Seeing Heaven's Throne: Worship, Holiness, and Hope

What terrifies humanity is calm before the throne. What terrifies us is calm in heaven. What gives us fear is relieved in heaven. Listen to first John four eighteen. It says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. How much are our lives driven by fear and anxiety? How much many times do we become paralyzed by fear and anxiety? Or or Annalene and I will often tell each other, you make the decision. I just can't make another decision. The the paralysis of having to make too many decisions and worrying about it and draining, all those things are calm and peaceful in the presence of God. There's no fear, no worry, no stress, no anxiety, no death, no grieving, no tears. [00:52:50] (53 seconds)  #NoFearInLove

Holiness is not merely one attribute among many, it defines all that he is. His power, his judgment, his mercy, his rule are all holy, perfect, beyond question. Heaven's not frightened by what's coming up. They are not panicked by what's going to unfold. Man, if all we see is the chaos here, if we don't have a glimpse of heaven, if we don't understand what heaven is like, and all we see is the news, and all we hear is the trouble, then we will be filled with fear, and we'll be filled with dread. But God's opening the curtain in Revelation. He's pulling it open and reminding us that above every earthly throne, above earthly activity, he is in control. And he is not panicked, and he is not worried because, you see, he knows he has the victory. [00:56:44] (64 seconds)  #HolinessOverChaos

God is love. And there in his presence, in the presence of that perfect love, there is no fear. There's no panic or confusion or uncertainty because everything in heaven is fully under God's sovereign control. By the way, everything on earth is under God's sovereign control. We we get this picture of heaven so our hearts can have hope that yes, one day all the trouble will be gone. Everything will be great. But it's also a reminder that, hey, not just there can you find peace, you can find it on earth because God is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He has placed his spirit in us. We can experience that kind of peace here on this earth. [00:53:58] (57 seconds)  #PeaceInEmmanuel

Do you know that worship is one of the only things that we do on earth that we'll continue to do in heaven? I wonder if we treated it like practice. If if we would worship deeper and better here on earth. Now one day I'm gonna stand before this holy awesome perfect God and I'm going to sing to him. I wonder if we imagine singing to him now instead of wondering what the person next to us was doing. I think I shared we were recently in a service where there were some folks behind us really loved the Lord, and they were singing to the tops of their lungs. It was a joyful noise, and I loved it. I loved it. Because they didn't care. They didn't care about the person next to them. They didn't care about the people in front of them. They were just loving Jesus. [00:55:15] (61 seconds)  #WorshipLikeHeaven

Some of us today are carrying fear and anxiety and worry. We're we're carrying carrying things that we weren't meant to carry. Cast your cares on me for I care for you. Bring your anxiety before God and leave it there to that's the call this morning. God is not moved. God has not surrendered. God has not lost control. One day, every king will bow. Every nation will bow, casting their crowns. One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. I love that verse because God gives us a choice. We can do it now, or we can do it later. But those that wait till later will bow and then hear those terrible, frightening words from Matthew that says, depart from me, you doers of iniquity. But for those that will bow now, they'll hear, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter your father's joy today. [01:00:16] (85 seconds)  #BowNowReceiveJoy

Eternity cannot be compared to time. But I know this. At 61, there's more behind me than in front of me. I don't think I'm making it to a 122. Put it this way, the way my back feels after a day of yard work, I'm not sure I wanna make it to a 122. But even if I did, a hundred and twenty two years is not even a speck of dust in eternity. God is in control. Do you live that way? Have you surrendered to him? Have you given your life to him? Have you bowed before his throne now? Surrendered your life now for the things he has promised to those that will, or will you be one of the ones to wait to the final call when it's too late? [01:01:42] (62 seconds)  #LiveForEternity

I wanna ask you, man. What do you think the church would look like? What do you think the world would look like if believers walked around consumed with the fire of God? Consumed with the fire that that when we worship, we're not guys, listen. When we're worshiping, when we sing a song or or we're in our prayer times or we're driving in our car when we're worshiping, it's so easy to just go, man, I like the song and sing the song and forget that we are the temple and we are worshiping before before the very throne of God. That's who we're standing before. That's who we're singing to. That's who we're bowing to, kneeling to. That's the one in that holy spirit fire. [00:50:06] (48 seconds)  #ChurchOnFire

I remember once driving to work when this happened, and and I've shared this before. But I I was driving in in San Antonio to Builders Square, and I started worshiping in the car, and it was about a fifteen minute ride. Literally, the next thing I knew, I was sitting in the parking lot at work. I didn't remember the ride. I didn't remember driving. I didn't remember the traffic. I was just sitting in the parking lot at work. I had been praising God and just got lost in his presence. I think that's what John is describing that at that moment, God so filled him that he could show him for our benefit what's happening in heaven. [00:37:16] (43 seconds)  #LostInHisPresence