The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and uses it like a sword, piercing to the soul and spirit, joints and marrow, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  I need to tell you that the Word of God pierced me that day.  I was stunned for a few moments as the Spirit seemed to show me how lackadaisical I have become in treating the presence and Word of God.  When I look at the church today in America, and Trinity in particular, I see much of the same thing I have seen when I looked into my own heart.  I spend time in the Word every day.  I love listening to and responding back to the Lord when He speaks to me through His Word or through a book I am reading.  But too often, there is no awe or fear of the Lord in my own heart.  I do not fear His judgement, nor do I fear the consequences of disobedience.  In the church at large, I see this attitude– Lord, tell me what you want me to do and I will decide if it is worth it or not to obey you.  This mind set places the person– you– as the final judge over God and His Word.  The biggest issue I see in the church of Jesus Christ today is that the people of God, by and large, do not know the Scriptures.  We have not memorized them, we have vague ideas about God’s work and nature and character, but do not know the Word well enough to stand on it by faith in prayer and to be certain that we will have what God has promised to us.  In short, we do not tremble at the Word of the Lord. 

I would like for us to briefly look at the response of Old Testament saints to the presence and Word of the Lord, and then to flesh out what that looks like in our day.  Our response to this Word will have dramatic effect on what God does through Trinity in 2008. Our theme idea is In order to fulfill the call of God on us as His people, our hearts need to be in a position to embrace His Word when it is spoken to us and to tremble at His presence.

I. Every person who came before the Lord in the Scriptures was stunned by the presence of the Lord.

Both Jeremiah 5:22 and Isaiah 66 are spoken by the prophets in the context of judgement.  Judgement is falling upon the people of God because they do not tremble in the presence of the Lord; they do not fear Him!  In Jeremiah 5, we are told that God’s people have eyes but do not see, ears but do not hear because they have chosen to sin against the Lord; and this sin has kept the fear of the Lord away from them!!  Judgement from God is the result of not fearing Him in this passage.  This observation should lead us to ask the question– do I really fear the Lord?  Do I tremble in His presence?  Do I tremble at His Word?

How about saints who have gone before us?  How did they respond to the presence and Word of the Lord?  We will start with Abram, whose name was changed to Abraham, because the story of God’s work through people begins with him.  Abraham was God’s chosen forefather of our faith.  He encountered the Lord when he was 99– listen to how he responded:  Gen 17:1‑3, “When Abram was ninety‑nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.  I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’  Abram fell face down, and God said to him...”  This response is repeated by many others when they encounter the Lord. 

Look at the prophet Ezekiel’s response to the presence of the Lord in Ezek 1:28, “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking...” 

Or look at the godly leader Daniel and his response to the presence of the Lord in Daniel  8:15‑17, “While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there before me stood one who looked like a man.  And I heard a man's voice from the Ulai calling, "Gabriel, tell this man the meaning of the vision.’  As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate.”

I could give you other examples, but they are all very similar.  When grown men fall face down when they are in the presence of the Lord, what message does that say to you?  Why do these men fall over like this?  When a person comes into the presence of Almighty God, that person is immediately aware of the awesomeness of God next to their own frailty.  There is no conscious thought, “I think I will fall over now because God is so great.”  There response is involuntary.  In other words, they have no choice.  We have lost our awareness of the awesomeness of the presence of God.

Even in modern day revivals, the most common response of people when God shows up is to fall over!  I was reading about the powerful encounters people had with God in Brownsville, Florida.  These all began when God’s presence fell one Sunday, splitting the pulpit in half and knocking the pastor out.  He lay in a trance-like state for a couple of hours because the power of the presence of God was so strong upon him.  Some of you are thinking– “Wow, I don’t think I want that to happen to me!”  Listen, when a person encounters the Lord in a powerful manner, they are changed forever.  I have told you before about DL Moody’s encounter with the Holy Spirit and how it changed him and his ministry forever.  I have shared with you in the past about my own encounters with the Lord and what a difference this has made in my life.  I was literally knocked over by the presence of God.  When I got back up again, everything in my life was changed– I had much more joy, I knew the Lord’s presence more fully, I had a deeper hunger for the Word of God, more love flowed out of me to others around me.  It was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.  That was over 10 years ago.  I am hungry for another encounter with Him, more of His presence and life flowing through me.  Someone asked one time why we needed revival after we have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.  The answer given was, “Because we leak, and need to be re-filled with the Spirit of God.”  I think the correct answer is because we are in a living, dynamic relationship with our heavenly Father and all relationships need to be renewed.  I need to make a renewed commitment to love my wife each day.  I do love her, but life can over run me at times, so I need to refresh and renew my commitment to love her and show her love.  I believe this is the nature of relationships on earth.  This includes our relationship with our heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, through the living presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

The Old Testament saints whom God powerfully used, encountered the Lord and trembled in His presence.

II. When we tremble at the presence and Word of God, we exhibit the right response to Him.

As you think about the very person and character of God, it makes sense that we would be people who tremble before Him.  He is the Creator of the universe– our God spoke into nothingness and something was created by the power of His Word.  He set the sun and stars in their course after creating them.  What kind of power does that take?!  He not only made you, but has sustained every breath you have ever taken, and He has given you all that is necessary so you might fully know Him.  He is God... and we are not!  Yes, the right response is to tremble in His presence.

We have been talking about revival, and have defined revival as the manifest presence of God. In other words, we have been asking the Lord to reveal more of Himself to us, that we would know that we have been in the presence of God.  As we think about this idea– being in the presence of God– most of us have probably considered it with a sense of wonder– what would that be like?  It is the same way most Christians I meet think about life after death– oh I can’t wait to be with Jesus and enjoy His presence all the time!!  I understand these sentiments and share them on many levels, but I also am aware that I will have to stand before the judgement seat of Christ.  Every action, every word is accountable before Him.  I am not speaking here about salvation.  If you know Jesus Christ this morning, if you have asked Jesus to come into your heart, into your life to save you and to make you His, then you are saved!  You belong to Him.  You will not go through the first judgement which has to do with salvation.  You will be in His Kingdom.  But there is also the idea in the Scriptures that we all will stand before the judgement seat of Christ, even as His children, and give an account for the things we did in this flesh.  Many of Jesus’ parables speak about this.  Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 3:12‑15, “If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” 

What will it be like to appear before the judgement seat of Christ?  What will it be like to be in the presence of Almighty God like this?  There will be an overwhelming sense of love coupled with an overwhelming fear of the Lord.  There will be an awe about His presence and when He speaks, we will have hearts which are ready to respond without hesitation.  If God Almighty, the Creator of all things, your Lord and the power of the universe is truly your God today, then how should you respond to His presence and to His Word?

III. What does it look like to tremble at the presence and Word of the Lord?

When I think about what it means to tremble in the presence of the Lord or especially at the Word of the Lord, it causes me to sit up on the edge of my seat and take notice.  My heart is tuned in, my will is already at a point where I am saying “Yes Lord!”, my emotions are excited, my faith is anticipating what the Lord might say to me.  Too often, Christians have a ho–hum attitude towards the Word of God.  “Oh...yawn... the Bible is God’s Word...”  There is an intellectual acknowledgement without a heart engagement!  There is no expectation that God will speak to them!  There is no anticipation that anything will change in them, about them or around them.  But you see, people who tremble at the Word of the Lord have a heightened sense of expectation.  I want you to compare 2 people this morning, and ask which person represents your heart and life response.  The first person comes to church this morning thinking, “I can’t wait to hear what God will say to me today!  I know that as I worship with God’s people at Trinity that I will encounter the Lord and He will have something for me!”  This kind of response is a light year different from the second person, “I am too tired to go to church today because I stayed up and watched that movie last night...  But I guess I ought to go...” So, he drags himself into the shower, puts on something which looks respectable, and comes to church without any expectation that he will be touched by God.  Now, you tell me, which of these people– both born again, both members of the covenant family at Trinity– which one will meet God?  Clearly the person who expects to meet God, who is passionate about what God will say and waiting to hear anything their Lord has to say is the person who will encounter the Lord this day!  Let’s continue the comparison.  Tomorrow morning when you wake up– assuming you have set your alarm so you have time to spend in the Word of the Lord– which person will encounter Christ?  The person who wakes up and leaves 5 minutes to read something– they do the Bible drop and hope that there might be something which will help them, or at least to be able to say they read the Word today– that’s worth something to God isn’t it... Or the person who quiets his heart, who spends a season listening to the Lord, who believes that the Lord will meet him, who opens the Word and reads the next passage from the one he read yesterday, chewing on each word, expectant that God will speak to him again today.  Which one will encounter the Lord? 

Your response to the Word– whether you gain a sense of awe at His presence and His Word or treat His Word like it was yesterday’s news without relevance for today, will make all the difference in your encounter with God today, tomorrow, this month and this year.  Where we meet God is day by day.  We meet Him by faith, as we make time for Him each day.  We meet Him as we set aside time for worship with God’s people.  If you are trembling at His Word, what you hear Him say to you will be powerful to your spirit, because you have faith to hear and respond to Him.  Where are you with this today?