What would you do if God is in the room | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from ast church. We hope this message

will light up your day today. I will not reveal the word yet,

but I will start with a question. Okay, So could I get the

first slide up? What would you do if God is in the room?

What would you do if God is in the room? So, if Jesus

is sitting next to you, how would you behave today? What would you

be speaking, how would you be using your phone? How would your thought

process be in terms of it? So, how would you answer this question?

It's a very it's a very important question because right it will really dictate

the way in how we perceive God. Okay, so any thoughts before I

go further? What would you do if God is in the room? What

would you do? Frustrate and worship speechless? Don't seem huh stop doing something?

Feel unnuady? All right? So my second question is who said God

is not in the room? Who said God is not in the room?

Right? Most of the times our theology is wrong. You know, we

wanted to say we want to invite your presence the songs we sing sometimes,

right, we want to invite God's presence. But then now I was actually

thinking, why do I have to invite God's presence? God is already here.

God, he is here. And sometimes, right, we think the

more powerful our worship, the more we will experience, the more that of

God's presence will come into this place. But it is not about God's presence

coming into this place. It is more about us entering into God's presence.

So that's why this morning, God is already here. He is already here.

Have we entered into His presence? The time of worship and the choice

of songs. It's for us to prepare ourselves to enter into God's presence.

It is not to invite the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is already here.

He's already here in this room, you know. And that's why when

this world was dropped into me, I was like, Hey, why am

I drained? Although the presence of God is all around me, I'm still

drained because am I actively participating in the presence of God? Am I acknowledging

that He's God? And that is the question, right that we want to

tackle today. What would you do if God is in the room? And

it's not if what would you do since God is in the room? What

would you do? Since God is in the room. Okay, so the

title for today's message is next line, be present. God's presence is already

here. The thing is for us. We have to be present. We

have to be present. But most of the times we focus on the past

or we are worried about the future, and because of that, we are

never in the presence of God. You know, we are, we are

probably here, we could be in the room. Why is it that when

you if you have attended different church camps or services, you have attended church

services and stuff like that. Why is it right? Some people receive so

much from God, so blessed by God, and some people don't although they

are attending the same service, you know, or if you go to it.

I don't want to be so directly. If you go to a gym,

few people go to the same gym, but different people experience different Why

why just being in the presence of the gym. There's nothing being in the

presence of the gym, there's nothing to you. You know, I signed

up the gym one year ago. I think next year I will Next year

I will start going. You know. Some people say that signing up being

part of it does not mean anything if you are not present, so same

thing you're for me. I've been in church I think since I was born.

Yeah, I mean I grew up in a Christian home stuff like that.

So I've been in church. But it does not matter how long I

have been in church. The thing is have I been present in the presence

of God? You know that? That is the question because if we are

not, then we are wasting our time. Same way you're wasting your gym

membership. You know you're paying it, you are probably just going there some

and sometimes right the gym that I used to go to, I don't know.

I think it's like a vicious cycle. And you go there and then

they self soft drinks. I'm like, this is like a trap. You

go work out, you will lose a hundred calorie, then you drink two

hundred calories, so you are like perpetually stuck in It's like a vicious cycle,

you know. But do we actively participate in the presence of God?

Okay, so what does it say about God's presence? God's presence? So

we use it very cliche. That's why I was saying this topic. I

am not a theologian and I am not pretending to be. This is purely

from my own understanding and my interpretation of it. Okay, but that's why

I was that A A lot of times I hear Wow, I felt the

presence of God. Wow, this church has the presence of God. Well,

this speaker has the presence of God. This person worship lead God the

presence of God. It feels like we are the ones responsible on bringing the

presence of God. Do we think we are that powerful to bring the presence

of God. God's presence is already here. It is whether we want to

step into it, you know. So let me go to the next line

Psalms one hundred and thirty nine. Where can I go from your spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you

are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are

there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost

parts of the sea, even there your hands shall lead me, and your

right hand shall hold me. There is nowhere you can escape from the presence

of God, which brings us back to the question what would you do if

God is in the room. That's why he is here. There is nowhere

that you can go that you will escape His presence, and sometimes we forget

it. We forget it and we do not acknowledge it, you know.

And because of that, that determines how we live our lives. And I'm

speaking to me in terms of it, right, and I pray that again,

because this is something that is applicable to me, I'm saying that,

I pray that God will speak to you in your situation, in your life

in terms of how this is applicable to you as well. Okay um.

And then next verse John fourteen. So this verse I also mentioned it last

Sunday. I am telling you these things now that while I am still with

you, but when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative, that is

the Holy Spirit, he will teach you everything and he will remind you of

everything I have told you. I am leaving you with a gift peace of

mind and heart. And the peace that I give is a gift the world

cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. So, if you have

accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, guess what God's presence is

not only outside and everywhere, He's also in you. And when he's in

you. He gives you peace. He gives you the peace of mind and

heart, and gives you a gift that the world cannot give. And sometimes,

right, what why do we know that we have this kind of gift?

The worst thing that can happen for a gift is somebody gives you a

gift and you forget about it, you know, like sometimes, right,

how many of life you would like to do online shopping? You like to

do online shopping like anytime free you just add to cart checkout, you know,

the kind of thing. So it happened before, right, I know,

like do online shopping and stuff like that. So I had to cart

check out. Then the pustil come, I just put it one side and

stuff after the walter, Hey what do you buy? You know? And

then I forget about it and then open it like sometime down the road.

And then but the thing is I missed out on what that gift had.

You know, I'm trying to draw peril that God has already given us a

gift. But unless we receive it, we open it, we use it,

it remains but a gift, you know. And this is what it

says. Okay, and next verse Romans eight. But if you are not

controlled by your sinful nature, you are controlled by the spirit. If you

have the gift, if you have the spirit of God living in you.

And remember that those that do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them

do not belong to Him at all. So again this verse it ties to

the John fourteen before. Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord

and Savior has the Spirit of God living in them. But if those who

have not, they do not have the Spirit of God living in us.

And today, if you are here and you have yet to accept or believe

in Jesus, you're probably wondering who is he? Someone has invited you.

Don't worry. There will be an opportunity to get to know him. And

I pray that Jesus will reveal himself to you even through the couse of this

message as well. All right, but for those of us who are believers

in Christ, it is very clear that the Spirit of God is in us.

Do you believe that it's in there? But if you don't tap it,

you don't you're not tapped into the spirit, then it is you are

missing out on what God has for you. Okay, And so there is

there is a quote that I wanted to share. We cannot attain the presence

of God. No matter how we worship, no matter what kind of songs

we you, we cannot attain the presence of God. We are already totally

in the presence of God. What's missing is the awareness. Are we aware

of the presence of God? That's why I'm asking you, how would you

live your life? Not if God? But since God is in the room,

how will we live our life? Since God is in the room,

we have to be aware of him. Okay, It's just like if you're

in a crowd. You're in a crowd of people and you don't know anybody.

Although you are in a crowd, you can feel alone. Same thing.

You could be in the church today and feel discouraged, down despair because

you are not aware of God. It's not that God's presence is not here,

is that we are not aware of his presence. And when we are

not aware of His presence, that's when we miss out on what God has

in store for us. Man, But I also understand how many of us

have this question? Where is God? Have you asked this question before?

If you say God is omnipresent, he is everywhere. He is here,

he is there, he is everywhere. There is no way I can escape

from him. Why do we sometimes feel like this? Where is God?

An? Yeah, we all felt like this before. You have a situation

you have, you're down, you're in despair, and then we're asking where

is God? Because we don't feel God, you know? And sometimes right,

we are so much more into our feelings than the truth. So what

does it mean feelings? If I got goose bumps, Wow, then the

presence of God is real, you know. But there are a few reasons.

This is not exhaustive, but there could be a few reasons why we

have this question in our hearts. And it's not wrong. All of us

go through these questions. Okay, so let me take you through a few

verses some study too. When I refuse to confess my sin, my body

wasted away, and I groaned all day long, day and night. Your

hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the

summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you, and stop

hiding trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, I will confess

my rebellion to the Lord, and you forgave me and all my guilt is

gone. This is most likely written by David, and he was a man

after God's own heart, and he couldn't bear to be away from God's presence.

You know. But even him, why he felt this way? It

is because of sin. Have you felt guilt before? How does guilt feel?

Guilt feels exactly like verse three and four. It will drain your body.

Your body will feel wasted, You will not feel like God is there,

and in fact, you will want to run away from God. You

know you will feel that way. And that is sin. Sin, the

sin in our lives, whether we have done it intentionally unintentionally right, it

can draw us away from God, and we try to fix sin on our

own. Sometimes we say that after I sin, I get my life right,

then I will come back to God. I think we got it the

wrong way. We come and submit and ask God for forgiveness, and then

he will restore us, because he says, here, I will confess my

rebellion to the Lord, and you forgive me. All my guilt is gone.

When your guilt is gone, you have freedom and liberty. When you

have freedom, freedom and liberty, that's when you've experienced the presence of God

in all is fullness. You know when Jesus was on the cross, My

God, why have you forsaken me? What was hindering Jesus from the presence

of God The sin of man. And that's why we cannot allow sin to

fester in our lives. You say, God, I ask for your forgiveness.

It's a daily act of repentance. And that is when guilt is gone

and shame is gone. It's because he lives I can face tomorrow, and

that's how we can experience the presence of God. Okay, So first one

is sin. Second one okay, this is a story from Joshua chapter seven.

So this is after they conquered Jericho. Oh, they were on a

roll. Basically, nothing can stop the Israelites. They were on a roll.

Okay, but if you look here, a man named Aichen had stolen

some of these dedicated things. So the Lord was very angry with the Israelites.

Eichen was the son of a Kami, a descendant of Zimri's son of

Zarah, and of the tribe of Judah. So approximately three thousand warriors were

sent. So I cut out a few verses, but essentially right. This

was it's a walk in the park. Joshua didn't have to send his full

army. He said, there's a small faction. It's going to be easy.

But they were whipped. They were whipped. Why because they were not

walking in God's presence. They chose to walk in sin instead of the presence

of God. And that was achan. And because of that the Israelites they

lost. And after that they repented, and then the God gave them victory.

Okay, next one second, fear So this is from Psalm chapter ten

again, right, the book of Psalms. There is some Psalms. Right,

it's very depressing. Yeah, when you read it right, it's like

lamentations. It's like it's like, man, are you like praising God or

complaining or what you know? But he says, here, Psalm stand,

Oh Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide

when I'm in trouble? How many of us felt this way? God?

Where are you? Where are you? You know? The wicked arrogantly hung

down the poor. Let them be in the evil. They plan for others

for they brag about their evil desires. They praise the greedy and curse the

Lord. The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think

that God is there, and when we are going through difficult times, we

think that God is not with us. That is not the case, because

if you read subsequent verses right, you can see that David still acknowledges God

and he knows that God will show up. But he was very aware of

the presence of God. He was very open and transparent. Who was David

writing this too to God? You will only write this to God if you

are aware of God's presence. So he didn't go to the Mama and then

complain to everybody else, you know. So if we got any despair discouragement,

we have to bring it to God because in that way that we are

aware of His presence, and only He can do that work within us.

He can sustain us. Right next line, and this is the third point,

right. Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them,

rust destroy them, and where thieves break in and steal. Stall your

treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy thieves. Do not break

in and steal Wherever your treasure is there, or desires of your heart will

also be. No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one

and love the other. You will be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. So if money is

the only thing that requires us to be happy, why is there still so

much of depression in the world. The amount of wealth in the world,

the amount of billionaires and millionaires in the world has been the highest in history

right now, but so has so is depression. So is suicide, so

is discouragement, so our wares. So money is the love of money is

the root of all evil. And when we focus on money, right,

we cannot serve two masters. Are we aware of the presence of God and

doing what he wants us to do? Or are we succumbing to the greed

and last of the flesh? You cannot have both, that is very clear.

So these are the three possible reasons why we may not feel the presence

of God. One is sin, another one is fear and anxiety, and

another thing is priorities. Have our priorities been right? Are we seeking God

for who he is? All? Right? So the next light? Then,

how then do we present be present in God's presence? So we know

right that God is everywhere. He's here, he's there, He's everywhere,

but sometimes we feel that he's not around. And there are certain reasons why

we feel that he's not around. But now we want to say that God,

I want to experience you every day. Okay, so how do we

do this? Next night? Mark Chapter one? Put God first? So

we take an example from Jesus. I tell you, have you ever wondered

if Jesus is God? Why did God have to go and seek God early

in the morning. There a thought, but the fact that he did shows

that it is important put God first in everything, even like they were saying,

right, even in the mundane things. For example, I just practiced

it to Dayla. When you're brushing your teeth, they God, thank you

love for this morning. You just incorporated into your mundane things that you do

every day, you know, like when you are ironing your shirt, thank

you God for today. You know, just by being aware that He is

there. He is God, You are with me. You have given me

a new day. That's what Jesus did before he did anything. Before they

break The next morning, Jesus got up went out to an isolated place to

pray. Later, Simon and the others went out to find him. When

they found him, they said, everyone is looking for you. Okay,

for us, we do it the other way around. Everyone is looking for

me. I have to answer everyone first, my WhatsApp, my text my

emails, my kids, and then if I got time, Jesus, Oh

God, But Jesus showed us the way. The best way to be aware

of God's presence is to put him first. Seek him first, Okay.

Next one, worship him, Worship him. Shout with joy to the Lord,

All dear, worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him with singing,

Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that he is God.

When you do, all this fear and anxiety will be wiped out because your

focus is no longer on fear and anxiety and any guilt and shame. When

you seek God and acknowledge him that He's got you will automatically ask for forgiveness,

you know, because you just want to be in God's presence. He

made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of

his pasture. Generation. Next, okay, so this is the second part.

Right, You all know this song if you've been in church for so

long, you know this song. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in

my heart. I will enter his cards with praise. I will say,

this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice, and he

has made me glad. These are the kind of songs which postures us to

enter into God's presence. It's not about God. I want to invite you

into this place. But God, I want to enter into your gates.

And how will I do that? With thanksgiving, with praise, give thanks,

praise his name, and then we will enter into his presence. Okay?

And next one Psums forty six, Verse ten, be still and know

that I am God. This is very difficult to do when you have fear

and anxiety. This is very difficult to do because we will want to solve

our problems as fast as possible and if God is If we pray and God

didn't answer five seconds later, then we start looking for alternatives, you know,

But this is be still and know that I am God. The word

no is acknowledging you are fully aware that he is God. If you are

not waiting in his presence means you're like God. You are one of my

options. And a lot of times we use God as our last option if

all else fails. Pray, but what did Jesus do? Jesus seek God

early in the morning, and then we are aware of his presence, O

heay, and next one so after you'll be still right next light, we

surrender to Him. We know that we are not God. We know that

we can't do it on our own. We need him, he said.

I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from

all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with

joy. No shadow of shame will darken your faces. In my desperation,

I prayed, and the Lord listened. He saved me from all my troubles.

For the Angel of the Lord is a god. He surrounds and defends

all who fear him. Taste and see that the Lord is good for the

joys of those who take refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his

godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. You

know, how do you overcome fear by fearing the Lord? That is,

you are fully aware that He is God and I am not, And I

am going to be fully submitted to Him, regardless of the circumstance of the

situation. Okay, all right, And next light is another quote, never

let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God.

No matter what comes my way, God is still God. Whatever comes my

way, God is still God. Do you believe that? Or when the

goings gets tough, you say, God, you are not real because things

are not going my way. But it was never about our way. Jesus

is the way, the truth, and the life right. And this is

the last verse James four. So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil

and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will

come close to you. Wash your hands your sinners, purify your hearts.

For your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Our loyalty. It

is a fight for our attention. The more distracted we get, the further

we get from God. So we have to draw you know, it is

intentional. It is an intention we have to practice the presence of God.

There's actually a book which I didn't manage to get dial managed to read it

yet because as I was just studying this, but I'll probably go and check

it out. It's it's a it's a book by this monk. It's called

Brother Lawrence. He's saying, practice the presence of God. That means you

have to be fully aware. It is an active participation, active acknowledgement,

active action on our side to say that God, you are God, and

I am not. And I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart,

enter his cards with praise. And that's how we experience the presence of

God. So even as I draw to as the close, I can get

the band up. So I wanted to share. I think y'all some of

y'all might know this lady Corey tan Boom. Well, no, she is.

She wrote her memoirs in the it's called the Hidden Place, the Hiding

Place. Sorry, it's called the Hiding Place. So she is actually a

Dutch lady, and she and her family actually saved eight hundred over Jews during

the World War two. And finally she was caught. Okay, after she

was caught, she and her sister were sent to the concentration camp. And

when she was sent to the concentration camp, right, let me read a

portion of what so it was basically he on Earth. It was basically hell

on Earth. So what happened is during the day they survived inhumane conditions,

and at night they prayed with the woman who wanted to join them. The

life in Ravensburg took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One,

the observable, observable external life, grew every day more and more horrible.

The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, and

truth upon truth, glory upon glory. So in this concentration camp, right,

some people died of untreated illness, others of starvation, others of exhaustion,

of despair. Some were shot or tortured and then hanged or transferred to

gas chambers in our rich Others were subjected to medical experiments or amputations which killed

them or left them handicapped. But you know what Corey tan Boom and the

sister Betsy did. They started a prayer group at night in the camp,

and they drew so many people to worship God and to give them hope.

And you know what kept the gods away at night from them worshiping. It

was fleece. The gods did not want to get infected by fleas. But

regardless, they went on and praised God. And this court by Cory tan

Boom, he says he I've experienced his presence in the darkest hell that man

can create. I have tested the promises of the Bible, and believe me,

you can count on them. Wow, that is so powerful. She

experienced the presence of God. Not in a church, not in a revival

meeting, not in a concert. She is experienced the presence of God in

a World War two concentration camp. Where can I go from your presence?

Oh God? Where can I? Where can I escape from your spirit?

So, Church, this morning, how will we live our life when we

know that God's presence is all around us this morning? Are we living our

lives that way? Or are we losing our focus of in fear and anxiety?

We are more focused on our sin, we are more focused on the

last of the flesh, or are saying God, I need more of you.

God does not need to be here. He is already here. It's

for us to step into His presence. We hope you've been blessed by this

message. For more information on our church, please visit as Church Org.

We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this week is

going to be a good week. I hit for you. God, bless