Following are message notes from my Monday evening talk at Cedar Park Church in Bothell, Washington. Pastor Fuiten is leading the congregation in a season of intense pursuit of God, His will, and His power.
A Veil and A Mirror
Cedar Park Sacred Assembly
In Joel 2:16 we learn that one of the priests Sacred Assembly functions was to “Consecrate the assembly.”
To consecrate is to declare a place holy.
Today, we declare all the members, participants, and people under the influence of Cedar Park Assembly, all ministries, and all of Cedar Park Assembly’s assets, resources, and facilities as holy unto the Lord.
We make this declaration based upon the Person and nature of God. 1 Peter 1:15, 16
For me, the greatest challenge is the consecration of my heart and my longings.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we discover that we are, in part, mirrors of God’s glory.
Once in proper alignment with the light of God’s glory, my task is to unveil my face.
The consecration of my heart and my longings, so that I may reflect the Lord’s glory, requires, what David identified in Psalm 51:6, “truth in the inner parts.”
Personally, the narrative of the Loving Father in Luke 15 helps me lift the veil I build over my own heart and longings and gives me a glimpse into me.
1. Is the essence of my heart and longings God or me?
a. The son’s key concept in verse 12 is “my.”
b. He moves to “I have sinned against heaven and against you.
2. Are my heart and longings at home in Father’s House or in a “distant country?”
a. In verse 13 he “Set off” for a distant country
b. He “set off” from his own father’s house.
3. Do my heart and longings make sense or are they senseless?
a. The son was senseless, especially in 14-16
b. He comes to his senses in 17.
In consecrating my heart and longings, I must lift the veil and truthfully declare, “My soul finds rest in God alone.” Psalm 62:1, 5
It is not my soul finds rest in God and ____________ My soul finds rest in God alone!
Truthfully, I must lift the veil of my heart and confess that, like the prodigal son, I am not satisfied with Father and Father’s House and that I look elsewhere for fulfillment and well-being.
When I come to my senses and realize that, with Psalm 62, “my soul will only find rest in God alone,” I quickly join the passionate pursuit of David’s next Psalm, Psalm 63, and out of the deepest part of my being I yearn, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. “