Because of Calvary Mountain, we too have grace. There shall be some glory for me. I shall see it face to face. For because of God's amazing grace, Thank you for joining us this morning. If you would stand, we'll continue with our song service. Matthew chapter 18, 20 says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. We look forward to meeting with the Lord today and seeing what he has for us. Trent, would you open us in a word of prayer, please? Please join us in singing hymn number 36, Christ. Jesus, my Savior, waiting on God in vain, Jesus, my Lord. ♪ Death cannot make His way ♪ ♪ Jesus, my Savior, return of my soul ♪ Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. These times my heart has questioned the reasons I was living for. The pleasures of this world were leaving me wanting more. Not caring where my life led. You reached out to me with your mercy. And I will never, never look back again. I've been chased by your glory. I've been chased. By your mercy, I've been changed. By your marvelous grace, I've been changed. God, you love me. I've been changed. God, you want me. I've been changed by the power of your name. I've been changed. Now tell me where, where would I be without you? And tell me what kind of future would I have if you had not come to my rescue? And given me just one more chance, I've been changed. By your glory, I've been changed. By your mercy, I've been changed. I've been changed. God, you love me. I've been changed. God, you want me. I've been changed by the power of your name. Be the same. Life can change. Change. Change. Because you love me, I've been changed. Because you want me, I've been changed by the power of your name. Changed. Changed. Changed. Oh, I've been changed. But you want me, I've been changed by the power of your name. I will never, never be your slave. I will never, never be your slave. Chase. Chase. Chase. I've been chased. Join us in standing once again, hymn number 160, crown hymn with many crowns. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, ♪ His glory shall be seen ♪ ♪ Who died and rose from the dead ♪ ♪ Who died and rose from the dead ♪ ♪ Who died and rose from the dead ♪ ♪ Who died and rose from the dead ♪ Please remain standing as we go to the Lord in prayer for our offering. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb, I come, I come just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot to Thee Whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. I come broken to be mended I come wounded to be healed I come desperate to be rescued I come empty to be filled I come guilty to be pardoned By the blood of Christ the Lamb And I'm welcome with open arms, praise God, just as I am. Just as I am. ♪ But mercy and grace my freedom bought ♪ ♪ And now to glory in your cross, O Lamb of God I come ♪ ♪ I come I come broken to be mended I come wounded to be healed I come desperate to be rescued I come empty to be filled I come guilty to be pardoned By the blood of Christ the Lamb And I'm welcome with open arms, praise God, just as I am. I come broken to be mended. I come wounded to be healed. I come desperate to be rescued. I come empty to be filled. I come guilty to be pardoned by the blood of Christ the Lamb. And I'm welcomed with open arms, praise God, just as I am. Praise God just as I am. If you would stand once again, we'll sing hymn number 102, He Hideth Myself. Where on the road, where rivers of pleasure I see, be I. 10 brothers in heav'n with his head. 10 brothers in heaven with his head. Oh, wonderful Savior, it is my Lord. He's taken my burden away. And her chattel in brook Will give me strength as my aid. Be kind, my soul, in the battle of rock, That chattels the dark, merciless air. When love is near, when love is near, when love is near. I sing, I sing, I sing. He rides by night in the dance of His love, and brothers He bear with His head. Thank God in his righteousness, Lord, did I rise to be with him out of the sky. His word, his salvation, his wonderful love, thou shalt Behind my soul is the land of the free and the home of the brave. with his head, and lovers be there with his head. I've just come into this valley, one like I've never been before. I keep searching for a way out. Seems like padlocks are on the door. Oh, there must be another sunrise, another sunset. that I'll see. God will make this trial a blessing, that's the love he has for me. God will make this trial a blessing, though it sends me to my knees. And my tears flow like a river, yet in Him there's sweet relief. There's no need to get discouraged. There's no need to talk defeat. God will make this trial a blessing, and the whole wide world will see. I was not the first one to come into this place. You see, every child of God, this test he must face. It is here that God will mold you and make you what you ought to be. God will make this trial a blessing. Just be patient, you will see. Now I'm standing on a mountain, looking back and I can see. When I was in that lowest valley, His strong hand was leading me. Oh, it's good to see the sunshine and to taste sweet victory. God will make this trial a blessing. Oh, the grace He gives to me. God will make this trial a blessing Though it sends me to my knees And my tears flow like a river Yet in Him there's sweet relief There's no need to get discouraged There's no need to talk defeat God will make this trial a blessing and the whole wide world will see. God will make this trial a blessing, though it sends me to my knees, and my tears flow like a river, yet in Him there's sweet relief. There's no need to get discouraged. There's no need to talk defeat. God will make this trial a blessing, and the whole wide world will see. God will make this trial a blessing, and the whole wide world will see. Men, if you would take your Bibles and join me in Exodus chapter 33, Exodus chapter 33. I've always tried to be pretty transparent when it comes to my preaching. I do read a lot of books and grab bits and pieces that stir my thinking to develop sermons and so forth, but I was recently at an event where this message was preached, and I was visiting with the preacher afterwards. And I said, man, that's a great message. I said, that really spoke to me. And he said, you can use it if you want. And I said, that's what I was looking for. And he was telling me about a good friend of mine who was in evangelism. This guy's an evangelist. This friend of mine heard him preach a message, and he came to him and said, is it OK if I preach that message? Well, now he preaches it across the country. And so that's just kind of what happens in preacher world. every once in a while, and I told my friend this morning that I was going to be preaching this message. I just adapted it because I didn't have word-for-word study notes from him. I just adapted it, but it was such a blessing to me. I hope it is to you also. And so if you found Exodus chapter 33, by the way, thinking about that, you know, in the day and age in which we live, now AI's become a big thing, artificial intelligence. And Brother Jeff was sharing with me, I don't know, several months ago, how that you can get this app and you can tell it, you know, like I want a love letter and I want it to say, you know, like your wife's name and all this stuff. And it will make you a love letter. And so, guys, I guess we have no excuses anymore. We just need an AI app, right? But I'm afraid what's gonna happen in the preaching realm, because I'm always thinking preaching, in the preaching realm is that the lazy pastor will turn to AI rather than fall on his face before God and just beg him, God, give me a message. That'll be a blessing to my people. And so anyhow, it's just random thoughts. I thought I'd throw them out there. Might as well do that. Exodus 33. If you found that, you can stand with me in reverence to the reading of the Word of God. We'll just read three verses. Please zero in and hone in as we read them. Verse number one, and go up, hence thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt unto the land which I swear unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it. And I will send an angel before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Presonite, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, until a land flowing with milk and honey catches. For I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. Lord, we love you today. And we thank you for the opportunity to hold your word in our hands. Lord, I'm thankful for good men who stand in pulpits across America and preach the truth of your word. Lord, I pray that as your word is preached today, that the Holy Spirit would take it and use it in the lives of hundreds and thousands of people who are gathered to hear the preaching of your word. Lord, I pray that you would work in our midst here today. And it could be that there are some here that they've never heard about how they can be saved, how they can know that they're on their way to heaven. Lord, I pray today that they might hear that. I pray for the saved, that we might be challenged in a closer walk with you, that we might seek to walk with you and to know you, Lord, that you might be glorifying through our lives and through our living. We thank you. Thank you for this wonderful building that we can come and worship you. Thank you for your word that you've given us that we might be able to read and study and to come into close contact. The avenue that we have through prayer where we can come and lay our petitions before you, that you hear and answer them according to your will. Meet with us here this morning. Might you be honored and glorified through it all. We ask these things in your blessed and most holy name. To all the people said, You may be seated. So I've entitled this, Provision or Presence? And then my subtitle is, Which Do You Prefer? Provision or Presence? we can see that there's a sureness in the promises of the word of God. God is a God of promises, a God of blessings, he makes promises, he keeps his promises. Within God's promises are his provision. He promised these here, the Israelites, he promised them a land, and they got it. He has promised this heaven, and some have claimed it, and one day the rest of us will. If God makes a promise, you can mark it down. Someone has said that all I have is a promise from God. If you have that, you have a valuable thing. If you have a promise from God, you can mark it down, it will be done. God has never failed, and he's not gonna start now. First thing I want us to consider today is the sin of the people, the sin of the people. There in verse number three it said, for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way. The sin is right after they've come out of Egypt. Moses had led them out of Egypt with a high hand. They took from the Egyptians around them. They took gold and silver and precious stones. They move out of Israel. God has taken care of them. God is providing for them. In Exodus 24, 13, we read, and Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua and Moses went up into the mount of God, and he said unto the elders, tarry ye here for us until we come again unto you, and behold, "'Aaron and Hur are with you. "'If any man have any matters to do, "'let him come unto them.'" And so Moses is gonna make this trip. He's gonna go take Joshua with him. They're gonna go meet with God in Mount of God. And he's telling the people, he said, look, I'm gonna leave Aaron and Hur here to be with you. They're good godly men. They're spiritually minded. If you have any questions, any problems, go to them. And so we find in Exodus chapter 17 and verse number 12 that Moses is there at the battle. You remember the story of the battle where they're in this great conflict and as Moses keeps his arms up, the Israelites are winning and when he puts his arms down, they're losing. And so they take a rock and they set Moses down the rock and then Aaron and Hur come alongside him and they each hold up his hand. You know, it's good to have hand holders or arm holders, to have people around you to help lift you up and encourage you. And here's Moses and here's Aaron and her, two godly men who have come to the aid of God's man, Moses, and they're helping to hold up his hands so that the victory might be won. And there in verse 17, verse 12, It says, but Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Praise God for men like Aaron and Hur. who come alongside and are a help and an encouragement. Now Moses is headed up to the mount to meet with God and Moses says to the people, I'm gonna leave Aaron and Hur here, they're gonna be a help, they will help you. If you have a question, go to them. The sad thing is this is the last time in the Bible that Hur is ever mentioned. This is the last one here in Exodus 24 and verse number 14. And behold, Aaron and her are with you. This is the last mention. We come to Exodus chapter 32 and verse number one. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. So Moses is gone, Moses has talked to the people, he said, look, Aaron and her are here, I'm gonna take Joshua, I'm gonna go into the mountain, I'm gonna meet with God, I'm gonna be gone 40 days. This is where Moses is meeting with God, he's gone away, and as he's gone, the people begin to get weary. They begin to look around. They begin to forget the fact that they have a God that's watching over them. They feel like, where's this Moses? Where has he gone? Why has he gone? He's only been gone a couple of weeks, maybe 14 days. He was scheduled to be gone 40, and so he has gone into the midst of the mountain, and the people become very weary, and they say to Aaron, up, and make us God. Now, why didn't they mention her? Well, Jewish historians tell us that they had already murdered her. Kind of a hard thing to take, isn't it? So I did some research just to make sure I had it right. And this is what I found, written by some rabbis. The sixth hour of the day arrived and Moses had not descended from heaven. They immediately gathered around Aaron. At that time, Satan took advantage of the opportunity and took the opportunity at that moment Her arose against them and said, you severed necks. Do you not remember the miracle that our God did for you? Immediately they arose against him and killed him. Just six weeks after they had received the Ten Commandments to not murder, they murdered God's man, Her. So it might explain why when they come to Aaron, And they say, up, make us a golden calf, he's all about it. Okay? It very well could explain. A man like her would not have tolerated people wanting to go into sin and building a false god. It's interesting to note that while Moses is with God, that the following's recorded. hear what we read this morning in verse number one, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, see I've, I'm sorry, Exodus 31 and verse number one, and the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, see, I have called by name Beelzele of the son of Her of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, and to work in all manner of workmanship. So her grandson, named Beelzele, is the one given the wisdom to build all of the tabernacle's furnitures and inside pieces. God wanted someone to give wisdom to and knew that her grandson was raised and gave him the wisdom to perform all the necessary works because he was taught to fear God and to love God. I stopped right here for a minute and said, The way you live is important. Dads, the way you live is important. It might influence how God chooses to use your son or grandson down the road by the way you're living today. While Moses is in the mount, the people sin. Exodus 32 and verse number seven, and the Lord said unto Moses, go, get thee down, for thy people which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. "'They have turned aside quickly out of the way "'which I commanded thee. "'They have made them a molten calf and have worshipped it "'and have sacrificed therein too. "'And said, these be our gods, O Israel, "'which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. "'And the Lord said unto Moses, "'I have seen this people, and behold, "'it is a stiff-necked people.'" There's that word again, stiff-necked. So I went to Webster's 1828 Dictionary so that we'd have a good understanding of a stiff-necked person. And a stiff-necked person is one who is stubborn, one who is inflexible, obstinate. So he's referring to a stiff-necked people. He's even written a stiff-necked pride. These people are pretty proud about themselves. We've never done it that way before. We ain't going to start now. I'm not going to give. I'm not going to budge. I'm going to do this my way. And God again and again. Matter of fact, in verse number three of Exodus 33, verse number three, he calls them a stiff-necked people. Again, in verse number five, he referenced them as a stiff-necked people. Here in Exodus 32, verse number nine, he referenced them as a stiff-necked people. And so they are just set on themselves. They're set to do it their way. They refuse, they refuse to follow God. They refuse to do what they want, what God wants. They do what they want. Now here's the problem. The problem is that most people are content with God's provision, but they're not interested in his presence. Most people are interested in God's provision, but they're not interested in God's presence. His presence is seen in the midst of this disobedient generation. They entered and wondered for 40 years, and God provided for them. Even their shoes did not wear out. He provided them food. He provided them all they needed. God was bringing judgment upon them, and He provided these things for them. He provided all this for them, and they're wandering for 40 years because they refused to go in and take the land that God had commanded them to take. And yet, as we read about them wandering for 40 years, we don't ever read of a generation of people falling on their faces before God and begging God for his presence. All they want is more manna. All they want is water. All they want, God provides all these things, but they never beg God for his presence. They just beg God for his provision, his life, is seen in this disobedient generation, this stiff-necked people. They refuse to follow after God. They refuse to rise up and to take the land. And the 40 days that they sent are represented one year for every day that they went in and they looked over the land. So for 40 years, they wandered in the wilderness and they died off. Now it's interesting that as they're wandering through the wilderness, they didn't all die at once. God could have just wiped them all out at once, that's not what he did. But for 40 years, they watched people die. I wonder in our lifetimes, if we might step back and say, I've watched a lot of people desire God's provision, but not his presence. And I've watched them kind of stumble through life, and I've watched them die. By the time you get to be my age, you've known a lot of people who have died, right? There's some of them, I hate funerals. I do too many funerals. I love the births of children, I love to hold the babies. I hate to watch people die, except for one thing. When a true saint of God leaves this earth to step into God's presence, it's one of the most glorious things you'll ever witness. It's phenomenal. Like I'm done. I fought my fight. God says it's time to come home. I'm going. By the way, there's not a one of us can change God's date. He picks it. He calls us home. So they wait. These people wondered. And one by one, the people died. One by one, they died. They passed from this scene, they passed off. All these people dying in the wilderness, and they're wandering around for 40 years, waiting for an entire generation to die. Can you imagine, just my mind here all of a sudden caught this crazy fact. Could you imagine when you're down to two? The new generation's talking about, as soon as they're dead, we get to go into promised land. I wonder if they said, can't wait for him to die. Just saying. Active imagination. When the last one died, then it was time for the nation to move. It was time for the nation to go. The nation had wondered for 40 years. They knew why they were there. God provided for them. God had his hand upon them. But theirs was to go to the promised land. This entire generation died, and then they moved to go into the promised land. It was to be a memorial in their minds to remind them that we don't want to be disobedient. We don't want those things, we wanna follow God, we wanna walk with Him. And yet here they find themselves a stiff-necked people. They find themselves as one that's just relying upon the good blessings of God and they're quite content in those things. We find in Exodus 32 and verse number 34, therefore now go, lead the people unto the place which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, my angels shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people because they made a calf which Aaron made. This plagued in Exodus 32 35 means a state of misery They're in a state of misery, can you imagine living in misery? Living Living in a situation knowing man, I really blew it. I was gonna be here. I'm just gonna do this and I blew it because I allowed sin in my life. I blew it because I allowed this to happen. Now I've got to live with the misery of all that. I walked by a young lady in the foyer today, and I said, I understood you had a birthday party. She turned 16, had a birthday party. And I said, oh, to be 16 again. And I said, nope. Took too much to get here. I'm not interested in going back there. I'd probably make a bigger mess than I did getting here the first time, right? They lived in a state of misery. They had the opportunity to wait, to wait for the man of God to come back from the mount. God's giving his blessing there to Moses. The exciting things are waiting for the people, but they couldn't wait. They wanted to rise up and to party. They wanted to rise up and to have their own gods, and they rose up. And when Moses comes down, we see that they are now plagued with the state of misery of what they had done to God. Therefore, God pronounces, you're gonna go in, I'm not gonna go with you. I'm gonna give you the provision, but I'm not gonna give you my presence. This would be a great place for a backslidden Christian to stand up and say, wait a minute, I don't wanna go anywhere without you, God. I don't wanna go anywhere without you. I want you more than the provision of stuff that you give me. Here they are, wandering in misery, never satisfied. It's gonna be a plague that's gonna shorten their life. Exodus 32, verse number 21, and Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not the anger of the Lord wax hot, thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. And they said unto me, make us gods, which shall go before us, for as this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what is become of him, And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me, and I cast it in a fire, and there came out this calf. And when Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame against their enemies, Then Moses spoke in the gate of the camp and said, Who's on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out of the gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses and there fell of the people that day about 3,000 men. The judgment was passed, judgment came. If you are just living life for his provision, then your life is gonna be a miserable life and more than likely cut short. We're created to fellowship with God. God made us to fellowship with him. Remember Adam and Eve in the garden. God would come down of an evening and fellowship with them. You say, well, God doesn't come down and fellowship with me. Oh, but we have such sweet fellowship because he carries word with us almost everywhere we go. I can have fellowship with God, I can be in his presence just by picking up my Bible and to begin to read the Bible. Now, I'm not talking about we're speed reading there, we're reading it for some program, I'm talking about getting down and saying, God, speak to me today through your word. I wanna hear from you, I wanna know you, and God, I'm not gonna quit reading until I've got something from you. How do we know God's presence? We know it by being in his word. We know it by being on our face before God. Praying, God, I wanna know you. Have you ever been so broken that all you could do is fall on your face before God, and in between the flowing of tears, you were begging God, help me, God, I need your wisdom. Help me, God, I need you to show me the right thing to do, the right way to act. God, show me through your words, show me what I need, that I might walk with you, that your presence might be felt by me. Once again, God, that's where I wanna be. If you've never felt the presence of God, you gotta go home and clear you off a spot and get on your knees and say, God, I need to know. I need to know that you love me. I need to know that you care. God, I need for you to speak to me. We have visitors come from time to time, and I'll be visiting with them, and they say, oh, man, walked in your church, and I could feel the presence of God. Well, that's great, but I wanna know that I personally feel the presence of God. I wanna daily walk with Him. I wanna daily allow Him to lead my life. I wanna daily be in communication with God. We're created to fellowship with Him. Now, for some, it can be a silent life. They hear from others, but they never hear from God. We might ask ourselves the question, how long has it been since I've heard from God? How long has it been? Well, let's think about Abraham for just a minute. Abraham is told that he's gonna be like the stars of the sea, his prodigy is gonna be as the stars of the sky, as the sand of the sea. And so they're waiting for this to happen, and Sarah and Abram, they get in a hurry. And so Abram takes Hagar, And this is a handmaid to Sarah. This is not the promise that God had made. This is Abram doing what he thought was right. And so he takes unto himself Hagar, and she bears a son. Now this is Genesis 16, 16, and Abram was four score and six. So he was 86 years old when he does this thing. that he steps up and says, I'm just gonna help God along, because it doesn't seem like Sarah's having any babies soon. And you know, we're gonna be like the sand of the sea. I'm afraid sometimes that we take promises from God and we think they ought to be immediate. I think some promises aren't fulfilled for maybe one to two generations after. So Abraham's 86 years old. In Genesis 17, one, And when Abraham was 90 years old and nine, so now Abraham's 99 years old. So he has his thing with Hagar, Ishmael's born, it's 86. At 99, we read this. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, I am the almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. For 13 years, This great man, Abraham, who we, as we read about him in the Bible, we know that he loved God and he walked with God, he was chosen of God, God blessed him, but for 13 years, he doesn't hear from God. I wanna ask this question, whose fault is that? Is it God's fault? No, it's not God's fault, it's Abraham's fault. Now, please don't respond, it might be embarrassing. How long's it been since you heard from God? You're reading through the Bible and you go, oh, that's for me. Or you're sitting in a preaching service and you go, he's talking to me, God's speaking to me, God wants me to react, God wants me to do something. How long's it been? Hopefully not 13 years. Hopefully we don't wait 13 years. Hopefully we don't go one week Hopefully we don't go one day But if we'd go one day and God hadn't spoken to us Maybe we had to start the next day on our face saying God I didn't hear from you yesterday What's wrong? Is there sin in my life? Do I need to confess sin that I might be right with you that you might commune with me and me with you God I want to hear from you But I'm afraid what happens is that we live our life too busy. I've got a lot on my schedule today. I've got 27 hours worth of work to complete in 24 hours. You ever feel like that? You say, I'm too busy to pray. I'm too busy to read my Bible. Now just say this, and you've heard it a million times, then you're too busy. It's like the guy that's in a lot of financial upheaval, and they go, I'm too broke to tithe. No, no, no, that's when you need to tithe. You cannot have the blessing of God upon you if you're not tithing and giving him what is his. He does not work backwards. He fulfills his promise. And so we should say, God, I didn't hear from you. If it's all week, God, I haven't heard from you all week. What is wrong with me? What needs to change? Oh, I haven't read my Bible all week. Oh, I've been distracted. I've been more worried about the worldly things. And by the way, the world wants to give us all kinds of stuff, don't they? I mean, I don't know about your newsfeed on your phone. I do too, because it's just like mine. All kinds of conspiracies, all kinds of stuff going on, and if we're not careful, we can sit there for a couple hours and be consumed with all that information, when in reality, what really matters is spending time with God, being in his presence. And so some live a silent life. Some go without ever hearing from God. Some live a sorrowful life. In Exodus 33 and verse number four, and when the people heard these things, they mourned and no man did put on him his ornaments. They were very sorrowful. There was no joy. By the way, there's no joy outside of the presence of God. He is the giver of joy. He is the presenter of joy. How can we live in joy when we're outside of his presence? Oh, we can be happy and satisfied with his provisions, with the things that he's given us, but true joy only comes from his presence. Have you ever walked in your house and looked around at all the stuff you have? And it doesn't matter if you have a lot of stuff or very little stuff. Have you ever walked in and looked at all your stuff and say, huh, I'm pretty joyful. You might be pretty happy. You might say, honey, let's not go shopping anymore, okay? Let's clean out the closet, let's, you know, we gotta move some of this furniture around. Honey, you know, whatever. But I'm telling you, it doesn't bring joy like, say, the doorbell rings and the grandkids are standing on the other side. It's like you realize very quickly that all that stuff in the house is just stuff. Cindy and I were very young. We had two little boys. How long ago it was, Ben was like two. And we went to Ohio. My dad had been transferred up there. And we went up to visit them on vacation. We got up there, hung out all week, just having a great week. And then a friend of mine called me on Friday. We were headed home, no, he called on Thursday. We were headed home on Friday. And he said, hey, I went by your house. And he was supposed to be watching it, mow the grass, pick up the mail, all that kind of stuff. He said, I went by the house, and somebody kicked the back door in, and they've taken a bunch of stuff. We don't even know what they took, OK? So we get the joy of driving all the way back from Columbus, Ohio, thinking, man, someone broke into our house. Wonder what they took. Wonder if they took this. Wonder if they took that. What did they take? What did they take? What did they take? And when something happens like that, you feel very violated. Anybody else ever had a robbery like that? Man, I'm telling you, it stinks. It stinks. And so we get back, we go in the house, and the first thing we do, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, we start building this list. Yeah, they took the TV, they took the VCR, they took this, they took that, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, they even got to the point that they broke into an area that had some savings bonds for the kids that they got every year for Christmas. My mom gave them savings bonds. And I don't know, they probably got or $500 worth of savings bonds that had been there, and just stuff. And Cindy and I, on the way home, we said, you know, it really doesn't matter what they took, because we still have each other, and we still have our kids. The rest of it's stuff. So it was a good thing. That break-in was a good thing. to realize what is the priorities of life. Provisions won't bring you joy. Presence of God brings you joy. By the way, without joy, you can say you have no God. If you don't have joy, if you don't know that fellowship of being with Jesus, of being in his presence, you're not gonna know joy at all. In 1 John 1, verse number one, it says, that which was from the beginning, which ye have heard, which ye have seen with your own eyes, which ye have looked upon and our hands have handled the word of life, where the life was manifest and we have seen it and bear witness and show it unto you, that eternal life, which is with the Father and is manifest unto us, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also, may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." That's the key. Be in fellowship with God, be in fellowship with Jesus, Just rest in him. Some lived a sentenced life. In Exodus 33 and verse number five, for the Lord said unto Moses, saying to the children of Israel, you are stiff-necked people. I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee. Therefore now put off the ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee. A sentenced life. He was going to bring judgment upon them. They're promised the judgment of God for their disobedience. Some were in a seeking of God's presence. They were seeking God's presence. Moses in Exodus 33 verse number seven, and Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp afar off from the camp and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. It came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp, And it came to pass, when Moses went out into the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle. Moses went to the house of God, he went to the tabernacle to meet with God, and all the people gathered to watch him go, but no one went. Why wouldn't they also realize, we need the presence of God, we need to be God, we need to be with God. This morning we opened the doors and people came. Hopefully, one of your desires is, I need the fellowship of my fellow believers, but more importantly, I need the fellowship with God. I wanna hear from God today. I want God to work in my life. I wanna hear from him. I wanna know that he still wants to work in me, and I want him to know how much I love him. Moses made a choice. In Exodus 33, 7 and 8, we just read, and in verse number 9, it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle. And the Lord talked with Moses, and all the people saw the pillory cloud The cloudy pillars stand at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaking unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now the way that I may know thee, and that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. He is my presence, shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said to him, if thy presence go not with me, Darius not of hence. More than anything else, Moses said, I don't wanna go anywhere, you're not. I don't wanna go anywhere, you're not gonna be there, God. I wanna be with you, I want to walk with you, God, I need to be with you. It's sad today. How many churches have become places of entertainment? It's sad today how many Christians are contented with being entertained. They're not there for the presence of God. Maybe they've never met the presence of God. Maybe they're just there for the entertainment and the stuff. Listen, our fellowship with God needs to be such that we desire him. In verse number 11 there I read to you, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. Joshua's gonna be greatly used of God here in the upcoming chapters, and the reason is because Joshua desired the presence of God. He had seen the provision of God, but he desired the presence of God. So he and Moses began to lead the people to guide them because they sought the presence of God. Listen, we live in a new age, right? That's all Old Testament. You say, well, I'm a New Testament Christian preacher. Well, great, you need the presence of God. And it's easier to have now than it was then. Because we can go boldly into the throne of grace, making our requests known unto him. We don't have to go through a man. We don't have to go some route of confession. We can boldly go into his presence. But we have no excuse to not be in the presence of God. Lord Jesus, I love you, and I thank you for your message today. I thank you for Exodus, for the life of Moses and how you used him, and those things that we find there. And I pray to God that we would not be people seeking the provision of God, but we'd be people who'd want the presence of God. That stuff and everything is fine, but the presence of God is what we need. We need you in our lives. We need our lives to be focused on you, allowing you to live in and through us. And the way we do that is through your word. Lord, I pray that we would love your word. that we'd study it, that we'd apply it in our lives and our living. And God, we would talk to you through prayer. And Lord, that you would sweeten that time of presence that we can spend together. Thank you for your many blessings. Use this invitation for your glory. We ask these things in your blessed name. Amen. Go ahead and stand at this time. We're gonna sing, I Surrender All. The altar's open if God's spoken to your heart and encourage you to come, whatever your need. God's doing your heart, would you come today? love and trust him. In his presence be ye healed. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. I surrender all. Blessed Savior, I surrender all to Thee. All to Thee does I surrender. Make me, Savior, holy Thine. Holy Spirit, truly know that Thou art mine. I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender. Lord, I give myself to thee. I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior, Surrendering is the path to loving God more. This should be challenging to us every day. Thank you for the visitors that are here. Thank you for choosing us. You're welcome to join us back for afternoon service at one o'clock. We think it was great to see Tom and Patty. Tom, he could have chosen to stay at home, but I appreciate his mental and spiritual and physical strength to be here and enjoy the time that we have with him and appreciate his example. of choosing to love God more. August will be a time of reprieve. It looks like it's a pretty quiet month, but we wrapped up Vacation Bible School. Thank you for the contributions there. Pray for the teens as they're preparing for youth college, July 30th to August 2nd, and then outreach August 30th. All right, pray children, just remember to surrender ourselves daily in the person that God wants us to be. Brother Marcus, can you close the prayer, please? Father, we just want to thank you for the beautiful day that you've given us. Just to be able to have the opportunity. you