Exodus 3:1-5, "Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the bank of the desert and came to Horab, the mountain of God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush does not burn". So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, here I am, do not draw near this place. Take you sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground".
Lord, you're in this place today and this is holy ground. As your Word is spoken, may it have its effect in us. May we decrease and may you increase, in Jesus name. Amen.
More and more in my heart the Lord begins to stir and I have become more understanding that we are so privileged to meet with Jesus, whether it's in our private prayer time or when we gather together in a place like this. What a wonderful honor it is to be able to meet with Him. How many of you know that He is here this morning? We say that, he is here but sometimes we say it so lightly that we forget the immensity of what that means. I want to speak to you this morning about being sensitive in the presence of God, being sensitive to His spirit, about drawing near to Him and He drawing near to us.
Moses had an encounter with God that changed his life forever. As he's walking through the desert places he comes upon something that has never been seen before. In the encounter that he had we begin to learn some things about how to come into the presence of the Lord, about how we should approach Him. There used to be a difference in the way that people came to God. Growing up in Pittsburgh we were in a very Catholic community. Even though we were in our Pentecostal Church that I grew up in, many people came to know the Lord out of that and when they came to church there was something very different about the way that they approached God than many of the people that I had grown up with. They came into that place recognizing, because they had been taught to honor and reverence and respect the Lord, a real difference because if there was anything that they knew, it was that He is a Holy God. Some people have grown up under the bondage of the fear of the Lord and many of us have grown up in a relationship with God.
Sometimes in the midst of our familiarity with Christ we have lost the awe that comes with recognizing who He is as God, as powerful, as holy. The truth is that If God were to show up in this room the way that He showed up in the Old testament, even in the upper room with all of His glory and His power, there's not one of us that would remain sitting in our seats. As a matter of fact, you would forget about the person next to you, you wouldn't care what they were wearing, you wouldn't care what they thought. The truth is we would all hit the floor as fast as we could and lay on our face prostrate before God who is Holy. We wouldn't even dare to look at Him because He is so wonderful.
My prayer is that when we come to the House of God and as we grow in our relationship with the Lord, that as the body of Christ, we would regain the sensitivity for who He is and not just all that He has done. The power of God and the glory of God is evident and today we want our churches to pray, "Lord, come and show up". I believe that how we honor God and how we respect Him changes how we approach God, it changes even the way we interact with Him.
I want to speak this as point #1 and I want you to mark it down: We must be sensitive in our approach to the Lord. I believe that there has been a time where we have grown careless when we come to the Lord whether in our prayers or even when we just come to church or gather and talk about Him. In Exodus 3:5, God said to Moses, "Do not draw near this place, take off your sandals from you feet for the place where you stand is holy ground". When we were growing up in church we used to sing a song, "We're standing on Holy ground". How many of you remember that song? "We are standing on holy ground and I know that there are angels all around, let us pray to Jesus now, we are standing in His presence on holy ground". Where the Lord is present, it is holy. When we come to church, God is doing a work in this place and we're asking Him to do some powerful things. Last week we talked about walking in that new level with the Lord, about being able to be used by God in a different place, doing the same things but at a higher level, being used by God to reach this city. Part of doing that is God changing us and I'm not talking about being wound up in bondage. How many of you when you sang that song, it didn't seem like a heaviness but a great privilege to stand before the Lord? And it is that but something must change inside of the believer in their approach to the Lord so that as we come before Him we can know Him in His fullness and His greatness and be used by Him in completeness.
The Lord is present and where He is, is Holy. Wherever God is, Heaven meets earth. Our prayer as believers has been the prayer that Jesus taught the church, "Let your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".
Revelations 4:8-11 tells us a little bit about what happens in Heaven. It paints us a picture of worship in the most holy place around the throne.
Chapter 4:8 says, "The 4 living creatures each having 6 wings were full of eyes around and within and they do not rest day or night saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come". Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever. The 24 elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and by your will they exist and work for you". The picture in Heaven is a glorious one. The 24 elders are a type of the church throughout the ages. People from eternity, people like Moses who now stand before the very throne of God and people like us who are longing to come into the fullness of the promise when we get to be in glory with Jesus and stand before the throne with the angels of heaven and the people of God saying, "Worthy is the Lamb to receive honor and glory, because He created all things".
Church, we are the creation of God. How many of you recognize that the Lord created you? There is something so marvelous when that gets into our heart, the truth that He is lovely, the truth that He is holy, the truth that He is altogether beautiful, the truth that He has made us and we were made for Him and by His very will we exist. If we want more of God and if we want His presence then we must never treat His coming like an ordinary thing. Whenever we come to the Lord in prayer, whenever we come to church, we need to remember that we're on holy ground.
In America we've become a very casual people, very casual, and it has crept into the lives of our church, it has crept into our everyday living. It is hard to live in this nation and still not be effected. It's hard to live for Jesus because we are so influenced. We've become so casual, like nothing is a big deal. I want us to listen this morning, God is the real deal, there is no one like Him and there never will be. Something that I believe God is doing within the body of Christ right now is restoring reverence for Him, and a desire for His presence. You see, when we come to church, how many of you know the Lord is going to do something when we get here?
How many of you know He's in this place? He's worthy of our honor, He's worthy of our respect. I wonder if it would be interesting like Moses we would remember that when we come into His presence it's not an ordinary thing. The truth is we get all dressed up to come, then sometimes we really get here like it's kind of an ordinary thing. Around America we see it. I got dressed up to put on a suit this morning not because I'm religious, I just like to look good for you. A preacher should be respected. If I came in a T-shirt and all sweaty, you wouldn't. The truth is when we come before the Lord we've come into a mighty place.
We're also afraid to get real before the Lord. God said, "Moses, take your shoes off because I'm here and this is holy ground". I want to remind us as a church, there are so many things we want to see God do. In those days they didn't have nice dress shoes. What will happen when you walk through that door next week? Instead of just coming in to have church just to be here and think, "I'll give Him a little bit of worship and listen to the Word then I can't wait to get to the restaurant or the barbecue". Where the Lord is present it is holy, not because we're anything special, it's because He is.
I want to tell you, around this world as a pastor I look at churches and I see what they're doing to become big and to grow and do this and do that, to reach cities and to become showy and to do all these things. So many words that sometimes when I'm done reading these different magazines and articles that it just leaves my head spinning. The truth is this, God has never changed. The difference in a church, the difference in God's people are the ones who make the difference in how they approach the Lord, how they come to Him. I pray they we will continue to hear the laughter. How many of you know that we should be laughing? We should enjoy each other's company. The Lord is here, we must be sensitive to that.
Friday, I went over to the ranch, I've been married to my wife for 18 years but I still hate being away from her for one night. We called each other about 15 times in 2 days, it's pathetic, not because we don't trust each other, we just like each other's voice. When I came home and I walked into the house after spending a night away, I didn't just say, "How are you doing? I threw the bag down and we embraced each other, we missed each other. I think If I can do that with my wife, how sensitive must I be to the Holy Spirit when He comes? The blood of Christ, what He did for us is not a common thing. Hebrews talks about how people will come before the Lord and they almost trample the blood of Christ. Hebrews 10:29 says, "How much worse punishment will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot and counted the blood of the covenant by which He was sacrificed a common thing and insulted the Spirit of Grace". I wonder how many of us are thankful for what Jesus did on the cross?
I think about the day that I married my wife and what she did wasn't a common thing, she left everybody else for me. She's crazy but she did. Listen, the very Son of God went to the cross and gave His life for us and sometimes in the midst of our familiarity with church and the commonness of nothing being a big deal in life, we forget the power of what that blood did for us. It is not a common thing and when the Spirit of God comes, He deserves our attention, we should listen. Although we should come in a reverent way, we should also come boldly. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need".
Listen, When Moses began to approach the Lord he boldly saw that God was there and he went towards Him but God had to stop him and say, "Before you come and I'm glad you're coming boldly, take a minute to remember who I am, you're coming into holy ground, remove those sandals from your feet". How many of you know life happens? Some of you have been walking through a few things and when we come to the house of the Lord and we come to prayer, it's important that when we come, having walked through those things, that we still remember who we are coming to. You see, when you know that you're coming to God and that you're walking into His presence, those things that have been trials, those things that have hard, rough and difficult, you take that moment to pause before you come in and recognize that He is holy. You will walk into His presence not in a panic but you will walk in with reverence knowing that you're coming before God, knowing that He will touch your life. I've seen people who have grown so cocky with the Lord, they get so mad and they'll treat Him as a common thing and they'll yell at God as if He was just their friend that they could get angry at. The truth is God will hear our voice and it's best to be careful with our approach. Someone say a good amen.
We must be sensitive to our attitude. Psalm 95:2 says, "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with song". What does that mean? Our attitude makes a difference when we come into the presence of God. What does He mean to shout joyfully? He means to be glad to be there. Be glad to be in the presence of the Lord. I learned a long time ago what a marvelous thing it is to come to daily prayer. My attitude made all the difference. Shout joyfully even in the difficult times.
The number one disease, I believe, that affects our churches and that affects the life of a lot of Christians today is apathy. The word apathy literally means no passion. The truth is many of us have come to church at one point or another and looked around wondering if there's any life, is anyone alive? I want to challenge you, look forward to coming into the presence of God. Look forward to seeking Him. In John 2:17 it tells us that Jesus had a zeal for the house of God, it consumed him.
Many people will come to church and to prayer with an attitude like, "Hurry up God, you're on my time". We want the warmth and the presence of God but we won't take the time to heat up. It takes awhile for water to get hot. Sometimes it takes time for the Lord to do his work
in our life. When we come into His presence in prayer time, make the time to be there and to enjoy it. Make the time when you come to church, set it aside.
You know they're used to be a day when people would come to the house of God but the stores and the restaurants were closed, you really couldn't go anywhere. There was a day that was set apart for the Lord. For the Christian, Sunday is the Lord's day because we believe that's the day the He was risen so we've set that apart. The attitude today is "Let's get it over with so I can get on with my stuff and my thing". How many of you know all of our life is to be given to the Lord? Church, I want to challenge you, make time for the Lord. Come into His presence so that you have time to do His work, time for Him to do His work in you. The truth is that God is never in a hurry and He'll take His time with us.
Isaiah 30:18 says, "Therefore the Lord will wait that He may gracious to you and therefore He will be exalted that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice, blessed are all those who wait for Him".
The truth is that many times we approach our prayer time with a hard heart or an attitude. We should come softly before the Lord, ready to hear. Today we've been praying, "God, give us the results that has happened in the past". How many of you believe that God can work in America like He has in the past? If we want the results of old we must also have the heart of those who were willing to wait on the Lord.
I Samuel 3:10 says, "Now the Lord came and stood and called as He did other times to Samuel and Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant hears". Samuel didn't say, "Hey, I'm listening God". He said, "Speak, I'm listening and hearing what you're saying, God". In his presence we should come ready to listen to Him. We should come sensitive and be sensitive in our posture before the Lord.
When we started this message this morning, I said that if God showed up we would have to involuntarily fall on our face before Him. How many of you know that you don't just stand in the presence of a Holy God? Posture is more than a position of our body, it is more than our contour, it deals with our stand, how we come. Do we come humbly or do we come arrogantly? Do we come in a position of worship or in a position of complaint? Psalms 95:6 says, "Oh come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker". The truth is this, church, we will never stand taller when we are on our knees before the Lord. I'm not just talking about a position in prayer, I'm talking about a posture of submission of the heart through Jesus that humbly says, "I'm yours, all that I am, every thing that I am belongs to you, Jesus". It's a stand of faith. Do we stand with an open heart and with open arms ready to receive? How do we stand?
One of the things that I love about Pentecost is that we're not afraid to be expressive in worship. I'll never forget as a little boy, one time at an altar I saw someone that I knew and God was doing a work in their heart. I remember they were standing with their arms up and I was so impressed with it because down the aisle I saw people that were giving their lives to the Lord at the altar and just standing there or even leaning against a wall. This was a person of great respectability, great understanding, great accomplishment in their life but God had been doing such a work in Him. I remember the look on his face, "Lord I want you to come because your spirit is here and I want what you want for my life, I need what you desire for me". I'll never forget how he was so open and had come ready to receive. How many of you know our posture is so important and I'm not talking about if you raise your hands or don't raise your hands. How many understand what I'm talking about today?
Another way of being sensitive to the Holy Spirit is that we must be sensitive in our expectation. The truth is that some people come into the presence of God expecting absolutely nothing. We should come expecting at the very least, which is a great thing anyway, to meet with Him. Listen, Matthew 18:20 says, "For where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name I am in the midst of them". Let me ask you, when you go to prayer and when you come to church, how many of you know that nothing will change the life of a church more than when the people of God come expecting? Nothing will change it more. Did you realize that He is here this morning? I want you to think about that for just a minute. He is in this place. When you go to a restaurant and you talk to your friend, you expect to meet them there. How many of you have ever gone to a restaurant and the person that said they'd be there didn't show up? Has
anyone ever experienced that? It is the strangest feeling in the world. As a matter of fact if people started doing that too often, you wouldn't show up anymore. The reason why people fill churches, it's not because it's a religious duty, that will only get you so far. The truth is that we come to meet with the Spirit of God. When we come into this place we should listen, we come expecting. There have been times when that thought has so gripped me that I've actually been very frightened to get up to preach, not because people were listening but because of the immense responsibility of recognizing that the Holy Spirit is here, not just empowering but being a part and listening and moving.
Come in with expectancy. If you see people waiting for the bus, they expect to be picked up and go somewhere. Isaiah 49:23 says, "They shall not be ashamed who wait for Me". How many of you know that when we come to expect the presence of God, He will meet us in the house of the Lord. He'll meet us in prayer to talk with us. Let me ask you, Do you expect to see good from God, do you expect to know His glory and His beauty? Those who come into His presence and come with expectancy are those who will receive from the Lord. Do you come expecting to hear, to learn, to see, to grow? Do you expect to know Him? Let me ask you, when you've gone through your week and you've been hurting and discouraged, do you know that when you come to the house of God, If He's here, how many of you believe the Lord will heal sicknesses and diseases? Do you believe when you are in His presence that God can restore a marriage? How many understand that when you know you're in the presence of a Holy God, the way you approach is expecting that He will be who He is. He will, He changes everything.
Psalms 27:4 says, "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire at His temple". David had a passion to be in the presence of the Lord, a desire to be there. In Acts, Jesus told His disciples to wait on Him in the upper room and 120 of His disciples dared to believe that He would give them the promise He said. He said, "You go and wait for Me, tarry, and I will give you the promised gift of the Holy Spirit". 120 of His disciples went into that upper room and it said that they were there for awhile and were praying, seeking and talking when all of a sudden the Bible says that what sounded like a rushing, mighty wind began to enter into that room and it began to fill that place and began to fill those disciples. Something happens when the people of God make up their mind to come into the presence of the Lord to be filled by Him.
I want to challenge you, church, when you come on Sundays and Wednesdays, come expecting to be filled by Him. We don't just come here to get something and walk out with nothing. If we come expecting to receive we will not walk out disappointed. Have the expectation when you come to the Lord in prayer. The reason why you have a prayer closet, the reason that room you go into with prayer is Holy is because you've chosen to meet with almighty God. It is that place where His presence shows up and you can expect to be filled and receive that you might be filled enough that not only are you full but you've got so much going on in you and through you that you're able to make a difference in other people's lives. It's important.
I also want to say this, we need to be realistic about our expectations about prayer and church because the truth is there is not always going to be a burning bush. It's not always going to be electric, it's not always going to be a mountain top experience. Be sensitive to Him and His work because the moments you are spending whether they are exciting in the flesh or not may still be one of the most quietly dynamic works that the Lord has ever done inside of you. Don't have unrealistic expectations in church or in prayer. Hear me now, the greatest miracle is not a feeling, the greatest miracles are not always the most dynamic healings. The greatest miracle that you and I experience is the simple fact that we have the privilege of meeting with Jesus. That is a powerful thing. Regardless of how exciting the atmosphere is, the very fact that He is there makes it all worth the while.
I want you to look at Exodus. We must be sensitive in our response to the Lord. We need to be sensitive in our approach, in our expectations and also in our response. Moses shows us how he responded to the presence of God. In verse 3, Moses said when he saw the burning bush, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight why this bush doesn't burn". Listen, Moses went out of his way to see what in the world God was up to.
Recognize what God is doing, Recognize that He is God and give him your attention. Go out of your way to make sure that He knows that you're there. Watch, when God calls, answer Him. "So when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God turned to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses". Moses recognized that God was doing something and when God saw that Moses would go out of his way, He called out to him. How many of you know that God is many times just waiting to see what our response will be. Some of you have been wanting the presence of the Lord, you've been needing Him in your life.
There's things that you just need to be sensitive to and that would be turning your attention when He calls, be sensitive to answer. You see, going out of our way gets God's attention.
Number 3, Draw near in obedience. Verse 5, "Do not draw near this place, take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground". How many of you know we need to come to the Lord with a heart of obedience? "God, whatever you say I'm going to do it, whatever your will is, I will come". Lastly, Moses, when he drew near to the Lord, God had a purpose in it. Our response should be to find out what God wants and then obey it after you've met with Him. How many of you know that after you meet with God, He always has something in your life to do.
Look at verses 9 and 10, "Now therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me and I have also seen the oppression by which the Egyptians have oppressed them. Come now therefore, I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt". Listen to me, Moses approached the holy God in a very sensitive and holy way. God gave him something so powerful for his life, something more than he could have ever dreamed of, that he could be used by God in a marvelous way. Moses never expected when he turned, that God would say, "Son, I'm going to use you to deliver my people".
When we'll come before the Lord and approach Him in the right way, How many of you believe that God wants to see people in this area come to Jesus? That's what it's all about. The call on Moses really has no difference than the call for us. Something will happen when you encounter God, not only will you know that He's holy, not only will He affirm you and let you know how precious you are, He will let you know the plan that He has and He will empower you to do it. He said, "Moses, I am about to do something so astounding with you that you could ever dream. You've been out here for 40 years after you'd messed up your life. Now I want you to know you're going to become one of the most powerful people that this world has ever seen and if you'll just listen to Me, you will be astounded with what I will do with your life".
Listen to me Christian, there have been too many Christians that have been wandering in life thinking, "Is this all there is"? I just come to church, that's it? I sit, I hear a message, that's it? How many of you know that if that was it, we have a reason to be disappointed. God is doing something in this church right now, hear me now, I pray you're not looking at me with apathy, I pray you're not looking at me thinking, "Dear God, I hope he's almost done, it's 11:25 and I'm hungry". Hear me, God has a destiny for your life that is so powerful and He has a plan for this church that is so marvelous, to see people come, to see people set free, to see people delivered out of darkness. The Israelites had been in darkness and slavery for generations. How many of you know that there are people outside of these doors that have been bound up for years and years. They've been slaves to sin, they've been miserable, their families have been miserable. What God wants to do, He's raising you and I up and saying, "After you've come out of My presence and you've met with Me, I've got a work for you to do, to draw people to Me".
My prayer at HCC is that we will come ready. When those doors open and you come in, come to church prayed up. Too many times we rush into the house of God on empty. How many of you know that God will fill you up If you come empty? How many of you know that your experience with the Lord will be a whole lot more sweet if you come full?
Then He encourages and empowers so that we can go from this place and win people to Jesus. The blood of Christ isn't a common thing, it's a real thing, it's a powerful thing. We know this, we must live this. Be sensitive to the presence of the Spirit of God, even this morning, what is He speaking into your life? If you've come in broken and troubled, stop fighting. Maybe God has called you to do something but you've been fighting it. Stop fighting and yield. Maybe you've grown apathetic and you hardly pick up your Bible anymore. As a matter of fact you couldn't even tell if someone asked you, "What was the last verse you read? What book are you reading? What is your study plan? You could never tell them. When was the last time you witnessed for Christ and you felt that burning passion to see someone come out of a life that is lost and to see them come into the marvelous light of Jesus? Being sensitive to the Spirit, what is He speaking? What is He doing? How many of you today will covenant to be yielded to Him? How many of you will come next week yielded to Him?
Being sensitive to the presence of God. There are sometimes you hope as a preacher you've conveyed what the Lord wants, sometimes you feel so inadequate on certain things that the Lord is speaking. How many of you are thankful we serve a wonderful Savior?
Spirit of the Living God, we thank you that you're in this place today. We thank you that we do stand on holy ground. Lord, I thank you that you love your people passionately and powerfully. Holy Spirit, as we enter this new week, I pray Lord God that you'll be doing something inside of us that you're beginning this morning, recognizing that you are good, recognizing that you are holy. Lord, you instructed Moses to approach in a very reverent, very committed manner. This morning, Holy Spirit, we recognize you in this place, we know that you are here. Spirit of the living God, we want to be very sensitive to what you're speaking to our hearts, to each of us personally, to all of us corporately. This morning Lord, we give you your place, the highest place. We recognize, Lord that we were created by you, for you. Holy Spirit, we thank you that you work in us, through us and that the plans of the Father would be accomplished in this earth.
I pray, God, that for each of us as we grow in that relationship with you, as we become very familiar with who you are, as a church, as we become very excited about what you're doing in this place, that God there would always be a reverence, always be an awe. Father, may we never lose our awe of who you are. Lord, we thank you for meeting with us today. Holy Spirit, I pray for those that you're ministering to who are going through hard times this week. I pray that as they come into your presence, the heaviness of wondering if things are going to be alright, I pray that wondering will melt because they will recognize that there is nothing too difficult for you. I thank you, Lord that that assurance is there and that your goodness would be conveyed in a marvelous way.
