Shownotes
We all want to live with meaning, but striving for “enoughness” on our own usually leaves us drained and defensive. Pastor Jonathan draws us into the story of Isaiah—wrecked in God’s holy presence, forced to confront blind spots he never knew he had.
It’s more than a moment of confession. It’s a journey of surrender, where every hidden fracture meets the kind of honest grace that actually changes us.
Holiness isn’t for the perfect or the privileged. It’s for you, me, and anyone willing to face broken places and let them become the entry point for healing.
You’re invited to move from just managing shame or hiding behind effort into real growth—a growth that only happens when you let your guard down and let God do what only He can do.
Scriptures Referenced: Exodus 3:1-6; 2 Chronicles 26:1; Psalm 145:17; Proverbs 9:10; Isaiah 6:1-8, 57:15; Ezekiel 1:26-28; Amos 9:11; Romans 8:11, Galatians 5:18-24; 1 Peter 1:1-2, 1:14-15, 2:7-8, 2:11, 4:3; Hebrews 4:16; Revelation 4:8
Key Insights
- Awareness of God’s holiness leads us to true self-examination and surrender.
- Holiness forms us through the ongoing, sometimes painful, process of healing blind spots.
- Spiritual growth is never a solo achievement. It’s a work of the Spirit, not self-effort.
- Real change becomes visible to others not when we “try harder,” but when we are “ruined” and changed by His presence.
Key Sections
00:00:00 - Ruined in God’s Presence
Even the “good” feel exposed when God draws near, and sometimes what undoes us is actually what saves us.
00:04:41 - The Danger of Familiarity
It’s easy to inherit faith traditions and forget reverence—until pride makes us stumble. Recognize the subtle drift before it blinds you.
00:07:30 - Surrender versus Self-Righteousness
Our efforts to look spiritual often lead to burnout and hypocrisy, but there’s a better way on the other side of honest surrender.
https://springhousemidweek.captivate.fm/episode/A Holy Nation
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Transcripts
In the year that King Uzziah died,
Speaker:I saw the Lord,
Speaker:high and exalted,
Speaker:seated on the throne. And the train of
Speaker:his robe filled the templ
Speaker:and above him were seraphim.
Speaker:With six wings each. And
Speaker:with two wings they covered their faces, and with two
Speaker:wings they covered their feet, and
Speaker:with two they were flying,
Speaker:and they were calling out to one another, holy,
Speaker:holy, holy is the Lord God
Speaker:Almighty. The the whole earth is filled
Speaker:with his glory. And at
Speaker:the sound of their voices, the
Speaker:doorpost and the threshold
Speaker:shook.
Speaker:And the temple was filled with smoke.
Speaker:Woe is me, I cried.
Speaker:I am ruined.
Speaker:For I am a man of unclean lips.
Speaker:I live amongst the people with unclean lips. And
Speaker:I have seen the King, the Lord
Speaker:Almighty. And the
Speaker:seraphim flew to me with a live coal
Speaker:in his hand that he took with
Speaker:tongs from the altar.
Speaker:And he placed it to my mouth, mouth. And he said,
Speaker:with this
Speaker:hot cold to your lips,
Speaker:Your guilt has been forgiven.
Speaker:Your sin is atoned for.
Speaker:And the Lord said, whom shall I send?
Speaker:Who will go for us? And I
Speaker:said, here am I.
Speaker:Send me.
Speaker:I thought it would be fitting to start tonight's
Speaker:study on our calling and identity as God's
Speaker:holy people in the Book of Isaiah. Because
Speaker:Peter himself quotes or alludes to the
Speaker:Book of Isaiah more than any other text
Speaker:throughout his letters nearly a dozen or more times.
Speaker:And the part I just recited from Isaiah 6 paints such a
Speaker:vivid picture of God's holiness
Speaker:and Isaiah being chosen and
Speaker:then called to be a living sacrifice
Speaker:that declares God's glory to the world
Speaker:and what lies between his chosenness and his
Speaker:obedience is a process
Speaker:where he becomes aware of God's holiness
Speaker:in a way that leaves him completely undone
Speaker:and acutely aware of his need
Speaker:to be purified. His own need to be purified,
Speaker:which is the progression we see clearly in First Peter as
Speaker:well. This pardon that's highlighted are
Speaker:my notes. It's not in the Bible to those who
Speaker:are elect exiles of the dispersion, that is, those who
Speaker:know God and are chosen to live as sent ones from heaven in
Speaker:Pontus Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, according
Speaker:to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of
Speaker:the Spirit are purified and made whole
Speaker:and holy by the Holy Spirit for
Speaker:obedience to Jesus Christ to worship God through
Speaker:spiritual sacrifices. So so far in this
Speaker:series, we have discussed what it means to live as the chosen
Speaker:people of God who are called to this royal priesthood that
Speaker:represents and glorifies him in the earth.
Speaker:Now we will look at how the Holy Spirit of God
Speaker:forms us into the holy people of God
Speaker:to live for holy purposes in God.
Speaker:And that progression is so significant because
Speaker:the same holy presence that was in Exodus 3
Speaker:that once warned Moses, don't come too close,
Speaker:now dwells in us and enables
Speaker:us to come boldly before his throne.
Speaker:The passage in Isaiah 6 opens with in the year King
Speaker:Uzziah died, 2nd Chronicles 26 says that he
Speaker:was just 16 years old when he inherited the kingdom.
Speaker:And he lived, it says, the majority of his life with
Speaker:an understanding of the fear of the Lord
Speaker:that was taught to him by the prophet Zechariah. And as
Speaker:long as he sought the Lord from that place of understanding, he was
Speaker:successful in everything that he did. He conquered
Speaker:armies, he rebuilt cities, he fortified cities, he rebuilt
Speaker:his army. Then one day the pride in his
Speaker:heart became so strong that he
Speaker:decided to enter the temple himself
Speaker:to burn incense to the Lord, which was forbidden for a
Speaker:king to do. Forbidden for even a
Speaker:king to do. As we briefly spoke about last week,
Speaker:it was solely the job of consecrated priests to
Speaker:offer sacrifices to the Lord. And because of his loss of
Speaker:reverence and understanding of God's
Speaker:holiness, Uzziah was stricken with leprosy.
Speaker:And he had that until the day he died. But listen to this.
Speaker:He remained king and in
Speaker:the kingdom, but the power of the kingdom during
Speaker:that time went to his son. I take
Speaker:this to be a word of caution to those who have to those of us
Speaker:who inherited the Kingdom of God, that we would remain diligent to
Speaker:keep an understanding of his holiness
Speaker:that is informed through study of the Word at the forefront
Speaker:of our minds and the center of our hearts. Because I believe it's
Speaker:that understanding of His Holiness that keeps us
Speaker:humble and reverent and submissive to
Speaker:the process of sanctification.
Speaker:So that the spiritual sacrifices we offer
Speaker:in the form of loving others and extending grace and mercy and
Speaker:good deeds are flowing from a foundation of his holiness
Speaker:and not our self righteousness.
Speaker:When I first started walking with the Lord, I
Speaker:was so overwhelmed
Speaker:by how his love and holiness swooped in
Speaker:and changed my life and freed me from so many
Speaker:things that bound me up.
Speaker:I wanted so desperately for others to know him in that way
Speaker:that I became a self proclaimed and self ordained
Speaker:messenger. A Facebook messenger to
Speaker:be exact.
Speaker:I would sign on to tell all of my friends how I had been saved
Speaker:and forgiven and how that there is a God that loves them, that
Speaker:wants to do the same for them and if they don't fall in love with
Speaker:him, they will go to hell. It's okay to laugh guys.
Speaker:I don't recall leading anyone to the Lord in that
Speaker:short season. And thankfully it was a short
Speaker:season here. I was
Speaker:chosen by God,
Speaker:receiving an inheritance of the kingdom and desiring to walk
Speaker:with purpose. But I had no idea
Speaker:how much of my life I still needed to
Speaker:surrender to God and let him heal
Speaker:and purify and make whole and holy before I
Speaker:could ever be effective as a holy and royal priest.
Speaker:As Peter reminds us, we are like newborn babies that need
Speaker:to grow and mature in the Word
Speaker:and be formed by his holiness so that we can reflect his holiness
Speaker:to the world accurately and not hypocritically.
Speaker:And that process is still ongoing in me
Speaker:and you, I presume. And it will be
Speaker:ongoing until Jesus comes back
Speaker:or we see him face to face. And I
Speaker:assume like other prophets in the Old Testament, Isaiah was someone who
Speaker:was faithful to God and considered righteous when compared
Speaker:to the standard of the faithless generation
Speaker:around him. However, when Isaiah comes face to face
Speaker:with God, who is the true standard of
Speaker:holiness, it leaves him in ruins.
Speaker:The word ruined in that context means completely destroyed,
Speaker:shredded, cut apart, cut off.
Speaker:Prophets in the Old Testament were known to be sent by God to represent
Speaker:God's standard of holiness and pronounce judgment
Speaker:and woes on the sinful people who turned away from him. But
Speaker:in this moment, Isaiah encounters the
Speaker:Lord and pronounces judgment on himself
Speaker:far before he acknowledges the sin of anyone else.
Speaker:Woe is me. He cries. Isaiah
Speaker:understands in this holy moment that in order to
Speaker:speak truth into the lives of others, his lips
Speaker:must first be purified. Isaiah
Speaker:understands in this holy moment that any attempt to instruct
Speaker:others in righteous living must flow from a life
Speaker:that has been purified as well. King
Speaker:Solomon says in Proverbs 9:10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
Speaker:wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is
Speaker:understanding. The word understanding in Hebrew is dahath, which
Speaker:means a knowledge of God that leads to
Speaker:obedience. So when King Uzziah
Speaker:lost understanding and reverence of God's holiness, it led
Speaker:him to disobedience and cost him the
Speaker:power of the kingdom. So my
Speaker:prayer over us as the local church that makes up
Speaker:the global church is that we will become
Speaker:intimately reacquainted with
Speaker:with God's holiness, with
Speaker:knowledge of the Holy One.
Speaker:Having a true knowledge of the Holy One does not cause us to
Speaker:sit idle, but it convicts us, leads us
Speaker:to repentance, revives our reverence, and moves us to
Speaker:Obedience and righteous living.
Speaker:What does Scripture tell us about God's holiness? According
Speaker:to Isaiah 63 and Revelation 4:8, God is
Speaker:holy. Holy, holy. God's holiness
Speaker:is the only attribute in Scripture that is repeated to the third
Speaker:degree. In the Hebrew language, they did not
Speaker:have words like more or most so the way
Speaker:that they when they needed to express a characteristic to the
Speaker:highest possible degree imaginable, it would be
Speaker:repeated According to Isaiah 57:15. His
Speaker:name is holy, and the people and
Speaker:places that he inhabits and dwells in
Speaker:are made holy. Holiness is the
Speaker:foundation of his being. It speaks to his absolute
Speaker:transcendence and otherness. His holiness and
Speaker:how holiness changes us and creation is
Speaker:mentioned over 4, 500 times in Scripture.
Speaker:Actually Psalm 145, 17
Speaker:in the King James says, the Lord is righteous in all of his ways and
Speaker:holy in all of his works. So some
Speaker:theologians suggest this to mean that God's
Speaker:holiness is not just a single attribute among the others,
Speaker:like love or grace or mercy, but his holiness is
Speaker:actually the foundation in which those qualities
Speaker:get their absolute otherness, their
Speaker:perfection, their purity. There is no love like his love.
Speaker:There's no grace like his grace. There's no mercy like his mercy. We
Speaker:all know that, and I haven't studied that through enough to
Speaker:make a decision on that. But what I am comfortable saying
Speaker:is that in any story in Scripture
Speaker:that highlights God's love and mercy
Speaker:and kindness, his holiness is in that
Speaker:moment as well. Whether or not it's
Speaker:explicitly written, Jesus doesn't sit holiness
Speaker:aside in the process of loving others.
Speaker:So if holiness is so critical to
Speaker:our understanding and to our obedience and so prominent in
Speaker:Scripture, why does it seem like attention to his holiness is
Speaker:so diminished in the global church today compared to
Speaker:his love, his grace, his mercy, his kindness? I
Speaker:can offer two suggestions based on what I found myself wrestling
Speaker:with throughout the preparation to this message.
Speaker:Firstly, it's incredibly difficult to articulate
Speaker:and describe otherness,
Speaker:sacredness, separateness. Because
Speaker:God is not created. He is the
Speaker:Creator, and the only tools we have at our
Speaker:disposal to describe him is what created.
Speaker:And that will always fall short.
Speaker:Secondly, it's not fun to talk about something
Speaker:that completely ruins you when you encounter it.
Speaker:So let's talk about it. Man,
Speaker:this was my idea. This series
Speaker:wasn't even Barbie's idea. Can't blame it on anyone
Speaker:else. Holy is the Hebrew word kadash,
Speaker:which in the primary sense means separate, set
Speaker:apart, sacred, distinct from creation, and
Speaker:secondarily separate from impurity and sin.
Speaker:And when we look to Scripture, we often see his glory and
Speaker:his holiness described in metaphor or simile,
Speaker:such as Ezekiel 1:26 28.
Speaker:And above the expanse over their heads, there was the likeness
Speaker:of a throne in appearance like sapphire. And seated
Speaker:above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human
Speaker:appearance. And upward from what had the appearance
Speaker:of his waist, I saw as it were gleaming metal,
Speaker:like the appearance of fire, enclosed all around
Speaker:and downward from what had the appearance of his waist, I saw as it
Speaker:were the appearance of fire. And there was brightness around
Speaker:him, like the appearance of a bow that is in the cloud
Speaker:on the day of rain. So was the appearance of the brightness all around.
Speaker:Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when
Speaker:I saw it, I fell on my face and I heard the voice of the
Speaker:one speaking. So basically I can't really
Speaker:describe it to you, but if
Speaker:we have our kingdom lenses on, we'll know it when we see
Speaker:it. Exodus 3
Speaker:shares about 1 of these holy moments where God's presence
Speaker:indwells something familiar and in likeness, but
Speaker:totally indescribable. I'm going to put it up here. I'm not going
Speaker:to read it because I'm going to act it out. More like a movie, not
Speaker:act it out. I'm not Pastor Will. I'm not that good.
Speaker:But I'm going to put it up here just so you can check my
Speaker:work. I'm going to take some liberties, but not too much. Okay, so
Speaker:Moses is keeping this flock for his father in law,
Speaker:Jethro. It says he goes to the mountain of God. And this is something
Speaker:that he does frequently, I assume. And he's in the desert,
Speaker:okay? And burning bushes
Speaker:are common in the desert. It's not uncommon.
Speaker:It's hot. Bushes are flammable,
Speaker:so are people, so are sheep.
Speaker:So Moses is going. He's aware that it's there,
Speaker:but he's not really giving it a whole lot of mind. All
Speaker:he's going is, I gotta keep these sheep right here and I gotta make sure
Speaker:I don't get too close to him. Blah, blah, blah, blah. He's aware that it's
Speaker:there. And then at some point he
Speaker:begins to go, man,
Speaker:that thing's been burning a while. But this is what it
Speaker:does. This is in his peripheral, because this is what I love. It says. He
Speaker:says this out loud. Look, it's in quotes. I put it there.
Speaker:He's either talking to himself or the sheep.
Speaker:Okay? He's a madman at this point, I think
Speaker:he's talking to the sheep. He's going, I'm
Speaker:going to turn to the side.
Speaker:And when I do, I'm going to see
Speaker:something insane. And I may
Speaker:be dead right now. I may be hallucinating, I don't know. But when
Speaker:I see it, I'm going to have to deal with it because it's not something
Speaker:I've ever seen before.
Speaker:So Moses isn't explaining here
Speaker:the specifics of God's holiness in this moment.
Speaker:He's not explaining to us how God changes the
Speaker:composition of the earth to make it holy in this moment. So when
Speaker:Moses sees it and checks it out,
Speaker:God says, I'm here. Don't come too close.
Speaker:Take your sandals off. This is holy ground. So
Speaker:Moses is simply telling us that something that used
Speaker:to be somewhat recognizable to him has
Speaker:now been consumed and indwelled by the holy
Speaker:presence of God and is no longer burning like it used
Speaker:to. And when he sees it,
Speaker:he's changed by ruins him.
Speaker:Now that same holy presence of
Speaker:God lives in each one of.
Speaker:Lives in you, Wyatt.
Speaker:So when you're out and about with this holy presence inside of you and
Speaker:people see you, they go,
Speaker:man, you look familiar,
Speaker:but you burn differently.
Speaker:Something's different about.
Speaker:He will form us to his holiness if we allow ourselves
Speaker:to be brought to a place of utter ruin and
Speaker:complete surrender. One of the first
Speaker:distinctions that Peter acknowledges about the holy people of God and their
Speaker:maturing process is a non conformity to
Speaker:evil desires we had in our former ignorance.
Speaker:First Peter 1:14, 15. As obedient children do not
Speaker:conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in
Speaker:ignorance. But just as he has called you as holy, so
Speaker:be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy because I am
Speaker:holy. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain
Speaker:from sinful desires which wage war against your soul.
Speaker:So Peter's not saying here that we were
Speaker:ignorant of how our evil desires hurt other people.
Speaker:He's not saying we were ignorant of how of not. Or we were
Speaker:ignorant of good desires and didn't know any better. Although both of those things
Speaker:are true. He's saying we were ignorant of
Speaker:knowing God, and now we're not.
Speaker:We have an understanding of God's holy standard
Speaker:now. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to be
Speaker:informed, informed by the word of God to turn our
Speaker:affections away from those things that once bound us
Speaker:and towards Jesus,
Speaker:the Holy One, who through his death burial,
Speaker:resurrection, freed us. Jesus death
Speaker:on the cross was effective
Speaker:at getting us into the kingdom. It was also
Speaker:effective at leading us to holiness
Speaker:so we can bring the kingdom down to here.
Speaker:Jesus death on the cross was effective at
Speaker:canceling our sin. It was also effective
Speaker:in empowering us to fight it and
Speaker:conquer it.
Speaker:Now, to you who believe this stone is precious, but to those who do not
Speaker:believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the
Speaker:cornerstone and a stone that causes people to stumble in a
Speaker:rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey
Speaker:the message. So Peter, referencing Jesus here and pulling
Speaker:from Isaiah, calls Jesus a rock of offense
Speaker:that causes unbelievers to stumble, but those who are obedient to
Speaker:Jesus, who view what used to make them stumble
Speaker:now as precious. The
Speaker:holy Word of God is not written to unbelievers.
Speaker:It's written to believers. It's not telling them how they
Speaker:should live, it's telling us how we should live
Speaker:as holy among them. Which is
Speaker:pretty much the whole point I missed in my Facebook messenger days.
Speaker:Praise the Lord. They were short lived and somebody got ahold of me and taught
Speaker:me better.
Speaker:What grieves my heart is that sometimes it's
Speaker:us as believers that stumble
Speaker:and get offended by the holy standard that's presented in
Speaker:the Word of God. And we write it off.
Speaker:We don't hold it as precious. And this is
Speaker:not new or unique to our generation. Paul is
Speaker:addressing all of this in the New Testament, but it
Speaker:is uniquely ours in this exact moment to pray
Speaker:over and speak into and lead others
Speaker:carefully and prayerfully. And so why do we sometimes
Speaker:stumble over this stuff? Sometimes we simply stumble because we
Speaker:have blind spots that we need God to open our eyes to.
Speaker:Every single year with my walk with Jesus, I
Speaker:believe he's opened my eyes to blind spots. And every
Speaker:single year, I'm always surprised I'm like another one.
Speaker:And that will humble you. That should keep you on
Speaker:your knees praying, God,
Speaker:He opens my eyes to blind spots
Speaker:through the Word. If we aren't in His Word,
Speaker:we're walking blind like Isaiah.
Speaker:If we are comparing ourselves to the standard of the world, we'll
Speaker:probably think, man, we're doing pretty good when we get
Speaker:along with God's holy presence. And holy
Speaker:standard paints a very different picture. It calls us to change.
Speaker:One day my wife was sitting on her couch
Speaker:and I was standing up for some reason and our son, I think, was playing
Speaker:on the floor. And my wife Brittany looked at our son and
Speaker:looked at me, looked at our son and looked at me. Eventually I said, what
Speaker:are you doing? And she said, well, I'm looking at his
Speaker:features to see which of his features he got from you.
Speaker:And she said, he has your lips. And
Speaker:quickly I leaned in, smooth and suave,
Speaker:and I said, no, sorry, Ximena, I'm not going to look at you when I
Speaker:say this. I said, no, you have my lips.
Speaker:And I kissed her and I stood up with this,
Speaker:I still got it. And I took a step
Speaker:back and tripped over the biggest toy truck
Speaker:that my son left in the floor. And I went, I don't got
Speaker:it. I got a blind spot there,
Speaker:and you can't come back from that. When your wife sees something like that, you're
Speaker:forever changed. You go, well, I guess it's all dad
Speaker:jokes for me. Praise the Lord. She's stuck.
Speaker:Are we acknowledging the blind spots that he
Speaker:reveals in our lives? Are we letting God change us once
Speaker:they are revealed? What are these former
Speaker:blind spots, these former desires, these that Christ
Speaker:reveals and empowers us to conquer?
Speaker:1 Peter 4:3 for that time, for the time that has passed,
Speaker:suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living
Speaker:in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking
Speaker:parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are
Speaker:surprised when you do not join them in the same
Speaker:flood of debauchery, and they malign you. And Paul, writing to the
Speaker:Galatians, which is one of the churches that Peter is also writing
Speaker:to, confirms this, expands this, and reveals
Speaker:what our life should reflect instead.
Speaker:Galatians 5 But if you are led by the Spirit,
Speaker:you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
Speaker:evident. Sexual immorality, impurity,
Speaker:sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity,
Speaker:strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries,
Speaker:dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like
Speaker:these. I warned you, as I warned you before, that those
Speaker:who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God,
Speaker:but the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Speaker:This is not just counterculture, this is
Speaker:kingdom culture. Here the fruit of the Spirit
Speaker:is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
Speaker:goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against
Speaker:such things there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus
Speaker:have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Speaker:What sticks out to me about these verses is that Paul
Speaker:adds an addendum, he says, and things
Speaker:like these. Paul had no way
Speaker:of knowing the specific atrocities that
Speaker:we would come up with that are against God and man
Speaker:today in our culture. But he understood enough
Speaker:about the depravity of the human heart to go,
Speaker:there's no end to what evil that they can come up with,
Speaker:that we can come up with because he's in this fight too. And he
Speaker:goes, I better add that in there.
Speaker:He makes it clear again, he's talking to believers here.
Speaker:He makes it clear that for a believer, there is no skirting around this.
Speaker:And he warns us that any attempt to do so will cost us the kingdom.
Speaker:Paul and Peter are reminding us this is a war.
Speaker:Don't stop fighting what wages war on your soul.
Speaker:Don't grow comfortable. Don't grow complacent.
Speaker:These things are who we were, not who we are
Speaker:anymore. God has opened our eyes to these
Speaker:blind spots. But sometimes,
Speaker:sadly, instead of
Speaker:surrendering them to God, we surrender
Speaker:to them.
Speaker:When we continue to live in our former desires, we often do
Speaker:it under the banner of grace and claim
Speaker:that Jesus knows our hearts. The problem
Speaker:seems to be that we don't have an understanding of his heart
Speaker:and his holiness and just how
Speaker:distant we are from it and how he
Speaker:died, suffered
Speaker:to bring us closer to it.
Speaker:And sometimes I wonder if our identity has been so
Speaker:ingrained in these former passions that we're just
Speaker:unwilling to trust God and what he says is best for us
Speaker:and unwilling to let his presence come in
Speaker:and ruin us. Because it hurts.
Speaker:It does hurt. That must have
Speaker:been a searing pain, that hot coal
Speaker:in that dream. A few weeks ago, I was outside
Speaker:building something for my kids and my daughter was outside
Speaker:and she was playing on something and got a splinter
Speaker:embedded in her hand. So Brittany had to take her in
Speaker:to try and get tweezers to try to dig out this splinter. And it
Speaker:sounded like probably the next 20 or 30
Speaker:minutes. I could hear my daughter screaming at the
Speaker:top of her lungs because of the fear
Speaker:and the pain that she was going through trying to get that splinter out.
Speaker:In the mind of a child, it's better to leave the
Speaker:splinter in. They will
Speaker:plead with you, leave it in.
Speaker:I'll be fine. I can play as normal.
Speaker:Because they don't understand that if you leave a deeply
Speaker:embedded splinter in your skin, there's likelihood
Speaker:for infection and even worse pain
Speaker:that goes on far longer. But the
Speaker:heart of her mother and father is
Speaker:that we don't want to see her go through that,
Speaker:that ultimate, longer lasting pain. So we commit
Speaker:ourselves to doing what we have to do and removing that splinter.
Speaker:And that process is made so much easier.
Speaker:We all know when the child stops flailing
Speaker:and starts surrendering. That
Speaker:is the heart of the Father. In Isaiah's story
Speaker:and in our story, there is this searing pain when the hot cold touches
Speaker:his lips, there's a searing pain. When we allow God to cut off
Speaker:from us those former passions that are so deeply
Speaker:embedded. But his heart has always been
Speaker:for reconciliation. He doesn't want us to be
Speaker:stuck in pain forever. Our God is not a God
Speaker:that ruins and leaves us there.
Speaker:As much as his holiness brings us to ruin, it
Speaker:also restores. The question is, are
Speaker:we surrendering to him? Amos 9:11
Speaker:in that day I will restore David's fallen shelter.
Speaker:I will repair its broken walls and I will restore its
Speaker:ruins, and I will rebuild it as it used to be.
Speaker:Guys, I know this is like a heavier message. It's
Speaker:when you deal with his holiness, that's what it is, and we got
Speaker:to become more acquainted with it. But I'm going to
Speaker:end on a testimony.
Speaker:Earlier in the message, I spoke of a time in my life where
Speaker:I was trying to live with holy purpose before allowing God
Speaker:to mature and heal these places in me that needed to be
Speaker:healed. I told you all that the target was
Speaker:primarily my friends from high school that knew me in my
Speaker:BC before Christ days.
Speaker:That time of being a Facebook messenger, as we talked about, only
Speaker:lasted a few months. Maybe five years after
Speaker:that point I have my 10 year high school reunion.
Speaker:It's going to mess you up. I'm old. I'm getting old, been
Speaker:getting old. So five years after that point of being
Speaker:a Facebook messenger, I met my 10 year high school reunion
Speaker:and I was literally like living out first Peter 4:3 I remember
Speaker:people asking me what I did. I said worship leader.
Speaker:But they were, they didn't remember.
Speaker:When I was telling them they were offering me drinks that I wouldn't
Speaker:take. They were making comments, they were going, what happened to
Speaker:you man? You were like this. And they would tell
Speaker:all these stories that about me,
Speaker:but I just let it roll. So I'm 15,
Speaker:15 years have passed now since coming to the Lord.
Speaker:I remain Facebook friends. Thankfully with all these people.
Speaker:We're not close, we don't talk much, but through Facebook
Speaker:we are somewhat connected and aware of how each other's
Speaker:lives have progressed. And one of those people
Speaker:from that time in my life texted me
Speaker:about four weeks ago as I'm preparing for these
Speaker:sermons and he says, hey man,
Speaker:will you pray for me? I'm
Speaker:struggling and I'm going through a lot of
Speaker:pain. So I try to get him to talk to me and
Speaker:he tells me that he can't bring himself to talk on the phone
Speaker:and he's putting it off and putting it off. Every week I'm praying for him,
Speaker:reaching out to him, sending him songs, texting him encouragements.
Speaker:And at three o'clock yesterday,
Speaker:I'm working on this sermon and I write
Speaker:because I'm planning to tell this story up to this point. And
Speaker:I write, I don't know what God's
Speaker:doing, but I know that I'm in a holy
Speaker:moment right now.
Speaker:But I got home last night,
Speaker:put my kids to sleep, and he said, hey, I'm finally ready
Speaker:to talk. Can I call you at 8 o'? Clock?
Speaker:He shares with me everything that he's going through.
Speaker:Absolutely heartbreaking. And
Speaker:he tells me, pay attention
Speaker:to the thread, that he's in ruins,
Speaker:but it has led him to run to God
Speaker:and get into church. And through
Speaker:tears, he's telling me that I am one of like
Speaker:five people that he thought of calling.
Speaker:And this is what he said. And I quote, I
Speaker:am struggling to see God's presence in
Speaker:the midst of my suffering.
Speaker:Has anyone been here for the last two sessions?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:now I know I'm in a holy moment. God, thank
Speaker:you for doing this.
Speaker:So I'm sitting on the phone with a friend from 20 years
Speaker:ago who knew me at my worst,
Speaker:before Christ, experienced me in my
Speaker:immaturity in Christ. And he's now letting me
Speaker:minister to him through the messages that
Speaker:God has been forming me in and
Speaker:forming in me. And
Speaker:he. We were both just such a mess last
Speaker:night. God is so good. And there's more to this
Speaker:testimony that I can't say, but I am in a holy
Speaker:moment. I said,
Speaker:I said earlier, I can't explain God's holiness,
Speaker:but I can explain what it's like when I see it.
Speaker:This is what it's like all of these
Speaker:years. God's holiness bringing me
Speaker:to ruins, getting me to a place where I might be helpful
Speaker:to somebody else. And he wants that for
Speaker:his church. If we would
Speaker:just become more acquainted with his holiness,
Speaker:more formed by it, so that
Speaker:we could be a people that live with holy purpose.
Speaker:Because he is holy. Holy, holy.
Speaker:Father, God, we thank you that you are holy, holy, holy.
Speaker:I pray that when we lift our voices with the
Speaker:angels like that, that this place would shake God.
Speaker:That your presence would shake this place.
Speaker:That we would carry your presence to the world. And the world would look at
Speaker:us and go, man, you look familiar, but you burn different.
Speaker:Tell me what's going on.
Speaker:Father, we submit to your holiness.
Speaker:Holy Spirit, we thank you for the work you're doing in us. We pray that
Speaker:you would continue to reveal our blind spots,
Speaker:continue to make us more like you. Father, we love you and we thank
Speaker:you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Speaker:Church, I've been asked that there is a
Speaker:celebrate recovery meeting to tell you. There's a celebrate recovery meeting right after
Speaker:this in fellowship hall. And also next Thursday is going
Speaker:to be our final midweek session before the summer.
Speaker:Love you guys.
