2 Peter 1: Divine Nature - Part 2

So we continue with the topic from last time. And last time we were talking about Isaiah

6 and the fact that in Isaiah 6 we talk about holy, holy, holy, and how more than anything

else this is who God essentially is. I'm just summarizing from last time. And that God is

something that is exclusively God and it makes Him God. We talked about the fact that in

Isaiah 6 we talk about the fact that in Isaiah 6 we talk about the fact that in Isaiah 6 we

talk about the fact that in Isaiah 6 we talk about the fact that in Isaiah 6 we talk about

how much more than anything else this is who God actually is. And that is the fact that

in Isaiah 6 we talk about how much more than anything else this is who God actually is.

And that is the fact that in Isaiah 6 we talk about the fact that in Isaiah 6 we talk about

and if holiness is what makes, if holiness makes God distinct and separate and set apart and other,

then glory is holiness made public or glory is the visible manifestation of holy.

And so if you go and listen to the teaching from last week, these things were mentioned there.

And then we've ended with this trick where what about looking at Him 40 times an hour?

What if you looked at Him? If you looked at the Holy One of Israel, 40 times an hour, it'll change you.

That's where we ended. That's what we talked about last time. So we continue with that now.

So when you read Isaiah 6-3 from the New English Translation, and if I were to write it, this is what it would look like.

Last time we talked about what is the connection between holy, holy, holy and the whole earth is full of His glory.

What's the connection? And so we'll talk about that. So what are we looking at today?

So what we're looking at today, it says, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

And then it says, the whole earth is filled with His glory.

And we did mention last time that when you look at what precedes glory filling the whole earth, it's holy, holy, holy.

What precedes sending? It's again, here I am, send me is preceded by holy, holy.

What precedes the kingdom coming? Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.

What precedes the opening of ancient gates? You have to ascend the hill to the Holy One.

And so this idea of holy is somehow connected with the whole earth is filled with your glory.

And that's what we are trying to see today. How is it connected? How is this connected to this?

Because it will affect how we do missions, how we look at the nations of the earth, if we can figure that out.

So we'll try. So if I were to write it differently, guys, here's what it'll look like.

The earth is filled with the glorious splendor of the Lord of Heaven's armies

who is holy.

This is what we are saying. Just think of that for a second.

If you take Isaiah 6-3 and the NET actually worded it that way, I've just moved the words around.

This is what we are saying. We are saying that the earth is actually filled with a glorious splendor,

I mean, the glorious splendor. I don't know how to explain it.

I mean, on Saturdays and Sundays I wake up earlier than any of you.

And I see the glorious splendor of the sunrise, which you guys see on weekdays.

And from where I see, I can see the early morning sun fall upon the water on the Fraser River,

on the bay near UBC, on the Point Roberts area, Tuassan Ferries.

I can see it all. And as it moves, it just begins to shimmer gold and red.

And so that's just the splendor of the sun on the water and the early morning sun with Mount Baker in the background.

And so we're talking about the earth is filled with the glorious splendor of the Lord of Heaven's armies.

So he's not some kind of soft, compassionate God, which he is. But that's not how he's being portrayed.

He's being portrayed as the Lord of the Lord of Heaven's armies.

Because the Lord of hosts is actually the Lord of Heaven's armies.

So God is actually saying that the earth is filled with my glorious splendor.

Who am I? I am the Lord of Heaven's armies and I am holy.

This is what he's saying.

In Numbers, there's only two things that God swears by.

If you go to Numbers 14, I think, let me just check.

In Numbers 14, 21, there's only two things God swears by.

And he's swearing and saying to Israel that two things God swears by is truly as I live.

So he swears by the fact that he is living.

And the second thing he swears by is and truly as all the earth will be filled or shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.

He actually swears by it. It's crazy that he actually swears by it.

He is so sure it's going to happen that he swears by it.

He says I swear by two things.

I swear that as truly as I live and as truly as the earth shall be filled with the glory of God.

That's what he swears by.

That's just nuts that this is going to happen.

It's whether we get to participate in it or not.

And if you go to the first statement, the earth is filled with the glorious splendor of the Lord of Heaven's armies who is holy.

And till we begin to try hard and we might have to work hard at it and try to capture this,

inside you mission may not rise the way it should.

We'll go on mission trips.

But here's a lot of the armies of heaven saying, hey church, hey Jacob,

I just want you to know that my glorious splendor is going to be found in Kabul.

It's going to be found in North Korea.

It's going to be found in Richmond.

It's going to be found on Capitol Hill.

It's going to be found in Las Vegas.

It's going to be found in Hong Kong.

In all these places, my glorious splendor dwells on institutions, dwells on nations, dwells on cities, dwells on towns.

And this is the glorious splendor not of a compassionate, comforting God, which he is.

But I want you to know that when I'm talking about my glorious splendor in these places,

I'm talking about the glorious splendor of the Lord of Heaven's armies.

As in there's a definitive forceful thing to it.

That there's nothing namby-pamby about this.

There's something forceful, conquering, impactful, deliberate about it.

And then he also says that not only is my glorious splendor in all these places,

I also want you to know that I, the Lord of Heaven's armies, am holy.

Because we said holy, holy, holy is the essence of God.

Glory is the visible presence of holy.

We saw scriptures last time showing that.

Any questions?

So it goes to say that if I'm not too caught up, consumed with holy or glory,

then this will still happen, but I may not be able to partake of it the way I should.

That's what it means.

It has nothing to do with Heaven.

It has nothing to do with eternal security.

It's got nothing to do with that.

It's the ability to partake in what God is going to do.

He swears by it.

He's saying, I swear that as truly as the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,

I swear by it.

God rarely swears, man, but he swears by it.

This is why last time we said, if I keep looking at holy actions, I'll keep failing.

Oh, I've got to act holy.

I've got to do this.

I've got to do that.

You keep doing that, you will fail.

But if you look at the unfailing one who is holy and you look at him 40 times in an hour,

every time you forget, you begin to slowly change.

1 John 1-7 puts it this way, that if I can be surrounded by the light that he dwells in,

then I will have unbroken fellowship with you.

And if I sin, I'll be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

Just listen to it.

It's beautiful.

1 John 1-7, if I am surrounded by the light that he lives in, other version says,

if I walk in the light.

If I am surrounded by the light that he lives in.

So the question is, when I say look at him 40 times an hour,

are we looking at the one who is ridiculously, terrifyingly holy?

Can we even imagine that?

Because all we have is the word that we use to not even create an imagination,

but our spirit imagines.

Our spirit imagines.

The mind can create a picture and the picture will be pretty useless.

It's like a blind man trying to paint the sunrise.

He might get it, but he may not get it.

So I'm not trying to create an imagination in my mind,

but my spirit understands what it is to be before a terrifyingly holy God

who lives in brilliant light, blinding light.

And then as you keep looking at him 30, 40 times an hour,

only inside you, something begins to get stronger and something begins to change

because you're aligning yourself with perfection.

My sister used to have this habit of coming into my bedroom when we were kids,

and she would then put the bedsheets and all in the duvet

and everything would be tucked and it would be perfect.

There was only one problem.

After she did that, I wouldn't be able to sit on it.

It was so perfect that if I sat on it, there would be creases

because I'm not exactly light and it would upset her.

So there'd be this beautiful bed and you can do nothing.

You just wait till midnight because you desperately want to sleep.

And so you know how that works,

but sometimes when you establish a standard of perfection,

you realize how crooked things can be.

And as that begins to happen, you straighten out, eh?

So, any questions before we go on?

Where's Dillner?

Toronto? Okay.

Toronto? Okay.

Evan, they're making fun of your favourite theme.

So, we're talking about His Holy as being His Otherness.

His Otherness.

His Otherness. There's nobody like Him, eh?

No other.

It's His distinctness. I know we talked about this last time,

but we need to hear this because we understand Holy as

He's really a million times better than us.

That's not Holy.

We understand Holy as moral conduct.

Initially, when God began to establish this principle of Holy,

it had nothing to do with moral conduct.

It was that, guys, I am so separate, so transcendent,

so set apart, so not like you.

Even though I made you in my image, I can make you innocent,

I can make you pure, but you cannot possess what I am,

not what I have, what I am.

And I am Holy.

And so the only way that you partake in it is by me dying,

me rising up again, and me coming living in you,

and that alone can make you Holy.

And so there's this distinctness about Him.

And that's how 2 Peter starts.

2 Peter, how does it start?

It's so amazing what God is giving us.

2 Peter starts with this statement that God has given us precious promises

so that we may partake of His nature, that we may partake of it,

that we may partake of Holy.

And so one of the things we need to understand is that God is passionate about,

God is passionate about His glory and His holiness.

He's passionate about it, as in it is important to Him to make it known.

It is important to Him to make it known.

Any of us do that, it'll be proud, self-exalting, full of ourselves.

But when God does that, and we'll talk about why,

we talked about it in September last year, but we'll see that again.

He is passionate about His glory.

And the only way, yeah, He is passionate about His glory,

He's passionate about His holiness.

It is important to Him to make it known.

It is important to Him.

Until I realize how important it is to Him to make it known,

I will probably just do it whenever an opportunity presents.

I won't otherwise.

It is important to Him to make it known.

Just think of that for a second, eh?

Don't wonder, it's not too complicated.

It is important to God to make His glory and His holiness known.

It is important to Him.

It's the most important thing in His life.

We come up with stuff like,

you are the most important thing in God's heart.

We teach the kids that.

Kids, Jesus thinks you're the most important person.

Not really true.

The most important thing in God is His holy and His glory,

because that is what is going to save those kids.

It was not, above all, thought of me above all in that song.

He wasn't thinking of me.

He was thinking of His son, who He said is beloved.

You know, in John 17, what is Jesus' prayer in John 17?

Listen to Jesus' prayer.

Oh God, the time has come.

Now, Father, glorify Your son,

so that the son may glorify Your, glorify the Father.

And who did this glory happen through?

Through the glorious Holy Spirit.

It's like a conspiracy between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is praying in John 17, 1, and what does He pray?

Father, glorify Your son, so that the Son may glorify the Father.

And what's the method? What's the means?

The Holy Spirit.

Why is this important?

I'll give you scriptures that show, and you can go check them at home.

I gave you these scriptures in September.

It's worth...

God is intent on preserving and displaying His glory.

And we said that glory is basically the holiness of God.

Gone public.

God is intent on preserving and displaying His glory.

Go check out these scriptures.

Exodus 14, 4.

Deuteronomy 5, 24.

The reason I'm giving you all these scriptures is just to show how important this is to Him.

1 Chronicles 29, 11.

Psalm 19, 1.

Psalm 24, 8.

Isaiah 6, 3.

Isaiah 42, 8.

Habakkuk 2, 14.

John 17, 24.

2 Corinthians 3, 18.

2 Corinthians 4, 4.

Hebrews 1, 3.

2 Peter 1, 3.

And 17.

Revelations 15, 4.

And 21, 23.

If you have the time, and I pray God that you have the time, go check these out.

I've read each of them, and it's fascinating how from the beginning to the end,

one of the things that God wants to make sure that we understand is that He loves preserving and displaying His glory.

He loves preserving and displaying His glory.

He makes His glory visible, eh?

He makes His glory visible through creation in the morning.

He makes His glory known through the sunrise.

You could read Psalm 19, it'll tell you how creation declares His glory.

He makes you know His glory through the baby in the womb.

He makes you know His glory through presence.

He makes you know His glory through a billion things in the next hour.

Through His people, through this teaching.

He is constantly doing two things.

Doing two things.

Hey, I want to display my glory.

And here's why.

Why does He do it?

Because there's nothing that radiates beauty like His glory.

As in, it's His glory that makes everything beautiful.

It is His glory that makes things true and new.

It's His glory that restores.

It's His glory that separates good from evil.

It's His glory that perfects things.

It's His glory that saves.

It's His glory that will be made evident at the end.

To hide His glory is a terrible word.

You know what the word is?

When glory is withdrawn, what the Hebrew word is?

It's called ikabod.

Ikabod is when the glory of God departs.

And when His glory departs, you are left with nothing but decaying flesh.

Ikabod is my glory has departed.

When His glory departs.

That's why He cries out when He stands on the hill and looks at Jerusalem.

He says, Oh, Jerusalem, oh, Jerusalem, I have longed to gather you as a hen would gather a chick, but you would not have it.

And therefore, I leave your house to you.

How He changes it.

Just a little while ago, He was saying, this is my father's house.

Do not turn it into a den of thieves.

And now He changes it.

It's no longer, He's no longer calling it His house.

He's not saying it's my father's house.

He says, I leave your house to you.

It's the worst thing that can happen.

Why does He display His glory?

Because if His glory is the display of who He essentially is, everything He did, He did that way.

When He created, He created out of His brilliance, out of His splendor, out of His power, out of His magnificence, out of His weight,

out of His substance, out of His absolute perfection, out of that He created things.

What was creation like then?

If it is so beautiful now, what was it then?

What will Eden look like?

If laughter can be so enjoyable now, if love can be so enjoyable now, if companionship can be so enjoyable now,

if beauty can be so enjoyable now, what was it like?

What we have is decaying.

But out of what did it come?

Out of the essence of who He is.

And at the end of it, what is His essence?

Holy, Holy, Holy.

No one like Him, nothing like Him, distinct, separate, otherness.

Out of His otherness, He creates.

Everything came out of that.

And so for Him to hide it would be terrible.

It would be like a parent hiding the best qualities from their growing son.

The question then to you and I is, does His Holy and does His glory really, is it a big concern for you and I now?

Does it matter to me that Kabul has the glorious splendour of His glory?

Does it matter to me that Kabul has the glorious splendour of the Lord of the armies of heaven who is holy that it is settled there?

And therefore, if as I speak, annoying arises in your heart to go to Afghanistan, would I be able to go?

Because holy and glory is conveyed through two scriptures.

Two scriptures, we talked about it.

Isaiah 6-3, Isaiah 53-7.

Isaiah 6-3 talks about the splendour of God.

Marvellous, miraculous things.

Awesome glory.

Repentance sending out.

There's something glorious about being spoken to by the King.

And then there's Isaiah 53 verse 7.

Isaiah 53:7

In Isaiah 53-7, you see the same King naked on a cross, ill-treated, beaten, dying.

But both are equally glorious.

Because Revelation 4-8 is talking about a Christ who looked like the lion.

But then when I looked at Him again, He was like a lamb who had the marks of being slain.

Herein lies the problem of the Western Church or of Western Christianity.

Isaiah 6-3 may work.

Isaiah 53-7, no.

Ill-treatment, suffering, persecution, death, no.

But holy and glory are only conveyed these ways.

If this is not my heart attitude, and I want to submit to you that it is not,

then glory and holy is always contained.

It's not absent, but it's contained.

He always wanted this, guys.

I mean, there's nothing that radiates beauty if it was not for His glory.

In a world that is being destroyed bit by bit by bit, why is the sunrise still beautiful?

Why is love so precious?

Why is the touch of someone you love so important?

Why is love so precious?

Why is love so precious?

Why is love so precious?

Why is the touch of someone you love so important?

Why do babies still love seeing their parents?

Why do parents still enjoy their babies?

Why in a world that is so, so dark, so, so dark, why is it still the way it is?

Simply because of one person, the glorious Spirit of God,

still wafting the aroma of heaven across the earth.

He makes all things beautiful without even turning them new.

Imagine what will happen when it turns new.

Why is the Spirit of God on earth?

We said it. He makes all things new.

What does that?

The splendor of God, the glorious splendor of the Lord of heaven's armies,

who is holy, who will fill the earth with it.

Somehow I have to capture that. Isaiah got it.

That's why as soon as He's made holy, what is His cry?

Here am I, send me. Send me where? Anywhere.

Stubborn people? Yes.

Stiff neck people? Yes.

People who will throw you into a dungeon? Yes, send me.

Same with Paul. Same with Peter.

We have to get past this threshold of Western Christianity.

It's called the creep of comfort, of convenience.

And of materialism.

Comfort, convenience and materialism are different.

Materialism is our goods.

None of us are really super rich, except for Don.

But the thing is, material goods keep us lodged,

because our security will be ripped if we let go of that.

So that's important.

Convenience, when the conditions are right.

Comfort, thus far and no further.

It's a creep. It comes in slowly.

It doesn't matter which country we've come from.

You live here for a while and it begins to creep in.

If we don't break this threshold, guys,

we will be the ones that long for taste

and yet not be able to fully partake of it.

I must start at the top.

And by top, I don't mean God.

Start in the top meaning me.

In case you didn't know, I'm at the top.

Sorry, that sounded completely modest.

But I meant that it has to start.

Because it's not... Yeah.

Yeah.

You know why God has us?

What he plans to do with the church.

Any church, and let's say Acts 29.

There's this verse in Jeremiah 13, verse 11.

Jeremiah 13:11

Listen to it, eh?

As a loincloth clings to a man's waist,

so I created Acts 29 to cling to me, says the Lord.

You are supposed to be my people, my pride,

my glory, and honor to my name,

so that I can show you off to the world and be proud of you.

Jeremiah 13, 11.

As a loincloth clings, many versions say belt,

and the belt really doesn't say it.

As a loincloth clings to a man's waist,

so I created you, Acts 29, to cling to me, says the Lord.

You are supposed to be my people, my pride,

my glory, and honor to my name,

so that I can show you off to the world and be proud of you.

So the question is...

Can I be consumed with the same passion

that God is consumed with

to make His glory known?

Can I be consumed?

Can I be as passionate about...

The foundation to being passionate about God's glory

is to be as passionate as He is about His glory.

The foundation that we need to lay,

if you want to be as passionate...

If you want to be passionate about God's glory,

you have to be consumed or as passionate about God's glory

as He is about His glory.

You have to be consumed or as passionate as He is

about the display of His glory.

Let Nick come out for a second.

So let's assume that Nick is the owner of Nike.

Yeah?

Because this looks a little like Nike, but it's not.

So let's assume Nick is the owner of Nike,

and it's this amazing product.

He's passionate about Nike.

He wants the whole world to experience the agility,

the comfort, the value, and the jazz it gives you

when you wear Nike shoes.

He's so consumed by it.

It's his living passion,

and he wants a guy who will be his sales manager.

The only way that I will qualify though is

if I am as consumed with Nike as He is passionate about Nike.

And when that happens, then I'll go to North Korea,

I'll go to Ukraine, I'll go to Russia, I'll go to India.

I'll go anywhere because now I have the same passion that He has.

Only here, it's not a product.

God is not selling a product.

God is talking about Him.

If God really loved you, what is the best thing that He can give you?

Thanks, Nick.

I called him Nike.

If God really loves you, what is the best thing that He can give you?

Himself.

The best, if He really loves you, the best thing He can give you is Himself.

That's what He's trying to do.

This is me, holy, glorious.

This is who I want to give you.

So that's the question.

Can I be consumed with the same passion that God is consumed with?

Or can I have the same passion that God has?

God is passionate about the display of His glory.

Can I have the same passion that God has about the display of His glory?

And the answer is, yeah, that's got nothing to do with it.

Glory is what happens when worship gets intense.

Glory is what happens when a few people fall, when I do...

Glory is what happened at Solomon's Temple.

Glory is what happened in certain amazing stories we hear.

And yet, it is living, breathing here right now.

Why do you think He turns up during worship?

What happened during times of worship today?

All we need is a simple trigger, like a vibi who comes and sings

and doesn't know that he's supposed to finish one song and go back.

And yet, that unleashes the presence of God.

And why is the presence of God here?

Because in His presence, in His glorious presence, hearts and lives are changed.

But when it ends, we forget the display.

Any questions?

Yeah.

Yeah, so if I was just ridiculously passionate, as God is,

about the display of His splendor, His weight, His substance,

then in every which way that I present God to you,

I will present to you a God of great majesty in my teaching.

When I go to...

Last week I was in Belfast, because there's a small church that's formed there.

Betty and Evan have been working with it.

I met with some of them.

Then on Wednesday I was in Bristol, and there's a small church there.

They were meeting that evening, so I met with them.

And then London, David Foy, I said, because there's a small church there that was meeting.

But what if, in meeting with those churches, I only focused on what I'm supposed to teach them?

What if I was consumed by... I need to teach these guys.

I need to give them a prophetic word that is accurate.

I need to show them the direction that they need to go in.

Nothing wrong with it. It's quite good. It's very good.

In fact, it might be better than most people can do.

But what is missing is, was I consumed with the same passion that God has about His glory, His holy.

And if that is what consumes you, that becomes a bedrock on which everything else is built.

We go and become gift-oriented or teaching-oriented or worship-oriented.

But the one thing that we don't see is this God who says,

Listen, I am going to fill the earth with my glorious splendour, and I am the Lord of heaven's armies.

I'm going to do it in every corner of the world, and I am holy, and I swear by it.

And then when you get consumed by that, you'll find it is different.

On one hand, you'll hear, holy, holy, holy.

On the other hand, you will hear, the whole earth is filled with your glory.

And then something will leap inside you and say, send me to Kabul.

There's a group of guys in Shillong that heard the revival stuff we were talking about.

And they were about 2,000 or 3,000 strong.

And they decided to take it really on.

But here's the difference between how they received it and perhaps how we have received it.

These are in the age groups of 18 to 23.

Every month, 60 of them go out into some of the hardest places to preach in India

and to places like Iraq, Sudan.

I'm thinking to myself, how come I'm the one preaching this message, but I don't feel any such need?

But how come they're receiving it in a way that has some go?

I would suggest that it is partly because of the creep that I mentioned about.

Comfort, convenience, materialism.

Until we break that Western threshold, and I'm calling it Western, I could call it anything you want me to,

until we break that Western threshold, there's not going to be freedom of movement.

We'll always be limited by that.

I pray, God, that some of you rise before.

The crazy thing with God is he would love leaders to rise to lead the way,

but if they don't, there'll be a David that's not even in the lineup who will rise up.

He's no respecter of persons.

Here's the other thing if we go down this route, guys.

Where God's glory or holy is manifested,

there is judgment for sin,

because the two can't exist together.

So that's a problem.

When God's glory or holy is manifested, what's the first thing that happens to Isaiah?

A man who is highly reputed, who's probably one of the holiest guys living in Israel then.

What is the response?

Oh my God, I'm done, undone, for I have seen the glory of God.

And so when God's glory or holy is manifested, there is judgment for sin,

because the two can't exist together.

So if we invite this, then there will be a judgment of sin.

And I'm sure there's enough sin in this church, starting with me.

This is why in 1 Peter 4 it says,

that judgment shall begin in the house of the Lord,

which means our heart motives, our actions, our ethical conduct, our behavior

will be the first thing to be judged, so that there's a desire to change

and a call is taken from the heart of heaven and touched upon your lips,

so that you become clean.

So the question is, do you really want to invite that?

Isn't it much better to have good worship services instead of going that extra mile?

No?

So do you think we should pray this?

Okay, I'll ask Nick to come and pray.

Because I could only hear a loud ya from Nick.

Come, Nike.

I'm praying.

No, you're praying.

Guys, here's the thing. If we pray this, God may actually respond,

which means I have to...

You know, I remember this preacher talking about how he was trying to get a property

from a certain county in the UK, and they filled out all the documents,

they filled out all the paperwork, but every time they would take it,

the city hall would just say, no, no, no, no, no,

because they didn't want a Christian organization to have a facility.

So it doesn't matter what they did, they wouldn't let it through.

So finally this guy goes for the meeting to city hall,

and this time he feels God saying, talk to them this way.

So he goes and tells them, listen, we've done everything you asked us to,

we provided you everything, we've done everything, and you still keep refusing.

I just want you to know that in the next three months, every embezzlement,

any bedroom stuff that is happening here, any adultery, God is going to expose.

He got his papers signed immediately.

All to say that if we go down this route, then God will begin to judge.

How does God judge? God judges by saying, hey Jacob, here's a problem in your life,

do you want to correct it?

And if Jacob doesn't, then he'll send someone else to show him.

And if Jacob still doesn't, then from the word he'll be shown.

Why? Because God's intent is, can I prune you, Jacob,

so that you can bear glorious, holy fruit.

That's his intent.

He's a good father.

So I think we need to go down this way.

What choice do we have, right?

Okay.

Father, this is all about you.

All about what you want.

All about your goodness.

There can't be anything fake, anything flesh, anything, anything of not you.

Only you.

Only you.

Please break through.

You are the one doing all the things up until this point.

You are the one, not us.

This is why we were born.

This is why you made us.

We will not turn aside from it.

Father, thank you for Jacob, that he will consecrate himself for this.

That we are not doing this as orphans.

That's a beautiful word he used, guys.

Consecrate.

Set ourselves apart.

Sanctify.

To set ourselves apart.

Consecrate.

To set ourselves apart.

It's a beautiful word.

So Father, I piggyback on that word.

That we as a church are consecrating ourselves.

So that we may be to the display of your holy and your glory.

So let your rich, love-filled judgment begin in this house.

Pruning, changing, making beautiful our lives so that it carries your aroma.

This fragrance must spread through the earth.

We ask that you start with us.

We are not scared about.

We are not dealing with a master or a mentor.

We are dealing with a father.

Your rich in love, slow to anger.

Your name is great and your heart is kind.

We come to you, O God, placing ourselves in those nail-scarred hands.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let me just conclude.

We'll do the rest another time.

He won't.

He won't.

Today I might.

First John 1, 7.

I think it's from, I don't know which version this is, but it says,

But if we keep living in the pure light that is the light of the Lord,

But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him,

We share unbroken fellowship with each other.

And the blood of his son cleanses us from all sin.

We'll end with that.

First John 1, 7.

So, church, what are we trying to do?

We are trying to continuously, as often as possible, every time we forget,

Keep looking at he who is holy.

He who lives in pure light.

He's surrounded by pure light.

These are words in the Bible, eh?

We're trying in our spirit to imagine what it is at this present moment,

Even as I'm teaching you to look at him who is holy,

Who lives in pure light, who's surrounded in pure light.

And the more I do this, the more I'll find myself in unbroken fellowship with you.

And should I err, should I sin, I'll be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

What's my role in this?

To keep looking at him.

To keep looking at him.

To keep looking at him.

That's one part.

The second part is this question that I wrote, which is a prayer.

And this is the prayer.

God, can you put together in my heart your love for your glory?

Can I have the passion?

Can I have your passion for that glory to be known

and worshipped in nations, church, work, family, and my prayer closet?

Those are the two things, eh?

The first one.

But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him,

we share unbroken fellowship with each other,

and the blood of his son can cleanse us from all sin.

And so I keep looking for him who lives in pure light, surrounded by pure light.

Keep looking at him.

Keep looking at him.

And then it doesn't matter where I am at with you.

I will be able to get to that place of unbroken fellowship.

Please don't expect instant stuff.

We want things to happen instantly.

These are the precious things of God.

They need the work of heart and spirit and mind.

It's immature children that crave for instant feed.

Any man who sits in his armchair and says to his wife that they are starving

is not really starving because if he was, he would get out of the chair and cook himself a meal.

These things don't happen instantly.

It takes time.

And then the second question is this.

God, can you put together in my heart your love for your glory?

Can you put together in my heart your love for your glory?

I can't even imagine this.

It doesn't compute because we don't think like this.

You're like an artist who's a brilliant artist and you're saying,

can you put in my heart the love that he has for his paintings?

It's so distant.

Can you put together in my heart your love for your glory?

Can I have your passion for that glory to be known?

Can I have your passion for that glory to be known?

I'm asking God.

I'm begging him.

Because if I get this, then everything changes.

And then the last part was, can I take this?

Can I have this passion so that you may be worshipped?

Worshiped where?

Worshiped in nations, worshiped in church, worshiped at work,

worshiped in family, worshiped in my prayer closet.

Some of you who've tried it this week have talked about how every time you looked at him,

you could literally hear the pillars shaking and smoke filling the throne room like it did for Isaiah.

Other times you looked at him, you could literally hear the seraphim crying out,

Holy, Holy, Holy.

I don't know how God is going to do it for you.

For me, it's very simple.

Throughout the week, it is every hour,

Oh God, I want to align myself to with you who is transcendent, who is set apart, who has an otherness.

But my God, you live in blinding light.

You live in pure holy.

I don't even want to call it holiness.

I want to call it holy.

That is who you are.

And I've got to keep looking at you, align myself with you,

so that anything that is crooked immediately has a choice to come back into alignment or stay crooked.

During times of worship, it's the same thing.

Consume me, oh God, with the holy that you are.

And now this prayer.

And as we do this, a time will come where God will say,

Hey, I want my glory to be known in Capitol Hill and you will go.

And the odds are stacked against you.

You've got a thousand senators and a thousand congressmen who do not want to hear you.

But the earth and Capitol Hill shall be filled with the glorious splendor of the Lord of Heaven's armies, who is holy.

Therein lies the difference.

Then miracles break forth.

Rivers begin to flow.

The valley of bones begins to breathe.

Why?

Because you now have nothing.

You have nothing but one thing.

I am consumed by the same passion that God has for his glory.

I am consumed with the same heart that loves his glory just like he does.

And so I'll go into any valley of bones and I'll stand there.

And I will see the glorious splendor of the Lord of Heaven's armies fill that valley by the glorious spirit who is holy.

And they'll come back to life.

That's how this works.

Any questions?

Next week we'll do another part.

Then we'll probably be done.

Any questions?

Yes?

God's glory does not yet fill the earth.

Is it evil that things happen now?

I had written on my phone.

So on one hand he says, my glory covers the earth as the waters cover the seas.

So because God doesn't live in time, it is on one hand present reality and on the other hand it is also happening.

It's like the kingdom.

The kingdom is here but the kingdom is not consummated.

The question is this now.

When you look at the world, it looks completely unholy.

Everything happening is unholy.

It is overwhelmingly unholy.

But I wrote it down this way.

The power of holy is greater than unholy because the power of the majesty of a holy God is in every city, every town, every institution, and it can never be overcome.

Listen, you only need to look as far as her or him or him or her or me to know how unholy became holy.

You just need to look at yourself.

You were part of that world.

HIP was part of that world.

I was part of that world.

Honey was part of that world.

Jane was part of that world.

Jane was part of that world.

And then what happened?

One day, the glorious splendor of the Lord of the armies of heaven, who is holy, broke through and filled your earth with all of him.

And what happened?

One went from being a drug addict to something glorious.

We don't realize the transformation that has happened in us because this earth was filled with the glorious splendor of the Lord of the armies of heaven, who is holy,

who transferred me from the kingdom of darkness, clutched there by the devil, unable to hold me, had to let go, transferred into the kingdom of light, living with the one now surrounded with light, only if I can keep my eyes on him.

What can I do?

In Kabul, in Capitol Hill, in Las Vegas, in North Korea, in Ukraine, in Russia, in Surrey, in Richmond, in Vancouver.

Once this thing grabs you, two things happen.

One, you go anywhere.

Two, you go anywhere thinking things can happen because it happened to you.

I was someone who had a life of heroin, marijuana and mushrooms for years on end.

I look at myself now and I think to myself, how does God take someone like that and make me someone like this?

How?

How does someone do it with power?

How does someone do it with hip?

But forget these ugly stories.

You think you're any better because you didn't put some marijuana in your omelet?

You're as pathetic and decaying as I was.

And then he transforms you.

This is the beauty of it, eh?

Yeah.

The Holy of God is in every city, every nation, every institution, every street.

The Holy of God is already there because the Holy Spirit is there.

And the Holy of God is continuously transforming people in a country that forbids, that makes illegal

The Proclamation of the Gospel.

Every day, 20,000 to 30,000 people are being touched by the Holy and the glory of God.

And China is being transformed every 24 hours.

20,000 to 30,000 people are touched by the glory of God and it's changing.

Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Just sing that.

As you sing this, sing it to the Lord who is the Lord of the armies of heaven,

who is glorious in splendour and who is holy.

As you sing this, see him as holy, see him as glorious, see him as the one that leads you, eh?