Faith on the Go: Ep 3: Tearing Down the Stage: Restoring the Sanctuary

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Hello, and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we are on episode three, when the sanctuary becomes a stage.

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The sanctuary was never meant to be a stage, but we traded altars for platforms, holiness for hype,

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conviction for crowd approval, and now God is calling us to tear it all down

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and rebuild what's sacred.

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So welcome to Faith on the Go with Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris. And this is episode three of the Curse of Familiarity

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series, When the Sanctuary Becomes a Stage.

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I'm going to open this up with prayer like we always do. You should know this

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prayer by heart. So pray it with me.

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God, have your hand as the prayer of your best.

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God, thank you for your hand that is upon us. Our territory is expanding. We are kept from harm.

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Our prayers are heard and they will be answered.

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Here we rise from pain, walk in truth, and return to deep intimacy with God,

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healed, empowered, and walking boldly in divine purpose.

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So let's do it. So we want revival. The modern church has lost its fear, right? Fear of the Lord.

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I think we got real casual with the Lord. And so I think he wants us to get

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back, not fear him as being afraid, but fear him as reverence him, right?

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Because he wants to do great and mighty things in our lives,

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like the acts church did. I want that, don't you?

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And so we want the revival, but we don't want repentance.

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We want his presence, but we've made room for performance instead.

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The sanctuary has become a place of present instead of a place to prostrate.

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It's not always about fog machines and used to add skinny jeans and flashing lights.

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It's about hearts that speak applause, that seek applause before more than approval.

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It's about hearts that seek applause more than approval.

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We've become familiar with the platform, with the pulpit, with the power of God.

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And now he's shaking the house. Isn't that powerful?

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We want the applause of man instead of the approval of God. And God says,

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I'm going to shake you loose from all that.

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And, you know, how does he do that? With his presence.

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So let's give some examples of how he does this.

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So we're going to go once again to Eli.

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And this is something that's been strong here. It says, Eli and the house of irreverence.

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And it's in 1 Samuel 2, 12-17, and then verses 27-36.

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It's also in 1 Samuel 4, 10-11. We see here that this version says,

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Eli's sons were scoundrels.

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They had no regard for the Lord. They treated the Lord's offering with contempt.

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Those are some bad words there. Scoundrels and contempt.

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Eli's sons were priests. We heard that in the first episode,

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ministering in the tabernacles.

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But they stole offerings, slept with women, and dishonored the altar.

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And Eli, their father, the high priest, refused to stop them.

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That's interesting, right? So you have a father who's the high priest,

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who sees their sons going astray, but refused to even remove them from that position.

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So why do you honor your sons more than me, says the Lord in 1 Samuel 2, chapter 2, verse 29.

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And God warned them, and they didn't listen. and the ark of God was captured and Eli's sons died.

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The glory departed because the reverence had died.

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This wasn't the world. This wasn't inside.

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This was the world and this was inside the sanctuary.

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Let's take a moment here and break down some of these words.

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When we talk about the word scoundrel, it's a Hebrew word and I can't even try

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to even spell it, but it's Beliah, which is interesting because we know Satan is called Beliah.

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But the meaning is it means worthless men or sons of worthlessness. So, worthlessness.

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So, when God calls you a scoundrel, God says you are worthless.

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Those with no fear of God, no moral compass, and no reverence for sacred things.

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So, worthless men, sons of worthlessness.

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He says that that's what it means. There was no fear of God.

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So at what point does you go from being a priest of God, where your father is a high priest,

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where you lose all reverence of God, so much so that your father does not even

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correct you at the altar.

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That God had to come down and kill them. A judgment had to fall.

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Think about that. So in today's term, scoundrels are corrupt,

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rebellious, and disrespectful toward spiritual authority and holiness.

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Do we know a few of those people?

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So scoundrels are corrupt, rebellious, and disrespectful toward spiritual authority and holiness.

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The names of Eli's sons was Hophni and Phanias, whereas they weren't just wild,

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they were dangerous, abusing the priesthood for personal gain. So why does this matter?

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It says scoundrels wasn't a casual insult.

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It was a spiritual indictment from God.

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You are considered scoundrels.

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In scripture, the word eventually became a title for Satan himself.

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Why? Because Satan is a scoundrel.

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He has no fear of God and no moral compass. and he gets people like Hophni and

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Phinehas to do his work, right?

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So you can wear priestly garments, but if you mock the offering,

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you're leading with a rebellious heart.

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This is a warning to the modern church. Position doesn't equal purity and ordination

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doesn't override by obedience.

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So we see here, we don't want to be called a scoundrel, and we do definitely

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want to be partnered with the enemy to tear down the church of the holy God. Amen.

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So what are some signs that your sanctuary has become a stage?

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If you were at your church, you said, how did my church, how did my sanctuary

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become a stage? So let's talk about it.

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The worship team is skilled, but nobody is weeping, never really takes us into worship.

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You know, sometimes the worship team is, they take you into them.

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It's always about what they're wearing, you know, how they're singing.

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It's like, come on now, we want to get into the presence of the Lord.

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You know, it's some kind of dance that's not really a holy dance.

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So we're dancing, but it's not a holy dance. It's not really dancing us into the presence of God.

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It reminds you, sometimes you

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can be at church and you can actually feel like you're at a dance party.

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Are you looking for a dance party or are you looking for Jesus?

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Preaching is polished, but it doesn't pierce.

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Their suit is piercing. They got the baddest suit on.

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The preacher is looking pretty sharp, but his word is not sharper, right?

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People clap, but they don't change.

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A lot of clapping, a lot of applauding, a lot of standing up.

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And then next thing you know, they're out.

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They leave there and nothing changes.

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There are noise, but there's no presence. There's no God.

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You go to church and you leave church and you are still the same. Nothing changes.

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2 Timothy 3.5 says, Having a form of godliness, but denying its power.

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Having nothing to do, have nothing to do with such people.

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Familiarity has turned the church into a crowd or a fan club.

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You ever say, I got to go hear this person preach. This person preach really

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good. It's he's preaching the word of God, right?

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You know, he's preaching the word of God. But God is not coming for a crowd.

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He's coming for a bride and he's cleansing his temple.

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Nothing wrong with some good preaching. Don't get me wrong.

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But when you override the preacher before God, there's got to be a problem.

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Not got to be. There is a problem.

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A call to tear down the stage and restore the altar. Let's go to Joel 2, chapter 12 through 13.

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It says, even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart.

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Wring your heart and not your garments. The sanctuary is not for performance. It's for presence.

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The altar is not for lights. It's for lightning.

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Come on now. Divine encounters that changes everything.

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This isn't a call to fix the lights or the songs. It's a call to bring reverence back to the room.

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Where is the trembling? Where is the repentance?

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Where is the holy hush? But God walks in and you don't even want to breathe

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because His presence is so holy.

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Let's pray. Lord, we built churches you never asked for. We've honored platforms more than purity.

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We have applauded performances while ignoring your voice.

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Forgive us. Forgive our pastors. Forgive our worship leaders.

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Forgive the stage we built on the ashes of the altar.

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Tear down what we built without you. Restore the fear of the Lord in the sanctuary.

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Let conviction fall. Let your glory return.

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We don't want performances we want present we don't want hype we want holy,

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in Jesus name, amen say this with

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me I will not treat the house of God as a common I will not honor the platform

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I will not honor the platform over the altar I will not be a spectator I will

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be a worshiper the Lord is returning to his house and I will make room for him,

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The fear of the Lord is returning to his house, and I will make room for him. Amen.

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God is still holy. God is still holy.

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You may have never been taught. You may have grown up under a system that fed

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the flesh and ignored the spirit.

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But now you know God is still holy.

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His sanctuary is still sacred. and he is not impressed by performance.

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He is moved by reverence.

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So next episode, we'll go a little bit deeper. We'll examine Merrim,

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Sarai, and those who became too familiar with the spiritual authority and divine

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assignment, and what happens when familiarity leads to dishonor.

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Until then, worship deeply, walk humbly, and never treat the sanctuary like a stage again.

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This is your host, Connie Morris,

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and you're listening to Faith on the Go with Diary of a Black Woman.

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Stay in awe. Let's activate the promises of Jeremiah 29, 11.

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So God knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you,

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not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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And when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him.

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He will bring you back from captivity and restore everything that was lost.

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Hold on your healing for clarity.

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Your breakthrough are closer than you think. This is more than just a podcast.

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This is a return to God's plan for your life.

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Let's keep walking it all together. Stay connected.

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You can find free resources on my website, DiaryOfBlackWomenLLC.com.

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Prayer request you can call me or contact me at Diary of a Black Woman.

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Podcast at gmail.com coming live to Twitch Diary of Black Women TV till next time bye bye.