(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, well, let's look down at Isaiah chapter two, verse number one, and we'll look at the verses I'm going to focus on tonight. Can you hear me okay? The speaker working? All right. The Bible says the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it and many people shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us ways and we shall we excuse me we will walk in his as for the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they eat their swords and the pliers and their spears and the pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore oh house of Jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of their Lord of the Lord the title sermon tonight is the mountain of the Lord the mountain of the Lord let's pray Lord we thank you so much for the time we could get together as a church family and Lord as a small group here and Lord that we would just study your word tonight and Lord I pray that you'd help me to preach tonight the message you put on my heart Lord I pray you fill me with your spirit and with power and boldness as I preach your word tonight I pray Lord that this message would sink down into the hearts of our people into their ears into their hearts Lord and Lord that we would lift your name on high as we enjoy this mountain area for the next few days in Jesus name we pray amen all right so the title of the sermon is the mountain of the Lord and every time I go by a tall mountain I always I always say that for some reason to myself I always I always look at the mountain I go the mountain of the Lord and the reason why I do that is because the Lord is higher than everything else so it just makes it reminds me when I see a tall snow-capped mountain it reminds me of the majesty of God and how he's above all things and I find it very interesting how it says here in verse number two that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow onto it there's going to be a day when the house of the Lord is going to be on the top of the mountains and way above all the hills and everybody from all nations around the world are going to flow to it and people it says in verse three and many people shall shall go and say come ye let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and I really like that saying I really think it's a great this is a great set of scriptures here and it got me thinking why do we like to go to the mountain so much why is it such a cool thing to go to the mountains and enjoy nature and obviously we're not on the top of a snow-capped mountain it takes a little bit more effort to get to the tops of those it's a little more dangerous it's a little more treacherous but a lot of people like to climb mountains a lot of people like that challenge of climbing to the top of the peak of a mountain but I got me thinking you know why do we like to go to the mountain so much what's so cool about going and getting out to a place like this and if you drove here today which everybody I'm assuming drove here today as a matter of fact I know everybody did only one person got lost but you know he found his way here at one point so anyway well why do we like to go to mountains well we like the clean air you know if you if you drove with the window I drove with the window down like almost the whole way I didn't care how cool it was it just the air smelled so good to me I really like the clean air out the mountains the beautiful scenery if you weren't going mach 70 like I was you might have been able to enjoy the scenery a little bit more I was trying to go slow but for once in her life my wife was like going like this like I needed to speed up I was just like all right well you asked for it here we go so but anyway we like the the majesty of the high mountains a lot of times when I'm flying into Portland I can see Mount Rainier I can see Mount Adams I can see Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Mount St. Helens all these beautiful high mountains and those mountains are volcanoes by the way but they are still very beautiful they're snow capped most of the time except for in times of extreme drought we like the clear clean waters in the mountains we like the green trees and the beautiful rock formations and the quietness and the animals and the lack of the hustle and bustle of living in the city we like that it's good to get out and just be in nature you know God made nature for us to enjoy and I hope and pray that this weekend as we as we are here that you know there's a lot of work to do around here obviously to to keep the machine running but I hope that you take some time to enjoy the scenery and I hope you got to enjoy the scenery as you came up here another thing that that people like to do in the mountains is is rest and relaxation now I always think that that's a it's a good time to do that I actually had a good time driving up by myself today just listening to sermons and yeah I mean I was by myself just thinking I was just like man there's not like 18 screaming kids in the car my wife isn't yelling at me for the way I'm driving there's just it was just I was at peace I was at it at one with nature but I want to preach tonight about the want or excuse me to I want to share some characteristics of how the mountains teach us about God and our relationship with him I want to I want to preach about how the characteristics of mountains teach us about God and our relationship with us number one tonight mountains are high and lofty mountains are high and lofty just like the Lord is high and lofty turn to Psalm chapter 76 verse number four Psalm chapter 76 verse number four and one of the things I want to do in this sermon is I want people to think about God and about how much higher he is than everything else I mean if you picture like some of those mountains that we saw today they were really beautiful they were snow covered they were high up and you can't help but just look at them and see them you know nobody looks at the mountains and go wow those are ugly you know everybody probably was like oh that's so pretty are the lakes the mountain lakes that we drove by with the crystal clear water and just really beautiful and it was just a really beautiful drive today really nice weather but you know God made this for us to enjoy part of the enjoying this trip is actually to the part of driving up here and enjoying just the fresh air and all the things that God provides for us but I want to teach you again like I said how the how the mountains teach us about God and our relationship with him so Psalm chapter 76 verse 4 says thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of pray so God is even you know the mountains are glorious but God is even more glorious and excellent than the mountains of pray turn to Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 Isaiah 57 verse 15 and we're going to be looking at some bible tonight so I hope you drank a cup of coffee before the service or something to keep you awake I know it's been a long day for a lot of people we all drove for hours and hours and hours so anyway Isaiah 57 verse 15 says for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite one so God is high and lofty he inhabiteth eternity he's holy and he dwells on the high of holy places but he also wants us to dwell with him in those places did you notice that even with our text scripture it says you know that people are going to say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord so obviously that's a place where we can go see God is always up high he's always lifted up he's always lofty he's always higher than everything else but he also the people that would have a humble spirit spirit before him and that would have a contrite heart for the things that they've done God wants those people to be up there with him and you know God's not going to just let any proud fool into heaven today is the first day of pride month of course you know where people are just celebrating the fact that they're proud but you know what God wants he wants people that are humble he doesn't want people that are proud and just throwing their abominations out in front of people's faces for little children to see and little children to hear the filth that's coming out of their monkey pox hidden bodies disease filled bodies God hates pride God loves a person who has a contrite and humble spirit and you know what he doesn't want to have anything to do with pride pride is of the devil and that's why these people that march up and down the streets and they're going to be showing us Taco Bell commercials and they're going to be showing you know we're going to hear all every all of our Facebook feeds and everything like that's going to be just filled with all this homo rainbow garbage you know what we've got to just look in God's book this month and just really focus on the things that are important to us you know what because we can't really stop that stuff from happening God has to fireball all this stuff in order for that stuff to change turn to first peter chapter five five you know what we can work on though even though there's a bunch of filthy fags that are out there being proud and just being prideful and trying to cram all their weird stuff down our throat like all this transvestite stuff transphobia I don't want to be around any trans at all it's not that I'm afraid of them I just don't like them they're sickening I don't want to look at their faces I don't want to look at their bodies I don't want to look at their Adam's apple I don't want to look at anything that has to do with some filthy fag you know what and God doesn't either it makes him sick too you know what he's high lifted up like the mountains are and he wants us to be humble he wants his people to be humble and you know what if someone wants to be saved those people have to be humble too look what it says the first peter chapter five five it says likewise you younger submit yourselves unto the elder yea of all you be subject one to another and be clothed with what humility for God resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble see God wants to have those people in the mountain of the Lord the days of Isaiah is prophesying here there's going to be a day when people are going to say come let's go mountain of the Lord you know and people are going to go the ones that are humble the ones that are contrite those are the people that are going to get to be up in the mountain with God and up learning from him and learning about his law and his statutes and judgments and you know all these fags are going to be burning in hell so we're you know the bible says that God gives grace to the humble he resists the proud he's resistant to them and you know what we have to resist the proud too and you know what you're like oh well he's got to always preach about this stuff well you know what it's pride month and today's june 1st you know what i'm going to have to throw a little you know just public service announcement about how God hates pride turn to first peter let's look at verse number six humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time see God wants to exalt you you know and you think well that's i i don't want to be exalted i don't want to be lifted up but you know what if you're humble then he will lift you up but these proud people that lift themselves up above everybody else and say oh we gotta just uh bow you gotta bow down to us and and and and treat us the same as everybody else God doesn't feel that way he doesn't feel that way at all it says humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time so hey you want to be lifted up you want to be exalted will be humble that's the key you got to be the opposite of what a proud person is a proud person is going to be brought low the bible says casting all your care upon him for he careth for you why don't you take all the cares that you have right here God i got all these cares like all these problems like all these issues will you please help me take care of me you know what that's a contrite spirit that's a humble spirit you know what that's what God is looking for that's what he's looking for in his believers turn to James chapter 4 verse number 4 James chapter 4 verse number 4 Bible says he adulterers and adulteresses know you not that friendship with the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God you know people just like and i and i know especially teens they they kind of get into this rebellious mode sometimes where they're like yeah i just want to do all these worldly things and go and do all the things that my friends are doing and all this and that maybe you need to pick better friends maybe you need to hang out with friends are going to be a good influence on you maybe you got to be friends with people that are humble and not proud and lifted up and wanting to be friends with the world what does what does that mean well being doing worldly things you know and he says you adulterers and adulteresses that could be spiritual adultery that could be literal adultery but it could also be spiritual adultery where you're just like oh well i'm gonna live half my week where i'm just like hanging out with the world and doing the things of the world and i'm gonna go to church and be spiritual you know god looks at that like adultery he looks at that like you're you're being a spiritual whore and he doesn't like it it says do you think that the scripture saith in vain the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy we you know it's not our flesh that lives within us it wants to sin it wants to to envy it wants to do all this wicked stuff but the bible says in verse six he but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith god resisted the proud but giveth grace unto the humble see this is a theme in the word of god that if you'll humble yourself that god will give you grace hey do you screw up a lot well hey be humble about the things that you screw up on and god will give you grace see god he he does have to punish sin but you know what when you come to god hat and hand and you know you done messed up you know you messed up and you're humble about that and you're contrite about that and you're sorry about that god will be more graceful with you but you know what you don't want to act like some proud peacock and just and just you know act like you know it's not a big deal what i'm doing god see that's pride that's not humbling yourself god does not like that look what it says in verse 7 submit yourselves therefore to god resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to god and he will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness humble yourselves in the sight of the lord and what's it say he shall lift you up see in isaiah chapter 2 he said you know he or isaiah chapter 57 he was like i want to lift you up into the places where i'm at but you know what you got to do to be lifted up you know a lot of people want to be lifted up they want to be exalted but you know the key to doing that is the exact is the exact opposite of what most people do to try to get themselves exalted well i want to be a star on on tiktok and do some flips and stuff what what's not going to get you who cares you know what does that really mean in the grand scheme of life like wow you did a flip or you did some stupid video that nobody thinks is funny there's all these narcissists on tiktok that do all this weird stuff to their faces and then they do stupid skits that nobody laughs at and they got like millions of followers like how stupid are these people you know i mean is that what you want your life to be is you being a narcissist on tiktok you know why don't you humble yourself why don't you humble yourself so that god can lift you up instead of you just be wanting to be lifted up by the world that's what god's talking about here in james chapter four look at first samuel chapter two verse six first samuel chapter two verse six you're like what does that have to do with the mountain well i told you god wants you to be in that mountain with him and he want you know but he's not going to bring the proud up there with him you know you want to reach heights in your christianity you want to reach new levels in your christianity well you know what you got to be a humble person because everybody in this room sins everybody has issues everybody has things that they struggle with but you know what if you have a contrite heart and you resist the devil the bible says he'll flee from you he'll give you grace when you're humble being humble is the key is a key of a successful christian life look at first samuel chapter two verse six it says the lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up the lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up he raiseth up the poor of the dust and lifted up the beggar from the dung hill to set him them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the lords and he has set the world upon them see god is able to lift even the beggar a person that's you know a beggar someone that's poor and begging on the side of the road or whatever the bible says he can lift that person out of the dung hill and set them among princes see god is the one that's able to exalt people that are humble it's pretty humble to be in a dung hill isn't it i think it's pretty humble i mean that's pretty about the lowest place you could be a beggar sitting in a dung hill you know what dung is right that's that stuff that you know stinks dung doo doo whatever you want to call it uh anyways return to psalm chapter 113 verse number four psalm chapter 113 verse number four the bible says in psalm chapter 113 verse number four the lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens who is like the lord our god who dwelleth on high who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth he raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifted the needy out of the dung hill see the lord is on high his glory is above the heavens and you know what he loves us enough people that are just in a lowly state to lift us up and make us to inherit with and be as princes see god is at the top that's where he belongs let me ask you this question tonight is he the top of your life is he higher than those mountains out there to you is he higher than the other things that you have in your life is there something else that you're setting before yourself that you love more it ought not to be that way folks it ought to thing in your life he's the highest thing in your heart is the lord in your is the lord in a high place in your heart or something else are you committing spiritual adultery by having something else first in your heart because you know god expects you as a christian to make him number one and make his priorities your priorities so are god's priorities your priorities or do you have some other kind of will that you have going on in your life and look i'm not saying don't have fun i'm not saying don't have hobbies i'm not saying don't do stuff for yourself but you know what who should be number one in your life god should be number one in your life the lord jesus christ should be number one in your life he's higher than the highest mountain out there you know what he wants to bring you up into that mountain and you know what one day the nations that are humble the people that are contrite those people are going to go up and say hey let's go up to the mountain of the lord the place where the lord's mountain will be will be on the highest mountains that there are number two tonight all right just as the mountains arose from hell christ arose from hell for you just like the mountains arose from hell christ arose from hell for you so in the way that a mountain rises up you know you know the tectonic plates and all that stuff uh it's all scientific stuff right but underneath there's veins of lava and things like that that come up and that stuff that comes up that lava that comes from the center of the earth that comes from hell okay and the hell is what forms form these giant volcanoes you know i mean it all the all the you know when mount st helens blue its top and all that we haven't seen lava shoot out of there yet but we did see the whole top blow off when i was like five years old i think five or six years old what was it 1981 what was the date may something it was really uh huh does anybody know may was it may 8th may 1st may 10th huh 25 30 35 40 i'm just kidding i don't remember but anyway it was a long time ago but you know what i remember going up to the rose garden with my grandma and my dad and we watched from the rose garden in portland the mountain smoke and it was pretty cool to see but when i i got to thinking about this and i thought well jesus christ also rose from hell to become high as a mountain right jesus christ has the name that's above all names jesus christ has a place next to the father to the right hand of the father he's up in glory with god right now and just like those mountains arose from hell christ arose from hell for you look at jonah chapter 2 verse number 6 jonah chapter 2 verse number 6 and of course we know this doctrine pretty well but i just want to go through it quickly jonah 2 6 says i went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth with her bars was about me forever yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption oh lord my god when my soul fainted within me i remembered the lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy temple now we know from the scriptures that when jonah was talking about this he's speaking as if he's in hell himself the picture of jonah is that he's in the midst of this whale uh this uh this fish that had swallowed him and he's it says i went to the bottoms of the mountains so he's speaking in prophetic terms here because do you really think whales go down to the bottoms of the mountains underneath them they don't so this is like speaking about christ going to hell for us and then notice how it says i went down to the bottoms of the mountains well what's at the bottoms of the mountains hell turn to psalm chapter 16 verse 9 psalm chapter 16 verse 9 the bible says while you're turning i'm just going to start reading psalm chapter 16 verse 9 says therefore my heart is glad my glory rejoiceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou will not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption so this is david speaking under inspiration of the holy ghost speaking about christ that his flesh is going to rest in hope his soul is not going to be left in hell so what does that mean that uh if it's this is talking about christ that his soul went to hell when he died on the cross now turn to acts chapter two this is the fulfillment of this spoken by peter in his great sermon in acts chapter number two acts chapter number two verse 25 the bible says for david speaketh concerning him who's that him that's christ i foresaw the lord always before my face for he is on my right hand that i should not be moved therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue with my flesh shall rest in hope same thing said in psalm chapter 16 right because thou will not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption see the lord jesus christ his body did not see corruption and so his soul was not left in hell so that means that his soul had to be in hell in order for it to not be left there that is what makes sense right now turn to matthew chapter 12 verse 40 and he's going to refer back to the prophet jonas matthew chapter 12 verse number 40 see this is a doctrine that's not taught today but you know what christ rose from hell when he died you know the bible says he died that means he went to hell when someone dies they go to hell okay if you're dead you're in hell if you're saved and you're a christian you're still alive you're sleeping you know your body might be dead but your your so your body's sleeping in the earth but your soul is in heaven your soul is still awake uh and alive so matthew chapter 12 verse 40 says for as jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights what to say there in the heart of the earth so jesus was telling you know they said they're like do a miracle for us jesus perform a circus act for us jesus do ahead will you jump through the hoops for us jesus and he's like i'm not getting i'm not showing you anything he's like the only sign you're gonna see is the sign of jonas for jonas was three days and three nights of the well's belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and he's talking about hell so just as the mountains arose and formed from a place called hell christ arose from hell for you number three tonight as mountains are white as snow so is the lord white as snow and sinless as mountains are white as snow so is the lord white as as snow and sinless there's some people out there some really filthy wicked people out there that would say that god actually can sin you know the bible is very clear that god didn't even lie and lot of the most common sins that a person can do and that has done most of the time when you're going down the list in revelation chapter 21 verse 8 you know they they probably haven't murdered anybody they're probably not wizards they're probably you know they could be a whoremonger most of the time they haven't murdered anybody at least no one's ever admitted to me that they had but most people have admitted that they lied but you know what the bible says that god cannot lie god which you know god he promised eternal life and hope of eternal life which god who cannot lie promised before the world began so god can't lie it's an immutable fact that he can't lie he cannot lie and so that makes him also sinless why was jesus christ able to be sinless and live a sinless life well because he was god okay he was the son of god but yet he was god manifested the flash according to first timothy chapter 3 16 which we did in the sword drill so as the mountains are white as snow so is the lord white as snow and sinless turn to matthew chapter 17 verse number two matthew chapter 17 verse number two just show you some verses here comparing god to being white as snow look what it says in matthew 17 verse 2 it says and was transfigured before them and his face his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light so this one says white as the light but now turn over to psalm chapter 51 verse number seven psalm chapter 51 verse number seven so his raiment was white as light which represents the fact that christ was sinless when you see the saints dressed in robes of white in the book of revelation that's showing that god's righteousness the righteousness of christ has been imputed to them and they uh wear these white robes to portray the fact that they are now sinless and unable to sin also so psalm chapter 51 verse 7 says this is david of course uh he's he's you know repentant and contrived about the fact that he did a great sin it says purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean wash me and i shall be wider than snow see when god washes us in his blood we become wider than snow i don't know any other blood that would do that besides the blood of christ but the bible says that when you know his blood is applied to us that we're wired so david said wash me and i'll be wider than snow so when you think about you know when you see snowy mountains they don't look dirty do they don't they look really white and i'm sure there might you might be able to see some white or some dirt on them you know if you get closer but when you look at mountains and they're filled with snow they're white aren't they and they really glare and shine out for us and uh it's a picture of that sinlessness that that god has turn to isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 isaiah chapter 1 verse number 18 isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 the bible says come now and let us reason together sayeth the lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white or excuse me they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool so when god cleans you up as red as you are or as dirty as you can be when he cleans you you're going to be white as snow turn to daniel chapter 7 verse 9 this is also one of our sword drills daniel chapter 7 verse 9 and so not only does he clean up his his people and and he his righteousness is imputed to us and we're white as snow just like the white mountains of snow that we've seen today look at daniel seven nine says i beheld till the thrones were cast down and the ancient of days did sit whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool his throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire so god when he was seen by daniel the prophet he saw the ancient of days and he saw his garment was white as snow his hair of his head was white as pure wool of course he's he's describing the lord jesus christ here now number four tonight like a high mountain can be seen all around every eye shall see jesus christ when he returns in his glory like a high mountain can be seen from people all around every eye shall see him when he returns so if you notice what if you're in the vicinity of a mountain that's that sticks out like mount hood or mount saint helens or any of these mountains you can see it from afar off well the bible describes when jesus christ comes back that he every eye is going to be able to see him look at revelation chapter one verse number seven revelation chapter one verse number seven the bible says behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so amen see the bible teaches unlike what the pre-trib teachers teach that it's going to be some secret rapture where jesus comes and everybody's clothes are going to be laying on the floor and everybody's going to disappear and they're going to be like what happened to all of them i mean we never read the left behind books i mean i don't know what could have happened and all the planes are going to crash because apparently you know half the plane pilots are christians or something that's just not reality folks what the bible says is that every eye shall see him so just like we can see these mountains all around we're going to be able to see the lord jesus christ coming out of the clouds like uh you know his eyes are going to be like the flame of fire like it explains but it says also they would pierce them all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him when they see him why well because when he comes back he's going to rescue his uh people and he's going to raise his people from the dead but the rest of the people uh have woe looking to them look at luke chapter 21 verse 27 luke chapter 21 verse number 27 luke chapter 21 verse 27 the bible says and then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh see there's going to be a people that are alive and remain on this earth and you know like the bible says that every eye is going to see him well hey when these things come to pass the bible says to look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh and it's just like you know when we look up we see these mountains and we look up you know obviously we're not waiting waiting for them to to draw an eye to us but you know people we're just we're we're glued to mountains when we see them because of their beauty and their majesty their their white snow-capped mountains they just you know over uh overpower the the skyline everything and you know what the same thing's going to happen when jesus christ comes back every eye is going to see him every tongue is going to confess that he's the lord and you know it's going to be a great day for believers in this world number five tonight a mountain is a goal to attain to climbing a mountain is a goal to attain to climbing and god also to be uh to be with him and to to walk with him and to live a a great christian life we want to climb up to different levels to meet him now let's turn back in our text to isaiah chapter 2 verse number 3 isaiah chapter 2 verse number 3 where we begin tonight and it says in isaiah 2 3 it says and many people shall go and say come you let us go up to the mountain of the lord see you'll you notice in scripture a lot of times that men of god go up to mountains to meet with god don't they you think about moses you think about jesus going up to mountains to pray elijah the prophet up to a mountain you see a lot of times in the bible in order to get closer to the lord in order for the for god to have a real close intimacy with certain of his men that he tells him hey you come up into this mountain and so when we're out here one of the purposes of us being here so that we can get closer to god in these few days that we're here you know maybe we're not at the top of a mountain but you know maybe this will help you to think about well hey where am i at my christian life where am i where am i climbing towards right now are you still at base camp are you still at base camp or are you actually trying to get to a goal to get closer to the lord to do more for the lord you know because our time on earth is fleeting our time on earth is going to fade away you know i'm 47 years old and i think about my life and i think you know when the bible says it's like a vapor that that's here for a while and then vanish it away it's true it's true i mean i remember being as young as you guys you know out here in the i remember being as young as cali i remember being i i have really some very distinct memories from just being a really small child and here i am 47 with aches and pains and obviously you know i i still got a long life to live hopefully but uh you know the time goes by faster than you think folks and so where are you at in your goals do you actually have goals is there something that you would hope to achieve in your christian life or are you just good where you're at are you just did you climb up high enough and just like yeah i'm kind of good where i'm at you know you know if that's you then you know more power to you whatever but you know god wants bigger and better things from us god wants us to do and strive to be as excellent as we can be on this earth you know it says many people shall shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the lord to the house of the god of jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths see you know what these are these things are going to happen in a later day but you know what he has passed that we can walk in right now he has ways that he can teach us right now why are you going to wait until then you know god has passed that he can teach us he you know we can go up to that mountain spiritually speaking right now today we can go and and achieve goals that you know a lot of people haven't achieved and it's like you know the sky's the limit literally because once we get up to that high mountain with god that's a good place to be isn't it isn't that a good goal to be up in the mountain with god well one day we're going to literally be able to do that but you know what about now what about your life now you know i i want to look forward to things are going to be great in our life in the future but i also want to achieve you know great things while i'm on this earth now i'm not done i'm not ready to give up i want to go and do bigger and better things and and be more spiritual next year than i am this year look at verse number four it says and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks nations shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore that's going to be a great time isn't it no more war god rebuking the nations instead of the nations rebuking god like they do now people stand up and make all manner of hard speeches against god pastor shelley gets up and and proclaims the word of god in a city government council meeting and the fags and the sodomites are hissing and booing the word of god being read you know what it's going to be a lot different in this time where he's going to rebuke people he's going to judge those nations and you know what we're going to be there with them we're going to be there ruling and reigning with christ that's what the bible says and it says oh house of jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of the lord and you know what i i think that we can walk in that light now i don't think there's anything stopping us from living a victorious christian life now turn to uh exodus chapter 24 verse 12 exodus chapter 24 verse number 12 see sometimes god wants you to come up to the mountain to get close to him and like i said that's what we're trying to do this weekend you know what what do we come to camp for i mean what did you come to camp for did you come to camp just to see the mountains just to breathe the nice cool just to hang out with the homies just to play some games i mean all that stuff's good i want you to do all that but did you come here to get close to god because i hope that that's one of the goals that you have and being here today and tonight is that you know i want you to have fun god wants you to have fun but he also wants to get close to you and you know what this is a time to do that that's what this purpose the purpose of this is it's not just to be out here in god's beautiful kingdom here it's to strive to come up to the mountain to get closer to him that's what we're trying to do here right look at exodus chapter 24 verse 12 the bible says and the lord said unto moses come up to me into the mount see god asked moses hey come up to me you know what and and any believer he wants you to come he wants you to get close to him it says and be there and i will give the tables of stone and the law and the commandments which i've written that thou mayest teach them and moses rose up and his minister joshua and moses went up into the mount of god see moses went to the calling of god and if you know anything about what the mountain looked like at the time the mountain is smoking the mountain is rumbling there's thunder there's lightning there's scary things happening where you would probably be like i don't know if i should go up to that mountain i mean the people were terrified the people were afraid the people were like don't let him talk to us anymore because we're gonna die if he keeps talking to us they were terrified but you know what moses said he's like hey you want me to come up to get closer to you god well guess what here i come and here comes joshua my faithful servant and so moses went up into the mount of god to get closer to god hopefully that's what you're here doing tonight first king chapter 19 verse 8 first kings chapter 19 verse 8 another great man of god in the bible when the bible talks about the law and the prophets is encapsulated with moses and elijah elijah is considered among the greatest of the prophets when people think of the prophets of god elijah is probably one of the first ones that they think of look at verse kings 19a it says and he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights unto horrib the mount of god and guess what this is the same exact mountain that moses went up to also and it says and he came thither unto a cave and lodged there and behold the word of the lord came to him and he said unto him what doest thou here elijah and he said i have been very jealous for the lord god of hosts for the children of israel have forsaken thy covenant and thrown down thine altars and slain thy prophets with the sword and i even i only am left and they seek my life to take it away see elijah's in a bad spot here you know he gets this great victory where he slays all the prophets of bale and then jezebel writes him a letter saying that he's going to die tomorrow by the same time and he runs away see a lot of times in our lives in the christian life and you know even in our church lives we're going to have great victories and then great defeats or great tragedies will happen later on right after that if you study the bible that happens a lot but uh elijah feels like he's the only christian that's doing what's right he feels like he's the only christian that is basically alive on the earth he's like i even i only am left and they seek my life to take it away but what he doesn't understand is that there's seven thousand men that have not bowed the knee to bail god reminds him of this but look what it says in verse 11 it says and he said go forth and stand upon the mount before the lord where did he ask him to stand upon the mount before the lord and behold the lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the lord but the lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake and so the the earth began to shake and it says but the lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small void god did a lot of things to get the attention of elijah but god was actually not in those things those scary things that were happening before him are the same scary things that the people of the children of israel were afraid of too but here's the thing that's the same thing about elijah it's the same as moses is that although all these scary things are happening on this mountain that god's asked them to come up and meet with them with they still are not afraid they still have the courage to go up to that mountain even though all these things and these terrifying things are happening and then what does god speak to elijah with a still small voice you know do you actually stop for long enough or pay attention long enough to listen to the voice of god speak to you through the bible because there can be all kinds of stuff going on around you and there could be all this and there could be all this noise all these screens in your face and your games that you're playing and all the different things that you're wrapped up in and all these things are happening around you but do you actually pay attention to the still small voice i'm not saying god's going to speak to you audibly what i'm saying is in the bible does god speak to you with a still small voice and and does he are you still listening to what god's saying or are you just listening to all the other stuff that's going on around you see and that's what the great thing about getting up to a mountain and in a place like this where you can actually focus on the still small voice of god and let him speak to you you know get rid of all the the distractions and things and just kind of spend some time with god turn to uh luke chapter 6 verse 12 luke chapter 6 verse 12 the bible says in luke chapter 6 verse 12 it says and it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to praise talking about jesus and continued all night in prayer to god so what was jesus like well you know what jesus sometimes he would just he would just leave he'd leave his disciples he'd leave the multitudes he'd send the multitudes away and what did he do he'd go up to a mountain to pray why because he wanted to get away from people away from the noise away from the hustle and bustle of life away from all the noise and just get along with god and talk with him and pray to him and speak with him and have god speak back to him turn to matthew chapter 14 verse number 23 matthew chapter 14 verse number 23 again a story about jesus it says and when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone do you ever get away and just spend some time alone with god because you know what he likes that he wants that he wants you to just just get away from stuff for just a little while even if it was just allowed a little while i mean jesus was really busy but he'd even in his busiest times he would just say all right you ain't got to go home but you can't stay here he'd send the multitudes away and he'd he'd get away from his disciples and he'd go by himself someplace and just get close to god well i hope that this week that you get a little bit of time alone with god so that he can speak to you in a still small voice and i and again i'm not saying that god's going to audibly speak to you that's not what i'm saying i'm saying if god's word is in you if you're in god's word or maybe you're just in prayer but you should find some time while you're in this place up in the mount to get a little bit of time with god that maybe you're not getting back at home you're in facebook land you're in tik tok land and youtube land you're in whatever it is that you're into land but we get so busy with all this other stuff that sometimes we forget that we need to get close to god and focus on him sometimes and we should always be moving forward and climbing mountains in our life as they come you know sometimes you're gonna be in the valley but sometimes you need to climb a mountain and there's always something coming around the corner you never know what it's gonna be it could be a small trial but it could be a big one but i'll tell you this god does put trials in your life to see what you're gonna do he puts people in your life and he puts the situations in your life to see how's he going to respond to this how's she going to respond to this you know god wants to work in you but sometimes you won't allow him to sometimes you're so busy doing all this other stuff that how can god use you if your mind is 5 000 miles away thinking about something else like you are right now you're thinking about the s'mores you're thinking about playing games i want you to play games i'm only going to preach for a couple more hours so i'm going to be done i'm actually early right now and i'm almost done but we should be forward turn to philippians chapter 3 verse 13 i said those dreaded words were almost done that means i got one page left all right philippians chapter 3 verse 13 says brethren i count not myself to be to have apprehended but this one thing i do focus on what does paul do this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth onto those things which are before a lot of us like to live our lives in our past and we like to go there for the guilt trip we like to parent out of guilt we like to you know just think about the things that we've done before and we live in past well so-and-so said this to me so-and-so did that to me why don't you just forget about those things that are behind and once you reach forth under those things which are before stop living in the past about all the things that you've done wrong and start living for the future stop thinking about all that junk you can't stop it you can't change it you can't go back in time and fix your mistakes but you know what you can do you can learn from those mistakes and you can reach higher you can reach forth under those things which are before think about things in the future instead of thinking about your past paul says that's the one thing i do and hey paul had a past paul had a past didn't he he had a past of hurting people having people hurt hunting people down being a Pharisee and you know what he said i forget about those things all i can do is focus on what i do now what i'm going to do next and you know that's why paul was a victorious christian even though he came from a bad past and he says i was the chief of sinners and you know what that was inspired by the holy spirit okay so the apostle paul you know he was a bad guy but you know what you know what made him good is that he he realized i can't live in that past anymore i might be able to tell my story to people to help them but i'm not living in there i'm not living in that past i'm living for the future he said i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus see he's pressed he was pressing towards something when people climb mountains aren't they what's the goal to climb to the top of the mountain right i'm not doing that my mountain's different mountain my mountain's a spiritual mountain i want to climb that mountain i want to press toward that mark whatever the mark was that paul was thinking of the metaphor in his mind whatever he was thinking about it was the high calling of god in christ jesus see because we have a high calling but you know a lot of times the things in this life they they complicate those things and we need to get away from the world a little bit and get connected with god whatever you got to do even if it's not here if it's when you get home say you know what i'm going to purpose of my heart to try to get away from all this garbage and just go to my prayer closet if your mountain if your high mountain where you go to meet god is in your closet literally in your closet like hey mommy where are you where are you i'm climbing the mountain dear no you know what i mean like you don't have to be on a mountain to speak to god we can speak to god wherever we are but you know what we gotta we gotta actually purpose to do those things so let me ask you this what are you doing with the high calling of god what are you doing i just want you to think about that for a second like what are you doing that high calling do you feel like you're reaching forward to it do you think that you're striving and doing the best you can to reach that goal or are you floundering in christ jesus are you just that's what a lot of people do that's what a lot of people want to do because that's where we like to revert to or do you want to walk in his past like i said before he set pass for us today these mountains these metaphorical mountains i'm talking about other people have walked those mountains but you know what that left the path god led them up a path why is the god why does god talk about paths so much i'll lead you in paths of righteousness walk in my ways you know we have trails around here right you know why there's trails around here because someone else has walked and cut that path you know you have the oregon trail you can still see the oregon trail today in certain places you can still see the wagon ruts from hunt from a couple hundred years ago or 100 and whatever 50 years ago still there today because people cut paths so that other people could see well you know what god's cut paths in our lives you know what there there's a map in this book that you have in front of your face where we can go when we can find the past that other men have walked in other women of god have walked in we don't have to flounder in our christian life we can climb to that high calling we can climb to that high mountain so where are you at in your christian life are you at base camp like i said are you halfway up are you good halfway up still some green trees right there nothing hard nothing hard further up are you pressing up are you willing to go where moses went are you willing to go where elijah went you know because they saw some terrifying things but you know sometimes we got to go through some terrifying things to get to that higher calling and you know what god the other way that god the last point is that like a volcano god is a consuming fire and there's a lot of volcanoes around here in case you didn't notice uh there's a lot of volcanoes in the northwest as a matter of fact the ring of fire is like the pacific ocean and all the way around up to alaska i mean if you if you just like look up the ring of fire we live in like an area where all these volcanoes are right but like a volcano god you know a volcano consumes when the when the magma comes out like in hawaii it'll like destroy all the real estate and like just melt people catch people's houses on fire and making them have to move and all this stuff well just like a volcano is a consuming fire that consumes everything it gets in contact with god is the same way so turn to psalm chapter 83 verse 14 psalm chapter 83 verse 14 i'll go through these scriptures really quickly and then we'll close psalm chapter 83 verse 14 the bible says as the fire burneth a wood and as the flame set at the mountains on fire see god is a consuming fire look at exodus chapter 19 verse 17 exodus chapter 19 verse 17 exodus 19 verse 17 the bible says and moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with god and they stood at the nether part of the mount notice that they didn't stand on the mount they stood at the nether part of the mount and mount sinai was all together on a smoke because the lord descended upon it in fire and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly see if you saw that you'd have a little bit of a hesitation to walk up to that mountain but moses like hey i'm good to go let's do this see serving god is not always going to be easy it's really not it's it's going to be hard sometimes anybody that says that the christian life is an easy life is lying because it's not always an easy life but you know what it's a fulfilling life and in the end we get great rewards and you know what everybody gets eternal life it's saved but god is a consuming fire turn to psalm chapter 104 verse 32 psalm chapter 104 verse number 32 psalm chapter 104 verse 32 says he looketh on the earth and it trembleth all god has to do is just look on the earth and it trembles he toucheth the hills and they smoke all he has to do is just touch it and they start smoking and when i when it means smoke it's just not like a little wispy poof of smoke we're talking about big smoke right psalm 144 verse 5 says bow thy heavens oh lord and come down touch the mountains and they shall smoke cast forth lightning and scatter them shoot out thine arrows and destroy them see god is a consuming fire with his wrath upon the ungodly and he will pour out his wrath on the ungodly he will but god is also a consuming fire when it comes to believers look at matthew chapter 3 i got two more places for you to turn i'm done tonight matthew chapter 3 verse number 11 the bible says the bible says in matthew 3 11 it says i indeed baptize you with water under repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than i whose shoes i am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the holy ghost and what's it say with fire see god isn't like burning up his people to kill them when he when he spoke to moses out of the bush the bush was burning yet was not consumed right and so he's the same way with us you know he baptizes us with the holy ghost and with fire and it says whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire so god is a consuming fire but at this at one point with his believers he catches him on fire to do great works for god and sets that person of fire he sets that soul on fire to do great things for him but at the same time he's a consuming fire to all those that are wicked and he burns them with unquenchable fire see some people god is a consuming fire and that's good for them but with some people it's a consuming fire that destroys them in hell but know this that god is like a volcano and the fact that he is a consuming fire turn to hebrews chapter 12 verse number 28 hebrews chapter 12 verse number 28 got afraid of the consuming fire anyways hebrews chapter 12 verse number 28 maybe rylan is smoking right now hebrews chapter 12 verse 28 it's the last verse i'll have you turn to the bible says wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve god acceptably with reverence and godly fear see we got to serve god acceptably and with reverence and with godly fear we just can't be willy nilly god doesn't want that from us he wants to be able to catch us on fire so to speak and he wants us to be like firebrands that we catch other things on fire well what do you mean by that well how about just a great sowing movement where you know we're going sowing and we're like hey come with me and see my zeal for the lord see god wants to catch us on fire and get us on fire so that we'll go out and be other little fires that spread out throughout the whole world in a good way amen and why does he want this well he wants us to serve him acceptably he wants us to serve him with reverence and godly fear why for our god is a consuming fire our god is consuming fire let's pray heavenly father we thank you lord so much for the lessons that mountains can teach us lord and god i pray that you just help us to have a healthy fear of you lord i pray you'd help us to think about you this week and get really close to you lord and even if it's for a moment of time lord i just pray that each and every one of us that's here lord would realize that we're here to have fun we're here to to connect with our friends and just do some things and enjoy the things that you made for us lord but i pray that nobody here leaves the same i pray that lord you'd help us to see what we need to work on in ourselves and lord you'd help us to change those things and lord i pray that you'd help us to lord just enjoy the things you've made for us but lord at the same time i pray you change us and and help us to be a consuming fire and to be consumed by you lord so that we can do great things for you i pray you'd have help us to to reach forth unto those things which are before and i pray you'd help us to realize our high calling in christ jesus and you'd help us to achieve those goals in jesus name we pray amen