Well, good morning, Two Rivers. Good morning. It
is great to be here with you right
here in live. If you're joining us in
Blend or Amped, good to be with you.
If you're in Roane County or Bearden, awesome
to be with you as well.
Today, we are starting a new series
called Christmas presents, and and I gotta say,
I can't believe I'm saying it.
We're, like, officially in the Christmas season.
So even for those of you some of
you start Christmas season the day after Halloween
now. Like, that's a thing. And some of
you hold out, and you're like, Thanksgiving is
its own day. If you're either one of
those, we're officially in it now.
So all the lights are coming out. The
Christmas trees are coming out. And,
let's be let's just be real. Right? It's
just you and me right here,
right now.
We
we all love to get a good present,
don't we?
I mean, if if you say no, I
don't believe you.
Because a present makes us actually feel seen
and known. That's what a good present will
do. It'll make you feel seen and known.
And this year,
my family gave me one of the best
presents
that I could ever get, ever, really. And
so,
I'm a I'm a dog guy. And if
you're a cat person, like, that's, you know
okay.
Anyway,
but I'm a dog guy. I've always had
multiple dogs. And so growing up, couple dogs,
even early in our marriage, we had two
dogs. But for the last couple years, we've
had one dog, and it's been good. And
we have one in, like, those farragut dogs,
a poodle doodle thing. You know what I'm
talking about? And, she's a great dog. Love
that dog. And,
but we've always had one dog. Well, in
May,
something you need to know about me is
I've always loved hound dogs,
Like like blue tick hounds, which Smokey is,
bloodhounds. Those kind I love the long ears.
I love the howl. I love all of
it, but just have never had access to
one. And so,
fast last May,
a friend of mine that goes to 2
Rivers, she posted on Facebook
that a guy that goes to our Roane
County campus
bred his blue tick hound, and he had
three puppies left that he was trying to
find homes for.
And I'm sitting there, and I'm like,
this is my chance.
Like, I mean, I moved from California six,
seven years ago, and if you're from Tennessee,
you're like, you're still not a native Tennessean.
I'm like, if I get the state dog
of Tennessee,
maybe I can be a Tennessean.
And so I go to my wife. I'm
like, look at these puppies. She's like, oh,
those are really cute. I'm like, I kinda
know the guy that has them. Like, we
should consider. And she's like,
David, it's not the it's not the right
time. It's not a good time. It's so
easy to have one dog. And and, really,
she was right. I mean, having one dog
is easier.
Well so that happened.
The guy found a home for the puppies.
Life is good in the world. Right?
Then we get to July.
So the guy that had the dogs
reached out to me, and he's like, hey.
One of the puppies
was returned. I'm like, oh, so you got
a reject.
And and he's like, no. No. No. No.
It's a it's a great dog. It just
didn't it didn't fit with the family that
it went to, and so they just couldn't
take care of him. And so,
we got him back. He's got all the
markings you want, and he was about
five months old at this point. And I'm
like, how do I play this?
And so I went to my wife. I'm
like, oh, check out this dog. She's like,
he's really cute. I'm like, he's available.
And,
so,
so she I I and I'm thinking in
my head, I gotta play this really cool.
Like, not no not pressure, just kinda
feel this out. So I showed her a
picture of it, and she's like, he's, like,
he's really cute. I'm like, he's available. You
know, we should consider this. And and so
then the next morning, she wakes up and
she's like, are you are you serious about
this dog?
And in the moment, the Holy Spirit gave
me a word.
I think it was.
I said, do you want me to be
honest, or do you want me to be
agreeable?
And she said, well, I want it to
be both. I want you to be honest
and agreeable with what I want. And I
said, well, I really want the dog. And
so then later that day so that was
that morning. She said, hey. Can you send
me the pictures of it? And then she
later that day, she goes, hey. I talked
to my parents, and they would actually be
willing to help with the dog. And and
so I'm sitting there. I'm like, this is
happening.
This is I'm making progress. I'm like, I
still gotta play it cool. Just play it
cool.
So then we get to the next day,
and she says nothing.
Zero nothing.
So it's getting close to lunchtime, and I'm
running home for my lunch break. And my
wife I call her and I said, hey.
We really kinda need to let David out
in Roane County know whether we're gonna get
this dog or not. And she goes, what
dog?
I was so mad.
I was like, what dog? I'm like, the
dog we've been talking about. She's like, we
can't get that dog. I'm like, oh, and
you get to make the decision now? And
so I'm
mad when I get home.
But my family,
they're little boogers.
This is what they did to me. Check
this video out.
Meet Roscoe.
Roscoe?
What the world? He's ours. No. He's not.
Roscoe.
We went and pinned a daughter for you.
Roscoe. Hey. He doesn't know his name yet.
Are you surprised? Yes.
So there's Roscoe.
Meet the newest member. We're officially Tennessee. This
is a smokey dog, and some people are
like, that looks like Smokey. His name's not
Smokey. His name's Roscoe from Dukes of Hazard,
Roscoe p Coltrane. And, so that's where it
comes from.
He has been an amazing addition to the
family. He slobbers, and he's a lot of
work, but he is so fun and such
a lover.
That was a great
present.
I mean, you I mean, they I felt
seen. I felt heard, all of it. He
barfed in the car four times on the
way home when my daughter went to go
pick him up, so that was fun. So
I got to be broken in right away
of cleaning up after having two dogs. You
get what you ask for. You know? And
but he was a great
present.
And this Christmas season,
we're talking about
presents.
We're not talking about the gifts that you're
gonna find under the tree. We're not talking
about a new dog. We're talking about God's
presence with us.
And God's presence with us is actually the
greatest gift that we could ever receive.
This weekend,
here's what we're gonna see as we look
at a passage that's not typically a Christmas
passage, is that Jesus' presence
is the ultimate gift that guides us and
gives us rest.
I look at that big idea, and those
two things, guiding
and rest, those are two things that I
need in my life and my world.
When I take over the steering wheel of
my life and I try
to control my own life and control my
own destiny, I I fail.
I need guidance. I need help
with direction for my life, and I don't
know about you. I need rest.
When we enter a busy season, all you
have to do is head down Turkey Creek
and or any shopping center area, and you
know the craziness that's out there. I need
rest, and I'm not talking about just a
good night's sleep. I need the kind of
soul rest that only God can give.
That's what my heart longs for.
And so we're gonna look a little bit
more
at that as we jump into Exodus 33.
So as you go there, as you turn
there,
this is not a normal Christmas passage. Hey.
Merry Christmas. Exodus is where we're gonna be.
It's kinda
weird. But I gotta give you a little
background to Exodus 33
so that we understand where we're at in
the story.
Now in Exodus chapter three,
God
appears to a guy named Moses in a
burning bush. Moses grew up in Egypt. The
the Israelites, God's chosen people are enslaved
in Egypt, and they've been there for almost
four hundred years. And they're crying out to
God of going, God, rescue us. If we're
your people, get us out of here.
Well, Moses
grew up in Egypt. He knew all the
land of Egypt. He was actually,
like, one of Pharaoh's kinda people,
family members, so to speak.
Well, he killed a guy,
and he went on the run.
And he ended up settling as,
he was a shepherd.
And so he's out with his flock in
the hillsides, and he sees this bush that's
on fire.
And God appears, Yahweh appears to Moses in
this burning bush.
And, and God tells Moses, I've heard the
cries of my people,
and I'm gonna send you, Moses,
And you're gonna go back to Egypt, and
you're gonna rescue them, and you're gonna lead
them out. And Moses is like, woah. Woah.
Woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. I think you got
the wrong guy. You know, there was another
shepherd about a mile or two back. I
think that's probably the one you were looking
for. And God goes, no. It's you, Moses.
And and Moses goes, how how do I
know you sent me? I don't even know
your name. And he goes, my name is
Yahweh. I am who I am. I'm sending
you. And Moses goes, no. And God says,
I'm gonna be with you.
And Moses responds essentially by saying, that's not
good enough.
And Moses finally
tells God in this burning bush, send somebody
else. And God says, well, I'm gonna send
Aaron. He's already on the way. He's gonna
help you.
Fast forward in the book of Exodus,
and Moses
leads the people out. He saw the mighty
hand of God
in these
amazing plagues
that God demonstrated,
showing his power
over all the gods of Egypt. And Moses
had a front row seat to the whole
thing. He he led the people out of
Egypt, and they got to the Red Sea.
And there, once again, it looked like they
were trapped, but God shows up again, and
he parts the Red Sea, and the people
walk through on dry ground.
Moses had a front row seat to all
of this.
Fast forward,
God leads them through the wilderness, and he
brings them to a mountain called Mount Sinai.
And it was here that God made a
covenant with the people. And he said, you
are my people. I'm gonna be your God.
And they said, we are in.
Sign us up for that.
And God said,
hey.
Now that we're in this covenant, I'm gonna
move in.
And in Exodus chapter 25 verse eight, God
said, make me a tabernacle.
Make me a tent that I'm going to
move in. I'm gonna dwell
right in your midst. And after they made
this covenant,
Moses went up on the mountainside where he
was receiving
the law. What does it look like for
God to live in the midst of the
people?
And it was as he was on the
mountainside,
fire is descending on this mountain billowing, and
the people would have seen it. And they're
at the bottom of the mountain. And in
Exodus chapter 32, the people are like, hey,
Aaron.
Do you see that up there? And Aaron's
like, yeah. And we think Moses is probably
dead.
I mean, he's not making it through that.
So here's what we want you to do.
Can you make us a god?
We need a we need a representation.
So what does Aaron do?
Gathers all the jewelry and he forms a
golden calf.
And that's where we pick up in Exodus
chapter 33 starting in verse one. Look at
look at what god says. Yahweh said to
Moses,
depart.
Go up from here, you and the people
whom you have brought up out of the
land of Egypt, to the land of which
I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying
to your offspring, I will give it. I
will send an angel before you. Now listen
to that. Listen to that language. I will
send an angel, a representative,
a messenger
who will go before
you.
And I will drive out the Canaanites, the
Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and
all the other ites that can be out
there.
Go up to a land flowing with milk
and honey, but listen to this, but I
will not go up among you, lest I
consume you on the way for you are
a stiff necked people.
So God tells Moses,
y'all pushed it too far this time.
Yeah. I can't go with you because if
I go with you, it's not gonna be
good.
I'll give you everything I promised,
I'm just not gonna go.
Then
in Exodus chapter 33, we have this weird
little interjection in verses seven through 11.
It's almost like a flashback as Moses
has been traveling with the Israelites.
It it talks about this tent of meeting
that Moses would set up this tent outside
of camp, and he would go meet with
god
and talk with God as a friend talks
to a friend.
Kind of this weird interjection, but I need
you to remember that piece as we head
into
the rest of the passage that we're gonna
look at today starting in verse 12. So
it almost, like, six and verse 12 almost
connect with a little interjection
of seven through 11.
So
Moses said to the lord in verse 12,
see, you say to me, bring up this
people,
but you have not let me know whom
you will send with me.
So so Moses is referring back. He goes,
God, you said you're gonna send a messenger
that's gonna go before us, but but who
is it and who's actually going
with us? You see the difference between before
and with?
One of them is going before and Moses
goes, no, we need somebody with us. We
need you with us.
Who will you send with me? Yet you
have said, I know you by name, and
you have also found favor in my sight.
Now, therefore, if I found favor in your
sight,
show me now your ways that I may
know you in order to find favor in
your sight. Consider too
that this nation
is your people.
And God said,
my presence will go with you,
and I will give you rest.
And Moses said to him, if your presence
will not go with me, do not bring
us up from here.
For how shall it be known that I
have found favor in your sight, I and
your people? Is it not in your going
with us so that we are distinct,
I and your people, from every other people
on the face of the earth?
And the Lord said to Moses, this very
thing that you have spoken,
I will do.
For you have found favor in my sight,
and I know you by name.
Moses said, please
show me your glory.
And he said, I will make all my
goodness pass before you and will proclaim before
you my name, Yahweh, and I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious and
I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. But he said, you can't see
my face for man shall not see me
and live. And the Lord said, behold, there
is a place by me where you shall
stand on the rock. And while my glory
passes by, I will put you in a
cleft of the rock and I will cover
you with my hand until I have passed
by. Then I will take away my hand
and you shall see my back, but my
face shall not be seen.
The story really picks up
in verse this this kind of section picks
up
really where verse six left off.
God has just said, I'm not gonna go
with you. And Moses begins interceding
and pleading with God to go, God, your
presence
is what matters most. God's presence was everything
to Moses.
And here's something we need to understand about
the nature of God all throughout scripture is
that God dwelling with his people
has always been his plan.
That's always been the plan.
Let let's take a
I would even argue that the overarching theme,
the overarching story of scripture is god making
a way to dwell with his people.
Think back to the very beginning, Genesis. God
created the heavens and the earth and he
created
human beings and he dwelt with them in
a place called what? Eden. Eden was a
mountain top, a place where heaven and earth
collided.
It was where god
dwelt with humanity.
That was the plan. But then what happened?
Sin entered the world. We as people said,
god, we think we can actually live our
lives better
apart from you.
And so we went our own way. And
now we have this chasm. We're no longer
in Eden. And so God
sends a rescue plan. He wants to dwell
with his people. So what happens? He frees
him from slavery, and he tells him in
Exodus,
build me a tabernacle. Why? Because I wanna
dwell right in your midst.
Right in your very midst of your camp,
I wanna be there.
And so he gives him instructions of how
to build a tabernacle. Well, they they march
through the wilderness. They go into the promised
land. They conquer the promised land. The Israelites
end up getting a king. And the second
king they had, his name was David. And
David begins collecting money because he's like, God
should not be dwelling in a tent when
we have permanent houses. And so he said,
I wanna build God a temple, a house,
a permanent place where he can dwell
right in our midst.
And God says, that's a good plan. But
David, you have too much war and blood
on your hands. You can get all the
collections for it, but your son Solomon's gonna
actually do it. So Solomon, his son, builds
the temple
for God to dwell
amongst his people.
Why? Because that's always been his plan.
God dwelt with his people in the temple,
but it's almost as if God was going,
that's not close enough. That's not good enough.
And so we fast forward even more years,
and we get to the New Testament.
And we get to this season that we're
celebrating
now, Christmas,
the celebration
that God took on flesh in the person
of Jesus.
The miracle of Christmas is that God has,
for eternity,
taken on flesh.
Jesus is God with us. Matthew one twenty
five quotes Isaiah seven,
and he writes this about Jesus. Behold, the
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
they shall call his name
Emmanuel.
Jesus
is
God
with us, to dwell with us.
He lived a perfect life. He actually went
to a cross
to reconcile
us to God. That that sin that separated
us had to be dealt with and Jesus
took that in himself.
He was crucified. He was killed. And before
he rose
again or before he ascended, he rose again.
Before he ascended back into heaven, he he
tells his disciples,
hey, guys.
It's better that I leave.
And I can imagine his disciples are like,
uh-uh.
It ain't better.
And he goes, no. It is better. And
here's why. Because if I leave, I'm gonna
send my helper, my holy spirit, who's going
to dwell in you. The holy spirit in
us is better than actually Jesus with us.
And that's a crazy fact. Why? Because God
always wants to dwell with his people.
And so right now, God is dwelling with
us by the power of the holy spirit
in
us. God is in us. We are the
dwelling place. Paul writes about that in Corinthians.
I was reading that this morning. We are
the temple
of the Holy Spirit, the very place where
God dwells, and God has a plan.
This isn't the end of the plan of
like, hey, the Holy Spirit's in you. He's
going, no. There's gonna be one day where
I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna reconcile
heaven and earth again, and we are gonna
dwell in a new Eden. And we will
see Jesus face to face. We will be
in his presence forever to the glory of
God.
That's good news.
And you look at the overarching story of
scripture, and God dwelling with his people is
the story.
And God's presence
actually
distinguishes
us as his people.
It distinguishes people then. It distinguishes
us now.
I love the interaction
that that God and Moses had in there
in verses 12 through 23.
Moses tells God,
God, you have told me that I found
favor with you.
You said you know me by name, and
yet now you're saying that you aren't gonna
go with me. And we see the heart
of Moses here.
Moses goes, God, I want to know you
more.
He doesn't begin with pleading. Oh, please, please,
please go with us. He goes, God, no.
No. No. You said I found favor with
you. I wanna know you even more.
And God sees the heart of Moses. And
what does God say to Moses?
God
said, my presence will go with you
and I'm gonna give you rest. You wanna
know the problem with this?
The you there
is singular.
So God sees the heart of Moses
that Moses is going, God, I wanna know
you more. And God sees that. He honors
that, and he's like, Moses, I'm gonna go
with you. Individually, I'll go with you.
The rest of them, stiff necked people. I'm
not going with them.
But what does Moses do?
Moses turns it and he goes, God, it's
not just about me. These are your
people.
He says in verse 30 in in chapter
33 verse 16, he says, is it not
in your going with us so that we
are distinct?
I he but he he flips it, and
your people
from every other people on the face of
the earth.
Moses, they just came from the most powerful
nation
in the world, Egypt.
And Egypt had really tiny gods and really
big gods, and they had idols everywhere,
representations of these gods everywhere. And here comes
the Israelites marching into the wilderness, and they
are not supposed to have any idols.
And Moses goes,
we don't have
what all the other nations have.
But God, what we have is you.
And your presence is what distinguishes
us
as your people.
And what distinguished the Israelites then is still
what distinguishes us now. The very presence of
God
with us is what makes us his people.
It's the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in
us. And God's presence is what distinguishes us
and that presence
is better
than anything else.
I don't know. Maybe you need to be
reminded of that. Maybe that truth needs to
sink in.
God's presence with us is better.
It's better than anything else that this world
can offer.
Moses in Exodus 33
tells God, if you don't go with us,
I'm not going.
God, why? Because your presence is better. How
did how did Moses get to this point?
If you look back in Exodus chapter three,
just thirty chapters ago,
Moses is seeing God in a burning bush,
and God's like, I'm gonna be with you.
I'm gonna be with you. I'm gonna be
with you. And Moses is going, that's not
good enough.
And now we get to chapter 33, and
God said, hey. I'm gonna give you all
the promises that I made,
and I'm gonna even send my representative
with you. I'm gonna send
an angel with you. My messenger will go
before you, and I'm gonna give you all
the promises I made, but I'm just not
gonna go. And Moses
Moses
came to this conclusion. Moses would rather be
in the desert with God than in the
promised land with God's representative.
Moses would rather stay there.
Alright. Then we're staying in the desert, God.
That's what we're gonna do because you're here.
And if you're here, I'm not going there.
This truth about the presence of God and
being in the way Moses was so blown
away
by God's presence and so in awe of
it,
it really struck me in the past few
weeks.
I don't think
I'm that blown away with God's presence in
my life anymore.
I think you could say to me, yeah,
hey, the Holy Spirit, God dwells in you.
And I'm like, yeah. Isn't that cool?
And then I go do my own thing
and I look at what all the world
has to offer and I think somehow that
that's gonna be more fulfilling than God dwelling
in me.
If I'm really honest with you,
I think if God came and made me
a deal and he said, hey. I'm gonna
get you to the promised land
and my representative will go with you, but
my presence isn't gonna go, but I'll have
a representative with you.
I think in order to get out of
sometimes the pain I'm in, the hurt I'm
in, I'm sitting there and I'm looking for
the promised land. And even if God wasn't
in it, I'm like, oh, your representative's there.
I mean, think about it.
Like, if an angel appeared in this room
right now or whatever room you're in, an
angel appears and God's like, that angel's gonna
go with you and I'm gonna take you
to the good land, the land flowing with
milk and honey, the good place.
You wanna go? And I and I'd be
like, yeah. He's like, well, by the way,
little caveat. I'm not going, but my I'd
be like, yeah. That's fine. I mean, you're
representative. I mean, look at that. That's really
cool.
But Moses got to a point, and I
wanna be in that point in in my
life where I long for the presence of
God more than anything.
And so I think I have to reflect
on some questions in my own life, and
I encourage you to reflect on them in
your life. If you're a a student in
here
and you're gonna be entering into relationships, I
know boyfriend, girlfriends are are are a big
deal.
But do we ever pause long enough? Do
you ever pause long enough to ask god
the question,
god, are you in this relationship that I'm
interested in? Because do we long for the
presence of god so much that we say,
god, I would rather not be in that
relationship
if you're not in it. I'd rather stay
here with you.
Do we pause long enough for that?
Do we love the presence of god enough
to say it's worth it for me to
be single a little while longer even though
all my friends are entering into boyfriend girlfriend
relationships?
Maybe you're even a little older and you're
like, oh, I I long to get married.
God, it's better for me to stay single
longer and where you are than to be
in a relationship where you aren't.
It's better.
God, I won't take that job if you're
not going with me.
The benefits are great. The pay is great.
But, God, if you're not in it, your
presence is better than any pay or benefit
package there is.
God, are you more important to me
than a college scholarship?
God,
your presence is better
than a great place
where you're not.
Do we have that longing in our heart?
Do we stop long enough to ask God
the question, God, are you in this?
Sometimes we think, oh, that looks good, and
so we just go after things. But do
we pause long enough to seek the guidance
of God to go, god,
are you in this? Are you are you
going with me in it? Don't just go
before me. Go with me in it.
I know so often
that I think I'm smart enough.
I think I'm good enough
that I don't pause long enough to go,
god, are you in it?
Do you want me to take that job?
Do you want me in that relationship? Do
you want me
to get this dog?
See, do I long
for God
more than I long for the stuff that
he can give?
Do I long for the healing of God
more than I long for the presence of
God?
Do I long for God? Do I want
him to fix my family? Do I do
I just go to him for all the
stuff, the hand stuff that he can give
me? Or or do I just long
for
God?
And I wonder how Moses got to this
point. And remember I said, tuck away verses
seven through 11 about the tent of meeting
where God met with Moses.
Moses had been meeting and being in the
presence of God
all along the journey.
So how did Moses get to a point
in chapter 33
that he said, God, if you're not going,
we're not going.
It's because living intentionally in God's presence actually
transforms
us.
How did Moses get about this transformation? How
did he go from being in chapter three,
god, that's not good enough, to chapter 33
of going, god, I'd rather be in the
desert alone with you than in the promised
land with your representative. God, I need to
be where you are. How did he get
to that point? It took years
of consistently
walking with
Jesus, of being with God
in his presence, and being in the very
presence of God
changes our hearts.
We begin to see things for actually as
they are.
It's stuff.
The the disciples' experiences. The disciples, there was
12 of them, and they were following with
Jesus for years. And they saw the incredible
teaching. They saw his miracles.
But yet when Jesus was going to the
cross, they all ran, including Peter who said,
Jesus, even if I have to die, I'm
going with you. And Jesus goes, well,
are you sure you wanna say that? And
Peter's like, yep. Double down.
Let's go. And what happens?
Jesus looks at him and goes, actually, here's
what's gonna happen. Before the night's over, you're
gonna deny me three times.
And what happens?
All the disciples fled. Peter
left,
denied him three times.
But what happens?
Jesus
raises from the dead.
He ascends back into heaven and we get
to the book of Acts
and the disciples have seen the resurrected
Jesus.
They had spent time with him. They've seen
his truth, and they get to a point
in in the beginning part of acts where
Peter, the very one who denied him three
times, is now going before the Sanhedrin who
had Jesus crucified, and he goes, you killed
him.
That's a bold statement.
It's probably not a good idea. The very
ones that killed Jesus
could have Peter killed. But guess what? He
had peace in the midst of the circumstances,
and he boldly proclaims the truth of who
Jesus was because he didn't fear him.
He knew Jesus rose from the dead, and
he boldly proclaims that truth.
And the Sanhedrin was a little bit confused.
And in Acts chapter four verse 13,
now when they, the Sanhedrin, saw the boldness
of Peter and John and perceived that they
were uneducated,
common men, they were astonished
and they recognized that they had been with
Jesus.
Being with Jesus
transforms us.
It changes us when we stop long enough
to ask for his guidance, to spend time
in his presence. So what does that look
like?
For me, I'm really good at compartmentalizing
things in my life.
I mean, that's just kind of the the
way I function is, like, I'm focused on
one thing
at a time. And I I can focus
there and then I'll focus there. And so
I get up in the morning, and I
do my bible reading, and I read my
bible, and I do the live it out,
and I'm there, and I'm focused, and I'm
like, that was good. But then what happens
is is that too often that stays compartmentalized,
and then I go on with the rest
of my day. And that doesn't touch the
rest of my day.
So how do I remind myself of God's
presence with me throughout the day?
And maybe it looks like this. Are morning
devotionals
a a a part of spending our presence
in Jesus for transformation?
Absolutely. Should we be doing that? Yes.
But maybe it's talking with him throughout the
day.
What if we started thanking him for the
small things?
I know there are some people who are
really good at this. They'll just say thank
you, Jesus, for just random stuff throughout the
day. What what if we became thank you,
Jesus people to to remind ourselves that god
is actually with us? His presence dwells within
us, and it changes everything.
I talked to a guy last night, and
he was like, I sometimes I work on
my car or I'm tinkering with something, and
he's like, I can't find something. Next thing
I know, I find it, and I just
go, thank you, Jesus.
What if we became thank you, Jesus people,
just as a reminder to go God's with
us? What if in the in the hard
times because we all face hard times during
the day. What if in those hard times
we silently cry out to Jesus, Jesus, you're
in this with me. Thank you for that.
What if we rested in him as we
fell asleep at night?
You see,
Jesus' presence is the ultimate gift that guides
us and gives us rest.
What causes anxiety? What causes stress especially this
time of year?
It's when we begin to look around and
we take our eyes off Jesus and we
take our eyes off of his presence with
us and it and we start to get
stressed out.
And Jesus, when we spend time with him
intentionally
in his presence,
we can breathe.
We can slow down
and we can know that we're not alone.
So what are our next steps this week?
What are what are some things that we
can do as we enter this Christmas season,
as we are gonna be shopping and trying
to find the perfect gift and the right
present for the people, should we do that?
Yes. Absolutely
do that.
But we need to be reminded that we're
not alone in the midst of this,
that the greatest present
we've ever received is the very presence of
God with us.
And we need to be reminded of that
continually,
that he is with us. He is with
us. So,
there was a time in my life when
really, it was a college time.
I used to carry ChapStick with me everywhere.
And,
the reason why I stopped carrying ChapStick with
me is,
dryers and ChapStick
don't go well together.
They put nice oil slicks on your clothes
and your wife's clothes, so surprise.
But there was a time where I always
had a ChapStick in my pocket,
and so I intentionally made a decision. Every
time I reach into my pocket and I
feel that chapstick, I wanna be reminded and
I wanna pray.
It it was a tangible
reminder
to spend time with Jesus.
Even as I was just walking down the
street, even as I'm whatever it is, it
it was something that I went, oh, you're
with me, and I and to spend a
moment.
And so here's the first next step. I
I I want you to find something tangible
that will remind you of god's presence throughout
the day. I want you to find it.
If you can find if you already know
what it is somebody last night gave me
one of those little Jesus'.
Yeah. Have you seen those around? They're like
these little Jesus'. They're like, here.
What's something tangible that you see use every
day that you're gonna make an intentional choice
to go, every time I see that, I'm
gonna be reminded
I'm not alone.
God's presence is with me
in everything,
in the good, in the bad, the ugly,
the heart.
He's with me.
Thank you, Jesus.
The next thing we're gonna do is we're
gonna live it out together.
If we're gonna intentionally
wanna be transformed, if we wanna intentionally have
the guidance and the rest that God talks
about in this passage, If we're gonna have
that, we need to spend time with him.
We need to be spending time in his
word. And there's sometimes where it's like, this
is a pretty big book. Where do I
start? What do I do?
This is just a guide to help
with some questions along the way to be
able for you to interact and engage with
God.
So this is a tool
for us to be able to put ourselves
in a position to be transformed, to be
in his presence,
to begin our day.
The last thing that we're gonna do as
a tangible reminder
of god's presence with us is we're gonna
take communion. So I'm gonna invite all of
our venue host, our campus pastors
to start making their way to the front
of the room, and they're gonna lead each
of the venues and the campuses in communion.
And so make sure you have communion
elements. And
I'm gonna pray for us, and then I'm
gonna
throw it over to the campuses. And the
venue pastors, campus pastors will lead through communion
in your rooms.
So, Jesus, thank you
that your presence is with us. It's tangible.
You give us tangible reminders
of going you're with us.
God, thank you that your presence is better
than anything this world can offer.
Would you forgive us for the times
where we think that's the world will offer
us something better and we go after those
things?
God, would you forgive us? Help us to
repent, turn, and course correct, and
and realign our focus on you
so that you can go about the work
of transformation in our hearts.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.