Practical Response Resulting From Our View of God — Lou Sutera

I want us to just, in the light of last night's message, if you folks are recording, if you have a long enough tape, if you want to put this scripture on the tape that will relate to the message tonight, that's fine with me.

So are you hearing me, brothers? You can go on with the sermon later on. First Kings, chapter 8, you're going to be glad you brought your Bibles tonight because we're going to use them, and we're going to hear from God and let God's truth really get through to our hearts.

Fearing God in Response to His Character

First Kings, chapter 8, verse 40, in the light of last night's message, what should our response be to the character of God? What should our response be to the character of God? First Kings, chapter 8, reading verse 40, that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou givest unto our fathers.

That they may fear thee in all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers. Turn to Proverbs 23. We're going to turn a little bit. Proverbs 23, let the great truth come through to our hearts.

These are the words of Solomon. Proverbs 23, verse 17, let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Turn to Ecclesiastes, chapter 3. Think of these verses in the light of last night's message on the attributes and the characteristics of God.

Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 14, Solomon again, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear before him.

That which hath been is now, and that which is to be hath already been, and God requireth that which is past. Look at chapter 5, verse 7. Chapter 5, verse 7, just the last statement. But fear thou God.

Look at chapter 8, verse 13. But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow. Why? Because he feareth not before God. Now let's take a few moments in the book of Psalms and go back to the psalmist.

In Psalm 33, Psalm 33, and let's just have a little run in this great theme from the psalmist. Psalm 33, verse 8, our response to the character of God. Psalm 33, verse 8, let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

Psalm 90, verse 2, we're just hitting a few highlights in this great book. Psalm 90, verse 2, our response to the character of God. Psalm 90, verse 2, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Verse 4, for a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Verse 7, for we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins, in the light of thine countenance.

Verse 11, who knoweth the power of thine anger, even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Verse 17, and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Psalm 96, verse 9, 96, verse 9, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear before him all the earth. Psalm 112, verse 1, praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

Psalm 119, verse 38, and this is the last one for tonight, and this scripture reading. Psalm 119, 138, Psalm 119, verse 38, sorry about that, 138 didn't look right. Verse 38, and I think this is just a tremendous truth to climax this whole great theme.

Establish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Would that be our prayer tonight? Establish thy word, O God, unto thy servant, are you his servant? Why you tell God, because I'm devoted unto thy fear.

What should my response be to the character of God, fear God, as we've read from Solomon and from the psalmist? What is the fear of God? Bill Gothard says, it's the continual awareness that God sees and knows and weighs every one of my thoughts, my actions, and my attitudes.

It's living in the awareness of the fact that God sees and weighs and knows every one of my thoughts, my words, my actions, and my attitudes. Our response to the character of God, let it really get under our skin tonight, and I believe we're in for a great night tonight as we hear from heaven.

Ralph, prayer. Brother David Allen, which I call by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

I'm going to answer the question, the Lord willing, and I want the prerogative to change if God retains my spirit tomorrow on it, but I am leaning toward the direction to ask you a question, why? You've read that text so many times.

It's at the heart of revival. We're here believing God for revival. I'm going to answer the question, why did God tell his people to humble themselves even before he said to pray? In the great text of 2 Chronicles 10 .14.

You've read that text so many times, and we hear so much about we need to pray, and we need to pray, and we do. We've heard so much about that, and we need it, and who would I be to, God forbid that I would say not to pray.

But I want to try to answer tomorrow night why God said that it's important that we deal with humbling ourselves even before we pray. God has used this message to set so many people free, and I think we're just coming, we're ready to hear that message and that truth.

So don't miss it. One night's building on top of another, as you're seeing, and I sense you're feeling that, and I'm happy for it. 1 Peter 1 .17, and if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Look at chapter 2, verse 17, the same text, the same verse. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the King. 1968, in the Prairie Overcomer, an article entitled, The Disappearance of the Fear of God, goes on to say that without fear of contradiction, it can be declared that the disappearance of the fear of God is the greatest single peril to the Western world.

The Disappearance of the Fear of God

Paul climaxes the long catalog of sins in Romans chapter 1, when he declares, there is no fear of God before their eyes. Long list of sins, and here he pulls it all together. If the fear of God consists in having a proper regard for the majesty, the holiness, and the justice and goodness of God, as will make us reverentially afraid to offend God, how little fear of God there is in our land.

A quarter of a century ago, the Bishop of Chelmsford said, the Christian faith seems to be dying out. In the days of our grandparents, there was a gravity, a solemnity about religion, which has completely vanished.

This was due to the emphasis laid upon the fear of God, the guilt of sin, the judgment of man by God, and the consequent punishment or reward. In the public mind today, God has become a tolerant, easygoing deity, who is certainly not extreme to mark what is amiss, but can always be relied upon to let everybody off in the long run.

And if there is a heaven, of course, there is no truth whatever to hell. If there is a heaven, we shall all muddle into it some way, somehow. Fear God. We heard from Solomon, we heard from David, we hear from the Apostle Peter, and we hear from this statement of how little fear of God there is in the land.

The Apostle Paul said, the catalogue of the sins of a fallen society is, the bottom line is there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, you're in this meeting tonight, and I'm here tonight, and you say, well, I think we have to have a balance.

Doesn't the Bible say we ought to love the Lord? But tonight we're hearing about fearing God. Last night we heard about the character of God and fearing God. Maybe tonight the Lord will help us to put these two together.

What is the balance between the fear of God and loving God? How do these great truths relate to the very context of what we're coming together for night after night? Psychologist Gerobowski said, there are two basic needs and desires and drives of life.

Two basic needs, desires, and drives of life, love and fear. He's saying there are two, you need them both. J .H. Jowett said, the first condition of real life is something to love, and the second condition is something to revere.

Something to love and something to revere. For a living issue, each of the elements is essential. Each deprived of the other is robbed of its dynamic. Neither can lift if the other be absent. Love without reverence becomes a purely carnal sentiment and resides in the channels of the flesh.

Reverence without love is like cold moonlight and will never enrich the heart with a presence of gracious flowers. Love without reverence is a destructive fever. Reverence without love is a perpetual frost.

True love kneels in reverence. True reverence yearns in love. Each I say is essential to the other and both are needful to the creation of worthy, wealthy life. Now where can love and reverence be best begotten?

Where can we find the atmosphere most fitted for their condition and for their creation? Where can we learn to love and revere in such a way that they shall become the spontaneous exercise of the soul?

Calvary is the true academy of love and reverence. That brings me really to the text. Peter said, pass your sojourning in fear. Psalmist said in Psalm 2 verse 11, you don't need to turn, but just let the words ring in your heart.

Serve the Lord. We're talking about the practical aspects of last night's truth about the attributes and the characteristics of God. How does it relate to me and my everyday living? The psalmist says, serve the Lord with two things, one, fear and rejoice with trembling.

What a verse. You know, I'm so slow and maybe you're a little slower than me or maybe not quite as bad, but you know, you read the Bible for years and years and you read it and all at once something jumps out at you as if it were just written yesterday.

I don't know how many times I read Psalm 2 and I went right over that verse so many times and it never came through to my heart until I got into this great theme of the character of God. And the psalmist said, serve the Lord with fear, it's one side of it, and rejoice, almost sounds like a paradox, with trembling.

Interesting words. Isn't that what we're praying? Oh God, revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee. When we talk about in thee, there's the reverence to who he is, but that we may rejoice. And that's the beauty of rejoicing and trembling while we serve the Lord in fear.

God wants to have from your heart and mine together tonight. Now can we get a little New Testament context to this? Look at it in 1 John chapter 1 and see it very simply come together. 1 John chapter 1.

We need to understand it that God would show us how we ought to live in the light of his attributes and character. 1 John chapter 1 verse 4 says, and these things write we unto you that you Christians in Mesa should be long-faced.

Right? No. And these things write we unto you that your, what, joy may be, what, full. So whatever the apostle John is writing, that Christians can have a fullness of joy. Now, what's the next thing we learn when he says these are written that we can have our full joy?

Look at where the, uh, the beloved John turns. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you. He said, if you haven't understood it, let us describe it. What? That God is love.

Right? Yes. He's love. Don't say no. God is what? Light. He is love, but not in this scripture. In this scripture, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now I'll tell you when the beloved John says God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

What does it do to you and me to know about a God who is light and around him and in him there is no darkness at all. It makes us tremble. We just came through a verse that says these things right unto you that your joy may be full.

And then the beloved apostle turns to tell us about a God who is light and if there's ever anything to tremble about, it's a God who is light and there's no darkness in him. It goes on to say, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

But if you walk in the light, what's that? That's a very scary place to be. That's where we tremble, isn't it? To walk in the light of the character of God. But if we walk in the light, God is light and then it says we need to walk in light.

So that's walking in the face of God and in the character of God, in the very countenance of God. Walk before him, being willing to push ourselves in the light of God. Not running from his light, but pushing ourselves into his light.

If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship, one with another. You know, I think it means we have fellowship with brothers and sisters, but I first of all believe it means we have fellowship one with another, with him.

Because that's what, if we could have taken time to read verses one to three of this chapter, it would give you that very connotation. We have fellowship with him. And you know what fellowship is? It's a big word, but when I went to school, I couldn't understand the big words and my mama told me, tell the teachers, take the big ones back and give you two little ones in exchange.

And I want to do that tonight. Take the word fellowship back, it's a big one, and I'll tell you what it is, two fellows in the same ship. Because you use the S twice, it's fellows and ship, right? It has to be more than one if it's fellowship, so it's got to be at least two fellows in the ship, getting in the same ship together.

And that's what a marvelous privilege, you and I getting in the same ship together with God, having fellowship with God. That's what man was made for in the beginning. How does it happen for you and I to tremble as we push ourselves into the light of the character of God?

And there we have fellowship. And the word fellowship has the very connotation, the very meaning, the very implication of the word says, it's a joyful, enjoyable relationship. It's a loving relationship.

A joyful relationship is a loving relationship. You can't have a joyful relationship if it isn't a loving relationship. As we tremble, it's rejoice with trembling, serve the Lord in fear. Tremendous truth.

We walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another, why? Because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps uncleansed our small sin. That's what happened when we got into the light. We had to go where the blood was, and that's the privilege of a Christian.

So we see it very clearly depicted, joy and fear at the same time. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When I fear God, I'm going to walk in his light. I'm going to walk in his character and in his holiness.

And that's walking in the fear of the Lord, walking in all the light that I have. And then I'll be able to rejoice in the fear of God and I'll tremble before him and I'll know real rejoicing as I have been willing to bring myself to the light of his holiness and say, Lord, let me see all that you see and know that his smile of approval is on me because I was willing to be that honest, to come to him in fear, trembling to serve him in that honesty.

What a truth. M .R. DeHaan said, we live by the theory that we have no reason to be afraid of God, even though the Bible repeatedly reminds us that we should fear God. The solution to this problem is to adjust our theory to fit the facts.

We must admit that there are reasons both to be afraid of the Lord and not to be afraid of the Lord. First, we should have a healthy fear of the Lord, a healthy fear of what he might do if we refuse to honor, obey, trust, and love him.

We better have a healthy fear of what he'll do. We should fear his rod of correction in our lives. Secondly, we should not dread what he will do in our lives if we admit our sins and accept his offer of life and love and fellowship with him.

That's when we don't need to fear him, when we're willing to admit what he sees in us. We should not be afraid to believe him and to trust him and to cling to him the way a small child clings to his father.

No, we cannot ignore or redefine the word fear. Instead, we must adjust our theory about God to fit his revelation of himself in scripture, and that will include a reverent fear that then becomes the beginning of wisdom in your life and mine.

Though love for God should always move my heart to do what's good and right, it's wise to fear his judgments true and stand in awe of his great might. He who does not fear God needs to fear everything else.

What a truth. What are we really learning tonight and in these nights as we talk about the character of God? We're really learning that there are two aspects in relation to my vertical relationship to God.

One is a negative and one is a positive. The negative is at work. Don't be guilty of humanizing him, the message of last night. Fear him. What's the positive? Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

Enjoy him. Revive us again that we may rejoice in thee. That's a God enjoyment. That's a loving relationship with God. It's a joyful relationship becoming a loving relationship and a joyful relationship.

Revival then is changing my relationship with God. It is what God gets from me. Everything we've talked about in these days thus far is not primarily what I get from God. God knows my brothers and sisters, we for too long have been on the gimme gimme gimme, get all you can and can all you get from God.

And we are capitalists to the core, even in the context of our Christianity, get everything we can one way street coming to us. If God will work for me, I'll serve him. God wants us in these days to turn it all around.

God is showing us in our relationship to God, it's what God gets from me. It is my seeking after God, whether I get anything or not from him. My going after God, my wanting to be sensitive to anything that would grieve and hurt the heart of a God who has been so good and gracious and made of all the attributes we talked about last night.

That's what Revival is all about. What does God get from me? What I get from God. What are we learning these days? My view of God has a direct bearing on many practical responses to life. What are we learning?

Don't humanize God. What is it? Not humanizing God, therefore, in practical terms, could I say, is my desire to take God's viewpoint and God's vantage point in relation to every action of my life. In practical terms, when I said let's not humanize God, it's my desire to take God's viewpoint and God's vantage point in relation to every single action of my life.

What then is humanizing God? When I don't make knowing God, knowing and acting from God's viewpoint in every matter and circumstance of my life my utmost obsession. When I'm not obsessed with the desire to make God's viewpoint the position from which I act and live and respond in my life.

How Our View of God Shapes Practical Christian Living

Now having said that, I want to present to you tonight some areas of our lives that are affected and how they'll be affected by our viewpoint of God. Our view of God, how areas of our life will be affected.

Confidence in God for Life's Needs

First of all, my view of God will have a direct bearing on my confidence for the needs of life. I want you to turn to Psalm 34. Let's just look at it in Psalm 34. I'm going to try to move quickly through these.

Let God speak to your heart. Say, Lord, speak to me tonight. Because as you see where you'll find yourself in these problems of life, you'll be able to determine where you stand in your view of God. Psalm 34, verse 7, the angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that, what's the word?

Fear him and delivereth him. Verse 9, oh fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want or lack to them that fear him. And verse 10, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

I'm suggesting to you that if you fear God, as the command of tonight's message comes through to your heart, my Bible tells me, I will have confidence in relation to the needs of life itself. Are you all uptight about the needs of life being provided?

Has something to do with your view of God. Now secondly, my view of God will have a bearing on my estimate of the value of life itself. My view of God will have some bearing on the estimate of the value of life.

What value do you place on life? Your view of God will determine it. Where do you get it? Go right on. Verse 11, come ye children, get the little ones in, hearken unto me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord, you see?

I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. It's going to do something for you. It's going to tell you about the real values of life. Teach the little ones. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good?

Keep thy tongue from evil. Keep thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil. Do good. Seek peace and pursue it. Go after it. Search after it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are upon their cry.

For the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Get the children in and teach them the fear of God. And they'll learn, if they want to know real life, they have a desire for life, they'll learn values in life by the fear of God.

The Fear of God and Trustworthy Speech

Thirdly, the fear of God will have direct bearing on the trustworthiness of a man's word. Thirdly, your fear of God and your view of God will have a direct bearing on the trustworthiness of the very words of your lips.

You say, where do you get that? Well, you remember when Joseph was in Egypt, he was their ruler in Egypt and his brothers came to him and they didn't know it was Joseph, their brother. And there was Joseph before them and they needed food because their father was without food and they came begging for food.

They heard there was food in Egypt when the great hour of the famine. And when Joseph, he said to them, he said, you let one of your brothers stay here. You let your brother stay here. One of the youngest stay here and the rest of you go back to your father.

And when you bring back the other brother that's still at home, when you bring him back to me and I see him, then I'll give you food to take home to your father and your family. They said, no, we can never do it.

Our father already thinks that one brother is, one son is dead that he loves so much. Joseph is dead and he would kill Jacob if we'd come back with Benjamin. He would kill him if we would bring him back.

What did Joseph say to those brothers? He said, Joseph said unto them the third day, when they refused to accept his offer, he said unto them the third day, this do and live. Why? For I fear God. You ever notice those words?

He's saying you can count my word and you can depend on it. Why? Because I fear God. Trust the worthiness of a man's word will depend on his fear of God. Fourthly, my view of God will have a direct bearing on my judgmental spirit toward others.

The Fear of God and Judgmentalism

My view of God will have a bearing on my judgmental spirit toward others. Say where'd he get that? Romans chapter two, verses one and two, and I'm not going to read it because you know it. You know what last night's message was.

We went all through Romans chapter one, last half of Romans chapter one. We ended right at the very last verse. It was a picture of a society that had humanized God and God about to pull down the curtain and write Ichabod on a society that has made him so small.

And that's how Romans chapter one ends. We move into Romans chapter two. Therefore, that's the way Romans two starts. Therefore, you know, my brothers and sisters, if your preacher hasn't said this yet, he's flunked the course, right?

Haven't you heard him say that many women, whenever you see a therefore in the Bible, you always have to stop and ask what it's there for. Amen. What's it there for? Therefore, after all that God has said in chapter one, therefore, what does he say in chapter one?

That God cannot be brought down to the human level. God is God and he's on the throne and you don't play games with him in Romans chapter one and he's going to destroy and he's going to punish those that laugh at him.

He's got the balances in his hands and he knows what's going on. Even in the homosexual community, he's even allowed even this disease of AIDS to come upon them. You say, Lou, don't you hope they come up with a cure?

I believe God in his mercy is going to allow the scientists somewhere down the road to come up with a cure. And I wonder if the homosexual community won't hear God yet, what will God have to do next? God loves them and his mercy is still yet giving them a chance.

Therefore, who art thou? Thou art an excusable man that judges another. The same measure that you judge, you're going to be judged. That's the way chapter two ends. It's coming through a chapter that lifts God up to where he belongs.

My view of God tells me I dare not be the judge of my brother. I take my hands off and leave all judgment to God. Have you been guilty of playing God in somebody else's life? Being guilty of the judgmental spirit?

Your view of God will determine your freedom to be such a quick judge on another. Fifthly, my view of God will have direct bearing on my spirit of unbelief. My view of God will have a direct bearing on my spirit of unbelief.

Unbelief and a Small View of God

There's some men and women in this meeting who don't have, you just can't believe God. You can't believe God for miracles. You can't believe God to change your situation or the situation of your friends and neighbors around you.

You just can't believe God. What's your problem? Wrapped up in your view of God. Well, 2 Timothy 2 .13, don't turn. God cannot deny himself. Simple statement. Do you believe that? God cannot deny himself.

Last night I read the verse Deuteronomy 32 .18 where it said, of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful and hast forgotten the God that formed thee. You remember that? The God that begat thee, thou art unmindful and thou hast forgotten the God that formed thee.

It's a problem of thinking about God. No time to give God his rightful place. Forget about God. Now, why do I relate back to that verse? Because two verses later, there's a little statement that I didn't see until just a few months ago.

It says, children in whom is no faith. Did you hear it? Children in whom there is no faith. What's the problem? People who had forgotten about their God, and God describes it in two verses, children in whom there is no faith.

Could it be characteristic of you and me tonight? My unbelief is wrapped up in the fact that I've made so little of my God and brought him down to such human terms, such a size. There's a book written by J .B. Phillips, I believe.

How big is your God? How small or how big is your God? Israel. I want you to turn to Romans and look at it in chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Let it come through to us. Romans chapter 11, verse 20. Romans 11, 20.

It's tremendous. You hear the pages turning. Romans chapter 11, verse 20. Well. It starts out with the word, well. Because of unbelief. Well. And it says, get a good deep breath. Semicolon. Well. And I'll tell you the problem.

I'll give you the answer and the problem. Well. Because of unbelief. Verse 20 of chapter 11. They were broken off. Talking about the Jews. Why? Because of unbelief. And thou standest by faith. Talking then to the Gentiles.

How do you stand? You really stand by faith. Be not high-minded. Don't get proud. Be not high-minded. But what you do? But fear. We're back to the subject, aren't we? But fear. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he also spared not thee.

If God is saying, don't take it for granted. You keep living in the fear of God. You've experienced faith in Jesus Christ. Now live in the light. Live a life of fear before God. Faith and fear before God.

Behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God. We have two aspects of God there. On them which fail severity, but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shall be cut off.

Don't move away into unbelief because they lost out because of their unbelief. The children of Israel, ninety people died every day in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Sixthly, I think that's five.

Reverence, Worship, and Praise

Number six. The sixth reason. The sixth thing that we can see from our view of God. My view of God will have a bearing on my reverence, my worship, and my praise of God. I want you to go to Psalm 4. Excuse me, Psalm 5.

I want you to go to Psalm 5. My view of God will have a bearing on my reverence, my worship, and praise of God. Do you worship God? Do you praise God? And your reverence is related to your view of God.

Psalm 5, verse 7, the last half of the verse, and in thy fears, said the psalmist, will I worship toward thy holy temple. Do you get it? In God's fears, said the psalmist, will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Look at Psalm 86, Psalm 86, verse 11, Psalm 86, verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Teach me thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. I used that verse last night. Look what happens after we ask God to unite our hearts to fear his name.

I will praise thee, O Lord, my God. I will praise thee with all of my heart, and I will glorify thy name forever. My fearing God will bring back praise for my God. Look at Psalm 89, verse 7, 89, verse 7.

God is greatly to be feared, where in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. Look at Psalm 97, verse 12, Psalm 97, verse 12. Rejoice in the Lord, that's what a revival is all about, rejoicing in thee, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness.

Give thanks at the remembrance of a God who is holy, that's praise, worship, and reverence once we fear him. Look at Psalm 99, verse 3, Psalm 99, verse 3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name, that's fearing God, for it is holy.

Look at verse 5, exalt ye the Lord, our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy. My view of God will determine my worship. Look at Psalm 135, verse 20, Psalm 135, verse 20. Bless the Lord, O house of Levi, ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.

Ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord. The man who really fears the Lord is going to worship and praise and bless his God. I'm simply asking you, where do you find yourself when we talk and read terms like this?

Where is the heart of praise? Where is your heart of praise? Have you lost that sense of praise? Your view of God determines the quantity and the quality of your praise, your reverence, and your worship of God.