1 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,880 Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South 2 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,520 Australia. People would come and say 3 00:00:15,520 --> 00:00:18,480 something's different there. Yeah, That was the presence of 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,600 God. You're like the teaching or the 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,680 music or whatever or the coffee, whatever your preference is 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:25,040 there, but they're coming a bit. No, no, no. 7 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,320 There's something more to it. There's something more. 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,360 What was it? It was the presence of God. 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,200 And we're saying that that closeness, that presence is what 10 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,840 we should be desiring. And Dan, when he was reading out 11 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,440 this morning from Jeremiah 29, if you seek me, you will find 12 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:41,680 me. When you seek me with all your 13 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,680 heart, God says, hey, if you're actually seeking my presence, 14 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:49,160 you're going to find it. You're going to find it and I 15 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:52,720 hope your desire, as I asked you at the beginning, who wants more 16 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,400 of the presence of God? You want to know. 17 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,040 You want to know and you want other people to say there's 18 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,000 something different about you. There's something on you that 19 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,480 that I don't get and I don't see anywhere else. 20 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:05,960 And maybe this whole concept of the presence of God could be a 21 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:08,000 bit foreign. Is that, well, what does that 22 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:09,640 even mean? What does that look like? 23 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:11,720 What does it look like to have the presence of God? 24 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,960 Psalm 1611 says that in the presence of God there is 25 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:17,920 fullness of joy and blessings forevermore. 26 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,400 So it looks like joyfulness. We, we were reading out in our 27 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,840 prayer meeting, Psalm 103. Forget not all God's benefits. 28 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,080 Who forgives your sins? Who heals all your diseases in 29 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,440 the presence of God? There's forgiveness of sins, 30 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:36,280 there's healing of our bodies. There's hope, as we were reading 31 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,880 in Jeremiah 2911. There's hope, there's purpose. 32 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,720 Isaiah, when he's in the presence of God, receives A 33 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,080 commissioning and a calling from God in the presence of God. 34 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,360 In Psalm 84, it talks about hope. 35 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,840 It talks about strength in the presence of God. 36 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,880 So what does, what does the presence of God look like when 37 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,040 it looks like what God is like? It's it's Jesus talked about it 38 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,880 like this. He said it's the Kingdom of God, 39 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,400 it's the Kingdom of heaven. It's where God is reigning and 40 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,320 ruling and he's bringing freedom. 41 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,120 He's bringing hope, He's bringing joy. 42 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,960 God can do more in one moment in his presence than any number of 43 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:13,480 hours of preaching could ever do. 44 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:19,120 You can have one encounter with him, one moment where he's so 45 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,240 close and it could change your entire life forever. 46 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,400 Do we believe that? Great. 47 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,320 I'll stop preaching. And then you guys just go get 48 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:35,960 your presence with God, right? So the question here that I have 49 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,320 from going on from this is how do we now get more of the 50 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:45,080 presence of God, right? It's a good question, right? 51 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,680 So if we all say, yes, I want more of the presence of God on 52 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,600 my life, I hope your heart is for this church. 53 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:53,040 I want more of the presence of God. 54 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:55,560 I want, I want people to walk in and say there's something in 55 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:57,120 here. There's something in this 56 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:58,600 church, there's something going on. 57 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:01,320 What is it? Well, like it's the presence of 58 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:02,560 God. What you're sensing there is the 59 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,120 presence of God. It actually talks about this in 60 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,080 the book of Corinthians. Paul's writing about prophecy 61 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:11,680 and he says if you're all prophesying and you're all 62 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,400 walking and moving in the Spirit and God is present, he's going, 63 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,240 Somebody who doesn't know Jesus is going to walk in, they're 64 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:18,840 going to be convicted. They're going to fall down and 65 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,000 worship the Lord and they're going to declare God is really 66 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,040 among you. How cool is that? 67 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,280 Like you can be in such a meeting where God is so tangibly 68 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,120 present that somebody who doesn't know anything about God 69 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,400 could walk in and go, whoa, God is there. 70 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:42,480 That somebody could walk into your house, your neighbor, you 71 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,800 invite them in for a coffee and they walk in and they're like, 72 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:51,520 whoa, God is here, God is here. How awesome would that be? 73 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:56,080 Hey, so how do we get more of the presence of God? 74 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,560 Well, if you've got your Bibles, I want you to turn in them to 75 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:06,280 One Chronicles, chapter 13, One Chronicles 13. 76 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,000 One Chronicles is in the Old Testament. 77 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,240 It's a historical book, so let me find it. 78 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,440 And this story, it's also echoed, if you're taking notes, 79 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,280 it's also echoed in Second Samuel Chapter 6. 80 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,680 So the kind of chronicles and the books of Samuel and Kings 81 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,560 are kind of the same, pointing to the same period in history, 82 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,560 just kind of 1's written about 3 or 400 years after the events 83 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,680 took place. So we're reading the later 84 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:40,000 version of history, but we are going to reference back to 85 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,600 Second Samuel 6. Does that make sense? 86 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:48,320 So one Samuel 13, one Chronicles 13, sorry, in the Old Testament, 87 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,520 we also have to remember that when God was present, what he, 88 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,080 what he talked about my presence, his presence was 89 00:04:55,080 --> 00:05:00,600 represented by an ark, ARK, not like Noah's ark, right? 90 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,840 An ark as in like a giant box and it was covered in gold. 91 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:06,520 It had angels on the top and that represented the presence of 92 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,120 God. Where that was God was in the 93 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,400 Old in the Old Testament, right? So now we know that God lives in 94 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,760 us by his Holy Spirit. But in the Old Testament, God 95 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:18,960 kind of lived in a box. That makes sense. 96 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,720 God's outside of our box. But yeah, anyway, if we could 97 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:24,280 put that up, one Chronicles 13 one. 98 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:25,960 So David, King David, he's a king. 99 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,240 He's consulting with the commanders of thousands and of 100 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,120 hundreds and with every leader. And David said to all the 101 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,480 assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you and from the Lord 102 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,320 our God, let us send abroad to our brothers who remain in all 103 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,600 the lands of Israel, as well as to the priests and Levites and 104 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,200 the cities that have pasture lands that they may be gathered 105 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,880 to us. Then let us bring again the ark 106 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,520 of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. 107 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:56,800 Let us bring again his heart's desire. 108 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:58,760 Let the presence of God be in our midst. 109 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,000 Same desire as we've all said, Yeah, let the presence of God be 110 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:04,960 in our midst. We're going to bring the ark of 111 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,080 God back. I want it in my midst. 112 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,240 Next verse if we can. And all the assembly agreed. 113 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:12,600 We all agree, right? It's good to have the presence 114 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:17,600 of God, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 115 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:21,080 And so David assembled all Israel from the Nile of Egypt to 116 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,320 Lebo Hamas, to bring the Ark of God, to bring the presents from 117 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:27,640 Kiriath Jerem. And David and all Israel went up 118 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,080 to Ballah, that is, to Kiriath Jerem, that belongs to Judah, to 119 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:35,360 bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name 120 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:37,360 of the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim. 121 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,360 And they carried the ark of God in a new cart best for our God, 122 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,360 right from the House of Umbinadab. 123 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,560 And Ooza and Ohio were driving the cart, and David and all 124 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,080 Israel were celebrating before God with all their might. 125 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,720 And his presence is fullness of joy, with song and liars and 126 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:56,960 hearts and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets. 127 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,320 And when they came to the threshing floor of chitin, Ooza 128 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:03,040 put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen had 129 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,920 stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was 130 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,280 kindled against Ooza, and he struck him down, because he put 131 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:11,840 out his hand to the ark, and he died there. 132 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,400 And that place is now called. And David was angry because the 133 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,560 Lord had broken out against Ouzar, and that place is now 134 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,760 called Perez Ouzar to this day. And David was so afraid of God 135 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,840 that day, and he said, How on earth can I bring the ark of God 136 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,880 home to me? So David did not take the ark 137 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,960 home into the city of David, but he took it aside to the House of 138 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:38,360 Obed Edom the Gedite. And the ark of God remained with 139 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,040 the household of Obed Eden in his house three months. 140 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,160 And the Lord blessed the household of Obed Eden and all 141 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,320 that he had that last sentence, really cool, right? 142 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,960 Like where the presence of God is, there's blessing, right? 143 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,240 This guy accidentally landed with the presence of God and yet 144 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:56,280 there's now blessing on his life, which is amazing. 145 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,360 So here's it's a bit of a tragic story where this is only half of 146 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,200 the story that I want to cover, but the first half seems pretty 147 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,200 tragic if you think about it. They started off with the best 148 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,120 intentions. We want the presence of God. 149 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,320 We want God in our midst. We want to bring God in. 150 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,040 We want God on our lives. David's like I want the presence 151 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,960 of God here with me. We can start with the best 152 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,760 intentions. What's tragic to me is they had 153 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,040 the best intentions, they had the best heart. 154 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,200 We want the presence of God. We need him. 155 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:35,960 They they're rejoicing, God's coming. 156 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,480 And yet somehow they still missed it and they got it 157 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,080 woefully wrong to the point that somebody unfortunately lost 158 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:48,080 their life. Isn't that that that stirs me to 159 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,120 kind of go, man, I want the presence of God, but I want to 160 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:54,280 do it the right way. They've they've tried, tried. 161 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:55,440 You can have the best intentions. 162 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,680 God, I need your presence. But then somehow we can still 163 00:08:59,680 --> 00:09:03,760 miss it. But I said this is only half, 164 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,040 only half of the story. So if you want to flick over to 165 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,320 One Chronicles 15, this the ark stays in Second Samuel 6. 166 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:12,800 It says it stays there for three months. 167 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,880 So now we're picking up the story. 3 months later. 168 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,920 David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he 169 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,800 prepared a place for the Ark of God and pitched a tent. 170 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,040 We're just going to pause there for a SEC. 171 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,400 This first thing David's doing now is he's preparing something 172 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:32,480 to host. The presence of God requires 173 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:38,240 some change for us to say, hey, I want the presence of God. 174 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,520 I hope as you say, yes, I want more of the presence of God, 175 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:42,800 that your hand instantly also goes up and I'm prepared to 176 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,920 change for it. I'm prepared to change things so 177 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,360 that more of the presence of God can be evident on my life. 178 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,640 If you read and if you remember the first story, he's just like, 179 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:55,760 yeah, we're just going to get the presence of God in this 180 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,280 second story. He's going to know I'm going to 181 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:01,120 do some preparations. I'm prepared to change things so 182 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:02,840 that I can get more of the presence of God. 183 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,600 And so then he goes. Then David said that no one but 184 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,400 the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen 185 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:17,040 them to carry the ark and to minister to him forever. 186 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:21,160 We're going to do some kind of compare and contrast on what 187 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,680 they tried to do to bring the presence of God and then what 188 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:28,560 they did the second time, right. And so we're going to do it as 189 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,000 we go. The first thing David said that 190 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,800 no one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord had 191 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,960 chosen them to carry the ark and to minister to him forever. 192 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:43,200 The first thing is this. In the original time David 193 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,960 consulted with men, he said, hey, what do you guys think? 194 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:49,760 Hey, what do you, what do you guys reckon we should do? 195 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,160 Oh, we should build a cart. That's a great idea. 196 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,200 Some genius puts up his hand. Hey, I've got this awesome idea. 197 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,240 It's got four wheels. Let's put the presence of God 198 00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:00,320 and we can do it. In this second one, David says, 199 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,960 hey, no, God has commanded the Levites to carry it. 200 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:06,760 And I want you like my first point is this. 201 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,280 If we want the presence of God, we must make sure that we are 202 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:12,280 committed to God before we're consulting with men. 203 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,640 We must make sure that we're committed to what God has said 204 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,280 and how God wants us to carry his presence before we go 205 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,080 consulting with men, before we kind of go and say, hey, what's 206 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,520 your great idea for how we should bring the presence of God 207 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,360 in? Maybe it's, maybe it's, yeah, I 208 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,560 don't know. Maybe it's new songs, different 209 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:31,800 songs. Maybe it's better coffee. 210 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:33,960 I don't know. I'm just using that as an 211 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:36,640 example because I like coffee and I can, I feel like I can 212 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,040 have a go at coffee. But we must make sure that we're 213 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:43,600 committed to what God is saying rather than consulting with men. 214 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,360 In the first case, David consulted with men and they had 215 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,720 some great ideas, but it wasn't God's way. 216 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:52,920 And we must make sure that we're committed to God's way. 217 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,240 We're picking this, picking this Bible up and we're saying, God, 218 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:56,640 what do you say about your presence? 219 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:00,200 What do you say about how we get more of your presence rather 220 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:06,120 than consulting with people? And then it goes on verse 3. 221 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,920 And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark 222 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,120 of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it. 223 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,000 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites, 224 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,320 of the sons of Coath Urile, the chief with 120 of his brothers, 225 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:23,360 the sons of Murari, Isaiah the chief, 220 of his brothers. 226 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:25,760 And it goes on. I'm going to skip all the names 227 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:27,760 because there's a lot of names and a lot of numbers. 228 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,360 We're going to go verse down to verse 12. 229 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,880 David said to them, you are the heads of the fathers, houses of 230 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,880 the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and 231 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,080 your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord the 232 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:42,720 God of Israel to the place that I've prepared for it. 233 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,720 So my second point is this. So firstly, we're committed to 234 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:49,160 God before we're consulting with men. 235 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:52,760 Secondly, if you go and we're going to go, if you go back and 236 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,400 read all those numbers, David doesn't just say I just, I just 237 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:57,520 want the Levites. He's because I want the Levites, 238 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,360 the heads of families, I want the priests, I want the people 239 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,680 of Aaron. In other words, if you Add all 240 00:13:03,680 --> 00:13:07,880 those numbers up, there is 868 people now involved in carrying 241 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:13,040 this arc. In the first story, there was 3. 242 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,800 There was three guys. It was a few in this whole, In 243 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,520 this second version, it's the whole priesthood. 244 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:27,000 It's the whole priesthood. And so when if we want more of 245 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,400 the presence of God, we must understand that the whole 246 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:32,120 priesthood must be involved, not just a few. 247 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,640 If you want to see more of the presence of God in your home, 248 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,520 then it requires the whole priesthood in your home, not 249 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:45,120 just dad, mum or child. Does it make sense in my house, 250 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,840 the presence of God, Yes, I have an ability to bring that is the 251 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:51,480 head of my house. But if I want more of the 252 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,080 presence of God, it requires my whole priesthood, my whole 253 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,520 family to be involved, not just a few. 254 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:01,400 As we mentioned and Dave encouraged us in our prayer 255 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,680 meeting this morning that we all come participating. 256 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:07,960 We all come ready to prophecy, ready to speak, ready to 257 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:09,480 encourage, ready to pray. Why? 258 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,640 Because if we want more of the presence of God, it requires the 259 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,360 whole priesthood, not just a few. 260 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,160 So David says now not just do I am I committed to God, but I 261 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,600 need the whole priesthood. The whole priesthood must be 262 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:27,400 participating. The whole priesthood must be 263 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,960 involved in bringing the presence of God. 264 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,440 And that means when we come to our gatherings, when we come 265 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,840 together, we're all coming with the heart of God. 266 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,720 I want to be used by you. I want to participate in what 267 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:40,400 God is doing. I'm not just going to sit back 268 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:42,040 and spectate at what you are doing. 269 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,200 I want to be involved. I want to be on the playing 270 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:45,760 field. I want to be doing what you've 271 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,800 called me to do, and I want to carry the presence of God, the 272 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:54,680 whole priesthood, verse, verse 13, because you did not carry it 273 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,000 the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us because we 274 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:00,560 did not seek him according to the rule. 275 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:03,560 Verse 14. So the priests and the Levites 276 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:07,520 consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God 277 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,120 of Israel. Third Point, we're committed to 278 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,360 God. It's carried by the whole 279 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:19,040 priesthood, and we're living consecrated, not casually. 280 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,280 In the first scenario, they were just casual about the presence 281 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:23,640 of God. It's yeah, we'll just throw it 282 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:24,960 on a cart. We'll just get it there. 283 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,400 We'll take the quickest route. We'll just put it on there. 284 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:29,840 Drive down the road or the dusty plains or whatever it is. 285 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:31,680 We'll just get it there as quick as we can. 286 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,600 That's all good. Doesn't really matter. 287 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:35,680 And over here, Dave's like, no, no, no, no, no. 288 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,480 You need to consecrate yourself. The word consecration simply 289 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:46,360 means to live set apart, set yourselves apart to live holy. 290 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:48,360 The word holy means to be set apart. 291 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,160 It's interesting. In the first version, they put 292 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,360 the ark of God on a cart. You know, that's exactly what 293 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:01,240 the Philistines, their enemies, did when we approached the 294 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,080 presence of God casually. We end up living exactly the 295 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,800 same as the world and there is no distinction. 296 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:15,400 There is no distinction. And yet the second time, David 297 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,360 saying, hey, no, you need to be consecrated. 298 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:21,120 You need to live set apart. You need to live in such a way 299 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,640 that there is a marked difference between you and 300 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,320 everyone else. We must approach God. 301 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:31,120 To the Philistines, when they put the ark of God on a cart, 302 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:32,960 there was no reverence. It's just the ark. 303 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,080 It's just this thing. And this second time, David's 304 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:37,920 like, consecrate yourselves because we're going to walk in 305 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:41,280 reverence of a holy God. Like God has commanded us to do 306 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,240 this. And we can't take this casually. 307 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,000 We must live set apart. We must take this thing 308 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,360 seriously. And so I would encourage you 309 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,840 again, we, we started with actually, if you want to host 310 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,760 the presence of God, it requires some change, right? 311 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,520 We, we require some preparation. And this is one of probably 312 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,280 those areas where we're like, actually, where in my life do I 313 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:05,280 need to live more consecrated? Do I need to live more set 314 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:12,319 apart, more distinct from the, the world and, and other ways of 315 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:13,079 living? Where? 316 00:17:13,079 --> 00:17:16,800 Where do I actually have to align my life to what God says? 317 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,880 So goes on and it says and the Levites carried the ark of God 318 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,600 on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded 319 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,320 according to the word of the Lord. 320 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:35,720 My 4th point is this, that it was carried on godly shoulders, 321 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:40,640 not on worldly structures. Carried on godly shoulders, not 322 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:42,840 worldly structures. See, in the first instance, it 323 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,520 was just some genius who came up with an art cart. 324 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:47,360 And so let's just put it on a cart. 325 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:48,960 It's cool. It's a mechanism to carry 326 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:50,240 something. Yeah. 327 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,280 We, we can engineer this, right? It's basically what they're 328 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,080 saying. We can engineer the process to 329 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,120 get the presence of God. And over here he's kind of 330 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,880 going, no, no, no, no. The ark must be carried on godly 331 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,640 authority. Shoulders represent strength and 332 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,280 represents authority, represents order and government. 333 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:09,040 God has a way that things should be ordered. 334 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:11,560 God has a way of things being structured. 335 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:14,280 He has a structure for the home. He has a structure for church, 336 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:20,120 godly government, and it's when we honour and submit to the way 337 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:22,000 that God wants to order something. 338 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:24,560 That's where we find the presence of God. 339 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,480 That's where we can find the presence of God right in in our 340 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,160 in our homes. When the husband is loving his 341 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:40,560 wife like Jesus loves the church, laying his life down for 342 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,880 her and for his kids. And when she is submitted in the 343 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,480 same way as the bride is submitted to Christ, that's 344 00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,720 where God says I can honor that with my presence because that 345 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:53,840 was the way that I designed it. And in the church, when where 346 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,440 there's elders who are ruling well, shepherding under the 347 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,840 great under shepherd, and they're caring and loving God's 348 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:03,800 people just like he loves them. And when the people are also 349 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,560 submitted to eldership, it's submitted to godly authority. 350 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:09,000 They're saying, yes, we're submitted to you as we're 351 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,520 submitted to Christ. God says I can be there because 352 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:16,360 that is how I designed it to work as our God has designed 353 00:19:16,360 --> 00:19:18,680 this thing to be carried on godly authority. 354 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,720 And his presence is more evident when we're walking according to 355 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:26,800 his way of ordering things rather than just what we think 356 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:31,920 seems good or worldly ways or or other other systems of 357 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:33,720 engineering of how this thing might work. 358 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:43,240 Verse we'll go to .5. This one is actually from Second 359 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,720 Samuel 6. So it won't be up here, but they 360 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:53,360 where are we? Oh no, we'll jump down to verse 361 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:56,240 25. So David and the Elders in One 362 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,960 Chronicles 1525 S David and the elders of Israel and the 363 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,720 commanders of thousands went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant 364 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,840 of the Lord from the House of Obed Eden with rejoicing. 365 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,480 And because God helped the Levites who are carrying the ark 366 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,080 of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrifice 7 bulls and seven 367 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,800 Rams. In second Samuel 6, it says that 368 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:21,440 every six steps they sacrifice. Have you considered that? 369 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,120 That's I think I've done more than I don't know what my watch 370 00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:31,880 says 2790 steps so far today. It's not very many, but 123456 371 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:41,880 sacrifice, 1, 23456 sacrifice. And they did that for the entire 372 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,160 journey. You know, in Second Samuel 6, 373 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,280 the contrast to this is that it says the two guys were driving 374 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:52,920 the cart and Ohio was out the front leading it. 375 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:58,200 The point that I want to draw your attention to is this, that 376 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,040 carrying the presence of God requires us to keep in step with 377 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,080 what God wants to do, not run ahead of what God wants to do. 378 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,920 So this guy Ohio thinks, yeah, I know where we're going. 379 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,440 I'm just presuming and assuming exactly what God wants to do. 380 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:16,600 And so I'm just, I'm just going to, I'm leading this thing now. 381 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:19,920 He's not, he's not staying in step with the presence of God 382 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,920 saying, OK, we're are we still going this way? 383 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,200 Yep, we're still going this way. Are we still going this way? 384 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,360 Yes, we're still going this way. He's just out the front. 385 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:27,520 He's like, no, we're going this way. 386 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,400 It's up to me. I'm making the decisions, right? 387 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,000 Keep in step with the Spirit of God. 388 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:36,960 I hope as a people, as a church, we want to be people that come 389 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:39,160 in and we just like, oh, this is just how we do church. 390 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:40,640 This is we're just presuming on God. 391 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:43,320 This is how things happen. Do some songs, we'll do a 392 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,120 preach. We'll have some coffee. 393 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,520 It's going to be good coffee. We'll have a good conversation. 394 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,600 We'll pray for somebody. We'll go home, which is I know 395 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:56,040 how God works. I have no idea how God works in 396 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:57,960 Galatians. It tells us to keep in step with 397 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:02,720 the Spirit. In John 3 verse 8, when Jesus is 398 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:07,240 talking with Nicodemus at night and he says, you know, it's like 399 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,160 the wind. You have no idea where the wind 400 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,200 comes from and you have no idea where it goes. 401 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:17,000 It says, So it is as somebody who is born of the Spirit, you 402 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:21,000 actually don't know and it requires you to actually keep in 403 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:25,200 step with the Spirit and kind of going, God, is this still the 404 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:26,800 way we're going to go? Yes, great. 405 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,080 Because you know, the thing with going every six steps is that 406 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:31,880 then you're able to very quickly kind of, oh, we've got to go 407 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,920 over there. OK, We're turning where if, if 408 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,320 you're just, I'm out up front, the guy's behind me. 409 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,760 Hey, we need to turn left. Like I'm already miles down the 410 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,640 track. We've got to keep in step with 411 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:44,600 what God wants to do. We've got to be seeking him 412 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:46,400 continually. God, is this, is this what you 413 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,240 want me to do? Is this where you want me to go? 414 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:51,040 Is this the job that you want me to be in? 415 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,480 Is this, is this what you're wanting me to do with my money? 416 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,280 Is this how you want me to leave my family? 417 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:01,880 Keep in step with him being responsive to what he wants to 418 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,080 do rather than just assuming and kind of go, we've got an order 419 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,000 sheet to our meetings. I've got a way that I do my 420 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,920 family and we we have routines and stuff like that, But I've 421 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,440 also got to remain flexible in my routine and say, God, is 422 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,760 this, is this still true? Is there something you want us 423 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,360 to do that's different to this so that I can catch more of your 424 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:25,640 presence? You're still with me, Yes. 425 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:26,200 Good. Cool. 426 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,920 So they're going to be committed to God, committed to his ways. 427 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:32,880 It requires the whole priesthood. 428 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:35,800 It requires us living consecrated. 429 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:41,240 It is carried on godly shoulders, requires us to keep 430 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,720 in step. And the last one is this in the 431 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:50,440 same verse where it talks about sacrificing 7 balls and seven 432 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,320 Rams. And in the second Samuel, it 433 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,040 talks about the oxen as well. In the original story that had 434 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,400 two oxen who drove the cart, who pulled the cart? 435 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,840 Ox, if you're reading through the Bible, actually represents 436 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:05,880 hard work. And so the original version, it 437 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,720 was driven by self effort. It's hard. 438 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:12,960 It's my hard work that is pulling the presence of God. 439 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,280 Maybe if we just do another chorus of that song, we'll get 440 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,640 the presence of God. Maybe if I just preach a little 441 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:21,560 louder, the presence of God will come. 442 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,760 Maybe if I just, maybe if I just say Amen a few more times, the 443 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,120 presence of God will come. Maybe if, maybe if I don't know, 444 00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:33,880 I just I spend another hour in prayer and the presence of God 445 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,520 will come. It's driven by self effort to 446 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:40,160 pull the presence of God. You know what's interesting in 447 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:43,600 the second version is it requires more oxen, more hard 448 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,240 work, but this time the hard work isn't pulling the cart. 449 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:48,760 The hard work is offered on the altar. 450 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:57,280 Romans 12 verse one says in view of God's mercy, offer your 451 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:02,200 bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. 452 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,280 In the first version I'm trying to pull the presence of God by 453 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,840 my own self effort. In the second story, the one 454 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,080 that actually does the presence brings the presence of God. 455 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,280 I've offered my entire life before Him and said you can have 456 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,320 whatever you like. If you need me to sing the 457 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,960 chorus 100 times to that song, so be it. 458 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:29,080 If you need me to pray for another hour or not, I'm yours. 459 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:32,080 If you need me to give more of my money, it's yours. 460 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,440 If you need me to give more of my time, it's yours. 461 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,640 I'm offering my life as a living sacrifice. 462 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,960 No longer am I trying to pull the presence of God, but I'm 463 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,600 offering my entire life to God and saying you can have it all, 464 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:51,560 you can have it all. We're not trying to make 465 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,040 something happen in the original version, but we're just saying 466 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:58,000 God, whatever you would like to do, whatever you require of me, 467 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,760 I'm yours. Does that make sense? 468 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:09,520 To bring the presence of God requires us to sacrifice and to 469 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,440 offer ourselves before God. Would you mind standing, 470 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:22,920 standing with me this morning? What's what's incredible about 471 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:27,240 these two stories on the presence of God, it's that it 472 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,240 wasn't always immediately evident which one was going to 473 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,880 succeed. If you think about the first 474 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:37,280 story, there's rejoicing, the presence of God is coming. 475 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,480 There's dancing in the second story, it's exactly the same. 476 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,760 It looks exactly the same initially looks exactly the 477 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:52,640 same, but then it gets to a point where things start to 478 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:57,600 wobble in the first case and you actually find that God is more 479 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,320 of a hindrance than a help. In the first thing, God's anger 480 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,120 breaks out and it seems like God is hindering the whole process 481 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:07,520 and David gets frustrated he's getting angry. 482 00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:12,400 In the second case, it says this, and God helped the 483 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,240 Levites. Isn't that amazing? 484 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:20,080 When you turn your attention to him, when you take these things 485 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,080 to heart, when we put these things in place and say, God, I 486 00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:28,320 truly do want more of you in my life, more of your presence, and 487 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,400 I'm willing to change to get there. 488 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:36,680 God says I want to help you by the power of my spirit, I want 489 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:40,560 to help. And then the other amazing thing 490 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:46,440 about this is that in one, the presence of God is a loss, it's 491 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,560 sidelined. And in the other, the presence 492 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:54,680 of God lasts and is sustained with David, it stays with David. 493 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,080 And so I'm sure that's all of our hearts, if that, if that is 494 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,360 in your heart, if you're like God, I want your presence to be 495 00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:06,840 sustained on my life. I want it to last. 496 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,880 I wonder if maybe you're willing to raise your hands and just 497 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,160 say, God, I want you. I want more of you. 498 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,400 Father, we, you see the hands that are in this place. 499 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:25,280 You see us in our hearts and say, God, we want more of you 500 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,920 and we're prepared to do whatever it takes. 501 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:32,480 We're prepared to change what you need us to change. 502 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,520 And so we also ask, Lord, we're thankful that you will help us 503 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,520 as these stories show that you will help your people carry your 504 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:47,760 presence. And so we thank you for the 505 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:49,920 presence that we've experienced this morning, for your 506 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,600 closeness. And we thank you that in your 507 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,040 presence there is fullness of joy. 508 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,640 In your presence there is hope for evermore. 509 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:58,840 In your presence there is blessing. 510 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:00,200 In your presence there is strength. 511 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:05,320 So even right now, whatever we might need, we take hold of it 512 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:11,400 in your presence. Whatever we might need, we know 513 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:12,960 that it is found in your presence. 514 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,880 And so, Lord, we honour you, we're going to say come be more 515 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:27,440 present in our life and teach us how to do it in Jesus name, 516 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,600 Amen. Awesome job man. 517 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:40,280 Let's just give Justin a clap. Thank you for what the Lord is 518 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,360 doing through this man. I mean, I mean that man, I do. 519 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:45,440 You're a blessing to this church. 520 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:47,840 You're a blessing to to us, our family. 521 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:52,040 And we love you, man. You know, the the white church, 522 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,520 The reason that you know, we will start to to call this the 523 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,480 white church. You know, we felt that that was 524 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,080 from God. But it's funny when you think 525 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,960 about that picture of the six steps and look, you know, like 526 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,160 we want to follow God. This is we want a church to be 527 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,800 built here that we are constantly looking and, and 528 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,400 saying, Lord, what do you want us to do? 529 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,320 Where do you want us to go? That's the church that he's 530 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:19,720 building here, but he is building, right? 531 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,280 And so I'm thinking about this this week. 532 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,840 It means that like things just can't always just stay the same. 533 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,080 Like if we have an idea of what God's wanting to do in US and 534 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:33,400 through us, we have to implement and implement and implement and 535 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,440 build upon the thing that was implemented. 536 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,040 Otherwise things just get lost and we go nowhere. 537 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,280 So this is coming into a new year. 538 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,760 This is going to be a season for us intentionally building and 539 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:47,000 putting things in place that we feel in God and making sure that 540 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,480 we're stirring one another in these things to be doing these 541 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:55,280 things and seeing these things. You know, I read, you know, that 542 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:57,760 they were devoted. They were devoted to the 543 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,320 apostles teaching. We've just heard, you know, the 544 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,640 word of God, the the apostles teaching. 545 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,240 Where did they get their teaching from the Lord? 546 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,440 It's, it's the Lord's word, right? 547 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:10,840 So they were devoted to the Lord's word. 548 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,000 They were devoted to the breaking of bread. 549 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:16,440 They were devoted to fellowship, and they were devoted to prayer. 550 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,560 This is not a checklist of the things that we need to do in 551 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:25,560 every Sunday meeting, right? But it's a pattern for us to to 552 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:29,440 build and for us to experience God's presence and for him to 553 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,680 build in our midst. And so as we close this meeting, 554 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,520 now, we're going to have a time for fellowship. 555 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,840 And fellowship is important because the early disciples were 556 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,120 devoted to fellowship, and that's important for us. 557 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,520 So please stick around if you can't, if you can have some 558 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,560 fellowship, have some coffee, have some cake. 559 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,600 Let's trust that God will speak in us and through us. 560 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,720 If you've got words for people, if you've got encouragements, 561 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,120 please give those to people. But we are, again, we are a 562 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,120 House of living stones built together. 563 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:04,480 And so we have to be together for your stone to be in our 564 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,880 midst. And it's not just on a Sunday 565 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,920 meeting. You know, let's not get 566 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,200 sidetracked to think that we're talking about Sunday. 567 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,200 We are talking about a lifestyle of being devoted to the Lord, 568 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:19,640 being together in fellowship, praying together, unpacking his 569 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,440 word, breaking bread together in our home. 570 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:26,280 So not just here, guys. That's the church that Jesus is 571 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:26,960 building. Amen. 572 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:30,480 Love you guys. Thank you for joining us for 573 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,920 today's message. For more information about The 574 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,240 Way Church, please visit ourwebsite@thewaychurch.com dot 575 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:38,480 AU. Have a blessed day.