 What I want to share with you guys is something that God has placed on my heart is Passion for the presence of God Passion for the presence of God now There's two types of presence two types the first type of the presence of God is the omni Presence somebody say omni presence Now omni presence means that God is everywhere whether we perceive him or not It's the ability to be present everywhere at the same time. That's that's God God can be everywhere at the same time Jeremiah 23 23 says am I not God who is only close at hand says the Lord? No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from me in secret? I Am am I not everywhere in the heavens and the earth says the Lord Psalms 139 7 says Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go to the heavens you are there? If I make my bed in the depths you are there if I rise on the wings of the dawn If I settle on the far side of the seat even there your right hand will guide me your right hand will hold me fast That's the omnipresence of God meaning God is everywhere, but the problem with the omnipresence is Sometimes you don't see it amen Like for example God is everywhere, but sometimes we don't perceive him But then there's another presence of God somebody say another This one is called the manifest presence now the word manifest means to make evident or certain by showing or Displaying it's perceived by our senses understood or recognized when somebody shows something for everyone to notice or it's another word revealed Job said 23 verse 8 look I go forward, but he is not there. I go backwards. I cannot perceive him He works on my left. I cannot see him. He works on my right. I cannot behold him You know when Joe was going through his trial The omnipresence was around Job, but Job says I cannot see him. He's working, but I can't perceive him But when the manifest presence of God comes, you know Because what happened later in Job's life? God spoke to him from the whirlwind and Joe says I've heard about you, but now I have seen you and I have Heard you like for reals So this is the presence of God. I want to talk about Solomon when he built the temple in second Chronicles verse 5 13 It says at that moment a thick cloud filled the temple of the Lord The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud for the glorious presence of the Lord Filled the temple. This is when Solomon dedicated the temple the glory of God came the presence of God came into the room And the priests they couldn't they couldn't stay there because the presence of God was so thick you can feel it. Amen I want to take you to Moses Exodus 33 18 Moses responded. He said Show me your glorious presence the Lord reply. I will make my goodness pass before you I will call out my name Yahweh before you I will show mercy to anyone I choose and I will show compassion to anyone I choose But you may not look directly at my face for no one can see me I live the Lord continue Look stand near me on this rock as my glorious passage as my glorious presence passes I will hide you in the crevice of the of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I Passed by Moses said show me your glory. God says I got a place for you. I'm gonna put you on that rock How many guys know that rock is Jesus? How many guys know that rock is Jesus and God passed by him his presence passed by him that Moses probably actually could have saw something and he could have felt something Jesus in John 14 21 says those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me and Because they love me my father will love them and I will love them and Reveal some translation says manifest myself to them So there's the omnipresence of God and then there's a manifest presence of God When God reveals himself to you your life changes and this is what Jesus was talking about When you love Jesus when you love the father God will reveal himself to you on a personal intimate level. Can somebody say amen? Church, I want to tell you from the very beginning of creation Man and woman were called to live in God's presence Genesis 3 verse 8 says and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees This is after they have sinned, you know, they did something they shouldn't do and They hid themselves among the trees and you know that the first words from the Lord was not judgment. It says Adam Where are you? God Desires to reveal his presence to us. God desires for us to walk in his presence sin Brought a separation between God's presence and humanity But church God has a plan God had a plan and has a plan to redeem mankind back to his presence Can somebody say amen? Church even as we're bringing people back to Christ With our three by three vision three people in three months church People are not gonna be drawn to us John 12 32 says when I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself Church People don't really want to see us. Who do they want to see? That's right. They want to see Jesus in us. Amen So when they see Jesus in us God will draw them to him. Amen Church out of it out of his presence, you will be successful and fruitful John says abiding me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in a vinyl in a vine Neither can you unless you abiding me out of his presence. You will be successful and fruitful Amen Out of his presence, you will flourish actually naturally you will flourish Everything near God flourishes Everything near God flourishes psalms 92 says those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the in the courts of our God In the presence, there is fullness of joy Psalm 1611 says satisfied Satisfaction is not in numbers. It's not in likes. It's not in social media. It's not even about how much money you have David says there is fullness of joy in his presence David says One day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere I don't know about you if you have ever experienced the presence of God if you ever had even a hint of the presence of God It is life-changing Amen, you know You will find everything in this world you can you with money you can buy a jet ski to have fun That's great with money. You can buy a nice car. You can buy clothes You can even maybe even buy a girl, you know because of money But let me tell you what you will never find in this world is the presence of the Lord There is safety and provision in his presence You know as the children of Israel there was a cloud by day and a fire by night It protected them it gave them shade in the daytime and in the nighttime it gave him light there is there's Safety and provision it actually protected them from the Egyptians when they were coming to attack Israel The presence of the Lord protected Israel There is revelation and direction in the presence of the Lord Samuel first Samuel 3 1 says and the word of the Lord was rare in those days There was no widespread Revelation this is in the day of Eli the Bible says the lamp of the Lord was was coming out actually they didn't honor the Lord They didn't honor him so wherever God is not honored his presence is not revealed And so Revelation was rare in those days Exodus 33 16 says the presence of God sets us apart from all the people of the word Do you know what makes us different? It's not because we receive Jesus. Yes, it does That's part of it But it's actually having the presence of God living inside of you because what is going to distinguish you from the rest of the Person I mean he sins you sin. What's different? I'm am I telling you to sin? No We'll get to that But we'll get what gonna make you be different is God's holy presence inside of you Do you know Daniel in the Bible? He was ten times wiser than the rest of the magicians It's because he had an excellent spirit the presence of God lived inside of him The Bible says he prayed three times a day. He sought after God. He was different What is going to distinguish you from everybody else? Is it your church of knees? Is it your hallelujah praise you Jesus? No, no, no, it's the presence of the living God that lives inside of you that's going to make you different You know when david sinned he messed up You know what he said he says do not cast me from your presence or take your holy spirit from me Psalm 51 11 The presence of God brings vision and clarity somebody say vision and clarity In Genesis 4 16 the bible says cain You know after he murdered his brother able He went away from the present from the Lord's presence and lived in the land called wandering Instead of living in God's presence cain left God's presence and he lived in the place called wandering He had no purpose in his life He had no vision in his life You know cain did actually many good work many works. I mean his lineage built the tower of babel But there was no eternal value in his life All that stuff God saw it as nothing He was walking around aimlessly no vision in his life In the presence of the Lord there is vision and there is clarity can somebody say amen Do you know what happened to his lineage? Actually the world became corrupt and later God had to destroy it with the flood Mistakes happen outside of God's presence somebody say mistakes happen outside of God's presence Actually church everything far from God decays corrupts by default Anything close to God will flourish there will be life There will be joy, but anything farther from God it's going to decay Isaiah 1 9 says unless the Lord almighty had left some survivors we have we would become like Sodom We would become Gomorrah That's the children of Israel saying says God if you would have left us we would have became like Sodom and Gomorrah Do you know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Where there is no light there's darkness you turn off the lights in this room. What happens? Darkness comes by default church. What am I what am I trying to say in the presence of the Lord? There's everything that we need Everything that will sustain us and grow us and anything apart from God is going to decay And wither away can somebody say wow I thought you thought you thought I'm going to say amen, huh Church let me tell you my testimony. I want I want to share my heart Church I was born in a Christian family my mom and my dad they took me to church from a young young age I didn't like church I slept in church. I I I didn't like to be in church. I thought it was boring Um, I remember days when I knew Wednesday or whatever day was Church is at seven o'clock So I left to go to the store Not that I wanted to go to the store. I just didn't want to go to church And then so when when mom and dad comes home said where were you? Oh, I was at the store I just went to the store and came back. I just didn't want to be at church But church, let me tell you what happened in my life at the age of 16 17 18 19 My teenage years. I remember being invited to a church service on Friday night And I don't know it was like a wave of revive. I don't know what was going on But I remember being at the altar and God touching my heart in such a deep way You know what that changed me I've been at church, but when I tasted the Lord Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good It changed my life. I became hungry for God. I said God Wow, I never saw this at church But when I when I've experienced it in my life, oh my god, you are more beautiful You are more amazing And that was my pursuit Of seeking the Lord. I believe the way I am today right now is because of that encounter that I had I believe if God didn't encounter me in a different way, I don't know if I'd be like that I can't say because I don't know what life would bring but I can tell you When I remember being at the front and God marking my heart in a deep way. I remember It's just such a it's just so beautiful Because church we are called to live in God's presence It's like you cannot take a fish out of the water the fish belongs inside the water We belong in the presence of the Lord Come on You know, even though man and woman sinned with with Adam God still wanted to dwell with his people He told moses Build a tabernacle a tabernacle exodus 25 8 Have the people have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them God still wants to live with us So God told moses build a holy tabernacle. So How many of you guys know it was the outer courts and there was the inner courts and there was the holy of holies Are you guys with me? It kind of represents us Our our bodies our flesh is the outer courts our soul is the inner courts and our spirit is the holy of holies And so what does god live right now? Inside of us we are the bibles says we are the temples of the holy spirit But back in the old testament god still wanted to live with us and jesus didn't Didn't come yet So he still wanted to dwell with him. So he says moses build me a tabernacle So they had all these things but what I want to tell you guys in the holy of holies They had this thing which was called the ark of the covenant somebody say the ark of the covenant It was made out of acacia wood and gold The ark of the covenant actually represents jesus it was half Half wood and half gold just as jesus half of half he was man and half he was god God says Exodus 25 22 he says I will meet with you there and talk with you From above the atonement cover between the gold cherubin That hover over the ark of the covenant So the shekaina presence was Where the ark of god was God's presence was there somebody say god's presence God says I will meet with you there and I will talk with you there church I want to take you to a story that happened in the old testament this ark Before even the days of saw got captured by the philistines The philistines captured it What happened in their life Is because they didn't they didn't know how to host the presence of god Tumor started breaking out and you know what they said we're going to return the ark back to israel So the ark was returned back to israel In the days of saw Saul didn't Look after the ark. He didn't he didn't care about the presence of god. Saul didn't care But david the bible says he was a man after god's heart And he wanted to bring the ark of god back to the city of david And so this is where this story comes into play. So if you have your bibles, I want you to open up the second samuel verse six Second samuel chapter six And we're going to go from the beginning Then david again gathered all the elite troops in israel three 30 000 in all he led them To beelha of juda to bring back the ark of god Which bears the name of the lord of heaven's army who was if he thrown between the cherubim They placed the ark of god on the new cart and brought it from abinadab's house Which was on the hill uza and ahio abinadab's sons were guiding the ark That carried the ark of god ahia walked in front of the ark david and all the people of israel was Were celebrating before the lord singing songs and playing all kinds of musical instruments But when they arrived at the threshing floor of naked the ox stumble uzaya Uza reached out his hand to steady the ark of god the lord anger aroused against uza and god struck him dead Because of his error or some translation says irreverence. So is zaya died right there beside the ark david was angry because of the lord's anger had bursted out against uza david was now afraid of the lord and he asked how can i ever bring the ark of god back into my care So david decided not to bring the ark of the lord into the city of david instead He took it to the house of obin edam This is a tragic story david wanted to bring the ark of god from abinadab's house and to the city of david And these guys put the ark on a new cart driving it The ox stumbled the guy to protect the ark Sticks his hand out and dies If you stick your two hands in the electrical socket, what's gonna happen? Huh, it's not a trick question But let me tell you There's so much there's so much to talk about There's many lessons we will learn from this story somebody say many lessons The first one is death by familiarity death by familiarity familiarity means relaxed friendliness or intimacy between people You might not know the story, but I did a little bit of research and I want to tell you When the ark of god was captured by the philistines They they brought the ark into abinadab's house uza somebody say uza Was a son of abinadab The ark of god stayed in stayed in abinadab's house for 20 years 20 years Now i'm sure his dad told uza Look Do not touch the ark Look You know what happened when the ark was returned and Our israelite people Opened the ark just to see what what was inside In first samuel verse 19 first samuel six 19 that says Then he struck the man of bass shemesh because they looked into the ark of the lord He struck 50,070 men of the people and the lord lamented because the lord has struck the people with the great slaughter So 50,000 people wanted to see what was inside and god Dead and i am sure His father told his son Do not touch the ark church God is holy God is not just your friend even though he is our friend, but god is holy righteous and judge The bible calls him a consuming fire. Yes in jesus christ We are reconciled back to god, but when god's presence comes in his glory Trust me It's not going to be like this service where everybody's going to be sitting down on their chairs There has been times in revival history when the glory of god came into the world People were laid on the floors because they couldn't stand up because the glory of the god was the glory of the lord was so thick Trust me. This is the ark of god was the presence of god Concentrated in a high high form Look look at it. Not like like sticking your hand your your fingers in the socket because that is a little bit of electricity i'm talking about Millions and millions of voltage Death because they got he became familiar, you know in this this church has been around for how many years 19 years 19 years i did my math before i came up here The ark of god stayed at his house for 20 years When you become familiar with the presence of god, you know, you already know it's it's so easy to cross the boundaries You know because you you've been in this house. You already know how everything goes You know many equipment operators i'm talking about operators that that do equipment, you know, they They pick up cranes or whatever it is Many equipment operators crash or get into an accident because they got too comfortable They were operating on the borderline of danger once they felt danger But over time they get comfortable and they don't feel the danger and next thing you know accidents happen Death Because they were familiar guys church We cannot be careless towards god's presence We cannot become comfortable with god's presence romans 11 22 says notice how god is both kind And severe he is severe towards those who disobey but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness But if you stop trusting You also will be cut off God is both kind and he's severe Trust me. God is still good We just need to receive this. This is healthy stuff And the next thing is what what what happened? Wrong is They put the ark on a new cart now God never told the children of israel to put their put his ark his presence on a new cart You know the first time that the new cart Happened was when the philistines returned the ark. God was a little gracious with them But the philistines were not god's people Children of israel mean you we are god's people. So there is responsibility the way we carry god's presence You know carts were used to carry heavy heavy loads You know, if you want to carry something heavy, why why why pick it up? Why carry it? It's too heavy put it on the cart. Let the horse bring it. Let the ox bring it You know church, it's very easy to have somebody else carry god's presence instead of me or instead of you It's very easy. Hey, you see god and you tell him what god says But for me, I don't want to do the hard work. I don't want to do the lifting But church god does not give his presence to a cart. God gives his presence to us because he's in love with us And the next one is being afraid of the lord is not the same for fearing the lord David was now afraid of the lord Being afraid of god will lead you to run away from god. That's what david did David said, how can the presence of god come into my house? How can the presence of god come into my house? So he was afraid of the lord But when you fear god You are afraid to be separated from god When you fear god, you're afraid to be in a distance from god even though Even though you run to god, but with reverence with reverence church Many of us are not experiencing the presence of god in our lives because we are not reverencing the lord We treat him as he's just a friend Oh, yeah. Yeah god cool. Cool. Yeah He is your friend, but he's also your savior and he's also going to be your judge. It's a different judge It's going to be a different judgment than with the sinners For us our judgment is going to be how we lived in our body It's a different judgment. There's going to be rewards and there's going to be losses. I'm not there to talk about that Leviticus 10 3 says by those who come near me I must be regarded as holy and before before all the people I must be glorified god is saying Reverence me and you will see my glory Honor me and you will experience my presence I Was praying one day. I'm like god the church Needs a fresh revelation of the fear of the lord It will bring the church back into god's presence. I'm not talking about hungry gen as a church I'm talking about a church as a whole We need a fresh revelation of what it is to fear god Because that will draw us back into his presence. We're not going to be do fool. We're not going to do foolish things Acts chapter 9 31 says the church then had peace throughout Judea's Galilee and Samaria it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the lord and with encouragement of the holy spirit It grew in numbers The church will grow when it lives in god's fear the healthy fear not not the fear that david feared Oh god, I don't want to do anything without you. No, no You reverence god Amen The next point I want I want to show you what happened is Because david didn't bring the ark. He was scared of what happened The ark of god went the presence of god went to obon edam's house And you know the bible says god blessed obon So david did not move the ark of god into the city of david instead He took it to the house of obon edam at gath the ark remained there in obon edam's house for three months and the lord blessed the household of obon edam and everything he owned Somebody say three months Do you know that the corona virus has been more than three months already? Because of the presence of the lord was in the house of obon edam the bible says god blessed his house and everything that was He had to do with Do you know if you host the presence of god in your house your house will be blessed What are you carrying inside your house? But if you carry the presence of the lord Naturally things will be blessed. You know people are looking for success people are looking how to how to be how to be Everybody wants wants to do good in life. Who wants to do bad? Everybody wants to have money have a house have a wife have kids. That's all good But if you have the presence of god you have everything Come on I'm going to speed this up So that was the first time david tried to bring the ark, but then david found out In first chronicles 15 says david says No one but the levites may carry the ark of the lord Because the lord has chosen the levite to carry and he says and he said david called for the priest the levites and he said you are the heads of the father's house Sanctify yourselves that you may bring the ark of the lord Because you did not do it the first time the lord broke out against us because we didn't consult him about the proper order So the levites sanctify themselves and they carry the ark First peter chapter 2 verse 9 and says but you are a chosen generation You are a royal priesthood a holy nation his own special people Me and you we are those levites that carry god's presence God gives his presence to us So when the levites carry the ark As what they were supposed to do the first time the ark of god moved from From a benedaps house into the city of david and i want you i want you to see what happened and how they carry the ark Second samuel verse 6 12 says so david went there brought the ark of god From the house of obendium to the city of david with a great celebration After the men who were carrying the ark of the lord had gone six steps david sacrificed a bull and a fatten calf Think about this the levites are carrying the ark They take one two three four five six Stop david sacrifices another one two three four five six another sacrifice And that's how they carry the ark They were conscious Who they were carrying? They are carrying the presence of the lord God wants you to be conscious of his presence His presence is given for you It's not for a card It's not so that you live your life however you want to live your life and you don't even have any relationship with the lord God wants you to be conscious with him Because in his presence there's life And they were conscious they didn't make no wrong move Because they actually probably knew what happened in the past like it ain't gonna happen with us We're gonna be slow, but we're gonna do it I want to ask you church a question How is the holy spirit doing on the inside of you because we are the ones that are hosting him We are the levites that are carrying him. Are you conscious of his presence? Are you living recklessly? Are you exposing the holy spirit to all kinds of junk? How is the holy spirit feeling on the inside of you? I want to show you an example something that I If I had a dove Sitting on my shoulder How would I walk I would be conscious I would be conscious that the dove is on my shoulder. Would I Would I be reckless? Would I be reckless? I wouldn't be reckless because I don't want the dove to fly away You know the holy spirit Wants to wants to Wants to fall upon you and stay on your shoulder more inside of you His presence wants to cover your life But how are you living? Ephesians 4 30 says Do not grieve the holy spirit By whom you were sealed for the day of redemption Let all bitterness wrath anger clamor and evil speaking be put away with you from all malice I'm I'm wrapping this up church What do we what do me and you do? When we stumble and when we fall What do I do when I lose my peace? Do I harden my heart? Do I run from God or do I run to God? Because you know what Solomon said in ecclesiastom 7 7 20 it says there's not a single person on earth That is always good and never sins Solomon said that there's not a single person on earth That is always always good that never makes mistakes. I make mistakes. You make mistakes. What do you do? When you hurt this dove with your anger With your outrage of of burst when I with my outrage Do you run from God or do you run to God? second chronicles 6 36 this is also Solomon after he built the temple and he prayed when he was Dedicating the temple to the Lord. He says when they sin against you For there's no one who does not sin and you become angry with them And give them over to their enemy who takes them captive to a land far away or near And if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive and repent And plead with you in the land of their captivity and say we have sinned We have done wrong and acted wickedly If they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity Where they were taken and prayed toward the land you have given their ancestors toward the city you have chosen And towards the temple I have built for your name Then from heaven your dwelling place hear their prayer and their pleas And uphold their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you There's no people on earth that always do good and never sin What do we do? That's the question because David was a man after God's heart David committed some horrendous sins But he prayed Lord Wash wash me he he repented and he says Lord take not your holy spirit from me Restore to me the joy of your salvation I think the biggest thing that gives God a smile is when we repent Come on when we say i'm sorry because let me tell you God's heart is to dwell with us God's heart is not to just to punish punish us hell was never created for me and was never created for you God loves us But in order for us to walk with God We are called to sanctify ourselves not not to be religious But that we can host the presence of the Lord Isaiah 33 says Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning? He who has clean hands and a pure heart Who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully if we desire to live with God God will not stay at our level. He came down to our level and died In our place to take us to his level If we want to walk with God We will need to learn how to carry his presence and God has given everything we need his blood The holy spirit angels a community everything everything everything But if we want to walk with him Let's not make any excuses Let's say sorry. Let's say. God forgive me and come back to hosting the presence of the Lord because in this presence There's fullness of joy life prosperity All goodness and we will be fruitful and we will multiply. Let's stand Let's stand right now. We're going to worship the Lord This is already moving in this place singing. We can give him given the glory Father we worship you in this place God we honor you in this place God. We thank you for sending your son Jesus to take our place God To die for us on that cross God without him. We wouldn't make it Lord We wouldn't stand before a holy God We thank you for sending Jesus Church right now This is a special time a very important time If you have never ever giving your life to Jesus I want to I want to make this altar call for you Or maybe you have given your life to Jesus, but your relationship your life You're not in God's presence You want to be You want to come back to him? Let me tell you church. God wants you back more than you want him I'm not going to call anybody to the front. I'm going to ask you to lift up your hands And I'm going to pray with you and I believe God is going to touch in those that are watching us online. God is speaking to your heart also there Distance is no barrier. You can be in your room or you're in your car You can give your life your life can be changed radically wherever you are So I'm going to count to three if that is you I want you to throw up Throw up your hands high when you're lifting your hands. You're not lifting your hand to me You're lifting your hand to the Lord and you're saying yes, God I want you and I'm coming back or I want to receive you in my life. I'm going to count to three one Two If that is you You can slip up your hand right now real fast. Go ahead If that is you if if you're watching online And you want to give your life you can comment below I said I want to give my life to Jesus. There will be moderators moderators. They will pray for you Church, I want you to place your hand on your heart and I want you to repeat after me say Lord Jesus Forgive me for all my sins I ask you to wash me with your precious blood Come inside my heart Make me clean Make me yours Be the Lord I give my life to you In Jesus name