Power in His Presence

Presence

I think all of you know what our family is going thru right now.

Sara’s mom passed away a week and half ago. We just had the graveside service Thursday.

Sara stayed to be with her dad as all the family return home.

When she leaves the house is empty.

Sara’s brother and his family all live there and they’ve all done a great job of being there. But they all have their own lives, jobs, etc.

Niece and nephew have been very helpful and attentive to their grandparents.

There are errands t/b run, chores t/b done, and details t/b taken care of while dad was taking care of mom and now grieving.

But, even beyond their help, their presence in the house w/ dad has been very good.

It has made a difference in dad’s life.

Sara got there the Friday before and had a good week w/ her mom.

Our son Jared made the 2-hour trip on Saturday last week just to be w/ his grandfather.

Not a lot was said the whole time he was there. Jared’s not a real talker. But, it was good for him to be there.

Presence. It’s important to be there and make your presences known b/c it’s felt.

Families, friends come together.

If you’ve been thru this you understand.

Just being there. Having someone there. It affects you. It’s comforting. W/out it, the stress level and its affects grow.

One of the things that everyone will say who has been thru what we are going thru is the peace and comfort that come when family and friends are present.

When they come w/ food it’s a bonus.

Just sending food doesn’t do near as much good.

One of the things my mom told me when I first went into ministry was the importance of being present when ppl are hurting.

When she retired, she volunteered at the hospital in their compassion and mercy ministry.

She’d visit ppl, rock babies, made pillows and teddy bears to take to patients.

She told me, when someone is in the hospital your presence is important.

You don’t have to stay long. Don’t have to teach a lesson, just sit w/, maybe cry w/, and pray for ppl who are hurting.

Our presence has an emotional and physical affect on ppl.

It is comforting. They relax. Feel peace.

Why? B/C that’s the way God wired us.

And, it’s one way we learn the importance of experiencing His presence in our lives.

If ppl’s presence has such a positive affect on you, then think about the affect God’s presence has.

Practice the presence of God every day.

His presence will make a positive difference in your life every time you experience it.

You will feel it, know it, and live it.

This morning we are in 1 Kings 8. This is where Solomon points out the importance of God’s presence in the lives of Israelis.

That’s b/c there is power to affect positive changes and the importance of God’s protection and provision that are dependent on a close relationship.

Much of what was true for Israel then, is true for us today.

Let’s look at what happened when God came in and allowed them into His presence.

God’s Presence

1 Kings 8:6–11 NIV

The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

Probably most of what we think we know about the Ark comes from the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.

Bad guys get it believing there is valuable treasure inside.

Indiana Jones and his love interest are tied up and about t/b killed as they open the ark to find out what’s inside.

Indiana Jones remembers that anyone who looks at the glory of God will die so they close their eyes and all the bad guys die.

The treasure inside looked like sand but the real value was in the presence of the glory of God.

And the closing scene is the Ark in a wood crate being moved and stored in a massive warehouse somewhere on the east coast.

It was fun movie.

The Ark, likely, long ago captured and melted down for its gold. No one knows.

At the time God was very specific in how it was t/b moved. It was never to be transported by oxcart.

The only acceptable means of moving it was to have the priests carry it.

Once when David was moving it, he had a new cart built and oxen were pulling it with the Ark aboard. The oxen stumbled and the Ark teetered.

A man named Uzzah reached out to steady and God immediately struck him dead out of anger. You don’t touch the Ark.

Solomon remembered and did it right. It was built w/ rings attached on the four corners where long poles were t/b threaded thru.

Priests would carry it by the poles holding the Ark so they never had to touch it.

It was considered especially holy and could not be touched by a person who had ever committed a sin; which was pretty much everyone.

It was basically a box. God had allowed them to place in it the 2 stone tablets that Moses wrote the 10 commandments on.

They were there to remind the ppl of the covenant God made with Moses that if they would live faithfully and obediently then they could stay in the land, God would protect them, and the land would produce and provide for them.

If they didn’t, then it wouldn’t and they couldn’t. Eventually, the Babylonians drove them out and exiled them.

God used the Babylonians to severely discipline Israel for their disobedience.

But that would happen years later. This was a time of celebration. Solomon had completed the construction of the temple. It was magnificent and worthy of the Creator of the Universe, Almighty, One and Only True God.

The Ark had been kept close by and needed to be moved to its new, permanent home.

Perm as long as Israel held up their end of the deal.

Today, we don’t live under that covenant b/c it ended when Jesus died on the cross.

That completed that deal.

The New covenant we live under today is unconditional. We simply have to believe in Who Jesus is and what He came to do and accept His act as payment for our sins so we don’t have to pay for them.

Once the Ark was in place, the cloud moved in. That cloud was a visible representation of the glory of God.

They could see it and smell it. It helped them by giving them something they could see so they have confidence in what they could not see.

Remember, faith is being confident of things we can’t see. So, God gives us things we can see to encourage us to believe in what we can’t.

Obviously, no building can contain God. Nothing we can build can confine Him.

It didn’t then. We can’t now.

Of course, how many of us have slipped and said a bad word out there and not thought a thing about it? But would never use such language in the church building.

Why? B/C we assume God is here and not out there.

Obviously not the case. But we assume.

The temple gave them a place to experience His presence. When they came to the temple to worship and sacrifice they experienced something. They felt it. They smelt it. It was real.

God stayed in the temple as long as Israel was faithfully obedient. It lasted a while.

By the time Jesus showed up God was long gone. Still, they were still practicing as if.

Yes, God was still there b/c God is everywhere. But He no longer gave them the opportunity to experience his presence like he once had.

Their unfaithful disobedience created a distance between them and God.

Solomon built the temple. Placed the Ark in the Holiest room. God entered and was there for the ppl to experience everything God’s presence offered.

Everything was completed. This was a major milestone.

Then Solomon addressed the ppl and reminded them that God had kept his promises up to that point and would continue if they kept up their end of the deal of the Mosaic deal.

Solomon talked to the ppl in the presence of God.

Next, he talked to God in the presence of the ppl. He prayed.

This was his prayer of the dedication of the temple.

In his prayer he addressed the fundamental conditions of a good and close relationship between God and the ppl.

There is great theology in this prayer. And great practical relational advice.

Solomon’s Prayer

This prayer is 30 verses long. I’m not going to read it. I’m just going to hit the highlights.

I would encourage you to read the passage later w/ these highlights in mind.

He prayed the Davidic promise. It’s good to pray the promises of God you find in the bible to encourage yourself of what God will certainly do.

The Davidic promise is that only descendants of David will sit on the throne and reign. There may not always be a descendant of David on the throne, but only descendants of David can sit on the throne.

Solomon was David’s 10th son.

Solomon acknowledged that no building can confine God. But His presence in it proves His interest in the prayers of His ppl.

And, while the ppl sacrificed animals as part of their worship, they were to pray and ask God to forgive them for their sins.

Even in times when they were generally faithful and obedient, they would mess up and needed to own their mess ups and ask God forgive them and restore them.

God promised He would. He would remove their guilt, both the responsibility of their guilt and the feelings of their guilt freeing them from the bondage and weight.

And, the consequential punishment would end.

Until the punishment ended, it should be a wake-up call that something was wrong in their relationship.

Lost battles when God promised to protect them. God is their warrior and promised to fight their battles for them.

So, if they were losing there was something wrong in their relationship they needed to fix.

Lack of provision. Climate change. A hot-button political issue today. But God has always used the climate to bless for obedience and punish for disobedience.

If it’s not raining enough, drought conditions, famine, plagues, blight, mildew fouling the crops, enemies besieging them, diseases afflicting them, then that should be a sign that something is wrong in their relationship that they needed to fix.

There might be something in this for us today.

If we leave God out of the climate change equation it is the height of arrogance. Yes we need to do a better job as stewards of the environment.

But, acknowledge it’s God who is in total control.

After Solomon prays the promise of God to forgive and restore what had been taken away due to their disobedience, he praised God for the promised restoration that would come.

He praised God that non-Israelies who saw the benefit of being in God’s presence could come to the temple, worship and experience it for themselves.

They were welcome to believe and receive everything He offered them.

He praised God for battles won. Protection that was restored for obedient ppl.

He praised God for the restoration after captivity. A hint of what was coming years later w/ Babylon.

As bad as that would be God would restore them in the land and allow them to rebuild the temple that would be destroyed.

He didn’t have to. But, he promised he would.

And Solomon praised God for His attention to their prayers. Communication is critical for a relationship to be good. And, a good relationship results in good communication.

God would listen and speak thru the priests and prophets. When the ppl prayed what God told his reps He would do, He was eager to do it.

All this b/c God’s presence was in the temple.

We don’t have a building like this today. But, we do have a temple.

Much of this is available to us and more when we experience the presence of God in His temple today.

Where is this temple? It’s not a building in Jerusalem, but it’s there.

It’s not a building at all.And, it’s here.

It the ekklesia.

We translate that church. But, it’s not a place, it’s the collection of ppl who believe.

God moves in when a person comes to faith.

Just like the smoke that entered the building, the HS enters every believer at the moment they believe.

Then, just like Israelis in the OT, just b/c God was in the temple didn’t mean they always experienced his presence.

They had to go and worship, sacrifice and confess, and work at developing and maintaining a good and close relationship w/ Him to experience everything He offered.

We do, too. The relationship is unconditional. But, the experience is not.

What’s possible when we live in His presence?

What do we get when worship in the temple?

Worship means communicating God’s worth as the most important thing in your life. It is not confined to what we do on Sundays here and should be practiced every day of the week.

Our Temple

The moment a person comes to faith they become part of the temple and God moves in.

We are His temple

We have the opportunity to experience His presence for the rest of our lives.

John 14:16–17 NIV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 3:16–17 NIV

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Certainly, God is not confined to a group of ppl no matter how big that group may be.

But, He is present in us giving us the ability to sense a little of what He offers to encourage our faith to be confident in what we cannot sense.

We are changed in His presence.

I remember the night I came to faith. I felt different. I knew I was different on the inside. I couldn’t see it. But God could.

I had been changed by God, baptized by the HS when He moved in.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

We are sealed in His presence

God puts his seal of ownership, like a wax seal on an envelope or a brand permanently burned into the skin of an animal.

Ephesians 1:13–14 NIV

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

We are sealed as a guarantee of our reservation in heaven. A deposit or down payment that God will fully pay off when we leave this life for the next.

We are empowered in His presence

Ephesians 1:19–20 NIV

and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

We have access to the same power in amount and effectiveness that raised Jesus from the dead.

We have the power to serve using gifts He gives us.

And He fills us giving us the ability to do jobs He calls us to perform.

He guides us in His presence

John 16:13 NIV

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Just like the pillar of smoke that guided Israel thru the wilderness, the HS will guide us thru the wilderness that is our life on earth.

We have wisdom in His presence

1 Corinthians 2:12–13 NIV

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.

We have the ability to understand what God makes available and how to use it in situations we face here.

The HS is our guide and all these resources help us navigate life.

We get fruit in His presence

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

We feel these. These effect us.

Just like the peace that Sara’s dad feels when family members sit in his presence, we feel peace when we sit in God’s presence.

We can still be saved but only access little of all this.

The NT phrases are “walk in the Spirit”, “live in Christ”, “remain in the vine”.

These are all phrase that mean we spend every minute of our lives in close proximity to God.

As a result, we access, unlock for ourselves every good thing He offers in its maximum to use in every good and hard situ we face.

What was available to Israel b/c God’s presence was in the heart of their temple is available to us when God occupies the heart of your life.

His presence makes a difference.

His presence is important and impactful, powerful and promised, for us to access everything He offers.

Application

There is really only 1.

Do you practice the presence of God on a daily basis?

Or do you get on w/ your day w/out acknowledging His presence in your heart or his value to you?

Israel ended up getting on w/ their lives, business on the Sabbath, marrying those who do not believe, worshiping other gods among them, and leaving God in the temple alone.

God won’t leave you the way He left the temple, but He will limit what you experience of what He offers.

Practice the presence of God every day.

His presence will make a positive difference in your life every time you experience it.

You will feel it, know it, and live it.

Just like Sara’s dad feels the effects of family and friends in his presence.

We feel the difference that effects us when we are in God’s presence.

There is power in His presence that affects positive changes in us.