The Presence of God

If anyone is wondering why I am standing here to preach in English, what did you know that for years together, I preached Malayalam, English and did the Lord’s Supper, mostly in English, beginning in 2003. My churches in New York were more receptive than to churches in Dallas. Very specially at Wall Street, I encountered so much resistance. When they couldn’t get what they wanted, they spread whatever they wanted to spread. But then there were young people, young parents, parents whose children were young men and women encouraged me saying that, don’t get bothered about what people say, but keep doing. Vinay was one of them, fast triangle, just keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll never forget it.

Now, I don’t get a chance to preach in English. I asked Pastor Sanil a few months ago, give me one chance once a year. If you are… if you think pastor is complaining, I am the happiest, proudest of what we have become, the evolution that has been happening. In my New York churches, briefly, I had young preachers in both churches. And I’m so happy that in the second church, Pastor Leslie was my help, co-laborer, and he has become a co-laborer with me here. And I’m so happy that Pastor Sanil came to Wall Street. Only I believe six months we ministered together. And we… we… we didn’t know each other before. But that… those six months helped us to understand who we were. We grew in… in respect and appreciation of each other. And in God’s time, God brought us together to do what we have begun to do. And I’m so happy that Lord has blessed us so much. He has taken us to a different level. And I know that when I… when it is time for me to sit and relax, the English group will be the leading people in this congregation. And I apologize to all those who… those older parents, including me. But that’s our goal. And we are so grateful to God that our children and our young people are proud to call Restoration their home church. We thank God for all what is happening. We remember both pastors, Pastor Leslie, Pastor Sanil in Atlanta in India, spending time with family, ministering God’s Word to God’s people. We pray for God’s safety upon all of them.

Some time ago, I remember coming across the title of the book written by a preacher, a pastor, I guess. I never got to purchase it and read it. But the title simply read this way, telling us to not preach to your congregation. You may be wondering what this pastor planning to do today. I can’t anyway sing. But he said, talk to your congregation. And we, you know, we struggle between this art of preaching. We have our Pentecostal way of understanding what preaching ought to be, and then talking. And I like this afternoon to talk to you more than to preach. But you know, I am a Kerala Upadeshi. You know, although I preach in English, there are times I have to switch.

That apart, last week, we were in a vacation city. And there were people of different faiths there. I don’t want to go into any details. One, two comments, neither of the comments were of any surprise to me. But it made me think deeper. Slide two. One comment was, all religions are the same. And the other comment was, we all serve one and the same God. Apparently, there was no serious conversation with this person who made these claims. But then hear this one more time. All religions are the same. And we all serve one and the same God.

I want to raise before you this significant question. Do all, are all the religions same? Do all religious people worship and serve one God? Do we all worship the same God? God of the Bible is different. This is one of the biggest lies, I mean, Pastor Joseph this morning as he was teaching God’s Word, he mentioned what is happening in our school settings. What is being indoctrinated to our children, children as young as five. And Satan is a busy person. He will not rest until God throws him out into the lake of fire. But this is the biggest, biggest lie, probably Satan can spread. That all religions are the same. That all religious people worship one and the same God. God of the Bible is quite different.

Next slide. God of the Bible is quite different from every other God. I mean, God of the Bible, when we say God of the 66 books. I mention that because the Bible doesn’t end with the book of Malachi. For some people it does. For God’s people, for people who are within the purposes of God, it has 66 books. You know what I am trying to say. I mean, I don’t want to go into all what the Bible talks about our God. But our God is Creator God. I mean, our God called everything out of nothing and everything came into existence. I mean, and our God, unlike many other gods about which people are familiar with, our God is in talk with humans. I mean, I could have used theological terms other than that. But the God of the Bible is a God who talks with his people in the creation story. We know a God who comes, communes with his people, Adam and Eve in that context, and talks to them. I mean, he revealed himself to them the way they could understand him, hear him, see him. And then God is in communion. I mean, and the most striking statement about our God is this statement. The God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, this, I didn’t count how many times this sentence, this phrase occurs in the New Testament. Multiple times, so many times. Our God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Talk to those men and women who make that claim and say that all of us worship the same God. Ask them, is your God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? They don’t want to hear that. I mean, they know that Jesus is a Guru. Jesus is the God of the Christian people. And for us people who have other titles, Jesus is different. Jesus, yes, we will accept him as a Guru. We will accept him as a prophet, but do not tell us that he is God incarnate. Do not tell that he is the way to God eternal. No, no, we are not open for that. Everything breaks down. I mean, my theme, I’m coming to my theme.

There are three very important statements that I want you to remember. Nothing new in these statements, as we teach the word of God, theology, you know, my field of specialization as a teacher is theology. I mean, so we use, I mean, in our day-to-day worship life, in our prayer life, we use these terms so much. We don’t use the word omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and all so much. But we use the word our God is almighty. Our God knows everything. He knows our thoughts. There is nothing that is hidden from our God. And then finally, our God is present everywhere. Our God is omnipresent. And what I want to talk to you today is about this presence of God. You’re all with me. I thank you for the listening and I’m talking. I mean, we are focusing on the presence of God. I mean our God, we have no doubt that God is present everywhere. I mean, but that, I mean, God’s presence everywhere is not my main focus today. And we’ll come to it and dwell there more. But we all know that our God, God of the Bible, I mean, almighty God, I mean, God who is omnipotent, omniscient God, God who knows everything, God who is our creator, I mean, God, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, our God is a God who is present everywhere. I mean, no doubt at all.

Just one scripture and we, of course, know where to find that one scripture. Psalm 139, the words of the Psalmist. I mean, only dealing with the presence of God, where shall I go from your spirit or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there, I mean, heaven, Sheol. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost path of, not the world, of the sea, of the sea, I mean, heaven, Sheol, sea, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me, I mean, two more verses, if I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, what will happen? Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, night, I mean, for darkness is as light with you, meaning that there is nothing that can hide us from our God. There is no place, there is no occurrence of nature that can hide us from the presence of our God. Our God is present everywhere, everywhere, I mean, we have no debate about it. But there is something more that we as God’s children should ponder, meditate upon and take more seriously. This aspect of God being present everywhere, I mean, in the heavens, I mean, in the nether world, I mean, depth of the sea, darkness, we all understand it, I mean, but there is something more.

When I was in New York area, in one of my two churches, the first church, next slide, a guest minister came to minister and a good, a very close acquaintance of me and as I gave him the pulpit Sunday and he apparently, you know, if I give Sunday, he must have been a good preacher. So as he stood there and as he was in his introductory words, he said, I feel God here. I may have said this before you. I was happy to hear that. I am the pastor and for a guest to come and feel God in my church is not a small thing. I mean, and for a preacher to come and say that he was in other churches, he did not feel God there and in this church, he could feel God. I was very proud, I mean, hallelujah, and then it also made me think, aha, is not church where God should be present? I mean, is not church, the gathering place of God’s people, I mean, a place where God should be felt and the preacher unknowingly, probably, unconsciously, okay, not unconsciously, was telling that there were gatherings of God’s people in many places, countless places where God is not present. We mean churches in New York, in DFW area, all over Kerala, I mean, in every city in this country, all over the world, there are churches where God’s presence is not felt. That is the meaning. But I have a preacher who came and said, I feel God here. What are we, what are we, I mean, listening to, what are we having here?

I mean, let’s go to some passages. I mean, I have quite a few verses. This is not the passage, actually, I wanted to preach from, there was another passage, you know, I thought whenever the opportunity came, I would prepare and deliver a good message, but that is not the passage, because this, this is something the Holy Spirit laid in my heart that I should talk to you, I mean, because we are evolving, I mean, week after week, we are experiencing God’s presence, and this is something I want to share with you, I want to talk to you, so that we would all be so serious, I mean, in our work with our God, I mean, I mean, knowing so well what should really be, I mean, our life and what God expects of us.

Praise the Lord, let me take you to Exodus chapter 33, a very well-known passage, I mean, a passage, background of which all of us know, the people of Israel, I mean, yeah, the people of Israel, they got delivered from Egypt and they crossed the Red Sea, they traveled quite a few days, and a few months now, they are now outbound Sinai, if the place where they show the mountains, Sinai, and, and the burning bush, all that is historical, I was there, I mean, I stood, I mean, in front of that mountain, some of you may have done it, I mean, if you have never gone, maybe we should go, I like to go one more time at least, I mean, but you know, at that mountain, that, I mean, people came, and God called Moses up, I mean, to the mountain, he spent 40 days with the Lord, and then we know what happened at the, at the bottom, and we know the golden calf, we know the worship that was going on, and we know Moses came down, and what he did with the tablets of stone, and we know what a judgment that came upon them. After that, I mean, this is what the Lord said to Moses, I mean, we will read, the Lord said to Moses, one, depart, you know, you should, as you read this, you should try to understand the tone of God’s voice, God says, depart, I mean, go from here, I mean, I can’t imitate my God, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, who brought, see, the tone of God’s voice, you Moses, brought up out of the land of Egypt, I mean, take it seriously, and to the land which I sowed to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, say, to your offering I will give it, I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perishites, the Hebraites, and the Jebusites, and then God is telling, go up to the land flowing with milk and honey, it will still be milk and honey, I will not go among you, I will not go among you, I will not go with you, why, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff neck to people. God is present everywhere, and what is the Lord telling now, I will take you to more passages. This is, there is a special presence of God, there is the general presence of God everywhere, God is present everywhere, but then there is also a very special presence of God, that God’s people would experience, see in a very special way. The general presence of God is there outside in our parking lot, the general presence of God is there in the heavens, the general presence of God is there all over, but there is then a very special presence of God that God would make manifest with people individually or corporately, in this building, this building 4309, I mean all the square footage, these 5 acres, it is not outside the general presence of God, but then, I mean hallelujah, when God’s people come together, Sunday morning, and we will begin to come together Sunday morning, Sunday mornings, Friday mornings, Friday nights, I mean Saturday evenings, God makes his presence manifest in a very special way, I mean, it’s not, Moses says, next slide, verse 15, and he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, Moses knew that he was at a very dangerous turf at now, he knew what God was talking directly, if your presence, your special presence, your shekka in our glory, I mean, if your presence, I mean the cloud, the cloud during the day, I mean the pillar of fire during the night, if it doesn’t go with me, do not bring us up from here, 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, ha, hallelujah, it was there all the time, I read this passage so many times, but only as I prepared for this message, that highlighted one, I mean, is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I mean, what makes a people distinct? It is in God’s, in God going with them, in God being present among them, I mean, I and your people from every other people on the face of the earth, I mean, what makes us distinct from every other church, hallelujah, what makes us distinct from all those men and women who worship any God and every God, it is his presence among us, I mean.

Let me take you to more because I have so many verses, I mean, there is something else in chapter thirty-three, we are all so familiar with the tabernacle, but most of us know only one tabernacle, the tent of meeting, but there is another tent, much before the tent of meeting, the tabernacle with the court and the holy place and the most holy place was erected, that tent of meeting is what I am going to read about, focus, I mean, pay attention, now, this is, there is a tent of meeting here, I highlighted there, this tent of meeting is not the tabernacle, this tent of meeting is different and Moses had, much before the tabernacle was erected, made, Moses used to take the tent, a small tent and pitch it outside the camp, little away from all the people, far off from the camp and he called it the tent of meeting, there is a very special word for that and everyone who sought the Lord, I mean, would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp, whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent, when Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses.

Take this passage, never, you know, got stuck in your heart, from today, you know, take it seriously, I mean, the pillar of cloud, I mean, this is the Shekinah, glory, I mean, not exactly like the other one, descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses and how did God speak and when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship each at his tent door, I mean, that’s the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, Jewel chose the song rightly, face to face, God, I mean, as a man speaks to his friend, this is God experience and then, you know, the last part, I don’t want to miss, when Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man would not depart from the tent, so among the people of God, there is a special presence of God, there is a descending of God to speak to his servants, Moses, Joshua of course was a standby, I mean to help Moses.

Let’s go from there, I mean, Genesis chapter 28, I mean, Jacob travelling to Patanaram, to his uncle’s place, I mean, practically fleeing from his very angry Esau and also to find a wife, I mean, on the way, he sleeps on the way, I mean, keeping a stone as the pillar and we know what happened there and then after everything, then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place, ha, isn’t Lord everywhere, was not Lord in Beersheba, I mean, was not Lord in the mountains of Jerusalem, if he crossed the mountains on the way, I mean, was not God present everywhere, I mean, in the fields of Palestine, I mean, in the jungles of Palestine, yes, God was there but here in this place, the place where I slept, the Lord is here in a special way, I did not know it, he was afraid and said, how awesome is this place, we sing it, isn’t it, how awesome, I mean, we are not the first ones to sing it or we borrowed it from him to sing it in God’s presence, how awesome is this place, why, because, I mean, is because of a sound sleep, no, because God is in this place, hallelujah and then he says, this is none other than the house of God, Beth, El and this is the gate of heaven, hallelujah.

One more passage, I mean, quite a few more things but we’ll go quickly, you this mankind, chapter 4 of Genesis, I mean, God doesn’t strike him dead, we’re not making any reference to capital punishment but in his case, God kept him alive but he said, you will have long life, God must have said, you will have wife, children, you know, so many children but then the most severe words were, you will be a restless wanderer, I mean, and then God may have said, you will not have my presence because in response to God, Cain says in verse 4, I mean, let me read everything, you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear, behold, you have driven me today away from the ground and from your face I shall be hidden, that’s the most difficult one, isn’t God present in another city, in another mountain? Yes, God is present but Cain knows that God’s face, I will not be able to see again, I mean, now I see God face to face, he is angry with me, I saw him a few days ago when he came to my tent dissuading me from the crime that I was meditating, I mean, but I will not see this face of God again.

One of the, next slide, one of the statements or one that I heard again and again, during our memorial services for our dear Sabu and for the services at the funeral home and at the burial ground, repeatedly was this statement, not from one person, not just two, so many people, either I was told directly or I overheard, there was the presence of God. A father and a daughter, 15-year-old daughter, they were here Saturday night, the father alone was here on Sunday night, then Monday morning, I believe, he reached out to me, then I called him back and I asked him, did you know him? He said, no, but somehow I felt I should come for him. Then he told me this one thing, that his daughter, 15-year-old daughter, was watching the Sunday service at home and this young man told me, pastor, you know what my daughter said? That, dad, even as I watched online, I could feel the presence of God. I’ll tell you, here in this gathering of ours, only if the Lord would choose to be present, we would have His presence. Let me repeat that. Only if the Lord would choose to be present, we would have His presence.

Our church is quite unlike many other churches with which we are familiar. I mean, we of course have some stained windows, but not here. We are familiar with these churches where they would build a very special place, they would light candles, the priest would appear in very special vestments, they have very special way of, I mean, offering their written liturgy. I mean, even if the Lord is not present, I am not making any claim saying that God wouldn’t be present in any of those places, but even if the Lord is not especially present there, they have the priestly vestments, they have the incense burning, they have the candles burning, they have the stained glass windows, somehow they create an atmosphere of God there. For us, none of those. That’s my point. For us, I mean, a people who come in humility to the presence of God. I mean, hallelujah, hallelujah.

I mean, next slide. The New Testament teaches this. In the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, there was Shekinah, pillar of cloud. Descending where? I mean, upon the most holy place. And you know what that most holy place in Greek is called? Naos. That’s not the word for temple. I mean, the physical building, the tabernacle, but the presence of God dwelt in the Naos of the tabernacle, in the most holy place of the tabernacle. I mean, and you know, let me take you to a passage. I mean, next slide. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 15, I mean, Paul as he writes to the Corinthian church, what accord has Christ with Belial, another word for Satan, or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple? And the word is Naos, the most holy place. If you read in your Malayalam, I mean, translating instead of the place temple, I mean, you will understand it better. I mean, what agreement has the most holy place of God with idols? Listen to the next statement. For we are the temple, I mean, Naos, the most holy place of the living God. You see the shifting? This is what I want you to understand. For all your life, I mean, in the Old Testament, I’m in dispensation. I’m in the most holy place. I mean, where the Ark of God was, where the cherubim stood over it, I mean, there descended the Shekinah, the glory of God, the pillar of cloud, declaring to people near and far that God was especially present among the people of Israel. When it comes to the New Testament, the language changes. I mean, we are the most holy place of the living God. I mean, not over it. I will make my dwelling among them. I will come among them and walk among them. Hallelujah. Not the stained glasses, not the vestments that we wear, I mean, not the candles that we light, not the incense that we burn, but because God chooses to come, I mean, His presence will be among us. God says, I will make my dwelling among them. I will walk among them. God’s people mark these words. I will make my dwelling among them. I will walk among them. Hallelujah. I will be their God. They shall be my people and therefore, okay, therefore go out from their midst. Be separate from the people from whom you should be separate. Such no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you. Hallelujah. Amen.

This should be our burden. I am so proud of what we have become. And I know God would take us to heights that far more than we can dream of. But for me, the greatest agony of my heart, it’s not the number that would increase, great things we would achieve together. It’s not the space that is made available. My burden is not how we would pay the mortgage and help our pastors who are paid, how we would raise funding for missions, all that we should do and we will continue to do. My greatest burden for us is God, will you be present among us? Yes. Will we be holy, acceptable enough to our God so that He will walk among us? Will we come every time when we come to worship together with brokenness in our hearts, repentance that God would accept, surrender in the presence of God? Amen. Rectifying whatever needs to be rectified so that we can feel God among us. Holiness. Will we have that thirst? To be holy. To be different from other people. Holiness of the body. Holiness of our minds. Holiness deep down in our spirits.

One thing, I mentioned and I’ll stop. Quiet, be ready to sing. This is something that I never said before. Friday morning I mentioned it. I thought I should tell you also. Next slide. If you have never heard this syndrome, this is a spiritual syndrome, meekle syndrome. You know, 1st or 2nd Samuel chapter 6, Amen, the ark of the Lord is being brought to the city of Jerusalem. For years together, it was somewhere in a southern place in somebody’s house. Now that David is ready, I mean, he is bringing, I mean, the ark of the Lord with the full support of the people of God. I mean, the centurions, people who were in charge of thousands, the priests, the elders, everybody said, yes, it is time. And then, you know, all the dancing, David removed his royal vestment and he wore, he didn’t become naked, he wore clothes of the ordinary people, the priestly people, the Levite people, the singers and the dancers and they were all so joyful in the presence of God. I mean, but there was one person whose heart was not in that joy. That was the wife of David, watching, observing, making comments. And we know this happened so much in the family of God. And we know what happened as the chapter ends. You know, if the writer concludes that chapter, I mean, in a pathetic note, what happened to meekle? How David dealt with God? I mean, church should not be a place where we would become, you know, caught up in matters that are not relevant to God. We shouldn’t be men and women who would only be watching what is happening, observing he and she, I mean, him, her and him. I mean, we shouldn’t be men and women who wouldn’t simply, I mean, make comments, spiritual comments or, you know, what is uncalled for. We should focus on God. We should focus on God.

Let’s close our eyes. Amen. Father in Heaven, triune God who is almighty, triune God who knows everything, triune God who is present everywhere, we thank you. But we ask you, Amen. Make that very special presence of yours so evident among us, so manifest among us continuously, O Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father.

Father, we surrender ourselves with brokenness. We tell you, we ask you, grant unto us the grace and strength so that we would always be focused on your ways, your holiness, the kind of life that you want us to lead. O Lord, we pray that our church, in decades to come, in ages to come, will always be a church where whoever walks into it will feel God being present, O Master. Hallelujah. Buddha, Radhava, Sandhya, Jaladhava. Hallelujah.

Amen. We would be a people of God who would praise your holy name. We would be a people of God who would uphold the holiness of God. We would be a people who would fear your holy name. Hallelujah. Build us for your glory. May we experience your face shining upon us. As we approach your table, we ask you to continue to minister to us. In Jesus’ name, hear our prayer.