Sermon
“Serve God Acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear" (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7)
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Again, good Morning Post sating lahat.
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Happy New Year. Welcome to our first Lord's Day
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service in 2026 at New Advent season series, a book of
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Ecclesiastes atang tidal pona acting, preaching this morning
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is served God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.
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And this ceremony still written by Reverend Mark Chen.
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Beloved, life under the sun is hard.
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God does cruise the earth, a tapping apple doing suckers the
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Garden of Eden by the sweat of your brow.
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You shall eat of all of your labours until you die.
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Work will be hard, relationship will be hard, life will be
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frustrating, and that is the theme of the Book of
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Ecclesiastes. And we have seen the effects of
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sin under the sun because there is oppression, there is hard
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work, there is loneliness, and there is change or fickleness.
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We sin against others and others sin against us.
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There is deep disappointment in our lives and we don't need to
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be convinced that life is broken because all we need to do is to
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look around and we will know that life indeed is broken.
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However, Mahapatra, the problem with us is this that when we go
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through lives, trials, we behave and react in a sinful way.
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When there is oppression, our reaction is we retaliate
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sinfully. When there is exhausting work,
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we despair and when there are relationship problems, what we
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do is we gossip and we slander and we justify our misbehaviors.
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We tell ourselves in my I'm so lonely, so I I deserve this
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things, or I'm so angry I have to exact my vengeance to my
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enemies and I'm so disadvantaged so they owe me and why can't I
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misbehave? That's why this is the problem
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of Solomon in this part of the book of Ecclesiastes.
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He was bothered by how people have failed to honour and
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reverence God as they go through lives brokenness.
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He was concerned that believers make promises to follow God, but
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anyhow they sin when the going gets tough.
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He was also concerned that we promised to God to do something
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in exchange of help, but the moment we receive that help from
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God, we forget our promises. 7 Talk is cheap, and that's the
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vanity under the sun that bothered King Solomon.
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And isn't it ironic, Mahapatra, that we are so concerned about
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how unjust life is to us, how unjust life is under the sun,
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but we are not bother how unjust we are towards God?
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And that in itself is a greater vanity.
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Beloved, we are all weak. God saved us.
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He gave us manna on earth. He gave us water from the rock.
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He gave us quail from the heavens.
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He led us with His word, but we still don't trust Him in Israel.
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Even wanted to return to Egypt and not 40 days after they
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received the law, they have committed adultery by
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worshipping the golden calf. Chapati That when we face
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trials, we forget God. We complain of injustice, but we
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commit them against God. We don't honour him or serve him
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acceptably. And so in this part of
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Ecclesiastes, King Solomon reminds us with two rebukes.
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The first rebuke is we have this honoured A fearsome God, and the
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second rebuke is let us serve God with reverence and fear, but
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before that let us go to the Lord in prayer.
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Blessed Lord, who has caused the Holy Scripture to be written for
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our learning, please grant us. Please grant that we may hear,
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read, learn and inwardly digest them, that through the comfort
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of Your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed
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hope of everlasting life which You have given us in our Saviour
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Jesus Christ. Amen.
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So now let's go to the Let's go to the first heading or the
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first rebuke. The first rebuke of King Solomon
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is that we have dishonoured A fearsome God.
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And it all starts in verse one, when King Solomon considered the
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worship of God. We'll look at the achievements
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of men, the seasons of life, the injustices, and the dark clouds
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under heaven. But now we are looking at the
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religious life of people, and in Ecclesiastes King Solomon says,
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guard your steps. When you go to the House of God,
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go near to listen, rather than to offer the sacrifices of fools
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who do not know that they root that they do wrong.
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So when Solomon saw what's happening in his Kingdom, he was
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deeply troubled. There was a vein and a vexing
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thing that is happening. The people had dishonoured God
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by treating him with contempt. He described the situation where
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they were going to the temple to worship, but instead of
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listening to God and giving him what he wanted, they offered the
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sacrifice of fools. In other words, the religious
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life of the people in the time of King Solomon is dishonorable
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to God and we can even call it as evil or wicked.
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And they didn't even consider that God was displeased and
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dishonoured by it. And this is a dangerous thing.
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Solomon told them to guard their steps when they went to the
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Temple, and we know by reading the Old Testament that the
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Temple is the focal point of the worship of the Israelites.
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But the question mark Kapatid is bakit K Lang Sabihin, King
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Solomon to guard your steps when you go to the temple.
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The temple is not dangerous. Isn't it was in the pub and
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temple? Is it a place of worship?
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It is a place of refuge or a place of peace, and you should
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guard your steps. It means that there is danger
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lurking in that place. Or was it Mark apartheid that
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King Solomon said that we should guard our steps when we go to
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the temple because God is a dangerous God?
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Well, actually that is the answer to the question.
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The reason we should guard our steps when we go to the temple
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of God is because we are worshipping A fearsome God and
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that is something that we have already forget in our
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generation. You see, worship is only safe
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when we worship a domesticated God, a God only of love, mercy,
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pardon is and forgiveness. A God that is made by our own
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imagination. It is a God that does not punish
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sin. It is a God who is like a
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grandfather managing chilla, nagging mabitleng, lagging Hindi
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Nagagalit. But, brothers and sisters, that
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is not the God of Ecclesiastes, and surely that is not the God
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of the Scriptures, because God is not domesticated.
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The God that we serve is a dangerous God.
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Palangpol inverse 6. It even says there that God can
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get angry with what you say. I'm some people don't Why should
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God be angry at what you say? So he said and God is a God that
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is capable of being angry. And in verse 7 it says that we
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are to fear God, and we see this throughout the Bible.
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So let's have a tour. In the Old Testament Nathan's
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Exodus, when Moses saw the burning Bush in Mount Sinai, he
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was told by God to remove his sandals because he is standing
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on holy ground. And then Nancy Moses guard para
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Israelites Pinakawalan among Egyptians.
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They met God in Mount Sinai as well, but they have to prepare
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for three days and they were not supposed to touch the foot of
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the mountain. A barrier was even placed
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between them and the mountain to protect them.
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And when it's already the turn of God to speak, lightning and
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fire blackened the mountain, and the people trembled.
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And when Moses asked to see God's face, Anupam Sabini got
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Sanya. Sanya is that you cannot see the
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face of God and live. And then we also have the
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prophet Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah had the
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vision of Christ in the temple, but when he saw Christ on the
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throne, he also saw angels surrounding Christ.
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And these angels look different because they have three sets of
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wings. With one pair they cover their
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eyes, with another pair they fly, and with another pair they
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cover their body. And these angels, even though
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they are glorious beings, they have to close their eyes, they
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have to cover their faces because they could not look at
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Christ, because Christ is a fearsome God.
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Now we can understand in the Old Testament that God is a fearsome
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God. But brothers and sisters, the
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God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob does not change.
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So the God that we have seen in the Old Testament is the same
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God that we will see in the New Testament.
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That's why when Christ was on the Mount of Transfiguration,
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Nahita Pusha Nakayama disciples, when his face and his clothes
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gleamed with an unapproachable light, Manila is that they are
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covered with fear. They trembled at the sight of
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the glorified Christ. And when Christ comes at his
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second coming and description puts Kanyasa revelation this,
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that he will be riding a White Horse with all of his armies
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behind him, and in his mouth will be a sword.
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And with that sword he will destroy his enemies and rule
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with an iron sceptre. And the revelation says that he
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will conquer them in his wrath, because Christ is a fearsome
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God. And as Hebrews 12 says, we must
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serve him acceptably in reverence and godly fear,
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because our God is a consuming fire.
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That's why the people in the time of Solomon has to guard
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themselves or to guard their steps as they approach the
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Kingdom of God or the temple of God.
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Because the kind of God that we worship is not a domesticated
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God, that it's not the kind of God that we worship in the
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pigment of our imagination At backing up Uba, when we say that
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our God is a holy God, then he is also a dangerous God.
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Mahabadi. The reason why God is dangerous
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to us is because the people of God has dishonoured Him by the
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way they serve Him, by offering what Solomon called the
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sacrifices of fools. Yes, this can be done by the way
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we worship. We know the story of Nada in a
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bahu Nalaiku Banat Ancilla, who they were the sons of Iran.
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They were the first priest in the line of priests in the in
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the race of Levi and Makita. Punati accounts a Bible that
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they have worshipped God incorrectly in a way that they
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were never commanded. Specifically what they did is
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they offered an authorised fire in the temple of God, or they
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offered what we call a strange fire and this thing displeased
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God. And what God did is that he
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struck them inside the tent and they died there at backing up
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Benyon. It is because the God that they
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are worshipping is not a team God.
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He is a fearsome God, especially to those people who dishonour
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him. And us Reform Christians, when
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we think about this honourable worship, we immediately think
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about the form of worship or the liturgy.
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And at the back of our mind we have this boasting in ourselves
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that we say, well, we are not guilty of that because we as
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Reformed Christians, we follow the regulative principles of
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worship. Diploma in the Evangelical this
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Nung Gitara secular music, but we only sing hymns and psalms.
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You know, we are very good when it comes to worship.
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But, brothers and sisters, the kind of dishonorable service
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that Solomon was concerned about in his day was not about the
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form. It's not about the outward
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expression of worship, but it is something altogether common.
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In fact, it is much worse common because what we are talking
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about here is the attitude of the heart that even though we
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are correct in how we worship God in form, we can still make a
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mistake when we take God lightly.
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That is our problem that even though we follow the regulated
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principle of worship that we do all things in a proper way, If
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our heart is not right with God and we don't think, we don't
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take seriously the fearsome God in heaven, then we are nothing
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different with the people. In the time of King Solomon in
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Act 5, we will remember the story of Ananias in Safira
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Analysis of the era. They brought money to the
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apostles on your mark. Christians been in bed.
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Maluba in action proceed sport napping bentahan.
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I denied the apostle to be used for helping the poor or
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paramount operate on church. Ananias and Sapphira are right
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when they offered their money to the church, so their form is
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right. However, the problem is that
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they took God lightly by lying to his face.
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Because I'm Sabanilla and analysing Safira, I've been an
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amino Amari Arianne at and he became nominated dial.
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We are such generous Christians, but the truth is Hindi kahaniya
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ibinigay nila apostles and they lied to God and as a consequence
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God struck them dead. In verse 6, we are told that God
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can destroy all that we have achieved.
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And in the example of Ananias and Sapphira, it's not only that
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God took from them all that they have achieved, but God also took
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their lives. It's because they took Him
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lightly. They did not fear him, They
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thought that he was a domesticated God, but they knew
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in a hard way that they are wrong.
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And in Solomon's day, he saw how the people were taking God
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lightly by making promises but not keeping them.
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That's why Inverse 2 Asabi pudo on.
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Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to
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utter anything before God because God is in heaven and you
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are on earth, so let your words be few.
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Now according to the context, Solomon has spoken about the
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frustrations of life. So Nathan Baguntaya nag Advent
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season series unless I see Elder Charlie at young preaching poor
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no time. Lyon is about the injustices of
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life, like oppression, hard work, loneliness and difficult
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seasons of life. We know that these things can do
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drive us over the edge. It can make us desperate and
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when we cannot accept the messiness of life, we make
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desperate promise to God so that God would help us.
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Well, we are serious when we make these promises, usually God
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you, we already forget the promises that we made.
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Like, for example, we will make hasty promises such as Lord
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Pagaling Mulanya Anako McCormack served Telugu Sayo.
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Ohh yeah. Lord Chabal Benjamin and
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Dadagdagan kayaking offerings or sometimes Hindi promise gay God,
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but we negotiate with him as if we are on the same level with
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God. You ever pulsating starting
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young adults, we ask God to send us a spouse perhaps in different
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we bargain with God and we say God banana wedding cake
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unbeliever. Now the classical Okaya, young
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Hindu, Christian, and in all this rush and hasty vows, it
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shows how weak we are and how faithless we are.
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The Hebrew word for the word rash, RASH, Hindi po rash,
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narashima Katya. But rash can be translated to
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the word anxious. So when we say that we make vows
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rashly, we are also saying that we are making vows anxiously.
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We are making promises to God out of worry and out of
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desperation. So we ask God to help us, to
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deliver us, and while asking God's help, we promise God that
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we will do these things, and we will do those things.
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But the moment we are delivered from our problems, we forget
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about our promises to God and not apathy.
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We we don't only make rash promises to God, but we also
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make hasty promises to God. And the Hebrew word translated
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as hasty also means impetuous or impatient union attitude, that
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we want things our way right here, right now.
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But Solomon reminds us in the book of Ecclesiastes that God is
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in heaven and we are here on earth, that we are small and he
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is great, that the earth is limited and heaven is infinite
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and God has a purpose in everything that we do.
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But we people are just like Job. We are anxious and we are
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impatient and we want things to happen our own way, right here,
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right now. That's why we make those hasty
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and rash vows before God. So Solomon rebuked them for
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this, honouring God by taking a fearsome God lightly.
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But Solomon does not stop there. Now we will go to the second
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rebuke. And the second rebuke is about
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us serving God with reverence and godly fear.
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In verse 4 it says that God has no pleasure with fools.
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Any fools do not fear God, as Proverbs says.
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Then therefore us Christians must Revere God and serve him,
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not like the fools. But the question is how?
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How are we going to do that? How are we going to prevent
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ourselves from this honouring God?
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And the answer to that, magkapatid, is that we should
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not break our vows. That is how we Revere and how we
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serve God. When we make promises to God,
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let's keep those promises. Let us not break our vows to
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God. Well, yes, there are some bows
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which are so rash and so foolish that if we kept them, the
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consequences are horrifying. Take, for example, the story of
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Jetta. So see Jepta.
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He was helped by God to win a battle.
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And because Jetta is overjoyed by the deliverance of God, if
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unhappiness ajos Sabina God you own them Lalabas sapping to
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Anakin Bahai, you offer Kayo as a sacrifice.
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And we know how tragic this story is because when Jetta went
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home, the first being that came out of the door of his house is
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his own daughter, Akkineni Langan, Young Ally and Kanyang
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Sariling Anna. Okay, God, well, God, God's
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people can sometimes make very rash vows and even sinful vows.
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And I will tell you, brothers and sisters, that we are not
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bound by those vows right now. Ali Kayaking, Anak, Alan Among
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obliged. Why not inside kindness and
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being penaten that you took eval?
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So there are rush and sinful vows, but if the vow or the
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promise that we made is not a sin, then that vow is legitimate
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at the party rabbinate. In that the vow is legitimate,
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then we are bound to keep them even though they are made out of
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desperation. So there are times that people
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come to regret certain promises that they make to God.
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And so how do we react? Sometimes we react as Lord.
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Sorry, indignant talaga gusto. I promise you I don't really
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mean it or I know I made a vow to serve God, but the
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circumstances are different now at Indiana Shayang is served.
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But verse 6 says suffer not thy mouth to cause the flesh to sin.
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Neither say thou before the Angel that it was an error.
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Solomon rebuked us by saying do not break your vows.
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Do not sin by excusing yourself, telling the Angel that the
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promises that you made was a mistake.
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The word Angel here This is a King James Version SB.
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The word Angel refers to the temple messenger, that is the
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one who communicate with God. In other words, it pertains to
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the priest because the Old Testament Israel, if someone
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wants to make a vow, they go to the temple and they tell their
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vow to the priest. Like for example priest Priest.
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I would like to make a vow to God.
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Nah cum papagali in London, 30% now honey nothing harvest this
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year instead of the usual 10% at the young priest.
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But there are instances where after the deliverance or after
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the healing was made by God, the person will tell the prisoner no
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sorry higher than 30% but happening 10% per annum.
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It became way God in the Cosina China estimate.
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And this mistake is not only made by Old Testament people,
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this also committed by us Christians today.
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For many of us, we think that Christianity is not what we have
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signed for. When you took your vow, when we
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made our profession of faith, some of us after taking that vow
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will say, sorry, I did not know that being Christian would be
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this hard, or I did not know that as a member of the church I
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have responsibility. Hello considerate pointing at an
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attendance or painting. Or that I'd be called to do my
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part. I did not know that when I
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became a Christian. I have to foresake all of my sin
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and therefore we say I think I made a mistake.
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But Solomon said do not pursue sake your promise.
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And why? Because in verse 6, if you say
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you won't keep your vow, then God will be angry.
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Because even though you do not take your words seriously, God
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takes our promises seriously because He is in heaven.
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He is the fearsome God. He is the all consuming fire.
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And when we break our promises, it shows that we do not fear
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Him, that we are dishonoring Him.
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It only shows that we have domesticated God in our minds,
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that we have forgotten the accounts like Ananias and
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Sapphira made-up and by who we think that these things do not
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happen anymore. But verse 6 also says that in
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his anger, out of our excuse and justifications, God may remove
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the works of our hands. Dearly beloved, while the
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accounts of Nedap and Abyu and an IAS and Safira seems
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incredulous to us today and we think that they will not happen,
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many of us have experienced another kind of chastisement and
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that is what we call the leanness of the soul.
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Hindi. Finding a boy or Hindi, but
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because we have forgotten our promises to God after we made
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our vow in this church. Add me.
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Allow us to have the things that we want, but after that, what
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will come to us is the leanness of the soul.
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It's that sense of dissatisfaction.
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It's that sense of spiritual dryness.
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Take for example the story of Elimelech and Naomi from the
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Book of Ruth. See Elimelech, Shyong, Asawa,
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Niru, Sinayo, Minneman, Shapu, young mother-in-law, Nakuru,
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Opponent. Famines are Bethlehem,
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consensual and Natera because they are being chastised by God,
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and Elimelech and Naomi, they don't want to bear the
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chastisement of God. So what they did is they lived
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in the land of Moab. The land of Moab is a Pagan
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land. It is a curse land and that is
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wrong that when you are being disciplined by God indicate
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dappa Thomas paranoid Hindi that's more.
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But after that, what happened next?
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Elimelech died and all of his sons died, and Naomi together
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with Ruth. They became destitute in the
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experience. The leanness of the soul.
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So we see God may give us what we want, but after that we'll
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come the dryness, the discontentment, the the
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dissatisfaction, the leanness of the soul.
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So let us not pretend that we know that God requires us to
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keep our promises. However magkapatid the good news
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is, even though God is a dangerous God.
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Now height Nayang going more with Mongolian and then
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afterwards he will give you the leanness of the soul.
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We know that if you are a true son of the OR daughter of God,
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he will give you the leanness for your own good because he
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sends it to us that we should return to him.
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Kayang apple Ki Naomi Naomi in in her destitution and guanya
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bumalik pusha Judah. And then another example is the
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story of the prodigal son. So in prodigal son dundin so
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wildin Kenya lahat nang mananya umalis nagpasa he, he had
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whatever he wants with his own hands.
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And then after that God gave him the leanness of the soul only to
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make him come back to his own father.
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So we see that God is still gracious even in these times of
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chastisement. But what is clear is that in
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each of these cases, these people experience the leanness
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of the soul because God is not attained God.
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So therefore let us keep our vows, because in verse 4, when
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you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it because He
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has no pleasure in fools. So fulfill your vow.
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So my rapid asked ourselves, what are the promises that we
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made to God so far? Because if we made a promise to
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God, we must keep them. Now we have another example, but
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this time this is a positive example.
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This is the example of Hannah so see Hannah Maharanis dinchang
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desperation dahil Hindi kana. So Hannah made a desperate but a
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calculated and serious foul at And God is that Combigan Shannon
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Josanna Ibibigay is to serve in the temple of his God all the
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days of his life. And when Hannah made his
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promise, he knew and he understand the holiness of God.
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And when she had bare a child, Pagkatapus Batana Lyon, she gave
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that child to the service of God, and that is the prophet
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Samuel. We can see here that her vow was
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accompanied by faith and reverence.
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And we should follow the example of Hannah so dearly beloved, the
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promises that you have made to God, the fair not to pay them.
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Let us not delay to fulfill them a stretch.
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Members. What did you promise at your
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baptism? And I been optimised as an
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adult. Surely there is a vow there.
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Or if you had your profession of faith in this church, well,
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nothing go anima promises Naginawa Nathan in the presence
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of God. Or if you are someone here, a
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guest who is contemplating to become a member of this church,
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undergoing inquiries class and soon enough you will have your
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professional fee. What is the promise that you
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will make in the presence of God marrying Kalimutan and Nathan
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Sabina? I do, but it's in the form of
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question and answer time, Abuba And the question goes something
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like this. Have you taken a firm resolution
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always to lead a Christian life, to for sake the world and its
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evil lost as is becoming a member of Christ and His Church,
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and to submit yourself to all Christian admonitions?
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That is the question that we answered during our professional
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free As you know, I'm so good. Nothing had I yes.
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And if our answer is yes, then we should keep our vowel.
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So when temptations come, let us not give in to that temptation
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so easily. When discouragement come, let us
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not let those discouragement overwhelm us.
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What problem? Igo goes.
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The national church ego goes. 19 Elders ego goes CRC and if you
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are at odds with one another Gunna Brahmi scared that we will
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love each other here. Parramatta away which?
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What should we do? We must forebear with each
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other. We must forgive.
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We must seek forgiveness container Camille, and we must
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do good to our fellow Christians.
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So let's ask ourselves, how are we serving one another in this
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church? Or how are we involved in the
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extension of the Kingdom of God? So let us not make our vows
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become in vain. Solomon concludes this section
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in verse 7, which says much dreaming and many words are
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meaningless, therefore fear God evident Mark Chin Neto Father,
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much stock is cheap. It is just like daydreaming.
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So fear God instead. So what are some applications
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for us in this preaching Canina an application, But let me
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consolidate them to you. Firstly, we need a mindset
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reset. In our reformed tradition, we
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have reverence for God, especially in our form of
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worship. Napa Chandana adding form of
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worship, not adding liturgy. We desire to exalt Him and not
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ourselves. We worship him rightly with our
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sons and our biblical hymns. Hymns.
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When we see an error in the way we do worship, we act
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fastidiously to get things right and we want to correct our
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doctrines. But if we do not have the right
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attitude in our hearts, then we are missing the point.
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The question that we should ask ourselves is that do we fear
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God? Do we fear God now?
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I said that we should reset our mind instead and not change our
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mind because we already have the mindset.
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Apple, we are following the right forms of worship.
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Okay? Nothing away is that our form of
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worship must be aligned with our hearts so that it's not only the
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form but also the the substance. So This is why while our worship
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may reflect the form of evidence, we may not have the
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expressed desire to leave carefully for him to live in
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awe, that is, He is a consuming fire that He is not
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domesticated. So may our form of worship in
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our hearts be right. Secondly, Magkapatid, we must
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humble ourselves because we are selfish.
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We are more concerned with the injustices that is done by this
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life to us, our oppression, our seasons of life, our
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disappointments in work and in our relationships.
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But how about the injustices that we have committed against
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God in the past, preaching that we had in the book of
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Ecclesiastes? What resonated in us is that
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life is unjust, but this preaching must resonate with us
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as well. And what he says is that we have
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become unjust to God as well because we have domesticated
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him. And so do we acknowledge that we
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do not fear God in the way that we should fear him.
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Because communal Ginagawa Nathan all along.
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That is a very big vanity that we are more concerned about
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ourselves than our God. And perhaps we feel the
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displeasure of God today, and perhaps we are experiencing the
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leanness of the soul. And if that is the case in us,
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then Matt, then what must we do? Thirdly, we need a greater
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resolve. Verse one said that people did
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not even consider it evil that they have dishonoured God.
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So now apartheid. If you know in yourself that you
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have this honoured God, then get right with Him.
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If you have vowed to live righteously, then pursue
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righteousness. Some of us may be in the deep
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sin right now, but let's remember that we can never get
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too far in sin. Kait Nagano Bakalim, you seen
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attacking Assad Lakhan, we can still turn to God and repent and
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he will still forgive us. Or perhaps we are at odds with
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each other, Meron dito Papansinan or makaway.
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Then what we should do? We should reconcile with each
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other. We must forgive a container
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company. We should ask for forgiveness
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because after all, we are all part of the body of Christ and
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perhaps we are experiencing the leanness of the soul because we
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have been this honouring God all along.
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But God is gracious even now to call us to repentance.
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So the question is, why should we not repent?
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If God is calling us to repent, then we should repent.
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And 4th. And lastly, let us never forget
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what Christ has done. Dearly beloved, God is not a
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domesticated God. I think I've already stressed
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that sufficiently in this preaching.
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He is a fearsome God, and that's why we serve Him acceptably with
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reverence and a godly fear, because He is a consuming fire.
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But even though God is consuming fire, that fire does not come
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upon us to destroy us today. And that is because Christ has
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already faced that fire for us. He has gone before us with His
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blood into the temple of God, holy and just to represent us.
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He has fulfilled all of His vows before God and that's why we do
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not come to the mountain of God that is darkened with fire and
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loud thunderings, but Christ has harsh those thunderings for us.
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Instead, we have come to Mount Zion, We have come to the city
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of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem where Christ
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and all of his angels are, where the souls of men have been made
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perfect. So brothers and sisters, we are
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privileged. We are privileged to be loved by
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God. And while He does not destroy us
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with His fire, He may be purging you right now to purify you.
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And why indiscipline at Manchester Wiseman?
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It is so that we can live as one of those whose souls have been
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cleansed. So if you are weary and tired
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because life is messy on earth and you have been cumbered with
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much sin, and you think to yourself, how can I?
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How can God upset me? If you think that I've broken so
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many laws, I've broken so many promises of God that I've made
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to Him. If you think that you are so
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dirty and so weak and unfaithful to God, if you think that you
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have focused so much on the injustices done to you rather
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than how you have committed injustice to God, then remember
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this. In Hebrews 12/3 it is said,
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Consider Him that endured such opposition from sinners against
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himself, so that you won't be wearied and faint in your
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hearts, because Christ was faithful for us, so that we may
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not be wary, that we may not be rash, hasty, or fame.
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So let us all be faithful. Let's all go to the Lord in
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prayer, our merciful God, who is pleased to condescend to speak
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to us through Your Word. Grant us all Your grace, that we
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may not be mere hearers of Your Word only, but doors as well.
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Peace. Give us the grace of your Holy
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Spirit that we may believe what we have been proclaimed, what
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has been proclaimed to us. May we bring glory and honour to
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Your name in all that we do as you conform us to the image of
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Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. All of this gracious Father, we
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ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.