Awe & Wonder Part 1

The word of God says: Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable. But as the psalmist was writing those words in Psalms 145, right after he finishes telling us and giving us — admonishing us to praise God — he says this in verse 4: One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. I sense a deep responsibility and an obligation in these words, for one generation shall praise your works to another. We have a responsibility. We have a mandate. We have his word, which tells you and I that we are to declare his praises to another generation. It's important that we never forget what we do on a regular basis, for in this place heaven touches earth. In this place the Almighty walks. His presence abides here. His Spirit lingers. We can feel it in the atmosphere. But I'm afraid, with so much in our world today vying for our attention, that we have shortened our expectation into 60-second experiences. And if we are not careful, we will relegate the same amount of time to the sovereign God when he shows up. And there is nothing, ladies and gentlemen, that compares, nor even comes close, to experiencing a sovereign move of God. That is why we never get in a rush when God decides to interrupt our plans, for he has the liberty — dare I say the right — at any moment to interject his Spirit, his will, his purpose, his plan, his power, his authority, his might, anytime he wants to. And I will gladly stand aside and stand where I'm supposed to be: in awe, in reverence of the Almighty God.

And for a little while today I'm going to preach this to you: Awe and Wonder. All in wonder. You may be seated. The word of God says in Matthew — excuse me, Mark chapter 11 verse 15: So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seeds of those who sold doves. And he would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then he taught, saying to them: Is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer to all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves? Ladies and gentlemen, this is the house of God. It is made of metal and concrete and different types of material. It was built for the purpose of worshiping God. There is a uniqueness to this place. For many of us, we have poured blood, sweat, and tears into this building. And it's not because of those things that make it special, but the reason for which it was built — its purpose, its dedication, its design, its intent. We have set this place apart, a place of fellowship with God and with his people, with his presence, with his power, and with his message, for a reason. But the church is much more than a building. For the building itself could be blown down, could burn up and go away, yet the church will continue to march on, because we are the church. It's men. It's women of God. It's the methods of God. It's the message that we preach. We that are here today, we are a part of this thing that's called the church.

And in our scripture text that I just read to you, Jesus said that all nations would notice a uniqueness, a quality, about his house that was different from any other place they would go to. They may not agree with all of his principles. They may not always agree with his methods, or even the message that was there. But there would be something about his church, something about his house, something about this place, that would cause people to stand back and say: I don't understand what's going on, but there's something special about that house. And those scriptures — the temple had become a commonplace. It had become a place that had lost its sense of respect, and worse worth. No longer were the courts considered to be holy grounds, but they had become the marketplace of the day, where things were done, where money was exchanged. It was a place where people let their animals walk through the temple, and all of the things that animals bring with them when they walk through places. It had become nothing more than the Walmart of the day. They had let the house of God become polluted. When Jesus showed up, he began to overturn the money changers, and began to take a whip and drive them out. And he began to declare what the intent and purpose of that house really was. Israel had been taken captive by Rome. They were under Roman rule. But it was not Rome that had corrupted the house of God. The irony was, it was the Jews themselves. And I come here to this pulpit today to say that Jesus said: Upon this rock I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And this thing that is called the church — if it ever fails to separate itself, to be distinguishedly, to be different, to be a separate holy place, then then then we will become overrun. We will lose the fight when we continue down a path that causes disunity. If we ever lose the glory, it would not be the world that was done it. It will be we ourselves who have forgotten what takes place inside these walls.

Paul addressed this in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12: For we wrestle not against the flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. And I know about you, but often times when I would hear this verse growing up in the church, I would immediately think to myself about the White House, and the halls of Congress, and the Senate. And then though there may be some of that today, but I want to tell you this: there is no higher place in this world than the church of the living God. Therefore, it should be no surprise to you and I that we are going to battle spiritual wickedness right here in this house. We live in a day and age where there is nothing sacred anymore. Just this past week I read a news headline where there were individuals who were doing unspeakable acts inside a church, on the very altar of the church, videotaping it. Unbelievable, that no one regards the house of God anymore as something special. It's just another building. You see, the key to maintaining this thing called the church, and the key to maintaining the uniqueness that Jesus said ought to be there, is making sure that this house is always known as a house of prayer. I know you've been hearing me preach about prayer this year quite often, but I feel like what we're going through in this day and age, what you and I have experienced in 2020, should be a wake-up call that we are not quite where we need to be. Some of us may be in better positions than others. But let me tell you this: there's always gain to be made on our knees in prayer. There's never an opportunity when we should back off from spending time with God in prayer. And if there's ever an hour that the church ought to be known for the power and prayer, it is today. It is today. He said: My house shall be called a house of prayer from all nations. Now this word "prayer" in the scripture that I read to you earlier in Mark chapter 11 — it means more than just supplication. We believe in prayer. We believe in the power of prayer. We know that prayer changes things. Prayer makes an impact in my life. Prayer makes an impact in my family. Prayer makes an impact in my city, in my nation, in my world. Prayer makes a difference. But this word has more of a meaning in Mark chapter 11. He was saying there was something there. There was a wonder that was applied to it, that when people seen his house, there should be something that was captivating to them. They may not fully understand what it was, but they were drawn into the presence of the Almighty God. When you see, and when you live a life dedicated to him, there should be something about you that distinguishes you from the world. I've said this many times over my years of preaching: if someone is surprised when you tell them you're a Christian, you're not doing something right. Now I'm not saying you have to strap the family Bible to your back and grab up a picket sign and walk around and say: The end is near. Get a mega, make a phone, and stand on the end and quote verses out. You know, if God's leading you to something that way, I'm not gonna — I'm not gonna make fun of people. But that — that God's not asking you to be a stand out, that people look at you and say: I don't know what's wrong with that person. But as I said last week when I was preaching, there should be something about you — they may not fully understand all that you do — but they are drawn into the presence of God that you are reflecting. Are you reflecting God in such a way that they are drawn to the all and wonder of who he is? Do you live in your life — do you do you present yourself in such a way that people can respect the God that you serve, even if they don't necessarily respect the decisions that you are making? See, I'm troubled that in this generation — I'm worried about that we're in danger of losing something. I'm not worried that we're going to lose our standard of holiness. I understand that as long as preachers are in the pulpit, we're going to have to confront the world at the door and say: That's not coming in this womb. That's part of the pastor's job. As I stand at the door, I'm a gatekeeper, and there's some things I say: That's not going to happen here. We don't allow that. That's commonplace stuff. It does not take place in the house of God. There's some things we're just never going to do in the house of God. You may disagree with that. You may not like it. But I'm telling you: this place is separate and sanctified. It belongs to him. It was built for a purpose. It has a reason why it exists. It is here for the healing and the restoration, and the restoring and the putting back into relationships, what is right and what has been stolen. And there are some things we simply stand against. But I also believe that we ought to be known for a whole lot more of what we're for than what we're against. I'm not afraid of us losing our talent. We have better talent we ever had. I'm not worried about us but losing our money. We're the most prosperous generation God has ever had. But what I fear is there may come an hour when this thing called the church will begin to traffic in a truth that no longer feels. Do we live the part, but we don't always understand the why behind what we live? That's a very dangerous place to be. Because when you don't fully understand the why behind things, often it's easy to walk away and drop what you don't feel is no longer important.

In Navy SEAL training, often times you hear people say terms like this: Well, they just — they they they let themselves rise up to the occasion. They they they they they rose up and met the enemy there. But everything I've read about the the best of the best, the the elite forces that train, is: you don't rise up and do your best in those moments. Instead, you fall down. You fall down to the basics of training that you have. That's why it's important, Apostolics, that we understand why it is we do the things we do. You have a good knowledge base and operation on why we live this apostolic life. It's not just because we're trying to be different, or fulfill that peculiar people that the word of God says we're supposed to be. But that I have a good understanding of why it is God has always desired for his people to be separate and dedicated and uniquely different upon appearance in this world — that I belong to something bigger than me. I am not my own man. I was bought. I was bought with a price. A very high price was paid for me, and I am not my own. I don't get to have my own will and my own agenda. I have to ask what his will is and his agenda purse, and then I can come back on the backside and decide what it is I need to do in my life. But if we're not careful in the day and age we live, and we'll fall down into something that we don't truly believe or feel — I feel there come an hour when we'll have singers come to the platform for the purpose of performing rather than praising, and preachers filling a pulpit with the purpose of manipulating rather than ministering. Do not get me wrong: I believe in holiness and separation probably as much as anybody, if not more than anybody in this place today. But we also have to understand that you cannot behave your way into heaven. You can misbehave your way into hell, but you're not going to get in off brownie points. That's not what it's about. If you don't understand holiness is about paying homage to God and what he did, you're missing the point.

This is not a set of rules and regulations and law that I'm simply obeying because I don't want to get in trouble. And if I let something go, that means I'm going straight to hell. This is a heart issue. There are some things you have to settle down deep inside of you, and understand that God desires me to live a holy and separated life. And the sooner I can settle that issue, the sooner I can move forward and what he wants me to do in the kingdom. For some of you, you've been playing patty cake too long. What I — with what I feel like is simple, fundamental Christian doctrine — and yet you're still struggling with whether or not it's necessary, if it's a heaven or hell issue. My God, wake up. It's time to quit playing. It's time to get serious. We're living in the last days. One more has to happen to let you know God's coming back for a people called by his name.

And you can sit back and soothe yourself with some kind of patty cake religion, some kind of — sorry, I hit him in the face. He's a big guy, Michael, I'm sorry — soothe yourself with some kind of: It's not necessary. Grandma was a little bit crazy. You take your chances, if that's what you want. But I'm afraid on rapture day there's going to be a whole lot of surprise people. I'm not willing to take that chance. I'm not willing to play around with things that deal with eternity. There are some things I'll take a chance on, but there's some things I'm not willing to take that risk. See, I'm afraid that because we we have decided inside ourself what is right and what is wrong, and we discount the validity of scripture when we use terms like: I know what the Bible says, but — who, you are in a dangerous place if you say: I know what the word of God says, but. That sentence should just say: I know what the word of God says. I know what the word of God says, because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's a God that doesn't change. He hasn't changed his mind. He hasn't decided that what I wrote here was just for a generation back then. No sir. No ma'am. His word is forever settled. His word will always come to pass. His will will always be done. The only question that is up for grabs is whether or not you're going to be obedient. We are saved by grace, and that night of ourselves — it is a gift to God. Holiness does not save you. Holiness is homage we pay to God because he has saved us. The first and the greatest commandment — when he was approached and asked in Matthew chapter number 22, he said in verse 36: Master, what is the greatest commandment of the law? And Jesus said in him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second — I can't stop with one, because there's two — and the second is like it: Thou shalt love the neighbor and the self. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Jesus says: On these two hang all the law and the prophet. Every thou shalt and every thou shalt not hangs on those two commandments. And every time I stand in this pulpit, I only have two purposes in which I should be preaching, and that is to make you fall more in love with God, or to make you fall in love with the brother or sister that's beside you. Any other preacher preaching any other thing is out of order. I am not to preach my agenda. I am not to preach what is just on my soapbox for the moment. But everything I preach has to go back to those two commandments, because Jesus himself said: On these two hang all the law in the commandments. So I better be preaching you to a way to where you love God more, or you love your brother and sister more, or I'm out of order.

Psalms 33 8: Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let the inhabitants of the world stand in all of him. I'm afraid, without even knowing what's happened, we've lost the wonder and the respect of God. We don't quite regard him like we used to when we first encountered him. How many of you remember those first moments with God? How many of you remember those those times when you were there, and oh, it was unreal? It was like anything we've never felt before. It was a new experience, and it lifted our hearts and our minds and our emotions to heights they never experienced before. And we were willing to do anything. God could have called us anywhere, and we were willing in that moment: God, yes, I'll go. When's the last time you felt that way? Was it just a one and done? Was it just something to check off your list, like other experiences in life? I don't feel like that's what God desires of you. I don't feel like that's a relationship he's looking for. Psalms 89 verse 7: God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. I love studying the nature of God, and his many names, and his his many images. And and through these, you can get a glimpse through his personality and who he is through scriptures, as as it begins to describe God: God our redeemer, God the judge, God's our God, God our creation. And we know him. There's so many names that go on, much more than I have time in this sermon today to talk about. But I dare say, one of the verses that that inspires me the most — and I would say one that that most of us in the room even have committed to memory today — is Isaiah 9 6, where it says: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful. I feel like the prophet Isaiah, as he's pinning these words, and he begins to think of the names of God and what's going to go on — he he stops at Wonderful first. For regardless of what follows that, none of it matters if you lose the wonder of God. You can't afford to lose the all and wonder of who God is. I'm so thankful that he is my provider. He is my waymaker. I'm so thankful that he's my banner on high, that he's my healer. He's my redeemer. He's my savior. He is all those things. But first and foremost, he's Wonderful. He is Wonderful. There is nothing that compares to God. If we ever lose the wonder, if we ever lose the all, if we ever live the reverence, none of the other names really matter.

I was privileged in my life. I've been born and raised in church. It doesn't make me any better than anybody else. I remember being 12 years old. I remember February the 12th, 1989, on Spring Street. I remember where I was standing when God filled me with his Spirit, evidence and speaking in other tongues. I remember that day. I remember what a difference it made in my life. I remember how great I felt in that moment. I remember how I couldn't quit smiling after service was over with, because something had changed deep down inside of me. What a difference it had made. I began to talk about it. He was — he was not something that others talked about. He was not just a savior. He was my savior. He had filled me with his Spirit. It was something that was belong only to me. And I remember how wonderful and awesome it was. He was personal. He was real. He was wonderful. Leviticus 19 30 says: You shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. I am word that we are gaining knowledge of God, and at the same time losing our relationship with God. There's never been a generation there's more astute, that is more skilled, that's more knowledgeable with scriptures and references and themes. Yet it seems, with all the knowledge, somewhere along the way we've lost the relationship. And whom the knowledge is about, that we seemingly have become so familiar to not know him. We can spout off in quote mass quantities of scripture, but knowledge in the word itself is not enough. At some point you have to fall in love with the one in whom the word was written about. At some point you have to have a relationship with him, and fall in love, and never lose the awe and respect of who he is.

My 21 years of marriage, I realized that I've only just begun to love my wife. I'm not saying this for brownie points. I've been a good boy lately. I got some stacked up points. I'm not gonna look at her. But I want to say this: In the last couple years, she amazes me. Them give me, give me liberty, have 60 seconds to brag on my wife. She is an amazing woman. She is — she she blows me away, how she keeps us together, keeps the house going. I'll be in trouble later for doing this, I know. But you know, I've already started. And there are times when I simply stand back and I look at her, and I think: How could I love you more? But yet, in some ways, I do. I do. Another day passes, there's something else that goes on. I don't — I'm not gonna paint this picture of perfection, okay? Because you know, we we do fight quite often, daily, because we are very strong-willed individuals. My point for bringing this up was that as each year passes, my love, my thankfulness, my respect for her continues to grow. This is how God intended it to be. And if you can't say that about your spouse, then I pray that your relationship could grow to where that's the norm. But I'm going to bring this back to God now. That experience on February the 12th, 1989 — it was a life-changing moment for me. He filled me with his Spirit that day. But that was the beginning of my walk with him, not the final conclusion. It was the start. That wasn't as good as God was. That wasn't as good as God is ever going to be. It was my beginning with him. It was my Genesis. And I'm afraid that so many people stop at their beginning. Because I can tell you now, all these years later, how much my relationship with him has grown, my respect and my love and my awe and my wonder. And he continues — in fact, this is the reality that I'm in — is is the more I learn, the deeper I study, and the more time I spend in prayer, the more I realize that there's so much more that I still don't know, that he is continuing on a daily basis to reveal himself again to me anew and afresh every day. But it doesn't happen by accident. It happens because of a desire that's inside of me: that God, I don't ever want to become satisfied with just this moment. For I know that there's another moment just around the corner. There's another day coming just around the corner. I'm not keeping my relationship just so that I have something to go through the bad times. That's not what this is about. Sometimes people view God like they view insurance: that I have God if something bad happens. What kind of a relationship is that? Where's the awe and wonder? When's the last time you simply stood up and looked around at creation and just said: Oh God, how wonderful you are, that you allow me to experience this in my life. How good you are. How much you have blessed me in my life. Or have you filled your life up with so many other things, but instead of finding your satisfaction in God, you find it in all this other temporary stuff? See, there was a time in in our world when we were nowhere near as affluent as we are now, when talks about mansions in heaven, and streets of gold, and gates of pearl — there was something that that we stood back in awe and respect of those things. But now, many of you live in houses that the overwhelming — the majority of the world would call a mansion. I'm not against your house. I have a nice house too. But have we allowed those things to replace the all and the wonder and the respect that belongs only to God? We've learned how to preach, how to sing, how to be separated, how to be holy. We learn how to pray, and we've learned how to go through the motions of worship. But my fears were losing the awe and the wonder of God. We come into service. We can be engaged. We can be disengaged. It doesn't matter. We're comfortable setting on the pew either way. In my own personal life, I don't ever reach the point where I come in contact with the presence of God that doesn't create a sense of wonder in me. Oh God, help me if I ever come into an atmosphere like we've had today in this place and I'm not stirred inside that the Almighty is here. God, don't let me ever treat you like commonplace. Don't let me ever treat you like like something less than what you really are, and who you really are.

Yeah, our biggest problem is, is our vertical relationship can never overshadow the horizontal relationship I have. Our biggest problem: I will never love God more than my brother our sister that I love the least. I can't, before it violates his word. He will not go against his word. And his word says I have to love you. They didn't tell me I had to like you. But it told me I had to love you. And this relationship and this relationship are tied together. And I'm going to say that again: I'll never love him more than the one of you I love the least. Because here's the deal: You and I have never laid eyes on anyone that he doesn't love just as much as he loves you. That means every murderer, every adulterer, every child rapist — I'm not again for any of those things. It turns my stomach upside down. But he loves every one of them just as much as he loves you. In my relationship, they're tied together. Proverbs 16 18 says: Pride goeth before destruction, and a holy spirit before a fall. If we're not careful, we'll become a generation that takes more pride in being better than a brother or sister, instead of being better than the person we used to be. Because somehow we soothe our conscience, because we look around and say: Well, at least I'm not that bad. We'll look at what someone else is doing, and we convince ourselves: Well, I'm still pretty good, because I haven't done that. Be careful. Be careful. The word of God is always true. Pride goes before destruction.

There's the psalm — or excuse me, as the as the preacher — the proverbs, the wise man, says he put this verse smackdown Proverbs 16 and 18. Is is the exact middle of the book of Proverbs. It's the middle verse. There's exactly as many verses before 16-18 as there are after 16 18. The entire book revolves around that one scripture: Pride goeth before destruction. Pride. All the wisdom, all the truths, all the pearls are there. All revolve around pride. It was pride that made the devil out of an angel. It bothers me sometimes when I look around and see some of our hearts being lifted up. And the fact of the matter: we have nothing to be proud of, except what Jesus Christ has done through us. Nothing. Psalms 4 4 says: Stand in awe, and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. So hear me today: There's a definite relationship between loss of reverence and increasing condition of sin inside the church. We cannot afford for that to happen here. We have to be careful. Matthew 24 and 12 says: And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. We must be mindful, or we'll be a generation that'll lose the wonder of God. And I'm afraid because we can stand in the foyer the church and chew each other up and spit each other out, and the Holy Ghost is moving on the other side of the wall. We've got to be careful about being a generation that seems to be free to criticize our leadership, and criticize the man of God, and criticize the brothers and sisters inside the church, and get on our social media posts and put all this stuff on there, and somehow feel free, as though we are okay. You must be careful. You must be careful.

You sit around and wonder why young people don't love the truth like you do. I wonder, could it be that they've sensed a loss of wonder for God in us? When we can walk into the house of God and treat it just like any other place. When we act no different when we come in those back doors, and we act when we go on Walmart or Target. And when something doesn't go right, the first thing we do is go to customer service and bark out our demands. I'm sorry, there's no place for that in the house of God. We can come to church like it's another meeting, and the Holy Ghost can move, and we can set down and decide whether or not I'm going to engage, depending on what the man of God preaches. We've become a consumer generation that has developed a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, not only that in life, but it has spilled into the house of God. We are a generation that thinks nothing of getting up and walking out on the man of God while he's preaching. I'm gonna tell you right now: it had better been a four-alarm fire emergency when I got up to walk out when the man of God was preaching. I mean, you better me like you already started tinkling. He doesn't get him do that. Because the man of God was preaching. The word of God was being preached. There was not a more special moment in the service than that moment. You didn't get up. So you better be dying, or you were going to be dying. But what's happened — and that's not again — there's probably people in the 401 ain't going in. They're leaving right now. If you're in the foyer, it's okay. Proverbs 16 and 6: By mercy and truth iniquity is purge, and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. The scripture for this word "fear" here means reverence. Being afraid of hell is not going to keep people from evil. It's not — fear doesn't work that way. Being afraid of judgment's not going to keep people from evil. People are only going to stay away from evil when they have a true reverence and respect for God. That's why we can't ever lose the wonder.

II Corinthians 7 1: Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, lest cleanse ourself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting wholeness and the fear of God. Paul says in this verse that the only way you can be perfect in holiness is with a fear, or a wonder, of the all of God. It has to come back. We need to be careful that we don't become and get all called up and miss out. Because Paul said in Romans 11 20 — I didn't give him this verse — says: Don't be high-minded, but fear. Fear. We have to be careful not to become too high-minded in what we think and who we think we are. The only difference between the Pharisees and the disciples was that the Pharisees glory and what they did not do, and the disciples gloried in Jesus. So be very careful being high-minded and feeling superior about the things that you don't do, because you're walking dangerously close to being a Pharisee. Instead, you better have an awe and respect, and fall in love with Jesus Christ, and let that be what you live for in this world. Reverence is not optional, and sacrifice is not sufficient to develop a relationship with God. Service will never constitute a claim to Christianity, or to ministry. Hebrews chapter 11 talks about Moses. When he was coming to his years, that he chose to suffer affliction rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He could have lived in pa — in Pharaoh's palaces. He kind of wore all of Pharaoh's clothes and shoes, and lived the good life living there. But he chose not to. Instead, he spent 40 years on the backside of a desert, following a bunch of sheep around. And in the 40th year of his suffering, when he looked up on the mountainside, he seen a burning bush. And something about that caused him to wonder and have all. It says he was curious. He goes over to see what was there. And as he approaches, God begins to speak to him through the bush, and tells him: Take your shoes off, because the ground you're standing on is holy. There and then, Moses did something that blows my mind: he asked God who he was. For 40 years Moses suffered for God. He didn't know. And I'm asking you, Apostolics — a few you long timers in here — do you understand who it is you truly are serving? Do you understand the why behind it, is why you do the things you do? Because I have seen in my own life too many people — people that I have respected, too many people that I looked up to in my life — that walked away without any hesitation or reservation, leading me to scratch my head: Did you ever even know the God you claim to serve? Don't ever put yourself in the position where you don't know who God is. Don't ever put yourself in the position where you lose the all, the reverence and respect for God.

The text I read you at the beginning this message: Jesus would not suffer any man to carry vessels through there. Why? Because he knew that they were making the house of God commonplace. When you lose your reverence for the house of God, when you lose your reverence for the bearer of the word of God, then it's just a matter of time before you lose your reverence for the word of God. We need not forget where it is we've come from, and where this church comes from. I don't ever forget those that paid a price that allowed me to be to where I am — those who literally sacrificed everything, that allow us to experience the creature comforts we have in this place today. I know full. I still remember. I remember those who sacrificed so much. I remember Brother Benson. I remember your dad, when he would show up over on Spring Street. I remember seeing him around my granddad, hearing those guys tell stories about the sacrifices they made. They didn't have big buildings like this. They didn't drive super fine cars when they started. In fact, sometimes they can't even get the car to start. Some of them, they parked them on a hill so they can roll them down and jump start them in the beginning. I remember at the end, we would go over — the youth group, we'd go over to Brother Tharp, the founding pastor of this church, and we would turn his mattress over every couple of weeks, because he couldn't afford to buy a new mattress. How many of those men we stand on their shoulders today, because they still hadn't all — they they didn't regret. They didn't have any regrets. They didn't turn back from those things. Oh sure, they would have loved to had a few more things in their life. But they didn't do it because of that, because they had settled in their mind a long time ago that God had done a work in their life, and God had called him into something higher. It didn't matter about the money. He didn't matter about the status. It was about the all and the reverence and respect that God called them. God could have called anybody, but God called them. God called them to do something great. It wasn't about what was going to come. It was about fulfilling what God was doing in their life.

I know I've been waxing on a long time. The truth, the matter is, I have as many notes as I had for two sermons today. Esau sold his inheritance. And please listen to me, I'm getting ready to close. What he sold was not anything physical. Because the best I can tell, through studying the scriptures, he inherited off his dad's flocks. He inherited all his dad's land. He got it all. I can't find anywhere in scriptures that that wasn't the case. But what he forfeited was the intangible that's called the blessing of God. He gave it away for a bowl of beans. Why? Because somewhere along the way, Esau lost the wonder of the relationship with God. And when you lose the wonder, your fleshly appetite will rule you, and you'll trade off the blessing of God for a temporary moment of pleasure. Please listen to me, I'm getting ready to close, but don't miss this point. He saw — Hebrews 12 says this, verse 16: Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. David was a murderer. David was an adulterer. But he found a place of repentance. Samson was a fornicator, but he found a place to repent. Jacob was a deceiver and a supplanter, but he found a place to repent. But Esau found no place to repent. Because when you lose the wonder, you lose any common ground on which you can even approach God. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then surely irreverence is the beginning of stupidity, to cast away all that is important because you don't think it's worth anything.

Our problem is that we are so blessed that we're like the house of Abinadab. Israel lost this. And I am ending. I've got to end. I got more. I'm going to walk away from my notes so that I can end. So musicians, y'all come. Otherwise we'll be here till tomorrow. But listen to me as I end this. Israel had lost the ark of the covenant. For those who don't know: the ark of the covenant, to the Israelites — it was the, it was the visible, it was the physical representation of the presence of God that was in the camp. And in, on many occasions, that ark had had come into the middle of a battle. And when it did, the presence of God was there with the ark, and they were victorious. So they decided to go out and and fight the Philistines. And and they're getting whooped pretty good. And somebody says: Hey, why don't we go get the ark? Because when we get the ark, we always win. But the problem is, they had began to treat the things of God like it was common. Somewhere along the way they lost the respect and the importance of having a relationship with God. So when they go to get the ark, and they march it into the battle — this is, this is how unaware they are: they don't even realize the presence of God's not with them. They don't. Because that's what happens when you lose the all and the wonder and the respect, is, is when you walk away, you walk away and you don't even realize God's not going with you.

It wasn't about the physical box, even though it was pretty and it was overlaid with gold. That wasn't what the — the box was just a box without the presence of God. That's all it was. It was just a pretty box. And they go marching into battle with their pretty box, thinking: This is going to be like every other time we've done this. We're going to go in, and because we got the pretty box, we're going to win. But they lost the box. The Philistines whipped them and took the box from them. There's a whole lot goes in that story — I'm not going to give you — but I'm going to get to where I am right now. Eventually, the Philistines didn't like the box, because it was doing bad things where they were, because God was punishing them. So they sent it back on a cart to Israel again. Because they don't understand the importance of the relationship, they don't even go put the box back where it goes. Instead, it just gets to Benadab's house, and they're like: I just let it stay there. So it stays at the Benadab's house for a while. In fact, his family grows up around it. Ben Dave had a son named Azza. Huzza came home from school of covenants in the living room. He's playing with his buddies. Ark of the covenants there. He just becomes something. It's like a piece of furniture at his house. In fact, it gets to the point he doesn't even really think much about it. It's just there. But then one day David's king, and they decide to start doing things right. David's trying to bring him back to an understanding of respect and a reverence for the things of God. And he says: You know what, we need to go get the ark of the covenant back. We need to go get the pretty box. So they go down to get the pretty box. But nobody takes the time to read what the word of God says about how you are to handle the things of God. So they just put on the cart, and they're heading back. And and all of a sudden, on the way back, the cart hits a pothole. And when it does, the pretty box shifts on the cart. And and there's Aza. He's — he's been there. He's watching the the pretty box go back to Jerusalem, and he just sticks his hand out to try to catch the pretty bucks. And for such a long time, I had a hard time with this. Because it seemed like Azza was just trying to do something nice, right? It seemed respectful. But what happened is, as he reached out to steady that box, God struck him dead.

Because only the priest would bear the ark. And then it hit me one day: he grew up with the ark in his house. For him, it just became commonplace. For him, it was just like a piece of furniture. For him, he didn't think anything about touching the holy thing of God. And what I don't want for this church is for us to ever get to the point that we lose the awe and the respect for the things of God, that we think it's just commonplace. When we come in and the praise team starts to sing, and we begin to worship, and his presence fills this — and we just, we can take it or leave it. I'll engage if it's a song that I know. But if it's not one of my favorites, I don't have to engage. I can just sit here in this comfy chair. And we treat the things of God as though they're coming. What a very dangerous place we get into. Please hear my heart as I finish this. Y'all come out and sing, because I'm just going to keep preaching till y'all sing. Here's the deal: Psalms 145 says for one generation to sing, to give his praise to another. That "generation" word there — you can look at it two ways. You can look at it as an older to the younger. And you can also look at it to the established to the new. But ladies and gentlemen, we have an obligation in our praise, and our worship, and our awe, and our respect, that we are telling another generation how great God is. Look, there's more — so much this — in fact, there's so much this, I'm going to be preaching again on this next Sunday. But listen to me. Some of y'all get nervous because pastor's way out in the crowd now. But I'm going back here, because look: Elders, I need you. I need you. Because here's the deal: You have lived a lot more life than we have. And I need you to tell me it's gonna be okay. I need you to tell me it's gonna be okay. Because sometimes things don't work out the way that I think they ought to. And sometimes I feel like I'm failing, and I'm going backwards, and things just not panning out. But I need you who've been a little further down the road to tell me it's okay. To tell me it's okay, that God's still good, and he's still worth the praise. I need you. We need you. This church needs you. I need the voice of that generation to tell me it's okay. No matter what comes, he's still worth the praise. No matter what happens, he's still worth the honor. No matter what goes on in your life, give him glory. If you can't give him anything, give him glory, and give him praise, because he's worthy. One generation has to tell another generation, because some things we haven't experienced yet. But I need you to tell me it's okay. I need you to be an encourager. I need you to be the one that can rally around. I don't need your strength. I need your testimony. Because I still got my strength, but I don't have your story.

So as you stand with me, don't forget what it is that God has done for you. Proverbs 22 and 10 says: Cast out this corner, and the contention shall go out. Yet strife will approach and shall cease. Luke 150: And his mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation. For them that respect him, from generation to generation. Don't let it be said of us: there was a generation that came that did not know. That did not know. Why didn't they know? Was because somewhere along the way, granddaddy and grandma, mom and dad, quit talking about it. Oh, if we talk about anything, Center Point, let's talk about the goodness of God. Let's talk about the mercy of God. Let's talk about the faithfulness of God. Let's talk about his provision and his power, and his mercy and his grace, and his miracles. Let it be constantly coming off of our lips: Our God is good. Our God is good. Why? Because God is good. He is always good. This altar's open. I think it's time that we do a little self-assessment. God, don't let me ever lose the wonder of who you are. God, don't let me ever forget how good you have been in my life. Don't let me be distracted by the things of this world, but be mindful of who you are. I invite you to come. I invite you to come find a place, a place where you can engage with him, today.