God Our Home | Part 1: Homesick

This sermon addresses the deep ache for "home" we feel during the holidays—a longing for the permanent and perfect that the world cannot satisfy. This desire points to the central theme of Scripture: Emmanuel, God with us. This is not just a Christmas slogan; it is the entire storyline of the Bible, from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem.

Scripture References

• Genesis 1-3: Eden, the first temple where God walked with humanity.
• Exodus 25:8 & 29:45: God commands a sanctuary be built so He may dwell among His people.
• 1 Kings 8:10-11: The glory of the Lord fills Solomon's Temple.
• John 1:14: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
• 1 Corinthians 3:16: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?"
• Revelation 21:1-27: The New Creation, where God dwells with man permanently.

Key Points

1. The Journey of God's Presence The Bible traces God's dwelling place through history:
   • Eden: The original design where God walked with man.
   • The Tabernacle/Temple: "Mini-Edens" where God's glory dwelt, guarded by boundaries.
   • Jesus: The true Temple; God in the flesh.
   • The Church: Today, the Holy Spirit fills believers. We are the temple of God.
   • New Creation: The final stop where heaven and earth merge, and there is no temple because God's presence is everywhere.
2. You Are a Priest on Duty Just as Adam was called to "work and keep" the garden, and priests were called to minister in the temple, believers are a "priesthood" called to keep and cultivate the presence of God. Every believer houses the Holy Spirit and has a ministry to the Lord that will last forever.
3. Longing for Home is Longing for God Our holiday homesickness is actually a spiritual longing for the New Creation. Earthly pleasures are just appetizers (or "little pink spoons") meant to arouse our desire for the real thing: face-to-face communion with God.

Conclusion

We are currently living as temples of the Holy Spirit, the "embassies" of the coming Kingdom. The next event on God's timeline is the return of Christ and the establishment of the New Jerusalem, where we will finally be "home" with Him forever. Until then, our purpose is to house and cultivate His presence in a world that desperately needs Him.

Calls to Action

1. Cultivate His Presence: Ask yourself, "How am I tending to the presence of God in my life?" Make time for "face time" with Him amidst the holiday busyness.
2. Be Filled with the Spirit: Instead of being filled with wine, fear, or greed this season, intentionally ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).
3. Clean House: Remember you are God's temple. If there are habits or thoughts that grieve the Spirit, clean them out to honor His presence.

Transcript

I want to start our time this morning with a question. And the question is this. When we long for home, what exactly are we longing for? When we long for home? When we experience a homesickness. What are we aching for? The second question is this why is our longing for a home on crack during the holidays? What is it that awakens this longing during the holidays?

Early on in marriage, I spent a Thanksgiving away from Visalia, which is not something I've done very often. Tiffani has some family in Northern California, so she said, hey, let's go up to Sacramento. I said, I actually love your family. It's no problem. I'd love to go up there. And so my good attitude about being away from Visalia, though, started to diminish on the day of Thanksgiving.

I remember waking up and thinking, like, my cousin's there playing flag football right now. I remember thinking, who is mocking my cousin Ricky for being a Cowboys fan? Who is harassing Ricky right now for loving the Cowboys? I remember starting to poke at the mashed potatoes and going, these aren't my Aunt Sharon's mashed potatoes. These are different.

I remember thinking to myself, why are we eating gourmet stuffing? I just want the box stuffing. Why are there Mediterranean olives in my stuffing?

Did the Greeks meet with the Indians on that day? No. The answer's no. Give me the box stuffing. And I remember on that day, as much as I love Tiffany's family, who's here and listening? Probably, I just I just remember thinking, like, never again. Like, I. I'll be in Visalia for Thanksgiving. I won't be here, next year.

And so next year, I'm home for Thanksgiving, and all is right. No. Wrong. I'm home for Thanksgiving, and I'm thinking my cousins drive me nuts. Can't stand my cousins. Especially when we start to compete with one another. And then I twisted my ankle playing holiday football because Aunt Flo's ranch is going downhill. There's gophers everywhere. And then apparently, Aunt Sharon's on a health kick and her mashed potatoes are made out of cauliflower.

No, she's working out, I guess. And when the family circles up to pray, I always have to pray. Because apparently, as a pastor, I'm the only person in the world who can talk to God. And I always just look at my aunt and go, like, we we all can talk to God. Why do I always have to pray?

I'm not good at formal prayers. Talk too slow and it gets too deep. And it's just not great. So while I'm holding hands with one of my cousins, he decides that he's going to take my hand and scratch his own. But while I'm while I'm praying.

Have you ever experienced this where home is something you dream of when you're away, and then when you're finally home, you want to get away from home. It's just a weird, elusive thing that we struggled to get our hands on. What are you longing for when you long for home? Is it people? Is it a place? Is it consistency and comfort and familiarity?

Is it, being known and not having to perform? What? What is it that has you aching and longing for home? In my experience, what I've noticed in me is that there's a longing for the permanent.

There's a longing in all of us for what's constant. There's a longing for something that never changes. And I think that comes out on our homes. In fact, I remember coming home to my home after not being there for a while. And the centerpiece of my home was a wood burning stove. We didn't have heating. We heated our home with this wood stove and we I apparently I got really attached to this wood stove because I came home and my mom had painted it.

And you would like to think she got a divorce from my dad. I was so upset. I was like, what have you done to us? And why have you painted that stove? Because there's something about home that needs to stay the same. I don't want my parent's house to be remodeled. It's not what we want. We. We long for the permanent.

In a world where everything changes and the only constant is change. We long for the permanent. And I actually think that there's something hardwired into us that longs for the perfect. And it comes out on the holidays, and there's this longing for the perfect moment, or there's this longing for the perfect gift or the perfect picture. Right? These picture perfect moments.

We have this longing for all to be well and all to be right. And it comes out on the holidays. I also think we long for the presence of others. I actually think that we want consistency and we want perfection because we think that will equal being in the presence of others and being undistracted by anything, and really connecting.

And these things continue. It's so fascinating to me. Where did these desires for the permanent, for the perfect and for the presence of others? Where did they come from and why do they continue? Why do they persist? Why do you still long for the permanent? Everything changes. Why do you still long for the perfect? Nothing is. Why do you chase that rainbow?

What a waste of time. Yet we waste it. And why do you long for the presence of others in such a deep way? And then when you get a gift that screams. You don't know me at all, your heart just sinks. It's like. Who did you buy this for? And were you really thinking of me? I hate this.

You know, and there's this moment where you're like the person who is supposed to know me the most. Doesn't know me at all. Why do we long for these things? Well, I think we're hardwired to long for these things. And I actually think that those longings are meant to be and will be satisfied in God. This,

Quote from C.S. Lewis is just tremendous.

He says creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger. Well, there's such thing as food. A duckling wants to swim. Well, there's such thing as water. Men feel sexual desire. Well, there's such thing as sex. If I find myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy. The most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care. On the one hand, never to despise or be unthankful for these earthly blessings, and on the other never to mistake them for something else of which they're only a kind of copy or echo or mirage.

I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death. I must never let it get snowed under or turned to. I must make it the main object of my life, to press on to that other country, and to help others to do the same. I love it. We get these glimpses, but we can't make the mistake of putting all our weight on them, or else we're disappointed.

These longings will one day be satisfied, but this life comes to us on a little pink spoon. It's just an appetizer. The holidays arouse these desires, but they don't fully satisfy them. This life just exposes these longings, but doesn't address the longings that we have for permanence. Everything changes. Even the price of hot dogs at Taylor's.

God has put eternity in our hearts.

And the new creation will address the needs that this life only exposes. And our longing is for that heavenly home. As we start a new series for the next three weeks, I want one thing to stick with you. Please hear this. God dwelling amongst his people. Emmanuel, God with us is not a seasonal offering. It is the story of the entire Bible.

It's not like the cups at Starbucks that come and go. It's not like God was up there going, I know what, I'll try. I'll try dwelling with these people. I'll send my son. No it's not. Tis the season.

It is the point of human history. God dwelling with his people.

During the holidays we use this word Emmanuel, which actually means God with us. And from the creation. Like that is the first book of the Bible. Genesis to the new creation, which is the last book of the Bible. Revelation. The whole Bible is about God's presence with his people. That's the whole point of the book, God's presence dwelling with his people.

It can be summarized with these three points. I will be your God. You will be my people. And I will dwell in your midst. It's the story, not a seasonal one. It is the point of human history, and it's everywhere at once. You start to see it. Multiple terms are used throughout the Old Testament to describe the presence of God.

There's multiple terms in fact, there's more than these. But let me read to you just a few terms used to describe God's presence. God's presence is to come. It means to come, to come down, to go in the midst, to go before, to pass by, to pass before, to stand with, to be with, to appear to meet. All of these are used to describe the presence of God, but the term that appears the most, in fact, it's used over 2000 times to imply God's presence is this word podium, which actually means face.

The face of God. And the reason that they use this term is because of how relational the term is. We know the difference right, between God being in the room and being face to face with God. One implies simply proximity. God is near, and one of them implies that it's very personal and intimate that you are face to face.

And this is the word that the Bible most often uses to describe what we get when we get the presence of God. They use this term because the face is able to convey emotions reactions. When you get a person's face, you know you get all of them. That's why we say to our kids, look me in the eyes.

That's why when we go out, with our husbands potentially in their staring at a sporting event on a screen, it's like, give me your face. Because we know the face represents the whole of them. When we get the presence of God, we get his face. All of him. So God's presence with his people, it bookends your Bible.

The very first chapters describe it. The very last chapters of your Bible describe his presence. And we are going to go by God's grace through Genesis to Revelation in the next few minutes, because I want you to understand this is the story. This is not a Christmas story. This doesn't come and go like the decorations in here. This is the story of Scripture.

So if you open your Bible to Genesis and the first few chapters, you're going to find the Garden of Eden. And we've all heard that this garden was a Paradise. But I want you to know that the Garden of Eden was actually the very first temple. And Adam was not just the very first human. He was the very first priest meant to minister in this temple, invited to keep and guard and work and cultivate this temple.

The God, this garden was Paradise because God's presence filled the garden. In fact, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. Temples are not just places for communities to gather for worship, or for events like jubilation. In the ancient Near East, they were seen as the place where God dwells with man. God inhabits the temple, and Eden was certainly where God dwells and relates to his people.

God walks with Adam and Eve in the garden. God creates animals and invites Adam to partner with him in naming and exercising dominion over creation. And Adam is called and he's given this charge. You need to keep and you need to cultivate this garden. And this is, of course, is not what happened. Famous famously, Adam and Eve blew it, and we all can't wait to get to heaven to talk to him about it.

You're like an apple, bro. An apple?

They fell into sin and they were banished from this garden. And the consequence of the eviction notice from the garden was a loss of direct access to the presence of God, which meant certain death. Life was in his presence. Cherubim are stationed at the east side of the garden to guard reentry into the garden. They can't come back in.

There's two bouncers at the door, and Adam and Eve will certainly die because there's no access to the tree of Life. And that's the presence of God. And sin separates humanity from God's face, from his presence. And the big question comes up in this question starts to dominate the Bible. And the question is this who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

We fell from there. Who the heck can get back in? Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? I know that most of you guys, when you picture Eden, when you picture Paradise, it's like the Maui of the Lord. But it's actually the mountain of the Lord. There's a river flowing from Eden which suggests that Eden had elevation.

It's the mountain of the Lord who can ascend it? How the heck do we get back in? How will we keep and cultivate the presence of God? How will Eden extend to the ends of the earth? Because this is God's plan for humanity. After the garden, God appears to patriarchs. This is, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And he starts to work trying to redeem and rescue what's been lost.

God, as we read earlier this year, appears to Moses in a burning bush. And he's about to as we study Exodus appeared to all of Israel at Mount Sinai. And then from Exodus 19 to 40. The story focuses on God's presence amongst his people. How will I once again dwell together with my people? I will be your God.

You will be my people. I will dwell in your midst. These covenants, these agreements start to be created and the people of God go to work constructing a tabernacle, which is a little mini Eden that they're carrying around with them in the middle of the wilderness. Can you imagine that? Like a snow globe?

This is what was lost. And as we're wandering in the wilderness, this is what will one day have again. Remember the mission God gave us to keep and cultivate his presence? Remember that the goal is Eden to the ends of the earth. Remember, we a people meant for God's very presence. He will be. Our God, will be his people.

He'll dwell in our midst. Really detailed instructions. Really detailed blueprints come for how to construct this tabernacle.

He says God actually says, make this tabernacle exactly like the pattern. I will show you. I'll camp with you guys. Let's miserable down here. We're wandering the wilderness. Call camp right in your midst.

Exodus 29. So I'll consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. And will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They'll know that I am the Lord. Their God, who brought them out of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I'm the Lord their God.

These are my people. I'm camping with them. It's interesting to see that this tabernacle is like a mini Eden. It's a sort of little sanctuary that they carry around with themselves. Both Eden and the Tabernacle were seen as places where God uniquely dwells. Both had cherubim guarding the entrance to God's presence. Both had gold and precious stones. Both had priests.

Adam was given the charge to work and keep the garden. And that's exactly the verbs used to describe what the priests needed to do work. Keep. Cultivate the presence of God. Both had an entrance to the east side. So when you went into the tabernacle, it's like you were going back into Eden. Both the garden and the tabernacle had the tree of life.

The garden had the tree of life, and that was symbolized by the menorah, which is in the tabernacle. And if you can picture a menorah, you can think, oh, that is it. That's the tree of life that gives light in this sacred space. So here they are, wandering around, carrying this token, this reminder we're meant for the presence of God.

And then the climax of the book of Exodus is that the glory of God comes and fills this tent. Exodus closes with the very presence of God coming to rest in the tabernacle. God goes to great lengths with boundaries, sacrificial systems, numerous cleansing to make being roommates possible. You've had that roommate before where you're like, if we're going to live together, you can't be a dirtbag.

You're gross, you're gross. And if this is going to continue on, you to clean it up a little bit, I'm just asking a few things. Do whatever you want in your room, but shared spaces. You need to look like this and function like this. We've all had that conversation. God has this conversation with this people over and over again.

If we're going to be roommates, you need to clean it up. Next stop on the tour is not the Tabernacle, but the temple in first Kings five eight. Solomon builds this magnificent temple for God, and the temple has all the basic elements and furnishings as the tabernacle. But it's bigger and it's not a mobile home. How many of you one time lived in a mobile home?

And it was like, we got to get out of this mobile home. Well, this is the drive for the people of God. Man, a mobile home doesn't do God justice. We got to get him something that's not on wheels. All the symbols in the temple point to a return to Eden. Cherubim, plants, fruit engraved on the walls and doors.

Have you ever read the description and thought? Pomegranates. That's really random. That God wants pomegranates in his house. It's a return to Eden. Keep the priests. Keep cultivate, and we'll dwell together. I'll be your God. You'll be my people. I'll dwell in your midst. And as soon as they complete this temple, the Bible records this. When the priests withdrew from the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud.

For the glory of the Lord filled this temple. And then Solomon said, the Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud. I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you. A place for you to dwell forever. I love that. Have you ever been in a church service where those who are there providing the service can't do their job?

Because the glory of the Lord. I just love it. There are times where we've been in worship, and the worship team can't lead the worship, because God's presence is so evident. We're preachers. I know this is shocking. Can't run their mouth because there's this sense that God is here. Everyone just need just God's here right now. I love this.

They finally get this temple together and we're like, okay, we're ready for you, Lord. And his glory comes in such a weighty way that they can't even do the jobs they were given. Solomon, of course, is like I built something amazing and you're going to dwell here forever. And as you probably know, if you're familiar with the Bible, God doesn't dwell there forever.

He removes his presence from the temple because of the idolatry of his people. Which he calls cheating on him. I can't continue to live with you if you're going to chase other things. Even more significant is that the Israelites are removed from the land. So not only do they lose their temple, not only do they lose the presence of God in their temple, they're removed from the land in exile.

They're hauled off by the Babylonians. The temples destroyed. The nations scattered. They lose their homes. They lose the presence of God. And you need to know this. God doesn't do this without warning them. And God doesn't count to three. He counts to 120 years before he says, I'm out. Ezekiel 722 God says, I will turn my face away from the people.

I'll turn my face away from the people, and robbers will desecrate the place that I treasure.

They will enter it and they will defile it. Again, the prophets warned that this would happen over and over again. But the glory of the Lord departs from the temple, and the people are scattered from their homeland. Next stop on the tour. We doing okay? Yeah. You're like, we haven't even got to. Jesus, man. Temple part two the Return of the Jedi.

Ezra. Nehemiah. These books in your Bible, they record the story of returning from exile and rebuilding the city and the temple that have been desecrated. So the people are scattered. It's been 70 years, and they're like, we got to get back. Back to the city, back to a place of worshiping God in Jerusalem. So some of the Israelites return, and over time, they rally to restore the glory of Jerusalem and the temple, and they build a scaled back version of the temple.

In fact, when the temple part two is done, they have an opening day. They cut the ribbon. Half the group is crying because they remember the glory of the first temple. They're like this. These are not my Aunt Sharon's mashed potatoes. I don't know what this is. This is not the glory of the temple. Half the group is rejoicing because they're like, man, at least we got a temple again.

At least we're back. And the other half is like. Now this ain't it. This ain't that. I miss what we used to have. So what's really interesting? And you can do the reading yourself. But of course, God's with them to restore Jerusalem, to restore the city and to restore this temple. But this temple is never filled in the same way that the tabernacle and the first temple are filled with the presence of God.

This temple in many ways stays empty of God's presence and without a king until. Drumroll please. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Emmanuel. He arrives. God's glory and the Davidic king have returned. They're arrived right there on the scene. No one has seen God unless you've seen the sun. The sun is the radiance of God's glory, and Jesus is the one who comes to manifest God's presence among us in a unique and powerful way.

John, the Apostle says that God has made his dwelling among us through Jesus. That word is tabernacles. God's back. The glory of God is back. Jesus Christ is here. The dwelling of God is once again with man. John says, we've seen his glory when we've seen the sun. That is the visible splendor of God has been made manifest in Jesus Christ.

Jesus replaces the temple as the primary place where God's presence is made known. And Jesus. If you read the Gospels, has this really edgy relationship with the temple. In fact, I think it's some of the things that he said about the temple that got him in. So much trouble. He's got this weird, complicated relationship with the temple. In fact, he says true worshipers don't need to go to a certain spot.

Most people are migrating. They're traveling many miles to get to this temple to worship the Lord. And Jesus says, yeah, it's not really about location. True worshipers are going to worship in spirit and truth. And it's like, well, is that a dig on the temple? Why would you say that about our temple? Jesus would say, tear this temple down and I'll raise it up in three days.

And they're like, you're whack! It took us 46 years to build this temple. Tear it down or raise it back up in three days. What's he referring to? His body. My body is now the temple. The primary way that God dwells with man. The primary way that you'll connect with God. This is a disappointing day when Jesus departs and ascends and Elvis has left the building.

And what's even crazier about this is Jesus is ascending. And then he's saying, I'll never leave you. I'll never leave you. I'll never leave you. I'm there. And you're like, wait a second. You said that you would never leave us or forsake us while you were leaving us and forsaking us. And now Peter's in charge of the church, and we're in trouble, man.

And he says, you said. You said, Jesus, that you you wouldn't leave us as orphans, that you would come to us. What did he mean? Well, I'm sending my Holy Spirit.

The spirit, the Holy Spirit's presence will replace. Jesus is strengthening and encouraging presence with disciples. I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'll come to you and the Holy Spirit. God makes a number of promises in the Old Testament about His Holy Spirit. Here's the best one. Ezekiel 36. This is what God says about God's indwelling presence.

I'll give you a new heart. I'll put a new spirit in you. I'll remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I'll put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees. And be careful to keep my laws. God's like you're struggling. You're struggling to do this stuff. Well, one day I will put my spirit in you.

And I will empower you. And I will help you to do what you need to do to remain in my presence. Joel, two prophesies and promises that God's Spirit is going to be poured out on all flesh. And the fulfillment of that is the birth of the church at Pentecost. The Spirit of God comes and falls on and fills not Eden, not a tabernacle, not a temple, not Jesus.

You and me. This is wild. And Paul would say to the early church, don't you know you're the temple of God? You're the temple of God. You house the very power and presence of God. He dwells inside of you. Do you think he wants to be doing that? Thinking that? Looking at that? No, I don't think so. You got a roommate.

You can't live like this. You're sharing space, man. You think he wants to be thinking that? Doing that, saying that now clean it up. The church and believers are now the temple of God. Like little embassies representing a kingdom that's to come. We're Christ's ambassadors. God's making his appeal through us. Eden. Now extends to the ends of the earth through us.

And we are a priesthood called to keep and cultivate the presence of God and move the mission forward. Exercise dominion Eden to the ends of the earth, and one day the nations of this earth will be the nations of our God and King. And the kingdom of God has been inaugurated. But it's not been fully realized yet. Listen to me.

Hear this. Let this interrupt all the madness of Christmas. The next stop on this tour, folks. There's just one stop left. There's only one more event that separates us. And eternity. There are no more stops. This is the last stop before Christ's return. And the Bible concludes in revelation 21, describing this new creation. Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I don't believe, by the way, that there will be no sea. I know that's super discouraging for some of you who saw yourself walking eternally with Jesus on a beach. The sea was a symbol of of chaos. Of the unknown. There'll be no longer any chaos. I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, finally, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death. The permanent or mourning or crying or pain.

For the old order of things has passed away. Down to verse 22. I didn't see a temple in this city. That's wild. The temple was the center of Jerusalem. I didn't see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb were its temple. And the city doesn't need a sun or the moon to shine on it.

For the glory of God gives it light, and the lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut. For there will be no night there. This is for all of you who complain that everything closes at 8 p.m. in Visalia.

What's wrong with this city? The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it. Nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. But only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. God's presence with his people is not a season. It's the point of our existence.

Tis the point of human history. I will be your God. You will be my people. I will dwell in your midst. Eden. To the ends of the earth is our future. And I want to conclude our time. In worship. We're going to come to the table and thank Jesus for the access that he's granted us into the presence of God.

But I want to conclude this time by just I'm hoping this blows your I'm going to conclude this time by blowing your mind.

I want to remind you that you're in ministry. No, Travis, you're in ministry. That's why we pay you.

No parishioner. You're in ministry. God has a goal for new creation. God has a goal for the new humanity. That you, as the priesthood of all believers, would keep and cultivate his presence. You have a ministry before him that will go on forever. There will be eternally no more evangelism. There won't be any need for social justice. He'll wipe away every tear from every eye.

And what will you do? You'll minister to the Lord forever. You have a ministry before him to keep and to cultivate his presence. And it's been my experience that in this season where we celebrate God's presence among us, we often forget his presence, miss his presence, and certainly don't feel like we're looking at his face. You're a priest with a purpose to keep and cultivate, to extend Eden.

And I just want to ask, how's it going? How's it going? Cultivating the presence of God. You getting any face time with him? Don't you know, Paul would say. Don't you know you're the temple of God? You house. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Well, I didn't feel that way when I woke up this morning.

I get it. You house. The very presence of God. And that's why Paul would also encourage the church. Don't be filled with wine. That's not going to be. That's not going to do it. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Live before God in a way that you're attentive and aware of him. If you're not being filled with the Spirit of God as a temple, you will be filled with something.

And you don't want to be filled with the spirit of fear. You don't want to be filled with the spirit of mammon. You don't want to be filled with the spirit of despair. You don't want to be filled with the spirit of greed. Be filled as the temple of God with the Spirit of God and minister before God.