A. GOD TOUCHED 8,000 PENTECOSTAL PREACHERS
1. Ed Silvoso of Harvest Evangelism invited me to del Plata, Argentina to speak to approximately 8,000 pastors, the largest gathering of Pentecostal preachers I had ever addressed.
2. The preacher before me motivated the crowd, there were shouts of “HALLELUJAH!” and “PRAISE THE LORD!”
3. Five men approached me. “We have read your book on fasting . . . and have come to pray for God to use you. They laid hands on me and prayed quietly over me.
4. A well-dressed lady spoke cultured English, who was a Supreme Court Justice in Argentina that was a believer. She said, “God told me to interpret for you today. Would you permit it?”
5. A small elderly lady holding a basin and a bottle of water and a towel asked, “May I wash your feet to prepare you for ministry?”
6. “I must go to the platform immediately,” I explained. “But I receive your blessing.” God could see her heart and blessed my sermon.
7. Silvoso said, “God spoke to me this morning. You should not preach on fasting today, but you must speak on knowing God intimately.”
8. Inwardly I prayed again, Jesus, help me!
9. I remembered something I had written just a couple of weeks earlier.
B. HOW TO GET INTIMATE WITH GOD
1. If you are going to become intimate with God, you must get close to God. And no one has ever been closer to God than the two-angels on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.
2. “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:17-18).
3. The Ark was about the size of a chest, and its lid was called the mercy seat. God sat on a box, not a throne. The word “ark” means box.
4. Located on the right and left sides were two angels sculptured of pure gold. Pure gold suggests holiness.
5. Gold has several degrees of purity, 24-karat gold being the purest.
6. The angels were pure gold, because God wants purity in the lives of those who worship Him and are close to Him.
7. The difference between pure gold and a lesser grade of gold is fire – and the hotter the purifying fire, the more dross and impurities are burned away.
8. Sludge floats to the top, and is skimmed away, leaving refined gold.
9. God uses the fire of suffering and difficulties to rid us of impurities.
10. Sometimes God allows physical failures, financial reverse, or family difficulties.
11. Fire burns away the impurity of greed and self, and other sins.
12. First, God touches our fleshly sins and other outward problems.
13. Next, God focuses on any inward sins that hinder your walk with Him.
14. Why did God demand that the angels and the mercy seat be made of pure God? Because He Himself was going to sit there. God is pure, so He would not sit there if the mercy seat and the angels were made of impure gold.
15. How pure is pure gold? The goldsmith will know when he looks into a mirror of gold to see his own face.
C. ANGELS WERE SCULPTED
1. Two worshiping angels were sculpted from a piece of gold – not poured into a mold but beaten into the proper form. “And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:18, KJV).
2. The purer the gold, the easier it would be for the craftsman to sculpt them.
3. They are literally shaped by hand into the worshiping position.
4. When you are pure, you have separated yourself from sin, i.e., you are holy. When you are sculpted – or beaten with hammers – you become yielded to God.
5. Things that are poured into the same mold become identical, something sculpted is unique.
6. Each of us is a little different from the other. All of us are fashioned by the hands of the same Master Craftsman.
7. The sculptor puts his personality and talent into what he forms.
8. The Master Craftsman puts unique life – His life – and design into you when He shapes you into a worshiper.
9. What kind of hammer does God use on you? A different hammer on greed, and an entirely different hammer on lust.
10. If you won’t allow the Lord to use His hammer on you, then something else or someone else will have to beat you into submission.
11. God doesn’t want to break you, but to bend your heart to His will. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NKJV).
D. SPREAD WINGS TO WORSHIP
1. The angels outstretched wings reminds us of worshipers stretching out their hands in praise to God.
2. God dwelt between the outstretched wings of the angels. The Lord came down to live in the praises of Israel (see Psalm 22:3).
3. Before you ask for something make sure you worship the Lord first. Then He will come to you with His presence.
E. THE ANGELS GAZED ON GOD
1. “And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:20, NKJV). Those closest to God want to gaze upon Him.
2. Their gaze was toward each other, but each was not looking at the other. Their gaze was upon God.
3. On the top, or lid of the Ark, the mercy seat is the place on earth where God sat. “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee” (Exodus 25:22, KJV).
4. Prayer is how we look at God. We must be close to Him if we are to see Him clearly and know Him intimately.
F. ANGELS REACHING OUT TO GOD
1. The cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings” (Exodus 25:20, KJV).
2. Your outward body reflects your inner soul. You give praise to God with your hands.
3. As I came to the conclusion, I asked the question, “What shall we do?”
4. I said, dramatically, “WE MUST FALL ON OUR FACE BEFORE GOD!” And they did!
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God and rejoice with you.
Dr. Towns’ email is eltowns@liberty.edu.
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