Encountering The Presence Of The Lord

Encountering the Presence of the Lord

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - I like golf, I would play golf, watch golf on T.V., read about golf and I have even gone to several golf tournaments. When I lived in Florida, I went to the Honda Classic several years in a row there in Palm Beach Gardens. It was amazing to see all the players and the great talent and skills of the players, the crowds of people is phenomenal but when it was time for Tiger Woods to tee off the atmosphere seemed to change. You really can’t put an explanation to it but when he walked from out of the tunnel and made his way to the practice green before he teed off his magnetism and larger than life persona charged the atmosphere, the crowds of people near where he was would be at least 10 rows deep and people would do what ever they could to get to see him hoping to capture a picture of him or a smile from him. It was something that was intangible, but it would really make your experience that much more exciting. I even have several pictures on my phone where I was close to him like 50 feet or so or a few pictures when he walked pass and was close to where I was standing. I have shown pictures to some of my friends that like to golf as well and they say man you were that close to him you were able to take that picture, it even looks like he is looking at you in that picture and smiling at you and I will say that was a great experience and I had a wonderful time. As I had a great time watching Tiger Woods and following him around the golf course that fails in comparison to what it’s like to encounter the presence of God. When you are in the presence of the Lord the atmosphere is charged but most importantly you are changed.

Encountering the Presence of God.

PRAYER: -

SCRIPTURE: - Exodus 3:1-10 “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt”.

DEFINITION: - The most common Hebrew term for presence is panim, which is also translated face, implying a close and personal encounter with the Lord.

BACKGROUND: - Moses’ life had been a rollercoaster ride like many of our lives. He went from being the son of Hebrew slaves to the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; from an ark of bulrush to a palace of gold; from a life of slavery to the lap of luxury being learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds – Acts 7:22. Then after 40 years of living in luxury, in a matter of a day, he had fallen from the pinnacle of power and prestige to the pit of poverty; from being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter to being a fugitive in a strange land. Acts 7:23-29 tells how one day he decided to go visit his brethren the children of Israel and saw one of the Hebrew slaves was being beaten by his Egyptian slave master. Moses sprang into action defending his fellow Hebrew and killed the Egyptian slave master. The next day he went out again and saw two Hebrew slaves fighting. He tried to reconcile them when one of them said Acts 7:27-28 “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday”.