Encounters With God: "The Place Where You Are Standing Is on Holy Ground." | Part 3

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ashley.

I'm one of the pastors here.

And the series that we are in is called Encounters with God.

And this is the exact reason why I'm a pastor and why I've spent almost 13 years dedicating my life to building up and serving the church.

For this one reason, to create spaces where people can experience the presence of God.

So I'm absolutely thrilled to be bringing this message in this series to you this morning.

Today we're going to be looking at how we can have an encounter with an extraordinary God in our regular, ordinary, day-to-day lives.

And as I begin, I want to give you a little snapshot of a day that I recently had in my life.

I'm a mom of two kids and I work full-time.

So my days are pretty filled to the brim.

Here's a day that I recently had.

I was woken up in the six o'clock hour, today it was the five o'clock hour, by this very cute little boy who is ready to play.

He begins by climbing on me and asking me to watch a show and asking me to play a game and asking for a snack, and all of these questions come before I have even opened my eyes.

Eventually I get up, I convince myself to get out of bed, and I tend to his needs.

Then I balance getting ready for the day while keeping focus on him while he's eating, because he's only four, and also waking up my daughter for her to get ready for her day.

Now I manage both kids while I'm getting ready and they're getting ready.

And let's be honest, I'm also arguing with my daughter about why she needs to brush her teeth yet again today.

I make pancakes for breakfast while simultaneously cleaning the kitchen, and I pass off my kids to my husband, who's getting home from his early morning opening shift at Starbucks.

That's when I head to work and start my day.

So I get to my office, I check my email, I make my to-do list, I have some meetings, I check my email again, I try to get as many things checked off that to-do list as I can before I need to rush off to pick up my kids from home to take them to swim lessons in the afternoon.

So as I'm walking to my car, I text my husband and make sure that they're gonna be fed and they're gonna be in their bathing suits and they're gonna be ready to get in the car when I get home.

So I get home, they jump in the car, we go to swim lessons, and as they're swimming for 25 minutes, I sit on the pool deck and I look through my phone, I look through my calendar, I catch up with my husband, I plan the rest of my week out.

Then we head home for dinner, and this is where I sit there attempting to eat while I'm also having three conversations with the three people who live in my house about all their different days, all at the same time.

Now, after this, my brain is fried.

I don't really want to talk to anybody else at this point, but we still need to get our kids to bed and clean up dinner, which means more arguing with my daughter about why she needs to take all the plates to the sink, including her brothers, because that's not fair.

Once the kids are finally in their jammies and have their teeth brushed, we snuggle on the couch to read a book.

And then I have to convince them to actually go to bed, as if this isn't the same thing that we do every single night.

Now, once everybody is finally settled for the evening, I have exactly zero energy to do anything more than sit on the couch with my husband and watch one of the shows that we have on rotation.

But I'm too tired at this point to even make a decision about which one we should watch, right?

And that's a regular day without any other people added, like having friends over for dinner or having our small group.

I also didn't mention anything like errands or paying bills or dentist appointments or folding laundry or scrolling through my phone or keeping that Duolingo owl happy, right?

Now your day might may look similar to mine if you're also a working parent.

I saw a couple smiles from some of you, but more than likely it doesn't.

However, your days are likely just as full as mine are.

Yours might be filled with hours of commuting to and from work.

You might work 10 or 12 hour days in tech or in healthcare.

You might be a student and every spare moment of your day is filled with studying or reading or some sort of athletic team.

You might be struggling with your physical or mental health and it's hard to even get out of bed.

You might be balancing multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Regardless of the specific circumstances of each of our days, many of us have the same struggle.

My life is so busy that I don't have time to add another thing, even when that thing is God.

Now we have great intentions, don't we?

We say, I'll wake up early, I'll wake up before the sun gets up, I'll spend my entire lunch hour reading the Bible and praying, I'll read the whole Bible this year.

We make these grand declarations of how we're going to make God a priority in our lives.

But then what happens?

We stay up a little later than we intended because that last episode ended in a cliffhanger, and I really needed to watch just one more.

But then when our alarm goes off early the next morning, it feels unbearable to get up out of bed.

And so we say, okay, tomorrow instead.

And as we've been crafting this series and I've been studying for this sermon, I've been so fired up to bring to you this message this morning because God wants to meet with you.

And what's amazing is that He is accessible to us.

We have this book that's filled with stories of people who got to personally encounter God.

Now, these encounters were miraculous and they were amazing, and we're able to learn from them how God may want to meet with us also today.

So this morning, we're going to hear one story about Moses, who God used to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt.

This comes from the very beginning of Moses' story that we get to read in Exodus.

And to give you a little bit of background before we jump into our key passage for the day, the Israelites are enslaved in Egypt where they're being worked ruthlessly.

The midwives were commanded to kill any baby Hebrew boy that was born.

And when Pharaoh caught wind of two midwives who were secretly rescuing these babies, he commanded all the people to throw any baby boy that they found into the Nile River.

During this time, there was a young mom who decided to hide her baby as long as she could so that she could spare his life.

When she couldn't hide him any longer, she placed him in this basket and sent him down the river.

The daughter of Pharaoh found the baby and had compassion on this little Hebrew boy and kept him as her own, and she named him Moses.

Moses was trained and taught as an Egyptian, but he still knew that he was Hebrew.

One day after he had grown up, he saw an Egyptian man beating up a Hebrew man, and he killed the Egyptian man and hid him in the sand.

Once he realized that word was spreading about what he had done, he fled to a town called Midian.

At a well, he rescued the daughters of a priest who were tending their flocks from a group of shepherds who were trying to harm them.

Now the priest was pleased with this and gave Moses a home, and he gave him one of his daughters to marry.

Moses had a child with her and became a shepherd for his new family's flock.

During this time, the Israelites continued to be enslaved and continued crying out to God for help.

That was a quick recap of Exodus 1 and 2.

And Exodus 2 ends like this.

It says, God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Now the primary human character in the book of Exodus is Moses.

But the real story is the redemptive work of God in delivering Israel from slavery in Egypt, which was both for them in their lives here on earth and a foreshadowing of the redemptive work that Jesus would do to rescue humanity and bring us back to God's kingdom.

So let's turn to the scripture and we're gonna pick up our place in this narrative in Exodus 3.

You can open your Bible with me or read it on the screen.

It says, Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.

Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.

So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight.

Why the bush does not burn up?

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, Moses, Moses.

And Moses said, Here I am.

Do not come any closer, God said, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

At this Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

The home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

And now the cry of the Israelites have reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

So now go.

I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

And God said, I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you.

When you brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.

Moses said to God, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you.

And they asked me, What is his name?

Then what shall I tell them?

Moses said to God, God said to Moses, I am who I am.

This is what you are to say to the Israelites.

I am has sent me to you.

God also said to Moses, Say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.

This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

Church, this is the word of the Lord.

Many of us are familiar with this moment where Moses encountered God.

It's amazing and miraculous and unheard of.

And you might be thinking, where are we going with this?

Because we don't typically get such a clear spectacle from God in this way.

Now we're gonna go through this story again, but a little bit slower to see how God might be inviting us to encounter him in a similar way.

So, first one, now Moses was tending the flock.

Moses was going about his regular day, his regular life.

He wasn't doing anything special, he wasn't setting aside time to pray or to seek God, he was tending the flock, which was his job as a shepherd.

Moses had been here as a shepherd for 40 years at this point.

40 years of living in Midian and tending the flock day after day after day.

This was a regular day in Moses' life.

He wasn't expecting what he was going to encounter that day.

Verses two and three, Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.

So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight, why the bush doesn't burn up.

Now, in this wilderness that he's in, it wasn't uncommon for bushes to burn up.

Sometimes these types of bushes would literally spontaneously catch fire.

This was a common occurrence for the people who lived in this part of the world.

However, there was something different that Moses noticed.

The terrain was dry, so usually these bushes that caught fire would burn up quick.

We're familiar with this here in California, right?

We see those beautiful golden hills.

And if a spark hits them, it spreads extremely fast.

That's what these shepherds were used to see.

A bush would catch fire and it would burn up instantly.

But this was something different.

This bush was on fire and it wasn't burning up.

This was the strange part.

Moses takes notice of something different and strange in what he thought would be a regular day for him.

So back to the top of verse 2.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.

God was already there.

When Moses could see, what Moses could see was that the bush was on fire.

He saw something taking place in the physical world that drew his attention, but there was more to it than that, which was that God had shown up in that bush.

Verse 4, when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush.

When Moses turned in God's direction, that's when God called his name.

Moses had to notice and he had to turn his attention to God's presence.

God was already there.

Moses wasn't summoning him down from the heavens.

God showed up right there.

And when Moses turned his attention to notice God, that's when God spoke.

Verse 5, God said, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

Because God was in this place, it was different and it was set apart.

It was holy.

This removal of sandals was significant in the Israelite culture.

This removal of sandals signified three things.

First of all, it was a sign of humility.

They would remove their sandals to show that they were being humble to whoever's presence they were in.

Second, it was a common tradition for priests as they entered their place of worship to remove their sandals, to not bring in any dirt or what signified imperfection into the holy place of worship.

And lastly, it was an intentional act of taking away their personal comfort for the honor of the other.

Now let's contrast this a little bit with our American brand of following God.

American Christianity tends to be very personal and casual.

We often lack reverence for the holiness of God in an effort to not be too legalistic or bound by rules.

As Americans in general, we tend to not be a particularly humble nation.

And we're definitely, definitely unwilling to sacrifice any personal comfort for any reason.

Now this bleeds in right into how we enter the presence of God.

Let's take how we engage with church as an example.

Now, if we decide to come at all, we choose to stroll into church halfway through maybe the second song with our coffee in our hand.

We sigh a deep sigh when we're asked to stand up again to say hi to somebody next to us.

We barely sing along during worship, much less respond to the Lord by raising our hands or clapping.

We maybe think about joining a serving team, but only if that leader doesn't ask for too big of a commitment from us.

And then we leave our church to find a new one, to find somewhere to be more well-fed, or somewhere where we really feel the presence of God.

Now when we interact with church this way, we're missing something.

And we know it.

That's why we're going somewhere new to find God's presence.

But how often do we miss out on encountering God for the sake of our personal comfort or wanting to keep things casual?

How often are we missing out on encountering God in this space, God's presence for the sake of our personal comfort?

What if instead we treated this space like it was holy ground?

We see God show up first.

God's presence was already there, right in Moses' regular life.

God reveals himself to Moses and calls himself in verse 14.

He says, I am who I am.

When God showed up in a flame, he was giving revelation of who he was.

Often in Exodus, God shows up accompanied by fire as he's delivering and guiding and purifying his people.

And now he's telling Moses his name, which shows his character.

This I am can also be thought of as he who is present.

God was stepping onto the scene to be present with Moses.

We want God's presence, right?

We seek God's presence.

We say we want God's presence.

We go to church to find God's presence, but sometimes we miss that he is the one who is present.

He is already present with us.

We're seeking his presence, but we're missing that he is the one who is present.

We don't need to look for him because he's already here.

Moses responded to God's call, and he got to have this personal encounter with the Lord, the one who is present.

We also get to see that Moses not only encountered God, but also received his calling from God.

He would be the deliverer of God's people out of Egypt.

Now many of us in this room are constantly asking what our calling is.

We're convinced that it's tied to our vocation, but we find that that doesn't bring the fulfillment that we're looking for.

We try to find it in marriage or in having kids or in getting more education.

Moses was married.

He had at least one child at this point.

He had a career as a shepherd.

He had the best education that he could, being the son of the Pharaoh's daughter.

But these things weren't where his calling was found.

His calling was given in this encounter with God to deliver God's people out of Egypt.

But really, his calling was to be a picture of Jesus.

He would deliver the Israelites as Jesus would deliver the world.

If you jump way ahead in Story and see what happens at Passover.

The people spread lamb's blood across their door frames so that the angel of death would literally pass over their homes.

This delivered them from slavery in this beautiful picture of how the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Jesus, would eventually be shed to deliver us from death.

Moses' calling was to be a reflection of Jesus for the world.

His calling wasn't the task, though the task was incredibly important.

It wasn't his career because this calling had nothing to do with his vocation.

It wasn't his family, though they were along for the ride with him.

It wasn't his education, though God used every bit of education that he had.

It was to show the world what Jesus looked like.

Jesus says in Matthew 6.33, but seek first his kingdom, God's kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

When we seek God above all else, he gives us himself, he gives us his presence, and then he gives us even more.

He gives us our calling to reflect Jesus in the way that he has ordained for each of us.

Now you might be thinking, God hasn't shown up to me in any burning bushes.

And here in California, I would like him to not.

Thanks.

So how do I encounter him?

This is the miraculous part for us.

For Moses, the miraculous part was that the bush didn't burn up.

And here's what it is for us now.

We don't have to wait for God to reveal himself because he has already shown up.

He is already present.

This moment of God's presence showing up in that bush opened the door for more of his presence through the ages.

Later in this story of Moses delivering the Israelites, God had them set up a sanctuary or a tabernacle for his presence to travel with them.

Exodus 25.8 said, Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.

We see this word dwell again in the opening of the Gospel of John.

Jesus, called the Word in this passage, came to earth to dwell or tabernacle among the people.

John 1.14, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

God came even closer, he left that sanctuary to now be in physical contact with people.

Then later, when Jesus died, Scripture says this, Matthew 27, at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

This curtain was hung in the Jewish temple to separate the sinful people from the presence of the holy God, from this holy ground.

And when Jesus delivered us from death by his blood, that curtain was torn, opening up God's presence to all the people.

And then when Jesus was leaving earth to ascend to his heavenly throne, he sent the Spirit to reside in all people who follow him.

Once you believe in Jesus and accept his forgiveness, you have the Spirit of God dwelling or tabernacling in you.

Romans 8, 11, and if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you.

This means that everywhere we are is where God's presence is.

If we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us everywhere we go, the place where we are standing is holy ground.

Everywhere you are is set apart.

It's special, it's holy in God's presence.

God dwells within you.

So the one who is present is with you always.

The place where you are standing is holy ground.

So I want to take you back to that day in my life that I laid out at the beginning, the one that felt hurried and stressful and nonstop with no space to encounter God.

We're gonna take a look back to see what it can look like to encounter God in our regular, ordinary lives.

So we're gonna start from the beginning again, waking up with this little boy jumping on me.

I pray scripture over myself.

This is the day the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

As I flip those pancakes, I have worship music on.

And I'm toggling between giving direction to my kids and singing praise to God.

Sitting in my office, feeling the heaviness of my day, how much there is to do, but asking God to help me carry it.

That's something Carolyn said last week, that we can carry our lives together with God.

At work, I can know and rest in the truth that I am beloved even when my to-do list isn't done, even when my inbox isn't at zero, I am beloved to God.

At swim lessons, I can feel that sun on my skin, and I can take some deep breaths of fresh outside air and notice the God of creation all around me.

Arguing with my daughter, you didn't think I was gonna go here.

When you have two spicy, strong girls going head to head, the only thing that I have been able to do is to ask Jesus for help.

I pause, I close my eyes, literally mid-argument, and out loud pray, Jesus, I need your help.

Jesus, help me, have patience.

I recenter myself in Jesus.

My kids thought this was so weird at first.

They said, Mama, what are you doing?

And I said, Hold on, I need Jesus.

But now it's so common that they also pause.

She also pauses in all of her spicy strongness.

She waits for me to pray because she knows that when mama stops to pray, the spirit is gonna show up with the fruit of love and patience and self-control, and the rest of this conversation is gonna look different.

I can't conjure up those reactions on my own.

But the Spirit of God can do it in me.

And He does.

He shows up.

Reading bedtime stories, when I'm secretly hoping that they're gonna pick the shortest book, but instead they pick the longest book, I can sit and I enjoy these darling gifts from the Lord.

And I can silently thank him for these snuggles and for this love that they bring me, because I am confident that every bit of love that I get from them comes directly from him.

Those are a few ways that I encounter God in a regular day.

But here's a bonus, because I brought up church earlier.

So we're going back.

When I attend a church service, when I'm in this space, especially in worship, the posture of my heart is that the place where I am standing is holy ground.

I may not love the song, I might feel uncomfortable, but here's the thing: worship isn't about us.

Worship isn't about us.

The purpose of worship is to focus our attention on the Lord and to sing to him as scripture commands us to do.

And what we see from Moses and the bush is that God is already here.

And when we turn our attention toward him, we will encounter him.

We can metaphorically remove our sandals to set aside our own comfort to give the Lord the honor that he deserves.

So here's a simple recap for us.

First, God showed up where Moses already was.

Moses was in his regular life when he encountered God.

Second, you can ask, where has God placed me?

In this season, he has placed me as a mom of two little kids.

He's placed me as a pastor in the Silicon Valley.

He's placed me in my marriage and in my friendships.

He has placed me as a volunteer at my kids' school.

He's placed me in my small group.

Those places are holy ground.

Everywhere that I am, the place I am standing is holy ground because I have the spirit dwelling within me.

I can encounter God anywhere that I am.

Lastly, if you treat these places as holy, you will encounter God.

If I notice God's presence, the one who is present, I'll encounter him.

So here's a few ideas of how we can put these into practice.

Now, at first, these are going to be uncomfortable, but that's okay.

If you want to encounter God, you might have to take off your sandals and get a little uncomfortable.

First, start by noticing.

Just cast your gaze toward God.

This might feel hard or strange, but it's a practice that you can build up that gets easier over time.

Where do you see God working in your life?

Second, worship.

Both corporate in this space by singing and lifting your hands to respond to God in a community of people, and also in private throughout your day.

When you focus the words of your mouth on Him, your mind and your heart will follow.

Music is powerful.

Words are powerful.

Our minds and our hearts will follow what we have coming into our mind and what we have coming out of our mouth.

This leads us into scripture.

Write out scripture on sticky notes, put them around your house or your office.

I often put mine on my bathroom mirror and on the calendar in my kitchen.

When you're taking scripture into your mind, it will draw your attention to see God.

Breath prayers.

This one you might be less familiar with.

It's simply this: it's a prayer that is synced with your breath.

These prayers are a simple and tangible way to pray all throughout your day and bring your attention back to God.

It goes like this: you breathe in.

God, you are with me.

Help me to encounter you.

It's as simple as that.

Two little phrases bringing you back to your breath.

You can make them up from scripture or from a worship song.

And you just remember to pray that through your day.

And lastly, gratitude.

I know both religious and secular spaces talk so much about this, so I won't go too far into it.

You're all aware of some of the benefits of gratitude, but I will say this.

Every time I thank God for something, I am more aware of the one who is present in my life.

Every single time.

Every time I thank God for something, I'm more aware of Him.

If I want to notice God, I can start by finding what I'm grateful for because every good thing comes from Him.

These practices aren't about adding more to your full life, but about noticing God is already present within it.

God sees you, He remembers you, and you are beloved to Him.

He has brought Himself near so that you can encounter Him.

Just like Moses, we can really encounter this extraordinary God in our ordinary lives.

So as we close, I'm gonna end us with a promise from the Lord.

God says to Moses at the end of this Exodus passage, he says, I will be with you.

He didn't leave Moses alone in the calling he placed on him.

Instead, he promised his presence as the one who is present.

And Jesus echoes this to his disciples and to us centuries later.

He says, And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

God is present with us.

The one who is present continues to be with us.

And if we turn our attention toward Him, we will encounter God.

Let's pray.

God, thank you that your presence is available and accessible to us.

Thank you that your presence is near.

God, would you help us see you this morning?

Would you help us turn our gaze toward you and notice that you are already in this place?

Notice that you want to meet with us in this place.

God, would you draw us toward your presence?

Amen.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.comslash card.