Approved || Week 1 – The Fear of the Lord

Approved – week 1 – The Fear of the Lord

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matt 3:17

A church that pleases God is made up of people who are pleasing God.

3 Qualities of a Church That Pleases God

• Fears the Lord
• Full of Faith (without faith impossible to please God)
• A Loving

A reverential awe that produces obedience, intimacy, and alignment with God’s heart.

The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. Psalm 147:11

Fearing, awe-filled, reverently aware of God’s holiness and authority.

Low View of God

• Treat God’s Word casually.
• Ignore conviction and rationalize sin.
• Know what God says, but do what you want.

High View of God

• Take God’s Word seriously.
• Repent of your sins quickly.
• Obey God with reverence no matter the cost.

“I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.” Luke 7:44-46

When we lose our awe of God, the God we serve gets smaller.

…Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Phil 2:12-13 NLT

Want to go deeper this week? We’ve created a simple Bible reading plan that follows today’s message and helps you carry what God spoke on Sunday into your everyday life.  Scan the QR code to walk it out with us this week. https://www.relatecommunity.com/soap

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Transcript

Welcome And Bold Intent

SPEAKER_01 0:29

All right. We'll watch it twice. That's all right. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to church. Tell somebody next to you, I'm glad you're here. Good. Now tell the other person that was your second choice. I am also glad that you're here too, but I just I love that every time. It is good to be with you guys on a Sunday morning. And um I'm excited about the message today. I've been looking forward to, in fact, I've been uh for probably, I don't know, maybe three or four months, even before uh Christmas. I was just had this this thought in my head, this this idea that's just been uh it's I I've probably preached this message to you individually. So you've the the message has already been preached many, many times uh face to face. And I I hope that that today challenges you a little bit. Today, uh, in fact, I feel like the our word for the year is bold. This is not talking about being bold. This is a message I think that is bold. This is a message that might hit you a little boldly today. So, how many of you guys can tell me uh I have permission to be bold today by just saying, be bold. All right, that was I I feel like I have permission today. I don't know who was sitting that one out, but just get ready because it's coming. If you are a guest today, I'm I'm thrilled that you're here with us. I know it takes a lot of courage and a lot of boldness to uh to walk into a new building, walk into a new community and figure out what that feels like and what that looks like. And we've tried, we have really worked very hard to try and make sure that that process and that transition into our community, if this is where God wants you to be, and if this is where you want to be, we we try to make that very easy. Uh I don't want it to be a hard thing where you have to become like us. Uh, this is a can for whoever God is leading, he is our good shepherd and he takes us from pasture to pasture. And there are times when you're you're he he parks us in a place for a little while and plants us and gets us to a place where we can be like that tree that's planted by the uh the living, the rivers of living water. And uh that's my hope for you is that you can grow today. If you are watching online, same thing. Uh I'm thrilled that you chose to click in and worship with us and study God's word. Um and do this together. This is very, very awesome today. And so I'm gonna dive right into the first message of this uh the series to kind of set the pace for the next three weeks on what it looks like to be approved, approved really a church that's approved by God, a church that pleases God, a church that this is this is a message for all of us. Some sometimes I feel like I'm giving a message and it's uh it's gonna land hopefully 60, 80, 50. Um, but this is that message I think that applies to every single one of us, no matter where you are in life. I've uh I remember when we started this church, I even before that, I've been a pastor, I'm 46 years old, somebody. I feel like I'm not old. I still feel like I'm uh I still think uh and feel like I'm maybe uh 30, but um, you know, for all of you guys who have past 30, you know what I'm talking about. But when I was 20 and pastoring, uh you being I was a youth pastor, and I still had this thought like, what does this group, what is what, what do I hope for this church? What do I hope for uh the ministry that God is doing in me and uh through me and the the work that we're doing? My hope, I looking back, I had all kinds of uh ideas of what that would look like. Like, uh well, I just want it to grow because healthy things grow and I want it to be healthy. I want um when we started this church, I remember before we had our very first, before we ever had a Sunday morning service, people would ask me, uh, okay, you're starting a church. What's that gonna look like? You guys, uh, what kind of church are you? Or like so I had hundreds, if not thousands, of conversations about what my expectation for the church was and where we were going. And since then, again and again and again, where are we going? That's vision, that's um what the vision that God is establishing, but that has evolved and changed because it used to be that I wanted to be healthy and grow. And it's much more come around to the idea that I want to be a church that pleases God. I want to be like, regardless of what it looks like, regardless of the building, regardless of what kind of songs we sing, whether an evangelistic church or discipleship church or both, or all the different options of what kind of church we could be, a church that changes the world, yes. But even more than that, I want to be a church that God says, I approve of that church. I want to be a person that God looks at me and says, I approve. Because I think there's a lot of people that just have that's not even a thought that enters your head. There are a lot of people that know God loves them. In fact, I could probably go around the room today and ask, Do you know that God loves you? Of course, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you. We've heard that forever, and so most of us have it's settled in us, but God so what loved the world. That's kind of his thing. So we we we accept that. But whether or not he approves of me, uh there's probably a bunch of us in the room that were like, I know he loves me, but I don't know if he really approves of me. And if you have kids, how many of y'all got kids in the room? You know what I'm talking about because you love your kids all the time, but you don't always approve of what they do. I love my kids so much, but there are it could be a daily basis. There, I'm not like I'm not so sure I approve of that. Uh I love you guys, but you're crazy. If you got kids, you know what I'm talking about. And so God looks at us, and I I hope that your hope is my hope. I hope that we have the same uh dream, the same hope that we're reaching for God's approval, that we are reaching for God to be pleased with our life. Jesus, uh, when he started his ministry on earth, there's a moment, and I want us to look at that moment for just a second where he's getting baptized. He's being baptized by John the Baptist. John the Baptist didn't want to baptize him, but Jesus said, No, this is what's happening. And in that moment, he he's baptized, the Jordan River comes out of the water, and then God speaks and has this moment in Matthew chapter 3, verse 17. It says, And a voice from heaven said, This is my son whom I love. Remember what we talked about? He we all we know that he loves us. He says, With him I am what? Well pleased. That's something different. Like God loves us, but does he look at us today? Does he look at our 2026 plans, our hopes, our dreams, our families, our our marriages, our five? Does he look at us and say, I approve? I'm pleased with this. My my goals and my hopes for this church have settled into we have to be a church. I think that the future of this church depends not on whether or not we are a church that's transforming the world, changing, making an impact, serving our community, loving our community, great, all those things are beautiful, but are we living a life? Are we becoming the church that pleases God? Are we becoming a church that he looks at and he says, that is a sweet smelling incense? Their worship, I approve. Their sacrifice, their lives. And so, what what kind of a church is approved by God? That's that's the real question. What kind of a church does God look at and say, I am pleased with this church? A church that pleases God is made up of people who are pleasing God. A church that pleases God is made up of people. Everybody say, I want to please God. I don't say it unless you mean it because we all have to be moving in the same direction. We're all we're all living our lives to please the Lord. Why does that matter? Can can we be of church that God approves of and have people that God doesn't approve of? Now, listen, there is a difference uh between the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, there are moments where we get to that the Old Testament teaches us what God wants, even though we don't live under God's wrath. We can see what God loves and what he clings to and what he reaches for and what he blesses and what he gives favor to. In fact, there's a uh there's a scripture in the book of Joshua, chapter 7, where God is protecting his people, God is uh leading the Israelites into the promised land, and he's blessing them. They're winning. He's giving them everything that he promised them, and yet there's a moment where the whole nation starts to lose. And the the leaders and Joshua's saying, God, what is wrong? What have you abandoned us? What happened to us? And God says, There's something happening in your midst that I don't approve of. In fact, I've given you all kinds of rules to live by. That's the the the if there's anything in the Old Testament, there's rules. We can't, we can't always translate those rules into the New Testament, but there's a moment where God says, There's something happening in your camp that I don't approve of. And so it's causing me to remove, it's causing you to leave the blessing that I have for you. And so Joshua, the Spirit of the Lord tells Joshua to line up the people, bring out everyone, tribe by tribe, and then I'll tell you which tribe the problem's in. And then he says, It's that tribe. And then he said, he says, Okay, in this tribe, I want you to line up family by family. Okay. So they all lined up, and God said, It's in this family. The problem exists in this that I don't approve of. It's it's causing the entire nation to have a problem. And then so he lines them up and he says, It's in this family. And he says, Okay, line them up man by man, and I'll show you which man has the problem in his family. And so he lines them all up, and here comes a guy named Achan. And Achan, when the when God finally points him out and he says, You better tell us what's going on, he says, Yes, I did. I did exactly what you told us not to do. I did exactly what God said not to do. I've been keeping all of the uh the false idols and money and and things that were unacceptable to God. I've been keeping them so they're hidden in my tent. That's a perfect picture of what happens whenever God says, I want to bless you, I want to, I want to put my favor on your life, I want to protect you, I want to lead you, I want to guide you, I have great plans for you. I love you. But then there's some things that you're keeping in your tent that are hidden underneath your blankets and hidden underneath your pillows, and some things that you're not telling anybody about, and I'm not very pleased about those things. Of course, we live in the New Testament, right? So we think that God's grace will cover all that, and God doesn't care about all that, and it doesn't really matter if I'm living, you know, God loves me, He's pleased with me, He's got great plans. I hear about all the time in the church. God's got good plans for me, He's got purpose for me, and so I'm just living my I'm doing the best I can. However, the issue becomes that we're removing ourselves and we're we're we're not in the place where God says, I am so pleased with you. So over the next three weeks, this is a set kind of setting the pace, but for the next three weeks, we're gonna look at the church that is approved by God, the church that um is pleasing to God. And so, week number one, in just a minute, we're gonna look at what it looks like to fear the Lord. And then next week, we're gonna look at what a church that's full of faith. I think there's a thing, it's okay. The Bible says, with faith, it is impossible to please God. So there's some things that God wants, there's some things that God doesn't want to give you a thousand rules, and then you must follow this rule and this law and this commandment. If you don't do it, then I'm not gonna bless you, and I don't love you, and uh it's not that. You might be walking towards heaven, but you are not pleasing God. Your name might be written in the Lamb's book of life, but you're not living the life that God made you for. And we might be struggling along and singing our songs and opening up the Bible every week, but we're not the church that God says, I am so pleased with the with this church. I'm so pleased with my people. I want to be that church. And the third third week, we're gonna look at what it looks like to be a church that loves like God. And so for the next three weeks, stick with me. And uh we're gonna unpack it. So today we're gonna look at what it looks like. Everybody say, fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Uh, that there the Bible says an awful lot about the fear of the Lord, and yet the modern church says so little about the fear of the Lord. The Bible is full of pointing us towards the fear of the Lord, the reverence, the awe of God. And yet, where are we? We're like, uh, I don't know, you know, I'll get there if I can. We have this casual, informal relationship with God, which we can boldly approach the Lord. Watch this, Psalm chapter 147. I love this chapter. Psalm 147 says, the Lord delights in those who what? Fear him, not in those who approach him casually, those who just serve him comfortably, those who obey him only when it's convenient. No, it says the Lord delights in those who have this reverent awe and fear of God. This is not a fear where we're running away from God and oh God, I'm so scared, and I'm chewing my nails down, and I'm so worried about how God looks at me. No, this is not that fear of the Lord. I'm not scared that he's gonna smash me with a hammer or kick me and uh when I'm down and when I'm hurt. I'm not afraid of what he thinks about me, but I want him to be pleased with my life, and so that matters. It matters that I have this fear. If it's that important, we ought to get it right. If it's that important, we ought to fear the Lord. We ought to get it right. And so, what is the fear of the Lord? In the the Hebrew language, the the phrase is Yare. And Yare is a fearing, awe-filled, reverently aware of God's holiness and authority. This is this is um this is not like I'm so scared of God, I gotta get out of here. Sometimes that's con that's um that's like shame. I like I I've sat in some services and felt like I am not worthy to be here. I need to get out of here. That's not the same thing as the fear of God. I've f I've talked to people who who were like trying to make me feel guilty and shameful, maybe because I didn't agree with them or because I was doing something they didn't like. That's not the fear of God. The fear of God is an uh awe-filled, reverently aware of God's holiness and authority. John Bevere has a book called The Awe of God. If this is something that's resonating with you, I'm telling you, go get that book and read it because we all need the awe, the the reverent, the part of me that whenever I get around holy things and godly, like my whole life, my whole heart, my thoughts, everything just bows down. I am yielded. I'm in surrender to the things of God because I sense that He is powerful and awe-inspiring, and I can't just take, I can't be casual in His presence. So this is not a fear that drives us away. I brought a uh a thing. And I if you can hand me that right there. So what does this look like? Thank you. Thank you. You might recognize this already. You might be able to hear it. Now that's this could be dangerous, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Uh-oh. He's got a torque. So this is fire. We all we all know the power of fire.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Fire is beautiful, fire is powerful, but it's also very helpful. It can warm me. In fact, I can feel the warmth. You can't. Because I'm close enough. It can cook food, it can refine gold. There's so many things that fire can do to help me. And yet, if I respect it, it helps me. If I if I get too casual with it, and if I if I don't respect it, what happens?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

It can burn me.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And Hebrews, in the book of Hebrews, it says that our God is a consuming fire. And yet we we think, oh, you know, that's just churchy stuff, and that's just some songs we sing, and we kind of have this uh childish mindset that's not a good childish mindset. We don't, it's it's not an awe-inspiring childish, like, wow, it's more like a uh we feel that when we start to feel that we become so familiar with the things of God. What happens is this like if if if I get so casual with fire that I approach it with awe, it helps me. But if I get to the point where it's just it's just casual, and then I'm just I just touch it and I light it, and I light things on fire. All of a sudden I start we start grabbing at things that we shouldn't be grabbing at. And I think that's part of the problem is that we we we the church, I'm saying this, I'm not pointing a finger at you, I'm saying you and me, we have become so casual with the things of God. We've become so familiar with things that should inspire us and put us in awe that we become so familiar that we're just grabbing at holy things.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

And what happens when we start grabbing at holy things? We start getting burned spiritually. People grab at holy things without reverence.

Fire As A Picture Of Reverence

Casual Faith And Grabbing Holy Things

Priorities: From Ladder To Orbit

Low View Of God vs High View

Repent Quickly And Obey With Awe

Luke 7: Casual Pharisee, Reverent Woman

SPEAKER_01 19:57

I am here to tell you today we have to stop grabbing at things that should be reverent. Now, this is I'm not I grew up in a church where if we ran in the church, they told that you would get an uh an ear full. You'd be disciplined, they might grab us by the ear and say, sit down and don't move till I tell you. Like they were serious about us not running in church. And I I'm not, I love when the kids are around the church and full of energy and worshiping God. So it's not about the rules, it's about what's in our hearts and how inspired and reverent we are for the things of God and the things that are holy, are we keeping them holy or are we making them just casual things? I love that we sing about giving God glory and that he is holy and that he is worthy, but that's a reminder that I am nothing. That's not me building myself up and saying, Yes, we are holy. That is being irreverent for the things that are holy. And some, okay, I appreciate that some of us, if you were raised in church, there is an element where we deconstruct and we start to try and figure out where is God in the midst of all the traditions that were given to me? Where is God in the midst of all the rules that I was told? If you want God to love you, you have to do all these things. There is an element of, I gotta sort all this out, but if we just throw all the things, all of the reverence and the awe and the fear of God out with all the rules and just say, Oh, that's just what the old timers did. And we have no reverence and no awe, all we're doing is just grabbing at godly, holy, righteous things. Where we should, there should be a place in my life where I say, God, I will not have your house disrespected. I will not have the things that are holy be made irreverent. So, where do we draw the line? Where do we not just become these religious zealots who are pointing at everybody, telling them, hey, stop doing that. Stop. I'm not trying to tell you that we should just make up a whole bunch of rules. I'm trying to tell you that we need to have reverence and awe and the fear of God in our hearts. I want to walk in blessing and favor, not just for the blessing and fear. I want to walk and live a life, and I want us to be a church that is pleasing to God. And it requires that we. carry this fear of the Lord in our hearts. Because some things are sacred. Some things are very sacred. So it depends on how we approach God. This it really matters how you view God. How you approach God. What is your what is your perspective on godly, holy, reverent things? I think it matters a whole lot. I think if I walked around the room or if I was to talk to you all individually, I think it would be very easy if I said, yeah, I want you to tell me about your priorities in life. What what's what's the top of the priorities? All of us, we know the right answer, especially if you grew up in church or you grew up in Sunday school, the answer is God. He's the He's my top priority. No one would say anything different. And then if we come down a little bit from there, uh they're going to put it on the screen. Just a list of routine Christian priorities starts with God and then it goes down from there. It should be your spouse. I'm called as the the priest of my home whether I'm a pastor or not the priest of my home I I I'm here to serve my wife, my marriage and then my family. And that there's a lesson in there for those of you who are parents sometimes whenever we're married then that's our first priority and then when we have kids now our kids are our first priority and our priorities keep shifting. It should be God your spouse then your children the best thing I can do for my children this is not a parenting class but the best thing I can do for my children and the best father that I can be for my for my kids is to love their mother well and to prioritize her above them. Yeah I'm not looking for an amen I'm just telling you I don't need an amen and then church sometimes people will tell you oh church should be at the top I'm not here to tell you that I'm telling you God should be at the top but here I I want I also think that no matter which order your priority's in I think this this model is flawed because it it sets us up for the wrong dynamic, right? Because there's some things then I there's some things under that and I want I I think part of um part of this message part of the the idea of the fear of God is that our priorities shouldn't be a tier list. I want you to reimagine your priorities instead of being in a tier list I think they imagine more like a solar system to where you have something at the center instead of something at the top one of the things in your priority list is at the center and everything else kind of revolves around and other things can revolve you might have a family revolve into the center for a little while and then it's church oh we got to get back to church and then it becomes and but it's not God. When I put God in the center and everything else revolves and is in awe and reverence and fear around the center thing then my priorities work. And so it matters how you view God it matters your perspective and your uh your intentions do you take God seriously and it here's another thing if I ask you you'll say the right thing but if we were to go back through your life let's just say last week your mouth might say one thing is your priority your my whole life revolves around God. Yes it does Pastor Sean but what does your life say? It revolves around like if we looked at your schedule and we looked at your budget and we looked at the things that you said and if we could look at the things that you thought who does all of that say your life bows down to maybe it's finances maybe it's my job my what you know I gotta I gotta keep my security maybe security is the thing at the center maybe maybe it's your hobbies maybe it's well I have to get my rest I have to I have to be healthy. It's my emotions they kind of run everything what do you get excited about a lot of times it's just a lot of times self is at the very center in fact I think more often than not if God's not at the center it's usually self. So the question is do you take God seriously is he at the very center of your universe or do you just have a list of priorities that sure you'll tell everybody it matters or are you casual irreverent it matters whether you have a uh we'll call it a low view of God or a high view of God. I've heard it in uh put into that perspective so we'll look at it for just a second and I need you to try to figure out where your where your life resonates a lot if you have a low view of God then you treat God's word casually I like the idea of standing and giving God's word reverence and if I'm gonna read my Bible I'm not gonna have the radio on and the TV on and also have kind of Facebook going over here I just for me I'm gonna turn everything else off I'm gonna try not to have competition for when God's when I'm trying to eat when I'm trying to partake and break the bread of God's word I don't want I I'm not mixing it in with a lot of other stuff during my my time with God. A low view of God also it ignores conviction and rationalizes sin. Nah it's not a big deal you know it's not that big Pastor Sean you're thinking too hard about this it's not that big of a deal we're just doing the best we can and we rationalize God doesn't care if I do that or eat that or watch that or live that way or think about those things yes he does his grace is sufficient for like we can Paul said we can all things are acceptable but they're not all beneficial like I can do anything I want to do but does it lead me towards the Lord or do is is it pleasing to God? Is it part of his good and perfect will for me maybe not and part of living a life that's pleasing to him is pursuing his pleasing his good and perfect will for me another thing that the low view of God does is it knows what God says but I do what I want to do. I know what the Bible says but you know uh I have needs too what's a high view of God look like this is what we should be this is what we should be reaching for what is a high view of God it takes God's word seriously and it doesn't say well you know I I'm not one of those extreme religious people no it's if God said it I believe it we should take it seriously we should grab on to those things and if I make a mistake if I sin I don't just justify it and say ah well you know it happens and that's the way I was made that's the way I was born God made me this way so it must be okay no that it's if I sin if I make a mistake if I if I recognize that some part of me is not pleasing to God what am I going to do? I'm gonna repent quickly say okay God I know that I've done this I've repented a thousand times but I need to repent again I'm so sorry God help me do right help me live right when you you know what is encouraging to me more than anything else when I read the book of Psalms I've been rereading Psalms recently and uh I've made it to chapter 100 or so right now it's amazing to read when David David praises the Lord he honors the Lord he gives God glory but then he struggles and then he comes right back. It's like he goes back and forth but how great of a picture is that an image that I don't have to feel guilty when I mess up. I just need to repent and get back right and as often as I fall I just part of the enemy's strategy for you is to destroy your confidence and your boldness that when you fall you don't need to get back up. You don't deserve to get back up God doesn't care about you. You should feel guilty you should feel ashamed and he wants to keep us down but if I can follow like the in the footsteps of of uh of David King David he falls down and he gets right back up God I've messed up I repent I am so sorry I'm gonna live for you I want to honor you the Bible says that David had a heart after God's own heart a man after God's own heart and yet he fails he messes up he does terrible things but then he gets back right with God and the last thing that a high view of God looks like is I obey God with reverence no matter the cost. I don't I'm not creating uh a pros and cons list to figure out whether or not I'm gonna do this for God or not do or which way I'm gonna go I'm just if if this is the way that God wants me to go that's where I'm going casual Christianity leads to compromise casual Christianity is not Christianity at all. Another example is in Luke chapter 7 we see in the in one room we see uh two different examples one that's a very low view of God and one that's a very high view of God there's a Pharisee who was one of the religious people was Simon and Simon invited Jesus to his house for a party with some other religious people and Jesus says okay I'll go to your party and he shows up all the religio religious people are there it's a very important very fancy thing and Jesus shows up and they treat him very casually in fact even in those days they had uh welcoming like if I if I welcome you into my house today I would make sure that you had hey can I get you a drink of water hey you want to take your shoes off maybe some of you guys require that I'm not fully on board with that but I will I feel I feel welcomed when I come into your house I just got to make sure I don't have any holes in my socks or anything like that so we take these religious people didn't do any of that they didn't try to get him a good seat or hug him in those days the uh the traditions were that hey let me wash your feet they had sandals on they've been walking in mud they've been let me wash your feet get you comfortable let me get you a drink of water maybe kiss you on the cheek make sure that you are a respected honored guest they didn't do any of that and uh as he's at this place someone else comes to the party and a woman walks in and she has a very very bad reputation and no she she's known to live a sinful life all the religious people kind of look down on her she shouldn't be here in fact they were saying things like if if if he was a prophet and a and a godly person he would not be near her they were all gossiping and talking about her her bad reputation and how Jesus should know better. And yet it says that when she sees Jesus she weeps and she falls down at his feet and it says that she begins to wash his feet with her tears. Like this is more than just hey let me wash your feet because it's the right thing to do. This is her heart pouring out and part of her saying I cannot not do something here. Wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair and she takes a bottle of perfume that we find out is ill-gotten gains she she she has she's probably working the streets or something of that nature. And she spends the money a year's wages on a bottle of perfume and it says she breaks the bottle of perfume and pours it on his feet and the religious people in the room say what a waste and yet her heart was in reverence and fear and awe that my life is bowing down to this person. I'm not worthy to be here watch what Jesus' response whenever the religious people get offended at the way she's acting watch what Jesus' response is in Luke chapter 7 verse 44 he says I came into your house you didn't give me any water for my feet but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair you did not give me a kiss but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet you did not put oil on my head but she has poured perfume on my feet what a difference in the the the approach same room same Jesus and yet they treated him with casual irreverent disrespect and the woman treated him with absolute awe like nothing in my life is worthy for me to even stand in your presence she was overwhelmed by his presence and for some of us in the room we've gotten so far away from what it truly means to honor and reverence and walk in awe of God and church has become casual and your story might be that you didn't walk away from God you just really got comfortable with God you haven't run away from God you haven't tried to get away from God you just have gotten very casual with God you've been grabbing at holy things and it's like nah it's okay God doesn't care. Used to be excited about church now it's no big deal you used to be excited and in awe of worship and you were moved by worship and your heart was moved in tears and yet now you're thinking about all of the details and what about the lights and the the song I wish they'd sing a different song and I wish they had someone else singing and I wish the sound was a little bit better and I wish we could do better. We've gotten critical of things that should be full of reverence we used to seek God passionately in his word and and and honor and revere his word and maybe now it's just become another thing. Well I'll I'll listen online if I I'll listen to the the the the audio Bible if I have time I'm not against the audio Bible I like the audio Bible there are moments as a pastor even over the last decades that uh I get I would say desensitized if I'm honest with myself I love God I but there are still moments where I to be to be honest with you when we get to like Christmas time Christmas and Easter it's always the same message. I preach the same message Mary and Joseph they riding a donkey and they're gonna get over to Bethlehem and it's the same sermon. And it gets tedious sometimes so for the whole month we're trying to okay all right we're gonna have church services and I can get caught up in my own reverence of things that I should be in awe of and sometimes I can remind myself sometimes I catch myself thinking you know what I have to get back to my first love. Sometimes uh Angela has to remind me uh you know I heard a sermon about that one time and she'll remind me about what I preached about and then she'll help me get back to the place and she'll challenge me. We ought to be able to challenge each other and so today we ought to be bold enough to say it's time that we walk in the fear of God get back to being passionate about the things of God and I'll close with this idea that when we lose our awe of God the God the God we serve starts to get smaller. And a smaller God is not God at all these can be made that when we start losing our awe of God we start serving something that's not God altogether we just go to church going through the motions we're more serving ourselves we're not following Jesus we're following our selfish desires and the things that oh I'm not supposed to do this I gotta check some boxes and we get away from the fact that God spoke galaxies into place. He spoke the light into existence and we just kind of take it as it comes and we let the scripture in one ear and out the other ear and God is powerful enough to raise the dead but he's also personal enough to care about every little thing that happens in my life and in your life and he attends to us in a way that makes us he he gives us so much grace that we have the ability to get comfortable in his presence and we have to keep reminding ourselves I need my heart to bow down so I'll ask you a huge question. Maybe the biggest question you've been asked this year and that is where have you gotten casual with God of your life have you been desensitized and to the point that you know that God loves you you know that his grace is for you you know that he has so much for you and yet you've just gotten comfortable instead of holy maybe it's your language maybe it's what you're what you're saying to people you're laughing at inappropriate things you've entered into places and spaces and moments that you never should have been a part of maybe it's the where you're spending time or what you're scrolling what you're consuming from the internet or in conversation what you're allowing into your mind maybe it's what you're partaking of in your body that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you've been filling it with trash. There's a place I wouldn't be preaching about this if I didn't feel like God wanted us to get serious about cleaning up our hearts and our thoughts and our minds and getting back to the fear of the Lord. One more verse for you and then we'll close and that is Philippians chapter 2 verse 12 it says work hard to show the results of your salvation obeying God with deep reverence and fear that's what that's how we should be living and then watch what happens for God is working in you giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him you might be sitting in your chair thinking or watching on online right now thinking I can't please God it's not in me. I've tried we have to passionately pursue the fear of the Lord and walking in the fear of the Lord and the awe of God says that God is working in us giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him if we can turn our hearts back to where they should be in reverence and in fear of the things of God then he's working to give us the desires and the power to please him to be a church that is approved by God for God for his purpose I want to close right now and I just would you just bow your head right where you are we're gonna worship in just a second I without anyone looking around I want to know if if you're in the room today and you know that there's some places in your life some areas in your life where you know that you haven't necessarily pleased God. You've gotten casual you've gotten too casual in some areas but you know it's time okay God I'm gonna get back to reverence and I'm gonna get back to fear. If that's you and you're in the room don't look around I just want you to raise your hand up and say and let me know okay I've gotten too casual I've gotten too casual in an area I don't want to embarrass anybody I just want us to make a commitment dedicate ourselves to the fear of God that's good thank you that's almost every every hand of us I want us to pray and I want us to just turn our hearts back towards the fear of the Lord that our hearts bow down to the things that should be reverent we're not gonna take them casually would you pray with me God we love you we honor you respect you we revere you in this place let us walk in awe let us walk in a light that pleases you give us The desire, give us the power, Lord. We will passionately pursue you, we'll let go of the things of the world, we'll stop taking you casually, we'll stop taking lightly the things that should be. God, we know that you are a uh a consuming fire, and so let us repent today, God, in Jesus' name, and honor you with every part of us with a life that revolves around you at the center. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand up on your feet?

SPEAKER_02 44:57

We're gonna worship for a moment and then we're gonna pray in closing, and all the earth will shout your prayer, our hearts will cry, both will sing, our hearts will fry, these both will stay, our take it again All day will shout off our hearts will die, these both will stay on If I die, it all breaks in our life, so we pour out our best, we pour out our place of rest. So we pour out our praise.

From Critic To Worshiper

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Walk in awe and reverence of things that are holy, and be a church that is approved by God, approved for God, and there's nothing that God pleases him more than when our lives come into alignment with him. In fact, the Bible says that when one sinner comes to repentance, it says that all of heaven rejoices. Today we can take that step together. If you're in the room and your life, you've not surrendered your life to him, you've not been a Jesus follower, today you can make that decision by just saying a simple prayer of faith, confessing with your mouth that he's your Lord and He's your Savior and that you're gonna follow Him from now on. So I would invite you, if you've never said that prayer, would you just repeat this prayer after me and take that first step in a journey of faith? Would you repeat these words? Dear Heavenly Father, today I give you my life. I repent of my sins and choose to follow you from this moment forward. So breathe life into me. Give me a new heart, give me a new spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you said that prayer, I'm proud of you. I'm excited for what comes next. That we get to keep walking together and that God has great things for you. I'm gonna invite the prayer team to join me at the front. If you'd like to pray with someone before you leave, just walk up and let them say a prayer of faith with you. Otherwise, God bless you, and we will see you next week.