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This is week number two. Everybody say week number
two. Who was here last week? Wave at me if you
were here last week. If you were not here last
week, this series is going to continue to build
upon itself. So I encourage you, because we can't
go back and re -preach the messages, and we're
going somewhere. Look at the person beside you
and tell them we're going somewhere. We're going
somewhere. We're not unloading the whole truck.
in one week. It's going to be five weeks before
you get the full benefit of this series. So I
believe it's going to last through the rest of
January, but I encourage you, if you were not
here last week, please go to the podcast and
listen to last week. Someone in Singapore thought
it was worth 122 people listening to it. So I
encourage you, even if you were here last week,
you may need to listen to it again to take hold
of it. This is week number two in the series
that we're talking about the glory. I do want
to begin by reading some verses that we focused
on last week. I'm not reading all the verses,
but where we started at. This is Moses talking
to God when it's time to leave Mount Sinai and
go to the promised land. Because I'd never really
seen this verse. this way before. I know I've
read it quite a few times. But Moses said something
to God. And how many of you know if it's in the
Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired it. Moses said
this, for your presence, God, your presence among
us sets your people and me apart from all other
people. On the earth. Now we've looked at the
verse in the New Testament where it said that
people will know that we are Christ's followers
by our love. Everybody say love. And that's true.
But it's also true that people will recognize
us as being God's people by His presence. I'm
going to go ahead and throw this out there. We
were doing a senior citizens conference in Myrtle
Beach. We didn't only do teenage conference.
We did a senior citizen conference called the
Joy Retreat in Myrtle Beach. And we had three
groups on the program, and one of them had parents.
I don't know if you have ever heard of the Hoppers
before. Have you heard of the Hoppers? So that
was one of the groups on the program. We had
Karen Peck and New River, the Hoppers, and the
Down East Boys on the program. But I just want
to tell you something. Claude and Connie, who
are the parents of the Hoppers, they didn't start
out the concert. It was their kids, their son,
their two sons, and then the wife and their kids.
They started out the concert. And then Claude,
who sings bass, got up and sang with them a little
bit. But then Connie got on the stage. And I
just want to tell you something. The whole atmosphere
of the room changed when she walked out on the
stage. It wasn't because of her overwhelming
voice. I mean, she's sang her whole life and
she's a good singer. But in my, I guess I would
call it my discernment, the reason why the whole
atmosphere changed is because there was something
different about her than anybody else. And the
only way I could describe it is this. She was
a carrier. of the presence of God. And I say
that because even when I was spending time with
her, when she wasn't on the stage, there was
just something about her that was different than
everybody else. Now, the room was filled with
Christians, right? The room was filled with Christians.
But there was just something different about
her. And I believe it was because of how serious
she was about the presence of God and the glory
of God. And here's what I want to share with
all of us. If she can be a carrier of the glory
and the presence of God, you can too. You can
too. And last week we talked about hunger. Because
it's going to take each one of us being hungry
for the glory and hungry for the manifested presence
of God before any of us are even going to experience
it ourselves. But I believe there's a level of
hunger that we can have that will cause us to
just be carriers of the presence of God. And
I hope I'm not running over future weeks of the
series. I probably am. I just had that on my
heart as we started because Moses recognized
something and we need to recognize something.
We need to acknowledge and recognize the presence
and the glory of God and recognize that that
is something, not only our love, but the presence
of God will set us apart from everybody else
on the earth. I'll wait for future weeks for
that. And then, this is the other verse that
I've known and I've recognized, but Moses asked
God, he said, God, show me your glory. Show me
your glorious presence. Now listen, this is a
man who had already spent 40 days at a time with
God. This is a man who, when he went up on the
mountain to spend time with God, clouds and lightning
and thunder would surround the mountain. I mean,
has he not seen the glory of God? I believe he's
seen the glory of God before. Listen, just seeing
the glory of God one time is not enough. I can
look back over my life and see times when the
manifested presence of God and the glory of God
overwhelmed me. But you know what? I shouldn't
be satisfied with something that happened in
the past. You shouldn't be satisfied with something
that happened in the past. If you've encountered,
see, that encounter should make you hungry. It
shouldn't satisfy you. It should increase your
hunger. He said, show me your glorious presence.
And then we see that God passed by and wouldn't
let him see his face. This is old covenant, all
right? His sins weren't forgiven. He wasn't the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So God
covered him with his hand, and his goodness passed
by. As I was listening last week, I said, that
wasn't in my notes, but that's worth repeating
again. The goodness of God is so good, you can
see it. His goodness passed by. And then Moses
saw his glory again. But Moses experienced the
glory of God a lot during this time. I'm going
to be talking about that a little bit more. But
the glory is the Hebrew word kalbod. And the
literal translation is wait. Everybody say wait.
This version of the word, because there's other
versions of the word, but this version is always
used figuratively in a good sense. It's translated
in our English Bible as glory, splendor, honor.
The glory of God. God, show me your glory. Show
me your splendor. Show me your honor. The word
wait is a really good word because when you experience
the glory of God, it's not just a mental concept
that I'm talking about. It's something that,
well, every time I've experienced it, I've felt
it. I know we don't go by feelings, but you feel
the weight of the moment, the glory. Let's continue.
We also looked at David. Well, let's finish this
up. Moses wasn't hungry for better circumstances.
See, most of us, when we go to God, to talk to
God, to ask him for something, we're asking him
for something for us. God, you see what I'm going
through, and I need your deliverance. You see
what I'm going through, I need your peace. You
see what I'm going through. I need your joy.
We're asking for something for us. But we see
that Moses wasn't asking God for something for
him personally. He wasn't asking for better circumstances,
for relief. He was asking for God himself. God,
I want you. God, I need you. God, I want to experience
you. What a different mindset. Hello? What a
different mindset than most of us when we go
to God, we're asking for something for us. When's
the last time you went to God and you just said,
God, I need you. I want you. I don't want to
go through today without you. And then we read
this from David, man after God's own heart. Oh
God, you are my God. I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you. David was in the wilderness
at this point while he's writing this. He needs
physical water, right? But that's not what he's
asking for. He's saying, oh God, you're my God.
I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for
you, God. My whole body longs for you. In this
parts and weary land where there's no water.
He's not saying, God, give me water, water. God,
I need water. Show me some water. Help me find
water. No, he's saying, God, my soul thirsts
for you. I'm hungry for you. In verse 2, it says,
I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon
your power and glory. Everybody say glory. You
know why he was hungry? For God? Because he had
seen God. He had experienced the power and the
glory of God. And that time in the past wasn't
enough. He wanted that today. David was hungry
because he had seen something before that time.
The glory of God is the manifested presence of
God. I don't want you to forget that God is omnipresent.
Everybody say omnipresent. Omnipresent. What
does that mean? He's everywhere all the time.
You can't go hide from God. You cannot escape
his presence. But then there are verses in the
Bible that say where two or more gather together
in his name, then he's here. He's there. Now,
why would the Bible say that? If he's omnipresent
and he's already there anyway, why would the
Bible say that? That two or more come together
to lift up the name of Jesus. Why does the Bible
say that God inhabits the praises of his people?
If he's already there, why would the Bible say
that? Well, that's because that there are times
when God is more here than other times. More
here. Where we can experience and know not just
his promised presence, but his manifested presence.
And listen, this doesn't just only happen at
church. It can happen for individuals. It doesn't
just happen at a worship service with multiple
people. It can happen with you by yourself. With
God, again, I'll say it again, in your car, even
while you're driving, you don't have to close
your eyes to experience the glory of God. We
can experience the manifested presence of God
where we know. We can feel His presence and know
His presence and be in awe of His presence. Today
we're going to the New Testament, Ephesians 5.
I'm going to start with verse 25. Like I said,
we're going to continue unfolding and learning
more about the glory of God during this series.
So many times in the New Testament, we just read
right through that word glory and we don't even
think about what it is or what it means. I mean,
I'm surprised. I surprise myself. on verses that
I've even memorized that have the word glory
in them that I don't even, I've never even acknowledged
that it was talking about the glory of God. Christ
loved the church. He gave up his life for her.
Now, to keep it in context, this is right after
it says, Husbands, love your wife like Christ
loved the church. But now we find out details
of Christ's love. Christ loved the church. He
gave up his life for her to make her holy and
clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word.
He did this to present her to himself as a glorious
church. Everybody say glorious. How many of you
can just figure out on your own that that's a
version of the word glory? It's glorious, right?
We'll get the definition in just a minute. Well,
there it is. That word glorious. Glorious church.
Remember, church is not a meeting. It's not an
organization. That word church is a compound
Greek word that means called out once. Called
out once. So, what does it say? He did everything
he did to present the called out ones to himself
as glorious called out ones. What does glorious
mean? The word is indoxos. You say it. And the
Greek en is just like our English word in. So
it's a compound word. Glorious means in glory.
In glory. So, Jesus did everything he did to
present the called out ones to himself as called
out people who are in glory. Glad one of you
got it. Glory is doxa. It means glory. It means
splendor. It means honor. When you look it up
in word studies, it's connected. It corresponds
to the Old Testament word kalbo. I'll just make
up my own pronunciation for that. To be heavy.
Both terms convey God's infinite intrinsic worth,
his infinite intrinsic substance, his... Infinite
and intrinsic essence. His essence. Everybody
say glory. Glory. Here's what we need to understand.
Jesus is coming back for a glorious church. Caught
out people who are in glory. In the glory. Jesus
has come back for a glorious church. He's not
coming back for a weak church. He's not coming
back for a bored church. He's not coming for
a distracted church. He's not coming for a church
that's just trying to survive the weak. He's
coming back for a glorious church. Not a church
that's just satisfied with going through religious
activity. No, he's coming back for a glorious
church. In glory. He's coming for a glorious
church. People who walk by faith. He's coming
for people with a confident expectation. He's
coming for people who are hungry. A church in
glory. In glory. Let's take a look at this because
we talk about being in Christ a lot. What does
it mean to be in Christ? To be in Christ means
that we have access to experience everything
that is available to us in Christ. Everything
that he did for us, everything that he promised
to us, we have access to it. We can walk in it.
We can know it. We can experience it. So in glory,
Means that we have access to everything that
comes along with the glory. The manifested presence
of God. He's coming back for us who are in glory.
Somebody smile. That should make you smile. I
know it makes you think, but when it makes you
think, it should make you smile when you think
about it. What is the glory? The manifest presence
of God. The weight of who he is. His goodness
revealed. His reality made known. Should I say
that again? Don't zone out on me. Don't zone
out. The glory is the manifest presence of God.
The weight of who he is. His goodness, remember?
Moses asked to see the glory. Show me your glory.
What's involved in the glory of God? What did
God say? He said, my goodness will pass by. The
goodness of God is found in the glory of God.
His reality made known. In the manifested presence
of God, good things happen. Good things happen.
When we're in his manifested presence, when we
acknowledge it, when we experience it, good things
begin to happen. Talk about me so much, I'm going
to talk about Ganna. Ganna had a car wreck. That
was before Jeffrey was born, right? You were
pregnant with Jeffrey. She was at a stoplight
in Greenville, South Carolina. And the lady's
testimony that hit her said that she never saw
her and never touched the bricks. She rear -ended
her, stopped at a stoplight at 45 miles an hour.
That's pretty hard to hit. So again, I had a
lot of pain from that car wreck. She went through
it, going to, you know, physical therapy, chiropractic
care. I mean, months and months and months. Hurting
bad. Like crying bad most days. Hurting. And
then we went to a worship seminar. It wasn't
even a service. It was a seminar. It was put
on by Lamar Boschman. I don't know if you've
ever heard him or not. He wrote a lot of the
early praise and worship music. Lamar Boschman.
You can look him up and maybe listen to some
of it if you want to. But he was there teaching
worship leaders about worship. And during the
seminar, he would say, okay, we're going to have
a worship break. That was our break. It wasn't
a break to go get coffee. He taught for an hour,
hour and a half. And then he'd say, okay, everybody
stand up. It's time for a worship break. And
then we would sing for about 45 minutes. Him
just playing the piano and just moving into different
songs and things like that. And there were times,
and I mean, this is something that he taught
us. I wasn't planning on talking about this.
But he says, as a worship leader, you need to
see the windows. He says, during a service, there
are windows that come across. And they're windows
to step into the glory of God. And he said, your
job as a worship leader is to try to get as many
people through those windows when they come as
possible. To recognize it and to bring as many
people as you can with you. Well, during one
of those sessions, all of a sudden, all the pain
left, all the pain never came back. Didn't have
to go back to the doctor another time. Right?
It's your testimony, right? Instead of talking
about myself, I'm going to share that. But in
the glory, good things happen. Good things happen.
Good things happen. I keep wanting to say more
than I probably need to say because we have three
more weeks. If the end, if Jesus is coming back
for a church that is in glory, if the end of
the church's story is glory, then our journey
should be filled with increasing glory. We need
to be more hungry for the glory today than we
were last week. It should be increasing glory.
2 Corinthians 3, 7 -11. There's some more glory
in the New Testament. The old way, with laws
etched in stone, led to death. Though it began
with such glory that the people of Israel could
not bear to look at Moses' face. Everybody say,
that's a lot of glory. For his face shone with
the glory of God. Even though the brightness
was already fading away, shouldn't we expect
Far greater glory under the new way. Now that
the Holy Spirit is giving life, look at the person
beside you and say, shouldn't we expect greater?
Shouldn't we expect far greater? I mean, we read
these stories in the Old Testament and we just
say, wow, right? But the Word of God is saying,
you can experience more glory than Moses did.
Greater. And most of the time we look at it and
say, wow, look what happened way back then. But
the Bible says, shouldn't we expect far greater?
See, if we don't expect it, we're not going to
experience it. We need to be expecting not just
the same level, But far greater. Some of you
need to smile. I promise it won't hurt you to
smile. I know this is deep. This is in a direction
that we've never understood or heard before probably.
But it should make us smile. If the old way,
which brings condemnation, was glorious, how
much more glorious is the new way? which makes
us right with God. In fact, that first glory,
listen, was not glorious at all compared with
the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if
the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious,
How much more glorious is the new which remains
forever? Can you see it? Can you see it? Remember,
glorious means in glory. Still the glory. Still
the manifested presence of God. There are three
truths in these verses. The old covenant had
real glory. It was a glory that faded, but it
was still a very real glory. Just in case you're
not familiar, when Moses would spend time with
God, and then when he would come out, just like
these verses say, and just like the Old Testament
say, his face radiated with the glory of God.
Now, if you were here last week, you remember
that God's... God's glory appeared to everybody
and God spoke to everybody at the mountain, but
the people couldn't handle it. They said, this
is too much. Hey Moses, go tell God that we don't
want him to speak to us directly anymore. God's
always wanted his people to be a kingdom of priests
unto their God. But they said, nope. We'll just
let Moses and the Levites be the priests. We
don't want God to speak to us. We want God to
speak to you, Moses, and then we want you to
tell us what God said. But when Moses would spend
time with God, when he would come out, I mean,
it wasn't just a sunburn. It wasn't that he was
just red -faced. Okay? The very glory of God,
had imprinted on him to where the glory of God
was radiating from his face. The glory of God
was radiating from his face. And it was so much.
I mean, the people already said, you know, we
don't want to see God's glory. We don't want
you to talk to us. But now they don't even want
to see Moses' face because it's radiating the
glory of God. So they put a cloth over his face.
Put a cloth over his face. So the glory was very
real. Here's something else that cloth did. Because
when Moses came out from the presence of God,
his face would glow, but it came time where the
glory would fade. So he would keep that cloth
over his face so people couldn't tell if the
glory was not on him. So the glory was real,
but the glory faded under the old covenant. The
new covenant, however, brings access to a greater
glory. Everybody say greater. Greater. Greater
than Moses on the mountain. I mean, have you
even considered this? That you can experience
the manifested presence of God in a greater way
than Moses did when he was on the mountain. It's
available. Greater glory. And then the other
truth is this, we should expect that glory. Not
just admire it, not just study it, but Hunger
for it and expect it. That's what the text said,
right? That we should expect a greater glory.
Because we have a greater glory under a better
covenant. Moses' face shone with fading glory.
Ours is a greater lasting glory. It doesn't have
to fade. Now we're going to Haggai. Your pages
might be stuck together in your printed Bible
in Haggai. You don't read out of Haggai a lot.
Haggai 2 .9. This is prophetic. Even before it
happened, the final glory of this house will
be greater than the first, says the Lord of hosts.
The final glory is greater than the first. You've
got the wilderness tabernacle. You've got the
temple. You've got the holy of holies. But the
final glory of this house will be greater than
the first, says the Lord of hosts. So where are
we going to go from here? 1 John 5 .14 says this.
We are confident that he hears us whenever we
ask him for anything. that pleases Him. Remember,
our prayer life is not just us figuring out what
we want to beg God for and just keep begging
Him for it. It has to be an agreement with Him.
Everybody say agreement. We are confident that
He hears us whenever we ask for anything that
pleases Him. And since we know He hears us, When
we make our requests, we also know, everybody
say confidence, we also know that He will give
us what we ask for. When we pray powerful prayers.
See, we can't have faith for things God has not
clearly promised to us. But when we know what
God has said, then we have a place to anchor
our faith. When we know what God has said. So
even though most of us are looking like we're
looking at a, like a calf looking at a new gate,
it's like, where'd that come from? When we're
talking about the glory of God, what has God
said about it? See, we're going to have to have
faith for the glory, a hunger and an expectation.
Got to have faith for the glory instead of just
living our lives like even if we knew about the
glory, it's just if it happens, it happens. Just
like a lot of things we talk about around here,
it's not always just up to God. God's saying
it's according to our faith. And we're saying
it's just up to God. And God's saying it's according
to your faith. So if we're going to experience
the glory of God, we can't live our lives by
if it happens, it happens. It's just all up to
God. What has God said about his glory? We've
looked at it. We've looked at the word of God,
right? So this is God speaking about his glory.
He's saying the latter glory will be greater.
Everybody say greater. Here's what he said. The
new covenant glory exceeds Moses's glory. Everybody
say exceeds. He says he's coming for a glorious
church. He's coming for a called out people who
are in the glory. That's what he said. So God's
will is clear. When we know what God has said,
then we know what his will is. We don't have
to ask him, God, if it's your will, show me your
glory. Because he's already told us his will
in what he said. You got to smile again. You
got to help me. You got to smile. God wants glory
in His house. What do I mean by His house? I'm
not talking about a gymnasium in Davenport. I'm
talking about people. I'm talking about all of
us coming with hunger and expectation to encounter
the glory of God, to experience the manifest
presence of God, to expect to see His goodness
flow. When we're here. He wants his glory in
his people. He wants his glory in this generation.
That's what God wants. That's his will. What's
it going to take? What's it going to take? Us.
Coming to the point in our faith where we have
confident expectation of all the promises that
God has given us and we're receiving those and
walking in those. Everybody say, grow up. See,
at some point in our spiritual growth, We move
in our faith from what I need or what I can get
to the point where we're coming together and
saying, what can we carry together? I know I
need to say that again. We need to come to a
point. We need to come to a place where we are
mature in our faith to a point where we have
already, we've taken hold of what God has promised
us. We're experiencing what God has promised
us. We're living in what God has promised us.
Because we know what he's promised us. In every
area of our lives, every need that you ever face,
God has a promise that he's already supplied
that need. No matter what it is. So we get to
the point where we've... We've grown in our faith
to where we're experiencing everything we need
to experience personally. We're taking hold of
it. We're experiencing it. It's happening in
our lives. God wants us to get to that point
so that we can move from that instead of what
I can get to what we can carry together. God
wants his manifested presence to be in this room
to such a degree that if people who've never
been here, when they walk in the door, they're
going to leave saying, I don't know what's going
on in Lation Church, but I met with God today.
I didn't even know I could meet with God, but
I met with God today. But it's going to take
corporate to do that. What can we carry together?
Our personal faith victories are not the destination
of a glorious church. They're the training ground
so we can believe for an outpouring of God, a
move of God. Some people label that as revival.
Demonstrations. Of the goodness of God. We're
in the manifested presence of God. We find out
that we have everything we need. In the glory.
Lives being transformed. Our personal victories.
Are just the training ground. For us to get to
the point where we see this. manifest together
as the called out ones. So we're going to have
faith for the glory. Faith knows. Everybody say
faith knows. Because faith is about being fully
convinced that it's God's will to reveal His
glory to His church. And we become fully convinced.
Based on what he said. And knowing his will.
So faith knows. What does faith do? Faith asks.
Everybody say faith asks. Zechariah 10 .1. Those
pages might be stuck together too. It says this.
Ask the Lord for rain. In the time of the latter
rain. It's not just talking about. Rain coming
out of the sky to water the earth. He's talking
about the glory of God. Ask the Lord for rain
in the time of latter rain. We pray to God. God,
reveal your glory among us in this house. Manifest
your presence in our worship because we're all
worshiping you. We're not just going through
the motions. It's coming from our hearts. The
songs that we sing, the things that we say, the
prayers that we pray, it's radiating from our
spirit to you, God. Manifest your presence in
our worship. Let your glory rest on these called
out ones. To where when we walk in the room,
somebody goes, it's just something different.
When you walked in here, something changed. The
atmosphere shifted. And then faith speaks. Everybody
say faith speaks. Psalm 145, 11. What does that
say? It says, they will speak of the glory of
your kingdom. Look to the person beside you and
say, that's you. That's me. We're supposed to
be speaking of the glory of the kingdom of God.
They're not only going to speak of the glory,
they're going to give examples of your power.
Let me tell you what happened in the manifested
presence of God last Sunday when we got together.
You know, I see that you're going through some
stuff. Come on, come to church with me next week.
Come worship with me next week. Let me tell you
what happened in the glory of God in this person's
life, in this person's life. Hello? Just like
I shared with you what happened in Gana's life
in the glory. That needs to be happening every
week. God is moving. God is moving. Oh, that
Elation Church would be marked by the presence
of God. Oh, that we would come expecting a manifestation
of His glory. And then we'll see His goodness
flow. You might just receive something you didn't
even ask for. And that faith prepares. Everybody
say, faith prepares. We talked about preparing
last week a little bit. Just touch on it again.
Here's the deal. If we believe something is coming,
we get ready. If you really believe something's
coming, you get ready. Right? I believe a baby's
coming. Someday. But when the baby's coming,
what do you do? You prepare. You get ready. Expecting
a baby, you prepare a nursery. Expecting company
to come to your house. Especially company that's
allergic to the cat. Expecting company. You clean
the house. Bless their hearts, they even got
to vacuum the curtains every time I come. When
you're expecting company, you clean the house.
When you're expecting rain, you bring an umbrella.
You forget the umbrella. Well, it's because you
weren't expecting. If you were expecting the
rain, you don't forget the umbrella. It's just
when you kind of forget about it and say, I knew
it was going to rain. After, But you lost the
expectation or never formed the expectation before
you went out that day. If you had the expectation,
you would have carried the umbrella. You would
have took your raincoat. How do we prepare the
way? Genuine praise and worship to God. Not just
going through the motions. Not just singing the
songs. Genuine praise and worship. How do we
prepare the way? By being hungry for it. You
know, these verses, these stories, hopefully
it'll make you hungry. Like if I started talking
about some really good food right now, some of
you would start getting hungry. So we're talking
about the glory of God and what's available.
That's to make you hungry and then to have an
expectation. Have an expectation. That is preparing.
That's preparing. One more thing. Almost every
Sunday, one of the boys asked me, Anybody sit
on the stool today? Who sat on the stool today?
When we're loading up the trailer, they say,
did anybody sit on the stool? Mason talked about
this stool. You know, I was, back was hurting
a little bit. He said, you need to get you a
stool. I'd kind of been wanting a stool to match
anyway. So I got a stool. But how many of you
know? There's probably not going to be a Sunday
when I just sit here. I've got to move my arms.
I've got to move my feet. If I don't move my
feet, my brain quits working and I don't even
know what to say. I've got to move. So me just
sitting here, you know. But in this series, I
was reminded of a story that I heard. by a guy
named Paul Young -gi Cho from South Korea. Has
anybody ever heard of him? If you've heard of
him, raise your hand. Just an amen corner over
here. That's the only people who's heard of him.
In the 70s, Paul Young -gi Cho, he later changed
his name to David Young -gi Cho, but I met him
when he was Paul, so I'm going with the name
I met him by. During the early 70s or mid -70s,
Paul Young -Hee Cho started an Assembly of God
church in South Korea. And it started with five
people. Everybody say five. It started with five
people. It was him, his family, and his mother
-in -law. Five people. When Gayna and I met Paul
Youngichow, first time I heard him tell this
story that I'm about to tell you, we were in
the Greenville Memorial Auditorium. There were
3 ,000 people there. Churches had got together
and flew him in to come speak for one service
to the pastors in Greenville. And at that point,
He had the largest church in the world. Started
with five people in the 70s. I believe when,
I think he was over 300 ,000 people in the, what
would that have been? Mid 80s when we met him.
Over 300 ,000 people. The church. grew to a point
where it got over 800 ,000 people. Right now,
it's closer to 500 ,000. He passed away in 21.
But he said this story. I don't know if it's
a story for him or if it's just something that
he heard, but he said a visiting speaker, I don't
know if the visiting speaker came to his church
to preach. Or if he just knew the story from
somewhere else. So I'm not going to... I don't
know. It was in the 80s. How am I supposed to
remember? But there's a visiting preacher who
came to the church. And he walked up on the platform
with the pastor and the worship team. And there
were chairs. And he walked up and he's like,
well, there's this big chair right here in the
middle. Has a higher back than the rest of them.
And maybe since I'm the special guest speaker
today, maybe the pastor is not going to sit in
that seat and he wants me to sit in that seat.
So the special visitor walked over to that seat
and began to sit down. And I think it might have
been Paul. Paul is in the seat beside, and there
was another seat there. He said, no, no, no,
no, no. He said, do not sit on the Holy Spirit.
He said, you sit here. Do not sit on the Holy
Spirit. So, from now on, If you ask who sat on
the bench from the day forward to help us with
our expectation, let's just say that we're reserving
this one for God. We're going to reserve it for
God. Now, after the service is over and we're
taking it to put it in the trailer, you can still
sit on it if you want to. Because he's, you know.
But I want you to picture that as part of your
hunger, as part of your expectation. I want you
to, because see, I didn't even put my junk on
it today. I've been using it as a table. Not
anymore. Because I expect the glory of God. I
expect his manifested presence. I expect for
him to come sit right there every Sunday in our
presence. I expect to see his goodness flow and
his glory fill this place. And I believe if we
all expect it together, I believe we will see
it in increasing measure. Let's pray. God, thank
you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your
truth. Thank you for revealing things to us that
we've seen but not seen. Help us to see it. Help
us not just read through and read past your word
as you're trying to communicate something to
us. But we've just gotten so religious that we
don't get it. Help us to see it. Give us revelation
of your truth. Thank you for what you're doing.
Thank you for what you're going to do. In Jesus'
name, amen. This online worship experience was
brought to you by the friends and partners of
Eulation Church.