Carriers of His Presence | Selvin Cortez

In the Old Testament, His presence dwelled in the temple. In Ezekiel, it departed—showing that activity can continue without His presence. 

It returned in Jesus, who made a new way through the cross. Now, God’s presence lives in His people, and believers are called to carry it wherever they go. 

REFERENCE:  1 Corinthians 3:16

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

New Life Church, how's everyone doing? It's such an honor and a privilege every single week to be here with you. Is there a card? Do the ushers, does somebody have a card for me? I just want to see real quick. So there we go. Thank you. Thank you. That's Stephanie right there. She's awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Please take one of these cards. Take one of these cards with you. On your way out, ask one of the ushers, take one of these cards. And look, we've purposefully left this big portion right here, just fully opened, where we want you to write somebody's name. I want you to take a moment just to think about, Lori was saying this, just to think about who needs to be here next week. Somebody needs, somebody you know needs to be here next week. Whether that's a a coworker, whether that's a a friend of yours at school, somebody needs to be here next week that you know. And let me tell you something. This is this is a powerful, powerful moment. And I'll tell you why, because 24 years ago, 24 years ago, I was uh I was a young man once upon a time, uh, when I still could I still could feel all the muscles in my body now, I don't know where they are. Uh but 24 years ago, I was I was lost. Um I was I I I had grown up in the church and I just made some really bad decisions and and I was just all alone and didn't know where to turn to. And and somebody, somebody gave a card to my mom. And my mom was here, and I was in, I was in Niagara Falls, and my mom would write on this card or any piece of paper. She would take that card, and and whatever Christian came up, if you were a Christian, you probably met my mom back then, because she would give, she would give my name to somebody. She would just give on a little piece of paper or on an invitation card, she would give my name and say, just could you please just pray for my son? His name is Selvin, just pray for him, please. Uh I I don't I I don't need to get into the details, she said, but but but please just just pray for him. Anybody, anybody she would find, she would just ask them to pray for me. And she would go into women's services or prayer services, and and she would just faithfully every day just pray for my son, pray for my son. He needs Jesus, he needs Christ to lead him, to guide him, to, like we said, we just sang it, to make a way where there appeared to be no way. And 24 years later, here we are, by the mercy and the grace of God, and through the prayer of somebody that was willing to take a little card like this, put a name down and say, God, this is who I'm bringing, this is who I'm praying for, this is the person that you have put in my heart that I know needs to hear the gospel, needs to hear your word. So I want to invite you, you know, you know, for for all that we are doing at Nouveau V and New Life Church and Nueva Vida, everything that's happening in our network of church, almost 10,000 people coming each and every single Sunday. That involves you. That is about you. That is you going out there. Sure, there is there is a place for an altar, there's a place for a stage, there's a place for a message, but ultimately it comes down to you and your hands and your feet, reaching those who are lost, reaching those that need to hear the message of good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is on you. That weight, that glory is on us because we are carriers of his presence. We are carriers of his presence. And and here we've said this before, here we're going to be motivated, here we're going to be taught the word of God, here we're going to feel his presence, here we're going to get full, here we're going to, here we're going to receive miracles, here we're going to lay at the feet of the cross all of our problems and our anxieties and our and our stresses and our pressures of life. We're going to lay them all down here. But once we leave this place, you are carriers of his presence. And people need to hear your story. People need to hear the gospel through your lips. People need to hear the gospel and see God's grace through your lives, through our lives. Because it's about taking what we what we get here in the presence of God and moving forward, moving forward with it. Why? Because in the old times, if you wanted to see the presence of God, and yeah, my voice is gonna crack a thousand times, so you'll hear that a thousand times today. I was with Nueva Vida last night preaching, and then just the worship today. I mean, how how how do we stop worship to to get into announcements and a message? I I don't know how we do that. That's that's a a gift that we have because that worship was just so on. And and if we could continue that, I would. But I know that there's a message that God has for your life. And I want to I want to share this message that in the Old Testament, uh, what would happen is if you wanted to go and see the presence of God, if you wanted to feel the presence of God, you had to go to the temple. And the temple was this place that was built by Solomon. Now, Solomon was David's son. David, a man after God's own heart. He loved God so much, he loved God just about as much as I do. And he was a man after God's heart, he loved him so much. He said, God, it is not fit for your presence to be in a tent. I want to build you an altar, I want to build you a palace, I want to build you a temple worthy of your name. And God said, No. Sorry, David. It's not gonna be you, it's gonna be your son. And that's that's that's new life, that's our generation. Lori was saying this in the announcements. We've got second, third generations, we've got children and grandchildren serving the Lord. And the presence of God was so full in David's life that it overflowed into Solomon's life, and it was Solomon, King Solomon, who actually built the first temple to the Lord, and this temple was something else. Like about a month, uh a month and a half ago, maybe two months, we saw a picture of the Birj Khalifa and how tall and how wondrous and how beautiful that building is. It had nothing, that has nothing on the Temple of Solomon. The Temple of Solomon was laden with gold. It was beautiful, shining in the bright desert sun. It was a reflection of God's glory, and the people that worked in the temple were at that level of excellence. It was just so impressive that it became the very first tourist attraction. There were people coming in from all nations, they were coming in from Egypt, they were coming in from as far away as Ethiopia just to go see the temple, the great temple that Solomon had built for God. And God gave him specific instructions. You're going to build it this way, and if you get one iota, one instruction, one set of instructions wrong, I will not approve it. I will not approve it. You know, you get extra pieces, and you're like, IKEA is so so good, they're so kind, they always give us extra pieces. No, you probably didn't build it right. This was a temple worthy of God. And at that moment, Solomon did this. He says, it says in 2 Chronicles chapter 7, when Solomon had finished praying. Watch this, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because of the glory, because the glory of the Lord filled it. That's the presence of God falling down with fire over this building, and the building was filled with a cloud of smoke in the in the Bible. And those of you that have been around church a little while, or you you love to study the word, that's called the Shekinah glory of God. And it just fell and descended on this building, and it was so dense, so powerful, that the that the the priests could not stand in his presence. They fell to their knees and ultimately fell face down. Face down.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

And my question, I guess, this afternoon is when was the last time we were face down in his presence?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

And and there is a moment, there is a posture of the heart where we can render our heart to God and and surrender our heart to God. And that should be the posture of our heart every single day, every single moment. But my question is when was the last time we were actually face down in his presence? I want to just open up just a little bit to you. It's not easy for me to be up here. It's not easy to prepare this message or all these messages for you. It's it fills my heart with joy and the and the responsibility of the word, the weightiness of his presence, but I cannot, and I do not and I dare not step onto this platform. A platform that has been serviced by Pastor Claude and Pastor Mark and Pastor Luke and all the great pastors that have come onto this stage. How dare I come onto this stage without seeking his presence first? And it takes hours and time and dedication just to get this message ready, because I have to, I have to know that this message is wrapped up in his presence, and I will not move from my basement until I know that his presence has approved of this message. There is a weight of glory that is associated with speaking his word and sharing it. And for as glorious as that building was, for as marvelous and majestic as that building was, what made it so special, what made it the attraction was not the four walls, it was the presence of God. It was the presence of God in that place. It wasn't the gold, it wasn't the structure, it wasn't the building, it was his presence. His presence was in that place, and for almost 400 years, that's how they approached God. That's how they came to know God. They would come into his presence, they would come into this moment where where they would they would sing and worship his name. There is a song that we used to sing a long, long time ago. Um well, maybe not that long, uh, but but I'm not sure if you know this song. Those of you that have been around church, you've probably heard it. It says this, from the rising of the sun till the sun goes down. Wow, my worship team. Not even my worship team. Let the name of the Lord be praised. Um, you're gonna leave me on an island. You're gonna leave me on a line. Okay, ready? It's right there, from the rising of the sun till the sun goes down. Let the name of the Lord be praised. All right, all right. From the sky to the depths, from the east to the west, we give you praise. No, no, okay, great. Thank you. I don't I don't think I made the team. I don't think I made the team. Um, but this is a song we used to sing. It's by an author called Paul Baloch. Great, oh yeah, oh now you yeah. Maybe I should have started with that. Um, but but but it's it's such a great song. From the rising of the sun till the sun goes down, let the name of the Lord be praised.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

From from the depths of the sky, from the sky to the depths, from the east to the west.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

We give you praise. We give you praise. And and let me tell you what a great 400 years those were. And I would have loved to be in to have been there. I mean, if it was me, I'd be there every day. I'd stop eating just to be there. But it wasn't so. You see, if you're new to church and you're new to the Bible, um, I want to simplify it really, really easy for you. The Bible, the Bible is a story, it's two stories in one. It's that's really what it comes down to. It's just two stories in one. It's the story of God wanting to come down and make man and have a relationship with man. He, in fact, he says, let us make man in our own image, in our likeness. It's God coming down towards man and simultaneously at the same time, it's man pushing God away and saying, I don't need you. I've got all I need, I've got my strength, I've got my wisdom, I've got my understanding, I can do this on my own. I don't need you. And they constantly push and push God away. And these two stories collide. They're going to collide in a in a single moment, in the crucible of time. They're going to collide, and we're gonna see that as we move forward. But this is this is what's happening. God's presence is in the building, God's presence is filling this place, and eventually, man says, No, I've got I've got something else that I can do. I want to try something new. And the presence of God starts to move away, and and we see a prophecy of this. Little by little, God's presence starts to drift away. Ezekiel chapter 10, verse 18 and 19 says this, then the glory, now I need you to really follow me here, okay? Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. And while I watched, this is the prophet Ezekiel speaking, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground. And as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. In one chapter, a couple of verses after that, it says in Ezekiel 11, 23, the glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain, east of it.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

The building was still there. The altar was still there, the singers were still there, the priests were still there. But the presence wasn't. The presence was no longer there. Look at this slide. Um this image one.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

This is the path that the presence of God took. Because man didn't want to be in his presence anymore. They started following after the desires of their own hearts. They started to make idols and idol worshiping. And you're probably thinking, well, we don't do that today. Well, we probably do, just not with actual images, or maybe with images and scrolling. And I'm too busy right now, God. I'm I'm just too busy to hear your voice right now. I'm I I just need just can I just have a moment? And God's presence goes from the temple to the threshold. The threshold is just a step before, right after the temple, right after the presence of God in the most holy place. That's the threshold. It's one step. And God, the the Bible, we just read it. The butt the presence of God stopped at the threshold. Almost as if God was saying, Hey, hey, just turn your back, just turn, turn back to me. Turn back to me. I I haven't gone too far. I I'm still here. I'm still here. Don't don't don't go after that. I'm still here. But man is saying, No. No, I'm I'm still too, I'm still too busy. I'm still too busy. And God's presence gets pushed away to the entrance of the east gate. And it is in this entrance of the east gate, the entrance to the city of Jerusalem. That's where his presence stops. And again turns back and says, I'm still here. I'm still your God. I still want to be in your life. Call me back, and I will come back running. Like the father of the prodigal son. I'll come back running towards you. And man is saying, No, I don't need you. I don't want you. I've got my own thing going. I've got my own finances. I've got my own strength. My bank account is sufficient. My talents are enough. And God is saying, No, no, they're not. You still need me. And man keeps pushing God away and away. And God gets pushed out of the city. And his presence now rests on a mountain. And it's in this mountain that he turns back and looks at his people. Where are you? Why don't you want me? I'm here. And their hearts were so hard. Push God away so far that through the prophets, finally we get to the last prophet, Malachi. And there's a silence of four hundred years. Four hundred years. Where God didn't speak to his people because they didn't want to hear him no more. Four hundred years of God being separated from his temple, his holy place. Four hundred years of silence. And then one day, one day from the desert, a voice cried out from the desert, prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord. The Lord is coming. The Lord is here. Prepare a way. And this man was John the Baptist. And the and the verse says that a voice was heard in the desert, a voice from a man who said, I am unworthy. I'm not even worthy to tie the feet, the laces on his sandals. This is the voice that cried out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord. In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. The presence of God coming back. The presence of God is now returning. The return of the presence of God into the city. And so in the Old Testament, we find that the presence abided, the presence lived in a physical dwelling temple place. In the Gospels, the presence is now in the person of Jesus. In fact, Jesus says it this way in John chapter 2, verse 19. He says, Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days. They replied, It's taken 46 years to build this temple. And you're going to raise it up in three days. But the temple he had spoken of was his body. You see, the presence of God is now in the person of Jesus. Colossians 2:9 says that the fullness of the deity lives in Jesus. He is the temple. He is the presence of God. And so on this day, this Sunday, this exact same day, two thousand years ago, the presence of God would come back into the city. Let's go to image two. The Bible says, the Bible says that Jesus on the Saturday night is getting ready. He's getting ready for his for for an entry. He knows he's got to go into Jerusalem. And he tells his disciples, go and get me, go and get me, go and get me a little donkey. And so they go and they and they get him a donkey. And on Sunday, he's ready and he's riding in the city. And the Bible says that he is at the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is east of the gate. So Jesus enters the gate from the Mount of Olives. Now there are people that are waving palm palm branches and they're singing, Hosanna, Hosanna to the Lord Almighty, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the heaven. And glory to God. And they're praising him because they've seen the miracle of Jesus. They've seen how he's healed the sick, how power comes from his body. He has opened blind eyes, made the lame to walk. They see the power in him. And they say, certainly, this is our King. Certainly, this Jesus is about to set us free from the oppression of Rome. And they start singing praises to his name. But see, what they had was vision, they had sight. All they could see were the miracles. They had no faith to see that instead of a conquering king, they were getting a lamb. See, because the same people that were singing Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

In five days, we'll be shouting, Crucify Him. They didn't have the faith to see a lamb for a king.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

They're expecting Jesus to ride in on a white horse and with an army behind him. But he walks in, rides in on a lowly donkey from the Mount of Olives. The presence of God is coming back in through the east gate. The presence of God is coming back in. And the Bible says that the very next day, the first thing that he did was he went to the threshold of the temple and he started to cleanse the temple, and he arrived at the temple. And so now the presence of God is back at the temple where it belonged. And everybody shouted with praise and glory and said, Yes, the presence of God is now back. Let us rejoice and sing praise unto his name.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

No, no, church. They did the same thing that they knew how to do. And they pushed him back out. Back out. On Monday. On Tuesday, back out. Wednesday pushing him away. Until that faithful night on Thursday night leading into Friday morning. Jesus is now in the Garden of Gethsemane. That garden is on Mount of Olives. The presence of God leaves the temple in the exact same way. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Now there's something powerful in that story that has not yet happened but is to happen. And there's a series that we're going to start soon enough. A series on the end times. And the conquering king on a white horse with an army is gonna set his feet on the Mount of Olives, and he's gonna walk right in as a conquering king into Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, and his presence will rain down on earth for all time. The day is coming, church. The day is coming where his presence will be visible on earth one more time. And for all eternity, it's coming. You don't want to miss, you don't want to miss this series. So the presence of God is pushed out again in the person of Jesus. And Jesus is now outside the city walls and is crucified on the Friday. And this is where the two stories collide. The story of God trying to come close to man and wanting to come close to man, and the story of man rejecting God, find their crash, find their moment, find the climax at the cross. And so now the presence of God is no longer in a building or in a city or through an east gate. Now the presence of God is through the cross of Jesus. The presence of God is not in a nation or in a holy city. Now the presence of God is through the cross. Through the cross of Jesus, we have access to his presence. Through the cross of Jesus, we've been made alive. Through the cross of Jesus, we've been made right. And through the cross of Jesus, we are now carriers of his presence. You see, fifty days after. Watch this. The temple of Solomon had to be specifically made. And after the sacrifice was approved, fire came down on them. Fire came down on the temple because the sacrifice was approved. Well, fifty days later, the sacrifice on the cross, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was accepted and approved by God. And the Bible says that tongues of fire rested on the heads of the disciples. The same fire that was over the temple of Solomon has now come back over the temple of you. Corinthians says this, yes. We are his temple. Corinthians 3 16 says, Do you know? Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? You are his temple. Do you not know, Corinthians six nineteen, that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. Ephesians two twenty-two, and in him you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

In the Old Testament, it was a building. In the Gospels, it was a person. And today it's you. Today it's me.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

And I go back to Moses.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Moses had two wonderful prayers that I repeat every single day. And I receive the answer to one of them.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

My prayer was, God, show me your glory. God, show me your glory. Church, if there is something that I want to see more than anything else in this world is the glory of God. Show me your glory. Show me your glory. God, in my life, show me your glory. And this whole time, this whole time I've been I've been asking God to show me his glory. And he says, Son, I'll I'll show you my glory. Are you ready? And I said, Yes. If I have to fall down face flat on my face, face down, I'll I'll fall down face down, but just show me your glory. And I felt God saying that's that's not how you're gonna see it. I said, Alright, God, whatever. Whatever you say, just show me your glory. And this is how he showed me his glory.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

In the hug and in the smile of Lori when she sees me, when she greets me every time, that's God's glory. That's God's glory.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

When when you give me a hug, when you pray for me, and you lift me up, that's that's God showing me through you his glory. When you tell me that God has put a vision and a purpose and a plan for your life, that's God showing me. Showing me it's it's not even an answer to your prayer, it's an answer to my prayer. God, show me your glory, and he puts David in front of me. He puts his beautiful family, Stephanie and Jonathan. And I say, God, show me your glory, and and they show up out of nowhere, taking care of our children, teaching them the word, guiding their little lives, their small paths, leading us in worship. I say, God, show me your glory, and I see it in you as you come into this place, praising God, leading us into his presence through your leadership and everything you've been through, the presence of God, the presence of God not only in this place, but you are the answer to my prayer, your smile, honey. That's the presence of God. God, show me your glory. He's saying it's right here. This is my glory, these are my people, this is the glory that I'm going to show you. This is the glory of God. You are the glory of God. The temple was built beautifully. The Bible says, You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. You are his temple. Now I want I want I want you to hear me, church. Please hear my heart. Hear the word of God over your life. His presence cannot leave you. The Bible says that he has promised to be with you all the days of your life until the end. And for all eternity, his presence is now with you. Once you accept Jesus in your heart, his presence goes with you, for you, above you, around you, all around you, through you. His presence is there.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

But will you listen to it?

SPEAKER_01 43:58

Or will you push him away? I'm too busy. God is saying, I'm knocking at the heart, I'm knocking at the door of your heart. If you hear my voice and you open the door, I will make my dwelling place in you. Church, that's not just an evangelical verse. That verse is an everyday verse. Every day he's knocking at the door of your heart. Don't push him away. Invite him in. Moses' second prayer was this. God, if your presence does not go before me, do not let me go. That's my prayer now. You see, more than anything, more than anything, I need his presence. I don't need more influence. I don't need a bigger bank account. I don't need more opportunities. I need his presence over my life. That's what I need. And so, God, if your presence does not go before me, don't let me go. Don't let me go. And somebody here needs to hear, somebody here needs to hear this. God, if your presence isn't in this relationship, don't let it continue. Because I'm more interested in having his presence over my life, his presence in this temple than anything else. Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters but his presence over your life. And when his presence comes over your life, the enemy has to go. Sickness has to go. Lack has to go. Anxiety has to go. Stress has to go. Brokenness has to go. When his presence is over your life, nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. And whatever the cost, whatever the price, whatever God has called you to do, do it in his presence. And that if his presence does not go before you, that could mean a business opportunity. If his presence isn't in it, then nothing else matters. Nothing else will do. I just want you. Nothing else. Nothing more but you. Church, stand to your feet and sing this with me.