Old Testament in Year: Judges 17 - 1 Samuel 9

Well, I have served alongside my wife the last seven years on our youth staff here at The Refuge. I love youth ministry. It is a labor of love, okay, let me tell you that. But I love youth ministry, it's a joy to me, and it's something that keeps me young. And let me tell you something about being a youth pastor. Being a youth pastor, you see a lot of things. You see a lot of students, you encounter a lot of crazy stories, and one of the things you see a lot of is fashion trends, or just trends in general. If you've ever been in a group of students and you've thought to yourself, what language are they speaking? Well, then you just gained an insight into my day-to-day life, all right, what I do for a living. But there's a lot of trends that come and go. I've seen quite a few in seven years as a youth pastor, and there's a lot of fashion trends that have come and gone. In preparation for this message, I was looking up some fashion trends throughout the years, and I actually have some pictures of them. So the 80s had some crazy fashion trends, all right. Who's a fan of 80s fashion in here? Come on, don't be ashamed, that's right, all right. Very colorful clothing, and apparently the bigger the hair, the bigger the anointing, okay. I don't know what that was about, but the 80s hair was something else, all right.

Then fast forward a couple years, early 2000s, all right. You had the emo fashion trend. Where are the emo kids at in the room? The punk rockers, you're proud to admit it. I love that. First service, I asked that question, they were like, not me. I was like, well, you're introverts, of course you're not raising your hand, but we love you, we see you, you're amazing. So the emo fashion trend, it's kind of making a comeback, all right, a little bit. Fast forward a little more from there, and we have the skinny jeans and Chelsea boots fashion era. I call this one the worship pastor trend, all right. You remember when every worship pastor dressed like this? I would love to see Pastor Trent bring it back, okay. We need to see that. But for some reason as well, it was like, you got extra anointing points the longer the T-shirt was, or the wider the brim of the fedora was that you were wearing. I don't know what that was about too, but that was cool, that was something, it was something. All right, then you fast forward into kind of our modern era right now, and you have the oversized baggy fashion trends, all right. Some of you older folks in the room may be wondering and thinking to yourself,

why don't they just wear clothes that are their size? Why are they wearing clothes that are four times their size? And I have the answer for you. We don't know, okay, we just do it. It's what people do now, yeah, so that's cool. Another trend right now that I've seen in fashion is the vintage fashion trend. Vintage is cool. Vintage is where you get to pay $100 for somebody's granddad's T-shirt that has coffee stains on it and is torn all over the place. But it's cool, vintage is something, right. One of the things that I've seen a lot is brands that used to mean something else that have now become like fashion brands. Like there's quite a few like utility brands that have now become like fashionable, right. Carhartt is one of those. So I actually have a Carhartt jacket up here. Anybody seen people wearing like Carhartt as fashion now? Right, if you were around like 30 years ago, Carhartt was not a fashion choice, it was utility, right. It was because you worked in blue collar, right. You worked a construction job, you did something where you needed a jacket or some clothing that could sustain the line of work that you were in, right. And I was thinking about this actually in prep for this message.

And I was thinking about how a lot of times we, like nowadays, wearing Carhartt is a fashion trend, right. But if you had asked me 30 years ago because I was wearing a Carhartt, if I could build you something, those of you that know me know I am not a handyman. All right, so if you ask me to build you a deck, all right, you're gonna get a pile of wood with some screws put through it in a random order, all right. I don't build things, I wish I did. My wife wishes that I did, right. So if anybody has some tips for me, I'm welcome to hear that after service. But the point of this is to say that nowadays people that wear Carhartt aren't necessarily wearing it because it means that they can build something, they're wearing it because it's a fashion trend, right. So in other words, if I put this Carhartt on, I can have the form of a handyman, I can look like a handyman, but if you ask me to build you something, then I'm gonna deny what it means to be a true handyman because I ain't gonna be able to work with my hands, right. And I was thinking about this fashion trend in light of something that Paul writes in 2 Timothy chapter three, verse five, when he warns about this very thing about having the form of something but denying what it actually means.

Paul says in the last days, he said, many will have the form of godliness, but they will deny its true power. Now, if you look around. Currently, in the church, in our society, and in our culture, there are quite a few that have the form of godliness, right? They can wear the Carhartt as a fashion trend. But if you ask them to build something, they're not gonna be able to build anything because they don't have what it takes. They are not actually people that can build something, right? And similarly, Paul warns about having the form or appearance of something, of godliness, but of denying its power. So here's my main idea that I wanna present to you this morning. It's this. Belonging to God means accepting his power to transform you. Now, when I say belonging to God, I don't just mean claiming God. I don't mean just putting a verse in your bio or wearing Christian apparel, right, or talking the language of someone who belongs to God. But I mean truly belonging to God. Living a surrendered life means accepting his power that transforms you. This is my main idea today. And if you've been around here at The Refuge, you know we're teaching through the Old Testament.

If you're new here, we've been in a series this year where we've been teaching through the Old Testament. And today, we're gonna actually examine two passages from the Old Testament, Judges chapter 17 through 1 Samuel chapter nine. We're gonna look at two different stories from that section of Scripture that display, I think, what we're gonna look at together really well. So if you have your Bibles today, I want you to bookmark two places for me. Judges chapter 17, Judges chapter 17. The other one is 1 Samuel chapter four. 1 Samuel chapter four. We're gonna look at both of those places today. And as you're flipping there, come on, let's pray. God, we thank you for your word, Lord, that transforms us. God, thank you for your presence that is sweet, that is fulfilling, that is everything, that is life to us. God, it's health to our bones. Thank you, God, for your tangible spirit, Lord, that's here with us right now. God, that's breath in our lungs. Lord, I pray, God, that you would help us to accept what you have for each of us today. God, that your spirit would minister as you see fit. And God, I'm asking, Lord, that words that I'm supposed to say from you

would be communicated today. Anything that is not from you, Father, I pray, Lord, that you would close my mouth on those matters, and Lord, you would help me to be sensitive to only what you're desiring to speak today. God, prepare our hearts. Father, receive all the glory and all the honor from this message and from your word. And God, I pray as I pray over myself many times. Lord, let your word produce its full effect in us today. In Jesus' name I pray, amen, amen. So the first example of what I was describing for you comes out of the book of Judges in chapter 17. Now, we find a story about an Israelite man named Micah. And I wanna give you some context today about Micah. Context is good, right? Let's start with some context about this character Micah. This is not to be confused with the prophet Micah. This was an Israelite man well before the prophet Micah lived. But this guy named Micah is in the house with his mother one day, and his mother realizes that she's had some money stolen from her. This is in Judges 17. We're gonna, you can go there and read it if you'd like, but I'm gonna paraphrase this portion of the text as we get into our main scripture. But Micah's mother realizes that she has some money stolen from her.

And Micah is in the house with her. Micah knows, but his mother doesn't, that he's the one that stole the money from his mom. So Micah's in a different room. Micah's mom finds out money's been stolen, and Micah's mom places a curse from God on whoever stole her money. Micah hears this from the other room and panics, not wanting to be cursed by God, right? So Micah comes forward and he confesses. He tells his mom, hey, I've stolen this money from you. Here it is, right? And his mom blesses him for coming forward to give the money that he had stolen back to her. Now, parenting must have been different back in the day, because if I stole something from my mom and I came in and brought it back, I guarantee you what I'm not getting is a blessing, okay? I'm getting a whooping, all right? I'm not getting blessed, but for whatever reason, Micah's mom, probably because she was like, I just cursed my son in the name of God, is like, let me bless him real quick. And then Micah's mom does what any normal person would do in this setting, and she takes the silver coins that Micah gives back to her and she melts them down and she forms an idol and she gives it to Micah. I don't know why she did that, but that's what she felt led to do. And Micah takes this idol and he places it in his home.

This is where we pick up in verses seven through 13. Judges chapter 17, verses seven through 13. If you would, stand with me to honor the word of God as we read it this morning. It says this. Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite and he sojourned there. And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. And Micah said to him, where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah and I'm going to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said to him, stay with me and be to me a father and a priest and I will give you 10 pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living. And the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man and the young man became to him like one of his sons. And Micah ordained the Levite and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah. Watch, we're gonna key in on this last verse. I'm reading to you this morning. It says this, then Micah said, now I know that the Lord will prosper me because I have a Levite as a priest.

Come on, would you declare this with me like we do every week? It's on the screens behind me. Ready, go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God. This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this, that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it in Jesus' name. Amen, you can be seated. Now again, we're gonna key on that last verse. I'm gonna read it for you again. Then Micah said, now I know that the Lord will prosper me because I have a Levite serving as a priest in my house. Now, Micah believed that God would bless him because there was a priest in his home, but Micah also had an idol on his shelves in that same home. And as I was reading this, I came across this passage of scripture in preparation for the message. And as I was reading it, the Lord struck me and I keyed in on this reality that Micah believes something that many of us believe oftentimes, that simply claiming to believe in God somehow erases the areas of compromise in our lives. If we post about God enough,

if we wear enough Christian apparel, if we come to church enough, if we do the right things, then we'll be blessed, even if our private life doesn't match up, right? And Micah is in this moment where he thinks that having a priest in his home means that God is gonna bless him, even though Micah has an idol on his shelves, right? And in this moment, Micah believes something that many of us do oftentimes. In my own life, I've seen this to be true, that we think that somehow if we do enough for God, if we work hard enough, if we do things right enough, then somehow God's gonna bless us and it'll overshadow things that we're not willing to give him or idols that we have in our life or areas of compromise that God is looking at, going, how can I bless you whenever there's an idol on your shelf? And this is the place that Micah finds himself in. And it's what we see from us oftentimes in our mindset. We don't say it out loud, right? But we think to ourselves, I come to church, right? I tithe, I give, I meet with the pastor, right? I have accountability in my life, right? I worship up at the front, I wear the Christian merch, right? I post on social media about my devotionals, right? Surely God will bless me because of all these things that I'm doing, right?

And I'm here to remind you as the Lord's reminded us through this passage of Scripture that it doesn't matter how many times you come to church if you're living with unrepentant sin in your life. Coming to church will not erase unrepentant sin in your life. Listen, it doesn't matter how loudly you worship here at the front if you're turning around and cussing people out throughout the week. Okay, it doesn't matter how much money you give if you're performing shady business deals on the side. Right, it doesn't matter how much you speak in tongues if you're gossiping and slandering other people throughout the week. Okay, God is not concerned with how many times you meet with your pastor if you're living with your boyfriend or girlfriend that is not your spouse. Come on, can we be honest in the place with ourselves? I promise I'm not mad at anybody, but I think that Micah's mindset has pervaded our church, not specifically the refuge, but our Western American church, where we think that if we do enough things, it somehow is gonna outweigh or cause God to turn a blind eye to things in our lives that are keeping us from him. Micah thinks, I'll be blessed because I have a priest serving in my home. But God is not concerned with the priest,

he's concerned with the idol. So this is important for us to remember, and here's the result of Micah's handlings in this affair. Little later in that chapter, in Judges chapter 17, you can read on, there's a neighboring tribe from the tribe of Dan that's passing by his house, and this tribe ransacks Micah's house. He steals, they steal the priest, they steal the idol, they steal his entire home, leaving it empty. And here's my point in sharing the result, it's this, that if you claim God outwardly, it does not overshadow a private life that denies him. If you are claiming God outwardly, but you are living a life in secret that denies him, you will end up empty, just like Micah did. You will end up robbed of things that you thought were valuable, just like Micah was. Claiming God outwardly, friends, does not overshadow, it does not give us a free pass to live a private life that denies him. We have to understand that if we're claiming God, we're not claiming actions, we're not claiming a thing. No, when we claim to be his, it means accepting the power to transform us, it means allowing him to place his finger on things in our life that are keeping us from growing closer with him, and saying, that's what I want from your life. That's the thing that's keeping you from me, and some people go, how could a loving God be so controlling?

Do you realize that God points those things out in his mercy towards you? Do you realize that it's his grace that confronts our sin? Why, because how would a loving God allow you to continue down a path that leads to your destruction without telling you something? Would it be loving of him to just allow you to continue to fuel that addiction that you have, or would it be loving of him to just support your relationship with that person that does not honor him, that's actually killing you and emptying your life of value and of measure? Right, this is important to keep in mind as we look at the story of Micah, that's the first example. The second example that we see of what I'm describing to you of having the appearance of godliness, but denying his power comes from the Israelites in 1 Samuel chapter four. We're gonna turn there, I said to bookmark it, we're gonna go there together. 1 Samuel chapter four, verses one through four, it says this, it says, and the word of the Lord and the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines,

who killed about 4,000 men on the field of battle. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, why has the Lord defeated us today against the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh that it may come along, come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. So the people went to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who's enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the covenant of God. So let me explain what's happening here for you. The ark of the covenant in the Old Testament was what housed the presence of God. The Israelites took it with them everywhere. They encamped with it. And the Israelites are at war with the Philistines and they get slaughtered. And they asked themselves, why has God let us get slaughtered like this? Why has he allowed us to be destroyed against the Philistines? And so they start thinking to themselves, what can we do to fight back against them? And then one of them thinks to themselves, he says, I got an idea. Why don't we bring that ark over here? Why don't we march it out? And it's gonna save us from the Philistines.

Now, they probably thought to themselves, we've done that before. The ark has worked in the past. Let's bring it out. Let's flex on the Philistines, right? Let's really, let's show them who we are. Show them what we got. The result of this decision, if you read a little later in 1 Samuel chapter four, 30,000 Israelites died and they were defeated again. Why? Because they tried to use God to accomplish something. They tried to use God as a tool for personal gain. Listen, the Israelites did not treat God's presence with reverence, but they treated it as a utility that could earn them something. They didn't, notice when they gathered after the battle, after they were defeated, that they asked one another why the Lord had not helped them and delivered them from battle, but guess who they didn't ask? God. Guess who they didn't consult about their decision to march the Ark of the Covenant out into battle? God. And God knew that the Israelites were attempting to use his presence to gain something for themselves. God understood they were not treating it with reverence because they thought to themselves, we've done it in the past and it's worked.

You know what, we're gonna bring it out and we're just gonna show them how strong our arms are. We're gonna show them this Ark of the Covenant that we got. And they were more focused on the object of the Ark than they were on what was inside of the Ark, which was the presence of God. And friends, as I was preparing for this message, I felt the Lord begin to convict my heart as I read this story. How many times do we do this with the presence of God? How many times do we come before God and we carry the name of God and we're hoping in our hearts, maybe we wouldn't say it out loud, but we're hoping in our hearts that it's gonna accomplish something for us? I'm a Christian, so that means, that means that I'm gonna get the job that I've been praying for, right? I'm a Christian, I read my Bible, I go to church, that means that I'm gonna get that raise that I've been asking God for. That means I'm gonna find that spouse that I'm believing God for. It means that I'm gonna pass the test, right? Because I've been praying a lot. God, I've really been praying. God, I've been locked in. I've been reading my Bible. I've been meeting with my pastor.

God, I've been doing all the things, right? So that means I'm waiting for the blessing. I've been tithing. So I can't wait to see how you bless me, God. Listen, and I want you to hear something from me. Don't hear what I'm not saying. God cares about the smaller details of our lives. God cares about the things that matter to us. But when our relationship with God becomes transactional and not relational, the Holy Spirit has to step in and reveal to us that we have begun to use his presence to gain something for ourselves. It leads me to ask the question today. Why do you follow God? I had to come face to face with this question in prayer before this message. Why do I follow God? What's the true motive of my heart? Is it because there was a man who laid his life down on a cross and bled and died for me and was risen again from the grave and established a way back to God? Or is it because maybe there's something that's on the other side that I'm hoping for that I wanna get out of being a Christian? Listen, is your relationship with God purely transactional? Is it more than just your laundry list of things that you want God to do for you? And again, God cares about what's going on in our lives.

But if that's all your relationship with God has become, then you may have to come to grips with the fact that you're viewing God more as a cosmic vending machine than you are as the creator of the universe who desires a relationship with you. Why, because God is so much bigger than just granting your every wish. He's so much bigger than that, and we make him so small when we act like he's a genie that we can just call on, and that he's gonna somehow fulfill every desire and wish that we have. I'm sharing this with you not because I'm angry, but because I've recognized in my own life where I've made God so small, I've made his role in my life so minuscule, I've narrowed it down to just being this genie that answers all my longest desires and deepest dreams of my heart, right? And in reality, God is so much more than that. God is so much bigger than just the things that you have on your checklist that you're believing him for. And the Israelites didn't understand this. They thought to themselves, we'll claim God, we'll bring the Ark of the Covenant out, right, and then we'll win, right? And God was trying to get them to understand that it is not just about getting something from him. That's not why we follow him.

No, it's about stepping into alignment with our created nature, to love on God, to be with our creator, to say, God, even if you never did another thing for me, God, you would still be worthy of my entire life. God, even if the cross was the only act I've ever seen from you, Lord, you would still deserve all of the glory that I have to give you today. God, you would still be worthy of my entire life. Listen, here's my main takeaway from this point, from this passage in scripture. It's that God's presence isn't a tool to accomplish personal gain. Listen to me, with the fear of God, I say this. God will not be used by his own creation. God will not be used by his own creation. God desires a relationship with you and I. Think about that for just a minute. The creator of heaven and earth, the one who fleshed out galaxies with a breath, the one who said, let there be, and there was, the one who sent his son to die on a cross desires a relationship with you and me. What God is this who hung the stars in the sky? You're telling me he wants to meet with me in the morning? He wants to have relationship with me throughout my day? The God who established the boundaries of the sea that they have not crossed to this day desires to know me and for me to know him?

God's presence has to be more than just a tool to accomplish personal gain because friends, if that's all it is, it'll end in destruction, it'll end in emptiness for you and for me. Listen, Micah claimed God to try to override his own personal sin, to justify, to feel some sense of entitlement to what he was doing. The Israelites claimed God to try to accomplish something for their personal gain. And look, both ended in destruction. Why? Because both of these stories are instances of people that had the appearance of God but denied the ability, the power of God to transform and to change us and to write a different story for our lives. Both of these people wanted God a part of their lives. But as Michael Koulianos has said before, God can be a part of nothing because God is everything. He is not content just to be a part of your life. Why? Because if he's only a part of your life, then he's no part of your life, which means that the life you could find in God is now sacrificed because you tried to present him as one of many options. But belonging to God means accepting the power to transform you, to every day be sanctified, to look a little more like Christ.

There's actually a phrase that's repeated multiple times in the book of Genesis. I think this phrase actually does two things. I think it gives a diagnosis for why we see this happening in the Old Testament, and I think it gives a solution. It's multiple times in Judges that scripture records this, but I'm gonna read from Judges chapter 17, verse six. It says this. In those days, there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Does that sound a little bit like the day that we live in right now? We have no king, and we do what's right in our own sight, in our own eyes. Listen, when we follow our truth, and we do what's right in our own eyes, we will have the form of godliness, but we will deny its true power. Why? Because we already see this happening with the progressive Christian theology. Maybe you've come across on social media, maybe you've seen, maybe you've been influenced by that, or maybe you hold to some progressive ideology or theology. Listen, there's no shame in what I'm about to say, but here's what I want you to understand as a pastor. Progressive Christian theology that makes things about your own personal truth rather than objective truth is demonic.

It is. It is a war against truth, friends. Listen to me, when you start pulling on the thread objective truth and you start trying to establish what your truth is and what my truth is and what we believe to be right in our own eyes and everyone should just follow that and we shouldn't define it for people. We shouldn't be exclusive like that. Here's what happens. You end up in the same boat as Micah and as the Israelites because you have the form of godliness. You claim the title Christian, but you deny its power. Its power that's bigger than you and that's bigger than me. How do we see that happening? Because progressive Christian theology says love yourself and accept yourself rather than deny yourself and become more like Christ. Progressive Christian theology asks the question what did the Bible mean to you rather than what did God delineate to say in scripture? It says follow your own heart and your own ways. Follow what feels right to you rather than in all your ways acknowledge God and do not lean on your own understanding. We have to be a people that understands that there is objective truth. Why do I say that? I don't say that as a political talking point because I know that's a buzzword phrase right now,

objective truth and our truth and my truth and your truth. I don't say it to add more noise to a field that's already drowned out by so much noise. I say it because there is a war on truth that's strategic from the enemy because there is a book called the Bible that contains objective truth, that contains a guideline for how we're to live our life and that points to someone who says I am the way, the truth and the life. Someone who says no one comes to the Father except through me. So listen to me, it is not exclusive or narcissistic or elitist to suggest that we should live by its principles. It's not, it's not bigoted or hatred. Okay, it's actually the smartest and wisest thing that you can do. Why? Because Jesus said that you would know the truth and the truth would set you free. He said that who the Son sets free is free indeed. How do we get free? We get free from knowing truth. Why did Micah and the Israelites feel the leeway to have the form of godliness but deny its power? They did that because they didn't hold to objective truth. They did not commit to a king that would rescue and deliver them into objective truth and it led to their own destruction. But here's what I love about the scriptures.

In the Old Testament, you have multiple recallings of the most heinous and some of the most wicked acts in human history that paint the picture of human depravity better than any other piece of literature. But in the midst of that, you have verses like the one I just read that said, in those days the people had no king. What does that mean? It means that that verse is pointing to a time that would come. It's pointing to a hope that exists of a king that would one day deliver and save them and lead them into truth that would set them free. And listen friends, the same is true in your life. You could be the furthest you've ever felt from God. You could be the most depraved you've ever experienced in your life before and yet for you there is hope. While you are breathing and living, there is hope. Why, because we see that happening all throughout the Old Testament where there are stories that break our hearts as we see the depravity of humanity and yet intermixed in between all of those there are glimmers of hope where it's pointing to someone that would come and that someone is Jesus. Jesus who said in John chapter 14 verse six, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Listen, Jesus is the only way that will lead to life and life abundantly. Can I remind you this morning that Buddha will not lead to life and life abundantly, that crystals will not lead to life and life abundantly, new age spirituality will not lead to life, Krishna will not lead to life, Allah will not lead to life, Muhammad will not lead to life. Friends, there is one who hung and bled on a cross and was resurrected on the third day. And the Bible says that he is the one true living God and that in him there is life and life abundantly. And that is why, that is why he has to be everything for us. Why, because you can't have a portion of life, you have all or nothing. You have life or you have nothing. So it's not narcissistic or maniacal of God to say, make me your everything. It's actually the most loving thing that he can do because he knows. He's the source of life. He's breath in our lungs. He's nourishment to our souls. His name is like honey on our lips, right? His spirit's like water to our soul. Listen, Jesus is the truth that you're searching for that eliminates confusion, that leads to greater purpose and fulfillment. Jesus is the truth you're searching for which causes you to belong to something

that's bigger than yourself. So you can keep pursuing the way that seems right to you, but it'll keep leaving you empty every single time. I don't say that ideologically or as a concept. I say it as something I've experienced because I've played the game. I've searched. I've pursued the ways that seem right to me. I've pursued things that make sense to me. And can I tell you, 10 times out of 10, they've led me to emptiness and to destruction. There is only one way that leads to true peace. There is only one way that leads to joy that the world cannot give and that the world cannot take away. There is only one way that leads to fulfillment and life and life abundantly. And that way is Jesus. And friends, that way demands that we lay down every other thing that would seek to elevate itself to the status of God in our lives. The idols that we construct are always gonna leave us empty. God wants us to understand this morning that every other God is an idol that cannot see, cannot hear, cannot talk to you, cannot answer prayers, cannot die and hang on a cross for you, cannot love you. Every other idol, every other thing that seeks to promote itself to the status of God

is full of falsities and lies. Jesus is the one true living God. And Samuel provides the steps for restoration for us. In 1 Samuel chapter seven, little skip down to that chapter, as we're talking about having the form of godliness but denying its power, what's the step towards restoring that? Maybe you found yourself in that place today. You say, I'm a really good Christian outwardly, but inwardly there's some things that deny Christ that I still haven't dealt with. Maybe you say, I'm a really good Christian outwardly, but I've actually realized that maybe my main motive or priority in going to God is to get something from him. 1 Samuel chapter seven, verses three through four, the prophet Samuel said this, and Samuel said to all the house of Israel, if you're returning to the Lord with all your heart, if you are returning to God, he's not forcing you, he doesn't make us, but we have to make a conscious decision. If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreth and they served the Lord only. As the keys come today, as we get ready to worship,

finish our time together, here's what I want you to understand, that God is not just another option in our lives. He cannot be. God has to be more than just another option for us that we sprinkle in on the side. Listen, I played the game because it was my story, right? Growing up in the church and walking life as a pastor's kid, getting really good at putting on a front in one setting and then living a life that was completely contrary to that in a different setting. That's my testimony, that's my story, right? I understand what it meant to have the form of godliness and to deny its power. I understand what it was like to treat God as just another option to the many things I could choose in my daily life. And the same thing that I said about the Israelites and Micah is true of that as well, that it will always leave you empty. Why, because God is either everything or he's nothing. Jesus Christ is either all that he says he is, or he is a liar that we should not trust. And today you have to make up your minds, but he cannot be just another option. And here's what I love about him that I'm gonna leave you with. It's that if you will accept the power of God, He can transform you. No matter what state you find yourself in right now,

whether you feel like you are the closest to God you've ever been or the farthest away, God has the power to transform us. And what I love about Him is that every day I can come back to God and I'm transformed again each day. I'm transformed by His mercy and grace that's renewed to me every day that I go to Him. What I love about God is that the Bible is full of stories of people that were broken and messed up and caught in sin and addicted, that God flipped and turned into living testimonies. I love that our God can make beauty out of ashes. I love that God can create something out of dust and nothingness. I love that God can transform us regardless of where we are because the Bible says that while you are still a sinner, Christ died for you. Not in your best state, in your most holy and sanctified state, but while you were still a sinner, He died for you to be transformed, to look like Him. The call to the Christian life is not to become a better version of yourself. The call to the Christian life is to abandon yourself and to become like Jesus, to become brand new in who He is. So here's the way I felt led to ask us to respond as we finish out the last few minutes in our service. In prayer for this sermon, I really felt like that we were supposed

to reflect each of us. Maybe that means responding to an altar, maybe it means just staying where you're at in your seats, but I felt like each one of us was to reflect and ask ourselves the question, why do I follow God? Is our relationship with Him purely transactional? I wanna ask you, when was the last time that you got in God's presence, not because of something that you needed or something that you could get out of it, but when was the last time you knelt beside your bed or sat in that chair in your living room or carved out some space in your prayer closet and just said, God, I'm not here for anything else. God, I don't need anything from you. God, I'm not asking you to do anything. God, I just need you. I just desire you.