Spiritual Leadership Conference 2018: Tyler Gillit

if you have your Bibles go with me tonight to Exodus chapter 33 we'll read a few verses out of Exodus 34 we'll spend the majority of our time tonight in Exodus 33 Thank You dr. chapel for inviting me to preach thank you for being my friend thank you for being a friend to pastors all over the world Thank You Lancaster Baptist Church for the tremendous investment you're making in this meeting I think when we get to heaven we will discover that hundreds of men and women stayed in ministry and when we're encouraged to dream bigger and better things for the kingdom of God as a result of having come to spiritual Leadership Conference it's been my privilege to attend it with our staff and it's certainly my privilege to speak here today I'm grateful for the opportunity the title of the message this evening is a passion for knowing God how badly do you want to know God how desperate are you to know God is knowing God the passionate pursuit and priority in your life I'm convinced that an intimate knowledge of God is the highest priority of the people in churches that experience revival tonight we're gonna meet a man who wanted intimacy with God more than he wanted anything else in the world and experienced a genuine revival as a result so let's look first at Exodus chapter 34 we'll begin our reading in verse 4 and he hewed two tables of stone likened to the first and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him and took in his hand the two tables of stone and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of Lord and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression in sin and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation and moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped there's no doubt in my mind that moses experiences a personal revival in the passage we just read god stands near he descends in a cloud of glory he proclaims the name of the lord did you know that verses 6 and 7 are the most quoted verses in other places in the scripture this is God's self disclosure of himself revealing who he is we could spend a lot of time tonight talking about those attributes but what I want us to see this evening is that God didn't make this revelation of himself randomly he revealed himself specifically to a man named Moses there were a million other people in the wilderness that God have could have revealed himself to but he revealed himself to Moses why because Moses wanted to know God more than he wanted anything else in life and we will never experience personal revival or revival in our churches until God Himself is our highest priority so let's look back at Exodus chapter 33 and let's see what took place to lead Moses to this place of revival I think Exodus 33 shows us Moses his passion to know God look at Exodus 33 verse 1 and the Lord said unto Moses depart and go up hints Val in the people which thou has brought up out of the land of Egypt unto the land which I swear unto Abraham to Isaac into Jacob saying until I seed will I give it and I will send an angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite the amorite in the hittite and the perizzite in the hive ie in the Jebusite unto a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up in the midst of thee for thou are a stiff-necked people lest I consume thee in the way now remember the setting of Exodus 33 Moses had been on the mountain getting the law of God and had been up there too long for the people's taste even though they had just covenant it to worship no god but Jehovah God and to bow down before no before no Idol they made a brazen calf and they began to start worshipping it God says to Moses on the mountain I'm going to consume them right now and I'll start over with you Moses said don't consume him God have mercy on them and he interceded for God's people so at the end of Exodus 32 God plagues the people instead of wiping them out and that's where Exodus 33 picks up with what I'm calling the proposition of God the proposition of God here's what God is saying to Moses Moses I'll give you the land I'll give you the success I'll give you the victory but Moses you won't have me now most people would have considered that to be a dream offer God's going to give me all the success that I want economic success political success financial success with no obligation to him the offer was you can have the blessings without having to worry about a relationship with the blesser you can have the gifts without having to worry about the obligations of serving the giver you can have the land but you won't have the Lord no Moses and the people could have taken God up on that offer most people would have they could have gotten up in Exodus chapter 33 and proceeded to the promised land and gotten all of their blessings as an angel went before them but if they did there would be no Exodus 34 there would be no glory cloud descending God would not have come down to stand with the man Moses there would have been no self-disclosure of himself why would God make such a proposition to Moses and to the people of God because God wants to see if we want him for his blessings or if we want him for him he wants to see if we want the land or if we want the Lord he wants to know are we merely seeking his hand or do we long to seek his face are you and I going to be satisfied with the outward indicators of ministry success but with no real experience of the power and presence of God if you could pastor the big church and preach in the big conference and have the social media following in the praise of people but it meant no time to pray no time to dig deep in the word no time to really get to know your God would it be worth it ladies and gentlemen the land without the Lord is just dirt the blessings are empty without the blesser the gifts of God are meaningless without the giver God has nothing greater to give his people than himself and could it be possible that many times when we pray for revival what we're really praying for is for the land and not the Lord we want the effects of revival we want the bump in a attendance we want there being altar call - stroke our egos we want the expanded budget or the big buildings that might come from revival but I'm convinced God tonight wants to see if we want him for his blessings or if we want him for him the idea that we can have success without the presence and power of God is an illusion there is no such thing as success without God and by the way there is no such thing as failure when you have him so we notice first of all the proposition of God well how does Moses respond to God's proposition look at verse 7 and Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp afar off from the camp and called it the tabernacle of the congregation and it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation which was without the camp and it came to pass when Moses went out unto the tabernacle that all the people rose up and stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle and it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses and all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose up and worshiped every man at his tent door and the Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend and he turned again into the camp but his servant Joshua the son of nun a young man departed not out of the tabernacle I want you to notice the priorities of Moses Moses said it's not enough to have an angel I want you it's not enough to have the blessings I want the blesser so Moses pitches a tent called the tabernacle of the congregation it literally means the tent of meeting a few things I noticed about this place number one it was a special place this is not the same thing as the tabernacle that will be built later in Exodus it's little more than a common tent but it was a special place - Moses it was a special place in the place had a specific location the Bible says it was outside the camp it was far outside the camp the tent of meeting wasn't inside the camp it was outside the camp was where the people lived the camp was where the every day was happening the camp was where the demands were the camp was where the calendar was full the camp was where the emails and the counseling sessions and the staff meetings were happening if Moses was going to meet with God he was going to have to get outside the camp it was a special place it had a specific location for a singular purpose it says everyone which sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle of the congregation the singular purpose was simply to meet with God so Moses created a place for the singular purpose of seeking God he had a place where he could go when he needed to leave the pressures in the stress of leadership in the ordinary life that was hemming him in to come into the presence of God himself and the Bible says that when Moses entered into the tabernacle that God entered into the tabernacle a cloudy pillar descended on a common tintin a man talked with God face to face whatever else revival maybe it starts there with meaningful to wake munication with a holy God now here's the convicting thing to me this tent of meeting wasn't like the tabernacle that will be built later access to God in this tabernacle was not restricted to a priest it was not restricted to Moses it says clearly that the tent was for everyone that wanted to serve the Lord but verse 8 says that when Moses went to the tent of meeting the people rose up and stood at their tent door they watched Moses go outside the camp and when the cloud fell on the tent they fell down and worshiped but they did it from their tent door the people were content to worship God from afar apparently knowing God was not enough of a priority for them to rearrange their schedules to break away from all that was happening inside the camp so they could get outside the camp and meet with God themselves do you know why we don't know God like we should do you know why we don't experience the perpetual revival dr. Gibbs was telling us about this morning it's not because God doesn't want us to know him it's not because God doesn't want us to be revived it's not because he's told us to stay out or because we can't know him like some other preacher or like some other Christian knows him you know I we don't know God we don't know God because we have no tent of meeting we have no tabernacle of the congregation our churches are full of people that come to church on Sunday and hear a Word of God from the preacher but never seem to begin to the Word of God to get a word themselves and we all know that you can't get to know God deeply in 60 minutes on a Sunday in a crowded auditorium you know what I found out I found out that a preacher can't know God deeply when he's always in a hospital room making visits though we needs to do that a preacher can't always know God deeply when he's answering emails or returning phone calls all the time my college ambassador would often are mine but my pastor in college would often tell me the enemy of the ministry is the ministry because a thousand good things will come along and crowd out the best thing and the best thing is knowing God aw Tozer said it as well that we accept the hard truth now the man who would know God must give time to him he must count no time wasted which is spitting the cultivation of his acquaintance he must give himself to meditation and prayer hours on end so did the Saints of old in so must we if we will follow in their Train may not be in adequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the kingdom like little children through the marketplace chattering about everything but pausing to learn the true value of nothing and I want to ask your preacher Christian what's happened to your tent of meeting when's the last time you broke away from the ordinary broke away from the calendar and got outside the camp and found a special place for a singular purpose of meeting with God because if there had been no tabernacle of the congregation in Exodus 33 there would have been no glory cloud descending in Exodus chapter 34 if we don't prioritize seeking God there will be no revival it's got to be a priority let's see what Moses in God talked about in the tent of meeting that conversation takes place in verses 12 through 23 and Moses said unto the Lord see thou say us unto me bring up this people and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me yet thou has said I know thee by name and thou hast also found grace in my sight now therefore I pray thee if I have found grace in thy sight show me now thy way that I may know thee that I may find grace in thy sight and consider that this nation is thy people and he said my present shall go with thee and I will give the rest and he said unto him if thou presence go not with me carry us not up hints for wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight is it not and that thou goest with us so shall we be separated I and thy people from all the people that are upon the face of the earth and the Lord said unto Moses I will do this thing also that thou has spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name and he said I beseech thee show me thy glory and he said I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy and he said thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live and the Lord said Behold there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by that I will put thee in the Clift of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by and I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts but my face shall not be seen notice lastly tonight the passion for knowing God Moses makes three requests in the passage we just read he says God I want to know your way god I want to sense your presence God I want to see your glory he says in verse 13 show me now your way that I may know thee Moses said I want to know your way Moses said I've come to this place for one purpose I want to know you so show me your way a lot of times when we come to God we don't say show me your way we say listen carefully God why I show you my way listen to me tonight you can't know God or have revival while you're going your own way there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death and you can waste a lot of time going to church and coming to conferences and serving in ministry because if you're not willing to go not to go God's Way you're never gonna know him many of the issues in our lives and in our ministries because we're going to God and asking him to bless our way and he loves us much too much to do that if we want to know God we have to want to know his way then he says in verse 15 I want to sense your presence though remember the proposition from earlier my angel will go with you God said he will drive out your enemies but I won't go and what does Moses say he says if you're not going I'm not going do you have anybody in your life where you say if they're not going I'm not going oftentimes folks will ask in our church folks will ask my wife and I to come over for dinner we have two small children will and Ana eight and six and if the family is an older family and they're not used to having young children around sometimes they'll ask could you find a babysitter for will and Ana now when they do that I'm thinking to myself it's one of just a few nights where I don't have a deacons meeting don't have a surgery to go pray over not preaching in a special meeting at another church these off nights for me are pretty rare and you want me to come eat dinner with you and leave my children at home with the babysitter I find a nicer way to say it but you know what I say if they're not going I'm not going that's how Moses feels about God God I don't want the milk and honey I don't want the Promised Land if you're not there I don't want it I'd rather be in the desert with you God than in the promised land without you I'd rather be poor with you than rich without you I'd rather be in a small town in a small church and a small out-of-the-way place than with you in a mega to them without you in a mega church he says I'm fine if nobody knows me just as long as I get to know you there's nothing Moses wanted more than the presence of God if there ought to be nothing we want more in our lives and nothing we want more in our ministries than to sense the presence of God with us he says I want to know your way I want to sense your presence I want to see your glory what an astounding request the glory of God is his weightiness he says I want to know what makes you so weighty what makes you so important what makes you so great notice what he said he said show me your glory he said I can't speak for the rest of the million people out here but I'd like to see your glory ladies and gentlemen God is only going to give us as much glory as we really want so if we're satisfied with the song and a sermon and worship from afar then that's all we're going to get if we want to talk about revival and sing about revival while prioritizing everything imaginable above our personal relationships with God we're never going to know God deeply and we're never gonna have revival I'm convinced tonight that your priorities reveal your passion and if your passion is to know God there nothing that you prioritize above it now it's interesting God doesn't answer Moses like Moses thinks he tells Moses Moses you can't see my face and live but go up the mountain and there's a place by me and by the way where's the glory it's in a place by him he says I'll put you in the cleft of the rock and I'll pass by you I'll only let you catch a glimpse of my glory then in Exodus 34 which we read about at the beginning of the sermon we find that God does descend in the cloud his presence stands by where Moses is standing and passes by where he is in the rock and as God passes Moses by he proclaims the name of the Lord you see his name reveals his character and his character is what makes him so glorious and after Moses hears that declaration of the name of the Lord he knows he has experienced God he knows he has glimpsed God's glory and it says he falls down to worship now what does God declare about himself that is so glorious that it causes Moses to fall down and to know he's seen a glimpse of God's glory well on the one hand is that God is merciful and full of grace and that he abounds in goodness but on the other hand somehow at the same time he also abounds in truth on the one hand he forgives the sins of thousands but on the other hand he will by no means clear the guilty and when Moses got a glimpse just a glimpse of the fact that God is on the one hand full of grace yet on the other hand full of truth the Bible says he fell down and worshiped because that was the glory of God that ladies and gentlemen what Moses we caught a glimpse of you and I can fully see in the person of the Lord Jesus John said and the word was made flesh the word tabernacled among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth John says when the word was made flesh the presence of God tabernacled among us we didn't just get a glimpse of God's glory we beheld it we observed it we stared at it and as we observed him we noticed that he was full of grace and truth now most people are heavy on grace and light on truth or heavy on the truth and light on grace but not Jesus because he was God a very God he had just as much grace as he had truth and just as much truth as he had Grace and that was the glory of God John said now of course we know that no where was that amazing combination of grace and truth more on display than at the cross of Christ there you see as Christ hangs there suspended between heaven and hell a God who's full of truth God can't just clear the guilty so he visits the iniquity of every generation but because he's a God of grace he visits his iniquity not on us not on our children not on our children's children but upon his child upon his only begotten Son ladies and gentlemen why do you get to know grace and why did Jesus know truth on the cross so that so that you could know God how badly does God want you to know him so badly he sent his son to the cross and so the question tonight is how badly do you want to know God

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

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Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, leadership, conference

Id: _b5Clauzvyo

Length: 29min 19sec (1759 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 16 2018