Hindrances To Experiencing The Awe Of God Series

Hindrances to Experiencing the Awe of God

Luke 10:38-42 Mary listens while Martha is busy – Busyness

John 11:28-45 Lazarus raised - Circumstance

John 12:1-8 Anoints Jesus – Fear

Slide

Last week we began talking about

how we lose the Awe of God and

how we might again be able to recapture that Awe.

We saw that we need to

recognize God for Who He is (Creator and Judge) and

recognize ourselves for who we are.

This week

Slide

I want to talk of some of the things that

hinder us from experiencing the Awe of God and

get in the way of our relationship with Him

so that we can truly be awed.

I think that it is important to recognize these hindrances so that we can

overcome them and

have an easier time being able to focus on

Who God is and

Who we are.

There are times that we know that we need to refocus on God, but there are things in our life that are stopping us from being able to do that and we need to

understand what they are,

recognize them, and

seek to overcome them

so we can again refocus on the Lord and experience His awe.

So, what is it that hinders us from experiencing the Awe of God?

That’s the question that I want to answer today in an effort to help us to see if there are areas of our life that we need to let God work on so we can again experience his Awe.

To do this I want to look at Mary, Martha’s sister. We see her several different times in the Bible and we get to see the

Awe she had for the Lord that others did not and

Joy she experienced that others missed because of it.

Turn with me first to

Luke 10:38-42 (p. 735)

Slide

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

(from New International Version)

The first thing we see is that we let

Busyness Hinders us from Experiencing the Awe of God

Slide

Martha was very busy with all she had to do, but Mary did not let herself be distracted by all that was going on around her. She made a choice to let the things that “needed” to be done take a back seat to the more important matter of sitting at the feet of Jesus and Hearing His Word so that she could have a proper Awe of God.

Even after last weeks message I know there are people here today that are having difficulty experiencing the Awe of God.

It is easy to say focus on God and who He is and recognize who we are, but it is unbelievably difficult because busyness has become a way of life for many of us.

Just this week, I found myself completely overwhelmed with things here.

Getting back into small group and the preparations that required

Starting IMPACT back up and the teaching that had to be prepared for there.

Then we have 41 kids show up and you have to start adjusting because the space is limited.

You have to start thinking about how to accommodate this size group

Dealing with a relationship situation within the body

Preparing for this Sunday’s message.

Thinking about our search for more pastoral staff and administrative help and what will be required of each of them so we can get job descriptions together

Preparing for the Facing the Giants movie event we are having in a little more than a week.

Trying to figure out how to get more cars parked out here so we don’t have people turning around and driving away.

And on and on it goes.

And I know that many of you face similar things week in and week out.

Things going on that we believe we can’t ignore.

And I am not suggesting that we ignore them.

What I am suggesting is that in moments when we are overwhelmed like Mary’s sister, Martha was, we stop and choose the better thing of falling at the feet of Jesus and finding rest, like Mary did.