Come A Little Closer - Damon Moore - August 30, 2026

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the City Place Church Podcast.

Please join me in a moment of prayer before we get started.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the person listening to this prayer.

I ask that you would help open their mind and their heart, and that you would speak directly to them through today's message.

In the name of your son, my brother, Jesus Christ, I pray.

Amen.

All right, if you're ready, say let's go.

Let's go.

We are gonna jump into God's Word today.

I'm so excited.

We already showed you and told you about some of the things coming up.

Just be prayerful.

Be prayerful about the group that, uh, you're gonna position yourself in.

Be prayerful about what the Lord will have you give on Give Sunday.

Uh, for those of you that are already committed, that's your launch day.

That's your time to, uh, fulfill those commitments and keep moving forward as we look forward to, uh, getting our, our, our own loca- our own location permanently.

And, uh, get yourself excited about the fall of what God's gonna do.

Like, your students are out of service today being ministered to in Sunday Vibes, and your kids are s- uh, getting ministered to.

God is up to something, and we wanna make sure that we are ready for Him to move.

Amen? Amen.

So I'm, I'm gonna tell you, uh, I'm gonna tell you, uh, the end of service before we get to the end.

Is that all right if I do that? 'Cause I want your heart to be postured.

At the end of service, the Lord is gonna give you and I an opportunity to spend some time with Him, okay? So I'm gonna ask that if you, um, if, if, if, if, if you are thinking about the next thing you're going to do today, you may miss what the Lord wants to do at the end of the service, okay? I'm gonna ask that if you can, silence your cell phone because the Lord...

It doesn't mean that the preaching is gonna be all of that.

What I'm saying is that I know that the Lord wants to give us a moment, okay? And I want our heart to be ready, because when we have that moment, at the beginning it may feel like, "Oh, what we may do?" Or it could be that moment where we just come a little bit closer to the Lord.

That's gonna be our focus today, that the Lord wants us to come a little closer.

We have this invitation where He's going, "Come on, come closer."

If you've been here over the last few weeks, we've been, uh, Sean actually kicked the thought off when she was talking about Zacchaeus, and, uh, she was talking about how Zacchaeus positioned himself, and he was watching, and he was waiting.

And then two weeks ago, we talked about how can we be positioned and how can we be postured to where God is ministering to us.

We've been in literally the first few verses of ex- uh, of, of Joshua chapter three, where Joshua is telling the people, "Sanctify yourselves because tomorrow the Lord wants to do wonders amongst you."

And he says, "As the Ark of God is going ahead of you, make sure that you keep your focus on where He's going because you've never been that way before."

We've literally settled in verse five, "Sanctify yourselves.

Consecrate yourselves, for the Lord wants to do wonders tomorrow."

And, and we define sanctification and, and that, that sanctify word as us literally being able to situate ourself, set ourself apart, and it's that holy place.

It's that sacred place where we realize that He is legitimate, and we bind ourselves to Him.

It's not just taking 21 days to pray, and then on day 22, like today, we go, "What's the next thing?" It's like, no, during those 21 days that I set myself to just focus on those sacred moments that God is bringing in front of me.

Do I recognize that He wants to minister to me? And am I leaving these 21 days committed to Him to where I'm never leaving Him? He said He'll never leave me, but if you're like me sometimes, how many of y'all have wanted to...

Like my grandpa used to say about his-- with the time he broke up with his grandmother, uh, my grandmother.

How many of y'all that sometimes you feel like you wanna quit Him? The reason why we wanna quit Him is because of the natural thing that we may be believing for, and it has nothing to do with the interaction He's trying to have with us.

And so Joshua's like, "Set yourself apart before we go into any of the promises of God so that we're bound to Him throughout this journey no matter what."

And so as I've been praying over the last few weeks, and we went from Joshua chapter 3, and then we s- positioned ourselves in Exodus chapter 33.

Joshua 3 · chapter mention Exodus 33 · chapter mention

God is having this conversation with Moses, and at the beginning of Exodus 33, God is like, "I'm not going anywhere with these stiff-necked people.

They have lost their focus on me.

They've been very disrespectful.

They're disobedient, and their faith is not leading them, their own flesh is."

And he's like, "Moses, I'm not going."

And Moses goes to God, and the Bible says in verse 11 that he is talking to God every single day like a friend talks to a friend face to face.

And he says, "God, if your presence doesn't go, don't even send us out because we're not going if you don't go."

And he starts saying things like, "God," like, "Your presence needs to go, and if your presence doesn't go, I won't go."

He says, "Have I found favor with you? God, if I found favor with you, teach me your ways so that I can know who you are."

He's having this real life conversation with God.

And so we spent the last two weeks in Exodus 33, and we realized that Exodus 33 reveals to us some of our heart postures and where we should be positioned, and we said this.

If you wanna take notes, great, otherwise, I'm just gonna go through them really, really fast.

It says this.

It says that I can be as close to God the Father as I choose to be.

I can be face to face with Him.

I can, I can be as close to a friend, realizing that He's still the creator of the world.

Like, I'm not gonna lose the fact that He is God, that He is creator, but I can a- approach Him and be as close to Him as I choose to be.

Like, the distance where God is is gonna remain l- short or long based on my pursuit of Him.

I choose.

My response.

Like, if God makes me mad, I choose to run from Him.

He's not running from me.

Like, even while we were yet sinners- Christ died for us.

Think about it.

It doesn't say, "While you were yet sinners," he was like, "Jesus, change of plans."

No.

No.

He's constantly going, "Come on home.

Come back."

Second thing is, is my spiritual growth doesn't end when a spiritual leader or community is, is leaving or changes.

The Bible says that Moses would go from the mountain and Joshua would stay.

Like, there's nothing that can separate us or should separate us from His love, unless we just get mad at God's people or a situation to go, "God, I want nothing to do with you."

No, that shouldn't dictate anything of how we pursue Him.

We said that at the end of the day, He is simply Lord.

Because he spoke to God, like, face to face, like a friend, but when you hear him speak, he's going, "But Lord, Lord, you said you would send somebody, but I don't know.

Lord, these are your people.

Lord, how will anyone know that we're called by you unless you show up, Lord?" And he's literally going, "I, I speak to you like a friend, but my speaking to you like a friend is not replaced with who you are to me."

Everybody turning all right? We said this, we said that we have permission to be as open with the Lord because we know Him.

Like, when we put in time to really get to know Him, I'm gonna be open and honest.

We said that His desire should be our delight.

Moses said, "If I found favor with you, please let me know so that I can know who you are and where you're moving."

So our heart should be, "God, I want you to, to be delighted in me.

God, I wanna know those times when I disappoint you.

God, I wanna know those times when something's heavy on your heart.

I wanna know what you're thinking about me."

We said that we want our heart to be postured so that God can teach us who He is and how He moves.

And then last, last Sunday, the church gave me negative feedback because they felt like I missed number seven.

So I figured I'd include number seven for those that missed it last week.

We said that God has called us to just be His steward.

I steward what's His.

He looks and he says, "God, at the end of the day, these are your people.

What you placed in my hand belongs to you."

See, there are postures of our heart that keep us before the Lord, even in the middle of busy, even in the middle of obstacles, even in the middle of life be lifin'.

At the end of the day, God, everything that I'm pursuing belongs to you.

But if I'm spending time with you, the things that I pursue, if it's a distraction, I need you to tell me- Yeah lest I become stiff-necked.

And then you're telling me you're not going with me there.

You, I, I hope we realize that there are places that God will not go.

Y'all are looking at me funny, right? God is not gonna sit in our sinful place.

God is not gonna be like, "You're doing a very good job with that struggle."

He's actually going, "Come to me.

Let me help you with the struggle."

He will actually grab us and pull us from it.

But holiness cannot sit in an atmosphere of sin.

Y'all are looking at me funny Now listen, listen.

At times we want God to bend His standards to our actions God is everywhere.

God is present.

But God will not bring down His standard to meet us- That's right when He's going, "Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer."

I feel like I stepped on somebody's feet right there.

Y'all are like, whew, holy hush.

So listen, He's calling us to come closer.

He's saying to come closer.

And there are things that God wants us to grab hold of So that He just continues to build us and grow us.

So this morning, we're gonna dive a little bit deeper into Exodus chapter 33, and then again, at the end of service, we'll have that moment with the Lord.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

Amen? Amen.

Let's pray.

Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for your Word.

We thank you that you are here.

God, we thank you that you are meeting us at the point of our need.

God, thank you that while we were yet sinners, you died for us, and God, you meet us there.

Now, God, you're calling us into those sacred moments where you are, and God, we wanna come.

God, we're not gonna ask you to lower your standards, but God, we're gonna run to you because we wanna get to know you.

God, we want to be close to you.

We desire to be close to you.

So God, I pray that our heart is postured to be so close Let us hear your voice today.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Exodus chapter 33.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

Exodus chapter 33, let's read some scripture.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

We're all caught up now.

It says this in verse 14, "And he said, 'My presence will go with you...'"

This is God speaking to Moses.

and I will give you rest.'

Then you said to him, 'If your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight, except you go with us? So we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.'

So the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do this thing that you have spoken, for you f- for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name.'

And he said, 'Please show me your glory.'

Then he said..."

This is the Lord speaking.

So Moses says, "Lord, show me your glory."

Then the Lord responds, "I will make all of my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

But he said, "You cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live."

And the Lord said, look at this, "Here is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock.

So shall it be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft on a rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.

Then I will make my ha- then I will take away my hand.

You shall see my back, but my face you shall not see."

Everybody look at verse 21 again.

"And the Lord said, 'Here is a place by me.

You shall stand on the rock.'"

This morning, our focus is Come a Little Closer.

Moses asked God, after everything that he was desiring to get clarity on, he just kept asking.

I don't know about you, but there are times when I ask God for one thing, and then I may be more of a retreat status because now I've gotta work out that thing.

But Moses goes, "God, will you come with us?" "Yes, I'll go."

"God, am I delighting in you?" "Yes, I am."

"God, can I know your ways?" "I'll tell you my ways."

"Now God, I wanna see a place where not too many people may ask to see."

Okay.

Like, we will be as close to God as we choose to be, and at the end of last service, I said that we will be as close to God as God chases us or takes us t- Like, there is not an opportu- Like, there is no time where God's gonna be like, "Ha, no.

Uh-uh.

Uh-uh.

It's Tuesday.

Uh-uh, it's Tuesday.

I'm working over in Deland.

I, I'll see you at 7:00."

No.

He's like, "Keep coming."

Yeah.

Come on.

And then watch.

Moses asked for His glory, and watch how God begins to des- describe Himself.

"I am compassionate."

Like he starts revealing himself as Moses is asking for his glory.

So that means we've got to find out what Moses was really asking for.

Yeah.

Because if we read about it, we can say, 'cause I've been to church for a long time, we can say that the glory of the Lord failed today.

Is it that the glory of the Lord failed, or we could feel his tangible presence? So we've got to find out as Moses is going, "God, show me this.

God, don't leave us here.

God, how will people know?" And God's like, "I'll do this, I'll do this, I'll do this."

And Moses is like, "So one more question.

Show me your glory."

Yeah.

We've gotta find out exactly what he was asking for, because then if God will do it for Moses, God will do it for us.

Yes.

Y'all turning all right? Yes.

So we said this last week, that one of the postures of our heart, and I want you to write this down, is that God's presence is what matters to me.

Yes.

Like his presence is what matters to me.

Like we need his presence every day of our life.

Yes.

I need his direction.

I need his guidance.

I need to know that he's in the room I don't wanna do anything else by myself.

If you're like me, I spent years doing it by myself.

It gets fatiguing.

I get mad at God, and God's going, "Damon, I'm not in that sin habit.

You want me to be.

I am not in that.

I'm here.

You run to that when you should be coming to me.

Damon, I am not in that decision.

You want me to be.

I am here.

Your blessing is here.

My presence is here.

My provision is here, but you're there."

Keep coming.

Yeah.

Find me right here.

Yeah.

Don't be fearful to come here.

It will cost you time, yes.

It will cost you prayer, yes.

It will cost you worship, yes.

You will have to study scripture, yes.

It will convict you, yes.

You have to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, yes.

But Damon, I am not there, I am here.

Yeah.

My presence He's with you, and it should matter most to you That's what Moses is saying.

I looked at the word glory because he says in verse 18, he's like, "Lord, show me your glory."

We sing about the glory.

King of glory fill this place.

But do we know what we're asking for? Let's look at what Moses...

This is literally, it means Chabad.

That's the, that, that's the word.

Chabad, and it means glory, honor, glorious, abundance, riches, splendor, dignity, reputation, and reverence.

Like, he's like, "Reveal to me your honor.

Reveal to me your splendor.

Reveal to me your reputation."

Think about it.

God is the creator of the world.

The people of Israel were in bondage for 400 years.

There are stories, there are things that God has done that Moses has no clue about.

And Moses is like, "What don't I know?" Like, "What don't I know about you? Just so that I don't get stuck in how you're revealing myself in this moment, in this situation.

What don't I know?" Have you ever asked God what don't you know? Have you ever asked God to reveal more of Him that you don't know? Yeah.

You know that there are places that we haven't even read about.

If you read scripture, it says this: that Jesus did so, so many more miracles when He rose from the grave that they couldn't even write them all down Which ones? Like, which ones haven't we heard about but they know about? Like, like God, who, who, what part of you haven't I discovered yet? So that when we're reading the scriptures and we're in books like Lamentations, and we skip, "And thee begot thou And, and, and, and Josephus begot Isabella.

And we go, "Oh, I don't need to read that."

But then you get to like Chronicles, and it says, "And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers."

And that's in the middle of all the names.

What is it that we haven't discovered about Him yet? There's something in His Word that He wants to reveal in the pages that we sometimes skip over.

Yeah.

And Moses is like, "Show me what I don't know."

What's your reputation like? What's on your heart today? Yeah.

I wanna see what others may not choose to see Y'all all right? I love God's word so much.

I get so excited.

So we said this, that our heart has to express, "I will come as far as you, Lord, will allow me.

If you're leading me and you're guiding me, I will go I'll go.

Y'all, I wrote this and I got convicted, so I'm just gonna read it to you the way I got convicted.

If God is giving you and I access to the places where others choose not to go, will you go? If God is giving us access to His presence, will we go? Think about that Will we go? Or are we comfortable? And I, I, look, y'all, y'all look, I realize that, that He's always presenting opportunities.

Yeah.

What? Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Jesus, the Bible says, is walking on water in the middle of a storm, and the disciples are on the boat trying to get to the other side, and the boat is rocking.

And then, and then they're looking, "Who's that?" And this is what it says.

It says that Peter says, "Jesus, is that you?" In the middle of a storm while the boat is rocking.

And Jesus is like, "Yes."

And then he says this, "If it's you, let me come to you."

Not, "Hurry up.

Jesus, come here.

We...

Hey, Jesus, the boat's rocking."

No, "Jesus, you're there in the middle of the storm, and if you need me to come to you- Yeah, that's good let me know that you're gonna take me there."

Yeah.

Like, we can be as close to God in the middle of the loss- Yeah in the middle of the mental illness- Yeah in the middle of the pain, in the middle of the obstacles, if we choose to be.

I feel like preaching up here.

That's old school, by the way.

I feel like preaching.

I'm like, "Pastor, you're already preaching.

Why you saying you feel like preaching?" Right? So look, I feel a little nudge.

I pray that we get this.

I feel like the Lord's like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, we gonna get some place today."

Hallelujah.

That's really what, really what it means.

I feel like the Lord's preaching to me and preaching to you as we're preaching this morning.

Yes, Lord.

Like, we choose whether we retreat.

Peter says, "If it's you in the middle of the storm, I'm coming."

And watch this.

It says that the joker gets out of the boat.

He leaves the other 11.

Amen.

They all had the same opportunity.

Yep.

That's good.

One is sensitive.

One is sensitive.

"Oh, if you're in the storm, and you need me to walk to you in the middle of the storm, I'm not just going, 'The boat's rocking.

Is that Jesus? See if it's Him.

Oh, no.

If that's Jesus, shouldn't we go there?'" Come to me.

Jesus, come to me.

Jesus, come to me.

You see all Hades is breaking loose.

Jesus, come to me.

Actually, what if we go to Him? That's good.

I know I can't figure it out.

I know I got the doctor's appointment on Tuesday.

I know I got the treatments.

I know we got this disappointment.

I know I lost this family member right here.

But what if I don't stay right here? What if I go to Him in the middle of the tears, in the middle of the crying, while I'm dealing with depression, while I've got the pain in my body like the woman with the issue of blood? She didn't just sit there.

She said, "If I can just get to Him and touch His hem, I know that man's gonna do something for me."

He gets out of the boat, and this is where my glass half empty people take this story.

He starts walking, and the Bible says he looks at the storm and begins to sink.

And some people are like, "But he began to sink.

The joker walked on water."

Come on.

Began to sink and didn't drown.

That's right.

He called out to the same person- All right now that told him to come- That's right now in the middle of the storm.

He goes, "Jesus," and watch this.

Oh, I was reading this last night.

Watch this.

I don't know how far he walked.

Jesus was in the middle.

The boat was rocking.

He gets off the boat.

He starts walking towards Jesus.

Looks at the storm, "Jesus, help."

And the Bible says Jesus is like, "Yo, bro, I got you."

Here's the part.

Show me your glory.

Yeah.

How far, this is, these the type of conversations I have with Jesus.

How far did Peter walk? Yeah.

Because when you read the story, it looked like this.

Help me When you read the story, we can read it like, "And one, two, three," No, we don't know.

All we know- Yeah is that that joker walked on water.

Mm-hmm.

And all we know, that by, by the time he started to sink, Jesus was like, "Yo, bro, I got you."

Yeah.

So, draw near to God.

Yeah.

Yeah, come on.

And He draws near to me.

Come on.

That's right.

So if He's in the middle, and I take a step, Jesus is like, "Watch this.

Here."

"Peter, come to Me."

We think He's standing still.

"Peter, come to Me.

Peter, come to Me."

"Jesus, help."

"Bro, I'm here with you."

I'm not in the middle 'cause you not on the boat.

Come on.

All right now.

Come on.

I want somebody.

Okay.

Okay, if we don't get to this exercise at the end- next Sunday, we'll get to the exercise Watch, watch.

I got, I got, I got another one.

I got another story.

I got another story.

The Bible says, look, in Mark chapter 10, that Jesus is walking through the town, and it says that a rich young ruler comes running over to Jesus.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

"Jesus, what do I have to do for eternal life?" And Jesus is like, "First of all, why you calling me good teacher? Break it down why, why you feel that way."

And, and Jesus is like, "Okay, so let me ask you a couple questions.

How you doing with the law? How you doing with the commandments?" "Jesus, just so you know, I've kept them all."

And Jesus is like, "Okay, bro, well..."

I don't, I don't think Jesus was bro-ing, I'm not gonna lie.

But, but, but hey, hey.

My mama gonna get me.

She watch this and she be like, "You know Jesus probably wasn't bro-ing, Damon.

You keep my Jesus like he is."

My mama, my mama will correct me to this day.

And you know what I do? "Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am."

'Cause y'all will see my mom sitting on the front row one day, she'll jack me up still.

The Lord will judge her for that, though.

Come on, I'm a grown, I'm a grown man.

I'm a grown man.

I'm a grown man.

She not gonna spank me.

No, she not.

I don't know why we on a tangent.

We not on a tangent.

Everybody say, "Locked in to the word."

Locked in.

Lock in, lock in, lock in.

So look, look, look, look.

Listen, listen.

What must I do? Jesus says, "Oh, you know what? One thing.

Sell everything you got, give it to the poor."

Watch this, watch this.

"Chase after me."

Like, "Watch me, and your life will be eternal and not natural."

This is what it says.

It says that the man goes, "Can't do it.

I, I, I wanted the thought of, of just interacting with you, but I didn't want the commitment."

My God.

"I, I, I just need the, I walk with Jesus.

I know God, but I'm not sacrificing for you."

That's the posture of our heart so often.

I'm gonna do these two things.

I'm gonna be a Christian.

But you're not gonna ask me to serve, and you're not gonna ask me to give, because at that point, it's just you by yourself.

And so again, we try to ask God to lower his standards because we doing him a favor.

No.

The Bible says, watch now, the Bible says that the man got sad because Jesus said, "Leave all the unnatural and follow me first by your spirit, and then your eternal reward will never be taken."

It says that the man left depressed because, watch now, he had great possessions.

You and I have access to go to places that other people choose not to go.

Imagine Jesus one-on-one going, "You wanna come with me? I got 12.

The myth- the movement's growing, but I'm asking you.

Come on."

Imagine him going, "Here's a jersey right here."

And you going, "You know what? I wanted the jersey, but I don't want the commitment.

You know what? I'd rather be a fan than a player."

So here's the second question the Lord asked me.

I'm just gonna pass it on to you.

Why do we settle for the natural over real God encounters that will mark us forever? Why do we settle for the natural over real God encounters? Better markets forever.

Write this down.

Write this down.

If his presence is what matters Then I have to know him, watch now, in this moment of life.

I have to know him in this moment of life.

I cannot take for granted of his response yesterday.

I cannot take for granted of a move of God that I experienced a month ago.

I c- I c- I can't, I can't go over my youth group time when I encountered the Holy Spirit.

I can't live on that bread.

I can't, I can't live on yesterday's devotional.

Yeah.

I cannot live on someone else's preaching Please don't let City Places messages or the other podcasts you may listen to be your source of God's voice Please, because there is a day, hear me everybody, there is a day where the heat will be turned up and our Christian walk will be tested And you and I are gonna have to know for ourselves, and not because Pastor said, that He is the Lord of all lords and the Savior of the world There is a time that is here where the God of one religion is being blended with your Jesus, and they all sound the same We can choose stale bread.

We can choose to go to places that others will choose not to go Everybody good? Write this down.

That means that our Christian walk is a faith walk Christian walk is a faith walk I'm not gonna see everything.

I'm not gonna know everything.

But if I spend time with Him, I will know Him.

Watch now, I'm back to Joshua, because I have consecrated these times that I have with the Lord as holy, and I'm gonna be like Moses.

Reveal yourself to me, give me clarity here, but I wanna see the part of you that others don't even ask you about I am not gonna stay stagnant.

I am not gonna let life dictim- dictate to me.

I'm not gonna do some sort of religious routine.

I am gonna walk as close to you as you will allow and wherever you wanna take me.

It's a walk of faith It's a walk of faith.

Hebrews says this in verse 11, y'all look-- I mean, chapter 11.

Y'all getting something this morning? Are we getting some things that we will apply? Hebrews 11 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for.

It's the evidence of things not seen."

And then it goes into testimony service.

It says, "For by it, the elders obtain a good testimony."

By faith, we understand, we believe that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.

John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

And the same was in the beginning with Him."

Yeah.

Like, we have rooted ourselves that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were there at the beginning.

Yes.

The triune God, there at the beginning.

No one will replace that.

Yeah.

It's by faith though that I root that.

And so I consecrate myself.

I bind myself to that so that my faith says I'm not coming out when the world starts telling me that there's more than one way to heaven.

Yes.

All right now.

I'm not bending.

I'm not bending, and I will not, I will not accept I will not be tolerant because you believe that there's five ways.

Won't do it.

We're not gonna argue.

Yeah.

We're not gonna argue.

I'm not gonna s- cuss, fuss, square and fight and all that sort of stuff.

I'm not doing that.

But what I will do is I'll just say, "Hey, can I show you a little something? And can I give you the good testimony of what He did for me?" It says this in verse six, "But without faith it is impossible to please him.

For he who," watch now, "who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him."

The reward is not just the natural, everybody.

That's right.

That means that if I'm coming to him, that he's like, "You found me."

Yeah.

Like, you took the time to go, "Can you s- can I see your glory?" Yeah.

And since you took the time, going back to, to Exodus, guess what? I got a place near me.

Y'all, can y'all imagine that? Like, think about the magnitude of that conversation.

The, the God of the universe could've been like, "Let's talk right here."

Mm-hmm.

But instead he's like, "Come with me to this mountain.

I got a place right by me."

Yeah.

The God who holds the world in his hands makes it so practical.

Come close.

Come close.

I got a spot for you right beside me.

Did y'all catch that? Yeah.

He holds it in his hands, and he goes, "Let me make it so personal for you.

Come right here."

I love the way God did it, "And I got a little spot for you.

I'm gonna cover you with my hand."

Y'all, this is mind-blowing, that because I'm not staying on one side, it becomes so personal.

He's like, "Guess what? I'm gonna use my hand to cov-" He's revealing himself So when Moses talks about the hand of God, the joker saw it Y'all looking at me funny.

Y'all, the Word of God is so alive We'll just saturate.

We realize that God is not far from us.

Yes.

I know we read about the legends in scripture, but God's so available to us.

It's just that if you're like me, at times, you feel like it's work.

Mm-hmm.

It's not! It's relationship.

It is not work for me to talk to my wife.

It was at first 'cause she was playing hard to get, boy.

Let me tell y'all.

Whoo, Taisha.

No, listen.

She's not here.

No, but listen, listen.

At the beginning of any friendship, there's kind of like that tiptoe.

But once you get to the place to where the conversation starts to roll, it moves, watch, from just an acquaintance to a friend, and then it moves from if you're dating or you go into a marriage relationship, it moves from that relationship to a spouse.

And then the minute you say, "I do," it unlocks the door for intimacy.

And after you get to the intimacy, and you're praying and believing, it begins to build legacy for your home.

And the conversation doesn't stop there.

And there's new discoveries at every age of your family and your friends.

It's the same way with the Father.

But how often do we just stay in one moment and don't pursue Him in that way? Write this down God desires simply to reveal Himself to you It's His desire to simply reveal Himself to you.

It is His desire to reveal Himself to you.

I'm gonna say it over and over again.

It's God's desire to reveal himself to you He wants to do it He's gonna have you come He's gonna have you move from where you are.

He may meet you where you are.

Come on, I'm bringing you from that situation.

But then he's like, "Come with me.

Come on, keep coming.

Let me show you more about me."

And in fact, when you wake up in the morning, I got a place at 7:30 right here for you.

Or you're driving in your car, and he's like, "Guess what? You're my co-pilot."

Or at lunchtime, what if we didn't make it just, "Father, bless this food"? What if we just sit, ponder, and say, "Lord, I know you're here.

Where can I find you during my lunchtime?" I know it seems so elementary But he's there.

What if we acknowledge and see what he may want to say or may wanna do? All we have to do is step closer.

That's all we have to do, is step closer Write that down, then you're blank.

All we have to do is step closer Last, last blank and then we're gonna go into our exercise and we're gonna wrap up service.

Write this down.

If growing our closeness feels like work Our approach is wrong If growing our closeness feels like work, our approach is wrong If growing our closeness feels like work, our approach is wrong.

Psalms 24, I just want you to listen to this.

This is David having a conversation.

He says this in verse one: "The earth is the Lord's and its, and all its fullness.

The world and those who dwell therein.

For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Who may ascend to the hill of our Lord? And who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who is not lifted up by his soul, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully."

That means our attitude and our heart's right.

We're not trying to, to just sit in sin issues or apathy, or we don't dislike God, or our heart condition is blocking the clarity of his presence.

Like, we're just wrestling and, and we're just settling in humility, dependence on God, and repentance.

Verse five: "He shall be, he shall receive blessing from the Lord in righteousness, from the God of his salvation.

This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors."

Natural things lift, get out of the way.

"And the King of glory shall come in.

Who is the King of glory?" Now David's going, "This is what I've understand him to be.

He is the Lord, strong and mighty.

He is the Lord, mighty in battle."

He's like, "Natural things, lift up your heads, all ye gates.

Lift up, you everlasting doors, and let the King of glory, he will come in.

Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts.

He is the King of glory."

He's like, "Natural things, get out of the way so that the King of glory can come in."

The way we go higher onto a mountain and stand on a rock is we go, "God, I need you.

God, the things that's distracting me-" I don't want anything to do with it.

I'm coming after you.

So here's our exercise.

Because if we've been approaching wrong, we wanna approach in faith and humility.

We wanna believe that He is, that He is your provider, He is God all by Himself, He is Yahweh, He is Jehovah Nissi, He is Jehovah Rapha the healer, He is the Lord that is there, Jehovah Shammah, He is the Lord our righteousness, He is the Lord who sanctifies, He is Elohim, He is God, He is Shalom our peace.

Like, when we approach Him, we believe because He's revealed Himself to us.

We approach the right way by going, "God, you reward me as I seek you."

Like, my pursuit of you is not some sort of a dead end.

I'm not going to a street only to find the sign was like, "Hey, turn back around."

No, you're there And it's your desire for a family relationship, not just religious.

So here's what we're gonna do, because God's calling us a little closer.

So on your notes, there's a little place where it says just write a letter to God.

Write a letter to God.

And this is where I say it might feel a little awkward, like, "Oh man, write a letter, I don't know what I'm gonna say."

But I want us to take the next two and a half minutes to three minutes, and I want us to start a conversation with the Lord.

Lord, you told me that I'm supposed to be leading these people, but you haven't told me who I'm taking.

Lord, show me your glory.

Lord, let me know that I've found favor with you.

Moses is having this conversation with God And so I want you to just have this moment with God where you start writing God a letter.

Tell Him whatever's on your heart.

Start the conversation, and then throughout this week, continue it.

You ready? Go.

Father, bless our time as we communicate with you Thanks for tuning in.

We hope that you've been encouraged by today's message.

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Enjoy the rest of your day.