All Your Soul

If you are with us for the first time today, we have just started a five-month series that we are simply calling God First, where we are searching the scriptures to discover what it means to truly put God first in every area of our life, understanding and settling that there is no power in the partially surrendered life. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all of these other things would be added unto us, that everything that would flow into our lives that are meaningful and good would flow out of God being first in our life. And this principle of God being a priority is from cover to cover in all of the Bible. And we have been using this particular verse in Luke's gospel as a launching pad for these particular four weeks as we study these four specific things. Here's what it says. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him, that is Jesus, to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, what's written in the law? How do you read it? In other words, what did the Spirit of God give to Moses in the Torah that would represent eternal life and what comes first? And he answered, well, here's what he said.

You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, with all of your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said to him, that's right. You answered this correctly, and if you do this, you will inherit eternal life. This exchange is actually recorded in several of the gospels, but in Matthew's gospel, it says something very unique and poignant when Jesus talks about this. Loving God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind. He literally calls it the first and the greatest commandment. The first and the greatest commandment. That means it's a big deal. For Jesus himself to call it that means that we should pay very close attention to it. But what we're doing these four weeks is what does it mean? What does it actually look like to love God with all of our heart? We talked about it last week. What does it mean to love him with all of our soul? What's it look like to love him with all of our strength and all of our mind? We're unpacking this over these four weeks. And last week, we talked about what it means to love him with all of our hearts. And we found out it means to love him passionately, to put some mustard into it, man. Not to just give him half of our heart,

but all of our heart. And we were in Revelation chapter two, where Jesus addresses this church called Ephesus, and he commends them for three wonderful things that they did. They were committed to purity. They were committed to protecting the gospel and the fidelity of the gospel. And they were purpose-driven. They were mission-minded. They believed the kingdom of God should advance. And he said, these are wonderful things. This is the hallmark of a great church. But there's just this one thing that I've seen in your life. You've not lost your love for me. Jesus said, the problem is you've lost your first love for me. I'm no longer the priority of your life. So no matter where you go in the Bible, you see this issue of priority. And that means to love him with all of our heart. Well, this week, we're gonna look at what it means to love him with all of our soul. And this speaks to the issue of intimacy. It speaks to the issue of intimacy with God. It's why whenever we get really honest and close with someone, and we're transparent, and we begin to open up with them about significant issues in our lives,

we use this phrase, we call it bearing our soul. Because you don't do that with strangers. You don't do that with people that you don't know well. You don't do that with people off the street or just people you have a casual relationship with. You only bear your soul with people with whom you have a deep and intimate connection. So if to love God with all of our heart is to love him passionately, then to love him with all of our soul means to know him personally. It means to know him intimately, to not settle for a common relationship with God, to not settle for a cavalier or a casual relationship with God, to not just know about him, but to actually know him personally and know him intimately, to be close, to be proximate, to be personal in your development and relationship with God. And today I wanna show you a moment from a famous man's life who wanted anything but a casual relationship with God. He wanted a deep and desperate and intimate relationship with God. And God answered this prayer and his name is Moses. We're gonna be in Exodus chapter 33 today and Exodus chapter 34. But before we just jump into the text, let me pick you up at what happened

in chapter one through chapter 32, just in case you're not familiar with the Bible or know where we are in the scripture. At this time, God has delivered the people of Israel after 400 years of slavery in Egypt, he raised up Moses to deliver the people of God. They have been delivered through a miraculous series of plagues. Pharaoh says yes, then he changes his mind and says no, gets his army together, pursues the people of Israel. And when they get to the Red Sea. God miraculously and supernaturally parts the Red Sea, they walk across on dry ground, the enemies follow, God folds the sea back up over them, killing their enemies, and on the other side, God just keeps being gracious to the people of Israel. He rains manna and bread from heaven every morning for them to eat in the middle of the desert, he gives water from a rock, he brings quail into their life for meat, all of these wonderful, gracious things. And then in chapter 32, he brings Moses up on the mountain to give him the Ten Commandments as a way of instructing his people to live different and segregated from the rest of the world, and it was a beautiful thing. The problem with the people of Israel is that you're gonna see this up and down relationship with them and God. They are fickle, they are stiff-necked,

they are difficult people, and even while Moses is on the mountain getting the Ten Commandments, they are down in the camp, melt all their gold together, create this false god out of a golden calf, and they are worshiping this idol after God has done all of these things for them. And God speaks to Moses and said, they're doing it again. I can't believe these people, you need to get down there and fix this. And so when Moses comes down off the mountain, he's got the Ten Commandments, but he's so frustrated and angry, he throws them down at the calf, destroys these things, rebukes and reproves the people, and then goes back to talk with God again. And this is where we pick it up in Exodus chapter 33, because he asks something very specific of God that we're gonna look at today. Exodus 33, 12, and one day Moses said to the Lord, you've been telling me, take these people up to the promised land. This is Canaan, this is the promised land that God had promised for his people so that they would not wander for the rest of their life. He had a designated place for them. But you haven't told me with whom you will send with me. You have told me, I know you by name

and I look favorably upon you. Verse 13 is the key. If it's true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so that I may understand you more fully. This is a very significant prayer because no one really has prayed this prayer in the Bible up to this time, and nobody has received this revelation of God. In other words, Moses said, we see your power. We know your sovereign. We've seen you do miraculous things. Everybody knows your works. Everybody knows what you're capable of, but nobody really has insight into your character, into your nature and who you are. But God, I'm not content just to serve a God who is all powerful. I wanna actually know you. I wanna be intimate with you. I wanna be close with you. I wanna be proximate with you and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people. The Lord replied, okay, Moses, I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest and everything will be fine for you. And then Moses said, if you don't personally go with us to the promised land, don't even make us leave this current place.

Again, don't miss verse 13. Moses prayed for and desired to know the ways of God. In order to know God intimately and personally and deeply, you cannot just know about God. You have to know God himself. And I fear that too many people just know about God because there's really only two ways that you're gonna know him. You will either know God casually or you will know him intimately. To know God casually is to simply know his works. It's to see his works. That is, all you know about him is what you've seen him do. You see his creation. You see his people. You see his power. But to know God intimately is to know his ways. What I'm saying is it means to understand his heart. It means to know his character. It means to peer into his personality and to actually see into his spirit. And the question is, did God answer the prayer of Moses? Psalm 103 verse seven says that he did, but I want you to watch the distinction. Moses saw him one way, understood him one way. The people of Israel only understood him one way. He made known his ways to Moses. He did. But he only made known his acts to the people of Israel. The people of Israel still didn't know his character,

still didn't know who he really was. They just saw what he did, but Moses actually understood the nature and the heart of God. The people of Israel saw his works. Moses knew his ways. The people of Israel only saw what he did, but Moses actually knew who he was. And see, this is the foundation of Israel's problem if you know the saga and the story. It's the reason they were constantly up and down in their relationship with God. And they were wishy-washy. And they were inconsistent. Because if all you really know about God is what he does, it leads to infatuation with God, but not intimacy with God. It leads to infatuation, but not intimacy. It's like never moving beyond the initial attraction to a deeper. in more meaningful relationship. I'll never forget when I first saw Tina how beautiful she was to me. She was just a gorgeous girl and it wasn't just me it was everybody in the room knew how beautiful she was and certainly I was attracted and infatuated by her beauty but listen that's not enough to build a life of 35 years and raise children and go through the up and downs of life. It's got to be deeper than that. There has to be true intimacy not just infatuation. This is why the people of Israel had this consistent inconsistency in their relationship with God. He delivers them from Egypt, supernatural plagues, splits the Red Sea, kills their enemy, gives them all of these wonderful things and just one chapter later they are complaining again about not having enough to eat or about where they are and saying that they would rather be in slavery in Egypt than free to worship their God. In one chapter God's a hero very next chapter

he's a zero and that is this messy saga of Israel because listen if all you know about God is what he does and you never grow in your appreciation of who he actually is you will live in a constant state of instability because God will only be as good to you as your last answered prayer. He'll only be as good to you in other words as long as he's as long as he's doing what you want him to do as long as he's showing up how you want him to show up you feel loved and he's good but when it's almost like when life is good God is good but when life is not then God must not be and nothing could be further from the truth. He is good no matter what is happening in life. He is just good because that's his nature and who he actually is and I'm just telling you now he's not always going to move the way you want him to move he's not always going to answer your prayer the way you want him to answer your prayer when you want him to answer your prayer and if you never grow to appreciate his character and his love for you you will live in a constant state of frustration see the depth of love that I have for my wife is no longer rooted in just her physical beauty I've grown to appreciate my wife and her heart I know how her character is her faithfulness she has a servant spirit she's gracious and hospitable I don't just see her works I know her ways and who she is and I've fallen deeper and deeper in love with her because of that and I've learned these things over time spent with her for many many years and it's translated into a depth of love that surpasses mere infatuation to only see the works of God but not understand the ways of God is to only know him on a superficial level and that is not enough that will not sustain you through the ups and downs and the problems of life even Jesus encountered this over he encountered people that were constantly infatuated with him but were not intimate or deeply in love with him let me show you one John chapter 2 now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did but Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in them in other words he knew that they were only as committed as his latest and greatest miracle they looked at Jesus and said man as long as we got water we ain't never gonna have to worry about wine they looked at him after he fed 5,000 and said this dude's a walking Chick-fil-a man we just need to follow him wherever he goes but Jesus knew that they didn't love him they didn't really know him they didn't appreciate him as the son of God or know his mission and he knew that those same people that were celebrating his miracles would one day be screaming for his execution in Jerusalem and it was true it's exactly what happened they were

infatuated they were like dude look at what this guy can do but they didn't know who he was they didn't know who he was and because they didn't know who he was they never really got it they never really got it and I want to show you one more thing before I go to chapter 34 and I want to show you something that we're going to do over these next seven days together and I'm going to give you five things that are going to help you get the most out of these next seven days but I want to show you one more thing in chapter 33 before we move on this is so important if it's true that you look favorably on me let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor and remember that this nation is your very own people watch this the Lord replied I will personally go with you Moses and I will give you rest ladies and gentlemen your level of peace and your level of rest as a follower of Christ in this fallen broken world will be in direct proportion to just how personally you know the Lord if you only know him casually you will not know peace that passes understanding if you only have a superficial relationship with God you just go to church and maybe you give a little bit and you serve and you just do these things but you never get desperate or hungry to grow God or to know God and to be intimate with God you'll never really know peace that passes understanding when life is at its worst. There's going to be moments in life where they're up and down and twists and turns and your peace and your rest will be connected to how personally you know the Lord. In other words, even in those moments in life when you cannot trace his hand you'll know that you can always trust his heart. That is good. That is good. Why can we trust his heart? Because the Bible tells us who he is. In Psalm 78 the Bible says that God's heart is full of integrity. Because we know Jeremiah 3 it says that God's heart is full of knowledge and understanding. Because six times in the Bible it speaks to the multitude of his tender mercies. Because over 25 times in the Bible it mentions his great loving kindness. See that's not telling us what he does that's telling us who he is. Psalm 145 says the Lord is gracious. He's full of compassion. I'm so thankful for this one. He's slow to anger. You know how many things I've done to tick God off? Every day of my life and you too by the way. He's great in mercy. This is good news. This is who he is. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over everything that he does. See this is such

a different view of the God that I grew up perceiving. I grew up in a legalistic church man and I just we were we were just taught man that you know it was we didn't hear a lot about God's grace man. We heard a lot about his wrath. We heard a lot about and I told you before I had this picture of God like Zeus man you know sitting on his big throne with eyes like fire dude and lightning shooting about his fingertips just waiting on me to screw up so he could just wipe me off the face of the planet and I just remember giving up saying I couldn't how can somebody like me ever please a God like that but that's not who the Bible says he is. The Bible says he's full of tender mercies. He's compassionate. He's slow to anger. He wants to give us every chance possible. That's why he died on the cross to make a way where there was no way. Even when you don't know what he's doing or why you can always know that whatever it is according to the Bible it is ultimately for our good and for his glory because we know his ways. We know that all things really are working together for the good of them that love God to them that are called according to his purpose. He is a good good father. But here let me turn the corner. How can we actually cultivate this intimacy? How do we actually develop the depth of this relationship with God? Let me tell you two ways we don't and the only one way we can. You really don't cultivate intimacy with God by reasoning or just by research. Those things are wonderful and they have their place but they can only tell you about God. According to the scripture the only way that you truly grow in intimacy with God is when he reveals himself to you. As you walk with God and you spend time with God and you cultivate that intimacy with God and you desire to know more of God then God begins to reveal himself more to you. He only reveals himself to those that seek him and cultivate time to know him. If you don't want any more than a casual relationship with God that's all you'll ever have. He will never force himself upon you. He only responds and reveals himself to those whose hearts are hungry to know him. He won't kick open the door of your heart but Revelation gives us this picture. He's a sovereign God. He could do what he wants and yet the Bible says he stands at the door and knocks waiting for you to open

the door, wanting you to open the door so that you're allowing him and inviting him into your life in a deep and meaningful way. God will never force fellowship upon us but he only reveals himself to people who are deeply hungry for a relationship with him. Let me say it to you this way. God doesn't have favorites but I'll promise you he has intimates. God doesn't have favorites. Bible says he's no respecter of persons but he does have intimates. Remember Jesus? He had 12 disciples but of the 12 disciples there were three dudes among the 12 that you saw with him on a more copious level. Peter, James, and John spent more intimate time with him than any of the others. They were with him at more pivotal moments than any of the others. Why? Did he love them more? No. They desired to know Jesus more. They wanted to cultivate a deeper relationship with Jesus. They went out of their way to spend time to ask questions. They wanted to not just see what he did. Those three really wanted to know who he was and because of it they got more time with Jesus and they were more revealed of his nature and his person. Bible says it's true. Jeremiah 29 and 13. You're only gonna seek and find me, he said, when you seek me. Here's this pesky word again. with, yeah, partially surrendered, you won't know Him. If you're content for just church and sing some songs and I got a sermon today, checking out, that's all you'll know. And life will come and things will happen and you'll be up and down, you'll be in and out, you'll be blown about, the Bible says, with every wind that comes along, you'll never be stable in your walk with God. It's only when you seek Him with all of your heart, not partially surrendered life, but all of our heart, when we are hungry for Him, I actually like this in the translation of the message, Bible Better,

let me just read it to you, I don't have a slide, but listen to what it says in the message. It says, when you sincerely come look for me, God said, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and you want me more than anything else, I will make sure you are never disappointed. I love that. He says, when you want me in your life more than you want anything else in this world and you are hungry to cultivate a relationship with me and to be intimate with me, I am gonna make sure your heart is full, your spirit is full and that you never walk away from me disappointed. So I want us to do something together as a church over these next seven days. I want us to first, together as a church, pray the prayer of Moses. Will you pray it with me over these next seven days? Lord, reveal yourself to us as a church and as an individual and show us your ways that we may know you more intimately. God, we wanna know you in a deeper way, in a more intimate way. And then I want us to carve out 10 to 15 minutes a day over these next seven days together as a church and read through the gospel of John. The reason I say John is because it is not one of the synoptic gospels. The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark and Luke

but John stands alone because it tells different stories and actually gives you greater insight into the nuances of who Jesus is. It's there to reveal who he actually is and John 20 and 31 tells us that. So it's just a beautiful book that reveals Jesus in a unique way and here's what I wanna do. I'm gonna read chapter 34, verses one through 11 in just a moment because God answers this prayer and he shows up to Moses in a very unique way and I'm gonna show you five ways, five things that we're gonna pull out of those 11 verses that we can apply to our lives over these next seven days as we pray this prayer and spend time in God's word that will maximize the moment and I believe open up the door to deeper intimacy with God. He said it to Moses, they were instructions, I think they apply to us as well and I'm gonna show them to you, okay? Because that's what God said. God said, all right, I've never had anybody ask me this, Moses, I've wanted people to but I've never had anybody actually wanna know me the way that you wanna know me and it moves my heart because I really do wanna be close with you that way but I won't force fellowship but because you're asking me, because you're hungry for this, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna show up, I'm gonna let you know who I am. I'm gonna give you insight into my heart as God like nobody else has ever seen but there's some things

that you need to do to be ready, so here we go. Let me just read through these 11 verses and then we'll come back and pull out the five things. Exodus 34 verse one, Lord said to Moses, okay, cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. Ten commandments, he said, I'll give it to you again. Be ready by the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let even no flocks or herds graze opposite of that mountain. So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first and he rose early in the morning and he went up to Mount Sinai as the Lord commanded him and he took in his hand two tablets of stone and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Let me read it again. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him. God came down and stood with Moses and here's what he did. He proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed before him and said, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Now you need to understand what before I keep reading. Nobody had ever heard this about God before. No one had ever had this kind of insight into the heart of God before, nobody. Only God is revealing to Moses for the first time, this is not just what I do. This is the nature of who I am. I'm abounding in steadfast love and I'm faithful. I keep steadfast love for thousands. I forgive iniquity and transgressions and sin, but I will by no means clear the guilty. I visit the iniquity of the fathers on children's and the children's children. to the third and the fourth generation. And Moses, quickly, because he knew that he had experienced a unique encounter with God, bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, if now I have found favor in your sight, oh Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us. He's apologizing for the people. He's repenting on behalf of the people. He's standing on behalf of the people. He said, I know that they're fickle. I know that they're hard to live with. I know they're constant complainers. They're a stiff-necked people, but would you pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for your inheritance? Don't cast us off, in other words. And he said, behold, I am making a covenant today

before all your people. I will do marvels such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you. And he's talking about in Canaan. It was inhabited by a giant race of people. All of these were giant races of people. And God says, don't be afraid of them. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna be with you. And because of it, if you do what I say, if you follow my instructions, I'm gonna fight your battles and everything's gonna be okay. All right, five things I see in the text. That as we prepare our hearts to pray the prayer, God, would you reveal more of yourself to us than ever before? Lord, would you help us grow in intimacy and depth with you? And as we set aside these seven days to read through the Gospel of John, I wanna give you five things to keep in mind as you prepare for your time with God over these next seven days. They're gonna set the stage for deeper intimacy

because they did with Moses and they will with you and I. Here we go. Five words to remember. Number one, preparation. Verse one, cut two more tablets and be ready by morning to present yourself to me on the mountain. God said, okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna meet with you. But listen, don't take this casually. You need to be ready and you need to be prepared. Whenever you carve out time and spend it with God over these next seven days, prepare your heart. Prepare your soul. Prepare your hands. In other words, prepare your heart. Before you go into this intimate time with God, just get all of the distractions out. Say, Lord, would you just allow my mind to be free, my heart to be open? I wanna hear from you this morning. I wanna hear from you this afternoon. I wanna spend time with you and I'm asking you to speak to me and to develop intimacy with me. Prepare your hands. What do I mean by that? Have something to write on. Don't just go empty handed. Have a legal pad.

Have something to write with. Be ready to write and record what the Holy Spirit is about to say to you through his word. Be ready to write it down so that you can remember it. Sometimes I think we don't hear more from the Lord or get more out of our time together because we approach it with such a casual manner and God can see we're not really ready to hear. We're not serious about hearing so he doesn't speak. So when I talk about preparation, go into these next seven days and before you spend your 15, 20 minutes with God, prepare your heart, prepare your soul, prepare to hear from the Lord. Second word, isolation. Watch what he said in verse three. No one shall come up with you and let no one be seen throughout all of the mountain. God said, come ready and come alone. Come ready and come alone. I'm gonna tell you this that I've learned after 32 years of walking with the Lord and it's absolutely true. God will always reveal more of himself to you in private than he will in public. God will always reveal more of himself to you. Now listen, I thank God for church. I thank God for this. I love this. You love this.

There'll never be a time this isn't important. I've always said that when the spirit of God, the word of God and the people of God come together in a corporate setting, there's something that happens there that is unique and special and we can grow and be inspired but true intimacy will not happen really in this room. True intimacy will happen alone between you and God when you have set aside time and you are hungry to hear from him. He will show up in your life in a unique way. When we close the door to the world, we open the windows of heaven to experience his glory in our lives. I'm not just making it up. Let me show you what Jesus said. Jesus said in Matthew six, and when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room. One translation, King James Version says, when you pray, go to your closet and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. The more quiet time and personal isolation you spend with God,

the more he is going to show up in your life. Be prepared, come ready, come alone. Number three, third word is expectation. Verse four, so Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. As he was commanded and he rose up. I love this. He didn't sleep in He didn't sleep in but he didn't hit the snooze button In fact, i'll probably tell you moses didn't get a wink of sleep that night God said all right You've asked for it I'm going to answer your prayer And i'm going to reveal more of myself to you than I ever have to any other human being We are about to have a holy sacred encounter Together and moses was so full of anticipation So full of expectation to be able to connect with the lord on this sacred and special way That he did what he said and then he got up early in the morning and went up on the mountain as the lord Had commanded him to do And he took in his hand the two tablets of stone He prepares what he needs to meet god with And he gets up early in the morning full of expectation Full of anticipation about what was about to happen Listen as we spend time with god over these next seven days together What i'm saying to you here is believe that god is actually going to show up Believe that he's actually going to reveal things to you out of his word Believe that god has been longing for this intimate time with you and wants to speak to you About your life and about your soul and about your mind and about your marriage and about your heart and about your family Believe that god is going to show up and speak to you and reveal himself

The atmosphere of expectancy has always been the breeding ground of miracles. This is why in acts chapter 3 Maybe you remember this story peter and john were on the way to the temple to pray and there was a man That was lame from his mother's womb They would lay at the gate called beautiful every day and he would Beg for alms and people would give him a handout because it was the only way he could he could survive and support himself And the bible says that as peter and john are walking up that he looked upon them Expecting to receive something from them. So he had this level of expectation And john, of course responds silver and gold have I none But such as I have give I thee in the name of jesus christ of nazareth Rise and take up your bed and walk and he got up and went leaping and dancing through the temple What happened was his his his seedbed of expectation? Allowed the power of the holy spirit to move in his life in a way that it never had before He thought what he needed was money what god gave him was a miracle All because he believed that something was about to happen preparation Come ready Isolation come alone with god be alone with god number three expectation be Anticipating god to speak into your life number four adoration verse five The lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the lord the lord passed before him and Proclaimed the lord the lord a god merciful gracious slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness Keeping steadfast love for the thousands forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin But who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers? And the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation And moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth And worshiped this is the only appropriate response in the presence of a holy god It is so easy ladies and gentlemen to become familiar with god And the things of god that we lose our sense of all we just

It's just being familiar. We've been around and we've heard it, especially if you're raised in church You know, it's just been a long time. It's so easy to become familiar with god and lose our sense of all But let's be conscious over these next seven days that we are actually holding in our hands God's holy word to us that we actually get to gaze into the heart of a holy god through his word That we can know his thoughts that we can know his ways and that he desires to know us intimately and speak to us about who he is And what he would have for us to do and be in our lives. What i'm saying is Be worshipful as you prepare your time together with god. Thank him for his love. Thank him for his mercy Thank him for his ways The bible says that god inhabits the praises of his people So when we set the atmosphere with worship god is attracted to that place preparation Isolation expectation adoration. Here's the fifth and final one and this is the most important one observation verse 10 and he said behold i'm making a covenant before all the people and I will do marvels such as Not been created in all the earth or in any nation And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the lord For it's an awesome thing that I will do with you to watch this observe what I command you this day this word observe It's a hebrew word shamar The hebrew word is shamar. It means to attend to It means to follow through with it means to actually Do it to observe it to acknowledge it and do it to obey what I have commanded you this day And if you do I'm gonna drive out all of these giants that are before you and I'm gonna give you the land that I promised to you. It's not just enough, y'all, to hear a good sermon and to judge the sermon based on how it was articulated or whether it inspired you or made you feel good or give you goosebumps. The only way we will experience the true power of God

in our marriages, in our families, in our homes, in our emotions, in our mind is when we actually are not just hearers of the word but doers of the work. You only really know God intimately. He will only reveal himself to you when you've made up your mind that you are going to tailor the energies of your life around the instructions of the word of God, that you're gonna approach marriage the way that God says you should approach marriage, that if you're single and you're in this church, you're gonna approach relationships and sexuality the way that the Bible says and you're gonna stick to that and honor the Lord with your body and your life, that you're gonna look at your finances and you're gonna say, Lord, are you first here? And you're gonna honor the Lord and follow the instructions of his word because it's discipleship and you wanna be more like Christ and you wanna obey his word. You're gonna open the windows of heaven over your life. God's gonna show up because Jesus himself said, I only reveal myself to people who actually live my instructions. I'm gonna show it to you, John 14, 21. Those who accept my commandments

and obey them, not hear them, impressed by them, can quote them, have read them and listened to them, none of that's gonna get you closer to God. Only those that actually flesh it out, live it out are the ones that actually love me and because they love me, my father will love them. Watch this, and I will love them and then to those, I will reveal myself to them. The implication is, if you're not a doer of the work, if you're not any at all interested in living out the scriptures, you will never know God on a deep, intimate level. You will only know him superficially. So this is a big deal, y'all. This is a heavy and a weighty sermon, but it's so important that we not settle for a casual, cavalier relationship with God, that we love him, yes, with all of our heart, passionately, but we love him with all of our soul, that we would not be content to know about him, but that we would be driven and hungry and desperate to actually know him. That's my prayer as your pastor, that we would, as a church, never settle for a common, cavalier relationship with God, but that we would consistently grow hungry and desperate to know him intimately in our life. I was reading this last week

as I was preparing this message. I read one of the early church fathers in one of the previous centuries. His name was St. Augustine. You might have heard of him. And during one of his sermons, he posed a question to the people that he was preaching to that day, and I read it, and I really thought about it, and I wrestled with it. I said, Lord, how would I answer that? I wanna answer this correctly, but I just wanted to share it with you. I want you to see it. St. Augustine said, if God were to come to you and offer you anything you wanted, every pleasure you desired, and that you would live forever, but you would never see his face eternally, would you take that proposition? If he just said, I'm gonna give you anything you want. I'm gonna let you have all of it. I'll let you live forever. The trade-off is, you will never spend time with me. You'll never be with me in eternity. You'll never see me. You'll never know me. What would you do? If you answer quickly, not at all.

It reveals to us that we love God more than we love the things of the world. But if we're slow and we wrestled with it, maybe he's not the Lord over our life. Maybe it means that we don't know him as personally or intimately as we thought we did. And we can change that. And God wants to change that. This is what Moses said. See, Moses answered this. Remember when he said this? He said, it's a land flowing with milk and honey. And listen, I've been there. It is, it's wild. When I flew into Amman, Jordan, you wonder why people fight over this little piece of land? When I flew into Amman, Jordan, we first started in Jordan. Then we went across the border into Israel. But we spent a few days in Amman, Jordan. When he flew into Amman, we're coming down descending. And so a 20-minute descent. Ascent, right, coming down, getting ready for landing, and out both of the windows of the plane, as far as you could see, sand. Just desert, desert, desert, desert, desert. It all looked the same. There was nothing different for the last 20 minutes of the flight. It was just desert.

And then when you cross over into Israel, it actually falls into what is called the African climate, and because it's in a different climate, everything grows. It's green, it's lush. They're growing dates as big as baseballs there. It's unbelievable. And so there was this crown jewel in the middle of the desert that God had set his hand on it in a unique way and said, I am segregating that for my people. The problem was everybody that lived around there, including the giants, wanted it because it was so special. And here's what Moses says. He said, it sounds great. I know it to be amazing, land flowing with milk and honey in the middle of this desert, but God, here's my prayer. If you don't go with us, we don't want nothing to do with it. If you're not with us, when we get to Canaan, it don't matter how beautiful it is. It don't matter how lush it is. We want you more than we want the promise of a promised land. We wanna know you personally. We're not willing to trade what you give us for who you are. Now that, that's a prayer of intimacy. And that's what I pray for you. I pray for me. And over these next seven days,

as we just take a little bit of a time and we just do this together, my prayer is that God would speak to you and reveal himself to you in a way that maybe he never has before. Be prepared, be ready, expect, worship the Lord. And then whatever God tells you to do, whatever God speaks to you to do, whatever God convicts on your heart to do, make up your mind, you're going to do it for the glory of God. Father, I thank you.