Roots
Pt. 4 – Presence and Preaching
I. Introduction
The foundation is the most important aspect of a building. It isn’t the most impressive aspect of the building, but it is the most important part. No one stops their car in awe of a building’s foundation. We often are awestruck by the beauty or size of an edifice. What we forget is that without the foundation that structure would not be possible or safe without a foundation that is adequate and that is able to provide security, strength, and stability. That is why we have been taking the time to go back to do a root check. We must make sure that our foundation is secure and that our anchor will hold. Without such a foundation we will waver, we will blow like a leaf in the wind, we will be unstable in all of our ways, and we will have no lasting impact in our world. Our roots matter.
I have boldly declared to you over the last 3 weeks that we will remain rooted to certain things. I believe these 8 elements are nonnegotiable and are essential for our health and well being as a body and individually. Our roots are:
Praise
Purpose
People
Place
Prayer
Pentecost
Presence
Preaching
Praise is a foundation because in our praise is victory, plunder, and peace.
Purpose is foundational for us because we understand that we as individuals and also “we” corporately have God given design and destiny.
People are part of the root system because Jesus taught us and showed us
that people matter and that we should give our lives to people by being moved by people, taking time for people, touching people, healing people and dying for people.
This place is part of our root system. He could have placed us anywhere, but He hand-selected this community for us!
Last week we talked about the foundation of prayer. We must be rooted to prayer on the bad days, not just the good days. Without prayer we are not a church!
We also said that we will remain rooted to Pentecost because it is our hope of freedom and change in the community. The real deal is worth wading through the counterfeits!
So, I want us to conclude this series this morning by examining the last two roots that we are firmly connected to. . . Presence and Preaching.
II. Presence
Exodus 3:1-6; 13-14; 4:10-12
1Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb.2And the angel of Jehovah 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. 3And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4And when Jehovah 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. 5And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6Moreover 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.
13And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? 14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
10And Moses said unto Jehovah, Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? Or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak.
The account that I read to you is the account of a man who has just experienced the presence of the Lord. It helps us to remember that this is a forgotten man, a broken man, a man in pain, a man with a checkered past, and without much future when suddenly he has an encounter with the presence of God. This burning bush encounter teaches us some things about the presence of God.
a. God presence stops us.
When you come into a genuine encounter with God it will get your attention. When you see something different you will stop and take notice. I believe it is essential that we have the presence of God in our lives and in our services because the people we come into contact with and those that will come in these doors are broken, in pain, have checkered pasts and are minding their own business, going through normal life, expecting the same routine things and when they see the presence of God it will stop them and get their attention. They may notice our cool logo. They may be enticed to check us out because of a car sticker. But the only thing that will really stop them in their tracks and rip them out of their routine is the presence of God. We live in a busy, self-centered society and God’s presence is the only thing that will get their attention! Our music won’t keep their attention! They can get good music at the club down the street. But when our music is bathed and drips with the presence of God it wills stop them in their tracks!
b. God’s presence can’t be ignored.
Whether the presence comes in the form of rainbow, cloud, dove, or a bush when we come into His presence it gets our attention and we cannot ignore it. You can ignore a song. You can ignore a sermon. But you can’t ignore God! The genuine presence of God removes attention deficit! Suddenly the divine invades our space and we have to acknowledge it. You have been in services where there was no presence! Those are the services where people doodle, work on their finger nails, and catch up on their sleep. But when the presence of God is there you sit on the edge of your seat, afraid to breathe, or move, or miss a thing. We need the presence of God in our lives and in this house!
c. God’s presence undresses us.
Take shoes off Moses. Our shoes mask our ugliness. You may like feet. Maybe you think they are a work of art. Most people I know don’t really think toes are beautiful. In fact, most seem to be hesitant to touch them. God’s presence forces Moses to exposes his toes. That is what God’s presence does. It exposes our toes. It forces the ugly areas of our life out into the open. Just as it did for Moses, the presence of God brings us to the place where you are face-to-face with own weakness, and lack of holiness. The presence of God exposes secrets, strips off our façade, destroys our game of charades, and unmasks us.
Luke 12:2-3
2You can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. 3You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.
You can’t hide who you really are in God’s presence.
d. God’s presence produces reverence.
I don’t think I have to convince you of this truth – we live in an irreverent society. What used to be nasty is now daily conversation material. What used to be unsaid is now on the public airwaves. What we used to not laugh at we now gladly repeat for effect. What used to cause us to blush now causes us to chuckle. What we used to honor we now ignore. What used to cause awe is now mocked. Our society is irreverent. One of the powerful things about God’s presence is that it causes us to be reverent again. It causes us to bow our knee and acknowledge that there is a power greater than our own and that this power is worthy of worship and reverence/respect.
e. God’s presence exposes and disposes of excuses.
Moses’ weaknesses are exposed and so are his excuses. It is in God’s presence that all of the excuses that we make in life are exposed for what they are – stalling techniques. In fact, what really happens when we come into God’s presence is that we clearly see our failures, our weakness, our issues, but then God refuses to leave us there and we find strength for our weakness. I will be your mouth. Without the presence of God we keep making excuses. Without His presence we continue to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. If we don’t do everything that we must do to insure that God’s presence is in our lives and in our services people will come into contact with us and this church and they will continue to walk out a mundane, excuse filled life. But when they encounter the presence of God they are forced to embrace their destiny and purpose. When people come here I don’t want them to walk out able to go back to a normal life!
f. God’s presence reveals who God really is.
If you have never been in His presence you may think you know who He is. You may have ideas about who He is. You may have been taught who He is. But the moment you walk into His presence you have an epiphany of who God really is. He is I am that I am. Moses asked who should I say is sending me? God gives Moses a revelation of who He is. He isn’t saying that he is Popeye. He is saying in my presence you will discover that I am whatever you need me to be.
If you need me to be your mouth piece, I am. If you need me to be your provider, I am Jehovah Jireh. If you need me to be your protector, I am Jehovah Nissi – The Lord your banner – on the battlefield. You need me to be peace – I am Jehovah Shalom. You need healing I am Jehovah Rophe. You need holiness – I am Jehovah M’Kaddesh – The Lord who sanctifies. You need me to be your deliverer, I am.
Fill in the blank. I am. When you get into my presence I am.
g. God’s presence will cause us to walk in power.
Couldn’t speak, now Moses stands before pharaoh. Crushed by low self-esteem, now Moses is confident. A sheep herder is now a miracle worker.
You don’t do miracles because you do the church thing. You don’t do miracles because you have your name on a role or membership card. You don’t do miracles because you listen to someone worship or because you listen to a preacher. You do miracles because you have been exposed to and live in the presence of God!
We need His presence because we need to be walking in power on a daily basis!
My testimony:
May I show you my burning bush? Apache – wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the presence of God that I felt and experienced at that church. I can literally remember as a teenager waiting all week for those moments. I would drive 20 miles one way to be there three times a week. I can remember almost being fired because I refused to miss a Sunday night. On countless occasions I made this statement to my pastor’s wife – “God is going to do something today”. Expectancy filled my life. It wasn’t normal church. I wasn’t expecting a self-help seminar. I was expecting the presence of God. It was at this burning bush that I dealt with the ugliness of my own life. It was here that I battled out the will of God for my life. I was forced to lay down my excuses like I am too shy. I found out that God was everything I had heard about Him and more. He was everything I needed Him to be. I began to walk in power.
I want to be that place in this place! I want us to be a place where people can come not just to hear good music, but to see, shudder at, and kneel in the presence of God. I want to be those people. People used by God to bring hope and pull out destiny in people. That doesn’t happen because a preacher decides it will happen. It takes a concerted effort by every person who calls this place home! We have to expect God to show up. We have to make preparations for Him to show up because He only inhabits prepared places. We must not become satisfied with walking a rutted path. We must look for the interruptions of His presence and pay attention to them.
One person noted: In any church service, the congregation preaches more than half the sermon. The congregation brings an atmosphere with it. The atmosphere is either a barrier through which the preacher’s word cannot penetrate; or else ther is such an expectancy that even the poorest sermon becomes a living flame. How did you come to church today?
III. Preaching
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones argues convincingly that “in many ways it is the departure of the Church from preaching that is responsible in a large measure for the state of modern society…. The Church, having abandoned her real task, has left humanity more or less to its own devices.”
We must remain rooted in preaching because of the power of the proclaimed word of God. The Israelites understand the power of communicated word. Not everyone could set down and read the Bible. Jews were commanded by God to recount to their children what God had done. They were declaring the Word of the Lord. The power of the spoken word was understood and appreciated. We need to embrace this truth again.
We are reminded of the power and absolute necessity of preaching when we are told in Romans 10:14; 17:
14How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 17So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
a. No preaching = No faith
If they don’t hear they have no faith. Preaching is powerful because it produces faith in folks. If we quit preaching or don’t make a place for preaching then people will walk out of here with no faith! Preaching plays a part in faith.
b. Preaching isn’t just my job.
You are called to preach (share the news) too. Every gift has a capacity. Your gift capacity may mean that you are only called to preach to one or two at a time while another person’s gift may contain the capacity to speak to thousands, but we are all called to proclaim the good news. The most powerful preaching doesn’t happen on Sunday. It happens on a daily basis as you live your life.
You are part of the preaching team of Passion!
Mark 16:15-20 is your commission and your call to preach!
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Did you know that of the 112 times the word “Preach” is found in the New Testament, in only 6 instances does it mean a formal discourse? Or in other words – preaching isn’t just about sitting through a sermon on Sunday it is about sharing God’s word daily.
c. Preaching must be biblical.
I want to make sure that we root to a particular kind of preaching - Biblical preaching (whole counsel of God’s Word = not just comfortable parts).
Preaching is necessary because we are sustained by the Word (Matt. 4).
1. His word is powerful – never returns void (Isaiah 55:11)!
2. Sharper than a two edged sword. It reveals us, gives us a standard to compare and live up to. The Bible in fact reads us more than we read it. We find our lives, our motives, our triumphs, our failures exposed in God’s Word.
3. We are cleansed by word (washing of the water of the word Eph. 5).
4. It is light and life (Ps. 119) and shows us where to walk.
5. We are comforted by Word (Romans 15).
6. Teaches us how to live – 2 Tim.
7. Keeps us from sinning (Ps. 119).
Some other things I am rooted to when it comes to preaching.
Relevant preaching, but not at the price of the Word.
Creative preaching. Gospel should never be boring.
Convicting preaching - We should not be able to hear God’s Word and remain the same. Growth and change should accompany preaching.
Passionate preaching. If it doesn’t move me it won’t move you.
Lived out preaching - not living it won’t preach it.
Ask you to become rooted to preaching. You can find people rooted to praise who aren’t rooted to preaching and vice versa. They will dance their self to death but won’t stay to hear word. Or they will listen to word but won’t worship. It isn’t an “either or” it is a “both and”. We must be rooted to preaching. Faith is brought into our lives by hearing. We must understand that our growth is wrapped up in what we are hearing, but isn’t restricted to that – we also have to grown on our own as well. Commit to preaching, but don’t live solely on my study or even my preaching. We need to become bathed in God’s Word by reading it and by hearing it!
Let’s do a root check! I challenge you to help me make sure that when we come into this place we have His presence. I challenge you to take His presence into your everyday life and let it catch people’s attention. I challenge you to preach! And to remain rooted to preaching!
