July 18

The last few weeks, I've been using God's Favorite House from Tommy Tenney this is what I've been basing everything I'm saying on. His idea is to turn our churches into God's Favorite House. Now to do this, we have to make some changes in our own lives. There are various things God expects us to do if we are going to open the windows of heaven. And last week I told you that tithing is one of the most important things we can do. We can tithe of our time, our talents, and our money. We're supposed to pay God first.

That's the challenge I want to give all of you for the rest of the year. Pay God first, before you ever pay a bill, sit down and write the check or put your money aside, for God ... and watch how God will change your life. Watch how He will change your financial, that's one of the things God wants us to do is trust Him, He says trust ME.

The next thing is to be persistent in our prayer life. God answers those who humbly come to Him and ask, and seek His direction.

Unity is another way. We have to be unified as a church, and as a people and as a family. I tell people, it's all right to disagree, you don't have to agree, you have to walk away unified. That's how we make God's Favorite House right here. That's how we learn to honor Him.

(illustration with the water: Children's time included a demonstration, a bottle of water that had many colors of food coloring dropped into it to show the many different ways we all sin; then with a few drops of bleach and shaking the bottle, the color of the water slowly faded to clear, illustrating God's forgiveness of us, and that sometimes our accepting His forgiveness happens slowly. By the time the sermon began, the water was clear again.)

I love the illustration with the water. How many times does God 'shake' us before He gets our attention? Sometimes it takes a little longer. Don't you get it? He has to be asking...

If Jesus came into this church, would you give up your seat to Him? Or would you keep your old chair refusing to give it up. Don't we all have our 'favorite' seats...would you give yours up? or would you look around to see if somebody else was going to give up theirs first?

Do you want a 'face-to-face' meeting with God? Many of us don't...

Are you afraid God will make you do something you don't want to do? I ran from God literally, I was afraid He would call me to go to Africa. Now, I would like to go, not to stay forever, but to go on a mission trip.

Do you run from God, when He calls you?

God won't send you somewhere that is not the desires of your heart, or where you're not ready to go...stop fearing that face-to-face with God, what He will ask you to do.

Ministry was not high on my priority list. I sat right out there for a lot of years. I was content out there. Out there, I didn't have to face God. I could keep Him at an arm's length. Then, things began to change.

I went on a walk to emmaus. That's where I encountered God in a subtle way. My face-to-face encounter with God was nothing flashy. It was like Elijah's encounter right here in 1 Kings 19.

Follow along as I read, I'm gonna start on verse 11, this was Elijah on Mount Horab 1 Kings 19:11-14 - "The Lord said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and a powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, broken down Your altars, and put Your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."

How did the Lord make Himself known to Elijah? It was a gentle whisper. That's how I encountered God. My face-to-face was a gentle whisper.

You know, if we want this church to become a place that God inhabits, we have to put ourselves in a position to hear that gentle whisper. So if you're afraid of the face-to-face, don't. I encourage you. That's why I'm encouraging this church, let's get ourselves in a position to encounter God, in that quiet still way. Our hearts have to become so humble that God will desire for us to hear Him, in that gentle whisper.

We have to humble ourselves, humbleness begins with thanksgiving and praise to God. It's when we fall on our knees, when we begin to lift our prayers up for others as well as ourselves. When we are persecuted, and it overcomes, it threatens to take us down, that we should be thanking God that we were found worthy to suffer for HIM!

(Are you content where you're at? Or are you ready to step into the ministry He asks you to? Or will you run from God?)

How did God make himself known? it was in a gentle whisper...

If you're afraid of that face-to-face with Him, don't be!

We have to humble ourselves and fall on our knees before Him...

The way to respond to these things is to become examples to others. Remember last week, when Paul and Silas were persecuted in a Roman jail, they began singing and what happens? It resulted in a Roman jailor and his family coming to have a salvation experience with Jesus.

If we truly want God's presence in our churches, we have to quit fearing adversity, and we need to prepare this sanctuary for His presence. Quit worrying about what others think, just start seeking His presence.

If we truly want God's presence, we have to prepare and humble ourselves.

If we get up at night and we are trying to go through our house, don't we wander around hunting for the light switch? Then out of nowhere, we stump our toe, or run into a wall or a door. And when you find the light switch, what happens?

The light throws all shadow into the corners.

I want to find that switch that I can throw that'll release God's glory in this sanctuary. When my hands are up, I'm searching for that switch. We're stumbling around in the dark, waving our arms, looking for a light switch. Can you imagine the energy that would be released if we could turn on the glory of God right now in this sanctuary?!

As Christians we think our action is all we need to throw that switch, but if God's glory was truly turned on right now, I guarantee that altar is not big enough for all of us, 'cause that's where we'd be. There's not a one of us present here today that is exempt in the area of not needing God's glory.

And when that's turned on, and when we start feeling God's presence in our life, what happens? We fall down in repentance. When you've been to the mountaintop, when you've heard that gentle whisper, what happens? Forgive me, Lord. And that's what I like about the visual today, forgiveness.

God offers forgiveness. And that's what He's asking us to do.

No one is exempt from needing God's glory. We need to fall down in repentance and God offers forgiveness - for all!

I guarantee when His light is shining on us, you're gonna know there's dirty areas in your life that need to be cleaned up. That's the reason the scripture says, Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises up in you.
We need to become a people who radiate God's glory so much that when others are around us, they will have an encounter with God.

Turn on that light switch so that we radiate God's glory!

When we praise God, we need to PRAISE God! Ever how you can give your all to God, that's what He requires of us, and when we do His glory is going to fall on us.

And then we'll all be on our knees looking for forgiveness.

Walk in here expecting to see God's presence. And when you walk out, other people will know you've been in the presence of God by the way you radiate God from your presence.

I want us to radiate God! I want you to walk out of here KNOWING you've experienced God! Walk out of here knowing you've been in God's presence.

One thing we haven't talked about much. We need to talk about satan; he does exist. Lucifer was an archangel that was cast out and that fell from heaven, because he had the thought that he could supercede God. Remember that a thought can become a sin, when we dwell on it or act on it.

God's glory doesn't allow sin to appear in His midst. He threw him out in a flash. It's like a light switch coming on - God's glory sends sin out!

Sometimes we've allowed unGodly things to happen, as though we don't fear God anymore. When God's glory comes on, it's like a light switch. There's a time and place we can bind and loose things in our church, cast out the demons that may be there, as Jesus did. He came, He preached, He healed, He cast out demons.

But importantly, we need to pray that Jesus comes into the space when the demons go out, or they'll return to multiply. Pray the Holy Spirit fills the empty place when demons are sent out.

Pray the Holy Spirit comes in and fills that person. Pray God will loosen His Spirit on those situations. You can't cast things out and not pray that God will fill that empty space.

We have to learn to become prayer warriors. We need to learn to pray, to intercede for others. There's no better way to face spiritual warfare, than in the light of God's presence. We all need a meeting with God that leaves us at the altar, in His presence. We all need to have that face-to-face with God. What is keeping you from facing God? Write it in your private journal. And in your private times, pray that you will encounter God in a new fresh way.


So, come in and throw on the light and God will take us places we've never been!
Ask God to manifest Himself in us!

Don't fear that 'face-to-face' with God - meet Him at the altar!

What is keeping you from it?

Pray that you will encounter God in a fresh way, every day!