Before the Throne - February 14, 2023: full transcript and answers

▶ 0:00 Good morning and welcome to the Vine Cluster everybody let’s stand in honor of our Lord Jesus and let’s get ready to worship the Lord. Let the heavens rejoice. Everyone in the valley. Rise up and praises. Let the heavens rejoice.

▶ 1:25 Everyone in the valley come and lift your voice. Rise up and praise him. Let’s worship the holy one with all your heart all your soul all your mind. Rise up and praise him. Rise up and praise him he deserves our love. Rise up and praise.

▶ 2:30 Praise him. Looks crazy today. Foreign. Oh the rock of salvation.

▶ 3:43 Oh there is no rock there is. Another name no other name. Jesus is. In the rock there’s no rock there is. No rock there’s no God like our God.

▶ 4:44 The rock of salvation. Jesus is. Jesus is. Jesus is. There is no rock there is no God like God. There’s a rock there is. Saturday.

▶ 5:59 Again. Jesus is the rock. S. Yeah. Jesus says. Nations. Oh glory glory in the highest glory.

▶ 7:07 To the almighty glory to the lamb of God. To the land. Oh glory glory in the highest glory. To the almighty glory to the lamb of God glory to the living word. Glory. To the land now.

▶ 7:59 I give no reason. Oh glory. Glory in the highest glory to the almighty glory to the lamb of God. I give glory to the lamb. Oh I give glory to the land.

▶ 8:56 I give glory to God. Thank you. Jesus. Lord you are the rock you are the living word you’re the fountain Lord of living waters that never runs dry your foundation that we can build our lives upon and we thank you today Lord that you follow the children of Israel all throughout their wanderings Lord Lord you are faithful to every generation and today you are that rock you are that foundation and we thank you and we praise you Jesus you are a king you’re worthy.

▶ 10:02 You are so worthy Lord may we reverence you Lord you are holy you are righteous you are true. Who is this king. Who reigns on high. And thrown in splendor. Clothed in fire is thrown above. The crystal see. With angels singing. His majesty. Sorry. Who is. Is thrown upon.

▶ 11:10 The crystal sea with angels singing. His. Majesty. I could not contain. Ed his glorious. Prayer is. You are true. Who is this king.

▶ 12:12 And thrown on high. Slander. The crystal sea with angels singing. Praise. Pain your glorious praise.

▶ 13:35 Foreign. With all my heart. You are true.

▶ 14:47 See you you are worthy. You are righteous. You are true. We belong s to you. I cannot contain. Your glorious praise. You are righteous.

▶ 15:55 You are true foreign. You are. Righteous. You are true. Thank you.

▶ 17:10 Worship your Lord. Cry holy holy. Glory. Glory glory. To the land. Glory. Glory glory. Glory is. Worthy to be praised.

▶ 18:11 The lamb of all the throne. Do we let our voice embrace. Glory. Glory. Glory to. The land. Glory glory. Glory to the land.

▶ 19:09 For your glorious. Come upon the throne. Foreign. Oh Lord God how we have witnessed your glory Lord Jesus the heavens declare the glory of God but also in creation in what we see in this world what we observe in nature and across the world we see your glory Lord God but the strongest the most convincing thing we have seen

▶ 20:39 is what you have done in our lives Lord Jesus what you have brought us out of Lord God you have delivered us from the pit Lord Jesus from the pit of despair Lord God you have taken us out and you have given us a firm foundation to stand on Lord Jesus oh thank you Lord God and where others in this world don’t want to recognize you they don’t want to see you Lord Jesus we will stand here and we will say glory to God for you are the greatest you are the king of our lives Lord Jesus and we thank you for your power working in us to this day Lord God we thank you you have brought us this far and that we can continue in your strength in your word and in your truth oh thank you God and glory to your name.

▶ 21:45 Is done in our lives let us. Thank you Jesus. Jesus. Lord you.

▶ 22:49 Are. More precious. Than silver. Oh. Lord you. You want more. More. Beautiful. Than diamonds. Nothing. I desire. Compares with you let’s lift our hands and let’s sing this unto him today precious.

▶ 23:53 Than silver. Oh Lord. You. Are. More. Beautiful. Than diamonds. Nothing. I desire. Compares with you. And nothing. I. Desire compares.

▶ 24:50 Jesus. And nothing. I desire. No nothing. I desire. Lord nothing. I deserve. Compares with you. Thank you. Thank you Jesus. You may find cease this morning. Oh Jesus we want to thank you Lord God.

▶ 25:43 Lord these songs or God we sing our commitment to you our love to you Jesus. Lord you’re worth more than all these things God we thank you this morning we thank you for coming visiting your people with your presence and we ask you bless us this morning everyone said amen we’d like to welcome you this morning thank you for joining us we’re going to talk about we have a short message this morning. We’re going to talk about being before the throne. And before we get to that. After the world trade center towers were. Destroyed and collapsed. They built a new tower known as the freedom tower I forget the name of it now.

▶ 26:35 But it’s now the tallest building in the united states and it costs close to four billion dollars to make it. But it’s uh. I think I was there when when after they had made it it’s a big beautiful building. In the Vatican city there’s a chapel called the Sistine Chapel inside is a bunch of paintings painted by michelangelo and um it’s a beautiful work of art the worth of the Sistine Chapel they say is estimated to be between 10 and 15 billion dollars they have paintings everywhere uh the architecture is beautiful. It’s a big beautiful building there’s also st Peter’s basilica and the Vatican city has more buildings.

▶ 27:27 Vatican city has more buildings in it that are worth a lot of money too. The latest SoFi Stadium that the uh what was it called the super bowl last year for or the year before where the rams won built in inglewood. This stadium and everything around it costs 5.5 billion dollars and it’s a beautiful stadium as some people at the church have gone and seen it visited it and they can attest to its beauty right see that oh wow tacular. In saudi arabia there’s a place as many of us already know called the great mosque of Mecca and in the middle they have a what’s called what they call the kaba or cube.

▶ 28:22 And inside all these rooms here are columns and columns of marble on the floor there with the Kaaba stands is marble. And uh it’s it’s a beautiful place I’m sure I mean I haven’t been I don’t know you can only see I can only see pictures. But the cost of this uh area is roughly 100 billion dollars a hundred billion dollars that’s a lot of money. And uh there’s other places that are not as expensive but when people visit them they tour these places and they’re in all in wonder at the beauty of the architecture the beauty of the pillars the beauty of the marble and it’s just clean and pristine. And uh. You know if you’re a tourist and you see you’re just like oh wow this is so spectacular.

▶ 29:19 And here’s another picture of you can see the Kaaba back there and around it you know this is uh Muslims go there have to travel once in their lives to Mecca I believe is that right yeah. So that that big. Temple is all set up for people to visit. And then you have God’s throne and God’s throne has uh is priceless there’s no worth it’s beautiful. As the scriptures define it we talked about it this morning who is this king and thrown on high upon the crystal sea amen and if you’re in God’s throne you look how beautiful it is and how amazing God’s throne is the value is has no number amen. And yet.

▶ 30:12 With all these billings that we have in the world in even God’s throne. God. Could have all the gold and marble the beautiful stone columns the beautiful paintings of the Sistine Chapel he has his own throne whose worth is more than the riches of men and still he says that we are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in us and his desire is to dwell in us even these these little kids here are dirty you have kids over here that are malnourished they got they got diseases they got problems. And Jesus Christ who has the option to dwell anywhere on the earth or in his throne wants to dwell in people like you and me and people like this.

▶ 31:08 The scriptures say. In Corinthians if anyone defiles the temple of God God will destroy him for the temple of God is holy which temple you are. You may have nothing you may be poor you may be sick and diseased disabled ugly but you can clean up your inner man your spiritual man and the almighty God wants to dwell inside of you. Matthew 18:4 the scriptures remind us that God whoever humbles himself as these as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom so you see these little kids here God considers them as the greatest. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 5 says that the tabernacle served as a copy and shadow of heavenly things.

▶ 32:08 And today in our world we have many religions that focus on the building they focused on the temple they focused on building something very beautiful in Jews day it was a temple that they all came and met at in our day it’s all the temples that we have or like our super bowl stadiums right and I go in oh it’s beautiful fantastic. But first Corinthians like I’ve already said 3 16 do you not know that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you. First Corinthians 6:18 flee sexual immorality every sin that man does is outside the body but he who commits sexuality immorality sins against his own body. So when we commit these things when we break God’s commandment when we commit sexual immorality we do drugs and alcohol we’re hurting ourselves we are hurting all not just our body but we’re hurting what God’s temple.

▶ 33:13 You understand that. Do you not know that your what say that body do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God see we were given a body from God we are God’s temple and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. He goes on to say you are not your own for you were bought at a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are gods. So again Paul is saying here that when you hurt your body you are hurting and sitting against sinning against God’s temple. And then he goes on to say it doesn’t belong to you and many people say my body belongs to me this is mine and they’ll reject this statement they don’t want to be bought and paid for that’s offensive amen.

▶ 34:18 But you got to understand when you say this is my body I’m going to do what I want with it you are rejecting what he did to purchase you and what was that. He paid for with his life with his blood and he died on the cross for your sin. And so when you reject. His purchase and pain with his blood and his life for your sin you are rejecting the cross. When you are saying this is my body I’m going to do what I want with it you are rejecting the cross. Amen. And so when you reject the cross you’ve rejected eternal life.

▶ 35:13 Proverbs 11:4 riches do not profit in the day of wrath but righteousness delivers from death so we have another part of this that coincides with how you use your temple right riches are not going to profit you we all know you can’t take it with you when you stand before God your mother your bank account the things that you’ve acquired on this earth the kaba the the the temple there the SoFi Stadium all the work you did all these things that you’ve amassed means nothing it won’t be there. But what is it righteousness. Delivers from death how did you use God’s temple that he gave you that he purchased you that he paid for amen.

▶ 36:12 The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way right but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness this is Proverbs talking the righteousness of the upright will deliver them but the unfaithful will be caught by their lust so just to confirm what’s being said here it’s not like it’s just some scripture off scripture no he goes on to explain the righteousness the wick will fall by their own wickedness righteous it will deliver them when you act righteously when you’re doing what’s right it will deliver you from death it’s very important. So we must glorify God with our body it is his temple. Do not reject his cleansing for your sin. In 2 Corinthians 5:9 therefore we make it our aim whether present or absent to be well pleasing to him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

▶ 37:15 And I bring this up here because we want to live a life that is well pleasing to him you know Paul isn’t saying here that you should go and do whatever you want live whatever however you want no we should be living a life that is pleasing to God and that we are all going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment amen. And so when you stand before God you may have chosen to put tattoos all over your body you may have chosen to change your body remove your breasts add breasts remove your penis remove you know add stuff add a penis whatever sex change it is you may have decided to pierce this and pierce that maybe you’re disabled even.

▶ 38:09 Through no choice of your own. That was your old body and God is going to give you a new body. Matthew 22:29 Jesus said in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels of God in heaven when they ask them a question about who’s going to be the wife of these seven men he reminds us in heaven there’s no marrying so there’s not going to be any sex in heaven you’re not guys aren’t going to be up there saying oh who am I going to have sex that’s not heaven that’s not what it’s like so all this stuff that we’re clinging on to all of our sexual orientation oh this or that it’s not going to be there.

▶ 39:05 And so all this stuff on earth that we care so much about. And we say oh this is this defines this is my identity it’s not your identity. It’s going to be white it’s going to be gone. First Corinthians 15:51 we shall all be what changed. At the last trumpet the twinkling in a twinkling of an eye like that you’re going to be changed. And everything that you held on to. All this stuff that is considered sin by God that you held onto will be gone. That you held on to as your identity that you held on to is this is who I am it will be gone. Mm-hmm.

▶ 39:59 For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we again shall be what changed. Stop focusing on everything about this world please. Start focusing on heavenly things when you stand before God what’s going to matter righteousness is going to matter. What’s going to matter how did you handle your temple when you were here on earth that’s what’s going to matter. There’s no wheelchairs in heaven there’s no keynes there’s no hospital beds we’re going to be changed. So again I ask you are you clinging on to something in this life that you think is a solution for your problems.

▶ 40:55 For your mental state. I submit to you Jesus Christ can solve your mental health. Jesus Christ can solve. All the problems you think need to be solved a different way. 2 Corinthians 5:9. That each one may receive the things done in the body according whether to what he has done good or bad so you notice here it says each one each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether it’s good or bad seek God is going to show you. The decisions that you made in your life you know we had a track that we all know this is your life where the the guy goes through and shows him his life and the decisions he’s made and yes it’s true God’s going to show you your life and the decisions you made and all the lies that you were telling about why you chose to sin God’s going to show the thoughts that you had during that time why you made that decision.

▶ 42:10 And how he reached out to you during that time and how you may have rejected God’s word. God is the judge. And so if you didn’t understand something he will know. And so when you’re standing there before God. You’re not going to be able to call your psychiatrist. You’re not going to bring able to bring a ex where’s my doctor. You’re not going to be able to call your friends you’re not going to be able to call your parents your children your family you’re going to stand there. Just you and God.

▶ 43:09 You’re not going to be able to get high on drugs or some kind of alcohol it’s not available. I need something to get me through this situation no it’s you and God you are talking to God. Second Corinthians 5:11 knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men but we are all well known to God and I also trust are well known in your conscience. So because we know that people out in the world are going to stand before God and that God is going to hold them accountable for sin.

▶ 44:01 Knowing the terrible Lord we persuade men amen and if you don’t have a desire today to persuade men it’s time to understand. That God is going to hold people accountable for their sin God is going to hold us accountable for our sin and we’ve got to persuade ourselves and persuade men to follow God wholeheartedly. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. And he says spoken by the word by the Lord Jesus Christ when he came on this earth he spoke words. And we have to accept or reject them he confirmed the words by those who heard him like Matthew mark Luke and John all these uh Paul who wrote a lot of the New Testament.

▶ 44:55 He confirmed it by those who heard and they were eyewitnesses to the things they had seen Jesus Christ himself who is God came on the earth and he backed it up with signs and wonders and he still does signs and wonders up today he backed it with various miracles and he gave his Holy Spirit it is available for the church even today. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation gods salvation plan is excellent. He is there when you make your bad decisions he he gave you a conscience that will speak to you and say this isn’t right you shouldn’t go this way. He also gave his word that will say that this is wrong follow this way and and flee.

▶ 45:49 Turn away from evil depart from evil. Amen. And we’re going to look at three examples real quick in the in Hebrews chapter 11 the faith chapter verse 4. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained witness that he was righteous God testifying of his gifts. And so God is asking us this morning. We are going to stand before him amen we are going to be judged and he has examples in the scriptures of men and women that that had faith that believed in Jesus Christ that followed him wholeheartedly and one of the examples is here Abel he offered a more excellent sacrifice.

▶ 46:53 In the New Testament Hebrews 13:15 says by him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. So when we come in and we we can offer excellent sacrifice right we can offer a sacrifice of praise with our lips amen. Romans 12:1 present yourselves your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and so again goes back to the temple God made you that temple for him to dwell in and we’ve got to present ourselves a living sacrifice see that Abel he presented a more excellent sacrifice will we do the same and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God.

▶ 47:57 Not conformed to this world not going along with this world but transformed changed by the renewing of our mind what is your goal. Is your goal to do what you feel like or do you have a goal to seek Christ to follow him to serve him. And goes on to say that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So Abel presented a more excellent sacrifice God is looking for his people to offer themselves in the fruit of their lips as an excellent sacrifice unto him. And it says that Abel had faith by faith Hebrews chapter 11 5 Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death he did not die his physical body did not die like the rest of the world.

▶ 49:00 It says he was not found because God had taken him he was taken up for before he was taken he had this testimony that he what pleased God and so the question is are we pleasing God right. Pretty simple first John 3:22 whatever we ask we’ve receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight so keeping God’s commandments is what pleasing. If you’re asking yourself how do I please God keep his commandments it’s all the message the you know goes round around it’s the same. By faith if we say we have faith if we say we believe we need to back it up like Abel and Enoch did amen.

▶ 49:59 By faith Moses refused to be called the son of pharaoh’s daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of Christ’s greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward as the worship team comes we’re going to sing I pledge allegiance to the lamb and we need to have some commitment to Christ this morning we need to have some commitment to this body he has given us. His temple do we want to please him do we want to give ourselves to him Moses. He refused to be called pharaoh’s daughter are you going to. Be a son of the world or a son of the kingdom of darkness.

▶ 50:54 Or are you going to go and be with the people of God even if it hurts a little bit. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt amen that is so powerful because it’s true when you stand before God the treasures that you have in this world the things that you’re clinging on to or holding on to in this world are not going to matter. It’s going to matter whether or not you served followed Jesus wholeheartedly. So if you are willing. To have faith like Moses if you’re willing to have faith like Abel if you’re willing to have faith like Enoch did commit yourself to serving him following him would you stand with me and let’s commit to him this morning.

▶ 51:57 Allegiance to the land with all my strength with all I am I will see to honor. His comments. I pledge. Allegiance. To. The lamb I pledge allegiance I play with our hands lifted the chance. I am I will seek to honor. His comments.

▶ 52:49 I pledge. Allegiance too. Are their heads bad or eyes closed. This morning we want to just submit ourselves with our own words like this song is a commitment a pledge to Jesus Christ we’re going to let up our voices as a pledge to our our God and right now we’re going to lift up our voices and pray and submit ourselves to Jesus let’s set up our voices together right now God Lord we commit to you Jesus we come before you this morning we thank you God we thank you for your word your truth Jesus Lord we ask God this morning we would have a heart and a desire in us Jesus through your spirit Lord Lord Jesus to live for you wholeheartedly God we pray for the strength we straight and pray for the power Lord Lord equipped by the king of heaven Jesus Jesus please Lord right now God we submit ourselves we commit ourselves to you Lord like Moses did he committed himself to you not to the kingdom of darkness not to the richest God he committed himself to you God Lord we commit ourselves to you like Abel did God Lord presenting himself as a living sacrifice Jesus please this morning we submit ourselves Lord the living a life that is pleasing to you Jesus Jesus let me thank you this

▶ 54:19 morning. We. Pledge. Allegiance. To the land. With all of our strength. With all. I will see to. Honor his comments I. Pledge. Allegiance to. Land. Laughs. We want to pray for one another. God is looking for an army of people.

▶ 55:13 He’s looking for an army people that are willing to fight side by side he’s looking for an army of people that are willing to discipline themselves to fight in the battle. And we need to pray for one another God would make warriors out of us. And that we would be united with one another to completing the goal. Not just our own goals in life but willing to work with the church to complete God’s goalsis lay hands on one another. And ask that God would make warriors out of us and commit ourselves to fighting in God’s kingdom Lord Jesus we come before you this morning God again Lord we pray Jesus for one another God Lord we pray for a new spirit Lord put in to us by you Lord a spirit God of a warrior Jesus Lord a spirit that wants to fight for the kingdom of God Lord not just fight then be angry but Lord fight for truth Jesus Jesus fight for your goals for your purpose God Lord Jesus you want to reach the world with your gospel with your truth Jesus we pray for warriors Lord develop us this morning Lord no matter what we are no matter what stage we are at life Jesus you can use us Lord make us Lord make us new Jesus Lord make us those warriors God Lord strong Lord young men are strong it says in the

▶ 56:43 scriptures God Lord oh they have overcome the wicked one God make us people that have overcome the wicked one God make us people that are united with the kingdom of God Lord make us people Jesus that serve you wholeheartedly God please Jesus change. Change the store we need you Jesus. Lord we commit ourselves to you now. I pledge. Allegiance. To the land with all my strength. With all I am I will see to.

▶ 57:40 Honor. His comments. I pledge. Allegiance to. As our last act this morning. We’re going to. Treat the front here as an altar. And there’s paths to kneel on in the back if you want to we’re going to come up and we’re gonna kneel down.

▶ 58:14 And uh. Maybe you have. Laid aside everything when you stand before God you’re ready because you’re not clinging into onto anything in this world but if you are you can lay it down before Jesus this morning. And we can also come and pray for other people that they would lay down all the things that they cling on to in this world that we would understand that when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ he is going to look at our lives and give us the reward based on what we have done whether good or bad and so whether you come for yourself or for someone else let’s come this morning in prayer asking giving up those things in our lives surrendering unto God submitting ourselves to him and committing to him so let’s come before God this morning Jesus Lord we come before you again Jesus Lord is our last act this morning God we come before the altar Jesus Jesus we lay aside the things that we’re holding on to Lord Jesus our goals in life to become rich Jesus all the possessions that we may want God Lord we lay them down at your feet God Lord Jesus we commit ourselves to you Jesus Jesus is given unto you God Lord God we don’t Jesus Lord we want to stand before you with a clear conscience God o Lord

▶ 59:44 when I stand before you God it’s just going to be me and you Jesus Jesus please I pray Lord we lift up our voices for the world we let them our voices for our country God Lord that you begin to move across the people the heart of these people God Lord that are clinging on all the the identities God they think that are going to solve their problem that will be gone on that day Jesus Jesus they are trusting in something that is temporary God we pray that they put their trust in the king of kings they would pray with their trust in the eternal riches of God Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus please God we pray for our world we pray for our young people we pray Lord Jesus for one another God Lord Jesus we’d stop holding on Lord stop holding on to the temporary Jesus Lord and cling to the eternal God cling unto righteousness Lord that will deliver us from death God oh God oh God please we come this morning Jesus now God we pray on you this morning God Lord by your spirit by your power Lord Jesus come and do that work in us come and do that work and our country come and do that work in our neighbor God come Jesus Lord o Lord.

▶ 1:01:00 All give us words Lord Jesus words God Lord help people clearly see Lord Jesus they have nothing without Christ. Jesus please Lord we commit to you this morning. Pledge. Allegiance too. With all my strengths. With all I am.

▶ 1:01:57 Here his comments. I. Pledge. Allegiance to. The. Land somebody please lift up their voice in closing. Prayer this morning. In response to the message in response to our prayer time. Miss Kathy said would you please pray. Friend and I surrender my thoughts my my will my desires Lord I surrender my actions my body. Lord my tongue for Jesus and surrender.

▶ 1:02:53 My my pursuits I surrender them all to you Jesus Lord Jesus I just praise each one here and bless them as they come about their day and this week Jesus. Lord Jesus amen. Those online we trust you. Heard the word this morning. We trust that you’re not going to hold on to this world and cling to. The stuff that’s temporary but cling unto Jesus Christ who is eternal we trust this morning you’ll understand how we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we don’t want to commit things wrong against the temple of God amen we trust you heard God’s word this morning and you’re going to continue to seek him and serve God God bless you thank you for joining us this morning have a great day foreign.