Latest / Rick Manis Ministries Podcast / The Power of the Presence of God

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The Power of the Presence of God · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so good to be home, so good to be together today.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I always get excited about uh coming when I uh when I get to share because I I'm just I get excited about saying something good about God.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, it really takes a lot of the pressure off.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I don't even have to do a good job because the message is so good, it's so bright.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I've got no bills, I've got no do's, I got no blues, I got nothing but good news.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I used to listen to preachers and they'd say, Don't blame me, I'm only the messenger, I'm just bringing the bill, you know.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: But um, we got no bills.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: All is all is paid in full, and uh we have nothing but good news.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the gospel is very beautiful, but it's very simple, and it's very powerful.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this morning uh I want to deal with something that um I run into a lot, and hopefully this will help.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um but there are people that, you know, as Christians, no matter what circles of faith that we travel in, we know something about grace because the Bible does talk a lot about it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, in fact, probably the most popular Christian song of all time or Christian hymn is Amazing Grace.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: How sweet the sound.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um so people know something about it, but a lot of a lot of people um struggle with the reality of it or with the experience of that love of God.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I hear people sometimes say, how I see what the word says, I see, I I read it, I know that God says it, but but how can I embrace that?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: How can I believe it?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: How can I feel like that's true?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes it feels like like he's so far away.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh at the root of that is uh what I call a separation mentality, where God seems like he's separate.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the gospel really takes care of that if we can see the truth that makes us free.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel takes care of that separation mentality.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we see a union with God.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: With the gospel of Jesus Christ, in fact, in fact, Jesus is called Emmanuel, God with us, God not apart from us.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh God even said, even in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy, he said, you know, he said, He said, My word is not too mysterious for you.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not way up in the in the heavens that we say, who's gonna ascend up that high and bring it down to us?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not so deep that you would say, who's gonna go descend into the deep and bring it up to us?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not far away that you would say, Who's gonna go across the sea and bring it to us?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: He said, It's near you.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's in your heart, it's in your mouth.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And everything uh that we about the gospel, if you look at the simplicity of it, it speaks of a love connection, a love fellowship, a love union with us and the Father.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, if you see it, we see it with us in each other, if we see this whole thing clearly, but it's a union, it's a communion, um, it's a oneness with God, it's a tightness, it's a closeness, it's a connection.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and and God wants to reveal himself so all of these children that he loves can experience the beautiful power and the joy and the rest that comes from that.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um I want to I'm gonna read some verses from Exodus 33, and this is the story uh in the life of Moses, a particular time uh in Moses' uh time, his ministry.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it has to do with the presence of God.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking about the power of the presence of God in your life as we talk about this oneness and this union with Him.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um the circles that I traveled in, we were very much in my type of charismania.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was um we were uh we were very much into what we called the presence.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: We want to experience the presence.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's enter into the presence.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let's uh let's invite the presence.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so in church services, we would, and I'm not mocking, I'm not, I'm not mocking at all, um, but in in but but we had a little bit of a different mentality.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was there was still some of that separation because we would invite the present, the presence in.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it seemed like if the worship hit a certain note somehow altogether, that there'd be special times where we would feel the presence.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we and we loved it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And and I'm gonna tell you something that it that it that it was real because you would feel the God things.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: You would feel what God brings, you would feel peace and rest and uh uh joy, all the fruit of the Spirit.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: If I mean, if you came in with a problem and you felt the presence, you suddenly believed that everything was gonna be all right.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: You found rest for your soul.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Faith seemed to bubble up inside of you.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's no wonder that we would sort of be addicted to those events.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Those, we would we would try to figure out how can we get the presence more often and more consistently.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so we would, you know, we would try to figure it out.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And and and we never could get it as consistent as we wanted.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: We might have some seasons there where it's like, ooh, God's been, God was in the house tonight, you know.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: There again, there's a little bit of that separation mentality, like he was out of the house, but he came into the house.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we would talk, you know, we would use that terminology, and it was about us um, you know, trying to enter into the presence.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go into where God is, let's go into the holy of holies, let's go beyond the veil, let's pierce the veil, let's break the heavens, let's, let's, let's, let's pray that that the that the Spirit would come, the Spirit would fall upon us.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are all those those those those those terminologies that we would use to where there was some of that that that um uh separation mentality on us.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: We would talk about visitations, a visitation from God, an outpouring, uh a touch from God, um, certain things like that.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the problems with it was the consistency of it.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we'd have to wake up in our, you know, in our in our in our morning, we weren't, we didn't, we we didn't have the idea that God was with us all the time in that sense, because I would wake up and I would, the first thing I would do to start my day was I would go and enter into his presence using that terminology.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I was in a service one time and I was gonna speak, and and and I happened to know that some of the people there I knew personally, and I knew that they were dealing with some some some real troubles at that particular time.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and the worship was was was very good, and everybody was getting into it, and people were singing, and you could tell they were feeling the presence of God.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And some were crying, tears of joy, there was joy on their face, some were smiling, but you but you got a sense that these people felt like God is with them and everything is gonna be all right.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that they were some of them were dealing with some things.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and as I stood there and watched, I the Lord spoke to me and said, said, everybody is aware right now of something that's always been true.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: That what they're experiencing right now, what they're experiencing is an awareness of something that just didn't become true ten minutes ago when God walked into the room.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: This was true ten minutes before it.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was true yesterday, it was true last week, for God has always been with them, but they become aware of it.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I love the gospel and what we we call it the grace message, but it simply is the gospel.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's the good news of Jesus Christ.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And what it does is it opens us up to an awareness of our closeness and our connection with God so that we experience the presence of God.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it is an experience in our lifestyle, is that we have an awareness more and more, and it's and it's a it's a progressive thing, it's a growing thing, and that's that's good, that means it only can get better.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But uh uh but we experience a uh a life where we're aware.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: When I wake up in the morning, now I don't try to enter into God's presence.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: When I wake up in the morning, I I I wake up and I smile almost every single morning, I think.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And right?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I thought and I thank God for that, and I said, God, thank you for loving me.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being with me.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for all that you are, thank you for love.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all this Thanksgiving comes because I have an awareness, and I don't feel like I woke up, I woke up empty, and I gotta go and try to get God now.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's funny how we we had those those kind of ideas like God would come and go, and we'd get full, and then we'd get empty, and and you know, we'd we'd you know, we'd feel full of the Spirit, and then somehow we would, I don't know, the way we would explain it is I guess we leak because we had to go and get full filled again.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and and maybe I was maybe I was aware of God last night when I went to bed, but something happened overnight, and now I gotta go get him again.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta go, you know, let now I gotta seek the Lord.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's another one, right?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's seek the Lord.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where's he at?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he was here yesterday.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's seek the Lord.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, uh, you know, the scripture that that comes from is in the book of Hosea, which says, um, uh, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until he comes and reigns righteousness on you.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I used to use that as a minister.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, come on, people, let's seek the Lord tonight.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let's seek the Lord until he reigns righteousness on us.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we would imagine this something happening, you know, and and we would have a feeling sometimes.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um but then I was reading the verse there at one time, and it said, Seek the Lord.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to seek the Lord until, until He comes and reigns righteousness on you.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, oh, I think He did that with when Jesus, when God became flesh, and He came and made us the righteousness of God in Christ, and came and restored our righteousness to us, that He reigned righteousness upon us.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is the day of righteousness.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a time to be trying to find out where God's at, because God is here, God has come.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what we want is the awareness of that, and the truth makes us free.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: The truth speaks of the truth of God that gives us a perpetual awareness.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, that righteousness or that rightness that God speaks of in the Bible, um, you know, it it it it it it it means to to set at to set at one or in in union.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah said that the work of righteousness would be peace, and the effect of righteousness would be confidence and assurance perpetually, always.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not this roller coaster ride of these highs, and I used to have I'd have I was so uh manic and depressive in my spirituality, where I would have these highs of experiences with spiritual things and spiritual um experiences.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then there'd be then there'd be the dive, and I would what did I do wrong?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And how do I get the presence in my life all the time?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we come up with ideas.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe if I worship more, maybe if I pray more, maybe if I would spend some time fasting, maybe if I could clean my life up better, maybe God would visit me more often.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had those kind of thoughts.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus chapter 33.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Moses had some things that he needed clarified here.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus chapter 33, verse 12.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Moses speaking to God.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Moses said to the Lord, now you say to me, Bring these people up, you know, bring them into the promised land, but you not let me know who you will send with me.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's saying, I need more than what's going on right now.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you've also found grace in my sight.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, I see that he's he's like a lot of our a lot of my brothers and sisters in the in the Lord, where they're like, I know what I know what God said.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know God says that He knows me.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know God loves me.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: It says that.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know I know about grace.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know that He said that I found grace in His sight.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: But see, Moses ain't feeling it right now.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I need more.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, he says, Now therefore I pray, if I've found grace in your sight, if this is true, then show me your way, so that I may know you.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that I can find grace in your sight.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: And consider that this nation is your people.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, if this is true, I know you say this, but if this is true, you've got to show me something.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Show me you, show me your way.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know you, not just not just the fact that you say that I found grace, I need to know it.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Any of you ever been there?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know this grace.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's great that it says it.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Great that God says that that that uh talks about grace, but it's one thing to be able to read about it and to be able to affirm it as a doctrine, but to know the person, and that's what Moses is saying.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know you.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Show me your way.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you remember um in Hebrews 3, God speaks of this and he says, for 40 years they saw my works.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: For 40 years they saw my miracles.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: For 40 years, every problem they came up against, I fixed it.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I did it, I worked, I worked, I worked.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: I gave them bread, I gave them water, I went before them, I did, I defeated their enemies, I parted the waters, I did everything.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I gave them clothes, I gave them shoes, I gave them every need that they needed, every problem they faced, I took care of it.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: They saw me do that for 40 years, yet they did not know my ways.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: See, a lot of times people say, well, if people just see more miracles, and and and while that's great, that's not that doesn't necessarily cause people to know the person of God.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's one thing that does it.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is why why what we do here is an important thing.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's other things that you can talk about, but this is essential.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: We have to know the gospel.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have to know God's grace, his goodness, and his love.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you if you believe in that God, you're believing in the real God.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I found out personally.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I entered into knowing more of who he is as a person, as knowing his heart, knowing knowing his grace, and it had an effect on me that I had been trying to get for so long.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was much like Moses.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I knew what God said about grace, I knew what God said about everything.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm a I'm a I'm I'm a big Bible student, Greek, Hebrew, breaking it down, been to Bible college, oh, I love the Bible, front to back, ask me something.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: But for many, many years, I wasn't having the effect of the righteousness the way that I talk about it now.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't having the confidence and assurance perpetually.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly didn't know the ways of his heart that that I'm beginning to know now.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when I'm talking about the ways of his heart, I'm talking about love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, kindness, patience, self-control, faithfulness.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses is saying, I need more.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Show me your way.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know what you say, but I need to know it.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know it for myself.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And God said, Moses, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest, because that's what the presence of God does.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I hope you understand what I'm saying here so far is that the presence is not something that comes and goes, and it's not just an experience that we just get sometimes.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm getting at is that the presence of God is here, it's with us all the time.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's Emmanuel.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: That he's always with you.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: But we want to be convinced of it, we want to be aware of it, because when we're aware of it, that's when we reap the benefits of that.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh he says, My presence will go with you and I'll give you rest.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: The presence, the awareness of God's presence in your life gives you rest for your soul.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now somebody says, but I still like that old Pentecostal charismatic, I still like having those men, those big blowout times like that.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's that that that's that that that that's great, that's fun.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: But there's something else also.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: There is something that the truth does for you.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: The truth of the now God, the now word, now, the now him with you right now that gives you an elevated life, that gives you a life that has peace, joy, and rest perpetually.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least certainly more perpetually.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're all growing in it, it's progressive, but it's a whole lot better.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not, so what I'm talking about is not void of emotions.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like, okay, so the presence is with us, but I still like those good emotions.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's good emotions with this, and they're more consistent.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: He says, um, verse 15.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses said to him, Well, if your presence doesn't go with us, then don't even bring us up from here.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I don't even want to go another step because I've got to know this.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 16.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Moses speaking still says, For now then, how will it be known that your people have found grace in your sight?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Except you go with us.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So shall we be separate.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: If your presence goes with us, we'll be we'll be separate.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Your people and I, from all the people who are on the face of the earth, the presence of God, the awareness of the presence of God makes you a really peculiar type of people.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now I believe God's with everybody.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: God is here.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Whosoever.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the awareness of that.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, someone suggested to me not long ago that, you know, we, you know, there's been a lot of evangelism in the world.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's been a there's a lot of preaching that goes on.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to go to a country that you don't already find churches established.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can go, you think you've gone to some third world country and you think you're doing something new, and lo and behold, there's already churches, you know, going on.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Not that there doesn't need to be more work, but but but the but the but but God is being preached about.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I wonder how many have actually heard the gospel, the good news.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And how many are hearing about a God who might half the time be angry?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's happy sometimes, maybe he's angry sometimes, so you don't know what to trust in.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know where you stand with him.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they believe in in some form of legalism that's preached and it's called gospel.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so then they're it make it all about them, and they're still trying to please and appease God and clean up and try to try to do what they're supposed to do in order so they can get blessing and favor and go to heaven someday.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And how many have heard the good news?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: The simplicity of the good news that Jesus that Jesus demonstrated and declared to us, taking care of the sin issue once and for all.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Bible says he removed it out of the way.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: He came to take away sin.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say he came to make you stop it, it's saying he came to take away that thing once and for all.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not even a thing there anymore.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not even an issue.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I tell preachers, please don't preach about it.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus took it away.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's not our thing.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Our thing is good news.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And the good news tells us about the heart of a father.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: The good news tells us what Jesus was telling us, what Jesus lived, what Jesus demonstrated, what Jesus spoke by hanging on that cross and doing what he did, and all of that, all for you, all for me, and tells us of a father that loves you, a father that cares, a father that that was going to all these lengths so there could be a restoration in the hearts and minds of people that have felt separated from God, as the Bible says we were alienated in our minds because of these wicked deeds that mankind has done.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus brings brings it all home, and he says, You know what?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: None of that stuff separates you from your Father.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel, God with us.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus would say, You know what?
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And even after I go to the Father, then I will come to you.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I will send the Comforter, and he will be with you forever.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Never leave you, never forsake you, you'll never be alone.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: I won't leave you orphans.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: I won't leave you alone.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: I won't leave you helpless, hapless, and hopeless.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Another place, he said.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you're called before men, don't even worry about what you're going to speak because someone will be with you to give you the words.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: You'll never be by yourself.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Never be by yourself.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes Judy and I're facing a life problem.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Something painful or that could be worrisome.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: We grab hands, don't we?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: We grab hands and we say, All right.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a threefold cord here, not two.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're not alone.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: We say, Father, you're the third cord in this situation.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: We are not alone.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you that we are not alone, that we are not without help, that we that we are not up to just our own devices, that you are our superpower.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: You are our source of life.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: The awareness of God gives you the access to that all the time.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: All the time.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to have certain emotions or goosebumps.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to sing and hit the right note, and if you and if you sing the wrong note, the Holy Spirit will fly out of the room.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: We used to think he was like a flighty bird, like, don't grieve the spirit.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, there he is.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody grieved him, he's gone.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: You had to be it, you had to bend there.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we I mean, we had a circus, I tell you, we had fun.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, so the Lord said to Moses, I'm gonna do this thing that you've spoken.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because you have found grace in my sight, and I do know you by name.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you're asking for me to give you something to help you so that you can really know this.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna help you.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Moses said, Well, please show me your glory.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: I still like the definition that people always gave about the glory.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: What's the glory?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: So they would say the manifested presence of God.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses is wanting to know the presence, that his presence will be with him.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: I also say in light of the gospel that the glory is the goodness.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I get it from this passage that to see the glory of God is to see the goodness of God.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Moses says, please show me your glory.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I didn't, I didn't know what I didn't know that it was, well, what he's about to do here.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: I thought the glory was when you get the church service just right and stuff starts manifesting, like glitter and feathers and a cloud comes rolling in.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got stories to tell.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've got as many stories as anybody else.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I was in the middle of all of that stuff.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not necessarily knocking any of that stuff too, but I've found a truth that gives me something better than all the things that I was involved in before.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like it's it doesn't get my attention because my attention is on someone beautiful and wonderful and that loves me.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not tempted to like, oh, we need to have a service where everybody falls out on the floor and all that.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And please understand, I'm not mocking, I'm just telling you that that what I have found far supersedes any of the big showy things that that that that that I've been involved in.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: The big showy meetings that I've I've had at times, and the things that I've seen, and people wonder, well, why don't you still do that?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's all that's powerful, that's fun.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you gotta know that what I see now is captivated me.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is so much brighter, it's so much bigger, and it's so much more powerful.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: The truth, Jesus said, would make you free.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't say, you know, one of these days you're gonna have a big, powerful church meeting and something's gonna happen, and that's when people get free.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: He said, No, you'll know the truth.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth will make you free.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I was attracted when I first came to Grace Church and I heard Clark speak.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: I was captivated because there was a man with no dog and pony show, just up here, just talking about the good things of God, and I said, That is what I what I what my heart wants right there.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just give me the truth, just tell me the truth about Jesus Christ and his gospel.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you give me the truth, I'll be free.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said the truth will make you free.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't say if Rick taps you on the forehead, and there again, I'm all for praying.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: You want me to pray for you after service?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to do that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'll pray in faith, I'll believe for healing, all those things.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: We do that all the time.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, miracles are happening every day in the church world.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Happens around here.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: I hear it a lot.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: People praying for each other, prayer requests going out, God, God moving in different ways and blessing people and healing people.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: It happens.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus didn't say that I'm gonna raise up an anointed pastor, and when he taps you on the head or punches you in the stomach, then that's when you're gonna be free.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, things can happen and healings happen, and power, because we're very gifted, we're very anointed.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of faith.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing that makes you free, not just sets you free, makes you free, is the truth that makes you free.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And once I saw truth, I've needed no other.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because in that truth is life.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: So he says, Show me your glory.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: God said in verse 19, okay?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'll make all my goodness.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody say goodness.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Moses said, Show me your glory.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: God says, I'll make my goodness pass before you.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: He told Moses, he says, I'm gonna do this thing that you're asking.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Well, show me your glory.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm gonna show you all of my goodness.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: We go to the next chapter in Exodus 34, verse 5.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because Moses comes back the next day for this to happen.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to make this one point, too, about that.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Talking about glory, the glory manifestations.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: One of them that I would experience a lot of times was like it seemed like there would be like a cloud in the room, like it'd come rolling in from the back.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, we were we were having fun.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd say, ooh, there's the glory.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: The cloud was not the glory.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Moses was the cloud was there.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Even when Moses was asking him in the previous chapter, the Bible says a pillar of cloud was standing in the door of the tabernacle, and Moses was there, and here's this pillar of cloud there, and Moses is like, Lord, show me your glory.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: When I first read that years ago, I thought, Moses, what are you talking about?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's right there.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: The cloud is standing right there.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that the glory of the Lord?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, no, that's that's that's not enough.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know you.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Not just see a cloud.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 5 of Exodus 34.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now the Lord descended in the cloud, and he stood with him there, and he proclaimed his name.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Proclaimed the name of the Lord to Moses.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient, abounding in goodness and in truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pause right there for a moment, but look at what he's doing here.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's proclaiming himself to Moses says, I need to know you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know that your presence goes with me.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know I've heard you say that you know me by name, and I know that you say that I found grace in your side, but I need to know something here.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: This needs to be real to me because I've got a big job ahead of me, and this thing is hard.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: I need help.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if I don't get that help from the reality of your presence, I can't go.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Show me your glory.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: You see what he's doing?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: His heart's crying out.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to know something.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Make it real to me.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Make it real so this is not just a doctrine.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just going around saying that God, God knows me my name and God, and I found grace in his side.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know something that empowers me.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Something that makes me big enough to deal with what I'm about, what I'm what I'm called to deal with here.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, I'll do this, and I'll cause my goodness to pass before you.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he proclaims himself and he says, Do you see Moses?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see the Lord God?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see that I'm merciful, I'm gracious, I'm patient, I abound in goodness and truth.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Moses is looking at.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Moses has seen God do a lot of things, but he's looking at the person of God here, and he's seeing absolute goodness, absolute life, I would say absolute love, mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And he's declaring his goodness.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for those of you that are Bible scholars, I just want to mention this one thing, just so you know I'm not hiding anything.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because after this, if we were to go on reading, this is where we get it, we get uh a couple of troubling uh little verses there.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: One of them says, and no means clear clearing the guilty.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's how traditional translations read it.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next verse says, and uh, and visiting the iniquity of the child uh iniquity of the fathers unto the uh unto the children, unto the third and fourth generation or something like that.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're scholars, I I I adjure you to read it.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Look into an interlinear translation, or look at look at the original uh translation, it actually says the opposite.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: That I do not visit the iniquity of the fathers onto the children, that I do clear the guilty.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Look it up.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and so it so see, and I want I just want to say that because from that one little verse there, that's where we get this whole doctrine of generational curses.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's simply not there, it's simply not true.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: From one little misunderstood verse.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, look at what God's doing here.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm showing you my goodness.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord God, merciful, gracious, patient.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I abound in goodness and truth, I keep mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression of sin.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know why this is so important?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because the awareness of his presence, the perpetual awareness of his presence, only comes from the truth about God.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why preaching grace, his goodness, and his love is is it's absolutely necessary.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's foundational.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's the good news that the heart is to be established, for it's a good thing that the heart be established in grace, because when the heart sees that, when your heart is established in grace, you are looking at the real God.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know that from experience because I've said it around here before.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: I spent a lot of years and I was looking at an image that was not accurate at all of God.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and it affected me.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not in good ways.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm in love with God and I'm in love with the good news because of what it has affected how it has affected me.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: It has changed me.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's changed me in a lot of ways.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: It changed me in how I how in in how I feel about God and how I feel, how close I feel to God, how loved I feel by God.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Changes how I feel about you.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Huh?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: I love seeing those changes.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's changed me and it's made me more patient, more kind, more gentle, more loving.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's called the fruit of the spirit that I spent 20 years trying to produce so God would be happy about it.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: The truth brings freedom.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians 3 says that the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty or freedom, the presence of the Lord.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is with you, and where where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's 2 Corinthians.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: One guy says, that's 2 Corinthians 3.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta know that God likes you.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel will tell you that.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: The truth will tell you that.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: The truth will make you free.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: That God likes you.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: If God, if you know, see, this is what Moses needed to know.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: You say that you know me.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know me by name.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: You say I found grace in your side.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: I need to know.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he sees how good that God is.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you gotta know that God likes you.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta know.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: See, because Stephen, the apostle who got stoned in the in Acts chapter 6, when I say stone, I mean like this, you know.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's killing him, and there again, what does he he says?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: He his face looks like an angel.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he's and they were killing him, read it.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's just declaring good news.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: How good God is.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And as they're killing him, he says, there he's he says, I see Jesus.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: I see the Son of God standing at the right hand of the Father.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's right there with me, he's right there for me.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: He likes me, he's for me.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am not alone.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to the cross.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: John chapter 16.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: He tells his disciples in verse 32.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, and now has come that you will be scattered.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Each to his own.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're all going to leave me.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yet I won't be alone because the Father is with me.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: The approval of the Father is what empowers the children of God.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I won't be alone.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: The Father's not forsaking me, the Father's not leaving me.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I know he made that statement on the cross, but he was feeling what we've all felt.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: He was feeling death, he was feeling sin.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Relating to us in our Adamic thinking and separation mentality that says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: I have thought that even as a Christian at times.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: But he said, I won't be alone.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Father will be with me.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Father is with me.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: What was he doing?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: He was aware of the presence.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: See, that was that's why he could endure the cross, right?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because of the joy that was right there before him.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: The father is with me.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: If the father's presence is not with me, I can't do this alone.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: I can't go to the cross.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is one reason he had to go and pray in Gethsemane the way he did.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Establish.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not doing this on my own.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: The father is with me.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not left alone, I'm not forsaken.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just up to me.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Father is with me.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: I will be prone, I will be totally submitted to death itself.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: But the Father is with me.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: And on the third day, that Spirit will bring me out of the grave.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 33, he said, These things I've spoken to you, so that in me you'll have peace.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: In the world you'll have tribulation.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: But be of good cheer.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've overcome the world.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Look what he said.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna leave me, but I won't be alone.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Father is with me.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm speaking this to you so that you'll have peace.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because in the world there's gonna be some trouble.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm telling you this so you'll have peace.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: Be of good cheer.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've overcome the world.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: What's the peace?
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect will be confidence and assurance forever.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're not alone.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: The father is with you.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not only is he with you, he likes you.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: He likes being with you very, very much.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in all of the stuff that you're dealing with in life, you got a father that's with you, who likes you, who loves you, who cares about you, who knows what you're doing, knows what you're dealing with, knows how to get through it with you and knows everything about it.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said, you never have to worry or be anxious about the affairs and cares and needs of this life.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: For your father knows.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Your father knows.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Would y'all stand?
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: If his presence doesn't go with you, some of this stuff is just too hard.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: But you'll never be alone.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: And goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life, and you well will dwell with God in the house of the Lord forever.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: And whether you wake or whether you sleep, that means whether you're in this body or or or in the next, you will live in his sight.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're living forever and you're living with God, and you're never going to be forsaken, you're never going to be alone.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: The presence is with you always.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when you wake up in the morning, you wake up with an acknowledging and an awareness that you're not alone and you're empowered by the presence of a Father who loves you and who cares.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Father, I love you and I thank you for the good news.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've done my very best, and I trust you that you are able to take my very best and bring power and clarity and goodness to the hearts of every hearer.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I thank you for your blessing and your love for everyone.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let everyone go out of here feeling absolutely loved, with nothing between them and God.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let them go out of here with a song in their heart and a spring in their step and a smile upon their face, for the Lord is with us today.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: And for that we give you thanks and praise in Jesus' name.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Can you all say amen?
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you all for coming to Grace Church this morning.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you all for watching online.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's a pleasure being with you.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.