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7 Mar

“3 Dangers of Careless Familiarity with God”

Posted March 7, 2008 by Caleb Kolstad in Asides, Conferences.

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 before your congregation and culture.  This passage is about God’s discipline on spiritual leaders.  “We don’t have a higher standard but we do have a higher accountability.”

4 responses to this post.

  1. Posted by John Kuvakas on March 10, 2008 at 8:31 am

    I thought Holland did an excellent job with this material. After my initial disappointment in seeing the line up this year, I must admit, everyone blew me away. The Conference was cohesive, energetic and, at times awesome and moving.

    I worked hard to keep up with my notes and try to absorb the profound teaching that was coming from that Pulpit.

    Steve Lawson’s sermon Friday morning was as good as anything I’ve heard in years. I thought MacArthur opened and closed the conference with profound challenges to preach the Word of God accurately and faithfully.

    I can’t wait until next year!

  2. Posted by Caleb Kolstad on March 10, 2008 at 7:36 pm

    John,

    It is a good reminder to all of us that their are many “no-name” pastors who can truly bring the Word with clarity and power. I would say Rick’s sermon was as helpful to me as any in the past i heard from CJ or Mark Dever, etc. God has gifted so many clay pots to preach His Book.

  3. Posted by Mikeharvey on May 14, 2010 at 2:21 am

    Hello, from Toronto, Canada

    Just a quick hello from as I’m new to the board. I’ve seen some interesting posts so far.

    To be honest I’m new to forums and computers in general :)

    Mike

  4. Posted by free magazine on August 19, 2010 at 10:36 am

    helpful post.

Comments are closed.