WEBVTT - Acceptable Sacrifices 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:06.760 Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.680 thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.280 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.320 to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.840 I'm excited. I'm expecting God because he spoke to me 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.840 as I was preparing this message. And we're gonna start 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.280 in First Peter, chapter two, verse five, and it says this, 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.319 you also, like living stones are being built into a 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.440 spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.440 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Let me read that 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.600 one more time. First Peter says, you also, like living 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:43.879 stones are being built into a spiritual house to be 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:48.880 a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.080 Jesus Christ. And so today I want to talk about 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:57.640 acceptable sacrifices, acceptable sacrifices. Let's pray. Lord, I just come 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.960 to you right now. We just thank you for the 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.920 promise that when your word goes forth, that it will 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.520 never return void. And I thank you God for what 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.399 you've shown me, help me to communicate it with clarity 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.600 and with power. Lord, and I pray that something eternal 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.479 will happen in all of our hearts as we seek 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:20.440 your face today in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, thank 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.120 you worship team. Don't we have the greatest worship teams 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.800 serving at every campus, not just out on tour, but 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.520 every single location. All right, before we begin, I got 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.319 to tell you about something in our family called the 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.080 big fish moment. And so the big fish moment stands 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:40.840 for an uncontrollable emotional outburst. And if you don't know, 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.480 I'm the dad of three little girls. I have twins 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:46.000 that are ten, and I have my youngest daughter is five. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.800 And you would think that something that deals with volatile 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.520 emotions would have originated with one of my three daughters, 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:54.840 But it did not. It started with one of the 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.840 adults in my family. So fifteen years ago, two thousand 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.080 and three, I'm taking my then girlfriend, Ferris, who's my 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.720 wife now, taking her to see a movie called big Fish. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:06.720 Has anyone seen this movie? All right, not a ton 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:11.120 of you, But I was taking her to see this 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:13.359 movie and I had, if I'm being honest, some ulterior 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.040 motives because I knew it had a sad ending, and 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:18.000 I thought this was gonna be my chance to kind 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.120 of comfort her at the end in the theater. All 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:25.639 Holy Spirit approved. But I had everything planned out. And 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.080 we get in the theater and it's building up. I 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.760 can feel that the emotions are building, and it hits 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.800 the scene where the main character's walking down this grassy 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.200 null on something sad is about to happen, and I'm 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.280 getting ready and I'm about to kind of move my 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:41.800 arm over and I look over and Ferris is just 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:46.440 stone cold, like no emotion, and then something funny happens. 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.440 My chin starts to quiver a little bit. I'm like, 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.680 that's that's odd. And then one tear starts to fall 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.520 down my cheek, and the next thing I know, I 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.799 am just ugly crying in this theater, like the kind 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.960 of crying that's not signed. It's very, very noisy, and 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.440 I'm like rocking back and forth. I can't look at Ferris. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.480 I can't. We have to stay to the whole theater. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.400 It's cleared out, and so we're walking out to the 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.760 car and in the parking lot, I feel like, okay, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.360 maybe I can try to tell her what's going on? 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:17.880 And I try to say, hey, you know he was 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:19.399 going down the grassy k hoole, and then I start 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.920 crying again. And I swear to you it was a 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.880 twenty minute drive to drop her off at her house, 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.200 and I cried the entire way to drop her off. 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.760 So the next morning I call I feel like a fool, 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.000 I'm an idiot, and I call her up. I'm like, Ferris, 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.920 I don't know what happened last night. She goes, can 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.400 you explain why it got to you so much? I 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:40.680 was like, well, you know that one part on the 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:45.720 grassy knoll, and then like the floodgates opened again, somebody 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:50.400 over here just lost all respects for me. But I 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.240 made a vow in that moment that I was never 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.720 going to watch Big Fish ever again. And I was 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:00.400 strong and resolute with that vow. And couple of weeks 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.320 ago and that is when my loving wife, my carrying 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.080 just amazing wife, she went behind my back and she 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.240 betrayed me. Y'all, we have this rule in our house 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.720 that if our kids read a book that then a 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.039 movie's made based on the book, they can watch the movie. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.680 And so my kids have heard these stories they've heard 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.120 the legend, and so Firist behind my back got the 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:24.320 girls to start reading Big Fish at night, and I 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.080 didn't find out until about three nights in like Ferris, 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.560 what are you doing? And so they were committed to 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.280 reading the book, though because not out of their love 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.800 for literature, not out of their love for learning. They 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:35.720 wanted to see their dad cry like a little girl. 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:41.159 So about three weeks ago, I get the call that 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.520 i'd been dreading. The call that triggered me, and that's 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.760 when Adley says, Daddy, when you get home tonight, we're 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:51.720 watching Big Fish. And I was terrified, but I showed up. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:53.440 It's like, Okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm not gonna cry. 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:55.719 I'm not gonna cry. I still had a blanket to 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.800 hide behind just in case. But for the first hour 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.400 and fifty five minutes Strong and my kids didn't even 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.200 watch the movie. They just watched me the whole time. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.279 But then he hit that grassy knoll and I cried, 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:11.920 just like it was fifteen years ago. My kids were 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.360 loving it. I was embarrassed. I didn't feel like much 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.680 of a man in that moment. And once again, my 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.240 loving wife shows how much he loves me by getting 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:24.080 the phone out and videoing me. And because I love 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:29.720 y'all so much, because I'm committed to preaching this word 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.159 that God gave me, I'm gonna show y'all just a 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.120 little glimpse. Now. Granted I've wiped off most of the tears, 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.400 but I want you to see the difference and emotional 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.600 composure between me, a forty two year old man, and 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:42.440 my ten year old twins. So take a look at 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:51.400 this cry again. Let me talk about it. Sick, What 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:59.640 got you then? Well? Made those tears come? That was 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.040 sitting she was crying with me in the background. He's sick. 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.800 What made those tears come. It's crazy to me though, 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:08.880 that these are the people my family, that are closer 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.520 to me than anyone else on the planet. And I 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:13.840 still was ashamed of how I felt. I didn't want 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:15.760 them to know what I was really feeling in that moment. 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:17.920 I mean, I kind of get it. Fifteen years ago, 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.280 I didn't want my girlfriend to know that she was 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.160 dating a guy who cried more than her. But this 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.760 is this is my family. Like, why am I ashamed 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.880 of how I feel? And I think that's actually a 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.120 pattern in my life and I think all of us 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.800 can relate to that that sometimes it is so hard 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.480 to be honest with other people about what's truly going 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:39.120 on inside of us, because we feel like if they 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:43.920 really knew the truth, they wouldn't love us anymore, they 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.040 wouldn't respect us, maybe they wouldn't trust us. Maybe everyone 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.200 would leave us if they really knew how messed up 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.359 and how screwed up and how confused and how we 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:55.120 don't have anything together. People really knew the truth about us, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:56.800 and so we hide it and we put up walls. 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.039 And then it gets really messed up when we begin 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.640 to project the same fears and those same insecurities onto 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:06.159 how God views us. And yes, we know intellectually that 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.120 God knows everything, but we start to believe the lie 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.080 that if God really knew this about me, maybe his 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:17.120 grace couldn't cover that, and we begin to put up 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.920 these walls. And it really shows up for me when 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.600 I come into worship, because I walk through these doors 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.440 and a lot of times I'll disqualify myself from being 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:27.240 in the presence of God before I even sing the 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.560 first song. And maybe you've experienced the same thing. You 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:32.440 feel like you have to show up and you have 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.120 to look the part, and you have to have the 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.560 perfect smile, and you have to have the right attitude, 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.560 never mind the fact that your attitude just went out 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.200 the window just trying to get your kids here on 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.600 time and checked in. But all you're thinking about is 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:45.720 the things you've done this week and how you feel 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:47.320 in that moment. And you come in here and you 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:52.000 feel completely unworthy to worship. You feel completely disqualified, and 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.560 you don't feel like singing these songs because the only 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.400 thing you feel are the weight of your inadequacies, the 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.840 weight of your insecurities. And how are you supposed to 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.960 worship when you feel like that? And one of my 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.840 favorite songs off of the album we just released is 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:09.200 called Hallelujah here below. It's what the album is named after. 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.680 And there's a lyric in that song that has helped 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.000 me so much, and it says, we're an altar of 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.880 broken stones, which you delight in the offering. And so 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.840 that's based on a passage where God told Moses to 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.080 build an altar of unhewn stones. Those are stones that 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.400 were jagged, they wouldn't cut to fit together perfectly. But 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.760 God was saying, hey, worship me in a place of imperfection. 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:34.720 And so the whole theme of that song, the whole 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.480 theme of this album is that God doesn't want us 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.559 to hide our brokenness from him. We can actually build 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:44.200 an altar in the midst of imperfection. And so that 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.840 verse I read earlier from one Peter continues that theme 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.960 where it says, you also, like living stones are being 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.560 built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:57.240 offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.880 now we're not just building an altar with unhuman stones. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.920 We are the altar. We are the unhuman stones that 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.400 the living stones that come together where the spirit of 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.360 God dwells. We're the body of Christ. We are the altar. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.440 But what has been really messing me up lately is 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:19.280 this question, if I am an alter, how come sometimes 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.400 I don't feel like worshiping. You would think an alter 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.319 that was designed for worship, what would feel like worshiping? 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:28.520 And you know a lot of times I don't feel 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:30.760 that way. And if I'm the worship pastor, I have 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:34.080 to imagine that maybe you feel the same way, And 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:36.080 I want to know how to do what First, Peter 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:40.400 says where it says, offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.400 I want to bring God acceptable sacrifices, but a lot 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:46.920 of times my sacrifices don't feel very acceptable. Have you 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.600 ever felt that way? So I just started to dig 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.160 into God's word, not to prepare a sermon, but to 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:55.360 help me to try to figure this out. And so 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:57.160 there was a phrase in there it says, we're a 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.800 holy priesthood. So I started looking through the Old Testament 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.480 and looking at the priesthood and the Levites, and they're 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.120 the closest things that we get to worship leaders in 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.360 the Old Testament, and they were to minister in the 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.760 Temple of the Lord and the presence of the Ark. 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.319 And this is where Israel, the nation of Israel, made 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:17.920 their sacrifices of worship, these acceptable sacrifices. And so I 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.120 wanted to see was there something about how they honored 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.240 God through their worship that made those sacrifices acceptable. And 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.680 so here in first Chronicles, this is David giving them 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.400 instructions on how to minister in the Temple of the Lord. 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.280 This is right before the temple was about to be built. 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.680 And so we'll spend some time in this text today 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.640 it's chapter twenty three, and it says the duty of 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.400 the Levites was to help Aaron's descendants and the service 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.480 of the temple of the Lord. To be in charge 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.199 of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.080 sacred things, and the performance of other duties at the 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.240 House of God. They were in charge of the bread 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.160 set out on the table, the special flour for the 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.160 grain offerings, the thin loaves made without yeat, the baking 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.080 and the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.560 They were also to stand every morning to think and 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.480 praise the Lord. They were to do the same in 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.960 the evening and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord, 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.160 on the sabbaths, at the new moon feast, and at 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.680 the appointed festivals. And they were to serve before the 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.000 Lord regularly, in the proper number and in the way 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.440 prescribed for them. So in this passage, I think we 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.000 see three different ways that the Levites honored God in 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:25.280 their worship, honored God in the place where sacrifices were made. 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:26.800 And let me get this out of the way. The 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.520 sacrifices they were talking about were animal sacrifices, God no 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.560 longer requires that of us, because as followers of Christ, 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.520 the one and only sacrifice has already been made. But 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.400 I still think there's something we can learn about as 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.000 followers of Jesus, how do we bring God worship that 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.800 he's pleased with? And so let's look at three things 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.240 that we can learn about how the Levites brought acceptable 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.200 sacrifices to God. And the first was they honored the 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.880 Lord with their priority. So write that down if you're 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:58.080 a note taker priority, because the most striking thing to 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:00.400 me reading this passage at first was just the time 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.160 commitment involved. Look at verse thirty again. It says they 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.360 were to stand every morning to think and praise the Lord. 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:08.560 They were to do the same in the evening. So 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.760 that's a huge commitment of time every single morning, every 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.240 single night, every single day. And I know for a 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:15.600 lot of us it can be a win just to 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.680 get to church twice a month. No judgment there, We're 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.360 really glad that you're here. We'd like for you to 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.000 be here a little bit more, but we'll celebrate that win. 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.160 But they were worshiping twice a day, every single day. 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.560 It was a commitment of time. It was a commitment 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.640 to precision and process, because verse thirty one says the 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:34.679 Levites were to serve before the Lord regularly, in the 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.040 proper number and in the way prescribed for them, So 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.640 there was an order to it. That's what priority is. 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.600 It's ordering your life consistently around your values. So it 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.880 didn't matter if they wanted to sing in the morning, 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:48.240 they showed up, they sang. It didn't matter if they 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.480 were in a bad mood at night, they showed up 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.520 and they sang. It didn't matter if they felt like it. 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.520 They were in their post ready to worship. But I 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.000 have to wonder if sometimes the Levites felt the same 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.000 way we do, that they just weren't feeling it. And 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:03.880 if they weren't feeling it, I wonder if they wondered 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:06.160 if it was truly worship, if maybe it was a 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:09.600 little forced, if maybe it was a little legalistic, because 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.520 I felt that way growing up. I grew up past 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.320 My granddad was a pastor and my dad was the 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.679 music minister at our church. My mom played the organ. 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.720 It was like a real family affair there. But I 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.080 was at church every single time the doors were open, 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.400 and that's how I grew up, and I didn't have 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.760 a choice in the matter. I was always there. And 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.880 what I found is when I got to college, I 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.040 started to rebel against some of that consistency because I 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.080 thought it was legalistic. I was like, you know, I 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:37.679 don't have to read my Bible every day if I'm 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:39.760 not feeling it. God wouldn't want that. Or I don't 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:41.959 have to be in church every time the doors are open, 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:43.719 because it needs to you know, it needs to be 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.720 an overflow of my heart. And so I rebelled against 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.040 what I thought was legalism, and I found that in 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.000 running from legalism, I was actually running from discipline. And 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.760 those two were not the same thing. They can look 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.600 the same, but they can have different motives. Legalism is 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.560 doing something out of fear of man. It's out of 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.880 a fear of trying to prove something to somebody else. 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.360 It's trying to avoid punishment. Discipline is pursuing God, being 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.120 passionate for God based on our priorities. Legalism is a 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.560 bad thing that can lead to a lot of destructive habits. 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:21.160 Discipline is one of the things I admire most about 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:22.920 the people that I look up to, like Pastor Steve, 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.520 when he's one of the most disciplined people that I 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.440 know because his discipline is based around the right priorities. 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:31.760 So for me now on this side of life, I'm 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.680 so grateful for my parents discipline who said, you're going 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:36.200 to be in the house of God. We're going to 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.640 be in the House of God no matter what, because 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.720 it's important to us. And as a kid, whether I 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:43.920 wanted to admit it or not, I noticed that and 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:46.040 I knew if it was going to be between, you know, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:48.800 being in worship or basketball practice, they were going to be. 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:50.400 They were going to pick church. And some of that 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.120 was to save me from embarrassment at basketball, and they 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.640 were good parents, but I knew that it was important 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.080 to them, and it grew to be important to me 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:01.200 because even when I was in church and I didn't 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.600 want to be there, the consistency of that is when 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.120 God began to speak to me and God began to 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.960 become real in my life because I was in position 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:12.400 and I was in my post. And so that means 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:14.920 for worship, when you show up even when you sing, 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:16.800 and when you show up to worship when you don't 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.560 feel it, that's not fake, that's being faithful. There is 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:26.560 a promise that when you show up. That's so freeing 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.280 to me that if I can come here, even if 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.560 I don't feel it, God's going to honor the fact 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:32.600 that we're here and that we're drawing near to Him. 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.400 Because there's a promise in James four. Come near to 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.320 God and He will come near to you. And I 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.280 love that promise because it's not just for the mountaintop peaks, 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.360 the high points of your life. That promise is for 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.560 the valley. It's for the times when you feel so 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:49.960 weak that you barely even made it into church and 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.360 made it into your seat. But God sees the fact 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:55.240 that you're drawing near to Him, and He will draw 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.560 near to you. And that became so real to me. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:01.720 About two years ago, we were in a series in 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:03.760 our church called Beyond. How many of you were here 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.600 for that series? It was an end of the year 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:12.040 vision series, And if I'm being honest, that time of 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.480 my life was one of the most difficult struggles I've 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.200 ever had with anxiety. You may not know this, but 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:21.760 two of my daughters have different special needs. My youngest, Sydney, 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.000 she has something called cystic fibrosis, and I was really 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:29.000 wrestling with anxiety because any cold could send her to 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.320 the hospital for a week. It was the realization that 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.520 I was actually older than her life expectancy is. It 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:40.160 was the pressure of having to feel strong for my family, 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.120 and I didn't want to let anybody else know because 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.120 I'm the worship pastor. I'm supposed to be the faith guy, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.480 and so I hid that struggle from other people. I 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.600 hit it from God. I was also dealing with some insecurity. 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:54.920 You know, am I smart enough to lead a worship 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.840 team like this? And all of that combined to make 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.880 me feel very, very distant from the Lord, and I 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.360 couldn't hear God's voice. And I remember it was in 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:07.159 that series Pastor preached a message called There's More to 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.600 the Story. And so I was in my usual Saturday 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:14.000 night post, my Saturday night position up here on the 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.439 third row by the aisle, and this is the part 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.439 where I get to sit next to my lovely wife. 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:24.840 Everyone said hey to Faris, and I was in this seat. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.200 Pastor's preaching There's more to the story, and he said 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.720 something to the effect of, you know, many of you 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:36.399 want to give up on your story because the chapter 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.639 is hard, but don't judge your story by the chapter. 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.240 And in that moment, God spoke to me so clearly. 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.560 You know that if you've ever experienced it, it wasn't audible, 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.680 but in my heart he said, all the chapters of 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.359 joy and the chapters of breakthrough that you want to experience, 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.000 you have to go through this chapter of trial first. 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.200 But all of it is a part of the beautiful 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:00.760 story that I'm telling through your life. Don't give up 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.520 on the story because the chapter is hard. And maybe 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.240 that's the word God has for some of you today. 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:07.760 You're in a very, very difficult chapter, but that chapter 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.240 does not define the story of what God is doing 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:17.840 through your life. Do not give up. And I wish 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.800 I could say that everything changed in that moment. It didn't. 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:23.919 But what it was it was a spiritual anchor. It 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.159 was a turning point that began a process of healing 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.520 in my life. And I would have missed it if 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:35.080 I wasn't in this seat that Saturday night. I know 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.359 some of you are like, well, you're on staff, You're 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.600 paid to be in that seat. Besides the fact that 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.600 this is way more than a job to me, this 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.080 is my life, this is my calling. The principle holds 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.879 true regardless. There are some things that God wants to 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.840 speak in your life in a sermon in four weeks 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:54.240 that Pastor Steven's going to preach that. It's the word 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.240 that you're desperately going to need to cling to a 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:58.840 year from now in a trial that's not even on 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.679 your radar. God wants to give you that wisdom. He 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:03.439 wants to give you that strength. But if you're not 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.040 in position in that seat to hear it, you may 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.760 miss out. Do not forfeit the strength God wants to 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.200 give you because of misaligned priorities. That's why discipline, that's 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.800 why priority is so important. To be in the House 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.800 of God on a consistent basis for worship, he will 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.719 draw near to you. Second thing we see in this 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.000 passage is how the Levites honored God with their perspective. 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:31.440 JJ henmy the shirt. I need jaw to help settle 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:36.440 a marital dispute for me. Going to take a poll 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.720 in the room. If you're on another campus, you can 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.800 vote on social media. We'll see who wins this in 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.879 the end. Is this a men's shirt or a women's shirt. 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:49.080 If you think it's a men's shirt, raise your hand. 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.040 If you think it's a women's shirt, raise your hand. Oh, 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:58.000 overwhelmingly women's in this. That does not help me. So 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:02.280 a couple of weeks ago, I came home from work 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.119 and I just had one of those days where I 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.679 felt like I was just killing it, like everything went well. 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.720 I couldn't wait to tell my wife about it. And 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:13.240