You have been designed for glory. There is something about experiencing God’s Presence that makes everything else inferior. In this sermon clip, Bill Johnson shares insight and exhortation for the body of Christ to lean into God’s Presence, and make it the priority in our lives.
in that uh tent in that
time with students i started to
to rediscover something that
hadn’t been lost that would be wrong but
there was a there’s always a freshness
to his presence that makes it almost
makes you feel like you’ve never had it
before it’s so fresh you know there’s
always something so new with what he’s
saying and doing it almost feels like
it’s the first time you’ve ever heard
him speak
and yet outside of that experience you
can see the history that brought you
here but in that moment it’s like
it’s like
it’s like hearing
hearing for the first time
it reminded me of something
oh goodness it’d be 2010 2011 somewhere
near eric my son was
was leading the second year school of
ministry and there was a there was about
a five-month period i don’t remember the
year but there was about a five-month
period they met over our twin view
campus or our second campus
and they were the the school uh the
second year school was there and i don’t
remember how many students there were i
would guess 300 maybe
but anyway uh that room was
you know packed and eric was leading and
and as one of the pastors i have a time
slot where i i go over there and
and speak and it’s always an incredible
privilege to to do so
i remember i would walk in there was
this there was this five-month period of
time where i’d walk in it was like
walking into a cloud i mean it was it
was
it was
like walking into a cloud that’s alive
it wasn’t it wasn’t fog it was
walking into this
to life itself on a level that was
so wonderful
and so overwhelming
i remember i would come in and back i
would i would come sit down sometimes
i’d make it to the run
i’d come and i’d sit down and eric would
be there and listen this wasn’t led by
you know a great worship time those were
there and that’s important we just had a
wonderful time now and
that kind of uh uh instrument that the
lord uses is very significant and
important but
but this was different it was it was
almost like
the holy spirit
the choir director of heaven
entered the room and he was he was
conducting something
wow
i remember
sitting down
next to eric and
he would look up at
me do you want to do
i said i’m not touching this
i i have absolutely
nothing to say
there are times in the glory where
that’s what you do there’s a word
there’s a word of the lord it’s the
ultimate moment i mean you want those
moments i i don’t want to suggest at all
that somehow when that that manifest
presence of jesus comes in that measure
that we that we don’t speak and somehow
teaching goes out the window i don’t
believe that and and i’ve seen the
opposite happen
i’ve seen those moments that are so
overwhelmingly pregnant and filled with
god himself in the room and then there’s
a word and i i believe that but this
wasn’t this wasn’t that season it was
it was five months of coming into a room
where
where it just didn’t matter
strange strange to say you could have
this burden or this vision or this
desire or whatever to preach this or to
pray for this or to do whatever but
somehow
somehow in this in this
living cloud of presence
oh goodness
it
it just doesn’t matter
it doesn’t matter and i i remember
during that period of time i don’t even
know how many times i actually spoke
i did a few times but it wasn’t very
often it wasn’t very often but i sure
encountered jesus a lot
i sure encountered the love of god even
through people there was
such an unusual interaction in those
times you know you don’t
jesus said i gave them my glory that
they may be one there’s something
there’s something about the glory that
just makes everybody fit together
perfectly
it’s not through striving it’s not
through effort it’s not through
determination it’s
in the glory
it fits and the reason is is that’s what
we were designed for i was designed
everything about me everything about me
that’s of him
was was designed to fit seamlessly
in the glory
seamlessly
i’m actually wired in
you are too every born-again believer
we’re actually
we’re actually wired
to recognize him
and to respond to him and part of that
response is obedient so obedience is the
most natural thing in the world
in the presence you know if you can
imagine isaiah 6 where isaiah
says i see the lord he’s high
lifted up train fills the temple he’s
overwhelming
this overwhelming baptism of presence
where he sees the throne of god
and then he hears god say
not to him
but in conversation in heaven who will i
send
see there’s something about in the glory
the glory is
is not just to absorb and walk away
blessed it’s to be impacted by so that
we impact everything around us and and
the lord asked this question he said who
will i send and it says i’ll go i can
always tell when people are truly in the
glory because they want to serve
now you can want to serve without being
in the glory but when you do
the heart of god is what launches you
it’s not uh it’s not my ministry goals
that matter it’s it’s not
you know it’s not me
fighting to see my gift expressed or
appreciated or whatever all that stuff
just dies it just dies it’s so
unimportant in that moment it’s
embarrassing to discuss because in that
moment all you know
is i hear a heartbeat
and that heartbeat has become my
heartbeat
and something has shifted and changed
at least in this moment
how i see life
and i remember
i remember that
that five-month period of time as there
was yesterday because
it has become yesterday
ten days or so ago
in the tent with the students last
sunday night
was the same kind of a
same kind of a moment in the tent i
don’t know maybe we’re just built for
tents maybe maybe i don’t know maybe we
should just do the big old revival tent
and get it over with you know
there’s i don’t know there’s some i
don’t know what it is i i don’t
understand it at all but i know that
last sunday night i experienced it again
it was
he was he was there and that’s all you
know that’s what the glory is is to
manifest the presence of jesus
he was just there you say well he’s here
he’s with me now that’s true i i get
that
but there are so many dimensions of his
presence that
that no matter what you’re experiencing
there’s more
and the key to more is stewarding what
you’ve been given
it doesn’t matter if it’s money
anointing gifting doesn’t fringe friends
doesn’t matter what it is
the key to increase is always stewarding
what you have well
and there are
there have been times in my life where
as i stated earlier
that that presence that glory would come
so strong in that little sanctuary up
up in the mountains that i would just
become nervous and find something else
to do and so
i don’t say this in shame embarrassment
i’m just saying this is reality there’s
no increase in that moment i found my
limit
and so
somehow coming into that place of
presence again
and again
and again
with whatever in me needs to
yield so that there can be more
i can’t describe it but that’s the
journey
you see he’s got us on one track
there’s he has one ambition base you
know i mean a lot of dreams for us i
don’t want to make it overly simple but
there’s this statement in haggai
chapter two i i will never forget when i
first
read this as a pastor
and weaverville it just lapped at me
it’s it’s haggai chapter two which is
one of the small little guys
he’s a it’s kind of hard to find him
if you get to matthew just turn left
if you get to daniel turn right he’s in
there
but he he says
several things here that i think would
be worth noting and then i want to talk
to a bit about where we’re headed where
where
where we’re headed according to him
verse 5 according to the word that i
covenanted with you when you came out of
egypt so my spirit remains
among you
do not fear the presence of the lord
makes fear illegal
the presence of the lord
is a partnership with a foreign spirit
for thus says the lord verse six once
more it is a little while i will shake
heaven and earth the seed the dry land i
will shake all the nations and they
shall come
to the desire of all nations
my translation highlights this phrase in
this way desire referring to jesus as
the desire of the nations
and i i will fill this temple
with glory
says the lord of hosts
the silver is mine the gold is mine says
the lord of hosts and here’s our phrase
the glory
of this latter temple shall be greater
than the former
if god is in charge there’s always an
increase of glory
if we are
we just build monuments to what has
happened in the past
we build them in our theology we build
them in our experience we build them in
our routines
our disciplines they all
shout to the past
but there’s something that is always
expanding in the presence it’s this
it’s this intangible thing called the
the glory of god that is always
deepening and always
i don’t know i don’t think we ever
arrived to be honest with you i
i’ve got a feeling that heaven is uh
is going to be one continuous journey
deeper into the glory and there is no
limit there’s not an end it’s not like
okay
father says that’s all there is sorry
we’ll have to exist the next hundred
billion years just with what you got
there it’s just this unending journey
into the presence into the glory
ephesians 2 talks about the riches of
his grace which is one of the
expressions of glory
and in that phrase in ephesians 2 he
says that in the ages to come we would
discover the surpassing riches of his
grace ages to come
the billions of years ahead of time off
in eternity in those ages there would be
the continuous unveiling of yet a deeper
level of this mystery called grace
and that mystery of grace always
introduces us
to glory
we find
different stories in scripture that
that they they rock me
i’m assuming they do you as well ii
chronicles chapter 5 is one of them
it’s this amazing
moment in the dedication
of the temple
solomon had
well let me back up david his dad
had discerned
that there was a shift
actually there was a shift in worship
but more specifically
david perceived a reality that existed
in heaven that was not discovered in the
law
it was not revealed in the law
and
david started to realize in his
relationship with the lord that the lord
wasn’t interested in the blood of bulls
and goats it doesn’t mean it didn’t
count it was important for that season
but it had its it had its limits it had
its its measure of impact it wasn’t the
it wasn’t where god’s people were going
to land was on the sacrifice of animals
that’s not the landing point that was
the illustration that got them ready for
the real lamb of god that once and for
all settled the issue
but david somehow discovered this in his
journey with the lord and the prophets
nathan and gad
confirmed what he was picking up it says
in chronicles later
he picked up this shift in in worship
and and that the lord was actually
looking for the sacrifice of the heart
the contrite heart the yieldedness the
fruit of the lips that gives thanks or
praise to his name the lord is actually
looking for
for people to put themself on the altar
as an offering to him
and it’s not because he’s an egotist
that needs our affirmation he’s quite
secure
he’s he’s he doesn’t need anything i’ve
hear people say well he he he needs our
like he doesn’t need our love he doesn’t
need anything he’s he’s very
self-sufficient
while the son holy spirit they make a
real good team they don’t need anything
but they desire many things
they desire many things they desire my
heart
they desire for it adds something to
them that nothing else and everything
that they have made could have
and he desires yours and it’s that
wonderful that beautiful expression of
just turning our
our attention our affection towards him
see the war that’s been going on over
this last year with the pandemic and all
the other stuff is it’s a war for
attention because the enemy wants to
dilute your affection
it’s always
to divert attention to defile affection
and there’s something about this
this reconnection with presence that
is
is home
it’s just home it’s
it’s home it’s like everything else is
where i’m visiting this is actually home
i’m set out from home i get to do all
this stuff but this is home
this seamless connection
with this manifest presence of jesus the
seamless connection between
my surrendered heart and his heart for
me is just the most beautiful thing