“There’s Got To Be More!”
Acts 9:1-6
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked.
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. "Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
Difference between the Omnipresence and the Manifest presence of God.
Saul as a believer in God as it was taught in the temple. The Word of God they studied did not teach that the messiah would come as Jesus came. This was new to the church and different making it hard for the church to accept.
The church of Paul’s time was really no different than we are today. When we are introduced to something remarkable and life changing we may not accept it at first. We may even say it is not of the God we know and understand.
Saul knew God and worshiped him. God was with him because God is every where. Through the omnipresence of God he is always with people.
John 1:3-5… Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
But when we experience the manifest presence of God we are changed deep in our life forever. All though Saul knew about God, he came to fully experience and KNOW God on the road to Damascus.
Paul wrote in 2 Tim 1:12…I know whom I have believed,
Heb 8:10-12… This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ’Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
The fullness of God is experienced in a concentrated form expressed by many as the Glory of the Lord.
We call it having a great service or experiencing the power of God.
2 Chron 7:14… if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
This scripture is giving us instruction to seek more of God than the Omnipresence of God. If God is every where and that is all we need of God than why would those called, His People, need to seek is face.
God’s favor flows where ever his face is directed. When God shows up in a Manifest presence form He is there for a specific purpose and will accomplish a dynamic result.
It is the manifest presence of God we seek here at Open Door Church.
2 Chron 7:14… seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Maybe it is our wicked ways that continues to encourage us to be satisfied with the omnipresent of the lord in our life instead of seeking the manifest presence.
God responds to those who are truly hungry for more of Him. When we repent, reach for His face, and pray, He forgives, redeems, and shows Himself in a greater way.
Guided By God
Ps 32:8-11
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Ill The child knows the signals of a parent: talking in church. Look back at my mom and she would have this certain look.
Have we yet matured to know when God would be unhappy with our behavior? Do we know God enough to catch his still small voice? Or do we still need to hear the thundering voice of a prophet to correct our ways.
Yes God is everywhere but he does not turn his face and favor everywhere. That is why we are to seek his face.
Shekinah Glory of God
When God would show up the Jews called it Shekinah Glory. King David wanted to bring the Glory of the Lord to Jerusalem. He made an effort to do so when he traveled to bring the Ark of the Covenant into then capitol.
David was not concerned with a gold box full of items from the days of Moses. He desire was the blue flame that hovered between the out stretched wings of the cherubim on top of the ark. The flame signified the manifest presence of God. It meant that God himself was present.
David could have been satisfied with the omnipresence of God in the palace but He was a man after God’s own heart. He knew there had to be more!
Where ever the manifest presence of God was found there always followed blessing, victory, and power.
Intimacy will bring about blessing but the pursuit of blessing will not bring about intimacy
The Anointing and the Glory
Ester spent one full year preparing herself to come into the presence of the King part of which required repeated soaking in fragrant anointing oil. The side benefit was every man who came near to her noticed how lovely she smelled. But she would not have anything to do with them, just as we must not have anything to do with the ideas of the world.
The purpose of anointing is not to make man like you bit to make the king like you.
David was anointed by God to be the king long before the people accepted him as king. Our reason to be anointed is to be able to please God.
Ill Wearing Cologne: I wear cologne to be accepted by Rhonda not by anyone else. The by product is that I might smell good to you also, but the motive is to be acceptable to my wife.
The true motive for any anointing is to be able to be in the presence of the King. For the manifest presence of God to be where I am.
My flesh must be dealt with. In truth our flesh stinks to God. Flesh refers to that part of us that is not holy and acceptable to God. The anointing of the Holy Spirit covers the stench of our flesh so we can enter into the chamber of the King.
The anointing may make us represent God with boldness but we must always remember the anointing is just the beginning.
The whole purpose of the anointing is not to have a good service and leave satisfied, but to prepare you as an individual or all of us as a group to enter into the manifest presence of God.
Too often believers remain in the anointing and never move into the glory. The anointing makes man feel really good and we want to stay in it. The Glory of God makes the flesh of man very uncomfortable.
Isa 6:4-7… At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
When our flesh dies more of our spirit lives.
Welcome the Manifest Presence of God
We need to learn how to welcome and handle the glory of God. Through his presence we can see the revival we all desire. Though his Glory we can experience the salvations we are praying for. Right now the church has the light of the presence glowing at a flicker but if we are not careful it will soon go out.
God is not dedicated to the present day church as it now stands. If necessary he will do away with he entire religious community in order to reach the lost of the world. It would not be the first time he left a bride at the altar. When the Jews would not follow Him he grafted in the gentiles into His family.
If the church of today stands in the way of His ultimate goal he will simply move our junk pile out of the way and establish a ministry another way.
Repentance
God is not coming to people who merely seek His blessing, he is coming to people who seek His face.
We have sought His hands for too long. We continue to want what He can do for us. We want His blessings, we want the chills and thrills, and we want the fishes and loaf.
But we shirk at the higher command of seeking His face.
1 Cor 1:29…That no flesh should glory in his presence. KJV
When the glory of God really falls we will not be able to add anything too it. Out ideas, projects, concepts, programs, ministries and processes will fail in the presence of God.
We see this in he old testament at the dedication of the Temple that Solomon built.
1 Kings 8:10-11… When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.
Real Revival
I don’t know if we fully understand real revival. Real revival is when the manifest presence of the Lord is apparent to such a degree where people repent of sins and weep before the Lord automatically.
Real revival is taking place when the most difficult person falls before God in desperation.
People will respond to the Glory of God more than any other aspect we have presented to them. They are not interested in doctrine, tracts, or special guest speakers. They don’t want hype, programs or special events.
What they always will respond to is the Glory of God manifested in His fullness. Then we will see weeping between the porch and the altar with repentance from the heart.
There has got to be more and it is time we experience it all!
There has got to be more and we need to seek it out.
There has got to be more of God than what we know and have experienced.
There has got to be more and it is time we rediscover the manifest presence of God!
Prayer
