Bible Teaching

The Scripture tells us about the preparation of the bridegroom and the five wise and the five foolish, and how there was a preparation and anticipation longing to heart those words, "The bridegroom cometh," and they rose immediately prepared for his coming and their lamps were lit; but the foolish who had not made preparation, knowing where to obtain oil, but lacking, went back and shook themselves and tried to become prepared but it wasn't in time and the door was shut and no man can open it. The same consequence when the finger of God shut the ark in the days of Noah. So we realize that there is not going to be another chance for us, as we saw in Thessalonians. So those of us who know to be prepared, there is a great accountability that is put upon us. We study in the Scriptures and we see the passage that has to deal with marriage supper of the king. The invitations were sent out, and the Scriptures says that those who received the invitations made light of it. What was it that seemed to demand their time? What was the real treasure of their heart? The Lord, speaking in that particular parable to us, says that those who made light of it said, "I have to go prove some oxen I just purchased." Another had to go and check out the land that just been acquired. The Scripture says another had taken a wife, and all of these things that were obviously the love of their life, the treasure of their heart; because where your treasure is—what does the Scripture say? That's where your heart going to be. What caused your heart to leap today? What was exciting to you today that caused the blood to begin to flow and the energy to come back? For some people, it’s the dinner that being prepared. Others heard that there was a sale at the Mall. It doesn’t matter what it is that distracts us; He is going to appear to those that love his appearing.

So we’re going to talk a little bit about the presence of the Lord. You see, there’ll be no love and anticipation for His coming if there is not a love and contentment in his presence now. If you’re not content now, if something else is drawing on your heart, if there is something that is vying for your heart’s energy and its attention and its affection that replaces that longing for the awareness of His presence, then we’ve deceived ourselves into thinking that truly we’ve prepared ourselves for the Lord. Let me show you a couple of passages here that we want to deal with and talk about that presence for just a moment.

Turn over to Hebrews, if you would, chapter 13. In Hebrews 13:5, interesting passage. It says, "Let your [living] conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Now, lets look at the context of this for just a moment and that passage, "…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." So we realize that there’s so many times a fear of men and a fear of the opinion of the world or their evaluation of us; and what the prophet is saying to us here, or the apostle asking us is: Are you content with what the Lord has made you, or are you trying to rise up to men’s expectations? Do you understand that we don’t need the approval of men? We’re living in a kingdom that has different standards and judgements of success. How many of us are getting caught up with trying to be either approved of, or trying to somehow appease the world system. By doing that, we begin to lose our focus; we begin to focus upon the things that are temporal. We begin to have earthly treasures where thieves can break in on a continual basis and steal, moths can bring about corruption; and beloved in the day that we’re living there needs to be an evaluation of where our hearts are. So he says this to us, "…be content with such things as ye have: [for the Lord has said] I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

I want to talk about the presence of the Lord and the assurance that He is present in our live right now. We have that promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. I’ll be with you always, to the ends of the earth. Now the word here is a very interesting word. The word, "leave", where He says I will never leave you—it’s a great word. It means I’ll never give up on you or I’ll never turn you lose. Don’t you like that? Aren’t you glad that the Lord is never going to give up on you? So you can only lose one way tonight, can’t you? That’s if you give up; because God is not going to give up on you. You see, if we lose hope, if we lose awareness of His presence, then we will give up. There is no hope without the presence of God. There’s no strength without the Spirit of God living through us. So we begin to be discouraged and cast down in our hearts and in our minds when we’re trying to fulfill everything in our own strength and we fail. We get under condemnation and then we rise up and we finally get refreshed and begin to go back at it again, and somehow¾ as the utterance went forth¾ somehow, like the older son, we’re trying to gain approval of Father and earn our way in the kingdom; and everything God is doing is trying to cause you to know you can’t earn your way. You’ll never perform satisfactorily. If you’re guilty of one, you’re guilty of all. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. When you begin to understand the love that He has for your soul and that He’ll never give up on you and He will never turn you lose—How can we do anything but long for the appearing and the consummation of that kind of a love relationship? See, we’re in a betrothal right now. You know, it’s interesting as you watch couples—they feel that God is bring them together. You begin to hear statements. These are the kind of things that I listen to when you see people that are wanting to come together. I like to listen how they talk about the other person. Many of them, of course, they don’t want to do anything that’s not of light and not honest, so of course they will begin to speak of the areas of their life that need to change. Of course, when it comes from the woman’s perspective, they believe that that is their role in life, to change men into their image and make them acceptable. You listen and hear, "O yes, he’s great but…" Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. If you’re in love with somebody they’re the greatest thing on the planet, man. There is nothing wrong with them. We’re all sitting back going, "Love is truly blind." All they say is how good they are, and how great they are, and how beautiful they are, how committed they are; and everybody else is going, "They are in love. There is no question, this is love." That’s the kind of love we’re to have in our pursuit of Father and in our boasting in the righteousness of God. A love that is absolutely, totally, consumed with the object of our love, the Lord Jesus. Now He is the only one that we can have love to that degree. We can’t love our husbands that way. We can’t love our wives that way, or our children that way. The love we have for them is a consequence of that type of love for Father; and He will keep it orderly; but he will have no other gods before him. Not a person. Not an institution called marriage, or anything else. For he is a jealous God, as we’re going to see as we go into this little look at the presence of God. He is jealous for your attention.

Where was your heart today? I’m not talking about the mundane things that you have to do around the house or on your job. I’m not talking about those things. I’m talking about a compulsion to hear a word from Him. Did you go through the day without longing to hear his voice? That still small voice that says, "This is the way, walk in it." It brings peace and you go, "Praise God. He said he would never leave me nor forsake me. He is with me always to the ends of the earth. I’m at peace now, I’ve heard his voice." Can you get through the day without hearing his voice and feel comfortable? What excited you? The anticipation of a friend or an event today? What about the awareness of his presence? What was it that Adam and Eve, of course, saw as the great treasure in their innocence? Our minds can’t comprehend it. I tried to think what it would be like. Can you imagine a perfect earth without all we know that is part of the judgment of sin. I don’t know for sure what it would have been like. I can anticipate that there probably weren’t hostile bugs.

Have you ever noticed that some of the most beautiful places in world—you see all these tropical areas. You go out there and you are attacked. N-E-E-Y-A-R-O-O-M! Strange creatures flying in and biting you. It’s beautiful and you would like to lay down and rest and the army ants carry you off somewhere. Whatever conflict there is with hostile nature. It wasn’t that way, I don’t believe, in the beginning. In the Garden of Eden the ants would bring the cake back, you know, because man was the preferred creation, wasn’t he; and all things were subject and under his power.

That beautiful garden that we try to imagine. I’ve been to some nice places. I know you have, some nice tropical areas. Beautiful places in Africa. The rain forest in St. Kitts. Some of the great tropical areas of Hawaii, that lush garden. You can imagine what it was like, because in the cool of the day the Lord would come and walk with them. The old hymn "He walked with me and He talked with me along life’s merry way." Then sin came in and we see God, of course, as he always did, coming to manifest his presence, and Adam and Eve weren’t to be found. He said, "Where are you guys?" "We’re hiding over here in the bush; and, man, these bugs are mean today. We’re afraid to come into your presence because we’re naked." He said, "Who told you that?" "Our eyes have been opened. We have the knowledge of good and evil, and we’ve discovered that we’re evil;" and God initiates the killing of the sacrifice so man can be covered, so he could come back into His presence. What have we done today with the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, offered for us, His blood shed, so that we, being cleansed daily by coming into the light, would come into the presence of God. When the cleansing takes place, when the appreciation of the sacrifice is appropriated it will cause you to come back to the presence of God. So many that want to enjoy the sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world and finally clothe themselves with righteousness; but instead, go the other direction and consume it upon themselves: the time, the energy, the good health, whatever prosperity God has given us. The appreciation of that sacrifice, beloved, will bring you into the presence of God. Nothing else matters. When you’re aware of what it is to be out of the presence of God, there is nothing that you won’t do to know that restoration. So we realize, then, that God is calling to that in this hour.

Hebrews 10¾ turn over there for just a second¾ verse 22 tells us that we're to come into that presence. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." So we see that there is to be an assurance, a boldness, of coming, and that is going to come as we sit down and cleanse ourselves with the water of God's word. We begin to understand what the word of God declares about our sonship and our right to access that presence.

Have you ever taken any time to meditate and say, "What if it was a discernible, tangible, literal presence? Wonder if I could really go and meet God somewhere? Somewhere cool." What if God had a house here? What kind of a house do you think God would have? Probably would pretty nice, don't you think? He says, "Come boldly into my presence. Come on, draw nigh unto me with a true heart and full assurance. Come over any time you want and watch the big screen TV." I'm telling you, God has a big screen TV. You can come in and watch the football game. Find out whether all the money that guy is throwing towards the Redskins is going to pay off this year. He already paid Deion. He's happy, laughing all the way to the bank. So we come in, and He has a great pool. You know, we may see the sun around here sometime, so we get to go to the pool. One of the neatest pools that I've ever seen was at Hearst Castle. If any of you have ever been there. Isn't that a really neat indoor pool? The outdoor pool is kind of cool too. It's laid out in a way¾ the tile was laid out in a way that the refraction of light coming into the pool, you can't discern which is the shallow end and which is the deep end. It all looks the same. It's quite a distinction. I think it goes from three feet to ten feet, whatever. When you're looking at it, you can't tell. Now, that's not good for diving. THOCK! Oh man, shallow end! Really kind of cool. All of the portico that is around and stuff¾ you have to understand how this guy did stuff. It's not replicas. He sent to Europe and brought actual ruins from Greece and Rome, and that's what's there. The indoor pool is the one that is beautiful. Pure gold all over. This was the costliest home ever built of any private residence. Back at the turn of the century, 54 million dollars for the house. Don't forget where we are. We're going to God's house, okay?

I can remember strolling through Hearst Castle; it was impressive. All of the tapestries. He had the greatest personal art collection in the world. He was the one, I told you the story: he heard of this object that he wanted and had to have. Nobody could find it, so he hired a man full-time to look for this piece of art that he had to have. It consumed him. He could not live without that piece of art, so he hired a man full-time, that went all over the world looking for that one piece of art; and finally found it in one of Hearst's warehouses stored away. He already owned it! He had so much he didn't even know what he possessed. When he saw that he had to have it; but he already had it! That's the way our flesh is. That is what's drawing us away from the presence of God; but God is calling us into his house, into his presence. What if there was a real place to go every night, where anything you wanted was there at your beck-and-call. The glory, the presence, the presence of God was there. As soon as you stepped across that threshold, all the cares of life, all of the fear, all of the anxiety left at that threshold. As soon as you walked into the house of this man, something supernatural happened. Not only that but all of the vexation fell off of the day. You were cleansed, refreshed, and strengthened. Would you go? How many think you would make a journey into that oasis, called the presence of God? It's real, it's obtainable, and we've all experienced it. The question I have is, since we've all partaken of that and seen how good it is, why do we live without it so much? What causes us to settle for all of the mundane? What is it that keeps us in this place of discontentment? We're content in that we know, legally, that we're right with God, that we're the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. I know that legally; but how many of you like to know that that righteousness experientially, to where you feel pure, and you feel the peace. There is a boldness in you to pray and an expectation that when you pray God hears you and answers. We've all been there, haven't we? We've had those times when you say, "O man, there is nothing like it!" What causes us to come down from the mountain so readily and be caught up into all the mundane Christian living?

As I was meditating and spending a little time, I think the Lord gave us a little bit of insight in this. Over in the book of Exodus, chapter 33. It's a passage that we've all studied many times; but I think there are some truths there that we need to draw from again that will really prepare us in this expectation of the Lord's coming. We're not talking now about expecting his presence to heal our bodies. We're not talking about knowing his presence to destroy one of our enemies and preserve our lives, possibly, on the street, or whatever else may be taking place. We're not talking about his presence to be able to believe for a miracle and lay hands on the sick and see them recover. We're talking about his presence to transform us into his image. We've talking about that one ultimate moment in life that we're striving for and hoping for; because in an instant we're going to be changed. In a moment, corruption will take on incorruption and morality immorality. The question we have to answer tonight is: Are we living for that moment? Are we preparing for that moment; or are there treasures of our heart that we refuse to acknowledge or admit. The apostle calls them weights and sins that just so easily beset us, that slow us in this race, that bring us into a time of spiritual apathy; the questioning of God's provision for us. A questioning of the effectual working of the blood of Jesus. The children of Israel experienced this same thing.

Now, lets see if I can condense it a little bit as we come into Exodus, chapter 33. We know what's taking place. God had delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, brought them out of the world. They come through, miraculously, the Red Sea. We see that as a baptism. So we see the world's power broken, sin's power broken, Egypt defeated. We're born again, we're brought out. We're baptized in the Red Sea, the Scripture says in Corinthians. Now we move out in the land in the pursuit of promise of victorious living in Jesus. We're being brought into that land of promise. This walk of sanctification. In that walk of sanctification there are trials that are coming upon us. Those trials are times when we find ourselves without water. There was a murmuring and God had to bring judgment upon the children of Israel. God had a supply for them called manna. They began to despise it because humans are people who like variety. Variety is the spice of life. So we have to have more than just this manna every day. Not only that, we can't even store it up. Every day we have to go out and pray: Give us this day our daily bread. Surely we can hoard some up so we don't have to trust God on a daily basis. Surely the Lord will bless us with an abundance so we don't have to pray any more, "Give us this day our daily bread." Did you pray that today? Or did you have sufficient already? Did it even cross you mind that God was the source? Oh, we bow our heads, many of us, and pray. Is it with true thanksgiving? You say, "Yeah, man, I am thankful for that food. I like food. Thank ya, Lord, for the food!" You're not to be thankful for the food; you're to be thankful for his provision, for the providence of God, that He is the source. The food will be sanctified through our acknowledging of his provision; but it is not the object. It's not the food, it's the provision, the provider. Are we thankful? What is it that would cause us to lose sight of this? I wonder if we had to trust God every day for that morsel, if maybe we would despise?

So, as they find themselves in this pursuit and many of the other trials that came upon them, it was the life of sanctification. All of the trials of the wilderness are God's provision of sanctification. We're tried by fire, aren't we? God puts us into the crucible of affliction and trials to let us see what is in our heart, the Scripture says. He causes them to wonder to prove what was in their hearts. So all that we call trials in this life is God revealing our heart to us. So he is bringing them out, and now He is going to, at this time, bring them the instruction of what we call the Decalogue and all of the Levitical ordinances. Those were coming about because they were going to live as a community, and God knows what was in man. The natural tendency in man is to do what is right in his own eyes; and when every many does what is right in his own eyes you have anarchy, so God brought about rules so there could be a coexistence together, where you couldn't take another man's property, and wife. You're not to seek destruction or harm, fabricating lies to destroy your enemy. In the midst of all of that, He gave the laws on personal hygiene. He gave laws on communal living and cleansing of the camp. I always liked that. Did you know why God wanted them to have latrines? You say, how did we get off over there? What are we talking about? Do you all understand why God didn't want them just to go wherever they felt like; and nobody following with a pooper-scooper? Because God was in the camp! God didn't want to step in your stuff. That is what its all about; and some of us leave a lot of stuff. He said, I want you to clean up after yourselves because I'm going to come into your presence. He begins to talk about we can sanctify our lives and how our lives are to be set in order because he wants to move in our midst and visit us. The dietary laws were given to keep us healthy and well. In the midst of all of this, Moses begins to go into the presence of the Lord to receive these instructions. We all know the story, but what we miss is this: Do you remember what the people said¾ in this whole cross-section of time¾ when God really began to manifest himself after the judgement and they saw the awesomeness and power of God. They were afraid to approach his presence. They told Moses, you go up and hear what he says, come down and tell us and we will do it. Well, they were afraid of the presence of God. There are people who are afraid of God's presence today. When the Spirit of God really begins to move, supernatural things begin to happen¾ I've seen it over the years in Charismatic visitations of God. People begin to step back and say, "This can't be God, it's strange, it's supernatural, it's scary. I'm more reserved. What is all this that is taking place here? People dancing and shouting and falling under the power of God and all of these different things." God's presence scares carnal people.

With that in mind, the Lord is speaking here and He tells Moses you come on up and I'm going to give you this direction for the people. As the Lord is speaking to him, of course, a party breaks out. Right? We'll condense this again. We'll go into another condense mode. Aaron makes the calf, the party breaks out, God is speaking to Moses what's the noise we hear, comes down off the mountain, Moses is ticked, throws the tablets, they break, and then something really interesting happens at this particular time. Moses, standing in the midst of these people in Exodus, chapter 32 says, verse 26, "...Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him." You see, He said He's going to destroy the people. Moses is interceding for them. He comes and says, Who is on the Lord's side? Who is willing to come into the presence of God? Who is willing to forsake the mundane and temporal to embrace the invisible God? It's scary! The mountain rumbles. There is smoke. There is lighting. The trumpet blasts of the voice of God that are deafening and the people are just like Adam of old: looking for a bush; but there is always a remnant that wants to move into that. There is always a Joshua who will go and remain at the door of the Tabernacle. Oh, they all stood in reverence when the shikina glory appeared and Moses went to intercede on their behalf. Joshua made a little extra effort.

That is what I want to talk about tonight. What kind of effort are we making? Are we content to stand at the door of our own tents and watch God; or, like Joshua, are we going to move toward the Tabernacle into the presence of God. Now all of the people benefited; but there was an assurance in Joshua that wasn't in the rest. There was a knowing who He was and what His purposes were that brought about a contentment. Of course he needed to be encouraged like everybody else; and Moses would instruct him to be strong and courageous and that God would perform the work and take him into the land He had promised. None of us are without doubts and fears and times of weakness in our lives; but there was another heart, another spirit in Joshua and Caleb. Do you know what it was? They wanted the presence of God and the glory of God¾ proper representation of Him¾ more than anything else. They longed for it more than their own self-comfort and ease. They were willing to put their lives out on the line and say, "We're well able. Let's go up at once and possess this land." If they were wrong, they were going to die; but who cares if we're dying because what is important is the presence of God anyway. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Moses said over in Deuteronomy 31 that the Lord will go with you, he'll not fail you or forsake you, Joshua. That one thing you desired, His presence, that one thing you longed for as you came up the mountain with me, as you sat at the door of the Tabernacle, it's that presence that will never fail you. When we begin to understand that principle, that longing for the visitation of God on a daily basis in our lives, that when we come for prayer, or have our morning devotions, we just don't go through the motions of it. We don't get up until we've encountered God. "I'll not let you go until you blessed me," the covenant child said. Well there was already a covenant made. I have rights with God. God has already made promises. The covenant child said, "I won't let you go until you’ve blessed me." He already had a sure thing, but he didn't let God go until he had that presence that changed his life at that moment. How many of us are resting on that ultimate promise and missing the immediate presence? Trusting in the promise and missing the presence. It's His presence that brings fullness of joy. It's His presence that brings that strength to us that makes us invincible. "Who is on the Lord's side," Moses said; and those who remained faithful to their flesh died. 3,000 slain by the tribe of Levi, but with the sword. You think it gets rough around here, these guys demanded sanctification in a whole new realm, didn't they? The priests went out and killed 3,000 people and were commended of God. The Lord said, I spared the rest. I'll provide them with atonement, but still bring judgement upon each one personally. I'll save the people, but I'll deal with individuals on their personal treasurers. Moses intercedes and says, "Lord, if you don't forgive their sins, then blot me out of the book." What an intercessor! What a heart for the people of God! The Lord responds and says, chapter 32:33, "...Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Look at verse 34, Therefore, go; lead the people. "Therefore now go, lead the people…behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made." So here is Moses, again, in this conflict of heart. How can I lead these people? They're a stiffnecked people. Lord how can I lead these people? They have no appetite for your presence. I'll send an angle before you; but you need to know something, though. Verse 3, "...For I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people...."

Do you want to know how to get rid of the presence of God? Just stiffen your neck. Just demand things to be done your way. Don't listen to counsel. Reserve those areas in your life that you might be making excuse for that say ,"That is just who I am." Change! "It's genetic. It's environmental. It's cultural." Change! Be conformed into his image. Love his appearing; because the stiffnecked people won't know the presence of God. How do we then look at our own hearts and say, in this encounter, this preparation for his presence¾ we talked about what is it that brings us off the mountain? What is it that costs us that awareness of His presence? Listen to what he says. "You're a stiffnecked people and here is what I want you to do. I want you to put off your ornaments. I want you to put off your ornaments." Now what does ornaments got to do with anything? The ornaments were their jewelry, they gay clothing. The Scripture talks about it in one of the passages, about their beautiful attire.

He said, (Exodus 33) verse 5, "...I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee...." That will get your attention! How many of you think that will get you undressing real fast? I'm going to show up in a moment, and if your ornaments aren't off, I'm taking you out. Dear lord, there would be silk and mohair and everything else flying. Down to your sackcloth. A broken and contrite heart he will not (What?) despise. But He does despise the haughty, stiffnecked spirit that says, "I can live without you. I can do with on my own. I don't need your daily bread, I've already laid up." You fool, this night your soul will be required of you. There was nothing wrong with that guy having abundance. God nowhere said there was anything wrong with him having a full barn; and God never said there was nothing wrong with having barns, plural. None of that was the issue. The issue was he didn't know he wasn't ready; and that this night his soul was going to be required of him. The problem was not all of the excess, the problem was he wasn't relying on God; and he was not giving God the glory, and he wasn't in subordination to Jesus lordship.

You see, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they came with ornaments. They came with gold, the wealth of Egypt. Wonder if they thought they were something? We're God's people, we're special. They began to live unto themselves within their hearts, and it was their abundance that supplied the gold for the calf.

I've shared the story with you before. I was in an old Pentecostal Church. One of the holiness churches where you have to wear your hair up in a bun, sleeves down to here and black, and the ladies put white powder on their faces looked like they were embalmed. It was the Church or God, and the Church of God doesn't believe that you're to wear any jewelry. We went to teach and I had some jewelry on, and one of men came to be and said, "Brother Scott, I want you to know that we really enjoyed that ministry. The word of God was right on and it ministered to our hearts tonight; but there was just one thing," he said, "The jewelry you're wearing can really be a stumbling block to some people." I said, "Really?" He said, "Yeah." He said, "Do you think it would have been better if you would have left it off, left it at home and just realized it could be a stumbling block?" I said, "Yeah, I thought about that a long time before I came," I said, "but in the Scriptures I realized one thing: As long as the children of Israel had their jewelry on, things were pretty good. It was when they took it off and made a golden calf and worshiped the doctrine instead of God that they got in trouble." His eyes opened about that big. He heard it loud and clear! He said, "I never thought about that!" I said, "You're making a bigger deal out of the gold than you are the presence. Was God's presence here tonight?" "Yeah!" "Then God can reveal himself even past jewelry, can't he?"

This guy began to see the liberty that belongs to us. It was interesting to see a chance in his heart; but the children of Israel took off those ornaments and made a calf. There is a new treasure being revealed by God, and verse 5 says, "...put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee." Listen to that: Put off the ornaments while I decide what to do with you. How many of you realize that when you begin to be smitten in your heart and challenged by the presence of God, and you repent and fall on your face in sackcloth and ashes; how many of you know that it's not over then? God is deciding what to do with you now. Many of the decisions we make have consequences; and God is deciding what to do. The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mt. Horeb.

"And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation." He moved it outside the camp. Why? Because they were a stiffnecked people. Now they had to come out of the midst of the people, the congregation, as individuals and in their own individual pursuit, long for the presence of God. "…come out from among them, and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing..." (2 Corinthians 6:17)

You can look at it over in Deuteronomy 7:1-12. "And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle..." (Exodus 33:7) The presence of God is to be sought. He said He would never leave us or forsake us. He said, I'm with you always, even unto the ends of the earth; but we know from the Scriptures that he can be present and we don't know it. We can judge ourselves by our past performances, like Samson, and know those great testimonies when the power and presence was on us; but how horrible it would be to wake up that day and shake ourselves and the Spirit is gone and I knew it not. To wake up like the virgins and the lamp flicker and I thought I was ready. How do we know that we're ready or not? The wise make preparation to finish the race. They had more than enough. Are you running on fumes? Have you been out of the presence of God to where now only your momentum is carrying you?

On our trip out to Joliet, as usual, I like to use all of the gasoline that I pay for. You never know, the Lord can come and I want to leave an empty tank, especially at $2.36 a gallon like it was there. We were on the walkie-talkies and I asked Star, "How's your gas?" "Past empty." I said, "Way past?" He said, "Yeah!" So I called OnStar® and said, "How far are we from this exit?" It was the exit that we were going to stay that night. There was a lot of traffic and I didn't want to stop and get gas just before we went up there. I called OnStar® and asked how far are we from this exit? They said, I don't remember the exact number. You're approximately 16.7 miles. Approximately. So I said, "Let's keep going. The Lord is able, praise God." That's presumption, but anyway we were moving. I figured momentum would get us there. We got there and had enough fuel to finish the course-a 34-gallon tank, and we only put in 33.7 gallons. We had 3/10 left. More than enough.

How many of you don't like to cut it that close when you're out on a trip? But are you cutting it that close in your daily life? Do you have more than enough to finish this course? What if there had been an accident? What if there had been construction that backed-up traffic? We would have run out of gas; but we had some extra in the trailer. That is why I went for it. You thought I was stupid, didn't you? I had 20-gallons in the back. It would have cost me less time to fill up on the side than to pull into a service station. I was ready, and you all thought I was stupid.

The whole message is having enough. Longing for the presence of God in a way that you spend time in preparation. You calculate the energy, the time, that is being used up in all the other mundane things to make sure that the lamp lights and you will be able to enter in when you hear, "the bridegroom cometh." Do you long for His presence tonight?

I've taken too long. This 33rd chapter goes on and in verse 14, "And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." You see, Moses said: Lord, I'm not interested in going anywhere without your presence. Understand my heart, Lord. I know you said you would send your angel, but angels aren't getting it. I don't want an angel. An angel that is a mighty messenger of God, sent to bear us up lest be dash our foot against the stone. An angel that can come and destroy our enemies by the thousands. An angel that knocks the wheels off of Pharaoh's chariots. An angel that delivers Daniel from the lion's den. No, I don't want to settle for that. If your presence doesn't go, I'm not interested. I'm not interested in miracles. I'm not interested in healings. I'm not interested in all of the ease and pleasures of life. I'm not looking for a Promised Land without your presence.

We'll pick it up on Sunday, this heart of Joshua and the presence of God; and what really becomes the treasure of our heart. How can we believe we are loving His appearing, when we're not satisfied with His daily presence? How can we really think that we are looking for His return and loving His appearing when we are not loving His word, and loving to pray, and loving to rest and wait and hear the voice of God? To take enough time to hear the still, small voice that makes everything right. I'm on course. God's my source. He's going to drive the enemies out before me. Don't know how, don't know when; but I know His presence. I know His voice. I'm at peace. If you don't have peace to finish the day, there won't be peace to finish the race. The day is not over.

Father, speaks to our hearts tonight. Our doctrine talks about the imminence of Your return; but are our lives lived like You could come at any moment. Another day is almost over. Have we used it for your glory? Or is it one of the days that we would like to have over? We're not going to come under condemnation. If you’ve had a bad day, if you kicked the cat, didn't pay at the toll booth, ran a red light, He said He's not going to ever forsake you. He won't give up on you. He won't cast you off. That should make you run to His arms right now, confessing your sin. He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Do you feel weary in the race? Come into His presence with singing. Just begin to worship and thank Him for all of the good things. The reason you are cast down is because you have lost sight of the promise. You're judging everything based upon the temporal. You are looking at your circumstances, and you've lost the glory of God. You want the presence? There has to be praise, and thanksgiving, and rejoicing. The refreshing? It's in His word. He's already made the provision. The sacrifice has been offered up. The lamb has been slain. There is a covering for you. Let's rejoice in it. Let's stand before the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us tonight.

Jesus asked Peter, Do you love me more than these? Moses was being faced with the same question: Will you take the promises without the presence? It will make you weary. Lugging all of those promises around will wear you out. The presence will refresh you. The goodness of God, the glory of God, the praying in the Spirit, is the refreshing. That's the presence. Out of your inter most being, flowing freely, rivers of living water. Do you just talk in tongues, or do you pray in the Spirit? Are you aware of where that is coming from? Your inter most being? Is it bringing a refreshing? Can you since the rivers of life coming from your very spirit? Do you understand that it's the Holy Ghost praying through you with groaning which cannot be uttered? Do you know that it's God making intercession for you and prioritizing the course? What an assurance! What a refreshing to know the presence of God.

Let's take a moment and worship Him tonight and thank Him for His presence. Just stir up in you the presence, the awareness, of God. Let the Holy Spirit begin to pray through you and bring the awareness of God's working on your behalf, the victory that has been won. How weary are you in carrying around the promises? Then you’ve settled for man's evaluation. Lord, we rejoice in you. We come into your presence with singing. Hallelujah! We enter the courts of God with praise. We rejoice, Lord, for the good things you have done for us. We thank you for the good things that have been bestowed upon us. You gave us all things to enjoy; but without your presence it's vanity, it's vexation. We pray, "Come quickly, Lord;" but your presence is going to cause terror to come into men's hearts, and they're going to cry out, "Let the mountains fall on us to hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne." How do you respond to the face of God? You see, to look upon it in the natural, you'll die. No man has seen God and lived.

We're going to talk Sunday about Moses speaking to God face-to-face, and what really happened on that mountain when the glory of the Lord went before him. It's a life changing experience. It's not what a lot of us think. There is the look of Jesus that caused Peter to hang his head and walk away sorrowfully. Then there is the glance of the Master that brings peace and assurance as he looks upon the grieved, the weary, his children. He says, Mary, didn't I tell you if you’d believe? A glance of assurance that brings back Lazarus. We long for Him to look upon us, and to reveal what is in us, that we might be like Him.

As Danny plays, we'll take just a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to take whatever part of the message that was for you tonight and begin to solidify it and grab hold of that the Lord has spoken; because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. As the rhema of God, has something struck your heart tonight? That's the Holy Spirit speaking to you; and he'll do something about that if you’ll believe Him right now. What did God say to you? Not the whole message. What did God say to you tonight? He really didn't say anything to me. That's strange. The Lord was present and couldn't do many mighty works because of their unbelief. The Lord was present to heal and only one went away, the one who could recognize His presence. What did He say to you tonight? Then you can call it done. It's finished. That promise has now become a reality, because His word does not return void. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We will give you the praise, Father. So Father, we cast the care upon you because we know that you care for us, and that your Spirit, even at this moment, is leading us into all truth. For that we give you the praise, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "We're going to be like Him, praise God." Go in peace, God's love go with you.

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