Why You Are Not Experiencing the Presence of God

all right I'm going to open up with what some of you may think is kind of a downer but it's but it's something we've got to talk about in 2022 I believe it was Bara did a study a really big study they were actually funded by a very large group of businessmen and women that wanted an answer they want to see the kingom Manifest in the country so they they actually funded Bara to do a massive study on just how many people have walked away from the faith and what Bara discovered after this massive study was that in the past 24 years over 23 million people have gone from practicing Christians to non-practicing Christians and Bara took it one step further he said they're not only non-practicing Christians but they are now professing atheist agnostics and spiritualists I have a friend who's a pastor who just said the the other day he had a couple come up to him he had three sons that were called to Ministry after all three sons went to University they are all professing agnostics now now if you look at over 23 million just 23 million is one out of every 14 Americans so not one out of every 14 people that go to church one out of every 14 Americans have literally walked away from the faith they went from attending regularly praying regularly to not even attending not even uh uh praying any long and now professing to be agnostic all right that really troubles me you know being a 65y old man and I'm looking at the church and I love the church so very much and I'm thinking wait a minute why are we losing so many people and the conclusion that I've come to is the fact that they have not experienced the true presence of God I believe the reason so many have left the church is because they didn't ex know the true presence of God and the true presence of God is a very real aspect of Christianity Jesus makes a statement in John chapter 14 he said I will love him and I will manifest myself to him that word manifest is an amazing word it means to be fully known by revealing clearly it means to bring the light it means to disclosed it is when God makes himself real to you it is when your physical senses literally sense him that's a real part of Christianity if you want to put it in simple terms it is the tangible presence of God I have been concerned that there are a lot of Believers in the United States that have learned how to live satisfied without the presence of God yet Moses makes a statement he says it's your presence that separates your people and me from all the other people that are on the earth we are told in his presence is the fullness of joy and what is Joy the joy of the Lord is our strength so why are people losing in this battle why are people slipping away why are they burning out why are they going Shipwrecked because they don't have the strength to endure the tribulations the trials the afflictions the onslaughts of the en in this day and time and let me tell you something it's more intense now than it's ever been and I've seen in my entire life and so the next question that comes up that we have to ask ourselves is why are there people that are not experiencing the presence of God why are there Christians that aren't experiencing his presence I believe the answer to that is they are not pursuing authentic Holiness H now I got I got to be really careful with this one okay I was raised Catholic but I know some people in here weren't I know some Holiness is a word that strikes fear in a lot of people and it should why should it because of the legalism that has been attached to it I mean there have been so many pastors teachers ministers that have almost used this word Holiness to beat people up and control them and bring them into a behavior that is satisfying to the teacher I mean it's quite amazing these people don't these these teachers don't even like people I mean can I say this you shouldn't be teaching the Bible if you don't like people you should be teaching physics that's what you should be doing so they would they would beat us up with a behavior that they felt was acceptable and the result is there's there's a Chinese proverb that says that the cat that's been scalded with boiling water will fear even the cool water in other words if you if you put boiling water on a cat now you put the cool water out that's going to give it life he'll run from the cool he or she will run from the cool water and so the sad thing is CS Lewis made a statement he said how little people know who think that Holiness is dull when one meets the real thing it's irresistible so I want to hopefully show you the irresistible aspect of Holiness tonight I think what happened as a result of the legalism we swung the pendulum to the complete other side we had very clever teachers that started coming along and saying something like this Holiness you don't need to be concerned about Jesus is your Holiness so you're a human being you've got needs we live in a real world don't worry about Holiness Jesus is your Holiness now the really sad thing about this is there is truth to what they're saying but it's not the complete truth because what they've done is they've long they they've put all Holiness into one bucket when in reality there's actually kind of two buckets number one would be positional Holiness what do I mean by positional Holiness well here's one of many many examples Ephesians 1:4 makes the statement he chose us in him before the foundations of the world that we should be holy and Without Blame before him and love so in other words from the foundations of The World God says we're going to create mankind God knows the end from the beginning because he's not bound to time he says these guys are going to mess up son would you be willing to go die for him Jesus goes I'll die for them right and so from the foundations of The World God created this plan and said your blood is going to be what purchases them back and cleanses them from sin and will make them stand before me as holy and righteous and so now today when a person rece receives Jesus Christ as their lord master and savior God declares them as holy positionally you're as holy and you're never going to be more holy let let me give you an example 42 years ago this October 2nd Lisa Toscano walked down the aisle of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Lafayette IND Indiana and she became my wife Lisa and I now have been married 42 years and she is not more my wife today than she was the day I married her and she is not going to be more my wife 40 years from now than the day I married her it's settled she's my wife this is what Paul is talking about here and you'll see this all over the New Testament there there is a position that God has given us and he declares that position and us to be holy but then now after Lisa and I got married her behavior changed all right I had the privilege of leading Lisa to the Lord on her first date before before she got married well let me tell you something she flirted with guys she gave them their phone number um you know she went on several dates after we got married she stopped giving guys her phone number she stopped going out on dates with other men are you are you following this so what has happened now she has a behavior that aligns with her position okay this is called behavioral Holiness okay look what Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:14-15 he says live as children of obedience I know this is a four-letter word for some people live as children of obedience to God do not conform yourselves to the evil desires that governed you in your former ignorance when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel wow this is strong but as the one who called you is Holy you yourselves also be holy in all your conduct and manner of living now what Peter is talking about is a behavior that aligns with our relationship with our bridegroom now that is something that we have to cooperate in so if we just say hey don't worry about Holiness Jesus is your Holiness we've we've told the truth as far as positioning but we have totally left off this aspect of Holiness which the Bible says is extremely important now why am I bringing this up in regard to the presence of God it's very simple the writer of Hebrews makes a statement which is where I really want to zero in on tonight he says pursue Holiness without which no one will see the Lord now I want I want to camp on this for a few minutes all right pursue interesting word this word pursue means to chase after with the intent to apprehend okay this word carries intensity and urgency so I want you to stop and think about this chasing after with the intent to apprehend something now let's revert back to our question is he talking about about positional Holiness or behavioral Holiness let's go back to the example with Lisa Lisa has a Wednesday morning Bible study that she goes to a bunch of ladies are in that Bible study with her she'll go tomorrow morning can you imagine Lisa going into that Bible study tomorrow morning say girls I I you know my prayer request today is just pray I I I I I I I I am chasing after with the intent to apprehend Being John B's wife I just want to be John B's wife I mean they'll all laugh at her and they'll say Lisa you were you became his wife 42 years ago that makes no sense but if she goes in there tomorrow morning she says girls can you pray for me I want to be a better wife behaviorally to John than I've been now that makes a lot of sense so we know right away that the writer Hebrews is not talking about positional Holiness he's talking the about the part our where our Behavior comes in us chasing after the behavior that aligns with our position now notice he says without which no one is going to see the Lord let's put that back up I want them to see it again without which no one's going to see the Lord now whoa whoa whoa whoa stop a minute what does this mean nobody's going to see the Lord okay Revelations 1:7 makes a statement it says behold he comes in the clouds and every eye is going to see him even those who pierced him at the great white Throne judgment everyone every human being that has ever lived is going to see God so it's not about seeing the Lord at the Judgment or when he comes back what is this talking about well let me give you an example of this um I have been under I think in my lifetime 12 United States presidents their decisions have affected my life I am under their rulership they make decisions I gotta I got to abide by them right unless they violate God's law law of course right but do you know in my 50 in my 65 years of living I've never seen a United States president I've never been in the presence of a United States president now don't get me wrong they have friends to see him every day they have PE he has people he works with they see him every day they're in his presence every day I've never been in the presence of a United States President conversely there are Christians they're under the rulership of Jesus his def decisions affect their lives they're under his rulership but they're not in his presence they're not seeing him I'll show you I'm not taking this out of context let's go back to what John said or what Jesus said in John 14 this is out of the Amplified it's so clear the person who has my Commandments now stop right there do you know there's over 500 Commandments in the New Testament now let me make a statement here Old Testament Commandments were were Commandments we kept to try to earn a relationship with God the Old Testament proved you can never do it you can never do it New Testament commands remember Jesus the final words he said and and and I find this is almost taboo when you say this word commands it's to go into all the world and make disciples of all Nations teaching them whatever I've commanded you okay I could rip off Commandments like crazy just in Ephesians 4 and 3 and4 the person who has my commands these commands are more of now this strengthens our relationship it's not to earn a relationship they are given to strengthen and I'll give you an example in a minute okay I'll give you an example person who has my commands and keeps them is the one who really loves me and I will love him and I will show reveal manifest myself to him and now look at this and I will let myself be clearly seen by him pursue Holiness without which no man will see the Lord now why is seeing the Lord so important because the Bible says as we Behold Him we are changed from glory to glory if we're not beholding him we're not now here's my concern I know this is a very serious it's not a Rah R message tonight and it's not supposed to be okay I'm hoping that well I'm not hoping I know that the word of God that you're hearing tonight here's what I believe it's going to protect you because there is so much deception out there today and this is caused so many to walk away okay because in the last days people are going to turn aside from the truth and they're going to find teachers that will itch their ears okay now why don't I commit adultery against my wife Lisa I'm going to I'm going to set up a relationship with Jesus after I give you this example there's a reason I don't want to commit adultery against Lisa now let me give you the two that I don't want to talk about that are actually the top two number one I Fear God number two um I would be dead she um she is a sharpshooter I'm not kidding and she told me if you commit adultery I'll make it painless and she's cilian Italians feed you Sicilians kill you just go watch watch The Godfather okay now let me get back to being serious there is a reason I don't commit adultery against my wife why why don't I commit adultery against my wife here's the deal let me set this up like this I got a marriage certificate I got it 42 years ago that certificate says I'm legally married to Lisa I could hold that certificate up say hey I'm married to you but if I'm committing adultery I may be technically married although it's not going to last very long but here's what I lose here's what I lose I lose the moments when her head's on the pillow my head's on the pillow and she shares with me the Intimate Secrets of her heart that she doesn't share with any other human being the reason I don't commit adultery against Lisa B is I don't ever want to lose that intimacy of when she says looks me in the eye and tells me things that she would never tell another human being I don't ever want to lose that that is more valuable to me than anything okay you want to know know why I don't commit adultery against Jesus say what commit adultery stop James writes 15 times my brothers and sisters he's not talking to unbelievers he's talking to the church he said are you seeking a friendship with the world you are an adulterer and he said I'm going to actually say it again so anytime a Hebrew writer repeats something it's really important you are an adulterer see can you imagine any young man in America let's say say the guy's name is Matt and Matt gets down on his knees he opens up this little ring box and he looks at Angela he says baby would you marry me and Angela squeals and go yes I'll marry you yes oh my gosh this will be wonderful and she goes you know oh Matt we're going to have such a great life but you know you know I I I I I dated I I went study with Peter for uh two years in college I I I want to give him a couple nights a year and and Tony was my high school boyfriend and I would like to give him a couple nights a year but you know um hey you'll be my favorite I love you more than Tony or Peter and you'll have 360 nights a year is there any young man in the United States of America that would accept that any any young man any young man in the United States of America who would accept that yeah we look at our bridegroom he chooses he's my Creator and he chooses to come into this curse World knowing knowing he's going to be despised he's going to be mocked insulted lied about spit in the face punched in the mouth have his beard plucked out Thorns jammed into a skull whipped with lead tip whips and beat so profusely that by the time he gets to the Cross his appearance will not even be any longer of a human being he knows it because Isaiah prophesied it Isaiah 52:53 he knows it and yet he says yes because he loved you that much and you and we think he's going to have a bride that says let me just let me just have a two or three nights with the world in bed a year let me just have a couple of these lovers that you actually had Nails driven into your hands for let me H let let me let me flirt with them let me give them my phone number let me go out in a date with them and then we wonder why we're not experiencing his presence it's not legalism it's not legalism because here's the deal and I'm going to show you this before the night's out he gave us the ability to live this way to live a holy life not only did he tell us heyy I want you to have a behavior that matches your Holiness but he empowered us to live that behavior still with me now Paul says something that I just think gets overlooked he writes in second Corinthians he says as God has said I will live in them and walk among them I mean we read that and go that's nice yes he lives in me he walks with me would you stop stop and think about who he's talking about I mean Isaiah is a godly man he's the most godly man in all of Israel in Isaiah 5 he's saying woe to the wicked woe to those who are proud wo to those who who call evil good and good evil Isaiah 6 God decides I'm going to bring him and I'm put him right in front of the throne he obviously takes him out of his body and puts him right before the throne room of God and when Isaiah sees the Lord he sees these massive angels and one is crying to the other holy and they're crying holy so loud they're shaking a building an arena that seats over a billion beings in heaven they're shaking it to its foundations and these you know we made a hem out of it but these angels are not singing a song They're responding to what they see every moment another facet of his glory is being revealed and all they can do is cry holy and what's amazing is they're not crying faithful faithful faithful is God faithful yes you better believe he's faithful but that's not his attribute that stands above all others they're not crying love love love is God love yes he is love but that's not his attribute that stands above allers they're crying holy and when Isaiah sees the Lord he doesn't go dude man there he is wow finally seeing a man upstairs whoa this is a cool moment no literally this man is on his face and he's crying out woe is me I I wish give us some scriptures guys it's in there I'm I promise you yeah he woe is me I mean this is the most godly man in Israel he has one glimpse of the Lord and now he realizes who he really is before this holy God it's no longer woe to those who call evil good and good evil the woe to The Sinner it's now woe is me I mean God himself said there is nobody on the planet more righteous than job nobody job has one Glimpse he sees see Isaiah saw the Lord woe was me because my eyes have seen job makes the statement I've heard you by the hearing of the ear my eyes sees you I utterly abhor myself because what he realizes who he is before this magnificent holy God so all of us have heard him by the hearing of the year we have preachers preaching it all the time in every Church in America every Sunday every conference so did job but now he sees him and he goes I utterly abhor myself Moses sees the Lord Moses who's so close to God most godly man probably on the planet at the time he was the most humble man and he says so terrifying was the sight I said I am exceedingly afraid when he saw him John the Apostle was so close to Jesus but yet he sees him on the island of Pat and he falls down like a dead man this is why we have to see him yeah see here's what God did he said I hide myself Isaiah 4515 you are God who hides yourself he hides himself to see if we'll turn in by pursuing Holiness and get a glimpse and be changed like job like Isaiah like Moses like like John or if we'll just hear him by the hearing of the ear and then be a complainer like job for 30 chapters still with me Oswald Chambers said oh no no I don't want to read that I uh I want to keep going because I I don't want okay let let me let me help you understand this we are being so bombarded with talented athletes beautiful Hollywood actors and actresses Guru businessmen on social media mainstream media all our media that it's making it hard to turn in I'm going to I'm going to give you example when my my boys my boy boys were um my boys were like 12 to 4 it was in the mid1 1990s there was a certain NBA basketball player that was the basketball player of all times you all know his name his name is Michael and I'm walking around my house and I'm just hearing about Michael too much their friends come over I hear about Michael they talk about Michael there's posters now up in the room with Michael and it got to the point where it started it started annoying me now I I'm a I'm a friend of Michael's mother okay Dolores I have nothing against Michael matter of fact I do think he's the best basketball player it's ever played okay I agree so I have no problem with that but I didn't like how enamored they were with the glory of this man does that make sense so I'm I'm getting more and more frustrated and we get invited to preach at a church on the east coast of America and this church put us up right on the beach and I remember the Atlantic was really stirred up that day and so the boys were body surfing being thrown by the waves they had sand in their suits in their mouths in their hair right and we all come in they all wrapped themselves in their towels all four of them with Lisa and I open up the sliding glass door because I wanted them to hear the pounding ocean and I looked at him and said guys that's a pretty big ocean out there isn't it or pretty powerful ocean out there isn't it I go oh yeah yeah I said pretty big ocean too he go oh yeah I said you know what you can only see one mile that ocean goes another 4,000 miles and I said there's one on the other side that's even bigger and there's two others beside that I said do you know God weighed every drop of water that water in the palm of his hands and I said and you're impressed that this guy can jump from the 15t line have the ball in the palm of his hand and put it through a little [Applause] hole okay they said Dad see then I start telling about the heavens because the heavens declare his glory his greatness he said Dad we got it we got it we got it and you know what they still enjoyed the NBA games but it was back in perspective does that make sense so now let's go back to this okay God as God has said and he's he's about to make a string of promises here number one I'm going to live in them so stop and think about who you just heard about 2 Corinthians 6:16 guys if you just put it up again if you stop and think about what you're he I will live in them the one I have just talked about for the last several minutes I will live in them so see he hides his glory are we going to be enamored by what's all around us in this world that has no glory in comparison or are we going to see his glory in our hearts because the glory of God is revealed in the face of Christ Jesus and we have this treasure in Earth and vessels so if I pursue Holiness I get a greater Glimpse and the better the Glimpse I get the more I change so God says I'll live in them I'll walk among them I'll be their God they shall be my people then he says I will be your father and you shall be my sons and daughters so I counted seven promises right so now here's the key statement 2 Corinthians 7:1 because we have these seven promises I just listed beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness everybody say all notice it doesn't say 99% so in other words Lisa doesn't say to me I'll give up every boyfriend except for one when we got married she didn't say that let us cleanse ourselves from all filthy now notice it doesn't say the blood of Jesus is going to cleanse us whoa whoa whoa whoa John you're telling me the blood of Jesus doesn't cleanse me never never what I am saying is don't you confuse the work of justification with the work of sanctification there's a big difference the moment I got saved the blood of Jesus cleansed me from all unrighteousness all sin and I was declared righteous right I positionally became holy but the work of sanctification is what is done inside of us Works its way out that we have to cooperate with we have to cleanse ourselves by the power of His grace from all filthiness of the Flesh and spirit perfecting Holiness not in the love of God but in the fear of God we'll talk about that in a moment now look at this I want to focus in on cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and spirit I think the flesh is pretty obvious VI I don't need to go into that first Thessalonians let me just read a couple scriptures God Will's will for you is to be holy so stay away from all sexual sin why are we talking about this more how come I keep meeting people that tell me I'm a born again Christian and I'm living with my boyfriend I don't get it it's because we're not talking about it do you know how many people are actually living together I I I I know of somebody who works for an International Ministry or boyfriend just said why don't you move in he's a born again believer thank God she had enough sense to say there is no way I'm moving in with you God's will is for you to be holy so stay away from all sexual sin he rejects us doesn't reject man he rejects God have we ever have we ever even really talked about the fact that Hebrews 133 says the marriage bed is undefiled but those that commit adultery and have sex before marriage God will judge how come we don't talk about it how come we don't talk about pornography 67% of the men that go to church regularly watch pornography regularly hey it was a sevene struggle or sixe struggle for me to get free I was bound to it I'm not being the guy that throwing stones I had a 6year struggle and on May the 5th 1985 God said May 6th 1985 god Set Me Free and I'm still free today thank God but it's because I had teachers I had fathers one was Lester somra who addressed it he didn't skirt it he went right at it and talked to me and said stop it and it caused me to search and seek and at the end of a 4-day fast I was completely set free I remember I'm on a radio interview and I'm preaching about Matthew 7 about many are going to call me Lord yet I'm going to say I don't even know who you are you who practice sin and the radio announcers said wait a minute wait a minute what about oh come on all these guys that are looking at pornography and all that you know come on I said hey are you trying to tell me that the blood of Jesus is just strong enough to get us free from the penalty of sin but it's not quite strong enough to get me free from the bondage of sin is that what you're telling me that what you're telling me on the on a live radio program that went all over Minneapolis I said sorry you're too late with me you can't tell me that cuz I was bondage to progra from the age of 11 to 25 completely I had a spirit lust up to my eyeballs after I got saved I said but I got free and I'm free today don't tell me that's not [Applause] true Paul says don't fool yourselves those who indulge in sexual sin who worship idols commit adultery practice homosexuality or thieves or greedy people or drunkards or abusive or cheap people none of these will inherit the kingdom of God don't fool yourselves okay I want to focus on this one in the last couple minutes I have with you filthiness of the spirit what is that that's our intentions our thoughts and our motives Paul makes the statement in first Thessalonians our purpose is to please God not people he alone examines the motives of our heart that's huge motives are driven listen to this motives are driven by who we desire to please okay now in order to really understand this you got to understand that every human being has three images everybody say I got three images what's our three images first of all our perceived image what is my perceived image that's the way people perceive me second projected image what is that that's the way I project myself I will project myself the way I want to be perceived third is our actual image that is the image God sees and that is the image that's going to be revealed before everyone at the Judgment seat now perceived image is not always positive there were a lot of people thought Jesus was a drunkard a glutton a wine Biber a friend of sinners his perceived image by a lot of people wasn't that great but yet God the father said his actual image is this is my beloved Son and I'm really pleased with him now the question comes down is are we going to be motivated by how people perceive us which will actually put my emphasis on how to project myself or will I be motivated by my actual image and that is the way God sees me that is going to drive my motives and intentions if you will remember there was a man and a woman in the church in Jerusalem and they brought an offering and laid it at Peter's feet there is absolutely nothing wrong with them bringing that offering and giving it to the work of God what was wrong was their motive now a lot of people really get confused over this situation but if you look at acts 5:1 it says but there was a certain man named ananas now look this is acts 5 verse one the beginning of the chapter can I tell you as an author I have never started a chapter with the word but these chapters and verses got added later this is one long letter the reason people don't understand this is because in the very last verse of chapter 4 we have this Barnabas a levite of the country of Cyprus having land sold it and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet if you own land in Cypress back then it's like owning land on Manhattan or in Newport Beach today you were Rich he sells this land and probably I'm going to modernize this puts $8 million at Peter's feet now I can only imagine okay well wait a minute let's just let's continue on here then we see this but there was a certain man named ananas so Barnabas bringing this offering created a response out of ananas and Safara I can only imagine they had a gift of giving how many of you know there are gifts that God puts in the church mind's teaching preaching right Pastor Jacob leading preaching teaching right we celebrate those gifts we celebrate Gifts of hospitality we should celebrate the gift of hi giving because it is a gift and it gets attention doesn't preaching get attention doesn't giving get attention so so and that's I I believe the reason they brought it and put it at the feet Fus because they wanted everybody glorifying God an an IAS and saire probably the biggest givers in the church probably started out being so thankful they were saved the apostles are looking for leadership abilities all of a sudden they were like oh man this couple's got this this this and they eventually came forward as a as real givers for the kingdom well all of a sudden all the eyes go on the new guy Barnabas anas and Safa creates a reaction they go out and sell their biggest plot of land but they go man this is way too much money to give we only want to appear to give it all see this is projected image so they bring let's say they sell the land for 12 million they bring six million and lay it at Pier's feet there's nothing wrong with the offering what's wrong is the motive and the motive created what they said this is everything we got that created the LIE the filthiness of the spirit created the LIE which they didn't address they wanted people to notice them they were insecure because their relationship with Jesus wasn't strong enough they were deriving their satisfaction from their gift rather than from their relationship with God see why is it that ministers can ha Shipwrecked because on social media their friends are projecting all this image and then all of a sudden they're like oh my church hasn't grown in in two years what's to 2,000 in two years what's wrong with me and so all this projected images going out there instead of realizing that my greatest treasure is my relationship with Jesus do you know one of the greatest things that happened to me was Co now I know it was terrible for everybody else it was terrible for most people but it was wonderful because that year I said all right I'm going to absolutely pull away every single Day in 2020 and I want to connect with God I want to have I want to I want to connect you know when you pray and you don't connect and you know when you connect that year changed my life it changed me it solidified what was important to me I've stood in front of so many probably Millions if you look at media and you look at in live and I realize this doesn't satisfy because the relationship I have here is so much greater ananas and safire are drawing drawing their satisfaction from their gift instead of their relationship and now they're projecting something social media almost teaches us us to do that now don't get me wrong we've got I I we've got millions of followers I I mean I've got 750,000 followers on just Instagram hey we use it but I don't care what people think my wife is always like you are not phased At All by all these things I said no I'm not at all to be honest with you Lisa I'm just using it as a tool to talk to people they fell over dead this man and wife Peter said why has Satan filled your heart so that you would lie to the Holy Spirit he falls over dead his wife Falls over dead they bear him you know what the Bible says great fear Came Upon the whole church I want you to see it put it up for me great fear everybody say great fear fear the word great there is the Greek word megas we get our English word Mega out of it Mega fear filled the entire church all right what do we got here we got a church that loved God but lack the holy healthy fear of God okay what puts the fear of God in you the realization of his glory his greatness it creates an awe of you the fear of God is not to be scared of God it's actually being terrified of being away from him the fear of God was actually Jesus's delight and that's what kept Him strong all the way through the cross do you know that the Bible tells us the fear of God is God's treasure the fear of God is Jesus's Delight this is why Paul then says Holiness is guys I'm going backwards I'm jumping all over Holiness is perfected or matured in the fear of the Lord I've gone over time now and I want to say this I believe back in the n 19 early 1990s God spoke to me I I got saved at the very tail end of the Jesus Revolution I love that movie oh Andy Irwin is a good friend I just I've looked at him time and time again and said thank you to you and John for doing that movie I got saved at the tail end of the Jesus Revolution Jesus Revolution we found out our daddy loved us we got it delivered us from legalism we found out God is love I mean man it was so wonderful but I believe with all my heart because in 1990 the early 90s God spoke to me and he said the next major move of my spirit on the earth see we've had the Brownsville we've had the the pockets we haven't had one that's really covered the whole country but we're about to and God spoke to me in 1990 and he said the next one that comes that covers the covers the earth is going to be a move of the Holy fear of God after he spoke that to me I start reading my Bible and I realize that there's only one description of the church that Jesus is coming back for one description it's not a leadership church I believe in leadership it's not a Community Church I believe in community it's not good that man's alone it's not a Relevant Church I believe in relevance you're never going to win the loss without relevance the one and only description of the church that Jesus is coming back for is a holy church without spot without wrinkle which means we're unspotted with the world we're not tarnished by the world we're not flirting with the world we're a glorious church and What Makes Us glorious is our Holiness do you know what makes look at the angels look at God and cry out holy right because every moment his glory is being revealed they cry holy what's going to make the church glorious is her Holiness when the world sees she be so committed to the point of death whether I live or whether I die May Christ be magnified in my body that's what Paul says when the church begins to Walk This Way and it's available it's available God has given us the ability in this salvation package and I wish we would preach it this doesn't put you into bondage this should Empower you because the fear of the Lord see the reason Jesus delighted in him is because he knew that Holiness would be maintained totally throughout his life they would not fall away from the father if he walked in the fear of God that would maintain his set apartness to the father when we begin to pursue Holiness in the fear of the Lord that is when we will start walking away from things that we couldn't get free from I'm telling you it's true because that's when God's grace comes into our life and changes us I hope you can see tonight that God is asking no more from us than what we would ask from our spouse all Lisa asks of me is that I keep my heart loyal to her I make stupid mistakes oh she is been so mad at me oh my gosh she's been so angry but she so deeply loves me because she knows my heart is loyal to her I am 100% loyal to her

Channel: John Bevere

Views: 174,936

Keywords: presence of god, holy spirit, jesus christ, john bevere, mistreated, forgiveness, john bevere sermons, john bevere holy spirit, john bevere bait of satan, unforgiveness, john bevere god where are you, the bait of satan, how to forgive, christianity, honor's reward, john bevere 2023, sermon 2023, servanthood sermon, servant leadership, john bevere honor's reward, john bevere honor, sermon, best sermons, top sermons, john bevere sermon, pursuing holiness sermon, pursuing holiness

Id: RvQrMi9rDmw

Length: 49min 38sec (2978 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 03 2024