How to Practice the Presence of God | Part 1

From the Love Word Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love Word Finding. Kerry, he has risen. He has risen indeed. As we are a couple of weeks away now from Easter, we're excited to celebrate with our Love Word Finding listeners about this special time of year. It's the best time of year, is it not, as we celebrate a risen Savior who is alive and well in our lives each and every day. And as we spend more time with him, we become more like him. And that's the essence of this sermon. Kerry, as we move into this time of Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus, it's a time to experience Easter. And we want to help our Love Word Finding friends experience Easter with their families and friends in the fullest way.

And we have some resources to do just that. Well, you and I have heard it, but nobody else has. No, this is something that was discovered, a Bible study where Adrian Rogers sits in front of a small group. It's a video, right? It's a video, and it's great content. It's a wonderful message, and it's perfect for this time of year. And this Bible study is available only at our website, lwf.org, or the LWF mobile app.

Absolutely. And the mobile app is one of my favorites. I use it every day. And I can tell you, in addition to that, Byron, you have the daily devotionals.

You have Out of the Vault. You have all kinds of different things that are available right there on the app. And so please, download the app and use it as a way of life. At Christmas, we have something called Voices of Christmas. We have something for Easter called Voices of Easter.

That's right. It's also available on the app. It's available on the app. You've got Faithful 31 Moms.

You've got an opportunity to give on the app. I think it's one of our best assets. Well, as we talk about Easter, this wonderful time to celebrate again the Savior's resurrection, Adrian Rogers had this to say. The most glorious thing about Easter is not that we will live forever with our Lord, though that is consummately glorious. The most glorious thing about Easter, it is the prima facie evidence that indeed Jesus Christ is Lord. He is shown to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. And so this is the crowning evidence that all that He said is true and all that He promises will come to pass.

We thank you for taking time to write Love We're Finding and let us know how the ministry is encouraging you, helping you in your walk with Christ. Here's a listener who says, I'm a school bus driver and me and the kids start our day off right listening to Adrian Rogers. His messages are so clear and helpful in a school bus. The wheels on the bus go round and round. It's so simple, right?

So if you're nine or ninety, you comprehend it. And that's the ministry of Adrian Rogers. You know how to practice the presence of God? T-I-M-E. Well, with that, that's our message today with Adrian Rogers. How to practice the presence of God, part one.

Here is Adrian Rogers. Would you be finding in God's word the book of Exodus chapter 33? And when you found it, look up here and let me tell you that we're talking about how to practice the presence of God. When we worship our Lord, we'd worship in spirit and in truth. But worship is not in a particular locale.

Worship is anywhere that we breathe the name of Jesus. We are temples of God. The Lord lives in us and dwells in us.

But I'm afraid that many of us are not conscious of the presence of God in our lives. We do the best we can. We have certain duties that we perform. We have certain rituals that we go through.

We have certain beliefs that we adhere to. But God is not a bright, burning, living reality in our lives. What we have here is a lesson in the life of Moses. Moses had an encounter with God. The presence of God was so real in Moses' life that his face literally, not figuratively, but literally shone. He had seen God to such a degree, or at least he had experienced the presence of God, to such a degree that the life of God was so in him that his face literally shone, to the degree that he had to wear a veil over his face when he would go out into public. And he would take the veil off of his face when he would go in to speak face to face with the Lord.

And the people knew when Moses spoke that Moses had a message from God because of his shining face. Now, the sad thing is this, that Moses lost the glow. There was a time when that glow faded, but Moses continued to wear the veil. This time, not to veil the glory of God, but now he's wearing the veil to keep people from knowing that the glory of God is no longer there.

And I'm just wondering if we don't have some deacons like that, some Sunday school teachers like that. Some of you in this auditorium and some who are listening by radio, that there was once a time when God was very real to you and you still go through the motions. I don't know what veil it is that you are wearing, but you're still outwardly saying, yes, Jesus is real and precious to me, but inwardly you know that you're hiding behind some kind of a veil. Well, let me give you some steps to make God real, to get the glow back, what to do when the glow is gone.

Number one, there must be determination. There must be a determination that you will have God in your life. Look in chapter 33 verses one through four. And the Lord said unto Moses, depart and go up hence thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, unto thy seed will I give it. God said, I made a promise. I'm going to keep my promise, Moses. So get up and go into the land. And then notice verse two, and I will send an angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Hibite, and the Jebusite, and go into a land flowing with milk and honey.

Now notice this, and I have it underlined in my Bible, for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. God says, now Moses, I have promised you the land. You're going to get the land. I'm going to send an angel, a mighty angel to go before you. He's going to drive these Canaanites out, but Moses, I am not going to go with you. I'll give you victory.

I'll give you success. I'll give you the land, but you won't have my presence. Now when God said that to Moses, the people mourned and rightly they mourned because they had enough sense to know that without God, what good is the rest of it? What good is the land without the Lord? What good is the victory without the victor? What good is the blessing without the blesser? What good is the gifts?

Are the gifts without the giver? And so the people said, we're not going to settle for an angel. Moses is speaking to the Lord. Verse 14, and he said, my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. And what Moses is saying is, Lord, I'm not going without you.

Lord, if you don't go, I'm not going. You know, I think many of us would have settled for what God said to Moses. Many of us would say, Lord, you promised me eternal life. I've got eternal life. You promised me heaven. I've got heaven. You promised me that you would see me through.

You're going to see me through. Thank you for the angel, Lord. Thank you for heaven, Lord. Thank you for eternal security, Lord. And that's what you'd settle for. You would settle for that without the conscious presence of God. I want to beg you not to do it.

You know what that's like? That's like a husband and wife who remain married but separate, and he provides for her. He says, all right, I'll pay your rent. I'll buy your groceries.

I'll cut the grass, but we're not going to live together. Friend, do you want that kind of a relationship with God? Do you want what God will give without having God himself?

Or are you saying, I am not satisfied with separate maintenance? I want to know the Lord intimately. So there must be a determination.

Now, secondly, there must be preparation. Let's go to the next chapter. Moses says, Lord, listen, we're not going to take second best. We don't want an angel.

We want you. So now the Lord is ready to give them what they want. So look, if you will, in chapter 34, verses 1 and 2. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first.

And I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest, and be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. Now, God had already given Moses the Ten Commandments one time. Moses came down and found the people dancing around the golden calf. And in anger, Moses broke those two tablets of stone. God was ready to say to the people, my presence is not going to go with you. Moses said, oh, Lord, I've got to have your presence. And so God says, all right, Moses, get your two more tablets and get ready and come up on the mountain, and I am going to deal with you one more time. Now, if you expect the presence of God, you need to do what Moses did and what God told Moses to do. Look at it in verse 2, be ready in the morning.

Be ready in the morning. Don't carelessly, casually, haphazardly seek the presence of God. God does business with those that mean business. Did you know the Bible speaks of preparing your heart to seek the Lord? Let me give you two scriptures that you might jot down.

These were very meaningful to me. One deals with a man named Rehoboam, and Rehoboam did not have the presence of God. And here's what the Bible says about him in 2 Chronicles chapter 12 in verse 14. And he did evil. Now, why did he do evil?

He did good. And he did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Now, is that not an interesting verse? He did evil, Rehoboam.

Why? Because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. It doesn't even say that he did evil because he didn't seek the Lord. He did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. There must be preparation.

You must be ready. All right, let me give you the converse of that now in 2 Chronicles chapter 19 in verse 3. Now, this speaks of a man named Jehoshaphat, a good man.

And in 2 Chronicles 19 verse 3, God said to Jehoshaphat, nevertheless, there are good things found in thee in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, that is, the places of pagan worship, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. Do you see the emphasis that God makes upon preparation? You prepare yourself to seek the Lord. And I hope that when you, tomorrow morning, when you have your quiet time with God, that you'll prepare your heart, that you'll get away, that you'll close the door. And we're gonna say more about that later on, that you will get proper ventilation, that you will get a readable Bible, that you will get a notebook, that you will come with all of the distractions put away, and that you will say, God, I have but one business right now, and that is to prepare my heart to seek you. Again, it is not a casual, haphazard thing that will help you to have the conscious presence of God. There must be determination. You must say, God, I will not take your blessings without you.

I don't want any angel. I need you. Determination. Number two, preparation. Be ready in the morning. And I pray, God, you will be ready in the morning. Now, here's the third thing. Determination, preparation.

Number three, isolation. Look in verse 3, chapter 34, verse 3. And no man shall come up with thee. That is, Moses is just going to be you and me alone. Now, Moses was the pastor of three million backslidden people. They were bothering him. They were complaining. They were criticizing him. Remind me of a pastor who said, I don't mind being swallowed by a whale.

I just hate to be nibbled to death by minnows. And that's what was happening to Moses. And God says to Moses, now leave these people.

Get alone with me. It's very important because you understand that later on, Moses is going to intercede for those same people that he was getting away from. Did you know the best time I spend for you is not when I'm with you talking to you about God, but when I'm with God talking to God about you?

Did you know that? Do you know the best time that you are for your children is not necessarily when you're with your children, but when you're not with your children, talking to God about your children. And those problems that you have that you need to isolate yourself from and get alone with God. Pastors need to get alone with God. Sometimes people are disappointed because the pastor's not always there. They're beck and call.

I want to tell you something, folks. The man of God who's always available isn't worth a whole lot when he is available. There are times when you need to be alone with God, and not just pastors, parents. Not just parents, Sunday school teachers. Wherever you are, if God has given you a responsibility, you need to get alone with God. Jesus taught us that. What did Jesus say?

When you pray, what? Enter into your closet and pray. Now, he didn't mean a closed closet. He meant a closed place, a place where you shut the doors and open the window to heaven.

Get alone with God. If you'll study the history of people in the Bible who have been blessed and had therefore been a blessing, these are people who met God in a place of isolation. Abraham was alone when the Lord spoke to Abraham and gave him that great covenant. Daniel was alone when God spoke to him and gave him a prophecy. Paul was alone in Arabia, where God gave him the epistles, the great things that he wrote down for us in the book of Romans. Peter was alone on a rooftop when he had a vision and God spoke to Simon Peter up there about Cornelius and opening the door to the Gentiles. John was alone on the Isle of Patmos on the Lord's day when God gave him the book of Revelation.

Moses was alone in the wilderness when God gave him the Ten Commandments. And the Bible tells us about the greatest example of all, the Lord Jesus, in the midst of a busy, fruitful ministry where miracles were being done, withdrew himself to the wilderness to pray. Determination, it must be there. Friend, preparation, it must be there.

Isolation, it must be there. When you pray, enter into your closet and pray. Here's the next thing if you want that conscious presence of God and that is expectation. Notice now beginning in verse 4, And he, that is Moses, hewed two tables of stone, like unto the first. Now, why did he hew two tables of stone?

Well, he expected God to give him something to put on them. And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up into Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him. And he 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 the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. Now, Moses went up there to find out something from God and he got a revelation. God spoke to Moses and God said, Now, Moses, I'm going to give you something. I want you to be prepared to take it down, take with you two blank tablets. I wonder when you have a quiet time, are you expecting God to give you something?

I mean, when you open the Word of God, do you expect to learn? I have two kinds of pens. I don't know why, but I have this one that I pull out if I'm with you, but I have this one that I pull out when I'm by myself. This is a flare, just an old felt tip pen. It can be any kind, but this kind I like to chew on because I meditate by chewing on this thing.

I'm glad I don't smoke cigars, but that's the closest thing I get to it. I would hardly ever think to open my Bible to read without taking this out or something like this and a yellow legal pad to read the Bible because I expect to get something when I read the Bible. And, folks, it's easy for me to forget what I get. Let me tell you something. The weakest ink is better than the best memory. You will think you will never forget it, but you will forget it. And if you come to God and you expect God to give you something, be ready to write it down. And you'll be surprised how it will clarify your mind when you write it out. Writing helps you to think clearly and to put things down cogently. It writes it not only upon the paper. It writes it upon your heart.

It helps you to organize these things. You see, if you're expecting God to give you something, get ready for God to give you something. Somebody said when you go to a prayer meeting to pray for rain, you ought to bring an umbrella.

Isn't that right? When you have a quiet time, you ought to have a notebook. Now, I've given you a little formula before to cause the Bible just simply to burst a flame in your hand, but what do you do with the passage of Scripture? This is so indescribably simple.

I hate to give it to you, and yet it is profoundly wonderful and has blessed me through many, many years. What do you do with the passage of Scripture? Just open the Bible, read it through, all right? Now, jot this down on a piece of paper. Read it through. Read it through. Number two, think it out. Why would the Lord renew your mind, Romans 12, 1 and 2, if He didn't expect you to use it? So read it through.

Think it out. Then pray it in. Talk to God about it. One of the finest ways to learn the Scripture is to pray the Scriptures.

When God tells you something in the Bible or shows you something in the Bible, tell Him about it. Ask Him about it. Thank Him for it. Read it through. Think it out. Pray it in. Write it down.

Write it down. Being able to take you just verse by verse and just write down the thoughts that God has given me. Then next, live it out. This is the way that it really becomes real to you. When you find something in the Word of God, these promises and these truths are not museum pieces to hang on the wall.

They're checks to carry to the bank. Live it out. Take it. Take these promises of God. Take these precepts. Take these warnings and put them in your life. Say, I will live by that today.

Then last of all, pass it on. You know, when we meet folks day by day, we ought to have something, a little nugget from the Word to share with them. We ought to have a little verse, a little truth, something that God has given us. When we give it away, it comes back to us.

That's the secret of remembering anything. That's the reason why pastors are blessed to be able to preach the Word of God. When I preach the Word of God to you, it does probably more good for me than it does for you. It's not that I'm just up here telling you what to do.

Every time I point that finger out, three are pointing back at me. This is God's Word to me. As I share it with you, it becomes so real in my heart. We do the same thing day by day with our friends as we share the Word of God. So when you have this quiet time, you get alone, you have this determination, you have this preparation, you have this isolation, have this expectation that God is going to speak to you.

Cue you two tablets of stone. Well, if you don't want to do that, go down to Walgreens and get a notebook and be prepared for God to speak to you. Aren't you grateful for this profound and practical lesson that's so applicable for us today? We'll hear the conclusion of the message coming up tomorrow on the broadcast, but if you have questions about who Jesus is, about how to receive Him into your life today, go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio. You'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. We're so glad that you decided to join us for our study in God's Word today. Spend some time alone with Him. Read God's Word with an expectant heart and a pen and paper ready to write down what He reveals. And then tune in tomorrow for part two of How to Practice the Presence of God right here on Love Worth Finding.