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InTouch energized by his presence
when is the last time you felt the
presence of God in a very special way
that was unlike anything he felt before
or maybe I’d put it this way
when was the last time you felt his
presence in your life in a way that you
couldn’t even describe
there are no real words to describe it
was it when
you were praying
was it when you were in a worship
service
or maybe you felt it in a very special
way when you were witnessing to someone
else
or maybe you’re praying for someone else
you had a real burden for them
or maybe it was the fact that you
yourself was going through a very
difficult situation you felt so totally
absolutely dependent upon God he just
made himself known you in a special way
almost like he just showed up like it
was he interrupted what was going on in
your life at that moment
well what is all of that about it’s all
about God manifesting himself revealing
himself showing himself forth in your
life
and when you think about that somebody
says well I don’t know whether God would
ever do that for me or not maybe the
question is are you in a position
spiritually
have you allowed yourself
to surrender to him to such a degree
that God would speak to you in a very
unusual and a very
powerful way
to encourage you to energize you
in other words something would go on in
your life that you’d not experienced
before I think about for example when
Jesus gave the Great Commission which is
to be found the 28th chapter of Matthew
and those last few verses and most of us
know that by heart because we call it
the Great Commission but listen to what
he said and I want you to notice if if
he’d left out one phrase I don’t think
they would have done it listen
but the 11 disciples proceeded to
Galilee to the mountain which is which
Jesus had designated and when they saw
him they worshiped him but some were
doubtful and Jesus came up and spoke to
them saying all authorities been given
to me in heaven and on Earth
go therefore and Make Disciples of all
the nations
now remember we didn’t have airplanes we
didn’t have trains we didn’t have fast
boats we didn’t have automobiles we
didn’t have bicycles we didn’t have
anything except horses and camels and so
forth go into all the world preach the
gospel baptizing them in the name of the
father and the son the Holy Spirit
teaching them to observe all that I’ve
commanded you period now if he had
stopped right there I’m not sure what
those disciples would have done because
what he was saying is in this handful of
people
I want you to go all over the world and
I want you to tell them about the
crucifixion and about my resurrection
and that the hope of mankind is to be
found in a personal relationship with me
well first of all to go all over the
world seem to Impossible number one
second they could have come up with lots
of arguments about telling them that you
had been crucified and that you’d risen
from the dead and so they’d had lots of
questions but then he finished that
commission by saying and I’m with you
always even to the end of the age
it was the awareness and the promise of
his presence that turned that handful of
disciples in the hundreds thousands
millions upon Millions over all these
years
what is it about that phrase I’ll be
with you even to the end of this age it
is very important in the eyes of God
that you and I recognize his presence
that we understand what he’s about
and when we think about his presence how
would you define it
how would you describe his presence
oftentimes people say well I believe
that God’s everywhere that God’s in
everything and what they mean by that is
that they look around at the creation
they say God’s in the trees God’s in the
Stars gods and the beaches he’s in the
mountains God’s everywhere and so people
who are so-called pantheists in their
theology would believe that everything
is God that tree is God and you hear
people say this not too often but the
the ocean’s God everything is God God
does not say that at all and remember
this while he’s omnipresent which means
that people will say well God’s
everywhere the truth is that means
everywhere is in the presence of God
now God is present everywhere but he’s
not present everywhere in the same way
for example he’s present in your life in
a very specific personal Redemptive way
but he is shall we say
in the mountains in the fact that he
created them he’s not he’s not a
mountain a mountain or the Seas these
are all creations of God these are
exhibitions of his power these are the
result of his awesome love for mankind
it creates this beauty for us to live in
but he’s not in a tree like he’s in your
life
and you see people who do not know him
personally have put God up yonder and
out yonder somewhere
they don’t know who he is exactly but
they say well I do believe in God
what they don’t understand is that God
never intends to be seen and to be felt
and to be thought of as being out yonder
somewhere but rather in our life what he
desires is a personal intimate
relationship with us and that’s what
he’s always continually seeking to
discover in your life and mine and
that’s why he has done the way he has
operated in our lives so when you think
about where God is what do you think he
is
he said well I think he’s everywhere
we’ll know exactly what does that mean
well that means that he’s all Beyond and
up here and over there what about back
Yonder there’s no such thing as God not
being everywhere now as I mentioned to
you here and I want you to look at this
passion scripture in the 15th chapter of
proverbs and because while we say that
God is everywhere I want you to notice
what the scripture makes very very clear
about where he is in this 15th chapter
of the Proverbs and look if you will
in the 15th chapter and the 29th verse
listen to what he says the Lord is far
from the wicked but he hears the prayer
of the righteous
he’s far from the wicked we say well
wait a minute the Bible says that God is
everywhere he is everywhere but he’s not
everywhere in the same way in the life
of one of his children who is a Believer
he is present in a certain way in the
life of those who disobey him those who
have no concept of God those who just
living an evil Wicked life he’s not in
their light the same way
so let me explain something
it is difficult to explain the very
presence of God when we take things out
of it and we think in terms of the way
he manifests himself reveals himself
unveils himself to us personally
and so when you think about that you try
to explain that it’s very difficult to
explain for this reason
God so to speak sometimes just shows up
that is all of a sudden you are aware of
his presence
you are aware that he is doing something
special in your life
something powerful
so I want to give you a definition not
that it’s an adequate definition because
I don’t think you can adequately Define
the presence of God so I want to put
this definition up here and think about
it for a moment the presence of God is
the revealing of God
by his Spirit to our spirit for the
purpose for a specific purpose of what
enabling us or energizing us informing
us or maybe even warning us
but what I want you to notice is this
there is a direct relationship between
the spirit of God and the way God
manifests himself so how does he do that
so think about in this light
the place of the holy spirit in your
life in my life is absolutely essential
he came to indwell you for some very
specific reasons he is our teacher for
example he’s the one who energizes us
he’s the one who gives us who gives us
understanding of the word in fact if you
go through the scripture here’s what
you’ll find that all the things that the
spirit of God does for us are things
that you and I could not do for
ourselves God sent him in order to do
what to live in us and through us the
Life of Christ because his goal for his
ultimalistic and fullness there’s
likeness remember what he said in
Genesis that when he was talking about
the creation
God said let us make man in our image
why did God make us in the image of
himself so he could fellowship with us
so we could relate to him so we could
know him so we could experience his love
God wanted to manifest himself to
mankind God chose to do what to make us
in His image and therefore to do that he
had to change us so that the person who
is saved is not a person who’s decided
to do good a person who saved as a
person who has received Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior and at that moment
the spirit of God gave them a new spirit
now a new spirit in order that you and I
may be able to relate to God and the
reason the Lost person does not see any
any personal relationship with God is
because they can’t
they are in our physical body we relate
to each other in our emotions and our
mind we relate to each other and our
surroundings the physical body we relate
to our our environment with our spirit
we relate to God and until the holy
spirit is within you you cannot relate
to God because God relates by his Spirit
to our spirit and gives us Direction
Makes Us aware of his presence
and he’s willing to make his presence
known remember it is the spirit of God
speaking to your spirit to give
direction to encourage you to warn you
to assure you to energize you motivate
you stir you up don’t shut him out but
you must live in such a fashion that God
can speak and you can’t be living in sin
on Monday and trying to be a saint on
Sunday and have God he’s not yes that’s
just not the way he operates
he’s looking for people who are willing
to be obedient to him to trust him to
believe him to be open to him to be
aware of him to be to be to be realizing
that God is always in the process of
doing something in our life
now let me ask you this
can you think of a time in your life
where you could look back and say you
know what
that day at that moment I had this
awesome sense of awareness of God in my
life that I have never had before
well what did you do
did you say well
I don’t know what that meant or did you
say God speak to my heart Lord what are
you saying to me think about this God
doesn’t do anything out of habit he
doesn’t do anything by accident he
doesn’t make mistakes and he doesn’t do
anything without a purpose when God
speaks to your heart that is the your
spirit when he reveals something to you
manifest himself he just shows up in
your life he has something in mind and
what he’s looking for are people who are
willing to listen to him to be to be
quiet enough
to be obedient enough that he can say
listen God isn’t going to say to you
now here’s what I want you to do knowing
that you’re not going to do it knowing
that you’re living in Rebellion he wants
to get you to a position where you can
listen to him and say Yes Lord whatever
you want in my life is what I want
now
what does that mean in your life in my
life
it means we have to get ourselves in a
position to hear him think about this
let’s get to the New Testament for
example you remember when Peter and the
disciples are out on the ship
storms Berlin waves tossing them and all
of a sudden Here Comes Jesus walking on
the water
well what happens Peter saw him and when
he saw it was Jesus he said Jesus call
me to you if that’s if that’s who you
are and I’ll come
it was in the presence of Jesus that he
had enough faith
to walk on the water
and so he did you think about the
Apostle Paul for example
what about him think about this if he
had not been living in the awareness of
God’s presence would he have been beaten
is he said 39 times three times
Shipwrecked Stones left for dead
imprisoned over and over and over again
and then standing before Festus Felix
and the gripper
what happened every single time
stalwart
immovable
absolutely unafraid why because he knew
he was in the presence of the Living God
when you think about all the things he
went through out there on the Seas
for three days
battling for his life
could you ever convince the Apostle Paul
that the presence of God was not with
him never
he was aware of his presence
but notice what happens to Peter
in the presence of Jesus man he could
walk on water
when Jesus wasn’t there
he did not even know him now here’s the
difference
you and I have God living on the inside
of us
well listen you may get lonely but you
can’t ever be alone from the moment you
received him as your savior you could
never never be alone
why does he love us that much
we don’t know why God loves us that much
we just know that he does and we just
know that somehow in some way he’s
chosen to work in every single one of
our lives in a way that’s totally Beyond
US unless we are willing to acknowledge
that he has the right to work in our
life and I would challenge you this
before you go to sleep tonight let’s say
you live alone for example let’s just
take the folks who live alone first you
live alone and um
you really and truly want God to show
himself
in your life Lord
I’m available for you to show yourself
I’m available for you to reveal yourself
to me in a way that I’ve never known it
before
so Lord first of all I want to ask you
to show me whatever sin there is in my
life that that doesn’t fit what you’ve
got in mind
secondly I want you to point out
anything that I’m holding on to that
that you that I need to surrender
Lord I want you to bring anything to my
mind that you know is the stumbling
block between you’re a perfect
control of my life and
what you want to do in my life
and Lord I’m Available for you to speak
to me I’m available for you to make
yourself known to me any way you choose
you may be shocked
at what God’s willing to do the presence
of God is not a mystery
the presence of God is real is it almost
indefinable yes
because we’re dealing with the spirit of
God
is that is that a mystery no
Because He Lives within your heart and
more than likely if you’ve been a
Christian for a while you do you’ve
prayed and asked God to give you a clear
Direction about some things and you know
that he has he has given you specific
Direction at times in your life you knew
that was the right thing to do and you
thanked him for it but you see he
doesn’t just want us to getting answers
he wants us to
be satisfied being in his presence the
answers will come
so let’s think about how does he make
his presence known to us this awareness
of his presence that we say the
awareness of his presence energizes us
well think about this
when I think about the awareness of his
presence
what comes to my mind is first of all is
who he is
this is The Sovereign of the universe
the God of this world
this is the one who’s created it all
this is the one who is My Savior My Lord
and my master and who loves me totally
how could it get any better than that
and and he loves you enough
to just make his presence known
the awareness of his presence energizes
us for the work to which he’s called us
and in each of those cases and there are
lots and more in the scripture what is
God doing
he’s he’s dealing with people and the
result is they are motivated to live a
God in life they’re motivated to do what
God wants them to do and you say well
but here’s my job and you could give me
uh let’s say for example you’re a
secretary or let’s say that you work in
electronics or maybe a plumber or a
doctor whatever you might be
the truth is God wants to make himself
known to you where you are doing what
you do don’t put yourself over here in
somebody else’s category you are
precious in God’s eyes
and all I’m saying to you is this I’m
really pleading with you Just Surrender
Your Life to him and watch what he does
he will make himself known in a way
listen not the way he reveals to
somebody else but the way that fits you
perfectly in fact think about this
your relationship to him is tailor-made
that is it it’s made by God for you and
your circumstances who you are at this
point in your life where you are whether
you’re a student or whether you’re 90
years of age God has something going on
for you in your life
it’s the matter are you listening
do you care in other words do you care
to have this kind of relationship to him
and once listen once you experience that
you will say listen you can count
everything else as as almost nothing
when you begin to realize that God loves
you enough just to show up
let me ask you a question if you believe
what the Bible says I will never leave
you nor forsake you if you believe that
would you ever have any real legitimate
reason from walking away from the battle
when you have God on your side
you remember what he said to Joshua be
strong and of a good courage
fear not neither be that is made for the
Lord your God is what with you wherever
you go
the awareness of his presence reminds us
of who he is the awareness of his
presence reminds us of what he’s done in
the past
and how he’s worked in the lives of all
these men of the past and I think about
times in my own life a difficult times
situations that I would never have
wanted to deal with and yet he was there
every time
and I’ve sat in battles
big balance big church battles and I’m
sitting up here watching it all
and watching who’s voting for him and
who’s voting against me
it’s really interesting
and with the most awesome sense of
perfect peace and assurance and
confidence why
because I knew that I was sitting in his
presence
watching him
work in the lives of people until he
worked it all out
you see a Believer has no reason to be
afraid
think about this
if you were in the military and you had
a thousand
a thousand tanks
a hundred thousand men
and a whole Squadron of Jed mamas at
your disposal
and you were facing a hundred soldiers
out there would you be scared
it wouldn’t even cross your mind
so I want to I want to show you
something because you see it’s the way
we look at things and what we see and
what we don’t see and I want you to turn
to Second Kings chapter six
give you a little idea what’s happening
the the king of Aram
um is warning against Israel and what he
can’t figure out is he can’t figure out
why
uh the nation of Israel and the King
knows everything and so one of his uh
one of his associates said to him well
he said uh in fact the king said will
you tell me which of which of us is for
the king of Israel one of his servants
said no my Lord O King but Elisha the
prophet who is in Israel he tells the
king of Israel the words that you speak
in your bedroom
they already know what’s going on listen
so he said go and see where he is that I
may sin and take him and he was told him
saying behold he’s in dolphin
he sent horses and chariots and listen
to this he sent horses and shirts and a
great Army there and they came by night
and surrounded the city now in the
attendant of the man of God his servant
had risen early and gone out behold an
army with horses and church was circling
the city and his servant said to him
alas my master what shall we do scared
to death
now
that’s Looking Through The Eyes of Flesh
listen to what the prophet said Elisha
do not fear but those who with us are
more than those who were them then
Elisha prayed and said
oh Lord I pray Open the Eyes that he may
see and the Lord opened the servant’s
eyes and he saw and behold the mountain
was full of horses and Chariots of Fire
all around Elisha
here’s what happens
when you are aware of the presence of
God in your life here’s what happens you
are able to see things from God’s
perspective
and everything usually changes when you
look at it from his perspective
it’s the way you look
Through The Eyes of your spirit other
the flesh and it’s my prayer that
whoever you are Wherever You Are
don’t live out your life
and miss
one of God’s choices blessings
and that’s learning to live in the
presence of God learning to live aware
that at any moment he can manifest
himself to you in ways that you can
never imagine can’t manufactured
can predicted
and you can’t do anything to make it
happen it’s just something that he
chooses to do in your life
because he knows who you are where you
are
and what he wants to accomplish in your
life
if you’ve never trusted him as you say
to you may say well all of this is just
beyond me I don’t get all this well
naturally you don’t you know why because
you can’t even communicate with him you
must communicate with the god
through the spirit of God and if you’re
not a Believer you don’t have the spirit
of God within you so you can’t you can
talk about it
the truth is you cannot
and I want to challenge you to ask Jesus
Christ to forgive you of your sins
on the basis of what he did at Calvary
ask him to forgive you surrender your
life to him let the spirit of God come
into your life and begin to work his
awesome work
your life will never be the same
and it’s yours for the asking
and father how grateful we are for your
awesome Grace
and how we do pray that not a soul would
listen and say well but
because you love every single one of us
you’re ready
to make yourself known
in the times that you know are essential
necessary
to accomplish your purpose in every one
of our lives
and that is my prayer father today
openness yielded surrendered available
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for whatever you desire in Jesus name
amen
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