UNPLUGGING FROM HIS PRESENCE

Quote of the Week: “We cannot attain the presence of God. We’re already totally in the presence of God. What is missing is awareness.” David Brenner

This is my Bible: I am what it says I am; I have what it says I have; I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I’ll boldly confess. My mind is alert; my heart is receptive; I will never be the same. I am about to receive the incorruptible, indestructible, ever-living Seed of the Word of God. I’ll never be the same – never, never, never! I’ll never be the same, in Jesus’ Name.

( 2 Cor. 6:17). 16 What friendship does God’s temple[a] have with demons? (GREEK IS IDOLS)  For indeed, we are the temple of the living God, just as God has said: I will make my home in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.[c] 17 For this reason, “Come out from among them (Idols) and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch nothing that is unclean, and I will embrace you. (I will welcome you in) 

Revelation:: We have always been taught, what friendship do God’s people have with the unbeliever? This is not what the text says. It says we should have no fellowship with idols. He says, come out from among the idols and I will welcome you in.

God loves you as you are and not as you should be. That’s the gospel of grace in one sentence!   Paul Ellis

The Apostle Paul is not preaching conditional acceptance. Let us set the record straight!!

In the covenant of grace, God takes all the initiative:

He loves us first (1 John 4:19) Soon I will leave this world and they will see me no longer, but you will see me, because I will live again, and you will come alive too.

He forgives us first (Col 2:13) This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp.[a] But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!

He accepts us first (Rom 15:7) Now then, it is through my union with Jesus Christ, that I enjoy an enthusiasm and confidence in my ministry for God.

…and all we can do is respond to what he has done.

You need to settle this in your heart. You are not a son or daughter because you avoid unclean things. You are a child of God because you have been adopted:

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Rom 8:15-16

So, what is Paul saying when he says “touch no unclean thing and you will be my sons and daughters”? He is not saying we purify ourselves to become his children. Rather, we purify ourselves because we are his children. He is saying the same thing that John says here:

“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

It’s be holy, not do holy

Some people read these scriptures on purification and conclude, “I have to separate myself and withdraw from the world and make myself holy.” 

We don’t Do Do Do because that is taking what he already DONE DONE DONE and turning into Dung Dung Dung which is the Greek for doodoo! LOL

Yet Jesus never told his disciples to withdraw from the world. In fact, he sent them into the world while praying that God would “sanctify them in it” (see John 17:15–18). 

FLIP THE SCRIPT

Unplugging is when you draw your source of strength from something else.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make yourself a carved image.”

Idolatry is worshiping the image enthroned in your heart. 

If we think, dwell or meditate on things more than God, that very thing although not demonic could still be an idol. An idol is anything that intentionally takes the place of God.

How do you know if you have an idol?

Ezekiel 14:3 “Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests? 

Romans 13:14 “Make no provisions for the flesh to fulfill its lust”   

Watch this! Idols typically require an offering!  If you have an idol in your heart you will make or find ways to satisfy the idols desires!!

Remember, We are the Bride of Christ, married to God

So, because the House of Israel had idols in their heart, they were married to God but sleeping with idols!

People who have idols in their hearts will pretend.

In Caesarea (Israel) there is the hippodrome where they have the chariot races. In that was an amphitheatre with a stage where they had theatrical plays.

Actors comes from the word Hypocrites

Hypa-underneath

Crite-to speak  

Actors back then all wore a mask. They would then speak underneath the mask. They would pretend to be the person of the mask.

Hypocrite means, who speaks underneath, an actor

Sadly, this is what we all become when we have an idol in our heart.

*Conviction is not a bad thing! 

The grace is found in EZEKIAL 14 vs 5!!! 

God is all about recapturing the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols.’

 Conviction is God calling you back into community with him. He is about seizing and recapturing your heart

What is the difference in HIS MANIFESTED PRESENCE and His Omnipresence?:  God started walking and talking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. 

What did we lose when Adam and Even fell and what did Jesus come to restore?

Answer? His manifest presence.

I read in an article this week this statement. “God does not withdraw His presence from us; we withdraw ourselves from the presence of God.” 

There is truth in his statement. After Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they hid themselves from the presence of God when they heard Him walking in the garden (Gen. 3:8). They were afraid, guilty and ashamed. 

Genesis 3:8 NKJV  8 And they heard the [a]sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the [b]cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Jesus said, “… everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:20)., Many of us have experienced the truth in this verse in that when we have sinned, we avoided church or fellowship.

Sin will always cause you to hide from his presence. Accusation, guilt and condemnation are the gifts of the devil.

Sin will take you further than you want to go. Charge you more than you want to pay. Will not ask for much in the beginning but will take all you have in the end.

Sin pulls us out of the presence of God-repentance draws you back

Manifest- Made known presence

Exodus 33:14-15 NKJV God said to Moses 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

God is not referring to his omnipresence, he is referring to his manifest presence. This is the personal one on one time that God is offering Moses.

Multi billionaire is here and his presence is known. However, if he gave each one a million dollars, that would be his manifest presence. He is proving his presence personally.

Pastor Robert Morris, “Sin is spiritual adultery”

Fear is a false idol created to challenge your faith. 

Following fear forfeits faith.  

Sin will not change Gods love for you but will change your love for him, because now your love is divided.

Danger! Warning, Warning, Warning!!

If the Idol is on the throne of your heart, and you hear a voice justifying your sin, that voice is not from God. God does not accommodate sin because Sin separates and segregates, but God restores and reunites.

In the new covenant, I am one spirit with him, and can never be torn apart. Whether I feel presence outwardly in that special way or not, I am closer than that … we are spiritually one.

 The problem with sin is that it tricks you, deceives you, and hardens your heart so you don’t feel him, think he is far away, and believe him to be distant when in fact all that’s changed is you. Your perception (your ability to determine distance) has changed,  your ability to feel and hear has changed.

 He is always there and never leaves… but sin will mess with your ability to enjoy by faith his presence because of the shame, pain, and blame that go with it. The conviction of the spirit is now aimed at the sin of unbelief  John 16:8-9

What are the Consequences for unplugging from His Presence? 

Leaving His Presence:  WHAT PULLS US AWAY FROM THE PRESENCE OF GOD?    US!!

Since God is omnipresent, is it possible to leave his presence?  IT is not possible to leave his omnipresence, but it is possible to leave his manifest presence.

So how do you leave? Willfully!  Unplugging 

Living in Sheryl’s presence is more important to me than any present she could give. Just because I’m in her presence doesn’t always mean I respect that because sometimes I take her presence and her presents for granted.

You can do all the right things for all the right reasons and still not recognize his presence.  God wants us to live from his presence as well as in his presence.

CLOSING! REMEMBER EZEKIAL 14 vs 5?

God is all about recapturing the minds and hearts of all my people who have turned from me to worship their detestable idols.’

Hosea 2:14-23 – talks about God addressing Israel’s marital unfaithfulness and idolatry by taking her back to the wilderness… not to punish her, but to draw close, to allure her, to speak words over her that recapture her heart. 

The wilderness to God is a time of re-engagement with him, not a season of separation. In the same way that he speaks love to her in her unfaithfulness, it says he will relate to her in a way that takes the names of the idols and the Baals off of her lips by his love, and she will be cured from the ultimate idolatry of all.. service and sacrifice to God instead of love for God… she will learn to call him her husband and not her Master.

The Lord’s Love for Unfaithful Israel

14 “But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert
 and speak tenderly to her there. 15 I will return her vineyards to her
 and transform the Valley of Trouble[a] into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt. 16 When that day comes,” says the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’ instead of ‘my master.’[b] 17 O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips,
and you will never mention them again. 18 On that day I will make a covenant with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the animals that scurry along the ground so they will not harm you. I will remove all weapons of war from the land, all swords and bows, so you can live unafraid in peace and safety. 19 I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion.
20 I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord. 21 “In that day, I will answer,” says the Lord. “I will answer the sky as it pleads for clouds. And the sky will answer the earth with rain. 22 Then the earth will answer the thirsty cries of the grain, the grapevines, and the olive trees. And they in turn will answer, ‘Jezreel’—‘God plants!’ 23 At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself. I will show love to those I called ‘Not loved.’[c] And to those I called ‘Not my people,’[d] I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’”

We all know how stories work: there is a problem; there is a resolution. In Hosea, there is a problem; the wife is unfaithful. She has had the best of husbands; she can have no complaint.

In an overwhelming display of power and majesty, the Lord rescued Israel from her taskmaster.

When is the time to unplug?

One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

The “one thing” above every other thing David pursued was to live daily in God’s presence and beauty. 

 Jesus  remains the model for unplugging and taking time away from the very world He came to save.  

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.   And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ (Mark 1:35-36)

 PRACTICE UNPLUGGING

“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

• • Set aside one day a week to be as media free as possible (i.e. unplugging from the TV, Internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
  •  Maybe a tray to put your phone, computer and other devices when you walk in the door of your house.  Those items remain there for the night unless he has some “good reason” to access them.
  • Listen to music as you drive in the car rather than the news or talk radio.
  • Don’t always turn on the radio or TV when you get up in the morning, but listen for God instead with worship music.
  • Go for a walk, bike; talk to your spouse.  Even when “everyone is searching for you”, just let yourself inaccessible.

• Force yourself to plan a vacation. Force your calendar. (You can afford if you budget for it) 

Sometimes you have to come apart before you come apart