KEEP THE DOOR CRACKED
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I have a confession to make…….when I was little I was terrified of the dark…..seriously... ....I still remember when we moved to Taylorville I was in 3rd grade….and I thought I could sleep in the basement by myself…haha, the first night I stayed down there I got so scared that I went to my brothers room…ended up on his blow out Darth mole chair(yes he was a star wars fanatic, and I popped it)…..couldn’t stand being in the dark……and alone....
I have a confession to make…….when I was little I was terrified of the dark…..seriously... ....I still remember when we moved to Taylorville I was in 3rd grade….and I thought I could sleep in the basement by myself…haha, the first night I stayed down there I got so scared that I went to my brothers room…ended up on his blow out Darth mole chair(yes he was a star wars fanatic, and I popped it)…..couldn’t stand being in the dark……and alone....
But the good news is I'm proud to say at 27 I'm not scared of the dark anymore….Bad news I have seen that fright in my kids. At night we have this routine, brush teeth, read a bible story, turn lights off, pray, then kisses…….however, there is one piece of night…left to do that is vital….and if you are not trained in doing this... Owen will have you for lunch….and that is the door crack. Leaving the door cracked where the hallway light can come in is vital!!! Why? Anyone scared of the dark knows that they are comforted by the presence of the light……having the power of light with them gives them this extreme confidence…Without it they don’t want anything to do with the dark.……..In the text we are going to examine today we see Moses is desperate for the presences and Glory of God……So much so that He doesn’t want to go and do anything without the Presences of God with him and Israel…….
As we examine that thought we are simply going to look at ONE question through this chapter: Here is the question I have for us this morning:
Do we long for the presence and Glory of God among us?
To help us answer that question we are going to look at 2 observation in . These observations will give us a good example of how the Glory and presence of God is to be longed for.
….....but before we dive into that this morning let me give you some brief context……..
Context: We get our English word for exodus from the Greek noun exodos, which means a going out or departure.
If you are familiar much with scripture, you know the amazing story of God using Moses with the help of Aaron to deliver God’s people out of Slavery in Egypt
The overarching theme is that God is a deliver .
keep his promises to the patriarchs that He is going to make Israel a great nation. So we have the first part of this book God calling out Moses, to be his mouth piece and vessel of God’s judgment and glory over the Egyptians…Then we have the crazy 10 plagues…..that make for awesome bed time stories for the kids……Then after the people are delivered they journey a little in the wilderness from Egypt to Rephidim and then from Rephidim too Sinai. At Sinai God establishes this amazing covenant with the people.... the ten commandments come into play…and the instruction for the tabernacle as well….
And get this Moses….is meeting with God on a mountain, receiving these instructions….wow…..but chapter 32 is sooooo sad…..we find in 32 where the convent is just fresh…… that the people get inpatient….with how long it has taken Moses to hear from God on the mountain…..so they make their own God’s out of their jewelry and start worshiping a Golden Calf that man made…..
Now, this is not my sermon but people of God in this century….and especial myself…..WE NEED to slow down……… and understand the importance of waiting on the LORD!!!! we live in a culture that built on Go, go, go, go…….and if you can’t wait just grab a fidget spinner….. and if thousands of years ago the lack of waiting on the Lord lead to the people of God go radically falling, how much more should we now we willing to wait on the Lord, take time in your bible reading, in prayer, and discerning……Ok sooo things weren't good…… and this is where we are going to pick up the story…….
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God is saying, to them Ok I will go ahead and give you this promised land, the comfort, wealth, and all your heart desires……wait wait wait…what is the catch….we just made a bull out of jewels, there has to be a catch….God’s like O yea….im not going with you…..ill give you the promised land without me! The peoples repose is actually to their defense pure….they fell apart they removed all their jewelry which was a sign of sorrow and repentance ( …..they did not like this at all…..especially Moses......., God telling Moses that his presence would not go with them is what lead Moses' plea to God in verse 12-23 which we will look at yet….but jump over to verse 15 “And he said to him, “If your presence does not go with me, do not bring us up from here”
First way God’s presence and Glory is to be longed for is wanting God not just what God provides
……Sadly, as I studied this text and thought about the current condition of western Christianity, the thought went through me my mind, Is GOD enough for us, would we have the same response as Moses did?
Seriously ask yourself, would you take the promise of God without the presence of God?
the sad reality is the more I studied and looked into the answer to this question, and looked at tons of commentaries and sermons, and even ask some people……it was a resounding consensus that the majority of “Christians in the west would take the promises without Gods presence….thats a dream to some One authors states, “This is exactly the kind of Christianity we have created today, a Christianity that says, “Come to Christ and get stuff, Come to Christ and you get forgiveness; you get heaven, you get your best life.” NO>>>>
We come to Christ to Get God.
people!!! See one of the ways we know that God is glorious is that He is better than anything this life can offer. You get peace in this world not from security, money, fame, success, healthy family, good job, great church family, You get peace in this world from being where God created you to be and that's with HIM in his presence and power!!
Moses, Saw the beauty and nothing was more important…….Reminded me of Peters response in Jesus got done saying some pretty strong words to the crowd and the crowded started leaving…Not following him anymore….and Jesus asked them….do you want to go as well???……Peters response I pray is my response….Where else will we go??? Church, where else do we find this life most fully lived then through Jesus…..we were born and meant for God through his son Jesus…..you know what I have seen in our world….people who have everything…and yet live as though they don’t have a thing……just look at the news, magazines…super sad me and Laura where to watch a show with a celebrity and we got to talking about this celebrity…..and look up a bio of her life and just got said….she has been married like 5 times….just seemed sad….life is not about the created but the creator…..couldn't agree more with
JD Greer quote: “People who have experienced everything without God and nothing with God will always take nothing with God every time.
People who have experienced everything without God and nothing with God will always take nothing with God every time.
Is that true with you??? Is GOD enough…seriously…Take away the church building…Good programs, your cool new journal….not saying all of those things are bad….but IS GOD and being with him and is presence and glory enough……Because again if not
Christianity is the worst hobby.
Think about, wake up early when it's your day off, walk through a crowd of people, and these people are always pressuring you to volunteer, join this, go to that,…..Then you get some guy up there who yells at you for 40 mins or sometimes longer..when they have that guy preaching…Miserable, It’s like having to go through “Halloween” every week. You get all dressed up and put on your “Christian facemask” and pretend to be something you're not. When asked, "How's it going?" you respond, "Good, brother, praise the Lord." Then you walk away knowing you just lied and feeling bad about yourself. The church is only enjoyable if you go all the way... if you come craving to see God’s glory. So go big or go home……Moses didn't’ want to go….did not want the promises without God….that's one way we know the presence and glory of God was longed for…….
The second way we know the presence and glory of God was longed for was knowing that without God the Israelites would fail in their mission.
……..Read
Now look at verse 12 and 13…..who will you send…..show me your ways……! What is Moses saying here….. He is saying, GOD, what you're calling me to do…I kinda have a problem with
Moses is saying I can’t do this without you
I don’t have the resources; you have to show me your ways……Have you ever felt like that? Parents have you ever felt like what God has called you to do you can’t do??? Students, husband, wives, children….the ironic thing is this is how the Christian life is designed….There is not a single thing God has called you to do that you can do with your OWN resources….Everything requires and demands his presence and power…..
“Apart from me you can do nothing”
….what a slam in the face to the American dream…..That says you can do you can do it you can do it……Please don’t give me a gospel that says I CAN….I Can’t but there is ONE who can and his name is JESUS…And I need him every second of the day…..when this student who keeps calling me and I don’t know what to say…when gas and owen are fighting for the 15theen time in the past 15 mins….when you come home from work men…and want to just indulge in yourself instead of your family….we need him we need him we need HIM……
Lets live in a way that only GOD can accomplish what he is leading me to
!!! and get this church Moses understood that this idea(that we can’t accomplish anything without is presence and power) is not just in individuals but communal…… Look at verse 14-16…..wow God just told Moses in 14 that his presence will go with him….then In read verse 15..and I'm like Moses are you not paying attention like are you…. pulling a Rem moment…..He is not pulling a Rem moment…
Moses doesn't what God presence to just go with him but also Gods people
is being very intent on listen…he realizes that God told him that He was going to go with Moses instead of everyone else……notice in 15 it says bring us….and Your people….God’s presence must be with Israel as well to accomplish the mission….God’s presences and power must go with the church today as well to accomplish his mission……..
I have been to several church planting and pastor conferences now…..and I am convinced now….that you can plant a church…start a ministry and get tons of people their….without Jesus every being there……One author says, “Perhaps the greatest problem with the church today is the attempt to do the work of God apart from the presence and power of God. We can get so good at “doing church” that the ministry becomes mechanical and mundane.” please God let this not be…..Church…this church is not a business, The church is a supernatural empowerment of God’s Spirit and power….and the moment we start taking ground without God’s presence and power thinking that we can move people on our own because of our new and fancy church buildings, programs, events.... ……WE LOOSE TERRIBLE….I have thought about this church before, and how talented we are, the resources, and the people we have…and thought man…we can do good for the nations……this is wrong headed…..the reality is that we could have all the resources and talent in the world but apart from HIS spirit and power in us we will do nothing to shake the nations for HIS GLORY….acualty the opposite is true…we can have NO talent and skill money… or anything and have the presence and power of God and shake the world for His Glory!!! Do we believe that we can accomplish more as a church in the next month with the power of the Holy Spirit than we could in the next 100 years apart from His power?
Because this is what makes us distinct not our money building, programs, but Gods presence and power
Land the plane: In close, Church I absolute love you….but I felt like God wanted me to preach this text to remind us of whats most important and that is God’s glory and presence in our lives and the life of the church is most important thing……and we don’t get there by just me screaming at you long for God’s presence long for long for…think about it think about it!!! …..NO but by God’s revelation and thats what Moses longs for in the rest of the verses…..SEE God did pass by Moses in the cleft of that mountain, and you would think….Man, that what I need…..BUT church we understand that every text links to JESUS and what he was done…..So look at with me, “For God, who said. ‘Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God IN the face of Jesus Christ.”
Jesus is the everlasting display of God’s glory!!
And when we trust in him His sprit makes camp in us….SO now we become these vessels where the sprits of God dwells…, “Do you not know brothers that you yourselves are God’s temple?” , “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit where the spirit and presence and glory of God dwells in you.” Let this continue to blow our minds…That the wonder of this drive your worship…..for Christians JESUS God’s very presence is in you.Seek it in the word as Moses did in 7-11….For those that don’t know Jesus let this lead to repentance…..That you will couture be extremely lost…..wondering in the dark….without HIM, but all you have to do Is call out to HIM…repent and believe, knowing you can’t find peace and forgiveness of your wrong on your own…..That was God’s plan all along…that HE would send HIS glory amount in Jesus…..
Of course, as a pastor, you know that I couldn't let that fear slide with my boys....you know there have been many times I have turned around and had a full out come to Jesus hour sermon with my boys about FEAR…….Most of the time they just Stare and sit….and you know something…..I really don’t have to crack that door anymore……because they know nothing of my doing, trust me….But they know God is bigger, and HE is with them…..Church…….let us please not stop seeking HIM and his glorious presence…HE and HE alone is more than enough, let us long for HIS glory and presence.