The Power of His Presence

Welcoming

Good morning! It is such a privilege to be with you today, either in-person or online. Katie and I both have been looking forward to coming down, seeing a lot of familiar faces, and enjoying spending time with you, and just resting! It’s a nice break from work, and before we go back to school! We are grateful to be here. Thank you especially to Pastor Adam for inviting us.

I thought I would take a moment to introduce both myself, and Katie, my wife. For those of you who do not know myself or Katie, we are both Bible College students attending Vanguard College in the same year, and program. We met at Vanguard, and got married just a couple of months ago in June. We are going into our fourth year at Vanguard, with just under two years left in our degrees. Katie and I both feel a call to pastoral ministry - particularly in rural areas and small towns. We both share a love for Canada and particularly Alberta. Both of us are so excited to see where God is taking the church, and excited to see Christians empowered for the work of God!

So yeah, that’s us! We’re glad to be here, and to have some small part in the great things that God is doing in Stettler.

Before we begin, I’d just like to say a quick word of prayer. Would you bow with me?

Prayer

Introduction

As I was praying through what to bring to you this morning, the Lord impressed upon my heart the topic of boldness, and specifically boldness in sharing the gospel. We, as Christians, are equipped with the ability to speak and live in a way that takes boldness, and courage. It is our calling. Some of you may heard the saying “God is in the business of getting souls.” How true! He longs for each one of us to be welcomed into His family. We are precious in His sight! Yet He also uses us to spread the good news boldly. He empowers us to tell others about this amazing message, and to be ready to give a defence for the hope that is in us.

Now, please let me be honest with you… sharing the gospel message with random people freaks me right out! I am not ashamed of the gospel! But every time I go to say something I’m like “oh man, is that guy totally gonna verbally lay me out here? What if he thinks I’m a nut! What if he makes me look like one!?! I can’t afford to look nuttier than I already do!” This usually leads me to go… ah, whatever… I’m sure it’s fine. I then pass the opportunity up. In full honesty, I do not look for opportunities like I should to bring the gospel to light with the unbeliever.

If you can relate, then you know how hard it is sometimes to share the gospel. Sometimes, it is strained. Other times, it’s downright painful. And at other times, it’s just plain awkward! But, friends we should not be afraid to share! What I hope we will see today is that

Through His presence, God empowers us to boldly carry out His plan.

With all this in mind, there are 3 stories I want to share with you from Scripture where we see God’s Presence empowering and emboldening His people to see His plan fulfilled.

Moses and the Burning Bush

The first of these is Moses, looking specifically at his calling to lead Israel out of slavery in Exodus 3-4. This is a very long passage however, so I’m just going to provide a synopsis and read a few key verses for time’s sake.

We know that because of Moses’ fear and stubbornness, God had to empower his brother Aaron as well in order to see His plan fulfilled. As a team, Aaron as mouthpiece and Moses as leader and God’s Word-receiver, they are empowered by God’s presence and boldly carry out His plan. His plan was to rescue Israel and set them up in a new land, fertile and plentiful. His presence can be seen in every moment as He speaks with Moses at the burning bush and onward. His power shines as His presence carries Moses, Aaron, and Israel out of Egypt.

Isaiah in God’s Throne Room

The second story is Isaiah, and we’ll be reading Isaiah 6:1-8.

Isaiah knows he is standing in the presence of the Most Holy God and does not desrrbe to be standing there – he should be dead according to Moses’ experience and the Law given to him.

God initiated this, Isaiah didn’t even think about how to be purified, he was still on the ground thinking he’s a dead man! His guilt is taken away and he is cleansed, not be anything that Isaiah did, but by what God did.

Isaiah is emboldened enough that when God asks who He should send, Isaiah sticks his hand up and eagerly cries out “Oooo, pick me!” Isn’t this how it should be for believers today? When God asks who He should send, who will go for Him, we should be crying out with our hands in the air – Send me! But we can’t do it without His empowering. We have to encounter God and be empowered by God to carry out God’s plan. This is the second example of how God has a plan, comes down and interacts with someone and empowers them. God’s plan, God’s presence, God’s power.

The Believer Praying for Boldness

The last example I want to take you to is Acts 4, and we’re going to take some time on Acts 4:23-31 in particular.

I think out of the three passages, this is the one that gives me the chills the most. When I think about the HS dropping in and shaking the place, I just can’t comprehend it! They all know it’s going to get worse – way worse – all the Apostles except John are martyred in some grueseom ways, even Paul, the Church is scattered by persecution. This Church prays that God’s presence would come down and be in them – with thme – and empower them, give them the power to accomplish God’s plan. What’s the end result? God’s presence comes down with POWER so much so that the foundations of the house are shaken. Déjà vu from Isaiah much? What happens? The believers are so empowered that they go out to preach the message with boldness! What is His purpose? To see His message preached? What is His plan? Well, we said earlier that He is in the business of saving souls, of breaking chains. The Bible is about the Kingdom – that’s God’s plan and purpose. They prayed that God would give them power to see His plan and purpose fulfilled. And His presence came down, mightily, and they were given that power! God’s purpose, God’s presence, and God’s power.

Conclusion

So there’s your 3 examples of God, through His presence, empowering people for His purpose. For Moses,

- Proclaiming to Israel that God was coming to get them (Papa Bear and protection)

For Isaiah,

- He is prostrate and knows he should be dead

- God initiates and cleanses him, and then he’s empowered and emboldened and asks who He will send and Isaiah says “pick me!”

- To accomplish God’s plan to go to Israel and tell them to smarten up

For the believers in Acts, our direct forebearers of the Gospel Message (still at epicentre of Christianity’s start,

- Realise how God has moved in power in Peter nd John

- Don’t pray for safety, pray for that same boldness to continue

- His presence comes and give them power and boldness

What is Our Take-Away?

God empowered them then and He empowers us now. We still have the HS inside of us. Each believer has God’s Presence inside of them. That Spirit gives us power – Luke 12:12 “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say”. So that you can proclaim to whoever you meet, the powerful message of the cross, boldly even! We don’t need to be ashamed, Church, we don’t have to sit back and be worried, we need to get out there and go. As I said before, each person is precious in God’s sight. We can’t afford to wait. We need to ask for God’s presence, to dive deeper into His presence, so that we can have His power so that we can boldly carry out His plan of proclaiming the Gospel Message.

Let’s pray.