Latest / #Faith4TodayPodcast / Episode 59 — Draw Close to God

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Episode 59 — Draw Close to God · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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What if God isn't pushing you away, but rather inviting you to
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come close? In this episode of the Faith for
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Today podcast, we're going to explore God's call for us to
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come close. Through Exodus chapter 19, we'll
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discover how to consecration leads to intimacy, not
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isolation, and how all becomes the doorway to wisdom, not fear.
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God carried his peoples on eagle's wings, and he's inviting
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us to still come close and drawn near.
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The question is this, will we step forward or will we step
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back? Well, welcome to this episode of
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the Faith for Today podcast. My name is Matthew, I'm your
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host and we're episode 59 friends jumping into all things
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scripture. Our hope and our desire on this
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podcast is that you would be inspired not just on a Sunday,
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but you would find faith integrated into your life even
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on a Thursday. And so we want to help you have
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faith for the day, a loyalty and allegiance to Jesus as King in
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every moment of our life and every day.
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And that we love the word of God and we love studying it and
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talking about it. And so that's what we do.
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We're going to, we're going to talk about kind of give a recap
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from Sunday's message. I'm going to share some bonus
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thoughts, some kind of beyond the message kind of things.
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And then I'm going to respond to a few questions that came in
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that we have. So we're going to jump in.
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We're we're we looked at Exodus 19, looking at the subject of
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drawing clothes in our first season of, of collection of
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messages all about resistance, how we're resisting the the
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story of self so that we can have God's story of redemption
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and renewal. And in this particular sermon, I
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talked about how God has been inviting his people to come
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close since the very beginning. In fact, in Exodus 19, Israel
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was camping at Mount Sinai and a place Moses had already been an
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encounter God before. And God comes down in fire and a
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cloud to meet them. Then this isn't God making it
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hard to approach him. This was God giving some clear
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instructions and making a pathway for them to draw near.
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And all throughout Scripture, God is the one who initiates
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these kinds of encounters. He he came to Abraham, he
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appeared to Isaac, He spoke to Jacob and dream.
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He met Moses in a burning Bush. And on and on the Scripture
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story goes. And here in Exodus 19, he tells
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Israel, I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.
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His goal wasn't just to to form a nation, but rather to form a
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people, a Kingdom of priests, those who live close to him and
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carry his presence to the world. God's covenant wasn't about
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restrictions, but rather this rich relationship.
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It was about ordered love, a sovereign priority toward the
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people of God who were in covenant with him and loving him
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first. So everything else kind of falls
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into place is why our love for God needs to be rightly ordered
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as well. That that's kind of what we
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looked at with consecration. That consecration is this idea
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of exclusivity. But something heartbreaking
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happens is as the narrative goes, when God's people and
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God's presence becomes visible and noticeable, the people tend
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to step back. They, they asked Moses to go
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into their place. They, they, they maybe
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misunderstand what God himself. And so they, they walk afraid of
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God instead of walking in the fear and awe of God.
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They settled for distance instead of intimacy.
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See, consecration to the Lord requires exclusivity.
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It's really that's what consecration is.
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It's a it's about exclusivity with God and coming close to God
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and, and God is the one who brings us in.
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He's not looking to compete with other gods and other loves and
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other loyalties in our lives. He wants us to come close and he
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wants to come close to us. Often we think sin disqualifies
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us when in reality it's his goodness that leads us to
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repentance anyways. And and sin certainly does
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separate us from God. Sin is missing the mark of right
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relationship with God. And when we distance ourselves,
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there's, there's, there's something of a relational
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fracture that begins to take place under the surface of our
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soul, if you will. And we think that God is angry
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or, or, or what have you. And, and just like the children
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of Israel, we can misunderstand the character of God and choose
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to interact in an in a way that wasn't his designer isn't his
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thing. God is holy, yes, but he's also
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inviting, He's kind and he's approachable.
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And we can come as close to God as we choose.
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And we when we draw near, Scripture says He draws near to
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us. Consecration leads us to
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intimacy, not an isolation. And intimacy with Him is what
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really fuels our strength to resist sin, resist giving our
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love to other things it to resist the way of the world and
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to live differently. The invitation still stands.
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Draw close and He will draw close to you.
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Alright, let us get into a little bit of bonus content now.
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Now, one of the things that I mentioned in one of the messages
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was or in both messages really was about how mountains are
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places of encounter. And we, we talked about this
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extensively last year in on our Vision Sunday, how how mountains
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play a key role in the, the story of Scripture helping us to
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see God, know God and count our God.
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This is the mountains where the place where it said that that
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there's the overlap of heaven and earth.
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Kind of it's kind of the idea biblically as you look at it.
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And mountains were always this place where people encountered
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the power and the presence of God in real time.
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Think about the mount of transfiguration.
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Jesus goes up the mountain and and he's transfigured before the
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eyes of the disciple. I think about Elijah on the
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mountain on Mount Carmel. And that's when the showdown
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between these false gods and false prophets and God himself
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and God proves himself faithful and shows up in fire consuming
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kind of the wet down altar like all through scripture again,
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story after story after story where there is a an overlap,
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something powerful happens on on mountains.
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It's, it's on a mountain where Jesus is crucified right up on
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the mount, the mount gel Gotha, right like so Jesus ascends and
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descends on the mountain like there this idea of the mountain
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of Zion, the mountain of the Lord, the place where God comes
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to dwell. It's a high place, It's a holy
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place. And This is why for us as a
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church, we, we talk about one of our, our key, key things that
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we're continually doing as a church is we are pursuing the
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presence of the Spirit, the transforming presence of God's
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Spirit. And This is why we have
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mountains as our logo. We're in Kansas, it's flat.
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There are no mountains around us.
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But, but mountains kind of correlate with faith in the
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sense that our allegiance is strong, our trust is in Jesus
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and, and when we encounter him, then there is something
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transformative that happens in our lives.
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And, and that kind of faith pleases the Lord and that
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loyalty to him is there. And so we are in pursuit of the
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presence of God and and so the mountains play a key role
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throughout Scripture. In fact, if you want, the Bible
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project has a great video all about mountains and the theme of
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mountains that you see in in scripture.
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And so I encourage you to go check that out, watch it, listen
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to it, do read through their study guide.
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Super helpful, really informative.
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A great robust study just on the, the role and the, the
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symbolism and the significance of mountains in Scripture as
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places of, of encounter. And in the message, we looked at
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Exodus 19 where they came to Mount Sinai to encounter God,
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hear his voice, experience something powerful and know that
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he is God. That was kind of the, the big
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idea that that God was showing up in a way so that they knew
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that he was God. God is always revealing himself
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to his people. And I think that's the whole
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kind of big part of the whole message really was that that God
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wants to come close. God wants to reveal himself.
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God, I want you to be near him. And God is after that in in our
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lives. And there are a few things that
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I found really intriguing. I shared kind of a few in the
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message, but I'm sure some more things that I thought were kind
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of interesting in the passage and kind of how it correlates
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and why it matters to us today. The first thing that I thought
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was interesting is that God kind of tells them he's making a
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covenant before he gives commands.
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Think about it before giving the law in Exodus 20, the 10
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commandments, God reminds them of his grace, saying I carried
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you out on eagle's wings. He affirms their identity,
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saying you're going to be my special possession of my people,
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a priesthood before me. Like like he gives them their
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identity and then he invites them into this relationship
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through the rules of engagement in the covenant.
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And so this is important. Here's why because our obedience
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always flows from our belonging our our obedience to the
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commands of God always flow from receiving the love of God.
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We love him because he first loved us if we love him, we will
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keep his commands. Jesus said and, and, and one of
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the things that you see even in the the, the story of Jesus in
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Jesus life on the earth like before Jesus ever does anything
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for God to fulfill the will of God living out on the earth,
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starting his ministry, the heavens open, the spirit
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descends and God, God gives him his spirit pours that spirit on
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Jesus and then says this man, hey, this is my son in whom I am
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well pleased. And so you see God confirming
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and affirming the identity of sonship on Jesus before Jesus
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ever does anything else in in in in a similar way, you see God
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doing that with the children of Israel in Exodus 19.
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He reminds them, Hey, listen, I brought, I delivered you out of
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Egypt, get carried you on like wings of eagles, He says you are
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my people, you're my special possession.
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There's something beautiful. You're going to be my nation of
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priests and a Kingdom before, and I'm inviting you into a
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covenant where we can relate together.
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I think the order with which God does this and speaks to them is
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incredibly profound and theological for us to understand
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that God wants us to understand our adoption and our sonship
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daughtership, that we are in His family 1st and from that
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identity we live out our obedience to this new covenant
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of living in union with Father, Son and Spirit.
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Another thing that I thought was interesting was this the, the
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preparation, the consecration. He tells them to wash their
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clothes, abstain from from intimacy, where where life would
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be created. He, he sets a boundary around
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the mountain for them not to approach the mountain before
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it's time that there's going to be a specific time where where
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they could come up the mountain and experience God and see God
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and and hear God. But but they weren't to do it
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beforehand. You can't get there early.
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You can't, can't take a shortcut.
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There's a, there's a proper order to this, this and, and,
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and the, I think the principle here is that holiness requires
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some preparation, that there's some, some preparing that that
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occurs. And I think that that this shows
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us that the preparation and the care that they took in order to
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come into the presence of God kind of shows us that
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encountering God is not casual, nor do we need to be cavalier
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with it. It rather it requires some
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intentional consecration, but the preparation is not to make
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them worthy, but to ready their hearts.
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I'm thinking of it like this. In fact, you could, you could
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see, and there are some scholars who think that there is kind of
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wedding covenant, celebration or process that's taking place at
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the mountain. He wants them to get ready, but
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wait. This is what we're doing right
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now as the people of God. We are getting ready, but we are
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waiting, we are waiting for the return of Christ.
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That which time we know from the New Testament that the the bride
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of Christ, that's the church. We're going to be there's like
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the wedding supper of the lamb that's going to occur, right?
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The Book of Revelation talks about this.
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The the New Testament reveals this.
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So, so, so it's this wedding language, this wedding covenant
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language that is throughout all of Scripture because God hasn't
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changed his mind. The Old and the New Testament
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God is the same God in both spaces and places.
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And so he, he's giving, giving them this idea that, hey, I want
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you to consecrate yourself. I want you to set yourself
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apart. I want you to wash your clothes,
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get on the good clothes, because I'm going to come to you.
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And when the bridegroom comes, that's when the celebration and
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the rejoicing happens. So there's a preparation.
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In fact, many of the, the, the stories or the parables Jesus
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tells about his return, the, the, the lamp stands and the,
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the, the 10 virgins who had the oil, the, the wedding banquet
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where people came and they washed their clothes and they
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came and got ready. Like all of those, those
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parables that Jesus told them in the New Testament about his
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return and about the, the, the end and about the bridegroom and
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the bride. These are all kind of
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silhouettes and foreshadowing that we're seeing here at the
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mountain where holiness requires some preparation.
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It's it's not about trying to make ourselves worthy near as
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much as the principle is that we ready ourselves to meet him.
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I think it's important that when we're getting ready to come into
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the presence of God that we ready ourselves.
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Like we turn off the distractions.
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We, we set aside all other things to focus on him.
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We ready our hearts, we ready the environment, We ready our,
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our spirits to come and be with the Lord.
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It's, it's not that we're trying to make it worthy or what.
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No, no, we're just readying ourselves to be with him, to
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experience him. And they were doing this at the
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mountain. And This is why we talked about
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consecration brings intimacy, not not isolation.
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In other words, the idea of consecration wasn't about
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isolating themselves from normal life in the sense of in that
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way, but rather this, this, this consecration that brought about
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real intimacy with God that would really lead us to
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rejecting sin in our in our own life.
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See, when you get close to God and you experience his goodness,
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that's what leads us to continue to repent, to continue to see
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his, his power in his life. See, God is inviting and he's
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approachable, yet he's holy. There's a tension there.
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God wants us to be God is approachable.
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He wants us to come close, but he's also holy and there's a way
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in a process and a, and a proper way of interacting with his,
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with his spirit. In fact, Ephesians chapter 4
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talks about grieving the Holy Spirit and, and the way it talks
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about how we can grieve the Holy Spirit today is by using our
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words to demean other people, gossip, slander, malicious
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verbal attacks. These, these, the, the cynicism
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and the, the cynical nature with which we just casually cut
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people down. The sarcasm that is meant to
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just really be slanderous to other people in our culture and
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our midst, in our, in our, in our land and, and just the, the
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language that we use. Can I just say, I think that the
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way that we talk about people groups in our country right now,
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even within the church, I think it's slanderous mostly.
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I, I think that it's often times really malicious and our hearts
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aren't even in the right place. We can say that we're speaking
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the truth in love, but we really have no love in our hearts and
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what it is. And I think we need to be really
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careful with the way that we talk about other people because
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we edge into slander and gossip and we don't even notice it.
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And the Holy Spirit is grieved, I think by the way that we often
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talk. I'm not saying that we don't
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need to be honest. I'm not saying that we don't
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need to call a spade a spade. I, I'm, I'm fine with all of
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those things. I, I think that there, there are
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distinctions, but I think that there's often an undertone of
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kind of a negative insult where we're trying to put someone down
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and put them in their place. I just think that that tone and
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that that way of talking about other people, I just think it's
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really casual. I think it's really cavalier and
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honestly, I think it grieves the Holy Spirit.
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Go go read Ephesians chapter 4 and and and let it, it says
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don't let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only
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that which is helpful to edify and build others up in love.
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Like that's it. So when we're talking about
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other people and we're not edifying and building them up, I
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think we're in danger zones that we have to be very careful of.
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And so this, this idea of, of consecrating ourselves is, is
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about readying our hearts so that there's not a grievance
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about God, that we're, we're not coming to the Lord and, and, and
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shrinking away. We, we, we looked at James
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chapter 4 where he says, draw near to God and he draw near to
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you. But before that it says to
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humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.
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Humble yourself because God resists the proud and he gives
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grace to the humble. Part of consecration is walking
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with humility as we approach a holy God, not demanding
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anything, not feeling like God owes us something or that
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somehow God is blessed just because we showed up today.
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There's a, there's a, a holiness and an awe and a reverence that
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we have coming into the presence of God.
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The, the, the, so, so excuse me. Moses told the people what God
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told him. Ready yourself, consecrate
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yourself, prepare your heart, humble yourself, wash your
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clothes. Now the washing of their clothes
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again, it's a very interesting thing.
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The washing of their clothes represented both an inward
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consecration and an outward symbolic expression of that
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inner preparation. That they were making.
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The ritual of washing their clothes was a sign of leaving
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the old behind in expectation of the new things to come, the new
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covenant that was to come, the new relationship that they were
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beginning this again, wedding language and idea.
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We can become so casual though, with God that we stop living
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consecrated, that we can turn back to to old ways of living.
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And, and if we're not careful, we can take the good gifts of
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God that he's given us and it we can create like a, a false
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substitute where we take God's gifts and we turn them into gods
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themselves. I know some people that turn a
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style of music, worship music into like so holy, like as if
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the style is so, so much more holy than another style of
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worship music or genre of praise music.
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And I just don't think that that's accurate.
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I think we can, we can take the good gifts that God gives us in
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our family and turn our family into an idol.
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We can take the good gifts that God gives us in terms of
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financial provision. We can turn that into an idol.
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We can take the blessing that God gives us of, of marital
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intimacy, and we can turn that, that, that, that, that that way
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of finding pleasure and satisfaction into an idol.
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We can take the good gifts that God gives us on the terms that
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he gave them to us, take them out of the boundaries, out of
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the context, out of the and we can turn the good things of God
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into to our own idols and we can easily turn back to old ways of
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living. Listen again, It's the goodness
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of God that leads us to repentance in the 1st place.
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But then sometimes we get so demanding of God's goodness in
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our lives that we can't we, we begin to treat God and think of
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God in incorrectly where we start putting our trust in
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outcomes rather than putting our trust in God.
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And this requires repentance followed by our own consecration
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and, and God was really clear. I want you to wash yourself.
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I want you to hear and he says this, If you keep my commands,
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then you're going to experience this beautiful thing.
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But there's also this underlining setting that says if
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you don't keep the covenant, if you don't keep the commands,
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you're going to find yourself in the outside.
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In fact, many people I know have experienced the goodness of God,
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yet they walked away and no longer encountered the the
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living God. They no longer have this holy
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awe of the Lord or with the Lord and and it causes them to miss
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out on what God, God has for them.
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Look at look at Romans chapter 1.
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Four second Romans 121 through 25 says it like this.
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For they knew God, but they did not glorify him as God or show
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gratitude. So pause.
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Paul is talking to the church in Rome and he's saying, hey,
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listen, there's a group of people.
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They knew God, They just didn't glorify him as God and they
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didn't show gratitude to him. In other words, think about now.
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Now Paul is talking about current people in the church in
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Rome, current people in their culture.
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But this applies all the way back to what happened in Exodus.
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God showed them his goodness. I brought you out of Egypt.
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I delivered you from slavery. You're going to be my people.
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I'm going to. I've already provided for you
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mana and and quail and the water and brought you through the Nile
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River. Yeah, through the through the
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Red Sea, rather. I've already done all these
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things. You're my people.
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I'm here with you on this camping trip.
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Like it's going to be good and grand and, and, and God's given
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them all of these good things. And one of the things that they
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continually did in the wilderness was complain.
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You read a second Corinthians one, I think it talks.
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It lists all of these like sinful, evil things that that we
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can do that that disqualify us from experiencing a God's
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presence, and all of these sins that that actually cause us to
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live outside of the Kingdom of God.
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And one of them is complaining, like complaining causes us to
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grow in cynicism and being cynical of other people and and
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God with it recoils the very where where God is generally
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present, but his manifest presence isn't there.
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In other words, they knew God, they just didn't glorify him as
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God or show gratitude. It goes on to say this instead,
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their thinking became worthless and their senseless hearts were
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darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became
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fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images
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resembling mortal man, birds for footed animals and reptiles.
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Therefore, this is what God did. They didn't keep the commands of
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the covenant. They didn't stay in abiding
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relationship with him. They, they became branches that
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get cut off. They, they no longer kept their
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love for Jesus exclusive. Their love wasn't just for
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Jesus. Their love wasn't just for
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Yahweh. It was for other things.
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So their yes to God became a yes to all of these other things,
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their own pleasure, their own pursuits to other economic gods.
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They said yes to all of these other entities and and things
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and God says therefore, verse 24 God delivered them over in the
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desires of their heart to sexual impurity.
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So their bodies were degraded among themselves.
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They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and
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served what has been created instead of the creator who is
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praised forever. Paul gives us this warning in
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Romans that that this consecration that we begin to
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experience, if we're not careful, we no longer treat God
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as exclusive, the love, the number one in our life.
25:00
And we start adding in all of these other things into our
25:02
lives. And ultimately we we exchanged
25:06
the glory of God for our own glory.
25:09
We exchanged the story of God, his redemption, his renewal for
25:12
our story of ourselves. And so we have to resist the way
25:16
of the world, resist these other things.
25:19
And one of the ways that we do that is continually consecrating
25:22
ourselves before the Lord. We continually come to God and
25:25
offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to
25:30
Him. For this is our reasonable act
25:33
of worship. Romans 12 cents.
25:36
Here's another little thing that I thought was interesting in the
25:39
text is that God set boundaries even around bringing revelation
25:45
to who he was. In other words, God commands
25:47
that no one touch the mountain or they're going to die.
25:49
And this seems paradoxical. Why?
25:50
Because God wants to reveal himself, and God was inviting
25:53
them up the mountain, but there was still a limit around the
25:56
access to protect the people. In other words, they couldn't
25:59
handle the fullness of it and they had to ready themselves
26:03
first before God came down. And this kind of lives a little
26:07
bit in mystery for us, right? Because it because it seems like
26:10
God is maybe playing hard to get, but I don't think that he
26:12
really was. Maybe on the surface we can read
26:14
what happens in Exodus 19 and 20 and and subsequently through the
26:18
next several chapters all the way through like 33 and 34, 32
26:23
even where where this whole conversation happens.
26:27
And I think it's like 3334 where they they begin to like worship
26:30
the golden calf, right? Just several chapters in Moses
26:33
is up on the mountain for like 40 days and like they get tired
26:36
of waiting and they're ready for the, the Rams form to blast all
26:39
of these things, right? But but there's just some
26:42
mystery to this. God wants them to come close,
26:45
but you only come close on God's terms.
26:49
I think this is really important.
26:51
There is no other way to God other than the way God says is
26:54
His way there. There is only one way to get
26:58
into the presence of God, Psalm says, is through through
27:01
Thanksgiving and praise. If you want to experience the
27:04
manifest presence of God, if you want to encounter God in His
27:07
throne room, you begin with praise and Thanksgiving that
27:12
that's the ticket. That's the way in.
27:13
And no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ.
27:16
There is no other name under which you can be saved other
27:19
than the name of Jesus. So, so there is a way to
27:22
experience God. So, so is is Christianity
27:27
exclusive? Kind of there is one way, but
27:32
anyone is welcome. So it's, it's in, it's not
27:36
inclusive, but it's not exclusive.
27:38
In other words, it's not excluding anyone other than
27:41
those who choose not to. So there is a way.
27:44
It's not many paths that lead to God, not not many roads that get
27:48
us to, to, to experience union with God.
27:50
No, there is one way. It is giving your allegiance to
27:54
Jesus. It is consecrating yourself
27:56
saying I am denying all other loves and I am exclusively
28:00
putting my trust in the person of Jesus.
28:02
It is an exclusivity thing that we do in putting our trust and
28:06
embodying this loyalty to Jesus as King that brings about the
28:10
saving work of God in our lives that that allows us to
28:13
experience this. God wants us to come close, but
28:18
he is holy so. So there is this tension between
28:22
his nearness and his other than this, like God is other than
28:25
he's different. He's above all, beyond all,
28:28
greater than Lord of Lords, King of like, he's different in every
28:31
way. So there is an otherness of God,
28:33
but then there is also come near.
28:35
God wants us to come, come here. And there's a tension that we
28:38
hold. So it is both and, and I think
28:42
that mystery is there, it is present, but I think it's really
28:45
important that we recognize God wants us to come to him, but we
28:49
still have to come to him on his terms.
28:51
Repentance is required. You don't get to encounter the
28:57
forgiveness of God without repenting of what you did that
29:02
was wrong. Like there is an acknowledgement
29:04
of your sin, an acknowledgement of your wrongdoing, and a
29:07
turning away from you to God. Like there is a repentance that
29:12
is required. That's what James Foer says.
29:14
If you draw near God, God's going to draw near to you.
29:16
But cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, humble yourselves,
29:20
and you'll experience the greater grace.
29:22
That's what James Foer is all about.
29:24
And so this this tension that God wants you to come near, but
29:27
you're going to come near on his terms.
29:30
I often say it like this. The person who is receiving the
29:34
love gets to determine what love expressed looks like.
29:40
We, we, as many of you know, we just celebrated my wife's
29:43
birthday. And so way of showing her
29:46
affection, expressing love to her, I need to do it in a way
29:50
that matters to her more than makes me feel comfortable.
29:53
I might not feel comfortable with buying gifts or or writing
29:57
words of encouragement or doing acts of service or whatever.
30:00
Whatever it would be. I'm not going to tell you
30:01
exactly what our love language is, but but I don't get to
30:04
define what love is for her. She gets to kind of define what
30:07
that is going to mean to her. And so when we come into God's
30:11
presence, when we're coming to him, he gets to set the terms of
30:16
what and how we approach him. So it's not really about your
30:20
preference or my preference. It's about what is God revealed
30:23
in the Scripture, the way in which we come to him.
30:27
God wants to get to know us. God wants us to draw near and
30:30
he's going to come close to us when we do it his way.
30:37
One of the, the, the, the, the next things that I thought was
30:40
interesting was that when the trumpet blast in in Exodus 19,
30:45
it comes from heaven, not from man.
30:48
Like it wasn't a man made trumpet blast.
30:50
It was from heaven, which again, kind of have some return of the
30:54
King vibes that we're getting from the New Testament.
30:57
In the New Testament, the Scripture talks about like
30:59
Christ is going to come with a trumpet sound and then the dead
31:02
in Christ will be rised and we're going to gather and
31:05
celebrate his return together. And this has later implications
31:10
of like temple worship that we see here in Exodus 19.
31:13
It has prophetic imagery, it has end times elements to it.
31:17
So this idea that I'm going to come and you're going to come
31:19
close and we're going to be united when the trumpet sounds,
31:23
that's when we're going to gather.
31:24
This is like a, a heavenly signal marking the divine
31:28
presence coming to earth again. And so it has some some real
31:34
implications in the moment, but it also has some foreshadowing
31:37
and prophetic elements to it that I thought was interesting.
31:41
Another thing that I thought it was interesting was that God
31:43
descended, yet Moses must ascend.
31:47
Like there's this idea that God was coming down, yet Moses goes
31:50
up and and this does two things. Number one, it kind of
31:53
establishes A mediator pattern that continues throughout
31:56
Scripture. Moses was a mediator, the
31:59
prophets became mediators, and ultimately Christ becomes the
32:02
final mediator. And Hebrews 12 is really
32:06
explicit in contrasting what happens at Mount Sinai with what
32:11
happens on Mount Zion because of Jesus being the final and
32:15
complete full mediator for us between God.
32:19
God wants to come down and there are mediators that make that
32:22
possible for us to ascend and to be be with the Lord.
32:26
And so the the descending and the ascending I thought was a a
32:29
kind of a prophetic pointing towards some things.
32:32
Two more things I thought were interesting in the text.
32:34
The one is that fear is not the enemy of our faith.
32:38
It's rather the beginning. In other words, fear isn't the
32:40
enemy of our allegiance to Jesus, our loyalty to him.
32:45
It's actually the beginning. Now when I say fear, I don't
32:48
mean that the spirit of fear like being scared of I mean fear
32:51
like all and reverence and A and a holy thing that the people of
32:56
God tremble and God allows it that the fear is not condemning.
33:02
It's it's actually an appropriate all in the presence
33:04
of His Holiness. And this is the stage for some
33:07
of the wisdom literature where where Solomon writes in Proverbs
33:11
and it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
33:16
I think the fear of God, we, we talked a little bit about it is
33:20
this awe of God is really about us being so in awe of his power
33:25
and His Holiness of who he is of his other than this, but also
33:30
recognizing I don't want my life without his, without his
33:34
presence. I'm going to read you an excerpt
33:37
out of the book the awe of God by John Bevere, which I thought
33:42
was so it's just a a great book on on understanding the fear of
33:47
God. It's a great study in it.
33:48
And let me just going to read you a couple pages because I
33:52
think it's, it's worth worth hearing.
33:54
He says this reverence is an excellent translation of the
33:57
first Greek word. The the complete word study in
33:59
the dictionary defines reverence as a profound, adoring, odd
34:02
respect. I love these 4 words joined
34:05
together. Stopping to ponder each one
34:08
takes our understanding to another level.
34:11
It goes on to say this To have fear of God is to hollow him, to
34:14
fear Goddess to esteem, respect, honor, venerate, and adore him
34:18
above anyone or anything else. To fear Goddess to hate sin.
34:22
To fear Goddess to hate injustice, To fear Goddess to
34:25
depart from evil in every sense. To fear Goddess, to walk in
34:29
authentic humility before God and man kind.
34:32
To fear Goddess to give him the praise, adoration, Thanksgiving
34:36
and worship that he deserves. To fear Goddess to give him what
34:39
all belongs to him. To fear Goddess, to tremble
34:42
before him and wonder and all it is to give His word and His
34:45
presence our full attention. To fear God is to obey Him.
34:50
To fear God is to abstain from any form of complaining,
34:54
murmuring, or grumbling. To fear God is to respect,
34:57
honor, and submit to His direct and delegated authorities in our
35:01
life. The fear of the Lord shapes our
35:04
intentions, thoughts, words and actions.
35:07
But the fear of the Lord, he says, is the starting place for
35:10
an intimate relationship with God.
35:12
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
35:13
understanding, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is how we
35:16
mature in our salvation and are conformed to the image of Jesus.
35:20
The fear of the Lord is clean. It produces true holiness in our
35:23
lives. To abide in the fear of the Lord
35:25
is to secure an eternal legacy. The fear of the Lord produces
35:29
confidence, fearlessness and security.
35:31
It swallows up all the fears, including the fear of man.
35:34
The fear of the Lord gives us identity, makes us productive
35:38
and empowers us to multiply. The fear of the Lord provides
35:41
angelic assistance, fulfilled desires, enduring success,
35:44
nobility, influence, longevity, productive days, enjoyment in
35:47
life, happiness, pleasure and labor, healing for our bodies,
35:50
and so much more. The fear of the Lord endures
35:53
forever and it will never, it will never fade.
35:58
And, and this is all found in Scripture.
36:00
This is what Scripture continues to say again and again, that the
36:03
fear of the Lord is and what it does, what it produces in US.
36:07
And so it's not about us recoiling away from God, but the
36:13
fear of the Lord actually draws us into greater intimacy with
36:17
God. And I think that that is
36:20
something wonderful. I think it's something
36:23
beautiful. And I've said it before.
36:25
I, I don't fear, I don't feel punishment.
36:31
In fact, first John tells us that we don't need to fear
36:34
punishment because perfect love casts out fear.
36:38
Timothy tells us that Paul rises to Timothy and says God hasn't
36:41
given you a spirit of fear, but power loving the sound mind.
36:44
That's a different sense, but the awe and the reverence and
36:48
the, the, the holy fear of the Lord is to long to always have
36:53
his presence with you and to fear his presence being removed
36:57
from you. Like to always be in union with
37:01
him is the longing of our heart and and soul.
37:05
I, I'm not afraid of my wife, but man, I fear losing her.
37:09
I don't want to lose her love. I don't want to lose her
37:11
companionship. I don't want to lose her life
37:14
around me. I, I value you.
37:16
I value it so much. That relationship matters so
37:19
much to me as as many of you have relationships like that as
37:24
well. That's the kind of fear.
37:26
That's what it looks like to to have a relationship with God in
37:30
covenant with Him, living in awe and holy fear.
37:34
And we can draw near to Him in a holy reverence because He is a
37:40
holy, holy God. All right, let me respond to a
37:43
few questions today. Here's the first question that
37:47
says this. What does it actually mean to
37:50
consecrate myself in everyday life, not just in a church
37:54
setting? Number one, I think church
37:58
setting or everyday life, I think sometimes they look really
38:00
similar. But I do think that a
38:02
consecration again means set yourself apart, that there's a
38:05
dedication unto the Lord. There's a exclusivity in, in a
38:09
priority that God gets. So I think it it means that you
38:13
love God first, you commit your ways to him.
38:18
Do an examination of your life. Is there anything in your life
38:21
that doesn't actively help you love the Lord more?
38:25
Or is there anything in your life actively causing you to be
38:29
distracted in your love for God and get rid of it?
38:33
Are there ways of interacting with people that don't honor
38:36
God? Ways of talking attitudes,
38:39
habits, political thought processes that are that that
38:42
aren't really accurately helping you love God better or or love
38:48
people the way God says to. I think we've got to be willing
38:51
to examine those things. Commit your ways to him.
38:55
The scripture says that's consecration.
38:57
It's it's setting it apart and saying, God, this is yours.
38:59
I'm dedicating my life to you. So another way that we do that
39:05
is resist the enemy. Where's the enemy at working
39:07
out? Resist him.
39:08
Resist the love of the world. What are the things that are
39:11
causing you to divert your love for God?
39:14
What? What are the other yeses you're
39:16
giving if the things you're giving yes, you're yes to, and
39:20
by that I mean your affection, your attention to that.
39:24
Don't glorify God, don't honor God, and don't bring you into
39:28
richer union with God. You need to examine if they're
39:31
healthy. Now, there are things that we
39:33
have in our life that don't necessarily move us closer to
39:35
God. They're just kind of neutral.
39:38
Those, those aren't sins. Those are things that we have to
39:40
ask the Lord about. Like what are the things in your
39:42
life that you haven't offered to him?
39:45
We, we have to talk about like, like sports and and kids travel
39:48
and things like that when it comes to your schedule.
39:49
Here's here's the deal. I don't have, I actually don't
39:51
have a problem with people having their kids in sports.
39:55
I really don't. And even sometimes that may mean
39:58
that you may miss a Sunday or so.
39:59
I, I think that for a season or a short period of time that can
40:02
be good. I think long term that's really
40:05
dangerous. And can be an unhealthy modeling
40:09
for your kids without proper discipleship of your kids that
40:14
can be a detriment to their their growth in spiritual
40:17
formation, which I think is the most important part of parenting
40:20
is the spiritual formation of our kids, not the well-rounded
40:23
experience that they get. But here's here's here's my
40:26
point. It's not that sporting is wrong
40:29
or that even having to do sports on a weekend is some unholy sin.
40:32
I do think you have to be really careful with that and and short
40:35
periods of time. The end of the day, the question
40:37
is, have you asked God if that's what he wants for your kids or
40:41
is it just something your kids want or you want?
40:43
If you haven't offered it to God in consecration and said God, is
40:47
this what you have for us? I think you need to do that
40:51
before you take a job, before you make a commitment, before
40:53
you go, just just for a week, one week, every decision you're
40:57
about to, every commitment you make, every schedule that you
41:00
do, every appointment that you have, every errand that you run,
41:02
just offer it to God first. God, I'm giving this to you.
41:06
How do you want me to do this? Do you want me to do this even?
41:08
I think the fact that we don't even give God a thought in the
41:12
process of some of the ways in which we go about our life
41:15
indicates that we're running our life more than God is running
41:18
our life. And that ought to give us some
41:20
ways to look at. So if you want to consecrate
41:23
your everyday life, take all of your life, offer it to Him, and
41:28
then say, God, do you want this to live?
41:29
Do you want it to die? Do you want it to continue?
41:31
Do you want me to adjust it? How do you want me to go about
41:34
this? Do you want me to go about this?
41:36
I say, take every element of your life.
41:38
Put it before God on the altar and see what he says.
41:41
Ask him. And that's offering yourself to
41:45
the Lord in consecration to him. And especially with the things
41:48
that feel neutral, I mean, there's some things you should
41:51
have to pray about, right? Like, hey, God, do you want me
41:54
to cheat on my wife? The answer is no.
41:56
Hey, God, do you want me to steal money from my company?
41:59
The answer is no. Do you want me to berate this
42:02
person on Facebook? The answer should be no.
42:05
But too often it's yes, right? Like we got to check ourselves.
42:09
All of these things like consecrate, you're like, offer
42:12
it to God, dedicate it, clean it.
42:14
Lord, is this, is this helping me draw closer to you?
42:17
Is this neutral or is this a detriment?
42:19
If it's a detriment, cut it out for sure.
42:22
If it's neutral, offer it to him anyways.
42:25
See what he says, and if it's helping you keep adding fuel to
42:30
the fire in that way, that's setting yourself up.
42:32
That's consecrating yourself to him.
42:35
There should not be anything in our lives that we are unwilling
42:39
to let go of in order to love God more.
42:44
And anything we are unwilling to let go of is ultimately an idol
42:52
and a place of trust and a place of satisfaction that belongs to
42:56
God that we've put in something else.
42:59
Anything you are unwilling to let go of is an idol in your
43:04
life. For anything you're willing to
43:06
let go of, to consecrate, get rid of, set apart for God, it
43:12
becomes an idol in your life. So when people like I can't
43:14
give, I'm just telling you, money's an idol in your life.
43:17
You're like, like I do what I want with my weekends.
43:19
Time is an idol in your life. Well, I, I don't, I, I can't
43:24
turn off the news and I can't quit making political posts that
43:27
politics is an idol in your life.
43:29
Anything you are unwilling to let go of reveals what you trust
43:34
in the most #2 how do I move past fear, shame, or
43:40
misunderstanding so I can draw closer to God instead of pulling
43:44
away? Yeah, this, this is this is a
43:46
big one, I think #1 you have to get into the Scripture to get a
43:50
clear picture of who God is. Number 2, You have to get a
43:55
clear picture of your identity in Christ.
43:59
I know too many people who are sons and daughters of God who
44:03
constantly live in shame because they don't know any other way.
44:07
You don't need to live in shame. You need to live in your
44:11
sonship. He who the sunsets free is free
44:14
indeed. You are the righteousness of God
44:16
in Christ Jesus. You can come boldly to the
44:18
throne of race to find mercy and help when you need it.
44:23
This is the God that we serve. So many of us feel like we have
44:27
to cower and shy away from God when we have full access to him.
44:33
We don't need to be timid about that.
44:35
We can come with boldness, Hebrews says, to the throne of
44:39
grace when we need mercy or help in our time of need.
44:44
And so I think we need to read the Scriptures.
44:46
We need to get a clear picture of who God is.
44:49
We need to get a clear picture of who God says that we are so
44:53
that we're not living lower standard.
44:55
In fact, I'll say it like this. So many of us live like the
45:00
prodigal son. We've come home, but we've
45:03
refused to go into the party that the story of the prodigal
45:06
son son leaves, takes half the wealth of the father, squanders
45:10
it wasted, eventually comes to his senses, comes back, repents
45:14
throw, throws himself. The Lord that the father
45:16
embraces him, kisses him, loves him, says I will throw you a
45:18
party, gives him a robe, gives him ring, give him a sandals.
45:21
All three of those articles that the Father gives back our our
45:27
are bestowing identity, authority and place position
45:34
back into the family. It was a restoration act.
45:37
When Christ embrace us from being wandering lost souls.
45:42
He gives us a robe of righteousness.
45:44
He gives us the ring of authority and he gives us
45:46
sandals of prominence to say that we have the ability to
45:51
stand in the right place with God, that we belong in the
45:54
family of God. And so many of us have been
45:57
embraced by God. We just haven't allowed him to
46:01
robe us in his righteousness, give us the ring of the
46:04
authority and and allow us to step into the household as sons
46:09
and daughters. And so we've got to get a clear
46:11
picture of who God is and who God says that we are.
46:15
And that helps us. And I think another thing that
46:19
helps us is that when you misstep or you misunderstand or
46:22
you do do the wrong thing, just be quick to repent.
46:27
My life is 1 where I'm quick to repent.
46:35
Can I just say it that way? Like I'm just quick to repent.
46:38
It's not that I don't sin. Oh, I sin.
46:40
I still have temptation. I still deal with things.
46:42
I've got my own flesh that I'm trying to deal with.
46:44
I'm trying to to think the best of people.
46:46
I'm trying not to let my opinions rule and allow my mind
46:50
to be renewed to Christ and his word and who God says I, I've
46:54
got all of the things like I got.
46:55
I see the comments on Facebook. I want to jump in.
46:57
I like all this thing and when you miss it, be quick to repent.
47:02
I think that's part of having a heart for God is not being
47:06
perfect, but being quick to repent and not letting sin
47:10
linger in our life. So I say be quick to repent and
47:14
that helps, but don't just repent.
47:16
I do think talking to other people about the the the shame
47:20
that you feel, naming it, talking to people about how how
47:23
your perception of God is and allowing them to so you need to
47:26
talk with mature believers so that they can speak life, speak
47:30
truth, speak forgiveness, speak hope over you.
47:32
We we need that interaction from the body of Christ that that
47:36
helps affirm us and who we are helps us here and see.
47:39
We need to get out of our own head and hear words of life from
47:42
other other people. And then finally, I think one of
47:45
the things that helps us move fast, fear, shame and
47:47
misunderstanding God is just make a choice to worship with
47:50
some abandoned like outside of a comfort zone.
47:53
For me, that's often kneeling. I cannot stand kneeling.
47:58
I don't like it at all. But God, I often will do it to
48:03
get out of myself, to get over my fear, to get beyond my shame,
48:08
and to remind myself that God is holy and I am standing in his
48:12
presence. And the best thing to do in His
48:15
presence of a holy God is to kneel in reverence before him.
48:19
It is a posture of complete humility for me.
48:23
I don't like it. I'm uncomfortable with it, but I
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do it. So what is it for you in your
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worship, in your physical expressions of worship that
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you're not comfortable with? Take a step into the
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uncomfortable and worship with a little bit more abandoned.
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You'll start moving past fear, you'll move fast, shame, and
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you'll begin to continue to see God in a new way, and He will
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draw close to you. Worship helps us lift our eyes
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to who God really is and it helps reset our our thinking.
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And so I but, but also so, so worship all those things.
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But then again, I said it got to, got to read the scripture,
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got to get into God's story and actually see what God says about
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himself to understand who he is. Here's the third question.
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What practical steps can I take this week to live as part of
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God's royal priesthood and carry His presence into the world?
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God #1 Spend time in His presence on your own.
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Like take, take some time and worship God.
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Like get in His presence. Get still before him.
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Pray, engage, and just practice the presence of God.
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Turn your attention and your words of adoration.
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Give them to Him daily. Like just spend some time in His
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presence #2 demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit.
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People want to taste and see that God is good, so let them
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taste the goodness of God in your life.
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Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,
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faithfulness, self-control. Demonstrate the fruit of this.
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Let the fruit of the Spirit be evident and flow out of you.
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Your actions, your reactions, your responses, your thoughts,
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your opinions filter them through the fruit of the Spirit.
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And when you're living in the fruit of the Spirit, people
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begin to experience God's goodness.
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And that's how we are partners and we minister to others.
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And then finally, ways that we can live as a royal priesthood
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this week, look for ways to encourage and minister to
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others. Look for ways to pray with
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people. Look for ways to give somebody a
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kind word. Look for ways to be a blessing
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financially to somebody. Look for a way to to encourage
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and minister to other people. Look for a way to serve the
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people around you that is living as a royal priesthood.
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Minister to them in that way. So look, just ask the Lord,
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would you open my eyes to an opportunity today to minister
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your love, your goodness, and your presence to others starts
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by getting in God's presence first, living in the fruit of
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the Spirit and looking for opportunities to minister and
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serve other people around you. And that's part of the way we
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can live out a royal priesthood in, in everyday, everyday life.
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I hope this has been helpful for you.
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Thanks for listening. And I got a little rambly at the
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at some point in this, I know, But hopefully you were able to,
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to hear the truth of the word, hear my heart on these things
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and help. I hope it has helped you.
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Have faith for today. I love you, friends.
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We'll see you next week.