Discovering God's Glory

Intro

Summary: Second only to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, this was the greatest day in history of the N. T. church.

This may come as a bit of surprise to some of you, but did you know that this had happened once before?

Isn’t it wonderful to sense the awesome presence of God? There really is nothing else like it. I think I speak for most of us when I say that. The Glory of God is greater than being anywhere else this morning.

Acts 2:1–4 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:12–21 ESV

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

God’s Glory Falls

Second only to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, this was the greatest day in history of the N. T. church.

This may come as a bit of surprise to some of you, but did you know that this had happened once before?

This was not the first time THE GLORY OF GOD fell on the children of God.

2 Chronicles 5:11–6:2 ESV

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place (for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions, and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

2 Chronicles 7:1–3 ESV

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The people of God were having church. They had it in the New Testament. They had it in the Old Testament.

These really are similar stories for us to compare.

They both describe the Glory of God and how God can and will choose the forces of nature to convince mankind of His anointing.

And there are other stories of how the Lord moves on His people. There was cloud by day and a fire by night.

These demonstrations would cause God’s people to stay very close to Him and follow Him.

Those who choose to stay close to the cloud of His anointing were never left behind. This cloud was a compelling force of nature for the godly people.

But for those who did not recognize it as being the Lord, they called it a strange phenomena. They were impressed, but they were not compelled to follow Him.

Some people became disheartened, easily discouraged, or even complacent with what God was doing. Some were frightened by THE GLORY OF GOD and refused to follow what they did not understand.

As a result many people were left behind.

God’s Glory Is Not Controllable

Have you ever though about what a cloud can do?

It can become a fog, a mist, a shower, a heavy downpour, sleet, hail, snow, a tornado, a twister, a typhoon or a hurricane.

These phenomena’s of nature can put the fear of God in any weather man. The Weather Channel can only try to predict what nature is going to do, but in the end we all have to wait and see. God is God. There is none other.

You may not understand THE GLORY OF GOD any better than you do how a cloud works.

But that won’t change the way God chooses to demonstrate His Glory.

Just as in the Old and New Testament, there will be those who will choose not to follow the Glory of God.

You may be just that person. The people of the Old Testament who saw THE GLORY OF GOD were good people just like you.

They went to their synagogues every Sabbath.

Good Sunday go to meeting kind of people. But they did not keep up with what God was doing because they didn’t agree or they didn’t understand it. They were left behind. They missed what God had for them.

Many good people have purposely chosen to not allow THE GLORY OF GOD in their lives.

We need to understand that just as there are many ways that God will use a cloud, there are many ways that He will manifest (or, demonstrate) His Glory.

We all know that God is omnipresent. He is universal in where He is at all times. When Isaiah saw the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6, he heard the seraphim say,

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!"

That tells me that THE GLORY OF GOD is on the mountain tops and He is down in the valleys. That is God just being God. He is everywhere.

Conduits of God’s Glory

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

“…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…”

2 Corinthians 6:16–17 ESV

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,

While it is true that God is everywhere, there is a difference we need to consider. It is this:

The manifestation of THE GLORY OF GOD is to take place in His Temple. You brothers and sisters in Christ, are His Temple!

IN II Chronicles chapter 5 we see the priests and the Levites finding THE GLORY OF GOD in the Temple where they worshipped. That Temple was built by a man named, Solomon.

Things have changed with THE GLORY OF GOD. Solomon was right in what he said in chapter 6:2.

“I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever."

God is saying that to you this morning. God has built you a new Temple.

Church, you are the exalted Temple of God.

The manifestation of THE GLORY OF GOD is to take place within your exalted temple of God.

You have been chose to contain the manifestation of THE GLORY OF GOD.

Isaiah 60:2 ESV

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

Likewise in John 2, we have the first miracle of Jesus when He turned the water into wine.

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory;

The Glory of God was there at the wedding, but the manifestation took place in His miracles.

1 Peter 4:13–14 ESV

But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

With all of this Truth, why do we keep waiting for THE GLORY OF GOD to manifest in us?

Friends, it is God Who is waiting on you to release His Glory in you. If you are a believer, THE GLORY OF GOD is on and in you.

Some folks will fast and pray for a day, a week, a month and are disappointed when nothing happens.

They cannot understand why they cannot sense THE GLORY OF GOD.

The time has come for THE GLORY OF GOD to manifest itself in your “earthen vessels”. The problem is when we keep looking back at how THE GLORY OF GOD use to be and we miss out on how THE GLORY OF GOD is.

This is much like the story of David and Goliath.

Saul’s armor was not what David needed.

Things change for the people of God. What use to work, or the way THE GLORY OF GOD use to manifest itself, may not be how it will manifest itself tomorrow.

THE GLORY OF GOD operates in newness everyday.

Old things are passed away. Behold all things are new.

We cannot resist what THE GLORY OF GOD is doing just because we may not understand everything that is going on.

THE GLORY OF GOD manifested itself in a little boy and he destroyed the biggest enemy they had ever seen.

THE GLORY OF GOD can lift you up and make you an overcomer in Christ. If you don’t resist it.

But if you resist it you will be defeated and left behind.

Herein lies the problem why many churches are failing in these last days. They choose to stick with how it use to be. The tradition of yesterday. They refuse to allow God to do something new in them. They say,

“that can’t be God…that is not the way it’s done…this is nonsense… we don’t need this change…”

If you are a Christian:

THE GLORY OF GOD is within you and you must allow it to have it’s way in you. With THE GLORY OF GOD, there will be changes in your life. His cloud will lead you where you have never been before.

You must follow Him.