OUR THEME FOR TODAY IS EXPERIENCING THE PRESENCE OF GOD..EXODUS 33:14-15
INTRODUCTION;; IT IS GOD’s DESIRE THAT WE ARRIVE AT A PLACE THAT GOD HAS DESTINED FOR US.. FOR MANY PEOPLE LIFE IS A RACE. TO BE WON.. But for me LIFE IS A JOURNEY: TO EXPERIENCE TO ENHANCE OUR FAITH.. GOD PERMITS EXPERIENCE IN OUR LIVES..IN ORDER TO MAKE US GROW/.EXPAND OR MAYBE TO COMPACT US..
A race is a one time event, short lived, and then it’s over until another race is organized. Journeys, on the other hand, can be brief or they can be long.
A race has a finish line. While a journey has a destination.
A race has one purpose, to win. The purpose of a journey is to arrive at the destination but part of the joy of the journey, is the adventure and the stops along the way. So, for let’s think about life as an ongoing journey of faith.
SO OUR JOURNEY THIS EVENING BEGIN WITH A SIMILAR JOURNEY OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.
THIS PASSAGE OF TEXT FOLLOWS THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ESCAPED EGYPTIAN BONDAGE, YET ARE PURSED BY THE EGYPTIANS WHO CATCH UP WITH THEM AT THE RED SEA.
TEXT OUR TEXT IS Exodus 14:10-24
MANY YEARS AGO Some thirty-three centuries IN FACT ago, a man who had been a prince of Egypt stood on the edge of the Red SEA. THIS Around him were hundreds upon hundreds of people, men, women, and children, waiting for him to make his move. Behind him were the chariots of the enemy, only a short distance away. Ahead of him were the waters of the sea: murky, roiling, hiding who knows what. What choice could Moses make? Where could he turn, what could he do?
The situation looked utterly impossible. There was no good choice, the destruction on the one side, the unknown on the other, and lots and lots of folks depending on him. What could Moses do, IN this situation? But Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground."
SO Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
THUS OUR FIRST POINT OF REFLECTION.. IS NOT ONLY IN THE CROSSING THE RED SEA BUT LEAVING EGYPT BEHIND.. BECAUSE FOR YOU TO GET TO WHERE GOD WANTS YOU TO GO, YOU HAVE TO LEAVE EGYPT. So often we want to go back to EGYPT.. Go back to the familiar, GO BACK TO THE COMMON,, AMAZINGLY, AFTER ALL THAT GOD DID FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IT TOOK ONLY 40 DAY TO FORGET GOD, AND DECIDE TO GO BACK..
NEXT......YOU HAVE TO CROSS OVER THE RED SEA OF YOUR LIFE.. Israel’s passing through the Red Sea is one of the most exciting events recorded in the Old Testament. It was an event of great importance to the nation. It rid the Israelites, once for all, of Pharaoh’s dominion. It also released them from their obligation to return to Egypt, after traveling three days journey into the wilderness to worship God. This was, in fact, the birth of the nation Israel.
YET EVEN AFTER CROSSING THE READ SEA, GOD DOES SOMETHING, THAT APPEARS UNUSUALLY, HE DOES NOT LEAD THE PEOPLE TO THE PROMISE LAND BUT INSTEAD HE DIRECTS ISRAEL TO STOP SHORT OF ENTERING THE PROMISED LAND AND TO ESTABLISH AN ENCAMPMENT AT THE BASE OF A MOUNTAIN RANGE..
WHERE THEY WOULD ENCOUNTER GOD IN A WAY, THEY HAVE NEVER ENCOUNTERED HIM BEFORE..
NOW OFTEN When you look at a mountain range, you always notice certain peaks, high points that stick up and out above the rest of the range. Our lives have high points too.
Today we follow Israel to one of the highest points of their national life.
Today we follow them to Mt. Sinai where they WITNESS the presence of THE SOVEREIGN God.
A PLACE TO heard THE VOICE OF God’s.
A PLACE TO learn God’s laws.
A PLACE IN WHICH TO EXPERIENCE smoke and fire FROM HEAVEN, TO FEEL the earth move under their feet.
A PLACE TO EXPERIENCE GOD AND TO encounter the Almighty.
EXODUS CHAPTER 19.1-6. THE Mountain IN THE PLAIN OF Sinai, BECOMES SUCH A PLACE FOR THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.. V.1 says that "in the third month" after Israel left Egypt God caused them to leave "Rephidim" where they had defeated the Amalekites and to come to "the Wilderness of Sinai" where they "camped there before the mountain of God." The Hebrews would remain camped here for some 11 months. IN WHICH GOD WOULD COMMUNE WITH THEM.. SO OFTEN WE NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IT IS IN GODS TIME IN WHICH THINGS OCCUR.. MT SINAI BECOME FOR ISRAEL A Place of Worship.
1. Just as God moved the people of Israel to Sinai so they could hear His voice, God still moves His people today. God puts us in special places where we can experience His presence.
2. God may have moved you to a NEW place, . He may have moved you to a new city, a new neighborhood, a new house, a new workplace, a new school. This church EVENT may be the place where God has put you. God moves us in order to shake us up, to put us where we can experience Him.
3. God may not move you to a new place geographically, but to a new place in life. That might be a place of maturity, a place of greater understanding, a place of responsibility, a place of grief or even a place of a pain. If God has brought you to this place, God will teach you in this place.
NEXT,,,,IT BECOME A PART OF God’s PLAN TO MAKE ISRAEL a Special Treasure (v.5).
1. God says, "You shall be a special treasure to Me above all people for all the earth is Mine."
2. In Egypt, the Hebrew people were mere beasts of burden like cattle. They were lowly slaves.
3. However, God chose them above all to be his "special treasure." He did not choose them because they were worthy. He chose them because of His love and grace.
IT BECOME A PART OF God’s PLAN TO MAKE ISRAEL a Kingdom of Priests (v.6a).
1. God says, "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests." What did the "priests" do? They stood between the people and God. They represented God to the people.
2. God is saying, "I don’t want just a few priests. I want you all to be priests. I want you to be priests to the rest of the world. I want you to represent me to all mankind." God intended Israel to be a special nation that would be His representative to the Gentiles.
NEXT IT IS GOD’S PLAN TO MAKE YOU a Holy Nation (v.6b).
1. God also said, "And you shall be to Me… a holy nation." This means they were to be "set apart" different from the rest of the people around them. 2. Six different times in the Bible, God says to His people, "Be holy for I am holy." 1 Pet.1:15 adds, "…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." HOLINESS is not just coming to church, singing, praying and stu
dying the Bible. HOLINESS is a way of life! LASTLY IT IS GOD PLAN TO MAKE YOU PREPARE THEIR HEARTS IN ORDER TO RECEIVE HIS WORD..
1. In v.10, God said, "Go to the people and consecrate them." What does "consecrate" mean? It comes from a Hebrew word that means "dedicate, hallow, prepare, purify." I think God was saying, "Get my people ready."
I WISH TO TURN YOUR ATTENTION AHEAD A COUPLE OF HUNDRED YEARS/ TO THE Book of Micah Chapters 4-6 WHICH HAS AS A THEME IN WHICH Micah Reminds US OF What God Expects"
In these verses the prophet answers the question, "What does the Lord require of you? The prophet Micah states that the people have always known what God expects of them. "He has showed you, O man, what is good..." (Micah 6:8).
So it is in this context that God speaks through Micah Micah 6:8 " To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God." What is most striking is that two-thirds of the formula for right relationships to God has to do with human relationships.
1.....The call to do justice refers to human behavior in relationship to others, the care for fairness.
2...."To love kindness" refers to the kind of love and concern that is at the heart of the covenant between the Lord and Israel. This kindness is persistently faithful.
3... "To walk humbly with your God" means to submit your will to the will of God. God has already "showed you" this will. God asks of God’s people more than justice. He requires justice that is tempered with mercy. What is suggested goes well beyond courtesy, to concrete acts of service.
means more than not cheating or exploring; it implies help and assistance to those who have been cheated or exploited by others.
I wish to share with you a concept called "The prophetic role of the Church." I wish to begin by introducing you or reintroducing you to several, new terms, that will help set the stage for our message today. The words are; prophet, prophesy, prophecy
A "Prophet" is identified as an spiritually anointed person, who is believed to speak for God; as in giving a message or warning.
"Prophecy" is the act of telling about the future. (to foretell)
And "prophesy" is to tell what (in message form) will happen in the future. I am very conservative in my theology and I AM FIRMLY CONVINCED AND believe that God still in 2001, awards and anoints both men and women with the gift to RECEIVE REVELATIONS FROM GOD TO GIVE TO PEOPLE..
IF SOME ONE MAY HAVE ISSUE WITH THIS gift of divine revelation, because maybe someone is not listening. And it is only by listening, that we can hear the voice of God as God speaks. SAMUEL SAID SPEAK LORD FOR THY SERVANT IS LISTENING..
And I wish to SAY that EACH ONE OF YOU MEMBERS IN THE BODY, OF the Church of Jesus Christ has a prophetic role.
All Christians are called to be spokes persons of God’s present and future reign. And we must point out, on the one hand, where God’s will is being opposed.
And yet we must point out signs of the kingdom of God. We must point out where people suffer and die through violence, the kingdom of God has not yet come. If we see brothers and sisters at peace with one another, the hungry fed, and the cup of cold water given to the thirsty, these are signs of the reign of God.
We are people in covenant with God. And as people in covenant with God we are committed to the welfare of our neighbors, and this must include our economic and political relationships.
As indicated in Luke 4;18-19, Jesus began his public ministry with these words: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
A Short story..... Once upon a time there was a small village on the edge of a river. The people there were good and the life in the village was good. One day a villager noticed a baby floating down the river and swam out to save the baby from drowning. he next day this same villager was walking along the river bank and notice two babies in the rive. He called for help, and both babies were rescued from the swift waters. And the following day four babies were seen caught in the turbulent current. And then eight, then more, and still more.
The villagers organized themselves quickly, setting up watch towers and training teams of swimmers who could resist the swift waters and rescue babies. Rescue squads were soon working 24 hours a day. And each day the babies floating down the river increased. The villagers organized themselves efficiently. The rescue squads were now snatching many children each day. Groups were trained to give mouth- to mouth resuscitation. Others prepared formulas and provided clothing for the chilled babies. Many, particularly elderly women, were involved in making clothing and knitting blankets.
Still others provided foster holmes and replacement. While not all the babies, now very numerous, could be saved, the villagers felt they were doing well to save as many as they could each day. Indeed, the village priest blessed them in their good work. And life in the village continued on that basis.
One day, however, someone raised the question, "But where are all the these babies coming from? Who is throwing them into the river? Why? let’s organize a team to go upstream and see who’s doing it. "The seeming logic of the elderly countered: and if we go upstream who will operate the rescue operations? We need every concerned person here. "
But don’t you see," cried the one lone voice, "if we find out who is throwing them in, we can stop the problem and no babies will drowned. By going upstream we eliminate the cause of the problem."It is too risky."
And so the number of babies in the river increased daily. Those saved increased, but those who drowned increase even more. SO GOD LEAD US UP THE RIVER, , to see who is throwing in the babies and I invite you to go with me. SO THAT WE CAN go up the river together to se what causes the babies to be thrown in the water And prevent the babies from being thrown in to the river....Amen
BUT BEFORE WE CAN GO UP THE RIVER , WE MUST SPEND TIME IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD..
AS WE TURN BACK TO Exodus WE READ WHERE Moses heads down the mountain after 40 days of interacting with the Lord,..EXODUS 34:28-35 He carries with him the new stone tablets on which the Lord has written the 10 commandments.
The description of Moses’ is UNIQUE IN THE SENSE , Moses’ face is shining.
The reason for it is his speaking with the Lord. Moses spoke with the Lord before, yet his face didn’t shine. Why is it shining now? The only development to take place WITH the Lord was the people’s rejection of the Lord as seen in their worship of the golden calf.
After the golden calf, Moses’ role as a mediator intensifies. The people have rejected the Lord, but Moses has not. It’s as if the relationship that the Lord desired with the nation is now narrowed down to Moses. The Lord is now going to relate to the nation more through Moses than earlier.
Moses is under even more pressure than before. As such, he prays intensely for relationship with the Lord (33:12-23).
Thus Moses’ interaction with the Lord is more intense than before, and it shows on his face, which is shining.
Interaction with the Lord produces a change in Moses. The Lord’s glory has rubbed off on him. He is now more like the Lord. ......Interaction with the Lord changes people. People never leave an exchange with the living God unaffected. It is what changes us. It is what causes spiritual growth, as the Lord’s glory rubs off on us, too, and we also become more like the Lord.
B........VERSE 29...Moses, however, is unaware of the change. He comes down the mountain beaming he doesn’t know it. I WANT YOU TO KNOW TODAY THAT OFTEN TIMES The best kind of personal growth is the kind that we’re unaware of.
We go about seeking the Lord, and in the seeking we see the Lord, and in the seeing we are changed, usually gradually, and it catches us by surprise.
C.....VERSE 30....Aaron and the people notice the change, but their first reaction is to run for cover. They are afraid to come near him. We may get the same reaction from others as the Lord changes us into people more devoted to him. Not everyone wants to be around someone who is following the Lord.
LASTLY......Moses, calls first to Aaron and the leaders, and they are reassured to the extent that they allow Moses to speak with them. Then Moses speaks with all the people, SHARING WITH them the Lord’s commands. Then after speaking the Lord’s commands to the people, Moses does something interesting. He puts a veil over his face. Then whenever he went to speak with Lord, he removed the veil. When he emerged from the tent, he spoke to the people the commands of the Lord, unveiled. After speaking with the people, Moses would replace the veil.
What is the reason for this? The text says that he used a veil because the people would "see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone."
So when Moses was not issuing forth the words of the Lord, he put a veil on his face so that they could not see the glory of the Lord, reflected in his face.
WE GATHER FROM THIS READING....Man, who is sinful, cannot gaze on the Lord, who is not, and WHEN the Israelites, expressing their sin in the fashioning and worshiping of the golden calf, THEY COULD NOT even gaze on the reflected glory of the Lord EVEN IN THE FACE OF MOSES....
Moses, then, is protecting them, just as the Lord protected him by hiding him in the cleft of the rock and covering Moses as the glory of the Lord passed by (33:21-22). The reason they couldn’t look is that "their minds were hardened" by sin,. AND A hard mind, which is resistant to reception of truth, certainly can’t absorb the truth of who the Lord is. I LEAD YOU TO THE PLACE TO AFFIRM THAT IN ORDER TO SERVE GOD IN AN AUTHENTIC AND EFFECT WAY OUR PASSION TO SERVE MUST RISE UP FROM SPENDING TIME IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD..
We must spend time in the presence of God, . In order to EXPERIENCE him...
I believe in our own lives, we have yet to scratch the surface of who God is and with that, the knowledge of what He is capable of doing in and through our lives.
WHICH IS DEPENDENT HOW MANY OF US HAVE ASKED GOD TO SHOW US HIS GLORY..???
What happens when we EXPERIENCE God?" The text comes from Isaiah 6:1-13 Can you draw a visual image of what is taking place. Isaiah, the prophet of God, who has already worked in the role of prophet, having received a vision from God according to chapter one, in the reign of Uzziah, now stands in the throne room of the One who send the vision, the throne room of God.
There he sees the back of a robe, the train, so large that it fills the temple, angels flying around the throne, proclaiming "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." loud enough their voices shook the Temple, and smoke filled the room.
The first thing you are going to have to do to EXPERIENCE the presence of God is to let your own King Uzziah die.
In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. So the first thing that happens when we see the Lord is our Uzziah’s have died. The second thing that happens is we see ourselves for who we truly are. Isaiah cried out in vs. 5, "Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips."
When you see God face to face, He will affect your self-esteem. What happens is you might have thought you were cool, you might have thought you were somebody, but in the presence of God you will discover you are not anything like you thought you were. Can I be honest with you, we don’t take the Christian life serious enough because we don’t know who God is.
We have a tendency to forget who God is and we too, will try anything, and God has to bring us back to the understanding that we are not God.
BECAUSE STANDING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE.
2..........The next thing that happens when you see God is repentance and forgiveness.
Standing in the presence of God, Isaiah got the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about who he was, and it wasn’t all pleasant, that’s why he said, "Woe is me"
3..........And the final thing I see happens here in this passage when we see God is we receive our call and ministry.
We struggle so much with our purpose and reason for being because we have neglected to get into the presence of God in the terms God has set. God said, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? I hope you understand he did not say this before Isaiah had worked through the process.
If we just read the book of Isaiah and you will discover a changed man, a great ministry, and greater results after chapter 6 then before.
When you have stood in the presence of God there becomes no hesitation, no worry of inconvenience, no lack of desire to move out. We have Isaiah who has heard the voice of God lay out a challenge. I can hear Isaiah, not in a small voice, but one that wants to be heard above the sounds in the room, "Here am I, send me!" So today, God always wants to draw you into His Temple, the inner court.
What will happen when you see God?
"And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest’" (Exod. 33:14).
There is tremendous encouragement here. God assured Moses AND HE ASSURES US that He would be personally present with him as he led the Israelites to Canaan.
GODS DESIRE IS TO LEAD YOU INTO HIS PRESENCE.
DO YOU WANT TO SEE HIS PRESENCE..INTIMACY. It is my prayer you will work through this passage this week, but even more, I want to share the experience of seeing God right now, here in this room. He is here now, standing in our midst, his train fills the temple and he is waiting for you.
GOD IS LOOKING FOR YOUR RSVP.
AMEN...................AMEN......................AMEN
