One of the most exciting parts of Shepherd’s Conference is singing worship songs with 3000 other pastors. The conference has many highlights and that is always one of them.
Rick Holland preached this morning on “3 Dangers of Careless Familiarity with God.” He reminded us that being part of spiritual leadership is extremely dangerous. Holland said, “God has no desire to be part of our lives, His one desire is to be the point of our life.”
Leviticus 9:22-10:7 records the infamous story of Nadab and Abihu. These religious leaders got too familiar and careless with their God and were judged for it in a major way. Holland reminded us that we are often guilty of this very thing ourselves.
Here are the “3 Dangers of Careless Familiarity with God” from the Lev 9-10 passage.
1. Redefining what God requires (Lev 10:1) and becoming overly familiar with God.
2. Underestimating how God responds (Lev 10:2).
This fire consumed the sacrificer not the sacrifice. This was another reminder of the holiness of God. Even as Pastors we often presume on the grace of God.
3. Ignoring what God desires (Lev 10:3).
God responded according to His holiness to show that any innovations would not be tolerated. Stick with what the Word says and don’t try and get cute with God. The trend today is to treat God as cool, to treat Jesus as your homeboy, and to be as cool as you possibly can be before your congregation and your culture.
This passage is also about how God disciplines spiritual leaders. “We don’t have a higher standard but we do have a higher accountability.”
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