The Reverence of God | Ps Luke Harrison

I'm excited to be bringing the word

today. We just finished the series last

week called get wisdom. It was a great

series

where we applied biblical wisdom to our

lives and we started off that series

rooted out of

Proverbs 1:7. And Proverbs 1:7 said that

Proverbs 1:7 Proverbs 1:7

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of

wisdom. But we agreed as we communicated

together

and you changed and you agreed with me

while I was preaching and shifted your

body language. I could just tell that

you agreed with me. You agreed with me

that the word fear so often we

misinterpret in our English language and

we agreed that it's a better to to

translate the word to the word

reverence. And therefore when we stick

the word reverence into that scripture

that it's the the reverence of God which

is the beginning of wisdom. Well, I

thought we should bookend the series

with trying to encapsulate the reverence

of God

and how we ought to live from that

position.

And so that's what we're going to do.

I'm going to be honest. Um

I could be preaching for the next 6

hours, for 365 days on this topic and

still not cover an inch.

But hear my heart.

Everybody's laughing cuz I say that

often.

Here's an important part.

It's going to require us to shift

hearts.

It's going to require us to have hearts

that maybe were once calloused over

because of hurt and pain to go Lord, I'm

willing to have a softened heart to

encounter and experience you in a new

manner. It's going to require us to do

something different. It's going to

require moments of of discomfort to

encounter what God wants to speak to us

about.

You see friends, I've been mulling over

a verse for a while

and it's in Matthew 7:21.

Matthew 7:21

It says this.

It says not everyone says to me, "Lord,

Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but the one who does the will of my

father who is in heaven. On that day

many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we

not prophesy in your name and cast out

demons in your name and do many mighty

works in your name?' And then will I

declare to them, 'I never knew you.

Depart from me, you workers

of lawlessness.'

This message is not about condemnation.

I'm not trying to condemn anybody's

relationship. What I'm praying that will

happen today is that Holy Spirit will

convict your heart to change your

heart's position to posture of pursuing

who he truly is.

As your pastor, my heart I would I I

would couldn't bear the thought of you

standing in front of King Jesus one day

and go, "But my pastors didn't tell me

the truth."

And I'm going to be honest, I I I

wrestle with that idea and concept.

There there's a burden on true

pastorship where where we go, we have

been called to lead a congregation to do

one thing ultimately. So, when you land

in front of our king, which we all will

do, whether we like it or not, that

he'll welcome you into heaven and into

eternity and saying, "I know who you are

and I know you intimately." And so, my

heart's posture this morning is for you

to encounter him, that we would stoke a

fire that you've never had before.

Whether you've been saved for 40 years,

4 years, 4 days, or 4 hours because you

came to the previous service, my heart

is this,

that you'd encounter him in a new

manner.

That old manner won't be enough,

but you'd wake up daily desiring an

encounter with our God.

Spurgeon says this. He says, "The

highest science, the loftiest

speculation, the mightiest philosophy

which can ever engage the attention of a

child of God is the name,

the nature, the person, the work, the

doings, and the existence of the great

God."

And so my prayer is this,

that today is the start of a stoking

of a desire to know more about the

majesty and wonder of God.

Not safe Christianity where we stay in

our seats and our pews, and we confined

to the understanding of who God is

within the context of a Sunday, but

rather a faith-filled belief that we get

to serve a God who is so much greater

than we'll ever understand, but because

of his grace and his love,

he's willing to pry open the windows of

heaven so we could get a glimpse of who

he is.

I wonder what's in store for us one day

when we get to experience it all.

As I mentioned, the message today is

going to be slightly different.

Cuz it'll be hard for me to encapsulate

the reverence of God, the majesty, the

wonder of God in 25 minutes.

But what we're going to need to do, all

of us, is make a decision in this moment

that we would allow Holy Spirit to speak

to us.

That we'd understand that this is a

living, breathing document that as the

word of God is spoken over your lives,

that it would do a work in your heart,

but we need to make a acknowledgement

and a decision that that's going to

happen today.

So, the definition of insanity is this.

I use this quite often,

but I like it.

Cuz the definition of insanity says,

"Insanity is doing the same thing over

and over and over and expecting a

different result."

Practically what that looks like for us

on a Sunday

is showing up over and Sunday in, Sunday

out, Sunday in. We walk in, we hear a

word of God,

we walk out,

and nothing changes in our life.

And we've left just having a better

intellectual understanding of who our

God is and what he's called us to, but

we've not allowed the word to soften our

heart and then apply it to it.

Listen, the one I I just need everybody

to I get this one sense from me.

This is no condemnation.

Th- Th- This is an ongoing ongoing for

everybody. Anybody that stands on the

platform here and tells you anything

else, it it we are all being sanctified

continuously. It's an ongoing decision.

And I'll speak about it, but it's going

to require us to do something different.

So, I'm going to ask everybody to stand.

Because what we're doing in standing and

opening our arms is this.

It's a physical representation of an

inward decision. You are telling your

brain that you're making a decision

today to lean into the word of God and

do something different.

So, would we do something different?

Would you open up your hands? We're

going to receive the word of God.

I believe that God's going to speak to

us all individually for where we're at.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

You see every heart and you see every

hand, Lord.

Lord, I pray whether we've been saved

for 40 years, 4 years, 4 days, 4 hours,

40 seconds. Maybe during worship you've

encountered someone. Lord, that our

hearts would be open to your word.

Lord, that whether there's hurt, pain,

confusion, things within our week this

week that are trying to stop us from

focusing on what it is that you're

calling us to today. Lord, I pray that

our attention will focus directly on you

and your word. That people won't see

Luke and the funny mustache,

but they'll hear the word of God being

preached. And that the word of God would

go out and it won't return void, but it

will break chains and restore hearts.

But Jesus, ultimately,

that people will come into right

standing with you this morning. And all

God's people said, "Amen." All righty.

Let's get into the word of God.

Me, too.

I have been mulling over this topic for

probably the last 6 to 8 months.

If I've got to be honest, I've been

having a sense then that as the global

church, the capital C church, as

Christians, if I've got to be honest,

we've started to lose reverence of who

our God is.

And I love the fact that we get to call

him Abba Father.

And that we get to call him friend.

And that we get to call him our helper

and our provider. But friend, Hebrews

Hebrews 12:29

12:29 says that our God is a consuming

fire. So, I wonder what we're missing

out because of familiarity. And part of

this diving into the idea of the

reverence of God, I've been in and out

of the book of Revelation. The book of

Revelation is Christ's revelation to

John. John being one of the apostles,

is exiled on an island, Patmos.

And what's happening there, scholars

will tell us

that the majority of all the apostles

are now dead. They've been martyred

for the way, for following Christ.

But this letter,

this book serves as a reminder to the

church to stay faithful amidst the chaos

of the world around them.

To understand that our God has overcome

the world and so

a piece of scripture I've been diving

into, if you've got your Bible, is

Revelation 4

1 to 11.

And I'm going to read it for us.

A snippet.

A mere look at a peek into the throne

room that we get access to.

Just a a sneak peek.

Revelation 4:1 says this, "After this, I

Revelation 4:1

looked and behold a door standing open

in heaven. And the first voice which I

had heard speaking to me like a trumpet

said, 'Come up here and I will show you

what must take place after this.' At

once I was in the spirit and behold a

throne stood in heaven with one seated

on the throne and he, listen, and he who

sat there had the appearance of jasper

and carnelian and around the throne was

a rainbow that had the appearance of an

emerald. He who sat there

The imagery is of a victorious king.

No king is found seated during war.

It's only a king who has overcome who

could take the seated position and so

we're getting this view that our God has

overcome and it gives you a sneak peek

that no matter what's going on in your

life, you're serving and worshiping a

king who is seated.

Bible goes on to say this,

"Around the throne were 24 thrones and

seated on the thrones were 24 elders

clothed in white garments with golden

crowns on their heads. From the throne

came flashes of lightning and rumblings

and peals of thunder and before the

throne were seven torches of fire which

are the seven spirits of God." Man,

there's so much in here. I'd encourage

you as well to go read Exodus 34:29

Exodus 34:29

about how Moses receives the law and the

tabernacles and anyway, do yourself a

favor, read the Bible. It's exciting.

Uh

and before the throne there was as if it

were sea of glass like crystal around

the throne on each side of the throne

are four living creatures full of eyes

in front and behind. The first living

creature like a lion, the second living

creature

not yet.

Um

with the face uh of a man and the fourth

living creature like an eagle in flight

and the four living creatures each of

them with six wings are full of eyes all

around them within and day and night

they never cease to say listen, they see

him and say holy, holy, holy is the Lord

God almighty who was and is and is to

come and whenever the living creatures

give glory and honor and thanks to him

who is seated on the throne who lives

forever and ever the 24 elders listen,

fall down. They are compelled. They fall

down before him who is seated on the

throne and worship him who lives forever

and ever.

They cast their crowns before the throne

saying worthy are you our Lord and God

to receive glory and honor and power for

you created all things. By your will

they existed and were created. I keep

coming back to this

piece of scripture cuz it leads me,

draws me in continuously to question

myself. If angels and elders are

surrounded of the throne day and night

and their only response every time they

see him all day and all night is to fall

down and cast their crowns before him.

What am I missing out on?

You see a life lived in reverence

towards God helps others get a glimpse

of his majesty and wonder. In Exodus

Exodus 34:29

34:29 as I mentioned to you, Moses comes

down after doing what? After spending 40

days and 40 nights with God.

And he comes down with his face shining.

And behold the Israelites could not look

at him cuz they could not stand the

majesty and the wonder of God. And so he

has to put a veil over his face. But

because of Christ

2 Corinthians 12:18 says this.

2 Corinthians 12:18

It sums up to say that because of

Christ, we are now able with what? With

open face

to gaze upon the glory of the Lord.

And his glory is not kept away from us.

We don't have to shy away from the

light, but rather allow his glory to

transform us from within.

When we spend time with God and behold

him, we are transformed from glory to

glory.

What I'd love to do

is give you insight into three key

themes that I've been looking into.

That I pray you would go home and again,

not allow just to leave today, but would

start to transform the way that you

approach our God. Here's the first

thing. Reverence of God, listen, compels

us to a greater desire to know him.

I said on a Sunday, we can come in and

we can hear messages and we can read

Bible.

My question to us is when we encounter

God, do we encounter him intellectually?

Or do we encounter him relationally and

spiritually?

Reverence of God forces us, compels us,

that the more we know him relationally,

listen, the more we want to know him

relationally. That the more we get

insight into who he is, we are compelled

to want to get more

insight into who he is.

Spurgeon says this, he says, "When we

see God as he is, we shall admire him as

we ought.

A verse I've been wrestling with, I've

been wrestling with a few of them

recently.

In the context of church and pastoring

and my own faith is Revelation 2:4, a

Revelation 2:4

letter to the church of Ephesus.

And Jesus writes this, "I know your

works, your toil, your patient

endurance, and how you cannot bear with

those who are evil, but have tested

those who call themselves apostles and

are not and found them to be false. I

know you are enduring patiently and

bearing up for my name's sake and have

not grown weary." Sounds great.

Look how good you're doing as

Christians.

Look who Look at you telling everybody

about Jesus.

Look, you're doing all the great works.

Look, great Christians.

But Jesus goes on and says, "But I have

this against you,

that you have abandoned the love you had

at first."

Man, do I wrestle with that verse.

Cuz as a pastor, I've shared this

before, it's easy for me to pick up my

Bible and think about what great verse I

could share with people on a Sunday.

And he goes, "Luke, that's all good and

well.

Don't abandon your first true love."

And so, reverence of God compels us

to a greater desire to know him. Here's

a second thing.

Reverence of God compels us to obedience

and surrender.

This is a tough one for us. I'm going to

be honest.

Like if we've got to look at each other

face to face, we're like,

"Yeah, maybe I do know who God is.

But obedience and surrender?

Like that's not always fun. Like let's

be honest.

For those that don't know, uh this is

not what I do full-time.

I work.

So, pastoring

is not always fun.

I do love you, I promise.

But, sometimes

the easiest decision's not to do this.

There's a

piece of scripture in Acts 1

uh

Let me get it right. Acts 9:1-9.

Acts 9:1–9

We won't have time to read it, but Paul

has been going around persecuting

Christians.

Killing them.

Holding cloaks while people are getting

stoned.

That stage, his name is Saul.

Saul's on the road to Damascus.

You can go read it. I promise you.

He's on the road to Damascus.

And he's encountered by the majesty of

Christ.

In a bright light, Christ encounter him,

and Paul's trajectory in life changes

forever.

The epistles go on to tell us

that Paul makes one hard decision after

another. The willingness to be

persecuted for the way. Why?

Cuz he got a glimpse into the majesty of

who our God is.

It's not because it was easy.

You listen to what Paul goes through.

Stoning and shipwreck and almost dying

multiple times, locked up in prison. The

willingness to do that. Why?

Cuz he felt like it?

Cuz he got a glimpse

into the wonder of who our God is.

And was compelled

to a position of surrender and

obedience.

I wonder what that looks like for us on

a Sunday.

What's the reverence of God compelling

you to today?

Might not always be the easy thing.

Is it the willingness of discomfort to

start serving? Is it the the willingness

to uh approach and face your pain and

your hurt and your past struggles and

find restoration? Is it the willingness

to break chains and break addictions?

The reverence of God compels us to

surrender in obedience.

Have the team come up.

I wrote this and I wasn't going to read

this

but I just felt now that I should.

The peace of God

becomes real

when we understand who offers it.

It's easy to pray for the peace of God

when we misinterpret who actually is on

offer.

Imagine what our lens of peace might

look like if we actually truly

understood who the God is that offers

it.

The God seated on the throne victorious

where the earth is but his footstool.

The reverence of God compels us

to surrender in obedience.

Here's my final point.

The reverence of God compels us to a

life of worship.

The reverence of God compels us

to a life of worship.

Not an act of worship.

Not a Sunday I walk in and get my

20-minute fill kind of worship.

But a life willing to understand that

everything I do is for the glory of our

God.

Revelation 4:8-11 describes how the

Revelation 4:8–11

elders are compelled in his presence to

bow down and worship him.

An understanding of who our God is will

compel us to a moment of worship.

I mean a life of worship.

The opposite of what I said.

A life of worship calls us to pray

through our pain.

To worship through our worry.

To magnify through our mourning because

you see reverence leads to worship.

And worship calls us to abide in him.

And abiding in him causes us to trust.

And where there's trust we can have

peace.

But it starts with a position of

worship.

Worship

leads to abiding.

And abiding to trust.

Trust to peace and peace to a life lived

in the fullness of your calling.

In Luke 19

Bible tells us that Jesus comes riding

on the back of a donkey into Jerusalem.

It says that the people all around him

worshiping and praising. [music]

And the Pharisees

who are missing the glory and majesty

and wonder of that moment turn to

Christ.

And they say to him, "Hey!

Tell them to stop."

And I love Jesus' response.

Cuz not only is it a response, but it's

a challenge to all of us.

Jesus in Luke 19:40 says, "And he

Luke 19:40

answered,

I tell you if these were silent."

Talking about the people around him.

"The very stones would cry out."

Friends, I don't know about you, but I

won't be out

out done by an in animate in animate

object. An animate object.

Reverence compels [music] us

to a life of worship.

This message is not about one

and not just about behavior

modification.

This is not just about six tips to go

home tomorrow to create a strong

relationship.

This is about drawing

us into a greater all and wonder of who

our God is.

But a 25-minute message is probably not

going to just do it by itself.

It'll require us

to have moments of discomfort.

Moments of not always understanding.

Moments of yearning and pursuing.

And taking ownership.

Cuz I believe that as a church

as a people

revival will come

when it comes through us first.

We can enter the throne room of grace so

confidently and boldly. We all like that

verse.

For God and be honest, sometimes I feel

like and I'm I'm putting my hand up

here. I'm This is like I said, this is

no condemnation. This is all of us,

friends.

We enter the throne room of grace

and we view his majesty not to praise,

but to ask.

Lord, you are great, but can you?

Lord, I worship you, but would you?

Lord, I magnify, but can you?

Instead of starting from a position

of reverence

and saying, "Despite everything that's

going on around me,

and Lord, I might not understand what's

happening,

but I know that you're a good God."

Friend, the message is

ultimately super simple.

Would we all return

to the love we had at first?

I draw your mind back to the moment when

you encountered Christ for the first

time.

The moment when you walked into a church

or into a room

feeling the weight of the world and of

your past,

and felt the freedom of the acceptance

of his love and his mercy. Friend, I

draw you back to the joy of your

salvation.

Not because of anything you did in that

moment,

but because of the majesty and the

wonder and the glory of our God. The

Bible says, "For the joy set before him

For the joy

For the joy set before him,

he would endure the cross

knowing full well the pain and the hurt

and the suffering he would go in." But

the Bible says, "For the joy set before

him," which was you, friend.

He walked through those streets battered

and bruised carrying the cross, but had

one vision in mind, and it was your

face.

An acknowledgement that

you've got an opportunity to spend

eternity [music] with him.

A reverence starts surrender, friends.

And that's what I want to give people an

opportunity.

Opportunity of surrender.

Saying, "Lord, I can't do this in my own

strength,

but I need you."

So, with every head bowed and eye

closed,

no one looking around,

is an opportunity to come into right

standing with Jesus this morning.

Whether you've done this for

before,

or this might be the first time.

If you're saying, "Lord, uh Luke, I I I

need access to what you're talking

about." Friends, it's really simple.

Would you

>> [music]

>> surrender your life to King Jesus? If

that's you, you want to say yes to Jesus

either for the first time, [music]

or you know in your heart that you've

walked away from him, and you need to

recommit your life to the Lord today.

Would [music] you say yes? On the count

of three, one. Friend, have the courage

to say yes to him today.

Two, for the joy set before him, he

endured the cross, and that joy was you.

This moment he had in mind. Three,

>> [music]

>> if that's you, would you be bold enough?

Hands up, going in the back already.

Bold enough

to say yes to Jesus? You're not raising

your hand to me.

You're raising it to King Jesus.

An outward posture of what's happening

internal.

Reverence starts with surrender.

Anybody else [music] want to say yes to

Jesus today?

Another hand up here. Anybody else?

>> [applause]

>> Another hand in the middle. Friends, I

will wait.

Another hand over here.

Life of reverence starts with surrender.

Anybody else want to say yes to Jesus

today.

Then as a church family we're going to

say this prayer out loud whether you've

raised your hand

>> [music]

>> or not, but you know in your heart you

want to say yes to Jesus today then

friend repeat this prayer after me and

as a church we're going to pray it with

you. [music] Say, "Dear Lord Jesus

thank you

for dying on the cross for me.

Thank you for the forgiveness of sins.

Thank you that I'm now a new creation.

Jesus [music]

I pray

would you reveal yourself to me

in a new manner."

And all God's people said

Amen.