“NOTHING LESS THAN HIS PRESENCE”
Mark 3:14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach,
God first wants us to “be with Him” before going for Him.
Exodus 33:15, 16 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. “For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
Moses was ordained by God to lead:
1. The largest Church ever gathered – the whole nation
2. The richest Church in money ever gathered – they came out of Egypt with all the silver and gold
3. A Church of spiritual manifestations - Exodus 33:2 “And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. – an angelic appearance!
Yet Moses refused to do it without the Presence of God
“Unless Your Presence goes with us I will not go” – we forget the most important person in Church is God
The Threefold Presence of God
Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
1. Omnipresent – God is everywhere filling all things - Psalm 139:7, 8 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. God is present everywhere whether we realize it or not
2. Manifest Presence – this is God in action – in Genesis the Holy Spirit is present then God speaks and there is action – this is God’s manifest or active presence as opposed to His brooding or omnipresence
3. Personal Presence – this is God abiding - God breathed into man – man was created for the personal presence of God – God wants all people to be in this relationship with Him
Since the fall of man God has been preparing a way to restore His personal presence in people. Its through Jesus and salvation that He has done this.
The first place God chose to dwell was in Adam - John 14:16 - The believer has been reconstructed and made a fit dwelling for Almighty God. (Ill. 1 Cor. 6:19-20 - 2 words translated Temple in NT - 1). Ieron - The entire temple precinct, the temple mount. 2.) Naos - The Holy place, the sacred dwelling place of God! The Christian is literally a living, breathing Temple of Almighty God! When you get saved, God moves in! Salvation isn’t about getting man into Heaven; it is about getting God into man. It is about making dead men live.
The Church simply needs to get back to realizing the priority of cultivating our relationship with God, we want His active presence but we don’t realize that His active Presence is always a result of His Personal Presence.
The Benefits of the Personal Presence of God
Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Dwells comes from the same Hebrew word as habitation – the idea this word conveys is of habits – our habits form our lives – He who dwells in the secret place – a habit of spending time with God from the Hebrew yashab a primitive root; properly, to sit down; by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry:--(make to) abide(-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell(-ing), ease self, endure, establish, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit(-ant), make to keep (house), lurking, marry(-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set(- tle), (down-)sit(-down, still, -ting down, -ting (place) -uate), take, tarry.
Abide means to remain in
The secret place – is the personal place of a persons intimacy with God
The shadow of the Almighty – is the Holy of Holies – Ark of Mercy – with the wings of the Cherubim casting their shadow over the Ark. The Ark represents:
a. Resurrection Power – Aarons Rod
b. Revelation – the pot of Manna – new everyday
c. Restoration – the Stone tablets of Law bringing order into disorder
So the benefits of Gods Personal Presence are to remain in the place of His resurrection power, His revelation and restoration of being who God intended us to be. That’s where it starts. Let everyone of us determine with the help of the Holy Spirit to individually and corporately pursue the relationship with God that He desires.
