230303-If Your Presence Goes Not With Us

Moses is on Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai, speaking with God. He asks God to show him his glory, and God agrees to show him his goodness and proclaim his name. However, God tells Moses that he cannot see his face, but only his back. 2 Chronicles 14 verse 11 and 12, we see Asa's cry of faith and maybe desperation unto the Lord, but confidence in the God who had defended them up to then. 2 Chronicles 14 verse 11, President McConnell. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, nor with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee and in thy name, and we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee, pastoral. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judea, and the Ethiopians fled. Amen. It's nothing for you, God. It's almost nothing for you, O Lord. You can save with many, or you can save through people who have no power, or we will rest on you. We're resting on you, Lord, our Savior. So again, King Asa made this war not a personal thing. You know, so many times we become disappointed, we become defeated in the war. We take it personally, but we don't realize. We need to lift up our eyes, and we need to realize there's a spiritual war going on that's much higher than governments, much higher than governments, much higher than leaders and elections. Thank you, Lord. Hey, brother Zebedee. Greetings to you. Thank you, sir. Happy birthday, Reverend. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And so, because of the trust that Asa put, and because of his prayers and the Lord's will, he did not make this war a personal war or a war between the Israelites and the Ethiopians. And so, because of that, God raised up a power upon few that defeated the armies of many who had defeated much, and they were experienced. And yet, God gave them victory. If God is with us, the odds are on our side. Come on. Somebody say that. If God is with us, the odds are on our side. Yes. Hallelujah. Yes. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Because we don't look with the eyes of man at the stink surrounding us, but we look to our God. And as last that I've seen, he's still sitting there on his throne. And the plan that he's had since the beginning of this world is unfolding even as we speak. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's read 2 Chronicles 15, the first four verses. These words are encouraging. What God has done in the past, we need to remember. Yeah, 2 Chronicles 15, verse 1 to 4. Can I read? All right. 2 Chronicles 15, 1 to 4. And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Obed. And he went out to meet Esau and said unto him, Hear ye me, Esau, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you... The Lord is with you while you be with him. And if you seek him, he will be found of you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long season, Israel had been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. But one day in their trouble, unto the Lord God of Israel and sought him, he was found of them. 1 to 4. Amen. So the prophet Azariah said to him, the Lord is with you. Obviously because they had come in such victory after defeating the armies of the Ethiopians. However, he continues to say, the Lord is with you. And he puts this determination on this. While you be with him. And if you seek him. So there's two things. There's a while and there's an if. In other words, King Esau, if you sit in the throne of your glory of this victory. And do whatever you want to do. Then you're on your own. As long as you continue. As you continue what? To be with him, he will be with you. One of the things before God moves, he must find someone who is with him. Someone who is for what he is for. For what God is doing. And if we seek him, he will show himself to us. We'll be found of him. But in the time that we forsake him. What does that mean, forsake him? Well, you know, we can become negligent. We can become comfortable. We can become lazy. We can become comforted in our own level of where we are in ministry or experience. It's the time when God is using us the most powerfully. That we need this word. If you keep on seeking. Oh, not ministry. This is a danger. Listen to me. Thinking that we are close to God because of the power of a ministry. The power of a ministry is not fully the measure of our closeness to God. This sounds crazy to some. But the ministry can never remain powerful if the minister doesn't continue personally to seek the Lord. To obey the Lord. To trust the Lord. It's in the times of ease that we most easily fall away from God. It's in the time of hardships that we draw closer. But when God begins to use us in ministry. This is not the measure. We have to be careful not to measure. Our walk. Oh, Jesus. Not a measure of our closeness to the Lord. And it's not the measure of how long you can continue. Oh, if you want to continue. There has to be a walk and a seek. You know, it's in times when God is moving that we need to seek him most. Because it's more difficult to manage ministry in times of outpouring than in times of need. Because there are more people. More needs. And more dangers of making a misstep. We become more of an attack against us. We're a target. Hallelujah. Amen. Okay. I wanted to help me repeat what you said. It's more difficult to... I don't get that part. It's more difficult to maintain a ministry during... I don't get what you said. And that's... Yeah. You know when God is pouring out. And there are so many blessings. And so many people. Miracles are happening. Salvations are going on. This is the very most, most, most time that we need to seek the Lord. Because in respect, in honor of God's moving. We can easily mismanage what God is doing. Okay. And, you know, these kings made mistakes. And here comes the prophet. And the prophet is speaking to King Asa. Who ruled many years. And there was peace during his time. However, he said, the Lord is with you as long as you remain with him. As long as you continue to seek him. Hallelujah. King Solomon. Amen. So wealthy and so wise. He made mistakes of having a thousand wives or whatever he had. Any good man knows a thousand wives is a big mistake. Hallelujah. But it's in the middle of the... Amen. When God does pour out. I believe God is about to pour out through some of you. And about to raise up some of you. And do beautiful works. Powerful works. And so this teaching needs to sit down in our spirit. And in the time we need it. We need to not count how successful we are. We need to turn our face to him. And continue to seek him. The only good thing came because of God's blessing and God's leading. I have to attend to one thing. Brother Faber. It's good to see Cynthia. Welcome Cynthia. Your first time. And we're delighted that you could join us today. Welcome to you. Brother Faber. Brother David. Brother Chris. Nice to have you both. Pastor David and Pastor Casaldi. Brethren is going out just for a minute. Does anybody have something he wants to share? Brother David. Yes. Brother David. Yes. I can hear you. Please share what the Lord is doing. Share what the Lord is doing. Praise God. Amen. Praise God. What I really want to share with us is from 2 Chronicles Chapter 15, from verse 1 to 4. You know, when Asa. Asa is a king that walked uprightly with God. Asa was a righteous king. But Azariah, the prophet, met Asa. Because the Bible says he that thinketh his standards, he should look well before he falls. So Azariah met Asa and was trying to encourage him. Let him not relax that he have arrived. Like let him not relax that things are moving on well with him. You know, these days, most men of God, or most Christians precisely, relax. Once the miracles is flowing, God is speaking to them, they will now go back to relax. Without further seeking God, the more. That was why I asked the reverend to repeat what he actually said. Because I had a little experience of it. When I was in my moment of prayer and I was praying and God began to show me things. And one of the things he told me is that I should be very careful. Because if he pours out his spirit, just like what I was asking, if he pours out his spirit, let me not be carried away. And immediately the reverend said something that my mind struck there. And I asked him to repeat it. So we Christians, we shouldn't relax. Our righteousness, to me, is not enough. We need to walk with God on daily basis. On regular activity. So we shouldn't relax. I just want to point out this. Hallelujah. Amen. I love that. Hallelujah. And that is so true. I know in the country right now, a few places, and the Lord has a word for us. But in the meantime, I want to hear from Brother Zebedee. Brother Zebedee, we are happy to have you. What is the Lord saying to you and what would you like to share with us at this time, seeing all that is happening in Nigeria? What encouragement would you like to share with us at this time? Thank you very much. I came in lately, but the little I heard the reverend spoke was heart-touching. I think even God himself is afraid to release grace on men because men easily flame up. Men always forget it's God that is at work in them. People always ascribe glory to them. Sometimes maybe they think because of the number of days they fast, because of the kind of seed they sow, they forgot that God is the center of everything. So sometimes when we increase on God to enlarge us, God himself is afraid that if he does this, this same person will misuse it. You know, a mighty man falling, the fall will be greater. The impact of the fall will be heavier than when it is a small man falling. So sometimes God denying us some spiritual assets, assets to some spiritual reality, is just in the bid to help us overcome the self in us. How will somebody say, I do this, I do this? I don't want to even make references to what is happening. For some of us that are in the northern part of Nigeria, we are seeing so many, many dramas. But God helping us. When Moses said that, that I was really touched in my spirit, I just prayed that God will empty us of ourselves. So that once he begins to allow his grace flows to us, there will not be any self, we will not corrupt the work he is doing in us. Amen. Oh, I need to step away more often. I was really powerful, yes. Brother David and Brother Zebedee brought some solid work. I heard it, actually my headset carried it. Hallelujah Jesus. Anyone else that is eager to jump in? Let's give you an opportunity at this time. Okay. Yes. Osemai, it was just something I learned in addition to a mention you made. How that hard times bring us closer to God. Yes. Recently, I had this idea while reading when I was out there at the mission station in Kosovo. The Bible says in James 10 chapter 5, I don't remember the verse now, it says, If any afflicted, let him pray. So I began to understand that affliction is an opportunity to pray. There are things that have happened that forced me to pray. I had no other option. But by reading, there were not wonderful experiences. I was not seeking for that habit, but it forced me to pray. So, just to add to that, when you see affliction, it's an opportunity to pray. You have fire, you have energy, you have body to pray. You can lock up yourself, you can raise a cry to the Lord. Affliction offers such an opportunity. I'm not saying it's a beautiful thing, but it's a good way to look at it. It changes your perspective when it comes. So, let's just speak a little of when God does begin to move, how do we manage that? How do we allow God, allow him to move as fully as he would like to move? How can we keep out of his way, not take the glory? We've been speaking of that, that we must not take God's glory. This is point number one. How to let God keep moving when he's moving. I believe God is going to move and he's going to move and use many in this group. But how can we learn to keep moving? One is, hallelujah, give God all his due glory. Don't allow men to insult you. Don't allow them to call you senior bishop, most anointed, number one in all of Nigeria. You know how they do this stuff. They go on for one minute with the exaltation of a man. They do a great disservice to the people of God. Yes, we need to let the people know that God has been using this man. And we're so blessed to have him, her, in our midst. Praise God for that. Honor to whom honor is due. But we need to not allow man to exalt us. Refuse that. Oh, it pleases the flesh. It's so delicious. It is difficult to refuse as, I was going to say ice cream. Hallelujah. Difficult to refuse as free candy. Hallelujah. As chicken on a stick. Hallelujah. Amen. Because our flesh loves the accolades of man. And as you say, Brother Zebedee, it's a disgrace and it's a dishonor to God to honor the servants of the Lord. No one will go to the king's house and begin to bow before and praise the porter who brought your shoes to be stored until you leave. Not the one who took your coat. They're not the one who's going to receive the honor. And so if we're nothing but the doorkeeper in the house of God, then we, the only way that we can remain in that space of humility is by seeking God to deliver us from our own fleshly tendencies to take the glory. Did you hear me? Yes, sir. The only way to not become King Asa, the victor of all the Ethiopians, great man of valor. The only way is that we remain humble and we continue to seek the Lord in the midst of victory. In the midst of battle. Hallelujah. Oh, let's hear the warning of Azariah. The Lord is with you if you remain with him. The Lord is with you if you continue to seek him. Hallelujah. It's a strong warning to us. Amen. And then how else that we continue a move of God is that we raise up and train up others in this move of God. And we're not the one lifted up, but we begin to lift up the body of Christ around us. Oh, we don't want to be the one and only great one of all Africa whom God is using. Oh, Lord Jesus helps us. Oh, Lord Jesus helps us. No, but it would be such a great movement if we can raise up and infect others around us. To be used of God and to spread that fire. Oh, don't be possessive about it. Spread it out to as many as will receive it. Because when God is moving. Hallelujah. Give him the glory. Remain humble. Continue to seek him and raise up others under you who can move and operate in that glory. Yes, brothers and Savior, we're so glad that you can join us tonight. I've heard others express their joy in having you as a part last week as well as tonight. So God bless you, Pastor Xavier. Amen. Our group is growing because God is moving. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Oh, bless the Lord. Let's look at another life then. Let's look at the life of Moses for a moment. Go ahead, Pastor Xavier. Go ahead, my brother. Yes, thank you for the update. Brethren and my sisters who are available, I'm so sorry I'm late. I've been challenged side by side. I've been challenged during the day and then the network also has challenged me a little bit. So I'm sorry I'm late, but I'm thankful to God I'm on now. Thank you so much for feeling sorry for me. I'm glad to be part of it. You're so welcome. And you are adding your spice to our soup. Amen. Hallelujah. Exodus chapter 33. And let's do this. Brother Faber, help me out here and appoint in order. Each reads four or five verses at your discretion and just put up a list or an order of who will read next. And we'll read through the chapter of Exodus 33. It's not a long chapter. If you would do that favor. I think your brother, you would go first. And my sister Shama, Shama you would go next. And sister Bertha, you go third. And brother Xavier, pastor Xavier, you go fourth. And I'll go fifth. All right. And we're reading from Exodus 33rd chapter beginning in the first verse. There are 23 verses. One, two, three, four, four verses, right? And the Lord said unto Moses, the path and go up hence. Thou and the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt. Unto the land, which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, unto thy seed would I give it. And I will send an angel before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites. Unto a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of thee. For thou art a steep-necked people. This thy condition be in the way. And when the people heard this, they foresighted in their mind. And no man did put on him his ornaments. Okay, from verse five. For the Lord hath said to Moses, say to the children of Israel, you are a steep-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now, therefore, take up your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you. So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Verse seven. Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of Meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the Tabernacle of Meeting, which was outside the camp. Verse eight. So it was, whenever Moses went out to the Tabernacle, that all the people rose. And each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the Tabernacle. Verse nine. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the Tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the floor of the Tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the Tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshipped every man in his tent door. And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again unto the camp. But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tabernacle. And Moses said unto verse twelve. And Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest thou unto me, bring up those people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and in my sight. Yes. Yes. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. Verse fourteen. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Verse fifteen. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. Verse sixteen. For wherein shall it be known here, that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that you go with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth? Amen. Verse seventeen. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I will teach thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and leave. We still have three more verses. Father David, please finish. Okay. Verse twenty one. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Verse twenty two. And it shall come to pass, while the glory passeth by, that I will put thee a cliff of the rock, and I will cover thee with my hand, while I pass by. Verse twenty three. And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back, but my face shall not be seen. Amen. Amen. They had come out of Egypt, and they had come to the area called the Mount Horeb. It's an area behind the district of Moses' uncle, where he had tended sheep. In fact, it's the same area where Moses had encountered God in the burning bush. Very interesting. And so, again, Moses is here in this area of Mount Horeb. Once again, this mountain is also called Mount Sinai, and you may know it by that name, but in this passage, it's been given the name Horeb. And I don't know all the language about it, but why it's got two names. Perhaps there's two sides to the mountain. I'm not sure. And the Lord said in verse one, it's time for you to get up and go to the land which I promised, and I swore. Abraham, I swore to Isaac, and I also promised to Jacob, and saying, I told them that your seed will be given this land that I'm about to take you. It's time to go. It's time to go possess the land. But that's the good news. And many will rejoice when God says, I am going to give you what I've promised you. This is a legal, this is a promise, this is a covenantal move of God. This is a move of God based on covenant, based on promises, based on legal, spiritual, and scriptural rights. And many are walking in a provision of God and a blessing of God because they are experiencing the fulfillment of scripture. Amen. And this is not a bad thing. However, God said next in verse two, I'm going to send my angel before you. I'm going to drive out all of these other nations. I'm bringing you to that land which is full of milk, full of honey. Many in their ministries stop at this level where legally, and because of the promises and the covenant of God in scripture, that they have discovered this covenant and this promise, and they are walking in a promise of God. And even they are approaching a land of provision of milk and of honey and blessings of God. However, in this chapter, the people begin to weep and cry, and they call these things evil tidings. How can it be? Because in verse three, he says, God says, but I'm sending my angel. I'm bringing you. I'm fulfilling my promise, but I'm going to bless you and multiply you. You're going to be prosperous. You're going to be wealthy. You're going to be famous. You're going to be feared among the nations, because I'm going to defeat the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Berezites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and you'll be known in all the earth. But I'm not going with you. How many have settled for the legal, the covenantal blessings of God in their ministries, in their lives? And God says, look, I'm not going to go with you because if I go with you, I know your stubborn. I know your stiffness. And likely, I'm going to consume you. I'm going to kill you dead along the way, because I cannot, I cannot endure those things in my people, lest I consume you in the way. And the people call these evil tidings, and they correctly understood it. The first hundred times I read these verses, I didn't catch it. But I realized that unless God goes with us, what do we have? We have covenants. We have promises. We have blessings. We have fulfillment of scriptures that we almost require of God. And God fulfills them. Are we naked? Are we destitute when it comes to the presence of a mighty God in our lives? We often ask, how can such a powerful minister fall into these things that they've fallen into? How can they be involved in these things? How can such wickedness be done? My dear brothers and sisters, it's a warning to each one of us that we can walk in the covenantal fulfillment of promises and yet not be walking. And God is with us, and he is walking with us. And we are seeking him. And we continue in desire to know him ourselves. Because the outflow of ministry comes from a relationship with God. The Lord says to Moses in verse 5, he says, Moses, you tell the people, you're stiff-necked. And if I was to go off with you, he says, I'm doing you a favor in not going with you. In a moment, I would consume you. And the Lord commanded them, this is interesting. I want to open it just for a few moments. I want to respect your time as well. He said, and now put off your ornaments from you. And let me consider what I'm going to do to you. Anybody want to comment? What does this speak to you? And now put off your dangling ornaments, that God may consider what he's going to do. And the children of Israel strip themselves of their ornaments by mount for it. If you'd like to speak, go ahead, unmute. And if two speak at once, don't worry, we'll choose one. Okay. Go ahead, Brother Cassander, briefly, what does it say to you? Ornaments. Ornaments. Ornaments is normally done to beautify. So, if I'll be taking away my ornaments, I think in a practical sense, it may be to step aside from, let me say, the effects of my office. I can say, please, for now, I need to sort out things with the Lord. That can be a way of putting off an ornament. Or humbling myself. Like, I just read a while ago, when the word of prophecy came against Ahab, the Bible says, he humbled himself. And he put on sackcloth and walked softly. So, there is a disposition. You may not really have to put on some rough clothes, but there's a disposition that could be likened to taking away our ornaments. A disposition of humility, a trembling, a fear of God's word. So, when God's word comes, that is what we should do. We should not say, well, we are familiar with God, we are powerful men of God, nothing is going to happen. God may be pleased. He may change his mind towards us. For Ahab, the Bible says, God decided that he would not see the evil that was promised in his own days. That's 1 Kings chapter 21, verses 27 and 29. So, that's what I see as taking off my ornament. Humbling myself before the Lord. Praise God. Yes, go ahead. What I see from there is for them to let go those things that lured them away, that lured them away from their commitment to God. Even for us as well. Sometimes maybe we find ourselves in a situation like that and the Holy Spirit ministers to us to create an opportunity to reconcile with God. I think that for me is saying, let go of these things that lured you away from my presence and let us reconcile. Let me consider you as reconciled. That is what I think. Praise God. That's beautiful. Praise God. I like that. Go ahead, Brother David, is it? Yeah. Yes, please. You know, when God asks you to take away something, you don't know that that thing is standing between you and God. I see this ornament as, just like what Pastor Cassander said, a barrier between the children of Israel and God. God said He is not going to go with them because they are stiff-necked. There are things that God doesn't like in their life that when God wants to flow with them, that attitude stands up as a barrier. So that kind of attitude, that ornament, I see it as itself, the flesh. When you look at yourself, you feel you've arrived, you feel you are beautified, you feel you are okay the way you are. You feel that you are in the right standing with God and the rest of it. And God, on the other side, sees those things that you feel it's okay as a barrier. God can never be true with someone that He loves. If God loves you, He will continue to take you from one dimension to the other. If God loves you, He will continue to push you forward to where He wants you to be. There is no limit of God's love. So when God asks the children of Israel to take away the ornament, I see those ornaments as the pride or the self, the way they see themselves or the way they carry themselves. God wants them to humble themselves before Him so that He can complete His work in them with God. Anyone else? Brother Zebedee first, go ahead. Yeah, what I'm seeing there is that each time we want to approach God, we must come the way we are. We must not come covered. We must not come arranged. Powerful. We must not arrange ourselves. If we want to engage God, we must appear before God as real as we are. You know, when theologians are praying, you will see them trying to bring both Greek and Hebrew together. It's one bogus language. And we're asking whether God is interested in your Greek or your Hebrew. Brother Zebedee, that's good. When is God's word? Oh, did we lose him? Come on, brother. You were just bringing it. Amen. Hopefully, we'll be restored with brother Zebedee before too long. Amen. Sister Bertha, I heard your voice in there while we're waiting for brother Zebedee. I mean, that's so powerful what he's saying. We just have to come as we are without decorating ourselves with any religious coverings, with any of our words to try to explain ourselves to a God who knows us fully. Sister Bertha, briefly, please go ahead. Okay, just to add to what brother Zebedee said, sometimes we come to God with foolishness, thinking that it's reason. Sometimes we come to him with complacency, we come to him with ignorance. Sometimes in our requests and when we relate to others, thinking that maybe we are playing with knowledge. Sometimes we come with pride. Some of us take so much pride that we don't even understand that it's a big issue. Because it comes before a downfall. And some of us don't realize that this is the way we come to God. Just like brother Zebedee said, come the way you are. We don't need any of those things to come with God. It's unfortunate that sometimes we don't even know that. Some of us even come with stubbornness. God says this to say no, I want to have it this way or that way. And we don't even know how stubborn we can be. Thank you, Sister Bertha, I appreciate it. Pastor Xavier, did you have an addition that you wanted to add or will we continue? I can add on just a little bit. If I had to be a very good minister, I wouldn't have commented. But let me just put some small statement. It's okay, Pastor, we want to hear from you. God and sin, they don't relate at all. No matter how much he loves you, if sin comes on you, you are dead. That is why he had his only one and only one begotten son. When sin came upon him, he had no choice but to kill him. So I believe when he tells us to remove the extra stuff from ourselves. And he says, if you still have this, you are still stiff-necked, you cannot obey. Let me not go with you. It is a very, very big favor. Because if he comes and you do disobedience that is sin, then we are dead. So I think it is very, very paramount to come the way we are not adding on ourselves anything. We should strip ourselves of everything as far as disobedience is concerned. Because when you imagine his only one begotten son, the one member of the trinity. When sin came upon the second man of the trinity, the man had to, he had to kill himself. We must be careful. Thank you. Thank you for a good comment. You know, I have only the one comment to add. I consider where did they get these ornaments. And they were remnants from Egypt. They had taken them from there. And so I think it could speak to us as well. That we are still carrying some of the things that, the way that we were before we come to Christ. And all of you have said it in different ways. I feel so moved by the sharing. I believe that we all see the meaning of these ornaments. And their character flaws. There are things that ought not to be there. There are things that we try to beautify ourselves through Hebrew and Greek and elaborate prayers. Rather than being like the public and that says, have mercy on me, oh God. For I'm a sinner. And he came honestly. And the word of God says, and this man went away justified. More than all those who wore their fancy priestly gowns and sounded the trumpets and made their prayers. Let us realize that God looks on the heart. And he knows our heart. He knows the stiffness and stubbornness of our hearts. And only an encounter with God himself can help us. Let's move on because I'm begging you for some time tonight. And I. I'm just asking you to continue when you as much as you can till we reach the end of this one. Hallelujah. So the children of Israel stripped themselves for seven. So Moses took the tent. It's called the tent of meeting or the tent of a congregation. A congregation where everyone was to meet. And they went out and the people rose up. Each man stood in the door of his tent and they watched Moses until he had gone inside. They wanted to know how God was going to respond. You know, God already knew they were stiffened up. But they didn't know how serious those character flaws were. And God was dealing with the people. You deserve that I kill you. You deserve that I strike you in a moment. This breaks our pride. When we are broken from trusting in our own righteousness. And we have to depend on the mercy of God. So this people who had been condemned by God that he couldn't go with them because of how they were. And it came to pass verse 9 as Moses went into that tent. That cloudy pillar descended. The presence of God stood at the door of the tent. And the Lord spoke with Moses. And the people they saw the cloudy pillar standing at the door. And all the people rose up and they worshiped each man at his tent door. And the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend. And then he returned again to the camp. But his servant, I like this. I like this. If you want to know why Joshua was chosen by God. If you want to know why Joshua was successful as a leader. Take heed to Exodus 33 11. And Moses returned to the camp. But his servant Joshua the son of Nun. He was a young man. And he did not depart from out of the tent of meeting. You want to know how Joshua became chosen of God. Oh Jesus help us to hear the words. Because he never left the tent. He spent his time there in the tent of meeting. I don't know what Joshua was doing. But he was there in God's presence and that's enough. And Moses verse 12 said to the Lord. Behold you say to me bring up this people. Now God this is interesting. Moses begins to I think very gently and carefully. He says Lord you told me to bring up this people. And he didn't tell me who you would send with me. You said I know you by name. And God you said that I Moses have found grace in your sight. So now therefore I pray you if I found grace in your sight. Make me see now your way. I want to know your ways. And that I may know you. I want to find grace in your sight. And Lord please also consider as you're considering. What you're going to do with these people. Lord consider that this is your people. You called them. You promised them. And so God said to him. Okay my decision which I decided. These people have put off their ornaments. They have paid attention. They have worshiped. Now my presence is going to go with you. And I will give you this shalom. This is this peace. It's not the word shalom that's used there. It's another word which means to rest. And Moses said to him. This is a key verse. If your presence does not go with me. Don't take me anywhere from here. Don't take me to landfill it filled with milk and honey. Don't take me to be the head senior pastor minister bishop. Exalted leader of a dozen churches. Don't take me. Oh God. If your presence. Oh God. If your presence. If your presence. Doesn't go with you. Don't send us. Don't take us. Don't fill no promises to us Lord. Unless you go with us. In verse 16 he says. It's your presence. That separates us from all the other people of the earth. Come on people of God. What is it that makes us different? Is it God's presence in your life? It makes a difference. From you and all of the other people. Oh it's not the miracles. It's the God who does the miracles. Who is with us. It's not the astounding revelation of the word. As beautiful as that is and necessary. But is there that touch. Of God's presence. Which separates. And sets apart. And the Lord said. I'm going to do this thing. Because Moses you. Have found grace in my sight. And I know you. By name. There's such an interesting subject. A study on this. That God says. I know your name. It's another thing that we. That we say. God says. I know. I know your name. I know your name David. I know your name. The sons of Sceva. Would try to cast out devils. In the name of Jesus. Whom Paul preached. And they go like. Jesus I know. Paul I know. But who are you? Who are you? I mean Peter I know. But who are you? Who are you? I don't know you. It says in the end of the book. That Jesus says. Depart from me. You workers of iniquity. Because I never. I never knew you. What does that mean? In our lives. That God knows us. Brother Savior. You want to try? What does that mean? In your life. That God knows you. Yeah. Thank you for. That great question. When when God says. He knows me. I remember a verse. I think in the Psalms 119. When you say. When. I mean. He. He. He wonderfully. And. Fearfully made. Is it 119. 135. Around there in the Psalms. 139 I think it is. 139. So. He's in charge. He has. He has the blueprint. Of myself. He knows me. You know from. From the real. 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