Transformed By His Presence | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

2 Corinthians chapter 3, I read this passage

2 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

in our seniors gathering, and we didn't mention

seniors in our small groups because seniors'

small group runs every week, not just for this

six weeks, but we would love for as many of you

to come if you've never been. We would love for

you to come. God is doing a wonderful thing on

Wednesdays at 1 o 'clock at the Cubettes' home.

And any of you seniors are welcome to come to

that. And if you're not a senior, but you consider

yourself a senior for an hour or two, and you're

free on Wednesday at one o 'clock, you can come

too. Isn't that right? Oh, you said 55 and older?

Well, I'm 53, so that might leave me out. Okay,

50 plus, okay. But God is doing a unique thing

in that group. And every time we gather, his

presence is overwhelming and is touching people.

And it is not just for us to experience the presence

of the Lord, but for us to be used by God in

intercession and prayer. And God is using our

seniors in intercession and prayer in a unique

way every Wednesday afternoon at one o 'clock.

I read this passage there, and I'm going to read

it again here as we walk through what the Lord

has for us this morning. Verse 7. how will the

ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

Well, this is phenomenal for Paul to write because

before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus,

Paul, who then went by his Hebrew name Saul,

he later switched to his Roman name Paul. And

Saul, on the road to Damascus, before he encountered

Christ, was a master of the law. He was a Pharisee

of Pharisees, as for zeal in his faith, persecuting

the church, persecuting those walking in the

new covenant, living in the old covenant himself.

And now look what he called the ministry of the

old covenant. Paul calls the ministry of the

old covenant, the ministry of death. That's pretty

strong, isn't it? For Saul, a master of all 640

some laws of the Old Testament, a master of them

to call it the ministry of death. He realized

something. He realized that the ministry of the

law would never save anybody. He realized that

the ministry of the law could never transform

anybody. That as much as people would conform

their outward lives to try to follow the law,

they never could. And they would end up needing

another sacrifice and another sacrifice. and

another sacrifice, and another sacrifice, and

they would never get where they were going. And

he called it a ministry of death. That's pretty

strong, isn't it? Ministry of death. And he's

saying this, the ministry of death came with

glory. And that glory was pretty powerful. I

won't take the time. to turn to all the scriptures

that we walked through in the seniors meeting,

but we looked at the life of Moses, and Moses'

first encounter with glory was at the burning

bush in Exodus chapter 3. And he saw this bush

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

that was on fire but not being consumed. It just

kept burning and burning and burning. And he

walked up to it and God spoke to him out of that

burning bush and said, Moses, take off your sandals

for the place where you are standing is holy

ground. How many of you would say that was glory?

That was glory. Then later on, after the deliverance

from Egypt, In Exodus chapter 24, the Bible says

Exodus 24 · chapter mention

that Moses and the 70 elders and Aaron and Nadab

and Abihu, they approached God and they saw the

God of Israel and he looked like he had sapphire

underneath him and God served them a meal and

there before God, while they were looking at

him, they ate and they drank. That's pretty powerful,

isn't it? And then we read later in Exodus chapter

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

34 that when Moses meets with God, something

unique begins to happen. His face begins to glow.

And why? Why did his face glow? Because he had

been with the Lord so many times that his own

countenance was taking on the same countenance

of God. And the glory that he experienced when

he was with the Lord rubbed off on him and he

began to glow. His skin began to glow. It scared

the Israelites. And so he would take a veil and

he would put it on his face. And that veil that

he put on his face would make it so the Israelites

could approach him without trembling. And wondering,

it sounds like something straight out of sci

-fi, doesn't it? But it was the glory of God

resting on Moses. And when he would go into the

Lord, he would take the veil off to meet with

God. And then when he would talk with the people,

he would put the veil back on and cover his face.

And then we went to Exodus chapter 40. When the

Exodus 40 · chapter mention

tabernacle of Moses was being dedicated and the

glory of God so filled the tabernacle that not

even Moses could go into the tabernacle because

the glory of God was so strong. Others mention

different times in the Old Testament when the

glory of God appeared. The dedication of Solomon's

temple. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel

in the lion's den. You can probably think of

a dozen other times where the glory of God was

displayed under the ministry of the Old Testament.

So Paul is writing here, he's saying this is

the ministry of death, written and engraved on

stones. It was glorious. And how many of you

would agree that those things that I just described

are fantastically glorious? Hallelujah. But then

in verse 8, Paul says something amazing. How?

will the ministry of the Spirit be more glorious?

And I want to tell you this morning, because

we can get used to, those of you that have been

coming to church week after week after week,

we can get used to and numb to what is happening.

But what is happening when God ministers by His

Spirit is more glorious happening in this room

right now than what Moses experienced. Some of

you think, well, how could that be? It's the

power of the new covenant. Because the new covenant

is not like the old covenant. Because Jesus fulfilled.

He was the only one that ever did. He fulfilled

the law. And when he was crucified, that old

covenant came to an end. You say, well, why did

he have to die? Why did Jesus have to die? It's

like a marriage. You are in covenant with your

spouse until there is a death. And then you are

freed from that covenant. Well, Jesus spent the...

The three years that he was ministering, establishing

the new covenant. And when he shed his blood

and he said it is finished on the cross, the

power of the old covenant was done. Hallelujah.

And the new covenant was put into effect, hallelujah,

by the blood of the lamb that Jesus, Jesus was

that lamb, by his perfect blood, hallelujah,

the new covenant was brought into effect. And

guess what now, friends? Jesus, because he's

a perfect sacrifice, does not have to die over

and over and over and over again, hallelujah.

Somebody give God praise this morning. Somebody

give God praise. It is more glorious. Let's keep

reading verse 9. For if the ministry of condemnation

had glory. You're a failure. You're a failure.

You're a failure. You're a failure. It came with

glory. The ministry of righteousness. Because

one thing that happened on that cross. My sin.

My sin was placed on Jesus. And guess what was

placed on me? His righteousness. A divine exchange.

If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the

ministry of righteousness exceeds much more.

Everybody say much more in glory. Hallelujah.

For even what was made glorious had no glory

in this respect because of the glory that excels.

For if what was passing away was glorious, what

remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since

we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech.

Unlike Moses, Who put a veil over his face so

that the children of Israel could not look steadily

at what was passing away. Their minds were blinded.

For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted

in the reading of the Old Testament. Because

the veil is taken away in Christ. Paul even talking

about this. Because on the road to Damascus,

he had an encounter with the glory of God. And

what happened to him? The veil was taken away.

Hallelujah. He had heard of Jesus. He was persecuting

Christians for following Jesus. But he had a

veil over his mind. And every time he read the

Old Testament, it did not make sense to him.

But he had an encounter with the risen Savior

whose name is Jesus. And the veil was removed

and he could see. Hallelujah. The veil is taken

away in Christ. But even to this day when Moses

is read, a veil lies on their heart. A veil lies

on their heart. I wasn't planning on doing this,

but I feel moved by the Holy Spirit right now

to pray for the nation Israel. Will you join

with me for a moment? Lord, there are many people

of Israel, your chosen, that know you. They are

Messianic Christians. And I thank you for that.

But there are so many more that this is still

true. There is a veil over their heart. And I

ask in Jesus' name that you would remove the

veil, that you would cause Israel to be saved.

Lord, even as there is so much in the news about

Israel, about... Benjamin Netanyahu's speech

and what is happening on the Gaza Strip and opinions

are so varied and all over the map. God, they

are still your chosen people. And we are asking,

Lord, for the peace of Jerusalem. We're asking

God for the veil that is on Israel to be removed

and lifted in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Lord, it was the Jewish people that

brought forth our Messiah, Jesus, who is forever

Jewish. And Lord, we bless the nation of Israel,

not because they are perfect and everything they

do is right, but because they are your people.

And we bless the nation of Israel right now in

Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Even to this day when

Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Verse

16, nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord,

the veil is taken away. Now you might not have

grown up knowing the law. You might have grown

up in a very secular place. You might have grown

up... in a place that didn't even care about

religion, or didn't go to church, or maybe you

went to church, but you went to a religious church

that didn't talk about Jesus, didn't talk about

having a relationship with him, and though you

did not have the veil like Paul had it, or like

the Jewish people had it, you still had a veil

over your life because you were in the dark.

But when you came to Christ, hallelujah, you

became, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, a new creation,

hallelujah. The old is past, and the new has

come. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is

taken away, hallelujah. The Lord is the Spirit,

and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is

liberty. Somebody give God praise this morning.

Hallelujah. And then we get to my text. So that

was my 20 -minute introduction. But we all, with

unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory

of the Lord, are being transformed into the same

image from glory to glory just as by the Spirit

of the Lord. Hallelujah. This is a verse. That

as my wife has been saying lately, I have been

chewing the cud on. I have been just living in

it. Making it my aim to daily take time to behold

Him. To behold Him. My goal for this message

is to put salt on your tongue. To cause you to

hunger and thirst for the living presence of

God. For the glory of God. To learn the art of

beholding Him. To learn the discipline of looking

upon Him. The glory of God. We saw Moses go from

glory to glory till the glory was so strong that

he could not even enter in. Glory. The Old Testament

word for glory is kabod. It means weightiness.

The weight of God. It means that where his presence

is, there his glory is. And I have to... differentiate

between two different kinds of presence of the

Lord. There is his omnipresence. God is everywhere.

There is nowhere you can't go that God is not.

He is there. He has the ability. He's the only

one. Now, let me tell you something. Satan is

not omnipresent. Satan can only be in one place

at one time. God is omnipresent. He can be everywhere

at the same time. But his manifest presence is

not like that. His manifest presence is where

he displays his glory. Hallelujah. Now, we read

in the Old Testament about times where his glory

came and there was a cloud and there was fire.

And we see some of that in the New Testament.

In Acts chapter 2, when they were baptized with

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the Holy Spirit, the fire of God came into the

ceiling of the room, separated, and a tongue

came to rest. A tongue of fire came to rest on

each person. That is a physical manifestation

of the glory of God. We saw that on the road

to Damascus. There was a voice from heaven and

it thundered and that's a physical manifestation

of the glory of God. I have never personally

seen a glory cloud, but I have heard of services

where people are gathering and they are worshiping

and the presence of God comes so strong that

a mist appears in the room that everybody can

see. Anybody ever heard any testimonies like

that before? That's the glory of God. But can

I tell you that God manifests his glory in other

ways as well? In John chapter 2, in John chapter

John 2 · chapter mention John 2 · chapter mention

2, Jesus turns the water into wine. The Bible

says, at the end of that story, I believe around

verse 11, the book of John says this, and so

Jesus manifested his glory. Now, there was no

glory cloud. There was nothing that people could

see, but it was a miracle. It was a miracle.

And when Jesus performed the miracle, the Bible

says he displayed his glory. Hallelujah. It doesn't

just have to be a cloud or fire or something

strange and mystical that can be seen with the

eyes. But sometimes God manifests his glory in

very small ways and also in very big ways. Can

I tell you this? Answered prayer is a manifestation

of the glory of God. When God shows up and does

something in your life, that's a manifestation

of the glory of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Can I tell you one time I was at my office, and

this was in Galesburg when I was assistant pastor,

and the Lord gave me a scripture verse. Cammie

and I had been praying about direction for our

lives. And the Lord gave me a scripture verse

out of the life of David. And I thought that

when I went home, it was going to disappoint

my wife because it was not the word that I wanted

to hear in the moment for our family. And so

I'm carrying this word and I go home and I am

speaking to my wife. I say, the Lord spoke to

me today. We've been asking for direction. And

she said, that's interesting. She said, before

you tell me what God spoke to you today, I want

to tell you what God spoke to me today. And she

opened up her Bible to the exact same verse.

And she read to me the exact same verse. And

she said, I don't know if you're going to like

this, Darren, or not. But this is what God spoke

to me about the direction for our family. Can

I tell you something in that moment what I was

experiencing? The glory of God who went before

me, prepared my wife's heart. In fact, spoke

to her the exact same thing that he had spoken

to me that day. That's the glory of God. Can

I tell you about another time? I was in Bible

college, and I liked Bible college because my

wife used to make cookies back then and mail

them to me. And now she's learned how bad cookies

are for you. And that just, that has nothing

to do with my message. It's just a memory that

came to my mind. When I first went to Bible college,

I had a broken foot. I came to Bible college

with a cast. on my foot. And I hobbled around

on crutches for four weeks. And then I went to

the doctor, and the doctor removed the cast.

And I had had a stress fracture in my foot. And

when the doctor removed the cast, he said, now

listen, you need to take it easy for the next

three to four weeks. And I went back to the school

that night, and I took a basketball into the

gym, and I ran up and down the gym floor for

three hours playing basketball with my friends.

And I would have played longer, except at the

end of the third hour, I think I could hear it

with my ears. My foot went snap. I had rebroken

my foot. It swelled up. And I said, Darren, What

an idiot you are. I was dreading calling my mom

and dad who paid for the first cast. I could

not think about even talking with them because

I was going to have to go through another five

weeks of a cast. And guess who was probably going

to have to pay for it? And I didn't call them

and I went to bed that night. And I was frustrated.

I was feeling... condemnation and shame, perhaps

rightly so. And about two in the morning, I woke

up startled because God was in my room. And I

woke up because my foot was on fire. And I went

from a dead sleep to fully 100 % awake in about

five seconds. And I realized immediately what

was happening. God was in my room. God was healing

my foot. And all I could do was get out of my

bed and bow down before the Lord and worship

him. His glory had come into my dorm room and

my foot was fully 100 % healed. The swelling

went down, and I have never had another issue

with my foot since that day. It was the glory

of God that visited me. I'm just talking freely

about moments after we were married and had moved

to Galesburg, and we had a family living above

us in that house. a duplex upstairs, downstairs.

And it was always noisy. And so I went down in

the basement and I built, I actually built a

kneeling altar down in the basement. And I used

to go down there and I used to meet with God

down there. And the glory of God would fill that

basement, nasty basement, spider webs everywhere.

But the glory of God would come. and meet with

me. And I would just sit in that place, just

worshiping. It became my spot. And I would go

there daily, and I would experience the glory

of God. The glory of God. The first thing that

we see in this passage, in verse 18, it says,

but we all. Those three words change everything.

This is the entire difference between the old

covenant and the new covenant. But we all. The

old covenant was for the Moseses. It was for

the Abrahams. It was for the Davids, the Elijahs.

Really, the ones that God met with in the old

covenant were the prophets, the priests, and

the kings. Everybody else was left in the dark.

They were on the outside looking in. But the

new covenant changes everything. But we all,

we all, there is nobody in this room that cannot

experience the presence of God. He does not favor

the pastor. over anybody else. And I do believe

in the functions and the gifts of the Holy Spirit

that make us different in function in the body.

I do believe in them. But every single one of

us can experience the glory and the presence

of the living God. Hallelujah. We all, but we

all, oh, glory to Jesus. And so Jesus became

a rabbi when he turned 30. And he began to select

his disciples. And all the other rabbis that

were leaders in the nation of Israel, when they

selected the people that they would call their

disciples, they went to the education system

and they selected the ones that were chosen for

further education and further education. And

they chose the cream of the crop to be their

disciples. But I want you to hear what Jesus

does when he chooses his disciples. And Jesus,

walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers.

Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting

a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

Jesus does not choose disciples like everybody

else chooses disciples. These are men that only

had the first level of education, and because

they were not the cream of the crop, they could

not move forward, and so they were assigned the

profession of their father. Now, the world needs

fishermen, and so it was not like they were people

that were unproductive in society, but they were

not the high people of society. And Jesus looks

at them and says, follow me, I will make you

fishers of men. And they immediately left their

nets and followed him. And going on from there,

he saw two other brothers, James, son of Zebedee,

and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee,

their father, mending their nets, two other fishermen.

And he called them. And immediately they left

the boat and their father and followed Jesus.

But we all, the 12 that eventually established

the church. And you think of Simon here, Andrew's

brother, who was later called Peter. And how

Peter in Acts chapter 5. Would walk down the

Acts 5 · chapter mention

road. And his shadow would touch the sick. And

his shadow would raise the sick. Up off of their

sick bed. Hallelujah. Why was that? Because of

this. But we all. Hallelujah. This fisherman

that left his nets was transformed over three

years of time. He was transformed when he was

baptized in the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

He was transformed from glory to glory to the

point where he walked down the road and the sick

were healed in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah.

Can I tell you that was not the glory of Peter.

That was the glory of God that was on Peter.

And Peter reflecting that glory. And Moses, his

face shown. But Peter, his shadow healed people.

Hallelujah. It's the glory of God that got on

him. Hallelujah. I'm believing for a church that

will rise up with the glory of God on them. The

glory of God on the house. Hallelujah. Jesus!

I feel God in the place. And so these disciples,

they were chosen. They were hanging out with

Jesus. And Matthew 17 says, after six days, Jesus

took Peter, James, and John, his brother, led

them up on a mountain by themselves, and he was

transfigured before them. Following John's journey

for a moment, Jesus' face shone. like the sun.

And his clothes became as white as the light.

How many of you think that this is glory? This

is the glory of God. Do you know the end of the

book of Revelation when there is a new heavens

and a new earth? That there will be no sun? That

we will not have a sun that the new earth revolves

around because The glory that is on the face

of Jesus will light up the whole world. It's

the glory of God. And for a moment, Peter and

James and John, as Jesus is transfigured, and

Moses and Elijah meets them on the mountain,

they experience the glory of Jesus. And then

John. We could follow John. We could talk a lot

about John. But one more, John on the island

of Patmos, in Revelation chapter 1, he heard

Revelation 1 · chapter mention

a voice. In verse 12 says, I turned to see the

voice that spoke with me. And having turned,

I saw seven golden lampstands in the midst of

the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man,

clothed with the garment down to the feet, and

girded about the chest with a golden band. His

head and hair were white like wool, eyes like

snow, his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet

were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace,

and his voice as the sound of many waters. He

had in his right hand seven stars, and out of

his mouth went a sharp two -edged sword, and

his countenance was like the sun shining in its

strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet

as though dead. From glory to glory. Ordinary

fishermen going from glory to glory. But we all,

there are levels of the glory of God. That's

why we go from glory to glory. Did you know that

your destiny, Is tied in with the glory of God.

Your destiny. Because it is in the glory of God.

Whether it is in the quietness of your own home.

Where you are encountering Jesus. And maybe even

nothing dramatic happened. We're talking about

dramatic moments here. And I've had some dramatic

moments in my life. But it is the day in day

out pursuit of God. And wanting to be with him.

where most of the transformation in my life happens.

But it is in the glory of God that transformation

happens. Isn't that what the verse says? We behold

as in a mirror the glory of the Lord and are

transformed into His image. Transformed into

His image. The glory of God, His presence, is

not given to you simply to make you feel better.

Have you ever experienced goosebumps in the presence

of God? All the time, I feel, I sense His presence,

and I go, wow, and my body responds to that,

but it is not for the purpose of you feeling

something necessarily that God displays His presence.

It is for you to be transformed Into his image.

And that is your destiny. To become like Christ.

Now this doesn't mean you don't retain your own

individual personality. But God is working with

you as an individual to make you more and more

like Jesus. Amen? And Romans chapter 8 says,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

verse 29. For whom God foreknew, he predestined

to be conformed to the image of his Son, that

he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And so he has chosen you to become like Christ.

Hallelujah. Just like he chose Peter and James

and Andrew and Simon and John. Just like he chose

them, he's chosen you. To become like Christ.

Hallelujah. Now there is. Something that happens

in the presence of the Lord, and one of the most

dramatic illustrations is in Isaiah chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

And Isaiah, I'm wanting to wind this down in

the next five minutes, and so I'm not going to

take the time to read it. But Isaiah, in Isaiah

Isaiah 6:1

6 verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died,

I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and the train

of his robe filled the temple. And Isaiah saw

the glory of God. And if you read down a few

verses, you'll find that something happens. That

Isaiah, when he's in the presence of God, he

makes a statement. He says, Woe is me, for I

am a man of unclean lips. I come from a people

of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King,

the Lord Almighty. And God does something interesting

because he could have squashed Isaiah right then

and said, you're right. You're not worthy to

be in my presence. But that's not what God does.

What God does is he sends an angel to take a

tongue and dip it into the fire and get a coal

out of that fire. And you know what that represents?

That represents the blood of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.

And he touches Isaiah. He touches his lips and

burns his lips. God says, see, I have taken away

your sin. Glory to God. And so that's a dramatic

expression. And then God calls Isaiah and he

says, here am I, send me. And so it's an awesome,

awesome moment. Okay, but this is what happens

in the presence of the Lord. In the presence

of the Lord, when God shows up, you see two things.

One, you see his greatness. And the other thing

you see, is your own frailty. It might be a sin

that God puts his finger on. God has been putting

his finger in my life on selfish ambition, doing

things to be seen by men. And I have been repenting

because it's a false motivation. It's a pharisaical

motivation to do things to be seen by men. Jesus

says, if that's your motivation, then you've

already received your reward. And I've been confessing

to God because it crops up. I want to be seen

by men. I want men to tell me how good I am at

this or that. And God says, you've already received

your reward. But you know what happens when I'm

in the presence of God? I see his beauty and

I see how he laid his life down for me. And then

I see my own sin. And it's there in his presence

that I confess that. And it's there in his presence

that he does not reject me. He did not reject

Isaiah. He's not going to reject you. And he

cleanses you. And he takes that thing out of

your life so that you are more like Jesus. From

glory to glory, being transformed into his image.

And it seems like I go through seasons where

God deals with this area of my life. And then

He deals with this area of my life. And then

He deals with this area of my life. But He is

transforming me into the image of God. When I

am with Jesus, I become like Jesus. That's the

whole deal right there. I'm in His presence.

I become like him. Jesus said, how many of you

know John 3 .16? How many of you know the verses

after John 3 .16? After John 3 .16, the Bible

says that men love darkness rather than light.

And because their deeds were evil, they avoid

coming into the light. And there have been times

where there has been stuff in my life that I

have avoided. the presence of God because I want

to hang on to my stuff. When your deeds are evil,

you avoid the presence of God because it will

shine a light on it. But if you love the presence

of God, you will crave the light of his presence,

the glory of his presence. Hallelujah. How do

I know this is what I'm destined to be? I've

got a lot more to preach, but I'm going to wind

this down with this verse. 1 John 3 .2. This

is John writing his first letter. Beloved, now

we are the children of God. It has not yet been

revealed what we shall be, but we know that when

He is revealed, We shall be like him, for we

shall see him as he is. When the trumpet sounds,

and Jesus returns, and you are caught up in the

air together with him, and you see him, because

you see him. You behold him not as in a mirror

anymore. I didn't get to that part. We see now

dimly as in a mirror, but then we see face to

face. You see him face to face. Guess what's

going to happen? Your transformation. You've

been journeying this whole life, but your transformation

into the image of Christ will be complete. We

shall see him and we shall be like him. Glory

to God. I am looking forward to heaven for a

lot of reasons, but this struggle, this struggle

called discipleship, it will be over. I will

be like Christ. Remember raising children, and

when they had done something wrong, you know

what they didn't like doing? Looking me in the

eye, and I would say, look at me, and they didn't

like looking at me. What happened when they Finally,

locked eyes with me. And I could see into their

heart. And I would say, tell me. In that moment,

they would share the truth. That's oftentimes

why we avoid God. We hang out. We watch others

worship. We watch others enter in. Because our

own eyes can't lock with God. But God is saying

this morning. Look at me. Look at me. I want

you to experience my presence. It is in my presence

that transformation comes from glory to glory.

His presence is a place of rest. His presence

is a place of trust. His presence is a place

of refuge. three of those things also serve to

bring transformation, not just conviction. How

many of you would join me and say, I want to

be like Christ? When we pray and we say, God,

give us more of your glory on this house. It

isn't just because we want the fantastical, like

we like reading some book that gives us chills.

It's because It's in His presence that the church

is transformed into what it is called to be.

It's in His presence that new believers come

in and they're touched by His presence. We're

not here entertaining people. We're here entertaining

God. That's it. And His glory and His presence

comes. And lives are changed because of His glory.

We go from glory to glory, being transformed

into the image of the same. Jesus, have your

way. Jesus, have your way. I went longer than

I intended to today. I've preached for 52 minutes.

But can we pause for a moment? And can we say,

God, give us more of your glory. Cause your presence

to be ours, our portion. Lord, we don't want

to stay stagnant. God, we don't want to just

drift through our Christianity. Jesus, we want

to move from glory to glory. God, I'm not expecting

a Moses -type encounter every time I pray. Lord,

I'm hungry for you. In that song that Brianna

taught this morning, God, we need a move of God.

We're hungry for your presence. We're hungry

for your presence. Lord, have your way. Have

your way. Have your way. And I will make room

for you to do whatever you want to. Do whatever

you want to. And I will make room for you. To

do whatever you want to Do whatever you want

to One more time. I will make room for you To

do whatever you want to Do whatever you want

to Shake up the ground Of all my tradition. Break

down the walls. Of all my religion. Your way

is better. Your way is better. And I will make

room for you. To do whatever you want to. Do

whatever you want to. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

If you're here today and you just simply join

me in the prayer, the prayer that Moses prayed,

God, show me your glory. Jesus, make me more

like you. If that's your prayer, I just want

you to raise your hand or stand to your feet

or just make some kind of response right now

to the Lord and say, God, here I am. Here I am.

Here I am. Come on. Come on, just respond to

him. Because Lord, this is true, not just for

us as individuals, but for the church. Lord,

see your church hungry for you. See your church

hungry for you, God. Take us from glory to glory

in Jesus' name. And let's sing it together. We

will make room for you to do whatever you want

to. Do whatever you want to. And we will make

room for you to do whatever you want to. Do whatever

you want to. Hallelujah. We make room for you,

God, to have your way, to reveal your glory,

to show us your presence. Oh God, passion for

your presence is one of our pillars here. We

need you. We need you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Lord, I pray that you would cause

us to put action to our standing or lifting up

of our hands in the way that we pursue you, in

the way that we pray. Can we for a moment just

lift up your voice and say, God, let your glory

be on this house. Let your glory be on this church.

Can we all over this room just lead out in prayer

right now? Just lift up your voice right now.

Lift up your voice to the Lord. Father, we're

hungry for you. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid

of what people around you will think, but just

call on the name of the Lord. God, reveal your

glory in this place. I pray that this house would

be a house not where men get glory, but where

God reveals his glory, where God gets all the

glory. Hallelujah. It is the glory of Jesus resting

upon us. Hallelujah. Oh, we thank you, Father.

We thank you, Father. We ask, God, that you would

manifest your presence in this place every time

we gather, every time we gather. Every time we

gather in Jesus' name. I pray, Lord, that we

would be a people hungry for you. Hungry for

your presence in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Oh, we give you glory, God. Oh, we

give you glory, God. Oh, we give you praise in

Jesus' mighty name. In Jesus' mighty name. If

you agree with that, just... say amen. Amen.

In Jesus' name. Give him praise. Yes, Lord. Yes,

Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. In Jesus' name. Thank

you, Father. Thank you, Father. Glory to God.

Glory to God. Hallelujah. The Lord has recently

spoken to my heart, and he has said, that he

just spoken to me and he said, Darren, will you

let me use you to rebuild altars? And it's just

been an interesting experience with the Lord.

I've been reading about altars being rebuilt

in the Old Testament. And one of the things that's

happening on Wednesday nights is there is a rebuilding

of the altar of prayer. And it is a unique thing.

I want to encourage as many of you ladies this

week as a ladies prayer meeting in here. Come.

The men are going to meet in the fellowship hall.

Come. Ladies in here, ladies, you have to eat

before you come. But the men are going to eat

in the fellowship hall. We do have ministry for

the children. And so all of us can come. I know

it might mean not laying down when you get home

on Wednesday night to rest. But it is going to

be good. And so we are rebuilding altars. And

I want to encourage you to come and help us rebuild

the altar. God bless you. Have a great rest of

your Monday. Or Sunday. It's Sunday. Your Sunday.

Amen.