God’s Presence Series

Series Restoration:

Define restoration to the audience – summary. The act of making new or as if new again: face-lift, facelifting, refurbishment, rejuvenation, renewal, renovation, revampment.

John Ortberg states, “You are not your handiwork; your life is not your project. Your life is God’s project. God thought you up, and he knows what you were intended to be. He has many good works for you to do, but they are not the kind of ‘to do’ lists given by spouses or employees. They are signposts to your true self. Your ‘spiritual life’ is not limited to certain devotional activities that you engage in. It is receiving power from the Spirit of God to become the person God had in mind when he created you-his handiwork. God made you to flourish-to receive life from outside yourself, creating vitality within yourself and producing blessings beyond yourself” (The Me I Want To Be, page 14).

Scripture Text:

Ezekiel 37:26-28: “26I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”

Ephesians 2:10 NLT: “For we are God’s Masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Sermon Title: God’s Dwelling Place?

Theme: God’s presence?

Can or will God dwell, live, hang out, reside with His people? The answer is “Yes!”

God wants to hang out with you! Does that shock you? Amaze you? Are you thinking “Ya right pastor!”

Many of us here today need to bring God into the picture of our life on a daily basis. We need to decided to allow His presence to hang with us. His desire is to hang with those who love Him and are open to listening to His voice.

Thesis: God wants us to know that he desires to dwell among us His people and He is around today if we open our eyes to see Him and embrace Him. He would love to even restore our relationship with Him so that His presence is with us always. God wants to hang out with His holy people.

Opening Illustration: Wing Clips - Evan Almighty: Reveals how most of us would react if God appeared to us today in our real world.

Ortberg’s quote about God’s Presence:

Now let us bring God into the picture. The reality with God is that we are never speaking or acting in his absence. The psalmist said, ‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.’ However, God allows us to sometimes feel as if we are away from him, which I think he does for a reason. Do you ever drive differently when you see a squad car behind you? Why? It is not because your heart is changed. It is not because you see that squad car and think, Oh, I want to be a good driver. You don’t want to get a ticket! You don’t want that little light flashing in the rearview mirror. You see God doesn’t want forced compliance. God is so immense that if he were ‘to visible,’ people would give forced compliance without expressing their heart. So God makes it possible, in enormous love, for us to live as if he were not there” (The Me I Want To Be, Page 133).

Understanding that God is always present means understanding that He is always right here with us to cultivate to work on our relationship with Him.

T.S. - Our text talks about a coming new covenant of peace with Israel, God and the world. To better understand this passage and the concept of restoration let’s explore what a covenant is:

I. What is a covenant?

A. A covenant is a solemn agreement to engage in or refrain from a specified action. It is commonly found in religious contexts, where it refers to sacred agreements between God and human beings. Definition from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant.

1. What is unique about this covenant:

a. This one includes peace.

b. It will be an everlasting one.

c. This one promises and increase in their numbers.

d. It promises that God will place His sanctuary among them forever.

1). This means He will dwell, live or even hang out with His people on a daily basis.

B. Hebrews 8:1-13:

1. 1The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,