11th June 2023 All Age Service - To Be in your presence

Okay, good morning everybody. Great to see you. You're looking good.

I don't know whether anybody said that to you this morning. I don't know

whether you looked in the mirror this morning and looked at yourself and said,

you're looking good. Sometimes we don't do that. We we kind of we're

always focusing on the blemishes, aren't we? Are we not? Do we?

Yeah? We do. We focus on the bits that we're trying to

cover up, on the spot or whatever it is. We're just trying to

deal with that. But we're focusing on where where, Where do you really

want to be? In the title for our month, this month is no

place I would rather be. And we're going to sing this song again afterwards.

And a funny little moment before I get into kind of sharing this morning

the worship team, I'd asked them whether they knew this song. I had

the privilege of doing a conference with Noel Richards many many many years ago,

and he wrote this song to be in your presence, to sit at your

feet where your luft surrounds me and makes me complete. This is my desire

now. The funny moment before I get into this was I asked them to

sing it, and so they put it after the sermon to sing it,

and then Sama in the middle suddenly said, but it's in the sermon.

You've put it in the wrong place. And no, no, I'd put

it there because I want the words on screen as well. It's funny how

as we collaborate together in the cloud and all these things. So let me

pray, because you now know where I'm going. Where no place we would

rather be than to be in His presence, by the God. As we

gather around your word a little with for you, Lord, in this heat,

Lord, we're thirsty, But Lord, our spirits are thirsty. Two

in this challenging world that we live in, where there is so much need

and there are so many people asking so many questions. Father, we're hungry

for your presence. We're thirsty for you, O God. And so Father,

as we gather around your word, Lord, would would you quench our

thirst today? Oh God? Lord? Would you fill us up? Lord?

Could we go at the end, Lord God, when we've got something

from you, whether it's the first slide, the last slide, or all

the slides, whether it's all the words are one word? Father, would

you quench our thirst today? Lord? Would you. Would you satisfy the

longings of our desires of God Father? Would you fill us? Would you

enable us? Would you equip us? Would you cause us to be in

your presence? For there is no place that I would rather be than there.

Amen. Cherry And said to me, because I don't think you've heard

this song before, cherry And had you, And he said, it gets

stuck in your head, doesn't it? And I said, yes, he

does. So let me just remind you about the word to be in your

presence? Well? Whose presence? To be in your presence? Is that

good? Yes? He is good. I like being in your presence.

I like seeing your smiley faces. I like seeing friends and family. But

you know what, there's a better place that I could be. Sometimes when

I'm sitting in front of a camera, in front of the computer screen at

home, I'm thinking it's a better place I could be right now. You

know, sometimes we have to we have to we have to make room for

God. We have to make quality time for God. But you know it

doesn't have to be. Yeah, eight hours of work and then we can

get with God. You know, there are times where we can just take

a break and we can go into God's presence and we can It might just

be we walk away from the screen and we go out into the garden,

we say, Lord, I just need it, I need just need a

download from you right now. How many people have got to the end of

a conversation and you want to punch the person who you're talking to. I've

just been honest with you. I'm just being on it that the intention that

conversation has got so intense that really you would like to punch their lives.

You know that's not a good thing. You know, that's not going to

end up in a good place, but that's how you feel. You know.

Sometimes we just need to say I'm just going to take a break,

and we just take that break. And taking that break might just be to

let the temperature go down a bit. But you know what, I don't

just want to temperature go down. I want the air conditioning on as well,

the spiritual air conditioning. I don't just want the temperature. I don't

just want me to calm down. I want to God fill me with other

things that will be more beneficial for the conversation. So rather than just taking

away and just saying okay, I just need to I just need to be

peaceful again. But Lord, fill me with your peace. So don't just

think about emptying out stuff, but think about filling up. And that can

happen in a moment. That can happen in a second. It doesn't have

to be an hour of quiet time before we get back to where we need

to be, to be in your presence. To sit at your feet.

When was the last time you sat at somebody's feet. I'm honest with you,

I can't. It's quite a while ago when a room was full and

I wasn't sitting at their feet because I was worshiping them. I was sitting

at their feet because there weren't enough chairs in the room and I was sitting

on the floor. But you know what, when you sit at somebody's feet,

you get a different perspective. Think about being a child now. I

love children. I love especially little children. I used to be an infant

school teacher. So apart from the wear and tear on your knees of being

an infant school teacher, I loved being an infant school teacher because I got

to play and I was getting paid to play, got paid to play with

Lego. I'll tell you what if I brought a child into this room and

some toys, you'd probably join him playing with them, because there's something about

getting down on the floor and just playing. But you know, those little

children have a different perspective on the world. They see a lot of knees,

they see a lot of the floor. They often don't see faces unless

you pick them up. But to sit at your feet is really just to

submit and to say, I just want to be in your presence. I

don't want to be I don't want to be the main show. I don't

want to be the main person. I want that to be you. And

what happens when we sit at his feet we sense his presence. And I

believe that the most overall thing that you can sense God's presence is to sense

his love. I mean, peace, enjoy, and other things come too,

but it sees love that comes as the first transaction to us. And

when that love hits us as a moment where we go that's good. I'm

going to take some parents who or aunts and uncles or grandparents to some places.

Maybe you wouldn't want to go today, but I'd just like you to

imagine a little child comes running into the room and they're really cross, and

they're really upset about something. And they're so cross and upset about something,

they've been crying and there's stuff running down their face. And you don't just

say calm down. You pick them up, didn't you. You pick them

up so that they can see into your eyes, and you put your arms

around them. And sometimes they don't want to be hugged. They don't want

to they're cross with you. Maybe they're cross with the circumstances, but they're

just stiff with anger, and you hold onto them, You take them in

your arms. You just hold them. And to start with your holding a

brick, you're holding a piece of wood, you're holding something really stiff,

and they're still angry with you can and then maybe they're kicking you and they're

but there's a moment when something changes and they begin to yield. They begin

to yield to your presence, They begin to yield to your touch, they

begin to yield to your hug, they begin to yield to your love.

Despite all the snotty nose and everything else, you still hang on to them.

And then the tears stop. And then some fresh perspective comes and I

wonder whether we are like that with God. Sometimes we're cross with him about

some unanswered prayer, recross with him about something that has happened, and maybe

he doesn't deserve, just like parents don't necessarily deserve. Daddy. Somebody hit

me, Well, okay, it's not daddy's fault, but we like to

blame it. We like to come, it's your fault. Do you know

what? To be in your presence? To sit at your feet where your

love surrounds me and makes me complete. This is my desire, Oh Lord,

This is my desire. Is it your desire today? To be in

his presence? Is there no place that you would rather be? Does that

give you fresh perspective? Does that give you fresh insight? Does that give

you a fresh perspective? Let's look at a story around Jesus in Luke chapter

ten. Luke chapter ten says this, you'll recognize the story now. It

happened as they went that he entered a certain village, and a certain woman

named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary,

who sat at Jesus's feet and heard his word. But Martha was distracted

with much serving, and she approached him and said, Lord, do you

not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her

to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha,

you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed,

and Mary has chosen his good part which will not be taken away from

her. It's so easy, it's so easy to focus on the doing.

And I'm not saying doings wrong, but I want to get this into context

here. Martha did not have a microwave. Martha did not have ready made

meals. Martha had a pretty basic kitchen, and Jesus and it wasn't just

Jesus that arrived in our house. It was Jesus and all that were with

him. So just like to imagine a whole bunch of people turning up at

your house and Martha going, I've got to feed these people. If she's

thinking about have I got enough food in the larder? What am I going

to make? How am I going to make it? You know, Mary

would have normally helped her with the jaws, helped her with what needed to

be done. But Mary wasn't there, She wasn't in the kitchen. So

you can understand why Martha would go, who's helping me? All these people

have come and I've got to feed them. I don't know what you think.

If a whole crowd of people turned up at your house and you said

come in, you'd probably immediately be thinking about all the things that you need

to do. But Mary sat at Jesus's feet. Why because she wanted to

hear something fresh for her, something fresh for her today. I don't want

to encourage you. Sometimes it's time to put down the things that we're doing

so that we can be in his presence. Can't take long. Don't think

we necessarily have to give up a whole day, or if that's what you

feel, you want to to take a sabbath. Sabbaths are important. Rest

days, days focusing on God are important. Now, when I get really

busy, I start diarizing space in my diary, sometimes to walk the dog,

but other times just I just put I put an appointment in my diary

so that no one else can fill it with something else. Otherwise I go

from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting, and I think I haven't even

had a coffee. I haven't even been to the lou I certainly haven't spoken

to God, and so sometimes I'll just put a little meeting in my diary

fifteen minutes. I'll make it personal so that nobody else can see what it

is. And it's time with God, because we have to protect that.

We have to protect space and time. Who's in control of our diaries?

I'd like to say we are, but sometimes we're not. And they may

not just be our diaries. It might just be our priorities. Sometimes when

we're busy and got lots of things flying out, sometimes we're out of control

and we want to go stop. And sometimes when we when we're when we're

able to go stop, it's too late. It's too late. Something's happened.

I love Proverbs. I'll often turf to Proverbs, and I'll turn there

just to kind of be refreshed and just to take some insight. Proverbs,

Chapter twenty nine, verse eleven. A fool vents his feelings, but a

wise man holds them back. You know, sometimes I think some of you

will remember pressure cookers, those saucepans that you put on the on the on

the stove, and maybe you're putting a ham inside, or a Christmas pudding

or a steam pudding and there's water in there. And then you put the

lid on and you bring it up to pressure, and you put the weight

on and it steams away, and it's it's under pressure. That's the whole

purpose. There's steam inside. You know, you do not just take the

lid off. If you do, there's gonna be a mess in the kitchen.

The first thing you do is release the pressure. And I think proverbs

are very clearly he says here, you know, don't let don't let that

that pressure be vented over everybody else. Hold on to it and let it.

Let let it go, Let it go to God. There are many

times in my life, and maybe it's true for you too, where I

said something and then I thought, I wish I hadn't said that. But

just like any cartoon where you might have a bubble with words in, we

can't take that bubble and put it back again. Once it's been spoken,

it's out there. Okay. We can repair and apologize and try and put

things right, but sometimes it's far better keep quiet, go and talk to

somebody else about it later, reflect upon it. Psalm sixteen, verse eleven

says this, you will show me the path of life. In your presence

is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. David recognized

what it was to be in God's presence. You know, if you read

Psalm, Psalms is full of a whole range of emotions. Psalms is not

just David worshiping God. Sometimes it's Dave having a pretty party with God.

Sometimes it's it's David saying why. Sometimes it's David's saying ay. But he

recognizes hearing Psalms sixteen. In your presence is fullness of joy. Not just

a little joy, but fullness of joy. We've had the privilege that a

number of times when we've sometimes prayed for people and they've been filled with the

joy of the Lord, and they can't contain it. It comes out in

laughter, it comes out in tears, it comes out in dancing. But

full actual your presence, there is fullness of joy. Now I don't know

what your fullness is like, but I believe God's fullness is one hundred percent

and more. Now, if I thought about doing this as a physical illustration

today, I thought, I'm going to make a mess if I do it,

so I won't. But I like you to imagine a glass and you're

about to serve a drink to someone. You fit it probably three quarters full.

You have half fill it. You have three quarters fill it because you

don't want it to be too full, because as you take it to them,

you might spill it. We certainly don't fill it just within the brim,

and we certainly don't feel it to the brim, so there's always space

in the glass. So when we talk about fall, we're talking about ninety

percent full. But I think when God talks about fall, he talks about

full up and overflowing, pressed down and running over. In Psalm twenty three

that we know so well, and I'm sure you could all recite it,

David writes, Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of

Death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your

rod and your staff. They comfort me, even even when I'm in a

bad place, the shadow of the value of the shadow of death. I

choose to fear no evil. There's nothing I'm going to be afraid of.

There's nothing, And sometimes I want to encourage us here. I felt,

as I was diving into this little part of David's some that I want to

encourage you to take hold of that scripture and make that choice in the midst

when you face something. There are people in church who've been woken up in

the middle of the night and there's been a spiritual presence in the room with

them, and they've been fearful. But in that moment, we need to

grasp all the things and choose I will fear no evil. And because do

you know what changes in us when we make that decision, We now address

that spirit spirit in the room. We now address it with a confidence because

I'm not in fear because I'm his and He's in control here, so I'm

just I'm just a soldier in action. Here, Lord, what do you

want me to do? Okay? The command the spirit to leave? Okay,

Well, I have no authority in my own but in his authority,

I have all the authority that I need. Leave in the name of Jesus.

And it comes with an initial choice that says, okay, who am

I looking to? Who am I looking to? Am I looking to the

best prayer that I can pray? Or am I looking to him who will

give me what I need to address? I will fear no evil. The

moment when we say that the moment when we make that choice, faith arises

because He's gone, and Yedo, I walk through the valley of the shadow

of death. I will fear no evil for you comfort me, your rod

and your staff. What does the rod speak of? The rod speaks of

authority. The rod speaks of God's rule and God's reign. As a shepherd,

they would use the rod to check the height of the and he would

use the staff to guide the sheep, just a little nudge on the back

and just, you know, move this way, move that way. Your

rod and your staff, they come at me, your guidance, your rules,

your input. They comfort me. One of the one of the things

I truly believe is a challenge in today's world is people who are lost because

they do not know who they are. Think about all the stuff in the

press about you know, and all the stuff on lots of social media that

says, are you a he or a she or something else. I'm not

going to go there today, but I'm just saying, okay, we're confused

about our identities. Actually, when God says Dave, you're Dave, Maureen,

You're Maurin, Sama, your sarma? You know. Okay, I've

called you, and I could go through everybody, I won't. I'm not

trying to miss you out just picking up three people that But the point is

you're unique. There is no one else like you. Forgive me if you've

heard this story before. But many years ago, when I was involved with

leading the youth in the church, I had a group of people who came

back. So they've been on holiday to somewhere in the eastern Europe, and

they came back there say, Dave, we thought we met you on holiday.

I said, well, I've been here all week and I definitely didn't.

And they got a picture out of a person they met who looked just

like me. Even me looking at the picture, thought, yes, that

genuinely looks like me. You know I've got a double ganger, But I

said, it's not me. But here's the thing. Even if you have

identity, even if you are an identical twin, you are still different and

unique. God will gift you in different ways. God will cause you to

be troubled by different things. Gods will enable you to do different things.

I've called you by name, child, you are mine. In Isaiah forty

three, verse two, it says this when you pass through the waters,

I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor

shall the fame scorch you. There's a recognition here that we're going to go

through stuff. We're going to go through some messy stuff, and it might

be ouch, but it's not gonna burn us. What do we do with

little children. We try and keep them away from the oven and the stove

and the hot pan, because we know that if something happened, scolding and

burning would happen. We try and keep them away from the heat. But

I sense the father wants us to get you. One of the things that

I think is very challenging in educating small children is teaching them rather than keeping

them away from things. And if you keep people away from things all the

time, they never learn to engage with those things. There's a school in

America that teaches children to use power tools. It's a forest school. And

the guy says, and knives and fire all those kind of things. He

says, I want them to understand how dangerous it is, but how careful

you can be, and if you use it wisely, A knife is a

good thing. Can be a good thing. If you use a power drill

to drill a hole, it can be a good thing. If you use

fire, it can be useful. He gets out of control. It's a

mess. But do you know what as we learn, as we go close

to heat, we learned to respect it. As we go close to deep

water, we learn to respect it. And what does this say in Isaiah?

When you pass through the water. It doesn't say when you avoid the

water, doesn't say when you stop and go some other way. It's was

when you pass through the water, I will be with you. I could

never understand when I was in Papa New Guinea, how long, how white?

It took me so much longer to cross a river than my Papua New

Guinea and friends. So I want you to imagine a river, probably twenty

feet wide, and it's brown because it's been raining. It was always raining.

And in Paporly Guinea. I know we say it's always raining in the

UK, but now there's always raining. And Papa ne Guinea and the rivers

were offering flood and often the water was brown with sand and silt. And

so you get to a river, you've got to cross it. There's no

bridge, so I would take my boots off, because I was probably wearing

boots or shoes. My Papaly Guinea and friends will be walking barefoot because they

had skin like leather on their feet. But then we'd walk through the water,

and I'll be honest with you, I couldn't see the bottom of the

water, so I'd be putting my foot down and I'd be feeling and I

once I got balance, i'd move my weight from one foot to the other,

and I'd like an old gentleman. And remember I was in my twenties.

Then it would take me a long time to cross the river, and

my Papa new Guinea and friends would just walk through the water. How do

you do that, they said, David. We see with our feet,

We see through our toes. And I thought, wow, how do you

do that? Where do you take your shoes off? You kick your shoes

off, and suddenly you realize that your toes give you lots of information.

Oh there's something sharp under my foot. You would have never have felt it

with a shoe, well with your feet, with your bare feet on the

ground. So I ended up after two years, not only with a beard,

but also feet like leather because I used to spend many days walking with

bare feet. And when you pass through the waters, he will be with

you when I crossed. When I first started crossing these rivers that were probably

waist deep, and they could have washed me downstream. My Papa, you

Guinean friends would say, take my hand, and they'd walk across with me.

And sometimes they'd slipped because I'd slipped, and they were more focused on

supporting me than worrying about themselves. God is more focused on supporting you theaners

are worrying about himself. He's big enough and able enough to do immeasurably more

than we ask or imagine. So he will be with us through the water.

He will be with us through the fire. And even if the water

feels like it's going to overwhelm us, we will not be drowned. We

will not be overwhelmed. And so what should our attitude be? Well,

our attitude, I would suggest you, we might find in Hebrews four,

verse sixteen, and it says this, let us therefore come boldly to the

throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in

time of need. The time before last I was in New Gander. A

gentleman called John came up to me and said, Dave, where do you

live? And I said, I live in Papily In Ugandan terms, I

said, well, I lived near London. He said, you must know

my friend Matthew. I thought, okay, I said, possibly, I

know a few Matthews. And anyway, I found out I didn't know his

friend Ratthy at all. But he then said, do you know the Queen.

I said, I know about the Queen. I wouldn't say I know

her. I've never met her. I've seen her passed by and waved at

her. I've never met her. And we got into a conversation and I

said, do you know God? He said, I know about God.

He said, but you know, you can get to know God. And

here's the difference. And it's a story that probably now he's our king,

that gives a different perspective. But when Prince Charles was a little boy,

and there's a story where there was a gentleman visiting the Duke of Edinburgh and

he comes specially he was told he had twenty minutes. He had a twenty

minute meeting with the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Duke he was then told

come and sit down in this waiting room. And he sat in his waiting

room waiting to go in to talk about his charity work that he was involved

with with the Duke of Edinburgh, and said, sorry, the Duke's running

late, so you're only going to have to have fifteen minutes. And then

five minutes went by, and another person a neck where he came out and

said, sorry, sir, he's still overrunning, and you're only gonna have

twelve minutes, so please be succinct. So anyway, he goes in.

He starts talking to Duke of Edinburgh and talking away, and about halfway through

Prince Charles. So he shows you how long ago this story was ran in

with his train, his little toy train Saidaddy, Daddy, my train won't

work, and the Duke of Edinburgh just turned to his son and dealt with

his son's challenge. Sometimes we can be like my friend who was visiting.

Sometimes we can be like that with God waiting for permission, and sometimes we

need to get up this perspective on him. Let us therefore come boldly to

the throne. We are children of God, are we not? And so

therefore we should be a little bit like Prince Charles, and running too his

presence, not worrying about protocols, not worrying about doors, not worrying about

how much time we've been told we had, and just run into His pre

It's in time of need, for we will obtain grace and mercy. One

of Julia's favorite psalms. I think it applies to many of the things that

she gets involved in. Psalm one hundred and thirty nine says this in verses

seven and eight. Where can I go from your spirit? Where could I

run and hide from your face? If I go to the heaven, You're

there. If I go down to the realm of the dead, You're there

too. Where can we run from God? We sometimes think that we can

hide from God. We deceive ourselves. We truly deceive ourselves. No place

I would rather be. Sometimes we discount ourselves from God's presence. We discount

ourselves from God's presence because we think we're not worthy to come into His presence.

It's not by what we've done, and it's not about how good we've

been that we ever earn his right to come into His presence, to boldly

come. It's Jesus that makes that way, and as I wrap this all

up and pull this all together, I want to take this to Isaiah forty

one, verse ten and say this, fear not, for I am with

you. Be not dismayed, For I am your God. I will strengthen

you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my

righteous hand. I want to speak to fear today as I pray, Father

God, I pray that Lord, as we sit in your presence right now,

and we're going to sing that song in a few moments. But as

we sit in your presence right now, to sit at your feet where your

love surrounds me makes me and a specific It's where they've walked the precipice of

fear and faith, but they've walked it with faith in their hearts. We're

believing for a good a continuing good report for him. And so Father,

as we sing this song, we're going to sit in your presence. I'm

not going to ask people to stand. I just want to be in your

presence, to sit at your feet. Let's physically do that. So let's

not stand, let's sit in his presence. And then, as a consequence,

if you then want to pray a prayer, if you want to kneel

before him. If there's something you want to do in response to sitting in

his presence this morning, please an