Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
February 21, 2016 - W1608

The reason I love the Bible is because God's Word is what transforms us. There's no other book in the universe that God promises to inspire except the Bible, and when God took this Bible, He promised to inspire it.    

You know what the word "inspire" means? God breathes it. In other words, you don't have the wisdom it takes to be the mother you want to be or the dad you want to be. You don't have the wisdom it requires to be the businessman you want to be yet, but you can garner wisdom along the way from these words, these people's lives, because the Bible's filled with raw, unedited accounts of people's lives through which God gave wisdom.  And every problem you will ever face in your life will have already been faced by somebody in the Bible, and God deposits wisdom into those stories, the parables, and the lessons.    

God says that He will give you the same wisdom He gave Solomon if you will learn the Bible. There is only one book in the universe He promises to do that through, and it's the Word of God. And so I want you to fall in love with the Word of God again.    

You see, if you don't have that love for the Word, then you don't know what it says. And remember in Luke 4 when Jesus was being tempted by the devil, every time he combated those temptations, he combated them with these words, "It is written." If you don't know what is written, you have no recourse against the tempter of your soul.    

You should know what is written. Otherwise, you'll come to wrong conclusions all the time. I've listened to some churches, and the conclusions of theology they come to is just ridiculous about morality and sexual things.

If we dismiss the morality of God's Word, then we mess it up. Our conclusions will be wrong.      

Today I want to talk to you about a very strange titled message called “The Torque of God”.  

Now, one of the most important things you have to understand is the presence of God.  Remember in the Old Testament it was through the pillar of fire and the cloud. Cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. And it was through the Ark of the Covenant that when they would go into battle, they were assured of the presence of God. When Solomon built the temple, God says people will face this way. When they pray, they will be assured of my presence, the presence of God.    

Now, the people of God are going through the wilderness.    Now, they're getting a little stubborn.    They're starting to complain.    And God knows they've got many miles yet to go.

Exodus 33:2-3 says, "I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff - necked people, and I might destroy you on the way."

I looked at that, and I thought, “What do You mean?”  Well, God said He still loved them. He was going to send a substitute, but He was not going to go personally. It's one of the few times where God actually pulls His presence. It's a chilling verse.    

Exodus 33:15-16, says "Then Moses said to him, 'If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?  What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?'"

You know what he's saying?    If this church and if our churches in New Hope Hawaii Kai, New Hope Community, Manoa, Sand Island, and Leeward don’t have God’s presence, what's going to distinguish us from any other people? The only difference is going to be that you go to church on Sunday and the others don't.    Everything else is kind of the same the way we live our lives.    If the presence of God isn't with us, then there's nothing that's going to distinguish us from any of the other people of the earth. Why would the Lord leave us?    

God is holy. And in His presence holiness is the standard. It's not an alternative. It's not an option. It is the environment. It's the routine. It's the program.  

 And that's why we read in Lev. 10-3: "For those who come near Me, I will be treated as holy."    

And 1 Peter 1:16 says it this way, "Be holy, because I am holy.”.    

Now, I'm not talking about perfection. I'm talking about holiness. The word "holiness" is wholeness. That means in Christ I'm made whole, that my heart isn't going after other things to make me whole. I know only Jesus can make me whole, and I want to be complete in Him.    

Do I make some mistakes? Sure. But my heart is a heart for God, and I know that in Him I am made whole. That's the kind of heart that I want to have. Do you think that's attainable?    

1.   Attaining his image is 100% possible.

And that's the Holy Spirit's job.    

The Bible says, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians: 18)

We're being transformed into the same image by the Spirit to change us into His image. So in His presence, change is mandatory. Why? We are not there yet. We are a long way from holiness.    

Therefore, what God is saying is there's a lot of changing going on. So if we're going to be in His presence, change has to be a constant. It's going to be happening all the time. So you and I must remain supple, correctable. We have to remain shapeable, ready to modify our thoughts, modify our opinions, and match his three, four, five, 50, 60 times a day. But you know what happened? The Israelites became stiff - necked.    

Now, I'm going to talk a little bit about the torque of God. There's a difference between horsepower and torque. Horsepower is a strength. It's like RPMs. It turns fast. But torque is the ability to twist, the torsion, the power to get traction and turn.    

So God has a torque to Him in that in His presence, things have to change because He is moving you to change. There is a mandatory change order. Now, if God is wanting you to change and you don't want to change, what happens?    

If I don't want to change, He has to remove His presence, lest He destroy me.    So if He’s in your presence and you want the presence of God, you have to be okay when God starts changing things. But as soon as we get stiff - necked, something is going to break, and it won’t be God. He will destroy us along the way.    

You're not punished for your sins. You're punished by your sins. God isn't some punitive God looking to hurt people.

2.   Realize your inadequacy.    

You're not going to out strong arm God.    You're either going to be destroyed, or He'll remove His presence from you.    And because He loves you so much, He doesn't want to destroy you, so He removes His presence.    

Simon Peter was always making mistakes.    But there's one thing about Peter which made him one of the premier apostles. When God said that He was going to turn Peter’s life around, Peter cooperated with Him. As the Bible says, "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees saying, 'Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’" (Luke 5:8)

Peter realized an inadequacy. He realized that he was stubborn but gave in to God so that God could change him.

3. Don't fight with God.  

Sometimes when you surrender to God, it will be the greatest victory you will ever experience.    

And if we keep fighting God, God knows something is going to break, so you know what God does? He leaves you alone, He steps back.    And one of the worst seasons in your life is when God leaves you alone.    

It is your choice to say, “Lord, I'm not going to fight with you.”  

That's why the Bible says, "You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy." (Ps. 16:11)

What has God been speaking to you about over the last few months that you haven't yet done? Something with your family, maybe something with a habit, or an addiction. God is saying it's time to go get some counseling or time to forgive and let that thing go, time to write that note, time to open your heart to Christ. What is it that God has been saying to you? Get involved maybe in ministry, develop your gifts that God has given to you that's lying latent?

And you know what He's going to do after a while? He's going to twist your arm. You'll feel your conscience getting to you. And it's not condemnation. God doesn't condemn you. But He will convict you.    

What's the difference between conviction and condemnation? It's like the difference between the dove and a hawk. God's conviction draws you closer to Him. Always remember, conviction draws you closer to God for the answer. Condemnation pushes you away from God. And so if you're feeling condemned or condemnation, it comes from the devil. That's not from God. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit because He's drawing you near. The Holy Spirit is likened to a dove that hovers, not a hawk that goes to kill. It's not someone that dives to punish. God is not a punitive God.    

Take Sabbath moments where you just get away. Go out to Kalaeloa or to Waianae or to a beach somewhere and just be alone for a while and just ask the Lord, “God, how am I doing?  How am I doing in my marriage? In my faith? In my devotion? With my kids? With my attitude?” And then just grade yourself. God's going to tell you. B minus on this one, B plus on this one. D plus on this one. C minus on this. And now you know what you need to change. And then a month later ask him the same questions, and you'll start to see things getting better and better. What's happening? The Holy Spirit is changing you, and now you are cooperating with Him. And the pain factor decreases, and the change factor increases. That's the beauty of His presence, and God wants His presence here. And that's going to be the most important part that will distinguish us from any other place on the face of the earth.    

So what is God speaking to you about, write it down, and begin to do it. You watch what His presence will do because in His presence is the fullness of joy.    

Is holiness possible? Absolutely. God wants our hearts holy and whole so that when He speaks to us, we comply, instead of pushing or pulling back and then asking, “Why did God hurt us?” But God did not hurt us - our own stubbornness did.

Don't ever let God let you go.    You fall on your knees right away and pray, “Dear God, I don't know what I need to do, but, God, never, never let me go.” Because once God lets you go, you're the most impoverished and the most poor. Don't ever allow God to let you go.    

My prayer is that this church and all our churches of New Hope will be a place of holiness where the Holy Spirit will be pleased to dwell and that His presence will be with us always. That's the kind of people we want to be. Can you say amen?  

Questions:

1.   Why do you need the wisdom of the Bible?

2.   Why do you have to know what is written in the Bible?

3.   What does The Torque of God referred to?

4.   Why are we a stiff-necked people?

5  Why do we need to realize our own inadequacy?