Speaker 1: Well, good morning church.
Speaker 1: The Lord's in the house this morning.
Speaker 1: I mean you guys recognize that and sense his presence here today.
Speaker 1: I want to affirm the word that Pastor Noah shared with us just a moment ago, that the God that we serve is mightier than the waves that may crash against us.
Speaker 1: He's mightier than the problems that we face.
Speaker 1: He's mightier than the mountains in front of us or the giants that we have to face.
Speaker 1: The God that we serve is mightier, as Pastor Noah was sharing that.
Speaker 1: I just felt the witness of the Holy Spirit and I felt like the Lord wanted me to tell you today not only is he mightier, but he's pleased with you, and he's pleased with you today because you haven't quit.
Speaker 1: You haven't thrown in the towel when it would have been very easy to throw in the towel.
Speaker 1: You haven't thrown up your hands when you could have just easily thrown up your hands and given in and say enough's enough, it's not worth it.
Speaker 1: The Lord is pleased with you because you just haven't quit.
Speaker 1: I think far too often we view the pleasure of God, that God pleases us, through a lens of perfection.
Speaker 1: And God doesn't view us through a lens of perfection.
Speaker 1: He views us through a lens of persistence, and he's pleased with your persistence.
Speaker 1: Proverbs tells us that a righteous man may fall seven times, but he gets up again.
Speaker 1: What makes him righteous, the only reason that he's righteous, is that he refused to quit.
Speaker 1: And so I just wanna encourage you this morning that the Lord is pleased with your persistence and that you've refused to quit, and you're about to see how mighty he is to move on your behalf.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because you haven't quit, I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: I think, in the journey of faith, persistence and just not quitting is way more important than we realize it is.
Speaker 1: So the Lord is pleased with you today.
Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles, grab those this morning.
Speaker 1: Turn with me to Isaiah, chapter 54.
Speaker 1: We're going to continue in our series that we kicked off last week, entitled Making Room for More.
Speaker 1: We're going to look at another value today that we need to embrace in our lives so that we can make room for more of God's activity in our lives.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys want more of God's activity in your life?
Speaker 1: Let me ask this side of the room how many of you guys want more of God's activity in your life?
Speaker 1: Let me ask this side of the room how many of you guys want more of God's activity in your life.
Speaker 1: I want more of God's activity.
Speaker 1: Well, there's some values that we need to embrace, and the value that we looked at last week was hospitality, and how hospitality opens the door for us to experience more of God's activity in our lives.
Speaker 1: And the value that we're gonna look at this morning is something that I absolutely love and it's near and dear to my heart, and it's the value of the presence of God.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys think God's presence is important?
Speaker 1: We're gonna look at this value of the presence of the Lord, valuing his presence in our lives, and how that makes room for more of his activity.
Speaker 1: The whole theme of this series that we're looking at is how we make room.
Speaker 1: Everybody say make room.
Speaker 1: How we make room for more of God's presence in the theme text is in Isaiah, chapter 54.
Speaker 1: Stand with me where you are.
Speaker 1: We're going to read this text at the beginning of every sermon throughout this series, because I want you to get this in your heart, I want you to get this in your spirit.
Speaker 1: I want you to get this in your spirit.
Speaker 1: I want it to reverberate through your mind that we have a responsibility to make room for more of God's activity in our lives.
Speaker 1: Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 1.
Speaker 1: The Bible says one.
Speaker 1: The Bible says sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child.
Speaker 1: Burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor.
Speaker 1: Why am I going to burst into song and shout for joy?
Speaker 1: Because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has the husband, says the Lord.
Speaker 1: What's God saying?
Speaker 1: He said more is getting ready to happen in your life than you've ever imagined it possibly could happen.
Speaker 1: Listen, I'm thankful for God's activity in my life.
Speaker 1: Anybody else thankful for God's activity?
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for all that I have experienced.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for all that I have experienced.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for all that I have encountered, but I unequivocally know today that the God that we serve has more he's not done, and so we need to sing and we need to shout.
Speaker 1: Verse two enlarge the place of your tent, stretch wide your tent cords, says the Lord.
Speaker 1: Do not hold back.
Speaker 1: Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
Speaker 1: He's saying you need to make room for more, for you will spread out to the right and to the left.
Speaker 1: Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
Speaker 1: Do not be afraid.
Speaker 1: Do not be afraid, you will not be put to shame.
Speaker 1: Do not fear disgrace, you will not be humiliated.
Speaker 1: God is saying don't be afraid of stretching wide your tent cards and making room for me.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because I'm a God who can fill it.
Speaker 1: Tent cords and making room for me.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because I'm a God who can fill it.
Speaker 1: You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
Speaker 1: How, lord, is all of this going to happen?
Speaker 1: Verse five for your maker is your husband.
Speaker 1: He is the Lord.
Speaker 1: Almighty is his name.
Speaker 1: This is the God that we serve.
Speaker 1: The Lord, almighty is his name.
Speaker 1: There is no one like him in all the earth.
Speaker 1: The heavens declare his majesty and the earth proclaims his glory.
Speaker 1: He is God Almighty.
Speaker 1: The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.
Speaker 1: He is called the God of all the earth.
Speaker 1: We've started a practice a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1: We're going to continue it today, where I say church, this is God's Word and you say we believe it to be true.
Speaker 1: So let's try that together this morning.
Speaker 1: Church, this is God's word, praise God.
Speaker 1: The title of my message this morning is simply this you ready.
Speaker 1: The title of my message is taste this.
Speaker 1: Turn to your neighbor and say, taste this.
Speaker 1: Turn to your other neighbor and say, taste this.
Speaker 1: Turn to your other neighbor, say, taste this.
Speaker 1: Turn around.
Speaker 1: The person behind you said you got to taste this, father.
Speaker 1: We thank you for your word this morning.
Speaker 1: It's a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path that shows us the way to go and how to arrive there safely.
Speaker 1: And I pray Lord, this morning we would not just be hearers of your word, but we would be doers of it.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' mighty name.
Speaker 1: Everybody said amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 1: Thank you, caleb.
Speaker 1: Years ago, when I was about 12 years of age, when I was about 12 years of age, my dad took me and my brother up into the hills of eastern Kentucky to visit some of our family, a couple of his aunts that were nearing their time to cross over, and he wanted to go visit them, and so he, he wanted us to meet them.
Speaker 1: And so these are my great aunts.
Speaker 1: And so we go up into the hills of Eastern Kentucky and drive up a long holler.
Speaker 1: Anybody here know what a holler is.
Speaker 1: Come on, anybody knows what a holler is.
Speaker 1: What's a holler?
Speaker 1: A holler is two mountains that are so close to one another that you can holler from one side to the other and you can hear them.
Speaker 1: So we go way, way up into this holler to my great aunt's house and she still lives there.
Speaker 1: And so we go in and we're exchanging pleasantries and enjoying one another and we're sitting there on the couch and she's in her comfortable chair, and we're sitting there on the couch and she's in her comfortable chair and then all of the sudden she caught the Holy Ghost and she breaks out praying in tongues.
Speaker 1: I mean, just goes off for 30 minutes.
Speaker 1: I look at my dad and I'm saying do you got an interpretation for this?
Speaker 1: Because I could come up with one, but I don't know that it's of God.
Speaker 1: And afterwards we're driving away and I'm like dad, you're going to have to explain this to me.
Speaker 1: And Dad says, son, you've got to understand something, that we are people of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we leave that great aunt's house and we go to another great aunt's house and as soon as we walk in the door she calls.
Speaker 1: She says to my dad hey, did you bring anything in a brown paper sack?
Speaker 1: Now let me translate that for you guys.
Speaker 1: There are certain types of drinks Liquid Some call it white lightning that you put in a white, you put in a paper sack.
Speaker 1: Anybody know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: Anybody Listen.
Speaker 1: Y'all acting all righteous.
Speaker 1: I know some of you pretty well and you better watch it.
Speaker 1: You're in church If you lie you.
Speaker 1: So we walk in and she's asking for alcohol, she's asking for liquor, she's asking for moonshine, and we spend some time with her and then we leave and I say, dad, you're going to have to explain this to me.
Speaker 1: And he responded son, we are people of the Spirit and so when it comes to my family, it doesn't matter which side you go to.
Speaker 1: We're about the Spirit, spirit.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter which side you go to, we about the spirit.
Speaker 1: All kidding aside, I remember being raised in my dad's church and I don't recall many messages that he preached and that's not an indictment on his preaching, but what left an indelible mark upon my life was how he hosted the presence of God.
Speaker 1: What marked my life was how he honored and he revered and he pursued, how he valued the presence of God in his life and in our church.
Speaker 1: So the problem for me growing up was it didn't matter where I went or what I was doing.
Speaker 1: I could never get away from the reality that I had heard his voice, I had felt his touch, I had seen his activity.
Speaker 1: Let me say it this way I could never get away from the reality that I had tasted and seen that he is good.
Speaker 1: So, as all young people do, as they are growing up and maturing, as I tried to go my own way, I could never get away from a tether called the presence of God.
Speaker 1: I could never get away from the reality.
Speaker 1: There was something majestic, there was something mighty, there was something otherworldly that was better than whatever I was trying to get myself into.
Speaker 1: Anybody else testify that this morning that I've tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
Speaker 1: Turn to your neighbor and say you got to taste this.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you what my greatest hope for our church is, the greatest hope that I have for our kids and for our students, the greatest hope that I have for every person that walks through our church is they taste and see that God is good.
Speaker 1: See, I believe that once you've tasted and seen of the goodness of God, no other taste can compare.
Speaker 1: This morning I want to talk about the presence of God and here's what I believe about the presence of God that God's presence is both God's great promise to us and our greatest need.
Speaker 1: Here's what I believe about the presence of God in your life, in my life, in our lives that God's presence is our greatest need.
Speaker 1: I don't know of a need that we have greater than the presence of God.
Speaker 1: It's God's great promise to us and our greatest need.
Speaker 1: You don't have a need greater than God's presence in your life, because God's presence in your life has the power to change everything else in your life.
Speaker 1: Because God's presence in your life has the power to change everything else in your life.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I believe everything else can be right, but if you don't have God's presence, nothing is right.
Speaker 1: That God's presence is his great promise to us in scripture from beginning to end, and it's also our greatest need.
Speaker 1: When you study Scripture and you read the Bible from Revelation, or from Genesis to Revelation, two things become abundantly clear, from the beginning, in the middle and all the way to the end.
Speaker 1: The two things that become abundantly clear is this Number one that God wants to be present and active in your life.
Speaker 1: God wants to be present and he wants to be active in your life.
Speaker 1: This is clear.
Speaker 1: This isn't just something you gotta dig, something you got to dig and find.
Speaker 1: No, it's there in the beginning, in the middle and all the way to the end.
Speaker 1: God wants to be present and active in your life.
Speaker 1: And number two we desperately need him present and active in our lives.
Speaker 1: I believe that when God is present and active in our lives, we are at our best, and when God is absent in our lives, we are at our best, and when God is absent in our lives, we are at our worst.
Speaker 1: That's why I believe that it's both our greatest promise and our greatest need.
Speaker 1: I want you to think about just for a moment with me, about all that God has done to be present and active in our lives.
Speaker 1: He created us, the Bible says, for fellowship.
Speaker 1: He created us for relationship.
Speaker 1: He created us to be present and active with him in life.
Speaker 1: And in Genesis, chapter 3, it tells us that God walked and he talked with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what that must have been like?
Speaker 1: That the God who flung the universe into existence walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden?
Speaker 1: I don't know what their conversation entailed, but I do have a sneaky suspicion that when Adam named all of the different things that he named, god asked him why did you name that a hippopotamus?
Speaker 1: They talked and they walked in the garden in the cool of the day.
Speaker 1: And what happened after that?
Speaker 1: What always happens we messed it up, we messed it up and we kept messing it up.
Speaker 1: But you know what you find in scripture.
Speaker 1: What happened when man messed it up?
Speaker 1: Did God throw up his hands and throw in the towel?
Speaker 1: No, the Bible says he went, looking for Adam and Eve and asking where are you and why are you hiding from me?
Speaker 1: And then he took garments and he covered their nakedness.
Speaker 1: And from that point on, all the way through scripture, you find a God that is pursuing humanity to restore them into relationship with himself.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because God desires to be active and present in our lives.
Speaker 1: Over and over again, god led his people, he ministered to people, he created a tabernacle and then a temple was built.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because I want to create a place where I can be present and active in your life.
Speaker 1: Over and over again, god did whatever was necessary to be present and active in your life.
Speaker 1: Over and over again, god did whatever was necessary to be present and active in our lives.
Speaker 1: Church, he is good.
Speaker 1: He is good.
Speaker 1: He keeps running after humanity to restore them back to relationship with himself, so he can be present and active.
Speaker 1: And this whole thing wraps up in Revelation, chapter 21, in verse three, and the writer John says this is the end of the matter.
Speaker 1: God said I will be their God and they will be my people and I will live with them.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys can recognize this morning that God wants to be present and active in your life?
Speaker 1: The scripture has a story to tell.
Speaker 1: It's the story of God desiring to be present and active in our lives.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of believers can wrestle with this mentality because they have a wrong perspective on who God is.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to be very clear this morning to you that the God that we serve is not a tyrant that's waiting to whack you when you mess up.
Speaker 1: The God that we serve is a good, good father waiting to embrace you with love.
Speaker 1: That's who he is.
Speaker 1: How do you know that, pastor?
Speaker 1: All you got to do is look at the story of the good Samaritan and you find a father that is waiting with eyes wide open, looking for a son that is messed up big time.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says that when he was still a long way off, his father was looking for him.
Speaker 1: And when the father saw him, the father didn't wait for the son to get to him.
Speaker 1: The father started running after him.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: God desires to be active and present in your life.
Speaker 1: He is a good, good father that is waiting to embrace us with love.
Speaker 1: Turn to your neighbor and say you got to taste this.
Speaker 1: God desires to be present and active in our life, but not only that.
Speaker 1: We desperately need him to be present and active in our lives.
Speaker 1: Present and active in our lives it's the reason that Moses in Exodus, chapter 33, is having a conversation with God.
Speaker 1: There Moses is leading the children of Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea to the promised land.
Speaker 1: They stop there in the desert for a moment.
Speaker 1: God asked Moses a question.
Speaker 1: He says what do you want to be your distinguishing characteristic?
Speaker 1: As my people and Moses said, we want your presence.
Speaker 1: Like, if your presence don't go with us, don't send us up from this place.
Speaker 1: Like, moses understood that it wasn't just a good idea to have God's presence.
Speaker 1: He understood that he desperately needed it.
Speaker 1: Like there isn't anything else that distinguishes us as the people of God except the presence of God.
Speaker 1: It's the presence of God that makes the difference, and this is what Moses said.
Speaker 1: Moses said, god, it's your presence that's the difference maker in my life.
Speaker 1: It's not my intellect, it's not my education, it's not my ability, it's not my intellect, it's not my education, it's not my ability, it's not my experience, it's not my resources.
Speaker 1: No, what makes us unique as the people of God is his presence, and that's what we find that Moses is declaring oh God, I got to have your presence.
Speaker 1: It's the reason that Jesus, before he ascends to the Father, in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, tells his disciples hey, I know you've been with me for three and a half years, I know you've seen me crucified and raised from the grave, but there's still something else that you need.
Speaker 1: So I want you to go to Jerusalem and wait until you've been clothed with power from on high.
Speaker 1: Why did Jesus tell the disciples to go and wait?
Speaker 1: Because he knew they needed something more than a heartfelt belief in a risen Savior.
Speaker 1: They needed the presence of God, active in their life, their life.
Speaker 1: I wonder how seriously sometimes we take the importance of the presence of God.
Speaker 1: It is, without reservation, the difference maker in our lives.
Speaker 1: When you look at this book that we call the Bible, it is incredible.
Speaker 1: It is the word of God.
Speaker 1: But you know, if you take the presence of God out of the book, it's just a book.
Speaker 1: But when the presence of God breathes upon this, it becomes the life-giving word of God that changes a life.
Speaker 1: It's the presence of God that makes a difference in our lives.
Speaker 1: This morning worship was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: Can you put your hands together for the team that leads us every week?
Speaker 1: They are talented and they are anointed and they practice and prepare week in and week out.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you not to lead us in singing, see, without the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1: You know what we do every Sunday it's called Christian karaoke.
Speaker 1: But when the presence of the Lord breathes upon our singing, it changes to worship, it changes to praise, and the Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people.
Speaker 1: You know what our church is apart from the presence of God.
Speaker 1: You know it's really nothing more than another nonprofit organization.
Speaker 1: But when God's presence breathes upon a church, it becomes the kingdom of God, alive and active in the earth to advance his kingdom for eternal purposes.
Speaker 1: See, the presence of God changes everything.
Speaker 1: Do you know what our relationships are without the presence of the Lord?
Speaker 1: You know what this is?
Speaker 1: It's a social club.
Speaker 1: But when God's presence breathes upon our relationships, we become brothers and sisters in Christ who serve one another and love one another and encourage one another and build one another up to the fulfillment of encourage one another and build one another up to the fulfillment of God's purpose in our lives.
Speaker 1: See, it's the presence of God church that changes everything.
Speaker 1: So this is what I believe.
Speaker 1: I believe if we have the presence of God, we have everything, and if we don't have the presence of God, we have nothing.
Speaker 1: God, we have nothing.
Speaker 1: It's the reason that it's God's greatest promise to us and our greatest need.
Speaker 1: So two questions we should ask ourselves about the presence of God.
Speaker 1: Number one is this what things make room for his presence?
Speaker 1: And number two, what things close off his presence.
Speaker 1: What things make room for his presence?
Speaker 1: And number two, what things close off his presence?
Speaker 1: See, if God's presence is most important to us, we need to be asking ourselves what am I doing in my life that is making room for more of his presence and more of his activity, and what things am I doing in my life that are closing off his presence?
Speaker 1: What things am I doing in my life that are shutting his activity down in my life?
Speaker 1: I wanna eliminate those things from my life and I wanna do things that open up the floodgates of heaven.
Speaker 1: So when you ask yourself those two questions, the answer really is pretty simple it's our attitudes and our actions.
Speaker 1: Everybody say attitudes and actions Either make room for or close off God's presence in our lives.
Speaker 1: If you're wanting to make more room for God's presence and activity in your life, you need to evaluate your attitude and your actions.
Speaker 1: If you don't like the level of God's activity in your life, then you need to evaluate your attitude and your actions.
Speaker 1: Turn with me to Acts, chapter 10.
Speaker 1: There's a story that illustrates this so wonderfully well.
Speaker 1: In Acts, chapter 10, we find a story of God visiting a Roman Gentile centurion by the name of Cornelius.
Speaker 1: It reads this way in Acts, chapter 10, starting in verse 1 at Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion and what was known as the Italian regiment.
Speaker 1: So get this.
Speaker 1: He's a Roman Gentile soldier.
Speaker 1: Verse 2 listen to how the Bible describes him.
Speaker 1: He and all of his family were devout and God-fearing.
Speaker 1: They were devout and God-fearing.
Speaker 1: He gave generously to those in need and he prayed to God regularly.
Speaker 1: Can I just say, could that be said of me?
Speaker 1: How many of you guys would like that type of description of your life, that type of commendation from Scripture, from the Father.
Speaker 1: It says that he was defiled and God-fearing.
Speaker 1: He gave generously to those in need.
Speaker 1: He prayed to God regularly.
Speaker 1: Do you see attitudes and actions at play in this verse?
Speaker 1: It's really really clear.
Speaker 1: He says that he was devout and God-fearing.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 1: It means that he had a reverence for and an awe of God in his life.
Speaker 1: He was devout and he feared God.
Speaker 1: There was this reverence, there was this awe, there was this wonder that he had.
Speaker 1: There was this attitude that he had toward God that was attractive to him.
Speaker 1: Not only did he have an attitude that was attractive, he also had an attitude of passion.
Speaker 1: How do I know that?
Speaker 1: Because he prayed regularly.
Speaker 1: Listen, if you're going to pray regularly, you've got to have an attitude of passion in your life that's driving you to prayer.
Speaker 1: Not only did he have a passion for God.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that he had compassion for others because he gave generously to those who were in need.
Speaker 1: He was aware of those around him that were in need and so he didn't just give a little bit, but the Bible says that he gave generously to those that were in need.
Speaker 1: So he had this attitude of compassion that moved him to an activity of generosity.
Speaker 1: You're following this this morning.
Speaker 1: So you have these attitudes and these actions working together in his life.
Speaker 1: The Bible will show us.
Speaker 1: It got God's attention.
Speaker 1: Look at verse 3.
Speaker 1: One day, at about three in the afternoon, he had a vision.
Speaker 1: He distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said Cornelius.
Speaker 1: And Cornelius stared at him in fear.
Speaker 1: If I have an encounter with an angel, it's probably gonna create a little bit of fear, so he gets scared a little bit.
Speaker 1: Cornelius stared at him in fear.
Speaker 1: What is it, lord, he?
Speaker 1: He asked, and the angel answered him.
Speaker 1: Listen to the angel's response.
Speaker 1: Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial, have come up as a fragrant offering before God.
Speaker 1: So get this.
Speaker 1: His attitudes and his actions have come up before the Lord as an offering.
Speaker 1: It's been something that is sweet to the Lord and so it's got God's attention.
Speaker 1: And so now God sends an angel to Cornelius, because Cornelius's attitudes and actions are making room for God's presence.
Speaker 1: God says I got something more I want to give you.
Speaker 1: Look at this, verse 5.
Speaker 1: Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.
Speaker 1: He's staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is by the sea, and when the angel who spoke to him had gone, cornelius called his two servants and a devout soldier, one of his attendants.
Speaker 1: He told them everything that happened and they sent off to get Peter.
Speaker 1: Why in the world is this scenario unfolding?
Speaker 1: It's because there's a guy whose attitudes and actions are making room for God's presence and it's so attractive to the Lord.
Speaker 1: God says I'm gonna send you an angel because I've got a message for you and a gift to give you that I want to pour out upon your life.
Speaker 1: Go send Peter.
Speaker 1: Why Peter?
Speaker 1: Well, peter has a message about Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit and I want you to have more of my activity in your life.
Speaker 1: We see here in this story very clearly that there's a man who's making room for God's presence in his life, and as he makes room, god says I have more that I want to give you.
Speaker 1: Verse 36, god says I have more that I want to give you.
Speaker 1: Verse 36, this is Peter, now that he's got to Cornelius' house.
Speaker 1: You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: So Peter's preaching the message of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And then, in verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
Speaker 1: If you don't like the level of God's activity in your life, you may need to check your attitudes and activities.
Speaker 1: Cornelius's attitudes and activities made room for more of God's activity in their life.
Speaker 1: So I want to give you a list of some attitudes that make room for God's presence in your life and some attitudes that close off God's presence in your life.
Speaker 1: I have this for you.
Speaker 1: Here's some attitudes that make room for God's activity in your life.
Speaker 1: There's some attitudes that close it off.
Speaker 1: They're the opposite of these things.
Speaker 1: So we know that humility makes room for God's activity in our life and pride closes it off.
Speaker 1: Bible says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Speaker 1: Gratitude, thanksgiving opens us to a greater experience in the presence of God, while entitlement will shut us down.
Speaker 1: Come on somebody.
Speaker 1: Compassion opens us to a greater level of God's activity, while self-righteousness will shut you down.
Speaker 1: Unity opens us up to God's activity, while division shuts us down.
Speaker 1: Repentance opens us up to more of God's activity, while defiance will shut us down.
Speaker 1: God is near the brokenhearted and he draws nigh unto those who are broken in spirit.
Speaker 1: Passion will draw God's presence to our lives when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Speaker 1: God said if you'll come after me, then I'll come after you, while apathy and being lukewarm will shut us down to the presence of God.
Speaker 1: These are attitudes that either posture us for more of God's activity or close us down to it.
Speaker 1: Here's some activities that do the same thing Activities that open us up to more of God's presence and activities that close us down.
Speaker 1: Worshiping God will open you up to the presence of God in your life like you've never known.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that he inhabits the praises of his people.
Speaker 1: I was talking with one of our church members recently, and they were articulating to me that they were wanting more of God's presence, tangible presence, in their life during their devotional time, and so I just began to ask questions.
Speaker 1: Tell me what you're doing.
Speaker 1: And as they began to tell me it was interesting, a little window opened up and I was able to help them a little bit.
Speaker 1: And the window was this is that during their devotional time they would play some worship music and just listen to it and meditate on it, but not participate with it.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says that God inhabits not the thoughts of his people but the praises of his people.
Speaker 1: Can I tell you, worship is something to be verbalized, not just thought.
Speaker 1: And so I told him.
Speaker 1: I said, instead of just thinking worship thoughts, why don't you speak worship?
Speaker 1: Why don't you verbalize your worship and just try that?
Speaker 1: He came back to me the next week and he said, pastor, you're not going to believe it.
Speaker 1: It changed everything when I began to lift my voice and praise him.
Speaker 1: It went from just listening to some good worship music to then I began to lift my voice and praise him.
Speaker 1: It went from just listening to some good worship music to then I began to worship and God's presence showed up in a powerful way in my prayer closet and it changed everything.
Speaker 1: Come on church.
Speaker 1: That's what it's about, worship.
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving opens us up.
Speaker 1: Can we just all confess?
Speaker 1: Complaining shuts everything down.
Speaker 1: Faith faith isn't just a belief that we have, it's a walk that we take.
Speaker 1: Faith has to have some action in our life and when we take steps of faith, we open ourselves up to God's activity.
Speaker 1: But when we stand where we are in fear and don't move, we close ourselves off to the activity of God.
Speaker 1: Forgiveness opens us up to God's activity.
Speaker 1: When we forgive others the way that God has forgiven us, we open up the streams of heaven and experience the presence of God, whereas when we hold on to unforgiveness and bitterness and resentment and grudges you know what we're doing we're closing off the grace of God in our lives.
Speaker 1: Obedience opens us up to the presence of God.
Speaker 1: Disobedience closes us down.
Speaker 1: How about habits?
Speaker 1: Devotional habits, where we make it a priority to, as Cornelius did, to regularly pray and regularly be in our Bibles and regularly be in Christian community.
Speaker 1: It opens us up to the presence of God, whereas if we involve ourselves in religious formalism and we're just doing something to check a box I'm going to tell you what it doesn't move the heart of God.
Speaker 1: Service has this power to open us up to.
Speaker 1: When we begin to serve others, others, when we allow our lives to be an outflow of the grace of God in us and through us to the world around us, we experience more of God's presence.
Speaker 1: If you want to shut it down, live with selfish ambition.
Speaker 1: You won't experience the presence of God.
Speaker 1: Giving has an incredible way of opening us up.
Speaker 1: This is what Cornelius did.
Speaker 1: He gave generously.
Speaker 1: He did not live with greed, no, he gave generously.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says all of this was so attractive to the Lord that God said I got to give you more than what you have.
Speaker 1: Man, I want my attitudes and I want my actions to be attractive to the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1: So how do we practically live this way?
Speaker 1: Let me wrap this up how do we practically make room for more of God's presence in our lives?
Speaker 1: As I was praying through that question this week, I was making some notes and writing down some thoughts and I had this real neat application where it was if you prioritize time with the Lord and you plan for time with the Lord, and you prioritize time with the Lord and you plan for time with the Lord and you practice time with the Lord, you're making more room.
Speaker 1: And, as I just kind of reflected over that, I felt a check in my spirit.
Speaker 1: And the check that I felt in my spirit was the Lord saying son, my presence isn't something to be earned, it's something to be enjoyed.
Speaker 1: I think far too often we, as believers, can approach the presence of God as something that we work for, something that we earn.
Speaker 1: If we live good enough lives, if we do good enough things, if we check all the things off the box that have to be checked, then we've earned the presence of the Lord.
Speaker 1: And I felt the Holy Spirit say son, no, no, no, my presence isn't to be earned, it's something to be enjoyed.
Speaker 1: It's not about a list of do's and don'ts, it's about a heart that enjoys my presence.
Speaker 1: And I began to think about our heavenly father, like I am a father and how I interact with my kids and what makes me, as an earthly father, want to be in proximity, in the presence of my kids.
Speaker 1: Oh, when Kate runs up and jumps in my lap and lays her head on my shoulder and says, dad, I love you, I'm like what do you want?
Speaker 1: It's yours.
Speaker 1: When Harrison hey says Dad, hey, will you go do this activity with me?
Speaker 1: Will you go golfing with me?
Speaker 1: Will you go fishing with me?
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago we were at the beach at spring break and the water was cold, but the waves were great and he was like dad, let's go ride some waves.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, the water's too cold.
Speaker 1: And then the thought hit me my 17-year-old son is inviting me into activity with him.
Speaker 1: How can I say no?
Speaker 1: So I went and froze to death in the water with him.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because he invited me.
Speaker 1: He invited me into something that he was doing.
Speaker 1: When the kids do what I ask them to do without complaining, it makes me want to be in there.
Speaker 1: When they say thank you, dad, when they say thank you for providing for us rather than complaining about what they don't have, it draws me to give them my presence and to be in presence with them.
Speaker 1: When they say, dad, I'm sorry, will you help me?
Speaker 1: Oh my Lord, my heart is filleted open and I say, yes, I will.
Speaker 1: Whatever you need, it's yours.
Speaker 1: See God's presence.
Speaker 1: Church isn't something to be earned.
Speaker 1: It's something to be enjoyed as we draw near to him.
Speaker 1: As a good, good father, jesus said, if our earthly fathers are good and know how to give good gifts and that's how we relate, though we are evil how much more?
Speaker 1: How much more Come on somebody?
Speaker 1: How much more will a good, good, heavenly father pour out his spirit to his children that ask.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 1: It's not about a to-do list.
Speaker 1: It's not about doing all the things right.
Speaker 1: It's about a heart that says God, I want to be in your presence.
Speaker 1: That says God, I want to be in your presence.
Speaker 1: It's about a heart that invites God into every activity of your life.