Seeking his presence
Category: Worship & Praise
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: March 9, 2025
This is a wonderful crowd considering it is time change in the spring. We’re just thrilled to see you here. How many of you groaned a little bit when your alarm clock went off this morning? Amen. I asked in Sunday school how many threw their alarm clock across the room, and a couple of them kind of halfway raised their head there. But we’re thrilled you are here, honored to see every person, excited about God working in our midst.
Looking forward, we have a young man, James, that’s going to get baptized today. I’m excited about that. Amen. Amen.
He got saved a little bit ago and is going to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism, growing in the Lord. That’s exciting. Praise the Lord for that. Help me out, what is next Sunday? Friend Day, everyone! You’ve got to work at bringing a friend with you next Sunday. How many of you say, “I’ve already invited someone to come”? Good, good, good. We’ve got to work at that.
Now here’s the thing. Give you a hat and jump in board on board there. This week is key. This is kind of like fourth quarter; you know, it’s a tie ball game. This week is it. I know you invited them a month ago, but this week is it. That was first quarter; this is fourth quarter. This week is so very, very key. And it may be your friend that God will just touch their heart in a great way if they’re here.
Wouldn’t it be a shame for God not to do anything in their heart because they’re not here and we didn’t invite them? So let’s do our part. You may say at the end of the day, “I invited them.” Hey, you did your part. The increase is in God’s hands. Let’s do our part, would you? I’m looking for a Friend Day card. I think I’m out of them. Give them mine out. But we have more if you would like an invite card for Friend Day. Anyone need one of those? Raise your hand or ushers to get those for you. Anyone need an invite? We’ve been passing them out for a month or more. It’s key that you give them something because they’ll have questions: “What time was that? What’s the address?” All that. And they’ll have that right in front of them. So let’s do our best. When it’s all said and done in eternity, we’ll be glad we did our best for the Lord. Let’s try that again: When it’s all said and done in eternity, we’ll be glad we did our best for the Lord. That’s what really matters.
We got back from out winning souls yesterday. The Holy Spirit reminded me of that verse, perhaps in Peter, where the angels desire to look into that. Up in heaven, they’re watching when the gospel is being given and the Holy Spirit is working. Angels watch that. That’s their channel they tune into. That’s your soul-winning channel, amen. In heaven, they know what’s important, so let’s do our best for next Sunday. Pray, pray, and we want this thing bathed in prayer next. That’s the key. How many say, “Pastor, I’ll spend some extra time praying for Friend Day next Sunday”? Good, good, good. That’s key. Just God working in hearts and lives, and that’s what we want. We want someone this year, and maybe 100 years down the road, we see someone in heaven and say, “Hey, I got saved on Friend Day, and you prayed for that. Thank you.” So next Sunday will just be a great, great day. We will have Sunday school, everything the same time-wise, and pray that God will bless in a great, great way.
Wasn’t it good to have the choir back up there today? Amen, what a blessing. Choir did a great job. Amen. Did a great job. We need that choir packed out next Sunday. A full choir speaks volumes. You say, “I’ve been sick.” Come lip-sing, amen. Just be in your place. Be ready to go, and be in choir practice tonight. Looking forward to next Sunday. The choir this morning, song service has been great. It kind of got the spirit up. That’s what we want. So let’s be right in our spot, be ready to go for next Sunday. We’ll have greeters in the parking lot, greeters here, just excited about God working in a great way next Sunday. Let’s just do our best and see what God will do.
Then the next Sunday, the 23rd, is our Foundations class. If you’ve not been through our Foundation’s class, I would encourage you to go through that. It’s a 13-week series. Our goal is that when you come out of that, you will know what you believe and why you believe it from the Bible. I had the privilege of seeing a young man accept Christ as his Savior yesterday. I said, “Man, you need to get into a good church, or they’re going to ground you in the Bible.” He doesn’t live in this area. Preachers change, churches change, but the Bible never changes. Get grounded in the Bible. That class will do so much good toward that. It will meet right here in the auditorium, right down front here. Brother Juan Farfan will be teaching it; he’ll do a good, good job. Ms. Jr. will cook a full breakfast ever since—well, I don’t know about all that—but they’ll have a good time in that. I want you to come to that if you’ve not been through it. I encourage you to come through it and bring someone with you. It’s a great, great, important class.
That Friday before, the 21st, our ladies have Ladies’ Bunco night. How many have ever played Bunco? Our ladies, they will leave their brass knuckles outside. No switchblades allowed. I’m teasing. It’s a great game, just a fun game, and it’s a good way to get to know each other. Ladies, I encourage you to come to that. There’s a sign-up sheet on the back table about that. Please sign up for that. It is from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday, March 21st. Bring just a little small refreshment offering that you can share with others. Please sign up for that; that’d be great.
Then that’s Saturday. A lot going on that weekend. That’s Saturday. Our teens go to Youth Rally down at Temple Baptist Church. They’ll meet here at our church at 9:15. There it’s laser tag. Lunch is included in that. It’s $10. Then they’ll go back to the church down there. I’m excited about it; I get to preach for the teens that service. I’m looking forward to being with our teens and the other teens. Pray that God will bless that day. That’s the 22nd. So looking forward to all those exciting things, and praise the Lord for us. You should become for awful. We appreciate that. God bless so greatly this weekend.
I mentioned a little bit already, but Friday night, our ladies were in the jails, had jail services. Six different individuals bowed their head and asked Jesus Christ to be their Savior. Praise the Lord for that. Yesterday our folks were out in neighborhoods, and four different people bowed their head and asked Jesus Christ to be their Savior. What a blessing. We went to a little bit nicer neighborhood, and I thought, “Oh no, we’ll see what happens here.” But God just blessed. Praise the Lord for God’s goodness to our church. We’re so very, very thankful for God’s hand being on His church, and what a blessing it is.
It is good to have the Renix back with us, Brother Jim and Ms. Angela. They’ve been out with a bug. Ms. Angela had it turn to pneumonia. It’s good to have her back, both of them back this morning. Praise the Lord for people getting over it. We still have folks out with it, but we’re going to get past this thing. This shall pass, amen. It’s good to have them back and others. It’s just good to see you by this morning. I appreciate you being in God’s house. Brother Jim, would you lead a word of prayer for the offering, please, brother?
I’ll stand one more time. We’ll turn to Exodus, chapter number 33. The second book in the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, chapter number 33. If you don’t have a Bible, one of those chairs in front of you somewhere along there should have a Bible. You’re welcome to use that; that’s why we have them there for you. Exodus 33, just one verse. This verse has really been a great blessing to me as of late. I just love this verse. I hope it’s a blessing for you today also. Exodus 33 and verse number 14. Exodus 33 and verse number 14. When you find that, would you say, “Amen”? Amen. Good deal. If you haven’t found it by now, just act like you have. Nobody will know the difference. We’re good. Amen.
Exodus 33 and one verse, verse number 14. Trying to kind of get a start of this. Would you please stand if you’re able to? We like to do that. They did that in the book of Nehemiah to show the Word of God respect, and so we like to show it respect as much as possible. Exodus 33, verse number 14. God is speaking here, and he said, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Anybody say amen right there? Amen. Look at that again. This is God talking. Imagine God saying this to you individually. Imagine God saying this personally to you. Here it is: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Would you read that out loud with me, please? Here we go: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Wow. I love it. I love it. My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. We’ll focus on that.
Would you pray that God would make that real to you? You might say, “I don’t quite get that.” Would you pray that you would get it? That God would make that promise real to you this morning? Would you do that as I pray the same thing? Let’s pray together. Everybody, let’s pray together. Here we go. Let’s pray. Lord, we come to you, Father, and I do pray, would you make this promise of yours real, Lord, to every individual? Father, you know, sometimes this means just a touch different to every individual. So, Lord, I pray that you would make it come alive. Even our young folk over here, let them grasp this thing: everybody here of your presence being in our individual lives. Lord, we thank you for what you do. We pray for this, Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thank you so much. You may be seated.
Moses had anything but a restful life. “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” His life was not restful at all. Moses was the leader of about two and a half million people—some have even heard some go up to five million, two and a half to five. Some may go as low as 1.8 or 2 million, but somewhere between 2 million and 5 million people. He was leading them.
Let me say something that’s very key about these. By the way, that’s much more than you think of Nashville city limits and the surrounding areas; that’s much, much larger than that. It’s hard to grasp how many people this is. Moses is the leader of them, and these people were complaining people. Anything went wrong, they blamed Moses. “Ah, Moses,” you know, that was just the way they were. They were always complaining and murmuring.
Here may be part of the problem, I don’t know, but they had the same thing to eat for about 38 years, besides two quick times they had some quail. They had the same thing to eat: breakfast, lunch, and supper. Think about this: they had manna pancakes in the morning time. That’s what they had. If they had a new sausage with it, it was manna sausage, you know. For lunchtime, they had manna sandwiches. If they had a hot dog, it was manna hot dog. They had manna supper. You know what they had for dessert? Manna. You know when they had birthdays? We make birthday cakes; they had birthday cakes. I mean, they had manna—all the manna, manna, manna. You know the schools? You know what they served in the school lunchroom? Manna. No wonder they complained all the time. Man, I want some peach or steak or mac and cheese in there somewhere. Come home now, you know. But he was leading these people, millions of people, and they blamed and they complained and they murmured. Moses really did not have a restful life.
Ever feel like that, “Man, I don’t have a restful life”? Brother, go for us, the only honest person in here. I tell you what, now. How many have had somewhat of a bad health report in the last year? Anybody out there? Anybody have a test? You say the test was worse than the sickness. Yeah, come on now. If you live very long, you’ll understand what I’m talking about that. I have to name that thing there, you know? But, I mean, it’s not restful. By the way, once they run those tests, it takes like a week to get back with you. That’s the hardest part. There’s no rest in that time. How many of you have checked your symptoms on the Internet and you’ve had cancer at least 40 times? Come on, yeah, yeah. I’ve had brain cancer, toe cancer. I mean, everything cancer, you know. I had cancer on the fingers that aren’t even there, you know. And that’s not restful, you know.
How many of you have had someone—I was talking to someone just briefly a few minutes ago—and I said I had someone on Facebook, oh, I don’t know, maybe a year or so ago, and they were just wearing me out. Anybody ever had that happen to you? Yeah. You ever have friends that work, friends that work, they’re just behind your back, they’re wearing you out? Anybody know what I’m talking about? That’s not restful. And we’re not even talking about family yet, friend. Wow, you know. And just life is not always restful. How about finances? How many have complained in the last two years about how prices have gone up? You’re not supposed to complain. You need to come to the altar. I’ve been guilty for sure, you know? I mean, like, wow, I just got four bags from Walmart. That cost me over a hundred bucks. And you’re like, “I don’t got nothing in there,” you know. It’s just amazing nowadays, you know. My wife would say, “Honey, can you pick this up from Food Line?” Food Line’s the grocery store you go to, you know. I’ll pick that up, and the lady, the cashier, she said, “Sir, that’s $58.” I’m like, “$58? I bought ice cream and grapes. That’s it,” you know. How can that be? I’m checking that receipt saying, “What in the world?” you know. And it just, it’s not really a restful world.
I like very much what our president is doing, but a lot of people are getting restful—oh, what’s going to happen here? You know, that could just be unrestful. Life can be, it’s not restful. Isn’t it amazing? This is true, this is a sad note, but it’s true: how many in the last year have been shocked at how many deaths they’ve known about, or how many deaths you see everywhere? Anybody like, “Wow, it’s not restful”? And it’s where I had in 2025—it’s not a restful world, and Moses is not in a restful life. It’s just unrestful. Sometimes I just say, “Lord, I need some rest.” And you know what? Sometimes the Lord tells me this is what I do: “Lord, if you’ll change this thing right here, maybe I’ll have some rest.” Anybody out there with me? There’s just this one thing, and I’ll get some rest. And you know what sometimes the Spirit of God says to me? You know, that still, small voice sometimes sounds loud, you know? Sometimes that voice just kind of rings through you. And this is what sometimes I hear that voice say: “Paul, you don’t need me to take care of all your problems because you’re going to have problems in this world. What you really, really, really, really need is my presence in your life.” Frank, can I just be honest with you? That’s what you need: God’s presence in your life.
You know, I hope you’ve experienced it somewhat, sometimes more than others, but I hope you’ve experienced it when you just have no energy and you’re just depleted of everything, and you get alone, and somehow God’s presence comes there, and you leave that place with energy. Anybody know what I’m talking about? Anybody remember that day when you had no peace, or you’re just unrestful and you’re frustrated about life, and you get alone with God, and God’s presence comes—maybe at a church service, maybe in the woods somewhere, wherever it may be, in your prayer closet—and God’s presence comes in there, and you leave that room saying, “You know what? That problem is there for the rest of my life. I don’t care because I’m all right with it because I have the presence of God in my life.” Nothing else can do for you what the presence of God can do for you. That friend, if that became the best friend on the planet, still will not do for you what the presence of God can do for you. That’s what you need. I’m telling you, I do the same thing. I’ve been guilty here lately of when I get home, I want to scroll through my phone to find out what the president did today. Amen? Give me a little laugh if I watch the lefties losing or something like that, you know. But, you know, better than all that personally is if you get alone when you get home and get the presence of God.
Moses is amazing. He’s got an unrestful life, and yet he gets alone with God. And God says, “Moses, my presence shall go with thee.” What’s the last part of that verse? Would you look back at that verse 14? Look back there. It’s 33:14. Look back there. Wake up. Look back there. Look at verse number 14. Look at that right there. Look at that. That last part. And he said, “And my presence shall go with thee.” What does it say? And what? Now this is Moses. He’s leading millions of people, unrestful life. God says, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” You know, after this, Moses had his only brother and his only sister go after him. They began to complain about him and attack him, probably leading a revolt against him. You know what Moses ends up doing? Before this, sometimes there’s like, “God, get them, get them, get them, get them!” Anybody ever pray like that? “Get them, get them, get them?” Come on now. Thank you. We’ve got a couple of people honest right there. Thank you for that. But after this, it seems like Moses just has a little bit of calm about him. Not perfect. But his brother and sister go after him. You know, over there he ends up praying, “God, be merciful to them. Be merciful to them.” That’s what Moses prayed after that.
“And I will give thee rest.” At the very end of Moses’ life, he lived 120 years old. Brother Almas Ramer is about to turn 100; we’re going to celebrate his birthday on the last Sunday of this month. We’re excited about that. We’re about to celebrate that. Moses lived a hundred—look over, if you will, you won’t believe this verse—look over in Deuteronomy 34 and verse number seven. Did God really give him rest or not? “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” He is a 120-year-old man. He had to lead those millions of Jews about 38 years more after this, what we’re reading in Exodus 33:14. It’s coming to the end of his life. All together they were 40 years in the wilderness, but 38 years about after this. And look at this. Look at this, Deuteronomy 34 and verse number seven. Deuteronomy 34, verse number seven. You’re there this morning? Amen. Look what the Bible says about Moses: “And Moses…” I still hear there are pages turning. I’ll wait for just a second. Remember that, “I will give thee rest.” Thirty-eight years later, we’re fast-forwarding. Boom. He’s an old, 120-year-old man, about to die. God laid him up on Mount Nebo and lets him see the promised land. Moses is like, “Man, let’s go, Lord. Lord said, ‘No, I can’t go.’” But Moses wanted to go. I think when I’m 120 years old, I want to go here. Man, I’m dead tired. But watch what it says about it, Deuteronomy 34, look at verse number seven. “And Moses was…” How old was he? And he was still on Social Security? No, I’m joking about that. I don’t know where that came from, friend. Let’s go back. I don’t know where that came from. Brother Adam, I don’t know, man. “And Moses was 120 years old when he died.” Here’s the thing. Watch this. “And his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Can I put this in Tennessee vernacular? He wasn’t tired.
A good gauge of how restful something is is how you feel afterwards. How many of you have gone on vacation and after vacation say, “I need a rest”? Man, don’t go to an amusement park on vacation. You don’t need a rest after it’s all over. That’s not restful to me. But at the end of the day, if he really got rest, his eye wasn’t dim, nor his natural force abated. He still had energy. He was still rested. How? He’s 120 years old. How? He was leading these millions of complaining, groaning, blaming people. How? Because he had God’s presence, and God’s presence brings rest. Right in the middle of a battle, you can have rest if you have the peace of God. Right in the middle of it, when people are coming at you, talking about you, they’re turning their back on you. You don’t have—you got more bills than you’ve got money. You don’t have a dime in your pocket. You can still have rest in the middle of a battle with God’s presence.
I don’t know about you, but I’m guilty. I want to fix this problem. I’m so intense; I’ve got to fix this problem. And I’m not seeking his presence. I understand if you’re a born-again Christian, Hebrews: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He’ll be there, but it may be a little distance, if you will. No fellowship, if you will. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what’s going on, what are they saying, what’s going to happen here, and all the rest of that, and I’m not seeking his presence, and I don’t have rest. Let me ask you, everybody: How much time, how much energy have you spent seeking his presence? When’s the last time you said, “Lord, the problems are all around. Right now, I don’t care about that, God. I’ve got to have your presence”? When’s the last time you’ve done that?
What a promise! He said it to Moses: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Hey, Jesus—the storms were there, and Jesus said, “Peace, be still.” Isaiah, he got in the presence of God, saw him high and lifted up in chapter number six of Isaiah, and that was really his call to ministry, and he spent the rest of his life serving the Lord Jesus Christ. He got in his presence. Friend, really, that’s our need.
Now, here’s the sad part of this passage here. Israel had known the presence of God, and right before this, they had lost the presence of God. Chapter 32—we won’t look at it because, you know, we won’t eat some fried chicken somewhere when we get out here. Amen, now, you know? Yeah, come on, I got somebody’s attention there. That’s what I’m talking about right there, you know. But chapter 32 is where Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai, and God had given him the Ten Commandments. Actually, God—this is amazing—God had written it with his finger. I think God’s handwriting would be a whole lot better than my handwriting, for sure. Of course, that’s not saying that much. My handwriting’s not very good. How many of you have a hard time reading your own handwriting? I’m in good company this morning, am I? But God wrote it, the Ten Commandments, given it to Moses up on the mount. They meet with each other. And God said, “Moses, those complaining, blaming, just murmuring people down there—Moses, they went into sin.” Moses up at the mount, Moses said, “Really?” And God said, “Oh yeah, Moses. They have taken their earrings out, and they built a fire, and they put their earrings in this fire, and they melted the gold down.” Later on, Aaron had said, “Well, it’s just amazing if they put it in the fire, and it came out this golden calf, like it just really happened,” you know. Come on, Aaron, now, you know. And they had made this false God.
The children of Israel were down there. Moses and God were up on the mount, and the children of Israel were down here. Remember, this is when God had led them out of Egypt. They had known the presence of God when God sent the ten plagues. They had known the presence of God when God split the Red Sea. They had known the presence of God when they had the battle of Amalek, and God brought the Lord—they knew, they knew about the presence of God. But Moses is up here with God, and they’re down here, and they made this false God, and they’re playing this rock and roll music and they’re having like a seance. It’s probably very demonic. And down there they’re saying, “These be the gods that brought us out of Egypt.” After God had done so much for them, would that make you mad? Yeah. And God says, “Hey Moses, it’s up to here, man. Moses, I’m going to wipe them all out. We’ll start over from you, Moses. We’ll make a new nation.” And Moses says, “Lord, please don’t do that.” Moses is a great prayer. We won’t do it now, all right, but he has this great prayer time with God, and God says, “All right, Moses, I won’t get them. I’ll spare them.”
Then Moses comes down off the mount, and he sees the children of Israel down there, and they got this false God and this music, they’re out there dancing, got half their clothes off—all that goes together, you understand. Lewd music and wicked dance and then false worship—all that goes hand-in-hand, amen. And they weren’t dancing before God, that’s for sure. And they’re down there doing it. Moses saw this, and I don’t know, maybe Moses heard one of them say, “These be the gods that brought us out of Egypt.” Moses, “I can’t take this anymore.” And he took the Ten Commandments that were written with the hand of God. I really would look forward to heaven; I’d like to see the handwriting of God, you know? And Moses took these Ten Commandments and said, “I can’t take it any longer.” I don’t know if that’s in the Hebrew or not; you have to study that out there. That’s what he does. Then he takes this false God and he throws it back in the fire. Then after that, he grinds this gold up to powder. He put it in water. I mean, Moses must have been an intimidating fellow because he ground it up in the fire, and then he put it in water, and then Moses made them drink it. I mean, you people drink that water, you know. He’s up there praying, “God, would you have mercy?” Now Moses is going to fit now. He lost it down there. And that’s chapter 32, really, you know, wrapped up in Tennessee version. By the way, then Moses had 3,000 of them killed, the leaders of the rebellion.
Then chapter number 33. God starts off that chapter. You’re there already. Chapter 33. Let’s read a little bit of it. Chapter 33, look at the beginning of this chapter here. You there this morning? Exodus 33:1. Look at this. Y’all won’t lose me if we’ll read some Bible. We’re planning on reading them, but y’all stick with me? All right, good deal, good deal. Y’all out there? Good deal. Don’t be thinking about fried chicken. Not time yet. It’s coming now. Just wait for it. It’s coming now, all right? Verse number one: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart and go hence [to the promised land], thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it.” And then, “And I will send an angel.” Notice he’s not saying he’s going with them. God said, “I will send an angel before thee. I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—no, I’m joking about that—the Hivite and the Jebusite.” You didn’t get that. “Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: For I, watch this, for I will not go up in the midst of thee.” Wow. They knew the presence of God, but they lost the presence of God. “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.” God’s saying, “If I stick with you, man, I’m going to wipe them all out.”
And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man put on his ornaments—his nice clothes. They hadn’t known the presence of God, and then they lost it. What a sad thing. Maybe the most miserable person in all the world is sometimes not a lost person. Half the time they don’t know what awaits them; they don’t know hell’s coming. Sometimes the most miserable person is someone that’s been saved, they’ve known the presence of God, and they’ve lost it. They’re frustrated and mad. They’re kind of wandering around; they’re just miserable people. They’ve got conviction. They’re looking for peace and rest in all the wrong places, and they’ve lost the presence of God. That’s where the children of Israel were. They knew the presence of God, oh yeah, but they lost it. God said, “I’m not going to go with you. If I go with you, I’m going to wipe you all out.” What do you do? By the way, all of us, if you’ve been saved very long, you’ve been there before. I know I have been there. Come on now, be honest with you all. We’re there from time to time. But what do you do at that moment?
Look what Moses and the children of Israel did when they lost the presence of God. We read verse number four. Let’s go back and look at it again. Verse four through verse number six is the first thing. When the people heard these evil tidings—God said, “I’m not going to go with you; I’ll send an angel, but I’m not going to go”—they mourned, and no man put on his ornaments, his best clothes, to look good to anybody else, if you will. “For the Lord had said unto Moses, saying of the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I will come up in the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee; therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.’” A little while later on, they learned to develop this sackcloth and ashes. I don’t think it really started quite yet. He said, “Don’t look good to anybody else. You’re so sinful. I don’t want you to put on your big fancy garments,” if you will. Verse number six is a key verse: “And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments.” Some commentaries word it this way: they stripped themselves of their self-righteousness. This is how I categorize verse number four through verse number six. They lost the presence of God, and the first thing they did, they humbled themselves. They quit all the airs they were trying to look good to everybody else and how righteous they are and how right they are, and they just kind of humbled themselves. When you lose the presence of God, you know the first thing you do? Humble yourself.
Isn’t it interesting what God says about this pride and humility and things like that? Psalm 138, verse number six: “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly; the proud he knoweth afar off.” He was still Israel’s God; Israel was still his people, but he knew them afar off. They did not have the presence of God. Stop blaming everybody else. Stop justifying where you are. Stop being a victim. Stop all that, and just humble yourselves and say, “Hey, I’m a messed-up individual.” Amen. That’s what you do when you lose the presence of God. We’re so prone to blame: “Well, if so-and-so hadn’t…” Hey friend, “if I hadn’t,” and “if you hadn’t”—we’re all guilty. Just humble ourselves. Just get real, real humble. It’s amazing. We won’t take time to look it up, but anybody remember one of the most wicked kings of Israel? His wife’s name was Jezebel. What was his name? Ahab. You know the end of Ahab’s life? Wicked. They kind of gauged wicked people by if they were as wicked as Ahab. He was the gold standard for wickedness. Ahab was. You know the end of that wicked man’s life? The Bible says he humbled himself, and God had mercy on Ahab, you know that? It’s amazing what humility will do. The most wicked individual, they humble themselves. If you will, God’s mercy is attracted to humility.
When I lose the presence of God, you know the best thing I can do? Just humble down, Paul. Stop blaming everybody else. Stop trying to justify. Stop trying to solve every problem in your life. You won’t get it all solved. Hey, you need the presence of God, and you start off by just getting humble. It kind of reminds you of, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall what?” Shall what? That’s where it starts off that formula. Now, the second thing they did. Let’s keep—we finished off verse number six. Let’s go to verse number seven, would you please? We’re back over here in Exodus 33. Look at verse number seven. Y’all still out there? Amen? Good deal. Verse number seven: “And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp.” Now the tabernacle, that’s where the presence of God would dwell—over the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, many would call it. Remember the fire by day and the cloud by night? That’s just between the cherubims on the mercy seat. That’s where God dwelt in both of the tabernacle. That’s the city of the tabernacle. “And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp: he called it the tabernacle of the congregation.” And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord… That’s what you need to do right there, friend. “…went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.” We won’t read it all; it’s on down through verse number 11 talking about it. We won’t take time for that because there’s some fried okra somewhere also when we get out of here. I don’t want to miss fried okra. Come on now, you know. Black-eyed peas, too. We’re going to preach. I’ll tell you what, now, you know. But some of you are getting on your level. I can hear that out there, you know. It’s getting later in the day, too, so I’m really getting on your level.
Can I just categorize it this way? They prayed. They sought the Lord. It’s interesting. Notice he says this tabernacle—he pitched it without, afar off. It reminds me of Matthew 6, when the Bible over there in the New Testament talks about your prayer closet. When you get alone with God, you get away from everybody. It’s interesting to me. He says when you shut the door, it’s kind of like you get away from the camp, you get away from the noise. Hey, this is what you do. This is very, very important at our day and time. Brother Bradley, can I just bark for a second? I won’t hurt it, I won’t hurt it, I promise you. Turn that thing off. Turn that thing off. Get away. Get afar off. Get outside the camp. Get alone somewhere, in a peepatch, in a closet, in the woods, in your backyard. Get alone somewhere with God and seek the Lord. That’s what he’s talking about. Thank you, Brother Bradley. That’s the key. Notice the tabernacle, he put it without. It was usually in the middle, in the very center of all the tribes. He said, “No, I’m going to put the tabernacle out there. You lost the presence of God. I’m going to put it way out there. Whoever wants to seek the Lord, you’ve got to get away from everybody and get alone with God.” Come on now.
When’s the last time you said, “God, I just got to have you”? When’s the last time you took your car and you just drove—you weren’t driving anywhere; you just wanted to get away from everybody, everything. You just wanted to get alone with God, and, “Lord, I got to have you”? I love it. We had a lady come maybe a year or so ago—some of you remember better than me. She had a job; she worked a lot, but she came on a Sunday night, and she wasn’t saved. After the service, I had the privilege to talk with her a little bit. I didn’t lead her to the Lord, but I got talking to her about it, and praise the Lord, a lady stepped in, and she got saved. But that young lady came to church, 20-something years old. She said, I asked her, “If it’s how would you go to heaven?” She said, “You know, this week I got my car, and she said, I cleaned out the passenger seat for God, and we went for a drive. And I asked him, ‘Hey, how do I know I’m going to heaven?’” I said, “Well, God’s answering your prayer tonight. Let me get this lady to talk to you.” She got saved. When’s the last time you cleaned out your passenger seat and said, “Hey, God, would you sit there, and I want to go with you?” That’s what it’s talking about. He put the tabernacle way out there afar off from everybody. Whoever wants to seek the Lord, you’ve got to leave everything, get out there to God. You want the presence of God back? That’s what it takes. You got to turn it all off. The world will be all right without you for a bit. It’s been running itself for a while; it’ll be all right. Just get away from it all. That’s what they did. They went outside. It may be take your Bible with you. Someone said somebody that has a Bible falling apart, they’re probably not… One of our people, they got a little—I don’t know how you describe it—a little gazebo type thing, but it’s enclosed. It’s a little bitty room in their backyard. It’s got a fence around it. And then they got this little room out there. About all that’s in there is a little chair and a little table and a heater. And that’s where they go for their prayer time to get away from everybody, everything, because they want the presence of God. It won’t happen by accident. Somebody’s going to have to say on purpose because the devil’s going to fight that, I promise you for it, because he knows what you really need—not all your answers, because you’ll never have all the answers. What you really need is the presence of God, and you get that by humbling yourself and getting alone with God somewhere. You got to do it on purpose. You got to work at it. They just sought the Lord.
Look in verse number 12. Verse number 12. You’re in Exodus 33. Look at verse number 12. Getting alone, Moses went over there to the tabernacle. He has a special meeting with God. Look at verse number 12: “And Moses said unto the Lord…” I mean, Moses here is having a heart-to-heart prayer life with the Lord. He’s just bearing his heart to the Lord. By the way, I hope you do that because God knows what’s in your heart anyway. Look at Moses. He takes the gloves off, man. He’s just… He’s just being honest with God. “Seest thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me.” You’re not going with me anymore, Lord. You’re going to send the angel. I don’t even know who the angel is, Lord." That’s what he’s saying. “Yea, thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.” He said, “Lord, you said that I found grace in your sight. Where is it at?” Now, I’m not saying to be disrespectful of God, but you need to get real honest with God. These flowery, looking good, these little phrases we say to look good in front of everybody else—just hang all that and get real honest with God. What Moses is doing—God’s a big God; he can handle us, amen. That’s what you’re doing. Verse number 13: “Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.” Man, he had a heart-to-heart prayer meeting with God, and then we get to our verse, man, the verse we started off. It’s an awesome verse. Let’s go back. Would you read again with me, verse number 14? We’ve read it several times already. Here it is again, verse number 14: “And he said, My presence shall go with thee…”
Friend, sometimes we just go defeated. We don’t think we can have the presence of God. And that’s the dirty, rotten, stinking, lying devil talking to you. It’s just our lack of faith, and we just think we’re too far gone. There are too many problems. Friend, they had lost the presence of God. God was so fed up with them, but God is a merciful, gracious God. When they went outside the camp and afar off, humbled themselves, and sought the Lord, God said, “All right, Moses, I’ll go with you. Now I’ll give you rest.” Same God you serve today. Same God you serve this afternoon when you’re going to get alone with him, if you do. Same God tomorrow. He said, “Hey, I’ll give you a promise here, Moses: My presence shall go with you.” Hey, he’s still a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Too many times I’m seeking everything else, trying to work it all out. All I really need to do is just humble myself and seek the Lord, get his presence back in there. Satan will get you so wrapped up in all your problems that you haven’t sought God in a long, long time. Friend, you’re never going to work out all your problems. There’s only one that can work out all your problems. But if you have his presence, he doesn’t have to work them all out; you just trust him, amen. Brother Adam said it this morning, great Sunday school lesson: Trust and obey. When you get this presence, it makes it a whole lot easier to trust and obey.
Now let me mention something. There are times—times part of the testing, I believe—maybe some of the hardest part of the test is when you won’t feel the presence of God. Job, how many ever heard of the fellow in the Bible that had a job? You don’t know what? Yeah, a little before Psalms over there, you know? Job was going through it. There’s a point in Job’s life—I’ll read it for you. In Job 23, Job said this: He said, “Behold, I go forward, he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.” Job said, “Man, I don’t feel the presence of God,” if you will. Sometimes that’s the hardest part of the test. That’s when, as the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” Jesus experienced that on the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He’d been through everything you’ve been through and more.
You have an amazing thing about Job, by the way. Same thing with Jesus. Notice he said in the middle of that, he said, “My God, my God.” He hadn’t turned his back on God. He said, “But it’s so hard, this test, you’ve forsaken me,” but still, “My God.” Job, when he said, “I can’t find him; I go to the left and the right and forward and back,” he’s just, “I can’t perceive him.” But yet the next verse, he says, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” You know the wonderful thing about Job? The very last chapter of the book of Job, Job 42. The test was over; God had turned the captivity of Job. You know what Job says? I love this. Job 42, I’ll just read it for you, verse number five. He said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” He said, “I got the presence of God like I’ve never had before.” Man, I heard about God a whole lot, but now I literally see him. He’s like, “I got the presence of God like I’ve never had before.” Sometimes you go through those tests, and that’s a hard part of the test: you don’t feel the presence of God. Friend, that’s when you live by faith. He’s still there, and you live by faith. He’s got a purpose; he’s purging me a little bit, and in the end, I’ll come forth as gold. Yeah. But don’t let that get you thinking that you’ll never have the presence of God.
So God’s working, and at the same time God’s working, Satan’s working, and Satan’s whispering in your ear, “You’ll never have the presence of God. Just give up on it. You’re too far gone.” Liar, liar, liar! What we used to say, “Liar, liar, pants are on fire.” Come on now. Great Elijah even liked that. I was back there now. Oh, friend, you can have the presence of God. Say it with me. Go back to verse number 14. Say it with it. Back over there, Exodus 33:14. Say it with me, would you please? Here we go: “And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will…” Yeah. Say it again, please, and think about God saying it to you. All right? Here we go. You ready? “And he said, My presence shall go with thee.” Wow. Look at the next verse. Moses knew how he’s like, “That’s it right there.” Moses is like, “Lord, that’s it. If I got that, I’m all right. If I don’t have that, I ain’t all right.” Look at the next verse, verse number 15: “And Moses said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” Moses said, “God, I know that’s what I’ve got to have right there. It’s everything, God. If I don’t have your presence, I don’t go to the promised land. If I don’t have your presence, man, I’m not going to make it anyhow.”
God kept his word: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Years ago, we had a man; he had knee replacement in a local hospital. Some asked for prayer, and that’s why it came to my mind. He had knee replacement in a local hospital around here. You know, with the new knee replacements, they put a tourniquet on your leg, and they monitor how tight that tourniquet is, you know. The tourniquet stops all the blood coming down there, and all that. They did not do a good job of monitoring, and they got it too tight for a good while throughout surgery. It was way too tight. He came out of surgery; he had his bionic knee, you know, he had his knee replaced, and it wasn’t going good. It began to get infected, and they just began to cut more and more flesh out of his leg. Finally, it was revealed they had the tourniquet way too tight. He ended up in Vanderbilt. He got to move; he got to Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt said, “Sir, we hate to tell you this, but you’re probably going to lose your leg. And we’ll give you about a 50-50 chance you’re going to live.” Infection had already set in. I believe, if I remember right, it was either borderline or it was gangrene. It was just awful, horrible, cutting out flesh that had died. Vanderbilt, they put him over in a room, not in the main part of the hospital, over in a different section. I’ve not been in that section a whole lot, and I went up there and visited him, and the doctors had said, “You know, we’ll do the best we can; you’ll probably lose that leg, 50/50 chance you’ll live.”
I went down this hallway, and at the end of the hallway, there’s a little bit of a circle of rooms in there, and I went to his room. I could tell he was kind of different. I had talked to him on the phone and whatnot, but man, I came in there that time, and he was like, “Hey, Pastor.” He was good. “Oh, whoa,” he said, “Pastor, let me tell you what happened to me.” He said, “I was in this room here. I can’t remember the time. I don’t know if it was night or what. I can’t remember when. But he said it just almost like God himself walked into my room. When God walked in the room, he said, ‘I’ve never experienced anything like that.’ He says, ‘It’s like literally I felt like God walked in and he came down and he touched me.’ And he said, ‘Pastor, I’m all right. Whatever happens, I’m okay.’” Can I tell you why he was okay? Because in a wonderful, unique way, he got the presence of God. Would you read it one more time with me, verse number 14? “And he said unto me, My presence shall go with thee.”
If you can be seated, we got James, went back to get baptized. By the way, we’re honored to have James’ dad, mom, and sister here today. Yeah, we’re glad to have him. James is, I was telling his dad, James is just a loving boy. He’ll shake your hand and give you a hug. He can’t pass by without shaking your hand and giving you a hug. It’s awesome. I love it. He’s been saved and he wants to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism. We’re proud of James. That’s just great. He brings such a good spirit. I like to have James here, not just for James’ sake, but because he brings such a good spirit with him. I love it. I love it. I’m going to go back, and we’re going to get ready for it. It won’t take long at all, and Brother Adam will lead us in the song, and we’ll baptize real quickly here, and then fried chicken’s coming. Amen. Amen.
James about three years ago, Brother Patrick was talking to him, invited Jesus Christ in his heart. That’s when he became a son of God, saved, born again, born in the family of God. And today, he’s going to act like his Father, Jesus, if you will. He’s going to represent him, I should say, in his death, and his burial, and his resurrection. I always think about Jesus when he’s baptized in the Jordan River, and the Father said, “That’s my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” God looks down at James right now and he says, “Hey, I’m proud of my son James,” and he’s following the Lord in believer’s baptism. James, are you saved, James? Yes, sir. Amen, amen, amen. Let’s come up just a little bit more there.
In obedience to the command of our Lord and Master, and upon your public profession of faith in Him, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Buried in the likeness of his death, raised in the likeness of his resurrection. You did it, man. You did it. I’ll get you glasses. Good, good, good. Amen. Are you proud of James today? Amen. That’s all. That’s all. Would you please stand and be back tonight? Choir, be in your spot, be ready to go. And even if you just kind of listen tonight, you’re too sick, be there. That way you can sing Sunday and be excited about Friend Day next Sunday. Be in your spot. Be ready to go for that. God to work in our hearts and lives. And appreciate you being here.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂Seeking his presence＂- Sunday AM 03⧸09⧸2025 [la6yIPQXRpQ]