A Mountain Top Experience Of Encountering God.

A mountain top experience of encountering God.

- Exodus 33:1-23 -

I mention a couple of year ago that we should keep our eyes open so we can see what the Lord God would show us. One Sunday morning I shared about driving home from work and just as I approached the dam I happened to see a beautiful sign from the Lord. I was so in awe of what I saw that I almost put the truck in the ditch.

About 6 months later Barb and I were visiting a couple and they said that they wanted to show us something. What they showed us was a picture of what I had seem 6 months earlier as I was driving home.

The Lord had allowed the clouds to form in such a way that when the sun shone through the opening in the clouds you saw a cross. When I saw the picture of that cross in the sky it brought a lot of emotions - just like it did the first time.

I am always in awe when I am able to encounter Jesus in such a way. The Lord was showing his glory through that picture of the cross in the sky. I find it interesting that if we happen to have a mountain top experience with the Lord that we don’t tell anyone about it. It is almost as if we are ashamed to let people know that we met with the Lord. There is one encounter in the Bible where some of the people involved in the mountain top experience actually fell asleep. Now I don’t know about you but I know that there is no way I would want to be asleep if I have the opportunity to have a mountain top experience the Living Lord.

I see where the Lord God wants to do the inconceivable, the uncommon, the unexpected, the incomprehensible, so that the only explanation for what is happening is the Lord. The question has been asked if the Lord removes every aspect of His presence from this world would we continue doing church in the same way. If God was to do that at what point would we realize that the Lord isn’t there. I read this week that getting people back to church is pointless unless the people who are going to church are going to church to meet with the Lord. If people are not going to meet with the Lord than church has just become the newest club on the block that happens to meet on Sunday’s.

1. As a Christian are you the same today as when you got saved?

Now I am not talking about the fact that we are forgiven. My questions has to do with whether we have allowed the Holy Spirit to change us mentally, spiritually and emotionally or am I still the exact same person today that I was when I got saved.

I am not suppose to have the same attitude now that I had when I accepted Christ? A Christian should be able to look at their life and actually see the changes that the Holy Spirit has made within their life.

Here is a test. Ask a close friend what changes have they seen in your life since you accepted Jesus Christ. What would their answer be. The Moses that we find in this chapter isn’t the same one who walked up the mountain to look at the burning bush in Exodus 3.

We all know the story that the Lord wanted Moses to go to Egypt and lead the children of Israel out to the land flowing with milk and honey. Moses really didn’t want to be the Lord messenger of deliverance.

I shared with you a couple of weeks ago some of those excuses that Moses gave with the intent of trying to get the Lord to find someone else to do the job. Finally Moses confessed his personal insecurities to the Lord and the Lord told Moses that He would do many miraculous signs to convince the people that Moses was sent by the Lord. When I think of the story about the burning bush I know how Moses felt. I remember when I first felt the Lord call. Everytime some one came up with a reason why I couldn’t be a pastor I was really happy. I was just like Moses who couldn’t get past the, I can’t.

There is a beautiful picture here where the Lord of creation is doing His best to convince Moses one of his creations to go and lead the people out of Egypt and Moses trying to come up with an excuse that he thinks the Lord should accept.

If that happened today, I think that the Christian community wouldn’t even think about coming up with an excuse because they would probably just ignore the Lord. Moses gave in when the Lord promised him that He would go with him to the Land of Egypt.