 Great, let's pray and we get started father. We welcome you in this place Love we are here to honor you. We are here to worship you. We are here to adore you But I pray holy spirit that even as we learn from your word you would Love we I pray that our spirits would be renewed Come and have your way in Jesus name. Amen All right Great welcome once again. Good morning. Good morning to all of you who are joining us online So we'll start off from chapter 7 And praise and worship so I want to kind of mix chapter 7 and chapter 8 as one big chapter Okay, so we look at chapter 7 chapter 8 as one big chapter Who's missing? Someone's missing Sean Okay, is everything okay with it? All right, so we start talking about it's also one of my favorite topics or Yeah topics to study about is the presence of God Presence of God okay presence in Hindi is what present Presence that's what it is. Okay, so when you say what what is presence of God? What is it in Hindi? Okay Upasthiti correct. No, I'll cross check with them. Okay Okay presence of God in other language Sorry, okay So Upasthiti, yeah Nina's also helping me out. You're right. We more What what does what is okay, it's the same thing as no Though it you're saying what he said no All right, let's move on Okay, uh, great guys, so Uh, so when you uh, what is the question for us is uh, what does the presence of God mean to you? Even for those online, please, um, put your Answers in the chat section. So presence of God when you think of it When you think of those words presence of God, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Okay, I know y'all didn't have your breakfast. Okay, but just come on. Okay You were right in front of me and I still can't hear you. Okay What what did you say? What throne room? Okay Okay Okay, yeah Throne room. Okay, that comes to him. Why throne room because that is where he is. Okay All right What else When you think of presence of God, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Holy spirit realm. Okay. Ooh, all right Okay, Sean says All my classes today because I'm sick. Yeah, sure Sean No way you take care There is a promised presence which we know by faith and other is the manifest presence. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Nina What else presence of God? We all use that in our worship or in In a day-to-day Christian language Like presence of God presence of God presence of God Even when we pray we say is it a glory? Welcome your presence over here So what does it mean? Presence of God Jesus Yeah, he's coming and being with us. Yes. What else? No, so what does it mean? For you, what do you what does it come to your mind? What's the first thing that comes to your mind? It's not just for him for you also Let's say yeah, you were saying Free. Okay. All right Oh feel. Okay Okay, Francis The word ministry Holy spirit ministry. Okay. Okay. All right ministry Peace of God. Okay All right, Surya says he is alive. That is the presence of God. He is living God. Yeah, Vimal God is present. Okay. So what does that mean his presence? What does it mean? What's the first thing that comes to your mind? Okay So let's just look at that word presence Okay, presence everybody say presence So what is the meaning of that word? presence What does it mean like huh being present? Yeah, and so what does one a person's presence do to you to an to an atmosphere or to an environment? What does it do that brings joy? Okay Sorry enables us to sing okay All right, we are conscious that he is with us. It's the assurance that we have yeah We are conscious. We are conscious that he is with us. Okay, so let's just look at Presence itself. Okay, so let's imagine this is a nice cafe or whatever. Okay, all of you are having tea because you didn't have tea But um So you're studying you're doing whatever you want to do, but then um, let's say Let's say pastor Ashish is here Okay, so and he is not having a direct conversation with you right? He is not looking into your eyes. He's not looking at your face and talking But he is just sitting on the table over there and he's having his coffee or whatnot. Yes so We are not going to act wild and crazy Isn't it? We are not going to shout. We are not going to do whatever we want to do. Yeah, why? because although You know, he's doing his own thing over there We all know That he is over there Yes or no So that means we are conscious of his presence Right presence actually comes from the word Present is one thing that present also person, right? So it's the presence of a person persona. They say, you know Persona, so that's what presence is all about. So why here's a question once again for all of us Why is the presence of god Important simple question Why is the presence of god important? We're worshiping and praying for the presence of god. Yeah, all the fine Why? That is my question So why is it important because that will change us? Okay, so Why is it important? Why is Why is it important? Because I'm yeah How do you say important in hindi? q Mahatva Poon Hey So Sorry guys, I'm trying to learn hindi also. So Q is a Ruri. Hey, Q is a Ruri. Hey, bowl Up bowl In english, bro. So I won't understand We can't live without his presence. Okay We can't live without his presence. What else? Why is it important? fast fast Okay, some answers. Surya says to believe that he is there. Okay His presence is a tangible environment. Krisha says yeah, that's what we that's what we count on We live and move and have a being in him. So Nina. So Why is it? Yeah, or the question remains. Why why why is it important? Is it just to so we can live move and have a being in him? Oh, is there anything that more you want to add to it? To experience him. Okay That's why he created us too long for To live in his presence. Remember that. Okay We love him. Okay see The reason I'm just asking questions and digging a little deep is because sometimes as christians We use these words presence of god so much in our lives We forget the significance of it the weight Of it, you know what I'm saying They say all presence of god presence of god, you know We pray we start the prayer with that we and sometimes we end with that We only say okay, you lead us let your presence come with us and whatnot, right? it's like We we have we gotten used to that language and we it's it's possible that we might Oversee the significance of it the importance of it That is why I'm asking you the question. It's a simple question and I'm making you think that's it. Okay, so the question still remains Why is it important? Presence of god gives us comfort at times of trouble. Sean says, yeah Without the presence of god, we can't overcome the world. Yeah There are okay, so let's move on right there are very few people You know in the bible like who recognize the presence the importance of his presence, right? One of them is moses who says like if your presence doesn't come with us, we will not go We all know that for us. Yeah, if your presence Doesn't come with us. We will not go from here but let's just go let's go to The first book of the bible Let's read genesis chapter three. Okay genesis chapter three. I'll read it for us Genesis three verse eight Okay, so until this point what all has happened creation has happened god has created man and women You know in his own image all of that has happened Eve has Eve adam and he have eaten out of the fruit. They've disobeyed god Yeah, so here's the thing genesis chapter three verse eight Then the man and his wife heard the sound Of the lord god as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from The lord god among the trees of the garden Okay So we kind of start something called the tabernacle of moses. We've heard of that tabernacle of moses It kind of starts from there Okay, genesis chapter three verse eight. They hid From the lord, right? So What happened when they sinned? Or what was what were they enjoying before the sin before the fall? What were they enjoying? The presence like most of you said they're living their being It was natural. It was not supernatural, right? His presence was natural for them They would walk in the cool of the garden. They were enjoying his presence. They were feeding off his presence As soon as they sinned Disobeyed What happens what sin basically does is it separates us everybody says separate What does separation means? It's like you separate one thing from another, isn't it? That's what sin did. It separated us from the presence of god. Okay, like, uh Dislocated shoulder head I can't think of any other example because I even had the dislocated shoulder. So anybody had That shoulder dislocated So there's a shoulder is in the socket like this, isn't it? So I had an injury and you see this curve over here that we have Right, it was flat Because um, so it had come off The joint that socket. So it was flat. So that's what kind of sin does it separated us From god From his presence they hid From him They hid God didn't hide god came after them Right and then what's the next what's the first thing god asks? What's the first thing? Where are you? Adam Adam where are you? Right, where are you? What when god is asking a question? It's not because he doesn't know the answer Right, it's When sin came our spirit was separated from the spirit of God and so when god He he comes into the garden and he's like Adam I can't find your spirit Where are you? We are not you are not in the same place where we met That is what sin did. That is the seriousness of sin is all this It's we are separated Right long story short john 3 16 Forgot to love the world that he gave his only begotten son whoever believes in him shall Not perish but have eternal life okay important point to note here eternal life Is not longevity of life or you know, how long you exist After you die Now when we die physically you are going to continue to exist in hell or in heaven That's not what eternal life means When you accept Jesus as your lord and savior What was separated that our spirit man was separated from god is reunited And at that moment we have eternal Life understood so why is all of this is important when we talk about the presence of god because From genesis chapter three Okay From genesis chapter three from this fall All the way fast forward to exodus chapter 25. Let's go to exodus 25 So between genesis chapter three and exodus 25 There is a lot that happens Isn't it In the bible Yes or no guys From genesis chapter three to exodus 25. What are some of the things that happened? Fall happens Adam and Eve have a cane and able Cain kills able and then they have set as the other child and then they have Children and then Noah comes into the picture flood happens And then Abraham comes into the picture in genesis chapter 12 Abraham, you know, Rebecca Isaac and Rebecca all that episode is there Sarah And Isaac Ishmael that one scene is there Jacob comes into the scene. Esau comes into the scene Jacob becomes uh, he tricks his brother and then Joseph comes into the scene Joseph is Sto, you know, he's sold to slavery A lot of things is happening. Isn't it from genesis three and then we go to exodus one Then the story of moses is being introduced. Okay From genesis three To exodus 25 Okay, let's very quickly read. Uh, just Verse eight. Okay exodus 25 verse eight It says then Is everybody there exodus 25 verse eight. Okay, cool Then have them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell among them Verse nine make this tabernacle And all its furnishings Exactly like the pattern I will show you Okay, verse eight once again have them make a sanctuary for me and I will Dwell among them So the time the gap between genesis three and exodus 25 is approximately 2,500 years Okay, why is this important? And why do we need to learn or understand all this for 2,500 years? Since the time of the fall in genesis three There was no dwelling place for god on earth Okay, there was no resting place. What was happening before the fall? God Dwelled among adam and neve. Isn't it dwelling place? What's the word for it in hindi? Well dwelt Uh, sorry Yeah, in live okay in but in hindi So he he was there among them right so before the fall he lived among them But from the time genesis three to exodus 25 there would be times where god it says god visited God would visit his hand was on this person, right? He would visit there will be visitations of god But there was no resting place on earth for 2,500 years It's almost like mankind did not feel it was important For god to dwell among them And so in exodus what happens? Israelites are in egypt for how many years? 430 30 years with joseph, but in slavery 400 years right 400 years That is 10 generations In 10 generations right 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 We have exactly 10 of y'all sitting here Right 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 whoa Imagine you went into egypt and your generation and your generation generation after generation after generation after generation after generation after generation after generation After generation All you have known for 400 years All you have seen for 400 years Are the idols of egypt The gods of egypt You are used to seeing how the egyptians worship You've never heard you've heard of this god god of abraham isek and jacob Right you've heard but you haven't heard from him or seen him or experience That's a long time isn't it guys Finally in exodus 25 verse 8 after the people when it came to the 10th generation God took them out of egypt into the land of israel What's the first thing that they do is We don't know who this god is We haven't heard of him. We haven't seen him. All we are used to seeing is the gods of egypt And moses has gone for 40 days. We can't find our leader So the first thing they do is They build they go back to their old ways what they know what they've seen for 400 years Let's make a god for ourselves. They build a golden calf. We all know that story, right People sin and whatnot And that is why after all of these mistakes after all of these sins and whatnot God tells This same people that built the golden calf The same people who gave their gold their jewelry for this idol Make them Give for my sanctuary. It says in exodus 25. Look at that in the beginning ex exodus 25 verse 1 it says Then the lord said to moses Tell the israelites to bring me an offering You are to receive the offering for me from each man Whose heart prompts him to give verse 3 These are the offerings you are to receive from them gold silver bronze blue purple scarlet yarn and fine linen. Okay, we'll stop there but the point is God is making these people who gave for that idol to give to build the sanctuary And so finally After 2,500 years there Is a dwelling place on earth for god He dwelt among them He Dwelled he was there As a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire By night he was there Are you with me and so the tabernacle of moses Was the like a bridge Okay, we've all seen a bridge it connects one side to another side The tabernacle of moses was like a bridge between heaven and earth Where divinity would meet with humanity For the first time in 2,500 years Are you still with me? Yes, so he dwelt among us simply means in other words the root meaning of it is he Tabernacled among them. That's why it's called as the tabernacle Okay, he dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us now Let's go to John chapter 1 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was Thank you very much right He was with God in the beginning let's come down all the way to verse 14 John chapter 1 verse 14 John chapter 1 verse 14 The word Became Flesh The word became flesh and made his Dwelling among us Okay He dwelt among us he tabernacled this is No longer the tabernacle of moses. It's not a shadow Word became flesh Jesus Dwelled among us Right um another scripture. Let's go to psalm 132 Here we guys doing online often Okay, psalm 132 Verse 13 It says For the Lord has chosen Zion Okay, for the Lord has chosen Zion, okay, let's do a quick stop before we continue. Look at me Okay a question How many of you here have desired for something? Even those online Say yes, if you decide for something Have you desired desired matlab? You understand a little loudly, bro Okay, you understand desire, right? Have you desired something? Yes, okay I'm not gonna ask. What is it? We've desired so many things right it could be a thing it could be a dog a pet Could be a gadget whatnot right but then you see the next line verse 13 For the Lord has chosen Zion He has desired it for his dwelling Verse 14. This is my resting place forever and ever here. I will sit enthroned for I have desired it Isn't that beautiful The first thing that we need to understand as about the presence of God is it's not that how much we long for him We need to realize that he longs for us He longs to dwell among us That's why the word became flesh He came isn't it? He desired he came because he desired to dwell among us Are you with me right another? Uh example the popular example of the presence is the day of the pentecost and acts chapter 2 Right acts chapter 2 it the bible says the holy spirit came like a Say loudly The holy spirit came like a rushing wind. Everybody say rushing wind Everybody say rush Say rush again He came like a Rushing wind now when do you see a rush? A rush when the time is okay when someone wants something Like when you have like on like major sale or happening somewhere everybody's rushing towards it, isn't it? You don't see it nowadays because everything is online Yes Rush our traffic we say why because everybody has to get to work on time Right, everybody is in a rush because Someone will always be in a rush only when they want something urgently And when we see that he came like a rushing wind It again says that He wanted to be there more than they wanted him Are you with me? Yes, so that's the beauty of the presence of god is that we need to understand that he longs to be with us More than we long for him. That is the truth. That's why he came we didn't go In the 2,500 years the gap between adam and exodus 25 Nobody seemed to ask him a question. Can I build you a dwelling place a resting place? Until god says have them make me a Sanctuary Are you with me? Yeah, so that is like Half an hour is gone or just the introduction of for us to understand the importance of the presence of god Are you with me when jesus says when two or three are gathered in my name? He is there We we use that so many times When we say we are gathered together in his name Gathered together. What is that gathering? Right get together In jesus name that means that get together will look like it should look like how it looked when jesus was there in 2000 years ago Right, that means he is there Um, so and so that's the longing again. Uh, he says when two or three are gathered together in my name I am there He is the initiator of everything in our lives, isn't it? He starts everything. He wants us more than we want him Yeah And so that is the beauty of the of the of the presence of god Let's look at So the varying manifestations of the presence of god in in your in your notes So God is omnipresent Nina said There's a presence of god what we believe by faith that is he is with us And then there are times that he manifests So presence of god everybody say omnipresent What does that mean? He is with us. Sorry He's present everywhere Right the same god who is here. He's present here. He's present with those online. He's present in Another country in another part of the world His presence is everywhere someone 39. Where can I run from your presence? Right if I run to the east you are there if I run to the west you are there if I make my beds in the depths of the ocean You are there There is no escaping from his presence Right And then there is his manifest presence Where he decides to show up Right when john chapter one was 14 word became flesh We see that right word became flesh that is the manifest presence Right and in the old testament you see time and time again uh, you can actually go and google it uh is Time and time again god will show up manifest himself as a cloud Right, uh, you read um an exodus chapter 40 um We're not gonna read now but exodus chapter 40 in first chronicles when solemn builds his temple And all of that it says the cloud of god's glory Filled the temple and the priest could not stand they would all fall down because of the weight of his glory, right? So that is The Manifest presence of god, so there's only present and then there is the manifest presence, right? Very quickly. Let's look at our approach to god's presence How do we approach this presence? okay first one what we've been learning all through this semester is We approach this presence through praise Right, uh some in in the earlier classes. We learned that praise is god's address Right, and that's where you want to find god where he is Uh, you find a group of people who's praising him. He's there Right, so we we um, so we approach his presence through praise Um, we I will enter his gates with thanksgiving his courts with With praise right Um, someone read Psalm 95 verse two, please. Okay, let us come before his presence with Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, okay Um, yesterday we did something beautiful at church at north. Okay um So here's the thing I don't want you to say it out loud. You can write this out And I want you to take only 10 seconds write one thing that you are thankful for to god right now Even you guys online the one thing That you are thankful for you can write a lot of things but for time's sake First thing that comes to your mind. I'm thankful for this 10 nine eight seven see this six five four three two one All right I don't know how many of you have this habit of writing the song out, but there's something called um, uh You know what gratitude is like is an expression of being thankful gratitude. Okay um I would encourage you to have a book or a journal called the gratitude journal Okay, gratitude journal means where you can write. I'm grateful for This god, I'm grateful for this. I'm grateful for this person in my life I'm grateful that I have air in my lungs. I have I'm grateful because I have a shirt and a pant I am grateful because I have a shoe. I'm grateful for this. I'm grateful for that, right It's a very it's a very beautiful Practice I would say of just building this heart of gratitude to god, right and some 91 says I will say of the lord Right, I will Say I will declare of the lord that he is my refuge. He is my fortress. He's my strong tower He is my mighty fortress. He is the one who trains my hands for war my fingers for battle Some things not some things most of the things regarding god has to be said So you write it and then you say it, right? You write it and then you say it. I will say of the lord Okay, so that's what 95 some 95 was too is all about is you approach his presence with thanksgiving He's magnified Right, how many of you would like a person constantly complaining about you? Is it in is there no It's just thing Why are you like this? You know what I'm saying if someone is just constantly like nagging is like Hey, what is this? My life is absolutely You wouldn't want to You won't feel like being in in that person's Presence in the presence of the person isn't it And something it's very similar to It's the same thing with god as in you keep cribbing saying like oh lord Why is my life like this? Oh lord, you wake up like lord. Why is my life like this lord? Why is this person in my life? What do you think god's gonna do is like oh He's like Lord, you're awesome like say what but now Can you can say say that again? It's all you're awesome. You're amazing. You're wonderful. You're beautiful. I'm thankful for for your presence in my life You know and then suddenly you're having getting the attention of heaven It's it's like gravity. It's when you start thanking heaven starts coming towards you. There's no escaping Right and so that's one of the key ways to You know Approaching god's presence is through praise We've understood that quite a bit and then through worship, right? Let's read Psalm 96 verse 8, please Can someone read Psalm 96 verse 8? Okay, so once again, uh, just for the benefit of everybody listening online Psalm 96 verse 8 as crime to the lord for the glory Do his name bring an offering and come into his Courts bring an offering everybody say bring an offering Right now we we spoke a little bit about the tabernacle of moses Okay, who knows something about the tabernacle of moses What can you tell me about the tabernacle of moses Three parts. Okay Okay, so the tabernacle of moses. I wish I had a board but it had three parts, isn't it? the outer courts the inner courts and the The most holy place right also known as the holy of holies, right? So the outer courts inner courts and the holy of holy so outer courts had two Furnitures, what is that the altar Altar of sacrifice and then it had a laver that like washed basin like you know where the priests would wash their hands Inside the basin was made with mirrors or not Okay, and from outer courts you enter the holy place to your as soon as you enter to your right You'll find a table with bread right shoe bread and to your left you'll find a golden lampstand And then right in front you'll have an altar of incense and in front of altar of incense. There's a thick veil Okay, a thick curtain a thick veil right and so on the other side of the veil was The holy of holies the ark of the covenant Okay We're not going to study about it in detail, but it's it's just awesome And so that's where the priests used to minister unto the lord, right? Now just for the sake of time Priests right the levitical priesthood they never Went empty-handed before the presence of god. I want to say that again priests, okay, who were ministering who were serving in the tabernacle of moses they never went empty-handed They always had an offering in their hand Are you with me and so that's what some 96 verse 8 is saying ascribed to the lord the glory do his name Bring an offering And the new covenant obviously we are not having you know altar of sacrifice and burning Barbecueing all that is not happening But he will says this is our spiritual sacrifice the fruit of our lips Right sacrifice of Praise isn't it? Let's once again, uh, let's go to some 95 Some 95 very quickly verse 6 and we'll conclude with this. Okay Some 95 verse 6. Yeah Thank you. So come let us bow down in Worship let us kneel before the lord our Make up. Okay. No, we learned a Hebrew word for worship is what? Shah you remember that? Yeah, what does it mean prostrate? Face down right before god that's a posture of worship, isn't it? So we're learning about approaching god's presence. One is through praise Thanksgiving you praise him you thank him the other one is your worship So some 95 verse 2 says come let us Bow down in worship Okay, so how do you bow down? So you're gonna get up off your chairs and so you bow down right you go down on your knees or you go right So what happens when you bow down? Your whole body is going down. Yes or no your face is also going down Yes or no And so we learned that uh bowing down before someone's presence between the presence of god is an act of surrender Yes or no So what are all the things that you're taking With you when you're going down What is it? What is everything? All that is right But just physically speaking when you're bowing down your face is also going down Your head What are all the things in your head eyes nose? Yes mouth. Yeah, what is saying is I'm bowing down I'm surrendering what I hear I'm surrendering what I speak I'm surrendering what I see Yes or no So all of these basic senses Everything what I'm gonna see what I'm gonna hear what I'm going to speak I surrender That is why it is an act of worship When we bow down, okay? So that's the second way of how we approach god's presence First one, thanksgiving Second one, praise Okay, that is it for this first hour We will take a break And I'll see you all in 10 minutes Okay, see you guys