripture, the ark was carried by two wooden poles that ran across each side, and they physically couldn't touch the ark itself. And in fact, the tribe of Levi were the ones that were supposed to carry it, and they were supposed to carry it on their shoulders. So everywhere they went, they were supposed to carry it by these wood rods. And we read earlier, what did they carry it on? A cart.

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And then Uzzah makes a fatal mistake.

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You know, he had he had the greatest of intentions. He saw the oxen stumble and he reached out to just stop it from falling and hitting the ground. But here is the flaw.

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Uzza treated the holy as ordinary.

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He treated it as ordinary. And so he wasn't just doing this knee-jerk reaction, I must save it because it's holy. The whole display of everything they were doing was without care for what is holy. Are you guys hearing me, church? God sees through this outward appearance and he knows the condition of the heart and the manner in which it's done.

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And that's what made the Lord angry.

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And so, church, I say this and I want you to take it to heart because we still serve the same God. Amen. We still serve the same God. Don't treat God's presence lightly. Don't treat it lightly. God already shown the judgment for how to treat the ark. And David had to have heard about it. In the household he was raised in, in the nation that he led, in the council that he had, he had to have heard about it. And then in 1 Samuel 6, 19 it says, But the Lord killed 70 men from Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of the Lord, and the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done. They knew this, but the curiosity, they just couldn't help themselves. And they believed so much in that how it could be a blessing for them today that they just they just wanted it, but they treated it as ordinary. They did not treat it as holy. Hebrews 12, 28 through 29. I want you to listen to this. Since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.

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Let's hear this again.

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Let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe, for our God is a devouring fire. The author of Hebrews, what he's doing is he's calling us to listen to God and to comprehend the judgment of God if we don't do things in an appropriate manner. And so this issue is that we risk, we're taking this familiarity with God. This we make it ordinary, we try and make it normal, we try and make it reach all people. Whether it's scripture, church, worship, what happens is we start treating holy things casually.

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I'm gonna say that again. We start treating holy things casually. We get too comfortable.

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And I want you to hear me out. Good intentions do not excuse disobedience in the presence of God. It doesn't excuse it. And so here's the thing: no doubt, Uzza's death is shocking. It is absolutely shocking, but the next steps reveal something very important about how we respond to the holiness of God. And what I love about the Lord is God doesn't act flippantly here. When God displays this in such a manner, it definitely stops us in our tracks. It definitely causes us to evaluate what it is we are doing.

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And so David sees this, and all of a sudden he's like, We we gotta stop. We can't go on. And so he took a pause.

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And what he did was the scripture, the text doesn't say it, but he learned how to react appropriately. He learned how to react appropriately. You know, we we read the scripture describes David as being angry at what happened with Uzzah, and he was afraid of God. David said in verse 9, he says, David was now afraid of the Lord, and he asked, How can I ever bring the ark of the Lord back into my care? Who can feel David in this moment? Like I can feel him, like, God, I don't want to do anything wrong. Like I'm absolutely terrified now. And this fear that David was experiencing was healthy. It was actually healthy.

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And it was the beginning of wisdom.

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He stops this quest and he leaves it at the house of Obed Edom that we read, and it stays there for three months. And the report David receives, he, you know, if you leave something that just killed a guy, if you leave it at someone's house, you're like, oh, I expect not good things.

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And he gets this report. The whole household is blessed. They've all been blessed because the presence of God is there. Now let me give you a little background on Uzzah.

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He was the assigned caretaker of the ark. He was the assigned caretaker. And it was it was housed in his family's home for many years, and now he's dead. He served David. He was he was an associate of David's. And I don't know if you have ever been working or doing a task, and all of a sudden tragedy strikes, but it is difficult to go on after that and pretend everything is normal. You see it in professional football all the time. When a terrible hit occurs and someone is taken, they're carted off the field, they look like I don't know if I want to keep playing. And David sees God's response on that day and he decides to stop everything. He had to be evaluating. Am I doing this right? How do I honor God? How do I prepare those who are tasked with carrying this ark? I believe in this God, I've seen him move in power, and so what he does is he gives it time. And there's something about when God comes into our lives and shakes us and wakes us up and causes us to start really reevaluating things. And I think that's important. And I pray that for you constantly. And I know that at the same time, these things are not comfortable, but I think these are God moments that need to happen in our lives because we need to be humbled, we need to be shaken, we need to understand who God is and who we are.

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So make no mistake. This is a wake-up call for David. And maybe you need to pause to regain a healthy fear of the Lord.

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And I want you to know it's it's not God who's unstable through these times. It's us. We're the ones who are unstable. Psalm 46, 1 through 2. It says, God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble, so we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. And so this mission became more about honoring themselves than the Lord, and all of a sudden David's reevaluating everything. It says, In that day he will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord will be your treasure. Church, God was calling them to be reverent. And reverence is not an enemy of blessing, it's the pathway to it. You have to trust and know that God wants us acting a certain way when we come into his presence.

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We're gonna talk more about that later.

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I was in Waterloo pastoring and you know, hiding Kelly and Kelton, they can tell you that our attendance was constantly like this. And I I could almost chart it out. We would we would grow in the spring and then plum it the rest of the year, and then we'd grow again in the spring and plum it again. And it's not about it's it's not about numerical growth, but it's a sign of a healthy church. And I'm watching this, and there's a young family that comes and they've got they've got little ones, and they come into the church and and they're they're wanting to experience God, and we're sitting there at the end, and there was a demanded reverence in the church that went extra biblical. I'll say that. If a kid was running with joy, there was a senior in the room screaming at them. And it got uncomfortable. And this one particular Sunday, this family, they they had, I think, three little ones, and one of my board members never met them before in his life. Saw one of those kids doing something he didn't like. The pastor didn't have a problem with it. He goes, And if I if looks could kill, he would have been dead. Because I was living. And I know what he wanted. I I respect in his mind what he wanted. Because there is a reverence we need when we walk in the church that it doesn't, it doesn't mirror anything in the world. It's different. And so I get the longing and the desire that he had. But what I saw, I saw that a kid that was learning what childlike faith would look like, just celebrating and having the joy of the Lord. And I'm like, I'm cool with it. So I was mad. And I can only imagine I never saw that family again after that. They were there one and done. That was it. One and done.

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And I'm sitting there like, Lord, we we failed here.

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David's looking at this situation, and he's he's absolutely frustrated, and he thought he was doing the right thing, he wasn't doing the right thing. And all of a sudden, David hears, hold on. Obed Eden's house is being blessed because the ark is there. That was the original purpose. I wanted to bring it to Jerusalem. And so that news, it just changed absolutely everything. And all of a sudden, there is this restored reverence in Israel for the ark, and he understands and he now declares I am going to do it God's way. I've tried to do it my way so many times, and I have failed so many times, and God has humbled me so many times, but yet I find that when I yield to the Lord and I do exactly what he asks, because he has given us a book that has given us the ability to understand what he asks of us. That when I choose to yield and do it his way, my life is blessed. What followed in scripture that we read earlier is one of the most beautiful pictures of reverent joy and worship. Listen to the steps of the procession. And I want you guys to know if you're wondering how far they have to carry this ark. It was about five miles.

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They had to carry it about five miles on their shoulders.

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And the first step they took is they carried the ark on the shoulders of the Levites as God commanded in Numbers chapter four. The next thing they did, we see that David he he sacrificed after the first six steps. He sacrificed an ox and a feminine animal, and that was right at the beginning. And here's the here's the awesome thing about what David is demonstrating. It wasn't required, but it was a powerful act of consecration, and it sets the tone for the rest of the trip. And that's what David wanted to do. And so then they go on and they offer additional sacrifices. We read about that in 1 Chronicles 15, 26. It says, and because God was clearly helping the Levites as they carried the ark of the Lord's covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. So in the period of five miles, they stopped what they were doing and they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

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The next step we see is David danced before the Lord with all his might.

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David wasn't dancing for the crowd. He was dancing for the Lord. And he put on this priestly garment and he said, I'm choosing to bless God today. And David doing this, he did not care what people thought of him. And we've read about David dancing in such a manner before. He did not care. And this was the ultimate sign of humility from a king. Lastly, all of Israel brought up the ark with shouting and the sound of the horn.

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Did that say with reverent meekness and being quiet?

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No. No, it didn't. And so whatever you think your idea of reverence should be in here, you're probably a little askew. You probably are. And we need to go back to the word and we need to go back to the text to understand what it means to be reverent in the presence of the Lord. Because reverent worship, it was joyful, it was exuberant, it was not quiet, it was not meek.

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So reverence was restored.

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And these people they started shouting, they started blowing trumpets. And this was loud and it was energetic, it was passionate worship. And yet it was done in an atmosphere of deep reverence.

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Church reverence is not the opposite of excitement.

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It's not. So many people, that's how they interpret it. We think of we think of more of the uh how we might enter into a Catholic Church.

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Humble and meek and quiet and headbowed and reverent.

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Reverend. But when you and I, when we see God's holiness, it doesn't make us silent. It makes us shout. It makes us shout. And it all comes down to this is important. Where is our heart and attitude? Do we fear being disobedient to God? Or are we more interested in honoring ourselves? Psalm 211 says, Serve the Lord with reverent fear and rejoice with trembling. Hebrews 12 28, I want to read again. We read it earlier. Since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. And then it goes on to say, For our God is a consuming fire. And reverence in God's presence, it doesn't kill excitement, it fuels it. I want you to understand when you when you step into the presence of God, it doesn't make you fearful to the point that I don't want to be here, I shouldn't be here. It gets us excited for the things of God. And so are you coming into this place Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday nights, whenever you choose to step through the doors with this attitude of worship and dependence on God?

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A reverent awe of who he is. Church, God is not looking for casual Christianity.

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You know, there it's it's tongue-in-cheek that when sometimes I ask for some kind of call response and the response is weak, I say, okay, now manufacture excitement. When you're stepping into the presence of God, you shouldn't have to manufacture anything. You shouldn't. That same God who shook the ark, he's still a consuming fire. It's still the same God. And God is in this consuming fire. Many Christians are acting more like instead of God being a consumer, consuming fire, that this is a consuming product. That's what happens in churches. And I'm like, I don't, I don't want any part of that. Because so many treat it as this consumerism and not this direct relationship that I can have with God. We were joking, uh Wendy and I were at Tiffany and Noah's house last night, and we were we were talking about the term church shopping. And it was brought up, is that really a thing? It's like, well, yeah, yeah. I said, and you know, I see if you relocate the importance of maybe finding the right church. I absolutely see that. I said, but so often what we've done is we want to align with exactly what caters to us, suits all our needs, and we forget that when we come into a place of worship, it's not about us, it's about him, it's about him, and so forgive me. But when I see so many places provide people to come in with every creature comfort imaginable so that they can worship a God that is described as a consuming fire, I get a little upset. God is looking for people, church, who will approach him with a reverent fear and a joyful obedience. There is no other manner that we can honor him. And so I think what what we really need to do, listen, David was a man after God's own heart, and David wasn't perfect. We just read about that. David very carelessly got a group of troops to move the ark from one place to another without considering what it meant to deal with holy things. And so we can fall into that trap all the time. And I'm sure, and it doesn't describe the details in there, but I'm sure that there was the when David realized what needed to be done, I am more than sure there was a moment of repentance and regret. We have to have that true humility before the Lord and realize there is a manner in which we approach God. And it is by that manner that we will be blessed. And so what we have to do is we have to confess areas where we treat our relationship with the Lord as casual. And we need to repent of that. Because the bottom line is God is looking for a relationship than anything greater that you can find on the face of this earth. God wants that with you. And the reason he wants that with you, I don't know if you have ever created anything, but who knows the creator loves his creation more than anything else. When there is a creator that creates something, that creator loves it more than anything else. And I'll illustrate this with newborns. There's not a lot of newborns who are really cute on day one. You guys know what I'm saying? Some of you disagree, but some of the guys in the room are like, yeah, yeah. And the thought of, isn't he beautiful? And an objective outsider might be like, I don't know. And beauty, we know is always in the eye of the beholder. God is your beholder, He is your beholder, and He looks at you and He sees something beautiful. You might not like what you see, but God sees it. But God says, I want a right relationship with you. I don't want something casual, I want firm commitment. I don't want you to treat my presence as ordinary. I want you to treat it with reverence and respect and understand that there is a manner in which you should worship me. And we as we as the body of Christ, we have to set this standard. That when we come into this place, we want to see God move. And I'm so thankful because we stepped in here from moment one and we just kept hearing report after report and thing after thing, and and then I see God do something amazing on April, and I'm sure with April it was completely unexpected, and well, I didn't expect it, but when I saw God moving, I'm like, wow, God, you're good. You're so good. But what I know, I know there are times, and I think everyone can find this. Churches can take on character. And that character can change every Sunday. And there are times where I'm like, well, of course, God's presence didn't show up. Our heart wasn't right. Church, I want you to bow your heads and I want you to close your eyes. The only way this can change, we gotta stop treating our relationship with the Lord as casual. And if you believe that God is a consuming fire, then you're gonna understand the delicate nature in which you you deal with approaching God. You don't approach God in a haughty manner, you don't approach God in an arrogant, prideful manner. In fact, you don't approach the Lord at all unless you're covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. So, what I want to do right now, as I've asked everyone to close your eyes, it's a moment of just meditation, evaluation. I want the Holy Spirit to speak. Church, it breaks my heart Sunday after Sunday when we don't even realize we can be used by the enemy. And there are people that don't even realize they are an active distraction to others within a church service that can distract them from hearing the truth, the word of God. Peter. Peter didn't know that he was being used by Satan when Jesus was telling that He'd he'd die and he'd be resurrected in three days. And Peter stood up and said, I will not let that happen to you. And Jesus' response was, get behind me, Satan. Sometimes we know not we do. But I know that when I'm awakened to it, I I have to repent. I have to say, God forgive me. And I don't know what areas of your lives that you might have treated God casually or ordinary. But if you treat him like a light switch, that when you go out of this place, you shut him off because you've got more important things to do. That's the first sign. And so I know that we can all find ourselves guilty of this. But I think today is a day of repentance and restoration of true reverence. What I want us to do is I want us to stand. And we are gonna worship. God knows reverence by the manner of the heart. And I want you to know that the Lord loves people who are quick to repent and quick to turn, recognize, recognize what they're doing is wrong and turn away from it, saying, God, I choose to change and I will not make my relationship with you casual or ordinary. And so, what I want you to do right now as we keep our heads bowed and eyes closed, I want us to find our place of submission before the God that's the all-consuming fire. That might be down here at the altar. That might be you prostrate before the Lord, laying down. That might be turning around and kneeling at your seat. But make no mistake, this is a matter between the individual and God. And then what we do is we in turn affect others. Because we want everyone to be blessed by the Lord. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pray, and then I ask that you just take that moment, that moment of true, true recognition of when things are out of line with what God has asked, and repent of it. Find your place. Let's pray. Father God, we just thank you for each and every individual that came into this church, and Lord, that has heard your word, and Lord, for those that are truly receiving it and saying, God, I need to move forward and I need to move forward, not treating this relationship with you as casual or ordinary, but God embracing that this is life-giving. It is a blessing to choose obedience and submission to you. So, God, I pray for a church that is willing to lay down their desires to say, God, I desire the things of you, and God, that we be people that are quick to repent and quick to say, God, my way is wrong, I choose your way. Lord, and I know that when we make those choices, that Lord, blessing flows as a result of it. So, God, I pray that you will bless the people that actively make that choice today. God, I know your desires. I know your heart for your creation. May we long to walk in that holy fear. We thank you in Jesus' name.