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Part 8 of 8'The Presence of God' Series
Seeking the Presence of God | Exodus 33
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Part 8 of 8'The Presence of God' Series
Seeking the Presence of God | Exodus 33
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Good morning. Today I want to jump into this word as quickly as I can because we don't have much time. I'm excited about what God is doing, and I want to share something that has been on my heart.
This is the year of presence—the presence of God in everything we do and everywhere we go. Our theme for this year is that we will be waiting on and leaning into the presence of God. If we're not being led by the presence of God in what we're doing, then we shouldn't be doing it at all.
Let me speak to you prophetically for a moment: this is the year where you don't want to do stuff by your own strength. So often we try things on our own, and if they fail, we come back to God as a last resort. But that cannot happen this year. If you go off the beaten path this year, you're going to miss so many things that God is planning to do in your life. The only way for you to follow God is to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You have to be sensitive to God this year.
I want to teach this based on Exodus chapter 33, because there's so much in this God encounter that Moses had where he simply wanted the presence of God. In this encounter, we're going to learn so much about ourselves and how we press into the presence of God.
Let's start with Exodus 33, verses 1-6. The Lord said to Moses: "Get going, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way."
When the people heard these words, they mourned and stopped wearing their jewelry and fine clothes. God was challenging them: "You all are so focused on your outside looking beautiful, but your inside is terrible."
The word of God declares: "Man looks at the outer appearance, but God looks at the heart." Sometimes it's the people who look like they have it all put together who have the worst things going on inside. Some of you are so concerned with how you look to people, with your appearance and how you present yourselves. But God says, "The worst thing about what's going on in your life is that you're prideful."
You're not only in sin—you're dressing up the sin. You're making sin look cute and making it look nice. That shows the sign of pride in your heart. God is saying: "Take off the jewelry. Take off the fine clothes. Take off the name tags. I want you to focus on what's happening on the inside of you."
I want to give you some homework this week. I know it's Sunday and you weren't expecting homework, but look at these scriptures and ask yourself: "Lord, does my life align with your word?" Don't wait for a preacher to tell you about it before you change. If you find it in the word, then the word of God should be enough conviction for you to change the thing that doesn't please God.
Read Romans 1:18-32 and Galatians 5:19-21. Study them this week and ask: "Do I find anything in these scriptures that is challenging the life I'm choosing to live? Does my life really please you?"
Now let's jump to verse 12. Moses said to the Lord: "You have been telling me to take these people up to the promised land, but you haven't told me whom you will send with me. You have told me I know you by name and I look favorably on you. If this is true, and you look favorably on me, then let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. Remember that this nation is your very own people."
I love this because Moses is saying: "God, I appreciate that I've been trying to follow you. I've been hearing your voice. But Lord, I need to know your ways more fully."
Many of you are in this place because you're trying to walk with God. But here's the truth: it's hard for you to walk with God if you're still trying to hold on to old lifestyles and old behaviors. If you're going to walk with God, you have to say: "Lord, I need to learn to be more like you. I need to learn your word."
You cannot truly grow in your relationship with God if you're not learning his ways. This is why the word of God is so critical in your life. If you don't know the word of God, it's impossible for you to actually understand God. So many of you have belief systems about God that are not backed by scripture. But only the word of God gives us clues into the framework of how God operates.
Your word declares that "God's ways are not our ways. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are higher than our ways." If you want to learn to follow God, that means you have to go higher in the way you see him. You have to go higher in the way you live. You have to go higher in your understanding of God. You have to go higher in your study. You have to value the word of God to where you don't just read scripture in the service with the church. You have to value your relationship with God enough to find time throughout the week to say: "I need to learn more of what God wants for me," and not just when the pastor spoon-feeds me.
Moses said: "God, I want to learn your ways because all that I've been doing up to this point don't necessarily look like you. I want to follow you. Because I want to continue to enjoy this favor you're talking about. God, you said you look favorably on me, and I want to continue in that, but I can't continue if I don't know your ways."
Now, this is critical because most people don't understand favor. God shows grace to everyone, but favor is reserved for the obedient.
God shows grace to everyone. The Bible says that God reigns on the just as well as the unjust. That means God shows grace to all of us. Many of you, if you were to be honest, even when you were messing up, God was still showing you grace. Even when you weren't doing everything right, God was still showing you grace. Even when you knew you were in stuff you shouldn't have been in, God was still showing you grace.
But grace is different than favor. Favor is reserved for those who don't just take grace for granted, but have learned to follow the word of God and learn to be obedient to it.
What's favor? Favor is when God starts to bless you in such a way that everything you touch starts to grow. Everything you put your hands to starts to increase. Everything you put your hands to starts to multiply. Why? Because favor is reserved for the obedient.
If you have kids, you know what I'm talking about. All your kids get blessed. We all have that one kid we're still praying for—a little bit more gangster, a little bit more wild than the others. No matter what they do, you're going to make sure all your kids have food on the table, because you're a father. No matter what they do, you're going to make sure all your kids have clothes on their back. You're going to make sure that all your kids have a roof over their heads. Why? Because a father is always going to be a father.
But favor is reserved for your obedient child—for the one who listens when you speak, for the one who pays attention to your commands. That child can ask you for what they want and get it because you show favor to the one who's obedient to your voice.
Look at verse 14. The Lord replied to Moses: "I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest. Everything will be fine for you."
Now, this is critical here. God starts talking to Moses and says: "Okay, Moses, I hear you. I'm going to go with you and I'm going to give you rest."
If you were to be real, sometimes the blessing is not the thing you actually need. Sometimes you're just tired of fighting, and you need rest. This word isn't for everybody. This is for those who've been fighting.
It's like saying: "God, I'm blessed already. I'm not asking for another car. I'm grateful for the car I got. I'm not asking for a bigger house. I'm grateful for the house that you allow me to live in. But the real issue in my life, God, is I'm tired of fighting all the time. I'm tired of everywhere I go, it's another fight. If it ain't a fight in my family, it's a fight with my friends. If it ain't a fight with my friends, it's a fight on my job where I got to pray before I even get in there because I feel like something's always warring with my spirit."
This is why Jesus said: "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Because the real thing you need is to be able to go to sleep at night and not have your mind running, trying to figure out what you're going to do the next day because you're so uneasy and you're not able to rest.
Some of you don't need more money. You need to be able to rest with God. Some of you don't need another breakthrough. You just need God to bring peace into your home. You just need rest.
He says: "I'm going to give you rest." But true rest only comes from the presence of God. Because the only place that you can get rest is when you trust God enough to let go. It's in the place of God's presence where you're able to get rest.
The real issue for many of us, the reason we can't rest, is because we don't trust God enough. You keep trying to figure it out. You keep trying to compute the numbers and do it on your own. You're picking up more hours because you don't believe God will provide. You're stressing about your kids because you don't know that God is going to take care of them even when you can't see them. You're stressing about this relationship because you're too worried about somebody picking you, when you don't know that God already picked you and that God already has something reserved for you.
You're killing yourself hoping to buy the love of somebody else when God said: "I've already loved you with an everlasting love." The real reason you can't rest is because you keep trying to do everything yourself. You have to learn to take your hands off and say: "God, if I'm your child, and while I'm working like I'm the parent, at some point I ought to be able to rest and trust that Abba Father's got me. I have to be able to trust God in your presence that you will cover me."
But here's what happens. Moses rejects this offer. This is so powerful.
God makes Moses a promise: "Hey Moses, because you're seeking me, everything will be fine for you. I'm going to give you rest. I'm going to cover you."
But in verse 15, Moses said: "If you don't personally go with us, don't make us leave this place."
Moses is teaching us something so powerful, because he could have taken the blessing and said: "The heck with everybody else." But Moses said: "What kind of leader would I be, God, if you bless me and the people I'm leading don't get the same blessing? What kind of leader would I be if I walk into the promised land and I leave the people I was supposed to lead with me? What kind of leader would I be if I run off with the blessing while the people following me are still struggling?"
Moses teaches us three principles about what it means to truly lead:
In this verse, he teaches us that he didn't want rest just for himself, but he wanted it for all God's people. Godly leaders are never selfish. They want everyone to experience the same God they have experienced. That's how you can mark a godly leader—because a godly leader isn't trying to lift themselves above the people.
This is why I'm always telling you: stop praising man. I'm a pastor, but people always want to lift pastors up. But pastors are nothing but messengers sent to speak the word of God for your benefit. The real one God loves is you. Stop lifting up men and women of God and putting them above the congregation. Who am I but another man like you every day, waking up saying: "Lord, I need your glory. I need your presence. I need your spirit. And if you don't show up, we can't do anything."
Gone are the days where we start lifting these positions so high. God's word said "It's not his will that any flesh would glory in his sight." Your position doesn't put you higher than me. Your position ought to make you more humble than me. Your position ought to make you serve me. As a matter of fact, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Because a godly leader isn't just looking for what they can get. They're looking at what they can give the people they're leading. They're looking at how they can pour into the people that trust in their voice.
Moses taught us that he was willing to look like a failure to the people just to wait on God's presence. God had already given him a promise. "You can take this blessing and you can go into the promised land, Moses. You're good. You've been seeking me. You're straight."
And Moses said: "No, I know you gave me a promise that we were going to go into the promised land, but God, I'm willing to look like a failure than to leave them behind. I refuse to walk off and take the blessing while these people who trusted me and brought their wives and brought their kids and camped out in the wilderness are stuck in a place where they cannot see the hand of God."
"No, God, if it's just for me, I don't want it. I'm willing to look like a failure in the eyes of people for you to get the glory."
I'm preaching to my real people who want to walk in humility. When you really want to walk in humility, it doesn't matter how the people look at you. It doesn't matter how people honor you. It doesn't matter their perspective. I don't care if you judge me. I want God to approve of me. I don't care how you look at me because I need heaven to accept me.
Moses says: "No, no, no, Lord. I'm willing to look like a failure because I need your presence. Because following God will often come at the expense of the crowds no longer approving you."
I need you to hear me. When you start to follow God for real, you need to know that some of the people who love you won't love you anymore. Some of your friend groups that were your circle are going to start feeling like your cage. You're going to start feeling like you have to walk away from it. You're going to start realizing that the people who used to always include you in certain conversations are going to stop inviting you, because the Holy Spirit is going to start challenging you to stop talking, gossiping, and getting in the mess.
All of a sudden, you'll have to start walking with conviction. When you really want to follow God, you can't fit in anymore. Because God made you stand out. God wants you to shine. He wants your light to shine so people can see he's working through you.
Moses knew that if he's going to follow God, it's going to come at the cost of people accepting him the way they used to.
And number three—this is the most powerful one—Moses rejected the blessing of the promised land if the blessing came without God's presence in it. I need you to please write this one down.
Moses rejected God's offer. "I don't even want the promised land if the promised land means you're not coming with us."
I'm challenging you to grow up now, because so many of us are cool on God as long as we get the blessing. But Moses had it the other way. He said: "Why would I be chasing the blessing and lose the blesser?" Because a blessing without God isn't a blessing at all. It's a distraction.
A blessing without God isn't a blessing at all. It's a distraction.
Some of you have been walking with God long enough to know what I'm talking about. Where that door opened and it looked so good, and you just wanted to run in because it was a good opportunity. And that same door was the door that drained you and pulled you away from God. That same person that you connected with, that God said let go, was the same one that drained you and pulled you away from God.
You start realizing: "If God ain't co-signing it, I don't want it anymore. It was just a distraction."
Here's the dangerous thing: Even a God promise without God's presence will eventually become idolatry because you will begin to worship the thing you prayed for and not the one you prayed to. It could become idolatry because you can want it so bad.
I see people pray because they want to be married so bad, and then they get married and they forget about God. Now every day you pray, you're only praying about your relationship. So now the thing you received became the idol in your life because you care more about the thing you got than the one who gave you that thing. You start to miss God.
If you didn't write nothing down, please catch this: The enemy is crafty. There is a such thing as false blessings, too. There's a difference between blessings and possessions. The devil will give you stuff and that stuff gets you to leave God.
Let me explain it a little bit more because I want you to get the fuller picture. You could say: "Okay, God told me to open this business," and you open the business. Now the business is taking your money and not making you money. You're spending more of your money just to keep the doors open than you are seeing God increase it.
Sometimes you can want something so bad that you will co-sign God's name to your own will. I got to challenge you about your ambition. Because you can be so ambitious and want something so bad that you didn't even hear God say no. You married the idea of you having it. You've told so many people about it. So now when God says no, you can't say no because you're so married to the idea that God's going to do this for you.
Now you got to step back and say: "Let me be real. If God did this for me, why is it killing me and not giving me life?" If God opened the business, why did the doors close?
You would start the ministry. People all the time say: "God told me to start this ministry." Well, if God told you to start the ministry, then why isn't it changing lives? If God told you to start the ministry, then why are you only preaching to other church members? That sounds like a pirate more than a pastor.
If God told you to start the ministry, why are you building on another man's foundation? Why aren't you going after the lost? Why do you only feel comfortable talking to people who already claim to know Jesus? Is that a ministry or is that you building your ego?
It can sound like it's a blessing, but it really can be a false blessing. You got married and thought: "Ooh, God gave me this." And then in the marriage, you don't even feel loved. You don't even feel connected to them. They liked you more before they married you. Y'all had more fun in sin than y'all did in righteousness.
Because sometimes you got to sit right and say: "Ah, no. God didn't tell you to marry them dead and try to save them." So at some point you got to stop and say maybe you jumped the broom and did some stuff that God didn't approve of because it felt good in the moment. You put God's name on your decision.
You fight hard for the degree. You went and got your graduate, and then postgraduate, and then post-postgraduate after the graduate. You were proud because God gave you opportunity. And now with all the degrees you still can't find a job to pay you what you're worth. What's worse is when they tell you you're overqualified.
Sometimes you don't realize maybe that's happening because you glorified your accomplishments more than you glorified God. We find ourselves in this place, asking why is the time going so fast.
Let's look at verse 16. Moses said: "How will anyone know that you look favorably on me and on your people if you don't go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth."
I notice he said: "How will they know? Because the favor of God is visible." So that's why he said: "Let your light so shine that men may see your good works." Because when God puts favor on you, God has to make the favor shine so bright that people can see it and ask questions. And it gives you an invitation to glorify the father which is in heaven.
You can say: "Hey, I know you look at me, but this ain't even me doing it. It's the God I serve. I know you see the blessing on me, but it ain't me with the blessing. It's the God I serve."
I know you look at this and say: "How did you do it?" And I say: "I didn't do it. It's the God I serve. I know you're looking at me, but you're looking in the wrong direction. Look up. It's the God I serve."
God did this. The favor of God is supposed to be visible. God wants to bless you so that the world gets curious. And when they ask, you don't get prideful. You get more humble by saying: "Nothing I have came from me. Everything I have came from the hand of God."
When you got favor, everything you touch really does start to grow. Your family starts to be blessed because you got favor. Your marriage starts to be blessed because you got favor. Your business will be blessed because you got favor. You'll work at a brand new company and the company gets blessed because you're working there. Because God said you brought your favor with you when you came to the place. Your kids begin to walk in favor because favor is visible.
In this verse, Moses said: "Lord, your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth. So the only thing that sets us apart as the people of God is the presence of God. The only thing that sets us apart as the people of God is the presence of God.
Please hear me when I say this. The reason the world has lost so much respect for the church is because the church lost the presence and started looking more like a business than a church. I know the church isn't going to say amen, but that's okay. I'm an honest preacher.
It started looking more like a business and a scam. And it's like: where is the presence of God? Because I used to hear the old generation say when they got to the house of God that they would experience the presence of God. But now when you go to church, it's only about the show. It's only about how good you can sing and how good you can talk.
When we lost the presence of God, we started relying on our gifts. But the gift can't get you into heaven. That's why the Bible says: "Try the spirit by the spirit to see if that's really God" because they may just be gifted, bringing you in the wrong direction.
The church was supposed to be about the presence of God. And we admitted it so many times, and you don't even know we've been admitting it. Because people go to church and say stuff like: "Man, the presence of God was in here today." And you don't even realize you're subconsciously admitting the presence of God isn't always there.
If you knew the presence was there today, that means you admitted it wasn't there last Sunday or the Sunday before or the Sunday before. So that's also admitting we've learned how to do church without God. All around the world now, people are going in, and it's the same system: sing a couple of songs, pastor get loud, people shout, and then leave and go back to the same sin they came in—because nobody's experiencing the presence of God.
But Moses said: "The only way we're going to know God is really with us is when the presence of God shows up. If we don't have the presence, we don't have God." So Moses said: "God, I'm cool on the blessing, actually. I'm not going nowhere."
"I would rather stay in the wilderness and pitch a tent every single day and have to wait for my bread to come out of the sky than for me to go into a rich land and lose you. Because it's the presence of God that would bring conviction to sin—not how much you preach against people. It's the presence of God that makes a person feel: 'I really got to start changing because I can sense God is on me.'"
It's the presence of God that makes you hungry for more of God. I'm not hungry for more preaching. I know how to do that. I'm not hungry for more singing. I know how to do that, too. I'm hungry for more of the presence of God. I want the Shekina of glory to show up in the church. To the point where I can't even preach and all we can do is cry and worship because the presence of God keeps taking over.
The presence of God is the one that kills our pride and kills our ego. You can think you're big and bad, but it's in the presence of God you'll start crying like a little baby. Because you realize: man, something greater than me is on me.
It's the presence of God that can't be recreated by human effort. That's the one thing you can't fake. That's the one thing you can't duplicate. You can't imitate that. You can't act like you got God with you. Because when God shows up, God shows up in power.
My last verse. Verse 17 says: "The Lord replied to Moses, I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you and I know you by name."
I was praying about this, and God said: "I need you to tell my people. Hear my heart." God said: "I can do more if you just ask." Not more blessings. That's low. That's baby fruit.
God can give you more of his presence, more of his glory if you just ask. If you're just hungry for more of God. Not just the things you get with God, but if you're hungry for more of him. If you would actually seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, you will be amazed at the things that God will add unto you.
You will never again—listen to me—you will never again have to pray about God blessing you. You will never again have to pray about God giving you more money. When you go into the presence of God, God will cause things to come to you. God will cause the wealth of the world to be poured into you.
For the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous. When you seek the righteousness of God, God will increase you more than you could ever ask. He can do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask or think. But he wants you to want his presence—not just his blessings. Not just his presents. He wants you to want him.
If you just seek him for him, there's so much more that God wants to do in your life.
I feel this prophetically because what I feel right now in the atmosphere is that many of you are in a struggle place, trying to figure out life right now. And it's not about figuring out life. I promise you that's the least of your worries. You got to find God. When you find God, life is figured out in him. He will lead you and guide you into all truth. You will never be confused when God is with you.
Stand up so I can pray for you really quickly. Stand up because I'm going to pray this over you.
Father, you told us this was the year of presence. And so, Lord God, I pray that none of us would get accustomed to operating without your presence, living without your presence. God, don't let us get used to just church where we clap and shout and leave, but we don't know you. We can't sense you. We can't experience you. Can't feel you.
God, I don't want these your people to wait for me to say something. I'm nothing but a messenger. God, you sent your son to die for them. And you are desperate for real intimate relationship with them. You want to live in their hearts. You want to live in their homes. You want to live in their minds and in their spirits.
But God, we got to make room for you. And so, Lord God, I pray that in this room, as we make room, that your presence would show up and fill every void and every empty place. In the name of Yeshua, we pray.
Now, listen to me while you're standing. If you're in here and you know what I preached, you're like: "Pastor, I want to have this relationship with God. I know that I need this. I know that I need to be connected to God. I don't feel as close as I need to be. I've been distant from the Lord, and I want to say yes to Jesus."
Or maybe you said yes a while ago and you want to recommit because you've been distant from God. I don't want you to think about it. I just want you to come up right now. Just step out in boldness and in faith. Forget about the crowd and say: "Lord, I want to commit my life to you because I can't live another day without your presence. I can't live another moment without experiencing you in my life."
Every single one of us has needed God in a desperate way, including me. All of us had to make a decision that we were going to follow God. All of us had to make a decision that we were going to put down what we thought we knew and we were going to submit to the Lord. If that's you and you feel that conviction...
Good morning. Today I want to jump into this word as quickly as I can because we don't have much time. I'm excited about what God is doing, and I want to share something that has been on my heart.
This is the year of presence—the presence of God in everything we do and everywhere we go. Our theme for this year is that we will be waiting on and leaning into the presence of God. If we're not being led by the presence of God in what we're doing, then we shouldn't be doing it at all.
Let me speak to you prophetically for a moment: this is the year where you don't want to do stuff by your own strength. So often we try things on our own, and if they fail, we come back to God as a last resort. But that cannot happen this year. If you go off the beaten path this year, you're going to miss so many things that God is planning to do in your life. The only way for you to follow God is to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You have to be sensitive to God this year.
I want to teach this based on Exodus chapter 33, because there's so much in this God encounter that Moses had where he simply wanted the presence of God. In this encounter, we're going to learn so much about ourselves and how we press into the presence of God.
Let's start with Exodus 33, verses 1-6. The Lord said to Moses: "Get going, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way."
When the people heard these words, they mourned and stopped wearing their jewelry and fine clothes. God was challenging them: "You all are so focused on your outside looking beautiful, but your inside is terrible."
The word of God declares: "Man looks at the outer appearance, but God looks at the heart." Sometimes it's the people who look like they have it all put together who have the worst things going on inside. Some of you are so concerned with how you look to people, with your appearance and how you present yourselves. But God says, "The worst thing about what's going on in your life is that you're prideful."
You're not only in sin—you're dressing up the sin. You're making sin look cute and making it look nice. That shows the sign of pride in your heart. God is saying: "Take off the jewelry. Take off the fine clothes. Take off the name tags. I want you to focus on what's happening on the inside of you."
I want to give you some homework this week. I know it's Sunday and you weren't expecting homework, but look at these scriptures and ask yourself: "Lord, does my life align with your word?" Don't wait for a preacher to tell you about it before you change. If you find it in the word, then the word of God should be enough conviction for you to change the thing that doesn't please God.
Read Romans 1:18-32 and Galatians 5:19-21. Study them this week and ask: "Do I find anything in these scriptures that is challenging the life I'm choosing to live? Does my life really please you?"
Now let's jump to verse 12. Moses said to the Lord: "You have been telling me to take these people up to the promised land, but you haven't told me whom you will send with me. You have told me I know you by name and I look favorably on you. If this is true, and you look favorably on me, then let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. Remember that this nation is your very own people."
I love this because Moses is saying: "God, I appreciate that I've been trying to follow you. I've been hearing your voice. But Lord, I need to know your ways more fully."
Many of you are in this place because you're trying to walk with God. But here's the truth: it's hard for you to walk with God if you're still trying to hold on to old lifestyles and old behaviors. If you're going to walk with God, you have to say: "Lord, I need to learn to be more like you. I need to learn your word."
You cannot truly grow in your relationship with God if you're not learning his ways. This is why the word of God is so critical in your life. If you don't know the word of God, it's impossible for you to actually understand God. So many of you have belief systems about God that are not backed by scripture. But only the word of God gives us clues into the framework of how God operates.
Your word declares that "God's ways are not our ways. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are higher than our ways." If you want to learn to follow God, that means you have to go higher in the way you see him. You have to go higher in the way you live. You have to go higher in your understanding of God. You have to go higher in your study. You have to value the word of God to where you don't just read scripture in the service with the church. You have to value your relationship with God enough to find time throughout the week to say: "I need to learn more of what God wants for me," and not just when the pastor spoon-feeds me.
Moses said: "God, I want to learn your ways because all that I've been doing up to this point don't necessarily look like you. I want to follow you. Because I want to continue to enjoy this favor you're talking about. God, you said you look favorably on me, and I want to continue in that, but I can't continue if I don't know your ways."
Now, this is critical because most people don't understand favor. God shows grace to everyone, but favor is reserved for the obedient.
God shows grace to everyone. The Bible says that God reigns on the just as well as the unjust. That means God shows grace to all of us. Many of you, if you were to be honest, even when you were messing up, God was still showing you grace. Even when you weren't doing everything right, God was still showing you grace. Even when you knew you were in stuff you shouldn't have been in, God was still showing you grace.
But grace is different than favor. Favor is reserved for those who don't just take grace for granted, but have learned to follow the word of God and learn to be obedient to it.
What's favor? Favor is when God starts to bless you in such a way that everything you touch starts to grow. Everything you put your hands to starts to increase. Everything you put your hands to starts to multiply. Why? Because favor is reserved for the obedient.
If you have kids, you know what I'm talking about. All your kids get blessed. We all have that one kid we're still praying for—a little bit more gangster, a little bit more wild than the others. No matter what they do, you're going to make sure all your kids have food on the table, because you're a father. No matter what they do, you're going to make sure all your kids have clothes on their back. You're going to make sure that all your kids have a roof over their heads. Why? Because a father is always going to be a father.
But favor is reserved for your obedient child—for the one who listens when you speak, for the one who pays attention to your commands. That child can ask you for what they want and get it because you show favor to the one who's obedient to your voice.
Look at verse 14. The Lord replied to Moses: "I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest. Everything will be fine for you."
Now, this is critical here. God starts talking to Moses and says: "Okay, Moses, I hear you. I'm going to go with you and I'm going to give you rest."
If you were to be real, sometimes the blessing is not the thing you actually need. Sometimes you're just tired of fighting, and you need rest. This word isn't for everybody. This is for those who've been fighting.
It's like saying: "God, I'm blessed already. I'm not asking for another car. I'm grateful for the car I got. I'm not asking for a bigger house. I'm grateful for the house that you allow me to live in. But the real issue in my life, God, is I'm tired of fighting all the time. I'm tired of everywhere I go, it's another fight. If it ain't a fight in my family, it's a fight with my friends. If it ain't a fight with my friends, it's a fight on my job where I got to pray before I even get in there because I feel like something's always warring with my spirit."
This is why Jesus said: "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Because the real thing you need is to be able to go to sleep at night and not have your mind running, trying to figure out what you're going to do the next day because you're so uneasy and you're not able to rest.
Some of you don't need more money. You need to be able to rest with God. Some of you don't need another breakthrough. You just need God to bring peace into your home. You just need rest.
He says: "I'm going to give you rest." But true rest only comes from the presence of God. Because the only place that you can get rest is when you trust God enough to let go. It's in the place of God's presence where you're able to get rest.
The real issue for many of us, the reason we can't rest, is because we don't trust God enough. You keep trying to figure it out. You keep trying to compute the numbers and do it on your own. You're picking up more hours because you don't believe God will provide. You're stressing about your kids because you don't know that God is going to take care of them even when you can't see them. You're stressing about this relationship because you're too worried about somebody picking you, when you don't know that God already picked you and that God already has something reserved for you.
You're killing yourself hoping to buy the love of somebody else when God said: "I've already loved you with an everlasting love." The real reason you can't rest is because you keep trying to do everything yourself. You have to learn to take your hands off and say: "God, if I'm your child, and while I'm working like I'm the parent, at some point I ought to be able to rest and trust that Abba Father's got me. I have to be able to trust God in your presence that you will cover me."
But here's what happens. Moses rejects this offer. This is so powerful.
God makes Moses a promise: "Hey Moses, because you're seeking me, everything will be fine for you. I'm going to give you rest. I'm going to cover you."
But in verse 15, Moses said: "If you don't personally go with us, don't make us leave this place."
Moses is teaching us something so powerful, because he could have taken the blessing and said: "The heck with everybody else." But Moses said: "What kind of leader would I be, God, if you bless me and the people I'm leading don't get the same blessing? What kind of leader would I be if I walk into the promised land and I leave the people I was supposed to lead with me? What kind of leader would I be if I run off with the blessing while the people following me are still struggling?"
Moses teaches us three principles about what it means to truly lead:
In this verse, he teaches us that he didn't want rest just for himself, but he wanted it for all God's people. Godly leaders are never selfish. They want everyone to experience the same God they have experienced. That's how you can mark a godly leader—because a godly leader isn't trying to lift themselves above the people.
This is why I'm always telling you: stop praising man. I'm a pastor, but people always want to lift pastors up. But pastors are nothing but messengers sent to speak the word of God for your benefit. The real one God loves is you. Stop lifting up men and women of God and putting them above the congregation. Who am I but another man like you every day, waking up saying: "Lord, I need your glory. I need your presence. I need your spirit. And if you don't show up, we can't do anything."
Gone are the days where we start lifting these positions so high. God's word said "It's not his will that any flesh would glory in his sight." Your position doesn't put you higher than me. Your position ought to make you more humble than me. Your position ought to make you serve me. As a matter of fact, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Because a godly leader isn't just looking for what they can get. They're looking at what they can give the people they're leading. They're looking at how they can pour into the people that trust in their voice.
Moses taught us that he was willing to look like a failure to the people just to wait on God's presence. God had already given him a promise. "You can take this blessing and you can go into the promised land, Moses. You're good. You've been seeking me. You're straight."
And Moses said: "No, I know you gave me a promise that we were going to go into the promised land, but God, I'm willing to look like a failure than to leave them behind. I refuse to walk off and take the blessing while these people who trusted me and brought their wives and brought their kids and camped out in the wilderness are stuck in a place where they cannot see the hand of God."
"No, God, if it's just for me, I don't want it. I'm willing to look like a failure in the eyes of people for you to get the glory."
I'm preaching to my real people who want to walk in humility. When you really want to walk in humility, it doesn't matter how the people look at you. It doesn't matter how people honor you. It doesn't matter their perspective. I don't care if you judge me. I want God to approve of me. I don't care how you look at me because I need heaven to accept me.
Moses says: "No, no, no, Lord. I'm willing to look like a failure because I need your presence. Because following God will often come at the expense of the crowds no longer approving you."
I need you to hear me. When you start to follow God for real, you need to know that some of the people who love you won't love you anymore. Some of your friend groups that were your circle are going to start feeling like your cage. You're going to start feeling like you have to walk away from it. You're going to start realizing that the people who used to always include you in certain conversations are going to stop inviting you, because the Holy Spirit is going to start challenging you to stop talking, gossiping, and getting in the mess.
All of a sudden, you'll have to start walking with conviction. When you really want to follow God, you can't fit in anymore. Because God made you stand out. God wants you to shine. He wants your light to shine so people can see he's working through you.
Moses knew that if he's going to follow God, it's going to come at the cost of people accepting him the way they used to.
And number three—this is the most powerful one—Moses rejected the blessing of the promised land if the blessing came without God's presence in it. I need you to please write this one down.
Moses rejected God's offer. "I don't even want the promised land if the promised land means you're not coming with us."
I'm challenging you to grow up now, because so many of us are cool on God as long as we get the blessing. But Moses had it the other way. He said: "Why would I be chasing the blessing and lose the blesser?" Because a blessing without God isn't a blessing at all. It's a distraction.
A blessing without God isn't a blessing at all. It's a distraction.
Some of you have been walking with God long enough to know what I'm talking about. Where that door opened and it looked so good, and you just wanted to run in because it was a good opportunity. And that same door was the door that drained you and pulled you away from God. That same person that you connected with, that God said let go, was the same one that drained you and pulled you away from God.
You start realizing: "If God ain't co-signing it, I don't want it anymore. It was just a distraction."
Here's the dangerous thing: Even a God promise without God's presence will eventually become idolatry because you will begin to worship the thing you prayed for and not the one you prayed to. It could become idolatry because you can want it so bad.
I see people pray because they want to be married so bad, and then they get married and they forget about God. Now every day you pray, you're only praying about your relationship. So now the thing you received became the idol in your life because you care more about the thing you got than the one who gave you that thing. You start to miss God.
If you didn't write nothing down, please catch this: The enemy is crafty. There is a such thing as false blessings, too. There's a difference between blessings and possessions. The devil will give you stuff and that stuff gets you to leave God.
Let me explain it a little bit more because I want you to get the fuller picture. You could say: "Okay, God told me to open this business," and you open the business. Now the business is taking your money and not making you money. You're spending more of your money just to keep the doors open than you are seeing God increase it.
Sometimes you can want something so bad that you will co-sign God's name to your own will. I got to challenge you about your ambition. Because you can be so ambitious and want something so bad that you didn't even hear God say no. You married the idea of you having it. You've told so many people about it. So now when God says no, you can't say no because you're so married to the idea that God's going to do this for you.
Now you got to step back and say: "Let me be real. If God did this for me, why is it killing me and not giving me life?" If God opened the business, why did the doors close?
You would start the ministry. People all the time say: "God told me to start this ministry." Well, if God told you to start the ministry, then why isn't it changing lives? If God told you to start the ministry, then why are you only preaching to other church members? That sounds like a pirate more than a pastor.
If God told you to start the ministry, why are you building on another man's foundation? Why aren't you going after the lost? Why do you only feel comfortable talking to people who already claim to know Jesus? Is that a ministry or is that you building your ego?
It can sound like it's a blessing, but it really can be a false blessing. You got married and thought: "Ooh, God gave me this." And then in the marriage, you don't even feel loved. You don't even feel connected to them. They liked you more before they married you. Y'all had more fun in sin than y'all did in righteousness.
Because sometimes you got to sit right and say: "Ah, no. God didn't tell you to marry them dead and try to save them." So at some point you got to stop and say maybe you jumped the broom and did some stuff that God didn't approve of because it felt good in the moment. You put God's name on your decision.
You fight hard for the degree. You went and got your graduate, and then postgraduate, and then post-postgraduate after the graduate. You were proud because God gave you opportunity. And now with all the degrees you still can't find a job to pay you what you're worth. What's worse is when they tell you you're overqualified.
Sometimes you don't realize maybe that's happening because you glorified your accomplishments more than you glorified God. We find ourselves in this place, asking why is the time going so fast.
Let's look at verse 16. Moses said: "How will anyone know that you look favorably on me and on your people if you don't go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth."
I notice he said: "How will they know? Because the favor of God is visible." So that's why he said: "Let your light so shine that men may see your good works." Because when God puts favor on you, God has to make the favor shine so bright that people can see it and ask questions. And it gives you an invitation to glorify the father which is in heaven.
You can say: "Hey, I know you look at me, but this ain't even me doing it. It's the God I serve. I know you see the blessing on me, but it ain't me with the blessing. It's the God I serve."
I know you look at this and say: "How did you do it?" And I say: "I didn't do it. It's the God I serve. I know you're looking at me, but you're looking in the wrong direction. Look up. It's the God I serve."
God did this. The favor of God is supposed to be visible. God wants to bless you so that the world gets curious. And when they ask, you don't get prideful. You get more humble by saying: "Nothing I have came from me. Everything I have came from the hand of God."
When you got favor, everything you touch really does start to grow. Your family starts to be blessed because you got favor. Your marriage starts to be blessed because you got favor. Your business will be blessed because you got favor. You'll work at a brand new company and the company gets blessed because you're working there. Because God said you brought your favor with you when you came to the place. Your kids begin to walk in favor because favor is visible.
In this verse, Moses said: "Lord, your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth. So the only thing that sets us apart as the people of God is the presence of God. The only thing that sets us apart as the people of God is the presence of God.
Please hear me when I say this. The reason the world has lost so much respect for the church is because the church lost the presence and started looking more like a business than a church. I know the church isn't going to say amen, but that's okay. I'm an honest preacher.
It started looking more like a business and a scam. And it's like: where is the presence of God? Because I used to hear the old generation say when they got to the house of God that they would experience the presence of God. But now when you go to church, it's only about the show. It's only about how good you can sing and how good you can talk.
When we lost the presence of God, we started relying on our gifts. But the gift can't get you into heaven. That's why the Bible says: "Try the spirit by the spirit to see if that's really God" because they may just be gifted, bringing you in the wrong direction.
The church was supposed to be about the presence of God. And we admitted it so many times, and you don't even know we've been admitting it. Because people go to church and say stuff like: "Man, the presence of God was in here today." And you don't even realize you're subconsciously admitting the presence of God isn't always there.
If you knew the presence was there today, that means you admitted it wasn't there last Sunday or the Sunday before or the Sunday before. So that's also admitting we've learned how to do church without God. All around the world now, people are going in, and it's the same system: sing a couple of songs, pastor get loud, people shout, and then leave and go back to the same sin they came in—because nobody's experiencing the presence of God.
But Moses said: "The only way we're going to know God is really with us is when the presence of God shows up. If we don't have the presence, we don't have God." So Moses said: "God, I'm cool on the blessing, actually. I'm not going nowhere."
"I would rather stay in the wilderness and pitch a tent every single day and have to wait for my bread to come out of the sky than for me to go into a rich land and lose you. Because it's the presence of God that would bring conviction to sin—not how much you preach against people. It's the presence of God that makes a person feel: 'I really got to start changing because I can sense God is on me.'"
It's the presence of God that makes you hungry for more of God. I'm not hungry for more preaching. I know how to do that. I'm not hungry for more singing. I know how to do that, too. I'm hungry for more of the presence of God. I want the Shekina of glory to show up in the church. To the point where I can't even preach and all we can do is cry and worship because the presence of God keeps taking over.
The presence of God is the one that kills our pride and kills our ego. You can think you're big and bad, but it's in the presence of God you'll start crying like a little baby. Because you realize: man, something greater than me is on me.
It's the presence of God that can't be recreated by human effort. That's the one thing you can't fake. That's the one thing you can't duplicate. You can't imitate that. You can't act like you got God with you. Because when God shows up, God shows up in power.
My last verse. Verse 17 says: "The Lord replied to Moses, I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you and I know you by name."
I was praying about this, and God said: "I need you to tell my people. Hear my heart." God said: "I can do more if you just ask." Not more blessings. That's low. That's baby fruit.
God can give you more of his presence, more of his glory if you just ask. If you're just hungry for more of God. Not just the things you get with God, but if you're hungry for more of him. If you would actually seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, you will be amazed at the things that God will add unto you.
You will never again—listen to me—you will never again have to pray about God blessing you. You will never again have to pray about God giving you more money. When you go into the presence of God, God will cause things to come to you. God will cause the wealth of the world to be poured into you.
For the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous. When you seek the righteousness of God, God will increase you more than you could ever ask. He can do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask or think. But he wants you to want his presence—not just his blessings. Not just his presents. He wants you to want him.
If you just seek him for him, there's so much more that God wants to do in your life.
I feel this prophetically because what I feel right now in the atmosphere is that many of you are in a struggle place, trying to figure out life right now. And it's not about figuring out life. I promise you that's the least of your worries. You got to find God. When you find God, life is figured out in him. He will lead you and guide you into all truth. You will never be confused when God is with you.
Stand up so I can pray for you really quickly. Stand up because I'm going to pray this over you.
Father, you told us this was the year of presence. And so, Lord God, I pray that none of us would get accustomed to operating without your presence, living without your presence. God, don't let us get used to just church where we clap and shout and leave, but we don't know you. We can't sense you. We can't experience you. Can't feel you.
God, I don't want these your people to wait for me to say something. I'm nothing but a messenger. God, you sent your son to die for them. And you are desperate for real intimate relationship with them. You want to live in their hearts. You want to live in their homes. You want to live in their minds and in their spirits.
But God, we got to make room for you. And so, Lord God, I pray that in this room, as we make room, that your presence would show up and fill every void and every empty place. In the name of Yeshua, we pray.
Now, listen to me while you're standing. If you're in here and you know what I preached, you're like: "Pastor, I want to have this relationship with God. I know that I need this. I know that I need to be connected to God. I don't feel as close as I need to be. I've been distant from the Lord, and I want to say yes to Jesus."
Or maybe you said yes a while ago and you want to recommit because you've been distant from God. I don't want you to think about it. I just want you to come up right now. Just step out in boldness and in faith. Forget about the crowd and say: "Lord, I want to commit my life to you because I can't live another day without your presence. I can't live another moment without experiencing you in my life."
Every single one of us has needed God in a desperate way, including me. All of us had to make a decision that we were going to follow God. All of us had to make a decision that we were going to put down what we thought we knew and we were going to submit to the Lord. If that's you and you feel that conviction...
