The Power Is In His Presence

I want to talk about tonight is two things is his presence and glory presents and glory we if we leave here on Thursday Friday whatever it is that we leave here and we leave saying Oh wasn't Tom Smith a great worship leader we failed if we if we leave saying isn't Tim Ross a great preacher then we failed if we leave saying isn't Wayne Drain an amazing prophet we failed but if we leave saying Jesus is the most wonderful and incredible Savior then we've got there then we've succeeded then we're there and I've kept telling because I've been a bit nervous about this and I just felt the Lord telling me and therefore telling myself you idiot it's not about you it's not about you it never was and never will be and the day is about you it's all gone wrong it's about him it's it's to him for him about him with him through him it's him it's Jesus we are here for the Lord Jesus we are here because of the Lord Jesus and the Ministry of the Spirit the Holy Spirit whenever he comes the first thing he does is he points to Jesus and he points to the father he always wants to point to the Lord Jesus and the father and and it's it's so about his presence it's so about his presence you know it's not so much about trying to get power from God it's about growing in a relationship with God because when there we have the relationship we have the power the power comes the power comes from his presence Christianity is a relational religion it's not about rules it's not about regulations it's it's not about rituals it's about a relationship it always was the clue is in the fact that we believe that God is Trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit do you know what that tells us about God that tells us that God was a relation Oh God before he ever had after have relationship with because God is forever forever been in relationship the phrase the phrase God is love is meaningless outside of relationship because what does it mean to be loved if there's no one to love and the Father Son and Holy Spirit have been loving each other forever for always and they created us in order for us as children and as has been to come in to a relationship that was already happening to join into a family that already existed the Lord our God one God one God I've done enough theology to know that three persons one God Father Son and Holy Spirit and and we it's all about it's all about a having relationship with him healing is in his presence restoration is in his presence healing of broken hearts happens in his presence and I just want to look at a couple of scriptures first of all I think that one that's been key for me for a long time is from Exodus 33 in fact the two main ones are from Exodus 33 Moses says well I will start with the Lord replied the Lord said to Moses my presence will go with you and I will give you rest then Moses said to him if your presence does not go with us do not send us up from here how will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us what else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth you know the only thing that distinguishes us is his presence Moses says she no earlier on the Lord had said because the people of Israel had messed up he said okay Moses take them into the Promised Land but you know what I'm going to stay in the desert because if I go with you then I I may destroy you and I don't want to do that and and at this point Moses says I I'd rather stay in the desert with you than go into the Promised Land without you I'd rather to stay in the Baroness in your presence than have everything else and not have you Andy Croft and I wrote a little book called everyday supernatural and I was just looking through it earlier on and this is us trying to yeah give some practical teaching and you know every time I read it since we it's supposedly we wrote it I keep seeing things that I know I never wrote and it's like I don't know what my name really should be on it because this I think gosh that's really good there's no way that I did that and he sneaked loads of great stuff in and I can't I can't say it better than this so I'm just gonna read you this one little paragraph well I just said a bit of it already when we talk about seeking God's presence we simply mean we are seeking to be close to Jesus our goal should be relationship with Jesus not power from Jesus Christianity isn't complicated it's not about rules it's an invitation to have a relationship with God God's power is never something he sends to us from a distance miracles are not like parcels from Amazon Prime arriving totally disconnected from the sender the power of God cannot be separated from his presence if you are standing next to a fire you know you'll become warm if you jump into a pool you know you'll get wet in the same way if you are close to the Lord his power will be present the power is in the presence and when we seek to be close to God the potential for the supernatural is all around us when we seek to be close to God the potential for the supernatural is all around us one of the many reasons I love that we have Carl Tuttle with us is for me a key moment in my life was in night I think was 1984 when the the first John Wimber and his team came to do the first conference at Westminster central hall and I went along and Karl was leading worship and the teaching was was brilliant it was insightful it was funny it was very biblical and it was fresh the ministry was crazy I mean what the Lord was doing morning noon and night was out of this world but the thing that undid me was the worship it was the worship and and all we did was sing simple love songs to Jesus one after the other and it wasn't particularly tuneful Karl Tuttle is not Eric Clapton Karl Tuttle is not well anyway and it wasn't and it wasn't there you go got my oh I've got it back it wasn't any of that but what it was it was intimate and Jesus was near and I remember there were moments where I just had to stop singing and I just stood there and it's like his love washed over me and and I was healed I was healed as we worship by his presence you know Psalm 22 verse 3 as translated by the Anglican Book of Common Prayer says this the Lord inhabits the praises of his people the Lord inhabits the praises of his people and of course it makes sense because worship praise Thanksgiving adoration it's the language of heaven it's what we'll be doing for eternity and guess what heaven will be filled with his presence the two come together and and that's one reason why we want to spend a good amount of time just just adoring him just worshiping him because everything changes in that place everything changes in that place and you know you see that again and again and if we just turned to some Psalm 23 verse for David says even though I walk through the darkest Valley I will fear no evil for you are with me even though I walk through the darkest Valley I will fear no evil why for one reason for you are with me his presence makes all the difference in his presence all bets are off that's why we fear no evil not because we pluck up courage not because we grit our teeth not because we've memorized something but because we know that his presence is with us and just if you turn the page Psalm 27 verse 4 David again says one thing I asked from the Lord this only do I seek healing what's his one thing he's got so much and he says there's one thing I want that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple for in the day of trouble listen to this he will keep me safe in his dwelling for in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock and that amazing and you see that again and again and again the psalmist says in other place as the deer Long's pants for water so my soul longs after you in a dry and weary land this isn't a picture of Bambi frolicking in the woods this is this is a deer in the desert where there's no water where the deer is dying of thirst and as that deer is is longing for water so my soul longs after you I don't know how I can survive without your presence Lord and the best thing that could happen to us and we're gonna do all the practical teaching that we can in these five days as we encounter him do you know what they as normal or we we dwell in his presence there'll be people getting healed without us praying there'll be people getting healed we've seen it again and again and again and we long for this but you know what there there's one step on from his presence and this is what we're going to get to hear and verse 17 of Exodus 33 and the Lord said to Moses I will do the very thing you have asked because I'm pleased with you and I know you by name then Moses said now show me your glory do you know where my men are ferocious when I read that I thought Moses you greedy so-and-so cut it out mate you know like if anyone seen the glory of the Lord it's mo if anyone seen the glory of the Lord you know the burning bush that would be enough for most of us one burning bush in our lives would be enough but then there was the plagues in Egypt then there was the Red Sea parting when the staff went over it that was pretty neat then then then Sanpellegrino came out of a rock you know by but by by the gallon upon gallon upon gallon or if your foreign by the liter upon liter upon liter it came out like crazy then they were fed from heaven manner six days a week and twice before the Sabbath twice as much and then Moses he's up on the mountain and there's there's fire and and cloud and and his glory and the Moses says towards the end of his life having seen all that now show me your glory now show me your glory Moses leave a little bit for the rest of us please don't be greedy but you know having seen everything of the power when the Lord then when Moses then says to the Lord now show me your glory do you know how the Lord replies he says I will cause all my goodness to pass before you and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion having seen all the power when Moses says now show me your glory the Lord answers with three words goodness mercy compassion that is the glory of the Lord the glory of the Lord is the demonstration of his character every time he moves in power its to show us who he is he reveals who he is it's not powerful powers sake it's revelation and every time every time in the last years I've seen Jesus move in power it's he's taken my breath away I just want to give us a slightly negative story just here years ago when I was a student at Birmingham University we're talking a previous century and there was a healing evangelists came through the city and they hired the biggest the bullring the biggest place at that time in the centre of Birmingham and thousands of Christians went and I went and I sat fairly near the back and I was looking forward to it and there was some there was some seems like good healings taking place but I was sitting two rows behind a guy who had no legs and he was wearing shorts so what you could see is his stumps where his you know at the end of his legs and at one point towards the end of the meeting the Evangelist said now I want you all those of you in wheelchairs to take a step of faith and to get up now and I want you by faith to walk and as I sat there this guy's two friends picked him up by the armpits and they stood him up and then I just sat there watching him frantically moving his stumps faster and faster and faster and I saw him get red in the face and tar start to perspire as he went faster and faster trying desperately by faith to walk and then after quite a while he was exhausted and so were his friends they quietly put him down in his wheelchair they were embarrassed the meeting finished and they wandered off and you know for awhile I just sat there behind him watching him as he just saw thinking recovering his breath and then after quite a while he shrugged and he started to wheel himself away and you know what I have some regrets from that from that evening I wish I'd gone up to him I wish I'd said something I so wish I'd said something but I made a vow at that point and the vow was I never ever ever want to be involved in anything as horrible and cruel and nasty and unloving as that because that is not Jesus that is not Jesus Jesus whenever Jesus moves in power it reveals his kindness his mercy his glory and you know what he wants us to do the same he wants us to live out of the same place and and and this is key because if we spent this week talking about how to move in more power but we didn't acknowledge in the end if it doesn't lead us closer to the Heart of Jesus we have missed it completely we have missed it totally Jesus comes to us in power to reveal his love and there's an amazing I love it I only discovered it a little while ago a little story at the end of March up to one mark chapter 1 verse 40 a man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged him on his knees if you are willing you can make me clean Jesus was indignant he reached out his hand and touched the man I am willing he said be clean immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed you see this leper comes to him and he says if you are willing you can make me clean and then we read he reached out his hand and He healed him and he said I am willing be clean but there's something that comes in between I don't know if you noticed it it says in the NIV Jesus was indignant in some translations or in the NIV there's a a note at the bottom says some manuscripts have Jesus had compassion on him and one or two of the original manuscripts say Jesus had compassion but the majority of them say Jesus was indignant and I puzzled on this for a while why indignant whine Dignan and then it hit me it hit me this man with leprosy which in those days was horrible in every way he came to him and he said if you are willing you can make me clean and I think that Jesus was indignant with something like this if I'm willing really bits are dropping off you you are a social pariah you have no future and no hope you can't stand looking at yourself or anyone looking at you no one wants to go near you your life is full of pain and agony if I'm willing we clearly haven't met yet you and I have not met because you wouldn't ask that question of course I'm willing be clean of course I'm willing his heart is for us his love is for us and every time every time this demonstrates his kindness his mercy his beauty his glory is in his character and over the last few years our gonna bring this I want to make sure we have time to for the Lord to do what he wants to do but you know over the last few years I've gone on an adventure some of you poor things who've been so so have you heard about it I've just stepping out and trying to listen to God and trying to go with what he says and you know seen the most Jesus do the most wonderful things but the thing that gets me every time it's not it's not the power it's the kindness of Jesus and you know what it's the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance more than anything else it's his kindness that leads us to repentance just some of us we just got back a week ago maybe just yeah a week ago we did we went to Southern California and we were there was 12 us we we were involved in some meetings with friends in in 7 different churches including carl's Church and there was one evening we were at this wonderful church called Rock Harbor in Costa Mesa and it was just a simple word it wasn't complicated it was and there's someone here this week you had a terrible relationship breakdown and it's really hurt you and you're reeling from it and you can't get over it and you nearly didn't come tonight and all during this evening you've been thinking about that relationship breakdown and it's the latest in a series and you've had one relationship breakdown after another and you're just thinking now do you know what I just don't know that I could I can do relationships I don't want the pain I don't know that I could face getting close to someone anymore and we said where are you if you're here can you indicate we'd love to pray for you this young lady stood up people gathered round her and prayed fer afterwards they brought her to me and she was just beaming and she said three days ago no two days ago two days ago my boyfriend broke up with me and it killed me and it's been the latest in a series and and she said and her friend said she's not Christian she wasn't a Christian and she said my boyfriend broke up with me and her friends brought her to church that evening for the first time and she was sitting there and she said while those words were being spoken I just knew it was for me I just knew it was directly for me she gave her life to Jesus that and she knew that there was hope for her and she was just beaming one word from him one word from him and everything flipping changed then we were at another church called the garden in Long Beach and this just kills me because it was just a simple word it was there's someone here you had a terrible shock three days ago and the shock is really affecting you and it's confused you and you're hurting and the Lord wants to meet with you who is that this lady stood up afterwards she came to me and she said three days ago it was my 10th wedding anniversary and on my 10th wedding anniversary three days ago my husband walked out on me and it's just devastated me and we have a son it's devastated me and I came tonight completely broken and now I know that there's hope he knows me he knows me he knows my name just and you see the point of these is what it does for people do you see the point of this it's it's like wow you're so wonderful how kind and gracious you're and you know when that happens in the context of people who know each other and love each other I tell you compassion reigns compassion reigns love reigns openness traits we had just two more we had one last last last summer we were in the in the middle of a ministry time and and I just felt the Lord say to me and you know it's never a strong thing it's always is you know I just had a thought that's is that that's a funny thought I wouldn't think that thought is that you lord or is it indigestion and I I decided to and sometimes it's indigestion knowing me but I decided a while ago I made a vow I'm gonna go for it anyway because if I get it wrong nobody if I get no one has died yet but if it's Jesus someone's life can be changed and sometimes you don't know till afterwards you really really don't know till afterwards so I just felt that will say to me there's someone here he's been mocking his friends brought him he doesn't know me he's been mocking everything that's been going on and he's been teasing his friends but he's just prayed just now to me for the first time and he said God if you're really there if this is really true would you speak to me would you show me and his name is Brian and and so I said there's someone here don't know you be mocking you've been teasing your friends you don't know God but just a few seconds ago you set it in your head no one knows you said it except God God if you're real would you speak to me would you show me and your name is Brian where are you Brian he's here and he's heard you and he's told me I didn't quite say it like that I wish can I say I wish I'd said it like that but I didn't say it like that and I said where are you Brian this 15 year old lad walked to the front sobbing sobbing people gathered around him they introduced him to Jesus and I heard afterwards he was going round for the rest of the day he was going round st. to strangers he knows my name he knows my name he knows my name she know just one of those is worth how many failures I don't know but just one of those is worth a heck of a lot of failures because what you see is his kindness his goodness his compassion his mercy last story last story on this and the McGowan law no no because different you know two years ago we had our momentum are there was two years ago a momentum festival and for 20-somethings odd and and towards the end of the worship adjust this thought came into my head there's someone here who's having an affair with a pastor in their church and immediately I was like no way no no no no we're not going there and I I started I say to the Lord I can't I'm not giving that word out I said first of all it goes against our values can you believe ice actually said to the Lord I wasn't gonna obey Him because it went against our values how I'm still alive I do not know but I I remember saying it it's he goes against our values we don't give negative words is to strengthen encourage and comfort that's what it says have you read the book you know and then and then I said and anyway who's gonna respond to a word like that and and how much how am I supposed to say it you know there's someone here you're having an affair with a pastor in your church would you like to come forward now how am I supposed to do that and so I was deciding I can't I can't give it and you know what then the Lord said to me it's not my judgment like it's my mercy and for a moment I don't know how many seconds it was I don't know like I can't tell you but it's like he opened a window in my heart on his compassion and I just wanted to die I was like oh I just felt something of the pain in his heart for this person and it was like okay so I got up and I said I think forgive me if this is wrong but I think there's someone here you're having an affair with a pastor in your church and if this isn't his judgment it's his mercy he wants to rescue he loves you he wants to set you free he wants to get you to a place where you can repent and I said if you can at any time during this meeting my friend Allie who's there she's going to be standing at the side of the stage just go and whisper to her it's you or go to her at the end or maybe tomorrow go to the chat room and tell someone at the end of that meeting this young lady you may be here I don't know this young lady 19 years old she went up to Allie and she was crying and she said it's me she said I'm having an affair with the youth pastor in our church and he's married with three children and she said I feel so ashamed and I feel so broken and I've tried to get out of it but he keeps telling me that I can't get that we mustn't stop that it's right and I just don't know what to do I can't get out of the affair and I can't tell anyone cuz I'm so full of shame and she said I nearly didn't come to this and then she said this and when it was relayed back to me it nearly killed me she said as I was driving here to momentum I said while I was in the car I said to God God I can't tell anyone about this I'm too ashamed if you want me out of this relationship you're going to have to tell someone on the stage about me our friends Richard and Pru bedwell met with her and prayed with her for the next three days she's out of that relationship her life was turned around and all we could think of is Jesus how kind you are father how wonderful you are how amazing you are how amazing you are how does this work just a little word quickly on the prophetic I don't know about you but when I first became a Christian and I knew I was going to go to a meeting where there would be someone who I heard had a prophetic ministry who was gonna be there I confessed my sins seven times I I confess them again and again and again and I remember I wreck every time I reminded God I pointed out you know you know like so how many times we read God his word just in case he's forgotten it and I said to him you say in your word that when when we confess our sins you forgive and when you forgive you forget now if you've forgotten you can't tell them and so I had I did it so you can't tell them because you've forgotten just remember that's what it says and even then in a meeting I'd be looking down because I would be sure that God was out to get me I would be sure that somehow God was out to get me many of us if we're honest we're like that and Jesus wants to heal us by his word and his spirit it's the two together so that that is blown office because it's not true and can I be honest since in the last few years of as God's given me words for people every single one has been seeing something good in the person or encouraging or positive and you know what a few of them I've not been happy with him it's like lord I know this person I can I have a word for this person because I'll have a hmm they don't deserve a word like that and all of that and you know the Lord is not a doting grandfather who doesn't see the issues he's not like that you know what the Lord is like he sees us as he originally created us before sin modest and then he sees us as he wants to remake us and he sees us in a different way and that's why these words are to strengthen encourage and comfort in 1955 in America in the United States there was a lady called Elizabeth Elizabeth Henson she had this old green coat that she'd had for years for years and years and years and it was threadbare it was out of fashion it was horrible and she decided what am i doing with this stupid coat I'm gonna throw it away and as she went to throw it away her son said what are you doing with that coat and he said are you gonna throw it away she said yes he said I want it and she said what are you talking about this is this is useless this is ugly this is hopeless and he says I want it if you're throwing it away you may as well give it to me when she thought what is he going to do with that but she gave it to him that old discarded green coat became the most famous frog on the planet banjo playing dating the most beautiful pig there has ever been he's made movies and he even won an Oscar his name is Kermit and Elizabeth Henson son Jim took that old discarded coat and used the material and took two table tennis balls cut them in half for eyes and he made something amazing out of that God takes us as we see ourselves and he takes us and he wants to recreate us he wants to he wants to take us back to the original before sin Mardis but even more than that even more than that and I pray and I believe that he will do that among us tonight last story and I end I promise this is much more ordinary than we think it is we think that all this is supposed to be super this is for a few I am convinced the reason we're having this conference and we want to do this again and again and again in different ways is because I'm convinced that the whole Ministry of Jesus is for the whole church of Jesus yes some are gifted more in certain things some have more of a gift of hospitality some have more of a gift of other things but you know what the Ministry of Jesus is for all of us not a few and in this area in the church we tried to keep it to a few and the language we've used is super spiritual and super holy and it's exclusive and I have discovered that you know what if God if God can use me in a little way to speak to people he could use anyone I used to think that God used only use people who were spiritual and holy and had it all together I stopped thinking that the moment he started using me because I know the truth I have to live with me I get to live with me when no one else lives with me and I know the truth and the truth is God does the supernatural through the ordinary it's in the ordinary it's through the ordinary of life years ago I was due to go I'm gonna kneel not because it's some you know we're not getting ready for ministry and this is the it's because my legs have a lot to carry and I just need a change and some years ago I was due to go frog for a day to Berlin with my friend Matt Redman and we drove to Stansted Airport to get the plane and we got there and when we were checking in I discovered to my horror that I've forgotten my passport I tried to get through on my driving license but that didn't work and then Matt had to go without me because there was no way I phoned our office and there was another ally who worked in our office and they have a key to my house and I said Ally go to my house the passports in this place drive as fast as you can to Stansted Airport I need to get the last plane to Berlin ally who is as many gifts many things going for her speed is not one of them and by the time she got to Stansted Airport the last plane that could possibly get me to Berlin had gone and that was that and I'd completely messed up and it was only for one day and I was gonna miss the one thing I had to do and then I said to Ally I was fed up I said and felt an idiot I said let's go to the car and go home and as we were walking through the airport I noticed this guy standing in a corner with a suitcase either side of him and he was standing by a wall and this thought came into my mind go and pray for him he needs encouragement now always I've dismissed that you know it's like oh and this time I started to dismiss it I was like oh for goodness sake you're feeling bad that you messed up with the plane now you think you're David Wilkinson or a male version of Jackie pálinka or something like that and you're trying to have a word and yeah yeah yeah yeah just go home you idiot but I made one crucial mistake I told Ally and I said you know this was weird but this thoughts come into my mind that guy were meant to pray friend cause he needs encouraging an ally to my horror got all excited wow this is amazing this has never happened to me before and it was like well it's not happened to you has it and she was like oh this is it's like in the books it's like in the books let's do it and it was like Ali it's not like in the books it's just me being me so but what if it is what if it is Jesus what if it is I don't think it is but it might be it might be and you know I suddenly realized that if I just went home I would end up with a very disillusioned ally all the way home with me and it was like well alright Ali I said to her I said let's walk past him again and let's see if the Lord speaks to us and then the two of us walked past him like this and nothing and then Ali was oh come on let's try again so we walk past him a third time like that we walked up and down past him seven times and now that's not to do with the walls of Jericho coming down it's nothing it was just and after seven times I was like I can't keep doing this I cannot keep doing this so in the end just so that I could get home I said I said okay let's go we went up to this man and I said forgive me if this is wrong but we're followers of Jesus and we just felt that you needed encouragement and maybe were meant to pray for you he gasped and he said I've just arrived from Kenya and I've been invited to pastor I think it's a I can't remember what kind of church it might be a Pentecostal Church in somewhere in Essex I can't remember where in Essex and I've left my family behind they're coming in a couple of weeks when I get things settled and we're moving country in order to do this and the elder two of the elders were meant to be here to collect me and they haven't come yet and I've been standing here on my own and I've been praying and I've been saying Lord I just all for what am i doing I'm moving my whole family what am I thinking to do this what am I thinking and then he said lord if this is really you and not just my mistake before they come to collect me could you just give me one encourage could you just give me one encouragement now you know what that encouraged him and that flipping encouraged us and she know it was so ordinary if it wasn't for Ali I would never have gone there he speaks more than you know it's just learning to listen and choosing to obey

Channel: Naturally Supernatural

Views: 7,482

Rating: 4.9619045 out of 5

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Id: Rgh6HrgVmjg

Length: 41min 3sec (2463 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 30 2018