August 21, 2006

• Bible Study – by Pastor Don Moore 8/20/06

  
  

  Psalm 78:1-4 Give ear, O my people, to my law; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.

  
  

  God gives us wonderful opportunities to come into His presence, and when we do it is a place where the Power of God manifests.

  
  

  Why do we sing praise songs, why do the dancers dance, and the musicians play their instruments. It is not for entertainment. Yes, there is a place for Christian entertainment. It is a good thing, and way better than secular entertainment. But when we do praise and worship at church, or in our private worship, the place of honor belongs to God.

  
  

  In our church there are no fancy chairs for guest speakers, no fancy chairs for the elders or even Pastor Don. God is who has the place of honor.

  
  

  We want to enter the Presence of God with a humble and contrite heart, and when we do, this draws His presence to us. Where the Presence of God is, there the Power of God manifests.

  
  

  Exodus 33:11-14 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight. Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people. And He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

  
  

  Notice that God spoke to Moses face to face and promised that His presence would go with Moses. Moses so valued being in the presence of God, that he told God that if God would not go with them, Moses did not want to go into the Promised Land. In the presence of God there is rest. God is not going to go around carrying pillows or hammocks for us, but if we are in the Presence of God, something good has to happen.

  
  

  Pastor Don talked about his Grandma Ethel. When they would go and visit her, she always gave them something, could be candy or cookies. Of course one time she gave them something they didn’t want – a spanking just in case they were planning to do wrong. Mostly it was cookies and candy, something good. Every time they were in her presence they expected something good.

  
  

  It is the same way when we are with God. If we are in His presence, focusing on Him, not praying for specific things, his presence always comes with blessing. God cannot go anywhere without leaving blessings where He is. Just being in His presence is a guarantee that something has to happen.

  
  

  Moses spent 40 days in God’s presence on the mountain. When he came down, his face glowed, he did not ask the Lord to give him proof that He was with God. It just happened because of being in God’s presence.

  
  

  Moses was 80 years old when he started his ministry.

  
  

  Often when we pray to God we are asking for lots of little things, and we fail to realize that all the little things will be taken care of by the Presence of God. We will have to get healed, have to get blessed.

  
  

  Acts 3:11-12 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?

  
  

  Pastor Don asked, “How did the man get healed? To find out you have to go to Acts 3:1-6 Now Peter and John went up together, to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple, who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

  
  

  Pastor Don pointed out that Peter and John were going to church (the Temple) the way we should come to church, bringing the presence of God with them. That we should not walk into church and expect the service to raise us up to worship and praise, but we should come in prayed up and praising God. In the Presence of God miracles happen, and this man was going to walk because Peter and John were in the Presence of God before they entered the temple.

  
  

  When the Presence of God shows up there is only one bad thing you can do. 1 Corinthians 1:29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

  
  

  When we are in His Presence, it is not the time to brag about who you are. We need to put up a spiritual curtain where we see only Jesus, not the physical things going on around us, not what people are wearing, who is attending, who is singing, what they are singing, what you are going to do later in the day. Nothing but Jesus.  Stay humble and keep the focus on Jesus. Draw on the Presence of the Lord.

  
  

  Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

  
  

  Mary was in the presence of the Lord, feeling His Presence, then the angel appeared.

  
  

  The Presence of the Lord comes with the Power of the Lord. You can’t separate the Presence from the Power.  When an angel shows up in a human suit, you know something is different.

  
  

  One of the women in our church was 7 months pregnant, in the winter, and a semi ran her car off the road down an embankment. She could not be seen from the road, and her pregnant condition prevented her from pushing the car up to the road or climbing up the embankment. She prayed to God, praising God, and a man in a flannel shirt came. He told her to move over and he got in the car and they ended up on the shoulder of the road. He got out of the car, and she got out to thank him, but the man was gone, she got in the car praising God, certain He had sent an angel to rescue her.

  
  

  Pastor Don said that in Jesus’ days people sought after Jesus for their healings. There were few options for a people so poor to get their healings. They did not have Social Services, welfare, counselors to help people get over their sicknesses, and tons of medicines available. Some people today, although they will deny it, prefer being sick on one level of their being. So sometimes before you can pray for a person’s healing, you first have to root out the strongholds that hold a person in bondage. If you don’t you can pray for a person and they will walk away saying, “This healing stuff doesn’t work, I didn’t get healed.” They do not realize that there is also a part that they have to play, and that the sickness needs to be replaced with God and His Word.

  
  

  We have to get to the point where the Word of God is being lived out in our life. Pastor Don was healed of diabetes and an incurable lung disease. He fasted and prayed 10 days, living in the Word of God. And claiming his healing. When he was healed he then stood on Nahum 1:9 “….Affliction will not rise up a second time.”

  
  

  In the Presence of God is fullness of Joy and you can ask for what you want. You may not always get what you want, but God will provide what you need. In fact, instead of asking lots of little things, just enjoy the Presence of God, and the little things will take care of themselves.

  
  

  The beggar at the Gate Beautiful wanted alms given to Him, but because the Presence of God was there with Peter and John, the man got what he needed – complete healing. We too will get what we need the more we spend time in the Presence of God.

  
  

  Tomorrow I will share with you Pastor Jerry Moore’s sermon (he is Pastor Don’s brother who is visiting from California.)

  
  

  Hoping your Sunday was blessed.
  Heather

  • 12:48 am
  • 9 Comments