Then one evening I turned to a program called "Living Truth." I had never heard of it before. The speaker was a middle-aged pastor, an Englishman, speaking from an ordinary (not at all flashy) church pulpit. I was at my dining room table, listening to the sermon in the background. I listened for a while, then started to get very annoyed. To me it sounded like he was saying God was "up there," but I needed a God who was right here with me in my little tangled life. I switched off the TV. I still remember what I said as I did this. After yelling "NO" at the speaker, I said, "This is so old school."
Nevertheless, the following week I turned on "Living Truth" again. This time the speaker (I'd learned his name was Charles Price) was talking about the worship of God. The message was so personal and powerful to me, I spent the next several months listening to virtually every Charles Price sermon I could find. The Lord had a lot of lost time to make up for.
The remarkable sermon I switched off in anger was called "The Holiness of God." I suspect now that I hadn't gotten terribly far along in the sermon before switching it off, because a God "up there" was not the point of the message. God's perfect holiness is in fact what makes it possible for Him to humble Himself to be with us in our little tangled lives and do something about them.
The sermon link below was found on Sermonindex.net. The sermon is from a Living Truth series called "Knowing God," which I recommend highly.
P.S. I was right -- this sermon is "old school," but in a very good way.
Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.["] (from Jeremiah 6:16) |
"The Holiness of God"
Charles Price
(part 5 of the 6-part series "Knowing God")
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