The Way to God’s Presence

Worship and prayer. As we focus on worship and prayer this month, we're going to walk into what it means to be in the presence of God, to connect with God in a powerful way. And in the context of our scripture, if you're familiar, if you grew up in church, or you know about Moses, you know, and Pharaoh, and the departure, and the exodus, you know, they left Egypt, they parted the Red Sea, God parted the Red Sea, and they went out, and they were promised a land. We call it the promised land. It was a place that God had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, right?

It was a promised land. And they thought they would get there in a relatively short period of time, but it ended up being 40 years. 40 years, and many of them didn't even make it. They aged out. They weren't allowed to go into it because of their disobedience to God.

So, the Israelites, if you're not familiar with it, they were basically nomads. They lived in tents. They traveled around. They popped up. They broke down.

For 40 years, they didn't really have a home. They would go to a place, stay there for a while, wander. They were wandering through the wilderness, hoping and believing and praying that their promised land would come. And in that, God commanded them to build a tabernacle where He could dwell. God commanded them to build a tabernacle, to put up a tent, a tent of meetings, a place where God's presence would dwell, that God would be with them, that God's tangible presence would be there to show the world that He is indeed the one and only God.

There would be a building, so to speak, or a room where God could actually be there, and they could meet with God. And He says this, and what God did in that, in Exodus 25, 8, 9, He says, Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so that I can live among them. And then, so He lays a pattern out in this next part for His presence, because here's what happened. When they built this tabernacle, God's fire would be with them at night in a cloud by day. Like, literally, you would walk into the camp, and you would see, at night, a big flaming fire coming out of this tent.

Could you imagine that for a second, you know, just walking in and seeing that? During the day, the smoke would come, and then when it was time to pack up, they would pack up, and then they'd do it all again. God would come down and be there. Then God would leave as they left. They would make their routes.

And it says this, You must build this tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern I will show you. So He gives them a pattern in order to enter the presence of God. The priests had to follow a pattern before they could even go into His presence. These are steps that they had to take in order to experience the presence of God. And then ultimately, it says in Exodus 33, 11, if we know anything about Moses, Inside the tent of meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend.

See, God wants to speak to us face to face. He wants to talk to us. He wants to be our friend. But what does the Old Testament show us? That you'd surely die if you saw God, right?

That's how holy and how powerful. But today, praise God, by virtue of Jesus Christ and the cross, We have access to God any time we want. We live on the other side of the Old Testament in which the fulfillment has taken place. And God wants us to have fellowship with Him. To be in His presence.

To soak in His presence. To know Him. And in those days, God dwelled in buildings. But we would ultimately, and we are, the tabernacle of God. So this tabernacle is emblematic of us.

It's emblematic of the presence of God living in us. It lived in tents in that day. But ultimately, the fulfillment of that was that you possess the power of God inside of you. Amen? As believers, we have the power of God.

We have the presence of God that lives inside of us. And guess what? When you're possessed by the presence of God, rather than possessed by anything else in this world. Amen? When you're possessed by the presence of God, things happen.

When you're not here, God's not here. But when you're here, God's here. It's not a building anymore. It's not a room. You hold the presence of God.

We have the presence of God in us. Environments change when we enter places. Things change. Things happen. Things shift when we walk into a place.

Because we're filled with the power of Jesus Christ. We're filled with the power of God. Think about when we were bouncing around at different places. One of the common threads, and I remember being at the Museum of Contemporary Art. We were there for a little while.

And the staff there just loved us. Just loved us. They didn't want us to leave. In fact, it wasn't the staff that had us leave. It was the board with the policies of COVID and different things going on.

And I can tell you, man, if you know anything about the Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art's got a lot of demons. There's a lot of different philosophies floating through that place. There's a lot of different religions floating through that place. There's a lot of things going on in there. I mean, I've been in there at times where I'm like, ooh, there's something not right in here.

You know, like something's going on. But when our church was in there, things started changing. In fact, the staff even told us something's different about this place by you being here. I said it's the presence of God. Because the presence of God changes places.

It changes things. Better attitudes, better environment. Everything was different because we were there. Even here, when we were talking about this place, we moved in here in Easter. And before Easter, when we were trying to get the plans together and to move in here, we were meeting with the Courthouse Rise and discussing the details of how we were going to do church here.

Trevor and Trevor, who runs the place, he says, man, I don't know what's going on, but since we started talking to you guys and helping you out and giving you an opportunity to meet here and be a part of this and partner with us, we've been getting all kinds of good things happen to us. Donations here, donations there. This is happening. That's happening. We're getting bookings.

We're able to cover. I said, man, that's just a blessing in favor of God because we have the Holy Spirit with us, okay? When you help a church, you're inviting the Spirit of God into what you're doing because we hold the power of God inside of us. We are the tabernacles of the living God. You may think, well, you know, isn't that just an Old Testament thing?

That's why Jesus said, do you not think or do not think that I have come to abolish the law. I didn't. I have not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it. He's fulfilling the law. The fulfillment of all things is through the church.

And I want to show you a pattern that parallels with six elements, six furniture pieces, and then we're going to walk through these different furniture pieces into the presence of God. Now, remember, you know, the priests were only allowed to go into the tabernacle, but you need to understand this, that you are priests. You are priests. Did you know that? We no longer have to go before a priest.

I know some of you come from church traditions where you confess your sins to a priest. Guess what? You don't have to do that. You can go before God right now and confess everything to God right here because God is available to you because it says in 1 Peter 2.9, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood.

You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. He's talking to the church. You're a holy nation, God's special possession. that you may declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. So, look to your neighbor and say, you are a priest.

You are a priestess. We are priests, we are priestesses, and we have God available to us anytime. Don't let somebody tell you that you have to go through them to get to God. If you are a believer, if you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, you have God available to you anytime you want. You can walk into the Holy of Holies.

And today, I hope to show you that you can even experience Him more than you are currently experiencing. That you can walk and you can actually enter into His presence. So, over the next few weeks, we are going to dig into three areas. Tariq, if you will pop a picture up of the tabernacle so that you can get an idea of what the tabernacle is like. So, if you see here, I'll stand over here so you can get out of the way.

I know it won't be exactly in the camera. But the tabernacle, as I said, was a tent. You had your outer courts, the outer courts here where you did your sacrifices and the labor. And anybody was allowed into the outer courts. Then there was the inner courts, which is in this tent right here.

This tent was halved, and only priests were allowed into the first part of that tent. But only the high priest could enter through the veil, which is where God's presence is. Only then. So, over the next few weeks, I'm going to talk about next week the outer courts, what that means. The inner courts, what that means in week two.

And then the Holy of Holies walking into the presence of God. But today, I'm just going to walk through an overview of all these pieces of furniture. Hopefully, this will help you in your prayer life. This will help you in your worship life. And we need to be a worshipful, prayerful church.

Can I get an amen on that one? We need to be prayerful. We've got a battle out there. We've got a war going on all around us. Amen?

And we need to be battled up. We need to be geared up for battle. Amen? Hallelujah? So, we're going to learn how to go into the presence of God.

To be filled with the power of God. To worship and prayer. So, the first part that we're going to look at is the outer courts. If you'll pop that up just once again, Tariq. The outer courts.

So, the outer courts was an area. Everybody was invited in there. If you were an Israelite, you could go in. And there was no exceptions that you could come in. And the first thing you did when you walked in there.

The first thing you did is give God thanks. You praised His name. You give God thanks. You have the attitude that, like, God, if you don't do anything else for me. I've got needs.

I know I do. I need to come to you with my needs. But before I even come to you with my needs. I'm going to tell you, if you do nothing else for me, you are enough. God, you have done so much for me.

And this type of worship makes problems small, okay? If you have a problem, if you're coming to God with a problem, don't come to God with a problem at first, okay? Start with thanks. With thanksgiving. And start with praise.

Because it's amazing how gratitude and thanks and just giving God the praise for everything that He's done for you. Everything He's brought you through. It's amazing what God can do to your problems. How small. I focus on what I have and not what I want Him to do.

And this kind of attitude, we don't see God as some kind of cosmic Santa Claus or vending machine or some kind of grant wisher or some kind of magical figure that's kind of up there somewhere. We see God as a God who is a Father who knows what's best for us, who's given us everything that we need in this particular time, in this particular place, in this particular stage of our lives. So we give thanks to God. So the first thing we do, if we want to experience the presence of God, is we've got to give Him thanks. We've got to say, Hallelujah, God.

Thank you so much. This church is dead today. Come on, guys. Give me some feedback today, guys. I mean, my goodness, I know it's a hard morning, but come on.

Can y'all just praise God for a minute? Can you just lift your hands and praise God just for a few minutes? Thank you, Jesus. He wants to hear our praise. Hallelujah.

We thank you, God, for everything that you have done for me. Thank you, Lord, all that you have given me. I'm blessed because of my family. I'm blessed because I have a job. I'm blessed because I have my health.

Praise God. There might be problems in this world, but I don't focus on those problems. I thank God. Look what the psalmist says in Psalm 104. Enter His gates with thanksgiving.

They entered His gates with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. Praise His name. Hallelujah.

Can you praise His name today? Let's enter His courts. We're entering His courts. We're stepping into the presence of God today. Amen?

Then the next thing that would happen, still in this outer court, is the brazen altar. The brazen altar. The brazen altar was where the sacrifices took place, where the lambs and bulls were sacrificed as a representation of that which was to come that we know today as Jesus Christ's blood that was shed on the cross. They would come in, and they would choose a perfect lamb, a perfect sacrifice, because something had to die. Blood had to be shed for the forgiveness of sins.

And we need to remind ourselves of that. When we're coming into the presence of God to remind ourselves that Jesus died for our sins, that blood had to be shed, that someone had to die. Something had to die before I could even come to the Father. And the same is for us today. Thank God for the gift of Jesus Christ.

Thank God for the gift of His sacrifice. We need to be praying and praising God and claiming the blood over us that brings transformation, that brings healing, that we've been cleansed, and we've been made a new creation. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. We are made the picture of Jesus.

Jesus, we need to just look at Him. Sometimes we just need to stop and think about the cross for a minute. Sometimes we forget about the cross. We're so focused on what we need. We're so focused on what's going on around us, we forget that what Jesus has done is far more than any of your problems.

He's covered you completely from your sin. Look what Romans 5, 6 says in the New Living Translation. When we were utterly helpless, when we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for our sins. He died for us sinners. I love that word, utterly helpless.

We couldn't change ourselves. We were utterly helpless. We can't get any help from anything else. You can't get this kind of help from a guru. You can't get this kind of help from a counselor.

You can't get this kind of help from a teacher. The only one who could help us with our sins, the only one who could heal us was Jesus Christ. He needed to die. Something had to die because we were utterly helpless. And there were four wounds that took place with Jesus.

And I'll dig into this in the next couple of weeks. But the four major wounds are this. He was whipped. He was nailed in His feet. A crown was placed on His head.

And a spear in His heart. So you've got four things there. I want us to correlate those with Isaiah 53, 5. First of all, but He was pierced for our transgressions. He was pierced for our transgressions.

What is a transgression? It means I went too far. I've crossed a line. And His pierced hands and feet, they were pierced because our hands and feet went too far. For what our hands and feet have done, He was pierced for that.

It says, He was crushed for our iniquities. That's who we are outside of Christ. That's the difference between transgressions and iniquities. Iniquities is our evil heart. That front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that front of us, that friends.

From birth, we are prone to evil. If you don't believe it, look at a child, okay? They're selfish from birth, right? Me, me, mine, I, cry, give me. They're just babies.

They want, they need. It's about them. It's about their selfishness. They were prone to evil. We are, we believe this in Christian theology.

You might get those teaching that we were inherently good and sin made us bad. No, we were born in sin. We were sinners from the very beginning. You got to get that right. Our iniquities.

If we are not sinners, then what did Christ die for, right? Right? He died for our sins and our heart is naturally prone to evil. But then we see on the cross that his heart was pierced by a spear in the side. And the blood and water flow.

His heart was crushed. And his heart was crushed so that you could be healed of all the pain you feel in your heart. All those things deep down inside of you. That's what God did for you. And then the punishment that brought us peace was on him.

The punishment. The punishment. The nails or the crown of thorns that was placed on his head. It was pressed down on his head. The pain.

Think about it for a minute. Just reflect on that for a minute. The pain. The head that he, the pain that he bore on his head is so that you didn't have to bear pain in your head. That you didn't again.

Let me say that again. The pain that he bore on his head is so that you don't have to bear the pain on your head. The anxiety. That you, the depression. The fear.

The stress. The thoughts that come. He bore it for you. He bore the pain for you. And then by his stripes, we are healed.

He was whipped. And not just physically. There's certainly physical healing that is by the stripes. But it's for every place in you. Your emotions.

Your physical. Your mental. Your emotional state. God was whipped for all of that. Jesus was whipped so that you could be healed.

My emotions. My spirit. My relationships. My marriage. My family.

All of that is available. Healing is available for you. Can we give God a hand clap of praise for that? Can we just thank him that healing is available by his stripes? Can we believe that today?

That we can go to him? That he has made himself available? The tabernacle is available for you? Because blood was shed for you and me. So we have Jesus.

We have God through Jesus Christ available for us. And thirdly, there's the laver. The laver. The Israelites call it, or the Jews call it the laver. Or laver.

I can't pronounce it in Hebrew, but some people argue it's a laver. It's either way. You know, potato, potatoes. I've heard it both ways, right? And a laver, it was this idea of offering every part of my life to God.

God, before the priest could enter the tent, it was the last piece of furniture, and they would go up to the laver, or the laver, and they would begin to wash themselves. And there was a mirror at the bottom where they would see themselves. This is the place where we assess ourselves. We assess our sin. We assess where we are.

God, I assess myself, and I fully surrender. Is there a part of my life that isn't aligning with you, Lord? I want to enter into your presence. I want to touch you. I want to hear from you.

I want you to speak to me. I want to be face-to-face with you. But first of all, I've got to make sure my life is right. I've got to stop living in sin. I don't know how Christians live in sin and expect to have the presence of God available to them, right?

We need to live outside. We need to assess ourselves and align ourselves with God. Even before the high priest could enter the room, there were so many different things that they had to do to make sure that they were without sin before they entered into the holy hole. Did you know they tied a rope around the high priest's ankle before they entered the holy of holies with a bell on it? Why did they do that?

Because in the presence of God, it is so holy that if you have any sin on you, you would die. Sometimes the high priest would die if a bad thought took place or some kind of sin in their life they didn't confess or whatever it was. And that bell would ring, and nobody was going in there after them to get them because they didn't want to die, right? So they dragged out the high priest from the room. Man, we need to stop for a second and think about that.

We're talking about a holy, mighty God. Sometimes we forget that because we see Jesus, and he's our friend, and he's our Savior. But we also have a mighty God, a powerful God that we need to reverence and honor, glory, almighty Jesus that before him mountains melt like wax. An almighty God to honor him, serve him. When we come into this room ready to receive from God, we need to have an attitude of, God, you are so holy, you are so righteous, you are so mighty, died in your presence.

And surely if we saw your face today, we would die. But thanks to Jesus Christ, who is the personification of God himself, we have available to us, God. So what do I do when I assess myself in prayer and worship? I ask God, every day you need to wake up, and you need to pray, God, I consecrate my life to you. I give every part of my life to you.

I give you my eyes that they only focus on you and focus on people in need and not myself. And I will not have lustful thoughts and stray from you. And I pray for my tongue that they will speak only good things. They will speak only things that are well to others. And they will not speak evil things.

I give you my ears to be sensitive to your voice. I give you my hands to do good for others. I give you my feet to walk in your ways and follow your footsteps. And I give you my mind so that it can be transformed and used by you. That's why Romans 12, 1, Paul says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices.

He doesn't want dead animals anymore. He wants you. You are the sacrifice. That's what he wants. Holy and pleasing to God.

This is our spiritual act of worship. This is our spiritual. So we need to dedicate, consecrate your life. Every day, God, I'm going to be consecrated. I am a living sacrifice.

If you want to experience God's presence, if you want to know God, if you want to walk behind the veil, if you want to go beyond the veil of what you're currently experiencing, this is an everyday thing that we need to participate in. And then the next stage, they enter into the tent. The first part of the tent. And the first thing you see is a candlestick. A candlestick.

Some of you are familiar with this candlestick. You see it on Jewish paraphernalia all the time. Hanukkah and different places. And it meant different things. I'm not going to go into what the seven prongs mean in Jewish tradition.

But we as a church, we as believers in Jesus see this as inviting the work of the Holy Spirit into our lives. This is a symbol of the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit lights up a dark place. That a candle lights up a room. And that's what God does. The fire, the power, the anointing, gifts of the Spirit, wisdom.

The Holy Spirit is working through us. We need to invite the power of the Holy Spirit into our lives to light up this world. We are salt and light to this world. That's why we call ourselves Salt Church because salt goes a long way. But you cannot be salt unless you have the power of the Holy Spirit working in you.

And we need to declare our dependence on... The Holy Spirit. We cannot walk out of this room without the Holy Spirit guiding us, not the Holy Spirit speaking to us, without the Holy Spirit counseling us, without the Holy Spirit giving us the gifts we need, without the Holy Spirit giving us boldness to speak truth. With all these things God has available to us by way of the Holy Spirit. We have a dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 11-2 talks about the seven manifold gifts that was placed on, it was a messianic prophecy that was given to Jesus, what he would bear by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it is available to the church today. Everything that Jesus was given is available to us. That's the, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. The Spirit of the Lord can be upon you.

He is upon you as a believer. Just call out the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He gives us wisdom. He gives me wisdom to be able to say the things that I normally don't say and think the things I, and he gives me understanding is the third piece. And then he gives me counsel.

He gives me the counsel. He gives me might. He gives me knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. Once again going back to he is holy and righteous and mighty and, and I have a healthy fear of his name and who he is.

And then we need to pray for the fruits of the Spirit. That, that God would give us every fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, uh, gentleness, self-control. All the fruits of the Spirit that, that God would, would allow us, the power of the Spirit would allow us to live in those every day. That I would be kind to people who aren't kind to me.

That I'd be patient with people that aren't patient, that, that, that, that, that aren't patient with me. That I, I would experience joy when everybody else is not. That I would have love for those who are loveless. That I would practice these gifts. That I'd have these fruits.

And then we ask for the manifestation gifts of the Spirit. What are the manifestation gifts of the Spirit? These are things that we should be eager and longing for. These are the supernatural gifts that are available to the church today as spelled out in 1 Corinthians 14. That, that we have gifts available.

It says eagerly desire the spiritual gifts. I, I want to, that, that, that's my prayer. That should be your prayer. That should be all of us prayer. If we want to experience more of God's presence in our life, God moving through us, God doing things, we pray for all these gifts.

That, God, you would give me tongues. That you would give me the interpretation of tongues. That you would give me the discerning of spirits and prophecy and working of miracles and gifts of healing. God, I pray for those gifts. I pray for the greater gifts.

The gifts of healing. The gifts of faith, Lord. Give me supernatural faith to walk out in this world and I won't be turned away from what you have for me, Lord. And what, and the boldness you give me to speak. And that you would give me words of knowledge and words of wisdom that only come from heaven.

That should be our desire. That should be our heart. That we pray that God would give us everything. That this candle, this candlestick, that as we walk into the presence of God, is that I cannot do anything. I have to put myself in places where I depend on the Holy Spirit.

Then I have, the only way I can get through it is, is by way of the Holy Spirit. I don't want to play it safe anymore. Let's not play it safe anymore, church. Let's walk into places where the power of the Holy Spirit works in us. Did I not say at the beginning, as you know, when the power of the Spirit is within us, when the power of God within us, things change around you.

If you're being changed by people when you get around them, then the power of God isn't in you. You aren't possessed by the power of God. But when we have the power of the Holy Spirit in filling us, pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit over you. I'll be glad to pray with you today for the baptism of the Holy Spirit if you need it. We'll lay hands.

We'll come up here, some of the elders, some of the prayer warriors will come up here, and we'll pray over you for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because you need it. You need it. We need it as a church. If God has called us to such a thing as He's called us to, to a city that many would say is impossible to reach for God, because it's so far from God, we need the power of the Holy Spirit, because it's not impossible with God.

Yes, it's impossible with us. It's impossible with my own knowledge. It's not possible with my own wisdom. It's my own, it's impossible with my own ability. But when I got God in my heart, when I got God in my life, when God has empowered me by the Spirit, I can speak things and do things that I normally can't do.

And you got to believe that, church. Let's believe that, church. You can't, don't just let this go in one ear and out the other. You need to pray that the Lord would endow you with power and wisdom from on high, so that you can do the work that He has called you to do. I digress.

2 Timothy 1, 6, and 7 says, this is why I remind you to flame the spiritual gift of God that He gave you. when I laid my hands on you. Paul laid hands on people, and they're receiving the power of the Spirit. But we can get comfortable, we can go about our days and our weeks, and we forget, and we can't experience the presence of God. If you want to go beyond the veil, if you want to go beyond the veil, you need the power of the Spirit in your life, power and anointing.

I mean, if you want to, you can just live a dormant life. I don't want to live a dormant life. You can just pay your bills and live and just go on, but God has chosen you for so much more. He wants to use you for way more. If everybody can get a hold of that, that God has given you gifts gifts that you haven't even yet touched, that God puts inside of you by His power, that this building would not be able to contain the people, because that's who you are.

You've been given purpose. Amen. He's not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a power, love, and self-discipline, sound mine. Amen. Number five, I've got to move on here.

I've got to move on here. Then you enter into the table of showbread. I could just imagine walking into there and smelling that good old sweet bread. It's like walking into a steakhouse, you know, and smelling the honey bread. How many of you are there?

Who loves bread in here? I don't need it. We don't need it, but we all love bread. We don't, I mean, that's why we're all overweight, okay? Yeah.

Those of you that are in shape, you don't, you, you don't eat it. You don't eat much of it, but you want it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We all want it. Let's just be honest. There's something great about bread, right? This is, this is the Word of God. This is emblematic of the Word of God that is available to us as showbread.

They would come in and claim the promises of God's Word. We're claiming the promises that God has given us. That's why it says, the Word of God says, and we sing it, it's like sweet honey to my lips, as the psalmist says. It's a, I want to consume it. I want to consume Jesus.

It's a living word. It's not a dead word. That's why Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone. You cannot live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, I need everything that God has for me. I want to eat Jesus.

I want to drink Jesus. I know that sounds weird, but I want to know Jesus so well that anything that I go through, His, He comes to mind. A scripture comes to mind. His heart comes to mind. God, if you don't know who God is, you haven't read the Word of God.

If you don't understand who God is, you, if you're going through something in your life, did you know there is a promise? And I say this all the time, and some of you are like sick of hearing this, but everything that you are going through, if you've got a problem, did you know there is a scripture for it? There is something that answers that problem that you have. If you're lonely, I will never leave you or forsake you. If you need provision, He's Jehovah Jireh, your provider, and He owns the cattle of a thousand hills.

And I talked about last week, Last week, how we can have an abundance mindset. We don't need to be having a limited mindset when we know that we have a God who is able to supply all of our needs according to His riches and glory that is in the Bible as well. Amen? And I could go on and on and on, but I'm not going to spend all morning on that, okay? But there's a promise for everything that you're going through and you need to eat that word daily.

If you don't have a Bible, I'll get you a Bible, okay? There's Bibles available everywhere. There's free Bibles online. There's study Bibles online. You can write things into your apps.

You can do all that stuff. But you need to be in the Word. And if you have gotten out of the Word, you cannot experience the presence of God unless you are in the Word of God. If you don't have the knowledge and understanding and every word that comes out of that Bible is the Word of God, it is available to you. And I'm going to live my life according to the Word.

Are we going to walk our lives according to the Word? Are we going to live what culture says? I know some things in the Bible are weird. I know it asks us to do some things that are contrary to culture. It asks us to honor the marriage bed.

I know that's weird in this culture, single people. I know that's hard. I know it says to love my wife as Christ loved the church. And it says to submit to your husbands. I know that's weird in our culture because they don't like that.

But in the Bible, it shows us the prescription for a perfect marriage. It tells us how to give, how to give in a way that gives back to others and gives back to us multiple fold. It shows how the fruit of what we give, it gives back. I know it's weird. I know it's different.

But that's what God shows us in His Word. And if we're going to live by culture, just die by culture, okay? And be dormant and live this life and never experience the presence of God in your life, moving in your life, the blessings. As that song we sang earlier, I'm anointed, highly favored, filled with His power. Some of you were singing that song probably and not even knowing what that means.

What it means is that you're walking in the Word of God. You're walking in His presence. And when we go and eat of the showbread, the sweet honey of the Word of God, we need to be in the Word of God, stepping into His presence. And number six, the altar of incense. This is worship.

This is worship. You want to pop that up right before you head over into the veil, into the room, into the Holy of Holies. It's worship. You know, that's why we start off our worship, our church in worship. It's not just music.

It's not just song. It's honoring God. It's honoring God. It's getting excited about who God is. Knowing who He is, it's His name.

There's something about someone's name that makes them who they are. That's why we say the name of Jesus, or the name of God, when we praise Him in the name of Jesus. Because there is something worthy. There is something trustworthy. There is something anchored in His name.

Did you know that the Bible says when we worship God, the incense goes up? And what they do, it's worship, and it goes to heaven. And it smells, it's like a sweet, pleasant smell to God in the throne room. Did you know when you praise God and you worship God, He senses that smell? He knows, He feels, He knows.

In fact, the Bible says He even dances over us. I think that's the craziest thing. But when we worship, some of you don't like to dance. You think it's weird to dance and worship. I grew up in a Catholic or Episcopalian church, and we never even moved out of the seats, you know?

Or a traditional Methodist church. But guess what? It's all over the Bible. David danced in the streets and was called undignified. And he said, I'll be more undignified than this if I get to worship my God and my Creator.

Because it's in His name that I worship. Not you, Michael. It's in my name. It's in His name. It's in His name.

It's His name. Now, I know some of you can't dance. I know that. And I know I'm not trying to push you out here to do something you're not comfortable with. But can you wiggle a little bit?

Can you not put your hands in your pocket and stare at the wall? I mean, we're talking about the mighty God of all creation here. We should be dancing. I mean, you know, I grew up Pentecostal, and we pastored some really crazy churches. I'm going to tell you that.

I mean, when I was really young, I remember people having like shofars running around the church, you know? And people walking in line. And I'm telling you, I'm not saying whether that's biblical or not, or whatever, or what's your opinion about it. But boy, those people had some joy. They had some joy in the house.

We pastored when I was about five or six-year-old. My dad and mom pastored this little country church, a real little country church. And back then, you know, you kind of worked your way up the chain, you know? You got promoted to different churches, bigger churches, bigger churches, because it was kind of a political game. Right?

But these little country churches, man, they hardly had any instruments. But boy, they had clapping. And they had stomping. Nah, nah, nah, nah. And they could do that.

And it didn't matter what the song was. It didn't matter what it was. It could be a slow song or a fast song. You know, Amazing Grace was high-paced. Amazing Grace, how sweet.

Hallelujah! I miss those type of churches. I'm so tired of just dragging around when we're worshiping the Almighty God. We should be Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound!

That saved a wretch like me. Some of you here today are like, man, am I in the right church? If you don't like energy and excitement for who God is, His name, then yeah, you're in the wrong church. I had a seeker, a seeker-sensitive pastor said, Leon, you got to tell them to stop clapping so much because that weirds people out. I said, I don't know.

I'm sorry, brother. That's not who we are. Scaring people away. I think it's drawing people. The more excited we get about God, the more people show up.

They have enough seeker-driven churches out there. Okay? Let's be excited about Jesus. We love the seeker. Amen.

But we want the seeker to know how much we love Jesus and His name. Because there's something about a name. Psalm 29 2 says, I ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. What is His name? He's Jehovah Jireh, my provider.

He's my healer. He's my salvation. He's my righteousness. He's my sanctification. He's my victory.

He's my peace. He's my shepherd. He's my Lord. Over and over and over again in Scripture, we see God's name. And we honor His name because He's everything that we could ever want.

There's something about the name of Jesus that just stands firm. And we can trust. That is a trustworthy name. Psalm 95 says, come, let us bow in worship. Let us kneel before the God, our maker.

For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture to flock under His care. A person's worth is found in their name. And if you praise those names of Jesus, you're walking into His presence. You're saying how much He's worth and how much He's worthy. Proverbs 18.

10 says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it. Are you righteous people? In Jesus Christ, we are made righteous and we are running to Him for safety and salvation.

Hallelujah. Praise the name of Jesus. We declare His worth. I think about Savannah. I'll pick on her for a second.

She's a very, very strong encourager. I mean, she just encourages me all the time. I don't know where it comes from sometimes. I remember when she was only five or six years old, she came up to me and said, Daddy, I just want to let you know you're a good pastor and you're a good daddy. The other day, she wrote me a sweet note.

Yesterday was my birthday. Yesterday, she wrote me a really sweet note and told me how much she loved me and how good of a daddy I was. And that Jesus was with me. And He would never leave me. Just trust.

Keep trusting in Him. She was telling me. She was preaching to me. Keep trusting in Jesus. Just keep trusting in Jesus.

That warmed my heart. It made me want to be with her. And love her even more. See, that’s what God wants for us. Are we loving Him?

Are we worshiping Him? Telling Him how good He is, how worthy He is, that He is our strong fortress. And then lastly, we enter into the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God. This is representative of salvation. This is representative of salvation.

Excuse me, representative of intercession. Intercession. That we are called to intercede. We are called to intercede. That we are called to be high priests.

God wants to call us in to be high priests. People died in the presence of God. But when Jesus went to the cross, He tore the veil. That veil was torn. And we could walk into the Holy of Holies.

And in the middle, between that, you have to’ She’s trying to figure out the music here. You have to’ You have to click it to the soundboard. Okay. If y'all could just put on some music back there. Let's just’ Okay.

Never mind. The mercy seat of Jesus. Y'all have heard of the mercy seat of Jesus. When the high priest would enter into the tabernacle. When the high priest would enter the tabernacle, they would pour blood in the middle.

The perfect Lamb's blood would be in the most holy place of God. Jesus’s blood was shed for us. The intercession of the saints. The intercession for us. Jesus stands in the gap.

Did you know that? And we have been called to be high priests, where we enter in as well, to stand in the gap for our families, for our church, for our nation, for our city. We never stop seeking God. We never stop approaching God in our worship and our prayer. Because your prayer has the ability to change things.

Your presence, when you're empowered with God, has the ability to change things. Because it's God that's in you, not you. And when you pray, you're praying intercession because God is in you. Jesus is in you. And you're able to intercede.

You're able to stand in the gap for governments and powers and kings and rulers and nations. Did you know that? We enter into the presence of God. We pray, we intercede, we stand in the gap. I thank God so much for allowing us, for allowing me.

And I praise Him for that, for allowing me. When I go into prayer and I go into my worship time and I enter into this presence. Lord, thank you so much for being here. Thank you that you are allowing me in your presence. Thank you for allowing me to intercede on behalf of people.

To be able to intercede on behalf of this world. That you are listening to me, God. And I'm able to enter the throne room. And I'm able to plead for my marriage. And I'm able to plead for my finances.

And I'm able to plead for my family. And I'm able to plead for my health and others' help. And I'm able to plead for jobs. And I'm able to plead for emotions. I'm able to do all these things.

And I'm able to pray and intercede for leaders and authority structures. Matthew 1-2 says, I urge you then, first of all, that petitions. This is just hear the heart of Paul as he's talking to the church here. The petitions and prayers and intercession and thanksgiving be made of all people for kings and all those in authority. That we may live peaceful in all godliness and holiness.

To be up on a pulpit, you don't have to be up on a stage. You don't have to be a president of the United States. But you have all authority. I pray for our church. I pray for the people.

I pray for the hurting, broken hearts. I pray for mental health. I pray over stress, Lord. I pray over finances, God, in our church, Lord. I pray over marriages, Lord Jesus, in the name of the almighty God.

Restore marriages. Restore relationships that were broken, Lord Jesus. I pray for our city. I pray for our mayor. I pray for the city council.

I pray for our state governor. I pray for the elections coming up, Lord Jesus. I pray for Washington. Don't complain. I don't get grumpy.

I just pray. I don't get frustrated. I just pray. Anyone here today? I sent someone here today.

Is there a marriage here that needs prayer? I know it's coming to the end. Y'all thinking about lunch. Trust me. I do respect that.

Okay. Hallelujah. Is there someone who needs healing? We got another hand back here. Does somebody need prayer?

You need prayer? We got two prayers. Why don't y'all come up? Carl, would you join me? Brother.

Alex, would you join me? Anybody? Stephan needs prayer. Stephan, I know about your situation. Hallelujah.

Praise God. I pray for you. Hallelujah. Becky says she has acid reflux and has been bugging her to death. Nothing is too small for God to heal.

Father, we pray in the name of Jesus over Becky's body, Lord Jesus, that you would bring healing, Lord Jesus. Bring healing in her body. Hallelujah, Jesus. Take the acid reflux away, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Take it all away by the power that is manifested inside of us, Lord Jesus, as given to you from heaven, Lord.

We pray over her in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God. Hallelujah.

Praise God. Receive it. Receive the healing. Receive it today. Hallelujah, Jesus.

Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Stephan, come over here, buddy. I'm not going to say anything out loud that you don't want me to say, but I know your situation.

Stephan's going through some things right now in his family situation. But, Father, we know that you know everything, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Hallelujah.

I pray that you would just give Stephan a heart to know that you are still in control. That you're still in control, Lord, over his situation. Unexpected things happen in life, problems and disappointments, Lord. But we can still trust in you. We can still trust that you are a good God.

God, we pray for being a single dad and raising his children, Lord, that he raised his children. May we pray for Sam right now and his gift and his talents. God, you have amazing things. This little boy was told, and he's a big boy now, he's getting to be a big boy. The doctor said that he would not survive.

Hallelujah. And we prayed against that in the name of Jesus and he is alive today and you have a purpose in his life. You have a purpose in his life. Drummer and musician and all those things that you have in store for him, Lord. You're going to use the glory of Jesus Christ.

Emotional healing. I'm sure your job is always stressful. So she needs emotional healing. If everybody could... We need to pray against emotions.

We need to pray against mental things going on in people's lives. Lord, we just pray against any emotion that's coming against her, Lord Jesus. In the name of Jesus, bring healing. Bring healing to her, Lord. Lord, make her mind sound.

You bore the crown of thorns on her head, on your head, so she could be healed in her head. Bring transformation to her mind. Bring transformation to her mind. Power fall, Lord. Let your power fall, Lord Jesus.

Let your power fall on her right now, Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. Sandy, say, Jesus. Nothing is impossible with you. We're praying over Sandy's body right now in the name of Jesus.

Oh, God. We pray over the cancer right now in the name of Jesus. We pray for a miracle in the name of Jesus, Lord. We pray for miracles all around her in the name of Jesus. We believe that you are a God that can do the impossible.

Though doctors may say one thing, we know that you can say another, Lord. In the name of Jesus, we align with heaven over her body right now. We pray for Sandy's body right now. The cancer, wherever that may be, Lord. That the spirit of God would be able to work through her body in the name of Jesus, we ask, Lord.

We ask healing over her body, Lord Jesus. Supernatural healing over God. We pray this in your name. All the church, pray, pray, pray for a miracle today. Let's pray for a miracle.

Let's believe for a miracle. Let's believe, Lord. We're believing. We're believing. We're believing, Lord.

You love us so. You love us so much, Lord. Prove your glory, Lord Jesus. Show us your glory, Lord, in healing, Lord Jesus. We ask that over her in the name of Jesus.

Y'all put hands on her back and around her. In the name of Jesus, we're just asking for healing right now in the name of Jesus. Just go through her back right now, Lord. The power of your spirit would just work through her back. From the top of her head down to the bottom of her feet.

Wherever that injury is, Lord Jesus. That's causing that to hurt, Lord. The pain. We pray that the nerve endings would just fix you immediately. In the name of Jesus, we're aligning with heaven right now.

We're listening to you. We're calling out to you. We're petitioning for healing, Lord, in her back, Lord. Hallelujah. Heal her, Lord Jesus.

We're calling healing in your name, Lord. That you would bind any infirmity in her body, Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. In your name. Pray.

We're trusting you. We're walking in faith. In Jesus' name. Anyone else? I know this is a little different this morning.

This is not a normal Sunday morning prayer. You know, but I just felt the Lord had to touch some people today. And bring some healing to people's bodies and into situations. And I want to pray for any of you that may have not come up here today. And maybe you're a little intimidated.

Maybe you're dealing with some sin in your life. Maybe you need God to come through on something. In the name of Jesus, I pray over our entire church, Lord. That you would bring blessings and healing. That you would do something amazing in the people today, Lord.

As they trust in you. As the saints, we intercede. High priest, we are called. Highly favored, anointed. Blessed.

Father, I pray over Kelly right now, Lord Jesus. That you would touch her in the name of Jesus. Touch her, Lord Jesus. Oh God, you know her need. Lord, you know her need, God.

I pray that you would just fill her up right now, Lord Jesus. With your glory. Hallelujah. We pray that over her in the name of Jesus. And we ask, Amen.

If y'all would stand. You know, another act of worship is giving. So, if our team could put our giving up on the board. And y'all can continue to pray. If you need prayer, even after service, maybe you were a little worried of coming up here in front of everybody.

But if you want to, you need prayer, you can come up afterwards. But Tariq, if you could pop up the giving slide. Man, you know, this is like a huge part of worship, right? Saying, I give every part of me. And the hardest thing for me to give is probably my money.

So, God, we thank you that you've blessed us and you've given us abundance. And what more could we do to give back to you? So, we honor you with our giving. We honor you as the three men, the wise men who journeyed afar. you Laid gold, frankincense, and myrrh before You as symbols of the most precious things that they could offer, Lord.

We offer everything that we are. Maybe it's not our finances. Maybe it's just our time. Maybe it's our talent. Maybe it's our treasure.

Maybe it's something completely different. We rejoice and we praise You. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Can y'all give God a hand clap of praise?

Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord, for being with us today. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. To Him who is able, let me pray the prayer of Paul over you.

To Him who is able to do abundantly above all that you can ask or think according to the power that is within us, to the church and to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. You are salt and light. What does salt do? It always makes a difference. And a little bit of salt goes a long way.

Go make a difference in the world today. Praise God. God bless you. Have a great, great week. We'll see you back next week.