We Are Revere

Thank God for His ability, as Ephesians 3.20 says, to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we could ask, think, hope, or imagine. To Him be the glory. It is that God that we're worshiping today. Welcome to Revere. I have been waiting to say that for so many weeks now. Yes, it's a new year, we got some new paint, we got a new name, same God, but new name. Yes, so I want you to feel really welcomed. I don't want you guys to shake hands or give hugs because everyone's getting sick, but turn to your neighbor and say, welcome to Revere. For those watching the video experience, we love you. Turn to your neighbor. I can't see you, but God can. Watching online, put in the chat box where you are watching from, and we're gonna get this service started. Woo! I am so excited that you've chosen to be with Revere Church at the start of the year. My name is Bianca Juarez, and I'm one of the pastors here. I get the distinct privilege and honor of leading and feeding this congregation. Maybe you are new here, or you're visiting, and you're like, oh, you guys have a new name? Yeah, we do, and maybe you're here, you've been with us for a minute, and you're like, why did you change your name?

Little bit of context. At the end of 2023, I just sensed that things were changing. I couldn't explain it, but I anticipated it. As I was praying and asking, God, what do you have for this community? I got a phrase for the year. If you know me, I love a phrase for the year, a word for the year that anchors us as we move forward, and the phrase that God dropped in my heart was new horizons. I knew that God was taking us to new levels, to see things at a higher level. I just didn't know what it was gonna look like, and so the course of the year, I realized that so much within this community was changing, and every time that God does something significant in the life of somebody in scripture, they get a name change. So Abram became Abraham. Yes, yes, and Abraham means father of many nations, and at that point in the story, he didn't even have a kid. God's got jokes. People are like, the Bible's boring. No, you're boring. You just gotta know, you gotta know where the jokes are at. The name Jacob, which means the planter, aka Shady McShady, his name became Israel, which is that God's provision is there. God persevered. The name Simon, Simon means reed,

like something easily blown in the wind, and Simon's name changed to what? Peter, yes, and Peter means rock. Every time that God does something significant in the life of someone, they get a name change, and why is this important to note? Because, hi, Lauren, because in Hebrew history, names were prophetic foretellings of what God was gonna do in that person's life or a situation surrounding their birth. The name Moses means pulled from water. Moses was pulled from the Nile. The name Ruth means friendly and sweet, and she was a friend to Naomi. Names were important then, and names are important now. So, as we were embracing this new, not just name, it's a new identity, baby, new year, new me, okay? And going through this process, we were nuancing, who are we? Like, what are we about? What are the things that we are weak in? Why are we whack? How do we get better? And as we were doing an analysis of who we are and who we want to be, as God calls us into the future, I started thinking about names, and I took people on a five-week branding process. We were ideating who are we, who do we want to be, this wrestling with identity, and this one Tuesday, I had to miss that final meeting,

and then I got a text saying, hey, we got a name, and I was really excited, but I wasn't there. And then they said, so I asked what the name was, and I'm glad I wasn't in front of them because my face tells all my emotions. I get Botox so that you don't know how I really feel, okay? And they said, it's Revere, and I was like, what? Remix, Revere? What are you talking about, like Paul Revere? I was kind of annoyed, but then I started looking at the nuances and the definition of what Revere means. Now, there is a regular definition and a biblical definition, both very similar, but one emphasizes God. The definition of Revere is to stand in awe, to honor, or to respect greatly. The biblical definition, very similar as on the screen, is to admire, deeply respect, and honor God. Okay, that sounds cool, right? That sounds cool, okay, cool, cool, cool. But do you know this God? So let's pause and reflect on this God who wants to have a relationship with you, that God that pulled light out of dark, the God that pulled day out of night, the God who hung the moon and scattered the stars, the God who had the sea come up to kiss the sandy shore, the God who caused some animals to crawl and some to fly and some to walk, the same God who has water rise from the ocean

and fall from the sky, the same God who created gravity that keeps us planted. yet space to have us move, the same God who created humanity with sight and touch and smell and scent, that God wants to know you and to love you and to allow you to be the person that He sees you as. So what should our response be? Side note, I'm gonna pause because I felt my voice shaking, which means I'm gonna get emotional. I think I'm gonna get emotional today, which one, I'm Latina, it comes with the territory. I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. Number two, it's emotional for me because I love this community so much and I have a heart that I see where our church is going and I'm so excited. I'm trying to communicate with passion and zeal and sometimes in looking at what God has done, I stand fearfully, a little holy fearfully in front of you saying, God, are you gonna do it again? Forgive my emotions. But what should our response be? Okay, I want our response to be, and we were thinking about who we wanna be as a church and as a community, I want us, as we stand in awe that God wants to have a relationship with me and you, that we are gonna be people that revere God's presence. We are gonna be people that revere God's word

and we are gonna be people that revere God's people. So over the next couple weeks, I'm gonna invite you to join me for the next seven weeks. Before you're like, oh, I went once, I gave church a try, you didn't. It's like going to a restaurant once and ordering one thing and saying you didn't like the menu. You gotta come back. So I'm inviting you for the next seven weeks because this seven week series entitled We Are Revere is me talking about who we are in light of scripture, in light of God, and whether or not this tribe is your vibe. So if you're a note taker, the title of this series is also the title of today's sermon which is We Are Revere. And of course, I wanna root this in scripture. And so if you brought your Bible, turn with me to the Old Testament book, Isaiah. Isaiah 33 is where we're gonna start. And if you don't have a Bible, it's all good. We have a free one for you because we revere God's word and it's at the Welcome Center. But I also put scriptures on the screen and I want you to read the word of God so it sinks deep in. Isaiah 33, six says this. The fear of the Lord will be your treasure. What does that mean? Fear?

Like we're supposed to be afraid of God? Like we're supposed to be knee knocking and afraid in front of a cosmic killjoy punisher with a knobby finger that looks at us and judges us? Is that the fear? No. In fact, sometimes the word fear and awe is used synonymously in scripture. In fact, Isaiah addresses this to make sure that we understand this is not like a cowering fear. Isaiah 11, three, take note, it's on the screen, says this. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. It doesn't stop there. In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle in Philippians 2.12, he says to work out your salvation. What? The forgiveness of my mistakes and my sins? Work out my salvation with what, church? Oh yeah, just making sure the answer's on the screen. See, what we're not gonna do is do another year where you don't talk back to me, okay? Because I'm up here sweating and I want you to know God and then you guys stand there like the frozen chosen. I will not engage. I put the answers on the screen. I did slides for you. Can you please play with me? Yeah?

Okay, great. I literally schvitz, okay? I'm not even kidding you. People are like, oh no, it's a glow. No, honey, it's a sweat. Okay, great. We're gonna do this again. Paul says to work out your salvation with what? Fear and trembling, wow. When the Bible says fear of the Lord, it's not like I'm so afraid of God. In fact, Moses brings clarity on what type of fear this is. I know this is a lot of Bible verses. Stay with me. It's gonna make sense. I'm going somewhere. Stay with me, laying a foundation. Exodus 20, 20, Moses is speaking to the people of God and he's gonna differentiate and bring clarity on what this fear means. Stay with me. This is deep. Y'all are brilliant. Exodus 20, 20 puts it this way. Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. What's the test? Obey God because it will keep you from sin. That's great.

Okay, so some of you guys are like, okay, cool. Don't care, don't get it. Moses put it that way. I'm gonna put it my way. I love my dad. He's actually preaching right now at a church in East LA. The word of God, and he has done that for almost 40 years. I love my dad. I have a great relationship with my dad. I like to say that I am his favorite daughter. He will never admit it, but I just keep on saying it until one day he does. I love him. I'm also very grateful that my mom is here today and my brother Sebastian, my little sister Zoe. They don't know that I'm his favorite, but I am. And I love my dad, but I would be lying to you if I didn't admit that I have a fear of my dad. Not like, oh my gosh, my dad's gonna beat me, say horrible things about me. No, I have it. reverential awe, and respect for my dad. Which I need us to understand, again, I'm not afraid of him punishing me. He's not punitive. I have a fear of my dad because I want relationship with my dad. Separation from my dad feels like torture. I want relationship with my dad. Now, understand, this concept of dad might feel hard

if you're not close to your dad, your father passed away, or your father's abusive. I get that. But there's a redeeming nature in the quality of God as father. So you don't know how much you want that relationship until it's tested. I'm gonna call her out because my twin sister was here in first service and she's not here today. So I'm gonna tell you the whole story and the full truth. So I moved out to college my freshman year and I had a roommate. It was my twin sister, Jasmine. We went to college together and I was raised in a Christian home and I was homeschooled and I obeyed. Mom, do not judge me today. Okay, we're in the house of God. But freshman year, I was like, I think I'm gonna do some daring things. So I decided that I was gonna date a loser, okay? How do we know he's a loser? Because you don't wanna tell your friends and family members about him because you're embarrassed. That's a sign that you shouldn't date them. You know, you're welcome. That's free dating advice, okay? So I decided that I was gonna hang out with him. I had work, but I didn't wanna tell my sister

that I was gonna hang out with him. And so I told her the truth. I have work, I'll be home late. I didn't tell her that I was gonna be late because I was hanging out with him. See? The little loopholes, the little loopholes. Around nine o'clock, I realized I had to go home, but he wanted to hang out and he's like, no, we're driving in Pasadena. He's like, let's go to the Huntington Rose Garden. Like boys got moves, you know, I'm not dumb. I know what's going on. But I just was like so into this guy and he was like a rebel. He was everything that I wasn't. And so there was something alluring and otherworldly and I'm like, okay. I thought it was just gonna be a little while until at 2 a.m. I go to my dorm room and I thought that my sister was gonna be sleeping because I told her I would be there late. My sister was there with the campus police filling out a missing persons form with my father on the phone. Okay. So what do I, a believing Christian daughter of a pastor, do when I'm confronted with where was I? I lie. I double down on my lie.

I'm so convinced, I'm convincing myself that I was asleep on a couch. I mean, pray for me, okay. Don't judge me. Okay, we're in church, don't judge me. So the campus police left. My dad spoke to me, he said, are you good? I said, I'm good, hung up the phone. That was it. So I thought, Jasmine's a snitch and Jasmine is no fool. She looks at me after everyone leaves and she says, you're a liar. And I double down, I'm like, I'm not lying. I'm not lying, believe me. Okay, we go to bed and I start praying all the prayers. God, please, please cover my sin. Please cover my sin. I can't get caught, I can't get caught. That's the wrong prayer. It should be like, I'm sorry, and I'm like, cover my sin, cover my sin. The next morning, she wakes up and she's like, I know you're lying to me. So the course of the day, my collared shirt had slipped to reveal a hickey. Don't judge me. There's freedom in the house of God. I'm confessing my trespasses, stop. Okay, first of all, I'm not gonna say that hickeys are in the Bible, you can't do them.

I'm telling you, your pastor says don't get them because they're trashy, okay? Just don't do it. And if you're here with a hickey, we'll pray for you afterwards, all right? You're welcome here, but you're also here to be saved. Don't do that. Well, my sister, being my best friend, what does she do? Calls my dad. Calls my dad and she says, Bianca, da, da, da, da, da, da. When I found out she called my dad, I immediately panicked. I grabbed my keys, I got into my car and I sped down Beverly Boulevard all the way to Los Angeles to the church that he was in and his sinner daughters, like running past the secretary, running past the pastor's offices. I literally sprint into his room, open the door and I begin to sob uncontrollably. Keep in mind, I didn't do anything dastardly or immoral. It wasn't the action that I was concerned about. It was what it did to my relationship with my dad. I was so afraid of letting him down. I was so afraid of it separating us. I was so afraid of being caught that all I can do is weep. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Loving, gracious, kind man that he is. He picks me up, he gives me a hug and says nothing more. To this day, my dad has never brought that up.

But I lied to him. I lied to the police. I lied to my sister. And in that moment, it was a glimpse of God's love for us. And the truth is that we have a spiritual father that wants to have that same type of relationship. And that's why Moses said, hey, God wants to put a fear in you to protect you from making stupid decisions. That the love of my father, both my earthly and my heavenly father, would be so great that it would. Stop me from making dumb decisions. Dumb decisions that will last for lifetimes. Okay, so let's geek out for a second. What does it mean to fear God? It is to stand in awe of Him. It is to revere Him. It is to obey Him. What does God's Word say? Proverbs 8, 13. I'm gonna pause for a second, because some of you are all like, this is a lot of Bible. I know it is, I know it is. Stay with me. In fact, the first time we launched the church, I remember the passage I preached on. John 4, woman at the well, was a happy, clappy message.

Everyone's invited, God is love. And I believe all those things. But I also know that we as a community have matured. And there's a higher call upon us, because there's a great mantle on this house that I want us to feel the weight of, and we obey. But Proverbs 8, 13 says, to fear the Lord is to hate evil. Maybe you won't be here, or watching online, watching the video experience, and you're like, gosh, Bianca, you're so severe. God is the God of love. You told me that God loves me, and He does. But I would be doing you a disservice if I only told you God was loving, God was kind, and God was merciful. Because God is also just, and He's righteous, and He's holy, and He's pure. And the Word of God is the thing that gives us our worldview. Otherwise, it's you making up your rules, and what you think is okay, and everyone has to abide by that.

So our worldview, if you are a follower of Jesus, notice I didn't say Christian, there's a lot of Christians. If you are a follower of Jesus, that means what you do, how you do it, what you say, where you spend, how you live, is determined in light of the glory of God, and relationship with the Heavenly Father. If you are a disciple of Jesus, guess what? Our life has to be governed by what the Word of God says. And if this is so important, why aren't we as an American church talking about it? We as a Western church, we love everyone feeling comfortable. We love everyone feeling cute. Your sin is okay. Jesus loves you, and He does. But I think, as a communicator of the gospel, I think we've gotten a little soft. I think we've been leading afraid. Afraid that if we stand for righteousness,

people will not like us. That if we keep a standard of what God says, people are gonna be like, you and your high horse. Your morality. We think that if we make a stand for truth and goodness, that people are gonna tear us down. That is called a fear of man. I wanna have a fear of God when I lead this community. Now, thank you for the one clap, PJ. I appreciate that. But let me tell you something. The reason why I'm passionate about this is that in evaluating what God did in the previous community, and how I wanna show up in this community, I realized I was being led in moments of having a fear of man. I led fearful in some seasons because I was afraid that if I told you the truth of what it meant to follow Jesus, that you would say it's too hard. That if I told you the truth of following Jesus, you would say it's gonna take too much. That if I preach the truth of what God's word says, that it would go contrary to pop culture. Why are you so crazy? Why are you so dogmatic? That if I were to make a stand,

they would cause you to not like Jesus, not like this church, and if I'm honest, not like me. And if I'm really honest, I led fearful. Because when I was leading alone, I was afraid of what people were gonna think. As a woman, as a divorced woman, as a daughter of immigrants, I'm like, who's gonna stick around? And thank you. And so I had to make a decision that I'm not gonna lead afraid anymore. If I'm honest with you, and don't judge me on this, don't judge me on this, I've gotten to the point now in 2025, like I don't give a flying fig what people think about me. I don't give jack cheese, I really don't. I mean, listen, you like me or you don't. Not everyone likes pistachio ice cream. Like, you may not like me, it's all good. There's a thousand other churches in Orange County or globally that you might like. And if you're the weird person that likes pistachio, God bless you. Okay, I want to lead this community with a fear of God. So what is a marking, what's a hallmark of the fear of God? Okay, if you're taking notes, a fear of God is demonstrated in two ways. That there is trembling of the presence of God. We see this in scripture, I'll back it up in a second. And number two, that we tremble at his word.

Well, that's interesting. You would think that I planned this, I'm not that strategic. That our values is to revere God's presence. and revere his word? And what are the hallmarks of the fear of God? Trembling in his presence, trembling at his word. Let's break this down, let's break this down. Jeremiah 5.22 says, this is the words of God coming from the prophet Jeremiah. "'Should you not fear me?' says, declares the Lord. "'Should you not tremble in my presence?' Okay, okay, okay, I get it. What does that actually mean? I'm gonna put this in simple terms. I love this church, I love this house. And I have a tradition. On Sundays, I like to wake up before Jesus. I wake up when it's pitch black outside. I like to put on worship music, I like to do my hair, I like to do my makeup, I like to spend extra time on my eyelashes. I pick up my outfits, I get ready, I go over my notes, I get here before the staff gets here. And I like to pray over the seats, I like to anoint the seats with oil. I want the presence of God to be so thick in here. And several years ago, this is about four years ago now, I was doing my routine on a Sunday.

I was praying through the rose and anointing them with oil and it was fine. But the worship team was rehearsing and I love our worship team, I'm so grateful. They are the first in and the last out on Sundays. They never give, they're never given the credit that they're due for ushering in the presence of God and I love them so much. But on this particular Sunday, I was walking in the rose and I was praying and I had to stop, because I was like, something's wrong. Like, you know when something's wrong and you can't really figure out what's wrong? Because the music is going and they sound good, but there's something wrong. Listen, I sound crazy, I know I sound crazy. It was a holy hunch. I just said, there is sin in the camp. Now, if you don't have a church background, that's not gonna make sense to you, but in the book of Joshua, there's this one guy who lies, he brings sin to the camp and they get their butts kicked, all right? So that's that phrase, sin in the camp. It's biblical, you're welcome. Okay, so I just, the only phrase that came to mind was sin in the camp. And so I gently walked out and I came onto stage.

No shame, no guilt, no like, turn or burn, just grabbed everyone and I was like, hey guys, I think we need to pray. Can we gather up? We made a circle and I'm like, hey, I sense that there is some unconfessed sin that's here. And if you are on platform, you're a leader in this house and you are trying to usher in the presence of God and there's sin in your life, I'm gonna invite you right now, you need to confess that because we can't take people to a place that we are not at. And I know I sound crazy, but I had a reverence for the presence of God. And right then and there in that moment, I knew I had to practice what Proverbs says. Proverbs 89, seven says this, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. That's you, saints and aints. Look, and to be held in reverence by all those around him. Sure enough, there were some people that had confessions and I told them, hey, listen, if you know that you are straight up in sin, go speak to Taylor, he was a worship leader at the time. So go speak to Taylor. That day, not one, but two people stepped off of worship team. We wanted to love them through restoration and redemption, but they were not gonna be here and lead God's people with sin in their life.

And that day, worship didn't sound as awesome as it usually does. But you know what I'm saying? I'd rather have a guitar and a harmonica and usher in the presence of God with purity than have a full band if there's people whose lives are wretched and ratchet from the inside out. You know what I'm saying? If Bob Dylan did it with a harmonica and a guitar, so can we, okay? So like, that's what we're gonna get. And I know I probably sound severe, but the presence of God, to me, I'm like a dog with a bone. Because I've been around God long enough. You know where the presence of God is not present. You can smell it, you can feel it like, ooh, something is not right here. You walk into a room and you're like, ooh, whoa, that's you sensing where the presence of God is and where it ain't, okay? Why am I so neurotic about this? Because in the presence of God, lives are changed. The presence of God, broken hearts are renewed. In the presence of God, relationships are on the brink and fraught with failure come together. In the presence of God, I have seen with my own eyes, people healed emotionally, physically, spiritually. In the presence of God, it'll give you faith for one more day to pray for that wayward son

where it looks impossible that they will come to Christ. One day more of faith in the presence of God. One day more in the presence of God. In the presence of God, lives are changed. And I want us to be so cautious and protecting where the presence of God is so that he can show up. And you wanna know something? I know people are like, yes, but God is holy. I mean, God is loving, God is great, God is kind. He is, but the angels enthroned around the Lord, they are not saying loving, loving, loving, though he is. They're not saying kind, kind, kind, though he is. They are saying holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. And as a shepherd in this house, protecting the people of God's pasture, I need to make sure that sin is removed so his presence is here. Where there is light, there cannot be darkness. And I want us to be excited. I know this feels very severe, severe revere. What is going on? No, I want us to be excited about this. I want us to be excited about this because you're. Life changes when you submit your life to the will of Christ. But we're not excited about that. No, we're not excited. We're not excited to show up at church. We complain, oh, it's that service. It's that worship song. It's that preacher.

Do you think this is about you? This is about standing and giving God honor and glory, whoever is on platform, whenever we're on platform, and not just Sundays, baby boo, Monday through Friday. I want to live for the glory and the excellence of God. It's about getting into the presence of God. Thank you for the golf clap, Orange County. Appreciate that. Number one, we tremble in the presence of God. Number two, we tremble at the word of God. Now, for a little bit of Bible education, for those that are new to faith or new to this church, the children of Israel, they were God's favored people. I say favored. They were his chosen people. And as a woman of Jewish descent, I'm 1% Jew. I'm Jew-ish. There you go. You're welcome. I'm chosen. Let me tell you about my people. We are like bratty toddlers, okay? All throughout Scripture, the Israelites were like toddlers. Like sometimes they obeyed, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes they listened, sometimes they didn't. And the Lord just got fed up with their antics. And through the prophet Isaiah, it says this. Isaiah 62, excuse me, 66 too, says, these are the ones that I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit, who tremble at my word. If you want the favor of God, you want a relationship with the God of the universe, you have to obey his word. But I got to shoot it straight with you.

This isn't easy. I think I probably would have told you, like, it's so fun, like four years ago. This is so fun to love the Lord. And it is. It's also a sacrifice. Bianca, are you telling me? What are you telling me? What are you telling me? I have to say no to the things I want to say yes to because the Bible says so? Yes. Are you telling me I have to love my enemies? Yes. Are you telling me I have to live a life of purity? Yes. Are you telling me I have to let go of my addictions and the things that I love? Yes. Not because God is a cosmic killjoy. He loves you so much. And he wants you to step into the fullness of all that he has for you. A life with a clean conscious, a clean heart, a clean soul, a clean life that you could actualize what you know deep in your soul, you're called to and you can't get there without the power of God in relationship with the father who loves you. He loves you. So, to tremble at his word means that we obey God whether or not we want to. It means that we obey the call of God upon our life and we do it now. I talked to some people and they're,

y'all ask them a question or something and they'll be like, yeah, for the last couple months God's been telling me I should, couple months? Baby, that's too long, honey. If I'd ask you a couple months to like move the car, take out the dishes, I would be annoyed. Let me tell you something, I've said this before, delayed obedience is disobedience. If the Lord says to do it, do it. What does that mean for me personally? As we embark on this journey of starting a new church, I questioned if I was supposed to lead this community. I had every right to walk away. I had been abandoned by multiple people and multiple things. I would have had the right to, but I asked God, what do you have for me? I didn't want to walk away if I was supposed to stay, even though walking away is what so many people said to do. I'm not going to listen to him and her and them. I have to listen to the word of God. And I was so moved by a word out of the Bible that I believe God used to speak to me about what I'm doing today before you. Forgive me if I get emotional reading this, because it feels very vulnerable. God whispered this to me in a very, very broken state of my life, but it convinced me, in spite of public opinion, that I am called to lead this community.

Isaiah 54 says this. Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child. Burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor. Because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent cords wide. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes, for you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispose the nations and settle in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid. Sorry. Do not be afraid. You will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace. You will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth. Remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. Your maker is your husband. The Lord Almighty is his name. The Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer. He's taken the broken pieces of my life and the abandonment that I've been faced and forced to wrestle with. He who is called the God of all the earth. He's taken the broken pieces of my life and this community and he's birthed something new. And when God speaks, you obey. King David said in Psalm 119.16, we'll hurry to obey the Lord. That's what I want to do. People are like, oh, you're so busy. You rush. I know I don't. I just want to hurry and obey the Lord. Hurry and obey the Lord. Hurry and obey the Lord. I don't talk fast. You listen slow because delayed obedience is disobedience. You're welcome. All right. Let me wrap this up as quickly as possible. I feel like if people say it better than you just quote them. Okay. There's a brilliant guy. His name is John Bevere. Shout out JB. You're the man. He wrote a book called awe of God. And remember awe of God and fear of God. Did I tell you that they're synonymous? Yeah. Okay, great. So he wrote a book of God, which is the fear of God. And he says to tremble at his word are these five things for the note takers get ready that we obey immediately, that we

do not wait to tremble at his word means that he says it, we do it. Number two, we obey even if it doesn't make sense to love our enemies, to forgive those who hurt us, to give out of our lack, to serve when we don't want to. Three, obey even when it hurts. Jesus suffered. Jesus went to the cross out of obedience to his father. He obeyed to the point of death. And second Peter tells us to arm ourself with the mind of Christ who obeyed his father for we obey even if we don't see a benefit. I'm going to pause on this one because John says within the American church, we try convincing people to obey so that they can get a prize. Like obey God and you'll be blessed. Give God $1. He'll give you 10. I mean, here's the thing. The truth of the matter is, is that you are blessed when you obey God's word, but we don't obey for the blessing. We obey because we love God. Right? I have to make that very clear. Now I want to complain like, Lord, if you want to bless me, I will receive that house in Corona Del Mar. Yes, Jesus. Lastly, lastly, it's not on the screen. It's not in your notes, but I'm giving you the freezy and the funsy. John said that we obey until it's complete. Until you have completed what the Lord has called you to do, you just continue to obey. And that's what it's about. It's about love. So the real question that I'm asking as we launch this community and inviting you to give God a year, test God, give him a year of revering him and see how your life is changed. The question that you have to ask is, are you willing to stand in awe of God to obey his word and to love his people? The answer to that question will be on whether or not you are a disciple of Jesus. Okay. That sounds religious. Let me put it this way. Pretend you're a guy. You're a guy and you are in love with a girl. Like to you, she's gorgeous. She's amazing. Your friends are like, she's a little busted, but to you, she's beautiful. You love her. You see her and you see her for all the untapped potential inside of her. And there's something longing inside of you that wants to beckon that potential to make it a reality. You love her. You love her smell. You love her hair. You are obsessed with her. You think she is amazing. And you know her, you actually know her and you love her in spite of all her idiosyncratic tendencies. You love her and you have come to the decision. I am going to marry this woman. I'm going to ask her to commit to me for better or worse, for better or worse till death do us part. And you go to this girl and you say, will you marry me? Will you be in a relationship with me? I love you. And her response is, oh my gosh, I totally

love you. You make me feel really good inside. Like I have a great feeling around you. I don't really pay a whole lot of attention to you, but I love that you love me. It's so great. So like, I want to say yes, but like, I just want to let you know, like some weekends I'm just going to do me. You can't tell me what to do. I'm going to do my life. I'm going to spend my money. I'm going to go out with him, with her, with them. I'm going to do whoever, whenever, whatever, however. Should he marry her? Some of you guys didn't answer. The answer is no. You don't marry that chick. Okay. You don't want to marry that chick, but sisters, you don't want to be that chick, all right? It's a freezy. Amen. I amen myself. That was good. Listen, you don't want to marry her. Would you want to commit your life to somebody who gives you 20% of them? Would you want to marry a person that gave you 44% of them? Would you want to marry a person who gave you 73% of them? Would you want to marry a person who said, I will give you 90% of me, but those four weekends, I'm going to turn up, I'm going to do me, I'm going to be the best, the worst for you, the best for me. No. But that's what we do to God. God, you can take my life, but I don't really want to go to church. God, you can take my whole life, but don't ask me to mess with my finances. You're kind of cool. Like you made me feel really good inside, but you don't want to commit. That's a one-sided relationship. That was your friend and you were a good friend, you would say, don't do that. So, I have to ask, what is your relationship status with God? The God of the universe. The God who pulled day out of night and light out of darkness.

The God who hung the moon and scattered the stars. The God who had the sea come up and kiss the sandy shore. The God who caused animals to crawl and to fly and to swim and to walk. And the God who causes waters to rise from the ocean and fall from the sky. The God who created gravity that keeps us planted and space that allows us to move. The God who created humanity where we could smell and taste and touch and see. And that God wants to have a relationship with you because he loves you. He knows you. He knows all of your idiosyncrasies and he's like, I choose you. I want to be in a relationship with you. Knowing all that, what should our response be? Our response should be to love him. And the reason why I'm so passionate and even emotional is because I have seen what this church is going to be and I want you to see it too. I know that this church is going to be a church where we usher in revival. That people will experience the tangible presence of God in ways that they can't explain. The times that we've spoken about where God moved and people were healed and people's lives were transformed and changed isn't for our parents' generation or our grandparents' generation. It's for this generation. And I want us to be on the forefront of that. I want us to ride the wave, not get the drift, not get the end, whatever that's called. I don't surf. I just want us to be on the forefront. I want us to be on the forefront of ushering in revival because we care about the presence of God. And not only that, we care about the word of God, we're going to be disciples, we're going to get into regroups and we're going to get into recourses because we want to know the word of God. Not because I say it or he says it or she says it, because it's what the word of God

says and we're not just going to talk about it, we're going to be about it. We're going to see people who are hurting and in need and we are going to meet their need because loving others is our expression of loving God. That's what Revere is about. I'm not going to beg you to be here because I know that this is not for everyone. But if you're like, I'm down to clown, that's my tribe, I want to be part of that. You're invited here and my ask of you is that you give God a committed year. Not like, oh, I show up to church once every six weeks or I give five bucks in the offering box and they're cool. No, no, no. Like you show up, you're part of this community and you let God transform you through the reading of his word, through worshiping of him, dare him, let me see you God and see how our awesome God reveals himself to you when you revere him in spirit and truth. Church, I'm going to invite you, if you feel comfortable, you feel comfortable praying, will you bow your head, will you close your eyes just to give God reverence. You are a holy God. We come before you and we say in this moment right now, will you show us a glimpse of who you are? Show your sons and your daughters the life that you've envisioned for them because their plans are feeble. Their dreams are small. You are a limitless God with limitless potential, beckoning your children to believe and dream for limitless things, empowered by your spirit. And so spirit of the living God, reveal yourself to revere church as we worship you in spirit and truth. In Jesus name.