The Cloud

[Music] okay let's play let's look to the Lord father thank you for your word how it's precious how he gives us understanding how everything in your word is for our benefit lot for our revelation illumination encouragement correction exhortation Lord even rebuked Lord it all does is good because you've spoken it and you only do good things so Lord reveal things to us again today in the name of Jesus amen amen praise the Lord let's go to the first book of Corinthians chapter 10 first book of Corinthians chapter 10 we'll start at verse 1 just read a couple of verses ok Paul's writing to the Corinthian church suppose the Corinthian church hymn anyway was just like us genuine church they were Pentecostal and charismatic because they believed in spiritual gifts in fact they used them a bit much and they had a few problems and Paul was trying to put them straight she was like oh yeah so here's what Paul says in this part of the the epistle for I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact ok it doesn't want us to be ignorant God doesn't want us to miss this brothers and sisters that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea verse 2 they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea yeah you're not ignorant of that no you've been baptized in water and into the cloud what happened when you were baptized in water you literally got in to some water and you got submerged into water so that you were in the water and the water covered you and you couldn't breathe and you would have died if you'd stayed there yeah what happened when you were baptized into the cloud and I heard a pin drop I was like I have no idea what he's talking about well God doesn't want us to be ignorant of baptism in water which is repentance declaration of you're a Christian and then twice just as he says baptized in water he says they were also baptized into the cloud yeah so it says they passed through the sea they were under the crowd and then they weren't just passing through the sea they were baptized into water and they were baptized into the crowd right if we we've all read that do we believe that has God said that is that true is it something we should experience okay so you've been baptized in water and you've also been baptized into the crowd good glad we've established that so what happened when you were baptized into the crowd did you see a cloud well you saw the water did you enter the crowd did you walk about in the crowd could you touch the crowd what you can't actually touch a cloud it's it's amazing how often the Bible talks about this cloud so often that we often just take it for granted we know what it means but do we know what it means because he starts because he then goes on through the Epistle explained in other fundamentals but he starts yeah he starts with water baptism and cloud baptism and not many churches have as their fundamental list of beliefs cloud baptism now to be a member of this church a full member obviously anyone can attend but to be a full member you have to be well to be a Christian you have to be baptized in water that was the that the key requirement for belief in Jesus in the first place baptism water baptism what about cloud baptism have we seen the cloud do we understand the crowd what is the cloud the Bible talks about this cloud all the time talks about it in Genesis talks about it all the way through the Old Testament talks about it in the New Testament and it talks about it in the book of Revelation so when you want to understand something especially a word the word cloud and I in Hebrew what you do is the lower first mention you go to the first place it's mentioned in the Bible because their God is laying a foundation of what the understanding of the cloud is so let's go to the first time the crowd is mentioned Genesis chapter 9 verse 12 Genesis chapter 9 and verse 12 why Genesis chapter 9 why not in the garden in the beginning why not in the Garden of Eden why not Genesis one two and three because there were no clouds the cloud only appeared after Noah's Flood if you remember in Genesis there were no clouds it didn't rain water came up the earth and watered everything a mist on the ground but no crowds first time cloud appears was after mankind had rebelled and lost everything then God chose a cloud he starts to talk about crowd first time the word cloud is mentioned is here in Genesis 912 God said this is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you whenever you see that word covenant God's saying something so important you can't overestimate it a covenant meaning God is making a promise to you ratifying it with an oath okay God doesn't need to give off when God says something it's true so if God's saying it giving a covenant ratifying it as an oath it is so another word for covenant is testament we call the Bible the Old Testament the New Testament we're saying it's God's covenants God's promises you're saved through what God promises you through his covenant I'm making a covenant this is the sign of the covenant that I'm making between me and you and every living creature with you a covenant for all generations to come so it's a pretty important one it doesn't it doesn't disappear I've set my rainbow in the cloud and I first time mentioned he doesn't say he's put the rainbow in the sky he's not put the rainbow in the sky God's very clear where he puts the rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the Covenant between me and the earth whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds okay so if you want to see God's covenant God tells us you have to look at the cloud not the sky why is God saying that he wants us three times there he mentions cloud actually if you go on it's mentioned more so the important the emphatic sign that God is wanting us to look at isn't even the rainbow he wants us to look at the cloud and in the cloud is the rainbow when you get to heaven there's a rainbow around the throne the Covenant still stands but you've got to see the crowd actually when people are taken to heaven the taken in crowds so can we see right at the beginning of Genesis how important the cloud is it's a symbol where you see God's promise in the crowd so if you if you can't see the cloud you can't see God's promise if you're not baptized into the cloud you'll not that's probably yeah if you don't baptize in water of repentance you can't follow Jesus you can't follow Jesus unless you repent of sin you've got to baptized in water the old nature goes the new nature comes the cloud is just as essential we have to see the cloud I will not fully understand what God promises his covenant because his covenants there yeah that logical me and don't think it's logical we're the cleverest two people in the room so you need to listen to us okay jump to the end of the Bible then I always like to stab them again and then go straight to the end and feel the little bits in between that's how some of you watch movies isn't it you watch the first bit watch the am bit and then you watch the middle bits figure you know when you watch your series on TV you watch the beginning and the end and then figure and then you know what's happening in the middle no that's how I watch them so revelation 1 let's go to the end of time Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 okay so Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 so here's the declaration at the revelation of all things the end of time look he is coming with the clouds why because that's his promise so he establishes a covenant at the beginning I'm not going to kill you all again and the ultimate promises Jesus is coming how do we know the clouds now Jesus said this over and over again in fact at his trial when they they were going to nail him to the cross he said you will see me coming with the crowds and my father's glory he's coming with the clouds why because the cloud is the symbol of everything God's promised it's the symbol of God's presence himself it's the symbol of God's covenant in fact whenever God does something there's a cloud appears first it's the pattern that God always follows when God's going to do something say something appear bring with presents bring revival he brings a cloud so if we don't see the cloud we're not gonna get what's going on because we told to look for the cloud in fact the children of Israel spent their Our Lives following a cloud did you know that that's how they knew they were following God did they see God no this our cloud look at that in a moment so from beginning to end this cloud is essential so you're under the cloud you baptized in the cloud can you see the cloud do you understand what the cloud is is it important in your life is it an essential attribute of your daily walk okay so why the crap what's in the cloud well we've seen God's promised his covenant but here's an amazing thing God's in the cloud yeah go to Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 4 now all the prophets spoke of this even the oldest writings like the book of Job said that God covers himself in a impenetrable cloud it's mentioned throughout the Bible I like how Ezekiel sees it Ezekiel's going to have a vision of God the Son of Man is going to see angels and and the cherubim he's going to see similar to what we read earlier the throne room of Revelation chapter 5 God's throne but what does he see first I looked I saw a violent storm coming out of the north an immense cloud with flashes of lightning surrounded by brilliant light the center of the fire looked like glowing metal so Ezekiel is trying to describe how he encounters God and the first thing he says is I saw a cloud but there was something in it like glowing metal brilliant light it goes on to say in verse 5 fire Fyers there look like four living creatures remember we've just looked at the four living creatures in Revelation five so he goes into the cloud so if we jump ahead to verse 27 we don't have time to read the whole chapter jump to verse 27 of ezekiel chapter 1 so he goes into the cloud what does he see in the cloud I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal you know who was shining glowing gold and bright as a full of fire and that from there down he looked like fire and brilliant light surrounded him like the appearance of a rainbow in the cloud what's the rainbow in the cloud God's promise God's covenant who's in the cloud God Himself who's the ultimate covenant that God has made with us the Covenant of His Son Jesus Christ the New Testament when Jesus took the bread and wine which will be taken in a moment he says this is the blood of the new covenant the new testament how did they see it they saw it in the crowd yeah so was the radiance around him this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord when I saw it I fell face down and I heard the voice of one speaking so what else do you experience in the crowd you hear the voice of God yeah covenant presence glory God Himself the voice so all these things are happening when Ezekiel's baptized into the cloud yeah are you baptized into the cloud you see this is a theme throughout the whole Bible look at Psalm 97 in verse 2 now there's hundreds of references I'll just give you a couple so that we we've got a foundation here clouds and thick darkness surround him righteousness and justice to the foundation of his throne fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side his lightening lights of the world the earth sees and trembles so here in David's arms describing the presence of God again an experience of encountering God and he says he's surrounded by a cloud so to get into God's presence to see all this stuff to hear his voice you actually have to get through the cloud you have to enter the cloud so it's no good just seeing this cloud it's no good just believing that God is in this cloud we're supposed to enter it okay but we know Jesus came we know Jesus brought the cloud with him you do know that let's just look at that just to prove that Luke chapter 9 and verse 34 so Jesus is with his disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration and Peters talking to Jesus interrupting him actually we're very careful when you interrupt God he's not going to be happy about it I mean the average person won't be happy if you interrupt them but God's not happy when you interrupt his son and try and correct him or tell him what to do so Peter speaking telling God what to do again as he as he used to do while he was speaking a cloud appeared and covered them so it didn't appear and they just looked at it he covered them and and they were afraid as they entered the crowd they weren't afraid in the presence of Jesus noticed that they were talking with Jesus in fact they were so familiar with the physical presence of Jesus they were happy to correct him and interrupt him yeah you remember Peter before this this is a bit Caesar Phillipi this is a mount hermon Peters already told Jesus that he's wrong for saying he's gonna die you know and Jesus says get behind me sit and you think Peter had learned his lesson but no he's correcting God again and so God says well I'll show you something I'm gonna take you into the cloud that'll shut you up let's see if you keep talking when you enter the cloud a voice came from the cloud so the clouds now we mentioned three times in literally you know 20 words three times the clouds we mentioned saying this is my son whom I have chosen listen to him so God the Father the voice of God the Father not Jesus because Jesus is there with them he's speaking where from the cloud so if they weren't in the cloud they wouldn't have heard the voice which is what the prophets said yeah and hopefully that shook Peter up yeah because it scared him and it reminded him of whose presence he was in not just the Son of God he was in the presence of the Trinity because the crowd is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit okay baptized into the cloud talked about they talked about this event for the rest of their lives so Jesus was crucified rose from the grave as he predicted that very day that that event happened and then in Acts chapter 1 and verse 9 Acts chapter 1 and verse 9 Jesus is going to ascend to heaven he told them this they didn't want it to happen they would prefer the familiar physical presence of Jesus it was more comforting to them but that's not how God works God says it's better that he goes away and sends the Holy Spirit to us because he can live within us the physical body of Jesus can't but the Holy Spirit can so after Jesus said this he was taken up before very eyes and a cloud hid him from their sight right so their last vision physically of Jesus was what he entered a crowd so I'm sure for a while they kept looking at that cloud wondering if he was gonna come back out is that a fair assessment of human nature I wonder if like they were following that cloud for ages you know along the Mount of Olives as it was blowing away and you know I'm sure they could have set up a church called the Church of the cloud at that point and they said it sees Jesus in that cloud you know and as the years went by people had looked at the clock that the cloud would have still been there you know I says he's in the cloud but what have we already read when he comes back he comes back with the cloud yeah so they saw it they experienced it they heard the voice they see the Covenant they experienced the presence they try to describe the glory and the light and the beauty and the fire and everything that is in the cloud but the main concept in the Bible is they're supposed to enter that cloud that's why the cloud came down it didn't come down in Apia they entered it now the Apostles entered it but throughout the Old Testament that was a sign of entering God's presence so if we go back to where it happened previously Exodus chapter 24 verse 15 so this is the first time someone enters the cloud now people had seen it from a distance they knew God's glory was in it they knew it represented God but they not entered in there not been baptized into it they not entered the crowd okay so God comes down on a mountain so when Moses went up on the mountain the cloud covered it so when Moses went up to meet God to get the Ten Commandments and the the design of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant and all the equipment what did he do he entered the cloud but first the cloud came down so everyone saw the cloud before anyone entered the cloud just like on the Mount of Transfiguration verse 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai for six days the cloud covered the mountain and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud right now we didn't read this on the Mount of Transfiguration but you'll read that Jesus told the disciples who he was yeah Peter confessed their out the Christ the Son of the Living God he just told them he was gonna die and rise again then it says then six days later he took them up the mountain why did Jesus do that because Jesus is acting out exactly the the prophecy if you like of what God wanted to do to his people now as Jews the Apostles should have understood that six days later the clouds gonna come down the clouds gonna settle on the mountain and then what's going to happen there's going to be a voice from the cloud verse 16 the Lord called to Moses from within the crowd but that's not the plan what's the plan to end to the crowd yeah to the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain yeah they saw the cloud most of the people saw that well if they all saw the cloud this they knew that God's voice was innate they heard the voice they knew God's glory was in it they knew God's presence was in it but they weren't going to enter it verse 18 then Moses entered the cloud as he went on the mountain and he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights symbolic of Noah's Flood where the cloud came after so God got Moses into the cloud right it seen the glory it heard the voice but now he was going to end to the cloud when he entered the cloud the Bible says he saw God face-to-face and God gave him the Ten Commandments and the design of the tabernacle and all the temple equipment yeah but most of the people didn't they watched it it was an event that they were spectators at that's the problem today we all know people that have experienced God in a powerful way entered the crowd met God God spoke to them appointed them to a position of leadership perhaps as he had Moses but many people just watched that that's not entering the cloud that's watching it that's observing it that's recognizing it's God they saw the glory they are a device they saw it come down but they didn't go in they stood at the bottom of the mountain and went home and said we saw the cloud today well that's wonderful but Moses went in and he didn't come out for forty days that's when they built the Golden Calf because they thought where's the pastor gone past the disappears into a cloud for forty days well that's great isn't it when's he gonna come out so what happens next let's jump ahead let's go to Exodus chapter 33 verse 9 Exodus chapter 33 verse 9 so now Moses has come down the mountain told him off for being naughty and building a golden calf and doing things I shouldn't have done that's where a pastor always does when he's been away on a mission trip he has to come back and tell somebody off for being naughty in the church so as Moses is true as Moses went into the tent the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses the cloud was there but only if the was there well that's not God's plan so the cloud was there now if you read the previous just go to the previous verse verse eight and whenever Moses went out to the tent all the people rose and stood at the entrance to their tents watching Moses until he entered the tents everybody watched Moses go into the cloud every day Ont a good posture look at him going into the cloud Oh bless him it'll be praying frozen you know forgiving us for all the naughty stuff we doing you know and it'll come out and be really nice to us then we'll go away and do what we want again Moses was going in and they're all watching going in that wonderful the glory of God is in there verse 10 whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent the clouds now following Moses or with Moses or Moses with the crowd they all stood and worshiped all they'd worship as they watched the cloud God's presence is here yeah but they're not in it they're watching it they're observing it they believe it they can see it they're experiencing it in some sense you aware through their eyes hearing the voice sound but they're not going in they all stirred and worship each at the entrance to their tent do we want the cloud here in the church well what is the church you see we tend to think you know the building the atmosphere God's in the atmosphere well it might be but God has got somewhere else he wants to be and it's not the atmosphere gods in the building well that might be true but God's got somewhere else he wants to put his crowd and it's not in a building so Moses is getting nowhere he's going in and out of the crowd so gotta exit next chapter Exodus 34 and verse 5 so the Lord came down so the people were disobedient so Moses has to go into the cloud again up the mountain again the Lord came down in the cloud stood there with him and proclaimed his name of the Lord and passed in front of Moses proclaiming the Lord the law of the compassionate and gracious God slow to anger abounding in love and faithfulness so can we see this a pattern of relationship with the cloud Moses has gone in the clouds now come down Moses has dwelt in the cloud heard the voice seen the Covenant got the promises Moses is now coming back ministering to the people the people are now seeing the crowd at cloths hands Moses is still going down still going in to meet with God the clouds coming down but no one else is going into the cloud they're observing this is a pattern you find and it becomes so clear that this there's at this two or three chapters in the Old Testament where it gives an entire narrative about how the Israelites enacted with the clouds they get up each morning look at the cloud and say where's the crowd going today if the cloud got up and moved they pulled the tents up and followed the cloud if the cloud stayed where it was they stayed where they was they knew the crowd was important they knew it was the presence of God but they weren't in it they were just around it they were observing it so in Exodus chapter 40 let's jump ahead a couple of few more chapters Exodus chapter 40 verse 34 Exodus 14 verse 34 so Moses now builds a place that we call the the tabernacle which was the the temple in the pre Kingdom days and they built a holy place and a Holy of Holies where God could meet with his people so when they built it then the cloud notice it said it always says the cloud right it doesn't say God God's in the cloud but they can't see God they see the cloud and God emphasizes that it's emphatically the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle why the glories in the cloud Moses could not enter the tent of meeting well that's interesting because the cloud had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle in all the troubles of the Israelites whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle they were set out but if the cloud did not lift they did not set out until the day that it lifted one more verse so the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day and Freya was in the cloud by night in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels the presence of God never left them lo I am with you always even to the end of the age booked although the cloud was with them God's plan was them to be in the cloud because that's where God was that's what Jesus was showing his apostles look it's not enough that you are just following me around it's not enough that way I'm walking up a mountain you're following me it's not enough that you're listening to my voice I want you to be in the crowd so you experience God so you hear his voice so you see the glory so you feel the fire so you understand the Covenant understand how much she loved but it will scare you because the glory of God is not something you mess about with so the cloud now fill in the whole temple but people are still not going in so is the cloud here is the cloud here now we looked at this in our prayer meetings and in the intercessors meeting but I want to repeat it because I think it's essential something we nearly really need to understand because when the tabernacle ceased to exist and they built the temple exactly the same thing happened when Solomon built the temple hundreds of years later what happened the cloud came back the cloud came and dwelt in the temple again not not left but it had moved from over the ark into a different building because God's presence was with his people is the cloud here now in Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 2 can we go into the King James Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 2 and the Lord said to Moses speak to Aaron your brother that he doesn't come at any time into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat that's the the atonement cover on the Ark of the Covenant which is upon the ark so that he doesn't die for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat so that the priest was to come into the holy place where the cloud was and God says you can only come in when I allow you otherwise you'll die yeah God doesn't want to kill us he wants to give his life now jump to verse 12 I'll not read the whole chapter Leviticus chapter 16 and verse 12 but here we get something that's very illuminating so the priest is to come in I need to take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord and his hands full of sweet in cents beat and small so it fits in the sensor come into the presence of God so with a sensor of fire you know what a sensor is don't you you know I'm like the Olympic torch a funnel thing that you could put flames in coals verse 13 and he shall put the incense on the fire of the sensor before the Lord that the cloud of the incense will cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testament he the ark of the testimony so he won't die now you see what had just happened prior to this Aaron's sons had taken a sensor and gone to offer something to God and God killed them so now God's saying so that you don't die create a cloud first and if you create a cloud so that it covers the Ark of the Covenant where's the Covenant in the cloud you can meet with me and I won't kill you you won't die because of your sins why because you will have created a cloud and when you enter my presence you will enter a cloud and we can meet in the cloud yeah now the reason I put it in the King James is for some reason in the NIV they translate that word cloud and I as smoke it's the only time they do it in the Bible it's the same word it's the word for proud is there a cloud here because that's how you meet with God that's how you hear his voice that's how your sins are forgiven that's how you will recognize the Covenant because the clouds are both the Covenant the rainbow is the Covenant in the cloud so if we're gonna meet with God if we're gonna dwell with the presence and hear the voice and see the glory of God then we have to do what we read at the beginning we have to be in the cloud like the Apostles like Moses like God's plan was but the cloud was in the temple filling the temple who's the temple the church seven times in the Newton the New Testament that there is no temple there's no temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem now the temples gone so where does God dwell he still dwells in his temple in a cloud his church his church is his temple the clouds not gone it just moved to something God always wanted it to be in its moved into us so that now we can be in the cloud but how is the cloud created by the priest now remember if you're a Christian God says you're a king and a priest you are now genuine priests of the Most High you can enter God's presence what did we read earlier at the beginning the prayers and the prayers and the worship of God is the incense that is released before the throne when you release the incense what happens a crowd is created and we enter the cloud and the cloud is in us this is not theory it is a spiritual reality it's something you experience and if you enter the cloud and the cloud is in you you will hear his voice you will experience his glory you will feel the fire you will believe the Covenant why because you will genuinely be in the presence of God and the presence of God will be in you so how were the priests supposed to do that don't just come into my presence come into the cloud create a cloud by burning the incense yeah and that's why the first prayer answered in the New Testament is the prayer of Zachariah because he was a priest you can read it in nothing it's Luke chapter 1 and it says he went into the presence to burn the incense and he as he was burning the incense he saw the angel Gabriel stood at the altar of the incense and then Gabriel says your prayer has been heard why Zachariah had created a crowd through the burning of the incense so God could now meet with him an answer his prayers now Zechariah was a very old man by that time he'd been praying all his life the Bible says he was a just and holy man and his wife was as well it says they were faultless blameless before the Lord but he's only when he created a crowd by burning the incense that God answered his prayer could it be this hypothetical could it be that God can see prayer because she won't create a cloud could it be that because we're not coming into the cloud our prayers can't get through God covers himself with an impenetrable cloud yeah but we're supposed to come in we're supposed to burn our incense what is the incense the Bible tells us the prayers of the Saints so perhaps instead of just shouting out lots of prayers and vain repetitions something Jesus told us not to do when we pray perhaps we should be believing what the Bible says prayer is prayer is a cloud created by burning incense and so if we create a cloud perhaps our prayers will be heard as we enter the cloud you still with me so let's go to Revelation 5 and verse 8 what we just read at the beginning of the meeting so when they go to heaven in a cloud what does Jhansi worship in heaven the four beasts let's go back to the NIV beasts is not a good translation it's a living creature makes it sound like the beast the Antichrist is a totally different word when he had taken it the four living creatures and the 24 eldest remember who we looked at the 24 elders are a representation of the church worshiping God fell down before the lamb each one had a harp they were holding golden bowls full of incense what are they doing creating a cloud burning the incense what are the incense the prayers of God's people when we are praising and worshipping and praying to God when we create a cloud God hears everything God receives everything it's genuine worship it's genuine prayers it's genuine prayer why because the incense from the senses and the bowls is being poured out too many Christians are telling God what to do that's not prayer prayer isn't telling God what to do prayer isn't telling God what you want prayer is releasing incense so that you can meet with God and God's will can be done you can hear the voice understand the Covenant see the glory experience the fire dwell with God so you know what to do and then you can speak according to his will because you're in the presence of Jesus and whatever you pray in the name of Jesus will be granted to you but only if you're in the cloud when they enter God's presence without the crowd God killed them he says don't bring strange fire to me you create a cloud first you enter the cloud now these are a physical metaphors the spiritual they have spiritual meaning to us but they're still true and this is a theme all the way through look at Revelation chapter 8 and verse 3 it's not just here over and over again when God's doing something the first thing he does is see if this incense being burned that's releasing prayers and creating a cloud another angel who had a golden sense to him and stood at the altar which altar the altar of incense he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar the gold and altars the incense altar in front of the throne the smoke of the incense the crowd of the incense sometimes cloud is translated smoke but it's cloud the smoke of the incense together with the prayers of God's people went up before God from the Angels hand did God hear that prayer you bet he heard it why cuz there's a crowd there there's there's incense being burnt it's before the throne from the incense altar so because a cloud is created of worship and praise and then prayer is released into the cloud where God's smelling the incense and experiencing the cloud then God answers the prayers does this make you sense are we in a cloud are we praising the Lord are we burning incense are we releasing our prayers are we entering the glory are we experiencing the fire are we hearing the voice are we recognized in the Covenant are we seeing something we can't quite understand but we know it's something real are we following it direction came from the cloud they looked for the cloud every morning they didn't try and hear a voice or try and see God they looked for the crowd so let's go to Exodus chapter 30 pull this together as I say we've looked at this before in intercessors meetings and prayer meetings but I want to repeat it because I think it's very important to this time so God told them exodus chapter 30 we'll start at verse 34 so God told them what the incense was because if we've got to burn incense to make this cloud we need to know what he did own twe shall I say that again if we've got to create this cloud by burning incense we better know what the incense is because she can't just burn anything before God God won't accept it now what's really interesting is just just go back one verse to verse 33 whoever makes perfume like it and puts it on anyone other than a priest must be cut off from their people there's actually a gap between 33 and 34 the previous section is talking about the anointing oil that God puts on priests right the incense is something totally different it's a totally different substance Pentecostals and charismatics are obsessed with anointing hello I want a greater anointing I want the anointing oil on me I want power and gifting and anointing well the anointing is put on the priests the anointing is what God puts on you incense is what you put on God the incense is not the anointing God will anoint you with the Holy Spirit you're supposed to now release incense and create a cloud from out of you I'm gonna have to keep saying this I'm not sure some of you're not getting this right are you anointed hopefully you've got the holy spirit we're anointed with the holy spirit right that doesn't mean you release incense that means God has put his seal of approval on you now a priests job once he received the anointing was to burn incense and if he was anointed and he got that perfume on him he now would get another substance called the incense and he would burn the incense create a cloud of prayer and worship and praise and then God would smell that not smell the anointing God knows what the anointing is it's him he knows what he's Holy Spirit smells like he knows what his son smells like he puts that on you so he doesn't kill you but now he gives you incense so that you can now release something onto God and a cloud can be created yeah so what's the incense it's not the anointing different ingredients different use so verse 34 then after he talked about the anointing oil then the Lord said to Moses take fragrant fragrant spices gum resin on occur and galbanum and pure frankincense all in equal amounts and make a fragrant blend of incense this is the sacred incense the work of a perfumer it is to be salted and pure and sacred let's just read down grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Ark of the Covenant law in the tent of meeting where I will meet with you why is it there where you got to meet with God because you don't go into God's presence until you burn that until you've created a crowd because God meets with us in the crowd it shall be most holy to you do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves consider it holy to the Lord don't think you can give God reasons of how you're going to approach God you will fulfill his requirements the incense is what God accepts don't you try and give God what you think he should accept verse 38 whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must be katha from their people this incense is not for you to get your satisfaction from it so that God's will can be done in your life it's so that God's will can be achieved in his church and in this world it's not so you can get what you want it's an incense we release that creates the clouds that saw that God's will can be done next verse or is that is that the final that's it that's the last verse to the chapter okay so the key Tallaght the sacred incense have you got some are you using it are you burning it is it creating a cloud now this is a physical materialistic picture after what tours is a spiritual reality but it's still exactly the same principles so there's four ingredients there of the incense these four things must be living and real in your life or you're not burning the right incense and no clouds being created and instead of life you'll get death so there's these four ingredients okay the first one it says take fragrant spices gum resin now gum resin the the highest blend of gum resin which is what this was is Murr there's other different gun resins but the the most prized expensive and the best gum resin in the ancient world was myrrh fact some translations say myrrh have you got myrrh flowing through your life myrrh throughout the Bible is the picture of death now myrrh was present always present at the life of Jesus when he was born it was one of the gifts of the wise men they gave him myrrh when he died on the cross they gave him wine mixed with myrrh to drink when they put him in the tomb they put myrrh in the tomb it is a symbol of the fact that Jesus was going to die myrrh the Egyptians used it in embalming it's it's mentioned throughout the Bible in the Song of Songs Murray's mentioned actually quite a lot anyone guess how many times MERS mentioned in the song of songs seven what a surprise seven times MERS mentioned Marie's first on the bridegroom goes to the mountains of myrrh and then myrrh is put on the bride she has to die to herself to belong to her bridegroom the incense is not acceptable if you are not going to die to yourself you can't do this for your own pleasure you have to do it for God's will to be done you serve God to satisfy his will your will be done your kingdom come not my will Lord but yours be done if you want to enter the cloud and receive everything that is you have to die to yourself what you want what you're addicted to your lifestyle your selfish desires you have to die to that now we know God will bless you we know that but that's not the point that God has to smell the mirror have you died to sin have you died to evil have you died too bad speaking have you died too looking at things you know you shouldn't look at have you died too doing things you shouldn't be doing well if you haven't don't try and get into God's presence or something good will kill something die to yourself they smell murder at the cross they smell Miller at the tomb they smelt murder at his birth when you were around Jesus you know you know he'd come to die for you because you could smell the myrrh we God has to smell the myrrh okay death to self next ingredient Annika Annika is a very mysterious substance in fact it's so mysterious no one knows what it is right because Annika only actually is mentioned once in the Bible so you can't cross a reference ii anywhere now there's lots of theories by historians and theologians about what it is but no one really knows some people say it's mollusk shells some people say it's plant roots some people say it's leaves or a resin there's lots of theories about what only careers and one of the main problems is it wasn't called Annika in the Hebrew it was called shock Elif shakila's and again that only occurs once in the Bible shekel F now when you are worshiping God correctly there's always an element of mystery if you can explain everything you're doing you're probably not worshiping God right aw Tozer said when you worship God you always have to lift off the top of your head and recognize and embrace the mystery of godliness but shake LS that Hebrew word only occurs once but it does mean something in Hebrew very clear actually it means to roll like a lion so when you are releasing the incense God hears the roar of a lion yeah now when you go to Revelation 10 in verse 3 where the incense is ascending you see the prayers and the worships released on earth but as God before the throne it's incense so when you go to real a provision 10 and 3 when God smells the incense what happens in heaven the angel gives a loud shout like the roar of a lion when he shouted the voices of the seven thunders speak where does the thunders come from from out of the cloud that's created by the incense that's roaring like a lion in God's presence so you might think God's not listening God's actually hearing a lion's roar oh he's hearing you can't believe how loud it is in heaven I mean have you have you ever heard a lion roar it curdles your blood it's like what was that one of the scariest things I've ever heard in a Masai Mara in Kenya hearing a lion raw he was a few hundred yards away but that's a sound you want to hear a sound that's what God hears when we burn the incense when we create the cloud it's not just that God's listening God is very attentive he's listening to everything that's happening the angels are roaring like lions Thunder is speaking whenever Thunder speaks in heaven a voice is heard you remember in John's Gospel when God spoke from heaven it says some heard thunder some heard an angel some heard the voice of God which one was it it was all three it depends how close to God you are as to what you hear sometimes if you're really in the crowd you'll hear the voice of God if you're halfway outside you might hear the voice of an angel if you just observe and you'll just hear thunder but God's speaking and if you're in the cloud you know what he's saying John couldn't even write down when the seven thunders said but he heard what they said it's one of those mysteries of the Bible you can't understand what the thunders say well John did he just couldn't write it down couldn't tell anybody else they wouldn't understand it third ingredient galbanum galbanum is a it's the root of a plant and the strange thing about galbanum is it smells not very nice to your senses in fact some commentators say it is a putrid and foul stench today it's a it's a pungent aroma that's so strong it it irritates you make sure eyes water gets on your nerves you don't you don't want to get too close to it why is that part of the incense because you've got to understand God's not bothered he's not interested in whether your flesh your carnal nature is happy about what God's doing you're supposed to be dead sometimes we we we decide will only serve God if we like the circumstances or if we can go along with what God's doing well you better get used to it God will make you do things and lead you things into things where other people it will just get on their nerves you'll notice how most of the people in the bible that jesus answered prayer toe were getting on everybody else's nerves have you noticed that you remember the story of blind Bartimaeus what was he doing he was shouting out son of Jesus son of David have mercy on me he was going to get healed everyone was really happy about that wasn't they no what were they saying shut up tell him to shut up Jesus is here we want to be all nice and polite and friendly and listen to this lovely sermon Jesus has given as he's walking through Jericho and this blind beggar wait shut up tell him to shut up what did Jesus say tell him to come here but he's getting on our nerves he's gonna spoil the meeting we were having a lovely time and now we've got this guy jumping up and down shouting and then when he got healed he was no better he was walking and leaning on your jump following Geelong yeah why'd you have to yield him couldn't you just send him home I've been miserable on his own sometimes you come to church and you go a more miserable than when you came it's because she didn't burn the incense you didn't enter the cloud you didn't see God you didn't hear the voice she didn't enter into the Covenant he didn't see the glory you didn't feel the fire you didn't see the rainbow you didn't experience the presence of the holy spirit entering you and flowing through you because if you had you wouldn't care if you were irritated you just be happy were in the presence of God and that's why people who got on other people's nerves in the Bible with the very ones Jesus often healed the syrophoenician woman was calling out to Jesus and the disciples said Jesus send her away imagine you know when people come to the pastor and say he's here again guess who's come to church this morning will you go tell him to sling his hook tell him to go we don't want him you know thinking of someone now I was he talking about I'm talking about you could be any of us Oh people don't want me there but God does yeah but I don't do anything I just get on peoples nerves well God doesn't care about that God wants to know if you can enter his presence if you're gonna come into the crowd last ingredient last ingredient then we're going to come around the table where we get the word incense from frankincense the final ingredient frankincense again one of the gifts that was given to Jesus by the wise men now frankincense is it's like the bark scrapings of a tree that grows in the Arab desert Arabian desert frankincense doesn't smell of anything unless you set it on fire yeah well I can't smell anything what's this incense he's talking about well you need the fire of the Holy Spirit to come and burn in you before that can be released without the Holy Spirit there is no clout in fact in many ways he is the cloud we baptized into the water and we baptized into the Holy Spirit baptized into the cloud as the fire of the Holy Spirit come into your life because when the fire of the Holy Spirit burns it releases the frankincense the myrrh the on Akashic Elif the galbanum it releases the incense and when the Holy Spirit burns through you the cloud is created and all God's promises become yours because you went to the cloud and we dwell with God so we come to the conclusion then are you in the cloud is the cloud in you are we creating a cloud through our incense and our prayers the Bible says that what we will be caught up to meet him in the clouds that's where we meet with him you know when they burnt the incense there was the older altar of incense but there was also a table at the side of the altar of incense in the Holy Place you know it was on the table bread you see when you when you've burned the incense and a cloud has been created the priests were allowed to eat the bread no one else was allowed to eat it David Ettie once and God saw his faith so he let him off but actually only the priests were out to eat the bread because the priests are the one burning the incense and creating the cloud when we come into the table this morning we're entering the cloud and when you're in the cloud you can it's actually called the bread of the presence because when you're in the presence of God you can receive God's blessing we can take the wine wine was actually give us an as an offering as well in the temple we can receive forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus Christ and we can take the bread of the presence because we're in the cloud in the presence of God can the team come up please so we're going to worship the Lord we're gonna burn our incense we're gonna enter the cloud we're gonna eat the bread we're gonna take the wine because we are the temple of God we're the cloud dwells within us burn your incense don't look at other people you die to yourself you release your incense you let the fire of the Holy Spirit burn through you you don't have to know everything that's happening there's always mystery involved God will hear the roar in heaven as we worship the Lord can the stewards come out please let's burn our incense let's worship the Lord as we come to the Lord's table thank you team

Channel: Royston Bethel TV

Views: 5,073

Rating: 4.8899083 out of 5

Keywords: End, Times, Pastor, Dave, Jones, Bethel, Community, Church, Royston, Barnsley, Revelation, Bible, Study, Preach, Judgement, Fire, Wrath, God, Jesus, Christ, Devil, Satan, Anti, Antichrist, Second, Coming, Signs, Days, Trumpets, Angels, Apocalypse, Maranatha, World, Final days, Prophecy, Prediction, Wars, Repent, Israel, Scripture, Word, Heaven, Hell, Holy, Spirit, Father, Eschatology, Theology, Future, Tribulation, Cloud, Presence

Id: KfTUYDs3a_8

Length: 65min 32sec (3932 seconds)

Published: Fri May 10 2019