Courageous Faith - Week 3 - Damon Moore - October 4, 2026

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the City Place Church Podcast.

Please join me in a moment of prayer before we get started.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the person listening to this prayer.

I ask that you would help open their mind and their heart, and that you would speak directly to them through today's message.

In the name of your son, my brother, Jesus Christ, I pray.

Amen.

If you ready for the Word, say let's go.

Let's go.

Was that everybody? If you ready for the Word, say let's go.

Let's go.

Joshua 1:9.

Joshua 1:9

Joshua 1:9.

Joshua 1:9

We are in our series Courageous Faith.

And, uh, from the feedback from last week, some of y'all were like, "Let's go."

And then others were like, "Let me go to my Bible."

Pastor Chris Rue was here last week and he preached and revel- you know, showed us where Jesus was all the way from Genesis to the end.

And so, uh, I love the fact that we get to see Jesus all throughout the Word.

And in fact, uh, there was a verse that he read last week that, uh, we're gonna lean into a little bit, uh, this, this Sunday.

But Joshua 1:9 says, "Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Somebody say wherever.

Wherever.

That means wherever We've been declaring that this is the year where we move from being cautious to being courageous.

And if you're like me and my wife, we've taken some courageous steps this year.

Our church has taken some courageous steps this year.

Some of you have had to battle certain things, and you've had to walk through certain things, and God knew at the beginning of the year that we would have to declare that regardless of what we were facing or the thing that we may pursuing, we were going to walk in courage.

And so we started this series off in Joshua chapter three, where God tells Joshua, "Hey, it's time to go."

And Joshua says, "Hey, we're gonna take these three days, we- it, you know, and, and we're just gonna consecrate ourselves because tomorrow God's gonna show his mighty hand."

And he says, "The priests are gonna carry the presence of the Lord, the Ark of the Covenant, and we're gonna follow where it goes.

And as the priests step into the water of the j- uh, o- of the Jordan River, uh, it's going to separate, and we're gonna be able to walk over in dry ground, but the most important thing is that we see where God is going."

And so one of the things that, uh, I was able to just kinda study scripture was to realize that there's some qualities of people that really go after God, and they end up pleasing God by their response and their action.

And we looked at Hebrews chapter 11 verse, verses one through six, and it says this.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

It says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of the things which are visible.

It was by faith that Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which we ob- through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead still speaks.

It was by faith that Enoch was taken so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him.

For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he simply pleased God."

Verse six, "But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder to those that diligently seek him."

Over the last few weeks, we've been trying to answer this simple question, what does it look like to be a person who pleases God? And then ultimately, what does it look like to be a church that pleases God? And we said this, and it may or may not be in your notes for this week.

We said that a church that pleases God is made up of people who are pleasing God.

A church that's pleasing God is made up of people who are pleasing God We said that there was five qualities that please God.

We said that we would be a faith-filled people, which then means we would be a faith-filled church.

We would be a bold church, which then means we would be a bold people.

We would be a unified church, which then means we'd be a unified people.

A loving church, and a loving people.

And over the last three weeks, we've been focused on this one simple area that we would be a reverent church, which then means we would be a reverent people.

We talked about having the reverence of God, the awe of God, and we said this.

We said a reverent people fears the Lord, and they live with a sincere obedience to Him.

A reverence people, they fear the Lord, and we have a sincere heart to simply obey Him.

And so we had to define what it meant to fear God through scripture, and it meant this, to be awe-filled, reverently aware of God's holiness and His authority.

To be filled with awe, to be aware of His holiness and H- and His authority.

That we would live every single day of our life going, "Oh my goodness, I cannot believe that the creator of the world chose me."

That you and I would choose to live under the authority of the one who, by faith, we understand that the worlds were created by the word of God.

Just like Abel, by faith, like he brought God a more excellent sacrifice than his brother.

It was by faith that Enoch lived his life every single day in and day out to please God, and God actually testified, "Enoch pleases me."

So we're choosing that we're gonna stand in awe of how amazing God really is.

We said this, we said reverence for God isn't the fear that's gonna push us away.

It's actually gonna be the awe of God that draws us to Him.

Just catching everybody up.

We said, we said that, um, you and I will either take God seriously or we'll treat Him casually.

How many of y'all will be honest, just by a show of hands, and you would admit today that there have been seasons of your life where you've treated God casually? And then how many of y'all would say that there have been seasons of your life when you've taken God seriously? Seesaw at times, right? Well, we're called to live in an awe of God and a reverence of God every single day of our life.

We said that-- we said this, and I'm just catching y'all up, and then we're gonna land in the verse for today.

You see, we said that it's not that people don't believe in God, it's just that we're starting to believe Him without revering Him Like, man, there's a lot of people, even in this room, that believe in Him, but we don't honor Him and His authority the way He deserves.

Remember I, I, I sh- I shared this and, and it, and, and, and it got quiet during the first couple of weeks.

Uh, we like to take scripture and rip certain pages out- Yep that we disagree with.

And I know you may not physically do it, but you tune out.

Yep.

You know, you, you, you tune out, and then, and then we, we try to ask God, or actually we don't ask Him, we tell Him what we're not gonna do And then we expect the Lord to conform to our standard.

See? It got quiet again I know that we can get casual with God, but He is a holy God Like he's a holy God Man, when we embrace the fact that the creator of the world sent His Son Jesus for us You and I have a choice to treat Him seriously every single day And so we said this, we said how you live-- I'm sorry, how you view God determines how you live.

And this is where we're gonna park today because Pastor Chris read a verse last Sunday, and I thought, "Ooh, that verse is too good to just skip over."

He took us to Isaiah chapter six.

Now it's gonna be hard to skip over when Pastor Chris broke it down the way that he did.

But there was something in the text last week that I thought, "Oh, we gotta lean in because there's a lesson to learn here about the fear of the Lord."

And it says this in Isaiah chapter six, verse one.

It says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord," this is Isaiah talking.

"I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above it stood the s- uh, stood the seraphim.

One had six wings.

With two he covered his face.

With two he covered his feet.

With two he flew.

And one cried to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.

The whole earth is full of your glory.'"

This is all happening in heaven.

"And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said, 'Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.'"

Everybody look up at me.

Isaiah has already, and Pastor Chris talked about this last week, but Isaiah has already been prophesying.

He's already had an encounter with God, so much so that God's like, "I'm gonna use you."

But in this new, fresh season, he is seeing God in a totally different way and is broken before Him.

Imagine speaking thus sayeth the Lord, and everything that you speak is happening You could easily, easily go casual with God.

You know that he's gonna talk to you when you spend time with him.

You know that he is gonna speak through you.

Your eyes are seeing and experiencing things that others aren't seeing.

You could easily go, "I got this But in a new season, in a fresh season, he's still postured to revere God.

Y'all good? I'm gonna be loud and passionate.

Amen.

So get your amens locked and loaded.

Amen.

I'm just gonna tell you now, just, just get 'em locked and loaded, and if you're not a amen-er, just say ouch.

That's what my mama used to tell me.

"If you can't say amen, say ouch."

Watch this.

So he says, "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken from the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it.

And he said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.'

Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am, send me.'"

This morning, I wanna lean into you, Isaiah Because, uh, Isaiah identifies the fact that it was in the year that King Uzziah died that he saw the Lord.

Like, the king dies, and all of a sudden, phew, I can see the Lord clearly.

I had to dive in, y'all, to who Uzziah was because this is not just a cool Bible story.

This is a landmark moment in Isaiah's life similar to the moments that we have, but this joker is changed anew even though he's already prophesying on behalf of the creator of the world So I had to dive into King Uzziah, and so I'm gonna read a verse because let's find out who King Uzziah was.

King Uzziah, we're introduced to him in 2 Chronicles chapter 26, verse three.

2 Chronicles 26 · chapter mention

It says this: Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king.

Y'all see that? 16.

How many of y'all would be excited about your political candidate, little Bobby, who just came out of Pop Warner? Come on.

And he's like, "I am going to declare my candidacy for the presidency of the- these United States."

Everybody's like, "No."

But the way God has it, and God takes the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.

And so He anoints a king at 16 years old, and it says this: "And he reigned for 52 years.

His mother's name was Jecoliah."

We're gonna call it that.

I don't know how to pronounce Jecoliah's name.

And watch, it says this in verse four: "And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done."

Look at this, "He sought the Lord in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God.

As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper."

Y'all see that? So whatever he was doing before 16, God said, "I qualified you to be king at 16."

Y'all get that? Whatever Uzziah was doing before 16 qualified him to be king at 16.

Y'all catching that? I'm gonna say it one more time in slow motion.

Whatever he was doing before he turned 16 qualified him by the Lord to be king at 16, which then leads me to believe that he was paying attention to what God was, who God was, and wanted to know about God when no one was watching, so much so that God said, "I can trust him with a kingdom at 16."

I love scripture so much.

Says this, it says that now remember, 16, he reigned for 52.

So just look at the story because at 16 he's the king.

His learning curve is taking place at 16.

But look at what it says that he was doing.

He went out and made war against the Philistines, broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jebina, the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities around Ashdod and among the Philistines.

God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur, and against the Menunites.

Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah.

His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he was exceedingly strong.

Let me break down his resume because scripture says it, and I, and I began to look up like, okay, what would it look like in biblical days? Because it says that he went to war, and he built the...

This is literally his resume, and you won't find it on the screens.

But listen to his resume.

He was strong in creating military campaigns and taking territorial expansion.

He was able to build new cities.

He was able to defeat regional enemies.

He, watch now, brought into his nation civil engineering and infrastructure.

He fortified the city of Jerusalem.

He had, um, he created a strong agricultural and land management system.

They, he managed, uh, massive amounts of herds of los- livestock.

He was able to scale the agricultural production, and he personally oversaw the operations.

Militarily, his logistics and his innovation was a new standard.

He was able to organize massive armies.

He created a structured chain of command.

He had, uh, his, his people build new military hardware, and he created inventory systems for the artillery.

I know you can't read all of that in scripture, but when you dive in, he was, listen, at 16 years old, leading adults into structure for his nation in ways that hasn't been done before.

And it says that all of this was happening as long as he sought the Lord.

Yeah.

He was leaning into the, the, the how do I see God? You can see God.

It says that he was leaning into the prophets.

You can see God.

Teach me how to see Him for myself.

I read it to you.

Like He is hungry before He ever became king and remained hungry when He was anointed king.

Y'all turning in okay? Says this in verse 15.

It says that he made devices in Jerusalem invented by skillful men to be on towers and corners to shoot arrows and large stones.

So his fame spread wide and far, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.

So I read it earlier that his fame was going all the way to the gate of Egypt.

Then he starts the military, and then it's like, and then it grew even more because now people are like, "How can I help you?" All because he was seeking and honoring and recognized the awe of God Y'all, I thought about this because I'm reading how good God's been to him, and it made me think, and I'm gonna ask y'all, this is what the Lord asked me, I'm gonna ask you.

How many of us can testify that God has been faithful to us? Like we sang about it, right? Like how many of y'all would really, if we gave you the microphone, you could testify based on even the things you wrote down that God has been good to you My, my, my, my, my grandmother and my mom would always say, "If it had not been for the who- for the Lord who was on my side, where would I be?" Like that was Uzziah's testimony.

But can I tell you, there was a shift He went from the awe of God before he was anointed king, while he was anointed king, and it says that others started coming to help him.

His fame grew, and then there was a shift.

Let's read the shift in verse 16.

Watch this now.

It says, "But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up."

If you were here last week, Pastor Chris dove into being lifted up.

That means that his heart was exalted higher in the place where God should have been.

Yeah.

Y'all got-- y'all good? Yeah.

Look, "His heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God," watch this now, "by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Azariah, the, the high priest, went in after him, with 80 other priests of the Lord, all brave men.

They confronted King Uzziah and said, 'It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn the incense of the Lord.

That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work.

Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned.

The Go- the Lord God will not honor you for this.'"

Listen, he went from, "God, it's all about you.

I wanna know you.

I wanna see you," to going, "God, I'm bringing my fleshly self into the sanctuary, and this is now how worship will be conducted.

This is how it should be done.

This is how I want to do it.

I know that the priests are supposed to carry your presence, but now I'm bringing in the incense myself because I have simply arrived, and I'm taking you as casual.

You won't be mad because I'm the king you chose.

You not gonna be mad because every time I go out, I win.

You not gonna be mad 'cause other nations are helping me build what belongs to you.

You not gonna be mad with a little culture coming into the sacred.

You not gonna be mad if I lower the bar and ask you to show up.

You not gonna be mad if I make it about me."

Like, you served the Lord for so long in private, and then as the capacity and the influence grew, you took it for yourself How often do we do that? How often do we get the job and make the money? We were tithing, but now We were soul winners.

But now, we, the fear has risen so much so that we're afraid to share our testimony One is spiritual consumption in private.

"God, I need you.

God, I gotta have you."

Then the other one is public consumption of it's all about me.

Y'all all right? We are still in courageous faith, I promise you Like, we, we have to know, like, if we have a high-capacity leader who has God's favor, like, and has the awe of God, we have got to learn from their mistakes.

Yeah.

Because we can have it all.

We can have...

That was the Lord, by the way.

Yes.

Y'all see that? I wasn't even near it.

Fire.

No, I'm just playing.

I'm just playing.

Don't y'all...

Uh, look, that was not fire.

The, it just fell over.

I don't want y'all to tweet that Look, look, look, look, look, watch.

Like He has access to his presence and chooses that God would then become casual We said this: When our awe of God fades, our view of God shrinks.

We said that.

When our awe of God fades, our view of God shrinks.

Now let me just be a pastor for a moment.

Some in this room, you may wanna fight me on that because you love God.

I'm not gonna question, we're not gonna question if we love God.

It's that, is that our response to His presence and our passion turns to apathy, and we make it feel like we're doing Him a favor Heaven becomes comfortable.

I know I'm going to heaven, but don't ask me to work here I know you delivered me.

That's what you're supposed to do I will be at the end of service to high-five and hug every person I told the team earlier, um, because we, we have a pre-service huddle, I, I, I've been feeling like for us that we are so close to a snowball effect of His presence.

Almost like a avalanche.

Y'all ever see the avalanche where it starts and it's like, whoosh, and it consumes everything? I feel like as a church, we're so close to God's, like, abiding presence.

He's here, but like saturating us in a way that people could talk about, that spills over Ezekiel 47, where it leaks out from the church and it gets into the community.

But you and I get in the way Like the return of Jesus is really near.

We don't know the time, but we have to sit on our edge of our seats of like, "I want all of you."

I'm guilty of putting natural stuff in the way Of his presence.

I told Pastor Chris this last week, and I may even share it with one of the other guys The presence of the Lord is so close The word of God is so rich, and God wants to reveal all of Himself to us.

But do you know what keeps us away? It feels like work And really, that's because we make it feel that way.

It's all about relationship.

Y'all are looking at me funny.

I pray it's hitting all of us.

Like, He invites us into His presence, and if you're like me at times, I struggle to go.

I gotta do this.

I gotta do this.

And sometimes, y'all, I will put the church in front of His presence.

Do you know what the greatest t- one of the greatest tensions is for, for me? Is I have to prepare for a message But message prep is not my quiet time with the Lord.

One is pouring out, and God will speak, but I can't get in the habit of going, "Hey, I had my quiet time with you.

I got three points and a poem."

The Lord's like, "That's for you to pour out Y'all with me? Yeah.

All right.

I, I, I pray that we're getting something today.

Right, look, look, I, I wrote this down.

I'm just gonna be spitting out a lot of things that the Lord said to me, and, uh, don't worry, we'll continue this series 'cause we're still in it.

So don't get mad about the blanks.

I know y'all get mad.

You know what? I've been delivered from that 'cause a couple of the guys came up to me like, "No, Pastor Damon, we're not bothered if you don't fill in the blanks.

The Holy Spirit is leading the service."

I was like, "My man, give it a minute, boy.

Man, come on!" You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Write, write this down.

Write this down.

The humility, the humility that caused our passion to pursue Christ, watch now, can easily be replaced by the ease of self.

Like, the passion that we once had, let's go, can easily be replaced by myself, how I feel.

I've spent enough time with Him.

That's enough worship songs, Barlow.

Well, we, we normally do three songs.

I don't know why the worship team did four.

That was way too long But if you're like me, I'll binge watch my show And never be like, "Oh, three episodes in That was too long.

Like today is football Sunday.

I am gonna sit with the people during football Sunday at 12:30, and you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna watch one game, and then I'm gonna watch two games, and then at 8 o'clock, I'm gonna watch a third game, if you allow me to, baby.

Like, like, I'm like, look, look.

Let's see that.

Ha ha, take note, young couples.

Submit to one another during football season so that you may watch more games during playoff season.

No, look, look, look.

Look, look.

Look, watch.

I'm a work in progress.

No, listen, listen.

I don't even remember my thought.

It was something about the Lord.

Anybody was taking notes? Huh? Let us pray.

Father, thank you for this service.

Everyone is dismissed.

No, listen, listen, let me go back to my notes 'cause that's why I got them.

Now look, look, look, look, look If we have an opportunity to go as far into His presence if we would just get out of the way I'm asking us as a church to-- I'm asking us as a church to see how far we can go together without going, "Or why you ain't doing what I'm asking you to do?" I'm asking us to not bring outside influences into God's house and trying to get God to change it.

It won't happen here, I'll tell you The Bible says that know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of God dwells within you.

It's not just the church house.

It's when you're at home.

It's a sacred place because the Spirit of the living God lives there.

Some of you may need to go home today and go, "You, spirit of X, is evicted."

All right.

"That attitude is evicted."

All right.

You may need to, like my mama used to do and we do today, you may need to go get you some olive oil and go, "All this house belongs to you again.

For everything that I've allowed in here, this place is sacred place, and I declare that when I wake up every single morning and my feet hit the ground, that my heart of gratitude and honor will pour out Anything can happen.

Listen, we read about the giants, but living on the inside of all of us is the same seed You're a story waiting to happen We said this, when my faith-- I'm sorry, when my view of God shrinks, my faith becomes cynical.

We said that last week.

I don't know if He can do it.

I tried Him the last time.

I don't know why we do all that.

Is that necessary? Is, is it necessary to serve in God's house? Is it necessary? Is it necessary to give? Is it necessary for me to have my quiet time? Is it necessary for me to gather? The church is in me Is it necessary for me to witness about Jesus? They'll hear.

There's a lot of pastors and churches.

Everything's on YouTube now Write this one down.

This is fresh.

I got convicted.

Because the Bible says that Uzziah had God's favor in a crazy way.

So much so that other people, nations, whatever it may have been, are going, "We wanna help you fulfill the vision that God has obviously given you."

Watch this.

When my view of God shrinks, my faith becomes selfish.

My faith becomes selfish God, you do for me Or I I, I, one of the phrases that make me cringe every time, and it's a natural term in business, but it's, they'll say this: self-made, dot, dot, dot.

I'm like, ooh, may we never say.

Like, we try to guard, they built a...

Ooh.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we did nothing.

Unless the Lord builds it, you labor and I labor in vain.

Unless the Lord's watching you staying up late at night all by yourself Like, let's be careful that our view of God doesn't get to the place to where we're like What you gonna do for me now? You said you would.

Without going Your grace saved me.

When I cried out to you to heal my body, you showed up When I cried out to you to heal my family, you showed up When I didn't even believe in you you proved that you are real Here's a, here, here, I'm gonna leave you with this, 'cause I got more notes, but it's just, I, I, I gotta stop.

I gotta stop.

Who give me five more minutes? Five more.

I'm just playing, just playing.

Everybody like, "I learned now."

We're not giving you five more.

It'll turn into another, another service.

But here, here, here's this question.

I want you to think about this this week, okay? How often do we take for granted...

This is a long sentence, but I want you to listen.

How often do we take for granted the grace of God to put us in our purpose, His purpose, but over time we claim it as our own and begin a DIY project? Where I become the source, I become the resource.

I'll figure it out.

I'll come to Jesus once I'm clean.

I'll get myself right Like this is Uzziah having the awe of God, but allowing his view of God to shrink What if, we're gonna finish, just so y'all know.

Can, can I, can I continue over the next couple of weeks? Is that all right? Thanks for tuning in.

We hope that you've been encouraged by today's message.

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