Cultivating God's Presence
December 23, 2018
Good
morning, let’s pray and then we will jump in. PRAYER
OPEN - Has anyone ever had a leak in their roof? I’ve experienced this
a few times…
·
Car on the way home from
AL
·
Our 150+ year old church
in OH
·
The main auditorium in
UR
·
If my bucket is here,
that may look like the right choice.
·
ACTION: pick up pitcher and
begin to pour ten feet away.
·
But what if the leak is
here
·
ACTION: have a volunteer run to
get the bucket in the right place (Sam)
We must position our
bucket to receive the rain that is falling.
PRESENCE
All month long, we’ve
discussing the first gift of Christmas. We’ve been talking about the fact that
the greatest gift of the Father is his Presence. In the garden of Eden,
Adam/Eve were blessed with the very presence of God every single day. When sin
entered the world, they lost the privilege of His daily presence.
The Israelites (led by
Moses) were to be carriers of His Presence, but they couldn’t sustain the
pressure without the help of the Holy Spirit within them. So, the prophets told
us that a day would come when the Presence would be for all people… and that
began with the gift of Jesus at Christmas. He paved the way for all of us to
not just experience the presence in Human form of Jesus, but that He would
unlock all the barriers so that we could all be carriers of His Presence daily!
Now, that all sounds
great… and we’ve talked all month long about the nuances of His presence among
us, in us, and upon us… and for many of us… this sounds good
·
BUT maybe we don’t feel
like we’re experiencing it… at all!
·
OR, maybe we have felt
the Presence of God once and now we are like that was good, but what about
today?
·
OR, maybe it’s been so
long that we can’t remember what the Presence of God is like?
·
OR, maybe it’s that we
have a belief that the Presence comes at our conversion to faith in Jesus and
now, we just have to make it by.
When the angels appeared
to the shepherds in Luke 2, they said:
·
NIV 14 “Glory to
God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor
rests.”
·
NLT “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to
those with whom God is pleased.”
The Christmas story is
about the realization that GOD
IS NOT MAD AT US! It’s about the realization that God wants to give us
Himself all the time. He is giving us peace, constantly. He is giving us favor,
all the time. He is pleased with YOU! God’s presence is constantly pouring out
on YOU… it isn’t stopping!
TENSION Some of us still think
·
this as a one-time event
·
only for a special
person
·
only for a specific
event
·
only on a miraculous
situation that’s needed
The truth is that the Father has been pouring out His presence
into our lives since we were born… the problem is not that the rain isn’t
coming.
The problem is that our bucket
is in the wrong place.
We must position our
buckets to receive the “Presence” of God.
BIBLE STORY
Today, I want us to take
a fresh look at two of the most well-known parts of the Christmas story
(Shepherds & Wise Men) … I want us to glean from their stories how to
position our buckets for what God wants to do in our lives. These two groups
had never experienced Jesus… they’d never seen God move before or heard His
voice… the presence of God was not something they’d been a part of… they’d
heard stories… and yet, they were ready when God showed up!
Þ
They
had their bucket ready to receive what God was pouring out.
Matt.
2:1 Now after Jesus was
born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from
the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of
the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose & have come to worship
him.”
There
is so much we can learn from the Magi, but I want to focus on a couple of ways
that they “positioned their buckets for the presence of God.” These are things
that each of us today can do to get ourselves ready to receive.
Þ
The
most important thing they did was: PAY ATTENTION
Think
about the discipline it takes to watch the stars… that’s amazing to me. They
knew and understood that something different had taken place at just that
moment. They had read and understood many of the prophecies of the coming King.
In
my house (5 kids), one of the reasons my kids are always asking me “what are we
doing tonight?” is because they don’t pay attention when Corrie and I are
telling them things. You know, I think this is half the battle of why so many
of us don’t cultivate and nurture a life in God’s Presence… we just haven’t
positioned ourselves enough to pay attention to what God is saying and doing in
our lives.
Let’s
continue on with the story of the Magi…
9 After listening to the king, they
went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went
before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When
they saw the star, they rejoiced
exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the
child with Mary his mother, and they fell
down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and
frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod,
they departed to their own country by another way.
This
is so cool. Think about it. They were paying attention and waiting on the Lord…
and as they began to partner with His Presence and follow what He was doing
they were led into an amazing experience. They are probably the only people
ever who got to follow a star to a specific house… pretty awesome. But, don’t
miss how they positioned their bucket to receive even more from the Father.
Þ
The
second thing they did was: WORSHIP
When
the star stopped, they worshipped (rejoicing)… when they saw Jesus, they
worshipped (adoration)… when they interacted with the family, they worshipped
(giving). AND, as they worshipped, the presence of God poured out even more.
Think about it, the first time Papa God talks to them is after they worshipped
Jesus!
Worship
positions our buckets for the voice of God in our lives. Worship unleashes the
Father’s direction, call and where to go!
STORY: 2002 at Jr High CIY in Cincinnati, OH.
Let’s
continue with the Christmas story to learn another way to position ourselves
for the presence of God to be stirred up in our lives. Let’s look at the
shepherds in Luke 2…
15 When the angels went away from them
into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary
and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
Þ
The
shepherd’s story teaches us: When
God speaks, RESPOND QUICKLY
Friends, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve
failed in this area. It’s one of the ways I’m trying to grow in right now. If
the presence of God is constantly pouring into my life, then I know He must be
talking to me. And if He’s talking with me, He’s encouraging me to respond to
His voice… over and over again, I find myself drawn to a person to pray for
them… to encourage them… to bless them. The story of the shepherds teaches me,
that I need to respond with haste
STORY: woman at Aldi with a medical boot on
YOU
Guys,
I believe with all of my heart that the Father is constantly speaking to all of
us. He wants His glory to cover the entire earth through our actions &
response to His presence. So, today if you hear His voice, RESPOND QUICKLY to
what He says.
Corrie
and I do our best to go on regular “date nights” and try to take a trip or 2
without the kids each year. Why do we do this? We do this to cultivate and
nurture our relationship with one another. After 22+ years together, we are
still “positioning our buckets” for a healthy relationship with one another for
many years to come.
Our relationship with
the Presence of God is no different:
·
We need to PAY ATTENTION, so we don’t
miss what He’s doing.
·
We need to WORSHIP so we can hear His
voice.
·
We need to RESPOND QUICKLY so we can
partner with Him.
I believe that there are
4 categories of people that are in our services each weekend. Some of you are
not followers of Jesus, some have recently become a follower, some of you are veterans,
and some are grandparents in the faith. Each of you has a different way to
“position your bucket,” so that you are ready to pay attention, worship &
respond.
·
Pre Xstian – start
thinking about God’s presence
·
Baby Xstian – let the
new fire and passion out every chance you’ve got
·
Veteran Xstian – practice
the spiritual rhythms (discipline/obedience)
·
Older Xstian – pour into
others as often as possible
IMAGINE
There is one final lesson we can learn from the
Christmas story. Look at shepherds again:
17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that
had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at
what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these
things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and
seen, as it had been told them.
I
love the response of the shepherds… not only did they pay attention to the
words of the angels, not only did they worship, not only did they respond
quickly… but when they realized that God had done something, did you catch what
they did?
Þ
They TOLD EVERYONE what God had done!
This
is truly the most effective way to cultivate and nurture the presence of God in
our lives. This is truly the most amazing way to position our buckets to
receive what God is doing again… it’s to testify to what He’s done before…
share our story! Share His story!
Testify to the goodness
and greatness of our amazing Father.
Þ
Imagine if we all felt
this way! …Imagine if we all shared our story!
Þ
Imagine if our cities
began to “wonder” as Bethlehem did
Þ
Imagine if we gave away
the presence… what would God give us next J?
