Isn’t it wonderful to sense the awesome presence of God? There really is nothing else like it. I think I speak for most of us when I say that. The Glory of God is greater than being anywhere else this morning.
Text: Acts 2:1 thru 4, 12 thru 21
Second only to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, this was the greatest day in history of the N. T. church.
This may come as a bit of surprise to some of you, but did you know that this had happened once before?
This was not the first time THE GLORY OF GOD fell on the children of God. Let me show you.
Text: II Chronicles 5:11 thru 6:2, and 7:1 thru 3
Prayer:
The people of God were having church. They had it in the New Testament. They had it in the Old Testament.
These really are similar stories for us to compare.
They both describe the Glory of God and how God can and will choose the forces of nature to convince mankind of His anointing.
And there are other stories of how the Lord moves on His people. There was cloud by day and a fire by night.
These demonstrations would cause God’s people to stay very close to Him and follow Him.
Those who choose to stay close to the cloud of His anointing were never left behind. This cloud was a compelling force of nature for the godly people.
But for those who did not recognize it as being the Lord, they called it a strange phenomena. They were impressed, but they were not compelled to follow Him.
Some people became disheartened, easily discouraged, or even complacent with what God was doing. Some were frightened by THE GLORY OF GOD and refused to follow what they did not understand.
As a result many people were left behind.
Have you ever though about what a cloud can do?
It can become a fog, a mist, a shower, a heavy downpour, sleet, hail, snow, a tornado, a twister, a typhoon or a hurricane.
These phenomena’s of nature can put the fear of God in any weather man. I don’t think the Weather Channel can do anything about what God choose to do with His clouds. God is God. There is none other.
You may not understand THE GLORY OF GOD any better than you do how a cloud works.
But that won’t change the way God chooses to demonstrate His Glory.
Just as in the Old and New Testament, there will be those who will choose not to follow the Glory of God.
You may be just that person. The people of the Old Testament who saw THE GLORY OF GOD were good people just like you.
They went to their synagogues every Sabbath.
Good Sunday go to meeting kind of people. But they did not keep up with what God was doing because they didn’t agree or they didn’t understand it. They were left behind. They missed what God had for them.
Many good people have purposely chosen to not allow THE GLORY OF GOD in their lives.
We need to understand that just as there are many ways that God will use a cloud, there are many ways that He will manifest (or, demonstrate) His Glory.
We all know that God is omnipresent. He is universal in where He is at all times. When Isaiah saw the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6, he heard the seraphim say,
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"
That tells me that THE GLORY OF GOD is on the mountain tops and He is down in the valleys. That is God just being God. He is everywhere.
1 Corinthians 6:19
“…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…”
II Corinthians 6:16-17
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
17 Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
While it is true that God is everywhere, there is a difference we need to consider. It is this:
The manifestaion of THE GLORY OF GOD is to take place in His Temple. You sir, you maam’ are His Temple!
IN II Chronicles chapter 5 we see the priests and the Levites finding THE GLORY OF GOD in the Temple where they worshipped. That Temple was built by a man named, Solomon.
Things have changed with THE GLORY OF GOD. Solomon was right in what he said in chapter 6:2.
“I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever."
God is saying that to you this morning. God has built you a new Temple.
Church, you are the exalted Temple of God.
The manifestation of THE GLORY OF GOD is to take place within your exalted temple of God.
You have been chose to contain the manifestation of THE GLORY OF GOD. Isaiah 60:2 says,
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
Likewise in John 2, we have the first miracle of Jesus when He turned the water into wine.
This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory;
The Glory of God was there at the wedding, but the manifestation took place in His miracles.
Read I Peter 4:13 & 14(a).
II Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
With all of this Truth, why do we keep waiting for THE GLORY OF GOD to manifest in us?
My friend, it is God Who is waiting on you to release His Glory in you. If you are a believer, THE GLORY OF GOD is on and in you.
Some folks will fast and pray for a day, a week, a month and are disappointed when nothing happens.
They cannot understand why they cannot sense THE GLORY OF GOD.
The time has come for THE GLORY OF GOD to manifest itself in your “earthen vessels”. The problem is when we keep looking back at how THE GLORY OF GOD use to be and we miss out on how THE GLORY OF GOD is.
This is much like the story of David and Goliath.
Saul’s armor was not what David needed.
Things change for the people of God. What use to work, or the way THE GLORY OF GOD use to manifest itself, may not be how it will manifest itself tomorrow.
THE GLORY OF GOD operates in newness everyday.
Old things are passed away. Behold all things are new.
We cannot resist what THE GLORY OF GOD is doing just because we may not understand everything that is going on.
THE GLORY OF GOD manifested itself in a little boy and he destroyed the biggest enemy they had ever seen.
THE GLORY OF GOD can lift you up and make you an overcomer in Christ. If you don’t resist it.
But if you resist it you will be defeated and left behind.
Herein lies the problem why many churches are failing in these last days. They choose to stick with how it use to be. The tradition of yesterday. They refuse to allow God to do something new in them. They say,
“that can’t be God…that is not the way it’s done…this is nonsense… we don’t need this change…”
THE GLORY OF GOD is within you and you must allow it to have it’s way in you. With THE GLORY OF GOD, there will be changes in your life. His cloud will lead you where you have never been before.
You must follow Him.
