What happens when we see God

Welcome to this week's message from the Church of Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me this morning to Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

We're starting a new series.

God's Not Dead.

You believe that?

Let me hear a heart of you.

Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.

How many of you are Alabama fans?

Okay?

All right?

You don't like football.

That's okay.

You're a volleyball fan, though.

Yeah.

Okay, see?

So we all usually have.

But anyway, at the very beginning.

I know what now wait uh War Eagle, wait a minute.

War Eagle didn't play yesterday.

Come on, give me a break, huh?

They did.

They played Thursday.

And they they played like Alabama did at the very beginning.

Yeah.

In fact, I was about ready to disown them both.

But then they always came back.

And and War uh thank you, Granny.

All you Auburn fans.

How many Auburn fans do we have?

Oh, not bad.

Not bad.

Well, here's what we're gonna do.

This is gonna be exciting.

What?

Oh no.

You don't even know what I'm gonna say.

Friend Day, okay?

Friend day's first Sunday in November.

Mark that down because everybody's gonna bring a friend.

Okay?

Everybody.

You gotta bring a friend.

And if you bring a friend, you get a gift.

We're gonna have t-shirts that day.

And the t-shirts is gonna say C C W and Jesus is awesome.

Well, everybody's been wanting a Jesus Awesome t-shirt.

We're gonna get them.

But you gotta come yourself and bring a friend.

And you get a shirt and they get a shirt.

So it's gonna be a great day.

But here's what we're gonna do.

You know what we're gonna do that day?

If the weather permits, the pavilion will be up because we have met.

I think I told you we met with the uh master planner.

We got the master plan, and hopefully uh I'll be checking with Wade this week.

They're supposed to be staking off the pavilion so we can get the pavilion put up.

It's gonna be about 110 by 50 by 14.

It's gonna be a big pavilion.

Plan to build a stage on one end of it to and just it's gonna be nice so we can get out there and really start using it, do concerts, do preaching, and hopefully our first service will be friend day, if weather permits, on that first Sunday in November.

Here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna do a big tailgate party.

Oh, yeah.

We're gonna bring the trucks out there, whatever, whatever, your Ta host.

We're gonna br and what we're gonna do, we we did this one time at Chattanooga when we're up there.

You wear your jersey.

Whatever teams, your team, you wear your jersey.

Chelsea High, maybe.

Whatever, whatever your team is, Georgia.

Okay?

And she graduated University of Georgia.

Uh, whatever your team is, okay?

Now, mine, I'll go ahead and tell you what my jersey's gonna be.

Jesus is awesome.

That's just gonna be my jersey, okay?

That's what it's gonna be, because I'm politically correct.

All right, roll tight on the back.

Listen, uh no, no, no.

I'm for both.

I pull for both until they play each other, and I live with a wife that graduated from Alabama, so you know who I have to pull for.

Mama ain't happy, I'm not happy.

So uh nobody's happy.

That's right.

But but anyway, so I want you to get excited, be talking it up.

We'll have some little friend cards for you to give out.

But anyway, we're gonna do a big tailgate party.

And what we're gonna do that day, what we're gonna do, you're gonna fix food at your truck, okay?

You're gonna decorate your truck, okay?

It's gonna be cool.

And then whoever has the best decoration gets a nice prize.

And whoever has the best food gets a nice prize that day.

Okay?

So now the church won't be fixing that day.

Everybody'll be fixing their own chili, their own little dish, whatever you like the best.

Okay, whatever you like the best.

Now, the tasting judge will be clear.

I'm gonna get, I'll get me two others.

I'll get me two others to help me.

There'll be three of us judging, and it just depends on however much I get paid.

The other two can become the judge.

So anyway, it's rigged from the start.

No, it won't.

But I will, I will pick two, I will pick two other people to judge with me.

And maybe Granny will.

Yeah, but Granny's a picky eater.

She's really a picky eater.

But if you give me a chocolate pie that day, you can be a judge.

So I can be bought very easily, amen.

So I thought you'd enjoy that.

It's gonna be a great day if it's uh now if it's raining, we'll be back in here.

But hopefully everything will be that'll be our next big day out on the uh property.

So that'll be exciting.

That could really turn into an annual great thing.

And whoever you invite that day, if they have a team, just tell them to wear their jersey.

Uh we'll have all kinds of jerseys that day, and it'll be exciting.

It really will.

Well, God's not dead.

Amen.

You believe that this morning?

God's not dead.

And when God laid this on my heart, I thought to myself, because God's not dead, you and I, you and I together can see God work through our lives.

But in order to see God work through our lives, first of all, we gotta see God.

Amen?

We've got to see God.

We've got to sense God, and then we have to serve God.

And those are the three things in Isaiah chapter 6 that transpired with Isaiah.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

He saw God, he sensed God, and then he served God in those first eight verses of Isaiah.

And that's where most people stop.

But as I began to work on this message for this beginning series, God took me to the end of Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

A lot of us are familiar with the first eight verses, but nine through 13 are powerful because it deals with the nation Israel rejecting God, not seeing God, not sensing God, and definitely instead of serving God, they literally turned on God.

And what I mean by that, they just totally didn't believe in God.

And there's a cycle here today that's unbelievable.

And this cycle is where I've seen America and many of us go through the same cycle.

In fact, what we see here in the first eight verses, Isaiah sees God clearly and it changes him.

But in the last verses, those last four verses, the nation Judah does not see God at all and ends up becoming rebellious, reckless, and ultimately ruined.

So, let's look at verses 9 through 13 to start with.

Two things today.

Number one, what happens when we see God's the title of the message?

But under that, number one, why, or what happens do we, hey, when we do not see God, or why do we fail to see God clearly?

Why do we fail to see God clearly?

Well, number A, in your outline.

Number one, rebellion.

We are rebellious against God.

We are rebellious against God.

I gave you a definition.

Sin, what is really sin?

There's a hundred definitions I researched, but this is the one that I felt is so powerful and so life-changing.

And notice in your outline, sin is willful, willful disobedience to the known will of God.

In other words, you totally disobey what you know God has told you to do.

That is sin.

James 4, 17.

He that knoweth to do good and doeth it to not doeth it not, what?

To him it is sin.

That is willful disobedience to the known will of God.

That's sin.

Wow.

Wow.

Yes, that's sin.

That's exactly what rebellion really is.

And there is a cycle to this rebellion.

But first of all, I want to show you really the definition of rebellion.

Look at first of all, and boy, this is powerful.

Isaiah 65, verse 2, and look at what it says.

Isaiah 65:2

Isaiah 65, verse 2, and he talks about walking after their own.

Isaiah 65:2

Boy, this is good.

We notice what he says.

I have spread out my hands all day unto a rebellious people, which walks in a way that was not good after their own thoughts.

In other words, rebellion is walking in your way, walking in what you want instead of what God wants for you.

If you understand that, say amen.

That's pretty simple, isn't it?

That's rebellion.

Now, I'm not going to ask us, but I probably could ask who has been rebellious this week.

And most of us probably would have to raise our hand.

Okay?

Amen.

Because we know, for example, we're supposed to have our quiet time.

We know we're supposed to do what's right.

And we know we're supposed to pray.

We know we're supposed to witness.

And probably some of us didn't do that this week.

But we know to do that, but we don't do it.

What is that?

What is that?

Rebellion.

Say it with me.

Rebellion.

Rebelling against what God tells us to do.

Now the second thing.

Not only walking in our own way, but look at Isaiah 30, verse 1.

Isaiah 30:1

And here's what it says.

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that takes counsel, but not of me.

Uh-oh.

And that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin.

In other words, what they do is they take counsel from the ungodly, they take counsel from the world, they take counsel from non-Christians, they take counsel from humanistic philosophies instead of God's word.

Hello.

And what happens is then it adds sin to their sin.

That's it.

And here's the thing.

And yeah, and covering.

And not only that, then we try to cover it up.

Hello?

Notice the third thing about rebellion.

Psalm 68, verse 6.

Psalms 68:6

Now here's where it really gets good.

Well, it really gets tough.

God setteth the solitary in families.

He bringeth out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Now let me tell you what that means.

You don't see God.

You don't sense God.

You don't see God in his person.

You don't see God in his power, and you don't see God in his protection.

Because it's dry.

You're in a desert.

In the wilderness.

Like Moses was.

Wow.

Wow.

So you wonder why you feel the way you feel.

You wonder why you feel like I've heard people hundreds of times say, I just don't feel God, or I don't sense God, or I don't even think God's here.

Well, there may be a good reason for that.

You've been rebellious.

I've been rebellious.

Amen.

Now that's God talking.

That's not me talking.

Now, hey, wait, wait, wait.

There's another one about rebellion.

Exodus 33, 3.

Listen to what God says about the rebellious.

He says unto a land flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way.

Because you are rebellious, you are, hey, rejecting everything that I am and what I say, I'm not even going to come in the midst of you, or if I do, I will destroy you.

Wow.

No wonder it's a dry land.

Amen.

No wonder it's a dry land.

Ladies and gentlemen, if I didn't sense God every day, if I didn't see God through the Word of God every day, if I didn't feel his presence, if I didn't see His power working in our lives and your life and my life and my family's life, that would be a very dry place.

For every one of you that has prayers answered this week, that's because God's not dead.

God is alive, and he's answering and moving in your life, in our church life.

Look at what he's done in this church in two years.

Phenomenal.

It's a God.

There's a God.

So the Bible very clearly says in Psalm 66, 18 if I regard iniquity, stubbornness, stiff-neckedness, rebellion in my heart, what does it say?

God will not hear me.

That's a lonely, dry place to be.

Now I want to show you a cycle.

This is powerful.

This is unbelievable.

The cycle that I followed through the Old Testament and even into the New Testament of God's people, Judah, Israel.

Here's the cycle.

Number one.

Number one is the cycle is recklessness in heart.

They're reckless.

Is that in your outline?

It may not be.

Where?

It's on there though.

Good.

Okay, good.

Recklessness.

You start out reckless.

In other words, here's how you know if you've got ideas or or inclinations of a reckless heart.

You're not grateful.

You're not grateful.

You're not thankful.

You're not appreciative.

Hey, it's all about you and not about anyone else or about him.

That's recklessness.

Notice then what happens next.

You go from reckless heart to a rebellious heart.

A hardened, stiff-necked people, willfully disobedient.

And if you're willing and obedient, he says you shall eat the good of the land, Isaiah 1.19.

But verse 20 says, if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

And then it goes from reckless heart to a rebellious heart.

And then thirdly, a ruined heart.

I mean, we're ruined spiritually, morally.

I mean, there's just, hey, hey, there's just nothing godly about us.

In other words, we kick God out of everything.

Where do you think we're close in America?

We're right close to that step right now, folks.

We've been reckless, we've kicked God out.

We've looked, hey, we took God out of our school.

We took the Bible out of everything.

We started saying that abortion's okay, homosexuality, all the things that are totally rejected by God, we've accepted.

We said, good is evil and evil is good.

But guess what?

That's not a new thing.

If you go back to Isaiah five, six times, we see that.

Isaiah is saying, Woe is you, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you.

But when he comes into the presence of God and he sees him hand lifted up, he says, Woe is me.

Woe is me.

So we see this reckless heart.

We see this rebellious heart.

Then we see the ruin.

You are, hey, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.

But when the wicked bear through, the people mourn.

We're getting close.

But thank God God's not dead.

God's not dead.

And God's gonna do it again.

And Satan can't stop it as much as he tries.

But then notice the fourth thing.

There's repentance.

Here's what would happen to the nation of Israel every time.

They would be reckless, they would rebel, they would be ruined, sought, hey, destroyed, put into captivity.

But then they will repent.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful.

And just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, hallelujah! True repentance, and then it would come next from true repentance to restoration.

Restoration.

And then restoration is being revived again.

Psalms 85, 6.

Will you not revive us again, O Lord, that we may rejoice in you?

Can I get an amen?

Is that what we need to pray for America?

Absolutely.

Isaiah 85, I'm in Psalms 85, verse 5.

Psalms 85:5

Will thou not revive us again, O Lord?

So there's a cycle.

Reckless, rebellious, ruined.

Repentance, restoration, revive.

So that is where we watch the nation Israel go time and time again.

And I'm afraid America's real close to ruined.

Very close.

If not there, we know we're rebellious.

Can I get an amen?

But that's where we're headed.

If we don't what?

Repent.

Amen.

That's why we pray that God will revive us again.

So why do we not see God?

Why?

Number one, because we're rebellious against God.

Number two, why we do not receive God is because we do not receive the potential of God because we try to put God in a box.

We try to put God in a box.

And guess what?

We try to put God in our box.

What do you mean by that?

I'll give you a couple of examples.

But I mean that we want God to be in our box to do it our way.

Hello.

Amen.

We're all guilty of that.

But I've got, and by the way, when that happens, the problem with that is we limit God.

See, we think we're helping God, but in reality, we're limiting God when we put him in our box.

And I got good news for you.

God's bigger than any one of our boxes.

Amen.

Now let me give you a good example.

You'll see it on the screen.

Turn with me to 2 Kings 5.

Oh, this is good.

Remember Naaman?

Naaman was a great four, five-star general over the whole Syrian army.

Okay?

But one, he was an honorable man.

Verse 1 says he's a very honorable man.

I mean, he was honored and exalted.

He was a fair man.

He was a just man.

There was one problem with Naaman.

He had leprosy.

He had leprosy.

But praise the Lord, there was a servant girl.

You know, God's always got a servant at the right place at the right time.

I remember David when he was going to have sin with Bathsheba and called Bathsheba to his chamber.

There was a servant.

We don't even know her or his name.

Probably a he.

His name.

And when he called for Bathsheba, the servant said to the king, I can't wait when I get to heaven.

I want to meet that servant.

He looked the king in the face and he said, Is that not Uriah's wife?

He called him out.

Well, this little servant.

This girl, we know this one was a female.

She stood up and she said, Naaman, there's a prophet in Judah.

There's a prophet in Judah.

This prophet can heal you.

You need to go see this prophet.

And sure enough, he decides he's going to go see the prophet.

And he gets gold and he gets silver to take, to give to the prophet.

I got, hey, I got news to you.

Listen to me.

You can't buy God.

Hello.

You can't buy God.

And I'm not saying that's what he was trying to do.

He was being jester, you know.

If I understand that, but that's still a good principle there.

So anyway, pick up the story in verse 9.

So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elijah, the prophet.

And Elijah sent a messenger unto him saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

Now what?

He came from a message.

He wanted a message.

He wanted, hey, the prophet to heal him.

Okay?

Is that not true?

Absolutely.

And guess what?

The prophet sends a servant to tell him to go duck himself in the Jordan seven times and he will be healed.

There's a problem here.

It didn't fix his box.

It didn't fit his box.

And so what happened?

He got mad.

Now God has just answered his prayer, and now he gets mad.

Why?

Because it didn't fit his box.

Hello?

Look what happens.

Look what happens.

Verse 11.

But Naaman was wrath.

Naaman was mad.

Uh-oh.

Why was he mad?

God just answered his prayer.

God said, do this and I'll heal you.

Okay?

Here's why.

Hey.

Went away and said, Beho, I thought, uh oh.

What?

Ah.

Say this with me.

Ah.

Anytime there's a big ah, you're in trouble.

You got a big problem.

Anytime there's an I, it's your box.

Hello.

You okay with me, church?

Now look what he says.

I thought, can I tell you something?

It really doesn't matter what you think.

It's what God says that matters.

Can I get an amen?

It's not what you think, it's what God says.

Amen.

That's what matters.

Now look what he said.

Man, this is so good.

Well, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord, his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.

I thought my box is this is the way God ought to do it.

And then he even gets madder.

He said, Well, if that's all I had to do was go duck myself in the water, why in the world would I come up to this Jordan dirty water?

I could have stayed in Damascus.

Our water's a lot more clean.

Woo! Sound familiar?

Hello.

Well, God, I just God, I just know I know better than you.

You say, I would never say that.

Well, yes, you do.

When you disagree because he's not doing it your way, that's exactly what you're saying.

You know better than God.

That's what I'm saying.

I know better than God.

How foolish.

My grandmother wasn't in heaven listening, I'd say, how stupid.

But she'll get me.

I'm in trouble now.

Danny Boy, don't use that word.

Really?

Now watch.

Watch.

Watch.

Or not?

And he goes on, verse 12, all my rules, they're a lot better.

But I was not washing them if I could be clean.

So he turned and went away in a rage.

He almost missed what God had for him.

When you do it your way and you stay in your box, you can miss what God has for you, church.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Thank God that this church is God's church.

It's not what your pastor thinks, it's not what our council thinks, it's what God says that matters.

And then look what happened.

Verse 13.

And his servants came near.

The servants came again and spake unto him and said, My father, oh, very honorable.

If the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, would not thou have done it?

Woo! He's hitting him right where it hurts.

He's hitting him in his pride.

He was the honorable general.

I mean, I'm a man of importance.

I'm a man of position.

I'm a man of power.

The prophet ought at least come out here and pray for me himself.

I'm that important.

Now he didn't say that, but it sounds like it.

I believe he said it.

Amen.

Huh?

Is that not what he said?

It's one of these things.

Well, bless God.

Okay, you don't do it my way.

I'll take my ball and go home.

Well, just dribble on home.

Because you're going to miss what God's got for you.

You're going to miss it.

Amen?

You're going to miss it.

Pride God hates.

Can I get an amen?

Everyone that's proud in heart is an abomination unto God.

They will not go unpunished.

Woo.

But praise the Lord, the Holy Spirit used the servants to grab his heart.

And that old conviction, Holy Spirit, with that air of conviction hit him.

Woo! And we're going to see that in a few minutes.

Boom, changed his heart, and he says, I'll do it.

And then he goes down and he, hey, dips himself seven times, and the Bible says he comes up like, hey, and his skin is like a little baby.

Woo! Hallelujah.

You don't put God in your box.

Can I get an amen?

Peter almost did it in Luke 5.

Remember the story?

When God got in the boat and he had preached, he said, launch out a little bit.

I need to preach now after you got through preaching.

He said, Peter, launch out into the deep and let down your nets.

They'd fish all night and hadn't caught anything.

And in the middle of the day, you don't launch out in the deep to catch fish.

That's not the way you fish.

That's not, hey, that's not in my box.

I know I've got my box.

You do it early in the morning, where it's shallow, you throw your nets and you catch fish.

That's my box.

Now, Lord.

But he didn't do like Naaman.

He stopped a little close, almost.

But in verse 5, Luke 5, he says, but nevertheless, watch this.

At thy word, I will.

Woo! At thy word, I will.

And you know the rest of the story.

He had so many fish that tore the nets, filled three other boats.

Why?

God's bigger than your box.

What happens?

We stay in our box and we miss the big box.

Let that never happen to the CCW.

Let that never happen to you and me.

Man, I'm having this is good.

Are you with me?

Number three, we receive God through ourselves.

We receive God through ourselves is another reason why we fail to see God.

Why we fail to see God.

Now, what do you mean by that, preacher?

Well, verse 10 says, his heart, the heart was fat.

In other words, here's what I mean by that.

And by the way, let me give you, go back.

You need this one verse there in there, but I want to read one verse to you in that section.

Jeremy, go back to Romans 11.33.

They need to see this.

This is so powerful.

The depths, the riches, both of the wisdom, the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding out.

Ladies and gentlemen, God's bigger than our box.

Can I get an amen?

God's bigger than our box.

We can't figure him out.

We don't know how big our God.

With men, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.

Mark 10, 27.

God's bigger than our box.

But number three, what do you mean by that when we see God through ourselves?

All of us have personalities.

Amen.

Now, one of my degrees is in biblical counseling, so I went through all the kind of counseling programs and education.

And one of the things I love in even in the book that we wrote, Dr.

Towns, myself, and Dr.

Bork, when we're at Liberty, the Good Book of Leadership, we did personality test on the prophets, their personalities, their weaknesses, and their strengths, and those personality strengths.

We all have different personalities.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Thank the Lord we are different.

If I married somebody like me, I would have been dead a long time ago.

I promise.

But let me give you real quick, choleric.

What is a choleric?

Here's what a choleric is they see God strong, brave, and a warrior.

Their life verse is get them God.

The righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 28, verse 1.

Proverbs 28:1

Then you have the sanguine.

The sanguine is that life of the party.

Darren's a sanguine.

Happy, fruitful.

Their whole theme is a wonderful life.

Their favorite verse is John 10 10.

I've come to give you life and give it more abundantly.

They run through the fields just happy and singing the sound of music.

That's the sanguine.

Then we have the phlegmatic.

The phlegmatic.

He's patient and he's steady.

I mean, his life first is Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.

They don't waver.

They don't waver.

That's our voice.

And then, and then you have the melancholy.

Oh, here's the melancholy.

You'll love this.

Detail person.

David Wilson.

He's got a lot of choleric, too.

He's a choleric with that.

Now you imagine.

Oh my.

And I'm the choleric sanguine.

I'm determined, but I like to party too.

So I'm either real hot or real cold.

There's no in-between with me.

But now watch.

The melancholy.

He's a detailed person.

They see everything.

They even know in Matthew 10.

Hey, God says that He even knows every hair on your head.

And they know it because they've counted them.

Now, folks, can't you see how we need everybody?

We need each other.

That's why you can't go out there and go on it alone.

Because when you do, you are, hey, you are, what's the word?

Imbalance?

Unbalance?

What's the word?

Out of balance.

That's better.

You're out of balance.

You're out of balance.

Amen.

You with me?

Some of y'all look at me like I'm crazy.

No, that's true.

In fact, look at a verse.

1 Corinthians.

Where is it?

I put down 1 Corinthians 12, 12 through 14.

Look at what it says.

For as the body is one and hath many members, all different personalities.

And all the members of that one body bring many, are one body, so also is Christ.

For by one spirit, oh, we are all baptized into one body.

Whether we be Jews, Gentiles, doesn't matter what our races are, what color we are, we are bound.

We are, hey, whether we're free or not free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit, we need each other.

And then verse 14, for the body is not one member but many.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

That's it.

That's the sanguine.

Telling the melancholy to say amen.

That's it.

Which brings me, there's two things when we see God through our own selves, and just put it in.

We aren't balanced.

We aren't balanced without the body.

And number two, we are right and everyone else is wrong.

Exclusiveness.

When it's just us.

Now, can I say something?

Cholerics have a hard time if they're right or if they're successful in not thinking that they're always their way's the best way.

So if we didn't have the sanguine, the melancholy, and and and the phlegmatic, then we would, hey, it'd just be our way.

One of those guys is my way or the highway.

That's not the way God wants it.

No way.

God wants it in a loving way.

Amen.

He wants us to use our gifts and our personalities together for one purpose, one body, one goal, and that's his.

Can I get an amen?

Brings me to number four.

We don't see God because we see God through our parrots.

Many of us were raised in different ways.

And there's two types of parrots that you probably were brought up under.

Well, hopefully there's three, but usually two.

One is the judge.

The judge.

You know, you do this, I'm gonna you can't do this.

Can't, can't, can't, can't, can't.

It's like the policeman.

You ever had a policeman pull up behind you?

What's the first thing you do?

Hit the brakes.

Now I don't do that, but uh no, we all do that.

Why?

Whoa, I'm what's the first thing?

Oh no, I'm spinning, I'm gonna get a ticket.

It's not the, oh man, that policeman's behind me.

Thank God for policemen.

I love policemen.

They protect us, they're safety, they keep us out here, they're here when we need them.

Now, what how many of you think that?

No, nobody.

Hello.

What'd that do?

What'd that how fast once I got one?

Well, that's the kind of parrots we've been raised under.

Now the other is Santa Claus.

Santa Claus parrots.

You know what a Santa Claus parrot is?

They give you everything you want.

That's just as bad as the judge.

Hello?

But then you have the loving parrot.

And that loving parrot is Deuteronomy chapter 6, 6 through 9, where he loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, and all his mind.

Deuteronomy 6 · chapter mention

And he loves you with the same love.

And he teaches you the word of God when he sits down, when he gets up, when he walks by the way, when he lies down.

He exemplifies a Christ-likeness.

Amen.

But that's why we don't see God.

We see God as a judge and we see him as a Santa Claus.

We ain't gonna see God like that.

And then number five, we see God through the media.

Oh, Lord help us.

If you went to see Noah, that's the most ridiculous, unbiblical movie I've ever seen.

I should have walked out.

But thank God there are some movies now coming out.

God's Not Dead.

Hallelujah.

Uh Fireproof on the family from Sherwood Baptist Church.

And the recent one is uh, what was the recent one?

Uh face, well, facing the giants is not the recent one, but facing the giants.

God's Not Dead is the recent one.

Courageous for father.

Yes, yes.

So praise God.

We're seeing the trend start changing a little bit because that's a God.

But most of the media shows God as a weirdo, some out of space thing that really doesn't care.

How far fetched.

And then number six, we don't receive God because of our apathy, our complacency.

The Bible says the just shall live by faith.

Hebrews 10, 38.

I want you to see this.

Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draws back, in other words, quits following God, but if any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

In other words, God has no pleasure in rebellious people.

Can I get an amen?

None whatsoever.

None.

No pleasure.

Boy, what a what a pricking that gives to my heart.

Lord, I don't want to be, I don't want you not to be pleased with me.

I want you to be pleased with me.

So with that said, let's look at it.

So, what happens when we do see God?

Number two, here it is.

Man, this is good.

What happens when we see God clearly?

We just saw what happens when we see God unclearly.

Well, number one, look at verse one.

Oh, what a powerful, unbelievable situation.

Isaiah, we see, comes in to the temple.

But we see he comes in in a very confusing time.

Put down number one.

We see God clearly in the mass of confusion.

Wow.

Oh, yes.

Well, look, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isaiah had come into the place at that time.

Uzziah had reigned for 52 years.

Up until the last ten years of his life, he was a great king, a godly king, and the nation of Israel prospered greatly.

But the last 10 years he was judged.

And he was judged because he rebelled against God and went into the temple and tried to take on the position of a priest.

And because of that, God gave him leprosy.

And for the next, his last ten years he lived out secluded.

And so there was pandemonium in the in the kingdom.

There was all kind of guess what?

Recklessness.

There was all kind of rebellion, which you know led as we just saw them, as we read in those, we didn't read them out loud, but in verses 13 and 14, they were scattered abroad, they were cut down, they were taken captive because they rejected Isaiah's preaching and teaching.

In fact, verse 9, God told Isaiah, you're going to preach to your people, but they're not going to hear.

They're going to have heart, they're going to have eyes that can't see, they're going to have ears that can't hear, and they're going to have hearts that won't receive.

They're going to reject everything you say.

Now, that's a great calling, isn't it?

Pastor Danny, you're going to the church at CCW, they're not going to listen to you, they're not going to hear you.

They're not going to see the word of God.

They're not going to see the truth.

They're just going to totally reject everything you teach them.

I don't think I'd come.

I said, Well, fine, then let them have it.

But Isaiah said, I'll go.

I'll go.

But he took it in confusion.

And I thought to myself, Oh, is this not?

The reason Isaiah saw God, you may want to write this down, was because the throne was empty.

Now watch this.

When the throne in your life is empty, and you're no longer on your throne and you're controlling your life.

And regardless of what gets you to that point, it can be it can be a tragedy.

It can be a loss of job.

It can be a loss of a marriage.

It can be a loss of a son.

It can be a loss of several things.

In fact, you can say, I'm in a mess.

Life is a mess.

Unless sometimes it is.

But what we don't realize, this is good, this is good, it's in those messes that what we empty the throne in our own lives.

We give it all up and say, I've come to the end.

I don't know what to do.

I can't fix this.

I need help.

And that's when woo! You see God high and lifted up.

He came to that point.

And he said, I can't do this.

And he went to the right place.

He went to the temple.

And when he went into the temple, he saw God.

Woo! Can I get an amen?

Number two.

Not only do we see the confusion brings us to God, but verse five, confession brings us to God.

The closer we are to God, the more we want to confess sin.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

Hey, folks, that's it.

Look at what he said in verse 5.

Then said I, Woe is me, for I'm undone, because I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

Can I translate that for everyday language?

All of us are a mess.

Hello.

All our righteousness is as filthy rags.

Amen.

We're all unclean.

Say this with me.

Unclean! That's what we are.

Aren't you glad for the grace of God and the blood of the Lamb?

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So we see he was confessing.

We have no deeper sense of sin because we have no clear vision of God.

Let me say that again.

We have no deep conviction of sin because we have no clear vision of God.

Where there's no vision, the people perish.

But he that keep the law, happy is he.

And that word where there's no vision is revelation.

Where there's no instructions in the word of God and obedience to the word of God.

There's no direction.

What you have is rebellion.

Can I get an O me?

Wow.

Wow.

He saw God.

Then in that confession, he sensed God.

Then look at number three.

There's a change.

Look at verse 6 and 7.

Then flew one of the seraphims, and they were burning ones.

Woo! Everything about God's hot.

The burning ones have a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongues from off the altar, altar topology of Calvary.

And he laid it upon my mouth.

He touched me and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

When you come into the presence of God, there'll be a change.

Hello.

No change, no God.

There'll be a change, folks.

There'll be a change.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, old things have become new.

There'll be a change.

There'll be a new you.

You'll put off the old man and put on the new.

The same old Squire Parsons used to sing a song.

I love Squire Parsons.

He's one of my favorites.

He used to say, I ain't the same man I used to be.

Wow.

Wow.

You ought not to be the same man that you used to be if you come into his presence.

You will leave changed.

Amen.

And then, in fact, let me show you this real quick, and I'm winding up.

Verse five, there'll be conviction.

Verse five, number two, there'll be confession.

Number three, verse six and seven, there'll be cleansing.

Verse seven, there'll be a change.

And then the last thing, number four, there'll be a commitment.

Now that's real salvation.

Hello.

When people say they get saved, but there's no commitment, they did not get saved.

I'm sorry.

What happened?

They had an emotional experience.

But they didn't get saved.

Listen to me, folks.

I love you.

I love you more than you'll ever know.

Watching by uh internet.

I love you.

But if there's no change, and there's evidence of the change because there's a commitment.

No commitment, no change.

No change, no confession.

No confession, no conviction.

You with me?

Now that is the process.

Is this not beautiful?

That is the process of salvation.

That's it.

That's what happened to the thief on the cross.

What happened to Darren Hyde, too.

That's what happened to Darren Hyde.

That's what happened to Danny Lovett.

That's what happened to Susan Lovett, to Stephen Johnson, to Christy, to Granny, to David, to Carolyn and Jesse.

What's your name, Jesse?

I almost called you Judah.

Jesse.

Man, I'm on a roll.

This is moving.

But hey, hey, and we've watched the radical change in their life.

Jesse, Jesse wouldn't say anything.

He'd just sit there, look at me.

Now he's smiling at me.

There's a big difference.

In fact, the first couple of times it's here, I think you wonder what planet did this guy step off of?

No?

And let me show you.

I look back.

Where's Adrian?

Is Adrian in the overflow?

Okay.

All you guys, I look at Terry, I look at Melvin's working today.

I look at Rosemary.

I look at all of y'all, Adedra, all of you, Patty, everybody that's here early, that's fixed food for all of us to enjoy, and commitment and working in the nursery, which we need help.

And if you have children in nursery, all we ask is you work once every two months.

And we all get involved and be committed to serving God in our own family, our own church.

That's commitment.

When you get saved, you get convicted, you confess, and you get converted, and you change, you get committed.

You gotta do something.

Why can't you do something for all that he's done for us?

Oh, mercy, what we do is so little compared to what he did.

Is that not true?

Preachers say that's good.

So, the question this morning, and this is what I pray, and I could have quoted all those verses He that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Proverbs 28, 13.

All the verses are there for you to read this week.

What a message! This message has challenged me to be more committed.

Folks, I love you so much.

You come to church.

Most of you I say faithfully, but there's more than just coming to church.

You gotta have a commitment to do something.

Serve somewhere.

On the back of that, we've got to serve.

You can check where you'll somebody will contact you, Tabitha will contact you, Susan.

If you want to kill, we'll contact you.

If you want to help us, us or whatever, we will contact you.

Get committed, take a responsibility.

Say, Lord, this is what you want me to do.

Amen.

Elaine has stepped forth, and she and Paul, Elaine said, I want I don't want the college ministry to die out.

They meet every Thursday night.

She stepped forward and said, I'm gonna commit to keeping the college going.

We just started to celebrate recovery.

A lot of you people need to be in that class, but you're embarrassed.

You're worried about what people are gonna think.

Can I tell you something?

If you live your life worrying about what people think, you're gonna live a miserable life.

People don't like me.

I have, I get, I, you know what I do?

I get, I everything gets back to me how people talk about me.

Now I have one or two choices.

One, I can hear what they say and then ask myself, Lord, search my heart.

Is any of that true?

Because if it is, I need to deal with it.

Hello.

But if it's not true, then you know what I need to do?

God bless them, pray for them, pray for my enemies, love them, and I'm going on.

I'm gonna go tell somebody about Jesus.

All that is is Satan trying to discourage me to quit doing what God's called me to do.

And bless God, he ain't gonna do it.

Be against us.

So, if and by the way, I'm glad you're talking about me, because if you're talking about me, somebody else is being okay.

So just keep talking about me.

Amen.

We can handle it.

My God's enough scar.

Now, not a whole lot of people talk about me, except my wife.

But she talks to me.

Yeah.

I just got out of dog house.

No, I wasn't in it.

I wasn't in it, I wasn't in it, I wasn't in it, I promise.

All right.

I'm I'm laugh, I'm trying to get us laughing because that was a pretty tough message.

Let me ask you this morning.

Where are you in that circle?

Where are you?

Where are you?

Are you reckless?

Are you rebelling?

Because if you are the next death, not good.

It's ruined.

Captivity.

Destruction.

Or are you ready to repent?

Or repenting?

Repenting, okay?

So that you can be revived and restored and have the joy of the Lord.

This is gonna be a great series.

God's not dead.

Because God's not dead, He wants to revive you.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

If you would like to find out more about us, visit us on our webpage at thechurch at cw.com.

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Need prayer or more information?

Send us an email at office at the church at CW.com.

We hope you have a wonderful day, and again, God bless you.