WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 Faith is more than a feeling or a theory. It's 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:06.059 a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands, 00:00:06.219 --> 00:00:09.019 and activates God's promises. In our brand new 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.820 book, Faith Act, Jeffrey and I take you on a 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:13.839 powerful journey through some of Scripture's 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.800 most transforming moments, where ordinary people 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.699 dared to obey and saw heaven move on their behalf. 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:24.179 Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon. 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:29.649 Today we're starting a series on the glory. Everybody 00:00:29.649 --> 00:00:35.149 say the glory. Now we sing that word, and we 00:00:35.149 --> 00:00:39.270 hear that word, but do we actually understand 00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:46.009 what the glory is? Have we ever experienced the 00:00:46.009 --> 00:00:48.929 glory? The glory is something that each one of 00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:53.170 us have the opportunity to experience. Okay? 00:00:53.990 --> 00:00:58.380 So. We're going to start in Exodus chapter 33. 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:02.219 I don't have enough time to read the whole chapter 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:04.640 because we're going to multiple places. I am 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:08.180 going to focus in on several verses, but let 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:12.540 me set up where we are. God's people had spent 00:01:12.540 --> 00:01:15.980 a long time at Mount Sinai, coming out of captivity 00:01:15.980 --> 00:01:19.040 in Egypt. They went to Mount Sinai. You've heard 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:21.060 of the Ten Commandments, right? You've heard 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:23.879 of Moses destroying the first set and then having 00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:27.250 to make another set. Him spending 40 days on 00:01:27.250 --> 00:01:30.590 the mountain at least a couple of times. God's 00:01:30.590 --> 00:01:36.349 people saw. I mean, it was a long time before 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:39.049 I understood this or recognized this, but God 00:01:39.049 --> 00:01:43.650 spoke to everybody at first. He spoke to all 00:01:43.650 --> 00:01:47.230 of them. But then all of a sudden God's people 00:01:47.230 --> 00:01:50.700 said, that's too frightening for us. And they 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:52.659 said, from now on, God, we don't want you to 00:01:52.659 --> 00:01:54.599 talk to us anymore. We just want you to talk 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:59.400 to Moses. And then let Moses know what to talk 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:05.040 to us about. Because it was an amazing demonstration 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:09.520 of the glory of God. But it was too much for 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:13.379 them to take hold of. Look at the person beside 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:15.000 you and say, it's not too much for me to take 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.439 hold of. It's not too much for me to take hold 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:21.310 of. Well, they had been there for a while. It 00:02:21.310 --> 00:02:24.449 was time for them to leave Mount Sinai. If you 00:02:24.449 --> 00:02:29.930 look at the first part of Exodus 33, it started 00:02:29.930 --> 00:02:33.289 with an E anyway, right? Look at the first part. 00:02:34.349 --> 00:02:36.409 God is telling them that it's time to leave. 00:02:37.169 --> 00:02:39.610 It's time to leave, and it's time to go to the 00:02:39.610 --> 00:02:41.750 land of promise, flowing with milk and honey. 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:45.889 They had already built the tabernacle, the tent 00:02:45.889 --> 00:02:49.030 that they built. to travel through the wilderness 00:02:49.030 --> 00:02:51.530 that they actually kept until the time of David, 00:02:51.650 --> 00:02:55.949 was their meeting place for God. The tabernacle 00:02:55.949 --> 00:02:58.909 was built. The Ark of the Covenant was in the 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:03.849 Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. Now, Moses, 00:03:04.090 --> 00:03:07.289 they would set the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, 00:03:07.409 --> 00:03:09.530 outside the camp. Not right in the middle of 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:13.069 the camp, but outside the camp. And Moses would 00:03:13.069 --> 00:03:16.759 go there. You can find this in chapter 33. Moses 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:20.479 would go there, and when they knew that Moses 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.060 was going, everybody would come outside of their 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:26.699 tents, and they would see Moses going into the 00:03:26.699 --> 00:03:29.520 tent of meeting, into the tabernacle. And when 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:35.219 Moses would go in, a pillar of cloud would hover 00:03:35.219 --> 00:03:45.849 over the entrance. That's awesome, right? And 00:03:45.849 --> 00:03:48.550 one thing that I thought about while I was preparing 00:03:48.550 --> 00:03:50.629 this week's message, I've never looked at the 00:03:50.629 --> 00:03:53.030 Ark of the Covenant this way. I should have, 00:03:53.250 --> 00:03:55.310 but how many of you know you can spend a long 00:03:55.310 --> 00:04:00.030 time in the Bible and not really catch things? 00:04:01.969 --> 00:04:04.270 But God had told his people, he had told Moses, 00:04:04.370 --> 00:04:10.210 I'm going to meet with you between the cherubims, 00:04:10.229 --> 00:04:12.250 above the cherubims of the Ark of the Covenant. 00:04:12.310 --> 00:04:19.180 That's where I'm going to meet with you. Now, 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:22.920 we can look at that, the Ark of the Covenant, 00:04:22.939 --> 00:04:27.720 as the earthly throne of God. God is in the throne 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:32.860 room of eternity, right? But this became his 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:40.199 earthly throne. We used to sing a song. I'll 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:43.420 be more undignified than this, right? We used 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:46.649 to jump around, act crazy. When I was younger, 00:04:46.689 --> 00:04:49.990 my knees were better. My back was better. But 00:04:49.990 --> 00:04:51.949 it's a Crowder song. I don't know if you've ever 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:54.029 heard of it or not. I'll be more undignified 00:04:54.029 --> 00:04:57.509 than this. And I would talk about that the presence 00:04:57.509 --> 00:05:04.490 of God was with the Ark of the Covenant. And 00:05:04.490 --> 00:05:07.569 during the time of David, the Ark came back to 00:05:07.569 --> 00:05:11.209 God's people. So the presence of God returned 00:05:11.209 --> 00:05:15.370 back to God's people. Why David was so excited 00:05:15.370 --> 00:05:18.410 and his wife got on him and said, you acted like 00:05:18.410 --> 00:05:24.269 a fool today. He said, this is my version. Bless 00:05:24.269 --> 00:05:25.870 your heart, I wasn't doing it for you anyway. 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:32.269 Right? When it comes to me celebrating and worshiping 00:05:32.269 --> 00:05:35.329 with God, worshiping God, I'll be even more undignified 00:05:35.329 --> 00:05:41.589 than this. You haven't seen it all yet. So, but 00:05:41.589 --> 00:05:44.779 the ark was there. The earthly throne of God, 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:48.899 the pillar of cloud, when Moses would meet with 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:52.160 God. And God's saying, all right, it's time to 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.279 leave. It's time to leave and go to the promised 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.779 land. And Moses made a statement in verses 15 00:06:00.779 --> 00:06:08.540 and 16. Then Moses said, because God had actually 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:10.779 said, if you read it, God had actually said, 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.360 these people, you know, by the way they've been 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:18.339 acting. I'm going to send an angel to help you 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:24.240 out. I'm going to still help you. If I'm with 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:28.420 you all the time, these people aren't going to 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:29.959 want me to be with them all the time, the way 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:33.420 they're acting. You can read it for yourself. 00:06:35.339 --> 00:06:39.060 Then Moses said to God, listen to his heart, 00:06:39.139 --> 00:06:45.209 if you don't personally go with us, Don't make 00:06:45.209 --> 00:06:54.230 us leave this place. Just letting us sit there 00:06:54.230 --> 00:07:06.430 a minute. He so desired the presence of God that 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:08.910 he didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. 00:07:11.790 --> 00:07:15.779 If he was doing it, away from the presence of 00:07:15.779 --> 00:07:21.120 God. If you don't personally go with us, don't 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.600 make us leave this place. He said, how will anyone 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:27.980 know that you look favorably upon me or on me, 00:07:28.019 --> 00:07:32.379 on me and your people, if you don't go with us? 00:07:35.420 --> 00:07:39.019 And then I found something else that I've just 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:42.000 never seen before. How many of you have read 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.079 the Bible and you've read something so many times 00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:49.800 and then all of a sudden it's like, how could 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:57.279 I have missed this? That's coming up. Moses says 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:05.100 to God, for your presence among us sets your 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.220 people and me apart from all other people on 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:17.990 the earth. Now last week, we talked about something 00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:22.569 that set us apart. How we will be recognized 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:26.329 as God's people. Does anybody remember what that 00:08:26.329 --> 00:08:29.709 is? They will know that we are Christ followers 00:08:29.709 --> 00:08:34.409 by our... Say it loud. They will know that we 00:08:34.409 --> 00:08:38.070 are Christians by our love. Everybody say love. 00:08:40.210 --> 00:08:43.570 And I've always focused on that. and talked about 00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:48.610 that, and preached about that. But here we find 00:08:48.610 --> 00:08:56.509 something else that's very important. God's presence 00:08:56.509 --> 00:09:02.129 among God's people sets his people apart from 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:06.250 all the other people on the earth. God's presence. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:18.500 A few verses later, Moses responded, show me 00:09:18.500 --> 00:09:26.279 your glory. Show me your glorious presence. I 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:32.080 mean, had Moses not seen the glory of God? Spending 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:36.639 40 days with God on the mountain and the glory 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:40.899 of God just covering Mount Sinai. him speaking 00:09:40.899 --> 00:09:50.000 out of the clouds, Moses responded, God, show 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.379 me your glory. Show me your glorious presence. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.019 And right after that, we find the story of God 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:01.799 saying, okay, here's what's going to happen. 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:05.480 My goodness, everybody say goodness, because 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:08.379 God's a good God. All right, we've got to get 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:11.919 that down pat. We've got to know that God's a 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:16.399 good God. We can't let situations that we go 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:24.539 through interpret who we think God is. Because 00:10:24.539 --> 00:10:31.700 God's a good God. Thank you for helping me. He 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:33.919 said, my goodness is going to pass before you. 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:41.509 God's so good, you can see his goodness. Just 00:10:41.509 --> 00:10:45.889 think about that. He says, but you can't see 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:49.870 my face. You can't see my face. I mean, this 00:10:49.870 --> 00:10:51.769 is Old Testament. Everybody say Old Testament. 00:10:54.049 --> 00:10:57.590 You can't see my face. So here's what I'm going 00:10:57.590 --> 00:11:00.389 to do. My goodness is going to pass before you. 00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:02.629 I'm going to cover you up with my hand, and then 00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:06.309 I'm going to let you see my glory as I pass by. 00:11:08.870 --> 00:11:14.970 And that's what happened. glory. That Hebrew 00:11:14.970 --> 00:11:19.409 word is called, called bode. And here's what 00:11:19.409 --> 00:11:21.809 it means. It means weight. Everybody say weight. 00:11:23.269 --> 00:11:29.169 And this version of the word is always used figuratively 00:11:29.169 --> 00:11:33.529 and it's always used in a good sense. The root 00:11:33.529 --> 00:11:38.629 of the word is not necessarily always good. All 00:11:38.629 --> 00:11:42.509 right. It's weight, but it can be a bad weight, 00:11:42.690 --> 00:11:48.549 a crushing weight. This particular version of 00:11:48.549 --> 00:11:50.649 the word is figuratively, it's in a good sense, 00:11:50.750 --> 00:11:53.669 and it's translated glory. Everybody say glory. 00:11:54.970 --> 00:11:58.429 Splendor. Everybody say splendor. Honor. Everybody 00:11:58.429 --> 00:12:02.149 say honor. That's the way it's translated in 00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:05.889 our English language, but it's called boat. It's 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:12.539 a weight. I've just got to share with you, every 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:15.799 time I've experienced the manifested presence 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:22.039 of God, the glory of God, it's felt like a weight. 00:12:23.379 --> 00:12:28.259 Not a bad weight. Not a bad heaviness. Because 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:30.220 we all know what a bad heaviness is like, right? 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:33.399 We've had heaviness before that was not good 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:37.700 heaviness. But every time I've experienced His 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:44.799 glory, It's always felt like a weight. A weight. 00:12:45.779 --> 00:12:49.860 And I believe his glory can be experienced. The 00:12:49.860 --> 00:12:53.200 main reason is because I've experienced it. I 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:55.539 mean, the Bible tells it, and I agree with that. 00:12:56.940 --> 00:13:00.299 I believe everybody in this room can experience 00:13:00.299 --> 00:13:07.539 the glory of God. I really do. But it's going 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:13.360 to take something on your part. We could describe 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.500 this as one of the most daring prayers in all 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:19.539 of Scripture. Most people, when they pray to 00:13:19.539 --> 00:13:21.740 God, they're asking Him for something. We went 00:13:21.740 --> 00:13:24.580 through a series on powerful prayer. We're asking 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:27.000 God for something. We're asking God for success 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:29.320 in whatever we're going through. We're asking 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:32.220 God for stability. We're asking God for comfort. 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:37.840 We're asking God for blessing. But Moses wasn't 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:42.330 asking God for any of that. He was asking for 00:13:42.330 --> 00:13:51.029 God Himself. He was wanting to continue to experience 00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:54.549 the manifested presence of God. He didn't want 00:13:54.549 --> 00:13:56.789 to leave Mount Sinai and say, well, remember 00:13:56.789 --> 00:14:01.809 that? Remember? Remember when God appeared to 00:14:01.809 --> 00:14:04.490 us? Remember when God talked to us? Remember? 00:14:04.629 --> 00:14:07.690 I mean, you know, back in the day, I spent 40 00:14:07.690 --> 00:14:12.240 days with God on the mountain. It wasn't good 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:18.179 enough. He's like, I got to have it. I got to 00:14:18.179 --> 00:14:20.820 have the presence of God. I've got to have the 00:14:20.820 --> 00:14:26.919 glory of God. So he was praying for God, not 00:14:26.919 --> 00:14:29.840 for blessing, not for comfort, not for success. 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:35.159 He's praying for God. Moses wasn't hungry for 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:39.539 better circumstances. He was hungry for God's 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:43.700 presence. And I'm going to be straight up with 00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:45.259 you. The only way you're going to experience 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:51.139 it is if you're hungry for it. We're hungry for 00:14:51.139 --> 00:14:56.580 a lot of things. Right? We have passion for a 00:14:56.580 --> 00:15:01.759 lot of things in this world. But we've got to 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:06.240 be passionate for God if we're going to experience 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:10.460 His presence. The glory of God. Is the manifested 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:15.779 presence of God. You might say God's everywhere 00:15:15.779 --> 00:15:21.120 all the time. What are you talking about? God 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:25.159 is omnipresent. Right? He's everywhere all the 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:29.100 time. So what are you talking about? I can't 00:15:29.100 --> 00:15:31.820 go anywhere and not be in the presence of God. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:40.799 Right? You can't. You cannot hide from God. But 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:47.600 there are some times when he's more here. Everybody 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:52.620 say more here. There are times when he's more 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:57.220 here than his omnipresence. Just like we already 00:15:57.220 --> 00:15:59.399 talked about when I said when we gather together 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:04.700 in his name, what does the Bible say? He is here. 00:16:05.930 --> 00:16:10.470 He's here. Well, if he was already here, then 00:16:10.470 --> 00:16:14.710 why does it say that? Well, it says it because 00:16:14.710 --> 00:16:19.789 there's sometimes when he's more here. That's 00:16:19.789 --> 00:16:22.230 the glory or the manifested presence of God. 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:27.250 God didn't rebuke Moses. God answered Moses and 00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:36.159 revealed himself to Moses. Now in Chile, I've 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.000 never been to Chile. Has anyone ever been to 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.460 Chile? In the middle of the driest desert in 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:45.360 Chile, there are patches of ground that look 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:50.720 permanently dead. No moisture, nothing green, 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:56.840 no life. And it's so dead that scientists call 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:02.220 it the place where nothing grows. The place where 00:17:02.220 --> 00:17:07.210 nothing grows. But every 10 years, about every 00:17:07.210 --> 00:17:15.390 10 years, a big rain sweeps across. More rain 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:20.589 than they've had in the whole 10 years combined. 00:17:20.710 --> 00:17:25.309 I mean, just a big rain comes through. And guess 00:17:25.309 --> 00:17:30.589 what happens? The desert, the place where nothing 00:17:30.589 --> 00:17:34.769 grows, explodes with color. Purple, yellow, white, 00:17:34.829 --> 00:17:38.309 and red wildflowers stretched across miles of 00:17:38.309 --> 00:17:45.809 land that was once barren. No one went out there 00:17:45.809 --> 00:17:49.690 with seeds to plant seeds. No one tended or cultivated 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:54.869 the soil. Nobody fertilized the ground. Those 00:17:54.869 --> 00:17:57.410 seeds were already there and they were just waiting. 00:17:59.670 --> 00:18:05.529 Just waiting on the rain. Sat there for 10 years, 00:18:05.690 --> 00:18:15.430 dormant, just waiting on the rain. Many believers 00:18:15.430 --> 00:18:21.710 live like deserts. Has anybody ever had a dry 00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:25.529 time? Know what I'm talking about? Some people 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:28.509 don't even know that there's anything but a dry 00:18:28.509 --> 00:18:32.970 time. I've never experienced anything above that. 00:18:33.130 --> 00:18:37.170 But many believers live like deserts, dry, distracted, 00:18:37.750 --> 00:18:47.630 spiritually barren. Here's the deal. Hunger for 00:18:47.630 --> 00:18:49.930 the presence of God, hunger for the glory of 00:18:49.930 --> 00:18:55.230 God is the rain that will make the dead places 00:18:55.230 --> 00:19:06.309 in your life and in your heart come alive. Only 00:19:06.309 --> 00:19:08.609 those who are hungry for God will experience 00:19:08.609 --> 00:19:12.190 the glory of God. You're not going to experience 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:16.549 the glory of God by accident. It's not just going 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:19.750 to happen. You're not going to experience it. 00:19:20.990 --> 00:19:24.789 Listen, you're probably not even going to experience 00:19:24.789 --> 00:19:27.990 it if the person sitting beside you experiences 00:19:27.990 --> 00:19:37.519 it. Someone else's hunger can't bring an experience 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.180 of the glory of God to you. It can't come from 00:19:40.180 --> 00:19:44.700 somebody else. It's got to come from you. Here's 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:46.940 what David said one time when he was in a desert 00:19:46.940 --> 00:19:56.019 place. Oh God, you are my God. I earnestly search 00:19:56.019 --> 00:20:04.210 for you. My soul thirsts for you. My whole body 00:20:04.210 --> 00:20:10.430 longs for you in this parched and weary land 00:20:10.430 --> 00:20:19.950 where there's no water. Here's why he was, what 00:20:19.950 --> 00:20:25.809 was he doing? He's earnestly searching. His soul 00:20:25.809 --> 00:20:31.490 is thirsting. His whole body is longing. You 00:20:31.490 --> 00:20:40.400 know why? Here's why. He says, God, I have seen 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.819 you in your sanctuary. I have gazed upon your 00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:51.500 power and glory. I've seen it. It's kind of like 00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:55.299 Moses. Moses has seen it, and he don't want to 00:20:55.299 --> 00:21:00.000 live without it. Because once you see it, you 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:07.759 want it even more. And David had seen it. David 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:13.220 was hungry because he had seen something. And 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:15.980 even if you've never seen it, I hope you get 00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:20.079 hungry today just by knowing that you can see 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:25.700 it. One glimpse of God ruins you for the normal. 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:31.559 You just don't want to have just normal, dead, 00:21:31.619 --> 00:21:36.109 dry anymore. When you get a glimpse of God. Once 00:21:36.109 --> 00:21:38.490 you've sensed his presence. Once you've touched 00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:42.630 his glory. Once you've tasted his goodness. Everything 00:21:42.630 --> 00:21:48.450 else becomes insufficient. Just got to have more. 00:21:50.430 --> 00:21:57.569 Hunger prepares a place for glory. It prepares 00:21:57.569 --> 00:22:05.880 a place for glory. How else can we. a place for 00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:11.519 glory in our hearts, in our homes, in our lives, 00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:18.119 in Alation Church? How can we prepare a place 00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:22.759 to experience the glory of God? Well, one way 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:27.140 is through worshiping God. And remember, worship, 00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:31.559 genuine worship, real worship, has to begin in 00:22:31.559 --> 00:22:39.529 our hearts. And we sing these songs not as entertainment, 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:43.890 not as a little kumbaya, let's sing together 00:22:43.890 --> 00:22:48.670 and smile. We sing these songs so that we have 00:22:48.670 --> 00:22:54.210 an opportunity to come together and express our 00:22:54.210 --> 00:23:00.490 hearts together to God. That's why we sing them. 00:23:01.589 --> 00:23:05.240 To prepare for the glory through. our worship. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:10.220 2 Chronicles 5 .13 says this, the trumpeters, 00:23:10.299 --> 00:23:14.819 this is one of the great displays of the glory 00:23:14.819 --> 00:23:18.140 of God in the Old Testament. The trumpeters and 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:22.539 singers performed together in unison to praise 00:23:22.539 --> 00:23:26.799 and give thanks to the Lord, accompanied by trumpets, 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:31.500 cymbals, and other instruments. They raised their 00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:35.089 voices and praised. They praise the Lord with 00:23:35.089 --> 00:23:41.990 these words. He is good. His faithful love endures 00:23:41.990 --> 00:23:45.769 forever. Let's say that together. He is good. 00:23:46.269 --> 00:23:51.230 His faithful love endures forever. Let's change 00:23:51.230 --> 00:23:56.109 the he to God. God is good. God's faithful love 00:23:56.109 --> 00:24:01.309 endures forever. Come on, say it again. Say it 00:24:01.309 --> 00:24:03.700 from your heart. Don't just say it like you're 00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:05.400 reading something in the second grade all together 00:24:05.400 --> 00:24:09.940 as a class. Let's say it together. God is good. 00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:17.259 God's faithful love endures forever. He's good 00:24:17.259 --> 00:24:22.279 and His mercy endures forever. That's what they 00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:27.980 were doing. That's what they were saying. And 00:24:27.980 --> 00:24:33.539 listen to what happened at that moment. A thick 00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:38.980 cloud filled the temple of the Lord. The priests 00:24:38.980 --> 00:24:43.059 could not continue their service because of the 00:24:43.059 --> 00:24:48.380 cloud. For the glorious presence of the Lord, 00:24:48.579 --> 00:24:51.579 Yahweh, every time it's capitalized L -O -R -D, 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.839 it's Yahweh. For the glorious presence of Yahweh 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:04.019 filled the temple of God. I know y 'all would 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:06.259 love it if the glory showed up in such a way 00:25:06.259 --> 00:25:09.220 that I couldn't even preach. I would love it 00:25:09.220 --> 00:25:16.839 more than you would. That's what happened when 00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:21.920 they came together and they were worshiping God 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.940 from their hearts. Not just going through the 00:25:24.940 --> 00:25:31.359 motions, but worshiping God together. That word 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:36.460 cloud. It's all known, and it's translated cloud. 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:39.519 This was something that they could see. It's 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:42.079 not just something that they could feel. This 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:44.000 is something that they could see with their eyes. 00:25:44.359 --> 00:25:50.940 Cloud, clouds, a heavy mist. Did I not think 00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:52.900 about that while I was coming to church this 00:25:52.900 --> 00:25:56.700 morning at 7 o 'clock, going through that fog, 00:25:56.920 --> 00:25:58.700 and I'm like, I'm about to preach about this. 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:03.630 This is just like... It'd be awesome if this 00:26:03.630 --> 00:26:07.289 was inside the church today. Not just up and 00:26:07.289 --> 00:26:10.410 down 27 getting here, but if it was inside this 00:26:10.410 --> 00:26:20.309 heavy mist. Listen, their worship did not create 00:26:20.309 --> 00:26:29.069 the glory. Just because you get goosebumps doesn't 00:26:29.069 --> 00:26:34.019 mean that the glory is there. Because you can 00:26:34.019 --> 00:26:38.400 go to some show of some famous singer that really 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.420 has a powerful voice and a moving song and you 00:26:41.420 --> 00:26:44.059 get goosebumps even if they're singing about 00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:52.019 ducks or something. So the worship. Has anybody 00:26:52.019 --> 00:26:54.799 ever had legit glory bumps? Oh, when you sense 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:57.160 the presence of God and you got like goosebumps 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:03.140 on your arm? Not saying that that's... Could 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:07.619 not be an indicator. But it's not always an indicator. 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:12.099 The worship didn't create the glory. The worship 00:27:12.099 --> 00:27:17.819 just prepared the room for the glory. So we can 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:21.819 prepare the room through worship. We can also 00:27:21.819 --> 00:27:25.779 prepare a place for the glory of God through 00:27:25.779 --> 00:27:36.240 expectation. Everybody say expectation. Here's 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:42.019 something that I found out. Most people, when 00:27:42.019 --> 00:27:47.180 they come to a worship gathering together, they 00:27:47.180 --> 00:27:55.940 normally get what they expect. I need to say 00:27:55.940 --> 00:27:58.539 that again. People normally get what they expect. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:03.640 I mean... So many times people come to a worship 00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:05.240 service, they just want to rub a little bit of 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:10.740 Jesus. You know, like putting on sunscreen. Just 00:28:10.740 --> 00:28:13.619 going to rub a little Jesus to help me get through 00:28:13.619 --> 00:28:15.779 this week. Just need a little bit of Jesus. Don't 00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:17.680 want too much of Jesus to mess with my life. 00:28:18.539 --> 00:28:21.000 Just a little bit of Jesus to help my conscience 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:29.039 through the week. We're not going to experience 00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:35.509 the glory of God unless we expect it. We expect 00:28:35.509 --> 00:28:38.670 God to show up. It's going to change the way 00:28:38.670 --> 00:28:50.930 we act. I'm just letting it sit. Just let it 00:28:50.930 --> 00:28:56.029 sit. We expect God to show up. It's going to 00:28:56.029 --> 00:28:57.589 change the way we act. We're going to act like 00:28:57.589 --> 00:29:02.529 it. We're going to come. See, I'm glad no one... 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:09.480 at Elation Church comes to leave. But I want 00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:11.299 to ask you a question. Have you ever gone to 00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:16.039 church to leave? I've met, hey, I preached on 00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:20.160 the road for 20 years. I've met a lot of people 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:27.680 that came to leave. Believe it or not, one day 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:29.299 in North Carolina, I don't know why this happened 00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:32.930 in North Carolina so much. One day... One day 00:29:32.930 --> 00:29:36.170 out on the coast of North Carolina, I mean, I'd 00:29:36.170 --> 00:29:40.369 only been preaching for five minutes. And this 00:29:40.369 --> 00:29:46.230 lady stood up and went... They had had about 00:29:46.230 --> 00:29:48.950 a 45 -minute presentation of seeing the same 00:29:48.950 --> 00:29:52.190 12 pictures of the mission trip that only meant 00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:53.789 something to the people that had been on the 00:29:53.789 --> 00:29:55.250 mission trip. Have you been through one of those 00:29:55.250 --> 00:29:58.930 presentations before? And then I was the guest 00:29:58.930 --> 00:30:01.009 speaker. It was homecoming. We were having... 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:04.599 food after the service, and this lady gets up 00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:12.539 and goes, she's calling time on me. I didn't 00:30:12.539 --> 00:30:20.140 used to be as nice as I am now. But the second 00:30:20.140 --> 00:30:23.180 time she did it, a few minutes later, I said, 00:30:23.299 --> 00:30:29.460 I said, ma 'am, if you need to leave, right now 00:30:29.460 --> 00:30:35.960 is a good time. Because you're distracting everybody 00:30:35.960 --> 00:30:39.720 else in the room. So if you need to leave, right 00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:43.980 now is a good time to leave. She grabbed her 00:30:43.980 --> 00:30:46.200 purse, grabbed her husband, who was ashamed, 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:52.559 and stormed out. You know what happened when 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:55.259 she stormed out? Everybody started clapping. 00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:02.920 I guess nobody had the guts to tell her that 00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:06.089 before. I was just there that day. I'd never 00:31:06.089 --> 00:31:10.549 see these people again, so why not? I traveled 00:31:10.549 --> 00:31:13.130 so many hours just to get there. I wasn't about 00:31:13.130 --> 00:31:15.069 to stop in five minutes. I hadn't even got through 00:31:15.069 --> 00:31:19.309 my introduction yet. I was at another church 00:31:19.309 --> 00:31:24.829 in North Carolina, not on the coast, not on the 00:31:24.829 --> 00:31:29.630 coast this time, but I was preaching, and a guy 00:31:29.630 --> 00:31:47.240 goes, About the third time he did that, I just 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:48.599 walked over in front of him and I said, I'm going 00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:50.819 to tell you something you need to do. You need 00:31:50.819 --> 00:31:54.099 to take that watch off your arm and you need 00:31:54.099 --> 00:31:55.940 to throw it across the room. I threw my watch 00:31:55.940 --> 00:32:08.880 across the room. What happened? I was there a 00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:13.039 whole week. He never did it again. He didn't 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:21.700 leave, but he never did that again. I don't know 00:32:21.700 --> 00:32:23.559 why I got to keep telling stories. Now I'm going 00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:25.279 to call out Alabama. Is anybody from Alabama? 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:31.400 Alabama. Went to this guy's house. They invited 00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:33.660 us to their house before the meeting even started 00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:40.009 on Saturday night. The guy said, I had to sit 00:32:40.009 --> 00:32:41.690 at the men's table. Again, I had to sit at the 00:32:41.690 --> 00:32:46.190 women's table. The guy told me in front of, his 00:32:46.190 --> 00:32:48.670 parents were the patriarch and the matriarch 00:32:48.670 --> 00:32:51.910 of the church. That means for somebody to introduce 00:32:51.910 --> 00:32:53.490 somebody like that, it means they think they 00:32:53.490 --> 00:32:59.890 own it. So he told me, he said, now preacher, 00:32:59.990 --> 00:33:07.230 we get out of church at 12 o 'clock. And we don't 00:33:07.230 --> 00:33:11.670 have services more than an hour. So every night 00:33:11.670 --> 00:33:14.789 this week, from when we start to when we finish, 00:33:14.849 --> 00:33:19.990 one hour. Everybody say one hour. One hour. So, 00:33:20.069 --> 00:33:25.089 I said, well, this is, I said, how long have 00:33:25.089 --> 00:33:29.990 y 'all been praying for this? Well, I don't know 00:33:29.990 --> 00:33:33.680 if they only prayed an hour at a time, but. They 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:36.279 had been having what was called in the old days 00:33:36.279 --> 00:33:38.180 cottage prayer meetings, even though those were 00:33:38.180 --> 00:33:40.480 kind of out by then. They were having cottage 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:44.180 prayer meetings. They were praying for God, for 00:33:44.180 --> 00:33:47.319 an outpouring and a moving of God in the church. 00:33:47.539 --> 00:33:52.160 Praying. I said, how long y 'all been praying? 00:33:52.259 --> 00:33:53.740 Because I knew they had been having prayer meetings. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:55.779 Oh, we've been praying for about eight weeks. 00:33:57.059 --> 00:34:01.799 I said, now you mean to tell me. You've been 00:34:01.799 --> 00:34:04.079 praying for eight weeks, but you're going to 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:10.340 limit what God's going to do to an hour. He got 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:16.739 offended. Good. Anyway, I got to speed this up 00:34:16.739 --> 00:34:21.659 because I got more to talk about. Listen, I didn't 00:34:21.659 --> 00:34:23.300 know who I was. Oh, that's what he told me. He 00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:25.219 said, you don't know who you're talking to, do 00:34:25.219 --> 00:34:34.659 you? Guess what? He was the chairman of deacons. 00:34:37.139 --> 00:34:42.139 He was the treasurer of the church. So that means 00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:43.679 he's going to be the one writing our check at 00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:46.420 the end of the week. You don't know who you're 00:34:46.420 --> 00:34:50.719 talking to, do you? And I about dropped my teeth 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:54.480 when I looked over because I had to lead the 00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.360 congregational music and I looked over and guess 00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:00.679 who's playing the piano? Chairman of deacons, 00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:06.630 piano player. And the church treasure. Most of 00:35:06.630 --> 00:35:08.289 you would have said, well, did you preach more 00:35:08.289 --> 00:35:11.210 than an hour? Well, I only preached an hour and 00:35:11.210 --> 00:35:13.610 15 minutes, but the music went about 45 minutes, 00:35:13.670 --> 00:35:22.269 so it was a two -hour service. It's coming. Sunday 00:35:22.269 --> 00:35:27.130 morning. While I was preaching, his face would 00:35:27.130 --> 00:35:30.050 get so red, like right at time when he thought 00:35:30.050 --> 00:35:32.360 it was time to be finished. His face, I thought 00:35:32.360 --> 00:35:35.980 the man was going to stroke out. Sunday morning, 00:35:36.179 --> 00:35:42.880 red face. Sunday night, red face. Monday night, 00:35:43.099 --> 00:35:53.840 red, just breathing. I kid you not. But Tuesday 00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:58.760 night, listen, when I gave the invitation again, 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:04.639 When I said, is anybody here, you realize that 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:06.659 you've just had a relationship with religion 00:36:06.659 --> 00:36:12.360 and not a relationship with God? I'm not asking 00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:14.000 you if you've been dip -dunked or sprinkled or 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.940 if your name's on a church roll. I'm asking you 00:36:16.940 --> 00:36:23.099 if Jesus is your Lord. And that night, Tuesday 00:36:23.099 --> 00:36:26.840 night, when I shared the gospel, nobody's looking 00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:29.860 but me. There he is sitting on the front row. 00:36:30.510 --> 00:36:38.030 His hand goes up. He accepted Christ. Can you 00:36:38.030 --> 00:36:41.969 believe? Somebody was the chairman of deacons, 00:36:42.010 --> 00:36:43.949 the treasurer of the church, and the piano player 00:36:43.949 --> 00:36:47.710 doing it all in the flesh without a relationship 00:36:47.710 --> 00:36:53.010 with Christ. That's a miserable person. That's 00:36:53.010 --> 00:37:00.760 why he was a miserable person. Wednesday, I saw 00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:03.360 him come into church. He had a smile on his face. 00:37:05.079 --> 00:37:06.820 And I walked up to him and I shook his hand. 00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:10.239 I said, how you doing? These are the exact words 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:17.480 out of his mouth. I feel like a new man. Feel 00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:28.199 like a new man. He was a new man. Listen, if 00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:32.139 we come to leave, If we come with everything 00:37:32.139 --> 00:37:38.119 else on our mind, going through a religious duty 00:37:38.119 --> 00:37:42.840 or religious activity, we're not going to experience 00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:46.360 the glory of God. Here's the way we act when 00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:49.079 we expect to see God show up. We come in with 00:37:49.079 --> 00:37:54.659 anticipation. We lean in. We worship with intention. 00:37:56.619 --> 00:38:02.400 We remove distractions. And we make room. Make 00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:06.679 room for God. God meets us at the point of our 00:38:06.679 --> 00:38:11.659 expectation. What does hunger look like? Look 00:38:11.659 --> 00:38:13.239 to the person beside you and say, listen fast. 00:38:14.219 --> 00:38:17.820 Listen fast. What does hunger look like? Hunger 00:38:17.820 --> 00:38:27.420 seeks. Hunger seeks. Jeremiah 29, 13. God says, 00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:34.400 If you look for me wholeheartedly, if you seek 00:38:34.400 --> 00:38:41.760 me with all your heart, you'll find me. You'll 00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:45.500 find me. He's not holding out. He's not going 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:53.219 to hold out. Never has held out. If you look 00:38:53.219 --> 00:38:58.139 for him wholeheartedly, you'll find him. You'll 00:38:58.139 --> 00:39:03.150 find him. See, genuine hunger seeks not casually 00:39:03.150 --> 00:39:07.349 seeking, but passionately seeking, wholeheartedly 00:39:07.349 --> 00:39:14.230 seeking. Real hunger prioritizes the presence 00:39:14.230 --> 00:39:21.909 of God over personal preferences. That's the 00:39:21.909 --> 00:39:24.690 only way you're going to see it. Hunger also 00:39:24.690 --> 00:39:30.300 sacrifices. Hunger says, I'll turn off the noise. 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:34.460 See, listen, church isn't the only place that 00:39:34.460 --> 00:39:36.659 you can experience the glory of God. I've shared 00:39:36.659 --> 00:39:38.980 this before, but I've experienced the glory of 00:39:38.980 --> 00:39:42.940 God in my car on I -4 before they added the other 00:39:42.940 --> 00:39:48.980 lane. When it would take an hour and 15 minutes 00:39:48.980 --> 00:39:53.860 to go 15 miles. I've experienced the glory of 00:39:53.860 --> 00:39:57.659 God in my car. But you've got to turn off the 00:39:57.659 --> 00:40:01.230 noise. You got to remove the distractions. You 00:40:01.230 --> 00:40:07.250 got to create a space for God. Oh, how I want 00:40:07.250 --> 00:40:14.550 you to experience it. Hunger also stays. Stays. 00:40:15.110 --> 00:40:21.230 Sustained hunger. Sustained hunger is the mark 00:40:21.230 --> 00:40:26.909 of a people ready for the glory of God. Sustained 00:40:26.909 --> 00:40:32.750 hunger. God always meets hunger with glory. He 00:40:32.750 --> 00:40:38.269 always does. Moses cried, show me your glory. 00:40:40.670 --> 00:40:45.730 God responded. David longed for his presence. 00:40:47.090 --> 00:40:51.170 What did God do? God revealed his power and his 00:40:51.170 --> 00:40:55.489 glory to David. We didn't talk about this one 00:40:55.489 --> 00:40:59.179 this week, but we will. The early church. cried 00:40:59.179 --> 00:41:04.880 out in one accord to God, and heaven filled the 00:41:04.880 --> 00:41:16.320 upper room. It's available. It's available. I 00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:17.960 think we're going to have four more weeks on 00:41:17.960 --> 00:41:22.280 the glory of God. This is just to try to stir 00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:29.099 up your hunger. It's letting you know. what it 00:41:29.099 --> 00:41:34.280 is, how you can get to that point. It's going 00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:37.059 to take hunger. It's going to take preparing, 00:41:37.219 --> 00:41:41.420 preparing the way, preparing your heart, preparing 00:41:41.420 --> 00:41:49.940 the atmosphere. Hungry people see outpourings. 00:41:52.400 --> 00:42:01.139 Is there anybody in this room? Who would love 00:42:01.139 --> 00:42:11.000 to see an outpouring in this area? Is there anybody 00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:15.940 in this room who would like to see thousands 00:42:15.940 --> 00:42:24.780 of people come to Christ? Hungry homes see transformation. 00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:33.920 Hungry churches see revival. Hungry generations 00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:40.400 see a visitation. You can look back through history. 00:42:40.699 --> 00:42:42.599 You can even look at some of the things that 00:42:42.599 --> 00:42:44.460 are going on in places around the world today. 00:42:44.940 --> 00:42:47.500 In college campuses in the United States, you 00:42:47.500 --> 00:42:56.500 can see. Hungry generations can see. Visitation 00:42:56.500 --> 00:43:00.380 from God. This online worship experience was 00:43:00.380 --> 00:43:02.760 brought to you by the friends and partners of 00:43:02.760 --> 00:43:03.480 Elation Church.