Worship God With A Heart In Awe | Marty Ocaya | June 14, 2026

0:00 Hey everyone, you know there's so many things happening in this world. All tragedies earthquake pain suffering and as a result of that we are unsure, right? We are unsure what's going to happen in the future. Do you know that that's God's reminder that everything here is not going to last forever and it's also a reminder that we need to depend on someone who is trustworthy, who is faithful, and someone that we should be totally amazed of. So if you want to know who this person is, then watch this video. [music]

0:47 We are starting a new series. It's entitled Heart Songs. And the main thrust of this series is about worship. Now you might be wondering about we just finished the ten commandments series. It's all about worship. Why are we going to talk about worship again? You know there are so many passages in the scripture that points to us worshiping God because God deserves our worship. In fact our life we are called by God to live a life of worship. Now in the heart song series we're going to look at uh book of psalms. Now in the book of psalms there are 150 chapters. 30 of those chapters explicitly shows that we are to praise God. We are to adore him. We are to lift him up. Now, we're not going to look at all of those psalms.

1:33 We're going to look at just three psalms that points to God worshiping him and adoring him. Now, before we dive into our message, we need to have a recap. I know we have been reading this definition of worship almost every Sunday since we started the ten commandment series. But let's read it once again so that we can memorize it. What's the definition of worship? True worship is our proper response to who God is, what he has done, and what he continues to do. That's what the series of the ten commandments is. And why is that the point of the ten commandments? Because God was the one who rescued the Israelites. God was the one who rescued them away from slavery and brought them to the promised land. But before they

2:19 can enter, we have the Ten Commandments. And guess what? After God said the Ten Commandments to the Israelites, look at what God showed to the Israelites. Look at the next verse. Verse 18 of Exodus 20. Let's read this together. All the people perceived the thunder, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, what happened to them? They trembled, stood at a distance, and they said to Moses, "Moses, speak to us yourself to God, and we will just listen. Be the spokesperson. We're not going to want be the one to speak to God. Let not God speak to us or else we will die. They

3:04 were scared. I mean you have to imagine this. It's for the first time they've seen a type of lightning that is maybe close to them. They have seen al or they have heard thunder so close that they could feel it. They have also heard sound of trumpet. They were not even blowing trumpets and then mountain smoking. That's why they were scared. Imagine after saying the ten commandments. Now God showed how powerful he is to the Israelites. Why did he do that? Let's look at the next verse because God is going to explain why. Let's look at the next verse. In verse 20, Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. For God has come in order to test you and in order that the fear

3:53 of him may remain." What's going to happen when we have the fear of God? you may not sin. You're going to follow the ten commandments. Pastor JB mentioned this when he closed the message on the on the ten commandments that that word fear comes from the Hebrew word ya. That word fear, it's not a fear that you're going to run away from God. It's a type of fear that draws us closer to God because we are in awe of himal Lord. And not just that, we also respect him highly. It's what you call in the Bible reverential fear. That's the type of fear that God wants us to have for him. But here's the beautiful thing about that phrase. Look at that phrase

4:38 again. That the fear, the reverential fear of God may what? Remain. What does that mean? That's a very important word remain. I love that word because it means that it's staying there. It's remaining in us. We are known or you have become somebody who has a righteous fear of God. Cuz usually human beings we are only afraid or we are only going to obey when we are afraid of the consequences. For example like children when the spanking rod is there the children will now obey and say I don't want spanking. I'm going to obey. When you take your gadgets away from them they will also be afraid and say okay I will obey. This word fear is not just

5:25 because we're afraid we're going to obey. It's because we know the love of God. We've experienced his goodness and we've experienced how amazing God is. In fact, look at this statement. We cannot respond to God what >> properly. And that's true worship. When we are not in awe of him, it's so hard. You know the desire our desire for this series is that every single person here including those joining us online we will have that kind of in awe be believe the believe we will be in awe of who God is because once we are in awe of God it's easier to obey. When we are in awe of God it's easier to serve him. When we are in awe of God there's joy in our hearts. when we attend church, when we

6:12 worship God, we just want to give our all because believe or you're totally in awe of who God is. That's why our topic as we start this series, very simple. Let's read this together. Worship God with a heart in awe. Can you tell your seatmate? One, three, go. Worship God with a heart in awe. We are in awe of the Lord. It's going to transform our lives. That's why there are many people their lives are not transformed even though they have been attending church because they haven't experienced being in awe of God. Once that happens, I tell you, you will never be the same again. So in Psalm 96, that's what we're going to look at. This is what the psalmist is

6:57 talking about. You know, Psalm 96 is what you call a call to worship psalm. It's a call to worship psalm. We don't know if David was the one who wrote it. Some scholars would say it was David, but basically the same psalmist is saying, "Let's worship the Lord for who he is." He's encouraging the Israelites. He's encouraging the people. He's encouraging the entire world. We are to worship God. That's why it's a call to worship psalm. But in this entire psalm, we're going to see three things. What it means when we are in awe of God. If I am in awe of God, three things are going to happen based on that song. Number one, I'm going to announce his glory. I'm going to tell people about him because I'm excited. Number two, I'm going to worship through surrender. I'm going to

7:44 humble myself before the Lord because he is amazing. He is powerful. I'm not going to fight with him. I'm not going to steal his glory. I'm going to worship him. And number three, we're going to expect his coming. We're going to be excited that yes, Jesus is coming again. That's what it means when we are in awe of him. Now, let's look at the first one. We are going to announce his glory. Again, somebody who is amazed of someone. Usually, we tell people about that person that we are amazed of, right? That's human beings. God is too great to keep him to ourselves because our natural instinct once you are amazed you're going to tell people about that person. For example, you're amazed of a

8:32 sports team, you're going to tell people about that. When you're amazed of something that happened at the workplace, you're going to tell people about that. That's our natural instinct. You know, recently I was so amazed with what happened to the to the Where's my cup? The cup is not here. But anyway, I was so amazed with what happened to the New York Knicks. It's not here. That after they won by being down 29 points. And by the way, they were they are already champions today. But after they won, they were down 29 points. The last game, game five, they were down. And then I said, I'm not going to watch anymore. But then eventually they won by the tip in of one of their players and they won that game. and now they're NBA

9:17 champions. And then then the next day or that day when they won, I wore that cup, the New York Knicks cup. I'm not a New York Knicks fan, but eventually I might transition to them. My team is Steph Curry, but our team is the best. Okay, [laughter] so I don't know if they're going to win anytime soon. But if he retires, then I'm going to shift to New York next. My point is this. The reason why I wore that cup because I was so amazed with that team. I am was so amazed with what they did. In fact, even today when I saw the highlights or how they won, when I saw that they were down 16 16 points, I was so amazed. I posted right away. That's who we are. When we're amazed of someone, we are going to tell people about that person. What about God? That's why, look at what the

10:03 psalmist says here. Look at what the psalmist said in verses 1 and two of Psalm 96. Sing to the Lord a new song. He was encouraging, calling people, singing to the Lord a new song. Now, whenever you hear that phrase, a new song, it brings excitement to people because if they hear something new, it's something like, wait, this is something new. This is something fresh. I'm excited to hear this. So, it brings joy, it brings excitement. So, the psalmist is saying we should be excited as we worship God. Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord. Bless his name. Proclaim good tidings. Declare his gospel, his good news. How he saved us.

10:49 Again, it's a call to worship. Look at the next verse. Verse three. Let's read this together. Tell of his glory among the nation. He's so glorious. His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. I mean if you just imagine and remember everything that God has done in your life I promise you it will bring us to our knees and say Lord I don't deserve this you have been so good to all of us you have been so good to me if you have experienced the goodness of God can we just give him a clap offering a clap of praise cuz God is simply amazing that's worship we tell about his glory we tell about what he has For great is the Lord. Look at this. And

11:35 greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. Whether you like it or not, every single person here on earth will worship something or someone. It's either you're going to worship God or you're going to worship yourself or you're going to worship other things or other beings. And the psalmist is saying all of these other things are not gods. They are fake. Look at the next verse. He said, "For all the gods of the peoples are idols. Money cannot save you. Other people cannot give you eternal life. Those that you trust here on earth will only give you until this point and then afterwards it's nothing. Only God can give you perfectly what you need, what we all need." That's why the

12:21 psalmist is saying, "The Lord made the heavens. He's our creator. Splendor and majesty are before him. strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. He's encouraging the people. Do you know how amazing God is? That's why we worship him. You know, recently, I think a couple of days ago, Elon Musk became the first trillionaire in the entire world. Now, his net worth is $1.1 trillion. Pam, Elon Musk, if you're listening. But guess what? I mean, that's such a big amount of money. That's so big. I think this happened when he launched the IPO of his company, SpaceX. As a result of that, it's

13:08 skyrocketed his net worth to $1.1 trillion. Do you know how big $1 trillion is? If you're earning, let's say, $100,000 a year and you're saving that. You're not spending any of that, you need 10 million years to reach $1 trillion. That's how big that amount is. But guess what? That's nothing compared to God. What he owns and his riches and his splendor. It's nothing. Yes. Let's give glory to the Lord. It's not even an inch of how rich God is. It cannot buy. Even the $1 trillion cannot buy what God has accomplished. That's how amazing he is.

13:55 I remember when me and my wife before pandemic, we were able to see the Grand Canyon and it was such a beautiful site. We drove for hours from Las Vegas to to the Grand Canyon to Arizona. And when we saw it, and this is not the picture that I took, okay? In fact, any picture that you take of the Grand Canyon, it won't do justice. If you've been there, it won't do justice. It's just simply amazing. When I was looking at it, every angle when I see I was like, "Wow, this is like a a this is like painting in real life. This is something that nobody can invent that no human being can do this. It's so beautiful." And then I told my wife, I don't understand why some people will still not believe in

14:40 God after seeing such a beautiful sight. That's why when you encounter God's goodness, once you've encountered God's power, we can't help it. We're going to tell others. Look at this statement. We will naturally proclaim the greatness of someone we adore. If we truly adore God, we will tell people about him. Let me give you one example. Jeremiah the prophet. When God called Jeremiah, God prepared Jeremiah. Jeremiah, I want you to share these messages to the Israelites. It's a message of judgment. It's a message of God's wrath. It's a calling to repentance. It's telling the people, "Do not rebel from God. Repent. Go back to him because he is great." It talks about God's greatness. That was me

15:26 the message of Jeremiah. Now, he wanted to give up. There was that desire to give up also. Why? because he was persecuted. People were trying to kill him, malign him, making fun of him, and nobody was listening. But then he couldn't stop. You know why he couldn't stop? Look at verse 9 of Jeremiah chapter 20. Look at what he says. But if I say I will not remember him, in other words, I'm going to turn away from you, Lord, or speak anymore in his name or on his behalf. What did he say? In my heart, it becomes like a burning fire. shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it. I cannot endure it. In other words, I can't control this message. I

16:11 have to share it. It's my burden. It's my passion. Just like also Isaiah. Look at what happened to Isaiah when he saw the Lord. I know you know the story. He saw the greatness of God. He saw that God is seated on the throne, lofty and exalted. And the saraphims were singing, "Holy, holy, holy." And then he said of himself, "Lord, I've seen you. I am Kawa. Woe is me. I'm going to die." And then what did God show him? He showed his grace. He showed his forgiveness. So after Isaiah, seeing the greatness of God and seeing the forgiveness of the Lord, this is what he said. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" And with all boldness, what did Isaiah say? Here I am

16:57 Lord. I want to follow you. I want to serve you. Why? That's what happens when you genuinely encounter the glory of God. You know what? Once we encounter God's greatness, once we have encountered God's greatness, we can't help but proclaim him. We can't help, we just can't contain it. And I believe some of us who are here, maybe we haven't encountered God's greatness. And you know why you haven't encountered God's greatness? Not because God is not showing it, because he's actively showing how great he is. It's more of us not looking to him. It's more of us far away from him, not being in his presence, not sensitive with his will.

17:42 It's more of us looking at other things or idols because God is actively showing his love, actively showing his power, actively showing his glory. The question is, are we looking to God? Because once we fix our eyes on the Lord, I promise you, we are going to see how great he is, how amazing it he is. And then the response will be, I'm going to proclaim him. What's our message again? Worship God with a heart that is in awe. You cannot be in awe if you haven't encounter the greatness of God. I promise you, God is always showing his greatness. You have to fix your eyes on him. So when we are in awe of him, what's going to happen? We're going to announce his glory. When we are in awe of him, we're going to surren worship through surrender. What does that mean?

18:30 This means that we shouldn't compete with God. Why? Because God is too glorious to compete with. He's too powerful. He's too amazing that we steal glory from him. That's how we compete with God. Instead of glorifying God, what happens is we steal an ounce of glory. We only acknowledge ourselves, other people for our success, for all the blessings that we have, and then we forget that everything comes from the Lord. That's what it means when we steal glory from God. That's why, look at what the psalmist said here in verses 7 and 8. Look at what he said. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the people. That word ascribe in the another language of

19:16 that or another word is give. We give to God. Give to the Lord. O families of the people. Look at the next word. Give. Ascribe to the Lord the glory, the strength. Give it to him. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name. Bring an offering and come into his courts. Go there with a sacrificial heart. Do not steal glory from him. Instead, live a life that always glorifies God. Give him back the glory. That's what the psalmist is saying. In fact, look at what he says the next part. Worship the Lord in holy attire. It's a beautiful phrase. You know that holy attire phrase. It means we approach God with a right heart. Our

20:03 heart is pure. Our motives are right. We are joyful in the presence of the Lord. In fact, when we come before him, there's joy, there's gladness. Our hearts are pure. We are excited. Can you look at your seatmate? Does he look excited today worshiping God? No, I'm I'm serious. That's what it means. When you hear the phrase holy attire, that's what it means. You have the right heart. We have the right heart. Because sad to say, uh, there are people who go to church just because it's, you know, part of the tradition. We're not doing this because it's part of the tradition. We're doing this because it's our corporate time together to worship the only king. And we need to

20:49 have the right heart to be pleasing to him. When you say holy attire, it's it's like this. Imagine you are invited to a wedding. Imagine you're invited to a wedding and then the dress code is formal. And maybe you are, let's say, a secondary sponsor or one of the ninongs or ninangs and the dress code is formal. But then you came to the wedding wearing pajamas. What do you think will happen? Maybe they will kick you out. I don't know. But maybe out of, you know, politeness, they will let you stay there. But I promise you, people will look to you. They will look at you and say, "Who's this person? Why is this person invited? Why did they allow this person to stay here?" In other words, you gra got the attention of the other people instead of focusing to the couple

21:37 who's the reason for the celebration. Now they're looking to you pansen in Tagalog. That's not what it means to go to God with a holy attire. We are called to live a life that is pleasing. We are called to have the right heart. And we go to church not for ourselves but for God. That's what it means. That's why the psalmist says, "Worship the Lord in holy attire, pure heart. I go to God because I want to worship him. I want to give him the glory." And look at the next part. Tremble before him. Holy fear all the earth. You know, we have to understand this very important theological truth. God does not share his glory with anyone. This is very

22:23 important. God does not share his glory with any man. How do we know that? Look at Isaiah 42:8. Let's read that together. I am the Lord. That is my name. Look at that. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven image. Why would God do that? How come he says he will not give glory to another? You know why? Because God is too glorious. God is too powerful. God's love is immense. It's incomparable. He's holy, holy, holy. He's in another level. All other beings are in this lower level. He's in another level. Nobody can do what he does. That's why he cannot

23:09 give his glory to another. We cannot praise any other beings or worship any other beings. Only God. In fact, look at what he says in another verse in Isaiah 48:1. For my own sake, look at what God is saying here. my own sake. I will act. I will move. I will do something. What will he do? And why will he do it? How can my name be profaneed and my glory I will not give to another. So anything that steals God's glory, God will do something about it. If we are doing something that profaines God's name, he will do something about it. If we are doing something that dishonors God, he

23:55 is going to do something about it because he will not give his glory to another. Now you might be saying, "How do we steal God's glory?" Pastor Marty, let me give you some examples. How we steal God's glory. Number one, look at this. Self boasting. It's like the song I did it my way. Now I know some of you a lot of you know this but surprisingly even my son who is a gen alpha he knows this song and I told him don't sing that that's very selfentered song but the point is this we are living in the world that when you are you know praised when somebody honored you most of the people of the world will not mention God or even thank him they will just say it's

24:42 because of me it's because of my parents it's because of other people. It's because of my coach. It's because of my boss. It's because of my teammates. I mean, I'm not saying you don't acknowledge them, okay? Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you don't thank them. I'm not saying you don't also praise them. It's okay to thank them. It's okay to appreciate them. But when you steal God's glory, it's like this. We steal God's glory if our heart and our words doesn't glorify God. When our heart and our words we do not acknowledge him, if we do not acknowledge that every success that we have, every money that we have, even our talents, everything, our resources, all

25:29 of those things came from God. I mean, look at your seatmate. All of you are talented. Look at your seatmate. Talented yan, gifted yan. And tell your seatmate, it's not because of you. Huh? It's because of God. Tell your seatmate it's because of God. So if you're not using what he is has given to you, that's also one example that you're stealing God's glory. I'm serious with this because God can take away all of our giftedness. Do you know that God can take that away? If you're a singer and not you're not using that, God can take that away. If you're excellent when it comes to leadership and you're not using it for God, God can take that away. Self-boasting is saying, "I don't need the Lord. I did it my way." God can take that away. Another example of stealing God's glory, self-reliance. What's the

26:15 difference between that? Again, self- boasting is more of we are not acknowledging God. It's just about us. Self-reliance, one example is weak prayer life. So, be mindful with this. If your prayer life is not strong, then I suggest that you come before God and ask God to help you have a strong prayer life. Because a weak prayer life says I don't need God. I don't need to pray. I don't need to spend time with him. That's stealing God's glory. Another one is anxiety and worry. God says do not worry. Why? It affects us. It doesn't It shows that we don't trust God. That's the problem with anxiety and worry. It shows that the reason why I'm worrying is because I cannot control the

27:01 situation. I want this to happen and I want all of these things to be done according to my plan. That's why we worry. That's why we have anxiety. But that's why God is saying we don't worry and instead we trust him. Anxiety in worry is a sign that there are moments we don't trust God. Here's another example. A shame of declaring God's goodness. Let's say you already have the opportunity to start a Bible study in your office with your teammates in sport, but then you feel like ah or I'm ashamed. I don't want to start this. What if they think I'm weird if we start this? What if they'll make fun of me? What if they say no? Now, we're

27:48 ashamed of declaring God's goodness. I mean, God has done so many amazing things in our lives. Why would we be ashamed to tell people about him? Why would be we be ashamed to tell his goodness to other people to share our testimony and maybe to start something in the office or with your friends? Why would we be ashamed if he has given so much? And here's another example how we steal God's glory. We depend on others over God. You know one example of that is King Asa. What happened to King Asa? Let me show to you 2 Chronicles 16. In the 36th year of Asa's reign, Baasa, king of Israel. Now, let me give you the background. This is the divided kingdom of Israel already. So, there's a

28:35 northern kingdom. Baasa is the king. There's the southern kingdom. Asa is the king. So, what was the problem? They have a war. So, Ba, king of Israel, came up against Judah. Judah was the capital of the southern kingdom. And fortified Rama. He got Rama from the southern kingdom in order to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa, king of Judah, so he wouldn't have aid. So what happened afterwards? Look at verse 2 and three. Look at the solution of King Asa. Then Asa brought out silver and gold from San Galen, the treasuries of the house of the Lord. It's not his money, it's the money of the Lord. and he get he got his part of his money as well and the king's house sent them to Benhadad

29:23 king of Aram. Now Benhadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad had a treaty with the northern kingdom Bahasa. So he said to Aram, Aram, let there be a treaty between you and me. Let's be partners as between my father, remember your father, my father, their best friends. Behold, I have sent you gold. Oh my bribery. I've sent you silver. break your treaty with Basa so that he will withdraw from me. Let us become teammates. So Ben Benhad agreed with this. So what happened? Look at the next verse. So Benad listened to King Asa sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel. They conquered many lands because of that.

30:08 And eventually Asa went. But there was a problem. God was not pleased with this. He sent a prophet. The prophet's name is Hanani. Let's look at what happened. Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, let's read this together. Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. And he gave an example. King Asa were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with many chariots and horsemen. But you know what you did there? You relied on the Lord during that time. He delivered you. Let me show you when this happened. Two chapters

30:54 before this chapter 14 of 2 Chronicles. Asa had a conflict with the Ethiopians. Look at that. Zera the Ethiopian came out against Asa with an army of 1 million soldiers, 300 chariots. He came to Marishia. Uh Asa went out to meet him and he was scared. You know how I know he was scared? Look at the next verse. Asa, let's read this together. Asa called Oh, why did you during this time? How come you called to the Lord? Look at what happened. He called to the Lord. He was so desperate that he cried out to God, "Lord, there is no one besides you to help in the battle between the powerful

31:42 and those who have no strength." He was acknowledging he was weak. He was acknowledging, "I cannot win this battle, Lord. 1 million soldier. So please help us, oh Lord our God, for we trust. I trust in you, Lord. In your name I have come have have come against this multitude. Oh Lord, you are God. Let not man prevail against you. Good things was happening during this time depending on the Lord. So what did God do to Asa? The Lord routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah and the Ethiopians fled. He won the battle. How come this next battle you

32:28 start forgetting what God has done in your life? I mean 1 million soldiers you saw God's power. You know what I realize? I realize we're like that as well. We've seen the power of God. We've seen the goodness of God. But then there will be moments that we say to God, "Lord, in this area of my life, can I do it my way? I don't need you. I'm going to use your money, but I don't need you. Can I just depend on myself? You know, after this happened, one of the most famous verses of 2 Chronicles was mentioned. And this verse is for King Asa and for all of us. What's this verse? 2 Chronicles verse 16:9. Let's read this together. For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the

33:16 earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his sa you know what Hanani was saying Hanani was saying God wants to support you. God wants to empower you. Imagine the word that was used strongly support. That's not just for King Asa. It's for all of us. What's the con condition? Whose heart is completely? He surrendered. Now what's the consequence? You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on, you will surely have wars. Now instead of repenting, what did he do? Asa was angry with the seer, put him in prison. He was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same

34:02 time. Unrepentant heart. The problem with that is God took away his favor from Asa. All because he stolen from God's glory. And let me give you another example in the New Testament. Acts 12. Look at what it says here. On the appointed day, King Herod having put on his royal robe, took his seat on the rostroom, began delivering an address to them. And since he was so charismatic, look at how the people responded. The people kept crying out the voice of a God and not of a man. And instead of acknowledging God, what happened? Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory and he was eaten by worms and

34:48 died. You know this is serious. We cannot steal God's glory. We cannot steal an ounce of his glory from him. There are consequences. In fact, I love this statement. When we steal God's glory, we remove his favor from us. That's why this psalm is so powerful because it reminds us we need to give back to God. Now, I want you to hear this powerful testimony also how this person realized that she needs to give back the glory to God alone. Let's all welcome Dorothy Jean. [applause] I grew up in a Christian family and was introduced to Jesus at a young age. So I tried to be the good Christian girl. I maintained a good image, avoided

35:35 grievous sins and worked hard to excel in everything. I was highly competitive and achievementdriven. I constantly sought recognition and approval. And I believe that if I could just be the best, then I would be valuable. As I grew older, that desire only intensified. I filled my life with extracurricular activities, joined various competitions, student leadership, and various clubs so I could be recognized for my abilities and accomplishments. But looking back, I realized that my pursuit was never really about excellence. It was about self glory. When I was in high school, my mother challenged me with a simple but life-changing truth that everything I do

36:21 should be for the glory of God. Little did I know that God was about to bring me through a humbling process in my life. When I entered college, I was accepted into my first choice Kota course at my dream university. Pride began growing in my heart. I thought highly of myself because I was the only student from our school who got accepted into that university. But God in his love began humbling me. I found myself surrounded by people far more capable than I was. And eventually I failed several subjects and was kicked out of my college course, forcing me to shift to another. At the time it felt devastating. But it was during that

37:08 painful season that God used my brother to introduce me to Jzone, the youth ministry of CCF, now called Elevate. Through a disciplehip group, he surrounded me with people who helped me navigate disappointments, remind me my worth was found in Christ alone, keep me accountable, call me out when I needed to be corrected, and help me discern my motives if they were truly for God's glory. After college, I entered the hospitality industry with big ambitions of joining one of the top hotel chains. I intentionally planned where to do my practicum in the hopes of applying in their corporate management training program and I sincerely believed that I was qualified and I would get the role.

37:54 But God humbled me again by allowing me to fail the assessment. God's no paved the way to another work opportunity. In my first job, I pushed myself hard. I worked long hours, took on extra responsibilities, and built my identity around success and achievement once again. Eventually, I received the promotion that I wanted. However, in one of my events, I encountered a professional scammer that cost the hotel millions of pesos. As a result, I was asked by HR to submit my resignation. Once again, God used a major disappointment to humble me. By God's grace, he opened an unexpected door for

38:40 me to join the pre-opening team of another luxury hotel. Learning from my past failings, I decided in my heart to intentionally give God the glory in this new job and to work with all my heart unto him. Before I started my new job, Exodus 33:15 became my anchor verse. If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. My basis for my career path was no longer based on my own pursuit and desire, but God's guiding presence. He allowed me to be a blessing to my office mates and eventually started a weekly Bible study with some of them. In the years that follow, God blessed me far beyond what I

39:25 could have imagined. I experienced promotions, international recognition, financial provisions, and opportunities I knew I did not deserve. However, God was not done with humbling me. This success led me to become so busy that I didn't have enough time with my husband anymore. I usually left home before he woke up and I'd be back home late at night. Then I felt God impressing in my heart persistently through my prayer time and devotion to resign from my job and leave everything behind. The pay, the prestige, and the position. It was difficult and humbling, but I realized that part of glorifying

40:11 God is to prioritize my husband. After making this difficult decision, I saw God's hand move mightily. In this uncertain period, God reopened opportunities for me to regularly serve in the worship ministry, which eventually opened the door for me to work as a staff in the exalt ministry. Serving in the ministry humbled me in a different way. God revealed that pride doesn't only show up in careers and in achievements. It can also hide behind ministry. I realized I could still be driven by performance, recognition, and self-reliance even while working in the church. But God kept my pride in check by placing me in a role that often

40:56 happened behind the scenes. Instead of being in the spotlight, he taught me the joy of supporting others, helping them grow, and celebrating what God was doing through them. He reminded me that serving him is never about being on a platform. It is about faithfully stewarding his gifts to serve him and his people for his glory. Looking back, I can honestly thank God for every closed door and every humbling season. From not being at the top of my class to losing my dream course to career disappointments to walking away from corporate success. In each of those moments, God was lovingly stripping away my pride, teaching me dependence and reminding me that apart from him, I can

41:44 do nothing. Ephesians 3:20 says, "Now all glory to God, who is able through his mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than what we might ask or think. I am Dorothy Bon. Once chasing recognition, success and the approval of others, now depending on God and submitting to his plans for my life that he might increase as I decrease. To God be all the glory. >> What's our message again? Worship God with a heart in awe. Once we are in awe of God, what's going to happen to us? We're going to announce his glory. We're going to tell people about him. Once we are in awe of God, definitely we're going to worship through surrender. We're not going to get an ounce of the glory from the Lord. Instead, we're

42:29 always going to point it back to him. Everything that we have, it's because of God, all his goodness. And you know, based on that testimony, God also does something to us. And sometimes what he does is to break us so that we will not pursue anything that is not pleasing to him. He breaks us to humble us so that we will not follow on the footsteps of Satan. You know what Satan did? He wanted to become God. He wanted to steal God's glory. And as a result, God casted him away. We don't want that from the Lord. We want to be surrendered to him because the strong support of God is going to be with us when we humble

43:15 ourselves. And finally, when we are in awe of God, this is what's going to happen. We are going to be expecting. We're going to be excited because we are going to see him again. In fact, look at this. We long to be with a person who truly amazes us. When you're so amazed of a certain person, you want to see that person. You know, just like recently, a lot of people and a lot of girls, they were online because they wanted to buy a ticket and be able to watch this group that will have a concert next year. Okay. Next year. And as a result, more than 100,000 I think were weight list.

44:01 They couldn't buy anymore. But because they were so excited, some of them said, "Ah, let's just buy the concert ticket in Hong Kong or let's just buy the concert ticket in Malaysia or in another country. I just have to see them, right?" Why? When we're amazed of someone or something, we want to see that person. We want to see that group. You know, I really praise God for my wife. She's not a fan of this group because she's satisfied with only one singer in her life, and that's me. So praise God for that. But okay, [laughter] my point is this. Okay, my point is this. If we are that excited with human beings, how much more the God who rescued us from slavery, from death.

44:48 That's why the psalmist said, "Yes, let's give glory to the Lord. It's because of him." [applause] Look at what the psalmist said in verse 10. He says, "Say among the nations, the Lord reigns. He is sovereign. He's in control. Whatever he promised, it's going to happen. Look at the next phrase. Indeed, the world is firmly established. He is the one who created it. It will not be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. So, he's the coming king. He's the one who's going to reign forever. He's the one who's going to establish everything. And not just that, he's going to judge. And his judgment is righteous. You know in our world today you will see that there are many things happening that we don't like. There are many chaotic things

45:36 happening. Just recently there was an earthquake in South Mindanao and of course it was so unfortunate. We didn't want what happened there. A lot of people died, houses destroyed, buildings destroyed. It's just to remind us that no amount of success, no amount of power, no amount of money, even if you have $1 trillion dollars, can stop the will of God. We cannot stop the will of God. We cannot stop the will that he is coming back. That's why there are signs to wake us up and to show us these things on earth are not forever. Look at what the psalmist says as we are about to close this psalm. Look at verse 11 and 12. Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth rejoice. Notice how many times he

46:21 mentioned gladness, rejoicing, joy. Let the heavens be glad. Let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar. That word roar is excitement, shout of joy, and all it contains. Let the field exalt. Exalt is also a word of praise, joyfulness, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy. The psalmist was so excited. Why? Look at the next verse. Verse 13. Before the Lord for he is coming. He's so excited. Not because there's going to be he's going to get whatever he wants. Not not because he's going to be successful in life. The psalmist is excited because Jesus is coming.

47:10 And actually this is a prophecy of the coming Messiah. This verse is about the coming Messiah. Meaning say he came to save and to die at the cross. This points out to the first coming of Jesus. But this also points out to the second coming of Jesus that he is coming back to rule. You know what the early church their greatest joy and their greatest excite the thing that excites them the most is the second coming of Jesus. How do I know that? Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Look at what Paul wrote. Now as the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. In other words, the second coming. We don't know when. You don't need anything to be

47:55 written to you because nobody knows. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Nobody knows. It's going to be a surprise. While the people of the world who doesn't know God, while they say peace, safety, no, we will solve our problems here. No, we will solve the problem of earthquake or the problem of the typhoons or all of these things. We'll do something about that. All of these sickness, science can solve that. There's going to be peace and safety. But what's going to happen? Destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child and they will not escape. Just like a labor pain, it's an anticipation. You're about to

48:40 give birth. It's the same thing with all of the wars, with all of the earthquakes, with all of the typhoons, all of the sickness, all of the tragedies. We cannot stop that. That's part of God's will that it's going to happen in this world to wake us up and say this is not the final destination. That's why look at what Paul said after. Look at what he said in the next verse. Verse four, but you brethren, he's talking to Christians, are not in darkness. In other words, you don't you you're not blinded by this. You know this already that the day would overtake you like a thief. You're not going to be surprised when Jesus Christ come. You know he's going to come. In fact, you should be excited for you are all sons of light

49:27 and sons of day. It means you are children of God. What's the opposite of that? We are not of night nor of darkness. Those who are not children of God, they don't know what's going to happen. They cannot anticipate it because they are not excited and they don't know God. So then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober. So tell your seatmate geese now wake up wake up. No this point what Paul is saying here when you say you're asleep you are not alert. You are not actively waiting for the Lord. Because those who don't know Christ, they are in that area. They're just sleeping. They are not aware. They're just focused on what's happening here. Look at the next

50:13 verse. Look at what what it says in the next verse. In verse 7, for those who sleep do their sleeping at night. Huh? Of course you sleep at night. What are you talking here, Paul? He's saying that those who don't know Christ. They're like asleep. They're not They're not aware unaware of what's happening. They don't know the word of God. That's what it means. That's why he gave another example. Those who get drunk get drunk at night. You cannot think straight. And then, but since we are of the day, we know Jesus. You know Jesus, let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation. We have that salvation because Jesus Christ came. So what's going to happen? Look at the next verse. God, and here's an encouragement to all of us if you are in Christ. Let's read

50:59 that together. God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know this when you are in Christ that's why it's going to excite you because you're not destined for wrath. You cannot escape God's wrath apart from God's son. It's not going to happen. God's wrath is going to come when he come here cuz he is the judge. But the question is are you with him? Because when you are with him you're not going to experience his wrath. When you are not with him, then you will experience his wrath. For those who are his, why will we not experience his wrath? Look at the next part of the verse. Jesus

51:45 Christ, what did he do? Who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep. Look at our future. Oh, we will live together with him. That's our future. Therefore, encourage one another. Build up one another just as you also are doing. These are the words that Paul is saying to build up, excite every single person that Jesus is coming again. That's why we are to be excited. Let's let's give glory to the Lord. [applause] Let's end with that verse. Look at verse 13 of Psalm 96:13. Before the Lord, he is coming. He's coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the

52:32 peoples in his faithfulness. He is our coming king. I know we're excited with many things here on earth. We're excited that we can be successful in at work. We're excited that we can serve God more. We're excited to see our children grow up, graduate. We're excited to get married, whatever that is. But my prayer is that we will be more excited to be in his presence. And not just that, as we end last line, this is also an encouragement to us that we're going to see him face to face because no pain, no rejection, no tragedy, no sickness, no loss, death can separate God's children from his presence forever. I don't know

53:17 how you can relate to that phrase. If you're experiencing loss, if you're experiencing death, you've experienced death of a loved one, sickness, you've experienced some tragedies in your life. But that's why the psalmist is encouraging us, we can rejoice because all of those things are temporary and eventually as children of God, we will be with him forever. Can I pray for us? Can we all bow down our heads? Let's pray. I'm going to pray for two groups of people here today. Even those joining us, I want to pray for you online. Those joining us online, I want to pray for you. For the first group of people that I want to pray for, some of you are here, you don't know Jesus personally. Maybe when you were listening to the

54:02 message and we talked about God's judgment, you got scared because you're not even sure you're going to heaven. But Jesus made a way already. He died for your sins. He rose again to prove that he is God. So if you're that person, God is calling you to himself and God wants you to humble yourself and you want to receive Jesus in your heart. You want to be sure of your salvation. You can pray something like this. What's important is you are humbling before the Lord. Tell Jesus, "Jesus, thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying at the cross for my sins. And Lord, thank you because you rose again to prove you are God. Today I

54:47 humble myself. I ask for your forgiveness. I realize I cannot save myself. So today Jesus, I humble myself. I receive you in my heart as my Lord and Savior. Come into my life. Change me. Transform me. For the second group of people that I want to pray for. Lord, majority of us who are here, we do have a personal relationship with you, but please forgive us for moments that we're not acting in living a life of worship. If we're not being in awe of you, Lord God, if we are ashamed to tell about your glory to other people, if we're stealing glory from you, Lord God, if we're not acknowledging you in our hearts through our words, please forgive us. And Lord, if we're not excited that

55:33 you are coming again, please forgive us. give us such a heart that is so in awe of you that we will boldly proclaim you to others that we will worship you through surrender and that we will always be excited because your second coming is our greatest hope Lord God that we will be with you forever. We worship and honor you in Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you guys. >> [music] >> Good day CCF family and welcome to Sunday FastTrack where you ask real life questions and we give you biblical truths. Aika Makazo here from CCF Communications and with us is our speaker today, Pastor Marty Okaya to answer some of your questions. Hi Pastor Marty.

56:20 >> Thank you for kicking us off with our brand new series on the book of Psalms. Are you ready to answer our questions? >> Go. Let's go for it. >> All right. So for our first question for someone who doesn't know God yet, how would you describe his greatness based on your own experience walking with him? >> Well, the best way to tell uh other people about God's greatness is you focus on his love, focus on his gospel. That's the first step because they need to know what Jesus Christ has done for them. Once they know what Jesus Christ has done, once they've seen or encountered God's love, then that would lead them to eventually receive him and eventually worship him from their hearts. So, it starts with the gospel. It starts with his love. It starts with the cross, what Jesus Christ has done for us because that's the greatest thing

57:06 that he has done for all human beings. >> Amen. I agree. People need to know the gospel. All right. For our second question, is it wrong to acknowledge our own hard work and achievements? And where do you draw the line between recognizing our efforts and taking credit that belongs to God? >> No, this is really a good question and sometimes it's tricky, right? But it's not wrong to honor somebody. Let's say you appreciate what they have done. Uh let's say an officemate, they accomplish something big, accomplished something great or your teammate in sports. Definitely you can appreciate, you can recognize their efforts. But when you when we say you you take credit away from God or you take an ounce of glory away from him, it's more of a heart thing. It's more of a heart thing more

57:52 on focusing on our efforts alone. We're forgetting who God is. And if we're we're Christians, we forget to thank him and tell others that hey, the reason why I'm like this is all because of God. I mean you can say let's say you are given a time to to say a speech. Yes, thank you to those people who helped me. Uh thank you to my parents. I mean it's okay to say that uh praise God for my teammates. But always end or somehow mention who the main person is that helped you become successful. So again it's a heart thing but it's also through our words. It starts from the heart. It means that we acknowledge in our heart that yes, everything that I have, all my success, everything that was given to me, even my talents, even the victories

58:38 that I have in my life, it's all because of God. So when the heart is right, definitely the actions that will come out, the words that will come out will be glorifying to God. >> Amen. And for our last question, if Jesus is sovereign, victorious, and ultimately he will win in the end, where is he in the midst of global conflicts, human suffering, and even the corruption that we see in our own nation? >> You know, with with what's happening right now in our country, the recent earthquake, right? A lot of people are affected, the war that's ongoing, all the high prices. A lot of people are truly suffering. But this is just a reminder that God is going to make everything beautiful and perfect in his

59:26 time when Jesus comes back. When you say Jesus is sovereign, he is in control definitely. And part of being in control is he will allow these tragedies and problems to happen in our life just to wake us up and say, "Hey, this is not our final destination. All of these things on earth is temporary." So that's what it means when you say Jesus is sovereign. That's also what it means when you say Jesus is victorious. Because it means that whatever you're holding on here on earth, it's not going to last. If you're holding on money, if you're holding on success, if you're holding on whatever prestige that you have, in an instant, it could be taken away. With a war, with an earthquake, with sickness, all of these things, they're not going to last. But the hope that we have is Jesus is victorious. He

1:00:14 overcame death and he is the coming king. That's why we can have peace. We can rejoice and we can be assured that we will be with him forever. >> Praise God for that. And I'm hoping that those watching will find comfort in it. So, thank you, Pastor Marty, for answering our questions. And that's it for CCF Sunday Fastrack. God bless. >> [music] [music]