OPEN: A couple of years ago I read a true story about a young man who had just entered into boot camp.
On the 1st morning, the unit was dragged out of bed by the drill sergeant and made to assemble outside. As is often the case in boot camp, the drill sergeant’s first objective is to instill fear in the recruits, so (true to form) this sergeant stood in front of the line of soldiers and snarled at them:
"My names’ Sergeant Jackson. Is there anyone here thinks he can whip me?"
And believe it or not… someone raised his hand!!!
The Sergeant walked right over to the 6 foot 3 inch, 280 pound private, looked him dead in the eye and with all the malice he could muster repeated “So you think you can whip me, soldier?”
"Yes, sir. I do," the private replied.
The sergeant grabbed him by the arm and led him out in front of the group. "Men," he said, "this is my new assistant… Now, is there anyone here who thinks he can whip both of us?"
APPLY: One of the major lessons we learn from Scripture is that God is the biggest and most powerful being in the universe, and with Him standing by our side, there is no one who can ever “whip us.”
That’s what Israel had learned over the 3 months they had spent in God’s presence.
For 3 months, they had followed God as He led them out of slavery and through the Red Sea. They’d followed His pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night as He’d led them to here to Mt. Sinai. And there at the Mt. they’d seen His power and majesty as He’d come down with fire, lightning and earth shaking beneath their feet.
And at the Mountain - God asked His people to make a decision.
He’d already shown His power and majesty with all the miracle He’d already done.
And at the same time He had shown His love and protection for them as a people…
… but now, it was decision time.
* Did they want Him for their God?
* Were they willing to take a risk on Him as their God?
And they SAID yes…
But then, when Moses went to the top of mountain for a few days recieving the 10 commandments and everything changed. Moses hadn’t been gone much more than a month or so when the people decided to rethink their decision. They were suffering from “buyer’s remorse.”
Frankly, they were tired of following a God they couldn’t see.
They were tired of following a God without knowing exactly where He was taking them.
They wanted a God that would do things the way they want things done
They wanted a God that they could be comfortable with
They wanted a God that they could fashion to their way of thinking…
So they made a god after their own liking. They took some of their jewelry and they fashioned a golden calf. And guess what they called it? They called it Jehovah.
And they bowed down and they worshipped it.
As you can imagine, neither God nor Moses was real excited about this development. Moses comes down from the mountain hears the people engaging in pagan worship and maybe a few other activities associated with that type of thing.
God’s ticked, Moses is ticked.
Moses takes the tablets of God’s law that he had just received… throws them to the ground… and dashes them to pieces. Then he goes down, grinds up the calf, puts it in the water supply and tells the people to drink. He rebukes Aaron (who made the calf at the people’s request) and he deals harshly with the people who refuse to repent…
But God’s not satisfied.
Even this does not appease His anger and frustration with these rebellious people.
And that brings us to our passage this morning.
God tells the Israelites He’ll give them what He’s promised.
He’ll send an angel ahead of them to lead them into the promised land.
But He’s not going to go with them.
He’d made a promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob… and He was going to make good on it… but He wasn’t going to go with them because if He did He’d likely kill them on the way because of their stiff-necked and disobedient hearts.
But then God gives the Israelites a glimmer of hope
“… the LORD had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’" Exodus 33:5
God hasn’t decided yet what to do with them. There’s still hope He might change His mind. So when He commands them to take off their ornaments, do you think that the people would do what God asked? You better believe it. They couldn’t get their rings, necklaces, and bracelets off fast enough.
But then, Moses pleads with God.
LOOK WITH ME TO Exodus 33:15-16
Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on face of the earth?”
God’s presence (pause…)
To live without God’s presence seems like a scary prospect to the Israelites.
But, you know, you CAN survive without God’s presence.
I mean, God tells the Israelites that they can go on without Him.
He tells them they CAN STILL have the promised land that He’d sworn a promise to give them.
They could still build their houses an plant their farms.
They could still raise their families and give their children in marriage.
They could live without Him…
But the prospect of living without God’s presence absolutely frightens them.
And it frightens Moses.
Moses knows that Israel wouldn’t be Israel without God’s presence.
In fact, Moses knows that he wouldn’t be anything without God’s presence.
The presence of God is a very powerful thing:
In Psalms 16:11 David praises God, saying: “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
And in Psalms 140:13 he declares: “Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.” KJV
In fact, David gets so used to this closeness and intimacy with God that when he sins with Bathsheba David pleads with God: “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.” Psalms 51:11
Of all the things God could have done to punish David, to take His presence away would have been the worst possible punishment. It would have been a terrible fate that David could hardly bear.
And in the same way – of all the things God could have done to Israel – to rip Himself away from them would have been a terrible fate.
There’s something about the reality of God’s presence that nothing can ever replace.
It has a powerful, almost unseen effect on God’s people… but if you pay attention you can sense it.
ILLUS: A few yrs back I read an agnostic woman’s thoughts about this:
“…Over the years, I’ve come to think I’m missing out. My friends and relatives who rely on God - the real believers, not just the churchgoers - have an expansiveness of spirit. When they walk along a stream, they don’t just see water falling over rocks; the sight fills them with ecstasy. They see a realm of hope beyond this world.
I just see a babbling brook. I don’t get the message.”
Dana Tierney, R.Digest May 2004
What that woman observed was the effect God’s presence had on people.
She saw the joy and pleasure God brought to the lives of Christians.
It was so subtle and yet so exciting that it literally made her jealous.
Without His presence in our lives… and in our church… life would be empty and without purpose.
But you CAN live without it.
You can live without God’s presence
I mean Israel could have (that’s what God said)
They could have lived their lives from cradle to grave… and survived.
But that’s just what it would have been. Mere survival.
What that implies to me is that Christians can live without being in God’s presence (I’ve seen it)
It implies to me that there can be preachers who survive without giving a 2nd thought to what God wants from them.
There are churches that function quite well without God ever coming into the picture.
That’s why it’s so critical that we constantly examine our position with God.
· In worship, that’s one of the powerful purposes of the Lord’s Supper. When we gather around the communion table, this is a time for us to examine our hearts and our relationship with God.
· For a preacher one of the most important times is when we prepare the sermons each week. As I prepare the sermon I’m constantly asking what God wants me to see… before I ever try to apply it to you. In fact, I almost never know what I’m going to preach to you until I’ve finished the last line of the sermon because my preparation time is a constant effort to see what it can say to all of us. It’s almost a time of interactive prayer for me.
· And for a church, there are those times when we have to examine ourselves and see what God wants us to do.
Every year that I’ve been here, your leadership has spent a great deal of time in prayer asking God what He wants us to do next. And you know…God has led us to do lots of things that a church our size shouldn’t be able to do
· JAM; Youth Group; Bible Studies
· Outreach to the poor and underprivileged
· Being part of starting a Hispanic Ministry in our area
· Trunk or Treat
· Upwards Football Program this coming Spring
· Our dinner theatre play this past summer.
· The SonShine Boys (our Southern Gospel Quartet)
· And Sermons I’ve been able to share on-line with hundreds of others people.
There is no way a congregation of our size could ever have that kind of foot print in our community without God’s presence being sought to guide and help us.
And now, after more than a year of prayer and consider, your leadership here has decided that God wants us to go forward with a program we’re calling “Forward in Faith”.
We’ve set a goal of $1 million dollars over the next 3 years.
And we’ve established goals we believe God may want us to use this money for if and when He supplies it. Amongst those goals are
· a new worship center so we can dedicate this facility to youth and fellowship
· Increasing our mission giving – maybe support one or two full time missionaries.
· And increase our ministries to the community around us.
At this point in the “Forward In Faith” Program, Stan (our campaign chairman) told me this week that I’m supposed to tell you how much I plan to pledge for the next 3 years.
Well… there’s a problem with that.
1st – while that’s often what other churches do… our congregation isn’t comfortable with that. We don’t feel comfortable with letting our left hand know what our right hand is doing in matters of giving, so I’m not going to tell you what my family is going to give.
The 2nd problem is that - even I could tell you how much we’re pledging - I’m not sure myself how much we’re going to commit to. During the 21 days of prayer that starts today, Diana and I will discuss what we feel God is leading us to promise for our giving.
BUT this much I can tell you.
We will give a significant pledge to this project.
It will be a pledge that is above and beyond the tithe we give every week.
It will be a pledge that may mean we’ll sacrifice something, or change our lifestyle, or something that we’ve postponed. And it will hopefully be a sum that we’ve arrived at based on prayer and seeking God’ presence in this matter.
And the reason we’ll be doing that is because we believe in this congregation.
We believe this is a church that actively seeks God’s guidance and counsel. A church that cares about pleasing God.
I often share with others about how pleased I am to be your preacher.
I tell about how excited I am about how much you love each other and to visitors.
Granted, there’s no church that’s perfect, but you all make me proud.
I have no reservations at all about investing in this Church. I believe that it will be money well spent.
BUT I’ve got to admit… a million dollars is a lot of money.
It’s an awful lot of money.
How many of you think a million dollars is a lot of money? (everybody raised their hands).
Now my brother-in-law, who works for a major brokerage firm, doesn’t think a $1 million is very much money. And every time he says that I just smile at him, because I’m pretty sure I could make good use of that much money.
But, $1 million. How will we ever get that kind of money?
In fact, that’s a question one man shared with me just a couple of weeks ago.
Now, here’s a test: Where are we going get that kind of money? (God)
By our own efforts, we might come up with $200,000… even a ½ million dollars
But to get a million. That’s going to take… (pause) God
Now, isn’t that an novel concept???
Now, your eldership hasn’t heard the voice of God saying we’re going to get that much. And though I’m a passable preacher, I’m neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. But this much I know… if God wants us to have that much… that’s what we’ll get
I don’t know, maybe (a famous person we’ve been praying for) will send us a check for a $1 million. I mean it’s only fair. We pray for her, she sends a $1 million. (And no, I wouldn’t dream of manipulating God by asking her or anyone else for that much).
Or maybe (if God decides to supply it) that kind of money will come from some other source.
ILLUS: Back in 1997, the Bushnell Assembly of God in Bushnell, Florida received a letter from the American Family Publishers sweepstakes. The computer somehow twisted the name of the church and a sweepstakes notice was addressed to "God of Bushnell" sent to the church address.
The letter read, "Dear God, We’re searching for you. You’ve been positively identified as our $11,000,000 mystery millionaire!"
Hey, it could happen!
But whether God gives us that much or not… I’m committed to this church.
I’m convinced this congregation is worth investing in.
Next week, Ben’s going to share his excitement over this project.
Then, on the 11th, Stan is going to share with us his vision for this church.
And after the services on those two Sundays, the Elders will be available to answer any questions
(or you can talk to them to day if you’d like).
And then on the 18th we’re going to have ONE service… and The SonShine Boys will have a little concert. We’ll have a special sermon to celebrate what we’ve set out to do. And we’ll have a big banquet over at the Walton Christian Church at 1 pm.
CLOSE: I’m convinced that God is going to do something great in this church. And I’m convinced that it’s going to have a lot to do with this Forward in Faith Program we’ve begun.
A grandmother took her three year old granddaughter into her lap and began reading to her from Genesis. After a while, noticing that the little girl was unusually quiet, the grandmother asked, "Well, what do you think of it dear?"
"Oh, I love it," answered the child, "You never know what God is going to do next."
That is the kind of statement you can make if you’re the kind of person who seeks God’s presence.
