If he's not in it I don't want it!

If He's Not In It, I Don't Want It | Exodus 33

In a world that constantly pushes us toward success, opportunity, and influence, it's possible to gain everything and still miss the one thing that matters most: the presence of God.

In this message from Long Island, we walk through Exodus 33 and Moses' bold declaration:

"If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here." (Exodus 33:15)

Moses understood that God's presence was more valuable than the Promised Land itself. The blessing was never meant to replace the Blesser.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why God's presence must be our highest pursuit
• The danger of chasing opportunities without God
• How culture teaches us to seek success while Scripture calls us to seek Him
• What it means to live truly set apart
• Why intimacy with Jesus is worth more than any platform, promotion, or promise

If He's not in it, I don't want it.

Behold Him.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We live surrounded by this. Endless voices, endless opinions, endless trouble. Everyone telling us what to do, what to chase, what it become. Our pace became hurried. And our hearts became tired. Someone waves, but busy, but we got how to be still. We want how to talk about God, but not always how to stay with him. The answer isn't more information, it's presence. To behold him is to slow our pace and fix our eyes again. This isn't a movement about striving harder. It's an invitation to stop, to stay with Jesus. This is behold him. A movement centered on Jesus. If this is your first time watching us on YouTube, welcome, welcome or listening online, welcome. We are in a new space, y'all. We are in a new space. I'm excited. I'm so excited. Um, so I believe in the last episode, which was which was about um like a month ago, I was telling you guys that me and Amy were moving. We are in our new home. This is like my space where I do all my music and everything. So I'm so excited that uh this can be like a multi-purpose area room to where we're here, but that's besides the point. I just want to show y'all like okay, we're set up, we're back, and if this is your first time listening to the Beholden Podcast, welcome, thank you. Uh, this is one leg um in this movement. Um, you have the music, which is Beholden Music, which is patched that I create um for people to sit in his presence, um, gatherings to which we do on YouTube live stream. We have the first one coming up this month, and then the podcast, um, teaching on stillness, holiness, teaching on reverence. And today we have a message that I'm so excited. I actually have the privilege to go and speak in New York at uh Church Unleashed, and I'm so I'm so excited. Um, they they reached out to me a year, a year, a whole year in advanced, uh, like May of 2025. They reached out to me to come and preach, and I was like, yo, this is a whole year later. Uh and we're here. Uh the time flew by, but I'm expectant for what the Lord wants to do, and I really want to share the message that I'm preaching there here for this podcast, because I believe it's for not just New York, but I believe it's for a body of people. And this is just something that I've been studying and which we're gonna get into um just the life of Moses, and it's been very impactful. I believe we have a generation and we live in a time to where people are not only just on go, but there's a lot of things happening apart from who God is, happening apart from his presence. And uh I kind of theme this message around the theme of the conference, which is called Sew It Out and Set Apart. By the time this video comes out, I've I've already have preached this, and uh the theme is called Sowed Out and Set Apart. And the Lord, as soon as I found out the theme, the Lord just gave me these verses, and I think it's so pivotal for a generation um to know what being sewed out really means, and what being set apart really looks like. Um so I'm expecting, I'm expecting. Um type how you've been in the comments. I feel like it's been a minute since I've hopped on here and just talked. It's a lot when you're going through a transition and moving. Let me tell you, like we were in our little apartment with our dog, and that was a lot. So however y'all have been doing. Um, I'm glad we're back. And so, y'all know me. I just like to just get straight into it. Uh let's pray before we read the scripture. Lord, we love you so much. Holy Spirit, would you continue to reveal who Jesus is in our life?

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Be with us.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Come and meet the need. I just feel that, Lord. Come and meet the need for anyone who is watching, who has felt like they have had to look to other things for satisfaction, for when you meet the need, when you meet the need, when you encounter us with your love, with your holy presence, with your holy presence, Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Touch us today, touch us. Let us be slow to move, quick to mess. Let this word that is going to be spoken today, let it impact our hearts and our minds.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

So that we can truly be a generation that is set apart, walking in holiness, completely zowed out from you.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Completely sown off from you.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Lord, we love you. Allow allow our hearts to be like good soil, and allow the word to be a seed planted in this soil. God, allow your word to be written on the tablets of our hearts. Let us see you and encounter you in a new way. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name I pray.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright, y'all. Today I'm gonna be coming off my phone. Uh, I was writing all my notes when I'm gonna speak at the conference on my phone. I was gonna use Emmy's tablet, but it's dead. And I didn't want to take my laptop from over there and just have it on my lap right here. I don't, I don't want to do it. I'm still trying to figure it out. But I got my phone, it's on there, and we're gonna be coming from Exodus 33. Exodus 33, verse 14. If you're looking, if you're new to your Bible, it's not far. It's two books in. You go Genesis, Exodus, Exodus 33, 14, Exodus 33, 14. And starting at verse 14, it says, And he said, My presence shall go with you, he being God. And he said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he said to him, If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. Sixteen. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we, I and your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth? Then the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight, and have known you by name, have known you by name. So I'm very excited to get into this word. So here we see, this is Exodus 33, 14 through 17. And I would like to start this one off by asking the question If the Lord gave you the prayers that you've been asking for to him today, and he said, I'm not gonna go with you, or he said, My presence will not be with you, would you still go? Like, and we're talking about all everything you prayed for, the relationship, the platform, the influence, the community, the car, like whatever it is that you pray for. If God showed up and was like, Hey, this is the promise I have for you, and I want to give it to you, but he made the caveat as, but my presence won't go, will you still go without him? And you're probably like, Malik, that's a crazy question to ask. Like, of of course, of course, I'm going where wherever God is. But I feel like if some of us were really in that situation, and we got the thing that we've been praying for most, but his spirit wasn't there, I promise you, some of us would still go. Cause it's because it must be God. It must be He's given it to me, so that means He wants me to be there even if He's not there. And when we look at Exodus 33, this is exactly what Moses is going through, right? But I love his answer, and this was probably the one of the greatest answers that we're gonna see in this text. He tells God, if your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. Do not lead us up from here. And I believe that this is this is this is what Moses really meant, and this is what he he knows what it means to be truly sold out. Because he revealed it. Because being sold out isn't about emotional passion, it's not it's not about emotional passion, it's about refusing to move and do anything without the Lord. Right? So when we hear people say, oh, I'm a I'm a sold out Christian, like I've been with God, I'm riding with God, I'm always gonna be with God. But if you're doing things and his presence is not in it, then you're not truly sold out. Because Moses is he's sold out. He's saying, if if you're not going with me, I'm not going at all. So the question I I like to ask when I'm when I'm looking at scripture is how do we get here? Right? Like when we look at the life of Moses, like how does Moses get to this point to where he's so confident in his answer to God? Moses gets to the point of basically saying, if he's not in it, I don't want it. So let's look at how Moses got to this place, right? Starting with context, we have to look at the life of Moses and see that one, he's a Hebrew and he is born in a time of oppression, a lot of oppression. Pharaoh at the time is killing Hebrew babies, he's killing them. Moses is spared. He is his mother's puts him in the Nile River, he's flowing through the Nile, he is saved by Pharaoh's daughter. As he is saved, we see that Moses is raised in Pharaoh's household, right? Which means Moses has education, he has privilege, he has power, he has an authority on his life. But what we've seen in Moses' life is he wrestles with this tension, this tension of identity, because as he's being raised in Pharaoh's house, he's also seeing his Hebrew brothers be persecuted in slavery. So what Moses does in his identity crisis is he tries to take matters into his own hands, and he's out, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and what Moses does is he winds up killing the Egyptian. In fear, Moses flees to the wilderness. So what we see is like even as he flees to the wilderness, he was in the wilderness for 40 years. And I love this because before we ever see Moses do anything in public, he is broken and private. He is broken and private because we see him go from the palace to the wilderness, from being very confident to being dependent on God, to having a lot of influence than to having isolation. So, what we see is in the wilderness season, we see that God cares more about your heart than he does your gift. And I feel like there's a lot of people who are in wilderness seasons and you're crying out to God, like, why do you have me here? Why do you have why are you taking me from a job where I was making a lot of money to where I'm not making no money at all? I've I have been there and I've cried out to God and have been like, Why, why have you placed me in this position when I did nothing bad? When I did nothing bad. And it's because he is trying to sanctify you because he cares more about your heart than he does your giftings. He has somewhere for you to go. And we see Moses goes through this and we see that he cares that God cares more about his heart than he does his giftings. Because now we see this transition from wilderness to the burning bush. And I think this is where it gets really good. Moses is encountered by God at the burning bush. Moses was so curious, he is like, hey, how was this bush on fire and not being burned? Then he hears a voice call out to him that says, Moses, Moses. And this is God speaking to Moses. And I love this because God introduces himself not only as power, but as holy. And I think this is one of the first instances we see in Moses' life, right? Because in this, God tells Moses to take off his shoes. He's like, hey, take off your shoes. This is holy ground. And it is nothing, it is nothing, this is not holy ground because Moses did anything. It's holy ground because this is where God is. So we see holiness is wherever God is. This is holy ground. He said, Hey, take off your shoes. So from the very beginning of Moses' life, he learned something. He learned something so special. And what he learns is that the presence of God changes everything. The presence of God changes everything. And when we see Moses go a little bit more throughout his life, he sees the presence of God, right? When God tells him to go to Pharaoh, he sees the plagues. Even when they're coming out of Egypt and they're surrounded by chariots, he sees the Red Sea become split. He sees the Lord give them manna. When the children of Israel were hungry, he fed them. When the children of Israel were thirsty, he's seen a water come from a rock. When they needed to be led, Moses saw the presence of God lead them through a cloud by day and a fire by night. So when we get to Exodus 33, Moses learned something so pivotal, and it's that I can do nothing. I can do nothing apart from the presence of God. This is all intro before we really get to 33. And now we get to a point to where the children of Israel they've escaped Egypt. And Moses is on Mount Sinai talking from the Lord, getting instruction from the Lord for the people. And what do they do? They start creating idols. They start creating idols, a golden calf made by Aaron for them to worship. And this may sound crazy, but it's not because they were in Egypt, escaped Egypt, but still have an Egyptian mindset to where they're still looking for visible gods. Because Egypt shaped them, they're still looking for immediate gratification. Oh my goodness, the Holy Spirit is giving me stuff that I didn't have in my notes. I need to write this down. This is yeah, I need to write this down. That was man, thank you, Holy Spirit. Immediate gratification. So when we look at this, is we see this happen. Like when people become uncomfortable waiting on God, they create substitutes. When people become uncomfortable waiting on God, they create substitutes, right? We see this in our own life. We see it with success. Success is the golden calf. Before we even go down a list of idols, anything we rely on more than God becomes an idol. First and foremost, anything we rely on more than God becomes an idol. If it's money, it's an idol. If it's success, it's an idol. If it's a relationship, it's an idol. If it's a platform, it's an idol. If it's ministry, it's an idol. Anything that we put our trust in value more than God, that's an idol. And we see this happens when people are afraid to be silent for too long. They're afraid to trust. They're afraid of waiting. It's uncomfortable for them. And that's when they start to create substitutes. We've all been there. And in this, it's so important to see you become like what you revere. You start to become like what you revere. You start to revere God, you start to become like him. Not a God, don't hear me wrong. When you start to look at Jesus, you become more like Jesus. I'm not saying you become a God. Like I don't want nobody to come and be like, he said I'ma be a God. No, that's that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying when you behold Christ, you start to look like him. Your attributes begin to change. You start, you start to speak differently. You start to walk in the fruits of the spirit, right? So in this Israel's rebellion, this is Exodus 32 that I was just talking about with the golden calf, the next chapter over, God says something to Moses that terrifies him. He's like, What? What are you what are you talking about? Right. So we have to look. God called him out of Egypt and He's taking them to a place. He has a place for them, a good place filled with milk and honey. This is the promised land. So God is doing all of this for his people to go to the promised land, right? And it gets to a point that after Israel makes the golden calf, they're like worshiping other gods. God is saying, and he tells Moses, he says, I'm not gonna go with you. He says, I'm not gonna go with you. Which is terrifying because when we put ourselves in the Jewish context in this culture, the presence of God means everything. The presence of God is covenant, it's favor, it's identity, it's protection, it's distinction, right? It's it's what separates someone from looking like someone else. And this is what Moses was trying to get at. He's like, wait, what do you mean you're not gonna go with us? Because if you don't go with us, don't take us up from here. And without the presence of God, Israel was about to become another nation just in the wilderness. And that's why Moses is uh that's why he says in the other verse, in verse 16, he says, What will distinguish us from the rest of the people? And it is it's your presence, it is your presence. What Moses understood was like the thing that made them different was not their strength, it was not their strength. I don't know who needs to hear this. It is not your creativity that makes you different, it is not that you're a great thinker that makes you different. It does not, it, it's not that you hit the gym all the time that makes you different to the men of God out there. It is not, that does not make you different. What makes you different is you saying, ah, it is God among me. It is the God that rests in me, it is the God that rests with me. That is the thing that makes us different. Because for us in this culture, we see that a lot of times people just want visibility. They want visibility over holiness, they want performance over. Presence. They want production over prayer. And those are those things don't make you different. They don't. What makes you different is the presence of God. God is not asking how how gifted are you? How talented are you? He's asking, will you abide in me? Will you take rest in me? When no one else around, will you, will you, will you lean into me? Will you search for my voice like Elijah in the cave? That it's not these these big random things that are happening, like in the wind or the earthquake. But like this gentle whisper. Are you listening for the voice of the Lord? He's saying, Would you abide in me? It's like if you're not there, I don't want it. So we look at sold out. Sowed out means God Himself is the goal. When we look at being sold out, it is God Himself is the goal, not the blessing, not the opportunity, not just the influence. Like those things are great. Like God blessing you is great. God giving you opportunities is great. These are great things, but apart from God, they mean nothing. That's what it says in John 15. It says you can do nothing apart from me. Apart from God, they mean nothing. I'm sorry, I'm like, I'm noticing like the blinds are up and I'm seeing it gets lighter and darker. So hopefully y'all don't y'all don't see it too much. God Himself is a goal. This is why he says in Luke 9 23. So turn your Bibles, Luke 9, Luke 9. Luke 9. Luke 9 23, he says, and he says, he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. And when we look at this, this is what it means to be sold out. It means picking up your cross daily, daily and following Christ. And when I look at this, when Jesus is talking about picking up your cross, the first the first hearers of this word are people in that time who understand what carrying a cross is. Like a cross is wasn't just something that people did for fun. They didn't, like they did not need an explanation of the cross. They knew this was an unrelenting instrument of torture, death, humiliation. They knew what came with carrying a cross. And they knew that if someone took up his cross, he never came back. It was a one-way journey. And I think that's the whole point of being sold out. Then the next verse says, Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. Jesus made deny himself equaled with taking up his cross. So the two phrases expressed the same idea. The cross wasn't about self-promotion or self-affirmation. The person carrying a cross knew that they could not save themselves and that self was destined to die. Self was destined to die. And this is what we have to walk in. We have to destroy our flesh, pick up our cross, knowing in our mind that this is a one-way destination. Then the next verse says, For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life was for my sake, he is the one who will save it. And I want to give you a little picture in your mind. So imagine you have a seed, right? You have this little seed, you plant it in the ground. In this underground. Though it may seem dead and buried, in truth, you just set it to be free. Like it's always intended to be. And this is what the Lord wants us to be. He wants us to be a seed planted in the ground. And though it may look dead and buried, it is growing and it's gonna be free. This is what the Lord wants from us. This is what the Lord is inquiring from us. And when we look at the word set apart, in Hebrew understanding, holiness means being separated unto God, holy, consecrated, distinct because of God's presence. It is because of the presence of God. And this is why I believe the Lord encountered Moses the way he did, because He wants him, He wants Him to know that He is holy. The presence of God is holy. Right? That's why it says in Romans 12, 1. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. He says, a living sacrifice. And I used to always like wrestle with the thought of what is a living sacrifice? A living sacrifice is the sacrifice is living and it stays alive at the altar. Back in the Old Testament in Exodus, they used to have to bring animals, unblemished animals, to the altar. Now, in this, Paul is writing to the Roman church that you now your bodies are a living sacrifice unto God. You are alive at the altar. This is what it means to be devoted to God. Being devoted to God is a live is being a living sacrifice. Because Israel's distinction was not look how powerful we are. It was supposed to be look who dwells among us. Look who is with us. Look who we have with us. And it's God. But with this story, there's tension. There is so much tension in this story, right? Because we have to connect the Old Testament of Exodus 33 to the New Testament as well. Because the tension that we see is Moses desired God's presence. Yet the access was limited. He couldn't fully experience all of God's presence. Why? There was a veil, there was a tabernacle, there were sacrifices, there was a priest. So back in this day, they had a tabernacle. And the tabernacle was basically a tent that they would travel with that would host and dwell the presence of God. And in this tabernacle, there were multiple sections, but in the in the deepest section of the tabernacle, we have this thing called the Holy of Holies, which is where the fullness of God's presence dwell. And that anyone could just come into the presence of God. It was separated with a veil, which is really a giant curtain. The veil separated the people from the presence of God. Why? It separated the people because humanity's sin was created. And through that, there was separation between the people and a holy God. The sin that we had created separation between us and a holy God. So we couldn't casually just walk into the presence of God. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year. Like imagine that. And that still required a sacrifice for sin. And when we look at the tabernacle, when we look at the veil, the veil was a physical reminder that sin had separated and created distance between humanity and God. They would look at it and be like, that is the separation between us and God. But now we see when Jesus died on the cross, the Bible says the veil was torn from top to bottom. And now we have access to Christ Jesus. And honestly, I feel like we feel this tension today. Because we can still go to church and and still wrestle with feeling distant. Like we can know church language and still feel distant. We can know the worship song and sing it and still feel distant. And we can still wrestle with sin. Like we can know how to look alive publicly, but behind closed doors, we're wrestling with sin and wrestling with our shame. We're wrestling with our guilt. We're wrestling with our anxieties and our worries and our stresses. And some of us learn how to move forward externally while slowly drifting internally. And I think the greatest, the greatest, the greatest danger is not always rebellion. It's learning how to function without God's presence. It's learning how to function without the intimacy of God. So we have step one, practical, practical application, right? If you're like, hey Malik, um I'm hearing what you're saying, but I I need a practical solution. I think it's hard for me to see or like I need something to help me. One way we could do, and there's gonna be a lot of scripture. So write these down. There's a lot of scripture that comes with this. One stop moving without prayer. Stop moving without prayer, before decisions, before opportunities, before relationships, before ministry. Pray. Stop and pray. Here's some verses. Proverbs three, five through six. Proverbs three, five through six. Exodus thirty-three, fifteen. Like what we just read. Moses refused to move without God's presence. Psalms 127, verse 1 says, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless you're in proximity with the Lord and you're building it with the Lord, you're building it in vain. James 1.5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God. Ax God. Do not just put yourselves in position to where it's like, oh, I just I just have such passion for this. But if you do not have God backing you, you will be left with nothing. Luke 5.16. Even Jesus, our precious Savior, Jesus, even withdrew himself from the crowds to go pray, to speak to the Father, to know what was next on his agenda for his ministry. Before every major moment, he was praying. Number two, value presence over performance. God is not impressed with activity apart from his presence, apart from having intimacy with him. John 15, 4 through 5. Apart from me, you can do nothing. We are connected to Jesus. He is the vine. We are the branches. God is the vine dresser. He is pruning us. You either get pruned or you get withered, cut off, burned. Value his presence. You're connected to the source. So rest in the source. Luke 10, 38 through 42. Short story of Mary and Martha. Jesus comes to the house in Bethany. And Martha's doing a whole bunch of serving, getting food for all of them. Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha goes to Jesus and is like, hey Jesus, why don't you tell my sister to come help me in the kitchen? And Jesus is like, Martha, you're worried, you're anxious by so many things. You're caught up by so many things. But what he says is Mary chose the better thing, which is the one thing necessary, which is Jesus. Which is Jesus. Presence over performance. Psalms 46 10. 46 10. In that verse, it says, Be still and know that I am that I am God. This is a rebuke that the Lord is saying. You're angry, you're burnt out because you want to have control. And God is like, I'm here trying to help you, trying to lead you, trying to steward your relationship with me in the right way, trying to reveal who Jesus Christ is to you. But you want to be on the high pedestal of your life. You want to have control. That's why he says, be still, trust and knowing that he is God. 2 Corinthians 3 18. Transformation, as you read that verse, transformation happens through beholding Jesus, not merely just looking at him, not merely striving. It says we go from glory to glory as you look at Jesus. Again, like I said, we become like who we behold. When we look at Jesus, we start to become like him. Matthew 7, 22. This is so pivotal because even in this, so many people would say on the day when we get to judgment, like, Lord, I've prophesied, I've cast out demons in your name. And Jesus would say, Depart from me because I never knew you. He does not disqualify their works and what they've done. He's saying, you can do these things. You can work in, you can operate in your spiritual gifts, you can cast out the demons. But the problem is, I never knew you. I never had relationship with you. So you were just doing things to do things. Value his presence over performance. In Philippians 3:8, Paul counts everything as lost compared to knowing Jesus. Everything is loss in comparison to knowing Jesus. In Psalms 27:4, David desired to dwell in God's presence above everything else. Because when we look at that scripture, David is surrounded by enemies. And what he asked for is surprising compared to his situation because he could have asked for victory. He could have asked for the Lord to deliver him. He could have asked for the Lord to do so many things. But what he says is, Lord, that I may dwell in your house, that my eyes are fixed on the beauty of the Lord. That's what he asked for. He asked for the presence of God in the midst of being surrounded by enemies. Number three, live set apart daily. Holiness is not perfection, it is surrender. Jesus completely. It says, I have died with Christ. Yes, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And because of the life I now live, I can I have faith. Let me see Galatians 2. I feel like I'm on the right path though. Also, I just got a new Bible. And when I say these pages are thin, I'm like, come on, gotta do a teacher. Okay, come on. I'm like right there. There it is. Okay. Galatians 2 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Because you've been crucified, you have new life. First Corinthians 6, 19 to 20. Your life no longer belongs to you. Hebrews 12 14. Holiness is something believers intentionally pursue. Intentionally pursue holiness. Paul encourages us to rid ourselves of the work of the flesh in Galatians 5. Uh, I believe it's 5.20. Um he said that sexual immorality, adultery, anger, sorcery, those are things working of the flesh. And when we look at this, we see what Moses was trying to get us to. What he was trying to get us to understand, and how holiness in the presence of God is so pivotal. And this message shifts from Moses to Jesus because Moses revealed the longing of the presence, which makes us sold out and set apart. But Jesus becomes the fulfillment. Moses says, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us. Why? Because Moses understood something. Humanity was created for communion with God. From the Garden of Eden, the deepest design of humanity was not merely productivity, success, or achievement. It was presence. Adam walked with God. Humanity was created to dwell in the presence of God, but sin fractured communion with God. And through the Old Testament, we see humanity longing for the relationship that we once had in the garden, which is why we see the tabernacle mattered, the temples mattered, the sacrifices mattered. It was not just religious structure. And this is why Exodus 33 is so powerful. Because Moses experienced a glimpse of what Jesus would come to actually fulfill. Because now, when Jesus entered the story, he is called Emmanuel. This is God with us. So everything from the Old Testament points back to Jesus. The tabernacle points to Jesus. The priest points to Jesus. The sacrifice points to Jesus. He is the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus is our one high priest. The tabernacle, he is our dwelling place. The presence pointed to Jesus. And on the cross, Jesus was not just a martyr, but he becomes the perfect sacrifice for sin. The wrath, separation, and consequences of sin are placed on him. This is why I love we look at Matthew 27, 50 to 51. And it says, and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn into from top to bottom, and the earthquaked and the rocks were split. And let me tell you this: I love it says that he yielded up his spirit. Don't ever let someone convince you that the devil sent Jesus to the cross. No, no, no, no, no. Jesus chose the cross because of love. And love kept him on the cross for both you and me. He loves us. That's why I love when this says he yielded up his spirit. No one took this from him. He gave up his spirit for us. And it says, when he died, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom because the moment Jesus breathed his last breath, the veil is torn. And we see from top to bottom, that means God tore it. Humanity did not climb its way back to God. God made a way Himself. And the way was through Jesus Christ. And when the veil is torn, heaven is announcing that access is restored, separation is broken, we have communion with the living God. There is no more of a barrier between us and Jesus. It has been dealt with through the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ. And now we have access. We have access. The gospel is not just Jesus dying and turning bad people to good people. No, no, no, no. It is Jesus bringing dead people to life and restoring them back to the Father. This is the compassion of Jesus. Jesus comes, takes the sin and the burden of us, and then gives us new life in the Father. This is why Ephesians 2.13 says, You were once far away, but have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We can enter into his presence, enter to his gates of thanksgiving by the blood of Christ. We were not brought in by effort, by performance, by religious activity. It's been his blood, and it will always be his blood. And I love this because Jesus, in this, he is saying we no longer need to approach God through animal sacrifices, through earthly priests, through temple systems. He is the greater Moses, he is the perfect high priest, he is the final sacrifice, the mediator between God and humanity. And now, when Jesus ascended into heaven, and he said, I have a helper on the way, and the Holy Spirit comes down. This is where we can see the presence no longer just dwells merely in buildings made by human hands, but he dwells with his people. And this was a prophecy in Joel. Joel prophesies that your old man will dream dreams, your young man will have visions. This is a prophecy, and it and it gets fulfilled in Acts with the apostles. And we see in 1 Corinthians 6 19, it says, Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, you are not your own. Because I feel like there's people here that are questioning, like, okay, Malik, like I hear what you're saying, but I still feel distant to God. Like he feels so far away. And I want to urge this question: how closer can you get to God than within? Think about that. How closer can you get to God than within? It is not merely a doing. And I don't I don't think we have a doing problem. I feel like sometimes we do too much, we strive too much. The problem is an awareness problem. Can we sit longer than five minutes? Can we get in our word? Because he's here, the Holy Spirit is here. Inside of us, he dwells inside of us, wanting to give us peace, wanting to give us patience, wanting to give us the fruits of the Spirit. This is why Christianity is not just about extend, like attending a service, it's about union with Christ. It's about abiding in him, walking with him, being transformed by him. That's why it says in John 15, 4, 5, apart from me you can do nothing. Not because Jesus wants dependence out of weakness, but because humanity was designed to live connected to God. We've always been designed to live connected to God. And I believe through that, that's where we can see the favor of the Lord. That's what it says in Exodus 33. He said, For how then can it be known that I have found favor in your sight and I and your people? Is it not by your going with us so that I and your people may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth? The Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in my sight, and I have known you by name. We have found favor in the sight of God. And for a lot of us, this breaks off the exhaustion of we have to do it ourselves. Like we are trying to produce fruit apart from his presence, and we don't have to do that anymore because his presence is inside of us. Abide in him. The cross restored with sin broken, and that is access, that is nearness, that is relationship. So now being sowed out and set apart is no longer about trying to earn God's presence, it's responding to the reality that Jesus has already made a way. He has made a way. That is the gospel. He dies, brings us in nearness to God, and now we live in holiness. And saying, I don't want to live without Gene. If he's not in it, I don't want it. And that's the and that's the sermon that I have prepared for New York. And I know the Lord will give me other things. And I really, really, really felt that for the behold him podcast. Because it's it's the theme of why we do this podcast. It's the theme of why we do this, it's to behold God. It is to behold him. And I just love the parallel between Moses and Jesus. It's going back to communing with God. And that's something that I really want to be an advocate for. For men in this generation, that we are quick to listen, slow to move, slow to move, that we operate in obedience, that we operate in a place where God knows us by our name. I feel like I used to say, I want to be used by God. What's better than being used is knowing. And that's my prayer. That we have a generation of men rise up that are known by God. Because that's how we create change, that's how we create a difference. So y'all, thank you for listening. Thank you for watching this podcast. Hope it's been a blessing. Hope it's been a I hope it's just been a really uh a tool that you just find yourself coming back to to help help you in your relationship with God. I know these podcasts and studying has really blessed me and has really just given me a new lens of how Christ operates, but then also how we can just fully rest in him. Because that's what he wants. That's what he wants from us. So um let's let's pray out. I really just want to pray over you guys. Holy Spirit, thank you for this word. Thank you for allowing your word to seep into our hearts. Lord, allow every word that was spoken to take root in our soul. Um, to knowing that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the one. Um Lord, allow us not to get caught up by our circumstance, but allow us to see Jesus rightly. Reveal to us, Holy Spirit, the nature of Jesus Christ, the characteristics of him. Allow us to have our roots be planted in him. I pray over the the listener, to men of God, to women of God who are listening. Lord that you touch them.

SPEAKER_01 55:21

That they understand that their presence, that your presence is the one that gives access.

SPEAKER_02 55:29

Lord, allow us to be aware. Aware of the Holy Spirit. Knowing that for us to be sold out, it means that we're not moving without God. And for us to be set apart, it means we are operating in holiness. And holiness and reverence to you. Keep us, Lord. Keep us, Lord. May we value your presence over everything. May we value your presence over performance.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

Keep us rooted in you, Lord.

SPEAKER_02 56:10

We thank you and we love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys for watching. Um in the description, you see a lot of things. If you want to give to this podcast, you're more than welcome to. Thank you for your donations. I haven't done this in a while, so I'm trying to remember where it is. Um, if you want to give to the podcast, if you want to join our Patreon, we have a men's Patreon to where we're uh doing Zoom calls, a meeting with people. If you want to uh listen to some of the music, uh like the past that we're creating and just songs that we're creating unto the Lord, you can. If you want to find yourself a resting place, um just abiding, I highly suggest uh looking into the music. So it's been a blessing. I listen to my own music literally every day. Uh because when I initially made it, I made it for me. Like I wanted music that just led me into the presence of God. Um, and I think that's it. I think that's it. Until next time. If I forgot anything, I'll put it in the description. Thank you guys. Thank you guys so much for listening, watching, supporting. Love y'all. Till next time. Be blessed.