Bringing Back the Glory

Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast.

We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us

today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message.

We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning

celebration every Sunday at 10 AM.

We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC.

Well, if you have your Bible grab, would you grab it?

I'm I'm only going to do a few scriptures and then part of what

I felt LED of this morning was to do something that some of you

would recognize. This called practicing the

presence. And I've asked Pastor Tim to be

prepared to lead us through a number of just songs that really

welcome the presence of the Lord.

And the reason why is I want you to be able to know what David

called in Psalm 91, the secret place.

And I want to teach you how to get to the secret place every

time, all the time. It is a place in the spirit that

you can be at anytime. You need to get there.

You go there. And the warning though, is once

you know this place, you're going to be ruined for anything

other than that place. So there's going to be a little

bit of accountability that rises is because I, I know that place,

I know how to get there. And I know when we're not there.

And so it's, I get disturbed when I'm like, why are we not

there? Because it's the secret place

where people are healed or people are set free or people

have the peace of God. And so I want to just walk

through a few scriptures and then we're going to, you're

going to see it. We're going to do it together.

OK, I want to go to John chapter 4, if you would, John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention John 4 · chapter mention

And I just want to start here in this interaction that Jesus had

with a woman at the well, many of you would know this.

This woman was not the most reputable woman.

In fact, in fact, she did have a reputation.

It just wasn't a good reputation.

And this woman had been married multiple times and Jesus outed

her and said, and the guy you're with right now, he's not your

husband. Talk about Jesus read in your

mail. You know, he's like, he's like

finding out what's going on with this lady.

But then they have a discussion about worship.

And this is what I want to look at.

Jesus is having this conversation with a disreputable

woman about worship. I think that's fascinating.

Jesus wasn't talking to the the high priest of the time about

this. He was talking about to a woman

who was really the least likely to experience the presence of

God. Let's read it Psalm chapter 4,

Psalms 4 · chapter mention

John chapter 4, verse 21. Jesus said to her, woman,

John 4:21

believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this

mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.

Now this is so important because I'm going to read a couple

scriptures in a minute that show about the place he's talking

about that was in Jerusalem, both the temple and a place that

was the mountain, which is includes the Tabernacle of Moses

that had been set up in the Old Testament, which is the only

place you could have really worshipped God was in that

place. But Jesus is saying there's a

time that's right now where you'll you'll not worship there

anymore, but you will worship the Father.

Verse 22. You worship what you do not know

talking to the woman you worship what you do not know.

We meaning the Jews know what we worship for salvation is of the

Jews. Verse 23 But the hour is coming

and now is OK. So this was the hour he back

then, but it's truly the hour today in 2026 when the true

worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, in

spirit and truth. So where is the place now that

you worship in spirit? It's not a place like Jerusalem

anymore. It's not a Tabernacle of Moses

that's being erected, you know, every few miles.

And they have to set up and they have to get it just right.

It's no longer that. The place is in spirit and in

truth. That's the place.

And I'll come, I'll come back to what that looks like in a

minute. For the Father is seeking such

to worship him. The Father is seeking such to

worship him. In other words, this whole idea

of worship is being blown open to anybody who will seek Him in

spirit and truth. It used to be just for the

Levites. The Levites were a certain group

tribe of Israel, and they were tasked with doing the worship,

all the service of the Tabernacle and then the temple.

They were the only ones who could.

So in other words, to really do worship, there was only one

family that could do it. That's like if I were in this

church, I said, hey, the the Philippines, they're the only

family in the church that can actually worship God.

That excludes the rest of us. So Jesus is kind of blowing open

the doors of this and he's saying that's no longer the

case. The case now is that everybody

who will worship Him in spirit and truth, they can worship the

Father. Hello, that opened the door for

you and I to be here this morning to worship God.

He's opening the door. He's saying this is the hour.

And then not only that, he says the Father is seeking those

people. His eyes are looking.

He's on the lookout for who will be those people who are those

who are worshipping. Verse 24 God is Spirit and those

who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

You must worship in spirit and in truth.

So guess what those are? Those are qualifiers to what

worship is. Worship is not whatever you want

it to be. I've been in multiple services,

I mean thousands of church services, and I have heard

people say the most kookaboo stuff about worship.

I have seen people and they get out finger paint and they're

like, that's my worship. I'm like, that is not what

worship means. Worship is spirit and truth.

No one wants to say Amen. That's OK because I just stepped

on a couple toes. But that's all right because we

live in this day and age. That's like worships whatever I

want it to be. That's baloney.

Worships not whatever you choose for it to be.

God laid out an actual pattern. I'm going to show you in a

minute of what worship ought to be.

One of them is clap your hands. All you people shout unto God

with a voice of triumph. That's part of worship.

It's not a Pentecostal thing. I'm sorry.

If you grew up, you know, in the frozen chosen group of the body

of Christ and you're like, we don't clap our hands.

Well, good news, it doesn't matter what you want.

It's what worship is. Clap your hands, all you people.

Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

So when Pastor Tim was leading us earlier to shout, he's

helping us worship and he's helping us get over ourselves

and our predispositions and our insecurities.

And I don't want to be one of those weird people.

And you know, he's helping us. It's like, get out of your

shell. It's fine, you're good.

One of the things he also taught us is to lift your hands in the

sanctuary and bless the Lord. That's part of worship.

That's part of worship. I don't remember reading in

there where somewhere finger painting was a part of that.

I'm sorry. Now, I love art and artwork and

I believe that God will help people do artwork, but to call

that worship, I just, you need to help me find it.

You need to help me find it. Where, where?

Where is your way of doing a thing considered Now worship

just 'cause you chose to do well, I chose to do worship that

way. That's not what the Bible calls

worship. Now, this is important, OK?

Because when we really lean in to worship, it means not

everything else is. It's holy.

OK, so that's a word I'm going to describe here in a minute.

But holy means other than set apart, OK?

So it's not that the same thing that I do the other six days of

the week is also, you know, worship or whatever I want it to

be. It's there are things that are

set apart that God said that's set apart, that's different.

And once you own that, once you are, you accept that and you

step into it. I'm telling you, you will find

the presence of the Lord every time, every time, every time.

And it's important that we, we do this 'cause I don't, I don't

like that. We're teaching the next

generation that worship can be whatever they want it to be.

I don't like that it's not true. It's not true.

So I want to look at a couple scriptures out of Exodus.

So if you would grab your Bible and go to Exodus chapter 29.

Exodus 29 · chapter mention

Are we still friends? Forgive me if you're one of the

finger painters, I love you and you can finger paint all day.

Just don't call it worship, OK? Anyways, Exodus chapter 29,

Exodus 29:42

verse 42, This shall be a continual burnt offering

throughout your generations. Exodus 2942 This shall be a

continual burnt offering throughout your generations at

the door of the Tabernacle of meeting, The Tabernacle of

meeting. Notice the name The Tabernacle

of what meeting? Who are we meeting God the

Tabernacle of meeting Tabernacle is is tint the tint of meeting

before the Lord. Where if you have a a physical

Bible highlight that word circle it where where So there is a

where there's a place I will meet you to speak with you.

Verse 43 and there another word to circle highlight.

And there I will meet with the children of Israel and the

Tabernacle shall shall be sanctified by my glory.

Verse 44 So I will consecrate the Tabernacle of meeting and

the altar. I will also consecrate both

Aaron and his sons to minister to me as priests.

I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God,

and they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought

them up out of Egypt, of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell

among them. I am the Lord their God.

This is so powerful. There's multiple things here.

Number one, it was always God's intent to be with his people.

So the whole purpose of having a meeting place was to be with

him. Think of that.

The God of the universe said, I will.

I would rather be in a tent just to be with you.

I'll I'll, I'll choose to be in a tent.

God who dwells in the heavens, whose whose whose streets are

laid with gold says I'll come to the the dust of the desert in a

tent because I want to dwell with my people.

So everything from from here of how to do that his heart is to

be with us. OK, so when I'm talking about

clap your hands, lift your hands, it becomes easy to do

those things when you know, he's come so low for me.

So I can meet him with my very, I think, very humble sacrifice

of praise if it means to lift my hands.

Because what I'm doing is I'm inviting him in and I'm coming

into his presence the way he asked me to.

But when I think about all that he gave up to be with me, it's

so minor. Are you hearing what I'm saying

today? So it's wild that we get into

these like discussions about worship style and you're like,

that so misses the point or the the discussions about I don't

like that song. I don't like that style.

I don't like that we, you know, the drums like, you know, I

don't like the, the, the keys or I don't like this.

I don't like the path. And what what you're doing is

you're allowing yourself to come out of the spirit realm, which

is where Jesus said we worship and now it's all natural.

And then we wonder why the presence of the Lord is nowhere

to be found. We have to worship Him in spirit

and in truth, and we do that when we come into His presence

and we lift our hands, we clap our hands and we offer Him

ourselves, and it says that He will sanctify us by His glory.

So when He comes in His presence, He cleanses us, He

makes us right. He makes us whole with Him.

This is so powerful. This is so powerful.

He will consecrate us. What does consecrate means?

It means He'll make us set apart.

You'll be different than other people as you worship him.

He says I'll consecrate Aaron, his sons, those that was the the

priesthood. But the New Testament says that

we are now our royal priesthood, a holy nation.

And so now we're that priesthood that he's consecrated, that he's

set apart. And so when we come into

worship, we're coming as a priesthood that God says, I'm

consecrating you. I'm setting you apart.

I'm sanctifying this place. But you know, this stuff doesn't

happen just because we will it to.

There is an intention behind it. It takes so much intention.

The Tabernacle, God was so specific.

He was specific down to the inch, I mean down to the cubit.

It was like, this is exactly how it must be for me to come and

dwell with the people. And you know what?

They did it. Moses made sure it happened and

then David helps his son Solomon build the actual temple.

So they made sure it happened and they did it to the T of what

God asked for. Exodus 26, verse 33 says, And

Exodus 26:33

you shall hang the veil from the clasps, then you shall break or

then you shall bring the ark of the testimony in there behind

the veil. The veil shall be a divider for

you between the holy place and the most holy place, and you

shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the

Most Holy. I'm just going to explain this

for just a moment because in that Tabernacle, as you came in

and, and another time, I'm going to teach about all the elements

of the Tabernacle because they're still relevant to us

today, but they've been fulfilled through Jesus.

So when, when you saw the Tabernacle, everything was

leading you to what was called the Holy of Holies or the most

Holy place. Everything was about that coming

into the outer courts where there was the sacrifice, the

place where they would literally slaughter and burn the animals

as a sacrifice for the sin of the people.

And then they would go past that.

The priest they were all bloodied up from that was very

messy. It was very costly.

And once they were done with that, they would come to this

basin or this Laver and they would wash themselves.

So they would get clean and then they would change their clothes.

So all of that was preparation just to go into the holy place,

not the most holy, just the holy place.

And once they got in there, there was a lamp stand, there

was a table of showbread, there was the altar of incense.

All of this has imagery. Again, I'll explain another

time. And then there was a veil.

So that if I'm, if I'm looking straight ahead and I've come in,

I've already been washed up. And to my left is the the

Candlestick, to my right is the table of showbread.

And in front of me is the incense.

Just beyond the altar of incense, there's a veil.

That's this veil, and only the high priest could go beyond the

veil once a year, and he had to do it on one day, a specified

day. He could not go any other day

and he had to go in right with God.

Let me tell you, the presence of God was so real and the most

holy place that they would tie a, a string around his foot and

they would put bells at the bottom of his garments so that

if he died, the bells stopped ringing and they would just drag

him out of the most holy place. That's how reverent this was.

That's how significant God saw that space.

And in that space was the ark of the covenant.

That's not just a, you know, later, yeah.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, what's it called?

Indiana Jones. That's it.

This is predates him. OK.

But the Ark of the Covenant was what represented the presence of

God. And truly where that was is

where God's presence was. That wasn't just imagery.

It was real. God said this is the way that I

will go with you is through this Ark of the Covenant.

And it was this massive box and the priest would carry it from

place to place when they were in the Tabernacle and they were

wandering through the wilderness.

But here it is. It's there.

And this says that the veil shall be a divider for you

between the holy place and the most holy place.

What does that mean? There's a difference.

Now this is important because I feel like most of us, we settle

for a certain level of the presence of God, not knowing

there is another place where God's presence is so thick, so

weighty, so, so there that it is different than all that we've

been experiencing so far. See what's in the holy place

before you, you know, go beyond the veil.

What's there is the table of showbread.

It's kind of an example of the word of God that Jesus said, I

am the bread of life. So we're, we're eat of that

bread, we eat of the word of God and most of us, we love that.

Yes, the word of God, the word of God, the word of God.

And we need that, that's a requisite to go to the most holy

place. There's the altar of incense.

So there's prayer. We love prayer.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, prayer.

We have the, the, the lampstand, which is really the baptism of

the Holy Spirit and we get filled with the power of God and

the, the oil of the Holy Spirit is our constant feeding of that

light and that lamp. And, and, and most of us live

there not knowing all of that is to get you to the most holy

place. So you stop over here because

there's a divider. There's a difference and there's

a way to come into the most holy place, which Jesus provided for

us. He's now the high priest.

In fact, let me just skip, I'm going to skip a few things

y'all, just for time's sake. So go to, for those doing the

scriptures for me, the very last scripture, Hebrews 4.

Actually, no, Matthew 27. Let me do that one first.

Matthew 27, verse 51. Then behold the veil of the

Matthew 27:51

temple. That veil was torn in two from

top to bottom, and the earthquake and the rocks were

split. What do you think that

represents when Jesus died on the cross?

And the moment he died, the earth shook and it split that

veil from top to bottom, that there was no longer that divider

that you and I now have access to the presence of God to that

most holy place that used to be reserved for just the high

priest. He ripped it from top to bottom.

So if he's provided us access, why do we stay on the outside

looking in? Why?

Why do we stay on the on the in a place where we're content,

we're content, we're content. Hebrews 414 says, seeing then

that we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens,

Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

In other words, what we say, for we do not have a high priest who

cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all

points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Verse 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace

that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of

need. What's the throne of grace?

It's the mercy seat, it's the most holy place.

It's the place where you, you come and, and, and you're so

aware of God's presence, you can barely move.

Second Chronicles shows this when Solomon built the temple

and he consecrated everything as God had commanded.

And it says in verse 11, a Second Chronicles 5 And Tim, you

can come, please. And it came to pass when the

priest came out of the most holy place, for all the priests who

are present had sanctified themselves without keeping to

their divisions. And the Levites who were

singers. So, you know, I've kind of

explained who all these people are, the Levites, that family

that was, they're the only ones that could worship.

And all those of Asaph and Haman and Jettison with their sons and

their brethren stood at the East End of the altar, clothes in

white linen, having symbols, strength to instruments and

harps, and and with them 120 priests sounding the trumpets.

This is all outside. This is that outer court where

the where the altars are. Verse 13.

Indeed, he came to pass one of the trumpeters and singers were

in whereas one to make one sound to be heard and praising and

thanking the Lord. And when they lifted up their

voice with the trumpets and symbols and instruments of music

and praise, the Lord, saying, for he is good and His mercy

endorsed forever, that the house, the House of the Lord,

that temple was filled with a cloud.

Many of you have probably heard that as the Shekinah glory, the

manifest glory of God, so that the priest could not continue

ministering because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled

the House of God. And somehow throughout the ages,

throughout the centuries, I think we've become so distant

from the presence of God that we don't even know the glory hasn't

even descended yet, his presence.

And I just have sensed like that's not necessary.

We can welcome the the glory of God, we can welcome his

presence. We can be in such a way where

his cloud rests here. Will it be a physical cloud?

Probably. I've been in worship spaces

where there was just above the people.

Just this cloud, just this mist, just this place in the presence

of God. This is why Psalm 91 says in the

secret place of the most high God, I'll abide there.

I'll hang out there, I'll I'll be there.

This is what he was talking about.

And one of the things that I'm seeking the Lord for is that we

learn as a church, not just me, not just Pastor Tim, not just a

few of our pastors, but that we as a church know how to go there

every time we're together, every time, every time.

And that you would learn how to get there on your own or you

just learn the place of his presence.

So I'm going to teach on this more another time, but I just

felt like for some this, this is so important for what you're

going through in life to know the presence of the Lord, to

welcome the presence of the Lord, to invite the presence of

the Lord. And so Tim's going to lead us in

a couple songs. I asked him to not lead heavy on

telling you what to do. But I want us to all start by

standing. And here's what I'm going to

encourage you #1 please don't leave yet.

Some of you are like, I'm out of here, This guy talking about

clouds and I'm out of here. Please don't leave.

Just trust me. The the presence of God

witnesses for himself, you'll know.

The second thing is do what the Bible says at times, lift your

hands at times, kneel before Him, 'cause your heart to enter

into that place of spirit and truth that Jesus said that the

Father is seeking such. So right now in 2026, I'm just

very aware the Father is still seeking those who will worship

in spirit and truth. He's like right now, real time,

He's looking and He will descend on us if we'll worship Him in

spirit and truth. So Tim, if you'll start us by

just this first song and if everyone if you just lift your

hands and let's sing together. Now, right where you are, just

out of your own heart and mouth, just tell the Lord what he means

to you. Just tell him, I love you, Lord.

Come on. Right out of your own heart and

mouth. I love you, Lord.

I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord.

I honour you, Lord. I worship you, Lord.

I worship you, Lord. Worthy, worthy, worthy is the

Lamb who was slain. Worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy

is the Lamb who was slain. Thank you for your blood, Lord,

that cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

Thank you for your sacrifice, Lord.

Thank you that you've cleansed me from all sin and all

unrighteousness. Thank you for your mercy, Lord.

If it had not been for your mercy, we would have been

consumed. I give you thanks, Lord.

Oh, yes. That's it.

That's it. That's it.

That's it. That's it.

Your heart. Connect to his heart.

That's the place. That's the place.

That spirit, that's truth. There is no one like you, Lord.

There is no one like you, Lord. No one is like you, Lord.

No one in heaven, no one on earth, and no one under the

earth. There is no one like you, Lord.

Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,

holy, holy, holy is the Lord who was and is and is to come.

Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy are you, Lord.

There is no one like the Lord. There is no one like you, Lord.

You are worthy to receive your reward, Lord.

There is no one like you, Lord, No one, no one, no one like you

got Jesus. Matthew or actually Hebrews said

that we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

So if you have a need right now just in this place, the presence

of the Lord, make your request known, tell him God, I need to

you. I need help.

I need help in my inner life and my soul.

I need help in my family. I need help.

I feel lost. Lord, wherever you're at right

now, where you need help, just find help right here in the in

the throne of heaven and ask go ahead all over this trim.

Lord, I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you, I need

you, I need you, I need you, I need you.

I need your help. Lord, I need your help.

Lord, I need your help. Lord, I need your help.

Lord, I need grace, the supernatural power to do your

will. Lord, I need mercy.

Lord, I've done things I ought not to have done, or there's

things I should be doing that I'm not.

Mercy, Lord, Son of David, have mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy,

mercy, mercy on us. Lord, Oh, I thank you for your

help today. God, thank you for your help for

those that need healing. Lord, I thank you that healing

is the children's bread in this place of your presence.

We just declare healing over every kind of sickness and every

kind of disease. I thank you for your presence

and power that is here to heal. If you need healing, you just

make that request known to God. Say Lord, my body needs healing.

I need physical healing. I need my blood to be healed.

I need my mind to be healed. I need this organ to be healed,

whatever it is. Receive healing in his presence.

Strength for today. Glory to God.

Thank you, Lord. Glory to God.

Yeah. Thank you Jesus.

Not for a minute was I forsaken. Lord, I thank you for your word.

I thank you for this, this word that says when your glory comes

on a house, you consecrate it and you sanctify it.

So, Lord, we welcome your glory here.

We welcome your presence, Lord. We welcome the work of your

presence, Lord. We welcome you, Lord.

You are welcome, Lord. You are welcome, Lord.

Rest here, Lord, abide here. Dwell here, Lord, this is your

sanctuary. This is your place.

You are here, we're here. We thank you for it.

Lord and Father, I just pray over every person as we go

today. May your presence go with us, go

with us, go with us, go with us to our homes.

May our houses be a place of your presence.

May our house churches, those in these other states, Lord, may

they be filled with your presence even now, Lord.

Even now, Lord, fill those sanctuaries, those, those living

spaces, living rooms with your presence, Lord.

And as we go today, I pray even tomorrow at work and at school,

may you go with us, Lord, your presence, go with us in Jesus

name. If you agree, would you say Amen

and let's clap our hands in agreement and thank God for his

presence and his word. Glory to God, Glory to God.

We want to thank you again for joining us for the Arise Church

podcast. We hope you were encouraged by

what you heard today. You can find

[email protected] and on Instagram at Arise Church NC.

If you need prayer or support or are interested in learning more

about Arise Church, we encourage you to connect with us online or

in person at our Sunday morning service.

Thank you and God bless.