The Glory: The Hope of Glory

Faith is more than a feeling or a theory. It's

a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands,

and activates God's promises. In our brand new

book, Faith Act, Jeffrey and I take you on a

powerful journey through some of Scripture's

most transforming moments, where ordinary people

dared to obey and saw heaven move on their behalf.

Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon.

Week number three in our series entitled The

Glory. Everybody say The Glory. The Glory. And

I believe we don't just sit around and go, oh,

what would be a good sermon topic for Elation

Church this month? That's not what happens. That

might happen other places, but we're not talking

about them. We don't download like a 12 -week

guide to church growth. That's not... That's

not the way this works. We go to God and we ask

for direction and where he wants us, right? We

don't lean on our own understanding. We acknowledge

him and everything and we follow him, right?

His direction, his lead, and his now word for

the church because God is speaking. He is speaking

to those who seek him and to listen to him. Maybe

you say you've never heard him before. I'm not

talking about like an audible voice from heaven

that shakes the room, but I am talking about

hearing him in your spirit. Because did you know

that God is spirit and he communicates to his

children through the Holy Spirit alive on the

inside of us so we can know the things of God?

And here this series is important because I believe

it's setting us up to acknowledge and experience

a move of God in this church, in our homes, in

our individual lives, and for us to experience

the glory. in this area. Because, like, we've

seen things, right? We've seen the Spirit move

and how he's going to move in this area. So that

is certain. But what we don't see is point A

to point B, but what we know is this, that we

need the presence. And the power of God. We don't

need all these other things. We need the presence

and power of God in the believers, in the church

of God to be a glorious church as we've seen.

And that's up to us. Did you come prepared? Did

you come this morning expectant to be with God?

We've been looking at Exodus 33. I know that

was really heavy. I'm sorry. We started out.

That was rough. That's usually not the way I

start. I usually fumble around and, you know,

trip over words. But that's just kind of... where

we're at. I believe we're going somewhere. We're

called to experience the glory, and this series,

God laid it on Dad's heart to share because we're

about to experience it. And we need to, like

we've talked about, we need to recognize it so

we don't back down from it. We need to understand

what's happening, and then we need to be hungry

for it to happen. We expect it with faith, right?

We're hungry for God's presence and power in

our lives, and then by faith we expect that it

will be so, because it's promised to us. In Exodus

33, 15 through 16, we find Moses. And God had

been back and forth with his people, but basically

Moses had found himself as like the representative

between God and the people because they were

like, we don't want to hear the voice of God

anymore. You just go talk to God, Moses, and

then tell us what God says because they were

too scared. God forbid that we get like that,

right? And Moses makes this profound statement.

All the verses that I'm reading from today are

out of the New Living Translation, unless otherwise

noted on the screen. But he says this to God.

He's praying to God. He says, For your presence

among us sets your people and me apart from all

other people on earth. God's people are marked

by his presence and his power. In their lives.

Not just a Sunday morning rub a little Jesus

on a sunscreen that you apply and then hope you

live a transformed life. Of course, we're marked

by the love of God. God's people are characterized

by his love, but they're also carriers of the

presence of God everywhere you go. And Moses

is here saying, he's like, Your presence among

us sets your people apart from all other people

on the earth. It's a marker. It's a characteristics

of who we are. And then verse 18, Moses responds

and he shouts to God, then show me your glorious

presence. That was the cry of his heart. It wasn't

for a better circumstance. It wasn't for a better

people that would maybe listen and follow God's

way. No, he says, God, we need you. If you don't

go with me, if you're not here, I don't want

to continue any farther. He says, God, show me

your glorious presence. And what happens? God

shows him again and again and again. God speaks

to him. It's said that Moses would go out, he

would set up a, they called it a tent of meeting

outside of their camp where they stayed. And

everyone would go there and make requests, but

when Moses would go to the tent of meeting, a

cloud would come down from heaven. And it was

said that the people who could hear, it was like

Moses was talking to God face to face. He had

a relationship with God. See, this is what God

wants. He wants to show himself strong in your

life. He wants to talk to you. He wants to be

there, and he wants you to experience his goodness.

But we have to look up and say, God, show me

your glorious presence. We have to seek him in

order to find him. This word glory in the Old

Testament is called bode. It means weight, figuratively

in a good sense, meaning it's... Glory, splendor,

honor. Often when the glory, when you feel it

in the room, it feels like a heaviness. But not

a bad heaviness, but just a heaviness in the

room. And that's even a part of it. But as we've

seen throughout this series, what is the glory?

The glory, if we've seen, I encourage you to

go back. If you've not listened to the past two

sermons, you might be a little lost this morning.

But I hope you've listened to those. prepared

to come and prepared to receive, right? But what

is the glory? The glory is the manifest presence

of God. It's his manifested presence in the earth.

It's the weight of who he is. It's his goodness

revealed, and it's his reality made known. It's

his reality made known. Glory is not just a promise

for our future. A lot of people think, well,

glory is just in heaven, and when I get to heaven

one day, we'll be surrounded by the glory. We'll

feel and experience the glory. Well, guess what?

Moses experienced the glory in that tent of meeting.

The clouds from heaven are coming down and meeting

with him, and he's talking to God face to face.

His glory passed before him, right? His goodness

passed before him. And see, It's not just a promise

for the future, it's a requirement for our present.

It's a requirement for each and every believer

to experience God, to know Him, His eternal life.

But why don't we experience the glory? Often

it's just being ignorant of the Word. And being

ignorant of, we just don't know what is available

to us in Christ as believers. But God's word

has told us, as we've looked at the past two

weeks, that God is coming for a glorious church,

marked by his power and presence, and then that

the latter glory, everybody say, we're in the

latter glory, the latter glory would be greater

than, everybody say, greater than, greater than

the former glory. Think about it. When Jesus

went up, What did he say? He said, I'm sending

you someone, a helper, a comforter, right? His

spirit. And he said, too, that we would be able

to do, because he leaves, that his people would

be able to do greater things than he was able

to accomplish on the earth. Whoa. Have you seen

greater things recently than what Jesus did on

earth? Are as many people around, many of us

are just wanting to experience some of the things

that happened long ago. We sin, we want a move

of God like happened way back in the past. We

want God to do something like he's done. But

God wants to do new things, greater things, and

we see throughout his word. Let's get a hold

of this church. He's coming for a glorious church,

and God's will is clear. He wants glory in his

house. He wants glory in his people, and he wants

glory in his generation. What's another reason

we don't experience the glory? I would say just

distracted. We're just distracted. We're too

busy with the natural to be focused on anything

spiritual. Everything else gets in the way and

it's okay. Like those things are okay. They're

good in and of themselves. But if we don't take

time, if we don't focus on God, if we don't...

Deliberately give him our attention and our focus.

He's not just going to into your car. Now you're

awake. Sometimes we just won't. We want God.

We want to experience God. We want to hear from

him. But then we just give him a little bit on

Sunday morning. We're like, okay, if you speak

to me in this window, that's great. That's fine.

You know, I'm going to give you 10 minutes of

reading today, and then I'm going to do maybe

a little bit of prayer this afternoon, maybe

before bed if I feel like it. But I'll probably

get too tired, and that show will be on that

I want to finish, and I'll, you know. That's

just the truth, right? That's just throwing it

out there. Because we're too busy with the natural.

You're never too busy for what you want to do.

You always do what you want to do, right? To

be focused on the spiritual things. And then

this kind of goes along with this one. But another

reason we don't experience the glory is just

because we have misplaced focus. Our priorities,

our attention, like what matters most to us is

not, God, show me your presence. It's God, show

me this thing to help me with this specific,

right? It's not seeking God, it's seeking the

things of God. But we need to seek him and him

alone. We need to just look to heaven and just

say, God, show me your presence. Show me your

glory. And show him. that he is the one who matters

most to us. I was reminded this week of John

1 .14 says this, and the word became flesh. Everybody

say word. Word became flesh. Everybody say flesh.

Everybody say dwelt. Dwelt among us and listen.

And we behold his glory. The glory as the only

begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

How profound is this scripture? The word became

flesh and dwelt. Then we behold the glory. The

word became substance. encamped with us, and

then we saw his glory, right? Let's look at these

words. That word here is legos. It means spoken

word or systematic built -up word. So it's the

word becoming flesh. This is obviously talking

about Jesus. In John, he was writing about Jesus.

He's saying, Jesus, God, the Spirit, He becomes

flesh. He takes on flesh at the incarnation,

as we've been talking about over Christmas. He

takes on flesh, substance, and then He dwells.

It means to tabernacle or to pitch a tent. So

the glory is the spiritual turning physical.

It's God's presence becoming present, and it's

God's dwelling. extending to us. I want you to

see it this way. It's God's dwelling extending

to humanity. He stepped down out of heaven, took

on flesh, became a man, and came to us. Amen?

Amen? Often when we think of God things, when

we think of spiritual things, we don't think

of the tangibleness of it. But Scripture again

and again uses things like taste and see that

the Lord is good. That we're supposed to experience

Him. We can see His presence. Moses saw the cloud,

right? The disciples in the upper room saw fire.

But there's visible evidence, there's tangible

evidence of God's presence. And then we beheld

his glory, that verse says. It means to look

upon, to view attentively, to contemplate. The

glory is something, it's a reality that you and

I can see. It's unmistakable. You can't say,

oh, I don't know if it's here or not. Maybe it

was. No, if the glory is here, it's a reality

that you can see. It's not just an inward sense,

but it's an outward visible expression of God's

power and reality to look upon, to view intently,

attentively, and to contemplate. Get this, Colossians

1, 26 through 27 says this, the mystery which

has been hidden from ages and from generations,

but has now, everybody say now. But now has been

revealed to his saints. I'm a saint. Everybody

say, I'm a saint. I'm a saint. To them, God willed

to make known. I love that. It's God's will that

we know something. What is it? To know what are

the riches of the glory of this mystery among

the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. The hope

of glory. When you start reading your Bible and

start seeing glory, it's just all over. And it's

easy to miss it. But to them, God willed to make

known what are the riches of the glory of this

mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in

you, the hope of glory. What does Christ in you

mean? What does this look like? Christ in you

means he's not just visiting you, but he's indwelling

you. He's not just an external deity somewhere.

He's an internal God. He's an internal friend.

He is with you and in you if you believe in Christ.

So in Christ. The glory, listen, the glory changed

addresses. In Christ, I'm going to say, in Christ,

the glory changed addresses. As we look in the

Old Testament or the Old Covenant, God's glory

was what? It was on earth. It was manifest in

the Ark of the Covenant. It was carried by priests.

It was kept in the holiest of holy places. And

it was only accessed, allowed to be accessed,

one. by one person, one time each year. Imagine

that. But it changed addresses. The glory changed

addresses. Where did it go? In the New Covenant,

as we see in the New Testament, one of Paul's

great revelations is that God's glory manifests

in and through his people. And God's presence

can be carried everywhere. If you're a child

of God and you walked in this room, more of God's

presence walked in this room. Because you are

a carrier of Him. Not something like Him. Not

something lesser. But you are a carrier of Him.

Him Spirit. Him physical, with you, in you, through

you. He is here. Everybody say, God is here.

And his power can be accessed by every child

of God. The same spirit that raised Jesus from

the dead is alive on the inside of you. Do you

think that's just to make you feel a little better

today? Or should it accomplish something in the

earth? You know, when Jesus came, he had a mission

and he had a purpose. Do you think him in you

is still meant to carry out that same mission

and that same purpose? Don't you realize that

he indwells you to use you? In the kingdom, in

the eternal, while you're busy setting up your

temporal, God is calling us, each one of his

believers, to set up some eternal treasures in

heaven. There's things that need to be accomplished

in the earth. That's why we're here. It's because

God had something that he wanted to accomplish

here. He called us to hear with a mission and

a purpose to take care of kingdom business. What

is he calling you to? Are you a part of this

vision? What is his plans for you? Man, it's

heavy. What has God called you to? What is your

purpose here? Your purpose is to fellowship with

a holy God. Have faith in him to do, to hear,

and to act according to what he says. And follow

his will and his way. And when we do that, We

see his power. I like the way Paul writes in

1 Corinthians, and then later he put, Don't you

realize that all of you together are the temple

of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

Don't you realize that together you are the temple

of God? And then later it says, Don't you realize

that your body, Don't you realize that your body

is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Christ in you

is the, back to Colossians, Christ in you is

the hope. It's from the Greek word elpo, meaning

to anticipate or welcome. It's expectation. We

talk about this a lot here at Adulation. It's

expectation of what is sure, what is certain

that will be. It's not a hope -so hope. It's

like the world describes it, like I hope it doesn't

rain this afternoon. Hope it doesn't drop too

cold, my plants die later this week. It's not

that kind of hope. Christ in you is the hope.

It is the confident expectation of what you know

will happen. It's not a matter of if, it's a

matter of knowing. It's a matter of what you

know, right? You're certain of it. It can't be

taken away from you because you are so certain.

You're just like guaranteed that it's going to

happen. A lot of us act like we don't know the

will of God. But how many times has it been preached

from this pulpit? We should know His will. We

should know His way. We should know how to hear

from Him. We should be experiencing Him, right?

We should know, because he's told us, faith comes

by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and

then hope is that foundation of faith in which

you stand upon. Unshakable, unmovable foundation

that you say, I know something. The world around

me is spinning, but I know something. I know

somebody. Christ in you, therefore, is the guarantee,

you could say it like this, the seed or the source

and the joyful, confident expectation of what?

Of what? What does the verse say? Of God's glory

in your life. This glory. New Testament Greek

glory is doxa, splendor, majesty, honor. It's

God's infinite, intrinsic work, and it is his

substance. Everybody say substance. Everybody

say essence. It's his essence of who he is. It's

his reality. Again, it's his reality made known.

Because Christ is in us, listen, this is what

this verse is saying, because Christ is in us,

therefore we can know, we can eagerly anticipate

and welcome the very atmosphere and substance

of heaven. What is heaven? It's the substance

of God's goodness. It's the reality of who he

is, shining, glowing. And it's a place God calls

us to. And it's a place where God is. Just like

the tent of meeting that Moses went to. You are

now the temple where Christ himself dwells. James

4 .8 says this, Come close to God, and God will

come close to you. You might ask, like, what's

the difference? We know that God is everywhere

all the time. He is spirit. He's everywhere in

the earth. We call that his omnipresence. But

what we're talking about specifically is his

manifested presence. His manifested presence

in his people, right? So what does this mean?

How do we get a good picture of this? As we talked

about last week, we talked about the reserved

seat. It's a reserved place of honor for God

and just a visual representation of how we should

acknowledge God's presence and his power with

us in this room every time we meet together,

right? But think of it like this. Come close

to God and God will come close to you. It's not

like we're trying to pull glory out of heaven.

Don't think that. Don't think that it's like

a works thing where if I do this and I do this

and I do this, A plus B equals all of a sudden

God flies out of heaven and sits right here,

right? It's not what we're talking about. What

does the verse say? Come close to God and God

will come close to you. That's a good verse,

right? But when you think about it, what is it?

If God's here and I'm over here, am I close?

No. If I move, am I closer? Am I nearer now?

What does this mean? What does this verse mean?

A lot of people, we act like we're pulling God

out of heaven. That's not what's happening. When

you draw close to God, when you seek Him, you

find Him. When you turn your heart away from

the temporal things of this world, and when your

focus and your main attention in life is directed

towards Him, you gaze steadily at who He is and

His goodness through His Word. Through his presence

on the inside of you, you talk to him, you fellowship

with him, you give him an inkling of your day

and your time. Each time you do that, you're

just inching closer to God. And you find yourself

nearer to him. God's power and presence is tangible,

and God's glory, the glory's impact is physical

and transformative. And I want us to look at

a New Testament believer. His name was Stephen.

If you're familiar with his story, after the

day of Pentecost, but we see Stephen, he's just

a wonderful New Testament example of Christ in

the believer and the physical and transformative

power of the glory. And I want us to see this.

And it's found in Acts 6, kind of goes through

to 7, but I'm not going to read each and every

verse, but I kept adding. and I probably should

have just listed all the verses, and we should

have just read the whole passage, but here we

go. Acts 6, 2 says this. I thought this was interesting,

so I've just left it in here, but it says, So

the twelve called a meeting of all the believers,

and they said, We apostles should spend our time

teaching the word of God, not running a food

program. Little side note, God's people, when

they gathered together, they were eating, they

were also selling their possessions, they were

regularly meeting together, and they were giving

of their goods to one another. If someone was

less fortunate, they would just gladly give.

They were generous towards one another. The New

Testament example is not feeding all the hungry

in the world. It's not taking care of every single

person all around the world. The New Testament

church, listen, New Testament church was very

focused on feeding and gathering and taking care

of those who called themselves Christians and

who joined the fellowship with other believers.

Okay? And the apostles, they got together, people

were meeting. Now the, you know, the Greek speaking.

Jews and like the Jewish people, they kind of

gotten a little tiffs at times. You know, anybody

gets together, there's some tiffin going on,

right? Because we're human and we're flawed.

And there was some, you know, there was some

issues that the distribution, like some people

felt that like some of the widows didn't get

their rightful portion and people were being

stingy and people were, you know. I don't know,

eating too much banana pudding at the end, you

know, and not leaving some for the rest of it.

You know what I'm saying? Be careful. But the

12, I just thought that was interesting. The

12, though, decide, they're like, you know, we

need to spend our time in prayer and about the

word and not run a food program. And in verse

3, and so brothers, select seven men who are

what? Well -respected and are full of the spirit

and wisdom of God. Full of the Spirit and wisdom

of God. Jumping over to verse 5. Everyone liked

the idea. How about that? Believers agreeing

on something. That's new. Everyone liked this

idea, and they chose the following. Stephen,

and listen to how Stephen's described. Stephen,

a man full of faith. Everybody say full of faith.

And the Holy Spirit. So say full of the Holy

Spirit. That's a good definition, right? I would

hope someone would say that about me, or I hope

someone would say that about you this morning.

Full of faith, not weak faith, full of faith,

and then full of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit's

cool because we need to continually feel on the

Spirit, right? Continually feel up on Him and

the goodness of who He is. It's never -ending,

right? But Stephen is characterized as a man

full of faith and the Holy Spirit. And I want

you to see this, these two things. Faith and

the Holy Ghost are the atmosphere to experience

the glory of God. These things are required in

the hearts of believers to be full of faith and

to be full of the Holy Spirit. This is where

transformation truly begins. Full of faith, full

of the Holy Spirit. Verse 6, these seven were

presented to the apostles. I didn't list out

all the other seven because they're not important

for today. The seven were presented to the apostles

who prayed for them. Get this, who prayed for

them as they what? Laid their hands on them.

And something happened. It wasn't just the apostles

touching them. It was God himself appointing

people for a call for a service in his kingdom.

Now we look at it and might be like, well, that

was just distributing food to like those let

know. It's important. The kingdom of God business,

no matter if it's like the lowliest thing or

the greatest thing, it's all important and it

all must be done. But the apostles lay their

hands on them and something happens. Stephen

is then called something else and defined a different

way. I believe he's still a man full of faith

and full of the Holy Ghost, but now Stephen is

described as a man full of God's grace and full

of God's power. And what happened? He performed

amazing miracles and signs among the people.

Now, wait a minute. He was running the food bank.

What is he out here doing? Doing miracles and

signs and everything? If you're full of the Holy

Spirit, you see your service and you see your

life in a different way. You live with a kingdom

perspective. And when you stop and really acknowledge

him, acknowledge his presence, he begins to tell

you what to say and what to do in certain situations.

He leads you. He guides you. And I believe Stephen,

so he's like handing out food and someone begins

to talk to him. And all of a sudden the Spirit

leads him and says, hey, pray for that person.

Why? Is it that Stephen carried some special

power to heal? No. God wanted to do something

in the earth. And God told Stephen, act in obedience

and you'll see a miracle. Stephen, do this. And

he did. Why? Because he was full of faith and

full of the Holy Spirit. When he heard from God,

he said, yes. I hear you, I believe you, and

I'm going to do it now because I'm certain that

on the other side of this act of faith, I will

see your promises, and I will see you move in

the earth. And that's where God is waiting for

us in this room to be, is full of faith and full

of the Holy Spirit. Then we will see. The fullness

of his grace and experience his power in this

room. That's when we will experience the glory

in this room is when we have obedient hearts.

Acknowledging him and he and see Stephen, he's

full of God's grace and power. He performs amazing

miracles and signs among the people. We see this

spiritual transformation from full of faith to

full of God's grace, carrying out miracles. And

now. Something else, later on it talks about

that he gets into a debate with some of these

religious leaders. But every time they do, it

said that he spoke with a wisdom and a knowledge

that no one else had ever seen. And so they would

try to trap him and try to get him to talk about

something, which he wasn't. They knew good and

well he wasn't like a skilled person, like he

didn't study, he didn't do a bunch. But they're

just like... They tried to trap him. And the

spirit of God would come on him. And all of a

sudden, he would begin to say things and talk

from a place of knowledge and understanding that

outsmarted them all. And this made him really

upset. Stephen, he gets arrested. He gets tried

before the high council. They take him. And then,

to top it all off, the same people who he debated

start... I guess probably paying people to lie

about Stephen, about what he said and what he

did. You can read it further in Acts 6. But I'm

just trying to move us ahead a little bit. But

I want you to get this picture that he's standing

in front of this high council, being judged on

the stand. And he's just being lied about. He's

being falsely accused. And suddenly... What does

it say in verse 15? Suddenly, while everybody's

just running their mouth, suddenly they look

over at Stephen. And what? Everyone in the high

council stared at Stephen. Why? Because his face

became as bright as an angel's. Something spiritual.

becomes physical and it brings transformation,

physical transformation to Stephen's body. You

see it where all of a sudden the glory of God

is coming out of his pores of his face. He's

glowing, radiating. His face is glowing with

the presence of God. Why? Why did this happen?

Doesn't this remind us of Moses? Isn't this the

same verbiage that we hear about Moses? He meets

with God and his face is glowing. They had to

put a veil over his face because they were tired

of looking at it. It was too bright for them

to look at. Here it has happened again. But this

time in a Christ -filled believer. And even though

Stephen's body was in the presence of his accusers,

His spirit was in a different place. His spirit

was in the glory of God. Stephen's spirit's nearness

to God's goodness transformed his outward complexion

and then inspires the words, that are about to,

you know, pour out of his mouth. Because he gives

this long discourse of things and it's just amazing.

You can read about it later this afternoon. But

I want you to see this, what's taking place is

that Stephen had every opportunity to try to

defend himself, to try to say, no, they're making

up lies. He could have been focused on them.

He could have been trying to do, but no, he stops

and he focuses his attention on God. Not what

people are saying, not what they're accusing

him of, not what the high council or even the

outcome. He was not fearful of the outcome of

what would happen because he knows something

because his body might have been there, but his

spirit is with God. And that's the foundation.

That's the hope. So he was not worried. He was

not afraid. He was not offended by their words.

And then after he shares his discourse, listen

to what it says in 7 verse 55. But Stephen, full

of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven

and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing

in the place of honor at God's right hand. You

see, being full of the Spirit, it affects your

vision and it dictates where you look. In your

times of greatest trouble, if you're looking

at everything else that's coming against you

and not the one for you, you won't experience

his power in your life. What your attention is

on is magnified to you. It appears bigger and

larger to you. That's why if I'm focused on myself

and what's going on in me and my body and whatever's

happening, if that is what my attention is on,

those things are going to be amplified in my

head and in my mind and in my life. I become...

bigger to myself. But when your attention is

on God, you become really small. And his love

for you becomes infinite. His goodness becomes

overwhelming. And the present trouble becomes

empty and has no voice. In the middle of this

terrible circumstance, Stephen doesn't complain,

he doesn't get offended, consider their hurtful,

untrue words, because he was setting his gaze

steadily up to heaven. And if we, if you and

I, set our eyes to heaven and seek God's glory,

we will continually be transformed. Because genuine

transformation does not begin from the outside

in. It begins from the inside out. The spiritual

things have more impact over your life than the

outward things. The spiritual things have more

impact, ability to impact, than the outward circumstances.

I love this. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says this,

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in

a human body. So you also are complete. We need

to confess that today. Say, I am complete. Christ

is in me. I am complete. The fullness of God

is in my body. So you are complete through your

union with Christ, who is the head over every

ruler, our authority. So don't bow down and don't

be afraid of the rulers and authorities of this

world. Because who's the head over them all?

And where is he? On the inside of you, right?

My body's here. But Christ is in me? And what's

also the paradox here? Where is Christ? Where

did Stephen see him? He saw him standing at the

right hand of the Father in heaven. Don't miss

this. Where is Christ? He's in heaven. Where

is Christ? In me. And in the Spirit. To be absent

from the body is to be what? Present with the

Lord. You are so much more than your body. This

body will fade away. This body will pass. But

that's just not for the sweet by and by. One

day. That's for now. Experiencing his presence

and the fullness of who he is is why Christ indwells

us and not just visits us. And we enter heaven.

How? By the Spirit? Yes. We enter heaven with

thanksgiving in our hearts. We enter his courts

with praise on our lips. Because when the physical

things get connected to the spiritual things,

that's when things start happening. When we thank

God, when we praise him, and then in faith we

expect to see him move, expect to see the goodness

of who he is, that's when your circumstance starts

to change around. God's not going to change your

circumstance. He wants you to look to him. Get

your eyes off of it. Look to him. And then through

you, he will change your circumstance in the

earth. By your words, by your actions, by following

his will and his way. 2 Corinthians 3 .18 says,

All of us who have had the veil removed, when

Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn to

the Holy of Holies. We've had that veil removed,

so now what? We can see, everybody say see, and

reflect the glory of God, the glory of the Lord.

And the Lord who is the Spirit makes us more

and more like Him as we are changed into His

glorious image. I like what the New King James

Version says, but we all with unveiled face,

beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.

Or what? Being transformed. Say, I am being transformed.

Being transformed into the same image from glory

to glory. It's like... It's like if you sleep

on a couch with a weird pattern. If you sleep

on a couch with a weird pattern and you wake

up and your face is imprinted with that pattern.

How many of you have done that? Or how many of

you have silly putty and you've like rubbed a

newspaper and you just push it down and all of

a sudden you pull it off and it's imprinted on

it? The more and more we're absent from this

body and present with the Lord, thanking him,

praising him, expecting him in our lives, the

more and more we do that, the more and more we

will see. The more we draw closer to him, the

more we will experience him. Because his fullness

is in us to impact us, to change us. So go ahead

and get happy about it. Should put a smile on

your face. Because in the presence of the Lord,

there is transformation. Many of you this morning

might be searching for something that you realize

that only God can do. And he's just wanting you

to turn to him. Seek him. Acknowledge him. Not

just with a prayer to change your circumstance,

but a prayer to see his glory. The glory can

be seen, it can be experienced, and it can be

carried, just like Stephen carried it. He was

full of faith, full of the Holy Ghost, full of

God's grace, and full of God's power. That should

be the definition of each and every believer

in the earth. That's what God wants. That's his

will for us. And God is waiting on us to turn

our hearts and our attention and our focus, praise

towards him, and give him a place of honor. Because

this creates the atmosphere for him to move in

our lives. God is a gentleman. He doesn't just

zap you. You don't wield him like a sword. He's

a gentleman. He has to be invited. He has to

be honored and respected. In a society that don't

respect or honor much, we have to respect him

and honor him. And that involves listening. That

involves obeying. Being quick to obey. and expectant

to see him move. And this ground creates the

atmosphere for the fruit of the glory to grow.

Christ in you is the source of glory. Your cooperation,

your honor, and your praise then becomes the

entrance. This online worship experience was

brought to you by the Friends and Partners of

Eulation Church.