The Glory: Hungry for the 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.

Today we're starting a series on the glory. Everybody

say the glory. Now we sing that word, and we

hear that word, but do we actually understand

what the glory is? Have we ever experienced the

glory? The glory is something that each one of

us have the opportunity to experience. Okay?

So. We're going to start in Exodus chapter 33.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

I don't have enough time to read the whole chapter

because we're going to multiple places. I am

going to focus in on several verses, but let

me set up where we are. God's people had spent

a long time at Mount Sinai, coming out of captivity

in Egypt. They went to Mount Sinai. You've heard

of the Ten Commandments, right? You've heard

of Moses destroying the first set and then having

to make another set. Him spending 40 days on

the mountain at least a couple of times. God's

people saw. I mean, it was a long time before

I understood this or recognized this, but God

spoke to everybody at first. He spoke to all

of them. But then all of a sudden God's people

said, that's too frightening for us. And they

said, from now on, God, we don't want you to

talk to us anymore. We just want you to talk

to Moses. And then let Moses know what to talk

to us about. Because it was an amazing demonstration

of the glory of God. But it was too much for

them to take hold of. Look at the person beside

you and say, it's not too much for me to take

hold of. It's not too much for me to take hold

of. Well, they had been there for a while. It

was time for them to leave Mount Sinai. If you

look at the first part of Exodus 33, it started

with an E anyway, right? Look at the first part.

God is telling them that it's time to leave.

It's time to leave, and it's time to go to the

land of promise, flowing with milk and honey.

They had already built the tabernacle, the tent

that they built. to travel through the wilderness

that they actually kept until the time of David,

was their meeting place for God. The tabernacle

was built. The Ark of the Covenant was in the

Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. Now, Moses,

they would set the tabernacle, the tent of meeting,

outside the camp. Not right in the middle of

the camp, but outside the camp. And Moses would

go there. You can find this in chapter 33. Moses

would go there, and when they knew that Moses

was going, everybody would come outside of their

tents, and they would see Moses going into the

tent of meeting, into the tabernacle. And when

Moses would go in, a pillar of cloud would hover

over the entrance. That's awesome, right? And

one thing that I thought about while I was preparing

this week's message, I've never looked at the

Ark of the Covenant this way. I should have,

but how many of you know you can spend a long

time in the Bible and not really catch things?

But God had told his people, he had told Moses,

I'm going to meet with you between the cherubims,

above the cherubims of the Ark of the Covenant.

That's where I'm going to meet with you. Now,

we can look at that, the Ark of the Covenant,

as the earthly throne of God. God is in the throne

room of eternity, right? But this became his

earthly throne. We used to sing a song. I'll

be more undignified than this, right? We used

to jump around, act crazy. When I was younger,

my knees were better. My back was better. But

it's a Crowder song. I don't know if you've ever

heard of it or not. I'll be more undignified

than this. And I would talk about that the presence

of God was with the Ark of the Covenant. And

during the time of David, the Ark came back to

God's people. So the presence of God returned

back to God's people. Why David was so excited

and his wife got on him and said, you acted like

a fool today. He said, this is my version. Bless

your heart, I wasn't doing it for you anyway.

Right? When it comes to me celebrating and worshiping

with God, worshiping God, I'll be even more undignified

than this. You haven't seen it all yet. So, but

the ark was there. The earthly throne of God,

the pillar of cloud, when Moses would meet with

God. And God's saying, all right, it's time to

leave. It's time to leave and go to the promised

land. And Moses made a statement in verses 15

and 16. Then Moses said, because God had actually

said, if you read it, God had actually said,

these people, you know, by the way they've been

acting. I'm going to send an angel to help you

out. I'm going to still help you. If I'm with

you all the time, these people aren't going to

want me to be with them all the time, the way

they're acting. You can read it for yourself.

Then Moses said to God, listen to his heart,

if you don't personally go with us, Don't make

us leave this place. Just letting us sit there

a minute. He so desired the presence of God that

he didn't want to go anywhere or do anything.

If he was doing it, away from the presence of

God. If you don't personally go with us, don't

make us leave this place. He said, how will anyone

know that you look favorably upon me or on me,

on me and your people, if you don't go with us?

And then I found something else that I've just

never seen before. How many of you have read

the Bible and you've read something so many times

and then all of a sudden it's like, how could

I have missed this? That's coming up. Moses says

to God, for your presence among us sets your

people and me apart from all other people on

the earth. Now last week, we talked about something

that set us apart. How we will be recognized

as God's people. Does anybody remember what that

is? They will know that we are Christ followers

by our... Say it loud. They will know that we

are Christians by our love. Everybody say love.

And I've always focused on that. and talked about

that, and preached about that. But here we find

something else that's very important. God's presence

among God's people sets his people apart from

all the other people on the earth. God's presence.

A few verses later, Moses responded, show me

your glory. Show me your glorious presence. I

mean, had Moses not seen the glory of God? Spending

40 days with God on the mountain and the glory

of God just covering Mount Sinai. him speaking

out of the clouds, Moses responded, God, show

me your glory. Show me your glorious presence.

And right after that, we find the story of God

saying, okay, here's what's going to happen.

My goodness, everybody say goodness, because

God's a good God. All right, we've got to get

that down pat. We've got to know that God's a

good God. We can't let situations that we go

through interpret who we think God is. Because

God's a good God. Thank you for helping me. He

said, my goodness is going to pass before you.

God's so good, you can see his goodness. Just

think about that. He says, but you can't see

my face. You can't see my face. I mean, this

is Old Testament. Everybody say Old Testament.

You can't see my face. So here's what I'm going

to do. My goodness is going to pass before you.

I'm going to cover you up with my hand, and then

I'm going to let you see my glory as I pass by.

And that's what happened. glory. That Hebrew

word is called, called bode. And here's what

it means. It means weight. Everybody say weight.

And this version of the word is always used figuratively

and it's always used in a good sense. The root

of the word is not necessarily always good. All

right. It's weight, but it can be a bad weight,

a crushing weight. This particular version of

the word is figuratively, it's in a good sense,

and it's translated glory. Everybody say glory.

Splendor. Everybody say splendor. Honor. Everybody

say honor. That's the way it's translated in

our English language, but it's called boat. It's

a weight. I've just got to share with you, every

time I've experienced the manifested presence

of God, the glory of God, it's felt like a weight.

Not a bad weight. Not a bad heaviness. Because

we all know what a bad heaviness is like, right?

We've had heaviness before that was not good

heaviness. But every time I've experienced His

glory, It's always felt like a weight. A weight.

And I believe his glory can be experienced. The

main reason is because I've experienced it. I

mean, the Bible tells it, and I agree with that.

I believe everybody in this room can experience

the glory of God. I really do. But it's going

to take something on your part. We could describe

this as one of the most daring prayers in all

of Scripture. Most people, when they pray to

God, they're asking Him for something. We went

through a series on powerful prayer. We're asking

God for something. We're asking God for success

in whatever we're going through. We're asking

God for stability. We're asking God for comfort.

We're asking God for blessing. But Moses wasn't

asking God for any of that. He was asking for

God Himself. He was wanting to continue to experience

the manifested presence of God. He didn't want

to leave Mount Sinai and say, well, remember

that? Remember? Remember when God appeared to

us? Remember when God talked to us? Remember?

I mean, you know, back in the day, I spent 40

days with God on the mountain. It wasn't good

enough. He's like, I got to have it. I got to

have the presence of God. I've got to have the

glory of God. So he was praying for God, not

for blessing, not for comfort, not for success.

He's praying for God. Moses wasn't hungry for

better circumstances. He was hungry for God's

presence. And I'm going to be straight up with

you. The only way you're going to experience

it is if you're hungry for it. We're hungry for

a lot of things. Right? We have passion for a

lot of things in this world. But we've got to

be passionate for God if we're going to experience

His presence. The glory of God. Is the manifested

presence of God. You might say God's everywhere

all the time. What are you talking about? God

is omnipresent. Right? He's everywhere all the

time. So what are you talking about? I can't

go anywhere and not be in the presence of God.

Right? You can't. You cannot hide from God. But

there are some times when he's more here. Everybody

say more here. There are times when he's more

here than his omnipresence. Just like we already

talked about when I said when we gather together

in his name, what does the Bible say? He is here.

He's here. Well, if he was already here, then

why does it say that? Well, it says it because

there's sometimes when he's more here. That's

the glory or the manifested presence of God.

God didn't rebuke Moses. God answered Moses and

revealed himself to Moses. Now in Chile, I've

never been to Chile. Has anyone ever been to

Chile? In the middle of the driest desert in

Chile, there are patches of ground that look

permanently dead. No moisture, nothing green,

no life. And it's so dead that scientists call

it the place where nothing grows. The place where

nothing grows. But every 10 years, about every

10 years, a big rain sweeps across. More rain

than they've had in the whole 10 years combined.

I mean, just a big rain comes through. And guess

what happens? The desert, the place where nothing

grows, explodes with color. Purple, yellow, white,

and red wildflowers stretched across miles of

land that was once barren. No one went out there

with seeds to plant seeds. No one tended or cultivated

the soil. Nobody fertilized the ground. Those

seeds were already there and they were just waiting.

Just waiting on the rain. Sat there for 10 years,

dormant, just waiting on the rain. Many believers

live like deserts. Has anybody ever had a dry

time? Know what I'm talking about? Some people

don't even know that there's anything but a dry

time. I've never experienced anything above that.

But many believers live like deserts, dry, distracted,

spiritually barren. Here's the deal. Hunger for

the presence of God, hunger for the glory of

God is the rain that will make the dead places

in your life and in your heart come alive. Only

those who are hungry for God will experience

the glory of God. You're not going to experience

the glory of God by accident. It's not just going

to happen. You're not going to experience it.

Listen, you're probably not even going to experience

it if the person sitting beside you experiences

it. Someone else's hunger can't bring an experience

of the glory of God to you. It can't come from

somebody else. It's got to come from you. Here's

what David said one time when he was in a desert

place. Oh God, you are my God. I earnestly search

for you. My soul thirsts for you. My whole body

longs for you in this parched and weary land

where there's no water. Here's why he was, what

was he doing? He's earnestly searching. His soul

is thirsting. His whole body is longing. You

know why? Here's why. He says, God, I have seen

you in your sanctuary. I have gazed upon your

power and glory. I've seen it. It's kind of like

Moses. Moses has seen it, and he don't want to

live without it. Because once you see it, you

want it even more. And David had seen it. David

was hungry because he had seen something. And

even if you've never seen it, I hope you get

hungry today just by knowing that you can see

it. One glimpse of God ruins you for the normal.

You just don't want to have just normal, dead,

dry anymore. When you get a glimpse of God. Once

you've sensed his presence. Once you've touched

his glory. Once you've tasted his goodness. Everything

else becomes insufficient. Just got to have more.

Hunger prepares a place for glory. It prepares

a place for glory. How else can we. a place for

glory in our hearts, in our homes, in our lives,

in Alation Church? How can we prepare a place

to experience the glory of God? Well, one way

is through worshiping God. And remember, worship,

genuine worship, real worship, has to begin in

our hearts. And we sing these songs not as entertainment,

not as a little kumbaya, let's sing together

and smile. We sing these songs so that we have

an opportunity to come together and express our

hearts together to God. That's why we sing them.

To prepare for the glory through. our worship.

2 Chronicles 5 .13 says this, the trumpeters,

this is one of the great displays of the glory

of God in the Old Testament. The trumpeters and

singers performed together in unison to praise

and give thanks to the Lord, accompanied by trumpets,

cymbals, and other instruments. They raised their

voices and praised. They praise the Lord with

these words. He is good. His faithful love endures

forever. Let's say that together. He is good.

His faithful love endures forever. Let's change

the he to God. God is good. God's faithful love

endures forever. Come on, say it again. Say it

from your heart. Don't just say it like you're

reading something in the second grade all together

as a class. Let's say it together. God is good.

God's faithful love endures forever. He's good

and His mercy endures forever. That's what they

were doing. That's what they were saying. And

listen to what happened at that moment. A thick

cloud filled the temple of the Lord. The priests

could not continue their service because of the

cloud. For the glorious presence of the Lord,

Yahweh, every time it's capitalized L -O -R -D,

it's Yahweh. For the glorious presence of Yahweh

filled the temple of God. I know y 'all would

love it if the glory showed up in such a way

that I couldn't even preach. I would love it

more than you would. That's what happened when

they came together and they were worshiping God

from their hearts. Not just going through the

motions, but worshiping God together. That word

cloud. It's all known, and it's translated cloud.

This was something that they could see. It's

not just something that they could feel. This

is something that they could see with their eyes.

Cloud, clouds, a heavy mist. Did I not think

about that while I was coming to church this

morning at 7 o 'clock, going through that fog,

and I'm like, I'm about to preach about this.

This is just like... It'd be awesome if this

was inside the church today. Not just up and

down 27 getting here, but if it was inside this

heavy mist. Listen, their worship did not create

the glory. Just because you get goosebumps doesn't

mean that the glory is there. Because you can

go to some show of some famous singer that really

has a powerful voice and a moving song and you

get goosebumps even if they're singing about

ducks or something. So the worship. Has anybody

ever had legit glory bumps? Oh, when you sense

the presence of God and you got like goosebumps

on your arm? Not saying that that's... Could

not be an indicator. But it's not always an indicator.

The worship didn't create the glory. The worship

just prepared the room for the glory. So we can

prepare the room through worship. We can also

prepare a place for the glory of God through

expectation. Everybody say expectation. Here's

something that I found out. Most people, when

they come to a worship gathering together, they

normally get what they expect. I need to say

that again. People normally get what they expect.

I mean... So many times people come to a worship

service, they just want to rub a little bit of

Jesus. You know, like putting on sunscreen. Just

going to rub a little Jesus to help me get through

this week. Just need a little bit of Jesus. Don't

want too much of Jesus to mess with my life.

Just a little bit of Jesus to help my conscience

through the week. We're not going to experience

the glory of God unless we expect it. We expect

God to show up. It's going to change the way

we act. I'm just letting it sit. Just let it

sit. We expect God to show up. It's going to

change the way we act. We're going to act like

it. We're going to come. See, I'm glad no one...

at Elation Church comes to leave. But I want

to ask you a question. Have you ever gone to

church to leave? I've met, hey, I preached on

the road for 20 years. I've met a lot of people

that came to leave. Believe it or not, one day

in North Carolina, I don't know why this happened

in North Carolina so much. One day... One day

out on the coast of North Carolina, I mean, I'd

only been preaching for five minutes. And this

lady stood up and went... They had had about

a 45 -minute presentation of seeing the same

12 pictures of the mission trip that only meant

something to the people that had been on the

mission trip. Have you been through one of those

presentations before? And then I was the guest

speaker. It was homecoming. We were having...

food after the service, and this lady gets up

and goes, she's calling time on me. I didn't

used to be as nice as I am now. But the second

time she did it, a few minutes later, I said,

I said, ma 'am, if you need to leave, right now

is a good time. Because you're distracting everybody

else in the room. So if you need to leave, right

now is a good time to leave. She grabbed her

purse, grabbed her husband, who was ashamed,

and stormed out. You know what happened when

she stormed out? Everybody started clapping.

I guess nobody had the guts to tell her that

before. I was just there that day. I'd never

see these people again, so why not? I traveled

so many hours just to get there. I wasn't about

to stop in five minutes. I hadn't even got through

my introduction yet. I was at another church

in North Carolina, not on the coast, not on the

coast this time, but I was preaching, and a guy

goes, About the third time he did that, I just

walked over in front of him and I said, I'm going

to tell you something you need to do. You need

to take that watch off your arm and you need

to throw it across the room. I threw my watch

across the room. What happened? I was there a

whole week. He never did it again. He didn't

leave, but he never did that again. I don't know

why I got to keep telling stories. Now I'm going

to call out Alabama. Is anybody from Alabama?

Alabama. Went to this guy's house. They invited

us to their house before the meeting even started

on Saturday night. The guy said, I had to sit

at the men's table. Again, I had to sit at the

women's table. The guy told me in front of, his

parents were the patriarch and the matriarch

of the church. That means for somebody to introduce

somebody like that, it means they think they

own it. So he told me, he said, now preacher,

we get out of church at 12 o 'clock. And we don't

have services more than an hour. So every night

this week, from when we start to when we finish,

one hour. Everybody say one hour. One hour. So,

I said, well, this is, I said, how long have

y 'all been praying for this? Well, I don't know

if they only prayed an hour at a time, but. They

had been having what was called in the old days

cottage prayer meetings, even though those were

kind of out by then. They were having cottage

prayer meetings. They were praying for God, for

an outpouring and a moving of God in the church.

Praying. I said, how long y 'all been praying?

Because I knew they had been having prayer meetings.

Oh, we've been praying for about eight weeks.

I said, now you mean to tell me. You've been

praying for eight weeks, but you're going to

limit what God's going to do to an hour. He got

offended. Good. Anyway, I got to speed this up

because I got more to talk about. Listen, I didn't

know who I was. Oh, that's what he told me. He

said, you don't know who you're talking to, do

you? Guess what? He was the chairman of deacons.

He was the treasurer of the church. So that means

he's going to be the one writing our check at

the end of the week. You don't know who you're

talking to, do you? And I about dropped my teeth

when I looked over because I had to lead the

congregational music and I looked over and guess

who's playing the piano? Chairman of deacons,

piano player. And the church treasure. Most of

you would have said, well, did you preach more

than an hour? Well, I only preached an hour and

15 minutes, but the music went about 45 minutes,

so it was a two -hour service. It's coming. Sunday

morning. While I was preaching, his face would

get so red, like right at time when he thought

it was time to be finished. His face, I thought

the man was going to stroke out. Sunday morning,

red face. Sunday night, red face. Monday night,

red, just breathing. I kid you not. But Tuesday

night, listen, when I gave the invitation again,

When I said, is anybody here, you realize that

you've just had a relationship with religion

and not a relationship with God? I'm not asking

you if you've been dip -dunked or sprinkled or

if your name's on a church roll. I'm asking you

if Jesus is your Lord. And that night, Tuesday

night, when I shared the gospel, nobody's looking

but me. There he is sitting on the front row.

His hand goes up. He accepted Christ. Can you

believe? Somebody was the chairman of deacons,

the treasurer of the church, and the piano player

doing it all in the flesh without a relationship

with Christ. That's a miserable person. That's

why he was a miserable person. Wednesday, I saw

him come into church. He had a smile on his face.

And I walked up to him and I shook his hand.

I said, how you doing? These are the exact words

out of his mouth. I feel like a new man. Feel

like a new man. He was a new man. Listen, if

we come to leave, If we come with everything

else on our mind, going through a religious duty

or religious activity, we're not going to experience

the glory of God. Here's the way we act when

we expect to see God show up. We come in with

anticipation. We lean in. We worship with intention.

We remove distractions. And we make room. Make

room for God. God meets us at the point of our

expectation. What does hunger look like? Look

to the person beside you and say, listen fast.

Listen fast. What does hunger look like? Hunger

seeks. Hunger seeks. Jeremiah 29, 13. God says,

If you look for me wholeheartedly, if you seek

me with all your heart, you'll find me. You'll

find me. He's not holding out. He's not going

to hold out. Never has held out. If you look

for him wholeheartedly, you'll find him. You'll

find him. See, genuine hunger seeks not casually

seeking, but passionately seeking, wholeheartedly

seeking. Real hunger prioritizes the presence

of God over personal preferences. That's the

only way you're going to see it. Hunger also

sacrifices. Hunger says, I'll turn off the noise.

See, listen, church isn't the only place that

you can experience the glory of God. I've shared

this before, but I've experienced the glory of

God in my car on I -4 before they added the other

lane. When it would take an hour and 15 minutes

to go 15 miles. I've experienced the glory of

God in my car. But you've got to turn off the

noise. You got to remove the distractions. You

got to create a space for God. Oh, how I want

you to experience it. Hunger also stays. Stays.

Sustained hunger. Sustained hunger is the mark

of a people ready for the glory of God. Sustained

hunger. God always meets hunger with glory. He

always does. Moses cried, show me your glory.

God responded. David longed for his presence.

What did God do? God revealed his power and his

glory to David. We didn't talk about this one

this week, but we will. The early church. cried

out in one accord to God, and heaven filled the

upper room. It's available. It's available. I

think we're going to have four more weeks on

the glory of God. This is just to try to stir

up your hunger. It's letting you know. what it

is, how you can get to that point. It's going

to take hunger. It's going to take preparing,

preparing the way, preparing your heart, preparing

the atmosphere. Hungry people see outpourings.

Is there anybody in this room? Who would love

to see an outpouring in this area? Is there anybody

in this room who would like to see thousands

of people come to Christ? Hungry homes see transformation.

Hungry churches see revival. Hungry generations

see a visitation. You can look back through history.

You can even look at some of the things that

are going on in places around the world today.

In college campuses in the United States, you

can see. Hungry generations can see. Visitation

from God. This online worship experience was

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Elation Church.